Ah Bats, what an odd episode this is. This was one of my
most anticipated MLP epsiodes, and well, it’s not that surprising when you look
at my name. This is the first and perhaps only Applejack and Fluttershy episode
we’ll get, so my hype levels were through the roof. And I remember after I
first watched the episode, my initial reaction was well………………shock.
And really, whose wasn’t? I was expecting a character
focused episode, and instead got a plot focused one. I was expecting a focus on
the character interactions of Fluttershy and Applejack, and instead got a focus
on Fluttershy turning into a friggin bat. I was expecting a sort of happy duet
like song between Fluttershy and Applejack on their friendship, and instead got
an unsettling conflict oriented song with the mane 6 all ganging up on
Fluttershy. In that regard, Pinkie Apple Pie was really everything I was hoping
Bats would be, which is why I loved that episode, while this one……well, Bats
you see is an episode in which I’m still not fully sure how I feel about it.
But! Let’s toss all that aside for the moment and focus on what I
thought was the most important and most interesting part of this episode; the
ending. The ending itself is simple; after Fluttershy and Applejack battle it
out and list their opposing views on the bats; Applejack wanting the bats gone
while Fluttershy thinks they should be shown kindness, Applejack decides to go
with Fluttershy’s plan realizing the errors of her ways, and builds a separate
area in the orchard for the bats. But the thing is………..we’re never completely
told how she reached that conclusion. While most would call that lazy writing,
and honestly, it probably is, I like to see it in a different light. You see
open endings are something I tend to really like. They leave you much to
speculate and wonder on, give you something to think about and discuss with
others and see their interpretations of things, and they allow you to think
more about what you just watched, and think why things went the way they did. And
well, as someone who loves it when stories make you think, open endings have
always been good in my book for this reason.
So getting back to this ambiguous ending of Bats, the
purpose of this write up will be to focus on this one simple thing, that being,
my own interpretation of the ending of Bats, and why I thought it went the way
it did. I wondered a lot about this you see, as many of my favorite stories
have me do. Examples of this are Crossroads of Destiny from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which prompted me to write a giant
essay on the mystery of Zuko’s choice. Another one would be The Super Speedy
Cider Squeezy 6000, who’s lack of moral forced me to think hard about if there
really was one and what it was. One day I’ll finally write that up and post my
analysis of that episode, but until then, let’s focus on Bats, an episode that
left me with tons to think about, and one I’ll certainly be thinking of for a
long long time:
To start, we’ll begin with a certain part of the episode I
paid a lot of attention to, that being the character of Fluttershy. Being my
favorite, of course I paid careful attention to her actions, but even more than
that, I watched the actions of her friends, and it had me wondering many
things. So focusing on Fluttershy, let’s take a look at the first half of the
episode. Due to the episode’s one of two central themes being peer pressure,
Fluttershy is really pressured a lot by her friends to give in to Applejack’s
demands, maybe moreso than usual for the sake of the story. But when looking at
the effect this had on Fluttershy, I couldn’t help but wonder…………was Flutterbat
sort of……inevitable?
Here’s what I mean. We see Fluttershy constantly conflicted
as a result of her friends pressuring her. In the song when they’re all sort of
starring her down she’s downright terrified and shaking, almost as if on the
verge of tears. She clearly doesn’t want to go through with the plan, and
especially doesn’t want to play a part in making it happen. This hesitation is
seen all the way to the end, when she apologizes a lot to the bats upon using
the stare on them. And I wonder……what would any person do in this scenario?
Pardon the personal nature of this, but I can’t help but see
Fluttershy the way I see myself, as this show is just really great like that,
and I really connect with the characters, especially her. But getting back to
Fluttershy and the point I’m trying to make, if I was in Fluttershy’s shoes, I
would be friggin pissed at my so called “friends” for forcing me to do
something I really didn’t want to do against my will, and ganging up on me and
seeming to toss my opinions under the rug. And going off of this, I think
Fluttershy felt similar. There’s a line before the mane 6 use the spell on the
bats, in which Rarity calls the bats icky, and Fluttershy sarcastically remarks
in a quiet voice that she’s wrong. Hearing that made Fluttershy angry, but
being the shy person she is she holds it in, letting it fester inside. This is
pretty much exactly how I’ve handled these sorts of situations in the past, and
knowing what came next in my own experiences with this, it well…..makes
Flutterbat seem inevitable, and not so different from myself.
When you’re angry at friends and feel betrayed, but don’t
speak up about it and hold it in, these feelings can morph inside you, twist
and turn and fester and grow as you dwell on them, never able to get them out,
and they can turn a simple annoyance with someone into a passionate hatred. This
I know from experience, as it’s a large reason as to why I have a bit of a
hatred for Rainbow Dash. When you have a simple dislike of something, and then
meet tons of fans of it and hold in all your disagreement and dislike for it in
the face of them for their sake, your feelings can morph from a simple dislike
into a great hatred, and this has happened with me many times before (but I’ve
gotten better at it, so don’t worry about me and think I’m some angry monster,
because I’m not……no really I’m not……..seriously I’m fine, don’t think I am, I’M
NOT ANGRY YOU HEAR ME, SHUT UP (that was a joke (IT WAS))).
Anyways, getting back to our star character, what I said
above is exactly what I think was happening to Fluttershy. Had Fluttershy
continued down this path, I predict she would grow more and more annoyed at the
mane 6, unable to forgive them for being so rude to her, unable to let these
dark feelings out, and as a result, would grow to hate them more and more, and
well, their friendship would die, with Fluttershy turning into a sort of
monster around them that hates their guts, like…..well……Flutterbat.
Which brings us to Flutterbat, the main point of this
episode. Did Flutterbat have any sort of big narrative significance in the
story and its characters? Well, being the deep thinker I am, I like to think
yes, and looking at what I’ve already said, I hope you can guess where I’m going
with this. Flutterbat I see as a symbol, a symbol to represent what Fluttershy
will become if the mane 6 continue to pressure her like this, and she continues
to not stand up for herself. And this kind of makes a lot of metaphorical sense
given other details that revolve around Flutterbat. The mane 6 are the ones who
caused this to happen due to their carelessness, and I see this as not just
carelessness in planning, but also carelessness in being a good friend. The
mane 6 also couldn’t save Fluttershy on their own, and they needed her
abilities in order to save her, just like when someone has well, been wrapped
up in negative emotions, the greatest key to saving them is well, themself. And
in that sense, I like seeing the mirror scene as not just mirrors used to
reflect the stare, but mirrors used to remind Fluttershy of who she is, and
that she is not a monster deep down and must remain in control of herself and
her emotions.
Okay so AppleShy, you’ve spent tons of time now discussing
the episode without once talking about the ending, which you said was the whole
point of this write up! I know I know, I’m getting to that, shush shush sorry
sorry, we’re getting there, stick with me please! Okay so, with this
interpretation of Flutterbat in mind, and what it represents for her character,
let’s take a look at the 2nd half of the episode again. Applejack
and the others go forth with their short term plan, but in their haste, a
mistake happens, something they didn’t see coming…..Fluttershy turns into a
bat. Yes indeed, as a result of their actions of pressuring Fluttershy, she has
lost control of herself and now sees the mane 6 as no friend of hers. With this
in mind, the mane 6 must find a way to save her, or they’ll lose a friend of
theirs forever, and thus lose harmony.
And indeed, this was foreshadowed since the beginning wasn’t
it? By going against Fluttershy, the very element of kindness, and forcing her
to compile with the other elements, they tainted kindness itself, causing it to
pop up a wall between it and the other elements, and harmony had been lost. And
I like to think Applejack saw this. Seeing Fluttershy turn into a bat, seeing the
monster she had become as a result of AJ’s short sighted actions that
disregarded Fluttershy’s opinion and beliefs, I think this is what made
Applejack begin to change. Applejack saw in those moments that while she was
sticking to her family and values which was right and perfectly in tune with
her element of honesty, she was also going against her friend and sending their
friendship to death by pressuring poor Fluttershy so much.
There is a line in this episode that I think shows this
change of heart well. At one point, Applejack remarks that she just wants her
friend back, showing not just regret at accidentally turning her friend into a
bat, but I think also regret at pressuring Fluttershy to go against what she
wanted and being a generally bad friend to her. Applejack now sees the wall
Fluttershy has put up, and she wants it down.
In the end, Applejack must give up her great prized apple
she’s been saving up just for the competition in order to save her friend. It’s
kind of admirable how quickly and decisively Applejack does this as well,
declaring that she cares more about her friend then her orchard, really
powerful coming from she who is all about her apple family and farm, and I
thought it was a really great moment for her in that regard.
And with this in mind we also see why Fluttershy’s plan was
the better of the 2. Had the mane 6 gone along with Fluttershy’s plan,
Applejack would have lost some of the orchard, but she also would have been
able to keep her great big apple as it is. Fluttershy’s plan gave up a bit of
apples in the short term for the sake of preserving the big apple, the long
term. But Applejack’s plan did just the opposite. While it saved the apples and
trees for a while by eliminating the Bats’ hunger, the side effect of
Flutterbat caused her to lose her great apple. Applejack’s plan achieved short
term goals at the expense of the long term ones.
But more importantly then that, I think Applejack went with
Fluttershy’s solution at the end of the episode not because it was better in
the long term, but because it’s what her friend wanted, and it was the better
choice had she considered Fluttershy’s views more seriously. Applejack did it
not because it was best for her farm, but because it was best for her
friendship with Fluttershy, and that was what was most important to her, as she stated in
the episode. She wanted the forgiveness of Fluttershy more than anything, and I
think that was the main reason she went with Fluttershy’s plan at the end, that
is my own interpretation of the ending of this episode.
And with this interpretation in mind, I like how this
episode then really parallels Keep Calm & Flutter On, my favorite
Fluttershy episode. For both Applejack and Discord went through similar trials
in learning of the magic of friendship. Both had and took advantage of
Fluttershy’s kindness for their own selfish usage, both went too far and as a
result Fluttershy grew annoyed with them and sought to end their friendship,
and both then realized how important Fluttershy is to them and how much they
don’t want to lose what they have, so they make the choice of making a great
sacrifice to remain her friend, and learned one of the most important lessons
of friendship, that sometimes you can’t always do what you want, and have to
listen to and follow what others want.
Speaking of Keep Calm & Flutter On, it’s interesting how
that is another Fluttershy episode in which all of the mane 6 gang up on
Fluttershy isn’t it? Is it just me or is Fluttershy the only pony to have her
so called friends always gang up on her? I wondered about this mystery for a
while and why that is, but then it hit me, doesn’t this make perfect sense
given the characters and their core personalities? Fluttershy is the meekest
and shyest of the group, and would perhaps have the most trouble voicing her
opinions in a way the group can understand as a result. If there is a pony
among the mane 6 that can be ganged up on a bit too much as a result of her
having trouble getting the rest to understand and get behind her, it’s
Fluttershy. And if there’s an element that has trouble showing that others are
wrong while they are right, since it’s meant to be kind to all, it’s the
element of kindness.
So with this in mind, I think Fluttershy being ganged up on
actually makes a lot of sense given the core character traits of the mane 6.
Given also that Twilight seems to back the most logical choice, and Rainbow and
Appejack also seem like the kind to back the strong who will get things done
and not the weak, it makes sense Fluttershy would have difficulty getting them
to come to an understanding with her. Only through seeing how much it means to
her and how much it hurts to be disagreed with and forced to agree can the rest
of the mane 6 see how important Fluttershy’s beliefs are to her, and how they
should seriously consider them even if they can at times not make sense to
them. It’s a fantastic message that I think factors into everything, the theme
of thinking in long term and not short term, the theme of standing up for
yourself, and most of all, the theme of the magic of friendship which flows
through the entire show. While both Applejack and Fluttershy learned something
about themselves, I think they also both learned about how to be a good friend,
Applejack especially, which is why she decided to build that orchard for the
bats and remain great friends with Fluttershy. I think it’s really beautiful
the way it all ties in together and well, after typing all this up and reading
it, I can’t help but love this episode now, if only for the write up it let me
make. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did, and well, here’s to
more great fun MLP episodes to think and discuss about!
Sources for the Wonderful Images I was able to find:
http://inky-pinkie.deviantart.com/art/Flutterbat-Sketch-422882775
http://joyfulinsanity.deviantart.com/art/Prove-Them-Wrong-423785167
http://www.deviantart.com/art/FiM-Elements-of-Harmony-Wallpaper-With-Mane-6-278078431
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