"No single mortal has ever scaled the far ends of the world and lived to tell about it."
"So what?" I turned and looked up at her. "I'll be the first one." |
- Eljunbyro, "Things Grown" |
Rainbow Dash is the main character of the series, a cyan blue pegasus with rainbow-coloured mane and tail. She bears the Element of Loyalty. To quote the author's own description:
- Rainbow Dash is best pony. When the universe began, there was a giant simian paw extending her sleeping form out for all of the swirling galaxies to see. The proto-Oans witnessed this first via a portal through space and time, and that's how reality split, forming the heterogenous dust and gases that we would later call... the History Channel.
Differences from Canon[]
In the Austraeoh universe, everything until "Return of Harmony" is assumed to have happened exactly as it is depicted in the show. However, when Discord arrived, the stories diverged. Just like in the episode, when Discord takes away Rainbow's loyalty, she abandons her friends and flies frantically to Cloudsdale, believing that she has to save it. Twilight assembles the other four "discorded" Element-bearers and Spike in an attempt to use the Elements against Discord. Unlike in the cartoon, Rainbow's absence from the group causes the other 5 Elements of Harmony to backfire in some unexplained way, destroying themselves and their bearers in a magically-powered explosion. Rainbow returns to Ponyville to find her only friends reduced to ash, with Discord standing over them. Blinded with rage at him and at herself for abandoning them, she flies at top speed and turns him back to stone (possible because of Harmonic Acclimation), and then smashes his statue. Soon afterwards, however, she realizes that his ethereal chaotic essence still remained, just as it leeches itself into her body and corrupts her. Her actions also created a "chaos rift" in the middle of Ponyville, which Princess Celestia now has to devote most of her energy towards containing.
Another main point of the story is that Rainbow has held a secret love for Applejack. This is seen briefly in flashbacks throughout the series, such as during the sandstorm in Silvadel, or during Belle's early sequencing chapters in Eljunbyro. Her regret over losing Applejack strongly hinders her from forming close connections with other ponies along her journey.
Rainbow's eyes are consistently described as 'ruby', whether or not she is suffering a chaotic dizzy spell (see below) at the time (and during strong chaos attacks her eyes turn red-on-yellow like Discord's). Canonically her eyes are magenta, not red, so this may be a permanent effect of the chaos blast she suffered in Ponyville, an outward sign of her sickness, or else just the author's embellishment.
Chaos Influence[]
Luna explains the influence of chaos on Rainbow Dash in Eljunbyro ch. 68:
- "Thy life no longer functions like that of a given mortal, Rainbow Dash. Thou art bound to both chaos and harmony, two completely contradictory forces. Because thou hast only the one element of loyalty to defend thyself against Discord's essence, the energy at thy disposal is buckling constantly to that which empowered him. In a matter of months, thou wilt be dead"
The chaos inside of Rainbow manifests itself as intermittent dizzy spells accompanied by blackouts. When allowed to advance far enough, it also begins twisting her body into that of Discord, starting with yellow and red eyes, horns, brown fur, and so forth.
"The essence of Discord within you is best described as a door, and the dimension on the other side likes to flex its muscle from time to time."
This influence apparently grants her some form of immortality. After Rainbow was killed by Axan, the Ledomaritans put her corpse into a chaos metal sequencing chamber without her pendant. Inside the box she transformed into chaos monster, but was eventually revived by Belle and Pilate. A similar event occurred when the Noble Jury crashed into a Val Roan mountainside on top of Rainbow. The crash dislodged the pendant from her neck, which gave Rainbow the strength to move out from under the ship and un-break her body until Roarke could replace the pendant.
Ancestry[]
Throughout the series, Rainbow demonstrates the ability to see and manipulate things which no other pony can. This includes doors to the Machine World, the machinery itself, the Ruby Flame, and the controls within Stratopolis. Ostensibly, this ability is limited to the Ancient Pegasi, with one known exception being Commander Hurricane. On this note, Celestia says the following:
"The inner workings of Stratopolis—including those adorned with the symbols of 'Urohringr'—responded to you and only you. That said, it stands to reason that they responded in a like manner to Commander Hurricane as well."
"Right. And just what are you getting at?"
- "Simply that I do not think that all of the pegasi of whom we speak about actually died out"[1]
The theory that Rainbow Dash shares common ancestry with Commander Hurricane is supported by the fact that both of them have rainbow-colored manes, as well as the similarities between Rainbow and the Valkyrie known to the culture of Durandana. Whether this means that both pegasi are descended from the ancients, the so-called "Angels" that are known to The Herald, is still unknown, but certainly suggested by the frequent rainbow motif found in Heraldite symbols and artifacts.
Before Nevlamas' death, she cries out "She's one of them, Axan. A phantom of the betrayer'sssss blood!"[2], which seems to imply that Rainbow is of the direct bloodline of the Ancient Pegasi.