Maud's Rock Busting and You · 11:02pm May 1st, 2014
Okay, ever since Maud drilled through that rock everyone and their mother has been going on and on about how she's *insert comically large number here* times stronger than humans.
However that really doesn't show extreme strength. Don't get me wrong, I do believe earth ponies have a greater power to weight ratio than humans due to their magical enhancements, but I think some people are exaggerating this power to ridiculous levels.
It was stated that pony hooves are the same as real life equine hooves after people kept asking about them and their ability to grab things. Now this being the case, a hoof would crack trying to just brute force it's way through a typical rock that large (Though we don't exactly know what type of rock it is, cartoon textures leave much to be desired in the detail department, it could very well be a weak type of rock).
However, Maud knows a lot about rocks, in fact rocks are her livelihood, speciality, lustful desires and hobby, so who here actually stopped and thought, oh I don't know, being she knows so much about rocks that she knew exactly where the stress points were and how hard to hit them and at what angle? I did.
If you know where the stress points are, and how to hit them, breaking apart something like a rock is fairly easy. For example, I'm a welder, I pretty much have to know about stress points and whatnot when putting something together, I know that you can bend a welded joint one way with all the force you have and it won't break, however if you bend it a different way (commonly in the exact opposite way that it wouldn't break) you can snap it off.
The reason: joints, holes, angles, and other such irregularities are stress points, and these stress points are designed to be able to withstand stress from a certain direction, or directions, and while they're made to be stressed one way it typically means stress in the opposite way will cause a failure, as the angle, weld, hole, was only meant to be stressed as specified.
Now; rocks are filled with stress points, as I said angles can be stress points, and rocks are filled with them, so it makes perfect sense that someone who knows as much about rocks as Maud would know how to apply force to these natural stress points and break apart a rock, without having a ridiculous amount of strength.
How do you think people break concrete blocks and stuff with their hands?
I'll tell you right now: it's not brute force. It's technique, it's about hitting the block in the right spot, with the right force, with the right angle, and with the right part of your hand.
So, Maud breaking through the rock isn't a testament to extreme strength, it's just a testament to her knowledge of rocks, their stress points, and correct application of force. 
(Though the hooves do help, being they're pretty hard it's easier to apply the correct force, as a human hand is, for all intents and purposes, cushioned thanks to the tissue between the hard bone and the point of contact, the soft skin.)
It should be her agility with her hooves that is talked about, not this "she's uber strong" stuff.
(In other words, she's not so much strong, as she is experienced.)
That sounds about right, although you drastically oversimplified things and did not even discuss vibrations and resonance which can allow a tiny amount of force to do a staggering amount of damage, but then again, I am a mechanical engineer. Knowing all the nuts and bolts is kind of my job.
Materials science (specifically fracture mechanics) for the win!
I would say "she's not so much strong or smart as she is experienced" myself. Because she's quite clearly very experienced in all things stoney.
2068334 I still have to make sure that others can read it, too much technobabble is bad for the masses.
2068390 Eh, it'd be a combination of smarts and experience, so how about "not so much strong, as she is experienced" that way smarts isn't directly stated?
2068434 You're a welder? Any tips on oxyfuel? (At school we use Oxyacetylene) I just can't seem to get the pieces to bond. I get the puddle from the top piece of the lap, but the bottom doesn't want to melt. Do I need a filler metal?
2069066 Typically you'd use a filler rod for most welds, or you can try to angle the flame differently, if you're getting one to melt but not the other it usually means you're focussing the heat too much on the one side. May even have to turn up the heat a bit.
I'm not particularly good at oxyfuel myself, at least trying to get the flame the right temp, normally I'll have it too hot at first.
2073014 Ok, I'll try that after I am done with SMAW. I've already got GMAW and GTAW done. Those T joints gave me hell.