Ant-Mare and the Wasp

by IndigoMoon

Issue 2 - Conductor, I Was Not Informed This Was A Ghost Train

Fizzy landed in an alleyway, obscured from view as she set Shrinky down. Both activated their enlarging PYMs, and once they were back to normal size, took off their suits and placed them in Fizzy’s saddlebags.

“We need to tell Princess Twilight about this,” said Fizzy.

“Agreed,” said Shrinky. “How many bits do we have?”

“Lemme look,” said Fizzy. She reached into the saddlebag, and shuffled around, feeling for bits. She found none. “Nothing in here at least,” she said.

Shrinky nodded. “Okay. We’ll just stop by the bank real quick and make a quick withdrawal. About ten bits should do the trick I should think.” As they headed out of the alley, the quickly looked around for the pegasus or any suspicious ponies. Seeing none, they quickly made their way to the bank.

After making the withdrawal, they headed to the train station. They bought tickets for the next train to Canterlot, which wouldn’t be there for a little while, so they took the time to get a snack and relax after the ordeal they had just gone through.

“What do you think they wanted your potion for?” asked Fizzy, taking a sip of her drink.

“I don’t know,” said Shrinky. She took a bite of her carrot, chewed, and swallowed before continuing. “But I don’t think it’s for anything good.”

They sat in silence after that, with the train arriving shortly thereafter. As they boarded, they again kept a lookout for suspicious individuals but found none. The car they had entered was empty save for them, and a couple other ponies. They settled into their seats as the train pulled out of the station, bound for Canterlot.

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They were about halfway to Canterlot when the train suddenly stopped. Fizzy was leaning against the window, asleep from the exhaustion of the events from earlier, while Shrinky was too nervous to sleep. The jolt of the train stopping so suddenly shocked Fizzy awake, nearly causing her to fall out of her seat.

“Wha-what’s going on?” asked Fizzy blearily, rubbing her eyes.

“I’m not sure,” said Shrinky. “We aren’t at a station, so no one is boarding. I think. I’m sure we’ll be moving again shortly.”

As she soon as the words left her mouth, the train lurched forward and began moving once again.

“See, what’d I tell ya? Everything’s fine. Finish your nap,” said Shrinky, relieved.

“Uh… I don’t think everything’s fine,” said Fizzy nervously, looking out the window. “Look,” she said. Shrinky leaned over to peer out the window next to Fizzy, to see that the train was picking up speed at an alarming pace. “I don’t think it's supposed to be going this fast,” said Fizzy.

“Wait,” said Shrinky. “What’s that?” she pointed through the window. As the train followed the tracks in a wide turn, she could see a figure running across the train, a white cloak billowing behind them. They also appear to be holding something large and round, but neither Shrinky nor Fizzy could tell due to the distance.

“Do you think they’re with the changelings and that pegasus from earlier?” Fizzy whispered. Shrinky’s pupils shrunk.

“Maybe,” she said. “We should hide.”

Fizzy nodded in agreement. “I’ll slip into the bathroom and put on my suit. I recommend you do the same.”

Shrinky nodded as Fizzy stepped past her into the aisle, bringing the saddlebag with their suits in it with her. Fizzy stepped into the bathroom, leaving Shrinky alone in the main cabin of the car. She looked out the window again, but couldn’t see the top of the train, as it had straightened out. It had stopped accelerating and seemed to be holding at its current speed, but Shrinky was almost certain it was still going to fast. Suddenly, Fizzy’s voice spoke into her ear, startling her.

“Your turn,” she said. “I’m out and sitting on one of the lights.” I’ll let you know if anything happens.”

Shrinky nodded, and stood up. But right as she did, she heard thumps moving across the roof. Looking at the door, she saw a unicorn wearing a light gray hooded suit walk through the door without opening it. The unicorn’s face was obscured by a mask with large red lenses that seemed to glow. She slowly moved her head, seeming to scan the car, until she spotted Shrinky, who froze on the spot.

The unicorn spoke. “Found her. She’s in here.”

“Uh-oh,” said Shrinky. She turned to run down the aisle, only to find her path blocked by the white-cloaked figure, a pegasus holding a shield, wearing a blue and orange Wonderbolt uniform, and a skull mask. The round object Shrinky had seen earlier was a shield, being held in one wing, and a sword was being held in the other. Behind her, the sound of displaced air signaled to her that Fizzy had regrown, facing the unicorn.

The pegasus moved first, leaping for Shrinky. Shrinky dived, sliding underneath her winged opponent, as scrambled into the bathroom. On the sink, next to the saddlebag was her suit. She grabbed it and quickly began changing into it. Meanwhile, Fizzy went to tackle the unicorn, but when she did, she passed right through her.

“What the hell?” she asked. “Are you a ghost?”

The only response she got was a magic bolt fired at her. She dived out of the way, landing in front of one of the other ponies that had been in the car with them. “Go, get out of here!” she said. The pony nodded and scrambled out from under the seat, and out of the car. The other pony who had been hiding in the opposite seat did the same, leaving Fizzy alone with the unicorn who was maybe a ghost, and the skull-faced pegasus.

“So, what’s the deal with you guys?” she asked. “Are you guys dead or what?” This time, she got a verbal response, though not one she liked.

“No. We aren’t dead,” said one of them. Fizzy thought it might be the pegasus. “But you will be.”

“Uh, no thanks,” said Fizzy. She activated the shrinking PYM, taking flight simultaneously. The unicorn began firing magical energy blasts at her, which Fizzy responded with in kind. As they fought, Shrinky burst out of the bathroom, hitting the pegasus with the door. The pegasus whirled around, swinging her sword at Shrinky. Shrinky shrunk down quickly to avoid it, ran underneath her, and regrew, launching the pegasus into the roof of the car. The pegasus dropped her sword and shield on impact, which allowed her to fly while recovering from the blow. As she did, Shrinky quickly picked up the shield in her magic. The pegasus growled, swooping down to scoop up her sword. She slashed wildly downward, each blow glancing off the shield Shrinky held.

Fizzy dodged another blast and began flying straight towards the unicorn as fast as she could. She pressed the button on her left PYM, rapidly expanding as she collided with the unicorn, who hadn’t been able to go all ghosty in time. Fizzy went to throw a punch, only to find that the unicorn wasn’t there anymore. Spinning around, she could only see Shrinky fighting with the pegasus. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around right into a punch to the side of her face, causing her to see stars. She swung, catching nothing but air. She felt two hooves ram into her side, and slammed into the wall of the train car. Black spots danced in her eyes as she realized that the unicorn was invisible, and probably intangible at the same time. She stood up, a plan formulating in her brain.

Shrinky was having a difficult time. Every time she went to punch or kick the pegasus, they always dodged out of the way, almost like they could predict her movements. She swung the shield to her left, blocking a sword strike from the pegasus, which gave her an idea. She swung the shield back in her magic, and then threw it with all her might. It flew straight for the pegasus, giving hope to Shrinky that she might have a chance after all. That hope was quickly dashed as the pegasus quickly flipped into the air, caught the shield with her wing, and as she landed, threw it right back at Shrinky, who dived out of the way to avoid getting hit. However, it flew past her and right into Fizzy’s head, knocking her out instantly. The unicorn reappeared, lifting the shield in her magic. The pegasus swung her sword at Shrinky’s head. Shrinky jumped backwards to avoid it, but got a shield slammed into her side for her efforts. She fired her own bolt of magic at the pegasus, who calmly deflected in with her sword, redirecting it into a wall. Realizing she was outmatched and out skilled, she quickly formulated a plan. Shrinky ran for the unicorn behind her, picking up Fizzy in her magic. The unicorn quickly went intangible to prevent Shrinky from bowling into her, which is what Shrinky wanted. She ran through the unicorn, and just made it to the door when the pegasus’s sword slammed into the wall next to her head, causing her to stop suddenly as it protruded out of the wall, inches from the side of her head.

“Where do you think you’re going?” asked the pegasus.

“Canterlot,” replied Shrinky, trying to calm herself with humor. It wasn’t working. She was shaking violently with fear.

The unicorn scoffed. “Please. Spare us your poor sense of hu-OOF!”

The unicorn was cut off when another white-cloaked pony smashed through a window, and right into the unicorn’s side. The door at the other end of the car opened, allowing a tall unicorn to step in behind the pegasus. Except, this unicorn was different. She had her rose-colored mane in a mohawk, and a broken horn. For some reason, she wore a bright yellow trenchcoat, and had square-ish solid pink glasses on her face. The pony who tackled the unicorn stood up, revealing a dark grey pony with bat wings, and set of lunar guard armor, only white, with a crescent moon emblazoned on the chest. He pulled out a short white baton, similar to the kind police use, and threw it at the pegasus, who batted it away with their sword. The purple unicorn’s broken horn began sparking wildly, before bright colorful sparks came flying out. The sparks flew all around the car before exploding in color blasts of light, disorienting the pegasus long enough for the bat pony to tackle the pegasus and incapacitate them. He tied the pegasus’s hooves together with rope, and moved the sword and shield far enough away so the pegasus couldn’t reach them. The unicorn with the broken horn walked over to the pegasus, and leaned down.

“Who do you work for?” she asked. The pegasus said nothing. “Hello? Can you hear me?” asked the unicorn. “Or is that mask of yours impairing your hearing?” As she reached for the mask, that pegasus began thrashing wildly, trying to prevent the unicorn from being able to grab her mask. Suddenly, the gray-clothed unicorn dived through the purple one, grabbed the pegasus, and then both of them passed through the floor like it wasn’t even there.

“What the-? Spector, get to the end of the train. See if you can find them!” The bat pony nodded, and ran out the door towards the end of the train.

Fizzy stirred behind Shrinky. “What happened?” she asked, as she looked around the car. About half of it was in various stages of destroyed, and the other half was covered in scorch marks.

“I think we were rescued,” said Shrinky.

“Indeed you were,” said the tall unicorn. “My associate and I are here on the orders of Princess Twilight. She asked that we find you after hearing about your lab from the local police. We were on our way via flying chariot when we saw this train moving dangerously fast. We boarded the train and discovered changelings had replaced the engineers. We took care of them and freed the engineers, who had been trapped in a storage locker. They were able to get the train slowed down, as we searched the train for more. That’s when we heard explosions coming from down here, and came to investigate. We saw that you were being attacked, so my bat-winged friend flew me to the other end of the car, so I could sneak up on the pegasus, and he then flew in through the window. And you know the rest.”

“I don’t,” said Fizzy. Shrinky leaned over. “They fought the villains and then they escaped.”

“So, they’re officially villains now?” asked Fizzy.

“Yes,” said the unicorn. “We overheard the changelings talking before we captured them. We believe they are planning to overthrow Princess Twilight as revenge for trapping Chrysalis in stone. And, obviously, they have help.”

“But that was over a year ago!” said Fizzy, pulling over her mask and goggles. “Why would they only be attacking now?”

The unicorn shrugged. “We don’t know. But we do need to inform the Princess of the potential threat to her life. Would you happen to know anything?”

“Wait… how do we know we can trust you? You might be changelings, for all we know,” said Shrinky.

The unicorn opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Fizzy spoke up. “I can guarantee they aren’t changelings. They don’t smell like them.”

“Excuse me?” asked the unicorn, looking mildly insulted.

“Let me explain,” said Fizzy. “Before we reformed, changelings secreted a pheromone that could only be picked up by other changelings. That’s how we were able to identify one another. We reformed changelings give off a different pheromone than what we used to. But the old pheromone smell is not one you forget easily. It wasn’t the nicest smell.”

“…okay then,” said the unicorn, now looking mildly grossed out. “Anyways, would either of you happen to know anything?”

“Well, do you know what happened at our lab?” asked Shrinky.

“I do not,” said the unicorn.

Shrinky began telling the unicorn what had happened earlier that day. About halfway through the story, the bat pony, Spector, returned and informed the unicorn that the pair of villains were nowhere to be found. As Shrinky finished relaying the events to the unicorn, the unicorn had a look of grave concern on her face.

“This is worse than we thought. We need to inform the princess immediately,” said the unicorn. “If you two wouldn’t mind, please come with us. We’ll take the chariot to Canterlot. It’ll be faster.”

“Wait,” said Shrinky. “What’s your name? I don’t think we ever got it.”

The unicorn smiled slightly. “My name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist. But you can just call me Tempest. It’s easier.”

“Okay then, Tempest. Lead the way,” said Fizzy, who had grabbed their saddlebag from the bathroom. The four of them walked to the front of the train, but when they got there, they found that the changelings had escaped. With nothing they could do about it, they climbed to the top of the first car, where the chariot was waiting, with two royal guards strapped to the harness. Once they had all stepped onto the chariot, the royal guards pulled it into the air, and turned towards Canterlot.

Author's Note:

I had to make an edit to the last paragraph. I realized I had forgotten to what had happened to the captured changelings.