tLoE XV: The Princesses on Trial!

Greetings and Salutations loyal readers! If you're just tuning in, this is the Land of Equestria, where we analyze Equestria's government one aspect at a time!
Before we begin, I'd like to apologize for minor irregularities in timing as of late. My new internet seems to have some...Kinks. And by kinks, I mean The sockets to plug the modem into are straight up useless. I'll be uploading from Mobile tonight, so again, please forgive the delays.

But you didn't come here for that, you came here for the Land of Equestria! And today, we're changing it up a bit! Typically we'll analyze a large aspect of their society, such as their fashion, overall technological advancement, military, etc. however, this week, we're taking a look at it's heads of state! Specifically: Celestia and Luna!

Now, to begin, we'll need to understand the Details of their positions. As we all know, they rule a dual monarchy, the complications of which I addressed a long time ago in the predecessor blog post of the "Land of Equestria Series" Aptly named "A Random Rant on Equestria's Government". Now, typically Dual monarchies such as these will function by splitting up territory evenly amongst the two monarchs, such as the Romans and the Habsburgs did. However, we see Celestia and Luna co-ruling one large government (which in turn rules over multiple City-states), thus making their Dual Monarchy System markedly different from any well known or even commonly known Earth governments. Therein lies a few questions: Can one of them overrule the other with a counter-law? Is there a contingency in the event that they disagree on a law? Are they limited by some higher power to prevent such scenarios? Unfortunately, we do not have answers to these questions at this time, so let's stick with what's known. We know that their word is law, being able to declare celebrations, positions, and laws as they see fit. We know that they ruled well over 1,000 years ago, but that the last thousand was under Celestia only, with Luna just returned to her position. We know that they are highly respected and revered throughout their land, bordering on worshipped. So now that we understand this, we should delve into each of them separately, starting with the eldest.

Celestia, the Solar Princess, controls the Sun in Equestria, and has been in power the longest, for no less than 1,000 years, with her reign potentially lasting as long as 3,000. She is benevolent and just in her subjects eyes: and for good reason. She honestly cares for the well being of her people, and will not hesitate to get in harms way to protect them. Some may call such recklessness rash, but others may call it heroic. That is what she is on the surface: a Benevolent, powerful hero. However...she has another side that few ever see. Celestia is actually a bit of a jokester, using her position of power to her advantage. She realizes that others will often try and treat her very formally, and often plays along until she can slip in an informality or two that may distress others, but elicits a laugh from her. She has also been known to not only allow but incite a bit of chaos in the name of fun. Purposely crashing the a Grand Galloping Gala two years in a row and expressing great entertainment at the disruption of the formalities. This trait may in fact be the result of thousands of years of seemingly endless formalities, or perhaps she's always had the spirit of a prankster. Less significantly, but still interestingly, Celestia seems to have a significant fondness for cake, bordering on addiction. That just about wraps up the elder of the two, but Luna is a very different story.

Luna, the Nocturnal (or Lunar) Princess, came to power at the same time as Celestia, and they battled foes together, ruled together, Served Equestria together. However, Celestia always seemed to be more revered. Luna controlled the night cycle of Equestria, but felt it was unappreciated by the masses, who seemed to much prefer the day over her night. Soon, sadness at this realization turned to despair, despair turned to jealousy, and jealousy turned to hate. Celestia did nothing to help her sister, and the lack of recognition was seen by Luna at this point as loyalty only to Celestia. Thus, 1,000 years ago, filled with hatred and tainted by her feelings, Luna attempted a coup of the Equestrian Government, transforming into the far more powerful Nightmare Moon. She then assaulted and attempted to assassinate Celestia, wounding her, but failing to deliver a fatal blow. Celestia, refusing to fight until the last minute, eventually used the Elements of Harmony to banish her sister to the moon for a millennium. There she waited, Nightmare moon plotted her revenge and was almost completely consumed by this being, to the point where the old Luna really didn't much exist anymore. Then, at her release 1,000 years after the incident, she halted the Day-Night Cycle upon her arrival, likely imprisoning her sister (unconfirmed, but implied). After the New Element Bearers used the Elements of Harmony to defeat her, the Nightmare was purged from her system, and the real Luna emerged, drained of power. Tearfully reunited with Celesta, her ill feelings towards her sister were gone. A nice history lesson, but what about her personally. She seems far more formal that Celestia, preferring to carry out the role of monarch dutifully. On the surface, that's what she is: a very serious leader, formal and well meaning. However, looking Deeper, Luna is plagued with guilt and sadness. She can hardly face the fact that she attempted to kill her own Sister, even going so far as to torture herself in her dreams for a time as a reminder to never turn against Equestria again. She Also has the ability to walk through Equestrian's dreams, and often enters them to help solve issues such as personal stress. This has helped her on a personal basis with many individuals, Children in particular.

So, those are the two sisters. Think we're done? Well, not quite, see we wouldn't go over all of that unless we had a fundamental question to ask, and indeed we do, dear readers, indeed we do.

The question is simple, yet powerful:

Are Celestia and Luna fit to lead?

No doubt they're the most qualified, given their thousands of years of experience, but are they fit to lead?

The eldest dislikes formalities and often tasks underlings with large jobs like taking care of dragons for instance (either raising one or slicking one out of the country, there's a lackey for that). Her love for chaos is also concerning, almost condemning another pony to another dimension in one instance, simply because she wanted to be entertained. Given that she used to be more formal (it has been implied that such is the case), this benevolent leader may continue down the uncertain road. And Luna? Luna is Guilt Ridden to a fault and has 1,000 years of missing information. However, given her willingness to please, love for her subjects (particularly children), formalities and dream walking capabilities, it would actually make far more sense for her to be a chief monarch. But she gets not even a throne, after over a year of being back, there is no throne for her, and little mention of her anywhere.
So...are they fit to lead? That, dear reader, I leave up to you.

WHOO! That was a long one! If you read the whole thing, good job! If you're skipping down here...well, can't blame you!

TLDR for you!
-Equestria has a Dual Monarchy
-They both have power, unknown limiter(s)
-Share control of the Empire
-Celestia controls the Sun
>Celestia has ruled constantly since the establishment of her reign
>Benevolent and loving on the surface
>A troll underneath, also loves to disrupt formalities
>potential Cake addict
-Luna controls the Night
>Luna rebelled 1,000 years ago, failed, was banished to the moon
>Returned from the moon but purged of her blinding emotions and the Nightmare by the Elements of Harmony.
>Very formal princess, but cares for her people
>Guilt Ridden, mentally punished herself for a long while.
> Dream walking ability, helps ponies on an individual basis with mental issues, particularly the young.
-Are these sisters fit to lead? The choice is yours, dear reader.

Well! That was a long one! Hope you'll come back next time for the next installment, but until then, keep at whatever you do best!

I'm Ironsmith, Invent on!