Have I mentioned I identify with Fluttershy? Because I totally fucking do.

When I go through reading fanfiction after fanfiction I don't really stop to think when I read them, even the most in-depth of fanfictions. Oh sure I'll imagine what may or may not happen during said fanfiction or wonder if it's realistic, or attempt to predict what may or may not happen next, but it doesn't really stop to make me think.

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I think it's mostly because fanfiction is usually about plot or world-building or what have you and far less for character. My rants on this blog is always CHARACTER CHARACTER CHARACTER RAWRHRGHGRH! But well, it's funny because I'm pretty terrible at actual character writing. My own works are actually plot-based despite how much I value characterization and most fanfictions I read are also plot-related, I find. It's always "AND THIS THING HAPPENS, now our main characters shall react accordingly and we will be entertained" you know? That's pretty much the plot for EVERYTHING I've read. If anything when I read something I just hope to-god the characters are in-character and everything can go from there. 

 

Then I ran into a fanfic which I can't say was mindblowing or especially good...but it did make me think. Now you may or may not know but I'm quite the proponent for 'shyPie. However I think you can agree with me that every single piece of said pairing, be it artwork or fanfic or anything else that might exist for it...is pretty one-dimensional. There's some adorable/cute romantic love story of how they came to be, or it's friendshipping and they simply lean on one another or however, but nothing is really explored within the pairing. Why on earth would the two even gravitate each other over the others, friend-wise? Fluttershy would much prefer to spend time with ponies with closer interest, such as Rarity, and Pinkie Pie is this extroverted nut who no one could control but at least Rainbow is able to experience the same time of fun she does.

 

I've never really taken my time to actually think about said pairing. I always figured, "Well, they're my two favourite characters" and then my last rant was all about my whole love for friendship and such, in particular a specific type of it, so you know, of course I'd enjoy the pair. In a way the reason I never really thought about it is because....well, everyone else is right, how do these two work? It's not like they get episodes together or even many moments together. I can't very well come up with some crazy manifesto just because Fluttershy tackled Pinkie that one time. You know, even though Fluttershy doing something like that is rather bold and unlike her character so perhaps she is closer to Pinkie than first implied, yet something like this is never consistent.

 

It's never consistent like Fluttershy's friendship with RD and how they've grown much closer over the seasons. Or how RD and Pinkie's chemistry is constantly explored. In fact besides side scenes involving two characters we never really get full episodes exploring friendship in the show anymore. I've brought this up many times already but I really want to reinterate as much as possible because this is a part of pony I truly, truly miss. Every episode nowadays is like every fanfiction I usually read...something happens and the characters react. Or the characters do something to drive the plot, but interaction between the Mane Six is never the main focus of an episode anymore. 

 

Without these episodes we can only glean how their friendships might work through minor scenes. So what do we know about Pinkie and Fluttershy then? Okay, so she tackled her once...and she sang her song once in a baritone voice...and she startled her several times, and she made the other carry all her party supplies once, and she made her cry once, and such and such. Speaking of that last one, it's probably the biggest in terms of interaction between the two, Putting Your Hoof Down.

 

I am highly, highly mixed with that episode. On the one hand, Fluttershy directing such scathing words at Rarity and Pinkie felt like such a powerful and important scene...like the juiciest part of a drama, on the other hand it felt very misplaced in a show that isn't actually a drama, but a kids show meant to teach children morals. The fanfic I read...there was a lot of comments and criticism on it, not necessarily because it was bad or anything but because it also made others think...and one thing the author brought up was Fluttershy...how infrequently, though there, she brings up her true, rather brunt opinions when pushed. Normally Fluttershy just lets the others do what they want to do and she never brings up her own thoughts. This implied, especially in the Gala episode, that she has a lot of negativity inside she's holding back for the purpose of being polite and meek, and if bottled up for too long will explode.

 

It's not some amusing explosion either that any other character could have with their anger. This untamed explosion stings. She does not give her full, true, feelings onto Rarity's dresses until absolutely pushed...and then explodes with a flurry of criticism. When animals begin to fear her, she keeps up her kind charade until no longer and explodes. And finally, in Putting Your Hoof Down, she learns to be assertive...I guess some blame can be put on Iron Will despite the minotaur being quite the refreshing and ultimately well-meaning character because his lessons were less about assertiveness and more about being a pompous asshole. Still, that one scene in the episode where she makes the other two cry...it really feels like those are her true, uncensored feelings...

 

And if those words really are her true uncensored feelings, Fluttershy isn't nearly as nice as you'd think she is. In my opinion, if that episode is an extension and development of Fluttershy's character, she is very close to being a rather passive-aggressive type of pony. She's just a tad bit too kind to actually have that type of, IMO, horrible character flaw, but she's close. This type of flaw isn't one you can easily forgive and have a laugh at like Rarity's or Rainbow Dash's. Their flaws are drawn out very obviously and they learn plenty of lessons because of it, but Fluttershy's is far more subtle, something that may become a problem further on in the future because it pops up rather infrequently. Because her flaw never shows up on screen quite as often it actually feels more realistic, so when you do see it, this feeling of frustration boils in your stomach. It does in mine at least so when I see that scene in Putting Your Hoof Down, I just can't help to feel...well, unpleasant.

 

But...but Fluttershy is the ELEMENT OF KINDNESS!

 

For the Element of Kindness to say such words that might ring so brutally true in her mind...it just hurts. It's that kind of pain when you read a terribly depressing story. A story in which its goal is not to simply make you sad, not simply to end its epic tale with a bittersweet tingling in the back of your throat, no. Its job is to rip your heart straight out of your chest and stomp on the poor organ dozens and dozens of times before rolling it over several hundred shards of glass and then flinging it into the distance before it lands into a polluted landfill of dead animal guts, unrecognizable as a heart once before and merely a stain of red that camoflouges with its environment. 

 

Yet if Fluttershy is merely kind...she wouldn't be much of a character would she? Well she has plenty of other traits inside her besides this one aspect, but it's like Rarity. Rarity is the Element of Generosity...yet in the latest Spike episode gives him the smallest jewel. It is true that jewel may have been worth a lot, but we all know Rarity is aware that Spike likes jewels because they're delicious and not for their monetary value. So why would Rarity give him the most expensive one? Misplaced generosity? Some sort of weird sort-of-sensical irony? Perhaps she realized Spike's repeated thirst of guilt and didn't want to indulge him? Either way I suppose looking into such a moment so indepth as I am is kind of silly, but you always wonder, don't you?

 

The Elements remind me of Crests from Digimon, which were mostly a Season One (Adventure) thing, but had some relevance in Season 2 (which I didn't like, but I digress) You see in 02 there is this antagonist named Ken, or the Digimon Master. He believed the Digital World was some sort of game as opposed to the real thing...and what do you do when you see something like that!? Why, ENSLAVE ALL THE VIRTUAL CREATURES INSIDE AND TREAT THEM LIKE SHIT OF COURSE! And he apparently has his own partner he just carelessly abuses as well despite his one-sided love, and a whole bunch of other children who also have access to this so-called game constantly attempt to drill it into this messed up boy's head that what he is doing is WRONG because they are REAL.

 

Frankly, lots of people torture their Sims the first moment they get. Which I can see why, but for some reason it freaks me out that something attempting to simulate life dies on your screen, so I take care of all my Sims to the point of absolute boredom. Anyway the first scenario isn't any different than what Ken is doing, but if other players who were the only other people who ever played Sims came in and told you those poor computer people were sentient and that you should stop being an asshole, would it not be reasonable to uh, stop being an asshole?

 

Well he doesn't, not until he gets defeated a whole bunch and his Digimon dies on him. Then he cries his angst away...just as he's handed the Crest of Kindness. ...nice timing, Crest, nice timing.

 

Where am I going with this? I guess the Elements aren't absolute and isn't some amazing guideline on the ponies' personalities. Like I mentioned with Rarity, Pinkie Pie may personify all that is laughter, but if she does not get the smiles she craves, she'll end up in some sort of nasty relusive withdrawal, who never smiles or brings cheer at all. And there is an in-joke somewhere in this ridiculously huge community that RD and AJ swapped their elements. After all RD is the brutally honest one and AJ seems far more loyal than any other pony, but the Elements are what they are.

 

It's just for Fluttershy it isn't spelled out as clearly, nor as often, so when you do see that inkling of black in what is white, you cringe. You wonder how healthy it is for Fluttershy to be like she is, likely being kind because she genuinely is kind...but then you wonder, when is she truly kind and when is she holding back? Because in Keep Calm and Flutter On, Fluttershy definitely knows how not to be genuinely kind. Sure she is being nice to Discord...but what was her ultimately goal there, really? Io convert Discord, to reform him, was it not? Would Fluttershy have been his friend afterwards? Well sure, maybe she would, but not normally, I don't think. Discord is like a much more destructive Pinkie Pie and as we can tell she isn't especially close to Pinkie, so it's not like they could've grown close in that sense. But she had a job to do and she knew just how to do it...that manipulation, in a way, which she brought up just the same a single episode later...

 

I don't know. I don't know if I like this direction of Fluttershy's character. I don't know if I don't like it either, it's just...different. New, yet not...because we had shades of it in the past. That fanfic I mentioned? Completely grey, not white with an inkling of black, not a crack that occasionally forms in the seams, but something that is a complete mix. A mix I have never seen in PinkieShy or even Fluttershy stories themselves, a refreshing, alternate take on Fluttershy's character that brings up that little blackness inside her white because so many other stories never bring it up. Its too enveloped in its own plot to do so, and the story's only job is to keep Fluttershy in-character, in that lovable, shy, cute, meek little pegasus we all know and love. And when fanworks keep expressing the same thing over and over again, your mind tends to think, well that's that. That's Fluttershy! But then, we have forgotten this little piece of her that props up occasionally, so it stings all that much more when you do see it.

 

Honestly though there are many other problems with Putting Your Hoof Down and Keep Calm and Flutter On. I'm just not fond of the writing in these episodes, but ultimately they are canon...and that's what is disappointing. That ultimately they are canon and so, we must accept that is what a character would really do. It is possible of course, I see it as a decent pathway in what Fluttershy will become, but the episodes themselves just have a plethora of problems surrounding it, that I simply cannot be completely satisfied with such a direction either. 

 

But to the people who say Fluttershy isn't a consistent character...well, Fluttershy is a pony who acts different in different situations, as she should be. If she is among her animal friends she's far more outgoing because she isn't afraid of doing something wrong or having to keep up a reputation. She feels at home with her animals and lets her whole self out. When she is among ponies she constructs a barrier and is merely there, to be their company. She will not speak nor is she involved, unless she is nudged to. She's just there to listen and watch, to enjoy her friend's company as well but they're doing so well with the important stuff like planning the plan to save the world or injecting the humour to make those smile, or coming up with the most dramatic entrance ever, and she is there, in the corner...quiet, yet content. Perhaps she does have something she might want to say, she likely does in fact, whether or not it's controversial isn't important, but she'll never let you know what it is unless you directly ask. Because she is content to let things flow while she's there. After all she doesn't want to disturb that flow, or be a bother. Then if she must be put in action she is reluctant, but ultimately brave. She will do so if she absolutely, absolutely must, but if she doesn't have to absolutely must, she will not...so she's again, content on the side.

 

Dragonshy? She tried to avoid everything. She was obviously afraid of course, but still she was apparently impervative to actually getting rid of the dragon and oh dear, being the spotlight and depended upon is something Fluttershy does not want (and of course, fear of dragons) But then...she is pushed into the spotlight, she absolutely, absolutely must do so, to get rid of the dragon. So she does. In Stare Master she wants to take the CMC off Rarity's hooves because oh dear is she busy, and if she can drag those children out of the spotlight and into some quiet activity, all will be swell. Unfortunately little fillies like them are not the quiet, colouring in a corner type and their bombastic attitudes thrust Fluttershy back into that spotlight again, and because they are indeed her responsibility and she must protect them, she absolutely, absolutely, must do so again. Every single time this hesistance, this reluctance pops about...but she always goes through with it because she must.

 

A Bird in a Hoof, well animals throw her into the spotlight naturally and she had intended to keep it rather low key by healing the poor bird herself then putting it back. Twilight came in and forced it all out and then when it seemed like she failed spectacularly, well she had to accept what she had done, when initially it was just a small little thing she thought no one would pay attention to. Green Isn't Your Colour gives us the lovely Rarity quote, "You must! You must! YOU MUST!" And so she did...and hated every single second of it.

 

And so every single lesson appears to be...YOU MUST! And then she does. That is to say she DOESN'T have to if she isn't forced to...after all, Magic Duel had RD give the splendid and perfectly reasonable idea to send Fluttershy out into the wild to retrieve and contact Twilight. This is not a YOU MUST, no one was in imminent danger whatsoever, and any other pony could've hid in that log and be thrown out by the beavers so long as Fluttershy was the one to ask them to. Thus, she was forced into the Everfree Forest by her birds. Of course this could be overanalyzing since the writer enjoys comedy via terrified!Fluttershy, but it's still a point here! 

 

Frankly Putting Your Hoof Down had aggressive ponies EVERYWHERE, not just Iron Will and Fluttershy. The townsfolk were rude, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were rude, manipulation to the max, and that didn't help things with Fluttershy. I don't know why they had to be angry at her for pushing it so far WHEN EVERYPONY ELSE WAS BLOODY DOING IT. Fluttershy isn't THAT much of a doormat, she simply doesn't like to push anyone's time, bother anyone, stay in the sidelines as long as possible and if you teach her that staying in the sidelines is BAD, then of course she'll force herself into every spotlight ever. If anything they exaggerated her doormat-ness just so this lesson could work, extremes to extremes...truly the writers are correct when they say Fluttershy is the hardest character to write for.

 

I just don't know how to react to that episode. The comedy was there...the conflict was there, the words just STUNG, but it also felt wrong. Wrong, all wrong! This is not happy Equestria! THIS IS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE EQUESTRIA! I bet if all ponies WERE that mean on a daily basis she WOULD be that much of a doormat. This is the only episode I gave a bloody review without actually loving it like every other episode because it was so back and forth and was about one of my favourite characters!

 

Then Hurricane Fluttershy brings back the YOU MUST! And now I know why people complain her lessons are the same...not the lesson itself, that is always different, but how she comes to solving it...by being forced into it to save the day in some way. But that's not a flaw I do not think, moreso the lack of creativity...it only makes sense to use such a device to solve her problems because of the type of pony she is. A pony who probably doesn't want to be responsible for saving anything, but must. She just wants to stay on the sidelines, and yet she enjoyed that moment of spotlight in Hurricane Fluttershy, throwing her hooves into the air. A sign of change, of character development perhaps? I truly loved that episode.

 

And I truly love the character of Fluttershy. I had no idea I could write that all about Fluttershy...just because of a fanfic. Pinkie's personality and character is covered everywhere already. Her's is quite obvious with the existence of Pinkamena and her Rock Farm upbringing...simply encourages the sad dark backstory fic all over the place. But the author again brings up another point, it's like she's literally addicted to smiles, and again, without them goes into deep depression, becoming completely unlike herself. Certainly you can say someone who is drunk or high on drugs is completely unlike their true self, so perhaps Pinkie is simply never sober? Constantly high on sugar and smiles...and if she does not get her fix (ala Cranky) she'll BE AS DESPERATE AND ANNOYING AS POSSIBLE TO GET IT!?!?!

 

SHE NEEDS HER FIX!!!

 

But somehow she holds back for Fluttershy. I wonder how they even became friends? Most likely they became mutual friends after the first episode. Perhaps Fluttershy gave Pinkie Gummy, maybe Pinkie kept Fluttershy company when she fell off the clouds to get her cutie mark, maybe Pinkie pranked Fluttershy at one point, and some series of events occurred where Pinkie learnt never to prank the poor girl and soon became an unsung protector of the mare. There are many reasonable explanations...but if she never pranks Fluttershy...can it be extended to that Pinkie realizes how sensitive she is to her extroverted manic attacks as well? Is that why they are never shown to be close? Can Pinkie actually exercise self-restraint on someone? Is that why Fluttershy jump-hugged her that one episode? And if that's the case, does that not suggest a deeper understanding between the two than initially thought? 

 

When you delve into the characters...you can make any ship work. :D 

 

This is what happens when you read these rare alternate character intepretations. That's why I love Touhou after all...so much potential for alternate interpretations, but this is the first for pony...and look how much text that caused.

 

This has been Spotto and I stayed up faaaaaaaaaaaaar too long to finish this rant.