//------------------------------//
// Phobetor 
// Story: Gloom and Doom 
// by casualbrony10 
//------------------------------//

	"I think everyponys fine, at least physically, you saved us," Twilight said, "How did you know to come?"
"Celestia sent me this." Discord held up Twilight's letter, "I'm so happy you're all alive!" Discord scooped all the ponies up in a hug, "For a second I thought I'd lost the only friends I've ever had. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. Normally my magic senses would be all over this but Gloomy clouds most types of clairvoyance with his very presence. He's always been a strange one, really hard to get rid of too."
"Fluttershy," Rainbow said in a subdued tone, "I'm so sorry about the time I almost traded you for a book, and Twilight, I'm sorry for being a jerk to you."
"Oh Rainbow, that thing had you the longest. You have to let go of what it told you. I already forgave you for your mistake and put it behind me, it's what friends do. Besides, I'm not perfect either," Fluttershy hugged Rainbow and comforted her.
"Neither am I," Rarity added, looking down at the ground.
"Nope," Applejack replied, taking her hat off.
"No," Spike said softly.
"We all know I'm not," Sunset said with sadness and regret in her eyes.
"None of us are, but that's the magic of friendship, we love and support each other despite our flaws. Each of us makes the others better ponies. After all, it's thanks to all of you that I became a princess," Twilight said.
"Imperfect-comfort-victory party!" Pinkie yelled.
"You might want to wait on that, look," Discord pointed to Ponyville in the distance. Gloom's smog still hung over the town, tendrils of shadow encircling it, "Gloomy's magic still holds your town, that means that he's still out there somewhere."
"But we saw you destroy him," Spike said.
"Well, it was Twilight's magic I used. By the way I think Twilight has a secret or two you might want to ask about. Anyway there are a few magical ways to survive destruction of the body and Gloom knows at least one or two of them. That's not the most troubling part though, Gloom would have to be drawing power from more than one town or city to do the things he did as I fought him."
"Those ponies are suffering down there! Maybe we can fix it with friendship," Rarity suggested. The six bearers of harmony concentrated, trying to summon the rainbow, but instead dark energy pulsed from them and they fell to their knees in pain.
"Ow, something's wrong," Twilight said.
"That monster said that he had severed our connection to harmony, I didn't think that was possible," Sunset answered.
"Discord! Can you restore it?" Fluttershy asked. Discord snapped his fingers and they tried again, only to fail. "No good, okay can you heal Ponyville like you did us?" Again Discord snapped his fingers but the town remained covered in dark magic.
"I'm afraid not, you were all only under Gloomy's power for a few minutes, the town has probably been like that for at least an hour. Misery becomes worse the longer it's in control. Also I have trouble removing specific spells, chaos is very general and random. That curse Gloomy put on you is one of the most precise and intricate things I've ever seen," Discord explained, "Twilight, I don't suppose you can control that crazy power you have?"
"No, I can't." Twilight then explained to all her friends about the suppression spell and her adaptive magic.
"You've had that much magic all this time? Why didn't you use it on Tirek or Chysalis or Discord, no offense." Spike asked.
"None taken."
"First, I have never had full control over it, I can only tap into a set amount safely. I was always afraid I'd lose control and my magic would hurt somepony, like it nearly hurt all of you. Second, it wasn't as powerful early on, the magic exponentially gains strength whenever I'm exposed to new or stronger magic, which has been often since I met all of you. Even against Tirek it was only a fraction of what it is now, the princesses magic and the rainbow made it nearly infinite."
"She's right, I only redirected enough to relieve the surge and that felt like eating the sun. She's got way more locked in her," Discord said.
"Okay we have no idea what to do or where to go. We need a plan, anypony got anything?" Sunset asked.
"Well Discord seems to know what we're up against. How do you know that monster anyway?" Rainbow demanded, suspicion suddenly in her eyes.
"Oh it's a long story and it would take forever to tell, allowing Gloomy to gain a lot of power. However, I am the master of chaos, so I'll just beam it all right into your heads instantly using my phenomenal cosmic powers. Gather round and prepare to watch my memories unfold before your very eyes."
The ponies and dragon gathered around Discord. Discord then proceeded to tap each one on the head with his claw,much like he did with Fluttershy when he hypnotized her in the maze, only this time he was gentler. The group just stood there for several seconds.
"Nothings happening" Twilight said.
"Wait for it," Discord said.
"Are you s-" Twilight was interrupted as her and all her friend's eyes suddenly glowed bright white as their vision into the past began.

Meanwhile, Gloom continued his work in the Crystal Empire. He is almost done, he doesn't even need Shining anymore. Shining and Cadance were neck deep in dark crystals in a corner of the room, unconscious. The heart has ceased to resist and now absorbs Gloom's tainted essence eagerly of it's own accord. The heart has changed into a thing of darkness, now consuming light instead of emitting it. It's surface was entirely black and no longer shiny. As the heart continues to suck in more shadows, Gloom searches the Empire. Where is it? My old spell should still be here, the structure and runes were set up, it only needed a power source, which the heart provides. But instead there's nothing. Wait a minute, of course! The fool unicorn king! What was his name? Somber... Samba... Sombra! Yes that was it! He must have discovered the remains of my spell and activated it prematurely. The memories say that the empire was banished for a thousand years. There's no way he did that on his own,yes he must have used the spell I set up. It was incomplete, it needed the heart and my mind to guide it. Mere banishment, if only they knew what it's true purpose is. If the spell was spent then that means I must remake it all over again. That will set me back several hours, maybe even a day. Damn them to the abyss! I can't risk another fight with those ponies and Discord, this is my last body and my consciousness is already frail from the destruction of 2 bodies, I can't split again so soon. No, they will find me and stop me like last time. I need a distraction, but what?
Gloom began to weave a spell as he thought. Dark mist swirled through the air and condensed into a swirling cloud above the city. Gloom began muttering incantations and made complex gestures. Arcane symbols began to appear in seemingly random places around the empire, each symbol would blaze with blue fire for a few seconds then fade away, leaving no trace. It was as if Gloom's magic was bonding to the land itself. I'm spread so thin. I need help, but where would that help come from? As if in answer, Gloom sensed something touching the framework of his spell. It was almost imperceptible, a very small amount of negative energy was being siphoned away from all the ponies Gloom had enthralled, as if something was feeding off of Gloom's scraps, piggybacking on the misery he radiated. Gloom sent out his magical senses.  He quickly found the source, the nightmares. Gloom's victims were put in a dreamlike trance, so they were still partially in the dreamworld. The intense emotional pain every pony was feeling had attracted countless nightmares. The wisps were swarming like locusts throughout the dreamscape. Weak, non-sentient, lesser spirits, but they had possibilities. An idea came to Gloom's mind. Momentarily stopping his preparations, Gloom started a new spell. He drew from the power he had stolen from Luna, power over dreams. A small tear appeared in spacetime, a portal to the dreamworld. Through it the nightmares poured, formless, immaterial shadows that swarmed about in a frenzy. Gloom seized the swarm with his power and drew them into his own rivers of ooze that flowed through the empire. The ooze provided a housing. Blobs of liquid shadow rose up out of the rivers, each one housing hundreds of nightmares. Together, each group of nightmares were enough to form a simple consciousness. The blobs congealed into vaguely pony shapes, like a silhouette, then began to rampage through the empire. 
"Oneiroi!" Gloom's voice roared. The nightmares stopped on hearing their ancient name. Since they used Gloom's essence for bodies, the simple creatures were bound to him. They also instinctively feared the greater spirit. "To Canterlot, feed your hunger! Make noise! Destroy these!" Gloom sent images of the seven ponies, Spike, and Discord into the nightmares' small minds. The host of shadow ponies moved to obey, flowing out of the empire and towards Canterlot like a tide of horror. "That should keep them occupied," Gloom muttered as he returned to his work.