Dark Libra

Luna had placed a tracking spell on the journal to try to find Cassius and was flying over the Everfree Forest. She had told Twilight to find the other members of the Elements of Harmony and meet back at her library. She had to find Cassius before he reentered his crazed state.
She had a plan to help him before this happened if she could find him. He appeared so unstable when she saw him in the nightmare. The only thing that gave her confidence that he could be helped was the two ghosts, if the dreamer was who they claimed him to be. No, Luna pushed that out of her head. They were gone, one died many years ago and the other was never seen again. Well that was the official story. Who ever this pony was, they had done a lot of research into the past to have any idea of who those two are.

Luna was over the at the old castle in the center when the book started to resonate a low hum. As she got close to the aged stone structure the humming grew ever louder. The dreamer was indeed in the Everfree and still asleep. Luna entered a sky dive aiming for an open window that had been smashed. She arced at the last second and managed to fit perfectly through the hole and land in what was left of the old throne room. Luna hadn’t seen this place in years, not since the Nightmare Moon incident that is. The room looked as it did on that day, but something was off and she couldn't quite place a hoof on it. She walked over to the throne itself and noticed somepony had sat in it recently. There was a hole in the top were a stone once sat. The shape was that of a griffin's claw. It looked as though the area around the stone was beaten with a hoof until the stone had came loose. Luna jumped to the sound of shuffling behind the throne followed by the sound of a hoof hitting the stone in a buck. The throne shook and dust came off of its stone surface. Luna looked behind the large stone seat and found a large gray sleeping pegasus. Luna stood in complete shock as she took in the sight before her. After a moment she sat down and tears began to fall from her loving cyan eyes when she saw his cutie mark. A golden Libra surrounded by a circle as black as night itself.

"So you never left me then, my gray guardian." Muttered the princes of the night.

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Twilight had went to get Applejack while Fluttershy got Rarity and Rainbow Dash got Pinkie Pie. Twilight had given the two other ponies the Elements for them and the ponies they were to fetch. She then decided to use a teleportation spell that took her to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight closed her eyes, took a deep breath and casted the spell. There was a rush of air and the soft popping sound. When she opened her eyes she was outside the farm house. The sun was just passing over the trees which would put the time around 8 in the morning. This meant Applejack would be out bucking the trees with Big Mac in one of the fields. Twilight headed to the farm house and knocked on the door. Without hesitation Applebloom opened the door and greeted her with a smile.

"Howdy Twilight, What Brings ya’ll to the farm?" The little filly asked with joy.

"Applebloom, do you know where Applejack is?" Replied the unicorn with a smile and a slight look of concern.

"Why, she's in the south field I'd guess. Is everything okay?" Applebloom asked with a look of confusion.

Seeing this, Twilight quickly replied as she turned and walked away, "Yes,we are just planning a celebration for a friend of the Princess."

Applebloom's eyes began to light up with excitement and she exclaimed, "Oh Can I help?! I might be able to get my cutie mark if..." Twilight teleported before she could finish, leaving Applebloom at the door.

"Well okay, see ya later Twilight!" yelled the filly in a vain attempted to communicate with the unicorn.

Applejack was walking down a path with two baskets of apples connected by a strap that rested on her back. She heard a pop behind her and turned to see Twilight with a grim look and her satchel on her side.

The farmer pony gave a look of wonder to her friend and asked, "Hey Twi, What's wrong? You have that look about you again."

Twilight looked at Applejacks basket and said, "AJ, we need to go now. Princess Luna needs the Elements at her side."

Applejack's mouth dropped at the words. "What happened Twilight!?" Applejack exclaimed with panic in her voice. "If the elements are needed then something must be wrong." She continued.

"Applejack, nothing happened that wasn't already fixed. She just needs us as extra protection. Look, lets get those apples to the farmhouse and head to the library." Answered Twilight.

Before Applejack said anything Big Mac walked over and took the baskets from his sister and said, "No, I'll take um. You two go to wherever you are needed. I can handle the farm alone."

Applejack gave her brother a hug and said, "Thank you Big Macintosh, I will be back as soon as I can, I promise."

With that She ran off with Twilight and the two headed to the Library.

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Fluttershy had made it to the door of the Carousel Boutique. She was wearing a necklace with her element when she walked in. A bell rang above the door and a voice came from another room.

"Be right there with you. Please have a seat."

Fluttershy walked over to one of the chairs next to a table. The boutique looked nice with all of the new dresses that lined the walls. One caught her eye, it was on a unicorn manikin, It was a gray and blue dress with fake wings and two blue gems with white lines in them. Fluttershy couldn't help but giggled at the obvious source of its inspiration. Rarity walked out of her back room with her glasses on when she spotted Fluttershy with the necklace.

"Fluttershy." She began slowly and causally. "Why are you wearing your element of kindness?" She finished.

"The Princess needs our help with Cassius." quietly responded the yellow pegasus.

"What! What happened to him?" Rarity yelled as she swiftly began to lock up the boutique.

"He... well he went crazy and left the library. So Princess Luna is now trying to find him." She spoke in a calm manner.

Rarity stopped in her tracks and asked, "Why Luna, What did he do?"

Fluttershy looked away and Rarity could see a tear fall to the floor.

Taking a step closer Rarity wrapped a foreleg around the timid pegasus and said, "Fluttershy its alright, I won’t ask anything else. Lets go and do what we can to help."

Fluttershy looked up to her friend and gave her the element of generosity. Rarity placed it around her neck and the two left without another word and headed to the library.

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Rainbow Dash was speeding to Sugar Cube Corner to get Pinkie Pie. She only had a few more blocks to go when she saw Pinky at full gallop. She was running to Dash and neither could stop in time. The two mares collided with a loud thud. Dash flew on her back from the impact and Pinkie Pie stood on her hooves warbling back and forth.

"Dash, I've been looking for you all morning!" Exclaimed the pink party pony.

Dash shook her head trying to clear it and asked, "Wait, you were looking for me?"

Pinkie nodded violently almost tipping herself over, "Ya, we need to get the Elements of Harmony and help Princess Luna."

Dash sat for a moment and asked, "Pinkie Pie, how could you have possibly known we needed to gather the Elements of Harmony?"

The pink pony jumped with excitement and replied, " Oh I have an account on FimFiction.net."

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times trying desperately to process what her friend had just told her. Pinkie Pie walked over to the stunned cyan pony, picked up her element of laughter, put it on and grabbed Rainbow by the tail dragging her all of the way to the library.

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The Six had gathered to the library's basement. Roots from the massive tree covered the walls creating a support structure. Old bookshelves lined most of the walls from floor to ceiling.
The room itself was dark save for the few candles lighting a drawn ring in the center of the room. All of the girls were wearing their respective elements and awaiting Luna's return. Twilight was placing some defensive spells around the room and her friends. It never hurt to be sure before taking on an insane pony. This was a lesson they had learned multiple times the most recent being the Want It Need It spell incident. Twilight never did see her doll again and the last pony she saw that had her was Big Mac, but that was a another task for another day. The room was quiet, nopony dared to break the unsettling silence. All thoughts were on the task still to come and what they may face as a result of it. There was a noise that came from up the stairs and the sound of the trap door being pulled. They looked up as the door opened and Luna walked down with Cassius right behind her. Her horn glowed as she used a spell that left him looking like a mindless slave. His blue eyes were glazed over and no sound left him except the faint breaths he took.

"Cassius walk into the center of the circle on the floor." Luna commanded with a hint of being strain in her voice.

Cassius did as he was instructed, The large pegasus broke off from Luna and entered the circle. When he was completely in, a purple dome rose from it. The magical walls connected at top and it disappeared signaling that it worked. Her horn stopped glowing and Cassius's eyes returned to their normal blue with white rings except one now red that sat in his right eye.

"Where?" Cassius began looking around at his new surrounding seeing the mares that had helped him and the princess of the night all standing around him outside of the circle.

"Twilight, What's going on? Where am I and why am I in... no." Cassius started in a low grumble before his eyes fixed on the circle.

It was two rings drawn in red chalk with many strange symbol in between them. The centerpiece was unmistakable. It was an illustration of the sun and moon merging in creation of a twilight. One of the many symbol of the eternal herd.

"Twilight you can't do this! This thing has haunted me in my sleep. This will kill me. Don't!" Cassius pleaded with tears of complete fear forming from his eyes.

"No this must be don't. You must be free from your curse." Luna said with sorrow in her voice. "This is for the best. You will no longer be tormented by your past. You won’t die but you will be whole again. This is a purging not an execution Cassius."

Cassius's pupils narrowed at her words. With that everypony took their places around the circle. Luna stood in front of Cassius with Twilight at his right and Rarity at his left. Rainbow stood in between Luna And Twilight. Fluttershy stood between Luna and Rarity, Applejack and Pinky Pie stood between a unicorn and a pegasus. The horns of Twilight, Rarity and Luna glowed with magic as the symbols emitted light.

"Please stop. Let me go." Cassius begged.

They all ignored his pleas and focused on the circle. Panic set in and Cassius rammed the barrier causing it to flicker to life and Fluttershy to jump. He rammed it again this time causing a small crack, which was quickly fixed by Luna's magic.

"You don't know what you are doing! Please stop this!" Cassius shouted in fear.

Once again his voice fell to deaf ears. He collapsed to his haunches muttering something to calm himself, "When the sun falls the moon will rise."

Luna raised an eyebrow and listened as she concentrated on the minimum amount of power she had to put, into the spell.

Cassius continued as he shook, "Night will heal all my wounds and silence all the cries. The Nocturnal Guardian looms over head and his heart is full of dread. The balance will never go unchecked and the peace will never be. But there is no place for the broken in the light. He is eternal night and she is eternal day. The balance must be maintained."

Twilight lost her concentration when she heard him say those last words. The symbols on her end lost most of their light and Cassius looked to her with the smile of the apparition.

"Didn't I warn you Faithful, you too Noble." Cassius said with an echo in his voice as he got back up.

"Faith meets Doubt." he said when another ring in his right eye turned purple.

He looked over to Applejack and said, "Honesty meets Lies"

The last ring in his right turned orange.

"Twilight focus on the circle now!" Luna yelled to the purple unicorn.

Twilight was frozen in fear as Cassius looked to each one of them. Every time he said a verse of whatever he was saying the rings in his eyes turned a new color. Rarity was white, Fluttershy's ring turned yellow from the red it once was, correcting itself. Pinkie's was pink and Rainbow Dash's was cyan. Cassius stared at Twilight with his now multi colored eyes.

He spoke calmly when he said, "The locks still remain in place Faithful, there is still time. Continue and all will suffer."

Rainbow Dash yelled over you her, "Twilight, don't you listen to him and focus on your magic, your element!"

Cassius looked over to her with a cocked head and he smiled,
"Oh Loyal you are so blind to what is happening."

Cassius flinched in pain for a moment before his expression returned. "You all will bring about the end of your precious, Equestria and your Sun Goddess." he finished.

"Luna, what is he talking about?" Twilight asked still looking to Cassius.

"My dearest Luna, you never... ah... told them?" Cassius said as a surge of energy pulsed through him with a now visible barrier around the circle's captive.

"Tell us what?" Twilight asked again.

The smile on Cassius's face left leaving only a stern look then he spoke, "Do you remember the books you found with the book marks?"

Twilight nodded.

"I never really lost all my memory, I just fragmented myself. The books where clues for you if this ever happened. I am the Cassius that place... Ahh... the memory locks."

Cassius was breathing heavily from a force of energy as Luna picked up Twilights slack trying to finish the spell.

"I only remember placing the locks. I do not know why they are there. But they must not be opened. Twilight, please stop this before it is too late."

Before she could react or respond, Cassius collapsed to his side and the Enchantments appeared. Luna had finished the first step, Sedation.

"Step 2 Remove the biggest threat." she mumbled.

The enchantments shattered from his wings but the one on his forehead remained.

"Step 3 Shatter the locks." Luna said to herself.

The room filled with the sound of thousands of locks clicking and falling to a stone floor. At that moment all of the candles blew out.

Suddenly Cassius's voice called out, "You didn't listen."