It only took Havoc fifteen minutes to fly from Canterlot to Ponyville, even taking into account the delay he suffered when he spotted Twilight Sparkle flying on the opposite direction and turned invisible to avoid having to interact with her. Too worried about Discord and Tirek to be subtle, he simply landed in the center of the town, right in front of the Town Hall; and released a quick burst of chaos magic that would let Screwball find him in seconds.

As he expected, Screwball’s magic surrounded him and teleported him to a dark room inside of
a nearby house, empty save for both of them. “What are you doing here?” she asked, frowning and tapping her right hind leg against the floor while her magical costume slipped away.

“I really, really need all the milkshake you can give me. Like, right now.”

“Why do you need more chaos magic right now?”

“Eh… There’s some fools in Canterlot who think they are stronger than me. I don’t have time to charge on my own without getting in trouble with da police so I really need you to lend me a hoof.”

“Is this really important enough to make you completely disregard the fact that I did not want to see you?” she asked, almost baring her teeth at him.

“It’s a life or death situation. You know I wouldn’t bother you to win a pissing contest.”

“Ugh, alright! I’m not even using it anymore, so in a sense you’re doing me a favor by getting rid of it,” she said, tendrils of pure chaos magic surging from her body and going straight into Havoc’s.Her body turned less chaotic with each passing seconds, the spiral patterns of her eyes becoming less noticeable and her hair swirling less and less.

“Wow, where did you get so much of it?” Havoc asked, realizing that she had almost as much energy as he could hold.

“I’m living in Ponyville, Havoc. What did you expect? Now get out of my house before I kick you out myself.”

“Screwball… Thank you. For everything,” Havoc said, knowing that he might not see the end of the day.

“You’re… welcome?” she said, wondering where had that come from.

Havoc left hoping that, without her magic, she wouldn’t be targeted by Tirek and Discord. After flying back to Canterlot and going straight to his house, Havoc spent most of the day locked in his bedroom; his chaos domain helping him reach the limit of what he could contain. Eventually, he heard a powerful knocking on the door. Havoc opened it and found Knightbane on the other side.

“Yo! So, I’ve been told that you were the one who found that Discord turned against us. Great job, dude, it’s this kind of stuff that ends up tipping the balance. Now, you have to come with me to the palace. The princesses have organized most of us humans in order to try to defeat Discord and Tirek. There’s so many of us with unique and powerful abilities that even those two won’t be able to easily get rid of us,” he stated, sounding almost ridiculously cheerful.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Havoc followed Knightbane, who led him back to the same room where he’d seen the princesses a few hours earlier. To his surprise, Cadance was there, too, and the three alicorns looked like they hadn’t slept in a week. Worse still, he realized they were missing their cutie marks. Thinking that Tirek had already gotten them, he summoned Infernal Soul and tried to find him.

“Calm down, Havoc,” Celestia commanded. “This isn’t Tirek’s doing. We got rid of our magic so he couldn’t steal it. If he gets the power of alicorns on top of what he already has, he’ll become virtually invincible. Now, I want you to meet someone. Draken?”

A draconequus answered Celestia’s call, popping out of a stained glass window. He was very similar to Discord, his body parts being the same, but with a slightly different color scheme. He was also smaller, being roughly the size of a regular human, and his eyes were a vibrant blue.

“Hey,” he said, eyeing Havoc with curiosity. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting the other draconequus around. A shame we’re meeting under such circumstances.”

“Yeah.”

“Due to the nature of your magic,” Luna said, earning their attention. “You can’t fight Discord, as he would just use your energy to empower himself. Thus, you are to engage Tirek and keep him busy until the others defeat Discord. Knightbane will help you. He’s come up with a promising plan to beat Tirek. You must remain on guard at all times. The attack could take place in a matter of hours. Now leave us, we don’t wish to be seen in our weakened state unless it’s necessary.”

Knightbane led both draconequi to the room that separated the throne room from the rest of the palace, where he explained the entirety of his plan, and then left Draken and Havoc alone so he could make the preparations necessary for it to work.

“So, how long have you been in Equestria?” Draken asked.

“About two years, you?”

“Three. I think. I got stuck in a time loop for a few months so I’m not entirely sure.”

“That sucks. Say, you look a lot like Discord. Are you a draconequus major?”

“A what?”

“You know, a draconequus like Discord, not one like me. I’m technically a flesh golem that runs on chaos magic and is controlled by my soul.”

“Eh… I’m pretty sure I got turned into an actual draconequus.”

“But you aren’t as strong as Discord.”

“Sadly, no. I can do a lot of the things he does, just on a much smaller scale.”

Havoc nodded. “Do you also need to do chaotic stuff every now and then to avoid turning into an enraged beast that kills anything on sight?”

“Uh… No…” Draken replied, eyeing Havoc with caution. “I sometimes find it hard not to do stupid stuff, but other than that I’m normal.”

“Sucks to be me, then. Oh! If Knightbane’s plan doesn’t work, we’ll have to charge Tirek headfirst. How do you fight? I don’t want us to be on each other’s way.”

“It’s hard to say, I pretty much follow my instinct.”

“Good. Me too. We probably have the same thought pattern when fighting, so I guess we’ll cooperate without realizing it. If we try not to hit Knightbane by mistake, everything should be fine.”

A short laugh. “And just how powerful are you? I’ve heard you acted as a one man army in Gem Fido, and that even Celestia and Luna would struggle to cause so much damage,” Draken asked.

“Woah, ponies love to exaggerate. I can do some really neat things when I reach full power, but I once sparred with Cadance and she bested me without having to throw all her power into it. What happened in Gem Fido is that diamond dogs had no magic users of any kind, so I could just unleash fire and death from far away while they tried to take me down with spears and arrows. I think I could defeat an adult dragon in a fair fight if I’m at full power, but it wouldn’t be easy.”

“And how much power do you have right now?”

“Luckily for us, my batteries are full right now.”

“Good, I think we’re going to need all the dakka we can get.”

They spent the next hour talking about their experiences until Knightbane joined them and proclaimed that everything was ready. Since it was late in the evening, they decided to sleep in that room, not wanting to be caught tried and sleep deprived.

Shining Armor fell to the ground, unable to stand after his magic was stolen by Tirek. He barely managed to whisper a few words before the weakness he felt overwhelmed him. He wondered just how many ponies Tirek had already attacked in Canterlot, leaving them too weak to cry for help or raise the alarm.

Tirek looked down the balcony, and found the first members of the sizeable army of humans that Celestia had gathered in Canterlot rushing towards him, while others called for reinforcements. They had been trying to reach Discord and him for some time now, only to lose them whenever Discord teleported.

“Why don't you go and have a little fun? I won't stand in your way,” he told Discord, who giggled in delight as he saw the approaching humans. This gave some of them pause, and some of them simply ran away when the spirit of chaos slowly approached them, his giggling turning into an insane cackling and power making his body glow like a supernova.

Tirek stole the magic from the last pair of guards who tried to stop him from reaching the palace’s throne room. Given the look of desperation in their eyes, he assumed he was only a room or two away from it. When he opened the next door, his grin turned into a frown of confusion, then into a face of pure fear as he fully registered who was standing in front of him.

A female human, with a long blonde mane and eyes of pure light, was staring straight at him. She wore plate armor with magical gemstones, and wielded a flaming sword in her right hand and a large mage staff in her left one.

“Impossible!” he cried. “You vanished thousands of years ago! Why aren’t you dead?!”

“The Rainbow of Light blessed me with immortality,” she explained. “Surrender, or I’ll finish what I started twenty thousand years ago.”

Tirek took a few steps back, looking like he was about to run for his life. However, he soon overcame his panic attack and managed to look menacing again.

“Do you think you can defeat me now that your precious Rainbow of Light no longer follows your command, Megan?! You’re just an insect and I’ll crush you!”

As he said that, a ball of his dark magic grew between his horns, which released a beam of destructive magic straight at Megan. She raised her staff, its purple floating gem shining as a barrier surrounded her, deflecting the attack. She then charged, forcing Tirek to block her flaming sword with his own magic. Megan used her smaller size and superior agility to circle around Tirek and attack his exposed sides, forcing him to clumsily turn around as he tried to hit her with his fists.

Havoc, invisible and concealing his magic, looked for an opening from his position near the ceiling. It had been hard not to laugh when Tirek panicked like a little girl, but he had managed to remain silent. Tirek had grown enough to make Havoc look like a child, and the magic he’d stolen made him insanely powerful, more than anything he had ever faced, almost as much as Discord. Megan could not beat him, but she didn’t have to. Knightbane had told them that Tirek, despite how powerful he was, only had the magic of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns. Since none of these could use their magic to instantly heal their own wounds, Tirek relied on magical shields and barriers to protect himself from suffering any wounds in the first place. On top of that, his skin was nearly as durable as dragon scales, so steel weapons (and Havoc’s magic-destroying axe) were like toys to him. Because of that, a single attack with Infernal Soul while Tirek was too busy battling Megan to protect his back was their best chance to either kill him or leave him severely wounded.

A few minutes into the fight, Havoc found the opening he was looking for. Megan’s staff was firing a powerful purple beam, which Tirek countered with a beam of his own, leaving his back exposed and his body immobile. Focusing his magic into increasing his strength, Havoc hit Tirek right in the nape. The impact was powerful enough to lift Tirek from the air, as well as interrupting his spell; allowing Megan’s attack to hit him straight in the face. Tirek collapsed, lying immobile on the floor as Havoc and Megan approached him.

“Did we kill him?” Havoc asked, noticing blood seeping from the place where Infernal Soul had hit Tirek.

“You can never be too sure,” Megan replied as she lifted her flaming sword with both hands, its tip aiming at Tirek’s skull.

As the sword began its descent, Tirek’s hand shot forward, grabbing Megan’s entire torso. As Tirek crushed her, Megan cried with a masculine voice and green flames engulfed her, revealing that she had been Knightbane in disguise all along.

“Pathetic insect,” Tirek cursed, his eyes burning with rage. “You’re going to suffer more than you thought possible for this.”

Havoc tried to hit Tirek again, but his other hand grabbed the handle of Infernal Soul and held the weapon in place despite Havoc’s struggles. “You escaped me once. You won’t be so lucky this time.”

Knightbane’s staff then rose on its own and shot a magic blast at Tirek, his grip on Knightbane and Havoc slipping. The staff turned into Draken, who was wielding a large machine gun.

“Well, plan A didn’t work,” Knightbane said as he struggled to get up. “What was plan B, again?”

“Hit him till he stops moving,” Draken answered, sunglasses and a large cigar appearing on his face.

“Ha! You think you can defeat ME?!” Tirek roared. “You are nothing!”

“Fuck that noise,” Havoc said, firing a beam of chaos magic at Tirek.

Tirek tried to eat the attack, but the beam turned into a net made of chains, which surrounded Tirek’s head. Havoc then teleported to Tirek’s back and pulled from the net, forcing his humanoid body to arch back. Draken’s machine gun unleashed a barrage of bullets on Tirek’s exposed chest, but none of them managed to pierce through the magical layers that covered his body. Realizing the futility of his attack, Draken created a spear and joined Knightbane, who had retrieved the flaming sword that had used while he imitated Megan; and they attacked Tirek’s stomach with their weapons. Despite not having any visible effect, Tirek’s roaring hinted that the attacks would eventually break through his magical defenses.

Tirek’s violent thrashing managed to make Havoc slip, allowing him to fight Draken and Knightbane properly. He hit the ground with his fist, causing pillars of his destructive energy to surge all around himself and forcing the three humans to dodge and give him some room. Then a ball of energy formed between his horns and launched a large beam at Knightbane. Knightbane then pulled a guitar out of thin air and played a wicked guitar solo which created a magic barrier that diverted the attack.

Discord snapped his fingers, a stampede of giant singing potatoes with legs running over his nearest foe: a human that had turned into some sort of dinosaur made of rocks. He hadn’t had so much fun since the days when he ruled over Equestria. The humans that attacked him had so many original forms and abilities that he had to be careful or they would be more chaotic than him. He didn’t even feel concern when a dark presence slipped past his mental barriers and took control over his body.

“Hello, Discord,” a very kind and polite voice said in his mind. “You are causing quite the ruckus here.”

“Plastic Pinocchio,” Discord acknowledged the presence. “Why are you trying to stop me? It’s not like you.”

“Tirek is simply too dangerous. He could take my magic away from me, and I would truly die. I am going to use your powerful body to kill him.”

“And what, little human, makes you think you are - or ever were - in control?” Discord said, easily breaking the influence of Plastic Pinocchio’s magic on him. “Now, where are you hiding?”

Discord opened a portal in front of him, which led to an apparently empty corner of a street a dozen of meters away from his current location. He reached and grabbed Plastic Pinocchio by the neck, who turned visible as soon as Discord’s hand touched him. Plastic Pinocchio tried to mind control Discord again, violent spasms shaking his body, but Discord didn’t let him through.

“I love the smell of burning plastic in the morning,” Discord commented as a large bonfire appeared before him. Since Plastic Pinocchio couldn’t talk with telepathy while Discord kept him out of his mind, the only thing the draconequus heard when he tossed the human into the fire was his incoherent gurgles and screams. “This is the least you deserve after trying to control my mind. Now, where can I find more of these humans?”

Draken and Havoc turned into elephants at the same time and charged at Tirek. To their horrified surprise, Tirek managed to stop each of them with a single hand and, roaring, grab them by their trunks and flail them around. After heavily damaging the ground and walls with their bodies, he made them crash against each other, the brutal impact forcing them back to their original forms. Draken recovered first, teleporting Havoc and himself out of Tirek’s reach just before he could grab them again.

“How are we supposed to beat THAT?!” Draken asked, on the verge of panic.

“We must use the Fusion!” Havoc claimed, still slightly dazed.

“... That could actually work,” Draken said, surprised. “Knightbane, buy us a few seconds!”

“Roger that!” he said as he unleashed a full song on Tirek, his wings making the sounds his voice and guitar could not. The music created a hurricane which managed to halt Tirek’s advance.

While Tirek tried to overcome Knightbane’s music-based magic, Draken and Havoc performed some silly moves that looked like some ridiculous dance. When their fingertips touched, an explosion of light surrounded them, which caused both Tirek and Knightbane to stop and look. When the light vanished, a single abomination against nature had replaced the previous two. Since most of the body parts that made each of them didn’t match, the fusion looked so hideous and ungodly that Knightbane immediately started puking all over the place. It had grown to be nearly as tall as Tirek, but each of its limbs was disgusting on its own anti natural way, such as the one that was half flesh and half wood, or the one which was covered in both scales and hair. Even Tirek couldn’t help but grimace in disgust.

“I am neither Draken or Havoc, I am Dravoc! It's over Tirek, I have come for you!” the fusion of Draken and Havoc said, his voice sounding as if both of them were talking together. He started walking towards the centaur, holding Infernal Soul in his unholy arms.

Tirek encased his fists in concentrated magic and approached Dravoc. The clash of the axe against Tirek’s fist released a shockwave that nearly made Knightbane collide against a wall. Dravoc released several tendrils of chaos magic that tried to restrain Tirek’s limbs, but he managed to break them all as soon as they tried to wrap around him. Tirek replied by headbutting Dravoc, but the draconequus’ disgusting head turned into concrete, making Tirek regret his decision.

Knightbane attacked Tirek with his flaming sword, aiming at his horse half. The attack slipped through Tirek’s magical defenses, resulting in a cauterized wound that distracted him enough to let Dravoc grab him by the horns with both arms, only for two extra arms to grow from his sides and start punching Tirek’s stomach. Tirek tried to punch back, but four more arms held his own by the wrists. Roaring, Tirek released a powerful explosion of energy, which obliterated Dravoc’s eight arms. Regrowing the original two in an instant, Dravoc attacked again, this time wielding a lawnmower on his right hand and a lightsaber on the left. Tirek blocked the lightsaber with his bare hands, its cutting power nowhere near that of a real one’s, but the lawnmower hit his side with a lot of force, lifting him off his legs and making him hit the nearest wall face-first.

“GET REKT!” Dravoc shouted, the noise of air horns all over the place.

“Wow, we are actually beating him,” Knightbane said. “I’m gonna take a less offensive role to avoid getting in the way before one of those attacks blows my head off.”

Knightbane played a new song, which made Dravoc feel stronger than before. Tirek got up, brushing the pieces of masonry off his body, and eyed Dravoc with more caution than before.

“I underestimated you two,” he said. “If you swear to serve me, I’ll let you live.”

“You must be really desperate to make such an offer, Tirek!”

Tirek shrugged. “I was holding back because I don’t want to cause unnecessary damage to my future summer palace. On my way here I drained the magic of a score of ponies, who are most likely still lying on the corridor over there,” he said, pointing at the door he had come from. “Let’s see if you’re strong enough to stop me from killing them!”

Tirek made another sphere of magic appear between his horns, this one several times stronger than the previous ones, and aimed at the corridor where Dravoc could see the last two unconscious guards that Tirek had drained. Cursing, Dravoc teleported between Tirek and the guards, putting the magic-eating black axe in front of him. The axe wasn’t large enough to block the huge magical beam that Tirek released, so Dravoc had to stop it with his own magic. Even with the power increase from the fusion AND Knightbane’s music, Dravoc could only keep the attack at bay for a minute at most, then he would have to move away or die.

“Knightbane! Hit him with this!” Dravoc said as he tossed Infernal Soul at the changeling with his tail.

The axe was too large and heavy for Knightbane, so much that he couldn’t fly while carrying it. Clenching his teeth, Knightbane ran towards Tirek and prepared to bring the axe down on the back of his horse half. Tirek saw this, and stopped his attack to focus on Knightbane. Unable to dodge while wielding the heavy weapon, Knightbane took Tirek’s punch directly to the chest, his exoskeleton immediately cracking and oozing green blood. Knightbane collapsed, too injured to continue fighting, a pool of his own blood forming around him.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” Dravoc shouted.

“I doubt it,” Tirek replied as he picked Infernal Soul, which was laying next to Knightbane. “This is a good weapon. I think I’ll keep it.”

Dravoc teleported above Tirek and, opening his mouth wide, released a jet of purple flames. Tirek covered his face with his arms, the fire barely hurting him. Dravoc then made the tip of his tail turn into a massive ball with spikes and hit Tirek’s head with it. Tirek replied with Infernal Soul, forcing Dravoc to keep his distance.

“Let’s see how you like this!” Dravoc said as he created a giant birdcage around Tirek, and then an even larger strongbox around it. He kept on adding layers for a whole minute, and then the fusion ended.

“What?! Already?!” both of them complained at the same time.

“I’m gonna help Knightbane!” Draken said. “You make sure Tirek doesn’t escape until reinforcements arrive.”

“I’ll try.”

Havoc poured magic on Tirek’s prison, repairing the damage he was doing to it. However, he could feel that Tirek was breaking through faster than he could build. Meanwhile, Draken used his magic to heal as many of Knightbane’s wounds as he could.

“I’m not good at healing magic, but I think I’ve done quite a good job” he explained. “You shouldn’t try to fight again, though.”

“We don’t have much of a choice here, Draken,” Knightbane replied, grimacing as he picked his guitar and began to play again, the magic of music empowering them all.

“Draken!” Havoc called. “He’s gonna break through in a few seconds! We have to take my axe away from him or we’re dead!”

Havoc stopped trying to repair the prison and waited until he saw his axe’s blade break through the latest layer: a rather simple wooden box.

“Here’s Johnny,” Draken deadpanned, too concerned to add any emotion to his shitty reference.

A few more hits from the axe destroyed the box, making a hole large enough for Tirek to slip through. The moment he set one of his hooves out, both draconequi grabbed the handle of Infernal Soul and pulled. Snarling, Tirek tried to grab Infernal Soul with both hands, but Havoc breathed fire at him, forcing him to cover his face with his left hand. Both of them twisted the weapon at the same time, managing to yank it free from Tirek’s iron grip. Havoc promptly sent it back to his hammerspace, not wanting to give Tirek another chance at using the weapon on them.

“Enough!” Tirek said. “My patience has run out!”

Opening his mouth, Tirek tried to steal their magic out of them. This time, Havoc needed to focus entirely on countering it. The same applied to Draken, so they were unable to do anything, even move, when Tirek approached them and proceeded to beat them to a pulp. A minute later, he grew bored of harming them and decided to finish them off.

“I saw how you killed my champion, stupid as he was,” he told Havoc. “Let’s see how you like dying just like him.”

Grabbing his head, he crushed it until his brains turned into a goo that stained his hands, then cleaned them on Havoc’s fur. He then beheaded Draken with a sharp yank and crushed his skull with his teeth. Without his head, Draken couldn’t resist when Tirek began to steal his magic. By the time Tirek was done with him, Draken had only managed to regrow a new head, but the many mortal wounds that Tirek had caused him were still present. Havoc, having more time, managed to fully heal, but that left him too weak to fight against Tirek’s spell. When he felt his magic leaving him, he focused it all on his groin, and used the slivers he still had access to to make a dildo appear there. This gave the impression that Tirek was sucking the magic out of Havoc’s plastic penis.

“Suck my dick, faggot,” he taunted.

Frowning, Tirek waited until Havoc had no magic left on him to grab him by the torso and rip him in half, his guts spilling all over the flow.

“Your princesses sent you to fight me, knowing that you had no chance,” Tirek said as he approached the doors that led to the throne room. “Now you’ll die knowing that nothing you ever did matters, and that everything you love and cherish will be crushed under my hooves.”

His foes defeated and his wounds healed by the magic he had stolen, Tirek stomped towards the doors and tore them off easily. Havoc lost consciousness just before Tirek reached the defenseless alicorns.

Havoc was surrounded by nothingness. There was only him, floating in an endless void. It was a situation he had grown familiar with, but that didn’t mean he was cool with it. He was fairly certain that this time he was dead for good.

“You did so well without my help,” a female voice dripping with sarcasm said, breaking the lack of external stimuli.

“So this is the end of the road,” Havoc said. “Killed by a black and red original character. What happens now, Disharmony?”

“Nothing. Yet,” she said as she appeared before him, this time looking like a female version of him. “Your body is dead, but it’ll take your soul a couple of minutes to separate from it. When that happens, you are mine. I haven’t decided what to do with you. You mortals are so fragile, you will cease to exist or slip too far into insanity to be funny way sooner than I’d like to. Making you be my slave for two or thirty thousand years sounds more entertaining than simple torture. Who knows? If you prove to be better as a slave than as a chesspiece, I might give you a second chance at becoming free. Or not. We’ll cross that bridge when we reach it.”

Havoc found himself unable to say anything, so soon Disharmony began to tap her foot against nothing, annoyed by the awkward silence. Two minutes later, she looked around in surprise.

“But, how?! Curse you Havoc, you are going to survive after all!” Baring her teeth, she drew closer to Havoc. “I should just kill you myself, but it’s not worth the trouble. We’ll meet again. Soon.”

She vanished, leaving Havoc alone with his thoughts. Minutes later, he felt a suction force pulling him towards an increasingly powerful light in the distance.

“Don’t you dare die on me, Havoc!” Screwball shouted. She had given him much of the magic inside of her, but it didn’t seem to be working. “Who will I punch when I feel mad if you are dead?!”

Havoc woke up, his body functioning again thanks to Screwball’s chaos magic. His first action was to instinctively join back his lower half to the rest of his body with magic, healing the massive damage caused by Tirek but using up most of the magic he had been given.

“What the heck are you doing here?” he asked, a bit lightheaded due to the blood loss.

“You can’t lie for shit, Havoc. I knew that something important was going on if you needed my magic. I already knew about Tirek being free and Discord chasing after him because I spied on Twilight Sparkle when she told her friends, so I connected the dots. So, when you left, I did everything I could to recharge, and came here after the sunrise. I arrived here five minutes ago, and I’ve been trying to save your ass since then. Aaaaand I just gave you all my chaos magic, again.”

Havoc gave her a big hug. “You’re awesome. I want to kiss and fuck you right now.”

“Not happening. Listen, Tirek sent the princesses to Tartarus and then Discord told him how to find Twilight Sparkle. They are going to Ponyville as we speak. If Tirek gets the magic of alicorns our only hope will be to put as much distance between us and him as possible.”

“Alright, alright,” Havoc said, slowly getting up. He then noticed that Draken and Knightbane were also in the room. “Maybe we should try to help these two.”

Screwball shrugged as Havoc approached Draken. He was unconscious and bleeding from several deep wounds. Havoc extended his arm, getting ready to share as much chaos magic as he could with him.

I see you in the middle of a desert, along with someone else. You have a violet and white canteen, but there’s not enough water for you two. You’ll only survive if you let him die of thirst.

Plastic Pinocchio’s words came to his mind so powerfully that he almost jumped back. Screwball noticed his hesitation. “What are you waiting for?”

“I… I can’t give him any energy. I need it too much.”

“Fine, let him die. Even if both of us gave him everything we have, it probably wouldn’t be enough to heal all those wounds.”

“... Shit,” Havoc cursed, turning his back on Draken and approaching Knightbane. The changeling was also unconscious, but his wounds didn’t look so severe. A quick tapping on his face woke him up.

“Oh, I’m alive...” he whispered. “Did we win?”

“No, he killed Draken and I barely survived. Are you dying?”

“I think so... I’m gonna ask you a big favor... Havoc,” he said, wheezing. “You have to let me feed on your love.... Love energy will make me strong enough to... survive these wounds.”

“Alright, do it,” he said, trying to compensate for the fact that he had left Draken to die.

Knightbane’s eyes suddenly became too interesting for Havoc to stop staring. He felt as if Knightbane was a mix of everyone he loved, as well as said love leaving his body, and forced himself to stay still and not resist. In just under a minute, Knightbane’s breathing became more steady and he stopped feeding. Havoc shook his head, trying to get rid of the feeling that he was dead inside.

“Havoc, tell me how much I’ve missed. We need to act fast,” Knightbane said, his voice much stronger than before. “I know how you’re feeling right now, but you can’t let that distract you. Wait, who’s that?” he said, point at Screwball.

“Screwball. Long story. She’s on our side. Why didn’t you turn invisible, Screwball?”

“I can’t exactly turn invisible when I’m out of juice.”

“Huh. Whatever, it’s not like Discord can get in any more trouble, right?” Havoc said before giving Knightbane a summary of what he knew.

“Let’s hope Twilight fixes everything,” Knightbane said. “There’s nothing we can do to stop Tirek now, but we can still help. I can’t walk with these injuries, so you’ll have to carry me around. Celly told me what I should do if Tirek won and I survived.”

Havoc turned into his reindeer form and helped Knightbane sit on his back, then used his ability to walk on thin air to move around as gently as possible. Knightbane led them to a chamber he recognised: it was where the Elements of Harmony used to be stored.

“Use my sword on the lock and the door will open,” Knightbane said, so Havoc lowered him to the ground and turned into his draconequus form to pick the sword.

When the sword slid into the lock, Havoc felt powerful enchantments recede one after the other until the massive door opened on its own. Surprised, Havoc looked as around fifty unicorns, most of them with healing-related cutie marks, walked out of the vault, led by no other than Prince Blueblood. Some of them rushed towards Knightbane, their horns glowing as they covered his wounds with bandages and ointments.

“I assume Tirek and Discord won and all of Canterlot’s residents have lost their magic, right?” Blueblood asked, barely waiting for them to confirm his guess.

“Your attention, everypony!” Blueblood shouted when all of them were out of the vault. “The attack on Canterlot is over! Do not waste time on those who have only lost their magic! Focus on everypony with injuries that can be actually treated! Team one, rush to the hospital and ensure that it’s still running and nopony is unattended! Team two, go to the noble district! Team three, with me! You three!” he added, pointing at Havoc’s group. “Follow and protect team two, we can’t discard looters or other unsavory individuals trying to take advantage of the situation.”

The three teams galloped in different directions, Havoc carrying the now heavily bandaged Knightbane while Screwball stared at anypony who glanced at her until they averted their eyes.

“I didn’t expect Blueballs to be a good leader,” Havoc commented. “Or able to do anything at all under pressure.”

“He’s not as bad as you might think,” Knightbane explained. “He’s a total prick and it’s impossible to stand him for more than a few minutes, but when it comes to management and leading he knows what he’s doing.”

Knightbane tried to ask Screwball some questions, but the way she frowned whenever he looked at him eventually made him decide to chat with Havoc instead. Their chatter was replaced by shocked silence when they saw the extent of the damage Discord’s fight against the humans had caused.