//------------------------------// // Episode 113: A Glimpse of Things to Come: // Story: Mega Pony: Season One // by Monty Eggman //------------------------------// Episode 113: A Glimpse of Things to Come: --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! Mega Pony's battles against the numerous threats to Equestria have become harder and harder with each fight. His creator, Princess Celestia, has become increasingly worried for the well-being of her "son", especially after he had a brush with death while combatting a swarm of dangerous Twittermite robots. Although he survived the fight, Celestia, and even Mega Pony himself, are worried about what the future might hold... Just today, while rummaging through the castle library, Princess Celestia discovered a long-forgotten item from her past; one that she feels could be used for the greater good of Equestria, as well as for Mega Pony. However, she is not sure if her recent discovery will work out the way she hopes, so she decided to send a letter to her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, to ask for her assistance. Mega Pony has also decided to help his mother unlock the secrets of the item she found, hoping that its power, whatever it may be, could help him continue to protect Equestria. But is the little robot prepared for what he may witness as a result...? --------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARACTER SELECT: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mega Pony (PCN-001): Super fighting pony robot, A.K.A. the "Equine Bomber". Princess Celestia: One of the two rulers of Equestria. Mega Pony's creator. Princess Luna: Celestia's sister and fellow ruler of Equestria. *** ??? *** --------------------------------------------------------------------- It was almost noon on another bright and sunny day in the country of Equestria. The capitol city of Canterlot was just as busy as any other town or city in the land, and its residents went ahead with their daily routines, as per usual. The city saw its fair share of tourists day after day, so the train station was always a very active place. After one of the trains that came into the station pulled to a stop, its doors opened to allow the passengers inside to leave and enter the station building. Among the ponies that left the train was the young lavender Unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. Sitting on her back was her dragon assistant, Spike, and walking beside them both was the chipper and always-smiling Pinkie Pie. "Well, here we are." Twilight told her companions. "Now we just need to head to the castle and see what's going on this time." "You know, we've been coming here a lot lately ever since the Princess built Mega Pony..." noted Spike as he looked around the city. "Don't get me wrong, its not a bad thing that we get to come back here a lot, it's just something I noticed." "Well, what do ya expect?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Mega's a very important character in this story; the series is named after the guy, after all..." She then hummed a bit and asked herself, "Orrrrrrr... is it him that's named after the story...? Or maybe they're BOTH named after something else...?" She continued to ponder about this mystery in her head. Leaving the silly pink pony to her own thoughts for now, Spike then asked Twilight, "So, what did the Princess need you for this time?" "She didn't say too much." the lavender Unicorn answered him. "All she told me was that she found something in the Star Swirl section of the library a few days ago, and that she wanted my help with trying to figure out what it is." "The Star Swirl section?" the little dragon questioned. "Wasn't that where you found that neato spell that let you travel back in time for a about a minute?" Pinkie Pie then butted in and added, "You mean the spell that Twilight used to go back in time and find her past self so that she could warn her about not worrying about the future only to find out that when she tried to do that she turned her past self into a nervous wreck that had us running all over the place to prevent something that ended up never happening?" Both Twilight and Spike just stared at their pink friend after she had (very quickly) said all of that. "Um... yeah. That one." the lavender Unicorn responded. "Knew it!" the pink Earth Pony said to herself, happy that she had remembered that day. Twilight then told her friends, "You know, now that Pinkie mentioned it, I got to thinking: Perhaps what the Princess found is some sort of extremely powerful spell... Maybe even one from Star Swirl the Bearded himself!" The Unicorn had stars in her eyes, relishing the opportunity to learn more about the magic used by the famous pony wizard himself. "I guess that would be pretty interesting." stated Spike Suddenly, Pinkie Pie then asked, "Say, if we're all coming over to the castle, does that mean we'll get to see Mega Pony today, too?" "Yes." Twilight answered her. "As a matter of fact, the Princess told us that he'd be at the front door to let us all in. She also told us that he'll be helping out with the Princess's latest discovery as well." "That makes sense to me." the little dragon chimed in. "After all, it would help a lot to have two super-smart ponies working on whatever this is instead of having only one." The three of them walked towards the castle gates, passing right by the two royal guards stationed there. By this point, Twilight and her friends had visited the castle so often, that the guards didn't even stop her to ask who she was anymore. They just gave a friendly smile and tipped their helmets to her as she passed by. Twilight, of course, politely waved right back to them. Once they all reached the front doors to Canterlot Castle, the lavender Unicorn knocked on them a few times, knowing full well that somepony was on the other side to hear it and let them in. Not long after Twilight had knocked on the doors, they opened wide, revealing a Unicorn pony waiting on the other side. The pony had a light-peach coat, bright, baby-blue eyes, and a short, chestnut-brown mane. His medium-length tail was the same color as his mane, and he had a yellow oval as his cutie mark. In addition, the Unicorn pony wore a cobalt-blue, short-sleeved shirt. When he saw Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie Pie, he smiled and said to them, "Alright! You made it! It's so good to see you all!" The others just stood there, not making a sound at all as they stared at the individual standing in front of them. "Um..." Spike responded, trying to figure out when and where they had met this pony. The peach-colored Unicorn chuckled a bit and told them, "I guess you don't recognize me, do you? I suppose I can't blame you for it; after all, this IS the first time that you've ever seen me without all of my armor on." When the pony mentioned the word, "armor", the trio was finally able to recognize him. "...Mega Pony? Is that you?" asked Twilight, still a bit unsure. "In the flesh." the peach Unicorn answered. "Or really, in the ceramic titanium." "Wow, is that what you REALLY look like under all of your armor?!" asked Pinkie Pie, eyes lighting up. She then zipped all around the robot pony, checking him out. "Wowee! You're looking pretty good here, Mega!" "I'll say!" agreed Spike. "If you walk around looking like that more often, you're gonna have tons of fillies knockin' on your door!" "Um... for what reason, Spike?" Mega Pony asked. "You know...! Going out! Dates! That sorta thing!" the dragon explained to him. "You've never thought of dating anypony yet? I know you're a robot, but I'd think you'd at least have thought about the idea of hooking up with a mare that you like! Strolling on the beach... Having dinner at a fancy restaurant... Telling her just how beautiful the moon reflects off of her violet mane..." "Um, what was that, Spike?" asked Twilight after hearing that last part. "Nothing!" the dragon responded quickly, hoping that nopony heard what he had said. The three of them chuckled a little, as they all knew who he was talking about when he let that comment of his slip out. After their brief chuckle, Mega then told them all, "Let's all go inside, everypony; my mom's waiting for us, and it would be rude for us to delay her any longer." "Yeah, let's go." agreed Twilight as she and the others began walking into the humongous castle. As Mega Pony led his friends through the long hallways of the castle, Twilight decided to ask him something that had been on her mind for a while. "So, Mega... How is the Princess? And your sister?" she inquired. "Um, they're fine, Twilight." he answered. "Why do you ask?" Just then, he realized what had made the lavender Unicorn ask him about his "family". "...Oh, I see... It's about what happened with those Twittermite robots, isn't it?" Twilight nodded yes to answer his question. Mega Pony formed a smile and told her, "Don't worry about my mom, Twilight... She's just fine; Midi too. They were a little worried after what had happened, but everything will be okay. Mom's tougher than she looks, and I'm sure she'll pull through in the end. Especially after she made some modifications to my body to keep me safer out there." "What sort of modifications?" asked Spike. "Well, Mom put in a thick rubber coating inside of Midi and I." he told the little dragon. "And while there's no way that we'll be FULLY immune to electrical attacks, even with this special coating, it's enough to ensure that our I.C. Chips cannot be damaged." "I.C. Chip?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Where have I heard about that before?" "Princess Celestia told us about that on the day that she first activated Mega Pony." Twilight reminded her pink friend. "According to both her and Midi, it's the core of a robot's personality and what makes them act just like anypony else. She said that it's the most important part of a robot; if it were damaged too severely in one way or another, it would be impossible to replace." "That's correct, Twilight." Mega Pony chimed in. "Luckily, mine didn't suffer too much damage from that electrical shock before Midi had a chance to restore my systems with her healing powers." He then told them, "But our I.C. Chips are quite adaptable; even if my body were to be completely and totally destroyed, as long as my I.C. Chip is fully intact, I can be rebuilt any number of times!" "Wow, you sure are lucky, Mega Pony..." Spike told him. "I wish I could be perfectly and totally restored every time I got seriously hurt or anything like that." "Well, it's good to know that you'll be okay from now on..." stated Twilight. "At least as far as dealing with Twittermites; real or robotic." The lavender Unicorn then asked her robot friend, "But... what if this pony, whoever they are, tries to use robot Twittermites to attack Equestria again?" "Don't worry, Twilight. There's no chance of that happening again." Mega Pony assured her. "If you recall, just before we left for Canterlot, I took one of the disabled bugs with me. After I was fully repaired and after my mom fixed up my little sister's programming, I gave her the Twittermite to look at so that she could find out more about it." "And what'd she find?" Spike asked. "Well, using the bug's programming codes," the robot explained, "she was able to build and install a powerful beacon at the top of the castle. It sends powerful and constant signals all over the country, specifically targeting any of the remaining Twittermite robots. Those signals then automatically reprogram the insects so that they no longer have a desire to attack any innocents. It even works on any that are freshly made." "Well that's certainly a relief." Twilight noted. "I'll sleep easier at night knowing that those Twittermites won't go crazy again." "You can say that again." the robot told her. He then said, "In fact, my mom is even considering the possibility of trying to use those bug robots for good purposes, such as providing free and powerful energy to every city and town in Equestria! She and my Aunt Luna believe that we could advance our society by leaps and bounds with such an idea!" Mega Pony then sighed a little and added, "Of course, it will be a while before that becomes a reality, but we're hoping that we can see it through." "Well, good luck with that then, Mega Pony." said the lavender Unicorn. "I'd certainly like to see how it could help everypony in the future." She then asked the robot pony, "By the way... when the Princess was looking at the Twittermite robot, did she happen to find out who built them?" "...Unfortunately, she didn't." he answered. "The data concerning the bug's creator was too scrambled to decipher; but she and I believe, without a doubt, that it's the same one that initiated all of the other strange attacks throughout Equestria." "Don't worry yourself, Mega!" Pinkie Pie told him. "We'll find out who it is one day! It'll just hafta wait until a later episode!" The others looked at each other, once again at a loss trying to figure out what their silly friend was talking about. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before long, the group had made their way to the room that they were looking for: The library. But it wasn't like any ordinary library, because it was named after the late Star Swirl the Bearded, who was credited as one of, if not THE, most powerful wizard ponies of all time. He had written many spells during his lengthy life, and every one of them was safely stored in this special section of the castle library. Twilight, Mega Pony, Pinkie Pie and Spike all walked into the large library, gazing at all of the bookshelves that contained information on what seemed to be every magic spell that ever existed in Equestria. As they continued further, the group eventually found Princess Celestia, who was looking at one of the scrolls in particular. "Hey, Mom!" the little robot pony called out to her. "Twilight and the others are here!" "Hm?" The Alicorn Princess glanced over towards the small group and smiled, saying to them, "Oh! I'm glad that all of you could come by! I could certainly use some help today." "How could I NOT be here, Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked her rhetorically. "When you wrote that you had discovered something that could possibly have come from Star Swirl the Bearded himself, I actually started pinching myself just to make sure that I wasn't dreaming!" "It's true." Spike added. "She actually told ME to do it once, just to be doubly sure." Celestia giggled a bit to herself and told them all, "Well, I can honestly tell you that none of you are dreaming." Using her magic, she picked up the scroll that she was reading prior to her guests entering the library. Presenting the scroll before the four of them, the Sun Princess said to them, "This is the discovery that I had mentioned in my letter; I had found this spell while looking through this section of the library yesterday." "What kind of spell is it, Mom?" Mega Pony asked her. "It's... hard to say, exactly..." Celestia told her son, "but if my memory is correct... I believe that it is a spell that allows a pony to see into the near future." "See into the future?!?" exclaimed the others. "Indeed." The Princess then unfurled the scroll and continued to tell them, "Back when Star Swirl was still alive, he had created all sorts of magic spells and incantations, and I am certain that this is one of them." "What do you know about it, Princess Celestia?" asked Twilight, curious to know more, as always was her nature. "Back when he and I were working together, Star Swirl had told me that he had been working on such a magic..." Celestia answered her student. "He hoped that, if he were able to complete it, that it could be used to forsee future events. He could then use that knowledge in order to ensure the safety and goodwill of everypony that lived here." Looking at the scroll some more, she added, "Based on what I can tell, it seems that he had indeed, finishing working on the incantations... Though it is odd..." "What's odd about it?" asked Pinkie. "Well... what's odd is that I don't remember him ever saying anything to me about it." stated the Princess. "Usually, he told me first about any spells that he had managed to complete. Believe me, he enjoyed his work on magic more than anypony I knew back then; whenever he finished a particularly interesting spell, he didn't keep it secret for very long." "Perhaps he wasn't able to finish it after all?" asked Twilight. "...Hmmm... that is a possibility." admitted the Princess. "The only way we can know for sure is if we test it out." "Test it out?" asked Spike. "You mean on one of us?" "I'm afraid so." Celestia answered. "The only way that we can be sure if the spell is complete or not is if one of us uses the spell and sees the results for themself..." The Princess sighed a bit and informed them, "However, I must tell you... there is risk in using a spell that is not yet finished; There is a possibility of harm coming to whomever casts it... That being the case, I will not force any one of you to test the magic. If you are to be the one who casts the spell, it will be your decision and yours alone." The other four occupants in the library looked at one another, thinking about the Princess's words. They had to admit, the thought about harm coming to them did make them a bit worried. "So... what do you say?" asked the Princess. "Will one of you be willing to assist me in testing out the magic? I will understand if you all decide to back out of it... If that is the case, I will not stop you." There was an eerie silence in the air as Twilight, Mega Pony, and the rest of them, tried to come to some sort of a decision. The thought of something bad happening to them when testing the unknown spell still hung heavy in their minds, making it hard to figure out what to do. Then, all of a sudden, Mega Pony spoke up and said, "...I'll do it." Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike gasped when they heard him say that. "You're... you're what?!" asked the lavender Unicorn. "You're going to test Star Swirl's magic??" "It's only the most logical decision, Twilight." the robot explained to her. "Of the four of us, I'm the most resistant when it comes to magic or anything of the sort. So if something bad happens, I have the best chance of coming out of it okay." "Being resistant to a Cocktrice's stare is one thing, Mega Pony..." Twilight told him. "Withstanding powerful magic created by a master pony wizard is another." "I will admit, I am a bit concerned about what will happen to me after I test this spell..." stated Mega. "But if it comes down to putting myself at risk, or allowing any of you to put yourselves in danger, then I have no choice. That's why I'm willing to volunteer myself and test out this future-seeing magic..." "Are you sure that's what you wish to do, Mega Pony?" Celestia asked him, wanting to be sure of his decision herself. "I am." the pony robot replied with a nod. The white Alicorn thought about it for a while. As always, she had her concerns whenever Mega Pony, her son, went into potentially dangerous situations. However, she also knew that it was his job to go into these sitations and deal with them in order to ensure the safety of Equestria as a whole. After thinking about it all for a while, she then told him, "Very well, Mega Pony... If that is what you wish." She then told him, "You had better equip your armor immediately; I'm not sure what will happen to you afterwards, and it would be best to make sure you're as ready as possible for whatever you might encounter." "I understand, Mom." the robot replied. He then closed his eyes to concentrate. In a flash of light, Mega Pony had equipped his immediately-recognizable blue armor, doing away with his "civilian" look completely. "Good luck, Mega Pony." Twilight said to him in a hopeful tone. "And don't worry, we'll be here just in case you need us." "Thanks, Twilight." the robot told her with a smile. His tone suggested that he was still a little nervous about going though with it all, but he wasn't going to let that fear distract him from doing what he believed was the right thing to do. He then looked towards his mother and said to her, "I'm ready, Mom." "Very well." said Celestia. She then instructed everypony (and dragon), "Let us all move to the Main Hall; there's more space to move there." The others nodded to say that they understood and they all departed from the library together. The group of five moved on to the Main Hall of the castle to test out the future vision spell. While most of the castle staff was already hard at work, none of them, with the exception of a few royal guards, were in this room, making it a safe place to try out the newly-discovered magic. Princess Celestia ordered the two guards to leave the room and position themselves at the door leading inside. Now the hall was completely empty, save for the Princess, Twilight, Mega Pony, Pinkie, and Spike. "Alright, we're ready to go." Twilight stated, after looking around some more to make sure that there was no one else in the room before they got started. "Yep! There's nopony else around for miles!" Pinkie added as she looked through a pair of binoculars that she apparently had with her. "Alright then..." Princess Celestia then walked over to her robotic son and gave him the scroll that contained the incantations for Star Swirl's hidden spell. "Now, Mega Pony..." she began to tell him, a hint of worry in her tone of voice, "in order to cast the spell, you must recite the words on this scroll as clearly as possible, much like that age-regressing magic that you had read a few months ago." "Okay, Mom." Mega Pony replied, using his psuedo-magic to take the parchment from her. He then studied each and every word on the paper to make sure that he would cast the magic perfectly. "Are you REALLY sure you wanna go through with this, Mega?" asked Spike, unsure about all of it, as was everyone else. "What if something weird happens and you don't come back okay?" Mega Pony still felt a little uneasy about using a potentially-incomplete spell... but he did his best to push those thoughts aside for the moment. "I know doing this is really risky," he told Spike, "but somepony has to test out the spell, so it might as well be me..." "But why you?" asked the dragon. "Twilight's incredibly skilled at magic, so I'd bet that she'd come out of it okay!" Spike then asked the lavender Unicorn, "Twilight, why didn't YOU ask to try it out yourself? After all, you always dreamed of being the first to test a newly-discovered spell from Star Swirl himself!" Twilight looked at her assistant and told him, "...Because I have a feeling that I know the OTHER reason why Mega Pony decided to try it out." Spike, Pinkie, and Celestia gasped a little when she said that. Mega Pony sighed a little and asked Twilight, "I had a feeling you'd figure it out..." "Twilight..." Celestia began to ask her student, "what do you mean by that? What other reason would Mega Pony have to test out the spell?" "I think that he wanted to try it out so that, if it DOES work, he'd be able to see what will happen to him later on..." the book-smart pony answered her teacher. "That way... he would have a chance to find out who is behind all of the strange attacks on Equestria. Isn't that right, Mega Pony...?" "Uh huh..." the robot admitted. "Don't get me wrong; I'm still doing this so that none of you have to put yourselves in danger... but it is true that I had my own personal reasons as well." He then looked over at his creator and added, "I figured that, if I could learn the identity of whoever it was that was attacking Equestria, we would be able to find them and quickly put a stop to their plans for good..." "I see..." the Princess replied, understanding her son's motives. "But," she then told him, "are you absolutely sure that this is the best way to find out that information?" "I do, Mom..." Mega Pony answered her. "This spell could be exactly what we need in order to ensure Equestria's safety! Not only that, but we also have to make sure that the spell works properly before somepony else decides to use it for whatever reason. Getting the answers to these concerns all comes down to what happens in the next few minutes. So please... let me do what I feel is the right thing to do..." Celestia was still worried, but knew that he had a point. They wouldn't know if the magic worked or not until Mega Pony tried it out for himself. And if it did work, she and the others would have a chance at learning the name of the mysterious villian that seemed to want to do Equestria harm. "...Very well, then. If you're sure about this, Mega Pony..." the Princess stated, "...then go ahead and recite the incantations." Mega Pony nodded to say that he understood. "Good luck, Mega Pony..." said Twilight. "Please come back okay..." "Yeah, we can't lose you now..." Pinkie chimed in. "This episode is only the season finale, not the series finale!" The robot then looked at the words on the scroll and began reading them in order to cast the spell. "Mare or stallion who reads this scroll," he started, speaking as clearly as possible, "visions of the future, you will soon behold... For soon you shall see events yet to come, and wiser you shall be after you are done... Once these words you have finished reading, ahead in time you will soon be fleeting..." At first, nothing seemed to happen after Mega Pony finished reading the scroll. But then, the robot gasped when everything and everyone around him began to get brighter. Then, before his very eyes, there was a sudden flash of light... --------------------------------------------------------------------- When the light faded, Mega Pony still had his eyes closed, keeping himself from ruining his optical sensors as a result of the sudden flash. Once he sensed that the light was gone, the little robot opened his eyes... and right away he could tell that he wasn't in Canterlot anymore, as least to his knowledge. In fact, he appeared to be somewhere in Cloudsdale, the aerial city that many Pegasi called home. "Huh...? Cloudsdale??" Mega Pony asked himself, still a bit unsure as to how he had managed to appear there when, just a second ago, he was in his mother's castle. The robot then thought to himself, (I guess that means that the spell worked... Which means that, at some point in my future, I'll be in Cloudsdale... I wonder why, though... I rarely ever visit this place because I need to fly in order to reach it; my teleporter doesn't work nearly as well because this place is constantly moving with the wind. That being the case, I only come by here if I have a good reason for it... But what could it be...?) His thoughts were cut short when he heard an explosion nearby. When he turned to look, he saw that it had come from the Weather Factory, indicated by the fact that several Pegasus ponies were fleeing the cloud building in panic. (I guess I'm going to find the answer to my question pretty soon...) assumed Mega as he ran towards the large building. As he sidestepped the ponies coming towards him, he caught a passing glance at a small, purple dot far away in the sky. However, he decided to ignore it for now as he entered the factory. Once he made his way inside, he saw that most of the machinery and equipment were completely destroyed and left smoldering. (Woah... what could have done all of this??) thought Mega Pony, shocked by all of the destruction in front of him. (Whoever is responsible for this must've been pretty strong...) Just then, the robot heard a loud BANG behind him. When Mega spun around to look, he saw a large, metal shutter had closed behind him. On the front of the door, there was a large, yellow "D" painted upon it. "Huh?! What's going on now??" the robot asked, getting a little worried. Just then, he heard the sounds of flapping wings nearby. When Mega turned towards the source of the sound, he saw a familiar face hovering in the air: Rainbow Dash. She had a sly smirk on her face as she floated in the air and stared at him. "Heh, Bravo! You actually managed to get up here, despite not havin' wings!" she said to him. "I gotta say, I'm a little bit impressed." "Rainbow Dash!!" said Mega Pony with a smile on his face. Running over to her, he then told her, "I'm so glad to see you! I-I don't know what happened, but now that you're here, we can figure out who or what caused all this mess!" "Heh... you're kiddin', right?" asked the cyan mare, in a less-than-casual tone. "You and I both know why you're here, so don't go tryin' to confuse me..." "Wh-what are you talking about, Rainbow Dash...?" asked Mega Pony, confused. "Look, you can justify your purposes here as much as ya want," Rainbow told him, "but that doesn't mean that I'm okay with it." Stretching herself a bit, she then said, "Do what ya think you need to do, but get this: You're NOT gettin' me without a fight!!" Before a response could be made, the cyan Pegasus suddenly and, without warning, sped towards Mega Pony in an attempt to attack him. The robot was caught-off guard, but managed to get out of her way. "Wha-?! Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?!?" he shouted at her. "Why are you trying to attack me?!" But the Pegasus didn't answer with words; rather, she used all her energy to speed towards him again. Mega Pony dodged it once more, but still had no idea what was going on. (I don't understand...! What's gotten into Rainbow Dash?!) he asked in his mind. (What could have possibly happened that would provoke her into attacking me like this?!) As he pondered about it, he continued to avoid the cyan Pegasus's high-speed tackles. Once she stopped for a moment, the robot then told her, in a wary tone, "Please... cut it out, Rainbow Dash... I don't want to fight you!" "Well, I guess that means that you'll be at a major disadvantage, Mega..." Rainbow told him in a menacing tone. She then held out her two front hooves as electricity began charging into them. "'Cause I certainly wanna fight you!!" she said, finishing her remark. The crazed Pegasus then sped towards the robot again, hoping to take him down in one hit. "No!! Stop!!!" shouted Mega Pony. But before anything else could happen, there was another sudden flash of light... --------------------------------------------------------------------- ...and when the light faded away, Mega Pony saw that he wasn't in the Weather Factory anymore, nor was he anywhere in Cloudsdale. In fact, he saw that he was now back in Canterlot Castle. "Huh...? What happened...?" he asked himself, once he saw that he wasn't in danger anymore. In fact, everything around him seemed perfectly calm. Though he did notice something peculiar: The hall that he was in seemed to be more heavily decortated than he remembered. (Am... am I back home now?) he inquired in his mind. (Does that mean that the spell's effects are over...? If so, then that was awfully quick...) He began walking forward, heading towards the Throne Room. But as he opened the doors, he stopped when he got a look at what was going on inside... He saw what appeared to be several ponies, including a few of his Ponyville friends, sitting in attendance as two other ponies, a mare and a stallion, approached an altar where Princess Celestia was standing. Mega then saw that the mare and stallion were none other than what appeared to be Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. (Wait a second... what's going on??) thought the robot. (Am... am I watching Cadance and Shining's wedding??) This made him even more perplexed as he continued to see what was happening. He could only determine that he was still under the effect of Star Swirl's spell, but something was amiss. (But that can't be possible...) he protested in his mind. (That spell is supposed to allow me to see what will happen in the future... And I know for a fact that I wasn't activated until AFTER they had gotten married. So how is it that I'm seeing this??) "Hey! Mega Pony!" shouted a female voice. "Could you please move out of the way so that I can get through?" "Oh, I'm sorry...!" the robot replied, returning to reality. He then stepped aside and added, "There... I'm sorry if I was in your way, I was just-" But when he turned around to look at who was behind him, he paused in mid-sentence. The mare that was behind him appeared to be Rarity, with her white coat, swirly violet mane, and triple-diamond cutie mark, along wth a very fancy-looking dress. However, the voice that he had heard from her appeared to be completely different than what he remembered. "...Um... is that you, Rarity?" he then asked her. The mare giggled a little and told him, "Wow, I had a feeling my costume was good, but I didn't think it was THAT good!" "Costume?" "Yeah, don't you remember?" the mare asked him. "I'm Lilac Hearts!" Mega Pony just stood there, not recognizing the pony's name at all. The mare narrowed her eyes a little and added, "Um... I'm playing as Rarity in the big performance today...? Remember?" "Performance?" Now it all began to make sense to the little robot. "So... that's a play that I see going on in the next room?" he then inquired. "Yeesh... is your memory card working correctly, Mega Pony?" Lilac Hearts asked him, a bit confused herself. "I thought the Princess told you about what was going on today; we even talked a little while ago... Though, I wasn't in costume at the time, so I GUESS there was a chance you couldn't recognize me, but still-" The mare then sighed and said, "Look, I don't have time to explain everything again. I have to go out there in about five minutes, and I can't miss my cue!" "Oh! Of course, Ms. Hearts!" the robot responded, shuffing back a bit further. "Sorry, I've got... a lot of things on my mind right now, but don't let me delay you any further." Just then, the two ponies heard the sounds of shattering glass from within the Throne Room. When they opened the doors, they were shocked to see several strange creatures flying in through the now-broken window. They appeared to be pony-like in appearance, but there were several sinister-looking differences: Their bodies were all-black in color, and their eyes were bright blue, with no irises. They had sharp fangs coming out of their mouths, and their strange legs appeared to have holes in them. They had spike-like horns on their heads, along with a pair of bug-like wings growing out of their backs. The nasty-looking creatures surrounded the scared ponies that were in the audience as well as on the stage, suggesting that whatever was happening right now wasn't on the script. "Wh-what are those things?!" asked Mega Pony, trembling a little. "Oh no...! Changelings!!" Lilac cried out. "Millions of them!!" "Wait, THOSE are Changelings?!" asked the robot. Looking at them again, he then recalled the memory of when Twilight and the others told him about what had happened during the Royal Wedding. Still, hearing about the dangerous creatures and seeing them for himself were two very different things. Lilac Hearts, clearly scared, stuttered, "I-I-I-I didn't s-sign up for this when they mailed out the casting calls!" Not wanting to get involved, she ran off, shouting, "Let me know when it's over!!" And with that, the mare was gone in mere seconds. Before Mega Pony could make any response, he then heard more screaming from inside of the Throne Room. He then glanced back inside and saw one more figure entering through the busted window. It appeared to be another Changeling, based on its appearance, but it was much larger and more sinister-looking. Its spiked horn was very crooked, possibly a sign of its wicked intentions, and its aqua-blue mane and tail were very messy and unkempt. Unlike the other Changelings, the eyes of this one DID have irises, the feature that the other Changelings' eyes lacked. In addition, there appeared to be a black crown on its head as well. The larger Changeling glanced at all of the scared ponies in the Throne Room and let out a cackling laugh. "Well, well, well... what do we have here?" it said in what sounded like a low, but feminine voice. "You little-wittle ponies are putting on a play, are you?" Grinning wickedly, she then added, "Well, you know you can't have a stellar stage performance... without the main antagonist!!" And with that remark, the giant Changeling then charged up a blast of green magical energy and fired it at the stage. The ponies that were standing there quickly dove out of the way just in time. Mega Pony growled a little; whether this was just a vision or not, he couldn't let anything bad happen to the ponies inside the Throne Room. Without hesitating, the robot barged into the room, having previously charged up a blast of solar energy into his Friendship Buster. He then quickly fired the blast at the large Changeling. However, she saw the shot coming and flew out of the way at the last second. "What?! Who dares to attack me, Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings?!" she snarled. "That would be me!" shouted Mega Pony from the ground below. "I don't know who you are, but if you want to attack these innocent ponies, you'll have to get through me first!" The giant Changeling then turned around to look at the pony that fired at her. Putting on a sly, evil grin, she then asked him, "So you're the one called Mega Pony...? The so-called 'Guardian of Equestria'?" Cackling again, she then mocked him, saying, "And to think that I was even just SLIGHTLY worried about you showing up here! But now that I see you here, it appears that I had nothing to fuss over after all!" Mega Pony made no response whatsover; he ignored Chrysalis's words as he continued to stare her down as fiercely as possible. As he did, though, he caught a slight glimpse from the window that she was next to. Outside, he saw another purple dot, similar to the one that he had seen in his earlier vision in Cloudsdale. (What's that...?) he thought. "Either way," the giant Changeling told him, "there's absolutely no way that I will allow Celestia's little pet to stop me from seeking my revenge!! Prepare to shatter into pieces by my power!!" She then began charging up another blast of green energy into her crooked horn. Mega Pony instantly began drawing in power for his primary weapon as well, hoping that he would be able to withstand her attack in one piece. But just as they fired their shots, another flash of light erupted between them... --------------------------------------------------------------------- When the light died down, Mega Pony once again found himself in another place, and quite possibly another time. (Huh...? Now where am I?) he asked himself in his mind. Glancing around at the area around him, the robot recognized the town as Appleloosa. Mega Pony looked around at all of the rustic, old-looking buildings, and noticed that there seemed to be nopony around for miles. (The town's deserted... but why?) Mega asked in his mind. (This town's usually busy every day, especially with the improvements they made to the local apple farm... So why does it look like a ghost town...?) At that moment, though, Mega Pony would get an answer to his question when he spotted four sharp, medium-sized rocks with pointed ends hurling towards him. "Ack!" he cried out as he jumped out of the way. "Where did those things come from?!" "From me!" uttered a raspy male voice that had a bit of a downtown Manehatten accent to it. When Mega turned towards where the voice was coming from, he saw a large Earth Pony stallion. He had a brown coat and yellow eyes, and wore a yellow hard hat on his head. Near his mouth were tufts of hair that looked similar to a moustache. His mane and tail were covered in yellow and black stripes, and he wore what appeared to be a fully-metallic vest-like garment with a large drill protruding out from the front of it. Finally, his cutie mark consisted of three, spiked rocks, very similar-looking to the rocks that Mega Pony had to dodge earlier. "Wh-who are you??" asked the robot. "And what are you doing here?" "Heh... the name's Terra Pony." the stallion answered. "And as fer what I'm doin' 'ere, I've simply claimed dis area as my territory." "Y-your territory??" "Dat's right, kid." Terra Pony informed him. "And don't go thinkin' that I've got no idea who yous are; you're Mega Pony, the robot dat's s'pposed t' be Equestria's hero or somethin' like dat." Chuckling, the strange Earth Pony told him, "But if yous think dat I'm just gonna let yous come in 'ere n' trash me, yous got anothah think comin'! So get ready fer a face fulla high-density stones, brat!!" He then seemed to create four more sharp stones completely out of thin air and sent them towards the little blue robot. "Hey! Watch it!!" Mega Pony shouted at him as he avoided the attack. The stallion snickered as he ran off, telling Mega, "If ya wants a piece o' me, you're gonna have t' follow me onto MY home turf!" And in the blink of an eye, the pony named Terra Pony had fled. Mega Pony just stood there, totally confused. He wasn't sure why that pony decided to attack him. But before he could dwell on those thoughts anymore, he then heard another voice from right next to him. "Well, you heard him, Mega Pony..." it said. "We have no choice but to pursue him further!" The robot immediately recognized the voice and turned around to see who it was that spoke to him. Sure enough, it was none other than Princess Luna, with a confident-looking expression on her face. "A-Aunt Luna??" he asked her, still trying to figure out what was going on. "Let us not waste another moment, Nephew!" she said to him, spreading her wings. "We must follow him if we are to save my sister and Applejack!" "Wait, WHAT??" he questioned his aunt upon hearing about Celestia and Applejack. "What was that about my mom and Applejack??" Unfortunately, Princess Luna was way too far ahead of him for her to hear his question. Still confused about everything, Mega Pony ran ahead after her, hoping to find out what she had meant by that. The two of them ran towards what appeared to be an abandoned mine shaft. Apparently, the Earth Pony that they were chasing had holed himself up inside. Luna entered the tunnel first, intent on chasing down the runaway. Mega Pony continued to follow his aunt, but she was far faster than he was, so there was no way that he would be able to speak with her along the way. Still thinking about the last thing that the Princess of the Night had said to him, he thought, (What happens in this point of time...? What happened to Applejack? And what happened to my mom...?) He then pondered something else: (And what's more... what's going on with this spell?? All it seems to be doing is making me jump forward in time randomly; I don't seem to have any control over where or when I go...) At that moment, an ill feeling came over him. (Oh no...) he said in his mind, falling into despair. (Does that mean that... the spell IS incomplete?? If so, then... then how am I gonna get back home??) Just then, Mega Pony saw a small ball of light in front of him that began to expand rapidly. Remembering what had happened the past few times, he then said to himself, "That light...! Is it going to-" But he was unable to finish his thought as the light exploded, filling the world around him with a bright flash... --------------------------------------------------------------------- When his vision returned, Mega Pony found himself in a large, dark room. "Now where am I...?" he asked himself. "Or really WHEN am I?" He looked around, but he seemed to be completely alone. (Well... since there's nothing else happening at the moment, maybe I can try and figure out what's happened so far and what to do about it...) he figured. (Now let's see here: I chanted that future vision spell back home in Canterlot... but it seems that instead of simply seeing the future... I've actually traveled INTO it!) Sighing, he then added to his soliloquy, thinking, (Which means that, in all likelihood, I was right about that spell not being finished... I'm fairly certain that Star Swirl's intent was only to allow somepony to SEE the future, not be part of it!) Sighing again, Mega Pony then said to himself, "Well, now I have to figure out how to stop the magic and return home... And I'm willing to bet that it's going to be easier said than done..." Just then, Mega felt a slight tremor underneath his hooves. "Huh? What was that?" he asked himself. Just then, he heard a loud rumble with every shake of the floor underneath him. And they seemed to get stronger with each passing second. "This... can't be good..." He then looked ahead of him to see what it was that was coming his way... and let out a gasp when he saw what appeared to be a gigantic robot coming towards him. It had only a pair of long legs, along with a pair of long arms with claw-like appendages at the ends. The head of the robot appeared to look like a skull, but it didn't look like a pony skull, based on its shape. The robot's main body appeared to be some sort of generator, and it was also safe to assume that the legs, arms, and head of the robot were not originally part of it. "Oh dear..." the little blue robot uttered, not liking this situation one bit. "Nyahahaha...! So we meet at last, Mega-Brat..." uttered a male voice from inside of the giant automaton. "It's too bad that our first meeting will also be our last!" "Last...?" Mega Pony said under his breath. He then asked loudly, "Who are you?! I demand to know who you are!!" "You mean to tell me that you've already forgotten who I am?" asked the giant mech's operator. "Your memory card must be malfunctioning..." The voice then told him, in a casual tone, "Well, I COULD tell you who I am again, but seeing as how I'm going to destroy you right at this moment, I don't see any point in revealing myself any more than I already have." "D-destroy me...??" ased Mega Pony, feeling uneasy. "Exactly!" shouted the voice. "I have been waiting for this moment for a long time, Mega Pony! You've ruined my plans for the last time, and now I finally have the chance to pay you back personally for getting in my way!" At that moment, the right leg of the robot lifted up into the air. "Now prepare to be crushed, Mega-Brat!!" The little blue robot ran out of the way as fast as he could to avoid being smashed into a blue pancake. Luckily, the leg came down quite slowly, so dodging it was no trouble for Mega. "You won't get me that easily, whoever you are!!" shouted the little blue robot. "Not bad..." the voice responded, not fazed at all. "Now let's see if you're just as agile trying to avoid my plasma cannons!!" The giant robot then fired out several blasts of white energy at Mega Pony, hoping to vaporize him in one blow. Luckily, Mega was indeed quick enough to dodge the incoming blasts. As he did, he continued to think about what was going on, trying to make heads or tails of the situation. (What's this guy's deal??) he asked himself. (What did I ever do to him?! I don't even recognize his voice!) He then continued to ponder, (He said he wanted to pay me back for ruining his plans in the past...) He then gasped when he came to a sudden realization. "Wait a second! Could he be the one that's been trying to-" But before his comment was finished, another bright flash filled the room with light, sending Mega Pony to another unknown time and place... --------------------------------------------------------------------- When Mega Pony could see around him once more, he found himself in what appeared to be a city of some sort. To him, it appeared to be Manehatten, but the towering buildings seemed to reach much higher into the sky. The pony robot also saw some other strange things as well: There were carriages parked along the streets, but nopony was around to pull them. There were also some food stands along the sidewalk, just like in other major cities, but they appeared to sell food that Mega Pony was unfamiliar with, like "Hot Dogs", for instance. In addition, the robot caught a slight glimpse of a bird-like creature flying high in the air. However, it seemed to have four wings instead of two, and they spun in a circle on top of its head, rather than coming out of its back. It also spoke in a very loud voice that could be heard all over the city: "Attention, citizens of Canterlot City!!" the voice boomed. "If you hear this message, evacuate the area immediately, by orders of Mayor Mare! I repeat: Evacuate the area!!" And with that order, the creature flew off. "Huh...? Canterlot??" asked Mega Pony, confused. "This can't be Canterlot! Canterlot looks nothing like this!" He then began to ponder a bit about and asked himself, "Or... is it? Could this place be Canterlot in the future? Even so, I thought Mayor Mare governed over Ponyville, not here... This is all so confusing..." "Heh heh heh... looks like somebody decided not to listen to that warning." said a female voice from right behind Mega. When he heard it, the robot turned around to see who it was. However, the figure behind him was of an animal that Mega Pony had never seen before: Unlike him, this creature stood on two legs instead of four, and its forelegs, which were crossed in front of it, each had five strange, stump-like appendages coming out of the ends. Her face was colored a pinkish-purple, and she also had purple-colored eyes. Its mane, or whatever it was called, was violet in color, had green streaks running along it in various places, and were done up into pigtails that were held together with silver, star-shaped barrettes. The figure also seemed to be wearing armor of some sort as well, just like Mega Pony, and it was painted in green, white, violet, and fuschia. "Wh-who are you??" asked the pony robot. "Heh... let's just say that I'm part of the reason for that All-Points-Bulletin." the strange creature told him. "One-eighth of the reason, to be more precise." "What are you talking about?" Mega Pony asked. "I don't understand..." "You don't, do you?" she then asked him. Grabbing one of the silver stars that made up her barrette with her strange appendages, she then added, "Well, maybe you'll get it once I do this!" She then tossed the star at the robot and shouted, "How does a taste of my Singing Shuriken sound to you?!" Seeing the projectile coming his way, the blue robot jumped aside, avoiding it just in time. "Hey!! What was that for?!?" he yelled. "For getting in our way! And in the way of our boss!!" she answered him, throwing more of those stars in his direction. Luckily, Mega Pony was too fast for her to hit; the throwing stars were easily avoided and were left sticking out of the sidewalk or on the sides of buildings. Grumbling a little to himself, he thought, (What's going on here?! Why does it seem that EVERY time I jump forward in time like this, I end up getting attacked?!?) As he dodged the attacks, Mega fired back with his Friendship Buster, hoping to at least damage the strange assailant as well. However, the creature performed a graceful backflip into the air to avoid his shots. She then planted her legs onto the side of a street light and launched off of it, speeding towards the pony robot and headbutting him, knocking him down to the ground. She then stood in front of him and grabbed a pair of stars from her barrettes. "Heh... And I was told that you were supposed to be tough." she said in a mocking tone. "Guess you can't always believe rumors..." She then prepared to throw more stars at Mega as she told him, "Time for you to pack up and move, 'cause I'm gonna take you down right now!" "Don't you even think about it!!" shouted another female voice from nearby. Before Mega and his attacker could react, another creature, similar in body shape to the robot's assailant, lunged towards the star-throwing creature and tackled her. This one had a yellow-colored body with light aqua-green eyes. Her hair was red and yellow in color, styled in a striped design. Her outfit consisted of a short, light blue dress with a transparent yellow skirt, overtop of a pair of blue pants. On top of the skirt, she wore a black jacket with golden-yellow stripes on each of the sleeves. On the ends of her legs were a pair of black leather boots; each boot had a yellow, arrow-shaped stripe on the front of it, as well as a small belt and buckle that was designed to keep them fastened to her. The pinkish-colored female growled as she tried to get the other female off of her. "Urrrgh!! Get off of me!!!" she yelled at her. "This is between me and the pony!! So take a hike!!" "I'm not getting off of you!" shouted the yellow female. "You're NOT gonna hurt Mega Pony on my watch, so YOU take a hike!!!" "Urrgh! In your dreams, human!!" screamed the pinkish-colored female. As Mega Pony watched the scene in front of him, he was still unable to wrap his mind around what it was that was actually going on. (What are these animals?) he asked in his mind. (And how does that yellow one know my name?) Of course, it didn't take him long to figure out the answer to his second question. (Wait... I think I get it: This is a future event, so I must meet up with this creature, whatever she is, later on... After all, I definitely would've remembered seeing creatures like those two before...) Mega took a closer look at the two females as they continued to thrash about. Although he didn't know what they were, he DID know one thing: "Whatever the case, I can't just sit here and not do something to help!" The two females continued to struggle against each other, with the yellow one pulling on the other's pigtails. Growling, the pinkish one then lunged the corner of its right upper appendage into the stomach of the other, pushing her off. "Ack!!" the yellow female grunted as she got pushed down, landing on her rear end. When she looked up, she saw the strange attacker had pulled out some throwing stars from out of her hair and began staring her down. "You... you wouldn't...!" the yellow female stuttered, sweating a little. "You're gonna wish you had just stayed a spectator, human..." the sinister creature told her coldly. "I'd tell you to remember that in the future... but there's a good chance that you won't be GETTING a future..." "N-NO!!" the yellow female cried out. "Stop!! Don't do it!!!" shouted Mega Pony, galloping as fast as he could and charging up his weapon, hoping to prevent his strange attacker from doing the unthinkable. The two of them prepared to launch their attacks, while the yellow creature used her right upper appendage to shield her face. But before anything else could happen, a bright flash erupted in the middle of the scuffle... --------------------------------------------------------------------- When the flash died down, Mega Pony, once more, found himself in a new place and time. As he looked around, he saw that he appeared to be in a forest of some sort. However, the skies were dull and brown, and the trees had no leaves on them whatsoever. In fact, there didn't seem to be much in terms of living things in the area. "Now what...?" he asked himself. He then looked around, but nothing seemed familiar to him. But as he glanced over, he saw a yellow Unicorn pony sitting under a tree, her right foreleg covering her face. "A pony...!" he said to himself, happy to see somepony around. "Maybe she can tell me where I am!" The robot ran over to her and asked, "Um, excuse me...?" However, Mega was shocked when the Unicorn moved her hoof away. He then saw that she had light aqua eyes, as well as a red and yellow-striped mane and tail, along with a sun cutie mark that was half-red and half-yellow. The reason that her appearance shocked him was because she looked strikingly similar to the yellow creature that had saved him earlier. "Uhn... wha...? What happened?" she then asked groggily. Recognizing the voice, Mega Pony then exclaimed, "I-it's you! You're the one who saved me!" "M... Mega Pony?" the Unicorn asked. She then took a good look at herself and gasped when she saw that her appearance had changed. "W-w-what?! What the hay happened?! I'm a pony again?! How did we get back in Equestria?!" She then looked over at Mega and asked him, "Wh-what did you do??" "I-I-I don't know what's happening...!" he answered her. "All I know is that I'm randomly jumping forward in time because of the effect of a spell... And now, for some reason, it seems like you got dragged along with me..." Tearing up a little, he then apologized, saying, "I'm... I'm really sorry..." Noticing that he was beginning to get upset, the yellow Unicorn calmed down a little and said, "Hey... don't cry, Mega Pony... It'll be okay. There's no use in getting all worked up over something you can't control." She then asked him, "So hold on: You said that you're going forward in time... Does that mean that you have no idea who I am?" Mega shook his head no and told her, "Sorry, I don't. But I guess that, since you know my name, it's safe to assume that we meet up later in the future, right?" The yellow Unicorn nodded yes to answer his question. "I thought as much." Mega responded. He then said to the Unicorn, "In that case, if we're going to be involved in this together for a while, it would help to know who you are." "Of course, Mega Pony." the yellow mare replied. "My name is Sunset; Sunset Shimmer." she introduced herself, holding out her right front hoof. "Um, pleased to meet you, Ms. Sunset." the robot pony responded, hoof-bumping with his new companion. After that was over and done with, he then told her, "Well, let's start by taking a look around here and try to figure out where in Equestria we are..." "Doesn't exactly ring a bell to me, Mega Pony..." Sunset informed him as they walked forward, looking at everything around them. "It's been a long time since I've been here, but I don't recall Equestria having any huge, lifeless wastelands with dead trees stretching out for miles..." "Me neither..." stated the robot. "Whatever happened to this place must have been pretty bad..." "Not to mention big..." the yellow Unicorn chimed in. "This looks like something out of a disaster movie... But what could have caused it all?" As they walked around the desolate land, all seemed quiet and calm... perhaps too quiet. Mega glanced around himself, remembering that each time he jumped forward in time, there was always an enemy waiting to attack him, or some sort of other crisis. He was on high alert as he kept watch for anything that wanted to come after them. Suddenly, the robot shouted, "Sunset!! Get out of the way!!" Before she had a chance to react, Mega rammed into her, pushing them both to the ground... and out of the way of a black blast of magic that struck the ground instead of them. After it did, a large, dark red crystal came out of the grey dirt. "What the-? Where did THAT come from?!?" shouted Sunset. "Up there!!" shouted Mega Pony as he pointed his right front hoof towards a gigantic boulder that was not far away from where they were. The two of them spotted a Unicorn pony standing at the top of it. His appearance was enough to show anypony that he was rotten to the core: His coat color was dark grey, he had sharp fangs in his teeth, and he had piercing red eyes with a sinister green mist flowing from out of them. His mane and tail were pitch-black, and he wore silver armor all over his chest and legs areas. On his head was a spiked crown, and he had a long, red cape that covered his hind quarters, concealing his cutie mark, whatever it was. "I-i-it's King Sombra!!" Sunset cried out in fear. "But that's impossible!! Twilight told me that he's gone!! So how in Equestria is he standing there?!" Mega Pony had that same question on his mind as well, and decided to make an attempt to figure it out. He activated his scanners to try and discover who or what this creature was, and why it had the appearance of one of Equestria's most infamous villians. What he found out shocked him, but also explained everything to him. "Sunset!" he cried out. "That isn't the real King Sombra! It's a robot!!" "What?! A robot??" repeated the yellow Unicorn. "Why would somepony want to design a robot to look like HIM?!" "Somepony who probably had something to do with what happened in this wasteland, that's who..." answered the robot. "But why?" Before a response to his question could be made, Mega and Sunset had to jump out of the way of another blast of energy. Once again, it struck the ground and created another evil-looking crystal. "Maybe we'd be better off figuring this out someplace where HE'S not gonna be!" the yellow pony suggested. Mega agreed with her, and they both ran off to find someplace safe to hide. "Heh heh heh heh... Run as much as you want..." the Sombra robot said to them in a low, sinister voice. "But you will never escape us... There's no hiding from the age of the Mavericks!" Mega Pony and Sunset Shimmer ran away as fast as they could, hoping to get away from the Sombra look-a-like. Then, suddenly, they stopped when they saw a ball of light appear in front of them. "What's that thing??" asked the yellow mare. "Uh oh... I know what this is..." Mega told her. "This light pops up just before I jump forward in time!" Grabbing onto her back, he then said, "Brace yourself, Sunset...! I'm not sure where we're gonna go this time..." And not long after he made that comment, the light ball exploded and created another bright flash... --------------------------------------------------------------------- In an instant, both Mega Pony and Sunset Shimmer found themselves in more familiar, pleasent territory: Ponyville. Everything seemed okay at the moment: Everything was calm and quiet in a good way, and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. "Well... looks like we're in Ponyville now." stated Mega. "Yeah, but when?" asked Sunset. "Well, since there's nothing going on here just yet, let's try and figure out what's going on and what to do about it..." suggested the little blue robot. "Now let's see... After I read the incantations to the spell, I began seeing some events from my future... But it seems that somehow, instead of just simply seeing the future, I'm actually traveling through time, but only for brief moments. And somehow, you ended up in a similar state to my own... I just wish I knew what the source of all this was; something is causing me to leap forward in time constantly, but what? What was in the spell that's doing this right now?" "Wh-what's that thing?!" Sunset screamed in horror. "What's what?" asked Mega Pony. "U-up there...!" the yellow Unicorn told him, pointing up in the air. When Mega Pony looked up, he gasped when saw what appeared to be some sort of purple hole in the sky. "What's that?!" the robot asked. "It looks like some sort of vortex!" Noticing the purple innards of the strange thing in the sky, he then recalled that it looked similar to the purple dots that he had seen in some of his other visions. "Call it Mare's Intuition," Sunset remarked, "but I have a feeling that whatever's happening to us may have something to do with that weird vortex..." "But what exactly is it doing there? And why?" asked Mega Pony. Before any answer to his question could be given, the pair heard screams coming their way. All of a sudden, there was a crowd of ponies stampeding towards them, being chased by a flock of strange-looking bat creatures with oversized eyes and tiny mouths. Mega and Sunset leapt out of the way so as not to be trampled. "Great... NOW what's going on??" asked Sunset with a groan. "Mega Pony...!!" shouted a familiar voice from far away. "It's Twilight!!" said Mega and Sunset in unison, recognizing the voice. And just as they figured, the super-smart lavender pony was running as fast as she could to get to where they were. Mega Pony was happy to see another friendly face, but there was something about Twilight's current appearance that made him nearly do a double-take. (Wait... wings??) he asked himself in his mind. (Since when did Twilight get wings??) However, he decided to dwell on that question another time, feeling that it wasn't a big deal right now. "Oh, Mega Pony! I'm glad you got here when you did!" Twilight told the robot in a relieved tone. Suddenly she then glanced over to his current companion and asked, "Wait a second... what are you doing here, Sunset?" "To be honest, Twilight, I have NO idea..." admitted the yellow Unicorn. Sighing a little, the lavender pony then told her, "Never mind... it's not important. We've got a problem here, and I guess it couldn't hurt to have an extra set of hooves around." Turning around to run back to where she came from, she told them both, "Hurry! We've got to get to the center of town; I'm not sure how much longer she'll be able to hold them off!" "Wait, before we go, I have a quick question..." Sunset then pointed up towards the bizarre vortex and asked, "Do you have any idea what that thing in the sky is?" Twilight glanced up towards the sky, but didn't make any reaction whatsoever. She then asked, "Um... WHAT thing in the sky? I don't see anything..." "Wait, what??" Sunset questioned, a bit dumbfounded. "You can't see that big, swirling vortex?! It's kinda hard to miss!" "Look, I don't have time to try and figure out what in Equestria you're talking about...! We have to go now if we're going to stop this attack!" Twilight told them as she flew off with the wings that she had growing out of her back. "...I don't get it..." uttered the yellow Unicorn mare. "How could she not have seen it...?" Mega Pony thought about it for a while and told her, "It's just a small hunch, but... perhaps WE'RE the only ones that can see the vortex..." "You're serious??" inquired Sunset Shimmer. "I don't know, but we'll have to figure it out while we go and see what's going on here in town." the robot suggested to her. "C'mon, let's go, Sunset!" The mare nodded and followed him towards the center of town. In front of Ponyville Town Hall, Twilight was doing her best to fight off a larger swarm of the strange bats that were chasing several of the townsfolk earier. The lavender pony fired off her Magic Wave attack at several of the bats, but it wasn't enough. "Ugh... there's just too many of them!" she shouted as she fired another shot. "We'll never get rid of them all at this rate!" Right next to her was another female pony; a Unicorn. She had a light pink coat and blue-violet eyes. Her mane and tail were purple in color, with light-blue streaks running along them, and they were styled up very elegantly. Her cutie mark showed a picture of a four-pointed, fuschia-colored star in front of a white star, along with a pair of small puffs of blue smoke. "Don't give up, Twilight Sparkle!" the Unicorn said to her. "We won't get through this problem if we turn tail and run! We have to keep fighting and stop this attack before anypony gets hurt!" Twilight smiled and nodded, saying to her companion, "You're absolutely right. Thanks for the pep talk, Starlight Glimmer; I needed it." "Hey, you didn't give up on helping me out," the other pony told her, "so there was no way that I'd let you give up on something like this." Twilight nodded again and the two continued to fight off the bizarre-looking bats. At that moment, the Unicorn, named Starlight Glimmer, noticed a pair of ponies coming their way. Recognizing one of them, she then shouted, "Hey! Twilight! Mega Pony just got here!!" "Oh thank Celestia..." Twilight responded, relieved. Mega Pony and Sunset Shimmer arrived at the scene just as Twilight fired another blast at the attacking bats. At that moment, both Sunset and Starlight just stared at one another, neither of them knowing who the other was. Leaning over towards Twilight, the light-pink Unicorn then asked her, "Um... who's the yellow pony that's with him...?" "That's Sunset Shimmer." Twilight answered. "And don't worry; she's on our side." "So THAT'S the Sunset Shimmer that you've told me about..." Starlight responded. "Well, good to know that we've got another ally during this whole mess." Holding her right front hoof, she then introduced herself to the yellow Unicorn, saying, "I'm Starlight Glimmer. Pleased to finally meet you." "Um, sure!" replied Sunset, hoof-bumping with the light-pink Unicorn. "Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine." Mega Pony, of course, had never seen this other pony before, but assumed that he would meet her later in the future. "Let's save the rest of the introductions for later..." Twilight recommended. Pointing up at the swarm of bats, she then told them all, "Right now we have to get rid of these Batonton swarms before they can cause any more damage!" "You mean those weird-looking bats?" asked Sunset, a bit weirded-out by their appearance. "They sprang up only a few minutes ago, and now they've nearly covered every inch of town!" Starlight informed Sunset and Mega as she fired a focused beam of light-blue energy at several of the Batontons, knocking them out of the sky. "And I'm starting to think that this might just be the beginning of something even worse..." she then added. "I got that same feeling myself..." Twilight stated, agreeing with Starlight. Sunset and Mega Pony looked at one another, wondering what they could have been talking about. Just then, the pony robot heard flapping sounds coming from directly behind all of them. He turned around just in time to spot three Batontons swooping down from the sky towards the group. "Girls! Look out!!" he shouted before releasing a quickly-charged shot from his Friendship Buster. The blast took out the three bat creatures instantly, but there were still many more left. Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight used their respective attacks to lend a hoof as well. Twilight continued using her Magic Wave to fight the Batonton swarms, while Starlight shot out another blue beam from her horn. Sunset used her magic to create powerful fireballs that exploded upon coming into contact with the bizarre bats. But it seemed like, no matter how many they managed to take out, more Batontons appeared to replace the fallen ones. Just then, Mega Pony spotted a rather large swarm flying towards both Sunset and Starlight. Gasping, he shouted to them, "Look out!!" The little robot then quickly dove towards them and pushed them down to the ground to get them out of the way. Then, right as he made contact with them, another flash of light suddenly exploded... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Once again, the light faded as quickly as it came, and once again, Mega Pony found himself and his new companion, Sunset, in another place and time. They now appeared to be in another large, dark room. "Now what's going on? Where are we now?" the yellow Unicorn asked. "...More importantly, what's going to happen next?" "I don't know, but I'm sure it won't be good." answered Mega Pony. "The last time I was in a large room like this, I was attacked by somepony piloting a gigantic robot of some sort... Be ready for anything..." Just then, the two of them heard a voice nearby that seemed to suggest that its owner was in a slight panic. "What?! What in Equestria happened?!" shouted the voice, whch sounded female. Mega and Sunset peered off to their right and gasped; they saw that the pony that had just spoken was none other than the pink Unicorn, Starlight Glimmer, who seemed to be confused as to what had just happened. "Oh no..." Mega Pony spoke in a downcast tone, "it happened again! Now she's being pulled along with us, too!!" "That's not good..." Sunset responded, not happy about the situation either. She quickly ran over to Starlight and asked her, "Are you alright?" "I... I think so..." the pink Unicorn responded, "but how did I get here?? I thought we were in Ponyville just now!" "I don't know what's going on... and neither does Mega Pony." the yellow Unicorn said to her. "All we know is that Mega used some sort of spell to see into the future, but all it seems to be doing is forcing him and us to travel through time, and-" Starlight gasped. "Wait- TIME TRAVEL?!?" she shouted. "Are you serious?!" "You know about something like this, Ms. Glimmer?" asked Mega Pony. "Um... well, uh... let's just say that I've... experienced time travel before." Starlight uttered; for some reason, she didn't seem to want to say anything more about it. She then asked, "So... what other evidence do you have that suggests that this is what is happening?" "Well, the only other thing that I noticed was that there was some strange, purple vortex in the sky..." Sunset told her. "But only Mega Pony and I seem to notice it; Twilight couldn't see it for some reason." "Vortex?? You mean that big thing up there?" asked the pink Unicorn, pointing upwards with her right front hoof. Sunset and Mega gasped a little and looked up at where she was pointing. Sure enough, the swirling portal was still up in the air. However, it seemed to be much bigger than it was previously. "The vortex..." the little blue robot uttered. "It's... it's getting bigger...!" "If it gets any bigger, it could swallow up all of Equesria!" Sunset added, gulping a little. "What're we going to do??" But before anyone could respond to her question, a loud THUMP was heard by all three of the ponies in the room. When they looked up, they saw a large, imposing figure with large horns in front of them. However, they couldn't tell who it was, because it was hiding in a particularly dark spot in the room that they were all in. "You have finally come, I see..." the figure uttered with a booming voice. "But soon, you'll learn never to oppose my great power!! Once you're dealt with, Equestria, and the world, will soon be mine!!!" "W-w-w-who is that?!" asked Sunset, not sure what was going on now. "I don't know, but I'm not going to just stand here and let him walk all over us!" growled Starlight as she charged up a spell in her horn. "Wait, Ms. Glimmer!!" Mega Pony cried out, trying to stop her. But it was too late: The giant creature lifted what appeared to be a leg of some sort, preparing to crush them underneath it. As he did, Starlight fired her blue beam at it, hoping to score a direct hit. But to her and everypony else's horror, the beam just missed the figure, whizzing right by him. "No!! I missed!!" the pink Unicorn cried out in despair. The giant chuckled in a low tone and said, "Tough break... but soon you'll have much more to worry about..." He then got ready to crush them all underneath his front legs and told them, "Now prepare to meet your-" But at that very moment, Starlight's blue beam spell struck the swirling vortex behind the massive beast. When it did, the portal began reacting very strangely and was enveloped with blue bolts of energy. Then, in a matter of seconds... the creature suddenly stopped moving in mid-stomp. The three ponies had covered their eyes with their forelegs, expecting to meet their ends. But when they all noticed that nothing had happened, they slowly began moving their legs away to see what was going on. "We're... okay?" asked Sunset. "What happened...?" Mega Pony moved his legs away from his face next, followed by Starlight. They looked ahead of them and saw the giant creature that had tried to attack them. They were relieved to see that it had stopped moving comepletely, but they had no idea why. "Why didn't he finish his attack?" asked the robot. Starlight glanced over at the large vortex behind the beast, and noticed that it, too, made no motion whatsoever: The inside of the portal stopped swirling, and the anomaly itself no longer continued to expand. "Everypony! Look!" the pink Unicorn told her companions. "The vortex stopped too! What's going on??" "Hmmmmm..." Mega hummed to himself as he looked at the portal... and then at Starlight Glimmer. Coming up with a conclusion, he then told the others, "Well, from what I've observed, based on the positions of both the vortex and Ms. Glimmer, that beam she fired must have struck the vortex itself..." The two Unicorn mares were surprised to hear that. "Really? You think so?" asked Sunset Shimmer. The robot nodded yes to answer her. "There's more:" he continued. "I've also been keeping track of the amount of time it takes for me to leap forward in time... and I've observed that, based on how much time has passed since my last jump, we SHOULD'VE traveled further into the future... And yet, here we are..." Sunset, putting everything together in her head, asked him, "Are you saying that... that when her spell hit the vortex, it managed to STOP TIME??" When Mega nodded yes, she then added, "That's amazing! That means we won't keep traveling any further into the future!" "Maybe so, but now we have ANOTHER problem:" stated Starlight. "Now it seems like we're all stuck here, while everything around us is completely frozen..." "That's true..." the yellow Unicorn agreed. "At least when we were jumping around randomly in time, everything was still moving... But now it looks like we're stuck here for the rest of our lives..." Mega Pony continued to think about their current situation and what to do about it. He then glanced back up at the now-motionless vortex. When he did, he saw that some bolts of blue energy, residue from Starlight's magic beam, came out of it, evaporating into the air. After performing a few more calculatons in his mind, he then told the two female Unicorns, "Maybe it's not so hopeless as we think it is..." "What do you mean?" asked Starlight, curious. "Well, I did some calculations on the power of your magic beam, as well as the energy from within the vortex itself..." Mega explained. "As we saw first-hoof, it seems your magic alone was just powerful enough to cause a reaction when combined with the energy from the vortex. Those opposing energies created some sort of chain reaction that managed to distort the vortex and cause it to stop getting bigger. From what I observed, we now have hard evidence that the vortex was the reason as to why we kept leaping forward in time!" "Which is why time STOPPED moving when my beam hit it!" the pink Unicorn quickly deduced. "But how does that help our situation?" asked Sunset. "How are we going to get back home to our own time periods??" "Well, if Ms. Glimmer's magic was strong enough to STOP time," the robot hypothesized, "then based on my assumptions, a more powerful blast of energy might be able to force it into going backwards..." "Are you sure about that?" asked the yellow Unicorn. "I think so." Mega answered. "When you noticed the vortex for the first time, I scanned it and saw that it seemed to be absorbing some sort of energy all around it, causing it to expand. It's just a hunch, but because of the vortex's unstable nature, it suddenly causes a brief distortion in time after it absorbs a certain amount of power..." "Which results in our jumping forward in time...!" Sunset exclaimed, figuring it all out. "That's why there was always a flash of light every time we travel forward!" "Exactly." confirmed the robot. He then told them, "However, when Ms. Glimmer's beam struck the vortex, it somehow negatively affected its ability to absorb energy. And when it stopped, so did all of time. And based on a second scan of the vortex, I found out that it had become a lot more stable after it was struck by the magic beam, compared to earlier." "Amazing..." commented Starlight Glimmer, impressed. "I knew my magic was strong, but to think that it could actually stop time? I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself!" She then asked Mega Pony, "But... why do you think that shooting a more powerful blast of magic would cause it work in reverse and send us home?" "Simple: I've deduced that, if the vortex were to fully stabilize, it would actually RELEASE the energy it stored, rather than abosrb more into itself." the robot answered. "If that happened, the energy released would be powerful enough to fling us all back to our correct time periods." Looking over at his two companions, he then explained to them both, "The only way we'll be able to manage a shot that powerful... is if we combine our powers together and fire at the vortex simultaneously." "I see, that makes enough sense to me." Sunset replied. She then asked Mega Pony, "But... why do you sound so worried about doing that?" "...Because this plan of mine is very risky." he admitted. "If we're off by even a little bit, either in the power of our shots or the timing, there's a chance we could damage the entire time-space continuum; there's a slight possibility that we could destroy all of existence as we know it..." When the two Unicorn mares heard that, they started to feel a little concerned themselves. "Isn't there another way we can fix this?" asked Starlight, not really keen on taking such a risk. "There HAS to be!" But Mega shook his head no and told her, "There isn't... Believe me, if there was a better option, I would have suggested that instead... But there IS no other option." Putting on the bravest face that he could muster, he added, "Risky or not, we have to try! It's our only hope of returning home!" Sunset and Starlight looked at one another, thinking about everything that Mega had just explained to them. The pair then nodded to each other, knowing that they had to help him try to fix everything. Once they knew what they were going to do, the two mares walked over to Mega Pony. "If that's the case, Mega," Sunset began, "then you can count on my help!" "Really? You'll do it?" asked the robot. "Of course, Mega Pony." Starlight told him, answering his question. "If shooting that vortex with our magic is the only way out of this, then we have to do whatever we can to help! I promise you, we'll get out of this mess together!" The robot was surprised at first, not expecting the two of them to be so positive about the whole thing. But it also made him happy to know that they were ready to assist him. Even though his calculations seemed to suggest that their odds of getting home were very low, they all knew, in their hearts, that they would surely return safe and sound. With a renewed sense of confidence, Mega Pony smiled and said, "In that case, let's get to work right away! We need to quickly determine what amount of power will be neccessary to reverse the portal and release the energy it stored inside of itself." "Got it!" said both Sunset and Starlight in unison. For the next several minutes, in the shadow of the completely-motionless creature that tried to stomp them flat earlier, the three ponies were hard at work performing all sorts of calculations. They worked hard to try and figure out how much energy needed to be fed into the vortex to fully stabilize it and release the power that it absorbed. Their work was long and grueling, but they stuck it out and contributed as best as they could to the effort. Finally, after what seemed like an excessive amount of time, Mega Pony, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer had managed to come up with what they believed to be the correct calculations for their combined attack. Staring straight up at the immobile vortex in front of them, the robot then said, "Well... here we go... It all comes down to this moment." "Whether we'll all return home safe and sound..." added Sunset. "Or if we destroy all of time and space in one instant..." Starlight chimed in. Even though it seemed daunting, Mega's smile never left his face. "My probability percentages may say that our chances are next to zero..." he began, "but despite what they may tell me, I know for a fact that we'll make it out of here okay!" He then turned to his newfound friends and told them, "Even though I've only just met you two, I really feel like we're friends with each other... or at least we WILL be in the future." "I had that same vibe myself, Mega." stated Sunset Shimmer. "Not just towards you, though. But also towards Starlight here." "Me?" asked the pink Unicorn. Putting her right foreleg around the back of Starlight's neck, Sunset then asked her, "Even though I've only seen you for a short time, I have a feeling that... that we've got a lot in common, Starlight." Smiling, she then asked, "And I also have a feeling that you're relatively new to this whole friendship thing, right?" The pink Unicorn nodded yes. "I hurt a lot of ponies a while back, trying to rob them of their special talents and force them to be equal..." Starlight admitted, not sounding proud of whatever she had done in the past. "And when that horrible idea of mine was thawrted, I selfishly sought revenge on those who stopped me... But doing that nearly destroyed all of Equestria. If it weren't for Twilight convincing me to do the right thing and change my ways, I don't know how much damage I might've caused in the end... I was shocked when she didn't punish me for what I did to her and her friends..." Sunset was surprised to hear all of that, but smiled and told her, "It'll be okay, Starlight. I totally understand how you feel. I'll admit, I was a pretty big jerk myself before Twilight set me on the right path. And I think the reason that she didn't punish you or me for the bad things we did... was because she seems to always see the good in somepony rather than the bad, and that she believes that anypony can change for the better just by learning how to make a friend and care about somepony besides themself." "Indeed." Starlight replied. "Twilight is very good pony; even though my magic is as strong as, or perhaps stronger than, her own, there's a whole lot about the world that she knows that I don't... And I know that in order to become the pony that she wants me to be - the pony that I also wish to be - I'll have to learn everything I can about how to keep the Magic of Friendship in my heart." "And I think you'll be able to do it." the yellow Unicorn told her very confidently. "Just like how we'll be able to get ourselves back home with our flanks intact." Though a small tear was in her eye, Starlight smiled and said, "Thanks, Ms. Sunset... I feel that talking to you just now has helped me to learn more about what it means to be a friend... I am still a little worried about what will happen after we fire our magic into the vortex, but I won't let that prevent myself from helping anypony that needs my help." From the tone of her voice, Starlight was beginning to feel even more confident that they would all be okay. "You've got that right, Starlight." replied Sunset. "After all, when you're helping out a friend, you'll never have to worry about having to resolve a situation all by yourself." The pink Unicorn nodded, now feeling just as sure as Sunset was about their situation. Mega Pony, listening to their whole conversation, was happy to hear everything that had been said. (They may still have a lot to learn about friendship,) he thought to himself, (but they seem to know quite a bit already...) Smiling, he then said to himself, "Even though there may be a lot of scary things coming my way in the future, I won't ever be too afraid to deal with them! As long as I have the support of my friends backing me up, I'll always have the courage to face whatever awaits me!" Walking over towards Sunset and Starlight, Mega Pony asked them, "Are you both ready to do this?" "I sure am." the yellow Unicorn mare answered. "I am, too." stated the pink Unicorn mare. The three of them then stared straight towards the vortex in the air and began charging up all of the energy that they could muster, making sure to keep their power levels equal to the amount that the three of them had calculated earlier. "Okay, everypony... on the count of three, we all fire at the exact same time, understand?" Sunset Shimmer nodded yes, as did Starlight Glimmer. They anxiously waited for the right moment as the robot began his countdown... "One... "Two... "...THREE!!" And on the declaration of three, All three ponies fired their most powerful energy blasts into the vortex at the same time. Once the blasts collided with the portal, it began shooting out massive bolts of energy. Then, just as it seemed like the whole world would end right then and there, the vortex let out an enormous flash of light, bigger than anything it had mustered before. The light covered every square inch of the room, becoming brighter and brighter by the second... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mega Pony's eyes were shut while this was all taking place. For a while, he couldn't hear or see anything. But then, he heard a familiar voice from nearby him... "Perhaps he wasn't able to finish it after all?" (That... that voice...) thought the robot, his senses beginning to return to him. (Was that Twilight...?) "...Hmmm... that is a possibility. The only way we can know for sure is if we test it out." The next voice he heard seemed to be the voice of his creator, Princess Celestia. "Test it out?" asked a voice that sounded like Spike, the baby dragon. "You mean on one of us?" "I'm afraid so." answered the voice of Celestia. "The only way that we can be sure if the spell is complete or not is if one of us uses the spell and sees the results for themself..." Mega Pony then opened his eyes while his mother was still talking. He looked around himself (seeing that he was now back in his "civillian" look) and said in his mind, (I'm... I'm back in the castle...) He saw that he had returned to the Star Swirl section of the Royal Library. Besides the Princess, Mega saw that his friends Pinkie Pie and Spike were also there with him. Also in the room was Twilight Sparkle, but the robot noticed that she no longer had those wings that he had seen her with earlier on. Then, it finally dawned on him what had happened: (Wait, now I get it...!) he pondered. (I must have been sent back to when my mom found Star Swirl's spell!) Smiling, he then added to his thoughts, saying, (That means that my plan worked! I'm back in my own time! And I can only assume that Sunset and Starlight returned to their own time periods as well... Thank goodness...) "So... what do you say?" the Princess then asked her guests, as well as her robotic son. "Will one of you be willing to assist me in testing out the magic? I will understand if you all decide to back out of it... If that is the case, I will not stop you." As Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike discussed with each other over what they should do, Mega then thought to himself, (I may have returned to my own time, but I still seem to remember everything that happened to me... Which means I'm the only one who knows that the spell isn't complete yet...) He then knew exactly what to do next: He approached his mother and asked her, "Um... Mom? I have a suggestion..." "Hm? What sort of suggestion?" asked the Princess. The others listened in, wondering what was on the little robot's mind. "Well... I was thinking..." he began to tell everyone, "if... if you're concerned that the spell might be unfinished... Then maybe it would be best that NONE of us try to use it until we can know for sure." The rest of the occupants in the room were surprised by what he had told them. "Are you serious, Mega Pony?" asked Twilight, shocked. "I am, Twilight." Mega answered her. "While it may be neat to be able to use this spell and find out what awaits us all in the future, I don't think it's worth risking the life and well-being of anypony here if it turns out be dangerous..." "Good point..." the lavender Unicorn admitted. Turning over to his mother, he then said to her, "Mom... I don't ask you for much, but I would like you to promise me this: Please promise me that you'll put that spell away and make sure that nopony tries to use it until we can find a better way to test it..." Princess Celestia was quite surprised to hear her son say this, as the tone of his voice seemed to suggest that he knew that the spell was too dangerous to test on a living thing. But she also seemed a bit relieved as well when she responded to his request, telling him, "If that's how you truely feel, Mega Pony... then so be it. I'll put this spell away until we can find a way to test it in a much safer setting." "Thank you..." Mega politely responded. "Sooooooooo... that's it?" asked Pinkie Pie, a bit surprised. "Kinda anticlimactic, isn't it? I was expecting things to be a LITTLE more exciting than that!" Mega Pony sighed a little and said to his friends, "Look... I'm really sorry that I kept you all from seeing the spell that my mom found... Especially since you all went out of your way to come over here..." "It's perfectly okay, Mega Pony." Twilight told him with a smile. "You were just looking out for us. After all, you were built to protect ponies, so if you feel that it was too dangerous to use that magic, then I feel the same way." "Besides," Spike chimed in, "if we hafta go to some far-off area of Equestria and end up not doing what we came here for, I suppose Canterlot's not the worst place we could end up in..." "Still, I feel pretty bad about bringing you all over here for nothing..." Mega Pony told them. "At least let me make it up to you so that the whole day isn't a complete waste: How about I take you all sightseeing around the city? What do you say?" "Sure! We'd love that!" exclaimed Twilight. "It has been a while since I toured around my hometown." "Well, I know what I'M gonna do!" stated Pinkie Pie in a proud tone of voice. Pulling out a map of the city from her poofy pink mane, she told her friends, "I'm gonna hit up EVERY bakery in town and eat 'til I can't eat no more!" She then leaned over towards Spike and asked him, "Now... WHERE did you say that donut shop was? The one you were at when we were all at the Gala?" "Right here." stated the baby dragon, pointing to a specific spot on the map. "I can show ya where it is." "Perfect! Lead the way!!" the pink Earth Pony said in her usual excited tone of voice. Spike then left the room, with Pinkie following, hopping into the air repeatedly. Mega Pony then turned over to Twilight and asked her, "Why don't we go and check out the Canterlot Theater? I heard there's gonna be some good performances there today." "Sounds good to me." the lavender Unicorn replied. "If you're doing that," Princess Celestia chimed in, "then why don't you go and see if Midi would like to come along. You know how much she likes seeing plays." "Yeah! Good idea, Mom!" Mega replied. "We'll go do that right now!" As the two left the room, the robot said to his creator, "I'll see you a bit later, then! Have a good day!" "You too, Mega Pony. Have fun!" Celestia responded, waving back to him. After everyone else had left the Royal Library, the Sun Princess began to think about what her son had said concerning the spell that she had found earlier. Looking at it some more, she said to herself, "I wonder why Mega Pony seemed so concerned... I'll admit, I did have my doubts about whether the spell would work or not, but he seemed to be VERY concerned about it... It was as if he knew that it was too dangerous to use the whole time..." Celestia still wasn't sure what had made Mega Pony so worried about testing the spell, but figured that something must have happened to make him feel that way. What it was would be a mystery, but it was a mystery that only Mega Pony himself knew the answer to... --------------------------------------------------------------------- TO BE CONTINUED IN SEASON 2! ---------------------------------------------------------------------