@Background Pony
It looks like you’ve misunderstood me a bit. I never said Rainbow had no redeeming qualities, far from it. I actually do appreciate what she brings to the team, I just like her the least out of the six. And I still say she’s a brat sometimes.
@Background Pony
I agree with your points. Best Pony arguments always have an undercurrent of jest to them, or at least they should.
OK, BP who wrote this and this here, and the point I was trying to make is that all characters “forget” the lessons they “learned” from time to time in order to serve the needs of the story. Thus, using Aesop Amnesia to argue that one character is worse than the others is silly. Conversely, you can find examples of every character “remembering” one or another of their lessons.
Anyway, I’m done here; “best pony” arguments are by their nature very silly affairs.
@Millennial Dan
Her “fearlessness” is an act. She is afraid of what people would think of her if they found out that she isn’t as tough as she says she is. She is also afraid of failure. You may have a distaste for her, and THAT’S FINE. But you act like she has no reedeming qualities, when clearly she does. She’s always there for her friends when they need her. If someone tries to harm her friends, she will do her best to protect them, as seem in Cutie Mark Chronicles when she defends Fluttershy from bullies. At the end of Wonderbolts Academy, Rainbow calls out what she thinks is wrong, even if it means sacrificing her biggest dream. Now of course, she can be hard headed and jump to conclusions, sometimes she can have trouble understanding other ponies’ feelings (like in Hurricane Fluttershy). I think her many good qualities more than make up for the bad.
@Background Pony
Oh, settle down, this can’t be the first time someone’s disagreed with you about something.
Dash showed her softer side, you say? She also boasted of her irrational fearlessness, and that is the point here. She brags all the time, and it’s grating. She actually told Scootaloo that she planned to lie about it, if Scoots ever dared whisper any hint of a weakness in Dash. So not only is she being just as false as ever, now she even sets a bad example for the kids by doing so.
As for shyness, it’s like I said before; Fluttershy does have shortcomings, but shyness is not one of them. It’s merely her disposition, one of her personality traits, and we’re all born with those. Shyness is only a flaw when one allows its pressure to prevent them from doing something they should, like not greeting Twilight properly when they first met.
@Background Pony
“Seeing my awesomeness does have a way of putting ponies into a pretty good mood.” (“The Crystal Empire - Part 2”)
Calling her rescuing Rarity and the Wonderbolts “the best story you’ve ever heard” (“Sleepless in Ponyville”)
“I’m probably the best flyer in all of Equestria. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just went ahead and made me a Wonderbolt on the first day.” (“Wonderbolts Academy”)
“(My unfinished novel is) about this awesome Pegasus who’s the best flyer ever and becomes the captain of the Wonderbolts!” (“Spike at Your Service”)
@Millennial Dan
Sleepless In Ponyville??? You’re kidding! If anything, that episode is her MATURING as a character. She finally shows her softer side to another pony. Before that episode, she had hidden that from everyone. But, she told Scootaloo, making it their little secret. And if there’s nothing wrong with being shy, that means Fluttershy is a perfect character. You know what most people call perfect characters? MARY-SUES. You really aren’t helping your case by making her out to be perfect. Rainbow Dash has negative aspects in her character, certainly. But she also has positive aspects which make her a well-rounded character.
@Background Pony
First of all, no, Rainbow Dash hasn’t changed that much. She’s still overly willful, still putting up a facade, and still thinking too much of herself, as shown in Sleepless in Ponyville particularly. Second, there’s nothing wrong with being shy. As for being a “doormat,” I can’t think of many instances where that has been especially evident, at least for pony Flutters.
@Background Pony
Rainbow’s lessons do. Now a days, she doesn’t brag nearly as much as she used to. Fluttershy is just as shy and just as much of a doormat as she’s always been.
@Background Pony
They do. It’s just that writers at times tend to overlook the developments for the sake of comedy. It’s not like this is exclusive to Fluttershy either, with the foremost example of Twilight constantly re-lerning the “stop freaking out” lesson.
@Mayojar77
PS And if you want ponies who don’t quite learn their lessons, let me intrduce you to Twilight and the episodes “Lesson Zero”, “It’s About Time” and “The Crystal Empire”.
@Millennial Dan The fact that PYHD is the second time of three times, and during the third time she relearns it she’s worse than the last two times, it really makes it seem like she can’t learn/remember lessons for squat. Plus it makes her look that much more histrionic when she does flip out because where the eff was that hiding when you needed it two episodes ago? It’s like for Fluttershy the gala never even happened, as well as RoH
It seems like after she’s used up her quotient of Flutterbitch she reverts completely to ‘moe waifu modo’ until she relearns to tap into Flutterbitch. It’s like learning judo, but after throwing your attacker, you have to relearn how to defend yourself from square 1.
Is Fluttershy programmed on some sort of crazy Vancian Emotion mechanic?
@Millennial Dan
She’s had to learn the same lesson three fucking times. And she’s still as much of a doormat as ever. And most of her doubts and issues are all self-created. She actually seems to get off on being weak and helpless.
And using Discord’s reformation isn’t an example of Fluttershy developing her own will, since Discord was sticking exactly to the rules as had been set out by Celestia, when breaking said rules would result in him being put in a solid stone prison for the rest of eternity.
