Wingnut suggested that I should keep these things archived for safekeeping, so here they are:

Hurricane Fluttershy:

But Hurricane Fluttershy... I have spoken about that episode already, but it is firmly cemented as my favorite. Not many episodes can be the best episode for TWO different ponies at once. Both the point of view of Fluttershy and the point of view of Rainbow Dash struck close to my heart, and the episode shows that they are true friends. And it didn't chicken out on its moral by making Fluttershy secretly a great flyer or make her addition smash the record. It stuck to the idea that "any contribution, no matter how small, can count".

 

It's not going to feel realistic for many people that they have a secret well of talent that they haven't tapped out of fear. If you are truly terrible at something and get better, it takes a lot of hard work, and doesn't instantly happen when you try hard enough. Usually when we see this moral, it is therefore too distant. But Hurricane Fluttershy got it exactly right. It showed that yes, your best might be pitiful, no matter how hard you work. But even if you suck, you can feel proud about the fact that you are truly putting your best effort in despite dissapointment and you can be proud of your achievements, no matter how small. Hurricane Fluttershy feels real in its moral. Having Fluttershy try so hard and fail again made you love her more, and it made her final triumph much more of an accomplishment. Trying your hardest even if you are afraid and you are not very good is one thing. Trying just as hard after all of your hardest work failed is another.

 

Rainbow Dash also made her own journey here. How can you comfort a friend who you don't understand the plight of? And how do you continue to encourage them after they gave their best shot and didn't even come close to reaching you? It wasn't about the record anymore for Dash. It was about trying to help her friend the best way she could, even if she couldn't help much at all.

 

I've read somewhere that if this episode was to be described in one word, it would be "Strong". I agree. It was like a pillar, focused and solid, straight and never wavering from its purpose. I'd also like to commend the amazing musical work of William Anderson in this episode. I shall end my post with this as a summary of sorts of everything fantastic about Hurricane Fluttershy:

 

Why Applejack Is Best Pony In 5 Reasons:

Here we go!

 

1. Applejack has a simultaneously down to earth and bouncy personality with an irresistible charm that is surpassed by none. I can't stop myself from smiling when she walks on screen. And I definitely agree with one of the above posters about her design; it's the epitome of the term "Southern belle".

 

2. Applejack has a good sense of humor, especially when it comes to sarcasm. You know why Hearth's Warming Eve is the funniest episode in the series? This. This, right here, is why. And her earnest personality makes her quirks both really adorable and very funny. Dat race in Apple Family Reunion.

 

3. She's received the third most character development in the series after Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Not only does she learn from her lessons and consistently apply them, but over the seasons, she has become much more open minded and generally more mature. In Season 3, she's good friends with Rarity, which would... not have happened in Season 1. She also treats Applebloom less like a baby and acts less competitive.

 

4. You can tell that she works very hard to be both a sisterly and a motherly figure to Applebloom. I mean, everything about her parents... just woah. Applejack is a character that is vividly painted here. Her parents died in her childhood, forcing her to take up a lot of responsibility at a young age and deeply traumatizing a happy little filly. In my personal canon, she ran away to Manehattan soon after this in order to escape her grief, probably a part of the tale that Applejack didn't want to tell to the cheerful CMC. Ever since she got her cutie mark, she's been working tirelessly to make something for the Apples that her parents could be proud of and to make sure that Applebloom never has to go without a mother like she did. If you don't want to give Applejack a big hug after that, you have no soul.

 

5. Applejack is thoroughly human. No, she still has hooves and a tail and such, I'm talking about her personality here. Sure, on the outside, she seems practically perfect in every way. Whenever she has a problem, she goes ahead and deals with it. She's rational, mature, and always willing to do whatever job needs to be done.

 

Applejack also completely overworks, overblames, and overloads herself to do this. That's what she's had to do all her life. When mom and dad died? There's still work to be done at the farm and a sister to raise. Applejack feels like she can't let herself go. Unlike Twilight, who has somewhat similar problems with letting herself fail, Applejack won't tell anypony else about her feelings. In Lesson Zero, Twilight openly admitted to all of her friends that she was worried and nervous. Applejack had two different episodes centered around the fact that she cannot do this, or at least that she convinces herself that she can't. And this makes sense. It's a complex that she has built up around the fact that she had a lot of pain and grief in her past and had to pretend it didn't exist because there was too much work to do to spend time dwelling on emotions.

 

Gentlemen, here in a cartoon about colorful little ponies we have a character who has a complex built around her parents' death and her inability to express her grief. That is some dark shit.

 

But what of that "element of honesty" thing? It makes this story have a heartwarming conclusion. Applejack has made an environment for her family of openness and trust and has become a mare that everypony can trust. And slowly but surely, Applejack is beginning to let herself be a normal pony and not a superheroine. And I'll be along with her for the ride.

 

 

Well, I didn't mean literally, but I suppose this works too...