So, I've been putting stuff in my story to explain a few things like how ponies can hold onto guns in battle, etc. Or hold onto anything, really. I figure "wrist magnets". But of course, magnets as we know them wouldn't really work for that. Some sort of magical electromagnet that can be worn to allow them to grasp firmly onto things without hands.

But the really interesting piece of tech I came up with is what I'm calling the answer to all dexterity problems in the technology field of the poniverse. It's the MicroDextrous Examination Talisman. Or, XT for short.

It's a metal ring that has a large clear gem fitted to it that has a myriad of magical capabilities. It is worn by a unicorn on their horn and allows the user to manipulate things on a microscopic level. The user focuses on an object, and an enhanced 3D holographic image appears in front of their vision. The user can then zoom in and examine something in fine detail, and manipulate things as if they had fine tools. For medical uses, the device has tissue binding spells and cutting abilities.

What this does is it removes the need for the cheap and easy "magic potion" solution to how ponies are healed from injuries. It also provides means by which technology itself can be advanced. Engineering and medicine are the primary uses for this device. I very much like it's medical application because it allows for a realistic portrayal of treating ponies injured in battle. Injuries can be serious and cause characters to be out of commission for a while, during which time they are treated by the doctor who has one of these devices.

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My take on the subject of object manipulation is a magic less technological and more biological. Basically, it seems that all ponies have a degree of tactile telekinesis, a.k.a. the "grippy hooves" phenomenon.

Of course, this is useful for holding onto an object, but less so for fine manipulation. As such, pony devices would be either orally operated or larger than fingered-creature analogues to accommodate the necessary scale of motion. Of course, unicorns cheat, but when don't they?

I will say that the XT is an interesting concept, though.

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So, I've been putting stuff in my story to explain a few things like how ponies can hold onto guns in battle, etc. Or hold onto anything, really.

Granular Jamming works the best. After all, teacups aren't magnetic, and explaining it away with magic seems like a cop out.

The user focuses on an object, and an enhanced 3D holographic image appears in front of their vision. The user can then zoom in and examine something in fine detail, and manipulate things as if they had fine tools.

So, like a stereo microscope and tweezers?

And how much magnification are we talking about? If we go too far down, then we risk our manipulations being greatly effected by the uncertainty principle, and we also risk our magic/light either not being able to give a clear image or frying the microscopic thing.

(Also, this would rarely be useful for medical purposes, unless the device allows you to see inside things somehow, and then you have to have enough doctors that they can spend days working on their patients nonstop, and you might need large teams of doctors to combat illnesses in that case. It would be useful for science though, which helps medicine.)

What this does is it removes the need for the cheap and easy "magic potion" solution to how ponies are healed from injuries.

Not really. Now it's a magic microscope, with uses that may defy physics or basic medical knowledge.

Also, does this need to follow canon? I don't think I saw any of the doctors in Ponyville using a device like this. And while I can see Canterlot's hospital being more advanced, Ponyville's hospital has x-rays, so...

It's good that you're trying to think outside the box though. You just need to do a bit more research before you think you have the coolest invention since magical sliced bread.

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Granular Jamming works the best. After all, teacups aren't magnetic, and explaining it away with magic seems like a cop out.

. Just

And how much magnification are we talking about? If we go too far down, then we risk our manipulations being greatly effected by the uncertainty principle, and we also risk our magic/light either not being able to give a clear image or frying the microscopic thing.

I'd say at least down to the point where they could manufacture microprocessors, although the smaller you get, the more tedious the operations would become, requiring automation. Nobody wants to manually craft trillions of microscopic transistors, for instance.

The uncertainty principle would probably be less of an issue, due to the fact that this would be a virtual representation of a physical object, rather than a physical tool manipulating another physical object. It bumps into the tool's "it works because magic" aspect, but the main point is in requiring user attention and skill, rather than the cheap and easy "cast a spell and it's done" technique.

(Also, this would rarely be useful for medical purposes, unless the device allows you to see inside things somehow, and then you have to have enough doctors that they can spend days working on their patients nonstop, and you might need large teams of doctors to combat illnesses in that case. It would be useful for science though, which helps medicine.

It would have the ability to see and manipulate inside things. cf Star Trek tricorders. So repairing blood clots or punctured lungs without cutting into a patient would be quite possible. I've got my protagonist having been injured in an explosion in my story and she ended up getting lots of broken bones and a punctured lung. The medical pony fixed her up with the XT without having to cut in or even put her under. One of the features is also local numbing of the area being worked on. So severed nerves can be repaired etc, while the patient is conscious.

Limitations however, include microcellular damage which comes from most injuries. So a patient is still going to be sore and have swelling, and need to take it easy for a while. This is where healing potions come in and act more or less like advanced drugs that accelerate the body's natural healing processes, getting the characters back in action much faster than in real life, but not too fast as to break suspension of disbelief.

Also, does this need to follow canon? I don't think I saw any of the doctors in Ponyville using a device like this. And while I can see Canterlot's hospital being more advanced, Ponyville's hospital has x-rays, so...

Well my story takes place a good fifteen years beyond the show proper. There's been an industrial and technology boom. Specifically, the one mentioned in Fallout Equestria. That's the canon I'm creating the story in.

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There's been an industrial and technology boom. Specifically, the one mentioned in Fallout Equestria. That's the canon I'm creating the story in.

Ah. Never read it. I don't plan on reading it either. It's not really my thing.

I don't really like the fact that such an advanced tool can be made from what should be a 1965 era population, but I can't really say much if I haven't read the story your basing yours off of. Still, it fits in a futuristic enviornment (though, I think ponies would prefer the tech not to be limited to one species, or at least give different, equally powerful tech to all races.)

Well, I suppose you described it pretty well now otherwise.

3790690 War is a massive tech catalyst, and in this story ponies went through an industrial revolution, a technological revolution, and into a defensive wartime situation with a rapid arms race against the zebras all in less than twenty years. All the tech was specifically driven by the circumstances and need, and not what you'd call a "natural progression" at all, really. One of the key advancements was a spell framework which allowed spells to operate in a modular fashion, the effects of one feeding into the input of another. This was initially intended to allow the amplification of healing spells to mass-heal injured troops on the front lines. But of course, war being war, ponies adapted the megaspell framework to amplify explosive spells, creating the equivalent of strategic nuclear weapons, which ended up wiping out civilization.

Fallout itself (the game) is a strange mixture of 1950's style and high tech weapons such as beam rifles, and the like. It's an alternate universe of course, and isn't meant to follow human timeline past the 50's as we know it. That gives it a very "Jetsons" feel, about it, since there are things like hovering robots but also 1950's era billboard advertisements.

In the Fo:E universe though, I added this tool for my story because the original book really doesn't give any explanation at all, as to how the ponies could possibly have invented any sort of technology such as powered sky chariots, monochrome computer terminals, and the like.

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We've had lots and lots of wars between 1950 and now. And war doesn't really drive innovation anyway, in fact, it kind of kills it. How are people going to innovate when they're dead? And how are inventors going to invent when they're drafted to be troops or stuck farming all day?

Also, if spells that only unicorns can do have advanced that much, what are pegasi and earth ponies doing? Begin sold into slavery? Starving to death? That situation doesn't really soind fun to me, and if that's part of the main Fallout Equestria plotline, then I'm glad I didn't read it.

Fallout (the game) has you emerging from a bunker after who knows how many years of nuclear winter have passed. It would have been cheesy if they showed everywhere that you had high-tech laser weapons despite the fact that only fifteen years have passed.

The problem of explaining the technology is a tough one though, because it really shouldn't be there. I think Starswirl's mirrors explain a lot of the ponies schozo-tech in MLP though. (It was shown in the comics, and so far has been the best explanation of the current tech in MLP that I've found. Basically, ponies never invented technology; they just stole technology and ideas from other worlds to advance incredibly quickly from the middle ages.)

XT sounds like a great idea. As to how ponies can manipulate objects using hooves, manes, tails, and wings, I figure that it is contact-magic.

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Ok now you're making yourself look like a pedantic person who is arguing for the sake of arguing. There's this thing called plausible flexibility (being fiction) that might be good to consider.

War certainly does provide a technology catalyst. Survival is a tremendous motivator. And a smart government will keep its greatest minds safe within the borders coming up with ideas on how to survive, while the strongest are out there fighting. Nobody is suggesting that the dead innovate.

What are the pegasi and earth ponies doing? Well earth ponies are probably pretty good soldiers. Highly respected, strong and brave heroes. Pegasi are probably the air force, black ops and such. Everyone has a role to play. Most of the wartime stuff is told in flashbacks via recorded memory devices anyway. The story of Fallout Equestria happens 200 years after the war, in a post apocalyptic environment. My story takes place during the war and highlights the adventures of a great war hero. Most of the fleshed out details are things I've made up, not things from Fo:E proper, because the original book left a lot of things about the war itself unsaid.

Fallout (the game) has you emerging from a bunker after who knows how many years of nuclear winter have passed. It would have been cheesy if they showed everywhere that you had high-tech laser weapons despite the fact that only fifteen years have passed.

Most of the advanced technology would not have been invented after the apocalypse. High tech innovation usually requires good infrastructure and a functioning economy.

The problem of explaining the technology is a tough one though, because it really shouldn't be there.

Well yeah. Fallout Equestria doesn't even attempt to explain it, but since my story takes place during this period of time, I needed to come up with something plausible. Hence what I mentioned in the OP. It's certainly better than leaving it unaddressed.

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Ok now you're making yourself look like a pedantic person who is arguing for the sake of arguing.

Eh, maybe at first I was doing that. Now, though, the points you brought up just irked me so much that I had to point those things out. And now you're arguing plausibility in fiction? You could have used that to get away with saying 'it's magic' instead.

War certainly does provide a technology catalyst.

No, it doesn't. And you're assuming you have a smart government to prove your argument, which is not always a reasonable assumption. Besides, how do you decide who's smart and who's strong? Most of the time, it has to do with upbringing.

But this is an age old debate that other people have discussed in detail before, so I'll just link you to some articles:

Wiki: sources of innovation
A war might increase the third variable in some areas, but it would almost always decrease the second variable, because wars have casualties.

About, Economics: Are Wars Good For The Economy?
Germany's Economy in WWI & WWII

Well earth ponies are probably pretty good soldiers.

So, earth ponies are cannon fodder, and they don't get a choice in it.

Pegasi are probably the air force, black ops and such.

And the same with pegasi.

What if an earth pony or a pegasi wanted to be a researcher? And, heck, with that spell matrix thing you said, a unicorn warrior would probably be better than the other races at fighting. After all, I doubt many earth ponies or pegasi could win against a unicorn that could shoot lasers out of their horn, and that's pre spell matrix thingy. However, earth ponies are supposed to have senses the other races don't, and pegasi have long term access to the skies. Both of those should be huge advantages that even things out, but I get the feeling they're ignored.

Most of the advanced technology would not have been invented after the apocalypse. High tech innovation usually requires good infrastructure and a functioning economy.

K.

Hence what I mentioned in the OP. It's certainly better than leaving it unaddressed.

Definitely. But couldn't you, you know, change the timeframe or something? FoE doesn't have any definite dates, does it?

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And now you're arguing plausibility in fiction? You could have used that to get away with saying 'it's magic' instead.

No, no I didn't mean it like that. I'm talking about science fiction that has plausibility within its own parameters. I'm not saying anything in pony fiction is the slightest bit plausible to the real world. As an analogy, compare Star Wars (fantasy) with Star Trek (pseudo science). At least Trek tries to build a somewhat scientific sounding universe, as dodgy as it still is. It's just a relative plausibility factor. And if you do worldbuilding to the point where you've invented scientific rules for that world, then you can give your characters "realistic" and consistent challenges within that paradigm all through your story, rather than continuously pulling the "because magic" card for cheap and easy solutions to everything.

you're assuming you have a smart government to prove your argument, which is not always a reasonable assumption

You're clearly an objectivist, like me but again this is all fiction. I get to write a smart government if I want. And in the case of Fallout Equestria, Celestia has abdicated the throne at the mid point of the war, leaving Luna with full responsibility. First thing Luna does is dissolve the old systems and establish sub branches of the govt led by the mane-6, each one heading a branch that has a specific purpose. Applejack's for instance, is the ministry of wartime technology. They make things like firearms and armor and are very innovative. Twilight's ministry is all about arcane science. Yes, that's what it's called. In Fo:E "magic" is treated very much as a technology or science, and not a mystical force. Things are researched, and technology is advanced in the magical arts as well as the physical advancements.

So in my story, Luna is restructuring the military to make the most of technological advancements because there are simply not enough warriors to fight off the zebras. One of her biggest efforts is in supporting the advancement of technology so that the warriors are more effective. Also, Fluttershy's ministry is all about medical advancements, and a huge part of this particular time of the war is in her ministry developing a piece of arcane tech that massively amplifies healing spells so that entire battalions of front line soldiers can be healed instantly.

So yeah, even in the canon story, the government is "intelligent" and is doing everything it can to look out for its troops. Nobody is "cannon fodder". And I believe I did say "respected heroes" when I described them, didn't I? Or did you just deliberately misunderstand what I was saying?

What if an earth pony or a pegasi wanted to be a researcher?

Then they can be a researcher. It's not 1984. I'm not writing a malevolent autocracy.

Wiki: sources of innovation
A war might increase the third variable in some areas, but it would almost always decrease the second variable, because wars have casualties.

Ok well in the main story, the industrial and technology boom was a result of a trade agreement with the zebras. They provided coal which Equestria didn't have, and Equestria provided magical gems, which the zebras didn't have. The coal, being an industrial era fuel source, quickly brought about massive technology advances and also likely a population boom.

There were sanctions as the conflict started, and necessity brought rise to aggression. The technology revolution would have been in full swing but the war itself would have radically changed the course to develop tech specific to fighting. Later on when the war became a desperate grasp at survival, tech would have likewise changed to more desperate advances. Then after the apocalypse, the survivors simply scavenged what they could and used that for survival.

And, heck, with that spell matrix thing you said, a unicorn warrior would probably be better than the other races at fighting. After all, I doubt many earth ponies or pegasi could win against a unicorn that could shoot lasers out of their horn

You'd be surprised. There's the Steel Rangers, who are earth ponies in actual powered exosuits. They are extremely powerful and dangerous. Since you haven't read the book, might be best to not make balance judgments about the wartime scenario.

pegasi have long term access to the skies

In the original story, the pegasi developed a "why should we risk our lives in this war" attitude and eventually seceded from Equestria, and established a permanent cloud curtain separating themselves from everyone on the ground. They also developed some very advanced tech to maintain their independence. Air superiority wasn't a foregone conclusion though, because the enemy utilized dragons , which caused quite a mess.

But couldn't you, you know, change the timeframe or something? FoE doesn't have any definite dates, does it?

Yeah it does, actually. It's all very tight. Not much wiggle room at all.

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[...]

Well, looks like you win this internet argument. Here's a picture of Pinkie riding gummy as a reward:

That's what I get for arguing about a story I never read.

I just thought of a new "grippy hooves" mechanism. As cool as granular jamming is, I don't think it would be very useful with light weight or soft objects, since the object would need to fit firmly between folds of skin with grains on either side behind the skin in order to be picked up.

At the moment in my story I'm favoring the model of micro barnacle-like structures. If you've seen video of live barnacles feeding, they live in those super hard shells but they extend these tiny fragile feelers out into the water to collect stuff that floats by. What I'm thinking is that the underside of a pony hoof would have millions of these microscopic hard grains that make up the grippy surface. Each grain would be hard and durable, but have a tiny slit in it. When the pony flexes, the nervous system sends out an electric current that extends from the slits tiny filaments similar to those which a gecko uses.

Having these be retractable would allow them to be protected while the pony is running on a hard surface, so as to not wear the filaments off instantly. These would also grow back, as the pony likely loses thousands of them per day.

Effectively, this makes hooves grippy or smooth and hard depending on whether the pony wants to grasp something or not, all the while maintaining durability.