TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 1
Episode: 16
Written By: M. A. Larson
First Aired: February 18, 2011
SUMMARY:
The time is coming for the Best Young Flyer competition, an event to see which young Pegasus is the best flyer in all of Equestria, and naturally Rainbow Dash is ready to compete. (With Fluttershy serving as her pep squad.) After all, the grand prize is a whole day with her heroes, the Wonderbolts! Unfortunately, her act has hit a snag; while she can perform the first two stages of her routine perfectly, the last one – the legendary Sonic Rainboom – keeps tripping her up. Her latest attempt ends when she collides with the sound barrier, bends it slightly, but is then flung backwards, crashing into Twilight’s library right after she and the rest of their friends had finished cleaning up.
Dash and Fluttershy both tell them about the contest, with Pinkie and AJ hyping up Dash as the only pony to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom. When asked if she could repeat the feat for the competition, however, Dash quickly becomes evasive and leaves to rest up. Once she’s gone, Fluttershy confirms that she hasn’t been able to do it at all during their practice sessions, and then leaves as well. Sensing her friend’s failing spirits, Rarity pleads with Twilight to find a way for the ponies to get to Cloudsdale (a city made of clouds, and thus inaccessible to non-Pegasi). Pinkie manages to scrounge up a spell to give ponies wings temporarily, but it’s an excessively complicated one. Rarity volunteers herself as a test subject…
Later, Dash and Fluttershy arrive in Cloudsdale, where they are instantly greeted by three of her old bullies. They instantly dig at her failing out of flight school (or possibly dropping out, it’s never made clear) and mock her attempts at making a Sonic Rainboom before leaving. Dash, unfortunately, lets their words get to her, eroding her already waning self-confidence. Even worse, Fluttershy’s attempts to reassure her only make things worse, ending with Dash as a complete wreck. Just then, however, they’re greeted by Rarity, now sporting a pair of butterfly wings, and the others, who managed to get up there thanks to a spell that lets non-Pegasi walk on clouds. Sure enough, their being there helps raise Dash’s spirits, and she volunteers to give them a tour of the sights, including the weather and rainbow factories.
Unfortunately, Rarity has become completely smitten by her wings, as well as the attention they receive, and keeps showing them off despite Twilight reminding her of their quest and how delicate they are. It gets worse when the bullies arrive and start complimenting her wings while also insulting Dash. And it gets even worse from there when one of the workers suggests that she enter the competition herself…and she agrees.
Now completely wracked with fear, Dash keeps moving her position in the contest until she’s at the very bottom. Rarity, meanwhile, misses her mark in order to put on a hideous butterfly ensemble, and by the time it’s Dash’s turn, there’s so little time left that they have to go out together. Sure enough, Dash’s anxiety gets the better of her, and she messes up the first two stages of her routine while Rarity just flashes her wings. Finally, for their grand finales, both ponies fly straight up; Dash needs to get a running start for the Rainboom, and Rarity wants to use the sunlight to cast reflections of her wings across Cloudsdale. Unfortunately for her, she forgot that a key ingredient of her wings is morning dew; she’s close enough to the sun that the heat evaporates the liquid, frying her wings and sending her plummeting to her death.
The Wonderbolts quickly dive down, but Rarity’s flailing legs manage to knock them all unconscious. The sight of her friend and heroes in danger forces Dash to push past her anxiety and charge downward, accelerating fast enough to finally break through the sound barrier and perform the Sonic Rainboom. The massive burst in speed allows her to easily catch the four before they hit the ground, whip them around without a second thought, and finally bring them back down to cloud. It isn’t until right then that Rainbow even realizes what she did.
Now that everything’s settled, and Rarity is safely back in the balloon, Rainbow Dash laments not meeting her heroes…until they show up, led by Spitfire. Even better, Princess Celestia (who was watching the event as well) crowns her the Best Young Flyer in Equestria, and she is carried away on everypony’s shoulders. Even the bullies are quick to apologize, although Rainbow is more interested in hanging out with the Wonderbolts. Meanwhile, Rarity delivers the lesson: one should be there for their friends and keep their hooves on the ground.
REVIEW:
Words cannot describe how much I love the teaser, so just watch:
Have I mentioned that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy just work off each other perfectly? Because they do, and it helps strengthen an already strong episode to have them together for the majority of the time.
We next see Rainbow Dash’s routine, and for the most part it’s an incredibly impressive bit of animation. It also helps that we see how her planned entry would have worked, which is considerably more than most episodes of this type have the courtesy to do. It helps remind us that, despite Dash’s fears and screw-ups, she’s still a skilled flyer and deserves to win. As for the Sonic Rainboom, besides it taking physics behind the woodshed, there’s also an interesting difference between her failed attempt and the successful one later on. When she tries it in practice, she only has one hoof in front of her, with the other foreleg tucked underneath. We’ll get to the other one later.
The library scene is a “We’re done – oh, darn,” joke, although the library getting royally messed up after a crazy night of studying is just what you would expect from a pony like Twilight. The real point of this scene, though, is to deliver just about every bit of exposition needed to understand the importance of the costume and how special a Sonic Rainboom is. What I find interesting here, though, is how we get the first hints at what is going on in Dash’s head. She acts hesitant whenever the Rainboom or her confidence in the contest is brought up, and if you didn’t already have knowledge of the episode’s ending or “Cutie Mark Chronicles,” it would be easy to believe that Dash is just making the story up as an ego boost. I also love Fluttershy here, as her shyness just wears on Dash’s patience. She even does a perfect impersonation of me during every debate ever:
Of course, an episode without Twilight was impossible in the first season, so the wing spell now exists to provide an easy way to get around, as well as to generate extra conflict. Oddly enough, it’s Rarity who suggests using the spell, as she was the first to tell that Dash’s bluster was just a cloak for her anxiety. This makes sense considering the number of fashion shows she’s worked in the past, and it’s nice to see her willing to risk herself for her friend.
By the way, if you’re a Rarity fan, turn back now. Trust me, you’ll be much happier.
Cloudsdale is one of my favorite ideas in this entire generation. The minute the city comes into view, you can just tell that it’s one of the most important places in all of Equestria. It’s also amazing just how much stuff they’re able to build using only clouds and what I assume to be either lighter-than-air or enchanted materials. You can also see traces of Greek-esque architecture mixed in, no doubt a remnant from the times described in “Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Since the Pegasus was a Greek myth, it only makes sense that the same kind of ancient history would apply here.
We also meet the bullies, who are utterly one-note. And for the most part, that’s fine, since they only appear for about two minutes total in the entire episode. Their purpose is to teach us more about Dash’s history, such as her being a school wash-out due to being lazy even back then and nopony believing that she ever did a Sonic Rainboom. Again, it leads credence to the idea that she made the story up to begin with, and despite seeming like a plot hole when you consider that two of them were racing Dash when the fist Boom happened, it actually makes sense. After all, one had just plowed through a pillar, and the other had been knocked away from the force of Dash passing him.
We also hear their nickname for her: Rainbow Crash. Remember when Spike called her that in “Bridle Gossip?” Not quite as funny anymore, is it?
Either way, we see just how vulnerable Dash is now. While there were hints throughout the season that at least some of her boasting was overcompensation, this episode is the first to really expose it as the flaw that it is. While she has the skills, she also has low self-confidence, and allows the opinions of others to influence how she behaves and feels. It gets worse when (in a moment that, again, YouTube doesn’t have) Fluttershy gives her a speech that not only reminds her of just how often she’s failed, but of the number of ponies and kind of crowd she’ll be performing for. This triggers the mother of all panic attacks, as Rainbow Dash turns into Twilight and imagines all the horrible things that’ll happen to her, ending with a cry I’m all too familiar with:
Of course, this is when the rest of the cast joins, including Rarity with her butterfly wings. Admittedly, I like the design there, and it’s a pretty good match for the wearer’s personality. The “Walk on Clouds” spell is a bit of a copout, but it allows for the rest of the cast to join. Unfortunately, this is where the episode runs into its biggest issue. And I know it might surprise some of you, but I have to say it.
Rarity is unadulterated scum.
You remember how worried she was about Dash’s well-being at the beginning? Well, forget all that, because from this point on, she’s just a shallow, narcissistic jerkass who stabs Dash in the back for no reason other than to bask in the attention her wings receive. All the attention she gets only drives Dash further and further down into depression, and worst of all, she actually sides with the bullies when they return (now apparently factory workers) simply because they complimented her wings, and despite the fact that they just insulted her friend right in front of her.And to top it off, she enters the same contest she was there to help Dash win without so much as a second thought, all while Twilight is telling her to just stop being a flankhole and making Dash feel worse.
There have been many episodes where the characters act like jerks or do bad things, but this one takes the cake. Twilight may have brainwashed an entire village, but it was to avoid incurring the wrath of a sun god, and the only reason it happened was because the spell got out of control. Pinkie Pie tortured a donkey because he wouldn’t be her friend, but she still wanted him to be happy and made it up to him in the end. Rarity has no excuse here. The minute she got her wings, anything good in her left. She betrays one of her best friends – a pony she had set out to help – and makes fools out of the ponies who trusted her solely for the purposes of showing off something that won’t be there the next day. In other words, she is a F****** B****. And no, this is not just her getting “swept up in the competition.” This is her actively ignoring everything else just to boost her own ego. She is indefensible in this episode.
As for the rest of this sequence, we get to see how the weather is made. It’s not exactly necessary, but at the same time it’s visually and conceptually interesting. The best part, however, is when Pinkie literally decides to taste the rainbow:
First, it’s hilarious how rainbows are enough to outspice Pinkie, who earlier ate cupcakes smothered in hot sauce. Second, the scene is perfectly timed and executed. And third, there was apparently some fic someone made about the rainbows being made from the remains of foals who fail to pass their flying exams. It was like “Cupcakes,” only instead of being bad and funny, it was bad and boring.
And so we get to the actual contest. The look on Dash’s face as she takes in everypony in the crowd helps highlight how broken she is now, with only the sight of the Wonderbolts providing any cheer. I love Pinkie’s foam hand (even if it is a human one), as well as Celestia rather awkwardly waving her leg around to the crowd. This is also the first time we see the Wonderbolts in any way outside of one of Dash’s fantasy spots, and they more than earn their reputation. The rest of the scene, however, is mostly just Dash trying to avoid being picked while growing more and more nervous, until she’s finally reduced to cowering in a fetal position while muttering nonsense to herself. This is her at her most vulnerable, and it’s both amusing and horrifying to see.
Meanwhile, Rarity has spent the entire time in the mares’ dressing room, and just now emerges…dressed like a butterfly. This thing is hideous to behold; it looks like it was something Lady Gaga threw out because it was too garish and disturbing. It doesn’t help that she also hijacks Dash’s music, replacing it with a song that compliments her routine and not the friend she’s plunged a knife into. The predictable happens, with Dash ultimately failing the first two stages because of her anxiety, while Rarity just excels by looking pretty and stripping away any good will she’s built with me since “Suited for Success.” Fortunately, fate decides to side with me as her hubris drives her to repeat the story of Icarus and fly too close to the sun.
Now’s the part where Dash’s hooves come into play. Back when she was practicing with only one hoof out, the nosecone started to form, but she didn’t have enough power to break through the sound barrier. This time, however, she’s flying with both forehooves out and her body straight. This time, she manages to get to the nosecone, and finally break through completely, creating the Sonic Rainboom. I would complain about how she managed to grab four grown ponies and carry them to safety when they were but a few feet away from the ground, but I think science has cried enough today, so let’s get to the conclusion.
I love how Rarity is stuck in the balloon since she never had the cloud-walking spell cast on her. Of course, she’s easily forgiven for her betrayal since, you know, everything worked out. Dash is crowned the Best Young Flyer, thus proving that you can fail the first two events, but as long as you win the big one purely by accident, you can still be considered better than everypony else. And finally, we have the moral, which is a good but simple one. Here’s hoping Rarity actually remembers this one.
And finally, the bullies get their own comeuppance. They sheepishly admit that Dash is cooler than they thought she was, and ask to hang out with her. Of course, she refuses with yet another lovely out-of-context clip:
CONCLUSION:
Besides my issues with Rarity, this is a fantastic episode. Rainbow Dash’s character is fleshed out to the finest detail, showing us just how fragile she can be in the right situation. All of the other ponies are in top form as well, and all work well off each other. There’s a lot of good worldbuilding on display as well, as we get a new location and a more in-depth look at how ponies control weather and the seasons. Overall, I love this one. It’s just a shame Rarity has to put a damper on it all.
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