31st May, 71 BNM
Late Evening
22 miles north west of crystal empire
Frost Mountains, Quartz valley

By now, the valley was engulfed in smog, but it hung low, never rising above the mountain ridges around the valley. Steam clouds rose from the snow melt due to the source however, as the opponents waged battle in the abyss.

Smoke was all around her, fire, and rocks melted of snow. Her white magic held fast around her, despite her fur being dishevelled from a few blows and narrow misses of various attacks.
Out of the smoke billowing before her, she heard him coming, and as the teeth and mandibles came roaring towards her from out of the abyss, she fired her magic, the beam hitting one of his mandibles, forcing him to flinch his mouth upwards. But he was still coming at her, and in a desperate dive, Aurora threw herself onto the ground to the side, her breathing deep as fatigue began to creep into her deeper parts.
The air rattled as he roared overhead, winds like hurricanes blowing up around Aurora and dispersing the veil of smoke through the valley even more as she stood fast, while Golmov pulled upwards, 4 wings beating furiously as he took to the skies once again.
The smokescreen cleared, but Aurora's eyes went wide as she saw Golmov flare out his four wings far away and above her, all of them beginning to glow yellow to form a gigantic X shape. Then, 4 massive beams of crackling yellow energy fired towards her. Acting on instinct, Aurora flared her horn, the white magic forming a single sheet of rippling glass before her. The 4 beams slammed into the angled pane, as snow and dust flew up in a gale force from their impact.
The 4 beams streaked skywards, fading with distance, but the force of the beams pushed Aurora back, her hooves scraping through the snow at a faster rate. As the beams reached their climax, her shield gave out, a flicker of the yellow energy getting through and blasting in front of her normal forcefield.
Hurtling through the air, she slid through the snowdrifts thrown up by the blast, rolling painfully as the heat from the blast began to turn the snow covered ground to water, and matted her black and pink mane against her battle scarred white coat.
Staggering to her feet, Aurora saw the burns and scrapes over her body. Golmov's seizure of her armour made her vulnerable. Yet ahead of her, the 4 winged, centipede/dragon monstrosity merely hovered to a stop, before landing on a small rock ridge a few dozen metres from her. The toothy grin sickened her, as his mouth's side mandibles clicked together with similar malicious glee.
"You should surrender. I would hope to not damage that rather enticing looking crown on your head... A shame it adorns such a pathetic ruler as yourself..."
"You're the pathetic one. You destroy and plunder with no regard for others, and for what? What do you hope to gain from this?" Aurora words didn't cut into Golmov in the slightest, as he shuffled on his 4 wing arms and scuttled slowly towards her on his centipede legs. Aurora backed up as he advanced, but maintained her stern demeanour.
"I take what I wish, when I wish, from where I wish, and from whomever I wish. Because I desire it, and nobody has the power to prevent me from this." Golmov's words were punctuated by his 4 wings crushing scorched black rocks into pieces beneath them, as his teeth bared with a hiss as he finished his boast.
But Aurora was not impressed, as she venomously rebuked the draconian creature's proclamation:
"Just like when my daughters reclaimed the crystal heart from you, even now, you have no self control over your base desires..."
"To control my desires, is to not be free." Golmov spat, his yellow eyes flaring slightly at the Alicorn queen.
"This coming from a creature made to be a slave of a Dark Wizard." Aurora countered swiftly, to which Golmov's head slowly rose up, as it cocking slightly at this idea, before he rumbled back to her, yellow energy building in his chest as he spoke:
"I took what I wanted from him, made it my own, and played along with his game. And you can ask him how well that effort worked when you meet him in death!"
As Golmov reared up, his wings extending to block out much sunlight, the much smaller Alicorn's white horn lit up. As he reared up, she noticed the adornments of treasure along his body. Gold coins, lumps of pure metal melted into cast shapes, gemstones embedded and welded to sit amidst the metal plates. Golmov had turned his skin into a metallic and gem encrusted armour, and he was now a living, breathing treasure hoard.
"I'll be certain to give that trinket on your brow a proper place, once I remove it from your corpse."
As she saw the yellow energy building in Golmov's chest, she noticed a few specks brighter then others. Spots where the metal and gems hadn't fully covered yet, where his centipede and draconian like flesh still poked through, glowing yellow as he charged his attack.
Her horn glowing white, she formed an idea, and a shield, as he world was engulfed in yellow arcs of energy and a flurry or dragonfire.

Smoke and water vapour rose as Golmov incinerated the Queen, but as the seconds passed, he noticed that amist the now glass covered ground and water vapour broiling around in the air, a white shielded sphere still stood.
With a callous snarl, he lunged forwards, mouth agape.

Through the smoke, Aurora felt the energy attack ease off. But as she opened her eyes, she saw teeth and mandibles shoot through the abyss.
Her instinctive magic boost strengthened the shield, enough that Golmov's massive jaws and mandible spikes only penetrated a foot into her shield bubble, locking her inside his gaping maw like a dog holding a thrown ball.
She saw his yellow eyes widen, and he began to fling her around like a animal savaging a caught prey. Her world span, her mind blacking out, but in a last bid, she focused on the yellow glowing, shining red gummed mouth and gullet in front of her. With a loud scream, her horn sent a pillar of magic firing down his gullet.
Golmov's eyes widened as he felt the energy buildup, and right as she fired, he unleashed his own magic. A yellow wall of energy shot up his throat, slamming into hers before it could clear his mouth. His cheeks swelled with the energy ball buildup, and his jaws and mandibles strained to further penetrate her already fracturing shield as he held her within his maw.
Reaching deep into her core strength, Aurora saw her magic building like a massive sphere, colliding inside Golmov's maw with his own attack. Something had to give soon, and it did.
His mandibles and teeth relinquished her, but it was Aurora who suffered as Golmov's magic surged in energy, his pain giving him power to surge his own attack. Mouth flailing from the intense energy, his yellow column of energy overwhelmed Aurora's own beam, and slammed into her white shield sphere with enough force to send her flying across and over the mountain ridge. Her white shield faded mid-flight with a flicker as she disappeared into the unseen terrain over the ridge, her body smoking slightly as the yellow beam carried out and away into the sky.
Gagging on the burnt, smouldering state of his mouth, Golmov spat onto the ground and swallowed snow to soothe the incredibly hot energy collision that had taken place in his mouth. As he soothed his gums and teeth from heat even dragonfire never reached, he glowered over at the ridge he knew Aurora had vanished over, a rumbling snarl coming from his magic blasted top gullet as it healed up.

Quartz valley
Hillside Crystal fissure cavern

Scrambling through the snow, her form battered, bruised and burnt, Aurora gasped as her white magic soothed her aching ribs. Finding a small cavern, she slipped inside, her white light revealing numerous crystal shards as big as her head, and as long as a spear.
She saw the long shards, her face reflected in one within the dimly lit cave. Overhead, outside the cave, she heard the rumbling bellow of Golmov as he took flight in the distance, searching for her.
But as her face reflected in the crystal shard, she saw its spikey end, as the crystal began to faintly glow in the presence of her magic.
It was well known that the crystals around the empire were highly receptive to magic, in the very least able to channel magic directly. The Crystal Heart was perhaps the best example, but it was merely a conduit, not the source.
And as she saw the long, sharp crystal shard, she recalled something she saw on Golmov:
As she saw the yellow energy building in Golmov's chest, she noticed a few specks brighter then others. Spots where the metal and gems hadn't fully covered yet, where his centipede and draconian like flesh still poked through, glowing yellow as he charged his attack.
As another of Golmov's roars echoed in the distance, his wind rustling wingbeats echoing as he made a pass over the cavern, unaware she'd come in here, Aurora's face hardened in thought.
Her eyes then turned to her crown, as she spoke darkly to herself:
"He wants this crown, he can have it."
With a flick of her white magic, she took off her crown, while she then began to chant an ancient magical language to herself.

Golmov flew about, searching for her. He knew she could have flown, so finding her in the same place she landed was impossible. But glancing skywards, he noticed something odd.
The aurora borealis was fluctuating actively. He'd seen it before, when the celestial manipulation spell was used. Energy taken from the heavens for extremely powerful magic purposes, enough where it actively dimmed the stars for a moment, and made the moon and day cycles vary just enough to be notied by those with astronomical insight.
It meant an Alicorn was using that spell, or a team of many skilled Unicorns. And given the devastation unleashed in the Crystal Empire, and that no other active battles or much was unfolding across Equestria on the scale of here...
His yellow gaze narrowing, Golmov mumbled as he circled around like a massive, 4 winged vulture:
"Where are you hiding now?"

20 miles north west of the Crystal Empire
Frost Mountains
Crystal Caverns

The crystal prisons finally shattered, as Princesses Celestia and Luna slumped out, drained of energy and fatigue as the guards caught them in their grasp. The two Unicorns aided the pegasi in carrying them.
"Any sign of one of the beasts?" An alert query came from the guards as they readied to fly out of the caverns, to which no reply was given.
They were safe, but the beast wasn't hunting them. At least, the only one not already hunting another wasn't. She was waiting for her time.

Quartz valley
Open plains

Overhead, the aurora borealis shimmered oddly, as whatever the Queen was building continued on. He was alert, war even.
As Golmov flew over in another circle, prowling, searching for her, he saw a twinkle on the ground, amidst the snow. One that hadn't been there before.
His eyes glowed yellow as they took a telescopic property to themselves, and as his vision showed, it was Aurora's crown, half buried in the snow. Thrown there from whatever scrambling to safety Aurora was doing nearby no less.
Coming down, he flared his 4 massive wings to land directly atop the crown's snow mound. With his weight on his centipede legs and 3 of his wings, he knelt down his head as his 4th wing claws gently snagged the crown in his grasp.
His guard fell, and his yellow eyes marvelled at the jewel imbued headpiece.
"Beautiful..."
His gentle murmur carried across the snow covered ridge hill, as he carefully began to engulf the crown in yellow magic, and hover it towards one of the many small holes in his metallic and gem filled outer layer he'd fashioned as his wearable hoard.
His yellow magic flared on his front chest, as the metal on his chest plates liquefied slightly to begin sealing the crown within its layers.
Suddenly, ahead of him, a snowdrift burst apart, as large crystal fragments flew like daggers towards his chest, engulfed in white magic as they launched at him like tree sized arrows.
Instinctively, Golmov's yellow magic flared up, but he was too late. As his magic shield sprang to life, the layers zipping together, while the other shards shattered or melted as they were blazed by the shield, one shard slipped through a gap in his forming shield.
His screech pierced the air as the crystal shard now lay half stuck out of his lower side, having stabbed right into a gap in his slowly built armour of metal and gems. His yellow shield fell, and the crown she had used as bait remained stuck in the now solid metal over his front chest, only halfway sealed.
Bursting from the snow, her Alicorn horn ablaze with the magic she'd shielded with great strain, Aurora focused her magic on the shard now stuck in Golmov's side, and then to his surprise, fired the beam skywards, white light dispersing into the aurora borealis and fading from view, the aurora overhead taking on a brighter hue.
As she slumped in utter exhaustion, Golmov seethed through his agony, no longer clawing against the smooth crystal fragment stuck through his thick scales and into soft flesh beneath. His clawed wing shot out, and Aurora screamed as the crushing grip of his wing claws wrapped around her body.
The much larger ex-dragon brought his face to bear before her as he squeezed tighter, seething into her:
"That was the last mistake of your life!"
"Not, just, yet!" Aurora gasped, as she felt a few of her ribs crack under the strain of Golmov's crushing grip. As he took a yellow blaze into his mouth, he was distracted as something glowed white far overhead.
Glacning upwards, he saw the aurora give a brief flashing white glow, as streaks of energy swiftly concentrated into a single point. Right then, in the form of the world's largest bolt of lightning, the energy Aurora sent up to be further strengthened shot down to earth.
As he glanced down, he saw Aurora's white glow still on the shard in his side. His yellow eyes went wide, while in his now suddenly slackening grip, Aurora shut her own.
The celestial level lightning streaked into the crystal shard, through it, and into Golmov's body, the whole shard like a magical lightning rod. White light seared Golmov from the inside out, the draconian beast shrieking to the high heavens as he flailed. Aurora went flying, hurled into a snowdrift with a few rocks bruising her battered body as she landed.
But as the blinding lightning engulfed Golmov for a full four seconds, the centipede/dragon hybrid's outer layers evaporated, his body cooking and blasting apart from the inside. His yellow eyes went wide, before they were engulfed in burning white lightning energy from the inside.
Finally, the deafeningly loud attack ceased, and the smouldering remains of Golmov keeled forwards, crashing to the ground as a pair of the wings fully snapped off from being roasted and weakened from the inside.

She strained to stand, numerous broken or cracked bones in her body, exhaustion consuming her from overt magic use, even before the Celestial spell she unleashed against Golmov. But he was finally dead.
Slowly, as she steadied herself, using her wings as extra braces on the ground, she noticed a faint grey liquid starting to flow from the smoking corpse of Golmov. Wary, her white horn glowed slightly, as she cautiously watched the centipede/dragon hybrid slowly break apart in a grey sludge-like mixture. But within it, another body emerged.
A normal dragon, this one equally scarred, but still with enough features to match what Golmov looked like. A black and golden striped, full grown male dragon.
All this sprouted from a grudge he developed for her daughters protecting the empire from him years ago, which Siral used to his advantage.
Slowly, her breathing calming down now as she settled into the pain wracking her form, Aurora shuffled forwards, the grey liquid waste from Golmov's deteriorated body and his dead origin body within it not her concern.
With a small sigh, shaking her head from a massive headache onset within her, she strained her white magic on the lump of metal skin armour she spied ahead of her.
Off to the side, she knew her armour had been assimilated into it, melted and turned into Golmov's 'coat'. But her focus was on something smaller.
Within the metal layer, the crown was only stuck in at a corner of its side holsters, and her magic slowly heated the metal enough to free it, flicking it off as she dipped it into the snow to cool it.
Bringing the crown before her, she saw the gold and silver adorned headpiece, her hard expression faltering as she then glanced towards the grey liquid soaked body of Golmov, the black and gold dragon dead to the world, no longer mutated.
But her thoughts went back to the day she first took on this crown, to the stallion the monster she'd just slain had taken from her in partnership with others of his mutated, enslaved kind.

130 BNM, Summer.
Equestria, Canterlot Royal Palace
Main atrium hall

Now recently crowned King Nova turned to her, a small smile on his face as he levitated the crown to her head. And with that small deposit of the headpiece, she was officially crowned his Queen, and co-ruler.
His stare into her eyes was the same he had when they first met years ago at his father's annual banquet.
While the applause rose in the atrium, they leant into each other for the first kiss of many in their long marriage of 58 years, from which two daughters would be borne.

Present
31st May, 71 BNM
Frozen north wastes, north of crystal empire

Storming over to her landing area, as the Alicorn hybrid came to her senses upon landing, Chack was uncaring as she gazed skywards with a heartbroken look on her face.
"Odi... Why.. I couldn't help you."
"Forget him, you're still alive... Which is the problem."
Chack's remark to her was colder then the environment around them, as he had his green sword out, raised in readiness to attack her as she turned her forlorn gaze to him. She didn't raise any magic, the Alicorn/Windigo hybrid simply stared at Chack, admitting somewhat bitterly to herself:
"You're right. I am a problem. I could have done more. I should have done more, to teach them, counter the seeds Siral was planting in them, be it violence, rebellion, or both."
"And how many have died today because of your lack of conviction and dedication? If you'd cared about them enough to see what your master was making them, YOU into earlier, none of this would have happened!" Chack spat at Ave-Dol, not even a measurable amount of respect for her in his voice.
"CHACK! Leave her, she is not the enemy today!"
A blue flash from beside them revealed Starswirl storming in, the Wizard's blue magic hurling the green sword to the ground below Chack, the Salamander in question glaring at the Wizard as he gestured to Ave-Dol, who remained forlorn and inactive in the face of strife concerning her:
"You know what she is! One of Seven! They're not all alive anymore, we have averted the worst, but you know that if even one of them endures, Siral endures! They're too dangerous to be left alive!"
"One was all we needed, you are threatening to kill the one member of the Seven who risked her life to help us!" Stasrwirl rebuked, his temper fraying as Chack finally went off on him after the carnage of today. In the crater she'd landed in, Ave-Dol could only look on in despair as Chack angrily gestured towards her as if she were a weed to be plucked.
"That doesn't change what she is, what she did, or rather, DIDN'T do. She was made to keep them in check, not out of control. The rampages of the others are on her head!"
"Semantics Chack. And we cannot slaughter the innocent among the enemy, or we are no better then they!"
"WAKE UP STARSWIRL. Among the Seven there are no innocents. Now stand aside so I may ride the world of this useless monster who let others run rampant!"
As Chack raised his green blade to charge her, Ave-Dol shirked away from the general direction, but Starswirl's enhanced voice boomed before the Salamander as he roared his name:
"CHACK! I will not let you harm her. Not while other, geuninely dangerous ones are running about still. I know losing Aubelles was hard on you, I know what it is like to lose a true friend."
"No, he was taken. Your friend fell by the wayside because you didn't help him or be open when you had no reason not to be."
Chack's words cut incredibly deep into Starswirl's heart, as he knew full well Chack was talking about what he knew of his and Siral's past. But before any more venomous exchanges could be made, a bright white light shot skywards in the far distance, only to crash back down to earth as a massive lightning bolt.
"Take her prisoner alive for all I care, you two deserve each other. I will go and assist the Queen."
As Chack slashed his sword, the Salamander leaving as swiftly as the lightning bolt came, Starswirl turned around to see Ave-Dol looking at him with a realization of horror:
"Golmov..."
At that moment, Starswirl's head split open, as he had the second vision of the demise of one of the exemplars he'd met in his travels, this one the opposite ideals to the one who'd just perished:

Stasrwirl's mental scape
13th January 186 BNM
North Shetland sea

35 years since he'd encountered the two wizards, 35 since the infamous Grolstrom bay incident as he had come to know it.
After knowing where the Grolstrom bay was, they took a land based crew to trek to the bay, and shimmy down into the treasure hoard on ropes. Thus, the great treasure of Grolstrom bay was harvested as much as possible, and they only lost 3 crew to the beasts when they got too lethargic on stealing the loot.
Captain Blythe, Irvin, and their new crew were rich for the rest of their lives, set for life. Even so, the sea called to them still, but they took on a life of easier living, sailing when they wanted, where they wanted. Merchant jobs, nothing attracting too much trouble.
Captain Blythe had died of scurvy 12 years ago, just as he eerily named his ship lost to the Grolstrom in anticipation of.
Now Irvin sailed the sea with his own crew, gathering treasure and wealth from jobs. But because Irvin was so well set, by not spending too freely of his cut of the Grolstrom hoard, he was generous with his cut of any loot. On land much of his cut of raids and seizures by way of ship raids went to the poor and hungry.
He knew from his childhood what it was like to be poor, and despite swearing to never be poor again by any means, he was generous now that he'd acquired it, and learned the ultimate sacrifice one can make.
His death came swiftly, through no fault of his own.
The North Sheltand sea was legendarily rough, but the best way to cross to the Viking north regions.
In the middle of the night, a squall blew up, and despite the best efforts of he and his crew, Irvin and his entire ship were sunk, the Fox not regretting anything as he died, other then his choice to not hug the shores this time.

Quartz valley
Open plains

August 25th of last year, 9 months ago give or take a week. That much time had passed since her husband's death. And now, finally, she felt the great weight of his life being unjustly snatched from her and her daughters lifted from her heart.
Shutting her eyes from the tears at the memories, and the realization of the time that had passed, the hardened heart of Queen Aurora took over once again, though this time she felt alleviated enough to smile.
"He's gone. Our daughters can live free of monsters like those that killed you. And if any do live, they won't for long."
With an exhausted pant, she floated the crown onto her head, and began to slowly walk back along the valley.
"I'm sure somepony saw the battle's magic enough to come seek me."
Her mumble carried across the grounds of the valley, as she made her way south, away from the scorched battle plains, leaving behind the dead body of the Being of Greed, Golmov's corpse doomed to be frozen amidst the frequent blizzards that consumed the mountains too often.
But as she walked, an invisibility spell hidden creature made its way across the snow. Pointed holes showed its insectlike legs moving it across the snow with an eerie silence.
While the Queen staggered towards any help she could find, the marauder moved in behind her.
Atop a distant ridge, Queen Aurora's eyes saw a green flash, but her initial fears of another creature were calmed as she recognised the sword wielding figure as Starswirl's foreign associate, Chack.

Chack's teleportation spell from his blade led him true, as he appeared atop the ridge a quarter mile from Queen Aurora's location. He saw her glance at him, and he saw how exhausted she appeared, her figure slumped and battered.
But a quick glance up the valley showed him the corpse of a dragon, and a grey ooze he knew came from the death of one of the beings.
Turning his gaze, he began to slash his blade, to teleport down to her.
But she suddenly stopped, as did he mid swing, his spell from his blade vanishing too.
As if seized violently, Aurora couldn't fight back due to fatigue as she was hurled to the ground by a green hued claw and pinned down by the neck.
Chack was stunned into inaction for the brief moments it occured.

She gasped as the green hued claw choked her by its neck grip, while the rest of the creature reappeared. The same mostrocity that had met her, the same that basically let Golmov attack her as her muscle.
The scorpion/centaur/ape hybrid's green eyes blazed into her own gagging ones, as Teal Quirt thrust her other scorpion claw down into her exposed underside, and the wet crunch of the appendage ripping into her torso and vitals was followed by the numbing rush in her ears that accompanied intense trauma.
The pain was intense enough that Aurora went into shock, as she could only listen as Teal Quirt hissed into her ear, almost with a sense of satisfaction, and gratitude:
"With you gone they'll slaughter each other, and like today, all I have to do is wait for my time."
Her claw glowed green as she ripped it from Aurora's underside, the Queen quickly passing out from the pain, an unconscious state she would never awaken from. Glancing down at the claw she'd used, Teal's burning green magic turned the blood on its claws to ash, evaporating it as she stood tall over the Queen's body.
She got what she wanted.

A sudden green flash came off to the side, as Teal's attention snapped to the newcomer. The Salamander rushed towards her, his sword flying as the first of a cascade of slashing green magic attacks flew at her.
With a light scoff, Teal gave a click of her lower scorpion arms, and vanished in a green flash, while Chack roared to the skies, his anger directed at the creature that had fled after what she did, no remorse, no pause, no gloating.
Standing there, beside the Queen's body, Chack looked at his green blade, demanding to Everfree through the connection the forest deity had to the blade:
"Where did she go!?"
"She is moving still, I cannot say yet."
"You are useless! Find her!"
"DO NOT TAKE SUCH TONE WITH ME!"
"Why not? She got what she wanted. Her rivals are dead... And so many others..." Chack remarked, as he gave a glance skywards, to where his voice faltered briefly at the last part as he recalled Aubelles's demise. His gaze turned to Aurora now, the eviscerated Alicorn mare's body suddenly glowing slightly.
Then, high in the twilight lit skies, he saw it. A white flash, on par with a supernova, as big as the moon was in the skies, but not lasting more then a few minutes. Pure white. The only reason a bronze one hadn't been seen a few minutes earlier was likely due to the overwhelming red light Odi-Viscer's death gave out.

Minutes later
Nightfall [northern sunlight means its twilight brightness]
Quartz valley
Open plains

He could only stare. He saw her body. He saw Chack standing near it, bitterly using his sword's magic tracing abilities to track the killer.
But Starswirl was numb as he saw the body of the Queen on the snow covered valley. His duty failed, yet again. Sure two more had died today, leaving only two plus the missing seventh, but now they had claimed both monarchs, and many other Alicorns in the war in the dozens.
His grey beard was touching the snowy ground as he slowly slumped onto the rock and snow mounds, his blue robe dishevelled slightly after everything that had happened today.
Behind him, as his voluntary prisoner, Ave-Dol sported a blue coloured neck restraint and one around her horn. But as she looked on, her eyes glazed over as her head hung low, quietly wondering what had gotten into Teal Quirt for her to do such a thing.
"She deceived us all. Used them, not caring if they lived or died. She'd be the last left if she had her way." Starswirl murmured quietly, the hurt in his voice nearly as heartbreaking to Ave-Dol as this whole day was to her:
"And now the two have lost their mother too." Starswirl remarked with an almost emotionless reply now, as he came to stand up straighter. The emotionless tone in his voice was unnerving to Ave-Dol, while Chack continued to search the ground with his sword searching for anything to go by for Teal's destination.
The blood stained snow beneath Aurora's body remained as silent as the trio of them. Elsewhere, the full costs of today were yet to be realized.

Author's Notes:

The body count has gone up, dramatically.
But now both of Celestia and Luna's parents are dead. How they take it remains to be seen, but soon it will be.
But clearly something is to be done about Teal Quirt, and the more passive Being who surrendered to Starswirl. And then there's Discord still loose out there, somewhere.