My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Reharmonization Pony POV Side-Story Fan-Fic
Episode Title: "Neo Stream B.D. - True End"
Written By Jordan Dean "Mystery" Ezekude
Inspired By And With Contributions By Alex Warlorn
Day XX/XX/XXXX
1 Hour Before Death
Ponyville Hospital Main Entrance
Ponyville
Six weeks have passed since I admitted myself to the hospital for mental rehabilitation. Strangely enough, it almost feels like it's been three whole months.
I can't help but wonder what's been going on in Ponyville during my absence. I doubt that anypony besides my mother will recognize me after all this time. And, considering my outbursts at the Grand Galloping Gala and the Beautiful Day Café, I think that would be for the best.
Regardless, today is my last day here. After six long weeks of therapy, counselling and intensive book reading, I'm finally ready to go home. This morning, I was officially discharged from the ward and declared fully rehabilitated.
By the time I set hoof outside the main entrance with Bright Light, I honestly felt like most of my past troubles were gone for good; not a single trace of resentment nor malice in my mind. I finally have enough confidence to face society again.
"Well, I guess this is it," sighed Bright Light. "I bet the ward staff will miss you in a couple of weeks. We don't often get patients as polite and charming as you."
"Is that so?" I chuckled, blushing a little. "Well, I'll remember to call you if I need any help in the future."
"Please do," she smiled. "I'll look forward to seeing you again."
"Me too," I smiled back. "Well, I better get going. I don't want to keep my mother waiting! Thank you for everything!" Thus, with little hesitation, I took off and started heading for home.
"You're very welcome, Neo!" she called, waving me goodbye. "Take care of yourself! And please give my regards to your mother!"
Those words of encouragement were enough to fill me with anticipation. Never before have I felt this excited about coming home and reuniting with my mother!
I mean, there was the aftermath of Discord's awakening and, on top of that, my nightmarish run-in with She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named. But, on those two incidents, I was only separated from my mother for a couple of hours.
The last time I saw her face-to-face was during her visit at the ward last fortnight. Every week or two, she would come over to ask me how I'm doing and tell me about stuff that's been happening in Ponyville while I was away. I've heard that Vexel and Beta have had very little to do since my absence. They must miss me as much as my mother does. And, on days she couldn't visit, we would exchange letters with one another.
Well, those days are finally coming to an end! Just another mile or two and I'll be home again! Then, once I reunite with my dear, sweet mother, I can finally start my life anew!
"Hold on, Mom," I said to myself as I was trotting towards Ponyville. "I'm coming ho--"
"Huh!?!?"
Just when I least expected it, I felt the ground beneath me shake for a split-second. The force was enough to send me tumbling down a small hill. Thankfully, it wasn't so much that I ended up hitting bottom. Still, that short but violent quake could've easily paralyzed me; that's how startled I was.
As soon as I stopped tumbling, I slowly started to pick myself up again. My eyes were darting everywhere anxious to know what caused the ground to shake. But I was greeted with nothing but silence; long, smoothing silence. Sadly, that silence didn't last long.
Before I knew it, the ground below me completely disappeared and I found myself plummeting down a seemingly bottomless pit, screaming all the way down. Thus, before I could cry out for help, everything went black.
Day XX/XX/XXXX
10 Minutes Before Death
Sea of Nothingness
Unknown
I couldn't imagine how far I fell from the surface. I couldn't even guess how long I was unconscious for. My sense of time was almost entirely lost. My body felt so heavy that I could barely move, let alone think straight. All I could do was listen to the sound of waves growing louder and louder with each crash upon the sand.
When I finally opened my eyes, I found myself in the middle of a cold, deserted beach at midnight. The sky and the ocean were black, the stars and the moon were shining dimly above and a tremendous cliff made up of thousands of black and blue rocks surrounded me.
"Is this a dream?" I somehow managed to mutter.
"YOU ARE NOT DREAMING," a formidable feminine voice suddenly hissed from nowhere. "THIS IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH; ABSOLUTE REALITY."
That cold and emotionless yet booming whisper was enough to force me back on my feet. I anxiously spun around in search of the voice's owner, feeling more on edge than ever. I was desperate to find whoever was calling me, but there was nopony there...
...Nopony but...
"Mom!?"
I saw her lying on the sand not too far away from me. I instantly recognized her from her cutie mark; a pair of crimson roses connected by one vine. Her body was almost completely covered in bruises. She looked as if she somehow survived a fall from a great height...like how I did.
"Mom!!" I immediately cried as I staggered towards her. "Mom, are you alright!?"
"Oh, Neo...!" she sighed with great relief. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you again...!!"
"What happened to you, Mom!?"
"I-I don't know," she replied. "The last th-thing I remember was preparing pasta with g-grated cheese to celebrate your...discharge. Then, all of a sudden, the house started shaking and I found m-myself falling down an endless hole."
"Good heavens," I uttered with widened eyes. There was absolutely zero chance of this being a coincidence. Either there's been a terrible earthquake in Ponyville or...we're both in deep shit...
"Neo...? What is it?"
"THIS IS NO EARTHQUAKE," the mysterious voice boomed once more. "THIS IS NOTHINGNESS."
Upon hearing that disturbing voice once again, we immediately turned in its direction. It was then that we spotted a middle-aged unicorn hovering above the black ocean. She wore a steel-blue cloak with a torn hood hiding her eyes from us. The voice seemed to be coming from her...or so we thought.
Next thing we knew, we both stared in true horror as an unspeakably terrifying dragon-like head gradually emerged from the depths of the ocean just behind the hovering unicorn. Her serpentine face bore a somewhat passing resemblance to...
"D-D-D-Discord!?!?" I stammered hysterically.
"DISCORD IS MY SON," the fearsome dragon-like creature hissed. "I AM ENTROPY, THE END-OF-ALL-THINGS; THE FINAL MATHEMATICAL TRUTH THAT LIES AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE."
Those words hit me harder than anything I've ever heard in my life, even more so than Fluttershy confessing her crimes as "Princess Gaia" at the Grand Galloping Gala. First of all, Discord had a family!? And this is his mother!? Secondly, she's "the truth that lies at the end of the universe"!? Does that mean that...we're...we're dead!?!?
"Wh-What do you want from us!?" I nervously questioned. "Why a-are we here!?"
"I HAVE SUMMONED YOU HERE, YOUNG NAPOLEON EURABATRES STREAM," she bellowed in response. "FOR I INTEND TO BRING YOUR DEEPEST DESIRES TO FRUITION."
"M-my deepest...desires...?" I whispered in utter confusion.
"DOES YOUR HEART HUNGER FOR DESTRUCTION, BOY?" she continued. "DOES YOUR HEART SCREAM OUT IN RAGE? DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THEM?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," I shakily replied.
"DO NOT EVEN DARE TO THINK YOU CAN LIE TO ME," Entropy snarled with no change in facial expression. "TWO MONTHS AGO, YOU WERE BETRAYED BY A DEAR FRIEND OF YOURS. SHE TURNED EVERYPONY YOU KNEW AND LOVED AGAINST YOU AND USED THEM TO MAKE YOU SUFFER."
It didn't take long for me to figure out that she was talking about Fluttershy and her actions as Princess Gaia.
"SHE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY SEVERE CRIMES; ABDUCTION, TRESPASSING, THEFT, BLACKMAIL, TORTURE AND, ABOVE ALL, MANIPULATION. YET DESPITE THE SEVERITY OF HER CRIMES, SHE WAS EASILY FORGIVEN BY THE GULLIBLE EQUESTRIAN MASSES. FOR THOSE FEW WHO WERE NOT SO GULLIBLE INCLUDING YOURSELF, THEY WERE UNJUSTLY PERSECUTED TO THE VERY ENDS OF THE PLANET."
Those...few? Was she talking about Coffee Swirl besides me?
"RIGHTFULLY FEELING BETRAYED AND REJECTED BY EQUESTRIA ITSELF, YOU FELT PREPARED TO SEVER ALL TIES TO THE WORLD YOU ONCE LOVED. RIGHTFULLY HEARTBROKEN AND ENRAGED BY SUCH CRUELTY, YOU PRAYED FOR JUSTICE AND RETRIBUTION UPON THEM ALL. AND YOU SAW YOURSELF DELIVERING THAT VERY RETRIBUTION TO ALL THOSE WHO BETRAYED YOU."
It was then that I fully understood what she was talking about. She was retelling my traumatic experiences during and after the Princess Gaia incident...including my omnicidal nightmare in which I destroyed Equestria myself. These must be the "desires" that she wishes to fulfill.
"That...w-was just a dream," I uncomfortably spoke, unable to deny anything. "It was a dream that didn't come true; a dream that should never come true!"
"DO NOT MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF," Entropy hissed. "YOU CANNOT LIE TO ME. NOR CAN YOU LIE TO YOURSELF. DEEP IN YOUR HEART OF HEARTS, YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I DO THAT EQUESTRIA IS ROTTEN. EQUESTRIA IS NOTHING MORE THAN A DYING WASTELAND. ITS INHABITANTS ARE DROWNING IN A CESSPOOL OF CHAOS, SELFISHNESS, HYPOCRISY, ILLOGIC AND, WORST OF ALL, SELF-DESTRUCTION. IF LEFT ALONE, THEY WILL CONTINUE TO GRADUALLY DESTROY EACH OTHER AND THEMSELVES TO THE END OF TIME. YOU KNOW THAT ALL TOO WELL. YOU HAVE KNOWN SINCE THE DAY EQUESTRIA BETRAYED YOU."
I didn't know how to respond to her statement. There may have been times in the past when I felt like Equestria was no place worth living in, but...
"IT IS NOT TOO LATE," she continued. "THERE IS STILL TIME. EQUESTRIA MAY BE INCAPABLE OF SAVING ITSELF, BUT IT CAN STILL BE PUT OUT OF ITS MISERY. NAPOLEON EURABATRES STREAM, THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO REDEEM YOURSELF; YOUR LAST CHANCE TO MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL. ABANDON ALL HOPE YOU HAVE FOR EQUESTRIA AND END ITS SUFFERING ONCE AND FOR ALL...OR CEASE TO EXIST ALONG WITH EVERY LAST MISERABLE INHABITANT. IT IS YOUR CHOICE."
Then, just like that, silence; absolute silence. No words spoken, no drastic movements, nothing. This moment was far too familiar to me. After a few seconds, the words of the Discord in my nightmare started to faintly echo in my head.
"Silly, silly colt! You don't need me to become a Nightmare! You've had the power to become a Nightmare ever since you were born. In fact, everypony's had that power. Even earth ponies could become Nightmares if they wanted to! You just never realized this power. And because of that, you never chose whether or not to harness it."
"You can be whatever you want to be. You can be yourself, you can be a pegasus, a unicorn, a Nightmare. Heck, you can even be me for a day!"
"All you need is the will to make it happen."
Then, my words started to echo along with his.
"I can become anything."
"All I need is the will to make it happen."
"The will to make it happen."
"Make it happen."
"Make it happen."
"No," I whispered. My voice was no longer shaking, at least not noticeably.
"I BEG YOUR PARDON," Entropy hissed. "SPEAK UP."
"I said no!" I firmly repeated. "I can't do it...No, I won't do it! I have no reason to do such a horrible thing!!"
"Seven weeks ago, everything you just said about me might've been true...and perhaps I would've accepted your offer. I admit that I have considered murdering Fluttershy for what she did as Princess Gaia...hence me dreaming about destroying Equestria with my bare hooves...But, I'm not the same pony I was back then! Now I know for sure that total destruction creates nothing! It may end all sorrow and suffering in the world, but it would also end all joy and happiness with it! So...I don't care what you do to me. I'm going to speak the truth..."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before releasing my last words addressed to her.
"I'd rather die than end all of Equestria!!!"
Thus, another period of silence. Entropy didn't say a word. She just continued to stare down into my very soul, not blinking once, not even moving a muscle. Perhaps she knew all along that I would never join her, but she still wanted to see if I would.
"YOU TRULY DISAPPOINT ME, NAPOLEON EURABATRES STREAM," Entropy finally bellowed, breaking the silence. "I HAD HOPED THAT YOU WOULD BECOME ONE OF US. YOU COULD HAVE REPLACED DESTRUCTION AND BECOME MY NEW SON. YOU COULD HAVE PROVEN YOURSELF A MORE WORTHY CHILD THAN DISCORD AND END HIS TOMFOOLERY. I WOULD HAVE ACCEPTED YOU AS ONE OF MY FAMILY. THE POWER OF THE DRACONEQUI WOULD HAVE BEEN YOURS. YET YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON IT ALL OUT OF FEAR OF DIRTYING YOUR SOUL."
At that moment, her facial expression finally changed; she frowned down upon me...with absolute contempt. On top of it all, her fangs were more exposed than ever. That could only mean one thing...
...She was going to devour us.
"SO BE IT. FROM THIS MOMENT ON, YOU HAVE NO FUTURE. NOR DO YOU HAVE A PAST. YOU AND YOUR PRECIOUS MOTHER ARE NO USE TO ME NOW. YOU ARE NO USE TO ANYONE. NOTHING AWAITS YOU NOW; NOTHING BUT NOTHINGNESS ITSELF."
Well, I guess this is it. This is the end for me...
I had absolutely no idea of what would become of me and my mother. In fact, I didn't even want to think about it. All I knew for sure was that I was going to spend the last moments of my life with my mother.
I had no time to look back on my short life; no time for reminiscence nor regret. But I didn't mind. Being with my mother was all that mattered to me.
Thus, all I could do was tearfully hold her in my arms one last time as a pair of fangs as big as Equestria itself slowly but surely descended upon us.
"I love you, Neo," she sobbed.
"I love you too, Mom," I softly replied with a faint smile.
And so, after one final exchange of love between mother and son, Napoleon Eurabatres Stream, and his beloved mother, Florence Elizabeth, were erased from this plane of existence without a single trace.
Thus ends the tragic tale of the Stream family; a tale which nopony can recall or retell due to their removal from time and space. And so, I write to you in hopes of letting their existences be known once again.
I wish to save their existences from obscurity so that their mistakes are not repeated by others; so that future generations do not suffer what they suffered.
Thank you for your time, Your Highness.
Your faithful Time Lord,
Doctor Whooves X