//------------------------------// // Episode 112: New 'Bot on the Block // Story: Mega Pony: Season One // by Monty Eggman //------------------------------// Episode 112: New 'Bot on the Block: --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! About a week ago, after seeing how lonesome Mega Pony was day after day in the castle, Princess Celestia decided to do something for him to help him feel better. After she sent him away to the Crystal Empire, she and her sister, Princess Luna, began work on a new project: A new robot that would become a literal sister to Mega Pony. With their combined efforts, the two Alicorns were able to finish their work, and Mega Pony was introduced to his new sister, Midi. Midi was created specifically to keep Mega Pony company while their creators were busy with their usual duties. Since then, they have had all sorts of fun together, playing games, talking with each other, touring the city of Canterlot, and helping each other out with various things. The two have become an inseperable pair, almost always seen together; the only exceptions being whenever Mega Pony had to leave to handle minor threats in Equestria. Now that Mega Pony has gotten to know Midi very well, he feels ready to introduce his sister to his best friends in Ponyville. With permission from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the two have teleported to the small, humble town to spend the day there, on what they expect to be an ordinary day for the both of them... --------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARACTER SELECT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mega Pony (PCN-001): Super fighting pony robot. Built by Princess Celestia. Midi (PCN-002): Mega Pony's friendly and optimistic "sister". Twilight Sparkle: Bookworm and Egghead. Element of Magic. Zecora: Mysterious Zebra mare that lives in the forest. Likes to rhyme a lot. --------------------------------------------------------------------- It was yet another peaceful and serene day in the town of Ponyville. The townsfolk were going about their daily duties, ranging from going to work, shopping around the marketplace, or chatting with other ponies. At the local restaurant, Twilight Sparkle and her best friends were all sitting at an outdoor table, having lunch while seemingly waiting for someone. "Is he here yet?" Rainbow Dash asked with a sigh, as she did not like sitting still for long periods of time. "Just be patient, Rainbow Dash..." Applejack told her. "He'll get here when he gets here. You always do this when we have to wait fer somethin'..." "Well, I don't really blame Rainbow for being impatient..." Fluttershy spoke up. "To be honest... I'm kind of anxious to hear about what he wants to tell us once he shows up..." She then meekly added, "Oh... I hope you don't think that I'M being impatient too after I said all of that..." "It's okay, Fluttershy." Twilight assured her timid friend. "I'm sure we all have that same feeling ourselves." "I wonder what it could be, though..." Pinkie Pie hummed to herself while in deep thought, sitting upright while rubbing her left front hoof under her chin. "OOOOOH!! I know!! Maybe he's planning a birthday party and he needs our help with setting it up! Finally!! I have an excuse to use my new Cake Cannon!!" "But... nopony we know is having a birthday today..." Rarity informed her hyper pink friend. "And it can't be HIS birthday, otherwise we would have known about it in advance..." "Awwww..." Pinkie moaned in disappointment. She then looked over at a brown cannon behind her that had a cake-like design painted all over it. Rubbing her right front hoof against the cannon, she said to herself, "One day... it'll be your time to shine..." She then began pushing the cannon away, supposedly putting it back to where she had gotten it from. About a minute later, the group of ponies heard a familiar sound nearby. All of them (including Pinkie Pie, who somehow managed to instantly return to them all after putting her cannon away) looked towards the source of the noise in time to catch a glimpse of a tower of light from far away. "Alright! Finally!!" said Rainbow Dash, instantly flying up into the air and speeding off towards where the light was. "Rainbow Dash, wait for us!" Rarity shouted at her. "You seem to forget that not all of us can move as fast as you can!" The five of them chased after their rainbow-haired friend, heading for their next destination. After they all got closer to where the tower of light was, the six young mares saw somepony walking towards them: It was their robotic friend Mega Pony, who had a bright smile on his face after he saw them heading his way. "Hey, everypony! Good to see you all again!" he greeted them. "Good to see you too, Mega Pony!" Twilight greeted back. The lavender Unicorn gave the little robot a welcome hug and said to him, "Before we start, I just wanted to thank you; my brother sent me a letter telling me about how you helped him and Princess Cadance a couple of days ago. So again, thanks a lot." "Anytime, Twilight." Mega Pony told her, returning the hug. He then looked at the anxious-looking faces his friends had and asked them, "So... based on your facial expressons, I guess you must really want to know why I asked you to come and see me here, am I correct?" The others nodded yes to say that they did. "Well, in that case," he began to tell them all, "I should start by telling you... I'm not here by myself this time." "Hm? You ain't?" asked Applejack. "Who's with ya?" The little robot smiled... and then moved off to the side, revealing that, behind him, there was a small Unicorn filly standing there. She seemed a little bit shy, though not unhappy to be where she was. The filly had a light-yellow coat and a bright yellow mane and tail. Her eyes were a bright baby blue, and her flank had no picture upon it, indicating that she did not yet have a cutie mark. "Um... hello." she said to them meekly. Mega Pony then said to his friends, "Everypony... I'd like you to meet Midi, my new little sister." Twilight and her friends gasped a little bit in surprise. "Your sister??" asked the lavender Unicorn. "But how can you have a sister?" asked Rainbow Dash. "You're a robot. And last time I checked, robots don't give birth..." "Ain't it obvious, Dash?" Applejack asked. "She's a robot too. The Princess built her jus' like she built Mega." "That's right." Mega Pony confirmed. "My mom built Midi to keep me company while I'm in the castle. Since then, she and I have become very good friends, and I felt that you should all get to know her, too." "Oh, she looks absolutely adorable!" Rarity complimented, walking over to the young filly. She then introduced herself, saying, "Hello there, Midi... My name is Rarity; I'm a very good friend of your older brother. It's a pleasure to meet you." "Um, hello Ms. Rarity." the filly robot replied as she slowly performed a hoof-bump with the Unicorn fashionista. "My big brother's told me all about you and the others; is it true that you make all kinds of pretty dresses and things for ponies to wear?" The white Unicorn nodded yes to answer the little filly's question. "Rarity is very good at designing fancy dresses for everypony..." Fluttershy informed Midi. "You should see all of the beautiful clothes that she's made... Not to, um... make you think that I'm forcing you to do it, that is..." Midi's eyes lit up a little after hearing that. She then asked her brother, "Could we go and see them, Big Brother? I'd really like to see all of the pretty dresses!" "Sure, why not?" Mega Pony replied. He then questioned his white Unicorn friend, "Is that okay with you, Rarity?" "Of course it is." the fashionista replied. "I was going to suggest the idea myself, as a matter of fact." She then turned around and said to everyone, "To the Carousel Boutique, everypony!" She then began walking towards the building that served as her home and place of business. The others followed their violet-maned friend through town. Rainbow Dash groaned a little and thought to herself, (Why couldn't she say that she was interested in sports or something...? Why dresses?) The cyan mare simply sighed and followed her friends to Rarity's house. Inside Carousel Boutique, the group glanced around at all of the fancy decor, as well as the new outfits that Rarity had recently finished or started working on. Midi glanced at all of the beautful dresses and fancy clothing with wide, sparkling eyes. Clearly, seeing all of the beautiful outfits filled her with great joy. "Oh wow... they're all so pretty..." she said out-loud. "I love how they all look!" "Why thank you, darling. That is a very nice thing for you to say." Rarity responded, grateful for the filly robot's comment. "I take it that you have a great interest in fancy dresses, am I correct?" "Uh huh! I've seen all of my mommy's pretty dresses back home, and I always liked how they looked!" Midi told her. "I sure wish that I had something like that for myself!" "Hmmmm... I think I might be able to arrange that." the fashionista told her. "After all, you do look a little... plain. Not to criticize your creator's- erm, your MOTHER'S vision, but I feel that your outward appearence could be slightly improved... Just a little bit, though." "Well, that would be nice of you to do that for her." said Mega Pony. He then asked his little sister, "What do you think? Would you like Rarity to make a dress for you to wear?" "I'd love that!" Midi answered without hesitating. "Oh, how wonderful!" Rarity cheered. "In that case, we can get started immediately!" The Unicorn mare then rushed over to a nearby file cabinet and opened it; inside were all of her different patterns for dresses and other articles of clothing. After paging through all of papers that she had in the cabinet, she eventually found a pattern that she felt would work the best for the little filly-bot. "Here we are!" she said to herself. "This pattern isn't the most decorative or most extravagent piece that I've designed, but since this will most likely be an outfit that you'll wear daily, I suppose that it doesn't have to be too elaborate... I do not think that it will take very long for me to finish; I'd say that this may only take around... a half hour to forty-five minutes to complete." "That's good to hear." Mega Pony replied. Midi was happy to hear that as well, anxious to get her new dress as soon as possible. As Rarity had told everypony, creating the new dress did not take very long at all (though it felt like a long time to Rainbow Dash, since this sort of thing never really interested her). She used sky-blue fabric to create the article of clothing, fashioning it into a simple dress designed to fit a filly-sized pony. She also sewed a long, white, decorative stripe around the hem of the skirt. Rarity didn't stop there, though; she also made four small shoes for Midi, in the same sky-blue color, to wear on her hooves. She also fashioned the filly robot's hair into a pair of small buns, tied tight with a pair of green ribbons. The other ponies in the room were quite impressed by their fashionista friend's latest work. "Oh wow... you did such a good job, Rarity!" Twilight complimented. "Yeah, even I gotta admit; this one's pretty good." Rainbow Dash chimed in (though the tone of her voice still suggested that she was a bit bored). Midi smiled as she looked in the mirror and admired her new look. "So?" Mega Pony began to ask his sister. "Do you like it?" "I love it!" cheered the little filly-bot. "It looks so pretty on me!" She then said to Rarity, "Thank you so much, Ms. Rarity!" "My pleasure, darling. It was nothing; just part of my generous nature." the white Unicorn replied. Suddenly getting an idea, she then told her, "You know, I just thought of something; perhaps you'd like to meet MY little sister. She's about the same age as you are... in the physical sense of course, you understand?" "I understand." Midi simply replied. "And I'd really like to meet her, Ms. Rarity. Where is she?" "Hold on, I'll get her for you." The dress-making pony then walked towards the stairs and shouted, "Sweetie Belle!!" "What is it...?!" a voice shouted back. "Could you come downstairs for a brief moment?" Rarity asked of her younger sibling. "There's somepony here that I'd like you to meet!" "...I'm coming, Rarity...!" the voice replied. The others heard hoofsteps from the ceiling above, and then, about a few seconds later, Sweetie Belle came trotting down the stairs. Once she got to the bottom, she immediately took notice of her older sister's friends, including Mega Pony. She then greeted them, saying, "Oh, hi everypony! Hi, Mega Pony! Hi... um..." She then stopped when she looked over at Midi, not recgonizing her. "Um, who are you?" The small robot walked over to the pink and purple-maned filly and introduced herself, saying, "Hi there! I'm Midi; Mega Pony's sister. Pleased to meet you!" "Same here!" Rarity's younger sister replied, hoof-bumping with Midi. "I'm Sweetie Belle!" After the friendly gesture, the small white-coated filly then told her, "And yeah, I've met your big brother before; he helped me and my friends out a while ago." After they introduced themselves, Midi glanced over to Sweetie Belle's side and noticed something about her. "Oh... you don't have your cutie mark yet?" she asked her. "Nope, not yet." the little white filly answered with a sigh. "I've been trying all sorts of things to try and get one, but... so far, nothing. I'm starting to think that my classmate, Diamond Tiara, will stop being a jerk long before I get my cutie mark..." "Well, don't feel too bad about it, Sweetie Belle." Midi said to her. "I don't have mine yet, either." Snapping out of her slightly depressed state, Rarity's younger sister then asked, "You don't??" The filly robot nodded and pulled the hem of her dress to show that her flank was, indeed, "blank". "Oh, that's perfect!" cheered Sweetie. "Not about you not having your cutie mark, of course, but it's just that... I have two friends of mine that don't have their cutie marks yet either! I'm sure they'd love to meet you! What do ya say?" "Um, sure! I'd like to meet them, too!" Midi replied. She then asked her big brother, "Is that okay with you?" "Sure, it's fine with me, Midi." the blue robot answered. "Just as long as there's somepony to watch over you." "Don't y'all worry 'bout that, Mega." Applejack told him. "As ya know, their clubhouse is on Apple Family property, so Ah can keep an eye on 'em all for ya." "Okay, that's good to know." the blue robot replied. "Still... I think I should go with you, just to be sure, you know?" "Not a problem at all." the orange Earth Pony replied, tipping her hat to him. "Well, if everypony's ready t' get goin', let's move on out." Mega Pony, Midi, and Sweetie Belle nodded in response before the four of them left for Sweet Apple Acres. "Well, I've still got some orders to work on today, girls, so I'll be busy for a while longer." Rarity informed her friends. "Then I guess we'll see you later." Twilight replied. "Have a good day, Rarity." "You too, Twilight, and the rest of you as well." the white Unicorn told them before heading back to her file cabinet. The rest of the group soon departed from the Carousel Boutique together before splitting up to go off on their own for a while. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, at the Apple Family's property, Apple Bloom and her friend Scootaloo were sitting together in their clubhouse, apparently waiting for somepony. Based on the tired and bored-looking expressions on their faces, they appeared to have been waiting for quite a while. Yawning, Scootaloo then asked Apple Bloom, "Ugh... what's TAKING Sweetie so long?? She should've been here by now! I feel like we've been waiting for eons!" "Ah know... She's never THIS late for a meetin'..." groaned the pink bow-wearing filly. "What could she possibly be doin' right now??" "I'm HEEEEEEEEREE...!" shouted a filly's voice from far away. "Finally!" Scoot blurted out. "It's about time!!" Soon after that, the clubhouse door opened, and in walked Sweetie Belle and Midi. "What took y'all so long??" asked Apple Bloom. "Ya know our meetings on Saturday and Sunday always begin at 12 in the afternoon!" "I know... I'm REALLY sorry, girls..." the tiny Unicorn filly apologized. "It's just that I brought somepony with me this time, and that's what kinda held me up for a little bit..." "You... brought someone with you?" asked Scootaloo. She and Apple Bloom then glanced over at the other pony that was with their friend. "Um... who's she?" asked the little Pegasus. "Everypony, I'd like you to meet Midi." Sweetie Belle said, introducing them both to the robot filly. "She's Mega Pony's sister." "His SISTER?!?" exclaimed the other two fillies. "But... how does a robot have a sister??" asked Scootaloo. "Uh, maybe 'cause she's a robot too." Apple Bloom explained. "How else?" "Oh yeah... I didn't think of that." the little Pegasus replied, rubbing the back of her head. Sweetie Belle then said to her friends, "Mega Pony brought his sister with him today to introduce her to my big sis and her friends. And get this! She doesn't have her cute mark yet either!" "She doesn't?" asked Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in unison. The little white Unicorn filly shook her head no and asked them both, "So, I was thinkng that... maybe we could let her join the Cutie Mark Crusaders... if it's okay with all of you, that is." "Of course it's okay!" Apple Bloom replied with a smile. "We're always lookin' for new members to the club, and Ah'd be happy t' let her join us!" "Especially since she's Mega's sister." Scootaloo added. "That's reason enough for me." Sweetie Belle giggled a little and asked her new friend, "So whad'ya say, Midi? You wanna join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" "Um... I guess I do," the filly robot answered in an unsure tone, "but what is it? What do you do?" "Well, it's pretty simple:" Apple Bloom began to explain to her. "We formed the club in order to find out what our special talents are and get our cutie marks. But besides that, we also try to help other ponies who, like us, don't have their marks and help them find out what they're good at." "That sounds like a very nice thing to do for yourselves and for other ponies." Midi commented. "But... it's safe to assume that you haven't found out what your talents are yet, right?" "No, not yet..." Scootaloo answered. "But we'll find out what they are one day, and we'll try everything we can think of until we do! That's the first law of the CMC: Never give up at anything!" "...But, are you sure you would want me in your group?" Midi asked. "I'm a robot; I don't get my cutie mark the same way as other ponies do." "Hmmm... you do have a point..." Sweetie Belle commented, humming a little as she thought about it. "How WOULD she get her mark?" "Yeah, I forgot that cutie marks work differently for robots..." Scootaloo added. "Mega Pony did tell us that his was painted on his flank." "Well, Ah don't think that should matter that much, girls." Apple Bloom then told them. "Ah think Midi's really nice, and Ah'd love to have her as part of the group anyway! And Ah'm sure that, if we put our heads together, we can figure out a way for her to get a cutie mark of her own!" "Yeah, you're absolutely right!" agreed the little Pegasus. "I'm with you on that, too!" Sweetie chimed in. She then glanced over to Midi and asked her, "So what do you say? You wanna join the club, Midi?' The little filly robot pondered about it for a few seconds, wondering what she should do. In the end, the decision wasn't hard for her to make. With a smile, she answered them, saying, "Well, if you're all okay with it, then sure! I'd love to join your group! After all, my big brother said that I should try to make some friends here while we're visitng." "In that case," the white Unicorn filly told her, "I'll have to give you the CMC Initiation Speech!" "Aw no... not THAT speech again..." Scootaloo groaned a bit under her breath. Picking up a nearby scroll, Sweetie Belle unfurled it, cleared her throat, and began reading the words written upon the paper. "We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, elect Midi to join us as a sister, friend... um, com... uh, comfor... er, cutman..." Scootaloo and Apple Bloom groaned a little as their friend kept mispronouncing the word on the scroll. Luckily, Midi managed to figure out the word that her new friend was trying to say and asked, "Um... are you trying to say the word, 'confidant'?" Sweetie Belle stopped speaking and replied, saying, "Oh! Yeah! Thanks a lot, Midi!" She then continued, "As I was saying... we now accept you as our... con-fi-dant..." (She said the word slowly to make sure that she got it right this time.) "...ally, bossom buddy, gal pal, compadre, chum of chums..." "Ugh, can't we just skip this part, Sweetie Belle??" asked Scootaloo with a grumble. "This ALWAYS takes forever!" "Well, you should have written it shorter, Scootaloo!" the white Unicorn filly rebutted. "You said you were going to revise it all after we let Babs Seed join!" As Scootaloo and Sweetie argued with each other, Apple Bloom then walked over to Midi and said to her, "Look, Ah'll just make this real short-like..." She then shook the robot filly's right foreleg and told her, "Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Midi!" Returning the kind gesture, the filly-bot shook Apple Bloom's hoof and said, "Thank you so much! I'm glad that you're letting me join your group." "Well, we 'blank-flanks' gotta stick together." the bow-wearing filly told her. "There's a lotta ponies out there that're gonna make fun of ya for not havin' your mark yet, but ya gotta just ignore 'em and remember who your real friends are." "They make fun of ponies over something like that?" asked Midi, surprised. "That doesn't make sense... No one's born with a cutie mark, so they should know what it's like not to have one." "You'd think that, but unfortunately, that's just how it is..." Scootaloo then told her, after she and Sweetie Belle stopped arguing with each other. "But don't worry; no matter what anypony says to you, we'll always be there for ya." "Thank you." the filly-bot replied, happy to hear that. "My big brother was right when he said that there were lots of good, friendly ponies out there. I already feel like I'm fitting in with everyone, even though I'm not a 'real' pony. So again, thanks for being so kind to me." The rest of the CMC nodded with a smile, to say that they were more than happy to accept Midi as their new friend. Just outside of the clubhouse, Mega Pony and Applejack were listening in to what was going on inside. Smiling, the blue robot then told his Earth Pony friend, "Well, it sounds like they're getting along very well up there..." "Ah thought that they would." Applejack replied. "Mah sister and her friends are very accepting to other ponies, especially to ones that don't have cutie marks yet." "That makes sense, I suppose." Mega Pony then told her. "Ah think those fillies'll be fine on their own fer a while." the orange pony then said. "Why don't ya'll come in the house fer a spell n' take a li'l break?" "Sounds good. I have been pretty busy the past few days, so a break might be just what I need right now." the robot told her. And with that, the pair left the orchard, heading for the farmhouse, while Midi and the Cutie Mark Crusaders began spending the day together in the large treehouse. But while Midi was settling in with her new friends, something else was going on in the mysterious Everfree Forest. A pair of shadowy figures - one large one that was standing on the ground, and a slightly shorter one that was soaking in a crystal-clear pond - were talking with each other, apparently discussing something that they were going to do shortly from now... "Ugh... why, pretell, did you ask me to meet you here in these woods??" asked the figure standing on the ground. "Why couldn't we have the rendezvous point be somewhere that isn't... well, so full of leaves? You know how much I dislike falling leaves..." "It was the only place that I could think of with a large body of water for me to be in." the other figure answered. "Besides, it's not Fall yet anyway; these leaves ain't gonna fall anytime soon..." "Rrrgh... why couldn't you be better at traveling around on the land...?" the larger figure muttered to itself. Sighing, it then said to its companion. "Whatever... let's just do our job here and get going before the boss has a fit." It then asked, "You DID bring the new units here, like he asked you to, did you?" "Oh, come on...! Whad'ya take me for?!" the other individual rebutted. "Of course I have 'em! I'm not THAT absent-minded!" The figure then climbed out of the pond and awkwardly hopped over towards a large, wooden crate. It then picked up a nearby crowbar and used it to open the crate. "Urrrrgh...! URRRRRRRGGGGHHH!!!" It grunted as it pulled with all of its might. Finally, after a few seconds of straining, the figure was able to pry open the front of the crate. "There! We're all set to go!" "Good." the larger one replied. "Now since the boss didn't have time to give them any set directions, they'll go after the first thing they see. So we had better take our leave immediately." The other figure nodded, and in an instant, the pair were swept away in a pair of light columns; one blue and one green. After they left, a faint glow could be seen from the inside of the open crate that was left behind. Not long after the glow appeared, a small, bluish-grey insect came flying out of crate; it appeared to be the source (or at least part of the source) of the light that came from within the box. Although it looked like a common Parasprite, it actually seemed to be a different type of bug altogether. As it flew around in the air, it constantly shedded off small, blue sparks from off of its body... Elsewhere in the forest, though not too far away, there was a large tree home that had a mysterious-looking appearance to it. The inside of it was even more mysterious: All over the walls of the home's dark interiors were strange objects such as large tribal masks, jugs of all shapes and sizes (some hanging from the ceiling on ropes), and books written in many strange languages. Another object that was in this small abode was a large, black cauldron; inside of it was a strange, bubbling, green liquid. Standing in front of the cauldron was an equine, but it was not a pony. She was actually a creature called a Zebra, noted by the distinctive black and white stripes that covered her body. Her name was Zecora, and while it was plainly clear that she was not a resident of Equestria, her actual origins were, as of now, currently unknown. She had bluish-green eyes, had her mane done up into a mohawk, wore a pair of oversized earrings in her ears, and gold bands around her neck and left foreleg. On her flank was a large spiral design; it was similar to a pony's cutie mark, but whether or not it actually was one was left up to debate. The Zebra mare seemed to be busy with her cauldron, cooking something up inside of it while following a set of directions from a book that was sitting on a small bookstand nearby. "Hmmm... will mistletoe leaves work well in this stew...?" she asked herself as she tossed the plant in question into the cauldron. But after she did so, the pot began to smoke, the liquid turned red... and then it exploded a little. Zecora then coughed a bit and added, "No no no... that will simply not do..." She then looked back at her book, trying to figure out where she could have gone wrong. As she worked, Zecora suddenly heard a faint buzzing sound from outside of her home. Normally, this wasn't a big deal, given that she lived in the Everfree Forest, but it attracted her attention this time around because it wasn't a sound that she was used to hearing at this time. "Hm?" The Zebra then stopped what she was doing and walked over towards one of her glass-less windows to take a look. She then saw that a large swarm of insects were flying right by her humble home. They all looked exactly the same as the bug that had emerged from the giant open crate: They had bluish-grey bodies, large purple eyes, six, short, black legs, and a pair of typical insect-like wings on its back. Its back end, as well as its antennae, were blue in color and shaped like lightning bolts. Each of them had a nasty scowl on their face, as if they seemed angry for some reason. "What? Twittermites?? What are they doing here??" Zecora asked herself. "This is not the season that they usually appear..." Just then, one of the bugs stopped flying with the rest of the swarm and glanced cruelly over towards the Zebra mare. Then, without warning, the insect's abdomen and antennae began to glow brightly. It then let out a powerful electric bolt towards her. Zecora managed to duck out of the way, and the bolt struck her cauldron instead, knocking it over and spilling its hot contents onto the ground. The nasty little bug chuckled in a mean tone before it rejoined the rest of the swarm. Once she felt that it was safe, Zecora stood back up on all fours and said to herself, "I had better find Ms. Twilight, and I must be swift..." She then glanced back at her cauldron, tipped over and left with a scorched mark from where the lightning bolt had struck it. "...before the rest of my house is burnt to a crisp..." she said, finishing her little rhyme. The Zebra mare then grabbed a few books, loaded them up into a pair of saddlebags, and departed from her tree home, heading straight towards Ponyville. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Twilight and the rest of her friends went their seperate ways for the moment, going off to do their own things for a while. For the lavender Unicorn, that meant arranging and categorizing newly-donated books to the library; a job that she relished every time. Spike usually assisted her in this duty, though he often had a hard time keeping up with her, especially once she really got into it. "Alright, the newly-released Daring Do book should go on the second bookshelf, row five..." Twilight instructed her dragon assistant while reading off of a list that she held with her magic, "then the 'Guide to Housekeeping' by Maretha Stewart needs to be placed ooooooon... the fifth shelf, row three. Then after that..." "Twilight! One at a time!!" Spike whined a little. "I'm still trying to find out where this 'Pony's Guide to Card Games' book is supposed to go!" "You're still on THAT one?" asked the book-smart pony. "I thought you would've gotten past that one by this point! We have to have this place ship-shape for when somepony comes in to take a look around!" "I'm sure nopony will complain if ONE book isn't back in its spot on the shelf yet..." the little dragon told her, "You seem to forget that not everypony can fully memorize the Decimal System like you can..." "That's no excuse not to try and keep every book organized, and you know it." Twilight rebutted. Before she could say anything else though, she suddenly heard a knock on her front door. "I'll get the door." she then told her assistant. "You keep putting away everything exactly as it says on the list." Spike sighed a bit as he took the list; at least now, he told himself, he could work at HIS own pace rather than hers. The lavender Unicorn opened the door and was surprised to see who it was standing there. "Oh! Zecora! Good to see you again!" she greeted. "I... wasn't expecting you here today. Is there something you need to tell me?" "Yes indeed," the Zebra began, "but before I do, you should gather your friends so that they may hear, too." "My friends?" asked Twilight, wondering what could have happened that would require the combined effort of all of her companions. Deciding that Zecora had a good reason for it, the Unicorn nodded and said, "Okay then... follow me, and we'll all meet over at Applejack's." The Zebra mare nodded, understanding what Twilight had asked her to do. The two equines then galloped away, leaving the Golden Oaks Library. "...You mean I've gotta do the rest of this organizing MYSELF?!" Spike shouted to Twilight, waving the list that he was holding in his claws out of frustration. Before long, Twilight and Zecora met up with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, gathering them all up and heading towards Sweet Apple Acres together. Once they all arrived at the front door of the farmhouse, Twilight knocked on the door a few times. When it opened, Big Macintosh was standing there to greet them. "Hey, Big Mac." Twilight said to him. "Are Applejack and Mega Pony still here?" "Eeeyup." he answered, pointing his hoof towards the kitchen. "Thanks." the lavender Unicorn said politely. She then motioned to the others behind her to follow her inside. Big Mac was then ready to close the door, when he noticed a small bug flying off in the distance. It buzzed at a medium-level volume as it flew around the orchard. The large stallion immediately recognized it and thought to himself, (Uh oh... it's one'a them pesky Twittermites again... Ah'd better go and find some help real quick-like...) He then trotted outside, closing the door behind him. "Twittermites?!" exclaimed Applejack after Zecora explained everything that she had witnessed. The others were just as surprised when they heard about the strange bugs themselves. "Are you absolutely sure that's what you saw, Zecora dear?" asked Rarity, sweating a little. "I kid you not, and I do not lie," the Zebra stated, "I saw them outside as they flew by." Rainbow Dash scratched her head with her left front hoof while hovering in the air, apparently confused about something. "Okay, wait: Back up a teensy-tiny bit... What the hay is a Twittermite?" she asked them. "A type of insect," Zecora explained, showing them all a page in one of her books about the creature, "or more commonly called, a bug... But they are not as ordinary as, shall we say, a slug. They shed electricity, zapping things while in flight, but they do not usually try to pick a fight..." "Pick a fight...?" asked Mega Pony. "You mean that they tried to attack you?" The Zebra nodded and told him, "That is most correct, my little robot... luckily, the only victim was my large pot." "That doesn't sound good at all..." noted Twilight. "if that's the case, they might try to attack other ponies here in town as well..." "Oh my..." whimpered Fluttershy, an ill feeling coming over her. "This is almost like that horrible Para-Bot attack all over again...!" "Not 'almost', Fluttershy..." Mega Pony corrected her. "This is EXACTLY like the Para-Bot attack... Just think about it: A bunch of strange insects show up unexpectedly, and they try to zap somepony for no reason at all? This can't be a coincidence, I know it!" "Are ya sayin' that whoever was behind the Para-Bots might also be responsible for these Twittermites bein' here, too??" inquired Applejack. "Maybe... I'm pretty sure there's a good chance of that, AJ." the robot answered her. "And if that's the case, then this problem might be even more serious than we first thought." "If that is so, then we must hurry!" Zecora suggested. "Or else those bugs will unleash their fury!" "Heh, 'hurry' is my middle name!" stated Rainbow Dash in her usual confident tone of voice. "I thought it was 'Danger'." Pinkie replied. "Or was it 'Jennifer'...? You kinda look like you could be a Jennifer..." Applejack then walked over to Mega Pony and told him, "If those Twittermites are as dangerous as you and Zecora are makin' it out t' be, then y'all will need t' be fully equipped and ready fer anythin'! So Ah think it might be a good idea for y'all to copy our powers again before we all go in there." "My thoughts exactly." the blue robot replied with a nod. "I was actually going to suggest the same thing myself." Twilight and her friends nodded to each other as they turned around and showed off their cutie marks to their mechanical friend. "You ready, Mega Pony?" asked Twilight. The robot nodded yes as he tapped each and every one of his friends' cutie marks and obtained their Special Weapons... *** WEAPON GET! *** Magic Wave *** *** WEAPON GET! *** Apple Bucker *** *** WEAPON GET! *** Sonic Rainboom *** *** WEAPON GET! *** Gem Seeker *** *** WEAPON GET! *** The Stare *** *** WEAPON GET! *** Party Cannon *** Once Mega Pony had finished copying his friends' powers, he then said to them, "Alright, we'd better stick together for this one. We'll need every bit of power we can muster if we're going to stop those Twittermites from doing whatever it is they set out to do..." "Makes sense..." noted Twilight. "After all, it took our combined powers to defeat the Para-Bot swarms last time." "In that case, Ah'd better get that hat o' mine that the Princess put that microchip in;" stated Applejack, taking off the hat that she was currently wearing and setting it on the table. "Y'know, the one that lets me use those apple bombs that Mega throws?" She then took out the special hat (which looked exactly like the previous one; Applejack had more than one of the same hat) and placed it upon her head. "And I'm all ready to go too!" Pinkie chimed in, reaching into her poofy mane and pulling out the pink hoof cannon that Princess Celestia gave to her. She then equipped it to her right foreleg and pointed it forward, making believe that she was aiming at an enemy. "So are we!" added Rainbow Dash as she did a swift loop in the air, while Twilight charged up a small amount of purple-colored energy into her horn. Fluttershy just meekly nodded to say that she was ready to fight as well... even though she would have preferred not to if she could. "What about you, Rarity?" Mega Pony asked his violet-maned friend. "Everypony else has everything they need, but I don't remember you having the ability to use the Gem Seeker weapon that I get from you..." "Well, as a matter of fact, that will not be a problem at all." the Unicorn fashionista stated. "Just watch..." She then charged up a white-colored energy into her horn, preparing to use a spell of some sort. Before long, Rarity managed to create a large-sized diamond that began orbiting around her. "I have taken the liberty of watching you ever so closely whenever you used that weapon of yours, and after a bit of practice between my many projects, I was able to figure out how to perform the magic myself." "Wow...! So you can use that power too?" asked Fluttershy in an impressed tone. "Yes, among other things, Fluttershy dear." Rarity answered. "But right now, all you need to know is that I will be fully capable of taking care of myself, not to mention contributing my skills to our mission as well." "That's good to hear." stated Mega Pony, feeling a bit relieved. "Still," he then told her, "be careful; I don't know what to expect from these Twittermites, and I wouldn't feel good if anything bad happened to you while you were helping me." Rarity nodded to say that she would do just that. "Well, if we're ready to go, then let's move out, everypony!" Twilight told them all. "...Wait, hold on...!" Mega Pony told his lavender friend, "what about my sister and the others? Who's going to look after them while we're gone?" "Don't worry 'bout that." Applejack informed him. "Ah'll let mah big brother know and he'll keep an eye on 'em... Granny Smith, too. We ain't got nothin' t' worry about as long as they're lookin' after things!" "Okay, sounds good to me." the robot responded. He then pointed ahead towards the front door and shouted, "Alright! Let's go!" "Yeah!" the others said in unison as they followed Mega Pony out of the house. Meanwhile, Midi, along with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, were busy playing a card game with each other. They were apparently playing Texas Hold 'Em, a form of Poker (nopony knew why it was called that, however, as no one knew what a "Texas" was). All four of them watched each other, trying to read one another's facial expressions... of course, that was all that they were doing in the past few minutes; nopony had even drawn a single card from the deck the entire time. "Um... I'm not exactly familiar with this game," Midi began to say to her new friends, "but I'm pretty sure one of us needs to make a move at some point... right?" "Listen, Mid..." Scootaloo began to tell her. "The MAIN point of this game is to try and read your opponents' facial expressions; that way, you'll know if they have good cards or not!" "Of course, considerin' that we haven't made any move since we started playin', it's kinda hard to tell who's doing well an' who ain't..." Apple Bloom noted. "At this rate, we'll NEVER get our Poker-playing cutie marks..." groaned Sweetie Belle. Midi then glanced out of the nearby window and noticed Mega Pony and his friends running past the treehouse and out of the orchard. "Huh? Was that my big brother and the others...?" she asked herself. "What are they doing?" Noticing the little filly robot suddenly looking outside, Apple Bloom then asked her, "Somethin' the matter, Midi?" "Huh?" Midi quickly looked away from the window and answered her friend, telling her, "Oh, uh... it's nothing. Let's just keep playing." The other fillies nodded and went back to their game. Just then, Sweetie Belle heard a strange noise that immediately got her attention. Ears twitching, she then asked, "What was that?" "What's what?" inquired Apple Bloom. "I thought I heard something buzzing from outside..." the little white Unicorn told them all. She then pointed with her right foreleg and added, "It's coming from over there!" The other three girls glanced over in the direction that Sweetie was pointing in and saw a small, grey bug flying in through the window. "It's probably just a stupid mosquito or something..." Scootaloo noted, not really caring in the slightest. But at that moment, the bug looked straight in the eyes of the four fillies... and shot a bolt of electricity right at them! Luckily, the girls were able to get out of the way at the last second. The box table that they were all sitting in front of, along with their deck of playing cards, were fried to a crisp, but luckily, nopony was hurt. "That definitely ain't no mosquito, Scoots..." Apple Bloom told her. "That's a Twittermite!!" "A what??" asked the other three fillies. "Egon, our Pest-Control Pony, told me all about 'em one time when he was here." Bloom explained. "He comes by every now n' then to get rid of any pesky critters that pop up in our farm." Glancing back up at the dangerous bug, she continued, saying, "Accordin' to him, Twittermites are insects that have the ability to shoot small lightnin' bolts from out of their bodies." "Woah... bugs that shoot electricity? That sounds cool!" replied Scootaloo. "Not really, Scoots..." Apple Bloom told her. "Egon told me that Twittermites really don't have much control over where they shoot their bolts; they kinda do it randomly. They don't mean to hurt anypony, but it tends t' happen every now n' then. What's more, their electric zaps are more powerful if they're in a large group!" "But there's only one right there in front of us..." Sweetie Belle noted. "So, we're safe... right??" Before a reply to her inquiry could be made, the Twittermite in the treehouse fired another bolt of deadly electricity at the four fillies, forcing them to move out of the way again. Soon after, it fired another bolt that was barely avoided as well. "Yeesh... that thing's a pretty good shot." stated Scootaloo. She then asked Apple Bloom, "I thought you said that they fire their bolts randomly! Because so far, this thing's been able to aim right at us three times-" She stopped when they all had to run out of the way of another lightning bolt. "...FOUR times in a row!" the little Peagsus finished. "But how's it doin' that?" the Earth Pony filly asked. "Ah don't get it!" After dodging yet another electric attack from the Twittermite, Midi anxiously told them all, "Let's worry about that later! We should get out of here before that bug hurts one of us! Hurry!!" The four of them wasted no time in doing just that, opening the door to the clubhouse and running out as fast as they could. But just when they thought that they were safe, the four fillies were horrified to see that several more Twittermites were right outside waiting for them. "You've gotta be kidding me...!" whimpered Sweetie Belle with a crestfallen look on her face. "How're we gonna get away from all of THOSE things?!?" asked Scootaloo, sweating a tiny bit. Apple Bloom trembled a little and replied, saying, "Ah... Ah don't know, Scoots... Ah just don't know!" Midi was also frightened by the meancing bugs that were dead-set on doing them all harm. In fact, she seemed to be even more scared of the electrical insects than her new friends were for some reason. But just as the bugs began to charge up large amounts of energy for a powerful attack... "Don't ya worry!!" shouted a nearby voice. "I'm-a comin'!!" The group of four glanced over and saw two ponies coming straight towards them and the Twittermites: One of them was Big Macintosh, galloping as fast as he could to get to the defenseless fillies in order to rescue them. The other pony was also an Earth Pony, but appeared to be much older than Big Mac, possibly near Granny Smith's age. He had a greyish-brown coat, with a silvery-white mane and tail, and had bright, green eyes. He wore a green cap and shirt, and his cutie mark was a picture of several Twittermites. On his back, there was a large, vaccum-like machine, with a large, glass capsule attached to it. Inside of the capsule were several Twittermites that he had managed to capture already. "It's Egon!" shouted Apple Bloom. "He came to rescue us!!" The expert pest controller ran as fast as he could to reach the trapped fillies, readying his vaccum at the same time. "Hang on, Apple Bloom! I'll take care of these pests real quick-like!" The older Earth Pony then switched on his vaccum; while it wasn't strong enough to draw in Apple Bloom and the others, it WAS strong enough to suck up each and every last one of the bugs, trapping them inside of the glass cylinder. At that same time, Big Macintosh managed to make his way to his little sister and the others, motioning them to follow him and get to safety. "Thanks, Big Mac!" Scootaloo told him. "I don't know what would've happened if you didn't get here so fast!" "I do!" Sweetie Belle chimed in. "We would have all been shocked, and Scootaloo would've become fried chicken!" Grumbling, the little orange Pegasus yelled, "Would you all stop calling me a chicken already?! That joke got old a long time ago!!" As they ran for their lives, Apple Bloom then asked her older brother, "You brought Egon over here t' help us out, didn't ya?" Big Mac nodded and said, "Eeeyup!" Once they all got to a safe distance, the five of them turned around to watch the pest control pony do his job. Egon, of course, had no trouble dealing with these dangerous insects. Though the bugs tried to zap him a few times, the Earth Pony was prepared for it: His cap and shirt weren't just stylish; they were also insulated with rubber, which absorbed the electricity without causing him any bodily harm. Egon was skilled at removing all sorts of pesky bugs and critters, but dealing with Twittermites was his speciality, which explained why he had the cutie mark that was on his flank. Once every last Twittermite was sucked up into his vaccum, Egon wiped some sweat from his forehead and said, "Well, that's all of 'em! I must admit though, those little guys put up a real fight; they're must feistier than I'm used to seein' 'em..." He then turned his head towards the four fillies and asked them, "You girls okay?" "Yeah, we're just fine, Mister." Scootaloo answered him. "We sure are lucky you happened to be right nearby..." noted Sweetie Belle. "It ain't really luck that factored into it..." Egon told her. "The thing is, this is the fifth case of Twittermite-sweeping that I've had to deal with today! Something's riled these bugs up for some reason and now they've been attacking ponies in and around town all day!" "Y'all are serious?" asked Apple Bloom in surprise. "But that don't sound right at all! Why're they goin' after everypony??" As the group tried to figure out what was going on, Midi stared at the large capsule that was attached to Egon's vaccum device, as well the Twittermites that he had captured inside of it. Suddenly, the filly-bot asked him, "Um... excuse me, sir... But could I take a closer look at those bugs that you've captured? Without letting them out, of course..." The pest-control pony seemed confused at first by Midi's request. He wasn't sure why she wanted to look at his collection of electrical insects. However, the older stallion decided that it was okay and said to her, "Sure... go right ahead. Just be careful, though..." He then unbuckled the straps that kept the device attached to his back and gently set it on the ground in front of the little robot. Midi then slowly approached the glass capsule and took a closer look at the Twittermites inside of it. She even placed her left front hoof against the capsule while doing so. When she did, a sudden rush of information flowed into her CPU. What she found out from it shocked her and made her gasp. "So that's what's going on!" she exclaimed. "Um, what are you talking about??" asked Sweetie Belle. "I know why these Twittermites tried to attack us and everypony in town..." she explained to them all. "It's because they aren't real Twittermites; they're all robots!" "ROBOTS?!" gasped the Cutie Mark Crusaders in unison. "Robots ya say??" asked Egon, also surprised. "You mean somepony built them and let 'em all loose in town on purpose??" "I think so... at least, it would make the most sense." Midi replied. "Though I'm not sure why somepony would ever do something like that..." "Arrgh... not again..." groaned Scootaloo. "I thought we were done with the crazy robot attacks after your brother fought those stupid Joe-something guys a while back!" When Midi heard those words, she suddenly gasped in horror. "Oh no... my brother...!" she whispered to herself in fear. "Somethin' wrong, Midi?" asked Apple Bloom. "What's got ya'll so worried?" "I just remembered..." the filly robot said to them all, "a few minutes ago, I saw my brother and his friends running off somewhere, but I didn't know why at the time... But now I think that I do... I think they're going to try and fight those Twittermite robots!!" "They are?!" asked Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "So what?" Scootaloo inquired, not sounding as worried about it as the others were. "Mega's super-tough; he won't lose to some puny little bugs! Especially since Rainbow Dash is out there helpin' him!" "I'm not really sure about that..." Midi told her. "If those Twittermites shoot electricity from their bodies, then my big brother might be in more danger than he realizes!" "How so?" asked Apple Bloom. "Well, there's a chance that, if he were to get hit by a powerful enough shot of raw electricity from one or more of those insects... It could damage his CPU... or worse, his Integrated Circuit Chip; if THAT happened... there'd be no way to bring him back...!" "But couldn't the Princess just rebuild him if something happened?" asked Scootaloo. "Not if the I.C. Chip were to break..." Midi informed the little Pegasus. "Those chips are what gives us robots our personalities. If I had to compare it to something, the I.C. Chip is kind of like our soul: They're completely irreplaceable..." "...So that's why you seemed to be more scared of them Twittermites than we were." Apple Bloom figured out. "Mhmm..." whimpered the filly robot. "That's why I'm worried about my big brother; I don't think he knows that these Twittermites are robotic! He might be putting himself in danger right now as we speak!" Turning towards the trail ahead, she then added, "I've gotta go and help him!" Then, before another word could be said, or another action could be taken, little Midi had already taken off and was headed in the direction that she saw her brother and his friends moving in when she saw them last. "Wait!! Midi, come back!!" shouted Apple Bloom, trying to convince her to stop. But the little filly robot was already long out of their sight. The five ponies just stood there, not sure what was going to happen next... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, deep in the Everfree Forest, Mega Pony, along with his friends and Zecora, had arrived at the small tree that the Zebra mare called home. The eight of them looked around the cottage, trying to find any clues pertaining to the strange Twittermites that had been nearby the tree earlier. So far, the only evidence they had that the bugs had been there was the tipped-over cauldron, along with the few scorched smudges on the floor that had come as a result of bugs' electrical attacks. "Woah... looks like those little guys sure made a mess of things in here..." noted Rainbow Dash as she hovered in the air, looking around at scene below her. "I do hope you plan on cleaning all of this up after we're done locating these tiny little vandals..." Rarity told Zecora. "Right now, we've got more to worry about than the state of Zecora's home right now, Rarity." Twilight informed her fashionista friend. "There's a swarm of bugs out there that are trying to intentionally cause harm to everypony in town, and we have to not only figure out why, but we also have to figure out how to put an end to it as soon as possible." "I agree with that Twilight." Mega Pony chimed in. "But first, we need to look around and try to locate these Twittermites and try to see where they went." He then closed his eyes and told them, "And I think I have a device that can do just that: If I can trace the Twittermites' electrical pulses, we can pursue them, no matter where they try to hide. I just have to concentrate for a little bit..." He then focused his mind as best as he could, hoping to find any leftover electrical pulses from when the bugs had passed by Zecora's tree home. Just then, he was able to sense something from nearby. "There! I think I've got it!" he exclaimed. "You've found 'em?" asked Applejack. "I think so..." the robot answered the farm pony. "It's faint, but I can definitely detect some electrical activity nearby." He then ran outside and continued to try and trace where the pulses were coming from. Pointing ahead in a particular direction, he told the others, "That way! There's electricity coming from over there, at 3 o' clock!" "But it's only 1:45." Pinkie Pie said to him, looking at a watch that she was apparently wearing. "He meant that as in a direction, Pinkie Pie. Not time." Twilight corrected her. "Oh, I knew that." the pink pony admitted. "I just needed an excuse to make a joke involving this new watch of mine. But now that that's done..." She then stopped her sentence short as she removed the watch and casually tossed it aside, as if its only purpose was for the joke. Rainbow Dash then flew over next to Mega Pony and said to him, "Well, if ya think you know were you're goin', then lead the way, Mega!" The robot nodded and walked ahead in the direction that he had pointed in. The others soon followed him, making sure to keep an eye out for anything that might take them by surprise. The group of eight traveled through the forest's thick, overgrown plants as they continued walking in the direction that Mega Pony had directed them all in. It didn't take long for them to discover something peculiar ahead. "Hey, what's that??" asked Applejack, pointing with her left foreleg. The group glanced at the object that their orange Earth Pony friend was pointing at. There, in a large clearing and sitting next to a small pond, was a gigantic wooden crate. The front of it was wide open, but there was nothing inside of it. Laying next to the crate was a long, steel crowbar, which they assumed was used to open the large box in front of them. "What's with this crate?" Twilight asked everypony. "What is it doing here in the middle of the forest?" "I don't know," Mega Pony answered her, "but what I do know is that I can most certainly trace some kind of electrical residue coming from inside of it... If I had to guess, I'd say that there's a good chance that, at one time, those Twittermite bugs had been inside of it." "And let us not forget that crowbar sitting next to the box..." Rarity reminded them as she pointed to the object in question. "That item was most definitely used to pry it open." Mega Pony sighed and said, "...I knew it; based on all of this evidence, somepony must have somehow stored all of those Twittermites inside of this crate, carried it all the way over here, and opened it so that all of those insects could be let loose both in here and in Ponyville!" "But...why...?" asked Fluttershy. "Who would ever want to do something like that...? I don't understand..." "That ain't what's important right now, Flutters." Rainbow Dash told her and everyone else. "What's important is that we've gotta get those things before they get us or anypony else!" "Exactly." stated Mega Pony, agreeing with his rainbow-maned friend. "We need to stop those Twittermites now before it's too late... We'll figure out why it happened some other time." Glancing around, he continued to detect the bugs' electrical pulses within the forest. He then pointed ahead and told his companions, "There! I can sense them coming from over there! Let's move out!!" The others nodded and continued to follow them, this time at a much faster pace. Elsewhere, back at Zecora's tree home, Mega Pony's sister Midi was trying to locate her brother as quickly as possible, after she learned that the attacking Twittermites were really robots. She looked around the Zebra mare's home, but not even Zecora herself was inside. "Big Brother!!" she called out as loud as she could. "Where are you?!" But there was no response. Getting more worried by the second, Midi darted off in the same direction that her brother and his companions had gone in earlier on. The little filly trembled a bit as she carefully, but swiftly, made her way through the forest, following the exact same path that her brother took while searching for the vicious electric insects. The reason that she seemed to know where she was going, despite never having been in the Everfree Forest before, was because Princess Celestia had installed a tracking chip that was specifically designed to allow her to find Mega Pony, no matter how far apart the two of them were from each other. Luckily, the tracker was still receiving strong signals, indicating that the two were getting closer to each other. Before long, the little filly robot had made her way over to the large crate in the middle of the forest clearing. However, Mega Pony and the others were already long gone. "There's no one here..." she said to herself, still worried. But she tried her best to remain hopeful and added, "But I know that he's nearby here somewhere, and I'll find him... I just hope I'm not too late..." She then galloped as fast as she could to try and locate her older brother. Far away from where the empty crate was, Mega Pony and the rest of his group were still tracking down the swarm of Twittermites that attacked Zecora. "We are getting closer, I can feel it in my skin..." the Zebra remarked, "I just pray this is a battle that we can win..." "I hope so too..." Mega Pony replied. He felt a little worried himself, but wasn't exactly sure why. Just then, Twilight could see a faint, blue glow in front of her, a short distance away. "There! I think I can see something!" she told them all. "That must be where they are, then." noted Applejack. She then told the others in a quieter tone, "Let's get closer, an' move real quiet-like..." The rest of them nodded and carefully followed each other to where the glow was coming from. The eight of them looked ahead from behind a thicket of bushes at the scene in front of them. There, they saw a large swarm of Twittermites, trapping and surrounding a pair of helpless squirrels. The two small rodents trembled as the bugs shot out small sparks, grinning evilly as they did so. "Oh no...!" Fluttershy said in her usual quiet tone of voice. "Those poor little squirrels...!" "If we don't do something, those nasty little vermin will most certainly cause them harm...!" Rarity whispered. "Not if I have anything to say about it...!" Mega Pony told them, getting a little angry from what he and the others had seen. As the villianous insects began charging up electricity in their bodies, the blue-armored robot drew energy into his horn, charging up his Friendship Buster. Then, before the Twittermites could do the unthinkable, Mega shot first, letting out a powerful blast that took out most of the insects immediately. The remaining Twittermites immediately looked over from where the large energy blast came from (which distracted them long enough for the squirrels to make a hasty escape). They didn't spend much time wondering who fired at them before Mega Pony and the others revealed themselves. "Alright, bugs!" Rainbow Dash shouted at them. "That's the last animal you'll ever threaten around here! 'Cause we're here to take you all down!" The bugs began growling in response. Just then, one of them began making loud buzzing sounds for a few seconds. That buzzing had gotten the attention of several more angry Twittermites nearby. Now the swarm was even bigger than when it started. "Figures..." grumbled Applejack. "Where there's one of 'em, there's about a million or so more not far behind...!" "Well, we can't let that scare us!" Mega Pony told them, though he did feel a bit more worried about it. "If we don't stop them, everypony in Ponyville will be at their mercy! We have to do our best and make sure that they don't have their way!" He then quickly changed his body color to Applejack's color scheme and swiftly kicked an Apple Bucker bomb towards the bugs, wanting to make sure that he got the first attack. The swarm did their best to fly out of the apple bomb's path. Though some of the Twittermites had been struck by the explosive and fell to the ground, most of the swarm had escaped damage. They quickly responded with powerful electric bolts, firing them right at Mega Pony. "Here it comes, Rarity!" the pony robot shouted to his violet-maned friend (while swapping to her white and violet colors at the same time). "Hurry! Initiate Defense Plan G!" "On it!" the white Unicorn shouted as she charged up her horn, surrounding it with a light-blue aura. Both she and Mega Pony then triggered the Gem Seeker weapon at the same time, surrounding themselves with twelve orbiting jewels (six for each of them). The gems' constant spinning, as well as their reflective surfaces, were easily able to deflect the Twittermites' lightning bolts; some of the bolts were even reflected back at the swarm, taking out some of the bugs with their own attack. Once they were able to successfully deflect the electrical attack, Mega Pony and Rarity gave each other a knowing nod. After that, they fired their gemstones straight towards the swarm, picking off more of the Twittermites and eliminating them from the fight. "Yeah!! Way to go, Mega!!" cheered Rainbow Dash, impressed by the move that he and Rarity had performed. "C'mon, gals!" Applejack told them. "We can't just sit here n' let Mega do all the work, can we? Let's get in there and show those varmits who's really the boss around these parts!" "Yeah!!" shouted Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie in unison. "...Do we have to...?" asked Fluttershy, who wasn't the type that really liked fighting, even when it was totally justified. She then let out a sigh, knowing full well that she really didn't have much of a choice but to do her part. She then followed the rest of her friends, ready to lend a hoof. Zecora stayed behind, watching the scene in front of her. "Good luck, dear friends... but do not drop your guard..." she told them silently. "This battle may soon turn incredibly hard... Mega Pony immediately switched to a new weapon, adopting Pinkie Pie's color scheme, and fired several balloons straight towards the swarm. The balloons burst upon contact, and the impact created from their popping took out several of the Twittermites, who kept on firing bolt after bolt of deadly electricity towards him and the others. Pinkie Pie supported him by using her hoof-mounted Party Cannon and firing balloons of her own at them. "Mega Pony!!" shouted Twilight's voice. "I need some backup, and fast!" The robot turned over towards his lavender Unicorn friend and saw that she was being attacked from all sides by the electrical insects. She did her best to hold them off with her Magic Wave attack, but it was clear that she wouldn't be able to fend them off all by herself. "Hold on, Twilight! I'm on my way!!" the robot shouted as he swapped his body color for Twilight's lavender and dark purple look. He then fired off his own Magic Wave at the bugs that were surrounding Twilight, taking out several more. Once he got to Twilight's side he then told her, "Okay, let's attack them together, Twilight!" "I'm on it!" the book-smart pony responded, charging up more magical energy into her horn. Mega Pony did the same, and the pair fired off several powerful magical blasts at the attacking bugs. Though several were struck down, there still appeared to be many more left, still intent on causing them harm. "Ugh! Where do these little creeps keep comin' from?!" asked Rainbow Dash out of frustration as used her speed to tackle the Twittermites in mid-air. "There must be a million of 'em around here!!" "Yeah, it sure seems like it!" Applejack stated, kicking several Apple Bucker bombs at the bugs that went after her. "How could there possibly be THIS many Twittermites in one spot?! It don't make a lick of sense!" Mega Pony switched to Rainbow Dash's color scheme and used her Sonic Rainboom weapon to ram through several splinter swarms of Twittermites. But even he was starting to feel overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. "This isn't good..." he said to them all, "at this rate, I might run out of weapon energy before we can defeat them all!" "Wh-what are we going to do...??" asked Fluttershy, trying her best stay out of the bugs' way, difficult as that was. The robot then glanced over at Fluttershy and got an idea. "It looks like this situation might call for something a lot more powerful." he stated. "Something that can affect them all at once... And there's only one weapon that I have that can do that..." He then swapped his body color to Fluttershy's yellow and pink appearance. Right away, the others knew what he was about to do. "Mega's about to use The Stare!" exclaimed Applejack. She then shouted over to the rest of her friends, "Quick, everypony! Cover your eyes!!" The others got the message and ducked down onto the ground, each one shielding their eyes with their forelegs. Once he knew that his friends would be safe, Mega Pony then prepared to use one of his strongest weapons. Closing his eyes, he concentrated himself, drawing all of the necessary energy he needed to use Fluttershy's weapon. Once he was ready, he then opened his eyes, letting out a blinding light that affected each and every one of the Twittermites in front of him. The powerful stare was strong enough to render them all unable to fight back. Once he was done, Mega Pony breathed a sigh of relief. "...Finally... It's all over..." "Mega Pony! Behind you!!!" screamed Rarity. "Huh?!" The robot turned to look and saw a few more Twittermites coming up right behind him. But it was too late to do anything about them as they fired their electrical bolts, striking the robot hard. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" he screamed in pain as the raw electricity caused him to take a lot of damage. "Oh no!! Mega Pony!!!" shouted Twilight. She, along with the others, were horrified to see their friend getting hurt. But there was nothing that they could do to help him. Once the bugs' attack was over, the poor little robot fell to the ground, not moving an inch. His body color returned to its normal state, as his energy seemed to have sapped out of him completely. The Twittermites grinned evilly as they slowly flew in closer, preparing to finish him off. Rainbow Dash growled angrily and yelled, "I can't just sit here and let them hurt him anymore! I'm goin' after 'em!!" But before she could, the cyan Pegasus saw someone whiz by her, running straight towards Mega Pony. "Huh?? Fluttershy? What're ya doin'??" Rainbow asked her. But the normally-timid Pegasus did not answer, as her mind was focused on only one thing: Just like she had done before when Mega Pony fought the Equine Joes that attacked the Cockatrice flocks, Fluttershy was prepared to fight in order to save her robot friend once more. "How DARE you hurt Mega Pony you... you meanies!!" she yelled at the Twittermites angrily. The bugs looked over at her, and at first, didn't consider her a threat. But even they gulped a little when they saw the enraged look upon her face. Fluttershy never usually got this angry, but when a friend was hurt or in danger of getting hurt, that little assertive spark in her became like a massive flame; a flame that was prepared to scorch anything and anyone that would cause harm to her and her friends. The yellow Pegasus then gave out the fiercest stare that she could muster, directing it straight towards the nasty bugs. The others reacted quickly and covered their faces once more so that they wouldn't be affected by it as well. Unfortunately for the remaining Twittermites, they had no way of shielding their faces, and they got hit by The Stare at full power. And with that, the insects dropped down onto the ground in a heap, unable to attack or even fly. Fluttershy took deep, heavy breaths after having used her incredible power. "Oh... my..." she said inbetween gasps. "That... that took a lot of energy out of me... I can't believe that I was...that I was able to do that..." Rainbow Dash quickly sped over to her fellow Pegasus friend and asked her, "Hey... you gonna be alright there, Flutters?" "I... think so..." she answered. "I just need... a little nap, that's all..." She then said to her friend, "Never mind me... what about Mega Pony?" "Urk! Aw, ponyfeathers! I almost forgot!" the cyan Pegasus exclaimed. In a flash, both she and Fluttershy raced over to the downed robot. The others in the area also gathered together to try and help their friend. Twilight removed Mega Pony's helmet and opened up a small hatch on his forehead. She then glanced at what appeared to be a meter of some sort; on the meter, there were only three small bars (out of twenty-eight total) lit up on it. "Oh no... this is bad..." the lavender Unicorn said in despair. "His energy meter is very low... And it's only getting lower...!" "That must've been a real nasty shock..." noted Applejack, getting worried about the little robot herself, as was everypony else. "But how'd it hurt him that much??" asked Rainbow Dash. "I've seen him survive much worse than that!" Just then, the group heard somepony shouting from far away. "Mega Pony!! Mega Pony!!!" The gang recognized it as a young filly's voice. But it wasn't just any filly's voice: "Is that Midi?!" asked Rarity in surprise. "How did she find us??" Sure enough, the figure that came running up to them all was indeed Mega Pony's younger sister. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, but when she got to the scene, she was horrified when she saw her big brother lying motionless on the ground. "...No! I'm... I'm too late...!" she said, a tear welling up in her eye. "Midi, what the hay are y'all doin' here??" asked Applejack. "You're supposed t' be back at the farm!" "I had to come here, Ms. Applejack...!" the filly-bot told her. "I needed to find my big brother and warn him about something!" She then informed the others, "You see... those Twittermites that are causing trouble in Ponyville... they're all really robots!" "ROBOTS?!" exclaimed the others in shock. "So that's it...!" Twilight realized. "That's why those Twittermites seemed to be much more powerful than they usually are! Whoever built them must have wanted to make sure that they could handle anything that got in their way!" "And it seems, more than likely, they were mass-prouduced too..." Zecora added. "That's why there seemed to be many of them, and not just a few." "Oh dear..." said Fluttershy. "We had no idea...! We all thought that they were just normal Twittermites...! "Y'know, besides the fact that they seemed to act like they were pure evil, of course." Pinkie Pie interrupted. The others looked down at Mega Pony, who was still totally inactive after the heavy hit that he had taken. Midi, tearing up even more, looked at him and nudged him with her front hooves. "Big Brother..." she pleaded. "Please... wake up... wake up, Big Brother...!" "I'm sorry, Midi..." Twilight told the little filly-bot. "Mega Pony was struck pretty hard by those Twittermites... His energy meter still has some power in it, but..." She then sighed sadly a little as a tear appeared in her eye as well. "...but it doesn't seem like... he has much time left..." "...No... that can't happen...!" Midi protested. She kept nudging her inactive brother and cried, "He can't go away!! We're supposed to be friends forever!! He can't go away!! It can't happen!! I don't want it to happen!!!" The tiny little robot then placed her head inbetween her forelegs, sobbing on her big brother's back. The others couldn't help but to feel saddened as well. Rarity couldn't help but to look away a little as she wiped a tear from her eye. Pinkie Pie's normally poofy mane and tail suddenly drooped down, becoming totally straight as a downcast look appeared upon her face. Fluttershy cried long, hard sobs as Twilight did her best to comfort her. Although not a single tear appeared in the eyes of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, or Zecora, they were just as sad from what had happened as everyone else, based on their facial expressions. It seemed to all of them that Mega Pony was no more... But then, all of a sudden, as Twilight glanced back over towards Midi, she let out a gasp and asked her, "M-Midi?? What's happening to your body?!" "H-huh...? What are you talking about, Ms. Twilight??" asked the filly robot, cutting her sobs short. The others snapped out of their saddened states to take a look at Midi and were surprised at what they saw. "Hey... why are you glowing so brightly?" asked Pinkie Pie. The filly robot then took a good look at herself and saw that she was indeed glowing all over. A bright, golden light was surrounding her from head to hoof, and she didn't know why. Just then, she and the others watched as the light began to flow over Mega Pony's body, becoming more intense by the second. Twilight then glanced over at Mega Pony's head, looking at the power meter... and let out a gasp when all twenty-eight of the bars lit up in less than a second. "I... I-I don't believe it!!" she exclaimed. "His energy meter! It's back to full power!!" "Hey! Look at that!!" Rainbow Dash suddenly told them all, pointing at Mega Pony's legs. The group all saw that, somehow, the legs were beginning to twitch a little, when, just a few seconds ago, they were totally motionless. And that wasn't all; Mega's eyes also began to open slightly, and he let out a low, tired groan. "He's waking up! He's waking up!!" shouted Pinkie Pie, her mane and tail returning to its usual poofiness as she did. Everyone was shocked, but overjoyed, when they saw Mega Pony seemingly fully recover from the nasty hit that he had taken earlier. None more so than Midi, who nearly believed that she had lost her big brother forever. The blue robot sat up and placed his right front hoof against his head. "Urrrgh... what... what happened...?" he asked in a groggy tone, still recovering from the electrical attack he suffered earlier. He then looked around at his friends, most of them still shedding tears, but this time out of joy and not sorrow. "Um... what's going on? Why does everyone look like they're sad and happy at the same time...?" he asked, confused. "Big Brother!! You're okay!!" cheered Midi, hugging him with all her strength. "Huh?? Midi?! What are you doing here??" the blue robot asked, wondering why she had left the farm. "I came to help you, Big Brother!" she told him. "When I found out that those Twittermites were really robots, I had to try and find you so that I could warn you about them!" "Wait, what?! They were all robots?!" asked Mega Pony. Once he heard that, everything about what had happened finally came back to him. "So that's why those bugs seemed so strong! It all makes sense now!" Recalling the last few things that he could remember, he then said, "I remember... I had defeated a whole bunch of those Twittermites using Fluttershy's weapon... Then I turned around to see several more of them and then... everything went black, but only for a moment... Or at least it seemed like a moment to me." "Well, it felt like an eternity had passed for all of us, Mega Pony dear..." Rarity told him. "We were beginning to think you wouldn't make it..." "Yeah, those bugs really zapped ya good there." Rainbow Dash told him. "You were lyin' there and not makin' any move at all for a really long time. I don't know what your little sis did, but it seems to me that it's because of her that you're okay now." Mega Pony seemed a bit surprised to hear that his sister was the one responsible for restoring him back to normal. He then turned to Midi and asked her, "Is that true? Did you really help me?" "I... I think so..." the little filly answered in an unsure tone. "But... I don't really know how I did it..." "Hmmm... that's strange." Mega Pony thought about it for a while and stated, "According to what I'm hearing, you have some sort of special power in you... but yet, you don't seem to be aware of it... Very mysterious... Don't get me wrong, everypony; I'm certainly not complaining about it if it saved my life. But it seems weird that my sister would have some sort of power that she doesn't know about..." "If more about this strange power is what you wish to know," started Zecora, "then to your creator, the Princess, I suggest that you go." "Yeah, that's a good idea, Ms. Zecora!" Mega Pony agreed. "If anypony can figure out what this power is, my mom can!" Looking around the area, he then added, "In fact... while we're at it..." He then got back on all fours and walked over to the pile of inactive Twittermite robots and used his psuedo-magic to pick one up and store it in his side compartment. "I'd better take one of these robot insects with me so that Mom can take a look at it." He then asked his friends, "What do you say guys? You want to come with me and figure out all of this?" "Of course we will, Mega Pony." stated Twilight. Looking around, she then added, "Besides, it seems as though all of the Twittermite robots are taken care of, so we don't have to worry about them right now." The others nodded to say that they would go along with him. "Alright then." the blue robot stated. "I'll send a remote message to my mom, and ask her to send somepony to pick us up." "Ah'd better go and check on the farm in the meantime." Applejack chimed in. "Just in case those nasty li'l bugs got into any of the trees..." The group then left the site of their battle against the Twittermites, heading back to Sweet Apple Acres. Not far away, a pair of figures - the same two that had released the Twittermite robots - were watching everything closely. "Aw man..." whined the shorter one of the two, "looks like the boss's plan didn't work... AGAIN... He's gonna be real sore at us for this one..." "Not to worry, brother." the larger one told him. "You should know that he always has a 'Plan B' in store, just in case... I've been watching those ponies down there very closely as they fought against the insect robots... and with the data that I have acquired, he'll be satisfied, regardless of how things went here... In fact, I'd even go as far as to say that he might be more pleased with this instead." "That's good to know..." the shorter figure replied, sighing out of relief. "You know how scary he gets when a plan of his fails..." "Well, again; we have nothing to worry about." the larger figure said. "With what the boss has in store, that little blue pony will be wishing that he stayed the way he was..." And with that last cold remark, the two figures turned into a pair of lights and vanished. Midi heard the noise that was was made after the figures took their leave and turned around to catch a glimpse of the light that they vanished into. Noticing that she had stopped walking, Mega Pony asked her, "Something the matter, Midi?" "...Um.... no, it's nothing, Big Brother... It's nothing." she told him. The group then continued to exit the forest so they could get ready to head for Canterlot and see Princess Celestia. --------------------------------------------------------------------- About an hour later, Mega Pony, Midi, and the rest of their friends were whisked away to Canterlot Castle in the Princess's personal chariots. In addition to Twilight and her best friends, there were a few other individuals that had come along for the ride, including Zecora: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had also decided to tag along as well, after they heard about what had happened earlier. After they were dropped off in front of the castle gates and allowed to enter, Princess Celestia greeted them all and took them all to her secret lab so that they could figure out everything. When they all stepped into the massive laboratory, the castle guests were impressed with everything that was in it. This was especially true for the ponies (and Zebra) that had never seen the facility before until now. "Holy horseapples!" exclaimed Apple Bloom in amazement. "This place is HUUUUUUGE!" "So this is really where Mega Pony and Midi were built?" asked Scootaloo. "This place is so awesome!!" "And pretty!" added Sweetie Belle. "Look at all of those lights! They're blinking in lots of different colors!" Zecora was a bit stunned by all of this highly-advanced technology around her; it was a bit overwhelming, but nothing that she couldn't mentally handle. (This place...) she thought, (it is undoubtedly amazing... To witness this place is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.) Apparently, the Zebra mare even rhymed in her thoughts. Princess Celestia had hooked up a cable to the back of Midi's head that connected to her lab's supercomputer. She then carefully studied all of the text that made up Midi's programming, trying to figure out where this mysterious power she used had come from, as the Princess did not recall ever giving her anything such as that when she and Princess Luna had built her. Just then, she spotted something peculiar and exclaimed, "There! I think I have found it!" "You did?" asked Twilight, who, along with Mega Pony, helped the Alicorn Princess search through the filly robot's mind. "What is it?" "Well," Celestia began to explain, "from what I could see here, there appears to be a slght glitch in Midi's programming." "A glitch??" asked Mega Pony, getting a bit worried. "What kind of glitch?" "Now do not be alarmed, Mega Pony... It's nothing that you need to worry about." the Sun Princess assured him. "I suspect that this glitch only came about due to me mistyping a line or two during Midi's construction. I probably would have caught it, but I was so anxious to finish contructing Midi in time to surprise Mega Pony with when he returned, that I didn't even think about it..." "That's okay, Your Highness!" Pinkie Pie told her, suddenly popping out from behind the Alicorn. "So you made an error or two; it happens to the best of us! It's like they always say: 'Popony's Nerfect'!" The humorous quote elicted a giggle out of everyone in the room, inculding the Princess. After she giggled a little, Midi then asked her creator, "So... you said that I have a glitch in my programming, right Mommy?" Trembling a little, she then inquired, "Is... is that a bad thing...?" "Actually, in this case, it's not." Celestia answered her robotic daughter. "This glitch actually seems to have some beneficial side effects. As a result, you seemed to have gained an incredible power: You have the ability to restore energy to anything of a mechanical nature... including Mega Pony. The reason that you didn't know about it is simply because, from what information that I possess, robots are not often aware if they have a glitch in their programming." "You mean... I have healing powers, Mommy?" the filly-bot asked. "Indeed." confirmed the Alicorn. "And those powers allowed you to restore Mega Pony's functionality, even when he was near-death..." Celestia shuddered a little; just the thought of her "son" being in such a state made her blood run cold. Snapping out of it for the moment, she then added, "However, as it stands now, Midi, I'm afraid that you don't have much control over your powers. Since they came about as the result of this glitch, your healing ability is... well, somewhat random, and as you are right now, you are unable to consciously trigger it." "What does that mean?" asked Rainbow Dash. "It means that she cannot trigger the ability whenever she wants to." answered Rarity. "If she could, then she would have restored Mega Pony the very instant that she got to us all." "That is true, Rarity." Celestia confirmed. She then smiled and added, "However, I believe that, if I can make a few slight alterations to Midi's programming, I can allow her to use her healing powers more reliably. After all, it has become quite clear that this sort of power is something that would help us all, especially in Mega Pony's case." "You can do that, Mom?" asked the blue robot. "Yes, though I will have to shut Midi down for a while in order to make the necessary changes." noted the Alicorn. "But it won't take long at all." "Sh-shut me down...?" asked the little filly robot. "Don't worry about it." Mega Pony told his sister, comforting her. "It's... it's kinda like going to sleep for a little while. No matter how long it will actually take, to you, it will seem like only a second or two has passed. I should know; I had to let Mom shut me down every now and then so that she could keep up my condition." Midi still seemed a little wary about it, but decided to trust her older brother. She then asked him, "...C-could you... stay by my side the whole time? Please?" Mega nodded and told her, "Of course. Whatever helps you feel better." Midi smiled a little; she was still scared about being shut down for a while, but knew that it would be for her own good to just go and get it overwith. She then turned over to Princess Celestia and said to her, "...I'm ready, Mommy." "Okay then..." The white Alicorn then walked over towards her robot daughter and opened a hatch in the back of her head. "Have a good sleep, Midi... We'll see you in a little while." she told her before flipping her ON/OFF switch. Once she did, Midi immediately flopped over onto the table she had been sitting on, in a lifeless-like state. Mega Pony felt a bit weird seeing his sister this way, but didn't have much time to dwell on it as his creator told him, "Alright then... I'll start making the necessary changes to her programming. And I could also use your help as well, Mega Pony." "Of course, Mom." he replied. "Anything for my little sister." The others watched as Celestia and her "son" tinkered with Midi's programming. Luckily, the process didn't take long at all, just as the Sun Princess had told them. This time, Mega Pony made sure that there were no typos in the lines of coding this time around. "There, I think that will do it." Celestia stated. "I've altered her programming, and I made sure to plan for every possible contingency; no more surprise glitches this time around." "That's good to know." said the blue robot. He then asked, "So, should we switch my sister back on?" "...Not just yet, Mega Pony." the Princess responded. "There's one more thing I would like to add to her... Again, this won't take long at all." She then used her magic to levitate a pair of paint cans and move them over to the table where the little filly bot lay. One can had red paint in it, and the other had pink paint. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Twenty Minutes Later... --------------------------------------------------------------------- "...Midi... Wake up, Midi..." "Uhnnn... Five more minutes, Mommy..." the little filly-bot groaned in a tired tone of voice, her eyes still completely shut. "...Midi... It's me... your brother; Mega Pony...!" "...Uhnn... Big... Big Brother...?" Midi then opened her eyes and sat up when she realized that she was back online. She looked off to her side and saw that her brother was standing right there beside her. "Hey there, Sis..." he said to her in a calm tone of voice. "How are you feeling?" "Mmmm... pretty good, actually..." the filly robot answered, stretching her legs and then sitting straight up. "I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; I felt like I had just woken up from the best nap ever..." She then asked her creator, "So... were you able to fix my programming, Mommy?" "I have indeed." confirmed the Alicorn. "Now you have total control over your ability to restore and heal any machine, inculding your brother. And I also made sure that this time, your programming will be totally glitch-proof." "But that's not the only thing that Mom did for you." Mega Pony then told his sister. "Huh? It's not?" asked Midi. The blue robot pony then smiled warmly and instructed her, "Take a look under your dress." "My dress...?" Midi then pulled the hem of her skirt up to see what was underneath it. She then gasped at what she saw there: What had used to be a completely featureless flank now had a small picutre painted upon it. It was a large, pink heart with a red, plus-shaped cross in the center. Right away, she knew what it was: "M... Mommy? Is this... is this a cutie mark?" she asked. "It is indeed, Midi." Celesta answered with a nod. "I felt that, since your healing ability will become a very valuable asset to those around you, you needed something that would best display your newfound talent. Do you like it?" "I... I love it!! Thank you so much, Mommy!" the filly-bot cheered. Wasting no time, Midi jumped off of the table and ran over to show her new cutie mark to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. "Hey, girls! Look! I finally got my cutie mark!!" "Congratulations, Midi!" said Apple Bloom, happy that her friend had gotten her mark. "Ah knew y'all could do it! Ah just knew it!" "Me too!" Sweetie Belle chimed in. "I knew that you'd get your cutie mark somehow!" Midi was very happy with her accomplishment... but then a thought came to her. "Hold on..." she then began to ask them, "if I have my cutie mark now, then does that mean I'm not in the Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore...?" "What're ya talkin' about?" asked Scootaloo, walking over to her. "Of course you're still in the club, Mids! In fact, we could probably even call you our greatest success story! After all, you had only been in the CMC for about a coupla hours, and already you've got your cutie mark! If that kinda notoriety gets out, ponies from all over Equestria will be knockin' on our door, asking us to help them find their cutie marks!" "Well, Ah wouldn't go that far, Scoots..." Apple Bloom stated. "But what y'all said there DOES give me a grand idea..." Walking over to Midi, the Earth Pony filly then told her, "Y'see, Midi... There's this other member of our group that lives all the way over in Manehatten; mah cousin, Babs Seed. We asked her t' start a Manehatten branch for the Cutie Mark Crusaders so that she can help fillies n' colts over there to get their cutie marks. So... what Ah was thinkin' was that... maybe y'all could put together a CMC branch right here in Canterlot!" "You want me to make a Cutie Mark Crusaders club in Canterlot?" asked Midi, making sure that she heard her correctly. "You really think that I could do something like that?" "Ah know it won't be any trouble for ya at all!" Apple Bloom told her with great confidence in her voice. Midi was definitely interested in helping to start a branch of their club in Canterlot, though she was a bit concerned. "I don't know..." she replied. "It seems like something that might be too big for me to do on my own..." But Mega Pony walked over to his little sister's side, smiled and told her, "Don't worry Midi, I'll help you put it all together, if you want me to. It's the least I can do for you after you saved my life." Midi's eyes lit up after Mega told her that she could count on his help. Smiling, she then told her friends, "Okay! I'll do it! I'll do whatever I can to help ponies in Canterlot find out what they're good at!" "That's great! Thank you so much, Midi!" said Sweetie Belle. Glancing at a nearby wall clock, Rarity then gasped and said, "Oh my! Look at the time! We had best be getting back home!" "You're right, Rarity... I'd better get back to the library;" Twilight said to her fashionista friend. "I wouldn't feel too good if I had Spike put away all of the new books by himself." "And we'd better get home so as we aren't late for dinner." added Applejack. She then looked over at her younger sister and asked her, "Ready t' go, Apple Bloom?" "Sure, big sis!" the bow-wearing filly replied. She and her friends waved their left front hooves to Midi and said, "See ya later, Midi! Make sure to come by an' visit again soon!" "I will! Goodbye!!" the filly-robot called out to her friends. Fluttershy walked over and gave Mega Pony a small hug and told him, "Goodbye for now, Mega Pony... Please do your best and be safe out there." "Don't worry, Fluttershy, I will." the blue robot promised. As he watched the others leave the laboratory, he then glanced over at his mother, who appeared to have a worried look on her face. Having a feeling as to what she was concerned about, he walked over and asked her, "Mom? Are you alright?" "Um, yes..." she told him. "Why do you ask?" "Well..." he began to tell his creator, "it's just that... I was concerned that you'd feel down after... after you heard about what had happened with the Twittermite robots... And, well... how I almost died." Princess Celestia said nothing at first; the only sound that came out of her mouth was a sad-sounding sigh. "...Mom... if it... if it would make you feel more at ease..." he then said to her. "You could always... get rid of all of my armor and weapons... and just make me into a regular pony..." The Princess sighed again and told him, "Well... I would be lying if I said that I wouldn't want you to do just that..." She then paused for a brief moment before saying, "I suppose I always knew that things such as your sudden brush with death would happen sooner or later, but... it was still distressing to hear that it had happened... I feel as though I aged another thousand years right after you and your friends told me everything about it." Mega Pony and Midi felt sympathetic towards their creator after hearing that. They felt a bit sorry for her because she seemed to feel very sad and concerned. "...That being said, though," Celestia then told her robot son, "I do not want you to make any rash decisions just for my sake. I knew that you would be risking your life whenever you went out on a mission, which is why I made sure that you would be equipped with everything you needed in order to deal with whatever threat comes your way..." "...Mom..." Mega Pony simply replied. "Mega Pony..." the royal Alicorn then told him, "Although I have total control over how the country should be run, I don't feel that I have any right to discourage you from doing what you feel is right." Pausing for another moment, she then continued, "So... I will ask you: Do you still wish to continue your work, and keep Equestria safe?" The blue robot thought for a while about what he really wanted to do. For a while, Celestia and Midi waited anxiously for his answer. Then, with a smile, he then answered his creator's question, saying, "I do, Mom. I want to continue making sure that Equestria is safe for everypony... and safe for my friends. And I'm not just saying that because of my programming, believe me." The Sun Princess smiled as well, telling him, "Very well, then... While I am still concerned for your safety, I will not try and stop you from doing what you want to do. And you can rest easy knowing that I, my sister Luna, and your sister Midi, will always be there to help you, whether it be assistance during battle... or if you just need somepony to comfort you when you feel down." "Thanks, Mom." Mega Pony replied. "That's all I would ever want from you." He then gave his mother a hug to let her know that everything would be alright, no matter what. Midi also decided to join in on the hugging, snuggling up to them both to put everyone at ease. After they broke off of their hug, the blue robot then asked his little sister, "Hey, Midi! You wanna go out and play in the courtyard for a while?" "Sure, Big Brother!" the filly-bot replied with great enthusiasm. As the two sibling robots ran off to play, Celestia then thought to herself, (Mega Pony... you may not have been alive for a whole year yet, but I already feel that you have grown up so much...) Shedding a happy tear, she then continued her soliloquy, thinking, (And I am happy to have been with you throughout it all... I know the path you have chosen is a difficult one, but your friends, your family, and your desire to do right will help you see through all of the hardships that come your way...) She then moved over to one of the lab's worktables, where a device that appeared to look similar to a surfboard lay upon, along with a pair of miniature rockets sitting next to it. The Princess then glanced over the blueprints on the table before getting to work on the device sitting in front of her... --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEXT EPISODE: "A Glimpse of Things to Come" ---------------------------------------------------------------------