Fluttercry meme template with blank TV screen below

Fluttercry

2011image macroclassic

Published October 22, 2026

Fluttercry, also known as Characters Watching TV, is a two-panel reaction image featuring a teary-eyed Fluttershy from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic holding a tiny television set, with the lower panel revealing something sad on the screen. The still frame comes from the April 2011 episode 'A Bird in the Hoof,' where Fluttershy watches Princess Celestia's pet phoenix burst into flame. By mid-2011, pony fans on Ponychan were placing the shot above depressing clips from films, games, and TV shows.

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Overview

Each Fluttercry post is a stacked two-panel image. The top panel shows a teary-eyed Fluttershy clutching a small television set, and the lower panel contains whatever gut-punch scene she is supposedly watching, usually a sad moment from a movie, show, or video game1. The reveal does the comedic or genuinely sad work, with the crying pony acting as a stand-in for the viewer's own reaction.

Fluttercry edits range from sincere entries about actual tearjerkers to joke posts where the content on the TV is something absurd or petty. Later derivatives put other My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic characters in the same crying pose, which widened the format into the broader 'Characters Watching TV' tag2. The isolated crying still also circulates on its own as a plain reaction image on pony threads and image boards.

Origin & Background

Platform
Ponychan (format creation) / Reddit, Tumblr (viral spread)
Date
2011

Fluttercry originates from Episode 22 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, titled 'A Bird in the Hoof,' which first aired on April 8, 20112. In the episode, Fluttershy quietly takes home Princess Celestia's sick pet bird to care for it, not realizing it is a phoenix near the end of its life cycle. When the bird bursts into flame and crumbles to ash in her hooves, Fluttershy breaks down crying, believing she killed it2.

Fans on Ponychan grabbed the still frame of the crying Fluttershy and turned it into a two-panel exploitable template within weeks of the broadcast2. The nickname 'Fluttercry' stuck because it follows the 'Flutter + word' naming pattern the fandom already used for her.

How It Spread

From Ponychan, the image moved onto Ponibooru, 4chan's /b/, and DeviantART, where fans tagged their edits for easier browsing2. A dedicated r/mylittlepony submission collected early Fluttercry examples and pointed newer bronies toward the format1. Tumblr users tagged derivative posts under #fluttercry, and the pattern extended to other members of the Mane Six, who each got their own crying-with-TV variant2.

The two-panel joke stayed concentrated inside brony communities through 2011 and 2012, since the setup leans on knowing Fluttershy's gentle personality. Over time, the template loosened into a general 'characters watching TV' format, where any animated character could sit in the viewer slot while the lower panel supplied the sad reveal1.

Timeline

2011-04-08

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Episode 22, 'A Bird in the Hoof,' airs with the scene of Fluttershy crying over the burned phoenix.

2011

Pony fans on Ponychan clip the still frame and begin posting two-panel Fluttercry exploitables.

2011

The image spreads to Ponibooru, DeviantART, and 4chan's /b/ as a reusable reaction template.

2011

An r/mylittlepony submission documents the Fluttercry format and gathers early examples for Reddit viewers.

2012

Derivatives extend the template to other Mane Six ponies, widening it into the 'Characters Watching TV' pattern.

How to Use This Meme

A typical Fluttercry edit is a vertical two-panel image. The crying Fluttershy shot sits on top, often cropped so the mini TV she is holding lines up with the second panel underneath, which shows a sad scene from a film, show, or game1. Pony-focused variants often substitute another My Little Pony character for Fluttershy and sometimes replace the television with an object that character would plausibly hold.

Frequently Asked Questions