Governments in Equestria

[sgatazmy]

 I find it interesting how many of the high stakes MLP episodes require the mane 6 to spend time researching.  I also find it interesting that their research involves lots of cross referencing, translating, and staying up all night doing so before they run into adventure. As someone who loves to research everything, I love the show treats this as part of the saving Equestria deal.  Even the characters who hate researching still end up researching.

In the recent finale, I liked them talking a lot about translating Old Ponish and cross-referencing to try and understand Starswirl's journal (whose handwriting was already bad enough).  However, this bothered me when Starswirl does appear and he speaks completely normal modern language (or did I miss a few words?) It threw me out of the story because they just talked about how his language was different!  I'm fairly certain a thousand years in limbo doesn't work that way.

This is compounded by the fact that last night I watched the Halloween episode from the early seasons with Princess Luna adjusting to modern Equestria.  I realized that Luna talks a lot with "thou" "thy" and the royal "we" as well as talking very loudly.  This made it that much more unrealistic that Starswirl's language wasn't more noticeably in Old Ponish.  I would have expect Twilight to have to translate for him.  I can see why they don't do that, but at the same time it is what would make sense since they already set up his language as being different.  

Watching the Nightmare Night episode from early seasons, did get me thinking about the government in Equestria.  I have the following theories:

(1) Celestia is a grand ruler but dangerous if you get on her bad side.  I don't think she was always as we see her now. 

(2) The sisters may have previously ruled much more harshly judging by Luna's behavior in the Halloween episode.  Oh, and the monarch does have control to be able to say, "No more of this holiday ever for anyone" and the ponies know to follow that until otherwise told.  What happens if the ponies went against such a proclamation?  What has happened in the past?  Clearly they were afraid to not follow her proclamation.

(3) The mane 6 and most of Ponyville are part of an upper class where life is fairly simple and easy.  Even Applejack's family that has money issues seems to be well off enough that they are content.  Also the mane 6 have eventually grown to be part of the ruling class (do they get paid for that?).  They are essentially now Knights of the Roundtable in Twilight's castle. Which is funny because Twilight doesn't even have guards or anything else one would expect her to have for her castle.  What power does Twiliight actually have?

(4) There are lower classes in Equestria which we have seen sights of here or there.  This is dangerous territory, really.  How do those outside of the happy world actually view the monarchy?

(5) It's odd there is a mayor in Ponyville since this is a monarchy.  This is made more awkward by Princess Twilight suddenly having a castle there.  Not sure how that system of government is supposed to work.  Is this how Rainbow Dash never had to face consequences for destroying the weather station?  Twilight can just keep excusing her friends or no one dares to cross them.  Maybe diplomatic immunity?

(6) The ponies in early seasons talked of banishment and dungeons and go out of their way to make sure the monarchy is happy and served.  It leads me to believe things are not as nice as they seem.  Who has been banished? Who is in the dungeons that the ponies clearly know about?  What happens if you don't give royalty its expected respect?  (I suppose one answer to this is Luna is banished to the moon for 1000 years, Discord was made a statue for who knows how long. Who knows what happens to the standard pony that crosses the wrong path, but clearly other ponies aren't wanting to find out.)  How does all of this mesh with villains being so easily forgiven these days?

(7)  Someone made a great video about Celestia's reaction to the idea of inviting democracy.  Love it.  (And it has Steven Universe ponies!!!!)

(8) Friendship ideals seem relatively new to the world of Equestria.  What used to happen to villains?  How has Celestia managed such a large reign?  Surely there must have been revolutions in the past?  And while I know why HASBRO has no queen or king of Equestria, was there once a queen or king in the world?  What happened to them?

(9) Are ponies outside of the Mane 6 really annoyed at all the easy forgiving in the series?  Oh I'm sorry she stole your identity and forced her to live in your cult for years, we forgive her so now you have no choice.  Justice?  Oh, uh, we don't really believe in justice any more. Oh your house got destroyed in all the mess?  That's too bad. No, we're not going to arrest that robber.  Sorry.  What's that, Rainbow Dash completely destroyed the weather station?  Well, it was an off day so we forgive her. You can go fix that yourself now.

 Oh, and what was the darkness in the castle of the two sisters? I think this may somehow relate to the system of government.

Yes, my fic in my head deals with all of these details.  I wish I could write it...

I also wish I had more people to talk to this about!  

Comments

[frith]

Cross Celestia and she might just banish you and then throw you in a dungeon in the place that she banished you to! Or turn you to stone and put you on display in the royal gardens.

In the Tirek VS Twilight battle, it looks like the combined power of the royalty is equal to the combined power of all the other ponies. In the past, the pony population may have been too small for anything close to a balance of magical power.

There was one episode this season in which Twilight is awash in paperwork. Otherwise, Twilight seems have nothing to do and no projects. I would like to see the castle put to use as a center for research and higher studies. Friendship University, with Twilight as Director, President or Chancellor.

The doubleWbrothers make some pretty funny comics/videos. 8^D

The darkness in the Castle of the Two Sisters was supposed to be Tirek lurking about and gaining power.

[sgatazmy]

Yes! A friendship university would make so much sense! And she should probably have some guards and stuff...

The dark was Tirek? I watched out of order so must have missed that. I noticed a lot of other people assuming it was the Pony of Shadows but that was pretty much debunked in the finale so I wasn't sure anymore.

When you put it that way, Celestia really is not someone to cross. She did essentially put stone-Discord on display for everyone to see just how much you don't mess with her.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of ponies?

[frith]

About Tirek, I just browsed the MLP wikia to get back up to speed and it's not clear on purpose. Jayson Thiessen and Big Jim Miller have told fans via twitter that it's up to them to decide whether that shadow was Tirek or not. MLP has a history of hinting at the season finales (like with the changeling flying to the Chrystal Empire in The Chrystalling) which lends credence to the argument that it was Tirek. On the other hand, the shadow is translucent. Either a thousand years in Hades had literally wasted Tirek to a shadow, or the shadow really is an orphaned remnant of Nightmare Moon.

If Starswirl dumped the Pony of Shadows into the Equestria Girls mirrorverse, a place without magic, what would it become? A cloud? Of note, no time passed in "limbo". If Limbo = the EqG mirrorverse, it gives some weight to my speculation the time is only going forward now in the EqG mirrorverse because it is anchored to Equestria via Sunset Shimmer's communication diary.

I've seen a few idle speculations that the other statues in the garden are more ponies that angered Celestia! 8^D

I would so like for Twilight to turn Castle Hideous into a university. As it is now, she has no goals in life. No structured Friendship research, no season-long puzzle to solve... She just sits around, has bake-offs with Spike, visits sick foals and sometimes has mounds of papers to sign.

Re: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of ponies?

[sgatazmy]

All of this fits my story so well! I want to have Rainbow Dash while with Daring Do discover that Celestia’s reign is not as peaceful as ponies have been lead to believe. Follow journey of disillusionment and then into a dark realm. Celestia warns Dash that up to now she has given her preference and kindness along with all of ponyville but if Dash crosses Celestia... (Which she will have to.) I want to write this so badly!!!!!

Oh, and apple bloom gets caught up into it all when she touches a stone that opens the portal to the shadow world.

Your comment about the the other statues being ponies just made this show crazy dark! Mind completely blown! Wow. Some day they should make a spin off aimed at only the adults that can answer those questions. I know it won’t happen but it is just too rich not to hope for.

I hadn’t thought about the EqG world as part of limbo. Interesting! A theory I doubt the show will delve into because they like to keep the two secret, but a compelling theory nonetheless.

Re: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of ponies?

[frith]

I've read very few fanfictions (I prefer print). One book I bought (because it was getting printed and so I expected it to be good) is called Inner Glory by Erindor. I'm starting to think fanfiction authors like to send ponies through the wringer. Erindor certainly did. His working hypothesis was that Equestria is an unnaturally bright and cheery place and that Celestia, in order to achieve that, split the darkness that was in everypony and tossed it into a dark reflection of Equestria. So this dark place is populated by mean, angry copies of Equestria's population who experience famine, pain and cold, but cannot die even though they kill each other time and again. Long story short, Erindor wants ponies to be whole, like they would be better off living with inner daemons and suffering a lot more. I do not recommend this book.

I recommend Pink Eyes by Mimezinga, from the Fallout Equestria creation. It's a love-conquers-all type story. So is Past Sins (which is not a Fallout spinoff). It's by Pen Stroke and I recommend it as well.

Re: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of ponies?

[sgatazmy]

Oh i realized if your theory is correct, then Starswirl would have had some time in the EqG world? Since time would have started for him? I was thinking there might be several places he has banished villains to. Ooooo what would happen if all those worlds portals opened at the same time. What evil would appear? What else might we find?

It's a trap!

[frith]

I saw the Equestria Girls portal = Limbo idea suggested on Derpy Hooves News, and that was probably due to the same animation being used for the portal for both banishing the Sirens and trapping the Pony of Shadows. I have a few problems with Limbo and the EqG mirrorverse being the same place. First, no time has passed for Starswirl and company in all the time that they've been in Limbo, whereas everypony, starting with Sunset, who has been to the EqG mirrorverse has experienced the passage of time and has been aware of it. Again, I attribute the passage of time to Sunset's communication book and its link to the one Twilight now has thanks to Celestia dumping a ton of books in Twilight's lap (to fill her Castle Hideous library). Prior to that, the Sirens had not experienced the passage of time. They are still 'teenagers' in Rainbow Rocks. I had been expecting Starswirl to turn up there and that he had accidentally trapped himself there without a lifeline. Instead, he was in Limbo. Oh well.

My other problem is that the portal to the EqG mirrorverse is usually the mirror (which is open all the time now, just waiting for some teen to fall into it). But, I guess, Starswirl can conjure up a backdoor to the EqG mirrorverse anywhere and at any time. The EqG mirrorverse looks to me to be a construct that is going to go *poof* on the day the teens graduate from high school.

Re: It's a trap!

[sgatazmy]

Hey look, I made a pony icon! Yay!!!! It's about time.

Yes, this whole being in high school thing is weird for me because they don't strike me as teenagers in the pony world. Coupled with the fact the sirens are somehow teens as well does suggest a major difference with the passing of time. I think you are right, the whole construct goes poof when they graduate. Or maybe they remain teenagers for ALL of eternity. Now that is limbo. Can you imagine always being a teenager? I don't even want to be a teen again for one day.

I love the idea of teens just randomly falling into the mirror.

Re: It's a trap!

[frith]

It's bound to happen, I think there's a whole slew of quarter hour episodes in the works for EqG. Unfortunately, I don't think they're going to have anywhere near the lore and attention that MLP:FIM gets.

The weirdest part of EqG is that the teens populating Canterlot High are mostly Ponyville copies. Starswirl's spell must be adaptive... I wonder how much of this mirrorverse stays the same over the centuries. (I think Starswirl created the EqG mirrorverse whole cloth.)

I should make more icons too. 8^)