Herald of the Night
Interlude: A Treatise on the Lunar Kingdom, Part Two, By Twilight Sparkle
Continuing from where we left off, we were discussing the political status of the Lunar Kingdom, mainly the status the Princess has as the ruler of said kingdom. This unicorn would like to apologize for any unprofessional outbursts she made in the earlier chapters of this dissertation, for I was not in my right mind and got carried away by a tide of paranoia.
Now, back to politics. I shall attempt to be as brief and as succinct as possible to keep from boring the ponies examining this treatise.
The Lunar Court of the Lunar Kingdom (an obvious title, now one thinks upon it. And one wonders why the Lunar Kingdom does not have a more fanciful title like Equestria does. But I'm sure Princess Luna has a good reason), consists of four castes: The Princess, the Nobles, the Council and the Parliament, though these are listed here in no particular order of importance, they do have a hierarchical arrangement with the Princess at the top and the Nobles - as much as it annoys them - at the bottom. The real arrangement, as I realize I could have stated above, goes as follows: Princess, Council, Parliament and Nobles. I am to understand that this arrangement is a step up from the feudal society that the ponies had, prior to Princess Luna's departure from Equus, which had devolved into infighting, which in turn invited Windigoes, driving the pony tribes into the new land of Equestria, where the Royal Pony Sisters assumed the mantle of leadership for their strength during the Discordian Wars and united the tribes into a single nation.
On a side note, the tribes of Old Equus had been divided as such following the Discordian Wars while the Princesses recovered from their use of the Elements of Harmony, which had been rather draining. The process of recovery had taken some years and, upon their return, Celestia and Luna had been horrified at the terrible infighting that had arisen among their precious ponies. It was a division that Luna quickly stamped out any traces of after leaving Equestria. She already had enough on her plate dealing with supporting life on her Moon. She didn't need rebellion and unrest distracting her from more important tasks.
The Princess:
Though mostly a title nowadays, in centuries past, Princess Luna attained this ranking through both right of power and right of rule, which was carried over from her efforts on the behalf of the ponies when they called Equestria their home. As such, she only continued her reign over them due to their faith in her leadership, but even without such faith, she would still have held power as the sole Alicorn upon the moon, as well as the provider of their life-giving magic. She is the leader of the Council and holds significant influence in the Lunar Kingdom, particularly in Luminus, although she doesn't make a habit of throwing her political weight around.
The Council
The Council is an array of twelve honorable ponies, plus one Princess, elected by the Parliament to represent the various demographics of the Lunar Kingdom. Sadly, the Dark Side of the Moon has refused or neglected to send representatives for their place in the council. The councilponies are chosen by the Parliament, from the Parliament's member ponies, by majority vote and by merit of their character. They also are put under perusal by the Princess for the months prior to their official induction.
The Parliament
The Parliament is compiled of a body of ponies gathered as representatives of various demographics and regions of the Lunar Kingdom. On average, with a few exceptions, each region sends approximately four to five ponies to stand in Parliament on their behalf at the Hall of Voices, the Parliamentary building. Many of the members chosen to represent regions are nobles of said regions, though on occasion, a particularly upstanding member of the community will be sent to stand in and speak on behalf of what the nobles would call 'commoners'.
The Nobles
More stuck-up braggarts you could not find on the bright side of the moon. More akin to the savager types of Lunar Ponies that lived on the Fringe* than any actual nobility.
Anyway, the Nobles, by right of conquest (in the case of once-warlord families in Old Equestria) or merit (the newer way of acquiring status), hold great estates - some taking up entire craters - and vast fortunes of wealth, mostly comprised of the various varieties of ores and gems found beneath the Moon's surface. They don't have much political power individually, but banded together, they could possibly put forth a petition to get the Princess' attention on a matter they deemed important. Perhaps some ridiculous sentiment outlawing any 'commoner' acquiring the same amount of wealth as themselves.
Now, ponies like myself in service to the Crown do not have any political power except those granted by the Princess during our missions or various endeavours on behalf of the Princess. I myself have had to pull rank (granted by express permission from the Princess, of course) to make a stubborn noble provide records and files the Princess had requested.
*= The Fringe is the ridge marking the edge of the readily-explored regions of the Moon, but not quite on the dark side. The inhabitants of the Fringe are said to have gone mad with what they found on the shadowy half of our fair sphere, but royal expeditions have found no such frightful content. Those that live on the dark side were unavailable for comment on this matter.