How did Fluttershy ever make friends?

[Widdershins 9,955]

   We all have to admit that right? That Flutters isn't exactly the personality type to make the first move in socialization. I can't recall just how she got roped into the initial two-part premier episode adventure, when in Dragonshy she literally had to be pushed up the mountain and continuously slapped awake from passing out due to panic attacks! How she keeps up a friendship with the others when she takes every opportunity to hole up in her house, I don't know. She's somehow lifelong friends with the brashest, loudest of the lot and in order to get her cutie mark, her friendship with animals & her defining trait & role in life, she had to literally be pushed into a pile of them just so she'd take the risk & learn to grow.

 

  I don't intend to sound mean saying it, but were Fluttershy left to her own devices she would likely not leave her house at all! So...just how does she manage it?

I-it m-may be s-s-something I m-may need f-for personal use...

 

[GeekySonic 1,150]

Kindness, my friend. She wasn't very social, but being the bearer of the Element of Kindness, I imagine that reaching out to do random acts of kindness would be second nature. Instinctive, I daresay.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Well, she became friends with Rainbow Dash because Rainbow always seemed to be fond of the shy ones like Flutters and Gilda! Then Flutters became friends with Twilight through Spike, and then she became friends with the rest of the Mane Six through the Elements of Harmony! :3

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,228]

I feel like she helped out in Ponyville a lot. Helping with pets and other creatures probably led to her meeting other ponies. She apparently still had tons of social anxiety but while helping the critters it was probably easier for her. Kinda like how she freaked out when she saw Spike for the first time. She definitely wasn't asocial then. So a combination of what she loves while other ponies communicate with her most likely did the trick. Her being friends with Rainbow Dash early one seems fairly obvious as RD clearly defended her, possibly numerous times.

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

Rainbow Dash became friends with her after defending her honour, and I feel she didn't have to speak much to be friends with Rainbow. She then made other friends through her.

[Widdershins 9,955]

Dashie certainly was defending Fluttershy, I can't argue that, but that's what got me about that little incident. Soon as the race started Dash got more involved in the race itself rather then what started it. Think it was her take-off that blew Flutters off her cloud to plummet to what surely would have been her death.  Now I'm not blaming her, she was just a filly at the time, and a rather impatient one, so she would have acted that way regardless. Immediately dropping her just doesn't strike me as the basis of a long-lasting, trusting relationship.

Though I agree Kyoshi. This definitely had to have happened numerous times. But its odd that in a friendship-centered show, involving the one character that likely needs friendship the worst, we're left to just assume things happened off screen.

 

 

Rainbow Dash became friends with her after defending her honour, and I feel she didn't have to speak much to be friends with Rainbow. She then made other friends through her.

..............

...Friendship by proxy? Not having to keep a relationship by keeping up a facade of constant prattle in an attempt to keep people interested?....you've done something most don't my little PastryPony. You've put an idea into my head.

[GrimGrimoire 4,970]

She could have turned and run away, and to be honest it is a little strange since she seemed just as eager as any of them to enter the forest. But she had the others with her, and I suppose she just felt there was no running away from this problem. You can do a lot when your back is against the wall. Also, she did not know Twilight, but I like to think she already knew and was friends with RD, Rarity and Pinkie by just some of their actions together, I am unsure about Applejack.

 

She manages it because she does not hate making friends, she is just nervous and shy. But with the continual help and support of the others, she is getting past it in her own way.

[cmarston1 5,951]

She already was friends with Rainbow Dash for a very long time, and I wouldn't be surprised if the latter tried to help Fluttershy step out of her comfort zone.

It's not that Fluttrshy was against making friends, it was just that she was well shy and had her own anxieties in the way of doing so.

But I like to believe that the remane 5 all knew each other in some capacity before the Nightmare Moon incident.

[Swifty 249]

She has more friends than everypony else. Harry the bear, thousands of crittets and other animals. Who needs ponies? Mamy of them suck anyway.

[Steve Piranha 28,746]

Well, she also made friends with Tree Huger

[sweetolebob18 724]

It is my Head Canon that Putting Your Hoof Down is a flashback episode.  The events in it occurred before the pilot. 

When Fluttershy moved to town she became friends with Pinkie (ICR the episode name but I point to the one with Cranky as evidence of how far Pinky will go to make friends)

Next, Rarity had some problem with Opal (her cat)

Pinkie brought in her friend Fluttershy to help

Fluttershy fixed the problem & became Rarity's friend.

 

I point to Green Isn't Your Color.  Fluttershy and Rarity had a regular spa day suggesting they'd been friends for awhile at that time.

[Foxy Socks 2,596]

Being shy does not mean she cannot have friends. I think Dash was very kind to her, and it shows how good friends they are, even when Rainbow is being harsh. I think others most likely helped her with it, especially Rainbow Dash. I think that she is the reason Flutter is more confident.

[碇 シンジン 27,427]

I think main reason for fluttershys increasing social connections lies in rarity who always encourages her and is arguably one of her best friends

[Gamer Pizza 91]

I think the question you should be asking is "How could Fluttershy NOT make friends?". After all, She IS the element of kindness.

[The Nth Doctor 652]

Same way any introvert makes friends: They get adopted by extroverts

 

I literally had someone come up to me and say "We're friends now"

 

And lo and behold, we're friends now

[Alexshy 14,709]

It's not her making new friends literally, others become friends with The Great and Almighty... cough...    with Fluttershy eventually. And Kindness is the key. She is always ready to help and overcome her introvercy problems (are these really problems TBH?) if somepony nearby needs. Even if that somepony is not her friend ATM, even if that is not even somepony, but some-whatever-creature-could-be...

[Luigi 7,868]

She's obviously pretty shy, but it's the ponies who approach Fluttershy in a nice manner and are kind to her that she warms up to.

 

My sister was like that before she passed away in a car crash.

[Flutterstep 46,189]

Through inconsistencies of course! Remember all the times she spoke in front of crowds without breaking a sweat in season 1, only to somehow develop stage fright in the future? Not to mention: kid's show.

 

That aside, it's quite simple. It works the same way as it does in real life. She met Rainbow in flight school, her and Rarity probably met at her store and Pinkie makes friends with anyone.