art by AssasinMonkey

Rainbow Dash is finally a Wonderbolt!

Woohoo!

Her dream since the very first episode has finally been achieved!

That’s a wrap, everypony.

Time to celebrate,

sing a song,

fly off into the sunset,

and enjoy the happily ever after!

…except not, because that isn’t how reality works in this show, just as that isn’t how things work in real life.

I have lauded the growing maturity of this show, and for many of its elements, the episode “Newbie Dash” continues this trend. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has long taught that through determination and through hard and virtuous work, you may achieve your goals. But it also teaches that such success doesn’t mean the end of your struggles, and that getting what you want often comes packaged with difficulties and challenges of its own.

In a show that has become increasingly about growth and transitions, you could say this has been a theme.

I have to say that I loved how “Newbie Dash” opened and the how the notes that it went out on. Other writers would feel it required to make Rainbow Dash’s achievement of her childhood dream and show-long goal a finishing point, and dedicate an entire episode to The Event That Wins The Prize. But like “Canterlot Boutique” last season, the writers of MLP once again allow a character to reach their goal in a more natural way, and make the story one of dealing with the initial difficulties of having done so.

More below the break.

Ashleigh Ball must have had a blast doing this episode.

art by ElisDoominika

Instead of fanfare, Rainbow Dash’s moment of becoming a Wonderbolt is actually somewhat downplayed. The retirement of Firestreak was a very realistic set-up. And Dashes reactions were not flamboyant or over-the-top. (She saves that sort of behavior for later, giving it more impact.) I really liked this handling.

“What she said.”

However, there was one bit in that scene that deserves more attention. When I published the first real chapter of “Origin Story”, a few people got caught on the line “Daring Do just couldn’t keep her eyes on the young mare sitting at the far end of the table.” It is a line that says exactly what it is meant to say, and that makes perfect sense to the reader in hindsight, but is so off from what is expected that some people tripped up on it, or assumed the oddity was a typo. Likewise, in the scene above, I had difficulty parsing Spitfire’s comment “What she said.” After a moment of confusion, I decided Spitfire must be putting Scootaloo’s words in Rainbow Dash’s mouth for her… but that seemed very odd.

I’ll come back to this later.

art by ViralAcorn

This is an interesting episode to give my thoughts on as it isn’t an episode that I will ever watch in its entirety again. There are parts of it, however, that I expect to return to repeatedly. Particularly the beginning and the end.

However, the middle of the episode relied on cringe-humor that was painful to watch, and I have no desire to sit through that sequence again. The only scene I’ve found as unpleasant was Spike’s attempt to sing the Cloudsdale Anthem (which was much worse). I vocally thanked Spitfire when she stepped in and told Dash to knock it off. Fortunately, the Wonderbolts are cool enough not to let Rainbow Dash’s mid-episode antics do her any real harm.

Rainbow Dash can do an impressive Fluttershy impression.

Also, please nobody ever call her Care Mare. ugh.

Not that I blame Rainbow Dash for going a bit overboard in her attempts to change her nickname. The name her new peers had pinned on her happened to have hurtful past associations that the Wonderbolts clearly didn’t know about. (And that is a believable coincidence, as “Rainbow Crash” is an all too obvious mangling of her name, possibly the easiest to think of.)

Rainbow Dash has come so far, proving herself vastly better than the self-image that her childhood bullies tried to instill. Becoming a Wonderbolt is the crown on her achievements… how could she just allow it to be sullied by those old hurts and not fight against it?

The abuse of a child – whether from peer or parent, teacher or stranger – is child abuse. And no child abuse should ever be tolerated. It is never (no matter what the abusers might tell themselves) for the child’s “own good”, or to “toughen the kid up” or any other bullshit positive spin the perpetrators try to give it. Instead, it is damaging, and it leaves psychological wounds. One of the many great benefits of friendship is that friends can help those wounds heal, both faster and better than they would on their own. We have seen this with Fluttershy. But even then, there will still be psychological scars.

The toll of child abuse can have serious, detrimental affects on the victim’s psyche that impact them for the rest of their lives. And even those who come through it stronger and better, like Rainbow Dash, still carry wounds that can open unexpectedly, and provoke changes in mood and behavior that can be seriously harmful to their adult lives and to those around them. This is what we see in “Newbie Dash”. Her abuse was apparently relatively minor, and she overcame it early through personal fortitude and ego; but when her new nickname reopens old wounds, she reacts in a completely understandable way.

Likewise, I cannot fault the Wonderbolts.

In the small but key scene pictured above, Fleetfoot uses the new nickname while earnestly trying to comfort Rainbow Dash and boost her morale, proving there is no maliciousness whatsoever in the practice. These are adults with respect for each other, and this isn’t abuse. This isn’t even hazing. This is a group tradition, and is actually a sort of bonding. Traditions like this are actually very common in just about any sort of “fraternal” order.

“Also, if you are late on game night…”

“…you owe the GM and all the other players a Mountain Dew.”

And in the case of the Wonderbolts, it likely serves a positive purpose.

These are Equestria’s greatest fliers. Just getting into the Wonderbolts is described as the “dream of near every little pegasus.” Ego is going to be a problem, especially with those pegasi freshly tapped for the team. While Spitfire doesn’t know why Rainbow Dash starts acting so out-of-character, Dash’s bravado only gets the eyeroll of somepony who has seen that behavior before. In fact, after the disaster, Spitfire calls Rainbow Dash on showboating, although it really wasn’t ego that Dash let run away with her. And from the beginning, she had to warn Dash to be on the lookout for the showing off of veteran Wonderbolts.

“Most of the Wonderbolts like to make a flashy entrance, so stay alert.”

So having to bear a reminder of a newbie screw-up not only allows veteran Wonderbolts to view how far they have progressed, but it helps all of them keep their heads from getting too big.

I was expecting Rainbow Dash’s ego to be the problem that gave the episode its conflict. This sure seemed to be the trajectory Rainbow Dash was on…

…until a collision with a trash can sent things spiraling sideways.

Like the beginning, the ending of the episode was handled absolutely beautifully. A mature resolution. And one which included a moment that many of us have been waiting for more earnestly than we have been waiting to see Rainbow Dash become a Wonderbolt:

“Are you serious?! You're the most talented flyer we've ever had!”

“And you've saved all of Equestria like, a dozen times.”

Spitfire even admits, “Of course you're supposed to be a Wonderbolt. We've been waiting for a spot to open up ever since you joined the Reserves!” And now I return to that scene in the beginning, finally understanding.

“What she said.” She wasn’t trying to give a speechless Rainbow Dash the words that were failing her. Spitfire was echoing Scootaloo’s sentiment herself. Maybe, as Fleetfoot later said, Wonderbolt’s don’t get excited… there was part of Spitfire that was joining Scootaloo in celebrating finally getting Rainbow Dash on the team.

Final note: this scene was amazing:

“Altius volantis! Soaring higher!”

Congratulations, Rainbow Dash!