Putting Your Hoof Down

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

Summary
The episode opens with Fluttershy feeding her multitude of bunny 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 this food, and even rejects a bowl of salad that Fluttershy gives to him instead. Angel instead brings up a cookbook and points to a fancy dressed salad, and demands Fluttershy make this for him.

After this, 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, two teenage mares pop up in front of her, and snootily assert for Fluttershy to mind their personal space. Finally, 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, and gives him his bit back.

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 after expressing her joy at finding the last cherry and how much she needs it, the stall owner takes advantage of this and hikes the price up to ten bits. Fluttershy tries to be assertive, using the tactics Pinkie and Rarity mentioned to her. Unfortunately, this only ends with her accidentally 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. It looks exactly the same as the salad in the book, save for the cherry, which Fluttershy was unable to buy. Angel rejects the salad and throws it, and Fluttershy, out the door, and crashes into her postbox. She laments that she "really is a doormat", but then sees an advertisement for a seminar involving the arts of assertiveness. She soon vows to never be a pushover again.

At the hedge maze area where the show is located, she tries to squeeze into the front of the audience, only to be throw to the back. The seminar begins as Iron Will, a minotaur and host of the event, arrives on stage and greets them with a flex of his muscles and pyrotechnics. 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. Will calls on 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 wait until the next day, Will instead gives her his first piece of advice: "When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock!". He flicks her to the goat, accidentally knock it down. As she apologizes, she is interuppted by the minotaur, who tells her "Never apologize when you can criticize!", demostrating by yelling at the goat. Fluttershy tries this, albiet more hesitant. Will is impressed by this regardless, as well as sees a profitable opputunity. He points out that if his advice can work for a shy pony like her, then it can work for anypony. Fluttershy hears the cheering from the audience and smiles.

Returning to her cottage after the seminar, Fluttershy prepares to leave with a new attitude. Leaving, she seeing a gardener named Mr. Greenhooves drowning her petunia, which isn't the first time as she pointed out. Being ignored, she remembers 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 tried to tell them to move several times, but is once more ignored. She remembers Will's first advice to deal with somepony 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 soon spins her around and demands her to go to the back. The rest in line noticed this and, intimidated, rushed 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 spills 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 throws him off the cart before calling out to the town before she leaves: "Nopony pushes around New Fluttershy!". Rarity and Pinkie Pie believe that Fluttershy's new attitude may be a problem.

Time passes, and Fluttershy once more leaves her cottage, more confident than ever. Checking her mail, she realizes the mailpony who comes to her house sent the wrong mail. She confronts him before litterally sending him off by mail. 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. Rarity and Pinkie Pie sees the commotion and tries to tell her that she may be taking her new attitude to far. Refusing to go back to her nice normal self, she instead chews them both out, harshly criticizing Rarity's fashion sense and Pinkie's partying as things no one would ever care about. After seeing that she had just drove her friends away in tears, Fluttershy soon realizes how much of a "monster" she has truly become.

Later in the evening, she locks herself in her cottage, boarding all of the windows and getting Angel to tie her up so she would not become a danger to others. At the same time, Rarity and Pinkie Pie return to talk to her, saying that her nasty attitude was because of the minotaurs bad advice, and that there are other way to assert herself. Immediatly after, they see Iron Will arriving to collect payment from Fluttershy after hearing news of her transformation. Despite trying their best to stall, Will finally comes face to face with Fluttershy for the fee. Fluttershy refuses, saying that she can not pay as 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 catch phrase 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.

At the end of the episode, as 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: 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.


 * 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-won't-complain Fluttershy.
 * Pinkie Pie: Too many Fluttershys 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.


 * Fluttershy: I'm sorry but no means no.
 * Iron Will: "No means no", huh? No pony has ever said that to me before. Huh, I gotta remember that one, that's a good catchphrase for my next workshow.



Gallery

 * Putting Your Hoof Down image gallery

Trivia

 * During Iron Will's introduction, the music being played is similar to Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.


 * Pinkie Pie tricking Iron Will and the tomato stand owner to say her option is a reference to a Looney Tunes short, Rabbit Fire