//------------------------------// // Ch.3- Plans and Obstacles // Story: Our Technology, Our Culture // by Scripture //------------------------------// “THIS was your big plan?!” Luna stamped a hoof on the grass, which muffled its strike substantially. “Well… we have not strategized in over one thousand years! Doth you really expect us to be on the top of our game?” “Princess Luna… you don’t need to speak like that anymore… we aren’t around your sister or anypony important…” “Hehe… sorry, old habits.” Shining Armor sighed and sat back down on the grass in the middle of the field. They happened to be in Ponyville, on the very field that the… whatever it was, swallowed Twilight up. In fact, he was looking at it at that very moment. The thing was only a sliver of pink-purple, looking as if somepony had cracked open the air in this small spot. A small breeze constantly flew by it, but not inside of the crack, much to Shining Armor’s relief. He didn’t want any other ponies to worry about. “So, do I look fine or not?” Shining Armor jumped a bit at the question, wondering if the Princess was trying to hit on him. It was a few seconds later, after looking back at her, that he thankfully realized why she asked. Instead of the tall imposing Princess, there was a simple purple unicorn standing where she had been only a few moments ago. Her darker purple mane with a pink stripe was nicely brushed and her cutie mark of a pointed star was finely done. The purple eyes of the pony shown, looking for approval with her big smile The captain whistled low, getting up and circling around the replica of his sister, and nodded. “Yeah Luna… this is spot on! You even have the right length of hair!” He shook his head and chuckled a bit. “Transformation was hard for me in school, but thankfully I passed!” The Princess blushed from the compliment but stood up straight at the mention of transformation. “Well, I AM the Princess of the Night! I invented most of the transformation magic you know of today!” “Yeah, I know… Morphing the Body was quite hard to read you know…” “Oh… that book… holy horsefeathers that was hundreds of years ago…” “Yeah. Mine fell apart while I tried to read it!” Luna-turned-Twilight put a hoof to her lips, giggling a little bit, making Shining only roll his eyes. The field they were in was empty as both nopony wanted to be around the strange crack nevermind the fact that everypony was probably asleep. Part of Luna’s plan had been to go under the cover of darkness so as not to startle any ponies. The other part was disguising herself as Twilight Sparkle just in case somepony happened to come by in the middle of night. It was extra precaution, but it was a safety procedure that was needed. If somepony happened to walk by and talk to them, all they would simply do was- “YAY TWILIGHT! YOU’RE BACK!” “GYACK!” Shining only had to blink once for Twilight-Luna to be there in front of him, then be barreling across the field along with a ball of pink. Surprised at the sudden entrance of an excitable pink pony, he looked over to his left and groaned mentally as he saw four other mares. Specifically, the other Elements of Harmony. Luna coughed a bit from the sudden impact , her anger flashing up but extinguishing just as fast when Pinkie started nuzzling her. “Oh Twi! We heard about everything and checked to see if you were home today, but other ponies said that you were at the castle and we were SO worried! We were all gonna see if you got home tonight but now you’re here and I’m so excited and relieved you’re back home and- mmmm mmm mm mmmmm mmm!“ “Pinkie, please be quiet and get off of me.” Luna said, smiling a bit as she held a hoof over her mouth. “Mmmm mmm!” Slowly she let go of her mouth and got up, dusting herself off with a sigh. As soon as she looked back up though, she yelped in surprise as the other mares group hugged her, all of them talking at once. “Oh my stars darling! Are you-“ “Sugarcube… what in the hay happened to-“ “Uhm… ohhhh Twilight, please don’t scare us like-“ “Yo! Why didn’t anyone tell us that you were-“ “Hey! Why can’t I talk? That’s not very fa-“ “Luna, I think we should-“ “SILENCE!” Everypony jumped as Twilight-Luna spoke in the Royal Canterlot voice to dispel the ponies around her, her eyes and horn glowing bright now. The mares looked at each other, confused at the sudden transformation of their beloved Twilight. Except for Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Applejack, shivering a little bit from the shock and loudness of Luna’s voice. Shining was sweating now, watching as the mission was already unraveling before them. He knew that Luna could be temperamental at times, but now was NOT the time for her to be having a hissy fit from a bunch worried friends! Stepping between the mares and Luna, he looked sternly at the Princess in disguise and nodded at the others. “Luna!” he hissed through his teeth, hopefully low enough so they couldn’t hear. “I think they should know what’s happening! The plan’s already falling apart!” The Princess looked at each pony, backing herself up a bit as she shook her head. “N-no! This is MY plan! I need to do this!” Her horn began to glow brighter. “I-I have an idea! I’ll just put them all to sleep and teleport them home for now!” Applejack stepped forward now, standing besides Shining and cocked an eyebrow. “Now hold your horses there Twi… what’s goin’ on ‘round here?” The others all nodded in agreement and followed suit, asking the Princess similar questions. Luna kept on backing away though, watching as her plan fell apart before her, and her horn glowing more menacingly. Shining Armor’s mind was reeling, trying to find a better solution to the problem. Even if they were put to sleep, they would still remember what would happen afterwards and start asking questions about their best friend! No. Luna wasn’t going to ruin her sister’s life in Ponyville. He was not going to let that happen! His horn now glowing, he charged after Luna, who was thoroughly surprised by the sudden aggression by the Captain of the Royal Guard. Shining didn’t want it to come to this, but he needed to knock out the Princess for now so that they could regroup and figure out a plan later. He would rather Twilight’s friends be mad at him than at Twilight. “YEAAAAAAAAAGH!” “Sh-Shining, what are you- WHA!” It was then that Shining realized where they were now in the field and what was between him and Luna. The Crack. He watched it now as it suddenly opened up, spreading wide apart. A small breeze wafted inside of it, tugging at everypony there invitingly. They were all looking inside of it, noting one thing that made all of them shudder. It was black. Pure black. Shining stared in its abyss, his horn diffusing its glow as he smiled. This was one of the steps of the plans coming into action and it happened a lot faster than he thought it would. They knew whatever it was would open up some way. Now that it had, they could go through! Yet, Luna didn’t seem to want to budge at all, her eyes aglow and her horn still producing a huge amount of magic. Panic started to fill Shining. He was NOT going to miss his chance to go and get his sister because of this one mare! He didn’t care if she was an alicorn or Princess! The stallion needed to save his sister and she wasn’t going to stop him! With a burst of magical energy, he scooped Luna-Twilight up in his magic and threw her into void, much to everypony’s surprise there. She only got out a single yelp before she was fully encase in the void and with a pop, she was gone from view. Looking behind him, he shook his head and murmured at the mares. “I’m sorry…” Without waiting for an answer, he launched himself into the portal as well, ready for whatever may come his way. The Elements of Harmony were in complete shock at the events unfolded before them. It was AJ and Rainbow Dash that recovered first, both of them nodding at each other as they ran towards the Crack, which was now slowly closing up. They jumped on in, not waiting for the others. “Yeeeeeeehaw!” “Hurry up slowpokes!” Within a second, they both disappeared into the darkness. Pinkie Pie was close behind them, a set look of determination on her face and her nostrils flared out. “Twilight Pinkie Promised me that she will always be around for me! AND HER POOPYHEAD BROTHER BROKE THAT NOW!” With that, she launched herself into the Crack as well, popping out of existence. Fluttershy and Rarity were falling behind, Fluttershy fearful of the black gate before them and Rarity because she was trying to coax her to hurry. Finally, with the gate nearly closed, the white unicorn enveloped the scared stiff pegasus in her magic, running towards the gate to throw her in. With an unhappy “Eeep!”, Fluttershy found herself sucked into the void as well. Rarity, the last one, jumped towards the portal with a fevered leap, her horn glowing still. As she passed into the void though, she noticed that the Crack had stopped closing. The observation slipped through her brain for only a second before she was consumed as well. Silently, the Crack sealed up like before, leaving the field barren once more. A/N- Welp... haven't posted... ANYTHING for awhile now and of course i have a ton of excuses. Will i care to name them off? Hell no. Anyways, sorry it took so long to write something and sorry for those who were eager for the other story chapters i had wanted to do... With finals and less than decent grades, i've been having a hard time trying to keep up my social life, school life, Brony life, and personal life in balance. ANYWHOWAYS, hoped you enjoyed the chapter~ :) Comment if you like and the drill is the usual~ :) AND THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO EDITED THIS CHAPTER~ OH GOD I LOVE MY EDITORS~ :D