The End of the Tetrarchy?

In 285 AD, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, or Diocletian for short, became the undisputed master of the Roman Empire. With the support of the military and elimination of his rivals, he ended the 3rd century Crisis and brought stability back to the Empire. A year later, based on the idea that the Empire was too vast to be ruled by one man, he decided to share power with a co-emperor of his choosing: Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus, or Maximian for short. Several years later, he divided power further with two other colleagues to serve as junior emperors to Maximian and himself; these men were Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, Galerius for short, for Diocletian and Flavius Julius Constantius Chlorus, Constantius for short, for Maximian. These four men formed the Tetrarchy, rule by four, and each took responsibility for different sections of the Empire. They cemented their relationship with Galerius being adopted by Diocletian and marrying his daughter and Constantius doing likewise for Maximian. These rulers, at least in theory, relied on each other to maintain order within the Empire and repel the incessant foreign invasions and would work together to stabilize it. This meritocratic system, despite creating obvious divisions, worked for a while. Although Maximian and Diocletian were technically of equal rank, Diocletian was still the de facto senior in their relationship and made most of the big decisions. The Tetrarchy managed to end the anarchy of the the previous century and gave the Roman Empire a new lease of life, yet, predictably, the arrangement broke down shortly after Diocletian and Maximian abdicated on May 1, 305 AD. A new round of civil wars rocked the Roman world to its core to such an extent that Diocletian was called out of retirement in 308 to mitigate the Conference of Carnuntum. Nonetheless, the Tetrarchy left its mark on Roman politics and set the stage for the preservation of the eastern empire as the Byzantine Empire.

By now, those of you who actually read that crash-course on Emperor Diocletian and the Tetrarchy are probably wondering what this has to do with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

The thing is, Equestria is ruled by what could be considered a Tetrarchy. Think about it: four princesses who each take responsibility for different parts of the kingdom ("parts of the kingdom" being loosely defined), i.e. Sun, Moon, Love, Friendship, with two seniors and two juniors who are essentially family to one another. Celestia is comparable to Diocletian in that she brought the land out of chaos before recognizing her own limitations and dividing power between capable and loyal individuals. She is clearly the leading figure and makes most of the important decisions, but Luna is still her political equal. Twilight and Cadance are obviously below Celestia and Luna in Equestria's hierarchy, but themselves do hold some power and authority. It could also be said that they all rely on each other to maintain harmony (or, more accurately, rely on Twilight and her friends), though Equestria is probably not too big to be ruled by a single mare. It can also be said to be meritocratic.

All this is threatened by a newborn foal.

The new alicorn child of Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor, going by the name of Flurry Heart, will be counted as the fifth alicorn princess. Obviously she will not be given any political power until she comes of age, but the other princesses will probably still be alive when she does, and what else is there to rule? A pentarchy would be impractical. Not to mention, as a biological alicorn she is born with immense magical power that will be like Pound and Pumpkin Cake on a lot of steroids. I hated season 2 episode 13 primarily because it portrayed Equestrian babies (or foals) as not only annoying, but dangerous. Evidenced by the new trailers, the "random magical surges" experienced by unicorn and apparently alicorn foals are not lost on Flurry Heart and she causes significant damage to the Crystal Empire. Scenes like this have lowered my expectations for Season 6. Don't get me wrong, I'll still watch it, I just won't expect the episodes to have the overall quality of previous seasons.

Season 6 could very well provide new evidence for a Tetrarchy. Say Celestia and Luna were to abdicate at the same time, that would probably thrust Twilight and Cadance into the position of head princesses. That leaves the question as to who their successors/lesser princesses would be, and by the looks of it, they would be Flurry Heart and Starlight Glimmer. Again, don't get me wrong. I firmly believe that Starlight got off WAY too easily and is too dangerous to be kept alive and her further involvement in the series is total bullsh*t, but I have about as much of a say in it as an average Roman citizen had in choosing the next Tetrarch.