27 YEARS LATER

Late Morning
20th September, 1003 ANM
New Daeland, Kala'ul island, [40 miles north of New Dae'land's north end]

The island was small, about half a mile by a quarter of a mile, but it was very rugged. Deep in a small ravine, until the coastal winds seemed to whistle an eerie tune as they were funnelled through the cracks.
An opening, like a crater in the middle of the island.
The centre of the island was a small, level area, surrounded by small cliffs in a oval shape. Right in the middle of the clearing, though hidden from a top down view by rock coverings, was a small house.
It was made of brick and mortar, and looked old, like an architecture not seen for hundreds of years in any part of the world. From the chimney, a small plume of smoke came up.
It hadn't taken much effort on Starswirl's part, but he insisted on his little reclusive home in this new world to be old fashioned, for his comfort.
But that didn't stop him from wishing to be up to date.
The small sitting room was piled high with volumes of books, some older then the authors of the most recent books the elderly Wizard had acquired.
Sat with his research books, Starswirl poured over the knowledge that made up much of his free, or almost all his time, ever since he emerged. The Wizard's penchant for learning made this new, more developed world a trove for him.
No more politics to become embroiled in, as he felt his time was done. Now, he indulged in the one thing that progressed without fault, only slowing and speeding, the pursuit of understanding, and the technology and magic that came with it from all corners of the world.
Letting out a yawn, the Wizard tiring easily unless he had urgent business to do, a knock on the cottage door startled him slightly. But then he calmed, remembering what today had on its schedule.
Hoisting himself up, Starswirl staggered slightly as his leg brace took his weight, and the old Unicorn wandered over to the door.
Opening the door, the sea breeze rustled as the Komodo female and Wyvern male stood before him, ruffled by the sea breeze, to the Wizard's amusement.
"Ah, you made it I see. The seas weren't too rough then?"
"Not too much no."
"Well there's no sense standing around out here."

A few minutes later

Sat in the cottage's sitting room, the two visitors sat in armchairs Starswirl summoned to the small table in front of his usual one, the Wizard comfortable as he relaxed with his pipe.
As the black male Wyvern, Varkan, tried one of the sea-weed filled sandwiches, the former's expression scrunching at the odd, salty flavour, the burly female Komodo, Faral leant forwards as she began with the obvious:
"So how is your leg?"
Glancing down at his brace, Starswirl scoffed in irritation as he gestured with his pipe in hoof:
"Ah, well my body had one of its shortcomings, blasted attic stairs. Age comes to all of us in the end. Would you believe I'm only 236 years old? I realize I had many time jumps, but I never aged in those years I missed..."
"Do you miss them?" She asked carefully, her eye ridge arching as Varkan swallowed the sandwich beside her, listening in himself as the Wizard reminisced with mixed feelings:
"I do miss much of it, yes. But, some of it, I could happily live without remembering again."
Shuffling slightly in the armchair, Starswirl stared at the two, the first two beings he met once he returned to the real world, and began:
"So, even though you two are always welcomed here, the only two who know where I live, you never come without news, or to ask a favour..."
Leaning forwards, the Wizard gruffly spoke in blunt terms as he stroked his trimmed, more manageable beard:
"So, what is it this time?"
Reclining in her own chair, shuffling her tail over the arm, Faral began with a positive note:
"Well, seeing as you asked in the letter you sent, Lucius is still fine. His little 'episode' was just a one off event, but he's under constant watch at the facility."
Frowning slightly, Starswirl refilled his pipe after discarding the used weed with his magic into the fireplace, the new pipeweed hovering into the smoking tool as he spoke:
"And you realize I still say recreating a Unicorn from a trace of that deranged tyrant was not going to be without problem? If Sombra was still alive after returning you may have needed to put Lucius down."
"A fact that I am getting tired of hearing..."
Varkan grumbled, the frown on his face evident to all. But Starswirl's face turned sceptical as he then probed further:
"Yet this isn't what bothers you most."
Leaning forwards, Varkan began, his tone as blunt as a boulder yet holding the same impact as he spoke:
"The Tirek incident. The Elements, they've been used again, Princes Twilight Sparkle's doings. And now, she's all over the news, all of them."
Sighing in contemplation, Starswirl couldn't help but let a small bit of admiration lace into his spoken thoughts:
"Yes, she is truly remarkable, especially for a non-born Alicorn."
"She's dangerous."
Varkan's rebuke caught Starswirl offguard slightly, while Faral sat back as she let Varkan make his case. She was his associate, but not his equal. He made the plans with his engineering mindset and intellect, she enforced and supported them with her military history and behaviour.
But the Wizard urged Varkan, and Faral slightly in turn:
"You cannot risk conflict with them."
"Its getting out of hand. There are 4 Alicorns now, maybe 5 if Cadance keeps up relations with her spouse. And I'm not the only one, many nations worldwide have hidden resentment to their power, they just hide it well. And you were the first of us three to see the potential time bomb Discord is, and clearly was with his ill-fated help of Tirek."
Faral's brief speech wasn't news to Starswirl, as the Wizard calmly reassured both of them with his own partial agreement on some of these concerns:
"While I agree about your misgivings over Discord, I can't see the same risks with the others."
Scowling slightly, Varkan leant back, murmuring for all to hear as he voiced his own views of the whole Alicorn situation:
"Yes, they have dominance, their power over the day and night. Holding the world in a lynching noose."
At this mentality, Starswirl recalled the memories of many a news, sight and tales of Alicorns being taken down in the Civil's war's later days, out of fear, competition, or hatred for all that they were and stood for. Many of them by Siral's direct doings, and others by his indirect means.
"Believe me when I say that things could be a lot worse."
Starswirl's words held merit, they heard the general notes of what he'd gone through in the Equestrian Civil War so long ago. For this, Varkan calmed down, as he voiced his plans in their most general of terms:
"I know. That is why I want to make plans, contingencies. Ways to keep them in check without killing them and risking the world."
Sensing the restraint wasn't enough, as Starswirl urged the Wyvern before him, who had grown to be an accomplice, a confidant, albeit one with a questionable morality, to keep that restraint:
"This is a very dangerous path you are contemplating. You mustn't get caught up in a war with their kind, not with how much else you seem to have on your agenda."
"Are you speaking from experience?"
Faral's sudden query made Starswirl pause, as he replied calmly to both of them as he reclined into his armchair. Siral as he once was, so long ago, flashed in his mind, and morphed into what he became, a monster:
"Yes, but not my own. A old friend's..."
"...I don't want to eradicate them. I just want them to know they aren't all-powerful, for the world to see that."
Varkan's words did little to console Starswirl, as the Wizard darkly muttered to them both:
"Believe me, they are not. I saw it for myself far too much."
"Then the world needs to be reminded. Just a demonstration. But, not until the Oceanic region is in a stable state. With the way things are going, treaties, trade deals, alliances, I expect it will be sooner rather then later."
As Varkan finished, Starswirl sighed slightly, nursing his bad leg as Faral looked between the two with interest, and possibly wary concern for the Wyvern. With a submissive remark, the Wizard urged caution one more time:
"I can't stop you, but, whatever you do, don't bring trouble upon yourself that can be avoided."
As Varkan nodded slowly, Faral added from the side with a small, proud smirk on her toothy muzzle:
"Starswirl please, I can keep an eye on him enough to know genocide isn't what he wants."
As the female Komodo's quip earned little alleviation on Starswirl's part, Varkan added reassuringly:
"Why would I? It would just be an eye for an eye, I'd be no better then those who did this to Wyvern-kind, even if Alicorns themselves didn't at first. Celestia killing her didn't help..."
Disregarding the bad history Varkan had with Celestia, Starswirl waved a hoof as he finished with a last, semi-friendly warning, memories of Siral still haunting him as he spoke:
"I know, just, remember that with Alicorns, I've seen that line crossed before."
A tense silence hung over the cottage as the three of them sat there, the fire crackling in the chimney base as Starswirl coughed slightly to break the mood:
"So tell me, to get to a better topic, how have talks with the Changelings gone? I expect that rogue Queen will see there are better ways to feed her people then besieging Equestrian royal weddings."

Later that same day
Mid-Afternoon

The fast boat the pair normally used to reach his island sped away, leaving the Wizard in his self-imposed isolation once again. They always came back whenever he asked or either needed something.
A quiet life. Starswirl felt he had earned that much.
On the wall of his cottage hung 6 artifacts, relics including some which any museum would love to acquire.
A Romane Gladius sword, a Gold and Jade pendant necklace, a Faroench woven scarf, a tuft of Tiger fur, a 1000 year old compass, and a Salaman Katana sword.
But beneath them were charcoal drawings from memory of others he met, the 6 beings that Siral created in his evils, that the Prophecy vaguely warned of.
Greed: Golmov, Wrath: Odi-Viscer, Lust: Iena, Gluttony: Satio, Sloth: Ave-Dol, and Envy: Teal Quirt.
In the end, Starswirl concluded that maybe Pride wasn't a being different from Siral, but Siral himself. And his own pride.
Had it not been his pride in fulfulling his duty, he might have been honest with Siral about him not coming, and in turn, maybe Siral might not have turned when he suffered, when cruelty's cycle was passed on.
Yet beneath them all, there was a small charcoal drawing on a single sheet of parchment, which Starswirl had made when all other traces of him vanished.
A hillside, with him lying on the grass. Beside him, another, younger Wizard, sat beside him, still in the frame, a frozen image drawn from magic enhanced memories of a time long passed.
He sat in his chair, picking up another text, indulging in the knowledge of the new world. He would return to active involvement, but he had earned rest.
He only hoped that his old friend, and the others he had met, were at peace.
Yet from his chair, he couldn't help but give a nervous glance towards Chack's Katana blade, murmuring to himself:
"He wasn't dead when I left that place. I only hope he is at peace."
He watched the crackling flames of the fire, letting them calm his nerves. He would return, but not yet.
Not yet.

Author's Notes:

One last chapter, and then we are done.
I left it off to tail straight into Volume 1: Balance of Power, to anybody reading in order, if they have the time on their hands that is.
The next/last chapter is one that leaves the doors open for Volume 4, the last ever official volume I have planned, and one I have already left the 'seeds' planted for. Safe to say, it involves some things happening amidst Volume 3, but I'll keep it vague in case anybody is reading in order of 0-3 and doesn't want spoilers.
But to this end, Starswirl's story is done, his legacies explained, and the pasts of Celestia and Luna also highlighted.