@gittonsxv  
Not necessarily sweat shops. There could be automation and/or minimum wage/ reasonable work conditions.

@Joseph Raszagal  
it is almost like they are blind to their own tech.  
ponyville is a medieval village to a T, canterlot which is right next door is a marvel because it is a city build onto a cliff face and has marble and high towers but manehattan is literally new york complete with the tech that comes with it, the rarity episode mentioned factorys and manufacture lines but we have never seen them apart from that 1 cherry picking gag but..that means you have dozens of workers 24/7 in sweat shops :/  
strange.

@gittonsxv
 
It could be that they have modern technology, but cling to some older tech forms out of reliability and nostalgia.
 
Vinyl’s mobile bass platform was pretty crazy though.

@Fwelin  
but flim and flam built a car.  
and there are zeppelins and trains.
 
the tech is equestria is a fragmented mess.

To me, Equestria seems almost modern, which the huge exception of missing the internal combustion engine. They’ve goe video games, telephones, air conditioning, helicopters, electricity, X-rays, building materials to build a city on the side of a mountain, etc.

@MARINEav8r  
I forgot about the one Cherry Berry had. Still though neither are close to an actual helicopter, those were both petal based so I don’t think that indicates a massive technology leap in that area. Outside of war stuff if I don’t have that solid of a headcanon but from what we have seen in the big cities at most they are in the late 1930s to early 1940s, early 1950s at the latest I would guess.
 
As for the Tanks that is one thing I don’t get the rest of the world is far to medievalish for tanks to be around for fighting. It could be that the thought of some kind of armor transport was considered more important than that of guns as magic out did those anyway already. But really we are discussing a schizo tech universe here so not all of this is going to make sense, heck most of it isn’t.

@IceKitsune  
Also, we do see attacks the changelings and various monsters, so it stands to reason that equestrians would try to develop some armament for defense, for non-magical troops like Pegasi and earth ponies.
 
We also know that they have tanks, (pinkie pride and RDs reference in naming Tank) which were developed after artillery and automatic weapons.

@IceKitsune  
Actually, in season 4. There is another one piloted by a background pony. 123 Testing, I think it was.
 
Anyways, my idea was based purely on what tech they had. Besides, carnivorous creatures like griffons would be war- faring and therefore attempt to develop arms comparable to equestrian magic.

@MARINEav8r  
They don’t actually have Helicopters, Pinkie just made a sort of proto type one. (whatever you would call that thing) Outside of pegasus most ponies getting around in the air use hot air balloons and the like. While they have more advanced domestic technology it’s clear that their military is far behind it.
 
A lot of the reason most modern earth military is so advanced and is because we fight a lot of wars and to win those you need a leg up on your opponents; which then trickled down to civilian life. Equestria and the rest of their world on the other hand is not very war like so likely all the R&D is on the civilian side which explains the gap.

@IceKitsune  
I would guess at least 1950s level firearms. They have typewriters, color photography (with accordion-style cameras), and helicopters. Around that time was early HMGs, Assault rifles, RPGs and SMGs, early subsonic jets and unguided missiles.
 
However, basic firearms like revolvers, lever actions, and breech actions would be prevailent due to the lack of war in a mainly herbivorous society (hence the use of spears and (magically augmented?) plate armor by the royal guard)

Just to get some of my other thoughts on Pony warfare out there, I’ve always seen weather based warfare being a huge part of both Equestria and the Griffins plans. Like sending out huge advanced storms that would flood and destroy things with lightning and wind. Also portable magic crystals that hold shield charges for defense and also ones that are like magic grenades; and of course magic charged bullets.

@IceKitsune  
Yeah, I’d say that’s about the level I’d imagine firearms tech being, with the development of rifling being extremely new invention, along with cartridges.

@Poptard
 
Yeah I totally believe that Griffins use firearms way more, as for how much more advanced they would be I would say some BreechLoading rifles along the lines of the early Springfield Rifles and maybe revolver pistols, and we are talking early revolvers not SAA.

@IceKitsune
 
That being said, I imagine Griffins would be the primary users of firearms and have the more advanced versions of them, since they’d be in an environment that both allows guns to actually be deadly with few magical defenses and for a species that would need a more powerful offensive weapon. Combined with Griffons’ tendency to hunt game (since they’re, you know, based on carnivores), coupled with their talons being excellent hand analogues, I’d say they’re somewhat more common in griffin places and more advanced than muskets.

@Keith Mowz  
Yeah I imagine it wouldn’t be much better than that if they have gunpowder firearms at all. I could accept Muskets at best, I think anything more than that is pushing it.
 
I also imagine like @Poptard said, that any projectile based weapon is likely useless due to Magic spells being just overall better and defensive spells being able to stop most of them. So they just never bothered to evolve them much, as magic shields being able to stop them made them far less useful even if only a third of the population could use magic that way.

Because of Extra History I assume that if they have gunpowder firearms, it would be something simple like an arquebus.

@Background Pony Number 17  
I got that conclusion mostly because I like the game Dishonored a lot. It has tech on a level with what we’ve seen in the show, but it’s able to do so because it relies on fanastical fuel sources and outright sorcery to dictate the level of technological progression. Even then, people still wear armor, a pistol is a backup weapon to the sword, and wrist and small crossbows are the ideal projectile weapons.

@Poptard  
Actually, considering the Royal Guard still wear heavy plate, I’d say Equestria’s firearms tech hasn’t gotten out of the late Middle Ages. Pony portable cannon are probably just being developed, and the crossbow and longbow are still the missile weapons of choice.

@Background Pony #FD77  
They already have cannons and fireworks, so gunpowder based weaponry is likely existent. Although given the prevalence of magic which could mean about 1/3 of the population can learn a spell that will easily defend from most whatever damage most early firearms could inflict, plus said magic offering easy equivalents of projectile attacks, means firearms tech is likely far behind what we know about. I’d say revolvers and repeating rifles are the pinnacle of firearms tech for now.

Try watching the entire episode replace the words “secret” and “suprise” with “intel”

@Background Pony #FD77
 
Rainbow Dash referenced the speed of bullets in the “May the Best Pet Win” song, so I think they already are.

Crossbows are canon now. Will guns be?

I was thinking Sly Cooper myself.