• Published 20th Oct 2013
  • 1,139 Views, 20 Comments

Lost Planet (of ponies) - Mixer



A strange event will rattle the Crystal Empire to its core, and beyond.

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Out in the Cold*

Author's Note:

Special Thanks to Freyr for editing
WARNING: Contains colloquialism writing for Applejack.

“Twili!” Shining Armor greeted his younger sister.

“Shiny! So good to see you,” Twilight said.

“I just wish it could be under better circumstances,” Shining Armor began. “Something has the ponies that work at the edge of the Crystal Empire spooked,” he said.

“Yes, we got your message and Celestia sent us here to help. You don’t think it could be Sombra again, do you?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not sure what it is,” Shining said.

“But I’m sure that if you took a look it would calm all the crystal ponies down,” Cadence said entering the room.

“So what do you want us to check out?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“If you could talk to the ponies and see what has got them all in a huff, that would be great,” Cadence said.

“We’ll make sure everythin’s alright,” Applejack said.

“Thanks,” Shining Armor said.

Twilight and her friends left the palace and headed toward the outskirts of the empire, to the limit of the climate control’s reach. The only ponies that worked out this far were farmers.

“So what do you think it is?” Rarity asked.

“They probably just saw some shadows in the snow and got scared,” Rainbow Dash said.

“But what if there is something out there?” Spike asked.

“I’m sure whatever it is, it’s nothing to worry about,” Twilight said.

They arrived at the first farmers house and asked him to describe what he saw.

“I was working out in the field when I thought I saw something skittering around at the edge of the climate barrier. I went to investigate it. I couldn’t just leave it alone, what if it was somepony that needed help? But it wasn’t a pony, or anything else in Equestria,” he said, shaking like leaf at the memory.

“What did it look like?” Twilight questioned.

“It was about the size of a pony, but it was this weird pod thing. It scuttled around on three legs. There were dozens of them. When I tried to get a closer look, they started spitting these red globs of goo at me. As I ran, I got this,” he said showing a scar on his back leg.

“That looks like a pretty bad burn,” Twilight said.

“It was. It felt like my whole leg was gonna melt,” the stallion said.

“Ok, thank you for the information,” Twilight said.

“Those things sound scary,” Fluttershy whimpered.

“I would have just said he was seeing things until I saw that burn,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Let’s move onto the next witness,” Twilight said.

The next farmer was a mare, she didn’t even open the door all the way when Twilight knocked.

“W-what is it, what do you want?” the mare stammered out.

“We were hoping you could tell us about what you saw outside of the climate barrier,” Twilight asked.

The mare slammed the door and exclaimed, “NO! Not that, anything but that!”

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“It was huge, and covered with spikes. And the claws...Oh the claws…” the mare said, her voice growing quieter through the door.

“That doesn’t sound like the last one,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“Did you get a good look at it?” Twilight asked.

The only answer that came from behind the door was soft whimpering.

“Twilight, do you think that it’s a good idea to keep looking into this?” Rarity asked.

“We have to, the accounts raise more questions than answers,” Twilight said.

“But Twilight, you heard that mare. She was scared for her life,” Spike said.

“And the burn mark on that stallion weren’t no fake one either,” Applejack said.

“We still have one more witness to question,” Twilight said.

When they arrived at the next farm, the owner, a stallion, was nowhere to be found.

Twilight knocked on the door and a mare answered.

“Hello, can I help you?” the mare asked nicely.

“Yes, have you seen the owner of this farm around, we want to ask him a few questions,” Twilight said.

“Oh... come inside,” the mare said, her mood changing in an instant.

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“The owner is my husband. He was working out on the farm the other day when a few of the cows got out and wandered into the snow,” she began.

“Why would cows just wander off?” Applejack asked.

“They wander around all the time, but usually they stay inside the barrier,” the mare said.

“So what happened then?” Twilight asked.

“Let me show you…,” the mare said getting up and opening a nearby door.

Inside there was a stallion covered in bandages sleeping on a bed.

“Oh my…,” Rarity said weakly.

“Yes. The cows ran back with one of them carrying him on its back, covered with cuts and scratches,” the mare said. “When he finally came to, he said something about a swarm of bugs,”

“Bugs? Could she mean changelings?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“Changelings wouldn’t do that,” Twilight said.

“Then what would?” Pinkie asked with a gulp.

“I... I don’t know,” Twilight said.

“Be careful you six. Something dangerous is out there,” the mare said as she saw them out.

“Thank you for your help. We will,” Twilight said.

“Three different stories, three different creatures, three hurt ponies. This ain't good,” Applejack said.

“I don’t like the sound of it either. I don’t know of anything that could have matched the descriptions of the creatures,” Twilight said.

“They couldn’t be illusions either. Illusions don’t leave burns, or ponies in bandages,” Spike said.

“If the creature that the mare described was a dragon, it would explain the burn on the first stallion. Though it would not account for the scratches on the third. And two of the three said something about a group of creatures,” Twilight said.

“Each report has some trait that matches something, but none of them make sense individually,” Rarity said.

“Yes, the scratches could have been from timberwolves, though that's a stretch in itself. The bugs could have been parasprites, but they don’t give ponies cuts and scratches like that. And nothing about the walking pods makes sense,” Twilight said.

“We should get back to the palace and tell Shining Armor and Princess Cadence about this,” Rainbow Dash said.

They returned to the palace, racking their brains for a solution to this perplexing problem.

“Twili, you’re back,” Shining Armor said.

“Yes, but the news is anything but good,” Twilight said dejectedly.

“What do you mean?” Cadence asked.

“We have two injured stallions and a mare scared out of her mind,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Oh my,” Shining Armor said as Cadence merely sat there with a look of utter disbelief on her face.

“Each of the three witnesses has a different story, and a different creature,” Twilight said.

“What kind of creatures?” Shining asked.

“One was a group of small pod like creature on three legs that spat some kind of burning goo. One was described as huge with spikes and large claws. The only description we could get from the third one was a ‘swarm of bugs’,” Twilight said.

“I’ve never heard of anything like them,” Shining said.

“Neither have I. Maybe Princess Celestia could tell us something,” Twilight suggested.

“Maybe…,” he said losing himself in thought.

“I’ll send a message,” Twilight said. “Come on Spike,” she said signaling her assistant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


After a while, the others were discussing what to do while Twilight tried to find something in the Crystal Empire’s library.

After a bit of time had passed, Shining Armor came looking of them.

“Have you seen Twilight around here?” he asked.

“Yeah, she was just readin’ over there,” Applejack said.

“Um, AJ, she’s not over there,” Shining Armor said looking in the direction the orange mare had indicated.

“Uh oh…,” Applejack said.

“Uh oh is right. I don’t see her around here anywhere,” Rainbow Dash said looking around while flying.

“She didn’t,” Shining Armor said with dread.

“She wouldn’t,” Spike said.

“She couldn’t,” Rarity said.

“I think she did…,” Fluttershy said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Oh this is very bad,” Shining said running toward the edge of the Crystal Empire.

“Why would she just run off out there by herself?” Applejack asked.

“She knew it is dangerous out there,” Rainbow Dash said.

Following the revelation that Twilight had gone out into the snowy wastes by herself Shining Armor and the rest of the Mane Six got geared up and went to look for her.

“Why can’t I come?” Spike asked.

“Its’ far too dangerous for you. Plus, you could freeze to death out there. You stay with Cadence in the palace, we’ll be back with Twilight," Shining Armor said as the six of them walked out into the snow and ice.

They walked in the direction that Shining could sense his sister’s magic for what seemed like hours until something happened.

“I lost her signal,” Shining Armor said with fear.

“What do you mean lost her signal. You're her brother,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I mean I can't pick her up anymore. There’s too much magical interference,” he said.

Just then the ground started to shake underhoof. After a few seconds of shaking a large creature began to claw its way out of the ground in front of them.

It was massive, easily four times Shining Armors size. It had two long arms bristling with spikes, each adorned with two large claws on the end. Each arm had a glowing bulge near the base of the arm. The body was slender with a bulbous abdomen colored a bright glowing orange. It had a small head with two orange horns growing out on either side of the head.

“What is that thing?!” Shining Armor yelled.

“Huge…,” Applejack said.

“Covered in spikes…,” Rarity said.

“And the claws…,” Fluttershy whimpered, eyes wide.

“THIS is what that mare was talking about!” Rainbow Dash said.

The creature gave out a roar as its head split into three segments that showed many rows of sharp teeth.

Despite being rather far away when it surfaced, it quickly closed the gap between them and raised its large foreleg up to swipe at the ponies.

A rocket hit the creature in the back . It screeched, turning around to face the new threat; a biped cloaked in armor.

The biped ran up to this monstrosity with a metal device in its hands.

He lifted an arm at the creature and a line shot out, hitting the creature in one of the bulges on the arm.

The line did little more than anger the creature, but the biped just jumped and allowed the line to pull him to the creatures limb; just as big as he was.

“Take this you ugly son of a bitch!” the creature yelled as the metal device in his hands flashed and made a succession of loud booms.

When the device had stopped making noise the creature’s arm had completely broken off, leaving the biped to jump backwards to safety.

“Riggs, you got this?” it asked back into the driving snow.

“Gladley,” a metallic voice said from the snow.

A huge metal monster lumbered out of the gloom and opened fire with twin shoulder mounted gatling guns.

The other creature writhed and screamed under the hail of bullets and finally burst, spilling an orange ichor on the snowy ground.

“Hell, yeah!” the metallic voice yelled.

“This is enough T-energy to last us a few days,” the biped said.

“What just happened?” Pinkie asked.

“Hey Riggs, found some strange creatures over here,” a voice said from behind them.

The ponies turned around to see another biped hefting a shotgun at them.

“They don’t look like Akrid,” the first biped said.

“Maybe some new kind, should I shoot em to find out?” the second biped asked.

“No you idiot! Those things don’t even have any T-energy signatures,” the metallic voice said, as the metal biped lumbered over.

They didn't know how they could defeat something that killed that monstrosity, but Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash and Applejack got into defensive stances around the others.

“They seem a whole lot smarter than Akrid,” the second biped said.

“Yeah, and a hell of a lot better looking,” the first said.

The metal giant now kneeled down and the faceplate moved up, showing a third biped sitting inside.

He disembarked from his suit of armor and walked over to join the others.

All three of them had armor with highlights that glowed the same color as the “akrid” thing that just attacked them, but they could be friendly right? They did just save them.

Pinkie Pie, always the outgoing pony, split from the group and sat down in front of the first biped and said, “Hi, my name’s Pinkie Pie. Thanks for saving me and my friends.”

“Well, I’ll be damned, it talks!” the second biped said.

“Can it Mike. Now, what are you?” the first biped asked.

“Why, we’re ponies of course,” Pinkie said.

“Pinkie, are you sure that its safe to be talking to these things?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, and I suppose that you would have prefered to deal with that Chryatis yourselves?” the biped called Mike said.

“What did I tell you about running your mouth Mike,” the first biped said.

”Let him go Roland, he won't get it through his thick skull,” Riggs said.

“So, what are you?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We’re mercenaries. We work with the Rounders hunting akrid and collecting T-energy,” Roland said.

“We were out here looking for our friend when that, thing, attacked us,” Shining Armor said.

The bipeds were two feet taller than Shining Armor, but that didn’t intimidate him.

“Did your friend have any gear?” Roland asked.

“We don’t know. She might be out here all by herself with no gear on,” Applejack said.

“Are we really gonna help these ‘ponies’ Roland?” Mike asked.

“If you don’t shut your mouth, I’m gonna keep your share of T-energy and leave you for the akrid!” Roland yelled at Mike.

“Do you have any way of finding her?” Roland asked.

“I can sense her magic, but I lost her signal before the akrid attacked,” Shining Armor said.

“Magic, oh-” Mike began but Roland cut him off with a glare.

“What happened?” Roland asked.

“There was too much interference before, but I can sense her now. That akrid must have been causing it,” Shining replied.

“Must be interference from the raw T-energy,” Riggs said.

“Do we have enough T-energy left to take a quick look around?” Roland asked.

“After that Chryatis, we could sit here chatting for hours. I would prefer if you didn’t though,” Riggs said.

“Ok then, Riggs you stay with the VS, Mike you're with me,” Roland said. “Lead the way uh…,”

“Shining Armor,” Shining said.

“Shining Armor.”

Shining Armor focused his energy on tracking Twilight’s magical signal.

“Woah, your new friend there just set off a T-energy spike,” Riggs said.

“What?” Roland and Shining Armor said at the same time.

“Can we move this along, I think my wings are starting to freeze up,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Not surprising considering you don't have any T-energy gear,” Riggs said.

“What is T-energy?” Rarity asked.

“T-energy. It’s warmth, it’s heat, and out here, it’s life,” Mike said.

“Huddle together or something while we look for your friend,” Roland said.

“Let’s go,” Shining Armor said.

They hurried off in search of Twilight while the rest huddled together for warmth.

“Here, I think I have a spare cell around here,” Riggs said.

He found a small canister and filled it with T-energy.

“This should help warm you up,” he said.

The canister radiated heat and was warm to the touch. The ponies gladly huddled around the new source of heat.

“So what other kinds of akrid are there?” Shining Armor asked.

“All kinds, but the Chryatis was one of the meaner ones, a cat-M,” Roland said.

“What’s a cat-M?” Shining asked.

“It’s an akrid that is smaller than a cat-G, but nastier than a cat-S,” Roland said.

“Like that!?” Shining Armor said as he saw a large armored creature roll at a faint purple glow.

“Yeah, that’s a Dongo, tough bastards, though not too bright,” Mike said.

“It’s going after Twilight!” Shining Armor exclaimed.

“Then we should hurry, a Dongo is not as nasty as a Chryatis, but it can still crush one of you easy,” Mike said.

They arrived to a large fight. One side was the Dongo and a swarm of smaller bug like akrid, on the other was Twilight and a squad of blue armor clad humans.

“Damn, what is NEVEC doing here?” Roland asked.

“It looks like whoever they are they’re helping Twilight,” Shining Armor said.

“Trust me, NEVEC doesn’t ‘help’ anyone,” Roland said.

Twilight was focusing on the smaller Trilids while the NEVEC soldiers were focusing on two Dongos.

“Lets get in, get Twilight, and get out,” Mike said.

“Alright, Mike you cover me while I get closer to Twilight. Once I’m close enough I’m gonna use my grapple to reel her in,” Roland said.

“Won’t that hurt her?” Shining asked.

“Aside from a bruise, no, and I’m sure it’s better than what NEVEC would do to her,” Roland said.

“Ah, Roland, we have a problem,” Riggs said on the communicator over gunfire.

“What’s going on?!” Roland demanded.

“We got a Hardballer tailing us, and this old GTT-01 can't outrun it for long,” Riggs said.

“Riggs get out of there, we have found a squad of NEVEC fighting some akrid,” Roland shouted over the intercom.

“What about my friends?” Shining Armor asked worriedly.

“They’re holding on but it won't take too much to shake that yellow one loose,” Riggs said.

“I just hope all this T-energy doesn’t attract-” Roland began but was cut off.

A giant form shot up out of the ground a few hundred meters off. It was massive, like a giant bearded worm.

“Shit!” both Roland and Mike swore at once.

“What is that!?” Shining Armor asked.

“A cat-G, an Undeep,” Roland said.

“We need an osprey here now!” Mike shouted.

“They’re still five minutes out,” Riggs said.

“Then head our way, maybe that undeep can keep the NEVEC busy,” Roland said.

“Alright. Nhg!” Riggs said as a bang came from the background.

“That almost hit us!” Rarity shouted.

“Come on, you can't be defenceless!” Riggs shouted.

“Let me at it!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Are you crazy? That thing will tear you to shreds!” Riggs said.

“Shining Armor, we have to move now,” Roland said.

“I can cover you with a shield,” Shining said.

“What kind of shield?” Mike asked.

“The impenetrable kind,” Shining said.

“Alright lets go,” Roland said.

Shining Armor enveloped them in a purple dome of protection. It instantly drew the attention of the Trillids and the NEVEC soldiers. The Trilids simply broke against the shield, however the NEVEC had a rocket launcher with them and when it hit, the shield nearly broke.

“You have to drop the shield for me to grab Twilight,” Roland said.

“Okay,” Shining grunted lowering the shield.

Roland aimed his grappler and hit his mark, quickly pulling Twilight into his waiting arms.

“Twili!” Shining Armor said.

“Big brother!” Twilight greeted him with a hug.

“Sorry to break up this little reunion, but we have to deal with NEVEC and the akrid now,” Mike said.

“Look out!” Riggs said as his smoking VS came rumbling through, followed by a swerving hardballer.

There was something blue clinging to the white cockpit of the VS.

Rainbow Dash had attached herself to the front of the hardballer, obstructing the pilot’s view, causing him to plow straight into one of the charging Dongos.

The resulting collision flung the blue pegasus free of the now topled VS.

The smoking VS slid up to the small group and unloaded a group of slightly sooty ponies.

“You all came for me,” Twilight said.

“Roland, two minutes till the osprey gets here, though I doubt this bucket will last that long,” Riggs said.

"Leave it! We’re getting out of here!” Roland shouted and started running away from the fight.

Mike and Shining Armor were right on his heels, with the other ponies and Riggs not far behind.

The Hardballer VS had recovered by now and was slicing through the Dongos with its chainsaw, it would not be long before it would be after them.

After dealing with the Dongos, it stowed it’s chainsaw and turned to give chase to the ponies and mercenaries.

“We’re gonna need a miracle to get us out of this one!” Mike yelled.

They heard the sound of the VS getting closer, but could also feel the ground shaking.

“KEEP RUNNING!” Roland shouted.

The ground they had been on only moments prior now burst as the Undeep surfaced. The small band kept running as the poor pilot of the VS was devoured by the monstrosity.

“Look, there they are!” Riggs said as two helicopters flew into view.

They landed and the ten of them boarded the helicopters before taking off, leaving the Undeep and NEVEC behind.

“Roland what the hell did you just bring on my osprey?” the pilot asked.

“It’s a long story,” Roland said.

“Better be good to cost a VS,” the pilot said.

“It just might, Razer. It Just might,” Roland said.

“And the NEVEC?” Razer asked.

“You think they could survive an Undeep?” Roland countered.

“I meant what were they doin’ all the way out here? I bet you a week of T-energy that they weren't just seein’ the sights,” Razer said.

“Probably the same as us, investigating that odd T-energy reading,” Roland said.