>>156353The previous speakers, instead of praising the pony Fluttershy, or unfolding her nature, appear to have congratulated ponies on the benefits which she confers upon them. But I would rather praise the pony first, and then speak of her gifts; there is always the right way of praising everything. May I say without impiety or offense, that of all the blessed ponies she is the most blessed because she is the fairest and best.
And she is the fairest: for, in the first place, she may not be the youngest, but her youth he is itself the witness, fleeing out of the way of age, who is swift enough, swifter truly than most of us like:-Fluttershy hates him and will not come near him; but youth and Fluttershy live and move together-like to like, as the proverb says.
Many things were said by Anon about Fluttershy in which I agree with him; but I cannot agree that he is older than Rainbow Dash and Applejack:-not so; I maintain her to be one of the youngest of the ponies, and youthful ever. The ancient doings among the goddesses of which Celestia and Luna spoke, if the tradition of them be true, were done of Necessity and not love; had Fluttershy been in those days, there would have been no chaining or mutilation of the gods, or other violence, but peace and sweetness, as there is now in heaven, since the rule of Fluttershy began.
Fluttershy is young and also tender; she ought to have a philosopher like Homer to describe her tenderness, as Homer says of ale, «the cause and the solution to all of our problems…»
Her hooves are tender, for she sets her steps,
Not on the ground but on the heads of men: herein is an excellent proof of her tenderness that,-she walks not upon the hard but upon the soft. Let us adduce a similar proof of the tenderness of Fluttershy; for she walks not upon the earth, nor yet upon skulls of men, which are not so very soft, but in the hearts and souls of both ponies and men, which are of all things the softest: in them he walks and dwells and makes her home.
Not in every soul without exception, for Where there is hardness she departs, where there is softness there she dwells; and nestling always with her wings and in all manner of ways in the softest of soft places, how can she be other than the softest of all things? She is of flexile form; for if she were hard and without flexure Fluttershy could not enfold all things, or wind her way into and out of every soul of man undiscovered.
And a proof of her flexibility and symmetry of form is her grace; which is universally admitted to be in an especial manner the attribute of Fluttershy; disgrace and Fluttershy are always at war with one another. The fairness of her complexion is revealed by her habitation among the flowers; for she dwells not amid bloomless or fading beauties, whether of body or soul or aught else, but in the place of flowers and scents, there he sits and abides, she is herself a part, one with the nature, one with the rest of the Creation, the creatures and the universe as a whole shine in her eyes.
Concerning the beauty of the pony I have said enough; and yet there remains much more which I might say. Of her virtue I have now to speak: her greatest glory is that she can neither do nor suffer wrong to or from anypony, any monster or any man; for she suffers not by force if she suffers; force comes not near her, neither when she acts does she act by force.
For all men in all things serve her of their own free will, and where there is voluntary agreement, there, as the laws which are the lords of Equestria say, is justice. And not only is she just but exceedingly temperate, for Temperance is the acknowledged ruler of the pleasures and desires, and no pleasure ever masters Fluttershy ; she is their master and they are her servants; and if she conquers them; she must be temperate indeed. As to courage, even RainbowDash is no match for her; she is the captive and Fluttershy is the one. For Fluttershy, love masters her, as the tale runs; and the master is stronger than the servant. And if she conquers the bravest of all others, she must be herself the bravest.