Early-Afternoon
March 28th, 71 BNM
Nokotaford, Royal Palace
Infirmary

The infirmary’s Earth pony nurse replaced the dried, hot cloth with a damp, cold one, ignoring the burning she felt on Starswirl’s head and horn as she moved it.
Only the gentle wheezing of the Wizard’s breath gave away that he was alive.
The deep wounds to his back leg had become infected during his ordeal in the Citadel’s stone giant mountains, chased through the night after his near deadly encounter against Siral and his abomination.
But unlike a normal infection and fever, there was a hidden curse at work. The creature, supposedly an abomination of Siral’s, had clawed his leg with a toxin laced slice, be it normal poison, or more likely, dark magic.
A fever of a few days from just the mud and dirt on his wounds, shortened by his magic, became a test of the Wizard’s subconscious survival instinct.
Beneath the bed covers, his cut had healed, but was swollen and a toxic looking swelling had formed on his rear leg, some of the fur falling out to reveal pale skin and purple/green blotches on the swelling.
Whatever the physical struggles against this physical and magical illness from his ordeal, the nightmares he was enduring were an ordeal he had to endure alone.

Her eyes glowing blue, Luna blinked, before she shook her head sadly. Looking at the infirmary nurse, and then Celestia beside her, the younger Alicorn sister sadly admitted:
“Whatever is causing this, it is putting his mind in such turmoil that I cannot penetrate his dreams. If I could see his memories through his dreams, we could know how to cure whatever harmed his leg beyond the normal infection.”
“I don’t know what he was thinking, going alone. Perhaps this will shock him from his mindset that he is alone in his tasks.” Celestia remarked, though her cold tone dropped with each second she saw Starswirl lightly writhing in his bed, whether from the pain in his swollen leg, or the nightmares he seemed to be suffering from.
“Let us know if there is anything more that could be done.” Celestia softly spoke, to which the nurse bowed lowly, but replied with a similarly soft honest tone.
“Your majesties, there is not much more that can be done. If he is to awaken, it is under his own power now. I’ve had mages, wizards, and physicians attend, they’ve done what they can, he is battling something they haven’t seen before.”
With a sad understanding, the two princesses left the nurse to her duties, keeping the Wizard comfortable in his disturbed, slumbering, feverish state.

Outside the infirmary’s doors however, Luna remarked bitterly to Celestia:
“Battling something not seen before, I fear that is swiftly becoming a saying for this whole damned war…”
“All too true sister, much as we wish it were not so.”

March 30th, 71 BNM
Dawn
Mid-Western Equestria, Mountain Range
Tartarus prison fortress

Tartarus, the name sent a chill of mystery and fear through the air.
A single, undoubtedly sinister locale and feature of Equestria even in more peaceful times.
In the 500 years since Equestria’s inception, after one too many incidents of high magic using criminals or would be warlords both inside and from outside Equestria, the decision was made. A fortified location was needed to ensure these forces, and any that could threaten Equestria and the world, could never escape.
An underground city, extending to depths unfathomable to all except those that dwelt and patrolled its keeps. More than stone and mountain secured it, the already dense rock nigh impossible to tunnel through by normal means, and a myriad of spells and curses imbuing the many depths with blocks and fields that prevented the prisoners from acting out.
As more and more Alicorns emerged over centuries, it was inevitable that a few would act out enough to be imprisoned here, and it was then that Tartarus secured its reputation. Not even the mighty Alicorns could escape its labyrinthine depths.
Over time, the fact that this highly secure location in the mountains existed leant it to becoming a wartime fortress, the prison levels existing below ground level, and the actual garrison and fort structures buried at ground level or above, into the mountain itself. The actual prison of Tartarus was never seen by those who saw the fortress from the outside.
Only the hundred-metre-tall battlements, stretching up from the already perilously steep slopes and sheer cliff faces that the fortress was built along. Stone as grey and obsidian black as the mountain itself made the fortress resemble a large spiked wall protruding at intervals along the mountain ridge’s face, steep hill slopes making the terrain below it difficult to traverse.
Between the wall itself and the steep slopes, a crevice had been formed. Only 20 metres wide, but stretching so deep that its depths vanished beyond sight, flooded at their blackened depths. The ‘moat’ of Tartarus it was called, and anyone that could not fly was dead if they fell into its jagged, vertical depths, without exception.
At the centre, flanked by the greatest of the mountainous towers, lay the outer gates of Tartarus. Over the crevice like moat that divided the wall and the steep incline of the slopes before the cliff like fortifications, a single bridge ran. Wide, made of solid stone and obsidian rock, it was the only way in and out of the fortress. And marking the bridge’s end, was the outer gate of Tartarus. Made of rock and metal, stretching 60 metres tall, enchanted as much, if not more than the lowest dungeons of the prison, it was deemed all but impenetrable.
The inner gates, inside the fortress, where the legendary three headed guard dog Cerberus dwelt, were of similar make. But those gates were intended to keep the prison sealed. The outer gates were installed when converting Tartarus to more than just a prison, but also a military garrison fortress.
Other secret passages existed, but they were told only to those who served in the fortress. And their small size made them escape routes, not entry and exit points.
A fortress to keep other out, just as much as it was designed to those imprisoned already in.
9 sub-ground level floors of prison cells, each for differing crimes, progressively more secure the deeper they went.
It was as much a hell to endure as a prisoner, as it was hell to capture from the outside.
But that would not stop those with interest from trying.

Tartarus, outer ramparts

Striding across the ramparts, the ‘Warden’ of the Prison and Fortress breathed in the early morning, mist filled air.
General Slickwing, a lithe bodied Pegasus with a jet black body and mane, was a very intimidating looking figure, shallow faced and compared to a snake by how cunning and patient he was, as well as ruthless when crossed. He had no ties before the Civil War took a turn for the worst, he had only the concern of the imprisoned horrors he and his garrison kept in the depths to heed.
But the two Princesses had visited last year’s autumn, and even if their father had not died during their visit with the Canterlot strike, he would have aligned with the Royalists anyway. Simply put, they seemed less likely to cause less upheaval across Equestria than the Nationalists. And upheavel was something Slickwing abhorred, a family trait by his and his family’s duty to maintaining Tartarus as a secure location.
Nopony had escaped Tartarus in 200 years, and he would ensure it stayed that way.
But the extra garrison troops he had in the fortress’s upper levels as part of the deal to make Tartarus a Royalist fortress were useful in their own right. Before, it had been the infamous Cerberus and usually around 200 elite ponies, but now they had 2000 in the fortress, with message pyres and Unicorn letters to send for quick backup from elsewhere.

Striding past a drowsy looking Unicorn mare guard, Slickwing flexed his metal armoured wing to whack her helmet, drawling as she shook awake as he passed behind her down the rampart:
“The fog isn’t a threat, but I expect diligence nonetheless! Even at this unholy hour.”
“Yes sir!”
Walking towards the watchtower along this part of the walls, the ground a staggering hundred metres directly below them, or more accurately, the bottomless trench that ran between the walls and the mountain slopes was.
Approaching the watchtower, the Earth Pony stallion saluted the Warden as he climbed up the stairwell, looking out briefly across the large walls and ramparts that stretched on, the taller towers around the tall main gate not too far from the watchtower.
Coming up to the edge, the pair atop the tower saluted the Warden as he leant on the wall, gazing out across the valley, the morning mist beginning to dissipate as the sun rose higher.
“Any word from the scouts?”
“No sir, they’re running late, even by their standards at some times.” The Earth Pony mare replied, turning from her watch duties briefly as General Slickhooves spoke aloud.
“Some of the scouts have sighted movement, likely scouts, but there were reports of upturned and flattened trees. Something is coming, that is certain.” The Unicorn stallion, the other watch-guard, replied to Slickhooves, while the General stepped back, glancing up the cliff face to the uppermost reaches of the mountain ridge Tartarus was built into.
“Let it come. Nopony escapes Tartarus, nopony will get in all the same, and damn me to this place’s lowest levels if they do.”
Slickhooves was confident in Tartarus’s defences holding, given what they had to imprison inside to start with.
As he stared up, he couldn’t help but muse aloud:
“Besides, if all else fails, we have the Telum Caelestis here, before any other place. They won’t be prepared for that…”

Telum Caelestis, one of many secret weapons to see battle soon. Testing had been done for months, by order of Queen Aurora herself. And all it took to use was a single Alicorn willing to wield its power, or a collective group of ponies.
A power, that would become the symbol of Equestrian power for centuries to come.
Heavenly Weapon, for the power it drew from the heavens itself for wielding at leisure.

Tartarus fortress
Inner Dungeons

A bottomless well, with a single narrow stairwell, was what led to each level of Tartarus. But within that well, wrought iron chains suspended in cables the entire length of the well, a series of moving platforms that were cranked by hoof of magic between the dungeon entrance hall and all 9 levels below it.
As the doors to the 7th level shut behind the guards, a change in shift, the howls of a few creatures and prisoners as they awoke escaped. The most violent prisoners, by nature regardless of their actual crimes, such as those who always resisted the guards, were kept here.
Only the 9th level was empty right now, as there were no traitors left alive long enough outside to imprison, and nobody ever escaped Tartarus to be imprisoned.
With a tug on the chain, the platform was raised up the immensely wide and deep shaft, the bottom seemingly hued in blackness. A few bridges spanned the shaft at the different levels, storage rooms and guard posts held away from the actual cells, but below the 9th level there were depths unexplored, even to this day.
Offloading, the platform coming to level with the 1st level, more of a holding level than a prison for those of lesser sentences, the guards headed to the main gates that divided the fortress from the actual prison chambers.
The snarls of the three headed dog, the size of a small dragon, and surrounded in an aura of hidden magic, came as Cerberus slowly watched each and every pony exiting and entering the great gates carefully. A single misplaced individual, and he would spring for the kill or maiming.
Overhead, the great stone ceilings of the fortress’s upper and ground levels loomed as always.

Mountain ridge top, opposite Tartarus

Camped out, hidden among the rocks in a way to avoid giving off light whenever possible, the Salamander knew well this was the target. All he could do was wait, and see how battle progressed. Everfree’s enchanted weapon helped him accomplish feats of stealth that impressed him to no end, namely making his encampment out of rock to disguise it without the watchers noticing from across the valley’s gap.
He expected this battle would be more than a single day in its waging, given how fortified Tartarus was, even with what was being brought to bear by the Nationalists, and in particular from the Citadel.
But Chack was unknowing that the Royalists had their own secrets that had been delved into and developed in this fortress.

Same day
March 30th, 71 BNM
Mid-Morning
Mid-Western Equestria, Mountain range
Nationalist Encampment
100 miles east of Tartarus

Aubelles stood with the local commander, a stout Pegasus Mare, outside the tent. Perched atop a hill overlooking a narrow valley, the troops of this part of the Nationalist army were camped here for the night, until the call was made to advance. Rows of tents, makeshift workshops and storage tarps for supplies and harvested local wild food, meant the army was more mobile than the metal gear and armor led onlookers to believe.
“Combined with the Pegasi air cavalry and Earth infantry that arrived with you yesterday from Baltimare, we have 4000 equine troops, not including the support peasantry with us.”
The bronze armoured Alicorn gazed over the map of the area, nodding at the layout of it, as he regaled to the commander:
“I leave it to you Commander, make sure we are ready to move within half an hour, the other army groups from the east and north won’t want us to be late. Let the troops know I’ll only assume command when we actually enter battle on the day.”
“Sir, respectfully, there is somepony coming sometime today who will be assuming command, not you. She wanted to meet you, when you were ready, meet her second…”
The Commander mare trailed off as she saw the twinge of scepticism enter Aubelles’s eyes, the sandy red Alicorn shook his black and blue mane in a gruff turn to leave, muttering to her:
“Tell them whenever they arrive, we will have words at their whim.”

3 hours later
Nationalist Encampment

A hundred metres down the hill ridge, still overlooking the encampment of mostly Pegasi and Earth ponies, the Alicorn saw an underwhelming sight greet his eyes as he awaited his ‘superior’.
A teal blue maned, white furred Unicorn mare, with vibrant green eyes, striding casually towards a small rock perch near where he stood. Coming to stand atop it, she met his taller stature eye to eye, but she displayed calm superiority amidst a sea of hidden thoughts.
“Aubelles, a pleasure to meet you. Teal Quirt, I come by high command’s wishes themselves.” Teal Quirt spoke calmly, whilst the sandy red Alicorn held back a scowl with respect for a superior, but only just.
“You must know my reputation then, lest they send out an uninformed whelp of a mare to be my superior.”
Teal Quirt’s green eyes narrowed as a coy smile ran across her features, to which the mild venom in her retort could be tasted in the air:
“Oh yes, popular with the troops, a hero and legend among them. An Alicorn not hiding up in the ranks of leadership or the nonsense of noble ponies, a rare find nowadays. And yet…”
She cut herself off, before she finished:
“Your little Salamander friend has been missing since last November. Why you would even take such an acquaintance, a mercenary and non-loyalist to Equestria, is beyond many-a-pony’s knowledge. It is this little factor that makes me question your reputation.”
Aubelles was quiet, as he spoke bluntly to Teal, turning away to gaze on the encampment tents below:
“He was my go to swordsmith at first, we became friends on and off the battlefield. Most of all, he was an honourable warrior, and knew to respect power when he saw it, and earn any respect of his in turn.”
Teal scowled at this, she knew who the Salamander was, what he’d done to her when they met both times long before. But it was the contempt that Aubelles had for her that did her in.
A little hint of green magic snagged Aubelles’s chin, with a surprising amount of force, as the sand red Alicorn found his head slowly wrenched around to see Teal Quirt, stood on the rock next to him, glaring lightly into his eyes as she calmly addressed him:
“Your arrogance is as legendary as your battlefield feats. But you are far from the most potent force the Nationalists have. I can say this much, of the things coming from the allied force from the Northern Citadel, you will be glad they are on your side. There is a reason you are second to ME in this coming battle, ALICORN.”
Pulling away from Teal Quirt’s touch, Aubelles looked darkly at the white and teal Unicorn mare, seeing a shimmering green magic in her eyes that gave him pause.
“The main reason you are here, and these armies, is because Tartarus will be a harder target to conquer than Canterlot was for me and my own allies. Bear that in mind.”
Without another word, the Unicorn left, leaving Aubelles staring after her with a blank expression, blinking a few times. He had heard tales of those beings, under the Citadel’s allegiance, responsible for the Canterlot attack.

Later that Evening
Encampment, mess tents

“Myth, legends, lot o’ strange things up around those mountains, even before the sorcery of the Citadel came there from what I hear. Doesn’t surprise me that they came from there. What brought this on?”
“Nothing, just curious is all. I hear we may be getting them as allies.” Aubelles admitted, as he ate the rations before him with a few of the soldiers around one of the many gatherings of soldiers eating their evening meal, only a few unfortunate dozens charged with night watch and patrols.
“Strange and dangerous as they might be, Canterlot n’ all, I’d welcome them. But Tartarus? Now there’s a place that won’t be easy to take control of.”
“Those creatures destroyed half of Canterlot, they didn’t take control of it.” Aubelles reasoned. To this, the other soldiers looked at each other, before an elder soldier spoke up:
“Ah’ve been to Tartarus, before the Civil War now or the period before. The fortifications there… They won’t be easily felled; it’ll stand after the battle.”
“Great, more strength for the Royalists to hide behind then. Want to place wagers on how many weeks it will take to defeat them?”
A pessimistic utterance from a trooper among them caused some grumbling among them all, even Aubelles.
While the battle looked to be a long one, it would potentially be the last great battle of the war against the Royalists if all went to plan.
Of course, history would, and had already shown, that things going to plan was never a guarantee, for better or worse.

Next day
Early Morning/Dawn
March 31st, 71 BNM
Equestria, Northern Mountain pass
90 miles north east of Tartarus

Hidden at the base of a large vertical cliff face, the encampment had remained hidden, despite the Royalist scouts who had found it the night before and tried to sneak away.
A small Unicorn encampment, one of Nationalist alignment, brought the captured Royalist scouts to the feet of their commander, a burly Unicorn Stallion of dark blue colour. Glancing at the shivering scouts, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he took his magic to the elder scout, bringing her face to meet his:
“How many more are skulking about these mountains besides you and your comrade here?”
The younger stallion, a pegasus, kept quiet, nursing a restrained wing, whilst the horn locked Unicorn mare merely spat in the Unicorn’s face, who quickly recoiled and charged his horn:
“You’ll pay for that you!-…Sir.”
The Unicorn soldiers all around fell quiet, as the Commander Unicorn stepped backwards slowly as a grey Earth Pony slowly approached the two prisoners held at the centre of the camp. Devoid of fur, bald and grey skinned, he was a sickening sight to behold.
His glinting red eyes bore into the eyes of the two scouts, before he turned to face the mountain face that overlooked the encampment, remarking:
“Surprise is key. Fewer eyes that see what we travel with will mean they are dismissed as paranoid rumour.”
With a raising of his hoof, he pointed at the mountain itself, as an impossible sight unfolded.
An entire section of the mountain began to shift, as something that was made of rock shifted from it, revealing a single pony wide gap between its mountain sized bulk and the read mountain, a slope and not a sheer cliff, before them.
Dark red magic suddenly engulfed the two scouts, hurling the younger Pegasus stallion 10 metres deep into the gap’s darkness, some pebbles still tumbling as the rock face shifted ever so slightly between him and the real rock face it had leant out from. Holding the Unicorn mare scout in his red magic grip, Odi-Viscer slowly shoved her into the gap 10 metres in, squashing right up against the other scout he kept in there.
As she stared out, she saw the grey Earth Pony stare upwards, and give a single nod, before he began to turn to the others, addressing the orders to wait for the charge command.
The immense stone giant, resting against the mountain slopes in a way that created a temporary cliff sized vertical rise with its curled up form, reclined back, the brief yells from the two Royalist scouts silenced as the bulk crashed back against the mountain, on top of them.
Elsewhere in the narrow valley, a few other gargantuan ‘outcroppings’ resided, all having marched from the north with them, mostly at night, to maintain surprise, keeping their numbers and existence as rumour at best, propaganda legend at worst.
But the Unicorns Odi marched with were all from the Citadel’s domain, and unbeknownst to him, all under Siral’s spell.

Elsewhere in the mountains

The hordes of blue and white armoured ponies below still marched to their encampment location, coming from the east with all their supplies for war on hoof and hand.
Thousands of Earth Ponies and Unicorns marched, whilst Pegasi flew overhead, the main Eastern Army on the move, clad in blue and white colours of the Nationalists with banners flying as they marched.
Far overhead the hordes, a black and gold dragon leisurely flew far overhead, observing these allies he would have on side.
A few wary glances came from the ponies on the ground at this dragon circling overhead, despite word that he was an ally getting to them before he arrived, one from the Citadel.
Unlike others from the Citadel, he would not be a commander, but acting in alliance yet on his own. At best, he would be an aerial ally only, while ‘others’ like him would take command in a certain Unicorn’s case, or act as a heavy assault in another case.

Evening
March 31st, 71 BNM
Baltimare, Trumane residence

“Tonight, we toast. Tomorrow, the last great battle against the Royalists begins. Their last stronghold will fall, that is what we hear from our generals.”
As the glasses clinked, the lustful light green maned Pegasus, Iena, couldn’t help but have mixed thoughts. She’d heard of a problem at the Citadel, that Starswirl had come to harm them, and Gaudium had been wounded in the process, enough that he had to be put into his changes early to also magically heal.
But as the servers passed by, over the sound of the clinking glasses and cheers at the nobility sat at the table around her, she saw the fat Minotaur, Satio, she knew, loved, and lived with pass her by, an uncertain look in his orange eyes meeting her blue ones.
The timing seemed odd, likely Starswirl’s attack had accelerated things. But something else was off, that it was urged by them both to return to the Citadel as soon as the battle at Tartarus was finished, calling in sick before making their way here.
Something was afoot.

Nightfall
Equestria, North Western Forests
50 miles from Baltimare
Lady Ave-Dol’s cottage

She sat in her true form, the glowing light blue Windigo bodied Alicorn shape, with a bright orange feathered mane, filling the ambience of the cottage in the night.
Staring out into the night skies, Ave-Dol had been plagued with her thoughts. She’d received the same message to return to the Citadel when summoned, to be ready to go quickly. She had not received notification that it would be after the Battle of Tartarus was ended.
But she knew this was Siral’s intent. He was close.
He was gathering them, after the last great victory between the factions, to have them all in one place yet again. She had heard of Stasrwirl attacking, and of Gaudium being injured and being ‘treated’ by Siral early.
The news had nearly made her scream with such force to blast her cottage apart. She knew this was the turning point, that she had failed Gaudium. As soon as he had been under, Siral had promised he would never be the same.
Standing up, she decided that as soon as she arrived, she would begin to make amends. If this was to be their last free will under their so called ‘caring’ master that Ave-Dol had foolishly been tricked by, she would make a stand to undermine what unity he had over them.
And she knew just who to head to.
It was good that the others were all either in Tartarus’s intent, or were still spies of the Trumanes.
“If he asks.. I was spying on the Royal family as Odi was at one point..”
She stood up, knowing full well who she had to speak to. The one who by history, had known Siral longer than anyone, the one who could stand a chance to undo his evils, or find a way to do so even if he could not himself.
With a swift teleport spell, Ave-Dol began the long journey west, towards distant Nokotaford. Whatever transpired at Tartarus was forgone to her until she had spoken to Starswirl. Siral was a deceiver, and another side of the story might gain her the knowledge she needed to finally atone for her part in his actions, and her ignorance, inaction [forced and willful out of sympathy] to his hidden evils and ambitions. Siral had taken her sympathy and played her for a fool to his ends.
But he was the fool, he had ensured Starswirl was in a place she could easily find.
She revered back to her light blue and blond Alicorn form, knowing full well she could not control the aura of laziness and drowsiness she gave off unless in her true mutated form.
But perhaps calming others would prove useful for once.

Author's Notes:

Right here, things start to take a great manner of turns, as a large portion of the next few conflicts will be very closely interlinked.
Aubelles will be present, though he is suspicious of playing second fiddle to Teal Quirt, and of what she ‘could’ and is inferring she and others to battle are. Meanwhile, Odi-Viscer brings the heavy forces from the Citadel, whilst Golmov escorts the other armies in their march.
After the battle is over, outcome notwithstanding, Siral has plans to initiate his endgame.
And all the while, Starswirl’s ordeal, combined with the dark magic Siral used and Teal Quirt’s claws held, he’s facing an illness that is not natural.
Ave-Dol will be the first of the 6 [thus far] to begin unraveling the web Siral has spun with them, going to one who would very well try to kill her because of what she is in regards to the prophecy. More on that later.
The Battle for Tartarus will see its own share of unleashed surprises, more on Telum Caelestis later. Amidst the battle, a popular character from the main MLP series, albeit not quite ‘himself’ yet, will make his debut.