April 1st, 71 BNM
Midday
Western Equestria
Nokotaford, Royal Palace
Infirmary chambers

As she stood over the Wizard’s bed, the creature’s eyes glowed as blue as her shimmering, Windigo like body, her fire coloured feather mane slumped in her focus.
She delved deeper, into the mind of the Wizard before her.
Slowly, his stirring in his sleep was dimishing, and ever so slowly, the magical toxin from the being of Envy’s scorpion claws was nullified, only a normal fever easily recovered from being left.
Deeper in the mind of the Wizard though, Ave-Dol drew closer to Starswirl’s sub-consciousness.

Ave-Dol felt the writhing curse from the toxins in Starswirl’s body as a green mist in his mind, surrounding her, as a faint grey and blue glow before her showed where Starswirl’s mind center was. Her magic, as she knew it by being with Teal Quirt, swept the toxic green aside in his mind, finding the centre, his inner mind.
As she dove deeper, memories, triggered by what had put him in this state, flowed into her. And she watched, let them flow, as she dove deeper towards Starswirl’s subconscious.

729 years ago, Oracle Mount

“We are merely the highest ramparts of a great structure, and those you view as ‘lesser’, are the foundations and structure that we stand above. Unlike some nobility Unicorns, we must keep in mind that the strongest forces are often the most lowly and base, be they nature’s wrath, or the sleeping giant that is the ‘commoners’. Others will catch up to us ‘elites’ in time.”
Hearing his old friend’s words, Siral nodded with some mild regret, as he then added: “By that time, if you and I are still around, I wonder where we shall a stand compared to them? Perhaps greater than I can conceive if they catch up to us, Starswirl the Bearded and Siral the Savant.”
Laughing slightly, Starswirl took another puff on his pipe, remarking: “Your grandiose predictions of the future can match the oracles at times Siral.”
As Siral shot Starswirl a sour look at deflating his thoughts of potential, as Starswirl blew a magic imbued puff from his mouth, the pipe weed smoking slightly as the puff of smoke spun in the air to reveal a wispy Pegasus shape flying towards the sky, trailing out beneath the hanging half-moon on the horizon.
Staring out, Starswirl heard Siral murmur: “So, did you get asked to be here, or are you here just to catch up like I am?”
“Actually, I was asked for by the Oracles themselves. You were not?”
“No, and I don’t wish to know the future in advance. I make my own future.”

Beings of strife and destruction, borne out of that most destructive desire there is, the desire for power over others. Power corrupts all, corrupting more as it grows in strength.
Creatures bred from the need to acquire power, in a time of greatest turmoil.
The Lustful One: A deceitful tempter, taking pleasure in sowing division.
A dark blue haze clouded the mindscape, a lithe figure slithering like smoke around unseen figures of power that fought soon after her wiles were sown in.
The Gluttonous One: A voracious force, consuming all things like a plague.
An orange haze hid an unseen shape, and fields of crops and even entire crowds were consumed by the same mist.
The Greedy One: A cunning creature, ensuring it gains in any outcome.
Yellow beams pierced the Canterlot Palace’s ceiling, arcing everywhere as King Nova was extinguished within by the creature.
The Slothful One: A careless bystander, apathetic to the suffering of others.
A hidden light blue haze filled the mindscape, and Ave-Dol couldn’t help but realize to her horror that it was her the prophecy was linking to, as her mutated Windigo/Alicorn with phoenix mane appeared in all its glory.
The Wrathful One: A mindless beast, all that breathes is its enemy.
A red hued figure, bulky and brawny and wreaking destruction everywhere, brought down the mountain that Canterlot’s royal palace rested on.
The Envious One: A cold hearted servant, scheming for power and revenge.
A green haze erupted, penetrated by Teal Quirt’s monstrous scorpion claw penetrating Starswirl’s leg in the catacombs, his scream ringing out.
The Prideful One: A scheming master, moulding all things to its own ends.
The purple haze was most dense, the figure hidden, but large. Yet behind it, a black figure loomed, eyes glinting silver, as this being was more controlled by an outside entity than the others.
More so than others, the Prideful One shall be your final challenge in your greater destiny that we see.
Beware the enemies that lay closest to your heart, though not yet enemies they themselves may be.
As the black haze settled, a Unicorn’s face emerged. Siral turned to glance at a figure of Starswirl that materialised, a respectful gaze that slowly morphed with a painful look to his current, scarred physically and mentally look, as an unseen Alicorn showed naught but cruelty.
Geldrath, a cruel Alicorn that revealed the darker side of such power going to the mind, but also opening Siral’s eyes by Geldrath’s own wisdom. When powers exist side by side, they naturally come to blows, given time.
Seek the essences of true Harmony, the greatest power to be had to combat these threats you are to face at the end of your destiny.
A Treacherous One, for you and they to learn of True Loyalty.
A Saddle Arabian mare stood alongside gladiators in a grand arena, cheers filling as she struck down her blood family to serve that which she believed in, a painful choice, her sword glowing a bright red.
A Restrained One, for you and they to learn of True Magic.
A Serpentine dragoness from the far east glowed a fierce golden colour as she released her power against her family’s killer, the Dragon sorcerer's life sucking amulet’s glow diminished as she unleashed her power. Her family’s golden and jade stone necklace glowed a bright pink.
A Glum One, for you and they to learn of True Joy.
A muted Earth Pony, slowly emerged from his solitude of an organ player to entertaining the masses with talents he abandoned out of shame, to bring joy to his lame legged adoptive son that he couldn’t see scared from the world by misguided cruelty. His neck scarf flew off as he danced and played his flute, glowing blue as it did.
A Deceitful One, for you and they to learn of True Honesty.
A bitter Tigress, limping on one paw and angrily warding off any threat, recognised her weakness and shame, and in being honest with herself, opened herself to help from others, and help quell the evil that had plagued her home for too long. A tuft of fur flew off, glowing yellow as it did.
A Selfish One, for you and they to learn of True Generosity.
A Fox, weighed down by treasure so many he knew had died in trying to wrestle from a monster’s lair, saw his father figure and captain gape as he leapt down, his weight on the rope with the treasure used to further make himself heavier hoisting one besides himself to safety, as the cold waters rose up to seize him. His pocket compass glowed purple as he met the icy and monster filled waters.
A Cruel One, for you and they to learn of True Kindness.
A Salamander, wielding a sword, walked alone through mountains, as unseen figures fell before him or retreated, voices of shame following him despite his service. And now, he wandered an unseen deep forest, alone.
Nothing glowed, he had not fulfilled his destiny yet.

150 years ago
Glaceland

Not wanting to delay much further, and not risk having second thoughts and trying to dissuade Siral, not that he likely could have given his adamant state, Starswirl gave a small smile as he turned to leave, a sad sigh escaping his mouth before he spoke:
“It was good to have you with me, all this time. It would have been lonely otherwise.”
“One more reason I had to leave, just as the prophecy warned, less chance of those close to your heart becoming a threat. Like Geldrath told me, and you didn’t.”
Siral’s last words stopped Starswirl in his tracks, the Grey Wizard turning to see Siral already wandering over to the ship bound for Equestria in 3 hours, the Earth Pony captain seeming to take up Siral’s offer on helping load cargo before departure.
Staring at the Black Unicorn vanishing into a few storage buildings nearby, Starswirl looked down slightly, lamenting a lost friend, and the secret he had kept from about one line in the Prophecy.
He hadn’t trusted Siral completely, as Siral had him. Duty had come first, and Siral had volunteered to help him by both coming with him, and now leaving to deal with trouble at home.
Yet a small part of Starswirl wondered if he himself had driven Siral away by focusing too much on the Prophecy, ignoring much else in the world until gathering the 6 exemplars was done.
All of a sudden, the 5 trinkets in his small pouch he’d gathered from Mashri, Hinai, Frello, Nahia and Irvin weighed heavier, despite him now travelling much lighter in company.
Now those 5 trinkets from them would remind him of times when he had Siral on side.
Snorting, Starswirl kept the one hope in his mind that Siral would improve with his conscience and worries sated, while Starswirl would focus on the final of the 6 before returning himself.

Flashes of the Citadel, the catacombs, the forging chambers, a 7th yet to be used.
A Wizard and one fallen so far confront on the bridge that spanned an underground dungeon and lake.

“They know better than to harm me. I have all the home advantages here Stasrwirl, yet even without them you are no match for my power.”
“Power not earned, you’ve become a hypocrite, using Alicorn magic for your own ends!”
“Their power is used more responsibly under my authority, what I disliked was the ambition and arrogance that came with being born with that power, or acquiring it with little sacrifice compared to the great Wizards and Mages of past times...”
“So you are jealous of them, is that it? You make them suffer because you envy their might?”
“Suffering is the greatest teacher there is, be it a long life of work like you and I, or the addition of personal experiences at their hooves.”
Siral gestured to his scarred visage as he spoke, whilst he then gestured to the amulets he wore:
“Besides, why envy those whose power I can now so easily take for myself?”
“And how many more have to suffer and die, Alicorn or not, before your ambitions are achieved?” Starswirl accused, as Siral gave a brief pause before he remarked coldly:
“Equestria, the world, existed reasonably peacefully enough before Alicorns came to be. Does that suffice as an answer, old friend?”
Siral’s venomous answer was all Starswirl needed to hear, as he replied to the Grey Wizard who had been hovering closer on his watery pillar the whole time:
“My old friend is dead. The Wizard before me is as much a monster as the beings that serve you.”
Siral frowned at this, a very small part of him deep down actually hurt by this. A small part, that was buried beneath all his ambitions, desires, and sense of duty to what he must do.
“Your old friend died at that Alicorn’s hooves in the jungle so long ago…”

A jungle temple, as an exiled Alicorn and his demon hordes battled a younger Siral to near death, the jungles strangled by vines and fire as Starswirl and a Tigress raced to his aid.

“And what of the others? I can’t assume they are all so loyal and connected to you in their pasts…”
“Souls impacted by the war, by Alicorns, or by sympathy to these souls themselves. I made sure to find those who would be motivated to aide my cause, even if they needed a little push in the right direction…”

“Every being we meet, we influence their lives. You consider yourself a slave to destiny, you think things will always play out as foretold and you must conform to what you perceive as destined. That is your problem Starswirl, you cannot be a true protector of Equestria if you serve those that are part of the problem itself. Have you not felt what experiments your Royalists are conducting? The slight changes in how the moon and sun move?”

“And if they will not change themselves, and I suspect you came here knowing this, I will ensure no Alicorn sleeps soundly ever again. With the help of all I have gathered, I will make Equestria, and the World, in harmony again, and I will do so, ATOP THEIR BONES!”

Seeing Starswirl barely hanging on nearby, Siral paid little heed to the uncontrollable Gaudium nearby, the light brown Alicorn’s blue wings flaring as his rage finally broke.
“HOW MANY OF THE OTHERS LIVES HAVE YOU RUINED!?”
A burning curse shot from Gaudium’s horn, raw power but not refined, to which Siral dispersed as easily as a cloud of smoke, his form turning to a black vapour before Gaudium before it surged towards the young Alicorn stallion, solidifying into the scarred Wizard’s form before he fired a spell into Gauidum’s face with a few last words, a last bitter insult to Gaudium before he was subdued painfully with a powerful curse:
“Your last free thought will be regret of becoming my enemy…”
Starswirl scrambled away, as the Wizard dealt with the Seventh to be.

Thunder and crashing of the earth chased him, as the night and cold drained his strength as much as whatever poison the Being of Envy had in her claw wound on his leg.
Silver eyes in the night, impossibly high, old and made of stone and mountain, attacked, and only intervention by two pupil Alicorns in the night saved him.

“No.. NOO, ONE OF THEM! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!”
Starswirl’s mind, cleared of the toxin, began to writhe, a storm brewing all around Ave-Dol as memories faded, giving way to more than just dreams.
All around her, blue aura of Starswirl’s mind and magic grew, before she bellowed back in the mental landscape.
“I am not your enemy!”
“You are one of the Seven, Sloth, you let this happen!”

Everfree’s vision flashed in her mind, the future if left unchecked.
The desolate landscape, the shattered moon, friends turned against one another out of desperation as Siral at long last achieved control of a world he would then have to rebuild from scratch.
The Seven beings enslaved to him, beyond choice, his magic and arts making them extensions of his will, devoid of all but the most basic of free will.
Ave-Dol, the dejected looking one among the seven, had no choice, but did not enjoy it.
And nearby, the Seventh loomed in his lithe figure, red and yellow eyes highlighting his shapeshifting limbs, the most perfected of them all, and one who lost his free will the moment he became what he was. He never even got the chance to appreciate, or loathe, his new form with his mind intact, unlike the others.
The first to fall was doomed from his rebirth.

“I REJECT SIRAL, OTHERWISE I’D HAVE NOT COME HERE TO SEEK YOU OUT! And seeing this from your mind, seeing both sides, I do not regret it!”
The swirling tempest seemed to settle all around Ave-Dol, as the world began to shift all around her from the shapeless blue fog.

Starswirl’s dreamscape

Islands floated in the air, some rocky, other coated in grasslands, none bigger than a small chapel.
Coming to stand atop the island closest to her, Ave-Dol glanced around and relaxed herself, finding herself shapeshifting in the dreamscape to her original light blue and blond maned Alicorn form.
Before her, a darker blue form materialised, forming an elder, grey and white bearded Unicorn, wearing a tall blue hat and a sun and moon decorated robe.
Regarding her with mild suspicion, but a much calmer demeanour, Starswirl slowly walked towards Ave-Dol, as a series of stony ‘seats’ formed between them, and a few islands floated by with oak trees growing from beneath them.
Tilting his head in suspicion still, Starswirl gently looked at the stone seating, while Ave-Dol took the signal for what it was. Shuffling to recline her Alicorn form on the surface, sitting on her hunches, she saw Starswirl walk slowly before her, his mind racing, the dreamscape showing a few moving streaks of blue mist as his mind became more embroiled in inquisitive suspicion:
“While you were probing my mind, I saw parts of yours. Enough to get a full picture from what you know.”
As she sat, her form visibly shifted to her Windigo/Alicorn form, her mane turning its fiery phoenix feathered colour as she spoke calmly to the Wizard before her on the rocky island:
“Then you realise what is occurring, even right now. Tartarus is under siege as we speak, but from what I was made aware of, once it falls Siral will make his move against the only other faction with truly notable strongholds. He’ll have all he needs to no longer have to forge alliances after that...”
“No, he’ll simply control them, as he intends with you and the others.” Starswirl finished. As he paused, he turned to face her, as he said scathingly:
“And you did nothing. You certainly lived up to what you were prophesised as. Sloth, standing by while things went awry…”
“The others are victims as much as they are monsters, you refuse to see them as anything but the latter, as you also do with me. I did nothing to stop Siral’s plans, because I cared first about the well-being of those I thought he’d taken under his care, souls suffered by the world in various ways.”
“So, not truly slothful, you merely favoured a select few over the greater many.”
Starswirl’s spiteful retort finally got a rise out of Ave-Dol, as she towered over Starswirl even in his dreamscape, if only for a moment:
“I took pity! They were shunned by the world in various ways, whereas I willingly left it for a life of peace, not powermongering as I came to agree with Siral with!”
She stood fast as Starswirl’s size in the dreamscape grew to surpass her own, as she regaled each one in detail:
“Teal Quirt, your salamander accomplice wounded her decades ago, robbing her of a potential life as a greater magician, and she turned to the Wizard who did help her, one she studied his teachings of and idolised, agreed with. You wonder why she is Envious, she was robbed of what she could have been, and more so with her being the first of seven, later ones to become stronger than she is, even with her being the cunning one of them all.”
“Golmov, perhaps the least sympathetic, but even so his dragon code made the shame he was delivered years ago by losing the crystal heart to a princess unbearable. He greedily seeks retribution as much as riches, to dragons their honour is life, and Siral took advantage of that, even if Golmov let him.”
“Odi-Viscer, cursed by an Alicorn disguised as an elder when he was a foal, he became cursed, losing his fur and being cast out by his paranoid village as a possessed child, living as a feral, violent being in the forests until Siral found him. Odi learned to be more than an animal under Siral, but his rage and wrath are a part of him now because of how life turned for him.”
“Iena, she served her noble pegasus family, using her feminine wiles to encourage unions and agreements, until the very methods that brought great prosperity to her family were suddenly disapproved of, and she was cast away in shame. She revels in using her charms to tear people apart, to let them feel what she was forced to feel.”
“Satio, he was a mere farmer and migrant, forced to give up his land for a noble pony before others because he was a foreign minotaur. Robbed of all he had worked so hard for, from a far off land as well, when all he wished in life was simple pleasures that were denied without good reason besides consuming wars. He became a glutton because of the misery life caused him, overindulging out of fear that it might be wrenched away again.”
“And me, a mere Alicorn who took pity on them, brought in by Siral to console them, keep them in check. I thought he had intentions to help them heal, and I was right. He clearly wanted stable individuals to become his slaves…”
“And Gaudium… I failed him, Siral made me have to choose, and by doing nothing, I guaranteed Gaudium as much more time as a free willed Pony as I could, without him suffering for it until the time came.”
As she slumped down, Starswirl could feel the dejected feelings emanating from this creature, no, this pony that had come to his mind in peace. Had cleared the toxins and magical curses in his body by her knowledge of the one who placed them.
She had also likely risked herself, if Siral had any inkling that she’d come here and not slain him as he slept.
“You made the mistake of focusing on those you sympathised with, unable to see Siral’s true motives… I made the mistake of doggedly pursuing my role in that damned Prophecy, not forging my own fate.”
Starswirl sat down beside Ave-Dol, looking the Windigo/Alicorn hybrid creature in her glowing light blue eyes as he spoke softly, looking inwards as a few wisps of blue clouds before the island formed a memory from so long ago:
“If I’d been truthful with Siral from the start, about the prophecy warning against friends close to me tagging along, whether or not he’d joined me on the quest, I may have been able to help him make a better path.”
“If I’d valued our friendship, more than my role as Wizard, none of this might have happened.”
Before them, a few early memories of Starswirl and Siral’s early days played out, a shy, reclusive black Unicorn Wizard meeting the more famous, 60-year older Grey Wizard. Starswirl was the more amicable, more involved in Equestrian affairs among Wizards, but this was somewhat a front to make his role of Wizard seem more meaningful.
Siral was the studious one, he was withdrawn, but what friends he did have he valued more than gold. Quality over Quantity it seemed.
Starswirl was Siral’s truest friend, enough to follow through time. But the mutual feeling was not powerful enough to dissuade Siral from the feelings of paranoia and fear of Equestrian affairs with the Alicorns, Starswirl’s sense of duty blinding him without him knowing it.
The phrase that time healed all wounds was the complete opposite of what transpired.
“By embarking on the quest, I may well have caused that destiny to occur.”
Ave-Dol regarded Stasrwirl with calm sympathy, but she then turned her gaze outwards, her mind flashing to events happening right now.
“Tartarus is strong, but not impenetrable. But beyond the forces brought to bear against it, what might be used in retaliation, Siral is about to change his tactics.”
“Siral stressed that unity is the key to his, and our strength. He will secure it the moment he has control of all of us. But what he has hidden from some of them will sow enough doubt and rebellion to delay, even prevent his ultimate plans.”
“Whatever happens, to Tartarus or to me, find those Siral purposeful ruined the lives of, reveal the truth. Destroy their unity, and you will destroy Siral’s rise to power.”
“How?” Starswirl asked. Ave-Dol gently smiled, if only at the tragedy of it:
“I did some digging in my ‘time off’, but you and I both know by now that Siral would ensure he could get Odi-Viscer, Iena and Satio, whatever occurred.”

Years ago, in the forest within the Seperatist territories, as the young foal scampered back to his village, the Alicorn shifted his body, the grey robed, black and scarred Unicorn beneath them smiling as the curse was done. The boy would be thrown out like other ‘possessed’ children, and he would come for Odi-Viscer in time.

All it took was a single word of gossip, a single spilled word, but the wiles and methods of the Pegasus mare Iena in the courts and nobility to persuade agreements between her family and others were revealed.
Siral had eavesdropped long enough to know which grains of truth to implant as mysteriously manifested memories within another noble pony’s mind at a party.
That Pegasus mare would be cast out, prey for him to sweep up.

A migrant was an easy target, but he was out of the way, content and alone. A little bit of magical coaxing to the local landlord, and Satio’s farm and home were repossessed for ‘funding’ purposes.
That migrant Minotaur was turned vagabond, and prey for Siral, all too easily.

Starswirl shook his head, as Siral proved he was still all too willing to directly interfere in lives if it suited a greater purpose, prophecy or anti prophecy. He proved it with Mashri in the Romane era, and he merely held off until Stasrwirl was a non-factor.
Beside him, Ave-Dol spoke calmly:
“Find them, if I cannot reveal to them in time. We are not monsters, and neither is Siral. We had no choice, nor did he, in how life shaped us. If you wish to spare Equestria more pain, he must-.”
At that exact moment, a purple haze suddenly descended upon them, as if a tsunami of an outside mind suddenly reached into Starswirl’s own.
Beside her, as the purple haze swelled around her, choking, Starswirl gasped, an image entering his mind as he murmured quietly:
“No…”

Wherever he was, it was murky, wet, cold yet pulsing in warmth. He remembered these words, their meaning, but he could not know how he remembered them. He just, did.
From above, a presence masked in silver light and black shadow called to him, and it felt, right, a part of him he NEEDED.
Surging to the surface, he, for he had no name to go by, felt cold, emptier space. He remembered it as, air.
Breaking the surface, his yellow and red hued eyes beheld a purple glint within their black pupils.
Siral’s pride, the Seventh, had awakened.

Early Afternoon
Western Equestria
Nokotaford, Royal Palace
Infirmary chambers

With a scream, the Windigo/Alicorn hybrid was hurled backwards as she was both ripped and jumped from Starswirl’s mind in a flurry.
She felt whatever the presence was awaken, from far away, and that whatever this feeling was always coincided with one of the other 6, her included, being ‘reborn’.
Before her, Stasrwirl’s swollen leg and fever had already begun to subside, but he groaned loudly in his sleep as he jolted awake. His eyes glanced at her glowing blue form, widening at the sight of her.
“I’m sorry…” Ave-Dol quickly whispered, as a loud series of knocks from outside sounded from a nurse on duty now, the loss of focus from Ave-Dol’s magic enough to make her try and barge in to help the wizard.
In a desperate flash of light blue, the hybrid creature vanished.
Bursting into the room, the nurse pony clutched her chest as the Wizard reclined back, a hoof to his head as she fussed over him.
His head pounded as a million thoughts rushed, but he still had recovery to go through, despite now being awake.

Meanwhile
Early Afternoon
Citadel, Underground levels
Forging chambers

Standing before the precipice of the forging chamber, Siral saw the grey coated figure, tall and looming, rise from the concoction with a long slender, clawed hand clutching the stone vat’s edge.
His own blood went into it, as did Starswirl’s, and traits from the animal parts needed to create a perfect being beyond true definition. It existed to be whatever Siral required of it, and nothing more. As he spoke, he addressed the mind of this creature.
A blank slate, knowing basic skills and knowledge, but no motives, no purpose, no likes or dislikes, like an infant in how little life had made an impression on his mind and personality.
Stepping backwards, Siral gazed up as the lanky creature trailed the grey potion where he stood, standing slowly upright with a slight wobble. A serpentine body, but with features that seemed to constantly shift shape, large wings that spread as far down as his long tail.
The long creature craned his neck down, an expressionless red and yellow set of eyes staring into Siral, waiting, as the grey potion kept him covered.
“You will be the tool through which I shall eradicate the greatest threat to Equestria and the world, that which my other servants will not fall prey to, that which the warring Alicorns and their subjects revel in. Your existence, will end all that causes discord.”
Discord.
The word rang in the creature’s mind, and he came to associate the word with his ‘father’s’ anger. Disagreement, disharmony, division, war, Alicorns.
As he stood, the grey potion shifted, and in that moment, the creature glowed a bright black as Siral seized control of this blank minded slave.
The creature’s fur resembled the Alicorn it came from, beige brown, but with a black mane, and slightly blue wings that were now more draconian than feathered. But the arms were thick and scaly, with yellow fur growing out of the yellow scales that ended in individual clawed fingers, while the legs had horse hooves with dragon like claws extending from them like extra digits. The tail became long and spiked red in its scaly appearance.
The head had elongated to a draconian shape, the fur growing from the scales on his face, and from atop his forehead a number of horns of so many shapes extended backwards in a way to resemble a twisting, jumbled cone from the back of his head.
But all over him, in a bid to mirror his master’s utterly scarred visage, the grey potion was melded to a netting like layer over him, like sinister vines choking a tree in a forest, they dug into his body, though he didn’t make a noise.
His multifaceted body now gripped in the vines that made up a netlike second skin, the being turned its gaze off into space for a moment, as Siral turned his own far gaze towards the same direction.
“Yes, I sense it too. One of them is false, she must be first to be brought in line.”
Turning to the creature, Siral ordered bluntly:
“Bring Ave-Dol here, alive, and unspoiled. The others have their roles for now, but she will no longer be a thorn in my side.”
Staring blankly at his master, the creature shifted his shape, taking on the appearance of a beige brown Alicorn with blue wings, unknowingly who he was before he was turned.
‘Gaudium’ vanished with a bright purple teleport spell, hued in dark magic as Siral’s control was total.
Standing on the walkway, Siral reclined back against the nearby bridge wall, throwing his head back as he snorted with a smile to the heavens:
“Finally… Now, their end has come.”

Early Afternoon
Western Equestria
Nokotaford, outskirts

Teleporting in a frenzy, Ave-Dol knew where she had to go. She had to find any of the others, at least the 3 who would be angry at hearing Siral had a hand in ruining their lives before meeting him. She knew who was most likely, the two in the Trumanes, as Odi-Viscer was headed to Tartarus, his exact location unknown to her.
And she needed to move fast.
Clearly, faster than she could in reality, as fate would have it.
As she reached the hills that lay as the last plain eye sighting of the Royalist capital, the same corrupted, powerful presence she felt awaken only a few minutes ago found her.
Unlike her and the others, this one had another mind giving him control over his powers beyond his own ‘birth’ state.
As she readied for another teleport, she felt herself get stuck all of a sudden, the grasses below her feet turning into sticky, tarlike tendrils that clutched and shocked her where she stood.
As her vision was turned spotty by the restraints and agony, she saw a familiar Alicorn land before her.
Gaudium, his eyes red and yellow, with a glint of purple and malevolence behind his pupils that was not his own.
Ave-Dol’s initial desire to plead, to see if Gaudium was still in there, were silenced as his form shifted.
The strange creature too mismatched to be defined lunged forwards, clutching her as one of its hands moved its fingers, snapping the claws and generating sudden bursts of magic as he did so. Each snap held such power behind it, it was unreal.
With more focus, all of this in the space of a second, Ave-Dol heard one last snap of the claws, and she was seized by Siral’s newest servant, to be taken back to the Citadel by force.
Elsewhere, the battle raged at Tartarus.

Mid Afternoon
Mid-Western Equestria, Mountain Range
Tartarus prison fortress

Mighty siege engines rained stones, solid or magically enchanted, against the fortified walls.
Spells older than most in the battle rippled in glasslike, watery flows, the impacts doing some damage but not quite enough. But marching up the hills, the Nationalist ponies formed their shields to defend against the thousand archers across the walls firing on them with spells or arrows.
Up on high, the message had been received that reinforcements were on the way from both sides. More armies for the Nationalists, but worse yet, moving mountains with another group.
The earth tremors that were beginning to be felt by those on the eastern end of the Tartarus mountain ridge were not from the battle, but from those coming to join that were still remarkably far away.
And amidst the battle, on both sides or on sides yet undetermined, the fight continued as it had for hours now, and hours to come, with hundreds dead on both sides already, and no sign of slowing down.

Author's Notes:

Realizations for both Starswirl and the sixth being, Lady Ave-Dol, about the whole prophecy mess and those it involved. And at least Starswirl wakes up at the end of this, though what finally triggers his awakening couldn’t be worse.
A theme I wanted to bring back, to really make highlighted here, is that of anti-prophecy. When we are foretold something, subconsciously we steer towards it out of fear of it either having to happen, or trying to undo it by letting it happen to as to unravel it whenever possible. Same with the theory of time portals securing a ‘causal’ loop as seen in Volume 3, but taken in a more philosophical, basic approach.
And we see the birth of Discord, though he is not called Discord yet. Nor is he ‘exactly’ as he looks, but he will be before this story is over. The seeds of his looks further down the line are there, and he’ll self-adopt his name by what few memories he has from his own thought processes, such as the very thing Siral made him for, to undo, Discord itself.
And suffice to say Siral wastes no time putting ‘Discord 0.9’ to work, especially as the connection Siral gave Discord to the others alerted him to Ave-Dol not being in her cottage, where she should be.