@zubric  
No, that’s not an animation error. The Princesses were still trapped in Tartarus until Tirek was imprisoned again and they got their magic, which they transferred to Twilight, who gave it up to Tirek to protect her friends, returned to them, freeing them to leave Tartarus under their own power. I’m sure Cerberus took good care of them until they were released and his real prisoner was put back in a cell.

Wait…is that the princesses s till chained up in the far right corner…XD animation error?

@Frustration in Excelsis  
That might be it and I hope that’s the case, because even the inmates in Tartarus didn’t really hold up. The character that look to fit the criteria for it was Tirek. All of the other inmates were just common animals by MLP standards

@sixpathspony  
The impression I got when watching “School Raze” was that we were only seeing the “entrance”, so to speak. Several shots looked like they had several paths leading offscreen beyond the areas they characters were in, so between that and how big Tartarus is “Twilight’s Kingdom” I simply figured there was more to it that the episode just didn’t visit.
 
Alternatively, another explanation I’ve seen tossed around is that Tartarus is a magically created pocket dimension and the general draining of magic caused it to partially collapse onto itself, hence why it looked so messy and cluttered.

In the “Twilight Kingdom”, Tartars look vast, like it was in another dimension or something, but in “School Raze” it’s smaller like the size of a house or two…

Welcome back to the vacation camp, motherfucker.

@SocDev  
No. Luna did.

@Poptard
 
I don’t think so…Cerberus did probably see them get transported in, but knowing that helping them out of Tartarus would only endanger them again since they were still fatigued from the magic transfer, he did the next best thing and took care of them until Tirec was defeated and re-imprisoned.
 
Once they got their magic and strength back, Cerberus was more than happy to see them fly home, then turned his attention to the convict responsible for imprisoning the Princesses against their will: Tirec.
 
Anyone think Cerberus just got a new chew toy to vent some retribution on for imprisoning the Sovereigns…?

Hey wait, if Cerberus was there this whole time, couldn’t they just have walked past him? If your boss ends up wrongfully imprisoned in the cell you’re guarding, aren’t you supposed to let them out?

I saw the empty cell on the left, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to see the right one was where Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were.
 
At least Cerberus knew they did not belong in Tartarus, and gave them minimal security so they could be released and go home once Tirec was back in prison for the rest of his life.

Hay, do you guys see that there are two another cells (one is empty and another is with Princesses)?
 
Tirek wasn’t the only one who escaped.

I did not get a good look at this shot.
 
All I saw was Tirec, imprisoned once again, with Cerberus guarding him, this time, forever.
 
I did not get a chance to look over and see that the right cell was where the Princesses ended up when Tirec sent them to Tartarus.
 
At least when they showed up, Cerberus was a lot more kinder to them as he only gave each of them a shackle to wear. At least until their magic was returned and they could go home.
 
My guess: While Twilight and the others restored Equestria, the Princesses magic was transferred back to them from Tirec upon his re-imprisonment, vaporizing the shackles, restoring their Cutie Marks and strength, getting Celestia’s and Luna’s manes and tails flowing again, and allowing them to leave Tartarus, but not without probably waving thank you to Cerberus for taking care of them while trapped against their will.
 
Cerberus returned the gesture with a three-headed bark, and a promise to never let Tirec out of his sight again. Never again.
 
For Tirec, the punishment was infinite consecutive life sentences, 24/7/365 watch from Cerberus, and no chance of another escape.

As they’re set free, I’d love for one of the Princesses to just yell, “SEE YA LATER, FUCKER!”

Now who do you suppose thinks goes into that empty cell. My money is on King Sombra if he wasn’t nuked to death.

Hmm, wonder who that is in the right “prison”…

Hell is a very scenic place.

@Prof.NightJack  
*be why he

@RIG
 
She did?

@RIG  
Must be who he got away with Cerberus gone, they haven’t updated security.

Sombra must be somewhere around in Tartarus.

@PonyPon  
They had to have cut-backs after Dante came over and wrecked the place.

@SocDev  
Celestia specifically said that.

Kind of bare bones for hell, isn’t it?

Maybe Tirek escaped when Cerberus left tartarus in “its about time”?

hey look, there are updates available for tararus!