First off: This post here has to do with, as the title hints, Celestia and Philomena, even though Celestia is the one who I'm going to focus on. In case you want to see some Celestia-bashing, I have to inform you that this won't happen here. Look elsewhere. Now, let me begin and I hope you'll find this here interesting.

But keep one thing in mind: This here is merely speculative and more or less random headcanon-whatever-thoughts.

From the first moment I saw Celestia and the more I got to know about her backstory and character (even though we all know that especially her backstory is still quite limited in its presentation in the show) I had to ask myself "How does she deal with it?" With "it" I mean her immortality/longivety. Well, now one could say her experience and wisdom make it perhaps irrelevant to her to struggle with it, maybe not even possible. Or not possible anymore.

As we all can imagine, being a princess like Celestia comes with big responsibilities and the necessity to be able to always represent specific values and the strenght of a leader, also being able to let certain things not touch you, too. But that also has to apply to Luna. And as we know, Luna was not immune to emotional pain. She became Nightmare Moon and it is not even important how exactly, but grief and jealousy overwhelemd her. So, a legit question would be whether Celestia could also fall for the same reasons or not.

And this is the reason why Philomena is kinda important for my further deliberations. After I rewatched "A Bird in the Hoof" for the fifth time, a simple, not to say trivial, question came to my mind. Why does she have an immortal pet? Well, of course, being immortal and having an immortal pet seems to match. Not forgetting that she is the princess of the sun and phoenixes also originate from several sun-myths in different cultures, so giving her a phoenix as a pet is an overall fitting choice.

But, especially considering my first question and the fact that Celestia is still more of a mystery when it comes to her weaknesses and flaws than Luna, this is simply not a really interesting explanation. I know, this whole thing here is merely speculation. And what comes next might cause some people to scratch their head.

Celestia is either an uber-pony or an emotional time bomb.

You say what now?!

Okay, maybe that was... extreme.

Okay, I'll admit it, it was.

But, let's face it. Why is Celestia not just loved by her subjects, but also by many bronies? With legit reasons, by the way. Because she is like a mother, I think. That is actually the most fitting term to describe her with one word that I can think of.

And here comes the problem. She seems to be so full of life, so caring but yet strong and confident in her decisions, that to question any of her actions seems mostly unreasonable. And at the same time she lived a life that simply can't leave one emotionally unharmed.

I'll explain why. Just imagine: You lived for - I don't know how many - centuries, ruling an entire nation, you had to - no matter what the exact circumstances were - banish your own sister, the only being that was someway like you and probably your only living relative and then you are lonely until she finally returns and you're not even the one who could help her. As I said, lonely. Not alone. Why? Well, I'd say it's pretty difficult to not be lonely when you simply outlive generations of your beloved subjects while you stay the same.

But she wasn't entirely lonely, of course. She had Philomena. We don't know for how long, but I guess for a very long time. And now comes the overanalyze-part.

While I think that one of immortality's biggest flaws is perhaps when you can't share it, the only being Celestia had during that long time without outliving it, was her pet. Not a pony. From the way Celestia acts towards her subjects and the way she appears to be as a character, she is, like I said before, easily to describe as some kind of mother. A mother who outlives her children everytime.

I know, this comparison is not to be taken literally and perhaps I'm overthinking the whole thing way too much. But wouldn't it take a lot of strength to actually be able to sit there, rule and care, while every pony you get to know might be able to share their whole life with you, but you can only spend a small part of yours with them?

Now one could interpret Philomena as some kind of an "allegory". Hm, can't find a better term. While the ponies live and die, others will come, just like the ones before, but still different. Death and rebirth of the "roles" around Celestia. Phoenix from the ashes. Maybe that's why she is actually extra-caring. I mean, she's not like one would expect a ruler to be. Mabe that's her way to compensate this permanent, repeating "loss". If this is how she feels it... She simply can't make friends, or maybe even more, without knowing that she will still be alive, many years after they passed away. And a pet might be the closest thing to an actual relatable being she has.

Yes, this interpretation is... But still...

If Celestia is able to simply deal with how the situation is - and probably will ever be - then she has to be really strong in her character. Probably stronger than Luna. Stronger than many real persons. She would be a character that has overcome something many people wouldn't be able to handle, I think. Okay, she is an alicorn, totally different from her sister and perhaps it's really just the way she is and not what she became.

If she simply hides her feelings, the potentially negative ones, then I can only commiserate with her. Because I don't want to be in her position. I can't imagine to swap places with her. Outliving so many... No. But it also means that if it is this way... she deserves even more respect. I mean, if it is this way, she's obviously able to handle it all.

I know, she will probably never be shown in... that "special" flawed way in the show. Damn, we don't even know if she was ever a "normal" pony. But Luna was "able" to be corrupted by negative emotions. So it maybe is possible to show Celestia in that way, too. Not the exact same way like Luna and Nightmare Moon. And it would not be a permanent thing. I mean, we already had several situations in the show where one character had more or less deep emotional problems and they were always solved, so why not Celetia, too? Would it really hurt to give her that kind of flaw, to make her character a bit more... multifaceted? Would it destroy the illusion of her as the nearly "perfect" and loveable character she is now?

And before someone asks or remembers some of my posts about Celestia; I really don't dislike her, I just prefer Luna. My reasons are based on speculations about how she will be portrayed in the future and her being simply some kind of... opposite to Celestia. And how Celestia is presented now and apprehended/percieved by other characters in the show. Period.

So, that's all I wanted to share about this. Maybe you have different ideas, or want to add something. You can leave comments here, if you want to, I'll try to reply then. I know, this entry here could be more structured, but that's simply the way I tend to think and talk, so... yeah.

Thank you for reading and until next time!