The Equestria Healing Process

           Chapter 5

   “Weighing their Options”

By the time that Shining Armor and the royal guards returned to Canterlot, it was already late at night and most of Canterlot’s inhabitants were asleep, except for Luna of course.  Knowing that the citizens were going to react  in a negative way against Tirek being brought back, they came in to the castle as quietly as possible.  Tirek’s cage was covered with a blue tarp, so as not to be viewed by anypony and the demon centaur growled silently in response to being covered up and a royal guard would whack the cage to silence him. One moment, Tirek was enjoying all the magic that he had absorbed and the next minute, he was weakened and back in this cage with chains holding him down like a chained animal.

“Take him down to the caves beneath Canterlot,” ordered Shining Armor to the guards as they landed on one of the towers.  “The Princesses will see him when the time is right.”

“Yes, your highness,” they said and a group of guards lifted the cage up and brought him down to the caves where Cadence was during the changeling invasion.

As the guards brought Tirek down to the caves, Shining Armor saw Princess Luna who was on her night patrol, having just returned from visiting the dreams of one of her subjects traumatized by the events of recent and was eager to hear what had happened in Tartarus.  After saluting her, Shining Armor placed his helmet back on his head.

“I see you have returned with the monster,” remarked Luna as she landed.  “Where is he now?”

“We’ve placed him in the Canterlot Caves until you are ready to meet him,” explained Shining Armor, taking in a deep breath of relief.  “He will not harm anypony else ever again after everything that has happened.”

“Indeed, Prince Armor, you and the other guards have done us proud,” replied Luna, smiling slightly.  But then she noticed that Discord was not with him and wanted to know where he was.  “But, pray tell, where is Discord?”

Shining Armor closed his eyes and sighed again, remembering how Discord just left them alone after Tirek was turned over to them.  As of that moment, Shining Armor no longer viewed Discord as a traitor, but more as all of the other victims.

“He left us in Tartarus, Princess,” sighed Shining Armor.  “Apparently, he went after Tirek and we had to stop him.  It seems as those he wanted to extract his own brand of justice on him.”

“And this is coming from somepony who worked alongside a monster like Tirek,” pondered Luna, scratching her chin with her horseshoe.   But, after a moment, she stopped pondering and sighed heavily. “But, he shouldn’t have left you, Shining Armor.  Our orders were for him to return with you and Tirek, not to leave you behind in Tartarus.”

"What was I supposed to do, Princess Luna?" asked Shining Armor, trying to defend Discord's actions.  "I thought he was a traitor, but I was wrong.  Cadence was right, he was misled."

"So you say," replied Luna, turning back towards the night sky.  "But misled or not, he did what he did.  Right now, we focus on Tirek."

As Luna left to return to her duties, Shining Armor began to think of how much of an idiot he was towards Discord.  Yes, he was angry at him for the damages he had caused.  But, Discord had a heart and he had to see the truth for his own self.  Of course, his thoughts were still with Twilight who joined her fellow princesses in the Crystal Empire to a summit relating to Tirek’s punishment.  It seemed that the scars that Tirek had imposed on them were very much still visible on all four of them and it showed as Luna revealed what she and Shining Armor had discussed.

“I don’t blame Discord for walking out on my brother and the guards,” said Twilight with frustration in her voice as she paced back and forth in the meeting room in front of her fellow princesses.  “But, don’t forget that I was a victim of all of this as well, not just Discord. Not only did he harm my friends, but he destroyed everything I had ever had in the library.”

“We understand that, Twilight,” said Cadence, trying to calm her down.  “But, we all need to work together in what options are necessary to deal with Tirek.”

With those words, Twilight stopped her pacing and rejoined the others around the table.  As much as she wanted to, Twilight had to work alongside the other princesses, even though in her mind, she felt that Tirek should be destroyed because of what he did to the library.

“I’m sorry, princesses,” sighed Twilight, lowering her head down for a moment and using the breathing technique Cadence had taught her.  “It’s just that I have all this anger and resentment towards Tirek for all that he did to me and my friends.  Not to mention, that I had to give up our alicorn magic when he held them against their will.”

A hushed silence fell throughout the throne room when Twilight said those words.  Celestia, Luna and Cadence had specifically given up their magic to Twilight so as to protect them from Tirek, but now for the first time was hearing that Tirek had offered Twilight an offer that she couldn’t refuse.  For the first time, they were learning the truth about what had happened.  Twilight braced herself knowing that in her mind, Celestia, Luna and Cadence were going to berate her for doing such a thing, despite the fact that she did it in order to free them from Tirek's control.

“He held your friends against their will for our magic?" gasped Luna, placing her hoof towards her mouth.  "That scoundrel would dare to do such a thing."

But, Celestia knew that there was something much more to Twilight giving up their magic and glared at her, much to Luna's confusion.

“It seems likely so that it would only be a matter of time before he found a way to obtain it, sister,” sighed Celestia, a look of defeat on her face.  "Tirek would do anything to get what he would want and that was what he did with you, Twilight."

"I tried to destroy him myself, Celestia. But our powers were evenly matched," explained Twilight, looking nervous again.  "Who knows what he could have done to my friends had I not surrendered our magic?  You must believe me."

Although Twilight felt horrible at what she did, the princesses were understanding about it.  As far as they were concerned, Twilight managed to use the magic of friendship in order to defeat Tirek.  But, in order to unlock it, there had to be a sacrifice.

"You did what needed to be done, Twilight," remarked Celestia, a small smile coming to her face.  "We know how dedicated you are to us and we know how dedicated you are to your friends.  We know that you will do anything to protect them from harm, even if it meant giving up our magic."

"Do you remember when you allowed Spike to bring the Crystal Heart to me?" said Cadence, reminding Twilight of the time that she told Spike to bring her the Crystal Heart.  "You weren't willing to risk the citizens of my empire in an effort to guarantee your own goals, Twilight."

Then, Celestia reminded Twilight of something that she had to said to her right after King Sombra was destroyed.  It was a part of the test that Celestia had tasked Twilight with taking that allowed her to ultimately reveal her destiny as a princess.

"I said to you once Twilight," said Celestia, draping a wing over her youngest equal's shoulder.  "That it is far better that I have a student who understands the meaning of self-sacrifice than one who only looks out for her own best interests."

However, there was something that Twilight still didn't understand and that was what had happened to her fellow princesses once she had left them after they transferred their magic to her.

"I understand what you mean, Celestia," remarked Twilight.  "But there is something that has been on my mind of late.  What happened to you all after I had returned to Ponyville?"

At that moment, the small smile on Celestia's face turned back into a frown as she knew that Twilight needed to know the whole truth about what had happened to them.

“I don't know how we are going to tell you this, Twilight," sighed Cadence, feeling torn about what to say to her sister-in-law.  "But, what we are trying to say to you is..."

"Tirek imprisoned us in Tartarus when he found out about what we had done," finished Luna and hushed gasp came through Twilight’s mouth upon hearing those words.

For the first time, she was learning of Tirek imprisoning the ponies that were closest to her next to her friends and family.  Now, it made all the more worthwhile for Twilight to have her choice words with Tirek.

“Without our magic, we were useless to him, Princess Twilight," she continued.   "So he sent us to Tartarus so we could feel the pain that he felt while he was imprisoned there.”

"How could he do that to you?" gasped Twilight, her voice filled with shock and disbelief.  "Tartarus is an evil place only for the creatures who want to harm Equestria.  Why did you even give your magic to me when you could have fought him yourselves?"

"We were at his mercy Twilight," explained Celestia.  "We couldn't fight Tirek because Discord was backing him up.  But we knew that you would unlock the magic of friendship and free us eventually.  I told him that he would not prevail as long as you stayed strong and resilent like we did."

"But, did any of the evil creatures hurt you?" gasped Twilight, now starting to grow concerned for her fellow princesses.

"No," replied Luna.  "Cerberus knew that we didn't belong there, so he had us only shackled to keep us from leaving because he knew that we were weakened.  After we had left, we saw him advance towards Tirek, most likely angry at him for imprisoning us."

As her younger sister spoke, Celestia began to feel the regret down inside her rise up and now, Luna and Cadence also felt the same feeling because by holding Twilight’s friends hostage, Tirek was able to obtain the alicorn magic.  It seemed now that the three of them made the mistake of sending Discord and not Twilight and her friends.  However, there was another side to this situation relating to the tree of harmony and the princesses knew it.

“But, look on the bright side, Twilight,” said Cadence, smiling and raising her wings in happiness.  “You were able to find the last key to the chest that defeated Tirek and transformed your destroyed library into your new castle.”

Twilight had to smile at this and her sister-in-law was right, finding the last key was more important than giving up the Alicorn magic.  As a matter of fact, Twilight could see that the princesses wanted Twilight to give up the alicorn magic to Tirek so as to unlock Equestria’s newest means of defense.

“Princess Cadence is right, Twilight,” explained Celestia.  “You must know that giving up the Alicorn Magic was merely a plan to trick Tirek into obtaining it so that you could find a way to obtain the magic that was inside the box and then destroy him with it.”

It seemed that Twilight knew at that moment that by obtaining the magic of her fellow princesses, Twilight set forth the chain of events that would make her who she was and find her identity.  Still, there was no excuse for what Tirek did and all four of them knew it.

“This is why we are together,” said Celestia as they walked away from the window.  “We need to come up with a form of punishment that fits all of the crimes that Tirek has done on his rampage all over Equestria.”

“Can I make a suggestion?” asked Twilight, raising her hoof to speak, and this caused the other princesses to chuckle.

“You don’t have to raise your hoof with us, Twilight,” chuckled Cadence.  “You are not in Magic Kindergarten anymore.”

“Oh, yes of course,” chuckled Twilight, lowering her hoof down onto the table.  After a brief chuckle and a short silence, Celestia spoke first and opened the voting.

“Who wants to go first?” asked Celestia as the other princesses looked over at each other, wondering who should go first.

After all, the four of them each wanted to brand their own form of justice on Tirek.  But, they all had to come to an agreement on a punishment that satisfied them all.

“Maybe perhaps Shining Armor and I could send him far away from Equestria with the power of our love,” suggested Cadence.  “It worked with the changelings, so why not Tirek?  We could keep him in his cage as we are doing it.”

“Then he will just come back and do everything all over again,” replied Luna, nodding her head in disagreement.  “We cannot have that happen again, Cadence.”

So, that idea was shot out the window and Twilight was next to speak out on her idea.  As much as she wanted to destroy Tirek for harming those closest to her, she had to come up with a suggestion that would be considered by the other princesses.

“I have a suggestion,” said Twilight, taking in a deep breath, her voice filled with anger.  “Can’t we just destroy him for everything that he did?”

This did not bode well with Celestia and Luna.  Destroying Equestria’s criminals was something that they did not like as much as the next pony.  There would only be few exceptions with the most recent being King Sombra in the Crystal Empire, who was executed by Princess Cadence and the Crystal Ponies with the light and love that was inside them.

“I’m sorry, Princess Twilight,” replied Celestia, lowering her head at this.  “But, I cannot allow ourselves to pass out an order of destruction.  We don’t destroy unless if the criminal destroys another pony.”

“But, the library and my friends,” protested Twilight, shocked that her idea was rejected.  “What about them?”

“It’s for the best, Twilight,” suggested Cadence, placing a hoof on her shoulder.  “Chrysalis had me imprisoned in the Canterlot Caves and Shining Armor and I didn’t destroy her, we’d just send her away.  As the Princess of Love, I only destroy my enemies when the moment calls for it and King Sombra was an exception.”

“Princess Cadence is right, Twilight,” added Luna.  “As long as no ponies were destroyed by Tirek, then we can’t destroy him ourselves.  But, what we need to do is to have Tirek be punished in a severe enough manner for his crimes.  I only have one option and that is to sentence him to eternal torture by Cerberus.”

Luna looked up to her sister and knew that this would be the best option between them, even though it was hopeless to have Tirek undergo a reformation.  Unlike Discord, Tirek was a creature whose heart was black as night and could never have a chance at being reformed.

“Then are we all in agreement over Tirek being sentenced to eternal torture in Tartarus?” asked Celestia, raising her wing, followed by Luna, then Cadence and finally Twilight, although the Princess of Friendship would have like to destroy him, but eternal torture was much worse.

“It is decided,” said Celestia, taking in the votes.  “Lord Tirek’s punishment for his crimes against us and all of Equestria will be to sentenced to eternal torture by Cerberus.”

So, it was all set in stone and soon, the princesses were going to get their way with the lord of darkness himself for all that he did to Equestria…