tLoE (the Land of Equestria) IV: City-States

Back again, with another interesting Facet of Equestria! Those of you who have been reading for a while might remember one of my Pre-"Land of Equestria" Blogs that just generally looked at Equestria's government. In that blog, I mentioned that Equestria functions more like an Empire or a Confederation, because it is composed of City-States, each of which acts as it's own small nation.
So, this week, we will look over a few of these City-states to see how they function in Equestria.

First up is, as you may expect, The town of Ponyville. While it doesn't look much like a City-state, and functions Much more like the small town it's meant to be, It actually Qualifies. For one, they have an elected Leader, in this case Mayor Mare. They have an agriculturally-based Society,therefore giving them goods, which they can export all over Equestria. Their economy is based on the Bit, as are the rest of the City-states in Equestria. They have and maintain their own Infrastructure, complete with unique architecture not seen in any other City-state (thus far). So, that being said, how does it function, and what is it's relation to the rest of Equestria?

First and foremost, Ponyville seems to be a small republic, given that their leader is elected, and everyone's opinion is valid (from what's been seen). They help the rest of Equestria through trading grown goods, such as carrots, flowers, and their biggest cash crop, Apples. Now we have not seen too many other towns in Equestria, but it has been implied that Pomyville is one of the largest food suppliers in the Land, and that makes them extremely beneficial to the whole (after all, what's a nation without enough food for it's people?).

But Pomyville is not much of an example here, for it's a small city-state, and doesn't easily Represent the "state" portion.

So, how about an example that does: The Crystal Empire. It's easily it's own nation, Between it's Centralized monarchy, Radically different Architecture, and Even it's own Military (although it seems to act more like the Royal guard, but for more information on that, take a look at the Post pertaining to Equestria's Military). Now, The Crystal empire appears to be an absolutist monarchy (which in this case works, given the benevolence of their leader), in which honor is deeply rooted (not only do they show extreme respect for their Leaders, but also for those who help them, as they did with Spike). Now, instead of a primary Export (although The empire no doubt has plenty of goods to ship out to the rest of Equestria, given their unique and temporally displaced society), this particular City-State benefits the Land with a unique Service instead. They act as a sort of Emotional Shield for Equestria, Broadcasting the city's feelings or happiness and joy throughout the other territories (which, given that Emotions in Equestria are a tangible energy, is actually quite useful). Some may state that the broadcasting of emotions is borderline mind control, but perhaps that should be left to discussion of a later topic.
So, in return for it's services, Central Equestria provides protection, trade, and transportation (see recent post on Equestria's public transportation system), as It most likely does with all it's other City-states.

Next is another familiar one: Cloudsdale. It's different from the others in a few ways, given that There's no way to like the Railroad system to it (again, check Transportation blog for details), and the government of Cloudsdale has never been verified. Looking back, The ancient Pegasi were a militant race, following a general rather than a monarch or an elected official. In fact, their architecture is very Roman-esque, from the pillared buildings to the Coliseum). What the Modern-Equestria Cloudsdale government may be is uncertain, but what they do for Equestria is Very apparent. They manufacture and control weather, apparently regulating it throughout the territories, yet another instance of providing a service instead of tangible products. Nevertheless, with scheduled and manipulatable weather, many agricultural areas would benefit, as well as tourist locations, outdoor venues, areas suffering from drought, etc.

Now there are plenty more examples that could be brought up, such as Manehattan, Appleoosa, Phillydelphia, and perhaps even Canterlot itself, but we have enough information to note a few trends.

Firstly, each respective City-State Has something that can be contributed to the whole, be it a service or goods. Secondly, each City-State is fairly self-contained, being able to deal with internal affairs with little to no assistance from Central authority (i.e., if there's a problem in Cloudsdale, Cloudsdale will typically fix it). Third, each one has it's own unique architecture, from Ponyville's Rustic Wooden houses, to The Crystal Empire's impressive crystalline structures, and others, such as Appleoosa's Frontier-style, and Manehattan's more metropolitan construction. Finally, each one has it's own sense of nationalism, given that Each City-State has an anthem (as confirmed in "the Equestria Games"), and a flag (Crystal empire Confirmed, others implied in "Equestria Games" and episodes leading up to it). Thus, Equestria functions, each City-State helping the other, in what could literally be described as Government Friendship.

Welcome to this Week's Recap! I'll get right to it.

-Equestria is a confederation (or Empire) of City-States.
-Each City-State helps out the others, just like friends help friends.
-Each City-State handles it's own affairs (for the most part
-"Government Friendship" is a thing now.

As always, keep on doing what you do best!

I'm Ironsmith, Invent on!