Talk:Equestria/@comment-5191109-20120612201000/@comment-172.219.149.46-20120824060314

Yes, it is impossible to inject realism into the MLP:FiM universe. However, (like the above comments state) the show does have its own internal logic that it's world must abide by.

The main difference between our reality and the ponies is the concept of magical forces at play, not just in casting spells by unicorns, but in every aspect of the country of Equestria. Like the above comments state, magic allows the world to act in ways that would defy laws of reality that we are familiar with and even effect living beings in a variety of different ways.

This allows pegasi to exist in the way they are portrayed. Even though the species in our reality is impossible (in more ways than one), pegasi in MLP have inborn passive magic to boost their flying abilities and allow them to do things like walk on clouds.Think of it like: instead of simply having wings, its like having wings and then straping jet engines to them!

Passive magic also comes into play in regards to Earth ponies. We've seen evidence in the show, particularly in Hearth's Warming Eve, that the three pony tribes have to work together in order to survive. Unicorns have the special ability to activily cast magic so without them, celestial bodies won't move. Pegasi have the unique ability to fly and control weather so without them, weather will stagnate. But most importantly of all, without Earth ponies and their special conection to the ground and nature, everypony will starve to death. Unicorns and Pegasi simply cannot grow crops, only Earth ponies can. An ethnic cleansing is highly unlikely...

But magic seems to have its limits within the show, at both the personal and global scale. All unicorns have access to basic spells like illumination and telekinesis but beyond that is only linked to each individual special talent. Twilight is the exception as her talent is magic, but that also shows that traditional casted magic requires years of dedicated study and practice. It would seem casted magic has no set boundries yet, but magic is limited by the caster, of which only the Princesses and Twilight are compitant enough.

And the presence of the Everfree Forest suggests that the influence of magic is limited to where ponies are. In the forest, the night/day cycle goes on its own with weather acting the same way and wild/mythic creatures go untamed. So perhaps the country of Equestria is shielded from the wilds by magic and ponies can manipulate everything within? Or maybe there is another yet unexplained force that controls the Everfree? In any event, I guess you could say the clouds in Equestria are domesticated... they are made in a factory after all.

Speaking of work... the whole cast do have jobs. Obvious cases are Rarity and Applejack, and to some extent Twilight (weather she acts as the town librarian and is paid by the town or if she is on royal duty documenting friendship and has her expenses paid by Celestia, or both, still perplexes me....possibly the latter). Rainbow Dash is seen as part of the Ponyville weather team, and is possibly the leader of said team seeing her performance in Hurricane Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie is a live-in baker/employee at Sugercube Corner (but why the Cakes put up with her idk...)

And that leaves Fluttershy. I have to admit, she doesn't seem to have a traditional "job". However, we do see her take care of animals of all kinds, so perhaps she uses her talents to do oddjobs for pets to support herself. We do know that she does make a modest living, seeing as a 10 bit cherry is simply out of her budget.

One thing about the Mane 6's occupations, though, is that they all fall under the "One Hour Work Week" trope, seeing as they seem to have all sorts of time away from their busy work days to go on all sorts of wacky adventures...

And in regards to government....we don't know. There simply isn't enough information to say one way or the other. What we do know, however, is that the Royal Sisters (or Celestia at least) take an active role in leading and protecting their subjects, from banishing ill behaved tyrants to battling with villians (in various ways) to handling parasprite outbreaks in Fillydephia. And there is evidance of free market trade with all the enterpures out there (Flim Flam, Iron Will, Trixie), but how it effects the governmental system is really anypony's guess right now.

So yeah... realism isnt high on the list. But this wall of text is just an example of how deep and lovingly crafted this world is, and the fact one can analize these things into mind bending meditation is simply wonderful.

Also doorknobs...now that you mention it... =/