Help please!

Okay, this is for those who read the latest chapter of Return of Evil (If not, view it here). I got an idea of what i want with four of the main six; Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, and Twilight. But I'm stuck on Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy, as you know, is a sweetheart who lets everybody walk over her due to her meek and kind nature. I have a rough outline what i want to do, but at the same time, I want to get some other ideas. Since the opposite of Kindness is Cruelty, i would like some more suggestions for her.

My rough idea revolves around her animal friends losing their ability to take care of themselves, thus making them reliant on Fluttershy. Essentially what happens with the Breezies but on a more nature scale.

Same issue with Pinkie Pie; she is bubbly and happy ALL THE TIME. It takes something EXTREME to make her feel sad. Despair is Laughter's dark side, so i would like some ideas on that.

Right, thanks folks for both reading this blog and the chapter.

Comments

[The Ascendent]

Fluttershy- She could express the feelings of resentment and bitterness over her brother, the lay about who does nothing but mooch off their parents while she had to work hard for everything in her life. Maybe when she was younger she bullied him and after her parents sent her to counselling she repressed that side of her, resulting in a 180 degree turn leaving her timid and malleable. She needs to accept that she was a terrible person in the past, but that fact simply emboldens and accentuates the far better person she is now.

Pinkie Pie- Her home life could have been really bad. Maybe her father used to beat her mother and sister, a raging alcoholic or drug user
(No sexual abuse, I may be evil but I have standards). As a result she was never really happy until she realized that there is more to life than the rock farm. By accepting that dark past and the misery her family life was she must accept it to find balance.

[ironwar]

Pinky pie
Well she came from a very set family so here's my take on this. Everyone was against to a point but none more than her grandma and pa. She tried so hard that to make them smile but nothing she did could make smile. This got to the point where she would try to make them smile even if it kills her and they kick the bucket. So she was so filled with despair that she needed to become so happy that everyone must have a smile on there faces.
How's that?

[Twisted Colors]

"I just have to keep smiling and making others laugh, it'll get better."

"Keep telling yourself that, I'm sure one day you'll believe it. You've spent years around them and they've barely noticed anything, then Twilight came, student of the princess herself and one of the smartest ponies we know, and she's still like the others, none of them can see what hides behind that smile."

"They'll notice, I just need to give them time, then they'll help me." She stated rather lamely.

"Oh please, they've had nothing but time and the one time any of them got a real look at you, she did what she could to get that fake smile back. Loyalty, ha, hardly, that was the real you, that was your best cry for help yet, and still nothing, they just wanted pinkie back, they got you to give up on trying again, you even said your name to her instead of that abridged cutesy one."

Pinkie looked her in the eye, "But they prefer pinkie."

"That is not your name! Your mother, the mare that gave birth to you, named you Pinkamena. surely that has more meaning then simply what others prefer."

Meant to post this last night but went to bed instead, it's a little rough and I couldn't be bothered trying to get the words right to finish it but here it is, a nice little gollum vs smeagol moment in pinkies room stood in front of a mirror.

[Dark Star2014]

4330658 That might be the best way to go. Thanks!

[ultrapoknee]

In the episode with Iron will, He gave her advice on how to be assertive. Now anyone with a brain could see that his methods were very aggressive and confrontational. Thus, it would not be very appropriate to actually implement. But in the show, ponies take things at face value and they are really impressionable. This seems to carry over in your story but I could be wrong.

So Fluttershy goes around taking her lessons so far that she caused physical and emotional damage to her friends and various bystanders. You could say that Iron Will influenced impressionable ponies to make a quick buck but they were still Fluttershy's actions all the same. At the end of the episode, she used the correct way to be assertive but here's the thing; did she really need Rarity and Pinkie to tell her that?

You could say that this was a perfect way for her to vent frustrations while not being labeled a jerk. Plus, she cheated Iron Will out of his policy. His method, while mean and insensitive, did work and she flat out lied and said otherwise. In fact, you could say that rarity and Pinkie helped Fluttershy in scamming some guy. She went to his senimar, it worked out, then she got out of paying him. Iron Will was never the bad guy in this episode yet they painted him as one. So there's an example of being cruel.

[Dark Star2014]

4330883 Interesting. I defiently could use that one in lieu with the Zephyr Breeze idea someone else mentioned...i need to get a list of commenters who give me these ideas so i can mention them when the chapters come up.

[Starblade]

You seem to have a lot of good advice for Pinkie Pie already, so I'll set that aside.

For Fluttershy, aside from being discorded or taking Iron Will's confidence seminar too far, the only time I can vision Fluttershy being cruel is before she came to Ponyville. Back when she lived in Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash as fillies. Furthermore, I keep thinking of a excerpt from another fanfic, Timelords and Terror: Chapter 4:

The squirrel gave a small salute before disappearing back into the forest. Applejack and Rainbow Dash rustled through the bushes and sat down next to her. She could tell that the two of them were scared, still shaken from the conversation with the…the…she shuddered. It wasn’t hard to tell; even though Applejack and Rainbow Dash were so good at putting on a bold front she could detect powerful undercurrents of muted fear. The things The Doctor had explained to her when they first met made so much sense now; every time she met someone new she could see so much through their body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and so many other things that it literally overwhelmed her. Even things they didn’t want to feel like defensiveness and apprehension all shone like beacons to her, coupled with her timid nature she often found herself recoiling from people she knew were essentially friendly. What The Doctor hadn’t said was that in addition to being perfectly attenuated to cues both verbal and non-verbal, she could project these cues flawlessly, albeit semi-consciously. All creatures had her awareness of unconscious cues, what set her apart was that she was not only more aware of these cues, but she could actually control them to an extent. Stance, posture, tone, all were things she could utilize to project her will into the vulnerable subconscious of any given creature. In effect that’s all ‘The Stare’ was, she would (for the most part) subconsciously display and assert absolute dominance in her body language, facial expression, and tone of voice. As a result, the recipient would find their entire subconscious kowtowing to a bombardment of dominant signals, quelling their inner beast; their conscious mind would almost always follow in turn, like it had had the rug pulled out from under it. It wasn’t something she could fully control…yet.

Imagine if Fluttershy already realized this and tried using it to combat her bully problems when Rainbow wasn't around. What if she let her newfound "skills" get out of hand? What if she hurt somepony, and now is afraid she might do it again? It would explain why she always covers her face with her hair upon meeting new ponies, to avoid seeing too much.