Dragonshy

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

Episode summary
The episode opens with Fluttershy giving food to some of the animals that live around her home. She is having trouble getting Angel to eat the rest of his carrot. He seems insulted being told how to eat his snack, refuses to finish, and hops away, with Fluttershy following him. Angel seems to notice something she does not: he starts coughing and, after several failed guesses from Fluttershy, points out to her an ominous cloud of black smoke heading towards Ponyville. Believing the smoke may be emerging from a possible fire, Fluttershy rushes over to warn everyone but fails to get their attention. Rainbow Dash, for instance, is too busy working on breaking the Equestrian ball bouncing record to heed Fluttershy's warnings. Only when Twilight Sparkle arrives do the other ponies get alerted to the smoke.

The main characters gather inside the library, where Twilight relays news from Princess Celestia: The smoke in question is not coming from a fire, but from a sleeping dragon. Celestia warns that if the dragon is not convinced to leave, the smoke from his snoring could easily blanket Equestria for the next hundred years. Twilight and her friends are tasked with taking care of the problem.After gathering supplies, the group rendezvous near the mountain the dragon has occupied. Fluttershy, who has exhibited very little enthusiasm for going after the dragon, tries to back out of the mission, and Rainbow Dash concurs, pointing out Fluttershy's timidness and worrying that she might slow them down. However, Twilight Sparkle insists that the pegasus' talent of interacting with wild animals could be useful. Spike remains behind to look over the critters that Fluttershy usually takes care of, over her objections.

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

- Fluttershy

Initially, Rainbow Dash's skepticism seems justified. Upon hearing the dragon's distant snoring, Fluttershy's limbs lock up, rendering her unable to fly or even walk without assistance. Applejack is forced to drag her the long way around to catch up to the other ponies. Later, after her ability to move on her own has returned, she still has trouble leaping over a narrow chasm, having to be encouraged by one of Pinkie Pie's songs; and a leaf falling on her back makes her cry out, inadvertently causing an avalanche that almost buries them and further extends their journey.

They do eventually reach their destination: the cave where the dragon is resting. Twilight wants to go in with Fluttershy, in the hope that between the two of them, they can convince the dragon to leave. But Fluttershy has a confession to make: she is scared of fully-grown dragons. After a failed attempt to cheer Fluttershy on, her friends decide to finish the job without her. Twilight tries to reason with the dragon, but is completely ignored. Then Rarity attempts to use her charm on it, but fails when she tries to lay claim to the dragon's jewels. Pinkie Pie is similarly unsuccessful, and all Rainbow Dash's brute force attempt accomplishes is making the dragon angry: it steps outside the cave and begins attacking the ponies. In the process, the ponies get knocked over, and Fluttershy's hiding place is destroyed, exposing her to the scene. Looking at her dazed friends, she gains enough resolve to fly up to the dragon and admonish him for what she calls his bullying. Cowed by Fluttershy's tone, the dragon tries to justify his anger by explaining that Rainbow Dash kicked him. Much to Rainbow Dash's confusion, Fluttershy apologizes for Dash's attack on the dragon, but also says that the dragon is bigger than the ponies and should be more considerate. She also admonishes him for sleeping in a place where his snoring could endanger the health of other creatures. The dragon weakly attempts to argue back, but Fluttershy won't let it. After being scolded so harshly the beast bursts into tears, Fluttershy comforts him, and the dragon leaves the mountain.

The episode cuts to Ponyville, where Spike is struggling to keep the animals, especially Angel, in check. Twilight Sparkle relays a message to Princess Celestia that the mission was a success, and that she learned to never lose faith in her friends. The episode ends with the main characters watching Rainbow Dash once again trying to beat the ball-bouncing record. Pinkie plays a prank on her and imitates a dragon's roar, which makes Rainbow briefly lock up in fear in a similar way to Fluttershy earlier in the episode. Still, the pegasi's roles are not entirely reversed; when another stray leaf falls on her back, the same thing once again happens to Fluttershy.

Quotes

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

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.
 * 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. Both dragons look similar in appearance as well. 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.