• Published 3rd Aug 2015
  • 3,242 Views, 57 Comments

Fluttershy Meets a Mantis Shrimp - VitalSpark



Fluttershy meets a fascinating little sea creature and introduces it to Discord. This can only end well.

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And a Mantis Shrimp Meets Discord

Fluttershy cradled the crystal bowl in her hooves, carefully carrying it to the table in the middle of her cottage and setting it down gently so as not to disturb the creature inside.

"What have you got there, Fluttershy?" Discord asked, looking up from reading the latest issue of the Foal Free Press.

Fluttershy peered into the bowl to check there was enough water. "It's a mantis shrimp," she answered quietly.

"Oh, I—" Discord started before being interrupted.

She beamed. "They're amazing, Discord. I'm so delighted that the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures has given me the opportunity to study this one."

"I—" he said, attempting to speak again.

Fluttershy was normally quiet, but around friends and talking about a subject that personally interested her, it could be difficult to get a word in edgeways. "Did you know that our eyes have special receptors in them called cones, which allow us to see colours? We ponies have two kinds, allowing us to see green and blue, and a little bit of yellow."

Discord sighed. This was going to be one of those 'conversations'.

"And Twilight Sparkle told me that humans have a third kind of cone, letting them see colours on the infrayellow spectrum — they have names for them like 'red' and 'orange'. Can you imagine them naming a colour after such a drab, grey citrus fruit?! But apparently, to humans, oranges are a vibrant, warm colour."

Discord took a seat to listen to what Fluttershy had to say. Although he felt the content of her speech was unnecessary, he admired her enthusiasm for the subject.

"Butterflies have five types of cone. Oh, I wish I could communicate with insects like I can with the bigger animals. I'd love to ask them what it's like to see all those colours." She stretched out her wings and fluttered them gently in perfect imitation of the creature featured on her cutie mark.

Discord was about to tell her a few truths about draconequus colour vision, but decided against it.

"But anyway, this mantis shrimp has not two, not three, not even five, but sixteen different types of cone! Can you imagine that? When ponies look at a rainbow and see a band of yellow, green, and blue across the sky, a mantis shrimp must see an explosion of light and beauty. They must see 'red'… and 'orange'… and colours that even a human or butterfly cannot possibly imagine."

Discord smiled. Fluttershy's eyes sparkled with intelligence and passion as she spoke with animation about the creature in the crystal bowl.

Fluttershy held the bowl towards Discord, showing him the shrimp. "Just look at how wonderful they look. And that's just with our eyes. There must be colours on their bodies that only other mantis shrimps can perceive. They're a beautiful creature, aren't they?"

Discord nodded, privately thinking that the shrimp was only the second most beautiful creature in the room.

"Ooh… but be careful. You might expect such a beautiful animal to be gentle like a butterfly. But no! The truth is, the mantis shrimp is an underwater nightmare!"

Discord raised his eyebrows.

"It has two powerful appendages at the front of its body. They can accelerate faster than Rainbow Dash at her best. If a pony could move its hooves at even a tenth of that speed, it could throw a rock into orbit!" She thought for a moment before mumbling, "well, I suppose Maud can already do that, but still…"

Fluttershy got back on track giving her speech, which Discord couldn't help but think she might have rehearsed on the train home.

"Their little arm things move so fast that the sea around them boils. It's called supercavitation. The bubbles produced can create a shockwave that can kill the shrimp's prey, even if the shrimp missed its target."

Discord chuckled quietly while Fluttershy stabbed wildly at the air with her hooves trying to demonstrate the process.

"When the bubbles collapse, it produces intense heat and tiny bursts of light. Oooh! I do hope I get to see that. It's called sonoluminescence."

Discord peered at the shrimp again. It didn't seem to be doing that right now.

"It uses its little arm things to smash apart almost anything it wants to eat — from crabs to octopuses… octopi? No, octopuses. In Canterlot, they're even studying mantis shrimps to develop advanced body armour for the Royal Guard! Not that I approve of such things."

Discord nodded his head in understanding. Fluttershy would naturally be opposed to any invasive animal research, especially if it were for military purposes.

"I was very lucky to be able to get this mantis shrimp to study. None of the aquariums in Equestria have mantis shrimps — they tend to slaughter just about any creature they share a tank with! Not to mention they can easily break most aquarium glass."

Discord looked at the bowl somewhat uneasily.

"… Which is why this bowl is made of special reinforced crystal from the Crystal Empire."

Discord breathed a sigh of relief.

"And this is why the mantis shrimp is my new favourite animal," Fluttershy concluded. "Because in the presence of such light and beauty, it extols darkness. It is King Sombra bathed in marshmallow milkshake. It is the rainbow of death. It is bright. It is dark." She paused for effect. "And it is beautiful."

Discord clapped his hands — or rather his paw and claw — with genuine enthusiasm. "Very good speech, Fluttershy."

"Aren't they fascinating?" She smiled. "I knew you'd love them."

"Love them?" Discord asked. "Who do you think created them?!"

Author's Note:

Mantis shrimp facts and a few choice metaphors and comparisons from The Oatmeal.

Comments ( 56 )

Dat ending doh.

That ending! So appropriate, and also kind of beautiful, if you think about it. :yay:

"It is King Sombra bathed in marshmallow milkshake."

Someone make fan art of that, I need to see it!

6277086
But… but… you have no pic either! :raritydespair:

EDIT: okay, you added a pic. :pinkiehappy:

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! This is my kinda fic.

I write Fluttershy as a total zoology nerd as well. XD

That was a cute short. Iloved the pony vision references. heh that air-boxing Fluttershy moment xD

Oh my god yes. Mantis shrimp FTW! My favorite animal ever.
Watch. Laugh. Enjoy.

6277219
The comic that this story is inspired by compares mantis shrimp vision to canine vision, so I needed to do a bit of research for this story about equine vision to make a more appropriate comparison. I read a rather fascinating paper on it, but have sadly lost the link. But the gist was that horses can't see red, and not much orange or yellow either, so I tried to take that into account in Fluttershy's description of rainbows.

6277236 familiar with the old comic. there is actually a youtube video that goes deeper to compare it to a horse as well. Ithought maybe you got the three colors fact from that one. But yeah, cute story picturing her being such a cheery goof. The ending was sweet. I can only imagine her frozen expression xD

Hah, great fic.:yay:

I was scuba diving this morning. Saw one of those little buggers scittering into a hole in the coral. Then I come in, lie down, pick up my iPad, and what do I see? :rainbowhuh: :pinkiegasp: :twilightsmile:

6277347
That mantis shrimp you saw wasn't actually a mantis shrimp. It was just me in my mantis shrimp form. Doing some more shameless self-promotion.

A story about the harbinger of blood-soaked rainbows! Well, I know what I'm reading next.

...Oh. It's pretty much Fluttershy reciting the Oatmeal comic. Hmm. Well, still fun, especially the bit at the end. That said, I know it's how horse eyes work, but I'm not a fan of the idea of ponies having worse color vision than humans. It makes manufactured rainbows seem very odd. After all, why would they mix in two vats of grey?

Eh, I'm probably overthinking this. Thank you for a story about one of my favorite creatures.

Ri2

Ponies are color blind?

6277630
In real life they have similar colour perception to dogs. They perceive some colours, but not as many as humans.

I'm slowly noticing more and more videos and written material concerning mantis shrimps are appearing, I wonder why

6277780
There was a popular comic about them on a site called The Oatmeal. (Link is in author notes.) Also, they were featured on an episode of QI.

:heart: Love this short but I can't seem to upvote it :fluttershysad:

6277978
You pre-read it a couple of weeks ago, I think. Maybe you upvoted it then, so it won't let you upvote again?

6278001

Ah! I did up vote it then! I would upvote it again if I could!

I do love it!

The mantis shrimp has been my favorite animal for a while.

6278539
They are pretty awesome, though I personally prefer penguins.

6277223 If you hadn't posted this, I would have! :pinkiehappy:

love, love , love love.

The addition of Fluttershy and Discord somehow makes up for the lack of visuals.

Not the most creative fic ever.

Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.:yay:

As a kid, I used to wonder if there are any colors in this expansive universe of ours that are yet to be discovered before our very eyes.

Sigh... I guess we may never that ourselves.

LOL at Discord at the end XD

And so Discord reveals the truth, for as the mantis shrimp possesses a deceptively beautiful appearance belying its deadly nature, so it is with Discord that beneath his comical appearance and silly pranks lurks a vicious predator who will one day show his true colors and devour ponies by the thousands, delighting in their screams and futile struggles as he devours them alive!!!! :fluttershbad::raritydespair::pinkiesick::twilightoops:

It shall be a horrible day of despair, indeed.

:pinkiecrazy:

6279762 We can't see radio waves, microwaves, infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays.

We also can't see zectronic waves, which are particularly useful to Daleks who modify the Master with superior Dalek technology!

media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5d/49/ce/5d49ce2cb8650d54cc02f83b9065961a.jpg

:trollestia:

He he he...

So everypony sees Big Macintosh as a drab grey stallion?

Only Discord could be behind such a chaotic and dangerous yet beautiful creature as The Mantis Shrimp in Equestria. Haha! That little factoid about the various number of cones in animal's eyes wasquite informative. It does however beg the question of why ponies are so dang colorful though...eh whatever. Great short little ficlet here.

6279762
Try and find one of those tulips that only reflect ultraviolet light. In real life, like--pictures don't convey its bizarreness very well. It's a trip.

6279929
I don't know why people have been thumbs-downing this comment. It's true. Those wavelengths are just as plausibly visible as the ones we can see. Our eyes only pick up a very narrow spectrum of electromagnetic radiation.

Bees can see ultraviolet light, and that's why many flowers have patterns on them which are invisible to human eyes, but visible to bees.

6279938
I don't know. Maybe. That was an idea I decided to include in this story, but I don't think it's really my head canon. In the show the ponies are portrayed as having abilities that go way beyond what real horses can do in our world. Perhaps the ability to see red is one of them?

I bet Discord can see the full electromagnetic spectrum when he wishes. I also bet he changes what he can see at any given moment, because if you could see it all at once you wouldn't be able to see anything because of how bright it would be... but then again, Discord's brain most likely would be build to process it, or he modified it to be able to make sense of nonsense.

6280969 I wonder why as well. Maybe people just like thinking color is this mystical thing that defies expectation, has no explanation, and we just cannot know if other colors existed! Color is just our brains making sense of the electromagnetic spectrum we can see, so people need to realize that if we could see more of the spectrum, then our brains would just make up the colors anyways. Still, it's fascinating to think about.

This was hilarious :rainbowlaugh: thank you!! :D

6281741
No problem. Anything for you, dear. :heart:

10/10 Would read again.

I liked the bit where you compared pony vision and human vision from a pony's perspective.

There should be more stories about this; just Fluttershy gushing about an especially awesome animal. Or even Twilight Sparkle talking about science.

6282934
You might like Zeno's Paradox which is Twilight and mathematics/philosophy.

I kind of just see Zeno's Paradox as a silly mind game meant to make overtaking someone sound impossible. I kind of see any paradox as just a sign that you have a flaw in your logic you haven't found yet. It's just not as interesting and awesome as, well, mantis shrimp.

Though it is an interesting demonstration that you can't prove what's true or false in practice by using theory. And I did read and enjoy the story. It's just not quite what I had in mind with my suggestion.

6283483
Check out the word count on Zeno's Paradox and Fluttershy Meets a Mantis Shrimp though. Exact. :moustache:

Also, yes, there are massive flaws in the logic behind Zeno's Paradox, but a couple of thousand years ago, philosophers really did see it as a big unanswered question.

6280969 They're biased against Daleks, I suspect!

And superior Dalek technology! Which I now possess as well!

*passing pony shouts out* NICE TITS!!

DALEK BUMPS!! >:C

6284264 Daleks do look like someone who was very confused (or very Japanese) tried to make a sex machine. You got the plunger thing for breast milking and the vibrator thing opposite it. Oh and lets not forget the tentacle monster inside (definitely Japanese).

FORNICATE! FOR-NI-CATE!

6279938 You forgot Applejack's orange coat and Applebloom's red mane. Pink is a shade of red so Pinkie is actually the drab-est Pie. Poor Sweetie Belle is the only crusader with decent color, what with Scootaloo's burnt orange coat. I wonder why Sweet Apple Acre's drab gray apples are so popular?

6285004

I wonder why Sweet Apple Acre's drab gray apples are so popular?

Chocolate's quite a dull colour, but it tastes good, so we forgive it.

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