//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: Revelations 
// Story: The Unbinding 
// by awesomesauce4 
//------------------------------//

	By now, Luna had become used to the constant turmoil of her nightly life. Isaac, of course, was awake only during the latter part of the day and early part of the night, meaning he was equally taken care of by her and her sister. He was, as usual, a very obedient and self-reliant child, and the least demanding of the four who had shown up so far. 

Samson, too, was easy to deal with once Luna had learned how. All he really needed was a space where he could break things and commit violence all day long, and he’d be out of the way. This also gave the royal guards some excellent opportunities to practice, and Samson was actually beginning to compliment them on their fighting techniques.

Cain was very quiet, never asking nor wanting for anything. He could often be found walking – in the palace, in the gardens, everywhere he could go. Lazarus walked with him, either unable or unwilling to leave Cain’s side for long. A guard had been assigned to them when they took off as such, and though the guard often complained of just how far Cain could walk, Cain himself never said anything. It reminded Luna of the original story of Cain, and his punishment: “A fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be.” The boy was certainly talkative enough, when pressed, and Luna had quickly discovered that Cain was very good at guessing games. 

Lazarus, on the other hoof, was about as quiet and unobtrusive as wallpaper, and almost never spoke. Samson’s warning about Lazarus’ unlucky status rang true, however – the morning after they arrived, Cain had gone off to examine a trophy, and Lazarus had been too distracted to follow. Just a few seconds later, there had been the sound of a crash, and Cain had looked back to find Lazarus buried under a nearby stack of plates and cups a mare had been carrying. Though Lazarus hadn’t been too badly injured, the mare had apologized endlessly for the incident, as well as to the Princesses for the broken china. Princess Celestia had calmly dismissed her apologies, claiming that it had clearly been an accident – but both Princesses knew better. 

Isaac had woken up later that day, still sleepy-eyed as he trudged into the dining hall for lunch. Princess Celestia had asked him what his dreams had been about, as Luna had been strangely unable to enter. Isaac had merely shrugged, and replied “Eden is coming.” That had been several hours ago – now it was two hours after sunset, the moon slowly making its way towards its apex, and the Chest had still not opened. Princess Luna waited outside the barred room where the golden box was kept, having forwarded all appointments on her schedule – for this was something she had to see. Eden was one of the two ‘mystery’ characters they knew of so far – nobody had any idea what they were like, and Isaac seemed unable to put it into words. One of the few things that he had told them was that Eden was neither a male nor a female – they simply were. This greatly confused Luna, but she decided to reserve judgement. 

Finally, there was the sound of the box creaking open. Luna whipped around so fast she was sure she’d snapped her own neck for a moment, before realizing she had merely given herself whiplash. Grumbling with pain and casting a quick healing spell, she approached the door. 

“Hello?” she called out. There was no response. “State your name, whoever is in there,” she demanded after a few more moments of silence. 

Hesitantly, cautiously, Luna looked through the small window at eye level and gazed into the cell. Immediately, she withdrew, shocked – Eden was there, their glowing white eyes gazing right back at her. 

“Eden?” she asked. 

The child was once again silent, and there was a flicker as their hairstyle changed to a pointed spike, sitting atop their head like a rather comical interpretation of a unicorn horn. Unsure of what this meant, Princess Luna tried again. 

“Eden? Is that you?” she asked. Slowly, almost so slowly she thought she was imagining things, Eden nodded. 

It had taken another hour for Luna to convince Eden to come with her, and in the end she only succeeded by the simple expedient of levitating Eden onto her back. Throughout the whole procedure, Eden was as silent as the grave, which was an unnerving experience for Luna. Finally, she arrived back in the throne room, where Cain and Lazarus had been reading a book together under the watchful eye of a guard. 

"How goes it?” Luna inquired as the guard stood up and bowed to her. 

“No problems, your Highness,” the guard answered, and Luna nodded. 

“Eden has arrived,” she announced to the two other children, who were still engrossed in their book. 

Cain barely reacted, but Lazarus looked up. “Eden?” he asked the snow-haired child. 

“Lazarus,” Eden answered, Luna nearly dropping them in surprise. Eden’s voice was multi-pitched and many-layered, as if hundreds of slightly different voices were speaking at the same time. Luna could not tell whether Eden was male or female, as the voices seemed to be half of each. Lazarus smiled up at Eden, and Luna gently set the new child on the ground, his close-cropped buzz cut reflecting the moonlight. 

“Do you have it, Eden?” Lazarus asked. 

Eden nodded. “Just like you asked,” they answered, and seemingly from nowhere produced a white-and-blue triquetra. 

Luna gazed openmouthed at the new item – surely this couldn't be what she had been looking for, all those years. The Soul was an insanely powerful artifact, perhaps the most so out of the three legendary triquetras that even Luna had only heard stories about. Perhaps this, like so many Items before it, was merely a fabrication? She had briefly examined the Mind after Isaac had given it to her, only to find that it did not seem to work for her - whatever powers this version had, it had been meant for Isaac alone. It could not be the true Mind, then - that artifact granted its capabilities to all who attempted to wield it. This, then, could not be the actual Soul, either - merely a Basement replica.

“So, that’s two out of three,” Cain asserted, Lazarus meekly nodding. 

“Is the other one…” he began, and Cain nodded. 

“With any luck, one of the others will manage to steal it from him. Anyway, let’s go wake up Isaac, he’ll want to know about Eden,” Cain declared, standing up. 

Without waiting for the other two, Eden immediately set off in the direction of Isaac’s quarters, Luna following close behind. As they went up the stairs, Luna noticed the peculiarity of Eden’s step: They only ever moved in straight lines, usually taking the shortest possible route to his destination. The child didn't even seem to notice as their shoulder-length bangs passed over their eyes, the glowing circles they casted ont the floor occasionally interrupted by the shadow of a stray hair. Cain, on the other hand, preferred to stop by windows, decorations and ornaments as often as possible, with the air of someone who was trying to delay their arrival as long as possible. Lazarus, of course, always followed right behind Cain. 

Upon entering Isaac’s room, Luna noticed that Samson’s bed was untouched, indicating that Samson was out and about. Ordinarily, Luna would be worried about this – anything that crossed Samson’s path was liable to get destroyed. However, she had more pressing concerns tonight. Isaac was asleep in his own bed, a look of tranquility on his face as his chest gently rose and fell. Undeterred, Cain gestured to Lazarus, who hesitantly stepped toward Isaac – and away from Cain. Almost immediately, there was a crash, and the window directly over Isaac’s head burst inward as Luna let out a shocked cry. 

Isaac awoke to find a wall of pink fur in front of him. “Wha – mpfrgrmph!” he exclaimed in surprise, causing the odd thing covering his face to shiver and giggle. 

“Haha, that tickles!” Pinkie exclaimed, rolling off of him and gazing into his eyes with her own baby blues. This finally spurred Princess Luna back into action. 

“Pinkie Pie, what art thou – what are you doing here?” the lunar alicorn spluttered, taken aback by the sudden appearance of the party pony. 

Pinkie jumped off the bed and cantered over to Lazarus. “I was checking my party caches in Canterlot when I had the oddest feeling! It was like a twitchy-tail from the future, so I went over to where my left eyebrow was pointing and suddenly I realized that I was the twitchy-tail! So I fell over, and ended up here, and sorry about your window, Isaac!” the pink earth pony announced all in one breath. 

After taking a moment to process this, Isaac sighed. “That’s okay. Why are all of you here?” he asked, looking around at the large amount of spectators to this unusual scene. When his eyes fell upon Eden’s, Isaac’s mouth fell open, and the two stared at each other, Eden’s serene smile contrasting with Isaac’s shocked expression. Without so much as missing a beat, Pinkie gently placed a chocolate chip cookie in Isaac’s mouth and closed it for him, and Isaac stared cross-eyed at the treat before mentally giving up and munching on it. 

“As you can see, Eden has arrived,” Cain announced dryly from the corner. 

Pinkie giggled at Isaac’s confused expression as he ate the cookie, then turned over to Lazarus. “Wow, you feel really unlucky! And I don’t mean bad-day-at-the-spa unlucky, I mean twitchy-tail, blinky-eye, full-body-shudder super duper unlucky!” she exclaimed. Lazarus glumly nodded, sniffling slightly. Pinkie stared down at him for a moment, before she clicked her front hooves together, a lightbulb going off over her head. “Gimme onnneee sec…” Pinkie trailed off, digging through her mane. After a second or two of shifting around, her hoof extending farther into her hair than should be possible, she pulled out a four-leaf clover. “This is my super-lucky clover!” she announced, Lazarus gazing up at it with a notably hungry expression on his face. 

Cain stared at it apprehensively. “That does feel pretty lucky…” he quietly muttered, and Luna looked over at him in surprise. Cain could tell how lucky things were? Interesting, she thought. Without any further ado, Pinkie pressed the clover into Lazarus’ hands, and stared at him expectantly. Lazarus looked around at the group, who were all watching him as though a bomb might go off, and squared his shoulders. He stepped away from the rest of the group, moving over to the opposite corner of the room from Cain and Pinkie. Isaac edged away from Lazarus worriedly – he knew well the dangers of Lazarus being alone. Princess Luna gazed at Lazarus, still very confused by the sudden turn of events and fully ready to shield the entire group should something happen. 

It was a solid minute before Lazarus opened his eyes, and looked around in confusion. 

“Nothing… nothing happened?” he wondered out loud. 

Pinkie nodded rapidly, and Lazarus broke into a wide grin, one that finally reached his eyes. Immediately, he rushed over and hugged Pinkie, who appeared startled but quickly recovered. 

“Thank you!” Lazarus cried aloud, and Pinkie smiled down at him. 

“Now stop all those sad feelings. Go be happy!” she ordered, and Lazarus eagerly nodded. 

Giggling, Pinkie pranced out the window, and Luna started forward – Isaac’s room was several stories off the ground. Rushing to the window, she spied Pinkie only a few feet below, holding on to a single balloon and gently floating down to the ground. Pinkie looked up at Luna and saluted, and Luna chuckled as she closed the window - strangely, Pinkie had been the least strange encounter she'd had tonight. 

“So… If that is all, I think now would be a good time to go to bed,” she informed the four children. Isaac chuckled, and pulled the covers back over himself, and Luna smiled at him. 

“Ah ah,” she chided. “Someone has to brush their teeth again after that cookie.” 

Isaac grumbled, but did as he was told, heading over to the bathroom. “The rest of you may follow me,” Luna called to the others. 

“I think… I think I’ll pass,” Cain objected, his gaze downcast. He turned to Lazarus. “Mind if I walk around by myself for a while?” he asked, and Lazarus shook his head, gaze still wide-eyed and wondrous. 

Without so much as a parting good-bye, Cain left the room, and Luna immediately signaled a guard stationed at the door to follow him. Eden, who had not moved during this whole time, watched him go with an expression that almost belied sadness. Somewhat dismayed, Luna led the remaining two children to their room, Lazarus nearly bumping into the door on his way out. 

“I can’t believe it,” Lazarus mumbled as Luna tucked him into bed. “No more having to worry about being around others, no more having to follow Cain around…” he trailed off as Luna planted a kiss on his forehead. 

“Why don’t you take a day to enjoy yourself tomorrow?” she suggested. Lazarus thought about this a while, and nodded, a growing smile on his face. 

“I think… I think I’d like that,” he answered, and Luna chuckled quietly. 

She went to turn to Eden, who was gazing at her with the ghost of a smile on their face. “Eden, would you like to go to bed?” she asked, to no response. After a moment of staring, Eden climbed into a nearby bed and pulled the covers up to their spiky, pointed hair before leaning back and staring at the ceiling, their glowing white eyes slightly illuminating the ceiling. Tugging at her collar, Luna made to leave. As she stepped out the door, she caught Eden staring at her. Luna turned around uncertainly, wondering what they wanted. 

“We are all pure in the end,” Eden whispered, smiling at her. 

Without another word, Luna fled the room.





Samson wandered around what had come to be known as the ‘dark’ part of Canterlot. Here, shady deals were made in darkened alleyways, and black-magic artifacts could be bought and sold if you knew the right ponies. Samson didn’t know the right ponies, but that didn’t stop him from beating the everlasting shit out of those he came across. Any threats of retaliation were usually silenced when Samson threatened to spill just what they had been doing, and it wasn’t like many ponies had the guts to even seek revenge against Samson anyway – the boy was simply too strong for his size. In addition, Samson had discovered something unusual: He could physically break magic, severing the connection between a unicorn’s spell and their horn simply by ripping the trail of magic apart with his hands. Samson didn’t really know how he accomplished this, but wasn’t about to stop and ask questions: He was looking for something, and any tools he gained along the way were simply boons to find the thing faster. Samson stiffened in surprise as he spotted another Child making their way through the streets, and immediately drew them over. 

“HEY!” Samson shouted, causing the child to look up in surprise. 

Rushing over, Samson was about ready to tackle the kid to the ground when something stopped him: Cain was staring at him, one eyebrow raised in the Wanderer’s unusual expression of surprise. 

“Wha – where the hell’s Lazarus?!” Samson demanded of his luckier counterpart. 

Cain shrugged. “He got one hell of a Luck Up from some pink pony – whatever it was, he can stand being on his own now. I decided to take a walk, and think about… things,” Cain finished. 

Now feeling significantly less hostile, Samson crossed the distance to Cain. “What things?” Samson asked. Samson often thought he knew how Cain felt: Cursed to be alone forever, to wander the Earth and never gain friends. He was Isaac's luck, but also Isaac's loneliness. Samson’s own rude attitude created much the same effect, though he didn’t have Cain’s insane fortune – no, what kept Samson going was rage, pure and simple. He knew Cain would often take long walks, ruminating to himself silently – but even Samson didn’t know precisely what Cain thought about. Cain sighed, and turned his gaze up to the stars. 

“Samson… we have a new Mom. She’s the best mother ever. But what about when she finds out who we really are?” he wondered. 

Samson stiffened. Ah, hell. This was something he preferred not to think about. “Look, she’ll probably be fine with it. She’s used to us being weird… right?” Samson trailed off. 

Cain glanced over at him glumly. “Weird like this?” Samson had no reply, but Cain was on a roll. “And what about when the rest of us show up? What happens then? Isaac doesn’t know, because he’s the only one who wasn’t made aware of who we really are. We all made sure of that,” Cain muttered. 

Samson snorted in amusement. “He might be the dominant personality… but damn if we didn’t make him stupid. Sometimes I think we should just tell him, and the ponies. Get it over with, you know?” Samson wondered, and Cain looked at him. 

“Heh. Maybe you’re onto something. What’s hiding it gonna do for us?” Cain ventured.

Samson shrugged. “Hey, you’re the lucky one. You’ll do what’s right, or whatever.” 

Cain snorted. “Anyway, what’re you out here for?” Cain asked. 

Samson looked around, checking for any listeners, before leaning a bit closer to Cain. “I’m planning to go back in and steal it myself. We’re taking too long as it is, and with all the food and training I’ve gotten, I think I can take him,” Samson whispered. 

Cain stared at him, an alarmed look crossing the Wanderer’s face. “You sure, Samson? You know who we’re dealing with – he’s going to be good and properly pissed if he figures out what we’re doing. I dunno how we’ve even made it this far…” Cain wondered aloud. 

Samson grinned. “I guess you could say we’ve… gotten lucky.” 

Cain glared at him, slugging Samson in the shoulder. Samson laughed. 

“Anyway, I’ve been trying to find something that can help me get it without being detected. Like, an invisibility cloak or something. No such luck,” Samson muttered, and Cain glanced up at the moon before shrugging. 

“Well, I’ve got time. Why don’t we give it a shot together?” he asked, and Samson shrugged amicably. The two children wandered off into the night, laughing and talking.





Deep down, below layers and layers of ever-shifting landscapes and horrifying monsters, a single child sat, alone in his lair. It had been a long time since he’d seen a challenger, and he’d begun hearing strange rumors. Rumors that the Hero, Wanderer, Garden, and worst of all, the Sacrifice had disappeared entirely. 

"...בקרוב..."