Random Episode Review of the Day: Sonic Rainboom · 7:14am Oct 1st, 2012
This is it…only five more episodes to go…
Let’s look at #15, “Sonic Rainboom.”
---
TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 1
Episode: 16
Written By: M. A. Larson
First Aired: February 18, 2011
SUMMARY:
The time is coming for the Best Young Flyer competition, an event to see which young Pegasus is the best flyer in all of Equestria, and naturally Rainbow Dash is ready to compete. (With Fluttershy serving as her pep squad.) After all, the grand prize is a whole day with her heroes, the Wonderbolts! Unfortunately, her act has hit a snag; while she can perform the first two stages of her routine perfectly, the last one – the legendary Sonic Rainboom – keeps tripping her up. Her latest attempt ends when she collides with the sound barrier, bends it slightly, but is then flung backwards, crashing into Twilight’s library right after she and the rest of their friends had finished cleaning up.
Dash and Fluttershy both tell them about the contest, with Pinkie and AJ hyping up Dash as the only pony to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom. When asked if she could repeat the feat for the competition, however, Dash quickly becomes evasive and leaves to rest up. Once she’s gone, Fluttershy confirms that she hasn’t been able to do it at all during their practice sessions, and then leaves as well. Sensing her friend’s failing spirits, Rarity pleads with Twilight to find a way for the ponies to get to Cloudsdale (a city made of clouds, and thus inaccessible to non-Pegasi). Pinkie manages to scrounge up a spell to give ponies wings temporarily, but it’s an excessively complicated one. Rarity volunteers herself as a test subject…
Later, Dash and Fluttershy arrive in Cloudsdale, where they are instantly greeted by three of her old bullies. They instantly dig at her failing out of flight school (or possibly dropping out, it’s never made clear) and mock her attempts at making a Sonic Rainboom before leaving. Dash, unfortunately, lets their words get to her, eroding her already waning self-confidence. Even worse, Fluttershy’s attempts to reassure her only make things worse, ending with Dash as a complete wreck. Just then, however, they’re greeted by Rarity, now sporting a pair of butterfly wings, and the others, who managed to get up there thanks to a spell that lets non-Pegasi walk on clouds. Sure enough, their being there helps raise Dash’s spirits, and she volunteers to give them a tour of the sights, including the weather and rainbow factories.
Unfortunately, Rarity has become completely smitten by her wings, as well as the attention they receive, and keeps showing them off despite Twilight reminding her of their quest and how delicate they are. It gets worse when the bullies arrive and start complimenting her wings while also insulting Dash. And it gets even worse from there when one of the workers suggests that she enter the competition herself…and she agrees.
Now completely wracked with fear, Dash keeps moving her position in the contest until she’s at the very bottom. Rarity, meanwhile, misses her mark in order to put on a hideous butterfly ensemble, and by the time it’s Dash’s turn, there’s so little time left that they have to go out together. Sure enough, Dash’s anxiety gets the better of her, and she messes up the first two stages of her routine while Rarity just flashes her wings. Finally, for their grand finales, both ponies fly straight up; Dash needs to get a running start for the Rainboom, and Rarity wants to use the sunlight to cast reflections of her wings across Cloudsdale. Unfortunately for her, she forgot that a key ingredient of her wings is morning dew; she’s close enough to the sun that the heat evaporates the liquid, frying her wings and sending her plummeting to her death.
The Wonderbolts quickly dive down, but Rarity’s flailing legs manage to knock them all unconscious. The sight of her friend and heroes in danger forces Dash to push past her anxiety and charge downward, accelerating fast enough to finally break through the sound barrier and perform the Sonic Rainboom. The massive burst in speed allows her to easily catch the four before they hit the ground, whip them around without a second thought, and finally bring them back down to cloud. It isn’t until right then that Rainbow even realizes what she did.
Now that everything’s settled, and Rarity is safely back in the balloon, Rainbow Dash laments not meeting her heroes…until they show up, led by Spitfire. Even better, Princess Celestia (who was watching the event as well) crowns her the Best Young Flyer in Equestria, and she is carried away on everypony’s shoulders. Even the bullies are quick to apologize, although Rainbow is more interested in hanging out with the Wonderbolts. Meanwhile, Rarity delivers the lesson: one should be there for their friends and keep their hooves on the ground.
REVIEW:
Words cannot describe how much I love the teaser, so just watch:
Have I mentioned that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy just work off each other perfectly? Because they do, and it helps strengthen an already strong episode to have them together for the majority of the time.
We next see Rainbow Dash’s routine, and for the most part it’s an incredibly impressive bit of animation. It also helps that we see how her planned entry would have worked, which is considerably more than most episodes of this type have the courtesy to do. It helps remind us that, despite Dash’s fears and screw-ups, she’s still a skilled flyer and deserves to win. As for the Sonic Rainboom, besides it taking physics behind the woodshed, there’s also an interesting difference between her failed attempt and the successful one later on. When she tries it in practice, she only has one hoof in front of her, with the other foreleg tucked underneath. We’ll get to the other one later.
The library scene is a “We’re done – oh, darn,” joke, although the library getting royally messed up after a crazy night of studying is just what you would expect from a pony like Twilight. The real point of this scene, though, is to deliver just about every bit of exposition needed to understand the importance of the costume and how special a Sonic Rainboom is. What I find interesting here, though, is how we get the first hints at what is going on in Dash’s head. She acts hesitant whenever the Rainboom or her confidence in the contest is brought up, and if you didn’t already have knowledge of the episode’s ending or “Cutie Mark Chronicles,” it would be easy to believe that Dash is just making the story up as an ego boost. I also love Fluttershy here, as her shyness just wears on Dash’s patience. She even does a perfect impersonation of me during every debate ever:
Of course, an episode without Twilight was impossible in the first season, so the wing spell now exists to provide an easy way to get around, as well as to generate extra conflict. Oddly enough, it’s Rarity who suggests using the spell, as she was the first to tell that Dash’s bluster was just a cloak for her anxiety. This makes sense considering the number of fashion shows she’s worked in the past, and it’s nice to see her willing to risk herself for her friend.
By the way, if you’re a Rarity fan, turn back now. Trust me, you’ll be much happier.
Cloudsdale is one of my favorite ideas in this entire generation. The minute the city comes into view, you can just tell that it’s one of the most important places in all of Equestria. It’s also amazing just how much stuff they’re able to build using only clouds and what I assume to be either lighter-than-air or enchanted materials. You can also see traces of Greek-esque architecture mixed in, no doubt a remnant from the times described in “Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Since the Pegasus was a Greek myth, it only makes sense that the same kind of ancient history would apply here.
We also meet the bullies, who are utterly one-note. And for the most part, that’s fine, since they only appear for about two minutes total in the entire episode. Their purpose is to teach us more about Dash’s history, such as her being a school wash-out due to being lazy even back then and nopony believing that she ever did a Sonic Rainboom. Again, it leads credence to the idea that she made the story up to begin with, and despite seeming like a plot hole when you consider that two of them were racing Dash when the fist Boom happened, it actually makes sense. After all, one had just plowed through a pillar, and the other had been knocked away from the force of Dash passing him.
We also hear their nickname for her: Rainbow Crash. Remember when Spike called her that in “Bridle Gossip?” Not quite as funny anymore, is it?
Either way, we see just how vulnerable Dash is now. While there were hints throughout the season that at least some of her boasting was overcompensation, this episode is the first to really expose it as the flaw that it is. While she has the skills, she also has low self-confidence, and allows the opinions of others to influence how she behaves and feels. It gets worse when (in a moment that, again, YouTube doesn’t have) Fluttershy gives her a speech that not only reminds her of just how often she’s failed, but of the number of ponies and kind of crowd she’ll be performing for. This triggers the mother of all panic attacks, as Rainbow Dash turns into Twilight and imagines all the horrible things that’ll happen to her, ending with a cry I’m all too familiar with:
Of course, this is when the rest of the cast joins, including Rarity with her butterfly wings. Admittedly, I like the design there, and it’s a pretty good match for the wearer’s personality. The “Walk on Clouds” spell is a bit of a copout, but it allows for the rest of the cast to join. Unfortunately, this is where the episode runs into its biggest issue. And I know it might surprise some of you, but I have to say it.
Rarity is unadulterated scum.
You remember how worried she was about Dash’s well-being at the beginning? Well, forget all that, because from this point on, she’s just a shallow, narcissistic jerkass who stabs Dash in the back for no reason other than to bask in the attention her wings receive. All the attention she gets only drives Dash further and further down into depression, and worst of all, she actually sides with the bullies when they return (now apparently factory workers) simply because they complimented her wings, and despite the fact that they just insulted her friend right in front of her. And to top it off, she enters the same contest she was there to help Dash win without so much as a second thought, all while Twilight is telling her to just stop being a flankhole and making Dash feel worse.
There have been many episodes where the characters act like jerks or do bad things, but this one takes the cake. Twilight may have brainwashed an entire village, but it was to avoid incurring the wrath of a sun god, and the only reason it happened was because the spell got out of control. Pinkie Pie tortured a donkey because he wouldn’t be her friend, but she still wanted him to be happy and made it up to him in the end. Rarity has no excuse here. The minute she got her wings, anything good in her left. She betrays one of her best friends – a pony she had set out to help – and makes fools out of the ponies who trusted her solely for the purposes of showing off something that won’t be there the next day. In other words, she is a F****** B****. And no, this is not just her getting “swept up in the competition.” This is her actively ignoring everything else just to boost her own ego. She is indefensible in this episode.
As for the rest of this sequence, we get to see how the weather is made. It’s not exactly necessary, but at the same time it’s visually and conceptually interesting. The best part, however, is when Pinkie literally decides to taste the rainbow:
First, it’s hilarious how rainbows are enough to outspice Pinkie, who earlier ate cupcakes smothered in hot sauce. Second, the scene is perfectly timed and executed. And third, there was apparently some fic someone made about the rainbows being made from the remains of foals who fail to pass their flying exams. It was like “Cupcakes,” only instead of being bad and funny, it was bad and boring.
And so we get to the actual contest. The look on Dash’s face as she takes in everypony in the crowd helps highlight how broken she is now, with only the sight of the Wonderbolts providing any cheer. I love Pinkie’s foam hand (even if it is a human one), as well as Celestia rather awkwardly waving her leg around to the crowd. This is also the first time we see the Wonderbolts in any way outside of one of Dash’s fantasy spots, and they more than earn their reputation. The rest of the scene, however, is mostly just Dash trying to avoid being picked while growing more and more nervous, until she’s finally reduced to cowering in a fetal position while muttering nonsense to herself. This is her at her most vulnerable, and it’s both amusing and horrifying to see.
Meanwhile, Rarity has spent the entire time in the mares’ dressing room, and just now emerges…dressed like a butterfly. This thing is hideous to behold; it looks like it was something Lady Gaga threw out because it was too garish and disturbing. It doesn’t help that she also hijacks Dash’s music, replacing it with a song that compliments her routine and not the friend she’s plunged a knife into. The predictable happens, with Dash ultimately failing the first two stages because of her anxiety, while Rarity just excels by looking pretty and stripping away any good will she’s built with me since “Suited for Success.” Fortunately, fate decides to side with me as her hubris drives her to repeat the story of Icarus and fly too close to the sun.
Now’s the part where Dash’s hooves come into play. Back when she was practicing with only one hoof out, the nosecone started to form, but she didn’t have enough power to break through the sound barrier. This time, however, she’s flying with both forehooves out and her body straight. This time, she manages to get to the nosecone, and finally break through completely, creating the Sonic Rainboom. I would complain about how she managed to grab four grown ponies and carry them to safety when they were but a few feet away from the ground, but I think science has cried enough today, so let’s get to the conclusion.
I love how Rarity is stuck in the balloon since she never had the cloud-walking spell cast on her. Of course, she’s easily forgiven for her betrayal since, you know, everything worked out. Dash is crowned the Best Young Flyer, thus proving that you can fail the first two events, but as long as you win the big one purely by accident, you can still be considered better than everypony else. And finally, we have the moral, which is a good but simple one. Here’s hoping Rarity actually remembers this one.
And finally, the bullies get their own comeuppance. They sheepishly admit that Dash is cooler than they thought she was, and ask to hang out with her. Of course, she refuses with yet another lovely out-of-context clip:
CONCLUSION:
Besides my issues with Rarity, this is a fantastic episode. Rainbow Dash’s character is fleshed out to the finest detail, showing us just how fragile she can be in the right situation. All of the other ponies are in top form as well, and all work well off each other. There’s a lot of good worldbuilding on display as well, as we get a new location and a more in-depth look at how ponies control weather and the seasons. Overall, I love this one. It’s just a shame Rarity has to put a damper on it all.
---
Well, the review’s over. Rarity fans, you may feel free to tell me off on this one.
Nice This is actually the first review I have read and therefore the best :)
Oh and also FIRST COMMENT
Other than that Im off...
Nope.
You kinda hit the nail in the head with this one. I would like to point out that her descent into bitchery is at least done so in a way that's consistent with her character. While generous and caring, with a pretty discerning eye at times, she can also be shallow, vain, and easily thrown off track when something catches her interest the right way. She also has a tendency to bask in praise and allow it to inflate her ego beyond reasonable proportions...
hmm, she's kinda like Rainbow Dash in that one episode that shall remained unnamed here. She ends up doing something similar to this in Sweet and Elite, which is mitigated at that point by her awareness of the fact that what she is doing is wrong. Why it's almost as though she'd learned from some sort of prior experience about how bad it is to put your vanity ahead of your friends. I wonder when that might have happened. 
>Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy just work off each other perfectly
d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/2306687_700b.jpg
Big ol' Rarity fan here, and personally speaking I still loved her in this episode even when she started letting the wings go to her head.
Rather strong words there. Yes she's narcissistic, but a jerkass; that would imply it was intentional. The important thing to remember is that Rarity can be every bit as egocentric as Dash and loves being the center of attention. Combo that with the unique thrill of being able to fly (plus with such fashionable wings), and it's little wonder she got rather full of herself. It's not one of her finer moments, but it is entirely in keeping with who she is, which isn't always flattering (we all have bad spots though; it's what makes us human... or pony in this case).
Besides, she learns her lesson by episode's end, so it's not like it wasn't without a point. Seriously though, sometimes I think you take way too much issue whenever these ponies act even the least bit mean or selfish. It's almost like you find it personally offensive, but I can't really figure out why.
I hear that. The song was cool, the fic was uninspiring at best. Though I'm not really sure I'd call Cupcakes in any way funny, and given the horrifying mockery it makes of the show I'm quite surprised to hear YOU have anything *good* to say about it.
It certainly seems as such, and at brush could make one think that the fashion queen's head really is stuck in the clouds. Of course it's obviously not meant for casual wear; it's a costume meant to accentuate a performance. Also, as such it's something that's supped to look good to an audience watching her from a distance, not up close and personal. It's actually fairly common in theater and other performance arts to utilize bold contrasting colors and over applied make up just so the details don't all become a tiny blur to the audience while on stage.
Personally I've always focused less on Dash's physical form and more on her motivations. With her first Rainboom she was defending Fluttershy's honor, and here she is saving Rarity from certain doom. In both cases she's doing something for a friend rather than only herself and that's what gives her the extra push to make the impossible happen, which is rather fitting for the Element of Loyalty.
Also because forgiveness is one of the most vital components of a good and lasting friendship. We all make mistakes, but our friends are supposed to be the ones who can look past that and remember what's best in each other.
Seriously though "betrayal" and "back stabbing" are a rather harsh way to describe what she did this episode. Again, that implies it was intentional, rather than just thoughtlessly inconsiderate. Still wrong, but not nearly so irrecoverably so.
I would contend that without Rarity putting a "damper" on it this episode would never have been even half as good. She's what gives this episode any semblance of conflict. Without her making a flank of herself all it would be is Dash getting panicky over nothing, or worse still never getting panicky at all.
395136
I don't have a problem with ponies acting mean or selfish. I just have a problem with situations like the one here, where the character is behaving like a straight-on villain. Perhaps my words were a little strong, but still, what Rarity does in this episode absolutely infuriates me on a personal level. It's the same reaction I have with Season Two Pinkie, only in this case Rarity's at least somewhat in character.
With the first Rainboom she completely forgot about Fluttershy and became obsessed with winning the race, which caused her to pull off the Rainboom as a fluke. As a result, she could never repeat the feat, since her attempts to do it with only one hoof were more style over substance. When Rarity was in trouble, however, she completely forgot about impressing the ponies around her, which caused her to focus more on a form that would guarantee her the best possible speed and wind resistance.
Sorry, but that's just how I see it. What Rarity does here goes far beyond being merely inconsiderate. She blatantly ignores any indication that she's ruining Dash in favor of her own vanity, and despite being given several opportunities to stop, she refuses to listen for a moment. I'm sorry, but she's just a horrible pony in this episode.
Perhaps, but it also makes the episode somewhat unpleasant to watch at times. This is a great one, but I rarely put it on when I'm just casually viewing specifically because of Rarity's behavior.
395151
Sometimes, otherwise good people do horrible things, even to their friends (maybe especially to their friends). I know I've been there before, and probably will go there again in the future. It's not something I'm in anyway proud of but that's just the what it means to be human. We can't help but make mistakes, it's what we do after we realize the terrible things we've done that is the true measure of our virtue.
So I don't mind when the ponies do the same. It only makes them feel more real, and is what helps separate this generation of MLP from it's predecessors.
Aren't you happy that you FINALLY got it IAH. I believe you've wanted to do this one for awhile now
395163
Alright, we'll leave it at that.
Still, I would prefer it if you wouldn't say that I must have a problem with ponies acting horribly. It's just like when everyone was accusing me of not liking story arcs. Just because I complain about one or two instances where it detracts from the rest of the episode doesn't mean I instantly hate every episode that isn't all sunshine and rainbows.
Also, a lot of the stuff is just me thinking too much about the episode. This isn't one I seek out normally because Rarity really does bug me here, but it's still a good one.
395168
Oddly, a bunch of the ones I wanted to talk about are only now appearing. And this was one of them.
Yes, Rarity straight up screwed up in this one. She loves to be admired, and those wings made her the center of attention. I like this episode because it leads to one of the strongest arguments for Raridash ships. Dash saved her from falling to her death after she completely made an ass of herself. Plus we've established she loves to fly in this episode. I don't understand why I don't see more Raridash.
395172 RNG hates you, you're just in denial
395172
Sorry, hope I haven't offended you too much.
Though at this point it's almost more out of concern than contention that I even still bring any of it up. Sometimes it just feels like you're getting too caught up in what's supposed to be lighthearted entertainment, like you're projecting some deeply personal issues. Seeing that (real or imagined) triggers me to want to understand (if not help to resolve) the underlying problem. MLP is one of the only shows on TV that makes me unambiguously happy, so it confuses (and even pains) me to see such seeming resentment lobbed at the characters merely playing their assigned roles in the story. Oddly I guess that means in my own way I too am taking the whole thing too seriously.
Still I know it's not really my place to pry into you personal affairs though, so again, I'm sorry for any offense or undue stress I've caused along the way.
395172
im not a rarity fan mostly due to her acting like a fru fru girly girl and this episode made it worse for me from not liking her to loathing her forever i dont care if she becomes a princess i will never like her i am have some traits from the mane 6 except for rarity
Ehh, she's not a bad pony, she just made some bad decisions.
True, though in fairness, a Sonic Rainboom seems to be a big farking deal. Plus there was the physics obliterating last minute save going on, (not the fall that kills you indeed.) so she actually outperformed the Wonderbolts two times rapidfire.
I really don't like how the writers killed this by making RD do a Sonic Rainboom more or less effortlessly in the wedding finale.
395260 How did they kill it? Rainbow is the ONLY pony alive that can do it, not even the princesses can. I think that still makes it very much special.
395329 Did you even see the scene? She basically just took off, flapped her wings a few times and then a few seconds later, bang. A Sonic Rainboom just like that. No struggle, no sweat, no biggie. As if accelerating to the speed of sound in barely any time at all while flying upwards is easy.
It just ruined it for me.
395336 Yes well, when she saved Rarity she learned how to do the move correctly. From that point in time till the wedding... We don't know how much time has passed, especially since most of the episodes are made in such a way that they can be watched in any order, but I am guessing 6 months at least, a year at most. In that time, EVERY SINGLE DAY Rainbow is going to be training, pushing, practicing, and perfecting the sonic rainboom, probably about 10+ times a day. Are you saying she should never be able to repeat it? That she can never be better?
395184
Again, the reviews are me applying a critical eye to these episodes, and a part of being critical is taking the work seriously. As I've said multiple times, there's a difference between when I'm just watching the episodes for entertainment and when I'm analyzing them for the sake of these articles. That doesn't mean I give the show a free pass if I feel that an episode is weak, as is the case with bottom-of-the-barrel entries like OaB and MMDW, but that's because I know the team behind has done better that that in the past. I complain about Season Two Pinkie Pie because I loved her in the first season (she was my second-favorite pony) and found the elements they chose to play up in the second as detrimental to what I enjoyed about her. I dislike Cheerilee's behavior, but that's because I've been there in real life, have seen what goes on, and feel very strongly about teachers acting in such a manner. However, unless an episode goes way too far like "A Friend in Deed," I'll still sit down and enjoy most of these episodes.
I've seen what happens when people get too caught up in this series, and it isn't pretty. That's the kind of behavior that led to Merriweather Williams receiving death threats over MMDW, as well as the entire Derpygate fiasco. It's what makes people think fanon is canon and react violently when something comes along to challenge that claim. But that's not what I do here. I just give my overall opinion on episodes as they stand, not just their entertainment value. If you like any of the episodes I dislike, then I'm happy. I know a lot of people who enjoyed MMDW, and as much as I dislike that one, I will not disparage them for enjoying it. If you disagree with a review, I want you to post and tell me why you disagree.
These reviews are mostly designed to be entertaining to read, although I'm pretty sure I failed on that front. However, I don't want to have to turn off my brain entirely just to enjoy the show. The fact that I don't have to do that is one of the reasons I love this series. There is so much thought and effort and love put into this series that it far surpasses any preconceptions one might have for a My Little Pony cartoon. The characters are beautifully realized, with great strengths and crippling flaws, and the setting is more than just Generic Fantasy Land #29332.
As for Rarity, the problem with her character and me is that, overall, I'm not a huge fan of her archetype, and when the show started I was not given much to counter that dislike. She was a straight girly-girl, and while she might have had a talent for making things beautiful, she was also shallow and self-absorbed. "Suited for Success" won me over in a big way by showcasing her positive attributes, making her the center of one of the best episodes of the series, and just having her be entertaining. But then this one happened, and all that good will went away. If this had been before SFS, I might not have been as upset by it, but the fact remains that we immediately go from Rarity's high point to her lowest point almost immediately. (FPK doesn't count, since she made no appearance.) It took "A Dog and Pony Show" and "Green Isn't Your Color" for me to enjoy her again, and she was a much more well-defined character in the second season, but that doesn't change how I feel about her actions in this episode.
I hope I've made that clear enough. I'm perfectly fine, and once these reviews are done, I'll go back to enjoying the episodes casually again. Until then, I still have four more episodes to review.
395351 That's a bit like saying that if you're a sprinter, you can quintuple your top speed if you train hard enough.
My point is that the Sonic Rainboom is a legendary event that only one Pegasus can perform for who knows how long (those legends had to have come from somewhere,) and that it's unrealistic to think that she is physically so far ahead of every other Pegasus that she can perform a Sonic Rainboom effortlessly while nobody else can even when assisted by gravity. And she still isn't even in the Wonderbolts.
395417 395351
This debate has interested me so I decided to do some math.
First of all, the speed of sound is 340.29 m / s
Assuming Equestria has similar gravity to Earth the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8m/s^2
From the start of Rainbow Dash's fall to the moment she breaks the sound barrier 20.44 seconds pass.
This means that Dash's velocity strictly due to gravity at the moment she broke the sound barrier was 200.31m/s, the remainder (139.98m/s) would have to be made up by her own power.
This, however, would only be true in a system neglecting to account for air friction, which would have a significant impact on the maximum velocity Dash could achieve through gravity alone. If fact, the average terminal velocity of a human is between 56-89m/s. Ponies, especially Pagasi, appear to be smaller and lighter then humans, so there terminal velocity would be even less. Even in a bullet position, Dash would probably be hovering around 50-60m/s as her terminal velocity. This would mean that dash would have to provide a velocity of something more like 285.29m/s by her own power. This means dash, at that point, could achieve about 84% of the velocity needed to create a sonic rainboom in 20.29 seconds. Her acceleration apart from gravity would then be about 19.43m/s^2, this is taking into account that she would hit her terminal velocity about 1/4 of the way through her fall.
So if this is what Dash is able to due in "Sonic Rainboom" how does that compare to what she does in "A Canterlot Wedding?" Well, first of all I timed how long it took from take off for to break the sound barrier and well, it was 2.03 seconds. About a tenth of how long it took in "Sonic Rainboom." This would mean that Dash would have to provide an acceleration of about 167.63m/s^2.
Now that is not even accounting for the fact that now gravity is working against her. That would make it about 177.43 m/s^2. 
Just a little perspective that would be about a 900% increase from "Sonic Rainboom." So really the issue is not that she is was going up the second time, but the fact that it only took a few seconds.
What this all boils down to is that Dash would have to increase the rate at which she can accelerate by about 900% in the course of a year or so. If she was a new flier that would not be completely unreasonable. Fluttershy managed to increase her ming power by about that much in a day or two. Fluttershy though, is not an athlete that trains on a daily basis and had a very low starting point to go from, so she had a great deal of room to improve. Dash already pushed herself on a daily basis. She is already close to her limit. Even counting over coming the mental block, that great of an increase would just not be possible over a years time.
So, in conclusion. The idea of Dash going from taking 20 seconds to create a sonic rain boom with the help of gravity to being able to create one in 2 seconds working against gravity all in the course of about a year is just not physically feasible. Now, this is purely looking at it from a physics perspective. If magic takes a large role in pegasus flight, as many fans contend, then that might be it possible. I can't say for sure unless it becomes cannon that magic plays a role in pegasus flight. Maybe, in the end, it is just because Rainbow Dash is just that awesome and she laughs in the face of physics.
Wow, this took me a while to write.
395517 Ok. Time to settle this once and for all.... Magic, fuck you all, Rainbow don't got to explain shit.
pinkie.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/132821732243.jpg
395517 I love you.
BTW, physics perspective is only perspective.
"It's magic, I ain't gotta eplain shit" is a copout.
<rant/>
Perfectly accurate Rainbow Factory.
I love this episode but Rarity does put a damper on it
395385
Wow, feelling sorry I even brought it up. I really wan't trying to start some kind of debate like this. Even if these reviews ocasionaly still feel like more than just a detached critique, I'm rather out of line to press the issue. We're supposed to be here talking about tiny pastel equines, not each other's (possibly imagnied) peronal issues.
395517>>395592>>395654
Pegasus flight is already impossible in the first place, by any understanding of physics as we know it (insufficient wingspan, non aerodynamic body, not to mention the ability to walk on condensed water vapor). Clearly there must by some amount of *MAGIC* involved and as such we have to just accept there are things about this matter we probably won't ever be able to understand or explain. It can be fun to play around and pretend we can, but there simply isn't enough data to work with. Also, at the end of the day it's still just a cartoon made for little girls and isn't meant to hold up under that kind of strict scientific analysis.
...or to quote Sweetie Belle of Ask the Crusaders over on Tumbler...
395826
Don't worry, that's how I feel about everything.
But yes, this has escalated far beyond where it should be. Let's just get back to the magical talking ponies, shall we?
395826 Hey, over-analytical people need their fun too.
I actually get gratification from over-analyzing things, especially when there are physics involved. It's some kind of weird fetish, I think.
The wing spell had magical psychological side effects that Twilight didn't take into account, thus making Rarity a jerk. IT IS THE ONLY POSSIBLE EXPLANATION.
395826>>395654>>395592>>395837
What can I say? I love Physics and I not only had an opportunity to do the math behind Rainbow Dash's flight, but also an excuse to post it. I wasn't going to pas that up. Also yes the is way over analyzing it, but as we all know, over analyzation is best analyzation.
By the way, this whole thing made my day.
396163
Actually your part was pretty cool. It's when folks start using it to call BS against the show that there is a problem. Obviously the makers behind the show aren't generally concerned with that kind of math, so to call them bad at their job because of it is inconsiderate at best. Instead better to just take it as proof that Rainbow Dash is just that crazy awesome.
HOW DARE YOU CALL RAINBOW FACTORY BORING AND DUMB!!!!
395517 You used approximately precise measurements; I'll borrow a couple of those for a moment and use some deductive reasoning and guesswork.
To start with a simple question, why is this focused on RD? Yes, it is her who does the SRB, but how do we know the she had no aid? Let's look at magic; teleportation and levitation to be precise.
Teleportation: There are three main possibilities for the overall effect of "teleporting". 1) You literally disassemble an object and reassemble it elsewhere within... let's say one second. It would also, in theory, leave all who were teleported discombobulated. 2) Same as before, but transporting it as a whole to avoid any diziness from being rapidly taken apart/put together. 3) Same as #2, but by moving at speeds nearing that of light (impossible without dieing and vaporizing). Would also cause the same side-effect as #1.
Throughout the episodes, these have all been demonstrated. NMM's "teleporting" involved turning into stardust and floating or magicking to a new location. Twilight's (in Ticket Master) gave a dragon burns. Dragonscale doesn't (at least not as far as anyone knows) burn, so it is possible for her to have accidentally discovered how to move at speeds nearing that of light itself without death preceded by a negative mark on her casting record. The most common, however, is the second: matter relocation without prior separation/breakdown. Most notable is the tele-spam in "Applebuck Season". Twilight seems to retain all balance and motor functions, regardless of how often she tele-spams.
Levitation: Simple concept, this is. An object is suspended in air without physical force being applied. Seen most often as reverse levitation in the form of gravity. Turning off gravity doesn't seem to be hard for Unicorns, so why couldn't this be an enc- I'll get to that later.
Levitation is parallel to a small area of zero-gravity, though not exactly the same; all objects levitated have a temporary weight of 0 kg due to the sudden absence of gravity. When released, they are placed back under the forces of gravity, thus they regain their weight. Levitation could be explained as a simple counterbalance between gravity and an object, but therein lies the full complexity of it; gravity is completely negated. "Boast Busters" will bring little argument, if only due to the mass of the objects being placed in a moving field of gravity-negating energies, all of which comes from the caster.
Levitation's gravity-negation properties; could they be applied to a living being in the form of a temporary enchantment? ABSOLUTELY! Need proof? Look up at the episode summary. As it is not elaborated on, the cloud-walking spell may be a temporary enchantment on a Unicorn or Earth Pony's hooves to reduce the weight applied through their hooves and thus permit the aforementioned cloud-walking.
Now for how this would all connect: the application of knowledge. Could the levitation field be changed into an enchantment against friction? Could teleportation (#3) be slowed to a point where it mimics a temporary boost of speed? Could these combined allow a total acceleration of... 177.43 m/s^2 over the span of two seconds? No true conclusions can be drawn; this is pure speculation, after all.
Since the SRB (S2E25-6) has the cast (bar RD) imperceptible, all the Unicorns and Alicorns have no suitable 'alibi' for what they were doing during the SRB, one or more may have aided RD; it might have been planned so from the beginning. For all we know, the anti-changeling barrier gave RD temporary hyper-acceleration. Maybe, as poined out here 395136, RD was empowered by n overwhelming sense of loyalty to Cadance and Shining Armor and got a 900% boost from her element (which is currently whereabouts unknown).
I had no idea that would be this long.
Oh my word, that is a perfect impersonation of you!
Sorry, coudn't resist.
In this episode, or in general? I'm assuming just this episode. This is basically Rarity on a Bad Day episode at the expense of Rainbow Dash; everypony's had at least one so far (Pinkie's had a few).
It did give us her delightful laugh, though.
Which is weird given how she's a fashion desiner at all. I think it was supposed to clue us in to the fact that she's not thinking straight, though having said that, as you pointed out, she doesn't have an excuse for not thinking straight, unlike the others in their On A Bad Day episodes.
Do a Google search for "Rainbow Math." Suffice to say that this scene actually gives us Rainbow Dash's top flying speed before a Boom (Mach 5), top flying speed after a Boom (Mach 10), and gets us how many G's she was pulling when she made that ninety-degree turn (something like 1670 Gs). She is a physics-defying badass and it suffices to say that a humanized Rainbow Dash wearing that armor she had Rarity make for her in "Suited for Success" could easily be a superhero in the DC or Marvel universe. Note, indeed, how of the five horrible dresses, Dash's actually came closest to looking good. She made it work somehow.
RAINBOW DASH ALWAYS DRESSES IN STYLE. ALWAYS.
And may I reiterate that it got a long overdue deconstruction by "Read It And Weep". Not quite as harsh anymore, is it?