Putting Your Hoof Down

Putting Your Hoof Down
Season №:	2
Season episode №:	19
Overall episode №:	45
Original airdate:	March 3, 2012
Story by:	Charlotte Fullerton
Written by:	Merriwether Williams
Storyboard:	Joel Dickie and Emmett Hall
Featured characters:	Iron Will
See also
credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation
Episode guide
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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. In this episode, Fluttershy determines to stop being a "doormat" and attends a seminar course on assertiveness, though she ends up taking the lessons too far. The title is a play on the phrase "putting your foot down", meaning to insist on a particular course of action.

Production and airing

The storyboard artists had professional wrestler Hulk Hogan in mind when posing Iron Will, who uses hand gestures that mimic Hogan's signature taunts. One of the layout artists for the show added several "easter eggs" to the marketplace scene, which were not storyboarded. These include brief appearances by Pipsqueak, Sweetie Drops, and Lyra Heartstrings.

In early July 2011, the Internet Movie Database temporarily listed season 2, episode 19 of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic as "Putting your Hoof Down" with an unspecified 2011 airdate.

Summary

Fluttershy the doormat

Angel wants fancy salad, and Angel wants it NOW.

While Fluttershy serves lunch to the animals at her cottage, her pet bunny Angel aggressively refuses the food she offers and demands an elaborate cherry-topped salad. Failing to convince him otherwise, Fluttershy agrees to prepare the dish.

Fluttershy heads to the Ponyville market to shop for the salad ingredients only to be continually cut in line as she tries to buy asparagus. Pinkie Pie and Rarity look on as she struggles to assert herself before stepping in and demonstrating how she might do so; Rarity charms Gizmo into selling her the last bundle of asparagus, and Pinkie employs reverse psychology to reduce an inflated price on tomatoes. Fluttershy tries these methods to buy the last cherry in the market but fails, forcing her to return home without the final salad ingredient.

At her cottage, Fluttershy apologizes to Angel for the lack of cherry and tries to serve the salad without it, leading the bunny to kick her straight into her outdoor mailbox. Landing on the ground just outside her door, Fluttershy acknowledges being a "doormat" before noticing a flier on her head advertising an assertiveness seminar. After a moment of consideration, she pulls herself up and vows:

As Celestia is my witness, I'm never gonna be a pushover again!Fluttershy

Iron Will's techniques

Iron Will gives Fluttershy the training she needs to become assertive.

Fluttershy arrives at the seminar and joins a crowd of ponies as they watch a minotaur named Iron Will appear on a stage amidst fireworks and dramatic music. After promising a full money-back satisfaction guarantee on his techniques, Iron Will calls for a volunteer from the audience. His goat assistants end up picking Fluttershy, though as she tries to walk on stage, another assistant blocks her path. When she fails to come up with a way to deal with the obstruction, Iron Will instructs her to be aggressive and unapologetic. Fluttershy manages a stern rebuke against the assistant, which Iron Will promotes as proof of the efficacy of his techniques to the cheering crowd.

Sometime later, Fluttershy exits her cottage ready to "attack the day". She finds Mr. Greenhooves over-watering her flowers in the front yard, but when he causally dismisses her concerns, Fluttershy causes a buildup in his hose that ends up drenching him, causing him to relent. Down the road, Fluttershy encounters Cherry Berry and Sweetie Drops blocking a bridge pass with their garbage carts as they chat in place. The pair brush off her initial requests to move but soon acquiesce when Fluttershy kicks the carts' contents onto their heads.

Fluttershy the monster

"Cut in line, I'll take what's mine!"

Fluttershy arrives at Sugarcube Corner, where Shoeshine cuts her in line and ignores her demand for an explanation. The rest of the line looks on as Fluttershy menacingly confronts Shoeshine, leading everyone to move to the end of the line in fear. Rarity and Pinkie Pie remark how impressed they are with "new Fluttershy" as she approaches the counter, but when Pinkie starts laughing at an unrelated joke, Fluttershy takes it as an insult and spills punch on her before leaving the bakery. She hails a taxi only for Royal Riff to jump in it instead, leading Fluttershy to attack him and toss him out of the cart.

"I'm the monster."

Back at her cottage, Fluttershy learns that she received the wrong mail and aggressively confronts the courier pony despite his apologies. A nearby tourist asks her for directions, though the act of answering causes Fluttershy to drop a letter in a puddle of water, leading her to fling the tourist into a distant hay bale. Observing this last interaction, Rarity and Pinkie Pie approach Fluttershy and express their concern about her recent behavior. Fluttershy responds by belittling and insulting her friends, but as they run off in tears, she suddenly grows remorseful and plods back to her cottage.

Standing up to Iron Will

Later on, Rarity and Pinkie Pie arrive at Fluttershy's cottage and find the doors and windows boarded up. They knock on the door and call out to Fluttershy, who expresses shame about "nasty" Fluttershy and vows to never come out of her house again. While her friends try to convince her that she can be assertive without being unpleasant, Iron Will shows up to collect overdue payment for the seminar. He brushes off Pinkie and Rarity's attempts to dissuade him and knocks on the door, only for Fluttershy to come out and tell him that she isn't satisfied with his techniques and refuses to pay, citing the money-back guarantee.

Fluttershy finally shows Angel who's boss.

Iron Will tries to negotiate a partial payment but gives up and leaves when Fluttershy asserts that "no means no". Rarity and Pinkie Pie congratulate her on standing up for herself, and after Fluttershy apologizes and promises that "old Fluttershy" is there to stay, the three make amends. In a letter to Princess Celestia, Fluttershy explains how she learned it's possible to stand up for yourself without changing who you are.

Quotes

For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.

Fluttershy: Oh, pardon me, sir—

Sand Trap: Yes, what?

Fluttershy: I think you just cut in front of me.

Sand Trap: A cut of celery? But— this is the asparagus stand!

Fluttershy: I said, I think you just cut in front of me.

Sand Trap: Ohoh, no need, dearie. I'm already in front!

Fluttershy: I noticed.

Rarity: You've got to stop being such a doormat.

Fluttershy: A doormat?

Rarity: A pushover, darling. You've got to stand up for yourself.

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!

Fluttershy: What do you think you're doing?! Didn't you see me?

Shoeshine: Uh, I guess maybe.

Fluttershy: 'Maybe'? "Maybes are for babies!" Now go to the back of the line where you belong!

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

Rarity: Old Rarity agrees.

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? 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

References

v • e Episodes, films, and animated shorts

Make Your Mark
Episode 1 Izzy Does It	Episode 2 Growing Pains	Episode 3 Portrait of a Princess	Episode 4 Ali-Conned
Episode 5 The Cutie Mark Mix-Up	Episode 6 The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over	Episode 7 Hoof Done It?	Episode 8 Have You Seen This Dragon?
Episode 9 Top Remodel	Episode 10 The Jinxie Games	Episode 11 Sunny Side Up	Episode 12 The Manesquerade Ball
Episode 13 A Little Horse	Episode 14 Missing the Mark	Episode 15 Cutie Blossom Bash	Episode 16 Family Trees Pt. 1
Episode 17 Family Trees Pt. 2	Episode 18 Father of the Bridlewood	Episode 19 Mane Smelody	Episode 20 Nightmare on Mane Street
Episode 21 The Isle of Scaly‎‎	Episode 22 Roots of All Evil Pt. 1‎	Episode 23 Roots of All Evil Pt. 2