Twilight dreaded as she walked to the home of Lyra and Bon-Bon. Sure, Twilight and Lyra were old classmates, but even then, she was weird. If she had joined Twilight in her adventure to the other world, who knows what kind of chaos Lyra would've made. But asking what-if scenarios wasn't on Twilight's list, but it was if Lyra had found this ‘Ant-Man’. … And the name sounded pretty stupid in her head the more she thought of it.
“Here goes nothing.” Twilight groaned, knocking on the door to Lyra’s house. The door opened by her knock, and the sound of sad violin music can be heard inside. “Uh… hello? Lyra? You in here?” Only the sound of crying was followed by the sad violin music. Twilight walked right in, following the music. “Hello? Anypony here?”
The Alicorn stopped at a door to a room. She opened it to see the room was surrounded by lit candles, and in the center was Lyra, weeping away. Twilight wasn't sure how to approach her. Her horn glowed as she opened a curtain. Lyra hissed loudly.
“Natural light!”
“Uh… what's wrong, Lyra? Why are you so sad?” Twilight asked. Lyra closed the blinds and covered herself with a blanket.
“Wouldn't you like to know?”
“That's… why I'm here, actually.”
“... You promise not to laugh?”
“Of course I won't laugh, Lyra. I Pinkie promise.” She did the motions. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Lyra remained silent but sighed.
“I found a pair of humans yesterday.”
“A pair!?” Lyra gave a sour look. “Oh, sorry!”
“Anyways… I found a pair of humans yesterday. First a woman, and her partner, a man. They-”
“Wait a minute!” Twilight took her notes out. “Did this man wear something that looked like an ant’s?”
“Um… yes.”
“Was he wearing red?”
“Yes.”
“And was he controlling the minds of students!?” Lyra turned to her.
“No. Twilight, what are you talking about!?”
“Uh… I… just had... a weird dream. That's it. Just a dream.” Lyra frowned.
“And I thought you saw a human.”
“Nonono! I did… in my dreams. And what about the other one?”
“...Well, it was a female, wore yellow, and had the head of something similar to the man, just not as… well, large. And I'm not sure, but I think she had wings” Twilight sketched the other person and wrote above ‘Wasp-Woman?’
“What happened to them?”
“They… they died!” She fell into tears.
“Died!?”
“I tried to warn them before I could take them home safely! They ran into an anthill! They're Ant-Food now! I failed as a guardian!” Lyra fell to the floor and wept hard. Twilight thought hard during this.
‘If this Ant-Man could control Ocellus easily, then he could control ants, if not, easier’. “Lyra, it's ok. It's not your fault.” Lyra sniffled.
“It's not?”
“They didn't listen to you. You warned them, but they didn't listen. It's on them, not you. How about we go to Sugarcube Corner and get some of Pinkie's cupcakes?” Lyra smiled a bit.
“That sounds good.”
“Let's just blow out all these candles first. Can't afford a house fire, can we?”
“Yeah… I guess so.”
~-~-~
Liz did some stretching in her suit as John lead a trail of baby ants behind him. The day may have started, but they knew they had to be ready for anything. Well… mostly. All Liz did was give John an angered look as he did the Thriller dance with the baby ants trying to copy his movements.
“Are you seriously trying to make the ants dance?”
“Yeah.” John simply answered.
“We have to find a way to get back to our normal size, and if you’re fine staying like this and messing with these ants, then fine. I guess I’ll fix my suit on my own.” She said, it being clear that she hated being this small, and how much John acted as if nothing was wrong.
“Hey, I'm busy too, y’know. My new buddies actually told me about how they can help us thanks to their friends.”
“Wait, you're talking to the ants?”
“Eh, kinda. It's more like I get the gist of what they're saying.”
“... Right… and what kind of ants has friends?”
“It took me a while, but I think these are Argentine Ants.”
“Argen what ants?”
“Argentine Ants. I remember from Animal Planet's The Most Extreme that Argentine Ants are the only species that will work with its own species instead of battling it. Some of these fellows came from other colonies around the world and filled me in on the land.”
“And you didn't tell me!?”
“Hey, I was dumped a lot of exposition last night. But I still need some help.” He turned to the antlings. “Alright, break time. Be sure to teach the others what I taught you.” The little ants gave affirmative clicks before walking away. John turned to one of the drones. “Say, can you help draw what I'm saying? I got some cake if you're interested.” The ant saluted and, with some other ants, crawled onto the wall and took the shape of everything he spoke.
“Yeah, see, we're in some land called Equestria, co-ruled by the princess sisters, Celestia and Luna, but also some Disney wannabe Cadence with her husband, Shining Armor, who's, coincidentally, the brother to Celestia's personal protege, Twilight Sparkle. And from what they told me, we're in Ponyville, where Twilight lives, with her new School of Friendship. Plus, from what they tell us, we can find schematics to an electricity making device in Cloudsdale, take a piece of a powerful crystal from the Crystal Empire, and get the necessary pieces and regulators in Manehatten. We get all of this and make the device we need to charge our suits, soon we'll be normal size again. Sounds like a plan, eh?”
Liz wasn’t sure how to even respond to that, many questions flying through her head, but none of them being enough to put into words. She had her mouth open for a sec, almost as if she was about to say something, but soon shut it.
“I know, it's a lot to take in. But what are we gonna do? Ask Twilight for help at our size?”
“Well, I don’t know… no one really knows about us, so maybe she would help us. I mean, she does work at a friendship school.” Liz lightly shrugged.
“Call me crazy, but I think that giant bug was one of her students, and I don't think she's going to be thrilled.” An ant walked to him and clicked. “Wait, that thing's called a changeling?” More clicks. “It's a female named Ocellus?” A few more clicks. “And she can transform into anything!? How many of them are there? And how was I able to control her?” A series of clicks. “Huh… so I guess they're like you, but a lot more open… not sure a king will help a hive survive, but, I'm sure they'll find a way.”
“... You're so weird, you know that?”
“Hey, these ants are our allies. We have a mutual goal; survive and thrive. But if you this fails, we're going with my plan.”
She lightly rolled her eyes with that deal. “Fine. But I think it should go without question that you should explain yourself since that was all you.” She said, feeling that she had no part in that… event.
“Fair enough. Now, where is-” The same ant interrupted. “She's heading to Sugarcube Corner? … it's that bakery, right?” An affirmative click. “Sweet! Seems like we're going to meet her majesty… if only I had my tuxedo.”
~-~-~
Twilight Sparkle and Lyra Heartstrings entered Sugarcube corner, only to see Pinkie spraying the corners with a weird-smelling concoction. All around the bakery were various cleaning products, meaning Pinkie woke up early and cleaned everything to a tee. Pinkie noticed the two before rushing to them.
“Sorry for the smell! Cleaning was in session.” Pinkie announced. “Just making more cupcakes right now.”
“Oh? What happened last night?” Twilight asked.
“Ants, Twilight! They ruined the baked goods! I must've been slacking off with my cleaning, and the goodies turned into baddies.” She dramatically fell as all the lights went out, except for the one she was under. “I must atone to my failure! Cleaning and sealing everything must be done! And I must find those two monsters that aided the ants!”
“Wait, monsters?” Twilight's horn glowed as she made the lights turn back on.
“Of course! Both were really small creatures that looked like wingless breezies, with one red and the other yellow.” Lyra’s eyes widened.
“Wait! My humans are alive!?” Lyra asked, her tail wagging similar to a dog's. “What happened!? Where did they go!?”
“Uh… Lyra… didn't you say humans were tall, like, I'm guessing the size of Capper?”
“I know I said that, Pinkie! I just found baby humans!” Twilight groaned.
~-~-~
John and Liz ran through the front door, edging along the walls. The smell made their noses tingle, despite both wearing their helmets. It was the smell of ant killer spray and other cleaning products. Seems the pink pony went all out last night in cleaning. Standing the middle was the pink pony, Twilight, and the crazy unicorn, Lyra.
“... Want to do this tomorrow?” John asked.
“We made the deal, you said nothing about taking it back, or if any other ponies were here.” She said, not wanting to go back on the deal just cause John was a jitterbug.
“Ugh! Fine. Hold up, something's happening.”
“Sorry,” Lyra spoke with a sheepish smile. “I've got to use the little filly’s room.” Lyra walked quickly into the restroom. The pink pony turned to Twilight.
“Alright! A fresh batch of cupcakes will be ready soon, Twilight!” She spoke cheerfully.
“Thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight replied. “Hopefully, this will help.” She turned around and sat in one of the available tables.
“... Welp… you should fly around. If anything happens, cause a distraction and we'll get out.” He cracked his neck and readied his arms. “I've always wanted to say this.”
“You better not-!” Liz yelled, but John jumped onto Twilight's table.
~-~-~
Twilight waited for the cupcakes to be made. Since it was the weekend, she had plenty of time to figure out who these people were, how they got so small, and what their intentions are. All she could hope was that Lyra didn't try to get in the way that much. With how obsessed Lyra is over them, it would be better if Twilight knocked her unconscious than trying to reason with her.
“Hello? Princess Twilight?” The voice of a man spoke. Twilight jumped and looked around, seeing no one.
“... Must've been my imagination.” She spoke to herself.
“Nope. Down here.”
“Wait! Discord! This better not be one of your-” She stopped and was left breathless. On her table, leaning against the napkin dispenser was the Ant-Man himself. Her eyes twitched, seeing him so close in some detail.
“Ya like jazz?” As he asked that, the other one, the woman, landed near him, and punched him in the back of the head.
“REALLY!?!?!? You have to use a line from the Bee movie as your greeting!?” She yelled, her wings flaring in anger.
“What!? It's just a conversation starter. What am I supposed to say? ‘Hi, I'm sorry for controlling your student like a toy, I was just experimenting with my powers’?”
“No! You-!” Twilight only watched as the two bickered on. They seemed to hate each other, not knowing anything about friendship. But, they're working together… and if that means anything…
“Oh no,” Twilight muttered to herself. Her horn glowed as she grabbed the two in her magic.
~-~-~
John and Liz’s argument was cut short as Twilight's horn grabbed them both.
“I knew it! You both want to rule Equestria using all the insects, including the changelings!” She shouted.
“... Wait, what!?” Liz yelled. “No! Wait! This is a misunderstanding! My idiot partner here just-”
“You two don't know anything about friendship, only control! You, Wasp! You seek to control your partner here, The Ant-Man, to use him as the general in your army of swarms! Trying to take me out first, knowing my friends can stop you both easily as you start a war, making the changelings seem to be the ones to start it all! It's very clever, I will say, to think I'd fall you both saying you need my help, but started your reign of terror. I've dealt with better liars, sadly.”
“... Did she get whacked by the idiot stick?” John asked.
“Seems like today the logic part of her brain shut down,” Liz added, thinking that the mare was too quick to judge. “Hey, Sparkle pony!” She called up, even cupping around her mouth as if she couldn’t hear her. “What happened was an accident and no ill intentions. We just wanted to leave the building without being stepped on, and we didn’t think anything would work on that bug horse.”
“I thought it might...” A small comment was heard from John.
“Not helping.” She said through gritted teeth. “We just want to undo this shrinking thing and we’ll be out of your… mane, I guess.”
“A likely story, but your lies won't work on me,” Twilight replied, her horn glowed brightly and a small portal appeared on the table. “Thankfully, your small size made an easier small portal. Next stop for both of you: Tartarus!” She lowered both into the said portal.
~-~-~
Lyra walked out of the bathroom but stopped as she saw the ultimate betrayal. Her humans were alive, but Twilight had both in her magic, lowering them into a portal with a smile. She reacted the only way she could do: tackle Twilight to the floor, canceling her spell, and freeing her small humans.
“HOW COULD YOU, TWILIGHT!?!?!?” She screamed with a mix of rage and sadness. “They're just babies!”
“Lyra! They're not babies!” Twilight yelled. “They're menaces! I'm banishing them to Tartarus so they don't start a war using the changelings and use insects as their army.”
“They need guidance!”
“No, they don't!” Both of their horns glowed as a beam of magic was fired. A magic duel was going to happen.
~-~-~
John and Liz got up to see the two unicorns battling each other, shooting lasers out of their horns.
“Great! They got built-in death lasers!” John spoke before turning to Liz. “Think we should start at Cloudsdale, wherever that is?”
“Fine,” Liz grumbled, opening her wings out before she picked John up and started flying off back to the anthill, it being their safe zone from these weird equines.
~-~-~
Pinkie strolled right out with a fresh batch of cupcakes but stopped upon seeing the magic duel taking place.
“Twilight! Lyra!” She yelled. “I just had this place cleaned!”
“Sorry, Pinkie,” Twilight replied, still having her stare off against Lyra. “Lyra doesn't understand we have a problem!”
“I beg to differ!” Lyra replied back. “They're innocent babies who need a loving mother figure.”
“That male had a fully grown voice! How do you explain that!?”
“Uh… did I miss something?” Pinkie asked.
“You'll see on the table.”
Pinkie trotted to the table. “Oh! Your napkins fell!”
“Pinkie! Don't you see them!?”
“See what?” Twilight and Lyra’s horns ceased their magic. They turned to see the two small people were gone.
“No!!! My babies!!!” Lyra screamed.
“... This is bad… REALLY BAD!!!” Twilight spoke in fear.