Has anyone ever considered that Celestia and Luna seized power in what was quite likely a bloody revolution against a psychotic, power mad tyrant? How, do you suppose, has this affected her governing style? Equestria seems to be a country in which everyone is free to pursue their own lives. We see democratic power structures (mayoral elections), regional autonomy, a free market that is probably freer than anything we see today yet not the excess of monopoly capitalism which curtails rather than increases freedom. Did Celestia deliberately forge a nation where everyone can live lives of liberty?

One more reason to get started on that portal!

Now imagine Celestia singing this to a tattered band of revolutionaries.

6712970
Well, it's entirely possible given how vague things are about him Discord was that tyrant... Not sure if I can see him as bloody. More like warping reality.

6713019
I'd love to read a story taking place in that time, but it seems like a blank spot.

6713022
Kinda hard to do really, given we know so little about what went on in that period.

6712970
In canon? Not much evidence, no surprise. In my own headcanon however she and Luna did overthrow the Chaos Tyrant Discord by force of arms at the head of a large army during the Cutie Mark Crusade, and reunified Equestria afterwards by the sword.

I think the problem is that, as was mentioned above, when Discord took control in the Season 2 opener he made Equestria into a physics-defying Wonderland-esque acid trip as opposed to some kind of hellscape, as is his whole persona as the “Lord of Chaos”. He wasn’t some conquering tyrant out for power or wealth, but a mad, reality-warping demigod simply looking to have fun at the expense of innocent lives. The only times he actually tries to take out those trying to stop him, it’s because they’re trying to ruin his good time in his perspective.

6712970

"regional autonomy, a free market that is probably freer than anything we see today yet not the excess of monopoly capitalism which curtails rather than increases freedom."

Where are you getting that from?

7173792
It's pretty clearly free market and the regions seem free to do their own thing.

6980082
What is tyranny but the imposition of one's will without regards for how others are effected by it? Discord was a tyrant.

7173802

That’s an interesting perspective. I hadn’t thought of it when I made that comment, but in that way, yes, Discord was, indeed, a tyrant. I suppose what I was really trying to get at is that he isn’t a traditional, doom-and-gloom, empire-establishing tyrant that you usually see in fantasy and some science fiction works. In that sense, Celestia and Luna sealing Discord in stone comes off less as the overthrow of an enslaving warlord and instead a hero slaying a dragon in fairy tales or older fantasy works.

7173817
Fair point.

6712970
I wrote some similar concepts into the nation’s history, where Luna and Celestia don’t peacefully inherit power and struggle to shape the nation into something better than they were presented with. It’s not quite done in a revolution-style thing (there’s two of them, after all) but they are the underdogs.