Discusson Time: How do ponies get personality.

[Rannil]

Heya everypony.

I might be new here, but I wanted to start off with something big. Mainly to see if bronies here are interested and hopefully we are going to get a lot of fun out of it. The title says a lot, but some introductions are needed.

If you really don't like to read a lot, there is a summary at the bottom.

Warning: Spoilers! I will assume you have seen every episode at least once.

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First off, I need to explain something about myself and why I decided to do this. I got a lot of creativity, so much so that my mind subconsciously fills in plot holes, makes connections and tend to set things in scale. Then we start think about it I got so much stuff already in my head I tend up with so much. And currently I got ponies on the mind, so many ponies. I really wanted to share some of my theories/ideas/feelings and it would even be more awesome if I could involve people to discuss aspect. I love to know how other people think about how I think about ponies. Also a warning, I am weird/insane/crazy and that will be reflected. The more I type, the harder it is to not include a silly remark here or there. I hope this adds to fun (and if it just ends up ruining a great idea, I can always trim them out, with lasers.)

I wanted to make it slightly more serious by adding something some rules, or basic principles to base it on. But ten the first rule would be: "Don't be serious, this is all in good fun and sharing creativity.", so I would be hypocritical right off the bat. In any case I still want to say that I will try to make this lighthearted, open and hopefully accessible to all you bronies, even if you don't like to respond or discuss I hope you can get some pleasure out of my views, or how other bronies react to my views. I want to make this a sharing project, with lots of talking about ponies. Not some elite discussion only for those people that think way to much about ponies.

So basically the current idea is I write a analysis, a theory, or something in those lines and hope you guys give feedback or just talk about the subject I bring up.

Warning: I am not an native English speaker, so I have tendency to repeat words. Also my grammar is bizarre. Feel free to correct me and I hope you can deal with it. (Especially in large amounts)

Warning: I have an tendency of not telling in what episode an event happened. If that annoys people I will try to change this, for now I will assume you have seen all episodes 3 times or more.

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Enough about my plans, lets go to the topic I presented. As smart readers already deducted from the title (and for the people that don't, sorry but I don't got a lot of room to work in the title), it's going to be a discussion about how the manecast got their personally and what events factor into it. This is based on earlier post I written and I mostly focused on backstory and because that post was already long I will keep that. A lot of the character traits many ponies posses seem to stem from events happened in the past and it's logic that those event shape ponies like in real life people's personalities are shaped by events in the past.

I based a lot of the stuff from the episode "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", if you purely interested in backstories, go watch that episode. I am going to talk how events in that episode shaped the ponies personality until they were the ponies we know and like. I do try to as close to the show as possible without making stuff up.

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Warning: The way the show presented it to us and the way my mind ran away with the ideas makes the ponies seem like they have very sad backstories. If you don't like semi-depressive backstories then please hit me with a bat.

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Fluttershy gets accused a lot of being literally scared of everything. But Fluttershy is far from "literally scared of everything", she seems to be one you can scare easily, but she is Fluttershy, not Flutterscared. When she first encountered animals (implying she never saw an animal before BTW) she wasn't afraid but amazed. I think her shy nature has to do with the staring power she has. She doesn't want to hurt people with direct eye contact (or scare them), so she seems/acts social awkward by avoiding eye contact. As a side note, animals don't want a lot of eye contact with their owner, so perhaps that's why her specialty is animals. To add she has a past of troubles with bullies, which doesn't help with social contacts.

Besides that she seems to have a fear of height, or doesn't like to fly often. Which is quite logic because she fell from a great height

when she was a young filly.

Twilight Sparkle's major characteristic is her "nerdy ways", by lack of a better term. A part of this this explained in the backstory, she was just a curious filly that wanted to understand the magic she had as a unicorn pony. Which she devoted her entire youth too, probably more so when she joined the magic school. The social awkwardness she has is a logic result from a life of studying. She isn't completely awkward, it looks like Spike has been at her side ever since she joined the magic school and she seems to be really close friends with Princess Celestia, she doesn't bow for the ruler, but she still is respectful and afraid that the Princess might be disappointed in her. Probably botch because Celestia is a great inspiring mentor and most likely also because they are at some level close friends.

Besides that, in the show itself Twilight Sparkle seems be afraid of not fitting in in Ponyville or being judged harshly on negative traits. She recently got a lot of friends and she doesn't really know that well how to deal with it. Surely she doesn't want to loose the friends she has because she never had any (or at least not that many).

Applejack seems an easy one. As seen in the show her family has a large farm, but most of the time only four ponies live there. It seems that she as been working on the farm for a greater part of her life, starting as a young filly (when she returned from Manehattan). She is the independent type, she worked her entire life mostly with only her brother on the farm so she feels she can take anything on. At the other side she is really open for others, always ready to give advise or help a friend in need. She seems to be based around that old idea of farmers. The kind of farmer that always has a warm meal and a roof for a stranger/friend in need. Also her honesty fits in that idea, always speaking whats on her mind and pointed out stupid ideas, but does have an tendency of telling white lies to not hurt feelings.

Rainbow Dash, like Fluttershy, got bullied. But unlike Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash didn't shy away. She challenged and fought back, and lost a lot I guess. Her competitive nature however seems to force her to be better then the bullies that bullied her. She wants to prove to herself she is better then them and also loudly brag about it when ever she feels she proved her worth. the bragging also seem to be her way of countering the insults (Rainbow Crash) But the show itself also hinted at something slightly darker. In Sonic Rainboom she confronts her tormentors of the past with either the intend of win their respect or prove she is far better then they ever will be. Then Rarity pops up and Rainbow Dash thought she had no chance of winning. And for a moment she snapped. Either she didn't want to humiliated after she stood up against the bullies, or winning their respect was more important then we could see. (And I will avoid speculations). She did recover relative quickly from her state of fear but still there was that moment where she saw dire consequences for losing that contest.

As a good side effect, being bullied also makes her want to protect the weak, especially Fluttershy when they were both young. She doesn't want to she others hurt. That explains her ways of always charging in to attack monsters, even if they are an hundred times bigger then she is.

Also take in account she was friends with Gilda (the griffon) for a long time, possibly cause Gilda needed someone weaker to hang out with, but either way that period of her life also made her a bit meaner, as seen in her pranksish nature. She probably got a couple of more bad traits from that, like the need to brag, the need for cool, to need to challenge. But we don't know that much about Gilda (and most likely never will)

Rarity is a hard case. She seems like she had really had strict, overprotective parents that only accepted the best of her. Such a back story would explain many of her quirks, from being perfectionist to the whole mood swings when things not go her way. And even her high expertise and ambition in her job. But we know nothing about her past or her parents. So I can only speculate where those traits come from. Still she has a high range of problems and a high range of characters traits. Because I mostly try to relate stuff to backstories, and Rarity hasn't one that explain how this pony got her personality (title drop), I sadly will keep it short. But there is a lot of character in Rarity.

Pinky Pie, owh, Pinky Pie. Why did you end your backstory with "And that is how Equestria was made"? Because of that no one takes you serious. Hey... No one should. But let's assume she partially did tell the truth in her backstory, which seem be reinforced by episode 25, then her personality is a sort of counter to the boring and colorless past she had as a rock farmer. If we assume the ponies are teenagers (which is hard when some are working serious hard jobs), then she has lived at least half her life in black and white. Pinky Pie seems afraid of being boring because when she that first Sonic Rainboom she felt happiness she doesn't ever want to let go. She cannot change back (she has grown far past that point of her life), but somehow still thinks that if she can't party she will turn back into her boring old self. even her hair reverts. but she kept partying, with herself if her friends deserted her. But deep inside she knows not every day can be a party, but that's a truth she refuses to accept. Either that or she is just insane and either an all party pony or a no party pony. (Also: All work and no parties make Pinky Pie an dull insane girl)

Rereading this it seems that most ponies have had a hard past (and 4 out of 6 are shown in the show itself), but most of them seem to have accepted or conquered the past and we only see minor effects. Still most ponies have had a mental breakdown of sorts related to their past, afraid of changing back. But they deal with it, learn from it and in general it doesn't undermine their enjoyment of life and they can still smile, be happy and party. I guess this is a pony lesson in itself (almost like I fell for a trap laid by the makers of the show so I could say:), even if your past is dark, you have changed and you are better then before. And always be happy and friendship and magic and ponies.

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And for the people that don't like tor read or want a easy recap, here is the

To long;didn't read section.

I had a idea, I want to talk lot's about ponies. Also I am insane(/creative), so a lot is really a lot.

I talked how about events in the show (and mostly background from S1EP23) contributed the ponies personalities.

Fluttershy: Seems to be shy because she got bullied a lot (S1EP23)). Also seems to be social awkward because of her stare power(S1EP17) and her kindness(S1EP02), she doesn't want to hurt people so she tends to avoid eye contact.

Twilight Sparkle: Has a past of studying a lot(S1EP23) and skipping out on friends (S1EP01). Because of that she is socially awkward/avoiding(S1EP01). Now that she got friends she is afraid of not fitting in (S1EP11) or being judged on negative traits.(S1Ep06)

Applejack: Has done a lot of hard work since mostly she and her brother tend to the farm (S1EP04). Because of that she feels she can do anything. Also has the farm mentality that is openhearted and always there for a friend in need (S1EP04). (Do not confuse this with the "redneck farmer", she may have a southern accent, but her farming ways are more of the fairytale/classic European idea)

Rainbow Dash She has a case of bullies (S1EP16 and S1EP23) and bad friends (S1EP05). She got a of of bad traits to counter the bullies (like trying to always be better then them) and she picked up some from her Griffin friend too. But still because she was bullied she doesn't want to see others hurt, like she is, and protects her friends on many occasions.

Rarity: Has no backstory, but she is a ambitious perfectionist pony with OCD. And more!

Pinky Pie: Was a dull rock farmer that experienced a joy she never wants to let go(S1EP23) and wants to party till eternally to avoid the boring life she once ha. Heavily afraid of turning back into her old self, or just plainly insane (S1EP25).

P.S. I did try to post episode sources of traits, does that annoy the format or does it work?

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The end!

Please feel free to discuss, correct me, add things or throw stuff and shout boo.

And excuse me for any typo's, grammar fails and word repetition.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

I'm not sure if Fluttershy got bullied a lot as a filly, after all, she does say that the one instance we saw was the most humiliating moment of her life. I got the impression that maybe she had been raised somewhat in seclusion, maybe her parents lived far out in the country, and that her summer at flight camp was perhaps one of the first times she'd been around others her own age for any real length of time or in an unsupervised manner. I think her shyness has a lot to do with her empathy, no only does she feel bad when she feels bad, but she feels bad when others feel bad too. Since she's afraid of hurting other pony's feelings, she doesn't confront her problems and just shies away.

Twilight seems to be very concerned with doing the right thing, perhaps due to a solid sense of justice that she picked up from her mentor? She's putting her own comforts/safety on the line to try to resolve problems, she wants everything to go by the book as it were, and when things break down she wants to try to fix them.

Some of Applejack's loyalty and responsibility might come from her parents. I don't know what keeps them away from the farm and their kids, but I'd like to assume that it is a good reason that Applejack can look up to. (they weren't living at Sweet Apple Acres even before Apple Bloom arrived.)

Rainbow Dash certainly has a bit of only child, in her. (so to speak) I think part of her loyalty and fearlessness might be due to the fact that she has seen the dark side of things. (so to speak) Learning from mistakes is one of the least effective ways to learn, but when you work your way out from a bad lifestyle, you'll know with total certainty what worked and what didn't. No need to second guess, no need to imagine, you've seen it all in the first person perspective. So my guess is that maybe Rainbow Dash actually did some bullying of her own as a Filly, but realized she wanted to be respected instead of feared.

Rarity doesn't have much of a backstory, but I think if you look at both her and Sweetie Belle together, you can see some patterns. I get the impression that Sweetie Belle still lives with her parents, who must then presumably still live in Ponyville. After all, in "Staremaster" the CMC's say "Sleep over at Rarity's, yay!" instead of "sleepover at Sweetie Belle's, yay!" which is what I would expect kids to say if they were sleeping over at a friend's place. I agree that parents with high expectations is commonly how talented children get their start. (not always a bad thing, so long as the high expectations are paired with proper support) Of course, with power comes responsibility, so it may explain why Rarity's parents are so absent, because they have lots of important work to do. (a trait you could imagine being handed down when Rarity is telling Sweetie Belle that she doesn't have time because of her work)

Pinkie Pie: I think Pinkie Pie was around since before Equestria was made, as she seems to fill the role of the trickster deity. Seriously though, even though she did have her episode where she lost her composure, she seems to have a pretty good handle on her emotional well being most of the time. She is frequently put in situations where nopony believes her, or they ridicule her, or don't trust her, and she typically handles it in stride. Her weakness seems to be assumption and suspicion. Most of the time, she turns out to be right about things. She seems like she always has a plan, but when she doesn't know what to do she gets really lost. From an upbringing point of view, she probably had a very wise teacher somewhere along the line to help her make sense of the world. (Grannie Pie perhaps?)

[Kirby Krackle]

I would like very much to give you a hug, Rannil.

[Rannil]

Thanks for adding so much. And the awesome part you address mostly points I didn't touch, mainly family, so it fits together. I do want to discus some major points.

First off, I made a fumble somewhere. the cutiemark backstory as presented to us happened at "Flight Camp" and I am pretty sure the pegasi that bullied Rainbow Dash are from "Flight School" (And wasn't Gilda also from "Flight School" and not "Flight Camp"?). So I thought Fluttershy also was from "Flight School", but she isn't. Maybe from a different school or homeschooled. But if she is homeschooled and her first interaction with ponies from the same age were bullies then her shyness makes all the more sense. Also it makes Rainbow Dash stepping in a lot more sense, Rainbow Dash has been bullied on school already.

More interesting in is when I googled "flight school" I found this blog with this quote:

When they land, Rainbow Dash is immediately beset by three jerk ponies, old acquaintances of hers that waste no time reminding her that she's a flight school drop-out best known as Rainbow "Crash."

Which would explain her mental breakdown in that episode, but I don't think that was said in the episode, but it might have been implied.

Like I said before, you talk a lot more about family and it's a shame there are barely mention of parents. We have seen Twilight Sparkle's parents and all they did was encourage their daughter and turn into plans (both awesome things btw) and also Pinky Pie's parents, but they did nothing except being colorless and then partying (only one of those two is awesome).

What did confuse me was Pinky Pie's grandmother, when Pinky Pie's talks about her grandmother it sounds like her grandmother is "just like Pinky Pie". But if if the rest of the family is way more serious, it either means that Pinky Pie overexaggerated the colorlessness in her life, or perhaps her grandmother was a Black Pink Sheep of the family.

As for the rest of the parents, we can speculate, but one thing is sure, most parents trust that their kids can take care of themselves and they probably did got a lot from their parents.

Shamefully I have a busy weekend, so i can't go in more detail, but thanks again for contributing.

I would like very much to give you a hug, Rannil.

Thanks! Good to see people love this as much as I do.