Dragonshy

Dragonshy is the seventh episode of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, season one. In this episode, a sleeping dragon's smoke is disrupting the skies of Equestria and Twilight Sparkle is tasked with getting it to leave.

Episode summary
Fluttershy was busy feeding all of the animals that lived around her home, but was having trouble getting Angel to eat the rest of his carrot. He seemed insulted being told how to eat his snack and refused to finish. Just then, he started coughing and, after several failed guesses from his pegasus friend, pointed out a ominous cloud of black smoke heading towards Ponyville. Believing the smoke may be emerging from a possible fire, Fluttershy rushed over to warn everyone, but she was too quiet to get their attention. Rainbow Dash was busy working her ball bouncing record, which was ruined by Pinkie Pie, making her lose count while inviting everyone to another one of her parties. It was Twilight Sparkle who managed to successfully get their attention and informed them that the smoke in question is not from a fire, but from a dragon. This news seemed to make Fluttershy even more worried.

Inside the library, Twilight told the group what she knew. According to Princess Celestia, who had relayed this message, the dragon was found sleeping somewhere near the town. While this didn't sound like much of a problem, its smoke was, and could easily blanket Equestia for the next hundred years if the situation was not taken care of. And so, they were given the task of convincing it to move (contrary to Rainbow Dash's plan to use force).

After gathering supplies, the group rendezvous near the mountain, where the dragon is located at the top. Fluttershy tried to back out of the mission, but Twilight insisted that the pegasus' talent of interacting with wild animals could be useful, even though Dash doubted that it was a good idea to bring her along. Spike remained to look over the critters that Fluttershy takes care of.

"...I'm scared of dragons!"

- Fluttershy

The timid winged pony only managed to slow them down. She was literally scared stiff from the dragon's distant snoring, forcing Applejack to drag her up around the mountain to meet the others. She couldn't leap over a little chasm, despite Pinkie Pie's encouragement. And her shriek after being touched by a simple leaf almost had her friends buried in a rocky avalanche.

Distractions aside, they finally made it near the cave where the dragon was resting. When Twilight tried to get Fluttershy to help her wake it up, the pegasus finally made a confession: she was scared of dragons. Actually, she was scared of fully-grown dragons, rather than a baby dragon like Spike. After a failed attempt to cheer Fluttershy on, her friends decided to finish the job without her. Twilight tried to persuade the dragon, but was completely ignored. Then Rarity used charm on it, but was driven away while trying to get some of the creature's jewels. Finally, Pinkie entered the cave wearing a ridiculous costume to get it to laugh... only to come back out with the costume ruined. All three methods failed. With her impatience taking its toll, Rainbow Dash decided to go with her plan and use force with a swift kick to the snout. This only made the dragon angry, and it began attacking the ponies. Fluttershy witnessed this happening and finally stepped out from hiding, gaining enough resolve to give the dragon a very stern talking-to. Fluttershy apologized for Dash's unnecessary move, but also said that the dragon was bigger than she was and shouldn't have gone overboard. Ashamed, the dragon cried, but it was finally convinced to move to another spot, where its smoke wouldn't harm anyone.

Twilight relayed a message to Princess Celestia that the mission was a success, and that she learned to never lose faith in her friends.

Although Fluttershy bragged about her brief display of bravery, she was scared stiff once more by Dash blowing a stray leaf over her. There was no question that she was still her timid self.

Major events

 * Fluttershy is shown to have fear of fully-grown dragons.
 * This is the first time Fluttershy finds her courage when cornered in a life-or-death situation, foreshadowing "the Stare" she uses in the episode Stare Master.

Quotes
Fluttershy: *responding to Angel Bunny's coughing* Are you okay? Are you coughing because there's a carrot stuck in your throat? Because you need some water?

* Angel coughs even louder before showing Fluttershy the sky*

Fluttershy: *gasp* Because of the giant cloud of scary black smoke? *hit by Angel's carrot* I'll take that as a... yes.

Pinkie Pie: I win again!

Rarity: That's 35 games in a row... Best of 71?

Twilight Sparkle: You have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals.

Fluttershy: Yes. Because they're not dragons...

Rainbow Dash: Oh come on! We've seen you walk up to a horrible mainticore like it was nothing.

Fluttershy: Yes. Because he wasn't a dragon...

Pinkie Pie: Spike is a dragon. You're not scared of him.

Fluttershy: Yes. Because he wasn't a huge, gigantic, terrible, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp scale-having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could-eat-a-pony-in-one-bite, totally-all-grown-up dragon!

Rarity: I was this close to getting that diamond...

Twilight Sparkle: You mean getting rid of that dragon?

Rarity: Oh. Yeah. Sure.

Rarity: *referring to Pinkie's costume* Darling, you look ridiculous.

Pinkie Pie: Exactly! Sharing a laugh is a sure-fire way to get someone on your side.

Pinkie Pie: *exiting cave* Apparently, he [the dragon] doesn't like laughing. Or sharing.

Rainbow Dash: We tried persuasion, charm, whatever it is Pinkie Pie does...

Fluttershy *to the dragon*: How dare you... HOW DARE YOU?! Listen here, mister ! Just because you're big, doesn't mean you get to be a bully ! You may have huge teeth, and sharp scales, and snore smoke, and breathe fire... But you do not-- I repeat-- You do  NOT ! HURT ! MY !  FRIENDS !... You got that?

Dragon: ... *whines*

Fluttershy: Well...?

Dragon: ...But, that rainbow one kicked me...

Fluttershy: And I am very sorry about that. But you're bigger than she is, and you should know better.

Rainbow Dash: Pinkie Pie! You scared me! I mean... uh... You... broke my concentration.

Fluttershy: It's okay, Rainbow Dash. Not every pony can be as brave as me.

Gallery



 * Dragonshy image gallery

Trivia

 * The title is a portmanteau of Dragon and Fluttershy. It also references the Dragonfly insect, or the term "gun-shy" in reference to Fluttershy's fear of dragons.
 * Rainbow Dash mentions that they wear horseshoes, despite the fact that they are never seen.
 * The short montage where all of the ponies prepare to get the dragon to move seems to be heavily influenced by the popular 80's action show "The A-Team", or the 70's action show "Charlie's Angels".
 * Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flop over accompanied by a goat bleat. This is a reference to the fainting goat, a breed of goat popularly known to stiffen after being startled.
 * When Pinkie enters the dragon's cave, her costume is similar to Daffy Duck's body in a scene from the Looney Tunes cartoon, Duck Amuck.
 * The plot of this episode, where the six main ponies travel to the a mountain on a quest to vanquish (or wake up) a dragon who hoards treasure may have been inspired by J.R.R Tolkien's fantasy novel "The Hobbit" in which a similar adventure takes place. Lauren Faust has also said that Canterlot was inspired by Minas Tirith, a city that exists in the Lord of the Rings book and movie series.
 * When the ponies are jumping across the chasm on the mountain, Applejack is not seen before or while the rest of them are jumping across, but present later when Fluttershy is commenting on how "wide" it is.
 * This is the second episode to have an overhead shot of Rainbow Dash, the first being The Ticket Master. However, this shot shows cutie marks on both sides of Rainbow Dash's flank, while the first one only showed a cutie mark on the right side of her flank.