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 visit, and everyone in Ponyville is making sure everything is perfect for her arrival, especially Twilight.

Episode summary
The episode begins in a nearby field, with Fluttershy gathering prettiest flowers for Princess Celestia, who is planning to visit Ponyville. She then notices a strange yet adorable creature from the Everfree Forest. Although it eats a large basket of apples despite its small size, it 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. Pinkie states that she is trying them all, to make sure that 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 hands 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, while showing the insects to the others who had taken one for themselves.

The next day, Twilight Sparkle wakes to see hundreds of parasprites in her home. While she and Spike have no idea where they came from compared to the one they had, they notice the creatures making a mess, tossing away books and parchments. Rainbow Dash's set of the insects begin annoyingly attaching to her. Rarity seems to grow fond with her swarm, seeing them assisting her in her clothes shop, until she learns that they reproduce by coughing/sneezing/hawking out new bugs, to which 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 back to the Everfree Forest. Unfortunately, Fluttershy had thought of keeping just one of the adorable parasprites in her house. That one insect burst into thousands, 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 come back with a pair of cymbals. Dash dodges the cymbals that were drawn into her tornado, but the distraction breaks the tornado 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.

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 prevent them from eating the food, and it works. But instead of making things better, they become much worse. Seeing one of the parasprites eating a basket instead of a nearby apple, it becomes clear that the bugs are eating everything else: signposts, lamps, Rarity's ensembles, and even the words from Twilight's books. Twilight carries a parasprite to Zecora back in the Everfree Forest, hoping the zebra could 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 could 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 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.



Near the town's outskirts, the other 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 left. At first Twilight can't think of one after everything that had 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 people, and it's a good idea to listen to her friends' opinions and perspectives, even if they don't make any sense. Commenting on how impressed she is with Twilight Sparkle and her friends, Celestia takes off to handle the infestation in Fillydelphia.

Afterwards, the ponies head towards Pinkie Pie, who explains why she was gathering all the instruments; they apologize to her for ignoring and underestimating her, telling her that she is a great friend, even though they don't always understand her (Pinkie admits that she doesn't understand herself), and also thank her for saving Ponyville from utter destruction.

The six friends return to Ponyville, or at least, what is left of it, with Pinkie Pie playing a trombone she found to express this discovery, meaning that Ponyville is left 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: Will you forget your silly instruments for one second?! You're ruining our efforts to save Ponyville!
 * Pinkie Pie: Me? Ruin? I'm not the ruin-er! I'm the ruin-ee! Or is it the "ruin-ess"? "Ruin-ette"?


 * 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!!!


 * 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: Good! Everyone else, we need to build an exact copy of Ponyville right over there. We got less than a minute! ...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

Trivia

 * The title of this episode is a pun on the saying storm of the century, referencing a great disaster, natural or otherwise.
 * This same plot was used in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "The Trouble with Scribbles", which was written by Lauren Faust.
 * And of course, the idea of adorable critters that cause trouble by doing nothing but eating and reproducing, taken from the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles"
 * Interestingly, Pinkie Pie and Zecora were the only characters to mention the parasprites throughout the course of the episode, while Applejack was confused with the name, and Twilight didn't know if it was.
 * The song Pinkie Pie plays to get the parasprites to follow her is identical to the song she plays in her flashback in The Cutie Mark Chronicles.