‘So much for keeping Twilight in the dark regarding how she coldly exterminated Pinkie Pie’s clones when some of them could, like Diane, have no longer been mindless copies,’ Havoc thought as he flew out of Ponyville. He decided to forget about Twilight and focus on his original goal. ‘Now, if Drogur is leading his dogs in the war, I probably won’t find him in Granite Back. Where should I go, then? Gem Fido is huge.’

After a few moments, he decided to go to the Crystal Empire, and learn from the ponies where the army was. Then he realized that he wasn’t certain where the Crystal Empire was, since the time he had visited it he had arrived at it by fleeing from the Dragon Badlands with an enraged pink dragoness chasing him. ‘I could go back and ask one of the mane six, but I don’t want to see any of them again. Not after how I left. They could make me really angry, and I could do something drastic. What would I do if I were a silly pony that wants to travel to the Crystal Empire, and I only knew it was somewhere north of here? I wouldn’t go by hoof, it’s too far away… Ponies don’t have cars, so I would use public transport, then. Oh, right, trains. Let’s see if there’s a train that takes me to a city close enough to the Crystal Empire to cover the rest of the distance by flying.’

Havoc quickly found railroads and followed them to Ponyville’s train station. He landed on an empty alleyway and turned into his unicorn persona, Golden Shower, so he wouldn’t be treated with a mix of fear and hate. He quickly approached a desk where a pony was waiting with boredom.

“Good morning!” Havoc greeted. “I was wondering, which train should I take to visit the Crystal Empire?”

“There’s a train that comes from Canterlot and goes straight to the Crystal Empire every day. It arrives here at nine o’clock every day and reaches the Empire in a couple of hours.”

Havoc said goodbye, returned to the alleyway and turned to owl just in case Twilight or Rainbow Dash had decided to give him a piece of their minds. Once he was confident he was flying above the railroads that led to the Crystal Empire, he changed to draconequus. The hour was half past nine, so Havoc's plan was to catch the train and board it. His antics in Ponyville had given him a large amount of chaos energy, so he employed it in increasing his flying speed. He moved at such a speed that even a Wonderbolt would have nodded with respect, his wings propelling him much more than they had any right to. Even then, it took Havoc nearly an hour to see the train in the distance, and some more minutes to land on its roof. He tried to strike an epic pose while being atop the train, but the wind made him lose his balance. He fell on his back, then he toppled off and hit the ground head first. Dazed, he got up and nearly fell again, until he managed to throw a magical rope that attached itself to the last wagon of the train. Then two skis appeared under his feet and he started skiing.

“Wait, snowboards are cooler,” he said aloud, and his skis turned into a snowboard.

Snowboarding on the ground (landboarding?) came naturally to him because that’s how chaos magic works, so even though he had never done such a thing in his life he didn’t have to focus on not falling. Due to that, Havoc began to think about what he had told the ponies. He was angry with himself for losing control in front of the mane six, and for revealing Diane's existence to Rainbow Dash.

'It’s Twilight's fault. She killed all of them. And the others helped. Their hooves are also stained with blood. I can’t forgive them. They deserve to suffer just as Diane suffered. I can’t believe those bastards are the same ponies I grew to love by watching the show. Pinkie is the only one who isn’t guilty. The others were the ones who did it. They… They… How could they?! They are supposed to be the Elements of Harmony, not a bunch of psycho killers! They could have killed Pinkie Pie just to get rid of her clones, it’s insane. I will never forget this. One day, I’ll make all of them crawl before Diane and beg for forgiveness.'

Havoc’s dark thoughts accompanied him until the train reached the Crystal Empire. One might wonder how is it possible that nopony noticed him, being large as he is and not even attempting to hide himself. In any case, by the time the humongous Crystal Palace wasn’t just a gleaming spot in the distance, and the train began to go slower, Havoc too flight and overtook it. He changed to owl and flew straight to the palace’s balcony. He had decided to meet Cadance of Shining Armor in person, and ask them where to find their army so he could fight for them. Turning into snake, he slithered into the palace and began to search for them. He had a very faint idea of where each part of the palace was, so he slithered through the corridors without a destination. He tried to avoid any corridor that seemed smaller or worse decorated than the one he was in, guessing that the fancier the corridor, the closer he was to the throne room.

A large door guarded by two soldiers attracted his attention. ‘I bet that leads to where Shining and Cadance rule.’ He fruitlessly tried to find a way to slither into the room without being noticed, until a guard stomping next to him startled him.

“Shapeshifter!” the pony barked as he stepped just behind Havoc’s head so he couldn’t escape nor bite. Realizing it, Havoc turned back to draconequus, the sudden change throwing the guard away. In less than ten seconds a dozen of guards were pointing at him with spears.

“Don’t attack!” the only guard wearing a crested helmet ordered. “He’s the draconequus Prince Shining Armor warned us about.”

“Well, that went better than I expected,” Havoc commented.

“Silence! You will wait here until you are allowed into the Throne Room. Stallions, if he tries to leave you are free to use lethal force to stop him,” with that said, the guard walked into the room behind the large door.

Havoc gulped and slowly sat on the ground, trying not to make any sudden moves. The crystal ponies stared at him as he made a letter and a pen appear out of thin air and began to doodle dragons fighting alicorns. Eventually, he grew bored of that and turned his attention towards the guards.

“So, you are crystal ponies. How is it like, being all… Crystally?”

“...”

“Yeah, right. Hm… Has the world changed a lot since your time? What’s changed the most, in your opinion?”

“...”

The guards refused to answer to any of Havoc’s questions, so he decided to write fanfiction.

“Alright, so I have always wanted to write my own HiE story. Oh, it will be based on Planet of the Apes, but the original movie, not the shitty one in which humans talked. Yeah, I can see it starting like the movie, with the protagonist smoking a cigar in a spaceship while going on about what they are about to do. I could call it Planet of the Ponies! Yeah, let’s write two hundred thousand words about it while I wait.”

When the doors finally opened several minutes later, and a crystal pony asked Havoc to enter, the guards allowed themselves to let out sighs of relief. Cadance was sitting in one of the two thrones in the Throne Room, the other one being vacant. The way she looked at him made Havoc decide not to joke around for the moment. Thus, Havoc kneeled before Cadance as she greeted him.

“Welcome back, Havoc. What brings you to the Crystal Empire?”

“Princess Cadance, I have learned that you are at war with the slaver diamond dogs. I want to join your army and help in any way I can.”

Cadance frowned in thought. “If you are anywhere near Discord in terms of power you could be a great asset in the war. Alright, you have just enlisted in the Crystal Empire’s army.” She began to write on a parchment with her magic as she kept on talking. “A scouting company has been resting here for the last week. They are scheduled to return to the front tomorrow morning, so you will be assigned to them until Shining and Princess Luna decide what to do with you. Flash Sentry, introduce our new recruit to the company so they won’t leave without him, and keep an eye on him.” She finished writing, sealed the parchment and levitated it towards the only guard who was a pegasus instead of a crystal pony. “Give this to Captain Cyclone, too. Havoc, I want you to return here and meet me again around sunset. That is all, I have pressing matters to take care of and I can’t spare more time on you.”

A part of Havoc felt annoyed at Cadance, who was acting like a total bitch, but he decided to blame it on the stress she had to be dealing with. The only guard who wasn’t a crystal pony approached Havoc. He was a pegasus stallion wearing a golden armor, his coat was a light shade of orange, while his mane and tail were sapphire blue.

“Hello, I’m Flash Sentry, I’ll show you around. I’ll take you to the barracks now.”

As Havoc followed Flash Sentry towards the palace’s exit, he couldn’t help but feel that he should hate the pegasus for some reason, but he decided to pay no mind to that gut feeling. They soon arrived at the barracks, since they were one of the buildings that surrounded the palace. Flash Sentry made Havoc wait for a few minutes in the training zone of the barracks while the whole company, all 120 of them, was quickly assembled by their commander. The commander was a blue pegasus with broad shoulders and a hard face who was reading Cadance’s message, so Havoc guessed he was captain Cyclone.

“Company, that draconequus will accompany us to the frontline,” Cyclone explained. “His name is Havoc, and you are to treat him as a civilian until told otherwise, understood?”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“Now, you,” he said, turning to face Havoc. “You have no military training of any sort, so I’ll make it simple: when we leave tomorrow, you will follow my orders and keep your chaos magic to yourself. That’s all you have to do. Dismissed!”

“So, what now?” Havoc asked Flash as the soldiers resumed their activities.

“Princess Cadance wants me to stay with you until you meet her, so you are free to do whatever you want until then.”

“Hm… Whatever I want… There’s not many things I would like to do here that won’t get my into deep trouble… What do you suggest me to do?”

“When I first arrived here, I went to see the Crystal Heart. You can even feel its magic, it’s an unique experience.”

“Alright, we can do that later. I didn’t get to see it last time I was here. But first, I have a few questions.”

“Ask away.”

“Well, I want to know more about this war. How many clans have been defeated? How many of them are left? I would like to know how many months or years this is going to last before jumping into the fight.”

“Let’s find a map and I’ll explain it all to you,” Flash replied, and in less than two minutes they were inside the barracks, looking at a huge map that covered an entire wall of a meeting room.

Obviously, the map had been drawn by hoof, not by MS paint, but you get the idea.

“This is the situation so far: sixteen diamond dog dens are now part of Equestria, and thirteen have been conquered by the armies of the Griffin-”

“Wait, what is this Midnight Castle thing north of the Crystal Empire?”

“I don’t know why they felt it was so imperative to make Midnight Castle stand out in this map. I mean, we are focused on Gem Fido, not in that area.”

“Yeah, whatever. But what is it?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Dude, you are just making me more and more eager to learn what that thing is. Stop beating around the freaking bush.”

“Alright. Midnight Castle is a black castle, encased in ice, and which exudes an aura of hate and suffering so powerful that it can drive crazy anypony stupid enough to approach it. The windigoes inhabit the surrounding area, as apparently even those creatures can’t stand being too close to the castle. The only reason why the Crystal Empire is habitable is because the Crystal Heart counters that place’s evilness. Less than a year ago, this place was a frozen land in which nopony could live.”

“... Wait, then how could this Sombra guy keep the place running. Didn’t he hide the Heart so it couldn’t be used against him?”

“I have no idea. You will have to ask Princess Cadance. Is there anything you want to know that I can explain?”

“Hm… OK, back to the map. Who are these Griffin Dominion guys?”

“They are a coalition that fights under a single banner. The main forces are the griffins themselves, which seem to have agreed to stop their tribal wars for the first time in centuries; the diamond dogs of Marble Pillars, who weren’t slavers and have managed to protect themselves from dragons by taking in orphan dragons and making them part of their clan; and the Griffon Pirates, the ones who started the war against slavery on that part of Gem Fido and convinced the others to join them.”

“So they are our allies, right?”

“Not really. You see, we are two nations: Equestria and them, and we are both conquering Gem Fido at the same time. They say that we are forcing the dens to submit to the oppressive Equestrian rule or something like that, and we doubt they will manage to form a strong government that won’t devolve into what Gem Fido and the Dominion were a few years ago. We are pretty much rivals who want to take as much of Gem Fido as we can before the other does.”

“Well, at least they also fight for the end of slavery. I guess you want to take over Sharp Ruby and Gemstone next, what with their names standing out more than the others.”

“That’s the plan, yes. Then we will probably have to reach an agreement with the Dominion so we can share a border without hostilities.”

“Alright. We seem to be doing well. I mean, this is almost a fourth of Gem Fido already under control, after how many months of fighting?”

“Ten months, give or take. Yellow Topaz decided to ally with us instead of fighting, so we expect this to become more common as we keep on destroying our enemies.”

"That’s nice. Now, I want to know more about you. How come you are the only royal guard who is not a crystal pony?"

"It's pretty simple, really. These ponies are from a thousand years ago, so they know very little about modern society. My job is to make sure the imperial guard is up to date so they can fulfill the same duties as the royal guard. You wouldn’t believe the stuff these guys have been trained to do in order to maintain peace; it’s so barbaric I thought they were pulling my leg when they told me about it."

"I guess harder times required harder measures "

Flash shrugged. "Is that all you wanted to know?”

“Yeah that’s it for now. Let’s see the Heart now.”

They walked back to the crystal palace, under which the Crystal Heart was floating between two crystal spires. Havoc was at first unimpressed, the Crystal Heart was, after all, just a big, heart-shaped crystal-gem-whatever. However, after a few seconds, Havoc began to feel its influence. Peace and happiness replaced any other feeling inside of Havoc’s mind, and he found that he loved it.

“Wow,” was all he could say.

“I know, right?” Flash commented. “The first time is when it affects you the most.”

“I want to touch it.”

“Sure, go ahead. There are no laws against it.”

Havoc slowly reached towards the Crystal Heart with his diamond dog paw. After holding his index finger a few centimeters away from it, he touched it. As soon as his flesh made contact, he pulled back screaming.

“OH GOD IT’S KILLING ME!” he shouted as the tip of his finger turned into blue crystals, which spread to the rest of his hand. “IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH!”

“Oh Celestia! Quick! Extend your arm! I’ll have to amputate before it spreads further!” Flash ordered, unsheathing his sword.

Havoc did as he was told, but the crystallization seemed to accelerate in response to Flash’s words, covering Havoc’s arm and a good portion of his chest in seconds. “Why would I touch it?!” he cried. “I should have known better!”

“Damn damn damn!”

In the blink of an eye Havoc was a draconequus-shaped crystal, frozen in a cry of fear.

“... How am I going to explain this to Princess Cadance?”

And that’s it, folks. Havoc died, Disharmony lost and the other players continued the game without giving a single fuck about the draconequus’ fate.

THE END

Author's Notes:

You might be wondering why Havoc ended the way it did. It's very simple, really. After a year and a half of writing about him I have just gotten bored of the character, and I just couldn't come up with a way to continue the plot without it becoming a boring series of battles in Gem Fido. I also am working on a new story for the prologue of the chessgame, so I wouldn't have been able to keep updating both anyways. Due to this, I think the best course of action is to finish Havoc now and focus on a new, fresh story.

I might write an epilogue later, telling how the game ends, what happens to the other characters, such as Drogur, Diane and Screwball; and pretty much ending any secondary plot that might still be incomplete.