Isaac stared at her for a second, utterly confused. The first demon he’d met that wasn’t a twisted, warped reflection of his mind, and… it wanted his help. “With… with what?” he finally worked up the courage to ask, still wondering how he could get out of here. The thing in front of him shuddered, eyes briefly flashing pink before returning to their previous emerald green.
“K-kid… I hear you’re good at killing sinful things. K-k… Kill me! Purify me!” Chrysalis burst out.
Isaac was taken aback. “Purify… you?” he clarified, and the changeling queen shook again.
“Hurry!” she shouted. “Before she… before she makes me… HURRY!” Isaac gulped, unsure how he should proceed. He was no exorcist… Shouldn’t he have a Bible, anyway?
Almost immediately, the familiar cross caught his eye. The Bible was lying innocuously on a nearby crate, looking for all the world as though it had lain there for centuries. “How…” Isaac whispered, unnerved by its sudden appearance. Seized by a sudden idea, he picked up the holy book, and once again flipped to a random page. Corinthians 10:13… perfect! Isaac turned to face the demon pony, who was shaking and calling out a name he didn’t know over and over again, in a fetal position on the floor. Isaac placed his palm on her forehead, feeling the smooth texture of her carapace. She stiffened at his touch, but made no other movements. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to… to Equine,” Isaac started, unsure if he should be changing the words like this. “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the means of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, with what seemed like the effort of a thousand great warriors, Queen Chrysalis sat up. “The means of escape… but how could I…” she stopped, a look of surprise on her face. Her expression slowly shifted to a grin, one to match the Devil’s own, and Isaac stepped back. Even the other bug-ponies slowly started moving away from her, muttering to themselves. “This body… is mine. This mind… is mine! And your emotions… are mine,” the taller creature proclaimed, her horn lighting up green. A pink mist began to seep out of her eyes, and Isaac could have sworn he heard screaming. “No! No! I am Lust, you obey me!” the pink mist screeched. The changelings grinned, and pressed in on the queen, mouths open wide and dripping with saliva. For a moment, Isaac couldn’t see what was happening.
After a moment, the other changelings stepped back, revealing an exhausted Queen Chrysalis. “She’s… gone…” the queen panted. She looked up at Isaac. “Thank… you…” But before she could finish, the door burst open. Guards swarmed around Isaac, pointing spears at the changelings.
“Nopony move!” Shining Armor shouted, armed with his own sword.
Princess Cadance immediately swept Isaac up into a protective hug, glaring fiercely at her changeling counterpart. “I should have known it was you!” Cadance snapped. “Haven’t you done enough? Now you’re foalnapping a small child, who’s already literally been through Tartarus and back! Have you no shame?!” Cadance yelled, and Chrysalis appeared taken aback.
The nearby changelings had been quickly incapacitated by the guards, either with ropes or magical means, and Shining Armor viciously bore down on Queen Chrysalis, who backed away. “It’s time I did something I should’ve done a long time ago, bug,” Shining Armor spat, his voice laced with uncharacteristic venom. Sensing the proper moment, Isaac decided to intervene. He broke free of Cadance’s grip, and ran around Shining to stand protectively in front of Queen Chrysalis.
For a moment, Shining Armor was too shocked to speak. But a second later, he resumed his snarl. “You’ve even mind-controlled him? How despicable can you get?” he furiously accused.
“No!” Isaac cried out. “She needed my help, Shining! She was possessed by Lust, it’s not her fault!” Shining Armor glanced at him with some surprise, and more than a little suspicion.
“Say I believe that. She still foalnapped my wife, ruined our wedding, and mind-controlled me!” Shining burst out. “Why shouldn’t I kill her?” Isaac went wide-eyed, and even Princess Cadance gave her husband a surprised look. But most surprising of all was Chrysalis’ answer.
“Because I’m sorry,” the changeling queen quietly said. “I never meant to do that, any of that. It’s just… I… we’re starving, us changelings. We were going to die soon, and I thought… between your marriage and our entire species… I’m sorry…” Queen Chrysalis trailed off, looking at the floor.
Shining Armor looked lost for words, no longer angry but unsure of quite what to do next. Princess Cadance was looking at Chrysalis with utmost sympathy, and even the guards and changelings had stopped struggling.
Chrysalis gestured widely at the changelings around her. “These are the last changelings alive,” she announced sadly. “The rest… are dead.”
Isaac turned to face Chrysalis. “Did you ever try… asking for help?” he asked her. Queen Chrysalis looked at him as though he’d sprouted a second head.
“Asking? Me, ask for help? They think changelings are equivalent to demons – they’d have killed us without a second thought!” Chrysalis angrily answered, glaring at Princess Cadance. Cadance was openmouthed in surprise, then rushed forward and engulfed her changeling counterpart in a hug. Queen Chrysalis squeaked in surprise, wide-eyed and unsure of what had just happened, and everyone else in the room looked on in utter shock.
“We would never! We would have helped you, I swear it!” Cadance tearfully declared.
“But… how would you have helped me? Would you have given yourself up? To us?” Chrysalis wondered aloud, making a half-hearted motion to pat Cadance on the back and giving a frantic look at Isaac, who shrugged. He had no idea what was going on either.
A few seconds later, Princess Cadance pulled away. “Come with me, Queen Chrysalis,” Cadance joyfully announced. “I have an idea.”
A half hour’s walk later, they were back in the castle, staring at a pulsing, floating crystal in the shape of a heart. “What… is it?” Queen Chrysalis asked. Isaac would have personally asked ‘whose was it’, but he supposed it didn’t matter.
“The Crystal Heart,” Princess Cadance answered proudly. “Powered by the love of every single Crystal Pony in the Empire… and it’s yours to feed off of.”
Queen Chrysalis looked at her in shock. “That’s… you’re just giving it to me? I don’t understand…”
Princess Cadance smiled. “As Princess of Love, my destiny is to spread love wherever I can… and what better way, than to a species that needs it to live?” Chrysalis looked at her suspiciously. "And..." Cadance continued, now looking at the floor. "I felt guilty, after stopping you back at our wedding... I felt like I should have done things differently."
Chrysalis stared at her for a moment more, before taking a hesitant step towards the Heart. To her surprise, Cadance blocked her path with a hoof. “Will our nations be peaceful, if I allow this? Will you no longer foalnap and drain the love of our ponies?” she asked, and Chrysalis immediately nodded.
“I’ll… I’ll return everypony that’s still in the Hive, too. Our nations are no longer enemies,” she declared, and Cadance gave her a joyful grin.
“Then you may feed as much as you wish,” the princess of love announced, and Chrysalis and her crew of changelings ran forward, surrounding the Heart and opening their mouths. A pink energy began to flow out of it and into them, and for a moment all Isaac could hear was satisfied groans, the sound of the famished being given a neverending feast.
“They’re worse than Shiny at dinner,” Cadance muttered to him, and Isaac burst into barely repressed giggles.
Finally, Chrysalis and her changelings left to fulfill their promise, and return the ponies whose lives they had stolen. Princess Cadance watched them go, before turning to Isaac.
“So… still up for the Museum?” she asked, and Isaac eagerly nodded.
“That sounds perfect right now, thank you,” he answered, and Cadance grinned down at him.
The mare at the front desk was pleased to see them return, to say the least. The museum was mostly empty, the last of the customers filing out with tired legs and animated smiles. “Princess! You’re alright!” she gushed as soon as she saw the three of them, Shining Armor having once again tagged along.
“Everything was sorted out nicely,” Cadance replied, and made as if to dig around in her purse again. She was stopped by a sudden movement from the mare.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, princess! You already paid, I didn’t forget,” the mare giggled. She hoofed them three new tickets.
“Say… seeing as this place is mostly empty, how would you like a tour all to yourself?” the mare asked, and Isaac eagerly nodded.
“That sounds lovely,” he answered, and the mare looked down in surprise.
“Are you…” she began, but Cadance cut her off.
“A human, yes,” the princess of love answered. “He’s looking for information on his species, and I thought I would bring him here.”
The mare smiled. “You thought correctly!” she jubilantly replied, and led them through to the atrium.
“Here is the general timeline of humanity,” their tour guide started, pointing to a large mural on the wall depicting ‘the different Ages of Man’. “We have the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Steel Age, the Industrial Age, and the Atomic Age. Mankind started out as a nomadic civilization…”
Isaac listened raptly as she described his kin, and how they had began, long ago, from apes that had lived in the prairies of Africa. None of this fit with what Mom had told him – but then again, she hadn’t been necessarily right. Finally, the mare came to the ‘Atomic Age’.
“This last age of Mankind was marked by the development of what were referred to as ‘atomic weapons’. These extremely destructive devices, according to legend, were powerful enough to blow up whole cities, and make the surrounding areas inhospitable as much as 100 miles away.” The mare paused, a look of uncertainty on her face as she turned to Isaac. “This was… how they destroyed each other. World War III, as it is referred to in their documents, was the most brutal war in this planet’s history, with billions dead in the space of just a few days. Sources point, surprisingly, to water being the cause of the conflict: Some areas of the planet had too little, and those that had enough were simply unwilling to share. And, in an example of what was known as ‘mutually assured destruction’, the entire planet bombed each other to extinction.” Isaac listened, wide-eyed as vague hints of memory flashed to the forefront of his mind. Bombs that could blow up cities? Those sounded familiar. World wars? He felt as though he’d heard of those too. However, he made no comment, and after a short while they went on to the next exhibit.
The next exhibit was full of human artifacts: Books, items and tools, and even a few religious items. Isaac was tempted to see if they would respond to his touch, but reminded himself that they were behind glass and meant to stay that way. The museum mare did invite him to touch a few strange devices that Isaac recognized as phones, though he’d never been allowed to touch one before. He ran his stubby fingers over the smooth case, wondering what it was made of.
A few hours later, it was time to go. Isaac had answered as many questions as he could remember about humanity, and hadn’t been able to answer several more. The mare smiled at him as he left, and Isaac gave a small smile in return. Princess Cadance waved goodbye as two royal guards pulled up a carriage for the three of them, and Shining Armor levitated Isaac into the carriage.
“So, how was it?” Shining asked as they rode through the city.
“It was… great,” Isaac answered, unsure of quite what to say. “Really interesting.”
Cadance chuckled. “Like finding a part of yourself that you didn’t know existed, right?” she asked. Isaac nodded, and she smiled. “I know the feeling. Imagine my surprise when I got here, and found out that I was the princess of an entire hidden empire!” Isaac laughed, glad to find that someone else shared his feelings on discovering his past.
Isaac entered his room, flopping down on the bed and pulling the sheets up without bothering to take off his clothes. Today had been fun, but he was very tired…
Isaac woke up in the Basement once more. Somehow, he was aware he was dreaming this time. He was in the Basement, that much was certain, but everything was… on fire? The walls and floor had spots of lit wood and other fires, and the whole area was suffused with a light gray smoke. He checked the map, written on the ‘ceiling’. “Burning Basement,” Isaac read aloud. That was… new.
“Isaac!” Someone called his name, and Isaac whirled around. What he saw was beyond all comprehension.
Dark brown eyes gazed back at his own baby blues, and a swish of brown hair tied with a red band accompanied the newcomer’s stare. Samson gazed at him in openmouthed shock.
“Isaac?! What the hell are you doing down here?” Samson demanded.
“I… uh… I’m dreaming…” Isaac stammered, taken aback by Samson’s sudden appearance. Isaac had always thought that Samson was just him in a wig and a headband. He could remember the existence of Samson, though come to think of it… for the life of him, he couldn’t remember being Samson. “You’re dreaming? Alright, whatever,” Samson grumbled, clutching his head as though he were in pain.
“Sorry, but… Are you real?” Isaac asked.
Samson gave him a deadpan stare. “Am I real? How ‘bout you, are you real, idiot?” Samson rudely answered. “Never mind that,” the other child hastily added, as Isaac made to answer. “Point is, we haven’t seen you in ages! Did Satan catch up with you, or something? Were you in a really long run?” Samson asked.
“No, I… escaped,” Isaac answered. For a moment, Samson went slack-jawed in astonishment. Then, he picked Isaac up – actually lifted him off the floor – and began shaking him very hard.
“How?!” Samson demanded. “How’d you escape?!”
Isaac tried to answer, but he was being shaken too hard to even breathe, let alone speak. “Put – me – down – “ he managed to choke, and Samson dropped him, waiting impatiently. “I fought Mega Satan, and then my demon form came out into…” Isaac trailed off, unsure if he wanted to tell Samson about Equestria.
Fortunately, Samson seemed preoccupied with other matters. “Wait, wait. Mega Satan? What the shit’s a Mega Satan?” Samson asked. Isaac explained about bombing the Angel Statues, obtaining the Golden Key, and opening the door in the Chest. Samson stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Well, I’ve seen a similar-sounding door in the Dark Room… Anyway, I’ll have to pass this along to the others.” Isaac stared – oh, right. He’d created quite a few characters.
“How many… others… are there?” he asked, and Samson snorted in amusement.
“You should know, you’re the one we all came from. Let’s see, there’s you, me, Cain, Judas, Maggy, Eve, Azazel, Lazarus… oh, and the occasional Lost, though we don’t really see much of them.”
Isaac thought a moment. “Wait, what about the…” Isaac paused. He’d never really come up with a name for the last one. Before he could finish, however, Samson clamped a hand over his mouth.
“Don’t mention him,” Samson hissed. “The absolute last thing we want is him getting word you’ve escaped!”
Isaac raised an eyebrow – what had he missed? The Basement had once again changed, his own characters were now separate personalities, and apparently one of them was somehow hostile. Had some new Rebirth occurred while he was away?
Isaac continued to mull in his thoughts, unaware that Samson had left until the latter returned and was pressing something into his hands. “Here. This is yours,” Samson explained, and Isaac looked down at the object in his hands, staring. The white triquetra glowed slightly in his hands, the yellow points flickering occasionally. “Now…” Samson started, and Isaac glanced up. Samson drew back a fist. “WAKE THE FUCK UP, BITCH!”
And everything went dark.