Midday
December 25th, 73 BNM
Equestria, Canterlot
Royal Palace

Over a year and a half since the encounter with that 'assasin' outside the Savant's guild, and despite his best efforts, Starswirl had made little headway. What tales of Siral's return there were had led to dead ends. Rumours, myths spread by fanatics it seemed, who when he did manage to track down one, admitted with a great amount of nervousness that they'd been paid to mislead him, to in their precise words, 'mislead a key ally of the Royal family'.
And yet, Starswirl sensed this was a half-truth. True, relations between the Royalists, Nationalists and Separatists were still somewhat tense, despite having simmered down, and any opportunity to undermine the other without causing trouble or battle wasn't ignored entirely. Yet, this seemed rather elaborate for simple deception to distract him from possibly advising the royal family, and too coincidental with his subtle flash in his mind of the being of Envy having emerged.
Worse yet, last year, in the past few months there had been 4 more, the beings of Greed, Wrath, Lust and Gluttony had also emerged somewhere, in quick succession. The only relief he had was that the beings of Sloth and Pride, whatever and wherever they were, had been slow and not yet come to light. Something was afoot, as feelings like this that the prophecy by the Oracles so long ago gave him hadn't been wrong. Vague, but never wrong.
The only upshot of the past year and a half had been that the 3 sides had begrudgingly traded and got along, though again, tensions were still there, from before and after the initial 7 year fighting period that had ended only 6 years ago.
Yet another year of stress and anxiety to Starswirl's mind. 5 beings of 7 had been born, he thought, and yet, nothing had come of it. Usually these things transpired soon after he received any premonition of the prophecy burned into his mind and magic, but this was unusual.
Yet he'd never been deceived before, and he knew they were out there.
And so as he found himself a special guest to the Royal Family's hearth warming day, in spite of them receiving few visitors on the actual day, he couldn't relax. Every day was a subtle stress of worry on his mind.
The official Hearth's Warming ball had gone smoothly enough, the tensions between the 3 sides evident but diminished as already noted. Today was supposed to be a day of calm, celebrating peace and unity, the irony of the date having grown less each year since the fighting stopped 6 years ago.
Starswirl was in constant turmoil, and while subtle it may have been, it didn't go unnoticed.

Midday
Royal lounge areas

The roaring fireplace that warmed the entire lounge hall crackled in the background, as Starswirl sat in the corner of the room, nose deep in scrolls, not enjoying the pleasant atmosphere himself. His blue cloak, the same one that Celestia and Luna had adorned with star and moon décor as a present of thanks to a teacher, lay nearby on a chair as he busied himself. He liked making himself busy, it kept him busy, he put his tension to good use, inventing spells and potions, though he recalled Siral had always been more skilled at potions, while not as good as he at spellwork.
When he found leads, he continued searching for Siral, for the 5 who he knew were out there. Chack's arm had long since regrown, and he had returned to the Nationalist territory, to his metalshop and forge business, always willing to help Starswirl now, after he saw something was afoot that had cost him an arm.

As King Nova had faintly fallen asleep on a pile of cushions near the fire, as he often did after a glass of mulled wine beside a fireplace this time of year, it was Queen Aurora, with Princesses Celestia and Luna in tow, that tried to get the wizard to come away from the reading. But to little avail.
"Must you focus on your endeavours even at this time?"
"Yes." Starswirl remarked, while Queen Aurora reminded Starswirl:
"We consider you a family friend, known as long as my daughters have lived, and known for legacy on top of that. Not taking part is not only rude, but saddening to see."
Starswirl turned from his scroll, to see Queen Aurora looking strongly at him, though she always gave the old wizard a degree of leniency. Princess Celestia and Luna's eyes were alight with pleading though, for Starswirl to at least lighten up.
As the sunlight was streaming from a window nearby, Starswirl submitted, as he said with a vague sense of mixed melancholy and apology:
"I've lived long, seen much, I cannot truly appreciate friendships as much, especially not with the duties I am burdened with."
"We manage, us and mother and father." Luna quipped, at which Aurora smiled gently at her younger daughter, while Celestia asked gently to the Wizard, knowing he struggled to socialise, and always had for some reason:
"Surely you had some friends once, even if gone now? What better time to say of them than today?"
Starswirl was quiet, as he thought bitterly of the one friend he thought would have reunited with him, and yet had not. Siral may well never reappear.
But he hadn't been the only one he'd known.
Trying to remember with precision, Starswirl recalled with some mild fondness:
"Maybe, I could tell you of some I haven't spoken of. My old friend, Siral, is known, but not ones we met. You know of the only one I met without Siral, as we parted ways before that."
With some magic, the princesses pulled some pillows over for their mother to sit on, before they got some for themselves. Knowing he had the bag of shrunken trinkets he kept at all times, Starswirl remarked:
"I did receive tokens of friendshop from them, 5 of them, the 6th I encountered, you have already met my Queen. Chack, even if we don't agree on ideals all the time."
"I thought you seemed oddly keen of that Salamander, despite your differences." Queen Aurora remarked, while Starswirl pulled out and resized the 5 trinkets the 5 he'd travelled through time and met had given him. And so he told the tale of Mashri, Hi'nai, Frello, Nahia and Irvin, and the events, sans mention of the prophecy connecting them all, but not omitting the Alicorn Geldrath and his torture of Siral, to them. Mashri's gladius sword, Hi'nai's family necklace, Frello's neck scarf, Nahia's preserved fur tuft, and Irvin's compass, and the stories behind each one, from the glory of the Romane Empire, the Pandina mountains and forests, to Pahrii's festival and churches, the Malabutu valley jungle's beauty and horrors, and the desolate wastes and hidden treasures and threats of the north Muttlantic and Glaceland areas, and he even regaled what tales unfolded in Salaman with Chack, and the history of his warrior class, and how honour meant all to them.
It felt good, talking about friends he had not lost to misunderstanding or mystery.

Late Afternoon
Equestria, North Midland valley lake
Military Fortress, the Stone Citadel.
Sat alone in his study, as a Grey wizard mused on his old friend and others he met, Siral also couldn't help but remember better, simpler times, especially on that travel with Starswirl.
Siral kept only one item to remember Starswirl, and it wasn't even something the wizard had to begin with. On their meeting of the magic exemplar, against a power hungry sorcerer dragon, Ghung Chian, a magic sapping medallion he used was acquired, which Starswirl let Siral take for study. It was a reminder of what they dealt with together.
Siral had learned from the medallion, and could perform magic beyond it, though he still used it from time to time for ease's sake, but also because it made him remember times when he was less exposed to the harshness of the world, of Equestria's Alicorn problem, when the world was full of mystery to explore and learn from for learning's sake.
A small token, all he kept, nothing more, as he knew the future beckoned, especially tonight, when there was no going back.

The fortress was a hub of festivities, to which their master had fully allowed it. Both secretly, and in public, Siral/Blackmane urged celebration of this bright moment in Equestria's history, of better times long ago.
In the barracks, the number of guards was halved, many returning to their families from nearby villages in the mountains, the ones that remained celebrating with feasting, drinking, dancing and music. What was first warding off fearful Windigo spirits from the frozen tundras to which not even the Crystal Ponies or New Gryphons ventured evolved into more traditions if anything.
For those more exclusive 6 under Siral, who often disguised, they celebrated in their own way together. Even the enhanced dragon, Golmov, whose now over year of using magic could now venture about as a guard to not attract attention if he ventured out of the Citadel.
Golmov took some convincing to understand the concept of gift giving, being the traditional dragon he was. But a compromise was reached, as he and the other 4 had magic to make at least small objects from anything, with effort and thought.
It was Lady Ave-Dol who proposed a more meaningful manner of 'gift giving', which didn't infringe on Golmov's desires to hoard treasures already in existence. They would make gifts for each other, thought out gifts to reflect their unity.
It came easier to some, while Siral stood by. He had plans for one particular present to a certain grey Earth Pony, that might finally yield results, and unleash his true form, later tonight. And with it, usher in the first step towards his grand plan.
For now, peaceful exchanges prevailed.

Living Quarters

The fact that Odi-Viscer gifted them all miniature wood carved sculptures was not a surprise, but he had become much better now, to the point where the paints he'd borrowed resembled their likeness. Each of them now had a wood carving of their old form, and for those 4 who were enhanced, 1 of their new enhanced form at its basic.
Golmov, being the greedy dragon, now serpent dragon/spider with feathery wings he was, had trouble finding gifts he'd be willing to part with. But his gift was one to be shared, and one made all the better with Satio's gift. The dragon had used his magic and fire to melt pure gold, which with his magic he could find much more easily than before, and with what little he could tolerate giving up formed a set of food plates with intricate dragon scale patterns on the edges, and enchanted so they'd never stain.
Satio, still the chef he was, had decided he would prepare a wide array of Hearth's warming cakes for them, even finding some ruby fragments for Golmov's cakes to be filled with. The former fat minotaur, now bloblike creature's cakes had been served on the spiderlike dragon's golden plateware.
Iena had opted for a bit of ambiance, as she had used what of her magic she could use delicately to collect many fine silken fabrics and turn them into curtains and banners around the living hall near the fireplace, magic acting on them to gently change colour across the rainbow spectrum. The Siren/Basilisk and Changeling scaled and 2 armed 'naga' as she was called by herself, had brightened up the room.
Teal Quirt on the other hand, added to the ambience by exercising her most intricate knowledge among the 5 enhanced. Taking an entire collection of instruments, her magic now had them playing quiet music from a corner of the room, memorised to play by her newfound powers going by musical sheets, and even eavesdropping on heath performances across villages in Equestria she'd spied on.
Lady Ave-Dol had opted for something simple, as the pale blue and blond maned Alicorn had opted to go for a classic, which she worked on for a week before today. Hearth's Warming scarves.
Despite some liking them more than others, they all wore them around their necks, long or short, fat or slender, each coloured to match their new eye shades as Ave-Dol saw them. Odi's was red, Golmov's yello, Teal's was Green, Iena's deep blue, Satio's orange, and her own was light blue to match her coat.
Wandering through the living room area, Ave-Dol gave a small smile as she looked around at these united, hard lived beforehand souls.
On a small couch, as they had no reason to hide their forms here, save change their size perhaps, Iena lay coiled upon the couch as her longer upper body wrapped behind Satio's orange, blubbery and gelatinous form, while she lay gently staring at the fireplace, her siren ear flaps sagging in relaxation as Satio gently munched on the cakes he'd allocated for himself, some through his mouth, the rest he simply put onto his belly to absorb directly into himself at will, smiling slightly through his small head as the naga like being, smaller than himself, lay draped across his reclined shoulders, her clawed arm around his neck affectionately.
Passing by the others, Ave-Dol saw Teal Quirt reading a scroll to herself in a small armchair she'd magically materialised into existence, her scorpion legs idly twitching as her eyes scanned the wording, her draconic hands reclined as it was her quad horn magic that held the scroll for her to read.
Meanwhile, Golmov sat with Odi-Viscer, the enhanced dragon's long body coiled up, 4 gryphon wings retracted as he was looming over the normal looking Earth Pony at a table, snorting with some laughter as Odi raised the knife yet again, and drove it down onto his forearm, getting stuck only a hair's length into his bald skin.
His enhancements had at least ensured his skin was as strong as stone, but not much more yet, and by now Ave-Dol had long got over the initial horror of seeing him testing that 'party' trick on himself when he first tried it a year ago.
Carrying the black scarf, as she saw all the others, herself included, wearing the ones she'd made, she walked up.
Siral had insisted he didn't want, nor need, any gifts, that he'd outgrown the festivities despite endorsing them in his own fortress.
But she wouldn't let him be entirely left out.

Walking through a corridor, Ave-Dol turned to walk up a stairwell, the Alicorn's hooves clicking on the stone as she gently hummed a hearth's tune to herself. But a scarred, Black Unicorn suddenly walked down the steps, his hoofsteps eerily quiet as usual. Stopping, Siral looked quizzically at her as he noted:
"I thought you would be with the others, enjoying the day's celebrations."
Quietly, Ave-Dol extended the black scarf to Siral, as she remarked softly: "I was going to give you this, a gift to you, for your role in helping them get along."
Siral was quiet, as he enveloped the black scarf in his grey and slightly black hued magic, staring at it blankly as he remarked:
"What for?"
"It is what is done between friends on this day."
Siral was quiet, as he remarked with a slight coldness to it: "I do not feel that close to anypony, and have not for a long time, nor felt the need to. But I understand and appreciate the sentiment, my lady."
Ave-Dol was saddened slightly, as she remarked quietly to the Black Wizard: "Must you be so withdrawn? The others have grown from their shells, you can too."
Siral raised an eyebrow, as he pointed out: "As a matter of fact, I intended to give one of them a gift, one I have been figuring out how to give to him for a while. It is time Odi-Viscer no longer feels inferior to the others."
Ave-Dol's eyes widened at this, as she knew enough of the big picture from what little she'd been told to deduce: "You know how to grant him powers like the other 4, ones he has been delayed in?"
"After tonight, a small excursion to a safer location with him and I alone, he will have more than just stone hard skin to his body."
"But tonight of all times?" Ave-Dol asked, to which Siral said with a mysterious, even smiling air about him as he passed:
"Hearth's Warming is a time of miracles after all, and greatness with it."
As he passed by, Ave-Dol noticed with a very slight smile that Siral had at least put the black scarf around his neck, beneath his grey robes. Following him, the Alicorn saw Sirla having already bent over to speak quietly to Odi-Viscer, the Grey Earth pony's red eyes lighting with interest as he spoke.
They would leave in half an hour, and return before midnight, one of them changed, but both satisfied.

Late Night
Equestria
Separatist provinces
Remote farming village

Stood on a hill a mile from the village, as the lights from celebrations lit up the houses amidst the surrounding forest, Odi-Viscer thought something seemed, familiar about this place.
Beside him, having transported them both here, Siral pointed to the distant village with a hoof: "A gift, and one that may be what unlocks your potential like the others. Your rage is the key to your power, but it is not constant like the others, it builds and fades. You need a hard push to fully unleash your potential, something to turn your anger on, and do not hold back. What was it that you did well before I met you?"
"Harming life, getting back at them."
"And after that Alicorn cursed you, experimented on you like a mere toy for his own gains with powers to rule with later, who cast you out?"
Odi-Viscer turned to the distant village, as he felt his vision turning slowly more and more red. Beside him, Siral remarked slowly to him: "Yes. Let it build, but spare me a minute of your wrath. Let me go and tell them to prepare, so they know it is you who comes."
Odi said nothing, but didn't protest as he glared at the distant lit village as Siral vanished in a black smoke.

Farming village square

Late night dancing and songs in the town square ground to a halt as a dark grey and black flash materialised, and before them, a Unicorn, clad in metallic Nationalist armor, had appeared in their fray, silencing the crowds.
It didn't take long for a village elder to accuse loudly, the elder earth pony stallion yelling at the Unicorn soldier, Siral in disguise: "What do you want outsider!?"
Turning his head to the elders and even others, the Unicorn loudly proclaimed: "Send a messenger, or not. This place will be gone soon by others besides me, and you can choose to be swept aside, or urge your pathetic Separatists to mount what force they can to, avenge your ends. And what better time than a peace day when even in war arms were laid down, easy prey."
With the last word, the Unicorn soldier fired a wave of spells at the housing roofing, setting many houses slightly ablaze before vanishing in another flash of grey and black light. Bellows and shouts, screams to put out the fires and of fear and anger, swept through the village.

As he reappeared on the hill crest, Siral saw Odi-Viscer shaking, his body vibrating and deforming slightly, as his bones beneath his skin seemed to move as he glowed a brighter red, his skin turning more and more grey, and cracked in places.
Siral urged in a dark whisper: "Go, let them have what they deserve. Leave one departing the village alive, do what you will with the others."
In a loud red flash, the hilltop lit up, as in the midst of the flare of magic and transformation magic, Siral saw the vague shape of what Odi-Viscer had become leap , or more explode off the ground, through the air towards the village, not sure if he'd jumped or had sprouted wings.
A distant rumble in the village marked his arrival, as silence reigned in the village for a few seconds.
Then, like an earthquake, rumbles emanated in unnatural patterns from the village, as one by one the lit houses were snuffed out of existence in booming rumbles, and a few bright red glows engulfed what houses weren't hit by the half a minute rampage. By this stage, everyone in the village was already dead, except for the one messenger Earth Pony who streaked as fast as his hooves could, panic in his heart as his home was engulfed by what seemed like a monster from the deepest underworld come to destroy everything.
At the end of it, the village was collapsed or ablaze, but amidst the dust and smoke, and what darkness was left, a fierce red light struck out in all directions, engulfing the terrain like a miniature red sun fallen to the world's surface, lighting up the forest in light and inferno as it diminished.
As the red glow subsided, and Siral heard the now enhanced, perfected, living weapon that was Odi-Viscer subside in the distance, as he marvelled at his new form, the Wizard couldn't help but give a small smirk of triumph as he thought aloud to himself:
"Now we begin. The lone survivor shall spread tales of a Nationalist attack on this holy day, and what tenuous peace was made when fighting was still desired will unravel once again. And the seventh shall be mine amidst the chaos, whether full war again comes swiftly or slowly, it will begin again before next spring I am sure."
Down in the village, as the being approached up the hill, shuffling to accustom to his new form in calmer times, Siral beheld Odi-Viscer's full form.
Red eyes glinted, but now an ape like body, with a short stumpy tale, and 2 large forelimbs and 2 short back limbs, and his entire body now was made of a stonelike skin, as if flesh was laid atop stone, and his 2 forelimbs and back shorter limbs sported massive retractable claws. On his forelegs' joints, 2 extra-long Unicorn horns, mixed with demon essence to make them more powerful, extended like elbow spikes up high enough to make his arms resemble the bones of a large dragon wing, and a long line of spikes adorned his back like two sets of teeth almost.

As the forest fire died down, the ashes of the village smoldering in the darkness, Siral guided the now much more calm, even sleepy almost, Odi-Viscer to stand still, so he may teleport them back to the Citadel.
Everything was in motion now, as Siral knew a dramatic example was needed to tip the scales into instability that would inevitably lead to another period of fighting, in which he would begin his full strokes, and finally begin changing Equestria for the better, from every level.

Author's Notes:

The last respite, before peace ends with a strategically planned bang, and also fully unlocks the powers that needed a rage 'trigger' in Odi-Viscer to fully manifest. Sometimes these things need a bit of a push.
Stress is getting to Starswirl, as despite 5 being enhanced, a year and a half has passed with the tenuous peace holding. The worst dangers are those that bide their time.
All the while, in a more peaceful time, Lady Ave-Dol and the other 5 get into the spirit of things, and she even extends a gift to Siral, which is accepted as even he has some musings around this time of times long gone, just like Starswirl.
Odi-Viscer destroys the village of his birth, as well as Siral using this as a trigger event for a 'domino' effect to begin the spur to the next fighting period, where his plans come to fruition.