Why do Celestia and Luna treat their subjects like children?

[DiscordianBeats 28]

I think they treat their subjects with kindness if anything, Luna still doesn't function in the present's standards, as she still has to adjust to the world being 1000 years ahead of her, so she has a bit of an excuse. Celestia seems to just be more understanding, and kind. Which is more than can be said for real life monarchs! When she speaks to the ponies of Ponyville she seems to be extremely patient with any events...usually.

 

As for your questions, I think it is because they are essentially god like, They are Alicorns for one thing, and maybe all Alicorns are royalty.

[Midnight-Blue766 3]

Ramkhamhaeng II of Siam (modern day Thailand) believed that a king should govern his country like how a father governs his children. In addition, Confucius believed that the Emperor of China was essentially the Son of Heaven and father of the world family. Maybe Equestria has similar protocols and ideologies to Paternal Rule and Confucianism.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Sipahi Commando

[Scritches 91]

They constantly treat them like little foals to be cared for. Yet Celestia and Luna didn't found the country, they didn't discover harmony and friendship and unite for a common goal, the ponies did. What makes Celestia and Luna worthy of being leaders at all when their subjects did all the work? So they beat Discord the first time around, big deal. By that logic the Elements of Harmony should be ruling or how about Shining Armor and Cadence. They raise the sun and moon, but unicorns did that before they came along. They're very powerful, but that makes them suited to be military commanders not government leaders. Why should they rule Equestria at all?

 

Faust inferred that the ponies(aside from Celestia and Luna) have roughly the same lifespan as real ponies, which is between 30-40 years. Celestia and Luna on the other hand have been alive for more than a thousand years and were both old enough to know Star Swirl the bearded, as evidenced by Luna's recognition of Twilight's Star Swirl costume in Luna Eclipsed. That being said, to Celestia and Luna all of the other ponies are like children to them. They have had centuries to grow wiser and the wise love to spread their wisdom. I see it as only natural that they treat them like they are their own children.

[Forlong 1,725]

They are over one thousand years old. Of course they will treat ponies that are even 100 like children.

[brian577 120]

Faust inferred that the ponies(aside from Celestia and Luna) have roughly the same lifespan as real ponies, which is between 30-40 years. Celestia and Luna on the other hand have been alive for more than a thousand years and were both old enough to know Star Swirl the bearded, as evidenced by Luna's recognition of Twilight's Star Swirl costume in Luna Eclipsed. That being said, to Celestia and Luna all of the other ponies are like children to them. They have had centuries to grow wiser and the wise love to spread their wisdom. I see it as only natural that they treat them like they are their own children.

 

She inffered that they mature mentally at a faster rate, she never said anything about their lifepans. I have a hard time believing that Ponyville has only been around for 40 years or that the Canterlot changed so much in the same amount of time.

[Phaeston-e12 173]

There's a fair amount of... obscure information as I will call it on the subject of the pony's lifespan in MLP setting. One episode inferred that Granny Smith was at present when Ponyville was first settled which rest of its inhabitants seems to agree on yet it also has been mentioned that Ponyville has been around for at least hundreds of years (which means at least 200 years.)

[brian577 120]

There's a fair amount of... obscure information as I will call it on the subject of the pony's lifespan in MLP setting. One episode inferred that Granny Smith was at present when Ponyville was first settled which rest of its inhabitants seems to agree on yet it also has been mentioned that Ponyville has been around for at least hundreds of years (which means at least 200 years.)

 

I'm more inclined to believe Granny Smith (someone who was actually there) over Twilight who'd only been in Ponyville for a few months at the time.

[Crispy 5,563]

The problem with this is that there isn't a lot of effective canon to go on, only brief mentions of the events that took place in Equestria's past.

 

However, I think Celestia and Luna are in power for several reasons.

 

A: Their rule has been a fair-handed and prosperous one. Don't need to fix what's not broken. Tyrant Celestia is very much fanon (for now, at least.)

 

B: Pure experience. Going by the drawings in the show, Luna and Celestia were already grown when the events 1000 years ago took place. Their age is indeterminable from that point until new canon feeds us more info, but it's safe to say that if anyone were to know the long term ebb and flow of a land, it'd be them.

 

C: It's the safest place for them to be. Say normal ponies ran the land. How quickly would the masses turn on quasi-immortal beings that hold sway over the sun and moon? Who's magic is essentially the strongest in the land? Now, we may say The Elements of Harmony could stop them, but we've only seen them used in situations where there is a strong "evil" (evil in quotes because it's as evil as a little kid's show can get). Would the Elements even work against those that discovered them? And what would the consequences be of using a power that is pure good against something that isn't evil?

 

We're running into pure speculation, so I'll end that point.

 

This is just how I see it. I think all is as it should be in Equestria.

[PonyPowaX1000 69]

woah woah woah... let me stop you there..... what do you mean Cadence has her own kingdom? what is this madness

 

The Crystal Kingdom or is it empire..... well Crystal something....