Isaac gasped in pain as he hobbled over to the wood panel wall. A single heart remaining, the rest demolished by the horrible beasts of The Chest. He had honestly been rather lucky to make it as far as he had, his primary offense being the 99 bombs he'd been granted early on, and escaping with his dad's key. He was now on his last, an unfortunate pill having deprived him of his tool, leaving him dozens of keys with nothing to unlock. The blue map was his only hope- the secret room, it would have bombs, health, maybe even an item that could save him- anything.
He set the bomb down, and backed away as quickly as he could. One loud burst later, he looked up to see the dust clearing from the gap in the chest's wall. He held his breath and stepped in, praying silently that Greed would not greet him. Within, he took the breath and opened his eyes.
Pitch black. Not 'Curse of Darkness' or 'Dark One' black, but pure, 'see nothing at all whatsoever' black. The air was stale, barely even oxygenated. He wasn't able to move around- he was on his side, and surrounded on all others. The exit was gone, and he began to panic. Isaac's breath came shallow and quickly, coughing on the disgusting air, pushing on all sides, trying to find the way out. His hand fell upon his father's key. He concentrated, and activated it. The key and all his items vanished from him.
The room opened. *Light spilled in from over Isaac, nearly blinding him, and refreshing the air. He slowly stood up, rubbing out his eyes, adjusting to the sudden brightness.
"Where...?" he murmured, unused to the sound of words, the way they felt in his ears. The room he was in was... bright. Like the Cathedral, but without the solemn, uneasy atmosphere. This place was cheerful, nice, comforting.
Like home, before things changed.
The boy climbed out of the chest hesitantly, surprised by the warmth of the stone beneath his feet. The sunlight warmed it, not a bonfire or explosion. This place wasn't dusty, moldy, fetid or even dirty - nothing contaminated this new place, and nothing enclosed it. It was just a long room, but a long room with open doors, high ceilings, wide halls- so vast, so large!
Most importantly, nothing was trying to eat, blow up, incinerate, or otherwise maim him. This room was safe. He liked this room.
Isaac moved away from the chest and towards one of the glass mosaics on the wall. Like the Cathedral, light poured in from behind them. Unlike it, the light was warm and comforting, not cold and unforgiving. The mural depicted not a sorrowful child or an angelic cross, but instead, six colorful four-legged creatures surrounding some kind of shrine or statue, inset with gems. They all appeared to be quite happy, but he wasn't sure why. Isaac didn't know what it meant, or what it showed, so he started to wander down the large hall.
More glass art decorated the walls, depicting scenes of these creatures in tragedy and triumph. One showed the figures from before and some kind of gray dragon, and another showed the same dragon surrounded by two vaguely angelic figures. He wasn't sure exactly who and what they triumphed over, but the mosaics still were comforting, somehow empowering. The various statues and things weren't nearly as easy to enjoy. They reminded the child too much of the Angel statues, and Satan's shrine. He avoided their stares and walked to the end of the hall, opening the door to a much larger room. It had an enormous staircase, a massive chandelier, with enough vibrancy and grandeur to give Greed a heart attack. He stood, taken aback by the sheer enormity of the room, before seeing movement at the side of the door.
He ducked to the side, peering at the edge at what might be his first enemy here. It looked to be one of the things from the murals, but wearing golden armor, and grey as opposed to the colors the murals had. It held some kind of spear in the crook of it's foreleg, and stared blankly ahead. Isaac wouldn't have even noticed it had it not looked around when he opened the door. It wasn't actively seeking him out, but it didn't look nonthreatening either. Isaac began to sneak away, keeping an eye on the enemy, backing right into one of the statues.
The statue leaned precariously, and Isaac desperately attempted to prevent what soon became an inevitability. The statue collapsed, scattering stone debris across the floor, and attracting the attention of the creature.* Mortified, Isaac bolted, running as fast as his legs would carry him, ignoring the protests of the creature, all the way to the opposite door. He burst through, startling two more of the enemies, and enticing them to pursue him in his blind panic-rush away from the place.
He could barely pay attention to his surroundings as he fled, let alone see them through the tears streaming from his face. He wasn't attempting to attack the creatures, he was just scared. More so than he'd been in a very long time. For once, he didn't know where he was, what he was facing. He had no point of reference. It may be brighter, but he was still in the dark.
The frightened child ran, evading his pursuers by sheer luck of the twists and turns of... wherever he was. It wasn't until he ran right into a solid wall did he stop and turn around to face them, eyes bleary with tears.
"Got you now!" one said in a deeply masculine voice, spear lowered at the boy.
"Go away!" Isaac croaked, voice weak and strained. "Please, just..." he wiped his eyes clear, looking at them pleadingly. "Go away."
Another placed his foreleg across the aggressive one, who withdrew his spear. "Are you a child?"
"I..." Isaac mumbled. He was suddenly caught by the enormity surrounding him. He was outside. Truly, completely, actually outside. He could see the sun. Not a card, the real, warming, existent sun. Clouds. Sky. Trees. Open air. Endlessness, without bounds.
It was too much. All too much.
Isaac collapsed in a faint.
*Celestia and Luna bickered back and forth over the sleeping form on the bed.
"We have no idea what it is capable of!" Luna pointed out to her sister, gesturing to the form exasperatedly. "It evaded the guards and managed to get into the castle undetected, who know's what it is here to do?"
"It is a child, sister," The Sun Princess replied calmly, giving a cursory glance at the slumbering creature. "It was frightened. It didn't know where it was or what was happening, it simply fled. Fainted."
"Have you not considered that such an innocent appearance hides a beast within?" Retorted the younger alicorn. "It may be deceiving us to gain our trust?"
"And you would condemn it when that may not be the case?" Celestia asked.
Luna faltered, but still ventured darkly, "If it means the safety of our subjects, our ponies, then it may be necessary."
Celestia's face took on a grim expression. "I know. But we will not harm a child without due cause."
Luna smirked. "I don't suppose the property damage qualifies?"
Both shared a short bout of laughter at the slight joke, stopping when they heard the cover's rustle. The creature child was stirring from it's slumber.
"Is it awake?"
"It better be prepared to talk."
"Hush, that's rude..."
Isaac heard these voices as he drew closer to consciousness. He vaguely remembered being carried somewhere, and voices arguing about something indistinct. He recognized one of those voices as the one inquiring about his sleeping. He considered pretending to sleep longer while he waited for the source of the voices but knew it would be a futile effort. So he opened his eyes.
And found a white horse's right in his face. He yelped, startling both of them, as he scrambled off the bed and away from the... the thing. The White horse. Wings. Magic coming out of it's head. Brightness that burned his mind.
The Angel. The one from the mural. Coming to take him back to The Chest. To his fate. He made to run again, but found the doors guarded by the armored creatures from before.
"S-stay away from me!" Isaac yelled, his voice hurting his own throat. "I don't want to go back!"
The Angel started to move toward him, the four legs making horrible, horrible clicking against the floor, bone on rock. "We aren't going to-"
Isaac backed away from her, flinching. "No! Go away!"
The Angel, amazingly, stopped it's advance, but still did not retreat. It faked a concerned tone, and asked "What's wrong?"
"You! You won't take me back there!" Isaac began to cry, but still restrained himself from directing the tears at the creatures. Why did they not attack him? Why did they not take him away already?
"Back where?" Another voice asked.
He looked up cautiously, before flinching away from the new face. Another Angel, in blue, but like the other. Four legs, a muzzle, large wings. "You know where!"
A moment of tense silence. The first Angel said, "We won't take you anywhere."
Isaac would not fall for this lie. He was no fool! "I don't believe you!"
"If we wanted to take you anywhere, what would be stopping us?" The second angel asked. "Why would we have not done so already?"
"You... you..." The child was stumped. "You just..."
He saw the first draw near again, lowering to his height and he backed up into a corner, hugging the window drapes tightly. "We won't hurt you. Why don't we just... talk?"
Isaac wiped his eyes and looked up and down the angel. The hair flowed like a pastel four-color flag, and she lacked a halo. They didn't seem like any angel's he'd read about, nor like the ones he'd fought, but still... he mumbled, "W-why should I believe you?"
"We had plenty of opportunity to get rid of you while you were unconscious, and yet we did no such thing." The second angel shot a quick glare at the first. "What point would there be in harming you now?"
The second angel's hair was like the stars, something he had not seen in so long. She looked angry, but not with him. Isaac waited a moment, considering, before slowly nodding his head.