Gloom and Doom

by casualbrony10

After Rainbow, Before Rock

Twilight had tears in her eyes as she gazed at the charred remains of the Golden Oaks Library. It had been a week since Tirek's defeat and her rise to Princess of Friendship and this was the first time she had gotten to see her old home since its destruction. The past few days had been filled with celebration as Equestria hailed the return of its stolen magic and the establishment of a new kingdom. Up to that point Ponyville had been semi-independent, it had it's own flag, anthem, and could participate in the Equestria Games, but it was still considered a vassal of Canterlot, much like Cloudsdale and the other cities. After Twilight's coronation, Ponyville had its own princess, but Twilight did not have any official power or jurisdiction yet beyond her title. Now the other princesses had deemed Twilight ready to take on the full responsibilities of her crown and Ponyville could gain the same status as Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. All three were still considered a part of the country of Equestria, with the 4 princesses acting as a sort of tetrarchy. Twilight had spent the last week attending celebrations and working with Celestia, Luna, and Cadence to get through all the formalities. The mayor and Ponyville's officials would continue to handle day to day administration in her name and Twilight would only need to act in emergencies, matters of high justice, ceremonies, and diplomatic affairs. Twilight had decided to share her authority with her friends, Spike included, after all, the Tree of Harmony had given her castle 7 thrones. Her friends immediately agreed and together they formed the Council of Friendship. Twilight was relieved that the weight of such responsibility wouldn't fall on her alone. Twilight had pushed thoughts of her library to the back of her mind, but she knew that she would feel the loss at some point. That knowledge didn't make it any easier.

Her new castle was magnificent, but Golden Oaks held a special place in her heart. She had only lived there for a year, but in that year her life had changed so much. She met her friends, discovered the elements of harmony, became a princess, and saved Equestria many times. It had been the best year of her life and her library was tied to all those wonderful memories. Its destruction felt like the end of an era and she cried quietly for that. Her friends were searching through the ruins for anything that may have survived. Applejack trotted up her with a saddlebag partially filled with books.

"Ah found these around the tree." Applejack spoke with a smile, but there was sorrow in her eyes, "The covers are mighty scorched but Ah reckon the pages are still readable."

"Thanks Applejack, I really appreciate everypony helping me with this," Twilight replied as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Aw sugarcube, that's what friends are for. Ah wish we could do more, but Tirek really did a number on the place. Anything that didn't burn or melt from the heat blew apart in the explosion, thank Celestia you got Owlowiscious outta there. Where is the little feller anyway?"

"He's with Spike looking around for books that were thrown out by the explosion. Some of them ended up as far away as Sugarcube Corner."

Applejack sat down next to Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. The action was simple, but to Twilight it was incredibly comforting, after all, any gesture from the element of honesty was as sincere as it could be.

"I'm sorry Twilight, Ah can't imagine how you feel right now. Ah don't know what I'd do if Ah lost my home."

"It's alright AJ, most of my things can be replaced, and Ponyville can build a new library. I still have friendship, and that's whats important." At that moment Pinkie bounced up to them carrying a globe.

"Hey Twilight don't look so sad! Your big colorful soccer ball is okay! Anypony want to play a quick game?" Pinky had been sad like the others when they had arrived at the wreckage, but she quickly cheered up as they searched for Twilight's things. She treated it like a scavenger hunt. Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Pinky that's a globe, it's a 3 dimensional map of the world."

Pinky's eyes went wide. "The world is a giant soccer ball?!"

Applejack thought for a moment and turned to Twilight. "You know, now that Ah think about it, it kinda is. It's all round like a ball."

"Yes, but that's just a basic description, there's lots of stuff that's round but they aren't soccer balls," Twilight explained.

"So is that a yes or no to the soccer game?" Pinkie had a confused look.

Twilight sighed, "No Pinkie, you may not use my globe as a soccer ball."

"Okie dokie loki," Pinkie smiled and trotted away.

"Ya know, ah was kinda lookin forward to kickin the world around, maybe Celestia and Luna can join in with the sun and moon," AJ said with a smirk. Twilight chuckled at the ridiculous thought of cosmic soccer. It was nice to smile without thinking about her destroyed library. She knew that whatever material possessions she had lost were nothing compared with the happiness she still had with her friends. As long as she had that, all the misery in the world was only temporary, right?

Tirek sulked in his cage. So close, he had been so close to victory. He still didn't understand how he had lost, how 6 weak, powerless ponies had defeated all the alicorn magic in Equestria. For a few minutes, he had been a god, now he was nothing. That rainbow had penetrated his shield like it had been tissue paper. He looked around for what must have been the thousandth time. He had come to know Tartarus well in the thousand years he had spent there. It was a huge cavern beneath Equestria, the only exit/entrance being a small tunnel, and Cerberus stood guard over it. The cavern was littered with small rock spires that stretched into the distance, each one holding one or more prisoners. Tirek didn't know exactly how large the cavern was, his prison was the closest one to the exit, so he had never gone deeper. Tartarus had been in use for untold eons, the ponies above sent the most dangerous magical criminals and monsters here to rot. It was an excellent prison not because of the size or Cerberus, in the fact the stupid hound was more for show, it was the magical properties of the place. Any magic in the cavern, specifically the spire platforms, was suppressed, it took tremendous power to cast the weakest spells, and physical strength was drained just by being in Tartarus. The iron cage Tirek was in, although not magical, might as well have been unbreakable in his weakened state. Although most of his power was stripped on his defeat, he still had his innate power to drain magic, but Tartarus rendered that useless as he could not summon the strength to use it. Tirek had been the only one ever to escape, but it had taken him a thousand years to save up enough magic to break his chains, and still longer to cast a spell that would lure Cerberus away. Now he was not bound by a small chain, but a huge cage. Tirek hung his head as he realized that he may never taste freedom again. Nothing could die in Tartarus, another strange property, the prisoners never hungered or thirsted and never aged. Attempts at suicide never caused any damage. That only made things worse, Tirek had nearly gone insane from the boredom and isolation many times.

Then he heard Cerberus growl, somepony must either be trying to get in or escaping. He could see the hound and it had its back to him, so someone was trying to get in. He couldn't see who as the huge dog blocked all view of the passage. Cerberus snarled and roared at something in the tunnel, but then began to back up. Cerberus' growls turned to startled yelps, then whining noises as the hound seemed to shake uncontrollably. After a few minutes, Cerberus collapsed and started making pitiful whining noises. It almost sounded like he was crying. Tirek gazed intently at the path, at first, he could only see Cerberus, still shuddering and whining, but then he saw a dark, glob of something slither around Cerberus and up the path to his cage. He couldn't make it out until it came into the shaft of magical light around his cage. It looked like some kind of skeleton horse dripping with tar. It made quiet sobbing noises as it stood just outside the bars. Tirek backed as far away from it as he could. It seemed unaffected by the magic that kept Tirek weak.

"What are you?" Tirek said, uncertain what to make of it. It didn't answer immediately and instead just sat there crying to itself. However, after several moments of creepy silence, it responded.

"You are a worm," it said as it stared at him with its empty eye sockets. It's voice ragged and hoarse, the voice of somepony that had been crying for a long time. It sounded like a male, but there was a faint echo to the voice that sounded female. Tirek immediately recoiled in horror as he felt a presence invade his mind. "You fed off the magic of others like a parasite, and even then when you had it all you still lost. What kind of stupidity gave you the idea that you could be a god?" The presence wormed its way into his being and brought out Tirek's worst memories. It showed him his first defeat, his thousand years of imprisonment, his second defeat. It made him relive the humiliation, the pain, the misery of each loss. "Everypony hates you, your own brother betrayed you. You could have been friends with Discord, but you failed that as well, just like with everything else. Lord Tirek, what a sad joke, you are lord of nothing." Tirek felt a pit in his stomach and a pain greater than any he had ever felt before. Tirek began to cry. He had felt misery in the past, but he never cried, his anger and desire for revenge had always kept him going, and crying was for the weak. Now any anger he felt left him, and he couldn't feel anything but the soul crushing sorrow of defeat. Tirek noticed that his tears were thick and as they dropped from his eyes he saw to his terror that they were black. The tears moved towards the creature and flowed into the pool of ooze where its legs should have been. Some of the ooze then flowed up the creature's body and covered exposed bone like skin. The more Tirek cried the more the monster seemed to regenerate. "Know now that you will always be nothing and that is all you will ever be able to think about," the creature hissed.

"What are you?" Tirek asked again between sobs as he lay in a fetal position.

"I have been called many things: sadness, despair, sorrow, grief, names given to me by ponies who have watched me at work, who have seen me remove the life out of one of their own until there is nothing but a sad wreck that has accepted the one truth of this awful, little world. Happiness is an illusion, only misery is absolute. You know this now as I have shown you all that is wrong with you, all that you have buried within your own mind. Embrace the misery, for it is all you have, the only thing that is real. In the end, when you understand that your life was a waste, know that you owe that understanding to me." It turned away from him and started to move down the path to the next prison. As it left it uttered one last statement to answer Tirek's question.

"I am Gloom."

Author's Note:

Second chapter is here. If you didn't get it the title means that these scenes take place after the season 4 finale but before Rainbow Rocks. Villain finally has a name so that's something. I may not update for a while with Thanksgiving, finals, and stuff coming. Please comment, like, or dislike, the input is welcome!

Edit: Improved the dialogue to be less wooden and forced.