Page 1074 - Prep Talk

This is another one of those moments where, as a viewer, the sudden Rainbow Dash pep talk about friendship struck me as a little odd and sudden. I never really bought that Rainbow Dash of all ponies was really passionate about friendship. Yet from the writer’s side, I can find an angle where it makes a bit more sense.

Rainbow Dash/‘s player at this point doesn’t really fully understand or internalize the importance of friendship / roleplaying, but she knows it’s gotten them this far. When the team is down and facing incredible odds, the best thing she can think of to boost morale is a team coach pep talk. So of course she’ll randomly evangelize on the subject a bit, because she knows that’s what makes this group special and binds it together, gives it strength. If this were a group of Wonderbolts she was partied up with, this would sound a little different.

In my interpretation, both in show and in comic, Rainbow Dash has a greater grasp of situational context than she lets on. She would just prefer the context was almost always “Rainbow Dash is great.”

Rainbow Dash: But what if we get into…
Twilight Sparkle: Are all of my powers just…
Applejack: Is he gonna be able to…
DM: Alright, let me head off some concerns. Twilight, roll me an Arcana check.
Twilight Sparkle: Without my horn??
DM: For knowledge.
Twilight Sparkle: Fine… <roll> 26.
DM: You know that a pony’s magic has a way of reasserting itself over extended periods of time. Even Discord can’t keep your horns and wings away forever.
Discord GM: That would be boring, anyway.
Rarity: So… chances are we won’t see much combat in the maze.
Rainbow Dash: Hey! That means we got the edge in there!
Pinkie Pie: Won’t you miss the combat?
Rainbow Dash: I’m just saying, we’ve been playing together long enough to know our strengths. And there’s one area where we definitely excel.
Fluttershy: You mean… roleplaying?
Rainbow Dash: Exactly! If Discord’s taking away our powers so he can throw a bunch of mind games at us, then he picked the wrong group of girly magical horses. We beat all of Nightmare Moon’s challenges by being weirdly awesome. All we gotta do is do that again!
Discord GM: Hmhmhmm…
DM: Quiet, you.