A Report on the Equestrian Aristocracy
As a fairly politically savvy mare, it is my personal belief that all ponies should be at least moderately aware of what happens at the governmental level of Equestria. On the bright side, most ponies are, but that's as far as their knowledge of the political machine extends.
What most ponies know is that our nation is a diarchy: that is, two joint rulers share equal but otherwise absolute power. These rulers are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Until recently, the throne was instead held by Princess Celestia alone, and was thus Equestria was a monarchy: a nation with a single absolute ruler. Under standard governmental systems, a monarchy's throne would pass to the eldest child upon the death of its ruler, but since our rulers are immortal, this does not apply in our country.
As mentioned, our Princesses have absolute power. Unlike the democratic or republic systems some countries use (and even most of our towns use on a local level), the Princesses are not elected, and answer to no other authority. They are executive, legislative, and judicial branches all in one. Furthermore, they are in most cases considered above the law, as they can in fact change or abolish any laws at any time. While some would say this kind of power is likely to corrupt a pony, however noble, our rulers' intentions have rarely shown any such error.
This is not to say that power begins and ends with the Princesses. Seeing as nopony, however intelligent or powerful, can manage an entire country's affairs single-hoofedly, they have ponies on several levels beneath them. These ponies are divided into domestic and non-domestic branches.
On the domestic branches, one will find the ponies that run our day-to-day country. These include governors, mayors, the Cloudsdale weather committee, and so forth. In most cases, domestic leaders are elected by the ponies they will affect most heavily, or appointed by those who formerly held their position. This leads to political campaigns, which are a story for a different report.
On the non-domestic branches, one will find the military, explorative committees, intelligence, and foreign affairs. Unlike the domestic leaders, the non-domestic leaders are very often appointed by the Princesses themselves for their positions. This relationship forms the core of what we call the aristocracy, which is what I will be discussing in this report.
Even within its own political branch, the aristocracy has many divisions, which may or may not get along. These divisions range from different departments to different political, economic, and educational classes. While Equestria in no way enforces a caste system, the divisions can feel like such a system is in place. This is felt nowhere more closely than in Canterlot.
The first and loudest category of aristocrats are those with legitimate royal blood. It is the nation's most poorly-kept secret that Princess Celestia has had many lovers in her long lifetime, but I will not go into detail out of respect for her. Suffice to say, approximately 8% of the population is related to Princess Celestia in some form or fashion within nine generations.
If one has the incredible fortune to be related to the Princess within one or two steps on the family tree, they often have unparalleled attention from her and a good chance of a lofty position within the administration. It is not unknown that Princess Celestia plays favorites when it concerns family, though again, I will say no more regarding her. Returning to the point, those with such strong royal blood are quite often boisterous and boastful of their genetic position, which is equally often backed up by an uncanny connection to magic, regardless of their race.
The second category of aristocrats to note is the military chain of command. The military is unable to declare war or conduct any peacetime operations without the express approval of the Princesses, who have done a good job of keeping our country peaceful. This is not to say that there have never been unapproved operations, but these are few and far between, and are punished harshly if the Princesses hear of them. The Princesses are officially the commanders-in-chief of the military and certainly have centuries of experience over any general.
Since a war has not happened in recent history, combined with the obvious concern over state secrets being published, I can give little to no details on how well our military is prepared for it. However, suffice to say, our nation is well protected from any opposing military, foreign or domestic. One may raise doubts about this given the disaster that was the Canterlot invasion by the changelings, to say nothing of the Nightmare Moon, Discord, or Tirek incidents. These would be valid points. However, a defense can be created for each of these. In the first case, the very existence of the changeling race, and the revelation of their long-time infiltration into our society, came as a surprise to everypony, even the Princesses. As such, a suitable defense could not be mounted in time to repel the invasion (though, as you'll recall, it was repelled nonetheless). In the latter three cases, the threats were super-powerful beings, practically gods, against which even the most well-equipped and trained military would falter.
Related to the military is the foreign intelligence community. This is a facet of the government that few ponies have much, or any, knowledge of. Even my in-depth research uncovered very little beyond the fact that the Equestrian Special Operations Force (ESOF) employs at least 200 creatures both within borders and abroad. The operations they conduct are, in theory, overseen by the diarchy, with Princess Luna seeming to have more affiliation with ESOF than Princess Celestia does in the modern day.
The third category of the aristocracy is the wealthy elite. This category has a broad range of ponies with varying levels of authority and influence. Some are business giants, while others are investors who chose wisely in their business ventures. Still others overlap with the formal nobility, or hold high-ranking positions within the administration and are financially stable for life.
There is one political group you may be wondering that I haven't mentioned. This, of course, is Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Friendship Council. They occupy a position outside of the normal domestic/non-domestic structure, but are not considered on the level of the diarchy in political terms. If one were to attempt to shoehorn them into the normal structure, they would be non-domestic for their frequent involvement in foreign affairs and possession of the country's most powerful super-weapons, the Elements of Harmony. (The current state of these weapons is a report for a different time, and a different scholar.) Princess Twilight's position as a royal solidifies their position as aristocrats.
The last important section of the aristocracy is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire. Until recently, she was considered a royal of Equestria. However, when the Crystal Empire returned to the north, she left to take her rightful position as the nation's ruler, along with her husband, former Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor. The Crystal Empire is a growing nation that is still heavily dependent upon Equestria, even going so far as to still use bits for currency. Because of this dependency, the diarchy has chosen to allow Princess Mi Amore Cadenza to retain her Equestrian citizenship and status in a primarily honorary fashion.
This concludes a brief dive into Equestrian politics. Hopefully, it has been informative, and I hope to publish a report on the domestic government and election process in the future.
OC tag is for the unnamed author.