Rainbow Dash's Honor and Her Insane Plan to Cancel Winter · 10:13am Apr 26th, 2015
(the following was originally a reply to a comment of Scoots2).
Rainbow Dash is the least introspective, and arguably the least intelligent, of the Mane Six. That doesn't mean that she's stupid, of course -- the others are simply smarter than her. There are people she loves and to whom she is loyal, and she puts them ahead of everything else, in rough order of how much she loves them. She will do practically anything for somepony to whom she is loyal -- but she isn't always very clear on what they want, or what's good for them. She's also excitable and impulsive, and once she gets fixed on a course of action, she'll follow it through to completion even if there are obvious downsides to her plan.
In the very second episode of the whole series, Nightmare Moon appears. She's obviously defeated or driven away Princess Celestia. What does Dashie do? She tries to physically attack an entity powerful enough to do this. Why? Because she's loyal to Celestia. It doesn't even register on her that Nightmare Moon may well kill her for doing this. Applejack saves her from at least painful injuries by restraining Dashie. It's also obvious that Applejack was not even slightly suprised that Rainbow Dash wanted to attack the obviously-superpowered being that had just appeared in their Town Hall.
In the same scene, she also saves Pinkie Pie from the possible consequences of drawing Nightmare Moon's attention. One gets the feeling that this is not the first time she's saved Dashie and Pinkie from the consequences of their own impulsiveness, though less was probably at stake on the earlier occasions.
This is interesting, because superficially Applejack is also an Honor Before Reason sort of mare. The difference is that Applejack thinks before acting, while Dashie is impulsive. AJ can still screw up (as she does in "Applebuck Season" and "The Last Roundup") but this generally takes the form of attempting something sensible, failing and not forgiving herself for her own fallibility. Rainbow Dash, by contrast, is apt to fly off the handle and try to do something totally crazy, because it's the only way to achieve something impossible (or extremely unlikely or impractical) because Dashie has convinced herself that it was the course of honor.
It's also interesting to compare them both with Twilight Sparkle, who is somepony with whom they both get along well because Twilight is also very honor-driven. Twilight is an aristocrat, Rainbow a warrior, and Applejack a farmer. They express their honor differently -- Twilight is loyal and will keep her given word, but is very careful how she words any promise; Rainbow is enthusiastically, combatively honorable; Applejack is dependable and will always try her hardest to keep her word. They all respect one another tremendously in part because each knows the other two are exceedingly honorable: however Twilight and Applejack are both introspective and intellectually-understand their own natures and those of their friends, while Rainbow Dash is impulsive and cannot usually explain just why she likes or respects somepony.
As a team, Twilight decides what to do, Applejack tries to figure out how to do it, and Rainbow Dash just does it. This is of course an oversimplification; all three are capable to some degree of the other's function. Twilight is weak at just doing, because she tries to think everything through instead of relying on her instincts; Applejack is unimaginative, and sometimes has problems thinking outside the box; Rainbow Dash is unreflective and bad at seeing flaws in her own plan.
Twilight would not have tried to cancel winter to stop Tank from hibernating, because she can see intellectually why it's a bad plan. Applejack would not have done so, because she feels that it's impulsive, silly and undependable. Rainbow actually tried to do it, because all she could see was not being able to be with Tank, and she thought that she could help her friend by cancelling winter, and that was all she thought she needed to know.
It's also relevant here to contrast Rainbow Dash with Fluttershy.
Fluttershy is close to Dashie's opposite. She's responsible, but not all that honorable by the (high) standards of the Mane Six. She actively rejects the belligerence and competitiveness of Pegasus culture, and she will happily lie by omission to avoid confrontation or even hurting somepony's feelings. (She gets along least well with Applejack out of the other Mane Six for this reason).
She's in a very old friendship with Rainbow Dash: one so mutually strong and intense as to either border on or actually incorporate romantic sexual love: they've known and cared about one another for more than half their lives, since they've been little fillies. The way this friendship works is that Dashie protects her, and Fluttershy in turn acclaims, advises and appoves of Rainbow Dash.
Because of this, Fluttershy trusts Rainbow Dash more than she does anypony else in the world: it's unthinkable to her that Dashie would ever intentionally betray or harm her. And because of this, Fluttershy has certain privileges with Rainbow Dash. In particular, Rainbow Dash listens to her -- or at least more than Dashie listens to anypony else when enthusiastic about a bad idea. Which is why Fluttershy was the one to talk Rainbow Dash out of her despair at the end.
Fluttershy can also, if she gets upset enough, actually physically hurt Rainbow Dash -- and Dashie will accept this with little complaint. This is something Rainbow Dash would tolerate from nopony else, not even her other friends. And while Rainbow Dash at first appears to dominate their friendship, it's actually the other way round: Dashie will do almost anything for Fluttershy, but the reverse is only sometimes true. Ultimately, Fluttershy, in her indirect and passive-active way, tends to get what she wants, most especially with Rainbow Dash.
I hypothesize in Dragonshyness that the reason this is the case is that Rainbow Dash considers herself, at least half-seriously, to be Fluttershy's bannermare -- essentially her knight or samurai, in Earth-Human terms. Fluttershy is one of the ultimate focii of Rainbow Dash's loyalty, and Fluttershy knows it. The effect is strengthened by the fact that Fluttershy is actually extremely high Pegasus aristocracy, as explained in A Robust Solution and Fluttershy Is Free. Anyone who has ever studied medieval Japanese culture -- or read Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Tomoe Gozen series -- will recognize the dynamic of their relationship. But that's straying perhaps too far from vanilla-canon.
Where Rainbow Dash's honor is not engaged, she can be quite jovial, playful and silly. This is most obviously expressed in her love of pranks. Pinkie is a devious prankster, and since it's all in good fun, Dashie doesn't find this at all dishonorable; in fact, Dashie likes to compete with her at devising such jokes. This is the aspect of her personality which comes closest to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie has her own strange and extremely strong code of honor, the details of which are sometimes but dimly grasped by others, but about which she is quite serious -- its most obvious outward manifestation is the "Pinkie Promise," an unbreakable vow. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie have a very childlike friendship, and they love essentially to play together.
Rainbow Dash's personality conflicts most with Rarity's. Rarity is also devious, and with Fluttershy one of the least honest members of the Mane Six. (It is notable that Rarity also has problems with Applejack, for just that reason). But unlike Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash doesn't consider herself to be Rarity's loyal follower, so Rarity doesn't get special privileges with Dashie. In fact, Rarity's obsession with fashion, the feminine, and social status based on aesthetic display and verbal sparring rather annoys the unfashionable, unfeminine, unaesthetic and rather blunt Rainbow Dash.
Which all goes to explain why Rainbow Dash acquired this obsession, and why Fluttershy was the only Pony who could talk her out of it -- after, of course, Dashie's crazy plan already failed spectacularly.
I also noticed that Fluttershy was blunt with her response, which show that a) she learn from her past experience with breezie you have to be cruel to be kind and b) knows how RD means well but (And i'm quoting here) she isn't always very clear on what they want, or what's good for them unquote. Which shows that she know how RD can get and knows she has to be blunt about before it gets outta hand (or i should say even more out of hand.) which is good characterization.
3018868
Yes, and it helps that Fluttershy both loves Rainbow Dash and has known her well for a very long time. Hence, she's both highly motivated to help her, and knows exactly what to say to do good.
Because of this episode fluttershy is growing on me. Dash not so much but whatever that crying thing got to me dash really bottles up her emotions.
3019225
I love Dashie, though -- it shines from all my stories in which she features. This was Dashie under severe emotional stress. The fact that she could feel this deeply about an at best semi-sapient animal (Tank is probably as smart as a border collie or even capuchin monkey, much brighter than real tortoises -- there seems to have been a lot of Uplift in the history of the Equestrian Earth) makes both me (and definitely Fluttershy) love her all the more.
3019234
Thats fine these characters are subjective after. That's why flutterdash is such a cute ship funny i don't ship fluttershy unless its with discord or bulk but i am open to flutterdash even if its friendshipping. Dash loves Tank and that is pretty sweet i cried during that scene because of reminded of when i had to put my cat down.
Oh, I don't know about that. True, she would probably need different motivations, but she was still willing to stop time to prevent an unidentified threat in It's About Time. Twilight tends to think things through right up until she can no longer afford to do so, and then (if she still hasn't figured anything out) panic beyond all reason.
Well, at least she did earlier on in the series. It could be that, with character growth included, she would no longer resort to such a thing. But I find it interesting how similar the ideas to "stop time" and "stop winter" are, and the subtle differences between the two situations.
3019732
Very good point! One additional reason Rainbow Dash may like Twilight so much (and, really, she's treating Twi as one of her best friends after knowing her for around a week or two in canon) is that she senses that not only is Twilight as fundamentally honorable and almost as loyal as herself, but that Twilight has a seriously Badass streak to rival her own.
I can't wait until you will analyze this 7th episode in all it's glory
I think the episode was a rather awkward attempt to handle loss, but it was REALLY a broken moral considering all RD had to do was wait. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/261892/1/crying-on-the-inside/spring This REALLY hammers home how immature RD was being!
3021849
To be fair, Dashie may be a bit stressed, especially after her experience in Our Town. That had to be be close to her personal nightmare ... stripped of her Talent and reduced to below the flight capabilities of a normal Pegasus. In my fanon, she's also dealing with the realization that Fluttershy really does love Discord, which has to feel to some extent like betrayal by her oldest friend -- but Rainbow Dash knows that it wouldn't be fair to turn on Fluttershy for it.
"That doesn't mean that she's stupid, of course -- the others are simply smarter than her. "
Ironically, this logic was used by a Twilight Sparkle in a fanfic where she says how unicorns are simply more powerful than earth ponies or pegasi. Which REALLY felt arrogant on both the writer and the character's part.
3021861
The more reasonable assumption is that Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies have different magics with different concentrations. All Ponies are telekinetic; the Unicorns use this for external manipulation, the Pegasi for flightfields, and the Earth Ponies for lifting things in contact with their bodies, personal reinforcement and slow regeneration (making them stronger, tougher and longer-lived than the other two Kinds, with the disadvantage being that their magic is far less flexible than the other two main Kinds).
Interesting to note it's PINKIE PIE who stops Dash from pranking Fluttershy, saying Fluttershy would be HURT by such a thing.
I'm VERY DEEP in that category myself (and my egocentric nature means I can't comprehend why ANYONE would find pranks in 'good fun'), and so would be Trixie, but I can't see RD or Pinkie really realizing that because:
"She's a bad guy, so therefore, it's okay to prank her even if she takes it the wrong way or not because you can do bad things to bad people and not feel guilty."
"Rainbow Dash's personality conflicts most with Rarity's."
Which is ironic since Rarity has her own bond with Fluttershy, which is just more subdued, but just as strong as say RD and AJ. It just seems like a waste that every time it's time to pair Rarity with another character, they ALWAYS chose Applejack, rather than seeing how she'd interact alone with the others.
Well, you're definitely right when you say that Rainbow Dash is rather impulsive and acts first before thinking--and that usually leads to trouble because of her single-mindedness. For better or worse, she'll tough up and follow through her convictions. It's hard to guess though whether or not she is introspective since for the most part we see her egotistical side. For the others it's more clear when they self-examine but we don't see much of this from Rainbow Dash. She does feel guilty, lonely, and expresses that in the end, so we can predict there's introspection going on "behind the scenes"
We know her, well, in my opinion, rather unusual and undying loyalty. Though it's very vague why. She greatly dislikes being alone and ignored. Yet because we don't see much introspection, all we can give is hunches. Maybe they truly are the ones who put up with her the most, or she sees them as true friends unlike the other ponies she has met. With Fluttershy, it's a little more clear. Their friendship definitely goes back is evidenced throughout episodes. We see Rainbow Dash often accompanied by Fluttershy and their interactions. You can see that they both from time to time rely on each other for emotional support. (I have not seen any new episodes, so I was wondering if the one you mentioned was really good) Her tolerance of Fluttershy is pretty unique. Although she'll really push her, she'll also put up with her and take the hits, probably because she kind of understands how she feels and was treated in the past.
Rainbow Dash might appear simple but she's a little more complex of a character. It's amusing though when you compare to Fluttershy because it's completely opposite in some ways. Dash is blunt, acts first and delays thinking whereas Fluttershy is subtle and is thinking first and delaying acting on something. Comparing her to Rarity is amusing too. They both care a lot about style but have very different views. Rarity is very into feminine fashion and acts formal whereas Rainbow Dash is interested in what's "cool" rather than girly fashion and is very casual. Compared to Pinkie Pie, they both act childish though Pinkie Pie somehow knows the exact limits and rarely steps out of line.
As for intelligence there are a lot of theories about how to measure it that might make put the main six in a different light. For example interpersonal, linguistic, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence... etc.
That's just kind of my rant when I try to characterize her and explain her strange behavior.
I try to be more of an optimist and believe she really is a good character despite her flaws. So I apologize for being so wordy and strongly opinoned
This is a great post on the nature of Rainbow and why she would act how she did on this episode, as well as a great explanation of her relationship with the rest of the mane 6, I think it highlights that her particular virtue is likely the heaviest one to bear.
3029193
I have to disagree with this assessment of Pinkie, she's the most insensitive of the mane 6, not out of meanness but simply out of a failure to identify where the boundaries are.
She's actually been the catalyst for a battle because she didn't know when to keep quiet in a situation that was nearly defused, she's driven Fluttershy to tears multiple times, she's often made things worse one way or another, and sometimes made up conflicts when there were none.
Like I said, not out of meanness, simply because she can be over enthusiastic and in doing so fails to see what the situation around her truly requires.
3019749
I thing it's been explicitly stated that RD thinks TS is awesome.
3021885
I think RD wanted to prank FS because she CAN prank prank FS, she's probably the only pony that can, she can literally dump water on her or drag her out of her bed and FS won't complain about it.
Pinkie can't prank FS, not without causing some resentment, they are each other's least best friends among the mane 6. FS is often simply annoyed and sometimes disdainful of Pinkies antics, and Pinkie has hurt her in the past.
While Pinkie can and often does get caught in the moment, she wouldn't hurt FS in a premeditated fashion, so she refused to prank her and it would take very little effort to talk RD out of doing anything against FS even if FS wouldn't mind it coming from RD. At this point RD and Pinkie were just starting to become good friends and probably Pinkie didn't know what kind of relationship RD and FS share.
3031731 true, true.
Fluttershy confirmed for Pony Canada, given Rainbow Dash as Pony America.