Fluttershy's Nature Show

With their trust now gained, Fluttershy is petting the trunks of several elephants, reveling in their gentleness. The leader kneels down at one point, and Fluttershy takes the opportunity to climb up onto his shoulders and directs Twilight to do the same with a different elephant. Together, they ride toward the river.

"Do you understand my position now, Twilight," smiles Fluttershy. "We don't have to worry about being stepped on or sat on. They don't just do that for the fun of it."

"Yeah, I'll admit that the added protection has so far been unnecessary, but you'll have to forgive me if I tell you that you should leave it on. They may not intend to cause any harm, but accidents can still happen."

Fluttershy rolls her eyes. "Fine. But I'm telling you, this was a lot of rubberizing for no payoff."

"Duly noted."

They make it to the river, where the elephants fill up their trunks with water to shower themselves in the spray. Twilight puts up a shield at the last second to protect herself and the camera, but Fluttershy ends up soaked. She turns around as Twilight giggles.

"That was very petty of you."

"I didn't have that much time to react," reasons Twilight. "I had to protect the camera. It's not waterproof."

"Yeah, I understand, but it still feels like you did that on purpose. Especially when you laugh like that."

Twilight takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Here, let me help you with that." She sets the camera down on the elephants back and reaches into her pack, pulling out a pair of hand towels and a rain hat. She is preparing to toss them, but Fluttershy stops her, nudging her elephants ears with her feet to bring them closer.

"It's a lot easier to reach if we have less distance to cover," smiles Fluttershy, leaning over and taking the care package. She dries herself off partially with the hand towels, but as they are only hand towels, she can only do so much. When she's dry enough, she puts on the hat. "Are we still rolling?" Twilight nods and picks up the camera, just in time to need to put up a magical barrier to protect them both from another spray.

"So, you might be wondering why elephants spray themselves down with water from their nose. It's commonly indicated that this is how they clean themselves. While this isn't exactly wrong, it's neither the only reason nor the most important reason. While they do end up washing away dirt and endless surface parasites, that's really just a side effect. A boon, to be sure, but really just an added benefit. The real reason they do this should be obvious to anypony who lives in the area. Temperatures around here, while often mild, can be on the warmer side. Twenty degrees is nice, but in temperatures that reach up to thirty-five degrees, you would want something to cool you down, and a spray of cold water is just the sort of refreshment you need to keep you happy and healthy. Another reason is to moisten their epidermis, as even elephants need to exfoliate. Some nice, rough tree bark will finish the job.

"Elephants have another reason for needing to stay near the water, that being how much they drink. Elephants, being very large, need to drink a lot of water. Similar to camels, they can go a fair amount of time between big drinks, but to a lesser degree. While camels can drink enough to go for days, Elephants are more along the lines of having a long drink at dawn and not having to drink again until dusk. They're crepuscular, meaning they're most active in the early morning, and at twilight."

"What?"

"Early in the morning, they rise, and are active for a short time. They're less active during the day, and they come out again around twilight."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I say. They see twilight roll around, and they become more active."

"I don't come around very often."

Fluttershy sighs and rubs her face. "Not you, Twilight, I mean the vesperian hour. Dusk, twilight, evening, sunset and all the other names that are used interchangeably for the end of the day."

There is a pause as Twilight considers Fluttershy's words. "Oh."

Fluttershy smirks. "It's okay. We can cut that part out, right? We'll fix it in editing. Isn't that what you tell me whe--"

Their interaction is interrupted by a roar. Fluttershy and the other elephants turn to look, and a moment later, with a loud trumpeting from the leader, the whole herd turns and runs as fast as they can in the opposite direction, with Fluttershy clinging to her steed for dear life.

"I thought you said that elephants were no pushovers?!" calls Twilight, barely hanging on. "And that their predators were only after those that were weak and alone?!"

"There's an exception to every rule!" responds Fluttershy. "They have good reason to fear this one!"

Twilight steadies the camera and turns it around. Following them is an adult dragon, flying toward them with claws extended and ready to claim its meal.

"Hold on tight!" calls Fluttershy. "I'm going to try to shake him!"

Twilight turns the camera toward Fluttershy and the lead elephant. With a quick nudge, Fluttershy turns the herd just in time for the dragon's claws to miss Twilight's ride. Twilight cries out in fear, as she narrowly avoids being made into a dragon's snack.

"We have to lose him!" shouts Fluttershy, turning the herd further away from the dragon's path. "Or we'll be studying the dragon's digestive system from the inside!"

As the dragon loops around to try again, Fluttershy turns the leader one more time, causing all of them to disappear into the trees. The dragon was so focused on his prey that the sudden onslaught of tree branches to his face, neck and shoulders comes as a surprise and knocks him out of the chase.

Twilight records this, but her facing backwards while riding on the back of an elephant does not prepare her for a tree branch that knocks her and the camera off. The strap for the camera is caught on the tusk of the elephant behind her, but she is left clinging to the outstretched branch as the elephants stampede away without her.