Chapter 4 of Nightmares Are Tragic, Other Plans, and Pony Hooves

I have managed to put up all first four chapters of Nightmares Are Tragic, which gives me some satisfaction as it looks as if I am actually following through on my intent to write a long and complex story. I hope I'm doing narrative justice to Lauren Faust's script and DHX's choreography!

I plan to carry it through to the end of S1E2 "The Elements of Harmony" (from Nightmare Moon's / Princess Luna's perspective), with probably some sort of epilogue. There's also an extensive Author's Note, mostly about how Ponies are able to grab things with their hooves in a manner highly superior to the manipulative capability of known equines.

========== PONY HOOVES ==========

It's never been explained in-canon how the Ponies are able to pick up and manipulate things with fore-hooves which are in real horses just the strengthened nails of single fingers (the equivalent of our middle fingers). The hooves of the Ponies are clearly more flexible than real horse hooves (they've been animated as slightly curling around objects they grasp) but not sufficiently flexible to allow them to oppose any sections.

There are two possibilities. Either the Ponies are polydactyl (multi-fingered) as were the ancestors of modern horses (the atavism sometimes recurs today, as witness Bucephalus and Dactylus, the horses of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar respectively) and able to oppose some of their fingers, or they have some other means of grasping objects -- one which, while not as effective as human hands (ask Lyra Heartstrings!) suffices for many purposes.

I considered a limited form of the telekinesis which unicorns all use. This is actually still possible, but if so it's very weak and subtle, because we never see the telltale glow that accompanies the use of unicorn magic in canon.

Fortunately, there's another possible mechanism -- one which doesn't even require any magic.

The hands and feet of geckos (reptiles of infraorder Gekkota) use a combination of the secretion of a sticky fluid and the geometry of tiny suckers on their surface to generate adhesion with other surfaces through Van der Waals forces (what gives water "surface tension"). This is astonishingly efficient at their small size, and humans equipped with "gecko gloves" can actually generate enough friction in such a manner as to be able to stick to walls, even supporting their own weight provided that the reverse slope isn't too severe.

I postulate here that some such mechanism, controlled by a mind and nerve system far more advanced than that found in any gecko, enables the Ponies to grasp and even manipulate objects with some dexterity. The Pony's mind simply wills to grasp more or less firmly at any given point on her hoof, not consciously thinking about it any more than I consciously think about the complex and detailed finger motions I make in typing this sentence. The glands and suckers respond, in a manner learned by the Pony in infancy, exactly as humans learn to control their own fingers (Unicorns, and probably alicorns as well, often partly forget how to do this because their magic is more dextrous, unless they are perfectionist craftsmares such as Rarity Belle). It is a miracle of nature, which of course most Ponies simply take for granted -- just as we take our own hands for granted, until we injure a finger.

I go into some detail here because of the scene where Applejack saves Twilight from falling off the cliff. Applejack is the strongest non-alicorn mare yet shown in canon, and possibly the strongest non-alicorn Pony of either sex, aside from her Big Mac, her huge brother. She is also about as well-coordinated as any mare who is not a specialized athlete, as she demonstrates in her own descent down the cliff face.

Humanoid Applejack could have easily saved humanoid Twilight in that situation. Human thumbs and fingers provide firm grips, and the "acrobat's grasp" (fingers to wrist, fingers to wrist) is almost unbreakable given two remotely healthy humans -- their shoulders might dislocate first. That is because humans are descended from semi-arboreal creatures, who lived much as do modern chimpanzees or bonobos.

The Ponies are not. They are descended from plainsdwelling herbivores whose hooves were optimized for running and secondarily for fighting. Hence, Applejack's problem on the cliff, and Luna's admiration for her skill and courage. AJ was doing the equivalent of a human attempting a complex underwater rescue. Her hoof-grasp would have given way under the full force of her equine musculature: either fore or hind, dooming one or both of them. What's really impressive is that Applejack was acting against every instinct, save her social ones. She is a rock of courage and determination.

You go, AJ!

And Lyra -- you have a point there. Hands are definitely better for grasping.