Episode 32:
Hurricane Fluttershy
One day, Rainbow Dash is handing out fliers to every Peagsus pony in Ponyville for a mandatory meeting at the library later tonight. With Fuli and Ono’s help she was able to get every pony with wings together for an important cause. Even Fluttershy who is the only one making an active effort in trying to avoid coming to it.
But regardless all three of her friends weren’t going to let her miss out on it if it means her needs are vital with what Rainbow Dash wants from every peagsus pony. Once every pony was here and accounted for Rainbow Dash began a film presentation for every pony to watch. A film that consisted of choppy drawing so every pony would understand it.
“Every living thing depends on the life-giving nourishment of rainwater, and it is up to Cloudsdale to provide rain-filled clouds to every corner of Equestria. But how, one pony might ask, does Cloudsdale gather all this extra water? Tornado power! That's right, Pegasi-driven tornado power. A team of Pegasi combine their wing power to create a jumbo tornado, powerful enough to pull water out of the local reservoir and funnel it all the way up to Cloudsdale. Remember, Pegasi, your jumbo tornado must reach a minimum of eight hundred wing power to lift that water up to Cloudsdale. So, the next time you're wondering "Where does all that extra rainwater come from?", just remem–“
And that was all the film they got before it suffered a malfunction caused by Spike accidentally. Regardless, Rainbow decides they’ve seen enough to get the message before giving the big speech herself.
“So, here's the scoop.” Rainbow began with her hoofs behind her back. “Cloudsdale has chosen our own highland reservoir as a source of the rainwater they need for all of Equestria. And you know what that means. It means it's up to Ponyville's Pegasi to bring that water up to Cloudsdale.”
Every pegsai (with the exception of Fluttershy) along with Fuli and Ono watching the meeting were both expressed intrest from the crowd.
“Not only that, but Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, will be here to oversee the water transfer and record our top tornado windspeed.” She continued with a poster of said pony along with two more pictures with charts.
“Now last year, Fillydelphia broke the windspeed record with a top speed of nine hundred and ten wing power. But I think we can do better. I think we can get a top speed over a thousand!” Every pony kept getting more and more pumped up with the sole expection of Fluttershy still looking uncomfortable. “...if each and every pony trains, and trains hard to get their wing power numbers up.”
Suddenly, Rainbow hears coughing from the back. “That coughing better be from a popcorn kernel, Thunderlane. Nopony's getting sick on my watch.” She quickly addressed said pony before further addressing the crowd. “So, are we gonna train hard?”
“Yeah!” Everyone all cheered while Fluttershy lowers herself to the ground clearly frightened by the cheering.
“Are we gonna be strong?”
“Yeah!”
“Are we gonna be fast?”
“Yeah!”
“Record-smashing fast?” She yelled in Bulk Biceps face.
“YEAH!”
“Who's with me?”
“Woo-hoo!”
Just as everyone was cheering for Rainbow’s speech she noticed that Fluttershy had slipped away during the crowd’s cheering.
The next day, Rainbow donned her coaching hat and then watched over every pony exercise in preparation for their big day at the track by stretching, running, and lifting weights with both Fuli and Ono watching over them. The first three ponies she passed by were stretching with the third one stuck in a stretch.
“Stretch those glutes, Flitter! Nice flexibility, Cloud Chaser. A... little too much flexibility, Blossomforth. Uh, somepony give Blossomforth a hoof.” She told every pony one by one. “Let's see some faster trotting, Thunderlane! Good pace, Silverspeed!” She told the ponies running before blowing her whistle. “Keep it up! We're gonna need all the wing power we can get to break that record!”
“YEAH!” Bulk Biceps shouted.
“Good work, everypony!” She complimented everyone before muttering under her breath. ”Everypony except Fluttershy.”
Ono then flew over to Rainbow Dash to report of her whereabouts. “Ono, where is she?”
“Back at her cottage.” He reported.
“Figures.” Rainbow responded to herself before addressing Ono. “Let’s go. Fuli, keep watch over everybody until we get back.”
“On it.” Fuli nodded while turning to the ponies training and working. “Come on! You got this! Let’s go!”
Even with the importance of the big day, Fluttershy is still trying to get out of participating in this big event with Rainbow and Ono back on over to the cottage to get her to join them.
“Fluttershy? I know you're in there!” Rainbow yelled out to her while knocking on her door. “You're avoiding tornado duty and I want to know why! Fluttershy, open–“
She immediately opened the door wearing her robe and having red spots appear on her fur coat.
“Hi, Rainbow Dash. Hi, Ono.” Fluttershy greeted with a weak sneeze and cough to which both Rainbow and Ono share a knowing nod before turning back to the girl.
“Fluttershy, what happened to you?” Ono asked with a quirked brow.
“Oh, I…” Fluttershy greeted with a sniff and cough. “I think I have…” She coughed again. “ the pony pox. I'm sorry. I really, really wanted to come to training day today…“ She coughed. ”but this pony pox has really knocked me for a loop. Achoo.” And coughed again.
“Oh, you poor thing. You know, there's only one cure for pony pox.” Rainbow said pretend sympathy while she and Ono walk inside.
“I know, plenty of bed–“ Fluttershy began before being suddenly drenched with a bucket of water courtesy of Rainbow Dash revealing the pony pox is just colored spots.
“Cold water! Those pony pox are clearing right up.”
Seeing that Rainbow and Ono didn’t fall for it, she moved to back up while thinking of another quick escape attempt.
“Oh, y'know, all of a sudden, I'm, I'm starting to feel better.” She responded with a nervous laugh. “I'll just get out of these robes and...” She pretended to trip and fall on her wing. “…ow! Oh, my wing, oh, ow, it's hurt. I guess I can't fly after all–“
Not fooled for a second, Rainbow Dash blows her whistle which frightens her to jump and float in the sky, quickly exposing her attempted lie.
“Messed up wing, huh?” Ono inquired while shaking his head in response to the embarrassed grinning peagsus’s shrug now cornered. “Very convincing.”
“Stop horsing around, Fluttershy. We've got a lot of training to do.” Rainbow told her who floated back to the ground while lowering her head in defeat and shame. “Come on now, what's going on?” She then gently asked while wrapping a hoof around her shoulder.
“Well, y'see, uh, well...” She hesitatingly started before confessing while lowering herself to her friend’s hooves. “…oh, Rainbow Dash, I just can't do it! I can't fly!”
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked while flying up. “Just last week you went into that wicked nose dive to save that falling baby bird right before it hit the ground!”
“But that was different, that was an emergency! This whole tornado thing, it's more like a performance, and you know how I hate performing in front of others. Don't you remember flight camp? I couldn't gallop hard or fly fast, not with everypony looking at me!”
“It wasn't that bad.” Rainbow tried to downplay it while Ono wanted to know what happened back then.
“You're right, Rainbow Dash, it wasn't bad. It was horrible!”
“Forgive me for inserting my beak in here…” Ono politely interrupted. “But I’m not quite following here. What happened at flight camp?”
“It’s not a story Fluttershy likes to talk about for obvious reasons.” Rainbow explained while recalling the memory of her and Fluttershy at flight camp. “Shortly after we got our cutie marks we attended flight school. While I of course did well, Fluttershy however got cold hoofs when it was her turn to fly.”
“But didn’t she have you or the teacher?” Ono asked.
“Not exactly.” Rainbow answered while recalling the memory of their teacher pushing Fluttershy off of the cloud. “Our teacher wasn’t very supportive along with the other pegsai.”
“The other foals used to tease me, a lot!” Fluttershy recalled the painful memory of everyone but Rainbow laughing at her for freezing up during takeoff.
“Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!” The foals back then taunted to which she desperately covered her hooves in respone with the present day Fluttershy still cringing at the memory.
“Hapana.” Ono quietly voiced in sympathy for the poor girl. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“I just can't risk that sort of humiliation again.” Fluttershy pleaded with her hooves wrapped around Rainbow not to put in that traumatizing position.
“Look…” Rainbow sighed while trying to be calm about this. “…I know this is worrying you… but confidence or no confidence, I'm gonna need every Pegasus to break the record, including you. I need every ounce of wing power I can get.”
“Oh, I-I don't think so, Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy still isn’t up for it to which Rainbow decided it was best to cut her losses while she can.
“Thanks anyway.” She sighed before flying over to the door to which Fluttershy looked aside now having second thoughts not wanting to let her friend down.
“Wait. I'll do it.” Fluttershy spoke up to her.
“You will?”
Both Rainbow and Ono questioned.
“I will.” She answered with a small smile.
“You sure?” Ono again asked reminding her she has a choice. “Because you really don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“I’m sure.”
“You're game?” Rainbow eagerly asked.
“I'm game.” Fluttershy cemented her decision to which Rainbow quickly scooped her up in a hug with flying around the room.
“Alright!” She cheered with Fluttershy still sporting an uneasy expression even though she can’t find it in her heart to turn her best friend away.
“Okay…” Ono responded with a sigh. “…then let’s do this.”
Even though he accepts her decision, he can’t help but feel that Fluttershy is still mentally not ready to go through with it like she claims.
Back at the track where everyone is waiting for Rainbow Dash when Twilight and Spike arrive to oversee the training and to record every pony’s speed and wing strength.
“What exactly does this machine do?” The indigo coated pony with a light blue mane asked upon seeing the device Twilight is spinning and testing to make sure it is working.
“This is an anemometer. It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wing power, thus gauging your cumulative H2O anti-gravitational potential.“ She explained. “Any other questions?”
“Yeah.” The pony with a pink bowtie asked more directed to Spike just as Fuli approaches. “What exactly does this machine do?” She asked either of them confused by Twilight’s explanation.
“It tells you how fast you're flying and how strong your wings are.” Spike answered.
“Ohhh…okay…I see…” Everyone all responded now getting it while Twilight frowned thinking it should have been understandable while Fuli gives Twilight an apologetic look.
Before Fuli could say anything they heard coughing nearby.
“Is that you again, Thunderlane?” Twilight poked her head up from the crowd with a can of anti-germ spray levitated in his direction. “Please, we need to have a germ-free environment.”
“It wasn't me, it was Blossomforth.” He argued turning to the white coated pony in front of him.
“No excuses.” Fuli sternly frowned at him while preparing to approach to force him to sit out of team practice until Rainbow flew right in front of her.
“Don't worry, Twilight, Fuli.” Rainbow asserted with crossed forearms that it won’t be necessary. “Thunderlane's just cooking up an excuse to spend tornado day in bed. Why don't you get over here and be our first test flyer, Thunderlane?”
Said pony casted a glare at the giggling mare before heading on over to the starting line while releasing a secret aside cough to which both Fuli and Ono noticed.
Thunderlane got his wings flapping and ready in full gear before sprinting down the stretch past the anemometer, causing to spin with the wind. Both Twilight and Ono analyzed the reading from the gauge once the anemometer stopped.
“We have 9.3 wing power.” Ono reported which is met praise from the other ponies to which both Rainbow and Fuli shrugged at the sight with a smile. Sure it’s good, but they themselves can attest that they have seen faster speeds than that.
“Not bad, not bad. “ Rainbow commented before she herself takes her turn at the starting line.
She cracked and stretched her joint in her body to prepare herself. Once she was ready to go she flew off ahead and performed the sprint leaving her coaching hat and whistle behind. The gust of wind she produced was so powerful it nearly blowing everyone’s manes and fur while literally sending Fluttershy flying off of her hoofs while Ono ended up blown away too. Fuli had to dig her claws into the ground to secure herself in place.
“16.5 wing power!“ Twilight reported with her mane slightly disheveled. On the bright side, it wasn’t because she went crazy in head again.
Everyone all cheered and applauded the fastest of the fastest before she offers more words of inspiration for them.
“Now listen up! If each of you can get your numbers up to at least 10.0 wing power by the end of the week, we'll no doubt set a new tornado speed record. We'll be number one!”
Everyone all cheered and all flew off to get started on stepping up their game with Fluttershy still lowered to the ground and wracked with self-doubt.
Every pony got training and then stepped up the line one by one so they can have their wing speed recorded. With Fuli’s help coaching and Twilight, Ono, and Spike’s help recording and analyzing data, things are shaping up in Rainbow’s favor with the results that they were producing.
Every pony had their wing power and speed tested out on the track. All but one.
“Fluttershy, your turn.” Rainbow called for her while blowing her whistle who does so reluctantly and still uneasy as the ponies nearby walk over to watch to see what she can do with eager smiles. After taking a deep breath to gather the courage to start flapping her wings she took off.
She flew at a brisk pace at smiling that she is so far pulling this off…
…until the two ponies who questioned the anemometer earlier had the nerve to laugh at her to which sparked her traumatic experience from flight camp and clamped down on her speed just before passing by the anemometer. Fuli catching this quickly gave shot them stern looks to knock it off who both look away pretending they did nothing wrong.
“Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly...” The foals in the past’s voices rang through her head as she slowly coasted by the anemometer.
Both Twilight and Ono examined the speed it recorded who both raise a hoof and wing to their mouths.
“Hapana!” Ono softy exclaimed unable to have the heart to say a word about it.
“Tell her!” Twilight urged Rainbow in a hushed tone.
“No, you tell her!” Rainbow argued back in a hush.
“No, you!” She argued back until they saw Fluttershy eagerly smiling ready to hear how well she did.
Reluctantly, Rainbow decides to tell her in the most supportive way as she can. ““Um... great job, Fluttershy! You measured, uh, uh, .5.” Fluttershy smiled hearing this while her friends put up forced smiles to ensure that she did well to avoid telling breaking her spirit.
“Very nice work.” Ono added. “We just need to keep working on that.”
“Really?” Fluttershy asked with a smile that butters the egret’s eyes up with guilt.
“Of course.” Ono repeated while nodding at Rainbow who blew her whistle at the other ponies so they all can keep practicing.
While Rainbow was busy dealing with them, Ono took the time to fly over to Fluttershy for a quick word.
“Everything okay?” He asked.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” She positively answered.
“Well…” Ono began while hesitating a little. “…when you were flying just now you had a faster speed up until you reached the anemometer.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy voiced slight surprise hearing this hoping no one would have noticed.
“You’re not still dreading over what happened back then are you?”
“Yes.” She sadly confessed with her head lowered in shame while starting to tear up.
“I see.” Ono responded while offering her a tissue to which she kindly accepted. “It’ll be okay. You just gotta to try to not let the past take control of you.”
“I tried, but you should've seen those ponies laughing at me...and I know it's important to have confidence in myself...”
“And remember how scared your critter friends were when they had to cross that big river?”
“The river was swelling...and they were scared...”
“Yes, all through that you told them never to give up, just like I’m telling you to be more assertive as much as you tried to teach me how to still be as kind as the next egret.” Ono added and reminded. “You got this Fluttershy. Just believe in yourself.”
“You're right, Ono.” Fluttershy agreed. “I shouldn't give up. I will get my confidence up and show everypony that I am a good flyer! A great flyer!” She vowed while flying up to the nearby tree ready to start training with the other ponies.
She decided to practice on her own with Ono coaching her and assist from her critter friends. She put on her workout gear wearing white and red sweatbands on her forehead and legs before starting off by trotting in place.
Ono wearing a coaching hat of his own blew his whistle with Fluttershy flying ahead. To mentally prepare her some of the critters wore masks that remind her of the ponies who laughed at her in the past which caused her to lose her concentration and crash into a tree she didn’t see until too late.
After helping her out of the tree, Fluttershy then did push-ups with her wings with only a mouse on her back. Once again she faltered and buried her face when her critter friends all pulled out their masks again.
Moving on to tug-of-war where she goes up against a butterfly which again had similar results and ended up falling into the mud as a result. Even so, Ono was only focused on pushing Fluttershy on what she can do before giving her more motivation to keep her going until she could perform these exercises even with past faces looking at her.
She greatly improved through the day and by then she performed her exercises flawlessly. She perform wing push-ups to the point she could carry three critters on her back and fight back tears attempting to fall from her eyes. She is now able to take on and win a tug-of-war against a whole flock of butterflies while sending them flying into the tree behind her. Accidentally of course. And flew by a field of dandelions while blowing them all away.
Everyone cheered for her while Fluttershy herself smiled in delight with the great improvement she has shown.
She is ready.
Meanwhile back at the track the next day, everyone is now having their wing speed recorded to see what improvement has been made and the training is paying off with considering the improved results that have been recorded during the time trials.
“That's wonderful, Flitter. Much better than yesterday.” Twilight complimented the mare while Rainbow continues to look more and more pleased with their progress.
“This is crazy awesome! We're gonna smash that record!” Rainbow stated with a pumped fist when a squirrel arrives getting their attention to tell them something.
“What did he say?” Spike asked.
“Do I look like I speak squirrel?” Twilight returned with a raised eyebrow at his direction.
“Don’t look at me.” Fuli added. “I’m not Bubbles. I don’t sound like her.”
“What's that?” Spike asked upon seeing someone approach them.
It’s a confident Fluttershy flying back other with Ono and the critters following by her side.
“Okay. All right.” Fuli commented very pleased to see this newfound confidence in her as she prepares to take another shot at a sprint.
Once her critter friends prepped up her at the start line, she started flapping her wings and flew across the straightway and past the anemometer producing a strong wind.
All her friends were impressed with her improvement. If only the anemometer could say what she was thinking of what she approached Twilight to look at how she did.
“2.3? 2.3?! That has to be some kind of mistake! I worked so hard!” Fluttershy voiced unbelieving that was all she managed.
“Fluttershy, that's a huge improvement!” Twilight told her.
“Better than any pony here on the track.” Fuli added.
“Yeah, don’t let it get to you.” Ono reminded.
“You did awesome, Fluttershy.” Rainbow added with a pat on the back but it wasn’t enough to stop Fluttershy from tearing up.
“No, I didn't.” She said as she backed up. “I thought I'd gotten over my nerves, but they still got the best of me! There's no way I'll fly with 10.0 wing power tomorrow!”
“So you won't fly with 10.0 wing power. Every bit counts!” Rainbow tried to assure her it wouldn’t be a big deal.
“How would you feel if everypony else was flying with 10.0 wing power and you were flying with 2.5?” Fluttershy retorted with a glare at her direction
“Well, uh... I'd feel... um...” Rainbow said rather speechless while taking off her sports cap and fiddling around with it not sure of what to say.
“Exactly! Humiliated!” She stated before turning away and speaking between sobs again. “I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I just can't do it!”
“Fluttershy, wait!” Ono shouted after her along with her critter friends.
“If only there was a way to lift Fluttershy out of the dumps.” Rainbow said with a sigh while Twilight, Fuli, and Spike all don’t know what to say.
Hopefully, she will come around for them when it counts.
The next day, every pony got lined up in preparation for the big day. Spitfire herself, Rainbow’s idol, flew down from Cloudsdale to oversee the water transfer which is met with a round of applause from everyone seeing her smile and wave to everyone.
“Are we ready to do this?” Rainbow called out to every pony who all cheered along with Twilight and Fuli who gave cheers of encouragement…
“Yeah!”
Just when Rainbow flew back down to the ground and before she could blew her whistle again Spike had something to report to her.
“Look!” Spike showed her the attendance checklist with Thunderlane’s image with an “X” instead of a check mark on it.
“Lazy Thunderlane! Where is he?!” Rainbow grumbled. “He's been trying to get out of tornado duty the whole time with his fake coughing and all.” He then poked his head towards the line and spotted a smaller pony that had a similar mane style to the pony. “Rumble, where's your lazy brother?”
“He's got the feather flu. He's down at Ponyville Hospital.” He answered.
“But he's not the only one.” Spike pointed out while showing Rainbow that there are seven more ponies (not including Fluttershy) unaccounted in today’s attendance while left Rainbow worried while Twilight does some recalculations with an abacus.
“Let's see, with those eight sick Pegasi out with the feather flu... “ She examined before gasping at something. “Oh no!”
“Don't tell me we won't be able to break the windspeed record?” Rainbow pleaded.
“No...” She answered.
“Phew!” Rainbow sighed in relief but the unicorn wasn’t done there since there was more and it was not what she wanted to hear.
“...You might not have enough wing power to create a tornado powerful enough to lift the water to Cloudsdale!”
“Well, should we pack up?” Spike asked Rainbow who looks on every pony who came here for this along with Spitfire who is starting to look at her watch.
She thought about and decided to still press forward even if their shot at the record is diminished. She can’t let everyone who gathered here today done.
“No. Of course not. Forget the record. Cloudsdale still needs water!” She decided before putting on her goggles and lead the team while the others watching over get everything ready. “Okay, everypony! Let's give it all we've got!” All of the ponies smiled while donning their goggles. “On the sound of the horn, we take off!”
Both Twilight and Fuli check the anemometer to make sure it is ready and reading 0.0, once she made sure of it, Twilight tapped on the anemometer while Fuli nods her head to signal to Rainbow Dash they are ready to go.
Spike takes a deep breath and blows into the horn to give the starting signal to start working and creating the tornado to spin the anemometer.
“You think they're gonna make it to eight hundred wing power?” Spike asked Twilight.
“I sure hope so!” Twilight responded before checking up on the meter reading. “One hundred and fifty wing power. Two hundred and fifty wing power. Five hundred wing power!”
So far so good with the water starting to lift from the ground
“Seven hundred and fifty wing power!”
Things were looking promising while Spike digs his claws into the anemometer for dear life from the tornado’s power just when Fluttershy arrives along with Ono hanging onto her mane.
“Twilight!”
“Fluttershy! What are you doing here?!”
“I figured... if I couldn't help Rainbow Dash with the tornado... the least I could do was offer moral support!” She answered while pushing herself closer to the unicorn and cheetah on her front hooves and dodging a tree hurled in her direction.
“She could sure use it, considering eight Pegasi are sick with the feather flu!” She told her while everyone moves to hang onto the anemometer.
“Oh no! That's terrible news!”
“Sure is.” Fuli shouted. “We can only hope that they have enough to do the job.”
“Come on, you’re almost there!” Ono shouted after them as more water was lifted from the ground.
Unfortunately, one of the ponies ended up dropping from the pace when he got tired and ended up triggering a chain reaction of ponies crashing into each other. And just like that every pony scattered, the water plopped back to the pond, and the tornado dissipated with Rainbow crashing face first in the tree.
“Ouch.” Fuli winced at the sight. “She’s sure going to feel that in the morning.”
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked while she and her friends rush over to her.
“I'm fine!” She answered while trying to pull her head out of the tree.
“Oh, you were so close to the eight hundred wing power minimum!” Twilight told her while getting a good read at the fastest wing power recorded. “I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash.”
“We've got to try again!” Rainbow exclaimed not about to quit there ready to regroup with the team only to be pulled down to the ground by Twilight’s magic.
“But you've pushed your crew to their limit already!” Twilight pointed out to the still recovering ponies. “If you break apart again, somepony could get hurt! You should quit, it's not safe!”
“No!” Rainbow refused to listen while slapping Twilight’s hoof away. “One more time! I've gotta know we gave it our all! If I'm going down, I'm going down flying!”
“But Rainbow…” Ono tried to reason with her to no avail.
“C'mon, ponies, let's make this happen!” Rainbow barked at every pony who all cheered still wanting to try again.
“Okay…” Twilight accepted her decision even though she still doesn’t like the risk Rainbow is putting every pony through.
“…Here we go!” Fuli told everyone so they can try again.
Once everything was reset, Twilight and Fuli gave the signal to Rainbow again.
“Ready!” Fuli shouted with a raised paw with Spike blowing the horn so every pony can try to power the tornado again.
Every pony flies the fastest they can do while recreating the tornado and gathering together wind power.
“Okay, here we go...” Twilight said while reading the climbing meter read. “…One hundred wing power! Two hundred! Five hundred!”
“Stay in position! Flap those wings! Faster!” Rainbow barked to every pony leading the charge.
“Come on! Work those wings!” Fuli also shouted from the ground to further motivate the fliers.
“Seven hundred! Seven hundred and fifty wing power!”
While the tornado is so far building back up from the first attempt, it’s still narrowing down to a close call.
Fluttershy holding onto Ono ended up crashing into Spike by accident onto the anemometer.
“They fell apart right after this!” Spike shouted.
“Oh, I'm too nervous to look!” Fluttershy exclaimed while covering her eyes.
“C'mon! Just a little harder! I can see the water trying to funnel through!” Rainbow further shouted to every pony to keep pushing.
“Seven ninety five!” Twilight reported while eyeing the anemometer nearing 800. “We are so close!”
“Fluttershy, they need you up there!” Ono told Fluttershy to join them.
“I won't make a difference!” Fluttershy responded with her hooves still buried in her face.
“You can make a difference!” Twilight countered.
“My measly 2.3 wing power is still too little!”
“But you can still push them to reach that mark whether you match or wing power or not.” Fuli backed up Twilight’s comment.
“It's sticking at seven ninety five! I don't know if they've got any more in 'em!” Spike shouted after looking at the standstill reading of the meter while Fuli can only watch from the ground since she doesn’t have wings.
“Do it for Equestria! Do it for Rainbow Dash! Do it for yourself!” Twilight further encouraged Fluttershy who is still too nervous to step up.
Seeing that she needs some motivation, Ono grabs the goggles Twilight levitated for Fluttershy to put on.
“Ono, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.
“I’m going up there.” Ono stated before flying up and into the tornado.
“Ono! Are you crazy?!” Fuli shouted after him.
“Affirmative.” Ono responded while joining the flying ponies in the tornado.
“Ono!” Fluttershy exclaimed upon seeing this. “Hang on I’m coming!”
Fluttershy quickly took another pair Twilight levitated towards him before approaching the tornado herself. But not before placing Angel off of her shoulder who joined the others blown onto the tree they are all hanging on to.
She moved herself towards the tornado so it suck her up too. She spun around while yelping and trying to take control of her own flight. Ono spotted her upon seeing that she followed in after her.
“Come on, Fluttershy! Let’s do this!” Ono pressed forward to fly in the tornado along with the others with a smile. Fluttershy pleased to see he is okay followed suit while Rainbow did the same that she has two more flyers joining in on the final push while surprised by Ono’s decision to join them.
“It's moving! She's doing it! Seven ninety eight! She surpassed her best wing power number!” Twilight reported while reading the meter which is now increasing and inching towards 800. “We might actually have it now with Ono keeping pace with them!”
“How about that.” Fuli expressed amazement that both Fluttershy and Ono are in there and doing the job.
Fluttershy then sees the ponies beside her flying ahead which sparked the taunting voices in her head.
“Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!”
“Come on, Fluttershy!” Ono repeated. “Believe in yourself!”
Fluttershy nodded in response while sporting an determined expression before flying up and ahead alongside Ono.
“What was that?” One pony wondered.
“I think it was Fluttershy!” Another pony answered.
“And Ono.” Another pony added while they both worked their wings to their full potential and it just managed to help them reach the 800 wing power minimum needed to perform the job with some more thanks to Ono.
With the power of all those with wing power in the tornado, all of the water from the tornado got sucked up from the pond and into the tornado and then expelled all the way up to Cloudsdale into the giant transfer pot.
Spitfire lowered her goggles in surprise and completely awe-stricken of what she was seeing.
“She did it! She did it! They all did it!” Twilight celebrated with a group embrace with Spike and Fuli.
Once all of the water was transferred, Spike blew into the horn again to signal to everyone to stop flying and disassemble.
Everyone all cheered at their success with Rainbow joining them very proud herself before noticing that Fluttershy is still flying circles in the sky.
“Whoa, girl, take it easy!” Rainbow quickly stopped her while placing a cloud in front of her path
“Whuh, what? Did we do it?” She asked when Ono flies over to the two.
“We did.” He confirmed.
“Yeah, we did it! You did it!” Rainbow praised with a hug and then a high five with Fluttershy first and then with Ono. “And well done, Ono!”
“Eh, what can I say.” Ono humbly shrugged. “The girl needed some motivation and who better than an extra set of wings and eyes to guide her through it all.”
“Oh thank you.” Fluttershy happily thanked with a big tight hug before the three all lowered themselves to the ground.
“Great job, Fluttershy, that was awesome!”
“Yeah, you too Ono, we couldn't have done it without you.”
The two ponies that made fun of Fluttershy earlier praised them with Spitfire coming over to do the same for the team leader.
“Nice job, Rainbow Dash. You may not have set a new record, but you showed a lot of guts.” Spitfire commended while complimentary nudging her on her lowered goggles.
“Thanks…” Rainbow humbly returned. “…but if you wanna talk guts, then you've gotta give it to my number one fliers, Fluttershy and Ono!” She gestured to the proud egret and the pony shyly waving back while placing her mane to the side of her face again. “Let's hear it for Fluttershy and Ono!”
“Fluttershy! Ono! Fluttershy! Ono! Fluttershy and Ono can really fly!” Everyone all cheered for them while tossing them up and down in the air before they all followed Twilight, Fuli, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire back into town for a celebration.
Along the way back into town with Spike playing a flute for celebratory music to lead the parade, Fluttershy thought of the friendship lesson she learned to report to the princess.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
Sometimes you can feel like what you have to offer is too little to make a difference, but today, I learned that everypony's contribution is important, no matter how small. If you just keep your head high, do your best, and believe in yourself, anything can happen.”
While everyone all heads back into town with the sun setting, Scar himself having witnessed this from the magic of the palm of his claws from the top of the nearby mountain from afar watches on with a serious expression.
“Anything indeed…” Scar growled while thinking back to the memory of his past where he is charging ahead into the Outlands on his own with the same expression and growl.
The unscarred lion with the Mark of the Guard braved the face of danger before fighting off the entire clan of hyenas threatening his brother’s life who had him cornered in a dead end cave in the Elephant Graveyard. No matter what angle any hyena could try to take him down with, he is quick to counter-attack every move they all had.
From paws with swipes of his claws along with kicks to the faces and even when they attempted to attack him with dirty moves, Scar repaid them in kind with much more power and ferocity which left the hyenas battered and bruised before some of the hyenas still left standing fleeing the scene. But not before Scar uses the Roar of the Elders to send them along with the knocked out hyenas flying away deep into another part of the Outlands far from the Pride Lands border for good measure.
Scar after calming himself down turns to his astonished brother before helping him up on his paws just when the rest of his Guard arrive on the scene while barely dodging the path of Roar blasting the hyena clan away.
The two brothers share a heartwarming hug with the older lion patting him on the back for saving his life before heading back home to the Pride Lands with his Guard lifting and tossing him up into the air while following Mufusa where they plan to celebrate Scar’s heroism for his noble act of bravery and courage.
Scar is later cheered for by everyone in the Pride Lands when his father gives his son his dues before he steps up to the edge of Pride Rock looking every one over proudly. He returns everyone waves to thank them all while the rest of his family and friends watch on with very proud smiles for what he has done to protect his loved ones.
Back in the present, Scar’s still watches on with a frown similar to when his former hyena subordinates failed to kill Simba and Nala when they were cubs and are both being led away by his brother after saving him before turning away.
“And look where it got me now.” Scar voiced with a resentful and bitter tone while looking at an image of his currently scarred face and the shoulder that formerly held the Mark of the Guard. “But pretty soon that will all change when I finally get the respect I deserved all of those years ago.” He added with a determined expression before teleporting away.