Ever since coming to their world, Twilight Sparkle has been surprised by how technologically advanced the creatures at the other side of the mirror were. Even without magic, they've made many things Equestrians would have a hard time understanding. And an exchange of inventions and magic to benefit both worlds was something she would eventually truly consider a good thing.
But is Equestria truly so far behind?
Entry for the Science-Fiction-Contest-II-2023
Pre read and edited by the wonderful friends and writers: daOtterGuy, Dewdrops on the Grass, and EileenSaysHi
Chapters (1)
Very sweet
That was a good read, the story picture reminds me of Gas Gas Gas as well
It's nice and simple.
Okay. I seriously don't see the point of having Sunset and Sci Twi living together. Unless I missed it somewhere you add Sunlight to all of your stories. Great story otherwise.
so celestia caused equestria to stagnate, the arrogance of a immortal to think they know what best, guess that explains why technology advanced so rapidly after alicorns were gone in G5
sad Turing Test beep
But she's totally cool with ponies traveling in trains that run on freaking coal.
At any rate, you'd think Equestrian magic could mitigate most of that (such as by using something like the crystal running Tank's propeller in place of internal combustion). I've been thinking that that's how they've gotten as far as they have without getting pollution all over everything.
Lovely little tale. I don't usually enjoy this take on Celestia, but I do appreciate her stepping back and recognizing the flaws in her position, especially how much it highlights her faith in Twilight (and Sunset!) Thank you for this, and best of luck in the judging.
11546185
I mean, there's a big difference between a singular long-distance rail system vs. an entire automotive industry and accompanying infrastructure. Especially in a world where the pegasi can likely help shift the carbon output of the trains over to carbon sinks like the Everfree Forest.
And crystal technology, iirc, is mostly still rather new in Equestria with the return of the Crystal Empire. And who's to say that wouldn't be an avenue for Twilight and her counterpart to explore in this cultural exchange?
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11546185
Actually, the first cars were electric, and the first commercially available ones (like the model T) were designed to run on biofuels. There was also the woodgas fad of WWII. Also, trains started using the easily available coal with the increase of demand. One thing that might hold back cars from being widespread is that equines are very freaking good at traveling 40-100 miles a day casually.
There could be many reasons why they don't see a need for more and more and more...
That was a good story.
Discord only knows how many dreams she managed to kill.
aww that is exactly the kind of thing Twilight does
i can just imagine the massive headache Sci-Twi would have had trying to understand Equestria’s relationship with technology lol
so true actually, one big thing i love about Equestria is the lack of cars, even though they are clearly technologically advanced enough to invent and bulid them
so very fitting with how i imagine Celestia running things! of course life-saving technologies are different from the ones that would alienate ponies from the environment and each other. and the one-off instances of “more advanced” technology make sense as individual inventions in a world of supernatural magical talents
i absolutely loved this idea! it explains so much about the technology we see in Equestria, and it draws upon one of my favorite themes, which is Celestia purposefully shepherding her civilization through the centuries to get it to the place we see today. and i am guessing that i am pretty rare among people in finding this very philosophy towards technological change one of the most appealing things about Equestria, so i especially love it. thanks for writing!
Now that the contest is over, I can finally respond.
11595634
Thanks for the inspiration to write it! You really got what I was going for. Equestria's rare approach to technology has a lot of mystery to explore.
11556861
I don't really get why you would think that. Celestia would never crush dreams. If you mean the ponies inventing things, Celestia makes sure they're compensated for their work.
11549571
Thank you!
11547794
Yup. There are a lot of human necessities that being a horse or magic can simply replace.
11546352
The pegasi being able to control pollution is something I didn't consider but is a great point! And definitely the first thing Twi would do is ask advice of her scientific counterpart.
11546219
Thank you! And it seems I made Celestia's motives a bit too ambiguous. I'm definitely not going for dumb, but like you said, flawed. Even what many consider to be horse god won't have the answer to everything, specially when the world continuously evolves around her.
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Trains transport more than just ponies. Large amounts of resources travel by train that would be massively more difficult to do by simpler means. Some inventions are too important to ignore, others are considered more harmful or not that important.
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11546098
Maybe but not in this case. Yeah, there's not so many advancements as there could be, but Equestria isn't suffering from some missing tech (in fact most problems come from magic)
11546012
Thank you! I don't think I've heard of Gas Gas Gas
11595634
The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 was built on top of what is basically a primitive automobile, and "One Bad Apple" featured self-propelled parade floats. As Double_Bubble pointed out, it could simply be a lack of demand due to "walking distance" being much farther for ponies than it is for humans.
The problem there is that technological development can't be fine-tuned like a 4X strategy game, at least not without a flat-out authoritarian state. Most of the life-saving technology we take for granted was built off of other technology developed for completely different purposes.
Likewise, once new technology is out in the wild, you really can't stop it from being repurposed for other things.
11595855
The thing there is, many inventors are at least as passionate about seeing others appreciate their creations as they are about making money (especially given what we've seen of Equestrian culture). They're not necessarily going to be okay with seeing their work swept under the rug just because they're getting a steady paycheck. It's one thing if there are major issues with putting a new technology to widespread use that the ponies couldn't just magic away, but the story seemed to imply that Celestia was acting like Applejack in "Somepony to Watch Over Me" - one would expect that would quickly tank her approval rating among the engineering community.
11546185
I imagine her issue with it is the industrial scale, not the fuel used. Like, how many distinct trains and train lines do we see in the series? All of them were single track, too.
11613620
Then you have to take into account of population density. We do have maps of Equestria (admittedly none road atlas worthy) and the wiki does contain a long list of place names. At the high end of the guesses is tens of millions (a tenth of American. Imagine 9 people around you suddenly disappearing; that is how much lower it is) and about 90% would be congregated around the modern cities. (Whether living in or around to support with food and materials)
I cannot think of a single solid square mile in my area that doesn't have a person living on it. In Equestria that would be the norm. Equestria would never need as much infrastructure as we do; the economy of scale is gonna look different.
I could see cars quite readily being handy. They might be called 'campers', 'semi-trucks' or even 'moterized wheelchair'.
I like this version of Celestia here. Still arrogant (and ambiguously written) but I like the wisdom she displays here; which requires reading between the lines. She understands she has lost touch with her subjects (Canterlot and Ponyville are practically dark ages to every other honest city out of Celestia's sight) so she can't rule them for lack of understanding. Luna can't as she is a thousand years behind. Cadence is ruling and entire city state that is a thousand years behind.
She is leaving it to a modern princess... who runs the kingdom into the ground by gen 5...
Might of had a point but we can, at least, blame the new alicorn villain instead of technology.