My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E07 Dragon Shy

Twilight: But Fluttershy, you have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals.
Fluttershy: Yes. Because they're not dragons.
Rainbow: Oh, come on! We've seen you walk up to a horrible manticore 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's not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale-having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could-eat-a-pony-in-one-bite, totally-all-grown-up dragon.

Written by Meghan McCarthy

A sleeping dragon's smoke is disrupting the skies of Equestria and Twilight Sparkle is tasked with getting it to leave. Most of her friends are eager to help, save for Fluttershy, who keeps trying to tell Twilight she's too scared to face a dragon (to be honest, she's scared of a lot of things - heights, her own shadow...). Twilight ignores Fluttershy's reluctance, insisting the Pegasus has to come due to her unique way with animals.

So, the girls' quest begins, but once they reach the mountain the dragon's taken up residence in, Fluttershy's wings lock up in fear, leaving Applejack to literally drag her up. As they continue making their way up, Fluttershy continues to be a burden, from slowing the group down to actually causing an avalanche.

The ponies finally reach the dragon's cave, ready to confront the sleeping beast. Well, almost ready; Fluttershy refuses to take one step closer to the cave, finally blurting out that she's afraid of dragons. Even when her friends point out that she's faced a manticore and that she's not scared of Spike (granted, he's a baby dragon), she knows what she's afraid of and won't change her mind. Without her help, Twilight decides to proceed with the plan anyway. She tries being diplomatic with the dragon, asking him nicely to leave, but it doesn't work. Rarity tries charming him, but her tactic fails when she gets a bit too greedy with the dragon's hoard of gems. Pinkie tries laughter and...well...you can see where this is going. Things take a turn for the worse when Rainbow Dash tries charging at him; the dragon gets angry and knocks the ponies to the ground, save for Fluttershy, who's been hiding nearby.

As it turns out, that was a bad idea.

The meek little Pegasus gets so angry at the dragon that she completely forgets her fear and flies up to face it, speaking to it sternly and letting him know once and for all that you do NOT hurt her friends. Fluttershy gets so intimidating that the dragon actually breaks down and cries. Returning back to her calm and nurturing self, Fluttershy comforts the dragon, and tells him nicely that he has to leave. As the dragon flies off to find somewhere else to nap and the clouds of smoke get cleared up, Twilight writes to the Princess about what she's learned that day. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash gets spooked by Pinkie imitating a dragon's roar and Fluttershy reassures her that "not everypony can be as brave as me"...right before a leaf lands on Fluttershy, scaring the daylights out of her.

Tropes (YMMV items can be found here).

All Animals Are Dogs: The dragon whimpers like a puppy after Fluttershy stands up to it. No wonder; it certainly seems like the natural reaction in the circumstances.
Answer Cut: The dragon gives a loud roar immediately after Fluttershy's lines at the top of this page, sending her into further timidity.
Aside Glance: Rainbow Dash after Fluttershy apologizes to the dragon.
Badly-Battered Babysitter: Spike is left behind to tend to Fluttershy's animals. Angel the bunny proves especially difficult.
Best Out of Infinity: Either Rarity really sucks at Tic-tac-toe, or Pinkie Pie is really good at it.
Berserk Button: Because You do NOT, we repeat you do NOT. HURT. FLUTTERSHY'S FRIENDS!
Beware the Nice Ones
Bullying a Dragon: A literal example. Rainbow Dash learns the hard way that telling a dragon that is several orders of magnitude bigger than her to get lost and then kicking it in the face is never a good idea.
- Of course, then Fluttershy has her turn at Scolding A Dragon...and it works.
  - Fluttershy even Defied the trope by pointing out that just because the dragon could kill the Mane Six doesn't give him the right to, and that he could have handled being kicked by Dash (which barely annoyed him) better.
Compressed Vice: Fluttershy's fainting goat tic, especially when we've seen her take several scares in the second season without it ever popping up again.
Continuity Nod: Fluttershy's face-off with the Manticore in the second episode is mentioned. It's one of the only nods to the pilot episodes given, at least in Season 1.
Don't Look Down: Spoken unwisely to Fluttershy as she's jumping over a chasm, although since she's not using her wings one would think she was surely going to fail the leap anyway if she did now. Fortunately, the distance between the cliffs, which had hitherto never been shown both at the same time, is then revealed to be short enough that she just ends up balanced with back and front hooves on different sides.
Eyedscreen: The Letterbox format during the Mane Six's Lock and Load Montage
Facehoof: Rainbow Dash shows her impatience for Fluttershy's fussing by facehoofing three times, the first being a double facehoof.
- Angel does a facepaw when he just can't get through to Fluttershy.
Funny Background Event: When Pinkie Pie is counting ponies to see how many balloons she'll need for her latest party, we see Lyra Heartstrings sitting with Shoeshine on a bench... except while Shoeshine is laid out across it, Lyra's slouched down sitting on it in a way that is decidedly un-pony-like. This one scene has launched the entire fandom's "Lyra desire to be human" attributes to the character.
Hair-Trigger Avalanche: Accomplished with a rockslide instead of snow.
Hammerspace: Pinkie's saddlebags; not only is she ready with an "invitation" for Fluttershy to climb the mountain, but she's managed to fit her entire ridiculous "package" disguise within it.
Hint Dropping:

Angel Bunny coughs
Fluttershy: Are you okay?
Angel coughs again
Fluttershy: Are you coughing because you have a carrot stuck in your throat?
Angel coughs again, now clearly annoyed
Fluttershy: Do you need some water?
Angel lets out a cough that a 20-pack-a-day smoker would be envious of, and points Fluttershy's head skywards
Fluttershy: Is it because of that giant cloud of scary black smoke?!

Angel throws a carrot at the back of Fluttershy's head, and glares at her

Fluttershy: I'll take that as a yes.

Lock and Load Montage: Which is simultaneously a Shout-Out to both The A-Team and Charlie's Angels.
The Load: Fluttershy. Up until the end.
Plot Tailored to the Party: Even spelled out by Twilight when they are about to face the dragon as to why they are all there.
- Although subverted after as Fluttershy's crippling fear makes the original plan fall apart and they just make it up as they go along after that.
Pun-Based Title: Concerning the dragon and Fluttershy's importance to the plot.
Reveal Shot: Only one side of the chasm Pinkie sings her song at is onscreen at one time until Fluttershy accidentally looks down while jumping across it, to avoid revealing that it's actually not wide at all.
Running Gag: Apparently, pegasi are part fainting goat.
Shout-Out: Spike and Angel don't get along.
- What about the red dragon laying on a hoard of treasure in a tall skinny mountain, snoring out a stream of smoke? Which is a bit creepy considering that Smaug eats SIX ponies.
Skewed Priorities: Rarity, upon realizing the fabulous trove of gems the dragon's sleeping on.

Rarity I was this close to getting that diamond!
Twilight You mean "getting rid of that dragon"?
Rarity ...Oh, yeah, sure.

Staggered Zoom: As Fluttershy explains her fear of adult dragons, the camera pulls back from the cave in steps, eventually showing the whole mountain, each step punctuating her list of objections.
Staring Down Cthulhu: One of the most Badass examples ever, courtesy of a small yellow-pink pony with wings. Who is usually a Shrinking Violet.
Team Mom: Applejack's tendencies toward this really shine in this episode.
Verbal Judo: Fluttershy's stopping the dragon from attacking just by talking to him.
Violence Discretion Shot: We never see what happened to Pinkie Pie and her party gear.
Vocal Dissonance: The dragon to some extent. His roars are certainly fitting, but after being berated by Fluttershy, his "But the rainbow one kicked me!" and crying are just a bit on the dopey side.
Wasn't That Fun?: Pinkie Pie's reaction to the rockslide that nearly kills them: "Woohoo! Let's do it again!"
Whole-Plot Reference: To The Hobbit. Fluttershy is basically Bilbo, an adventure avoiding creature that gets into one by a powwerful wizard (Twilight). They have to climb up a mountain to fight a dragon who hoards his treasure. Bonus points for having smog being the first indicator of the red dragon.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Fluttershy may be afraid of a lot of things, but non-pony creatures are not usually among them — with adult dragons being a huge exception. By the end, Rainbow Dash has acquired some of the same fear after catching a glimpse of what actually happens when you charge one.