Consider this a little belated gift for the Summer Sun Celebration.

Princess Celestia's best appearance was Horse Play. For the first time, FIM had a quasi-legit Celestia episode, and she was written very well. Despite being a country ruler, she had no acting experience and really showed how much she sucked at it. But when the play was on the verge of collapse in "celestial" proportions, Celestia leads the Mane 8 into saving it and becoming a nationwide success. This episode is a marvelous exercise in how to make a godlike presence feel human.

So, what about her second-best appearance? That goes to The Return of Harmony!

Why not Crystal Empire, A Royal Problem, or Twilight's Kingdom? If you don't know my history, I ratted on her appearances in each of them, so no Debbie Downers for this blog.

Okay, so why is this her best role pre-HP? Three big reasons.

Rightful pass of the baton.

One common criticism I know of this series is her (lack of) inclusion or sometimes exclusion in the two-parters, usually for really stupid in-'verse reasons. Twilight's Kingdom, The Crystal Empire, To Where, and the film took the brunt of it, and justifiably so. This isn't the case here. Discord was an old foe of both Celestia and Luna eons ago, but turned him to stone after they discovered and bonded with the Elements of Harmony. Still, powerful the two princesses are, they don't possess them anymore. Only their rightful heirs can harness their true power and restore harmony to Equestria once again, them being the Mane Six.

The confusion is very evident on the Mane Six's faces, especially Twilight, as you see here:

Her interrupted line echoes her expression:

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Twilight Sparkle: But why us? Why don't you–

But the camera's panning of the stained glass window — PNG from here — explains why, along with Celestia's explanation:

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Princess Celestia: You six showed the full potential of the Elements by harnessing the magic of your friendship to beat a mighty foe. Although Luna and I once wielded the Elements, it is you who now control their power, and it is you who must defeat Discord!

Even though this scene is rather expository, Celestia sets the tone. The EoH trust the M6 into wielding the Elements and using them to defend and protect harmony throughout the land. Twilight promises her they'll reuse them to beat Discord. Therefore, Celestia trusts them, too.

Controlled anger.

Pay attention to how Celestia behaves when Discord confronts them.

Previous appearances showed Celestia as calm, cool, collected, and not afraid to pull a trick or two on others to maintain a loose atmosphere. For the first time, Celestia is the opposite: demanding, hostile, and very angry. All for the right reasons. Thanks to her and Luna's broken link from the Elements, her old foe was released into the modern Equestrian world and can't do it by herself. Discord understands this and uses the priceless artifacts and Celestia's anger to taunt her. With the Elements lost, he can do whatever he wants at his own disposal while maintaining his own integrity.

Scenes like this demonstrate how dynamic Celestia not only is as a character, but can be, too. Up to this point, she had a lot of potential, and this back and forth shows us what the writers — Larson here — can do with her if you write the right plot.

Also, notice three things during this scene.

1. Despite being angry, she never loses her control. Age carried a whole load of wisdom for her. She knows his mind games and gets tested, but crossing the line by herself is exactly what he wants. As long as she remains calm, he can't really do anything with her.
2. Twice, she extends her wings, once when she yells enough and once when she warns Discord after he toyed with the EoH. Emphasized a degree of majesty and warns Discord to take her and the new Bearers seriously.
3. Before the camera pans to her face, Celestia paws the ground forty-five seconds aggressively into the video above. This shot is no accident. Rarely, a horse will forcefully drag their hoof across the ground to indicate anger, threatening to charge. Here, she warns Discord to not cross the line or hurt the Mane Six, or else. But since they each know she's no threat to him, that's really all she can do.

Help from afar.

Discord's powers are so great that they influenced her friends and brainwashed them into their polar opposites. Even though she retained her optimism and hope they'll return to normal, their lack of cooperation over her the reference guide made her frustrated and angry, causing a nasty brawl and effectively ending their friendships between each other. Dash's lack of presence (foreshadowed by Celestia's backstory early in Part 1) caused the Elements to backfire and result in Twilight believing that perhaps the Magic of Friendship truly isn't enough. Finally, she couldn't take any more manipulation, discolored, and decided to leave everyone but Spike behind.

But who didn't? Celestia. At Twilight's lowest moment, she knew it still wasn't too late to help her or her friends. By returning her friendship lessons to her, she reminds her of her growth since first moving to Ponyville. Every friendship lesson she learned was important, and Celestia won't let her forget it. As Twilight recited them, the Twilight of old recovered, and no longer was she Twilight Quitter anymore. This scene here reinforces RoH's main moral:

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Making friends is hard; retaining them is harder. But no matter how challenging friendship is, it's worth preserving.

The Return of Harmony was the most perilous situation the M6 ever experienced. But Elements or no Elements, Celestia knew how to help tell Twilight from afar how important her friendships with the RM5 are. All without telling her, too.

But this moment also enforced a secondary moral, which is just as powerful:

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Just because you can't help a friend at the same place doesn't mean said your friends don't care at all. Wherever you are, your friends will help you however they can.

Almost seven years after RoH first aired, it still rings so true in the old library, don't you think?

Conclusion.

Despite writing Twilight as the lead, Larson maintains the importance of their whole friendship. All six matter, and he writes the episode as if they matter. Secondly, Princess Celestia had her best role of the series that wouldn't be usurped until Horse Play. Depending on how she's written, she can be a major force to be reckoned with in the story and have a tremendous impact on the conflict and resolution. Despite appearing in Part 1 and briefly to conclude Part 2, she maintains her presence at the most critical times and was there to help Twilight when she was about to quit. Both parts of The Return of Harmony respectively premiered on September 17 and 24, 2011, and Larson's strokes of genius age brilliantly.