20th December, 69 BNM
Mid Morning
Mid-Equestria, Everfree forest
The Hollows

The deepest part of the forest, a shallow valley flanked by vine choked trees and a collection of Willow trees all around them. Among their roots however, the rare crystals that grew here penetrated from the ground like tiny blades of grass, twinkling as the Unicorn's blue horn light shone over them.
The Wizard took flight, the Timberwolves having peeled off as the inferno grew in intensity in the forest beyond.
Scrambling down the slope, Starswirl held his hat tight as he turned to a gallop the moment the ground turned flat. The tall, vine strangled trees rose around him, but their ominous state was nothing compared to the inferno devouring them a few miles away. Overhead, the storm rumbled, the many thunder and lightning strikes becoming constant now.
Down here, the hollows, where it was said the rumoured spirit of the forest resided. But to Starswirl, the far off Chack, and the possessed Unicorn wizard casting this firestorm triggering thunderstorm from afar, Everfree was real.
And here, as he came down into the hollows, Starswirl saw what he was searching for. A shimmering white pool of water, as if the base of its lining was flanked by a million glass shards, glinting with the same eerie white colour of the water in these other sacred sites Everfree seemed to have in rare locations, hidden across his forest domain.
"Is this the heart of the forest?"
"A wise assumption. It is here where my power is strongest, power your assistance can best harness to ward off this evil."
"How, I am but a Wizard. And why not get Chack? You must know where he is!?"
"Chack, has gone to the heart of the enemy. I cannot see him anymore, Siral's evils in his fortress are the one place I cannot see."
"You let him go there!? You have sent him to death!"
"He went of his own volition, seeking to help as many by ridding Equestria of its most malicious evil. But we all underestimated the lengths he would go to, he is no longer a mere Unicorn."
"But he fulfilled his part in the end, an example of kindness. And I doubted him..."
"Sometimes fate unfolds as predicted, but not in the way you think."
As Everfree spoke, a few vines unfurled around the main pool of glistening white water, and five objects Starswirl had left with the Lrod of the Forest, in a bid of loss of faith, tumbled down onto the ground.
The Gladius Sword Mashri had left him after his and Siral's guiding words for her dilemma of loyalty, the gold and jade stoned family necklace Hinai had gifted him after he and Siral aided her in overcoming her limits and using her magic to help her friends, the Scarf that Frello had given him after overcoming his fear and learning to make others laugh as he once did, the tuft of fur Nahia gave him and Siral for helping her be honest with herself and others in her shortcomings and fears, and the compass given to him and Siral, shortly before they fell out, by Irvin after he realized material gain was worth less then he realized, in wake of giving up his wealth, and nearly giving his own life to give another a chance.
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.
As Starswirl stared at the five artefacts on the ground, as well as Chack's katana which he'd placed alongside it, he realized what he had been missing all along.
Beyond, the crackling fires roared, but it was something that Starswirl mused over as he looked at the artefacts that made him wonder:
"Why was there such a rush when they each committed their acts? What..."
As he recalled each time, he realized something he had been missing:
"Its nothing to do with magic, its what gives it power. Virtues and Evils are catalysts for magic that make them more powerful!"
"Their examples only serve as truly powerful focal moments, true examples of such virtues, to make what magic already present already power, in the same way Siral used Evils to enhance his methods!"
"But how can we harness such power?"
"We can use their legacy, objects have memories to those who know how to read them. This is it, this is how true Harmony is restored, by wielding the power that can be harnessed by virtues! There is no secret art, there is only what motivates your power!"
Without even pausing, as Starswirl pulled out the Necromantium book, he found the Psychoscopy Spell he had already used on Chack's blade only under two days ago. But in the distance, the fire raged along with the thunderstorm, as the first cold gusts of wind began to rustle the air around them.
"I shall prepare what magic I can, but hurry! He is burning, more of the forest!"
The vines and leaves fluttered around the clearing, as Starswirl glimpsed the vine bodied avatar of Everfree gesture his gaze to the north, where the smoke was pouring now, the roars of fires and the distant smoke flickering as the sight of a few unleashed demons swarmed among the fumes, vultures among the inferno.
The forest around the clearing began to pulsate lightly in colour, as Everfree focused all the magic in the strange rocks that marked this region of the forest. Overhead, the stormclouds had built up, lightning arcing through the skies constantly now.
But down on the ground, Starswirl's green hued magic of necromancy began toe Psychoscopy spell, as he looked deep:
She chose where her home was, not where she began, but where she became who she was. That was her Loyalty, choosing where she felt her heart was, not where she came from.
She chose to overcome her personal restraint, when her newfound friends would suffer the same fate as her parents to the sorcerer. That was her Magic, releasing her restraint on who she was.
He chose to overcome his fears, his shame, to entertain and lighten the downtrodden heart of his adoptive son, and to spread the joy to others so he might alleviate his own soul. That was his Laughter, indulging in the joy he spread.
She chose to admit to her own shortcomings, her failings, and her faults in how she handled it. And in doing so, helped overpower the true monster in her home jungle. That was her Honesty, as she knew herself to know where she could go in the future.
He chose to sacrifice his ambitions to save one who helped him achieve this moment of gain. That was his Generosity, he proved his generous nature by throwing away what could be his to help another live.
He chose to stop the cycle of cruelty that plagued so many, realizing it was an endless circle. So he submitted to the one he harmed most, to disrupt the cycle. That was his kindness, to have the courage to spare a life that he would otherwise have taken.
On the ground, the 6 items began to glow different slight hues of colour. The Gladius sword glowed red, the gold and jade necklace glowed pink, the scarf glowed blue, the fur tuft yellow, the compass purple, and the katana sword glowed green. From below them, the colours of the glowing rock glowed brightly, as the power they gave off fed into the greater energy around the heart of the forest.
But all around them, the thunderstorm was upon them. Even as the bright, blinding white light shone forth from the forest's alcove pool, the hordes and storm pressed down on all sides, the clash of light and dark sparking fires all around the forest.

Within the sphere of energy, the 6 multicoloured energy sources fed into the main power, bolstered by Everfree. But as the feedback continued, Starswirl saw the vine avatar of Everfree begin to falter, the fires spreading across Everfree forest taking its toll on the life systems the spirit was sustained by.
Starswirl's eyes grew wide, as the blinding light of the energies he had helped unleash in desperation did battle, a stalemate.

North-Midland Equestria
Citadel Valley, Citadel ruins
Underground lake chamber

Jumping to the stone of the bridge, as he'd actively avoided landing in the leech infested water as much as he could, Chack clenched on as he saw the water surging towards him yet again. Teeth and scales exploded from the depths, open and aimed right at him.
Scrambling upwards, Chack saw the Sea Serpent's maw clamp onto the stone of the bridge support, and he slashed out at the creature's head. His green blade cut deep, but the Serpent shrugged it off as it coiled back in the water, lunging yet again.
His fingers burning as his webbed feet clawed into the bridge arch stone, Chack barely escaped being snapped up in the sharp toothed jaws as the Serpent missed him. The momentum of its strike carried it forwards, and even Chack's desperate green magic beam from his sword only made it angry. Panting as exhaustion was beginning to set in, Chack began to climb up.
But a burning sensation clamped down on his wrist, as Chack glanced up to see a pair of silver eyes amidst a cloud of darkness fire down one of its whiplile tendrils, the brickwork he was clenching onto suddenly breaking free as the burning magic left a welt on his left wrist.
He plummeted down into the inky black water, but Chack fired out his green magic at it, scattering the leeches for the moment as he landed, kicking to the surface as soon as he splashed down. But even the cold grip and maws of the very few leeches that made it was nothing compared to Chack's fear, as he backed up against the wall, his sword butt propped against the brickwork as he stuck it out, bracing himself as he submitted to his fate. The Salamander scowled as his green magic shield held firm enough to keep the leeches at bay, while the demonic master stood/floated upon the bridge above with a keen expression in his silver eyed, shapeless gaze. Before him, in the dark waters, the Sea Serpent surged forwards, teeth glinting as its maw opened to engulf the Salamander and crash him against the bridge.
Out of nowhere came a different hue of green magic, surging through the chamber, bursting through the demon swarms and blasting the focal presence of Siral into the cavernous ceiling. The green light struck down now, rebounding off of Chack's outstretched blade as his expression turned to shock at this intervention.
As the Sea Serpent lunged, the green energy rebounding off the sword was enhanced, and formed a spear-like burst of energy that ripped through the Serpent's maw, and out of the back of its head. Almost immediately the Serpent squirmed, and was dead as it slumped mid surge.
As the body floated forwards fast, Chack scrambled sideways in the water, the head of the serpent ramming the bridge roughly. But before his shield faltered, he was yanked up by his saviour.
But the moment he saw the claws, the ape-torso, scorpion body and her green eyes, Chack was puzzled, even as the demon swarms pulled back somewhat in the chamber in preparation for a counter attack. Before him, Teal panted from her exertion, that blazing charge down here exhausting for her magic, especially in wake of all they had done the day before. In his confusion, but not devoid of his thanks for her help, Chack breathed out as he raised his blade to the sight of the gathering shadows in and around the chamber:
"Why?"
"I owe you help for freeing me, for letting me have a chance at payback. Nothing else besides that." Teal sternly remarked towards the Salamander, as her gaze turned wary at the sight of the flicering shadows all around the dimly lit lake chamber. Down below, the corpse of the Sea Serpent was already being swarmed by the leeches, its body beginning to be picked to the bone by the flesh eating creatures.
All around the chamber, from all sides, the shadows pooled into puddles of inky blackness, waiting. Then, tendrils like glass strands shot out towards them, blacker then the darkest of night.
Parrying shot after shot, ones they missed coiling around his and Teal's joints before they slashed them off, the burns from each one agony as they were repeatedly seized and lashed, the whole storm of attacks came from all sides.
Teal's green magic flourished out, burning aside the tendrils and the occasional surge of ghostly black smoke. Chack's blade strikes cut aside tendril strikes, blew apart the plumes of smoke. But it was a losing battle, as the unseen enemy, comprised of many smaller demons and their master, continued the barrage.
Both the Salamander and the Being of Envy now sported burns, welts and cuts all over their bodies, some of Chack's armour and Teal's carapace segments chipped and even broken in some places.
As the attacks eased up slightly, they realized why, as the silver expression of Siral glinted form the cavern ceiling directly above them, a pair of silver orbs flickering amidst utter darkness within the carved ceiling. Siral's taunt rang out:
"You have no hope. You cannot defeat me, I have grown more powerful as a result of your rebellion, my servant. You and that cretin of the forest and the wizard shall die, and become part of something more."
"I no longer serve you. He took out your posion influence from me, I took it out of Gaudium! Your servants are much fewer in number, you have lost power!"
"How wrong you are. As long as they live, I endure. But, when each dies, their power isn't lost, it returns, it is passed on, to me. As more lived, I was less likely to die. But as fewer live, what power I have as I live grows."
Teal's eyes widened at this realization, as she now saw that Siral had omitted more truths in her discussions with him, in better times, then she'd ever realized. He had also been making backup plans, to harness power for himself, through them, in more ways then she initially feared.
"You let the Seventh get away, but you cannot slay me so long as he is out there, and so long as you are. But you made him safe in isolation, and so, your foolish mistake and sympathy for those you think I wronged, will be your undoing."
"I'll find him!" Her exclmation was half hearted, as she knew not where Gaudium, now Discord, was. Beside her, Chack kept up his defence, his scowl deepening as Siral's boast from a truly unassailable position rang out:
"No. Mystery is the greatest defence. Your usefulness is now best served through death, so I may harvest your power for my own."
"And these demons!? What of their obedience? I don't recall any tales of someone using them in myth of history as ending well for them!"
Chack's poking at Siral's plan was short lived in its hope for a weakness however, as a rumble of a chuckle filled the catacombs, before the demon swarms too shimmered in the dark voids in sync with their master.
"They obey me, because unlike Geldrath so long ago, I do not keep myself distinct. They obey me, because they see me as one of their own. I have, in death, become part of them. Their demon lord. And beyond that, the deaths of those Alicorns harvested grants me their power through the amulets. And, the deaths of the five servants you had a hand in the deaths of, both of you."
"You have aided in the creation of all that I am."
"Then you are just a mistake that must be corrected." Teal adamantly remarked, as she charged her green magic in her claws to fire straight up. Chack raised his sword, the green magic from his joining her own as he took aim, the dark swathes of demon hordes closing in. But Siral interrupted as his silver eyes flared in brightness in his sentence:
"Too little, too late."
Below them, a shimmering layer engulfed the bridge they stood upon, and before they could yell out, they fell through as gravity took them. The teleportation spell had been altered, the portal it created much more veiled. As soon as the pair vanished, the demon hordes in the catacomb lake vanished too, swarming to where they knew their master had sent them.
Silence rang in the lake chamber, the gentle sloshing of the sea serpent's corpse being devoured by the leeches the only noise in the chamber.

Mid-Morning
North-Midland Equestria
Citadel Valley, Citadel ruins
Catacombs, Mid levels, Well of Waysides

The well of waysides, what remained of the castle's main stairwell access to all levels. More ornate then really needed for a Fortress, but even Siral had a degree of respect for aesthetics.
Ruined stairwells flanked the circular shaft, half of the doorways and corridors having collapsed. But up above, hope shone down.
Daylight burned above them, a tantalizing glimmer high up in this shaft.
As they had burst into the shaft's base, a small raised platform area above the pool of water that made up the submerged base of the shaft, Chack and Teal landed roughly.
Eyes casting about, the teleportation ole that Siral had conjured had led them astray. Now, as they glanced around, they saw the horrors of the Citadel come together.
Thick dark magic vapour poured from the many corridors, veritable waterfalls of dark magic, demon swarms and Siral's essence pouring down to land upon them.
The dark clouds swallowed them, and all turned to the nightmarish void that filled the bottom of the shaft, akin to the densest of bat swarms engulfing both of them as they backed up against each other, preferring to stick together then be separated.
Chack shook as he slashed and hacked uselessly, his spirit and energy drained from so much. Teal's desperate green magic attacks faltered too, and her body shook each time she blinked or winced. As Chack did as well, the fraction of time his eyes were shut revealed a thousand hungry eyes and teeth swarming before them.
He blinked again, as did she, fear making their bodies quake. All around them, each blink burned the hungry eyes and teeth of the thousands of awaiting demon spirits that made up what was now Siral's very being, and the warped essences of the 19 Alicorns absorbed from his amulets merely burned their cold eyes and visages darker then the others.
Before they could be consumed however, a green forcefield burst out from Teal's body, engulfing them both. Now trapped at the bottom of this shaft, a former tower basement, the sunlight permeating from its distant top, the green semi-sphere was swarmed by the hordes of the Savant. The teeth, burning tongues and consuming nature of the demons hacked away at the shield, forcing Teal Quirt to strain her energy.
Inside the sphere, Chack surged his blade's magic, strengthening the shield as he then lashed out the sword, an energy slash cutting through the cloud of attackers. But it was too late. They were surrounded on all sides, outmatched, trapped, and being besieged in a very rapidly diminishing shield.
The Being of Envy turned as she strained her magic, her scorpion body and ape torso marred by the small scratch marks as his body had suffered as well. But her expression was helpless, her eyes voids in the face of inevitable defeat.
He stared back at Teal's mutated eyes, as he murmured a brief remark as the hordes closed in around them:
"Alone we have no chance. We can't win, not without a combined effort."
She looked around hopelessly, her green shield around both of them constantly flickering as Siral's magic burned away at it.
"Impossible, there is too much fighting between too many."
"It won't last forever, no war does, we must escape, fight another day."
Chack's plans were fruitless though, he knew it, as he could see the glint of sunlight high above from the opening. But it was Teal who looked down forlornly, growing weary on her part from keeping up the shield as Chack fired another burning beam from his blade.
"We can't. He has us trapped here, he can have us wherever he wants."
As Chack grimaced at this, the Salamander slashing out his sword from the shield to ward off the hordes and Siral's magic within the choking dark smoke, Teal's eyes suddenly lit up. The Scorpion/Ape hybrid murmured to Chack as the fizzling of her barrier increased in force:
"Wherever... We can see his demise, but not today."
"When?"
"That is the question. We can win, but not today. So send us forwards, all of us, to a time when things can be better dealt with. How Starswirl and Siral went through so much time, we must do the same."
Chack stared at Teal, then at his blade, the Salamander quizzical for a moment as her stern expression faltered in wake of the fractures finally breaking apart their shared magical shield.
"Do it, use it. Your master and Siral used the spell in their travels! We must delay if we cannot defeat!"
The smoking tendrils leeched through the shields, piercing into her skin like needles as they began to shock her, burning her skin like lightning bolt shaped scars from their entry points. Her hisses of agony were only broken as she screamed at Chack, the moment the black forces finally shattered their shield entirely.
"CHACK!"
Darkness poured towards them like a broken river from a dam, as Chack focused his mind. He focused on the future, a future where somehow, they might stand more of a chance. The blade glowed green, flaring as a white hued magic also rippled around it, the demon swarms hesitating for a moment as he raised his sword. But among them, Siral's bodiless gaze turned fearful for a moment.
His green blade came slicing down, and the dark air before him lit up green, and shattered as if he were slashing through a glassy layer before him. A rip opened up, a tear in the air now rippling like water, hued green around its edges.

The moment the tear appeared, a hurricane wind roared about the Catacombs. The rip in the very air in front of Chack began to suck everything in.
The electricity filling the main antechamber lit up, piercing through the dark fountain of smoky magic rising from the opened shaft above them, exposing the daylight for the briefest moment.
The demon swarms shrieked as their semi-visible forms were sucked inside, and the essence of Siral was vacuumed from all perceivable corners of the Citadel, and dragged screaming into the abyssal dimension in time that Chack had all but ripped open with the enhanced blade spell.
Stabbing his sword down to brace himself from the vortex, Chack braced as he saw Teal Quirt stab her green hued claws into the stone as well, anchoring herself. The entire antechamber shaft shook around them, and a quaking far above showed a large slate wall caving in nearby.
Much of Siral's essence and the demons that constituted its broader strength now vanished through the void, like a deformed space in the darkened chamber that flickered like glass crystals before them. Yet as the smokey hordes were sucked into the time anomaly, they lashed out, seeking anchorage themselves, a thousand narrow tendrils like hairs snaking out, searching, flailing desperately as their painful, outraged wails filled the air.
"When will he return!?"
"When more will be unified to stand against him!"
"How lo-NGGH!"
One of the smoking tendrils seized Teal's scorpion torso, and had coiled around her thorax, locked in place like a snake around its meal, the demon magic and Siral's unified to use her as anchorage. Siral's disembodied voice screeched from the rip in time:
"IF I GO TO OBLIVION, YOU COME WITH ME!"
"Let me go!"
"YOU ARE MINE!"
As she was dragged struggling towards the rip, her claws and scorpion pincers digging into the stone ground, Teal yelled to Chack:
"You can't help me. GO!"
A second passed, before Chack hurled out a hand as he braced with his sword, clenching Teal's scorpion pincer as he remarked with absolute certainty:
"He won't seize you again after I drove you into his evils. If we suffer we won't be alone!"
The green blade slipped slightly, as Chack's grip on Teal Quirt grew tired, her torso and head and ape arm all that were protruding from the time warp, though more of Siral's desperate smoking tendrils snaked around her.
He gave a small smile, a sad one at that, as he gripped Teal's pincer even tighter. But his green blade moved now, his hand having jerked the sword upwards, uprooting the blade from the stone.
In an instant, he was sucked in, Teal Quirt just before him. Right as they left, the time fracture sealed itself, and the antechamber shaft became quiet.
Up above, the slate wall had fallen flat over the shaft, plugging up the only hole now for the Savant's evils to spread.
But down here, focused now, what remained of Siral was a speck, the tiniest of spores of his dark magic compared to his full essence. The tiny wisp of demonic influenced magic slowly blew away in a trail through the corridors, as if lost now.
The whispers in the Citadel were gone, and would be for a very long time.
Evil would fester here for centuries, but it would never regain the power that once haunted these ruins. Not until the time fracture reopened, whenever that was.
The Citadel was silent, its master gone, his converted, distrusting but healed servant gone, and the Samurai servant of his greatest enemies in Starswirl and Everfree were gone too.
And he was but a fragment now in this world. Basic, suppressed, hiding, a ghost of Siral, but not Siral himself. An echo.
And echo that would grow in strength as the years went by, decades centuries, but on its own would never achieve the power it had been spawned, and ripped from.

Time warped dimension

They fell through, the dark swarm that was Siral vanishing as he was sucked into oblivion, the hole he was destined to come back out of so far away it seemed as if they would never reach it, a distant glimmering star amidst total blackness.
Teal Quirt tried to hold on, but she slipped away as this realm's physics was havoc to anyone inside. She slipped away into the void, her exit in a similar time, but uncertain.
Clenching his sword tight, Chack fired forth, seizing Teal's claw in the barest of his magical grapple and pulled himself towards her.
He reached her, grabbing hold as the void consumed them both, their exit time uncertain as Siral's. Their senses became useless, as all time and awareness vanished here.
When they returned was unknown even to them. All they knew was that there would be a better chance to quell the evil they had sent forwards in time, where perhaps, more virtues and unity existed to combat the evil such disparate times had helped breed, spawned from a Unicorn's ambitions for power out of fear and curiosity.
The void took them all, it would let them return when the entry point had resonated to do so. Their time was an eternity, yet also a moment, as time broke down here.

Mid Morning
Mid-Equestria, Everfree forest
The Hollows

All of a sudden, the malestrom of dark and light magic faltered, as the dark thunderstorm's intensity suddenly seemed to drop. The demon hordes broke apart in their focus, as a writhing shriek seemed to arise from their collective power.
In Starswirl's mind, he heard the screech as something ripped away the influence Siral had on these powers.
"THEY'RE WEAK! NOW!" Starswirl screamed out, as he poured his own energy into the collective power being unleased from the hollows. Nearby, the focal avatar of Everfree poured his own magic, sucking the energy from the unburnt forest up and spending it on this single sphere attack. The 6 artefacts surged in their catalyst state, and in a matter of moments, the colours coalesced into a white mix that burst apart the storm clouds in a massive shockwave of wind and light.
The screeches of the demons amidst the storm clouds were lost as they were incinerated by the blast, ripped apart and ousted from existence as the white energy dispersed the storm, spreading for miles and miles. Like a massive hurricane wind surging from the forest, the storm was blasted apart as its energy and master source had suddenly been cut off.
As the energy dissipated, the entire forest seemed to sigh in relief, though the glows in the hollows were certainly less bright then they otherwise were before.

1 hour later
The Hollows

Starswirl stared at the ground, as he saw the bright glows from the 6 artefacts sitting on the ground in a hexagonal fashion with a hint of melancholy. He felt no tears, just, emptiness, at what was clearly a sacrifice on Chack's part.
"Whatever Chack did, it cut off Siral. And I sense no other malicious beings of Siral."
"They may be out there still, just not tainted. Chack did one himself, but the other, I don't know."
"It does not matter. Siral is gone, his taint is extinguished."
"Is it? He spread his seeds of evil across Equestria, encouraging the worst of war plans to see them tear each other apart."
Starswirl grimaced as he spoke to Everfree's avatar, the ethereal, vine bodied presence now rather tired after unleashing that energy. He had seen it, felt it, sensed it.
Already he sensed Alicorns preparing for a new conflict, to harness the cosmic level magic at its purest source, the north pole. Whatever happened there, he expected carnage on both sides.
"Then stop them. I cannot, too much of my forest is drained, or burned down. My domain has shrunk."
"Impossible. They hardly listen to me anymore, and now they definitely won't. The only Alicorns I truly can get through to are the two Royal sisters."
There was silence, before Everfree spoke bluntly:
"Then they are our only hope for a lasting peace after this conflict, peace with leadership by level headed ponies at least."
"All this damage, was done by a Wizard, was made worse by a wizard. I as a wizard, should have done more. Maybe, our time is coming to an end."
Starswirl's words were final, as he hung his head at the prospect of what sort of age was coming to an end. Sure there were other wizards and mages of dedicated rank, but none on par with him, or Siral. Perhaps it was for the best, but as he stared at the artefacts and their 6 dimming glows, he surmised with some optimism:
"But in the least, I can leave behind what could heal the world."
"They can be cultivated, harnessed. But it will take time, I will focus all my magic towards these powers you have unlocked."
"In the least, whatever happens before they are ready, I only pray it does not become too severe. And for once, something that is not my fault."
As Starswirl spoke, he fired some of his own magic at the 6 artefacts, as Everfree's own magic engulfed them too. Vines engulfed the 6 items, as a glow from magic feeding through them began to lightly pulse.

Starswirl departed within the hour, but he was silent. A spectre now almost as much as his gone old friend was.
He recalled his old friend of so long ago, before his travels, before he was scarred by that Alicorn, before their spilt, all that occurred and what he became by his planning and experimentation.
But just like the Unicorn he was once, more outgoing, optimistic, Siral was gone. Now the wizard that was Starswirl ventured forth, long term plans laid, uncaring of what may come so long as it didn't interfere.
And it wouldn't, even as what did unfold proved catastrophic in the short term.

By the week's end afterwards, the burnt parts of the Everfree forest still charred black, a few plant roots and stems had begun spouting through he charred areas. Life began to return to the forest.
And in the Hollows, surrounded by the engulfed artefacts and the memory they carried, a tiny white/blue crystal stem began to grow into the tree it would become.

Author's Notes:

Bit of a melancholic ending here, but Siral is done in the story here. He is gone, except for the fragment that remains in the Citadel ruins.
And here we see the genesis of what would become the full fledged elements, as in my story magic is simply magic, but virtues/evils can act as a catalyst for that. In the same way that people can do things better if they're motivated better by something.
Of course, the elements aren't grown overnight, they'll take time. And we have other parts of history yet to arise, including the emergence of Discord, and the chaos of day and night cycles that spurs on his arrival. But that's next chapter, along with the final days of Starswirl with the royal sisters. Because frankly from here, Equestrian society breaks down. [Its Discord, it was going to anyway].