Salutations!
The above is not a pony image for once, but that’s because of the topic. While this could be placed under psychology for Wednesdays, this is going to be a Friday topic.
Love language is a topic discovered by Dr. Gary Chapman. There are 5 main types, with their own dialects, but we won’t go into the dialects. The love languages are how we express love and how we feel loved. The languages are: Acts of Service, Quality Time, Gifts, Words of Affirmation, and Physical Touch. The concept doesn’t just apply to romantic couples; it applies to friends and family as well.
I take a personal interest in love languages, so I wanted to write about the ponies and their prime love languages.
First off, I believe Rarity to be the type to give gifts as her way of showing affection towards others. It makes sense when she’s the element of Generosity. Her most common gifts are clothing items, whether they be dresses or bow ties. Acts of Service is not among her top; just look at how Sweetie Belle (whose love language seems to be Acts of Service) tries to do things for her, and they end in disaster. No, Rarity is the type that likes to get things done herself. She doesn’t need to be reaffirmed with words to feel loved; she already knows she’s fabulous. While she does love spending time with her friends, which I can say the same for each pony, hers isn’t quality time. I can’t say much for her and physical touch. She does gives hugs and touches as her way of showing affection, so maybe that’s her number two love language, but not as strongly as Gifts.
I absolutely agree with Gifts for Rarity.
Pinkie Pie would be Quality Time. She loves spending time with ponies, and she thrives on it, and when it seems nopony wants to be around her (in Pinkie Pride when everypony was excited about Cheese and she was not shown support, or when in Party of One, she thought everypony was avoiding her and her parties. Now, these were circumstantial, but nevertheless, she was without other ponies around her, and she is a very social pony. Let’s not forget the instance with her sister Maud, where she wanted them to spend time with each other but they didn’t do well, so she tried getting everypony together so they could be friends.), she falls apart. She is probably high when it comes to Acts of Service as well. She’d be the most willing of the ponies to perform Acts of Service, though it is not her highest. She is an average one with Physical Touch, I suppose, but it’s not her top language. Gifts come with partying, and she probably does provide gifts with her parties, but I don’t think it’s necessarily how she shows love or is shown love. Words of Affirmation I’m sure she would like, but if you know Pinkie, you’ll remember she’s not always good at encouragement to others. While Acts of Service and Quality Time are close together for Pinkie, Quality Time would be her number one.
A very strong case is made for Pinkie and Quality Time. I’d like to add that, in the flashback of her getting her cutie mark, there’s the contrast of her being sad and alone in the rock field and her being together with her family and happy at her first party.
Twilight would be Quality Time. It has a special meaning for her when others spend time with her and when she spends time with others. It may not have really started out that way in the beginning, but upon receiving friendships, things have changed. She’s not really a gifts type of pony to express her affections. Like some, she is willing to do things for others, but it isn’t necessarily how she expresses love or how she feels is expressed to her. She’s average when it comes to Physical Touch. It’s not her language, but it’s not her lowest, I don’t think. Words of Affirmation she doesn’t really use as her number one. She can be encouraging, but it doesn’t seem to be how she feels she is shown love. So, Quality Time is more of her love language.
I’d like to add that Twilight’s wish for the Gala was to spend time with Princess Celestia. Also, Spike and Shining Armor have always been around her, even before she moved to Ponyville, so even in her “anti-social” days, she still showed a need for spending time with others.
Fluttershy would be most likely Words of Affirmation. She herself uses kind words, and benefits from being given kind words, which also relates to her as the element of Kindness. Physical touch is not the highest in her language. Quality time is not either, as she can be just as happy being surrounded by her animal friends. She would do things for other ponies, but service isn’t how she shows love either. She would appreciate gifts like anypony, I’m sure, but that also does not seem to be her love language. She can display any of these as acts of love, but the majority are not what speak so highly to her. While she does psych herself out a lot even when friends are encouraging her, she does sometimes have a hard time going through what is asked of her. She does try with their encouragements, in spite of her inner concerns/fears, so Affirmation must be her highest language. She also always uses encouraging words more than the other languages to her friends.
“Applejack, we can always find a way to fix the hole in that roof. But if you don’t come back, we’ll never be able to fix the hole in our hearts.”
…Um… yeah… Saccharine-sweet-tongued Fluttershy.
AJ is physical, so Touch would probably be hers. While the other languages aren’t beneath her, Touch is probably the strongest. She would be willing to do things for others, but a great deal of the time, she doesn’t want others to do things for her (like Spike who wanted to pay her back when she saved him, or when in season 1 she refused to ask for help when she tended the farm alone). She doesn’t really give gifts or ask for them, probably partially due to her being a simple pony and also going back to not wanting to ask for anything. She doesn’t need Words of Affirmation. That doesn’t mean she never uses words to encourage. She may like spending Quality Time with her friends and family, but it is not her way of expression. AJ uses even simple touches to convey her love.
I agree with Physical Touch for Applejack.
Dash, like AJ, is a physical pony. She’s pretty touchy. She would also be willing to do things for ponies and wouldn’t mind others doing things for her, but that’s just Dash. Quality Time, I won’t repeat on, although her being the element of Loyalty can relate to QT with her friends; however, she likes moments where she is alone lounging on a cloud. And just because she is the element of loyalty doesn’t mean she dislikes being alone at some points. She doesn’t need Words of Affirmation, as she already believes she’s awesome, and she can express some words of encouragement, but it’s not her strong point. She’s not really the gift-giving type of pony. Therefore, Physical Touch is her highest love language. So, although Dash is a tougher one to determine, and she could be either one of Physical Touch or Acts of Service, for now I’ll go with PT. She will do things–AoS–for others, but most of the time, she is asked to perform tasks, and not just because she wants to.
I actually find Rainbow Dash to be more difficult to type. To me, she doesn’t seem all that touchy. She seems like she wants to maintain her distance somewhat. I don’t feel totally comfortable suggesting something else, though. Rainbow Dash just doesn’t seem to show affection too often.
twoearthponies 