Swarm of the Century

Swarm of the Century is the tenth episode of the first season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. In this episode, Princess Celestia is coming to Ponyville for a visit, and everyone is making sure it's perfect for her arrival, especially Twilight. However, things go wrong as a swarm of strange creatures called parasprites causes chaos throughout Ponyville. The Parasprites are comparable to the Tribble creatures of Star Trek, both being small, adorable creatures that reproduce and eat at an alarming rate. The two creatures even produce similar sounds. The title of this episode is a pun on the saying storm of the century, referencing a great disaster, natural or otherwise.

Production and development
This episode was originally called "Pied Piper Pinkie", but was then changed at a following story meeting.

According to Lauren Faust, Swarm of the Century was "initially conceived as just a story about a plague of locust-like creatures, but the parallels to Tribbles became apparent pretty fast. I'm a huge Star Trek dork," she wrote, "so we went with it."

Fluttershy discovers something
The episode begins in a field near the Everfree Forest, with Fluttershy gathering flowers for Princess Celestia, who is planning to visit Ponyville. She then notices a strange yet adorable creature. Although it eats a large basketful of apples despite its small size, this does not seem to deter Fluttershy from its sheer cuteness. She takes the new creature with her to show off to her friends.

The rest of Ponyville is also preparing for the royal pony's arrival, including Twilight Sparkle, who wants everything to be perfect. Arriving at Sugar Cube Corner, she spots Pinkie Pie eating snacks that the shop's owners, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, have just finished making. Pinkie states that she is trying them all, to make sure they are fit for any royal visitor. Fluttershy arrives in the shop to show Twilight and Pinkie Pie the creature she found, when two more suddenly appear along with it. In awe, Twilight decides to take one off her hooves, so Spike can have a companion to keep him busy. Pinkie Pie, however, reacts in disgust, recognizing it as a "parasprite". She leaves, saying that she needs a trombone. Shaking off their confusion, the other ponies continue their work with their new friends. When Twilight later meets up with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, she finds out that she is carrying not one but three of the animals. Both of her friends adopt one.

The swarm appears
The next day, Twilight Sparkle wakes to see dozens of parasprites in her home. While she and Spike have no idea where the insects came from, they notice the creatures making a mess, tossing away books and parchments. Rainbow Dash's set of the insects begins to annoyingly attach to her. Rarity is fond of her swarm, seeing them assisting her in her clothes shop, until she learns that they reproduce by coughing/hawking out new bugs, at which moment the glamorous unicorn becomes disgusted with them. Even Fluttershy has trouble communicating with them (or in her case, begging, pleading, beseeching, etc.). Twilight realizes that this situation has become more than a simple nuisance, and if it is not handled soon, it could completely ruin Celestia's visit. To make matters worse, the problem is multiplying by the second (literally)!

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie is busy gathering random musical instruments, including a harmonica, a banjo, and a pair of maracas. No one really knows why, so they assume she is just "being Pinkie".

The ponies call on Applejack for help, using her herding skills to round up the pests. They succeed in driving them into the Everfree Forest. Unfortunately, Fluttershy had thought to keep one of the adorable parasprites in her house. That one insect has turned into hundreds, and the ponies are soon right back where they started. Rainbow Dash manages to gather the second swarm by creating a tornado, and it seems like everything will work out, until they see Pinkie walking up to them with a pair of cymbals. Dash dodges the cymbals that were drawn into her tornado, but the distraction breaks the tornado apart and releases the swarm onto Ponyville. They rush to stop the infestation, ignoring Pinkie's attempt to explain why she was gathering the instruments in the first place.

Twilight tries to fix things
They arrive too late, watching in horror as the parasprites begin eating all of the food in the town. Twilight Sparkle decides to cast a spell to stop them eating more food, and it works. But seeing one of the parasprites eating a basket instead of a nearby apple, the ponies realize that things have become much worse. The bugs are eating everything except the food now: signposts, lamps, Rarity's ensembles, and even the words from Twilight's books. Twilight carries a parasprite to Zecora in the Everfree Forest, hoping the zebra can find a solution. She easily recognizes it, but not even she knows how to get rid of them. Instead she gives the unicorn an ominous message.

"Tales of crops and harvests consumed. If these creatures are in Ponyville... you're doomed."

- Zecora

Twilight becomes overstressed from the crisis on her way back; Ponyville is in a state of chaos from the parasprite infestation, and the princess can arrive any second. Just as she comes up with a highly irrational plan due to the stress (building an exact replica of Ponyville next to the real one in less than a minute)...

Pinkie saves the day
... Pinkie Pie arrives as what seems to be a one-pony band, with all of the instruments she gathered during the crisis. Before, Twilight had suspected this to be another one of her games, but she now discovers the swarm is attracted to the music and starts to follow the "Pinkie Pied Piper" away from Ponyville. This music is reused in The Cutie Mark Chronicles.

Near the town's outskirts, the ponies meet Princess Celestia, who witnesses the lined-up bugs as a parade. She informs her pupil that she needs to cancel her visit to deal with an infestation of some "incredibly bothersome creatures" in a place called "Fillydelphia". She asks Twilight if she would like to give an in person report on friendship before she leaves. At first Twilight can't think of one after everything that has occurred, but after seeing what Pinkie is capable of, she tells her mentor that the best solutions can come from the least likely places or ponies, and that it's a good idea to listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives, even if they don't seem to make any sense. Commenting on how impressed she is with Twilight Sparkle and her friends, Celestia takes off.

Afterwards, the ponies head towards Pinkie Pie, who explains why she was gathering all the instruments. They apologize to her for stubbornly ignoring and underestimating her, telling her that she is a great friend, even though they don't always understand her, and also thank her for saving Ponyville.

The six friends return to Ponyville, or at least, what is left of it, with Pinkie Pie playing a trombone she found to express their dismay when discovering that the town is in near ruin.

Quotes

 * Twilight Sparkle: You can't hang a banner that says "Welcome Princess Celest". Take it down and try again!


 * Pinkie Pie: I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a king, or a queen, or a princess!


 * Pinkie Pie: UGH! A parasprite?! Are you kidding?!
 * Fluttershy: "Ugh"?
 * Twilight Sparkle: A "para-what?
 * Fluttershy: How could you not like–?
 * Pinkie Pie: UGH! Now I need to find a trombone...
 * Twilight Sparkle: ...A what?


 * Rarity: I don't have time for some silly scavenger hunt! I've got a real problem...
 * Pinkie Pie: You've got a real problem all right, and a banjo is the only answer!


 * Fluttershy: I tried everything I know. I tried begging, and pleading, and beseeching, and asking politely, and...


 * Rainbow Dash: Time to take out the adorable trash!


 * Twilight Sparkle: Pinkie Pie, what have you done?
 * Pinkie Pie: I've lost a brand new pair of cymbals, that's what I've done.
 * Twilight Sparkle: Will you forget about your silly instruments for one second? You're ruining our efforts to save Ponyville.
 * Pinkie Pie: Me? Ruin? I'm not the ruiner, I'm the ruinee! Or is it ruinness? Ruinette?


 * Rainbow Dash: Hey. It worked. They're not eating the food anymore...


 * Rarity: Oh no. If they get inside my store... Every pony for herself!


 * Rarity: My outfits! Go on, shoo! Get out of here. Naughty! Naughty! [shriek] [shriek]
 * Pinkie Pie: I'll save you!
 * Rarity: [shriek]


 * Zecora: Oh, monster of so little size! Is that a parasprite before my eyes?!
 * Twilight Sparkle: I don't know! Is it?!
 * Zecora: Tales of crops and harvests consumed. If these creatures are in Ponyville...you're doomed.


 * Twilight Sparkle: Okay, here's the plan. Rainbow Dash, you distract them.
 * Rainbow Dash:(being attacked by parasprites) YAAAAAAAEEEAAAA!
 * Twilight Sparkle: Good. Everyone else, we need to build an exact copy of Ponyville right over there. We've got less than a minute. [gasp] Zecora was right, we're doomed.


 * Princess Celestia: I'm so proud of you, Twilight Sparkle, and I'm very impressed with your friends as well. It sounds like you're all learning so much from each other...


 * Pinkie Pie: Hey! What happened to the princess?
 * Twilight Sparkle: Emergency in Fillydelphia...
 * Rainbow Dash: Some sort of... infestation.
 * Pinkie Pie: Oh no! Have they got parasprites too? Well... Have tuba, will travel!
 * Twilight Sparkle: I think the princess can handle it...


 * Twilight Sparkle: You're a great friend... Even if we don't always understand you.
 * Pinkie Pie: Thanks, guys. You're all great friends, too... even when I don't understand me...
 * Twilight Sparkle : You saved my reputation with Princess Celestia and, more importantly, you saved Ponyville. Or not...

Gallery

 * Swarm of the Century image gallery