//------------------------------// // Episode 109: Cannon Come Home: // Story: Mega Pony: Season One // by Monty Eggman //------------------------------// Episode 109: Cannon Come Home: --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! ...Okay, enough with the part that you always read at the beginning of each episode; I should probably introduce myself right now... Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie! Or Pinkamena Diane Pie, if you want the long version. My favorite things are parties, sweets, my friends, chimi-cherry changas, my toothless alligator Gummy, the Cakes' twins, smiling, fun, parties, and...What? I said, "parties" already? Hee hee, I guess that means I like parties a WHOLE lot! Anyway, speaking of parties, tomorrow's a superly-super-special-awesome day for me! It's the anniversary of the day that I got my cutie mark! I love my cutie mark so much! It showed me that I was good at planning parties and helping everypony around me smile! Plus, I like the whole blue-yellow-blue thing it's got going on there; that's pretty cool, I have to admit. So anyway, In honor of the event, I'm throwing one of my biggest parties ever, and everypony's invited! All of Ponyville, my best friends, my family, and also Mega Pony, my all-time favorite robot pony! ...It also helps that he's the ONLY robot pony. In fact, he's right here, helping me set things up in Sugarcube Corner! HEY!! Mega Pony!! Wanna come over here and say "hi" to our readers?! ...Huh? Whad'ya mean, "Who am I talking to?" I'm talking to them! ...I think he's a little busy right now. Oh well, you can just read on and see what happens with me and Mega Pony today. I hope you enjoy it! Bye-bye! --------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARACTER SELECT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mega Pony (PCN-001): A super-great pony robot built by Celestia herself! Wasn't that so super-nice of her? Pinkie Pie: Super-silly party pony. Element of Laughter. (Hey! That's me!) Mr. and Mrs. Pie: My dad and my mom! They're not as energetic as I am, but they're still great anyway! *** ??? *** (Ooooh! Mystery character! I wonder who it is...?) --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Pinkie Pie...? Who were you just talking to?" asked Mega Pony during another bright and sunny afternoon in the town of Ponyville. The robot pony was helping his friend, Pinkie Pie, set up decorations all over the town's sweet shop, Sugarcube Corner. The pink pony glanced over at him, narrowed her eyes a little and answered, saying, "I told you, Mega Pony: I was talking to our fans! Yeesh, I'd tell you to clean the wax out of your ears, but you don't get earwax." The mechanical pony glanced around the room, but there was nopony else around, making him even more confused. He then sighed and responded, telling her, "Never mind, it's not important right now. Let's just focus on our work for today." The silly pink pony nodded vigorously and the two went back to their duties, hanging up banners and streamers, blowing balloons, and setting up small tables for party snacks. "So," Mega Pony began to say to her, "you said that this party is for the anniversary of when you got your cutie mark?" "Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep!" Pinkie Pie answered, hopping up and down as she circled the room, smiling brightly. "It was such a great day, too! Up until then, I never once thought that I'd get that kind of cutie mark! I had always thought mine would involve rocks or something like that, like the rest of my family." She then stopped in front of a bunch of balloons and used the nearby helium tank to blow them up. "Buuuuuuut, I can't take ALL the credit for discovering my talent; Dashie was a big help in that department." "Yeah, I remember that you guys told me about how Rainbow Dash was responsible for all of you getting your cutie marks." stated the robot. He then glanced at his mark and told her, "I kinda wish I could've been able to get my cutie mark in the same way you got yours...But I guess that would have been a bit tricky for my mom to program something like that into me." "Well, in a way, you KINDA got your mark like how I did..." Pinkie noted. "Even though yours is painted on you, you still had to discover your talent on your own. That's not much different from how everypony else got their marks." "You make a good point. Thanks for telling me that." Mega Pony told her, smiling. "You know, for how funny and silly you are every day, I tend to forget that you're pretty knowledgeable about all sorts of things...No offense." "None taken." the pink pony replied. "Sometimes, I don't even know how smart I am!" Mega Pony chuckled a bit and used his psuedo-magic to levitate a nearby clipboard towards him. As he looked it over, two other ponies showed up, one yellow and one blue, stopping in front of the counter and setting out trays of pink cupcakes and pink cookies; the cookies were also decorated with blue and yellow sprinkles. The robot glanced over at the two and said to them, "Oh! Mr. and Mrs. Cake! I see that you've finished with the party treats." "Oh, just a few of them." stated Mrs. Cake, the blue Earth Pony. "We're still working on the cake; it's going to take a little while longer..." "That's okay, just take your time; no need to rush things!" Pinkie said to her. "As my friend Twilight always says, 'Good things come to those who wait!' I should know: I've been waiting for this day for a super-long time!" "Yes, we know, Pinkie. You've marked every calender in the shop." Mr. Cake, the yellow Earth Pony, told her. "So, how are the twins doing?" Mega Pony asked the Cakes. "Very well, thank you." answered Mrs. Cake. "They're both upstairs, sleeping like babies." "Well, duh. They ARE babies. How ELSE could they sleep?" asked the pink pony. "Well, we meant that figuratively, but I guess it's also true in the literal sense." stated Mr. Cake, chuckling a bit afterwards. He then said to Pinkie and Mega Pony, "Anyway, Cup and I are going back to work on the cake some more. Can you two handle things here by yourselves?" "Yes, I think we'll be able to manage things here on our own for a while." answered the robot. "See you both later, and thanks for all of your help so far." "Our pleasure." Mrs. Cake replied before she and her husband went back into the kitchen. Mega Pony then glanced back at the clipboard that he was carrying and said, "Okay, let's run through the list to see what else we need for the party tomorrow...The party food's already being taken care of by the Cakes...How are we on decoration supplies?" "Well, all the streamers are set up, the balloons are all blown up," answered Pinkie Pie, "and the banner that Derpy delivered is hung up over the counter." She then pointed up at the banner, which read, "Happy Cutie Mark-iversary, Pinkie Pie!" "Cutie Mark...-iversary?" asked Mega Pony. "Is that even a word?" "Yep! I made it up myself!" the silly pony answered him. "Uh...okay, then." the robot responded. He then looked over the clipboard and said to her, "Let's see here, as for music, I was able to get a hold of Vinyl, and she said that she'd be happy to play for the celebration...She said something about Octavia going out tomorrow to attend some music club with Lyra or something..." "Oh, I know that group!" Pinkie Pie chimed in. "Octy's cousin from Appleloosa is a member there. They do such a great job playing music!" "Well, if they're even half as good as Ms. Octavia is, I might ask her about seeing them sometime in the future." Mega Pony then glanced at his list and told his friend, "Well, I think we've pretty much gotten everything we need for tomorrow. With everything you have planned, I'm sure everypony will be all fired up for the celebration!" "Fired up...?" asked the pink pony, focusing on those words for a short while. She then let out a loud gasp and shouted, "Sweet Celestia!! I almost forgot!!! I need to check my Party Cannons and make sure that they're perfectly cali-...er, cabby...um..." "Calibrated?" asked Mega Pony, trying to help her find the word she was looking for. "No, wait...not that; Cadbury!" she corrected him. "I need to make sure that my cannons can handle firing cream-filled chocolate eggs! I'll have to test-fire them a few times just to make sure..." Pinkie Pie then bounced up a nearby flight of stairs, heading for her bedroom. Pinkie not only worked at Sugarcube Corner, she also lived there with the Cake Family; she had even watched over their two babies, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, though it took her some time to figure out how to be a good babysitter for them. Mega Pony then continued to glance over the list that he was holding, making sure that everything was in place. He was just about to set the clipboard down, until... "AIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!" The robot was startled by a sudden scream from upstairs. Realizing that it was Pinkie who had screamed, he dropped the clipboard and ran up the stairs to see what was going on. "Pinkie Pie??" he asked. "Are you okay?!" Mega Pony then made his way to the pink pony's bedroom, and there he saw his friend sitting completely still, eyes wide, pupils dialated, and mouth agape. "Pinkie! What's wrong??" he asked, walking over to her. "Please, say something!" "I-i-i-i-it's...it's gone..." she uttered softly. "What? What's gone?" "My...one of my Party Cannons...IT'S GONE!!!!" Pinkie shouted in despair. She then pointed to her bedroom closet, showing that it was completely empty. "You're serious?!" asked the mechanoid. "Your cannon's gone?! What happened to it??" "I don't know!!" Pinkie answered him. "I always put it right here, in my closet! I know it was in here when I woke up this morning! But now it's gone!! It's no more!! It has ceased to be!! It's expired and gone to meet its maker!! This is a late cannon!!" Mega Pony then tried to speak up, saying, "Um...Pinkie? I think that-" But the crazy party pony interrupted him and continued to wail, saying to him, "It's a stiff!! Bereft of life, it rests in peace!!" "Uh, Pinkie...?" "It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!!! This...is an EX-CANNON!!!" "PINKIE!!!!" Mega Pony yelled at the pink Earth Pony, causing her to stop lamenting. She then stared at him intently as an awkward silence filled the room. The robot then took a deep sigh to calm himself and told her, "Sorry for raising my voice there, but we're not going to find your cannon by sitting here in despair like this...We have to take action: We need to search around this area and try to find some clues that will tell us what happened." Pinkie wiped a small tear from her eye, smiled and said to him, "You're absolutely right, Mega Pony...I'm sorry for losing it there. It's just that I've had that Party Cannon for as long as I can remember; I've used it to help put together so many parties, I've just grown really attached to it, you know?" "Believe me, I know how you feel." the robot told her, putting his right foreleg around the back of her head. "And that's why I want to help you find it. Now let's search around and see if we can find some clues, okay?" Pinkie Pie nodded and the two began looking around the room to figure out where the party pony's most prized possession had disappeared to. The pair searched the entire room for several minutes, but neither of them found anything. Just then, as Pinkie stepped near her window, she felt something gooey under her left front hoof. "Huh?" she said, glancing down at the floor. She then saw that there was a small muddy spot where her front leg was. "Hey! Mega Pony!!" she shouted to the robot. "I found something! I found something!!" "What is it?" he asked, walking over to his friend. He then looked down at her feet and saw the muddy spot on the floor where she stepped. "Mud...?" he said curiously. "Where did that come from?" "Well, it comes from outside, after the dirt gets all wet and stuff!" Pinkie answered him. "No, that's not what I meant." Mega Pony informed her. He then said to his silly friend, "The only way that mud would ever be inside of a building is if somepony tracked it inside..." The mechanical pony then asked, "Pinkie, was that muddy spot there when you woke up this morning?" The pink pony shook her head no in response. "That means that it must have been brought in here today, sometime after this morning possibly..." Mega Pony hypothesized. "That's when you last saw your Party Cannon, according to what you told me. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Pinkie Pie gasped. "Are...are you saying that somepony...came in here and STOLE my cannon??" she asked in despair and shock. "Unfortunately, that's what appears to have happened." the robot answered her. "But on the bright side, if your cannon was only taken just recently, the thief can't be too far away." "Then we'll be able to find him?!" Pinkie Pie asked, regaining hope. "I'm pretty sure of it." The robot then told her, "However, I think it would be in our best interest to prepare ourselves for whatever we might face, as I'm pretty sure that the thief won't go down quietly once we locate them. I can download some weapons from my mom's lab back at the castle, but..." "But what?" "Well, the last time I fought alongside you, during the Para-Bot attack," he reminded his friend, "you used your cannon to help me defeat those bugs..." "Oh yeah..." the pink pony responded, understanding the problem. "But I can't just sit and do nothing while my cannon is off who-knows-where, alone and hungry and unable to throw parties like it loves to do!" Mega Pony was about to make a comment about the fact that an inanimate object like a cannon would not be able to eat or have feeings of loneliness, but before he could say it, a sudden thought occurred to him. "I've got it!" he exclaimed. "Maybe my mom could help us figure out a way for you to defend yourself! It's worth a try!" "Hey, yeah!!" the pink pony said, regaining her cheerful attitude. She then asked him, "But how are gonna get there? It'll take too long to use a train..." She then perked her head up and exclaimed, "I know! You can teleport there, and take me with you!" "Um...I don't know..." said a somewhat reluctant Mega Pony. "I'm not sure how well my Teleportation Unit would work on a real pony. There could be some nasty side effects..." "Oh, don't worry about that!" Pinkie reassured him. "I'm a main character: It's not like I have to worry about anything REALLY bad happening to me anytime soon!" "Uh...main character? What are you talking about??" Pinkie chuckled and put her right foreleg on the robot's back, telling him, "Just fire up that teleporty thingy and take us to Canterlot Castle! Trust me: I'll be just fine!" Mega Pony still wasn't sure about using his teleporting power on his friend, but he figured that he'd give it a try; after all, Pinkie seemed pretty confident that nothing horrible would happen as a result of it. "Well, okay then..." he said to her. "Don't say I didn't warn you, though...Now hold on tight and don't let go." The pink pony nodded as the robot activated his Teleportation Unit, whisking the two of them away in a tall column of light. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, in Canterlot Castle, the two Princesses, Celestia and Luna, were hard at work; the two of them were sitting in the Sun Princess's bedroom, looking over several papers and reports that were hastily assembled on a large writing desk. "So..." the white Alicorn began, "what do we know about everything so far?" "Not very much, unfortunately." Luna replied. "Ever since the Para-Bot attack in Ponyville, I have, as you requested, put my personal guards in charge with investigating the one responsible for the creation of the Parasprite robots. However, whoever they may be, they have been smart enough to keep a low profile and cover their tracks so as to elude capture." "That seems to be the case..." stated Celestia. "And while we are scrambling around trying to find him or her, they have continued to launch attacks, one right after the other." She then pulled out another stack of papers and continued on, saying, "Not long after the Para-Bot attack, there were the Guts Drillers that Mega Pony found in the Diamond Dogs' territory in Rambling Rock Ridge. Then, shortly after that, he then encountered the pony-like robots, the 'Equine Joes', that had attacked Cockatrice flocks in the Everfree Forest." "There has to be some sort of pattern with all of these incidents..." the Princess of the Night added, looking over all of the reports. "Unfortunately, it seems that the only way that we will find any more clues as to the identity of our saboteur is if they strike again..." Princess Celestia was worried, and it was quite obvious why: This mysteious attacker's identity was completely unknown to them, and the only clues that had come so far as to who they may have been were found in the wake of their assaults. And just as Luna said, more clues would only come when the villian/villianess launched another attack. And the Sun Princess knew that Mega Pony would have to be the one to repulse that attack. Even though she had built him to defend Equestria, she did not like putting her "son" in constant danger without knowing just what this unknown attacker was truely capable of. Just then, a sudden noise was heard in the courtyard outside, interrupting the Princess' thoughts. The two stopped what they were doing and headed to the courtyard to see what it was. The sound was from Mega Pony's teleporter, which he had used to warp him and Pinkie Pie to Canterlot Castle. Looking at himself and his friend, he told himself, "Well, it looks like we're here, with no negative side effects from the teleport..." "Speak for yourself, M.P..." groaned the pink pony, feeling a bit woozy and her face turning a little green. She then gave out a slight gulp and quickly ran behind a bush. All that the little robot could hear after that were various sounds from Pinkie Pie that indicated sudden nauseousness. After the sick-sounding noises ceased, Pinkie walked out from behind the bush, wiping her mouth a little. "Ewww...that was unpleasent..." she commented, recovering from her unfortunate situation. "I think I saw a Flufflepuff Marshmallow in there..." "Uh...are you going to be okay, Pinkie Pie?" Mega Pony asked her. "Yeah, I will..." she told him. "I just wasn't used to how fast your teleport-thingy was...It's faster than even the fastest roller coaster at Whinny Land!" "Well, I told you that I hadn't tried my teleporting power on a real pony yet..." he reminded his friend. "But now that I've tried it, it's good to know that feeling nauseous is the only worst-case scenario." Shortly after that comment, the pair saw Celestia and Luna walking into the courtyard. "Mega Pony!" the white Alicorn said in surprise, not expecting him to show up so suddenly. "Hi, Mom. Hi, Aunt Luna." he said to the two Princesses. "Sorry for showing up unexpectedly like this, but it's an emergency." "What kind of emergency?" asked Princess Luna. "Well," the robot started, "what happened was-" But Pinkie Pie quickly nudged him aside and interrupted him, screaming in panic, "Somepony stole my Party Cannon!! It's vanished!! It's gone!! It's no more!! It has ceased to-" Mega Pony then quickly covered his friend's mouth and told her, "Pinkie...please don't do that again." The pink pony rubbed the back of her head and sheepishly replied, "Oopsie...sorry about that. It was just so funny, I couldn't help but say it all over again..." "You lost your cannon?" asked Celestia, feeling sympathetic towards Pinkie. "I'm sorry to hear that..." She then glanced over to her "son" and asked him, "And I'm assuming that you're going to help her find it, am I right?" The robot nodded yes. "And you've come here to download some of your weapons from the Weapons Archive, is that true?" the white Alicorn then asked him. Mega Pony nodded yes once more and told her, "That's right, but there's something else, too..." He then pointed towards his pink friend and added, "Pinkie Pie insisted on coming with me to help out, but without her Party Cannon, she has no way of defending herself in case things get...well, ugly." "What about that cannon that she had gotten on Hearth's Warming Eve?" Luna inquired. "I thought about that," Pinkie replied, "but the cannon that Dashie gave me is now the only one I have left, and I'd really, really, REALLY hate to lose that one too! Not to mention it's WAY too heavy to just carry around in my hair all day long like with all of my other belongings." "In...your hair...?" asked the Night Princess. "It's true." Mega Pony informed his aunt. "I swear, I saw her pull a bowling ball out of her hair one time...I didn't even know that she bowled." "Oh, that?" asked Pinkie Pie. "That wasn't mine: It's Twilight's. She told me that she wanted to try bowling one day, so I'm saving it for her until then!" "Uh huh...I see." the robot stated. He then turned back to his mother and said, "Anyway, we're getting off-topic here: What I'm asking is if you could build something for Pinkie Pie so that she can defend herself. Do you think that could be possible?" Princess Celestia pondered a bit, rubbing her chin with her right front hoof. "Well," she told everypony, "there is ONE thing that could help her...I've been working on a new device down in the lab for some time, and I think it could do the trick." She then headed towards the entrance to the courtyard and told the others, "Everypony follow me down to the lab." The other three ponies nodded and followed the Sun Princess. Downstairs, in the bowels of the castle, the group of four made their way to Celestia's secret laboratory: the place where Mega Pony was built and activated. The four of them walked over to a large, steel table; on it was a small, cylindrical object made out of metal. It had an opening on the front of it, and the inside was nearly completely hollow. "What is this, Mom?" Mega Pony asked Princess Celestia. "This is a new invention that I've been working on for a while." explained the elder Royal Sister. "It is called a hoof cannon." "A hoof cannon?" asked Pinkie. "What's that?" "It is designed to be a compact weapon that can be worn on either the left or right front hoof." Celestia explained. "Its small size allows its weilder to easily carry it, no matter where they are. I believe that, in time, I can try to mass-produce them for the entire Royal Guard." The Sun Princess then told the others, "However, as of now, this is the only one that I have finished so far, and I have yet to arm it with any sort of weapon data..." "Weapon data?" asked Mega Pony. "Like the weapons that I use?" "Exactly." said the white Alicorn. "This cannon has been installed with a microchip that acts much like your Copy Chip does, though this one is much more limited in comparison. It only has enough memory storage to hold one weapon at a time." Celestia then added, "Even so, I think I can use the Weapons Archive to copy and download the data from the Special Weapon that you obtained from Pinkie Pie into the cannon's microchip. If so, then your friend will be able to use the same exact weapon that you get from her." "Really? That's amazing!" said the mechanical pony, very much impressed. "That's so superly-super-great! A compact Party Cannon for my hoof!" cheered Pinkie, hopping up and down enthusiastically. "How long will it take?" she then asked. "It shouldn't take long at all." Celestia stated, using her magic to pull out a cord from out of a nearby desk drawer, which she connected to both her main computer (which had Mega Pony's Weapons Archive on it) and the hoof cannon. After that, the Sun Princess then tapped a few keys on the keyboard in front of her. After she was finished, a box appeared on the screen, showing an empty bar. A green color then began filling it, starting from the left side, to show that the dowloading process had started. "Wow...this is something like out of a sci-fi movie!" Pinkie said. "If only Twilight could see this right now!" "She's been asking to see this place again ever since we first came down here." Luna told the pink pony. "But we know that if we let her, she would probably never leave." "I'd believe that." Mega Pony added. Just then, the bar on the computer screen filled up completely, indicating that the download was complete. Celestia then told Pinkie Pie, "There. All done. The hoof cannon prototype now has the weapon data for the Party Cannon." "Hurray!!!" cheered the party pony. "Now you'll be able to defend yourself from whatever we might face while searching for that thief!" Mega Pony told her. "Yeah!" said Pinkie. She then stood up on her hind legs and flexed her forelegs, putting on a tough pose and saying, "Now I'LL get to be the super-tough fighting robot pony! ...Without the robot part, of course." Mega Pony and Luna chuckled a bit in response. "Hmmmm...That's interesting..." hummed Celestia as she looked at her monitor. "What is it, Sister?" asked Luna. "Well, it seems that even after downloading the weapon data," the elder sister answered, "there's still a good amount of memory left on the microchip. If that's the case, I think I might be able to make a few more additions to the cannon to make it more powerful..." "Well, if you think it will help, then go for it." the mechanical pony suggested. Celestia nodded and used her magic to type up some more data into the computer to transfer to the microchip. Once she was done, she then initiated the download, and the empty bar appeared on-screen once more. As it filled up, the white Alicorn then asked her creation, "So, what weapons do you think you'll need for your mission? We can figure that out while the data is being downloaded..." Meanwhile, back out in the courtyard, a male Earth Pony was strolling around the area. He was a groundskeeper, making sure that the vast gardens within the yard were as pristine as when he first saw them. As he made his rounds, the Earth Pony glanced over at a nearby bush, seeing something behind it. Walking over to the bush, he asked himself, "Now what in Equestria is thi-" But once he got a good look at what was there, his irises shrunk, and he stuck his tongue out in disgust. "UGH! Ewwwwww! Sweet Celestia! That's disGUSTING!!!" He then groaned a little as he went to get a nearby hose and began sparying the area behind the bush while muttering, "They do NOT pay me enough for this..." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes later, Mega Pony and Pinkie Pie returned to Ponyville after getting everything they needed from Princess Celestia. Now that Pinkie had a way to defend herself, she would be able to accompany the robot pony in search of her stolen Party Cannon. The pink pony admired her new hoof-cannon, loving the way that it looked on her right foreleg. "Wow, Princess Celestia did such a great job on this thing!" she commented. "She even painted it pink and put my cutie mark on it!" "It was very nice of her to let you keep that one," the robot told her, "even though it was the only cannon that she had built." "Soooooooo...how does this thingy work again?" asked the party pony. "Well, since the cannon has the weapon data for the power that I had gotten from you," Mega Pony explained, "it has the ability to fire balloons like missiles. However, they aren't just ANY ordinary balloons; they have special microchips inside them that allow you to remotely inflate them at any time. And the blast that they make when they pop is enough to cause some damage to an enemy." "Self-inflating balloons...what'll they think of next?" Pinkie asked. "Also," he continued, "while my version of the weapon only has enough energy to be fired up to twenty-eight times, your cannon has the power to continuously regenerate energy for ammunition. In other words, you can fire it as much as you want without running out of ammo!" "That's great!" cheered the pink mare. "Anything else?" "Well, I think my mom mentioned something about a secondary function, but I can't seem to recall what it was. But I'm sure that we could-" "Oh! There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" said an older female voice, which interrupted Mega Pony's statement. The two turned around and saw a pair of figures heading towards them. They were two Earth Ponies, one male and one female, clearly a married couple. The male one had a light-brown coat, a short mane and tail, both colored grey, and golden-brown eyes. He wore a black hat on his head, a black tie and white collar around his neck, and his cutie mark was a picture of a pick-axe. The female Earth Pony had a grey coat with a slight bluish tint to it and light-blue eyes. Her mane and tail were both colored slate-blue, and the mane was done up into a bun. She wore a pair of glasses over her eyes connected to a chain, had a black collar around her neck with a white grid design on it, topped with a shiny blue brooch, and her cutie mark was a picture of three boulders in a triangle formation. Pinkie seemed slightly alarmed by the appearence of these two ponies. "...Mom? Dad?" she asked them. "What are you doing here??" "We came here to see you, of course." said the male Earth Pony. "Did you forget? You mailed invitations to us and the rest of the family so that we could come to your...Cutie Mark-...iversary." He then leaned over to his wife and softly asked her, "Did I pronounce that word right? I was just guessing..." The older mare shrugged, but nodded yes to say that she believed that he had pronounced "Cutie Mark-iversary" correctly. "No, I didn't forget." Pinkie informed her father. "Trust me, I NEVER forget who I invite to a party! It's just that I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow..." "That was our original plan;" Pinkie's mother told her, "we were originally going to leave later tonight, but the annual Rock Farming Convention in town was postponed until the end of the month, so we didn't have to rush and get everything ready just yet. So we took an earlier train this morning just to make sure that we wouldn't miss out on your big day." "Oh...aheheh...I see..." the pink pony replied, feeling a bit uneasy. "You're Pinkie Pie's parents?" asked Mega Pony, walking over to them. Putting out his right front hoof, he said to them, "My name is Mega Pony. I'm a friend of hers. It's great to finally meet you; Pinkie has told me a lot about you." "We know who you are." said Pinkie's father, using his right front hoof to grab Mega Pony's and perform a hoofshake. "Pinkamena's told us about you and all of the friends that she's made since she moved out of our rock farm." He then told the robot, "I will admit, my wife and I were a bit skeptical at first about what she wanted to do with her life, but we couldn't say no to her decision, especially after she threw us such a wonderful party back when she was a filly." "Speaking of parties," Pinkie began to ask, "did...you two happen to go inside Sugarcube Corner yet?" "No, but we were about to." stated Pinkie's mother. "Your invitations said that's where your party was going to be. But when we got there, we spoke to the owner of the shop just outside the entrance. He told us that you had gone out, so we decided to stroll around until we found you." Pinkie sighed out of relief. (Thank Celestia...I don't want them to see the party before it's all completely finished...But that will never happen unless Mega Pony and I find my missing Party Cannon!!) Noticing his daughter's worried expression, Pinkie's father asked her, "Pinkamena, dear, are you okay?" Not wanting to make her parents think that something was wrong, the pink mare answered him by saying, "Oh! Yeah! Just fine! TOTALLY fine!! Everything's all peachy-keen!" She paused for a moment to think of something to tell them, and after coming up with something, she then added, "I was just wondering if anypony else from the family was going to be showing up!" "Oh, not too many; just your father and I, as well as your sisters." Pinkie's mother answered. "Well, two of them to be accurate; Maud won't be able to make it, since she's busy studying abroad. But she did send us a letter to say that she wishes that she could be here, and that she's sending you a gift in the mail." "That was very nice of her to do that." Pinkie replied. "Let her know that I really, really, really, REALLY thank her so much!" "Um, we'll be sure to, dear." the mother responded, sweating a little. "But you said my other sisters are here, right?" asked the silly party pony. "I haven't spoken to Blinkie or Inkie in ages!" Pinkie's father groaned a little and said, "Pinkamena, you know for a fact that those aren't their names..." "Now dear," his wife told him, "there's nothing wrong with them coming up with amusing nicknames for each other. It just means that they love each other very much." "I know that, but I can never figure out whom she refers to when she calls them by those silly names..." the husband stated. Pinkie's mother chuckled a little and said to her daughter, "We're staying over at a home nearby here, if you want to see your other sisters right now." "Um, no that's okay, Mom..." Pinkie told her. "I'm still busy; Mega Pony and I were on our way to...our way to..." Trying to think of some sort of excuse, she then said to her parents, "...to get some more streamers and balloons for the party! We need a WHOLE lot of them, so we're both gonna be superly-super busy!" "But Pinkie," Mega Pony began to tell her, "we have plenty of-" He then stopped himself when he realized what she was doing: She was trying to stall for more time so that they could have plenty of time to track down Pinkie's Party Cannon and finish setting everything up. He then chose to say nothing else; he couldn't make even a little white lie due to the small bit of Applejack's personality that was in his programming, so he knew that he couldn't say anything to add to Pinkie's tiny fib. "We understand, dear." Pinkie's father replied, believing his daughter. "We know how important this party is to you, so you do your very best to put it together the way you want it to be. If you finish up early, though, be sure to drop by and visit us." "Okay, I will!" the party pony responded. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!" "Goodbye, Pinkie." said the mother. "We'll see you later. Have fun!" After that, the married couple left the area, leaving both Pinkie Pie and Mega Pony by themselves. Pinkie let out a sigh and said to the robot, "We've gotta hurry and find my Party Cannon...Or I'll never have the party ready in time!" "Don't worry, we will." Mega Pony assured her. "There's still plenty of time before the party tomorrow; we'll find the thief and get your cannon back with more than enough time to spare!" "But we don't even know where to look first..." the pink pony told the robot. "Well...maybe we could start by asking around to see if anypony saw anything suspicious." the mechanical pony responded. "But who...?" The two of them pondered for a while, wondering who they should inquire first. As they thought, Pinkie suddenly felt something behind her. When she turned around to look, she noticed that her tail was vibrating very rapidly. "Uh oh!" she exclaimed. "What?! What's wrong now??" asked Mega Pony. "My tail's going all twitchy-twitchy!!" stated the silly mare, pointing to her shaking tail. Mega Pony was confused as to why that was a cause for alarm. But then he remembered something that she and the rest of his friends had told him about. "Wait a second, isn't that one of the triggers for your...um, Pinkie Sense was it?" "Uh huh! Uh huh!" she confirmed. "And this means that something's falling!" The pair looked up at the sky and saw nothing at first. But then, all of a sudden, they could see an object high up above that was coming down towards them very fast. But Mega Pony noticed something about the falling object that made him gasp. "No...it's not something..." he told her. "It's someONE!!" Just as he said, the object that was coming down to them was a living being. "AHHHHHHHHH!!!!" it screamed as it plummeted towards the ground. Thinking on her hooves, Pinkie quickly stood up on her hind legs and put out her front legs in front of her. "Don't worry, mister!!" she called out to the falling individual. "I'll catch ya!! I'll catch ya!! I'll catch y-WAAAAUUGH!!!" At that moment, the falling creature came back down to Earth, landing right on top of Pinkie Pie, and landing down hard. When the dust settled, the individual was revealed to be a male donkey with light blue eyes and wearing a golden-yellow wig on his head. "Oh my!!" Mega Pony exclaimed, running over to the scene. "Are you okay??" The donkey groaned a bit and said to the robot, in a slightly cranky tone of voice, "I'm fine...Luckily, I landed on something soft..." "Um...actually," the mechanoid began to tell him, "you landed on someONE soft..." "Say what now??" the donkey responded in surprise. He quickly moved aside and saw that Pinkie Pie was underneath him, slightly battered after having been used as a landing pad. "Oh no...!" the donkey said, concerned for the pink pony's well-being. "Pinkie Pie, are you okay??" The party pony, still dazed a bit from the accident, responded only with, "...I'll catch ya...I'll catch...I'll catch..." Turning towards Mega Pony, he said to him, "Um...sorry about that...I didn't mean to hurt anyone." "Don't worry, sir. She'll recover pretty quickly, trust me." the robot told him. He then asked, "What about you? Are you going to be okay? I just want to be completely positive..." "I told you, I'll be fine." he repeated to him. "But that's the last time I'm EVER taking a flying taxi anywhere. I don't care how far Manehatten is; I'm not traveling there on something that puts me at risk of letting gravity choose my destinations for me..." Pinkie Pie eventually was able to get back onto her hooves and was able to see who it was that landed on her. Looking at the donkey, she let out a loud, happy gasp and called over to him, "Cranky Doodle!! It's you!! It's been WAY too long since I've seen ya!!" Zipping over to him, she then asked, "How've ya been?! How's Matilda?! I've heard you two are gonna get engaged! Are ya?! Is that true?!" "Pinkie, cut that out!" Cranky shouted, silencing the hyper pink mare. "Oops...sorry. I got a little carried away." stated the pink pony. The donkey sighed and told her, "To answer your questions...I'm fine, Matilda's fine, and yes, we've gotten engaged, but we're not sure when we're having the wedding yet." "You could have it a hundred days from now!" suggested Pinkie Pie. "Um...why a hundred?" asked Cranky. "...Nnnnnnot sure. It was the first number I could think of." The donkey sighed a bit and then asked her, "So how have you been, dare I ask?" "Well, today hasn't been getting off to a good start, to be honest." Mega Pony told him. "Pinkie's lost her Party Cannon, and I think it's because somepony stole it." "Stole it?" asked Cranky. "Why would anyone want to take something like that?" "We're not sure yet." the robot answered. "But just out of curiosity, did you happen to see anything or anyone weird or suspicious, by any chance? I only ask because you were up in the air just a while ago and you might have seen something down below." The donkey hummed a bit, thinking to himself. "...Nnnnope, can't say that I have." he told them. "But if you want my opinion, I'd guess that, if it WAS stolen, the thief could be hiding out in the forest somewhere. That's where I'd go if I were them." "That sounds logical." the mechanoid commented. "Very few ponies ever go into the Everfree Forest because it's so dangerous, so it'd be the perfect place to hide." He then asked Cranky, "But how can we be sure that the thief is there?" "Hmmmmm..." the donkey thought, trying to come up with an idea. Suddenly, a thought came to him and he told them both, "I've got it! If the thief DID go into the forest, there's someone there that will know for sure." "Who?" asked Mega Pony. "He's an old friend of mine who lives in the forest's river." Cranky informed them. "His name is Steven Magnet: He's a sea serpent, and he and I go way back." "Sea serpent?!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Does he have orange hair and purple scales?" "You've met him?" asked the donkey, surprised. "Yep, yep, yep!" the pink pony answered in her usual bubbly tone. "My friends and I met him on the night that Nightmare Moon returned! He lost part of his moustache, but Rarity helped fix it for him!" "He did tell me that a pony fixed up his moustache that night, but I didn't know it was one of your friends..." Cranky noted. "I'll have to remember to thank Ms. Rarity for helpin' him out..." He then said to the two of them, "Anyway, I think he'll be able to assist you; He's quite helpful, especially to anyone that's done something for him." "Well, then we'll keep an eye out for him. Thanks, Mister!" Mega Pony told him. He then began walking towards the edge of town where the Everfree Forest was. Pinkie then approached Cranky and said to him, "Cranky? I know you're not exactly a fan of big parties like the ones I throw, but I'd really appreciate it if you come to my Cutie Mark-iversary...Maybe you could bring Matilda with you!" "Well, you're right about me not being a fan of parties..." he began, taking the invite that Pinkie had pulled out of her mane and started looking at it. "But...I suppose I do owe you one for helping me reunite with Matilda." He then smiled a little and told her, "As long as you promise to keep your excitement to manageable level, then we'll be there." "Oh thank you, thank you!!" Pinkie shouted. She prepared to give Cranky a big hug, but then remembered that he probably wouldn't like that, so she paced herself and simply shook his right hoof before leaving with Mega Pony. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The pair made their way into the Everfree Forest, searching for the river that Cranky Doodle Donkey was talking about: The river that was the home of Steven Magnet, the sea serpent. Fortunately, Pinkie remembered the way from the last time that she and her friends had visited the river, and it didn't take them long to find it. Standing at the north side of the river, Mega Pony looked around for any sign of the sea serpent. However, there didn't seem to be anyone around. "Well, here's the river, but no sign of that Magnet guy anywhere..." the robot stated. "Gee, you'd think for a giant sea monster, he'd be easy to spot." noted Pinkie Pie. The two continued to look around, trying to find any sign of the serpent. As they searched, Mega Pony suddenly felt something tap on his front hoof. When he looked down, he saw a rather large object lying on the grass. "Huh? Where'd this come from?" he asked, looking at the object, which seemed to be a comb of some sort, but at a larger scale. "What is it?" asked Pinkie. "I think it's a moustache comb..." Mega Pony answered her. "But it's bigger than I am!" He then used his psuedo-magic to pick up the giant comb to look more closely at it. "Oh my! You've found it!" shouted a cheerful voice from far away. "You've found my favorite moustache comb!" The pair turned towards the voice and saw something large coming down the river towards them. It was none other than the sea serpent, Steven Magnet. He was a rather large creature, with many purple scales covering every inch of his long body, and he had a very fashionable hairdo that was orange with some yellow streaks; the same colors were proudly displayed upon his magnificent moustache. "Is that the guy we're looking for?" Mega Pony asked Pinkie Pie. "Mhmm! That's him alright!" the party pony replied. The giant sea serpent stopped in front of the two ponies and took the giant comb into his left hand. "Oh thank you so much!!" Steven told them both. "I almost thought I lost this thing forever!" Glancing at the two of them, he spotted Pinkie and immediately recognized her. "Oh, hey! I know you!" he told her. "You're friends with that white Unicorn that helped me out a couple years ago!" "It's good to see you again, Mr. Magnet!" the pink mare said to him. "How have you been since last met?" "Oh, just PEACHY!" the sea serpent replied with a slight chuckle. "Ever since your little companion helped me with my moustache problem, things have been looking up: WAY up!" Twirling his moustache, he then added, "As you can see, my natural hair has grown back since then, but I've held onto the lock of hair your Unicorn friend was generous enough to give, as a reminder of how good you all were to me!" "Thanks!" Pinkie responded. "I'm sure Rarity'll LOVE to hear about how grateful you were!" Stepping aside, she pointed her right foreleg at Mega Pony and told him, "Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend here!" "Hi, Mr. Magnet," the robot said to the sea serpent, "my name's Mega Pony." "Mega Pony, huh?" Steven responded. "So you're the brave little pony that the whole forest's been talking about! I remember the other day that Phil the Cockatrice told me about how you helped him and his buddies get their homes back from a bunch of dreadful thugs!" "Yeah, well I can't take all the credit;" the mechanoid replied, "Fluttershy was a big help that day, too. In fact, if it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't be here right now." The sea serpent then leaned on his elbows along the river bank and asked the two, "So...what brings you here today? It's a bit bizarre for ponies like you to be wandering around the forest like this." "Well, someone stole something from Pinkie Pie," the robot told him, "and we believe that the thief might be hiding here somewhere." "Cranky said that you might know if anything was going on around here." the party pony added. "So...um, do you?" "Hmmmm..." hummed the giant sea creature, trying to remember anything and everything that had happened today in the forest. Just then, he snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Oh, of COURSE! I DO believe that I've seen something suspicious going on late this morning! While I was looking for my moustache comb, I happened to catch sight of some strange-looking figures running around...They seemed to be heading in the direction of the nearby ruins..." "The Castle of the Two Sisters?" asked Mega Pony, a bit alarmed upon hearing Steven Magnet mentioning the castle that his mother and aunt used to live in before the first Nightmare Moon incident. "Trust me; these eyes do NOT lie." the sea serpent told him. "Oh, eyes can lie, alright..." Pinkie told them. "I know because one time, Rarity and I were in the middle of the desert outside of Dodge Junction, and every time I looked towards the Sun, I kept seeing things like giant cupcakes, swimming pools filled with chocolate frosting, a entire forest that grows party balloons instead of trees..." Feeling slightly upset just thinking about it, she then said, her voice breaking up a little, "But NONE of them were real at all!!" Mega Pony and Steven Magnet gave the silly pony a perplexed look, not sure what to say about it. Turning to face the sea creature, the robot then told him, "Well anyway, thanks for your help, Mr. Magnet. We'll check out the ruins and see what's going on." "Actually, I think I had better take you closer to the castle." Steven suggested. "It would be a lot safer than having you two wandering around this forest by yourselves for the longest time..." "Oh yeah...I guess that does make sense." Mega Pony then asked him, "Are you sure you don't mind?" "Oh, HEAVENS no!" the sea creature answered, chuckling. "I don't have anything more pressing at the moment, and besides, your friend Rarity was so good to me, that anything you need my help with is on the house!" "On what house?" asked Pinkie asked. "My house? Rarity's house? Is it on the roof??" "It's just a phrase, Pinkie Pie." the robot informed her. "...OHHHHhhhhhh..." the mare responded, finally getting it. "Okay, well if you two are ready, let's set SAIL!!" said Steven, pumping his left fist into the air. Mega Pony and Pinkie Pie then hopped onto the creature's back and traveled along the river to reach the castle ruins. Nearby the river, a relatively large, shadowy figure was concealing itself behind several trees. Tapping the side of its head, it said, "Attention all units: I've detected two individuals coming your way...Be ready to do battle; we cannot allow them to disrupt our plans with our recently-obtained cargo." The figure then moved its hand away from its head area and began to leave... Minutes later, Steven Magnet arrived at a particular area of the river and stopped. Letting his two passengers off, he then said to them, "Okay, you two; this path here will take you straight to the old castle ruins. And please be EVER so careful; I'd hate to have to tell Ms. Rarity that two of her friends got lost in these woods or worse..." "We promise, Mr. Magnet." Mega Pony assured him. "Thank you very much for your help." "Same here! Thank you!" Pinkie told him politely and energetically. "See you later!" As she turned to leave, she paused and added, "Oh! And if there's anything I need your help with in the future, I'll make sure let you know...AFTER I check every roof in Ponyville first, juuuuuuust in case it got there already." "Um...good to know, dear." the sea serpent replied, chuckling weakly. "Good luck to you both!" Everyone waved goodbye to each other before the two ponies began their travels to the Castle of the Two Sisters. The two traveled slowly and carefully, keeping an eye out for anything that could cause them them any trouble. Mega Pony let Pinkie Pie take the lead, since she had been to the ruins of the Royal Sisters' old castle. "So, you've never been to the old castle before?" the pink pony asked her robot friend. "No, I haven't." Mega Pony answered her. "I only know about it from what my mom told me. According to her, it's where she and Aunt Luna used to live a long time ago...But it was nearly completely destroyed when Luna became Nightmare Moon." He then asked his friend, "Twilight told me that you and the others found the Elements of Harmony there, right?" "Yep, yep, yep!" Pinkie replied with a smile. "It was so great! First, the pieces of the Elements began to hover around, then WE all started to hover around...I felt likeI was a marshmallow in a cup of hot chocolate! It was so amazing, I can hardly believe everything that happened!" She then paused to take a breath before continuing, "Anyway, the pieces of the Elements turned into these sparkly-glitterly necklaces with pretty jewels on them, and we used them to blast away all the meanie-mean-meanness outta Princess Luna!" "Wow...I wish I could have been there to see something like that." stated Mega Pony. "Though...the thought of seeing my aunt as Nightmare Moon is a bit...unsettling, to say the least." "Yeah, she sure was mean when she was all big and scary and stuff with that dark coat and those big, sharp teeth and that eerie, echo-y voice..." the pink mare continued. "But that's all ancient history now that she's back to her old self again! Though TECHNICALLY, she looked WAY different on the day when we changed her back to what she looks like right now; I never quite got that..." Mega Pony had more questions about the day that his friends had first visited the castle, but he had to put those thoughts aside for now as they approached the rickety rope bridge that led to the remains of the anicent building. The robot stared in awe at the ruins, almost completely at a loss for words. The ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters was literally a shell of its former self; large, cracked stone pillars stood tall, but looked like they could collapse at any time. The windows were comprised only of shattered glass shards, some were on the ground nearby while some were still stuck to the frames; some windows were completely devoid of glass altogether, and many of the frames were charred beyond recognition. The rugs, carpets, and tapestries were heavily shredded, though some were still mostly intact, aside from a tear in the fabric here and there. Vines and other overgrowth grew all over the castle as nature began to slowly reclaim the area. The robot was still silent as he looked at the former home of the two Princesses. He tried his best to imagine what the building looked like back when it was in its prime. Just then, he felt a tap on his left side. Mega Pony snapped out of his trance-like state and turned to face Pinkie Pie. "Um...what is it, Pinkie?" he asked her. She then pointed her right front hoof towards the castle and the two caught a brief glimpse of a small figure running in through where the front doors would have been. "What was that?" he asked. "I don't know..." the pink pony said to him, "but we'd better check this out: The future of every party in existence depends on it!" "...Or, at least every party in existence that takes place in Ponyville, to be specific." the robot told her. "Yeah, those too!" the party pony responded. "C'mon! I've gotta teach that thief that nopony steals from Pinkamena Diane Pie and gets away with it!" She then swiftly ran into the ruins, eager to get her cannon back...perhaps a bit too eager. "Pinkie! Wait!!" the mechanoid urged her, concerned for her safety. "Do just go barging in!! You could get hurt!!" He had no choice but to run in after her. Running into the main foyer, he searched around for any sign of his friend. Just then, he heard something coming from a hallway to his left. He then galloped as fast as he could, hoping to find Pinkie Pie. Suddenly, as he turned a corner, Mega Pony gasped when he saw a large hole in the floor that created a pit that nearly extended the entire length of the hall ahead. He did his best to skid to a stop, but he ended up sliding right over the edge. Thinking quickly, he grabbed onto the side of the floor overlooking the pit with his forelegs, hanging on for dear life. Sweating, he glanced down and was horrifed to see that the entire bottom of the pit was made up of hundreds of jagged stones that were shaped like razor-sharp spikes. "This is bad...This is REALLY bad..." he said to himself. The robot then tried to activate his Emergency Wings function to try and fly out of the pit, but for some reason, the wings couldn't form. "Huh? What's wrong with my-" But before he could ask himself why the Emergency Wings wouldn't activate, he could feel his hooves slowly slipping from the ledge. He tried his best to hang on, but he knew that he couldn't stay there much longer. Then, to his horror, his forelegs slipped right off... "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" he screamed as he fell to what seemed like his doom. But before he even knew it, he stopped falling all of a sudden. He was confused at first, but when he looked up at the ledge, he saw why he had stopped falling into the pit: Pinkie Pie had grabbed onto his forelegs at the very moment that they slipped off of the ledge and was now pulling with all her strength to get him out of the pit. Luckily, while she didn't often display it, she was able to use her naturally-high Earth Pony strength to pull the heavy robot to safety. Panting heavily, Pinkie Pie asked him, "Geez, Mega Pony, what are ya made of? Solid lead?" "No...Titanium, actually." he corrected her. Getting back onto his hooves, he said to the pink mare, "Anyway...thanks a whole lot, Pinkie. If you hadn't shown up when you did, I'm pretty sure that fall would've done me in..." Looking back down at the pit behind him, he added, "Something about those spiked rocks down there makes me really uncomfortable..." "Anytime, Mega Pony!" Pinkie told him with a smile. The robot then put on a stern look and informed her, "But the only reason I almost fell in there was because I was trying to find you after you decided to abruptly run into the castle...You should know better than to just run into someplace that could be dangerous all by yourself; you or I could've been hurt...or worse." Pinkie sighed sadly and said, "I know...I'm REALLY sorry. I just wanted to get my Party Cannon back so, so, SO badly, that I wasn't even thinking about that!" "Look, we'll find your cannon, Pinkie...But only if we work together." the mechanical pony told her. "No more running off alone, okay? Pinkie-Promise?" The pink pony giggled and shook his hoof, saying, "Sure! Pinkie-Promise!" Just then, Pinkie saw something on the other side of the spike pit, just before it ran down another passageway. "Mega Pony! I saw it!!" she informed him. "That thing we saw running into the castle! It's on the other side of the pit!!" "Really?" asked Mega Pony, looking over across the dangerous chasm. "Quick! Fly over to it with your wings!" she told him. "I'm afraid I can't." he told her. "I tried to use my Emergency Wing function to get out of the pit, but they didn't work..." Closing his eyes, he did a quick scan of his systems to try and figure out the problem. After he was done, he continued, saying, "And now I know why: I don't have enough energy stored to use them..." He then groaned and slapped his face with his right front hoof. "Rrrrgh! I KNEW I forgot to do something at Mom's castle before we left! My processors must be slow today...!" "Well, maybe there's another way across those spikey rocks." Pinkie suggested. "There's a good chance." the robot responded. "Based on the size of the thing that we saw, there's no way that it could jump over a pit this huge, and I didn't see it having any wings that would allow it to fly over..." "Then there's still a chance! We can still find it AND my Party Cannon!! Let's go!!" Pinkie was about to run off again, but remembering what Mega Pony told her, she stopped herself and politely said to the robot, "Um, after you, of course." He nodded with a smile as he went ahead of her. The pair then began to look around the castle to try and find the small-sized creature. The two ponies wandered the many halls and passageways of the castle ruins, but there was still no sign of the small, suspicious creature that was running around. As they went deeper into the castle, it started to get darker around them. "Ugh...it's getting too hard to see..." the robot noted. "I'd better turn on my Infared Vision..." "And I'd better turn on my 'Wave-My-Hoof-in-Front-of-My-Face-and-Feel-My-Way-Around' Vision!" Pinkie chimed in, swinging her left front hoof around. But as she did, her hoof accidentally grabbed onto an overhead lever and pulled it down. When she did, it triggered a trapdoor to open up underneath them. The two of them screamed as they fell through, sliding down a smooth, stone slide down into the bowels of the castle. The two then dropped into a torch-lit room deep underground, emerging from a long, green tube that was sticking out of the low ceiling above them. They both hit the ground hard, but their flanks cushioned their fall. "Woah...what happened??" Mega Pony asked himself. Rubbing his sore bottom, he looked up at the tube that they came out from and said, "I guess we must've fallen through a trap door and came out from that green pipe; Mom and Aunt Luna did tell me that the whole castle was full of tricks and traps like that." Turning over to Pinkie Pie, he said to her, "Lucky for us, there wasn't anything in there to bump into." "Speak for yourself, Mega..." the pink mare told him, presenting her flank and showing him a large, red plant with white spots and sharp teeth, biting her rear end. She then simply shook the plant off of her and said to herself, "What's the deal? Those things aren't supposed to pop up if you're standing on or next to where they come out!" "Pinkie! Look over there!" Mega Pony shouted, interrupting her thoughts and pointing at something behind her. The party pony glanced over and saw something that made her eyes light up with delight: It was her missing Party Cannon, sitting on a raised part of the stone floor in the back of the room. Letting out a happy gasp, she began to shout, "It's my Party Can-mmmff!" Her cry was stopped short when the blue robot covered her mouth with his foreleg. "Keep quiet, Pinkie...!" he whispered. Pointing towards the cannon again, he then told her, "Take a closer look..." The pair looked ahead and saw that the cannon wasn't the only thing in the room; there were several figures strolling around, seemingly guarding it. Mega Pony felt a tinge of nervousness when he saw that some of those figures were none other than Equine Joes, similar to the ones that he had fought before. Also with them were several smaller creatures that appeared to be disembodied heads with a pair of feet growing out from under them. They had beady, black eyes, tiny yellow mouths, and wore shiny, yellow helmets. "What are those things...?" asked Pinkie Pie, keeping her voice quiet for once as they ducked behind a wall to conceal themselves. "Well, I know what those pony-like robots are;" he answered her, "they're the Equine Joes that I told you about." Looking over at the smaller, head-shaped figures, he then added, "Those smaller ones, I'm not exactly sure...Maybe I can do a quick scan of them from all the way over here..." Mega Pony's eyes then began to glow green as he scanned one of the small creatures. Once he was done, he told his pink friend, "Okay, according to what I scanned from them, those small things are robots, too. They're called Mettaur, or Mets for short." "What do they do?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Well, I've actually heard about what they're for, long before we came here." the robot stated. "My mom said that they were designed to handle more menial tasks that would be too tricky or even dangerous for a pony to accomplish." "Did she build them, too?" the pink mare then inquired. "No, actually, she didn't." the mechanoid answered. "She said that somepony else designed them. All she did was authorize their construction in limited amount...But I can't say for sure if the same pony who built them also ordered them to do what they're doing right now; my mom told me that after a Mettaur is built, it can then be programmed and modified by anypony, depending on what they need it to do for them." "So whoever stole my cannon also ordered these Met guys to guard it!" Pinkie deduced. "But who?" "We'll figure that out another time." the robot recommended to her. "We have more important things to do right now, and that's getting your cannon back and finishing your party on time." Mega Pony then closed his eyes and triggered his Varibale Tool System, chaging his color scheme and cutie mark to Pinkie Pie's. *** WEAPON EQUIP! *** Party Cannon *** Looking over at his friend, Mega Pony then asked her, "You ready to stop those thieves, Pinkie?" The pink pony nodded and held up her new hoof cannon. "It'd be my pleasure!" she told him with a smirk. "Let's go!!" Back in the room where Pinkie's cannon was, the robot guards were surveying the area, making sure that nopony would get past them. One of the Equine Joes was perched up on a ledge above, spying on the area below. It was so focused on its duties, it failed to notice a pair of balloons hovering to either side of it. Before it knew what was going on, the balloons let out a loud BURST, popping mere inches away from where it was. This caused the wicked machine to jump up in surprise, and after it landed, it began to lose its balance and fell off of the platform that it was on. Once it hit the ground, it smashed apart, putting it out of commission. The destruction of the Equine Joe attracted the attention of the other guards, who went to inspect the damage. As they looked at the wrecked remains of the orange pony-like robot, one of the Mettaur was struck from behind by another balloon that flew straight towards it. The balloon burst caused the tiny robot to be put out of commision permanently. The other guards looked around, trying to figure out where the attacks on them were coming from. They got their answer when Pinkie Pie and Mega Pony leapt into the room, firing off several more colorful balloons at them. Reacting quickly, the other robots defended themselves: The Equine Joes put up their shields, while the Mets ducked completely underneath their yellow helmets in order to dull the impact of the shots. The Equine Joes then returned fire, shooting out energy bullets from their hoof-mounted blasters. The Mets fired several slow-moving shots from out of their mouths. Pinkie Pie ducked to avoid the blasts coming towards her. As for Mega Pony, he reacted quickly enough to swap weapons, changing his colors and cutie mark to Ms. Cheerilee's. *** WEAPON EQUIP! *** Flower Shield *** The mechanical pony then used his newly-activated weapon to produce a shield made up of four metal plates shaped like flowers. The plates deflected the blasts, sending them far away from both him and Pinkie. He then aimed the shield at the attacking robots and fired it at them. The Equine Joes defended themselves with their shields, but many of the Mettaur got hit by the metal plates and were destroyed. "Pinkie, I'll take care of the other two Equine Joes!" Mega Pony told her. "Can you handle the rest of the Mettaur?" Pinkie Pie then told him, "Well, HANDLING them might be tricky, since all I have are hooves, but I'll try my best anyway!" She then pointed her hoof cannon at the helmet-wearing robots and fired off more colorful balloons out of it. On cue, the Mets ducked under their helmets and shielded themselves from the shots. The pink pony narrowed her eyes a little, annoyed that the attack was blocked. But then she came up with an idea: She then shouted to the little bots, "Hey! The price of D-batteries are at an all-time high!!" Upon hearing that, the small robots perked their heads up out of surprise and fear, unaware that by doing so, they made themselves completely vulnerable to attack. Pinkie then pointed her hoof cannon and fired off several more colorful balloons that burst upon hitting them. The bursts from the projectiles put each and every one of the Mettaur out of commission. Pinkie smirked as she blew off a small puff of smoke from her hoof cannon. Elsewhere, Mega Pony was fighting off the two Equine Joes. Luckily, the blue robot remembered their weakness from the last time he fought them, and had just the weapon to defeat them with. He then changed his color scheme to white and violet, signifying that he had now activated Rarity's special weapon. *** WEAPON EQUIP! *** Gem Seeker *** The mechanical hero used his new weapon and created four shimmering gems that circled around him, just before the Equine Joes fired at him. Two of the gems absorbed the enemy shots, and Mega Pony used the other two to attack the Joes, striking them before they could defend themselves. Once they were stunned, the blue robot switched back to Pinkie's weapon and fired a barrage of balloons to finish the two orange bots off. "We did it!! We did it!!" cheered Pinkie Pie, celebrating their victory. "We sure did, Pinkie!" Mega Pony added, happy as well. "Now we can take your Party Cannon back and finish things up in Sugarcube Corner!" But the two were unaware that someone was watching them; it was the same figure that was spying on them when they were at the rivier earlier. Watching the two ponies from a ledge near the ceiling, the figure then said to them, in a low voice so that they couldn't hear him, "Sorry to break this to you, but our little party's not over just yet..." The figure took out what appeared to be a remote control-like device and clicked a button on it. "I think it's time those two met our special guest; one that somebody like me can truely appreciate..." At that moment, both Mega Pony and Pinkie Pie could feel a slight tremor that was slowly, but surely getting stronger. "Um...what's that?" asked the robot pony, getting a little worried. "Something super-bad, I'm sure..." she answered him. "I'm no expert, but big, loud rumbles towards the end of a story are never a good sign." And Pinkie's words (no matter how little sense they made) were proven true, as out of the shadows, behind where Pinkie's Party Cannon was sitting, came a gigantic, ferocious beast known as a Timberwolf. True to its name, the massive creature looked almost exactly like a wolf, except much bigger, and the obvious fact that it appeared to be made completely out of wood. But the monster was by no means an inanimate object; it snarled and roared just like a real wolf, and it stared down the two ponies with its menacing, green eyes. "Wh-wh-what the hay is THAT?!?" asked Mega Pony, scared. "Oh no, it's a Timberwolf!!" the pink mare answered. "A Timberwolf?!" repeated the robot. But before another word could be said, the giant wood creature began to raise its left claw into the air to strike them. Putting his fear aside, the mechanoid then said to Pinkie, "Grab onto me and whatever you do, don't let go!" The party pony nodded and wrapped her forelegs around his midsection, just as he swapped his color scheme to that of Rainbow Dash. He then used his newly-activated weapon to speed out of the way before the beast could slash them. *** WEAPON EQUIP! *** Sonic Rainboom *** Frustrated, the Timberwolf slashed its claw again, but Mega Pony continued to use Rainbow Dash's power to speed out of the way each time. However, he knew he couldn't keep it up forever; he had to attack the creature sooner or later, or he and Pinkie would never escape the castle ruins alive. All the while, the large figure perched up near the ceiling watched and chucked to himself. "Heh...that's right, just try and dig yourselves out of this one." he said. "You're only delaying the inevitable..." "Mega, what are we gonna do?" asked Pinkie Pie. "We've gotta stop that thing somehow!" "Yeah, but how?" the robot asked. Just then, as he glanced back over at the Timberwolf, he noticed something peculiar about it: Around its neck was a metal collar with a blinking red light on it. "What's that thing...?" he asked himself. "How can there be a piece of metal on a creature that supposed to be made out of wood?" He then realized how this would be possible: The only way that an all-wood creature could have a piece of metal attached to it was that if somepony put it on the beast. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "What's up? Do you have an idea?" asked Pinkie Pie. "A Save-the-Day-at-the-Last-Minute Idea?!" "Possibly." he answered her, pointing up at the metal collar. "See that collar?" he then asked Pinkie. "I'm sure that thing has something to do with why that Timberwolf is coming after us. I'm sure that if we destroy it, we might be able to get out of this okay!" "But it's so high up; without your wings you can't reach it all the way up there!" the party pony noted. "I can't even bounce that high with one of my hops!" "Bounce...? That's it!!" exclaimed Mega Pony. "I just remembered: The second function of your new Party Cannon!" Whispering his idea into her ear, Pinkie nodded to say that she understood what he asked of her. Jumping out of the way of another claw strike by the Timberwolf, Mega Pony switched to his Party Cannon weapon as Pinkie readied hers. But when she fired it, instead of shooting out balloons, the hoof cannon produced a hot-pink springboard which landed in front of the Timberwolf. "What the...?" asked the figure that was watching the scene from above. Once the object was in place, the little blue robot galloped over and jumped on top of it. The springboard then catapulted him straight up towards the Timberwolf. The creature, not sure what was going on right now, reeled back and unintetionally exposed its metal collar. Mega Pony then fired several more balloons from his horn, striking the collar dead-on. The intense bursts from the balloons' popping was enough to break the collar, causing it to fall to the hard stone floor below and break apart. "Yay! He did it!! He DID IT!!!" cheered Pinkie Pie with lots of enthusiasm. "What? No!! How'd he do that?!" asked the figure that was spying on them, not believing what had just happened. He could only watch as the Timberwolf began to shake its head and look around in confusion; it didn't seem to know where it was. Grumbling the figure then scowled to itself, "No matter...I still got what I needed, anyway." Holding up what appeared to be a CD, the figure left the room and exited the castle. "Bye-bye strange and mysterious figure!" Pinkie said cheerfully, waving her left front hoof. "See you in a later episode!" "Um, Pinkie...who are you talking to now?" asked Mega Pony. "Didn't ya see him, Mega Pony?" inquired the silly pony. "I was talking to...um, talking to...uh...I don't really know. I guess his name wasn't revealed yet." "Never mind that now, Pinkie," the robot said to her, ignoring her comment for the moment, "we've got another problem..." He then pointed over to the Timberwolf. Although it was free of its metal collar, which was used to control the beast, it seemed to still want to attack the two ponies. The pair backed up as much as they could to get away from the massive beast, but there was nowhere for them to run. Then, just as the creature began to swipe at them... "BA-KAAAAWWWWWK!!!!" All of a sudden, a loud screech could be heard from the large pipe nearby. A small creature then emerged from out of it, dropping onto the stone floor. But it wasn't just any creature: It was a Cockatrice; more specifically, it was none other than Phil, the Cockatrice that Mega Pony had helped some time ago. He ran as quick as his little chicken feet could carry him and got inbetween the Timberwolf and the two ponies. "What's a Cockatrice doing here??" asked Pinkie Pie. "Wait, I know him!" Mega Pony told her. "That's Chick Phil Leigh! I recognize that nick in his comb!" The pair watched as the half-chicken, half-lizard began squwaking at the Timberwolf, seemingly scolding it. The giant wooden wolf stopped its attack and began making confused growling sounds at Phil. The Cockatrice then squwaked back, and pointed towards Mega Pony as it spoke. After Phil "talked" to it for about a minute, the Timberwolf then backed off and calmed down before it left the room, heading out through a large cave opening in the dark area of the room that it came from. "What just happened...?" asked Mega Pony, astonished. "Well, I'm still a bit rusty in Cockatrice-talk," Pinkie replied, "but I think that he told the Timberwolf not to attack you. Once he told the wolf who you were and how you helped him, the Timberwolf decided to leave us alone." "Well, we sure were lucky he was around, especially since today's Sunday." the robot noted. "Usually Chick Phil Leigh doesn't show up on a Sunday..." He then asked Pinkie, "Wait...since when did you know how to speak Cockatrice?" "Well, one of us had to know how to speak his language." she answered him. "Otherwise, how is the reader going to know what he said?" Once again, Mega Pony didn't understand what Pinkie Pie meant. But once again, he decided to worry about it another time, since they had more important things to worry about right now. "Well, now that all of the guards are gone, we can finally get what we came here for." Running over to the now-unguarded Party Cannon, the mechanical pony told his pink friend, "C'mon, Pinkie. Let's get this back to Sugarcube Corner; we've got a party to finish!" Pinkie nodded and helped her robot friend to wheel the cannon out of the castle. Phil decided to help as well, flying up in front of them both in order to lead them to a path that would take them all back outside. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day soon came, and everypony in Ponyville came to Sugarcube Corner to attend Pinkie Pie's Cutie Mark-iversary. Despite the crisis yesterday, Mega Pony and Pinkie were able to finish putting together the party on time. Now all they had to worry about was trying to have as much fun as possible. Pinkie had invited everyone she could think of to attend the festivities; the guest list consisted of her best friends, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike, and her family, which included her mother and father and her two sisters, whom she called Blinkie and Inkie. Even the donkey, Cranky Doodle, had come to the party with his fiancée, Matilda. Though he still didn't care for big parties such as this one, even he seemed to enjoy himself, even if it was just a little bit. Over at the DJ booth, Vinyl Scratch was doing what she loved to do: Play her super-loud, super-catchy music all over the room. Over at the snack table, Mr. and Mrs. Cake laid all sorts of sweet treats made by both them and by Pinkie Pie. One of the guests in attendance was certainly enjoying the food; it was Phil the Cockatrice, whom Pinkie had invited to the party after he had helped them to escape the Everfree Forest. It took some convinicing, but the party guests were able to co-exist with the strange creature after Mega Pony assured them all that Phil wasn't dangerous. Mega Pony watched as the Cockatrice had his fill of the cupcakes and chocolate lollipops. Just then, a question suddenly came to him. "Wait...I just thought of something;" he began to ask, "how did Phil find us so fast? And what's more, how did he know to come to the castle ruins?" "Oh, I must confess, that would be because of me." said the voice of Steven Magnet, speaking to Mega Pony and his friends through an open window from outside of the sweet shop. "After I brought you and your pink friend closer to the ruins, I caught sight of Phil and told him EVERYTHING. After hearing your name, he rushed over to the castle as fast as he could." "So you sent him to help us?" asked Pinkie Pie. "That was so nice of you!" "Oh, it was nothing, Sweetie." the sea serpent replied. "I was just doing what felt right, like how your friend Ms. Rarity helped me out." "Well, thank you EVER so much for helping my friends, Mr. Magnet." the Unicorn fashionista told him with a smile. "You truely are as nice as you are fashionable." She then gave a slight kiss on his moustache-covered face to show her appreciation. Steven giggled a bit and responded with, "Oh, stop it...You're making me all giddy!" Spike, after watching Rarity give the sea serpent a little kiss, huffed a little, crossed his arms, and said under his breath, "Lucky..." Pinkie Pie then walked over to Mega Pony and said to him, "And thank you too, Mega Pony. It was because of you that we able to finish the party!" "It was because of US, Pinkie." he corrected her. "We did it together. You showed a lot of bravery coming with me to help out, even though you knew it would be dangerous. I couldn't ask for anything better than that kind of support from you." "Just trying to be a good friend, M.P." the pink pony said with a giggle. She then asked him, "Say after this party is over, could help me out with my next one?" "Um...next one?" asked the robot. "When's it going to be, Pinkie?" "Tomorrow!" "T-T-TOMORROW?!?" "Well, duh!" the silly pony told him. "I have to make Cutie Mark-iversaries for my other friends, too! After all, we all got our cutie marks at the same time! So we'll be super-duper busy putting together parties for the whole week!!!" Mega Pony's eyes widened upon hearing just how busy he was going to be this week. "Oh dear..." he said to himself, feeling exhausted just thinking about it... --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Unknown Location / Time: 1:25 a.m.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere, in a place far, far away from Ponyville, two figures were speaking to each other... "So your entire squadron in the forest couldn't prevent a pair of prissy little ponies from recovering one little cannon?" asked one of them. Although his body was concealed by the shadows around them, one could make out what appeared to be a boomerang-like object on his head area. He chuckled a bit and added, "Heh, the boss'll REALLY love t' hear about how ya screwed this one up..." "Now let's get one thing straight:" said the other, slightly chubby-looking figure; the same one that was at the Castle of the Two Sisters. "While it IS true that all of the Mets and Equine Joes were defeated, along with that big, wooden wolf-thing that had the control ring on it, I didn't necessarily, 'screw it up'..." "Oh, really?" The portly figure held up a CD and told the other, "Unlike some people, I actually had a Plan B in store, just in case...Just before those two ponies showed up, I did a full scan of the cannon and downloaded all of its data onto this disc. Thanks to what I have here, the boss can construct a completely new cannon for his plans instead." "Hmph...well, I have to say," the leaner figure told him, "that was some pretty quick thinking on your part; and I should know a thing or two 'bout bein' quick. Good to know that your brain's not made of wood." "...I suppose I should take that as a compliment." the bigger individual said. "Anyway, I have to deliver these cannon schematics to the boss. Do us all a favor and make yourself useful somewhere else." "Heh, I was just about take a quick leave anyway." the other figure replied. "See ya, bro." And in what seemed like a second, the leaner figure was already out of the room. The remaining individual then walked forward to perform his assigned duties... --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEXT EPISODE: "The Good, the Bad, and the Mechanical" ---------------------------------------------------------------------