Fluttershy

By Sazama Ichida

• March 12, 2015




Age: Unknown

Gender: Female

Species: Pegasus

Appearance: Lauren Faust was inspired to create Fluttershy by her childhood toy G1 Earth pony Posey. Fluttershy's initial design, published online by Faust, refers to her as "Posey" as well. Her cutie mark, three pink and cyan butterflies, is similar to that of the G2 pony Sky Skimmer. Fluttershy's name is shared by a previous generation Earth pony, who is a photography enthusiast.

Cutie Mark: A swarm of Butterflies representing kindness, benevolence and care.

Personality: When Fluttershy is first introduced in the series, she barely manages to tell Twilight Sparkle her own name on account of her timidity, whispering so quietly that Twilight cannot hear her, and hiding her face behind her mane. However, she immediately becomes enthusiastic when she sees Spike, imploring the baby dragon to hold a conversation with her, which he ends up doing, and follows him and Twilight all the way to the library. Her shy nature contrasts with Rainbow Dash's abrasiveness, most notably in Dragonshy, and to a lesser extent in Sonic Rainboom. In season one, Fluttershy's inability to speak up often annoys Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow expresses her aggravation more than once. One instance is when Fluttershy cheers as loudly as she can for Rainbow Dash at the beginning of Sonic Rainboom, yet much to the latter's exasperation, can't manage more than a whisper. Season two shows them having grown closer to each other as friends despite their differences. She is afraid of dragons (with the stated exception of baby dragons such as Spike), and is hesitant to continue forward when she and the others embark on an expedition to deal with a sleeping dragon in Dragonshy, relying heavily on her friends' encouragement. In the end, Fluttershy finds the courage to speak to the dragon when it begins harassing her friends, going so far as to raise her voice in anger and stand on its nose to look it in the eye as she lectures it. In Stare Master, she tames a wild cockatrice in a similar manner, becoming angry with it when it scares the Cutie Mark Crusaders; however, in this instance, the Stare is employed.<br />She is reduced to tears by Gilda in Griffon the Brush Off when the griffon roars in her face. Afraid to be in the same room as Gilda during Pinkie Pie's party, Fluttershy attempts to voice her discomfort to Pinkie, who obliviously waves off her distress. In Luna Eclipsed, Fluttershy sequesters herself at home in her cottage during Nightmare Night, and refuses to answer the door until she learns that her visitor is Twilight. She is then forcibly brought out by Twilight to give Princess Luna a lesson in how to speak softly, with the Princess's "Royal Canterlot Voice" terrifying her.<br /><br />In Putting Your Hoof Down, Fluttershy becomes "assertive" after attending a seminar from Iron Will. However, when she over-asserts herself, (e.g. going berserk when a mail carrier delivers her the wrong mail), Rarity and Pinkie attempt to intervene. In the end, she realizes her mistake after driving her friends away in tears, and with the help of her animal friends, locks herself in her cottage to prevent herself from causing anyone more harm. When Iron Will visits shortly afterwards to collect the fee for his seminar, Fluttershy uncharacteristically politely refuses him, eliciting shock from the onlooking Rarity and Pinkie Pie. She explains that she is evoking Iron Will's earlier guarantee that if a customer was not satisfied with his services, they would pay nothing; as she is not satisfied, she will not pay him. Iron Will relents and leaves, and her friends congratulate her on her new-found confidence. In Dragon Quest, she again displays her fear of dragons. Fluttershy pointedly refuses to watch the Dragon Migration with her friends, despite Twilight's coaxing. It culminates in Fluttershy pushing past Rainbow Dash and jumping out the window, fleeing the scene before any of them could follow her. In Hurricane Fluttershy, she tries to evade her responsibilities as a Pegasus to help create a tornado to move water to Cloudsdale from Ponyville's reservoir. After some insistence from Rainbow Dash, she reveals that she is afraid of humiliating herself by performing badly as a flyer in front of all the other Pegasi. She becomes even more discouraged after the anemometer (wing-power gauging machine) gives her wing-power as only 0.5. Her animals' motivation causes her to engage in a period of training and exercise, but her second attempt only puts her at 2.3, further diminishing her hopes for improvement. In the end, Twilight convinces her to help when the other Pegasi's wingpower proves not to be enough to create the tornado. With a sudden burst of determination, she manages to surpass all the other Pegasi in flying speed, completing the 800 wingpower minimum to create the tornado and resulting in the water successfully reaching Cloudsdale.<br /><br />In Castle Mane-ia she displays fear at the possibility of running into star spiders. In the episode Maud Pie, she tells Maud about spiders that live in Ponyville, saying that while they appear scary, they are "actually very sweet and help keep other, more dangerous insects away". When the ponies venture into the Everfree Forest seeking the Elements of Harmony, she is the only pony who does not engage in a fight with a Manticore when it attacks them and relieves a thorn embedded in its front paw. She later reveals to Twilight that she did not know about the thorn, but she shows consideration to the fierce Manticore regardless. This kind act entitles her to being the wielder of the element of kindness, as well as reveals her faithful and considerate handling of all types of animals. After humbling the dragon in Dragonshy and making it cry, she immediately consoles it and advises it to look for a more suitable place to sleep, successfully driving it away. In The Return of Harmony Part 1, she is the only pony who isn't easily affected by Discord's manipulation, prompting him to forcefully hypnotize her into her polar opposite (in her case, cruelty). In this state, she appears to take pleasure in causing others grief and distress, such as trampling the flowers in front of the library, dumping water on Twilight Sparkle and Spike and snatching the Elements of Harmony from Twilight. When Twilight Sparkle sets out to reverse Discord's effect on her friends using a "memory spell", Twilight and Applejack are forced to hogtie her and pin her to the floor, with Applejack standing on her tail to prevent her from flying away. Upon returning to normal, a horrified Fluttershy initially believes her corrupted state to be a horrible dream.

Backstory: Fluttershy is a female Pegasus pony and one of the main characters of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. She lives in a small cottage near the Everfree Forest and is an animal caretaker, the most prominent of her charges being Angel the bunny. She represents the element of kindness.The episode The Cutie Mark Chronicles offers a glimpse into Fluttershy's past. Like Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy hails from Cloudsdale. As a filly, she was a weak flier and was harassed by the same Pegasi who were jeering at Rainbow Dash in Sonic Rainboom, and they nicknamed her "Klutzershy". She was taller and ganglier than most other foals, similarly to "Pearly Whites", and had slightly larger wings. Rainbow Dash flew in to defend her and challenged the bullies to a race. This caused the participants to unintentionally knock Fluttershy off the clouds and fall to the ground, a place she had never been to or seen before. She was saved from a rough landing by falling onto a large swarm of butterflies. Upon seeing the animals and the greenery for the first time, Fluttershy becomes overwhelmed by the beauty of it all and starts singing. A few moments later, Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom startles the animals and scares them into hiding. Fluttershy earns her cutie mark after comforting the animals and realizing her ability to talk through to them, identifying her special connection with animals. Much is learned about the friendship between Fluttershy and Rarity during Green Isn't Your Color. She and Rarity seemingly meet regularly every week at Ponyville's day spa to converse and spend time together as something they have in common. It is worth noting that Rarity likes the full treatment while Fluttershy is more reserved, such as meekly declining a pony-pedi and having a mud mask applied lightly to her cheeks only while Rarity fully has the mask applied to her face along with cucumbers placed over her eyes. After getting the attention of Photo Finish with one of her hats, Rarity's desire to increase her fame as a fashion designer causes her to ask for Fluttershy's help as a model for her presentation, saying that her graceful personality would bolster her success at impressing Photo Finish. Hesitant at first, Fluttershy ultimately agrees to model for Rarity after plenty of begging on the latter's part. She is then entitled to becoming Photo Finish's next star to promote, and participates (rather unwillingly) in various photo shoots and fashion shows in the next few scenes. Throughout the episode, Fluttershy silently endures the attention she receives from her fans. Though unhappy with her stressful and disquieting status as Photo Finish's model, she willingly accepts her fate so as to grant Rarity's wishes for Fluttershy not to fail Photo Finish. She, however, is unaware of Rarity's growing jealousy towards her until the very end.