Chapter 2: The Day of Darkness
=Gaia, Equestria, Canterlot, Canterlot Royal Palace, 1066 C.E. =
The Doctor whirled around to see the source of the scream. When he saw it was Princess Luna, he motioned for his companions to come over to examine her. He saw, however, that only Romana had come over. "Where are the rest of those busybodies?" he asked himself. He turned over to see where the Royal Court and Daring Do were at. He groaned when he saw that they were still standing, watching the eclipse, mesmerized. "That's not good for your eyes, you know." He said.
They still didn't budge. He looked over the balcony to see into the city streets. Everypony he could see was also watching the eclipse, mesmerized. He pulled a little metal ring out of his pocket and aligned it directly with the eclipse. The ring began to glow a purple pink color that resonated through the room; he waved it through the room to every pony in the room with a horn. "Somepony here is reflecting a psychic mesmerism signal off the Moon telepathically, and not by magic." The Doctor said.
"Doctor, I don't believe in magic either, but there's simply no point in trying to change their entire culture." Romana told him.
"That is good advice Romana." The Doctor said. "Which I choose to completely ignore." The metal ring began to glow a blue color, and The Doctor walked over to Princess Luna. "Here is the source." He said as he waved it over her body. He slipped it over her glowing horn, which stopped glowing. Immediately, panicked screams erupted from behind them.
"Do you think they were mesmerized long enough to establish a psychic breakdown?" Romana asked as she examined the ring.
"I don't know. It could well be. It has certainly had enough time to use Princess Luna as a conduit." The Doctor deduced. "Unless it was already there in the first place." He walked over to the Royal Court, who were panicking but not screaming, and Daring Do, who only seemed surprised but not entirely panicked. "How are you all doing?"
"This can't be possible." Princess Twilight said. "Princess Celestia, why would you schedule the Sun to be covered up?" She was obviously very loyal to Princess Celestia and completely confused as to why this was happening.
"I…I did not." Princess Celestia said who was equally confused.
"Then why did it happen?" Shining Armor asked impatiently.
"I do not know." Princess Celestia said simply.
"Don't be so afraid, it's only a simple eclipse."The Doctor said, not entirely worried at all.
"We do not know why the eclipse has happened. Our magic cannot bring the Sun back to the light. The ponies are terrified. We are all afraid." Princess Celestia said.
"I can understand that, but what you think is magic cannot move the Moon out of the way of the Sun, only the rotational orbit of the Moon and the Sun will do that." The Doctor said.
"Rotational orbit?" Princess Celestia asked, confused.
Daring Do groaned. She knew very well how this was going to end, and nopony would be any less confused when it was all over.
"Yes, when the planet goes in a rotational pattern around the Sun, which is gigantic, and it seems like night because the planet turns in a direction where the other side of the planet is facing the Sun, with some of the light illuminating the Moon, making it look brighter.
"You cannot be serious. You must be truly mad to give into these idiotic untruths." Princess Celestia said, laughing.
"I am serious. And frankly, is it considered improper to use conjunctions, or have you just forgotten how? And another thing, did anypony ever tell you that the planet was round, and you didn't believe them?" The Doctor said.
"Of course she didn't, because the Planet Gaia is flat." Princess Twilight interjected.
And now it was the Doctor's turn to laugh out loud. "Oh my God, they still do think that the planet is flat! I can't believe it! Ah ha ha! They don't even understand the law of gravity yet!" Then the Doctor stopped laughing. "It appears I will have to take matters into my own hooves."
"Oh no…" Romana said as she rubbed her temples.
Just then, the eclipse began to end. "See, nothing to worry about." The Doctor said happily. "Your eclipse ended, and magic didn't do anything about it."
"No…" Luna muttered weakly as she coughed.
"Luna?" Princess Celestia said as she stepped forward.
"Uh, Doctor?" Romana said as she looked up towards the eclipse.
"Oh my…" The Doctor said in shock.
It wasn't the Moon moving away from the Sun. The light of the Sun was disappearing from behind the Moon, making it become clearer and clearer.
"Okay, that's a little unusual, but I can think of at least a million scientific explanations for this kind of phenomena." The Doctor began before he was stopped by a hoof slapping him.
"WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS!" Daring Do yelled, obviously panicked. "THE SUN JUST DISAPPEARED, AND WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT!"
"What will happen next is the death of everypony in the room, and across this entire planet." Said a loud voice coming from Princess Luna's mouth.
"Oh no…" Princess Celestia said as she looked over to the Moon.
The moonlight was beginning to glow very intensely. The light seemed to be focusing into a concentrated beam.
"We may want to get out of here." The Doctor said.
The four awake members of the Royal Court jumped off the balcony and began flying down to the ground. Daring Do followed after them, with Romana riding on her because she couldn't fly. "Doctor, come on!" Romana called out.
"I've got to get back to the TARDIS!" The Doctor called out as he ran out of the room and through the halls towards the Throne room.
The Royal Court, Daring Do, and Romana went onto the ground and landed. They were about to go back in, when suddenly…
The beam of moonlight reached the entire Canterlot Castle, completely covering it as it warped around and completely disappeared. All the nearby guards were shocked and walked over to where it once was.
"Luna was still in there." Celestia said, horrified.
"And so was the Doctor." Romana noted.
And then there was nothing they could do. The moon went completely dark, making everything completely unable to be seen. The Day of Darkness had truly begun.
And then the real panic started.