• Community Soapbox #18 - Rainbow Dash Can't Be a Lesbian, Do Pegasus Really Fly?, and More!


    Another week, more interesting topics from the readers here at EQD! What will they discuss next? Your guess is as good as mine.

    Expect these posts every Tuesday at 2:00 PM PST (3:00 EQD Time). To submit your own, see this post.

    This week we dive into the following:
    • Rainbow Dash Cannot be a Lesbian
    • What are we?
    • Do Pegasus Really Fly?
    • Will we see Babs Seed again? Future Manehattan CMC episode?
    • Discord's Greatest Weakness
    And get your soapboxes below!


    Rainbow Dash Cannot be a Lesbian
    By: Jon



    The assumptions of canon homosexuality in Dash's case can be viewed in two ways. First are the memes taking advantage of the rainbow colors and tomboy attitude. Next on the more benevolent side we the calls for LGBT representation with Dash as an obvious mascot. Both however illustrate why Rainbow Dash can never be written as a lesbian - canonically that is.

    In short, it's far too obvious. The jokes surrounding her sexuality only arose because her character fits into easy stereotypes after all. What kind of message would it send if the writers officially made her gay? Such a decision would only vindicate all the unoriginal, simple-minded dolts who see a rainbow-colored tomboy and whose minds immediately jump to, "Must be a lesbian." If there is one thing I despise, it's narrow-minded people being rewarded for their narrow-mindedness by being correct in their stereotypical thinking. In the real world, this cannot be helped. One can make a snap assumption based on stereotypes and be correct, but here we are dealing with fiction. We have a choice.

    So make or reveal an existing character to be lesbian. That is fine. It just cannot be Rainbow Dash.


    Will we see Babs Seed again? Future Manehattan CMC episode?
    By: MegaSean45


    It's been three seasons since we last seen Babs Seed! What has she been doing since we last saw her? It has been confirmed in Bloom and Gloom that she got her cutie mark, which is scissors, and is no longer a part of the Manehattan CMCs. Is that it? Is her story arc going have a premature end, and we'll never see her again? Actually, we still could! Brynna Drummond on her Twitter liked the comments about wanting her to return to the show as Babs, and she seems to support the idea! Out of all the time we've known Babs, we never actually met the Manehattan CMCs. So who are they, and how are they similar, yet different to the Ponyville CMCs? Will we in the future have an episode about the Ponyville CMCs going to Manehattan to visit Babs and her crusader friends? It actually all depends on the writers! Babs and her crusaders are long overdo for another appearance, and it wouldn't seem fair to end Babs' arc prematurely. I do have a pretty good feeling about season 7 though!


    Do Pegasus Really Fly?
    By: Bill Ames


    We all know birds fly, but really, do Pegasus fly? Birds use their wings to do all the lifting; they are experts at starting and stopping, and, just ask the humming birds, hovering. Now let us look at some specific examples of Pegasus in flight. When the Breezies were being escorted home by some Pegasus it was obvious, a minimal air disturbance was required. The Pegasus had to flap slowly, so slow they would not be flying. Just as Twilight and Starlight were often shown to be moving slowly in the air, even Starlight almost flying, both using Unicorn magic, we saw the glow. However, within their capabilities, the Pegasus control a special type of magic using their wings. No glow, but manifest by subtle wing motion. This is not a problem, not even for the show writers. They do not have to explain; the fan is more than willing to do it for them. Can Pegasus fly? In one respect, when in the air, free of surroundings, up in the sky, sure, they have wings and know how to use them. But when necessary, they must resort to their magic, most notably indoors or when doing a Brezzie escort.

    To help me find comments directed at me put this string in your comment "atbilla"


    What Are We?
    By: Nikolai

    After giving it some much needed thought, a question occurred to me. “What are we?” And what I mean by “we,” I mean the brony fandom. Sure, we’re a bunch a teens and adults who watch a show for children, but I feel like there’s more to the story then just that. Some may say we are a fandom wishing peace and tolerance towards all, but I have to disagree with this somewhat. Though we aren’t exactly demons sent from hell, we aren’t exactly angels sent from heaven either. I just don’t know the in depth answer to this question. Given what you know, what do you think the answer to this question is? “What are we?” Is it simply just a fandom or is it something entirely different? I look forward to hearing your responses to this question.


    Discord's Greatest Weakness
    By Fluttershypegasus

    During the season 2 premiere and the flashbacks in the season 4 premiere, we see Discord as an extremely cunning and skilled manipulator who is even capable of matching Princess Celestia in terms of plans. However, after his reformation, Discord seems to be much easier to defeat-Tirek manages to outplay him and the changelings manage to capture him. However, I believe there is an element common to his defeats post reformation that explain them all.

    During his time as a villain, Discord's schemes involved him and him alone. When this was the case, he was extremely competent and dangerous. However, after he gains friends he seems much less capable of working them into his plans-in both of his defeats this played an integral part; Tirek pretended to be his friend and betrayed him and the changelings exploited his friendship with Fluttershy to disorient him. This makes sense because he is the spirit of chaos and therefore antithetical to harmony, and the whole point of friendship is to work in harmony with others. Therefore, since friendship goes against his very nature, the fact that he has friends at all is a spanner in the works and are very difficult for him to integrate into his plans. This is not to say it's a bad thing for him to have friends-as we saw in keep calm and flutter on, he's much happier having friends and not being the Chaos Lord of Equestria than he is being a villain and trying to take over. However, since it works in opposition to his true nature it leaves him in a tactical disadvantage.