“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!” Liz screamed as she and John ran away from the crazy unicorn. Their chaser had an insane smile as she chased after them. On one hand, the idea that they were being chased by a unicorn of all creatures was hilarious to John. But on the other, being chased by said unicorn wasn't funny at all.
“What does she want with us!?” John asked, breathing heavily under his helmet.
“I don't know! And I don't want to find out!”
“Come back, humans!” Their chaser yelled. John looked to his left and saw a hole in a pile of dirt.
“This way!” He shouted, grabbing Liz and turning to the hole. His sudden change threw their chaser off, making her slide and trip on the floor. She watched as they entered a dangerous place, at least, one for their size.
“No! Don't go in there!” She pleaded. The two ignored her and dived into the hole. She ran to the small hole and stopped. If she were to smash the mound, everything would go even worse. “NOOO!!!”
~-~-~
Both John and Liz slid down the cave’s entrance, landing in an open area below. Well… Liz landed on the floor, and John landed on her.
“Ahh!!! Something's touching my butt!” He shouted.
“Yeah, your butt’s on my head!” Liz pushed him off before getting up and dusting herself off. “At least we're away from that unicorn for now. Nice thinking.”
“Heh, thanks.” John got up and dusted himself off. They looked around, and despite it being dark, they could see tunnels around, each bringing in some light. “Well, I think we found where Snow White’s Dwarves live in.”
“Really? Jokes at this time?”
“It's my defense mechanism when I'm under stress, ok?”
She rolled her eyes before catching something below her feet. It looked like an egg… a large, white, squishy egg. “... Hold on… Is this what I think it is?” Liz leaned down and poked the egg. The egg squirmed upon her touch, making the two back up. Soon, the top opened, and out came a baby ant. It was about the size of a cat to the two, pale-colored except for its black eyes. It gave a little chirp, seeing the two.
“Huh… that's creepy… and kinda cute.”
“Do you think everything is cute?” More chirps were heard. Looking around, John and Liz saw that, right along the darkened walls, was small hills of hundreds, if not, thousands of eggs, many of which were hatching, releasing baby ants.
“Not anymore!” Liz's eyes widened as she had an epiphany.
“We're in an ant colony, and we landed in the nursing chambers.” John's eyes widened as well.
“And that means…” Crawling into the chamber were full-grown, adult ants, with hardened black shells all over their body, and sharp pincers over their mouths. To the two humans, they were about the size of lions, and with so many of them, they would easily be torn to pieces. The floor shook as entering through the largest tunnel was the queen ant, is not only massive, but its abdomen was seemingly waiving on its own, like a giant worm.
“... Hold on! You're Ant-Man! Do something!”
“... I'm gonna do that… after I puke.” John pressed a button under his helmet, opening the mask area, exposing his face. His face was green, and he leaned over, dry heaving, before puking. The sight almost made Liz puke herself, but she kept it in. The baby ant that hatched near them inspected John's puke.
“Oh please don't...” The baby ant ate John's puke. It made a happy chirp, wanting more of John's ‘meal’. John complied… unwillingly, of course, as the sight made him puke again. Various baby ants began to taste the puddle, and the adult ants, along with the queen, backed up, a unique way of saying they're fine to stay.
“... Well, I guess that’s one way to get the ant’s trust.” She said, not having anything else to say as used her hand to block the area where John was puking, having done that after the first baby ate his vomit, not wanting to see the rest, but hearing him lose his lunch a second time, and then seeing the adult ants back away.
~-~-~
The sun began to set in Equestria, but in Twilight's school, Ocellus sat nervously in front of Headmare Twilight's desk. Her teacher had three drawings of the weird ‘bug' they saw but were pushed aside as Twilight had homework she needed to grade.
“I'm going to perform a memory spell, Ocellus.” Twilight informed. “If what you say is true, then I will get down to this immediately.”
“A-and if it's not?” Ocellus asked.
“We’ll talk about it, but for now, if you please, this spell works steadily if you're still.” Ocellus complied, sitting as still as a pole. Twilight fired a spell at her head. While Ocellus was not harmed, the flashback played exactly how it went. Twilight was giving her lecture, the Cutie Mark Crusaders interrupted, prompting Twilight to leave. However, the next part made Twilight jump in fear. Ocellus turned to chat with Yona, both wanting to ask the questions on the electricity gathering tactics work, but the Changeling turned after hearing a voice. Twilight paused as Ocellus turned to see who ‘whispered’ to her, and right before the vision turned black, she saw it. Standing right between a sitting Cozy Glow and Sandbar, was a bug… a bug that stood on its hind legs, had the head on an ant and didn't have wings.
“Is something wrong?” Ocellus asked, not being able to see.
“Huh? Oh! No! None at all!” Twilight replied. “Everything checks out!”
“Oh. That's a relief… who was it?”
“I'll… find out. You should go back to your dome.” Ocellus nodded and flew right out. Twilight, meanwhile, picked up the drawings the Cutie Mark Crusaders drew. She didn't want to criticize their drawing, but it all fitted! “Hold on… that's a human! A small human in an Ant-like suit! What was he doing, endangering MY students in MY class!?” She carefully observed the small human, writing down some notes and drawing a bit of this… Ant-Man, as she called him.
“Now who do I go for help on this?” She thought aloud. Then it hit her, and she didn't want to do it. “Oh… Lyra… why her?” (Un)Lucky for her, tomorrow was a weekend, and while the students will enjoy their free time, Twilight can chat with Lyra if she saw any humans.
~-~-~
Liz stood outside one of the many entrances to the ant colony, seeing the night sky and the village’s lights going out. She was trying to find any constellations she could recognize, hoping that perhaps this was just another part of the earth that no one has ever seen before. But much to her disappointment, nothing came up. Her wings hung limp, the tips touching the ground as she prayed that finding the power to get back to normal would also help in finding their way home.
But then her mind drifted off to other things. Since she wasn’t really caught up into the Marvel franchise, she just had to wonder. ‘If John can control ants, can I control wasps? That would be super cool if I could.’ She thought with a small smile, just thinking about no longer fearing them and instead, being a part of the hive.
John waddled right out, next to her, before falling onto his stomach with a weak wheeze. “How… can… they… do this?” He asked, with Liz unsure if it was just for himself or her. “So… hungry… need… food.”
“I’m not sure what ants eat exactly, but I guess we could go and find something… or perhaps make one of the ants get you something.” She suggested, noticing that she was feeling famished herself, but probably not as much as John.
“And where... should we get... something to eat? I think... that unicorn... is still after us.” A lone ant approached John, making a noise. “Oh come on! I got nothing in me! I'm starving!” The ant made a confused noise. It began to scoot John, pushing him out of the colony, turning to Liz, making a concerned noise. Unsure, Liz picked up John and laid him across the Ant’s back, which began to walk ahead, followed by a line of ants. Liz followed the ant train, which was leading into the village. All the lights were off, but under the moon’s light, they headed to what looked like a giant gingerbread house.
“Obviously not real,” Liz commented, knowing that if a house made out of sweets was real, it would be more gross than amazing. “But I guess this solves your hunger problem.” She added, using her wings to lazily follow him, it being easier since she was calm and not flying away from danger. Her flying did get a bit better, but she still needed some work.
She landed not so gracefully by the window and looked inside. Various baked goods were on display, and the place looked pretty tight in security… against ants, of course. Looking behind, she saw the trail of ants climbing, with John held very carefully in the mandibles of the train leader.
“Only way to do this.” As soon as the train leader ant came right up, she blasted a fairly large, yet small, uneven hole. Despite being insects, the ants made a surprised look, some opening their mandibles to look as if their jaws dropped. She gestured the opening. “Please, after you.” A confirmed click was heard as the ants entered the bakery. The aroma of sweet good assaulted Liz’s nose, making her drool a bit, but she kept her composure.
She flew right in, flying to and landing near a chocolate cake. She pressed the same location where John opened his helmet, and sure enough, her face mask opened up. All she did was grab a chunk of cake and took a bite out of it. If she didn't have diabetes then, she certainly was going to now. Her hunger took over and she began to devour the cake, as much as she could. Some annoyed clicks were heard. Turning, Liz saw the ants behind her, with John in their mandibles.
“Oh. Sorry.” She stepped aside, the ants dropping John gently as they took a chunk of the cake out and walked back. Liz hovered over to John before she decided to try and find another sweet treat for John to enjoy. “Here, let’s find something else to snack on.” She suggested, noticing a rotating shelf with an array of baked goods first. She decided to head there, picking John up and trying to fly over there, but soon realized it was harder to carry a person and fly at the same time. Her balance went off, and they both landed on a cupcake. Lizz could hear John groaning, followed by chewing.
“Am I in heaven?” He asked.
“Don’t ask and just enjoy the moment.” Liz only said, her face not directly in the cupcake, so she didn’t have to eat her way out just to talk. It took some time for her to get up, the icing feeling more like getting out of a sugary wet sand pile, but once she was able to, she took a piece of it and casually ate some. “Maybe we should stay here. There’s plenty of food, and a large building to keep us safe from any outside danger.”
“... You know we're still being hunted, right?” John replied. “Even if she thinks we're dead, I doubt we can hide forever until she figures out we're alive.”
“It’s fine. We could just keep a close eye on a green unicorn and a tan pony with pink and blue hair. The second one just in case since I feel that the two go hand in hand.” Liz said, knowing that they would have to do that no matter where they stayed.
Unfortunately for them, the lights were turned on. Standing in the hallway was a pink pony with a slightly darker, poofy mane. She had a disturbed look on her face, mostly from seeing the ants.
“NOO!!! THE GOODIES ARE RUINED!!!” She screamed, running away before returning with some spray cans. “Face my righteous might for thy cupcakes!!!” She began to spray, the ants hit by the spray immediately died. Panic broke through the other ants, letting out some frightened squeals. John saw the carnage.
“Now you think we should stay?” He asked.
“Alright, you made a good point, let’s see if I ca-” She stopped as she tried to use her wings, feeling a tug, but they wouldn’t open. Eyes widening in surprise, she turned back to see that the cupcake icing was sticky and clumpy enough to stick her wings together, and unable to open up and let her fly off. She was a good enough target like the other ants. “Oh, crap.”
“Hang on! I got us.” John tried to get up but was stuck himself. “Uh… hold on! I got us!” He closed his eyes and focused. “Ants… save us…”
Some of the panicked ants stopped and turned to where the two was at. Making some clicks, they confirmed that some should lead the others back to the colony while the rest save their new allies. Their bravery will be told through the colony’s history. A respectful salute was followed as the brave ants ventured around the counter, going past the pink pony’s blind spot, and rescue their allies.
The pink pony watched as the last of the ants went out through the small hole through the window. Curious, she looked at the small hole.
“Huh? How can ants do this!?” She asked herself. “Wait… a hole? Ants can't break through glass… unless...“ She looked back. Her eyes widened as she saw a small group of ants rescuing two weird, small bipedal creatures. “AAAHHHHHH!!! MONSTERS!!!”
“Get us out of here!” John yelled, riding on one of the ants, which let out a courageous bellow.
Even while Liz was climbing onto the other one that approached the two, she continued to try and unfurl her wings, trying as hard as she could, but not wanting to overdo it since bug wings are rather fragile, and she didn’t know if it applied to her suit as well. Their ants charged ahead, and to their surprise, these were the flying type. The ants' wings came out of the side and flapped rapidly with the noticeable buzz noises. Out of fear, John grabbed the ant’s antennas, causing it to steer out of control.
“WHOAH!!! Go straight! Go straight!” John screamed, jerking the ant’s antennas around.
“Don’t yank on the antennas!” Liz tried to tell him, the girl wrapping her arms around the ant's neck instead and even her legs latching around the ant so she wouldn’t slip and fall.
“Eek! Flying ants!!!” The Pink pony screamed. “Duck and cover!!!” Said pony jumped behind a counter before popping out with both a military helmet and a blue cannon of sorts. She fired the cannon, which shot out cupcakes. John pushed the ant’s antennas down, making the ant fly straight down. In fear, he pulled the antennas back, making it fly back.
“Hey! I think I'm getting the hang of this!” John cheered. “Sorry… uh… I'll call you Ant-ony Hopkins.”
“Really?” Liz groaned. “You're going to start using ant related puns?”
“And who bit you on the abdomen this morning?”
Liz only glared at him as she figured that they didn’t need this when they were relying on ants to save their lives. The pink pony fired away but watched as the ants flew right out of their small hole. She walked to the hole and placed a cork into it. All she could do was turn back and see the battlefield.
“All the goodies… ruined! Ruined! RUINED!!!”
“Pinkie! We're trying to sleep!” A stallion and mare shouted from above.
“Oh! Sorry, Mr. And Mrs. Cake!” She grabbed a broom and started to sweep the mess, humming to herself.