Rainbow Dash (Friendship is Magic)

Rainbow Dash was a mare from Cloudsdale, Equestria and resided in Ponyville through much of her adult life. The Element of Loyalty and a member of the famous Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash was a generally cool, but not calm nor collected individual with a big heart and a strong, if sometimes misguided, sense of justice.

History
Rainbow Dash was born in Cloudsdale and was the only child of Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles. In her childhood, she knew "The Girls", a circle of friends Windy Whistles was apart of, even though she seemed to be annoyed of them.

Prior to adopting Tank, Rainbow Dash lived alone in the Cloudominium. As a foal, she lived with her parents, but never had siblings. Her best friend growing was Fluttershy, who remained her closest friend until her old age, only rivaled by Applejack. Another early friend she had was the griffon Gilda, though as the two grew up in different countries, they only met on special occasions. The two would eventually have a falling out when Rainbow Dash discovered Gilda was secretly a bully, and though they maintained a bitter and estranged relationship, they both cared about one another deep down.

Rainbow Dash's first known job was being the weather captain at the Weather Factory in Cloudsdale. but was later given a job as a Wonderbolts Reservist, and later, a full blown Wonderbolt. After the founding of the School of Friendship, Dash worked as a professor at the establishment. In her older age, Dash was given a job as a member of the Friendship Council. Dash worked many small jobs over the course of her life. She briefly worked as a fruit sorter, actress, thief, and pirate

In her older age, Rainbow Dash may have started a romantic relationship with her friend,. What was known of her future is she lived a good, honest life and joined the Council of Friendship, an organization built of Twilight Sparkle's closest friends to help rue Equestria as one.

Personality
Rainbow Dash was defined by her loyalty, being the element of loyalty and all that came with it, such as bravery and a strong sense of togetherness, even upholding the title of the "Ambassador of Loyalty". In addition to her loyalty, Dash was equally defined by her ludicrous speed and just as ludicrous skills. With said speed and skills, came a degree of arrogance that couldn't be ignored, as Dash would often fish for compliments on her accomplishments or flaunt her abilities. Dash often referred to herself as "awesome" and indeed, Dash was described as being perhaps the coolest thing in the world with her cutie mark being made of speed, adrenaline and winning.

In addition to her loyalty and bravery, Dash was also hyper competitive, often converting innocent competitions to incredibly serious affairs, such as when she competed over the title of "Iron Pony" with and even resorted to cheating to earn said title. Though often a competer, Dash has proven herself to be a competent teacher as well, taking Scootaloo under her wing and being loved by her students at the School of Friendship.

Dash was incredibly selfless and kind-hearted, lending a helping hoof to friends and strangers alike, such as when she defended against  and tried to protect Quibble Pants from the various dangers they came across in their first adventure together. Despite her kindness however, Dash was susceptible to stereotyping, or at worst, full-blown racism, as she believed all Griffons to be evil, wicked creatures due to her experiences with Gilda. Despite this, Dash was also able to change her views, as she accepted that Griffons weren't cruel beings and accepted that bad ponies could change, as she did with Starlight Glimmer.

Dash was both hardworking and lazy, hard enough of a worker to be universally respected by her peers, both lazy enough to often be seen slouching on the job or frequently taking naps. In general, it appeared that Dash was hardworking when she was passionate about something, though noticeably less so when she wasn't. In addition, Dash could also be rather selfish, working hard to perform a task in order to receive something, even if that meant someone who was also competing wouldn't receive anything in return, such as when she pressured Twilight Sparkle into making her her +1 at the Grand Galloping Gala.

Appearances
Rainbow Dash was a cyan-colored pegasus with a spikey, rainbow colored main and long tail. Her eyes are a bright magenta color.

Inherent powers
Being a pegasus, Rainbow Dash has many inherent powers that unicorns and earth ponies lack. Aside from the obvious flight, she can also interact with clouds as if they were physical objects, something other ponies cannot do and can alter the weather.

Physicality
Dash is a master of all things physical and athletics. Her raw talent in flying is only matched by a few individuals, such as Lightning Dust, who is seemingly her equal in all areas aside from heart. Because of her impressive skills, she became a reserves member of the esteemed WonderBolts, Equestria's greatest. Perhaps the greatest testament to Dash's capabilities of a flyer is her ability to perform the Sonic Rainboom, a massive, explosion-like event that was seen across Equestria.

Beyond just her feats of skill, Dash is also simply very strong and very fast. While not quite as strong as Applejack, Dash has consistently been shown to nearly comparable. Her speed however is unmatched, as she's been shown to be fast enough to outpace lightning itself. Although rarely seen, Dash is also an accomplished combatant and martial arts, as she was capable of defeating several Changelings - all of whom were capable of mimicking the abilities of her and her friends - in hoof-to-hoof combat. Furthermore, she trained in martial arts.

In previous generations
Rainbow Dash first appeared in Generation 3, where she was portrayed by Venus Terzo in all English versions of the films, and Lauren Savir in the Hebrew versions. Her characterization in Generation 3 was that of a very feminine and mature mare, this stark contrast spawned memes and videos, often making fun of the line "Rainbow Dash always dresses in style".

Portrayal
Rainbow Dash is portrayed by Ashleigh Ball in most media, who will also voice her in My Little Pony: Pony Life.

In the play My Little Pony Musical, Rainbow Dash was portrayed by Vivienne Smith, a British actress who studied at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

In unlicensed media
In the MAD skit show, Rainbow Dash had her voice performed by Kath Soucie and Tara Strong, the former of which was a voice actor in the original My Little Pony cartoon series and the latter also performed Twilight Sparkle. As MAD was also dubbed in Latin American Spanish, her voice in that dub was portrayed by Gabriela Guzmán and Analiz Sánchez.

In the DEATH BATTLE web-series by Rooster Teeth, Dash was voiced by Erica Mendez, an actress most well known for her appearances in anime roles.

As a gay icon
Likely due to her tomboyish personality and rainbow coloring, Rainbow Dash became somewhat of a gay icon in the early days of the show, for both LGBT individuals and allies, to anti-LGBT organizations. As the years went on, the show writers began to play into this. In "The Last Problem", it was hinted that Rainbow Dash and Applejack began a relationship, which Big Jim later said was up to the viewers interpretation. In May of 2020, PopFunk released two LGBT-themed Rainbow Dash shirts, one of which had Rainbow Dash against the Pride Flag, while the other has her against a rainbow saying "Pride is Magic".

Possibly an early nod to this growing subculture around Rainbow Dash was seen in "A Canterlot Wedding", during the scene where Dash saves Fluttershy from a group of changelings, many fans reported to hearing a 'kiss' sound affect when the two embraced, as their faces briefly collided.