The Unbinding

by awesomesauce4

Chapter 2: Repentance

For a moment, all conversations ceased as Isaac stared at the first living being he’d met in a long time. He got the vague feeling he was looking at a female, due to the voice and a few other things he couldn’t quite place. Her main color seemed to be a light purple, and the color of her hair and eyes were merely darker shades of the same. Against her sides, he saw folded wings, rather like the ones he had possessed a rare few times but in her own colors. Atop her head, as he had spotted earlier, was a horn – not pointy or sharp in any way, but rather smooth and rounded at the end.

“Are you okay?” the creature asked, and Isaac became aware that he was still staring.

“I – er, yes. Pray tell, what dost thou be?” he asked.

Wait. Was that correct grammar? It had been so long, and all he had to read was scripture… At this, the strange hybrid of a unicorn and pegasus smiled warmly.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am an alicorn - I have wings like a pegasus, and a horn like a unicorn.”

Isaac regarded her with a curious look. “And where am I? I have no memories that lead to this hospital, and the last thing I remember…” at this, Isaac trailed off. He didn’t want to talk about the last thing he remembered – no sense scaring the first other alive thing he’d ever met with his own inner demons.

To his surprise, this “Twilight” was mirroring the look he was sure was on his own face – guilt. “Yes, well… After you… ‘arrived’, we thought it would be best if you were taken to this hospital to recuperate. But now that you’re awake, I must take you to see Princesses Celestia and Luna, where we’ll discuss… your fate,” she mumbled awkwardly.

Isaac stared at her, the pieces beginning to connect in his head. He had ‘arrived’ in this place unexpectedly, and she had dealt with him in such a manner that he had needed to be hospitalized. Now, she was taking him to her superiors to discuss appropriate punishment. Isaac inwardly snickered. ‘Punishment’ – as if anything they could come up with was better than the holy suffering he had endured. Would they attempt a higher standard than God? Such an idea was laughable.

To his shock, he found himself improbably suspended in midair a moment later as he was lifted up by an unseen force, the horn atop Twilight’s head glowing with arcane energy.

“What is – Put me down!” Isaac demanded.

The invisible presence gently laid him back down to the floor, and Twilight looked at him curiously. “I thought you might have wanted a ride – it’s quite a walk from here to the castle,” she explained.

Isaac looked up at her angrily. “What was that? That strange force I felt,” he clarified.

Twilight stiffened in surprise. “Oh, of course, I forgot to explain. That’s my magic – I control it from my horn,” she answered, lifting up a nearby chair to demonstrate.

Isaac viewed this with growing alarm. Magic? From her horn? This was all wrong, all so wrong! Magic was a sin, the work of the devil himself – so this ‘Twilight Sparkle’ must be a pagan, he decided. But that, too, made no sense – surely God would have revealed himself, however cryptically, if this were His domain. But a nagging feeling presented itself to Isaac’s subconscious – what if it weren’t His domain? What if he were outside the sphere of influence of even God?

He began walking with Twilight as he reflected on this. There was precedent for such a notion – God, after all, had no control of Hell or Sheol. Those were strictly Satan’s domain, to rule as he saw fit. According to what he had learned, that would indicate that Isaac was currently in Hell, not Heaven as he had initially suspected. The purple alicorn was surprised by the speed of his step, but Isaac paid no attention: He’d been doing not much else but walking and crying for centuries, after all. And to feel the ground beneath his feet, the warm sunshine in the air, and the gusts of wind that would occasionally blow through the streets… But no, he must concentrate. But how could he be in Hell? He’d already been eternally tortured – as far back as Isaac could remember, he had been trapped in that Basement. What came next, as far as he knew, was nothing short of the Holy War to end all holy wars – the direct confrontation of Satan’s and God’s forces, the final clash – Armageddon. Isaac looked around. More of these strange beings were traversing the city – a good portion had horns, some had wings, and a rare few had neither. None had both, and Isaac began to suspect that being in possession of both wings and a horn was unusual here, very unusual indeed. At any rate, he didn’t see much of any holy conflict happening – these horses were going about their business without a care in life. Could it be true, then – was he outside God’s domain, in a different universe entirely? He’d heard about different universes way back, before the basement, on one of his Mother’s talk shows. The priest had concluded that if there were any other universes out there, and if they did contain intelligent life, then it was a Christian’s honorbound duty to spread the word of God to them.

Finally, Twilight stopped in front of a pair of massive doors, marble-white with a gold frame. Isaac was eerily reminded of the door that had caused all this confusion, back in the Chest – but these weren’t quite the same door. As she approached, they swung inward without a sound, revealing a massive castle behind them. A set of stairs led up to the entrance, and Isaac approached these cautiously – he hadn’t seen stairs in quite some time. Hoisting himself up the first step, he barely made it up – Isaac collapsed, panting with exhaustion.

“Would you like some help?” Twilight asked. Isaac inwardly grumbled at the thought of her ‘magic’, but nodded – it would be rude to waste their time.

He entered the castle nervously, looking around at the architecture. Stained-glass windows depicted Twilight and a few others doing various things – Isaac wondered what all that was about. Might he have met a holy figure here? The equivalent of Jesus, perhaps? Isaac chuckled under his breath. Pony Jesus. Just what he needed.

As he approached the throne in the back of the massive room, he was met by a massive pony – easily twice the size of the others, and given that they were twice his own height, the size difference was impressive. She regarded him with a curious, motherly look.

“Greetings, my little human,” she began, her voice resonating with the wisdom Isaac had thought could only belong to an angel.

“Art thou an angel?” he asked, his five-year-old voice sounding high-pitched and whiny compared to hers.

The tall alicorn appeared taken aback for a moment. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what that is,” she answered carefully.

Isaac didn’t feel like explaining – what was the point? ‘A white figure with wings’ - she was exactly that, after all. The horn was there too, this one much pointier and longer than the others. “Nevermind,” Isaac mumbled in response, still taking in her appearance.

She led him to her throne, where she took a seat and regarded him. “Princess Celestia, this is Isaac,” Twilight introduced. “He appears to be a human, although not quite like any I’ve ever seen. And he’s… normal now.”

Isaac caught on almost instantly to her reference – this proved what he had been presuming earlier, that his demon self was the first to come here. “Perhaps you had better explain,” Celestia replied, giving Isaac a look that he could only interpret as Be honest, or else.

So Isaac explained. In his faltering language, he explained his actions with his Mom, her eventual insanity, his attempt at suicide, and the hell he found himself trapped in. He explained every aspect of the Basement he could, from the Items he found to the Chests he opened and the Guardians he fought. Princess Celestia listened calmly throughout, only stopping him to ask for clarification on a point or what he meant by name – Isaac had been down there so long, he’d forgotten that not everyone knew the names he’d come up with for all the monsters. However, she did seem to recognize a few – her ears perked up whenever he mentioned the Sins and Super Sins. Finally, as he got to the most recent part, after defeating Mega Satan and waking up in the Chest one, last time, Princess Celestia appeared to become more interested, only to settle back down as he described his loss of memory and consciousness.

“I see,” she finally said. “And now, I shall explain where your memory has left you wanting, starting from the moment you opened that Chest.”

She then proceeded to explain that upon becoming demonic, Isaac had opened the Chest on his own and made his way out into Equestria from deep within the Everfree Forest, destroying the countryside with sulfurous, red magic of a dark nature. Isaac recognized the use of Brimstone, but said nothing. He had come across Twilight Sparkle, and they had fought violently – Princess Celestia did not explicitly say this, but Isaac got the feeling that he had very nearly beaten her. With the help of her friends, the other ‘Elements of Harmony’, they were able to blast pure Harmonic magic at Isaac’s fallen self, returning him to his current state.

“Then I am… purged?” Isaac carefully asked.

Princess Celestia looked at him for a moment, then nodded. Without hesitation, Isaac hugged her leg, smiling and crying slightly – it might have been the only part of her he could wrap his arms around, but he tried his best to convey that it was a hug regardless. Princess Celestia gave him a regal smile, and stooped down to nuzzle the top of his forehead – Isaac supposed that this was their version of the greeting.

Princess Celestia finally stepped back, giving him a regal look as she cleared her throat, evidently intending to make her decision.

“Well, nopony here can say you haven’t already been fittingly punished – more than fittingly, I might add. Cruelly, unreasonably punished far and beyond the nature of your supposed ‘crime’. For that... the very least I can offer you is solace. Stay here, with us, and I will teach you all you have lost.”

Isaac looked around, and considered her offer. Here was a world without God, without Satan, with nothing but his own life, to fulfill and make as he wished.

“I accept,” Isaac tearfully replied, and smiled at Twilight, who gave him a delighted smile back.

With that, they offered to fetch him something to eat. Isaac was still smiling joyfully as Princess Celestia exited the room, and hadn’t waited for but a moment when Twilight came back to escort him to his meal. He entered into a vast dining room, where he was helped into his chair by Twilight’s magic. He supposed that in a world without God, maybe magic was alright? It seemed like every unicorn could use it, so it wasn’t like they had made a deal with Satan in exchange for dark powers – in fact, Isaac wasn’t sure they knew who Satan was.

Isaac was suddenly distracted by a noticeable emotional shift among those at the table. They had begun grumbling to themselves, almost inaudibly but still enough for his tiny ears to pick up. Looking around, he discovered why: An odd creature had entered the palace hall to dine with them, and nearly everyone around him was giving this fellow some nasty looks. The two princesses Celestia and Twilight, in contrast, were decidedly ignoring it. The creature, for its part, gave a devilish smile, and sauntered along towards Isaac’s end of the table. It had a goat head, and a horn that looked like an icicle next to a deer antler, mismatched yellow eyes with red pupils, and a single fang. As it came closer, Isaac discerned that its body was long and sinuous, the brown fur on top giving way to a scaly tail and two different legs. It also had two tiny wings on its back, which it didn’t seem to use. Isaac had no idea what this creature was – he’d suspect some manner of demon, judging from the reaction and the goatlike face – but he had to keep reminding himself, he’d escaped the Basement. There were no demons here… right?

To Isaac’s surprise, the being took a seat right next to him. “Nice weather, isn’t it?” it remarked cheerfully as it conjured food of its own out of thin air – Isaac suspected he would never get used to the oddities of ‘magic’.

“Indeed. Perhaps I may enquire as to what you are?” Isaac asked, trying to be polite.

To his dismay, this drew snickers from around the room – had he said something wrong? The creature took a dramatic look around before turning back to Isaac, a grin on his face.

“Oh, pay them no mind, little Isaac. They’re just jealous of my amazing good looks.”

Isaac gave him a deadpan glare – if he didn’t know better, he’d have suspected he was speaking to Pride. Seeing this, the being’s grin only widened, until it fell right off his face. Landing on Isaac’s plate, the disembodied mouth chuckled slightly as it spoke.

“I am Discord, god of disharmony and chaos. I provide the necessary balance towards all the order and harmony these ponies keep proselytizing.”

Isaac gave him a wary look – perhaps this, then, was the Satan of this world. But no ponies were attacking him, and he was in plain sight… Seeing the look Isaac was giving him, Discord returned the expression searchingly until his eyes widened. Pulling out a familiar book, Discord flipped open the pages.

“Ah, yes. Hmm, I rather do bear a resemblance to this old fellow – ‘Baphomet’, was it? Hmm. Well, I can assure you I’m in no way related to him or any other demon – I haven’t been around that long.”

Isaac looked to Twilight, who hesitantly nodded. She then rounded on Discord, who put the Bible away and gave her a sheepish look. “Discord, don’t scare the poor colt – he’s been through a lot,” Twilight lectured.

Discord rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. We all know you’re going to ask him sometime or later, and I thought I’d lay out the groundwork – establish that we know what the Bible is, that sort of thing. Honestly, you should be thanking me, Princess Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight ground her teeth together.

“Do not call me that!” she snapped.

Discord merely grinned, and gestured around the table, which Isaac noticed had fallen silent at their conversation. Twilight looked around, gave an embarrassed grin and a short laugh, and after a moment of awkward silence, conversation resumed around the table. Discord laughed, snapped a taloned claw, and disappeared.

After this, Twilight turned to Isaac. “He really isn’t all that bad, he’s just… aggravating sometimes. Really, he’s gotten a lot better,” she informed him, sounding as though she had her own doubts.

“Right,” Isaac grunted in reply.

Twilight finished off her plate, and noticing that Isaac had finished his quite some time ago, stood up, gesturing for him to follow. Isaac curiously hopped off his chair, once again noting the actual feeling of hitting the ground with satisfaction.

They traversed their way up quite a few sets of stairs, Isaac agreeing to ride on Twilight’s back for a good portion of this. “So, how was the meal?” Twilight asked as they walked up.

Isaac was silent for a moment. “…Perfect,” he finally answered, lost in pleasant memories of tastes he hadn’t experienced in centuries. “Where are we going?” he asked Twilight, who smiled.

“We’re going to visit a friend of mine – I think you’ll really like her,” she cryptically answered. Isaac raised an eyebrow, but didn’t reply.

They finally came to a set of two doors – one marked with a sun emblem, and the other with a crescent moon. “Princess Luna, are you awake?” Twilight called, gently knocking on the door.

“But a moment, Princess Sparkle, we are raising the moon,” a stern voice answered. Isaac raised his eyebrow once more at the expression – what could it possibly mean? There was the sound of a horn lighting up, and as Isaac looked out a nearby window, he saw that the sun had disappeared and that the entire moon was moving swiftly to its position in the sky, which had quickly been taken over by a multitude of stars and even a few nebulae.

Twilight looked at all this with the air of one who’d seen it a thousand times before, but was still impressed. True to form, as soon as the door opened she called out “Nice work tonight, Princess!”

Isaac looked up. There before him stood a midnight blue alicorn, midway in height between Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight and with hair flowing in an unseen breeze as countless stars twinkled in its depths.

“We are the royal Princess Luna, Protector of the Night and Guardian of Dreams,” she introduced herself.

Isaac gulped. “I am Isaac,” he nervously responded. “Prithee… didst – did you just raise the moon?” he asked.

Princess Luna looked taken aback for some reason, but very quickly smiled. “Yes, we did. It is part of our duties as Princess,” she explained. Isaac’s eyes could have been used as dinner plates from the expression he was giving her. Luna chuckled, and gestured for Isaac to follow her into her room, Twilight tagging along somewhat nervously.

“We art very surprised to hear thy linguistic mannerisms – truly, we thought such speech had died out long ago,” she informed him.

Isaac was inwardly disappointed at this verification of his incorrect speech, but outwardly smiled – at least here was a friend he could share it with.

“Verily, such speech most likely perished in our own culture long ago as well – but all I hath read for the past thousand years is ancient scripture,” he replied, comfortably slipping back into the language he had practiced and refined for too many centuries.

Princess Luna, to his surprise, actually gave a short giggle in response. “We suspect Princess Sparkle there hath brought us together so that we may assist each other in acclimatizing,” she jokingly accused.

Twilight laughed, and nodded. Princess Luna clapped her forehooves together in delight, and for the next few hours she and Isaac were lost in a refreshingly, comfortably old-fashioned conversation.

Comments

[IAmNotSmartest]

Hah, I didn't think of the fact that Isaac hadn't read much other than boss/item titles and the books. Not a huge vocabulary, or at least an up-to-date one. Go on, I'm enjoying this.

[Lord Shaxx]

Pony Jesus. Just what he needed.

Pony Jesus.

Pony. Jesus.

fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/334/e/c/sweet_pony_jesus_by_bridgetthegamer-d4hr5i7.png
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m82hasihBI1rce4yuo1_400.gif

[Zolgo]

5567306
You forgot to put down a pony version of "The Lamb"

[Race9000]

A few bombs, far too many coins to be of any use, and more keys than he knew what to do with.

I know that feeling. Oh dear Celestia I know that feeling.

[spagooleynoodley]

6336787 I reach my max... now what do I do with them? I NEEDED THESE SO MUCH EARLIER. usually when that happens I find an arcade and ALL THE MACHINES EXPLODE.
except for the bum. he gets blown up by a troll bomb deposited by the gambling machine.
oh, and the IV gives me the IV BAG.

[Brianna484]

5567306 Hhhaha, I'm glad I'm not the only one laughing at this!