Dash, to me there are six things that make heroes who they are. Unity to bind relationships, allegiance to show how loyal you really are, honor to put you on the right path, compassion to offer sympathy to those who are less fortunate, wisdom to know right from wrong and courage to help you in your darkest hour. Those are the merits of a true hero. Heroes are never ones who wish for recognition, fame or glory, they are selfless, honorable and compassionate souls who refuse to stand by and watch people suffer. That’s what a hero is all about.

On the end, all they people under me fucked… Something…  
The end.

Oh shut up. They ended the discussion hours ago. You’re not helping at all.

This drawing was made BEFORE the MDDW, so why can’t you Fuckers stay on topic, do you always have to bring this shit up?

I don’t know what happened, Dash, but you’re coming inside right now. I don’t want to see the best pony being sad. Get inside, there’s a warm bath waiting for you.

Cant fucking wait for Season 3. I for one am kind of excited for a pilot that doesn’t really involve a huge crisis. I’m calling it now: Troll-faced villain pony isn’t a bad guy at all, and just looks freaky.

@Glitch  
I’m hoping for them to be like the Twinkle Eyed ponies of G1

God, I hope not.
 
If we do, let’s just put a link to this page so we both go “Oh yeah, we did this already.”
 
So…  
…  
Is anyone else exited about season three?  
I wonder if the crystal ponies are actually crystal, or if that’s just their name.

…inb4 we end up having this same discussion a month from now

AND THEN THEY ALL FUCKED
 
THE END

@RandomFanguy:  
I’m trying, but this computer is too small for me to get through.
 
@Dumb Rock:  
Uh…

Turns on camera
 
There’s always room for more… intimate stuff.

V Can’t you two just hug and make up already.

@Impious: That’s all I was trying to say, and I’m sorry it kinda got out of hand. I really have trouble with inflection behind a computer, so if I offended anyone, I’m sorry about that.

@Dumb Rock: That’s exactly it, really. Those two points are exactly it.

I read it. Pretty well-put, but… still. It would have all made perfect sense if one of them had thrown a “Dash, don’t you think your ego is getting a little out of hoof?” out there. Dash isn’t a bad pony, at the very least she would have mulled over it for about two seconds before saying something like “Nah, fuck that!” Just seems kind of callous to me. But, a lot less cold now that you’ve put it out there. Still cold, but it’s better than “barren, heartless wasteland untouched by the sun” cold.

Oh, and sorry at typewriterpony, I used some of your points, and sorry to anyone I might have offended. Come back. It’s lonely here.

Maybe they just didn’t have enough screentime to show them trying to talk to RD. Or them being her closest friends knew right away that a talk wouldn’t work.

Damn it, this was resolved before I could sound smart and finally back it up. NO~! Jesus, my fingers.

Dear God, my finger hurt. I bet no one will read this. Ow. Seriously, ow.

@CronoM: I really wish you would develop that idea.
 
I honestly never thought of Rainbow Dash as acting like a jerk at any time in that episode. My rationale was even more cemented after watching the VanaCast (brony commentary) of that episode with a guest commentator, “Dr. Awesome” Hearing just the virulent, disgusting rage of his “character” was really upsetting but insightful to take note at how others would view the Mare-do-Well episode especially. That there are people who simply loathe Rainbow Dash and misunderstand and amazing a character she is.
 
To gripe that the girls were being hypocritical is a weak argument. The girls weren’t going around town singing and proclaiming Mare-do-Well’s praises. They pointed out examples of what they had done while in-costume and that Mare-do-Well never hung around very long for more cheers than she got. It was only that single celebration hosted by the Mayor that Mare-do-Well appeared for anything that did not directly relate to saving ponies. Dash on the other hand was holding conferences extolling her awesome feats, dancing around, and showing off that freaky-looking baby for everypony to see. She got her thanks every time, her celebrations, photos, her autograph demanded, even Spike as a Ghost Writer and she wanted an extra amount of congratulations? Things only started going downhill when Dash became concerned for her recognition rather than even the thanks. You know, that thing you get after saving a pony’s life to show her effort was appreciated? When she’s not needed, she’s not needed. No danger, no hero needed. Thus, it becomes a sad affair to resort to pushing Granny Smith around or mowing the lawn or being unable to open a jar. Yet she expected everypony to pay attention to her for even that.
 
The point of the girls being disguised isn’t because they have to be “outside the law” as attributed in an infinite number of superhero comics and movies. It’s because there needed to be a pony that can perform on par with Dash. And the thing is, there simply isn’t any one pony that could stand up to the awesomeness that is Rainbow Dash. In fact, it took the combination of Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight to rescue ponies whereas Rainbow Dash, before she began to be sidetracked by the attention she was getting, was doing everything herself!
 
The fact that it took three ponies to match Rainbow Dash in ability, speed and strength within the guise of a single hero means that there’s no point in her being around, much less friends with anypony for that matter.
 
My opinion isn’t simply a claim that I feel I’m entitled to without criticism but based on factual evidence from the show.
 
As for Rainbow Dash, I feel that just as many people who like/love/adore her had viewed her behavior just as negatively (as in the level of negativity) as those who don’t enjoy her character at all. Let me explain.
 
First, when Dash was clearly dismayed about how the girls were actually Mare-do-Well
 
“I don’t understand…Why!? Don’t you want me to be a hero?”
 
So her concern was with how Mare-do-Well was stealing her thunder. But look back on the episode to those times that Dash’s thunder was being stolen; the pony in the balloon was saved after Dash took more time to sign autographs than to immediately save somepony in danger; with the runaway tour carriage, Dash spent a good 12 seconds on her catchphrase then realized that it was way harder to stop than she thought; at the construction site, by this point Dash was more concerned with being competitive with Mare-do-Well than her duty as a hero.
 
She’s upset that everypony is starting to celebrate the masked charlatan hero. So she confuses the thanks she gets for her actions (saving the filly in the well, saving the old ponies on the balcony, saving the freaky baby-thing) for the crowd of ponies that followed her to the conferences when she would re-tell her heroic actions ad nauseum, get her pictures taken and signing autographs
 
So back to the big reveal. At the point where Dash realizes that her friends were gallivanting as Mare-do-Well
 
“I don’t understand…Why!? Don’t you want me to be a hero?”
 
“Of course we want you to be a hero!”  
“But a REAL hero doesn’t brag!”
 
Of course, with that wink of hers, I don’t doubt most people saw that as
 
Troll face: “But a REAL hero doesn’t brag!”
 
So let’s look at the instance of the girls extolling Mare-do-Wells feats:
 
We’re at Sugarcube Corner, and the girls are sitting about, with Dash frustrated by Mare-do-Well. Each of them mentioning instances of their own contributions to the charlatan masked hero, when AJ mentions
 
:iconapplejacktrollplz::iconsaysplz:AND she MODEST and HUMBLE. She let’s her ACTIONS speak for themselves. Gotta admire that!
 
So how does Dash respond? Angrily of course. She’s concerned about how Mare-do-Well is stealing her thunder. That the last few instances where Dash was unable to continue her heroic business was somehow stopped by the direct action of the other pony. Which they weren’t. Never mind how Dash, when all attention was on her, never let an opportunity pass, outside of directly saving somepony, to get ponies to cheer for her. But with another pony doing good deeds, its not the fact that Dash wasn’t keeping her “eye on the ball” but somehow its all Mare-do-Well’s fault.
 
As for AJ talking about modesty? Well with Mare-do-Well, when under the mask, she never stayed longer than giving a wave to the ponies thanking her before she rushed off. She only appeared outside of helping ponies to that single festival held by the Mayor. Dash got her big celebrations during the heyday of her feats. She was “left alone” for the sole fact that she simply hadn’t done anything amazing lately. Not that ponies didn’t like her or found her boasting acrid.
 
So Dash chases Mare-do-Well all through the alleys of Poneyville until they’re somewhat secluded from the raucous crowds and she catches Pinkie Pie. They explain how, while Dash had been resucing ponies left and right by herself, it took Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight TOGETHER to do the same thing (poor Fluttershy, she simply wanted to participate, having nothing to really contribute except unintentionally rubbing salt into Dash’s bruised ego. How the writers didn’t realize that’s how it could interpreted, I can’t defend.)
 
After taking the time to think back on her actions, which were focused on grabbing attention and not on performing heroic deeds, Dash was STRONG enough to admit that she had gotten carried away.
 
Twilight: Celebrating your accomplishments is natural! But  
Applejack: Rubbin’ them in everypony’s face is not.
 
So let’s compare the damage.
 
Dash was all over Ponyville, talking about her feats, getting pictures taken, signing autographs. Ponies were avidly cheering for her. When there aren’t any emergencies happening in town, Dash pushes herself onto other ponies to recognize her awesome. So, her attitude in what she thought being a hero was, being cheered on for whatever she did, was obviously not the right way to go about her new calling.
 
Whereas the girls, in Sugarcube Corner, talked about Mare-do-Well’s feats as though they weren’t their own. In a painfully obvious way. AJ mentions how the masked pony is modest about her duties. She’s there to save the ponies, not for the attention.
 
Dash got the attention she deserved for her heroic actions, and then some. When the cheering stops coming for her, Dash declares herself “alone”. Not because she was being so boastful that ponies were pushed away by her “true self”. The episode “The Mysterious Mare-do-Well” was about Dash needing to tone it down. One could even compare it with a similar episode in Season 1, “Boast Busters” where Trixie appears talking how she’s the greatest thing in Equestria since sliced bread (paraphrasing).
 
It’s easy to see how boasting, vis a vis Trixie’s traveling show, is just annoying and won’t get you anything positive in the end. One shouldn’t be afraid to show their true self, a la Twilight, since that’s who they are and they aren’t simply exaggerating and wanting for attention when one does so. In “Mare-do-Well”, the fact that Rainbow Dash does in fact have amazing awesome abilities was being sidelined by her attention-seeking ways. And when you use your natural abilities solely for the attention, you’re gonna feel alone once everyone stops being interested.
 
The episode wasn’t an attack on Rainbow Dash in the least, nor should Dash’s fans feel that it was. I mean, Dash is able to understand what her friends were trying to do, that they weren’t simply gonna leave her because she was acting out of character. Nor did the girls really act at all spiteful or mean as some fans have thought they did. If you see hypocrisy in someone saying a masked person is humble while you’re actually that person, then there’s obviously misplaced concern about the method and no analysis on the intent or consequences.
 
Not to say “means justify the ends” but pointing out “hypocrisy” for not liking the girls is pretty weak. Given the circumstances and actions of all the ponies involved, I’d say that “Mare-do-Well” isn’t a terrible episode. It’s not outstanding, but it isn’t “regressive” of Dash’s character or deserving of all the vitriol it’s receiving. The girls saw what Dash was heading for and tried to curb her behavior because that’s what friends do. They don’t simply leave nor do they try to make you someone you’re not. They bring you back to who you really are.
 
Friendship isn’t “happiness”. It’s a bond that’s there in both good times and bad. It’s where you can be your true self and be secure that your friends will right you when you stray away from your true self. Dash is able to be loyal because first and foremost she understands her friends’ intentions even when their actions at first seem baffling. She’s able to see that the ponies she designates as her friends should act in her best interests. Which was why, back in “Griffon the Brushoff” Dash recognized that Gilda simply wasn’t the friend she thought she was.
 
If anything, Rainbow Dash’s sudden delusion of grandeur probably came about because nopony (outside of Scootaloo) had ever treated her like a superhero before. After learning her lesson, Dash simply keeps to being her regular, awesome self.
 
The series definitely has a great (if not huge) weight of expectation from its fans to keep up, and I’ve seen a lot of different views from fans across the spectrum on their thoughts about the second season versus the first. You see, there was a commentary video made on youtube for “Mysterious Mare-do-Well”. The guest commenter, “Dr. Awesome” (or as explained the character he was “playing”) was just so disgustingly hateful of Dash that it woke me up to how many people don’t really watch the show with a more critical eye.
 
Mare-do-Well’s first appearance happened when Dash was more concerned about signing autographs than immediately saving that balloon-riding-pony. Mare-do-Well then appeared when Dash was spending more time saying her “catchphrase” than immediately taking to task on stopping that tour cart. It’s obvious that Dash would have more of a chance to succeed if she were more focused on saving those ponies than running the whole superhero-schtick. For the collapsing construction site, Dash simply was unable to do everything by herself. The addition of Mare-do-Well was what saved ALL the ponies from any harm. The dam breaking? a direct result of Dash wanting to fix it herself rather than having a construction pony to do so.
 
And in all of those instances of Dash being “embarrassed” by Mare-do-Well? Not once did Mare-do-Well ever stick around to showboat or show off. Only once did she stay to accept the townponies’ thanks, and even there she never pushed others to praise her. While at Sugarcube Corner Dash had to sit through the other girls recall Mare-do-Well’s recent heroic actions…when did Dash ever pass the chance to tell others about her own feats?
 
The lesson of the episode is apt: It is one thing to be proud of your abilities and become excited of others’ praise, but it is another to be solely driven to get praise. Being unable to praise the abilities of others is an even worse affront, because you’re denying someone else their due thanks.
 
To have Dash become frustrated because she felt she deserved praise while denying it from anypony else, even if it was her own friends, is not only a poor characterization of the awesome future-Wonderbolt, but to say that she was angry because she wasn’t “being accepted” by her friends? The fact that the girls went after Dash shows they’re willing to stay with her despite her character. The fact that they were willing teach their friend a lesson, rather than just leave her shows how much they’re worried for Dash because what they saw was an extreme side of their friend.
 
To try to vindicate Dash from her faults by “coming in to save the girls” is just shallow and missing the entire point of not simply the episode, or the series but of friendship itself. Dash was no more a jerk than Rarity or Applejack in their respective episodes.
 
There’s loads of things wrong with not being able to take criticism and call it “not being accepted for who I am”. That’s a cop out.
 
Rainbow Dash thought her friends didn’t want her to “be a hero” at the reveal. Consider however, Dash’s acts of “heroism” especially when MDW shows up and its obvious that Dash was more focused on the attention than the saving of ponies (and that freaky-looking baby) Embarrassment WAS had for Dash, but she’s confident in her own abilities to know that she isn’t any less of a pony, and able to recognize that, yeah, she did get carried away. Dash isn’t defined by her element of Loyalty, but its her ability to trust in her friends’ intentions that she did not hate her friends for their actions nor become paranoid that they suddenly hated her because they deceived her.
 
Admitting that she “hated being alone” in the episode was a reference to the fact that nopony was foisting cheers and adulation without end which, if she was more modest about her rescuing, wouldn’t be as devastating because she’d appreciate the thanks she got. The other girls in the mane 6 sought to show this to Dash as MDW, who simply waved back before leaving and was later on given a single event attended by MDWs fans, unlike Dash who seemed to have one at every time she saved a pony.
 
Ultimately however, the episode was not any sort of attack on Rainbow Dash, because in order to be a competent enough superhero, it took the combination of Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight to do what the blue pegasus had been doing by herself.

And hey, Cronom, I like the word. It’s fun to say, rolls right off the tongue.
 
Seriously, try it.

I think it just boils down to our definition of right and wrong. It just doesn’t sit well with me that they skipped any attempt at talking to her and instead went straight to “make Dash look like a fucktard”. If that had been their last resort, then ok. Dash WAS going from “saving ponies because she cares” to “saving ponies because she likes the fame”. Doesn’t make the public humiliation bit any less ridiculous, but if nothing else works…
 
Whatever, po-ta-toe po-tah-toe.

Besides, what mature person uses the word fucktard anymore? Idiot denotes lack of intelligence, fucktard is just a straight up insult insinuating lack of maturity.