>>10043 (continued)
> since we know the ponies use milk, my interpretation is that the cows are allowed to pasture near Ponyville in return for donating their milk.
I like this idea.

It does raise a question though that I’ve considered before – is Ponyville an agricultural village, or a small town?
I have always leaned to it being a town, but that is a later context of seasons. I'd would wager though, from what I recall, that the interpretation of Ponyville being a farming village that grew into a town fits the best (with the Apple family being the originators, at least if my memory serves of a certain episode correctly).

I live in a town a bit like this irl,
Neat.

>(and in fact recently with tourism dropping, something like half the shops in town have closed, and most of the office buildings too)
Sadface.pg

As for the point on Ponyville's pony populace. It was something in later portrayed as somewhat unique but we have seen a few other places. Maybe proximity to Canterlot means it gets a little bit of business and passersby and some decide to settle down even if it isn't an active tourist destination?