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Characters: Friendship Is Magic-The Mane Cast
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The Mane Six. These are our heroines. From trying to get along at a slumber party to defeating Physical Gods of darkness and chaos, these girls overcome just about any obstacle with the Magic of their Friendship. They're cute. They're awesome. They're the embodiment of the Elements of Harmony and they're here to Love & Tolerate the crap out of you. Oh and Spike is here too. Return to the character index here.
open/close all folders Tropes shared by the Mane Cast - Action Mares: All of them have their moments but Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle fit the best.
- Badass Adorable: Each of the main characters qualify but in different ways.
- Badass Crew: Even without the Elements of Harmony, they can accomplish some impressive tasks when they work together.
- Beware the Nice Ones: They are all pleasant and supportive towards others, but push their buttons and... well... Discord learned the hard way.
- Break the Cutie: They all experience this at some point, and then Discord comes along and takes this Up to Eleven.
- Character Exaggeration: Most of the characters have underwent this to some slight extent in later episodes, due to higher individual focus compared to the intitial episodes (which focused more on the whole cast and their bonds), with most of their defining flaws made more overblown and detrimental to their actions. Their other personality traits are still given focus however, along with some feasable Character Development, preventing it from leaning into Flanderization.
- Circle of Friendship: When they activate the power of the Elements of Harmony, they form this.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience
- Cool Big Sis: Most of them are this. Applejack and Rarity have little sisters who both look up to them and think they're the coolest ponies in town.
- Twilight is a surrogate one to Spike.
- Pinkie Pie acts this way towards Apple Bloom and Spike. She helps AB make cupcakes when she's upset and invites Spike to be her co-announcer when she sees that he wants to but is afraid to ask. Fluttershy is a little less amused when Pinkie tries this on her.
- She also hangs out and chaperones the other kids in town on "Nightmare Night."
- Then there's the Cake twins.
- Fluttershy herself gets the admiration of the Cutie Mark Crusaders after saving them from a cockatrice.
- Rainbow Dash is this in Scootaloo's eyes although this is also averted by Word Of God who says that she probably wouldn't be the best big sister in the world.
- She does get moments of this towards Fluttershy in later episodes however.
- Cool Pet: All of the main characters have one. See here for info on them.
- Deadpan Snarker: They all have their moments of this with Twilight Sparkle being the most prominent.
- Depending on the Writer: While the Mane Cast all have consistent defining traits, the extent they are played or exagerrated varies from episode to episode. This can make all the difference between them playing The Straight Mare or a complete Cloudcuckoolander (both of which all seven have played at least once).
- Determinator: These are some stubborn ponies. See below for more detail.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: They have defeated two Physical Gods, both incredibly powerful threats to Equestria.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: The Mane Cast has saved the world twice, got publicly honored and knighted by Celestia the second time and they've done some pretty impressive stuff individually. And yet with a few exceptions, no one seems to remember this. Though truth be told, they themselves don't seem prone to broadcasting that fact nor do they actively seek recognition for it.
- Fire-Forged Friends: While all the ponies had broad knowledge of the other's existence beforehand and some were explicitly shown to have known each other (Such as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash going to the same Flight Camp), it's also implied that some of them wouldn't have associated with each other prior to the series (Such as Applejack and Rarity) so for most of them their first significant activity together was saving the world from Nightmare Moon.
- Friend to Bugs: Every main character except Pinkie (though especially Fluttershy) finds Parasprites endearing until realizing the harm they cause and even then, still consider them cute as far as appearance goes.
- Reinforced in the toy-line. Two Rarity toys and one Fluttershy toy are accompanied by butterflies, one Rainbow Dash toy is accompanied by a dragonfly and one Applejack toy is accompanied by a ladybug.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Within the six, there are three pairs of ponies who are noticeably closer to each other than the others.
- Rarity and Fluttershy: The two regularly go on spa dates, and Fluttershy is the first to be called when Rarity tries to figure out what is wrong with the first set of Gala dresses.
- Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash: This is cemented when the two bond over pranking.
- Twilight Sparkle and Applejack: They turn to each other first for advice and comfort.
- Hidden Depths: One of the greatest things about this cast is the fact that they all have different dimensions to their personalities.
- Master Character Heroines:
- Twilight Sparkle is an Athena the Father's Daughter.
- Applejack is a Hera the Matriarch.
- Pinkie Pie is a Persephone the Maiden.
- Rainbow Dash is an Artemis the Amazon.
- Rarity is an Aphrodite the Seductive Muse.
- Fluttershy is a Demeter the Nurturer.
- Large Ham: Some are more apparent than others (eg. Rarity and Rainbow Dash rarely aren't), but all of them like Chewing the Scenery when the time fits.
- Only The Chosen May Wield: Only they can wield the Elements of Harmony now. Celestia and Luna, while they once did, can't anymore.
- Pint Sized Powerhouse: These ponies may be little, but they've all displayed impressive feats of strength with Applejack and Rainbow Dash as the top contenders.
- Ponies are Flawed: A good part of their appeal is that while they are sweet ponies at heart, each has one or more cardinal flaws that she needs to learn to work on Once per Episode. Unfortunately for them, Discord knows every one of them.
- Red (p)Oni, Blue (p)Oni: Such pairings exist between all members of the mane cast. From most red to most blue, the cast would be as follows: Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. This is given the following evidence (the Red Oni is listed first followed by the Blue Oni):
- Romance Genre Heroines: According to Lauren Faust, the main girls are based around these:
- Sanity Slippage: All of the ponies have had at least one moment when they act contradictory to their personalities, whether out of physical and/or emotional stress.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: They all looked wonderful in their dresses at the Grand Galloping Gala.
- Six Pony Band
- Town Girls: The six form this type of trio x2. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are the tomboys, Rarity and Fluttershy are the girly girls. Pinkie and Twilight are the in betweens.
- True Companions: Despite their differences, it's clear they have a strong bond between them with it growing stronger throughout the series.
- Vague Age: All of them are old enough to live alone (Applejack's case is justified by the fact she works on a family farm), have jobs, and hold major roles in Ponyville community activities like Winter Wrap-Up, yet emotionally they are officially "young adults with a maturity level of anywhere from 12-18," which explains such things as Twilight's appreciation of slumber parties, Rarity's thinking like a fairy tale, etc. Yes, that's as close as we are gonna get
.- And one episode reveals Fluttershy is a year older than Pinkie Pie.
Twilight Sparkle
The protagonist of the series, a unicorn from Canterlot who serves as Princess Celestia's apprentice. She's less than thrilled at first about the suggestion that she should try making friends but naturally winds up giving it a shot. Has a natural talent for Magic that goes far beyond what most unicorns are capable of. She's also very intelligent, levelheaded and organized, making her a great unofficial leader for the six. - Aborted Arc: Her role as student of Princess Celestia appears to have been dropped entirely as of "Lesson Zero".
- It shows up occasionally. In Baby Cakes, she can't babysit on account of finishing up a (humorously overplayed) homework assignment, and in It's About Time, her status as Celestia's student indirectly keeps her above suspicion for sneaking around Canterlot Castle. It's just that it's no longer her defining trait.
- Her role as a student resembles that of a graduate student with a very lax advisor. She is expected to do her own research into friendship and occasionally update the Princess with status reports, occasionally completing side projects as well.
- Adorkable: Whenever genuinely excited about something such as what can safely be assumed is her first slumber party ever, her awkwardness comes into focus. And it is adorable. Dialed Up to Eleven during her flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and then again immediately afterward.
- And in Sweet and Elite, she dances like such a total nerd it's adorable. Possibly in a Shout Out to Seinfeld.
- Agent Scully: Tends toward this despite being a purple unicorn who can do magic.
- She justifies this in "Feeling Pinkie Keen" by explaining that true magic as can be done by all unicorns is essentially nothing more than Sufficiently Analyzed Magic.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: At the end of most episodes, she writes a letter to Princess Celestia describing the Aesop she learned this week. Becomes a Chekhov's Gun when after her losing faith thanks to Discord in the season 2 premiere, Celestia sends them all back to break her out of her Heroic BSOD and motivate her to reunite her friends.
- As of Lesson Zero, she has been given permission to pass this duty on to pretty much anyone around her that learns An Aesop.
- Anti-Heroine: In the pilot she was a type II, being aloof and unsympathetic to her future friends. She grew out of it but has occasional relapses, such as "Feeling Pinkie Keen" and "Lesson Zero"—after all, Ponies Are Flawed.
- Anti-Magic: Her force fields can cancel out other magic.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Twilight places fifth*
out of an unclear but large number of racers (one competitor's number is 82 which suggests that there were at least 82 entrants) in the annual Running of the Leaves race despite knowing about racing only from having read books about it. - Badass Bookworm/Magic Knight: Not only talented at magic but perfectly capable and willing to lead a charge to the point where she's willing to run right at Nightmare Moon though this is actually a feint to teleport past her. She also places 5th in a marathon despite it being her first, using mostly her book-smarts.
- Badass Bureaucrat: She manages to take the mess that is the Winter Wrap-Up and make it a smooth and efficient process by administrative expertise and organization.
- Badass in Distress: In some episodes like Stare Master she has to be rescued by one of her friends.
- Badass Family: She is a certified Badass Bookworm/Magic Knight, her brother is the captain of the Royal Guard. As if that wasn't enough, he marries Princess Cadence, a Badass Princess who he saves the world with and Princess Celestia's niece, making her now part of Celestia and Luna's family too. And if the theory about her mother being the G1 Twilight is correct, she probably counts too.
- Barrier Warrior: She can create Anti-Magic force-fields that she can move as seen in "Return Of Harmony Part 2" and "Ponyville Confidential".
- Beware the Nice Ones: In the episode "The Return of Harmony Part 2", Twilight Sparkle quite literally beat up Gray Pinkie Pie and Applejack after they stole her book.
- Big Brother Worship: As a filly, she thought of Shining Armor as her best and only friend (at least until she hatched Spike). When she came to Ponyville and made new friends, however, they started to drift apart. It's also what makes it hard to get others to side with her when she claims that Cadance is evil, since she has been coming off as possessive of her brother for much of "A Canterlot Wedding".
- Break the Haughty: A Lighter and Softer version; starts as an Ineffectual Loner who believes she simply doesn't have time for friendship and is smugly convinced that Celestia will naturally listen to her concerns. Then Celestia seemingly blows her off, sends her off to run some mundane errands and expects her to actually try and make friends in a town where she thinks she's the Only Sane Pony...
- Burning with Anger: Rarely does it such as in "Feeling Pinkie Keen".
- Butt Monkey: Shares this role with Spike.
- Iron Butt Monkey: But as shown in "Feeling Pinkie Keen", she can take a lot of damage and still keep on going.
- Character Development: During the two-part pilot, she started out as a bit of an asocial jerk who wouldn't be caught dead working with others. Over the course of that episode, she learns the value of friendship, and she is now almost always seen working with or helping her friends.
- The Chew Toy/Humiliation Conga/Slapstick Knows No Gender: Expect her to be on the receiving end of a lot of accidents as soon she starts questioning facts, attempts to fit in or figure out things, such as in "Winter Wrap Up" and especially "Feeling Pinkie Keen", AND "Lesson Zero".
- Child Prodigy: Even as a filly, Twilight was unusually adept at learning new spells. In the Power Incontinence scene referenced below, Princess Celestia - a physical goddess - says she has never seen so much raw talent for magic in a pony before.
- The City Vs The Country: Her initial plot arc is a Lighter and Softer version of this. She's sent from Canterlot to Ponyville in part to prepare for a celebration held there but is also told to make friends while there. She resents having to do this and focuses on work instead but by the end of the pilot, she's warmed up to her newfound friends and wishes to stay with them.*
Of course it did take the resurrection of an ancient Sealed Evil in a Can to actually make her understand that. - Cloud Cuckoo Landers Minder: While most characters play this to Pinkie Pie, Twilight is her most prominent foil.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Her name is Twilight so naturally she's purple.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: Her horn and objects affected by her magic glow when she uses it. It was at first a light purple that matched the color of her coat but it is now a red-violet color that matches the center of her Cutie Mark and her mane's Skunk Stripe. Her mother and big brother have the same red-violet magic aura, so it may run in the family.
- The Comically Serious: Big time. Anytime she attempts to look dignified and intellectual, expect it to be ruined by some other ponies' antics or her own hidden goofiness.
- Control Freak: Though not overbearing per se, her over attention to detail and occasional irritance with her friends leads her to be insistant on her own direction of things. She can also be quite a nagger, something Spike knows all too well.
- Cool Car: An upcoming Pony Wedding toy package
will give her one that appears to be a Palette Swap of Pinkie Pie's RC Car. - Cool Crown: Unlike the other five Elements of Harmony (which are necklaces), her Element of Magic is a "big crown thingy."
- Curtains Match the Window
- Cute Bookworm
- Cute Librarian: She takes up management of the Golden Oaks Library in addition to living inside of it. She fits the personality type of Hot Librarian, but is more cute than hot.
- Cute Witch
- Deadpan Snarker: Perhaps more frequently than any other character in the show. She's voiced by Tara Strong, it's practically a requirement.
Twilight: Now tell me; what exactly have you actually seen Zecora do? Rainbow Dash: Well...once a month she comes into Ponyville. Twilight: Ooh. Rarity: Then, she lurks by the stores. Twilight: Oh my. Fluttershy: And then...she digs at the ground... Twilight: Good gracious. - Defrosting Ice Queen: During the pilot towards her friends.
- Determinator: When she wants to do something, she'll keep trying no matter what. For better or worse.
- Ditzy Genius
- Elemental Powers: Not weaponized but she can make a strong gust of wind and spark a candle among her abilities.
- Expy: Of G1 Twilight. The cartoon even (jokingly) implies that Twilight Sparkle is the daughter of the original Twilight. Her coloring also resembles that of Twilight Twinkle from G3.
- Fish out of Water: The pilot and a few Season One episodes revolve around Twilight getting aqquainted with Ponyville and it's traditions, with varied success.
- Flat Earth Atheist: Doesn't believe in many of the weird things that happen in Ponyville despite the fact that she uses magic (which she claims is different from other "Mumbo Jumbo") and is the personal student of a Physical Goddess.
- Forgotten Phlebotinum: She fails to use her teleportation for most of the first season, starting after "Applebuck Season". Averted in Season 2 which has her putting it to regular use.
- Four Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic: introverted, organized and high expectations.
- Friendless Background: In the first episode, it's shown that "she's more interested in books than friends." Some hints later on show it might not have been quite that simple. In "Look before You Sleep", she reveals she's "always" wanted to have a slumber party. In any case, as seen in the first episode, her studies were certainly getting in the way of having a social life, even if she might have wished for one when not occupied with something else interesting as in that episode.
- Funny Afro: Twilight temporarily has one after Rainbow Dash messes up her mane in the first episode.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Seems to be a side effect when she uses especially powerful magic, such as her Power Incontinence episode in her flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and any time she uses the Elements of Harmony.
- Grumpy Bear: At times, while she's not pessimistic in general, she is rather cynical and non nonsense in personality, and has a rather grouchy temper if riled up enough. She can switch between cynical and naively optimistic at the blink of an eye however.
- Guile Heroine: She can be this at times.
- Heroic BSOD: When the stress of the parasprite invasion finally gets to her and her tortured psyche (briefly) snaps.
- Has an even bigger one in "The Return of Harmony, Pt. 2" when she crosses the Despair Event Horizon.
- And has an even more psychotic one over the course of "Lesson Zero".
- Hidden Depths: Despite her history of not socializing by choice, she reveals in "Look Before You Sleep" that she's dreamed about throwing the perfect slumber party and is innocently enthusiastic about getting the chance to try her very first one. This being Twilight, she even has a guide to ensure she does everything by the book.
- Humble Heroine: Wants nothing to do with being associated with the greatness of her deeds. Rather she wants to be viewed as an ordinary unicorn unlike her Shadow Archetype Trixie.
- This also makes her a great foil to Rainbow Dash.
- I Can't Dance: Sweet and Elite shows us that dancing is one of the many social activities she's yet to master.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Defied at first; she doesn't want friends when she first comes to Ponyville and it isn't until they help her defeat Nightmare Moon that she realizes how much she really needs them.
- Image Song: The Theme Tune Extended (included as a sing-along
on the DVD The Friendship Express, and partially included elsewhere) can be seen as one for Twilight. - Incredibly Lame Fun: A bookworm through and through, Twilight considers re-shelving library books or "a crazy weekend of studying" the height of entertainment.
- Her favorite toy growing up was "Smarty Pants", an ugly pony doll with accessories so you can pretend she is studying. Not only does she think this was a great toy, she thinks it was so great that offering it to some young fillies will naturally cause them to fight over it.
- Ineffectual Loner: Other ponies make clear efforts to reach out to her before the plot kicks off but she blows them off.
- Innocently Insensitive: Justified because Twilight doesn't have a lot of experience with dealing with ponies yet. But she doesn't realize her feelings are necesarily feelings anypony else will share, and she doesn't realize her point-blank bluntness hurts feelings.
- Insufferable Genius: Light example. She is the most intelligent of the main cast and (often) shows a lot more common sense. Her neurotics can be irritating the others however and she can be a bit smug and prideful if over aware of her logic. Not to mention being an apt Deadpan Snarker.
- I Work Alone: Her attitude during the pilot but after her Character Development she prefers working with others.
- Kamehame Hadoken: One of her offensive spells is a beam of destructive magic.
- The Kirk: She's generally at the balance between being emotional and logical, hence why she's the unofficial leader of the six.
- The Leader: Leadership is one of Twilight's main secondary abilities, thanks to her organizational skills and levelheadedness. She serves as a Type I and Type II leader for her group of friends, and even for the whole town of Ponyville at times.
- Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: She's made a better person of sorts when forced to make new (some definitely bizarre) friends. As far as she's concerned, friendship really is magic.
- Lovable Nerd
- Madness Makeover: Trope picture despite being the Only Sane Pony most of the time.
- Magic Librarian
- Meaningful Name: In the first two episodes, Twilight eventually brings peace to the ponies representing night and day. Twilight is the time when night and day briefly intersect. Additionally the book on the Elements of Harmony talk about a "spark" needed to ignite their power; this ends up being Twilight Sparkle.
- Mind Over Matter: And a particularly strong telekinetic too. She can simultaneously levitate a humongous bear and a huge water tower.
- Motifs: She tends to be associated with stars.
- Ms. Vice Gal: Normally even-tempered but Twilight does sometimes have problems with being grouchy and dismissive when something's bugging her. She also has an insensitive streak.
- Multicolored Hair: Purple with pink streaks.
- Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork
- Nervous Wreck: When her neurotics reach their worst.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Justified as she is almost always studying and learning new things (magical and otherwise). She can improvise spells as well, though this does not always work out so well.
- Nice Girl: Whenever she's not in Grumpy Bear mode.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Her attempt to use magic to stop the Parasprites from eating all the food in town just causes them to start eating the town instead.
- When she tries to use magic to clear a field during the Winter Wrap-Up, it results in the plow going out of control and causing the part of the field already plowed to be covered up again.
- She quickly figures out Discord's riddle...or so she thinks. It turns out she took it too literally and as a consequence, she leads her True Companions on a wild goose chase that results in all of them getting broken and Brainwashed by Discord.
- In "Lesson Zero", she decides if she can't find a friendship problem to solve, she'll make one to solve. Cue the whole town fighting over her old Smartypants doll she enchanted with a "Want It, Need It" spell she isn't able to disenchant.
- No Social Skills: Because of her solitary life, she starts out like this.
- She returns to form in "Look Before You Sleep", running her first slumber party straight out of the book to ensure success. And it works!...sort of.
- Even later on she still has a bit of this. In "Baby Cakes" she casually tells Pinkie Pie that she knew Pinkie wouldn't be up to babysitting the twins by herself and completely fails to pick up on the fact that Pinkie is offended by this statement.
- Not Quite Flight: Her magic force-fields can do this.
- Obsessed Are The List Makers: Most notably her slumber party and in "Lesson Zero". It comes in handy in "Winter Wrap-Up" as she's the only pony there who knows how to prioritize.
- Odd Name Out: She's the only pony in the Mane Six to have four syllables in her name (Twi-light Spar-kle) instead of three.
- This most likely doesn't actually mean anything though as the characters didn't all have the same names in early development (for example, Pinkie Pie was originally a white Pegasus named "Surprise").
- The names of the rest of the Mane Six were trademarks left over from the G3 series and their names may have intentionally been chosen to have three syllables to make the G3 theme song easier to write ("Rainbow Dash always dresses in style/Sweetie Belle's magic brings a great big smile....") The only ponies in G3's core 7 not to have three-syllable names were Toola Roola and Starsong.
- Only Sane Pony: Generally the voice of reason compared to her friends. Most obvious in the pilot where her first impression of Ponyville comes from Pinkie Pie. Made even more obvious in "MMMystery On The Friendship Express" when Twilight, relegated as The Watson to Pinkie's Sherlock Holmes role, keeps shooting down Pinkie's ridiculously wild accusations so often that they exchange roles with no argument from Pinkie.
- Inverted during "Look Before You Sleep" where she's so intent on throwing a perfect slumber party that she insists on consulting a guidebook for everything. Justified in that she's never experienced one before and is completely unfamiliar with all of the classic trappings. She doesn't even know what a pillow fight is! She also wonders if a tree falling through her window is part of the procedures but we'll just blame that on the probable concussion.
- Exaggerated when all the other ponies were Brainwashed by Discord.
- Deconstructed in Lesson Zero. When she approaches her friends for help on completing her weekly friendship report and they dismiss it as a trivial problem, Twilight believes she is the only one who understands just how dire the situation truly is but the audience clearly sees that it is Twilight who is bottoming out on sanity. Further deconstructed when her myopic perspective actually results in disaster.
- Like every other character with so much as a speck of sanity over the others, the show seems very fond of displaying her own flaws and making her do something odd or indignifying whenever she gets too high a pedestal.
- Out of Focus: In Season 2, at least compared to her role in Season 1. So far she's only had two focus episodes, has been in more of a supporting role in most episodes, and has been missing entirely from three. Quite odd, considering that she's supposed to be the lead protagonist of the mane cast. The writers clearly reveled a bit in not needing to shoehorn her into every story after "Lesson Zero."
- Parental Substitute: Can be seen as a mother or sister figure to Spike...especially knowing that she hatched him as part of passing the entrance exam at her school and also following the events in "Owl's Well That Ends Well".
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Telekinetically anyway.
- Plucky Girl: At times.
- Power Copying: Unicorns use magic spells associated with their special skill. Twilight's special skill is magic, allowing her to learn spells used by almost any other unicorn.
- This is seen directly in "A Dog and Pony Show" when she copies a spell used by Rarity though Rarity did teach her how to do it. She even does it better than Rarity; while Rarity can only find one deposit of gems at a time, Twilight can reveal them throughout a volume the size of a room.
- She also uses teleportation right after being subjected to it by Nightmare Moon, notably making her the only unicorn capable of it (not counting the princesses of course).
- Power Incontinence: A flashback reveals that the awakening of Twilight's magic immediately turned her into a immense danger to everyone and herself. Her attempts at using magic to rectify a problem have about a 50% chance of going this way.
- Pride: Clearly takes a lot of pride in having Celestia as her Mentor. However she's afraid of being seen as too prideful after witnessing how ponies react to Trixie's bragging.
- Properly Paranoid: The only one who thinks the behavior of "Princess Cadence" is suspicious.
- Purple Eyes: Used to reflect her powerful magic skills.
- Purple is Powerful: She's a purple unicorn who's one of the most powerful magic users in the show.
- Psychic Powers: Has telekinesis like all unicorns, and also has limited telepathy, as seen in "Swarm of the Century" and "The Return of Harmony".
- The Red Mage: Twilight's special talent is the ability to learn any magic.
- Renowned Selective Mentor: She was just trying to get into the royal academy. One magic overload later, she's studying directly from Princess Celestia.
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Twilight's magical skill is off the chart but she's a social misfit and painfully incompetent at basic manual labor.
- Downplayed later on. In the first episode of Season 2, she lifted a huge rock ("Tom") and in the last episode she pushed a mine cart by herself.
- Schedule Fanatic
- Serious Business: Since her teacher is Celestia, aka the ruler of all Equestria herself, Twilight takes her studies very, very seriously. As seen in "Lesson Zero", the mere idea of failing an assignment and disappointing her teacher (which would surely be cause to send her back to... MAGIC KINDERGARTEN!) is stressful enough to unhinge her. Spike and the others tend to lampshade this now and then.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Not to an excess, but she has a more advanced vocabulary and more correct grammar than her friends. This makes her a Foil to Rainbow Dash and Applejack, both of whom tend towards Buffy Speak, and to Pinkie Pie who is a Cloud Cuckoolander.
- She does play it completely straight in "Hurricane Fluttershy", complete with Spike providing a Layman's Terms punchline.
- Skunk Stripe: The pink and lighter-purple shades of her mane.
- Slasher Smile: Gets one in "Lesson Zero" when she goes completely off the deep end.
- The Snark Knight
- Socially Awkward Heroine: And how! Even within the first episode, she runs away from the "lots and lots of friends" Pinkie Pie introduces her to, but not from Nightmare Moon who has been imprisoned in the moon for centuries and just escaped.
- Partly attributable to seeing it as part of her duty to confront Nightmare Moon, but not to make friends.
- Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot: Sorta. Sometimes she performs amazing feats of power but she often also spectacularly messes up spells and makes everything much worse.
- When she tries to stop Parasprites from eating all the food in Ponyville, the spell just makes them eat the buildings instead.
- In another instance, enchanting a plow to clean up snow on its own made the plow go out of control, making the mess worse when it ends up causing an avalanche that ruins everyone else's work.
- In "Lesson Zero", Twilight tries to create a problem she can solve using the "Want It, Need It" spell on a doll which quickly affects every pony in town. The ensuing riot prevents her from disenchanting the doll.
- The Spock: When not being The Kirk, she takes a very logical and scientific view on the world. She refuses to believe in anything that doesn't seem to make sense.
- Squishy Wizard: "Winter Wrap Up" openly displays her being much weaker than an average Earth Pony and rather klutzy with her hooves (unable to ice skate well or construct a bird's nest without the help of magic). Applejack and Rainbow Dash also state she is physically unfit for the race in "Fall Weather Friends". She gets the last laugh by coming in fifth while they tie for last. She seems to have averted this by season 2, however, as she can carry a boulder twice as large as herself, push a minecart, and holds her own against an army of Changelings.
- Strong As They Need To Be: Twilight's magic can range from very menial strength to near unlimited depending on what the scenario calls for. While some episodes do at least put a better distinction on what she is capable of (or what strain it has on her), there are definitely scenarios or obstacles that shouldn't really be a problem compared to her power against others.
- Supernatural is Purple
- Super OCD: On and off; often whatever happens to be funnier. Alternately leaves her library in an unholy strewn mess and then applies neurotic meticulousness rivaling Rarity's in cleaning it.
- When given materials to make a bird's nest in "Winter Wrap Up", in the two seconds it takes the camera to pan away and back, she's already laid out all the ribbons and sticks into neat rows and sorted individual strands of straw by hue.
- "Lesson Zero" shows just how bad this can get.
- She makes checklists for everything including checklists, to ensure she has everything she needs, to make checklists.
- In "It's About Time", she's shown staying up all night worrying about not having left time in this month's schedule to make a schedule for next month.
- Season 2 appears to make it consistently 'on', now that she no longer has to be the star.
- Superpower Lottery: Short of Celestia and others like her, Twilight is the single strongest unicorn in the series. For bonus points, she isn't even limited by a specialized discipline, instead having magic itself as her skill. She also seems to be able to use other unicorns' talent-related magic at higher levels than the original user.
- Though the Power Incontinence mentioned earlier fortunately balances it out, so that she doesn't completely overshadow the rest of the Mane-rs in capability.
- Swiss Army Superpower: Her magic. Sure, spells have some vague rules, but she specializes in every kind of magic and has an enormous amount of raw power. The only story-wise limit for her magic might be that she can't do an outright Deus ex Machina.
- Team Mom: Sometimes she takes this role with Spike and the other ponies.
- Teleport Spam: Twilight has a tendency to warp around quickly when flustered like in "Lesson Zero" when fretting about not submitting a friendship report to Celestia on time.
- Exaggerated in "Applebuck Season" while dealing with a sleep-deprived Applejack; if AJ takes more than four steps away from her, she'll instantly teleport over rather than simply walk the three feet separating them. To be fair, Twilight was getting increasingly annoyed at the time and likely wasn't thinking straight, though not nearly as much as the above example.
- Teleporters and Transporters: Unlike previous My Little Pony series, she is the only unicorn with the ability to teleport that we've seen so far. Strangely when she teleports Spike with her, he comes out slightly singed. She says she did it by accident in that instance.
- Since "Secret of My Excess," it has been shown that Twilight is capable of teleporting others to her and with her. She apparently teleports long-distance in "Dragon Quest", and it also establishes her teleportation is not a Story Breaker Power because long-distance teleportation takes too much energy to do regularly.
- Rarity dressed Twilight in her "Winter Wrap Up" vest by teleporting it onto her.
- Tempting Fate: Twilight seems to have an unfortunate habit of asking whether things could possibly get worse. They almost always do.
- Tsurime Eyes: More prominent on her toy.
- Twitchy Eye: Gets this in "A Bird in the Hoof" when she panics about Celestia's presence.
- Also in "Swarm Of The Century" for the same reason.
- In "Lesson Zero", worried about letting Celestia down by being late with her Friendship Report, she gets this, twitchy ears, a teeth-grinding slasher smile, and a mussed up mane due to really, really losing it.
- Undying Loyalty: To Princess Celestia, considering she's "her most loyal and faithful student".
- Unfortunate Names: Twilight Sparkle.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Actually she's the most magically powerful unicorn in the whole show as is repeatedly pointed out. The "Unskilled" comes from the fact she often only practices a new spell until she can pull it off right in practice once and then moves on to the next, more difficult spell. This practice severely limits the practical and effective use of her stronger spells in helping her with her day-to-day problems which sometimes comes back to bite her in the plot when the obstacles she faces require high-level magic and the magic backfires or falters on the field. The 'strong' portion of this trope refers to her magical abilities; she is the physically weakest of the six but can often use her intelligence (or magic) to help in situations where strength isn't an option.
- "Well Done, Student" Girl: Her relationship with Princess Celestia has some definite shades of this. Twilight obviously idolizes Celestia and desperately seeks her approval though Celestia's approval is not nearly as conditional as Twilight thinks it is.
- When She Smiles: Double Subverted, as Twilight does smile a decent amount, but when she's genuinely happy it really stands out.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: If Winter Wrap-up is anything to go by, she is terrified of snakes.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Well...she's a young adult but she has been shown to be much more effective at leading than the elderly mayor of Ponyville.
- With Great Power Comes Great Perks: Like all unicorns, she uses magic for just about everything (where appropriate). And she gets even more perks than most unicorns because she can use any type of magic.
Spike "You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!"
A baby dragon who hangs around Twilight as her "#1 Assistant" and seems to be the closest thing she had to a friend before traveling to Ponyville. He can transport messages to Celestia by burning them with his green flames; this communication goes both ways as she can then send messages that he burps out. Messages he sends to Celestia arrive in a much more dignified manner. - Aborted Arc: Attempts to give Spike a Catch Phrase ("Holy Guacamole!") in "Feeling Pinkie Keen" have mysteriously vanished.
- All Love Is Unrequited: He has a major crush on Rarity who seems to either not notice this or not care. She never shows any indication she could imagine getting together with him nor of being bothered by the notion and wanting to reject it. Unless she's being really blind to his obvious feelings, it probably has something to do with how the only reason they are even remotely the same size is because he's still a child or the fact that he's still a child.
- This status quo is demolished at the climax of "Secret of My Excess" when Spike finally confesses his feelings to Rarity. Not only did she know all along, she was deeply moved.
- All There in the Manual: According to Lauren Faust it was Princess Celestia who raised Spike and taught him how to magically send messages. Apparently Ponies know very little about dragons and have never seen a baby one before which is why Celestia decided to take the challenge of raising one herself.
- Possibly subverted though, as Lauren had said that this was just a concept that was never actually added to the show yet. So the writers may change his backstory.
- Always Someone Better: His initial view on Owloysius.
- Audience Surrogate: Sometimes ends up getting pulled into the girls' adventures against his will and then ends up enjoying it all in spite of himself. Clearly some of us are meant to relate.
"I don't want any of that girly, frilly, frou-frou nonsense" he says and then walks out giggling after receiving his ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala. - Badass Adorable: It's not seen a whole lot (see The Load) but when pushed enough he can fight back pretty well if a friend is in danger.
- Badass Longcoat: He wears one in the episode "The Mysterious Mare Do Well".
- Badass Mustache: Wears one on several occasions.
- Berserk Button: Never come between him and Twilight or disrespect Rarity while he's around.
- Big Eater: Spike will eat almost anything and everything. He's got a lot of growing to do after all.
- Big "NO!": He does this after his plan backfires in "A Dog and Pony Show".
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Normally understated but "Secret of My Excess" emphasizes that Spike's got some serious physical quirks compared to most creatures that ponies deal with.
- Blessed with Suck: Dragons are amongst the most powerful creatures in Equestria. A power gained by losing control of your materialism and becoming a mindless beast.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Spike is helpful and obidient to Twilight, however he can be incredibly obnoxious and childish at times, not to mention has a very dry wit.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: He does this in "Bridle Gossip" where he directly addresses the audience (and even the creators).
"Uh...I got nothing. 'Twilight Sparkle?' I mean seriously; I can't even work with that." - And again in "Lesson Zero", ending Twilight's imagine spots.
- Breath Weapon: Like all dragons, he can breathe fire, though he hasn't yet been shown to use it as a weapon even in a serious fight. Indeed, even though he is known to use his fire for cooking and popping popcorn, even a full on (albeit accidental) blast only gives Twilight a new hairstyle.
- Butt Monkey: Shares this role with Twilight Sparkle.
- Iron Butt Monkey: The cartoon even lampshades this by explaining that (unlike Twilight) Spike's natural body armor allows him to shrug off a lot of damage. He says this while being used as a literal pincushion for Rarity, and later shown to be exceptionally sturdy even by dragons' standards.
- Character Development: In episode 3 he didn't want to be seen at a "Girly Gala Gunk". 45 episodes later he's seen wearing pink apron out in the open, not being embarrassed to be seen in it (until Rainbow Dash started teasing him).
- Few episodes later Spike is seen enjoying spa with the other girls. Even Rainbow Dash wouldn't be caught dead getting a manicure! Although in Spike's case the right sort of a manicure might qualify under "proper maintenance of natural weapons for maximum effectiveness".
- Compressed Hair: See Nice Hat below. The question of where his spikes go when his head is covered is never addressed. It's especially notable because unlike hair (or manes, whatever) they're rigid, though they do briefly go floppy when he gets drenched with water in "The Return of Harmony Part 2".
- Cowardly Sidekick: Depending on the Writer. Spike can be either (with thanks to Monty Python) suicidally brave or hilariously cowardly depending on which is funnier at the time.
- Crazy Consumption: Spike loves to eat gemstones. Not only can he chew them with ease but he can also suck on one and melt it as if it were a large piece of hard candy.
- Curtains Match the Window: for particularly scaly definitions of "curtains"
- Cute Little Fangs
- A Day in the Limelight: "A Dog and Pony Show" (shared with Rarity), "Owl's Well That Ends Well", "Secret of My Excess", and "Dragon Quest".
- Deadpan Snarker: Not quite as much so as Twilight Sparkle but still noticeably so. *]]
Spike: That nest needs to be condemned! Rarity: Spike, it's not that bad; perhaps the birds can use it as... Spike: ...an outhouse? - Determinator: He is determined to win Rarity's heart and won't give up no matter what.
"There is no pain that would keep me from assisting the most beautiful creature in the world!" - Does Not Like Spam: If this
Hub commercial is to be believed, he thinks green beans are nasty. - Does This Remind You of Anything?: A dragon falls in love with an equine immediately after they meet. This sure seems familiar.
- Dogged Nice Guy: To Rarity.
- After the events of Secret of My Excess, it's shown that she does know about his crush, but sees him as the sweet little kid he is. Although one must wonder who made that Rarity shirt from "Green Isn't Your Color" in the first place.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Goes through some cases of this, especially since he does A LOT of work for the girls, with not too many thanks from them (this is subverted only in Owl's Well That Ends Well), and is even mysteriously absent at many of their parties, or adventures. As proven a few times though, Twilight is very grateful to have him around, even if she doesn't always make it apparent.
- Eat Dirt Cheap: His favorite food is gemstones.
- Era Specific Personality: G1 Spike was less sarcastic (and in the original pilot was an antagonist before receiving a Heel Face Turn) while G3 Spike was a 1000 year old Stuffy Brit.
- Expy: Of G1 (prototype) Spike, G1 (TV series) Spike and G3 (DVD only) Spike.
- Extreme Omnivore: He'll eat grass, fruit, gemstones (his favorite), worm-filled muffins he scooped from the trash...
- Although he seems oddly picky about apples.
- Although he does treat gems like a human would treat a high-quality steak or fine cheese. In "Secret of My Excess", he talks about a rare fire ruby he's been carefully aging for some time now and expresses great excitement over eating it for his birthday dinner.
- Although this
Hub commercial has him claim that green beans are nasty. - He eats ice cream off the floor in "It's About Time", which also says something about the cleanliness of Canterlot's floors.
- Familiar: Spike seems to be this for Twilight, though Owloysius may be a better fit.
- Food As Bribe: Rarity and Pinkie Pie have each offered him gems to eat in exchange for a favor.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: What costume does he wear on Nightmare Night? A dragon costume. Real original.
- Fun Size: He's TINY compared to an adult dragon. He could fit in its palm and bring several friends. "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", "Secret of My Excess", and "Dragon Quest" all VERY strongly indicate that Spike will eventually grow to a massive size.
Pinkie Pie: Little Spikey-wikey! Who knew that big ferocious dragons started out so cutesy-wootsey? - Genre Savvy: He immediately recognizes that Twilight Sparkle's Freak Out in "Lesson Zero" will end badly and tries to take steps before it gets too out of hand.
- Greater Need Than Mine: He gives Rarity his Fire Ruby that he's been saving for month for his birthday dinner all so she can be happy.
- Greed: Dragons have an innate predisposition to this fault. Spike doesn't normally show it but excessive gifts can trigger this in him.
- Happily Adopted: As of "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", it looks like he was raised by Twilight and it's obvious in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" that he sees her as a surrogate mother or big sister, which makes sense, since she was responsible for hatching him.
- Heavy Sleeper: Justified, since he is a baby dragon and needs his sleep.
- Hyper Competent Sidekick: Spike is very skilled at cleaning, cooking, categorizing, taking notes, sending and receiving messages, etc. He can also fight, quickly spots mistakes in Twilight's plans, takes care of diplomatic business on his own and has connections with important people such as the famous Hoity Toity. On top of that, he absolutely loves his job.
- Oddly in the very first episode, a brief scene gives Spike a less-than-average understanding of spelling basic words. Thankfully averted in the series since.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As good as he is at his job, Spike can also frequently be hindered by his childishness and can be a bit of an obnoxious goofball. Twilight has to keep him in line just as often as vice versa.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Temporarily in "Owl's Well That Ends Well", complete with with a Dastardly Whiplash attire and a hammy Evil Laugh.
- Innocent Prodigy: Arguably even more so than Twilight since he actually is a kid.
- Innocently Insensitive: Sometimes. "Hurricane Fluttershy" is a particularly gruesome example, when his statements made in practicality on Fluttershy's poor flying ability break her spirit.
- In-Series Nickname: "Spikey-Wikey," used by Pinkie Pie in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" and by Rarity in "Secret of My Excess" and "Dragon Quest".
- Interspecies Romance: Hopes for one with Rarity.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Spike can seem awfully rude at times like when making fun of his friends' afflictions in "Bridle Gossip" or his machinations against the owl in "Owl's Well That Ends Well". Apart from that though, he's an okay guy.
- Large Ham: Sometimes he becomes this.
- Large Ham Announcer:
- In "Fall Weather Friends", he enjoys announcing the Iron Pony Competition so much that Pinkie Pie makes him co-announcer for the Running of the Leaves.
- In "Suited for Success", he gives a ridiculously pretentious intro for Rarity's first fashion show...which is par for the course as far as fashion shows go.
- Likes Older Women: Rarity being the example.
- The Load: When things get gritty at least. Spike is a highly competent assistant to Twilight and proves useful outside the action, but in terms of actual physical involvement, he's mostly useless, either staying on the sidelines or needing the ponies to protect him. He does get sparse moments however.
- Love at First Sight: Automatically falls in love with Rarity after he first meets her.
- Magikarp Power: So far we've seen that Dragons are obscenely powerful beings almost without equal but since Spike's a baby, he's relatively easy to thwart. This becomes all the more apparent when he occasionally stops being a baby and becomes a much greater threat to everyone nearby.
- Magitek/Mundane Utility: He uses his magic fire to send and receive letters which makes him a living fax machine.
- He's also incredibly useful to the rest of the cast because he's the only main character with usable hands.
- He's also used for cooking in "Over a Barrel" and "A Bird in the Hoof".
- Meaningful Name: He's called Spike because he has spikes.
- Meta Guy: He seems to be the only character thus far to canonically be aware of the audience (and possibly even the creators of the show) despite Fanon about Pinkie Pie.
- Nice Hat: Spike seems to have a thing for sweet headgear. Apparently the Animators like putting stuff on his head because it's funny.
- The Nicknamer: Takes this role in "Bridle Gossip" when he comes up with clever nicknames for the girls after they've been affected by the poison joke.
- Non-Pony Sidekick: To Twilight Sparkle.
- Non-Standard Character Design: One of only two wingless dragons shown in the series. He's also the smallest seen so far.
- The Not Secret: In "Green Isn't Your Color", Spike "reveals" to Twilight and Pinkie Pie that he has a crush on Rarity. Twilight of course already knows although Pinkie Pie is surprised and forces Twilight into keeping it secret.
- Odd Friendship: Believe it or not with Twilight; the two of them really don't have that much in common yet they stick together. The argument can be made that they're more like family than friends though.
- He also seems fond of Pinkie Pie, despite his rational, cynical personality. He acts as befuddled as everypony else at her stranger excesses, but they often end up sharing scenes and supporting each other. To be fair, she is a Friend To All Children, and Spike is used to dealing with Twilight's less coherent moments.
- The One Guy: The only regularly recurring male character in the main cast, and for a long time the only confirmed male in the toy line.
- Only Sane Man: He has his moments like everyone else, but he's usually in this role, especially once Twilight starts to lose it.
- Opposites Attract: Spike is a dragon (which are greedy by nature) with a crush on Rarity (the bearer of the element of Generosity).
- Scratch the surface and it starts looking like Not so Different: greed is a major vice of Rarity's while Spike's willing to put Rarity's happiness above his own.
- Played with, really. On the surface, Rarity is a vain and greedy girl while Spike seems endlessly giving and humble. But Rarity will put someone's happiness above her own without a second thought and Spike has an ego and (literally) monstrous greed that he usually suppresses. Similar qualities but different presentations.
- Our Dragons Are Different: And apparently used as living E-mail clients.
- He even appears to be a separate species from the grown dragons that live in the Everfree forest; he's flightless for one thing and capable of sending letters with his flame although Word Of God says that the latter is a learned skill.
- Out of Focus: He has considerably less screen time in season 2 than in season 1, even having the ponies that learn An Aesop just say it in a narrative voice instead of having him directly write the letter most of the time, causing some fans to joke that Spike is now unemployed.
- It's especially funny because in the first half of the season Spike was featured in almost every episode (even ones where Twilight never appeared) "Spike is the new main character" became a meme.
- Overly Long Tongue: As seen in "Lesson Zero" and "Secret of My Excess".
- Pals With Jesus: Like Twilight, he has a direct line to Princess Celestia (mostly because he is the direct line to Princess Celestia) though oddly he's far more laid back around her than any of her other subjects are.
- Word Of God states that Celestia raised him after Twilight caused his egg to hatch. Jesus is his mommy.
- Phrase Catcher: "Spike, take a letter."
- Pint Sized Powerhouse: Don't let his size fool you; he's a lot stronger than he looks. The Diamond Dogs learn this the hard way. In his head anyway.
- Nigh Invulnerable: His offense might not be much to write home about, but being covered in dragon scales means there's not much that can do more than knock the breath out of him.
- Platonic Life Partners: With Twilight; see Odd Friendship.
- Playing with Fire: He breathes a "magic fire" to send messages to Princess Celestia but is also capable of producing plain old regular fire too. "Owl's Well That Ends Well" suggests that he can even produce fire from his claws.
- The Power of Love: It turns out that Spike's love for Rarity is what reverts him back to his normal self when he turns into a rampaging monster.
- Precocious Crush:
- Purple is Powerful: See Pint Sized Powerhouse.
- Raised By Ponies: Comes up in "Dragon Quest."
- Real Men Wear Pink: He at first thinks the Grand Galloping Gala is too girly for him, but later is enthusiastic about going. He's also willing to serve a as a model for Rarity's designs.
- He also wears a pink apron and has tea and biscuits picnic complete with china set in ""Dragon Quest".
- Shoulder-Sized Dragon
- Shout Out: Spike's magic green fire may very well be this to the Floo Network fireplaces in Harry Potter.
- Significant Birth Date: Twilight hatched his egg on the same day that she got her Cutie Mark.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: While he hasn't yet sung in the show itself (outside of Crowd Songs in which his individual voice can't be made out), the "Equestria Girls" video
implies that the song's male backup is Spike despite not sounding like him (i.e., sounding like Snoop Dogg). - Spike of All Trades
- Straight Man: His most consistent role.
- Superpowered Greedy Side: **see Magikarp Power**
- Tagalong Kid/The Sixth Ranger
- Technicolor Fire: His fire breath is a neon green color.
- Totally Radical: At least in the Polish version when compared to the other main characters. He uses phrases and words such as "Jesteś w dechę!" (You're totally awesome!), "wtopa" (bummer) or "ściema" (a slang variation of "lie").
- Trademark Favorite Food: Gemstones. This is a little frustrating for him living in Ponyville as the few ponies who do trade in gemstones use them as decoration instead of food.
- Undying Loyalty: To Twilight Sparkle, and the rest of his friends to a certain degree.
- Unknown Rival: To Owloysius at first.
- Vague Age: This applies to most of the cast but Spike is probably the one who sticks out the most because he is younger than the mane cast but seems to be older than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Dragon biology*
He's grown to full size in one episode, and then went back to his normal form after Rarity talked him down and society* doesn't seem to exist in any formalized manner offers much in the way of questions but little in the way of answers, so figuring out his relative age comes down to looking at how he acts and how the rest of the cast treats him. Judge how his behavior compares to the Mane Six for yourself.- On the high side, he has a full time job as Twilight's assistant/valet, he has been left in charge of the library and Fluttershy's pets when the others go away, and takes care of business in Canterlot on his own. He's also the voice of reason when Twilight starts freak out.
- On the low side, he's ran away from home out of jealousy, he tends to get talked down to, and his advice is often ignored. He also has terrible tact.
- Vocal Evolution: Spike's voice has been getting slightly deeper since his first appearance. He's still growing so it makes sense.
- It actually might just be Weseluck getting into the role. In an interview, she said that she thought he was a toddler at first.
- In "Secret of My Excess", his voice gets progressively deeper until even modulating his actress' voice digitally doesn't cut it anymore and they just start using animal grunts, growls and roars instead.
- You Need a Breath Mint: According to Twilight, Spike's breath always stinks.
- Brimstone, or sulfur, a common ingredient of dragon fire, smells like rotten eggs.
Applejack "This is your sister Applejack, remember? The loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies?" Old school and country!
An earth pony from the huge Apple family, a herd that runs multiple apple farms across Equestria. Applejack helps run Sweet Apple Acres, the ancestral farm of the family. Sensible and down to earth, she's admired for her honesty and integrity. However she also has a bit of a stubborn streak at times. Pinkie Pie "♪ This is your singing telegram; I hope it finds you well, You're invited to a PARTY 'cause we think you're really swell! ♪" Ohmygosh! We have image captions now? AND our debut episodes? This calls for a PARTY!! * Pinkie, you think everything calls for a party! Singing by Shannon Chan-Kent
A hyperactive earth pony who prances to the beat of her own percussion section. The sheer force of her cheerful personality can be overwhelming at first but anyone who shows a little patience with her eccentricities is rewarded with a truly unique and wonderful friend who fills every day with laughter. And musical numbers. And PARTIES! Try to imagine a pink rocket made of happiness . That's Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash Always flies in style.
A speedy pegasus hailing from Cloudsdale who loves to race and compete whenever she can convince someone to go against her. Though a Prideful braggart, she's also loyal to her friends despite a somewhat self-centered attitude. - Ace Pilot
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Once she's the town hero, her attitude goes from "I'm awesome" to "I'm awesome and everyone should admire me for it." She gets better, though.
- Always Someone Better: Her initial view on Mare-Do-Well.
- Anime Mane
- Anti-Heroine: Arrogant, brash, boisterous, aggressive, and lovable all around—type II behavior.
- Awesome McCoolname
- Badass: Inarguably the biggest one of the six. She kicked a fully-grown dragon in the face and made it flinch and she's the only pony ever to break the sound barrier.
- Berserk Button: Never threaten or hurt her friends if you know what's good for you.
- Beyond the Impossible: Her ability to perform the Sonic Rainboom.
Rainbow Dash: Most people thought the Sonic Rainboom was just an old mare's tale but on that day, the day I discovered racing, I proved that the legends were true; I made the impossible happen! - Blow You Away: Actually an ability shared by all Pegasi, going hand in hand with their cloud-controlling abilities.
- Blue Tomboy, Pink Girl: The Blue Tomboy to Prankster Partner Pinkie Pie.
- Boisterous Bruiser
- Bookworm: Becomes one during "Read It and Weep," having nothing else to do but read while recovering from a broken wing. She goes to great lengths to hide this from everypony else.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: She's very competent but tends to slack off every so often. This is said to be the reason she was kicked out of flight school though she protests that assertion.
- Broken Ace: Rainbow Dash is apparently a renowned heroine in Ponyville and her skills are genuinely amazing. She has quite an ego because of it however, and often seems quite needy for attention. She is also shown to be very insecure about losing, and reached the brink of a nervous breakdown at the thought of publically making a fool of herself.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: For as tough and action-y as she is, she'll still shed a few tears at heartwarming moments. (Oh Rainbow Dash, you don't need to hide your feelings from us.)
- Brutal Honesty: She can be very blunt at times.
Rarity: I'm nothing but a laughingstock! Twilight Sparkle: You're not a laughingstock, Rarity... Rainbow Dash: She kind of is! - Bully Hunter: She stood up for a young Fluttershy who was being bullied back in Cutie-Mark Chronicles.
- She also stood up for Spike when he was being hassled by the teenage dragons in "Dragon Quest".
- Burning Rubber: When flying close to the ground, she can leave a trail of flames. Naturally the flames are rainbow-colored.
- Butt Monkey: Slowly becoming one in season two. Part of it also comes from the fact that she is the bold, straightforward, fight-picking character in a show about friendship and tolerance, so she frequently ends up failing, crashing into stuff or being held back by her friends in order not to create a contradictory message, even though her attitude would make her a fine protagonist in an action series, More like an Iron Butt Monkey.
- Captain Crash: Sort of. Dash is a superb flyer; her landings however are sometimes far from graceful as Twilight's library can attest. Taken Up to Eleven when she's afflicted by Poison Joke which inverts her wings, leaving her crashing into things every few seconds, thrust-vectoring into the floor and other such mishaps.
- A lot of crashing is indicated to come from constantly attempting impossibly difficult stunts in an effort to impress the Wonderbolts. She also has a tendency to lose concentration or get distracted at critical moments (if she starts talking to someone while flying, it's a safe bet she's going to hit something in the next few seconds).
- Catch Phrase: "Best __________ ever!"
- Character Development: Regarding her friendship with Fluttershy. In early episodes, Rainbow Dash had little patience for Fluttershy's meekness. Starting with Season Two however, she is shown devoting more time to her and acting more gentle and encouraging, somewhat taking the role of an abrasive Cool Big Sis.
- Childhood Friends: With Fluttershy.
- Something of a variation. Most of their closeness as adults comes from being pegasi and Cloudsdale natives, but as children, it's unclear whether they even knew each other's names.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Especially in the episode "The Mysterious Mare Do Well".
- Closet Geek: Of Daring Do briefly during "Read It and Weep." By the end of the episode, she comes out of the closet, and is seen reading it during "A Friend In Deed."
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: She spends a lot of time flying in the sky so naturally she's blue.
- Combat Pragmatist: During the fight with the changelings, Rainbow Dash protects Fluttershy by pretending to be a changeling so she could blindside them before they could attack. She also shows hints of this in "Over a Barrel".
- Commander Contrarian: Due to aforementioned reasons, Rainbow sometimes ends up as this, prefering a "fight first, ask questions later" tactic in a team of peaceful and tactizing characters. She sometimes picks up the Smart Ball however.
- Competition Freak: Rainbow Dash hates losing.
- Cool Big Sis: Despite her arrogance, she is shown looking out for her team mates a lot of the time, most notably Fluttershy. She also stands up for Pinkie and Spike against bullies on separate occasions. Scootaloo pretty much sees her as this in full form.
- Cool Helmet: Wears one while playing Commander Hurricane in "Hearth's Warming Eve".
- Cool Shades: Wears a pair in "Lesson Zero", "May the Best Pet Win!" and "The Mysterious Mare Do Well".
- Deadpan Snarker: Not as much so as Twilight Sparkle but still noticeable.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: She can have a very dominating voice as seen in the beginning of "Sonic Rainboom" and "May the Best Pet Win!"
- Era Specific Personality: Put her together with her previous incarnation and you get Tomboy and Girly Girl.
- Everything Makes a Mushroom: Apparently her Rainboom can make one if used to demolish something.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: Thanks to her rainbow mane, she can even leave rainbow blurs in her wake while zipping around.
- Everything's Better with Spinning: A regular part of her repertoire, whether it's spinning clouds at top speed for a new stunt or generating an instant whirlwind by flying around at high speed.
- Expy: Word Of God confirms Dash is meant to be the Firefly of the cast.
- She's also an expy of the G3 and G3.5 Rainbow Dash (who by the way was a plain and girly Earth Pony).
- Rainbow Dash is also the Mane Character with the most obvious parallel among the Powerpuff Girls (her fellow tomboy Buttercup).
Rarity "A unicorn needs to be more than just muscle. A unicorn needs to have style. A unicorn is not a unicorn without grace and beauty!" Not just another Jane Doe.
A unicorn with an eye for fashion and a generous spirit, Rarity is a beautiful clotheshorse. A huge fan of Fairy Tale-style romances and Happily Ever Afters. While there's nothing new about a girl's cartoon having a fashion-focused character, Rarity breaks from this stereotype in that instead of following trends, she creates them as the owner and lead designer of Ponyville's premier dress shop: the Carousel Boutique. - Master of Illusion: Of a mundane sort. She creates some fairly impressive special effects for her second fashion show in "Suited for Success".
- Married to the Job
- Meganekko: She wears glasses while she's designing clothes.
- Morality Pet: For Spike, when he rampages through Ponyville in the episode "Secret Of My Excess".
- Ms. Vice Gal: Her vice is vanity. She often displays humorous superficiality and fusses over neatness and can sometimes get carried away by her love of attention. Still, far from being perpetually self-centered, she can be very considerate towards others and her caring for her friends is perhaps the strongest motivation she displays.
- Motor Mouth: This is how she escapes the Diamond Dogs.
- Neat Freak
- Nerves of Steel: Played with. Rarity goes into amusingly over-the-top histrionics over the most minor of things, and she's as vulnerable to Heroic BSOD as any other mane cast member. However in the face of actual danger, she's often completely unflappable.
- Also shows up in her interactions with Prince Blueblood and Sweetie Belle. Despite the abuse both have put her through (though Sweetie Belle is well meaning), she manages to put up with most of it. It's only after a near constant onslaught of it that she snaps and even then she just gets mad instead of suffering Sanity Slippage like some of the others have.
- The best illustration of this is when she gets captured by a rampaging dragon. While she's concerned about the safety of her friends, and her cape, she starts chewing it out while being held in its tail.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Most of the time she has a pretty good grasp on this but when she's excited or agitated, she can get rather close to the person she's talking to. This is seen best with her behavior around Twilight in very early episodes but it crops up again when she's grilling Fluttershy about how to improve her dress.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Does this
in "Suited For Success" when Applejack shows surprise that Rarity can make dresses for the six of them "lickety split". She also does something like this in "Sonic Rainboom"; while not the usual "Oh ho ho ho" stereotype, it's...interesting.- It's more of a giddy sort of "Wha ha haaa!" She just was so impressed by how pretty her wings looked. It's only a little off from an Evil Laugh which just shows how much she's lost it.
- Nonstandard Character Design:
- She is the only pony so far with a shaded mane. This is likely because her mane is so intricately coiffed that without the shading, it would look like a mess. The fashionista would be appalled.
- Rarity is also one of the few ponies to have eyelashes in groups of four (though they aren't real). Nearly all the other ponies have eyelashes in groups of three if they have them at all.
- Odd Friendship: Between her and Applejack. She has also been seen with Rainbow Dash on occasion.
- Oh Crap: She gets one at the end of "Suited For Success" after Hoity Toity asks her to make a dozen of each dress she just showed to him before next Tuesday. That makes 72 hand-made dresses right after she was pushed beyond her limits to make "only" 11.
- Again at the start of "Dog and Pony Show": after Rarity spends all her gem supplies on one dress, Sapphire Shores orders 5 more dresses of the same type.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: When providing Rarity's singing voice, Kazumi Evans doesn't affect the mid-Atlantic accent that Tabitha St. Germain normally gives Rarity. This is most notable during "Winter Wrap Up" though Kazumi seems to be making a much more concerted effort to sing with the accent in later songs.
- It's becoming a running joke that she starts sounding oddly Swedish whenever she's in the middle of a bout of self-pity, riffing off Greta Garbo's "I vant to be alone!" line.
- She also lacks a majority of her accent as a filly though it has been said you don't have a set accent until puberty.
- Probably justified; her parents as seen in "Sisterhooves Social" don't have an accent anywhere close to hers so she probably cultivated it in an attempt to seem classier.
- Pimped Out Dress: Doesn't wear one around town but her fashion choices amount to this as we see when she forces them upon Twilight. Rarity's particularly fond of Gem Encrusted things.
- Designs a whole horde in "Suited for Success" with some turning out better than others....Mind you; that's what her friends have demanded of her and she's too nice to point out the flaws while making them.
- She also wears one in the episode "Sonic Rainboom" when she enters the Young Fliers competition.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Unicorns are not known for their physical strength but Rarity is capable of dragging large carts of gems with ease. She can also carry a rock TWICE HER SIZE on her back.
- Pride: In her appearance, making it an easy target for anyone looking to bring her down a peg.
- Princess Curls
- Proper Lady: Elegant, poised, able to conduct herself in society and she never gets her hooves dirty.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "It is ON!"
- "Look upon me, Equestria for I! AM! RARITY!"
- Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When she confronts Sweetie Belle about being Gabby Gums in "Ponyville Confidential," despite her earlier initial fury about the article about herself, she gives Sweetie Belle a deserved scolding, uses her own rifling through Sweetie Belle's stuff to make a point, and wraps it up by asking if she really wants writing hurtful gossip stories to be her destiny, which prompts the Cutie Mark Crusaders to try and stop being Gabby Gums and write their letter of apology at the end. Everypony else either shunned them outright or was so angry that they sent the CMC away to avoid saying something they'd regret.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Like Applejack, she fulfills both roles, acting as a Blue Oni to Applejack and a Red Oni to Fluttershy.
- Smooch of Victory: She gives Spike one after she succeeds in receiving his Fire Ruby, and also when he comes to his senses after he nearly destroys Ponyville in his adult form.
- Spoiled Sweet: She comes off as a bit of a prissy snob most of the time but she represents the element of generosity for a reason.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Not necessarily a bad thing but she does receive the most focus episodes and Character Development of the six main characters.
- Stepford Smiler: Not usually but in "Suited For Success" when her friends don't like the first dresses, she hides how crushed she is and tries her very best for them.
- This is also how she repeatedly stops herself from losing her temper at Sweetie Belle in "Sisterhooves Social".
- Super OCD: Oh so much.
- Demonstrated in "Look Before You Sleep" where she shows an almost obsessive attention to detail, bordering on the compulsive. However by the end of the episode, it's explained as her being attentive to small details in contrast with Applejack's attention to big details with both being necessary and neither alone sufficient for all-around sensible action.
- She also spends half a day trying to fix Twilight's bird nest in "Winter Wrap Up" and eventually breaking down in tears because it's so appalling.
- And again in "Green Isn't Your Color" with the outfit Fluttershy is going to model.
- If you look closely during her first freak out in "Lesson Zero" she straightens out a rug.
- Proved beyond a shadow of a doubt in Sisterhooves Social where she goes ballistic any time Sweetie Belle messes with anything of hers.
- Including, ironically, when her little sister "helpfully" tidies up the carefully-cultivated disorder of her "inspiration room."
- Talking The Monster Into Submission: This is how she escapes the Diamond Dogs.
- Thinks Like a Romance Novel: More like "Thinks Like a Fairy Tale". She imagines meeting Celestia's nephew to play out like a fairy tale. It doesn't of course.
- Third-Person Person: Slips into this when she's in the zone.
- Three Faces Of Eve: Rarity is the Seductress.
- Tsurime Eyes: Highlighted by her blue eyeshadow.
- Twitchy Eye: Whenever she gets stressed.
- Unkempt Beauty: Rarity is one of the cleanest and prettiest ponies around but she also manages to look great while dripping wet.
 - Unlimited Wardrobe: Has a wide assortment of pretty dresses, hats and accessories, all self-designed.
- Vain Sorceress: Rarity's pride and obsession with her appearance combined with her magical abilities sometimes borders on this description.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 2 with Applejack but they grow out of it (mostly).
- With Great Power Comes Great Perks: She mostly uses her magical abilities for fashion.
- Woman in White: Her white coat color, emphasizing her refined nature as well as her cleanliness.
- The Workaholic
- You Gotta Have A Blue Mane: Well...technically it's dark purple but it's close enough.
Fluttershy "Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness." Don't stare too long, you may die from cuteness. A Pegasus also from Cloudsdale who is just as shy as her name suggests. Gentle and kind, she has a natural way with animals but has trouble dealing with other ponies due to her Shrinking Violet nature. Still, don't even think about hurting her friends. - Acrophobic Pegasus: Fluttershy is afraid of almost everything including heights.
- Adorkable: All you have to do is merely express interest in wanting a pet and she's all over you with a menagerie of animals to offer up as potentials.
- Apologises a Lot: Almost like she was brought up in a culture where apologizing is the social grease for everything you ever do.
Rarity (exasperated): Oh; what now?! Fluttershy (at door): Oh; sorry. I thought the "Open" sign meant you were open but I must have been mistaken. - Badass: The thing involving a dragon that Rainbow Dash did to earn her Badass cred?, Fluttershy arguably topped that in the same episode.
- Badass Pacifist: Don't let her timid demeanor fool you: If you upset her enough to spur her into action, she will kick your ass and she won't even have to resort to violence to do it
- She stares and talks down a dragon and a cockatrice *
Which was in the process of petrifying her no less to protect her friends from harm.
- She also manages to calm down Cerberus when it invades Ponyville by giving it a belly rub. That's right, the guardian of the underworld is still no match for Fluttershy.
- In the second part of "A Canterlot Wedding", she joins the other Mane Cast in fighting off an army of foes, despite her visible trepidation in doing so. Yet she manages to hold her own, faking out the enemy and using her shyness to cause one to trip up.
- The Beastmistress: No, she doesn't use it for combat; mostly organization. She has however commanded a dragon and a cockatrice to concede when her friends are in danger, and pacified Cerberus by giving him a belly rub.
- Berserk Button: Animals running from her and not wanting to be her friend will send her off the deep end.
Twilight Sparkle: If you can't catch her, Discord wins! Fluttershy: That. Big. Dumb. MEANIE! - A milder example, but she does not like to be treated like a child (See Deadpan Snarker below).
- Beware the Nice Ones: She hardly ever gets angry but when she does...
- In "Dragonshy", despite being terrified of a facing a full-grown dragon, she suddenly develops the wherewithal to make said dragon back down completely (and even whimper) after seeing what it's done to her friends.
- From Fluttershy's character video
: "But don't be fooled. Although she is timid, she is a determined pony with admirable strength. She always defends those who are treated unfairly." - The "admirable strength" part of that description was played with hilariously in "Lesson Zero". Twilight tries to see if Fluttershy is having one of her Cowardly Lion moments only to find her beating the living crap out of a bear three times her size, then killing it by snapping its neck. She was really just giving the bear a chiropractic session. Twilight and the audience no doubt shared a moment of shock.
- Completely pushed to its logical extreme at the Grand Galloping Gala. Like Pinkie she doesn't take rejection well.
- Brought up once again in Putting Your Hoof Down, where it becomes downright terrifying.
- Beyond the Impossible: She manages to outstare a cockatrice, i.e. a creature that turns others to stone by staring at them. All while protecting three young fillies.
- Brutal Honesty: In "The Ticket Master" and "Suited for Success".
- She gives an incredibly scathing speech to Pinkie Pie and Rarity in Putting Your Hoof Down in regards to their chosen careers.
- Character Development: A subtle one but post-Discord corruption and throughout season 2, she seems to have become more assertive and willing to actually get physical. Of note, she did a Limit Break while dragging a hot-air balloon, the bear wrestling sequence, shouting loudly and engaged in an off-screen tussle with Twilight, actually dragging Rainbow Dash off to her house, and becoming a valid target for RD's cake prank, as well as participating in its retaliation.
- Subverted partially in Putting Your Hoof Down, where Fluttershy's doormat tendencies were played up far more than previous episodes. However, it's played straight in that she gets one of her most definitive moments of character growth yet.
- Rainbow Dash found out the hard way
that when Fluttershy says "No," she means "NO!"
- Chewing the Scenery: Even she has her moments of this. "You're...going to LOVE ME!!!!!"
- Childhood Friends: With Rainbow Dash.
- Something of a variation. Most of their closeness as adults comes from being pegasi and Cloudsdale natives, but as children, it's unclear whether they even knew each other's names.
- Children In Tow: There are scenes in both "Griffon the Brush-Off" and "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" where she is seen helping a mother duck lead its ducklings.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: She's timid and gets afraid very easily, so naturally, she's yellow.
- Cowardly Lioness: She's usually a pushover and terrified of danger, and happily admits to being "weak and helpless", but get her protectively angry and her willpower multiplies by a factor of about a million.
- Cowardly Sidekick: She is terrified of nearly everything...even her own shadow.
- Cute and Psycho: Normally a sweet and gentle pony…but when she gets pushed to her limits, as seen in "Best Night Ever", she's scary.
- She also has severe anxiety issues due to being constantly bullied as a foal, as can be seen here.

- Cuteness Proximity: Noticing Spike helps draw her out of her shell when she first meets Twilight. In a flashback, landing on the ground for the first time and seeing all the cuddly animals is enough to make her burst into song.
- The Cutie: Provides the trope image. Most fans believe not loving Fluttershy borders on some sort of criminal act.
- Justified further by "Hurricane Fluttershy", a by-the-book Break the Cutie Fluttershy episode.
- Dandere: She's cripplingly shy but sometimes she forgets that.
- In the first episode, she's so nervous when she meets Twilight that she can barely even say her own name out loud. And then she notices Spike.
- In "May the Best Pet Win", she's extremely apologetic when they realize they haven't invited Rainbow Dash to their pet playdate, and then practically Squees when Rainbow expresses an interest in a pet, dragging her to home to sing a song about pet selection.
- Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally.
Pinkie Pie: Don't worry your pretty little head about mean ol' Gilda! Your auntie Pinkie Pie's got it all taken care of! Fluttershy: *annoyed* I'm a year older than you. - Death Glare: Yeah; you read that right.
- She uses some strange melange of a Death Glare and a Care Bear Stare really.
- This is taken Up to Eleven in the episode "Best Night Ever" when she chases a herd of animals into the palace while trying to befriend them.
- There may actually be power behind this beyond just her stare and choice of words: in "Applebuck Season" she apparently harvests all the apples from one tree just by staring at it.
- Defeat Means Friendship: How she stops the manticore's rampage. And when her talking down the dragon causes it to burst into tears, she immediately tries to calm it like a mother with a frightened and upset child.
 - Determinator: When it comes to helping others whom she cares for, she'll do whatever it takes to make them happy.
- This is also proven in the episode "Best Night Ever". She WILL make all of the animals love her, one way or another.
- She will not let "That...big...dumb...MEANIE!!", a.k.a. Discord, win , even if it means having to outfly Rainbow Dash (who from what we've seen so far is the fastest flyer in the country) while towing two other ponies in a hot-air balloon.
- She stares down a cockatrice that is using its gaze attack to turn her to stone. And it works!
- Era Specific Personality: G4 Fluttershy is very shy. G3 Fluttershy was an earth pony and a shutterfly, basically making her an earlier Photo Finish. Let that simmer for a moment.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Much to her dismay in "Green Isn't Your Color".
- Expy: Of G1's Posey, sharing her coloring, mane style and elements of her personality.
- She's also a lot like G3's Wisteria, who is also very shy and has an affinity for nature.
- Extreme Doormat: Given her shy personality, she is naturally rather passive and unassertive a lot of the time.
- Lampshaded, parodied and called by name in Putting Your Hoof Down. The whole episode is about Fluttershy becoming more assertive.
- The Face: But only for non-ponies. Otherwise she's a Shrinking Violet. For example, in Dragonshy Twilight's plan for dealing with a dragon boils down to: 1.) Escort Fluttershy to the dragon's cave and 2.) have her talk with it.
- Feather Fingers: Briefly displayed that pegasi can use their wings as hands, at least when it comes to opening saddlebags.
- Flat Joy: Her cheering in "Sonic Rainboom" is spirited and heartfelt but done so softly it's hard to tell. At least until Rainbow Dash actually pulls off the stunt.
Fluttershy: [breathes in heavily] Yayyy. - Fluffy Tamer: The clearest example seen so far is the encounter with the manticore with Baby Talk and everything but there's no reason to assume she only has a thing for manticores; Twilight automatically assumes she'd be of help dealing with a dragon too. Of course this doesn't mean she doesn't usually deal with critters others would agree to be cute too.
- Another example is her giving Cerberus a belly rub in "It's About Time."
- Forgot I Could Fly: Fluttershy is shown walking on the ground far more than other pegasai in the show, Particularly compared to Rainbow Dash.
- Specific example: Fluttershy is so terrified in "Dragonshy" that she initially forgets that she can fly instead of climb...and then after an ill-timed snore from the dragon, is scared to the point that her wings totally lock up, rendering her completely unable to fly.
- It happens again in "Feeling Pinkie Keen" when she and the others are being chased by the Hydra.
- In "Putting Your Hoof Down", she ends up kicking over a pair of carts being driven by some rude ponies because they were blocking her way. Many fans were quick to point out how she could have just flown over them.
- It's also been shown in several episodes like "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and "Hurricane Fluttershy" that she's very self-conscious about her flying ability, especially around other pegasi, who used to bully her constantly about her apparant lack of flying talent.
- Four Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic: introverted, compassionate and docile.
- Fragile Flower: She is, however, growing out of it, as explained in Character Development.
- Friend or Idol Decision: Inverted during "Green Is Not Your Color" as Fluttershy accepts becoming a famous model (which turns her life into a living hell) because she thinks that Rarity will feel sad if she refuses to do so.
- Friend To All Children: Proven when she takes care of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
- Friend to All Living Things: More comfortable around animals who aren't ponies. Or grown dragons.
- Fluttershy takes this trope very literally; she loves the ugly or mean creatures just as much as the nice cute little critters.
- Friend to Bugs: Yes; even them. Perhaps especially them; she referred to a Parasprite as "the cutest thing ever."
During "May the Best Pet Win!," she suggested several bugs as potential pets, including a cricket, a ladybug, a monarch butterfly and a wasp.- Her cutie mark is butterflies which is about as close to having "friend to bugs" literally written all over her as a pony can get.
- Gollum Made Me Do It: In Putting Your Hoof Down, Fluttershy referring to 'Old' Fluttershy and 'New' Fluttershy has very strong echoes of this.
- Gone Horribly Right: Iron Will's assertiveness training seminar was unfortunately a little too effective on Fluttershy. She gets better though.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her love and connection to animals (along with the Sonic Rainboom) are what help her find her Cutie Mark. This also gives her the desire to help and protect her friends no matter what.
- Hidden Depths: Fluttershy has quite the eye for sewing and fashion trends, which she demonstrates in "Suited for Success" to Rarity's shock.
- Spends most of Season 1 having her flying capabilities made out to be of poor standard compared to most other Pegasus Ponies. Then in the second part of The Return of Harmony, we find out she's able to come close to matching Rainbow Dash in speed when she has to. And that was while she was towing a hot air balloon...imagine her speed unladen.
- In Rainbow Dash's defense, Fluttershy was towing an in-flight air balloon while Rainbow Dash was towing Pinkie Pie and Rarity as dead weight.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: She is the only one who doesn't fall to Discord's Hannibal Lecture. A frustrated Discord finally has to resort to "brute force" Brainwashing.
- Ironic Fear: She's afraid of… a lot of things, but since she's a Pegasus, the one that fits here is her fear of heights.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: It comes with the territory considering that she's a Friend to All Living Things. Rarity's cat Opal would have to agree.
- Lampshaded by Rarity, to whom Opal has not taken a liking.
"Well, you should have a picture of Opal as a cutie mark instead of those butterflies." - Let's Get Dangerous: Prone to these moments quite a bit. See: her confrontation with the dragon in "Dragonshy", her talking down the cockatrice in "The Stare Master" and the change from "I just can't go any faster (tears)" to "I won't let that big meanie win! (zoom)" in "The Return of Harmony Part 2".
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Being sweet, kind, and caring, (most of the time) Fluttershy represents the "light" half of this in comparison to Rarity.
- The Load: Seen as this in "Dragonshy". Awesomely subverts it by ultimately being the one to get the dragon to go away.
- And to a minor extent in "Swarm of the Century" when she decides to keep one of the Parasprites after the ponies get rid of the first batch which starts the vicious cycle all over again.
- Discord certainly tries to paint her this way in "The Return of Harmony". She frustrates him by politely agreeing.
- Long Manes Are Feminine: Pretty, pink and long enough to hide behind. From certain angles her locks even appear to frame her face in a heart.
- Lovable Coward: She can get dangerous when the time calls for it, most of the time however she is scared of her own shadow, and downright adorable because of it.
- Mama Bear: She defeats a cockatrice to protect the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
- Also towards her friends. She's even willing to stand up to a full grown dragon (which she has justified fear of) when it hurt her friends.
- The Matchmaker: Of a not-romantic type. One of the few things that will elicit an enthusiastic and energetic response from her is suggesting you might be interested in getting a pet. When Rainbow Dash suggested she might eventually want a pet, Fluttershy proceeded to drag Dash off to her cottage so she could introduce her around to the various and sundry animals she's caring for at the moment.
- Meaningful Name: She flutters and she's shy.
- Also she has a particular place in her heart for butterflies. They're her cutie mark after all.
- The Medic: She usually is shown healing injured animals.
- The Messiah: When you're the Element of Kindness, it comes with the package.
- Morality Pet: Ironically for her own pet Angel Bunny.
- This is completely subverted in "Putting Your Hoof Down".
- Seems to be acting as one for Rainbow Dash in Season Two. While still very benevolent, it's rare to see the usually aggressive braggart have many gentle and nurturing moments to another pony.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Her reaction to making Rarity and Pinkie Pie cry after she takes her assertiveness training too far.
- Nature Heroine: Being in tune with nature has saved the lives of her and her friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
- Nice Girl: MOST of the time.
- Nonstandard Character Design: In "Cutie Mark Chronicles", we see Fluttershy as a filly and she's noticeably taller and ganglier than her peers. Either she was older than the other foals we saw in her flashback (which has some support with her canonically being older
than Pinkie Pie) or she hit pony-puberty a bit early.- Her thinner legs and overall shape mimic the body style of the first generation's Flutter Ponies which had butterfly-style wings. Mythology Gag maybe?
- Adult Fluttershy shows as well two subtle design differences compared with her friends. One, she is the only character who flaps her wings while she's running and two, she might be the only left-handed character seen in the cartoon (she's seen opening her bag with her left wing).
- Not Good With Ponies
- Not So Weak: Fluttershy is an adorable, cute little Pegasus who is literally afraid of her shadow. However, despite what Discord and herself think, Fluttershy is a lot tougher than she looks, especially if you hurt her friends.
- Older than They Look: In the fifth episode, she reveals that she is a year older than Pinkie Pie but her sweet and innocent nature makes her appear a lot younger than most other ponies. See Nonstandard Character Design above for her filly appearance that coincides with this.
- Out of Focus: Mostly in the first half of the second season.
- Peek-a-Bangs
- Performance Anxiety: Spelled out in full in "Hurricane Fluttershy" - She can show great flying if it's an emergency, but put her in front of an audience, and she can barely fly.
- Plucky Girl: She has her moments of this.
- The Power of Friendship: When she's alone and confronted by Gilda the Griffon, she's unable to defend herself and bullied into running away in tears but when her friends are in danger, she won't hesitate to risk herself to protect them.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Has a habit of doing this the few times she gets genuinely ticked off. This is normally a sign bad things are in store for the target.
- "How DARE you!"
- "You're... going to LOVE ME!"
- "THAT...BIG...DUMB...MEANIE!!!"
- "I....SAID...NO!!!"
- Rapunzel Mane: Besides maybe Pinkie, she has the longest hair out of the main characters.
- Her tail is the only one out of the mane six that trails on the ground.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: To the Cutie Mark Crusaders when she takes care of them.
- Rose-Haired Mare
- Shrinking Violet: Again, growing out of it.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Definitely fits the character type (humble, loyal, wise, nurturing, etc. but with a clear touch of iron).
- Socially Awkward Heroine: VERY shy, yet still bold in standing up to creatures several times her size.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Her special talent is communicating with (non-equine) animals on a different level than most ponies.
- Squee: Done adorably in "The Stare Master"
- Staring Down Cthulhu: A dragon and a cockatrice, a monster that can turn you to stone by staring at you!
- Talking The Monster Into Submission: She's done this on multiple occasions.
- Tareme Eyes: Very noticeable when compared to the others.
- Team Mom: Mainly towards animals. Also has a Mama Bear moment in "The Stare Master".
- This Means War!: When she actually gets mad at someone, you know they've crossed the line and are in trouble now.
- Taken Up to Eleven in Putting Your Hoof Down, when she starts to make a vendetta out of the smallest things, such as the mailman accidentally mixing up her mail with someone else's.
- Three Faces Of Eve: Fluttershy is the Wife / Mother.
- Tranquil Fury: She's displayed this from time to time.
- Twitchy Eye: Seen when she becomes increasingly unhinged in "The Best Night Ever".
- The Voiceless: A small hooffull of episodes (so far, "Ponyville Confidential" and "A Canterlot Wedding, Part 2" have her appear prominently, but act even quieter than usual (which is saying a lot). There are even spots where you can tell she was supposed to have lines, but where she says nothing - the Pinkie voice must put a serious strain on Andrea.
- Who Dares?: Right before her Badass Adorable Talking the Monster to Death moment: "How DARE you!"
- Why Did It Have To Be Dragons?: She isn't scared of young dragons like Spike, but is terrified of adult dragons.
- You Don't Look Like You: Her fully-molded toys and collector cards all depict her as a Palette Swap of Rainbow Dash.
- Your Answer to Everything: "Uh... panic?"
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