Not quite sure if this fully counts as history, but it seems like something this group might appreciate.

Just to make sure however, let's start out with historical governments - those of the Three Tribes at the time of the first Hearth's Warming. (A warning, though - once you read, you will never be able to look at the Treaty of Unification in the same way again.)

The earthponies were the least organised grouping, with each large clan-family (and charter town) mostly making their own rules and quite stubbornly resistant to any kind of true single government. What they had instead was a biannual meeting of all major clan leaders, or at least the ones who had signed the Treaty of Common Interest - mind you, most of those that hadn't were vassals to other tribes. These meetings used a weighted voting system which gave more power to each leader according to the number of ponies in their clan*, so a regular, reliable and neutral census was necessary - it was for this purpose that the body that came to be known as the Chancellery was first established, with it's head, the Chancellor, being a clanless pony (generally a town-dweller) elected by a special unweighted vote of all clan leaders.

*It is a testament to the good nature of ponies that this system worked with very few mass-murders.

Initially, the Chancellery stuck strictly to it's role as census-takers. But the apparatus and connections it developed for that purpose made a convenient body to foist the implementation of any rules or policies the council managed to agree on, and it quickly became a full-time bureaucracy, albeit with little actual power to influence the major clans. And over time, the duty of meeting with the singular leaders of other tribes fell to the Chancellor as well, albeit only as a mouthpiece of the council, which didn't trust each other nor wish to seem disunited.

Puddinghead was a compromise candidate who turned out to be surprisingly radical - packing him off on an expedition was part of an attempt by the clan leaders to reassert their control over the Chancellery and perhaps improve relations with the other tribes. But none of them imagined that he (encouraged by Smart Cookie) would sign a treaty which absorbed them into a new nation - probably because he had absolutely no legal right to do any such thing. But rather than present this stunning act of overreach to the Council (which was not in session anyway), Puddinghead instead took it to the common ponies, setting the stage for the future popular election of the Chancellor (although the reduced Council also increased in power).

6807020
I have no idea if your version of Puddinghead is a complete lunatic, or one of the most brilliant politicians I've ever seen in MLP fanfiction. Either way, I love what you did with him.

6807049
Well, some of it was Smart Cookie's idea....

Works for me, I am a pretty easy-going brony, sure I have a few small head-canon ideas and a few favorite ships, but outside of turning loved characters into mass-murderers for no reason except "just because" I am cool with just about anything pertaining to Equestria's rather mysterious past.

6807204

outside of turning loved characters into mass-murderers for no reason except "just because"

Sounds like there's a story there.

You might be interested in this story here:

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/419014/selections-from-the-canterlot-royal-academic-archives

6807215
Let's just say I had a moment of idle curiosity regarding a song called rainbow factory and regretted it deeply. and I've heard plenty about the infamous cupcakes that it almost puts me off my love of baking.

6807573
Ah. Well those are only history in the sense that they belong to an earlier age of the fandom.

Now I'm not denying that the past was a bloodier age and even Celestia got her hooves dirty from time to tine, but that's not likely to be a focus in this thread, which details the Equestrian government and it's various antecendents.

6807594
No you see, I recognize and appreciate the fact that the past was bloodier and even Celestia herself isn't perfect, in fact, I thoroughly enjoy stories about the past that don't paint the past as some good old days thing (it can be funny in the right context, Granny Smith grousing about young'uns for example) but stories that completely white-wash history aren't usually well written and I deal with enough of that in real life thanks. The issue with the infamous cupcakes and Rainbow factory is that they don't take place in the past, and it's not like a story that deals with say the underbelly of Manehattan where drugs and stuff play a part (those are fine) these stories take a good character, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, respectively, and turn them with little to no rhyme or reason into cold-blooded murderers just for the sake of a cheap thrill and usually to nauseating detail. I am not against a dark story, heck, I enjoyed reading Fallout Equestria, but even when it was really dark, there were characters who brought a degree of light to a pretty perverse environment, and there was a resolution where things got better at the end. What I am against as I previously stated are stories that are dark for no reason. A good political thriller or a murder mystery can be exciting reads and the stories that this section seems to be dealing with purposing how the system works, the inner scuffles and dialogues of the ponies who are a part of the system can be really insightful and even hilarious or touching at times. I hope that this lengthy comment makes sense and I did a decent job explaining how my mind works (a task that is going to forever be a WIP).
Sincerely,
BirdsBooksBrownies

6807860
Well yes - it's just that most of us got over that basic trauma back in 2011, so seeing someone for whom it's recent rather than ancient history is kind of strange in a nostalgic way.

Well I've only been a brony for the past 2-3 years give or take, so a lot of the drama and stuff was news to me, but in any case, I steer mostly for historical AU's, light-hearted fluff, or dramatic stories (covering most everything else) this is, of course, painting my reading list with an umbrella so to speak, but listing everything I've read over the past few years would be incredibly difficult. I have enjoyed this dialogue between the two of us, and if I ever get through my read it later list, I will have to consider checking out some of the political commentary type stories and impressive numbers of historical fictions that are in the EHS.

6807318
Hmm... I think i'll save it until I've covered the equivalent topics, Wouldn't want to plagiarise! Thanks though!

6807954

You're welcome!

It's been a while, but better late than never... so let's talk about the pegasi.

Now, everypony knows that the ancient pegasus city-states (and the eventual Alliance they formed) were run on a fully military basis, with all pegasi of good standing effectively "enlisted" at a young age and spending most of their lives enmeshed in a rigid but meritocratic hierarchy, not unlike the sort preserved to a degree in today's Royal and Border Guards (and to a lesser degree in some other public bodies). And this is not untrue, per se - there was certainly a chain of command, culminating in the Commander themselves, who often chose their own successor. And especially in the cloud forts, this held more or less true.

However, in those days, the main living places of the pegasi were not the forts (which were much smaller, emptier and more fragile than modern cloud cities) but the towns and cities established on mountains and mesas that served as home bases. And by ancient tradition most (and eventually all) of these places had their own government - most typically a council of retired officers - who not only did not answer to the city's Commander outside of an emergency, but who often had the power to confirm or even select said Commander themselves. (The Commanders-in-Chief of the Alliance had to be confirmed by a majority of such councils, or Senates as they were called - and while this happened fairly reliably, this was often because a Commander had done unofficial checks of the likelihood of their heir's approval before nominating them.)

Incidentally, Cloudsdale and a few other pegasus settlements still maintain Senates, even after the militaristic hierarchies have mostly faded. They tend to be occupied by older ponies who have lived a life of public service - or at least donated enough money to pass for it - and have a varying amount of influence on city policy.