Selections From the Canterlot Royal Academic Archives

by Third Wave

Switching Horses Midstream, Chapter I

Author's Note:

Contains spoilers for the movie and season 8.

The History and Structure of the Equestrian Parliament

by Errata
Equestrian Political Theory, Vol. 138, No. 1
Canterlot University Press

The structure of the Equestrian Parliament was, both in a figurative and a material sense, greatly different from how it is today. After the founding of a united Equestria and during the first years of the reigns of Celestia and Luna, the traditions of the pre-Equestrian pony races were still strong. As such, when the first representative body of the ponies of Equestria was set up, it borrowed heavily from those customs. The Parliamentary chamber itself in the Castle of the Two Sisters was similar to the meeting house where the Earth Pony, Unicorn, and Pegasus tribes met to discuss the arrangements between the three. As such, the original Parliamentary cahmber was square with rows of benches on three sides. One side for each pony race, with the fourth side for the thrones where Celestia and Luna sat while presiding over the chamber.

Over the centuries, Equestria grew and the organization of the Parliament changed to accomodate. As tribal affiliations lessened and gave way to ideological and political affiliations, the importance of maintaining separate seating for the three pony races waned. As the Parliamentary chamber was expanded, the far side of the chamber was removed to provide new space, and the three sides became two rows of benches facing each other, but still angled to face the thrones. It was natural for the ponies in Parliament to coordinate and sit with their ideological brethren, especially once formalized political parties were formed. A custom grew for the more open-minded and supportive of the diarchy's policies to sit on the right side of the chamber closer to Celestia's ear - Celestia sat on the right or "Dawn" throne while Luna sat on the left or "Dusk" throne - while those more protective of their tribal traditions sat on the left side of the chamber. It also become custom for either Princess to gesture to either side using their wings rather than a hoof to retain the alicorns height and straightened posture. As such, the more liberal political positions became the "Dawn Wing" of the parliamentary court, while the more conservative politics became known as the "Dusk Wing." Following the Nightmare Rebellion, the reference to the Dusk Wing fell out of favor so it would not be construed as sedition. Those on the Dusk Wing may have disagreed with Celestia more often but everypony knew the consequences of outright rebellion potentially setting windigoes, or worse, the petrified Discord, upon Equestria once again. The Dawn and Dusk terms were replaced by the more generic "right wing" and "left wing" that has become part of political terminology to this day.

The aftermath of the Nightmare Rebellion was a momentous period for Equestria. The corruption of Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon took a great toll on Princess Celestia. Celestia felt she was solely responsible for the alienation of her sister and her banishment. She fell into a stupor and went into seclusion for several days, neglecting her duties of raising the sun, and now also the moon, to grieve; a period during which the sun was motionless low in the eastern sky. This left Equestria in a brief perpetual dawn and became known as the Long Mourning. The Long Mourning was marked by instability and in effect a brief interregnum for the first few days. However, the robustness of the court remained, and a regent was nominated by the parliamentary court to maintain order in the realm. This position will eventually morph into what is now known as the Cheval Regent. Following Celestia's return to the public eye from the Long Mourning and with Equestria now only possessing one Princess, she kept the position of Cheval Regent as a functionary for the day to day parliamentary proceedings and a de jure voice for Celestia in her absence. Additionally, with the Castle of the Two Sisters in ruins, Celestia officially moved her residence and the meeting of the parliamentary court to Canterlot. While this had been planned for some time, and the court frequently met in Canterlot already, the move was not made official until now. It was thus that Canterlot became the de jure as well as de facto capital of Equestria.

The move to Canterlot and the creation of a permanent seat of legislative business in the aftermath of the Nightmare Rebellion also led to a number of other reforms, some brought about by Celestia or the parliament and some occurring organically. Celestia, seeing the neglect that her common subjects had for Luna and how the Castle of the Two Sisters led to isolation of the government from the ponies, sought a remedy for create more interaction between them. She went to the Cheval Regent, then an Earth Pony, for suggestions. After a discussion that included an investigation of the pre-Equestrian historical archives, Celestia and the Cheval Regent discovered that the Earth Pony tribes had a directly elected chancellor right up until Chancellor Puddinghead and the Great Migration. With the assent of the Cheval Regent and of parliament, Celestia decreed that from then on a majority of parliamentary seats would be directly elected by the ponies. This proved to be a stable method and continues to be in use with minor modifications to this day. The most notable refinement of the parliamentary system has been the addition of overlapping reserved seats for each of the Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi in addition to the general seats. This was adopted in year 624 of the Celestial Era on a recommendation made by Tuque Twill in his comprehensive treatise On Hippocracy, which noted the growing imbalance of pony types in Parliament. In part because of this transition to directly elected members of parliament, and also with the increased communication among members and their constituencies, the early Celestial Era also saw the formalization of political parties throughout Equestria.

Many of the parties, especially after the adoption of the reserved districts, were based on local or traditional internal divisions within each of the three races of ponies. For instance, the Pegasus seats generally fell along the lines of the original meetings of the Pegasus weather councils with the division of the cloud workers among the spring, summer, autumn, and winter seasonal shifts. Thus, the Pegasi, especially in the Cloudsdale city council, originally had four parties: the Vernal Party, the Estival Party, the Autumnal Party, and the Hibernal Party. The Autumnal Party has since disappeared with the dissociation of the parties from their respective seasons, and today's Pegasi politics have stabilized into a two and a half party system with the Estival and Hibernal parties dominant and the Vernal Party reduced to a smaller, more local-oriented party. However, these only saw a resurgence in national politics in recent years. By far the dominant party ever since the move to Canterlot has been the Triple Crown Party. The Tricrowners were formed shortly after the unification of Equestria and were originally representative of the new unified principality under Celestia and Luna. Indeed, their name and symbol arose from the archaic Triple Crown of Equestria: the Grand Helm of Pegasopolis, the Platinum Crown of Unicornia, and the Puddingian Cap of the Earth Ponies. Throughout Equestria's history the Triple Crown Party has remained a generally pro-Celestia party. The Triple Crown Party supports a continuation of the status quo and the division of government between the three levels of Celestial and now Diarchical decree, Parliamentary government, and the local and regional governments such as the Council of Cloudsdale and Ponyville's Mayorship. This harmonic balance, coupled with the relatively agrarian and closeness of most party leaders as Cheval Regents to Celestia, has kept the Triple Crown Party in power for most of the governments since the Long Mourning, with rare exception.

The structure of the parliament itself also changed radically during the move to Canterlot. In an effort to bring ponies together and forge an even closer united Equestria as Princess Celestia envisioned, the two opposing aisles were gotten rid of and the new parliamentary chamber was replaced by a horseshoe shape around the central dais where Celestia (now joined by Luna and the Cheval Regent) would sit when presiding over parliament. This was an especially significant change in the early centuries as it and the directly elected members came with the abolition of the race-reserved seats before their reintroduction 120 years ago. The general prosperity of Equestria throughout the centuries and the dominance of the Triple Crown Party has given rise to a prevailing theory of politics called the Horseshoe Theory after the shape of the Parliamentary chamber. With their status quo stance and electoral dominance, the Triple Crown Party often sits squarely at the center of the Parliamentary chamber facing the dual thrones, while the more extremist left-wing and right-wing parties tend to sit on the fringes of the chamber, incidentally closer to the diarchs. The Horseshoe Theory, credited to the political scholar Common Sense the Hoovesier for its creation, states that the centrist and prgamatic aspects of the Triple Crown Party and their support for Celestia has allowed Celestia to keep the reins of government steady, and that a deviation too far to the extremes would lead to a reversion to either a Nightmare scenario or to Discordian chaos. While some scholars and naturally the more redical parties disagree with it, the prevalence and acceptance of the Horseshoe Theory is commonly thought to have been a major factor in the stability of the Equestrian realm, especially when compared to her neighbors and particularly with the collapse of Griffonstone into a near anarchic state.

Lately, while the Parliament has normally towed the Celestial and Diarchical line since Princess Luna's return and restoration, there have been a few marked divisions during recent Parliamentary sessions, especially in breaking with the opinion of the diarchy. Almost all of the recent controversies have dealt with the treatment of non-pony citizens of Equestria into the realm. While cross-cultural exchange such as the longstanding allowance of Griffons into the Cloudsdale Flight Camp had garnered occasionally grumbling acceptance among the rest of Equestria due to respect for Pegasus traditions and Equestria's pseudo-federal system of strong local governments, the increasing population of griffons, donkeys, buffalo, and other creatures within Equestria and a call for increased representation of non-ponies ruffled some feathers (though ironically due to longstanding interactions between Pegasi and Griffon populations the ruffling came from those ponies wihout feathers, the Unicorns and Earth Ponies).

The first real test of the relationship between the Equestrian Parliament and Princess Celestia in addition to broader pony attitudes toward other creatures arose in the 970s of the Celestial Era. In the 973 CE election, the seat of Cirrusbad-North San Palomino was won by Equestria's first ever non-pony Member of Parliament, a donkey named Rucio. Rucio's entrance into Parliament caused a great commotion, especially as that very act of being the lone non-pony in the legislative body highlighted the lack of representation of other creatures in Parliament. When Princess Celestia saw this in the first session she presided over where Rucio was present, she discussed the matter with Rucio afterward, and then representatives of the other creatures such as griffons living in Equestria. She sought a way to resolve this. The issue with general seats is that ponies so outnumber other creatures that more non-ponies standing and get elected in the near future was unlikely, especially as Rucio's election was largely due to the rapid Pegasus urbanization into Las Pegasus at the time, leaving the San Palomino area with a higher than usual percentage of the donkey population. Celestia's proposal to increase representation harked back once again to Tuque Twill, and she formally proposed the establishment of reserved seats for non-pony creatures just as they had been established for Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi centuries before.

This caused a fracas within the Parliament, politicos, and even among Canterlot high society. A few of the more conservative left wing members of the Triple Crown Party voiced their displeasure, claiming that Celestia was overstepping her bounds as monarch. Truly, this was a difficult thing to parse, as Equestria does not have a written constitution, and the rules on the boundary between the royal decree of a Princess and parliamentary authority had never been strictly defined. Despite this legal grey area becoming even more muddled after the return of Princess Luna and the coronations of Princess Twilight Sparkle, it was still a long dormant issue during the Celestial Era. In an attempt to not create even more ire among the Members of Parliament and especially among those Unicorn nobility so fond of social gossip in Canterlot, the Princess consulted with Cheval Regent Gallant Fox. Gallant Fox was a Pegasus and a bit of a radical. He was generally in agreement with Celestia's agenda, but it was an opportune moment in Equestria's history that he happened to be Cheval Regent when Rucio was elected and the issue of full creature representation first arose. This made him the right pony at the right time, and after Celestia conferred with Gallant Fox, she scaled down her royal decree to an official recommendation and Parliamentary proposal, and Gallant Fox through the full weight of his political power behind it. After much butting of heads over the issue, the motion barely passed Parliament. While it was successful and led to the five non-pony reserved districts the Equestrian Parliament possesses today, it led to one of the greatest splits in the Triple Crown Party and the formation of the Corona Party. This party, whose small membership is composed mainly of Unicorns and Earth Ponies, ironically supports a more centralized structure of government, but one with clearer limitations on Celestia's authority.

While the Triple Crown Party has faced many defections from its ranks over the centuries, the Corona Party has been one of the worst the party had ever seen. The Coronists, led by the Unicorn Parabellum, have only grown since their official defection from the Tricrowners. With the return of Princess Luna and especially after the First Changeling Invasion and the reappearance of the Crystal Empire, the Corona Party has even surged during the last two general elections to become the second largest party in the Equestrian Parliament. To an extent, this is entirely understandable. Ironically, while initially supporting isolationism, after those two incidents the Coronists adopted a more outward looking and interventionist foreign policy. According to some sources close to the royal advisory, the recent diplomatic missions to the dragon lands, Yakyakistan, and Griffonstone and the attempt to steer events in those regions has been a gambit by Celestia to sop to some of the Coronists interventionist bent while advancing her commitment to better relations with non-pony creatures both foreign and domestic. Unfortunately for the Princess' agenda, the two invasions by the Changelings and the Storm King's occupation of Canterlot has certainly eroded public trust in other creatures, especially among the Unicorn nobility with its connections to Canterlot. These worrisome events have led to the Corona Party becoming even more suspicious of non-pony creatures, even after such successes in spreading Equestrian values as the deposition of Chrysalis and the reforming of the Changeling Kingdom.

While normally, the Corona Party was small enough to hold any real legislative power, the diplomatic adventures and especially the aftermath of the Storm King's occupation have led to even more support for the Coronists with the high profile defection of Canterlot MP Man O'War from the Tricrowners to the Coronists, complete with resounding return to parliament in the resulting Fort Trotten by-election, and the disgraceful resignation of War Admiral as Minister of Defense. With the recent setbacks for the Triple Crown Party, it appears another parliamentary crisis similar to the Creature Representation Crisis may be brewing. While the unwritten constitutional traditions have made Principal authority often murky, one clear cut case has always been in education. Shortly after the creation of Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, in order to prevent a bias toward Unicorns at the objection of the Pegasi and Earth Ponies in Parliament, Celestia recused herself from any formal role in the appointment of the chancellor of the Equestrian Education Association. Usually, Celestia's informal support or lack thereof and her judgement on the candidates would be enough to sway the Members of Parliament on the fence. With the latest appointment, however, it seems this was not the case with the latest appointment.

The Coronist Party pulled a clever gambit in urging for the selection of a new head of the Equestrian Education Association in the first meeting of Parliament following the liberation of Canterlot from the Storm King's occupation. While it was a time of great jubilation and relief for many of Equestria's citizens, the brief period after the nearly unprecedented attack on Equestria's capital saw tempers running hot and suspicion of outsiders, especially non-ponies, at its height. It was then that the Coronist Party put forward the Unicorn Neighsay for the Equestrian Education Association chancellorship. After the nomination hearings were held, Celestia reommended strongly against Neighsay's candidacy for the post on the point that Neighsay's beliefs went against everything Equestrian values since unification stood for. Despite this, in a rare rebuke of both the Princess and of Fancy Pants's leadership of his party and as Cheval Regent, several members of the Triple Crown Party including a majority of the Canterlot members voted against the party line to confirm Neighsay. Neighsay's selection by Parliament as the head of the Equestrian Education Association has been by far the most successful political move by the Corona Party and other more conservative parties.

The appointment of Neighsay has perhaps only been the beginning of controversy surrounding the Equestrian Education Association and the role of the Princesses. Since then, Princess Twilight Sparkle opened her new School of Friendship and appeared to flaunt her rejection of the EEA's renowned accreditation system with her personally drawn up curriculum for the school catering to all creatures. Celestia has only escalated the controversy, having seemingly gone against Parliament in her support for the young and somewhat brash Twilight in her public opposition to Neighsay's policies. While Princess Luna has remained quiet on the issue, it remains to be seen how this standoff between the Princesses and the Equestrian Education Association unfolds. Cheval Regent Fancy Pants has attempted to mediate on the issue, but neither Twilight nor Neighsay are willing to back down, and Celestia remains supportive of her former protege. The most explosive measure would be for either Celestia or Twilight Sparkle to make an official royal recommendation that Chancellor Neighsay be removed from his position. While it is within the purview of royal duties to do so, it would undoubtedly fracture the increasingly fragile Parliamentary coalition and almost certainly threaten Fancy Pants' now precarious position as Cheval Regent.

Comments

[KeePony]

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