Fluttershy's Nature Show, Season Two

The camera clicks on to a view of the side of the boat, then immediately turns outward as it hits the water, showing a bunch of fish all swimming upside-down. It shows this view for a few seconds before a yellow streak enters the water from below, letting the bubbles trickle down towards the surface.

A green bikini top with a broken clasp floats by, and moments later, Fluttershy and her breasts are hanging upside down in front of the camera as she sticks her head through the floor. She says something, but through the surface tension of the water, it's hard to hear properly.

Regardless, something made of fabric hits the surface, and Fluttershy pulls it up into the water, wrapping it around her breasts, jiggling them around a few times to make sure they're properly secured. She then moves out of the way just in time for a purple streak to enter the water. Twilight and her breasts show up next, but rather than needing to poke her head up out of the water, she has her bikini top in her hand, and she slips into it easily.

"Thanks for the heads-up," she says, looking toward Fluttershy. "It's a good thing Rainbow and Pinkie are the only ones out here to have seen us. If we'd actually hired that captain, there would have been a boy out here. And we certainly don't want that."

"I just wish we would have known to take off our bikini bottom before the transformation," says Fluttershy, swishing her mermaid tail. "I really liked that swimsuit."

"I'll do what I can to replace it," assures Twilight. "I'm sure you liked the suit, but I bet you'll like interacting with today's guest even more."

Fluttershy nods. She then grabs the camera and gives it to Twilight, and the whole ridiculous bit about the camera being upside-down is corrected as the camera is flipped to the correct orientation.

"This way," says Fluttershy, after turning to look in several directions. "The boat's motor upset them a bit, but they're on their way back. It'll be faster to meet them halfway."

The view bobs up and down, back and forth, but particles of stuff in the water seem to be rushing by at an increased pace until four blue creatures swim into view. Only then does Fluttershy slow down, along with the camera.

"Is this the normal size?" whispers Twilight. "I thought the group would be... bigger."

Fluttershy turns back to the camera and shakes her head. "Bottlenose Dolphin pods go through stages of fusion and fission all the time. Sometimes, two groups come together to form one, and when they split, they break back into two groups with the separated groups being completely different than the two that formed it."

"Don't they want to stay with their families?" asks Twilight. "Surely, their families are worth something, right?"

"Oh, yes, absolutely," smiles Fluttershy. It's actually very common for the fathers to stay with the young and raise them to be stronger, better offspring, so that their offspring can be yet better."

"That's odd," snorts Twilight. "You would think that the mother would be the one to be protective."

"Not in the case of the bottlenose dolphin. You will find that, in their case, the groups are more often collections of males, rather than females. The boys tend to stay together longer and with more powerful friendships. The girls tend to upset each other and leave."

"That's still pretty odd," sighs Twilight. "I was sure most fish tend to stay together in schools."

Fluttershy turns back to Twilight. She looks concerned. "Dolphins are mammals, Twilight."

"Oh. Right. Duh..." Twilight chuckles. "I knew that. Why did I think they were fish?"

"I don't think that's even a common misconception," pouts Fluttershy. "That's one of those "gotcha" type facts that every schoolfilly uses to try to one-up their friends. Dolphins, whales and bats are all mammals."

"As are platypi, despite laying eggs. I was aware, it's just... I can't always remember everything perfectly. When you have as much information memorised as I do, sometimes facts are misremembered."

"It's okay," smirks Fluttershy. "We can fix it in post, right?"

"We'll fix it in post."

The dolphins are close now, and begin to circle around them. Fluttershy reaches out to touch the top of one's head, gently rubbing him. "You know, Dolphins are one of the most intelligent animals on the planet."

"How so?"

"They've been shown to learn very quickly, and even master complicated concepts. They've even been known to communicate directly with ponies."

"Rats have been known to display the same behaviour," argues Twilight. "Shouldn't they be given a shot?"

"They should," agrees Fluttershy. "They're very intelligent, too. But you know what they're not? Here. And the dolphins are."

"Okay, okay. So, tell us more about the dolphins."

"Well, for one thing, they never truly sleep. They're capable of turning off half of their brain to let it rest, then switching sides so that they always have awareness of what's going on around you. You'll never come across a sleeping dolphin. Only a half-asleep one."

"Why is that, do you think?"

"Because they have lungs instead of gills, they need to keep breathing air, and most marine creatures would sink if they fell asleep. They'd all drown if they couldn't keep themselves close to the surface. They have to fill their lungs with air, and for them, breathing takes some amount of thought. It's not on autopilot, like it is for us. This is called "unihemispheric sleeping," and they typically stay near the surface while doing so. Otherwise, they would die."

"Wow. I was hoping for a theory, but you just have the answer, huh?"

Fluttershy shrugs. "You know I can just ask them, right?"

"I know. I just... You knew without asking them anything."

She shrugs. "I studied before we came out."

One of the dolphins stops circling, putting his body in a shape not dissimilar to the letter S. He lets out a somewhat loud squeak and chitters a little bit.

"You're right, I'm sorry," says Fluttershy, raising a hand. "We'll go back to it."

"What was that about?" asks Twilight.

"Oh, he just insisted that we stop arguing..."