Story Notes: 16 (Flitterheart) · 10:26pm Apr 30th, 2020
Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/229848
Special thanks to Snowliasion for prereading!
If you remember my story notes from Feathermay's chapter, I mentioned how excited I was for this chapter. I apologize that this update took a month to get out. Not only is this the longest chapter to date, it's also one of the most important. Since I first put notes together for this, I always envisioned Flitterheart's reason for leaving Equestria behind was being Cozy Glow's sister. That was one of the very first things I planned. What better reason could there be for leaving everything behind?
But there have been some changes to the original plan, and that required some rethinking of how things will go from here. The biggest thing that changed was Cozy Glow's characterization. Originally, she was to be an adopted sister who gradually grew jealous of Flitterheart's infectious personality and ease of making friends. That changed when people started theorizing that something was wrong in Equestria. That wasn't my original intention, but once I started thinking about it the ideas wouldn't stop flowing. So now the question is: was Cozy Glow someone else's pawn? Or was she merely manipulating her sister as a backup plan? Time will tell!
This is the first set-up for the sequel, even though we've still got a long way to go with this one.
Source: https://derpibooru.org/164899
Flitterheart and Snowcatcher came out in the same wave of toys in autumn 2011. I'd been a fan of the show for a few months by that point, but had yet to join the fandom. At the time I wasn't planning on grabbing all the various ponies, but just the ones I liked. Snowcatcher and Flitterheart were two that I liked. Very much, in fact, to the point where I willingly withheld money from my primary hobby (at a show specific to that hobby!) in the hopes I would find them on my way home. I did, as a matter of fact, at a Walmart. I knew their wave was hitting. That was also the point when I knew that I had officially dived into the deep end of the pool that is MLP.
That means Flitterheart and Snowcatcher are among my favorite ponies, even if there's not much to their official cannon. Business Trip was something to give them a little characterization. The fact that so many people responded to that story positively gave me the motivation to continue their stories, as well as those of the rest of their cofounders.
When planning things, I tried to get into the heads of each of the characters and figure out why they'd leave Equestria behind. Some have good reasons, some don't. Flitterheart has the best reason of all the ponies here to come to Earth and leave Equus behind.
Flitterheart's cutie mark, a pair of hearts, represents her love for others. She feels good when others feel good, which is why her cutie mark materialized when she was celebrating Cozy's mark coming in. As a result, she has a special bond with her sister. It's why she's taking things so hard without Cozyheart.
As for Cozy Glow, Flitterheart is thoroughly convinced her sister is dead. She's wrong: according to the show's staff, she's unconscious, similar to a state of dreaming. But, if she's to permanently remain a statue, is that really any different?
Flitterheart's also moved on. She spent years mourning her sister's 'death' and realized she was turning into a bitter, cynical young mare. She's better than that. Of our sixteen ponies, Flitterheart is the best of them. Even if life's dealt her a lousy hand (er, hoof?), she's still the kindest, most compassionate, nicest pony you'll ever meet.
Which immediately makes sense if Flitterheart's relatives sound familiar...
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/praisecastiel/art/The-Care-Bear-Family-312755504
I couldn't resist. I'm sorry.*
Though including a character named 'Swiftheart' in the chapter directly following a chapter with a character named 'Swiftspeed' may cause some confusion. Swiftspeed is an OC, while Swiftheart pays homage to the above rabbit. Likewise, last chapter we had Sweet Treats and this chapter we have Treatheart (the pig in the above image).
For once I broke a limit that wasn't posted on a white sign along the road. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneSteveLimit
The only one missing from the above image is one of the franchise's villains, Professor Cold Heart. Ever notice how villains always have to have some sort of title? Professor Cold Heart, Dr. Fright (also from Care Bears; cameos here as Stage Fright), Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, etc. Even Cozy Glow was quick to proclaim herself empress, though nopony ever addressed her as such.
And she's hanging out with Sunny Rays, who bears (pun intended!) a strong resemblance to Funshine Bear, seen above.
*I'm not really sorry. If ever there were two franchises begging for a crossover, it's My Little Pony & Care Bears. As much as I love Transformers, a MLP-CB crossover makes far more sense than the current TF-MLP crossover. As a toy collector, the prospect of getting Bears-turned-Ponies and Ponies-turned-Bears on store shelves seems like a no-brainer to me. And I don't care how badly my wallet begs for mercy, I want this to happen. Hasbro really dropped the ball when they had the license to make Care Bears toys a few years back.
Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/858429
The back of her card indicates:
Flitterheart lets her dreams soar as high as she can fly! She flutters her wings whenever she's happy.
She didn't spend most of this chapter happy. I'm sorry, Flitterheart.
Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/2023959
So the traveling carnival flashback is a true story. When I was a child, I lived far from any major amusement parks. But we had a traveling carnival set up in a church parking lot every summer, and my Grandpa took me every year.
One time I wanted to go on some sort of spinning ride, but the carnie wouldn't let me on, claiming I would throw up. My Grandpa finally convinced him to let me on, and I had a great time.
When we got off, the carnie angrily shook his finger at me and said 'I told you he was going to throw up!' and I was like 'But I didn't throw up...'
I hadn't, but my Grandpa had. Somehow I hadn't noticed that he had until after the carnie said something.
So here's a childhood memory ponified and immortalized for posterity.
I've chosen Treatheart to represent him, since he always had a sweet tooth.
Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/1288827
Above we see Flitterheart with Star Swirl, the not-so-bearded. If Star Swirl the Bearded hadn't returned from limbo at the end of season 7, she would've been one of the sixteen.
Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/1373008
We never saw how Flitterheart joined the Mareiott. *Gasps* That's coming in Sunny Rays' chapter. This chapter was already the longest to date, and since the two of them are sitting together on the bus, I'd just be repeating it in Sunny's chapter. So stay tuned! Up next though is our busy little beekeeper, Honeybuzz. Then Lily Blossom, who featured prominently in Diamond Rose's chapter.
Source: From the collection of AlwaysDressesInStyle
Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/2290964
Oh golly! You haven't seen the last of me yet!
First that Admiral Biscuit one-shot and now this chapter.
I am officially badly depressed this afternoon.
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I'm sorry! I'm about to read that one-shot, momentarily. Thanks for the head's up that it's a punch to the feels.
If it helps at all, I promise things will get better for Flitterheart as the story progresses.
The uneven treatment of villains is something that also bothers me, but it seems nearly inevitable if one tries to analyze a kids' show through adult eyes.
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So true, but that's what fanfiction is for.
Interesting as usual... though with perhaps some more weighty hints at the future at the end there. :)
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MLP FiM has a lot of things that are quite disturbing if you think about them too much.
For example, any way you slice it Twilight’s entrance exam has Celestia/the faculty allowing an unborn infant of a sapient species to have spells thrown at it by a novice of unknown ability.
Of course as you noted people have used that as a springboard for fanfics. The most common idea is that the egg was non viable in some way and the real test was of the applicants character in how they handled failure. My personal favorite variant has the egg unfertilized to start and Twilight is Spike’s biological father.
Now I'm trying to remember if Dark Heart ever had some sort of title too, though if he did, I don't remember it.
On an unrelated note, now I'm also trying to figure out whether Perfect Panda and Polite Panda are technically Care Bears, or Care Bear Cousins? Can't really go by the names, since their names seem to be sort of in-between the two naming conventions. Though pandas *are* bears going by genetics, just an odd sort of branch of them, so I'd almost lean towards Care Bear rather than Care Bear Cousin despite their names not ending in "Bear" like every other Care Bear. Especially since basically every Care Bear Cousin has the "<descriptor Heart <animal>" name layout, and neither of them have "Heart" in their name. (Like I said, the names are sort of an odd in-between of the two naming conventions...)
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I don't recall either Dark Heart or No Heart having titles. Beastly may have referred to the latter with some sort of titles though. It's been too long since I saw any of the episodes to remember...
There's actually a legit answer to that, and if memory serves me, they fall under the category of 'bears' not 'cousins'. Some years back they made Perfect & Polite as plush animals. Since all CB characters come with a little heart on their tushies (bears stamped with 'Care Bears' and cousins with 'Care Bear Cousins'), the answer was right on their butts. There used to be some good fan sites out there for Care Bears, but I don't know of any that are still up and running to look it up and confirm one way or the other.