How does time work in Equestria?

[Drawmare 24]

If the sun is risen everday, that means that the world DOESN'T revolve around the sun, so how does time work? In reality we measure time by the length of each day, but if Celestia and Luna control the sun and moon, than it could be different times everday, somepony could just bribe them to make the day longer, I mean seriously. And just wandering where the sun and moon go when they aren't in the air? Do they just throw them to the side as if it's nothing until the other one is done with?

[ShadOBabe 19,013]

I said in another thread that if it wasn't for the globe in Twilight's library, I'd say the world was classically flat like in old mythology, and that the sun and moon pass through Tartarus when not in the sky. But no, their world is round.

 

Then we've seen the sun and moon rise and set on the same horizon, be in the sky at the same time, and in the comics they were able to magically pull it closer to the Earth. It wasn't nearly as big as our moon compared to Earth and the tides didn't rise so high that everyone drowned.

 

So my belief: the MLP world is an isolated planet with the "sun" and "moon" being similarly sized orbs that glow at different intensities, which the princesses can move at will.

 

As for time...

1) I don't believe Celestia or Luna can be bribed

2) I believe they are very diligent in keeping the schedule consistent

3) They MAY mess up occasionally, but several factors keep them more or less on schedule

  - unless one of them wants to do all the work, they would have to track down their sister and say, "Hey, wake up, it's your shift!!"

  - it's possible that they have extra spells in place to make up for any lapses in concentration, and that the Sun and Moon can move a bit by themselves, as long as the princesses are around to keep the spells active

Edited December 9, 2013 by ShadOBabe

[Untitled Goose Q 5,138]

I do not think the princesses literally make the sun and moon rise, but that certainly is the impression that is given to the citizens of Equestria. Time itself no doubt works the same, and of course they have their own ways of measuring it (which may or may not correspond to ours), but it is clear that the physics in Equestria do not work the same as they do in our world.

[ShadOBabe 19,013]

I do not think the princesses literally make the sun and moon rise, but that certainly is the impression that is given to the citizens of Equestria.

 

No, they totally control them.

 

Unless you'd like to explain why they can rise and fall on the same horizon, despite being shown previously to have normal orbits, AND just so happen to be stuck in the sky when they disappear.

Not to mention their ability to pull them out of the sky (the moon at least) in the comics.

Edited December 9, 2013 by ShadOBabe

[Drawmare 24]

I said in another thread that if it wasn't for the globe in Twilight's library, I'd say the world was classically flat like in old mythology, and that the sun and moon pass through Tartarus when not in the sky. But no, their world is round.

 

Then we've seen the sun and moon rise and set on the same horizon, be in the sky at the same time, and in the comics they were able to magically pull it closer to the Earth. It wasn't nearly as big as our moon compared to Earth and the tides didn't rise so high that everyone drowned.

 

So my belief: the MLP world is an isolated planet with the "sun" and "moon" being similarly sized orbs that glow at different intensities, which the princesses can move at will.

 

As for time...

1) I don't believe Celestia or Luna can be bribed

2) I believe they are very diligent in keeping the schedule consistent

3) They MAY mess up occasionally, but several factors keep them more or less on schedule

  - unless one of them wants to do all the work, they would have to track down their sister and say, "Hey, wake up, it's your shift!!"

  - it's possible that they have extra spells in place to make up for any lapses in concentration, and that the Sun and Moon can move a bit by themselves, as long as the princesses are around to keep the spells active

Thanks for answering my overly complicated question!

[ShadOBabe 19,013]

Thanks for answering my overly complicated question!

 

Heh, with an overly complicated answer?

Sure thing.

 

We can't say for sure if they have the same 24 hour cycle we have, but I think of it that way just to make things easier.

[Untitled Goose Q 5,138]

No, they totally control them.

 

Unless you'd like to explain why they can rise and fall on the same horizon AND just so happen to be in the sky when they disappear.

Not to mention their ability to pull them out of the sky (the moon at least) in the comics.

They may well maintain the spells that cause it to happen, and it may well be that it is possible to alter the spells to move them closer to the world (though I've not read the comics, so I can't say for sure). We can't really apply our world physics to Equestria and its solar system, because magic by its very nature ruins that approach. Of course, I could be wrong, but I'm not convinced that they literally and directly move them. Indirectly seems more plausible, I think.

 

Mind you, as it seems that the world of which Equestria is a part is a globe, the term "raising the sun" (or moon) isn't applicable everywhere, obviously that's how it's seen from Equestria, but on the other side of the globe?

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

Well, I'm pretty sure they have clocks somewhere.

 

Even if the sun and moon are controlled, you can tell the time by the shadows of the day, as well as the night.

 

That's how time is told back then before clocks were invented, as further evidenced in lesson zero, when twilight knows what time it is by looking at how the sun is lowering. 

[ShadOBabe 19,013]

 

 

Mind you, as it seems that the world of which Equestria is a part is a globe, the term "raising the sun" (or moon) isn't applicable everywhere, obviously that's how it's seen from Equestria, but on the other side of the globe?

 

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.

When Celestia "lowers" the sun, she's "raising" it on the other side of the globe.

She's still doing the same job, it's just the story takes place in Equestria and that's where the sisters live, so the terms are used from the point of view of where the show is taking place.

Well, I'm pretty sure they have clocks somewhere.

 

Even if the sun and moon are controlled, you can tell the time by the shadows of the day, as well as the night.

 

That's how time is told back then before clocks were invented, as further evidenced in lesson zero, when twilight knows what time it is by looking at how the sun is lowering. 

 

I think what they're asking though is that if the Sun and Moon are directly controlled by two sentient beings, instead of unthinking, unflinching forces of physics, how can we be sure that their time cycle is always the same?

[Pat.Rio.T. 305]

Well, I'm pretty sure they have clocks somewhere.

They most definitely have clocks. Spike had a clock in Owl's Well That Ends Well, Pinkie Pie had a watch in To Many Pinkie Pies, and I'm pretty sure that there is a clock tower somewhere in the town. Not to mention Time Turner's(or Doctor Whooves) job is to keep the clocks in sync.