Hurricane Fluttershy

Hurricane Fluttershy is the twenty-second episode of the second season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and the forty-eighth episode overall. Fluttershy tries to overcome her self-consciousness in order to help Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi create a tornado powerful enough to lift the water required for the rainy season to Cloudsdale.

Prologue
Rainbow Dash begins the episode by flying through Ponyville giving out fliers (which Derpy is seen reading with only one eye) for a meeting she is holding for all Ponyville Pegasus ponies. Later on in the evening, all of the Pegasus ponies meet at the library for a meeting. Meanwhile, Fluttershy waits outside, dressed up as a tree, and Rainbow Dash pushes her in after she finds her.

The speech
Inside the library, Rainbow Dash shows the group of ponies an old cartoon explaining how Cloudsdale requires rainwater to produce the rainclouds for Equestria, and that in order for Cloudsdale to obtain this water, Pegasus ponies must make a tornado in order to move the water up to Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash explains how this year, Cloudsdale has chosen a Ponyville water supply, and also mentions that she seeks to break Fillydelphia's wingpower record of 910 with a power of over 1000. On another slide, she mentions Spitfire, captain of The Wonderbolts, will be present.

Preparing for tornado day
After this, Rainbow Dash appears on a training field where a multitude of Pegasus ponies are training for the hurricane creation. Rainbow Dash then realizes that every Pegasus is present, except for Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash then goes to Fluttershy's cottage, and finds her in a robe with red spots all over her face. Fluttershy gives out a few fake coughs and sneezes and tries to claim she "really, really wanted to come to training". She says she has the pony pox. Rainbow Dash does not fall for this ruse, and sarcastically claims that "plenty of cold water" is the cure, and then pours a bucket of water over Fluttershy, rinsing the "pony pox" away. Next, Fluttershy falls over and says that she hurt her wing and cannot fly, but Rainbow Dash once again proves otherwise as she startles her with a whistle blow, prompting her to fly into the air. Fluttershy finally cracks, expressing to Rainbow Dash her inability "to fly" in performances in front of others, which she believes this whole hurricane creation to be. Fluttershy then recollects her experiences at flight camp when she was younger, where her inability to fly properly led the other fillies and colts to laugh at her. Although Rainbow Dash says that she will need every Pegasus' help to break the power record, Fluttershy refuses, until, after Rainbow Dash flies away sadly, she finally obliges to help.

Back at the training field, Twilight Sparkle and Spike are present, and aid Rainbow Dash by measuring the wingpower of each Pegasus. Twilight attempts to explain how a machine she has, looking like a simple fan, measures the power, and after no one understands her scientific language, Spike explains in simple English. Twilight then hears someone in the crowd cough, she realizes that it is Thunderlane, who earlier in the meeting had also been coughing. Twilight sprays him with a disinfectant spray, although it was actually Blossomforth, who is standing behind him, while Rainbow Dash comments that he's trying to pull a ruse to get out of the whole project. Rainbow Dash starts off by setting Thunderlane around the track to measure his wingpower and he gets a rating of 9.3 wingpower. Then, Rainbow Dash herself has her wingpower measured, and she obtains a rating of 16.5 wingpower.

Rainbow Dash states that if each Pegasus can get their wing power above 10 by the end of the week, they will be able to set the new tornado speed record. After measuring some more Pegasus ponies' windpower, it is Fluttershy's turn. As she slowly makes her way around the track, other Pegasus ponies begin to laugh at her. This reminds her of being laughed at at flight camp, which hinders her performance further. In the end, she obtains a wingpower rating of 0.5, which again reminds her of flight camp. She then runs off crying, with Rainbow Dash telling her not to leave, but it is to no avail, as Fluttershy runs off saying she does not have the courage to partake in the hurricane creation.

Training herself
Fluttershy is then shown sobbing next to a willow tree, being comforted by Angel and her various animal friends. The animals attempt to give her the confidence to partake in the event, and they succeed in this when Fluttershy says she will get her confidence up and become a great flyer.

With the help of her animal friends, Fluttershy trains by doing push-ups with animals on her back, tug-of-war with a pack of butterflies, and flying past dandelions to see if she can dislodge their seeds. As she trains more, she eventually gets better and better, until she can finally do push-ups with several animals on her back, beat a large pack of butterflies in a tug-of-war, and dislodge the seeds from a whole patch of dandelions. She does all this as her animal friends use pony masks to try and imitate the crowd who will be along side her in the real thing.

Fluttershy arrives back at the track, surrounded by her animal friends, for a second run. She does improve her wingpower rating, although it is still comparatively low at 2.3. This once again makes her upset, claiming that her nerves once again got the best of her.

Creating the tornado
The group of ponies then arrive at the pool which will be the water source for Cloudsdale. As attendance is taken, it is shown that Thunderlane is not present, and his younger brother explains that he has the pony flu and is in hospital. Several other ponies are also absent, which makes Twilight and Rainbow Dash concerned that they will not have enough wingpower to get the water up to Cloudsdale. Regardless, they begin to form the hurricane with the Pegasus ponies who are present, and succeed in beginning to suck the water up the funnel up to Cloudsdale. However, the hurricane breaks down as the ponies lose their co-operation. Fluttershy arrives on the scene to give Rainbow Dash encouragement. Rainbow Dash decides to give the hurricane another shot, and eventually the combined power reaches 795 wingpower. Spitfire is present at the hurricane but doesn't partake in it and instead watches over it, so Fluttershy is the only pony left who can help.

After some encouragement from Twilight, Fluttershy puts on a pair of goggles and joins in the hurricane formation. She surpasses her previous best wingpower rating, but begins to tire out, and is overtaken by other Pegasus ponies. This begins to remind her once again of flight camp, but this time, it strengthens her nerves, allowing her to travel faster than everyone else. The water eventually gets sucked up to Cloudsdale, and once Fluttershy stops flying in circles after everyone else has finished, she receives much praise. Spitfire congratulates Rainbow Dash on showing "a lot of guts", but Rainbow Dash directs the congratulation to Fluttershy, whom she dubs her "number one flyer".

Epilogue
A group of ponies carries her away, chanting her name, as she recites her letter to Princess Celestia, in which she mentions her realization that although sometimes you may feel that what you can offer may make only little difference, every contribution counts, and that if you "keep your head high, do your best, and believe in yourself, anything can happen".

Quotes

 * Rainbow Dash: So, are we gonna train hard?
 * Pegasi: Yeah!
 * Rainbow Dash: Are we gonna be strong?
 * Pegasi: Yeah!
 * Rainbow Dash: Are we gonna be fast?
 * Pegasi: Yeah!
 * Rainbow Dash: Record-smashing fast?
 * Bulked-up pegasus: Yeah!
 * Rainbow Dash: Who's with me?
 * Pegasi: Woohoo! [cheering]


 * Rainbow Dash: Oh, you poor thing. You know, there's only one cure for pony pox.
 * Fluttershy: I know, plenty of bed-
 * [splash]
 * Fluttershy: [yelps]
 * Rainbow Dash: Cold water! Those pony pox are clearing right up.


 * Twilight Sparkle: This is an anemometer. It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wing power. Thus gauging your cumulative H2O anti-gravitational potential. Any other questions?
 * Flitter: Yeah. [to Spike] What exactly does this machine do?
 * Spike: It tells you how fast you're flying and how strong your wings are.
 * Pegasi: Ohhhh...OK...I see...


 * Rainbow Dash: Um... great job, Fluttershy! You measured, uh, uh. .5.
 * Spike: .5? Isn't that like... less than one?
 * [tok]
 * Spike: Ow!


 * Fluttershy: [squeaks] [crying]
 * [squirrel chittering]
 * Fluttershy: Oh, thank you, but I'm afraid a couple of little acorns won't solve my big flying problem.
 * [duck quacking]
 * Fluttershy: I tried, but you should've seen those ponies laughing at me...
 * [birds chirp]
 * Fluttershy: I know it's important to have confidence in myself...
 * [badger squeaking]
 * Fluttershy: Yes, yes, I do remember. The river was swelling...
 * [badger squeaking]
 * Fluttershy: ...and you were scared...
 * [badger squeaking]
 * Fluttershy: ...yes, I did tell you to never give up... and to believe in yourself. You're right, my friends. I shouldn't give up. I will get my confidence up and show everypony that I am a good flyer! A great flyer!


 * Rainbow Dash: So you won't fly with 10.0 wing power. Every bit counts!
 * Fluttershy: How would you feel if everypony else was flying with 10.0 wing power and you were flying with 2.5?
 * Spike: Actually, it was only 2.3, and- ow!


 * [squirrel chittering]
 * Spike: What did he say?
 * Twilight Sparkle: Do I look like I speak squirrel?
 * (reference to Tara Strong's voice acting work on Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls, who can in fact communicate with squirrels)


 * Rainbow Dash: Whoa, girl, take it easy!
 * Fluttershy: Whuh, what? Did we do it?
 * Rainbow Dash: Yeah, we did it! You did it!

Gallery

 * Hurricane Fluttershy image gallery