# Putting Your Hoof Down > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Putting_Your_Hoof_Down > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Putting_Your_Hoof_Down.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putting_Your_Hoof_Down > Source revision: 1348599845 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 19th episode of the 2nd season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic "Putting Your Hoof Down" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode Iron Will (right) trains Fluttershy (left) on how to be assertive. Episode no. Season 2 Episode 19 Written by Charlotte Fullerton (story) Merriwether Williams (teleplay) Original air date March 3, 2012 (2012-03-03) Running time 22 minutes Episode chronology ← Previous "A Friend in Deed" Next → "It's About Time" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season 2 List of episodes "**Putting Your Hoof Down**" is the nineteenth episode of the [second season](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_season_2) of the [animated television series](/source/Animated_series) *[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic)*. The episode was written by [Charlotte Fullerton](/source/Charlotte_Fullerton) (story) and [Merriwether Williams](/source/Merriwether_Williams) (teleplay). It originally aired on [The Hub](/source/Discovery_Family#As_Hub_Network_(2010–2014)) on March 3, 2012. In this episode, [Fluttershy](/source/Fluttershy) learns to become more assertive after attending a [self-help](/source/Self-help) [seminar](/source/Seminar), but her newfound confidence transforms her kind personality beyond recognition. ## Plot External videos Putting Your Hoof Down (full episode) — Official upload of the episode onto YouTube My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Equestria Toyline Cutie mark Elements of Harmony Pony Spin-offs My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013–2020)(List of animations) My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020–2021)(List of episodes) Characters Mane Six Twilight Sparkle Rainbow Dash Pinkie Pie Applejack Fluttershy Rarity Supporting Spike Princess Celestia Princess Luna Princess Cadance Shining Armor Discord Starlight Glimmer Trixie Zecora Antagonists Queen Chrysalis Lord Tirek Cozy Glow Minor Derpy Hooves Background Six Cheese Sandwich Quibble Pants The Wonderbolts Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty Equestria Girls Sunset Shimmer Seasons & episodes Season 1 (2010–2011) "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" Season 2 (2011–2012) "The Return of Harmony" "Lesson Zero" "Luna Eclipsed" "Sisterhooves Social" "The Cutie Pox" "May the Best Pet Win!" "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" "Sweet and Elite" "Secret of My Excess" "Hearth's Warming Eve" "Family Appreciation Day" "Baby Cakes" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" "Read It and Weep" "Hearts and Hooves Day" "A Friend in Deed" "Putting Your Hoof Down" "It's About Time" "Dragon Quest" "Hurricane Fluttershy" "Ponyville Confidential" "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" "A Canterlot Wedding" Season 3 (2012–2013) "The Crystal Empire" "Too Many Pinkie Pies" "One Bad Apple" "Magic Duel" "Sleepless in Ponyville" "Wonderbolts Academy" "Apple Family Reunion" "Spike at Your Service" "Keep Calm and Flutter On" "Just for Sidekicks" "Games Ponies Play" "Magical Mystery Cure" Season 4 (2013–2014) "Princess Twilight Sparkle" "Castle Mane-ia" "Daring Don't" "Flight to the Finish" "Power Ponies" "Bats!" "Rarity Takes Manehattan" "Pinkie Apple Pie" "Rainbow Falls" "Three's a Crowd" "Pinkie Pride" "Simple Ways" "Filli Vanilli" "Twilight Time" "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" "Somepony to Watch Over Me" "Maud Pie" "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" "Leap of Faith" "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" "Trade Ya!" "Inspiration Manifestation" "Equestria Games" "Twilight's Kingdom" Season 5 (2015) "The Cutie Map" "Castle Sweet Castle" "Tanks for the Memories" "Slice of Life" "Amending Fences" "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" "Made in Manehattan" "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" "The Hooffields and McColts" "The Cutie Re-Mark" Season 6 (2016) "A Hearth's Warming Tail" "The Times They Are a Changeling" Season 7 (2017) "The Perfect Pear" Season 8 (2018) "Grannies Gone Wild" Season 9 (2019) "The Last Crusade" Series finale Media Films & specials My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever (2018) My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip (2019) Music Theme song "This Day Aria" Movie Soundtrack "Rainbow" "Off to See the World" Games My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day Gameloft video game Collectible card game Other media Home video releases IDW comics Issues My Little Pony/Transformers Brony fandom Fan works (list) 15.ai Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal A Brony Tale Bronies (documentary) Derpibooru Equestria Daily Fimfiction Fallout: Equestria Friendship Is Witchcraft Legends of Equestria Love & Ponystep Ponysona PONY.MOV Them's Fightin' Herds Fandom people 15 hotdiggedydemon Jenny Nicholson Odyssey Eurobeat Sethisto The Living Tombstone Vylet Pony Fan culture Analysis Brony music Bronyspeak Charity Criticism Fan art Clop Ponysona Fan fiction Military bronies /mlp/ Online communities My Little Pony conventions BABSCon BronyCAN BronyCon Czequestria Everfree Northwest GalaCon Ponyville Ciderfest RuBronyCon TrotCon UK PonyCon Vanhoover Pony Expo v t e [Fluttershy](/source/Fluttershy) discovers the painful consequences of being too passive when her demanding pet [bunny](/source/Bunny) Angel refuses his lunch for missing a single [cherry](/source/Cherry). Angel's violent reaction sends her crashing into her mailbox, where she finds a flyer for an [assertiveness](/source/Assertiveness) [seminar](/source/Seminar) and vows to never be a pushover again. The seminar's leader, a bombastic [minotaur](/source/Minotaur) named Iron Will, teaches Fluttershy aggressive confrontation techniques with a [money-back guarantee](/source/Money-back_guarantee). After successfully demonstrating her newfound [assertiveness](/source/Assertiveness) on stage, Fluttershy returns home ready and immediately puts Iron Will's lessons into practice. She drenches a [gardener](/source/Gardener) when he dismisses her concerns and dumps garbage on two ponies who refuse to move their carts from a bridge. Fluttershy's newfound aggression quickly spirals out of control as she terrorizes other ponies at Sugarcube Corner and violently ejects a [taxi](/source/Taxi) passenger who dares to take her ride. A simple mix-up with her mail leads to her throwing an innocent tourist into a hay bale, and [Rarity](/source/Rarity_(My_Little_Pony)) and [Pinkie Pie](/source/Pinkie_Pie) confront her about her increasingly cruel behavior. Fluttershy responds by viciously insulting her closest friends, but realizes she has become a monster she never wanted to be when she drives them to tears. Consumed with shame, Fluttershy boards up her cottage and refuses to come out, telling her worried friends that "nasty Fluttershy" will never emerge again. Iron Will arrives demanding payment for his seminar, but Fluttershy finally demonstrates true assertiveness by calmly but firmly refusing to pay, citing his satisfaction guarantee since his techniques only made her miserable. Her respectful but unwavering stance impresses Iron Will himself, and he leaves. Fluttershy writes to [Princess Celestia](/source/Princess_Celestia) about learning to stand up for herself without changing who she is. Back at the cottage, Angel still refuses to eat his salad, but when Fluttershy stares at him, he tastes a little bit of it and then devours the whole thing. The episode ends with Fluttershy looking around as all her animals eat. ## Reception Sherilyn Connelly, the author of *Ponyville Confidential*, gave the episode an "A+" rating.[1] In her review of the episode in *[SF Weekly](/source/SF_Weekly)*, Connelly observed that the "three overtly [feminine](/source/Feminine) characters" (Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity) are involved in the story, which worked better thematically.[2] In a critical analysis of the episode, author Jen A. Blue described it as a "pretty standard 'be careful what you wish for'/'don't change to please others' story" that provides "something of a corrective patch to last week's implications of mandatory friendship" ("[A Friend in Deed](/source/A_Friend_in_Deed)"). Blue analyzed Fluttershy's character as having suppressed aggression that emerges explosively when her limits are reached and argued that her [conflict avoidance](/source/Conflict_avoidance) stems from her personality rather than [social norms](/source/Social_norms), unlike other characters who can express anger appropriately. Blue interpreted Iron Will as teaching "[aggression](/source/Aggression) and [intimidation](/source/Intimidation) under the guise of '[assertiveness](/source/Assertiveness) training'" and analyzed Fluttershy's transformation as resulting from her tendency to "totalize aggression"; Fluttershy construes any criticism as overwhelming and thus expresses it disproportionately when encouraged. Blue examined the episode's exploration of conflict avoidance and its consequences and wrote that Fluttershy's [empathy](/source/Empathy) allows her to hurt others precisely because she understands their weaknesses. Blue concluded that the episode demonstrates that conflicts do not necessarily have to be destructive: "it is possible to end a conflict with no ill feelings resulting."[3] *Republibot* praised the episode as "pretty great" and called Iron Will "a hoot," writing that he turned out to be a decent character despite his bluster. However, the review criticized Angel's physical treatment of Fluttershy, writing that it "struck me as not so much a comedic slap as [domestic abuse](/source/Domestic_abuse)."[4] ## Home media release The episode was part of the Season 2 [DVD](/source/DVD) set, released by [Shout Factory](/source/Shout!_Factory) on May 14, 2013.[5] ## See also - [List of *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic* episodes](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_episodes) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 79 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Connelly, Sherilyn (2012-07-18). ["My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Season 2, Episodes 18 & 19"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120722215303/http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/07/my_little_pony_recap_season_2_episodes_18_19.php). *[SF Weekly](/source/SF_Weekly)*. Archived from [the original](http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/07/my_little_pony_recap_season_2_episodes_18_19.php) on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2025-06-19. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Blue-S2_3-0)** Blue, Jen A. (2014-10-25). "Please don't be mad at us. (Putting Your Hoof Down)". *My Little Po-Mo: Unauthorized Critical Essays on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season Two*. pp. 173–178. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Church (2012-03-05). ["EPISODE REVIEW: Friendship is Magic: Putting Your Hoof Down"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220924195657/http://republibot.com/content/episode-review-friendship-magic-putting-your-hoof-down). *Republibot*. Archived from [the original](http://republibot.com/content/episode-review-friendship-magic-putting-your-hoof-down) on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2025-06-19. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season 2"](https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Magic/dp/B00C0YUY4Q/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top). *Amazon*. February 27, 2013. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210404071625/https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Magic/dp/B00C0YUY4Q/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) from the original on April 4, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2013. ### Bibliography - Connelly, Sherilyn (2017-04-01). [*Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016*](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ponyville_Confidential/E3VPDgAAQBAJ). McFarland. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4766-6209-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4766-6209-1). ## External links - ["Putting Your Hoof Down"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2230279/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Season 2 "The Return of Harmony" "Lesson Zero" "Luna Eclipsed" "Sisterhooves Social" "The Cutie Pox" "May the Best Pet Win!" "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" "Sweet and Elite" "Secret of My Excess" "Hearth's Warming Eve" "Family Appreciation Day" "Baby Cakes" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" "Read It and Weep" "Hearts and Hooves Day" "A Friend in Deed" "Putting Your Hoof Down" "It's About Time" "Dragon Quest" "Hurricane Fluttershy" "Ponyville Confidential" "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" "A Canterlot Wedding" --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Putting Your Hoof Down](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putting_Your_Hoof_Down) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putting_Your_Hoof_Down?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.