Like my fan fiction An Otherworldly Adventure tells a fantasy about, would you like to live in the fantasy realm of Equestria if it were real or not? (FIM version of the world only)

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

Hello fellow Pegasisters and Bronies, As my fan fiction An Otherworldly Adventure tells, some human characters including my imaginary self get reincarnated into an alternate timeline of the fantasy kingdom of Equestria (past if you will) after their life from another world is over, my character Dawnshine Wonder becomes a Pegasi after requesting this rebirth in the Bardo and nurturing in the next life to avoid repeating negative behaviours from a past life so I would not be a toxic influence there, so I'd like to ask you kindly, would anyone else here like to live in Equestria as a Pony, if so, which subspecies of Pony? Earth Pony, Unicorn, Pegasi or Alicorn? and why? any site of interest you prefer? would you enjoy the thrill of living dangerously by exploring Everfree Forest? perhaps you would consider that a bad idea which is reasonable, and you would like to be a member of Crystal Empire? what about Ponyville? Cloudsdale? Canterlot? And which characters do you see a long lasting friendship happening with whether they be main, side or background characters? 

If I could exist in that fantasy world I would see a lasting non romantic relationship happening with Mane Six and Royal Sisters, even Discord, probably, if Discord would stop acting like a jerk.

Starlight Glimmer, yes, if she would quit using her mind control spells except in a situation where it had to be used on an enemy. 

 

I don't however see that happening with Iron Will or Zephyr, or Flim Flam Brothers, Zephyr is way too full of himself and repeatedly disrespects the boundaries of Rainbow Dash, which I don't like, Zephyr to me is the MLP equivalent of Johnny Bravo, acts like he is God's gift as much as I know about him. Does that mean I would like Zephyr to suffer? no, I'd want him to reform, however even with my own imperfect history, I must admit even I would find his behaviour aggravating. Iron Will is an alpha male stereotype, clearly a bad influence on Fluttershy in Putting Your Hoof Down, Flim Flam Brothers were con artists who try to put others out of business, while selling poor quality goods, and tricked Granny Smith into thinking a tonic was curing her health problems and making her feel young again, leading to her doing dangerous stunts.

 

I understand this is not a fantasy everybody would like to happen for real, in fact that would probably apply to most people and it is not necessarily because they are bad people or wrong for disagreeing, it simply means everybody has their own ideas about what they would consider a better world, which I'm afraid to say, is subjective. Even then, Equestria is never really depicted as utopian, it still has problems, sometimes that fictional world gets invaded by villains, and people may fear King Sombra, Lord Tirek or Queen Chrysalis, or all of them, people may also have an axe to grind against the main characters of the show Friendship is Magic for decisions they may have made which they did not like, such as Rainbow Dash mistreating her pet Tortoise in episode Tanks for the Memories preventing Tank from hibernating in the winter, which I admit was selfish of her to do, if you were one of the people who complained about that, I don't blame you, as a fan of Fluttershy who is known in the show to be a caregiver for animals, I don't like animal cruelty myself either.

 

My fan fiction also has Nirvana as a higher realm than this, but personally I think characters focusing too much on that would come off as selfish, a desire for a shallow reward. Not only would it be boring, I could not spend eternity in a fictional place like that and be happy if I had no one to share that with, and if ancestors didn't make it there that would make it even worse for me, paradise only works if it's inclusive IMO. Equestria is one of the realms that encourages spiritual growth in my fanfic, so while it can make it easier to achieve enlightenment for some, they still have to work for it, through consistent acts of kindness, they are not required to be perfect, only to demonstrate a genuine effort to not burden others with acts of cruelty or selfishness. If the good of a character outweighs the bad in this fanfic, that character is on the path to enlightenment.

[Pentium100 2,296]

2 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

so I'd like to ask you kindly, would anyone else here like to live in Equestria as a Pony

Not really. As fictional places go, Equestria is not that bad, but it is not the best either. Another problem is the change of body. I admit, human body is not the best thing possible and has its own issues, but being a pony would suck. Out of the normal ponies, unicorns have it best due to their magic, but still it kind-of sucks compared to having hands. 

G4 Euestria is kind-of early 19th century with respect to technology. They have steam engines and record players (which would be early 20th century), but not much more. While I am not the one to go for the latest and greatest, I would still want technology level of, say, WW2.

I would like to visit Equestria as a tourist, it looks nice, but I would not want to stay there long.

If I somehow was forced to live there, I'd try to live in a larger city away from trouble. Ponyville is a trouble magnet, so is Canterlot, so those places are out.

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

1 hour ago, Pentium100 said:

Not really. As fictional places go, Equestria is not that bad, but it is not the best either. Another problem is the change of body. I admit, human body is not the best thing possible and has its own issues, but being a pony would suck. Out of the normal ponies, unicorns have it best due to their magic, but still it kind-of sucks compared to having hands. 

G4 Euestria is kind-of early 19th century with respect to technology. They have steam engines and record players (which would be early 20th century), but not much more. While I am not the one to go for the latest and greatest, I would still want technology level of, say, WW2.

I would like to visit Equestria as a tourist, it looks nice, but I would not want to stay there long.

If I somehow was forced to live there, I'd try to live in a larger city away from trouble. Ponyville is a trouble magnet, so is Canterlot, so those places are out.

I don't agree with being a Pony sucking part, however I respect your opinion. Evolution made human bodies the way they are out of necessity, but it's hardly the most optimum, I'm not saying being a Pony in a fictional world like Equestria from MLP FIM is perfect, however there are issues about the human body I had brought up in my fan fiction.

One, human feet are not well protected like a horse's hoof is, if we don't wear shoes, it's incredibly easy to get a cut, which can lead to a deadly infection. Unless you're living in poverty, and you're not, this is not generally an issue, but it still sucks that we have to buy shoes, which over time wear out and need to be replaced if regularly used, if the materials on them are neither biodegradable or recyclable, then that is another big problem.

Two, even in the case of athletes, humans are not physically strong, even our evolutionary primate cousins, gorillas and chimpanzees have greater muscle density and therefore can defend themselves against predators better than a human without a weapon can. Ponies however, are physically strong, and horses are fast runners on top of this and can reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.

Three, while humans have shown great intellectual capacity in certain areas, the problem here is collectively we as a species have a lot to work on if we ever hope to survive long term. It has been said by experts, people who are more qualified than us on the topic, that the nuclear arms race is an ever present danger for people, the longer world superpowers continue to hold enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons, while simultaneously awful people are in control of them, the future of our survival remains uncertain, and the development of nukes is perhaps one of the worst things humans ever did, even in the case of nuclear testing, people suffered horribly because of this, and it doesn't take much gamma radiation exposure for it to be fatal.

Four, the most dangerous species on our planet is as you guessed it, humans. While many other species of animal kill, they do it primarily for survival if not by complete accident such as a larger animal stepping on an insect, humans on the other hand do it for far worse reasons, humans commit crimes such as murder and terrorism, not all humans do this, however it is common enough for it to necessitate having a large military.

 

If I were a Pegasi in the fantasy world of MLP FIM, I would at least be able to fly, increasing the success of an escape from an aggressor compared to being a human.

 

This is headcanon territory again but my guess is the biology of a Pegasi is similar to that of a bird, hollow bones, low muscle density for flight etc, in which case they are not going to be as physically strong as Earth Ponies, Applejack in MLP, being an Earth Pony is strong, a lot of this is probably from working on a farm.

It's a trade-off, both attributes have their uses, but I think I would rather have speed and agility instead of raw power. Telekinesis from being a Unicorn would've been cool, but I would not want to get tempted into abusing power, magic in the fantasy realm of Equestria carries its own set of disadvantages that can be very dangerous, where even unintentional harm could mean the end of the world, as far as fiction goes, it is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction if not used wisely. And I would not want to be the reason why such a beautiful world got reduced to nothing.

 

 

[Pentium100 2,296]

26 minutes ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

One, human feet are not well protected like a horse's hoof is, if we don't wear shoes, it's incredibly easy to get a cut, which can lead to a deadly infection. Unless you're living in poverty, and you're not, this is not generally an issue, but it still sucks that we have to buy shoes, which over time wear out and need to be replaced if regularly used, if the materials on them are neither biodegradable or recyclable, then that is another big problem.

Horses in real life need horseshoes to protect their hooves, people have discovered that a long time ago. Also, I prefer to wear shoes or slippers, see no reason to be barefoot (other than at the beach) and do not particularly care about the materials. However, I get your opinion. I never said that human body is perfect, but I like having hands, being able to hold things while walking and to be able to walk without getting my hands dirty.

31 minutes ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Two, even in the case of athletes, humans are not physically strong

Yeah, but it's relative, no need for great strength if I can use a tool. No need to be able to run really fast and get tired (by the way, horses can run very fast, but for a short time/distance) if I can just get in my car and drive anywhere I want, even hundreds of kilometers.

34 minutes ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Three, while humans have shown great intellectual capacity in certain areas, the problem here is collectively we as a species have a lot to work on if we ever hope to survive long term.

For me it only needs to be something like 60 years at most, unless medicine advances a lot and I get to live longer.

35 minutes ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Four, the most dangerous species on our planet is as you guessed it, humans.

Well, I do not see how that is such a big problem. I mean, yes, crime exists, it also likely exists in Equestria and so do major threats (the ones we see in the show).

By the way, the last two are about human society, not human body as such. There's nothing inherent to pony body that makes them less warlike (after all the three pony types were at war with each other in the past).

37 minutes ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

If I were a Pegasi in the fantasy world of MLP FIM, I would at least be able to fly, increasing the success of an escape from an aggressor compared to being a human.

As I am lazy and prefer to stay inside, the pony type that sucks the least is unicorn. At least levitation magic is something all of them can do and is somewhat like having hands. There's probably some combat magic for self-defense as well.

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

9 minutes ago, Pentium100 said:

Horses in real life need horseshoes to protect their hooves, people have discovered that a long time ago. Also, I prefer to wear shoes or slippers, see no reason to be barefoot (other than at the beach) and do not particularly care about the materials. However, I get your opinion. I never said that human body is perfect, but I like having hands, being able to hold things while walking and to be able to walk without getting my hands dirty.

A hoof is still a more durable substance than skin, while a horse shoe may protect their hoof against abrasive surfaces, wild horses often walk on soil, not concrete or asphalt, it's easy to see why hooves work for them. With humans it does not matter what surface it is, if it has a sharp object embedded in it, thorns, nails etc, that is all it takes to get a laceration. A hoof, which not perfect, is more difficult to penetrate.

11 minutes ago, Pentium100 said:

As I am lazy and prefer to stay inside, the pony type that sucks the least is unicorn. At least levitation magic is something all of them can do and is somewhat like having hands. There's probably some combat magic for self-defense as well.

While being a Unicorn in the fantasy world of Equestria and having telekinesis would be useful, levitating books, pencils and what not, the problem comes in with the temptation to dabble into more advanced types of magic, such as mind control and time manipulation. Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer already did this, I would not want to be part of the problem if I too were in their fantasy world, regardless of which type of Pony I was.

Again, I am not using this as a judge of Twilight's character, I just don't have the same mindset she does, she is analytical, and wishes to learn about how things work, her pursuit of knowledge is not in itself a downside, to find the right answer often means finding the wrong solutions first until later evidence contradicts its validity, but I am afraid of breaking things, and I would not want to get involved in things I don't understand or trust, I've done too many foolish things in my life as it is in the real world. If I have a mental breakdown, having access to a spell like Want it Need It is the last thing I'd need. When Fluttershy had her mental breakdown in episode Putting Your Hoof Down, she had the self awareness to go back home to calm herself down and then apologize to her friends. If I were in that fantasy world, I'd want my personality to be like Fluttershy's, meaning more cautious, even if it came at the expense of an adventurous spirit.

[Pentium100 2,296]

6 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

A hoof is still a more durable substance than skin, while a horse shoe may protect their hoof against abrasive surfaces, wild horses often walk on soil, not concrete or asphalt, it's easy to see why hooves work for them.

Wild horses do not have a choice and probably do not live as long. Humans invented horseshoes a long time ago.

Still, even so, it does not matter in the modern society. I do not walk barefoot and have no wish to. Also, IIRC in the show the ponies have horseshoes, though I do not know how often they use them. 

7 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

While being a Unicorn in the fantasy world of Equestria and having telekinesis would be useful, levitating books, pencils and what not, the problem comes in with the temptation to dabble into more advanced types of magic, such as mind control and time manipulation. Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer already did this, I would not want to be part of the problem if I too were in their fantasy world, regardless of which type of Pony I was.

I guess that's where we are different. I do not really care how much of "a problem" it would be, I just want what's best for myself. Normally, breaking laws means getting into trouble, so I would avoid that, but other than that, why not have magic? So, if I was forced to go to Equestria and turn into a pony, but given a choice of the pony type, my first choice would be alicorn and second unicorn, because of the magic. It would somewhat compensate for not having hands.

Being a pegasus would not really do much for me, as I am the type that likes to be inside, though it looks like pegasus ponies can use their wings as a crude approximation of hands. With all of those fathers though, I wonder how time consuming wing maintenance would be.

 

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

21 hours ago, Pentium100 said:

Yeah, but it's relative, no need for great strength if I can use a tool. No need to be able to run really fast and get tired (by the way, horses can run very fast, but for a short time/distance) if I can just get in my car and drive anywhere I want, even hundreds of kilometers.

As for this, it depends, while it is relative, the lack of physical strength can become a serious problem in disaster-like situations, such as if a building collapses on top of you, depending on the weight of what is on top of you and the injuries, people would be dead anyway. However it certainly doesn't help that we barely have the strength to remove a small boulder off of ourselves to prevent it from suffocating us, sometimes it can be a life saver to be physically strong, in or out of combat situations. Intelligence is great, but that doesn't make raw power useless.

 

Yes, when the adrenaline kicks in that type of situation, it is possible to get more power out of the muscles we already have, but this boost is only temporary and leads to fatigue very quickly, our heart rate increases in a panic do or die situation like that which leads to greater volume of blood being sent to our muscles, which increases their supply of oxygen and glucose, once that is used up, the adrenaline subsides, energy levels drop drastically, and that can lead to fainting or even death by over exertion in the worst case scenario.

Tools do help, but you still have to wait for a rescue team if say an earthquake caused parts of your own house to fall on top of you and you were trapped.

 

If a tree fell on top of me while I was out in the woods, as a human, it's almost guaranteed I would die from that, if my skull got crushed, it's definitely over for me. But if I were a Pony in Everfree Forest in the fictional world of MLP FIM, while a Pegasi may not be much stronger than a human physically, they are at least quick enough to move out of the way if they noticed a tree was about to fall.

Fair point that humans have hands, however if I'm not mistaken Pegasi in MLP have been shown to be able to hold items on their wings, even make hand-like gestures, such as when Rainbow Dash scolded her parents for flattery in Parental Glidance episode, some of that criticism she gave them, in my opinion, was justified as fireworks are dangerous and could have hurt either Rainbow Dash or other Ponies with her.

This is one reason why I would want to be a Pegasi instead of an Earth Pony in this fictional world, while I would not be able to use a keyboard on a PC anymore if that did happen in that fantasy world scenario, if my fanfic wish could be granted, it's not like they have those things anyway, not from what I remember of G4. It wouldn't help me much there even if I could bring one, by the time it malfunctions no one there sells parts that could be used to repair it. And why would I want a PC with no internet? can't get updates, digital only third party software, cannot send email, cannot download music or do online shopping, it kind of defeats the purpose unless you're using the system strictly as an offline workstation for something like, I don't know, office work? if you're using it as strictly as a music system, it can sometimes be cheaper to simply use a DVD player, connected to an external DAC/amp via Toslink or something like that. I am not suggesting it's inherently terrible to use a PC for music, it is not, far from it, however it comes with its own limitations and some use cases of this do require internet as we discussed. In any case they don't have those systems in their fictional world either IIRC, DJ Pon-3 uses music systems, but nothing that is in common use.

 

Being able to use wings to perform hand-like gestures would already compensate for lack of hands somewhat for me in this fantasy world. Plus the ability to fly, and not have to rely on magical boosters to do it. There are advantages to being either type of Pony. If I was an Alicorn or Unicorn, I would be attracting the attention of villains like Queen Chrysalis, and I am not a warrior, so already that would be a bad idea for me to want this, because not only would I be burdened with the duty to use magic responsibly, I would also have a horde of Changelings on my back with no ability to fight them off. Unfortunately Chrysalis is strategic in her attack and she goes after the toughest Ponies first, usually, if she perceived me as a threat, that would be a frightening situation for me. Magic would be cool, yes, but without the knowledge to use it wisely and skilfully, I am not lasting long in a situation like that, sorry.

If I were in this fantasy world as an Alicorn or Unicorn and I got attacked by Chrysalis, I only see these outcomes happening for my imaginary self

Capture and imprisonment, or death

She would probably try to recruit me first, a common tactic villains use to consolidate power,

but after saying no, defeat is inevitable for me.

[Pentium100 2,296]

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Intelligence is great, but that doesn't make raw power useless.

Raw power is not useless, but, live everything else there is a tradeoff. I use my hands all the time, while I very rarely go to a forest where a tree could fall on top of me. 

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

But if I were a Pony in Everfree Forest in the fictional world of MLP FIM, while a Pegasi may not be much stronger than a human physically, they are at least quick enough to move out of the way if they noticed a tree was about to fall.

You, as a human, can also notice when a tree is about to fall and get out of the way. Someone like Usain Bolt could be really fast about it too. Rainbow Dash is fast, but that's because she trains all the time. As an indoor person, I would probably be slower than Fluttershy, because I would not really care about that, just like I do not care about my 100m sprint performance in real life.

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Fair point that humans have hands, however if I'm not mistaken Pegasi in MLP have been shown to be able to hold items on their wings, even make hand-like gestures, such as when Rainbow Dash scolded her parents for flattery in Parental Glidance episode

How well would feathers grip a pen or a soldering iron? Earth ponies are shown writing with their mouths, that has to be a slow and uncomfortable way to write. Ponies are also shown to have typewriters, but either the keyboard has to e really big to accommodate hooves, or they need to type in Morse or some other code to reduce the number of keys needed. That would suck compared to a normal keyboard.

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

It wouldn't help me much there even if I could bring one, by the time it malfunctions no one there sells parts that could be used to repair it.

That's why if I went to Equestria willingly for some reason, I would have to bring a small train of supplies. Computers, spare parts, a few cars, generators, steam engines, a few tank cars of fuel and oil etc. I could use diesel generators for the short term until I got the boilers and steam engines running, so I could switch to burning coal for electricity. Solar panels could also be useful, but they do not work at night.

Without the supplies I am not going, unless there are some very specific circumstances (either go to Equestria or die, then yeah, it would be better than dying).

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

And why would I want a PC with no internet?

I used a PC without internet for a while. When I was a kid, my parents bought a PC (guess what CPU it had) with brand new Windows 95 OS (previously, my dad would sometimes bring a laptop from work and let me use it, that laptop had Windows 3.11), but an internet connection was expensive, so we do not have it for some years. Later I got dial-up, which was 56kbps in theory, but a bit less in practice (download speed was about 4KB/s) and I was charged by the minute. So, connect to the internet, download email, disconnect, read email, write reply, connect to the internet, send reply.

Later I got a faster always-on connection, it was great. Then we moved and I had no internet for 6 months, then dial-up, but this time I could use it as much as I wanted between 18:00 and 08:00 and all day in the weekend IIRC), this is when I learned how to make my PC quiet enough so I could sleep with it on to download something overnight. After some time of that I got a real connection and it was super fast - 1mbps download and 128kbps upload. 

I think I could survive without internet, especially since I would bring hard drives and tapes full of stuff I wanted. 

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

if you're using it as strictly as a music system, it can sometimes be cheaper to simply use a DVD player, connected to an external DAC/amp via Toslink or something like that.

Or, you can be like me and use a tape deck. Still, just like I would not want to digitize all my tapes, I also would not want to record all the music and movies I have on my PC to audio and video tapes. It would take forever. 

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

If I was an Alicorn or Unicorn, I would be attracting the attention of villains like Queen Chrysalis

Only if you were friends with the main 6, but then it would not matter what pony type you were, you would get attacked for your proximity to them. There are lots of unicorns and most of them likely would not be priority targets for anyone. Alicorns, yeah, there are very few of them, so they are targets, but they are also stronger and should be able to cook a changeling with their magic.

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

1 hour ago, Pentium100 said:

Or, you can be like me and use a tape deck. Still, just like I would not want to digitize all my tapes, I also would not want to record all the music and movies I have on my PC to audio and video tapes. It would take forever. 

Yes, and cassette tapes are an older technology than Compact Disc, but they work and they would probably be more practical to use in their fictional world than CD would be as CD wasn't even invented yet in the 19th century. Seeing as DJ Pon-3 uses turntables, its clear they do use vinyl records in the fictional world of MLP FIM, it would not be at all surprising if they developed tapes already, since tapes were not far along and came out less than a 100 years after phonograph IRL. 1877 and 1963 respectively. The only problem with that in the fictional land of Equestria, is they still have not proliferated the use of AC, many of their citizens were still using candles for lighting, for example, so you were right in saying before they appear to have 19th century tech, I would say 20th at the most generous estimate but that's reaching. I think their hospitals used AC, since they took an X ray of Rainbow Dash's injured wing which indicates they were using electronic equipment of some sort, I think some factories in their world also used electricity as they used conveyor belts which require motors to work, but AC wasn't widely available in MLP FIM.

 

 

History of the Cylinder Phonograph | History of Edison Sound Recordings | Articles and Essays | Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

The History of the Audio Cassette, A Timeline – Legacybox

[Pentium100 2,296]

42 minutes ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

it would not be at all surprising if they developed tapes already, since tapes were not far along and came out less than a 100 years after phonograph IRL. 1877 and 1963 respectively.

Reel to reel tapes were invented before WW2 and improved a lot during it (Germany had invented AC bias for recording, making the sound quality much better than DC bias), after the war, German tape decks were taken to other countries, analyzed and then everyone had good quality tape decks. The oldest tape I have was likely recorded in 1951 (based on the piece of paper in the box).

45 minutes ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

I think some factories in their world also used electricity as they used conveyor belts which require motors to work

A conveyor belt can be run by a steam engine. IRL factories in the past used a big steam engine to drive all machinery (with lots of line shafts, gears and belts) and used gas for light.

By the way, the advantage of AC over DC is that transformers can be used to increase or decrease the voltage for transmission over long distances. You can run a factory on DC, but either the power plant needs to be close or you have to use modern electronics to convert the voltage. 

I do not think the creators really cared to portray a realistic technology level in the show, so you have ponies using candles for light, but a hospital has modern-looking machines. 

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

12 hours ago, Pentium100 said:

A conveyor belt can be run by a steam engine. IRL factories in the past used a big steam engine to drive all machinery (with lots of line shafts, gears and belts) and used gas for light.

By the way, the advantage of AC over DC is that transformers can be used to increase or decrease the voltage for transmission over long distances. You can run a factory on DC, but either the power plant needs to be close or you have to use modern electronics to convert the voltage. 

I do not think the creators really cared to portray a realistic technology level in the show, so you have ponies using candles for light, but a hospital has modern-looking machines. 

That's a neat feature about AC. However AC to DC transformers also generate a lot of heat, which wastes energy, so they had to be carefully selected for the job. If it was possible to run an appliance on AC, such as kettles or toasters which are notoriously high energy drain, then it was preferable, however on sensitive electronic equipment, DC is generally more stable which is why it is commonly used today. With AC, especially with power lines exposed to thunderstorms, you need to worry about surges and spikes, transients etc.

 

Not like it would've mattered in Equestria in the show, because none of those technologies were proliferated. My electronic gadgets would be useless there, disc players, amps, CD's, the lot. So not being able to use a keyboard properly with wings as a Pegasi in that fictional world would be a non issue for me, or anypony there, really.

I don't know if they used steam engines for their factories, it is possible, they were already using steam engines for their locomotives. In which case non electronic, instead they convert chemical energy to kinetic, mechanical motors also used pistons. No matter which one they used though they still likely relied on coal to get the job done, were coal power plants ever shown in the show? not from what I remember, although that would have been realistic. If they didn't have coal power plants then at the bare minimum some type of hydroelectric generator or windmill would've helped them.

 

But they do have hospitals with somewhat modern looking equipment in their fictional world. It may not be to the standards of healthcare in the real world but it certainly was not absent, if you got injured there and needed assistance, you were not necessarily out of luck, the support of friends did help. If I were in that fictional world as a Pegasi then injuring a wing, breaking bones etc could risk blood clots and stuff like that, but in many cases, especially post treatment, bones do heal without this being an issue. It is when people do self treatment without seeking help from a healthcare professional, they are most at risk of blood clots. Them keeping Rainbow Dash in for observation in MLP FIM Read it and Weep episode was somewhat realistic in that regard.

It was actually one of the episodes I felt most sympathy for her, she was reluctant to stay in the hospital at first in the fictional world of MLP, a common reaction from people in real life, waking up in a hospital after getting knocked out from an accident is not fun for anyone. RD showed moments of vulnerability in that episode as well where she read that book in secret, similar to how an MLP fan may hide their love for the show from others.

Even when RD burgled the hospital for the story book, she had enough of a heart to not disturb patients there, including a patient who appeared very sick and perhaps dying. A thief she may be, but a monster she is not. For her to empathize with the most vulnerable like that, makes her very relatable for me.

That's one of the reasons why I could see a friendship happening with Mane Six if I were in that fantasy world with them. They are flawed, yes, but they mean well, and as long as a desire to improve exists within them, there's hope. If I were in this fanfic world, or anyone else in this fantasy situation I just wrote, I may get teased by Rainbow Dash sometimes, but would she really go so far as to physically harm me intentionally like hitting me or worse? I doubt it, I could put up with the occasional name calling from her from a disagreement about this that and third, I've been treated much worse in the real world. 

 

I don't see as much of that going on in the real world, and even when people are genuinely trying to end destructive habits, and do apologize for wrongs they did if they remember what they did which was harmful, they still receive harsh criticism, while people who are still causing damage to society get enabled by cultists who support them, so it's like, whatever, Our world is messed up on so many levels.

 

[Pentium100 2,296]

6 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

If it was possible to run an appliance on AC, such as kettles or toasters which are notoriously high energy drain, then it was preferable, however on sensitive electronic equipment, DC is generally more stable which is why it is commonly used today.

As I said, the advantage of AC is for voltage conversion which makes long distance transmission easier/cheaper. If you had a local power generator, there would be no difference between using AC and DC for heaters and lights. In modern times a transformer is still a very reliable and cheap way of converting voltage, so they are used in the power grid. Electronics need DC and modern ones use switching power supplies to convert the voltage which are more efficient than small 50Hz transformers and linear power supplies. In the past, converting DC to a different voltage was very inefficient, you had to run a motor and a generator.

6 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

My electronic gadgets would be useless there, disc players, amps, CD's, the lot. So not being able to use a keyboard properly with wings as a Pegasi in that fictional world would be a non issue for me, or anypony there, really.

That's why I would bring generators. Not that I would want to live in Equestria normally, but let's say the circumstances changed.

Even without electronics, not having hands (or TK) would make writing more difficult, whether with a typewriter or with a pencil and I think being able to write stuff down is kind-of important. So yeah, only unicorn for me, it would suck the least.

6 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

If they didn't have coal power plants then at the bare minimum some type of hydroelectric generator or windmill would've helped them.

They could also use magic I guess, the show did not go into details how the magic worked, maybe it is possible to enchant something so it would spin for a long time providing power.

6 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

RD showed moments of vulnerability in that episode as well where she read that book in secret, similar to how an MLP fan may hide their love for the show from others.

She still showed that she was kind-of stupid. Not the accident, everyone can get into an accident, but then reading a book in secret while saying that books are stupid. Then, after being released from the hospital, breaking in to steal that book instead of going to Twilight who lives in a literal library. I mean, yes, admitting that you were wrong feels bad, but the risk of getting caught stealing a book from a hospital makes her look stupid.

6 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

That's one of the reasons why I could see a friendship happening with Mane Six if I were in that fantasy world with them.

Maybe I could be friends with Twilight (I do not have much in common with the others), but I would also try to stay away from the main 6, not because of their personalities (Pinkie is annoying though), but because they are disaster magnets.

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

1 hour ago, Pentium100 said:

As I said, the advantage of AC is for voltage conversion which makes long distance transmission easier/cheaper. If you had a local power generator, there would be no difference between using AC and DC for heaters and lights. In modern times a transformer is still a very reliable and cheap way of converting voltage, so they are used in the power grid. Electronics need DC and modern ones use switching power supplies to convert the voltage which are more efficient than small 50Hz transformers and linear power supplies. In the past, converting DC to a different voltage was very inefficient, you had to run a motor and a generator.

I'm not denying that is the case, there are advantages to AC, it is good for long distance transmission and also good for use with high drain appliances which I mentioned earlier. However when transformers are used to convert AC to DC, it must be used efficiently, with computers you have no choice, they are simply not designed to use AC, so they must use DC as the alternative. And I suspect, even the circuitry inside my Schiit Audio Magni Unity amp which has an AC input, has a transformer built in the amp itself to do the conversion.

1 hour ago, Pentium100 said:

That's why I would bring generators. Not that I would want to live in Equestria normally, but let's say the circumstances changed.

Even without electronics, not having hands (or TK) would make writing more difficult, whether with a typewriter or with a pencil and I think being able to write stuff down is kind-of important. So yeah, only unicorn for me, it would suck the least.

If Equestria Girls is anything to go by, Ponies are capable of morphing into humans, but that is a fashion doll spin off and not considered canon to Friendship is Magic. Anyway there are other talents involved in MLP fiction that contribute to good of society, while yes, Unicorns being able to use pencils to write things down with telekinesis is a useful asset, there are other skills that help a community, such as marketing and retail, agriculture, construction work, in Rainbow Dash's case, keeping weather in Equestria stable, which is considered a magical power.

The point is Ponies in that fictional world with different abilities focus on what they can do, not what they cannot.

1 hour ago, Pentium100 said:

They could also use magic I guess, the show did not go into details how the magic worked, maybe it is possible to enchant something so it would spin for a long time providing power.

Depends on how magic works in their world, it may or may not allow them to build generators, it's more of a writing issue than anything. However I would say building machinery and using natural resources to power them, helps them to learn not to rely not too much on magic, because even with its existence, it is not guaranteed to fix every problem for them. And if an enchantment goes badly wrong, they end up making a problem they already had, worse.

1 hour ago, Pentium100 said:

She still showed that she was kind-of stupid. Not the accident, everyone can get into an accident, but then reading a book in secret while saying that books are stupid. Then, after being released from the hospital, breaking in to steal that book instead of going to Twilight who lives in a literal library. I mean, yes, admitting that you were wrong feels bad, but the risk of getting caught stealing a book from a hospital makes her look stupid.

It does make her look foolish, however Rainbow Dash pride wouldn't let her admit she was wrong, at least not at first until the end of the episode when she got caught from what I remember. One thing I would say about this, is this also could have been interpreted by Twilight that Rainbow Dash does not trust her, RD knew Twilight Sparkle had a collection of Daring Do books in her archives, yet RD decided to steal from a hospital. It is part of her brash personality to do this, but I do agree that it was a bad idea of her to do when an easier solution was practically a few minutes away from her, ask Twilight if she can borrow her book. In the end, RD was fortunate that Twilight is so forgiving of her friends mistakes, because in a lot of other situations, a real life one even with humans, this could have led to a heated argument and possibly an arrest and charged with a misdemeanour.

 

[Pentium100 2,296]

8 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

And I suspect, even the circuitry inside my Schiit Audio Magni Unity amp which has an AC input, has a transformer built in the amp itself to do the conversion.

Yes, Pretty much all devices have transformers in them. There are two kinds though. Older devices and higher quality audio devices have big 50Hz transformers and linear power supplies (they are less noisy), pretty much all other new devices have switching power supplies which run the transformer at something like 30kHz - this allows the transformer to be smaller and the power supply to be smaller, lighter, cheaper and more efficient.

8 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

If Equestria Girls is anything to go by, Ponies are capable of morphing into humans, but that is a fashion doll spin off and not considered canon to Friendship is Magic.

And yeah, if I somehow ended up in Equestria (very likely against my will) with no way back, I would try to get some money (looks like Equestria uses gold coins) and then go to the EG world.

8 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

there are other skills that help a community

I primarily am concerned about help to myself :). Usually it involves doing something that people pay money for. though. 

8 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

such as marketing and retail, agriculture, construction work

All are better with hands. I prefer jobs that can be done inside.

8 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

keeping weather in Equestria stable

It's not exactly an office job though, so, for me, it would suck.

8 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

a real life one even with humans, this could have led to a heated argument and possibly an arrest and charged with a misdemeanour.

The reason for punishment is twofold. One, it is punishment for the offender so the offender thinks twice before committing crimes again. Two, it's a deterrence for others. If you read about someone getting fined 500EUR for speeding, you may think twice before speeding.

And Rainbow did not stop breaking into places. She broke into the weather factory and did some massive property damage (I wonder if screwing up the weather could be classified as terrorism). So, maybe spending some time in jail for breaking into the hospital would have helped. 

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

4 hours ago, Pentium100 said:

All are better with hands. I prefer jobs that can be done inside.

With machines and tools, yes, without them, not as much, reaching higher elevations would've been easier if we could fly without aircraft. Without cranes or elevators, how do you suppose people lift heavy payloads to upper floors on a construction site? it is not always safe to do it with a ladder, they could use rope, but it's still difficult, super strength as in the case of an Earth Pony Applejack in MLP, that becomes much easier. Tilling soil in agriculture? in MLP same situation, horses have the strength to cultivate large spaces of soil without the use of machines. Kind of important in 19th century agriculture, don't you think?

Hands may be the jack of all trades, but they are a master of none. Like our feet, our knuckles are wrapped in skin, this is why gloves are often used in work environments. They don't have the same toughness of keratin which depending on how you look at it, is a downside, one cut and bad roll of the cosmic dice, is all it takes to get an infection. Our reliance on tools evolutionary speaking, helped us survive, but again, the human body is not exactly heavily armoured. While hair is flammable, so is fat underneath our skin, this is one reason why skin easily melts in fire. Skin is good for waterproofing and perhaps body heat regulation, unless you're in the tropics/subtropics, overheating is not generally an issue, but as armour against abrasion and scrapes, it clearly shows its limitations, then we have scarring to worry about if the damage is severe, scar tissue seals the wound, but in its place is a poor replacement for the healthy skin that once existed, and if the nerves don't repair, goodbye sense of touch in that area. For the record, the sense of touch is VERY important with the use of hands as it helps us know if we have a firm grip on something, or if it's safe to grab. If we got unlucky and lost our sense of touch in them, we will soon find out how difficult it really is to use our hands reliably, for that reason, motor and sensory are intertwined.

 

Telekinesis though obviously a fantasy power and not unique to Unicorns in fiction, would probably be better and safer than the use of hands, you might find being a Unicorn in the fantasy world of MLP is not as bad as you may think. Telekinesis is an extension of your will, the ability to manipulate your environment with your conscious thoughts and that is very useful, you would be capable of using tools with that power just the same, scissors, needles, hammers, knives, even a typewriter. In fiction this is how ghosts use objects in a haunted house. You can think of it like operating machines remotely with your brain, the strength of that telekinesis is limited only by the strength of the mind. At its weakest, it's barely capable of spoon bending, at its worst, it can warp reality, see Ace in Justice League DCAU. Mewtwo in Pokemon likely used his telekinesis to rebuild those cloning machines at his stronghold in Mewtwo Strikes Back movie, and he used his powers to remotely activate them.

If I were in the fictional world of MLP who is to say a Pegasi can never become an Alicorn? they're only missing the Unicorn powers. Not that I would know what to do with all that power, but it's theoretically possible within the context of their fictional world. Even if I did not, and it would not matter to me, if I were in that fictional world I could ask a Unicorn friend to use their powers to perform a task I could not if I needed it done, in return for helping them with something else, ergo, the mutual benefits of social cohesion.

If it mattered to me that much, telekinesis would be the ultimate Swiss army knife for me, and I can understand why Twilight Sparkle in MLP FIM finds it so useful, even in the context of MLP fiction, Twilight has seen other creatures use hands, but her lack of hands in FIM never bothered her. Sure, she asks Spike to send messages to Celestia, but it's not like she is incapable of writing a letter on her own. 

With telekinesis you can pick up objects no matter if they are hot or cold, no worries about frostbite from picking up blocks of ice, for example.

hazardous chemicals need not come in contact with skin when they can be levitated or deflected with the mind, no gloves required.

Need to rescue someone from a housefire? telekinesis can be used to form a force field around yourself and any civilian you are taking to safety.

Even if by some chance you encountered a situation where you had to deal with AC, like at one of their hospitals, don't want to risk electrocution when dealing with exposed wires? telekinesis avoids bodily contact with the electrical current. And unless you did something foolish and drop the live wire on a wet floor or something like that, you'd avoid a problem.

 

And finally, if you live the life of a hermit, then sure, flying does not help you much in that case, nor does superspeed. But telekinesis would be helpful in your case if you were in the fictional world of Equestria, by your own admission, it would help you conveniently move objects around the house, write and check notes, activate switches or whatever else it could do.

[Pentium100 2,296]

4 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Without cranes or elevators, how do you suppose people lift heavy payloads to upper floors on a construction site?

Cranes were used for a long time - there are some ancient building remaining that are quite tall.

4 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Hands may be the jack of all trades, but they are a master of none.

And that's the good thing about them, IMO. I would not want to be overspecialized.

4 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

While hair is flammable, so is fat underneath our skin, this is one reason why skin easily melts in fire.

Hair is flammable, so? You can set a human on fire, you can also set a dog on fire, so I think it would be possible to set a pony on fire.

4 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Our reliance on tools evolutionary speaking, helped us survive, but again, the human body is not exactly heavily armoured.

And let us kill the animals that are bigger, faster or more armored than us. 

Anyway, since we are comparing humans to fictional species, there are some that would be better, for example Klingons - their bodies are stronger and have more redundancies than human bodies. 

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Telekinesis though obviously a fantasy power and not unique to Unicorns in fiction, would probably be better and safer than the use of hands, you might find being a Unicorn in the fantasy world of MLP is not as bad as you may think. Telekinesis is an extension of your will, the ability to manipulate your environment with your conscious thoughts and that is very useful, you would be capable of using tools with that power just the same, scissors, needles, hammers, knives, even a typewriter.

It depends on how it works. I agree that TK would be better in handling dangerous or hot objects as I would not be actually touching them. However, how much concentration does it need? I can hold something in my hand without thinking about it, maybe TK works the same. Also, how does it deal with various forces acting on the object, for example, the recoil of a gun?

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

If I were in the fictional world of MLP who is to say a Pegasi can never become an Alicorn?

I usually try to not imagine/plan on something rare. Alicorns are rare, so it is highly unlikely that you would be able to become one. OTOH, why not just say that you would want to be an alicorn from the beginning. I said that - that being a unicorn or an alicorn would suck the least.

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Even if I did not, and it would not matter to me, if I were in that fictional world I could ask a Unicorn friend to use their powers to perform a task I could not if I needed it done, in return for helping them with something else, ergo, the mutual benefits of social cohesion.

It is always possible to hire or ask someone to do something, bit I would rather not need that for something simple like writing. Speaking of, I guess being a dragon would also not suck as much - they live very long, can fly, breathe fire and have hands.

5 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

And finally, if you live the life of a hermit, then sure, flying does not help you much in that case, nor does superspeed. But telekinesis would be helpful in your case if you were in the fictional world of Equestria, by your own admission, it would help you conveniently move objects around the house, write and check notes, activate switches or whatever else it could do.

Yeah, I don't go outside much and I am not the athletic type. And yeah, being a unicorn would suck less than the other two types of "common" ponies because of TK. It would still suck compared to living IRL though. Maybe being a dragon would be better as they live longer at least that would compensate for the general "sucklyness" of that world.

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

19 hours ago, Pentium100 said:

It depends on how it works. I agree that TK would be better in handling dangerous or hot objects as I would not be actually touching them. However, how much concentration does it need? I can hold something in my hand without thinking about it, maybe TK works the same. Also, how does it deal with various forces acting on the object, for example, the recoil of a gun?

If Green Lantern from DC Universe is any indication, though John Stewart and others in GL Corps use their rings to do light constructs, they still use their will to power it, which is similar to telekinesis, I agree, TK does require concentration, how much depends on the fiction we are talking. Mewtwo from Pokemon doesn't seem to struggle much with use of his own powers, and TK made him a godlike being from what I remember in the first movie, able to control the weather and erase memories of several beings at once.

 

 

But there are things in MLP verse that flying can do that TK alone cannot. First, TK doesn't guarantee the ability to fly, it can in some cases, but not always, sometimes it may be limited to moving objects around, which don't get me wrong, is useful. As a Unicorn in MLP, you may have teleportation, but limited range of it, it does not necessarily negate the necessity of public transport, and as evidenced by Twilight Sparkle's magic duel with Starlight Glimmer, you have stamina drain to worry about, in MLP fiction you can't just spam telekinesis infinitely, it has its downsides too.

However flight in the case of a Pegasi, especially in the case of superspeed allows for you to quickly migrate from province to province. Ponies with similar abilities to Rainbow Dash may have the ability to control the weather, which as you guessed it, means limited electro-kinesis, you could call thunderstorms which could be a valuable asset in combat. Worried about a drought during a heatwave where water reservoirs were drying up and crops were starting to fail? bring rain, Applejack is fortunate to have a friend like Rainbow Dash around or she would probably be out of the job at Sweet Apple Acres.

I wouldn't want to be a Wonderbolt if I were in the fantasy world of Equestria as a Pegasi, which may be considered wasted skills if I had abilities similar to RD's. But I am not a warrior, I simply am not a good fighter, for that reason, military is outside my forte. I may have skills useful for other things, but this? only individuals with exceptionally high combat ability, competency and bravery could do jobs like this and not fall behind or be kicked out for reckless or unlawful behaviour, or you know, quit because of either abuse or inability to listen to other team members, a healthy mind is equally as important as a healthy body.

Some fans may make the argument that anyone reborn in the fantasy world of Equestria would be subject to different nature and nurture, things like that. But in that imaginary scenario, would this really make me aspire to be a Wonderbolt? highly unlikely IMO, what change in my psychology would do this? it's very different from the mindset I have. RD is competitive and brash at times, me? not nearly as much. I know bravery comes in different forms, but military is one thing I would suck at.

 

[Pentium100 2,296]

3 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

But there are things in MLP verse that flying can do that TK alone cannot.

Yeah, most unicorns cannot fly, but that would not be as big of a problem to me, since I am an indoor person (and even if I was a pegasus, likely I would fly worse than Fluttershy).

Not having hands (or equivalent in TK) would suck way worse than not being able to fly. I can't fly right now and do not really have a problem with it.

3 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

However flight in the case of a Pegasi, especially in the case of superspeed allows for you to quickly migrate from province to province.

Only few can be that fast though. Also, moving to a different place would mean taking a lot of stuff with you, which you may not be able to carry. Also, while Rainbow is fast, we do not know how far she can fly that fast. IRL Usain Bolt is really fast, but he cannot run very far at that speed.

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,723]

On 2025-03-18 at 8:14 PM, Pentium100 said:

Yeah, most unicorns cannot fly, but that would not be as big of a problem to me, since I am an indoor person (and even if I was a pegasus, likely I would fly worse than Fluttershy).

Not having hands (or equivalent in TK) would suck way worse than not being able to fly. I can't fly right now and do not really have a problem with it.

Only few can be that fast though. Also, moving to a different place would mean taking a lot of stuff with you, which you may not be able to carry. Also, while Rainbow is fast, we do not know how far she can fly that fast. IRL Usain Bolt is really fast, but he cannot run very far at that speed.

Good point, and in the fictional world of MLP FIM, being able to fly fast comes with extreme downsides, as it was shown in the Read it and Weep episode, if you crash, you can break a wing, or worse.

Being able to fly wouldn't necessarily mean skill with it, either, and it may require Pegasi to train earlier on in life to even be able to use their wings properly, like with Fluttershy, it does seem the minimum required is athlete like fitness to use wings effectively in that world, while it wouldn't necessarily mean military training, there's evidence from the show that at minimum, it requires some basic fitness training.