• Published 1st Aug 2018
  • 2,630 Views, 33 Comments

Size Doesn't Matter - Pixel Berry



Two people wind up in Equestria as The Ant-Man and The Wasp.

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Chapter 14

Two days had passed since that misadventure. Both John and Liz spent the entire day working on the farm in normal clothing, though John kept insisting he wears his suit in an emergency. It didn't take much convincing when Applejack gave him a good buck to not dare think about using his suit to cheat off from honest work. And it didn't help that Applejack's big brother, a red stallion by the name of Big Macintosh, was able to pull more than his weight around, making John want to prove he was better. Liz was just glad that Big Mac was really a nice gentleman, even if he did seem a bit shy and… eerily silent.

Today, both were asked to help out with Twilight's school of Friendship, fixing the hole Liz made, and perhaps greet the various students while learning a bit more about Equestria and the various cultures it has.

At first, Liz was planning on trying to convince Twilight to not make her fix the hole, seeing that it was clearly an accident, but kept her mouth shut on the idea but secretly brooding since she knew it wouldn’t have ever happened if they went with her idea on them waiting in the castle than breaking into a school full of students and staffs.

Of course, John was up to it, being more of the social butterfly and wanting to know more about this land. All he hoped was that he didn't have to meet Ocellus again, finding it too weird for both sides for the controlled and controller. But other than that, it would be nice to get away from the barn, and perhaps show off with the ants around to the students.

Liz wiped her brow, about to slab more spackling paste until she saw a small ladybug, seeming to land in the wet paste and most likely got stuck. “Hmm.” She was gentle about it, but she plucked the beetle from the spot, and placed it on the center of her palm, giving it some time to recollect and most likely fly off.

“Ooh! A ladybug!” John quipped, stopping what he was doing to look at the small insect. “Is it me, or does every cute creature seem even cuter here than back at home?”

“Heh, if that’s the case, I wonder how a blobfish would look.” She lightly jokes, watching the small bug clean the paste on its tiny legs off. “Did you know that the spots on the shells are actually there to ward off birds, warning them that they are actually poisonous?” She said, knowing that small fact ever since she was a little girl.

“I… did not, actually. I thought it was used to confuse predators, similar to a zebra. After all, these little guys can be in swarms, but I doubt it's as frightening as a bee or wasp swarm.” As both looked at the small bug, the familiar voice of Twilight spoke up from behind them.

“What's going on?” She asked in a curious tone. “Did you find anything?”

“You can say that,” Liz replied, turning and showing the Ladybug. Twilight's calm demeanor quickly turned to that of a petrified look. She screamed loudly, flapping her wings wildly, as she escaped from them.

“... Is she seriously afraid of Ladybugs?” John asked.

“Maybe the common trypophobia?” She guessed, shrugging before the small ladybug flew off of her hand and someplace else. Not thinking any further about this, she went back to work. Well… would, until there was a loud crash in a room nearby, causing both to jump, as they heard loud, masculine grunts.

“Seems we've got trouble nearby,” John spoke, quickly taking off his regular clothes to show that he was in the Ant-Man suit. He put his helmet on, shaking himself then jumped in excitement. “Let's do this, Liz!”

“You do realize Applejack is going to scold you for stealing your suit… again.” Liz said, not changing since she didn’t bring her suit.

“Not unless we stop what's in there. And by the way, catch.” John threw something at Lizz, but it expanded quickly, turning into the Wasp suit.

“What the-!? How did you-?”

“Ants. Now come on, we've got something big fight.”

Liz only rolled her eyes and tried getting suited up as quickly as she could, making sure the helmet was on correctly, she let John take the lead as to find whatever was wrecking the school now. Both stood outside of the doorway, hearing a lot of loud crashes inside, the sounds of struggling, and a few students screaming.

“Crap! We gotta get in!” John yelled. He cracked his knuckles as he got a serious look on his face, taking a few steps back. “Hang on, students! The Ant-Man and The Wasp are here!!!” At full speed, John sprinted and tackled the door, breaking it down easily and falling. Liz peeked in, only to see that, while the room was trashed, the students inside were safe, and in the middle was a huge stallion with a braided beard wearing celtic-looking clothes, and had a shovel in his hooves. The much larger stallion stared at the two masked individuals.

“... Can I help ye?” He asked in a deep voice.

Liz decided to take her helmet off, figuring with the students being unharmed, she could lower her guard and take a better look around. “Uhh, yeah. Who are you? What are you doing? And why are you destroying the classroom?” She listed the three obvious questions.

“I'm RockHoof, the legend of strength, and this here is my class. Now, if I may, I'd like to ask who you are and why you're interrupting one of my stories.” John got up, dusting himself off and taking his helmet off as well.

“You haven't heard? We're The Ant-Man and The Wasp! The newest heroic duo!” Liz facepalmed herself.

“Heroes? HA!!! Don't make me laugh! You both look nothing like heroes.”

“Yona agree!” A lone yak replied in the class. “Strange creatures look nothing like heroes! Yona says they look like bugs!”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Liz only said, figuring that John would take the lead to prove that he was a hero, even if they were just two random people just taking the title and skills along with it.

“And that's kinda the point,” John added. “If you heard Ant-Man and The Wasp, do you expect us to wear anything else but looking similar to those insects?” It was then that RockHoof bursted into loud, boastful laughing.

“Ye both have a strange sense of humor!” The huge stallion replied, getting John into a shoulder hug. “But ye ain't got what it takes to be a hero like I was a thousand years ago.”

“Wait, wha-?” John couldn't speak as RockHoof looked all over him.

“Yer costume is all but laughable. Yer not intimidating looking enough to scare anyone off, nor approachable for any fans to get near you. And most of all, ye ain't got muscles on you to pull of great feats!”

“... Well… as we say, size doesn't matter.” It was then that Pinkie popped out from a trash can with a bucket of popcorn.

“Ah! He said it! He said it!” She cheered before running out, leaving a confused class.

“... Do you want to show him, or should I?” Liz only asked John, figuring that they have to prove their worth to not only this Rockhoof fellow but a class of students as well.

“Show me what?” RochHoof asked inquisitively.

“Oh, nothing… except this.” John replied, but him putting his helmet on and clicking on his hand button, disappearing to the naked eye.

“What the-!? Where'd he go!?” RockHoof looked around, then felt something land in his left ear

“Oh, I went nowhere far,” John's voice could be heard by Rockhoof in the said ear. “In fact, I'm pretty close.”

“You hear that, right class!?” The class went into confused murmurs.

“They can't hear me, but you can hear me just well. And oh boy, you seriously need to clean up in here!”

“Where are you! Show yourself!”

“I'm in your ear, buddy. For some proof.” He cleared his voice. “ECHO!!!” Rockhoof winced in pain from the loud voice, then felt something leave the ear and land on his nose. His eyes went a bit crossed, but sitting on his nose was John, in the suit, much smaller than he was before. “‘Sup?.”

“Y… you're tiny! How did you-!?”

“Pym particles. And it's not just me that can do this.” He gestured towards Lizz. RockHoof looked to the woman, a bit freaked out by what he's seeing.

“You know you’re being more of a nuisance than a hero.” She only said, putting the helmet back on and pressing the button on one of her palms, the big stallion now keeping an eye as she quickly shrunk down, and even unfurled some wasp wings to fly over to where John was.

“How did you-!?” RockHoof began to ask.

“Long story.” John interrupted. “Read the comics.” Rockhoof blinked before shaking his head (Which John held onto the stallion's fur as Liz flew momentarily).

“Ach! So you turn small! That makes you easier to squish.”

“You think so?”

~-~-~

Twilight breathed hard in a paper bag after meeting the ladybug menace. Starlight's cure for her, that was interrupted by Pinkie Pie, wore off, and she was back at the nervous track she was before. The loud noises in Rockhoof’s class went silent for a while. It was normal for the classroom to be noisy and wind up as a mess by the end of the day, with the occasional break, but this break took a bit longer than normal. Her questions came to a screeching halt as Rockhoof was thrown into her office, with his students looking in, a bit nervous looking. The headmare looked in the classroom with a peeved look.

“Alright, who did this?” She asked. John appeared again, regrowing into his normal size, wearing the Ant-Man suit.

“So, think I'm easily squishable now?” He asked. His confident smug went away as he saw Twilight looking at him with narrowed eyes. “Uh… hey, look! A ladybug!”

“WHERE!?!?!?” Twilight screamed, cowering under her desk. John quickly turned and ran out of the class.

Unlike John, instead of bailing on the potential trouble they were in, Liz flew into the office and approached the now injured Rockhoof was in, growing back to size and offering a hand to help him up. “Sorry, didn’t think he would throw you that hard.” She apologized for John. “Though I know I have more holes to fill in this school now.”

“Ugh… I deserved it.” RockHoof replied. “He might've got a good hit on me, but I'm not out.” He got up and cracked his neck. “Seems I've found a worthy challenger after all these years. Let's see how he does in this “Hero business” when he faces a real professional?”

“Well, if you really want to fight him, that also means to have to handle me as well, and we don’t play by the rules.” She smirked, knowing that a hero would do almost anything for justice and saving those in need. Rockhoof turned to Liz and looked at him.

“I don't hit women, lassy. And I think Miss Twilight would like to see you.” Twilight cleared her throat, giving her glare to Liz. The students hid away, walking out of their class.

“Please, take a seat.” Twilight gestured to an open seat.

Liz rolled her eyes but complied with her legs crossed over one another. “Don’t see why I’m here unless your gonna scold me on leaving my post.” She only said, not having any part except showing that she could do with the suit.

“That's one of them,” Twilight replied.

“Have fun you two!” Rockhoof spoke before picking up his shovel, giving it a few swings. “Time to see how your partner does against me.”

“What’s it this time?” She only said, knowing that even if she wanted to leave, nothing would stop the alicorn from magically pulling her back on the chair.

~-~-~

John ran out of the school, taking deep breaths and removing his helmet to get some fresh air. He stopped and looked as he saw the same Changeling student stare at him, alongside a fellow changeling that looked a bit similar to Thorax, but had smaller antlers, and was a bit darker in color. The new changeling glared at John, motioning Ocellus to get out. He got up and cracked his neck before slowly walking to John.

“Uh… Hello, good sir!” John spoke. “I don't mean to be a problem, but certainly, we can talk things right-” Before he could finish, he felt a hard impact on his side, followed by him flying towards and crashing through a wall.

"Ha! The first rule in being a hero!" RockHoof spoke, "Concentrate!"

"Hey! He's mine!" The changeling spoke.

"Nonsense! The bug themed human is mine."

"Yours! Don't you know who I am!? I'm King Thorax's-" He stopped as his eyes turned into spirals, quickly grabbing RockHoof and suplexing the stallion before flying away. John appeared near the stallion, growing to his normal size.

"Seems like you should concentrate there, big guy." He mocked.

"Ba! Cheater! Turning small and using others? A coward's way of fighting, I say! You're not a big man as you say you are."

"Oh? Let's test that out, actually." With another press of a button, John grew to be his giant self. "Who's the big man now!?" Every student nearby went into panic seeing a giant appear, running and hiding from the scene.

"You may be big now, but I've taken on much bigger creatures than you!" RockHoof took out his shovel and charged forward.

Twilight and Lizz watched as John and RockHoof battled outside, with some students running into the building.

"... How long do you think this is going to last?" Twilight asked.

“Not sure. Never really saw RockHoof in action. But it seems that John forgot that he gets slower when he’s bigger. It’s also rather draining on the suit’s power.” Liz said, figuring that it wouldn’t take long, but there will be a lot of damage she would be made to fix. “Out of all the people on earth, I had to end up here with him…” She thought out loud.

"Hmm? Is there something wrong? I know everyone has their differences, but you both seem to be working well together?"

“It may seem like that, but it’s clear that John does most of the fighting and doesn’t think before he acts, while I have to clean up the mess. Even now, when John fled, I had to take the bullet for his dumb action.” She huffed, even giving Twilight a small side glare.

"It's rather tough, I know. I have a few friends like that. Perhaps you should do something else together that doesn't require your suits… unless he refuses to take his off."

“This isn’t the first time he stole the suit from Applejack… and it definitely won’t be the last.” She rolled her eyes, figuring that she would also endure the punishment since she was also caught wearing her own suit.

"... I think maybe you should both spend some time out of those suits. Explore Ponyville a bit, perhaps join one of our events. Tomorrow is a show performance by the Ponytones, and it's very relaxing to see acapella performed live." The floor shook as an earthquake was felt. Both looked outside to see John shrink back to normal size, panting heavily, alongside RockHoof, also panting. It turned into a pathetic fight as John gave the stallion a weak slap, as did the stallion giving him a weak whack to the head with his shovel.

"I think… we're at… an impasse." John muttered.

"Aye…" RockHoof agreed. "Yet not bad… despite being… weak." They both passed out.

"... I'm sure a few students will want extra credit for helping out." Twilight spoke "I think you should hide his suit before he wakes up… and that device he uses to talk to ants with."

“It’s a special earpiece. It used telepathic energy to use, but the earpiece only fits our ears, and it takes effort to work it.” She explained, flying over and opening John’s helmet, only to take the earpiece and began summoning some nearby ants to help out. Removing the suits and pressing the palm button, she shrunk both his and her own suit and told the ants to take them back to the farm, and be discreet about it. Once they were out of sight, she lightly chuckled. “And to think, RockHoof is down for the count, and I didn’t have a part in it. Just imagine him taking us both on.” She thought out loud, starting to pull both John and RockHoof back inside to find a place for them to rest.

"I'm sure John had it easy. If the other Legends were here, I'm sure he'd be done in about a minute." Twilight replied as she used her magic to pick up RockHoof and put him in a large enough bed that creaked loudly under his weight. "At least RockHoof had some excitement in his life. Poor guy has been feeling down, especially when all his friends left and were able to adapt in a different world than when he once knew."

“Huh? Can’t he go back to his old home?” She asked, figuring that it might’ve just grown and adapted to the new world without him. She did recall the mention of being gone a thousand years, but she might need to know more about him and these ‘other legends’.

"Well… his home doesn't exist anymore. All its residents are gone with nothing but abandoned homes that only tell us modern ponies what life was like back then. And as much as I'd like to try to send him back in time, not only must I know the right date, but doing so might change the present in drastic ways."

“So, his home is a historic site?” She guessed, thinking a little. “But wait, if he was born and raised there, and is the only living pony that’s from that place, doesn’t that land belong to him?”

"It's… complicated. His old home is now an archeology site, historians now live there, and it's been abandoned for many moons."

“So, you're saying as long as something hasn’t been used for some time, anyone can take it?” She shot back. “If that’s the case, maybe I can take something that you haven’t used for a while.” She joked, giggling to herself.

"Strange, doesn't your kind also do that? When I visited a place very similar to yours, didn't your kind also look into old temples that once belonged to royal families?"

“You could say that, but we don’t have random magic that puts ponies into limbo, and then bring them back to the present. Also if it does so happen that we take someone else’s land unknowingly, we can take them to court, sue them, and even arrest them for theft.” She said, knowing that their world is more different then there’s. “Like I said before, his land, his shit.” She repeated.

"So if someone who was thought to be deceased for over two thousand years and suddenly came back demanding their house back, do you let them take it back?"

“Of course. But if natural causes damaged the area, we can’t do anything about it since we don’t control the weather, plants, or animals.” She said. “Of course some tests need to be made to make sure it’s real, and not some scammer trying to make a quick buck.” She added but thought of something else. “Speaking of! There was once a rumor where someone came from the year 4000 and had photo proof of how the world looked in the future. Sadly the image was blurred out, but he talked about a bunch of fictional things becoming reality.”

"Sounds like your world might be swindled easily."

"She never saw Endgame!" John quickly yelled before passing out.

“Coming from a pony filled world that gets easily swindled by two con-artists. What were their names again?” She pulled out a purple book with six gems and a hoofprint on the cover. Flipping through some pages, she found the one she was looking for. “Ah! Flim and Flam.” She smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Let’s see. The first time you met them, the second one being some all healing tonic, and the most recent being a better university being pony only. Oh! And it says a world famous ‘Starswirl’ was even fooled into thinking they’re reformed.”

"The first two were mostly with Applejack, and she's usually more stubborn than a mule. And I knew something was up with that Friendship University. Luckily, Rarity's 'Planity' disguise was much better than my… eyepatch disguise."

“Just an eyepatch, really? Couldn’t you use your magic to change your appearance? Hair, coat, even your butt-mark?” She asked, figuring that if not, there should’ve been more items she could use besides an eyepatch.

"Eh, it was Rarity's idea. I just went along with it, being a distraction."

“Wait, Rarity’s fashion pony, right? Couldn’t she make a better disguise for you? I think the princess of friendship would stand out more than a normal unicorn.” She said, figuring that an alicorn princess would be top priority. Twilight simply shrugged.

"Maybe, but it worked at the end, so no real harm done I suppose."

Liz decided not to press further, knowing that whoever worked at the scam university were out of a job, and some of the students there may not have the time or money to go to a new school. “Still don’t see why John and I have to do community service. Ninety percent of the creatures you’ve faced have done far worse.”

"I mean, you did sneak in and steal some stuff, but you were justified at least and didn't mean any harm. And think of this as a way to properly introduce yourselves to every creature around here." She looked at John. "Well… minus how he and RockHoof introduced each other."

“There are multiple ways to introduce us to everyone without trial punishment.” She said.

"That is on me. I was being overly cautious after that event with Ocellus. Poor little thing had to go home, and Pharynx is with her as a bodyguard right now. I think he had a few words to speak to John, but I haven't seen him yet."

“Didn’t we see a bug deer trying to get into the fight between John and Rockhoof? I think John controlled him for a sec.” Liz said, looking around the nursing room. “I think we left them back where they were fighting.”

"... This is not gonna end well."

~-~-~

Up in the sky, the dark green, small and red antlered changeling flew, before slowing down and regaining his control. Everything was blurry before he could finally see where he was at. Below him, he was over the Changeling Kingdom, seeing his brother's subjects maintaining the place.

"Wait a minute… how did I-?" He asked himself before finally realizing it. "Hold on! Oh no! Nononono!!!" He turned around to fly back, yelling at himself. "Stupid Pharynx! He controlled you! You were supposed to keep Ocellus safe, not be controlled like a puppet! Now look where we're at! How can you be a guard if you can't keep staying focused!?"

It took him a while, but he stopped, seeing the schoolyard was utterly destroyed, with giant holes in the shape of boots, along with some torn trees. Various students were outside, helping to fix the yard, with among them being Ocellus and her friends. Seeing Ocellus safe made him calm, along with the students, Headmare Twilight helped out, and next to her was the human dubbed "The Wasp". She didn't look like the one who would control them, especially since she wasn't in her suit. He had to find "Him", and by the looks of it, he was gone.

"Coward." He muttered to himself. "When I find you, Ant-Man, you're gonna regret using Ocellus and myself as personal slaves."

~-~-~

“If there was a way, I would put a child protective lock on his suit,” Liz mumbled, thinking that her suit could help with a pair of wings to easily bring supplies and reach spots not even she could reach on her two legs.

"Why don't you get one?" Twilight asked as she replanted a tree. "Are you planning on having children?"

“Wh-what? No! I would never have a child when I already have to take care of a man-child that isn’t even related to me?” She quickly said, feeling like she’ll get double the trouble and stress if she ever had a kid with John.

"Then… why do you need one?" She turned to the students then back to her, but leaned in for a whisper "Is it so the students don't do anything to it?"

“No. It’s for John himself. If you have short-term memory loss, he made this whole mess. I think it would be best if he had limitations so nothing else breaks.” Liz explained. “And perhaps for others as well.” She added, recalling the two unicorns that tried to take their suits for unknown reasons.

"Oh… right… well…" She was interrupted when some of the more unique, non-pony students gathered around Liz.

"Are you gonna be our substitute teacher!?" A Griffin asked.

"Do you have more of those suits!?" A Hippogriff asked.

"Is RockHoof gonna be ok?" The yak from earlier asked. "Yona need to be sure."

"Uh, guys, let's give her some space." A turquoise earth Pony with some sea turtles as his cutie mark spoke with a laid back, surfer-like vibe.

Liz was a little surprised, to say the least, not noticing the griffin or hippogriff when she and John snuck into the school. But when one of them asked if she would be the replacement for RockHoof, she felt a little guilty since John pretty much just beat their teacher for no legitimate reason. “W-well, I don’t know if I’ll be assigned to replace RockHoof, but I can assure you that he’s fine. If he’s a legendary pony as Twilight says, I think a brawl from one human wouldn’t really hurt him.” She said, trying to try and ease the student’s worries.

"But he was a giant." The griffin replied.

"RockHoof fought larger." The Yak intertwined.

“Well, like an old saying where I’m from: The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” She said, knowing that John took a bigger blow by using so much energy for a one on one battle.

"Wait… were you the one who controlled Ocellus in class that day?" The Hippogriff asked.

“No, that was John.” She said, removing the earpiece to show the hippogriff. “This earpiece is what makes us control ants, but for some reason, it also works for her kind of species.” She said, not really having an explanation as to why it worked on this Ocellus pony.

"Um, you're not gonna use that me again, are you?" The insect pony, most likely Ocellus, spoke, shivering a bit.

“Why would I need to?” She only asked, putting it in her pocket instead of back on her ear.

"Um… well… you both did use me in class… and I'm not sure if it happened two days ago, or it was just a dream."

“Oh, yeah… that. Really, I thought to wait at Twilight’s castle was a better plan, but John wanted to go into the school. We… didn’t want to be seen like that. I can only guess he thought of a plan on a whim. As for the first-first time… that was accidental. We had no idea it would react to you as well.” She explained, glancing away.

"Oh dear, Prince Pharynx is not going to be pleased as soon as he returns."

“Well, I’m sure we can explain everything. If he’s given the prince role, he must be understanding.” Liz said, figuring that once the misunderstanding was cleared up, and a vow of not using it on the bug ponies, everything would be resolved easily.

"Uh… you need to know, Pharynx is the head changeling in defense and isn't the type to talk things out per se."

“Of course he isn’t...” She mumbled, knowing it wouldn’t be that easy. “Maybe if you’re with me, he won’t go antler and horn first right into my midsection.”

"Well… you might be fine, but your friend, not so much." She pointed to the still unconscious John. He stirred, causing the changeling to squeak and turn into a boulder.

“You don’t need to be scared, I have the earpiece, remember?” She said, picking up the rock with blue eyes being definitely out of place.

"Sorry, just REALLY don't like being controlled like that."

“As I said, it won’t happen since he doesn’t have the earpiece.” She repeated, honestly surprised that she was just as heavy as a rock. The rock turned back into a changeling, being much lighter now.

"Oh, do you Pinkie promise?" She did some motions as she spoke. "Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake into your eye."

She breathed a small sigh, knowing that she would have to do this. “Yeah, I Pinkie promise.” She said, making the motion of her own swear, but instead of the motion of stabbing her hear, she just placed a hand on her eye, acting as if she was putting an imaginary cupcake in her eye. But upon saying and doing the motions, she felt like she was being watched, and not by the students, but from an unknown force.

"Forever…"

Comments ( 2 )

A Displaced that's rated E? I didn't even think it was possible to make those. Please respond to this comment.

I feel scared.

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