//------------------------------// // 744 - Altar-ed Alicorns // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Sublimation. In chemistry, that word denoted a process whereby an instance of solid matter was heated to the point of taking on a vaporous state – and would likewise return to being a solid when cooled – without liquifying during the transition. In other contexts, it referred to an act of purification or refinement, whereby contaminants were removed. Given that the rite he was about to undergo was religious in nature, rather than chemical, Lex felt confident that its name was in reference to the latter definition. Certainly, the power that Akna had gained – to shift back and forth between her natural form and that of a winter wolf – suggested that. That the legends of her people and Solvei’s spoke of a shared origin abetted her theory that the adlets and the utvalgte had once been the same people, and so the Rite had given her the ability to assume her ancestral form, removing – or rather, allowing her to suspend at will – whatever evolutionary processes had caused the adlets and the winter wolves to differentiate from each other. It was in light of that Lex had theorized that the Rite could potentially turn him into an alicorn. Or, more correctly, that the Rite of Sublimation had the ability to turn anypony into an alicorn...by actualizing the latent potential that they already possessed. That was pure supposition, of course. That the ability to become an alicorn was something that lay dormant within all ponies was an idea that, as far as Lex knew, had never been properly investigated. Certainly, he had never put the requisite time or effort into researching the validity of that theory; any serious inquiry would have not only required the cooperation of the existing alicorns – who had never consented to being experimented on (though that, at least, was something Lex could sympathize with) – but would also have necessitated magic that was far superior to what the physical spellcasting of unicorns was capable of. Of course, the thaumaturgical spellcasting that he’d spent years inventing was perfectly suited for such an inquiry, save for the persistent flaw in recharging it. Even if Celestia or Luna had consented to being objects of study, only being able to make a few modest examinations once per season was grossly insufficient to make any serious headway. Still, that idea had become moot once he’d discovered the Tree of Harmony, whose mere existence radiated enough magic that he could use it to recharge his thought-based magic whenever he wanted...but by then he’d already been cast far into the future, at which point the stagnant state of his homeland had been a far more pressing issue than pursuing some half-baked idea that might not even be true. And yet, in the millennium that he’d been gone, the idea had never been conclusively disproven... Even before the three tribes had come together to establish Equestria, they had never truly been separate. The distribution of food, managing of the weather, and coordinating of the cycle of day and night in accordance with the seasons meant that earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns had regularly interacted. Despite knowing nothing about interpersonal relationships, Lex knew that statistical probability alone meant that some of those interactions would have eventually led to romance, trysting, and subsequently inter-tribal pregnancy. And once old prejudices had been discarded in the wake of Equestria’s founding, such things had doubtlessly become more common. The end result was that, by the time Lex had been born, it had been widely accepted – if not empirically proven – that everypony, regardless whether they were unicorn, earth pony, or pegasus, had the other two tribes somewhere in their family tree. Indeed, while often the cause for jokes about infidelity, the mixing of bloodlines had become ubiquitous enough that it wasn’t unknown – though still far from common – for two parents to beget a child who didn’t match either of their own tribes. Such as how Lex himself been a unicorn born to earth pony parents. But if all ponies carried the genetic data of the other tribes, despite maintaining their own phenotype, then that meant that all ponies were, on some level, a blend of unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony. Which was exactly what the alicorns held themselves to be: the living embodiments of each of the three kinds of ponies. Ergo, an alicorn was simply a pony who had stumbled across some sort of X-factor which had activated the biological information – including the formation of each tribe’s physio-magical pathways – stored within them, causing a transformation that brought forth that latent potential. Everypony, in other words, was an alicorn waiting to ascend. There was also the fact that all known cases of alicorn ascension involved seemingly random ponies suddenly transforming due to wildly-different stimuli. While the specifics of their respective elevations were maddeningly unclear – apparently none of Equestria’s alicorns had been in a public place when they’d transformed – that their circumstances had been different was well-established; that such disparate factors would lead to the same outcome suggested that external circumstances were only of minor importance, and that the salient factor was one common to all of them: that they were ponies. Of course, Lex had never been able to bring himself to fully embrace that idea. At its base, it was little more than a series of conjectures, putting forth explanations that fit with a narrative more than actual evidence. But that didn’t matter now; the Rite of Sublimation was a religious undertaking, and as he’d recently learned, one of the central characteristics of the gods was to reshape reality in accordance to their will. While there were clearly some restrictions on the extent to which they could edit the nature of the universe, they were evidently able to effect not-inconsiderable changes to a single, willing individual. Akna, once again, was proof-of-concept there. Which meant that if the Rite of Sublimation could call upon the Night Mare’s power enough to draw out her connection to her winter wolf ancestors, it could draw out his connection to the earth ponies and pegasi that were doubtless part of his bloodline. He would become an alicorn. That thought kept Lex going as he walked toward the claw-shaped cathedral at the center of the Shrine, despite feeling as though he were on the brink of collapse. He very nearly did collapse when, upon reaching the entrance to the building, his darkvision suddenly winked out, his concentration having wavered enough that he’d neglected to use what little dark magic he had left to sustain it. For a moment he almost put his last remaining dregs of power back toward his eyes, but hesitated. That was the same magic that kept his mind inviolate; if he used it up, he’d be vulnerable to mental intrusion. Of course, most such spells could be fought off through sheer force of will – an area where Lex knew he excelled – but although he only had enough dark magic left to protect his mind only briefly, he couldn’t bring himself to expend that last line of defense so easily. Instead, he took a different approach, calling his horn’s aura to life. The dim glow of the purple shroud – along with the matching purple and green from his eyes, which lit up the way they always did when he used any sort of magic that wasn’t from an item – provided little more light than a candle, but it was enough for him to see the entryway looming before him. Ignoring how the barbed wire around his foreleg twisted in displeasure, he strode into the building. In contrast to its commanding exterior, the inside of the cathedral was far less impressive. Although the light from his eyes and horn illuminated only a little of the room he now stood inside, there were no frescoes or inlaid designs decorating the walls, nor had the floor been draped in finery. Instead, the room was mostly open, lacking furniture or other amenities, though the doorways on his left and right now had actual doors filling them. Still, it was another testament to how austere the Shrine was. And yet the room wasn't completely bare. Opposite the door through which he’d entered was a raised dais, and in the dim light he could see carvings running along its edge, showcasing a motley collection of creatures. Except...as he moved closer to the dais, knowing what he sought was there, Lex could see that they weren’t ponies. Not completely. Although they resembled his kind, all of them were malformed somehow. One pegasus had wings like a mosquito, while an earth pony had a tail that resembled that of a scorpion, and unicorn reared up on avian legs. All were posed as if running, their eyes wide and mouths open...though whether they were charging in anger or fleeing in terror was impossible to determine. His lip curling at the sight, Lex raised his eyes. In the center of the dais was an altar, the raised table equal composed of blackened iron upon which sat a flat surface of polished black stone: the same onyx which decorated the walls and ceiling of cavern which held the Shrine. Looming over it was an ornate ciborium – a freestanding canopy of the same wrought iron – which spread out to cover not just the altar, but the entire dais. But unlike the edge of the raised platform that he now stood upon, the ciborium wasn’t decorated with images of ponies, mutated or otherwise. Instead, each of the four pillars which held it up was carved to resemble the haft of an elongated weapon; looking upward, Lex could see the heads of the weapons had been carved into the baldachin, showing the spiked head of a morning star, a double-sided axe, the tip of a spear...and the curved blade of a scythe. Recognizing the image of Severance, Lex pushed his disdain aside for a moment as he noted an inconsistency between the ciborium and the exterior of the cathedral. The claw that the tower had been built to resemble was covered in thorns rather than barbed wire, suggesting that its architect had been unfamiliar with that type of metalwork; and yet the weapons carved here – representations of the Night Mare’s Umbral Regalia – were all metallic in nature. Was the altar’s covering a later addition? Putting the matter out of his thoughts, Lex instead looked toward the middle of the baldachin. Like the pillars, it was also engraved, showing numerous other martial implements. A dagger could be seen, as could a massive shield, and even a trident. Behind them were other figures, identifiable as creatures rather than weapons, but in the dim light their smaller sizes made them almost impossible to make out. But there was one figure who was larger than all of the others, creature or weapon. Positioned directly in the center of the canopy, every other figure faced away from her, as though afraid to draw her attention. Massive in size, she dominated the underside of the ciborium, and yet while her armor was carved with intricate detail, the rest of her body was indistinct. Even so, the outline of wings, hooves, and a horn made her identity clear, as did the pair of rubies presenting solid red eyes peering down at the altar and the two rows of jagged white quartz set beneath them. Surrounded by her followers, the Night Mare leered downward in effigy, prepared to receive whatever sacrifices were placed on the altar for her. “Magnificent, is it not?” The Keeper’s voice made Lex glance back at the entrance to the large room; the cathedral’s sanctuary, he realized now, though he couldn’t imagine that term being used in any building dedicated to the Night Mare. Sure enough, the floating orb of darkness that cloaked the desiccated skull that was the Keeper was hovering there. “Generations of the faithful have brought trophies of their accomplishments here, placing them upon this very altar and dedicating them to the Dark Tyrant of the Night in recognition that their victories were in Her name.” Momentarily flashing back to when he’d offered the slain body of the green dragon he’d killed outside of Tall Tale to the Night Mare – along with the idol to another deity that he’d found in its hoard – Lex pushed the memory away, focusing instead on the here and now. “I doubt the Night Mare found their offerings nearly as pleasing as the deeds themselves.” A clicking chuckle came from the Keeper, the black orb floating forward. “Indeed. But veneration must still be given. For recognition is the vanguard of power, and as She makes us strong, our acknowledgment of that expands Her might. Thus do their sacrifices cause strength to grow.” Lex knew what response he was supposed to say then. Despite not having been formally trained in the Night Mare’s religion, this part coincided with what Akna had told him about. While not an aspect of the Rite itself, this was still part of the custom that signified its undertaking. Placing his hoof upon the altar, he spoke in a low tone. “For strength to grow, the sacrifice that must be made is weakness.” He felt a rush of magic then, and with a low rumble the altar slid to the side, revealing a passageway that led downward. “Now,” intoned Lex softly. “Let’s begin.” Without further hesitation, he descended into darkness.