“What a pleasant surprise,” Said Tirek “This saves me the effort of trying to find you.”

“There's nothing pleasant about this Tirek,” said Celestia “You've stolen the magic of all my little ponies once again.” her tone was hard as stone

“You've come to stop me? Ha, your student had the magic of four Alicorn princesses and could only fight me to a standstill. You've only got your own magic, and I have the other Alicorns and all the rest of Equestria's.”

“Twilight is a good student and excellent with magic, but she was an amateur with alicorn magic, especially with my own she was only tapping into the barest fraction of the magic she held. I haven't used my official title in a long time, but there is a reason all my stationary refers to me as Celestia Sol Invictus.”

“The Unconquered Sun? You've been defeated dozens of times and every time one of your 'faithful students' has fixed it for you for the past 1000 years.”

“It's true I have been letting my little ponies solve all kinds of problems including those that threatened all of Equestria with destruction. I have been afraid of using my power for a good reason, the last time I took on a threat to Equestria myself I banished my own sister and best friend to the moon for 1000 years. For those 1000 years I have subtly maneuvered my ponies into positions where they could fix their own problems without me. You see an older and lesser known title of mine is Helios Panoptes 'The All-Seeing Sun'. I don't haphazardly throw my ponies into a dangerous situation that they can't handle they have all been carefully groomed over years and decades to be able to handle anything Equestria needs to be dealt with. This time, however, you've left me no choice to me but to deal with you directly.”

Celestia spread her wings, and with a single mighty flap she shot forward with an explosion of noise as she broke the sound barrier. She slammed both forehooves into Tireks abdomen folding him in half and sending him flying backward. Tirek smashed through the walls of Canterlot castle and kept flying for miles into a prairie

Celestia's horn lit with a golden glow and in a flash of magic, she disappeared. She appeared above the airborne Tirek and with a powerful kick of her hind legs to his horse half's back kicked him towards the ground. Tirek smashed into the ground leaving an impressive crater where he landed.

Tirek pulled himself out of the crater rocks and dirt falling from his powerful body he seemed only slightly scuffed by his impromptu flight and crash landing “Very impressive Princess but I too have the resilience of an Alicon.”

“I was moving you someplace vacant where I can use my magic without fear of killing any anypony.”

She closed her eyes and concentrated when her eyes opened they glowed a sickly green and streamed a malevolent purple aura, her horn glowed with the same aura which shot out and struck Tirek in the head.

Tirek was suddenly back in Tartarus. His vision was foggy, and he felt cotton headed as if he had overindulged in alcohol. Worried he quickly checked himself. His body was huge and powerful, and he wasn't chained or caged. He was laying on a large mattress.

“What, how did I end up here?” Tirek said.

Celestia appeared in front of him flanked on both sides by her unicorn guards “You don't remember, do you? I suppose amnesia is a potential side effect of a concussion. You've been in a coma for three days.” she said with concern in her voice.

Tirek opened his mouth in an attempt to steal her magic. Nothing happened not even a tug at the unicorn guards magic.

“What is this where is my power?”

“I'd like to say I found a way to remove that ability of yours, but I didn't. In your fight with me, your horns were broken.” Celestia produced a mirror and held it up for Tirek.

His reflection showed the truth, both of his horns had been broken at the root he may have the powerful body, but without his magic, he was barely more than a large unusually strong Earth pony. Tirek raged attempting to attack Celestia, but the unicorn guards were ready their horns lit up and held Tirek in the air out of reach of anything.

“WHERE IS MY POWER CELESTIA WHERE IS IT!” Tirek was so enraged he foamed at the mouth.

“There is nothing I can do, when a unicorn breaks their horn there is no magic in Equestria that can restore it.” Celestia gave him a sad look

“I AM NOT A PATHETIC UNICORN!”

“Right now you are barely more than a bizarre Earth pony.” A cage magically appeared around the floating Tirek.

“My royal medical team and I have been attending to you since our battle. We did what we could, but some things are beyond even an Alicorn's power. I would like to offer you a pardon. It would be cruel to keep you locked up down here when you have been 'declawed' as it were.”

“Oh, you would love that,” Tirek said managing to regain a modicum of composure, his voice still dripped with loathing. “You get to play the benevolent leader offering an olive branch to their poor neutered enemy. I would get nothing out of this, but you could leverage against me giving yourself a powerful pawn, so you don't have to get your precious pony pedi ruined by doing the dirty work. I don't want to be groomed as you did to your 'Faithful Students.'”

Celestia gave Tirek a hard glare. “If that is how you see it I will leave you here. My offer does not expire, but I will leave you here if you wish. You can think about rejoining society in the meantime. I'll have my guards check on you periodically. When you are ready, let them know.”

The unicorn guards lower the cage gently. Celestia turned to leave, and they followed her out of the prison.

Tirek raged against his bonds. The cage was made of orichalcum, nigh indestructible it would require Alicorn magic to break. He had Alicorn magic, more than even Celestia but without his horns, he was like the Hoofer Dam without an outlet.

Tirek settled down and began to contemplate his escape. A guard would be here to see him eventually and offer him a chance to become an Equestrian citizen. He could lie to gain his freedom and then try to find something that could restore his horns. That was very uncertain though, Celestia was right there wasn't any magic that could restore a unicorn's horn if it had been broken. He wasn't a unicorn though, and his horns grew with the strength of his magic. Perhaps if he sacrificed some of his magic, he could restore his horns to where they would work enough to steal the guards magic.

That was a risk also sacrificing his magic in a desperate hope to regain his former strength. Plus Celestia had already defeated him once and the other ponies the time before that. They would be prepared. Maybe he should play a long game, he had been trapped powerless in Tartarus for 1000 years once before. If he could be patient, no they would never trust him waiting would just give Celestia time to prepare for any betrayals. Equestria was probably still recovering from his last attack they would be distracted trying to rebuild their infrastructure. He looks at his arms and hands, they were still huge and powerful looking. He probably still had a lot of the ponies magic trapped inside him their recovery would be slow without their various magics. Could he even release his magic without his horns? Tirek could feel the vast current of magic trapped within him.  An experiment was in order, Tirek slowly relaxed his mental hold just one unicorn worth of magic would suffice to tell him if he could. He loosened his jaw and exhaled a thin stream of magic leaving with his breath it cured around before leaving his cage to find the original owner. Tirek felt his horns, but there was no change. Apparently, one unicorn was merely a drop in the ocean of his sequestered power.

Tirek kept at this for a while letting out magics of various types of ponies hoping he would shrink enough to restore his horns. With alicorn magic still inside him he wouldn't he would need to give up all of his magic if he wanted a chance at getting it back again. Maybe losing Discord's magic, he was capable of defeating two Alicorns before he was chained with the bonds of 'friendship.' His body shrank considerably when the chaos magic left him. So much so Tirek's horns did shift slightly. Still broken but this gave Tirek hope that he could restore his horns and with them his magic. With a heavy sigh, Tirek exhaled the Alicorn magic.

Tirek was back in the prairie where he had been before he released his magic.

“What's this? What is going on?!” he rasped, his deep bass voice was now old and feeble. Tirek looked at himself he was no longer brilliant red and deep black but gray and pale.

“1000 years of governance has made me a master at manipulation. I always get what I want, and  everypony thinks it was their idea.” Celestia smirked

“You used Sombra's black magic to trick me into giving up my power. You didn't defeat me that was all a nightmare.”

“A nightmare with genuine consequences.”

“You violated me. Forced me to see untruth so that you could get me to give up my magic. You knew you could never defeat me head on, so you used Sombra's black magic to trick me. I hope it was worth it Princess.” Tirek said his words were dripping with venom.

“If it means keeping Equestria and my little ponies safe I do it gladly.”

Celestia's eyes glowed white, and her horn began to shine, but this wasn't the usual shimmer just barely illuminating her horn this was the glow of a piece of the sun brought to Equestria a harsh white light that scoured the land around them of life. Grasses charred then burned and were turned to ash, and the ash too began to glow. The ground around them turned to liquid under the full might of the unconquered sun.

Tirek was vaporized in an instant turned into a plasma of his various elements before Celestia reigned back the portion of the sun she had brought to Equestria. Closing her eyes the light faded, the ground still hissed and bubbled from the intense heat. Celestia hovered above the glass landscape she had created. Was this too extreme even for one such as Tirek could he have been reformed with enough time she thought to herself? Discord's magic could foil her prescience making the various paths the future could take even more difficult to untangle.

The paths she saw now focused on rebuilding Equestria, erasing the damage Tirek had wrought in his quest for Alicorn magic. Perhaps she could have avoided killing Tirek as she had in the past, but that was behind her now. She would have to carry the burden of knowing that she was capable of abandoning her principals.