No one in the throne room reacted to the grim proclamation that the eldest of Equestria's rulers had just shared, her words paralyzing all present with their grim finality. Even Discord, who had caused much suffering and hardship himself during his reign as ruler of the land, was stunned by the revelation. He wouldn't be shedding a tear over the late lord's demise, of course; Tirek was among the most vile of creatures to ever step foot upon the soil of Equestria, and the spirit of disharmony's insides still knotted themselves in tightly with disgust and self loathing a the fact that he had ever allied with the foreign despot.
The rest of the ponies present seemed to be taking the news in similar manners: the usually exuberant Pinkie Pie's mane now fell limp and lifelessly to frame her face, and it seemed as if her normally vibrant coat of fur had dulled several shades; Applejack tipped her hat to shield her eyes and looked away at the news; boisterous Rainbow Dash's eyes were wide and her jaw agape; Rarity seemed to have been overcome by vertigo and seemed as if she would have collapsed had Spike not offered a supportive claw; and Twilight's already haggard appearance seemed to become even more so, the very color seeming to leech itself from her fur as her mouth and opened and closed soundlessly, unable to articulate her thoughts.
Discord glanced to his side before snaking his serpentine tail outward and coiling it around his friend, pulling his tightly against his frame with only a small squeak from the smaller pegasus. Kind, compassionate Fluttershy took solace in the proximity and warmth offered by her friend's embrace; her entire frame was wracked with tremors upon hearing the grim news, and she didn't know exactly how to react.
She was not so naive to believe that death did not occur in Equestria, which, despite the rather frequent sources of conflict and danger, was a truly peaceful and carefree land. She had experienced several of her more injured animals passing away, despite her best efforts--and on rare occasions, had no other choice to but spare a poor animal its suffering by offering the only kindness that could be left to it. Every time such she had witnessed the death of a living creature, we wept bitter tears afterwards, with Angel Bunny and the rest of her animal companions there to offer her solace and share in her grief.
How! How could anypony take the life of another--no matter how cruel or evil that person was? It wasn't right! As Fluttershy buried her face into Discord's side and wept, she felt him stroking her pink mane soothingly, hoping to somehow ease her grief.
"He's dead?" Pinkie murmured sadly. "Sure, Tirek was the meanest of all the meanie-pants, but he didn't deserve to die," she said.
"H-how. . . " Twilight finally managed to force past the lump in her throat. "I thought he was locked up in Tartarus?" Her expression had become one of total confusion, without a single clue how to react to such news. "We . . . we didn't do it did we?" she asked, horror filling her voice at the possibility that she could have indirectly committed murder. "When we used the power from the Chest of Harmony, I thought it only returned the magic he stole and returned him to Tartarus, but. . ." she trailed off, scenarios rapidly flashing through her sleep deprived mind, and the rest of her friends appeared similar aghast at the notion. Fluttershy simply cried ever harder against Discord.
Luna closed her eyes and shook her head. "The Elements are tools of harmony itself--We are not even sure they are capable of taking a life," she confessed. "No, all thou six did when thou utilized them was to enact the Elements' will upon Equestria and bring to rights what Tirek had perverted.
Late in the middle of Our night, We sensed an disturbance in Tartarus and arrived to find Cerberus incapacitated and Lord Tirek . . ." the younger of the royal sisters trailed off, her face twisting at the memory of the scene that had greeted her upon coming to the sight of the remains of both the cage and its occupant. "'Twas a most gruesome sight," she simply stated. "Tirek was afforded no mercy from his assailant."
All from Ponyville seemed as if they might be ill at the news of Tirek's fate, and indeed Spike's face had taken on a rather ill tinge to its pallor; Discord frowned distastefully and continued to comfort his friend, who no longer maid any sounds save soft gasps as she silently shook against him.
"W-what about C-Cerberus?" Fluttershy asked, managing to pull away from Discord to ask after the large yet sweet dog she had befriended when it had wandered into Ponyville over half a year ago.
Luna smiled reassuringly at the kindhearted mare. "'Twould seems that only Tirek had earned the murderous wrath of the trespasser; Cerberus has suffered only minor bruises and a slight case of frostbite," she assured.
Swallowing what tasted suspiciously like half-risen bile back down her throat, Twilight cleared her throat, her interest peaked. "Excuse me, Princess Luna, but frostbite?" she asked in confusion.
Luna smiled at the youngest princess, her look one of fond exasperation for the younger mare. "How many times have We asked thou simply to call Us 'Luna?" she asked, watching Twilight flush at the gentle rebuke. "Thou art also a princess thyself, now, after all.
But yes, whomever breached the security of Tartarus has entrapped Cerberus in a prison of enchanted ice to detain him," he explained.
"Ice . . ." Twilight murmured, her mind bringing up and dismissing numerous possibilities as more pieces of this grizzly mystery was presented. "it . . . it couldn't been the windigoes, could it?" she asked, recalling the bed time tales that all children were raised upon in Equestria.
Celestia shook her head. "Both Luna and myself considered the possibility, but the windigoes were an cruel and uncaring race of beings. Whomever subdued Cerberus seemed to have taken great care to only incapacitate the guardian, and the ice that currently traps him is quite warm to the touch and melting far more rapidly than even magical ice should."
"So whoever k-killed--" Twilight's tongue stumbled over the word--"Tirek likely only wanted to cause him harm . . ." she considered, getting an agreeing nod from the other royalty present. "Revenge?" she pondered.
"Hate to break it to ya, sugar cube," Applejack's drawl interjected. "But I'm afraid that doesn't exactly help much," she said. "Just about any of the ponies that Tirek stole magic or terrorized would have reason to be unpleased something fierce with that brute--not that they'd do . . . this . . ." she reasoned.
"True," Twilight said with a nod, accepting the logic of the statement. "Big brother," Twilight asked, turning her attention to the captain-turned-prince, "do you have any other information?" she asked, hoping that his previous experience as the Captain of the Guard would offer an insight that the rest of them lacked.
Shining Armor shook his head. "I've only seen the scene for a brief amount of time. Whoever was responsible didn't leave much evidence--at least, nothing that could tell us anything," he said with a grimace.
"What do you mean?"
Shining Armor hesitated, glancing towards his aunt-in-laws in indecision; at their solomn nods, he sighed before elaborating. "I couldn't tell much from the body. Whoever killed Tirek did so by shattering him into pieces after freezing him in the same ice they did Cerberus--except this ice was below subzero temperatures by several degrees," he told those present, rubbing at the spot on his hold where he had suffered a burn from coming in with the a shattered fragment of Tirek's supernaturally chilled cage.
Twilight ignored the gruesome image that had formed in her mind at the news, instead focusing on the relevant facts that had been imparted to her. "So whoever was responsible seems to be able to control the temperature of the ice they conjure . . ." she considered. "Was Tirek's ice melting?" she asked.
Celestia shook her head. "To my knowledge, not a single piece has even began to thaw," she admitted.
"And yet Cerberus's ice was room temperature and already melting," Twilight concluded. It was all but clear that Tirek had been assassinated.
"It seems what we have to focus on, is who would have the power to not only break in to Tartarus and easily subdue Cerberus and kill Tirek in such a fashion--all the while, staying unnoticed by Princess Luna before it was too late," Twilight reasoned. "There can't be too many beings in Equestria with either the power or skills to pull off such a feat."
Everyone in the room made a quite blatant effort of not looking to Discord, as he was one of the said beings who could have easily done this.
"Discord didn't do this!" Fluttershy immediately came to her friend's defense, her normally meek mannerisms forgotten as she pulled away from her friend to defend him, her face absolute in her conviction. "He would never do something like this!"
"Fluttershy, darling," Rarity soothed, "none of us said he did."
"But you were all thinking it," Fluttershy accused, and none of other friends could meet her gaze or deny that.
"Fluttershy . . ." Discord began, reaching out his claw to her.
"No!" she said, interrupting him. "I know you made a mistake when you sided with Tirek, but we all have forgive you . . . and. . . and I know you've been feeling simply awful about it for the past weeks, and . . ." Fluttershy said, tears once more coming to her eyes as her voice began to shake from emotion.
Discord simply stared in shock at his tiny friend, not trusting himself to speak at the moment; he hugged her to him and simply let out a heartfelt reply of gratitude to his first friend in the entire world.
"Fluttershy is quite correct," Celestia stated. "I sensed no traces of Discord's magic within Tartarus," she said, and the other ponies felt shame well up in themselves for even suspecting the spirit of such a thing.
"Shucks, Discord," Applejack said, seeing her own reflection off the marble floor she found she could not lift her gaze from. "I feel mighty low right about now," she began to apologize.
Discord simply held up his claw, halting the apology. "No need, Applejack. You had good reason to suspect such a thing--even I would suspect me," he admitted.
"Still," Rarity said, "it does not change the fact that we owe you an apology," she insisted, with the other bearers of the Element of Harmony nodding their heads.
Discord looked about, unsure what to do. After opening and closing his mouth, he simply nodded awkwardly. "Apology accepted," he said, scratching the back of his head. "No hard feelings," he earnestly assured them. "Friends do forgive one another, correct?" he asked, getting grateful smiles from all present.
"Indeed they do," Celestia smiled at the scene; she had only dared to hope that Discord would make such progress in his reformation. How it made it made her chest swell with pride for her little ponies to witness such a scene--Fluttershy, in particular, for it was largely thanks to the yellow mare that the chaotic spirit had embraced the lessons of Friendship so.
Twilight watched this, a true smile coming to her tired face for the first time in over a week. "However," she reluctantly said, hating to break the levity of the situation and return their focus to grimmer tidings, "we're still no closer to finding out who did this or if they pose a threat."
"Perhaps I can give your pathetic minds some rest, then ," an arrogant voice interrupted, causing all present to turn their gaze to the sudden conflagration of emerald flame that had appeared in the throne room.
"You!" Shining armor roared in anger, his horns suddenly thrumming with barely repressed anger and power, as he prepared to smite the newcomer.
"Queen Chrysalis!" Twilight gasped in astonishment, with the other ponies in the room preparing to defend themselves.
Tirek was filled a sudden sense of dread as the ominous glow from the Alpha increased.
"I have no intention of trading words with you," the distaste in the Alpha's voice made it quite clear how he regarded the imprisoned centaur. "Your tongue is perhaps the only thing more treacherous than actions," he stated simply.
"Then what business has the god of changelings with me?" Tirek asked, backing away from the bars and folding his arms over his weakened frame.
"I have come to ensure that neither you or your lies can cause anymore damage in this world." The Alpha stepped forward, his eyes blazing green in their sockets as rather sharp edge of his blade-like horn glowed with a venomous light.
"W-wait!" Tirek pleaded, his back colliding with the other side of his small cage as he attempted to gain what little space from the changeling king that he could. "Why are you doing this! I never hurt any of your people!" he cried.
"Only because you were too busy getting your revenge on the ponies," the Alpha said, continuing to gather power. "I have no doubt that you would have turned your gluttony towards the other races of Equestria and drained them of what magic they possessed--fatally so, for my children."
"I never intended such!" Tirek pleaded. "You have my word! I will never cause harm to a changeling! I swear it upon my life!'
"Your life is worth little already--and even less so that it is about to end," the Alpha said with icy calmness, "so you will forgive me if I do not believe you," he said politely. "The fact is, that you are a danger to not only my daughter and grandchildren, but all creatures of Equestria if you are allowed to live.
Look at the damage you were able to wrought with magic of this world--I shudder to consider what would be accomplished if you commanded the forces of my world's magic."
"Your world?' Tirek asked in confusion. Could the changelings be aliens? "Why do you even care about what happens to the rest of Equestria!" he cried in desperation.
There was a flash of green energy, and Tirek heard his answer come from the storm of emerald light. "Because the inhabitants of this peaceful world have inherited my Mother's legacy, and as such, I cannot allow them to be harmed." Tirek saw that the first of the changelings had unsurprisingly changed his formed; he stared at the bipedal figure clad in red armor. "Enough talking," the Alpha declared, drawing a pair of single-edged blades from his waist before seeming to vanish.
The last seconds of Lord Tirek's life would forevermore be a mystery to the centaur. He felt impossibly cold all over, as if his very blood had turned to ice within his veins; this may have been a mercy, as he didn't even feel his body being sliced impossibly fast into numerous pieces--yet not a single drop of blood was spilled in the process, solidified as it was.
As the red armored figure reappeared, his two swords extended to either side, their sides now covered white frost crystals from the intense cold that that emanated from the blades, he heard the shattering of both the Tirek and the cage he had been imprisoned in fall to the floor. He did not turn to regard the carnage that he had wrought, knowing that the ancient lord's face would forever more be literally frozen into a an expression of terror.
Walking away, he gently placed a hand upon one of the whimpering heads of Cerberus as he passed the three-headed dog. "Be not ashamed, noble guardian," he comforted the beast. "You upheld your responsibilities admirably," he comforted. "Now rest," he commanded in a soothing voice, his will transferring into from his hand into the one of the minds of the legendary beast. "You will need your strange, for a dark shadow lies on the horizon," he advised, willing the ice that entombed the canine to melt at an accelerated pace.
It would not do to tarry in this place, he knew, for undoubtedly the ruler of the night was even now on her way, and he had a long overdue reunion with his daughter to attend to.