Why do the ponies bow to Celestia? Why they worship her as a god? And what will happen to a pony that don't want to bow, or say bad things about Celestia? Does the royal guard attack him on treason, or he could continue?

6989270
Would YOU mouth off to a being several feet taller than you who can raise the sun?

6989311
And it gives power over them? The ability to raise the sun isn't why she should lead.

6989314
Celestia is for all intents and purposes a Goddess. Also, Equestria seems to be a stable, functioning society. So, she has the skills to back it up.

6989315
So why they have to bow? Are they below her? I don't see a reason to take knee or bow.

6989318
It's just tradition in many cultures to bow to superiors.

6989323
"superiors"

The ability to raise the sun isn't make her superior, and usually those who bow, are not doing it for fun, but fear of what will happen if they don't. Bow is to lower your self so you won't be taller than the king. It's to say you are better than me.

6989324
Right. She is. She is in fact superior to them. It's a gesture of respect due to her greater wisdom and respect for her status and title. Though she's retiring so it shall be interesting to see how Ponies treat her now. It's not fear. It's like in martial arts, you bow to your sensei to show respect. If a Pony didn't, they'd probably be chastised by the others for a lack of respect. But is it a crime not to? I dunno.

6989330
But respect does not mean take away from my honor, it's to give honor. Tell me would you kneel before a leader?

6989333
I have in martial arts. It's about giving respect as I said. I have also knelt before the Gods. Celestia is a higher order of being, deserving of a high level of respect from the Ponies.

6989337
Do you bow before your president?

6989341
No, but that is not our custom. If I met the queen, I would curtsy because that is their custom.

6989342
I will not continue an argument with a believer, it would be a waste of time. You have my respect, even though we don't share our beliefs

The goddess thing is complete and utter bullshit the fandom made up. And it's a sign of respect. We've seen Celestia bow to others before when she technically out ranks them.

6989390
So you won't go to tartarus if you don't bow?

6989619
No.

6989640
So she wouldn't mind if they will replace the monarchy with democracy? She could still raise and lower the sun, but she won't be the political leader of the people, like the queen of england

6989651 Looking at Equestria in the show, it looks like Celestia does a really good job ruling the country. Since she has over a thousand years experience at it, I'm not surprised. She'd probably be concerned that whoever the ponies might elect wouldn't do as good a job, and would hurt ponies somewhat - but if she's somehow reassured on that score, and if she knew the ponies wanted it, I think she'd be fine with that.

That said, it'd be really difficult for her to be convinced there. In the real world, democracy works because we can't be sure we'd have good, competent monarchs; and even if we do find one, we wouldn't know about his successor. It isn't that democratically-elected leaders are always great; they aren't. It's that they're better than the average king you'd actually get. But in Equestria, Celestia is a wise, good, and competent monarch who really is better than just about any other pony - and she's immortal, so nopony needs to worry about her successor. If I were in Equestria, I wouldn't want a democracy.

6989670
It does make sense, I am not fun of the justice system, but in politics, it's hard to keep peace.