Dash Academy is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic webcomic by SorcerusHorserus that explores Rainbow Dash's time in flight school.
The author is also making a comic within a comic called Red Sorena. It's about a griffon Red Sonja type character.
The comic provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: Oh so much!
- Amazon Chaser: Argie has a griffon fetish. And he seems to have gathered his knowledge of the species mostly from pulp adventure comics.
- Art Evolution: Compare the original version
of the first page to the redrawn version. - The Beard: Pokey's introduced as such, when he acts as Rainbow Dash's boyfriend/date for the Starlight Dance when Dash tries to stop the rumors of her sexuality. It nearly backfires when Pokey decides to blackmail some nookie out of the deal.
- Beauty Is Bad: Pokey Pierce. He's good looking, charming, sophisticated and willingly goes along with Dash's deception to use him to end speculation about her sexuality. Oh, and he thinks that this entitles him to sleep with Dash, and blackmail her into sex by outing her deception if she refuses. And when she ditched him, it's implied, then later shown, that
he took advantage of Derpy. Oh, and if that wasn't creepy enough he's a medical Intern who works with Foals. - The Cameo: Almost all the background ponies in the comic are actually fan-submitted Original Characters.
- Creator Cameo: SorcerusHorserus's ponysona appears in chapter six drawing a sketch of Derpy and Surprise.
- Cock Fight: Argie and Billy nearly end up in one over Gilda. Gilda seems to get genuinely intrigued by the situation.
- Comic Within A Comic: Red Sorena, Red Sonja with griffons.
- Expy: Surprise is pretty much a pegasus version of Pinkie Pie. Also doubles as a Mythology Gag.
- Fair-Weather Friend/Vitriolic Best Buds: Gilda plays pranks on Dash, ditches Dash when invited to go with the Speedster's team, blows off Dash's justified concerns that Billy's screwing with her, and tells Dash to deal with her own problem with Pierce instead of helping her create a distraction. But Gilda's also seen trying to comfort Dash when she's worried that she won't be able to get a scholarship, holds her back to keep her from attacking the coach, and tells Pierce to buzz off when he tries to force the issue with Dash.
- of course there is another possible explanation for Gilda’s behaviour. Discussed in the WMG page.
- Foreshadowing: As of chapter five, Something bad, and as yet unidentified, has happened to Derpy. When asked about her first crush, she has a Flashback about it, then lies about it.
- Rainbow Dash calls Derpy's growing stomach "holiday pudge" as a reason the team needs to train more. The look on Derpy's face suggests she knows or suspects better.
- In chapter 7 part 4, Derpy can be seen looking very nauseated in the first panel, all but implying morning sickness. She outright vomits, albeit offpanel, in the next installment.
- Funny Background Event: Derpy, where did you get a Pineapple?
- Doubles as Fridge Horror: Looks like Derpy really could have done with some better sex-ed.
- Good-Times Montage: The first page of Chapter 6.
- Hidden Depths: Billy may be a jerk but his analysis about how unhealthy it is for her relationship with Dash to be Dash always taking and Gilda always giving.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Gilda's claim that it wasn't Billy's fault Dash wasn't let on the team is about as far off the mark as she can get.
- Argie in thinking that Pokey would make a good date.
- Jerkass: Billy (Dumb-Bell), Hoops, Score, Gilda, Rainbow Dash at times, Pokey Pierce.
- Lovable Jock: Rainbow Dash, after a while.
- Love Letter Lunacy: There's a small love letter subplot going on with both prank and real letters in the air.
- Mistaken for Gay: Rainbow Dash. Much to her surprise however she's realized that she may have started developing feelings for Firefly.
- Mythology Gag: Two of the Junior Speedsters, Surprise and Firefly, are basically exported straight from G1 My Little Pony series, with Surprise being the proto-Pinkie personality that Lauren Faust had intended to use.
- Relationship Upgrade: As of Chapter 6, Rainbow Dash and Firefly become a couple.
- Ship Tease: As of recently, Fluttershy and Brolly have been shown together quite a few times. One can only imagine...
- As of 6.3 they're seen as a couple by the others. And such a cute one!
- Shout-Out: While Junior Speedsters are training in the gymnasium, the drama club is simultaneously rehearsing The Phantom of the Opera.
- Teen Pregnancy: It's implied Dinky will be the result of one, after Pokey took Derpy to a fancy hotel, got her drunk, and then took advantage of her.
- Twice Shy: Fluttershy and Brolly.
- The Unsmile: At the dance, Fluttershy tries to sit quietly and smile. When she smiles with her teeth exposed, her braces make her look weird. When she tries smiling without the braces, she looks creepy.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Billy, big time. When he overhears Rainbow and Firefly getting close and lovey, he finds it absolutely hilarious and later tries to deflect all guilt when Gilda rightfully calls him out on eavesdropping. Over the course of one chapter, he provokes Gilda into hitting him, plays himself up as the victim when she attempts to do so, makes her feel guilty, and works in several insults toward Rainbow - including what could easily be considered a homophobic remark - and starts actively trying to convince Gilda to cut ties with her. She lets this all go and even seems ready to have sex with him about two seconds later, after he makes a potentially hollow promise to give Dash another try at friendship. THEN when Gilda finds out that Billy has all but blackmailed Dash and Firefly and calls him out on it, he trashes her for saying, rightly, that revenge was her call and her responsibility and then, after Dash tells him to "stallion up", locks both females in the room and flies off to trash Firefly and Dash's reputations, all without a hint of guilt because he thinks Dash is a stuck up brat.
- Unusual Euphemism: While "wingboner" is more of a dysphemism, later on in the comic, when Rainbow Dash falls asleep in the theater and has a dream about kissing Firefly, when she wakes up with spread wings, Firefly asks her if she was having a "night flight", an obvious euphemism for a wet dream.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Firefly calls Dash out for her attitude toward Derpy. Dash isn't really affected because she doesn't see herself as unfairly singling Derpy out as she doesn't know what's happening with Derpy, and her own dreams of getting a college scholarship were getting crushed because she herself was unfairly singled out.
