Fluttershy's Nature Show, Season Two

Fluttershy turns on the camera just to have it look up her nose. Almost immediately, she lifts it up over her head and slams it down, stabilising it. She then takes a few steps back to grip a bent handrail with a giant metal log with plastic bark underneath it.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?!" she yells into the air. "They're not that bad!"

There's a dull roar that shakes the camera and knocks Fluttershy up into the air, but she manages to hold onto the rail. It almost sounds like Twilight's voice, but if it were significantly lower and more gusty.

"Okay! I'll see you later, then!"

The booming gust hits the area again before Fluttershy returns to the camera and picks it up.

"Okay. It looks like I'm on my own for this one," she sighs. "I guess we just move along until we find the ones we're looking for. I was hoping for company, as these guys can be fairly aggressive, but I guess not."

She makes her way quickly along the terrain, following the plastic-coated log. As she advances, other rails make themselves known, and stamped into the plastic bark are letters. "THW 12-EWG" keep repeating until the whole thing stops. The ground beneath her suddenly becomes long, sharp, jagged rocks that stretch out along the horizon, and the log curls up and wraps around itself in the air.

Fluttershy walks out to one of the jagged peaks and looks back. With some distance between her and where she had been moments prior, it becomes clearer that she's on a broken fence post that had electrical wires stapled to it. She's just really small, as evidenced by the fact that Twilight's gargantuan head has blotted out the sun.

She turns back to the cliff and jumps off. Her shadow shows that her wings are open, and she is gliding to the ground. She lands among some jagged rocks, though that may just as well be sand, given her relative size. Picking one up, she can see right through it, with only the cracked parts being white. Mixed in with that are some red and brown rocks, and even a few purple ones.

"So, what we see here are sand, clay, and amethyst. It's all been broken down into little pieces to be carried up here."

There's a clicking behind her, and she turns around. There, standing on a pile of dirt, is a giant ant.

Well, maybe not giant, but pretty damn big. Given its distance, it's about three times the size of Fluttershy. Its mandibles are very long and jagged, right beneath its massive compound eyes. Its legs and antennae are exceptionally long and slender, stretching out what would be, if Fluttershy was normal size, three metres each. That is, except for the back two legs. Those are more like four metres, each.

Behind its massive, bulbous head, its thorax is made up of four segments. The first could qualify as shoulders, housing just the two front legs and the head. The next segment back holds the four back legs, and then there are two petioles connecting to the abdomen. As it flexes its abdominal segment, a long stinger emerges slowly, in anticipation of an attack.

"Oh, no! Calm down! I'm not an enemy ant! I come with food, see?"

She fumbles with the camera for a bit, then sets it down as she reaches into her bag and pulls out some crumbs. She holds it out in front of her, and while the ant does clasp its mandibles around her wrist, it lets go after tasting the food she offered, refraining from ripping her arm off.

"Thank you, ma'am," she smiles as she scratches its carapace. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind; I have this nature documentary that I'm filming, and I was hoping--"

The ant seems to hiss at her and clacks its mandibles together.

"Oh, that would be lovely! It'd solve--"

She clicks and hisses again.

"Oh. Oh, I see. You were being sarcastic." Fluttershy sighs. "Is there anything you can do to help me be welcomed down there?"

She smacks her antennae against Fluttershy's shoulders, her hissing sounding almost like a growl now.

Fluttershy lets out a groan. "Seriously? Is that the only way?"

The ant spins around.

"Fine. But I'm going to need some help. If you grab me some secretions from that gland, I'd be ever so grateful."

There's a hiss from the ant.

"Of course. I'll even pay for it in advance." She reaches into her bag again and pulls out an even larger glob of crumbs. "I would gladly offer up even more for your assistance, but this is the only way, after all..."

The ant inches closer, though it's only an inch and a half in distance from her already, and clicks its mandibles.

"Oh, much bigger than what's in the bag," smiles Fluttershy slyly. "If you can find a way to bring me into the hive, I can promise you the same thing I just brought you, but a thousand times bigger. Something... that size." She points to a paper plate lying near the trash pile. "That big, and it tastes just like this. Interested?"

The ant shakes visibly, clearly excited at the prospect. It then hisses one last time and walks away.

Fluttershy chuckles and turns back to the camera. "It has been said several times that you catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar. And while I'm not sure if that's correct, as I've never had to use either to call for flies, there is something to be said about bribing ants with it. What I've just done is offered up an entire small carrot cake in exchange for the pheromones that would allow me to enter the anthill. Rather, they'd allow me to enter the enthill without being attacked... Anthill. Anthill, not enthill. Eh, we'll fix it in post..."

Fluttershy pulls up a pile of rocks and dirt into a slightly elevated seat and an equally recessed hole for her feet. To keep her chair from collapsing and crushing her ankles, a twig and leaf are used to separate the area.

"Nothing left to do now but wait for her to return..."