They seem to have proper modern appliances (including light switches) but I think that they stop sort of radio and television.

To quote Vegeta: "Power levels are bullshit"

As for technology, it's a thorny issue. Their magic is their technology. It's understood, researched, and followed. It's called "magic", but it's really a branch of science.

So basically like FMA-style alchemy.

Being a gag doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

And not affecting the plot doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. That's completely Doylist thought.

Let's use an example. In the original story I'm currently writing, there is a character capable of creating fires which glow with ultra-violet black-body radiation. I haven't checked yet exactly how hot that is yet (I intend to) but I'm pretty sure that it would easily put him at least at life-wiper level power seeing as though I don't think stars get that hot. Now, he doesn't use that level of power much because that has it's disadvantages. But it doesn't change the fact that he can.

Heh.

@Sereg: Oh, speaking of your stories, I just discovered that the second chapter of An Earth Pony's Guide to Magic is the third Google search result for "sweetie belle toy photosynthesis" (without quotes)

Or nanotechnology. According to fiction, nanotechnology (or Quantum) can do pretty much everything, no matter how outrageous.

Or the whole setting is in virtual reality, and "magic" is just another way to interact with the machine code.

edited 13th Nov '12 12:34:55 PM by Carciofus

Or it's just Midochlorians.

@Sereg

I'm not saying that it doesn't exist, I'm saying that she can't do things like be in two places at once because her powers don't work that way. While your theory is that she can only do those things if she is unaware of it, my theory is that she can only do those things if reality itself is unaware of it. She can be silly and jump around like that precisely because it doesn't matter whether she does or not. Things turn out the same either way.

edited 13th Nov '12 12:39:09 PM by PerpetualLurker

They also have a hydroelectric dam, shown in Mysterious Mare Do Well.

So, there IS electricity somewhere...

That's cool. Um. I'm a bit surprised. Did I even discuss photosynth-oh, yes I did. Right. Not that it or Sweetie Belle are particularly prominant there. And I only use the word "toy" in the author's notes. Oh well.

EDIT: @Perpetual Lurker: Now that is a possibility. An admittedly odd one. Especially because... no wait. That doesn't fit with canon. Pinkie has used hammerspace to fetch her party canon and use it while in Canterlot. If she couldn't use hammerspace, she wouldn't be able to use the party canon and the plot would change.

edited 13th Nov '12 12:44:46 PM by Sereg

Google is a funny mistress, Sereg.

I red were getting a Derpy episode.

@Perpetual: That's kind of how I see it as well. She can only pull that stuff when it doesn't have any ramifications on the outcome. Sereg's idea of it is very similar, but even then I find it really hard to believe that she wouldn't use it on occasions where it would be really important. I mean, yes, Pinkie has been shown being in two places at once, but I'm pretty sure that if it actually happened in an episode for a non-gag purpose without proper explanation most people would call BS.

Although admittedly part of it is the fact that I find Pinkie much more amusing when her quirks are more limited to her personality and the weird way her brain works. Like the "I have balls and eyepatches stashed all over Ponyville" gag; I find it much more amusing to think that Pinkie is Crazy-Prepared and sets up her gags ahead of time rather that just spontaneously breaking the laws of physics. It's funnier for me to imagine that all of her seemingly spur-of-the-moment weirdness was actually prepared ahead of time because she's nuts like that.

Also this Hammerspace isn't a Pinkie-specific ability. I know for a fact Twilight has seemingly pulled stuff out of her ass at least once, and I'm pretty sure other ponies have revealed themselves to have items that they logically couldn't have been carrying. While I'm all for Watsonian interpretation, I do think it hits point where you have to accept that the animators obviously didn't animate every little thing exactly as it happened, and that visual shorthand gets used that isn't meant to be taken literally.

edited 13th Nov '12 12:57:26 PM by JapaneseTeeth

@Sereg Hammerspace isn't a Pinkie Pie specific thing. It's a general cartoon thing that almost all of the characters have demonstrated at one point or another, and I don't consider it to be worth much thought.

Another random question.

What would Celestia do when she gets bored?

Maybe she would try to invent children's card games.

Plays ping-pong. I dunno, it honestly seems like something she'd do. Tia is quite eccentric, really.

I am imagining Celestia experimenting with cake recipes.

I'll just make my entrance with a partially relevant comic

As for the actual question, I don't think she gets much free time. Maybe she's trying to find a new hobby now that she can split duties with Luna, and that's where her free time goes now.

edited 13th Nov '12 1:16:15 PM by Lopiny

@D Roy: I don't know why, but I want to say she's trying to learn how to cook, but sucks at it. She only keeps at it because it's the one discipline she hasn't been able to make any progress in over the past thousand years and she refuses to let it defeat her.

I actually agree. But if the show does something, then I'll accept it as canon. I'm very, very, very, very Watsonian.

EDIT:Read The Worst Bakers in Equestria! Seriously!

EDIT: Also, I wanted to say that Pinkie's ability to be faster than RD has actuallly affected the plot of two episodes. Griffon the Brush off and Party of One. Both would have played out differently if she couldn't keep up with RD.

edited 13th Nov '12 1:20:39 PM by Sereg

Because she can magically write faster.

But then you'd think that stuff like her appearing in mirrors would be brought up in a situation like Feeling Pinkie Keen, in which a particular strange thing she does is being actively questioned. As in, you'd think someone would bring up some of the other "magic" she tends to do.

But it isn't mentioned.

Also, Ginger not being around is a weird feeling. In this particular conversation, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, in the form of a tirade against the Rule of Funny.

@Sereg: True, but I tended to just read that in "Griffon the Brush Off" as visual shorthand for "RD can't get away from Pinkie and relax". You could get the scene to play out the same way without the teleportation, it just wouldn't be so manic. I.e. RD tries to take a nap in a tree, Pinkie wakes her up. RD goes to get lunch, Pinkie pops out of the fridge. RD tries to go home, Pinkie arrives in the whirligig. The chase scene is more of a Pepe Le Pew shout out than anything else.

"Party of One" is a bit tougher, though. Pinkie really did keep up with RD rather well, but even then I tend to file it under Rule of Funny. It could easily have been played as "RD tries to sneak to the barn" rather than just trying to outrun Pinkie. But that wouldn't have been as amusing.

edited 13th Nov '12 1:26:04 PM by JapaneseTeeth

@Sereg: Strictly speaking, the explanation of Pinkie setting up stuff in prior IS a watsonian explanation. Almost more so that her just straight-out breaking physics, since it's applicable realistically.