For crimes there is justice. Justice that is met out by juries, judges, accusers, and defenders. The life of another is put in the hands of so many others; other that can either condemn or save their soul. Many -if not all- souls can be saved from their crimes and can meet justice with just punishment. But there are some that cannot be saved. Some creatures of this world that have no remorse, love, or kindness in their hearts. For them, justice is always done with a firm stomp.
Cells. Jails. Banishment. These are the things that await criminals who show no remorse for their actions. However, time may still blossom in them a bloom of hope that they can yet be reformed. In these cases, the binds of their entrapment may yet still be broken and themselves released. No jailer ever wishes to see anyone -no matter how evil- be locked up forever. They all secretly hope that the day will come when darkness bleeds from their hearts and light flows in through the wounds they made.
But some cannot be redeemed.
Those malicious beings are bound to Tartarus.
Betrayal...
Rattling clanks dully echoed against the cavernous hollow of inner Tartarus as chains scraped up against dry stone pillars. The ears of the massive, three-headed hound Cerberus flattened against the sides of all his heads; mild unnerve rattling through his bones as much as the empty cavern he guarded. Chains rang against one another, each one singing a different song of a beautiful yet sad story. It filled the cavern of Tartarus until the great hound brought himself to his paws, one of his seething heads turning to growl and regard the one making the sound.
The hound's eyes set far up the crooked staircase that led to two armored ponies standing guard to the only prisoner this side of Tartarus. The guards, clad in listless grey armor that had no features to their design aside from the two wing holes on the upper back for their own bat-like wings to protrude from, gave the massive dog a stern set of looks. Cerberus ran his front paw against the cave floor before resetting himself back down into a nap along with his other heads. When the beast looked away, one of the guards slumped under his armor and groaned with some relief.
"Bleedin' Luna, I 'ate that mutt," he commented to his fellow guard.
The second of the guards, a fair mare even to be seen through her shabby armor, had cast her partner a dismal look. The lone look was enough to clam the male guard up for a moment; which she took as the moment to check behind them to the one who rattled chains through the hollow of Tartarus. A single light from a small fissure dug out from the roof of Tartarus shown down onto the figure bound to Tartarus itself.
Penance...
The creature was very unique to anyone in the upper world. Though he was sent to Tartarus from Equestria, the legend went that he haled from some far off land; a land of spanning darkness and twisting nethers into nothingness... At least, that's what the two that watched over him were told. Though this beast had the legs of an equine (legs that were now bent in under him in subjugation), he had the upper body of some sort of Minotaur. Horns, arms, and skin as red as the blood that ran through ponies everywhere. She wondered if he bled the same shades as they did. The beast would easily tower over both of them; and even now was only just bigger than them even as he was knelt down and bowing his head silently.
Though he himself was silent, he still made noise by the means of his arms being chained out beside him and held up towards the empty sky of Tartarus. Each arm was chained to one of the sharp stalactites hanging to the roof of Tartarus' large cave. It was those chains that sung a wordless tune as they were given small jostling waves from the beast moving his hands against them. His red, lengthy figures played listlessly at the links in the chains that bound him; wordless and expressionless as he hung his head silently.
The chains themselves were more then enough to keep the creature bound; magic had been infused into each link in the chain to prevent the beast from making any sudden movements lest the chains decorating the floor beneath his hooves would take action and bind up the rest of his body in reaction. Even so, thick bars of steel crossed all across his body and limbs, creating intricate interlocks all around his form to hold him in a stern place. Aside from the few twitches of his fingers he was allowed, the creature could only make subtle scrapes of his scuffed hooves against the stone floor of Tartarus. Even in his binds, he looked imposing... Threatening...
Its name was Tirek. A monster from a far off land now spending eternity in a lone prison deep within the bowels of Tartarus. Aside from the two guards and the beast Cerberus, no pony was permitted to even draw close to Tirek's holding prison. There was no telling what he was capable of if even one poor soul stepped too close to him unprepared. The Keepers of Tartarus were reluctant as it were to even have two guards watching him; but the case was made that Cerberus could not watch Tirek day and night, even with his multitude of heads. At the very least, the two ponies -Archer and Saber- would only have to wake Cerberus should Tirek attempt to break himself free from the chains and bars that bind him. And should worse come to worst...
Saber gave a vigilant once-over of the mighty Tirek; looking more like a beaten dog rather than the great usurper his sentencing would tell. Slowly, she took a single step towards the entrapped creature; that single step causing the chains strewn out across the floor of Tartarus to rattle like snakes awaking from the sand. Dust and pebbles were shaken loose from around the long since dormant chains, causing Saber to flinch in surprise. "What're ya' doin'? Ya' batty?!" Archer yelled in a hushed voice to his partner, his wings flatly hugging against his armor as he watched her.
For a moment, Saber did not acknowledge her fellow guard and put another carefully placed hoof against the floor as she moved closer to Tirek. Like cautious serpents ready to pounce, the chains slithered across the floors of Tartarus and neared Saber and Tirek, shifting small rocks out of their path as they drew in. Saber took a long, close look at the beast before speaking over her shoulder to her partner. "Even he couldn't break free of these chains and bars..."
Against the protests from Archer behind her, Saber drew in closer to the point that Tirek was but a hoof print away from her muzzle. A look of pity came to her face as she regarded the bound monster. "...Hey. Tirek; is that right?" He did not answer, "...Why did you do it? I've always wondered." Still, he did not answer. "...Why would you leave home? Why would you seek out ponies to hurt?" Her voice started to drain of pity, letting anger fill the cracks, "Did you already drain all of your own world so you came for ours? I wonder what your brother thought of you when you harmed all of those other ponies from where you came."
For the first time in so many years, Tirek moved. Not his hands, which had always touched and sounded off the chains that bound his arms; but rather his ears. His sharp, pointed ears perked for a moment at a single word spoken by the mare questioning him so.
Brother...
"He told the ones who bound you here all of your atrocities. The ones you did... And the ones you wanted to do..." A serge of pride and the white flash of anger filled the mare, fueling her to raising a hoof and stomping it down on the back of Tirek's head. Archer flinched as he heard the dull echo of bone against bone, followed by the hissing of chains shambling. "You make me sick..." Saber softly spoke those final words before spitting on the monster's black, unwashed hair; mixing it well with the small trickle of blood that now escaped from the small gash left on his head.
Once more, two guards stood watch of the stairs leading to Tartarus' sole captive; both vigilant and one respectful of their duty. Once more, Tirek was left alone with his thoughts. Thoughts that were now polluted with the words of the mare guarding him deep beneath the earth of Equestria. And as the chains reset around him, returning to the grooves they left in the earth after years of neglected motion, he mewled over those thoughts.
"He told the ones who bound you here all of your atrocities..." Yes. I have committed terrible atrocities. Starting with the very first breath I took into my demonic lungs that should not have been brought to this world... And perhaps ending with my actions before the council I once called my own. These chains -these bars- that bind me and hold me as I should be -a thrall- are all I deserve. I was never fit to be what I had strode for... Foolish dreams...
My brother was right to do as he did... Bind me with his lies and deception... I would have been of no use to anyone. I am better off down here... Without my magic, without my blade... Without my... Anything. All will benefit from this. They already have...
...If I were to unleash all the magic within me at any single moment, I could shatter these bonds and be free once more... It would only take me a few months time to recover my strength--
NO! Leave me, thoughts! I am not seeking release! I want to remain here. I don't desire escape...!
...But to feel the sun once more. To feed off of magic... To be free at last and enslaving all beneath--
Rattling clanks dully echoed against the cavernous hollow of inner Tartarus as chains scraped up against dry stone pillars. Both guards and hound alike looked back to the bound Tirek, wondering what went through his mind each moment he was kept where he was for so many long, long years.
