).Losing My Religion · 8:25pm Jan 19th, 2015
Recently I've hit a slight life hurdle, and I'm going to blog about it because I've got nothing better to do at 3am and this song is gorgeous.
I have no idea how Flutterdash works. That's the truth, a sneaking suspicion that's crept up on me from the moment I landed feet first here. I don't know what the attraction is. The spark. The crucial element.
And that should just mean I should move on right? Except I can't.... I've explained this to a few people over the years, and it never sounds less crazy. It's a matter of faith. An article immaterial. I close my eyes and they're holding each other. It's that easy. In that way I can see how they would hold together.
But is that love? And thinking it through, I don't think it can be. The problem is simple: What qualities does Fluttershy have that she values highly or finds attractive?
None that I can see. Aside from however physically attractive she finds Fluttershy, I don't think there's a a single thing about 'Shy that Rainbow Dash would be interested in a prospective life partner.
So then why is it so easy to see them together if it isn't love?
People end up together for all sorts of reasons. And I can see several much more insidious factors that would keep them together. It's ghoulish really. Fear bonds people just as strongly as love, and if you close your eyes and let go, it can be just as good. I don't know much about romantic love, but I know fear. Fear's my second skin. So it makes sense I ship something that's easy to understand through the eyes of fear.
Now we circle back to the other side of the equation: What qualities does Rainbow Dash have that Fluttershy values in a prospective partner? Now that's much easier. Rainbow Dash is safe. She's a known entity. And you're actively safer around her than most other places, if you don't mind the odd bruise. For someone like Fluttershy, that's as good as joy, not being afraid, even for a moment, is a powerful thing. Rainbow Dash is loyal, she's not going to hurt you, or leave you and she'll be there for you if you give her a reason to. She's strong, fierce, beautiful and more than anything, she's freedom incarnate. Freedom to just be.
And for Fluttershy's darker side, she's easily controlled. Dash's emotional side isn't well developed, and easily swayed. It's an article of faith in this equation that Fluttershy knows this and Dash doesn't. And Dash won't figure out what Fluttershy's up to, it's one of her blind spots. And this is what makes Dash especially attractive to the darkness in Fluttershy, having Dash on the hook is an avenue to feeling powerful. It's not healthy by any means, but it's a surefire remedy for a bad day in the outdoors, convince Dash that it's her idea that she wants to take you out for ice-cream and you feel a lot more sure of your place in the world.
I want you to take a moment to consider what that last paragraph conjures to mind. Because in my mind I can see a Fluttershy that isn't capable of or doesn't care for love, but is dating Dash anyway because of how Dash makes her feel. Isn't that why you date someone in the first place? "How they make you feel". Unsettling, isn't it?
Now turn that on it's head. What does the worst in Rainbow Dash possibly see in Fluttershy?
Let's start with what the worst that's possible in Rainbow Dash is. Is it her bluntness or lack of sensitivity? Is it her lack of understanding of consequences? By my reckoning it's her hunger for power and recognition, which is not bad in itself, but if left unchecked can eat away at a person. And with that comes a fear of failure or humiliation that can do terrible psychological damage. So what does that kind of egomaniac look for in a partner, because it's not another person they want. It's a subject. Someone they can rule and control. Someone they can dominate.
And Fluttershy fits that bill. All of Fluttershy's social weaknesses leave her vulnerable to people with strong personalities. Where Rainbow Dash can be blindsided by emotional manipulation, Fluttershy's easily blindsided by intimidation and force, compliance is her dominant response. Someone who wanted to could train her to jump through hoops for their amusement. And Dash's darkside left to run rampant would love someone like that.
You can see that in both of these cases I describe, it's not love, it's abuse. One using the other for their own needs, while the abused partner is left jumping at shadows, a prisoner.
And it took me all this time to get here, Flutterdash works as a polarised relationship, so naturally it works easily with a light/dark dichotomy as well. If one partner's good, it's easier to keep them together if the other partner isn't so conscientious.
That said... it does work if you assume the worst from both of them. It's always fascinated me, there's a variation of interpretation where they somehow ensnare each other without losing their core power over the other. Like two stars on a destructive orbit, destined for a cataclysmic explosion with no way to escape. It's about as bad as interpersonal relationships get. On the otherhand, their sexlife would be amazing.
With the other three cases addressed, we now come back to how I can't see the best of them finding a way to each other. And after all that, there is actually one way, but it's trick and it relies on an understanding of Dash's character that's difficult to leverage . For it to work in any healthy way as I see things, they have to end up in a relationship without actually falling in love beforehand. And for that to happen, Dash's character needs to be interpreted in such a way that she's almost aromantic, or asexual. Not unable to love, but uninterested in it to the point of psychologically distancing herself from the concepts associated. This mindset allows Fluttershy to get close enough without tripping over any of the hurdles in Dash's psyche she otherwise would.
Even that isn't exactly healthy, but hey, it turns out I wouldn't know a healthy relationship if it bit me.
I'm still looking for a better solution, and I still love the pairing, even if I can see all these problems with it and ways it can turn out completely disastrously for all involved. That's why I wrote this out I guess, it's like math in way. The more working I write out, the more understanding I gain of the situation. I don't think most of you will be that interested in what I have to say on the subject, but maybe I'll look back on this one day and laugh at how little I knew, or maybe, just maybe, how close I was getting.
Well, you still have me for talking about the ideas locked in your head. Maybe someday we'll turn it into a written one.
People have written fanfics about couples that are worse than FlutterDash. And some of them are good.
Or, to approach it from a slightly different angle - Fluttershy attracts Dash because she looks like she needs protecting. So on the light side she acts on her protective instincts, while on the dark side, it feeds her ego - Fluttershy lets her shine brighter.
If you're interested in the idea of relationship as a game of control, read Deep Cover if you haven't already.
And if you have nothing better to do at 3AM, drop into chat. Odds are, I'm there.
I found this really interesting, and I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on FlutterDash and other ships.
Dangit, you're going to guilt me into writing Shy: The Ultimate Weapon after all, aren't you.
2733696
Are you insinuating that Flutterdash is in any way a bad couple? I couldn't tell over the sound of how awesome I am.
2733775
Yes and no, see the issue with Fluttershy as someone who needs saving is we know Dash does get into "I want to save somepony" moods, but it's not all the time, so it's not really that useful as a primary attractive draw. As an auxiallary factor, it works nicely, but it needs something else to bring the attraction up to strength.
2733781
I'll try to write more about these things I guess, but I really don't think that much about ships beyond Flutterdash, so my depth of insight is sorely lacking.
2734492
Time will tell. It's certainly an interesting concept and I can't deny that I'd like to see you write it. But you're a busy guy, maybe one day there will be time for you to tell that tale.
2735756
One day I'll sell you on the beauty of TwiJack.
2735768
Oh believe me, I appreciate Twijack, if only because it leaves Rainbow Dash blissfully unshipped with two of the other usual suspects, and thus open to Fluttershy's advances. If only Fluttershy knew how to make advances.
More seriously, it's a ship I can read quite happily, which puts it into a distinct category above almost anything that isn't Flutterdash. Yours Truly sold it to me a long time ago.
Very interesting. I'm sure, of course, that there is a fic out there that begins with a ship and ends in a shipwreck between these two characters in exactly the manner you describe. This being said, the only way I could see abuse getting involved would be Dash's thirst for recognition—as you say—entangling Fluttershy in a deleterious fashion. Fluttershy doesn't seem to be exactly the type to cut ties in an abusive relationship, for fear of loss or upsetting Dash and/or her friends. That chain of events is fairly predictable and oh so very dark. A brilliant idea, if I do say so myself.