“Small humans here in Equestria?” Cadence asked as Shining Armor put on his armor. “Planning to take over the world with insects? Most likely going to steal a bit of the Crystal Heart? You seriously can't believe this.”
“Aww, relax, Honey.” The unicorn stallion replied after putting on his helmet. “I'm sure Twilie’s just freaking out after having a bad dream.”
“But you don't believe her?”
“I mean… she hasn't been too wrong on things, but I'm just playing along for now.”
“Oh… thank goodness. Don't want Flurry Heart to be too much like your sister. You're wearing those camera helmets, right?”
“But of course. Hard to believe the footage is in such high resolution. Twilight has nothing to worry when she sees this.”
“I sure hope so. And you're alright staying up all night?”
“I didn't drink all that coffee now, did I?” He chuckled before leaning in and giving his wife a kiss. “Sleep tight, honey.”
“And you be careful now.” Some babbles came right beside. Shining walked over to a crib, where Flurry Heart sat in. He ruffled her mane.
“If anything goes wrong, you promise to keep your mother safe?” Flurry let out a promising giggle. “That's my girl.” He gave her forehead a kiss before walking away, turning off the lights, and quietly closed the door to their bedroom. It was going to be a long night… maybe he can get himself acquainted with the night patrol guards.
~-~-~
Liz let out a small, but long yawn as she was currently sitting right beside John. It was a huge rustle, having to split with their ant allies, but John did tell her that the ants need to lay low for a bit and that the Crystal Empire was freezing. Lucky for them, they hitched a ride to the train, relaxing under the seats, right under the creatures. John had returned with a chunk of a chocolate cookie he took from the kitchen, offering a piece to Liz before relaxing himself.
“So… how are you?” John began, wanting to break the silence.
“Fine. Just starting to see how seeing that Twilight pony was a bad idea.” She mumbled arms crossed as she seemed to blame herself for letting a pony keep on meddling with their plan to get back to normal.
“Hey, you didn't know. I started all of this, technically.”
“True...” She mumbled, not saying anything else as she took the offered cookie piece and started nibbling on it.
“I bet when this is all over, we're going to laugh at this in the future. Maybe even tell our kids about it.”
At the last part, a pink hue formed on her cheeks. “O-our k-kids?” She repeated, seeming to get the idea that their kids might be the same kids. He blushed in response.
“I-I didn't mean us. I meant as in… you know, when we find our own partner and settle down on our own terms. Th-there’s nothing wrong with you, of course, we're just… working together, y’know? Like how I am with the ants. Common goal.”
“O-oh. Y-yeah! Right, of course.” She agreed at that, not wanting to think too hard on it, or even mentioned that she wasn’t going to do some other creature besides a human… and as far as she knows, they might be the only ones.
“... I mean… if we are stuck here… think you'll… experiment?” Liz choked on her cookie as the train came to a stop.
“Crystal Empire department!” The conductor announced.
“We'll get to that later. Let's go!” John ran right out, avoiding the huge feet that could easily squish him. Liz, meanwhile, had a sore throat and was taken back at what John asked.
‘N-not likely...’ She thought, trying to clear her throat without attracting any attention as she left the rest of the cookie behind and tried to catch up to John while also avoiding hooves of many different species.
The first they noticed upon entering was how cold it was. It wasn't exactly freezing, more like it's around the month of Spring, as under the afternoon sky, some force field of sort kept the kingdom away from the snow. Liz could already tell where they were going into, as guard ponies, most looking to actually be made out of living crystals, were on heavy patrol.
“Wh-where are w-we heading off t-to exactly?” Liz asked, already shivering as she hated the cold. John pointed to the castle.
“In there! That's where we're going to find the crystals needed to act as a battery for our suits. … And you're really cold?”
“O-of course I am, I hate the c-cold and snow. Even if this weird barrier in is stopping the snow, it’s still f-freezing in here.” She said, rubbing her arms with her hands to try and keep herself warm.
“... Bet there'll be some nice soup inside as well.”
“Bleh, I don’t like soup… texture thing.” She said, explaining her reason.
“... Hot cocoa?”
“Better.” She simply said, loving the idea of some cocoa more than soup. “Just as long as they use milk and not dumb water.” She grumbled.
“We should get inside then. Find what we need, and maybe get something nice to eat as well.”
“Alright, perhaps in that castle they might have some stuff we can take without them noticing.” Liz thought out loud, soon enough seeing something that looked like a crystal heart in a large spaced area under the castle, the legs being different entryways to the building. She was rather intrigued as to why the crystal heart was spinning. Sure there was a breeze here and there, but unless it was a hollowed out fake just for design, there was no way a heart-shaped rock could spin at all.
“Hope so too. Might want to get your lasers ready.” He paused as he looked carefully. Standing alone was a white unicorn stallion with a striped blue mane, wearing purple armor. “Looks like we got company.”
~-~-~
Shining Armor sipped another bit of his coffee. As it turned out, one of the guards that were supposed to guard the Crystal Heart was feeling sick and had to call off that night. He decided to take that guard's position since it'll show Twilight that nothing crazy happened. It was sometimes hard being her BBBFF. Luckily, the night didn't seem too bad. Sure it was chilly, but everyone was used to it. For a weird reason, he had the feeling that something's going to happen. His ears twitched as some buzzing flew past him.
“Hey! Shoo!” He said to the bug, blowing it away. But he stopped as he realized something. ‘Hold on… insects rarely live here… which means…’ His horn glowed as he took his sword out and pointed at the Crystal Heart. “Alright! Who's there!?”
~-~-~
“Crap! He's onto us!” John yelled as Liz landed on a side of the Crystal Heart and began to slice out a very small piece with her wrist lasers. “How long until you get a piece out!?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never cut into a freaking rock!” She whisper shouted, trying her best to cut a piece, while also staying on the spinning crystal. John turned to see that the stallion knight was approaching to them.
“... Keep doing what you got to do! I've got an idea.” He stretched his arms out before holding them out and walked around the corner. “Wait! I give up!”
~-~-~
Shining watched as some bug walked around the corner with its arms up in a surrendering position. Only… it wasn't a bug. Twilight was right! Standing at only an inch tall was the Ant-Man, as Twilight described. But… why was he surrendering? Something was up.
~-~-~
‘What the frick are you doing!?’ She thought, looking back for a moment before she resumed trying to cut a piece big enough for the two, but small enough to carry back to Manehatten… wherever that was.
“Easy, Mr… Horse…” John spoke, a bit unsure what the stallion’s name was.
~-~-~
Shining was taken back at hearing it talk, albeit, much quieter, for being so small. At least it could talk.
“The name is Shining Armor! Captain of the Royal Guard if Equestria, and Prince of the Crystal Empire.”
“Ah, excuse me, your royal highness. See, I think there's a huge mixup here; a friend of mine and I landed here after-”
“Twilight told me to not to listen to your words!”
“... Excuse me?”
“If you're here, then your partner’s here as well!” His horn glowed as he picked up a spear and aimed it just a few inches from John's face. “Tell me where she is, and I may grant you only 500 years in Tartarus.”
“5-500 years!? Might as well execute me! And I ain't-a snitch! Snitches get stitches!”
“I… what did you just say?” The Ant-Man quickly grabbed the spear, quickly throwing it to the side. To say Shining was caught off guard was an understatement as something so small was that strong and fast. His spear was tossed underneath the Crystal Heart, right on the other side.
“Aha! Didn't expect that now, did ya!? Now if you listen to me, then we can talk this out and have a nice-” Before he could finish, Shining Armor’s horn glowed and fired a blast of magic at the small attacker.
~-~-~
At that point, the laser finally cut through the crystal. But at that moment, the blast of magic hit the heart as well, causing it to spin at a much faster pace, the sudden movement making Liz yelp in shock and nearly cut her arm off. She only had the reflex to grab onto the crystal piece she needed for the suits to get power again, and the heart she was close to falling off of. Some zapping was heard, followed by John screaming.
“Hurry up, Liz! He's going crazy!”
“I’m currently in a mess of my own. This dumb rock won’t stop spinning, and… I’m losing… my grip!” She shouted, right as her painfully cold fingers couldn’t hold onto it much longer and she finally let go, all the while trying to unfurl her wings, but they seemed to get frozen stiff, it being fairly easy since they were just like the fragile wings of a wasp’s. She fell to the floor, her wings coming out at the last second, while breaking the fall, still sprained her legs. The stallion caught sight of her with the small piece of the Crystal Heart.
“No risks!” Shining ordered himself, stopped chasing John and marched to Liz. He lifted his right hoof up and held it over Liz. It became apparent what was going to happen: he was going to squish her! John quickly saw and ran back. Everything seemed to move at a snail’s pace as John sprinted to Liz as she braced herself with the hoof coming down at her.
Then… that’s when everything went quiet.
Liz opened her eyes, seeing darkness. A silhouette began to take shape within said darkness. Who was this figure? Her eyes, blurry, went back into focus, and what she saw nearly made her faint. John was the figure, but not just that, he was holding Shining Armor’s hoof over them! If he was off, she would be a bloody stain on the crystal pavement.
“G-go! Get the other piece!” John strained, using all his strength to keep the hoof at bay.
She shook her head to try and snap herself back to reality, not saying a word as she grabbed the first one she cut off and went back to the crystal heart to get another, getting one for each of them.
~-~-~
“What the-!?” Shining Armor yelled, completely appalled by the sight. The Ant-Man was strong, but holding his hoof up to keep his partner alive!? It was impossible! It was then that the Ant-Man pushed his hoof off, turning below, and grabbed the fur around his hoof, and threw him! He was not finished, as the small being jumped onto his temporary flying self and ran to his face with a closed fist!
“RULES OF NATURE!!!” The small man shouted before delivering a right hook that launched Shining Armor into one of the pillars, crashing into it and breaking a few crystals in the process. The force and sudden impact knocked Shining unconscious.
~-~-~
“... Holy crap! Did you just see that!?” John yelled. “I threw him like a ragdoll!”
“Yeah, sure, that’s cool. Can we just get going before more of them start coming!?” Liz shouted, clearly more scared of almost dying again than at John’s epic moment.
“Oh… sorry! Just excited… you still want to see if they have hot cocoa?”
Liz stayed quiet for a moment, then lightly shrugged as to say ‘meh’. “Sure, why not?”
“Heh. You REALLY want hot cocoa, don't you? Shall we?” He extended his arm to her.
She didn’t say anything, taking the offered hand and tried to stand up… only for one of her legs to give in and almost make her fall to the floor again if it wasn’t for John keeping her up.
“It's ok, I got ya.” He reassured her. “Bet some of the ants will help you out when we get back.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I can walk like this.” She admitted, not bothering in putting her injured foot on the ground.
“Lucky you, I'm here. Got that 2nd piece, by the way?”
“Y-yeah. I got it.” She nodded, moving her head towards the pieces of crystal hearts that broke off cause of the sudden hit it got while she was breaking a piece of her own. “Pick the best one. I might suggest the biggest just in case.”
“Yeah… but we should take the only right size pieces. You know, not too big or small.”
“Then just choose the middle size.” She suggested, unsure if that was the right call.
“My thoughts exactly.” John picked up the two, while small, somewhat still large shards of the Crystal Heart. He held both shards in his left hand as he carried Liz with the other. “Next stop: Hot Coco ville.”
Liz couldn’t help but break a smile from under the helmet, glad that John didn’t just take the shard and book it like any person who would think of themselves. Of course, she didn’t say anything about it since they still had a long way to go.
~-~-~
The sounds of what sounded like her father screaming made Flurry wake up in fear. She stayed in her crib, unsure if it really did happen, or if it was just a bad dream. Her mom snored lightly, only a few twitches here and there, but otherwise, she was fine. However, something caught the filly’s attention: The scent of Hot Chocolate. Even though it was wrong, she couldn't resist the smell and potential flavor. With a flap of her wings, she flew out of her crib and made her way to the kitchen.
~-~-~
Liz sat on one of the large marshmallows as John made the two of them hot chocolate. It almost looked like a scene from a Ratatouille, as John was stirring the pot with a wooden spoon much larger than himself.
“Is it almost ready? My throat is getting all dried up for this.” Liz asked, kind of exaggerating about the ‘dry throat’ thing.
“Almost,” John answered. They both paused as they heard what sounded like a baby arriving. “Uh… think if we stay still, the baby may think we're toys and leave us be?”
“Babies aren’t dinosaurs. And even if they think we’re toys, don’t you know what they do?” She said, not waiting for an answer. “They start teething.”
“I mean… what should we do? We can't exactly hit a baby.”
“Well, maybe we can distract her or something.” She suggested, recalling how easy babies get distracted.
“... And how should we do that?”
“You got some keys to jingle or something?” She asked even though it was obvious that he didn’t.
“I mean… Think we can find keys?”
~-~-~
Flurry made her way into the kitchen. The smell of hot cocoa almost overwhelmed her, but she stopped as something was off. Normally, there'd be somepony working here, and it'll be tidy, but neither of those was around. Something was off. Then some jingling was heard. Turning, Flurry saw what was some measuring cups together, dangling by a string that's connected by a stick, held by a small, male figure as another, female one, held him up with bug wings on her back.
“Look at the cups! Look at the cups!” He spoke.
“Well… it works.”
Flurry gave the two a curious look. Her horn glowed and picked the two up.
“Oh no. It's a smart baby.” The small man spoke.
“Since when are babies smart?” A small girl asked out loud.
Flurry gave a curious look at the two, babbling a bit, but in a way that sounded like she was pondering.
“Huh… look at how cute it is.” The small man simply spoke.
“Really? You're saying that again?”
“No! Really! It's a baby pony! Don't you see how adorable it is!?”
“I guess...” She mumbled, her arms crossing as her head turned away, it being clear that she didn’t want to admit it. Flurry blushed a bit.
“D’aww! She likes you!”
“Sh-shush up!” She shouted, being glad that her helmet was able to hide the blush forming on her face.
“Hey! Watch it! There's a baby right in front of us.” He turned to Flurry. “I'm so sorry about that. My friend and I just need something warm, and we made some hot chocolate. Care to join us?” Flurry let out a happy giggle, placing both down as she trotted over to her own baby chair. “... That is one smart baby. Care to get yourself acquainted with her?”
Liz didn’t give an answer, but she unfurled her wings as she started taking off to get back on the table. “For the record, the word ‘shush’ and ‘up’ aren’t curse words. So I don’t need to watch my language.” She said with a condescending smirk, even if he couldn’t see it through the helmet. Not saying another word, she made it to the table and went back to her spot on the marshmallow, it being between the cup of hot cocoa and the baby pony. ‘Let’s hope this baby won’t be like another pegacorn.’ She thought, not letting her guard down in case all alicorns sent small unknown things to Tartarus as the purple one called it.
~-~-~
Cadence’s eyes opened as she heard faint giggling. Her mind was a bit fuzzy, but it was most likely Flurry trying to have with her.
“Go back to sleep, Flurry.” She spoke. The muffled laughter didn't cease. She got up from her bed and walked to the crib. “Fine, if you want to have fun, then-” She stopped as she reached down and couldn't find Flurry in her crib. Her blanket and Whammy were still inside, but she wasn't. Flurry's laughter could be heard outside. Cadence rolled her eyes and walked out.
“Flurry, don't you know how late it is? It's-” She stopped as she saw Flurry on the kitchen floor, giggling wildly with hot chocolate spilled everywhere. But the real kicker was that the Ant-Man was on Flurry's tummy, and… rubbing it!?
“Who's a good fiwwy!? Who's a good fiwwy!?” He babied the filly. Flurry only laughed at the feeling. Cadence stared, shocked to see a small human was here. The Ant-Man was playing with her daughter. But then, that would mean…
“FLURRY!!! Get away from him!” Cadence yelled. Flurry gave her mom a confused look. “Guards! Guards!!!”
“Uh oh! Time to go!” Ant-Man shouted, jumping off Flurry Heart and ran to one of the windows. “Liz! Follow me!”
“On it. See you little filly!” Liz said, her helmet clicking into place once she slurped the last of the cocoa dewdrop, not wasting a second as she took off, grabbing John along the way and carrying him as he held the crystals they needed. And it didn’t take long for the alicorn mother and her child to lose sight of the two intruders. Guard entered the room and looked around.
“What's wrong, your highness!?” One of the guards asked.
“Th-The Ant-Man! He's real!” Cadence shivered, holding her daughter tight “And the Wap-Woman! They were here… they…” She looked to Flurry. “They didn't hurt you, did they?” Flurry let out some happy giggles, reaching to her mom. “... Oh no! Shining Armor! Somepony, check on him!”
“Yes, ma’am!” One of the guards saluted, turning to the other soldiers signaling them to move out.
“Sir, Shining Armor’s unconscious!” A guard yelled from outside. “And the Crystal Heart is destroyed!”