# Dragonshy

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7th episode of the 1st season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

"Dragonshy" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode Fluttershy notices an ominous cloud of black smoke heading towards Ponyville. Episode no. Season 1 Episode 7 Directed by Jayson Thiessen James Wootton Written by Meghan McCarthy Original air date November 26, 2010 (2010-11-26) Running time 22 minutes Episode chronology ← Previous "Boast Busters" Next → "Look Before You Sleep" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season 1 List of episodes

"**Dragonshy**" is the seventh 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 November 26, 2010. The episode was written by [Meghan McCarthy](/source/Meghan_McCarthy). In this episode, [Fluttershy](/source/Fluttershy) must overcome her crippling fear of [dragons](/source/Dragons) when she and her friends are tasked with convincing a dragon to leave his cave, as his smoky breath threatens to cover [Ponyville](/source/Equestria#Ponyville).

## Plot

External videos Dragonshy (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

While [Fluttershy](/source/Fluttershy) feeds animals around her cottage, her pet bunny Angel alerts her to an ominous cloud of black smoke approaching Ponyville. [Twilight Sparkle](/source/Twilight_Sparkle) announces that the smoke is coming from a [dragon](/source/Dragon) rather than a fire. [Princess Celestia](/source/Princess_Celestia) tasks the [Mane Six](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_characters#Mane_Six) with convincing the dragon to relocate from a nearby mountain, explaining that his snoring produces the smoke and threatens to cover Equestria in darkness for a hundred years if he continues sleeping there. Fluttershy becomes visibly distressed and tries to excuse herself from the journey, to no avail.

The group ascends up the treacherous mountain, but Fluttershy struggles at every obstacle due to her overwhelming fear. [Applejack](/source/Applejack_(My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic)) guides her up an alternate path when she balks at the steep slope, and [Pinkie Pie](/source/Pinkie_Pie) sings an encouraging song to help her cross a narrow chasm. Fluttershy accidentally triggers an [avalanche](/source/Avalanche) when she becomes startled by a falling leaf and shouts in the avalanche zone. The group eventually reaches the dragon's cave, but Fluttershy refuses to enter and reveals that she is afraid of fully-grown dragons.

The other ponies attempt various strategies to convince the dragon to leave without Fluttershy's help: Twilight appeals to reason, [Rarity](/source/Rarity_(My_Little_Pony)) tries flattery, and Pinkie Pie attempts to entertain the creature with silly costumes. [Rainbow Dash](/source/Rainbow_Dash) becomes frustrated and kicks the dragon between the nostrils, which enrages him and causes him to attack the group. His powerful breath knocks the ponies into a rock, which crumbles to reveal Fluttershy hiding behind it.

Fluttershy overcomes her fear and flies directly up to the dragon's face to scold him for his aggressive behavior. She acknowledges that Rainbow Dash shouldn't have kicked him, but argues that he should have known better than to retaliate so violently since he is much larger. Fluttershy then admonishes him for sleeping in a location where his snoring endangers other creatures and demands an apology, which causes the dragon to burst into tears. After she calms and reassures him, the dragon departs peacefully, and the group returns to Ponyville.

## Reception

What defines many of Fluttershy's story lines and the content of her character is the contrast between her normal personality and the alter ego that emerges when a friend or animal is being harmed in some way. In the Season 1 episode "Dragonshy," Fluttershy reluctantly joins her friends to confront a smoke-billowing dragon whose heavy breath is polluting Ponyville's skies. Afraid of heights and dragons, Fluttershy has to muster the courage to confront the giant beast at the top of a mountain.

— Mary Jane Begin, *My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria*[1]

Panels from the [storyboard](/source/Storyboard) of "Dragonshy"

Sherilyn Connelly, the author of *Ponyville Confidential*, gave the episode a "B+" rating.[2] She criticized the episode's conclusion and used it as an example of "whiffed endings" in the series.[3] In her review of the episode in *[SF Weekly](/source/SF_Weekly)*, she lamented that this episode was the first to feature an Everybody Laughs Ending, a television and film [trope](/source/Trope_(cinema)) where episodes conclude with all the main characters laughing together.[4]

In a critical analysis of the episode, author Jen A. Blue praised "Dragonshy" as "the best episode we've looked at yet" and lauded [Meghan McCarthy](/source/Meghan_McCarthy)'s skill as a writer. Blue analyzed the dragon as an effective villain that invokes [classical mythology](/source/Classical_mythology), particularly pointing out how the episode establishes the threat through both Fluttershy's immediate panic and [Celestia](/source/Princess_Celestia)'s letter, which strategically creates a genuine menace while keeping the dragon largely off-screen. Blue wrote that the episode functions as a character study disguised as an [adventure story](/source/Adventure_story): the dragon is a [metaphor](/source/Metaphor) for Fluttershy's [internal fears of social confrontation](/source/Social_anxiety_disorder) and [disapproval of others](/source/Fear_of_negative_evaluation). She analyzed the climax as a [dominance display](/source/Dominance_signal) between animals, where Fluttershy's hypersensitivity to others' attitudes—typically her weakness—becomes her strength in understanding and responding to the dragon's behavior. Blue compared this scene to the use of monsters in *[Buffy the Vampire Slayer](/source/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer)* as metaphors for character issues, deducing that "by defeating the dragon, Fluttershy overcomes those parts of herself that are holding her back".[5]

Alesha Davis, in a retrospective review for [*The Post*](/source/The_Post_(Ohio_student_newspaper)), analyzed the episode within the context of what she termed "fantasy racism" in the series. According to Davis, while "Dragonshy" contained "no serious offenses," it marked the beginning of problematic patterns in how the ponies treat other species, writing that this was "the first time the ponies speak about dragons beyond a brief, passing mention." She criticized the inconsistency in how [Twilight Sparkle](/source/Twilight_Sparkle) refers to the dragon as a "wild animal" despite being aware that [Spike](/source/Spike_(My_Little_Pony)) is also a dragon but not treating him as such, describing this as the ponies "displaying general ignorance about other creatures." Nevertheless, Davis acknowledged that dragons should be frightening in fantasy contexts and that the ponies had legitimate reasons for their fear and also remarked that series creator [Lauren Faust](/source/Lauren_Faust) may not have yet developed the complex dragon society depicted in later seasons.[6]

## Home media

The episode is part of the Season 1 DVD set, released by [Shout Factory](/source/Shout!_Factory), on December 4, 2012.[7]

## 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-Begin_1-0)** [Begin (2015)](#CITEREFBegin2015), p. 181

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 76

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 105

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Connelly, Sherilyn (2012-02-29). ["My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Season 1, Episodes 7 and 8"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120416140507/http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/02/my_little_pony_recap_season_1_episodes_7_8.php). *[SF Weekly](/source/SF_Weekly)*. Archived from [the original](http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/02/my_little_pony_recap_season_1_episodes_7_8.php) on 2012-04-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Blue-S1_5-0)** Blue, Jen A. (2013-08-31). "I'm the monster. (Dragonshy)". *My Little Po-Mo: Unauthorized Critical Essays on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season One*. pp. 83–92.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Animation with Alesha: Pride and Pony Prejudice in 'My Little Pony'"](https://www.thepostathens.com/article/2023/10/opinion-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-fantasy-racism). *Animation with Alesha: Pride and Pony Prejudice in ‘My Little Pony’ - The Post*. 2023-10-18. Retrieved 2025-06-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["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

- Begin, Mary Jane (2015). *My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria*. New York: Abrams. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4197-1577-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4197-1577-8).

- 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

- ["Dragonshy"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1832714/) 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"

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dragonshy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonshy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonshy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.