//------------------------------//
// Episode 104: Bringing Down the Schoolhouse: 
// Story: Mega Pony: Season One 
// by Monty Eggman 
//------------------------------//

Episode 104: Bringing Down the Schoolhouse:
---------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------
THE STORY SO FAR...:
---------------------------------------------------------------------

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!

As the days go by, Mega Pony is learning more and more about what his duties are, as well as learning about what it means to be a real pony. He is slowly, but surely, making friends with the ponies that he is meant to protect, and enjoys helping them out, either by keeping them safe from harm, or just simply assisting them with small jobs here and there. Today, he is accompanying Princesses Celestia and Luna to a schoolhouse in Ponyville to speak to the young colts and fillies and offer them encouragement in pursing their hopes and dreams.

Will everything go according to the school schedule, or will everypony find themselves in a situation far worse than getting detention?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHARACTER SELECT:
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Mega Pony (PCN-001): The first robot pony. Built by Celestia.

Princesses Celestia and Luna: Alicorn sisters that rule over Equestria.

Ms. Cheerilee: Highly respected and well-liked school teacher.

Diamond Tiara: Daughter of a rich family (and quite a spoiled brat).

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

It was a bright and sunny Friday in Ponyville, as it often was on a Friday. The current time was around quarter to 12, which meant that school was in session for the young colts and fillies. There were a few schoolhouses in town, but the one that was most well-known to the townsfolk was the one owned by Ms. Cheerilee. She had been teaching in Ponyville for quite a while, and was well-liked by both her students and the town's citizens.

Today was quite a special day for her class, but Cheerilee had not yet told them what she had planned on the agenda, until now. At the moment, the classroom consisted of just her class, which included Apple Bloom, Applejack's younger sister who still had not yet earned her cutie mark, Twist, an Earth Pony filly with a puffy red mane and a candy cane cutie mark, and Dinky, a slate-blue Unicorn filly who also didn't have a mark yet. Including the three of them, there were about 12 students in the class.

The room was filled with activity as the students were talking with one another while the teacher was out. But it wasn't long before Ms. Cheerilee stepped back into the classroom. The teacher pony was a magenta-coated Earth Pony, with a smooth mane that was colored in pink and light pink stripes. Her eyes were as green as the grass that grew around the schoolhouse, and her cutie mark showed a picture of three smiling, yellow flowers.

Cheerilee walked behind her desk and sat down before tapping the piece of furniture with her left front hoof. "Okay class, settle down now." she spoke in a pleasant voice, but still loud enough to get everypony's attention. After a couple of seconds, the noise quieted down and all of the students sat down at their desks, turning to face their teacher. "Alright now, everypony. I would like your full attention as I present the surprise that I have for you all today."

The students looked at one another, wondering what their surprise was.

Cheerilee cleared her throat and spoke to them, saying, "Today, I have arranged for two very special individuals to come and speak to you all. They have agreed to donate some time from their busy schedules to come here and offer some very special advice...both for those of you who know what your special talents are, and for those who haven't discovered them yet." She then turned around towards the classroom entrance and put out her left front hoof in the same direction. "So, without further ado, I am pleased to present two ponies who need no introduction: Please give a warm welcome to none other than...Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"

There was a collective gasp from the entire class as the two Princesses walked into the classroom. The young fillies and colts were certainly not expecting a visit from royalty today. Celestia and Luna casually strolled past the chalkboard as two guards stationed themselves beside the entrance outside of the room. The dark-blue Alicorn then glanced over towards the students when she saw that one of them was waving over to her. It was a small Earth Pony colt with a white coat and large brown spots, along with a dark brown mane and short tail. Luna simply smiled and waved back to him.

"Thank you so very much for coming here today, Your Highnesses." Cheerilee said to them both with a respectful bow. "I know the students would love to hear what you have to tell them."

"It was our pleasure, Ms. Cheerilee." Celestia replied with a smile. "After all, part of being a Princess is helping and inspiring others to be their very best. So any time we can take to encourage young ponies and help them to work hard to pursue their interests is time well spent."

"Well said, Your Highness." the teacher replied. She then stepped aside and told them, "Go ahead and begin whenever you're ready."

The Alicorns nodded to say that they were pretty much ready right now. "You go first, Sister." Luna told Celestia. "I would still like some time to prepare myself...After all, giving speeches isn't something I'm terribly skilled at, unlike giving orders..."

"Don't worry, you'll do great, Luna. I know you will." the white Alicorn said to her. "But if you insist, I'll give you as much time as you need to make sure you're ready." After saying that, Celestia then walked over to Cheerilee's desk and sat down. The Princess then cleared her throat and began her speech:

"As a ruler of Equestria, I feel that it is my sworn duty to inspire young ponies such as yourselves to be at their best." she started. "From what I can see, it seems that many of you have already discovered your special talents, and earned your cutie marks." Many of the cutie mark-bearing children glanced at their hind quarters after the Princess made that statement.

Celestia continued, saying, "For those of you who have earned their marks, I congratulate you for all of your hard work and effort so far. And now that you know your special talent, it is up to you to figure out the best way to use that talent to help others and continue to build a great future for all of Equestria." Glancing over at the few students in the class that didn't have their marks yet, she then added, "And for those of you who haven't found their special talents yet, do not be discouraged; continue to go out into the world and experience all sorts of different things. Your cutie marks will appear upon you when the time is right, and you may even be surprised to learn what your special talent is. There's a good chance that it might be something you never would have guessed it to be, but sometimes, the unexpected is all part of the fun of learning about what you're truely meant to be in life."

The students clapped their hooves at Celestia's speech. "Very inspiring words, Your Highness." Ms. Cheerilee told her. The teacher then turned over towards the other Alicorn in the room and said to her, "Princess Luna, if you would be so kind to offer your own words of encouragement?"

Luna gulped a little bit, a drop of sweat running down the side of her face. (Oh dear...here we go...) she thought to herself, a bit nervous. She looked over at her older sister, who simply smiled and nodded, silently telling her to just give it her best shot. Luna smiled and nodded back, adjusting her crown and walking over to the desk to speak.

"As you all are aware," the Princess of the Night told the class, "my special talent is raising and lowering the moon...Speech-giving, on the other hoof, is not exactly my forte, I shall admit. But nevertheless, I shall do my best to offer advice for you all that will undoubtably assist you in the future." Luna paused for a second to levitate a glass of water on the desk in order to take a sip out of it. Once she finished, she continued, saying, "Now, for the young colts and filles who have yet to earn their cutie marks, I can safely assume that, at some point or another, you may have had envious thoughts towards those who DO possess them."

The students stared ahead at the dark-blue Alicorn, wondering where she was going with this. Not all of them were as interested in the speeches as their classmates were; two Earth Ponies in particular, one pink with a purple-and-white striped mane and tiara cutie mark (and also wearing a real tiara), and one grey with a light grey-and-white striped mane, a pair of glasses, and a spoon cutie mark, seemed to be disinterested in the Princesses' speeches, based on their tired-looking facial expressions.

Luna noticed the two Earth Ponies' bored expressions, but decided to ignore it for now and continued talking. "Anyway, as I was saying, harboring thoughts of jealousy towards others will only cause you more trouble in the future, as I myself have learned the hard way." she said to them. "Instead of hating and despising the ponies that have their cutie marks while you do not, you can use that time to find out what you ARE good at. If any of you here ever wish to succeed in your lives, then you must vanquish the demons called Hatred and Jealousy in your heart. Only then will you be able to find your true selves, and your cutie marks." Once she was finished, she walked back over to her older sister as the students gave a round of applause.

"That was a very good speech you gave, Princess Luna!" Ms. Cheerilee complimented her.

"Well, I must confess..." the dark-blue Alicorn admitted, "most of what I said was ad-libbing. I do not usually prepare my words ahead of time like my sister does."

"Well, it was very good, regardless of whether or not you had it prepared before today." the teacher pony responded. She then said to them, "Anyway, if both of you are finished for now, we can all go and have our lunch break."

"Well, there is one more thing we would like to do, Ms. Cheerilee." Celestia told her.

"Oh?" asked the magenta Earth Pony, not expecting there to be anything else right away. "And...what might that be, Your Highnesses?"

The white Alicorn smiled and turned towards the class before saying, "Since my sister and I were asked to come here to talk to you all about trying to find your true purpose in life, I felt that it would be a good idea to bring with us, a pony that many of you might already know about; a pony that, like many of you here, has had trouble trying to find his talent and fit in with everypony else." Celestia then turned towards the classroom entrance and announced, "But now that he has found his true calling, he has volunteered to accompany us in order to provide his own inspirational words. So now, I present to you all, my greatest creation and gift to all of Equestria: Mega Pony!"

Once his name was said, the blue armor-wearing pony robot walked into the classroom. Almost immediately, the students began talking with one another:

"No way! It's him! It's really him!"

"This is so cool! Mega Pony showed up in our classroom!"

"Whod've ever guessed that he'd be here of all places?"

Apple Bloom stared at the robot pony as he walked into the room with a smile on his face. (So that's the robot that mah big sis was talkin' about...) she thought to herself.

Twist, of course, was quite happy to see Mega Pony again after so long. (That'th the pony who thaved my life when thothe Parathpriteth attacked the town...) she thought to herself; apparently, even her internal monologue had a slight speech impediment involving the letter 'S'.

The sudden appearence of the robotic pony was enough to grab the attention of the pink and grey Earth Pony fillies, who were bored stiff up until now. (Hmmm...so that's the Mega Pony guy that everypony's been talking about...) the pink one thought to herself.

The robot walked over to his creator, Princess Celestia, and waited for further instructions. The Alicorn smiled and told him, "You can start whenever you're ready, Mega Pony."

"Thanks, Mom." he simply replied before walking up to Ms. Cheerilee's desk. Once he sat down, Mega Pony turned towards the students to begin his speech. "As many of you already know," he began, "my name is Mega Pony; I'm a robot built by Princess Celestia, who designed me to protect other ponies from harm, or simply help them with whatever they need my help with." He then put on a more serious expression as he said, "But on the day I was activated, I was just like many of you were at some point in your lives: Confused, scared, and not sure what my purpose was, or if I even had a purpose. However, just because it may seem difficult to find out what you're meant to do in life, that shouldn't discourage you from trying your best to find out what it is and how you should use it to help everypony. At this point, all that can really be said to you is that you should all work hard and keep up your determination, and you will most certainly find out what you're truely meant to do in life...Thank you."

The class gave a round of applause after the robot was finished with his speech. Mega Pony walked back over to his mother as the white Alicorn said to the students, "Now, I am fairly certain that many of you here have all sorts of questions for Mega Pony." Celestia glanced over at the clock in the room, which showed that it was currently 11:55. "Seeing as how we have a few minutes before lunchtime, I will allow a few of you to ask any questions you have about him." she finished.

Almost immediately, most of the class raised their front hooves, waving them to try and get the Sun Princess's attention.

The white Alicorn glanced around for a while and pointed to a bright yellow-coated filly with a slightly darker yellow mane and light purple eyes. "You over there, in the back..." Celestia addressed the filly. "What is your question?"

The yellow filly put her hoof down and asked, "What kind of metal are you made of, Mr. Mega Pony?"

"Well, it's kinda complicated, but basically, my armor is made out of a super-strong titanium alloy." the robot answered. "It's capable of absorbing even some of the most powerful blows without so much as leaving a scratch on me."

"Ti-tay-nee-um...?" asked the yellow filly, trying to pronounce the word slowly in order to get it right. "I'm not sure what that means, but it sure sounds strong to me!"

"Alright, then. Next question..." said Celestia, looking over the class again. She then focused her attention over to Twist, who was quite eager to ask a question of her own. Pointing to her, the white Alicorn then said, "You over there, with the puffy mane...Go ahead and ask your question."

Twist paused for a moment, not actually expecting to be picked next. "Um...oh my..." She tried to ask her question, but the thought of everypony looking at her right now was making her a bit nervous. "Um...well, you thee...I-I-I jutht thought that...well, I wath going to athk..."

"Oh, get on with it, already...!" groaned the pink tiara-wearing filly. "We don't have all day!"

"Diamond Tiara, that wasn't very nice of you." Ms. Cheerilee sternly told the pink pony. "Complaining isn't going to make her ask her question any faster, so sit still and be patient."

"Whatever..." Diamond Tiara huffed as she slumped down on her seat. Princess Luna glanced over at the filly once more after the rude comment she made, but once again, the Alicorn decided not to say or do anything.

Getting back on track, Celestia then asked Twist, "Anyway, you were saying...?"

"Oh, right! I remember now!" the puffy red-maned filly exclaimed. She then asked, "Well, I've alwayth wondered jutht how you managed to move tho fatht when you thaved me and the otherth during the Parathprite attack...Can you alwayth go tho quick like that?"

"Not all the time." Mega Pony answered her. "The only reason I was able to move that fast was because I got a special power from Rainbow Dash first. Once I did, I was able to move just as fast as she could."

"Yeah, Ah remember mah sister Applejack told me that ya'll could get special weapons and powers from other ponies." Apple Bloom noted. "Ah'd really like t' see how ya do it, Mega Pony."

"Yeah, me too!" added Dinky.

"Me too!"

"Same here!"

The robot sweated a little. "Um, I'm not sure about that..." he said to the class. "That's up to my mom, not me." He then turned his head towards Princess Celestia and asked, "What do you think I should do?"

The Princess of the Sun smiled and told him, "It is alright with me. You can show them your Copy Ability, on the condition that you do not use any of the weapons or powers that you acquire."

"Okay then, I promise." Mega Pony replied. He then faced the students again and told them, "Alright, everypony. I'd be happy to show you just how my Copy Ability works." The class cheered when they heard that they were actually going to see some of Mega Pony's powers.

"Why don't we all head outside first?" suggested Cheerilee. "That way, there's more room for everypony to move around."

"Sounds good to me." Celestia replied. "Let's go right now." And with that, everypony in the classroom headed out the door, making their way over to the playground outside.

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

In less than a minute after leaving the classroom, Ms. Cheerilee and her class, along with Mega Pony and the Royal Sisters, were all standing outside of the schoolhouse, in a large open field nearby the playground area. "Well, I suppose that this is as good a spot as any to start my demonstration." the robot stated. He then faced the class and told them, "Okay, then...All I need now is a volunteer...Anypony willing to come up here with me and participate?"

Not surprisingly, all of the students began waving their front hooves at Mega Pony in order to draw his attention towards them. The robot glanced around at all of the colts and fillies, trying to decide who would be the first to come up and help him out.

In the end, the decision wasn't hard for him to make as he pointed towards one of the students. "You over there." he said to the lucky individual.

Not surprisingly, the mechanical pony's choice just so happened to be Twist. "Um...me...?" she asked meekly.

"Yep. Come on over here." Mega Pony responded in a friendly tone. The puffy-maned filly slowly walked up towards the robot, still a bit uneasy at all of the eyes that were on her right now. "Now then...Twist, was it?" he asked her, trying to remember her name.

The filly nodded to say that he had gotten it right.

"Okay, good." he responded. "Now, I need you to stand perfectly still for just a few seconds." he began instructing her. "This might feel weird at first, but you'll be fine. I promise. So just stay still and don't make any sudden movements."

"Um...okay." Twist replied, doing as she was told.

Mega Pony then raised his right front hoof and pressed it against the young filly's candy cane cutie mark. About one second later, his horn and her mark began to glow a bright white. The brightness of it all made Cheerilee and the others step back a bit. Finally, a large flash of light erupted between the two ponies, pushing them back and completing the process.

"What...happened?" asked Twist, a bit woozy.

"Don't worry about that." the robot told her. "The flash just means that I've finished using my Copy Chip. Now for the final part of the demonstration..." Mega Pony then closed his eyes tightly as bands of light flowed around his body, going from the tip of his horn to the end of his tail. Once he was finished, his armor changed colors: His body was now mostly a pale yellow, and his helmet, boots, and tail were now a deep red color, just like Twist. In addition, he now had her cutie mark displayed on his flank instead of his original one.

Needless to say, the class, along with their teacher, were astounded by the sudden change. "That's amazing..." said Ms. Cheerilee, still not exactly sure what just happened.

"So that's how he does it..." Apple Bloom said to herself, amazed at what she saw.

Diamond Tiara and her grey Earth Pony friend were equally as amazed when they saw Mega Pony using his powers. "D-Diamond, did you see that??" asked the grey filly. "He looks just like Twist now!"

"I can see that, Silver Spoon." the pink filly responded. She then shouted over towards Mega Pony, "Hey! How did you do that?!"

"Well, it's pretty simple, really:" the robot began to explain. "You see, all I have to do is touch another pony's cutie mark, wait a little while, and after it's all said and done, I have a new weapon."

"Mega Pony's Copy Chip is specially designed to scan and record everything about a pony just from their cutie marks." Celestia added. "Then, using whatever information he gathers, his Variable Tool System allows him to adapt that pony's special abilities and skills in the form of an offensive weapon. More often than not, he can obtain special attacks and powers that are already possesed by the pony he copies from. But occasionally, he may end up obtaining a skill that even the pony that he gets it from may not be aware of."

"So...his power only works on anypony that already has a mark?" asked the little Unicorn, Dinky.

"I'm afraid so." the white Alicorn confirmed. "Mega Pony cannot obtain a skill from a pony that doesn't yet know what they are skilled at."

"Well, that stinks..." said Apple Bloom, groaning a little out of disappointment.

"Hmph, what a surprise..." Diamond Tiara said with a sneer. "The blank flanks are left out of all the fun once again...You'd think they'd be used to it by now."

"Don't you even start, Diamond..." the pink bow-wearing filly growled at her.

"Yeah, it'th not very nice!" added Twist, quick to defend her friend. "Apple Bloom didn't thay anything mean to you, tho don't do it to her!"

"Oh, just listen to yourself, Twist..." grumbled the bratty pink filly. "You might have your cutie mark now, but you're still just the same as before! Isn't that right, Silver?"

"Uh...yeah! Just the same as before!" Silver Spoon repeated.

"When are you going to learn that those of us that HAVE their marks are...entitled to many more privileges than those that don't?" Diamond asked rhetorically.

"Now, Diamond Tiara, we've been over this before:" Ms. Cheerilee suddenly spoke up. "Just because you have your cutie mark, it doesn't mean that you can make fun of anypony that doesn't have one..."

"I haven't made fun of anypony yet..." the pink filly huffed. "I'm just stating something that's totally true, nothing else. And I'm going to go right ahead and prove that my claims are true once and for all!" Diamond Tiara then walked towards Mega Pony, motioning Silver Spoon to follow her. Clearing her throat, the pink filly said to the robot, "Mega Pony, sir...Silver and I would like to be the next volunteers for your copy power demonstration."

The mechanical pony stood silent for a few seconds before saying, "Um, sure...I guess that's alrght with me. Okay, I'll copy your powers, then." Mega Pony then tapped Diamond's cutie mark, triggering the light show once again. Once he was done, he then changed his armor color to match that of the pink filly's coat and mane, along with her cutie mark.

"Nice...very nice, indeed." Diamond Tiare said, smirking. "Those colors look great on you; after myself, of course." When she made that remark, Apple Bloom and a few others made soft gagging noises behind her back in response. Diamond then turned to her friend and told her, "Okay, your turn, Silver Spoon."

"Uh, yeah! Sure!" the grey filly replied, walking up to the robot next and presenting her cutie mark. Mega Pony then tapped the mark and copied whatever her power was as well. Just like before, he changed his armor color scheme and cutie mark to match hers. "Wow!" Silver Spoon exclaimed. "That IS cool!"

"Yeah, Ah can think of only one thing that's cooler than that..." Apple Bloom whispered to Twist.

"What'th that?"

"Jus' about everythin' else." she answered, elicting a giggle out of both Twist and Dinky.

Ms. Cheerilee glanced up at the sky to see what time it was, based on the current position of the Sun. "Well, I think we should all go back inside now. We don't want to miss lunch, do we everypony?"

"No, Ms. Cheerilee!" the class responded.

"Exactly." the teacher replied. "Now let's all go back into the classroom; single-file line, as always."

"Yes, Ms. Cheerilee!"

Cheerilee then glanced over at the two princesses and Mega Pony (who had changed back to his original colors). "You are more than welcome to join us, if you wish." she said to them.

"We would love to, Ms. Cheerilee." Celestia responded. "How kind of you to offer." As they all headed back into the schoolhouse, the white Alicorn noticed that her sister had a slightly annoyed look on her face. "Is something the matter, Luna?" she asked. "If this is about Twilight house-sitting for us while we're here, you don't have to worry. Knowing my student, she'll be in the same place as we left her: The Royal Library."

"Um...no, it's not about that, Older Sister." replied the dark-blue Alicorn. "I'm well aware that we can afford to stay here in town a while longer."

"Then what is it? You know you can always talk to me about whatever is on your mind."

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about right now." Luna told Celestia. "I'll...I'll talk about it when we return to Canterlot."

"...Very well. If you insist." the white Alicorn said back. Celestia could tell by the tone of Luna's voice and her facial expressions that there was more on her younger sister's mind than she was willing to discuss at the moment. But for now, Celestia chose not to dig any deeper into the matter right now, and they went back into the schoolhouse along with Mega Pony.

Unbeknownst to them or Cheerilee's class, two young Unicorn colts chose not to follow the others back inside. One of them was a bit on the tall side, had a golden-yellow coat, and a messy green mane and short tail. He had small, beady black eyes and a cutie mark that showed a picture of a snail. The other one, who was short and chubby, had a teal-colored coat with an equally messy mane and tail, colored a dirty orange. His eyes were also black and beady, and his cutie mark was a pair of scissors.

"Aheh heh! Did ya see that, Snips?" asked the golden-yellow colt. "That was the coolest thing ever!"

"Pfft...what was so cool about it, Snails?" the teal colt responded. "All Mega Pony did was COPY weapons! He didn't even use any of 'em!" Huffing, he then added, "That's not what I wanted to see! I wanna see Mega Pony in action!"

"But ya heard what the Princess said..." Snails said in a slow tone. "She said he wasn't allowed to use them..."

"I know what the Princess said..." Snips grumbled. "Rrrgh...If only there was a way to make her change her mind and get him to use his powers...But the only way she'd let him do that is if we were all being attacked by some big horrible monster and-" Just then, the young colt stopped talking as he got an idea. "That's it! Snails, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah, I know what you're thinkin'!" Snails answered, ecstatically hopping into the air a few times. "I'm DEFINITELY thinkin' what you're thinkin'!" He then paused for a second, glanced around aimlessly a few times, then asked, "Uh...what am I thnking that you're thinking?"

"Just follow me." the teal-coated colt answered him. "We're going to take a small, unscheduled field trip into the Everfree Forest..."

"E-E-Everfree Forest??" Snails replied nervously.

A few minutes later, the two colts were journeying through the perilous and bizarre Everfree Forest. It was infamous because of the unusual things that went on in there. One of those things was that the weather around the forest was not controlled by a single Pegasus, instead being influenced by some unknown, unexplainable force. The other thing was that the creatures that called the woods home were capable of taking care of themselves, without the help of anypony. In fact, many of the beasts of the forest were large and vicious enough to consider a pony as their next meal.

Unaware (or possibly uncaring) of the dangers within, the two young Unicorns walked deeper and deeper into the haunting forest. "So here's my plan:" began Snips. "All we gotta do is find some big, mean, and vicious monster, then we go and tell Mega Pony and the others that we were being attacked by it! Once they buy into our story, we'll lead 'em all back to where the creature is, he fights it, and BAM! We get to actually see Mega Pony use his weapons! It's perfect!"

Snails wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he had his doubts about his buddy's idea. "Um, Snips?" he asked him. "My memory's not the best, but...didn't we do something like this before??"

"No, this is TOTALLY different from the other time..." assured the teal colt. "This time, we're not actually going to BRING the monster with us, like we did with that Ursa Minor cub. Instead, we're just gonna pretend that we were attacked, and that'll be enough to get Mega Pony to show off his powers for us, understand?" Snails nodded, but the worried look on his face suggested that he still wasn't too confident about the whole plan.

After about a few minutes of wandering around, the two colts came to a large clearing, devoid of any animal life...except for one. Snips and Snails peeked out from behind a bush and spied on the large, sleeping creature before them: a Manticore. The beast seemed to be a combination of three different animals; its body and head resembled a lion, but its tail looked like that of a scorpion, and it even had a pair of bat wings, to boot. The creature's intimidating size and appearance were the answer as to why there were no other animals nearby.

"Do you see it, Snails?" whispered Snips. "That Manticore is exactly what we're looking for...!"

"Whad'ya say??" asked the yellow colt, not hearing what his friend said because he was talking too softly, not to mention that the Manticore was snoring pretty loudly.

"I said...that Manticore is exactly what we're looking for...!!" the teal pony responded, a bit louder.

"I still can't hear you...!" Snails whispered even louder. "That thing's snoring too loud!"

"Well, I can't help it if the Manticore wants to snore louder than the Ponyville train!!"

"What?! I still can't HEAR YOU!!"

"THEN GET THE WAX OUTTA YOUR EARS, ALREADY!!!" yelled Snips, getting frustrated. "Sweet Celestia, it's like I'm talking to a sack of potatoes!!! Now stop wasting my time and help me come up with a good story to-" But as Snips turned around to look at the Manticore again, he suddenly stopped talking and froze up completely, aside from an occasional twitch. His eyes bulged, his jaw dropped, and the only sounds that came out of his mouth were a series of small gasps.

Snails noticed that his buddy had stopped talking and glanced over towards him, wondering why he had stopped in mid-sentence. But once he got a look at what Snips saw, he, too, went into a similar state of fear, and for good reason: The Manticore that was previously snoozing away in the middle of the forest clearing had been stirred awake by the colts' yelling. Now it was snarling at the two of them, staring them down with its bloodshot eyes.

Snips and Snails stared fearfully at the angry monster, too scared to do much of anything. Then, all of a sudden, the Manticore gave out a loud roar that shook the whole forest. It was enough to snap the two colts back to reality; they screamed in terror as they made a run for it. But instead of chasing them down, the Manticore just kept right on roaring as loud as it could.

The yellow-coated colt looked back and said, "Hey! He's not chasin' us! He's just yellin' at us! What a lucky break, huh?"

But Snips wasn't as relieved. "I wouldn't be too sure about that...Look!" he said, pointing ahead.

In a large thicket of trees and bushes in front of them, two large figures suddenly popped out. The two figures were revealed to be two more Manticores. As it turned out, the first Manticore was roaring loudly in order to call for others nearby, triggering them into attacking as well.

The two Unicorn colts screamed again as they made a quick sharp turn to their left in order to avoid the other two beasts. They ran as fast as they could, with the three Manticores in pursuit, heading for the schoolhouse...

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

Meanwhile, back at Cheerilee's schoolhouse, everypony had settled down to have lunch at an outdoor seating area (after, of course, walking into the building in order to retrieve their packed meals). Each student brought their packed lunch over to one of the picnic tables set up behind the schoolhouse and sat down with other students, chatting with each other as they ate.

Cheerilee herself sat down to enjoy the meal that she had brought with her: A fruit salad, that was made up of slices of strawberries, cantelope, apricots, pineapple, and watermelon, a small-sized thermos filled with grape juice, and a slice of apple pie for dessert (courtesy of the Apple Family).

Princesses Celestia and Luna, along with Mega Pony, had decided to stay at the schoolhouse for the rest of the day before returning to Canterlot. They sat down at the same table as Cheerilee to talk with her while enjoying the food they brought with them. The white Alicorn had with her a simple banana-and-daisy sandwich with a cup of plain white milk; it wasn't as extravagent as most of her daily meals were, but it suited her just fine today.

Luna's meal, on the other hoof, wasn't nearly as much of a healthy choice as her older sister's meal. On the way to the schoolhouse, the dark-blue Alicorn wandered into the local hayburger stand, ordering two double-hayburgers with lettuce, dandilions, and globs of mayonaise...with a small fries and a Diet Colta-Cola.

Celestia gave her younger sister a look and said to her, "I still can't believe you actually went and ordered that, Luna...You ought to know that the food they serve there isn't exactly...well...'wholesome', shall we say..."

But the dark-blue Alicorn huffed a little and responded, saying, "Oh, thou worry too much, Elder Sister. I went there because your student recommended it to us before we left today, even though she said that she hadn't had the time to go there in a while..." Taking a rather large (and sloppy) bite out of one of her hayburgers, she added, "I cannot imagine why: the bold taste of this cookery is quite intoxicating..."

Celestia simply sighed, deciding not to say anything more on the subject. Turning over to her robot "son", she said to him, "I apologize if you feel left out, Mega Pony."

"That's okay, Mom." he simply replied, still with a smile on his face. "I know someday that you'll be able to find a way for me to be able to eat and drink like normal ponies do."

"Oh! That reminds me...I have something for you that I think you'll appreciate." the Sun Princess told him while rummaging through one of her saddlebags. "With all that's been going on today, I had nearly forgotten..." Once Celestia found what she was looking for, she used her magic to levitate the item onto the table. "This is for you, Mega Pony."

The robot looked at the item curiously; the object was a small, cobalt-blue can with a black letter "E" printed on the front of it. "Um...what is it...?" he asked.

"It's called an 'E-Tank'." Celestia answered. "I created it some time ago with the help of the zebra mare that lives in the forest. Inside this tank is a special liquid fuel that is designed to work with your backup power devices. All you need to do is to injest it, and your power reserves will be fully recharged, even if you're unable to draw any energy from the Sun for your solar core."

"Wait, does that mean that I can-?"

"Exactly." the white Alicorn answered him. "Now, at the very least, you'll be able to drink fluids. It's a small step towards making you more like everypony else, but a step forward nonetheless."

"Thank you so much!" Mega Pony replied happily. "I know it might seem silly, but this really means a lot to me!"

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Mega Pony." Luna told him after finishing one of her hayburgers and wiping her mouth with a napkin. "This doesn't mean that you'll be able to drink ANYTHING. Right now, these E-tanks are all that you can have. We're not exactly sure yet how other fluids would affect you."

"That's true." added Celestia. "However, I have added some artifical flavoring to each fluid mixture. That way, you'll be able to know what other things taste like. Why don't you give this one a try, Mega Pony?"

"Okay, sure." he replied. He then watched as the white Alicorn used her magic to open the tab on the E-Tank before setting it in front of Mega Pony. The robot then used both of his front hooves to pick up the can and took a sip. It was a bit awkward at first, but he had paid close attention to how other ponies drank, and he was able to do it. After the liquid flowed past his tongue, he gave out a slight gasp as he experienced the sense of taste for the first time. "Wow...that was...that was so good! What was that??" he asked, trying to process the feeling.

"That would probably be apple that you're tasting right now." Celestia replied. "You can thank Applejack for that; after all, she gave me the idea to add that particular flavor."

"I'll definitely have to thank her!" Mega Pony said. "I've always dreamed of what apples tasted like, but this is better than I had ever thought it would be."

Cheerilee giggled a little at what was taking place before glancing over to her side. There, she noticed that three of her students, Apple Bloom, Twist, and Dinky, had not yet sat down at a table. They were looking around, holding their paper lunch bags in their mouths. "Is something the matter?" the teacher asked them. "Why haven't you three sat down somewhere yet?"

Placing her bag down for the moment, Apple Bloom answered, saying, "Well, we WOULD be sittin' down...If it weren't for Diamond and Silver hoggin' the table we usually sit at..."

"I beg your pardon?" asked Cheerilee.

Dinky set her lunch bag down next. "We tried to sit there, but they wouldn't let us..." she told the teacher. "And when we tried to say something about it, they just laughed at us and wouldn't budge."

"Tho we went to try to look for a different table to thit at," Twist chimed in, "but all of the other tableth are full already..."

"Really?" asked Celestia. "There were no other tables availiable?"

"Well, I DO have a relatively small class, so I didn't think it was necessary to set up more tables out here." the teacher pony admitted. Turning back over to her students, she shuffled aside in her seat and asked them, "Why don't you three come over here and sit with us today? I'll have a talk with Diamond and Silver about this later."

The three fillies were taken by surprise. "S-sit with you...?" asked Apple Bloom.

"And the Princesses...?" added Dinky.

"AND Mega Pony?? Twist finished.

"Of course." Cheerilee replied with a smile. She then turned towards the two Princesses and the robot and said to them, "If that's okay with you three, that is." The guests nodded to say that it was perfectly fine with them.

"Alright!" cheered Apple Bloom as she and her two friends/classmates ran over with their lunchbags, eager to sit with their teacher, the Princesses, and Mega Pony.

"Oh wow...I never thought that I'd get to have lunch with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"  said Dinky. "Wait 'til my big sister Amethyst hears about this!"

Twist decided to sit next to Mega Pony, who shuffled over to allow her enough room. "It'th good to thee you again, Mither Mega Pony..." she said to him.

"Good to see you too." he responded with a smile. "How have things been for you the past few days?"

"Pretty good..." the curly-maned filly answered. She then sighed a little and added, "I with I could thay that it'th been perfectly good..."

"How come?" asked Mega Pony, concerned. "Is it because of Diamond and Silver?" Twist sadly nodded yes. The robot then asked her, "Do those two pick on you and your friends a lot?"

"All the time." Apple Bloom answered. "Diamond and Silver make fun of us just 'cause we don't have our cutie marks yet...Well, at least Dinky and I don't have 'em. But they make fun of Twist too, simply 'cause she's still friends with us."

"I'm...sorry to hear that they give you such a hard time." Celestia told them.

"It's okay...we're kinda used to it." stated Dinky. "Their words still get to us every now and then..."

Mega Pony looked over at Cheerilee and asked her, "Did you ever know about any of this, Ms. Cheerilee? Haven't they ever told you about what those two say and do to them?"

"Yes..." the teacher pony answered with a sigh. "But no matter how much I tell Diamond and Silver not to pick on anypony, they just don't listen. Sometimes, I wonder if they'll ever learn their lesson and stop acting in such a way..."

"Just give me two minutes with those upstarts..." Luna suddenly spoke. "I assure you, I'LL set them straight better than their own parents could."

"Now, Luna...I don't object to you discussing such a thing with those two fillies, but don't be nasty towards them." Celestia warned her younger sister. "After all, it wouldn't look good for your reputation if word got out that you were acting harshly towards children, would it?"

"...I suppose not." the dark-blue Alicorn reluctantly agreed. "That doesn't change my opinion on the matter, though."

"Fair enough." the white Alicorn replied, taking a sip of milk from her cup.

"Oh dear...!" Cheerilee suddenly said with a slight gasp, grabbing the attention of everypony.

"What's the matter, Ms. Cheerilee?" asked Apple Bloom.

"I was just looking over my class list and counting all of the students..." the teacher stated, "and I just noticed that two of them are missing!"

"Missing??" asked Mega Pony. "Who?"

Cheerilee looked at the list again, trying to figure out who it was that wasn't present. Once she found out who, she then asked, "Have any of you seen Snips or Snails since lunchtime started?"

"Nope." said Apple Bloom.

"Nuh-uh." replied Dinky.

"Haven't theen them." Twist responded.

The teacher pony groaned a little out of frustration and asked herself, "What are those two up to this time...?"

Elsewhere, at another picnic table, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were chatting with each other as they ate their respecitve lunches. "So..." started the pink filly, "did ya hear the latest rumor about Lyra and Bon Bon?"

"Um...was this something you heard, or something you just made up?" asked Silver.

"I prefer to call it 'fabricated'..." Diamond responded smugly. "Anyway, the rumor is that they were both wearing hats, they were taking about something, and-" Suddenly, she stopped talking for a moment and gasped when she looked over at the table where their teacher, the Royal Sisters, and Mega Pony were sitting. "What the-?!"

"What is it?" asked the grey filly.

Diamond Tiara pointed over to the other table and said, "Look over there! Do you see who's sitting over there with the Princesses and Mega Pony?!"

Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses and saw Apple Bloom, Dinky, and Twist sitting with the others. "What?? How'd THEY get to have lunch with them?!" she exclaimed.

"Hmph! I bet they made up some stupid sob story about not having anywhere to sit just so they could be with them!" the bratty pink filly deduced. "Those dorks'll do ANYTHING to get their way and get attention that they don't deserve!" Of course, the irony that Diamond Tiara did things like that almost every day was apparently lost in the discussion. Getting up and putting on an angry expression, Diamond started walking over towards the other table. "C'mon, Silver Spoon! We're going over there and giving them a piece of our minds!"

Silver's eyes widened a little. "Um...are you sure we should...?" she asked in a not-so-confident tone.

"What are you talking about??" asked Diamond, a bit surprised that her friend wasn't as willing to go along with her this time. "We just need to show them all that if anypony deserves to be in their presence, it's us! Now, hurry up and follow me and we'll be sitting pretty faster than you can say-"

"...HEEEEEELLLLLLLP...!!!!" shouted a voice from far away.

"...Um, what was that you just said, D.T.?" asked the grey filly.

"That wasn't me..." the pink filly answered. Pointing in a direction, she told her friend, "That came from over-"

But before she could finish, the two of them suddenly saw who it was that made that loud noise. It was none other than Snips and Snails, still running and screaming in terror. They were so scared, that they didn't even notice that Diamond and Silver were in their way. The two fillies screamed, but to no avail: The Unicorn colts ran right over them in their panicking state, knocking them both out cold and covering them in dirty hoofprints.

"Run for your lives!!!" shouted Snips.

"Mares and foals first!!" yelled Snails.

Everypony else heard the two colts coming and looked over at them as they kept right on running. Of course, the screaming grabbed the attention of Cheerilee, the Princesses, Mega Pony, and the three fillies that were with them. The teacher stepped into their path and put out her left front hoof, causing them to stop suddenly.

"Snips! Snails! What is the meaning of this?!" the teacher pony asked, slighty angry at them. "Why weren't you with everypony for lunch?"

"M-M-Ms. Cheerilee!" the teal colt spoke up, still shaking. "W-w-we love to stay and answer your question...but-"

"But we've gotta get outta here before THEY show up!!!" Snails finished.

"What are you talking about??" Cheerilee inquired, confused. "Before WHO shows up??" But she never got that answer, because the two colts suddenly darted around her and ran away as fast as they could. "Hey! What has gotten into you two?!?" she shouted towards them.

"Um...Ah think Ah know..." Apple Bloom suddenly said, trembling a little.

"What is it?" asked the teacher. The yellow filly pointed ahead, causing everypony else to see what it was that had terrified Snips and Snails so much: It was, of course, the three Manticores that they unwittingly woke up from their sleep. And in their frenzied state, they were ready to trash anything or anypony that got in their way.

"M-Manticores?!?" shouted a surprised Mega Pony. "Where did those come from?!"

"I'm not sure, but we'll figure that out later..." said Celestia. "Right now, we have to move fast!" Coming up with a plan, she then instructed, "Ms. Cheerilee, go and gather up all of your students and get them in front of the schoolhouse!"

"Wouldn't we be safer INSIDE the schoolhouse??" asked Dinky.

"I can't be too sure about that, Dinky." the teacher responded. "I can't risk putting all of you inside the building only for one of those monsters to smash it apart and cause it to cave in on all of you!"

"...Good point." the Unicorn filly agreed.

"Don't worry, any of you." the white Alicorn stated. "Once you're all in a safe spot, Luna and I will combine our magic to create a barrier to protect you." She then turned to Mega Pony and told him. "We'll focus on protecting everypony...while you go and defeat those beasts. As of right now, I am authorizing the use of your weapons."

The robot nodded and said, "Okay, Mom...I'll do my best to stop those things!" He then ran towards the Manticore trio, charging up energy in his horn. "Hey you!" he yelled at them. "Why don't you try picking on somepony that can fight back?!" The beasts simply roared in response; now their attention was focused competely on Mega Pony.

Once the robot had the Manticores distracted, Cheerilee and the two Princesses rounded up all of the colts and filles in the class, including the still-unconscious Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They moved as fast as they could to get to a safe enough distance away from the commotion that was about to go underway. Once everypony was secure, Celestia and Luna glanced over at each other and gave a nod, telling the other that they were ready to get to work. The two sisters tapped their long, glowing horns, combining their incredible power to project a magical barrier in front of them and the others.

"This barrier should hold out long enough for Mega Pony to finish his job." Celestia noted. "Now...it's all up to him at this point." The others looked on ahead towards where the robot was, hoping that he would make it out okay.

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

Mega Pony swiftly dodged the razor-sharp claw attacks of the towering Manticores, sidestepping out of the way of each strike in what seemed like an instant. The beasts were strong, but they weren't able to hit such a small and fast target, despite the fact that they outnumbered him.

However, to say that the fight was one-sided because of that would not have been true: Even though Mega Pony was fast enough to avoid getting hit, his Friendship Buster (a name that he himself gave to his primary weapon) wasn't strong enough to incapacitate any of the monsters. Even the charged shot was too weak to cause any real damage, and the robot knew it.

(This isn't good...) he thought to himself. (They'll tire me out long before my buster weapon can affect them!) Already panting a little from all of the moving around that he had done, the robot took a moment to come up with a new plan. Then, a thought occured to him. "That's it! I can use one of the weapons that I got today to help me out!" he exclaimed. "But which one...? I hadn't gotten a chance to examine any of them yet."

Mega Pony then heard a loud roar coming from the Manticore in front of him, which caused him to look up and swiftly jump aside to dodge another crushing claw attack. He knew that he didn't have much time to think of a plan; he would have to think on his hooves for this one. "Alright...I guess I'll just have to try each of them and figure out which one is the best to use!" he decided. The robot then closed his eyes and triggered his weapon-swapping power. Rays of light formed around him, changing the color of his armor. Once he was done, his body was colored the same as Diamond Tiara, and her cutie mark was shown on his flank instead of his original one.

"Okay...here goes nothing...!" The robot rushed towards the closest of the Manticore trio, charging up his horn at the same time. Once the robot felt he was close enough, he released the stored energy in the form of...a tiny beam of light; no brighter than that of a flashlight. If anything, all it did was temporarily blind the Manticore in its left eye.

Mega Pony opened his eyes to see what was going on when it seemed like nothing happened. His heart sank when he saw just how "effective" Diamond Tiara's weapon ended up being. The creature growled a little as the robot chuckled weakly in response. "Aheheh...aheh...ehhh...uh-oh..."

The Manticore then let out a roar as he swiped at the mechanical pony once again. Mega Pony tried to avoid it, but he was too close to the beast to escape it, and he ended up taking a hit, causing everypony else to gasp in horror.

"Oh no! He's hit!!" Apple Bloom cried out.

"Oh dear...I hope he's okay...!" said a worried Ms. Cheerilee.

Celestia trembled a little at the sight of her "son" taking such a blow. "Mega Pony! Please tell me you're okay!!" she shouted over to him, concerned.

Fortunately, the robot was still able to get back onto his hooves. His armor was scratched up a little, but he was still able to fight. "I'm...I'm fine, Mom..." he said to her. "Luckily, I didn't take the full force of that attack, or I probably wouldn't have been able to get back up like I did just now..." The white Alicorn breathed a sigh of relief once she knew that her "son" was alright, though she was still worried for his well-being.

Mega Pony let out a small sigh himself as he looked up at the angry creatures, who were preparing to attack again. (Great...) he thought to himself, not too happy to find out the hard way that Diamond's weapon was practically useless. (I guess I'll have to try something else...) He then swapped weapons again, this time changing his body color and cutie mark to Silver Spoon's.

One of the Manticores roared as it pounced towards the robot. Fortunately, he was able to evade it while preparing a counterattack of his own. He then fired up his horn and used Silver's weapon...only to find out that all it did was fire a barrage of small spoons at the monster's leg. If it did any damage, it wasn't visible to anypony watching. "Oh, come ON...!!" Mega Pony groaned out of frustration before jumping to avoid another claw attack.

"Something's wrong..." Celestia told her sister, Luna. "He's never had this much trouble fighting off a threat before...What do you suppose could be the problem?" she then asked, growing more and more concerned.

"Hmmmmm..." hummed the dark-blue Alicorn, closely observing the fight.

Mega Pony himself was also wondering what was going wrong. "I don't get it..." he said to himself, "neither of those weapons worked on them...! Of course, that's assuming that I can even CALL those things 'weapons'."

The Manticore trio snarled as they inched slowly towards the robot, who could only back away in response. Mega Pony glanced back, looking at his worried mother and aunt, still projecting the magic barrier, as well as the frightened students and teacher who could do nothing but watch. He then noticed Twist looking straight towards him with a sad, but still hopeful look upon her face. "Pleathe, Mega Pony..." she said silently to him. "You're the only pony who can thave uth...Don't give up...!"

When he heard the little filly speak to him, the mechanical pony then remembered something: He still had one weapon left; the weapon he got from Twist. "Twist's weapon...it's the only one I have left right now..." he said to himself. "But what if...what if it doesn't work either...?" The robot had his doubts, but in the end, he knew he had no other choice. "I have to do it...For the sake of everypony...I have to at least try...!" He then swapped weapons again, changing to Twist's color scheme and adopting her cutie mark.

The puffy red-maned filly's eyes widened when she saw Mega Pony switching to the weapon she gave to him. (He'th uthing the power I gave him...) she thought, watching intently.

The robot pony bravely walked towards the growling creatures, still not sure what was going to happen when he used Twist's weapon. Still, he knew that he had little choice but to use it. Taking dead aim at one of the Manticores, he charged up energy into his horn, and when he released it, he fired off a large, pink sphere. The beasts weren't sure what to do as the projectile flew towards them. Then, once the sphere made contact with its target, it let out a humongous explosion that caused the Manticore to roar in extreme pain.

*** WEAPON GET! *** Jawbreaker Bomb ***

Mega Pony was flabbergasted, but also very much relieved. "It...it worked!" he cheered. "This weapon works!!"

"Oh thank goodness..." Celestia said, also relieved. "He was able to get his powers working again." Luna simply smiled, happy to know that the little robot was going to be okay now.

The Manticores were stunned when they saw just how powerful the mechanical pony really was, especially the one that got hit by his attack. They turned to face the robot, only to see a confident smirk on his face as he said to them, "I think you've had your fun for long enough now...Now it's MY turn!" He then used Twist's weapon, the Jawbreaker Bomb, again, firing off pink, blue, and mint-green spheres at them.

The Manticores panicked and tried to run away, but the one that had been struck earlier had been weakened slighty by the earlier explosive, and got struck by one again. Mega Pony focused his aim completely on that Manticore, firing off as many spheres as possible. Finally, after a few more hits, the Manticore was taken down, and he slumped onto the ground, alive, but in no shape to fight back.

"Alright!!! He beat one of 'em!" Dinky cheered happily.

"He did indeed..." Cheerilee responded in awe. "That power he has is amazing...!"

Mega Pony then turned his attention to the remaining two Manticores and prepared to fire his weapon once more. But now there was a new problem: When he tried to fire a shot, nothing happened. The robot was confused at first, but then realized why this was so. "Uh oh..." he said to himself, "the weapon's out of ammo...!"

The Manticores snarled as they both flew towards Mega Pony, who quickly ducked in response to avoid their charge. But he then noticed that the creatures weren't coming back; they just kept right on flying. He was confused at first, but then realized something that made him shudder. "Those Manticores..." he said to himself. "They're going after Mom and the others!!" He quickly got onto his hooves and ran as fast as he could.

Fortunately, he was able to get to others just before the Manticores did. "Mom!" he called out to Celestia. "Is everypony alright?!"

"For now, yes." she answered him, watching as the two remaining monsters headed towards them all. "But now it seems that those other Manticores are coming this way..."

"How come?" asked a trembling Twist.

"Well, Manticores are predatory in nature..." Luna began to explain. "Because of that, they have a tendancy to target anything - or anypony - that they see as weak. Since Mega Pony has proven to them that he is not an easy target, they chose to ignore him in favor of us!"

"So they're gonna attack us now?!" exclaimed Apple Bloom.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Mega Pony proclaimed. "But I'll need to get another weapon if I'm going to be able to stop them!"

"Then you'd better get one quick..." Dinky told him. "'Cause here they are right now!" She then pointed ahead of them as the two Manticores finally got to where they were.

The beasts growled as they opened their maws as wide as they could. Then, all of a sudden, they each exhaled a stream of flames, firing them right at the group. Luckily, the barrier that Celestia and Luna put up repelled the attack. The monsters continued to breathe their flames at them, trying as hard as they could to breach the shield.

"The barrier is still holding strong..." Luna commented. She then turned to Mega Pony and told him, "Now, use this time to acquire a new weapon!"

"Got it, Aun-...I mean, Princess Luna!" he replied. He then looked at all of the ponies in the group, trying to figure out who would be the best one to use his Copy Chip device on. He eventually made his decision: "Ms. Cheerilee!" he called over to the teacher pony. "I need your help! Can you let me copy your power?"

"Um, sure! Whatever you need!" she replied, showing her cutie mark to him. Mega Pony then tapped the mark, triggering the usual light show that followed afterwards.

Just as Mega Pony finished copying her power, he heard his mother gasp. "Oh no!" she spoke.

Everypony looked around and saw that one of the two creatures flew over to face the terrified group, this time from a side of them that wasn't being protected by the Alicorns' barrier. "No!" Luna shouted. "They're planning to attack from two different directions!"

"Can't you put your shield up on both sides?" asked Ms. Cheerilee.

"I'm afraid not..." answered Celestia in a worried tone. "Luna and I have to combine our powers in order to project a barrier strong enough to repel almost anything; if we attempted to split that power on more than one side, the shields will be considerably weaker, and I can't say for certain that we'd all survive unscathed..."

"Wha-what're we gonna do...?" asked Apple Bloom, scared as a tear began to form under her eye.

"I don't know..." said Cheerilee, "but I'll find some way to keep you all safe. I promise...I'll protect you all, no matter what!" The teacher was clearly scared, but wasn't about to let that deter her from keeping her students safe from harm.

(...Protect them...?) pondered Mega Pony. With Cheerilee's words running around his mind, the robot did a quick scan of the weapon he just obtained, and was delighted to find out its purpose after he was finished. "That's it! There is a way out of this mess!"

Everypony looked over at him, not sure what he meant. But they didn't have much time to think about it more when they saw that the two Manticores were readying another flame attack. "Here it comes..." said Luna, a hint of frustration in her voice. "Brace for impact!"

The creature in front of the Alicorns' barrier fired first, striking the shield. As expected, it wasn't able to break through and hit anypony. But then the other Manticore fired its flames, attacking the group from the side that wasn't being protected. Cheerilee and her class instinctively ducked and covered, expecting the worst.

But just then, Mega Pony bravely stood inbetween the stream of fire and its targets, changing his armor color and cutie mark quickly: He now looked similar to Cheerilee. Without a moment to waste, Mega Pony activated the new weapon, creating four metal plates out of thin air; the plates were shaped like flowers, specifically, the flowers that made up the teacher's cutie mark. Once they appeared, the plates began to spin super-fast, creating a yellow blur in front of the robot just as the flames reached the group. However, nopony was hit by the attack: The centrifugal force created by the spinning metal plates was powerful enough to repel the attack, sparing them all.

*** WEAPON GET! *** Flower Shield ***

Cheerilee and her class opened their eyes when they realized that they were perfectly fine. "We're still okay??" asked Dinky, happy, but confused. "How?"

Apple Bloom stood back up and saw Mega Pony using his new weapon to deflect the Manticore's fire attack. "It's Mega Pony! He saved us from gettin' hurt!" she exclaimed.

Cheerilee stood back up as well to make sure that everypony in the class was accounted for. Once the teacher made sure that all of her students were okay, she walked over to Mega Pony and thanked him, saying, "Thank you so much for saving my class, as well as myself, Mega Pony..."

The robot looked back at her and told her, "You're welcome, Ms. Cheerilee...But I couldn't have done it without your help. After all, you obviously care a lot about protecting your students, and that's what allowed me to obtain a shield weapon from you." He then glanced right back at the attacking Manticore, who had just now stopped breathing its flames and looked exhausted. "Of course, defending isn't ALL this weapon can do..." the robot added as his Unicorn horn began glowing. He then leaned his head upwards before quickly swinging it down and to his left, which caused the metal plates that were still spinning in front of him to fly out forward, striking the behemoth hard.

The Manticore growled out of both pain and exhaustion. Before it could recover from the shock, Mega Pony switched back to his original colors and fired a charged Friendship Buster shot at it. This time, the robot's default weapon seemed to be more effective now that the Manticore was weakened heavily, and the creature toppled to the ground, defeated. Now there was only one Manticore left.

"This fight's not over yet..." stated Celestia. "There may only be one of those things left, but it's quite clear that it's still at full power. If this fight drags on any longer, there's still a high chance that somepony will get hurt..."

"Then we have no choice:" stated Luna. "You have to use that attack and try to take it down with but one strike!"

"I know...but I have to stay here and keep the barrier active in case it attacks us again!" the white Alicorn reminded her younger sister. Just then, the Princess of the Sun got an idea: "I've got it!" She glanced over towards Mega Pony and called for him. "Mega Pony! Come over here, quickly!"

The robot ran over to his mother as soon as he heard her. "What is it, Mom?" he asked.

"We need to end this fight, and end it now, before that creature gets another chance to attack." Celestia told him. She then presented her cutie mark to him and said, "Which is why I want you to copy my power."

"Copy YOUR power?!" he asked, not sure if he heard her correctly.

"Exactly." the white Alicorn confirmed. "Our only chance to end this battle quickly is defeat that Manticore in one attack, and I have just the special power that will do that." Turning her head towards him, she instructed, "Mega Pony, go ahead touch my mark; I will focus every last bit of my willpower to send you the weapon you need...Once you obtain that power, do not hesitate to use it, understand?"

"I understand, Mom." Mega Pony replied with a nod. He then brought his hoof to his mother's cutie mark and tapped it, triggering his Copy Chip. Once the process was complete, the robot then swapped his color scheme for Celestia's, taking a second or two to look at himself, as well as his mother's cutie mark on his flank. Once he felt he was ready, he galloped in front of the remaining Manticore, who snarled at him in response, preparing to launch another stream of flames. But Mega Pony showed absolutely no fear as he began drawing energy into his horn, taking in more solar power than he normally did and focusing it into one spot.

Celestia and Luna then glanced back at Cheerilee and her class. "Everypony, cover your eyes and keep them covered until we say otherwise!" the Princess of the Sun ordered them. The others nodded and did just as the Princess told them, ducking down, closing their eyes, and putting their right front hooves over their closed eyes.

Not long after Celestia gave out that order, Mega Pony had finished collecting all of the energy he needed. Then, just as the Manticore in front of him spewed out its flames, the robot's horn sparked and let out a massive ball of light that got bigger and bigger, covering almost every inch of the schoolyard. The light was so powerful, that it snuffed out the Manticore's flame attack as soon as it made contact, and the sphere continued to grow even bigger. Eventually, it completely engulfed the creature, and it was hit with a light so intensely bright, that it constantly roared in agony for several seconds, until, at last, it fainted and fell down to the dirt, completely knocked out.

*** WEAPON GET! *** Sunburst ***

The powerful light that radiated from Mega Pony lasted for several seconds before it finally began to dim, the sphere shrinking as it did so. Eventually, the light faded away completely, and the robot slumped down on one hoof, panting heavily in exhaustion.

Once Celestia and Luna opened their eyes and saw that the last of the Manticore trio had fallen, they dispelled their barrier and ran over to the mechanical pony. "Are you okay?!" asked the white Alicorn, concerned. "Are your systems still functioning?"

The robot was tired, but still active. "I'm okay, Mom..." he told her. "All my systems are functioning normally."

Luna helped her sister bring Mega Pony back onto all fours. "I must say, Mega Pony...I'm impressed that you managed to use my sister's strongest attack so well." she told him. "Though, I have to admit, I was very skeptical at the thought of my sister giving you that power as quickly as she did, without giving you the chance to practice using it first..."

"Yeah, I'll defintely need to practice using this weapon some more..." he told his aunt. "Hopefully before I'll need to use it again..." After his remark, he then switched back to his original color scheme.

"Is everypony okay?" Cheerilee asked her class. "Did any of you get singed or anything?"

"Ah'm fine, Ms. Cheerilee." Apple Bloom answered.

"I'm okay too." Dinky added.

"Thame with me." Twist responded.

The teacher pony sighed out of relief, now that she knew that the crisis was over and everypony was okay. All that was left on her mind was one question: "What do you suppose caused those Manticores to come here and attack us like that?" she asked the Princesses.

"I think I might have a way to obtain that information." Luna chimed in. "I'll walk over to one of them and scan their memories; perhaps I might be able to see what it was that caused them to go berserk."

"You can do that, Aun-...er, I mean...you can do that, Princess Luna?" Mega Pony asked.

"I can enter the dreams of anypony that I choose." Luna stated. "Looking into another's memories is, as you young ponies put it, 'no sweat'." The Princess of the Night then walked over to one of the fallen Manticores. She then made her long horn glow brightly as a similar glow surrounded the creature in front of her. The glowing lasted for a few seconds before it faded away. "Ah...I see now..."

"Did you find out anything?" asked Celestia.

"I did, Elder Sister." Luna replied. Turning towards the approaching Ms. Cheerilee, she stated, "Apparently, these beasts had attacked us because two of Ms. Cheerilee's students disturbed their nap and made them cranky."

"Two of my students?" asked the teacher, shocked. "But who would even-" She then stopped her sentence short when she realized who the culprits were. Narrowing her eyes, she then said, in a low voice, "Oh...I see..."

Turning towards the fallen Manticore again, Luna stated, "Before we attend to any other matters, we should first take care of removing these creatures from the school grounds before they recover." She then walked over to Mega Pony and said to him, "Here, copy my power, Mega Pony. And don't worry: It will not be nearly as intense as my older sister's weapon."

"Um, sure! I'll do whatever you need me to do." the robot stated, touching the dark-blue Alicorn's cutie mark, and then switching to her color scheme afterwards.

*** WEAPON GET! *** Lunar Beam ***

"The power that I have given to you is the Lunar Beam." said the younger Royal Sister. "It has the power to force a foe into falling asleep. Since these three Manticores' naptime was rudely interrupted, I believe it is only fair that we put them back to sleep, don't you agree?"

"Seems fair to me." agreed Mega Pony. "So what do I need to do?"

"Just get close enough to each of the creatures, and fire the beam to put them to sleep." Luna instructed him. "That is all you need to do."

"Got it." the robot replied. He then moved towards each of the three Manticores and fired the Lunar Beam at them. Each time, the ray automatically targeted the head of each of the beasts, and when it was finished, they were all sleeping soundly as if nothing had happened. "Wow, that's impressive..." Mega Pony said to himself. "I didn't know there were weapons that worked like this..."

The two Princesses walked over to the robot once he put the third Manticore to sleep. "Great work, Mega Pony." Celestia said, praising him for his job well done. "We'll handle things from here." After that, she and Luna then activated their horns and used their levitation spells to pick up all three of the creatures. The Alicorns then took flight and headed deep into the forest, with the Manticores in tow.

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

About two minutes had passed by since the battle was over, and everypony else was waiting patiently for the Princesses to return from the Everfree Forest. Just then, Dinky spotted two figures flying towards where they were and shouted, "There they are! They're back!"

Celestia and Luna soared towards the schoolhouse and landed softly on the grass below. "So, did you get the Manticores back home?" asked Mega Pony.

"We have indeed." the white Alicorn answered. "The creatures were returned safely to the forest with no further complications."

"Not only that," Luna spoke up, "I also erased their memories of everything that happened just now. This means that they do not know the identities of whomever woke them, or the location of the school." Turning to Ms. Cheerilee, she said to her, "You and your students should not have to worry about them anytime soon."

"Thank goodness..." the teacher said with a sigh. "I'm just glad that it's all over." Putting on a slightly angry expression, she then added, "That just leaves one more matter to take care of...Pardon me - TWO more matters." She then turned around to face Snips and Snails, emerging from a faraway bush after they saw that the battle was over. Cheerilee's angry expression was shared by just about all of her students.

The two were trembling, knowing full well that they were in deep trouble. "Uh..." began the teal-coated colt, trying to explain himself. But all he could come up with was, "Aheh...uh, April Fools...?"

Apple Bloom's eyes widened when she heard Snips' rather pathetic reply. "...April Fools?" she asked. "THAT'S the best ya'll could come up with to explain yerselves?!? Ya'll went an' led three mad Manticores over here that nearly killed us all, and the best excuse ya'll could think of is 'April Fools'?!? It's not even anywhere NEAR April yet!!!" she shouted at them, clearly angry at what they did.

Just then, Cheerilee put her left front hoof on Apple Bloom's shoulder, which prompted her to calm down immediately. "Apple Bloom..." she said to her. "That's enough..."

The yellow filly sighed sadly and responded, saying, "Sorry, Ms. Cheerilee...Ah jus' had t' get that off mah chest."

"I understand." the teacher told her. "But I will take care of this myself." She then walked over to the two Unicorn colts, sporting a look on her face that told everypony that she meant business. Staring at the two of them, she said, "Now as for you...I don't know WHAT in Equestria possessed you two to not only go into the forest unsupervised, but also endanger your fellow classmates by bringing those monsters here, but whatever it is, I shall not stand for it!!"

"Wh-wh-wh-what are you gonna do, M-M-Ms. Cheerilee...?" asked a cowering Snips.

Cheerilee breathed a sigh of relief to calm herself. Then, she told the two Unicorns, "Well, luckily for you two, nopony was hurt when the Manticores came here; otherwise, the punishment would have been straight-up expulsion for the both of you. That being said, however, it doesn't mean that you two are off the hook. So you both can look forward to having detention for the remainder of the school year to think about what you've done. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Ms. Cheerilee..." groaned both the colts in unison.

"Good. Now go inside, get all of your things, and leave. I'm suspending you for the rest of the day." she told them. "And based on how angry the rest of your classmates are at you, I believe it might be in your best interest."

"Yes, Ms. Cheerilee..." Snips and Snails slowly walked back towards the schoolhouse, hanging their heads in shame.

After Cheerilee was done with the two young colts, Luna walked over to her with a smirk on her face. "Nicely handled, Ms. Cheerilee..." the dark-blue Alicorn complimented. "I have to admit, I didn't think you had it in you to be so strict with those two."

"Oh, I can be tough when I want to be, Your Highness." the teacher pony informed Luna. "Underneath this sweet demeanor of mine is a pony that isn't afraid show a little discipline when, and only when, it's necessary. Besides, what I did to them will seem like nothing compared to what might happen after I inform their parents...I've heard that they're still grounded from when they brought that Ursa Minor cub into town."

"They did WHAT?" asked Luna, a bit shocked.

"Yes, it's true." Celestia said to her sister. "I'll tell you about it later, though." The Princess of the Sun then strolled over to her "son" and said to him, "Mega Pony, once again, you've done a fine job protecting your fellow ponies. I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom." he responded. "But really, it was nothing; I was just doing what you programmed me to do."

"But you would have thaved uth anyway, wouldn't you?" asked Twist. "Even if you weren't built to do that?"

"...I guess that would be plausible." the robot replied with a smile.

Just then, everypony heard a pair of groans coming from closeby. When they turned around to look, they saw that it was none other than Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon making those groans, having just regained consciousness after Snips and Snails collided with them earlier. "Urrrrnn...what happened...?" asked Silver, rubbing her head.

"I don't know, but whoever did it is gonna have to answer to me!" Diamond complained.

Cheerilee walked over to the two fillies and asked them, "Are you two okay? You were both knocked out when the Manticores came here."

"What Manticores?" asked Silver, confused.

"Three of them." answered Mega Pony. "They came here and attacked us, but I was able to get rid of them."

"I see..." hummed Diamond. "I guess that's pretty impressive...Of course, I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't have succeeded if we hadn't given you OUR special powers, right Silver Spoon?"

"Totally true, D.T." replied the grey filly.

Mega Pony's smile disappeared from his face; he didn't have the heart to tell them at first that their weapons were ineffective against the attacking Manticores. But he eventually decided that he had to tell them sooner or later. "Um...actually, about that..." he began. "I...I hate to have to tell you both this, but..."

"But what?" asked Diamond Tiara, still feeling pretty smug. "No need to be so modest, Mega Pony. Go ahead and tell everypony just how useful our weapons were against those creatures."

"Well..." the robot replied. "to be honest...the weapons you gave me weren't very useful at all..."

"Yep, just as I thought! Our weapons weren't helpful to-...Wait, WHAT?!?!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed, shocked when she realized just what the robot had said. "What did you just say?!?"

"I'm sorry, Diamond. But it's true." he told her. "I tried them both, but they didn't do anything to the Manticores at all. In fact, the best weapon that I had gotten prior to the attack was the one Twist gave me."

"Twist?! TWIST?!?!" shouted the bratty pink filly. "That can't be!!! I don't believe you!!!" Now angry, she stared right at Mega Pony and said to him, "You're just saying that to make her look better, is that it?!?" Her yelling was loud enough to frighten even her friend, Silver Spoon.

That accusation of Diamond's was the last straw for Princess Luna. "That is it...I cannot take any more of their comments!" the dark-blue Alicorn growled to herself.

Celestia, seeing that her younger sister was getting angry, said to her, "Luna...calm down and be reasonable..."

"Do not try and stop me, Elder Sister..." the Princess of the Night told her. "I am not going to be overly harsh with them, but I am also not going to stand here and allow them to insult Mega Pony like that. You do understand, don't you?"

The white Alicorn was a bit concerned, but knew that her sister had a point. "Very well, but don't be nasty towards them." she instructed.

Luna nodded and walked over to where Diamond and Silver were. The pink filly stopped shouting once she saw the Princess walking towards her. "P-Princess Luna??" she asked, stepping away from Mega Pony for the moment. "Wha-what is it?"

The dark-blue Alicorn stood silently for a while, staring at the two of them. Finally, she spoke to the pair, saying, "As you both should know, I am well over a millennium old, so I might be a bit hard of hearing...But did I just hear you call my nephew a LIAR?"

"Urk...!" Diamond Tiara didn't have a comment to say back, because even she knew that it wasn't wise to speak ill towards a Princess.

"Not going to say anything, are you?" asked Luna. "I shouldn't be surprised. After all, admitting when you're wrong is something you don't do often, if you ever did." The Princess turned away from them and continued, saying, "I have been observing you and your little friend - Silver Spoon, I believe - ever since I came here to meet with you and your classmates. You both think that just because you have your cutie marks now, it means that you think that you're better than everypony, don't you?"

"Who? Me??" asked Diamond frantically. "Well, I-I-I wouldn't exactly call it that..."

"Hmph...Well, whether you call it that or not is insignificant." Luna told her. "The fact is that you make fun of others because you believe that you're better than them all...After all, you come from well-off families, and you got your marks at a young age. However, those alone do not make you any better than anypony else..." Diamond and Silver said nothing as Luna continued talking.

"I am sorry to tell you both this, but I am afraid those cutie marks of yours are not as glamourous as you may think them to be." she continued. "You see, from what I have observed, a pony's cutie mark tells of not only that pony's best talent, but it also shows some insight into that pony's personality. Most of the time, it shows their most positive traits." Luna then turned to face Diamond and Silver before continuing. "However, every now and then, a pony may recieve a cutie mark that shows a rather...different part of their personality."

"Different how?" asked Mega Pony.

"Instead of showing their positive traits," the dark-blue Alicorn answered, "their mark will instead reveal their negative ones; their flaws, everything about them that is...unfavorable. That, of course, only happens if said negative traits overpower their positive ones. And unfortunately for you, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon...the two of you just so happen to fall into that rare breed."

The two bratty fillies, who normally were smug and overly-confident, were now totally silent upon hearing that.

"And you only have yourselves to blame for it." the Princess of the Night continued. "All your lives, you've had everypony doing all of your work for you, and you never once made any effort into doing anything for yourselves. And because of that, you received your cutie marks...But instead of showing your special talent or any redeeming quality of your personality, it will instead be a constant reminder, to you and anypony else, that you chose to waste your potential and talent."

"...That...that can't be..." Diamond replied, completely in shock. "There's...no way that could be true..."

"So that's what it is, huh?" Apple Bloom suddenly asked. "That's why ya'll give us all such a hard time, ain't it?"

"What are you talking about??" asked Diamond in a bit of a nasty tone.

"You make fun of uth becauthe you're jealouth of uth." Twist answered. "Becauthe you know that we have, or will have, cutie markth that could be better than yourth."

"And I'll bet that thinking about it gets you really mad, doesn't it?" Dinky then asked.

"Oh, what would you know about that?!" shouted Diamond. Pointing at Dinky and Apple Bloom, she whined, saying, "You two don't even HAVE marks!"

"We might not have our cutie marks yet," Apple Bloom then told her, "but at least we have the chance t' get a good one like Twist did, an' not get stuck with one like yours fer the rest of our lives."

This situation was something that the normally snooty Diamond Tiara was not used to. Up to this point, she and Silver Spoon were the most popular among their classmates (or at least they thought that was the case). Now they felt as though that they had just become a laughing stock, even though nopony was actually laughing at them. "St...st-st...stupid! This is all so STUPID!!" the pink filly yelled out of frustration before stomping away and grumbling to herself.

"D.T., wait!!" Silver Spoon called out as she ran towards her friend. "Wait for me!!"

After the two of them left, Luna let out a sigh and said to her sister, "Elder Sister, I...apologize if I was too hard on them both..."

Celestia hummed to herself a little, thinking. Then she told her younger sister, "Well, I suppose that what you said to them is something that they probably needed to hear..."

"So is that why their weapons turned out to be weak?" Mega Pony then asked.

"I believe so." Luna answered. "Because they did not put nearly as much effort into earning their cutie marks like many of us here did. All they probably cared about was earning them as soon as possible just so that they could rub it in everypony's face. I believe the old adage, 'Haste Makes Waste' is quite applicable to the two of them."

"But...if that's so," the robot prepared to ask, "does that mean that they'll never be talented at anything?"

"Well, that depends on whether or not they finally realize that putting other ponies down and acting as if they are better than others isn't right." Celestia answered him. "But maybe now, they'll think twice before making fun of anypony again, and make some effort to better themselves. If they do, they might finally see what they were truely meant for in life."

"You know..." Apple Bloom chimed in, "a part of me hopes that they do change...Ah think it'd be much better if we were all friends with each other."

"I think so, too." added Ms. Cheerilee. "And I'll bet that deep down, Diamond and Silver think that too, even if they won't admit it." The teacher then turned towards the Princesses and Mega Pony, saying to them, "Anyway, I'd like to thank you all for coming here to meet with us, as well as help us out when the Manticores attacked."

"It was our pleasure, Ms. Cheerilee." said Celestia with a smile. "If you ever want us to come back again, do not hesitate to call for us."

"I'll make sure to." the teacher replied with a slight bow.

"See ya later, Mega Pony!" Apple Bloom called over to the robot pony. "Come back sometime, okay?"

"I sure will, Apple Bloom." he said to her. "I'd be more than happy to come back again." Mega Pony then walked over to Twist and told her, "Promise me that you'll live safely and happily, and don't let anypony like Diamond get under your skin."

"Don't worry, Mr. Mega Pony." she responded. "It won't bother me anymore. I'll jutht keep doing what I do every thingle day, ath long ath it maketh me happy inthide." The robot smiled and patted her on the head. He then got up and left with the Royal Sisters, with Cheerilee and the rest of her class waving them goodbye.

Minutes later, the three of them were riding in a chariot back to Canterlot, pulled by two Pegasi in the Royal Guard. As they headed to their destination, Mega Pony then asked, "Um, Mom?"

Celestia looked at her "son" and responded, asking him, "Yes? What is it?"

"Well..." he started, trying to think of how to say what was on his mind. "I've been thinking about something since Aunt Luna was talking about cutie marks earlier, like how they can represent somepony's personality and stuff...When I was first activated, I wasn't sure what my mark meant...So, I guess what I'm asking is...what does my cutie mark represent?"

The white Alicorn smiled and said to him, "I had a feeling that you would ask me that one day..." She then went on to explain, "As you know, your cutie mark is artificial; I painted it on you while I was constructing your body. But even though it is not a 'real' cutie mark in the physical sense, it doesn't make it any less special than anypony else's."

"And why is that?" Mega Pony inquried further.

Celestia then pointed at her creation's cutie mark and answered him saying, "The mark that I painted here is actually a drawn representation of the projectile that your main weapon fires. But I did not simply choose this design because of that." The Princess paused for a moment before posing a question of her own. "Do you see how it goes around in a circular shape?" she asked, tracing the outside of the robot's mark.

Mega Pony and Princess Luna nodded to say that they acknowledged that fact.

The white Alicorn then informed them, "Now think about this: When you trace a circle with your hoof, you notice that you will keep tracing that circle, around and around, over and over again, without stopping to turn a corner or reach an end." The other occupants of the chariot listened on, wondering where Celestia was going with this. "To me," the Princess of the Sun continued, "that represent's one's pontential. A pony's drive to improve themself and do their very best is virtually unlimited. Those that do not yet know what they are good at will eventually find their calling, and those that know their talents already can continue to improve at them and learn something new."

"That's what you were saying to Cheerilee's class earlier..." noted Mega Pony.

"Indeed. And that is the reason why I thought that you would be the perfect pony to talk about such things with us." the white Alicorn told him. "Although you are a robot, I designed you to be able to grow and better yourself with everything that you experience. You have the ability to learn from both your accomplishments and from your mistakes, and you'll come out a better pony as a result. And that is the meaning behind your cutie mark: A circle, which represents your unlimited potential."

"Wow..." said Mega Pony after learning about the meaning behind his mark. "That's...quite a lot to think about..."

"My older sister has always thought deeply about such things." stated Luna. "You should feel quite pleased to know that she put a lot of thought and care into every last detail when she designed you."

The robot smiled as he wiped a small tear from his eye. "I do feel pleased to know that..." he responded. He turned towards his mother and said to her, "I'm glad that I mean so much to you, Mom...Thanks for...well, everything."

Celestia nodded and replied, saying, "You're welcome, Mega Pony. It was my pleasure."

Mega Pony then glanced over at Princess Luna and said to her, "And thank you, too...You know, for standing up for me when Diamond and Silver were giving me a hard time."

"It was my pleasure as well." the dark-blue Alicorn told him. "I shall not allow anypony to badmouth you as long as I am around."

The robot smiled back after hearing that. Then, suddenly, he recalled something from that point in time. "Say...Aunt Luna? I just remembed..." he began. "When you were telling off Diamond and Silver then...I heard that you called me your nephew. Is that right?"

The normally-confident Princess of the Night stiffened up a bit, her pupils shinking in size. (Oh dear...) she thought. (Did I let that slip out...?)

Smirking, Princess Celestia looked over at her younger sister and chimed in, saying, "Oh yes...I DO recall hearing you say something like that earlier...Does this mean that you aren't really as embarrased with Mega Pony calling your his aunt?"

Luna sweated a little as she tried to figure out what to say to try and convince them otherwise. "Aheheh...Elder Sister...thou art mistaken...!" she said in a frantic tone. "I-I-I didn't say, 'nephew', I said...um...uhhhmm...'achoo'! Yes, that! I...had to sneeze, nothing more."

Celestia and Mega Pony glanced at each other, a sly smirk on each of their faces; they knew full well that Luna was lying in order to save face. They both chuckled a little as their chariot neared Canterlot Castle. Today, things had gotten pretty interesting for Mega Pony, and he had a feeling that the next few days would offer more of the same. He would learn as much as he could from everything that he would experience, in order to become the best he could, and truely be the powerful guardian of Equestria that Celestia wanted him to be.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT EPISODE: "A Scratch in a Friendly Melody"
---------------------------------------------------------------------