(Theory) Equestrian History and Nobility

[Almaron 1]

Alrighty, textdump incoming...this is a collection of theories that I've developed over a period of time spent trying to create an up to date map of Equestria - more on that in another post - by analysing key story elements from the show...

To begin, what do we know about Equestria's founding? According to the episode "Hearth's Warming Eve" - and to a lesser extent, "Hearthbreakers" - ponykind was divided into three tribes; the Unicorns under the rule of Princess Platinum, who oversaw the movement of the sun, the Pegasi under the authority of Commander Hurricane, who controlled the weather, and the Earth Ponies under the jurisdiction of Chancellor Puddinghead, who handled the growth of food. A storm of bad weather created by "Windigos" caused them to migrate and discover the land that would become Equestria, and eventually the three tribes united after their leaders - or rather, their leaders' advisors - managed to start a friendship with one another, and, as revealed in the "Journal of the Two Sisters", the young Celestia and Luna were asked to rule the new land and given the title of Princess.

Except...this can't be right, based on what has since been revealed about Equestria's history. We know that Starswirl the Bearded and his cohorts were contemporaries of the young Celestia and Luna, and yet they came from long-established and independent pony communities across Equestria - ranging from small villages to bigger areas ruled by ponies with the title of "Pharaoh" or "Empress" - directly contradicting the notion that ponykind was divided into three distinct tribes, and also that Equestria was devoid of pony inhabitants until the blizzard forced them to move.

So, how do we reconcile these two conflicting stories? It's actually not as hard as you'd think! Firstly, we must assume that the three pony tribes mentioned in the pageant were actually just three of many realms that existed in the "Paleopony" and "Classical" Eras of Equestrian history - I'd tentatively even go so far as to give them the names "Unicornia", "Pegasopolis" and "Earth/Dirtville" based on the names mentioned in the pageant. Where exactly they were originally located is debatable; it could be that they were located across the Celestial Sea on the Griffish Isles or near Griffonstone, since the pageant does note that they had to migrate to Equestria - plus this would explain why Flash Magnus and the Royal Legion were conducting drills near the Dragon Lands, which is quite far from Equestria's shores - although it could also be that they were located on the eastern shores of Equestria - which is the more populous part of Equestria, as evidenced by the locations seen in the series and the maps themselves - and simply moved inland to the Everfree Forest and Canterlot. 

Now, we jump ahead to the point where the pageant ends; three pony nations have united under a single banner, and - provided we take the Journal as canon - Celestia and Luna have been chosen to rule the land, and to also assume the responsibility of raising and lowering the Sun and Moon. There's still all these independent realms dotting the land, however...what exactly happened to them? We can conclude that they were brought under the rule of the new realm of Equestria, since that's the way things are today, but how exactly did this happen? A full-scale military conquest of the other nations seems unlikely - although I imagine plenty of fan-fic writers would have a field day writing up the MLP equivalent of Aegon the Conqueror's invasion of Westeros - and so I think it must have been something accomplished via diplomacy, with various nobles across Equestria being convinced to "bend the knee" and accept Celestia and Luna as their rulers, while perhaps still keeping their titles intact. I'd argue that their descendants are still around today; figures like the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia and Prince Blueblood - perhaps a distant descendant of Princess Platinum herself? - might still be the hereditary rulers of ancient realms, and thus be administering certain regions of Equestria for the Princesses to this very day! 

This unification could actually have been accomplished by the Pillars of Equestria themselves; considering that Starswirl may have already been part of the court of Princess Platinum, and that he and the others travelled Equestria doing various heroic things, it's not hard to imagine them also acting as ambassadors for the two Princesses and convincing the inhabitants of the areas they visited to submit to their rule. On top of that, this could be connected to their plan to protect Equestria with the Tree of Harmony itself. We know from "Shadow Play" that he and the others 'planted' the tree, and if we accept the "Journal of the Two Sisters" as canon, we know that Celestia and Luna discovered the Tree of Harmony and chose to build their castle nearby as a result of Starswirl suggesting they explore the area. Small details like this suggest it could have been a larger plan on the part of the Pillars; ensuring all Equestria was protected by two wise Princesses, who in turn would safeguard the magical tree that spread harmony to the realm.

On that note, however, I would suggest that the Crystal Empire itself likely escaped unification in the Classical Era, and instead only became a part of Equestria once it returned in the third season opening. This would help explain why the realm retains its title of "Empire" despite apparently being a constituent realm of Equestria after the defeat of King Sombra - arguably if it had been annexed and ruled by Celestia and Luna for some time, it would have gained a new name - and also why Cadence rules it as "Princess" rather than as "Empress" or "Queen" - she's inherited the old realm, but is intentionally taking a lower title so as not to eclipse the two sisters.

In any case, from there, we get the realm we know and love; the realm of Equestria, ruled by the Alicorn Princesses...but there's one more thing to cover. Why are all the Alicorns of Equestria using the term Princess, rather than something more befitting their rank? Behind the scenes, we know that Celestia was originally envisioned as a Queen, but Hasbro changed her title to Princess because they thought it would be more popular with their initial intended demographic of young girls, but there's a way to explain this in-universe as well, and it's even been more or less confirmed in one of the Comic-Con interviews with cast and crew; the reason is that Celestia is intentionally refraining from taking a high-ranking title and is instead sharing a lower title with her sister - and later, Cadence and Twilight - to emphasise the fact that they rule together; there isn't one Queen or Empress at the end of the day, just multiple Princesses sharing one role, although it could be argued that in the modern era this has created a 'primus inter pares' situation - 'First among equals', where multiple people hold the same title, but one in particular gets a bit more respect for whatever reason. It kind of paints Luna's initial battle with Celestia in a new light, if you think about it...

Phew, that took a while to write up...well, thoughts on all this? I've heard that later on in this season we might get to have a glimpse of Saddle Arabia, so if there are nobles there as well - or if the dignitaries turn out to be the rulers of Saddle Arabia - this could be a good opportunity to confirm my theory...oh, and on that note, there was another thing from "Equestria Games" that I didn't quite manage to work into this; the shots of the private box seen in the episode itself seem to add to this overall theory, as all the characters seen here could be considered ones responsible for administering certain parts of the realm. What do I mean by this? Have a look at the tiers. In the highest one we see four seats for the Alicorn princesses, whom the series establishes are the most important figures in the realm. In the next tier down, we see five figures; the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia, Prince Blueblood, and the Saddle Arabian dignitaries; all of whom appear to be nobility of some sort, based on their known titles and fancy chairs. Finally, the last tier has seats for Mayor Mare - the highest authority in Ponyville aside from Twilight Sparkle - Fancy Pants and Fleur-de-Lys - the former of whom has been described as the "most important pony in Canterlot" and who later represents Canterlot as a dignitary in "Princess Spike" - Cherry Jubilee - who runs the vast Cherry Hill Ranch in Dodge Junction, and who could potentially be in charge of the place given that a city flag is featured in the same episode showing cherries surrounding a wagon wheel; presumably the flag of Dodge Junction - and two unknown figures who wear fancy clothing suggesting they hold some important rank or position somewhere in Equestria. All in all, this could suggest that Equestria's administration might be more complex than we've previously seen, with whole areas and cities being governed by a mixture of hereditary nobles descended from formerly independent rulers - provided my theory is correct, of course - and elected pony officials...

[Tenebrae 14]

Wow, that's quite the essay you've got there. Quite an interesting read too. However if you'll forgive me I have a few critiques:
1. I don't think Celestia and Luna were crowned princesses immediately after the Unification. "Horse Play" shows us that Celestia was only a student during the early days of Equestria and only came to prominence after she moved the Sun for the first time. My guess is that she became an alicorn shortly afterwards and then was crowned.

2. The Pillars were founded after the Unification and so could not have been accomplished by them.

PS: I do not think the Journal of the Two Sisters is canon anymore. It has several inaccuracies in it that I no longer use it as a valide source of information.

[Almaron 1]

Thanks! 

Hmm, okay, well, I imagine we can always add a few years or so between the unification and Celestia & Luna taking over. Nothing really says they had to do it immediately, so I'll concede on that one. But for the other point...is it specifically said that the Pillars united after Celestia & Luna became rulers? As far as I knew, all we knew for certain was that Princess Platinum was a contemporary of Starswirl (since her assistant Clover the Clever was Starswirl's apprentice, plus the aforementioned journal which may or may not be canon mentioned the Founders), and that multiple independent communities existed in Starswirl's time, as seen in the stories of the other Pillars. I think it's safe to assume that they could have had a hand in the uniting of Equestria...