Alchemical Empire

by NineOneThree

11: The Becoming

Luna stretched her wings, walking out to Celestia's balcony. Her sister was still there, looking out at the orange and violet flares of sunset fading away.
"I know, you think I should go to bed soon." Celestia turned to smile at her sister. "It's nice to have such a concerned sister, even if you can get just a little bit more worried than you need to be."

Luna rolled her eyes softly. "What's got you staying up so often, sister?" She sat next to the taller Alicorn, smiling back. "And you're one to talk, always making sure I go to bed in the morning."

"Just thinking, sister." Celestia put her wing around her sister with a shrug. "There's been so much going on, after all, and Twilight sent a quick letter about how Template is settling in... and by quick, I mean several pages, because this is Twilight we're talking about." She got Luna to giggle a little at that one. "There are still a lot of things we have to ask her, of course..."

After a little silence, Luna stood. "Well, I have the moon to work on, so I'll leave you to hopefully get to bed before long." She nudged Celestia and smiled, then left the balcony.

---

"You wanted to show me something, your Majesty?"

Noonday Sky sat down at the table across from her Empress, wondering what was up. As Aleph pulled out a deck of cards, she watched. "Are... you doing my tarot reading, your Majesty?"

"Not yours exactly, no." The Equinculus shook her head flatly, a dark indigo magic aura pulling cards out of the deck. That surprised Noonday, but... it made some sense that the Empress would have magic, right? Even if she wasn't built as a Unicorn golem, she could be the exception---she was an Empress, after all.
"I suppose you could say I'm doing a reading for the whole world." She began to turn over the facedown cards, setting them to read right-side-up for her handmaiden. "The Sun, the Moon, Temperance... the Star lies dormant, but it is there nonetheless." The last one she put sideways, but faceup.
Two cards remained; she picked one up, gave another rare and unnerving smile, and slipped it back into the deck. "I'll save this one for later... but this one, what does it mean?" She flipped over the Queen of Coins.

Noonday thought a moment, trying to remember. "Maternal, someone who has a lot and doesn't balk at sharing it, a pony concerned for the welfare of others... why?"

Aleph just kept smiling.

---

Rainbow Dash was surprised; this wasn't supposed to be so hard! She was the fastest flier in Ponyville, probably fastest in Equestria, and yet catching up to the grey mare was getting hard. Template was a lot faster and better at turning quickly than the blue pegasus had expected from a pampered princess, but maybe it was a golem thing. Either way, following a weaving route through the orchard in the last light of dusk was making it difficult to eliminate the lead Template had started with.

Flying just above the treetops, she gritted her teeth. There wasn't enough room to dive down at her now, not in this light anyway. "Template, hold on! Stop running!" Calling to her hadn't worked the last three times, but that wouldn't stop her from trying again.

After another minute or so, she was relieved to see the Equinculus veer off out of the trees and into a wide clearing marked by a dead tree in its center. Putting on a burst of speed, Rainbow Dash landed a few meters in front of Template, who skidded to a shaky trot and stumbled over to lean against the dead treetrunk.

Right behind her, Rainbow Dash panted a little; the other mare was in worse shape, gasping for breath after her all-out sprint. "Template, what's got into you?" It wasn't til she got closer that she could see tear-streaks all down the grey mare's face. "What happened, are you okay? Did somepony say something to hurt you?"

Shaking as she slumped against the tree, Template stammered. "I-I... I'm.. 'm sorry, I'm so sor-sorry... you've all been so kind, and... and..."

"And what, what is it?" Rainbow put a wing around the quivering mare. "Look, I know we don't know each other too well, but any friend of Twi's is a friend of mine. If somepony said something to make you this upset, please tell me who it was. Me'n the others, we'll take care of it, 's kinda... it's what we do, okay?"

Template turned to her, still crying. She could see the others finally catching up to them; nearly everypony from the party had come to see what the ruckus was about, and she shook harder as she saw the other Bearers coming behind Rainbow Dash, the younger colts and fillies coming close to see what was wrong with the newcomer. The wind was picking up, and clouds were rolling in from the east.

"I'm so sorry... no matter how kind you've been to me, or how happy I feel when I'm around you all, I can't put you above my people." Her colors started to dim, her eyes turning flat and dull, her mane greying, her grey body managing to lose the life and character it had. Twilight pushed Rainbow Dash aside, a hard knot twisting in her stomach; she recognized that, and she recognized it all too well. Discord's mind-games had subverted her friends' elements, their very selves, and somehow the same thing was happening to Template. The wind blew harder still, as if the weather were mirroring the turmoil in the ponies' hearts.

"Template, what's going on?!" She gripped the weeping mare by the shoulders, only to recoil in icy terror as inky blackness began to spread over her. Starting at the marks on her flanks, it moved up her back, down her legs and tail, enveloping every part of her. Rarity rushed forward to grasp at her, but yelped in pain as the tarry emanation stung at her hooves.

"Darling, you're..."

As the oily blackness crept up her neck, Template gave the white unicorn a sad little smile. "I let my mane get messed up, didn't I? You arranged it so nicely for me and I couldn't even keep it that way before..."

"What, before what?!" Twilight bit her lip, frantic now. She'd never seen or heard of anything like this!

The blackness covered every part of the grey mare except her eyes; the grey irises began to regain their jade color, but in their centers grew pupils, large and flat, lifeless black. "Before I make the most painful choice in my life."

<Sometimes, Noonday, you take a card like this Queen of Coins, and you turn it on its head.
Just.
Like.
This.>

The winds, having risen to a shrieking gale, all centered around the black-coated Template and for a heartbeat, everything was horrible, deafening silence.
The blackness shattered, exploding outward in a burst of harsh light as the winds howled out from her all at once in horrible, deafening cacophony.

A tall, slim shape stood on ground stripped bare by screaming winds, cowering ponies now a few meters back from it. Its long teal mane and tail rippled and billowed like flags in a breeze that wasn't there, harsh arcs of light flickering through them like lightning. Its coat was dull grey, its eyes pale jade with dead black pupils. It held its wings half-open. "Nightmare Thelema," it said, more to itself than to anyone else, "the architect of paradise, laying the foundations upon the dead."

The six Bearers all stared in abject horror; Rarity tried to speak, but her voice broke and tears stung her eyes.

Template, or Thelema, looked at her; her horn glowed teal, enfolding her forelocks in an aura that carefully arranged them to hang in front of one eye. "Don't cry, Rarity. I fixed it, just like I'll fix everything else."

Comments

[CV12Hornet]

...

That bitch!