18th December, 69 BNM
Evening
North-Eastern Equestria
Salty Basin badlands
Copperfield crater outskirts

Her eyes black with Siral's taint, a hidden parasite in her core, Teal Quirt stood there stunned as the sword lay on the ground now, tip touching the ground, between the knees of the Salamander she'd swung the blade to cleave in two.
Before her, the Salamander knelt there, enveloped in a green glow, one that streamed from the green blade that lay nearby them. As she'd swung down, the blade had passed through him, slicing through him as easily as a knife through air. Yet the Katana glowed green where it would be slicing him, as it passed harmlessly through his body by the other weapon's power.
Surprised himself, Chack saw his sword had been unable to harm him, as he then glanced up at the slowly growing rage behind Teal's Quirt's dark magic laced expression. Enraged, the creature dropped the sword from her grasp, and promptly whipped out one of her claws towards him.
Chack, caught off guard by the blade passing through him, was very promptly smashed across his shoulder by the blunt side of her claw, sending him sprawling a fair distance away on the dirt and salt covered ground.
Seeing the Salamander groaning from the pain, Teal looked at her claw, before remarking aloud to him with a sick grin forming on her apelike face:
"Your tricks may stop me using your own blade, but I can still kill you."
Scrambling up, his shoulder badly bruised, the Salamander saw Teal charging her horns for an attack. Reaching out his hand instinctively, he saw the green blade further away vanish, and swiftly materialize in his hand.
But as he touched it, Chack felt a rush of energy all of a sudden, as his entire body became emblazoned in emerald energy. Surprised, he asked the sword, while Teal charged her magic for a large attack further away:
"What's happening?"
"Some unknown energy, is working with that which the blade has. It seems your darker desire for vengeance was clouding its full power, but no more. The Serenity and Peace you had is still there, it has only changed its nature at newfound regret."
"Enough to easily deal with her? She's boosted by her own dark-."
As Chack murmured, he cut himself off as Teal's darker toned shriek was followed by a large burst of green energy in all directions, sending a massive shockwave out around her in a dome shape. Raising his green sword in a defensive stance, Chack's instinctive desire to guard formed an enhanced shield layer around him, and the shockwaves blasting him only pushed him backwards a good couple of feet, as if he were standing on ice.
Around them, the salt flats, collapsed town and mine were blasted by the winds from the shockwave, and in the distance, a green light bathed the sunset soaked skies suddenly.
Amidst the shockwaves, Chack's old katana, discarded by Teal, went flying away in the shockwaves. As he glimpsed it glinting amidst the dust, Chack was silent over the deafening noise of the shockwave and dust hurled up.
He let go of his past self as the blade flew off, and it would be the last he would see that blade.

Salty Basin badlands
Copperfield crater outskirts

Grinding to a stop, Chack's shield fell, but he was given no reprise as the dust cloud over the town blew away after the shockwaves ended.
A green beam surged forwards, yet Chack ducked sideways to avoid it, as he saw where the beam originated from. Firing a harpoon like beam from his blade tip, Chack saw the dust blow away as the energy harpoon plunged into Teal's scorpion arm, earning an outraged shriek from her as dark magic surged out to remove the magical harpoon that was also electrocuting her.
Focusing himself, Chack felt the harpoon yank taut, as he was pulled through the air enough to twist his body mid flight. Her dark magic severing the magical harpoon, Teal glanced up to see a green hued, webbed foot come smashing into her face, enough to stagger her backwards as Chack landed in front of her, slashing her side as he dove to avoid a blind swipe by her dark magic infused claws.
Keeping close to her, Chack ducked as she swung again, her ape claws and scorpion claws flying at him in an all manner of directions. Some even came through green rips in the air to try and strike him from behind, but the blade he wielded to its fullest warned him, enhanced his sense of touch to the point where nothing eluded him.
Dark magic blasts were dispersed, but as he retaliated by blade launched waves of his own, they were cast aside too by a deflecting dark spell. Magic fired with the clash of blade and claws as their furious clash continued towards the salt flats undisturbed by the previous underground collapses.
As they reached the salt flats, the white grains crunching harder then the plain dirt, their fighting didn't cease at all. Chack swung at Teal's mid section where scorpion reared up to become ape-torso, only for her to vanish in a dark tainted green haze, a smoke copy.
Up above, she materialized, black and green hued claws flying down. Jumping sideways, Chack barely missed the X-shaped shockwave that emanated from her 4 pronged downwards stab into the ground.
But bouncing off his heels, he surged forwards, and slashed out his blade. In a fury laced shriek, Teal Quirt reared backwards, one of her scorpion claws having been severed at the wrist joint from her body. In her rage, she flung out her other claw, laced in dark magic, and crashed it into Chack's side.
The Salamander staggered away into a crumbled heap, the dark magic that attacked him along with the claw cutting into his side in a deep way.
As he glanced at his opponent again however, Chack saw salt fly at him, as dark magic and her claw raking it towards him flung a cloud of salt into his face, his armour's helmet having been damaged enough that the shockwaves from before had rendered it useless.
Bellowing in pain as some of it got into his eyes, Chack squirmed as the salt burned into his moisture deprived skin. He charged his sword's magic, a cloud of water vapour pouring around him suddenly in a puff of steam, but his eyes remained red and ragged, his vision blurred.
But as he sensed around him, his touch sensory abilities still giving him vision, the world seemed to slow.
Teal Quirt charged a dark magic beam, and her four horns worked together to fire it, as the severed claw she lost began to spring back to her on a collection of dark magic threads beginning to 'stitch' it back together while pulling it in place.
His sword glowing its usual green, Chack began to run forwards, ducking low as he did so, eyes scrunched up from the pain of the salt still in his eyes. He heard the dark magic fire, and he threw his legs and half tail forwards as he landed on his back mid sprint.
His armour protecting him in the slide, Chack surged his sword out, a green harpoon spell firing from it to imbed into Teal's torso. Like a winch cable, Chack was pulled forwards, as the dark magic wave passed over him, bristling with a cold burning as it did so.
Before Teal could react, she felt a blade plunge into her torso chitin armour, the harpoon spell reeling in Chack for the stab. Instantly, her body lit up with green arcs, the dark magic bursting out as she writhed from the pain.
Hanging on for his life, Chack focused his sword's magic, as he found something he suspected.
"Separate what is her, and what is not."
As Everfree's words rang out, the sword Chack held onto began to pulsate. In sync with it, Teal's darker magic pulsated, enough to earn an outraged flailing from her that spun her around fast enough to throw Chack off her in a painful landing and spin. But the sword remained imbedded in her chest.
As the green and black arcs flourished around her, Teal's voice screeched out, only for it to be drowned by Siral's dark inflections, until eventually it was naught but his own.
"The forest spirit, he is real? He was the first Alicorn?! And he interferes with me!"
As her scorpion/ape form staggered about, Everfree's voice tormented Teal Quirt as it worked the sword's magic inside her. In her torso, the blade's green colour began to dim slightly, as a tainted black substance began to creep into it.
"Your servant is no longer your enthralled Siral."
"Know this, your domain will burn before I destroy all of the kind that followed you, the first Alicorn!"
As she writhed on the ground, the dark magic was slowly fading from her, leaving only her green magic, but also weakening her extremely as she seemed to be sucked dry from within.
"But your servants will be one less now."
"I can make more then the one that remains, despite her rebellion in sabotaging him, once your domain is but a memory."
At that moment, Teal gave a last scream before she keeled forwards, weak and limp as the sword in her torso began utterly black from the handle to the blade tip. With a smoke-like puff of its own green magic, the blade shot forth from her torso to clatter on the salt covered ground. But as it landed, the black magic shot skywards, seeping upwards to form a dark, single cloud that built to hang high over the sunset lit salt flats.
Over from her, Chack rubbed his eyes, but his blurred vision wasn't enough to stop him from seeing the cloud of dark magic vapour that now hung overhead like a plume of smoke.
A dark whisper in an ancient tongue seemed to emanate from it, before a gust of wind picked up and the black vapour trailed away at a tremendous speed, heading west, over the horizon and distant mountain ridges on the other side of the salt flats. The traces of the Savant that occupied the Being of Envy vanished into the distance.
But it wasn't the last it would be seen, that much Chack knew.
Slowly shuffling to his feet, the Salamander walked over towards Teal Quirt, his hand extending to materialize the green blade into his hand. As he walked, another burst of water vapour magic swarmed around him from the blade, clearing his eyes and skin enough in the dry desert heat. Exhausted, the Salamander regarded the being that lay weakly on the ground before him.
Her form slumped over, Teal's eyes shot up to Chack, who stood on his feet, albeit limping visibly, with his sword out. Her own green eyes went alight with fear, as she shuffled weakly to begin crawling away, half of her scorpion legs limp, and her ape arms pulling her across the salt flats away from him.
"Its not fair, they all leave me, they all abandon me when I'm useless..." Teal quietly murmured to herself as she shuffled away, her ears alert as she waited for the sound of a blade ringing through the air. But as a few footsteps sounded behind her, she saw a pair of black skinned Salamander legs come walking in her path, as she lay there slumped down, prone and weak from blood loss.
Her ribs showed, her carapace armour was damaged and burnt, and the venom she always had in her gaze remained, but subdued, laced with bitter tears at the unfairness of this all.
"Finish it. You've taken everything else from me. You freed me from him and the powers he gave me, why stop there?"
As she spoke, she seemed to stare off across the salt flats, as if Chack wasn't even stood before her anymore. Her green eyes were blank now, as the only noise she made was the gulping whimper at what she expected would come next.
But as she stared out across the salt flats, she shut her eyes as the corner of CHack's sword came to rest above her head, just p=out of the corner of her vision. She succumbed to the weakness that being drained of Siral's influence did, and passed out, expecting to not wake up again.
She didn't buy the Salamander's sacrifice, it showed by that trickery by his alliance with the forest deity Siral now viewed as a threat. He'd kill her, she knew it.

She was there before him, the sunset lit salt flats her potential deathbed, at his feet. The green blade's tip rested above her unconscious forehead, the ape/scorpion centaur shaped hybrid lying there prone.
But staring at her body, weak, covered in scratches, deep cuts, and wracked with burns from the dark magic his blade had expelled from her and other battle burns, Chack felt something he wouldn't have earlier today.
Chack pitied her. She was his creation, as much as she was a victim of Siral's schemes. But no more.
The dark magic of Siral is gone from her. She is no longer tainted by him. But, with her still alive, he will endure, along with the seventh yet to be relocated.
Chack frowned at this, as he mused aloud after hearing the voice of Everfree from his blade:
"So she must die to weaken Siral..."
It is the most certain way.
"No."
Kneeling down, Chack began to form a spell in his blade as he rested it on the back of Teal's head, as the sun began to sink below the salt flats horizon behind them.
"She is free, but Siral is tied to life by her. Whatever power he had in her has fled."
"Fled to, him..."
Whatever is left of him will grow stronger. He will take the power he dragged out from her as we ousted him, and use it for his own.
"And wreak havoc with it."
Chack mumbled to himself as he had his spell ready in his blade. But Everfree's next remark earned his scorn towards the forest spirit.
I'll be next he said... You must go, before he-.
"No Everfree. I'll pursue him to end his machinations because I want it, NOT to save your leaf-covered hide and Equestria. I slaughtered her kin or aided in it because you and Starswirl told me it was the best way, and I happened to like it. Now I'll pursue him because I will tackle the problem at its source, and you will like it just because it happens to be what you want."
You defy me?
"No, what I want, and what you want, just happen to coincide now. Consider us finished when Siral is slain, I won't murder mere victims of greater evil as precaution any longer."
With that final word, Chack charged the blade, and a healing spell began to flow from the blade. The cuts and scratches and burns on Teal Quirt's mutated body began to glow as they sealed up slowly, and the scorpion claw she'd had magically half reattached began to fully repair itself. All the while, the hybrid remained unconscious.
Glancing around, as he winced slightly at his own injuries, Chack made a slash to form a portal, and after struggling to move her, took Teal's unconscious body through the portal with him.

30 minutes later
2 miles away, Salt flat hillsides

The overhang provided natural shade from the sun, as Chack didn't know how long until she awakened. If she woke up the next day, he didn't want her to do so under the scorching hot sun.
As he made sure Teal was well inside the overhang, Chack stepped backwards, giving a small sigh as he looked out at the now dimly red lit salt flats, and the bare ruins of the town he could see beyond.
You do not wish to retrieve your old blade?
Everfree's weapon rang out his voice in Chack's head, but the Salamander merely paused for a brief moment before resolutely speaking more to himself if anything:
"No. Too much innocent blood was spilled by it."
What of the dark magic within her, it took flight back to its source.
"I haven't forgotten. Nor will it get away."
As Chack recalled the direction that mysterious black cloud had flown off in, he engaged the sword's magic, sensing where it was heading.
He knew where, his green eyes narrowing as he turned his back on Teal within the overhang. Slashing his sword out, he began his long trek west, in pursuit.
As he leapt through portal after portal, the sword's magic, enabled by his newfound compassion, healed him, and showed him where his quarry was.

Chack's mindscape

He flew over the hills, the badlands vanishing behind him as the mountains became greener, the land colder. Rivers, a few lakes, and the odd village.
He sensed it, the traces released, creatures carrying traces of the Svaant spread everywhere like the pollen in a plant.
But as he rushed, amidst the cloud of dark magic expelled from his being of Envy, he saw it. The ruined mountainside, the emptied lake as a result of the collapse, the old ruins of his once great fortress protruding like old bones.
Beneath it, more of him, he himself, awaited. Out of the tiniest of cracks, black smoky oil seemed to leak out, and the dark magic flew towards it, called to it.

18th/19th December, 69 BNM
Midnight
North-Eastern Equestria
Salty Basin badlands
Copperfield crater outskirts

His blue light cast about the place, but he saw naught but the scars of battle. No sign of Chack, nor whatever he was battling.
But Starswirl sensed it, the magical tainted traces he knew too well as one of those beings.
"She was here..."
Kneeling over one roughly traced footprint, he found a few flecks of blood. He didn't know whose, but whatever happened clearly was violent and prolonged. And whatever happened, he felt had also caused the destruction of this mining town.
Amidst the darkened landscape of the salt flats, illuminated in a small area by his magic, Starswirl cast his gaze about, searching for anything. He was alert now, as that creature had been here.
But something in the distance glinted in his hornlight, cast off down into the town's gas smelling crater. With his magic, Starswirl summoned the item to him, the object hued in blue magic. As it came to hover before his eyes, Stasrwirl's heart sank.
Chack's old katana sword. And he was nowhere to be found.
As he slowly rested the sword before his forehooves, lying upon the salt and dirt marked ground, Starswirl was silent, as he shook his head in disbelief.
But suddenly, he had a thought.
"Life leaves its traces, for those who can read them. Maybe..."
As he wracked his memory, he recalled a passage he had read in the infamous Necromantium. It was not a truly 'evil' spell, but it was one that was difficult to master, and was therefore simply forgotten. But here, the tool could become the witness.
The Psychoscopy Spell, object memory, the traces of what happened with the object and who last handled it.
Focusing his magic, as it took on a more focused blue hue on the sword, Starswirl saw flashes, very murky, but enough:
Their battle destroyed the town by collateral, they were not mindful of their surroundings. Or more accurately, HE was not. She came to kill an Alicorn and leave, nothing else. He came to make her suffer and die as violently as he could.
The sight of the town, and the colt who served as a living metaphor for its plight, in him attacking him uselessly, changed him.
Now he knelt there, prone, letting her decide her fate, by giving her a chance to do what she truly wished to he who wronged her in his vengeance-fuelled and cruel life.
But she couldn't, even with his sword in her hand, the sword that maimed her. Siral wanted it, she wanted it. She didn't know if she would be doing what she wanted, or doing what Siral wanted.
To spite him, and undone by confusion over the Salamander's change of heart, she chose not to strike him down.
But then she changed, a darkness embedded deep within her taking hold against her will, the taint all beings like her carried. In a frenzy, Siral seized control, and struck down at Chack through her.
But Everfree's blade acted, as Chack's exemplary magic, deep within him, tying him to whatever unknown power he had through his change of heart, triggering a defense spell. Chack's blade sailed through his flesh like a knife through smoke.
But in the outrage, the possessed Teal pressed her attack by other ways, as they did battle. But Chack's blade was flung aside, and then, the memory stopped short.

"He, spared, one of them?"
Utterly confused now, any euphoria about Chack finally fulfilling his destiny was undermined by the context of it.
Chack had shown compassion, remorse, and sympathy for those he harmed directly and indirectly, past and immediate, with his actions earlier today here. He showed mercy, pity, giving one he hurt and plunged into darkness by the grief making her a target for Siral, the chance to enact what she wanted, justice coupled with revenge.
He let her decide, even if it cost him, what she wanted, as he saw that restoring her free will, even if it meant he was dying, was the best thing for her. He was kind by being submissive to those he wronged. He was cruel to be kind by forcing her to confront how much of her cruelty was truly her, or was nurtured by Siral for his own ends.
Yet in his success, the faults of all of the beings came through. Deep down, Siral's taint still lived in them.
Standing within the darkness of the salt flats, Stasrwirl suddenly realized this whole situation made him revaluate his entire life's work, again.
"Those oracles were correct, but only in the ends, not in the means..."
He didn't know whether his laughter was from the bad joke nature of it all, the incredulous nature of how it all came to this, how Chack finally, better late then never, proved himself, and in what way, by sparing an enemy he'd pursued like no other.
As the Wizard ceased, he suddenly wrinkled his brow, his usual stoic tone returning as he noticed something was amiss:
"Where is a body? Have they both gone?"
He merely widened his light spell, but any body on these salt flats would show up, especially with how unique they both were from normal ponykind.
As he glanced about, Starswirl had another thought, as his brow furrowed further beneath his pointed blue hat:
"Everfree. He has worked with Chack. He must know..."
It was time to return to the forest spirit, for answers, and possibly, help.

Elsewhere in the same badlands, a hillside overhang where a hybrid creature had been laid down to recover in lay empty.

Author's Notes:

Starswirl is back on board with the prophecy as a 'big picture' type vision, just not in the details.
But suffice to say there's still a great deal of unfinished business. Chack is headed for the Citadel, Siral is gaining power, and Teal Quirt clearly made it out recovered. And while she is now utterly free of Siral's tainted influence, that's not guaranteed to last forever, nor change her opinion of her history with Chack.
As for Starswirl, well, lets just say he'll soon be starting a long term project that might run the risk of being 'too little, too late', with Everfree's involvement.