//------------------------------//
// Bonus Issue - Post Epilogue Scene 
// Story: Ant-Mare and the Wasp 
// by IndigoMoon 
//------------------------------//

Shrinky jolted awake as she slammed into something solid. She stood up, rubbing her head.

“Where am Iiiiiiiiii- whoa.” As she looked around, she could on describe her current setting as colorful and chaotic. Everything seemed to be made out of the same slimy-looking material. As she looked around, she noticed the landscape appeared to be bubbling, almost like lava in a volcano. A kaleidoscopic volcano, with kaleidoscopic lava. Her brain struggled to process it all.

‘It’s like some sort of… microverse or something,’ she thought to herself. She quickly looked around, a thought occurring to her, along with a sense of dread. But that dread was dashed when she saw no other creatures around.

She headed off in a random direction, observing her surroundings and trying to mentally document it all. It proved to only work slightly. As she wandered, she trekked over large arches and through deep valleys. As she walked, she lost all sense of time.

Eventually, she cam across something odd. She had reached a flat expanse of the weird terrain. As she stepped into it, she could feel the ground rippling beneath her hooves. But the weird thing was it seem to be rippling towards something, not away. Curious, she followed it.

After about half a mile, she could feel something pulling her in, the force getting stronger with every step she took. She tried to back up, but it was too late. She was pulled forward by the force, and as she moved faster and faster towards the source, she saw it. A large gaping hole in the ground was sucking in everything in the surrounding environment. She could see a spiraling vortex as she got pulled down into it. 

“NonononoNONONONONOOOOOOO!” Shrinky yelled as she was sucked into the vortex. As she flew through the vortex, everything was bright. And very blue. She stabilized herself, posing as if she were a flying pegasus. She saw split in the vortex ahead. She leaned right, and as she hoped, went down the right tunnel. She saw a light ahead. ‘Oh, thank Celestia! Maybe this is my chance to get out of here and back to my friends,’ she thought excitedly. As she got near the light, she had to close her eyes due to how bright it was. She could see the light through her eyelids, getting bigger and bigger until it was all she could “see”. 

Suddenly, everything went black, and Shrinky slammed down on to cold, hard metal. She heard shouting, and the sound of running hoofsteps getting closer. She opened her eyes. “Fizzy?” she asked. Fizzy wasn’t in front of her. Instead, multiple unicorns holding strange looking objects at her head. They resembled metal bananas.

“Who is it?” asked a familiar voice.

“A unicorn in some kind of special suit, Miss,” said one of the unicorns.

The source of the voice stepped forward.

“Princess Twilight?” asked Shrinky.

Twilight stepped forward. “What do mean, Princess? I’m definitely not a princess. The closest I am to princess is Head of my Ministry.” Shrinky was inclined to agree. This most definitely wasn’t Princess Twilight. For one, she was too short. And second, she was wearing a suit, and she was certain Princess Twilight didn’t own a suit.”

“Ministry? Not a princess? What are you talking about? What’s going on? Where am I?” asked Shrinky. 

“Well, let me answer that last question. You are in the Ministry of Arcane Sciences. And there’s a war on,” said Twilight.