The 20% cooler Rainbow Dash learns an important lessons on what it means to be a part of a team, and that you just have to embrace your past.

Altius Volantis – Soaring Higher; Motto of the Wonderbolts

Rainbow Dash has been a beloved character from the beginning of the show with her ‘too cool for school’ attitude and awesome athletic skills, but this episode will prove that maybe that alone doesn’t always cut it as Rainbow Dash learns a very important lesson about being part of a team and what that really means.

Rainbow has been a reservist with The Wonderbolts for quite some time and has been anxiously waiting for her biggest dream to come true. Finally her day to shine has arrived when Spitfire comes to Ponyville to let Dash know that a spot had opened up, and that they would need Rainbow’s flying prowess for their event happening in 2 short days!

Packed up and ready to head to The Wonderbolt Academy to begin learning the routine, Spitfire advises her of the number 1 rule: Look to each side of the runway before crossing. Needless to say, the first day of practice Rainbow completely forgets rule number 1 and gets herself into quite a predicament now that her team calls her “Rainbow Crash”. Ah yes, the dreaded Rainbow Crash nickname that has been haunting Dash since foalhood. As the next two days continue, she just can’t seem to outdo her teammates to prove that she is not the crashing type. Everypony needs to understand that showing off isn’t a great way to build a team, nor to prove to your teammates that you are loyal and trustworthy to the overall cause.

Rainbow Dash represents the element of loyalty within the elements of harmony, which she has continuously proven to be the correct bearer of the mark. It seems that she is one of the ponies that is always learning about her cutie mark and what it truly means – the learning curve never truly ends, not even for the Mane 6. Rainbow feels she cracked the code when the rest of her pals remind her that she needs to stand out in her own way, but her interpretation isn’t what the others thought it would be.

Dash returns to the Wonderbolt Academy the day before the event and transforms herself into her best friends to prove that there are other great ways she can contribute to the Wonderbolts As expected, none of this impresses her new teammates. Rainbow feels she has come to an end until the fateful day of the event, where she asks Scootaloo to help her with a last ditch effort to make an amazing ending to the overall routine.

As fate would have it, another disastrous crash by Rainbow Dash happens at the Ponyville event which puts other ponies in danger. The moment of truth occurs when Spitfire explains that all of them have embarrassing nicknames among the group, because they all did something on their first days of being a Wonderbolt they weren’t proud of. Finally Rainbow Dash realizes that being Rainbow Crash isn’t a bad thing, because even the best fliers make mistakes. Most importantly, she needs to stop thinking of herself and consider the team and what their mission is together. Everypony has an important and special trait to bring to a group, and never should anypony feel as if they need to outdo themselves to prove they are better than anypony else. True friends will accept you for exactly who you are, and know that there will always be good and bad days. The past isn’t what defines a pony, it’s how you embrace that past to become an even better pony which determines how you will go through life.