art by MadHotaru

Several fans have asked about technology in the world of Fallout: Equestria. Questions such as those about canon-compatible technologies or zebra technology are frequent enough that it seems a worthy subject of a blog post.

(But first, a little aside. I was recently made aware of this fundraiser: Tournament of Canterlot. Seems like a good cause. What do you think? Should we throw some Fallout: Equestria stories its way?)

Back on topic...

Technological evolution as a whole was extremely scatter-shot in Equestria. Several factors caused this. First, you had the war itself. War has classically been a drive for technological improvement, especially in times of an arms race; but those improvements are always war-related, with civilian applications filtering down. For example: we invented the nuclear bomb well before we invented the nuclear power plant. Second, you have the availability of magic, which not only allows technological limitations to be overcome, but allows technologies to leapfrog over some of the incremental steps of improvement that would be required in a magic-free setting. For example: you don't have to develop proper laser technology to have laser weapons when you have attack spells like the one Twilight uses during the changeling attack. Finally, you have the "industrious earth ponies" (as they are called in "Hearth's Warming Eve"). The inherent magic of earth ponies is expressed in the Fallout: Equestria universe by increased industry and productivity. They invent faster, they build stronger, they farm better. And when that industry is put towards... well, industry, then the resulting technological evolution in the areas that earth ponies are focused on will quickly outpace others. For example: they had helicopters before they had airplanes... if they ever had airplanes at all.

Let's look at the possibility of aircraft. No, as there aren't any airplanes mentioned in Fallout: Equestria. However, dirigibles and zeppelins are mentioned in the story. There were also helicopters -- the Griffinchasers, based on more advanced versions of Pinkie Pie's flying machine (pictured above) in "Griffon the Brush-Off". And since the zebra nation was repeatedly mentioned as having even more advanced robotics, you can reasonably assume flying robotic drones -- perhaps some models along the same lines as the flying security bots in the various BioShock games. The show even gives us a glimpse of similar Equestrian aerial arcano-technology (pictured below).

Fallout: Equestra does not give a lot of information about zebra battle tactics, so there is only a little canon and a lot of open playground for other authors when it comes to depicting zebras in battle. Amongst the few things that the story divulges about zebra warfare tactics is that the zebra military put emphasis on martial and stealth training. The zebras had vested cultural significance in martial arts. They employed snipers, sneak attacks and assassins with deadly efficiency. In addition to all this, as mentioned above, we also know that the Zebra Nation was more technologically advanced than Equestria.

Zebras lack the conveniences of unicorn magic and easy flight. Like Earth Ponies, Zebras have to do everything by mouth, tail and hoof. And this gave them a far greater push to invent better tools and technologies than the ponies labored under. Until they started large imports of gems from Equestria, shamanism was limited to personal spirit bargains -- enchanted items couldn't be mass-produced nor spiritual gifts applied on a civilization-scale. However, they benefited from alchemy, and this allowed them to make some serious leaps in technological capabilities.

Going against the zebras meant facing guerrilla tactics, soldiers with supreme close-quarters combat skills, robots infused with machine spirits, shaman-enhanced weapons, war zeppelins and aerial drones, even inter-continental rockets powered by alchemical superfuels.

art by Brisineo

Equestria's own rocketing technological progress in the decade just before and the decades during the war can be attributed to a combination of the inherent magic of earth ponies applied to invention and engineering, the ability to shortcut steps in advancement through magical spells, and the reverse-engineering of machines and weapons that the zebras introduced first.

In several of my blogs, I have offered expanded ideas on canon-compliant technologies. In "The Motorwagon Orb", I introduced the idea of motorized vehicles as an invention of Flam & Sons, based on the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.

Likewise, the best glimpse of the front lines during the war that I can offer is from my memory orb blog post "The Morale Officer Orb". The only real look at the war shown in Fallout: Equestria itself is at the beginning of the chapter "Dances of Light and Shadow". This was an open-field battle that was devolving into trench-warfare, but we don't see much. "The Morale Officer Orb" shows a glimpse of the same battle from a different perspective, revealing a few interesting tidbits about the technology and tactics of both sides in the process.

I hope you found this interesting, and maybe even helpful.