Neon

Using magic as technology means it is magic, replacing the function that ordinarily would be achieved through technology. The common saying about sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic generally refers to some more primitive society incorrectly viewing technology as magic. In this case, the people who discovered and use magic consider it just that, magic. Also, the comics aren't canon. Thanks for the pointer, though. It's slightly more "privileged" than my opinion, I suppose.

It's rather difficult to define magic wrongly unless the definition somehow contradicts itself or is directly contradicted by canon in this show. And while it is possible to decide advanced technology too complicated to understand is "magic," even (non canon) characters like Star Swirl the Bearded, who probably knows more about magic than anyone else, also calls it magic. Nobody seems to indicate it is any kind of technology. I suppose there could be some hidden source of energy that preserves conservation principles, but nobody has referenced it. Without such a thing, though, magic as portrayed breaks the laws of physics, and pretty fundamental ones at that. It's actually even an assumption that Equestria is a planet at all, rather than a pocket dimension or some other entirely different thing.

True, but in this universe, what Equestrian magic does (creating energy or matter essentially out of nothing) would violate basic laws of physics like the conservation of matter and energy. Discord, in particular, seems to be able to create pretty much anything at will. The fundamental laws of nature differ in other ways, too, such as, for instance, that there is no such thing as "raising the sun and moon" in our universe, because we actually orbit them. In Equestria, these are objects that can be controlled. Similarly, the weather control abilities of pegasi shouldn't work here. Even earth ponies, by their mere presence, cause plants to grow faster. So if Equestrian magic worked here, it would have to be able to violate the laws of physics in this universe. Conversely, laws like the conservation of matter and energy are exactly why something like a nuclear bomb works. The process of fission essentially converts a small amount of matter (or specifically the binding energy holding together nuclei) into energy. If there's no mass-energy equivalence, there's no reason for that to work in Equestria. Some things seem to work the same, or at least on the surface. There seems to be flame and candles work, for instance. But perhaps they work on phlogiston or something that doesn't exist here. (My post reminds me of the MST3K theme song, the part that goes If you're wondering how he eats and breathes. And other science facts, Just repeat to yourself "It's just a show, I should really just relax." But I find it fun to try to justify these things.)

In my headcanon, nuclear weapons wouldn't work in Equestria anyway. They'd just explode into confetti, gumdrops, party streamers, sugar cubes, cupcakes, expanding out in a mushroom cloud, then there would be delicious fallout. Basically 10 megatons of Pinkie Pie. They would have to spend days eating their way out from under it. The pilots would be so overcome by the sheer joy of it all that they'd land and defect immediately.

I have one dead giveaway. Every now and again, I will say "okey dokey lokey" in public.

I have been thinking about Celestia a lot lately, because I am currently writing a fic where her thinking is central to the plot. I wouldn't worship Celestia, because first she doesn't want that, and at least my version of her denies being a deity (she is though a primordial entity of some sort somehow related to Tiamat). I have to admit though that if she existed, she would have my unswerving obedience, but as a leader, not a deity. I have a good deal of reverence for her as a benevolent monarch.

I'm on the worship Celestia side. I haven't seen a better deity in recent memory.