# Swarm of the Century > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Swarm_of_the_Century > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Swarm_of_the_Century.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_of_the_Century > Source revision: 1333975250 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 10th episode of the 1st season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic "Swarm of the Century" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash (left to right) are worried about the parasprite invasion that they inadvertently caused. Episode no. Season 1 Episode 10 Directed by Jayson Thiessen James Wootton Written by M.A. Larson Original air date December 17, 2010 (2010-12-17) Running time 22 minutes Episode chronology ← Previous "Bridle Gossip" Next → "Winter Wrap Up" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season 1 List of episodes "**Swarm of the Century**" is the tenth episode of the [first season](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_season_1) of the [animated television series](/source/Animated_series) *[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic)*. It originally aired on [The Hub](/source/Discovery_Family#As_Hub_Network_(2010–2014)) on December 17, 2010. The episode was written by [M.A. Larson](/source/M.A._Larson). In this episode, [Fluttershy](/source/Fluttershy) discovers a cute creature called a parasprite, but the town of [Ponyville](/source/Equestria#Ponyville) is soon overrun when the creatures reproduce rapidly and begin devouring everything in sight. ## Plot External videos Swarm of the Century (full episode) — Official upload of the episode onto YouTube My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Equestria Toyline Cutie mark Elements of Harmony Pony Spin-offs My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013–2020)(List of animations) My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020–2021)(List of episodes) Characters Mane Six Twilight Sparkle Rainbow Dash Pinkie Pie Applejack Fluttershy Rarity Supporting Spike Princess Celestia Princess Luna Princess Cadance Shining Armor Discord Starlight Glimmer Trixie Zecora Antagonists Queen Chrysalis Lord Tirek Cozy Glow Minor Derpy Hooves Background Six Cheese Sandwich Quibble Pants The Wonderbolts Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty Equestria Girls Sunset Shimmer Seasons & episodes Season 1 (2010–2011) "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" Season 2 (2011–2012) "The Return of Harmony" "Lesson Zero" "Luna Eclipsed" "Sisterhooves Social" "The Cutie Pox" "May the Best Pet Win!" "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" "Sweet and Elite" "Secret of My Excess" "Hearth's Warming Eve" "Family Appreciation Day" "Baby Cakes" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" "Read It and Weep" "Hearts and Hooves Day" "A Friend in Deed" "Putting Your Hoof Down" "It's About Time" "Dragon Quest" "Hurricane Fluttershy" "Ponyville Confidential" "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" "A Canterlot Wedding" Season 3 (2012–2013) "The Crystal Empire" "Too Many Pinkie Pies" "One Bad Apple" "Magic Duel" "Sleepless in Ponyville" "Wonderbolts Academy" "Apple Family Reunion" "Spike at Your Service" "Keep Calm and Flutter On" "Just for Sidekicks" "Games Ponies Play" "Magical Mystery Cure" Season 4 (2013–2014) "Princess Twilight Sparkle" "Castle Mane-ia" "Daring Don't" "Flight to the Finish" "Power Ponies" "Bats!" "Rarity Takes Manehattan" "Pinkie Apple Pie" "Rainbow Falls" "Three's a Crowd" "Pinkie Pride" "Simple Ways" "Filli Vanilli" "Twilight Time" "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" "Somepony to Watch Over Me" "Maud Pie" "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" "Leap of Faith" "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" "Trade Ya!" "Inspiration Manifestation" "Equestria Games" "Twilight's Kingdom" Season 5 (2015) "The Cutie Map" "Castle Sweet Castle" "Tanks for the Memories" "Slice of Life" "Amending Fences" "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" "Made in Manehattan" "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" "The Hooffields and McColts" "The Cutie Re-Mark" Season 6 (2016) "A Hearth's Warming Tail" "The Times They Are a Changeling" Season 7 (2017) "The Perfect Pear" Season 8 (2018) "Grannies Gone Wild" Season 9 (2019) "The Last Crusade" Series finale Media Films & specials My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever (2018) My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip (2019) Music Theme song "This Day Aria" Movie Soundtrack "Rainbow" "Off to See the World" Games My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day Gameloft video game Collectible card game Other media Home video releases IDW comics Issues My Little Pony/Transformers Brony fandom Fan works (list) 15.ai Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal A Brony Tale Bronies (documentary) Derpibooru Equestria Daily Fimfiction Fallout: Equestria Friendship Is Witchcraft Legends of Equestria Love & Ponystep Ponysona PONY.MOV Them's Fightin' Herds Fandom people 15 hotdiggedydemon Jenny Nicholson Odyssey Eurobeat Sethisto The Living Tombstone Vylet Pony Fan culture Analysis Brony music Bronyspeak Charity Criticism Fan art Clop Ponysona Fan fiction Military bronies /mlp/ Online communities My Little Pony conventions BABSCon BronyCAN BronyCon Czequestria Everfree Northwest GalaCon Ponyville Ciderfest RuBronyCon TrotCon UK PonyCon Vanhoover Pony Expo v t e [Fluttershy](/source/Fluttershy) discovers a small and adorable creature called a [parasprite](/source/Parasprite) in the Everfree Forest and decides to bring it home as a pet. At first, the tiny creature appears harmless and cute and captivates anyone who sees it, but soon begins reproducing at an alarming rate and creates dozens of identical copies of itself. The parasprite quickly becomes a growing swarm of creatures that fills Fluttershy's cottage. The parasprites begin to devour everything edible in sight and move through Ponyville like a plague of [locusts](/source/Locust). The swarm grows exponentially as they consume food and multiply further and threatens to destroy the entire town's food supply. To make matters worse, [Princess Celestia](/source/Princess_Celestia) is scheduled to visit Ponyville soon, and the ponies desperately need to resolve the crisis before her arrival. [Twilight Sparkle](/source/Twilight_Sparkle) and her friends attempt various magical and practical solutions to stop the invasion, but their efforts only seem to make the problem worse. Throughout the chaos, [Pinkie Pie](/source/Pinkie_Pie) repeatedly tries to offer help and share her knowledge about dealing with parasprites, but her friends dismiss her seemingly nonsensical suggestions and erratic behavior. As the parasprite swarm threatens to consume everything in Ponyville, the situation becomes increasingly desperate. Eventually, Pinkie Pie uses [a combination of musical instruments](/source/One-man_band) to lead the entire swarm of parasprites out of Ponyville (in a manner reminiscent of the [Pied Piper](/source/Pied_Piper)). The crisis is resolved just in time, though Princess Celestia, after quickly understanding the situation, ends up postponing her visit due to - as she claims - a similar parasprite infestation in Fillydelphia. ## Reception Sherilyn Connelly, the author of *Ponyville Confidential*, gave the episode a "B+" rating.[1] In her review of the episode in *[SF Weekly](/source/SF_Weekly)*, Connelly identified moral ambiguity in the episode's conclusion, suggesting that either Princess Celestia was allowing Twilight to save face by claiming the visit was postponed due to a Fillydelphia infestation, or that an actual parasprite invasion had occurred there and Twilight was too embarrassed to offer help. Connelly observed that regardless of interpretation, one character was being dishonest with the other.[2] Jamie Weinman compared "Swarm of the Century" to the *[Star Trek](/source/Star_Trek)* episode "[The Trouble with Tribbles](/source/The_Trouble_with_Tribbles)," but writer [M.A. Larson](/source/M.A._Larson) later revealed that *[Gremlins](/source/Gremlins)* provided stronger inspiration and that he had never seen "Tribbles". Show creator [Lauren Faust](/source/Lauren_Faust) noted on her [DeviantArt](/source/DeviantArt) page that the *Star Trek* parallels only occurred to the team after they began developing their locust-plague story.[3] In a critical analysis of the episode, author Jen A. Blue described "Swarm of the Century" as "pretty good" and the first episode written by [M.A. Larson](/source/M.A._Larson), whom she called one of the show's better writers who tends to create "geek-friendly" episodes focused on [pop-culture](/source/Pop-culture) references and expanding continuity rather than character development. Blue wrote that this episode marked the first time *Friendship Is Magic* fully engaged with [intertextuality](/source/Intertextuality) as a method of communicating on multiple levels, containing *[Star Trek](/source/Star_Trek)* and *[Gremlins](/source/Gremlins)* allusions that go over the heads of younger audiences but serve as "a welcome mat" for adult geek viewers. She compared parasprites to [tribbles](/source/Tribbles) from *Star Trek* and the ending of the episode to "[The Pied Piper of Hamlin](/source/The_Pied_Piper_of_Hamlin)". Blue interpreted Pinkie Pie's character arc as representing the [archetype](/source/Archetype) of the [geek](/source/Geek): possessing necessary knowledge but being socially rejected due to poor communication skills. Blue concluded that the episode signaled both an embrace of [brony](/source/Brony) viewers and a "[loss of innocence](/source/Innocence#loss_of_innocence)" for the series, marking the beginning of an "[identity crisis](/source/Identity_crisis)" as the show went from being solely a children's program to something that appealed to both children and adults through intertextual references.[4] ## Home media The episode is part of the Season 1 DVD set, released by [Shout Factory](/source/Shout!_Factory), on December 4, 2012.[5] ## See also - [List of *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic* episodes](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_episodes) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 77 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Connelly, Sherilyn (2012-03-07). ["My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Season 1, Episodes 9 and 10"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120416140525/http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/03/my_little_pony_recap_season_1_episodes_9_10.php). *[SF Weekly](/source/SF_Weekly)*. Archived from [the original](http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/03/my_little_pony_recap_season_1_episodes_9_10.php) on 2012-04-16. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 102 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Blue-S1_4-0)** Blue, Jen A. (2013-08-31). "Does anypony have a toupee? (Swarm of the Century)". *My Little Po-Mo: Unauthorized Critical Essays on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season One*. pp. 118–126. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season 1"](https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Magic/dp/B0096W47NO). [Amazon.com](/source/Amazon.com). 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-04. ### Bibliography - Connelly, Sherilyn (2017-04-01). [*Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016*](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ponyville_Confidential/E3VPDgAAQBAJ). McFarland. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4766-6209-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4766-6209-1). ## External links - ["Swarm of the Century"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1832717/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Season 1 "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Swarm of the Century](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_of_the_Century) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_of_the_Century?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.