Chapter 6: A Change of Identity
=The Moon of the Planet Gaia, 238, 857 Miles Above in Orbit, Canterlot Royal Palace, Princess Luna's Room, 1066 C.E. =
The Doctor followed the path of the catlike eyes quite closely. He looked behind himself to see that Princess Twilight was still closely following. He ran out of the room and began running down a long spiral staircase, quickly making his way towards the bottom. He made it to the bottom and ran through what looked like a hall for guests. He was very close to reaching the eyes, when suddenly…
The eyes they were following shimmered and disappeared. "An illusion." The Doctor realized. "To lead us away from what we were looking for, of to lead us into a trap? I wonder…"
"So what now?" Twilight asked him.
"I don't know, I don't know." The Doctor said.
Suddenly, two shadows ran next to them and darted out of the room.
"But I have feeling our opponent will stop at nothing to draw us out of this room. And while I am sure that something bad is going to happen to us if we leave the room, I think the others will be in a bit of trouble if we don't. Which, of course, leaves us with a bit of a dilemma." The Doctor finished.
=The Moon of the Planet Gaia, 238, 857 Miles Above in Orbit, Canterlot Royal Palace, The Crystal Caverns Basement Section, 1066 C.E. =
Romana felt something move through her body. She used all her willpower to push it back into the possessed Daring Do, but then she realized she didn't need all of it.
"No! You were not affected by the field from the eclipse!" Daring Do realized in anger."
Romana pushed her off in her distraction. Daring Do hit a wall and got stunned. "Sorry." She told her. She began running out of the basement, trying to both escape and find Shining Armor in the process. After searching around for a few moments, she gave up and ran up the stairs to get out of the room.
She got out of the room and began running through the large castle, trying to find somepony anywhere. She wished she had a map of the castle to figure out potential places where they would be hidden away. This castle was gigantic. She didn't know where anypony would be in here. She ran through a door into another room. She looked around and found nothing that she could use or nopony she was looking for. Wait a minute. She darted back into the room. She saw it was a mailroom for Princess Luna. There had to be something here she could use! She looked around and went to the most recent letters slot she opened it and opened the most recent letter. She saw from the envelope the letter was written by Princess Luna to Princess Luna!
"It certainly worked on her for awhile." She said to herself as she pulled out the letter and read it. The letter said that Nightmare Moon cold never leave her and there was no point in trying to run, hide away, as she was right there in her mind and it would be coming to take first her body and then her mind.
"But then it found me." Romana noted as she continued reading. The letter went on to say that every time this letter was opened, Nightmare Moon would talk to her in her mind, and soon it would break her by using all her friends and extended family to break through her.
"This might help me out a little. If it talks to her when the letter is opened, I can use a little bit of intelligence and Time Lady mentality to trace it back where it originated and find Luna! Should be easy enough." Romana said as she rolled up the letter and looked through it like a telescope. "Maybe I've been with the Doctor for a little too long." Romana said to herself as she frowned and walked out of the room.
She walked through the rooms for a moment before she found the room she was looking for. She entered another room and found Princess Luna hunched over in an ordinary closet, which was the last place anypony would think to look. She grabbed her and tried to drag her away, but found it practically impossible since Luna was nearly one and a half times her size.
She groaned and realized that this was going to be harder than she had originally thought. She made the hasty decision to just keep going, not caring that it was difficult. After all, there was no telling what would happen if 'Nightmare Moon's' plan succeeded.
After a while she made it into the entrance hall of the room, finding The Doctor and Twilight sitting on the steps of the room. She began carrying Luna over to them.
"Romana!" The Doctor exclaimed, happy to see her.
"Princess Luna! Is she alright?" Princess Twilight asked, very worried.
"Yes she's fine." Romana said as she set her down.
The Doctor and Twilight ran down to her. "You've been a big help to the cause, Romana. Now I can stop Nightmare Moon." He said gratefully. He then pulled out a pocket watch.
"You are going to hypnotize Princess Luna? That is the best plan you could come up with?" Princess Twilight asked in annoyance.
"Absolutely." The Doctor said as he began moving the watch in front of Luna's eyes.
"What, you are not going to say 'You are getting very sleepy?'" Princess Twilight whispered.
"No, I don't need to. And no distractions." The Doctor whispered back. He waved the watch for a few more seconds, and then stopped. "I just entered her mind and found out a few important pieces of information."
"Did you find out where Princess Celestia and my brother are?" Twilight asked hopefully.
"Actually, they've been atomized. Their entire life force has been strung into the fabric of the entire castle. Our opponent would expect us to look everywhere to find them, but they wouldn't expect us to look everywhere to find them." He said that last part as he motioned his hooves around the entire room.
Twilight gasped.
"That's what those illusions were. They were trying to draw us somewhere where we could help them. But never mind, we can help them now. I also found out that we can't destroy the last traces of Nightmare Moon from her mind from here through hypnosis, so I came up with an easier, yet much crazier plan." The Doctor explained.
"What's the plan?" Princess Twilight asked.
"This." The Doctor began to wave the watch once again. Luna's horn glowed, and everything around them flashed brightly.
Twilight looked out the window and was surprised to see the darkened streets of Canterlot once again. Princess Celestia and Shining Armor appeared in the middle of the room.
"The thing is, if my plan doesn't work, we're all doomed." The Doctor said.