The realm presented in My Little Pony, Equestria, is Plato's City of Speech.
Celestia is, in essence, the perfect aristocrat- along with Luna, Cadence, and as of S4 Twilight, because not only does she rule for justice above all, but she's immortal so can bypass the whole "but the next generation will be ****." idea.
The idea that rulers should be philosophers is represented in that Celestia, Luna, Twlight, and Cadance became Princesses because they discovered some sort of magic, representative of attaining enlightenment. Note that Shining Armour is not called a "Prince." for that reason, he's an idiot.
The myth of metals is clearly represented by the Unicorn/Pegasus/Earth Pony deal- with only Pegasi or Unicorns (Silver/Gold) being able to join the guard (Become auxiliaries), and only Unicorns (Gold) becoming princesses (Guardians). Twilights character development over the three seasons represents the education of the guardians.
The purge of the poets is represented by the fact that fiction seems to be tightly controlled, with the only obvious fiction being Daring Doo. This is a weak point though.


my brain is imploding as to how well this all works what's wrong with me what's going on what's happening who am i where am i what is this

you know who would really appreciate this?

http://mlpforums.com/

http://www.everypony.com/home.php

http://fanbronies.proboards.com/

http://www.bronyhangout.net/

http://broni.es/

yeah but once i cross that line i can't go back

Oh my god the Cutie Marks represent the ideal techne.
holy ****

you've already obviously crossed the line, don't fool yourself. go register on those forums.

go register

I have use for you on the master's sail bargle

it's been a long time since i've read The Republic, but iirc Plato's ideal city-state ruled by philosopher-kings was more or less presented as a counter-example to illustrate how such perfect aristocracies will eventually fall to plutocracy, tyranny of the majority, and eventually despotism. Plato's true notion of a "perfect" city is intensely austere, where order is maintained largely because everybody is too busy surviving to do much else.

but i mean super good for you, an albertan taking a philosophy/classics course and valuing what you've learned.

it's you, tibby. you are the true unicorn.

I guess that's cool, but your discovery still doesn't increase my desire to watch MLP.

also i realize the city of speech is a boring piece of ****, one of platos points i believe was utopia is boring and can't really exist anyway, but strive for it regardless

crystallized nostalgia right here

did you get the YOU MUST REGISTER joke?

that reminds me...
Sorry, don't know how to play this video :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f37K0hIv3zk