Late-Morning
April 20th, 71 BNM
Baltimare

Jeers and cries, riots and looting, the decadence of a city's deeper, base desires had bubbled forth.
The foul vapour cloud that was spewed by a creature further north in the city had seeped over the cityscape like a toxic ashfall, fading as its effects took place. A magical pheromone mix, triggering the most basic of carnal desires in the ponies of Baltimare, bringing satisfaction to those who fell victim, and horror to those who managed to resist.
Shops and food halls, markets and stores were looted, raided of anything edible. Breweries trashed, taverns turned into even greater dens of sin and decadence then they normally were, or would even like to be.
Depraved acts were glimpsed in most city blocks, with cries or the sounds of feasting, drinking and mating, all that most primordial seeping forth.
The Glut and Lust of Baltimare laid bare for all to see.

Baltimare harbour
Underwater

Water swirled a hurricane of silt into the surrounding depths, the whale sized creature pulsing its orange hued mass in aggression as it surged forth, tentacles extending from its rear to make it all the more resemble a monstrous hybrid of whale, octopus and jellyfish.
Swimming into a flipping motion, Chack lunged out as he avoided the mass, and the flurry of tentacles charging him, while his green enchanted katana sliced the creature in a long slash as it passed, snipping the end of a small tendril off as it stormed away into the murky waters beyond. He stabbed with his normal Katana as the creature's bulk seemed to be nearly passed, but as he imbedded the sword into the creature's hide, Chack yelled out as he was yanked along.
Water and silt flew by, the force of their speed a strain on Chack as he held onto his imbedded sword. But not wasting his time, Chack used the katana as an anchor, standing atop the creature as he repeatedly stabbed down with his other sword. Groans louder than a waterfall echoed in the dark waters, and Chack could taste the strange orange liquid, blood perhaps, that spilled forth.
As he stabbed however, the orange liquid filling the depths began to tingle, and burn his skin. Through tear and rage filled eyes, he suddenly went wide eyed as he saw his normal sword being slowly sucked inside, as well the his feet beginning to be absorbed, as if sinking into mud by what he felt.
But the pain from whatever dissolved things inside the creature made Chack rip his feet clear, his feet irritated now from what were effectively stomach acid burns. Here, the saltwater was useful in washing it off.
But as he saw his sword handle vanished into the creature, himself letting go, Chack's expression turned dark.
Yet moments later, anger gave way to alarm. He braced as he felt the creature suddenly flip end over end, its many tendrils slamming into the water before Chack was catapulted onto the seabed, the creature's hide and two miniscule orange eyes glaring at him as it righted itself, using its formed fins and body to propel itself off, back into the dark abyss, for another attack.
Tumbling end over end to an upright position, Chack's gills fluttered in irritation, the saltwater making his eyes turn red by now. Glancing at his as the orange glow began to move for another attack from beyond the silt veil, he saw the enchanted blade glowing green still. But his normal katana was inside that creature's digestive hide.
Utterly hissing now, Chack glanced at his enchanted blade, trying to think of any magic he could use it for. As he thought, and a rumble from beyond came to signal another underwater charge, his mind wandered to some time a long while ago, 2 years before he was exiled by his master, Daimyo Jaien, and 22 years before he met Starswirl in Salaman, a time that seemed so much longer ago then the 41 years it actually was.

63 years ago
134 BNM
Salaman, Daimyo Jaien's palace

"You may want to slow down Kai, you'll be sick..." Their trainer and mistress, an elder female Salamander, urged a slightly larger samurai student among their training group. Normal training to maintain their skills, and now was their normal meal break.
"I cannot help myself if training makes me hungry."
"Is that what I think it is?" Chack suddenly asked, pointing to a small section of the fish platter that been brought out. Leaning in, while Kai finished his mouthful, the other student with them, a young female trainee, remarked:
"Pufferfish?"
"Prepared properly, there was some leftover from yesterday's feast."
"I've never tried it myself..." Kai remarked, as he took a small sliver in with his bowl of kelp noodles. Warily glancing at the fish, Chack replied: "I prefer my fish not one day old."
"Suit yourself..." Kai shrugged, while he offered some to the female, and their mistress, who both politely declined.

THE NEXT DAY

"He'll live. The Blowfish he ate wasn't toxic, some rat based disease got in to many of the food stores."
"Good. He fights as well as he fills himself, it would be a shame to lose him." Chack replied, as he finished sewing up a hole he'd found on his robes. Beside him, the female paused in relief, before she and Chack shared a good laugh

Present

"Posion..." Chack mumbled, as he looked down at his sword. Thinking over any spells he knew, he gripped the sword in concentration. Its glow seemed to fluctuate, while under his breath he murmured:
"No, not strong enough. Won't work, no, will help him... Yes..."
His sword now took on a slight hue of yellow marks before reverting to its green form, and Chack looked up to see the creature charging him head on. Swimming downwards, he barely missed as the creature's massive bulk flew over him, while he swam straight up, stabbing his sword into the creature's hide and holding on for his life.
Surging the blade, Chack saw the spell disperse, as the creature absorbed the curse like any magic through its skin, the yellow hue flickering out inside its massive orange outer later into nothing.
"Too short!"
Sensing the spell, the animal, Satio's primal instincts manifest, spun around as it swam, a tentacle wrenching inwards like a scorpion sting to seize Chack in its grip, the Salamander yelling underwater as he pulled the sword with him, hurled backwards to then be enclosed behind the creature as it swam, tentacles compressing all around him.
Burning bubbles filled the air, but Chack thought quick, and slashed his sword out to rip a hole in the water, seeing daylight, and leaping through, slipping from the tentacle trap he'd been compressed into.

Baltimare harbour, shipyards

Sailors had abandoned the shipyards, as the sounds of rioting, looting and the city being sacked from within out of widespread debauchery echoed further away.
Further into the city, a strange blue haze lay over where the majority of noise was coming from. But that was another place to ignore for now in Chack's mind.
Over the harbour waters, a green rip in the air formed, before seawater came roaring out like a pipeline let loose. Plummeting out, a Salamander gasped as he fell the 50 feet, splashing down in the murky depths near the shipyards. Out of the hole, a single orange tentacle was dragged, and its small end was snipped off as the portal shut, a waterfall no longer appearing in midair.
Tumbling in the water as he righted himself, Chack swam more calmly, precious moments of calm after that. But he saw the small orange tentacle snippet land nearby him, writhing as if a worm cut in half. Forming itself into a fishlike shape, its eyeless shape began to swim about, until it suddenly made a beeline for Chack.
Not at all willing to endure a moment more of antagonism, the Salamander sprang forwards in the water, grabbing the fish as it had approached him. Ignoring the burning as it tried to assimilate his hand, he surfaced, and hurled it right at the shipyard dock support, as well as his enchanted weapon. No longer a sword, it turned instead into a large throwing knife.
The fish slammed against the pole, before the knife skewered it. A leftover trace of the yellow spell engulfed it, making it writhe in agony before Chack swam forwards, grinning savagely as he gripped the knife and ripped it out.
Seeing the now dead fragment of the being of Gluttony slide from the pole and into the water, unmoving, gave Chack some rise of satisfaction. But out in the waters further out, he heard the rush of water.
Glancing around as he trod water, Chack saw the bulge of surging water, and an orange glow coming right for him amidst it.
Pulling himself to swim with his back to the docks, Chack looked down at his sword, then recalled his old sword being ingested.
Growling in aggravation at his choice, Chack began to swiftly paddle out, then sideways.
Out in the shipyard waters, the creature turned towards him in a wide arc.
He heard the water behind him, the rumble echoing in the water. Right as he felt the rush of something on the end of his finned tail, Chack charged his sword with the spell, and stopped swimming, his entire body glowing a faint green now.
His world became orange, as Satio's animal form was upon him, front opening up to smash two lips of sorts over him, the Salamander being pulled inside his gelatinous skin very fast by not resisting. He didn't even have time to yell.
Having sucked down the Salamander, the beast began to swim out of the shipyard immediately, though taking a noticeably slower pace now.

Meanwhile
Baltimare, main aquaduct bridge

The guard stared at her, the Unicorn stallion slack jawed at the sight that had plagued his mind, as the blue mist had taken him somewhere.
She saved a hoof at him in an invitation, eyes half lidded while her enchanting voice echoed in his mind.
"Come join me, show me a little funnnn..."
The Guard dropped his spear, slowly walking towards the rock pool in which the beautiful mare lay soaking herself up to her neck, the water giving off seemingly warm fumes.
He stepped into the pool, feeling weightless as she rushed over to smother him, as he threw out his own forelegs to receive her.

Back in reality, one of the many 'minions' the fused worm creature unleashed cackled to itself as the guard went screaming down the half wall deprived water well, pleasure turning to fear as he realized the deceit a second before he landed head first at the well's dry bottom, no more cries heard.
Overhead, as more spells flew, the blue haze that had fallen on the city was plaguing everything that could feel emotion or desire.
Galloping around a corner, his blue magic firing at a dark blue changeling type creature flying over the thatched rooftops around the water mill, with the aquaduct bridge looming behind him, Starswirl felt the mist focus on him, as whispers plagued his mind:
"You strain for no purpose Wizard, it is easier to relax, live simply, indulge, give in to what your heart says is best for you. Give up your quest, you deserve better than to live your life in service of others, to fix errors that were not your own. I sense you doubt your prophetic reason for your long travels..."
Before him, one of the mixed Changeling and demonlike figures landed in the blue haze, shifting into a serpentine shape with Siren ears and facial features, and changeling armor on her back to compiment her clawed hands.
"Doubts, yes. But after everything I've been involved with, I won't bow to your wiles as others may do so."
Regarding her as she frowned at his retort, he added with some blunt, personal honesty:
"And frankly, with you being part Siren now... Just know that I have had enough of them for one lifetime..."
In the distance, a changeling-like minion was blasted apart as some guards pulled their senses together and fired as one, but all it did was shower more of the intoxicating haze over their plaza they were gathered in. Shifting her coils, she gave a small smirk as she remarked softly, her smoky magic forming a mini figure of him that followed her longingly before dispersing soon afterwards. An illusion to emphasise her point:
"Siral was right on one count, you were stubborn. But anypony can be swayed from their ways."
Stepping towards her, Starswirl ignored the battle taking place beyond, as a bronze Alicorn flew high in the air to avoid being snapped by one of the small minions, his bronze magic blasting it down to collide and disperse against the giant fused creature's body. As the serpentine creature roared, Starswirl spoke sternly, reasoning with her:
"Which is why I offer you a chance to help me. Your other allies are incredibly dangerous, but they need not die, none of them! I used to want at least one of you dead to avoid the future foretold, but now I see how blind I was. Help me stop the others, undo Siral's evils, this doesn't have to end in violence! Do you really want THIS to be your legacy?"
As Starswirl gestured with his hoof, Iena glanced around, her smirk ever so slowly vanishing as she regarded the misery from the battle, and the chaos Baltimare's citizens, good or bad regardless, descended into by her magic bolstered by Satio's magic power.

The hybrid creature roared as Aubelles came down, a magically levitated spear plunging deep, but not deep enough. Dark blue magic, highlighted with orange, wrenched out the spear and hurled it towards a fleeing pegasus guard, barely missing him.
The Bronze Alicorn suddenly was grappled from behind, a changeling-shape minion gripping him and dragging him to crash down atop a market building's thatched roof, straw tumbling as the pair nearly went through into the attic.
All around, the blue haze was prominent in the city, and as the minion grappled to restrain Aubelles, he struggled to angle his head to fire a straight beam shot from his horn. But to little avail.
Over him, the massive creature roared, almost a cackling roar, as it reared back like a snake with its main large mouth and 2 smaller snakelike necks and heads.
But it hesitated momentarily, glancing about as if troubled by something. Sparing a moment or so to look at the haze all around them, it forgot about Aubelles for a moment.
Headbutting the minion as it too seemed to suddenly ease up, Aubelles blasted it apart as he then fired another beam at the hybrid. The beam grew in size as he fired, powerful enough that it made Aubelles scream from the heat.
Scything upwards, it burned the main body, and sliced off one of the smaller two side heads from the left side, earning an outraged shriek from the creature, its tail crashing about in pain, destroying a plaza statue behind it before it lunged for Aubelles's rooftop.

As she looked away somewhat, Iena held her arm in one of her hands, shaking her head slightly as she weighed her options seriously. Starswirl's expression softened as she spoke with uncertainty, head turning slightly towards him.
"I, I don't know what else I can... I, ARGH!!!"
"No, NO! NOO! We cannot exist safely until this war is over, until Alicorns are no more!"
"You're talking about genocide! What has come over yo-URK!"
"It is my nature. OUR natures. We cannot fight what we are, who we are."
"No, what you've been turned into. Siral's magic is still corrupting you, I can help, if you let me!"
"Your promises are lies, as they were from the start! We will not fall to your lies as Siral did!"
With his eyes suddenly widening, Starswirl's horn blazed with blue light, destroying the minion masquerading as Iena's naga form before him.
The lunge was swift from the now one 'armed' serpentine creature, the monster that was borne of Iena and Satio's fused power. Having used his magic to leap faster then any normal pony could, Aubelles was sent crashing into a half smashed stone street, caught by a glancing blow by the massive fused creature's hide as it tackled the building he was on. The massive creature's serpentine shape smashed another building, the bakery's destruction sending embers from its fires over the ground, starting a small fire on the houses nearby. Snapping its gaze towards the Wizard's direction, it began to burrow, excavating another hole in Baltimare's mill areas.
"The Wizard..."
This hiss carried to his ears as Aubelles pulled himself up, having been forgotten yet again, limping on one leg as he glanced about, seeing the carnage of rubble and guards unconscious or worse. Elsewhere, he hard riots and unmentionable crimes he knew were caused by its almost pheromone and starvation inducing fumes.
He himself felt it, starving, and a heat in his lower regions. But his anger at the creature, fused of one who played him even as he played her, and another who consumed all and served her blindly almost.
Taking flight, the bronze Alicorn pursued from above, a faint dust cloud rising where the fused hybrid burrowed towards the collapsed water mill and aquaduct bridge beyond.
Elsewhere, changeling-demon creatures flittered about the haze, now turning a darker blue, nearly black even. As they flew through the streets, their ethereal blue/orange smoke growing darker, the noises of rioting, looting, decadence and indecency seemed to only grow in all corners of the city's affected areas.

The creature crashed through the nearest mill, before it visibly dove further underground, its tail vanishing deeper into the earth.
The tremors made Stasrwirl know what was coming but as he hung his head, he scowled at what he had to do.
"If I must resort to taboo methods, I will."
Focusing himself, Starswirl began to chant a dialect under his breath, his eyes glowing his usual blue as his horn did as well.
But then blue became purple, dark magic seeped into Starswirl's horn.

Last Winter
19th December, 72 BNM
Equestria, western mountains
Tartarus fortress, archives
Forbidden section

That most forbidden and legendarily dark of texts, the Necromantium, lay open at Starswirl's hooves as he poured over its pages.
After Canterlot's fall, the beings now on the move by Siral's means, he felt indebted to the now Widowed Queen Aurora, and her two daughters, to find any means he could to bring an end to those creatures and their master.
But on this page, a subsection of manipulating the soul, drawing out their essences, he found a text he was sure would be useful.
But the most direct means of controlling another if to know their True Name. To find one's True Name their inner spirit must be glimpsed. Only another can name it, and to utter it once gives complete power over their soul so long as the wielder desires.
-Your own mind must be stronger then the one you utter the True Name of, lest you risk your own mind collapsing.
-A soul already under manipulation by another means is easier to probe. See pages on subservience spellwork and brews.

Present
Meanwhile
Baltimare, main aquaduct bridge

Dark magic consumed his vision, his horn, his mind.
He felt their presence, the dual minds of Iena and Satio. But he felt a part of Satio's mind split between this majority of him, and a more primal part that swam with a recently filled belly full of Salamander, though it seemed to be under stress as it swam erratically, and Chack's presence didn't diminish inside its form.
But from below, like a shark breaching a seal, he sensed that of the two minds inside the creature, Iena's was intact, focused, while Satio was merely serving her.
He focused, he gazed into her soul, so intent on him as they burrowed closer that her dark, Siral tainted mind after her moment of sudden doubt. He saw past the dark magic of Siral's influence, though as he found it, he saw her soul was damaged, altered forever.
"A damaged soul is easily read. OBEY my will in your name!"
In a tongue that came out as a harsh, unspeakable whisper, in a dialect that only the caster and the victim could understand, Starswirl found Iena's soul, her True name, and grasped it to his will.

Snapping his eyes open, the tremors still coming, Starswirl teleported a few metres as the ground exploded beneath where he was moments later. Rearing upwards, but coming to a slow stop, the serpentine creature began to vibrate, before it began to morph, slowly deforming and turning orange. From within, a dark blue form burst out, her eyes dead set on Starswirl, strained, betrayed, outraged. But she did nothing as she hovered in place, the naga creature coming to slowly hover down towards Starswirl.
Behind her, the orange mass that was Satio joined to her reshaped into a bulbous, fat Minotaur shape, staring in horror at Iena's state. Looking at Starswirl, Satio bellowed:
"RELEASE HER!"
"No, I am trying to help her, but this is the only way I can begin. You are all corrupted, and I won't let anyone more die if-."
Starswirl was cut off, as his attempt at mercy was silenced by the actions of an unseen 'ally'.
A bright light, bronze and burning white, illuminated from behind Starswirl however, and out of instinct, the Wizard ducked with some magic to aid his speed. As the beam of burning light shot towards Iena however, Starswirl's horn was still ablaze with dark magic, stopping her from reacting as he eyes pleaded her body to do.

Satio's cry of anguish was lost over the noise as the beam burst out of Iena's back, drilling through her torso and launching her backwards to smash into the water mill's water wheel, fully shattering it now.
The orange hued, fat Minotaur rushed to the water mill's small reservoir, as Starswirl's horn faded its dark magic out of shock. Staring at the sight of Satio scrambling with orange magic and his hands to wrench debris off from the waters, he whirled around to see Aubelles landing, panting hard with a smoking horn.
"Whatever you did worked, now we just have to-."
"I had her subdued, she was harmless!"
"She was a menace and a snake to all she spoke to! Like you said if Chack's right, they're better off dead!"
Blinking slightly, Starswirl turned around in shock, as Aubelles shuffled past. The Alicorn charged his horn, bellowing to Satio:
"Surrender demon!"
As Starswirl stared at the scene, and Aubelles threatened the back turned Satio, he heard the noises of decadence and gluttony across the city beginning to diminish.

Across the city, the minions spawned from the joint magic of the two detonated in wisps of smoke, as the blue/orange haze began to disperse, revealing what Baltimare had become today.

In the water, as he pulled aside a last piece of debris, Satio paused as he saw Iena's unmoving body, her fingers still as a scorched black hole was burned right through her stomach and out the other side.
Angered at the beast's ignorance, Aubelles fired another burning spell. Satio's body absorbed it by his passive magic, but his grief made him lose focus.
Staggering, Satio felt the beam penetrate what was his shoulder, but no sooner did it hit, the gelatinous bloblike flesh began to regenerate. Satio's orange eyes burned, as he morphed himself so he turned into a single large mass, his face dematerialising out to face Aubelles and Starswirl further behind, a large orange sphere of a destructive spell forming as he concentrated his body's magic into a single attack:
"Why her!?"
Right as he prepared to fire, while Aubelles raised his shield and Starswirl began to probe Satio's mind to find his soul name, a stirring from behind him made Satio suddenly drop his spell, body changing form to stoop down to Iena's body. Starswirl heard it, a faint croaking that was Iena trying to speak:
"I'll get you safe... I promise..." Satio murmured.
"You're not going anywhere!" Aubelles bellowed, while Starswirl saw the dejected expression in Satio's eyes as he engulfed Iena in his orange magic, slipping her into his body in a way that was delicate compared to anything else.
"Wait, I can-!" Starswirl began, but Satio was on the move, the orange blob mass surging forwards, a single tentacle knocking Aubelles aside with a whiplike hit, and forced Starswirl to move out of the way.
In a reckless charge, Satio's gelatinous mass surged through the city, itself the size of a large whale, harnessing and absorbing all he could. Buildings, ponies, carts, goods, he burned a trail of destruction and consumption in a straight line through Baltimare faster then any pony could gallop.

As he used his magic enhanced vision, Starswirl saw Iena inside being flooded with orange light, as what Satio consumed was being turned into energy to help her.
"Come on, he's done too much!" Spreading his wings to take off, Aubelles was stopped by a hoof from Starswirl, his eye twitching at the Wizard's initial presumption to order him around.
"No. He is leaving, we cannot do anymore." Starswirl remarked bluntly, still spiteful of Aubelles for taking the lethal initiative. Not yet lethal, but it wasn't hopeful.
Scuffing the ground, Aubelles replied coldly: "That snake, ruined me. Her schemes have tarnished my reputation, I cannot be who I once was anymore, word will have spread. As will what has happened here."

Baltimare harbour, shipyards

The whale sized detachment of Siral groaned as it turned towards the shorelines further away, though it shook yet again as a pulse registered from inside itself.
Up in the city, the larger mass of Satio engulfed the buildings before the waterfront, many ponies having see it coming and smartly run from the dead straight path. Blasting through into the waters of the shipyard harbour area half a kilometre away, the larger form called the smaller, primal part of Satio back to his main part, to help aide the one in critical condition.
But as it flexed its tendrils to swim fast, a green light pulse burst from its hide, and then another, and another.
All the while, green electrical arcs filled its body, as did a toxic green and yellow fluid filling the creature. Groaning, its natural orange fluid filling the water, the animal minded part of Satio bellowed as its side split open, and something swam out from the midst of its massive gaping wound.
Leaving a trail, the animal part swam desperately, limping slightly as it met up with the larger mass.
Surfacing a way's away, a Salamander flopped himself on boat slipway, his skin covered in slight boils and burns as his green shield, what protected him from being dissolved much, finally faded. In his hand, the enchanted sword shrunk to its storage, message scroll sized form. But in his other, with burnt marks and even a few holes in its blade and handle, Chack had recovered his old sword.
Rolling over, he glanced at the sword with a seething look, bluntly remarking to himself:
"Decades I've had this, now look at it!"
Staring out at the harbor, he couldn't help but give a grimace of satisfaction as he saw Satio's large form fully rejoin with the part he'd set upon him.
"Give it time..."
"Chack? Chack!"
A flap of wings caught his attention, as Aubelles came flying down onto the slipway, seeing the Salamander and his current state.
"What happened to you?"
"I'd rather not say for now. But the large one won't be a problem, now that he took in the part of him I poisoned."
"We dealt with the other, in which case that was two today..." Aubelles remarked. At this, Chack flopped onto the slipway, the Salamander's beady eyes shut as he nursed a headache:
"I need a drink. Water. Saltwater isn't good for me at all."
Noticing Starswirl all of a sudden, clearly having come with Aubelles and having overheard this, Chack called to the Wizard as he slowly walked on the docks, staring out at the harbour:
"You asked for one, you got two. Just like you said was needed."
"Yes... What I thought was needed..."
The Wizard couldn't help but stare back at Baltimare's state, the smoke from fires that had crept up in riots and battle being put out, cries of anguish and confusion filling the air instead of the debauchery that plagued it before.
But somehow he felt the most regret over the creature, and the one he had in his grip, fleeing to places unknown, the former unknowingly harbouring a toxin that was now slowly weakening and killing him.
As Chack spoke to Aubelles about his tarnished reputation, of trying to salvage it somehow, Starswirl wandered off, wanting to walk the abandoned shipyard streets to clear his head.

Baltimare, shipyard alleys

It was a few minutes later, as he wandered the streets in a daze, that Starswirl suddenly felt a pain in his head, and his heart.
He knew the feeling, that sensation when one of the five of 6 that had proven themselves as exemplars of virtuous traits so long ago, as the Prophecy stated.
But this was almost lamenting, but maintained the virtue.
Loyalty, to the end.
Then, the vision came swimming to his mind of another's final moments.
But he sensed something else dying as he received this.

621 years ago
9th February, 692 BNM

30 years since her redemption in the gladiator arena, since she met those two travelling wizards from Equestria. 30 years since the most daunting test of where her home was, her heart, her loyalty.
So long ago, so far in the back of her mind, yet as her life faded it was but one of many things she reminisced on.
A simple raid north of Haybrianne's wall in the Shetland islands, to quell the barbaric northern pony clans that the wall had been built to keep out of the controlled south. But the Empire was losing funds to support, and the call for more troops to repel barbarians made Mashri volunteer herself on a few raids.
And now here she lay, bleeding out as she urged a young centurion under her command to flee without her so he could live. A Chamois centurion, who respected her, a Saddle Arabian Horse, simply for her service to the Empire.
Laying down on the grass as she rolled over, the arrow sticking out of her thigh imbedded in there, Mashri shut her eyes as the barbaric Shetland pony's axe came swinging at her neck from in front and above.
In death she served, loyalty boundless even as the Empire began its process of falling apart at last, growing too big to support itself.

Present day

She lay suspended inside the Being of Gluttony's embrace, his attempts to heal her in vain as he swam underwater with her inside him, his power diverting to her healing process.
Twitching, pain and emptiness in her chest, the Being of List, Iena, sighed and fell still.
Unaware of Iena's death now, Satio swam towards a shoreline, a sandy beach with rocky alcoves along it, even as the slow acting toxin he'd was only now aware of began to eat away at his insides.

Present
Baltimare, shipyard alleys

Hoof flying to his head, Starswirl gasped at this implication.
He felt the being of Lust die, and at the same time, he saw the Exemplar of Loyalty, Mashri, in her final moments of life that he never saw.
Sitting down, Starswirl held his head heavily in his hooves. He felt confirmation of what Siral had set out to do, to create counterparts to, outright rejections of the 6 he'd sought in the prophecy.
And as one's natural counterpart died, Starswirl received a glimpse of a past not of his own. The last moments of his destined exemplary beings.
Taking this all in, Starswirl simply sighed. It was all he could do, all he could say, about all that was happening. So much pain across many sides, for what?
It all seemed to come back to that prophecy, to that fateful day where seeds that split apart Starswirl and Siral were seeded.
Taking out his pipe, and setting ablaze some of the weed, Starswirl puffed it erratically, soothing his nerves and frayed tension from so much. He'd not had a proper rest since the Citadel's fall, not one well slept night or stress free day.
Scuffing the ground with a hoof, snorting to himself, he mumbled bitterly to the skies that broke the cloud banks overhead in a contradictory bright sunny sky of midday:
"What next? What does fate have for me to next spit in my eye?"
Nobody answered, just the silence of the city still reeling from shock of today's events.

Shoreline, 10 miles from Baltimare

Having placed her on the sandy shores, Satio now only stared at her body, the naga bodied female gone, dead before he could get her to here where he could help her without interruption.
The waves slowly lapped at the shore behind him, as he slowly sank down in a literal slumping mass of boneless flesh.
Staring at her, Satio suddenly backed up as he saw her body beginning to melt away like candle wax.
Her body turned grey, like the liquid in the cauldrons of Siral's from which they all sprung.
Her body melted, but inside, a shape was left, a body.
As the grey liquid faded, evaporating or sinking into the sand, Satio stared in mourning at the dead light green Pegasus. In death it seems, they would all revert to what they were, before Siral turned them into his creatures.
Slowly moving his mass, his will less stable by his grief, he stared at her, a large orange blob with a pair of orange eyes, simply staring down at the dead Pegasus mare on the sandy shores.
Turning his gaze slowly up the shore's nearby dunes, Satio began to slowly slither, like an immense slug, up the dunes.

The work was easy, but the grief made it unbearable. His orange form ate or displaced enough sand and soil in a hole atop the sand dune.
Later, a faint aura of orange magic flared, seeming to solidify the sand dune so as it would shift at a much slower rate than normal.
Then, he turned to retrieve her body.

Late Afternoon

Once he buried her, the blob creature stood over the grave, his magic having solidified its top, and marked it in letters only magic would reveal, that here lay Iena. A single word, it was all Satio could muster.
Hours passed in his vigil, before at last, the massive orange creature slowly turned into a flock of orange locusts, and gently took flight into the skies. Nowhere in particular its destination, just away from here.
As the locusts flew, they nibbled anything they could. Satio's grief gave way to hunger, a way to cope.
Yet all the while, the toxin Chack put in his body made him much less able to take in anything he ate.
The Being of Gluttony, poisoned and dying from the starving curse and grief, surged into mainland Equestria to wander.

Author's Notes:

One down, and another soon to follow.
But taking the concept of virtues and sins as counterparts, I linked each Harmony exemplar to their counterpart when they die, revealing the last moments of each. Not quite the correct terminology, but the traits of each make them counterparts:
Loyalty and Lust, Magic and Gluttony, Laughter and Wrath, Honesty and Sloth, Generosity and Greed, Envy and Kindness.
Of course, kindness to be is still alive in Chack, and he hasn't even shown kindness truly yet. It won't be the same for all 6.
As for Discord, Pride, he's messed up more than the others, so patterns apply even less in his case when the time comes.
But at the core of it is Starswirl's struggle with events unfolding, how they all seem linking back to the one moment in life when he had the prophecy revealed to him.
As for Iena's freakout however, Siral's control is still there somewhat, in all 6/7 of them. And he's not completely dead in the Citadel all this time.