Chapter 1
“But…don’t you all want me to be a hero?”
Rainbow Dash sat in the back alleyway as she looked at her friends dressed in their costumes, all standing there grinning as if they had pulled off some big practical joke. But…it hardly felt like one. There wasn’t some basic mess to clean up, or a little water on somepony’s dress that any unicorn worth two bits could get out with a glow of magic.
What the girls had done...it...hurt.
She still felt the pain of being forgotten by everypony in town over the last few days and her friends…having them just laugh at her was bad enough but knowing that they were behind everything…that they had meant to laugh at her inside Sugarcube corner when she had come needing cheering up…
Even Fluttershy…Fluttershy looked happy about how she had tricked her best friend, the pony who had stood up for her in flight camp, the pony who had moved to Ponyville to help keep her settled instead of taking a job in Manehattan or Fillydelphia where the weatherpony pay was so much better and ended up staying year after year just because she became all teary at the mention of Rainbow leaving for greener pastures…
Twilight said…something…drawing Rainbow out of her thoughts, and then…
“And a real hero doesn’t brag.”
Applejack’s statement made Rainbow Dash frown, her earlier confusion from the reveal about the town hero’s secret identity quickly fading as the anger in her gut began to rise. “Excuse me?”
“We were teaching out a lesson about modesty Rainbow Dash,” Twilight explained with a smile. “You were just bragging so much, and a real hero is modest and humble. Understand?”
The pegasus turned her glare towards Twilight. “Yeah, I understand just fine,” she said in a voice that was practically a growl.
A little put off by the hostility, the unicorn backed away from the pegasus. Then the orange earth pony in the purple costume stepped forward. “Hey! Don’t you be talking like that to her!” Applejack exclaimed as she approached the pegasus. “Twilight was right, you and your stupid bragging was getting on our nerves, and you needed to be taught a lesson!”
“So you decided to sabotage and outstage me?” Rainbow demanded as she took the air to glare at the earth pony muzzle to muzzle instead of backing down. “You decided to laugh in my FACE? Oh, gee, thanks for the lesson Apple-smack! I guess seeing a pony who’s a real success must be too much for you huh? Not only can you not be happy for her, you have to lie and cheat to just to keep up! But I guess that’s the best we can expect from a pony who can’t even keep her own farm going, huh?”
“EXCUSE ME?” said apple farmer shouted.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yelled in something between surprise and outrage.
Rainbow whirled on Twilight and sneered. “A real hero doesn’t brag? Is that what Princess Celestia’s been teaching you all these years Twilight? Or are you just angry that I was getting pats on the back from everypony and she won’t even give you the time of day!”
The unicorn’s temper flared and she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off when Rainbow Dash whirled to point at Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. “And you three, thanks for stabbing me in the back! I guess that’s what I get for standing up for you all those years, huh Fluttershy? You know, since I’m not a real hero you’d better not fall out of some clouds anytime soon Rarity! And Pinkie, you can forget about me playing pranks with you anymore, because if this is your idea of a prank, then it’s the stupidest one I’ve ever seen!”
Spike flinched at the last word, and Twilight frowned at the temperamental pony and stepped forward. “Rainbow Dash! What in Equestria had gotten into you?” she demanded.
“What’s gotten into me? ME? You’re asking me that after what you did you-you…GAAAAAH!” she shouted after flying up in the air. “If you actually have to ask me that, then BUCK YOU Twilight! Buck all of you to Tartarus you bunch of whiney, ungrateful pathetic bunch of LOSERS!”
The last line of Rainbow’s rant made Twilight blink, the shock sent her out of the paralysis she had found herself in while Rainbow Dash had been shouting at the sky, and apparently attracting the attention of several of the towns ponies.
“W-What? Rainbow Dash, what’re you talking about?” she asked, confused over the unexpected turn of events.
“Heeeeeey,” Pinkie Pie whined. “You’re not supposed to talk that way to your friends Dashie!”
The words made the coat of the pegasus bristle as her look of anger turned to a sneer, shocking Twilight. “Oh really? Then guess what Pinkie? We-”
“Ooooo! Love guessing games is it-” Before the pink pony could say another word, she was cut off when Rainbow Dash zoomed down to within inches of her muzzle. “WE’RE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE!”
The declaration left Twilight stunned. This was not how things should been going. According to her plan, Rainbow Dash should have seen the right of things agreed with them! After all, they had shown her how she had been acting when she came into Sugarcube Corner, they had shown that a real hero didn’t sit around to sign autographs and all the other things she did. So why is she doing this?
She furrowed her brow in thought. With things spiraling so out of control, she would need to take drastic measures for Rainbow Dash to admit her mistake. On top of which, Twilight would need to make her apologize to her friends for being such a jerk!
Fluttershy flew up to the air and met Rainbow Dash as she went higher into the air. “R-Rainbow Dash, we were just trying to help you.”
“HELP ME?” she shouted in Fluttershy’s face making the butter-yellow pegasus retreat before the other flying pony lowered her voice. “If that’s what you call help, then I don’t ever want your help again!”
“R-Rainbow,” Fluttershy stuttered before a cry from behind her made the pegasus look around in startlement and check to make sure she wasn’t wearing her costume.
“Oh my gosh! It’s Mare Do Well!”
The voice of the orange filly running through the crowd made the rest of the girls turn and look back at the assembled ponies that had been gathering since Rainbow Dash had flown above the roof of the houses and yelling. As Scootaloo ran past the older ponies, it seemed to open up the floodgates and everypony else swarmed the friends that had taken off their masks.
Twilight and the others quickly found themselves jostled by a crowd of ponies as they were beset by dozens of questions, thanks, and several requests for autographs, and they all looked around wildly while trying to fend off the attention.
“Applejack, You’re Mare Do Well?”
The farmer stood up a little straighter and puffed out her chest. “Ah sure as shooin’ am!” she said before noticing the purple unicorn looking her way and bent down a bit. “Well, it was a team effort. Uh, need me to sign that fer ya huh? Okay, just a second.”
Twilight frowned at the display of Applejack standing around while a group of ponies started to gather around her personally, then felt somepony tugging on her cape. “Oh, yes?” A second later, a filly jumped into Twilight’s forelegs, and she held the foal up while another pony who looked like the girl’s mother snapped a picture. The flash made Twilight stumble back, and she blinked several times while trying to clear her eyes.
“I got a picture with the unicorn Mare Do Well Mommy!”
“Oh thank you Twilight Sparkle!”
“Wha? Now, hold on everypony, there’s no need to-”
“Twilight!” a stallion said from within the crowd. “Is was you that fixed the dam right?”
The unicorn blushed at the attention and smiled at it. “Well, yes. It was me,” she said before looking back up at Rainbow Dash. Her smile of accomplishment turned to a worried frown when she caught sight of the pegasus’s scowl.
“That was an amazing spell Twilight!” a squeaky voice said from down on the ground. It took a second for the unicorn to look and see that Sweetie Bell was standing next to her. “You must be the most amazing unicorn ever! Can you teach me magic?”
Twilight smiled at the compliment, but it was the request that caught her attention. “Oh, well I’d be happy to help you learn how to use your horn Sweetie Bell…if it’s okay with your parents that is.”
Twilight looked back up to the sky, and found Rainbow Dash had disappeared. Then she turned her attention back to the others. “Uh girls, shouldn’t we do something about Rainbow Dash?”
Applejack let out a huff. “Why? You heard how she insulted me like that Twilight? Let the stupid little foal throw her tantrum. Not mah fault she can’t handle the truth!” she said before signing another autograph and taking a picture with Scootaloo. “That’s right everypony, come and get yer picture with the greatest hero in Equestria, right here!”
Thanks to the fact she wasn’t wearing a costume, the white unicorn of the group was able to avoid being swarmed and made her way over to the pink Mare Do Well. Apparently, the sad demeanor of the third costumed pony was keeping all the others away. “Pinkie?” Rarity spoke up as she walked over to the party pony. “Are you alright?”
“She…she said…Rarity…why aren’t Dashie and me friends anymore?” Pinkie asked the unicorn with tears in her eyes.
Unable to come up with the answer herself on the spot, Rarity looked around for support, but found Applejack continuing to sign autographs. As for Twilight, she too caught up in talking to a bunch of other unicorns that were asking her for magic lessons on how to repair everything around town.
“Oh well, the spell is kind of complicated, so it’s not something just anypony can do. I guess if you look at it that way, I am pretty amazing… Okay, okay, really amazing,” Twilight said to the group of unicorns standing around her that were mostly foals.
Then she looked over to Applejack. “That’s right little sister, yer big sister’s a bone-E-fied here-row!” the farm pony said as another crowd of foals gathered around her to listen to how she stopped the cart. “It was a tough job, but Ah am the strongest, fastest, and best athlete in Equestria. Remember how Ah bring home all them blue ribbons every rodeo?”
Seeing as she wasn’t going to get any help, Rarity looked back to her friend and sighed. “Um, well…I’m sure she’s just…a little out of sorts. Perhaps she’s sick or something, Celestia knows I can be a real terror if I get a migraine.”
“R-Really?”
The unicorn nodded and tried to sound more sure of herself than she had before. “Really!”
Almost immediately, Pinkie perked up and practically exploded back into a joyful grin. “Oh good! I thought it was because we betrayed her trust and undermined her whole self-image by making her feel completely useless and unappreciated by the entire town and her friends before we laughed in her face when she came to us looking for a confidence boost!” she exclaimed, making Rarity stumble back in both shock and confusion. “But it’s just because she had a headache! That makes sooooooo much more sense, thanks Rarity!”
For her part, Rarity simply stared at the pink pony for a moment, trying to make sense of the rush of words that ran through her ears. “W-What?”
“What are we all just standing around for? We’ve got a parade to get to!” Pinkie shouted as she turned to the crowd. “It’s like a moving party, come on everypony!”
As the crowd picked up a delighted Applejack, a somewhat less delighted Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie on their shoulders and took off, Rarity noticed Fluttershy was still just standing…or flying in the air with a broken hearted look on her face.
“Rarity, she said…she told me…what she said…it…it was so mean!” the pegasus exclaimed before looking over at the unicorn with tearful eyes.
Seeing Fluttershy’s pain filled face, the unicorn felt the last bit of her control snap. She frowned, but not at Fluttershy. She frowned up at the space where Rainbow Dash had occupied a second before. “Yes it was, wasn’t it?” she grunted. Then, she forced herself to brighten up. “Come on, this parade is for you too remember?”
The yellow pegasus froze and trembled for a moment. “W-What?” Oh Rarity no, I…please don’t tell anypony I’m Mare Do Well too! I-I don’t want ponies looking at me like that!”
Rarity gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry dear, I wont.” Although, she more she thought about it…having everypony in town know about Fluttershy’s role as Mare Do Well would help the pegasus get over her crippling shyness.
“But wait...I know I saw a pegasus Mare Do Well too!” Scootaloo spoke up before she looked around for a minute, “and if it wasn’t Rainbow Dash then it had to be...Fluttershy!”
“W-WHAT?” the mare in question shrieked before a mob of pegasi descended on her.
“Oh my gosh that’s right, those girls do everything together! She had to be the pegasus!”
“Yeah! Come on guy, we can’t let our hero have the spotlight stolen from her,” another one of the flying ponies proclaimed before the yellow pegasus was hoisted up into the air.
For a moment Rarity wondered how she had been left in the alleyway if ‘all’ the girls were supposed to do everything together, but she sighed and let the other mares have their fame. She had gotten enough from all the custom costumes that every foal in town was ordering. Thanks to Mare Do Well, her off season was looking to be a bit more profitable than usual this year.
And if the idea became more popular… If I trademark the design of the costume and the character...oh my, this might turn out to be quite the win for me after all.
Rainbow Dash landed at her cloud home with a scowl on her face, feeling tears in her eyes threatening to form.
How the buck could they do that to me? The pegasus mentally shouted.
Not a real hero?
HER?
The fastest flyer in Equestria?
“Well what the buck do they know?” she shouted.
Twilight had to have been the one behind it all, Rainbow could see the bucking unicorn setting everything up so that the pegasus would have failed! I mean come on, Rainbow Dash thought to herself, I can buy all the stuff that happened in town, but the dam, the bucking dam that was miles away from Ponyville and she just happens to show up after it breaks from me touching it? Did Twilight think she was an idiot or something? I nearly drowned because of that stupid unicorn!
Applejack? How many times had she come to all of the others asking for help hauling apples, or just harvesting her own crops? The stupid earth pony couldn’t even run her own farm! And she’s calling me a fake? At least I can do what my cutie mark says I can!
Pinkie Pie going along with their scheme was…well, Rainbow Dash supposed she really didn’t know Pinkie all that well after all. The time she had seen the whacko playing with her rocks and that bag of flour made the pegasus shiver. Apparently, there was a backstabbing side to the mare along with her crazy and nutso one.
Rarity? Well, Rainbow Dash had seen her true colors the day she tried to steal the spotlight from the pegasus during the Young Fliers Competition. Rainbow knew Rarity was a snake…she just didn’t think the unicorn would have kept up with it after the pegasus had saved her life!
Fluttershy was…the idea that Fluttershy had helped them spit in her face made Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. All the others she could understand, accept, and toss aside like dirty laundry, but when Fluttershy had revealed that she had been in on it too…the pain in Rainbow Dash’s gut more than doubled.
And to top it off, there was what Fluttershy had said about Mare Do Well. “She really cares about other ponies.”
“And I don’t?” Rainbow grumbled. “Well you know what? Fine! Be that way! You’re right! I don’t care, I’ll never care about any of you girls again! Buck you girls, and buck this whole bucking town! And when they’re all going, ‘Oh save us Mare Do Well’ and you all buck up, I’M GOING TO BE THERE TO LAUGH IN YOUR STUPID FACES!”
A very interesting start, to be sure. I always hated that episode for its totally botched moral. It was a moral so bad that it made me sympathize and like Rainbow Dash - no easy feat, I assure you. I look forward to seeing how this ends.
Feels like you're gutting their characters for the sake of this story. It's an OOC-fest; worse than the episode in question.
The really interesting thing about all of this is comparing it to Boast Busters....where we learn that Twlight is terrified out of her tiny mind of being thought of as having a swelled head. Somewhere or other, she got it into her head that people who aren't self-effacing doormats are vermin and it's screwing her up really good.
THANK YOU!!! YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY!!! Just don't go along making RD the pony who realizes she did something wrong when obviously she did NOTHING!
If you're seeing ass, you're either lucky, or you have a problem.
Might want to take a look at the part of the sentence after the ellipses. It doesn't sound right when I read it, but It could just be me.
Quoting from my friend:
hi hi
Somewhat more plausible than the canon ending. Here's a friendship report for Twilight Sparkle. "Giving people a taste of their own medicine is not a friendly thing to do. Two wrongs don't make a right."
One thing that always bugged me about the Mysterious Mare Do Well, that doesn't often get talked about, is that Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Applejack put ponies in a greater degree of danger by limiting themselves to appearing one at a time. Working together at the same time would have maximized their chances of saving the day, but upstaging Rainbow Dash was more important to them.
4795268
I didn't like that episode either, to be honest. Found it quite screwed up. Yes, she needed a dose of humility, but the others went way too far, by a long shot. Even when you have a "friendship lesson" to impart, there are still lines.
Being the Element Bearer of Loyalty as she is, Rainbow Dash would likely see this as a colossal betrayal. It would be like lying to Applejack if she found out. Not good, and very likely to seriously damage your friendship with the mare in question. I can see her outrage being especially strong towards Fluttershy.
Ponies seem to value friendship more than anything else, so already Rainbow Dash has proverbially gut-punched the rest of the Mane Six. Fluttershy and Rarity are in shock because of it, Applejack is brushing it off, Pinkie is in denial, and Twilight is plotting another "lesson" for the future, which can only make things even worse.
4797037
Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever.
4797063 Indeed it is, and the rest of the M6 may well be about to learn that the hard way. I can understand the need in heroes for grace and humility, but they went too far, and honestly? I feel Faust and her fellow creators just sort of brushed how such a thing would go in real life under the rug to spread the cockeyed message they wanted.
4796967
What's funny is many years later...ie now that they have the book Elements of Harmony book out to buy I went and got it. It has the lessons for EVERY episode, even the stuff they didn't have a letter scene for...
So of course I went to MDW, wanting to know just what the hell Rainbow actually wrote at the end and...they didn't have anything by Rainbow Dash, just Twilight's quote about how you should be humble.
Two years later, and they still can't BS their way through it.
Well, this was a timely story.
i543.photobucket.com/albums/gg446/schrei_photo/Pokemon/Slowpoke.jpg
4797194
It's never too late to write a good story, or to raise a point.
4797102
Embarrassing and insulting, if you ask me.
I believe that should be HAS gotten into you
Anyway,I'm liking this story so far. Can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter
Will this be continued?
I hope.
I've ripped on this episode a few times in my own stories. Arthur (from "the Audience") pretty much jabs the mane 6 in a sore spot over it, in passing, as he's lambasting them over Trixie . And it's the cause of a major blowup with Spitfire in "the Great Alicorn Hunt." This episode was one of the worst in the show's four seasons, precisely because it fails the lesson so hard--- it's not about grace and humbleness, it's about how girls can be backstabbing bitches when they think someone in their clique is getting "uppity." They should have called the episode "Welcome to the Crab Bucket."
I do say, writing wise, you DO have them lapping up the attention pretty quick not ten seconds after criticizing Dash for doing the same thing. especially after Applejack actively resisted being dragged in front of a camera with Dash...They should have at least blushed a bit when they realized what they were doing, or had a few moments of awkwardness when they realized they were the center of everyone's attention.
In Dash's shoes I would have pointed out what a bunch of egomaniacs THEY all were. I would have brought up how Applejack accepted that huge trophy from the town after stopping the stampede... and explicitly mentioned Rarity's own spotlight hogging at the airshow... And I might have implied that Pinkie Pie ran off Gilda because she was jealous of all the attention she was taking away from Pinkie... and I would have called Twilight a bossy bitch who'd been climbing up on a pedestal from day one to order everyone in Ponyville around, just because she was Celestia's student.... and I would have twisted the knife with Fluttershy and pointed out that Fluttershy wouldn't have done to a cockroach what she just did to her best friend-- stabbed her in the back.
Now the tragedy tag--- are you intending for them to end it all badly? If so, how badly?
Oh damn. I'm liking how this alternate ending is going so far. Please, do continue.
~ Super-Brony12
Oh, can you smell the hypocrisy floating in the air? I'm pretty sure I read a story similar to this awhile back.
Man, Applejack was such a bitch in this chapter, make's me feel more sorry for Rainbow Dash.
This story was alright, but who's side am I supposed to be on? Rainbow's right? Then why was she acting like a huge jerk to the Mane 6? Yeah what they did was horrible, but all the stuff RD said had nothing to do with the Mare Do Well incident. Why didn't she tell AJ off for being so dirty and dishonest, or Fluttershy for being so awful instead of kind? Also Applejack and Twilight were very OOC when they started drinking in all that attention.
This is a very nice concept. Definitely gonna keep track of this, seeing as stories like this are always so amusing, but this one seems excellent to me. I also totally agree that the ending to the episode this is based off of is total crap. After all, it's a lot easier to stay humble and not boast or anything of the like when no one knows who you are. Of course there'll be autographs and fans and all that madness, Rainbow was going around saving lives just as herself, and since the grateful ponies have someone to give their thanks to, well, I'm sure you see what I'm getting at. Honestly I would say the biggest stretch of the imagination here is that ponies found out who MDW is, and had a realistic reaction. Once that happens, nothing else is really too hard to believe. It's perfectly reasonable for Rainbow to be mad, I would say not so mad on the upstage part, cause that would imply that she was only being a hero cause she liked the attention, but more mad at the fact that they are belittling her heroic deeds. After all, without Rainbow's actions, lives could have been lost, to even insinuate that her boasting about it deprives her of the moniker of hero is ridiculous. So if you are going to spin this tale, I would think it's best to focus on the rest of the main 6 shrugging off Rainbow's feats of heroism cause of some boasting as the source of her anger, as well as how they will go down the same road now that they are getting the attention, and focus less on the whole 'stealing the spotlight' angle. After all if you can save a life but choose not to just because you wouldn't be praised for it you're just the lowest level of scum sucking attention whore there is. Rainbow liked the attention, it isn't the reason she chose to act.
Gonna keep coming back for the backstabbing, god knows we've been there at least once.
4797333
I usually go for a logical progression of events in all my stories so don't expect anything WAY out there or major curve balls, but the natural progression of events is going to be plenty bad.
and the events are a little rushed because trying not to make this go at the snails pace that some of my other fics travel in story chronologically. It's a road I'm trying to avoid this time around.
And you expect a logical argument from RD when she's that hurt and furious? If you really think about it, the girls did a lot more than just stealing her thunder and the way she tore into AJ and Twi was a direct result of that...which Dash will flat-out explain to Derpy come next chapter, but until then...feel free to speculate.
And that's where Rainbow Dastardly came from.
very interesting start, I can't wait to see where this goes.
"come and get yer picture with the greatest hero in Equestria, right here!”
Oh..my god....The hypocrisy...its just staggering.
4797679
Hey she's already the greatest athlete, rodeo pony, cider maker aaaaaaaand um...farmer in Equestria, what's one more title?
4797713 Soooo, was making them hypocrites intentional in order to get the audience all rilled up? Cause if so: Well done :D.
4797527 Next chapter? Good to know one's coming. Yeah, her actions will be emotionally charged for some time yet, especially being the mare she is. I'm more stable than her, and I likely would have punched somebody.
Like others, I HATED the Mare Do Well episode. So it gives me no small amount of joy to see Rainbow go off on the others. Then, to see Twilight and Applejack being such hypocrites... Well, this is going to seriously come back to bite them on the plot. Looking forward to next chapter!
If this end up being Half as interning as it looks you have my approval.
The mare-do-well and Turtle episodes were stains on Dash's character and season 2.
As frustrating as I find the actual episode, what really bugs me is when writers go too far to try and gloss over how many ponies Rainbow almost got killed through her recklessness.
Mare Do Well was a good episode.
Rainbow Dash deserved worse.
They don't brag in the middle of a bloody rescue, which is exactly what RD was doing.
Rainbow Dash's grandstanding nearly got ponies killed and would have if Mare-Do-Well hadn't stepped in, spending more time SAVING ponies than having RD listen to the sound of her own voice THEN saving them. She does NOT get excuses for that. 'Hero don't brag' DURING a rescue when they should be rescuing instead of bragging. RD broke that rule.
4797945
I wouldn't say she deserved worse. Her friends went out of their way to rescue ponies that RD grandstanding was putting in MORE danger. Rainbow Dash got what she needed, a slap in the face to realize that she was doing her hero bid FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS, otherwise she wouldn't have been blabbing to ponies BEFORE saving them.
4798065 Nobody here is denying she needed a lesson in humility, but I still believe her friends went beyond the pale in how they went about things. If they were her friends they would openly confront her, or at least try to before deciding they had to destroy and humiliate her in public.
Her friends went too far, and she would have been right to be furious in response. That she just went along with it is truly inexplicable. They betrayed her trust by not respecting her as a friend even when seeking to impart the important lesson behind their actions.
Besides which, as the author has said, anger has made her less than rational about this.
4798093
They did try. She didn't listen. Not to mention RD is the most stubborn and thick headed pony there is when she's on an ego-high.
4798118 I personally believe they did not try hard enough, and some folks seem to agree.
In any case, I'll just keep watching this story.
4798118
Completely correct. I hate people whining and complaining about this episode. It's like they have no social experience at all. Rainbow Dash is a little on the slow/oblivious side, and she's too wrapped up in her egotistical mask she uses to hide away her more sensitive self. To the detriment of those around her.
If any of you nay-sayers kissing the ground Dash walks on think you know what you're talking about, then why not think about it from her friends' perspectives instead of just "Oh no poor Dash, they weren't super-super nice to her in every conceivable way!" Even considering Dash is pretty harsh with them (regarding Fluttershy being useless during the dragon episode as an example), if you're MOLLYCODDLING your friends, you're only hurting them! If this is you, you are a /bad friend/.
But let's look at what her friends see. Rainbow Dash is incredibly egotistical, and with each act she is praised for, only becomes more and more big-headed. How long before someone she's trying to 'save' for the fame gets hurt or worse because she's posing for the camera or waiting until the last second for suspense? We could see that when she was looking around for ponies to save - she was becoming ADDICTED to the praise. This is dangerous for her, and dangerous for her friends, and dangerous for the ponies she'd be going to help. From a psychological point of view, Dash was headed for a very, very dark place.
Now, as for those of you who support this whole idea that Dash was mistreated - how many of you get out of your basements? How many of you have dealt with people like Dash before? They DO NOT LISTEN. You can sit them down, list out the issues, try to talk to them about what they're doing and where it will go - and they will get defensive and walk out unless they get angry and argue with you about it. The best way to prevent the angry argument? Supply that information in a nearly self-degrading submissive fashion, which will cause them to dismiss it. Yes folks, that's right, being too nice about something doesn't accomplish much most of the time! You have to -make- them see what they're doing is wrong, you have to show them what they're doing to themselves, and what they're doing to their friends, the people who care about them. It's called... drumroll please... AN INTERVENTION!
Now, hopefully many of you know what this word is and what it entails in context. If you do, you should know this isn't some new concept they've used with Dash here. They did not harm her, they did not break her, they did not traumatize her. All they did was keep the drug out of her reach until they could get a chance to talk to her where she was vulnerable enough to actually listen instead of blow them off. The same way you do for any loved one who is addicted to something. Amazing! It's almost like this sort of thing happens between people who care about each other many times a day all over the world! Where it's not considered horrible or 'too far' at all! Shocking revelations! I wonder how many of you are actually ignoring these facts just so you can continue complaining about how your Little Dashie was mistreated.
Nothing in this episode was messed up. Dash was going overboard. Dash was going too far. Dash would have wound up getting someone or herself seriously injured eventually. Or, hey - maybe the public would have just stopped caring about her eventually. Even heroes only get a little time in the spotlight, folks. Then they get dumped back in the shadows and forgotten. How would Dash have handled that, do you think? Her friends saved her in more ways than one, and they did it in a way that did not overly bother or agitate her. They were pretty darned clever and nice about teaching her the meaning of humility. Normally we have to learn this the HARD WAY, and not all of us are lucky enough to have people there to pick us back up and dust us off after we fall. She not only had that, she had friends willing to spare her that pain. This is a strong, loving bond. Not some tyrannical group of jealous people trying to drag Dash down, like you all seem to see and what I hear every time someone mentions this episode.
Hell, even the the show's writing alludes to this. Lightning Dust's entire /existence/ is to show that "This is what Rainbow Dash would have been, if her friends hadn't shown her the light." An overly-cocky, extremely arrogant and egotistical sociopath who only cares for her own success and not about her peers. That was Lightning Dust. She got Rainbow injured, could have potentially injured all their classmates, and might have wound up killing the rest of the Elements of Harmony. That could have very easily been Dash if not for Mare Do Well. And remember, given Dash's character up until that episode, and especially riding the ego-high from swimming in praise and adoration, she would not have listened to just... talk. Especially considering that even these days she doesn't really like to bother slowing down to listen, as it is. When they say "Fame is a drug", that's not just a saying. It's a fact, a brain chemistry fact. If any of you have had to stage interventions like I've had to, you know there's no comfortable little chat to fix things. You have to make them pay attention and see what they're doing to themselves.
Which they did. And then Rainbow Dash realized she was doing the wrong thing. And then Rainbow Dash grew as a person because of it, and became -better-. The means to this positive end were nicer than what we have to accomplish in real life with real people, and also justified by seeing that Dash became somewhat wiser and more level-headed because of it. Everything the girls did in that episode helped Rainbow Dash, it did not hurt her.
The major problem you people have is you see Dash acting out and think it's good, and don't realize you think that way because it's entertaining to see her doing so. If you're going to try and say 'there's more than just what we were shown, Dash was totally mistreated', then at least keep your mouths shut unless you understand how extrapolation works. Because that isn't even an opinion - it's just factually wrong on all accounts, by both canon and logical deduction. Remember folks, just because she's flashy and fun and enjoyable doesn't mean she's in the right!
Nothing against this story, it's always fine to explore different avenues when writing. My problem lies solely with you people in the comments screeching and being over-protective of Rainbow Dash, acting like she was some sweet baby angel and the other girls were horrible little monsters. When it was quite the other way around in all respects. Bottom line, her friends saved her from what could have been a terrible future. How she compared to Lightning Dust, and even later on to Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts, shows that she matured from what she -was going to become- if she had stayed that way. Due to the lesson she learned from Mare Do Well, she taught the Wonderbolts an equally valuable lesson and that's how she got her key. That's right folks! Dash getting a lesson in humility from Mare Do Well saved Equestria!
If you don't like logic slapping you out of your frothing waifu-trances, I don't care. But there it is. Everything I've said is either completely true, or through studied deduction eminently plausible. Exeunt.
4798065
You mean a young pegasus with zero training(at the time) and low emotional maturity made mistakes?
Also, I just rewatched the episode. First rescue? She was shy and tried to be modest. Second rescue? Child was safe before she posed for the cameras(and here is where the others explicitly start complaining about her arrogance). Third rescue? She takes a moment to spout her catchphrase and then saves the elder ponies. Given her speed, she had plenty of time(though she should've saved them first, true). Now her ego is really being fed by the locals and this is the point where her 'friends' quite clearly decide to start up the Mare-do Well crap.
And oddly? The Mare-do-Well persona was irrelevant to actually solving the problems. The only reason for Mare-do-Well was to allow the others to play place swapping shenanigans to help beat on Rainbow's ego. The lesson they wanted to teach could have been much more easily demonstrated by them doing it openly and honestly. You know, teach by example. Live the change you want. Though I wonder how long it'd take for their own egos to start bloating. It's easy to act humble when you hide under a mask Of course, actually talking to her first would've been the sensible option.
Furthermore, your claim that Rainbow put ponies in more danger is just silly. They were in the same amount of danger they would've been had Rainbow been on the other side of the world. The worst she did was annoy Granny Apple, after her self esteem took several kicks to the metaphorical nuts. The crises that popped up? Other than the balloonist, where she made a mistake, she did the best she could with what she had available.
Anyways, the point for most people who hate the episode generally is: While Rainbow may be an arrogant egotistical douche with her head so far up her own ass she's practically a klein pony*, the entire Mare-do-Well thing was fucking stupid and a horrible way to handle... whatever the hell they were trying to handle. The entire episode is just pointless. Act like a hero? Rainbow does act like a hero. Being a hero requires you perform heroic actions. Modesty is optional.
*Applejack also suffers from Klein Pony Syndrome.
Uck. Another Mare Do Well fix fic? I thought these went the way of the dodo when A Canterlot Wedding gave all the authors another way to unload their
filibusteropinion on how shitty the episode wasplot.4798321
People read and write what they want. He wants to cover the Mare-do-Well episode again? It's his time to spend. You have your own time, which you can spend reading whatever floats your boat.
If theres room for a story about Iron Will wrapping his dick with barbed wire and going on a pedo-necro-pyro philia rape rampage, then theres room for someone to do Mare-do-Well again. And seriously, there is a story on here about Iron Will raping fillies to death with a dick covered in barbed wire. I'm unsure whether his dick, the fillies or both were on fire, as I decided to entertain myself elsewhere on the site.
Also, Inigo Montoya wants you to read filibuster
I bet she'll refuse to do weather duties
4798396 Honestly I'm expecting her to just move away, and then slowly but, surely when everyone wonders where Dash went, they find she died somewhere because she was trying NOT to be a hero and got attacked for it.
Or you know something else horrible that fucks EVERYTHING UP
I look forward to seeing Rainbow Dash's 'friends' PAY...
RAMBOW DASH! (Alt. FIc)
(Part One! Plz give likes and upboats, iz my first mini fic :) )
And with a whip of her righteoushoof, Rambow Dash pulled out a M249. fully loaded and ready to kill some commies backstabbing dweebs, and took aim at useless background pony before her.
"How do you like these apples!" Rambow dash exclaimed randomly but badassly and sexyly, causing mares in the crowd to swoon. The swooning could have been from the gun, but that's not improtant.
With a righteous scream, Rambo Dash let loose hell upon her emenies and showered them in bullets. FLuttershy was the first to go, with bullets digging into her skull and her chest, a few ripping off her wings and turning them into nothing but a red mist. Twilight and Applejack met with a terrible fate, as bullets ripped them apart bit by bit, as limbs flew and ponies screamed.
With three down that left the feeling Rarity and a missing Pinkie. With a flap of her wings, Rambo Dash took to the skies and quickly caught sight of the fashionista running towards her boutique. With a rainbow flash, Dashie quickly got into the mares' path, stopping rarity dead in her tracks.
"Darling, please have mercy darling!" rarity said all fancy like!
"not today!" Rainbow replied!
Turning the marshmallow with a hoof, Rambo Dashie shove the gun up Rarity's gaping lovehole!
"peepare to literally be fucked!"
BAM BAM BAM!
All it took was three shots to literally reduce the unicorns organs to mush.
"Now must kill pinks and spick!"
(To be continued!)
I actselly thought the Mare-Do-Well episode was, ok. Though in honesty, I did felt the ending was too child-friendly and unrealistic that, I would figure Rainbow Dash would be slightly more pissed at her friends in question for pulling the stunt. Even if Fanfics aren't canon, this at least does offer a realistic sense of what should've happened.
4796319
>Over fifteen ponies would have died if Dash had continued on her merry way, including Dash herself.
I mean, I know the Dash-fanboying is strong with these ones, but come on. Dash's friends saved her sorry, abusive ass three times in this episode. If anything, you Dash fanboys should be thanking them for it.