It took a while, but John, Liz, and Tempest arrived to Ponyville by train. The ride was a bit awkward, as the two humans put on their suits with the unicorn giving them the death stare.
“What are you looking at, Edgehorse?” Liz glared back at her, still not in an apologizing or forgiving mood at the unicorn.
“My job,” Tempest replied. “Make sure you both don't run off.”
“I think the only reason I’d run off is to get away from all that edge.” Liz looked away, staring out the window as one of her arms rested on the helmet on her lap.
“What is this ‘edge’ you speak of? Are you saying I'm a cliff?”
“No, I’m saying that your so dark, brooding and think you’re so cool that I want to jump off a cliff.” Liz corrected her, knowing that what she said wasn’t true, but it wasn’t like these ponies understood anything they said.
“Oh, I apologize if I'm not as bright and cheerful as everypony else. If you were as disfigured as I am and not treated as an equal, but a monster, you too would most likely be like this.”
“Oh please. Back where we come from, there are plenty of people with birth defects, or accidents that took something they never knew was important until it was gone,” Liz said, looking down at her lap. “And even though people like that are around, it doesn’t stop them from being better, being positive, and just being glad that they can be with friends and family that really care about them.” After a bit of silence, she let out a small sigh. “And this world is no different.” After another wave of silence, she spoke up again. “Listen, I’m sorry… guess I thought the power of suit get to me, and made me think I was invincible with or without it. My normal self would’ve just stayed quiet and not even mention your horn.”
“Try being abandoned by your close friends and family after losing your horn and getting scared.”
“Why not have two people of a specific race crash a plane into two large building, killing millions of people, and then let that event tarnish that specific race to never be trusted cause they think they can do it again?” She asked, summing up the nine eleven incident. “And that tragic event being a holiday to which we will never forget… or to some people, never forgive.”
John entered, hastily putting his helmet on.
“Oh man!” He breathed loudly “Sorry about that! We've got ourselves a fan fair, Liz!”
“Fan fair?” Liz only repeated questionably, unsure on what he meant by that.
“Look outside.”
Liz was unsure if she even wanted to, but did so anyway out of curiosity, turning her head to look out the window behind her. Ponies were gathered everywhere, holding up signs that read things as “Hooray for the new heroes!”, “Big Hearts in small bodies”, and “They saved my family!”. Tempest had a small smirk on her face.
“Reminds me of when the Storm King was defeated.” She only spoke.
Liz couldn’t say a word, looking away from the window as she was reminded of how even with that spark of ego she showed Tempest, she wasn’t used to being in the spotlight like this.
“Oh man, if only I had a boombox and my mixtape!” John spoke. “Make an even better impact that gets them pumped.”
“D-do you think we can go through the b-backdoor?” She asked, seeming to sunk down enough to her seat so nothing would be seen through the window.
“Heh, certainly a crowd isn't as scary as a big dragon now, is it?” Tempest mockingly asked.
“Silence!” She only had that to say, even putting on her helmet to hide the scared look on her face, even thinking about shrinking down and flying away to avoid the crowd.
“Come on, Liz,” John spoke, picking her up and dusting her off. “You just gotta be confident! Imagine them in their underwear.”
“They're naked.”
“Uh… Imagine them furless.”
Liz only stayed quiet, looking away from John as she still had the nervous feeling in her gut. But even with this feeling, she wasn’t going to abandon John, knowing from experience that John wouldn’t leave her to fend for herself. “F-fine… I’ll go out th-there.” She mumbled, it being enough approval that she would face the crowd with him.
“That's the spirit! Relax, smile, and feel free to connect with the crowd.”
“No promises.” She mumbled. John pushed Liz out of the doorway. Immediately, they were swarmed by ponies, all trying to get their attention.
“Please sign my autograph book!”
“I made some fanart of you both!”
“Do you have insurance!?”
Just as soon as the questions were being thrown at her, she only got more nervous and scared about doing or saying anything… so she didn’t do anything, only getting behind John and pushing him forward instead, as if she was telling him to ‘deal with it’.
“Hang on, one at a time,” John spoke. “Please, follow these simple instructions: ladies, to my left for make outs, dudes to my right for high fives.”
At that reaction, he only felt a blow at the back of his head. Of course, the hit bumping off of his helmet, but also bounced onto his head, feeling the back part of his helmet hit his head instead. It was clear that action said ‘that’s not what I meant!’.
“Ah. Ladies, feel free to talk to Liz.” John stepped aside.
‘This isn’t why I shoved you upfront!’ She thought, feeling that she might have to knock more sense into John after putting her in the spotlight after trying to get away from it. A gray Pegasus mare with a blonde mane and, very weirdly enough, wonky eyes approached Liz.
“Muffin?” She offered the baked treat.
“No! She wants a cupcake!” The familiar voice of the pink pony broke through, with said pony entering with a box of cupcakes.
“U-uhm…” Liz couldn’t even speak as she was a rather indecisive person with choosing something. That includes choosing between muffins or cupcakes.
“Alright! Break it up!” A raspy sounding woman's voice broke out. Pushing aside the muffin and cupcake ponies was a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. “Alright, Ms. Wasp, you may have just about everypony on your side, but I've got my eyes on you. You got that!?”
‘Okay, I was expecting some ponies to be cross with me, but I don’t even know this mare.’ Liz thought, not seeing any way she was linked to this mare. “Uhm, I have a name you know, it’s Liz. And I don’t know who you are, or why you’re giving me the stink eye… unless you’re xenophile.”
“I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in all of Equestria! And one of the elements of harmony! And you should know why I'm like this, with what you did in Cloudsdale.”
It took a second for her to realize what she meant by that. “Oh, yeah! The blueprints, yeah, we needed to figure out how to get electric energy since it seems you didn’t know how to generate it the way my kind does.” She explained herself. “It’s probably somewhere in Manehatten… in a dumpster, I think.”
“What!? Why didn't you-!?”
“I think the ant colony has it.” John interrupted. “And I think the device is still there… or crushed, who knows.”
“We could ask them to bring it back. If that’s what you’re upset about.” Liz offered, not wanting to try anything if that would only make their situation worse.
“... Fine.” The pony replied. “But don't think it gets you off easily!”
“Figured that much.” She grumbled, feeling that she, along with miss edgy, would be hard to convince that she and John weren’t enemies.
“Alright everypony, settle down.” A western accent mare was heard. Walking through was an orange mare with a blonde mane and tail, wearing a stetson. “Howdy, Ah’m Applejack, sorry for Dash’s attitude, she doesn't take too kindly towards folks that cause problems at her old home.”
“My parents were on a tour when it happened!” Rainbow yelled. “Do you know how dangerous that is!?”
“Don’t know. But would tourists not be allowed around the area where private documents were stored? I would assume that they would only be able to see the things they want them to see.” Liz said, knowing that where she came from, they would do the same. “And if that situation seemed to be around where they were, wouldn’t the workers try and keep the innocent civilians safe before saving their own hide?” She added, also knowing that any customers or visitors would come first before anything else.
“You released ALL of the Twittermites!”
“Well, it’s not my fault that we had to do it on our own. Your ‘Princess of Friendship’ wasn’t really ‘friendly’. She was the first to assume we were evil, and then we were practically on every wanted sign for doing nothing before that.” Liz said, feeling that if it wasn’t for that Twilight mare, they would probably go the easy way, undetected, and without anyone knowing they even existed.
“Calm down, y’all!” Applejack spoke up, standing between Liz and Rainbow Dash. “Look, it was wrong of Twi to judge you both instantly, but what's done in the past can't be undone.”
“Unless we can time travel,” John spoke. Everyone turned to him with a confused look. “What? I'm only joking.”
“Whatever,” Liz waved at another one of John’s dumb ideas. “We were sent here with Miss Edgehorse for some school thing.”
“Ooh! Miss Edgehorse!?” Pinkie asked, somehow popping right out from behind Liz's head. “I need more cupcakes for the “Welcome not so bad but still broke the law” party!”
“Tempest Shadow or whatever, but I know that’s not her name, so I just call her Edgehorse from now on,” Liz explained, ignoring the blurted information about a party as well.
“... A word with the author, please.”
Wait, what!?
Are you seriously going to have Liz call Tempest “Edgehorse”? That's not even a clever name.
Pinkie! How did you-!?
You should know, silly! But really? Edgehorse?
Ugh! Look, they don't know Tempest, ok? And quite frankly, she reminds a lot of us of Kylo Ren from Star Wars. Can we get back to the story with no interruptions like this?
Okie dokie Loki! I pinky promise!
Uh… that… was something. Where was I?... oh, right.
“You know I'm standing here, right?” Tempest spoke.
“What the-!?” John jumped. “What are you? A Jedi?” Pinkie snickered.
“A friend to these ponies. Especially Pinkie.”
“Tempy!” Pinkie gave the Edgelord Happy pony a deep hug
“Been a long time, Pinkie. You're actually a professor now?”
“With my bestest friends in all of Equestria!”
“... This girl's a teacher?” John asked.
“I really shouldn’t be surprised,” Liz mumbled, recalling the large winged pegacorn and the giant dragon the two had to fight off a few days ago.
“And it's an Alicorn! Not a pegacorn!” Pinkie shouted out of nowhere.
“Uh… we didn't say anything.” John took a few steps back.
“Don't mind her.” Applejack spoke. “Just Pinkie being Pinkie.”
“So, are we just going to keep an idle conversation, or just get this over with. I never really liked kids… even though they liked me for some reason.” She said, recalling how she played with her young relatives and how they ‘loved’ to spend time with her, even though it would take a toll on her.
“Hey, we gotta make a good image for ourselves now,” John spoke. “Can't be like those celebrities we see on the news all the time.”
“Hey. I never said I would treat the kids as if I’m one. You already saw how good I was in making Flurry eat her mush. Something you couldn’t do.” She said, raising a brow in mockery
“But who was able to help her sleep and entertain a large crowd with some simple puppets of the characters that is Star Wars?” John had a smug look on his face.
“Touche. Guess we could help in certain ways.” Liz said, making it clear that they work better together.
“... Can we go now?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, yeah, hold your horses,” John replied.
“Hold our what?”
“... A figure of speech where we come from.”
“It simply telling you to be patient,” Liz explained, figuring that simply saying it’s what they say wouldn’t explain what it means.
“Yeah… patient.” Dash muttered to herself.
“So are we going to the school where the pink mare is working at, or is there another one that we were assigned to?” Liz asked, figuring that any town might have more than just one school, and she didn’t want to assume things.
“If y'all follow me, Ah can show you.” Applejack replied, taking the lead.
~-~-~
John and Liz stood in front of a class that was inside what looked to be an ideal school. The teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, a raspberry-colored earth pony with a poofy pink and white striped mane, had both stand to give a PSA on why stealing is wrong. However, the same trio of fillies John met at the beginning sat with their jaws dropped, realizing he's the bug they screamed about.
“Uh… hi.” John began. “I'm Ant-Man, here to deliver you all a message about stealing and why it's wrong.”
“And I’m the Wasp. Even before I got the title and suit, I was always a little thief. Probably a few years older than you foals is when I started. But even with my unique skill in pickpocketing,” She said, showing a yo-yo that was in the teacher’s confiscation drawer before she put it down. “Karma does find you one way or another. And it’s more of a pain when your mother talks in that disappointing tone.” She finished, also recalling the beatings she got, but she was going to keep that hidden for now.
“Uh… yeah, that. And yes, we saved the Manehattan but even today, we're paying the price of stealing those stuff needed to make us big.”
“And it’s not like we could ask for help. Even the princess of this town gave us the cold shoulder.” Liz said, now being a little dramatic.
“Uh… I'm confused.” The orange Pegasus filly spoke.
“About what?” Liz asked, figuring that there would be lots of questions.
“You're saying stealing is wrong… yes, the end justifies the meaning?”
“Well, we feel that we had no choice and had to do what we had to do, but that’s what anyone would say if they do something that seems out of place for others. Everyone feels like their own opinions and choices are right and fair.” Liz explained, crossing her arms. “And it’s kind of hard to go against the law of this world and try to not look like a villain at the same time. “So you either face the consequences or just be shunned and hated by everyone.” She leaned against the teacher’s desk, figuring that was what she was asking.
“... I don't get it.” A brown colt wearing a spinning hat spoke. The class bell rang.
“Ooh! Recess!” John spoke, running outside.
“No! Wait!” Cheerilee shouted, but the goals got up and ran after him. Liz watched as John began to show off, bouncing a soccer ball on his head, counting aloud with the students cheering.
“Show off.” She mumbled, glancing away but soon casting her eyes on the teacher. “So, is this all we were called for, or is this lesson on stealing is wrong the whole class schedule?” Liz couldn’t help but ask, feeling that if it was, it would get boring fast.
“I think you can help me clean up afterward.” The teacher replied. “Other than that, nothing else, really.” They were suddenly under a giant shadow, with some students screaming, but in a fun way. They turned to see John went Giant.
“Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum!!!”
At first, Liz was about to tear John a new one, but seeing how the kids were enjoying it instead of being scared completely, she decided to leave him be. “You’re such an idiot John.” She grumbled, a little jealous that she didn’t think of doing that herself. Cheerilee fainted and Liz was quick to catch her. ‘Forget jealousy.’ She thought, placing the mare gently in the schoolhouse, making sure that she wasn’t going to hit anything when she woke up.
Seeing that she would be fine, she was quick to pop her wings out and fly to John’s face, only to kick him right on the side of his face. “John you idiot, you might step on something that big, or worse: someone.” She scolded him.
“Relax, I know where I'm going.” The sound of a loud crunch was heard. He looked down to see he had stepped on a tree. “That doesn't count. Besides, the kids are enjoying it.”
“Oh yeah, they’ll enjoy it until you step on something that does count.” She huffed, her wings seeming to buzz in anger as well.
“Did that tree matter, kids?”
“No!!!” A collective cheer came.
“See? Nothing wrong.” He picked up the crushed tree, using his foot to cover the accident, and prepared to throw the tree. “YEET!!!” The tree went flying, flying over the mountains, vanishing.
“You idiot! What if that lands on someone!?” She shouted, knowing that even if she also got bigger, she wouldn’t be able to catch it.
“You worry too much.”
~-~-~
The sorceress Katrina made her way towards the mountain. She had a large pack on her, with magical supplies, and some jars holding some monsters. News spread of Ant-Man and the Wasp being in the town of Ponyville, right near the princess of friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle.
“They will see,” she muttered to herself. “They may have brute strength, but they're not as cunning as I am! Like all creatures, they will bow before me! No one can-!” She stopped as a shadow fell over her. The cat sorceress looked up, only to see a tree fall towards her. Her reaction was slow, as the tree crashes onto her. “... Me and my big mouth…”
~-~-~
“I only worry cause it seems your brain is still too small to think about your actions!” Liz shouted, more pissed that she had to be the ‘responsible’ one since it was clear that John didn’t care.
“And you need to relax and enjoy yourself.” He got down onto his chest, turning to the kids. “Sorry about that. Just a friendly argument.”
“Are you both married?” One of the foals asked.
“Tch! As if.” She rolled her eyes. “If I have to take care of this big idiot, then I’ll get gray hairs before I turn fifty.” She said. “Plus I won’t be able to have my own fun if I have to clean his mess.”
“Hey, you're not so clean yourself,” John replied.
“Yeah, but it seems fine that all I do is just clear or try to fix whatever you do, and when I try to do things myself, it’s as if whatever I say is meaningless unless you swoop down to fix it yourself.” She said, turning away from him, recalling how almost everything she did resulted in consequences or failures. The only part that did help in her favor was feeding Flurry, but that amounted to nothing.
“I thought that maybe here… I wouldn’t have to fix other people’s problems or live in the shadow of my big brother… but it’s clear that nothing changed, and nothing will go my way unless I had someone beside me.” She mumbled, feeling the tears swell in her eyes, but she was quick to wipe them away. “Whatever, I should just accept what I have already. I shouldn’t whine like some bratty child. Not like it’ll change anything.” She didn’t add anything else as she headed to the schoolhouse, figuring that she might as well wait until recess is over.
“... Is she your sister?” One of the foals asked. Ant-Man pressed on his button, shrinking back to normal size.
“No, she isn't.” He replied, taking his helmet off. “And I need a word with her.” He walked right into the schoolhouse, a bit peeved. “Liz! A word!”
“What now? Did I sour the mood with you and those kids? They don’t care what happens, they just want to play.” Liz said, turning to look at him while she gave him a harsh glare.
“Well thanks to you, now they're worried. They look up to us now, and so far, you're not being what we're supposed to be.”
“They should just look up to you.” She simply said, crossing her arms. “You came up with the plans. Have a whole colony of ants at your command. And what do I do? Just cut a piece of gem and let loose some twittermites that only made our reputation worse from the start.” She said, it being true that even though they were both small, she seemed to do less than him. “And when Shining attacked us, I just stayed petrified with a hoof over me, while you gave him a good knock out punch.”
“What's done is now in the past. Look, I know you may not think much of yourself, but you got wings and lasers. Freakin' Lasers! I need an ant to fly around, but otherwise, I'm grounded, unlike you. Besides, you saved those folks from that falling building and saved my skin from Torch. We're a team, you and I!”
“Yeah, like lasers are great in a world of magical talking ponies.” She huffed, turning her head away once more. “And we might be a team, but you do most of the work, and even get the upper hand. It’s proof enough in that trial when those ponies tried to take our suits. I tried to make every argument, but they just shot them all down. If it was just me by myself, they would’ve gotten away with it.”
“I beg to differ. If we get the chance to train, I'm sure your lasers are just as powerful, if not, more than a unicorn’s magical blast. And that's why I'm here, here for you.”
Liz didn’t give a response, not sure if it was cause she had no comeback, or just didn’t choose to speak over how pointless it was. She kept quiet as she made her way to the classroom door, noticing the colorful small manes protruding from the edges, it being clear the students were eavesdropping. Once she was out of the building, she flared her wings and took off, shrinking herself in the process as she felt she just wanted to be alone. John walked out and saw the students.
“Nice one.”