Rainbow Dash is an awesome pony, we all know that, but have you ever sat down and analyze her? Her name, “Rainbow” and “Dash” is a clear reference to the roman goddess Iris.

Iris was a messenger goddess, because she was the fastest of all the gods, she was god of the sky, rainbows and rain. Rainbow Dashes job is to manage the weather, she is the fastest pony, she already do what Iris does. The inspiration is clear.

Now when we have established that Rainbow Dash is inspired by a goddess, we need to ask ourselves, which other characters on the show is clearly inspired by mythological gods?

I can mention three. Celestia is inspired by the goddess of the dawn Aurora, and Luna is inspired by the goddess of the moon Luna (it’s true, they didn’t even try to change the name here). Finally Cadance is inspired by the goddess Venus, the goddess of love.

Of course you can ask yourself, just because the three alicorns (or 2 and a half) are inspired by roman gods, and Rainbow Dash is inspired by gods, should that be enough to conclude that she is Celestia’s daughter and the most likely candidate to grow a horn, in show, somewhat like the fan fiction “Mommy Nearest”?

First we need to establish that none of the other main characters are inspired, very clearly inspired by gods in the same way, and I don’t think we can; because although we can make parallels to various deities the relation not that clear.

There is a vacuum in Equestria’s pantheon that Rainbow Dash would fill perfectly as goddess of the sky. Twilight Sparkle, the most “popular” choice of “third” princess (if we can still use that term) lacks the same distinctiveness. Sure we can have her be the goddess of magic or science or something else. But it all has a character of being more constructed. There is not a single clear deity that Twilight is the equivalent of and there is not a clear role that she fills and “needs” to fill, like it is the case with Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash also looks like Celestia. There is no pony anywhere in the show as colourful as Rainbow Dash, her colours sets her uniquely apart from all other ponies in the show except for Celestia herself.

We also don’t know her origin, only that she grow up in Cloudsdale.

Based on all of this, I honestly believe that this is the back-story that this is the backstory that Lauren Faust envisioned for Rainbow Dash, and it would be a wonderful character development in the future if Rainbow grow a horn.

Assuming that the franchises lives that long I imagine that we will see Rainbow Dash grow a horn somewhere around season 6.

Some of what you say makes sense. Rainbow Dash is also distinguished from the average Pony by leaving a trail when flying (in the case of the wonderbolts its just smoke). This and the sonic rainboom could be interpreted as special form of magic (perhaps related to the princesses’ manes).
I agree with you that alicorn-Dash makes for a great story that can fit well with canon.
Still I would bet you a large amount of money that this was neither Lauren Faust’s intention nor will it ever happen on the show.
You have to keep this in perspective: this is a show for children. It was designed and planed as such, also it’s episodical, so there won’t be such a large story-arc.
If Celestia was Raibows mother she would know, everything else would make Celestia a bad mother in some way. This and anything that could force Celestia to abandon her daughter would contradict the style of the show.
The canon-episodes are slice of life. Therefore as much I would like to see it, we won’t get big revelations like this. (Also none of the main-cast will prove to have been a cangeling all along etc.)
It´s not common for episodic cartoons to grow with their viewers (like e.g. the Harry Potter books did), hence it is unlikely that the above will change, even till season 6.

The characters being based on roman gods/godesses feels overinterpreted to me. Assigning a pair of rulers to day and night seems natural without roman mythology. Also it´s complete, I think the existence of Cadance as an alicorn is accounted for by merchandise, not to establish a roman pantheon.
(Some try to squeeze Twilight in (the name) but the names come from earlier generations. On top of that I perceive alicorn-Twilight as rather boring... She grew up in Canterlot as Celestias surrogate daughter so what would really change except of her having a new set of wings...)

(On a sidenote: we don´t know the origin of most of the pegasi in the show... ecxept for Thunderlanes brother and Pound Cake none of them have established relatives. If not for these two they could hatch from eggs or be brought up in flocks seperated from their progenitors and not in families (would go nice with institutions like flightcamp) (Also with such a system to raise cloudsdale-offspring Celestia wouldn´t need to find an adoptive family or an orphanage fo her secret pagasus-daugter) )

That´s why we need more fanfics with that setting, because the show won’t give it to us.

I agree and I said to myself severel times (a day) write that dam second chapter of Princess Rainbow, and I will do it today, write after lunch. I promise, no more empty promises I promise.

Anyway, yes most episodes are slight of life, but not all episodes. Episode one and two of season one and two plus episode 25 and 26 of season 2 was not, and with everything I have heard season 3 will start with the same tradition.

Now I agree that it is dubious whether or not the show will ever address Rainbows origin and establish her as the daughter of Celestia, however you can maintain a slice-of-life approach and still have character development. I actually believe we have seen a lot of charecter development in the two seasons we have seen so far.

Also, I do not think that it would necessarily contradict Celestia's canonically established behaviour to put a hornless daughter up for adoption. We have started to see some of the darker sides of Equestria in resent episdoes. Personally I think that the cherry merchant in "Putting Your Hoof Down" was a ruthless opportunist. We also knows that there are snobbery in Cantalot, if Prince Blueblood is any indication, so it could be hard for Celestia to raise a daughter there.
She might also opt that Rainbow would be happier living with pegasi parents in cloudsdale. I think that it is almost universal that it is harder for the mother to give away a newly born child, then it is for a child to be adopted into a loving family. The act of giving away Rainbow Dash at birth could easily be defended as being what Celestia thought was best.

I also think that Celestia is very good at keeping secrets, she has to be, in order to have stayed in power for so long. The fact that she is so loved proves for a fact that she is a master manipulator , of course she also have to be benevolent. But being benevolent isn't enough for an absolute monarch (or diarch as she is now) in order to be loved. I think Celestia has a lot of skeletons in the closest. This is my theory about her Sculture garden.

Anyway all that aside yes we need more fic focusing on Rainbow Dash as an alicorn. The story I am writing (honestly I am) "Princess Rainbow" is about a specific aspect I like the tyrant Celestia, but other stories I have planned have her as the regular Celestia.

All of what you say is logical and believe me i would like to see Rainbow Dash become a alicorn/princess in the show but i think the makers of the show are going to make Twilight the alicorn/princess i mean if you look at season three and listened to everfree radio its a dead give away but things could change from here on out.

491380
Please don't make me hate Twilight, she is cute and adorkable but every time I hear the word "Alicorn Twilight" I have a gag reflex.
1) Twilight is definitely now related to Celestia so the only way to make her an alicorn was if she were to somehow to "ascend" due to her powerful magic, but that is wrong because it is racist. We have enough unicorn supremacism in the show.

2) Twilight seems more likely, or equally likely to be heading in a "dark" direction with S03E01 then anything else.

497070 yeah that would be pretty cool to see Twilight be the antangonist especially a badass one. But still they are pretty much shouting in the royal canterlot voice that Twilight will either ascend to a higher form (you know what i mean)or become evil for the season finally

497106
I doubt Highly doubt that either will occur, because it will completely ruins Twilights character.
She also doesn't have what it takes to be a leader, for one she is prone to paranoia, she is also an obsessive perfectionist.
There is also no natural place in the pantheon for a pony with her special talent (unlike RD).
But what is special about season 3 is that it is only half the normal length, so there is properly not even going to be a season final, in the sense of a break from the normal slice-of-life stile episode.

I bet is that the last episode of season 3 will be a normal slice of life episode and we wont see anything "epic" before the beginning of season 4.

There is also the fact that Celestia while trying not to show it, obviously love power, and is unwilling to share it. Nopony is equal to Celestia, not even Luna, the lesser & junior diarch. She can at most play second violin to her sisters schemes.

There is character development, and there are huge gamechangers that revamp a character (and the whole show) completely.
All development seen since the beginning of the show has been slow and gradual, and let's be honest here, miniscule. They may have learned one or two things (there is some kind of lesson at the end of each episode after all) but you could easily leave out episodes as you watch or change the their order at will without becoming confused. (obviously you'd leave the two-parters together.) Meaning there is almost no greater story arc spanning multiple episodes. (a little something with the Gala, and that wasn't even planned if I remember correctly)
A revelation like Alicorn-Rainbow would change the entire direction of the show. You would at least need a six-parter before being able to go back to the default frindship-lesson style. And it would start a completely new era in the show (pre Alicorn-Dash and post Alicorn-Dash).
There may be darker sides to Equestria, but Celestia is not one of them. She is a Mother-figure and the implications of being a Monarch (political intrigue, manipulation and punishing criminals) can be just ignored in the context of a show aimed at small children.
While this also argues against Alicorn-Twilight I fear they might be hinting at something here. (Please don't confuse my pessimistic fears with what I would like to see, but especially in regards to Alicorn-Rainbow I apprehend a turn in the entirely wrong direction for my likings.) There is Celestia talking something about her 'being that much closer to being ready' (of course related to Twilight ), the shot of Celestia Luna and Twilight with their cutie marks in the background, basically setting them all on an equal footing...
Actually I think it would be great if Twilight has to be ready for the revelation of Rainbow as Celestias daughter, (the lesson in the first two episodes was kind of being able to step away from the center of attention and be okay with others (in this case Spike) doing what you think you were supposed to do)
But this being related to Twilight being able to accept that Rainbow is closer to Celestia than she is, is incredibly unlikely.
That makes the entire idea wishful thinking at best. Alicorn-Twilight is just so much more probable... even though I would hate to see that.
On top of that, in the Season 3 teasers during the commercials were even more unsettling hints: 'one Pony finding her true destiny' while showing Twilight.
And not directly related, but there likely will be the introduction of another Pony that not only matches Rainbows skills but also has her own trail, that clearly isn't just smoke (I especially dislike this one, hopefully it doesn't degrade Rainbow to much)

Hopefully I am just to pessimistic here. If I had a saying in the show there would be Alicorn-Dash along with some other things that do not belong in this group.

506911
I understand and share your fears which is why I truly hate the alicorn Twilight idea with a vengeance. Of course Twilight can't be ready for that (dash being 's daugter) but but she could potentially be ready for something else that does not have anything to do with her growing wings.
One of the reasons why I hate Alicorn Twilight idea more then anything else, is that if they decided to do this in the show it would end the series. I cannot imagine a scenario where Twilight grows wings that does not mark the series finale.
There would be some kind of epic showdown, then there would be some kind of coronation ceremony which would then definitively end the main six as it would then only be Twilight with friends.

Alicorn Dash on the other hand is open. Her being revealed to be Celestia's daughter would not make her her equal and no coronation ceremony would be necessary as the existence of Cadance proves that alicorns dosn't have to be part of the diarchy. The first episode of season 3 showed that that the small principality ironically named "the crystal empire" belongs to Cadance under the suzerainty of Celestia and Luna.

I don't think that it is mere wishful thinking that what they hinted at in S03E01 won't be addressed for a long time to come, but I am still afraid, and I won't breath easy before I know what S03E13 is about. If its title is anything close to the word "ascension" we will never see a season 4.

Personally, I like to think that Rainbow has all the qualities of a leader, but simply not the ambition to rule anything. Alternatively, Twilight is unfit to rule, yet has ambition enough to try to rule.
This puts Twilight in the second place, likely becoming the final antagonist for FIM, or not, depending if she learns the lesson.

Also, while (in my mind at least) The Pegasi and the Unicorns represent Dwarves and Elves respectively, they each have one quality switched around: Levels of grace.
A pegasus has the benefit of being the only type of pony that has the advantage of grace due to living almost exclusively in the air, while Unicorns tend to be more accustomed to caves (explaining the high number of unicorns with pale coats) and end up fairly clumsy when gifted with flight.
Now, what's the first impression you get when you see Celestia (or any Alicorn for that matter) doing stuff? If you mentioned how graceful she seems, then you also know where I'm going with this.

Theoretically, with some alteration and illusion spells, a horn can be made both invisible and intangible, making it possible for an Alicorn to masquerade as a Pegasus. Wanting her daughter to grow up (relatively) normally, and gain an understanding of her subjects, Celestia hides her newborn daughter's horn and wipes all knowledge of her from all records. as was shown in 'Cutie Mark Chronicles' it is possible to suppress magic with a spell (not completely cut it off, leading to Rainbow Dash's skill at disregarding the laws of physics), further upholding a masquerade she may never discover she is upholding.

Also, If, and only if, and a pretty big one at that, Twilight really does get 'chosen' to become an Alicorn, Then the whole world of Equestria quickly devolves into chaos simply by the virtue of Twilight being by far the most socially detached pony in Equestria.

521826

The season 3 premier put me in a bit of a panic, I would truly hate to see Twilight ascending and I actually have an idea for a fic where Celestia cut Twilight of, to see if she is susceptible to the dark side. The idea for this test is to see if Twilight can accept failure and live it it, because she is destined to ascend, and if she can't then she will become a new nightmare.
If Twilight fails the test but is later able to see the errors of her ways Celestia can use a special artefact to permanently limit Twilights magical ability to that of an average unicorn forever barring her of the chance of ascension and stipping her of her very cutiemark.
Twilight fails of course and goes nuts and it is now up to the elements of harmony to stop her, and make her accept to go though with the procedure, if they can't, Celestia and her royal guard would have to use lethal force to stop her permenently. Because as Celestia says: "There is nothing I wont do to protect Equestria"

Anyway to your idea. I like it.
But I don't think that Celestia would even need much mind magic. She is always aloof so it would be easy for her to hide a pregnancy. And even if somepony saw, who would dare call her fat? Besides, she could also just use magic to to hide it, it must be even easier to hide a pregnant belly then it is to hide a horn. Nopony but a select few that would naturally be sworn to secrecy would then know of Rainbows existance and she wouln't even know herself as she would be giving away at birth. This version would be like "Mommy Nearest"
And alternative version could be that Rainbow Dash is the reincarnation of princess like in Leading Rainbow here too Rainbow wouln't need to know and no mind magic would be necessary.

Then of course we could have a situation where Rainbow ran away from home like in Sunshine and Rainbows or some fic like that were some level of mind magic would have to have been necessary.
Then of course we can have an alternative universe fic where Rainbow have always been an alicorn like in my own Princess Rainbow which I know I know needs work.

I would like you to work with your own idea and perhaps expand it into a story. I would like to help you out by helping you build the plot as I have a vivid imagination, but I can't help with the writing I am terribly at linguistic and often needs much help from proofreaders.

521964 Yeah, but my idea is that Celestia wanted Rainbow Dash to grow up normal-ish and to do that, she had to conceal her very nature from herself through alteration, illusion and suppression of potential magic. The idea involves a dispel magic designed to remove all forms of deception to be used for the reveal. In my idea, Celestia chose to make her daughter live the life of an orphaned pegasus because she wouldn't fit in with either unicorns or earth ponies due to the almost unnatural grace. And yes, in my idea, Twilight goes apeshit because she thinks she's supposed to be the almighty alicorn princess.

521973
First the key point in my Twilight fic idea is that don't ascent, she becomes Sombraish, of course because I am a sucker for good endings one of her friends are able to make her see the light but first after she has successfully converted "discorded" half of them.
She then goes through with the ritual. Her new cutiemark is a candle over an upon book. She then goes back to Ponyville to be the librarian and just the librarian with her connection to the elements broken, humbled and with a reputation as tarnished as Luna' s while Celestia takes on a new faithful student.
In the epilogue & have both found love and gotten married while & have moved to Canterlot. because she is now a world famous designer and because she once again turns out to be an alicorn. She knew all along but this time she didn't reveal it before after it was her time to retire from the wonderbolt which was reformed to become her honour guard. The point is, the main six slowly drifts apart as everypony moves along with their lives and slowly except for Twilight that are stuck in the small town library until she dies of old age, alone because even Spike abandoned her choosing to pursue an interspecies relationship rather then stay at her mopy side.

But back to your idea. Tell me, how does this differ from the "Mommy Nearest" / Alicorn story act. There of course she grew a horn and wasn't born with it which were then magically concealed but this isn't a plot significant difference.
You need to add something more, and there needs to be something happening, that have to be resolved. For instance I am working on a story now where one of my favourite scenes depicts Pinkie serving Gummy a piece of the Moon. Two points if you can guess what the story behind that is.
Hint this have nothing to do with the plot of the story, and it really didn't make any sense of me to mention it, but then again what fun is there in making sense?

OK here is my thoughts on the topic. I dont think she gave RD up but rather reasinded her father to clouds dale and had him rase her out of the spotlight. that said i belive her father was a pegusas guard to old sunny but.

551430
I like that idea. It could work both with Rainbow knowing and not knowing, and could be used both to emphasise a good or a bad relation between mother and daughter. Tell me more about her father.

577513
Well cause her dad was never named i jut use the name "Bluethunder" for him and he served as one of the body guards.... fyi it goes of of the idea that the guard armor is enchanted so they all look a like

579090
A lot of fics use that, even Pen Stoke from Past Sins have used that explanation. And Blue Thunder is a good name. Maybe a little to much Tatewaki Kuno for my taste. As you no doubt know Tatewaki Kuno, (or just Kuno) is a major charecter from the popular manga and anime Ranma ½, which is about a person, Ranma, that is ½ a man, as he changes into a girl every time he is hit with cold water, and back again when dosed with warm water (no mention what lukewarm water does).
Anyway Kuno is in love with Akane and Ranma's female half, and is rather obnoxious and clueless to boast. Try to tell me more about how you imagine such a character to be integrated into the fim context Kuno's personality is mostly that of Prince Blueblood combined with Breadburn. He is brash impulsive and boastful, a bullhead that never gives up, even when he really really should, and also someone that dosn't understand no.
You know the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to have such a character as Rainbow's father. However he dosn't seem to fit to well in the guard, not the kind of guy that likes to take orders, or even knows what an order is unless he is the one giving it. No it would make more sense if he was the duke of Cloudsdale, or perhaps a lesser noble, relatively close but not quite at Bluebloods rank. Somepony you would see in Court. Blue Thunder would quite possibly be the only stallion in all of Equestria brash enough to hit on the princess without a gram of self doubt. It would properly be that infectious personality that won her over.

So we know that he is not a guard, because seriously, imagine Blue Thunder in a uniform , but he isn't a high noble either as the dukes and duchess of Cloudsdale would themselves have to hold Court so they would not only not have as much time to hang out in Cantalot, but it would also be a position that would demand a certain amouth of maturity something that Blue Thunder simply does not have. So he is a count, not to low in the peerage and not to high. Count Blue Thunder of county of Awesomeness (or so he claims)

I think we got that OC pretty much down now, good idea. Now what happens next? Answer this.
Was Rainbow born with a horn that was merely hidden with an illusion or did it grow later? Actually forget that she must have been born with it because we already have a story that covers the later.
So she knows that she is a princess, and it is known by all that she is a Komtesse (at least these that bother to look and knows what to look for). But how is her relationship with Celestia? Does she comes and visit the county of Awesome or did she just dump her there?
No squash that, if she just dumped her own daughter there, it wouldn't be consistent with her behaviour in the show, so she must be caring at least somewhat.
The question still remains how good her relation is with Rainbow, because she would still be rather busy. "Daddy is mommy coming this year for my birthday?"
"I'm sure she is squat, she would never miss her #1 filly's 4th year birthday, she is just a little l..." Blue Thunder didn't have time to finish that sentence as a letter with the royal seal of the sun in gold wax materialised in front of them. tentatively he opened the letter, scanning it his face quickly drooped. He quickly regained his composure but it was too late, little Rainbow had already figured out what it said, it looked like her heart had been broken yet hardened at the same time. With tears in her eyes she said:
"I knew it, She doesn't have any time for me, she doesn't want to be with me"
"squit it's not like that, your mother loves you she is out saving the world, the griffins they..."
"I don't care, she's always out saving the world, always working, she never has any time. Well forget it I don't need her"
and it goes on. Nice flashback by the way.

Anyway, I thought that the story could start with Blue Thunder coming to ponyville revealing to her friends that she is a komtesse, not realising that she had kept even that a secret, and you know how good he is at jogging in the spinach.
Her friends are now insanely curious so he invites them all to his county insisting that his daughters friends are always welcome, not even realising his daughters objections. So they are al going to awesome county while they listing to Blue Thunder and his exploits, various conquests and of course embarrassing childhood stories about RB.
Now I did tell you that nopony knew that she was a komtesse right? no Fluttershy knew but she had been sworn to secrecy, having very dark secrets herself (but that is another story). So they discover something amassing about RD only to discover something even more amassing along the way. Afterall Twilight is already the daughter and heir of the Viscountess of the county of Twilight.

Anyway I like your story idea, what happens next?

579387
I thought of him as being a Pagasus 1 it make sance that she grew up in clodsdale where only they can live. 2 Sunny but is almost alway guarded by 2 pegasis in opening and in most sceans her guard have wings. That said Blue Thunder being pegaasus and not a uni corn would never set in think of the "scandle" son him being a pegasus works better and id say celly for rainbow oun safty and happyness hid from RD the fact she was her daughter and a alicorn so not even Rd new. till ether her galent brave loyale stalin of honner father tells her {ether as hes dieing or cause he feels it time to} or old sunny buts student finds out with a spelll acsadent douring one of Rd,s hard landings.

forgive bade typeing and gramer i have to use a 360 for internet 90% the time

580416
Okay now seriously , words spelling check can catch must of these mistakes. it makes it hard to even reach your intentions here. But
1) I find it more funny if Rainbow knew, and that she had some kind of troubled relationship with her mother.
2) Of course he is a pegasus, are you one of these unicorn supremacist that thinks that only unicorns can be noble? Of course a pegasus can also be a count
3) why should Cloudsdale be the only pegasus city, sure it's the largest, and a natural place to send RD for training, but the only one, never.

most pegasus are guards in fact it looks like 50 percent of the erg is pegasus and 5 earth pony with unicorn filling the rest.as for the cort well every one at the gala was nobil and most of them where uincorns with little to no earth ponys. and only other pegasus city i know of is loss pegasus

Honestly, I disagree on a lot of this for many reasons:
1) Rainbow Dash is based on a pony named Firefly, a pink mare with a blue mane and tail. She was not and is not based on any goddess. If Hasbro still had the rights to Firefly that is who Rainbow Dash would have been,
2) Rainbow Dash is cool but that isn't a reason to make her an alicorn, and honestly I believe she would make less of a good ruler then Twilight Sparkle.
3) While one can make parallels to alicorns being connected to goddesses of mythology, in truth they just don't have the power to be such (that and many Gods and Goddesses have traits and spheres similar to each other). Yes Celestia and Luna are very powerful, being able to control the day and night by themselves... and after needing to banish Luna having been corrupted and changed by dark magic into Nightmare Moon, Celestia controlled both the day and the night. Ye niether Celestia nor Luna, let alone Cadance, has the power to truly be consider goddesses.
4) Honestly I believe it wont be so much that Twilight herself become an alicorn as perhaps those that wield the Elements of Harmony will possibly take over... if any pony does. Consider this, Rainbow Dash is as likely to be an alicorn as any of the other Mane Six and if Hasbro or the princesses were to go the alicorn root ALL of the six would become one not just Rainbow Dash.
5) At this time each of the Mane SIx would make horrible leaders, they are still young and have much to learn. Twilight Sparkle is no exception. I believe, with a bit more learning and wisdom Twilight would make a great leader and even the best choice to be an alicorn. Celestia know what she is doing, and if she believes Twilight could make a good alicorn then her student could be a great alicorn.

632712
1) you joined the group but dosn't seem to enthusiastic about the idea that the group is based on, I hope you are not just here to troll us, but ligitimatly likes the idea of Alicorn Rainbow and related alicorn stories otherwise get out.
2) Rainbow clearly and right down to her name have Iris as a clear inspiration, all I am hearing you saying is "naha ah"
3) Of course she would be a terrible leader that is the whole point, she wouldn't be one.
4) I'm thinking Greek gods and Celestia is at least equal to the power of Apollo or Helios, what more do you want for them to be gods?

I am willing to give the group a try but it is fact Rainbow Dash was never supposed to or intended to be based on Iris. Rainbow Dash is based on a pony named Firefly, a pink mare with a blue mane and tail. When Lauren Faust found out she couldn't use the characters designs she wanted she had to change them... which counted her favorite character Firefly. Thus she had to choose other designs, and in the case of Rainbow Dash she transplanted Firefly's personality into Rainbow Dash (which in the previous generation was actually a very girly pony more like Rarity.

Here take a look at these original designs and their inspirations:

Quote by Lauren Faust: "I just put Firefly's brain in Rainbow Dash--- at least my vision of Firefly. She was my favorite by miles. :)"
Faust wanted to bring G1 ponies into the new cartoon, but circumstances wouldn't allow this. However, because of the concept art pieces and ponies' characterizations, it's possible to interpret the "Friendship is Magic" Ponies as recolored and renamed G1 ponies; still G1 ponies in spirit even if they have the names and appearances of G3 poniues.

I don't care about the facts, I joined this group mainly because RD looks kick but with a flowing mane, a horn and being taller than everypony else.