//------------------------------// // Go Planet! // Story: The Ponyteers // by RainbowWarrior //------------------------------// The eleven ponies rushed to the source where Kwame and Ma-Ti felt the trembling, wishing to see what this "trouble" was. "What is that you're -pant- feeling, Kwame? Is -pant- an earthquake? a stampede?" said Twilight, trying to catch her breath as she ran. "I'm not sure. I have never felt anything like this." he replied. "And how come you and Ma-Ti are the only ones who know where it's coming from, anyway?" asked Rainbow Dash, flying above them. Suddenly, there a vibration that could be heard and felt within the ground. This time, all the other ponies heard it or felt it. "I take that back." she added. "And it sounds like it's coming from the Everfree Forest to the southeast!" as she pointed in said direction. "She's right! I can feel the tremors coming from there!" Ma-ti exclaimed. "We must move!". The vibrations and thuds were just getting louder as the Elements approached the forest. As all eleven were clearing the last block of houses, they saw the town's residential ponies start running and flying away from the source; earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike. The heard the screams and shrieks of the scared along the way. "Get away from them! They'll eat you!" yelled a cream colored mare with a short red mane and a rose cutie mark. "Help me, mommy! Help me!" squealed a purple, blonde maned unicorn filly with tears in her eyes. "The horror! The horror!" yelled a pink earth pony with a blond mane and a lily in her hair. Both Twilight's gang and the Planeteers still rushed against the crowd of ponies making for safety when they passed the last of the houses and crossed a bridge going over the town's river nearby the surrounding pastures. Twilight also swore she saw a mulberry-coated Earth pony running away with her face covered in some sort of black tar. But because it obscured her face, she couldn't exactly tell who it was. That's when they saw them, just a hundred yards away. There must have been several dozen of them. They were all were black and had piercing red eyes. Their coats, or their skin or whatever it seemed was shiny as it reflected the afternoon sun. They dripped some oily substance that made a big mess where they walked. The creatures stood on four legs, but some just had blackened insect wings as they buzzed above the horde. Those flying ones looked more like legless wasps, with their abdomens tapering off to a point. Each all were slightly larger than a pony, and were headed the hero's way. "Bozhe Moi" said Linka. "I have never zeen or vent up against somezing like zis." "What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I thought you said you fight bad guys like this all the time!" Surely, she thought that these "heroes" must have some experience in fighting. "That's different!" Wheeler exclaimed. "We went up against whacko scientists and corrupt businessmen with no morals. Otherwise, we save people from natural disasters like volcanoes and avalanches and-" *HOCKCK-PTOOOOIE* In the distance, one of the creatures hocked up a ball of the black sludge they were composed of and spit it at the pyromancer's face. Before he could even react, *SPLAT* Wheeler got knocked off his hooves as he lost his balance from the attack. He felt the black and green grime on his face: gooey, dirty, and started to tingle. "Oh, you didn't." he said softly as he stood back up. He was really mad now. "FIRE!" he yelled as he shot his ring-covered hoof at his attacker. The ring shot out a crimson streak of heat and flame as it shot across the field at alarming speed and struck his foe. Upon contact, the mucky opponent exploded from the blast of heat and energy. It gibbed into slime as it rained into a big puddle. "What the-?" Wheeler said in confusion; trying to process what he just saw. In the past, he used his ring for melting, burning, and fusing, but not much else. He this was just like he destroyed something, and it went down easy. But before he could get another blast off, one of the wasp creatures shot a wad off at high velocity, headed right for him. This time, he ducked in the nick of time to have it splatter against the ground. "WIND!" yelled Linka who stepped forward. Her golden ring glowed white Then a powerful gust of air emanated from her hoof as she directed her airflow to the vespid sludge monster that attacked her ally. As the wind rushed past it, it threw the creature's flight off balance as it slammed and splatted into a puddle on the ground below. The other hundred of pollutant-based enemies just looked at their fallen comrade. Then they set their sights on the ponies before them and glared. "eeep!" squeaked Fluttershy as she cowered behind Applejack. "Ma-Ti," said Kwame, making out a plan. "Take Fluttershy and head back to Ponyville. Use your powers to get the towns-ponies to safety. We must fight them off." "You are taking them on yourselves? What if you need me to summon Captain Planet?" "You'll see our rings shoot up in beams towards the sky, like always. Come to us when you're finished." "Understood. Let's go, Fluttershy." Mustering up the courage to move her hooves, she ran eyes closed away from the inevitable fight. The others saw her and Ma-Ti run towards the town to quell the panicking citizens. Twilight then turned around to catch another glimpse of her enemies, but now they were in a sprint! Another one shot out a wad of black pollution at her, but Twilight quickly charged up her horn and shot her purple-aura magic at the projectile. Not only did it vaporize of ball of sludge upon contact, but it also penetrated and hit its shooter as it decomposed. The next instant, about a dozen of those oily constructs on the front all shot out a ball of black sludge from their mouths at once. The balls fused together into a single wave of slime that was big enough to hit all the ponies, and it was too big for Twilight to counter-spell. "EARTH!" yelled Kwame as he called out his power. His hoof shone green as his power shot to the ground. A thick wall made of brown stone as high as three ponies immediately shot out of the earth and blocked the wave as it splattered against the edifice. A good and quick defense, but it wasn't perfect. Moments later, the Elements all saw a wave leap right over the wall in a charge. Reacting quickly, Rainbow Dash flew up and dive-bombed onto one of the heads of the flying mooks, pummeling it towards the ground. Applejack countered a charging creature by doing a 180 and kicking. Years of bucking apple trees on her orchard gave her rear legs the strength to send it flying back over the wall, and had plenty of stamina to spare. Rarity, meanwhile kicked not nearly as hard as Applejack, but enough to send her enemy into confusion. But she stunned it enough for Pinkie Pie to work her "magic". She pulled her Party cannon out from hammerspace and blasted it back with the mass of confetti emitted at great velocity; just like the Changeling attack on Canterlot many months ago. Wheeler and Twilight kept blasting their energies, being careful not to hurt thier friends, and Linka and Kwame kept pushing them back for more room. Gi, meanwhile used her water ring to pull water from the nearby river to clean off and wash away the ooze. She and her teammates, after years of protecting Earth from pollution like this, had built up an aversion and habit to make sure this oil and sludge and grime would get cleaned up no matter what. But when the Oozers started to flank and form a circle around them, she acted. She brought up a massive volume of river water and heavily splashed it on them. Knowing that oil and water don't mix, she had to do this quickly. She concentrated until her horn glowed and then suddenly, the water, and the soaked Oozers froze in place. Seeing what happened, Kwame lifted a boulder off the ground using his ring. He spun around in a wide circle, hitting every frozen monster. As the boulder collided with each one, they shattered into a million pieces of blackened ice. "Keep hitting them!" Twilight commanded. "Their numbers are dwindling!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, in Ponyville, ponies were still fleeing and cowering all over town. "Um, could you......" Fluttershy said softly. But like always, stressed ponies tended to ignore her. "Ma-Ti here can......." she spoke with desperation, but without raising her voice. "Excuse me, but....." she felt a hoof on her shoulder. It was her cerulean Earth pony companion with the heart ring. "I'm so sorry, Ma-Ti. It's just not in my nature to-" Ma-Ti cut her off. "It is okay, Fluttershy. You don't want to cause any more alarm. You're as passive as I am. But there is more than just volume and violence to control a crowd. HEART!" As he raised his hoof up, waves of yellow spread out from his ring. Ponies everywhere stopped running around in blind panic and listened. "Everything is under control. Group together with your families in your Town Hall or your homes, and barricade the exits." That's when every pony started cantering towards Town Hall, somehow influenced and compelled by the voice they heard. They didn't know who it was, but it was comforting yet forceful as they listened to its advice. One by one, Ponyvillians, young and old, filed themselves into the big carousel-shaped building in the center of town. Fortunately, the hall was large enough to encompass most of its citizens, with only the Northern and Western residents locking themselves inside. Even Fluttershy was compelled to do so as she started to go there, but was told to stay with Ma-Ti. "Oh my. You didn't even need to raise your voice." said Fluttershy. "And I almost went with them." "That is my power. I can communicate and make ponies do my bidding. But I do not wish to control anyone." "Oh...." she replied with her head down and ears drooped. "What is the matter?" the Heart-bearer asked. "It's just that my friends are brave and ponies listen to them, and you can touch other ponies' hearts, but I can't. *SNIFF*" Fluttershy started to sniffle in frustration. "Fluttershy....." said Ma-Ti as he wrapped his hooves around her neck. "All that matters is what's in here." he pointed to her chest. "I cannot imagine some pony as compassionate and passive as you being hated by anyone. And you wish for the best of everypony, right?" She nodded. "Good, because that is all that matters.True courage is speaking your heart. One day you will embrace it." Fluttershy hugged Ma-ti back. Suddenly, Ma-Ti saw a green, red, white, and blue streaks of light being shot up in the air in that order behind Fluttershy. He knew what that meant: "Heart!" he yelled as he punched his ring into the air as a yellow ray of light converged with the others. Fluttershy turned around just in time to see the beams collide, and the two ponies ran back to the battlegrounds. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile........................... "Fire!" commanded Wheeler as he shot another ray at his hoof, killing what looked like the last of the oily sludge monsters. After the last one gibbed into onyx goo, the ponies all saw the ground was in about hoof-deep of the tar. They were covered in head to tail with oil, and smelled of a landfill. -PANT- -PANT- "We did it! We did it!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "We beat away the ickies! This calls for a party!" -POOOOOOOM!- Her party cannon fired one last time in a burst of streamers and confetti. "Yes, it looks like we have saved the day once again." said Kwame. "You know, I have never read about or seen these kinds of creatures. I should tell the Princess about this." "You might be right, Twilight." Gi said. She picked up a glob of the gibbed slime. "This compound is similar to crude oil." "Excuse me?" asked Twilight. "On Earth, crude oil is a fossil fuel like coal or gas that is mined beneath the ground and is used as fuel, lubricant, and other uses. And it also kills a lot of animals and plant life if they get coated in it for too long." "Gi is right. Ve should get thees off ov us." Linka said. And true to her word, the oil and goo started to melt off all the ponies. It just dripped and ebbed away for a moment until their coats and manes were all oil-free. "Well that was convenient!" said Rainbow Dash. "See ya!" as she started to dart off. She really had a long day now. "Rainbow Dash! Wait! Come Back!" yelled Gi. The cyan pegasus heard her. "What is it?" "Look." The sludge was indeed gone from their bodies, but now it started to move on its own. The puddles slowly started converging together as it oozed into a single mound fifty feet away from them. They saw it build up higher and higher until it was just a thirty-foot tall blob with an equal diameter. Suddenly, five pillars of the sludge jutted out from the base of the black blob, with four of them bending to meet the ground and pushing the rest of it body up. The fifth lengthened behind the construct, while the "body" seemed to elongate. Two red spheres opened at the end opposite the long limb. Then the body partially split itself open until it almost met the eyes. The Planeteers finally saw what is was: A massive, artificial lizard made out of oil, and it gave out a big roar. "I think this is a good time to...." Wheeler started. Kwame nodded. "Let our powers combine. EARTH!" "FIRE!" "WIND!" "WATER!" And far away, the youngest Planeteer yelled "HEART!" The five beams collided, and their amalgamated energies took on a shape of an equine. "GO PLANET!" the five elemental guardians chanted. "By your powers combined, I AM CAPTAIN PLANET!" boomed the blue alicorn that emerged from the light. "What do we have here?" rhetorically asked the superhero pony as he looked at the long oil-lizard. Upon his question, the monster quickly turned around 180 degrees as its tail whacked the Captain several dozen yards back and into the nearby river. As he sunk, he just processed the attack on him, and readied a plan. "Now what's a nice guy like me doing in a dive like this?" Captain Planet effortlessly used his wings and hooves to swim through the water in circles, stirring up a current. Seconds later, above the surface, a swirling vortex column of water erupted out of the river, with the alicorn still spinning inside of it. "Time to clean up your act, slimeball!" he punned as he redirected the water right at the lizard's head. Before it could hock up another glob or dodge it, Captain Planet drilled the swirling water at high velocity into its mouth. The head sprayed and rained down more oil everywhere until its head was completely gone in, like an apple in a blender. The Cap deformed the water back to puddles when he saw it. The body of the sludge monster re-elongated at the head as two new red orbs appeared on top and the mouth reopened. Meanwhile, the spray of the flung oil globs that he just dispersed moved again on their own and slowly crawled back to the big lizard as they re-absorbed back into its skin. "Tough guy, aren't ya?" he asked as he flew back up. Suddenly, the monster quickly spat at him, but Captain Planet easily dodged it. "Too slow!" he said. It fired three more shots of oil at him, but none it its target. "Missed me!" he taunted as he just looped and swerved each body-sized shot. The Cap then spotted a medium-sized, dead tree on the edge of the Everfree. He dived down to easily uproot it as the oozing oily being kept lobbing more shots at him. "So you want to play ball, huh?" he asked. As more of the globs zoomed right towards him, he swatted them away with his makeshift stick. "Batter up!" he yelled as he just repelled glob after glob of the oil. After the wave of sludge-balls was over, Captain quickly karate-chopped one end of the trunk he was carrying several times until it was a finely sharpened point. He then ignited the tip with his horn and chucked his fire-tipped spear right at the monster's chest. It hit dead center, igniting the skin, and spreading fast. "UUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRGGHHHHHHHHH!" the lizard cried out as it fell and curled up, seeming defeated. "Way to go, C.P.!" Rainbow Dash cried out." "Thank you, Miss Dash. Now I'll just need to finish up and clean-" said the alicorn with his back at his opponent. But he was cut off as he felt a sharp blow to his back. It felt like he was being pegged with rapid-fire bits of oil. "AAAAAAACCCCKKKK!" Captain Planet interjected as he turned around, still taking fire as he saw the lizard now back up with the spear still stuck in his chest, but now the flames smothered. It finished his pelting as he then hocked a big loogie of pure pollution right at the captain at great speed. Before he could do anything, -SPLAT- All that was left of him was a big, taxi cab-sized ball of sludge on the ground. "CAPTAIN PLANET! NOOOOO!" cried Ma-Ti. After several years of working and fighting alongside of him, The Planeteers knew that pollution like oil was Captain Planet's weakness. Practically a demigod of nature back on Earth, weakened by the very thing he fights, and so common on their world. Had he been defeated? The Planeteers just waited, and nothing happened afterwards. All the ponies were screwed. "HA HA!" boomed Captain Planet as without warning, he exploded right out the bubble of pollution without a stain on him. How could it be? "Time to kick some tail for real!" he exclaimed as he flew over and grabbed the lizards by the neck and held tight, pinning him down with his renewed vigor. He aimed his horn at the ground as he fired an emerald beam of light at it, covering the plot of land large enough to accommodate his slimy opponent. "Let's shift the ground a little bit under there...." the Cap said. From the sidelines, Wheeler whispered to Kwame "What's he talking about? He didn't do anything!" But because of his new Earth Pony form, Kwame could feel the ground move below his hooves in a specific manner. "Oh, he definitely did, Wheeler. And I think he has got it covered." Then, Captain Planet flew up with his Mack Truck sized monster in tow high in the sky. Then with a swing of his front hooves, he flung it up above him as he let out a red blast of energy right from his horn right at it, juggling it up even higher. "Gotta set up a wall to contain the mess...." He said as he fired yet another emerald ray of magic from his horn and it widened and struck the perimeter of the prepared ground. Then a wall of stone, a pony-length thick sprung up from the ground and erected itself at least a hundred feet high, enclosing the ground for whatever is going to happen. "Gotcha!" he said as the oily reptile came back down from its juggle. But instead of grabbing onto it, he flew topside and pushed it down to the ground hundreds of feet below. They fell and fell until it was just above the enclosure. Then Captain Planet gave it one final punch his hoof as he slammed it down into the ground. -BOOOOOOOOOOM- Was the sound as the two of them collided into the lithosphere. Just over the top of the raised ring of stone wall was several pony-sized globs of oil and sand flying up and barely leaking over the sides. Wait- sand? "Is it gone?" Gi asked. "See for yourself" said The Cap. With his horn lit, he lowered the wall. It revealed a black patch of sand, but no monster. "They say that life's a beach but this is crazy!" he added. "I turned the ground below me into layers of sand and charcoal: nature's best filtration system! The oil stuck to the sand and charcoal so it cant re-form!" As he spoke, the sludge that got gibbed in the final explosion made contact with the sand as it slowly got absorbed into the ground. "That's pretty smart, Captain!" Twilight said. "Thank you!" "You're Welcome, Miss Twilight. And remember, if anything like this comes back up, look for me or the Planeteers! If we're all done here, then THE POWER IS YOURS!" he boomed. The alicorn diffused back into the red, blue, yellow, green, and white lights to be re-absorbed back into the Planeteer's rings. "That was AWESOME!" cried Rainbow Dash. "The six of you are true heroes." said Rarity. "I'll even buy you dinner." "You know what this calls for........" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A party!" Pinkie Pie finished as there was an evening soiree at Twilight's library, by now cleaned up of books that were scattered on the floor from her long research. Lots of ponies in town were there, thanking the new arrivals for their herosim. There was music on the record, punch, cookies, and all that party stuff everywhere. Kwame and Gi told the tale to curious ears. Wheeler was chatting up with Linka still trying to make ground in their on-and-off relationship, while Ma-Ti was with Fluttershy ,discussing arrangements. Meanwhile, Twilight was upstairs, writing a letter. "Twilight, you're such a workaholic, can't you party?" asked Spike who just walked in. "Not right now." Twilight said. Spike sighed. "I need to send a letter to the Princess about the attack." "Oh yeah, the Planeteers told me everything, with all that ZAP ZAP from you and Wheeler and that Captain Planet went WHAM!" as he smacked his fist into his other claw "....kicked that lizard's butt." "That's fine, Spike. But this is important. Our new friends just fought a monster within two days of their coming. And none of us knew how to fight it. Equestria could be in danger tomorrow for all we know. ......-Twilight Sparkle. Done. Send it, Spike!" Her dragon assistant took the freshly written scroll and inhaled. He exhaled his signature green flame as the parchment ignited before the flames traveled out the window towards the capital. "Twilight, we've got nothing to worry about. The Planeteers and you will just use their awesome magic to fight and fix all of it! I'm sure!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, on an island to the east, it had been transformed from a luscious biome of flora and fauna to a land of dead and charred trees, animal bones, and dried soil. In the middle of the island was what looked like a small, black building that was growing everyday. Inside was Zarm, looking at a large crystal screen, observing what happened that day. "So......Captain Planet can form here, off of Earth. And this land here has its ponies as its dominant species. They all seem at peace with one another, with no wars or pollution. But I can change all that. And not even the Captain Planet or his Planeteers will stop me. HE HE HE." he softly snickered.