Unpopular opinion time

@Twi Clown
Average American highway 😏

@Mr.Myoozik
Hopefully no one would turn that thing into a raceway.

Basically, there is no way the carts should have worked the way they did.

@Twi Clown
Ah, I remember an episode of Stuart Little where Stuart and Co. built a kart out of what appears to be everyday objects. And yes, it functions. Maybe it’s just that.

@kleptomage
It’s a good thing willing suspicion of disbelief is at play here

@Mr.Myoozik
My suspension of disbelief is not so willing.

@kleptomage
Then it sounds like you’re asking too much for a show about multi-colored horses who can talk and use magic. But then again, this is the same series that can have hydroelectric dams, arcade machines, construction vehicles, electronic turntables and high speed bullet trains exist alongside horse drawn carriages, conveyer belts that run on manpower and lanterns that run on oil.

@Mr.Myoozik
It’s one thing for a show to have talking horses that jump lasers.

Another very different thing is the laws of physics being disrespected, people spend an average of 12 years learning in schools.

@river mines
I feel like that’s the least of that episode’s problems when you have Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash act like complete stage moms to their sisters and try to hog all the glory

@river mines
Real equines also have no apples nor clouds in their insides, nor they can bend their eyes through trees.
Along the fact many times they can get squashed by doors with only mild injuries, plus the fact any “imaginative spot or narrative elipse” can quickly be popped or moved.

And we also have the issue that magic is omnipresent in the world to the point even basic nature requires magic because otherwise realistically speaking timberwolves would fall into pieces every single time without intervention and no one would be capable of step in clouds.

One thing I can get behind is criticizing when the show breaks its own rules like suddenly “belief” without magic chanelizers seems to do it, but the show not using realistic physics despite the fact it worked on toon logic since its inception, then workable karts is a non-issue, you can theorize about how it works but is not a fail on itself.

The show must follow successfully its own rules, but it definitely doesn’t follow to the letter real life rules in many aspects however.

The carts are powered by plot. Theorizing about how they work in-universe is fun, but it’s been almost 8 years since that episode aired, and, personally, at no point was I like ‘how is this technicolor equine zooming around in a go-kart with no engine?’ The girls do show up at the end in mechanic jumpsuits, complete with oil stains, implying there are engines involved in the second version of carts.

Now the track, I do question, cause it seemed designed to prompt a collision…

I always assume tech is fueled by magic in Equestria, unless stated or implied otherwise, since that’s how Flim and Flam powered the Cider Squeezy all the way back in season 2.

@Dragonpone
Oh yeah, the ‘come-to-life’ spell. Completely forgot Twilight casually whipped that up.

@Tiger beetle
I think he was making a joke about twilights ass since its powered by “plot”

@Icicle Niceicle 1517
Oh, I got it. My wording was very much intentional in the original post. Though, I didn’t count on someone making the joke that quickly, hah.

The .gif just reminded me how there is even more precedent on vehicles being powered by spells, so I focused on that.

@Mr.Myoozik
Internal consistency matters if a story is to be believable. The episode starts with Cheerilee giving a lesson in physics, which establishes that physics are applicable to the setting and relevant to the plot. By our understanding of physics, it is impossible that the carts could have completed the race course only from gravity on a small hill. If propelled only by gravity it is also impossible that Rainbow’s cart could have accelerated on its own. Therefore the carts must be powered by some kind of engine. Which means that each team carved their cart from a block of solid wood, built and installed the other parts, painted the cart, and either built a engine from scratch or purchased and installed a prebuilt engine, with hand tools, all in one day. My suspension of disbelief does not stretch that far.

Admittedly, the carts were only a minor problem compared to the other problems with the episode, but they bother me.

True…but theory and practice aren’t the same.

Drawings on a chalk board indicates the ponies have some sense of physics, it doesn’t mean however they follow the same exact physics we follow here out of screen, nor how that said physics apply exactly to the carts in detail.

Not to mention there’s never details about said physics since once the derby was mentioned no explanations comes out from that. For all accounts it could be like using magic environment or transforming combustion into energy.

I dare to say it was more of a setup gag taken too seriously. You can theorize but wasn’t something to dwell into.

I’ve come to realise that I’ve never liked any of the dragon characters from G4 or G5

@kleptomage
It doesn’t need to be a complex engine. So long as you have the bare necessities for a DIY one.

@Icicle Niceicle 1517
Why?

@TheQuietMan
I find them either annoying or they just don’t interest me

@kleptomage
Then I don’t know what to tell you so I’ll just go with what Twi Clown said, and again it’s just a minor issue compared to the bigger picture of the episode.

@TheQuietMan
As someone who has honestly grown to like Sparky, I completely understand the dragons not clicking with people.

I’ve always liked Spike more than Ember and Smolder. I’m saying this because I know people have the hots for the female dragons because they’re well… hot. I like the smaller cuter kind.

@Icicle Niceicle 1517
As someone with a dragon OC, I don’t know how to feel about that

@Icicle Niceicle 1517
As someone with a dragon OC, I kind of agree.