Oh yes, Element of Loyalty herself. I love how Rainbow always don’t believe in her friends and gives up

@Scrounge  
Fluttershy’s protest was no attack on Dash though. She was just explaining herself. By the end of this comic, doubtless they’ll all appreciate each other again just fine, but the situation could have been handled a little better.

@Millennial Dan  
Agreed, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Dash could have taken it easier on Fluttershy, and Fluttershy could have cut Dash a bit more slack. How about forgiving each other and being friends again?

@Scrounge  
Honestly, if I pull someone out of a burning building, I should probably take it easy on them at that moment, even if it was the victim’s fault somehow. At the very least, she could have followed up as you suggested with something calmer after the adrenaline wore off, instead of just stalking away.

@Millennial Dan  
Fair enough, though I feel that if someone says something insensitive after saving your life, you should probably cut them a little slack. It’s probably just the fear and/or worry talking.

@Scrounge  
I think we’re veering off a bit here. I don’t know why Fluttershy suddenly couldn’t wing, but since that happened in this comic for whatever reason, it was good that RD showed up and made the catch. The trouble started after that.

@Millennial Dan  
Yes, but in such a case, removing her from the situation should occur before the discussion does due to the limited time before potential tragedy, so the understanding wouldn’t come until after the fact. And let’s be clear: Hitting the ground from cloud level accidentally would have had the exact same effect as hitting the ground from cloud level intentionally.

@Scrounge  
Only until some reasonable understanding of the situation is established. Something along the lines of,  
“Are you trying to get yourself hurt?”  
“Of course not!”

@Millennial Dan  
Making a high-speed nose dive towards the ground when the entire root of the problem is that you don’t fly well is a very bad idea. I’ll grant that it wasn’t an actual suicide attempt if you’ll grant that it could very easily be mistaken for one.

@Scrounge  
>Fluttershy isn’t doing this for her  
Sure she is. She’d be proving something to herself just as much as anyone else. This is rendered a bit moot by the fact that she already has, but assuming for a moment that Hurricane Fluttershy never happened, this would be another possible outcome of her feelings.
 
>she doesn’t want to live without it  
Woah, big assumption there. She wasn’t trying to kill herself, she just set the bar a little too high for a first attempt. Even then, it’s not clear what exactly went wrong.

@Millennial Dan  
Mostly the method, but also partly the motivation. Should you really feel you have to become a world-record-setting sprinter just because some jerks bully you about not walking very fast? Fluttershy isn’t doing this for her, or for any of her friends, or for anypony who’d even have the decency to be proud of her if she pulled it off. She’s doing this for all the ponies who have ever treated her like she’s worthless, and as far as I’m concerned, she owes then nothing.
 
And as for the method, I’ll say it again: What Fluttershy’s doing is less “training” and more “throwing yourself into a situation where you can’t survive without n ability in the hopes that ability will suddenly manifest”. It suggests less that she wants to gain the ability and more that she doesn’t want to live without it.
 
Rainbow Dash might not necessarily know exactly what Fluttershy’s limits are, but I suspect she has a fairly clear picture of what a fatal crash involves, and a good guess as to how much happier everypony would be if one didn’t happen to Fluttershy.

@Background Pony #90E5  
No, she doesn’t, and that’s outrageously presumptuous.
 
@Scrounge  
So you’re not really even disputing the idea, just the method. If I wanted to try and become a world-record-setting sprinter, I would have to train very well to even come close. Even then, I might never do it, but there’s nothing wrong with trying.

But Dash knows Fluttershy’s limits.

@Millennial Dan  
Trying to force yourself to do something almost impossible for anyone when you’re nowhere near the top of your field and get it fight on the first try is only the right way to go about that when it’s a desperation gambit to save someone’s life (or something else worth dying for) is on the line. Otherwise what Fluttershy just did might as well have been attempted suicide. Showing what you’re capable of, in such cases, generally consists of finding where your limits are, then finding ways to ovecome them, building strength, learning new skills, things like that. Trying to jump in the deep end first thing is generally a mistake in any show/book/comic/story/etc. unless you don’t have a choice.

@Scrounge  
On the other hand, aspiring to show everyone what you are capable of is something that is almost universally encouraged. Heck, the Naruto series devoted almost half its time to that very end.

@Background Pony #6872  
She doesn’t want this, at least not as anything more than a means to an end. What she wants is for other ponies to respect her.
 
But all right, point taken, let’s try “Think about why you’re doing this and meet me here tomorrow.”

@Scrounge  
But even that’s going too far. If Fluttershy wants something, it’d be terribly manipulative to say, “No, Fluttershy, you actually don’t want what you say you want.” She should be supportive, not a controlling nay-sayer.

@gittonsxv  
It’s the way she’s going about it, mostly. Maybe “I don’t think you can do this” is a bad thing to say, since it carries undertones of weakness and doesn’t really address the root issue. It’s more relevant and more persuasive to let her know that she doesn’t need to do it, that her friends would rather have Fluttershy than a spare Rainbow Dash. Telling her she can’t do it is just gonna make her feel like you’re doubtng her, which will make her feel worse about not being a great flier and just make her more likely to do something that could harm her in a misguided quest to prove herself.

@gittonsxv  
Because “flying fast” is not that big a deal, and is actually something that Rainbow Dash herself has pressured Fluttershy to do in the past. It doesn’t even matter if Fluttershy never succeeds at something like this, it’s perfectly alright for her to try. I would be encouraging her, not beating her up about having lofty aspirations.
 
People who truly care about you don’t tell you that you can’t possibly do something just because it’s hard. They tell you what needs to happen to overcome the challenges. Regardless of whether or not you succeed, you will inevitably be better off for having aimed high. If Fluttershy really wanted to go for it, then she should.

why does this make dash a douche?  
if your friend who is as strong as a piece of bread was trying to do something that like 4 people in history has ever done and was insane hard and dangerous why would you let them?

I don’t think Fluttershy has to worry about that so much. Anypony inclined to pick on the flight-impaired is probably not going to even notice her any more with Scootaloo around.
 
@Black_Fox  
Yeah, the only way to salvage this is for Rainbow’s next line to be something along the lines of “You don’t want to do this. You just think you have to. But you’re wrong. You’ve got a choice.” Possibly followed up by some variation of “I’ve got being me covered. Maybe you should try being you.” But since she’s not even on the next page, it seems that ship has sailed.

Rainbow may seem like a douche now and then, but she is the element of loyalty.

@Background Pony #92CD  
Highly debatable.

Yes, please draw more characters behaving in exactly the opposite way they do according to canon. Rainbow’s done nothing but encourage Fluttershy in the show.

:v