(To much of a lazy pone to check if there's a thread about this already. :derpe Ok, this topic has been stuck in my mind for a while now. In couple of episodes we've seen electric products present, which makes me wonder why we only have seen this in a couple of episodes? The show seems to be aimed in a time where electricity wasn't invented yet, instead we have all this fancy royalty stuff with princesses, castles etc. However, even though electricity isn't heavily featured in the show, there are many instances where electricity is featured. I canthink of a few: Wonderbolt Academy: The Dizzitron machine was operated via a control panel. The Mysterious Mare Do Well: The construction site also ran a control panel which operated the crane. Feeling Pinkie Keen: When Twilight decides to investigate Pinkie Pie's Pinkie senses, she seems to use some sort of electric appliance. The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy Machine: Even though Flim and Flam operated the machine with their horns, the machine itself seems to have electric appliances. Opinions about this? Or are we just going to assume it's some fancy magical thing we're never going to know about for sure?
Insane Headcanon Mode Activate! The caverns below Canterlot contain crystals that were clearly being mined at some point. The Crystal Empire contains crystal formations that King Sombra clearly considered valuable. I submit that certain types of crystals found in Equestria are able to store magical energy like a battery and, when charged, can be used to power machines. Furthermore, given the Pegasi ability to safely handle storm clouds, it stands to reason that lightning could also be used to power machines.
Palaces and Castles still exist in the modern world, and some countries still have a monarchy. I think of My Little Pony as being set in the present day, in a time similar to our own. Perhaps these products are powered by magic, but we've seen computer games, cranes, lamps and machinery which're pretty modern, as well as other recent products which can be found today. I wouldn't be surprised if there were powerplants and the likes around equestria creating electric, and doubt they haven't discovered it yet. Perhaps the things that are missing in Equestria were simply not invented because they weren't necessary. They might not rely on electricity as heavily as we do.
Considering that Magic is a canon part of the show, that really allows them to explain away literally any inconsistency technically speaking. Someone mentioned that the present day is host to monarchs and royalty still - which is very true (just look at half the nations of europe), but I think more than that, there is definitely an early 20th century feel to the show. It is early enough that ponies are still using very mechanical solutions to problems, yet historically recent enough that electricity would have been well known and many things like light bulbs, radios, small devices, and large machines or vehicles would easily exist without much issue. Because of magic, there might even be less incentive for ponies in this universe to come up with new technology at the incredible rate that humans did, so that could even explain the slow and sometimes strange priorities of product development. - - Auto Merge - - just realized I didn't even answer the OP's main question: how Lazy answer: Magic More in-depth engineering answer: in the mare-do-well episode, there was actually a very explicit show of where ponyville probably gets its power from: Mystery Solved: a hydroelectric power plant
I don't see why Equestrians having electricity would be a problem. Electricity is not man-made, it's occurs naturally. Since two of their species can deal directly with electricity in ways that we as humans could not (Magic Unicorns could probably generate electricity and Pegasi can definitely walk on clouds and manipulate lightning) I'd figure that Electricity would be one of the first things they would be proficient in. Also necessity is the basis for invention and it just doesn't seem like they really need some of the stuff people need to be happy, at least from what we've seen. They seem very capable at growing food, they as a society have weather manipulation, they are responsible for the changes in weather (so no long droughts or winters), and they can even change the day and night cycle. My personal headcanon is that Equestria is Earth millions of years after the extinction of all humans, and they have merely adopted our technologies which is why so many devices seem like they were made with hands in mind. I also think Rarity was transported from the past and is secretly a human turned pony...but that is a tale for another day.
