So if you've paid attention to MLP, you might know that Fluttershy suffers from inconsistent character development. Things that affected her in the past no longer seem to affect her in the present, such as when the dragon in Dragonshy knocked out her friends, then she got mad. Yet she could not even bring herself to get a little angry when her friend were being frozen and carried away by the mane-iac. I chalk this up to differences between writers, but it does seem to happen quite a bit.

She also seems to lack any certain goal like some of the other mane six have. For instance, Twilight wants to understand Friendship, RD wants to become a wonderbolt, Rarity wants to become a famous fashionista, Fluttershy...wants to meet more animals?

My question is this, what are some examples you guys have seen of Fluttershy's inconsistent characterization, how would you fix it, and what do you think Fluttershy's future goals are?

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I honestly don't find her inconsistent at all.

In fact, how FiM keeps having her fighting and getting slowly better with her social anxiety outright took Fluttershy from my least liked main-character to my favorite pony on the show.

So... I'd change nothing. Showing her backsliding a bit now and then but genuinely trying again and again was/is a very bold move, but all the more compelling compared with the so overused 'moment of epiphany' style of writing, and I applaud the show for it.

I mean... Could you guys have imagined S1 Fluttershy doing the things she did in Tank's For the Memories, or that Nightmare Night episode whose name escapes me at the moment? Those moments would have been far cheaper if Fluttershy had come out of Putting Your Hoof down with her biggest flaw completely exercised, but since you know how hard it is for her to stand up for herself you actually feel proud for Fluttershy instead.

Not to be 'that guy,' but in this one case I genuinely think that those that scream about 'inconsistencies' have rather silly expectations. Their called character flaws, and they are supposed to be there. Otherwise you have six perfect pony robots solving all problems by talking about it over tea.

Heck, I even have a example of what happens when you do that mistake: Applejack.

She learned her big lessons all the way in season one... and has since then gotten about a handful of solo-appearances because writing drama about somebody that's a well-adjusted work-a-holic that knows exactly what she wants in life and with a pleasant personality is really, really hard.