The fanon I’ve seen for the seasons is that most of the planet has normal seasons. The Windigoes still have some degree of magical influence on the region where Equestria is located. It would be winter-like and animal-free all year ‘round if it weren’t for the ponies’ magical terraforming and seasonal upkeep.
But that still doesn’t explain the nonsense of Celestia and Luna’s powers, or the fact that the globe in “Cutie Mark Chronicles” has totally different continents.
Um, it’s not that hard to hide a planet in our universe, even around a star. The observable universe is huge, and the whole universe is orders of magnitude huger.
Sunrise and sunset can be explained by either assuming geocentricity or by Celestia and Luna rotating the world rather than manipulating the sun and moon, which would nicely explain how Celestia managed both for a thousand years.
I wouldn’t exactly take what these superstitious ponies say as fact. Mind you, none of the ponies in Ponyville knew what a Zebra was.
We see in Winter wrap up that all the ponies do is make it easier for natural forces to clear away winter, like breaking the ice into smaller pieces. We in the real world also pile snow up into hills on the side of the road so it’s out of the way, but that doesn’t mean it would stay there forever if we didn’t.
Equestria must be on a flat world in a parellel dimension. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. If the pony’s world is a sphere it must turn and if their world turns moving the sun and moon would be unnecessary. As for why the world is represented by a globe, we can’t expect the staff to analyze every detail like we do.
And I rebut that in the realm of Equestria the Everfree Forest is a statistical anomaly. The animals within are self sufficient but that is an exception to the rule. In Equestria nature does not seem to progress naturally like it does here on Earth.