| The End of Ponies | |
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 cover image on Equestria Daily
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| Writer(s) | short skirts and explosions |
| Date published | October 16th, 2011 |
| Words | 527,556 (as of Chapter 52) |
| Status | Cancelled |
| Type/genre | Adventure Sad Dark |
| Story link(s) | |
 
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The End of Ponies is a fan-fiction novel/series dedicated to the adventures of the lone surviving pony after a Cataclysm has destroyed all of ponykind and much of Equestria.
Synopsis[]
"A horrible Cataclysm has turned all of Equestria into a Wasteland of barren ash and twilight desolation. The Sun and the Moon have been destroyed. Everypony has died – including Princesses Luna and Celestia. But one pony miraculously survives; she is a lone wanderer, the last of her kind, surrounded by menacing creatures that hate her. She navigates the Wastes in an airship and scavenges off the blighted landscape to keep herself alive.
Then one day she meets an old companion who grants her a gift, the chance to go back in time to the warm and sunny days of Ponyville, where her dead friends live in happiness. How far will the last pony venture into these joyous days of Equestria, even if she fully knows that there is no way to change the horrible fate of everypony she loves?"
Style[]
EoP is written in third-person limited perspective for the most part, although the protagonist's journal entries form a significant portion of the narrative.
The story is divided into acts (or "arcs"), which are further divided into chapters. With the exception of those focused on her time in the wasteland, each arc is typically centered around the pony she is bound to during her trips to the past. Thus far, four arcs have been written – The Wasteland (wasteland), Hooves on the Ground (Applejack), Circle of Kindness (Fluttershy), and Dredgemane (Pinkie Pie) arcs. A fifth arc (Petra) has been twice drafted and scrapped, though after a long hiatus the author has recently resumed work on it again.
Each chapter in an individual act is named according to a certain theme – for example, chapters in the Fluttershy arc were named "Ever[word]" and chapters in the Pinkie Pie arc get their names from the insertion of all or part of "Pinkie Pie" into the names of books, films and video games; for example, "P for Pinketta" is a reference to V for Vendetta.
Plot Summary[]
Note: Each arc contains a single story, all of which contribute to the storyline as a whole and have a number of common themes and plot-threads, but are still largely self-contained.
Act I: The Wasteland[]
The setting is twenty-five years in the future, in an Equestria turned wasteland. An apocalyptic event referred to as the Cataclysm brought about the abrupt destruction of the sun and moon, along with the death of everypony everywhere, except one. The story begins with the Last Pony and her attempt to survive in a dead world, scavenging for the things she needs or finding work as a mercenary. She lives aboard an airship of her own design called "The Harmony", and has mastered a number of skills including runecrafting and tinkering, along with being an exceptionally skilled fighter. Her relations with members of other species is mostly strained, as many blame ponydom for the Cataclysm. Her motivating reason to live is in hope that she might someday find other pony survivors.
After hearing rumors of a rare and valuable source of mystical green flame, she embarks on of a scavenging mission to Ponyville, a place she had avoided up until this point. She was nearly killed by trolls, but is rescued by an aged Spike, who also turns out to be the source of the flame. It is at this point that we learn that the Last Pony is in fact Scootaloo. After confirming with her that she is indeed the lone survivor of her species, Spike proposes that they work together to find out what caused the apocalypse.
By using his flame, he can send her back in time to before the Cataclysm occurred, where she can attempt to discover what caused it. Although time travel is possible, it is made clear that nothing in the past can be changed; only fulfilled. Though initially hesitant, she accepts the offer. Spike explains that while back in time, she must stay within a limited distance of the soul she is anchored to or she will be pulled back to the future. To her benefit however, her body is a pseudo-projection of her soul self, meaning that she will both look different (so others wont recognize her) and be almost completely indestructible (along with no need to eat or sleep).
Act II: Hooves on the Ground[]
Her first time-traveling mission sends her to Cheerilee, where she promptly becomes hysterical and scares a classroom of children with warnings about the future, in an attempt to try and change it. She gets arrested and returns to Spike in the future, who shows her that he already knew what happened because the entire encounter was in an old document, further proving to her that the past could not be changed.
Ready for another attempt, Scootaloo and Spike decide to make Applejack her next target. After recovering her remains from Sweet Apple Acres, they bond her soul to Applejack and send her to the past. Using the alias "Harmony", and under the pretense of being a clerk sent from Canterlot, she convinces Applejack and her family to let her stay and help with applebucking, though Applejack senses that she's hiding something and distrusts her for it.
Although her objective is to find a way to arrange a meeting with Princess Celestia to investigate the Cataclysm, she becomes drawn into finding out what has the Apple family on edge, though they are reluctant to tell her anything. After rescuing the AJ and Big Mac during an incident in the forest, she comes to discover that what has them wound up is a pack of trolls that have appeared on their farm, and had begun to terrorize them. Knowing trolls all to well from her world in the future, she convinces them she can help.
After helping to harvest the rest of the orchards, they barricade themselves inside the barn and stand guard. As night falls, the trolls begin to come out, now numbered in the hundreds. Rushing the Apple's to the cellar, Harmony blocks them in much to their reluctance, and proceeds to take on the entire horde herself, aided by her indestructible body. The fight lasts all fight, and as the sun comes up, the trolls are returned to stone. Boxing the trolls up so they wont be re-awoken, the Last Pony attempts to focus on arranging a meeting with Princess Celestia. An old silo nearly collapsing on Apple Bloom interrupts them however, and in saving her she is crushed and forced back to the future.
Act III: Circle of Kindness[]
The Last Pony decides to visit Fluttershy next. She ventures deep into the Everfree Forest (known in the future as the Everfree Briar) to recover her remains, bringing a jar of Spike's green flame with her. She finds her body strung up near the skeleton of an unknown beast, but is promptly chased off by an ursa minor. Although she manages to grab her skeleton before she flees, she is cornered by the ursa. Just as it's about to come down on her, she quickly uses the green flame together with Fluttershy's ashes to transport herself back in time.
She appears outside of Fluttershy's cottage before the Cataclysm, where she meets Dinky Hooves (unicorn daughter of Derpy Hooves), whom Fluttershy babysits on occasion. Entering the cottage, she finds Fluttershy conversing with Captain Redgale, who is currently chiding Fluttershy on having yet to find a capricorn (a starbeast similar to the Ursa Major) that had unexpectedly fallen into the forest a few days prior. After convincing Fluttershy that she is there to help, they work together over the next couple of days to find the capricorn. While the initial search proves fruitless, an epiphany regarding the nature of capricorns allows Scootaloo to build a device that captures and emits starlight, leading them to the beast.
Returning back to the cottage with the capricorn, they summon Captain Redgale. Unfortunately, the capricorn is gravely wounded after all the time it spent laying out in the forest and is expected to die, something Captain Redgale is quick to blame on Fluttershy's inadequate efforts. Upon her departure however, Fluttershy reveals that while the capricorn will indeed die, she believes the beast to be pregnant. Without a supply of mana crystals to contain the cosmic magic energy of the child however, the foal cannot be born, and will die as well. As they discuss what to do with this, Derpy comes in with Dinky. The capricorn, sensing Dinky's horn as a suitable carrier for it's child, emits it's cosmic energy into Dinky, before passing away. Dinky in turn falls unconscious, and upon awakening becomes delirious, spouting gibberish phrases incessantly.
Worried about how the magical overload may be slowly killing Dinky, the three adult mares argue about what the best course of action is. Harmony wants them to take her to Princess Celestia, believing that to be the best chance to both save the filly as well as fulfill her own objectives of contacting the princess. Fluttershy on the other hoof, believes that finding a mana crystal cave in the forest to be the only chance at survival for either of them. Relenting, Harmony chooses Fluttershy's option, and the they embark into the forest, using Dinky's horn as a compass. Although they encounter a number of problems along the way, including the magical overload from the horn leaving both Fluttershy and Harmony in a weakened state, they manage to push on and find the cave, saving both the foal and Dinky in the process. In the end, they all return safely, and in the final confrontation with Captain Redgale regarding the events of the past few days, it is revealed that Captain Redgale is in fact Fluttershy's own estranged mother, who considers her daughter weak and not worth her love.
Over the course of her time spent on this trip to the past, Scootaloo learns about the nature of Fluttershy's kindness, and of how it is not her weakness, but her strength. She also uncovers a potential lead on the nature of the Cataclysm in the form of Dinky's ramblings regarding an "Onyx Eclipse", among other things, and believe the two to be related. While unsuccessful once again at contacting the Princess, this lead is enough to give her a purpose and focus over the next several trips on what to look for. Returning to the future, she still has the ursa to face, but thanks to the lessons she learned from Fluttershy in both her kindness and her interactions with animals, she successfully calms the beast, and lives to return to Spike once more.
A notable feature of this arc is the secondary plot that runs throughout. It is the story of a night that young Scootaloo spent with Fluttershy before the Cataclysm. The perspective regularly jumps between the two timelines, telling them in parallel as events related to both moments in time occur. In the end, it is revealed that the secondary plot immediately follows the primary one, in so much that Harmony's own influence on Fluttershy led to the existence of the secondary plot, creating a "circle" of events.
Act IV: Dredgemane[]
Following up on what she believes is a clue from Dinky, the Last Pony plans to map out the night sky of pre-Cataclysm Equestria in order to learn more about the Onyx Eclipse. To this end, Spike expects that she will choose to visit Rainbow Dash next. Feeling unprepared to meet her yet however, Harmony instead decides to visit Pinkie Pie next, whose remains, as she discovers, are located underneath a massive piece of the moon that crashed into the equestrian wastes. Utilizing a lightning gun of her own design, she manages to mine her way down through a portion of the moon rock. Venturing down into the tunnels, she stumbles upon the ancient lunar city of Ponymonium, where Nightmare Moon and her followers spent their thousand years of banishment. Descending further, she breaks her way out of the bottom of the moon fragment, and comes across Pinkie's remains, alongside that of Zecora and a number of foals.
Recovering her body, she begins her trek back up. After an altercation with enchanted remnant rock golem guardians from Nightmare Moon's throne room, she narrowly escapes death at their hooves, and once on the surface, sends herself once more back in time to pre-cataclysmic Ponyville. She encounters Pinkie, who proceeds to drag Harmony around on a number of insane and ridiculous tasks, testing the Last Pony's patience to no end. After losing her in a crowd however, she loses cohesion and the trip is cut abruptly short.
Returning back to Spike, she decides once again against his wisdom and her own nature, and wishes to return to Pinkie Pie. This time however, she ends up appearing in the mining city of Dredgemane, where Pinkie Pie was born and raised, and is currently visiting. She soon becomes entangled in Dredgemane's politics and the lives of its citizens, many of which who are succumbing to deadly mineral toxins from the mines, known as infernite.
During her stay, she encounters a masked character known by all as the Royal Grand Biv, who causes havoc in the town by painting everything they encounter in color, as the town leadership has decreed the town should be devoid of color. Harmony and the Royal Grand Biv have a number of encounters and battles, during her stay, and much to her frustration as she is never able to capture them, often due to Pinkie Pie getting in the way.
In the end, Harmony discovers a way to treat the ailing ponies, as well as learns the identity of the Biv, who is none other than Pinkie Pie herself along with her two sisters. Together, they face up against the town leadership, who are still trying to bring them down and restore "peace" and "order" to the town.
Act V: Petra[]
In the upcoming Petra arc, the Last Pony will venture to Petra, one of many grand goblin build tower cities in the post-Cataclysm wasteland, in an attempt to acquire the remains of her long dead hero Rainbow Dash. She is accompanied on her airship by a low caste goblin outcast named Warden. Once in Petra, she soon discovers that the goblin in charge of the city is a long lost enemy of hers, who makes it known that he has no intention of allowing her search for Rainbow Dash's remains.
It has been confirmed that the Petra arc will also also feature a crossover with the official side-story Red Wings, and an encounter between the Last Pony and Red himself.
Characters[]
The Last Pony ("Harmony")[]
A brown pegasus with scarlet eyes who makes a living as a scavenger and a mercenary in the wasteland that was Equestria. Upon meeting Spike, she is tasked with travelling back in time to pre-Cataclysm Equestria. During her journeys into the past, she takes on the form of an invulnerable copper-coated pegasus with a black mane with amber streaks. Her eyes are also amber and she refers to herself as "Harmony". It is revealed in the sixth chapter that she is actually a grown-up Scootaloo.
Spike[]
Having spent over three hundred years (by travelling back and forth in time through the twenty-five years following the Cataclysm) learning and studying in isolation, Spike is much older and wiser than in the show. His green fire breath is what sends the Last Pony back in time, and he is therefore the catalyst for much of what happens in the story.
Brucie[]
A flying squirrel who speaks with a Russian accent. He's a travelling merchant, and one of the few individuals the Last Pony is on relatively good terms with. Most of her supplies are purchased from his shop; a sextuple ballooned dirigible.
In Red Wings, we learn that he sees the Last Pony as more than just a customer and closer to a friend, when takes up arms against Red and kicks him out after the latter mentions his intentions to find and kill her.
Pitt[]
The oldest living brother of the family of twelve brothers who run the Monkey O'Dozen Den, a bar and reststop for zeppelin pilots in post-Cataclysm Equestria. He and the Last Pony are on professional terms with each other, as he is often considered the source of information and news in the wasteland.
"Anchors"[]
In order to travel to the past, the Last Pony must be anchored to the soul of someone still alive in pre-Cataclysm Equestria, whose skeletal remains are still salvagable. These anchors are typically the subject of each arc, and likewise the focus of her adventures into the past. While usually anchored to members of the Mane 6, she has also thus far been anchored to Cheerilee, Doctor Whooves, and either Lyra or Bon Bon, although these encounters were either briefly observed or mentioned in passing.
Prequel[]
The author of EoP has written a 28 000-word indirect prequel, expanding the series' backstory.
- Saros is the story of a sarosian (batpony) in the Lunar Empire on the moon, nearly one thousand years after Luna's banishment there.
Derivative Works[]
dylan1kenobi (also known as Poni1Kenobi) wrote a song based off of the fanfic.
One official sidestory has been written for EoP.
- Red Wings (by PropMaster ) is the story of a diamond dog named Red on a hunt for the Last Pony of the main story.
Several attempts to create an audiobook have been made, though most were rendered obsolete after the story was reedited. Still, there are several that are currently in production and up-to-date with the current edition:
- Audiobook by Prismic Pony (incomplete)
- Audiobook by ZangoWarrior (incomplete)
Reception[]
The End of Ponies has been compared to Fallout: Equestria because of its post-apocalyptic setting and great length. Similarly, it has been called the "Moby Dick of My Little Pony Fanfiction" for its great length, niche appeal and dense language.
An art contest for the story was hosted by typhlosionskingdom on deviantART between February 18 and March 18, 2012. It received sixteen entries.
As of January 2017, the story has now been marked as cancelled. SS&E has posted a blog on FIMFiction.net explaining why.