-Rainbow Dash
"Wow, it's been a while since you've written about ponies. I thought
you finally forsook it." Never in a million years dear reader, well... Maybe in a couple, we'll see, but until that sad sad day comes, let's talk a little about faith. "Can we not...?" Nope. We're talking about it. But first, a story!
Now because I've written a little about the ponies who make up what is colloquially known as, 'The Mane Six', it makes long drawn out explanations like this one
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| Two of the greatest sources of happiness |
As such, Sonic Rainboom finds Rainbow Dash ready to compete in what's known as the Best Young Fliers competition. It's a competition that I guess happens every year in which the best young pegasus ponies compete for fame and an afternoon
with the Wonderbolts. (Think Blue Angels, but in small colorful pony form)
Rainbow Dash is a HUGE fanatic when it comes to the Wonderbolts and it's her hope and dream to one day join their ranks and winning this competition is gonna bring her closer to getting there. "I thought you said these long drawn out explanations were unnecessary...?" I also realized there is A LOT more to this show than what little I remembered... Now stop interrupting please. But Rainbow has an ace up her sleeve. Well, I guess technically hoof... They don't really wear clothes too often... Anyway, she is the only pegasus capable of performing a Sonic Rainboom. (hence the name of the episode) What is a Sonic Rainboom you ask? Well Webster's describes it as- oh wait...
That's right, the word doesn't exist... Fine, I'LL DESCRIBE IT... When a pegasus like Rainbow Dash goes REALLY fast, they can break not only the sound barrier, but the color barrier too in a stunning display of... stunning...ness... Rainbow Dash is the only pegasus who can do this and she did it once when she was a foal (young horse/pony I guess the kid equivalent. And you thought this show only taught good Christian values...) but every time she tries it, she just can't break past the sonic barrier and ends up failing epically. But many still think it's an "old mare's tale." (It's their equivalent to an old wives tale. Hey I didn't write the show... I wish though...)
Wow this summary is taking longer than I wanted... Fast forward.
Point is, Rainbow Sonic Rainboom'd once on accident and hasn't been able to do it again which makes her kind of nervous. Although she isn't vocal about it because she's crazy prideful, (we'll talk about that one in a little) her friends pick up on it and decide to go cheer her on. However, the competition is being held in Cloudsdale, which as you probably guessed, is made of clouds which other ponies, except Pegasus ponies, can't step on. Twilight uses magic to give Rarity a pair of beautiful butterfly wings that are made of gossamer and morning dew, (remember that) but because the spell is difficult to do multiple times, she instead uses a different spell that allows the rest of them to walk on clouds.
Well up in Cloudsdale, Rainbow is nervous and is made even more so when she realizes that Rarity, because of the attention she is getting from her new wings, is also competing in the competition which majorly freaks Rainbow out. The competition arrives and Rainbow stalls due to stage fright until time runs out and Rainbow and Rarity both have to compete at the same time. Pulling herself together, she goes out and completely bombs her first two maneuvers. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the princess of the kingdom is spectating, adding more pressure. So now it's do or die time for Rainbow so she once more tries to perform the Sonic Rainboom. She gains altitude and so does Rarity as she uses the sun to reflect light off her wings in a stunning display of... I don't know... Refraction? It's colorful, that's the point. However, much like Icarus, she flies too high and the very sensitive wings burn up and so she begins plummeting to the ground. The Wonderbolts quickly dispatch to retrieve her but because she's flailing, she knocks them unconscious. It's at that moment when Rainbow Dash takes notice of her endangered friend and abandoning all prospects of winning, she bullets down in Rarity's direction.
Alright pause at the best part.
Now we already talked about why faith is so important and that we need it in our lives or else we're pretty much just walking aimlessly down this path called life. However, simple faith isn't sufficient for miracles to happen. Simply believing isn't enough to change anything. As a scripture in the New Testament says,
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead..."
(James 2:17)
By me simply wanting something, I don't get any closer to it happening. As we talked about before, Joseph Smith didn't receive a vision just by wanting it and sitting there, he made it happen! If you don't do, nothing will. If you want a more poetic version of what I'm trying to say, then Dr. Seuss is your man.
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going toget better, it's not."
-Dr. Seuss (The Lorax)
So now you have faith and you've put forth the action and yet nothing has happened and you're saying to yourself, "can I say it?" Yeah go for it. "I just don't know what went wrong." So you're feeling bad about yourself and the boo-hoos are coming cause you listened to Elder Lopez's advice and so far as you know, nothing has come out of it and
you're at the point of swearing vengeance on he who has deceived you will not stop until justice had been served... Well calm down cause I don't need a vigilante coming through my window and beating me into a good looking pulp. Instead, what you SHOULD'VE done was flip your handy dandy scriptures to Ether 12:6 which says,
And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.
(Ether 12:6)
So there we reach trials. We'll fail yes and then we'll fail again and sometimes again but then we try just one more time... And then we fail again... "Anticlimactic." But after all these things, we humble ourselves because it's at the very time that we need it when miracles happen.
Alright, back to Rainbow Dash.
So Rarity's been falling for a while and is pretty close to the ground and Rainbow Dash is in a 90 degree nosedive to save her falling friend and heroes. The high velocity winds make it hard for Rainbow Dash to keep her eyes open and her mouth shut, a sonic cone begins to form around her slowing her descent until she finally breaks through the
sound and color barrier, flying at supersonic speeds fast enough to catch the endangered ponies and leaving a dazzling rainbow trail back to the Cloudiseum (it's a cloud coliseum and yes, that's actually what it's called.) Lessons are learned, friendships strengthened, yadda yadda, and in the end, Rainbow wins the Best Young Fliers competition, doesn't take The Lord's name in vain (cause the show teaches good Christian values) and gets to spend time with her idols.
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| It looks something like that. |
So why did she succeed that time and not the first hundred? "Cause the show would be kinda dark and gruesome if she didn't...?" Well, I suppose that's true, but not what I'm looking for. She had the faith, (well, if you want to call it that, she is like I said, VERY prideful) she had the works, (she IS the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria) so what went wrong?
Two things did. One, she relied more on her own ability and allowing her pride as well as doubt to overwhelm her. If there's one thing we can learn, it's that pride comes before the fall and it was only until she was humbled sufficiently enough that she was able to bring about these great works. (But that's not the last you'll ever hear about
Rainbow Dash and her ego coming to bite her) Her fear was also what started getting to her, the bible dictionary definition of fear says,
"...Fear is spoken of as something unworthy of a child of God, something that “perfect love casteth out” The first effect of Adam’s sin was that he was afraid. Sin destroys that feeling of confidence God’s child should feel in a loving Father and produces instead a feeling of shame and guilt. Ever since the Fall God has been teaching men not to fear, but with penitence to ask forgiveness in full confidence of receiving it."
And two, it wasn't until the trial of her faith that she was able to do it. Things were different when she was just trying to win and impress everyone, which is its own reward. It wasn't until her friend's life was in danger and she had a lot to lose when she gave
all the worldly things she cared about up, and let pure faith take the wheel.
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| It also kinda looks like that... Such determination. |
So the moral?
Watch My Little Pony. Oh, and also and more importantly, you can't go wrong when you have God on your side. "You write a lot of these." Yeah I do, but we're at the eleventh hour now. "What's that supposed to mean...?" Guess you'll find out soon enough.
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