I stumbled upon this image and it got me thinking if mlp fim's equestria is a steampunk world how come there are so few steampunk stories?

If I were to wager a guess, I'd say that often times people incorrectly associate steampunk with dystopia. Considering Equestria is, like, the opposite of a dystopia, it might seem like the two wouldn't be able to clash well.

Just my guess.

5233471 One of mine is in a kinda steampunk setting. It has the factories, airships, and such. but it's mostly just imagination.

5233486 dystopia is largely a cyberpunk theme not a set steampunk theme it's more optional.

5233513 Oh certainly, I'm not personally saying it is. I'm just saying it's likely why you see so little stories.

Some of the most popular steampunk stories (Mortal Engines, Bioshock Infinite, Paris in the Twentieth Century, The War in the Air,) really perpetuate a belief that steampunk goes hand-in-hand with dystopias.

Both of my steampunk stories are either AU or set really far back in the past. I personally find it's much more interesting to write steampunk in a dystopian world than Equestria's present utopia.

But no. It's not necessary for them to be dystopian. It just really helps.

5233471 Probably due to the weird anachronisms of technology that already exist. Equestria seems, in many ways, pre-industrial. And yet they still have aerosol spray, steam locomotives, and vinyl records. Even more strangely, they have more advanced-looking technology in some places, such as hydroelectric dams and electronic machinery (like the stuff Twilight has in "Feeling Pinkie Keen"). It's hard to place Equestria in an equivalent of steampunk that doesn't grate against the magic or technology they already have.

5233500

Steam power, factories and airships are actually all vanilla canon for the MLP:FIMverse.

5233691 Yeah, but they're more prominent in my story. Or at least they will be used more. And there is power armor.

5234355

A surprising number of fans miss the many clues in the Show that Equestria is technologically somewhere around AD 1890 or so, with a less advanced military and more advanced medical technology. They either write Equestria as being around AD 1400-1500 in technology, based on the political system and aristocratic pageantry; or assume that Equestria is at around AD 2010, complete with widespread computers and cell phones. I'm not entirely sure why this is the case.

5234374 Yeah.

5234379

Both the more advanced medical and less advanced military technology also make a lot of sense, given that the Equestrian culture is both very benevolent and not very warlike. Also, a lot of the really serious threats to Equestria "cannot be defeated by force of arms alone," to paraphrase Tolkien.