“I thought you wanted me to study?” I asked, smiling up at Celestia, laying on my back next to her on the soft grass beneath the wide branches of a large and old looking tree, the sun shining through the leaves.
One of the few breaks from realism I had done is to make it so light wasn’t quite such an annoyance for a bat. It was still very bright, but it didn’t outright hurt my eyes. Nor make me sleepy.
Celestias nose touched mine once more as she smiled, “Well… somepony is refusing to create books or even paper, so our options are limited.”
I brushed my hoof along her wing, “Well… I have some ideas. How about… alicorn anatomy?”
“Mmm,” Celestia said with a small smirk, “Still no books… so it would have to be light on theory.”
“Are you suggesting a practical lesson?”
“Perhaps I am,” Celestia murmured, her lips brushing against mine again, “Think you can handle that?”
I smiled, “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well, it can be a hard lesson,” Celestia teased, looking into my eyes.
I smirked, “Well, I’m sure you would have it well in hoof with your experience.”
Celestia laughed softly, “Perhaps I should,” she said before she pulled back, “But as we are in a forest, perhaps we should do something more productive.”
I let out a sigh and rolled onto my hooves, “You, my sunshine, are teasing me.”
She smirked, “Oh, you have no idea how much yet,” she said as she got up, wings stretching high, spread feathers almost shimmering in the sunlight.
…Oh yeah, I’m dead.
Before, Celestia had limits on how far she would go with these things. Now, not so much.
Taking several slow, deep breaths, I then got onto my hooves and looked up at her, “And I was accused of corrupting you.”
Laughing softly, Celestia smiled and brushed her wing across my back, “Not sure what you mean, Prince Page,” she teased before she turned and walked off, flicking her tail to have the tip just about brush past my nose.
Taking a deep breath, I then followed, taking wing for a second to catch up before landing to walk next to her, “So… what did you have in mind for today?”
“Considering the current events,” Celestis said as we walked through the forest, “I thought we should discuss politics and political theory.”
“...Can we do the other thing instead?”
Celestia eyed me playfully, “Maybe a little… if you are a good colt.”
Yay.
I grinned as I followed along, “What do you want to discuss?”
“The balance of power between the common council, the nobility and the royalty,” Celestia said and ducked beneath a low branch.
Suppressing a groan, I followed her easily, the branch passing way above me, “Current or historical?”
“A bit of both,” Celestia said with a smile, “Assuming you can pay attention for that long?”
I eyed her suspiciously, “Sunshine, did you start like that to get me to sit through this lesson?”
She looked at me innocently, “Of course not, Page!” she said in surprise, “Like I would do such a thing!”
I looked at her before I sighed, “...Fine, where do we start?”
“Tell me what you know already,” Celestia said and then shifted course to avoid thicker brush growth.
Considering it for a moment, I shrugged my wings, easily slipping through between a pair of trees before I answered, “Well, while the royalty of alicorns rule equestria, a lot of the laws come from the council of commons and have to be approved by the nobility before being presented to the royalty for approval. Usually the head of each noble house or a representative, and it has to get a majority vote. The day to day running of equestria is handled in majority by the bureaucracy whose senior members, such as mayors of major cities and judges, are assigned by the royalty but can be voted out by the common council or the nobility. However, that vote can be vetoed by the royalty in an emergency.”
“And the balance of power among royalty?” Celestia asked with a small smile.
“Come on, you know I hate this stuff,” I groaned as we entered a section that held pappels. Peach apples with the best qualities of both.
Celestia smiled, “I know. But it is important to some people and you need to understand how they think.”
I sighed before I nodded at her, “While we are all alicorns and royalty, until very recently the only two main princesses were you and my wife. Cadence, Twilight, Midnight, Flurry and myself were considered vassal alicorns according to old law. Even before I became a prince and was just a lord, I was still above the rest of the nobility because of it, especially with my old title of herald because I was married to Luna. The combination actually putting me above the rest by borrowing your and Luna’s authority.”
She nodded, “And now?”
I grinned, “By giving that up and becoming a Prince, I actually went down in authority at first.”
“And?”
“I am now placed above Midnight and Twilight once more,” I said and shrugged, “Because I am also assigned what can be considered a duchy even if I am technically not a duke, but a prince. Because all of that is academic anyway. Beneath Twilight and Midnight are Cadance as she is ruling an Equestrian protectorate. Bringing up the tail is little Flurry as the heir of a protectorate.”
Smiling, Celestia gave my ear a small kiss, “Good colt. Now the nobility?”
I groaned, “I’m not going to recite the noble houses of Equestria,” I protested, “Buck that. But in short, the number varies depending on how they are splitting and joining and forming alliances this week. And while the common council represent the common ponies fairly well, the nobility has less use than a sand salespony in the middle of Saddle Arabia.”
“Page, the nobility exist for a reason.”
“Yeah, to make everypony else look good in comparison.”
Celestia looked amused and then ducked beneath another branch, her wings fluffing up in annoyance, “You could not have made these trees a bit taller?”
“They are plenty tall,” I said and trotted along next to her, passing easily beneath it, “You were the one that chose to walk through the forest.”
“Continue, please.”
I sighed before continuing in a monotone like I was reciting from a school book during a reading out loud section, “The equestrian noble houses were formed by the ruling classes of the old allied tribes that formed Equestria under the benevolent rule of the alicorns. The warrior houses of the pegasi, the knights of the earth ponies and the wise unicorns. While the original noble houses still mostly exist, the majority have been formed since then by ponies that were awarded nobility for exceptional service to the crown.”
“And their purpose?”
“A balancing force against the common council or merchants and commoners short term interests while being more in touch with the world than the immortal alicorns leading Equestria,” I said, rolling my eyes, “As well as assisting and guiding the lands they have been given to caretake. Such as collecting taxes and assisting in funding public work and institutions..”
“All of which, while the powers of the royalty are wide ranging,” Celestia said, “If the nobility get too upset in numbers, they can make things very difficult for us.”
“Bunch of bucking parasites that should be taught their place.”
Celestia smiled and slipped her wing across my back, “Their consolidation of power has gone a bit far,” she agreed, “And with the downfall of Neighsay, it gave me a wedge to do so. There are a few things in motion that will make it easier in the future. And now is the time to do it as they are currently distracted by upheaval among the factions. The progressives are furious about the attack and the isolationist group were always crown royalists and are falling over each other to show they had nothing to do with it. The rest are scrambling to catch up and try to consolidate their own power structures in turn.”
“Which will let you slip through some reforms,” I agreed and leaned against her warm side, “Anything especially in mind?”
“Perhaps, but I am not certain yet,” Celestia said and then shook her head, “Some that will only bear fruit in a few years. But it should also be possible to use it to push through additional anti discrimination laws and increase trade with our neighbors.”
“So… how did I do?”
Celestia smiled, “You did very well. But we aren’t done yet. We still have to go into details on the formation of the nobility and the common council.”
I suppressed a groan, trying to keep possible rewards in mind.
“And I hope you are paying attention as there will be a test.”
Now I did groan.