Nov
13th
2018
Thought experiment #2: Chariot License · 3:28pm Nov 13th, 2018
Time for another thought experiment in pegasus flight. They’re pretty complicated creatures, these pegasi, aren’t they?
Here it is:
- Take Rainbow Dash. Say you’re very sorry for what you did to her as part of Thought Experiment #1. If she still refuses to participate, promise that you won’t tell anyone she doesn’t have an air chariot license – like Fluttershy does – because of dropping out of flight school early. But only if Rainbow agrees to help you.
- Acquire a chariot appropriate for air use. Whether such chariots have to be manufactured specially, or pegasus magic is responsible for using any reasonable normal chariot as air chariot, is irrelevant for the purposes of this experiment. Strap Rainbow in. Since she doesn’t have a chariot license, now you’re partners in crime, so that should stop her complaining. I’m pretty sure she can pull it, in any case, even if she doesn’t have a license.
- Acquire two pies from Pinkie Pie. Since we also know that Rainbow doesn’t eat pie, there should be no danger of her eating the pies before the experiment concludes.
- Get Rainbow to take flight with the chariot (and you in it) and accelerate to whichever speed Rainbow deems appropriate for the purpose. Once she’s up to speed, position one pie over the center of the chariot, and another one immediately overboard to the side. You might want to stand in such a way that the first pie isn’t blown into your face by the wind – if there even is any – when you…
- Release both pies.
What exactly happens to the pies? Depending on the mechanism by which pegasi pull air chariots, the answer will be different, and more importantly, it is likely to be different between the two pies.
In fact, do the passengers of the chariot even experience the stationary air the chariot moves relative to as wind?…
Do we have any way of estimating of the speed air chariots go? If they keep to a slow speed limit, it would be an indication that wind is a factor for passengers.
Also, why not just use Fluttershy for this thought experiment? She has the relevant license, is more likely to be amenable, and Rainbow is still struggling to get out of that box.
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We pretty much always only see them when landing or taking off, (Luna Eclipsed, Three’s A Crowd) or when the distance to be traveled is too short to speed up much (Friendship is Magic) or when the driver won’t go fast (Feeling Pinkie Keen) – so not really. Even if we did not, chariots are likely to only use the highest speeds possible only when high enough in the air, which would make estimating the speed very difficult.
Friendship is Magic would have to be the fastest use of chariots on screen, I think.
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We need to let her out sometime, don’t we?
The result may well depend on the chariot, especially if l magic allows any cart to function properly if strapped to a pegasus. Purpose-built air chariots might include a magical windshield in the manufacturing process while, say, Fluttershy's impromptu frog redistribution may require her to take it slow.
Since my theory of pegasus locomotion is basically contact telekinesis, I'm going to say that both decelerate once they're out of contact of the aerial aggregate of cart-pegasus-and-cargo.
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Most of all, I’m wondering about the pie in the chariot.
We know that the occupants of the chariot stand in it, not being strapped down in any fashion, as we never ever see them with anything more than a cushioned seat – and one of the earliest examples, Friendship is Magic, is a chariot with an open back.
At the same time, an open back chariot would make it quite risky to accelerate, since the riders would easily fall out. We do not see Twilight move front-back as the chariot accelerates until the hooves of her drivers hit the ground, but her hair appears to be flapping in the wind.
So at least the wind is there, and your proposition about a windshield fails: Celestia’s chariot for VIPs would definitely have it if it was available. At the same time, inertia is apparently negated: Twilight is sitting on the bloody edge of the platform, and if it was a factor, she’d fall off. She would likewise fall off if her drivers took a dive. Notice that in Luna Eclipse, as her drivers are diving, Luna does not lean forward or fall out of her seat, even though they’re diving at least 20°.
Which is why what happens to the pies might be entirely unexpected.
The thing is, you left a critical point in your experiment out.
Is Twilight Sparkle somewhere below the chariot, looking up?
If so, the likelyhood of one or both pies landing on her face approach unity.
If she's standing next to Rarity, also lookingup, the formula pegs the needle at 100% probability of impact, 110% if they are blueberry pies.
Estmate the speed of an unladen chariot...
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It is of course equal to the distance traveled by the unladen chariot divided by the time spent so traveling.
4967764 Hmm. I've always assumed Pegasi covered objects they were attached to with a flight field of Mobile TK, thus the pie inside the chariot should be fine until you lose contact with it, at which point it should fly back.
But I feel sure we've seen Spike have to grab onto Twilight while she's flying to prevent shooting off her back, and not falling off her side.