Archaeology

Monday, 5th of Sol, *1012 A.C.***

It was apparent to several the students that despite his rigorous education, their professor was cherry picking only those ideas that supported his notions of how things had happened, disregarding anything contrary to the existing narrative as probably absurd.

“Again, we seem to have intuited the past correctly! What Rose is describing to us as the method that the ‘Lower Courts’ employ is a system very much like our own. Obviously, we have no empress or king, no single ruler; rather, we have a democratic system wherein each pony has a say in the outcome.

If you recall, it was not until recently that we’ve functioned as a society like this- after the cataclysm, Equestria fell into a feudalistic pack of collectives. Each was ruled by a single individual, and these chieftains struggled for dominance, hoping to be a monarch over all rather than a monarch among monarchs. On a sidenote, Charles Mane almost accomplished that task during his lifetime. The records tell an intriguing tale, if you should feel like stopping by the library after class.

Anyways, despite having an Empress, it seems that most functions of the governing body acted in a similar manner as ours. Again, I think it fair to attribute the change from the dark ages to our modern standard of politic upon those who forwarded the enlightenment movement, the same ponies who discovered and studied the Twilight Sparkle cache, championing a paradigm far greater than rule by One.”

Once again, the same earth pony raised her hoof, “But didn’t Rose AGAIN describe something that looks exactly like how our modern society works? We’re also in a ‘two-party’ system. It’s election year for three of the 12 council seats, and I’ve heard the exact same ‘lesser of two evils’ line used in campaigning. So, wouldn’t her criticism of the old political order still apply today?”

The professor was nearly beet red now, hearing his students spout what he considered to be conservative nonsense. His resolved hardened, and he knew that he had to take action in order to keep the room under his message, his control.

“No matter how similar it might seem according to her descriptions, this is one pony who apparently never attended higher education- my colleague who sent me the copies of these documents, and who summarized them for me discovered a few things about her past. She was a flower vendor for Celestia’s sake, what did she know about politics? Without benevolent government the world would fall into ANARCHY! Do any of you want that? Instead of sitting in this heated classroom, part of the greatest nation in the world, you and I would all be out in the wilderness, scavenging for a minimum daily calorie count- always on the edge of starvation. Government built the roads we walk on, imported the food we eat, protects us from the wild races who eat flesh, taught you how to read and write. Think about that, next time this ancient pony tries to tell you about how the state is immoral. So stop it with your mode of inquiry- we are here to determine what life was like in the past and what happened to Celestia. We are not here to learn about an outdated political philosophy.”

Intimidated into silence, the student dropped her query.

“Let’s move on class, and do beware these words, I would take them with several shakers of salt rather than just a grain.”