Which of The mane 6 has had the saddest or hardest childhood?

[DarligPegasi 315]

I'm gonna say Fluttershy, because she was bullied, she sucked at being her own race and she looked like one of her ancestors was a giraffe.

[Betez 1,734]

Eh, I'm going with Pinkie.

 

I mean, she had to do manual labor when she was a kid. That sucks It's kinda like she was a slave, because there wasn't any hapiness.

[Pinkie4eeeever 38]

Pinkie Pie definitely; she had to live and work on a rock farm, A ROCK FARM! Also before the sonic rainboom it looked like her parents were really strict with her. What is the point of a rock farm? Just moving and breaking rocks? That cannot be a very fulfilling job.

[Batbrony 15,994]

Fairly easy answer, in my opinion (kudos though on the unique topic, surprised I haven't seen this one posted earlier).

 

1) Applejack hands down seems to have gone through the toughest fillyhood of any of the Mane 6.  Losing not one but both of your parents at such an early age is simply a devastating experience to go through, and would explain just why Applejack is such a mature member of the group.  A loss like that, along with having a younger sibling and a large farm to help run/manage, would demand anypony to grow up fast, so overall the death of Applejack's parents and its subsequent results seems to have in the long run pretty much affected Applejack's entire life in a major way, resulting in a very mature, responsible, and practical-minded pony who knows what it's like to suffer and move on from a truly devastating loss.

 

2) Fluttershy probably had the second hardest fillyhood of the bunch, since she really wasn't ever comfortable from what we know in her Cloudsdale fillyhood home, or with anypony else for that matter, until she discovered her special talent with animals.  For all we know, she didn't even really have any pony friends until she tagged along with the rest of the Mane 6 when Twilight came to town.

 

3) I guess my third spot goes to Pinkie Pie, but from here on out these "hardest fillyhood spots", at least on my list, aren't really saying much.  The only reason I'm even listing Pinkie here is because before she discovered her special talent, she does indeed appear to have been quite unsatisfied with her family's work, perhaps even borderline depressed.  However, she clearly has shown that she both loved her family and the love they gave and continue to give back to her (even if they're far more sober and serious in their disposition than she is) and has even shown an appreciation for the background she was raised in (i.e. that little line she dropped to Trixie in "Magic Duel" that she was lucky to even get hired by a rock farm, showing at least some pride in her family's work).  Finally, it seems that she was quite satisfied after discovering her special talent with living with her family for at least the rest of her fillyhood, since she finally knew what she was good at, so overall I don't think her fillyhood was that hard for her.

 

4) Rainbow Dash takes my fourth spot, and again that's not saying much.  We know for sure that canonically she at least had one parent in her life, and probably had a stable household with a father and mother (though her mother still hasn't been confirmed yet as a sure presence in her life), and even though she had to deal with bullies like Fluttershy, RD was always more than willing to take them head on on her own without anypony else's help.  Other than the presence of some on-again, off-again bullies, no other evidence indicates, at least canonically, that her fillyhood was that hard.

 

5) Rarity takes the 5th spot, because unlike some other bronies, I simply can't believe that her polar personality from the rest of her family really would've given her that hard of a fillyhood.  She appears to have had ready access to fashion materials (aside from gems) from the few flashbacks we've seen, meaning that it appears her parents fully encouraged and supported Rarity's dreams despite being far more laid back and casual in their own demeanor and personality than she is.  In the one scene of her with her parents, despite their clear differences, she didn't seem to dislike having them around that much, and finally, if she really had wanted to get away from her family that much, I feel like she really would've; if not to Canterlot, she certainly might've moved to another city like Manehatten or Fillydelphia instead, but instead she chose to remain in Ponyville, close to her family.  Heck, for all we know her parents might've shelved out quite a bit of money in helping Rarity purchase her boutique!

 

6) Twilight takes the 6th spot for quite a few reasons.  Despite not having that many friends her own age as a filly, that seems to have been more her own choice than anything else.  She made the conscientious decision throughout her fillyhood to focus on reading books and her studies, so she really has nopony else to blame for that but herself.  She clearly came from a loving family with loving parents and a loving brother, and also had a foalsitter that she was very, very close to.  On top of that, her parents were at the very least comfortably middle class residents of Canterlot (which if we're adjusting for inflation/living expenses in Canterlot probably would make them more like upper-middle class to low-rich for the rest of Equestria), and she might have even come from a fairly prominent and prestigious Canterlot family.  In addition, she had the privilege of being taken under Princess Celestia's wing as her personal student.  All of these factors resulted in not only a very stable fillyhood for Twilight, but one in which she was both loved and supported by a fair number of parties from both her family and the supreme, godlike ruler of all of Equestria, who certainly instilled her with good virtues, the ability to distinguish right from wrong and, at the very least, the tools to understand the magic of friendship, even if she didn't utilize those tools in her fillyhood.  Really, Twilight's worst enemy in her fillyhood was herself more than anything else and her own anti-social behavior, so I have to say that she probably had the least difficult fillyhood of any of the Mane 6.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

Just curious, but is there any concrete evidence to support that AJ's parents died when she was still developing? We forget that she has a younger sister.

 

Granted, if she's somewhere around her twenties (it is heavily implied based on her character that she's 22 or so) and her sister Apple Bloom is about eight, that'd mark her parents' deaths to have likely happened when AB was still at least a newborn. That puts AJ's age at around 14, which is a bit too old to still be in childhood. It's not enough to warrant a poor childhood on her part, but of course that doesn't mean the experience was any less painful.

[Rayna 44]

Kind of hard to tell, because well, some of their background is missing? We haven't seen *everything* or, enough, anyway. Like for some, their parents aren't even mentioned so I don't know if they're still around? Fluttershy's parents, for instance, we never saw hers. All of them I'm sure had various difficulties in their childhood but I wouldn't know how to scale it to who had the "worst"...

[lincolnshirepony 527]

Twilight seemed to have had a pretty nice childhood. She grew up in the elite of Canterlot society, with her brother and a princess to keep her company. She had a pretty good time studying magic, and got accepted in the school of her dreams.

 

Rainbow Dash had a lot of success at an early age. She did have to deal with bullies, but she knew how to stand up to them. She certainly didn't let them affect her self esteem. =P I feel like she probably had a great time as a kid. 

 

Rarity may have had parents that didn't understand her, but I think that they still loved her. She still got to pursue doing what she loved. Her childhood probably wasn't too terrible.

 

Fluttershy had a rougher time. She was older than the other kids at flight camp and struggled with flying a lot more than they did. She had to deal with bullies, and her confidence in herself most likely was not that great growing up, at least until she discovered her talent. 

 

Pinkie Pie was in an environment devoid of cheer and full of gloom. She had to do labor that was the opposite of what she loved to do.  I think she did love her family though. Her childhood probably wasn't that happy, until she got her cutie mark. I would imagine that she began to explore her talent and eventually found a better environment.

 

I think Applejack had the hardest time, though. The death of her parents must have been devastating. That would have been difficult to cope with, especially with the addition of her confusion over what she should do in life. 

Edited June 6, 2013 by lincolnshirepony

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

 

 

think Applejack had the hardest time, though. The death of her parents must have been devastating. That would have been difficult to cope with, especially with the addition of her confusion over what she should do in life. 

 

 

 

1) Applejack hands down seems to have gone through the toughest fillyhood of any of the Mane 6.  Losing not one but both of your parents at such an early age is simply a devastating experience to go through, and would explain just why Applejack is such a mature member of the group.  A loss like that, along with having a younger sibling and a large farm to help run/manage, would demand anypony to grow up fast, so overall the death of Applejack's parents and its subsequent results seems to have in the long run pretty much affected Applejack's entire life in a major way, resulting in a very mature, responsible, and practical-minded pony who knows what it's like to suffer and move on from a truly devastating loss.

 

 

 

1. Applejack. Number one without a doubt. While the exact sequence of events isn't known, it is obvious that her recollection in Cutie Mark Chronicles was highly sanitized. But regardless of whether one event came before the other or if they were simultaneous, having your parents die and then being uprooted to live with relatives far away are both major, adverse changes in a child's life. Applejack endured them both. She discovered that the Manehattan lifestyle didn't really suit her and she continued to be unhappy with it despite the undefined length of time she spent there. But when she finally had her epiphany and knew what her life calling was, everything changed for the better. Many kids would be hesitant to jump into a new life that consisted of juggling heavy farm work, attending school, and being a mother figure to a baby sister. But Applejack embraced that challenging role happily!

 

I must ask, are you three absolutely sure they died when AJ was still a filly and not when she was in adolescence? Can their deaths really be tragic for her considering that its been implied that her parents never made much contact with her in the first place (besides giving her birth -- it's also been implied that her parents her akin to nomads)?

 

I honestly can't empathize with this one. Err... my grandfather died a couple of years ago and I simply shrugged it off that day. My place was gloomy all week but I didn't think too much of it. Reason why was because I didn't know him all that well. I believe the same holds for Applejack.

[Shanks 10,811]

I believe the same holds for Applejack.

While it is possible that Applejack's parents may have died in her teenage years, exactly when was it ever implied that Applejack's parents never had much contact with her? We don't know anything at all about Applejack's parents aside from the fact that the writers have said that they are in fact dead we don't know what they were like or even what they looked like. And the reason is because death is a very touchy subject and adding a human or in this case pony face to it and Hasbro is afraid they will have another Derpygate on their hands if they go into her parents background which is a real shame. Judging from how close the Apple family is to each other it is pretty reasonable to say that Applejack's parents most likely did love her, Big Macintosh and Applebloom a great deal.

[Spring Storm 276]

I say Fluttershy had the hardest childhood, because she still seems messed up from it to this day. Flight Camp was probably only one example of how she was constantly put down and critisized throughout her youth. You don't develop massive insecurities out of nowhere, sadly

[Argumedies 1,748]

You all do realize that there is a lesson to be learned from them.

 

While many of us are in that same place, take note that while each of them may have gone through some hard and sad times in what ever it formed. They got threw it and they dealt with what ever was handed to them and they turned things for the better by staying positive and helping one another.

 

What ever happened, no matter how bad it was, if it wasn't for the hard times, they would not have had the drive to become the friends they are

[MLPFan14 73]

Well for me it would be Pinkie Pie,because first of all she had to lug all those rocks around,and second,her life had no laughter,and a day without laughter is a day wasted,so yeah I'm going with Pinkie Pie .

[CC_Maud_Pie 6,431]

Applejack had the hardest childhood. Why? Because her parents died and she lived in Manehattan. Despite living with relatives there, she felt extreme homesickness. In other words, loss of parents + homesickness experiences = tough childhood.

Edited January 19, 2015 by CC_Maud_Pie

[scooterlou 23]

I think Pinkie's childhood has to be the most depressing (and definitely a childhood I can identify with) - she grew up on a rock farm, completely different from the rest of her sisters (what with her penchant for parties and such), and probably had to deal with her family not quite understanding her... And how unpleasant it must have been for our wee party pony, being so cheerful and being stuck in one of the most boring and depressing places in the world, a rock farm. No wonder she goes all Pinkamena at times. It'd put a lot of stress on anyone, dealing with all that.

 

(also, where in canon does it say that Applejack's parents died? Did I miss something?)

[VitalSpark 1,830]

(also, where in canon does it say that Applejack's parents died? Did I miss something?)

 

There are hints in Cutie Mark Chronicles. She goes off to live with her uncle and aunt in Manehattan and when she leaves she is seen off by only her big brother and her grandmother. When she returns, those are the only ponies that welcome her back. If her parents were alive and in Ponyville, they probably would have been there to see her off and welcome her back; in fact, she probably wouldn't have gone in the first place.

 

In Apple Family Reunion, Applejack is seen gazing at two shooting stars when Granny Smith is talking about getting the whole family back together. One of the storyboard artists confirmed on Twitter that these stars were intended to symbolize her dead parents.

 

 

They seem unlikely to address this directly in future episodes. Parental death is a bit of a heavy topic for a kids' show. (Though it's a common theme in Disney films, and they seem to get away with it. How many Disney princesses have two living parents? Rapunzel, Aurora, Mulan, Merida... I think that's about it.)

Edited January 19, 2015 by Vital Spark

[Pastel 7,627]

Considering that Applejack's parents are dead, she's the one who has had the saddest childhood.

 

@scooterlou, I believe someone from the staff confirmed it in a tweet.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Blobulle

[#1FluttershyFan 206]

I think Apple Jack had the worst childhood because, really her parents died at an age where something like that could mess her up forever. I mean, it probably didn't, but I don't think three children raised by one adult could have been very easy for anyone.

 

Fluttershy would be next because she was bullied throughout her childhood and nobody noticed when she fell of a clouds and could have potentially died. If it hadn't been for the butterflies, she would have.

 

I'd say Pinkie Pie would follow because, even though she did seem proud of her rock farm in front of trixie, she may just do that because that's where she's from and she knows that there's nothing she can do about it. She wants to feel proud of her roots but that doesn't necessarily mean she liked working there.

 

Rarity would follow because her parents may have not understood her but she found her calling very early on. Even before she got her cutie mark. Se designed dresses for the school play and based on how good they were, I doubt this was her first time doing that. Her parents may not have understood her or she might have felt a lot of pressure but there are other ponies that had it worse.

 

Rainbow Dash is second to easiest childhood because, aside from a few bullies, she was fine. Besides, she was so headstrong that their teasing probably didn't even phase her.

 

Twilight had the easiest child hood because, even though she didn't have any friends, she was content with that fact. She loved her studies and openly rejected having friends. It wasn't the case that she was unable to make them. Judgning by the first episode, ponies waned to be her friend, but she always pulled out the excuse of studying.

[Vocaloid_IA 95]

I think Pinkie Pie had the hardest childhood. Even worse then Applejack's. And I'll explain right away.

You see, you children can't really remember events that happen at the beginning of their childhood, not to mention that in the show, in Apple Family Reunion, it clearly shows Applejack as a newborn filly and she's happy even though there was no sign of her parents though that episode (At least to me anyways) And she had some fun and happy times with her grandma and Big Mac. However, Pinkie Pie had a childhood like being a slave, she had to do a lot of chores, and she must have been worn out though out her childhood. Her family kept making their young fillys work non-stop, and I don't think the parents gave much attention to Pinkie Pie.

[Snivinerior 79]

All of them had rough childhoods but AJ has the hardest/saddest one. She lost her parents at a very young age and that's tragic for such a very young child. 

[Silver Letter 1,830]

I think Pinkie Pie had the roughest childhood because her personality was being suppressed at the farm and she certainly had to work hard for a family that didn't emotionally bond with one another.

 

Next up, I would say Rarity. Everything about her and her parents suggests that they must have clashed at an early age. With no known brothers, Rarity was likely the second best foal of a father that would have preferred a son.

 

Then Fluttershy. Obviously, she had a difficult life in Cloudsdale.

 

Next, would be Applejack. She may or may not have lost her parents but her life was easier than the above due to living in a very close and supportive family.

 

Rainbow Dash probably had little difficulties in her early life. She probably relaxed and had fun most of the time and was also probably very popular too.

 

Twilight Sparkle was a privileged foal, probably since birth. She didn't feel bad about not having friends since she hadn't learned it yet. She had caring parents and a great brother. She was mentored by Celestia herself and was put on a great path towards success. She had it easiest.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Silver Letter

[Queen Sparkle 104]

Actually none of theirs are sad as we don't know enough about them to know for sure and the brony fandom presumes that AJ's parents died but what if they didn't, what if hasbro is waiting to bring AJ's parents in but haven't and except the fact we haven't seen AJ's parents in the show there is no proof that her parents died

[Silver Letter 1,830]

Actually none of theirs are sad as we don't know enough about them to know for sure and the brony fandom presumes that AJ's parents died but what if they didn't, what if hasbro is waiting to bring AJ's parents in but haven't and except the fact we haven't seen AJ's parents in the show there is no proof that her parents died

I believe that it was their original intent for Applejack's parents to have died. But they will not bring the issue up in the show itself. And if they were willing to have her parents be alive then they would have had them included throughout the series up to this point.

[Queen Sparkle 104]

I believe that it was their original intent for Applejack's parents to have died. But they will not bring the issue up in the show itself. And if they were willing to have her parents be alive then they would have had them included throughout the series up to this point.

They didn't bring up the crystal empire or Shining Armor until season 2 or 3 even though they had the intentions of them since the beginning

[Thunderlane 550]

Probably gonna be Pinkie.

I'd probably change my mind if I thought about it, but I can't be bothered.

It looks so sad from the outside...

[Silver Letter 1,830]

They didn't bring up the crystal empire or Shining Armor until season 2 or 3 even though they had the intentions of them since the beginning

At least those two things are far apart from Twilight and her friends. It would be unreasonable to suggest that there are two more members of the Apple family living at Sweet Apple Acres for that entire time that we just hadn't seen yet.