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[[File:Swarm-of-the-Century_9550.jpg|frame|[[Star Trek the Original Series|Tribbles?]] Amateurs.]]▼
 
▲[[File:Swarm-of-the-Century_9550.jpg|frame|[[Star Trek: theThe Original Series|Tribbles?]] Amateurs.]]
 
{{quote| '''Zecora:''' Tales of crops and harvests consumed. If these creatures are in Ponyville... [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|you're doomed.]]}}▼
 
▲{{quote| '''Zecora:''' Tales of crops and harvests consumed. If these creatures are in Ponyville... [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|you're doomed.]]}}
{{quote| Written by M.A. Larson}}▼
 
▲{{quote| Written by M.A. Larson}}
 
Fluttershy is wandering around near the Everfree Forest, picking flowers to present to Princess Celestia for her upcoming visit the next day. However, as she's about to head back to Ponyville, she's startled by a tiny, adorable, fly-like creature. She offers it an apple, only for it to eat an entire bucketful in an instant. Her reaction? [[Friend to Bugs|Fawn over its adorableness and take it with her to show off to her friends.]]
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Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle is overseeing preparations, making sure everything is proceeding flawlessly. Which, barring a few details, seems to be going quite well. However, when she checks on the progress of the food over at the Sugarcube Corner, she is dismayed to find Pinkie Pie devouring everything under the pretense of taste-testing. Twilight's about to give her a piece of her mind when Fluttershy barges in. Fluttershy shows them her new pet, only to find that two others like it have shown up out of nowhere. Twilight's more than happy to adopt one, but Pinkie is surprisingly intolerant:
 
{{quote| '''Pinkie Pie:''' Ugh! A Parasprite? Are you kidding!?}}
 
Confused, Fluttershy and Twilight ask why she doesn't want one, only for Pinkie to declare [[Noodle Implements|"Now I have to go find a trombone!"]] Twilight dismisses this as "typical Pinkie Pie" behavior.
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However, the next day, everyone's in for a rude awakening when they find that their new pets have greatly multiplied overnight. They proceed to make a mess of Twilight's room, get a little ''too'' affectionate with Rainbow Dash, and gross out Rarity by showing her [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot|how they reproduce]]. Pinkie shows up again, but soon runs off after remarking that she's going to need a lot more instruments. Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash soon meet up; they head to Fluttershy's to see if she could help keep them under control, only to find her under a ''flood'' of parasprites.
 
{{quote| '''Fluttershy:''' I've tried everything I know! I've tried begging, and pleading, and beseeching, and asking politely, and...}}
 
Twilight begins to panic, fearing the worst if they can't get the bugs under control before Celestia arrives. Applejack then shows up with a cart full of apples (which gets promptly eaten), and soon joins their cause. They manage to herd the swarm into the Everfree forest, only to find ''another'' swarm at Fluttershy's because [[I'm Taking Her Home Withwith Me|she had secretly kept one for herself]]. Rainbow Dash generates a tornado to whisk them away, but it gets interrupted when Pinkie's new cymbals get sucked in, raining the insects over Ponyville. Tensions escalate when Pinkie Pie is obsessed with finding instruments instead of helping the others, resulting in the herd outright ignoring her due to Princess Celestia's impending arrival.
 
Over in Ponyville, the bugs have descended and are eating every food and crop, causing Applejack to run back home to protect her farm. Twilight casts a spell on the creatures to get them to stop eating the food. It works, but now they've started eating ''everything else'' instead... buckets... tents... lampposts... '''everything.''' Panicking, the ponies break off to defend their homes, only to find themselves helpless against the horde. Twilight snatches a parasprite and rushes to Zecora for help, but the zebra can only tell her that they're doomed.
 
As Twilight rushes back to Ponyville, she spots the Princess already on her way from the castle. The town itself is a wreck, and the ponies are too panicked to be able to do anything about it. Just as Twilight starts to completely lose her mind, she hears a musical procession start up, and at its source is... Pinkie Pie!?
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----
=== Tropes (YMMV items can be found [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S1 /E10 Swarm of the Century/YMMV|here]]) ===
 
* [[Big Eater]]: The parasprites, to the point where magically ruining their appetite for food will cause them to go after objects and buildings instead.
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* [[The Cuckoolander Was Right]]: Pinkie Pie, of all ponies, was the only one in Ponyville who knew of the parasprites, and how best to get rid of them.
* [[Cuteness Proximity]]: Everyone's first impression (except for Pinkie Pie and Zecora) of the parasprites is to fawn over their adorableness. Even Rainbow Dash goes all girly, basically the only time ever.
* [[Didn't See That Coming]]: Uttered by Applejack when the Parasprites descend upon Sweet Apple Acres...and eat ''the barn'' thanks to [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Twilight's spell]].
* [[Distracting Disambiguation]]:
{{quote| '''Twilight Sparkle:''' Will you forget about your silly instruments for one second? You're ruining our efforts to save Ponyville.<br />
'''Pinkie Pie:''' Me? Ruin? I'm not the ruiner, I'm the ruinee! Or is it ruiness? Ruinette? }}
* [[Dramatic Irony]]: "No woodland creature is gonna eat the Apple Family's crop!" Oh, Applejack, how right you are. They eat the ''house'' instead.
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* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: Use magic to inhibit their appetite for real food? The parasprites will simply eat everything else instead.
* [[Foreshadowing]]: When Pinkie Pie plays the harmonica, you can see the parasprites in Rarity's bag react to the sound.
* [[Friend to Bugs]]: Fluttershy and Twilight each find parasprites endearing when unaware of the devastation they cause…and even after that, Fluttershy in particular [[I'm Taking Her Home Withwith Me|still decides to keep one]].
** Rarity deserves special mention as well; not only does she not seem particularly freaked out to have so many in her house all of a sudden (although, we never actually ''see'' her waking up to them like we did the others) she somehow even gets them to start helping her around the shop. She only stops liking them when she finds out exactly ''[[Vomit Indiscretion Shot|how]]'' [[Eye Scream|they]] [[Explosive Breeder|multiply]].
* [[Genre Savvy]]: Celestia at the end seems to know just what the little winged fuzzballs are, and concludes that Ponyville isn't exactly in presentable form at the moment, so she thanks them for the "parade" and extricates the town from the visit by claiming that she's needed elsewhere to deal with an "infestation".
* [[G -Rated Sex]]: Parasprites reproduce (presumably) asexually by coughing up fully developed offspring.
* [[Hand or Object Underwear]]: The parasprites seem to form this briefly on Rainbow Dash when they cling to her body. [[Lampshaded]] by the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTPqjKk_xCo "Equestria Girls"] commercial.
* [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Horde Of Impossibly Cute Locusts]]
* [[Idiot Ball]]: Most definitely Fluttershy for keeping one of the parasprites even after their devastation was clear, thus thwarting Applejack's herding attempt, which otherwise would have worked.
* [[Imagine Spot]]: Twilight has one, where she envisions Princess Celestia being forcibly whisked away by the parasprite swarm.
* [[I'm Taking Her Home Withwith Me]]: Fluttershy's reaction to parasprites, even after the devastation they cause is clear.
* [[Inferred Holocaust]]: Read the first quote on the page. It seems Zecora's people have experience with the little monsters.
* [[It Got Worse]]: And how!
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* [[Losing Horns]]: At the end of the episode, courtesy of Pinkie Pie.
* [[Magical Negro]]: Subverted. Twilight visits the African-themed zebra Zecora for advice. Zecora quickly identifies the name of the troublesome species and, just when it seems like she will reveal a key bit of ancient tribal wisdom, she tells Twilight "...you're doomed." Though since Zecora lives in Everfree Forest, it does make sense to visit her for advice in dealing with something that came from there.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Twilight Sparkle uses her magic to stop the Parasprites from eating all the food in Ponyville. It works, except that the spell makes the Parasprites ignore the food and start eating the TOWN instead.
** And Fluttershy holding onto just ''one'' of the parasprites while Applejack is leading the others out of Ponyville with a cartload of apples. As soon as she opens the door a ''tidal wave of parasprites come out of her house''.
** And Rainbow Dash's tornado seems like an effective way to control the parasprites, but Pinkie shows up at the wrong time with a pair of cymbals, which get sucked up and behave as flying buzzsaws, causing Dash to lose control. This in turn results in the tornado flinging the Parasprites ''right into Ponyville''.
* [[One -Man Band|One Pony Band]]: Apparently the best way to get rid of parasprites.
* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Goes both ways here. If Pinkie Pie had bothered to explain more about the parasprites before rushing off to find the instruments from the beginning, or if her friends weren't too caught up in their business to listen to her during the times she ''did'' try to explain, the damage wouldn't have been nearly as bad.
* [[The Power of Rock]]: Or in this case, oompah music.
* [[The Pratfall]]: When Twilight disturbs Zecora's meditation, the latter falls on her plot. She's so annoyed she forgets to rhyme.
** Maybe it rhymed with something she said before we arrived.
* [[Pre -Ass -Kicking One -Liner]]: Rainbow Dash: "Time to take out the adorable trash."
* [[Riddle for Thethe Ages]]: How does Pinkie know about Parasprites?
* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]]: The Parasprites.
* [[Sanity Slippage]]: Briefly occurs to Twilight during the climax.
** May count as Foreshadowing: ''Lesson Zero'' reveals that Twilight becomes ''very'' unstable when faced with the prospect of disappointing Celestia.
* [[Scenery Gorn]]: The parasprites reduce Ponyville to this.
* [[Shout -Out]]:
** This entire episode is essentially a [[Whole -Plot Reference]] to [[Star Trek: theThe Original Series|"The Trouble With Tribbles"]].
** The Parasprites start multiplying in numbers when Spike [[Gremlins|feeds one after midnight.]]
** And this line:
{{quote| '''Twilight:''' [[Blazing Saddles|We need to build an exact copy of Ponyville right over there. We've got less than a minute!]]}}
** The idea of using music to lure all the pests out of town comes straight from ''[[The Pied Piper of Hamelin]]''.
* [[Sudden Anatomy]]: A parasprite projects a "nose" and nostrils to sniff at an apple.
* [[Tempting Fate]]:
{{quote| '''Twilight Sparkle:''' The decorations, the banquet, I really hope everything comes together in time for tomorrow.<br />
''(Spike and the parasprite are sleeping peacefully)''<br />
'''Twilight Sparkle:''' ''(yawns)'' What's there to worry about? }}
* [[This Is No Time for Knitting]]: Pinkie's hunt for musical instruments amid the infestation crisis had a practical point after all.
* [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot]]: This is how Rarity discovers how the parasprites reproduce.
* [[What Could Have Been]]: According to Larson, the episode was originally called [https://twitter.com/M_A_Larson/statuses/209495405443039233 "Pied Piper Pinkle"] in reference to the homage to said fable the episode ended up with, though he says this is not a bad thing. Also, in regards to the ending, [https://twitter.com/M_A_Larson/statuses/209495990804291584 this] [[Fridge Horror|is all you need to know...]]
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap]]▼
[[Category:My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic S 1 E 10 Swarm Of The Century]]▼
[[Category:Recap]]
▲[[Category:My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S 1 E 10 Swarm Of The Century]]
▲[[Category:My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap]]
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