//------------------------------// // Conclusions: Further Research is Needed // Story: Rainbooms 101: How (Not) to Make a Sonic Rainboom // by Needling Haystacks //------------------------------// Haystacks naturally wound up cleaning up the gelatin with Pinkie Pie and, in a pleasant surprise, the two older Apple siblings. The next day, after Haystacks packed his saddle bags and checked out of the hotel, he found what appeared to be half the town waiting for him. "Of course, Pinkie Pie," he said to himself. "Yup!" said the pink pony in question, squeezing her way through what on further observation was only maybe twenty ponies, "I gathered everyone who wasn't busy for your going away party!" "Umm... you know I just got here a few days ago, right?" Haystacks asked. "Of course!" Pinkie Pie said. She did not deign to explain further, "Now come on! Party at Sugarcube Corner!" Haystacks sighed. This was even less his style than the last one. Then again, free food was free food. There were a few more ponies at the shop. He got the impression Pinkie did this sort of thing a lot, which raised the question of how any work got done around Ponyville. "Sorry things didn't work out, sugarcube," Applejack said. She winced a little. "Also, sorry Pinkie Pie did all this without asking you. She means well. I did convince her not to do this in the town square." Applejack had apparently taken time off from her farmwork to try to rein Pinkie in. "It's alright," Haystacks said, though with stress in his voice that belied his lack of enthusiasm for the matter. "I don't know that I'd say it didn't work out. I got Rainbow Dash to test my hypothesis, and the results were at least promising, even though she didn't break the barrier." "Yeah, yeah, nerd stuff," Rainbow Dash said, flying by upside down to give the impression of lounging, "I'll get it eventually." "Let me know if you do," Haystacks said, glancing up, "I'd very much like to document it." "Sure," Rainbow Dash said dismissively, flying over to the cake table. Haystacks talked to a few ponies, but generally stayed out of the way at the party, eating and drinking to fuel up his trip and checking the clock to see how long he had. After about an hour of awkwardness, Haystacks sought out Pinkie Pie to make his excuses. "Sorry to cut this short," he said quietly. Pinkie did not interpret this correctly. "HEY EVERYPONY!" she yelled, "HAYSTACKS IS GONNA SAY GOODBYE!" The place suddenly went quiet and all eyes turned there way. Haystacks put his hoof to his face in exasperation. Well, at least this was more like a lecture now. He could do those... or at least would need to get used to doing them. "Ummm, thanks, everypony," Haystacks said haltingly. "I enjoyed my stay here. Now, I'm afraid I have to get back to Cloudsdale for work tomorrow. If you're in the neighborhood... errr, and can fly... I work nights at the observatory." "Hey, doesn't that mean you're not working until tomorrow night?" Pinkie asked. "Errr, yes, technically, but I have to get my sleep cycle realigned. You see, I work late at night, which means I have to sleep for a good part of the day, but while here, I haven't been..." Haystacks explained. "Oh right. Well here, try this before you go!" Pinkie Pie said, handing him what looked like a cupcake, but completley covered in frosting. Seeing the show was over, the rest of the ponies went back to their conversations. "What's this?" Haystacks asked, taking it. It was oddly light. Pinkie looked around furtively, then leaned in close. "It's a frosting cupcake," she said in a loud whisper. Then, in her normal voice, she added, "If you eat it now, you'll have a sugar crash in a few hours. Best way to get to sleep EVER!" Haystacks blinked in consternation. That made more sense than it had a right to. "Uhh, thanks," he said. He stared at it a moment before eating it in one bite. He made a face at how overly sweet it was. "Beeetter wash that down with some cider," Pinkie said, dashing almost too fast to follow to the table and back. She now held a mug in her hand. Haystacks grimaced. "Uhhh, water might be better," he said. Cider after that much sugar would not taste good. Pinkie obligingly dashed again, and the mug of cider was quickly replaced with one of water. This, Haystacks gratefully drank. It also tasted pretty bad after pure frosting, but he doubted he needed more sugar right now. "Alright, now I really do need to go, or else I'm liable to hit the crash when flying," Haystacks said, handing the mug back. "Byyye!" Pinkie said with a wave as Haystacks worked his way to the door. "EVERYPONY SAY GOODBYE!" she yelled to the room. "Goodbye!" everypony said with varying amounts of enthusiasm. Rainbow Dash flew over the crowd to meet him outside. "And hey, next time you're in town, I want a rematch!" she said. "Eh, that trick only works once," Haystacks said with a grin, "But maaaybe I can come up with a new one." "Heh. Looking forward to it," Rainbow Dash said. She was still hovering, and remained at the same height as Haystacks took to the air in the general direction of Cloudsdale. That might explain a lot about her flying speed, Haystacks thought as he flew away. Conclusions: The subject Rainbow Dash responded with some success to the training methods outlined above. Their intent was to remove psychological barriers which typically act to limt a pegasus's raw flight speed. The increase of speed of the subject was measurable, as outlined in Table 1. However, while the subject was able to reproduce the rare feet of exceeding the speed of sound, they did not create a Sonic Rainboom, nor did they exceed the speed of magic. We have been unable to rule out either the hypothesis that the Sonic Rainboom requires only that a magic-reliant flyer (such as a pegasus or griffon) exceed the speed of magic, nor that there is some other condition required. Further, while we have provided a new independent verification that reduction or removal of psychological restraints can allow a pegasus to increase their flight speed, we cannot confirm either that this is a necessary prerequisite to creating a Sonic Rainboom, nor the hypothesis, generally considered less likely, that complete removal of such restraints is a sufficient condition for the Rainboom's generation. It is hoped that further work in this direction will yield results, but it is by no means gaurenteed. It also cannot be ruled out that the Sonic Rainboom requires specifically a foal or yearling (and perhaps specifically a filly of that age). It is possible that the higher energy-to-mass ratio of a young pony, a young pegasus's smaller diving cross-section and resulting smaller air resistance, some other age-dependent factor, or a combination of these are necessary. The historical records certainly strongly suggest that Firefly could perform the Sonic Rainboom as a fully grown pony, but the earliest records on the subject leave enough ambiguity to suggest that she may have been a yearling when performing her last confirmed Rainboom. I leave it to the foalhood development sepecialists to determine whether and in what manner tests on foals might be performed, but I will note that Cloudsdale's flight camp for foals, where subject Rainbow Dash performed a Sonic Rainboom, might be a good place to find subjects. On a personal note, the subject Rainbow Dash has requested to be left alone regarding the Sonic Rainboom, unless future experimenters can prove that they have a promising new idea. This somewhat limits the possibility of future tests with the subject, but perhaps other subjects known to be fast fliers can achieve the desired result. In addition, as noted by previous researchers, the earth pony known as Pinkie Pie is, indeed, a valuable resource, both for information on the locals of Ponyville and for aquiring any unorthodox materials needed for research.