Havoc woke up with the sunrise, feeling completely recovered. When he walked out of his house he was smiling, and found his friend and neighbour Sylas lawn mowing. They chatted for awhile about what they had done the previous day until Havoc took flight and went to the palace.

The guards who greeted him looked exhausted, as did many of the ponies he had soared over, but other than that Canterlot looked just like it did before the attack. However, once inside the palace, he found a long queue of creatures he recognised as former humans, some of them sporting strange injuries. They were in the room where Tirek had beaten him and his allies, which had been already repaired.

“What’s this about?” he asked to the last one in the queue, who looked a lot like the Swamp Thing.

“They all want to speak to the Royal Sisters. It’s mostly whining and complaining, and the rare ones who are here for a serious reason.”

Havoc groaned. “I’ll try again later, got other things to do.”

His office was on the other other side of the palace, so he simply teleported there. To his surprise, Trixie was already working behind her desk, wearing a bandage that covered everything above his eyes. ”Jesus, Trixie, what happened to you?”

“Trixie is fine. I ran into a streetlight while trying to escape from Tirek and fell unconscious. Trixie woke up several hours later in a hospital, with her magic back.”

“You really shouldn’t be working if you hit your head that hard. Didn’t they tell you to rest for a few days?”

“I’m fine, Havoc. You, on the other hoof, have so much to do that you’ll be begging Trixie for mercy before lunch break.”

She was right. The amount of work that, one way or another, ended up assigned to Havoc was insane. Eventually, they stopped to have lunch and take a small break before returning to work. To celebrate that they were still alive, Havoc decided to invite Trixie to eat at a nearby restaurant instead of the palace’s canteen. When they got there, he was surprised to find Cadance and Shining Armor sharing a table with Prince Blueblood.

“Sir Havoc!” Shining Armor called when their gazes met. “Would you and your friend mind joining us for lunch?”

Cadance gave Shining and brief look, but nevertheless smiled and waved at them to take a seat.

“Is this real or are you pulling my leg?” Trixie whispered, staring at the three royals wide-eyed.

“It’s real and it’s going to be SO awkward,” Havoc whispered back before replying to Shining. “You honor me, prince Shining Armor!”

It hadn’t occurred to Havoc that the restaurant, being so close to the palace, was often used by those who lived in or near the palace. Blueblood looked at them with a small frown, but said nothing as they sat to his right, facing the royal couple. Havoc introduced Trixie to them, the showmare being so intimidated that she didn’t refer to herself in the third person a single time while ordering her food.

“Ah, so you are Trixie. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time now.” Shining Armor said, making her color drain from her face. “You must be tough as nails to be able to stand working with Havoc for such a long time.”

“It’s not that bad,” Trixie said after a nervous chuckle. “He usually tries to get everything done as soon as possible so he can leave work early, so there’s no time for antics.”

“Also, I don’t feel comfortable fooling around in the palace. I always feel like Princess Celestia is going to blast me for misbehaving.”

Prince Blueblood grinned. “Ah, yes. Celestia has that effect on ponies.”

“I think we’ve all felt like that around her at least once,” Cadance said, making everyone nod.

“It’s incredible how fast things have gone back to normal in Canterlot. This morning, I went to the same room where I fought Tirek and all the damage was already repaired.”

“That was mostly Discord’s work,” Blueblood said. “He blasted the whole city with his magic and undid most of the damage. Didn’t you feel it? The spell was so powerful it was felt from here to Ponyville.”

Havoc realized that must have happened while he was in the Dream World, explaining why he didn’t feel it. “At least he’s making up for what he did.”

“Now that we’re talking about this, I would like to know just what happened to you and Knightbane,” Blueblood said. “I saw both of you in Canterlot after Tirek, but Knightbane’s been missing ever since.”

“Right. With all that happened, I forgot about him. I think he’s still alive, but some stuff happened before Tirek was defeated. I’d rather talk about it later, if you don’t mind,” Havoc replied, hoping to earn time to decide how to say what happened while making himself be the hero who stopped the evil Knightbane.

“Not at all. Meet me at my office around dusk and then we’ll talk.”

They talked about trivial stuff until they got served, and they didn’t linger after that due to their busy schedules.

“Thanks Celestia it’s over,” Trixie said when they were well out of the royal’s earshot.

“It wasn’t that bad, I thought Blueblood was a massive dick but he seemed OK.”

“Well, you’ve never antagonized the little sister of one of the most powerful stallions alive and then had lunch with him, have you?”

“Oh, right, I totally forgot about that. In any case, I don’t think he’d hold a grudge over that.”

“I’d rather not tempt fate, Havoc.”

Several hours later, Havoc knocked on Blueblood’s door. He was mentally exhausted from all the paperwork he had done until a few minutes ago, but he knew a sharp wit now could save him a lot of trouble in the future.

“Come in,” he heard, and when he did he was surprised to find that Blueblood wasn’t alone: Princess Celestia herself was there.

“Princess, I didn’t expect your presence.”

“I decided to save my dear nephew the trouble of re telling me what you said to him.”

“Now, sir Havoc, tell us everything that happened from the moment you fought Tirek,” Blueblood said.

Havoc went over it, sparing no detail. How their initial attack failed, everything they tried on Tirek afterwards, how Screwball saved him from near death, and how Draken died because they didn’t have enough magic to heal his injuries. He quickly went over what they did before leaving Canterlot, and then explained why he and Knightbane got in a fight.

“I would have tried to stop him without harming him, but I was so weakened that he might have beaten me if I showed restraint.”

“So you left him heavily injured in the middle of the forest.”

“Eh… To be honest, I completely forgot about him the moment I walked into Princess Twilight’s new palace.”

Blueblood facehoofed, while Celestia just sighed. “At least now we know what happened,” he said. “Still, Knightbane trying to kill Discord... “

“We shall discuss that later. Now, Havoc, I have been told that you plan to leave Canterlot.”

“Yep. I feel like I’m just wasting my time here. I have all this power yet the only thing I do is paperwork while all the others keep growing stronger. I’m not sure where to go, but I know I don’t want to live the rest of my days as a glorified white-collar worker.”

Celestia looked pensive for a few seconds before replying. “How does protecting Gem Fido from dragon raids sound? Lord Drogur is having trouble keeping them in check. Lone dragons attack even the smallest settlement, and they’ve started to team up to terrorize large cities and force them to give away their treasures. Sending ponies or diamond dogs against dragons is sending them to their certain deaths, and we have nowhere near enough Wonderbolts to protect such a large area.”

“I think you overestimate me, princess. Adult dragons are very powerful. I could beat one if I fight with all my power, but a team of them? They would destroy me.”

“Rest assured, it won’t come to that. Lord Drogur has been working on a detection system to anticipate attacks. He's reported that soon they will be able to locate all dragons in Gem Fido and react accordingly. You won't have to fight against more than you can handle. Plus, you aren’t the first one I have sent to help."

"Hm… Then I guess I could do that. I still need to find someone to take over my current job, though."

"Have you asked Lord Attila?" Blueblood asked. "He's here in Canterlot and he's sharp for a dog."

"Hm... "

Attila sat behind his new desk, confused. That morning, Havoc had materialized right in front of him as he woke up, giving him quite the scare. Then he had babbled about duties and responsibilities and told him that he was leaving his job and expected Attila to replace him. He still wasn’t sure why he had accepted, and now that he was about to actually start he felt lost.

“... Who’s going to rule over Yellow Topaz now that I’m here?” he wondered as his new assistant, a pony named Trixie who kept talking about herself in the third person, placed a stack of papers in front of him.

“I’m sure they will manage. Now, Trixie needs you to sign all of these and write letters to the people in this list explaining to them that you’re sir Havoc’s replacement.”

While Attila scratched his head in confusion, Havoc boarded the train to the Crystal Empire, along with Cadance and Shining Armor. He had shrunk himself to pony size so he would fit comfortably inside, and was sipping tea while discussing with Cadance about taxes and the tricks ponies used to pay less than they ought to.

“As you can expect, the last taxing system the Empire had was a thousand years old, and totally incapable of handling Equestria’s current economy, so I decided to change to the equestrian one. The thing is, I didn’t expect the crystal ponies to have such a high rate of tax evasion. I swear, sometimes it’s like they knew how to cheat the system the moment they were born.”

“It doesn’t help that Equestria’s system has so many loopholes and ways to legally avoid taxes.”

“Such as?” Shining asked.

“Well, for starters, your wealth tax only takes into account actual money, so ponies can get rid of that tax by buying stuff like gold and selling it when they need the cash. You also have very little tax enforcement, so most ponies who don’t pay taxes will never face trouble for it. Equestria gets away with it because ponies there pay taxes willing and happily, but the Crystal Empire isn’t like that.” Havoc kept talking about ways to cheat the system, both legal and illegally, until Shining Armor asked him to stop before his head would explode.

“Just how do you know so much about taxes?” he asked.

"I studied accounting and economics back when I was human, and I have worked for almost a year first as a financial advisor and then as a treasurer."

"I just can't picture you with a balance sheet."

"Sometimes I feel like using my knowledge to take advantage of your immature economy and become filthy rich, but it would be too much work."

"Jeez, and here I thought your magic was your most dangerous weapon," Cadance said.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to be blasted by the Elements of Harmony for creating stock exchange or pyramid schemes."

Hours later, the train arrived at the Crystal Empire. Havoc noticed a very large crowd of ponies, and asked the couple about it.

“Oh, right, we didn’t tell you,” Shining said. “There’s a parade celebrating Tirek’s defeat and the fact that we’re back safe and sound. It won’t take long, we’re just going to get on a carriage and wave at ponies until we reach the palace.”

“You have fun with that, I feel like getting some ice cream. I’ll come by the palace in a few hours. Or sooner, if I grow bored. I don’t know. Later!”

Havoc disguised himself as the unicorn Golden Shower and slip unnoticed while everypony cheered for the return of their leaders. After a few minutes he was walking down the street, enjoying the chocolate ice cream he had just bought, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Oatmeal? Are you crazy?”

Turning around, he found Diane walking with a laughing group of five crystal mares. Her eyes glinted with recognition when she saw him. “Wait, girls, that’s my uncle Golden right there! What are you doing here, uncle?” she asked as she ran towards him and hugged him.

“I have decided to leave Canterlot and try my luck in Gem Fido. Something about that Tirek monster attacking the city made me realize I was wasting my time there. So, who are your friends?”

“Oh, right! Girls, this is Golden Shower, my uncle. Uncle, these are Crepuscule Twinkle, Aurora Sprint, Quiverquiet, Rarity and Berryjack.”

Havoc looked at the five mares, amused. For some reason, they reminded him of another group of mares that lived in Ponyville. “How did you make friends so fast? You’ve been here for, what, two days?”

“A day and a half, actually.”

“Heh, I can’t believe you befriended the crystal pony equivalents of-”

“ANYWAYS, we were going to see the royal couple,” she said, interrupting him. “They are throwing a parade and all, do you want to join us?”

“Sure, why not.”

Soon after they reached the crowd of ponies surrounding the parade, Havoc was approached by Crepuscule Twinkle, who wanted to know if he had seen Tirek. When he said yes, she asked several questions, which Havoc answered as truthfully as possible without revealing his true nature. Further into their conversation, he mentioned that he knew another pony named Rarity, and Twinkle told him that Rarity was, ironically, a very common name in the Crystal Empire. Despite the unsettling similarity between the group and the Elements of Harmony, Havoc enjoyed spending time with them. They all went back to their jobs and responsibilities when the parade was over, leaving Havoc and Diane alone.

“It’s so good to see you’re safe,” she said. “I was so worried!”

“You don’t need to worry about me, Diane. It’ll take more than a dumb centaur on steroids to end me.”

“Drop the tough guy act, Havoc. Tirek’s way stronger than you, you could have died.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to worry about me. When are you going back to Trottingham?”

“In a day or two. I mean, I love this place and my new friends who don’t especially resemble any other group of ponies at all, but poor Lady Robin won’t survive a week without me.”

“I’m going to Gem Fido, dragons are attacking more than ever before and they need as much help as they can get. Still, I want to give you this,” he said, cutting a leaf from his left arm. “Comet Tail burned the one I gave her when Tirek attacked Trottingham. I guess that I don’t have to tell you that you only must burn it in a life-or-death situation, not a ‘this party needs more balloons: better summon Havoc’.”

Diane gave him an unamused look. “I won’t play around with it. Now, I’m sure you have a lot of important stuff to do, and I have only so many days to learn all the traditional crystal foods and party traditions before I go back home! Have fun with the dragons!” she added as she teleported him directly in front of the crystal palace with her necklace.

A bit confused, he turned back to his original form and went straight into the palace, stopping to speak with every other guard, as he had dealt with most of them during the war. He was surprised to hear that Emerald Sword was now a father from one of his colleagues, and that another guard had married as soon as they came back. As usual, Flash Sentry was guarding the door that led to the throne room, so Havoc blatantly ignored him and talked to the other guard just to piss him off. Inside the throne room, Havoc found the royal couple listening intently to a diamond dog, who was the first in a queue of around twenty individuals, most of them ponies.

“Hey, Havoc,” Emerald Sword, who was the closest of the four guards inside the room, called him. “I’m sorry but you’ll have to get in the queue with the rest.”

“Hey, Emerald, I heard the good news. Congratulations. Aren’t you taking a few days off?”

“This is a very busy day, I’m taking a month off starting tomorrow to help in the house.”

“What are you naming him?”

“We’re naming him after one of the ponies we respect the most.”

“Let me guess: Sombra?”

Emerald Sword snorted, amused. “Nope.”

“One of the ponies you respect the most… Havoc?”

“Modesty aside, right? It’s a pony name, so don’t try Drogur or Aio or Wartooth.”

“Woah, am I really that predictable? Hm… I guess you aren’t naming him after yourself. Who could you look up to enough to name your son after him? Is it a crystal pony?”

“No.”

“... Shining Armor?” Emerald Sword smiled, making Havoc squeal with joy like a five years old. “That’s so cute!”

“Yeah, now get in the line.”

Havoc zoned out while waiting for his turn, being just aware enough of his surroundings to move forward with the rest. Eventually, he snapped out of it when the last pony in front of him left.

“Your turn, Havoc. Let’s see if I can find the document…” Havoc said as he went through a stack of papers on a table next to his throne. “Here it is! Havoc, there’s a zeppelin leaving the city tonight. It’s going to carry some vital assets to Granite Back. You must board it and protect its cargo until you arrive. There, Alpha Gwar will tell you where to go next.”

“So he’s Granite Back’s alpha now?”

“Yes, when he returned from Canterlot, his father surrendered his title to him so Gwar could rule Granite Back while he takes care of Gem Fido.”

“Did they just skip the fighting for the title thing, then?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Drogur is trying to convince dogs that it’s best to have alphas that are good at leading rather than alphas that are great fighters and nothing else.”

“How is that working out for him?”

“Better than we expected, but most warrens won’t have elections or anything of the sort any time soon,” Cadance said. “That will be all, sir Havoc. We wish you good luck in your mission.”

Havoc bowed and flew out of the palace, going directly to the docking station, where he found three zeppelins. Finding the right one was easy enough, as its captain shouted at him to get in the moment he saw him. Soon after the captain showed him the zeppelin’s layout and where his room was, he was briefing the crew about what he was likely to do if they were attacked. Among the ponies and diamond dogs, Havoc was surprised to see a chimpanzee wearing a lab coat and smoking from a pipe. When he was done talking to them, the chimp approached him.

“You have the most lovely eyes,” he told her, noticing they were just like his.

The chimp shook its head in exasperation. “Whatever. Listen up: name’s Zira and I was also a human before I was sent here six months ago,” the chimp said with a high-pitched tone of voice that identified her as female. “Follow me, I want to show you the cargo you have to protect at all costs.”

Zira led him through the insides of the zeppelin, eventually reaching a heavily reinforced steel door. The protective spells on the door felt like an itch all over his skin, until Zira took a key from a pocket in her coat and opened it. Inside, Havoc found dozens of identical metallic contraptions, which looked like miniature flying saucers, being less than 2 meters long, and with several gemstones embedded all over them.

“What are these things?” he asked.

“They are satellites. Do you know about the dragon location system?”

“I’ve only been told that Drogur has one.”

“These satellites make it possible. They are made of an alloy of iron and magicite that acts as a magic battery. The golden gems on top are sunstones, which turn sunlight into magic to power the whole thing. The blue gems on the bottom are levistones, which allow the satellite to ignore gravity and stay afloat. The red ones are rubies enchanted with a magic detection spell. Dragons have so much magic inside of them that the rubies can detect them from hundreds of miles away. Lastly, the emeralds broadcast the information the rubies acquire, so we can read that information if we have a properly enchanted system on the ground.”

Havoc stared at Zira for several seconds, letting all the information sink. “So what do you do with that information the gem sends?”

“The short explanation is that it shows where every dragon is on a map in real time. That way, any city with a receiver can know if a dragon is coming their way up to a day before it gets there, giving them plenty of time to get ready.”

“Wow, that’s incredible,” he said. He had examined the spells and their complexity had left him dumbfounded. “Does it work on something other than dragons?”

“It shows any concentration of magic big enough to be picked up, such as alicorns, a few humans or ley lines.”

“But… Couldn’t the dragons just fly up and knock these down?”

“They can’t because the satellites are one hundred kilometers high. No dragon can fly that high, the air just isn’t dense enough for them.”

“So they are up there circling the planet just like Earth ones?”

“Not quite. You see, this planet does not rotate. Instead, the Sun and the Moon rotate around it. The Sun is actually about as big as the Moon here, which should be impossible in our universe. Because of that, the satellites can remain in the same position as long as the gravity nullifiers function and there won’t be any kind of relative movement between them and Equis.”

“I guess you designed these.”

“That’s right. When I heard about the problems they were having here with dragon attacks I just came up with this. At first I wanted it to detect heat because of how warm dragons are, but I soon found that it’s easier to track magic than it is to see infrared light with enchanted gemstones.”

“How did you learn how to do all of this? It’s beyond anything this planet has right now, and you said you’ve been here for only half a year.”

“Soon after arriving here, I found myself with nothing to do but study this universe’s inner workings. For example, the laws of physics are similar to ours, but not the same. Electromagnetism is fundamentally different, and magic has an effect on almost everything. Learning all of that, plus the knowledge I brought here, was enough for me to do all of this.”

“That’s amazing. The only thing I’ve learned is how to avoid taxes. Now I wish I had studied something other than economics back on Earth.”

Zira shrugged. “In any case, you must ensure that the satellites remain safe. They are quite expensive, and once we set them up we’ll finally have full coverage of the Gem Fido territories. We’ve been at it for months, so we suspect the dragons might be wisening up. They might try to destroy the satellites before we can launch them.”

“Understood.”

Zira frowned for a few seconds, seemingly lost in thought, before talking again. “Alright, we’ve been here long enough. I don’t want your magic to damage the satellites and I’ve lots of things to do.”

After the door was properly sealed again, Havoc followed Zira to the part of the ship where their rooms were, and decided to take a nap so he wouldn’t be sleepy while watching over the ship the whole night.