Character Development and Rainbow Dash

As I've had a lot of neat ideas floating around the past months, I found that it was really fun planning out character development for the new pregnancy fic. Mostly because, I think the new stories incorporates a lot of my newer ideas and some interesting takes. Mainly, because it's not going to be a Fluttershy-pregnancy fic. Instead I had turned things around to where it's Rainbow Dash later on having to lean on Fluttershy for support. It leaves a ton of room for interesting ideas because it's better to work with something more intriguing and thought-provoking.

Earlier I read a blog someone posted that said a number of things about Rainbow Dash we see in the show that I totally agree on and a few points I disagreed with. The main point I didn't exactly agree with was this:

"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."

It's not to say that I have problem with this person or am furiously angry (I'm not) but it really makes you think. Intelligence is sometimes measured by some with a test or a puzzle. Though there is a rather popular model that is multiple groups for categorizing and measuring intelligence. And there is all sorts of types of intelligence; linguistic, interpersonal, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence... it goes on. If you use this to compare the six friends, it becomes very difficult to even suggest what makes who even more intelligent, but then again it shouldn't matter a great deal who is.

The second part is the introspection. In the show we see it for several of the characters but not a lot for Rainbow Dash. Instead we see her in the light often as selfish and blunt, and even arrogant. I don't mean by saying that "she's rude--end of discussion" rather just that she doesn't openly share how much she likes her friends and instead expresses that in different ways. But we see that Rainbow Dash really dislikes to be lonely and ignored.

And lastly, a question that popped in my mind, "Why is she so loyal to her friends?" At the very beginning they were just strangers and acquaintances, yet Rainbow Dash seemed to show an unusual amount of loyalty to them. She was suspicious of Twilight at first, to note. It's a lot to think about but it makes you wonder, especially why is considers each one to be her friend and fiercely defends them.

It brings everything back to character development. Not just slight changes or improvements, for better or worse, but how they interact with others. For example, Rainbow Dash and Rarity slowly coming to an understanding on their differences. They're two ponies with very different views.

Anyway, if you have thoughts about this, I'd like to know.