The Sonic Rainboom... · 4:54pm Feb 22nd, 2013
...Exists in real life.
One of the fun things about going at transonic speeds inside an atmosphere is that something called a vapor cone will form. You may remember seeing it before Rainbow Dash actually broke the sound barrier. You may also hear some people refer to it as a "mach cone"(these people are silly and wrong. There is no such thing. It's vapor.)
As you can infer from the name, a vapor cone is made from water vapor that condense around objects moving at transonic speeds. Rockets, jets, planes, bright blue pegasi, and the like. It's really just a cloud of water vapor. How is that important, you ask? Well, you may remember that rainbows are produced from the refraction of light in clouds of water vapor. What this means is, that when the conditions are right, transonic objects result in things like this-
It may not be nearly as brightly colored as our dear friend Rainbow Dash's, but that's no surprise. Everything in Equestria is much more brightly colored and defined than what you see in real life. What on Earth made you think rainbow trails were some kind of exception?
Simple, logical explanation for the sonic rainboom. Have fun with this little nugget of information.
