Gloom and Doom

by casualbrony10

Endure

Celestia awoke in the middle of the night, sensing something amiss. Everything looked normal, her private chamber was dark and silent in the night. The monarch cautiously got out of bed and walked towards the balcony door. She never ignored any feelings of unease that crept in her mind ever since the incidents with the plunderseeds and the changelings proved that even Canterlot was not safe. Celestia could no longer afford to let down her guard with so many threats to Equestria appearing in the recent months. She still felt responsible for it all, her failures nearly doomed her land several times over and forced her protege Twilight to clean up the mess. While Twilight performed beautifully it pained Celestia to put the young princess in danger time and time again. Twilight has always been like the daughter she never had and it was terrible to thrust such burdens and pressure upon her. For 1000 years Celestia had stood against countless evils that threatened Equestria, never once had she faltered, yet in a short year multiple villains had bested her. Perhaps so many centuries of strain were finally catching up to the old alicorn. Despite her youthful appearance, Celestia could feel the weight of her years pressing down. Her connection to the sun rejuvenates her, but even the most powerful magic can only do so much. Alicorns are powerful, but like all ponies, they are mortal at their core. Unlike Luna, who was in stasis for the last millennium, Celestia had endured every second of it while shouldering full responsibility as the sole princess. Nothing can last forever, and at some point Celestia would pass on, but not today. The ancient horse still had considerable power and was confident that she could endure for at least another few decades as long as she had her magic.

She had kept it secret from all, but when she gave all her power to Twilight it did more than exhaust her as it did Cadance and Luna, Celestia had actually started dying. If her magic hadn't been restored she wouldn't have survived the week. Her plan was for Twilight to go into hiding and master the new-found power. Given time, the alicorn magic would have strengthened Twilight's body enough so that she could tap into that incredible reserve of magic growing with her. The young alicorn would then have easily been able to overwhelm Tirek and restore Equestria's magic. Celestia would never have survived that long and the other princesses would never have agreed to the plan if they knew it meant Celestia's death. Unfortunately, Celestia didn't think that Tirek would betray Discord so soon and steal his magic. Discord had innate magical senses and, augmented by the massive amounts of magic Tirek had absorbed, they allowed the centaur to know exactly where Twilight was. Celestia had also hoped that Discord still cared about Twilight's friends and wouldn't lead Tirek to them so quickly. So much had gone wrong and once again the 6 bearers of harmony had to pull a miracle to fix Celestia's mistakes.

Celestia banished such thoughts as she neared the door. The first think that she noticed was that it was pitch black outside, no starlight or moonlight, and she could hear rain. Impossible, Celestia herself oversaw Cloudsdale's weather schedule and Canterlot wasn't supposed to have rain for 2 weeks. Celestia opened the door and stepped onto her balcony, from which all of Canterlot could be seen. Instantly she froze in shock as horrifying sights and sounds greeted her. Canterlot was filled with clouds of dark smoke and streams of black liquid ran in the streets. The wails and sobbing of hundreds of ponies assaulted her ears and the air had a bitter taste. The rain was made of the same liquid shadow that ran in the streets. The princess reached out with her magic and attempted to contact her sister, but was only partially successful. She sensed Luna's consciousness, but couldn't seem to get her attention. Through their link Celestia felt a profound, heart-wrenching sadness radiating from Luna, consuming all else. She pushed against the wall of pain with all her mental might, desperately trying to find out what has happened. For a brief instant, she got through, and Luna sent several disjointed and confused thoughts before falling back into the mental fog. Celestia managed to make out an image of some sort of creature and flashes of a short struggle between it and Luna. Celestia understood, a powerful psychic monster was attacking Canterlot and was now coming for her. Celestia sent a subtle magical probe through the halls of her castle and located the creature, it was climbing the stairs and was less than a minute from her door. If it could overwhelm Luna than Celestia had little hope in direct combat. Celestia had always been the intellectual of the two and ever since they were fillies Luna had been stronger. A plan quickly formed in Celestia's head, she may not have strength, but she knew how to make the most of what power she did have.

Gloom slowly opened the door to the princesses' bedchamber, the quick spell removing the lock. He could make out the sleeping form of the princess under the covers. He quietly moved to the side of her bed. Tendrils of dark energy sprouted from his body and around the bed silently. For a heartbeat, Gloom simply stood there silently watching the lump on the bed, then his eyes flashed blue and the tendrils snapped tight, pinning Celestia to the bed. Gloom prepared to assault the monarch's mind and secure his triumph over Canterlot, "Celestia, I am Gloom and from this point forward you are alone, you are powerless, you are mi-" Gloom stopped short as he realized that Celestia had not reacted, the lump on the covers hadn't even moved. He threw off the blanket to reveal a pile of pillows with Celestia's crown placed on top. Gloom had only time to widen his eyes in surprise before a bright flash of light struck him from behind and hurled him through the balcony door and to the gardens below with a tremendous crash. A lamp in the bedroom shimmered and vanished, the illusion replaced with Celestia.

"Gotcha." Celestia allowed herself a brief smile, that was one of her favorite illusions when she was young, it brought her many victories in hide and seek with Luna. She flew out the destroyed door and hovered above Gloom. The creature was stunned and one of its legs seemed broken, but the leg quickly snapped back into place and mended itself.

"Regeneration," she thought,"Fire can usually counter such powers." Celestia shot a blast from her horn. The beam struck Gloom as he struggled to stand and pinned him to stone walkway beneath him. Celestia kept up the constant beam, slowly increasing the intensity until the very stone had melted into a pool of lava. When she finally stopped Gloom was submerged in a pond of molten stone. Gloom still struggled to get out and splashed lava as he thrashed around. His flesh had burned away, but his entire skeleton was intact and moved despite the lack of muscles; dark vapor fumed from his body and some of his flesh was already starting to grow back. "Beheading will definitely work." Normally Celestia wouldn't resort to deadly force so quickly, but this creature, this "Gloom" had caused both her sister and subjects to suffer under whatever curse it had placed them under and she didn't have the luxury of preparing a proper sealing spell like she had with Sombra. Celestia cast a freeze spell on the lava pool, returning it to solid stone. Gloom managed to get his head out but his body was trapped. The makeshift prison wouldn't hold for long though, as Gloom was beginning to convert to a liquid state and started to slither out. Celestia landed and fired a pencil thin laser beam from her horn at Gloom's neck, cutting it cleanly from his body, then a well placed telekinetic push knocked his head several feet away before his liquid neck could flow back together. The disembodied skull fell over and melted into a puddle of black ooze, which evaporated into more of the smoke that enveloped the city. However, the severed neck actually started to grow a new head to Celestia's shock. Discord was the only being she had ever seen survive beheading. Sure there were creatures that were nigh invulnerable so their necks couldn't be cut and there were beings who were incorporeal so attempts would pass right through, but to actually survive the head being separated from the body for more than a few seconds. She was reminded of the fear she had felt a thousand years ago when she and Luna had tried a similar attack on Discord, only for the draconeques to start juggling his own head while laughing at the looks on their faces. The only way to defeat something that powerful was to bind it or remove all it's magic and then kill it. Both methods required either elaborate preparation or power much greater than the victim. Celestia knew in that moment that she couldn't beat this monster. Her best option was to retreat and return with reinforcements and a plan.

Celestia flew off as fast as she could as Gloom struggled. Realizing she would escape, Gloom roared and the stones still holding his legs shattered as he launched himself into the air. His lower body morphed into a gaseous state and he left a dark trail of smoke across the air as he pursued the princess. He began to fire blasts of dark energy after her from his 2 claws and mouth. Celestia zigzagged across the sky and it was all she could do to avoid being struck. With one final burst of speed she broke the sound barrier and rocketed away from her assailant towards the Canterlot border. "NOOOO!!! YOU WILL NOT LEAVE!" Gloom wailed as he cast a powerful spell. The smoke covering the city then rose upward to obey his command. A dome of smoke and dark magic formed around the city. Celestia was one instant too late, she crashed into the rising wall of darkness and fell limp out of the sky. Gloom caught the injured monarch by the throat and slammed her into the magic wall with enough force to break iron. Finally getting a chance to focus on her, Gloom assaulted her mind with all the anguish and pain he could muster. He played on her failures, her weaknesses, every mistake she made over the past 1000 years. It was enough to drive anypony mad with grief. However, much to his horror, Celestia weakly lifted her head and stared him down, a trickle of blood running from her mouth, but she had a small smile. "How?" Gloom mouthed in disbelief.

"So that's what you did to Luna and all my little ponies. You play on their regrets and sorrows until they break and then you curse them and feed. Sorry, but with me you're beating a dead horse. I've lived for almost 1400 years, in that time I've made countless mistakes, some trivial, but some devastating. Sometimes ponies would die because of my judgement, because of my decisions." Celestia paused for a moment. "I even let my sister and one of my students fall to darkness because I was too wrapped up in my own affairs to see what was happening. I don't sleep well. Sometimes I need to cast a spell just to force myself to sleep. I've failed my favorite student time and time again and she has had to save me. She has had to face creatures that even I fear. I have nightmares about sending her to her death. You want to know how I stay sane? How I keep hope? 1400 years is a lot of time to think and in that time I learned not to dwell on the past, to focus on the present, to think of the good. Despite my flaws I have brought 1000 years of peace to Equestria, 1000 years of happiness. I got to watch as my student grew from a little filly to a princess infinitely better than myself. I still remember her dancing around me and yelling 'Yes yes yes yes!' when I chose her as my protege. She corrected so many of my mistakes and even brought back my sister and my lost student. I even saw an ancient enemy, one I once thought pure evil, become my friend because of her and her friends. Her friends all became my students and each one carries a light within them far brighter than my sun could ever be. She thinks me a great teacher; the ponies of Equestria think me a great leader, so I must be doing something right. As long as they need me I will not leave them. I can't defeat you, but you will get nothing from me. I will fight you until my body is broken and even then my mind and spirit will endure. Do your worst parasite."

Gloom snarled, he wanted control over the sun and the only way he could do that was through Celestia. This delusional pony had actually convinced herself that she had made the world better. Impossible! The world was filled with pain and suffering, any good she had done was pointless and fleeting. It would take some time to break this one, her delusions were strong. He cast a spell on her horn to coat it in his black ooze and then teleported himself and her back to royal palace to begin. As she was wrapped in tendrils of dark energy and submerged in a lake of liquid anguish, one thought pounded in Celestia's mind.

Endure.

Author's Note:

Did everypony see the season 5 premier? It was so awesome! I liked that the villain was actually smart, serious, and more realistic. First time I've seen a villain on this show that has had all three of those qualities. That's all I can say without spoiling anything.