Making their way towards Twilight's castle, Fluttershy's group soon saw the others were there as well, "Girls, did you get Princess Luna's message as well?" Ashley asked.
"Yes, and this is dreadfully grim," Rarity replied.
"Yeah, Tirek has a lot of nerve showing his face in Equestria again!" Rainbow Dash snarled.
"Simmer down Rainbow, we beat him last time, we can do it again," Applejack said, as Celestia and Luna's carriages came down in front of the castle.
"Glad to see everyone is here, now lets hurry inside," Celestia said, as they all hurried inside.
'Good, good, all four princesses are present, along with that buffoon, Discord,' Tirek thought, as he made his way to the castle door. He was about to open the door, when something zapped him, "OWW! Figures, the castle only allows the truly pure of heart inside," he complained, before an idea popped in his head, "Ah, then I shall have to wait for them to come out," he said, before he went back into the shadows.
"So now that Tirek is back, we know what we need to do," Twilight said, as she and her friends and family all were going over the plan to deal with the menace.
"Since Tirek uses his horns to use magic, that's bound to be his weak spot. Tirek can't absorb magic without it spilling out," Raiden theorized.
"And while we take care of Tirek, Eris will take all the children to a parallel world where Tirek cannot follow," Discord said.
"Ok, so we have a gameplay," Shining Armor said.
"But you guys need to be careful! From what Lyra told me in my nightmare, Tirek absorbed your power first, then banished you to that bad place," Toby said. The ponies all knew that Toby meant Tartarus.
"Don't worry Toby, Tirek is a formidable adversary, but he is not invincible," Luna reassured.
"But wait, if Tirek is back, then won't he sense that we're all here?" Rarity asked fearfully.
"It wouldn't matter if he knew. This castle is protected by the magic of the elements of harmony, so an evil like Tirek cannot breach those doors," Discord explained.
"So then, all we have to do is stay in here? Piece of cake!" Rainbow said.
"Not quite Rainbow, for you see, as soon as all six fillies are out of Equestria, the castle will lose its enchantment, meaning we'll have to go out and face Tirek, one way or the other," Discord explained.
"I have already sent word to every parent in Equestria, explaining the situation, so Eris, you can take the children when ready," Celestia said, which Eris nodded in understanding. Just then, she and Discord shuddered.
"Uh oh," Discord said.
"He's here in Ponyville!" Eris cried.
"Eris, you need to go now! And don't worry about us, we'll be fine," Discord said to his daughter.
"But Daddy," Eris started before being stopped by Discord.
"No 'buts' Eris. Go, we'll be fine," Discord said sternly.
Reluctantly, Eris nodded, and snapped her bear claw, and teleported herself, and the children out of the castle.
"Alright, lets go get this jerk!" Rainbow said, as she flew off, with the others following her.
Once they teleported away, the children of all of Equestria soon found themselves in a barren white wasteland, "Where are we?" one filly asked.
"Children, please, calm down," Eris called to them all. Their attention soon turned to the Draconequss, "Ok, there's no nice to put this, but an ancient evil is attacking Equestria, and draining ponies left and right of all their magic," Eris explained with a heavy sigh. This alarmed the children, with some of them starting to tear up, "But the four princesses of Equestria tasked me with keeping you all safe, with approval from your parents," Eris explained.
"But what if they fail!?" one colt called.
"Have faith, they stopped this terror before, so they'll do it again, I hope," Eris said, whispering the last part.
"But why bring us here?" Diamond Tiara asked.
"This is the dimension of imagination, it lets you bring you ideas to life," Eris replied, as building and amusement parks started popping up like weeds, "Well, at least it'll their minds off of the situation," Eris said, as she saw the crusaders all rushing over to their friends.
"Sweetie pie, who's the monster?" Silver Spoon asked.
"Some monster by the name of Tirek. Hopefully Momma and the others will stop him," Toby said, as Silver Spoon nuzzled him under his chin.
Back in Equestria, the ponies were able to quickly find Tirek thanks to Discord, "Alright Tirek, that's far enough!" Celestia yelled at the centaur, who was busy draining some ponies of all their magic.
"Ah, so glad of you to come," Tirek said, as he fire a blast of magic at the group, who was saved thanks to Shining Armor, "Oh, very interesting," Tirek said, as he drained the shields power, and then all of Shining Armor's magic, and then he grew in size.
"SHINGING!" Twilight and Cadence cried, as they rushed to the unicorns side, before being stopped by Tirek's magic grip and were sapped of all their magic. Once he drained the two alicorns of their power, Tirek grew to about half the size of Twilight's castle. Then he grabbed the rest of the group, "Now you will join your friends," Tirek snarled, as he began draining them of all their magic. Once he absorbed all their magic, he slammed them all against Shining Armor, Twilight, and Cadence, and the humans.
"Y-you'll never get away with this Tirek," Twilight snarled.
"Oh naïve Princess Twilight, I already have!" Tirek yelled, as he snapped his fingers, and imprisoned the ponies, Discord, and the humans in a cage, "Look familiar? This is the wretched cage you imprisoned me in! But I made it reinforced with obsidian, so you won't be getting out of there anytime soon!" Tirek growled.
"But, one question, how did you get by Cerberus?" Discord demanded.
"Oh, you'll see soon enough!" Tirek laughed evilly as he snapped his fingers, and sent the cage to Tartarus.
After being caged up, the mane six, royal sisters, crystal couple, Discord, and human parents were all banished to Tartarus, "Sent here again! Man, I hate that guy!" Discord growled, as Fluttershy wept, "Hey, I didn't mean to frighten you Fluttershy," he said, patting the butter yellow Pegasus on the back.
"I-I-its not that, look!" Fluttershy replied, pointing at what made her cry. The others gasped when they saw Cerberus, on the ground, dead.
"My word," Rarity said, feeling sickened at seeing the poor beasts fate.
"So Tirek killed Cerberus? But, I thought the Cerberus was an immortal dog," Eric said.
"It appears Tirek used what little magic he had to weaken Cerberus, and then dealt the fatal blow," Luna said grimly.
"But now that monster is still in Equestria! Can nothing stop him?!" Ashley asked.
"The magic of friendship is what imprisoned him last time he came to Equestria, but its useless when we're not face to face," Twilight explained.
"So, nothing can stop him?" Marcus asked.
"No, not this time," Celestia replied depressingly.