Late Afternoon
4th November, 72 BNM
Equestria, north midland mountains
Citadel fortress, living quarters
Siral’s office

Poring over the various texts he had compiled over the decades, a collection spanning centuries of knowledge and strategy, Siral couldn’t help but get a feeling of satisfaction at how things were progressing.
He had Equestria where he wanted it: Bloodthirsty on both sides mostly being spurred on by their Alicorn superiors, and with imbedded contacts in both major factions. The one little third faction of the Seperatists having been defeated predictably fast with their rejection of Alicorns was a given long ago, though that was the one aspect of that weak faction that made Siral garner a sliver of respect for them having a shred of common sense amidst their futile quest against such odds.
More to the point he was on the ‘winning’ side, the Nationalists, but was already working to break them apart from the inside. Before he made his own big moves he wanted them weakened.
A broken enemy was easier to quash, to have surprise, fear and intimidation on side was paramount to achieve ultimate success.
And from the inside, 2 of his close servants, bonded emotionally enough to work well together, were already in place to sow discontent.

2 weeks ago

“-feel you will have an easy time getting into the Trumane castle kitchens, you merely need to be there as backup. And, to deposit this into certain meals when the time comes.”
Hovering the small vials over to the left sitting figure, Siral saw the orange slime-skinned, bloblike fat minotaur look at the vials, his eyes narrowing at the inferred contents.
“Kill them?”
“Only a few. Once YOU have done your part in using your wiles to sow division and doubts into the Trumane lord’s mind.”
Pointing a hoof towards the snakelike being sat in the other chair, the Changeling armoured naga folding her lithe arms and claws over each other, Iena flicked her siren ear flaps in annoyance, asking the obvious:
“And how do I get in this time? The Trumanes don’t take anypony in from the court, they’re picky about outsiders.”
“I know that Mr. Trumane has a libido his wife cannot fully satisfy, and he is known, like many nobleponies of varying genders, to take escorts from time to time, some for a while even.”
“I’m sorry but why should she have to become, a concubine, for this!?” Satio protested, his voice rising slightly, while Iena reached out a hand to ease the fat creature while she regarded Siral sceptically:
“Because she will be able to use her magic and wiles to get into the minds of anypony in that place in ways simply flirting in court encounters as she already has cannot. At their most intimate, the mind is most vulnerable. She is not degrading herself, she will have more power over them than any other method.”
“So you expect her to bed nobleponies for sowing doubts in their minds and me to be a waiting poison chef?”
“No, I expect you two to work together on sowing doubts through scandals and murder without being found out, and if it becomes known, you two in close proximity means you can get out and wreak havoc during your getaway with less risk to yourselves.”
“I don’t want to poison innocents.” Satio mumbled, to which Siral leant forwards with the callous remark:
“They are Alicorns and nobility, they are not innocent, certainly the ones I’ll have you two targeting for trickery or a last meal. Ponies like them seized your land, and also ousted you because your methods of gaining influence for your noble family were simply less modest. Do I need to go into further detail than that?”
At Siral’s words, Satio and Iena briefly had hard looks cross their faces, and it was Satio magically vanishing the poison vials into his unseen possession that earned a smile from Siral. Iena’s ears flapped with a slither of her tail shuffling behind her, as she asked:
“I presume I’ll take the place of one going in to entertain them?”
“Naturally.”
Siral had them both, they were easier to control if together on the same role. Powerful as they were, their partnership was best suited to spying and sabotage. Subtle approaches.
Good thing for that too, as for the ‘big three’ as he termed them, subtlety for them was a foreign a concept as modesty was for Iena, or small portions at dinner was for Satio.

Late Morning
Citadel fortress, living quarters
Siral’s office

Those two were now imbedded in the Trumane residence, the heart of Nationalist affairs and command, having taken their places among the ‘escorts’ and castle catering each, in the newly created Trumane residence in the Nationalist controlled Baltimare.
But something was not accounted for, a certain Wizard, and the Salamander he had as an imbedded agent in the Nationalist armies. They’d vanished nearly a week ago, both leaving on some strange journey.
His myriad of spies in the animal world saw them both together, heading into the Everfree Forest, one place in Equestria he had very little insight into, dismissing it as a wild place of no interest to anyone.
But clearly something lured his old friend and failed exemplar there.

Wandering up to the balcony of his office, a small doorway leading to an overlook of the lake before the Citadel, the black Unicorn shifted some of his ageing white mane from his eyes as a breeze picked up.
Looking to the side, he saw one of his favoured spies.
A Horned Owl, finishing preening its wings, stared back with its wide yellow eyes as Siral projected his command as he spoke:
“You have the energy by my will to travel day and night. Find the Grey Wizard and the Salamander he travels with, head for the wild forest to the south. I shall see as you see when you do.”
With a brief caw, the owl took flight, its wide wingspan for an owl giving it flight as it headed south, Siral watching as this animal he had as a familiar took off. It wasn’t uncommon for Unicorns to have pets, but he decided to make his useful.
He had more important goals to focus on, like formulating the final great battle between the 2 factions before he unleashed his own forces against them both in total.

Citadel basement levels
Armory training halls

Up in the balconies, the servants and guards, all sworn loyalty to Siral and the creatures he had under his command, watched as two of said servants underwent training, one mentoring the other in combat.
Golmov’s many legs, spiked and like that of a gigantic centipede’s struck and flailed as they lashed out physically and with magic blasts scything out from them. A blue/green mist frequently dashed about, back and forth as well as a wall of black magic deflecting blows with ease.
Teal Quirt backstepped, but she knew she was in control. The Centaur/Scorpion and 4 horned ape/pony headed hybrid barked at the dragon/centipede/gryphon winged monstrocity:
“Stop using the standard attacks, use the unorthodox!”
Silently, Golmov adjusted, the changed dragon’s shrunken form swinging out a leg at Teal from the side, only to have it suddenly grow to a gigantic size like his former dragon size mid swing, Teal vanishing in a green/blue vapour as she teleported back, Golmov spinning to focus his now enlarged form on charging Teal with many yellow beams firing to seize him in a grip.
“Control my central line, overwhelm my senses!”
The beams paused, before they began to split like many branches on a tree, firing at Teal from all sides and throwing up an array of yellow lightning across the hall. But Teal had vanished yet again, though this time when she reemerged she seemed to be breathing harder as her 4 horns on her ape/pony hybrid face faded in magic.
“Better.”
The much larger dragon charged, but Teal outstretched one of her scorpion legs and glowed her 4 head horns, a green glow engulfing Golmov’s rear legs and sending him sliding sideways into a pillar mid charge.
As Golmov recovered with a hiss, his enlarged form shrinking to dodge a green blast Teal fired at his head, he swung out with his many arms at her, though her green shield deflected them sideways each time:
“Focus your constant barriers, in case sneak attacks like that are something you crave! Don’t get carried away with only the offense!”
Golmov fired some yellow beams right at Teal Quirt point blank, though she had formed a decoy that was blasted through like a fine mist. As the vapour cleared, Golmov saw a green glow off to the corner of his eye, and a single clawed ape arm pointing said green glow from a fingertip at his eye:
“Offense is only as good as your defence.”
Golmov grumbled as he backed up, shuffling to shrink his form down to her level. As he shrunk though, Teal noticed something clanging on his person:
“Hmm, when did you get the third one?”
With a smirk, Golmov gestured down to his growing collection of Alicorn horns, though it only numbered three so far:
“They are getting aggressive, more Alicorns appearing on battlefields. The two after my first, mighty King Nova, were rather fresh to the whole battlefield and inexperienced with combat for my liking. But, an Alicorn is an Alicorn in death regardless.”
Raising an eyebrow, Teal Quirt reverted to her white and teal maned Unicorn ‘origin’, while Golmov reverted to a shrunken but rather larger black and gold striped dragon form:
“Don’t let your trophy hoarding distract you. Surprise, fear and intimidation must be on side. If any are lacking, it would be best not to engage. You want more trophies? Follow that mindset in future.”
Golmov scowled at the minor nagging Teal gave him, the only reason he didn’t feel like putting Teal in her place was that she was better than he was, despite him having a higher Alicorn count then she did, 3 to 0.
Nearby, a few of the servants moved in, noticing the battle training was done. The dragon and Unicorn left, though Teal noticed somepony had vanished from watching:
“Where did Odi go off to?”
“He doesn’t like watching what he’s not allowed to do, ever since he had his first training down here he’s been banned.
“I didn’t need reminding Golmov. He nearly brought the castle down atop us.” Teal sardonically replied. The former Earth Pony was restricted to wilderness training if he wanted to exercise his tendencies. Among the 6 changed so far, Odi Viscer had no concept of ‘holding back’ or ‘subtlety’.

Citadel Grounds, forest paths

The trees around the walking pair towered about, but they were deeply embroiled in a conversation that was curt, but polite enough to be considered friendly at best.
“-always thought clay was better, it’s easier to work with when you do.”
“But wood can be carved all the time, it doesn’t harden.”
“Yes, but wood rots.”
“That is what varnish or magic preserving is for. Besides, wood can’t shatter like clay.”
“Yes, as you clearly demonstrated when I showed you my mini Alicorn sculpture. That took me 2 days by the way.”
“I gripped it too hard. Besides, you got your own back, unless setting fire to my carved chair was an accident.”
“What me? Oh no, it just burst into flames on its own after I left your room yesterday.”
As Gaudium played innocent, Odi-Viscer grumbled as he paced alongside the slightly taller Alicorn male. The shorter bald, grey Earth Pony got on well enough, but they had a few differences of opinion when it came to their sculpting, and what they sculpted.
“Why did you break it anyway? Really?” Gaudium asked more honesty, to which Odi replied curtly:
“It looked like the Alicorn who cursed me to look like I am.”
“It was supposed to be a self-sculpture.” Gaudium replied bluntly, his yellow and red eyes narrowing as the Earth Pony before him stopped, looking at the Alicorn blankly before replying in a bored tone:
“Clearly it wasn’t a good likeness then, you look nothing like him.”
“So all the others have their gripes with Alicorns, but you just have the one. You ever think of going out there after him?”
“Too often, but Siral says he’ll be brought to justice one day, I trust him there.” Odi replied, to which Gaudium merely shrugged, saying:
“Why he’s got a knack for taking in ones who’ve been wronged, I’ll never know.”
The Alicorn and Earth Pony came to a massive fallen tree, to which the Alicorn simply flapped his wings to fly over, offering a slight smirk as he came across to the other side out of view.
“Come on, you can jump it can’t you? Or crawl under.”
A few moments of pause, before a red glow appeared, and a series of cracks began to form in the trunk, splintering fast before the whole tree was slowly wrenched apart by a pair of grey clawed, ape-like arms with stone imbedded like scales into them. Odi-Viscer’s tall form towered as he ripped the fallen tree slowly in half as easily as opening some swinging doors.
“A little excessive perhaps?” Gaudium remarked, while Odi reverted to his Earth Pony form with a slight red glow, the grey pony shrugging as he replied:
“Nothing gets in my way.”
“You could have just changed the tree with magic, or jumped like I suggested.” Gaudium remarked, though he couldn’t help but snicker as the Earth Pony’s tone remained monotonous:
“It is more satisfying to use brute force.”
“But there’s no fun in that, you do it and there’s nothing left to be played with. Just like your woodwork, you can’t replace the shaved off parts.”
“But the results are permanent.” Odi reasoned.
As they walked, the talk was hidden in double meaning. Talk of differences in sculpting mediums reflected their approaches to come in life when both were transformed.
Odi was fixated on permanent results, committed to finality in his moves to leave his mark, whereas Gaudium favoured flexibility and creativity, taking a degree of pride in the final result that sometimes took longer. One used a hard, well placed touch, the other delicate but more varied means.

Meanwhile
Midday
Midland mountaintops, 10 miles from Tartarus

Standing atop the cliff edge, she couldn’t help but stare out at the current central bastion of the Royalists with resignation heavy in her heart.
Her shimmering light blue frame slumped on the cliff edge, orange feathered mane flowing behind her as the Windigo/Alicorn hybrid with Phoenix features lay her head on the rocks.
Ave-Dol gave a soft sigh as she stared out, the midday sun showing the sharp mountain ridge under which the fortress of Tartarus lay, its few battlement towers jutting out like teeth from the earth even from here.
With a look skywards, she hoped somepony was listening:
“What do I do? He has me caught, I cannot try to free them, he will turn them against me before they can do anything…”
Staring out at the distant fortress, she mused hopelessly:
“I cannot go to the Nationalists, they ally with Siral now, even as he lies to them. But I cannot go to the Royalists, they will go after them all, the war will worsen, the Nationalists won’t give up what they’ve gained, and the Royalists won’t spare those I try to protect. Not after what was done at Canterlot… What I fear is to come.”
Staring at her current changed form, Ave-Dol grew bitter as she stared at her shimmering hooves:
“Why did I let him deceive me so? I was content on my own, not a care in the world… And now no matter what I do, I will cause pain to others, and myself.”
Holding back some mournful tears, Ave-Dol’s voice suddenly dropped to a lower tone, remarking hopelessly to the skies:
“Perhaps that is it. I try to do things, when what I can best do is inconvenience Siral, by doing nothing. I see no other way for myself now…”
With that, Ave-Dol surrendered to her stance of inaction.
Unbeknownst to her though, this had been envisioned as her final transformation.
Overhead, a very subtle magic was imbued inside of the mind of a raven flying far overhead.

Meanwhile
Citadel, Siral’s office

Through the eyes of the Raven, one of many bird spies he had, he saw and sensed the resignation in Ave-Dol’s mind.
It was pleasing to see that his 6th being had finally fallen into place, a spell he put in place during her transformation, enhancing the aura she gave off now as the others did around those unprotected.
Laziness and sleepiness would follow as she wandered where she went now, a hidden sapping of strength where she visited.
And the best part was he would not ask much of her and she would do so much in return without knowing it.
Now he could play both sides more thoroughly.

Same Day
Early Evening
Equestria, south midlands
‘Everfree forest’, mangrove maze

“For a day you have taught me much, though not what I would like to learn.”
“And what is wrong with what I have taught you?” The mangrove vine formed Alicorn asked, a blank ‘eye’ staring him head on with an expectant look on its visage. In utter annoyance, Starswirl gestured outwards, using the fading sunlight streaming in from overhead in a few cracks in the treeline as an example:
“Every day this war drags on, innocents die, suffer, and this world does too. You saw the future I behold later, if what you say is true of what horrors you showed me. So forgive me if I feel you haven’t shown me anything that could be in any way immediately useful to stopping Siral!”
The Wizard exclaimed vehemently, turning to pace around the stone alcove that held the diminutive crystalline tree.
“So impatient, you must focus your mind. You urge to hurry when that same impatience will spell your doom. If you were not so anxious to succeed, you would see that the first step to success is to see what weakness your old friend has in his grand scheme that you know of.”
“I DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF WASTING TIME ANYMORE! I did enough of that on that forsaken expedition through time that made Siral as he is today! Reveal usable knowledge or you are of no use to me!”
Starswirl bellowed at the mangrove being, the Wizard’s voice breaking with his rage, his grey beard and mane becoming dishevelled as he let his often tempered frustrations fly.
“HOLD YOUR TONGUE WIZARD! I may be aged and patient, but I have my limits of tolerance as well! The answer lies before you, both in the literal and within what you saw in your future to be averted.”
Looking around, Starswirl snorted in irritation, before his eyes settled on the small treelike structure inside the alcove, ever so gently pulsating like a glowing white/blue heartbeat of light from the small sapling form.
“What exactly is this?”
“A wellspring, one of raw magic, pure and uncultured like so much of the forest. Like others, it ties into so much of the magical energy this forest has absorbed, even before the culturing of this greater land in terrain and weather began.”
“I can feel the power…” Starswirl murmured, but Everfree’s head suddenly appeared in a ghostly white mist before him, shaking his head:
“No, it does not respond well to any thoughts tainted by selfish desire. Despite your noble intentions, you carry a guilt you should not in seeking such power, in spite of what you’ve experienced in your long journeys.”
“Guilt? Of course I feel guilt, I failed Siral, I lied to him, I let him come along, when he would have felt more comfortable helping in Equestria instead of going on this pointless quest with me, this war could have been averted, the Alicorns taught to be humbler and responsible.”
“Forgive my own doubts, but 2 Unicorns may not have made much of an impact had you both remained to see them emerge. I recall in my Alicorn days that as more Alicorns emerged, they started listening less and less to the wisdom of the previous magic masters of Equestria. One reason I retreated to this domain long ago, I felt no desire for their squabbling.”
“And by all accounts, your guilt may be for not just Siral leaving with you despite your protests and being warped, but you leaving Equestria to fall to its state in your absence.”
“Noticing the obvious is not commendable.” Starswirl grumbled, as he continued to stare at the sapling like structure, asking quietly:
“What must I do to harness this power?”
“Only a pure heart, one that knows and accepts what it is that makes one, can harness it. That is something you lack, though what is missing is unknown. It just is, or is not. Nothing more, nothing less. Serenity, peace at its core.”
“An impossible goal.”
“But your friend seems keen to harness it in his own way.”
Starswirl turned to the mangrove figure, who now was a fully formed Alicorn/wolf hybrid of vine and wood walking near him, green glowing eyes making him look all too alike the Timberwolves in features.
“Peace and Serenity from Siral? Your sense of humor is as warped as his schemes.”
“Peace and Serenity does not entail noble intentions, but in how they are conducted. Think of his schemes, what is it he seeks to sow in Equestria, to encourage what has festered for decades, centuries already, that he himself seeks to purge from his servants and armies for when the time is right?”
Starswirl thought for a moment, but then it became obvious.
“Unity.”
“Precisely. Unity is the greatest strength one can possess, that can be shared among others to further increase its power.”
Starswirl recalled what he’d seen in his apocalyptic vision of his final future moments, in that war torn future where Siral ruined the world prior to building it up again with his 7 servants. Their eyes, the eyes of those armies of minions who served him.
“He forced unity, enslaved them.”
“Unity does not necessarily mean it is by choice.”
“That is unity from the top down, not unilateral. Siral is the root of it all. That much I already knew!”
Starswirl grew aggravated, as he looked at the tree sapling yet again, seeing it taunting him almost. Snorting derisively, Starswirl mumbled as he walked off:
“This trip was a waste of time; I know that now. Siral is the key, he must be stopped, now!”
The Wizard began to wander away, but the more booming voice from the forest spirit through the vines beat into his eardrums as a wind picked up in the twilight lit forest:
“If you go rushing headlong into this, you will encounter nothing but trouble, an earlier doom than your future warned!”
“Do not try to stop me!” Starswirl exclaimed.
“Unity is the key to Siral’s strength, those Seven are his key, but one isn’t fully forged yet! Even if all Seven were, they are the foundations of his power, they grant him power, but to compromise even one. Not destroy, compromise, just as he has been doing to Equestria, would make enough of an impact! Do not be as foolish in your own power as an Alicorn!”
At Everfree’s almost pleading words, Starswirl paused mid stride, the Unicorn deep in thought at the forest spirit’s words to him.
“When the time is right, when he believes himself to be on the cusp of taking power, I shall be ready. You have my word.”
Everfree was silent, before he rumbled words on the wind as the mangrove vine bodied Alicorn form vanished on the wind:
“You are blind to what power you could wield against him, that you’ve gathered over your journey through learning.”
Starswirl stared down at the cloak he had on him, magically pulling out a pouch he held by a drawstring inside an inner pocket. With an empty expression, he opened it up, revealing the contents as he stared inside. Bitterness crept up on him, they were great people to know, he would never wish he hadn’t met them.
But he just wished he could have done so without failing in his duty to keeping balance in the world. He sacrificed the wrong thing in life.
With a sadness he hoped would never come, Starswirl magically hovered the pouch over to the Alcove rocks near the tree, tipping the contents out as he also discarded the pouch nearby. He was done with prophecy, they could rest here, memories, a life lived well but badly chosen in priorities.
“Let their memories rest with you in this calmer domain. I cannot hold onto them when I confront one who met them too. I will only tell you that much.”
A wave of disappointment flooded the forest around him, as a whisper on the wind carried into Starswirl’s ears:
“What you speak with is not just Everfree. Perhaps in future you will not argue with yourself as much if you return here. At least your friend is more open minded, he will learn more than you let yourself.”
As he’d walked away, Starswirl turned to hear the wind rustle, only to see that he’d subconsciously walked further from the alcove than previously thought. It was gone, a faint blue/white glow in a crevice a few hundred metres away.
He felt it, he felt that Chack was still out there, learning from Everfree, and his own inner thoughts. He prayed Chack found more useful from this place than Stasrwirl could.
All Starswirl found was confirmation that he needed to act.
Siral was out there still, and plotting as always. But he had 6 of 7 powerful servants, and potential weaknesses.

Mangrove maze, sapling alcove

The faintly glowing white/blue tree sapling pulsated slowly in the night.
A Timberwolf slowly trotted over, sniffing the ground near the sapling where the pouch and 5 discarded items had been dropped.
A Romane Gladius sword, a gold and jade pendant necklace, a neck scarf, a tuft of tiger fur, and a sailing compass.
Slowly, the Wolf carefully grabbed the pouch in its jaws, as it nudged the artefacts back inside the shrinking pouch left behind by the wizard. In the forest overhead, Everfree focused its influence through this wolf.

30 minutes later
Everfree Forest, Deep chasms

Having been sat in a sort of meditative state, Chack had been listening intently to a great deal of insight into Alicorn history, this forest, and had already heard that Starswirl had left.
The Salamander had seen visions of Stasrwirl leaving, and while it irked him, he felt Starswirl was right. The Wizard had nothing left to be taught for now.
Listening in, Chack heard the voice of Everfree whispering around him:
“I have seen enough of suffering to come that it affects my domain too. That is why I need your help.”
“I am but a mere warrior, old, cruel I’ve been called. I am not exactly noble warrior material, nor do I wish to be.”
Chack replied as he calmly stood up, though he couldn’t help but be drawn to the glowing white pool and ethereal fumes that glowed from its surface inside the vine ‘cathedral’.
“Nobility is a concept foreign to the natural world. And while I tried to teach Starswirl, I have a more direct need from you. I require a voice, one to stand up to the voices of violence and cruelty that have been poisoning Equestria for too long.”
“I have no loyalties to Equestria, just Starswirl, and even those are frayed now.”
“Which makes you perfect to serve that which is overlooked, natural order. If Equestria falls, the world falls. Let me forge you into a warrior required to resist these forces ravaging the world. While it is not possible for this to defeat these warmongers, it is enough to keep them at bay. Maintain balance, justice, that is your warrior code’s way is it not?”
“Yes, it is.”
At this murmur from Chack, he saw a Timberwolf come slowly walking from the edge of the vine walls, depositing a pouch of 5 strange items, antiques it seemed, on the ground near the white fumed pool.
“Incomplete, but these items contain memory, experience, to give power through traits seldom seen in the world as it is. They shall be the seeds of great power for you to wield, and for others to wield in futures far from now. Those Starswirl encountered before, when he and Siral were on better terms. They can help you, help the world. Shall we begin?”
Staring around the vine catherdral, Chack saw the timberwolf wandering away, as a few more white fumes began to gather. He saw hundreds of eyes of other creatures watching with curious intent from the forest, as well as the eyes of Everfree projecting from the vine walls and from the white fumes of the pool in the centre.
Bowing his head, Chack sat down cross legged, folding his tail back as he bowed his small eyed Salamander head low:
“I am ready.”
He did not know how long he would be here, but he submitted to the teachings of Everfree.

Late Morning
9th November, 72 BNM
Equestria, midland forest boundary

Starswirl grumbled as he finally reached the edge of the massive forest, the forest’s depths making teleporting difficult to do over long distances in case he ended up imbedded inside a tree or something.
The blue cloaked wizard spared a glance back towards the forest, lamenting that he was leaving Chack behind. But realistically, Chack could handle himself, and Starswirl simply couldn’t afford anything holding him down anymore.
He had eyes north now, be it for Siral or any of his servants.
One of them in his vision, the light blue Alicorn with orange feathered mane and a Windigo look to her, struck him as saddened by her servitude. She reeked of submission to her fate, sloth, surrender, most unwilling to be in Siral’s cause enslaved or otherwise.
She was the only one he saw that was a weakness, he knew nothing of the 7th, though being one of pride was not an indicator of weakness unless he could turn the servant against Siral.
If all else failed, Stasrwirl had some royal archives to visit, spells he knew that he had previously refused to even learn out of principle. The time for principle was passed.
He set off north, as an owl hooted overhead as it headed into the forest to roost.

In the skies overhead, as Siral gazed through its vision, the Horned Owl saw the blue Wizard having emerged from the Everfree forest, without a Salamander. It seemed that Starswirl had undergone this alone, that Chack had vanished full stop.
But a wizard was worth keeping an eye on, while the rest of his plans rolled on.

Author's Notes:

Things are going well for Siral, as well as the other 7 save for one.
Iena and Satio are now infiltrators in the Trumane stronghold and the Nationalist leadership as a result.
Teal Quirt is the elder and mentor of the ones willing to be more combat oriented, such as Golmov. Odi Viscer doesn’t have training, as he has no restraint.
Gaudium is still a work in progress, though he bickers with Odi-Viscer over their hobbies somewhat.
All the while though Lady Ave-Dol wanders, having finally resigned to becoming a true sloth, if anything because of the hopeless situation she’s in for protecting the Nationalists Siral schemes against from within, the Royalists, and protecting those of the other 6 she knows are merely pawns in Siral’s game.
Starswirl finally gives up on the whole prophecy shtick, he feels it ruined his duties and friendship with Siral from the get go, even if he felt he learned from those he met.
Meanwhile, Chack resigns to learning from Everfree to become a warrior against those who would ruin Equestria, Siral or otherwise. This shall come into play at crucial moments later on in the story.
Next chapter delves into Starswirl’s darker studies, as well as insight into Celestia and Luna, with their mother Queen Aurora, as well as the first signs of drawing on the Sun and Moon cycles for raw magical power.