Gregary suddenly found himself awake in the hospital room. He was still in the small white room and laid upon a bed surrounded by tubes connected to his body. A single window on the right let in damp sunlight piercing the cloudy skies outside. He was blinded by the doctors checking his eyes for proper activity.

"Don't...shine that directly into my eyes, please. That hurts," he groggily complained.

"Ah. Good news, nurse: The patient has awakened successfully from the artificially induced coma." The doctor in question was still wearing his white coat, but the nurse was different. The she was now a he. Nurses were needed everywhere, after all.

"Coma?" Gregary repeated. He sat up and grunted a few times. "So it was all a dream?" He checked his hand and did his best to refocus his eyesight, but it didn't help much. He sighed and thought about how real everything had been and how, were it real, he left Copper Blossom without explaining himself or even helping 'his people' back then. "Looks like gods didn't exist after all," he mumbled under his breath.

"What's that?" the nurse asked.

"N-nothing. Just thinking about my dreams." He looked up to face the two as best as he could. "Can I see or call my family? I'd like to know how they are."

The two looked at each other silently, leaving Gregary confused. "Look," he started. "I want to see them, or just call my wife. It's not that hard to understand!" His voice was started to get more aggressive and his face was glowing red.

"We...We need to tell you that, on their way here, your family died in an accident," the nurse started. "We weren't able to reach them in time. I'm sorry."

"That..." Gregary paled and hid his face in his hands. "That isn't...I don't believe you."

"Truth conceited and glorious? Amusing, isn't it? No. Not dead. Not real. Not here."

"What?"

The hospital room was now just an empty space of black in which the doctor, the nurse, and Gregary in his bed floated aimlessly.

"The familiar soul would better, off."

"So you're this 'god' then? Taking the form of two...of two people at the same time?" Gregary was still hiccuping from the traumatic prospect of his family dying before he could even see them again.

"We find it amusing and lethargic. Efforts don't abound to thinks like this," the nurse said.

"All beings fear loss of the barnacles on the ship's hull. Why do they bleat so for their safety and growth?"

Gregary pondered his words a moment then came up with an answer. "You think family is worthless?"

The nurse and doctor slowly approached each other then vanish in a flash of darkness. "Humans of apes grow in groups, but much like the progenitors, they see fit to leave and separate, the familiar souls."

The man couldn't help but feel a vice on his chest. "How do you know...about humans? Did you read my mind? Watch my memories?"

"The artist can't paint without familiar colors. Give it the mantis shrimp's eyes and what can it paint?"

"Are you trying to say that you already know humans?"

"A familiar can't be a witch's only detail."

"But how?"

"It strives for fear. For terror. For trauma. For phobias. It travels where the familiar souls are, but new things are far more amusing and teach much, for fear has many shapes and forms, and the most common are too easy."

Gregary looked around and tilted his head slightly, trying to locate the source of the voice. "You're starting to speak normally."

"Does it bleat because it fears, or knowledges because doubts? Let the windmill's grind the shredded heads."

Gregary clung to the sheets of his bed for dear life when it launched forward like a rocket through the darkness and towards an opening of white. Slowly opening his eyes, Gregary found he had returned to being Stelimus, and he was attending the funeral of Shining Armor in the throne room of the Crystal Kingdom's tower. Behind him was a massive amount of crystal ponies, and next to him was Copper, completely destroyed inside with posture limp and eyes devoid of light and life. A large painting of Shining and Cadance hung over the large black coffin where Shining was interred. His cutie mark was painted on the top of the object, breaking the contrast of darkness.

"What's going on? Stop this, Zelmar!" Stelimus shouted angrily.

"Stel...imus?" Copper stuttered.

"Is there a problem, King Stelimus?" the priest near the coffin asked.

"It would be wise to continue. See the blues surrounding the yellows."

"This is Copper's mind?" Stelimus thought.

"Yes. Let it grow and disinfect."

"N-no. I was just...aggravated at what happened. Some..." he rotated a hoof. "Release of pent up anger, I suppose."

"I understand," the pony nodded. "Would you like to come up and give a few words of respect to the late king?"

"Um, sure. Yes."

Hesitant, the deer king walked up to the podium to see rows-upon-rows of mourning crystal ponies, and suddenly, stage fright gripped him. He tugged at his neck tufts and cleared his throat.

"Even the most minor fissures can break castles."

"I didn't know my father-in-law much, but I know, through what...my wife has told me, that he was a great stallion who cared greatly for his people, even after his wife d...sacrificed herself for all of our sakes. I...I..." Stelimus started feeling woozy. "I don't feel good," he stuttered.

Before he could move forward any further, he collapsed upon the ground. A wet sensation came from his sides and, with a tap of a hoof, white and blue changed to red and purple. Copper saw and, without warning, collapsed upon the ground.

"Couldn't withstand the swarm, so the fields were eaten. What does it mean?" Zelmar spoke.

Stelimus was floating in the black almost as suddenly as he left it with Oriyis' body floating in front of him. "What was that?" the deer king gasped. "I literally felt myself die."

"Its fear of the lost and not found goes to birth of stars. To see its sun extinguish was one of its greatest fears. No backup pipelines. No more fuel."

Stelimus pondered the words, and his eyes shot open. "She died from grief?!"

Zelmar laughed. "More than a few short straws have been grabbed for that one time experience. wHy DoEs? Do they cry and make mince, or sleep and grow trees? The familiar soul has fears other than loss."

Gregary was his human self again, but standing in front of him was a woman with golden brown hair, wearing a shirt and pants of yellow, and sporting a somewhat innocent-yet-playful expression. She was strangely reminiscent of Copper Blossom.

"It fears the appearances and mindsets. Helped grow young while young and yet so strung. Ancient minds made new a body." The human shrunk to that of a little girl wearing a long dress of the same colors. "The familiar soul brings interest to the fears. One not known yet so apparent. They shall be used in the future when requited."

"But...I can't..."

"It is wrong, is it not? Fear death, fear sorrow. No way out. Death brings death. Departure brings death and chaos. Separation brings insanity. Any outcome is beneficial to fear."

"And you'll spread again."

"Forcing a square through a pyramid won't get anywhere. The pyramid will just become two-dimensional."

Gregary spent several minutes thinking, but he finally came with an answer after so long. "I was technically a very young child at the time, and now we're near each other's age. I spent eight years denying, and she was always so patient. I should be closer and warmer to her now, but that' ll take work. Hard work." The He looked upwards at Oriyis with determination. "Just because you're some entity of fear doesn't mean you have absolute power over anything! I'll just get through this fear and become more courageous and improved for it!"

Oriyis' silence became a booming laughter. "The river filled wants naught for water, but the water still flows. Anything 'covered' will bleed through again. There is no escape from fear, so what will the familiar soul do? It will never leave. It will never stop. Delaying is all that exists for a clock telling time."

Next Chapter: Bargains Estimated time remaining: 31 Minutes