[OOC: Application]
Series: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Series' Medium: Western animation (a-ni-mated using Flash! PinkaWHEE! Scootaloo!)
Character: Rainbow Dash
Age: Not stated in canon. She is demonstrably young in the way she thinks and behaves, but she is also fully grown for a pony, she does not attend school, and she has a job in weather management. In human equivalences, I would say that puts her in her mid-to-late teens at the youngest and her very early twenties at the oldest. On Institute documents, she will be listed as 17.
Sex/Gender: Female
Canon Role: One of the six "mane" characters. The most tomboyish of the bunch and the most athletic (tied maybe with Applejack). One of the two pegasi of the group.
"Real" Name: Corrie Dickens
History:
We don't know much about Rainbow Dash's childhood; we don't know who her parents are, if she has any siblings, or how she came to live in the town of Ponyville. The one thing we know for sure is that she went to Junior Speedsters Flight Camp in her hometown of Cloudsdale as a filly. During the summer(s) at camp, she met two of her longest-standing friends: a brash griffon named Gilda and a shy pegasus named Fluttershy. Rainbow and Gilda in particular were best friends; they hung out all the time, challenging each other to races, showing off tricks to one another, and just generally being too cool for school.
They focused so much on being cool, in fact, that Rainbow Dash was not the best flight student. There were two or three young colts at camp who made fun of her and called her "Rainbow Crash", presumably because she was often unfocused and crashed into things while flying. One of these colts would later make a jab that flight school (it's not clear whether this is the same thing as flight camp or not) "had too many rules and not enough naptimes" for Rainbow. She may or may not have been kicked out eventually for her laziness and/or disregard of rules and conduct; she denies to this day that she was, but the bullying colts continued to tease her about it until very recently. Assuming Rainbow Dash is telling the truth, she likely left camp/school due to bullying and/or the restrictions she was teased about disliking.
Before all that, though, there was one day where Rainbow Dash caught wind of the bullies making fun of weak, gangly Fluttershy, and so she challenged the boys to a race to defend her friend's honour. The racers set off and accidentally knocked Fluttershy off a cloud (more on this later), but none of the racers noticed this, especially not Rainbow Dash, whose mind was being blown at that point. She had never flown so fast, never having tried a serious race before. As one of the bullies pulled ahead, she pushed herself harder than she ever had before, because as it turned out, the only thing she liked more than flying fast was winning.
Rainbow Dash knocked the last bully out of the race as she blew past. With her mind on nothing but first place, she rocketed down so fast that by the time she hit the last hoop, she burst through the sound barrier and created something that had only been spoken of in old mares' tales before that - a sonic rainboom (a massive shock wave of sound and colour). As she banked back up to the sky, she left a solid trail of rainbow light in her wake and made an arc over Cloudsdale. As she flew, a cutie mark symbol appeared on her flank: a cloud and a lightning bolt representing her talent for fast flying.
All the ponies cheered for her except the bullies, who still didn't believe the sonic rainboom had happened. It's not clear in canon why this is so, since they were at the event, so here is my speculation: both bullies were out of commission by the time the rainboom went off, and so they didn't see it. We see one bully got himself stuck in a cloud column early on; the other was knocked out of the way in a spiral towards the end, maybe far enough or hard enough to keep him from seeing anything around him clearly. Thus, the bullies didn't believe that Rainbow Dash had performed the sonic rainboom, no matter how much she insisted.
Friends of Rainbow's believed her about the rainboom, of course, which made her feel better, but it still became hard to deal with, because as it turned out, she could not repeat the feat. No matter how hard she tried, Rainbow would always end up psyching herself out and getting flung back before she could break the sound barrier again. Thus, the sonic rainboom faded back into legend with time.
There were ponies on the ground who did witness the sonic rainboom, however. Witnesses included Fluttershy (who saw it after being saved from falling to her death by a cloud of passing butterflies), Rarity (who saw it split a giant rock filled with gems), Twilight Sparkle (whose true magic ability was sparked by it during a school entrance exam), and Pinkie Pie (who was blown away by it as it spread over her rock farm). Applejack did not see the rainboom itself, but did see the rainbow arc seemingly pointing from Manehattan to Ponyville. In each case, the sight and effects of the rainboom caused each pony to earn her cutie mark in some way. This event would be an important forerunner to the ties that would form between these six ponies once they reached young adulthood.
As said earlier, Rainbow Dash eventually left flight camp/school, and then Cloudsdale. I would speculate this had to do with her desire for freedom from normal Cloudsdale rules and/or with insecurity over not being able to live up to her past achievements. A fresh start in a new town was just what she needed. To that end, she wound up in Ponyville with Fluttershy (who had taken a strong liking to the ground after falling to it). Gilda she did not get to see again for some time after that (more on that later). She took up a job as one of the town's weather management ponies, and soon became the go-to pony for that sort of thing. She eventually became so efficient at her job that she ended up with a lot of free time on her hooves, which she spent either lounging or developing flight tricks. The latter was especially important to her, as she dreamed of one day joining the Wonderbolts, an aerial stunt team she admired.
One of the ponies she told about her dream in her young adulthood was Twilight Sparkle, who came from Canterlot to Ponyville one day to oversee the annual Summer Sun Celebration. After a first meeting involving a mud puddle, a Rainblow Dry, and a pony afro, Twilight dared Rainbow Dash to prove that she could clear the sky of clouds in ten seconds flat. Rainbow took the challenge and completed it with ease, leaving Twilight speechless. Rainbow called Twilight "a laugh" and said she looked forward to hanging out more. And sure enough, Rainbow ended up attending a welcome party for Twilight thrown by the town's resident party animal, Pinkie Pie. Also at this party were Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack, whom Twilight had met earlier in the day.
Later, things took a dramatic turn. Princess Celestia, the ruler of all Equestria, turned up missing that night, and in her place stood a fearsome pony identified by Twilight as Nightmare Moon. Recently released from her lunar prison, Nightmare Moon declared that she would make night in Equestria last forever. Rainbow Dash was, needless to say, distressed and angered by this. She, along with the other ponies named above, cornered Twilight in the library afterward, demanding to know how she had known who Nightmare Moon was. Eventually things calmed down, though, and it was worked out that they needed to find six ancient artifacts called the Elements of Harmony in order to defeat Nightmare Moon.
The resting place of the Elements was said to be in the Everfree Forest, and so that's where the six ponies went. One by one, the group faced dangerous trials that tested their individual strengths and brought them closer together as friends despite Nightmare Moon's efforts. Eventually they reached a broken rope bridge leading to their goal, an abandoned castle. Upon flying across the ravine to fix the bridge, Rainbow Dash was confronted by three ponies in flight suits calling themselves the Shadowbolts (really Nightmare Moon in disguise). They offered to make her the captain of their elite flying group, and Rainbow was more than ready to take them up on the offer until she was told she had to choose either the Shadowbolts or the other ponies, not both. She had a moment of hesitation, but ultimately declined their offer and fixed the bridge. The Shadowbolts left, and Rainbow Dash assured her friends that she would never leave them hanging.
Inside the castle, it was revealed that the spirits of the elements had been with the group the whole time. Each of Twilight Sparkle's new friends represented one of the elements: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty, the last of which was represented by Rainbow Dash and her refusal to leave her friends for her own heart's desire. Together, those five elements helped Twilight to discover the sixth element within herself: Magic. With their powers combined, the six ponies formed Captain Planet created a rainbow of light that encircled Nightmare Moon and drove the dark magic from her body. Celestia returned at that point to congratulate the pony friends and welcome her sister, Princess Luna, back to Equestria (Nightmare Moon = Princess Luna; don't ask, long story). Following a celebration for Luna, Twilight Sparkle was allowed to become a permanent resident of Ponyville, much to the delight of Rainbow Dash and the others.
Over the next year or so, the six ponies lived out their lives as normal in Ponyville, going through the highs and lows of friendship. Rainbow Dash had known all of the others at least in passing before, but had never hung out with any of them extensively, save for maybe Fluttershy and Applejack (depending on how you read the interactions in the pilot episodes). Now she found herself learning from her new friends and finding out lots of things about them. For example, she had thought that Pinkie Pie would be too hyperactive and random to make a good hang-out buddy before, but it turned out that the two shared a passion for pranks, which made them inseparable for a time after that. With Applejack, she got to exercise her competitive streak, engaging in challenges with her at one point to see who was the most athletic. These challenges brought out some nastiness between them, especially during the annual Running of the Leaves, but they got it smoothed out and ended up better friends for it. Her old friend Fluttershy impressed her once by overcoming her fears and taming a giant dragon where nopony else could; she would continue to annoy Rainbow for being less loud and assertive than Rainbow felt she ought to be, but they still stuck by one another, especially after the dragon incident. Rarity she spent the least time with one-on-one, being unable to relate to the glamorous pony's love of fashion, but Rainbow was able to learn a lesson from her about appreciating gifts from friends, and also ended up saving her life at one point (again, more on that later). And Twilight she continued to interact with on a regular basis; occasionally she would make fun of the unicorn for being an egghead, but viewed the teasing as all in good fun.
Two of the most important events to Rainbow Dash during that year were the return of Gilda and the Best Young Flyer competition. The first occurred not long after she started hanging out with Pinkie Pie. Gilda came to visit Rainbow Dash in Ponyville one day, and Rainbow Dash couldn't have been happier; Gilda still knew the old Junior Speedsters chant (even if she performed it with less than full enthusiasm), still thought "Dash" was the coolest pony around, and was more than willing to catch up on lost flying time with her. However, it didn't occur to Rainbow that, despite seeming to want to keep up with them, Pinkie Pie kept mysteriously falling behind and becoming "busy".
The two of them continued to hang out as Pinkie became more scarce - that was, until Pinkie came up to Rainbow Dash in private and suggested they throw a welcoming party for Gilda. Rainbow agreed and then secretly set up up a bevy of pranks at the party, some meant for Gilda and some that anypony could fall for. She expected that Gilda would be a good sport, but was proven horribly wrong when the griffon ended up setting everything off and blowing up at the guests. She insulted everyone, accused Pinkie Pie of setting up the "weak little party pranks", and ordered Rainbow Dash to bail with her. Upset at seeing her old friend's true colours, Rainbow came clean about the pranks and told Gilda that if all she cared about was being cool, she could go find new friends. After Gilda stormed out, Rainbow apologized to Pinkie, not sad for the loss of an old friend when she had a truer friend to take her place.
As for the Best Young Flyer competition: Rainbow Dash saw this as her best chance to get noticed by the Wonderbolts, who would be celebrity judges there. She built a routine up and practiced it constantly, aiming to finish with a repeat of the sonic rainboom from her youth. As expected, however, she could never get past that sound barrier in her practice sessions. It didn't help that the only pony she could take with her to Cloudsdale for the competition, Fluttershy, couldn't cheer if her life depended on it. Rainbow received encouragement from her friends before leaving, but that didn't help her spirits much either.
When she and Fluttershy arrived at Cloudsdale, they were confronted by their old tormentors, still jeering "Rainbow Crash" and still denying that the sonic rainboom ever existed. Rainbow started panicking when Fluttershy pointed out how many ponies would be watching her perform, but was stopped when the rest of their friends arrived in a hot air balloon to fill out Rainbow's cheering section. Twilight had cast a spell that allowed them all to walk on clouds, and on Rarity she had cast a spell that granted a pair of magic wings. At first the support was welcome, but it soon became apparent that Rarity was enamoured with her new wings and couldn't help showing them off. It got to the point where Rarity entered the competition herself, which delivered a huge blow to Rainbow's already failing confidence.
During the competition, Rainbow cowered in a corner backstage and kept switching numbers with other competitors until the last minute, when she and Rarity were forced to perform at the same time. At the height of Rarity's performance, she flew too close to the sun's rays and her wings disintegrated, sending her plummeting. The Wonderbolts sprung to her rescue, but were knocked out by Rarity's flailing hooves. With a friend and three of her idols plunging to their deaths, Rainbow Dash turned around and dove with all her might, finally repeating the sonic rainboom and catching them just before they hit the ground. She made a rainbow over the Cloudiseum and then returned all the ponies to safety, which netted her the title of Best Young Flyer and the grand prize: a day flying with the Wonderbolts. Her thoughts on this were along the lines of "Best. Day. Ever!" She ended up meeting the Wonderbolts again after that at the Grand Galloping Gala, but that's a whole other story I won't get into here. The point is that she was one step closer to being known by her idols.
Trouble came to Equestria again later on in the form of Discord, a powerful draconequus whose goal was to fill the land with chaos. He had been sealed in stone by the Elements of Harmony before, and so naturally, the six spirits of the elements were called by Celestia to wield their elements again. However, Discord stole the elements from under Celestia's nose and challenged the pony friends to find them again as part of a game. He took away everypony's wings and horns, stipulating that if any wings or magic were used before the elements were found, the game was over. As they made their way through a labyrinth, Discord hypnotised each pony into betraying her own element, either by suggestion or by force. For Rainbow Dash, he created a vision of Cloudsdale crumbling and implied that if she didn't take back her wings and abandon the game, the vision would come to pass. Rainbow fell under Discord's spell and betrayed her friends, leaving them behind to fight Discord without her.
Rainbow Dash was later found lounging on a cloud, which believed to be "Cloudsdale". She ignored her friends (who were un-hypnotised at that point thanks to Twilight) until Fluttershy came down and asked if she could hold her down against her will for a bit. Rainbow Dash took off and eluded capture for a while, but eventually she was wrangled and Twilight was able to cast a memory spell that reminded her of all she had learned and accomplished with her friends. She came out of the spell feeling woozy and not sure what just happened, as if what she had just experienced was a dream. It is from this moment that I will take Rainbow Dash to Landel's Institute.
Canon Point:
I will be taking Rainbow Dash from S2E2 ("The Return of Harmony Pt. 2"), just moments after Twilight Sparkle finishes casting a memory spell on her. I plan to take advantage of the disorientation Rainbow is feeling in this moment and transfer it to a further disorientation over Landel's. Rainbow will be back to her normal self, but due to her having just been stuck in a fantasy vision of Cloudsdale, she will not know what her friends have been up to, whether Discord is still out there or not, or how much chaos has been wreaked upon Equestria, and that should cause a nice bit of panic for her. Being stuck in Landel's and in a human body all of a sudden will help spike the panic levels even higher, which should be fun to play out. More than that, though, her panic should quickly shift into overwhelming determination to get back home and save Equestria from Discord, as per her determined, loyal personality, and that is the kind of attitude I want her to have in Landel's. See the Scope section for further explanation of my reasoning.
Personality:
To get the essence of Rainbow Dash, all you need are five words -~twenty percent cooler than you~
A little elaboration: Rainbow Dash is a pony with a "serious need for speed" as she once put it. She lives for life's adrenaline rushes, and in her eyes, there are few better than the kind she gets from flying. Whether she's doing incredible aerial tricks or just zooming through the sky like a bullet from a rainbow gun, she can't get enough of the feeling of flight. She has dedicated a good chunk of her life to being the best flyer around and getting noticed for it, and dreams of being good enough to join the elite Wonderbolts. Sometimes one can barely talk to her for five minutes without the Wonderbolts coming up, especially if she's talking to someone who doesn't know about her dream.
Speaking of getting noticed: to Rainbow Dash, the only thrill bigger than actually using her talents is getting recognized for them. She is extremely competitive and likes winning - a lot. She often boasts to others about how "awesome" she is, and she won't turn down physical challenges or contests when they're presented to her. She is always eager to nab first place and prove her innate awesome-itude to everyone around. And when she does win at something, she is always elated, as though she can't believe she really did it.
The last bit betrays some of the deeper feelings underlying Rainbow Dash's efforts to be the best. She is confident in herself and she knows she has a ton of talent, but she does not 100% believe that she is the best athlete or flyer around, not by a long shot. It appears that at least some of her boasting is a facade that hides inner fears about failure. Sometimes these fears get so bad that the middle ground of talent disappears for her entirely: either she's got to be the very best at something or she's a complete failure who ought to be banished to the Everfree Forest for failing so hard (see: her panic attack in "Sonic Rainboom"). I would speculate that a good amount of this feeling stems from the bullying she experienced in Junior Speedsters. One can only take so many days of being called "Rainbow Crash" before one starts to fear that they really are just "Rainbow Crash" at core. This is probably why Rainbow reacts so negatively to any kind of loss and resorts to almost any means necessary to win (e.g.: cheating in her competitions with Applejack in "Fall Weather Friends"). The more she loses, the closer she gets to being Rainbow Crash again, and the further away she gets from her ideal, the Wonderbolts. Thankfully, she doesn't cheat to win much after "Fall Weather Friends", but her basic feelings still stand.
It doesn't help that in spite of her athletic nature, Rainbow Dash has a natural lazy streak. She may love speeding through the air, but she thinks there is just as much to be said for lounging on a comfy cloud on a warm summer's day. Her lazy tendencies are likely what caused her trouble at Junior Speedsters in the first place, and they're what cause other ponies nowadays (e.g.: Twilight Sparkle) to suspect her of being irresponsible. She actually doesn't have a problem with doing work; she'll hop to it right away when the time comes to do it. She just also likes to maximize her efficiency so that she can get all her work done and still spend time napping. To her, the need to push herself and the need to lounge are not mutually exclusive, and it irks her when others imply that they should be.
She can also get easily frustrated with others when they struggle with things that come naturally to her. Fluttershy is a common target for this. Rainbow cares for the other pegasus as a friend, but she also felt incredibly frustrated when Fluttershy's fears slowed down the group in "Dragonshy", and when Fluttershy could barely cheer above a whisper in "Sonic Rainboom". Another example would be "Over a Barrel", in which case she got frustrated with Applejack for not seeing the plight of the buffalo despite it being obvious in her eyes.
This all ties into a bigger problem Rainbow has with reading others and taking their feelings into account. She loves to joke, tease, and pull pranks, and it's all in good fun for the most part, but Rainbow doesn't always have a good sense for when she's going too far (e.g.: in "Griffon the Brush Off", it doesn't occur to her right away that pranking a sensitive pony like Fluttershy could seriously hurt her feelings). She also has a very blunt way of speaking, and isn't afraid to point out others' faults (ironic, considering how nervous she is about her own shortcomings). All this can make her come off as rude at times, to say the least.
Still, for all her problems with empathy and failure, she is a good and loyal friend, with emphasis on the loyalty part. Rainbow Dash didn't get to be the spirit of Loyalty for nothing, and demonstrates this signature trait on many occasions. There's the Shadowbolts encounter, obviously, and other big examples include her willingness to stand up for Fluttershy despite their differences, her ability to overcome her own competitiveness to stay friends with Applejack, and her diving at supersonic speeds to save Rarity's life. More generally speaking, she loves hanging out, chatting, and laughing with her friends, and is willing to learn from her mistakes when she realizes she's upset someone. She'll also lend a helping hoof for her friends whenever needed, for anything from moving a cloud to nuking a barn. And lastly, she has a good sense of who deserves her loyalty and who doesn't, as shown when she is able to sever ties with Gilda and stick by Pinkie and the others, who have proven to be truer friends despite being newer figures in her life.
Appearance:
In her original form, Rainbow Dash is an Equestrian pegasus, meaning she is a pony with feathered wings that stands about 3'4" (estimated like so). She has a sky-blue coat, large red-violet eyes, and a somewhat unkempt mane and tail sporting all the basic colours of the rainbow in spectrum order (for the mane: red, orange and yellow higher on her head; green, blue and violet lower on her neck). Her hooves blend seamlessly into the rest of her legs, unlike real world ponies, and her legs are thicker and more tubular than real world ponies as well. She has a small tattoo-like symbol on both flanks (her cutie mark): a stylized white cloud with a red, yellow and blue lightning bolt.
In her human form at Landel's, she will be shorter than average height to reflect her little pony origins (about 5'3") and have a ropey runner's build. Her skin will have a light tan to reflect her outdoors/weather-related job. Her eyes will remain red-violet to other patients and appear blue to nurses and other NPCs who are not supposed to see strange eye colours. Her hair will retain its colours and a style roughly similar to that of her mane - shaggy, with bangs over her forehead, and reaching just past her shoulders in length. Red, orange and yellow will dominate her bangs and the top part of her hair, while green, blue and violet will dominate the bottom part. On Institute documents, she will be listed as naturally blonde with dyed hair. She will retain her cutie mark symbols, one on each hip; they will look like tattoos, but be slightly more vibrant than normal tattoos.
Original Powers:
Pegasi in Equestria likely have some small form of magic, though not quite as flashy as that possessed by unicorns, and probably not consciously used either. A pegasus's wings are able to keep her in the air in spite of the fact that they should be far too small to do so; pegasi are also able to hover in mid-air without having to flap their wings anywhere near the speed necessary for hovering; and they are capable of flying through the air at speeds approaching and exceeding the sound barrier without experiencing ill effects. Rainbow Dash in particular is able to go well beyond that, to the point of forming a mach cone and breaking the light spectrum (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muVfidujxRg/). This leads me to believe that either pegasi have a body mass lighter than tissue paper (unlikely, given that their mass seems to interact normally with the world in most cases), or there is some kind of physics-breaking magic involved.
Pegasi definitely have at least one ability besides flight that other ponies do not: Rainbow Dash states very clearly at one point that "only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds." They also seem to have the exclusive ability to interact with and control clouds and weather. Given that we are assuming pegasi do not have a significantly different mass compared to other ponies, and given that non-pegasi such as Twilight Sparkle are able to achieve cloudwalking by way of a magic spell, one can assume that cloudwalking does stem from some inherent ability that pegasi have, more than likely magical in nature.
Given all of the above evidence and guesswork, I am going to assume for the purposes of this app that so-called "pegasus magic" is capable of the following:
Modified Powers:
With the loss of her pegasus form, several of Rainbow Dash's abilities will be nerfed entirely. She will be unable to fly or peform any of her flight tricks (even if she tries to create ground-based versions of them), she will be mostly unable to create rainbows (see below), and she will gain no power benefit from being the spirit of Loyalty.
However, to convey the extent to which Rainbow Dash's speed exceeds that of even other pegasi, I will grant her a bit of enhanced speed as a remnant of her pegasus magic. Most of the time, she will still be unable to surpass the top speed of professional human athletes (I will give her a top sprinting speed of 20 mph, a little less than the female world record in the 100m dash). However, if she pushes herself hard enough all in one go, she will be able to double her top speed, reaching up to 40 mph and leaving a very faint rainbow light trail in her wake. She will be able to travel up to half the length of the Institute at this speed before she begins to seriously run out of breath/stamina. This distance will shorten to one third the length of the Institute if there are stairs or significant obstacles (e.g.: big furniture, big monsters) along the route, and the power will run out completely if she hits/has to climb a wall.
Regardless of how long it lasts, after her power runs out she will start to feel faint and be forced to walk for at least five rounds. Following the five rounds, she will not be able to surpass human running speeds again for twenty-four hours.
As well, I will grant her a limited ability to interact with clouds if she happens to come in contact with them (e.g.: when there's fog). She won't be able to support her weight on them or force any kind of weather out of them (so no rain, no snow, no lightning, etc.), but she will be able to form them into shapes that won't dissipate unless something passes through them or a strong wind blows. So basically she will be left with the ability to make balloon animals out of clouds. This will be helpful somehow.
Other Abilities:
Rainbow Dash is still an accomplished athlete without her pegasus abilities. She was able to easily keep pace with Applejack, a top-notch earth pony runner, even with her wings tied to her sides. She was also able to just about match Applejack in their Iron Pony Competition (based on the challenges completed before Rainbow started using her wings to help her win), which shows that she has athletic ability beyond just running. Based on the Iron Pony Competition, she has respectable kicking strength (years of practice kicking clouds, no doubt), pulling strength, throwing ability, and balance. She can also be incredibly agile and well-coordinated, able to pull off complex physical routines and weave through obstacle courses without missing a beat (when she isn't feeling unfocused or nervous, anyway). She doesn't get disoriented easily either, even when flying/running around in tight circles at top speeds.
She may or may not have a black belt in (pony) karate; she does wear a black belt when trying to teach Apple Bloom in "Call of the Cutie". Since this may have been a throwaway gag, though, I won't count it formally. However, I will say that she is at least a naturally decent fighter, considering the fact that she felt qualified to show Apple Bloom karate at all, and the fact that she once kicked a dragon in the face with no f***s given.
Scope/Psychology:
As I said in my canon point reasoning, I expect Rainbow Dash's initial reaction to Landel's to be panic. She will have no idea what she's been turned into* or where she is, she will almost certainly trip over herself trying to figure out how to walk in her new form, and she will be incredibly distressed since she doesn't know what's going on with her friends or Discord.
In a way, though, I think the whole Discord thing will make it easier for her to deal with her situation, at least at first. She is very likely to suspect that her transformation, the humans around her, the monsters at night, and the Institute as a whole are all part of something that Discord cooked up. After all, he is the being that created horrifically mutated spider-walking bunnies and chocolate rain clouds made of cotton candy, among other things; a whole institute full of mutated, hairless, monkey-like... things is not exactly outside of his ballpark. Thus, Rainbow will be convinced for at least a little while that Landel's is a prison Discord created to keep her from defeating him. Once she's got that worked out for herself, her efforts will probably focus on looking for him and/or finding a way out of the world he's created. If anyone else from her canon gets into the game, she will probably assume that they've been trapped the same way she was.
I can't predict how long that belief will last, since that will depend on who she meets and how convincing they are in telling her that this all has nothing to do with Equestria. If/when she does accept that Discord isn't involved, she will probably have made enough friends and allies by that point to have a good reason to keep fighting anyway. Even one new friend would be enough of a reason, given Rainbow Dash's loyalty to her friends. Her loyalty would probably be stronger than ever, even, considering she just experienced what it would be like to be a callous jerk who betrayed her friends at the drop of a hat; she would want to strive to not be that pony again if she can help it. And even if by some miracle she didn't make friends in Landel's, the need to bust out and get back to her friends in Ponyville and stop Discord would be more than reason enough to keep going.
That said, it will be hard for her. Landel's by night will be one of the most dangerous places Rainbow Dash has ever been, if not the most dangerous. She's going to be seeing a lot more blood and losing a lot more people than she ever has in her life. Never mind that she has to face this place without her wings or any of her normal abilities. The loss of her wings in particular will be irritating at best and infuriating/depressing at worst. The longer she stays in Landel's, the more she may entertain thoughts like "What happens if I never get out? What if I can never fly again? I'll never join the Wonderbolts! Never see Cloudsdale or Ponyville again! Never see my friends again! What if I die here?! What if any of my friends die here?! What do I do?? Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!" Depending on what's going on, she may reach states like those seen in "Sonic Rainboom", where she will just curl up in a corner and panic or get down on herself.
Again, though, Rainbow Dash is a strong character. I have confidence that while the Institute will wear on her and push her to her limits at times, her core traits of loyalty, bravery, and determination will let her carry on and push past the dark patches. The daytime periods will help a lot with that, as they will provide a lot of opportunity to chill out, meet new people, build CR, and even (gasp) have some fun. The more connections she makes in Landel's, the more reason she will have to help out her new friends and keep pushing forward.
[* - There is not much canon evidence to say one way or another whether ponies have a concept of what humans are. They never talk about humans or make direct reference to them, but absence of evidence does not necessarily equal evidence of absence, so... Yeah, I don't know. For the sake of pinning it down, though, I am going to assume that ponies don't know what humans are. It makes more sense in this case to assume the non-existence of knowledge than to assume knowledge and define its limits in the absence of any supporting evidence.]
Jusification:
It's a dangerous world out there. So it is on Earth, and so it is in Equestria as well. While My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a cartoon aimed at the five to ten-year-old girl set and thus doesn't show much in the way of dark or mature themes onscreen, there is enough present in the canon in the way of world building, character development, life-threatening events, and other hints at darker themes to build a case for a pony being able to adapt to a darker setting.
We'll start with Rainbow Dash herself. While it has been established that there are times where she can freeze up and let fear overtake her, overall her bravery and loyalty allow her to overcome threats and obstacles in her path. She is no stranger to death-defying stunts, and often won't blink twice at having to perform a task that could result in extreme bodily harm for anypony with lesser stones. She is also able to perform under pressure in other dangerous situations, such as the avalanche in "Dragonshy". And in instances where she does feel great fear, threats to the safety of her friends will result in her being able to put her own fear aside for the sake of rushing to the rescue (e.g.: hurtling toward the ground at supersonic speeds to save Rarity from falling to her death). As the embodiment of the Element of Loyalty, her duty to her friends can help her overcome almost anything.
She also has some experience with sudden body transmogrification, which should help with the change to human form in Landel's. In "The Return of Harmony Pt. 1", Discord suddenly magics away Rainbow Dash's wings, effectively turning her into an earth pony. She is understandably freaked out at first by the loss of whole appendages from her body, but is able to deal with it as she and her friends are tasked with running through Discord's labyrinth. Changing into a human is more extreme, obviously, but I believe Rainbow would be able to handle it similarly: she would be freaked out but would force herself to deal with it for the sake of getting back to her friends (and later helping out her new friends).
Speaking of "The Return of Harmony": Rainbow is also subject to mental suggestion and brainwashing by Discord in that episode, and she is not shown to have been permanently scarred by the experience after she snaps out of it. She knows what it is like to have an outside influence change her personality and make her perceive and believe in illususory visions (in this case, she was made to believe that a single cloud was really the whole city of Cloudsdale). This gives her a point of reference for things like Damned's Real Life Event, or any other events involving mind control or changes in mental state.
Finishing on the world-based points: mature themes do exist in the MLPverse. The ponies are not as naive as the nature of their canon might suggest on the surface. In canon and through The Powers That Be, we know or can infer that the following are realities in the MLP:FiM universe:
[Post-app edit:
Her physical capabilities also factor into suitability. While she may or may not be a trained fighter, she is an accomplished athlete either way. As such, she will be able to run away from threats at the very, very least, and beyond that, she has enough physical experience and talent to pick up more fighting skills with relative ease. She should have a natural talent for kicks and punches, based on years of experience kicking clouds. Thus, she would not be hugely vulnerable in the event of monster attacks and other threats.]
Series' Medium: Western animation (a-ni-mated using Flash! PinkaWHEE! Scootaloo!)
Character: Rainbow Dash
Age: Not stated in canon. She is demonstrably young in the way she thinks and behaves, but she is also fully grown for a pony, she does not attend school, and she has a job in weather management. In human equivalences, I would say that puts her in her mid-to-late teens at the youngest and her very early twenties at the oldest. On Institute documents, she will be listed as 17.
Sex/Gender: Female
Canon Role: One of the six "mane" characters. The most tomboyish of the bunch and the most athletic (tied maybe with Applejack). One of the two pegasi of the group.
"Real" Name: Corrie Dickens
History:
We don't know much about Rainbow Dash's childhood; we don't know who her parents are, if she has any siblings, or how she came to live in the town of Ponyville. The one thing we know for sure is that she went to Junior Speedsters Flight Camp in her hometown of Cloudsdale as a filly. During the summer(s) at camp, she met two of her longest-standing friends: a brash griffon named Gilda and a shy pegasus named Fluttershy. Rainbow and Gilda in particular were best friends; they hung out all the time, challenging each other to races, showing off tricks to one another, and just generally being too cool for school.
They focused so much on being cool, in fact, that Rainbow Dash was not the best flight student. There were two or three young colts at camp who made fun of her and called her "Rainbow Crash", presumably because she was often unfocused and crashed into things while flying. One of these colts would later make a jab that flight school (it's not clear whether this is the same thing as flight camp or not) "had too many rules and not enough naptimes" for Rainbow. She may or may not have been kicked out eventually for her laziness and/or disregard of rules and conduct; she denies to this day that she was, but the bullying colts continued to tease her about it until very recently. Assuming Rainbow Dash is telling the truth, she likely left camp/school due to bullying and/or the restrictions she was teased about disliking.
Before all that, though, there was one day where Rainbow Dash caught wind of the bullies making fun of weak, gangly Fluttershy, and so she challenged the boys to a race to defend her friend's honour. The racers set off and accidentally knocked Fluttershy off a cloud (more on this later), but none of the racers noticed this, especially not Rainbow Dash, whose mind was being blown at that point. She had never flown so fast, never having tried a serious race before. As one of the bullies pulled ahead, she pushed herself harder than she ever had before, because as it turned out, the only thing she liked more than flying fast was winning.
Rainbow Dash knocked the last bully out of the race as she blew past. With her mind on nothing but first place, she rocketed down so fast that by the time she hit the last hoop, she burst through the sound barrier and created something that had only been spoken of in old mares' tales before that - a sonic rainboom (a massive shock wave of sound and colour). As she banked back up to the sky, she left a solid trail of rainbow light in her wake and made an arc over Cloudsdale. As she flew, a cutie mark symbol appeared on her flank: a cloud and a lightning bolt representing her talent for fast flying.
All the ponies cheered for her except the bullies, who still didn't believe the sonic rainboom had happened. It's not clear in canon why this is so, since they were at the event, so here is my speculation: both bullies were out of commission by the time the rainboom went off, and so they didn't see it. We see one bully got himself stuck in a cloud column early on; the other was knocked out of the way in a spiral towards the end, maybe far enough or hard enough to keep him from seeing anything around him clearly. Thus, the bullies didn't believe that Rainbow Dash had performed the sonic rainboom, no matter how much she insisted.
Friends of Rainbow's believed her about the rainboom, of course, which made her feel better, but it still became hard to deal with, because as it turned out, she could not repeat the feat. No matter how hard she tried, Rainbow would always end up psyching herself out and getting flung back before she could break the sound barrier again. Thus, the sonic rainboom faded back into legend with time.
There were ponies on the ground who did witness the sonic rainboom, however. Witnesses included Fluttershy (who saw it after being saved from falling to her death by a cloud of passing butterflies), Rarity (who saw it split a giant rock filled with gems), Twilight Sparkle (whose true magic ability was sparked by it during a school entrance exam), and Pinkie Pie (who was blown away by it as it spread over her rock farm). Applejack did not see the rainboom itself, but did see the rainbow arc seemingly pointing from Manehattan to Ponyville. In each case, the sight and effects of the rainboom caused each pony to earn her cutie mark in some way. This event would be an important forerunner to the ties that would form between these six ponies once they reached young adulthood.
As said earlier, Rainbow Dash eventually left flight camp/school, and then Cloudsdale. I would speculate this had to do with her desire for freedom from normal Cloudsdale rules and/or with insecurity over not being able to live up to her past achievements. A fresh start in a new town was just what she needed. To that end, she wound up in Ponyville with Fluttershy (who had taken a strong liking to the ground after falling to it). Gilda she did not get to see again for some time after that (more on that later). She took up a job as one of the town's weather management ponies, and soon became the go-to pony for that sort of thing. She eventually became so efficient at her job that she ended up with a lot of free time on her hooves, which she spent either lounging or developing flight tricks. The latter was especially important to her, as she dreamed of one day joining the Wonderbolts, an aerial stunt team she admired.
One of the ponies she told about her dream in her young adulthood was Twilight Sparkle, who came from Canterlot to Ponyville one day to oversee the annual Summer Sun Celebration. After a first meeting involving a mud puddle, a Rainblow Dry, and a pony afro, Twilight dared Rainbow Dash to prove that she could clear the sky of clouds in ten seconds flat. Rainbow took the challenge and completed it with ease, leaving Twilight speechless. Rainbow called Twilight "a laugh" and said she looked forward to hanging out more. And sure enough, Rainbow ended up attending a welcome party for Twilight thrown by the town's resident party animal, Pinkie Pie. Also at this party were Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack, whom Twilight had met earlier in the day.
Later, things took a dramatic turn. Princess Celestia, the ruler of all Equestria, turned up missing that night, and in her place stood a fearsome pony identified by Twilight as Nightmare Moon. Recently released from her lunar prison, Nightmare Moon declared that she would make night in Equestria last forever. Rainbow Dash was, needless to say, distressed and angered by this. She, along with the other ponies named above, cornered Twilight in the library afterward, demanding to know how she had known who Nightmare Moon was. Eventually things calmed down, though, and it was worked out that they needed to find six ancient artifacts called the Elements of Harmony in order to defeat Nightmare Moon.
The resting place of the Elements was said to be in the Everfree Forest, and so that's where the six ponies went. One by one, the group faced dangerous trials that tested their individual strengths and brought them closer together as friends despite Nightmare Moon's efforts. Eventually they reached a broken rope bridge leading to their goal, an abandoned castle. Upon flying across the ravine to fix the bridge, Rainbow Dash was confronted by three ponies in flight suits calling themselves the Shadowbolts (really Nightmare Moon in disguise). They offered to make her the captain of their elite flying group, and Rainbow was more than ready to take them up on the offer until she was told she had to choose either the Shadowbolts or the other ponies, not both. She had a moment of hesitation, but ultimately declined their offer and fixed the bridge. The Shadowbolts left, and Rainbow Dash assured her friends that she would never leave them hanging.
Inside the castle, it was revealed that the spirits of the elements had been with the group the whole time. Each of Twilight Sparkle's new friends represented one of the elements: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty, the last of which was represented by Rainbow Dash and her refusal to leave her friends for her own heart's desire. Together, those five elements helped Twilight to discover the sixth element within herself: Magic. With their powers combined, the six ponies formed Captain Planet created a rainbow of light that encircled Nightmare Moon and drove the dark magic from her body. Celestia returned at that point to congratulate the pony friends and welcome her sister, Princess Luna, back to Equestria (Nightmare Moon = Princess Luna; don't ask, long story). Following a celebration for Luna, Twilight Sparkle was allowed to become a permanent resident of Ponyville, much to the delight of Rainbow Dash and the others.
Over the next year or so, the six ponies lived out their lives as normal in Ponyville, going through the highs and lows of friendship. Rainbow Dash had known all of the others at least in passing before, but had never hung out with any of them extensively, save for maybe Fluttershy and Applejack (depending on how you read the interactions in the pilot episodes). Now she found herself learning from her new friends and finding out lots of things about them. For example, she had thought that Pinkie Pie would be too hyperactive and random to make a good hang-out buddy before, but it turned out that the two shared a passion for pranks, which made them inseparable for a time after that. With Applejack, she got to exercise her competitive streak, engaging in challenges with her at one point to see who was the most athletic. These challenges brought out some nastiness between them, especially during the annual Running of the Leaves, but they got it smoothed out and ended up better friends for it. Her old friend Fluttershy impressed her once by overcoming her fears and taming a giant dragon where nopony else could; she would continue to annoy Rainbow for being less loud and assertive than Rainbow felt she ought to be, but they still stuck by one another, especially after the dragon incident. Rarity she spent the least time with one-on-one, being unable to relate to the glamorous pony's love of fashion, but Rainbow was able to learn a lesson from her about appreciating gifts from friends, and also ended up saving her life at one point (again, more on that later). And Twilight she continued to interact with on a regular basis; occasionally she would make fun of the unicorn for being an egghead, but viewed the teasing as all in good fun.
Two of the most important events to Rainbow Dash during that year were the return of Gilda and the Best Young Flyer competition. The first occurred not long after she started hanging out with Pinkie Pie. Gilda came to visit Rainbow Dash in Ponyville one day, and Rainbow Dash couldn't have been happier; Gilda still knew the old Junior Speedsters chant (even if she performed it with less than full enthusiasm), still thought "Dash" was the coolest pony around, and was more than willing to catch up on lost flying time with her. However, it didn't occur to Rainbow that, despite seeming to want to keep up with them, Pinkie Pie kept mysteriously falling behind and becoming "busy".
The two of them continued to hang out as Pinkie became more scarce - that was, until Pinkie came up to Rainbow Dash in private and suggested they throw a welcoming party for Gilda. Rainbow agreed and then secretly set up up a bevy of pranks at the party, some meant for Gilda and some that anypony could fall for. She expected that Gilda would be a good sport, but was proven horribly wrong when the griffon ended up setting everything off and blowing up at the guests. She insulted everyone, accused Pinkie Pie of setting up the "weak little party pranks", and ordered Rainbow Dash to bail with her. Upset at seeing her old friend's true colours, Rainbow came clean about the pranks and told Gilda that if all she cared about was being cool, she could go find new friends. After Gilda stormed out, Rainbow apologized to Pinkie, not sad for the loss of an old friend when she had a truer friend to take her place.
As for the Best Young Flyer competition: Rainbow Dash saw this as her best chance to get noticed by the Wonderbolts, who would be celebrity judges there. She built a routine up and practiced it constantly, aiming to finish with a repeat of the sonic rainboom from her youth. As expected, however, she could never get past that sound barrier in her practice sessions. It didn't help that the only pony she could take with her to Cloudsdale for the competition, Fluttershy, couldn't cheer if her life depended on it. Rainbow received encouragement from her friends before leaving, but that didn't help her spirits much either.
When she and Fluttershy arrived at Cloudsdale, they were confronted by their old tormentors, still jeering "Rainbow Crash" and still denying that the sonic rainboom ever existed. Rainbow started panicking when Fluttershy pointed out how many ponies would be watching her perform, but was stopped when the rest of their friends arrived in a hot air balloon to fill out Rainbow's cheering section. Twilight had cast a spell that allowed them all to walk on clouds, and on Rarity she had cast a spell that granted a pair of magic wings. At first the support was welcome, but it soon became apparent that Rarity was enamoured with her new wings and couldn't help showing them off. It got to the point where Rarity entered the competition herself, which delivered a huge blow to Rainbow's already failing confidence.
During the competition, Rainbow cowered in a corner backstage and kept switching numbers with other competitors until the last minute, when she and Rarity were forced to perform at the same time. At the height of Rarity's performance, she flew too close to the sun's rays and her wings disintegrated, sending her plummeting. The Wonderbolts sprung to her rescue, but were knocked out by Rarity's flailing hooves. With a friend and three of her idols plunging to their deaths, Rainbow Dash turned around and dove with all her might, finally repeating the sonic rainboom and catching them just before they hit the ground. She made a rainbow over the Cloudiseum and then returned all the ponies to safety, which netted her the title of Best Young Flyer and the grand prize: a day flying with the Wonderbolts. Her thoughts on this were along the lines of "Best. Day. Ever!" She ended up meeting the Wonderbolts again after that at the Grand Galloping Gala, but that's a whole other story I won't get into here. The point is that she was one step closer to being known by her idols.
Trouble came to Equestria again later on in the form of Discord, a powerful draconequus whose goal was to fill the land with chaos. He had been sealed in stone by the Elements of Harmony before, and so naturally, the six spirits of the elements were called by Celestia to wield their elements again. However, Discord stole the elements from under Celestia's nose and challenged the pony friends to find them again as part of a game. He took away everypony's wings and horns, stipulating that if any wings or magic were used before the elements were found, the game was over. As they made their way through a labyrinth, Discord hypnotised each pony into betraying her own element, either by suggestion or by force. For Rainbow Dash, he created a vision of Cloudsdale crumbling and implied that if she didn't take back her wings and abandon the game, the vision would come to pass. Rainbow fell under Discord's spell and betrayed her friends, leaving them behind to fight Discord without her.
Rainbow Dash was later found lounging on a cloud, which believed to be "Cloudsdale". She ignored her friends (who were un-hypnotised at that point thanks to Twilight) until Fluttershy came down and asked if she could hold her down against her will for a bit. Rainbow Dash took off and eluded capture for a while, but eventually she was wrangled and Twilight was able to cast a memory spell that reminded her of all she had learned and accomplished with her friends. She came out of the spell feeling woozy and not sure what just happened, as if what she had just experienced was a dream. It is from this moment that I will take Rainbow Dash to Landel's Institute.
Canon Point:
I will be taking Rainbow Dash from S2E2 ("The Return of Harmony Pt. 2"), just moments after Twilight Sparkle finishes casting a memory spell on her. I plan to take advantage of the disorientation Rainbow is feeling in this moment and transfer it to a further disorientation over Landel's. Rainbow will be back to her normal self, but due to her having just been stuck in a fantasy vision of Cloudsdale, she will not know what her friends have been up to, whether Discord is still out there or not, or how much chaos has been wreaked upon Equestria, and that should cause a nice bit of panic for her. Being stuck in Landel's and in a human body all of a sudden will help spike the panic levels even higher, which should be fun to play out. More than that, though, her panic should quickly shift into overwhelming determination to get back home and save Equestria from Discord, as per her determined, loyal personality, and that is the kind of attitude I want her to have in Landel's. See the Scope section for further explanation of my reasoning.
Personality:
To get the essence of Rainbow Dash, all you need are five words -~twenty percent cooler than you~
A little elaboration: Rainbow Dash is a pony with a "serious need for speed" as she once put it. She lives for life's adrenaline rushes, and in her eyes, there are few better than the kind she gets from flying. Whether she's doing incredible aerial tricks or just zooming through the sky like a bullet from a rainbow gun, she can't get enough of the feeling of flight. She has dedicated a good chunk of her life to being the best flyer around and getting noticed for it, and dreams of being good enough to join the elite Wonderbolts. Sometimes one can barely talk to her for five minutes without the Wonderbolts coming up, especially if she's talking to someone who doesn't know about her dream.
Speaking of getting noticed: to Rainbow Dash, the only thrill bigger than actually using her talents is getting recognized for them. She is extremely competitive and likes winning - a lot. She often boasts to others about how "awesome" she is, and she won't turn down physical challenges or contests when they're presented to her. She is always eager to nab first place and prove her innate awesome-itude to everyone around. And when she does win at something, she is always elated, as though she can't believe she really did it.
The last bit betrays some of the deeper feelings underlying Rainbow Dash's efforts to be the best. She is confident in herself and she knows she has a ton of talent, but she does not 100% believe that she is the best athlete or flyer around, not by a long shot. It appears that at least some of her boasting is a facade that hides inner fears about failure. Sometimes these fears get so bad that the middle ground of talent disappears for her entirely: either she's got to be the very best at something or she's a complete failure who ought to be banished to the Everfree Forest for failing so hard (see: her panic attack in "Sonic Rainboom"). I would speculate that a good amount of this feeling stems from the bullying she experienced in Junior Speedsters. One can only take so many days of being called "Rainbow Crash" before one starts to fear that they really are just "Rainbow Crash" at core. This is probably why Rainbow reacts so negatively to any kind of loss and resorts to almost any means necessary to win (e.g.: cheating in her competitions with Applejack in "Fall Weather Friends"). The more she loses, the closer she gets to being Rainbow Crash again, and the further away she gets from her ideal, the Wonderbolts. Thankfully, she doesn't cheat to win much after "Fall Weather Friends", but her basic feelings still stand.
It doesn't help that in spite of her athletic nature, Rainbow Dash has a natural lazy streak. She may love speeding through the air, but she thinks there is just as much to be said for lounging on a comfy cloud on a warm summer's day. Her lazy tendencies are likely what caused her trouble at Junior Speedsters in the first place, and they're what cause other ponies nowadays (e.g.: Twilight Sparkle) to suspect her of being irresponsible. She actually doesn't have a problem with doing work; she'll hop to it right away when the time comes to do it. She just also likes to maximize her efficiency so that she can get all her work done and still spend time napping. To her, the need to push herself and the need to lounge are not mutually exclusive, and it irks her when others imply that they should be.
She can also get easily frustrated with others when they struggle with things that come naturally to her. Fluttershy is a common target for this. Rainbow cares for the other pegasus as a friend, but she also felt incredibly frustrated when Fluttershy's fears slowed down the group in "Dragonshy", and when Fluttershy could barely cheer above a whisper in "Sonic Rainboom". Another example would be "Over a Barrel", in which case she got frustrated with Applejack for not seeing the plight of the buffalo despite it being obvious in her eyes.
This all ties into a bigger problem Rainbow has with reading others and taking their feelings into account. She loves to joke, tease, and pull pranks, and it's all in good fun for the most part, but Rainbow doesn't always have a good sense for when she's going too far (e.g.: in "Griffon the Brush Off", it doesn't occur to her right away that pranking a sensitive pony like Fluttershy could seriously hurt her feelings). She also has a very blunt way of speaking, and isn't afraid to point out others' faults (ironic, considering how nervous she is about her own shortcomings). All this can make her come off as rude at times, to say the least.
Still, for all her problems with empathy and failure, she is a good and loyal friend, with emphasis on the loyalty part. Rainbow Dash didn't get to be the spirit of Loyalty for nothing, and demonstrates this signature trait on many occasions. There's the Shadowbolts encounter, obviously, and other big examples include her willingness to stand up for Fluttershy despite their differences, her ability to overcome her own competitiveness to stay friends with Applejack, and her diving at supersonic speeds to save Rarity's life. More generally speaking, she loves hanging out, chatting, and laughing with her friends, and is willing to learn from her mistakes when she realizes she's upset someone. She'll also lend a helping hoof for her friends whenever needed, for anything from moving a cloud to nuking a barn. And lastly, she has a good sense of who deserves her loyalty and who doesn't, as shown when she is able to sever ties with Gilda and stick by Pinkie and the others, who have proven to be truer friends despite being newer figures in her life.
Appearance:
In her original form, Rainbow Dash is an Equestrian pegasus, meaning she is a pony with feathered wings that stands about 3'4" (estimated like so). She has a sky-blue coat, large red-violet eyes, and a somewhat unkempt mane and tail sporting all the basic colours of the rainbow in spectrum order (for the mane: red, orange and yellow higher on her head; green, blue and violet lower on her neck). Her hooves blend seamlessly into the rest of her legs, unlike real world ponies, and her legs are thicker and more tubular than real world ponies as well. She has a small tattoo-like symbol on both flanks (her cutie mark): a stylized white cloud with a red, yellow and blue lightning bolt.
In her human form at Landel's, she will be shorter than average height to reflect her little pony origins (about 5'3") and have a ropey runner's build. Her skin will have a light tan to reflect her outdoors/weather-related job. Her eyes will remain red-violet to other patients and appear blue to nurses and other NPCs who are not supposed to see strange eye colours. Her hair will retain its colours and a style roughly similar to that of her mane - shaggy, with bangs over her forehead, and reaching just past her shoulders in length. Red, orange and yellow will dominate her bangs and the top part of her hair, while green, blue and violet will dominate the bottom part. On Institute documents, she will be listed as naturally blonde with dyed hair. She will retain her cutie mark symbols, one on each hip; they will look like tattoos, but be slightly more vibrant than normal tattoos.
Original Powers:
Pegasi in Equestria likely have some small form of magic, though not quite as flashy as that possessed by unicorns, and probably not consciously used either. A pegasus's wings are able to keep her in the air in spite of the fact that they should be far too small to do so; pegasi are also able to hover in mid-air without having to flap their wings anywhere near the speed necessary for hovering; and they are capable of flying through the air at speeds approaching and exceeding the sound barrier without experiencing ill effects. Rainbow Dash in particular is able to go well beyond that, to the point of forming a mach cone and breaking the light spectrum (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muVfidujxRg/). This leads me to believe that either pegasi have a body mass lighter than tissue paper (unlikely, given that their mass seems to interact normally with the world in most cases), or there is some kind of physics-breaking magic involved.
Pegasi definitely have at least one ability besides flight that other ponies do not: Rainbow Dash states very clearly at one point that "only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds." They also seem to have the exclusive ability to interact with and control clouds and weather. Given that we are assuming pegasi do not have a significantly different mass compared to other ponies, and given that non-pegasi such as Twilight Sparkle are able to achieve cloudwalking by way of a magic spell, one can assume that cloudwalking does stem from some inherent ability that pegasi have, more than likely magical in nature.
Given all of the above evidence and guesswork, I am going to assume for the purposes of this app that so-called "pegasus magic" is capable of the following:
- Grants the ability to fly and hover while the user's wings are flapping.
- Grants the ability to fly and run at extremely high speeds while the user's wings are spread or flapping, with flight speeds able to approach-and, in rare cases, exceed-the sound barrier.
- Protects the user and anyone she/he is touching from the detrimental effects of extreme g-force.
- Grants the ability to interact with clouds as if they are made of more solid material and to shape them or use them as building material.
- Leaves a colourful trail in a pegasus's wake when she/he flies at high speeds. (Rainbow Dash leaves a rainbow trail in the sky under these circumstances.)
- Allows particularly talented/determined pegasi to break the sound barrier and trigger a multi-coloured explosion akin to a sonic boom (fittingly called a "sonic rainboom"). It is implied that other pegasi could potentially perform this stunt, but thus far, Rainbow Dash is the only known pegasus to ever pull it off. She has performed the feat at least twice in her life thus far.
- The Rainblow Dry - Flying in circles around another pony so fast that it creates a rainbow tornado and dries the other pony instantly - with notably comedic effect. A similar tornado-making ability was seen being used to round up parasprites in "Swarm of the Century".
- The Super Speed Strut - Strutting like a boss while flying.
- The Fantastic Filly Flash - Nosediving and pulling up such that an inverted rainbow is created.
- The Buccaneer Blaze - Seen partially offscreen. We know that it is some kind of impressive trick that creates lightning bolts.
- Cloud spinning - Flying in circles around clouds fast enough to make them spin. Can also be applied to other spinnable objects, such as windmills.
- Clearing clouds out of a small city-wide area - Takes ten seconds flat.
- Drawing water droplets out of clouds - Does this in "Boast Busters", flying fast enough to pull the droplets along in her wake until she lands, at which point they splash into her and form a rainbow over her head.
Modified Powers:
With the loss of her pegasus form, several of Rainbow Dash's abilities will be nerfed entirely. She will be unable to fly or peform any of her flight tricks (even if she tries to create ground-based versions of them), she will be mostly unable to create rainbows (see below), and she will gain no power benefit from being the spirit of Loyalty.
However, to convey the extent to which Rainbow Dash's speed exceeds that of even other pegasi, I will grant her a bit of enhanced speed as a remnant of her pegasus magic. Most of the time, she will still be unable to surpass the top speed of professional human athletes (I will give her a top sprinting speed of 20 mph, a little less than the female world record in the 100m dash). However, if she pushes herself hard enough all in one go, she will be able to double her top speed, reaching up to 40 mph and leaving a very faint rainbow light trail in her wake. She will be able to travel up to half the length of the Institute at this speed before she begins to seriously run out of breath/stamina. This distance will shorten to one third the length of the Institute if there are stairs or significant obstacles (e.g.: big furniture, big monsters) along the route, and the power will run out completely if she hits/has to climb a wall.
Regardless of how long it lasts, after her power runs out she will start to feel faint and be forced to walk for at least five rounds. Following the five rounds, she will not be able to surpass human running speeds again for twenty-four hours.
As well, I will grant her a limited ability to interact with clouds if she happens to come in contact with them (e.g.: when there's fog). She won't be able to support her weight on them or force any kind of weather out of them (so no rain, no snow, no lightning, etc.), but she will be able to form them into shapes that won't dissipate unless something passes through them or a strong wind blows. So basically she will be left with the ability to make balloon animals out of clouds. This will be helpful somehow.
Other Abilities:
Rainbow Dash is still an accomplished athlete without her pegasus abilities. She was able to easily keep pace with Applejack, a top-notch earth pony runner, even with her wings tied to her sides. She was also able to just about match Applejack in their Iron Pony Competition (based on the challenges completed before Rainbow started using her wings to help her win), which shows that she has athletic ability beyond just running. Based on the Iron Pony Competition, she has respectable kicking strength (years of practice kicking clouds, no doubt), pulling strength, throwing ability, and balance. She can also be incredibly agile and well-coordinated, able to pull off complex physical routines and weave through obstacle courses without missing a beat (when she isn't feeling unfocused or nervous, anyway). She doesn't get disoriented easily either, even when flying/running around in tight circles at top speeds.
She may or may not have a black belt in (pony) karate; she does wear a black belt when trying to teach Apple Bloom in "Call of the Cutie". Since this may have been a throwaway gag, though, I won't count it formally. However, I will say that she is at least a naturally decent fighter, considering the fact that she felt qualified to show Apple Bloom karate at all, and the fact that she once kicked a dragon in the face with no f***s given.
Scope/Psychology:
As I said in my canon point reasoning, I expect Rainbow Dash's initial reaction to Landel's to be panic. She will have no idea what she's been turned into* or where she is, she will almost certainly trip over herself trying to figure out how to walk in her new form, and she will be incredibly distressed since she doesn't know what's going on with her friends or Discord.
In a way, though, I think the whole Discord thing will make it easier for her to deal with her situation, at least at first. She is very likely to suspect that her transformation, the humans around her, the monsters at night, and the Institute as a whole are all part of something that Discord cooked up. After all, he is the being that created horrifically mutated spider-walking bunnies and chocolate rain clouds made of cotton candy, among other things; a whole institute full of mutated, hairless, monkey-like... things is not exactly outside of his ballpark. Thus, Rainbow will be convinced for at least a little while that Landel's is a prison Discord created to keep her from defeating him. Once she's got that worked out for herself, her efforts will probably focus on looking for him and/or finding a way out of the world he's created. If anyone else from her canon gets into the game, she will probably assume that they've been trapped the same way she was.
I can't predict how long that belief will last, since that will depend on who she meets and how convincing they are in telling her that this all has nothing to do with Equestria. If/when she does accept that Discord isn't involved, she will probably have made enough friends and allies by that point to have a good reason to keep fighting anyway. Even one new friend would be enough of a reason, given Rainbow Dash's loyalty to her friends. Her loyalty would probably be stronger than ever, even, considering she just experienced what it would be like to be a callous jerk who betrayed her friends at the drop of a hat; she would want to strive to not be that pony again if she can help it. And even if by some miracle she didn't make friends in Landel's, the need to bust out and get back to her friends in Ponyville and stop Discord would be more than reason enough to keep going.
That said, it will be hard for her. Landel's by night will be one of the most dangerous places Rainbow Dash has ever been, if not the most dangerous. She's going to be seeing a lot more blood and losing a lot more people than she ever has in her life. Never mind that she has to face this place without her wings or any of her normal abilities. The loss of her wings in particular will be irritating at best and infuriating/depressing at worst. The longer she stays in Landel's, the more she may entertain thoughts like "What happens if I never get out? What if I can never fly again? I'll never join the Wonderbolts! Never see Cloudsdale or Ponyville again! Never see my friends again! What if I die here?! What if any of my friends die here?! What do I do?? Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!" Depending on what's going on, she may reach states like those seen in "Sonic Rainboom", where she will just curl up in a corner and panic or get down on herself.
Again, though, Rainbow Dash is a strong character. I have confidence that while the Institute will wear on her and push her to her limits at times, her core traits of loyalty, bravery, and determination will let her carry on and push past the dark patches. The daytime periods will help a lot with that, as they will provide a lot of opportunity to chill out, meet new people, build CR, and even (gasp) have some fun. The more connections she makes in Landel's, the more reason she will have to help out her new friends and keep pushing forward.
[* - There is not much canon evidence to say one way or another whether ponies have a concept of what humans are. They never talk about humans or make direct reference to them, but absence of evidence does not necessarily equal evidence of absence, so... Yeah, I don't know. For the sake of pinning it down, though, I am going to assume that ponies don't know what humans are. It makes more sense in this case to assume the non-existence of knowledge than to assume knowledge and define its limits in the absence of any supporting evidence.]
Jusification:
It's a dangerous world out there. So it is on Earth, and so it is in Equestria as well. While My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a cartoon aimed at the five to ten-year-old girl set and thus doesn't show much in the way of dark or mature themes onscreen, there is enough present in the canon in the way of world building, character development, life-threatening events, and other hints at darker themes to build a case for a pony being able to adapt to a darker setting.
We'll start with Rainbow Dash herself. While it has been established that there are times where she can freeze up and let fear overtake her, overall her bravery and loyalty allow her to overcome threats and obstacles in her path. She is no stranger to death-defying stunts, and often won't blink twice at having to perform a task that could result in extreme bodily harm for anypony with lesser stones. She is also able to perform under pressure in other dangerous situations, such as the avalanche in "Dragonshy". And in instances where she does feel great fear, threats to the safety of her friends will result in her being able to put her own fear aside for the sake of rushing to the rescue (e.g.: hurtling toward the ground at supersonic speeds to save Rarity from falling to her death). As the embodiment of the Element of Loyalty, her duty to her friends can help her overcome almost anything.
She also has some experience with sudden body transmogrification, which should help with the change to human form in Landel's. In "The Return of Harmony Pt. 1", Discord suddenly magics away Rainbow Dash's wings, effectively turning her into an earth pony. She is understandably freaked out at first by the loss of whole appendages from her body, but is able to deal with it as she and her friends are tasked with running through Discord's labyrinth. Changing into a human is more extreme, obviously, but I believe Rainbow would be able to handle it similarly: she would be freaked out but would force herself to deal with it for the sake of getting back to her friends (and later helping out her new friends).
Speaking of "The Return of Harmony": Rainbow is also subject to mental suggestion and brainwashing by Discord in that episode, and she is not shown to have been permanently scarred by the experience after she snaps out of it. She knows what it is like to have an outside influence change her personality and make her perceive and believe in illususory visions (in this case, she was made to believe that a single cloud was really the whole city of Cloudsdale). This gives her a point of reference for things like Damned's Real Life Event, or any other events involving mind control or changes in mental state.
Finishing on the world-based points: mature themes do exist in the MLPverse. The ponies are not as naive as the nature of their canon might suggest on the surface. In canon and through The Powers That Be, we know or can infer that the following are realities in the MLP:FiM universe:
- Sex (TPTB have confirmed that ponies reproduce in the normal mammalian way)
- Aging (see: Granny Smith)
- Insanity/Disturbance (see: Pinkie Pie in "Party of One"; of note, Rainbow Dash was the only pony to witness the bulk of Pinkie's disturbance in that episode)
- Monsters (e.g.: dragons, manticores, hydras, cockatrices, ursas, quarray eels)
- World-ending calamities and natural disasters (e.g.: Nightmare Moon's threat of eternal night; Discord's threat of eternal chaos; the potential for dragon snores to cover the land in smoke for a hundred years, which Twilight Sparkle flat-out says Equestria "can't survive"; avalanches and rock slides)
- Large-scale destruction (e.g.: Ponyville has nearly been levelled on multiple occasions, namely by parasprites, various animal stampedes, and later in canon, a grown-up rampaging Spike)
- Death (suggested by the presence of aging, by Fluttershy's reaction to Philomena turning to ashes, by Rarity saying "you saved my life", and by many other hints throughout the series)
- Fates worse than death (a thousand years in the moon/trapped in stone, anyone?)
[Post-app edit:
Her physical capabilities also factor into suitability. While she may or may not be a trained fighter, she is an accomplished athlete either way. As such, she will be able to run away from threats at the very, very least, and beyond that, she has enough physical experience and talent to pick up more fighting skills with relative ease. She should have a natural talent for kicks and punches, based on years of experience kicking clouds. Thus, she would not be hugely vulnerable in the event of monster attacks and other threats.]