Putting Your Hoof Down

Putting Your Hoof Down is the nineteenth episode of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the forty-fifth episode overall. When Fluttershy becomes tired of getting pushed around for too long, she decides to get some assertiveness training from Iron Will, which causes her to transform her unsure ways. The title is a play on the phrase putting your foot down, meaning to take a solid course of action.

Production
One of the layout artist for the show added several "easter eggs" to the marketplace scene, which were not storyboarded. These include brief appearances by Pipsqueak, Bon Bon, and Lyra Heartstrings.

Feeding her pets
The episode opens with Fluttershy feeding her multitude of pets. She pours out a big pile of food, and they all rush in and fight to eat. Her pet bunny Angel, however, doesn't want the food, and even rejects a bowl of salad that Fluttershy gives to him instead. Angel takes a piece of the salad and puts it up to his mouth. He turns green, falls over and a flower pops up. Fluttershy asks what he would eat. Angel instead brings up a cookbook and points to a fancy-dressed salad and demands Fluttershy to make it for him.

Trying to become assertive
Fluttershy goes to the Ponyville market to buy ingredients for Angel's salad. First off, she goes to the Asparagus stall, but she is cut in front of by a pony who later states that she didn't see her there. Then, an old pony who cannot hear too well cuts in front of her. Then two teenage mares cut in front of her and tell Fluttershy to get out of their personal space. The last bushel of asparagus is bought by a stereotypically nerdy-looking pony. Rarity, seeing Fluttershy is upset at not having any asparagus, charms the pony into giving up his asparagus, giving him his bit back. Rarity gives Fluttershy the asparagus and asks her what else she needs.

Next, Fluttershy goes to the tomato stall. She purchases three tomatoes for the usual price of one bit, but the stall owner demands two bits, the new price for tomatoes. Fluttershy gives the other bit, but Pinkie Pie intervenes and barters with the stall owner to haggle the price down to one bit. In the end, after confusing the stall owner, she manages to do this. Fluttershy finally goes to the cherry stall. There is only one cherry left, and when Fluttershy expresses her joy at finding the last cherry and explains how much she needs it, the stall owner takes advantage and hikes the price up to ten bits. Fluttershy tries to be assertive, using the tactics Pinkie and Rarity demonstrated, but only succeeds in pushing the price up more. Rarity and Pinkie pull her away from the stall, only for Fluttershy to watch another pony buy the cherry for two bits. Fluttershy returns to her cottage, and makes Angel his salad, apologizing for the lack of a cherry on top. The picky rabbit rejects the salad and throws it, and Fluttershy, out the door, where she crashes into her postbox. She laments that she "really is a doormat", but then sees an advertisement for a seminar involving the art of assertiveness. She soon vows to never be a pushover again.

Iron Will
Fluttershy then arrives at the Hedge Maze Center where the show is located. She tries to squeeze into the front of the audience, only to be thrown to the back. The seminar begins as Iron Will, a minotaur and the host of the event, arrives on stage and greets them with a flex of his muscles and pyrotechnics. (His voice and delivery resemble those of the wrestler Hulk Hogan.) He promises that his advice will prevent anyone from being a pushover, and even provides a "100% Satisfaction Guarantee", so anyone who is not fully satisfied with the training will not have to pay. Iron Will calls for a pony in the audience to be an example for his self-help steps, to which his goat interns find Fluttershy at the very back. Being told to approach on stage, Fluttershy arrives only to be blocked by one of the interns. Despite her suggestion to go around or even wait until the next day, Iron Will gives her his first piece of advice: "When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock!". He flicks her towards the goat, accidentally knocking him down. As she apologizes, she is interrupted by the minotaur, who tells her "Never apologize when you can criticize!", demonstrating this by yelling at the goat. Fluttershy tries this, albeit with more hesitation. Iron Will is impressed by this regardless, as well as sees a profitable opportunity. He points out that if his advice can work for a shy pony like her, then it can work for anybody. Fluttershy hears the cheering from the audience and smiles.

Fluttershy changes her attitude
Returning to her cottage after the seminar, Fluttershy prepares to leave with a new attitude. When she sees a gardener named Mr. Greenhooves drowning her petunias, she points out that he's done this before and is ignored. Applying another bit of Iron Will's advice: "Treat me like a pushover, and you get the once-over!", she blocks the flow of the water hose before letting it drench him. She hears him say that she may be right, and as she leaves, she is excited that it actually works. On her way to Ponyville, she is blocked by two ponies with large carts of garbage, who are busy telling jokes. Fluttershy tries to tell them to move several times, but is once more ignored. She remembers Will's first advice to deal with someone who tries to block, and kicks the carts over, making the trash fall onto the two ponies, before they finally move.

When she reaches Sugarcube Corner and starts to wait in line, a random pony cuts in front of her. She spins her around and orders her to go to the back. The rest of the ponies in line notice this and, intimidated, rush behind her. Fluttershy is then greeted by Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who are impressed by this "New Fluttershy". Pinkie offers her punch while making a joke, but Fluttershy believes that she is being laughed at and pours the punch on her friend. On her way out of the store, the newly confident pegasus calls a taxi, which is then immediately taken by another pony. She quickly attacks and throws him off the cart before calling out to the town angrily to never push her around, before she leaves. Rarity and Pinkie Pie believe that Fluttershy's new attitude may be a problem.

As time passes, Fluttershy once more leaves her cottage with more confidence and intimidation than ever. Checking her mail, she realizes the mail carrier who comes to her house left the wrong mail. She confronts him before literally sending him off by mail. A quick moment later, a pony tourist asks her for directions. As she talks to him, she drops her mail into a puddle. She rages and throws the tourist across the field and into a bale of hay. Rarity and Pinkie Pie see the commotion and try to tell her that she may be taking her new attitude too far. Refusing to go back to her nice normal self, she instead mercilessly insults them both by criticizing Rarity's fashion sense and Pinkie's partying as things nobody would ever care about. This causes her friends to run away in tears. When Fluttershy looks at her own reflection in a puddle, she realizes how much of a "monster" she has become.

Realizing her mistake
Later in the evening, Fluttershy locks herself in her cottage, boarding all of the windows and getting Angel to tie her up in a chair, so she would not become a danger to others. At the same time, Rarity and Pinkie Pie return to talk to her, stating that her nasty attitude was because of Iron Will's bad advice, and that there are other ways to assert herself. Immediately after, they see Iron Will arriving to collect payment from Fluttershy after hearing news of her transformation. Rarity tries to use her charm like she did earlier to stop Iron Will. When that fails, they try to convince him to go do some shopping at the grocery store, but Rarity's attempt failed and Pinkie Pie tells Iron Will that Fluttershy is not home and they need a full day to find her. Iron Will tells her that he will only give her half a day. Using the same method from the tomato stand, Pinkie Pie confuses Iron Will into giving them a full day, but as Iron Will leaves Fluttershy sneezes catching his attention. She decides to come out and Iron Will demands his pay. Fluttershy refuses because she was not "100% satisfied" with the results of taking the Minotaur's advice. The shocked guru tries to cut a deal, but the pegasus insistently says, "No means no". Disappointed, Will and his goats leave, although he believes he can make a new catchphrase out of what Fluttershy just said. Rarity and Pinkie Pie are both happy to see Fluttershy stand up to Will without changing her attitude before giving her a hug.

Learning her lesson
At the end of the episode, Fluttershy learns that when standing up for herself, she does so in a controlled way. So when Fluttershy once more feeds the woodland animals, she is finally able to get the spoiled Angel to eat a regular salad, with a little help from her Stare.

Quotes

 * Pinkie Pie: What do you think you're doing?
 * Tomato stallholder: Mindin' my own business, maybe you should try it.
 * Pinkie Pie: Two bits for tomatoes is outrageous, one bit is the right price.
 * Tomato stallholder: I say it's two bits.
 * Pinkie Pie: One bit.
 * Tomato stallholder: Two bits!
 * Pinkie Pie: One bit!
 * Tomato stallholder: Two bits!
 * Pinkie Pie: One bit!
 * Tomato stallholder: Two bits!
 * Pinkie Pie: Two bits!
 * Tomato stallholder: One bit!
 * Pinkie Pie: Two bits!
 * Tomato stallholder: One bit!
 * Pinkie Pie: I insist it's two bits or nothing!
 * Tomato stallholder: One bit and that's my final offer!
 * Pinkie Pie: Have it your way, one bit it is!


 * Fluttershy: As Celestia is my witness, I'll never be a pushover again!


 * Iron Will: Woah! He’s blocking your path. What are you gonna do about it?
 * Fluttershy: Um, politely walk around him?
 * Iron Will: No.
 * Fluttershy: Gingerly tip-toe around him?
 * Iron Will: No!
 * Fluttershy: Go back home, and try again tomorrow?
 * Iron Will: No! When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock!


 * Pinkie Pie: Old Pinkie Pie's not so sure new Fluttershy is such a good idea after all.
 * Rarity: Old Rarity agrees.


 * Fluttershy: You make me lose; I blow my fuse!


 * Rarity: What happened to nice Fluttershy? We want that Fluttershy back.
 * Fluttershy: No, you want wimp Fluttershy. You want pushover Fluttershy. You want do-anything-to-her-and-she-won't-complain Fluttershy!
 * Pinkie Pie: Nyaaaaah! Too many Fluttershies to keep track of! Make it stop!


 * Fluttershy: I can't believe that the two most frivolous ponies in Ponyville are trying to tell new Fluttershy how to live her life, when they are throwing their own lives away on pointless pursuits that nopony else gives a flying feather about!


 * Rarity: Oh sweetie, we all said things that we regret.
 * Pinkie Pie: We did?
 * Rarity: Shh.


 * Iron Will: Iron Will's my name, training ponies is my game!


 * Pinkie Pie: We're not even sure Fluttershy is home right now. Uh, she might be off frolicking with some woodland creatures, uh, why don't you give us some time to track her down for ya?
 * Iron Will: Iron Will does have some grocery shopping to do. Iron Will will come back this afternoon.
 * Pinkie Pie: But that's only half a day. We need one full day at least.
 * Iron Will: Iron Will will delay for half a day and no longer!
 * Pinkie Pie: A full day!
 * Iron Will: Half day!
 * Pinkie Pie: Full day!
 * Iron Will: Half day!
 * Pinkie Pie: Half day!
 * Iron Will: Full day!
 * Pinkie Pie: We need half a day and no more!
 * Iron Will: Why you'll get a full day and no less!
 * Pinkie Pie: Okie dokie. See you tomorrow.
 * Iron Will: Wait, what?


 * Iron Will: What do you mean you're not satisfied?! Everypony has always been satisfied!
 * Fluttershy: Well I guess I'm the first then. But since I'm not satisfied, I refuse to pay. It's as simple as that.
 * [goats bleating]
 * Iron Will: Ohh, are you... sure you're not just a little bit satisfied? B-because maybe... we could, cut a deal, I-I mean, we're both reasonable creatures, aren't we?
 * Fluttershy: I'm sorry, but no means no.
 * Iron Will: No means no, huh? Nopony's ever said that to me before. Huh... I gotta remember that one. That's a good catchphrase for my next workshop.

Gallery

 * Putting Your Hoof Down image gallery