Hurricane Fluttershy

Dear Princess Luna...

Starting off, Rainbow is soaring above Ponyville, gathering pegasi for a mandatory meeting. She uses a Ponyverse expression, 'be cool or be mule' as she dumps leaflets onto a mule. I believe in A Friend in Deed, I mused that mules were probably the 'butts' of Ponyverse humor, and it appears I was right.

I'm not too familiar with mules, so perhaps they do look like that, but they could have at least tried to make him not look goofy as hell.

All the pegasi arrive for the meeting, except one, Fluttershy.

Instead of hiding some place far off, she was in an elaborate tree costume right outside.

So the Ponyverse apparently has completely manufactured weather or something. In Hearth's Warming Eve, we learned that Unicorns controlled day and night, and pegasi were able to manipulate the weather. (Although Unicorns could just use magic to do that too) Now, we learn via an old-school style educational film that pegasi have to combine their 'wing power' to make a tornado, to funnel water up to Cloudsdale, where they then make clouds.

"I thought it was food."

Rainbow pumps up the crowd, claiming that they will beat Fillydelphia's record wing power. Spitfire, the Captain of the Wonderbolts will be there, probably accomplishing jack, like usual. All the pegasi, including some extremely muscled pegasus, are excited except one, Fluttershy.

The pegasi start training and Rainbow is mostly pleased with their efforts. Every pegasi in Ponyville is preparing, except, you guessed it, Fluttershy.

Rainbow is fed up and goes to Fluttershy's house. Fluttershy answers the door in her robe, covered in what she calls the 'pony pox.' Rainbow 'cures' the pox by dumping a bucket of water on her, which washes away whatever Fluttershy put on herself. Fluttershy then pretends to trip and hurt her wing. Rainbow blows her whistle, which scares Fluttershy and makes her fly.

Rainbow asks what is wrong, Fluttershy claims that she can't fly. Rainbow calls shenanigans on that, and Fluttershy reiterates that it's more about performance anxiety, and that she's always been unable to perform well in front of an audience.

"A pegasus that's scared of flying? That's like an otter that don't like water! Off you go!" *kick*

In the flashback to Flight Camp, Fluttershy is scared and the instructor pushes her off. Nice. She then drops into a cloud and is surrounded by her peers, chanting "Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!"

Serenity now, insanity later. See: Putting Your Hoof Down

So clearly Fluttershy has led a troubled life, a subject of ridicule at an early age. Hmm, I do believe I deduced something like that in the Putting Your Hoof Down episode?

Rainbow, oblivious or uncaring about her friend's trauma, immediately snaps at her, then rethinks her approach and tries something a little less jerkish, trying to convince Fluttershy that the tornado needs every pegasus it can get to break the record. Fluttershy still refuses, then agrees as Rainbow walks away dejectedly. Unlike Rainbow apparently, she cares for her friend and agrees to do it just to try and maker her happy. Rainbow probably pulled the ol' 'walk-away-if-you-don't-get-your-way.' (Wait a second, isn't that what Pinkie taught Fluttershy in Putting Your Hoof Down? This is after that, too.)

Pro: Your friend is happy and gave you some crazy pegasi flying hug. Con: You hate flying, especially flying in public, and just agreed to the pegasus version of a marathon or something.

Back at the training grounds, Twilight Sparkle and Spike are there with a machine to gauge speed and wing power. Poor Twilight, I thought Earth ponies, or mules I suppose, were the stereotypical 'dumb' ponies, but apparently these pegasi are, too. Confused by Twilight's technical description of the machine, they then ask Spike, who, of course, knows the 'dumbed down' answer. Twilight was also using magic at the start of this scene, and I'm not sure for what as she was spinning the device with her hoof.

"I'm going to beat you all to death with a sack full of books."

One of the pegasi may be legitimately ill, as he coughs, and did so at the meeting earlier. Twilight, in typical Mary Worth fashion, scolds him, suggesting it happened before, and says they need a 'germ free environment,' like he could just suddenly 'turn off' being ill. It may not have even been him that coughed, as another pegasus coughs as he leaves, or he got her sick as well.

Pariah's use for magic: spraying chemicals in someone's face from across the 'room'

They begin using Twilight's machine, Thunderlane, the coughing pegasus, scores 9.3 wing power. Rainbow then does her run, scoring 16.5 wing power, which is apparently really good since Twilight and the pegasi are all windswept and Fluttershy can barely stop herself from being blown backwards.

Rainbow claims that if they can all get to at least 10 wing power, they will beat the record. All the pegasi take the skies in celebration, except Fluttershy.

The speed tests continue, eventually Fluttershy's turn comes up. She starts flying, obviously much slower than every other one we have seen, and seems to be feeling happy. The two pegasi that helped produce that Twilight rage seen above, start giggling and the "Fluttershy can't hardly fly!" chant comes back to haunt Fluttershy, causing her to slow down even more.

Fluttershy scored a 0.5, Spike blurts out, "Isn't that less than one?" and gets smacked by Twilight's hoof of fury. Spike seems to think he's Twilight's friend, but it sure seems like he's more of a slave or something, since Twilight doesn't hesitate to physically harm him. That may just be Twilight's pariah personality coming to light though.

"Damn, homes, I'm just telling it like it is!"

Fluttershy just freaks the hell out, as "Fluttershy can hardly fly" echoes through her mind.

Creepy, yet heartbreaking at the same time. Some pony needs to help poor Fluttershy.. =[

Fluttershy runs away in tears, and Rainbow tries to console her as if she wasn't a horribly traumatized pony. Rainbow's known her in some aspect since they were 'fillies' yet she doesn't seem to know Fluttershy at all.

Someone get Fluttershy some therapy or whatever it is she needs.

Rainbow is fuming about Fluttershy not wanting to do the tornado. Fluttershy has fled to her private sanctuary, surrounded by her animal friends. She can apparently understand animal talk, or really is crazy, and they convince her to believe in herself and get confidence to show everyone that she is a good flyer.

We get a training montage of Fluttershy. Fluttershy apparently believes animals truly are 'non-human' as she can fly in front of them without issue, until they put pony masks over their face, which causes Fluttershy to freak out.

Fluttershy has some serious issues. =[

She loses in tug-o-war to a butterfly. Yes, that's correct. A butterfly. To be fair, she got 'pony-masked' again which made her lose concentration. She does a flyby and doesn't even dislodge the seedlings(?) from a dandelion. Well, I think one may have been sent skyward actually, but still.

She then struggles to do pushups with a mouse on her back, loses in tug-o-war, to two butterflies this time, but it seems like she's getting over her fear of other ponies watching her.

Her next flyby sends all the seedlings or whatever soaring, she does pushups with a bunch of animals on her back, then she beats like 8 butterflies in tug-o-war. She flies past a field of dandelions and sends a big patch's seedlngs or whatever flying.

VICTORY!

So, back at the training grounds, it's apparently the next day and they are seeing improvements on the speed tests. Rainbow is really excited and thinks they will break the record. A squirrel comes up and starts chattering at them, and we know that either Fluttershy is just gifted in being able to talk to animals, or is just insane, as Twilight and Rainbow can't understand it.

"I should disintegrate you right now, vermin. How dare you touch me!"

Fluttershy flies in with an animal escort, dead set on impressing the pegasi. It looks like she flies really fast, but she only pulls off 2.3 wing power. Which is still a massive improvement from her first run, although we don't know how fast she was going before she freaked out and slowed down.

Fluttershy, with tears welling, blames it on her 'nerves' again, and Rainbow tries to explain that every bit counts. Hmm, taking a shot in the dark here that Fluttershy refuses to do the tornado, then they end up needing just a bit more power, and Twilight Worth convinces her to help. Spike tries to 'tell it like is' again, and Twilight smacks him again.

"Brain...Spike...damage...now..has...he..."

Unpause after the Spike smashing, and it does indeed look like Fluttershy isn't going to help. Spike tries to be an optimist and say that hey, it doesn't matter, they still have enough wing power. Twilight is not pleased.

"Excuse me, Rainbow. I need to...'talk' to my slave in a less public area."

I guess Rainbow does care about Fluttershy, even though they should be able to do the tornado and beat the record without her, Rainbow laments that Fluttershy is 'down in the dumps.'

The day of their attempt has arrived. Spitfire arrives to much fanfare, for reasons unknowable to me. Spike starts going through the list of pegasi and Thunderlane, the coughing pony, is in the hospital. He has something called 'feather flu' and many more pegasi are presumably sick, or just didn't show.

"They're... they're gone, ma'am. They were all found dead, blunt force trauma, the ME says it looks like they were beaten with a sack full of books..."

Their numbers are so heavily reduced (guess you shouldn't have enraged Twilight and/or let her try to make her germ-free environment) Twilight figures they might not even be able to do the tornado. Also, another point for Unicorns, able to use magic to manipulate an abacus.

Spitfire, the Wonderbolts captain, starts looking at her watch. Rainbow decides that Cloudsdale needs the water, and they'll try anyway, despite not being able to get the record. As the tornado gets going, Fluttershy arrives, to give 'moral support.' Pegasi start to tire and get sucked down into the rising water or smash into each other.

I was kind of curious as to how many pegasi are supposed to be here. The record was 910 wing power, and Rainbow said if they all get to at least 10 they can beat it, so presumably they have around 100 pegasi that live in Ponyville, and plus or minus 91 living in Fillydelphia.

The tornado dies, and Rainbow crashes into a tree extremely painfully, somehow having her eyeballs pierce through the trunk.

Even Twilight, who regularly beats her servant and may have murdered/spread disease to pegasi she doesn't like, finds this excruciating to look at.

I'm not really sure how this tornado business works. If they don't do it, won't some other town take over? Or is it some preset schedule arranged in advance, to make sure the scheduled towns' pegasi will be available for it, and if they fail, well, they're SoL.

Whatever the case may be, Rainbow wants to try again. Rainbow starts to fly and Twilight uses magic to pull her back to the ground.

"Get the hell back here, I was talking to you."

Operation Twilight Worth is a go, and she starts telling Rainbow to just quit, it's not safe and some pegasi may get hurt. Rainbow smacks Twilight, then proclaims that if she's going down, she wants to know that they gave it their all, and she wants to go down flying. Live in fame, or go down in flame.

"Ow! Damn, is that what I've been doing to Spike? No wonder he won't look me in the eye now."

The tornado starts working, they get to 795 wing power, and Twilight tells Fluttershy to get up there. Instead of telling Spitfire to do something (since getting this cloud water is a vital task it seems), who's supposed to be some hot shot flyer and surely has at least Rainbow level wing power, Twilight Worth has to meddle with her friend, telling her to do it for Equestria, do it for Rainbow Dash, do it for herself (Fluttershy).

Pretentious, Twilight use for magic: Meddling.

Fluttershy gives in to Twilight's guilt trip, and takes flight. I'm not sure if conditions are off in the tornado, but from what they show, somehow, Fluttershy was keeping pace with Rainbow. All the pegasi then go flying past her, so that was probably just put in as a 'hey look, I'm here, friend!' moment.

Fluttershy's moment of joy as she joined the tornado and was pacing with Rainbow, is, as usual, fleeting. As the other pegasi soar past, and the 'Fluttershy can hardly fly!' chant comes back.

As in Putting Your Hoof Down, Fluttershy snaps, and unleashes her inner turmoil in the form of ludicrous speed. They reach the 800 wing power minimum, and the water is funneled to Cloudsdale successfully.

"So that's what can happen if you actually do something useful. Eh, too much effort, I'll just stand here and let them fail and cause a drought or whatever, it's no biggie, I'm rich and famous, I'll get by."

Now, let me look at the numbers here. Before Twilight's meddling, the pegasi had capped out at 795. Fluttershy joins in and brings it to 798, she goes rage mode, which they show to be ludicrous speed, and they just barely go over 800. I'm leaning towards the tornado creating a temporary Twilight Zone, or Fluttershy's 'going plaid' caused the other pegasi to falter, lowering their wing power.

You did it Fluttershy! From 0.5 to 5-7 wing power!

Twilight and Spike are jumping with joy. "She did it! She did it! They all did it!" Nice catch, Twilight.

Spike signals the tornado to stop, the pegasi land and start cheering and stomping. Fluttershy is still in rage mode and rapidly flying in a circle. Doesn't really seem to be going all that fast though, so she might have just made it to 5-7 wing power in her enraged state.

Rainbow catches her on a cloud, Fluttershy is so enraged she didn't even know they had succeeded.

Spitfire commends Rainbow Dash for 'showing a lot of guts' by trying despite their reduced numbers. Rainbow, who clearly thinks highly of Spitfire/Wonderbolts, looks really excited for her hero to be talking to her, but then claims Fluttershy was her number 1 flyer, and she should have the credit. The pegasi stupidly agree, and start cheering for Fluttershy. Don't get me wrong, we've seen what an emotional basketcase Fluttershy is, so she definitely deserves it.

"Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!"

Fluttershy writes to Princess Celestia, pretty much telling her a condensed, more polite version of: "Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn't like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow, and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, "Hell, they won't miss me, just one man in thousands". But, what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like? No, Goddamnit, Americans don't think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns and machinery of war to keep us rolling. The Quartermaster is needed to bring up food and clothes because where we are going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man on K.P. has a job to do, even the one who heats our water to keep us from getting the 'G.I. Shits'."

At the very end, we see the cloud machine on Cloudsdale pumping out clouds, during Fluttershy's monologue letter to Celestia though, we see something really disturbing. Spike playing some instrument, with all the ponies following him, as if compelled by the tune.

Yeah, this is totally not going to end up with some Pied Piper BS going down.

What I learned from this episode:

• The Wonderbolts are still extremely useless. She'd rather risk pegasi getting hurt or worse, than help get the important water delivery made. They even named her Spitfire, there better be an episode where she/they achieve something, 'cause that's kind of disgracing that badass name.
• If my numbers are correct, there are a ton of pegasi in Ponyville alone.
• Twilight probably helps her friends with tasks like 'reading a meter' just in case it gives her more opportunity to meddle.
• Fluttershy is one damaged chick, hopefully this episode's ending helped her get over some of that turmoil she's carrying within.