Early Afternoon
25th August, 72 BNM
Equestria, Canterlot
City interior

Wandering through the bustling streets, the disguised Unicorn blended seamlessly with the well-dressed upper classes. But her eyes turned towards the castle, looming over the thatched roofing further away in the city, rising in its ivory white walls and battlements.
In a few centuries it would be remarkably different in appearance, because of what was about to occur.
Elsewhere in the city, sneaking in under similar disguises amongst castle servant ponies, the other two entered the castle ahead of her. One a black and yellow hued Pegasus, the other a silvery grey maned Earth pony.
The castle beckoned ahead, as she knew its ins and outs. 40 years ago, she had been a Royal spellcaster once, using her power to defend. But when she lost her horn, they suggested she ‘retire’.
Teal Quirt never forgot that feeling of betrayal, by the Royalists as a whole.

Canterlot, royal palace
Main foyer hall

The two guards, clad in their red and silver garb of the royalists, saw the blue/grey maned Unicorn mare slowly walking towards their doorway from ahead, her intentions clear.
“I am sorry my lady, but the court is in session and shut to-uh!”
The guard Pegasus who had held out a hoof suddenly felt a blue magic constrict his throat like a vice, and while the other guard, a Unicorn, readied to fire a spell to blow her away as she walked towards them quietly, Teal turned her horn on him.
As if hit by a raging bull, the Unicorn was caught in a blue hue and hurled sideways head and neck first into a nearby wall with a crack, the Unicorn’s neck breaking on impact.
The Pegasus meanwhile was hurled upwards as if gravity suddenly reversed, smashing with a scream into the ceiling high above, as he fell with a much less scream filled thud onto the floor behind Teal Quirt. She hadn’t stopped walking at all, and paid no heed to the now dead guards as she fired her blue magic at the doors.

Throne room

The small court that day had been in session, hearing of developments and pleas from across Royalist territory, when the doors crashed open off their hinges in a flash of blue.
Shocked, 2 of the guests were wounded with broken hooves or a leg by the doors hitting them, while the rest stared in outrage at this Unicorn Mare’s interruption.
Gliding through the crowds almost like a ghost, Teal Quirt matched only the gaze of the King, as Nova surged to his feet, Queen Aurora beside him also alert:
“You dare-!”
“I do your highness, I do dare!”
“Seize her!” A general cry to the guards went up, as the guards around the court room charged towards her, the gathered hoard of court denizens scattering as the Unicorn became engulfed in a blue hue, before a shockwave erupted out in all directions from her in a blinding light.
Court ponies flew painfully onto the floor or into walls, as in the blinding light’s subsidence, Nova squinted to see a guard charge blindly in, though the Unicorn did not get far. A blue hue engulfed the guard Unicorn stallion, and hurled him towards the thrones.
Aurora fired her magic, the white Alicorn’s aura catching the guard just barely enough that he only tumbled into her at a manageable level. Nova rose up, angrily powering his horn, before a second blue flash suddenly engulfed the room, this one like a million prickling thorns itching all over his body.
“AURORA! GET HELP, GO!”
With a nod of understanding to her husband, as she caught a glimpse of a strange creature’s silhouette amidst the fading light in the middle of the throne room, she vanished with the guard she’d saved, teleporting to the castle grounds.
Left behind, Nova shaded his eyes with a hoof, as he saw the blue flash this time had done something different.
Everypony in the throne room was completely frozen in place, as if unable to move from their positions at all, only their eyes able to move. Amidst the frozen ponies, as Nova also realised that he’d been able to resist this spell, the creature emerged.
A scorpion’s lower body, legs, and 2 gripping arms, as well as a spikey tail, but atop it an ape’s torso, with blue/grey hairy limbs and hooves on the arms that seemed to be able to split to form bulky fingers, or claws. The head however, a stubby nosed hybrid of an ape and a Unicorn, was adorned with 4 downwards curving horns, like a headdress almost, each horn clearly a Unicorn-esqe magic horn.
“Begone creature, or else you will see my full power used against you with no remorse.” Nova warned sternly, to which the creature seemed to take coy amusement from, as she gently nudged a frozen noble pony to fall over onto their side, still as a statue even on impact.
“Before we begin, I had to make it just between you and I. And on that point, where are your daughters?”
“You dare… What do you want from us!?” Nova demanded angrily, his blue horn flaring slightly. With a slight shrug, the creature replied with some haughty tones before it devolved into repressed anger at him:
“Oh I don’t want anything from your daughters, one of my friends does. As for you, I have my reasons. Namely, when I lost my magic, I was cast out without a second thought from your high and mighty royal magician guild.”
The scorpion/ape centaur creature suddenly morphed back into the Teal maned, white furred Unicorn mare, as she bitterly spoke to him with a few steps towards the throne, Nova not once dropping his guard:
“I asked for help when I lost my power, guarding some pompous ambassador to Salaman, and afterwards they cast me out. They serve you, I served you until 40 years ago. And I got nothing in return when I needed it most.”
“That does not excuse what you have done so far.” Nova replied coldly. To this, Teal Quirt slowly morphed back into her scorpion/ape centaur form, as she replied:
“Hmm, not that on its own. But, it just so happens to be a reason why I can enjoy this act for the Nationalist cause, anything to harm you or the Royalists in general.”
“So that is how it is…” Nova’s eyes snapped open further, as he fired a large dark blue spell right at Teal Quirt. Her arms flung upwards, a lighter blue magic shield raising as the spell slammed into her, blasting her into the wall, past the crowds of frozen ponies.
With a flick of his horn, Nova engulfed the frozen ponies, guard and visitor alike, and vanished them from the room, out into the grounds. It took a great deal of effort, as Nova saw Teal Quirt walking on her many legs towards him as he regained his full awareness.
“Save them, yet you can’t save yourself…” Teal Quirt grimaced at this, as Nova charged another spell.
Then, the entire castle shook, as if hit by an earthquake.
Caught off guard, Nova lost his focus, while Teal pressed her advantage, engulfing herself in a magic layer, the screech she gave ripped into Nova’s bones as he was tackled by Teal, the stone wall coming to meet him fast.
Stone flew in all directions as they smashed through, while the castle descended into chaos for reasons besides their clash.

Canterlot, royal palace
Upper towers

After a few more earthquake like hits, the tower was ready to come down.
Down below, as he gazed towards the dust cloud rising, Golmov gave a small laugh as he saw Odi-Viscer ram the tower base yet again. Finally, the white stone cracked, and the tower began to slowly fall over like a massive tree in a forest.
The guards swarmed, a warning bell rung, and the grey ape-like creature jumped through the smoke towards them, a beastly roar following the unseen battle that quickly unfolded, as the entire castle shook from the impact of the tower crashing into a few other rooftops in the city itself.
Spreading his 4 wings, the centipede like dragon took off in the direction of some crashing noises elsewhere in the castle, a series of blue flashes showing where their primary goal was.

Canterlot, royal palace
Archive halls

Books, parchment, wood and stone flew as Nova’s shield held firm, as he skidded to a halt on his hooves in the now ruined archives, Teal Quirt leaping from the hole he’d been fired through to fire a pair of blue heat beams right at him.
Firing back, Nova squinted as the beams of Teal’s two and his own collided, energy discharges flying and setting the castle library ablaze as the heat even melted and scorched metal and stone flooring where they met.
Seething through the effort, Nova roared as he had finally had enough:
“STAND DOWN!”
His own beam surged, as Teal was blown backwards into a bookcase that hadn’t been wrecked, the scorpion part of her body writhing its legs as she rolled to her feet with some effort, while Nova advanced, his horn glowing fiercely as he began a barrage.
Rubble flew away in Nova’s magic, as he found Teal Quirt standing up to face him, her four horns now all glowing on her apelike face as she darkly replied, her eyes now glowing a stronger green with each word:
“You have no power, now YOU WILL STAND DOWN!”
Her blue magic hued bright in all four horns, and suddenly Nova, even charging his horn at full power, ready to take her down, felt his movement slowed, as the ground and air around him seemed to hum and vibrate as an outside magic fought with his own.
He slowly felt his knees starting to bend, but he fought it, visibly stuck halfway between bowing and moving slowly towards the creature before him. Dust, parchment fragments and wood flew around him in a bubble at the two magic forces at work, his own and hers.
Over the massive humming though, more earthquake like crashes shook the castle, and amidst the shaking, Nova buckled, sinking to his knees barely. Before him, he saw a twisted smile split across the ape-scorpion-chimera hybrid, and he snapped.
Unleashing his full power, the field broke in all directions.
The archives exploded in a bright clash of blue and greenish hued light as Teal put up a last minute shield, lightning arcs blasting that part of the castle apart, stone walls and roof tiles crashing down as the archives they sat upon were torn asunder.
As the library section of the castle collapsed, a blue burst shot from it like a meteor, rising up to hover above the dust swirling ruins to reveal Nova, panting and delirious from the close proximity attack he’d unleashed.
Taking in a quick gaze as he beat his wings, the archive ruins subsiding amidst the castle towers they sat between, King Nova’s eyes widened at the carnage.
Some towers were collapsed, into the castle or into the city, and a large amount of fires and rumbles came from the main courtyard, a few booms of something crashing repeatedly where the main battle was taking place. With his vision, he saw it.

Unicorn guards fired furiously at the creature, as Pegasi and Earth ponies clad in the red and silver royal colours unleashed arrows and full on siege weapons upon it. But the grey skinned creature shrugged them off like ants, its mottled grey skin and muscles in its stone armoured, ape shaped and bald skinned body merely dusted from the blows.
Its size, towering at triple a normal pony’s height, was deceiving, as the horrifc creature leapt across the battlefield like a cheetah, fists and body like a small castle wall crashing into the ground, into guards, and into anything that dared attack or try and get into the castle.
Clearly, Aurora had gone and found reinforcements from the city’s outside garrison base, but they were outclassed in every way by that single creature.
The creature span, hurling what remained of one guard it had crushed in its grip off the mountainside, before spinning and firing a beam of red light from its mouth, as if pouring lava as bright as the sun from inside itself, Stone actually melted where it touched, and guard after guard were incinerated.
About to fly in, a bright green explosion from beneath him rocked the air he flew in, as a dust cloaked centaur like creature flew with her magic towards him, clawed hands outstretched as green tendril lengths of light snagged his neck suddenly.
Choking, Nova’s shield stopped the very hot beam from melting his neck, but he was hurled around like a lassoed mount, and violently thrown through the air.
And then he heard a rush and series of clicks in the air, as a pair of yellow eyes flew beneath him for him to see, along with many legs and four wings, before extreme pain engulfed his back.
Nova screamed aloud as Golmov, having flown in the moment Teal Quirt surprised Nova mid-air, to use his newfound magic to send Nova flying downwards towards the castle gardens with a yellow blast to his back.
As the King landed in a crater of soil and grass, Golmov turned to Teal Quirt in the air with a gleeful offer on his lips:
“May I take over from here?”
“I made him bow for but a moment, have your fun, but finish him whatever you do.” Teal said, casting a glance back towards the carnage Odi-Viscer was waging back at the castle’s front.
Golmov flew down towards the gardens, as Teal turned and used her magic to contact Odi-Viscer in his mind:
“We’re nearly done. You have a place to be soon, ignore the rabble.”
“No, this is too good to give up now!”
“Siral placed me in charge, not you.”
“I didn’t get to fight an Alicorn and you two did!”
“You will get one at some point, just do as you’re told Odi!”
As she looked over, she suddenly saw a flash of red, as many red mouth beams flew from where Odi-Viscer was unleashing himself, destroying large swathes of castle walls and buildings with the guard forces in his immediate vision, oe eye beam sweeping the sky as a pegasus flight came in, the flight vanishing in the red light like dust in a breeze.
The grey golem leapt from the dust and smoke in a billowing streak, his arc sending him further down the mountainside Canterlot rested upon.
Behind her, Teal Quirt heard more crashes, as Golmov had taken a few magic hits from Nova before grabbing the Alicorn, and hurling him into the castle’s chapel, walking slowly towards him.

Canterlot, castle plaza

The grey creature had gone, but as the guards advanced, they saw so many fragments, cinders, of what remained of their comrades, the city near the castle, melted and incinerated if not crushed by the falling towers and physical punches and blows of the creature.
The air had flakes of grey and black that remained of so many guards and civilians, and some guards had to steel themselves.
Up ahead, as a few brave ponies who had been hiding in the castle fled, somehow having not died in the many parts being ruined, the guards heard more crashes, and some saw a terrifying looking creature hovering over the castle, matching the description of the one that had entered the main hall by the survivors Queen Aurora teleported out 20 minutes ago. 20 minutes that seemed an eternity now.
More sounds of carnage came from the castle, as it was clear there were in fact three creatures.
“Advance, we have to-!”
One guard was cut off as the entire mountain shook slightly, rhythmic pounding shaking the slope the castle part of Canterlot was in place upon.
Unseen on the mountain slope, the golem like creature had swollen in size, a red glow clearly coming from his body as he repeatedly punched the mountain in a specific spot, his red magic and strength sending cracks deep into the rocks that held up part of the mountain face.

Canterlot, royal palace
Chapel

Gasping for air, Nova fired a blue beam again, but was tiring fast.
Ahead of him, the centipede like dragon had shifted into a full grown black and gold dragon, advancing slowly on him, pews and busts of ponies across the chapel being knocked aside by his tail as he walked towards the Alicorn wheezing at the alter.
“Look at you, weak, fearful, this is whom the one that humiliated me out of my Crystal Heart some time ago spawned from? Pathetic.”
Golmov cruelly remarked as he stood over Nova, who remained shaky on his hooves, but he was tired, so tired.
With a bellow, Nova fired a fierce blue beam towards Golmov’s head, but a yellow shield the shapeshifting beast conjured deflected it in all directions, the shots sending small holes into stones, curtains and windows across the chapel. At this, Golmov’s hand thrust out, passing through the weak beam with only a slight twinge of discomfort as he seized Nova, and slammed the Alicorn down onto the floor in a crushing grip.
Something broke, and Nova nearly screamed at the pain in his chest, the blue and black maned Alicorn king gasping as the black and gold dragon gripping him against the floor shapeshifted into the centipede dragon, full size taking up the chapel inside like a normal dragon. The hand gripping him morphed into one with a wing on its length, the claws sharper and longer as he was held in place.
“Fearful, yes. For what you might do to my ponies.”
“Fear only for Alicorns. For me, I take what I want, avoid fights if I can. But against Alicorns, me and my friends will happily take any on.”
Golmov knelt down, his yellow eyes glinting with his insect like mandibles around his mouth glowing yellow as he readied:
“Your ordeal today will be one of many to come for your kind, your daughters included.”
With a casual flick, Golmov tossed Nova back into a set of wrecked pews, before another flick of his yellow magic sent a nearby bust of an older Unicorn mare smashing into Nova’s back with a crash.
The gigantic beast began to shrink in size, wanting to see this in more detail, but stopped to revert back to normal size as he saw Nova somehow staggering up, barely, to face him with a flickering blue horn weakly showing signs of power.
But in his mind, Nova was sending a message to Aurora:
“Aurora, I tried my best, for Equestria’s peace, everything. Tell our daughters that, I tried.”
Nova gave a sigh as he charged his faint blue magic, while he saw a pair of yellow beams powering up in two of Golmov’s four hand ‘wings’, while a larger beam readied in his mouth, the yellow light drowning out the blue in the chapel before they fired, arcing everywhere and always streaking to directly before Golmov.

Having been heading towards the city in sight of the dimished violence, and the earthquakes unfolding, Queen Aurora had frozen in the air, surprising the guards with her, as she heard Nova’s last message.
A faint pang in her heart was matched by a bright series of yellow beams scattering and arcing through the air where the distant castle chapel was.
At that moment, the entire castle began to move downwards.

Canterlot outskirts

He’d teleported into the valley, ready for one last jump, but Starswirl had to stop at what the saw a mile away.
Canterlot, especially the main castle, ablaze, in ruins, and silent. Thunderous booms came from the mountainside below, as an unseen dust cloud shot up from the slope’s base, visible cracks appearing with red hues in the slope face below the castle’s part of the city.
The grey wizard’s heart tumbled, sank deeper than he thought, as he saw the yellow beams arc from the castle, and saw the faintest outline of a figure hovering down towards the dust cloud at the base of the mountainslope.
He sensed it, those feelings of Envy, Greed, and Wrath.
At that moment though, as the yellow beams from the distant castle subsided, the red hued cracks finally spread to the castle above.
The entire part of Canterlot that housed the city and the houses immediately bordering the outer wall and towers began to fall, as millions of tonnes of rock and mountain began to slide, tumble, and crash itself apart on its way down the slope. The entire northern end of Canterlot had fallen away from the mountainside, what remained of the castle after the attack being plunged to its doom in a massive landslide unseen or heard of except in myth.
Starswirl stared, lost for words, as the fragments of white stone that remained of the Canterlot castle came to rest after 20 seconds at the base of the valley, three quarters of Canterlot remaining high above, ripped from the royal palace area.
Siral had made his play, he had attacked the heart of the Royalists and decimated so much.
Planted in the ground, Starswirl stared ahead to see the faintest flashes of green and red vanish, their beings having cleared the rubble before it consumed them, as a barely visible creature vanished in a yellow flash just afterwards.
Snapping from his daze, Starswirl teleported to Canterlot’s outskirts, his mind racing.
Beneath the rubble, a remnant of a blue flash as an Alicorn died was seen only by those staring dumbfounded from the city above.

Late Afternoon
25th August, 72 BNM
Equestria, Canterlot
City edge

Guards were posted to watch the edge, where the entire palace area and many houses had fallen away, as those with houses right near the edge were evacuated in case of unexpected landslide.
But it was the Queen who had ventured to the edge without protest from the guards, the white, black and pink maned Alicorn inconsolable, but quiet.
Tentatively, as he’d spent much of the first few minutes finding out what happened, Starswirl cautiously approached the drop off where Aurora sat on her hind legs.
The grey wizard sat beside the larger queen, who merely turned her head to see him. He saw the heartbreak in her face, but, something different. He had never seen that shade of anger in her face, that deep rooted one that was founded by a harsh event, and often festered.
He croaked out as he stared down at the ruins, avoiding her gaze:
“I, I should have been here. The one I met, he sent them.”
“Why?”
Starswirl shook his head, as he himself wished he understood why Siral would go to these extremes. He didn’t realize just how far Siral had gone, what had happened since he last saw him, and why that would explain why he kept himself hidden.
Aurora’s pointed question also showed a level of bitter anger had become a part of her, and Starswirl worried for the Queen now. Those Siral’s attack had not killed, had instead hardened them.
“It was Siral… It has always been Siral. He has his own agenda, and wants to erase the Equestria of old, it is why he allied with the Nationalists. He, he sent them.”
Aurora looked at Starswirl with a cold look now, as she said to him with a tone as certain as she would be saying a universal truth:
“Your friend… He is now an enemy, your enemy. Accept this, or you are banished.”
Starswirl turned to look at Aurora, shocked at this remark, but her face, with tears and anger in it, showed the rage burning like a faint ember in her eyes.
Looking down, Starswirl submitted, as he said mournfully:
“I live to serve. Excuse me…”
Starswirl couldn’t handle it anymore, as he strode from the edge to find a quiet area. He felt so much weight today, he’d found his long lost friend was the one behind so much, and this had happened because Siral knew Starswirl would be away, and see his failure.

When Celestia and Luna returned form Tartarus, striking a deal with their leader to ally with the Royalists, they didn’t know just how important that success would be.
They were devastated, and equally disrupted by their mother’s handling of it, while they saw how embittered Starswirl had become after the initial shock by the time they got back.

Across Equestria, news spread. Royalists demanded retribution for their dead king, as Queen Aurora assumed power in his stead.
The Nationalists rallied, enthused by this blow, but something no side expected happened too. Dissent appeared in the Nationalist ranks just as the Royalists had been dealt a significant blow.
Those opposing the utter violence against more than just the Royal military clashed with those who saw the results as worth it. The Nationalists, with a lesser foe to fight in the Royalists, slowly began to squabble, fight, divide themselves.
Some saw it as a waste of the spoils of war, unethical, even morally wrong if the Nationalists were trying to be the better option for Equestria.
Others saw it as necessary, even deserving of the long ruling Alicorn royalty and their capital, even if no Alicorns, royal family, noble or even elite military had been killed besides King Nova. It was a morale crippling blow that had hardened the soft Royalists that didn’t seem to lose faith, leaving a smaller, but more brazen enemy to fight.

Early Afternoon
26th August, 72 BNM
Equestria, North midland mountains
Citadel, main area

Sat in his private study, Siral listened to Lady Ave-Dol’s curt words for him:
“-said nothing about these sort of acts. You are hiding too many secrets Siral, I came here under the impression that I was helping these ones you’ve taken in!”
“And you are, they have been wronged by society. I am simply enabling them to hit back at society, with a cause that will benefit from it.”
“It makes sense why Iena was somehow not disturbed we’ve allied with the Nationalists when she returned with Satio yesterday. You have been deceiving me, you are planning something, aren’t you!?”
Siral rose to his feet, meeting the taller shimmering blue Alicorn -like creature, her fiery orange feather mane shmmering as Ave-Dol bored into his eyes:
“You will come clean, now.”
Siral weighed his options, and decided with a grim look that he would indeed.
“As you wish. Here is where things stand. I have created 5 beings of immense power, who with recent events, have shown they can overpower even an Alicorn royal.”
Walking around the desk, Siral gestured with some black magic trailing around his hoof as he pointed at her:
“You are the sixth, but the only one I kept in the dark, because I knew you would disapprove. So here is where things stand if this insubordination continues, or if you spread your doubts to Gaudium, who clearly you have a bond of a maternal nature it would seem.”
“I created them, I have means of controlling them more forcefully. You have two choices, either I can have them all enslaved and forced to kill you, and Gaudium.”
Ave-Dol’s eyes widened in shock, as Siral had brought Gaudium in as an unseen means of gaining her submission.
“Or, if you act out later on, when Gaudium has too been enhanced, you will have SIX beings who will be compelled to reduce you to but a memory while they live as slaves in their minds.”
“But ideally, you keep quiet, do your role, and we can get along. In time, you will see this is necessary for all of Equestria. Sometimes, a bit of force is necessary to instil change for the better.”
As Siral stared at Ave-Dol, he gave a ghost of a smile, as Ave-Dol’s eyes shimmered at the betrayal of her trust. Siral did have their well-being in mind, for his own ends. And she had been a pawn in his game this entire time. But she cared more about the other 6, their lives ruined by others, ones Siral was taking advantage of even if they didn’t know it.
With a slight bow of her head, Ave-Dol hissed under her breath:
“You won’t keep this up.”
“We shall see. And if you think of sowing doubts into any of them, remember I have ways of turning those still loyal onto any of them.”
Lady Ave-Dol sunk to the ground in mild defeat, as she felt Siral lay a hoof upon the back of her neck in a mocking sympathy:
“There there, now you see. Not only can Alicorns be killed, but they can also be controlled, deceived. If I were more sympathetic, I’d say they’re not so different from anypony else after all.”
“You are despicable Siral.” Ave-Dol hissed as she stood, maintaining her composure as she walked, defeated, to the office door, tears at her own failings to make her stand and submitting to Siral’s threats against her and the others getting her in the end.
“History, shall see me differently.” Siral replied calmly as the enhanced Alicorn left the office. Turning to the bookshelf, Siral spoke slowly to himself:
“Perhaps it is time to add a subtle brainwashing potion in their meals.”
He always had contingencies, but he hoped not to use it. Utmost loyalty had yielded success today, and if Lady Ave-Dol was the only one thus far he needed to keep in check, all the better for it.

Author's Notes:

King Nova is dead, by the hands of the beings of Envy, and finished by Greed, while Wrath simply ripped Canterlot’s northern quarter with the palace apart and literally slid if down the mountainside.
Meanwhile though, the beings of lust and gluttony had been merely out on an exploration round that need not be seen.
Aurora, no longer the calm, generous and nice queen, and her daughters will come to mourn their mother’s change, as well as the change Starswirl undergoes to the more bitter wizard many see him as in much later centuries.
Siral issues a threat against the only soft hearted one of the first 6, Gaudium’s still a sort of newcomer and unconverted one. Lady Ave-Dol has been put in a corner now, and Siral is watching her.