Backstory: Fluttershy · 8:38am Sep 7th, 2018
Welcome to the late summer of 2019. Time sure flies doesn't it? You might remember back in 2018 when I wrote the start of this blog series, with Applejack taking the lead. If for some reason you're under the impression that it has only been about a day since I last posted a blog, don't worry. That's just some temporal bug in Knighty's code.
In case you're somehow seeing this in the past, hello from the future! Trump is still our president, which is why we still don't have flying cars. Fimfic's style/layout has changed five more times, settling on a diagonally-striped cyan/mauve theme. I'll avoid spoiling any content from the latest season, which won't be difficult to do since this blog focuses on backstory.
Fluttershy. Once again I have a bias. I don't much care about Fluttershy. Unlike Applejack who I admit to spending a non-zero amount of time negatively thinking about, I don't really think about Fluttershy at all. She's simply not interesting to me. She's nice enough to look at, especially her fanart. Once again the alphabet is kind to me in getting some of these characters out of the way early.
Family
For many years, Fluttershy's family was a pretty big mystery to us all. Then in Season Six in the episode Flutter Brutter, we had the plug to this gaping hole in her backstory grated across our eyeballs as we endured the NEET-antics of her little brother, Zephyr Breeze.
We got to meet her folks, and both of them are basically old-Fluttershy-ish people. Her father worked in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory making clouds, some of which he took home to add to his collection. I suppose I can congratulate the writers on finding something to top the otherwise go-to "boring hobby" example of stamp collecting. I forget if her mother did anything other than be a homemaker.
Forgive me for a small tangent, but it is rather difficult to remain focused on this topic. We learned in The Perfect Pear (more evidence for how Applejack has one of the better backstories in the show), that Mrs. Cup Cake wasn't named that at birth. Her original name was Chiffon Swirl. Between the examples her and of Pear Butter taking on the name Buttercup so thoroughly that her own kids didn't even know her original name, it seems like ponies do indeed change their names from time to time. I imagine earning one's cutie mark is one of the more common events that lead to a name change, though marriage is another candidate for most common as well. "Nickname used to the exclusion of real name" seems pretty common as well, if not technically a name change. Other noteworthy "name changers" would be Fizzlepop Berrytwist A.K.A Tempest Shadow and Pinkamena Diane Pie A.K.A. Pinkie Pie.
I bring this up because Fluttershy's parents' names are Mr. Shy and Mrs. Shy. I'd like to think they have real names, but we don't know what those might be or if they even do.
Where I complimented Applejack in that her family felt like a part of Equestria and Ponyville with Applejack fitting in like a piece of a puzzle, Mr. and Mrs. Shy feel tacked on. They feel less like their own people and more like someone bad at fanfic decided to come up with the simplest and least interesting parent-OCs for the episode. As such, they don't exactly inform us too much about how Fluttershy got to be Fluttershy. I guess it's genetic.
Her brother, Zephyr Breeze, is more interesting only in that he's annoying rather than forgettable. He differs from Fluttershy in that he's more social than the other three members of his family combined. That still doesn't result in a charming or likable guy; do remember what bar we're talking about that he's surpassed. He is like Fluttershy though in that he seems not to have much passion for what he's interested in. He gives up very easily.
Because I am forcing myself to do this, think about this, and speculate about these things, I have to wonder what kind of parenting Mr. and Mrs. Shy did that resulted in these two kids-turned-adults. I guess my simplest and least interesting answer would be that they coddled their kids. They sheltered them from challenge or hardship. If anything remotely frightening happened, you could expect outstretched wings offered to block the scary world out and nothing but warmth and love in all directions.
I can understand how this would be an appealing life to some. So let me take a moment to put aside the usual abrasive Cryo-ness and say I am not bashing Fluttershy or her folks for being loving and kind. I am merely poking fun at a character. This is less, "omg, that's terrible" and more "well, I think this explains things." We hear many stories about tough characters that faced a lot of adversity and overcame it. We hear about kids growing up in broken homes forced to grow up fast and take care of younger siblings. Take that overall trend, and consider how unusual and extreme it is. Reverse it, and consider the Shy's to be not merely loving and kind, but a bit on the extreme side of it. Once again, look to Applejack episodes, and watch Somepony to Watch Over Me. Imagine that every single day, all day, with fluffy soft clouds and doting-overbearing parents. Overprotective even in a pillow fort.
Cutie Mark
Fluttershy's cutie mark story is on the surface boring. That surface of boringness goes pretty deep. Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom scared her and her newly met animal friends into hiding. Inexplicably, Fluttershy is the first to come out of hiding and encourages those animals that it is safe. In doing so she realized she could communicate magically with animals and found her cutie mark.
Where a character like Applejack's cutie mark is more representative of a destiny or duty, Fluttershy's seems to be more attached to a skill/superpower. When her cutie mark was taken by Starlight Glimmer, what she lost was her ability to talk to animals (Not even tweets make sense).
I'm going to avoid going into a lengthy tangent about this. But it is somewhat necessary to illustrate Fluttershy's talent.
Some animals (cows, sheep) can speak in Ponish, while others (giraffes, mice, bears) can't. Some critters (Angel Bunny in particular, and the raccoons that live/work in Rarity For You in Manehattan) seem to understand Ponish but not speak it. Some things are not "animals" but instead "monsters" and can speak (Steven Magnet) and others (manticores) can't. Fluttershy fits into this confusing setup in that she can speak to a wider range of things than others due to her power. She could talk to a manticore in Friendship is Magic Part II, but couldn't talk to Vampire Fruit Bats in Bats!.
In terms of backstory and character, Fluttershy's cutie mark story has a few points to note. Up in Cloudsdale Fluttershy was forced to endure bullying by a trio of pegasus colts (Hoops, Dumbell, and Score). This is somewhat at odds with my speculation about her upbringing of extreme shelter. I suspect there may be some kind of Cloudsdale requirement that all pegasi attend flight school, and this was one area of Fluttershy's life where her parents couldn't shelter her. That it swung to the extreme opposite of fluffy-love environment to teasing was probably a big shock to young and gangly Flutters. That someone (Rainbow Dash) came to her defense was likely expected.
After falling to the ground and being saved by a swarm of butterflies (Equestrian Butterflies are no joke; underestimate any insects in Equestria at your own peril), Fluttershy finds herself switching from cowering foal to mother role.
Element
Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness. As speculated above, she was raised in so much kindness that it might even have been detrimental and a cause for her anxiety around other ponies. She earned her cutie mark due to the intervention of Rainbow Dash on her behalf in the face of unkindness.
Fluttershy seems to avoid expressing herself for fear of offending others. While she has gotten better about it over the seasons, a typical "conversation" with an early-season depiction of her would be weird if it was missing excessive "if you don't mind" and/or several apologies for simply existing. Her penchant for quietness is an extension of that. Her "kindness" is generally in the form of seeking to not bother anyone.
Boring.
A better depiction of her kindness is that she often attempts to play caretaker/nurse if anyone or anything gets injured and she becomes aware of it. This often led to early fanfic writers depicting her as a veterinarian for Ponyville, though canon shot that theory out of the water. It wasn't a particularly good theory to begin with, as we saw in Season 1 Bird in the Hoof that she wasn't actually trained or talented in medicine. She just sort of winged it trying to take care of Philomena.
Most of Fluttershy's conflicts revolve around her being too kind and needing to impose her opinions or will on those around her for the greater good/kindness.
Events
As pointed out by Jondor in the comments below, there was apparently a period of time after Fluttershy earned her cutie mark that she befriended Rainbow Dash enough for her parents to be familiar with her. Continued exposure to Rainbow Dash was probably a vastly different sort of growing up period for her than her initial childhood.
At this point, we skip forward to the start of the show. Fluttershy moved to Ponyville and has her own cottage and somehow earns enough bits to live. I suspect she sells the eggs her chickens lay. It is pretty obvious that she couldn't pursue her talent of being able to speak to animals up in Cloudsdale which seems to be starkly lacking in them.
At the same time or soon after, Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville and joined the weather team. After they met in flight camp, the two remained friends and this is a rare instance of Fluttershy taking the lead on something and Rainbow Dash following her.
We don't actually know all that much about Fluttershy's past still. We have a few tidbits here and there to drive further speculation, and I've put forth my best effort to do so here. I suspect that a lot of Fluttershy's past was rather boring. Not in the same manner as I find Fluttershy a boring character, but in the sense that there just isn't any big traumatic events beyond the one that ultimately led to her earning her cutie mark. I think she and her brother were home-schooled (except for the speculated requirement of flight school). Fluttershy probably didn't socialize as a young filly. Her entire world was her parents and little brother, and the walls of their home. I'm sure she had birthday parties that no one but her immediate family attended. I wonder if there were candles on her cake or if they were deemed too scary/dangerous. Fluttershy learned about dragons at some point in her life in order to be terrified of them. Maybe that was one early slip of judgment on Mr. Shy's part for a choice of bedtime story material.
Character Plugs
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/115750/blind
A bit more focused on Twilight Sparkle than Fluttershy, this is an interesting read, and it does showcase Fluttershy being kind. Maybe someday it will be finished.
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/1/knighty
Not much to say. The guy's a big fan of Fluttershy, and I don't really have much to plug for her. I'm kind of scraping the barrel here.
Next up:
The other stuff is emblematic of why Fluttershy is "kindness," but not her shy, dont-wanna-bug-you nature. That's just how she is. It's just like Rarity's selfish bitchy tendencies being distinct from her being "generosity."
One small point that I think you missed was that Rainbow Dash seemed to be quite well known to both Flutter's parents and the leech, including relating firsthand knowledge of some old anecdotes.
It would appear that Fluttershy and Rainbow were friends and hung out quite a bit after meeting at flight camp. I suspect she's the one who decorated the living room with a rainbow theme and the doormats were too polite to ever change it. Rainbows are pretty safe so long as you don't try to taste them after all.
i.imgur.com/yodigVH.jpg
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That is indeed a portion of Fluttershy's life that I missed telling. I chalk that up to my general disinterest in re-watching or thoroughly remember many details from the episode.
I suppose we can break Fluttershy's backstory into three broad categories:
Childhood (which I offered my speculation on) up to earning her cutie mark
Post-mark to Adulthood (that you bring up)
Adulthood (moving to Ponyville out on her own up to Show Beginning).
I also didn't emphasize that we really only have two episodes worth of material to work with for Fluttershy's backstory: The Cutie Chronicles and Flutter Brutter. We don't go into Fluttershy's past in any of her other episodes, as we're generally too busy dealing with whatever Fluttershy's current symptoms are. This is in distinct contrast to Applejack, for whom we have several episodes worth of material to draw from.
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I would argue that her "shy, don't want to bug you nature" is intertangled with her Kindness. Meanwhile, her omniphobia is not. Shyness is itself a complicated thing, with elements of fear and kindness to it. Someone can be shy due to a fear of social interaction, but they can also be shy in being unsure how to interact and not wanting to confront or impose on others. The former is the shyness of someone avoiding social situations, while the latter is the sort of shyness of the quiet person on the bus/public transportation. As opposed to the sort of person who greets perfect strangers and strikes up conversations in those situations.
I avoided going into her fear of everything because it doesn't really have a discernible source we can point to. It might be the result of some event in her early childhood. It might just be genetic+upbringing. I did speculate that Fluttershy might have been read a "scary" bedtime story that led to her fear of dragons. That "traumatic childhood event" doesn't need to be all that dramatic by our standards, but by Fluttershy standards which could be incredibly low.
I could further speculate that some spiral of "that story was scary and gave Fluttershy nightmares" led to her parents being gentler. Despite their coddling, something else would Scare Flutters, and her parents would go even softer and quieter. I'm imagining a progression of bedtime stories beginning with "The dragon kidnapped the singing pony" to "the bunny only had three carrots for dinner instead of four." Rather than ever confront or deal with her fears, they mounted and lesser and lesser triggers would come up until her own shadow scared her.
In contrast to that, some legitimately traumatic events might have occurred in a young Fluttershy's life. Maybe the Shys were the victims of a burglary or something. I suspect cloud houses don't ever burn, so that's probably out. Freak weather seems unlikely in more or less central Equestria at the very heart of controlled and manufactured weather. Perhaps a huge dragon raided Cloudsdale while Fluttershy was an infant/toddler.
There are a lot of possibilities to explain Fluttershy's character and demeanor. We simply don't know that much for sure about her. It requires a great deal of speculation and extrapolation. Fortunately, she's a rather simple character so it remains pretty easy to keep those speculations and inferences coherent.
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Fair enough. I didn't rewatch much of it either, just enough to confirm my recollection. And to find a good image of the living room once I'd noticed that detail again.