A brony with a lot of love for the show and a lot of questions about its direction. Sometimes I write stuff.
Everypony knows how easy it is for Fluttershy to share kindness, to care, to give of herself. Nopony ever asks: is it too easy? Where does the element end, and the pony begin?
In the case of Gilda, they may be better off not knowing.
Warning for OOC (or at least differently characterized) Fluttershy. Rated T for adult situations.
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I get the feeling that Fluttershy knows a lot more about Gilda's passing than she's telling.
I suppose I ought to be annoyed at you for what you did to Fluttershy's character, but I'm gonna let that slide because I think you've just hit on two very important points there. The least anyone can do is nothing; a thing, even a small thing, is making some kind of effort, and I think some people forget/don't realise that ... maybe you just don't want to? Or you don't think it's worth it. It's one of those PoV things that some just don't get and think you're a heartless monster because of.
There was an idea I had that I considered writing: Fluttershy's "superpower" of being able to understand animals came at the cost of being able to understand other ponies, which is why she's so awkward around them. I think you've hit the nail on the head as to what that might look like if you shaded it that bit darker, and maybe she has to feign a sense of empathy around her friends so as not to be found out.
Its a shame you got a downvote, this is a very unique character study into how Fluttershy might actually be. It also touches on possible resentment for the elements of the Mane Six later in life. I'm gonna pass this on to another brony acquaintance of mine, I think it deserves it.
5968083 Thank you.
5966342 I think that's a good idea and worth exploring. The question, in this story, is why Fluttershy no longer bothers to hide that lack of empathy with Twilight.
5968101
Because she trusts Twilight's reasonableness (i.e. she won't reject her for being a sociopath).
5968434 Good point.
You start to rethink a lot of Fluttershy's decisions after a story like this...for example, how she didn't even ask for Celestia's permission to nurse Philomena back to "health." She just stole her. Then there are the more obvious things like her breakdown in the Season 1 finale and how she behaved when Iron Will's seminar convinced her to stop controlling her aggressive impulses.
I think that writing Fluttershy this way doesn't necessarily dishonor her character, as long as the writer understands what sociopathy is and doesn't just make her an "edgy villain."
5969049
I've always had a different perspective on the Iron Will seminar: if you teach someone meek to be aggressive, they aren't gonna be very good at it, are they? (I remember a couple of TV shows in the early 2000s were they tried to get milquetoasts to be a bit more gregarious and it always ended rather badly.) Fluttershy's statements to Pinkie Pie and Rarity can be looked at two ways:
1) most view it as Fluttershy having a deep-seated sense of anger at the pair;
2) the way I view it: Fluttershy really sucking at being angry and having to really scrape the barrel to find a way to insult two of her best friends.
I will admit that I do have a bit of a problem with how the writers characterise "angry-Fluttershy" in the show; to me, she always comes across as passive-aggressive ("I'm a year older than you."). (Except for in Tanks for the Memories. They got it right there with her reaction to Rainbow Dash's inability to do what was right for Tank.)
But yeah, nabbing Philomena is pretty indefensible. One, it puts Fluttershy in the position of thinking badly of Celestia, which almost nopony does. Two, it's theft. Three, she knows nothing of the sort of bird it is, so how can she adequately treat it? (She may have been relying on her "superpower" to aid her, but Philomena's cheeky side resisted.)
Her behaviour at the gala isn't necessarily sociopathic or even angry; she's used to having a deep connection with animals, and even they are ignoring her now, so her frustration boils over and manifests itself as a moment of rage. (Like a normally placid person suddenly shouting at the TV when their team loses, etc.)
I like this, personally I like to think that Fluttershy and Gilda really don't like each other, not sure if I could call it hate but...well I mean Rainbow, Gilda and Dash grew up with each other, I find it hard pressed to think Shy and Gilda got a long, plus I like the idea that Shy does not have to be kind and sweet to everyone.
So Fluttershy murdered Gilda?
6191986 No. xD
6193925 ...then what is this story about? Cause that's pretty much all I got from this.
6196671 She didn't kill Gilda, but she doesn't give a buck that she's dead even though Rainbow Dash is really hurt over it.
The thing that puts me off the most about this story is the implication of Fluttershy bullying Harry the Bear. She can be as much of a cold bitch about Gilda as she wants and it wouldn't necessarily change who she is, but her animals who she clearly cares for more than anything...
6267915 True...maybe that was going too far.
6267902 ah.
I call murdershy on killing gilda
I like the uneasy atmosphere this story creates, and I can live with oddly-characterised 'Shy when it's for a good reason. As another commenter has said, though, her treatment of Harry is beyond the pale.
It's impressive when Fluttershy can be written creepy as hell without her being a secret serial killer.
I do agree with the others about Harry though. It hints at cray-cray rather than simply running out of f*cks to give.
Now on the other end of things, maybe she has gone a little nuts from being the element of kindness. Say the element has been doing all the heavy lifting regarding having compassion for others, and this has caused her own innate ability to care to atrophy away. Since element powers are something they can control, this would let Fluttershy turn off her ability to care whenever she wants.
404: kindness not found abort/retry?