Are ponies supposed to represent nature in a way?

[Azure Acrylic 24]

I’ve noticed, in Equestria, ponies seem to control everything that happens naturally on Earth. That includes: changing the seasons of the year, moving clouds and creating weather, helping plants and animals thrive, guiding birds back for spring, waking animals from hibernation, and raising and lowering the sun and moon. Now it seems that the only place in Equestria where this doesn’t happen is in the Everfree Forest, which ponies call “unnatural”. So does that mean that ponies are representing nature in a way? I got this information from the MLP Wiki, do correct me if I’m wrong. And I know that fan-created OC ponies tend to step to the more modern side, which includes cars, and obviously, pollution, but those are fan ponies, not canon ones.

[SharpWit 2,472]

I think it's closer to how humanity tries to control everything. We alter the landscape, take from it what we can, efficiently make use of it, and build from what we've gathered but couldn't be provided. Ponies do the same, just to a different degree. Natural things come off as unnatural because most had never been in a situation where the environment is actually out of their control. 1,000 years of a certain lifestyle can have an impact on the viewpoints of society.

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

I've thought a few times there was an obvious analogy to modern Faerie lore. Some of them work with plants, others work with weather and the seasons, etc.

1 hour ago, SharpWit said:

I think it's closer to how humanity tries to control everything. We alter the landscape, take from it what we can, efficiently make use of it, and build from what we've gathered but couldn't be provided. Ponies do the same, just to a different degree. Natural things come off as unnatural because most had never been in a situation where the environment is actually out of their control. 1,000 years of a certain lifestyle can have an impact on the viewpoints of society.

That seems oversimplified because at least on the cosmic level, there's no hint of a natural logical order. The sun and the moon are stationary without intervention. They don't orbit the planet... or plane... whatever it is. So right off the bat on the macro scale, we have a geocentric planetary system which is completely contrary to certain fundamental laws of physics. The sun and the moon don't even need to maintain stable orbits to keep from falling. It stands to reason that this trickles down to other aspects of nature behaving just as erratically.

I had a theory that the universe was much more like ours but then Discord had his fun and order was replaced with chaos. After he was banished, certain things remained scarred beyond repair, leaving it to the Ponies to have to pick up the slack that nature no longer could. It doesn't fit with the timeline though.

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

I don't think it's so much about them representing nature as it is expressing their purpose in taking care of the Earth. I think the actual underlying message is that we're supposed to follow their example and use our talents to help take care of our world. 

[NiceVillains 244]

I think its because ponies kind of ARE magic. Like, when their magic is drained from Tirek they would probably not even be able to feed themselves, would prolly end up dying. So I think it means they can be the magic behind the scenes that explain natural phenomena. Because of this mythological perspective it makes sense this series was a hit at the end of the day relatively, because stories for example our minds just appreciate even at a subconscious level. Stories have been a thing since languages probably. So it has a profound psychological effect, which is why our stories if they alternatively explain the natural world in some way its more immersive, because stories were often used to explain any and everything, even if it was tall-tales. So combine that idea with the fact they are basically living magic, you could say ponies make the world go round.

[SharpWit 2,472]

9 hours ago, BornAgainBrony said:

That seems oversimplified because at least on the cosmic level, there's no hint of a natural logical order.

Aye, I'm not going about this on a cosmic level because ultimately the ponies like ourselves, are insignificant little beings in the grand scale of the universe. Broadening our view to things well beyond their reach will only result in additional questions and no real answers.

I think it's safe to say that Discord is as usual, an outlier and essentially Q.

[Rumpelstiltskin 45]

I had a theory that when ponies settle an area it gradually becomes 'tamed' because they absorb some metaphysical power that makes things run like they're supposed to. This is converted into their magic, which they then use to shape the area as they see fit because it no longer can sustain it without them. Perhaps the Everfree forest has something in it that blocks this ability, making it impossible for ponies to settle there. 

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

I think ponies are somewhere between human and fairies. (after all, some of them are unicorns.) MLP has a fairytail quality to it, and it borrows a lot from other mythologies.

Like in many mythologies all around the world, there are always those beings who take care of the weather, or entities which are personifications of the nature. There are beings like The Great Seedling or The Gift Givers of the Grove in pony folklore, but ponies also have magical powers and parts of divinity in them. The only thing missing is them flying over a peaceful hill with a rainbow.... wait.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Sepul-Coloratura

[Kaleb 1]

I have a theory where the rest of the world goes on naturally. Because lets say there are no pegasi where the zebras live. Well who's going to make it rain? Well nature will. I believe, without pony intervention, the world will work the way ours does. But start manipulating nature for a certain amount of years, and now nature is dependent on you to change it. I believe there is a (for lack of a better word) "battle" between magic and nature. Both trying to dominate the other. But essentially, coming together so everything works out in the end. (Alicorns still raise the sun of course, same with the moon)

[Pentium100 2,056]

I'd say that Equestria is Order. Everything is orderly and controlled there, including the celestial objects, the weather and animals. Discord, the being representing chaos, was imprisoned in stone for over 1000 years (before Luna became NM). 

Our world is essentially based on chaos (quantum physics say that pretty much everything is a probability). The Everfree Forest behaves like our world, so maybe it is the result of something that Discord did and ponies were unable to undo.

So, their world was either created by someone (otherwise, who controlled the sun before some pony figured out how to do it?) OR it evolved normally, but then ponies used magic to transform it to how it is today and as a result of the transformation, the world needs constant maintenance and it would be a disaster if the ponies stopped doing it.

Kind of like our world - our civilization needs constant effort to keep running and if we stopped doing it, there would be big trouble.

[Goat-kun 2,498]

They've been getting their plots handed to them by weather since the beginning of their history, and their control freak of a small fry deity is actively fighting against natural order. Strange, isn't it, that the knees of alicorns get bent so easily by a few gusts of frigid wind. Equestria is the reverse zoo.