https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kl1Q0ApSAA

Dim Nova was more adorable than beautiful, with large, hearty lime green eyes and stout body structure. Her form leaned more toward supple width all around than any sane height. Pudgy all over, with squeezable cheeks, squirrely, inset mouth, and abominably cute eyelashes. With straight mane and tail so blue it was almost black, and a stubby, dark gray coat of fur she was as her name implied, a dim nova. Full of light in the best of times, her cutiemark representing as much.

Of course right now, after having just received the news of her husband and son's death, she was beside herself with sorrow. She had mourned for days and nights straight, barely sleeping. Her nightmares were fitful and piercing, digging deep into the depths of her soul and scooping up everything that made her who she was, pouring it out around her like the innards of a gutted beast. It was a violating sensation, one that left her bridging with the brink of oblivion. Drawing ever closer to total annihilation. Her everything taken from her to the point it felt there was no such thing as future, only past. Only what she'd lost. Such a ferocious change in lifestyle (or was it deathstyle?) that she could no longer see ahead of herself. As if she'd become farsighted in a matter of minutes, and blind in a matter of days. Dim struggled, she squirmed, she writhed like a dying animal, everything inside of her burning away from just knowing that some raider was out there not experiencing the Tartarus that she'd been exposed to. There was no living, and to be honest she wasn't sure there was such a thing as dying in her state. There was no way to rid this agony. It would persist, because it was ethereal, enduring, spanning everything. She just wanted it all to end; for this survivor's guilt, and general anguish to cease.

And it was that energy which drew Linebreiker to her. Everything became a blur for the mare as she was approached by a filly-looking mare. Dim took her in with teary eyes. Breiker was a short yet slender earth pony with forest green fur, much like her father Amor Fati, a shattered web of wyrd cutie mark that was sky blue in hue, and curved blonde mane and tail – less curly, more just arched. Seafoam green eyes greeted all who looked upon her face, styled in such a way they gave off a supernatural vibrancy that had no compare. Like electricity was crackling behind her mind, a subdued energy that could last an eternity. The oddest part of her though, Dim thought in her sorrow, were the sharpened, pointed ears. They looked more like horns than a pair of aural sensors.

“Who... who are you?” Dim blinked away her fresh tears, her face stained in brutal displays of mourning that should never be on a single creature's face for as long as they lived. No creature deserved the scars that dotted her body, demonstrations of her misery.

The mare pulled her forelegs together, cocked her head to the side, and smiled so brilliantly it was like a star, her cheeks rising up over closed eyes so much like her mother. Around her neck an aqua blue pendant gleamed like a third eye, strapped to a black cord. “My name is Linebreiker, but you can call me Breiker. All my friends do!” She chirped gleefully.

The excitement was garish, and it infuriated Dim. She wanted to lash out at the mare, accuse her of violating the privacy of a grieving widow. But all she could think was...”Line... breiker?” She tilted her head to one side, holding a hoof against her trembling lips. “What kind of name is that?”

Breiker bat a hoof. “Pfft.” The mare was somehow polite despite giving such a rude gesture. It was naturally charismatic, needling into the soul and tickling the source of a creature's affections. Like a lovable doll, or a little filly that knew just how to strike all the right cords. “Silly, it's nothing serious. Just somepony who likes to break things apart, like pain. You get it right? The kind of pony who doesn't like to see others suffer, to see others chained down by their miseries.”

Dim bit her lower lip, looking to and fro like a mare who'd been scandalized, or maybe a mare who thought they're in a dream and they're about to wake up. It was unclear. “Forgive me for being rude...” Dim paused. “Actually, don't. I don't care.” Her voice hiccuped, her face cracking apart at the seams, as if she was about to fall into a pile of pieces, her eyebrows leaning outward and mouth nearly melting off her face, eyes dipping. Her hooves shook against her body as she tried to hug herself back together. “But I don't see why you'd bother me like this.”

Breiker's eyes shimmered as she tried to think about how best to weave around this broken mare's concerns. Of course she didn't need to do much planning because she was already so far gone, but it paid to be tactful. “I just feel like a pony like you shouldn't have to suffer like this! It's not right, you know? I'm a sort of... spirit guide.” She stated flatly, holding a hoof against her chest and narrowing her eyes. “I bring others to better places. A place where there is no pain.”

Dim, too far gone to think much of it, responded simply, a delicately enraged expression crossing her features. “I'm not going to... to die or kill myself just because... because...” she sniffled hard. It was ugly and didn't befit her. “Of a broken heart.”

“Oh, certainly!” Breiker was quick to agree. “Where I take ponies is not death. It is freedom. Freedom from the past. Freedom from what makes them tick. I bring them back to what they are naturally. What they're supposed to truly be.”

Dim's vision contracted, staring at Breiker, uncertain she should be humoring this fantastical mare much longer. “Really?” She said with a tone that brokered no foolishness. “And what am I supposed to be?”

Breiker's eyes went vacant for a moment. “Well... you're supposed to be happy. Some ponies are supposed to be violent, some are supposed to be loving. All are supposed to be carefree, held down by nothing but their primal urges. They should not be sad. They should always be happy, doing what makes them happy.”

Dim's face screwed up in concern, hugging herself a little tighter. “And... I'm supposed to just trust you?”

“Yes, essentially.” Breiker pushed a lock of hair out of the way of one of her eyes, beaming like a little lighthouse at the sonless mother. The sunless mother. “I bring ponies peace. Do you want peace...?” Her voice lingered, clearly requesting a name. Breiker already knew her name, but it was best to play stupid sometimes. That was what her mother taught her.

“Dim Nova.” The mare hiccuped. “I... apologize for not giving my name sooner.” Something about Breiker calmed Dim. Looking into her eyes made her feel like everything was going to be okay, that the energy surging behind her eyes would be used for good things. Glorious things. Her eyes narrowed again, scrutinizing Breiker.

“It's fine! Totally! I even-”

Dim cut her off. “What do you gain from all of this?”

Breiker's face fell. Then it formed into a sly grin, tilting her head to the side. It was a familiar gesture. One she'd inherited from her mother. Fear would recognize it. “Well...” The mare began pacing in the meaninglessly decorated yet dilapidated room. “I want to see everypony happy! That was my mother's wish. And I inherited it from her. But happiness to us means freedom from everything. And someday, when I gain enough power, I'll be able to free everyone. I'll be able to give everyone happiness!” The mare stood up on her hindlegs and pounded her forehooves into the ground. “To have that power I need others to join me, to believe in my vision for a better world. A world where the wasteland doesn't matter and we create our reality.”

Something about that seemed oddly blasphemous, not that Dim had the experience with entities like Fate or Neur to know. “Is that all?” Dim looked toward the ground. “It seems too good to,” a hiccup, “be true but... you clearly believe strongly in it.” The mare swayed from side to side as she tried to come to a decision.

“How about I give you a demonstration of what it feels like to be cut off, and then you can decide for yourself what you think is right?”

Dim flicked her ears. “You... you promise?”

“I promise.”

Dim nodded once and sniffed again, hocking back phlegm. “Fine. I accept.”

Breiker smiled brightly. “Thattagirl! Now, this won't even hurt slightly.” Breiker moved up to Dim swiftly, as if she were merely gliding rather than trotting, lifting a forehoof into the air and pressing it against the mare's forehead. Her pendant glimmered and sparkled, shifting around against her neck as if it had a mind of its own. Wispy tendrils of pale green energy slithered out of her hoof and snaked into Dim's mind.

Dim's eyes widened, the pupils dilating. The process was over before it really began as Breiker pulled away, holding an orb of light in her hoof. Dim felt things in order. A sort of instinctual fear, a sadness welling up inside of her that caused her organs to knot up, her eyes to tear up. She leaned backwards a little, looking around in a sort of panic before settling on Breiker. Suddenly an expression of peace washed over her features, the wrinkles and tension in her face evaporating like water in a desert. It was quick, assuredly painless, and easy. There was some lingering regret, but that wisped away like it had never been there at all. It was hard to grasp regret when you couldn't remember what you were supposed to regret. “That's all?”

“Well, not quite. I just need to bring you into my little safe space before we can really begin. That's where you'll be completely cut off from everything you ever knew.”

Something about that felt... wrong. Like she was leaving behind a whole host of... something that cared about her. But she could hardly bring herself to regard it with the weight it deserved, as if she'd been swayed in one deft movement. She stood up and smiled at Breiker. “I'm ready.”

Breiker popped the orb of light into her mouth, bulging out her cheeks before swallowing it whole. “Then let us begin.”

==========================================================================================

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5u7LmS1c2A

If the wasteland weren't so barren it'd be idyllic in some places, one of those being the docks near Friendship City. With its creaking, grinding ancient wood. Its soft breeze caressing the necks of all who stood on its piers, and its plopping, slopping and ebbing waves against its shores. The sounds of long abandoned buoys and ringing bells, some with broken chimes, echoed along the distance, and sometimes the abrasive screech of metal grating on metal filled the air when the nearby bridge was lowered so ponies could cross.

On one of these docks was one Fear, a Fear, enjoying the sea breeze with eyes closed, occasionally opening them solely to stare longingly into the murky, tainted depths of irradiated water. Poisonous and acidic. The taint was so thorough, so dense, that it bled outward and almost tickled those who got too close. You could almost feel it coiling around you and yearning to yank you deep under its depths like the clammy claws of a long dead innocent.

This Fear was scarred, in more ways than one. He was older, wiser, and far more guilty. Having lived life as a raider for some years before slipping into something resembling normality. It had been a redundant, featureless life, albeit exciting and full of daring raids, his body marred with the marks of injury. Blemishes striped across an eye, a bullet hole in the center of his cutiemark, nicks and scrapes over his legs where he'd taken more than a few knife swipes, and teeth marks in the dock of his tail. His eyes remained a violent ruby, occasionally filtering to an ambiguous violet. But never did it lose its ghostly glow and its otherworldly shimmer.

Tired was the best way to describe his features, how his face grew slack and his legs shuffled along under him. He was exhausted of life, of making the wrong choices, of killing others with his once built up, yet minor arsenal of weapons. The weapons he no longer carried. Having never met family, having never really made any friends, having never really found harmony in any way, shape or form. He was still yearning for something, something that only a god could give him. Reprieve from his sins. A clean, untarnished past. A second chance to do his best. Fear sighed, able to feel the blisters of evil trailing along his back, threatening to burst and consume him. What he needed was, simply, oblivion. As he stared into the water, he was close to granting his own wish, when he felt a presence nearby.

Linebreiker had a curious, suspicious fondness for Fear in her sparkling eyes, her lips upturned into a strict, wary smile. As Fear turned around to face her she came up, gliding along like a phantom. “I see you sold your mother's pendant.” Breiker stood next to Fear, on the edge of the pier, overlooking the sea.

“I'm sorry, who are you again?” The young stallion asked with a raised eyebrow. It sounded more like a frustrated interrogation from someone who'd been interrupted than it did any innocent query.

“My name is Linebreiker. I feel the energy wafting off of you. The desire to see it end. The need to shroud yourself in shadows.” She nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. In reality. It was more the Seer's Eye around her neck that was feeling the pull.

“Breiker huh? Strange that you're about my size.”

“I know, right!?” Breiker cast Fear a glance, her smile only growing. “It's really strange! Maybe it runs in our family.”

“I'm sorry, our family?” This Fear seemed oddly numb to the statement, but again the wasteland was full of crazy, batshit insane occurrences.

“Oh, I'm sorry!” Breiker apologized like she truly meant it. While she seemed friendly enough, there was a sinister undertone to everything that made her who she was. Fear could feel it, it was like speaking to a devil. “Where are my manners? I'm your half sister.”

“Half... sister?” The stallion gazed wistfully out at sea, cocking his head to the side like he couldn't believe it, testing the words in his mouth. Yet he felt no intent to deceive, a sense that he'd cultivated over the years. He glanced back over to her, noticing she was holding up the pendant. A pendant he knew well. “So what brings family to me here, now of all times?”

“It should be obvious enough, Fear. You're at the end of your rope. You want it all to end. You're desperate for a change. You have nothing in this life worth hanging onto. Your determination has run its course and you're floundering for a purpose.” Breiker paused. “I have that purpose in mind for you.”

“Is that so? And what do I get out of it?”

“It’s readily apparent, really.” She stated with narrowed, lidded eyes, gazing into the distance.

“Humor me,” Fear spat.

“Well, I want to give you the second chance you've been dreaming of for so long. The ability to cast away your past. To satiate that part deep inside of all yourself that you try to hide from others, the part that drives you to seek out those stronger than yourself until they end up not satisfying you anymore.”

Fear snorted. “And how do you know all this?”

Breiker held the Seer's Eye level with their vision. “Well, this thing of course. But it's more than that. I know a lot about you Fearei. I've spoken with your mother.”

Fear was so knocked off kilter by that single statement it took him a few moments of squirming in his seat before he gasped, finally able to intake air. “I'm sorry, what?” He was doing a lot of this lately.

Breiker began to explain what she was, what she did for a living, the Seer's Eye, details that weren't privy to most creature's ears, and what she needed of him. “And in essence, since Freiya's escaped from her fate, I need you to sort of... defend me. I know there will be ponies coming to confront me in due time, and I want you there to... stall them.”

“And why me?” Fear seemed furious yet intrigued. Puzzled.

Breiker wrapped a foreleg around Fear's shoulders and pulled him in much to his chagrin. Yet it felt... while uncomfortable, it felt cozy. Still, he could tell this mare was, while honest, not the kind of pony he should be making deals with. Still, intriguing. “Because, Fear, you are my half brother.” And you're a sucker, but she didn't say that part. Fear could tell she was hiding something. “And I know you'll take this opportunity to help me. After all, what's in it for you is far better than anything you'd ever get otherwise.”

“Can I have a while to think about it?”

“Well I mean... this is the best place and time for any important decisions to be made. In a way I have all the time in your world but... you see this Seer's Eye thing? As it is right now I can only approach distant futures and pasts that are far, far from my own timeline.” In fact, it was more due to the circumstances surrounding Fears' futures than it was because of the Seer's Eye.

“Huh?” He couldn't tell the full legitimacy of her statements. It felt more like static, but not because it was being hidden. Just because it was so... vague.

“It's complicated Fear.” Breiker bat a hoof. “Essentially, the farther you are from me, the more I can see. But you must understand we're really not all that far apart Fear. We're like two peas in a pod, constantly struggling to attain something the powers that be won't let us have. I'm just trying to fulfill the wishes of our mother, you know?”

Fear's eyes contracted as he thought on that. “And you're saying that in exchange you'll let me start over?”

“Yes, pretty much.” Breiker gave a cute, confirming bob of her head. “It'll almost be like a memory wiping, and one day? It'll be a complete erasure of your sins. You'll be able to start over. But I can't completely cut you off from the past just yet.”

“Huh? Why's that?” Fear thought it sounded criminal the way she said it.

“Because, Fear.” Breiker rolled her eyes. “Do you really want to forget about our mother that soon? I'm sure you'd like to keep at least one memory alive.” The truth was: she didn't want Fear attacking her; the second truth was: she wanted Fear to still be useful to her.

“F-fine.” Fear muttered, his pupils fixating on a space far away from them. “I accept. Just take me into this... safe space or whatever.”

“That's the spirit!” Breiker exclaimed, before lifting a hoof, pale green energy slinking from it and entering Fear's head, burrowing deep into his skull and rooting around in... not just his brain. She'd gotten stronger over time, even if time was relative. There was no real order to it, the way it all correlated was, as far as she could tell, more a matter of essentiality and relevance. There seemed to be no other ulterior determining factor. Some weird form of synchronicity that pissed the mare off to no end.

Breiker was certain Fate had something to do with it, the smarmy bastard. Still, he wouldn't be winning anytime soon. She'd make sure of it. All she needed to do was connect a few strands to this Fear and he'd be swimming in the power he needed to... well, that was a secret.

After all, it wasn't like she could risk her own life... yet.

==========================================================================================

The world spun and eddied around Fear, our Fear, as he was whisked away into a spell of sleep. Everything fell away, dripping and dropping, disappearing in the distance as the colt was transferred to the world of dreams, appearing outside of the Castle of the Two Sisters with a stagger in his step, eyes rolling around discrepantly in their sockets, his hooves nearly twisting under him as he tried to catch his balance. Unfortunately he failed as the nausea from being overcome with such a disorienting bewitchment, collapsing to his side as his everything twisted and whirled. He could tell it wasn't actually spinning, his eyes were just constantly moving. Fear tried to get his hooves back under him as Luna came rushing out of the double doors.

“Fearei!”

Fear whined. “Whaaaat? Why did you do that?” Then it came to him as if a burst of intelligence, eyes widening. “Did you catch anything from Freiya?” Sim was currently carrying the colt's body in the world of the waking.

Luna nodded once in confirmation, yet she had a dire expression etched into her face. She tilted her head up and motioned for Fear to follow.

Fear lethargically got onto his hooves, nearly falling again when the world spun once more, feeling completely whack from the sudden transition still, his hooves stumbling beneath him, before he hurried into the castle.

The transition was just as muddled and bewildering, everything popping into place around him like it'd always been there, which confused him even on the best of days. He liked it so much more when dream areas just blended into each other surreally, though it was too bad Luna didn't agree.

Freiya was standing in the middle of the corridor, speaking with Saway, her entire body baggy and loose, as if even though she was sleeping she was feeling that inherent exhaustion you sometimes felt when you were sleeping. Fear knew the sensation well. Feeling tired while resting was the worst, worse than being fatigued while awake. Fear charged past Luna, calling out to his grandmother. “Grandma! Grandma! Where've you been!?” Amelio was nowhere to be found, probably in the treasure room meditating again.

Saway waved to the colt, and Fear glanced to her, giving a nod of acknowledgement, as he skidded to a halt in front of the peppermint-maned mare. Freiya spoke, her eyes sunken and like she'd lost something of herself. There was something off about her presence, clearly weak and not all there, as if a section of her had been lobotomized and put in a prison somewhere else. She was struggling just to be here. “Oh, thank goodness it's you. They told... told me they could get you here but I didn't... didn't believe them. Princess Luna is real?” She was distracted for a moment, as if she was just as dizzy as Fear had been a moment ago.

“Yes! She's very real! And I'm here. We're coming to the Stable, what's wrong, what's going on!?”

Freiya's head dipped toward the ground as she held her head in a hoof, leaning to one side. “Amor Fati... he... betrayed us. Tried to sacrifice us all to that strange... mare.”

“What mare!? What's going on!?” Fear was beside himself with panic, his heart hammering in his sleeping chest, anxiety tearing away at him.

“I managed... managed to escape her grip. I found Amor and stole the Seer's Eye back before it could be used to power her more.”

“Power who!?”

“Storm's daughter.”

Fear took a startled step back, his jaw falling open in shock, pupils dilating. “Amelio!? She did this!? That's impossible – she's here!” Fear squeaked out.

“No... Amelio?” Freiya looked at Fear baffledly. “Amelio is your sister?”

Fear stomped a hoof on the ground. “What's going on!?” Fear shrieked like a filly.

Freiya swallowed hard, trying to get her words in order, a headache puncturing her brain. “Amor Fati. He... in another timeline. He had a daughter with Stormy. Linebreiker. It was... terrible.”

Finally noticing the Seer's Eye around Freiya's neck, Fear lunged forward, holding Freiya. “Bring me to her!” He remembered delving into the pendant whenever he was asleep, as if he couldn't help but fall into its grasp. Surely he could use it again through the dream. Surely Freiya could connect him to some world in which Linebreiker existed, so he could learn for himself.

Luna stepped up to Fear. “Calm down, Fearei. Freiya has been awake for days. She was afraid this... Linebreiker would try to capture her and pull her back into wherever she came from and sever her from the past. So she stayed awake until she no longer could.” She set a hoof on Fear's shoulder, putting a hard pressure on his body, nearly forcing his knees to buckle.

“But!”

“No buts,” Saway's raspy voice cut in. “Give her time. Things will get solved.”

Freiya coughed. “I can... I can bring you there. With the pendant. I don't know why Amor did this. He was so kind, so right. He had the potential. Why did he...?”

Fear gave Freiya a shake. “Please! Take me there! I can talk sense into whoever this is! I can do it! I've trained for this!”

Freiya looked up staring at Fear for a long moment.

“Come on! We don't have time to waste!”

The mare thought on it, considering her options. Fear was just a colt, what could he possibly do? Still, she had no other choice. It was either try this now or risk waiting until Breiker came to grab her. “Alright. Grab hold of me.”

Fear grunted and wrapped his forelegs around his grandmother's neck.

“Take care of yourself, Fearei,” Luna supplied.

Saway hesitated. “Give her Tartarus, colt.”

Fear squeezed his eyes shut. Cutting Grandma off from the past? How is that possible? Ponies need a past in order to live don't they? If the past never mattered, would Dim still be alive?” Those would be the first questions he'd ask her – he was going to get to the bottom of this.

Freiya wound a foreleg around Fear's body and pulled him close, shutting her eyes gently and focusing on the pendant. A pinprick formed in the center of their bodies, swiftly becoming a vortex that surrounded them, pulling them in like a whirlpool and dragging them off to who knows where.

==========================================================================================

As the two traveled through nothing and everything, rocketing through a new, different kind of void surrounded by silvery wires, the same color as the orbs that had been taken out of creatures' heads by Breiker, Freiya tried to explain to Fear the situation. “Her intention, I think, is to gather power from those who give themselves to her, in order to eventually destroy past and future, leaving only an ever lingering present.”

Fear was confused, it made no sense to him. Before he could interrupt, Freiya was talking again.

“She has been using nightmares in order to break apart the wills of others and leave them susceptible to her whims. Like some kind of illusion.”

“Is she a changeling?”

“No... I don't think so. I don't know how she's doing it. I think she's using her Seer's Eye. Her control of it is beyond me.” Freiya shook her head in disbelief as they zoomed past holes in the exoverse, the only thing beyond it being the visceral image of stretched screams.

“But if you destroy the past how are you supposed to live? How can you survive without an...? Uhh...”

“Origin?”

“Mhm! That!”

Freiya held a hoof against her head as her hindlegs dangled behind her. “The best answer to that question is another question. How can you die, or cease existing, if you have no future nor past to dictate that disappearance?”

One of Fear's eyebrows rose on his face. That was very alarming, and also too complex for a colt like him to understand. How could he possibly convince her to step down from... whatever she was doing, if he didn't understand what she was doing and the sheer implications of it? Still, it was alluring. If the past didn't exist, then sins didn't exist. If the past didn't exist, then the wasteland couldn't exist. But neither could paradise. Could it?

“We're here.” Freiya stated simply as they landed on broken concrete. It was a small world built on null, with nothing but the power of thought. The same power of thought, Fear realized, that had allowed the colt to traverse the exoverse in the first place. It was merely consciousness that thrived here, but this structure felt frail. It was a gray, ruined city, completely thrashed with brutal rips in space-time, like it was tearing apart at the seams. Fear looked around him, seeing nothing but timelines and this tiny section of metropolis.

In the distance Fear heard a signature speaking to him. The only thing it spoke of was ambition. A desire to see her strivings to completion. As if she had denied everything in order to have that sole intent leftover. Fear charged ahead, leaving Freiya, his ride, in the dust foolishly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzvrXR1mT2w

“Linebreiker! Breiker! Show yourself!” He shouted out.

“So,” Breiker's voice echoed through the streets. “Freiya has brought a Fear to me. How appropriate. Almost seems predestined.”

Fear raged. “There is no such thing as one destiny! I could've been here, I could have not! It was my choice! All of our choices led up to this!” Fear stomped a hoof on the ground. “Show yourself damnit!”

Breiker flew into Fear's vision, and immediately the colt recognized that this wasn't a mere consciousness. The mare before him was here in the flesh. She existed within the exoverse, floating by thought alone.

Fear backed up.

“Choice doesn't exist when you have a past or an outside force defining for you what it is you're going to do.”

The colt's mouth lowered and raised, silent cries escaping his lips. Finally he found his voice. “How does that make any sense,” Fear yelled.

“With just the present, all you have is the here and now, nothing outside of you is constantly holding you down, holding you back. All that matters is the now. You can do whatever you want, and things will just be constantly reset. You don't have to suffer, you can be free. Surely you can appreciate that.”

All of Fear's training went out the window in that moment, incensed. “You're doing it against creatures' will! You're bringing everyone down to your level and giving no choice! No one wants to live like that!”

“Dim Nova certainly did!”

Fear's eyes widened, falling back onto his haunches, holding his forehead with a hoof. “Dim... Nova?”

“Yes. Your little murder spree certainly made my way far more acceptable than continuing to be bound by their past. You should join me, throw this world away. How could you dislike me for giving creatures a better life of forgetfulness and peace?”

Fear stuttered. “I... I... uhh...” He struggled in the dark for anything to say. Ignorantly, he spouted the only thing he could think of. “Still! You're using them all for your own ends!” He lunged forward, screaming at her. “You're manipulative! Sacrificing creatures who are suffering just to gain power from them!” Things were connecting like wildfire spreading across a forest. Of course, of course she was using the power inherent in those past and futures she severed in order to enable herself to reach farther. It made sense!

“Only so that everyone will no longer be beholden to their pasts, their potential futures, or to others! I am giving everyone the power of the pendant to carve out their own destinies, with nothing holding them back. Neither loved ones, enemies, nor existence utterly! I am letting them be themselves for eternity! With no threat of entropy! Do you understand just what I'm trying to accomplish!?” Breiker firmly rebuked Fear.

“You're nothing but a predator! A scavenger! The lowest of them! What about Grandma, Bendy Button, Pike, Endeavor, Eagle Eye, Frosted Tip, the foals, and everypony else of Stable 47!? Are you going to make them suffer just so you can take their power for yourself!?” Fear was livid. “What about their wishes, what about their futures!?”

“But wouldn't it feel good to have no more wasteland!? For there to be no consequences to anything we do!? Just running rampant all the time following our original urges without anything shackling us down?”

“But it wouldn't mean anything!” Fear stomped his hooves on the ground like he was having a temper tantrum. There'd be no relevance! Not that Fear understood the concept. Just the fact it wouldn't have meaning. “We'll be constantly looping! Never changing! Always repeating itself! We'll never atone for our mistakes and achieve greatness! That's not freedom!”

“But at least we won't be imprisoned by everyone who never did enough for us, never be held down by our sins!” Breiker was adamant and would not back down, floating closer to Fear, power building up in her hooves, green energy coalescing.

“It's better to be shackled than to never progress! Besides, you're carving a swath through creatures, bringing everyone into your influence without their consent!” Fear understood consent intrinsically. Intuitively. “You're making others suffer for your own ends, just pushing it on others!”

“Not like you have any room to talk, murderer!” Breiker accused. “With some misguided sense of right and wrong you end Solanum's life, make some changelings destitute, and kill those who hurt you, and those who don't, simply because you're a contradictory mess!” Breiker leveled her hooves at Fear, shooting out wads of energy with a shoompf.

Freiya tackled Fear to the side. “Look out Fearei!”

An explosion sounded just behind them, craters being left in the cracked asphalt as Freiya got Fear to his hooves. “So the refugee shows herself. I won't let you get away again, Grandma!” Breiker called out with a chiding tone.

Freiya shook Fear. “You have to get out of here! You have to go back!”

“No! I won't leave you!”

“Please, Fearei! Promise me you won't come back!”

“I won't!” Fear shrieked again, throwing his head wildly from side to side.

Breiker was approaching fast. She would not risk murdering Freiya's consciousness. She needed her and the pendant.

Freiya ripped the Seer's Eye from around her neck, holding it in her telekinesis and throwing it forward as she pumped a spell into it. With one deft movement she shoved Fear into the ensuing hole.

The portal closed after Fear's exit.

Author's Notes:

This is ONE answer to the inevitable question, “what would have happened if Storm had stayed in Stable 47?” Just three more chapters left!