Tirek got everything he ever wanted. All the magic in Equestria. His vengeance fulfilled. The kingdom in ruin. Yet his fury remained as unrelenting as his newfound power. Countless years after his victory, there is nothing else to conquer, no new horizons to reach, only himself and the voices of the past in a dead world. He pays one last visit to those he plunged in Tartarus on the day of his coronation, as he has done many times before. But this time, something is different. Something is wrong.
Thanks to Reviewfilly for giving me some pointers, as well as other anonymous advisors.
Made it to the box on 06/24/23. Thank you so much, guys, I honestly did not expect that.
Chapters (1)
Scorpan should be featured more in fanfiction, there's some potential with the character. Actually, Tirek overall feels to me unexplored
Good reflection on the theme of hollow victory, I've enjoyed it
That was a really good story. Great prose, very interesting concept, and characterisation that actually made me care about Tirek. And it held my attention all the way through, which is quite an achievement considering my zoomerbrain. Well done.
11618326
That's where I put the most effort, I am so glad it paid off. He's not the deepest or most developed villain, but I always gleamed a lot of potential drama within him.
My zoomer brain managed to type it out, so it makes sense. I'm very glad I managed to get you so engaged, that is a huge boost of confidence to be honest. Also happy you liked the prose, as a ESL I am a bit self-conscious about that.
11618307
I've been of the same mind since 2014, I got stupidly obsessed with both characters for some reason and that is probably reflected here. I'm happy you agree.
Thank you very much, that's what I was going for. I am very glad you liked it.
Also, I appreciate you placing the story in two folders with such flattering names, I am honored.
As I've already said in the thread, awesome story. I really like the characterisations of both Tirek and Scorpan and making Tartarus into an eldritch god / entity is an idea I have never seen before and really like.
Awesome story. It reminds me of Ultron from What if? Tirek had accomplished everything he wanted. To absorb all the magic in the world, grow giant, and take over the world. Now that he's done all that, the world is more or less in shambles and barely functioning, what's left for him to do? He's basically a robot without a purpose. Everyone who was meaningful to him (friend and foe) have had their lives taken leaving him on (essentially) a barren world.
Just goes to show the folly of his plan from the get go as well as the severe repercussions it had.
Extremely mesmerizing. Loved every bit of the dialogue, lore, sights, the world’s remains... and that final scene.
By far, the best Tirek I’ve ever seen written. Well done.
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Either way, I'm happy those ideas got across well (I was afraid I wouldn't be able to properly convey such an out-there concept) and that they were to your liking.
Thanks, Filly. I am really glad you count with your approval for this one. That latter idea is partly based on mythology, but also on some ideas the show threw around. Considering how Tirek managed to live for so long, and how he expected the mane six to stay in Tartarus forever with him, I figured the place had some magical properties meant to keep its inhabitants alive forever. Also, I might be misremembering but I think that in Greek mythology Tartarus was a a primordial entity as well as a space, on the same level as Chaos, Nyx and Gaia, which I thought would add some motive to the prolongation of life. I've looked it up and Tartarus was on the same level as Time, so this kind of ties up nicely with your depiction in "And Time Marched on, Forever"
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You got plenty of stuff right with your observations. I did take inspiration from a couple of Marvel stories. "Hulk: The End" specifically was my main inspiration at first, back in 2016. I left the story abandoned for many years and in that time "Thanos Wins" got out, which also dealt with a similar narrative motive as shown here. The other source of inspiration was just watching the show, asking myself, "what does Tirek actually want?". The moment he got all the magic he just started blasting away at the land, so my first thought was that he just would never stop doing that, until there was nothing left, and then what? Even season 9 proved me right when his only objective was to get bigger. I wanted to see where that mentality leads. You can picture this story taking place in the last future Twilight showed Starlight and you wouldn't be far off. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and considerations on the story, I am really glad you enjoyed it.
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Thanks a lot, Sarge, that means a lot, to have reached such a high bar, I'm really happy I managed to do an interesting take on Tirek. I was concerned about the dialogue since I felt it was both sparse and rambly at the same time, but it seems I might have been wrong. I'll keep it in mind for the future. Also very glad I managed to nail the final scene, I knew I needed a good punch to end such a depressing tale and I'm happy to have been able to deliver.
Color me impressed. Have a fave and like!
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Thanks a lot, Ditzy, I really appreciate it!
11618516 no worries
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I think for this setting, your style of dialogue was the right choice; they went on at length when they needed to. I really liked how it translated to the final scene, because, well, there was nothing that could be said. That freedom... was gone.
And yes, certainly be proud of your Tirek. You gave him a voice that went above and beyond what I could ever expect for him.
I was a Johnny come lately to FiM. I joined right around/after Starlight Glimmer and did a fair amount of binge-watching. I was deeply impressed at how dark Starlight was compared to NMM and Tirek who, if you disregard the comics and anything outside of their debut episodes, followed some pretty standard "arch-villain" cliches. Tirek was basically a heavy-hitter "brute" whose main goal was to take over the world/ gain all the power for himself. Even his backstory only mentioned that he came from a distant land, but not much beyond that.
Your story has a slow creeping sense of unease. Are we watching his descent into madness and despair or is he long since gone and we're seeing all this after the fact? It reminds me of a story about NMM written from her perspective in the form of a journal Day 1 Day 5 Day 10 Day 100 Day 1000, etc.
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In answer to your question, more the latter. The idea here is that he was never stopped after the season 4 finale, and he just continued on his rampage until there was nothing else to destroy. The story takes place after an undetermined number of years, but we're talking about centuries, after he pretty much killed everyone except for the characters featured in the story.
Regarding the rest, I was into FiM from more or less a few weeks into season 3, but that's barely a couple of years apart from you, so it doesn't matter that much. Yeah, Starlight was something else in depth and methodology (which IMO they undermined greatly with such a lame backstory, every other villain had much more going for them when they had one -NMM, Chryssy, Tirek, even Discord-), which, if given the same treatment as I have given Tirek, would result in quite an interestingly fucked up world. Here I mainly wanted to focus on what happens when such an obsessive narcissistic powerhungry maniac can do whatever he wants.
Great read. Tirek's one of my favorite villains and he (alongside Scorpan) being utilized is always a blast. Seeing the familial/father-issues that got prodded at but never expanded on in canon is an absolute treat as well. Props to you!
That said, a few errors I noticed;
Again, awesome job!
Wow.
What other words can be spoken other than 'wow'? This story is just impactful. I loved every single thing about this story. All of the dialogue, the history, the remains of a world ruined. I almost forgot I was reading a fanfiction and not a published piece of literature, the story was that good. Tirek had always been a villain I liked (I'm a big fan of guys like these, especially Akuma), and I was disappointed with the way he was treated during the final season. Everything about him that made him Tirek was stripped away. But now? Goosebumps. The best rendition of Tirek ever. Nothing can top this.
Wow.
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I completely agree that her backstory was a pretty big let down.
Some of my favorite stories on here explore the myriad what ifs of all those alternate realities.
You know, if he really wanted to, with all that magic power within him can't he just go back in time and restart his madness of killing everything? Or was Glimmer the only pony who knows how to time travel?
11618512
No problem. You wrote a very compelling story and masterfully portrayed the emotions of isolation, loneliness, and desperation Tirek must have felt in his situation. Very well done. Is it safe to assume that the planet is completely barren and he banished himself to Tartarus as an act of self isolation? No life is left on it? Or is there a few stragglers left trying to survive the wasteland?
Hmm. One day, Tirek, you will have spent as much time wandering about the empty waste as you ever did doing every thing that you enjoyed -- and then ten times more that -- and then a hundred more -- and then a thousand -- and then you will still have eternity ahead of you. Enjoy you victory -- much joy may it bring you.
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Glad I could pay a good tribute to another fan of Tirek's! His family issues always seemed very intriguing to me, I kind of like that the show just hinted at them, allowing for a lot of room for creativity in that regard. Thank you very much for pointing out those typos, next time I'll have to be more patient with my proofreading and less overzealous to publish right away.
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That is some high praise right there, thank you very much, man. I didn't expect that kind of reception. I am so happy that I have reached such a high point in his characterization. It might be because he's not the most popular villain and as such there is not as much competition in portraying him as there is with other villains such as NMM and Discord (despite the profile picture I doubt I'd be able to get such a good read on him as to merit the same praise I'm getting right now for Tirek). I did not mind him in season 9, he was fine, but yeah, we lost something on the way. Too comedic, he lost that sense of menace and of "shit, this guy is a literal walking apocalypse" he had on season 4, so I stuck mostly to that characterization. Again, I really appreciate your appraisal.
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ITT story I don't think he would be able to do that, for once, there is no Friendship Castle and thus, no map. But also, time travel is a very sophisticated and well kept secret that not even the Royal Sisters knew how to perform, only Star Swirl and the ponies who studied his work, something tha Tirek obviously did not do. Either way, that's an interesting suggestion I hadn't considered, it would indeed lead itself to a "forever war" if he knew how
11618753
I suppose that is up in the air, since we're only getting his perspective on the matter, but I do believe that everyone else is dead, either killed by him or by the destruction he left behind. As to whether he headed back into Tartarus at the end or not, that is up to the reader to decide. He does contemplate both options, killing him and reigning supreme forever, or walking in to his own death voluntarily, after which Tartarus would die too with no one to feed on.
11618780
You got that right.
The top of the peak is truly the loneliest place of all.
11618882
Especially if you built that peak by stacking corpses.
This is one of the most unique and well made "the last person in the world" stories I have seen.
I do not find it all that sad even. It is merely... satisfying. I am happy and content with the ending.
VERY well made, word-smith!
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Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. I do enjoy those "last person alive" stories as well.
"Hulk feels . . . cold."
11618978
You got me.
This was beautiful. The dialogue was great. The descriptions were amazing. I never realized how much "last person alive" stories interest me until now. Tirek to me is a pretty interesting character and you made him all the more interesting. I hope you continue writing cause you're super talented, good stuff.
A very solid character piece. A little bit of "what would Sisyphus feel at the top of the hill" finished with a little bit of "Kars flying off into space for 16 quadrillion years." I've never found Tirek to be all that interesting - not a bad baddie, mind you, but mostly interesting as a natural disaster-esque counterpoint to the values of horse-world. In the same way that Discord functions as a counterpoint to Harmony, but at a much darker and starker level, Tirek functions as a counterpoint to the rest of themesong - the literal opposite of the Magic of Friendship, he functions as the Un-Magic of tyranny and hatred. In that way, he is an excellent existential big-bad to Equestria - yet, that premise doesn't really him to be inherently interesting. We got glimpses of reasons to care throughout the canon (family, for ex.), but I think you made a great decision to place him in this triumphant yet meaningless state. There, we get to see the meat of your story, as well as the primary philosophical question which your premise entails and explores - once Tyranny prevails and friendship is, by virtue of extermination of all potential friends, eliminated - does a being, even one so purely ontologically evil, actually enjoy the world created?
11619008
One of the best getting your wish and having to live with it moments in comic book history.
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Thanks a lot, man
. I'm glad my story pleased you.
11619154
Hey man, thanks for providing your valuable insight, I very much enjoy your interpretation and agree with it wholeheartedly. In the end Tirek is the most miserable antagonist of the bunch, he's the loneliest and the least likely to change or realize why he needs to change. Then again, season 9 proved he was the least likely to betray the others, which in a way seems to imply he does hold loyalty in high regard (his brother, how baffled he was at Twilight's acceptance of Discord, how angry he got at both Chryssy and Cozy when they showed the first signs, etc.), but at the same time he's entirely hypocritical in regards to whom he considers worthy of respect. Basically, Tirek can never be happy, will never be happy, because he cares for no one but himself. Even when he had a chance to have a friend in Discord he screwed him over and cemented his own fault. I very much support the ideals predicated by the show, it's one of the reasons I like it so much, so to have a glimpse into a world in which that ideal is impossible is tantamount to opening the way to a life that is just not worth living. That's what Tirek might be realizing at the end. Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts.
11618449 Same thing if NMM won: a dead dark world. And she clearly has no idea what to do after she wins.
Sombra at least had goals: crystals and slaves!
"Oh Hail Mighty Tirek! The Lord & Master of Nothing! May he have a long & prosperous life!"
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It'll be long, alright.
11619279
True, though we did see a timeline where she did take over and everything was just fine in the night. Even though that doesn't make any sense. It was just thrown in there.
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But just imagine it, him going back in time, time and time again, to fight all the time but doing it different times, perhaps even giving his enemies false hope before crushing it cruelly. But probably in one such timeline that the good guys wins before he reverse it.
11619547 That whole episode was pretty much thrown together. The only alt timeline that automatically made sense was the Discord one, since he'd curbstomp everyone with his original nature.
The other thing that made no sense was that after returning to the same moment in the past over and over, Twilight and Starlight should have kept bumping into other earlier versions of them altering the timeline at that point.
Time travel plots need to be left to super-geniuses who can handle the many paradoxes that are unavoidable with backwards time travel. With FORWARD time travel, it's not so messy. It can still technically cause a paradox, cuz if you come back to YOUR present and change events, then the future you visited will no longer happen, so technically recent past you couldn't have visited that future since it no longer exists in the future, but since it's already a set point in your timeline that you DID visit that future... see the paradox?
The only alternative is the notion that every action splits the cosmos into infinite universes based on every thing... but that makes for a staggering problem: that means a single atom moving in one direction or another creates entire new universes... meaning creating the energy equivalent of the universe countless times ever femtosecond, which utterly violates pretty much all the physics of everything.
It means the energy density of the multiverse would be increasing at a rate even beyond logarithmic scales! It's practically incomprehensible.
Absolutely fascinating, this is. I've never thought about 'what if Tirek won?' scenarios. Definition of Pyrrhic Victory can be found here.
If you have read Goldfur's 'Off The Mark' series, from chapter 90 or so to the end, his way of defeating Tirek and sending him off is as fascinating as your version of his victory. If you have not read it, I suggest you try. Allow lots of time, though. Three printed volumes.
Uptick #98. I've never reached such heights myself. Well-earned. Thank you.
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Reality doesn't always adhere to logic anyway
That is why I ruled out in my AU that everything is magic, including logic
You're welcome.
Also that episode can be just interpreted as another huge test for Twilight imo. Every time Starswirl is involved things are fishy
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I'm not familiar, and it seems like an extreme undertaking, but I will consider it. Thank you very much for your kind words, I'm glad you liked it.
11619770 Those were experiments on the influences of particle-wave duality and the appearance of 'choice' by the photon approaching a slit detector.
Now that we understand much more of the physics of this photon particle-wave duality, the behavior is predictable and logical. It has to do with wave function interference, the phases being different depending upon the angles of deflection, and the contributions of the entire apparatus influencing the quantum state of the photons. We also see this with gravitational lensing, where 4 or more 'copies' of the background object can be seem, wrapped around the distortion from the massive foreground object, and amplified to varying degrees dependent upon the mass distribution in the foreground object.
It's the exact same light, but appearing to be split into 4 or more images of differing intensity and amplification, due to these same quantum particle-wave duality principles.
11619874
That's curious. I should perform a more thorough work with my sources then, thank you 😁