//------------------------------//
// Episode 103: Friendship Isn't Easy: 
// Story: Mega Pony: Season One 
// by Monty Eggman 
//------------------------------//

Episode 103: Friendship Isn't Easy:
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THE STORY SO FAR...:
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In the year 20XX, in the peaceful land of Equestria, Princess Celestia, the country's benevolent ruler, unveiled a great secret to the ponies that she trusted most. A secret project meant for the better safety of Equestria and all of its citizens: Mega Pony; the first fully-robotic pony!

It has now been five days since Mega Pony was activated. During that time, however, he has managed to garner a good reputation amongst his fellow ponies. He has performed many good deeds, fought some dangerous creatures, and stopped trouble wherever and whenever it presented itself. But now Mega Pony is about to be given his most difficult task yet, and it will answer a question that is sure to be on everypony's mind:

Can a pony built for combat fit into normal society?

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CHARACTER SELECT:
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Mega Pony (PCN-001): The first robot pony. Built to defend Equestria.

Rarity: Fashion-forward Unicorn. Element of Generosity.

Rainbow Dash: Super-speedy Pegasus. Element of Loyalty.

Applejack: Hard-workin' farm pony. Element of Honesty.

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The sun was just now rising over the peaceful land of Equestria, its glorious light beginning to cover every inch of the country. The benevolent Alicorn, Princess Celestia, used her incredible power to raise the sun (after her sister, Princess Luna, lowered the moon, of course) until, at last, it was brought to just the right height, officially signalling the start of morning. Their tasks complete, the two Royal Sisters then headed down the stairs to the dining hall to have breakfast.

"So, what do you suppose is on the menu for us today, Luna?" Celestia asked her younger sister.

"Pancakes, I believe." the dark-blue Alicorn answered. "I managed to sneak a peek into the Head Chef's dream last night and found out." As she spoke, the two of them had now just walked through the doors to the dining hall.

The two sisters walked over to the large dining table, heading for their specially-decorated seats. Sure enough, on the fancy plates set in front of their seats, were several stacks of steaming-hot pancakes. The two Alicorns inhaled deeply, taking in the wonderful scent of a well-made meal. "Well, they certainly smell good." stated Celestia as they both sat down. "And I see they even made them in our favorite flavors: Banana for me and blueberry for you."

"To be honest, Older Sister," started Luna, levitating a short stack of pancakes onto her plate, "I don't really have a favorite flavor of pancake. But I cannot deny that I have a weakness towards blueberries."

Celestia used her magic to cut her stack of pancakes into pieces and asked, "I wonder: If I had presented you with all the blueberries you could eat a thousand years ago, would that have stopped you from being Nightmare Moon?"

The dark-blue Alicorn gave her older sister a look; Celestia frowned a little, wondering if she had crossed a line with that remark. But Luna smirked and answered her, saying, "I probably would have." There was a bit of silence for a while before the two giggled to each other at the off-hoofed remark.

The Royal Sisters then began eating, enjoying every single bite of the delicious breakfast in front of them. "Oh my..." Celestia began, "This IS good...VERY good..."

"I agree, Older Sister..." Luna said, taking another large forkful into her mouth. "The cooks have certainly outdone themselves today." She then turned over to her sister and asked her, "Pass me some of those hay bacon strips, would you?"

Celestia, sighing, said to her younger sister, "Luna, you know better than to talk with your mouth full." Passing over the grassy strips that her sister asked for, she then added, "That aside, I do agree with you: This is probably their greatest work yet."

The dark-blue Alicorn munched on a piece of hay bacon and (AFTER swallowing her food this time, of course) asked Celestia, "Speaking of greatest works, where is Mega Pony? Shouldn't he be awake by now?"

"His internal alarm clock is programmed to wake him up at exactly 7:00 AM." the older sister answered. The two of them then glanced over at the grandfather clock in the room, which showed the time was 6:59 AM. Celestia then spoke again, saying, "He should be getting up right aboooouuuut...now." And after she said that, the hour hand clicked over to the 7.

Not long after, one of the guards entered the room. "Your Highnesses." he said to them. "I came to inform you that Mega Pony has just gotten out of bed and is waiting to come in and see you."

"Very good." said Celestia. "Allow him in."

"As you wish." the guard replied. He then glanced behind him and nodded to somepony outside of the dining hall. At that moment, Mega Pony then slowly trotted inside, walking past the guard. The robot had most of his armor on, except for his helmet. Without the headwear on, he was revealed to have a chestnut-brown mane, and his Unicorn horn was actually the same peach color as his face. He walked over to Celestia and Luna as the guard left the room.

"Good morning, Mega Pony." the white Alicorn said to him, giving her creation a friendly hug.

Mega Pony returned the favor, hugging her and saying, "Good morning, Mom." Since the day he was activated, the mechanical pony had been calling Princess Celestia not by her name or her title, but as his mother. She was inititally surprised when he had first called her as such, but overall, she was perfectly fine with it.

"Did you sleep well last night?" the white Alicorn asked. "Is the generator in your room working fine?"

"Yep. Just like it has been the past few days." Mega Pony answered. "Did you sleep well too?"

"Yes, though I don't require nearly as much sleep as the other pony races." Celestia responded. "This is of course, due to not only my Alicorn magic, but also the simple fact that I've gotten used to it over the past few centuries. On that same note, Luna is mostly nocturnal because of her duties, so she doesn't require much sleep either, aside from a small nap every now and then."

Upon the mentioning of Luna, Mega Pony then trotted over to the dark-blue Alicorn, who was still eating her breakfast. The robot then happily said to her, "Good morning to you too, Aunt Luna."

Luna's eyes widened a bit as she hacked and coughed a little, as she was in mid-swallow when Mega Pony spoke to her. Clearing her throat, she asked him, "Um...Mega Pony? Did we not have a discussion earlier about...well, you calling me that?"

"...Yes, we did. Two days ago, in fact." he answered. "You told me not to call you 'Aunt Luna' in public. But right now, it's just the three of us in here, so I don't see what the problem is."

Luna sighed and put her left front hoof to her face. (Curse your infallible logic...) she thought to herself. "Fine, have it your way..." she then told him, blushing a little. "Just...well, keep it at a low volume...It's...it's embarrassing."

The robot was a little confused until Princess Celestia walked over to him to explain things. "Don't take her actions and remarks personally, Mega Pony." she told him. "She's just not used to being called an aunt before."

"Well, it's not like I'm trying to make her upset..." he replied. "And besides, you're okay with me calling you 'Mom'."

"That's true, but that doesn't mean that everypony can adjust to such things just as quickly." the white Alicorn informed him. "For instance, it took you a while to adjust to what you were programmed for and to accept it, am I right?"

"Yeah...I-I see your point."

Celestia smiled and returned to her seat at the table. "And while we're on the subject of your programming," she began, "I feel it is the right time to give you this new assignment."

"What new assignment?" asked Mega Pony. Luna glanced over to her older sister, interested as well.

"Your assignment today..." the elder Royal Sister began, pausing to take a bite out of her stack of banana pancakes. "...is to fulfill your secondary directive."

"Secondary directive?" asked the robot.

"Yes." Celestia responded. "As you know, your primary directive is to protect Equestria and its citizens. However, I have also programmed a secondary directive into your CPU that will allow you to function, even when you are unable to perform your primary duties in one way or another."

"And what is this secondary directive?" asked Mega Pony. "Or...do I have to figure this one out on my own, like before?"

"Don't worry about that." the Princess of the Sun told him. "I feel okay telling this to you right away, now that you are aware of your primary functions." She cleared her throat before speaking again. "It is actually very simple: I want you to go out and act as an ordinary citizen."

"An ordinary citizen?" asked the robot.

"Indeed. While I did build you to fight against any threat to Equestria, I also intended for you to be able to live your life like any other pony." Celestia explained to him. "You have already made some progress with that when you became friends with my student and her friends, but now I want to you to find a way to be useful or just simply enjoy yourself, without involving your skills as fighter at all."

The mechanical pony thought about his creator's words for a while. He then smiled and said to her, "I think I understand, Mom. I just need to find some way of helping, or being around, other ponies that doesn't involve rescuing them or fighting in any way."

"Exactly." said Celestia. "So, do you accept the assignment that I have given to you?" she then asked.

"I do, Mom." answered Mega Pony.

"Very good to hear. I knew that I could count on you." the white Alicorn told him. "With that said, you are to head to Ponyville immediately. I have already informed my student ahead of time, so she will be expecting you to arrive today."

"Ponyville?" he asked. "I haven't been back there since the day you activated me...But the train station doesn't open for another hour, and besides that, it will take me a while to get to Ponyville."

"Don't worry, I have thought of that too." the white Alicorn replied. She then turned to her sister and asked her, "Luna, would you please present my son with the device we worked on yesterday?"

The younger Alicorn sister used her magic to levitate a small object out of her moon-decorated chestplate: It appeared to be a flash drive. Luna walked over to her "nephew" and said to him, "Okay, hold still now...this will only take a second." She then opened a hatch on the back of the robot's head, revealing some of his inner workings. Luna plugged the drive into a USB port inside and pressed a small button, which glowed red for a while. After a few seconds, it turned green, and Luna took the drive out and closed the hatch once more.

"Woah...what was that, Aunt Luna?" Mega Pony asked.

"That is the programming for your teleportation device." the dark-blue Alicorn answered him. "It is designed to work with your GPS unit in order to teleport you to any place that you have already been to."

"With it, you will be able to reach Ponyville in mere seconds." Celestia added. "It should also prove helpful to you in the future as well."

"Wow...thanks, both of you!" said the robot, grateful for the gift that they gave to him. He then closed his eyes and in a second, his blue helmet then materialized over his head. "Well, I guess I'll get going now..." he told the two Alicorns. "I promise that I'll do my best today."

"That is all we ask of you." Celestia informed him. "Good luck, Mega Pony." The robot nodded and immediately used his new teleporting power, whisking himself away in a long beam of light.

After Mega Pony left, Luna then asked her sister, "So what should we do now? Our duties during the daytime don't officially begin until 8:00."

Celestia's face turned to a more serious expression. "Well, while we have some time to talk about it," she began, "I believe we should look into matters regarding what Twilight and Mega Pony witnessed on the day my creation was activated."

"You mean the robot Parasprites?" asked Luna. "Or as she called them, 'Para-bots'?"

"Yes...those." the white Alicorn confirmed. "I have every reason to believe that whomever built those things did intend to do harm with them, and that their sudden attack was by no means an accident."

"So what do you propose that we do about it?"

Celestia took out a parchment from out of her mane and signed her name on it. Giving it to Luna, she told her younger sister, "First, I'd like you to sign this: With this decree, I am officially putting you and your personal guard in charge with investigating the matter. If you and/or any of your guards find out anything valuable, contact me ASAP."

Luna seemed a bit startled. "Do you really think it is necessary to have me do this?" she asked. "Don't get me wrong: I shall do this for you, Sister, but don't you think it is a bit much having me and my guards taking care of this, and not any other official instead?"

"I see what you mean, Luna." the white Alicorn answered her. "But I am putting you in charge of this because I know you will do a good job. Besides my student and Mega Pony, you are the most dependable pony I know. Besides, you don't honestly think that I'll leave such a delicate matter in the hooves of the Canterlot Investigative Squad, do you?"

The dark-blue Alicorn's eyes widened after hearing that. "Oh...yes..." she responded. "I forgot about them...I have heard that those ponies don't exactly have a very good track record in terms of the cases they've worked on." Luna then said to her sister, "Very well, then. I will put my best stallions on it, and will personally oversee their work." She then signed the document that her sister presented to her.

"Thank you, Luna. I know you'll do well." Celestia replied. "As for me, I have to assist Mayor Mare in making the preperations for the Running of the Leaves event tomorrow in Ponyville, so I will be quite busy later today."

"Then I shall see you later tonight, then." stated Luna. "Farewell for now."

As the dark-blue Alicorn left the dining hall, Celestia sat back down in her chair to finish her breakfast. As she ate, she thought to herself, (Those Parasprite robots...I hope I am wrong, but...were they made by who I think it was...?)

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Meanwhile, in the quiet town of Ponyville, everypony had just gotten up, and were going about their morning routines. Some left to go to work, the young colts and fillies went on their way to school for the day, and others simply relaxed at home and took things easy. At the Golden Oaks Library, the young Unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, and her dragon assistant, Spike, were standing just outside the library entrance, seemingly waiting for somepony.

"You see him yet, Twilight?" asked Spike.

"Not yet..." the lavender Unicorn replied, looking through a pair of binoculars, which were held in front of her face with the use of her magic. "Just be a little more patient, Spike...Princess Celestia said that he'll be coming by very shortly."

Not long after she said that, the two of them spotted a long beam of light suddenly appearing off in the distance, followed by a small flash. "Woah!! What was that?!" asked the dragon.

Twilight levitated the binoculars away from her face and set them gently on the ground. "I think that's him right now." she answered her assistant with a smile. "C'mon, let's go and meet up with him."

The two of them walked down the road in front of them and eventually met up with Mega Pony, who was walking towards them. Of course, the robot was more than happy to see his friends again and ran over to greet them. "Twilight! Spike!" he shouted. "It's good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too, Mega Pony!" said the lavender Unicorn. "We were all so happy to hear that you were coming by today!"

Spike then asked him, "What was with that beam of light earlier? Did you cause that?"

"It's my new teleportation device." the robot explained. "That's how I was able to get here so quickly."

"Well that's a good thing, considering the surprise we have all set for you in the library." Twilight said to the robot.

"Surprise? What kind of surprise?" Mega Pony asked as the three of them walked back towards the library.

"You'll see." she responded. The trio eventually reached the library, standing in front of the large red door that led inside. Mega Pony then pushed the door open wide, and when he did, he was immediately greeted with a...

"SURPRISE!!!!"

All of a sudden, a cloud of confetti blew into their faces, and the three of them were confronted by Pinkie Pie, who was smiling as wide as she possibly could (which was saying quite a lot). On her head there were two striped party hats; one was red and orange, and the other was green and blue. There were also several colorful balloons tied around her stomach area, and she also had a green kazoo in her mouth.

"Wha-what's this??" asked Mega Pony, a bit startled.

The pink pony giggled a little. "Don'tcha know? It's a super-duper-special-especially-for-you surprise party!!" she answered him in her usual excited tone.

"...P-party...?"

"Of course!" Pinkie told him. "After you left five days ago, something kept bugging me in the back of my head, and I couldn't figure out what it was for the longest time! Then, all of a sudden, it hit me and I went all," She then interrupted her dialogue and gave out a huge gasp to emphasize her point. "But anyway," she continued, "I realized right then and there that I COMPLETELY forgot to throw you a 'Welcome-to-Ponyville' party!"

The four them walked into the library, and glanced at all of the decorations set up in the main room. Colorful streamers were strung up along the walls, several balloons were floating in the air up against the ceiling, and there were several tables set up with snacks and punch for the party guests, which of course, consisted of the rest of the Mane 6 as well: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

"Wow...you put this all together just for me?" asked Mega Pony, impressed by their work.

"Why of course, dear." Rarity replied. "It's the least we could do after all the help you gave us during that Parasprite-"

"Para-bot!" Pinkie Pie interrupted.

"Um...right," the white Unicorn continued. "that Para-BOT attack on the day the Princess activated you."

"So Pinkie got us all together the other day to help her put together an awesome party for ya." Rainbow Dash added. "Naturally, we were all for it." Fluttershy, who was standing next to the rainbow-colored Pegasus, meekly nodded in response to say that it was all true.

The robot was speechless, happy about the generous gift that they gave to him. Finally, after a few moments of processing what was going on, he finally spoke, saying, "That's...so nice of you all...I don't know what to say..."

"Then y'all don't need to say anythin', Mega Pony." Applejack told him. "In fact, let's all quit talkin' and just enjoy ourselves right now!"

"I agree! Let's PARTY!!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she wheeled in her Party Cannon and fired it, letting out a cloud of confetti, streamers, and balloons.

For the next hour and a half, the six ponies, robot, and dragon spent their time enjoying the party and each other's company. They ate, drank, played all sorts of party games, and chatted with each other about whatever was on their mind, such as the events of the previous days. Of course, Mega Pony couldn't eat or drink anything, but he still was able to have a good time regardless.

"Really? Gremlins?" Mega Pony asked during a conversation he was having with Rainbow Dash. "Floating over Ponyville in a huge, black cloud and feeding off of everypony's depression?"

"Yeah, crazy, right?" the cyan pony told him. "I tried nearly everything to kick 'em outta town, but nothin' seemed to work until I pulled off not one, but TWO Sonic Rainbooms, giving yours truly the burst of speed she needed to smash that cloud into nothin' but vapor!"

"Uh, technically, clouds ARE 'nothin' but vapor', Rainbow Dash." Twilight informed her friend.

Dash gave her super-smart friend an annoyed look in response. "Twilight! What'd I say about you mucking up my stories of awesomeness with your egghead talk?" she asked, whining a little.

"I'm just pointing something out." Twilight told her. "It wasn't like I was trying to ruin your story."

The cyan Pegasus sighed in response. "It's okay, Rainbow Dash." Mega Pony said to her. "I liked hearing your story. It was amazing! I mean, based on what you told me and after analyzing everything, I'm surprised you're still able to fly after something so intense."

(Yeah, me too...) Rainbow thought, as she remembered that time as well. On that day, after pulling off the Sonic Double Rainboom, she had nearly thought that she would never be able to fly again.

Applejack walked over to the three of them to join in on the conversation. "Yeah, it was mighty intense. Ah should know; Ah was there when she pulled it off." she said to Mega Pony. Taking a sip of punch from a plastic cup she was holding, the Earth Pony then asked him, "So, what's on the agenda for y'all today, Mega Pony?"

"Agenda?" he asked. Then, realizing what she meant by that, he replied, "Oh! You mean what I'm doing here today?" Applejack nodded yes in response. The robot pony then answered her, saying, "Well, to put things simply, my mom sent me here to-"

"Uh, hold up: Did you just say 'mom'?" asked Rainbow Dash. "When did you get a mother?"

Twilight, however, was able to figure out what Mega Pony meant. "Wait...are you referring to Princess Celestia?" she asked him.

"Well, yeah. Who else?" he responded. "After all, she did create me and looks after me...Why wouldn't I consider her my mom?"

Seeing the logic in his explanation, Applejack simply said, "Makes sense t' me." Once that was out of the way, the Earth Pony then asked him, "Anyway, you were sayin'...?"

"Oh, right." The robot then told everypony (and dragon) in the room, "Anyway, my mom sent me here to try and fulfill my secondary programming. She wants me to blend in and find a way to help others without using my powers or weapons."

"And...why would you wanna do that?" asked Rainbow Dash, confused by what he said.

"It's simple:" Twilight chimed in. "The Princess wants Mega Pony to be able to do things and live amongst us without having to fight anything or anypony."

"That's right." Applejack added. "She told us all that when she activated him, that she wanted him t' be able t' be a normal pony, just like all of us. Ah think that's great that the Princess wants that for ya, Mega Pony."

The robot nodded with a smile. Then, putting an unsure look on his face, he then told them, "The thing is...I'm not exactly sure how to go about it. I mean, what kinds of things should I be doing anyway?"

"Pardon me for one second," said Rarity, walking towards the robot, "but I believe I might have an idea on how you can be helpful."

"How?" asked Mega Pony.

"Well, it's nothing too big, but I feel it's at least a step in the right direction." she informed him. "So, long story short, I'm currently working on a very important project for an even MORE important client, and I could use your assistance."

"Me? You want me to help you with your dress-making?" the robot asked.

"Don't you usually have your younger sister helping you out, Rarity?" Twilight asked her.

"Usually, but not today, I am afraid..." the white Unicorn answered. "Sweetie Belle went with my parents to go to a miniature golf course somewhere near Las Pegasus. Apparently, little Apple Bloom and Scootaloo convinced her into trying to get a cutie mark in mini-golfing, or something like that. So, because of that, I am a bit short-hoofed right now."

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to try..." decided Mega Pony. "I'll help you with whatever you need."

"Oh, WONDERFUL!" cheered Rarity, clapping her front hooves together. "I just know this will work out perfectly!" Taking one last sip from her cup of fruit punch, and using her magic to throw the empty cup into a wastebin, she then gathered her things and said, "Then let us be off immediately! We haven't a moment to waste!"

Mega Pony nodded and followed the white Unicorn through the door outside. "Bye everypony! I'll see you all later!" he said to them, waving. "And thanks for the great party, Pinkie Pie!"

"Anytime, Mega Pony!" the pink pony responded, waving both front hooves vigorously. "Lemme know if you want another one!"

Once Mega Pony and Rarity left, Twilight then told the rest of her friends, "Well, I suppose we should all get to our duties for the day as well."

"Aw, do we hafta?" asked Pinkie. "We can't end this party without doing the Macaroni!"

"Uh, you mean the Marecarena..." Rainbow Dash corrected her.

"Oh, silly Dashie!" the pink pony chuckled. "You can't put cheese on that!"

"I...eh...wha...huh??" were the only sounds that the confused cyan mare could make.

"Now everypony sit tight; I just have to go and melt ten tons of cheese, and then we can end this party in style!" And with that remark, Pinkie Pie hopped off to do who-knows-what elsewhere, leaving the others completely perplexed.

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A short while later, Mega Pony and Rarity entered the Carousel Boutique, which served as both the white Unicorn's home and place of business. "Wow, this place looks even better than the first time I was in here..." the robot pony complimented, glancing around at all of the fancy decor and beautiful dresses on display.

"Why, thank you dear." Rarity replied. "I do my best to make sure everything looks as fabulous as possible. After all, I can't exactly sell beautiful dresses if the environment around them isn't equally as beautiful, now can I?"

"That makes sense." the robot answered her. He then asked, "So, what is it you need my help with?"

"Oh, nothing that you cannot handle, I assure you." the Unicorn Fashionista responded. She then walked over to one of her many pony-shaped mannequins, showing off the dress that was draped over it. It was mostly white, with blue trims and golden yellow ribbon-like pieces of cloth draping over from the back area. It also came with what seemed to be a headdress, but it was still unfinished at the moment. It seemed to be made for a particularly high-class pony, based on the overall design.

"This is the project that I am currently working on, Mega Pony." Rarity told him. "This is a special dress that I am designing for the famous Sapphire Shores! Ever since she first commissioned me to make an outfit for her, I've been working harder than ever to make sure that it's nothing but the best!" She then pointed to the golden yellow pieces of cloth and added, "But as you can clearly see, it is not yet complete. I still need to figure out what sort of jewels to adorn it with, among other things...At the rate that I'm going, I should have it done by the time she starts her fourth seasonal tour."

"So what do I need to do?" asked Mega Pony. "I'm not sure if I'm good at designing or sewing or-"

"Oh, not to worry. I shall handle that myself." the violet-maned mare informed him. "I just need you to do some odd jobs for me, such as getting me any supplies that I may need. That way, I can focus completely on working on the dress."

"Oh, I see now. So what should I do first?"

Rarity put a hoof to her chin and said to him, "Well, you can start by getting my gem collection chest from my bedroom. It's up the stairs, behind the last door to your left, and it's the purple chest with the gold trims."

"Okay, got it! I'll be right back, Rarity!" the robot said before trotting up the stairs behind him.

After he left, a sudden thought came to the white Unicorn. (Hmmm...I probably should have told him that the chest is rather heavy...) she pondered. (Oh well, I'm sure he can handle it on his own...I think...)

Mega Pony walked down the hallway and entered Rarity's dazzling bedroom, passing by the fashionista's fluffy, white cat, Opalescence. The feline was busy playing with a fuzzy, multicolored ball, batting it with her front paws. The mechanical pony glanced around the room, looking for the chest that contained all of Rarity's jewels. He then managed to locate the purple and gold-trimmed chest that she wanted him to find. "Ah! That must be it!" he said to himself. "Now let's get this downstairs..."

Mega Pony began pushing the chest, but found out that it wasn't easy to budge. "Urrrrgh! UrrrRRRRRrrrgh!" he grunted as he did his best to shove the heavy thing out of the room. "This thing must weigh a ton! How does she lug this thing around all the time?!" Then the answer came to him. "...Oh yeah...her magic. That's right..." he added. "Unfortunately, my mom's still working on a way for me to pick things up like that, using magic...Which means that I'll have to move this chest the old-fashioned way."

The robot pushed the chest slowly but surely towards the staircase leading down to where Rarity was. But as he got near the steps, Opal, still playing with her cat toy, swatted the ball especially hard, causing it to roll towards Mega Pony, stopping right under his right front hoof. Not noticing it, he brought down his leg, stepping on the ball and slipping on it.

"WOAH!!" he exclaimed, falling forward and slamming into the chest. The impact caused the chest to tip over and roll violently down the stairs, making a loud BANG each time it made contact with the steps.

Of course, Rarity heard the loud noises and glanced behind her. She gasped in horror when she saw her gem chest tumbling down the stairs. "My chest!! MY GEM COLLECTION!!!" she screamed, dropping everything she was doing and running over in an attempt to save her possessions. However, in the end, the chest finally slammed against the floor below, breaking apart and smashing most of the gems inside to pieces. "NOOOOOO!!!!" Rarity shrieked in distress, staring at her destroyed belongings.

Mega Pony quickly ran down the stairs to investigate the scene. "Oh my!" he exclaimed. "I-I'm so sorry!! I don't know what happened!! I guess must have tripped on something and-"

The white Unicorn glanced over at the robot with an angry look on her face. "Whatever could you POSSIBLY have been thinking, pushing my chest down the stairs?! And with that much brute force as well!" she interrupted him, a hint of frustration in her voice.

"I-I'm sorry, Rarity! Really, I am!" pleaded Mega Pony. "I'll clean up the mess if you want me to!"

"No, I'LL clean up the mess, thank you very much!" she huffed, using her magic to grab a nearby broom. "I think you've done enough for today, Mega Pony...I'd rather take care of everything myself than allow another faux pas from you!"

As the angry Unicorn began sweeping away the remains of her chest, Mega Pony felt guilty about the whole incident, even though it was an accident. He sighed sadly and said, "Okay...I guess I'll just go, then...I'm sorry..." He then walked though the purple door leading outside and shut it behind him.

Rarity, still a little miffed, continued her cleaning. "I swear, if it's not one thing stalling my most important project, it's another..." But she was so busy sweeping and grumbling to herself, that she didn't see Opal's ball in her path...until she, too, slipped on it, falling on her back. "Ouch!! What was that??" she asked herself. Sitting up, she finally saw the cat toy in front of her. "Wait a moment... that's Opal's favorite ball..." Rarity then looked up the stairs and saw her cat at the top step, licking her paw and cleaning herself.

"Oh...I see now..." the Unicorn said to herself, realizing what happened. "Mega Pony must have slipped on this ball like I did, and that caused him to shove the chest down the stairs by accident..." Her anger quickly snuffed out as she continued her monologue. "Oh dear...If I had known, I probably wouldn't have blown up in front of him like that..." Standing back up on all fours, she then added, "Still, that leaves me the problem with my smashed chest and broken gemstones..."

But right after she said that, another sudden realization came to her. "Wait another moment...these gems? Broken into pieces?" she asked herself. "But that's impossible...these gems can't break apart so easily, unless...oh DEAR." A feeling of dread came over her. "These gems are FAKES!!" she said with a horrified gasp. "And I was going to put them on Sapphire's dress! If I had done that, it would most certainly have been...THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!!"

And with those words, Rarity sighed and fainted dramatically onto a nice-looking red couch (which she pulled over with her magic). The only response she got from her performance was an unimpressed meow from Opal.

Opening her eyes, Rarity then thought to herself, (Oh dear...I feel HORRIBLE about what happened. I should have known Mega Pony would not intentionally destroy my belongings...And besides, if he hadn't, things would have been a lot worse in the long run...) She then sat up and said in a determined tone, "I have to go and apologize to him; he didn't deserve to be yelled at like that...I just hope he'll forgive me for it..." She then raced out the door to try and find the robot pony.

Elsewhere, far away from the boutique, Mega Pony, still feeling bad about what happened, trotted slowly down the path, passing by the locals. Many of them recognized him from the first time he was in town and waved happily over to him. Although he wasn't feeling too happy, the robot did his best not to show it towards them and waved back.

Just then, he heard a voice coming from behind him. "Yo! Mega Pony! Over here!" The robot stopped walking for a moment and turned around to see Rainbow Dash flying towards him. "What's up? I thought you were helpin' Rarity with her dresses and stuff." she inquired.

Mega Pony said nothing at first, not wanting to bring up what happened at the boutique. "Um...something came up." he simply replied. "Let's just leave it at that." Suddenly, he began sniffing the air around him, smelling something peculiar. He then asked her, "...Why do you smell like mozzarella?"

"...Let's just say that you missed the 'best part' of the party." Rainbow Dash answered sarcastically. "At least, that's what Pinkie called it." After grumbling something about having to take another bath today, the cyan Pegasus then changed the subject, saying, "Anyway, since ya seem to be doin' nothing right now, maybe you could help me out with some of my work?"

"Uh...what kind of work?"

"Well, the bigwigs at the Weather Factory need me and some of the other Pegasi to gather up some clouds for a rainstorm 2 days from now." Rainbow Dash explained. "However, they need a SPECIFIC number of clouds to make sure there's no flooding or anything, so I have to count how many I bring in. The point is, math ain't really my thing, and every time they have me doin' it, it takes forEVER..." Sighing, she then added, "So, long story short: I need you to help me keep track of how many clouds I bring in. Whad'ya say?"

"Um...I'm not sure if I can, Dash..." Mega Pony answered, his confidence a bit shaken after what had happened earlier. "I mean, I WANT to, it's just..."

"Aw, c'mon! It'll be easy for ya!" the Pegasus told him. "You're literally a walking calculator, Mega Pony! You're, like, at Twilight's level of smartypants-ness."

"Uh, I don't believe that's a word, Dash..." he informed her.

"See, right there! Twilight does that all the time whenever I say stuff." she then pointed out. "I think counting a buncha clouds will be a walk in the park for ya."

The robot still wasn't completely sure, but he didn't have the heart to say "no" to her. "Okay, I guess I'll give it a try." he responded.

"Cool! Then I'll meet ya at Cloudsdale's Weather Factory." Rainbow Dash opened her wings and was ready to take off, but she paused for a moment to say, "Wait, that's right: Only Pegasi can stand on clouds without falling...We should go to Twi and get her to cast that cloud walking spell...Or Lyra...I think she used it once..."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Dash." Mega Pony informed her. "My mom figured that I'd have to go to Cloudsdale one day, so she designed an anti-gravity system in my hooves to allow me to walk on clouds, too!"

"Oh, cool!" the speedy mare replied. "Then we don't have to waste any more time, then. Alright, if you're ready, let's get flyin'!"

"Wait a sec..." the robot said, tapping Rainbow Dash's cutie mark and copying her power. "Just getting your special power first. That way, you don't have to slow down just to let me keep up with you."

*** WEAPON GET! *** Sonic Rainboom ***

"Ah, yeah...good thinkin'." she said back. "All right, then...Last one t' Cloudsdale's a rotten apple!" Rainbow Dash opened up her wings and sped off into the air. Mega Pony chuckled a little as he changed to Rainbow Dash's color scheme, activated his Emergency Wings power-up, and flew off at an equally-fast speed.

In almost no time at all, the two ponies reached the picturesque city of Cloudsdale. The last time Mega Pony saw the city, it was from the ground, and he couldn't see much of it, as it was far away. Now, he could see it in greater detail, and the robot was in awe of what he witnessed: Cloudsdale had the look and feel of a city right out of Ancient Rome, with beautifully sculpted buildings and decor, towering high into the sky (well, highER). The only difference was that, instead of stone, the structures were, naturally, made out of clouds. Mega Pony then looked around at all of the ponies that were going about their daily routines, seeing that they were all Pegasi, just as Rainbow Dash told him.

"Oh, wow...this place looks so wonderful...!" the robot stated, still stunned at the beauty of the city.

"I told ya you'd like the place." Rainbow Dash informed him. "Cloudsdale's practically a Pegasus paradise!"

Mega Pony continued to glance around at all the sights as he asked, "So, which way is the Weather Factory?"

"Not far from here." Rainbow answered. "Just down this path." As they walked down the cloudy path to the facility, the cyan mare explained all of the purposes of the factory. "The Weather Factory is one of the most important places in all of Equestria:" she told him. "It provides all of the necessary weather for the entire country, when and where it's needed! Clouds, rain, thunderstorms, twisters, snow, and most of all, the rainbows that come up after a storm."

"Wow, you get to make rainbows?" asked Mega Pony, eyes lighting up. "That sounds like a dream come true..."

"Yeah, it is." Rainbow Dash responded. She then told him, "Just don't go believin' that silly rumor about how they THINK we make the rainbows. I'd rather not go into detail 'bout it, but I can assure you, it ain't true."

"Uh...sure, okay." the robot said, a bit taken back. "I...wasn't aware there was a rumor like that..."

"Yeah, it was so long ago, I can't remember who started it." stated the super-fast Pegasus. "I think it was, like...I dunno, Woody-somethin'...Meh, never mind. Forget I mentioned it." The two of them reached the front doors to the factory at that moment. "Well, here we are." she said to Mega Pony. "You ready to get t' work?"

"I sure am, Rainbow." the mechanical pony answered.

A short time later, after Rainbow Dash convinced her supervisor to allow Mega Pony to help her, the two were busy with their duties soon after. The speedy Pegasus flew as fast as she could, gathering up several clouds with each passing second. Even though she was moving so fast, that most normal ponies couldn't even follow her, Mega Pony had no trouble keeping track of every single cloud she collected.

After about a minute or so, Dash flapped over towards Mega Pony and asked him, "So, how many was that so far?"

"Exactly 39 clouds, Rainbow Dash." he answered her in no time at all. "Ten large, thirteen medium-sized, and sixteen small."

"Aw yeah, that's great!" she responded. "Just a few more, and I'll have my work done real quick!"

Mega Pony smiled a bit, but as he glanced around behind Rainbow Dash, he noticed something coming towards her: It was a thundercloud; one that was expelling an unusual amount of lightning. The robot gasped, as it was approaching her very quickly. "Um, Rainbow Dash..." he said, trying to warn her.

"Yeah, at this rate, I think I'll be able to break my old record!" the Pegasus began to gloat, unaware of the cloud coming towards her...or Mega Pony trying to warn her.

The robot tried to talk over her, but it was no use: She couldn't hear him, or the cloud behind her. Left with no other option, Mega Pony quickly used the Sonic Rainboom power he got from Rainbow Dash to shove her out of the cloud's path.

"ACK!!!!"

The two of them landed on the cloudy ground below, mere moments before the thundercloud reached the area where Rainbow Dash was. Once they recovered their wits, the robot prepared to tell her what happened. But before he could, the cyan Pegasus asked him in an angry tone, "Mega Pony! Wha'd ya do that for?!"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash!" he apologized to her. "But I was just trying to-"

"You don't just go and shove somepony like that for no reason!" she continued to yell at him. "I can't believe you'd do that!"

"But I-"

"No, don't even bother, Mega Pony...There's no excuse you can make for pushin' me like that!" Grumbling, she then added, "Just get outta here...I don't NEED your help! I can get the last few clouds myself!" The robot tried to explain himself one last time, but in the end, said nothing. He simply activated his Emergency Wings and sadly left Cloudsdale. Once he left, the cyan mare was ready to get back to work, when...

CRRRRRRACCCKK!!!!!

The sudden loud noise was enough to startle the normally brave Rainbow Dash. "Wha-what the hay was that?!?" she asked herself.

"Rainbow Dash...!" called out somepony off in the distance.

The speedy Pegasus glanced behind her and saw another Pegasus flying towards her. She had a grey coat, a pale-blond mane and tail, and a cutie mark that showed a picture of a small cloud of bubbles. Her most defining feature, however, were her yellow eyes: While one of her eyes seemed to work normally, the other one seemed to be misaligned.

"Derpy?" Rainbow Dash asked the incoming Pegasus. "Is that you?"

The grey mare landed next to her and said, "Rainbow Dash! Thank Celestia you're okay! Did that thing hurt you at all??"

"I'm fine..." the cyan Pegasus answered. "But I have no idea WHAT got into Mega Pony for him t' shove me like that!"

"Shove you?" asked Derpy, a bit confused. "I don't know anything about that...I was talking about that stray thundercloud that was behind you."

"Wait, what??" asked Dashie, not expecting to hear something like that. The grey Pegasus pointed up in the air at the passing thundercloud to show what she was talking about. As they looked at it, the cloud was still shooting out a lightning bolt every few seconds. "Wh-where'd that thing come from??" asked the cyan Pegasus.

"Well, Heavy Lifting thought it would be funny to blow that cloud towards you as a joke..." Derpy explained. "But I knew if that cloud hit you, you could've been seriously hurt, so I tried to follow it, but it was moving way too fast for me...You're lucky you got out of the way in time..."

Once Derpy told her everything, Rainbow Dash then figured it all out. "So THAT'S what happened..." she said to herself. "Mega Pony must've seen that cloud coming up behind me and was just trying to get me out of its way..." The mare groaned in frustration and said loudly, "Arrgh! I should've known he wouldn't do something like that to be mean!"

"Um, Rainbow? What are you talking about...?" asked Derpy.

Dash sighed and answered, saying, "Long story..." She then asked, "Listen, Derps...could you cover for me for a little bit? I got somethin' I need to take care of."

"Um...I guess I could..." the grey mare replied.

"Thanks, I won't be gone long." And with that response, Rainbow Dash flew out of Cloudsdale to try and find Mega Pony and apologize to him.

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Back down on the ground below, Mega Pony was sitting all by himself on a large rock, depressed about how the day had been going so far. He began to wonder if he would ever be able to find a way to fit in with normal society without making some stupid mistake. "This day's just been the worst so far..." he muttered to himself softly. "Every time I try to help somepony, everything just goes wrong...I'll never be able to learn how to live like a normal pony at this rate..."

"What'cha mutterin' to yerself for, Mega Pony?" asked a voice coming from right next to him. The robot's head shot up as he glanced over to his left. He saw that it was Applejack standing there, talking to him.

"Oh...uh...nothing important, Applejack..." he then answered her, still in the same low voice from before. Trying to get his mind off of the events of the day so far, he asked the Earth Pony, "What are you up to?"

"Well, now that Ah've just finshed gettin' every bit of Bleu and Cheddar off of mah coat..." said Applejack, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Thanks a LOT, Pinkie..." Regaining her composure, she cleared her throat and told Mega Pony, "Anyway, since that's all taken care of, Ah'm heading back to the farm t' help with the weekly apple harvest." Getting an idea, she then asked, "Say, would y'all like t' come with me an' help out? We could always use another set'a hooves on the farm."

Immediately, Mega Pony got back on all fours and said, frantically, "Um, I-I-I don't know about that...D-don't take this the wrong way, b-b-but I don't think that would be a good idea...!"

But the orange pony simply chuckled to herself and told him, "Now, now...Don't get all worked up, Mega Pony. Ain't nothing wrong with a little manual labor ev'ry now an' then! Besides, I know how tough you are first-hoof, so somethin' like buckin' a coupla apple trees shouldn't be much trouble fer ya at all!"

"I...I don't know..."

"Quit doubtin' yerself there, Sugarcube. Ah know y'all will be a big help to me and the family, especially right now." She then told him. "See, today's harvest is bigger than it usually is; Ah would say that big rainstorm we had a coupla days ago had somethin' t' do with it. The thing is, it'll take me and mah family the whole day just to get MOST of the trees harvested, so we really could use some help this time." After explaining the whole situation, Applejack asked, "So, whad'ya say? Y'all think ya could give me even a li'l bit of help?"

Mega Pony was still unsure; his reluctance was due to how badly things went with Rarity and Rainbow Dash. But still, his drive to help other ponies won out in the end. "I'll...I'll try my best, I suppose..." he told her, still unsure.

"That's more like it!" replied Applejack enthusiastically. "Now follow me; I'll take y'all to the farm. This'll work out great, Ah know it!"

(Yeah...I hope so...) thought the robot as he followed the Earth Pony to her family farm.

A few minutes later, Applejack and Mega Pony had made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple Family's apple farm. The farm was quite large, and the land seemed that it could go on for miles. Every inch of the farm that didn't consist of some sort of building, such as the family's house, or the iconic bright red barn in the middle of the land, was dominated by apple trees, each one covered with juicy apples.

"Alright, let's get to work, Mega Pony." Applejack told the robot as they walked into the orchard. "We have a lotta trees t' buck and too little time."

"Where's the rest of the family?" Mega Pony asked her.

"Still gettin' ready, I suppose." the orange pony replied. "I always like t' get a head start on the harvest before the rest of them. Besides, with all the work we've gotta do, a good head start is exactly what we need." Applejack then used both of her back legs to kick the tree she was standing next to, causing several apples to drop into the baskets laid out below. "See that?" she asked him. "That's all ya gotta do. Kick at the trunks with your hind legs, and the apples will all drop into these here baskets."

"That's it?" asked Mega Pony. "That doesn't sound hard at all."

"It ain't." she assured him. "That's the idea." Applejack then kicked another tree, sending all of its apples down as well. "I'll take care of this half of the field, and y'all can get the other half. That okay with ya?"

"...I think I can handle that." the mechanical pony responded. He then gave it a try and kicked the tree next to him. Just as Applejack had done, he was able to knock down several apples into the baskets around the trunk. "Yeah, I think I can do this."

"Good t' hear." said the Earth Pony. "Then you go on your way, and I'll check up on ya a li'l bit later." Mega Pony nodded and headed off to the other side of the field.

Several minutes passed by since the two ponies began their work in the orchard. So far, Mega Pony wasn't having any problems; he kept right on bucking the trees and harvesting the apples without breaking a sweat (theoretically, of course; he couldn't actually sweat). He began to feel his confidence coming back to him, even managing to form a small smile as he worked. Getting his mind back on the job, he said to himself, "Okay...that's 35 trees so far with all of their apples harvested. Based on my calculations, we should have over half the field done by the time the rest of Applejack's family comes to help out."

As Mega Pony strolled to the next tree, he then glanced over at a different tree that seemed a bit peculiar to him, even though it looked just like the other trees, other than the fact that it had no apples to begin with. "Hm...that's odd..." he said to himself. After looking at the tree for a while, the robot walked over and prepared to kick it.

Elsewhere, Applejack had just finished bucking another tree on the side of the orchard she was working in. "Good," she said to herself, "that's the 35th one, now. I reckon me an' Mega Pony oughtta be done with a great deal of this by the time Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom get here." Just then, she heard a loud CRACK off in the distance, followed by an equally as loud THUMP. "What the hay was that?!" she shouted. Once she recovered her wits, she then told herself, "That came from where Mega Pony was! Ah'd better go and see if he's okay!"

Applejack galloped as fast as she could to get to where the sound came from. But when she got to where Mega Pony was, she was shocked to see that one of the trees in the field had been knocked clean down. "M-Mega Pony...?" she began to ask, still very much startled. "Did...did you just kick this tree down?!?"

"Uh, yes...I did, but I can explain-"

"Ah can't believe that you'd go and do somethin' like that!!" she said to him, getting angry. "What did that tree ever do to you?! Ah expected better outta ya, Mega Pony!"

"But, Applejack...I...I..." he stuttered, trying his best to explain himself. But then he just gave up and told her, "Oh, forget it...I give up...I'll just leave right now so that I don't cause any more trouble for you..." And that's exactly what he did as he trotted off, sadder than ever.

As he left, Applejack began to wonder if she was too hard on him, even though he did knock one of her trees down. Before she could ponder any more about it, she heard the voice of an elderly mare behind her. "Alrighty, Applejack! We're all ready!"

The orange mare glanced behind her to see three more Earth Ponies coming her way; the rest of the Apple Family that she lived with. The one that had spoken to her just now was an elderly mare with a green coat, a silver-haired mane done up in a bun, a silver-haired tail, and a cutie mark that showed a picture of an apple pie. She also wore an orange polka-dot ascot with frills around the edges, and had bold orange eyes.

The second of them was a red-coated stallion and the largest of the group. He had a short mane and tail, both colored a light orange, dark-green eyes, and light-peach-colored hooves. His exceptionally large cutie mark showed a picture of a green apple, which appeared to have been sliced in half.

The last of them was a young filly, and the smallest of them. She had a yellow coat with a red mane and tail. She had orange eyes and wore a large, pink bow in her mane. Unlike the rest of the family, the young pony had yet to recieve a cutie mark, so her flank displayed no picture whatsoever.

"Oh...hi everypony..." Applejack greeted them, taking her mind off of what happened earlier.

"Somethin' the matter, Applejack?" asked the elderly mare. "You were a lot happier earlier when y'all told us that your new friend Mega Pony was gonna be helpin' us out."

"Yeah, Ah was all psyched up t' meet him, big sis!" the young filly told the orange pony. "After all, Twist told me all about how he saved her, Dinky, and coupla others from gettin' crushed by a house!" She then looked up at the red stallion and asked him, "Y'all wanted t' see him too, right Big Mac?"

The male pony replied with a simple, "Eeeyup."

"Yeah...'bout that..." Applejack began. "Ah had t' send him off after he went and smashed this poor li'l tree up over here. Well, actually, he sent himSELF off, really..."

The rest of the family looked over at the fallen apple tree and gasped in unison. "Oh my...Yer tellin' us he knocked THIS tree down?!" asked the elderly mare in shock.

"Yeah, he did..." Applejack admitted. "Ah'm real sorry that it happened, Granny Smith...I don't know why he-"

"That's AMAZING!!" the elderly mare cheered. "Fer Pete's sake, Ah thought nopony would've been able t' knock this here tree down!"

The orange Earth Pony was stunned at what she heard. "Wait...huh?? What are y'all talkin' about??" she asked, totally confused.

"Ya mean ya didn't know?" asked the young filly, walking over to Applejack. "Didn't Granny Smith tell ya?"

"Tell me what, Apple Bloom?"

"That tree's been dead since yesterday..." the filly informed her older sister. "For a while now, it stopped growin' apples, so Big Mac got somepony t' come over an' take a look at it." Apple Bloom then looked towards the red stallion and asked him, "When he came by, he said that it was dead, right big bro?"

"Eeeyup." replied Big Macintosh.

"Since then, we've been tryin' to take it down, but the stubborn thing just wouldn't budge!" added Granny Smith. "We were just about t' give tryin' t' get rid of it...But thanks t' that li'l robot friend o' yers, we ain't gots t' worry about it no more!"

"Now Ah see..." Applejack said to herself. "Mega Pony must've kicked that tree down because he knew it was already dead! And Ah went an' yelled at 'im for nothin'..." Groaning, she added, "Shoot...Twi's gonna have a fit about this when she finds out...I gotta go and apologize t' Mega Pony, an' quick!"

"What'cha mutterin' to yourself for, big sis?" asked Apple Bloom.

The orange pony sighed and said to her family, "Listen, everypony, Ah got somethin' Ah need to take care of...Ah'll be back t' help with the harvest when Ah'm done."

"We know ya will." said Granny Smith with a smile. "Y'all never leave in the middle of a harvest unless it's somethin' real important."

"We'll take care of things in the meantime." stated Apple Bloom. "Right, Big Mac?"

"Eeeyup!"

Applejack smiled and responded, saying, "Thanks, guys...And don't worry: Ah'll be back real soon!" The orange Earth Pony then galloped down the path that Mega Pony used to leave the farm, heading straight towards Ponyville.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

In no time at all, Applejack reached the center of town. Once there, she stopped and looked left and right, and then managed to find Twilight, who was standing in front of the library entrance with Spike. The Earth Pony raced over to her friend so that she could speak with her. "Hey, Twi! Ah'm glad Ah found ya!" she shouted to her.

The lavender Unicorn glanced over at her approaching friend. "What is it, Applejack?" she asked her.

"Did y'all happen t' see Mega Pony anywhere 'round here? Ah need t' talk to him..."

Twilight narrowed her eyes a little and then asked the orange pony, "Let me guess: You asked him to help you with something, he then did something that you didn't like, you yelled at him, and then he ran off, right?"

"Uh...yeah...that's right..." Applejack answered, a bit embarrased. She then asked, "Wait: How'd you know?"

The Unicorn didn't answer with words: Instead, she opened the door beside her, revealing that there were two other occupants inside. It was Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who both shared an expression that was a mixture of both guilt and embarrasment.

"Oh no..." groaned the Earth Pony, putting her left front hoof on her face. "Not you, too..."

"I'm afraid so, Applejack..." Rarity said with a sad sigh.

"I still can't believe I said and did those things..." moaned the Pegasus. "This is SO embarrasing..."

Twilight then approached her three friends and said sternly to them, "Well, you all oughtta be embarrased...You all should have known better than to yell at Mega Pony over something so silly like that! I know he doesn't LOOK like it, but technically, he's only five days old! He's practically still a foal! Think about it: would any of you ever shout at a five-day old foal like that??"

"Alright, already! We get it!" shouted Rainbow Dash in frustration. "We know we messed up! You don't need to give us the riot act, Twilight!"

"Calm down, Rainbow Dash..." Rarity told her. "Getting angry over trivial things got us into this mess in the first place; there is absolutely no need to make things any worse than they already are."

"...You're right...Sorry..." replied the Pegasus, finally easing herself up.

"Dash is right, though..." Applejack told Twilight, "we know we screwed up, and we all just wanna make things right again...That's why we need t' find Mega Pony so we can apologize and put this whole thing behind us..."

"We won't have to go looking for him." the lavender Unicorn informed the Earth Pony. "I contacted Mega Pony and told him everything." She paused for a moment before adding, "He'll be here shortly."

Not long after, a few minutes in fact, there was a knock on the door. Spike walked over and opened the door, revealing Mega Pony on the other side. "Come on in." the dragon said to the robot. "They're waiting for ya."

The robot glanced over at the other ponies in the room. When he saw Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack there, he backed off a bit, remembering earlier about how angry they were towards him. But he eased up when he saw that their faces showed no signs of anger at all, and began walking further into the room. "Y...you...you all wanted to speak with me...?" he asked them meekly.

Rarity approached the robot first, cleared her throat, and said to him, "Mega Pony, dear...I...I speak for all of us when I say that we're truly sorry for the way we acted towards you..."

"You are...?" Mega Pony responded.

The three of them nodded to confirm what Rarity said. "I know you didn't mean to destroy my gem chest..." the white Unicorn then told him. "It was just an accident, and it wasn't your fault at all. Besides, if you hadn't destroyed my chest, I would have ended up putting..." She paused for a moment to shudder to herself before continuing on. "...COUNTERFEIT jewels on Sapphire Shores' dress..."

Rainbow Dash then spoke up, saying, "And I should've let you explain yourself about why you shoved me earlier...I probably would've understood why if I'd known I was gonna be elect-...um...eccen-...er, elecman..."

"Electrocuted." interrupted Twilight.

"Yeah, what she said." The Pegasus then glanced over at the book-smart pony and said to her, "And I could've figured it out if I had enough time to think about it!"

"And Ah should've known that you'd never smash any o' my apple trees unless y'all had a good reason for it." Applejack then told the robot. "You were just tryin' t' help me out, and all Ah did was get mad at ya for it."

"Well, to be honest," Mega Pony said to the apple farmer, "I probably should have told you about the dead tree before knocking it down...But I didn't want to bother you while you were working, so..."

"It's okay. Ah understand." the Earth Pony replied with a smile. "The point is, we all made a mistake, and we don't want t' lose a friend over somethin' like that..." Applejack then extended her left front hoof towards the mechanical pony and asked, "So, what were askin' is...Do y'all think we can put this behind us and start off fresh?"

Mega Pony stared at the orange hoof in front of him, and then glanced over at Twilight and Spike. The two of them smiled and nodded to say that he should accept their apology. The robot looked back towards Applejack, smiled, and replied, "I'd like that very much." He then pressed his right front hoof against her hoof to show that he forgave them.

"Wow, really? You're gonna forgive us just like that?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I would've thought that it would take longer than that..."

"Well, Mom taught me that I shouldn't hold grudges against anypony, no matter how mean or nasty they may have been to me." he told them. "If somepony didn't like me, or got angry at me for something I did, getting angry or hating them back wouldn't solve anything. If it comes down to me making an enemy or me making a friend, I'm gonna go with making friends any day."

"Well said, Mega Pony." Rarity spoke up. "This may have started out as a bad experience for all of us, but in the end, we got through it, and we're much better friends as a result." The others nodded to say that they agreed.

The robot was happy to know that everything was going to work out well now. However, his smile turned to a more serious expression as he stated, "There's still one thing, though: Even after all of this, I still don't know how I'm going to fulfill my secondary programming. Even when I tried to help you all out with what you were doing, it just...well, it just didn't 'click' inside of me like when I found out about my primary purpose."

"I think I might know why." stated Twilight. "All day long, you were just helping other ponies with the jobs that THEY were good at. Don't get me wrong, that's good to do for somepony who needs help, but it didn't help you figure out what YOU were good at, you know?"

"I'm not sure I follow, Twilight..." Mega Pony replied, unsure.

"I do." Rarity spoke up. "What she is saying is that, you have find something that YOU like to do, or something that you can do well at...Or better yet, both! Just because your cutie mark shows ONE thing that you're skilled at, that doesn't mean you aren't good at anything else! Take me for instance: My cutie mark shows that my best skill is finding gems, but as you already know, I am also an expert fashion designer, and a good businessmare as well, if I do say so myself."

"Ohhhhh...I get it now! I just need to go out there and find something that interests me; something that I can enjoy doing!" the robot exclaimed with a smile. He then asked, "But what else would I like to do...?"

Just then, everypony (plus dragon) in the library was immediately assaulted by an incredibly loud noise. It seemed to be music of some sort, but it was so loud and obnoxious, nopony could really tell what it sounded like.

"AAAAAAACK!!!" screamed Rarity, covering her ears with her front hooves.

"Aw, not this again!!!" yelled Twilight, also covering her ears.

"ARRRRGHHH!!! What the hay is that loud noise?!?" asked Rainbow Dash as loud as she could. "Where's it comin' from?!?"

"You can't be serious!!!" shouted Rarity. "How could you NOT know?!?"

"She's not usually here when it happens!!!" yelled Applejack. "Dash is either workin' at the Weather Factory, or doin' her aerial stunts, so she isn't around t' hear it!!"

"Hear what?!" the cyan mare asked again.

Spike glanced over at the Pegasus and answered her, saying loudly, "That noise is comin' from next door! And the pony makin' the noise...that would be Vinyl Scratch!"

"Wait, Vinyl?!" Dash looked over at Twilight and asked her, "Isn't that the name of that Unicorn mare that played music at your brother's wedding reception?"

"Yeah, that's her!" the lavender Unicorn replied loudly. "But for some reason, she thinks early morning is the best time to work on her remixes!!"

"Arrrgh, that MUSIC!! If you can even call it that!!" whined Rarity. "I swear, there isn't enough asprin in all of Equestria that would cure the migrane I'll have from hearing it!!!" Turning towards their robot companion, she then asked, "Don't you agree, Mega Pony?"

But there was no answer from him.

Confused, Rarity asked again, thinking that he just didn't hear her. "I SAID, Don't you AGREE?!"

Again, there was no response. Then, all of a sudden, Mega Pony began walking towards the door leading outside and opened it, leaving the library. "Mega Pony??" Twilight inquired. "Where are you going??"

The robot continued walking along the dirt path outside of the giant tree. The others watched him as he began heading towards a nearby house. "He's walkin' straight towards Vinyl's house!" Applejack pointed out.

"Probably to complain for us!" Rarity hypothesized. "Good! Saves me the trouble of going there myself...again!!"

But Twilight hummed a bit to herself before saying, "I'm not so sure..."

"Whad'ya mean, Twi?" asked Rainbow Dash. "What are ya sayin'?"

The lavender Unicorn smiled and said, "I have a feeling that Mega Pony won't be needing any more help from us, concerning his secondary programming..." The others looked at one another, but none of them were sure what Twilight meant.

Mega Pony then finally approached the front door of Vinyl's house. He tapped on the door loudly with his right front hoof to get the attention of anypony inside. "Just a moment!" shouted a voice from inside. "Vinyl! Will you turn down that infernal noise this instant?! You're going to get us another summons from the mayor at this rate!!"

Shortly after that last remark, the loud music coming from the house finally quieted down to a more managable volume, though it still kept going on. It was now soft enough for Mega Pony to hear hoofsteps gradually coming towards the door. When it opened, the robot was approached by a female Earth Pony with a light, sepia-colored coat. Her dark brown mane and tail were styled very neatly, and she had beautiful violet-colored eyes. Around her neck was a lavender bowtie, and her cutie mark was a lavender treble clef.

"May I help you?" the Earth Pony asked. Her voice had a hint of a British accent, which went very well with her refined and fancy appearence.

Mega Pony looked at the mare in front of him, a bit perplexed. "Um...are you Vinyl Scratch...?" he asked.

The Earth Pony sighed a little and answered, "No, I am not. That would be the name of my roommate that you are referring to. My name is Octavia Melody. And you are...?"

"Oh! Um, my name's Mega Pony, Ms. Octavia." he replied. "Sorry about that...I'm relatively new around here, so I don't know everypony in town yet."

"Ah yes...I see now." Octavia responded. "The Unicorn robot that drove off that swarm of Parasprites. I thought that I had recognized you from somewhere." She then said to him, "Anyway, if you are here about the noise coming from our home, you have my sincerest apologies. Vinyl tends to...not know her limits, in accordance with town regulations..."

"Oh, actually...I'm not here to complain about it, Ms. Octavia..." the mechanical pony informed her. "I just came here because that...that sound, whatever it was, sounded really...interesting. And I just wanted to know more about it..."

"...You cannot be serious..." the Earth Pony said, not expecting to hear that. "Are you telling me that you...LIKED that music??"

"Is that what that sound is called? 'Music'?" asked the robot.

"Well, that's what she and her fans seem to call it..." Octavia answered.

"Well, then...I guess I do like this, 'music' then..." Mega Pony then asked, "Can I...speak with her? Your roommate."

Octavia sighed and said, "Very well, if you insist..." She then turned her head back and shouted, "Vinyl!! There is somepony at the door who wishes to talk to you!"

"Hang on, hang on...I'm comin'!" shouted a rough-sounding, yet still feminine voice. Sounds of clattering were then heard upstairs, yet nopony came walking down the staircase right away.

After about a minute or so, Octavia shouted again, saying, "Vinyl!! He's not going to wait here for you forever, you know!"

"Alright, already!!" Vinyl yelled back. "Keep your pants on, Tavi!!"

"I do not wear pants!"

"You know what I meant by that!!" Finally, about 10 seconds after that last remark, a white-coated Unicorn mare came walking down the stairs. She had a wild, electric-blue mane and tail, bright red eyes, and a cutie mark that showed a black beamed-eighth note. Resting on top of her horn were a pair of black-rimmed sunglasses with purple lenses.

"You must be Vinyl Scratch, then..." Mega Pony figured.

"Yeah, that's me." the Unicorn answered him. Taking a closer look at the robot, she then added, "You look kinda familiar, but I'm not sure where..."

Octavia, sighing, told her friend, "That is Mega Pony. Don't you remember? We read about him in the newspaper four days ago."

"Oh, yeah! That robot pony who kicked the Parasprites outta town! That's it!" Walking up to the mechanical pony, she then said to him, "Anyway, yeah...I'm Vinyl Scratch. Or you can call me DJ PON-3, whatever you want."

"Oh, I see...you have a nickname that you go by." Mega Pony responded.

"More of a stage name, but yeah, same difference." Vinyl told him. "So what's up?" She then asked.

"Well, it seems that your weekly 'morning performance' for the whole town captured the interest of our guest here." Octavia informed her roommate in a less-than-enthusiastic tone. "To put it simply, you have a new fan."

"Aw, cool! That's great!" the white Unicorn responded excitedly. Turning to Mega Pony, she then said to him, "Well, I must say: You sir, have EXCELLENT taste in music! Everypony knows dubstep music is hot right now!"

"Perhaps in your circle of rowdy party ponies, it is..." the Earth Pony muttered softly.

"Wha'd ya say, Octy?" asked Vinyl.

"...Nothing."

Vinyl shrugged and said to their guest, "Say, why don't ya come in and hang out with us for a bit? I could show you some of the basic stuff that I've been workin' on...Believe me, what I was playin' earlier is NOTHIN' compared to what I've done in the past."

"Sure! I'll come in, if it's okay with you and your friend here." Mega Pony responded.

"I suppose it is alright..." the Earth Pony told him with a sigh. The three of them then walked inside the house together and shut the door behind them.

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Minutes later, inside the home of Vinyl and Octavia, Mega Pony sat beside the sepia Earth Pony as her Unicorn roommate played the music that she was previously working on; the one that was blasting all across town earlier. This time, of course, the music was kept at a lower volume, though it was still pretty loud. The robot stared at all of Vinyl's equipment as he listened to her song intently. Octavia, on the other hoof, simply sighed as the music played on. It was quite obvious by now that the Earth Pony wasn't exactly a fan of dubstep or electronic music.

Once the song was finished, Vinyl pushed her sunglasses off of her eyes and asked, "So wha'd ya think, Mega Pony? Awesome, right?"

"Y-yeah! It was pretty good!" he complimented, clapping his hooves. "Though it seemed to end pretty abruptly..."

"Yeah, that's 'cause it ain't finished yet." the Unicorn told him. "It's still a work in progress, but I think it's almost done. Just need to make a few tweaks to it."

"Well, it's very impressive so far, Ms. Vinyl." the mechanical pony responded. "I'd like to hear it once you've completed it."

"No prob, Mega Pony." Vinyl replied. "It's the least I can do after you helped save the town."

Just then, Octavia stepped in front of her roommate's sound equipment and said, "If you are quite finished, Vinyl, I believe that our guest should be treated to a TRUE performance of the musical arts..." She then headed towards a large stringed instrument in the corner of the room.

"True performance...?" asked Mega Pony.

Vinyl sighed and told him, "It means Tavi here is gonna start playin' her boring cello music now...And just when the moment was gettin' good..."

"I can assure you, Vinyl, that my style of music is much more interesting than you may believe it to be." Octavia informed her as she pushed in her large cello. "The grace and beauty of a song played on such a fine instument such as this speaks for itself." The Earth Pony then smiled and asked Mega Pony, "So how about it? Would you like to hear what true musical talent sounds like?"

"Um...I guess it couldn't hurt..." the robot responded. "Sure, let me hear what you're working on, Ms. Octavia." Vinyl just rolled her eyes in response.

The Earth Pony breathed deeply to relax herself, took the bow that was used to make music on her cello, and began playing her song. The music that came from the instrument was slow, calm, and relaxing to the soul. Vinyl, who wasn't at all interested in classical music, yawned out of boredom. Mega Pony, however, was not bored at all. He was listening just as intently as he had been when Vinyl was playing her music. As he listened to every note, all of the troubles that had piled on top of him earlier in the day seemed to melt away completely.

Once she was done, Octavia took a bow and asked, "Did you enjoy my performance, Mega Pony?"

Before the robot could answer, Vinyl butted in and told her roommate in a rather rude tone, "Oh please...Do you HONESTLY think that Mega Pony over there is gonna like your boring oldie music over my hip tracks? Like that would ever happen..."

The Earth Pony, miffed at the Unicorn's comment, said to her, "How dare you...My 'oldie' music, as you put it, is in no way boring at all! A true classical theme such as mine is designed to soothe and relax those who listen upon it! Perhaps if you would take the time to give it a chance, you would not be making such uncouth comments such as that last remark of yours."

"Oh, here we go again: usin' all those fancy words and junk to try and confuse me!" Vinyl said, raising her voice. "Well, tough cookies! I actually looked up the word, 'uncouth' the last time you said it to me!"

"Well, congratulations." Octavia told her roommate sarcastically. "You finally learned something useful for a change..."

"Don't you try and start somethin' with me, Octy...!" grumbled the Unicorn mare.

"Would you rather I finish it, then?!" the Earth Pony shouted back, her muzzle pushing right up against her roommate's as their angry eyes stared each other down.

Just then, Mega Pony pushed the two apart and said to them, "Hey, cut it out! Both of you! Why are you two fighting with each other like that??"

The two were at a loss for words after the robot interrupted their argument. The only sounds that came from them were a series of "Um"s, "Uh"s, and "Er"s, but no actual words.

Mega Pony sighed a little and said to them, "Look...there's no need to fight over whose music is better. To be honest, I really liked BOTH of your songs!"

"Huh??" asked Vinyl, surprised.

"You do??" asked Octavia, equally as shocked.

"I mean it." the mechanical pony told them. Turning to the Unicorn mare first, he said to her, "Vinyl, your style of music is lively, catchy, and really fun to listen to! I felt like wanting to dance to it the whole time you played it!" He then looked over at the Earth Pony next. "And you, Octavia," he added, "your cello music was so beautiful and calming, that it felt like all of my problems and concerns just washed away!"

The two mares looked at each other, but couldn't say anything to each other or their guest.

"The point I'm trying to make," he then said to them both, "is that what makes Vinyl's music great is completely different from what makes Octavia's music great! And it's silly to fight over which is better, because there really isn't a comparision, or at least there shouldn't be. You should be pretty proud of yourselves and each other that you have such great talents in music...And instead of wasting time fighting over who's better, you should spend more of that time sharing that talent to everypony."

The two roommates stood in silence for a while. Eventually, Vinyl spoke up and said, "He's right, Octy. It's kinda dumb to fight over something like this..."

"I feel like a hypocrite by calling you 'uncouth'..." Octavia responded. "I wasn't exactly acting any better myself."

The Unicorn mare put her hoof up and asked, "So, we cool, Tavi? At least for now?"

The sepia-coated pony thought for a while. She then smiled, placed her hoof against Vinyl's and said, "I suppose so." The two of them then turned towards Mega Pony as Octavia said to him, "I'm sorry that you had to see our little spat there, Mega Pony...Unfortunately, we tend to...disagree every now and then."

"It's okay, Octavia." the robot replied. "The important thing is that you two were able to make up in the end. Losing a friend over something silly like an argument over whose music is better, or a mistake that you made in the past doesn't make sense at all...and a true friend is willing to look past things like that and try to remember why they became friends in the first place. Holding a strong friendship with somepony is much better than holding a grudge against them, believe me."

"Wow...that's deep, buddy..." Vinyl responded. "Where'd ya learn that from?"

"Um...I learned that from some good friends of mine." he answered.

"Well they sound like very good company." Octavia told Mega Pony. She then added, "I was thinking: Since you seem to show a great deal of interest in music in general, perhaps we could meet again in the future and teach you everything we know about it."

"You mean...how to make music?" the robot inquired. "I'd love that!"

"Cool! I like that idea, too." Vinyl chimed in. "And I guess it couldn't hurt to have a referee around in case Tavi and I 'disagree' with each other again."

Mega Pony chuckled a bit at the Unicorn's remark. "I guess that would be a good idea..." he said to them. He then added, "Well, I suppose I should get going now. It was nice meeting you both!"

"Same here, dude." replied Vinyl, giving the robot a hoof-bump. "Come back sometime, okay?"

"I sure will, Vinyl. See you both later!" he told them before leaving the room, heading for the door leading back outside.

As Mega Pony ventured back outdoors, he trotted down the path for a while before he was approached by Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike. "Mega Pony!" the lavender Unicorn shouted over to him. "There you are!"

"Oh, you guys!" exclaimed the mechanical pony. "What is it?"

"Nothin' much...'cept you were over at Vinyl's house for quite a while." Applejack told him. Noticing the expression on his face, she then asked him. "What happened? Y'all seem happier than ya were back when we were all at the library."

"Well, I went over to meet Vinyl and Octavia..." he began to explain, "they played their music for me, which was really good, by the way, and I even helped them settle a little argument that they had with each other."

"An argument?" questioned Rarity. "What sort of argument?"

"Nothing major." Mega Pony answered. "But I was able to resolve it by using what you all helped me to learn about looking past somepony's mistakes and all that."

The group looked at each other with surprised expressions on their faces, a bit amazed that Mega Pony was able to use a lesson that they all learned together to help two other ponies resolve a similar problem.

"In fact," the robot continued, "they asked me if I could come back to visit them sometime to teach me how to make music. And after hearing it for the first time, I can't wait to try it myself!"

"That's great to hear!" Rainbow Dash congratulated him. "You finally found something that you're interested in! Guess that means you've found a way to fulfill your secondary programming, huh?"

"I think he has." Twilight agreed. "But not just because of the music thing..."

"What do you mean, Twilight dear?" asked Rarity. The others in the group, including Mega Pony, were also curious as to what she meant by that.

"He resolved a conflict between two ponies by using a lesson that we all learned together." the lavender Unicorn explained. "In other words, he's found a way to help other ponies without fighting or using his weapons or powers at all!"

"...You're right!" the robot exclaimed. "I wasn't really even thinking about it when I did it! All I was thinking about was that I didn't want to see two good friends arguing over something silly, and...well, I just did whatever came to mind."

"Well, we're all glad that ya found out what it means to be a normal pony like all of us." Applejack told him. "Ah think the Princess'll be real proud of ya when ya tell her 'bout it!"

"Well, I heard my mom's gonna be busy today, so I might have to wait until later tonight to tell her."

"I think I've got a better idea..." Twilight pondered.

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Minutes later, the group of ponies (and dragon) assembled in the library. Twilight was using her magic to write on a parchment using one of her quills. The lavender Unicorn had convinced Mega Pony to help her write a letter to Princess Celestia about what they all learned today; the robot was dictating the letter, while Twilight wrote what he said:

"Dear Mom," he began, "this may seem a bit strange at first, but Twilight told me that writing a letter to you about the lesson I learned, instead of just telling you about it later, would make it a lot more special and significant to you. Today, you sent me to Ponyville to figure out what it means to be a real pony, and I think I figured it out...To me, it means being there to help your friends out, especially during the rough patches. But I also learned that there's no such thing as a perfect friendship: There are going to be times when you can't always agree on something, and there will be times when something that you do might make somepony else angry at you...However, a true friend is one that's willing to forgive and keep their bonds strong, and not let a friendship die over something that really shouldn't have been a big deal in the first place.

"Not everypony is going to like you or want to be your friend like most will, but hating them and being mean to them right back is never a good idea, and I know that I never want to let that happen between me and my friends. That's why I'll keep helping everypony that I can, on or off the battlefield, and make Equestria a better place for it." He then smiled as best as he could and closed, saying, "Your loving son, Mega Pony."

Once the letter was finished, Twilight gave the paper to Spike, who used his flames to turn the letter into a smoky cloud that would whisk itself away to Canterlot and reform back into a letter once it got to the castle. "That takes care of that." the dragon said, rubbing the dust off of his claws.

Rainbow Dash then flew over to Mega Pony and asked him, "So, now that everything's cool between us, you mind comin' back to Cloudsdale with me and help me finish up with my cloud collecting?"

"Of course, Rainbow. I'd be happy to help!" the robot told her.

"And perhaps after you are done there," Rarity chimed in, "we could finish things up in the boutique, since some of my gems are still intact."

"And me and mah family could still use your help with the harvest." Applejack added.

"Now now, everypony..." Twilight told them all. "Don't pile so much on him at once..."

"It's okay, Twilight." Mega Pony said to her as they all walked down the dirt path through town. "I know I can handle it this time...After all, helping others is what I'm born to do."

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NEXT EPISODE: "Bringing Down the Schoolhouse"
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