Micro-Series Issue 9

My Little Pony Micro-Series #9 is the ninth issue of IDW Publishing's My Little Pony Micro-Series comic series. In the issue, Spike wants some pet owner responsibility and orders a colony of Sea Beasts from a comic book ad.

Summary
Spike reads a comic book on the front porch of the Golden Oak Library. A short distance away, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy practice with Owlowiscious and Angel for the upcoming Equestria Pet Show. Seeing their preparations for the pet show reminds Spike of Peewee, and Twilight says he did the right thing by returning Peewee to his parents. In his comic book, Spike finds an ad for Sea Beasts and decides to place an order, despite Twilight and Fluttershy's reservations about ordering pets through the mail.

Spike's delivery arrives the very next day, and he proceeds to drop the Sea Beast eggs into an aquarium. Three hours later, he unveils the Sea Beasts to Twilight and Fluttershy, but they all find that the colony hasn't grown much. Spike reasons that they're not yet fully grown and just need more time. A little later, Twilight gets ready to leave for the pet show and invites Spike along, but Spike stays behind to look after his Sea Beasts.

Frustrated that his pets haven't grown yet, Spike finds a recipe for a super growth formula—ignoring its warnings about giving it to non-magical pets—and feeds it to the Sea Beasts. By the next morning, the Beasts have grown to the size of tadpoles. Spike practices tricks with his new pets and awards them with more growth formula. As the Sea Beasts continue to grow, they begin to multiply. Spike finds another recipe to keep the Beasts from growing further and leaves to find a bigger aquarium.

By the time Spike returns, the Sea Beasts have grown to the point where they can walk on land and develop speech. Because there are too many of them to keep track of, Spike splits them into groups. One day later, the Sea Beasts have created their own primitive civilization and start drawing on the walls and floor. Worse still, the groups that Spike split them into start fighting. Fed up, Spike breaks up the fight and forces the groups back to their respective corners.

As Spike sits on the front porch to think, he sees a unicorn mother and daughter and hears the mother tell her daughter "you can't use magic to solve all your problems" and "there are no short cuts for growing up". Spike takes these words to heart and decides to teach the Sea Beasts some basic world knowledge, from literature to vocabulary to philosophy. Some time later, Spike falls asleep from exhaustion, and the Sea Beasts continue learning on their own.

Hours later, Spike wakes up when Twilight and Fluttershy return home from the pet show. They discover that the Sea Beasts have absorbed so much knowledge that they've reached a heightened state of enlightenment. The Sea Beasts thank Spike for everything he's done for them and leave to seek out further enlightenment in the world. Spike is sad that they're leaving, but he understands and encourages their desire to keep growing. Twilight suggests that Spike write a letter to Princess Celestia, and Spike plans to tell her how he raised the best pets ever.

Quotes

 * Twilight Sparkle: You did the right thing returning Pee Wee to the wold, Spike. A baby phoenix should be with its parents... and there was that ice cream incident.


 * Spike: You're... am-flib-you— I mean... am-pib-you— You're amphibious! And you're talking!


 * Unicorn mother: You need time to grow up and Mommy needs time to teach you, so someday you can find your own way in the world. There's no short cuts for growing up.
 * Unicorn daughter: Awwww, Mom. It's just an apple!


 * Spike: As everypony knows... all ponies are created equal—
 * Sea Beast 1: Aaaaand dra-gooons?
 * Spike: Yes, and dragons!
 * Sea Beast 2: Aaaand buff-a-looos?
 * Spike: Yes! Look, this is going to take forever!


 * Twilight Sparkle: I think you'll be writing the letter to Princess Celestia on this one, Spike.
 * Spike: Yes! I can tell her how I raised... ...the... best... pets... ever!