Mid-Morning
March 19th, 71 BNM
Equestria, North-Western forests
50 miles from Baltimare
Lady Ave-Dol’s forest home

3 months, 3 months had passed since Siral asked her to depart until called back. She recalled his tone as he called her to his office.
He had been friendly, courteous, but she didn’t need to be an Alicorn or more in magic to sense the hidden menace behind his words:

December 27th, 72 BNM

2 days after Hearth’s Heath, and when Gaudium had confronted both her, and then Siral. She should have expected this, but she hadn’t in all honesty. Among her mistakes with this whole place and its master.
Staring dumbfounded at Siral across from his desk, Ave-Dol shook her head as Siral admitted with an offhanded tone:
“I had that talk with Gaudium, and he agrees, it may be best to take some time away. Clear your head… I can handle them all in your absence, even if I may need to be more forceful in my methods to keep some of them in line.”
“You lied to Gaudium, what did you tell him?”
“The truth. Not all of it though.” Siral admitted, the black Unicorn with the scarred visage turning to her, an almost patronising grin on his face, though she felt the air tense like stone as he spoke:
“Perhaps until Spring, I shall contact you when I require your presence. We shall miss you dearly Lady Ave-Dol, as much as I’m certain what wildlife you harboured in your home cottage where you can return to have.”
Had she been less pacifist in nature, and had she not known just how powerful Siral was for a Unicorn, she and her enhanced abilities would have attacked him right there and then.

Present
Mid-Morning
March 19th, 71 BNM
Equestria, North-Western forests
50 miles from Baltimare
Lady Ave-Dol’s forest home

Marvelling, Ave-Dol slowly paced closer to the deer family before her, that had simply laid out on the forest clearing ground. A mother and 2 fawns, that normally would merely pass through here quickly, alert and wary.
But as she approached, the lethargic fawns glanced at her from their mother’s side, sniffing as they approached, almost blissfully at ease in their current state. Their mother approached too, yet didn’t snap to attention, didn’t run away, but simply sauntered over as well.
The light blue Alicorn laughed lightly as the fawns came up, rubbing against her legs as she let the mother, one she knew very well from years of living in this area, also approach.
“What brought this on?” Laughing at merriment with this odd behaviour, Ave-Dol glanced around as these deer basked in bliss.
No, not bliss, they were relaxed, not a care in the world.
Looking at the deer though, Ave-Dol noticed something peculiar. For deer very at ease, neither the fawns nor mother were looking well fed.
“Come along, let me get you some food. Some berries perhaps.”
With a gesture, the Alicorn led the 2 fawns and mother along, the spring flowers on the trees in blossom this time of year lighting the forest in many colours.
Glancing around though, Ave-Dol’s smile faltered. This was not the first time she’d noticed odd behaviour from animals here.
A Fox had come to take a nap, right in the middle of the path, as blissfully unaware as many other animals she’d seen in the forest in greater numbers since she returned.
And she’d seen fewer birds flying about the forest, yet the usual number of nests.
Stopping at a tree, the deer trailing behind now, Ave-Dol’s heart sank, yet her mind wandered as she saw the sight of two dead chicks, fallen from the nest above.
Glancing up, the nest was intact, and the mother bird looked in good health, yet hadn’t noticed the presence of the Alicorn only 20 feet below.
“Not even the birdsong is as active…” Ave-Dol remarked aloud, her sadness growing into suspicion, while the deer and 2 fawns finally caught up.
Relaxing slightly, Ave-Dol replied aloud to the deer walking beside her now:
“Well, seeing how easy going you seem…”
With a faint blue glow, her form changed to her glowing bodied one, her mane turning a feathery orange, her body a translucent blue and her body shape more pointed like a bird’s.
“It is so much better, I feel no sense of magic strain in this-…”
As soon as she’d spoken, she’d heard a loud scurrying. Like bolts of lightning, the deer and 2 fawns had taken off into the foliage, and the birdsong all around her had begun loudly as usual.
The whole forest seemed to come alive when she changed to her normal form.
“What the…”
With a pause, Ave-Dol reverted her form to her Alicorn disguise, and once again, the forest became quieter, more subdued.
As she glanced at the Fox that had frozen in place when she changed, she saw its eyes become droopy when she was normal again. In suspicion, she flared blue again, changing to her true form.
The Fox’s heckles raised, and as it darted into the undergrowth, the birdsong resumed in the forest.
When she was disguised, it was almost as if she cast a spell of easiness on the forest’s denizens.
Looking at herself, she murmured aloud: “They didn’t behave like this around me before I left…”
Blinking, Ave-Dol shook her head, mumbling under her breath:
“Is it me perhaps?”
Elsewhere, while she unknowingly exercised her greatest ability to serve Siral’s ultimate aims, the culmination of efforts from him and a rival began to set into motion.
One motivated the other, but soon the actions of another would accelerate events to come.

Midday
March 19th, 71 BNM
Tartarus, mountaintop towers

The efforts were excruciating, half of all the Royal Wizards had gathered here, as well as students, pupils, to make any progress as soon as possible.
A great stone, the magic amplifier, Quintessence stone they called it, later to be called Quintessenite by sciences centuries later, lay in the centre of the altar type setup. It was not needed, but the Alicorns would be the only ones with a hope of pulling off this spellwork without it, that or Unicorns of extraordinary skill beyond those of the Wizards present.
Working together, the multi-coloured glows of their magic, amplified by the stone’s presence, shot skyward like an aurora in the middle of the day.
A wind picked up where the magic experiment took place, and the Wizards and apprentice stallion and mares visibly strained from the effort.
Outside the alter setup, a pair of Unicorns, clad in muted grey cloaks, sat beside a sundial.
Ever so slightly, they saw the shadow cast overhead change in angle.
The Sun, ever so slightly, had moved.
The equivalent of turning the clock back an hour by timekeeping centuries from now had been accomplished.
Kneeling in awe, the mare turned to her accomplice, a fellow Royal wizard:
“Such power, it is immense. If only the spell were not so difficult for normal ponies to handle. This is the 20th time we’ve done these small movements on the day, I merely am grateful the night and moon are the same difficulty.”
“We make the spells, Alicorns use it. We serve that demand from our rulers to the letter, let them handle making it easy to use.”
At her colleague’s words, the mare looked up as the Wizards and Apprentices, their cloaks flung back as they recovered from this attempt. She shook her head, remarking:
“If the Nationalists get wind of this…”
“They’ll want the power too no doubt.” The Stallion concurred, marking on the sundial where the shadows had moved to.
Shouting up, he called out: “Alright, take a break, recover your strength. After that we return it to its time before we started as usual!”
Murmurs of exhaustion spread through the ranks, but this top secret project, by Royalist high command itself, was well paying and prestigious enough to shut up even the most morally uptight of wizards and apprentices.
Overhead, an eagle cawed slightly as it flew away from the mountain, a silver glint in its eye.

Meanwhile
Midday
Citadel, Siral’s astronomy tower top.

Having seen through the Eagle’s eyes, Siral blinked in shock at what he’d seen. He thought it was a joke at first, from the rumors of some strange gatherings of wizards that Golmov reported form spying on Tartarus from afar.
But casting his gaze back at the sunlit cast shadows of his tower’s 4 corner ‘spikes’, he then looked skywards at the sun, a snarl building in his throat:
“Does the arrogance of Alicorns know no bounds…!”
With a flash of grey, he vanished from the balcony.

Siral’s offices

Striding over to his map collection, Siral ripped out the ones he needed.
Tartarus was what he sought, but also some of the Nokotaford city. He quickly wrote a letter and flashed it away in a magic glow

Early Afternoon

“They cannot be serious…” Teal Quirt remarked, looking at everything Siral had presented, the Wizard pacing somewhat as he turned to her:
“Apparently they are. Anything to one up the competition.”
“The Sun, and Moon, used as sources of raw power by briefly stopping their motions… And I thought our plans were ambitious.” Teal Quirt remarked, her disguised white Unicorn mare form peering incredulously at the details of the map and what Siral had written out from his spy reports, namely animal and Golmov’s accounts.
Looking out the window, Siral gave an aggravated growl, as he spoke to Teal Quirt:
“Ave-Dol is on leave, able to be called upon. Iena and Satio are still spies as needed. Odi-Viscer is able, as are Golmov and you. Gaudium… will be ready soon.”
“Sir?” Teal asked curiously, as Siral turned to her:
“I promised him enhancement before March was finished. He can be under for a few days more than normal if need be. They have given us no choice, we must be ready before this power becomes a tool for the Alicorns to freely use, whatever faction.”
“The Tartarus attack? You’ll have to let the Nationalists know it must be earlier now, and they may find out what the Royalists were developing there.”
“They will need time to know the details and catch up if they do. Our schedule has accelerated against both sides now.” Siral replied.
With a small grin, Teal Quirt nodded as she replied:
“I will contact the army leaders, let them know the attack must be pushed ahead.”
Siral held up a hoof as Teal made to leave, as he then had a distant look, turning to her:
“Not until 2 days from now. I sense we aren’t the only ones who may have accelerated plans by this. Call it a feeling, but these celestial oddities won’t have gone unnoticed… And I feel we should hear where things occur before making a move.”
Teal Quirt looked at Siral, as she asked with uncertainty: “So, remain here in case something develops, then head out?”
“No merits for understanding orders Teal.” Siral drawled, at which the Unicorn bristled under her master’s sardonic reply. As she bristled though, Siral remarked:
“Odi-Viscer has been useful in keeping tabs on Royalist Alicorns my other spies aren’t, while he uselessly hunts one in particular. If anyone among them makes a move, we shall know.”

Late Evening
March 19th, 71 BNM
Nokotaford, royal library, lower levels

In truth, Starswirl took had seen the oddities in sun and moon behaviour, he had studied astronomy profusely in his early wizarding days in times centuries ago. And he certainly expected the even more astronomy attuned Siral to have noticed this too.
But that was not why Starswirl readied to leave tonight.
Dark candlelight illuminated the archives, the lone occupant readying for travel in the night, his blue cloak ready and his hat perched on the table before him.
As he packed his equipment, he heard hoofsteps, as a yellow light shone in the dark archives he’d come down to for some last minute checking of the less restricted tomes he used. The last pony he wanted to be confronted by spoke up, her voice bitter and accusatory in tone:
“So you were planning on leaving yet again?”
“This is not your conce-.”
“Save it Starswirl, spare me that line of yours you’ve used to justify keeping secrets from those who could help, when you need not.”
Celestia spoke in a tone she herself didn’t expect to ever confront Starswirl with, the Wizard unperturbed, but listening at least. The White Alicorn frowned as she heard Starswirl’s next statement:
“Siral’s schemes end, now. He has only 6 of the 7 beings of his, this is my last chance before he has too many. If not him, then taking the life of the 7th before it becomes complete shall suffice.”
“Do you not hear yourself? You are contemplating murdering a potentially innocent being.” Celestia admonished, shocked at Starswirl’s utter lack of morality in this endeavour. Turning to finish sealing his equipment in his robe pockets, he remarked offhandedly:
“If Siral has them in his grip, it is a mercy at this point.”
All of a sudden, he felt himself violently dragged towards Celestia in her yellow magic, before a hoof came to smack him rather hard across the cheek, the princess’s purple eyes ablaze with disgust, and hurt:
“Do not do this Starswirl! You are better than this! What happened to the noble wizard the tales and songs spoke of?”
“…He never existed.” Starswirl spat, rubbing his cheek with a free hoof as Celestia released him from her magic grip, a few tears barely held back as he glared at her.
Walking backwards slightly, Celestia let Starswirl finish, though she barely heard his words:
“You wanted no more secrets, there you go.”
Shaking her head, Celestia turned to leave, mumbling as she departed to leave the Wizard in peace:
“I see now what your problem is, why you never led much of a life outside of solitude and duty.”
“Finally, you see I have no time for it, it cannot interfere.”
“No Starswirl. You had no difficulty in living life, you never tried to live life at all. How could one like you ever have true social relationships with other ponies, when you actively choose to abandon that which makes life worth living, what experiences we have with others. I admired you as a teacher, but now I just pity you.”
Starswirl was quiet as Celestia left, those last biting words dancing through his mind as silence reigned in the archives he was now alone in. Celestia’s hoof slap to his face hadn’t stung as much as her words.
But though he knew she was right, he’d long grown numb to such accusations.
A sense of duty was a powerful anaesthetic; a lesson he knew well by now.
He was gone before midnight fell.

Midnight
Nextdoor cathedral, rooftop

Half asleep, Odi-Viscer’s red eyes snapped open, as he sensed something he’d attuned his own magic to for these long waits whenever he staked out an Alicorn locale:
“Whuh, who jumped place, huh?!”
Shuffling on his perch, leaning against a nearby Gargoyle, the Earth Pony sensed, as he furrowed his brows:
“Huh, Starswirl. He’s back and forth a lot it seems. Heading west…”
He mentally sent this, his mind and head glowing a very vague red and then grey as he sent the mental message to Siral from afar.
Shuffling atop the roof, Odi-Viscer reclined back, murmuring: “Maybe I can get some uninterrupted sleep…”
The disguised being of Wrath simply snoozed on atop the cathedral roof, unaware of what the Wizard had departed for, only that he had gone.
If he had made the mistake of not being in his subdued form, his raw power would have given away his position to anypony with a minor ability in sensing magical energy. But Odi was no fool, none of the 6, soon to be 7, were.
Still, the Earth Pony didn’t complain for now. Starswirl was not the one he sought.
If only Starswirl knew how close one of the 7 he sought to destroy had been all this time, even if Odi utterly uninclined to violence, for now.

Mid-Morning
March 20th, 71 BNM
Nokotaford, Luna’s quarters

“And you could do nothing to stop him?”
“No, he was resolute, stubborn as always.” Celestia shook her head bitterly. Nearby, Luna replied aloud:
“You think he’s noticed that mother is looking happier recently?”
“I doubt that.” Celestia replied bluntly, but she remained listening as Luna had some thoughts, an odd mixture of optimism and confuson:
“Actually come to think of it, mother’s really only outwardly happy whenever the messengers from, I think it was Tartarus, bring her news. And its news she always keeps secret.”
Turning to Luna, Celestia was stern as she spoke to her sister: “Promise me this, you’ll have my back when we question those two about the secrets they’ve been keeping. We deserve to know, we are heirs, we have a duty to know.”
“Who, mother or Starswirl?” Luna asked, but she stood up in agreement.
“Either, or both, this can’t go on for any longer.” Celestia adamantly said, smiling as Luna nodded in agreement, before she added with a look out the window:
“I just hope he doesn’t get into too much trouble wherever he goes. I didn’t think he’d be willing to murder an innocent if need be though, he always struck me as a noble wizard.”
“Believe me sister, the feeling is mutual.” Celestia replied, still scowling at the state Starswirl had left in last night.

Late Afternoon/Evening
21st March, 71 BNM
Equestria north midland mountains
Citadel outskirts

The Sun was setting on the horizon, reflecting over the lake the Citadel rested on the mountainous shores of.
But the sight was not a blissful one for the Wizard the snuck across the forest covered ridges and shores. He didn’t use teleporting, but he used invisibility, any means of avoiding detection. He had ventured west, then south, as he had felt Siral’s presence somehow wherever he went.
It was only when he began guessing how that his mind wandered to controlled spies, and he had noticed the sight of a bird circling high above him all too consistently wherever he teleported to. Within 10 minutes of arrival there was one that somehow felt like Siral.
He then headed north east, using many shorter teleports, coupled with invisibly, keeping his profile as low as possible by sight of my magic energy.
Within a day and a half of travel, he found himself outside the Citadel’s outer walls.

He examined the Citadel, hidden inside a bank of tall trees along the lakefront as he spied on the castle. He sensed Siral’s eyes everywhere, but Siral kept himself hidden. Once inside the Citadel’s walls however, there would be no hiding.
His eyesight as he hid by invisibility showed him the energies of those inside.
But the castle and fortress, much of its structure going underground, muffled and distorted the energy signs, meshing them into a mixture of colours in his sight that engulfed the whole fortress. He knew who was in there, but not where.
The being of Envy’s green emanation was there, and nobody else apart from the unmistakable grey/black feeling he got from Siral’s presence in the castle. And the many feelings and colours of magical energy he got form the guards on the fortress’s outside and inside gave away its defensive strengths.
He had a gamble, the 7th possibly in there under Siral’s influence but not yet transformed. If not the 7th, he would go for the one of Envy, and if all else failed, he would target Siral himself.
One of them died tonight.

Citadel, outer ramparts

Keeping his hoofsteps silent, Starswirl remained invisible, to himself appearing like a hazy blue figure amidst a normal world. To others, he was unseen.
Walking past a guard, Starswirl turned midstride to get a closer look at the glossy silver gleam in the guard’s eyes. Every guard it seemed had that same look, and a stalwart obedience when it came to on duty behaviour.
Trapesing down the ladders and walkways to the castle entry doorways, as he passed by a guard dining lounge, he felt that same magic of ‘control’ there, but diminished, as if it flared when needed, but allowed free will within certain boundaries.
Starting ahead, Starswirl found the entrance to the fortress, as the metal door was opened to let a group of guards walk out of the side entrance.
Slipping in behind the guards, Starswirl entered the fortress.
Inside, he found the stone walled access corridors all around him. He had only seen the main hall, the public areas. Here he had access to all areas.
But inside, his senses now had a feeling for how big the underground areas were for some reason, especially the lower levels.
Tentatively, keeping himself invisible, he walked downstairs, noting cautiously how loudly all but the lightest hoofsteps echoed when there were no guard present and speaking nearby.
But he had no time, and all around him the aura of menace, secrecy and impending threat loomed.
The grey wizard found a winding stairwell, and ventured into the catacomb levels of the fortress. In his mind, he sensed the presence of Envy higher up, as well as the aura of black and grey that Siral practically erupted in his fortress.
He continued down, feeling the urge to see all of Siral’s secrets before making a move.

Same time
Siral’s offices

He’d felt it, that presence. The moment it entered the fortress’s inner confines he knew.
Starswirl was near. How near he could not tell, nor why. He kept himself too well hidden, he could be outside the door or 2 miles away it was so muted and distorted by Starswirl’s clever magic hiding himself.
Casting the map of Tartarus’s inner areas aside, Siral contacted Teal through a mental telepathy call:
“Where are you? And where is Gaudium?”
“In his quarters, reading. Why?”
“…Keep an eye on him.”
“Am I his keeper now?”
“Not keeper, but perhaps protector. We may have someone snooping around our home, inside or in the mountains I know not. Starswirl has found ways to hide himself too well for me to know where he is exactly. Remain vigilant for anything suspicious.”
The other end was silent, but Siral knew this was a confirmation. Teal Quirt knew full well the dangers of Starswirl, a wizard of his calibre on par with Siral, almost, as far as she knew.
But like Siral, Starswirl had improved himself. For now, they played the game of cat and mouse from both sides.

Author's Notes:

And now we get into a very meaty part of this story, a set of mini skirmish type events, which finally shows the conflict between wizards come to a head. But it won’t be a single battle, as it triggers a wide range of events.
And yet all the while, other developments that will have huge ramifications in history have already accelerated Siral’s own plans. No doubt this will come up between the two while they come to blows.
Meanwhile though, Lady Ave-Dol experiences a hidden ‘curse’ she has been plagued with, to truly make her a being that instigates sloth when she is hidden, without choice.