Fluttershy

Fluttershy is a pegasus pony and one of the main characters of the series. She's normally very shy and quiet, and frequently seen tending her animals. She wields the element of kindness.

Personality
Fluttershy seems to have a great love for all animals except full-grown dragons. She is more open around animals than she is around other ponies. Her ability to handle animals seems to be unique to Fluttershy who unlike other pegasus ponies is not involved with the weather manipulation of Ponyville. She is an extremely quiet individual, soft-spoken and almost never raises her voice; her idea of a shout of annoyance is a soft, high-pitched squeak. She is also extremely non-violent: when she's mad enough to kick something, she gives it the lightest of taps. She's very non-confrontational, frequently apologizing for voicing her opinion or making requests.

In Dragonshy, she is revealed to have been terrified of full grown dragons and was almost unable to function out of fear. When she saw her friends being harmed by the dragon, though, she was able to overcome her fear and scold the dragon, which was a hundred times her size, much like that of a mother being very cross with her child. The power of this scolding frightened the dragon so much that it burst into tears. Her determination in the face of danger is also shown in The Elements of Harmony, in which she faces down a manticore and realizes what is causing it pain, and Stare Master, in which she stares down and admonishes a cockatrice into doing as she says even as it slowly turns her to stone.

While normally the quietest and calmest in her circle of friends, she is prone to extremely loud outbursts of emotion on very rare occasions, in which she does lose control. For example, in Sonic Rainboom her cheering is barely louder than her normal speaking tone, but when Rainbow Dash reaches the sonic rainboom her cheering is louder than everyone else's. In Stare Master, she was forced to raise her voice twice to gain the Cutie Mark Crusaders' attention. Additionally, in The Best Night Ever when her patience is pushed by Canterlot's garden animals, her frustration steadily builds into rage bordering on psychosis. This can be considered extremely "out of character" for her and only happens in situations of excessive excitement or emotional stress.

Skills
Most pegasus ponies are skilled in manipulating the weather, but Fluttershy is more focused on caring for animals. She is capable of giving "the stare", a fierce and paralyzing gaze which tames animals. She uses the stare on her chickens when they run wild, and on the cockatrice even as it's in the process of turning her into stone. This, along with an extremely severe talking-to, are generally enough to cow the most fearsome monsters into behaving, especially when used together. Often, though, she finds that just being kind can be enough. If forced to berate or stare down a monster, once it is no longer a threat she immediately reverts to her kind, gentle self, often trying to calm the monster down if she has upset it.

She appears to have some skill as a veterinarian, possessing a thermometer, a stethoscope, and medicine in A Bird in the Hoof, where she cares for a sick bird. Her level of skill is hard to judge however as her patient Philomena was a type of animal she had never seen before, and her attempts to treat her seem to make things worse.

On the other hand, at the beginning of the episode, there is a wheelchaired mouse meeting its family, which has a professionally applied-looking plaster cast, obviously made by Fluttershy. Later, she introduces Philomena to another of her patients, Hummingway, who also seems to be in excellent health. For the sake of fairness towards Fluttershy's abilities, nothing Fluttershy could have done would have cured Philomena or made things any worse; Philomena, as a phoenix, was nearing the end of her life cycle, about to "die" and be reborn and was never actually sick to begin with.

In Suited For Success, she is revealed to have a "freaky knowledge of sewing" that surpasses Rarity's, if Fluttershy's complaints about improper stitching in her dress is an indication. She's good enough to finish a dress from Rarity's design with the help of her other friends. She can also recognize machine stitching, stitching styles, uneven pleats, and traditional clothing styles.

History
Like Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy hails from Cloudsdale. As a filly, she was not a very good flyer, and was bullied by some of the other ponies (who nicknamed her Klutzershy). Rainbow Dash stood up for her, however, and challenged the bullies to a race. During the race, Dash and the bullies accidentally knocked Fluttershy down to the ground, a place she had never been before. She was saved from a rough landing by a group of butterflies. Upon seeing all the different animals which lived on the ground for the first time, Fluttershy was so overjoyed, she started singing. Moments later, a sonic rainboom scared all the animals. Fluttershy was able to calm them down, and learned that she had a talent for communicating with animals. It was then that she gained her cutie mark, and a lifelong love of animals.

Years later, when a now grown-up Fluttershy first met Twilight, she was too scared to do more than mumble quietly, but opened up when she met Spike. She was in charge of music during the Summer Sun celebration. She took part in the search for the Elements of Harmony in the second episode. When the group encountered an angry manticore, Fluttershy was able to tame it by kindly talking to it and removing a thorn from its paw which was responsible for its rampage, earning her the element of kindness.

Fluttershy's pet bunny Angel is introduced in the third episode. Angel seems to boss Fluttershy around on occasion, and tries to get her out of her shell.

During the episode Griffon the Brush Off, it is revealed that Fluttershy is a year older than Pinkie Pie and during the episode The Cutie Mark Chronicles, she is shown looking more mature than the others, having very long and slender legs, which surprisingly means that Fluttershy may be the oldest of the ponies.

During the episode Dragonshy, Fluttershy's fear of fully grown dragons serves as one of the plot points, but she puts aside her fears to stand up and protect her friends.

While escaping from the hydra during the episode Feeling Pinkie Keen, Fluttershy repeats the jumping line Pinkie Pie taught her during Dragonshy. She also had the courage to be the first to jump to safety, although the hydra was arguably the greater threat.

In the episode Bridle Gossip, after going through the poison joke flowers with the other ponies while they were looking for Apple Bloom, Fluttershy's voice became deep and masculine, although she seemed unaffected otherwise.

Relationships
Twilight Sparkle

Rainbow Dash

Pinkie Pie

Rarity

Applejack

Appearances
Fluttershy appears in all episodes so far except episodes eight and eighteen.

Trivia

 * Fluttershy's caring nature and similar appearance is based on Posey, an earth pony in the 1980's show except for her cutie mark which is represented by butterflies, reminiscent of the G2 pony Sky Skimmer. Her name is based on an earth pony in the G3 line.
 * A second example of the effect of Fluttershy's displeasure is seen in The Ticket Master. When all five of her friends begin arguing over who should get Twilight's second ticket, most of Twilight's attention before the break is on Fluttershy.
 * In the episode Bridle Gossip after going through the poison joke flowers with the other ponies while they were looking for Apple Bloom, Fluttershy's voice became deep and masculine, although she seemed unaffected otherwise. Her deep voice is performed by Blu Mankuma.
 * In episode 3 and 22, Fluttershy can be heard and seen singing the theme to the show.
 * Fluttershy's personality is similar to that of Sgt. Laverne Hooks of the Police Academy franchise, though, unlike Hooks, she's non-violent until she's pushed too far to her limits. This is evident in Stare Master, Dragonshy, and The Best Night Ever (in order of anger level).