And Then Pav Decided to Make Another One of His Lengthy Blogposts About the Introduction of Fluttershy's Brother and What This Means for Her as a Character · 6:09am Jun 9th, 2016
And so here we find ourselves yet again, on the verge of another word-vomit blog, like that one time I rambled about how But Keep Discord was a sloppy attempt of an intentionally shippy episode. And Fluttershy is involved again. I even referenced her in passing in the Gauntlet of Fire blogpost. Hmm. Clearly I’m motivated by instinctual desires to protect the moeblob poni.
Still, whereas those previous blogs were a bit more about how I enjoyed the episode—what worked, what didn’t—that’s not really what I’m here to discuss today. While this episode butted heads with lots of people's’ headcanons, and while I have feelings about the episode and about Zephyr, I’m pretty much cool with accepting this episode as canon. It would take a lot for me to disown an episode, like if Rainbow Dash were to hypothetically degrade herself in a cringe parade in front of her peers, taking on new personas in a desperate attempt to distance herself from reminders of childhood torment. Luckily, no such episode exists, so there’s nothing for me to disown. Instead, my goal here is simple: we’ve now met Fluttershy’s family. What was her childhood like, growing up? What does this teach us about Fluttershy? Can we learn more about the pony she is, by assessing the pony she once was? As writers, a deeper understanding of character motivations helps us to write characters who are more consistent and believable when we push them to their limits. I’ma take a stab at it. Back up, I got ‘dis.
Naturally, detailed episode spoilers after the break.
First, this. This needs to be first.
Ahem, but I digress, and as I type this out, I’m finding it quite difficult to keep this organized. Let’s start at the beginning of the episode, for that is as good as any a place to start. We are presented with this family dynamic in medias res, and the best use of in medias res is to jump us straight into the action, the important bits, the aspect that is relevant to us viewers for the remaining twenty-one minutes.
So, what does the opening of the episode show us?
48 seconds in. Oh dear.
57 seconds into pony and chill, and she gives you this look.
59 seconds. Look, I know I need to pace myself on the images here, but this episode is a gold mine of Flutterfaces.
67 seconds. Note the rest of the reactions as well.
“Oh no, not again,” she says.
Dainty little flower Fluttershy, in full view of her parents and later her brother, makes zero attempts to hide her frustration, her disdain, her cringe. And her parents smile and assure her it’s not as bad as she fears (spoilers: it is). For Fluttershy and her family, this is not new. This is not getting worse. This is the status quo. The writers (well, animators) have quite clearly communicated to us before the title sequence that yes, Fluttershy is starting the episode here, and soon she’ll be up to here.
This is her brother. This is the dynamic she grew up with.
Photoshop composite image skills: legendary.
Now, it’s very fair to point out, Fluttershy has grown since we first met her. Yes, the fandom likes to pick on her for alleged Aesop Amnesia, but we very quickly get signs of Fluttershy asserting herself in this episode. “Mom, Dad, can I talk to you for a second,” she asks her parents with a tone that makes it clear she’s not asking. Her father points out that “we may not be as bold as you” when she raises objections.
But then, quite quickly for Fluttershy, she starts throwing shade at lil bro, and the parents’ expression above tells you everything. This is not the daughter they remember. All that yelling at dragons really did make her brave! And we see this point echoed when Zephyr starts demolishing the back house and Fluttershy realizes that she has to stand up on Mom and Dad’s behalf. Point being, the big sis who doesn’t take shit from nopony is a welcome addition to this episode—she’s grown so much—but it’s not what this household used to be like.
This is not to say that Fluttershy was emotionless in the past, though. I’m pretty sure this got promoted from headcanon to canon, but I’ll elaborate: in the first couple of seasons, there’s plenty of background shots of Fluttershy showing exactly what she thinks, before quickly reverting back to moe mode. Iron Will is the first monster minotaur to help her find the courage to actually put those thoughts into words, and while maybe she needed to lay off the firehose just a bit, it was ultimately a big step for her in standing up for herself and communicating her feelings.
So, while she finally in S6 has the courage to speak her mind, her very rapid escalation shows us one thing: she’s harbored these thoughts for a while. She knows his games. She knows that he doesn’t apply himself. It’s only by being wiser and stronger that she can actually communicate it.
We’ve gone this far and I haven’t really gotten to the point yet. Bear with me here. Now that we have better context for Shy, let’s look at Zeph.
I’ve watched enough anime to know a textbook haughty with a fragile side when I see one. Although now that I see that TVTropes page, I’m starting to associate him with Asuka Langley Soryu anD HE IS NOTHING LIKE MAI WAIFU NO SHUT UP. He plasters his parents’ house with photos of himself. He flirts at Rainbow Dash, boasting and negging like he’s out of her league. And of course, he won’t shut up about how cool, popular, and visionary he is. Now, as Yahtzee once said, deliberately annoying is still annoying and I think a fair share of the fandom wants to give this guy a good drubbing. But once we suffer his insufferability and get to the third act, we realize that most of it is an act and he does not believe his own hype… most of it. He’s the type that believes if he shouts it loud enough and frequent enough, others will buy into it too.
Of course, this doesn’t vindicate his actions. At all. Being a manchild is one thing, as is finding a way to coast by on an easy way of life. But Zephyr displays startling levels of egocentricity and a lack of empathy. He cavalierly plans for his new art studio while his father sadly watches a cherished memeto drift away (seriously, somepony save that cloud! 
) He half-asses jobs like Rarity’s—fine, he’s lazy and doesn’t apply himself—but doesn’t seem at all remorseful of the damage caused, nor the materials and time wasted, and seems to expect he’ll get paid for… cleverly utilizing Rarity’s own pet?
See, I see all these reviewers calling Zephyr a NEET and… yes, sure. But if you’re sitting at home looking at hentai and 4chan 24/7, that’s destructive to you personally. If you’re living in your mother’s basement, it’s mildly inconvenient for them, plus financial costs like food/electricity/transportation, sure.
“Mom, Dad, fuck your garden and your mementos. This is my space now,” is not a textbook NEET. We need to be clear that there’s a whole ‘nother level going on here.
First comment on derpibooru: “They’re so cute they gave themselves a heart attack!”
Hold up though. Put down the pitchforks for a minute. No matter how sassy Fluttershy gets in this episode (“Actually, I said I was having tea with the princess. You’re going to work.”), she makes it abundantly clear: she is his sister, he is her brother, and she loves him. Family… Family is a complex matter. I’ve had the occasional tension with my family, and it’s small potatoes compared to the heartache that some of my friends have recently gone through. Yet they tell me time and again, family is family. Element of Kindness? Perhaps in being so quick to forgive, after all she and her folks have been through. But she’s not lying when she says she believes in him, that he’s smart and talented informed traits… we’ll take her word for it, and that he can find his special talent. And frankly, it’s that Ain’t Easy Being Breezie balance—somepony believing in you mixed with a rough slap to the backside—that motivates Zephyr to try. And in the end, he discovers he’s actually competent!
Hey, not everypony can make Sonic Rainbooms.
Dammit, he’s cute as a little colt… Conflicted feelings.
But this gives us the building blocks. We can start to see how this childhood might have shaped up, being some speculating, and see what all this explains about how Fluttershy became the pony she is today. Time for me to channel my inner MatPat and concoct a theory of how it all went down.
One day, Mr. Shy and Mrs. Shy met each other, and it was love at first sight. Kindness absolutely ran in the family. It’s unclear what she was like back then, but she certainly seems to enjoy gardening and homemaking now. He’s the kindly old factory worker who kept little mementos from the factory floor on special anniversaries, who’s just a bit quirky but seriously everyone loves that guy. And also, in one of the more bizarre cases of Equestria’s prophetic naming, they both apparently had the surname “Shy” referencing their yet-unborn daughter, further cementing their Yeah so anyway, crazy in love, crazy kind, but also crazy meek. They waited to have kids until their late thirties, because goodness, they weren’t sure that they were ready for the responsibility of bringing a new bundle of joy into the world. But sure enough, their daughter was born, and that apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
But then she left the comfort of the nest and promptly discovered that children are assholes. 
Utterly unprepared for the real world, she collapsed. Maybe her parents offered advice, kind yet ineffectual. Maybe they simply encouraged her to endure, and that the bad times would pass. Maybe she was too scared to pull her parents in, and she kept the pain to herself. Whatever may have happened, she learned that the world was full of givers and takers. She survived. So far, none of this is new for most pre-episode headcanons.
Enter Zeph. Now look, Fluttershy’s parents were sweet and doting, no questions there. But as anyone who has a younger sibling can attest, seriously, what the hell?! They get eeeeverything. My little brother was off being that kid on CoD XBox Live, and our parents bought him his own cell phone and laptop and everything. When I was five years old, I freaking wasn’t allowed to watch the TMNT cartoon series. I had to wait until I was seven, because the show was far too violent. Seriously, what the hell?!
Love ya, Mike. 
...where was I? Right. Little brothers getting pampered. So, take what you know about Fluttershy’s parents, and crank that up to eleven. Doubly so (twenty two?) if they knew about how Fluttershy got bullied at flight camp all the time. This is the kid who had no chores, who could not have a second bowl of ice cream weeeeeell okay just this once, who was Mommy and Daddy’s precious little boy. And considering their first go at parenthood resulted in freakin’ Fluttershy, that’s quite revealing.
And this was where the problems started. Since the barrier was lowered, Zephyr found that he could get a pretty sweet deal if he just put on the puppy dog eyes. Mommy’s Little Prince (because matriarchy, probably). And with both of his parents being doormats, they had trouble setting boundaries and in saying no, so this leniency is stretched to rediculous levels.
As a little filly, Fluttershy’s comprehension is limited. He seems gregarious and charismatic, and at that age, she genuinely doesn’t know any better. But hey, that’s cool. Having a brother is neat, and he’s a better flyer than her, plus he’s brave and can talk to other ponies for her. That’ll be nice, right? A brother who’s got her back.
It isn’t until around the year of getting her cutie mark that she had enough maturity to look at what’s going on and think “wait a minute. Why are you making me take out the trash when you could easily do it yourself? Y-You’re just taking advantage of me!” But then they confronted one another on the matter, and it was no contest. She ended up taking out the trash after all. Now, this doesn’t make her resentful, mind you. Children are quick to forgive minor transgressions, and they’re family in a very loving household. Still, it’s a bit… disappointing. She thought she’d have somepony in the world that had her back (and unlike her parents, could do something about it). In the end, she’s just a giver, and he’s a taker. She can’t blame him for it, and he’s not malicious or anything. It just… sucks.
Flight camp and social pressure to not hang around little kids, gosh separated them. She was left to assume that he’s fairly popular, cuz heck, he’s not shy, right? Well, she was half-right, but what she didn’t realize is that the puppy dog eyes that work on Mom and Dad do not work on Zephyr’s peers. He got called out for being a bit of a brat, and didn’t have a lot of friends. Some friends, sure—perhaps the nerdy kid in class who collects insects—but he’s not the Mr. Popular that Fluttershy assumes him to be. Granted, with her ready to believe that, he had no qualms with promoting that version of reality.
About this time, a small rainbow-maned filly stood up against the bullies for her, defending her honor. Though she missed the outcome of the race, she and the other filly received their cutie marks at this time. They became close friends, though after flight camp they drifted apart.
With her special talent discovered, Fluttershy started to get her life on track. It’s a few more years until she moved out of her parents’ house, but she learned of an opportunity for wildlife care out in Ponyville on the border of the Everfree Forest. The new role filled her with determination satisfaction. Sure, it was a bit lonely, but the critters were oh so kind, unlike the ponies she’d known before. Plus, Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville soon after, so that’s at least one acquaintance. The dressmaker seemed friendly too.
Then she went home to visit.
And she found that little brother was… Well frankly he’d gotten worse. Earlier he coasted by, but now was the start of him putting a drain on others. He had no real goals or aspirations. He’d earned his cutie mark by now, but unlike with Fluttershy there was no impetus, no passion. Rather than float along on the breeze of life, he resisted and clung tight to the tree.
A lot of that earlier respect and admiration was lost.
Then she meets Mary Sue, and y’all know how it goes down from there. We already alluded to the fact that Fluttershy grows as a pony along this journey, but importantly, let’s note that Zephyr acknowledges in the episode that she’s saved Equestria a dozen times over. His big sister who came home from school in tears every day is now a lauded Equestrian heroine. He can’t make a PB&J sandwich without asking his mom for help. His insecurities and inferiority complex magnify, leading into his S6 introduction.
Holy exposition, Batman! Let’s get to the point of all this, yeah? Fine fine. We established the characters, we set up our plausible backstory, now lets see what it all means. Now, none of these conclusions I’ll draw here are going to turn Fluttershy’s character on its head. Plenty of you might say “yeah, that was always my headcanon.” The point is, not only do we have canon confirmation, but we have context. Understanding her experiences growing up help us understand why she acts that way, and what she’s thinking while doing it.
Naturally, I’ll be skipping the more obvious points here (duh, she’s shy). Trying to primarily focus on anything that stands out in this new light—the Harsher In Hindsight moments.
Fluttershy has had her heroes turn on her. The stronger younger brother who she admired in her childhood eventually turned into a leech. This colored her outlook on ponies (not animals, naturally). Ponies can’t really be counted on, since they’ll let you down when they need you most. Better to set the bar low and brace for the worst; it’s the best way to survive.
Of course, joining the M6 did a lot to heal that, and she formed a special bond with Discord. That made Discord’s S4 betrayal dig all the deeper into those old wounds. She’d thought those times were behind her.
She’s tried to stand up to manipulators before. It didn’t work. She understands when she’s being taken advantage of, but manipulators understand how to get their way. She’s not a strong pony. Sometimes it’s just easier to roll over.
Being a taker is the easy way to get ahead in life. It’s not nice and it’s not right, but who’s gonna stop you? Naturally, in Putting Your Hoof Down, Fluttershy gets a taste of that, before ultimately rejecting it and choosing her own path, but up until that point it, she was a giver, and that was just the way of the world.
Of course, at the core of all of this is a fear of abandonment. It’s all fair and good when somepony says they have faith in her, but you sorta need for them to be there when it counts. Her brother was not. Her parents were certainly there in word, but ultimately they’re wet noodles just as much as she is. Rainbow Dash was, once, but flight camp was a lifetime ago.
Mind you, all of these are not crippling levels of trust issues. Fluttershy is not Moondancer. But it does make her very reluctant to leave her shell. She’s found her safe place with her animals. Flying means the ground is no longer there to hold you up.
But of course, for every reference photo that I used in this section? She grows stronger. She overcomes. She learns to assert herself. She learns to trust in others, and to believe in herself. That growth is the sole reason she was strong enough to help set Zephyr straight.
And the beautiful closure of it all? She did this by having faith in him. She gives him that support when the going gets tough (if only on a small trial). As much as she lacked this growing up, so did he. It makes all the difference for the both of them.
Still, I said it once before, but it bears repeating now. I do think he’s a prat. I don’t particularly want to write about him. And did he get off the hook too easy? Perhaps a little, though granted the status quo in Equestria is forgiveness. To be clear, though, I do not hate him for what he might have done in the past. The point of this blog was not to illustrate that oh jeez he’s the sole cause of all of Flutterwaifu’s emotional scars and grawh look at what a monster he is. He was a kid. So was she. So were the bullies at flight camp. Any person who felt meek and/or was bullied as a child will feel empathy for Fluttershy, but the past is the past. Except you, Tyler from 7th grade history. Fuck you in particular. We grow through these trials and become better people. Zephyr Breeze was perhaps not the brother she needed, but he is the brother she has. She forgave him. She loves him. Ultimately, at some level, that’s good enough for me.
Except for this bullshit right here. Not okay. At all. Ask any girl who’s met this guy IRL, and they’ll tell you that Presumptuous McFriendlyhooves over here is not welcome. Fluttershy, I know that it seems not quite so pathetic if your parents think their son has had at least one girlfriend, but this is not a lie worth covering. Tell your bro to stop creeping on your bestie.
That was one of the sickest analyses I've read. Headcanon fukken accepted.
Also jotting this down since I'm on my phone to do a Warcraft crossover because a certain other key character thinks that only beasts are above deceit...
Dude, why the fuck aren't you writing stories with this gold?
Fantastic breakdown of what Zephyr can tell us about Fluttershy. Thank you for it.
That said, note that Fluttershy was the one pony in "Return of Harmony" who Discord couldn't talk into dissonance. Every attempt he made ran off her like water off a duck's back until he had to brute-force it. She'd dealt with that kind of wheedling, manipulative crap every day for years. This was nothing new, even if it was coming from chimeric John de Lancie.
We need more of this.
Or stories. Mostly stories.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I needed this, because my great disappointment at the personalities of her parents mostly stemmed from losing the "loud parents make quiet children" idea.
Good man :3
4010534
That line is one of those character-defining utterances that should be found in the deepest, most bestest of Fluttershy character delving fics.
4010534
4010589
pbs.twimg.com/media/B1IWsnsIIAIPiNN.jpg
mixed with a dash of "fear of failure" yes i am aware of the dripping irony of pointing that out in a blog about Zephyr shut up plz ty.
4010581
Great point! Return of Harmony is kinda small potatoes. Discord sees a meek pony with insecurity issues, and he presumes that a stiff breeze will knock her over. To his shock and irritation, Fluttershy is totally unphased by that level of nonsense compared to what she's grown up with. When Discord gets a second try in Keep Calm And Flutter On, he's gotten to spend a good deal living with Fluttershy and figuring out what makes her tick. We see that this level of manipulation really gets to her, because while it's not a perfect emulation of her brother (nor do I think it was supposed to be; Discord isn't omniscient), it still strikes a nerve.
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Ugh, I'm sick. It first looked to me like he had a condom between his teeth
4011079
Stay far away from derpibooru.
Awesome as always Pavvie, if you ever feel the urge to write more, you know i've got your back.
4011110 Don't worry, I've learned that lesson
Great observation on the episode, I gotta say
This is very good. Well thought out
Headcanon accepted. And yes, family is complicated. I definitely sense that Zephyr is not the type of person Fluttershy would associate with if he wasn't her brother, but he is her brother and that's that.
Hmmm. I Agree with about 80% of this. I think you really nailed Flutterhy's parents, her relationship with them, and Zeph's relationship with them as well. That said, I feel like I have to disagree with you on their relationship between each other during childhood. Fluttershy's parents do not seem surprised when she tells them that Zeph is taking advantage of them again, and she says it like she is repeating a well-worn complaint that they have heard before. It seems to me that Fluttershy has been complaining about her brother to her parents for a long time, they just haven't been listening.
I know calling someone out on their bad behavior is definitely not how Fluttershy would normally act before the show began to anyone else, but that's the thing about family: People behave in radically different ways towards their family than they do towards the rest of the world, often because tremendous exposure has changed their customary responses. The kindest person can be cruel only to their family (because I know them like no one else does) and the cruelest person can be kind. It seems to me that Fluttershy has been complaining about Zeph taking advantage of her parents since childhood, probably since he got his cutie mark. I'm sure the kind Fluttershy kept quiet for a long time, longer than most of us would, but there are only so many times people can keep quiet.
I definitely agree with you that the Shys ignored Fluttershy's warnings and kept spoiling/enabling Zeph, I just think those warnings started a long time ago, even before Fluttershy learned to be assertive with the rest of the world.
Oh, and not sure if the parents automatically had to have kids late, too. If Zeph is old enough to have moved out so he can start a career, failed, moved back home, and then started the process over again often enough that it is a continuing trend, Zeph's got to be in his early to mid 20s then, so Fluttershy's got to be in her mid to late 20s. The parents could have had Fluttershy when they were in their mid 30s and just now be hitting retirement age.
But like I said at the beginning, I agree with most of your analysis, especially Fluttershy's growth since the show began, and her trust issues.
4011332
That's certainly possible. There was a lot of speculation in there, since I'm drawing a lot from just a few lines in the episode. Taking another look at that scene:
Like, even considering how Assertive she gets later in the episode, she's still caging her language a lot in this private chat with the parents. "I'm not so sure it's a good idea." "It seems like." "Sort of." "I'm going to acknowledge your position before offering my rebuttal." Point being, it's not strong language, on a topic that her earlier facial expressions showed she feels strongly about.
It's possible that this same conversation has happened verbatim in the past. Or it's even possible it was even more watered down.
(Actually that could make an adorable one-shot.) But yeah, either way, I can see that she has made her parents aware. But given that her parents had such difficulty putting their hooves down even with Assertive Fluttershy's help, the past talks probably didn't amount to much.
So then filly Fluttershy and colt Zephyr... was she way more assertive to him than anypony else, because he's family? I'd say that this is possible, mostly because of how unphased by Fluttershy's assertiveness he was compared to his parents in this episode.
Perhaps he escaped the conflict quickly, but he certainly wasn't gawking or staggering at Fluttershy standing up to him. So, I can definitely see where this headcanon is coming from. The reason I personally leaned away from it is because of how Fluttershy has grown in previous episodes. At many points, it's seemed more about how to act assertive, more than just finding the courage. If the lesson in those past episodes had been about acting more comfortable around strangers, treating them with the casualness that she treats her friends and family, then I feel like her behavior change in those past episodes would've been more of an on-off switch, since in that headcanon she would've already learned assertiveness from standing up to her brother.
4011610
I think you nailed it there, that's a great example of how those conversation went.
That's exactly I'm thinking, yeah. Partly because he's family, but mainly because he's her younger brother. If you had an older daughter as nurturing and responsible as Fluttershy, who do you think you left in charge all the time? I think Fluttershy was left in charge of Zeph many times, and saw him be lazy and dump work as soon as their parents weren't around, and she's smart enough to know that Zeph is really sabotaging himself more than anything else. If there's one thing that could make even season 0 Fluttershy act assertively, it's to prevent a little one she feels responsible with from acting dangerously. It certainly puts a new light on that episode where she babysat the crusaders, doesn't it?
That said, I also think you have a good point about how Fluttershy clearly didn't learn how to be assertive in general from dealing with Zeph. He's a slippery manipulator, so I wouldn't be surprised if any time Fluttershy tried to lay down the law, he just went crying to his parents over and over again, and they probably took his side just to get some peace and quiet.
Imagine, imagine, a world where he was Fluttershy's twisted mirror.
Take all the issues you mentioned and put them into a Fluttershy male-shaped box, where he isn't annoying, he's endearing like his family. Then the people watching want to see him get better - not wield a sacrificial knife.