//------------------------------// // Calling The Herd // Story: Dark Libra // by DragonassasslnGR //------------------------------// The basement was dark and the only light came from the dying embers of the candles. Twilight felt somepony tap her, she shined a light from her horn to see Cassius looking her in the eyes. He leaned in and whispered to the frightened unicorn, " You failed." Twilight suddenly felt a sharp pain and searing cold in her chest. She looked down to see a blade of shadows emanating from his hoof. He dug it in deeper into her chest with a smile. A scream from Rarity erupted as the tip of the shadow blade pierced through Twilight's back and blood flowed down. Cassius looked over Twilight's shoulder and said, "Generous, if that is what scares you then, this will terrify you." Cassius was completely engulfed in shadows in an instant. He pulled the blade out and Twilight fell to the ground unmoving. The shadows that covered Cassius looked as though they were dripping off from him. "I can interact with the dream realm from the physical plane. I can pull you greatest fears and become them. Thanks to Luna herself." He spoke with a distorted voice. He approached Rarity with his smile which; thanks to the shadows amplified the fear. His eyes were the only things unchanged by the darkness around them, but they still held Fluttershy's stare. As he got closer the floor shook with every step and his mouth was opening to reveal dagger like teeth and a tongue like a hellhound's with a sharp point at the end that lapped from side to side. Rarity would have fainted if the stare didn't hold her in place. "Let the chaos begin." laughed Cassius the Nightmare Spawn. Suddenly a voice came from all around the room. "Now, I'm one for a good reference here and there, but when you take my powers and use them to kill. That's taking it far past the joke." Discord melded out off one of the walls and walked over the Cassius with anger in his eyes and landed a devastating punch that sent him into a bookcase smashing it into splinters. "No one steals my lines and hurts my new friends." growled the creature of chaos. "Incarnate, you will pay for that!" bellowed Cassius as he got up and charged. "No he won't!" Luna yelled as a beam of light burst from her horn and flung Cassius through the ground and out into the streets of Ponyville. Discord looked to Luna pointing to the opening in the earth and said, "Go tell Tia what happened. After that, he will run to recover as much power as possible. I will help Twilight and the Elements." Luna nodded and flew through the hole she had made. When she cleared the gap Discord waved his claw over his view of the hole and the earth closed the gap. The candles relight to the snap of his fingers and he directed his attention to the fallen unicorn that was laying lifeless on the ground. Rarity hadn't moved from her spot and the others crowded over Twilight. Discord noticed she had fallen to her side and a thin slit of a hole went all the way through her and a pool of blood had spilled to the earth. "You didn't tell me you were warned about this." Discord said as he knelt on one knee over Twilight. Applejack looked up to him and asked, "Is there anything you can do to help her?" "Well of course I can, but I don't know if I can fix any spiritual damage from the darkness. She might be.. less cheery from now on." he told the orange earth pony. He placed his claw on Twilight and dug it into the wound. The other five grimaced at the sight and the sounds they heard. Discord pulled out his claw and he was holding swirling darkness. With a grunt, Discord crushed the living shadow in his claw and a flash of light flickered from it, finishing off the darkness. He placed his lion paw over the exit point of where the blade had come out and the wound slowly started to close. The humming sound of magic was the only noise in the room. Nopony said a thing, but instead watched with hope in there eyes. Discord's magic was powerful and now that he was on their side, his magic could counter anything that happened. When the hole closed there was a scar left in its place, but something was wrong; Twilight wasn't breathing. "Well, she must be too far gone." Discord said in a quiet tone. The others looked at one another to see all hope had left each of their faces. Twilight Sparkle was lost and it was their fault for not listening. Tears left their eyes, Fluttershy and Rarity held each other and sobbed into the eachothers coat. Dash had turned away and looked at the wall trying to conceal her sadness, but was failing. Pinkie Pie rolled on the ground in a frenzy of grief and sorrow as she sobbed everywhere. Applejack looked to Discord and said with a few tears rolling down her muzzle, "That's not good enough! There has to be another way. Without Twi all hope is lost, the elements are nothing without her." Discord looked to her and said, "Unless you want to retry what Luna was going to do with Cassius using this circle, There is only one other option. Celestia has to contacted the eternal herd, to get her soul back. Before you suggest the circle, we lack two other unicorns with sufficient magical power to use this and if we tried we would all die when we fail. On that note who's up to going on a trip with me?" All of the remaining Elements stood up and collected themselves. Discord smiled and gently lifted Twilight off of the ground. She felt cold to the touch and was limp. Her crown fell from her when her head left the floor of the basement. "It time to go." Discord whispered and a portal opened to the snap of his tail. One by one they entered the portal to Canterlot with Discord first and Applejack last. Before she entered, Applejack blew out the candles, picked up the crown still letting tears fall to the floor. She took one last look at the dark room, then stepped through leaving the blood stained earth untouched. ******************************************* Luna flew right into the throne room slamming straight through the large doors. Celestia was in the middle of an audience with the mayor of Ponyville. "Tia something terrible had a happened to the Elements of Harmony!" Luna exclaimed as she landed in front of her sister. Celestia went wide eyed then looked back to the mayor and said, "I will send supplies and craftsmen to help in the repairing of the town. Please go and tell the guards outside I will not accept another audience." The Mayor bowed and walked off. There was a loud slamming of the large doors behind her. "What has happened Luna?" Celestia asked in a calm voice. "I-I found Cassius, he was staying in the old castle in the Everfree Forest. He had his journal and it was sealed by powerful magic so I couldn't open it. Tia, I tried to restore Cassius to his old self." Luna began but stopped when she saw the fear in her elder sisters eyes. "Luna, he is dead. You were there that day." she said as she stood. "No Celestia, he came back, but he didn't remember anything. I found him in the dream realm and brought him to the library in Ponyville. I later discovered the detonation this morning was from him. The enchantments still held after all of these years." Luna continued as Celestia listened intently. "I used one of the forbidden herd spells to try to restore him to near full power, but Twilight lost her focus. The circle failed and he broke free with all of his memories except the climax of the last battle. The balance has reclaimed him and he is planning on coming here when he is at full power." "Luna, this is a grave mistake that demands punishment, but I remember how close you were to him so I will let this slide when we defeat him. Now what happened to the elements?" Celestia started scolding but let her voice calm. "He, killed Twilight Sparkle." Luna said with sorrow. Celestia felt a great pain in her chest and she fell back into her throne. She couldn't believe the words that just left her sisters mouth. She wouldn't believe them. Celestia looked over to her sister and began, "Luna, do not joke like that in a time..." At that moment a portal opened in the center of the large room and one by one the Elements of Harmony stepped through. First was a very sad Pinkie Pie, then Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack who held Twilights crown balanced on one of her hooves. The last one to exit the vortex was Discord holding a dead lavender unicorn in his arms. Celestia looked in horror as they walked to her. "Tia, I wish this was a joke." Luna quietly spoke. Discord looked to the sun goddess and said, "Celestia, I tried to save her, but she was too far gone. You need to ask your mother to give her back. You know as well as I do Cassius will be stronger this time around. I'm on the side of harmony and he is stronger because of it. He's also collecting the Elements of Chaos again to boost his power further." Luna continued Discord's statement, "He will gather his forces again and try to kill you. Without Twilight or her at our side, we will be overwhelmed by the enemy in a matter of hours if we are lucky." Celestia's normally calm and friendly face was rattled by a mixture of anguish, sorrow, and anger. Tears fell from her white muzzle as she walked over to Discord. She used her magic to levitate Twilight to her. When she was near, Celestia embraced the cold husk of her student in a hug. She held her tightly waiting for Twilight to return the gesture. She buried her muzzle into the unicorns coat and sobbed when Twilight didn't respond. ********************************************** Cassius limped away from Ponyville. The darkness that got hit by the beam was burned off and his left shoulder was scorched by the energy. He saw Luna fly towards the castle then teleport most likely to warn Celestia about him. The shadows finally started to regenerate around his wound and he felt a little better. "Damn you Incarnate. The balance has shifted slightly closer to perfect equilibrium though. That means the Faithful has died." A single tear left his eye, but he quickly whipped it away and headed to the Everfree to find some allies. He wanted an army at his side when he faced Celestia. Celestia's Guardian was dead and the Elements of Harmony were useless without Magic. Thankfully he had all of the Elements of Chaos with him, Greed, Tertiary, Lies, Selfishness, Doubt, and Sorrow where all accounted for. He had a chance of winning, but he wanted supreme domination. He would call on upon the dragons and any other creatures that could be willing to serve him. Creatures like the Diamond Dogs and a hydra or two. He had to recruit the shapeshifters again and their Queen. This wasn't going to be a problem, because Chrysalis feared his power when he was balanced and fought alongside...HER. Freeing the Queen of the Changelings and using her as the first of his follower would at least give him a small army. Then he would summon the Tyrant of the crystal empire. His power would help keep the land in check and support Cassius's own. Losing the Puppet master however would be somewhat of a blow to him, but Cassius could replace him. The only thing left to do on his list, would be to get help to the last of the enchantments broken so Cassius could be whole again. Thankfully he knew of a hut and a zebra that dabbled in ancient magic that may help if he could find her. "The fun is about to begin Celestia! Do you hear me!" Cassius yelled to the heavens with a maniacal laugh. ******************************************************* Moments passed and Celestia finally had pulled herself together. "Everypony follow me." She ordered them as she walked over to her throne with Twilight on her back. "Luna, earlier you mentioned a Journal?" Celestia asked as she slid a hoof over the right side of her stone chair. "Yes, but I will need to go and retrieve it." Luna replied and teleported away. Celestia pushed a button on her throne that made it slide back revealing a staircase that led down somewhere dark. "The rest of you, we will pay our respects to those that gave their lives for Equestria." Celestia said as she walked down the stone steps. The others followed her with some hesitation. It took a nod from Discord to convince them that this had to be done. They walked behind Celestia and as they passed a torch that wasn't on. It magically lit as if sensing the living in the dark stone staircase.After what felt like hours they made it to a great room that was made completely of carved stone that had no windows. It looked as large as the throne room itself, if not a little bigger. The walls had tapestry with pictures on them of all sorts. The closest one to them on the left showed four Alicorns. Two White, one gray and one black filly. One of white and the black Alicorn filly sat on their own throne, the other two stood wings spread ready to defend the them. The next one showed the black filly and gray Alicorn in the maze garden. The tall gray Alicorn with a gold Libra sitting in a black circle as his cutie mark was watching over the filly in the maze garden. The next one was of what had to be Celestia and the white Alicorn with the a Blue Libra in a gray circle as her mark looking over a desk together at parchments. Continuing the order was the gray Alicorn fighting over a crater with one of the white Alicorns. The next one was of the now guilt stricken gray Alicorn crying over his dead opponent with the current Elements of Harmony scattered around her. The last one was of the same gray Alicorn floating up to the sky and releasing energy with six new elements then falling to his death. "Princess, what is this place?" Rarity asked in astonishment. "The resting place of the guardians of myself and Luna. They are also the protectors of the balance of Harmony and Chaos." Celestia said as she continued to walk. Everypony but Celestia looked at Discord who only replied, "I am the spirit of chaos. The puppet master, not the puppet of fate that wants everything to be equal." Suddenly Rainbow Dash bumped into Celestia's leg, the sun goddess had stopped dead in her tracks. Two stone coffins sat on a platform. Both had the respective Cutie marks of the guardians on them. The coffin belonging to Celestia's protector was still sealed, but the coffin of Luna's was destroyed from the inside. The emblem of the Cutie mark was the only whole piece left. "He did return then." Celestia muttered to herself. At that point Luna teleported with the journal and placed it on the ground. "Tia, here is the journal." Luna said as happily as she could given gravity the situation. "Luna, recreate the circle here and we will get not only Twilight back, but her as well." Celestia ordered. Luna stood there for a moment then went right to work. "Who the hay is HER!?" Applejack exclaimed being fed up with the constant use of the term. Discord looked to Applejack and answered, "She is Sereen. Cassius's eldest sister and guardian of the Sun Goddess and Harmony." Luna had drawn the circle and Celestia placed Twilight to one side of it. They walked over to the stone coffin together. Celestia stood on one side and Luna stood on the other. They placed their hooves on two buttons that matched them to the letter. They pushed them in and everypony in the room heard a clicking sound. The stone top of the airtight coffin jumped slightly and dust was flicked into the air. Using their magic, the princesses lifted the top and gently placed it on the ground on Celestia's side. Inside rested the body of the white Alicorn. She looked as though she had never died, but instead was in a peaceful sleep. Her body was perfect with no signs of decay. Using their magic again, they lifted her to the other side of Twilight. "She is beautiful!" Rarity exclaimed. They walked back to the group and Celestia said, "Take your places like the last time." They all sat next to the pony that they did last time with Luna in Twilight's place and Celestia in Luna's original place. Discord stood next to the coffin of stone not wanting to accidentally have his magic get in the way and have something go wrong. Celestia started the spell with Luna and Rarity supporting it. The circle glowed brighter with the power of the two Alicorns instead of one. Celestia closed her eyes and arcs of energy flowed from her. When she opened her eyes they glowed with ultimate power as she mentally entered the great plains that belonged to the Eternal Herd. Moments passed as Celestia was communicating with her mother and the herd. Everypony suddenly felt a surge of power that rushed through them and into the circle. The symbols burst with light and energy passed from them, into Twilight and Sereen. The energy was so immense that it built up and detonated creating a blast that sent everypony flying in all directions. When the smoke cleared Twilight took a sharp breath and started to cough and Sereen slowly got up and went to her aid. everypony else got up and ran over the to see their once dead friend. Celestia galloped to her students side and before Twilight could speak, Celestia hugged her with great care. "I thought I lost you Twilight." she whispered. "You almost did. Thank you." replied the purple mare as she returned the hug with tears of joy running down her muzzle. Discord walked over and asked, "What did you promise them Celestia?" All of the mane six looked over to their princess of the sun. "I will give them the Elements of Chaos when this is all over." replied the princess. "So you are giving them Cassius then." Discord said as he stroked his goatee. "Won’t that kill him?" he finished. "He will go in there place if we cannot separate him from them." Celestia told the creature as she let go of Twilight. "Now if you don't mind, we have defenses to prepare and an army to raise. War is coming to Canterlot and I have to protect my little ponies."