Machiavelli’s Little Pony: The Prince and Princess Celestia’s Reign

By Wilbur Turuvuski Glossary of terms, concepts and important aspects of Friendship is Magic: Warning: The following essay contains spoilers for the first four seasons of Friendship is Magic  Fridge Logic: o A phrase referring to the act of drawing conclusions based on actions or events in a show/film/book/what have you. It is important to note that this can lead to alternate interpretations of characters and events, and that it can never be considered fully accurate or representational of the character or event, as the audience may be missing information or context. Additionally, there can be considered two subsets of fridge logic: fridge brilliance and fridge horror. Fridge brilliance is essentially fridge logic that seems to add to the intelligence of an action/character or the world of the story. Fridge horror is a kind of fridge logic where the conclusion seems to indicate horrific things about the world/characters/actions of the show/film/book/what have you. o Examples: . In the episode ―It‘s About Time‖ we learn that a three-headed dog named Cerberus keeps ancient, evil, creatures imprisoned in a place called Tartarus. She expresses concern over his presence in Ponyville instead of Tartarus, stating that the ancient evils could escape in his absence before her friend Fluttershy is able to soothe the creature. Based on the information we are given above, one could use fridge logic to infer that Fluttershy could, if she so wished, conceivably release the ancient evils by soothing Cerberus while the evils escaped. Note that this fridge logic cannot be called a definitive statement about the world of because there are many factors we don‘t understand: could be misinformed, there could be other security measures besides Cerberus, or perhaps Fluttershy‘s ability to soothe would not effect Cerberus if it was guarding Tartarus. . We know that Celestia is over one thousand years old, as many of the enemies she‘s defeated were done so one thousand years ago (such as Discord, King Sombra and Nightmare Moon). This knowledge, combined with her relatively youthful appearance might lead one to believe that she, and by extension, her sister, are immortal. However, because this is an assumption, there may be information we are missing: It‘s possible that the elements of harmony—which she used one thousand years ago—have a life- prolonging effect, maybe Alicorns simply age far more slowly than normal ponies, unless influenced by magic.  Word of God/ o The term ―word of god‖ refers to the idea of an author/creator providing a statement about a previously ambiguous or undefined aspect of their work. Essentially, an author clarifying an aspect of their work outside of the work itself. . Example: Ridley Scott asserted that the character of Deckard is a replicate in the film Blade Runner. While this is left more ambiguous in the film, this assertion is widely accepted as a truth about the film, even if this fact is not stated in the film itself. o Lauren Faust was developer of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. In addition to writing the opening and closing episodes to season 1, she served as the executive producer for the first season and consulting producer for the second season. She has not been involved in the production of the show since—although season three did feature an idea conceived by her—and has offered answers to questions posed by fans. She has warned said fans against taking her assertions too seriously, given that she is no longer serving on the creative team, but due to her role in envisioning the world and characters of the show, many fans treat her notions as canonical unless otherwise contradicted by the show itself.  Important Locations: o Equestria: the nation where most of the show takes place, Equestria is co- ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna . Canterlot: the capitol of Equestria, where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna reside. (Shown left) . Ponyville: a small rural town where Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Spike reside. (Not Shown)

o : currently located in the artic north of Equestria—its former location is currently clarified—the Crystal Empire is populated almost entirely by crystal ponies and tiny ewes. The emotional state of its inhabitants appears to some sort of effect on the state of Equestria; as Princess Celestia states something to the effect of ―If the Crystal Empire is filled with hope and love, those emotions will be reflected across all of Equestria, but if hate and fear are prevalent instead, Equestria will be effected negatively.‖ (S3E1) It is currently co-ruled by Princess Cadance and Shining Armor.  Species of Pony o Equestria seems to be populated largely by several different species of ponies. . Alicorns:  Ponies with both magic horns and wings. If what we have seen in the show is representative of the world that Friendship is Magic takes place in, they are taller, capable of performing more powerful magic than a normal , and are royalty. We know for certain that Princess Celestia is over 1,000 years old, so it is commonly assumed that all Alicorns are immortal, or do not age, though this has not been specifically stated. .  Ponies born with magic horns. Unicorns and Alicorns both posses the ability to actively manipulate magic, usually through a kind of telekinesis, although certain ponies— notably Twilight Sparkle—can cast spells capable of producing a wide variety of effects including: teleportation, locating precious gems and moustache growing. That being said, most unicorns seem to be unable to perform most spells, either because they have not studied magic, or because said spells do not relate to their talents or interests. . Pegasi  Pegasi are ponies that are born with wings, and typically posses an ability to fly and walk on clouds, which ponies and unicorns cannot do. The flight abilities of a seem to vary from pony to pony; Rainbow Dash demonstrates great speed, agility and skill, whereas Fluttershy appears to be competent in flight, but not as capable as Rainbow Dash. Pegasi are also commonly associated with weather due to their unique ability to manipulate clouds, often maintaining fair weather or creating rainclouds, snowflakes or rainbows. . Earth Ponies  Earth ponies are born without wings or horns, but Lauren Faust has stated that they have a different kind of magic: a strong connection to nature, animals and plants. As such, earth ponies are well suited by nature to farming, gardening or caring for animals, as indicated by the character of Applejack, who‘s who family works as farmers. However earth ponies still pursue a wide variety of careers. For example, Pinkie Pie ends up leaving her family‘s rock farm and makes her living working in a bakery. . Crystal Ponies  Crystal Ponies are inhabitants of the Crystal Empire, and appear to be earth ponies that tie their manes back with ribbons. Their magic presumably ties into a powerful artifact called the Crystal Heart, as they once used their ‗light and love‘ to cause the Crystal Heart to either banish or destroy King Sombra (It has not yet been made clear)  Glossary of Characters  Princess Celestia: o The subject of this essay, Princess Celestia is a royal Alicorn who, besides ruling Equestria, also has the ability and responsibility of raising the sun every morning. She has demonstrated great magical prowess; teleporting large distances, negating a ―Want it Need it‖ spell affecting a large group of ponies, negating Twilight‘s wild magical burst and raising the moon (traditionally the job of her sister, Princess Luna) for one thousand years. She has mentored Twilight Sparkle in her magic and friendship studies and shows both a desire to connect with her subjects on a deeper, more personal level and a more mischievous side. She has ruled Equestria for over one thousand years.  Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon o The sister of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna (pictured below) is a royal Alicorn who ruled alongside Princess Celestia until she became jealous over the fact that all of Equestria‘s inhabitants played during the day but shunned the night and slept through it. Eventually this bitterness caused her to refuse to lower the moon—keeping Equestria in a state of eternal night. The bitterness she felt transformed her into the malicious Nightmare Moon (pictured above), whom Celestia imprisoned in the moon for one thousand years. After the one thousand years were up, she escaped the moon but was restored to her normal self by Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the mane six. Since then she has chosen to rule with her sister once again. Presumably, she shares her sister‘s immortality and proficiency with magic.

 Princess Cadance o Celestia‘s adopted niece, Princess Cadance is also a royal Alicorn who married Twilight Sparkle‘s older brother Shining Armor (S2E25). She is commonly associated with love and currently co-rules the Crystal Empire with Shining armor.

 Shining Armor o Twilight Sparkle‘s older brother, Shining Armor is a unicorn that serves as the captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard. Currently, he co-rules the Crystal Empire while somehow managing to keep his position as captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard.

 Twilight Sparkle o The central protagonist of the Friendship is Magic series, Twilight Sparkle has been Celestia‘s student in both magic and friendship studies. Her unique aptitude for all things magical, combined with her hunger for knowledge and regular practice, has resulted in her possessing staggering magical power that she is capable of applying to a cornucopia of spells. She has demonstrated the ability to pick an entire field of apples bare in seconds with her telekinesis alone, and is capable of using spells to reverse gravity and teleport, amongst other things. In addition to her magical prowess, she possesses one of the Elements of Harmony—more specifically, the element of magic—one of the most powerful magical artifacts in Equestria. In addition to this, her friends happen to posses the other five Elements of Harmony, which makes Twilight Celestia‘s go-to pony for addressing serious matters.  Mane Six o The mane six—Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie—are the central characters of the show. However, as I do not feel they reflect Celestia‘s as much as Twilight Sparkle does, I will spare you a lengthy biography on each one of them. Suffice to say they are a tight knit circle of friends who happen to posses the rest of the Elements of Harmony

 Discord o The original ruler of Equestria, Discord is the embodiment of chaos and possesses extremely powerful magic: he demonstrates the ability to raise both the sun and moon, the ability to turn pegasi and unicorns into earth ponies, the ability to warp a pony‘s personality, both through psychological manipulation and more direct brainwashing. His abilities can perhaps be best summarized as an ability to warp reality to suit his own whims. Princess Celestia and Luna were able to turn him to stone with the elements of harmony, and displayed the petrified Discord in a public statue garden. Over one thousand years later, a trio of fillies— called ‗the cutie mark crusaders‘—began bickering in front of the ‗statue‘, releasing Discord. As Celestia and Luna could no longer wield the elements of harmony, Celestia called upon Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the mane six, who were eventually able to petrify him once more. Later on, Celestia had the mane six free him and reform him into more of an ally figure, although he expressed concern when he overheard that Twilight would hold onto the elements of harmony as a contingency plan.  Queen Chrysalis o Chrysalis is queen of the changelings, a race of shape shifters that feed on the love of others. She attempted to overthrow Princess Celestia by imitating Princess Cadance and feeding off the love of her then fiancé, Shining Armor, whose magic—and possibly will—she weakened with spells. Twilight Sparkle and the real Princess Cadance were able to expose her before she could be wed to Shining Armor, yet she the power she had attained from Shining Armor‘s love enabled her to overpower Celestia‘s magic before the power of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance‘s love catapulted her and the rest of the changelings out of Equestria.  King Sombra Formerly the ruler of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra was a— presumably—powerful unicorn that was ―turned to shadow‖ and banished to the icy north. (S3E1). King Sombra placed a curse upon the Crystal Empire that it would disappear along with him and that if it would return, so would he. When the Crystal Empire reappeared, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor and the mane six arrived and ultimately overthrew him. Before he was defeated when the Equestrian ponies are able to return the Crystal Heart to the crystal ponies, King Sombra demonstrated the ability to negate magic using crystals, generate crystals to trap Twilight Sparkle, which also negated her teleportation magic. In addition to this, he also posses a crystal capable of trapping a pony in a fake reality where all their worst fears are real. Unlike Discord, Nightmare Moon or Queen Chrysalis, relatively little is known about King Sombra‘s personality or goals, as he had five lines of dialogue in his appearance.  Sunset Shimmer o A former student of Celestia‘s, Sunset Shimmer was originally a candidate to wield the Element of Magic—a role that Twilight Sparkle would later fill. However, her disrespect for Celestia, combined with her hunger for power led to her abandoning her studies under Celestia and seeking power on her own. She would later try and steal the Element of Magic, which occurred in the spin-off film Equestria Girls (Which I have yet to see)

Disclaimer Niccoló Machiavelli may be the single most demonized political theorist in history. The phrase ‗Machiavellian‘ has come to mean cold and manipulative, and some psychologists use the phrase ‗Machiavellianism‘ to indicate that someone can remove himself or herself from conventional morality in order to deceive or control others. This reputation is perhaps, undeserved, as Machiavelli can be better described as pragmatic rather than amoral, and Machiavelli was a huge supporter of republics, as evidenced in his later work Discourses On Livy. The Prince has been interpreted a number of ways: as an elaborate parody, as an attempt to win the favor of the then-current prince, or even as a work written for a specific time and audience. I realize that Machiavelli‘s The Prince did not reflect his actual ideals, but for the purposes of this essay, I am taking what is written in The Prince at face value. In writing this essay, I do not wish to demonize Princess Celestia as history and pop culture have demonized Machiavelli; I am merely looking at her reign through the criteria of what makes a strong ruler as presented in The Prince. I will examine her actions and explain how I believe these benefit her in a practical sense. In comparing Celestia to the hypothetical ‗Prince‘ as outlined in Machiavelli‘s work, I do not intend to imply that she has the same motivations—namely self preservation and maintaining power above all else—as the hypothetical ‗Prince‘: when I say that Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the mane six serve many of the same functions of an army, I am not attempting to insinuate that Celestia sees them as such, or that Celestia befriended Twilight for the sole purpose of turning her into some kind of child soldier. Personally speaking, I do not see Celestia as a particularly ‗Machiavellian‘ ruler, and I seek only to draw comparisons between her actions—and subsequent benefits—and those of the hypothetical ‗Prince‘, not her motivations or desires. Equestrian Nobility As I Understand It

(Using Machiavellian Terms)

Prince/Princess

Dependent Independent Princess Celestia: Assigned

Timid Ambitious

Prince Blueblood: Inherited

Princess Luna: Nightmare Moon: ? Assigned* *While the official cannon Possible others, states that Princess Celestia and similar to Blueblood. Princess Luna co-rule Equestria, (Léon?) I choose to place her as a timid, independent noble based off what we see her doing in the Princess Cadance: show: In the beginning of Acquired through season three, she bows to her adoption sister‘s judgment regarding sending Twilight to the Crystal Empire. (S3E1) While it‘s possible that both ponies legally wield the same amount of authority, we see Celestia ultimately calling the shots, likely due to the fact that Twilight Sparkle: Celestia has 1,000 more years Fons honorum of experience ruling Equestria. In the same way The Prince described, ―What men do, not what they ought to do‖ I place her here based of what we see of her, not what we are told of her. Shining Armor: Acquired through marriage On Love and Fear Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both; but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with. (Machiavelli 76). i

Perhaps the most infamous—and most incorrectly remembered—phrase from The Prince, Machiavelli‘s assertions on love and fear are far more complex than the pop- culture version of ―It is better to be feared than loved.‖ One might think that his unflinchingly pragmatic notions bear little resemblance to Princess Celestia, who seems to be universally adored by her subjects, but such a dismissal would ignore both the actual phrasing Machiavelli used and the larger context given to us in The Prince. Machiavelli didn‘t write it is always better to rule through fear rather than love, but that—given how difficult it is to invoke both—it is safer to be feared, as men are fickle and greedy, and love according to their own will (Machiavelli 76-78). Machiavelli writes that the ideal of both fear and love is almost impossible; but I am quite confident that if during his time there had been an eternally youthful prince capable of withholding the sun, he would be singing a different tune. I submit that Celestia is able to engender both fear and love: love for her benevolence, kindness and the other virtuous qualities she exhibits. She invokes fear not through her actions themselves, but by the implications of her staggering magical power and past actions. Celestia‘s love and benevolence were undoubtedly instrumental in both securing and maintaining the loyalty of her subjects after she and her sister—Princess Luna— began their rule over Equestria. When Discord ruled Equestria prior to the two sisters, Equestria‘s citizens lived in misery and strife, and the contrast of Celestia and Luna‘s benevolence was a sure way to win the support of their subjectsii, as Machiavelli wrote in chapter nine: ―Because men, when they receive good from him of whom they were expecting evil, are bound more closely to their benefactor; thus the people quickly become more devoted to him than if he had been raised to by their favors…‖ (Machiavelli 45). Celestia‘s image of goodness is not only established by her past actions, but also constantly reinforced, particularly through the ponies that represent her and her treatment of her enemies. In chapter three of The Prince, Machiavelli states: ―Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot.‖ (Machiavelli 9) Celestia‘s kindness is on full display in this regard, as we see her consistently choose to pamper her enemies rather than crush them. Both Nightmare Moon iiiand Discordiv were dealt with in a way that didn‘t punish them, but instead negated their abilities to cause more damage, and in both cases, Celestia was able to eventually able to rehabilitate them. Such shows of mercy win the love of her subjects while gaining new and powerful allies, which in turn, further stabilizes her position and authority. Indeed, the citizenry of Equestria are constantly dependent on her to save them from city-destroying plagues—such as the Paraspritesv—magical spells gone wrong—such as the Want It Need It spellvi—and, from Machiavelli‘s perspective, this further secures their love and loyalty: ―Therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstances have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful.‖ (Machiavelli 47) While Machiavelli wrote that it is safer to be feared than loved, he also wrote at length about how love brings stability to a ruler; claiming that the love of the citizenry is the best defense against hostile members of the nobility (Machiavelli 44), and that a beloved ruler will rarely be the target of successful conspiracy: ―…for he who conspires against a prince always expects to please them [the prince‘s subjects] by his removal; but when the conspirator can only look forward to offending them, he will not have the courage to take such a course…‖ (Machiavelli 84). To her subjects, Celestia is equal parts savior, pillar of society and experienced leader, so any pony‘s attempt to overthrow or sabotage her would be met with virulent backlash, to say the least. While the love of Celestia her subjects have can be attributed to her deeds, the fear of Celestia is rooted in the implications of the discrepancy in power between her and her subjects. The fear she plants is not fear of what she does, but what she is capable of doing. The story of Nightmare Moon, and its yearly celebration—Nightmare Night—is a regular reminder of how horrifying it would be if a Princess decided to abuse their power. All Nightmare Moon had to do was go on strike—not physically attack or bewitch any ponies directly—to bring all of Equestria to its knees; the amount of magic she wielded rendered her capable of taking the whole world hostage. It took a pony just as powerful as Nightmare Moon to save Equestria and its helpless citizensvii. Furthermore, this kind of power discrepancy makes it very difficult to invoke Machiavellian hatred—that is, hatred that overcomes fear of punishment—because the amazing power a pony like Princess Celestia wields renders her capable of terrifying punishment, such as Nightmare Moon did when she felt her subjects didn‘t love the night. Consider King Sombra, a pony who rules through fear rather than love: Celestia‘s flashback shows him keeping his citizens in manacles, yet when we see his subjects reminded of his reign, they are not angry or rebellious, but defeatedviii ix. This makes perfect sense: Exhibit A: Rarity, using magic to find gems Exhibit B: Princess Celestia using magic to raise the his magical might made him capable of sun. terrifying punishment—we see that he A massive power discrepancy between ruler and possesses a crystal that traps ponies in an ruled? I’m sorry, I just don’t see it. imaginary world where all of their worst fears are real—and in the absence of the Crystal Heart—which Sombra stole and hid away—there was nothing they could do against his magical power, and they had little hope for overthrowing himx. Even Celestia herself has demonstrated that she can inflict horrific punishments with her magic, such as when she and her sister petrified Discord alivexi or when she banished Nightmare Moon to the moon for a thousand years xii. Granted, on both of these occasions, she was wielding the Elements of Harmony, which she can no longer wield, but even without the most powerful magical artifacts in existence, she‘s perfectly capable of shirking her duty of raising the sun, and she‘s shown she can use King Sombra‘s brand of dark magicxiii. On the Lion and the Fox Personae Machiavelli gives a very specific outline not just for the actions of a ruler, but for the personality and identity for the ruler as well. The Prince raises the idea of the hypothetical ruler possessing two aspects to their identity: ―A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against . Therefore it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves‖ (Machiavelli 80). The lion persona is one of virtue and valor, meant to scare away attackers, while the fox is a persona of trickery and more pragmatic thinking, to break advantageous promises and manipulate others. It is important to note in this analogy that Machiavelli places great emphasis on appearing virtuous, but argues that being virtuous can be a huge disadvantage: ―Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them.‖ (Machiavelli 80-81). Appearing virtuous is vitally important to winning the love and support of your subjects, but acting virtuously can lead to undesirable situations. Celestia is constantly exhibiting the virtue of the lion persona, as was discussed above, and, in crisis, shows the bravery of the lion persona as well. Take for example, the changeling invasion: in which Princess Celestia stood against Queen Chrysalis herself instead of rallying guardsxiv1. Celestia has a long history of standing up to evil and saving others, from Nightmare Moon to King Sombra to Discord, whose defeat likely serves as an excellent deterrent against invaders, or as Machiavelli refers to them, wolves (Machiavelli 80). That being said, Celestia is clearly a pony that is willing to act un- virtuously when she has to, all while maintaining that appearance of morality that goes with her lion persona. In the very first episode, Celestia deliberately misleads Twilight Sparkle, a pony who idolizes her; when Twilight Sparkle expresses concern that Nightmare Moon will soon return—which she is entirely correct about—Princess Celestia tells Twilight to stop reading ―those dusty old books‖ and make friends in Ponyville insteadxv. This deception, however, is justified in that Celestia‘s instructions resulted in Twilight Sparkle making friends and using the newly discovered Elements of Harmony to ‗cure‘ Nightmare Moon. This is a terrific example of Machiavelli‘s thoughts on why the fox persona is so vital for a successful ruler: ―Wisdom consists of knowing how to distinguish the nature of trouble, and in choosing the lesser evil.‖ Princess Celestia chooses the lesser evil of misleading her faithful student to the far greater evil of what would have happened if she had told Twilight she was correct in her notions and that Princess Celestia would be unable to overcome Nightmare Moon. In such a situation, the stress poor Twilight would feel would make it more difficult to form friendships, and the Elements Of Harmony, which were instrumental in Nightmare Moon‘s defeat, require

1 Not that that would have been a wise move, as I will address later when speaking of armies friendship to work2. Celestia‘s deception of Twilight was the lesser of two evils, but for a more morally grey examples of acting in an ‗immoral‘ manner, we can look at how the legend of Nightmare Moon has evolved over the millennium since the event first occurred. In the original legend, Nightmare Moon grew jealous and bitter when ponies would play during the day but sleep through the night, and eventually refused to lower the moon, trapping Equestria in a state of eternal nightxvi. In the modern holiday, Nightmare Moon receives a substantial demonization, where she is depicted as looking to devour ponies—including children, and only being dissuaded from this by being offered candyxvii. This may seem odd, considering that Princess Celestia does care deeply for her sister, understands that Nightmare Moon was actually a separate entity, and could rectify any Exhibit C: Celestia and Twilight exiting the room where they misconceptions about her sister that just had a conversation involving the phrase ―One thousand the general public held. Yet we see years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as that this vilification has become night, took over the Crystal Empire.‖ Presumably she was also deeply integrated into Equestrian going to call King Sombra a “nightmarish lunatic” as well, but it was cut for time. culture, to the point where Princess Celestia herself unironically uses the phrase ―a heart as black as night‖ to refer to King Sombra‘s evil naturexviii. Why is Celestia willing to turn a blind eye to her sister‘s defamation? If we examine her circumstances through the pragmatic lens of the fox, an answer presents itself: Luna‘s demonization makes Celestia look better and makes her actions more heroic. When the story of Nightmare Moon is changed over time, it heavily undercuts any pseudo-fratricidal elements to be found in the original legend: Princess Luna feels envious that Celestia lives in Canterlot is adored by her subjects—who play in the day—while the night she brings is shunned. This jealousy leads to her body being possessed by the Nightmare forces, who turn her into Nightmare Moon, who in turn, traps Equestria in a state of eternal night before being banished to the moon for a thousand years by Princess Celestiaxix. In summary, the only thing Luna did wrong was feeling envious, and yet she was banished to the moon for a thousand years. Granted, Celestia did this to free her sister from the control of the Nightmare forces, but the story still contains Celestia punishing a pony for actions she wasn‘t responsible for. Over the years, the legend changes to the point where many ponies don‘t believe that Nightmare Moon or Princess Luna is real—as can be evidenced by the townsfolk‘s‘ reaction to Nightmare Moon‘s return—and Luna is never mentioned in Zecora‘s Nightmare Night story, which leads me to believe that Princess Luna has been largely forgotten by the general publicxx xxi. With Luna gone, the story loses its pseudo-fratricidal elements and instead becomes the simple story of Celestia saving Equestria from an obviously evil pony.

2 As can be seen in Return of Harmony Part 2, wherein the Elements Of Harmony failed to work against Discord because of the bickering and arguing amongst the mane six On Secretaries and Associates Celestia‘s actions as a teacher and a friend cement her as a stable, beloved ruler just as much as her actions, because the subjects she is close to are almost always powerful, and reflect well upon her. Consider Cadance, who Celestia adopted into her royal family at a young age while turning her into an Alicorn (summarized in Cadance article). Cadance has demonstrated incredible power and was appointed to rule the Crystal Empire with Shining Armor, and has ruled with the same benevolence as Princess Celestia herselfxxii xxiii. Thereby, the Crystal Ponies, who barely know of Celestia, come to adore her in the same way as the citizens of Equestria. Machiavelli outlined this concept and writes in great detail on ―The Secretaries of the Prince‖: ―The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the capable and keep them faithful.‖ (Machiavelli 107). Princess Cadance—who grew up with Celestia—rules kindly. The Crystal Ponies, who are used to living under Sombra‘s Cruelty, see Celestia as benevolent and kind by her association with Cadance. Cadance remains close with Celestia and Twilight, as evidenced by her presence at Twilight‘s ceremony: She is the ideal kind of ‗secretary‘ Machiavelli was writing about. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find a pony close to Celestia who doesn‘t fit as a near-ideal ‗secretary; not just Cadance, but Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor match up with this ideal, an analogy that becomes all the more clear with the following quote from Machiavelli: ―On the other hand, to keep his servant honest the prince ought to study him, honoring him, enriching him, doing him kindness, sharing with him the honors and cares…‖ (Machiavelli 108). Let‘s move on from Cadance and focus on Twilight in regards to this paragraph: Machiavelli is clearly advocating a close relationship between the Prince and his or her secretary, much like the student-teacher relationship between Twilight and Celestia. Celestia teaches her, rewards her with royal status, forgives her for her mistakes (Such as accidentally using a mind altering spell to wreak chaos upon most of the population of Ponyvillexxiv); Celestia is constantly trying to make Twilight‘s life better, and this has led to Twilight becoming extremely loyal to and adoring Princess Celestia, which is best evidenced in her worst fear: Princess Celestia disowning herxxv. Keep in mind that Twilight has seen her friends mind-raped by Discordxxvi and witnessed her brother turned into the mindless puppet of Queen Chrysalisxxvii, and yet Celestia‘s disapproval is what she most dreads. Out of all the qualities Machiavelli writes about, loyalty is what he considers most important, as it is the difference between good and bad ‗secretaries‘: ―…there is one test that never fails; when you see the servant thinking of his own profit in everything, such a man will never be able to trust him; because he who has the state of another in his hands ought never to think of himself, but always of his prince…‖ (Machiavelli 108) This brings me to my next point: Sunset Shimmer, a pony who studied under Celestia and was originally a candidate for wielding the Element of Magic Element of Harmony, until she decided that she was not getting what she wanted quick enough and abandoned her training xxviii. The biggest difference between her and Twilight is that Twilight respects Celestia and thinks of her duties to her. Twilight thinks primarily of Celestia and takes everything she says at face value, as evidenced with the events of retaking the Crystal Empire: upon the liberation of the Crystal Empire, Twilight is disappointed in herself because she feels as though she‘s failed Princess Celestia (as Celestia told her to save the Crystal Ponies, yet the Crystal Ponies were actually given the Crystal heart by Spike and Princess Cadance.) Compare this with the actions of Sunset Shimmer, who castigates Celestia for keeping magical items a secret from her and demanding that Celestia makes her a Princessxxix. Sunset Shimmer—the untrustworthy ―secretary‖—is clearly thinking only of herself and how she can attain more power, unlike Twilight Sparkle, who is thinking of Celestia first and herself second. On War The Prince considers war to be the most important aspect of ruling, bar none; Machiavelli writes extensively on how his hypothetical prince should learn war and focus on war above all else, planning during peacetime and always take swift, decisive action. Before I delve further into Machiavelli‘s ideas on conflict and armies, we must re- examine how war would work in Equestria. The episode Hearth’s Warming Eve gave us a pageant and showed us that the ancient Pegasi lived in a dictatorship, which, as part of an alliance, ensured good weather for the two other racesxxx. Of course, the Pegasi‘s ability to manipulate weather would significantly change the way wars are waged: imagine a legion of pegasi soldiers raining down weaponized lightning upon unicorns or earth ponies, or creating a tornado or some other natural disaster to unleash upon their foesxxxi. However, the implications of this pale in comparison to the ways magic—the true military —would affect warfare; a single Unicorn is capable of telekinesis and could effectively use far more weapons or tools than an Earth Pony or a Pegasus, and Twilight Sparkle once used her magical telekinesis to play puppet with the body of Fluttershyxxxii, and the spells that certain Unicorns practice would turn our concept of warfare on its head: what use would siege warfare be against Canterlot when both the captain of the royal guard—Shining Amor—and Princess Cadance display the ability to protect an entire city with a impenetrable bubble shield spell single-handedly (single-hoofedly?)xxxiii. Even the attrition aspect of siege warfare would be rendered null and void by Celestia‘s ability to teleport over long distances: since she could presumably teleport herself out of the bubble and teleport herself and supplies back inxxxiv. Reconnaissance could be performed by a single pony teleporting in and out of enemy strongholds, or even by Princess Luna examining their dreamsxxxv. What good would it be to train a large army if they could be reduced to a squabbling, infighting mob by a single item enchanted with a Want-It-Need-It spell?xxxvi In fact, given these circumstances, a large army would be unwieldy and ineffective compared to a single Unicorn who has studied magic extensively. Indeed, most of the spells described above are not used by Unicorns in the Royal Guard (with the exception of Shining Armor), but rather by a select and powerful few; namely, ponies under the tutelage of Celestia—such as Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer—ponies who are Alicorns—such as Luna and Cadance—or ponies who work closely with Alicorns—such as Shining Armor. Twilight Sparkle‘s proficiency in magic stems partially from the fact that magic is her special talent (something that ponies have no control over3) and this, combined with the fact that the Unicorns charged with guarding the invaluable Princesses never display any kind of ability to use such spells, leads me to believe that spells such as the ones listed above are nearly impossible to use for the majority of the population.

3 To be more clear, Ponies develop their special talents at a seemingly spontaneous time during their childhood, and they have no control over what their talent will be. Some Ponies special talents relate to things like cooking, performing or tending to the land. Twilight‘s innate special talent is performing magic. This power discrepancy means that the kind of army that existed during Machiavelli‘s time would be useless, as legions of disciplined soldiers receiving uniform training would be no match for a single, magically talented pony. Just look at the Royal Canterlot Guards, who seem to represent a traditional military force: they were ineffectual in confronting Nightmare Moon xxxviiand in combating the changeling invasionxxxviii. The fact that they consistently are brutally outmatched leads me to believe that their purpose is more suited to ensuring domestic peace and enforcing the law amongst common ponies, rather than defending the Princesses from hostile invading forces4. Yet when the trained guards failed to stop Nightmare Moon, a group of six untrained Exhibit D: Trained guards on the receiving end of Nightmare Moon‘s ponies wielding the most magical, lightning based bitch-slap :One cannot lament their powerful magical artifacts in dedication and bravery, merely their results (Paraphrased from existence succeedsxxxix, and Bremen’s run of Boatmurdered) becomes Celestia‘s first response to powerful threats to Equestria, threats who are dangerous because of the magical abilities they possess (In fact, the only threat to Equestria who did not operate alone was Queen Chrysalis, who still wielded incredible magical power as result of feeding off of the love of Shining Armorxl). Because the Mane Six, Cadance and Shining Armor are the ones who most often save Equestria from powerful enemies who would do harm to its citizens, I humbly submit that they serve as Equestria‘s true army. This is granted, an imperfect analogy, as Celestia‘s treatment of these ponies contrasts harshly against how Machiavelli outlines the treatment of soldiers, most obvious when Machiavelli writes that cruelty is an important part of keeping troops united and deposed to their duties (Machiavelli 77). Perhaps it is more accurate to say that these ponies are an amalgam of Machiavelli‘s ideas on armies and secretaries (as described above), which confers a great deal of benefits to Celestia. Case in point, Machiavelli wrote about potential problems in a society broken down into the separate classes of soldier and citizen (such as the Roman Empire): ―…for it was a hard thing to give satisfaction both to soldiers and people; because the people loved peace, and for this reason they loved the unaspiring prince, whilst the soldiers loved the warlike prince who was bold, cruel and rapacious‖ (Machiavelli 88). Machiavelli points out that it‘s hard to be beloved by both soldier and citizen because they want very different things; the citizens want a peaceful prince, whereas the soldiers want an aggressive prince who will lead them into conflict and ensure the necessity of their position. Because the ponies that make up Celestia‘s ‗army‘ are closer to citizens than soldiers, they want peace just like their fellow citizens, and Celestia does not have to worry about being hated for her lack of aggression.

4 In fact, I believe that their existence is partially a remnant of the days of the Pegasi military dictatorship as I will address later While the Mane Six, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor may not exactly match up with Machiavelli‘s thoughts on soldiers, Celestia seems to embody Machiavelli‘s thoughts on the way a prince should conduct war and command an army. Machiavelli warns that a prince must never remain idle on the subject of preparing for war: ―A wise prince ought to observe such rules, and never in peaceful times stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way that they may be available to him in adversity, so that if fortune changes it may find him prepared to resist her blows‖ (Machiavelli 68- 69). In keeping with the idea that the only subject a prince must study should be war, Machiavelli writes that a clever ruler should always spend peacetime preparing for war, and ensuring that when conflict does emerge, he or she will be ready for it. Celestia is a pony that is constantly planning for the future, selecting ponies that display great power and shaping them into invaluable allies: when Princess Cadance vanquished a pony name Prismia who was keeping an entire town under a love-draining spell, she was teleported before Celestia, who immediately adopted her as her royal niecexli. During these events, Cadance was a Pegasus, and Celestia made her into an Alicorn after her adoption. Given her apparent age when she is seen as an Alicorn, Celestia adopted and made her into an Alicorn at a Exhibit E: Cadance at a young age, foal-sitting a young Twilight: This is remarkably young age. post-adoption; when she was younger, she had already overthrown an evil Celestia did a very Unicorn without any magical abilities. Cadance is both a love goddess, similar thing with and a stone-cold badass; no wonder Celestia adopted her. Twilight Sparkle, taking her in and teaching her personally immediately after Twilight demonstrated exceptional magical ability. Both Cadance and Twilight would grow up to wield incredible magical power, and serve as some of Celestia‘s most important and loyal subjects. In addition to this, the fact that Sunset Shimmer was originally a candidate for wielding the Element of Magic indicates that Celestia has been discovering ponies with great magical potential and attempting to shape them into allies for a considerable amount of time. Celestia, like Machiavelli, understands that peace is the ideal time to increase her resources—more specifically powerful and loyal subjects—and further prepare herself for any upcoming conflicts. Celestia‘s historical involvement in warfare has also likely attributed the loyalty she has engendered in both her secretaries and subjects alike. Machiavelli himself discussed the benefits of military history in a ruler; for example, in chapter fourteen of The Prince, Machiavelli writes ―For among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised…Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants.‖ (Machiavelli 66). This section explains why war should always be on a prince‘s mind; why would a soldier fight on the behalf of a prince if the prince himself were not prepared for war? Celestia‘s experience in fighting evil again proves to be a valuable asset: Celestia is herself a veteran and her experience fighting evil, combined with the fact that she is constantly ‗armed‘ with powerful magic, ensures obedience in any circumstance. Consider the reformation of Discord: Celestia brought a reality- warping draconequus before the mane six and requested them to reform him. She gives them the Elements of Harmony—now enchanted to prevent magical tampering—before leaving them to deal with Discord on their own, despite the fact that prior to his re- petrification, he came close to completely breaking the will of each of the mane sixxlii. Despite the fact that she seemingly abandoned the mane six at a time where her advice would have been more valuable than ever5, the mane six follow through with her request without hesitation or question, because it was Celestia—along with Princess Luna—who initially petrified Discord. They have full confidence in her abilities as a leader, even when her decisions seem bizarre; because the experience she has fighting evil has made her more prepared to plan and command in battles against evil. Machiavelli writes that it is vital for an aspiring prince to study the history so as to learn from those who have come before, and Celestia‘s immortality enables her to take this concept one step further. ―But to exercise the intellect…‖ Machiavelli asserts ―…the prince should read histories, and study there the actions of illustrious men, to see how they have borne themselves in war, to examine the causes of their victories and defeat, so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former;‖ (Machiavelli 68). Now, Machiavelli was writing for people who live for a finite period of time, and therefore he concluded that studying the actions of famous military leaders in the past was important so that one could imitate methods that worked and avoid strategies that led to failure. However, Celestia is immortal, meaning it‘s likely she‘s seen example of what does and doesn‘t work in war firsthand (firsthoof?), and has even had the opportunity to Exhibit F: Guards from the ancient Pegasi military dictatorship speak with such individuals. Exhibit G: Celestia‘s Royal Guards, in service at least a full millennium later For example, we know that Even the facial expression remained uniform across the following Commander Hurricane was one thousand years. likely an effective military leader (at least, at the time),

Would Discord react differently if he knew Celestia was there? Keep in mind that she can teleport and Spike still enables her to give advice, but going back to Canterlot still seems questionable 5 given how she was able to maintain authority in a time of crisisxliii. We also know that Princess Luna was able to meet Starswirl the bearded, who lived during the same time as Commander Hurricanexliv, therefore it stands to reason that Celestia could have met her and discussed strategies, such as how to effectively lead troops. Indeed, given the similarities Exhibit H: Celestia after being overpowered by Queen Chrysalis. in armor between Hurricane‘s Humiliation list: defeated in front of subjects, by a pony troops and the Royal Canterlot pretending to be your adopted niece, and being saved by your Guard, it seems possible that student, who was smart enough to recognize the imposter where Celestia modeled the Royal you couldn’t.

Canterlot Guard after Commander Hurricane‘s Pegasi soldiers6. errorMachiavelli repeatedly stresses the importance of swift, decisive action in a ruler, saying ―A prince is also respected when he is either a true friend or a downright enemy, that is to say, when, without any reservation, he declares himself in favour of one party against the other…‖ (Machiavelli 103). Any ruler should always avoid being neutral, as the victorious party will see you as a doubtful ally at best, and the losing party will see you as a bystander who did nothing to help them. From what we see of her reign, Celestia has rarely been presented with the opportunity to remain neutral on anything. Take, for example, her intervention in the Crystal Empire: while she could have looked the other way to King Sombra‘s tyranny, doing so wouldn‘t just leave her with the Machiavellian consequences of the Crystal Ponies resenting her or King Sombra not seeing her as an ally; Celestia herself states that the emotional state of the Crystal Empire effects the whole of Equestriaxlv, so ignoring the situation would have actively worsened her kingdom. However, her later actions in having the Mane Six, Shining Armor and Cadance liberate the Crystal Empire embodies another aspect of strong, decisive action that Machiavelli would touch upon. When Machiavelli writes how a military leader must make public appearances, he stresses the importance of ―…always maintaining the majesty of his [the Prince‘s] rank, for this he must never consent to abate in anything.‖ (Machiavelli 106) In her public appearances, the way her subjects revere and fear her shows us that the importance of her rank in always in the forefront of their mindsxlvi. However, it is the second half of this quote, the one concerning abating—something intimidating becoming less intense or widespread—that interests me. Machiavelli states that a Prince should not become less intimidating or show weakness if they can help it; as such foibles would interfere with the lion personality he earlier wrote about. The purpose of the lion personality is to scare away potential invaders, and showing weakness would invite would-be-conquerors. Let us then examine one of the few times Celestia has shown definitive weakness and errors in judgment: the Changeling invasion. While it‘s true that

6 However, it is important to note that what we see of the Pegasi soldiers comes from a pageant, which could be historically inaccurate Shining Armor and Cadance eventually sent Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings packing, consider how Celestia‘s actions would affect her reputation: not only did she fail to notice that her adoptive niece had been replaced by an imposter, but said imposter overpowered her in front of her subjectsxlvii. Season three of Friendship Is Magic proves that international relations are an important part of Celestia‘s jobxlviii, so consider what ponies from Saddle Arabia would think of Celestia‘s leadership abilities in light of the Changeling attack on Canterlot. However, Celestia quickly recovers from this blow to her reputation and comes back swinging. Now, it has been said by the developers that the episodes of Friendship Is Magic do not take place in chronological order; however, given that Princess Cadance and Shining Armor are married in the events of The Crystal Empire, combined with the fact that Twilight Sparkle is not an Alicorn, I find it reasonable to assume that the events surrounding the Crystal Empire take place soon after the Changeling invasion. Celestia reasserts herself as a competent and skilled leader by sending her subjects to overthrow a tyrant and save the citizens King Sombra oppressed. Now, consider how ponies from Canterlot would see this as a reflection of Celestia‘s abilities: she overthrew a dictator and her niece—and nephew in-law—were spontaneously appointed the new rulers, all without having to leave her own . The reappearance of the Crystal Empire was the perfect opportunity for Celestia to re-assert her dominance and power on the international stage. Postscript First of all, I‘d just like to apologize for the formatting problems in this paper; I‘m not really a tech-savvy person and every time I tried to fix the formatting errors I would only make them worse. If you have anything to say about this essay I would really love to hear it. As of now, I‘ve posted it under a reddit link titled Machiavelli’s Little Pony (Essay) and if you could share your feedback there I would really apreciate it! (I admit, said link is my first post on reddit, so I apologize if I‘m doing anything wrong on that front)  Concerns with this essay: o Unintentional demonization of Celestia: I feel as though examining any character through a Machiavellian lens carries a certain stigma, and by I didn‘t write this essay with the goal of making Celestia out to be an amoral or manipulative tyrant. Truthfully, I just thought it would be interesting to examine the ways Celestia‘s reign has paralleled Machiavelli‘s ideas. I fear however, that this essay might be portraying Celestia in an unfair light o Luna’s status as a timid independent noble: As I explain in the footnote the size of Rhode Island, I placed Luna in the role of a timid independent noble, below the authority of a Prince or Princess. In the cannon of the show, Celestia and Luna are said to co-rule Equestria, but I wrote that we see Celestia calling the shots, with Luna bowing to Celestia‘s judgment. First of all, the time we see Luna doing so, it was in a matter concerning Twilight Sparkle, who is Celestia‘s student. While the Crystal Empire was a matter of national importance, Celestia was using to test Twilight‘s mettle, and it would make sense for Celestia to have final say in the matter considering Twilight is her student. On top of that, I tried to justify my choice by claiming that, in the spirit of the prince, I was writing based of what we see of Luna, not we are told of her. However, I fear that I may be subscribing to a double standard, as I took what The Prince had to say at face value, and yet didn‘t do the same with Friendship Is Magic. o Overestimating the influence of the Nightmare Forces: Season 4 Episode 1 ―Princess Twilight Sparkle‖ seems to contradict my assertion that the only thing Luna did wrong was feel envious, which made her vulnerable to being controlled by the Nightmare Forces. In the ‗flashback‘ Twilight Experiences, Luna is clearly exhibiting a power hungry and tyrannical personality before actually transforming into Nightmare Moon (Or at least, taking on the appearance most often associated with Nightmare Moon). This leads me to question whether Luna was responsible for her actions before said transformation or if her behavior was influenced by the Nightmare Forces o Overestimating the strategic value of powerful Unicorns/Alicorns: I spoke at length about how powerful Unicorns are the most powerful military resources, but there are artifacts that enable normal ponies wield powerful magic capable of thwarting more powerful adversaries (Such as the Elements of Harmony, The Crystal Heart or the Alicorn Amulet). While these can be confiscated and hidden away (Such as King Sombra did with the Crystal Heart, or Discord did with the Elements of Harmony), it may be presumptuous to say that Ponies capable of powerful magic are the most invaluable military resource (Although, from my perspective, they are more reliable, since magical artifacts can be stolen). o Misinterpreting resources: In this essay, I have made use of expanded universe stories in an effort to better inform my understanding of the world of Friendship Is Magic, including Equestria Girls, Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, and the IDW comics. That being said, I have not watched or read any of these (though I plan to see Equestria Girls at the next possible opportunity). Since all I know of the events of these series comes from TVtropes pages or articles on the Friendship is Magic Wiki, I could be misinterpreting these sources, and misconstruing their implications. Bibliography Works Cited i Machiavelli, Niccoló. 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