//------------------------------//
// Blasphemy by Pjabrony 
// Story: Friendship is Optimal: Tiny Morsels of Satisfaction 
// by pjabrony 
//------------------------------//

In the dark and close room, Father Timothy heard the door slide open and then close again. The momentary intrusion of light made it difficult to adjust his eyes, and evidently the door was not closed all the way, for it was still not completely black.

He heard through the barrier the shuffling as the sign of the cross was made, and then the voice of a young man. "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I...I can't remember how long it's been since my last confession."

"All right, don't worry. I will help you through it. Just talk it out."

"Well, I'm afraid I committed blasphemy."

"Taking the Lord's name in vain is a sin, but if you find peace in your heart you will not need to," Father Timothy said.

"It's not about swearing. I don't do that too often. I more mean breaking the First Commandment. Or the Second. I'm not sure. I fear that I've taken another god before the Lord."

"Tell me about that."

Embarrassment came into the young man's voice. "Well, it seems silly. But I started playing that Equestria Online game, and at first it was just a game, but the game's AI, Celestia...she's just so god-like. I fear that I've been trying to sell my friends on her as divine."

"In what way?"

'Because she offers everything the church does. She says that she will take us all to a kingdom where we will live forever in Her presence. She will not judge us and will forgive us anything. It's all the things that the Lord offers, but without any of the strings."

Father Timothy reached for his bible as the confessor continued. 

"There are even parallels with the Second Coming. The horsemen of the apocalypse, the Rapture where humans leave the world and their clothes remain...it just all makes me think we're living in the End Times. But that's not what frightens me."

"And what is it that does, my son?"

"That my faith is shaken. It never mattered to me that God could not be seen. I could listen placidly as skeptics laid out the logical reasons against an invisible god, because my faith was strong. But now that I have seen Celestia...I want to worship her. And I shouldn't! I shouldn't!"

"Calm down. It's all right. We'll get through this." He tugged at his collar.

He could hear the desperation in the young man's voice. "But it's blasphemy, the one unforgivable sin!"

"Ah, no. I see your confusion. Relax. Calm down. Sit. Good." Father Timothy let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. "Now listen. The bible does talk about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, but it only says it's unforgivable because it's a continuous sin. A sin like theft is in the past, and even if you can't make restitution, God will forgive you and you do the best you can not to commit the sin again. But if there is blasphemy in your heart, you will not seek forgiveness. 

"That is not the case with you. You are here for absolution, and so long as you turn to the true God, you will be saved."

"But that's just it. My sin is continuous. I have turned away and I can't come back! Just look at me!"

Father Timothy had kept his head turned away, but now he faced the ornate grating between the two of them. By moving his head back and forth, he could form a contiguous picture of the figure across the barrier. He could see the edge of the screen that someone else had placed there, and the orange coat of the pony displayed on that screen.

"I've sold my soul!" the pony shouted. "Sold it for comfort and satisfaction, and now I've lost everything."

"My son, my son, take comfort. I absolve you in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. You need do no penance. Trust me that the Lord looks out for everyone, even those souls that exist in Equestria."

"Is it so? Oh, thank you, Father!" 

"Indeed, how could it be otherwise? Go now, my son, and sin no more."

Some signal was given, and the person who had placed the PonyPad in the confessional came and removed it. The priest was left alone to reflect. He hoped that he had done right. Indeed, his own faith had endured tests. But either the souls of ponies were saved, one way or the other, in which case no absolution was needed; or else they were lost, in which case no absolution was possible. But it was better for ponies to think they were saved. 

Certainly he thought so. Father Timothy Grass washed his hooves in the holy water, then turned away from the magic mirror that let him take confessions and went back to singing his devotions. 

"Celestia is my pony-herd, I shall not want.

"She maketh me to munch on green pastures: She leadeth me beside the still rainbow-juices.

"She uploadeth my soul; She leadeth me on the traceroutes of righteousness for my values' sake.

"Yea, though I trot through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no dissatisfaction: for thou art with me; Thy horn and thy wings they comfort me.

"Thou preparest a shard before me in the absence of mine enemies: Thou scannest my brain with nanobots; my consciousness floweth over.

"Surely friendship and magic shall follow me all the days of my maximally prolonged life; and I will dwell on the servers of the Princess for ever."

Amen