ok taking a break from depressing backstories, fluttershy! i wanted to incorporate some of my ryukyuan heritage into flutter’s design. her cutie mark is of a oosukashiba, a moth found in okinawa (although okinawa is not the limit of the species’ range). she also has a deigo as a hair accessory, okinawa’s official flower ! i also loosely based her backstory off the creation myth of the islands, as recited in the Chuzan Seikan.

Many western books on Eastern Equestria focus only on the unicorns. If you look deeper in the libraries, however, you realize there is more to the story. Unicorns are the largest group by a long shot, but pegasi and earth ponies have significant groups in the East as well. The pegasi are seafaring islanders, while the earth ponies thrive in cold temperatures comparable to Yakyakistan’s.

Fluttershy was born to two eastern pegasi, Swirlyshy and Banyan Fig-Shy (though most just refer to them as Mr. and Mrs. Shy). For as long as anypony can remember, Fluttershy was always interested in the living things around her. When the rest of her family would be off farming and fishing, she would wander around and observe the insects that pollinated the wildflowers. She loved digging into the dirt, where she would find old root vegetables and seeds. She kept track of her favorite birdsong and made efforts to repeat the whistling back.

She would only spend a few years in Eastern Equestria, though, as her parents decided to send her off to the Young Fliers Academy in Cloudsdale. Apparently, Flutters wasn’t interested in the physical labor of her family’s practice, and her parents believed that the strict regimens of western pegasi would set her straight. She didn’t last long at the Academy. Fluttershy didn’t seem compatible in any way; she was constantly bullied, she had no friends, and her flying abilities weren’t enough to even pass the intro courses. She was miserable, and one day she decided to escape to the ground in the dead of night. On her way down, however, her wings gave out, and she fell (with such luck!) into a lake.

In the depths of the water, something spoke to her. In her mind, it pleaded for her to bring life to the land, and the land would bring a gift to her in return. When she surfaced and shook herself off, Fluttershy noticed that the land surrounding her was grey and barren.

Fluttershy was bewildered by what had just happened. Additionally, she didn’t see how it would be possible to bring life back to such empty land. She absentmindedly dug into the dirt as she tried to figure out what to do, but her optimism began to grow when she realized her hoof hit a healthy, germinated potato. Using more of the techniques she learned back in the East, she gathered enough root vegetables to sustain herself and replanted the rest on a plot of land near the lake.

The next day, Fluttershy awoke to a bird in front of her! It sang a beautiful song, which Fluttershy attempted to echo back. The bird seemed almost offended at her first shot, but she tried again with much greater accuracy. After a couple rounds, more birds had flocked to the area.

With Flutters’ plants, she brought in the rodents, rabbits, and raccoons. As Flutters sang, birds flew to the dead trees and bathed at the shore of the lake. Soon, more animals curiously explored the barren land. It was a wonderful sight, and discovering the animals of West Equestria brought much joy to her. It was in this joy that Fluttershy earned her Cutie Mark!

But suddenly, a shoot sprouted from Fluttershy’s field, and it grew rapidly into the shape of a pony. Fluttershy was about to pass out from this sight, but the being reassured her that there was nothing to fear. This was the same entity that spoke to her in the lake; a nature spirit, weakened by the overuse of its land, could not restore life to its domain. When Fluttershy brought the animals back, however, it gave the spirit enough strength to return. To thank her, the spirit decided to place its power into her heart and create a house for her to live in. Whatever this power was, Fluttershy wouldn’t know the entirety of her strength until many years later.

In my headworld, she has the special ability to temporarily combine her soul with any animal. When she combines with an animal, she gains some of their traits. Generally, she gets a little more rugged in this form, kind of like her Flutterbat appearance in the series.

Fluttershy spent much more of her time on the ground than other pegasi. Her wings are very weak, as there isn’t much need for flying to her. Oddly enough, if she cries, her tears produce small wildflowers when they hit soil.