Episode 108: Honey, I Shrunk the Ponies:
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THE STORY SO FAR...:
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In the year 20XX, in the peaceful land of Equestria, Princess Celestia, the country's benevolent ruler, unveiled a great secret to the ponies that she trusted most. A secret project meant for the better safety of Equestria and all of its citizens: Mega Pony; the first fully-robotic pony!
Today is a very special day for Mega Pony; it's his first Hearth's Warming Eve, and his creator, Princess Celestia, wants to make it his most enjoyable day yet. The benevolent Alicorn Princess has decided to throw a Hearth's Warming party for him in her castle, and has also invited Twilight and her friends to join in on the celebration. The robot had just left for Ponyville to deliver the invitations while Celestia and the castle staff got everything ready for the party.
Mega Pony is excited about celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve for the first time, and can't wait to attend the party his mother is organizing. At this time of the year, it seems that nothing could ever go wrong...
...or could it?
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CHARACTER SELECT:
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Mega Pony (PCN-001): The first robot pony and guardian of Equestria.
Princess Celestia: One of the two rulers of Equestria. Creator of Mega Pony.
Princess Luna: Celestia's younger sister and a ruler of Equestria.
Twilight Sparkle: Highly intelligent Unicorn. Element of Magic.
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It was another beautiful day in the country of Equestria. However, it wasn't just like any ordinary day; today was a very special day. It was Hearth's Warming Eve, a holiday that just about everypony was excited about. To many, it meant spending time with families, throwing Hearth's Warming parties, and of course, giving and receiving presents. Some would claim that the whole idea of gift-giving and the madness that often ensued when it came to purchasing those gifts detracted from the true meaning of the holiday. However, most ponies didn't share that opinion, and thought of it as a way to deepen the bond between their friends and families.
All over Equestria, ponies were hard at work putting up Hearth's Warming decorations throughout the country's many towns and cities. Manehatten had pre-ordered a gigantic pine tree to be set up in the center of town, after which it would then be adorned with all sorts of decorations. The floating city of Cloudsdale commissioned the Pegasi to fly to the northern regions while carrying the liquid rainbow that the Weather Factory produced. That liquid would then, at nighttime, be used to create a beautiful, transparent light that would be big enough to be seen all over Equestria (thus, many dubbed it "The Northern Lights"). In the Crystal Empire, all of the buildings would light up during the night, creating a multicolored hue that was truely a sight to behold.
Compared to what the major cities did when it came to Hearth's Warming decorations, the town of Ponyville was nowhere near as flashy or as vibrant. However, to say that it was any less significant than what other towns and cities did would have been a lie. Red and green streamers were draped over every building and lamppost, many houses had set up personal Hearth's Warming decor in and around their homes, and faint holiday music could be heard from loudspeakers that were set up all over town (courtesy of Vinyl Scratch).
The Golden Oaks Library was very neatly decorated. The tree home was garnished with multicolored lights, gold and silver Hearth's Warming balls, and shimmering streams of tinsel, complete with a jeweled star on the top. The library's resident, Twilight Sparkle, spared no expense when it came to prettying up her humble home for the season. The Unicorn in question was busy with her duties, using her magic to replace several holiday books that had just been returned to the library from various residents of the town. Her dragon assistant, Spike, was doing a bit of sweeping while munching on a sugar cookie that came from a batch made by the Cake family at Sugarcube Corner.
Just then, a knock on the front door could be heard. The two occupants of the tree home stopped what they were doing and glanced over at the library's entrance. "Who could that be?" asked Spike, his voice muffled slightly because he was still eating his sugar cookie.
"I don't know...I wasn't expecting any company today." Twilight answered. She then walked over to the door and opened it to see who it was. She was surprised and pleased to see Mega Pony standing there, who was wearing a scarf around his neck that had stripes of light and dark blue upon it, similar to the color of his body. "Oh! Mega Pony! Good to see you again!" the lavender mare greeted.
"Good to see you too, Twilight." replied the robot, walking inside and shutting the door so as not to let in all the cold air from outside. "How've you been?"
"Pretty good, actually. And you?"
"Same for me." Mega Pony then shivered a little and added, "Though I am a bit chilly; it's absolutely freezing outside..."
"You can feel how cold it is out there?" asked Spike.
"Mhmm." hummed the little robot. "My mom designed me to be able to notice abnormal temperatures. That way, I'd know if I was in an area in which my systems could be negatively affected by extreme heat or cold."
"That makes sense." Twilight commented. Of course, the little dragon didn't quite get it, but decided not to dwell on it, for fear of getting a slight migrane. The lavender Unicorn then asked, "So what brings you all the way here, Mega Pony?"
"Well, as you know, today is Hearth's Warming Eve..." the robot began to say.
Twilight then suddenly interrupted him and asked, "Oh, wait! I just realized: This will be your first Hearth's Warming Eve ever, isn't it?"
Mega Pony nodded and continued, telling her, "That's right, and my mom wanted my first one to be really special. So, she's going to be throwing a party at Canterlot Castle, and she sent me to give you this." He then opened up his side compartment and used his psuedo-magic to levitate a small envelope over to the Unicorn mare.
Twilight used her magic to take the envelope and opened it, pulling out a small paper that was about the size of a typical index card. "Oh, wow! Is this an invitation?" she then asked the mechanoid.
"Yep. That's right." Mega Pony answered. "Mom asked me to deliver invitations to you and all of our friends so that you can come to the party."
"That's so great!" the lavender pony cheered. She then put on a slightly worried expression and asked him, "Wait...is this party going to be anything like the Grand Galloping Gala? Because, well...my friends and I really didn't enjoy it..."
"Yeah, I know. Mom told me about that." the robot replied with a chuckle. Answering her question, he then told her, "No, it's not going to be anything like that. It'll be a small party; just me, you, our friends, and of course, my mom and Aunt Luna."
"Oh, okay." Twilight replied, feeling relieved to know that.
"Um, do I get an invitation?" asked Spike.
"Of course you do." said Mega Pony, giving him a envelope similar to the one he gave to Twilight, which made the little dragon happy. He then asked Twilight, "So, will the two of you be able to go?"
"Sure! No problem at all!" the Unicorn mare answered. "It's not like Spike and I really have anything to do here today; the library will be closed early for the holiday anyway. So yeah, we'll be there, guaranteed."
"That's great!" cheered the robot. He then trotted off and told them, "I'll see you both later then; I still have a few more invitations to deliver!"
"Okay! See you at the castle!" shouted Twilight as she waved her right foreleg at him. The robot then galloped away, heading for his next destination...
"A party at Canterlot Castle?" asked Applejack shortly after Mega Pony got to Sweet Apple Acres and gave out her invitation.
"That's right. My mom's putting one together for my first Hearth's Warming Eve, and she'd like you to be there." the robot told her.
"Sounds like it could be a whole lotta fun, Mega Pony." the Earth Pony told him. "Ah'd love t' be there!"
"Really? That's great news!" The mechanical pony then asked, "Are you sure you'll be able to make it? After all, you and your family tend to be pretty busy every day."
"Usually, but this is one of the few days of the year that we really don't have much goin' on." Applejack informed him. "Not much grows durin' the winter, and besides, Hearth Warming's the time of the year to not worry about all that sorta stuff anyway. So don't you worry yerself; I'll be at the party fer sure!" The robot smiled, happy to know that the farm pony would be able to attend the festivities.
Mega Pony's next stop was at Rainbow Dash's home in the clouds. He flew up there using his Emergency Wings and knocked on the cloudy door. Sure enough, the cyan-coated Pegasus opened the door to greet him. "Hey, what's up, Mega?" she said to him.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash!" the robot greeted. "Good to see you again." The mechanical pony then glanced over to the side when he noticed that there was somepony else in the cloud house as well. "Oh! Hi Fluttershy! I didn't know you were here, too!" he called out to her.
"Um...Hi, Mega Pony..." the yellow Pegasus said to him in her usual shy tone.
"Me and Fluttershy were just talkin' for a bit before you got here." Rainbow explained. "I was just tellin' her about that pony you and I met in Baltimare."
"Oh, okay." the robot responded.
"I-I'm sorry...Were you expecting me not to be here...?" Fluttershy asked him.
"No, it's okay...It just means that I won't have to make an extra trip to your house just to talk to you, so it's actually a good thing." stated Mega Pony. He then presented two more of his envelopes to the two Pegasi and told them, "Anyway, I came here to give you these: They're invitations to a Hearth's Warming party that my mom is throwing at Canterlot Castle."
"A party?! Awesome!!" Dash responded in excitement.
"...Yay." Fluttershy cheered meekly upon getting the invite.
"So will you two be able to come?" he then asked them.
"You know it!" cheered the cyan mare. "I ain't got much else to do; the rainbows used for the Northern Lights tonight are being handled by some of the other Pegasi...And my tortoise, Tank, is spending the next few months at this special reptile spa far away from town. Isn't that right, Fluttershy?"
"Um...Oh! O-of course!" the yellow Pegasus responded. "He's going to have a very nice time there, I'm sure." The timid mare then turned her head away from Rainbow Dash, so that the cyan mare wouldn't see her wince a little to herself; she was clearly hiding something from her boisterous friend. (Someday, I'll tell her the truth about that...) she thought. (But...not now.)
"Okay, good! Then I'll see you two at Canterlot Castle, then." said Mega Pony. The two Pegasi nodded to say that they'd be there, and with that, the robot then flew off, heading for his next destination...
Mega Pony then arrived at Sugarcube Corner to meet up with Pinkie Pie so that he could give her an invitation to the Hearth's Warming party that Celestia was throwing. He knocked on the door and called out to her, "Pinkie Pie, are you in there?"
"Just a secooooond!" said the pink pony's cheerful voice from inside. The robot waited for about thirty or so seconds for her to come to the door. Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he turned to look, he was alarmed when he saw the crazy party pony right behind him, as if she was there the whole time. "Hiya, Mega Pony!" she said to him.
"Huh?? Pinkie Pie??" asked the robot, confused. "But...I could have sworn that I heard you in the shop. Did you...go out a back exit?"
"Nope!" she said with a smile. "Sugarcube Corner doesn't have a back exit. So I used the front exit."
Mega Pony was even more confused, not sure exactly how she could have left the store without him seeing her. He then sighed and said to himself, "It's a good thing my mom installed a Pinkie Logic algorithm in my CPU, or my head would've exploded by now." He then told her, "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something. You see, my mom is-"
"I know!" Pinkie suddenly interrupted. "Your mom, Princess Celestia, is putting together your first Hearth's Warming party, and you're here to give me an invitation, right?"
The robot was astounded that she guessed that right on the dot. "H-how'd you know that?" he asked in curiosity.
"Simple. I read all that twenty sentences ago." she answered with a smile.
Mega Pony had absolutely no idea what the silly pony was talking about, but he chuckled a bit in response, chalking it up to her fun-loving personality. He then took out the invitation and said, "Well, anyway...since you already know, here's your invite. And I can safely assume that you'll be there, right?"
"Yeppity-yep-yep!" Pinkie Pie answered with her boundless enthusiasm. "I always have time for a party!"
"Good to hear that, Pinkie." he responded. He then turned to leave and told her, "Alright, I'll see you at the castle then, okay?"
"Okie-dokie-lokie! See you there!" said the pink pony, waving good-bye as he left. After he was gone, Pinkie then sighed and said to herself, "I am so happy that someone came up with that for my catchphrase...Okie-dokie-lokie! Oh, I love saying that!" She then began saying the phrase repeatedly, occasionally putting more emphasis on certain parts of it. "Okie-dokie-lokie! O-KIE-dokie-lokie! Okie-DOKIE-lokie...!"
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Mega Pony's last stop was at the Carousel Boutique, so that he could give his last invitation to the beautiful Unicorn, Rarity. The robot strolled up to the fancy white building and said to himself, "Okay, I just have to deliver this last invitation, and then we can all meet up and enjoy the party!" But as he approached the door to knock on it...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
The mechanical pony had stopped when he heard the shrill cry of the Unicorn fashionista from within the boutique. Thinking that she was in danger, Mega Pony quickly opened the door and ran as fast as he could to find his friend. "Rarity?! Was that you??" he asked, concerned. "Where are you?!"
He then heard the voice again. "Nooooo!!! How could this have happened?!?!" she shouted in distress.
The armored pony then figured out that the voice was coming from upstairs, presumably from Rarity's bedroom. Remembering where that room was from the last time he was in the boutique, Mega Pony raced up the stairs and burst through the door to the bedroom. Sure enough, Rarity was in there, sitting in front of her vanity. She had buried her face between her forelegs, which were placed on top of the table-like part of the piece of furniture, and was sobbing uncontrollably.
"Rarity...?" the little robot began to ask her. "Are you okay?"
The white Unicorn looked up at him once she noticed that he was there. Tears were still running down her face and ruining her makeup. "Oh, Mega Pony..." she said, still crying a little. "It's horrible...just terrible...! I'd even like to go as far as to say that it might be the worst possible thing!" She then sniffled a bit and, in her normal tone, added, "But I can't for the life of me remember where I put my red fainitng sofa, so I won't say that."
"What's wrong?" Mega Pony then asked her.
Turning towards the robot, she then pointed to her mane and asked him, "Look! Do you see what I see?!"
"See what exactly...? Your mane?"
"It's what's ON my mane that's upsetting me!" She then ponited to a specific part of her mane, revealing that one hair on it was not the same violet color as the rest of her mane hair. "It's a grey hair! A GREY HAIR!!!" she shouted. "I was just brushing myself when I noticed it!!"
"So is that why you were screaming earlier?" asked the robot.
"Of COURSE that's why!!" she snapped. "Don't you get it?! This is a sign!! A sign that I'm getting older!!!" Rarity then went into a whining fit as she asked herself, "How could this happen to me?!? I try my best every day to be as beautiful as possible and now THIS!!!!" She then began crying again, distressed over the grey hair.
"Calm down, Rarity..." said Mega Pony, trying his best to comfort her. "Everything will be okay..."
"Hmph! Easy for you to say..." she said a bit snottingly. "You don't technically age. You don't have to worry about getting gray hairs, wrinkles, crow's feet, a bad hip, or anything like that!" Still grumbling, she said to herself, "Some Hearth's Warming Eve this will turn out to be, getting a gray hair as a present!"
Mega Pony, feeling a bit down from hearing that, said to his friend, "...Rarity, please...This isn't the time to be upset about something that's beyond your control."
The white Unicorn sighed and told him, "...You're right. I shouldn't be trying to drag you into my personal problems, especially not now. Please forgive me..."
"It's okay...I understand." The robot then pulled out his last party invitation using his psuedo-magic and said to her, "Anyway, the reason I came here was to give you this: It's an invitation to a party that my mom's throwing for my first Hearth's Warming Eve. I'd like it if you could be there for it; maybe going there will help you feel a little bit better."
"Yes, perhaps..." said Rarity as she accepted the invite. "It might at least take my mind off of my mane problems."
"So, um...will you be there?"
The white Unicorn nodded and told him, "Yes. I will. Thank you very much."
"You're welcome, Rarity." Mega Pony replied. He then headed towards the door to leave the bedroom. Once he got there, he stopped, turned around, and told the white Unicorn, "I'll see you at Canterlot Castle, then. And if you could, try not to let what's bothering you get in the way having fun with me or the rest of our friends. You know how much I hate seeing you or anypony else with a sad look on their face..."
"I promise." Rarity told him. After the robot left, she then looked through the drawers on her vanity, trying to find something to cover up the grey mane hair that she had found.
About an hour later, Twilight, Spike, and their friends went to the Ponyville Train Station and boarded the next train that was heading to Canterlot. It was a bit later in the day, so the sun was already beginning to set, but it was still bright enough for the time to still be considered as daytime.
The train ride was long, so the seven of them decided to think of something to do together during the trip. "Say, I've got it!" Pinkie Pie chimed. "Why don't we all sing a song on the way over?"
"Oh that sounds like a wonderful idea, Pinkie." said Fluttershy. "Um...that is, if nopony else thinks of anything better..."
"Ah think it's a great idea too, Pink." agreed Applejack. She then asked, "So...anypony know any good songs?"
After she asked that, there was an awkward silence in the air. The group thought and thought, but nopony could think of a good song to sing. Twilight even pulled out a book from her bag that was titled, "1,001 Fun Songs to Sing", which was placed right next to another book that was titled, "A Pony's Guide to Conveniently-Titled Books". Fluttershy and Spike, who were sitting next to her, glanced at the book as well to see if they could find any good songs in there.
"Find anything in there, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked, leaning over from the seat behind the lavender Unicorn and yellow Pegasus so that she could look at the book.
"No...not really..." hummed Twilight, a bit of disappointment in her tone of voice.
"Shoot...Is it always this hard to think of a song t' sing?" asked Applejack, who was sitting next to Rainbow.
"Yeah, usually when we sing something, it just kinda comes to us without any thought." the cyan Pegasus noted. "Like we knew it beforehoof."
"Okay, so I'm not the only one who notices that, right?" asked the lavender Unicorn. The rest of them nodded yes. "How...bizarre." Twilight said to herself. Taking out a notepad and pencil with her magic, she added, "Note to self: Investigate occurances of spontaneous singing..." After making that note, she put the other items away and went back to looking through her songbook.
"So...what are we going to sing, then?" asked Fluttershy.
"Ooooh! Ooooh! Ooooh! I know! I know!" screamed Pinkie Pie, waving both her front hooves. "I've thought of a great one! My mom used to hum it to herself all the time while she worked!"
"Alright, then. let's hear it." requested Applejack.
The pink pony then cleared her throat and began singing. "The old grey mare, she ain't what she used t' be, ain't what she used t' be, ain't what she used t' be...!"
Upon hearing that song, Rarity, who was sitting right next to Pinkie Pie, shot her head up, her eyes bulging and her bottom lip quivering. Several thoughts ran through her head, asking her why Pinkie had chosen, of all the tens of thousands of songs out there, to sing THAT song today.
Meanwhile, the pink pony, oblivious to her violet-maned friend's current problems, kept right on singing. "The old grey mare, she ain't what she used t' be, ain't what she used t' be, ain't what-"
"PINKIE!!!" Rarity shouted in frustration, interrupting her friend's song. "Could you not sing that INFERNAL song?!?" The others, including Pinkie Pie, just stared at her, wondering what had gotten under her skin. Realizing that all the eyes were on her at the moment, the Unicorn fashionista snapped out of her enraged state and sheepishly whispered, "...Sorry."
"Uh, maybe we should try n' think of somethin' else to do..." Applejack suggested. "Ah didn't feel like singin' anythin' anyway..." Getting an idea, she then asked, "Hey! How's about a game of 'I Spy'?"
"Good idea, Applejack." said Twilight, putting away her book. "Why don't you go first?"
"Sure thing, Twi." said the orange Earth Pony. Glancing around the train car, she tried to find something to have the others try to guess the identity of. Once she came up with something, she told them, "Okay, here goes: Ah spy with mah li'l eye, something...grey!"
"IT'S NOT ME!!!" Rarity suddenly blurted out without thinking.
The others turned to stare at her again. "Uh...no. It ain't you, Rare..." Applejack told her, puzzled. "You ain't grey anywhere on ya..."
"...E-exactly!" the white Unicorn stated, trying to save face. "I'm...n-not grey at all! Never have been, never will be!"
Once again, an awkward silence hung in the air after Rarity's second sudden outburst. Just then, the timid voice of Fluttershy asked, "Um...Applejack? Would the thing you spied happen to be the...um, the loudspeaker in the corner up there?"
The orange Earth Pony then glanced up to they grey box that the yellow Pegasus was pointing to. The farm pony then nodded and said, "Er, yeah...that's right, Fluttershy." The shy mare then smiled a small smile, happy to know that she had gotten it right. Rarity rubbed the back of her head, blushing and showing an uneasy facial expression out of embarrasment.
About less than an hour later, the train finally arrived at the Canterlot Train Station and slowed to a stop. Afterwards, the doors opened and several ponies, including the Mane 6 (plus Spike), departed the train and headed into the royal city. After glancing around for a bit, Pinkie Pie suddenly said, "Hey! Look over there!"
The others looked over in the direction that their pink friend was pointing in. They all saw one of the Royal Guards standing there, a Unicorn, using his magic to hold up a sign that read, "T. Sparkle".
"He must be waiting for us." deduced Twilight. "Let's go over and see him." The seven of them all strolled over to the guard to talk with him. "Um, excuse me, sir..." began the lavender mare.
The guard glanced over at her and responded, saying, "Oh, hello Miss Twilight. I've been expecting you and your companions to show up sooner or later." He then told them all, "Princess Celestia has insisted on providing you with some suitable transportation to the castle."
"What kind of, 'suitable transportation'?" asked Rainbow Dash, hovering in the air.
The guard then motioned them all to follow him out of the station, where he showed them what he meant. Sitting on the road in front of the building was one of the Princesses' golden chariots, with a pair of Pegasi Royal Guards ready to pull it.
"Wow, we're gonna ride in on'a these?" asked Applejack, astounded.
"How simply MARVELOUS...!" Rarity added as she stared at the beautifully-decorated chariot.
"This chariot'll take you all straight to the castle." the Unicorn guard told them. "The rest of the castle staff, and of, course the Princesses, will be expecting you, so you should be able to get in right away." And with that, the six ponies and one dragon sat down in the vehicle, and the Pegasi pulling it took off moments after that.
The chariot then arrived at the front gates of Canterlot Castle. The occupants got out of the vehicle, and were then escorted through the entrance by the two Pegasi pulling the chariot. Once inside, the group strolled their way towards the Throne Room, which was where they were supposed to go first, according to their invitations.
Spike glanced over at Rarity, always taking any chance he could to eye the beautiful Unicorn. But this time, when he looked over at her, he saw that something still seemed to be bothering her. "Rarity? Are you alright...?" he asked her.
"Huh? Oh! Yes, I am, Spike..." she quickly told him. "Nothing's wrong! Nothing's wrong at all."
"I dunno...you seem a bit tense." the dragon noted. Pulling out a brush from Rarity's saddlebag, he then asked, "Want me to brush your mane to help you calm down?"
Rarity gulped; she didn't want anypony - or dragon - to know about what she had found in her mane hair this morning. "Nonono! That's just fine, Spikey-poo..." she told him with an uneasy chuckle and a blush. "I-I-I brushed it this morning!"
The little dragon didn't seem convinced by what she was telling him. But he simply shrugged and put the brush back into the bag, saying, "Suit yourself." He then looked over at Rarity again, still concerned about her.
The group finally reached the Throne Room and walked through the already open doors. Inside were Princesses Celestia and Luna, and of course, Mega Pony. The three of them looked at the approaching ponies and dragon as they walked into the large room. "Alright! You all made it!" cheered the little blue robot, running over to his friends. "I'm so happy you were all able to come!"
"We'd never dream of missin' out on this, Mega Pony." Applejack told him.
"Totally!" added Pinkie Pie, suddenly jumping out in front of the orange pony. "I mean, you only get ONE First-Hearth's-Warming-Eve Party ever in your life, and we didn't wanna make you all sad and stuff by not showing up! And also-...OOOHHH!!! Are those Hearth's Warming cookies?!? Lemme at 'em!!!" The pink pony stopped talking and zipped over to a table full of cookies that she had spotted and began stuffing her face full of holiday treats.
Princess Celestia chuckled a little and said to her guests, "I'm glad to see that all of you could come to Mega Pony's first Hearth's Warming Party. I'm sure you know that it means a lot to both him and myself that you could be here for it."
"No problem, Princess." Rainbow Dash said casually. "Anything for a buddy of ours."
Celestia then continued, telling them, "Luna and I have spent most of the day putting everything together for the celebration; we've come up with all sorts of things to do that I think you'll all enjoy very much."
"Indeed, Sister." the dark-blue Alicorn chimed in. "I took the liberty of coming up with all of the games that we'll play during the festivities. I think that you'll agree that, thanks to me, the fun we'll have shall be doubled! Perhaps even tripled!"
"Um, I'm sure we'll all enjoy whatever you have planned, Princess Luna." Twilight replied with a chuckle of her own.
Pinkie perked her head up from eating the holiday cookies; her mane was covered with crumbs and sprinkles. "Hey, if the rest of this party's even HALF as good as these cookies are, we'll have tons of fun without having to try very hard!" she told the others.
"Well, then what the hay are we all waitin' for? Let's get this party started!" said Applejack. The others cheered in response, and the celebration began immediately.
The group took part in all sorts of traditional Hearth's Warming merriments. They started by singing Hearth's Warming carols (many of which were in the songbook that Twilight had brought with her), with Mega Pony playing the piano. Thanks to all of the music lessons that Octavia had taught to him, he was able to play the large musical instrument with expertise.
Next, Princess Celestia brought down a large cardboard box from her bedroom. Inside of it, there were all sorts of festive Hearth's Warming sweaters for the party guests to try on. There were all kinds of different designs on them, such as holiday trees, snowflakes, snowponies, knitted pictures of Stallion Claus, nutcrackers, wreaths, and hoof-shaped stockings. "Oh wow..." said Fluttershy, rubbing her front hooves over the soft red and green sweater she was wearing. "It's so soft and comfy...It's as if I were wearing a fluffy cloud..."
"Speak for yourself, Fluttershy..." said a blue-sweater wearing Spike as he scratched himself like crazy. "This stupid thing's makin' me itch!!" The other chuckled a little as Twilight helped the little dragon out of the itchy garment.
Next up was the Secret Stallion Claus gift exchange; on each invitation, there were instructions saying that everypony that was invited had to get a gift for somepony else. Each personalized invitation told its recipient the name of the individual that they were to give their gift to.
During the exchange, Spike had gotten a large, tasty amethyst from Rarity, who had told him that it matched the colors of his scales perfectly. Princess Luna was given a large, tower-shaped playhouse for her pet opossum, Tiberius (or Tibbles, as she liked to call him), courtesy of Fluttershy. Applejack got a red ascot from Pinkie Pie that was practically drenched in glitter. Twilight got a large set of high-quality quills made from swan feathers (willingly donated from swans, of course) from Princess Celestia, who, in turn, received a recipe book titled "One Hundred Meals you can Make With Bananas" from Applejack.
Rainbow Dash recieved a pair of gold-rimmed flight goggles from Twilight, which she immediately tried on, liking how they looked on her face. The cyan Pegasus then gave her gift to Pinkie Pie, which was none other than a backup Party Cannon. The pink pony was quite grateful for her gift, saying that now she could put together parties twice as fast. Rarity got her present from Luna next; ironically, they were expensive hair care products, which immediately reminded her of the unfortunate discovery she made this morning. However, she tried her best not to seem irritated by the gift she recieved, especially since it came from a Princess; a Princess that, long ago, was a feared creature of pure darkness.
Mega Pony then offered to give a gift of his own next. "Here, Fluttershy." he said to the yellow Pegasus, pushing a rather tall present towards her. "I got this for you."
Fluttershy then grabbed the pink ribbon of the gift using her mouth and pulled it to undo the knot. Afterwards, she then tore through the yellow wrapping paper and opened the box to see what it was. She gave out a happy gasp and said, "Oh my...A new beehive for all of my honeybee friends! I've been needing a new one for a long time! How did you know?"
"Just a hunch, really." the robot told her. "The last time I visited your cottage, I noticed that your bees were running out of places to live, so I figured this would be the best thing for you."
"Well, thank you very much, Mega Pony. That was very kind of you..." she then told him.
Now it was Spike's turn to give his present to somepony. It just so happened that his gift was for Mega Pony. The little dragon handed the robot a square-shaped gift wrapped in blue wrapping paper. "Here, this is for you!" Spike told him.
Mega Pony was very excited: This would be his first Hearth's Warming present ever. He levitated the gift using his psuedo-magic and removed the wrapping paper. Inside, there was a golden, bejewled picture frame. The picture in the frame was a group photo of the Mane 6, Spike, and Mega Pony that had been taken some time ago. "Hey, I remember this..." the robot began. "We had this photo taken on the day I was activated, after the Para-Bot attack."
"Yep." the baby dragon confirmed. "After the picture was developed, we all decided to give it to you next Hearth's Warming Eve. I picked out the frame and the jewels."
"And I put it all together." Rarity chimed in.
"We all wanted your first Hearth's Warming present to be a special one." Twilight told the little robot. "And we all agreed that this would be the most special gift that we could give to you."
Mega Pony smiled and told his friends, "Thank you...It IS very special. I'm glad that I mean so much to you all." Looking at the picture again, he added, "I'll treasure it forever." Everypony (and dragon) in the room smiled warmly upon hearing that.
After the gift exchange came various other traditional Hearth's Warming festivities. There was fruitcake baking and tasting, something that Pinkie Pie definitely enjoyed doing (both the baking AND the tasting), as well as tree trimming, in which everyone placed a special ornament of their own, in addition to the rest of the decorations, on the Hearth's Warming tree set up in the corner of the Throne Room. Finally, the group went out into the courtyard to play in the snow, which involved making snowponies, snowball fights (an activity that Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna enjoyed very much), and having sled races.
It was about quarter to ten when the party guests and hosts came back from the chilly weather outdoors. "Aw, yeah! This was the best Hearth's Warming Eve ever!" said Rainbow Dash.
"Definitely in the top five for me!" added Pinkie Pie. "No offense, but it's kinda hard to beat the time when a carriage carrying Hearth's Warming cookies crashed into the side of Sugarcube Corner! I almost got a tummyache from eating all those cookies!"
"So, now what're we gonna do?" asked Applejack.
"Well, it's still not that late yet..." noted Princess Celestia. "We could probably do at least one more thing before we all turn in for the night...Well, except for Luna of course; she'll be busy implanting dancing sugarplum dreams into everypony tonight."
"We could all sing again!" suggested the hyper pink pony. "I know a REALLY great song!" She then cleared her throat and sang, "The old grey mare, she ai-"
"Dont." grumbled Rarity, covering her friend's mouth with her left front hoof. Pinkie's voice was muffled, but she kept right on singing anyway.
"Hang on, everypony...I just remembered:" began Twilight. "I had a book here in the castle that listed all sorts of fun things to do during Hearth's Warming Eve!" Recalling where the book was, she informed everypony, "I think it was in my old room, back when I was still studying here." She then asked Princess Celestia, "Princess, is my room still here?"
"Sort of." the Sun Princess answered. "Some time after I sent you to Ponyville, I had the room converted to a storage room...Then, after I built Mega Pony, I had it made into a bedroom for him. Several items in that room have come and gone, but I believe that all of the books on the shelves there have not been disturbed, so it's safe to assume that the book you are referring to might still be in there."
"I could go and look for it, Twilight." offered Mega Pony. "I can hang up my new picture of us while I'm there anyway."
"Sounds good to me." the lavender Unicorn replied. She then turned over to her dragon assistant and told him, "Spike, you go with Mega Pony and help him find the book."
"Sure thing, Twilight!" he replied, doing a salute before leaving the throne room with the robot.
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Minutes later, Mega Pony and Spike climbed up to the top of the staircase that led to the robot's bedroom. They walked inside and began searching for the book that Twilight Sparkle wanted. In addition, Mega Pony took out his picture that he had recieved and, just as he had told his friends, hung it up on the wall right next to his bed. After placing it on the wall, he stood there and admired it for a while before heading over to the bookcases.
Spike was already searching through the lower shelves for the book. As he did, the baby dragon had to continuously blow on his claws, as they were getting very dusty. "Yeesh, how long have these things been sitting in there?" he asked. "It's like no one's touched them in years!"
"Well, I haven't really had the time to look through them much." admitted the robot pony as he searched through the higher shelves. "Most of the time, I've been busy with my daily duties. But one day, I would like to look through them more in detail..." As he looked through the bookshelves, one book in particular caught his eye. It looked rather old, judging from the wear on the red cover and the pages inside. "Hm? What's this?" he asked as he opened it and read through one of the passages out-loud, but at a low volume...
"As you read upon this lore, the power of youth will then take form. For as these words transform into power, then foals they shall be within the hour..." As the robot read the words in the book, both he and Spike failed to notice a faint, pink mist flowing from out of the dusty old tome. "And if not undone upon the day's end, then they alone must learn to fend..." After the last line was read, the strange mist flowed out of the room, completely undetected.
"What was that?" asked Spike, too busy to hear the whole passage that Mega Pony read.
"I don't know..." answered the mechanical pony. "I thought it sounded like a poem, but it sounded a little weird to me...What do you think it could b-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHH...!!!!!"
Just then, a sudden scream interrupted Mega Pony's statement and caused both him and Spike to swing their heads towards the door to the bedroom. "What was that scream?!" asked the baby dragon. "Where'd it come from?!"
"It sounded like it came from the Throne Room!" Mega Pony figured. "Let's go down there and see!"
The two of them rushed downstairs to see what was going on. It took a while, of course, since the staircase was quite lengthy. Once downstairs, Mega Pony burst through the doors to the Throne Room, stepping inside along with Spike. At first, they didn't see anything or anypony in the spacious room.
"That's weird..." muttered the robot. "Where's Twilight and the others?"
"They were right here when we left..." noted Spike, looking around. He then shouted, "Hey!! Anypony here?! It's us; Spike and Mega Pony!!"
"...Spike? Is that you...?" asked a voice that sounded familiar...kinda.
The robot and the dragon looked around to find the source of the voice. "I...I think that sounded like Twilight..." said Mega Pony. "But...something about her voice seemed...off, don't you think?"
Spike shrugged his shoulders and told him, "I'm not really sure...But now that you mention it, it did sound kinda...high-pitched."
Mega Pony then called out, "Twilight? Is that you?? If it is, come out here in front of us!"
"O-okay..." the voice responded. "But...promise me that you won't freak out..."
"Uh...okay, I guess." the mechanoid promised, a bit confused by the comment. At that moment, a small figure then peeked out from behind one of the tall columns in the room. When Mega Pony and Spike looked at it, they gasped in shock: It was Twilight Sparkle, but something was different about her, the most obvious thing being that she was a lot smaller than usual. In fact, she seemed only about as tall as one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
At first, Mega Pony and Spike were at a complete loss for words when they saw the lavender Unicorn in Fun-Size form. Finally, the little dragon began to speak, asking her, "T-T-Twilight...? Is that...is that you...?"
The small Unicorn nodded and said, in a slightly squeakier version of her normal voice, "Yes, Spike...It's me..."
"What...happened to you, Twilight??" asked Mega Pony, still in shock. "You're...you're a..."
"A filly?" she said, finishing his sentence. "I'm afraid so...But I'm not sure how it happened. One second, I'm sitting in here, minding my own business, and the next second, I see everything getting bigger around me!"
"Where's everypony else?" the robot then asked.
"Over here." said the voice of Princess Celestia as she walked into the Throne Room. She was followed by Princess Luna...along with five smaller ponies. They were, in fact, the rest of Twilight's friends, but just like the lavender Unicorn, they were also filly-sized.
"I...I don't understand..." Spike began, now more confused than ever. "What in Equestria happened??"
"We're not exactly sure yet." the Princess of the Sun told him. "All we know is that, just a few seconds ago, everypony in the room began to shrink all of a sudden, so we took them all out of the room as quickly as possible."
"Afterwards, I decided to go back inside and look around, but I wasn't able to find out what could have happened." Twilight stated.
"How are the others?" asked Mega Pony. "Are they okay? Y'know...besides their size?"
"We're not exactly sure about that, either..." Luna said to herself. "Physically, they appear to be fine other than their sudden reduction, but..."
"But what, Aunt Luna?"
Before the dark-blue Alicorn could say anything, the filly-sized Applejack looked over at the smaller Rarity and asked her, "Hey! Ah like your mane!"
"Oh! Well, thank you!" said Rarity in a higher-pitched voice. "I do take great care in making sure that it's perfect!" She then asked her, "My name is Rarity! What's your name?"
"Ah'm Applejack!" answered the orange filly. "Nice t' meet ya'll!"
The sudden conversation surprised Mega Pony, Spike, and Twilight. "What the-? Did they just introduce themselves??" asked the baby dragon. "But they've been friends for years!!"
"Yeah, that doesn't make any sense!" stated Mega Pony. "It's like...it's like they don't even know each other...!"
"Unfortunately, it seems that is exactly the case..." Luna informed them all. "After we brought them out of the Throne Room, they began behaving...rather oddly, to say the very least. They began talking with one another in a way that seemed to suggest that something unusual has happened to their memories, as well as to their physical bodies...All except for Twilight, though."
"Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked her mentor. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
The white Alicorn thought for a while, but wasn't sure what could have caused this bizarre phenomenon. Looking over at Mega Pony and Spike, she asked them, "Did you two notice anything unusual happening when you were upstairs? Did you see anything or hear anything that could possibly be related to something like this?"
"Not really, your Highness." said the baby dragon. "Me and Mega Pony were just looking through the bookshelves to find that Hearth's Warming Eve book..."
"Anything else?" asked the Sun Princess.
"Well, the only other thing I could remember doing just before we heard that scream was that I found this dusty old book." Mega Pony then told his creator. "I read some weird poem that was written in it, but I didn't know what it meant."
"Wait...I don't have any books on poetry in my old room..." Twilight informed the robot. She then asked him, "This book you found...What...did it look like? Could you show me?"
"Uh, sure. Follow me." the robot replied, turning towards the staircase leading up to his bedroom.
"I'll go as well." Celestia added. Turning to her sister, she then requested, "Luna, please keep an eye on the others, would you?"
"Um...of course, Sister. No problem at all!" the dark-blue Alicorn said confidently. After Mega Pony, Twilight, Spike, and Princess Celestia left, the Princess of the Night looked over at the now much younger members of the Mane 6, who were looking up at her with wide eyes. "Um...what art thou staring at...?" she asked them, a bit uneasy.
"Wow...lookit her mane!" said Applejack in her new child-like voice.
"It's so...so beautiful!" added Rarity, thoroughly impressed. "It's like a starry night sky...!"
"So awesome...!" Rainbow Dash chimed in.
"Oh...um, well thank you." replied Luna, flattered by their comments. "It took me quite a while to style it this way. I used to have it much shorter and in a lighter color, so-"
"I wanna touch it! I WANNA TOUCH IT!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed ecstatically. Before another word could be said, the pink filly leapt towards the dark-blue Alicorn and grabbed onto the flowing, semi-transparent mane.
"Urk! Hey!!" said the Princess. "Get off of that!!" She swung her mane hair around to try and shake Pinkie off, but to no avail.
"Wheeeeeeee!!!" the pink filly screamed, clearly having fun.
"Hey lookit her! It's like she's in a rodeo!" Applejack said. "I wanna play rodeo, too!!" She then hopped onto Luna's back to join in on the ride.
"Count me in, too!!" Rainbow Dash chimed in, hopping onto the Alicorn's back as well. Even Rarity decided to join in (mostly to get a closer look at Luna's equally as beautiful tail), hopping on soon after.
"...Um...I think...I think I'll just...stay right here..." said Fluttershy, hiding behind a potted plant.
"Get off of me!!" shouted Luna. "What dost thou think I am; a bucking bronco?!?" Of course right now, she was thrashing around like one, so, in a way, she was. Try as she might, the Princess couldn't get them off of her; these fillies were starting to become a hoof-ful.
Meanwhile, upstairs in Mega Pony's bedroom, the robot looked around the bookshelves in order to find the book that he had last read prior to the incident involving his friends. The filly-sized Twilight was also helping him look for it, along with Spike and Princess Celestia. For a while, the search turned up nothing, until...
"Here! I think this was it!" Mega Pony declared, using his psuedo-magic to hold up a dusty, red book. He then paged through it to try and find the passage that he read. Sure enough, it was in there. "Here, Twilight." the mechanoid said, giving her the book with the mysterious poem.
The tiny little Unicorn looked at the pages carefully, first at the poem itself, and then scanning the pages before it. The lavender filly gasped at what she had found. "I don't believe it!" she said in shock.
"What? What is it, Twilight??" asked Spike, eager to hear what she had discovered.
"Well, according to what I've read here..." the tiny Twilight explained, "this is the incantation to an age-regression spell!"
"Age-regression spell??" the others repeated.
The lavender filly nodded. "It says here," she continued, "that when the incantation is chanted, it releases a power that seeks out its target or targets, based on whomever the caster was thinking of at the time..."
"...That's right..." Mega Pony spoke up. "When I was looking for the book you wanted, and up to when I read the passage, I was thinking about everypony down in the Throne Room!"
"I guess that's why I wasn't affected then." Spike figured, as he wasn't in the Throne Room when the spell affected the others. Another thought then came to him; he then glanced over at Princess Celestia and asked her, "Hold on, you and Princess Luna were in the room, too. How come both of you don't look like fillies like Twilight and the others?"
"Well, according to the book here," Twilight continued to read, "The spell only regresses a pony's age by up to fifteen years, even when used at full power. And since both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are over two thousand years old, taking fifteen years off of their ages won't do much at all."
"I suppose that makes sense." stated the Sun Princess. Deciding to look at the book herself, she then read, "It also says that one side effect of the spell is that it alters the minds of those affected by it, slowly reverting their memories to the times when they were younger. That explains why they didn't seem to recognize each other."
"But Twilight didn't seem to forget anything or anypony...And neither did you or Princess Luna." Spike noted. "Why's that?"
"I'm not really sure, Spike." the lavender Unicorn responded. "Maybe it's because our magical auras are stronger than the rest of my friends, so the spell couldn't affect our minds, even though it DID change our bodies...Well, MY body mostly, really." She then put on a worried face and added, "But...I'm not sure how long that will last...There's still a chance that I'll forget about everything...and everyone..."
"This is horrible..." said Mega Pony, feeling guilty. "What have I done...? My friends are going to lose their memories, and it's all my fault...! I can't let that happen, or I'll never forgive myself!" Tearing up, he then asked his creator, "Mom...please tell me: Is there a way to reverse this??"
"Of course there is." she answered him. "Every spell and curse can be undone; we just have to figure out what to do." She smiled and told him, "I promise you: we'll fix this...together."
Mega Pony looked up at the warm smile that Celestia was giving him, which told him that everything was going to be alright. He wiped the tears from his eyes, smiled and said, "Okay...let's do this."
"I'll look over the spell and try to find more information about it." Twilight told them all. She then said to her dragon assistant, "Spike, I need you to head over to the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing of the castle and see if there are any books or scrolls that would have any other pertinent information."
"Per-what?" asked the dragon.
"It means something related to our situation." Mega Pony informed him.
"Oh! Got it!" Spike replied. "I'll do my best."
"I'll go and check up on my sister and your friends." stated Celestia. "Come and meet with us once you find out how to break the spell. I know you and Mega Pony will figure it out, but please hurry..."
"Will do, Princess." Twilight responded before going back to reading the spellbook. The group was determined to solve this problem; whatever it took, they would save their friends and the memories that they shared together before it was too late.
Several minutes passed since everypony (and dragon) took on their assigned duties. Spike had returned, carrying with him several important scrolls from the special library wing in the castle for Twilight to look over. Princess Celestia assisted her sister, Luna, in keeping an eye on the rest of the filly-sized ponies. Unfortunately, not much progress had been made as far as getting an answer to their problem.
"This isn't good..." Mega Pony said with a sigh. "We've been at this for a while now, but we haven't figured out a thing!"
"I know..." Twilight replied in a solemn tone. "So far the only information that I've found since we started..." She paused for a moment, not wanting to say what was on her mind at first. But eventually, she sighed and added, "Well...I can't say it's good news..."
"What? What is it...?" asked the robot, getting anxious.
"Well...it says here...that if we don't fix this before the end of the day; by midnight tonight..." the lavender filly explained, "then the effects of the spell will become permanent."
"You mean...that they'll forget about us? For good??" asked Mega Pony, horrified by what she had told him. Twilight simply nodded yes to say that it was true. The robot looked up at the clock in his room: It showed that the time was now 10:30 p.m., which meant that there were only one and a half hours left to reverse the age-regression spell. It seemed hopeless...
Mega Pony now felt even worse, knowing that it was because of him that his friends were in danger of losing their memories forever. "This is horrible..." he said to himself, tearing up again. "There's not much time left before our friends are gone forever, and we're still no closer to figuring out how to fix it!" He then looked over at Twilight and sadly told her, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...This wouldn't have happened if I didn't read that spell..."
"Please...don't blame yourself, Mega Pony..." she told him. "There was no way you could have known about that spell...I didn't even know about it. If I had known that there were any spellbooks left over in my room, I would have come up here myself and took care of it..." As she spoke, everyone else in the room could detect a hint of sadness in her voice as well. Spike patted her on the back, trying his best to comfort her, though he too, was depressed about the whole situation.
"And just when I was getting to know you all, too..." the robot then told her. "It felt like only yesterday that I was activated...I remember when I first met you all, and how much you helped me learn about who I am."
"Yeah, and how we all worked together to stop the Para-Bots from wrecking Ponyville." Twilight chimed in, doing her best to smile, despite the downcast feelings that she and everyone else had. Recalling another memory, she looked out the window at the falling snow and told them, "I also remember when I first participated in the Winter Wrap-Up...I couldn't find any way to help, until I was able to organize everypony and have them all do their jobs so efficiently."
"Yeah...that day was pretty crazy at first..." Spike noted. He then asked her, "Remember the time when you tried to figure out how Pinkie Pie's 'Pinkie Sense' worked?"
"Yeah, that was pretty crazy, too." the lavender pony replied, actually managing a slight chuckle. "Oooh! What about the time when I helped Princess Luna during her first Nightmare Night?"
"Yeah, I still remember the looks on everypony's faces when she brought that toy spider to life." the dragon replied, chuckling.
"Twilight! What's going on?!" Mega Pony suddenly spoke up in shock.
"Huh? What are you talking about?? Is something wrong??" the Unicorn filly asked.
"I don't know..." the robot answered. "All I can tell you is that...well, you...you're glowing for some reason!!"
"Glowing?? Me??"
"No way! He's right!!" Spike confirmed, pointing at the reflective tile floor that they were all standing on. Sure enough, Twilight was glowing brightly, and the light seemed to get more and more intense. Then, all of a sudden, the glowing energy filled every nook and cranny of the room.
"Ack!!" said Mega Pony as he and Spike covered their eyes in response to the flash. The bright light filled the room for a short while before it eventually began to fade. Once it was completely gone, the robot and dragon opened their eyes to look...and were shocked by what they saw. "I don't believe it...!" the mechanical pony uttered.
"What...? What's going on now?" asked Twilight.
"T-Twilight..." Mega Pony spoke, "you're...you're back to normal!!"
"Huh? I am?!" she asked in surprise. After hearing what the robot said, as well as her own voice, she noticed that her tone was not as high-pitched as before. She then looked at her reflection on the tile floor; sure enough, she was now back to her correct age and size. Any effects from the spell that had been put on her were now completely gone. "I am!! I'm back to my old self!!" she exclaimed. "...No pun intended."
"Alright! Twilight, you're back!!" Spike said excitedly, running over and hugging her. "I thought I was gonna lose ya forever!"
"Don't worry, Spike." she told him. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon..." She then looked over at Mega Pony and asked him, "But what happened? Did the spell wear off on its own somehow?"
"I don't think it did." the robot told her, shaking his head. "And I know I didn't do anything to break the spell, since I can't use real Unicorn magic. All that we did so far was look up information, and then we began talking about all the things that you, I, and our friends have done..."
Upon hearing him say that, Twilight gasped. "That's it! I know what happened!!" she said with a big smile on her face.
"You do?" asked Spike.
"It's...just a hunch, but I think that when I was recalling all of the memories that I had with my friends, it must have undone whatever effects the spell had on me!" the lavender Unicorn hypothesized.
"So, in order to change the others back," Mega Pony chimed in, "they just have to remember their old lives! I think it'll work!!"
"There's just one problem:" Spike noted. "The rest of them don't remember a thing about themselves or each other! The only reason Twilight was able to remember on her own was because the spell didn't mess with her brain right away."
"Yeah, that's right..." the book-smart pony responded, snapping out of her cheerful state for a moment. "It's going to be hard to remind our friends about who they were..." She then glanced up at the clock, which now read 10:37 p.m., and added, "Especially since we don't have a lot of time left to do it..."
Mega Pony looked over at Twilight, who was starting to lose hope that her friends would all come out of this problem okay. She was beginning to act just as depressed as he was earlier. However, the robot wasn't willing to give up; not after they got this far. He then began looking around to try and find some sort of solution to the whole thing. Then, all of a sudden, something caught his eye: It was the photograph that he recieved from Spike as a present. He stared at it for a while, thinking deeply. It seemed that he had figured out some sort of plan.
"Maybe it might not be so hard, Twilight..." the robot then told her.
"Huh? What do you mean?" asked the lavender Unicorn.
"I think I have an idea." he told her. "And I think this picture is the key to this whole problem." Spike and Twilight looked at one another, not sure what he was talking about right now. However, they figured that he knew what he was doing, so they both nodded to say that they were willing to lend a hoof (and claw) and help out.
Mega Pony unhooked the picture on his wall and said to them both, "Alright, let's get back to the Throne Room! We don't have any time to waste!" And with that command, the three of them left the bedroom and headed downstairs to meet up with the Princesses and the rest of their friends, hoping to resolve this crisis once and for all.
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About a minute later, Mega Pony, Twilight, and Spike ran back downstairs towards the Throne Room, meeting up with Princesses Celestia and Luna. The two Alicorns looked over at them, gasping when they saw that Twilight was back to her usual self. "Twilight! You're back to normal!" exclaimed the Sun Princess, galloping over to her and meeting the group just outside of the double doors. "You managed to figure out how to break the spell?"
"We did, Princess Celestia." the lavender Unicorn told her mentor. "And it was actually pretty simple: All we have to do is remind the rest of our friends about their old lives. Somehow, we have to spark their memories before the end of the day!"
"And how do you plan on doing so?" inquired Luna, walking up to them as well.
Mega Pony then revealed the picture that he carried down from his bedroom, saying to his aunt, "I think I might be able to use this photograph that Spike gave to me to help remind them of who they were."
"I see..." hummed Celestia. "If they were to see what they looked like as adults, it might be enough to trigger their memories and reverse the spell."
"So what're we waiting for?" asked Spike. "Let's show the picture to the others and get them all back to normal!"
Everypony else nodded and went through the entrance to the Throne Room. But when they got inside, there was nopony there. "Wha-? Where are they?! What happened?!?" asked Twilight.
"They were just in here a second ago!" protested Luna. "Where could they have gone to??"
"...You don't think they're playing Hide-and-Seek, do you?" asked Spike, not wanting to hear the answer to his own question.
Twilight looked at the floor and found a hastily-written note. She looked at it and let out an annoyed groan before saying, "Unfortunately, that's EXACTLY what they're doing! Just look at this!" She then levitated the note to the rest of the group so that they could read it...
"Dear Ms. Really Big Pony Princess and Ms. Slighty-Smaller-But-Still-Really-Big Pony Princess: We're playing Hide-and-Seek! Betcha can't find us!"
"...How did they leave the room without us knowing??" asked Celestia.
"It seems physically impossible..." Mega Pony noted. "Which means that I'm assuming that Pinkie Pie had something to do with this."
"Probably." Twilight said, agreeing with him.
Celestia let out a sigh and thought, (I'm so glad that I had the right mind to install that 'Pinkie Logic' algorithm into his CPU...) The elder Princess then said to the others, "Well, it's quite clear what we have to do next: We have to locate the others and bring them back here so that we can reverse the spell."
"And we have to do it quickly!" Twilight reminded them. "We only have until midnight tonight, or the spell's effects will be permanent!"
"But this place is huge!" noted Spike. "We'll never find them all quickly enough!"
"No, there is one way that we can find them in time..." Celestia told them, heading towards a small chest next to her throne. Lifting it up with her magic, she carried it over to the others and opened it. Inside were six beautiful pieces of jewelry. Five of them appeared to be necklaces, each one adorned with differently-shaped colored gems: a pink butterfly, a cyan balloon, an orange apple, a violet diamond, and a red lightning bolt. The sixth piece of jewelry was a tiara adorned with a pink, star-shaped gem.
"The Elements of Harmony!" exclaimed Spike upon seeing the contents of the chest. "Of course! They might be able to help us!"
"So these are the Elements of Harmony that Mom told me about..." Mega Pony stated to himself. "I've never seen them before...They're...they're absolutely amazing...!"
"How do you think the Elements will help, Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked, wondering where her mentor was going with this.
"I believe that, although the Element Bearers have had their bodies and minds affected by the age-regression spell, they should still be mentally linked to the Elements themselves." the Sun Princess explained. "If my theory is correct, then you might be able to use them to locate your friends, no matter where they might be hiding."
"Oh, I see...that makes sense." the lavender Unicorn replied as she took out the tiara with her magic and placed it onto her head. She then said to her robot friend, "Mega Pony, you hang onto the other five Elements and try to pinpoint our friends."
"Got it, Twilight." the mechanical pony responded, using his psuedo-magic to store the other pieces of jewelry into his storage compartment. He then also took out his mobile communicators and gave one to each of the others. "Once I find one of them, I'll let you all know where they are, and the pony that's closest to the location can then go and get them." he then told them.
"Very well, then." said Luna, adjusting the small device. "Then let us be off! We haven't a moment to waste!" The rest of the group nodded and split up to find the missing fillies.
Mega Pony began his search in the Dining Hall after he heard small hoofsteps inside the humongous room. "Where are you?" he said out-loud. "I know somepony's in here!" The only response that he got was soft giggling.
The mechanical pony turned his head towards the door in the back of the hall; it lead to the Main Kitchen, where the castle staff would prepare all the meals for those who lived and worked within the castle walls. Mega Pony heard the giggle coming from there, so he ran towards the door and burst into the kitchen. Nopony appeared to be inside, but he knew that somepony was hiding in here. To confirm his suspicion, one of the Elements of Harmony that he was carrying began to glow brightly: It was the one with the orange apple jewel.
"Activate infrared vision..." he said to himself. His eyes then turned completely red as he scanned the kitchen, using the infared vision function to search for abnormal heat signatures. Since it was nighttime, the staff that worked in the kitchen was not present; therefore, none of the ovens, toasters, or other machinery used for cooking were switched on, and they gave off no heat whatsoever.
As a result, in Mega Pony's eyes, everything appeared in either a violet or dark-blue hue to show that everything was as cool as a cucumber...except for one thing that the robot noticed. He looked up towards one of the high cupboards and saw a blob-like shape that, in infared vision, was colored in red, orange, and yellow. (There you are...) he thought to himself as he switched back to normal vision and used his psuedo-magic to operate the cupboard's handle.
When he jerked the cupboard door open, he found the filly-sized Applejack hiding inside. "Aw shoot, mister...Ya'll found me...!" she said, whining a little.
"Alright, Applejack. Come with me; everypony's wondering where you ran off to..." he told her in a stern voice.
"Okay..." she responded, sighing.
As he and the orange filly left the room, Mega Pony then tapped his helmet and said, "This is Mega Pony. I've just found Applejack in the kitchen."
"That's great to hear!" said Twilight. "And in only...six minutes since we split up! At this rate, we should get them all back with time to spare!" The lavender Unicorn then asked, "Have you found any of the others?"
Just after she asked her question, the robot pony then felt a pulsing sensation from his side compartment. Opening it, he then saw that another of the Elements, the one with the red lightning bolt gem, was glowing. He then glanced outside through the window to see if anypony was outside. Then, all of a sudden, he saw a small figure whiz by, leaving a rainbow-colored trail in its wake.
"Mega Pony? Are you there?" Twilight asked again.
The robot tapped his helmet again and told her, "Uh, yeah. I'm still here...Sorry for not responding right away...It's just that I saw this blue streak speed by; almost went too fast for the naked eye."
"That has to be Rainbow Dash." the book-smart pony informed him. "Where did you see her?"
"I think I saw her heading to the courtyard..." Mega Pony answered her. "Who's closest to that location?"
"I am." said the voice of Princess Celestia through the communicator. "I'll go after her while the two of you continue searching the castle."
"Thanks, Mom." the mechanical pony replied. "Good luck."
In the courtyard, the Princess of the Sun began searching the large and spacious area around her for the super-speedy Pegasus, Rainbow Dash. At first, all that was in the courtyard was snow; lots and lots of snow, along with the occasional snowpony that was still standing from when the whole group was playing outside earlier.
Then, all of a sudden, Celestia heard a loud SWOOSH right above her head. She quickly perked her head up to look and caught a short glimpse of a cyan-colored streak as it sped by. "There you are...!" the Princess said to herself, raising up her large, white wings and flying into the air to chase after it. Sure enough, as soon as she caught up to the streak, she saw that it was indeed Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash, that's enough now." she told her. "It's time for you to come back inside."
"Sorry, Princess! You'll have to catch me first!" the cyan Pegasus said to her before speeding away, flying even faster.
Celestia sighed to herself and picked up the pace, pursuing the filly-sized Rainbow Dash wherever she went. However, even the Alicorn Princess had a tough time just trying to keep up with her, and the Pegasus's smaller size made her much more manueverable. At first, it seemed like the chase would go on forever, but just then, Celestia stopped in mid-air and asked herself, "Wait...why am I trying to catch her this way...?" After asking the rhetorical question, she then fired up her long horn and surrounded Rainbow's tail with a small, yellow glow; the spell grabbed onto her tail, stopping the Pegasus in mid-flight.
"Huh?! Hey!! That's not fair, using magic!!" whined the small filly, wriggling around in a vain attempt to free herself.
Celestia used her magic to pull Rainbow Dash towards her as she spoke into the communicator, saying, "This is Princess Celestia...I've found Rainbow Dash, and we're on our way to the Throne Room right now. Mega Pony, I'd like you to take Applejack there as well."
"Okay, Mom." he told her. "Also, I think I've located Fluttershy: I believe she might be in the Library somewhere."
"Leave it to me, then!" spoke Luna's voice. "I shall locate her and bring her back safely!" After saying that, the Princess of the Night strolled into the main Library room (not the Star Swirl the Bearded section). The interiors of the book-laden room were very dark, thanks in part to the fact that it was now nighttime. This worked in Luna's favor: Her dark-colored coat allowed her to easily blend in with the darkness of the room.
The younger of the two Royal Sisters crept around the Library as quietly as possible so as not to alert anypony to her location. Just then, Luna saw a peculiar sight: There was a tall vase in the back corner of the room that was constantly vibrating. She then walked over to the vase to investigate, and when she poked her head inside, she let out a hearty, "Aha!"
Luna pulled her head out, but it wasn't the only thing that came out of the tall vase: The Princess pulled the tiny Fluttershy out by grabbing onto her long, pink tail with her mouth. The tiny yellow Pegasus filly trembled and said, "I-I-I'm s-sorry, M-Ms. Princess...Please don't be m-mad..."
Setting the tiny pony down, Luna told her, "If you promise to behave thyself and allow me to escort you to the Throne Room, I will overlook the fact that you ran off all by yourself." Fluttershy nodded to say that she would be good and the two left the Library.
Elsewhere, the tiny dragon, Spike, was searching around upstairs in Princess Celestia's bedroom. According to what he had heard from Mega Pony, the robot had detected the prescence of Rarity inside the room. He searched under the Sun Princess's bed, the fireplace (currently unlit), and around the tall post where Philomena, Celestia's pet phoenix, was sitting. Unfortunately, the little dragon couldn't find Rarity, and he began to get frustrated. "Arrrgh! Where could she be?!" he asked himself. "I've looked almost everywhere, but I can't find any trace of Rarity!"
Just then, Spike heard some squawks coming from the nearby phoenix, as if she was trying to tell him something. "Huh? What's up with you, Philomena?" he asked.
The firey bird squawked some more, trying her best to speak to him.
"What?! You found her?!" Spike then asked in shock. "Where is she?" Philomena then pointed towards a closet next to Celestia's vanity. Spike then strolled over to the closet doors and opened them. Sure enough, the filly-sized Rarity was in there, admiring all of the Princess's fancy dresses. The dragon sighed and said to himself, "Of COURSE she'd be in here...I should've known."
Rarity looked over at Spike and said to him in a chipper tone, "Oh! It's you! I was hoping YOU would find me..."
"Uh...you were...?" asked the dragon, blushing a teensy bit.
"Mhmm. I sure did!" answered the Unicorn. "I...did not want to say it in front of everypony, but...but I think you're...you're...kind of cute."
"R-really...?!" said Spike, blushing more and putting on a hopeful smile. He then chuckled weakly and added, "Well...I have to admit...I get that a lot."
"I mean it." Rarity told him. "In fact, I would've liked to make you my special somepony one day..." Spike then began grinning, thinking that he might finally have a chance with beautiful Unicorn. But then she added, "Or...I WOULD say that, but...you are NOT a pony, are you? So I am afraid it wouldn't work out..."
The little dragon's jaw dropped just as suddenly as his hopes of a date with Rarity were crushed to pieces. "Uh...uhhh..." was all that came out of his mouth.
"Anyway..." the little Unicorn began again, "I have had my fun for now, so I feel ready to return to the Throne Room...Could you take me there? I'd rather not get myself lost in this castle."
"Uh...yeah, sure." Spike quietly replied. As Rarity left the room, he let out a slightly depressed sigh and thought to himself, (Oh well...I like her better older anyway...) He then left the bedroom to escort the tiny filly to the Throne Room.
Only one pony was left to find: Pinkie Pie. Mega Pony had located a faint, but present signal coming from somewhere around the main foyer, and Twilight went to investigate. The lavender Unicorn searched carefully, using her own Element of Harmony to find her pink friend. As she strolled around, the pulses from her tiara began getting stronger, indicating that Pinkie was closeby, but Twilight couldn't see her anywhere.
"Where could she be...?" thought the book-smart mare. "I can't figure out where she could be hiding..." She then began thinking to herself, (I've just got to look at the problem another way...Think: If I were Pinkie Pie, what would I consider to be the perfect hiding spot...?) Then, a thought came to her. (...She's been right behind me the whole time, hasn't she...?)
Twilight immediately turned around to see and, sure enough, she saw the tiny Pinkie Pie standing right there. "Wow! You're REALLY superly-super good at Hide n' Seek, Ms. Smarty Pants!"
"It's Twilight." the lavender Unicorn corrected her. "Smarty Pants is my doll's name." She then told her filly-sized friend, "Okay, let's get back to the Throne Room now; everypony's waiting for us."
Pinkie then immediately hopped onto Twilight's back, procured a cowboy hat seemingly out of nowhere, and shouted, "Yeah! Let's go! Ride 'em, cowgirl!"
(...This feels weird somehow.) Twilight thought, referring to how Pinkie was sitting on top of her at the moment. She then left the main foyer and headed back to the Throne Room to meet up with the others.
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In but a few minutes, all of the filly-sized members of the Mane 6 were returned to the Throne Room. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Mega Pony made sure to keep a close eye on them to make sure that they wouldn't run off again. Once Twilight entered the room and took Pinkie Pie over to the others, she sighed and said, "Okay...that's all of them. Now we can reverse the spell and get them all back to normal." Twilight looked over at the clock; it was currently 11:40, meaning that there were only twenty minutes left to undo the age spell.
"Alright then, let's go and help remind our friends about who they were." said Mega Pony as he, Twilight, and Spike walked over to the very little ponies. He then asked them, "Hey! Would you all like to see something really neat?"
The five fillies immediately perked their heads up and looked over at the robot, eager to see what this "something" was.
Mega Pony then opened his compartment and pulled out the picture that he had recieved from Spike. Showing it to them, he said, "This is a picture that was taken a while ago; it's a photo of me and my best friends, some of which I think you might recognize..."
The five fillies looked at the picture closely, and sure enough, they did see something familiar about it. "Those...those ponies look...kind of like all of us!" Pinkie Pie noted.
"Even their cutie marks look just like ours!" added Rarity.
"...You don't suppose that they could be us, could they?" asked Fluttershy.
"But that's impossible!" protested Rainbow Dash. "Those ponies in there are clearly older than we are! This picture has to be a fake!"
Mega Pony and the others were beginning to get worried upon hearing that. "This isn't good..." the robot said. "They don't believe that they're the ponies in the picture here..." He then looked at the clock again as the minute hand moved, showing the time was now 11:41. "If we don't think of something soon, it'll be too late...!" he then added, falling more and more into despair.
"Don't give up, Mega Pony." Celestia urged her creation. "There is always a solution to every problem that you face out there...Always remember that."
"Remember..." Just then, the mechanoid came up with an idea. "That's it!" Running over to Twilight, he whispered something into her ear. The lavender Unicorn nodded a few times and smiled, saying that she was okay with whatever plan Mega Pony came up with. "Do you think it'll work?" he then asked her.
"Only one way to find out, Mega Pony." Twilight told him. She then took the photograph and walked over to her filly-sized friends, saying to them, "Like Mega Pony said, this is a photo of our friends; the very best friends that I ever had. And we experienced all sorts of wonderful things together...Like, for instance, there was this one time when I had a slumber party during a thunderstorm with two of my friends...We did all sorts of things, such as playing Truth or Dare...Though I can't seem to remember how that game went..."
"Ah do! After we started, Ah dared Rarity to run out into the rain and get her mane all wet!" Applejack suddenly blurted out. She then put on a confused look and asked, "Wait...how did Ah know that...?"
"Well, I certainly don't recall such a thing happening to me..." stated Rarity. But then, she became a bit skeptical about her own statement and asked, "Or...do I...?"
"Say Twilight," Spike chimed in, "remember that time when Rarity secretly entered the Sisterhooves Social, dressed up as Applejack? She wanted to run the whole race along with her little sister."
"Well, I had to." Rarity interrupted. "I had to do something to show Sweetie Belle that I cared about her..." Just then, she put on a confused look like Applejack did, not sure where that sudden memory came from.
"I think it's working..." said Mega Pony. "They're starting to get their memories back!"
"They are, but we're not quite out of the woods yet." Twilight told the robot.
"Wait, 'woods'? That reminds me of something...I'm not sure how, though..." Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up, scratching her head. "I remember something about going on a camping trip with somepony named...uh...named...Scoota...loo? Yeah! I went on a camping trip with Scootaloo, and I told some REALLY wicked scary stories during that time! Though, I think I might've overdid it; she was scared stiff almost every night."
"Oh yeah...Ah think Ah remember that, too." said Applejack. "Ah think Ah was there with Apple Bloom...And Rarity and Sweetie Belle were with us too!"
"Yes...that's right! I WAS there!" the white-coated Unicorn filly confirmed. As the three of them spoke, they began glowing, just like Twilight was just before she returned to normal.
"Yes! It's working!! They're returning to normal!" exclaimed Twilight. She then pondered some more and then asked Fluttershy, "Say, um...Fluttershy, do you remember anything about a phoenix named Philomena?"
"Um...I...I don't think I-" The yellow Pegasus then gasped and corrected herself, saying, "Oh wait! I do! I saw that Princess Celestia's pet looked very sick, so I tried to take care of it, without knowing that Philomena would just revive herself eventually!"
"Yeah, you got so worried, that you actually thought that the Princess would imprison you, banish you, or imprison you in the place that you were banished to." Spike noted. Celestia chuckled softly a bit, remembering that day as well.
"Yeah...it was really silly of me, wasn't it?" Fluttershy asked rhetorically as she, too, began to glow brightly.
Twilight then turned to Pinkie Pie next and began to ask her, "Pinkie...do you remember the time when-"
But the pink filly interrupted her, asking, "When I pranked that meanie Griffon? When I tried explaining my Pinkie Sense to you? When I thought nopony was coming to Gummy's After-Birthday Party? When I played as Chancellor Puddinghead at last year's Hearth's Warming Eve pagent? When I took care of the Cakes' twins? When I made friends with Cranky Doodle Donkey? When I discovered who ate the M.M.M.M. before the National Desert Competition? When I made clones of myself? Which one?"
Twilight, Mega Pony, and the others just stood there, eyes wide. Apparently, Pinkie recalled just about every event that mostly involved herself. The book-smart pony then asked, "H-how did you remember all of that so quickly...?"
"Easy!" the pink filly replied, holding up a book. "I bought the episode guide! It wasn't that expensive; only seventeen bits!" Of course, the others had no idea what Pinkie was talking about. But since she started to glow like the rest of the filly-sized Mane 6 did, they weren't complaing about it.
"So...that really IS us in that picture, isn't it...?" asked Fluttershy.
"It is." Mega Pony told her, nodding his head yes.
"Yeah...yeah it is us!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, now fully convinced. "I don't know how, but it is!" She then looked closely at her older self in the photo, smirked and said, "Heh, look at that: I'm even cooler when I'm older! In fact, if I could put it at some sorta percentage, I would say that I look...um...uh..."
"Twenty percent cooler?" Twilight suggested.
"Yeah! That's perfect!" the cyan Pegasus said, liking the idea.
"Oh my...do you girls see how my mane looks when I'm older?" asked Rarity. "It's positively STUNNING!! Oh, how I would love to brush it for hours on end without stopping!!"
"And check out mah older self's legs!" Applejack chimed in, pointing to herself. "They look real super-tough!! Real buckin' machines!"
"And look at how poofy my mane is!" added Pinkie Pie. "It looks so good, I don't EVER wanna have straight and flat mane hair ever again! You know, unless I get REALLY super-depressed, or angry, or super-totally creepy, but I don't see that happening anytime soon!"
The others watched as the filly-sized ponies' glowing began getting more and more intense. It got so bright, that everypony else had to cover their eyes as the light filled the entire room for several seconds. Then, once the glow faded, the others opened their eyes and were delighted to see that Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were now back to their old selves; both figuratively and literally.
"We did it!!" cheered Mega Pony. "They're back to normal!! All of them!!"
Twilight glanced at the nearby grandfather clock, which now read 11:55 p.m. "And with only five minutes to spare." she told them all. "That was TOO close."
The now-fully restored members of the Mane 6 looked at themselves and one another, happy to be back to their correct ages again. "Whooee! This feels SO much better!" said Applejack, performing a few air kicks with her back legs. "Ah don't EVER wanna lose these tough buckin' legs again!"
"Oh, I'm so happy to be the old me again, too!" added Pinkie Pie. "I don't think I would've been able to push my Party Cannon around so easily with such a teeny-tiny body!"
"I will miss seeing how fast I was when I was a filly," Rainbow Dash noted, "but I look so much cooler flying around looking like I am now."
Fluttershy walked over to Mega Pony and the others and gratefully told them, "Thank you so very much...For bringing us all back to normal."
"I just wish I didn't read that spell in the first place..." the robot said, still feeling down about that. "And when things started getting hard for us when we were trying to break the spell, I almost felt like giving up and trying to get away from the problem instead of trying to fix it..."
"But you DIDN'T give up, Mega Pony." Celestia reminded him. "You saw the problem all the way through to the end, despite the apparent difficulty of the task in front of you. And for that, I am very proud of you."
"Thanks, Mom." said the little robot. "And I promise that I'll always do my best to solve a problem, no matter how difficult it might be. Because I believe that, the only way that somepony can fail at something, is if they give up or don't even try."
"Nicely put, Mega Pony." Twilight praised him. "And you should also know that, if things do get too hard for you, always know that there is no problem with asking your friends for help." Mega Pony nodded to say that he agreed with that as well.
"Well, I am just pleased to be my old self again." said Rarity. "And I do emphasize the word, 'old'." Looking at herself, she then added, "I'll still always wish that I was a filly again, but if doing so would mean losing all of the memories and good times we've shared together, I'd much sooner be an old grey mare." She then used her magic to pull off the grey hair in her mane and looked at it, smiling. "From now on, I'll look at this hair as a badge of honor, as a reminder of how my life has only gotten better with the times we've shared together."
"Is that a grey hair, Rare?" asked Applejack, looking at it.
"I am afraid so, Applejack..." the white Unicorn informed her. "I found it this morning while I was brushing my mane."
"So, wait...is that why you were so crabby during the train ride over here?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Yes, and for that I am very, very sorry..." Rarity told them. "I shouldn't have lashed out at you all over it."
"It's alright, Sugarcube...We can forgive ya." Applejack told her with a smile. Just then, the others noticed that Pinkie Pie was staring (VERY) closely at the grey hair that Rarity had in front of her. "Uh...somethin' the matter, Pink?" the orange Earth Pony asked her.
Pinkie didn't answer right away; She just continued to stare at the hair intently, squinting her eyes. Then, she asked her white Unicorn friend, "Hey, Rarity! What are you doing with my favorite piece of string?!"
The fashionista's eyes widened after hearing that question. "Um...d-did you say...string...??" she inquired.
"Well, DUH!! Of course I said, 'string'!" the pink party pony answered her. "It's been missing from my string collection for DAYS!! I almost thought that I'd lost it forever!!" Taking the piece of string, she then told the white Unicorn, "Thanks so much for finding it for me, Rarity! You're such a good friend!"
Rarity was dumbstruck by what had happened. "So...I'm not going to have grey hair yet...?" she asked herself. "Or crow's feet? Or a bad hip?"
"I don't think you'll need to worry about that anytime soon." Twilight assured her. Rarity then chuckled and blushed a little bit, embarrased that she had been all worked up over nothing.
"So, um...what are you going to do with the spellbook?" Fluttershy then asked Twilight. "The one that made us younger?"
"I think I'll take it with me and study it for a little bit." the lavender Unicorn answered, stuffing the red book in question into her saddlebags. "I'd like to see if there's a way that I can refine the spell and try to reduce or even nullify the negative side-effects of it. It will be difficult, but I think I can do it."
Just then, Mega Pony, who glanced over at one of the right-side windows, suddenly shouted, "Hey! Everypony! Look outside! Quick!"
The others ran over to the window that Mega Pony was looking through and saw a truely beautiful sight: The Pegasi from Cloudsdale's Weather Factory were now spreading the rainbow fluid for the Northern Lights all across the sky. The lights sparkled, shimmered, and glimmered, and the colors brightened the night sky in the most beautiful way.
"Wow...so awesome...!" Rainbow Dash said, enjoying the sight.
"Truely the definition of the word, 'beauty'!" Rarity added.
"Why don't we head up to the balcony, so that we can get a better look?" suggested Celestia.
"Capital idea, Sister!" agreed Luna. "Let us go before the lights disappear completely!" The entire group made their way out of the Throne Room in order to see the Northern Lights much more closely.
Atop the highest balcony in Canterlot Castle, the group of ten stared in awe at the beautiful, colorful lights that covered the night sky. It wasn't just them, though. Everypony that lived in the royal capital came out to see the Northern Lights as well, and were just as impressed with its beauty. Truely, for Twilight, Mega Pony, and their friends, this was a memory that would last a lifetime.
As they watched the lights, Spike then tapped Rarity's right front leg to get her attention. He then asked her, "Um, Rarity...? Do you remember anything that happened to us- er, YOU while you were a filly earlier?"
"Hmmmmm..." hummed the fashionable mare. She then replied, saying, "Only small bits and pieces, really...I don't recall too much of it, I am sorry to say...Why do you ask?"
"...No reason. Just curious." the little dragon responded. He then went right back to watching the lights above.
The white Unicorn glanced back up to see the lights as well, but then took another quick look at the tiny purple dragon. She then smiled a little, as she thought about something to herself before looking back at the light show in the sky above.
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NEXT EPISODE: "Cannon Come Home"
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