“He died... Sssaving the city... No, that's not true... He sssaved the city, yes... But he died ssssaving me. I ssssaid, "I'm not worth it." He said, "Everyone's worth it."

Faith and… er… The God Squad: Equestria’s Most Wanted
Episode 43- Tydal vs. Tirek: If You Seek His Monument, Look Around You

Shining let out a sigh of relief, slowly rising back to his hooves as he felt strength and power return to his body. He had tried to watch the battle but the storm clouds that had gathered had blocked much of his view, the dark skies and thundering booms of lightning cutting through the air making it impossible to tell what was happening. All he could do was hope… hope that the mad god who was the source of his stress headaches and who annoyed him to no end and who he constantly fought with…

And then the clouds were driven away by rainbow light and his magic was returned. He turned, grinning as he saw his sister and one of her friends floating beside him, their manes in… utterly ridiculously mane cuts (not that he’d ever tell them that; Mama ain’t raised no fool!)… and grins on their faces as they passed through Canterlot, returning all that Tirek had stolen.

“Are you okay sir?” Wall Breaker asked. “Logic Point and I were watching everything from Princess Celestia’s Evil Villain-Proof Panic Room-“

“Wait, what?” Shining said, staring at the two. “If the princesses had… no, wait,” Shining held up a hoof. “I don’t want to know. Wall Breaker, I need you to gather the forces. While I assume my sister and her friends are saving the princesses we need to locate Lord Tydal, his student Sunset Shimmer, and Queen Chrysalis. They were headed to confront Tirek.”

“Shall I find them in conventional means or Pinkie Pie means?” Wall Breaker asked with a salute.

Wall Breaker nodded and tapped a door three times before opening it and causing Chrysalis and Sunset to tumble out. Shining considered questioning what he’d just seen but when he thought about his sister’s mane style cut and that all of Equestria had just been conquered by someone with two sets of ribcages he decided now was not the time for deep thoughts. Instead he rushed to the two and helped them out. “Hey… it’s okay!” He said with a grin. “Tirek is defeated any everyone has… their…” he trailed off, looking at the tear-stained faces of the two. “What happened?”

Twilight waved goodbye as the last of the Ponyville residents left the castle and began the trek back to their homes. The emerging of the new castle (which she hadn’t named yet by Spike wanted to call ‘The Technodrome’ for some odd reason) had been the spark to set off a town-wide party that delighted all and had Pinkie going into a party-induced bliss. Everyone, so thrilled to have returned to normal and knowing that the newest princess had saved the day, had gathered to sing and celebrate Tirek’s defeat and the victory achieved once more by the newly-minted Princess of Friendship.

But, after several hours, the townsfolk had decided to head back home, each of them quietly deciding that after such a stressful day the Princesses and their close friends deserved some rest. The last to leave were Applejack and Rarity’s families, all of whom promised to continue the festivities once the country mare and the fashionista got home.

That left Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Discord in the castle with the Mane 6 and Spike, all of them relaxing after a hectic few hours. They had sang and danced and ate and reveled in their victory and now all sat quietly by the thrones that had appeared in the castle, simply enjoying the quiet.

“…you know, it would be nice if we could end a season without a big giant crisis,” Pinkie said. “Like in season 1 with the Grand Galloping Gala!”

But Pinkie continued on as if she hadn’t been interrupted. “The last season ended nice enough with Twilight becoming a princess but that only happened because she goofed up a spell-“

“-and the time before that invasion at Princess Cadence’s wedding. You know, the one led by that black bug pony… what was her name again?” Pinkie tapped her chin. “It is on the tip of my tongue… no one tell me, let me figure it out!” Pinkie thought long and hard. “It was… hmmm.”

The doors of the throne room slammed open and Shining hurried in, Sunset right behind him, and on the rear was-

“Hey! I wanted to figure it out!” Pinkie exclaimed before realizing who’d shown up. “Oh! Hiya! Did you come here for the party?”

Sunset stared at the gathered ponies in shock and disgust. “Party? Party!?! How dare you!” She lit up her horn but Shining stopped her.

“Shining?” Cadence said. She’d begun towards him, wanting to give him many hugs (of both foreleg and mouth variety) only to stop when she saw that his eyes were red from crying. “What… what is it?”

Discord, for his part, suddenly stopped smiling and sat down on the ground with a thud, not having the energy to even make a chair. “Oh no.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What’s the big deal? We saved the day, everyone is safe… right?”

It was Celestia who spoke. “Where… where is Tydal?” She knew there was no way her brother would have remained at his Keep if she were in danger so he must have come to save the day only to be late... he was just late. That was all.

Sunset began to sob and Shining merely held her close, too emotional to speak. It fell to Chrysalis to utter the words.

Luna took a step forward only to stop suddenly. “You… you mean he’s hurt, don’t you? He was injured? Have you taken him-“

“Princess,” Rarity said quietly, Fluttershy joining Sunset in crying when she realized what the changeling was getting at, “we saw him when we went to the Tree of Harmony. He… he stayed behind.”

“To hold the line, again Tirek,” Applejack murmured, removing her hat. She looked to Chrysalis. “He… did he…”

“He held the line,” Chrysalis whispered, her words nearly drowned out by the soft sobbing of Sunset Shimmer. “Till the bitter end.” Applejack dropped her gaze and placed her hat over her heart while Rainbow stopped flying and landed to the ground.

“No… no!” Luna screamed. “He… he didn’t! He couldn’t! Tirek… Tirek could never defeat him…”

“He could… with our magic,” Discord whispered, looking at his own hands. “We killed him.”

Celestia whipped around and raged. “Don’t you dare, Discord! Don’t you dare say that! I am in no mood for one of your tricks!”

“This is all some big gag, isn’t it? One of your pranks!” Her horn flared but Discord made no attempt to shield himself. “Tell me where he is! TELL ME!”

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted, the alicorn of the sun stopped as reality came crashing back down upon her. “Please… Discord…” Twilight stopped speaking when her teacher turned around, everyone frozen by the look of utter pain and devastation upon her face. Cadence was hugging Luna, the two seeking solace with one another in their grief, now while even Spike blew his nose, wanting to claim that he had dust in his eye but feeling that wouldn’t be right. Even Pinkie was in tears, her mane deflating like a limp balloon. Twilight took a step forward and the soft click of her hoof seemed to be the trigger for Celestia as the white alicorn fell to the ground in an undignified heap, her mane falling to cover her face as she let out hiccuping gasps. Twilight stepped closer, her own vision blurring as she watched her mentor. “Are… are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Celestia asked with a bitter little laugh. “No Twilight…” she looked up, her ethereal mane shifting so her beloved student could see the tears in her eyes, and in the smallest of voices said, “…my daddy is dead.”

Finally Rainbow managed to ask, “Did… did he have a good death?” the others stared at her and she weakly shrugged. “I didn’t spend much time with him… only when he first woke up from the stone sleep… but he was a warrior. He wouldn’t have wanted to die in his bed or slowly bleeding out. He’s… he’s like me.” She couldn’t look at her friends as she said, “I don’t want to die old and feeble. I want to go out saving Equestria or pulling off an imposible stunt. He would have been the same way.”

Discord spoke after a few moments, looking almost puzzled. “I’ve never truly felt the world without him.” He reached out, as if stroking the threads of magic itself that connected all life. “This will reverberate throughout the world. Our family will grieve… and the fighting will begin.”

“The fighting?” Twilight asked in confusion from where she sat next to the mourning Celestia.

Chrysalis nodded ever so slightly. “He was one of the Elder Gods… the fifth oldest being in existence. The God of the Sea… of the Storms… of War… gods, demigods, and beings of power throughout the world will rally to claim his titles as his own. We have to be ready.”

“That’s not how it works,” Discord said. “We have to ensure his wishes are met… and that those that would seek to steal his birthright never succeed.”

Celestia refused to say a word so Luna was the one who spoke. “Merida must be told… she must take over as the Master of the Seven Seas. It is only right. For storms I suppose that will pass back to Fuzzy or one of his children.”

“Of course,” Discord said, for once sounding very old. “You were and shall ever be… his friend.”

Shining stood a bit straighter even as he blinked back tears. “Then I will fight to claim the title.” Cadence flashed him a watery smile, making it clear she would support him in his quest.

“We need to do something,” Celestia said at long last. “To honor him.” She looked down the hall but all sensed she was looking out farther than just the castle walls. “He saved us all and no one knows it. We celebrated and sang while the last of his magic lingered in the air. He deserves praise and song… he deserved to have all remember his name. For everypony to know that our freedom was paid with a heavy price.”

“No,” Shining said, shocking them all. Sunset whipped around, ready to yell at him, to tell him off, knowing that he and Tydal had always bickered and he was probably glad the Capricorn was gone despite what he’d just said minutes earlier… only to stop. Sunset could only look at Shining as he stared at them all, tears in his eyes. “He wouldn’t have wanted that. For all his boasting, for all his ego… he was a humble ruler… a humble hero. He would have laughed at a statue and bucked apart any monument that we’d have put up. He would have thought a holiday stupid and mocked those that came out of the woodwork proclaiming their love for him as mere yes-ponies looking to get in the good graces of the princesses.”

“We have to do something,” Luna exclaimed. “Something to show the world…”

“Yes,” Shining said. “We do. But he doesn’t need some stone statue or engraved metal plague on a pole.” He lowered his head and sniffed before forcing himself to look up again. “We will be his monument. He died saving this country… and I will not allow it to fall after what he gave up to buy us even one more day. We will continue on, we will grow stronger… and every breath we take will be a testament to his sacrifice. Let Equestria be his monument and every day we live free a testament to his sacrifice.”

“Twilight,” Celestia said weakly, “I don’t want to see anypony. I… I can’t deal with their smiles right now.”

“I’ll answer,” Chrysalis said, hoping that, maybe, her appearance would scare whoever it was at the door away. But when she opened it she found herself pushed aside as the visitor stomped in.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle?” a grim stallion said as he entered the throneroom, looking to all like he owned the place. He was wearing a long trench coat that hid most his body and a fedora that covered his features, making him look rather sinister.

“I’ve got something for you…” he reached into his coat pocket and Celestia and Twilight’s horns lit up, ready for an attack… only for them to dim when they saw what he was holding. “A letter!”

Spike huffed. “A letter to her? That's impossible! I give her all her mail! Who the heck are you?”

“Pony Express,” the stallion said, removing his hat and wiping his brow while Twilight magically took the letter from him. “Actually a bunch of us at the office were hoping that you could shed a little light on the subject of that little item. You see, we've had this envelope in our possession for the past one thousand years.”

“I know,” the stallion stated with a laugh. “Legend states that Starswirl the Bearded himself appeared, glowing blue like a spectre, and gave it to us with explicit instructions that it be delivered to a purple alicorn answering to the name of Twilight Sparkle in this town, at this exact time, on this exact date. We had a little bet to see if you would actually be here.” He she let out laugh. “Looks like I lost.”

Sunset held up a hoof, still sniffing back tears. However, the revelation the Pony Express Carrier had said gave her something to focus on. “You… did say a thousand years, right?”

“One Thousand years, 2 months, 12 days to be precise.” He turned to Twilight and asked her to sign but Twilight, too befuddled by the whole situation, merely used her magic to open the ancient-looking letter. Her eyes scanned the letter, instantly falling to the signature:

“Daddy?” Luna whispered, rising onto shaking limbs. Shining’s eyes went wide and Celestia and Cadence looked at each other before rushing over. Chrysalis let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding and Discord floated above Twilgiht’s head as everyone gathered around to read over Twilight’s shoulder.

“Everypony, please… please give Twilight some room,” Celestia hiccuped. “Twilight… please…”

Twilight nodded and began to read. “'Dear Twilight, if my calculations are correct you shall receive this letter 4 hours after you and your friends defeated Tirek. I hope, in that time, you have freed the princesses, rescued Shining Armor, and located Chrysalis and Sunset Shimmer. I also hope you forgive Discord… he was taken in by lies and I hope you can forgive him’.” Discord sniffed, grabbing Luna’s hair and using it as a hanky. “’By now I imagine Chrysalis told you of my battle with Tirek. Please let me assure you that I am… alive and well’.”

Twilight continued. “’I have been living happily and quietly these past eight months in the year 535 AD. The magical blast that...’ 535! September 535!”

The Pony Express carrier, who’d been listening in, blinked in surprise as the ponies began to celebrate, their tears and mourning instantly forgotten with that news. “Whoa! Wait, princess! What's this all about?”

Sunset nodded, a huge grin on her face. “He’s trapped in Old Equestria but he’s alive!”

The entire group began to rush towards the door, leaving the confused mail carrier standing by the thrones in their wake. “Wait a minute, princess. You need help?”

Twilight turned, glancing at her friends, family, and mentors before shaking her head, a grin on her face.

“I’ll get it, Derpy!” Throwing up the door of his TARDIS the Doctor blinked at the sight of Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Discord, Shining Armor, Cadence, Chrysalis, and Sunset all standing before him, watching him rather intently. “Uh… “

“By royal decree,” Celestia stated firmly, “we need you, the Doctor of Gallopfrey, to give us use of your TARDIS so that we might bring Lord Tydal back… to the future.”

The God Squad: Equestria’s Mightiest Immortals

Episode 1: The Search for Tydal

The God Squad: Equestria's Most Wanted

by defender2222

Tydal vs. Tirek: If You Seek His Monument, Look Around You