I should probably stop doing these.
Rainbow Dash has been updated to include some of the new canon elements....as much as they are, considering how short the season was. We have more about SiP, WA, and a little about GPP down here.
Originally hailing from Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash made her way to Ponyville after failing or dropping out of Flight School. (It's never made clear exactly what happened, but it somehow involved Dash being too lazy.) Once there, she takes up a job on the Weather Team, helping control the clouds and rainfall in the town as well as manage any miscellaneous weather details. Considering the amount of authority she had in "Hurricane Fluttershy," she seems to be a very high ranking local member, despite being...well, we'll discuss that in a bit.
Dash's main obsession is the Wonderbolts, a team of acrobatic fliers who serve a function similar to real life's Blue Angels. Rainbow's main dream in life is to one day join their illustrious ranks, and thus she practices daily on her speed, tricks, and flight capabilities. Even better, she is able to quickly perform most of the tasks involved in her position, such as clearing the sky in ten seconds flat. In many ways, she is the best flier of all the Pegasi in Ponyville; unfortunately, she knows that, too, and has an unfortunate lazy streak. Most of her time is spent either napping on clouds or pulling mid-air cartwheels, and while she might finish her task, it'll always be done at the last minute and as an afterthought.
And then Season Two happened.
The second season was...unkind to Dash, to put it lightly. She was written more and more like a stereotypical jock character who detested brainy activities, had an ego that could swallow half of Equestria, and tended to act like a jerk rather than a friend. Even worse, she became the target of multiple morals, most infamously with "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" and "Read It and Weep." It seemed more and more like the staff was saying, "You see this pony? Don't ever, EVER be like her."
There's been multiple possible explanations for this tonal shift, but I think it becomes a lot clearer once you take Lauren Faust herself and the fanon into consideration. Lauren's favorite character from the G1 ponies was Firefly, who was the basis for the G4 Rainbow Dash. And while Dash had her faults in the first season, she seemed like a more balanced character overall. But when Lauren gradually left during the production of Season 2, things quickly changed. Without her to hold the writers back, Dash gradually became the punching bag for the writing staff.
The same thing is true in the fanon. Dash is the most frequently assaulted, tortured, mutilated, and murdered character of all the Mane 6. "Cupcakes" tends to attract the most attention, but that was just an early example. Since then, far worse things have happened to her. Just from what I've seen, Dash has had her wings sliced off, her bones disintegrate, her brain regressed to an infant's, her mother killed at an early age, her eyes ripped out, and many, many other lovely things happen to her. The whole thing is more than a little mean spirited, especially when it occurs in the middle of stories where it just doesn't belong.
The third season (and “Hurricane Fluttershy”) reversed this trend, instead making her more in-line with the pony she started as while keeping her development intact. She finally got her chance to work with the Wonderbolts, which she almost gave up when they were willing to allow a sociopath to get away with nearly killing ponies. She also finally bonded with Scootaloo, albeit after the filly had almost died because she was too afraid to admit she was afraid, and got to live vicariously through the Crystal Empire when she helped them earn the Equestria Games. Unfortunately, she got the worst of the draw when it came to the Cutie Mark Swap Incident, with her nearly getting killed and eaten by Fluttershy's critters after she bungled the job so royally.
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Dash's main defining trait is her flying skills. While most Pegasi seem content to use their wings for their everyday jobs, Rainbow takes pure pleasure in pulling off as many crazy-awesome stunts as she can. She is also the fastest young flier in Equestria, and is the first pony to ever master the Sonic Rainboom. Indeed, her first Rainboom was responsible for saving all of Equestria, as it allowed the rest of her friends to gain their cutie marks and begin the journey that would lead them all to the same place. In fact, during the Wonderbolt Academy, a training camp for ponies who wanted to join those elite fliers, the only pony who came close to beating her was Lightning Dust. On the ground, her only match in Ponyville is Applejack; indeed, the two were evenly split until Dash started using her wings, and were neck-and-neck throughout the Running of the Leaves until all their cheating led to them both getting last place. That's also what helps drive fanfic writers to break her wings; without them, Dash basically loses herself. By contrast, Fluttershy could go through life just fine without her wings, save for it being more difficult to help some of her animal friends.
Dash is also built like a tank. She has slammed into more walls and trees than George of the Jungle, and yet gets right back up like nothing happened only seconds later. The one time she was actually injured enough to be hospitalized, the crash occurred off-screen, if only to spare the little children the horror of whatever disaster could be epic enough to actually bust one of her wings for a few weeks.
Beyond that, the other thing that exemplifies Dash is her attitude towards life. Dash rarely thinks, instead opting to bash right into the thick of things without so much as a second's care. In addition, she takes her duty to her friends and Equestria at large very seriously, and will gladly step in whenever somepony is in danger. Often, this is a genuinely positive trait, such as when she stood up for a young Fluttershy or rescued several ponies in MMDW.
However, this has also led to problems. In "Dragonshy," she almost got the entire group killed because she kicked the dragon in the face, while in MMDW (again) she purposely put off rescuing an endangered pony to sign autographs. At the same time, she is also generally carefree, with not much thought to the future other than joining the Wonderbolts. She will also always speak her mind, even when it's something somepony doesn't want to hear, and is brutally honest with even her closest friends. While this can be poorly timed, she is also a fair and understanding pony when need be, and can be depended on to cut to the truth of the matter without any horsing around.
Another trait of Dash's seems to be difficulty in reading the atmosphere of a room or situation. Several times through the show, she's done or blurted things that simply should not have been said, or completely missed relatively obvious social cues. In “Ticket Master,” she was willing to make a grab for the Gala ticket even after seeing how the fighting had broken Twilight convinced her friends to give it up, and had to be shamed into letting it go. In “Sleepless in Ponyville,” she completely misses that Scootaloo is afraid and falling apart from a lack of sleep, despite Applejack picking up on it pretty fast. In fact, the only pony she seems to be able to read easily is Fluttershy, most likely because of how long they've known each other.
Dash's greatest flaw, however, is her ego. It's not that it's too big, however, but rather the exact opposite. Dash craves attention and the adoration of the crowds, and the more she gets, the more cocky and self-centered she becomes. However, when she begins to feel that she's failed in some way, or that she's been abandoned, she practically enters a complete shutdown. Her fear of failing got so bad in "Sonic Rainboom" that not only did she begin having Twilight-level troll logic sessions, but actually curled up in a fetal position backstage. Meanwhile, in MMDW, she mourns the fact that she's been utterly left alone by the same ponies that, just days before, were praising her name, and has taken up residence on a dark cloud. That being said, “Wonderbolt Academy” showed her first struggling with being placed as a wing pony, but then getting over her ego for the sake of the team, only for Lightning Dust to prove to be a reckless, self-centered sociopath. She was even willing to give up her dream to do what she considered to be the right thing.
Another thing of note is Dash's home. Most of the time a Pegasus' home is shown, it's on the ground. Dash, however, lives in a cloud mansion just outside of Ponyville. In addition to its unbelievable size (either Dash's family is rich or property taxes in Equestria are very low for flying houses), there's the fact that it's far removed from the rest of the Earth. Dash also prefers to stay flying almost all the time, even when walking would make more sense. This is an interesting contrast with Fluttershy, who has to be coaxed into leaving the ground unless she absolutely has to.
Also, despite being an athlete, Dash is not inherently indisposed to "girly" things. She's willing to wear dresses (albeit only to advance towards some goal), takes pride in her appearance, and apparently does spend some time at the spa with the others. However, she refuses to admit these things publicly so she can keep her daredevil image. Oh, and never, ever touch her hooves.
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From a shipping angle, Dash is basically the fandom's bicycle. Everypony has tasted the rainbow in at least one fic. Especially common pairings hook her up with Fluttershy and Applejack, although Twilight is not far behind from those. Most of these pairings work off comparing Dash's bluster and bravado with Fluttershy's demure silence, Applejack's common sense, and Twilight's booksmarts. The biggest issue, though, is that of all the characters in the show, Dash is the one most fans accept as being gay. Personally, I don't see how you could arrive at that conclusion without using some rather disgustingly outdated lesbian stereotypes, but considering the nature of shipping with this series, you do what you gotta do.
As for her friends, Dash is notable in that she already knew at least one member of the Mane 6 before they officially joined together. She helped save Fluttershy from some bullies, and then proceeded to accidentally knock her down to her almost-certain death. As a result, Dash is very protective of Fluttershy's feelings, and while she might yell and rave at her other friends, she will at least try to be diplomatic where her yellow friend is concerned. At the same time, though, she also gets frustrated with Fluttershy's cowardice and softspoken nature. She also has a bit of a friendly rivalry with Applejack, although the one time they actually tried to compete, things turned ugly very quickly. Both ponies are highly competitive, and eventually resorted to cheating to win. Since this is a kid's show, they failed miserably.
Dash's friendship with Pinkie is also interesting, as it actually had to develop on its own outside of the Nightmare Moon incident. At first, Dash just found the party pony an irritating pest, but after bonding over some pranks, the two became buddies. She also wasn't huge friends with Twilight at first either, but since she discovered the "Daring-Do" series, she has apparently become a frequent customer at the Library. As for Rarity...well, the two rarely hang out without involving the rest of the gang, and Dash has very little reason to go into Carousel Boutique. In fact, the one time Rarity tried to actually involve herself in one of Dash's activities was in "Sonic Rainboom," and we all know how that turned out...
Outside of the Mane 6, Dash has two other relationships of note. The first is Gilda, her griffin foalhood friend. While she at first just seemed cold and aloof, Gilda soon proved to be a legitimately bad person who scared the elderly, stole food, and made Fluttershy cry for bumping into her. At the same time, though, she and Dash did seem genuinely close, at least until Gilda exploded at Pinkie's party over pranks Dash had set up. After that, the two were (sadly) no longer friends. Scootaloo, meanwhile, idolizes Rainbow Dash, and wants nothing more than to grow up just like her. This was mostly expanded upon in fan works (including the horrendous meme known as Scootabuse), but “Sleepless in Ponyville” finally canonized their relationship and made them much closer than before.
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Dash's Element of Harmony is Loyalty, which can be seen in her dedication. Whenever Princess Celestia entrusts them with a task, she accepts without hesitation. When somepony needs to be saved, she'll be there. Overall, she represents her element fairly well, as it goes perfectly with her personality. So much so that, when Discord corrupted her, he didn't invert Loyalty, but rather used it against her by making her care more about her old home of Cloudsdale than about the rest of Equestria. When she's finally tracked down and cured, the first thing she does is throw herself on the others and ask them if Discord's been stopped. So...yeah, not too much to talk about here.
Well, there is one other thing. During "The Last Roundup," she leaves Pinkie and Rarity behind in the desert so the rest can pursue AJ. This would seem to be a disloyal act...except that Dash promised to bring Applejack back before they left Ponyville. If she turned back, she would have lost Applejack in the desert, and they would have had to start all over again. It was therefore more prudent that they stop AJ and find out what's going on before returning for the others. Now, leaving Pinkie and Rarity in the desert after everypony else returns to Ponyville? Just writing for a gag.
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Overall, while Dash (outwardly) seems like a standard jock, she is actually a very three-dimensional character. She is athletic and headstrong, but also honest and caring when need be. She's lazy and irresponsible, but also a capable worker and dependable friend when things need to get done. She is a wonderful character who deserves to have more things written about her, and the third season was especially kind about making her more in line with the best elements of the first two seasons.
Now let's just stop killing her off, please?
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