After a string of a few episodes of largely normal quality for Season 2, we got... well, a special episode. A dang special episode. In fact, it's probably the best episode in the closing episodes of Season 2 until the season finale. "Hurricane Fluttershy" is one of those perfect episodes that just seems to get everything right. A great lesson, good pacing, sweet thrills and fun laughs, and most importantly, great friendship all around. Without further ado, let's take a look at the awesomeness that is "Hurricane Fluttershy"!

Seeing as this is a Fluttershy episode, let's start off by covering the timid little pegasus herself, along with the amazing lesson of this episode. Put simply, in my opinion, this episode has Fluttershy at her finest, and is probably her best episode to date! The only other one that might highlight her qualities better is "Keep Calm and Flutter On", but the reason I feel that "Hurricane Fluttershy" is superior is that, whereas Fluttershy faces off against a completely separate entity in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" (i.e. Discord), in "Hurricane Fluttershy" she has to overcome a very difficult personal obstacle, a physical and mental challenge. So what's Fluttershy up against this week? Well, Ponyville's been selected to provide rainwater to Cloudsdale for the year, and Rainbow Dash, as the obvious flight-leader of the Ponyville pegasi, dives headfirst into the task, attempting to not only complete it, but break the wind speed record set the previous year by Fillydelphia. To do so, she needs every single one of the Ponyville pegasi to participate at their absolute top speeds, and yes, that includes Fluttershy. This, however, proves to be rather problematic for Fluttershy; she's both physically a weak flier, having always had trouble flying, plus she just doesn't enjoy flying in general, both because she prefers to stay on the ground unless she absolutely must fly and also because as a filly her weak flying drew laughs and derision from the other pegasi in Cloudsdale. If this were an emergency, she'd probably have less trouble participating, but this is simply a civic activity that's technically voluntary and which Rainbow doesn't even think will be that hard to pull of at the very least. Obviously Flutters is going to have some difficulty with this.

What I love about this scenario is that this episode, with Fluttershy and her fears, is clearly reaching out to anyone who's ever had self-esteem issues on account of physical or mental limitations and any derision they received as a result from their peers. This is an extremely relatable issue for very many people, and the writers handled it excellently! While she's fearful at first, with the help of both her animal friends, as well as a great deal of encouragement from Rainbow Dash and Twilight, Fluttershy pushes herself to her physical limits and overcomes her mental blocks, flying about as well as she can. While it's certainly not much compared to what more naturally capable pegasi can reach, in the end, Fluttershy's little bit of speed is essential to even creating the water tornado at all after the feather flu devastates the Ponyville pegasi ranks. Overcoming her fears and disbelief in herself, Fluttershy finds the courage to believe in herself and do what she must for her friends, town, and all of Equestria. While it's great that she does something for her home, it's also worth noting that she equally does this for herself! It's not that she's being selfish or anything, but sometimes we have to be reminded that often overcoming personal demons is as much for ourselves as it is for the people we love, plus as selfless as Fluttershy is, she of all ponies certainly needed this lesson in self-confidence and believing in yourself. I love too that Fluttershy, although essential in the end, doesn't end up being the fastest flyer or anything. She's a necessary cog in the machine, but she's still no star player. Too often a kids show will have an episode where some kid ends up being an unexpected hero for say a sports team by doing something truly exceptional, such as a game winning touchdown. This message, however, feels a lot truer, more sincere and real: you do not have to be the best player out there or make some amazing play on a team in order to be making valuable contributions. Speaking from personal experience, while I never encountered any derision, I can say with confidence that I myself somewhat know where Fluttershy is coming from, largely in physical limitations. From my childhood through high school I always played sports, but I never had that much natural ability. I did however have a heck of a lot of persistence and determination and always stuck with it because I loved the sports and I loved the friends I made and teammates I played with. In football, I never went beyond second string in high school, but in my senior year I earned Scout Team Champion of the Year from our very own coaching staff. In track and field, I was never at the front of the pack, but in the spring of my senior year I was named one of our four or five captains. There is truth to this lesson in "Hurricane Fluttershy", a great truth, and I know that I and thousands of other people out there have experience with it. You can still make great contributions, play important roles, and earn the respect of your peers even if you aren't the greatest at something; hard work, giving it your all for yourself and for others, those are the things that really matter and are their own rewards. Definitely one of my top ten favorite lessons in the entire show, both for the quality of the moral as well as the execution.

Well we're not quite done yet with this review, no sir. Besides Fluttershy, there's one other character who really shines in this episode: Rainbow Dash. As far as supporting roles go, this is most definitely my favorite RD episode in which she's playing a supporting character. Heck, I like her in this episode more than in a bunch of her starring appearances in all 3 seasons, including Season 2. So just why does she stand out so much here? Well, to be honest, RD probably behaves more maturely here than she ever had in the show up until that point. It's really one of the best examples of clear-cut character growth paying dividends from lessons learned in previous episodes for any of the Mane 6! She's not boastful, braggy, asinine, arrogant; rather, she behaves like a leader and a good friend, both with Fluttershy as well as the other pegasi. With Fluttershy, she's gentle; yeah, she pushes her, but she doesn't push her for selfish reasons, but because she believes in Fluttershy and wants to see her friend do her best, both for herself and Ponyville. With the Ponyville pegasi, Dashie's a relentless leader; her biggest shortcoming in fact is simply her not taking their personal hygiene more seriously seeing as that feather flu pandemic takes them so off-guard. Even when it becomes clear that they can't break the record which they were on pace to doing, does Dashie throw in the towel? Hay no, of course not! Instead, she presses on and pushes everypony else to follow her lead so they can get Cloudsdale the water they need for all of Equestria! That is simply RD at her best; it's one of the best highlights of what a truly awesome and loyal pegasus she is, and her sheer determination in the face of impossible odds is just a blast to watch. She's a great friend, a tireless leader, relentlessly loyal, and just plain awesome; nothing more you can say other than this is Rainbow Dash at her finest!

Finally, there's a lot of other things that really make this episode great, not just good. I love seeing all of the Ponyville pegasi; I'm kind of a sucker for pegasi especially, and boy oh boy they're all over this episode! Derpy cameos, the introduction of Snowflake, Flitter, and Cloudchaser, and tons of other pegasi, this episode's just a dream come true for me! In addition, I love how involved all of these background ponies are. In the end, pretty much the entire Ponyville pegasus population is directly involved in saving the day, and since it's so rare that we ever get to see background ponies making any real contributions to the action of the show, this episode stands out in a pretty unique and awesome regard for the inclusion of so many. There's some funny Spike and Twilight moments, as there usually are when those two are playing supporting characters. Fluttershy's woodland critter friends are hilarious and adorable as usual, and Angel Bunny especially gets a special shout out for probably being more supportive in this episode than I've ever seen him before or since of Fluttershy. The 80's training montage is hysterical and so cheesy and delicious, and that's all that really needs to be said about that. The animation's gorgeous as usual, especially during the climax, which is pretty much perfect in every single regard.

Overall, "Hurricane Fluttershy" remains not just one of the greatest episodes of Season 2, but also one of the finest episodes in MLP to date, as well as in my opinion Fluttershy's best episode so far. With a great lesson, riveting storyline, fantastic characterization of both Fluttershy and RD, and just flat-out perfect execution in pretty much every single regard, it's definitely one of the most noteworthy episodes of MLP most certainly worth a rewatch if you're looking for a real treat.