Picking Apart "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", Season 2 Episode 16

Read It and Weep

Hey, I got a question.  What do you suppose Rainbow Dash does when she's bored?

Guess we'll find out sooner than we think.

See, she somehow winds up getting into a freak accident that lands her in the hospital.  The doctor says that she has to stay for a few days and even then, she's not supposed to use her wings for at least a week.

This of course haunts her, so Twilight Sparkle offers her a book to read for passing time.  Rainbow Dash, not wanting to be taken for an egghead, initially refuses, despite that her friends tell her that even they read from time to time.

Eventually, when she finally does decide to read the book, which is titled 'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone', the first in its series, she gets hooked.  I'm gonna assume that the series references the Harry Potter books because of the similar titles (Quest for the Sapphire Stone, the Griffon's Goblet), but the reason Twilight picked this particular book is because this Daring Do character is similar to Rainbow Dash in a lot of ways.

In fact, when we're introduced to the world of Daring Do, the character bears a striking resemblance to Rainbow Dash, but she's actually voiced by Chiara Zanni, not Ashleigh Ball.  Now the story of Daring Do actually pays homage to the Indiana Jones series created by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg.

Check this out.  A direct mirror to the scene from the now classic Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

Rainbow Dash: I hate to admit it to myself, and would really hate to admit it to my friends, but... I love this story!

I, I- I love reading!

I'm an egghead.

Heaven forbid, Dashie.  It's not like your friends are gonna ridicule you for this.  After all, they laughed earlier because you weren't about to take reading seriously.  So the next day, her friends return with a board game that is obviously an equivalent to Battleship.  She plays the game but intentionally loses in order to see her friends off and get in some private reading time.

And when dinner is served the next day, she eats messily on purpose to drive her friends away for the same reason.

Eventually when Rainbow Dash is discharged from the hospital, she practically doesn't want to leave because she never finished the book.

Rainbow Dash: Twilight has a copy of the book! Uh, but I can't ask her after I called her an egghead and all...

So instead, Rainbow Dash tries to sneak back into the hospital and back to room 12 just to get a hold of the book and try to finish it.

Of course she gets busted and when her friends confront her, demanding to know what the ruckus is all about, she fesses up and admits her newfound love for reading.  And then Twilight tells her pretty much the same thing she told her when she first introduced the book to her.  Nothing special.

So Rainbow Dash has Spike write her third letter to Princess Celestia while she finishes the book and immediately starts on the next one.  And for the first time, we're given an insight of Rainbow's bedroom.  Yeah, just as I thought, it does look like Tank can settle there by her side.  Turns out she checked out the whole 'Daring Do' series from the Golden Oaks library so she has a new pastime now.  Come to think of it, this ought to branch out her personality and interests a little bit more.  A future Wonderbolt wannabe, fast on the weather, performer of the legendary Sonic Rainboom, and a passionate hobby of reading the 'Daring Do' adventure book series.  Mm, not bad, not bad at all.