purple.teal

I highly doubt she is going to show up again. Some episodes just need an antagonist and thus she was created. Nothing more.

Twilight Sparkle is my favorite by a slight margin. I think her biggest flaw is her over-analytic nature. She keeps retreating to her books for answers when sometimes a friend can give better ones.

I don't think there is any other viable reaction.

It was a really well done video can barely tell the animation apart from the actual MLP show. The first time I saw it I had absolutely no warning or idea what was going to happen. I laughed the entire way through until the very end. Then I finally realized what I just had watched and wondered if my reaction was normal.

So we could Have Celestia and Luna hold the Equestrian moon in place until the Earth moon catches up to it perhaps?

So this entire time Sunset Shimmer was building up an army of teenagers who would be turned into just another pony when the go through the portal, when she could have just gone to Fluttershy, adopted every dog she had, and thrown them through the portal for and instant army of dragons?

Ok, so I think the argument has turned from whether or not Celestia is bad in the first place, to what would happen If Celestia was found out to be bad. The results would be terrifying. Lets look at it in a "Deathbattle" viewpoint. Five contestants: Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadence, and Equestria's pony population itself. Let’s compare stats then shall we: Celestia has a very large army, most likely poorly trained. Since we are using Starwars as our reference now, Celestia has the imperial Fleet and storm troopers behind her. Most of Celestia's guards would probably become cannon fodder for their princess while a few may defect to the citizenry. Unlike the Empire's army Celestia's forces will eventually run out. She can't clone them (actually it is unspecified what magic can actually do) unless she is willing to use the mirror pond. I believe that would lead to a continual degradation of her already nigh useless troops and do absolutely nothing to help her position. And she can't get them from an outside source. The people are already revolting, and drafting them into her army would only give them a way to siphon imperial resources to said rebels. Celestia herself is a powerful pony, wielding Alicorn magic with ease. While we don't know which side Luna would actually join, I assume her ties to her sister will be the strongest and plan for her much better trained but far less numerous forces (Jabba the Hutt's mercenaries) To join Celestia. Which ever side Luna joins though, I think they will all follow her wholeheartedly. Who else seems to accept them? Luna is also like her sister just a bit less powerful. Shining Armor, Cadence and the crystal ponies. They would all have the same goal of protecting homelands, but these guards will be wracked with divided loyalties. Different factions will assume they know best how to protect their familiesl. I assume that the guards would at the very least, split into three groups: Those that believe in the necessity of Celestia's continued support, Those that think Celestia has become a safety hazard, And those that hold honor and loyalty to their captain, Shining Armor, who in turn would follow his wife, Princess Cadence.This still leaves us wondering where her loyalties lie. To the princess who gave her the kingdom in the first place, or the Crystal Empire she now rules over? For argument's sake we will say she will do her best for her Empire. This still gives her the same choice as her army. To join Celestia if she thinks going against her will destroy her land, or remove the ally turned enemy who now threatens her kingdom. The mane six represent the Jedi council. The best in all of Equestria, each able to take on armies singlehandedly, but a loss of a single one is dramatic. They are all across the board. Three scenarios can arise here: One, Twilight continues to believe Celestia is good and follows her and the others follow Twilight in turn. Two, Twilight attempts to join her mentor but the others agree that’s a bad idea and keep her from reaching Celestia. Third, Twilight and her friends realize that Celestia is a threat to harmony and attempt to take her down. And Equestria’s people. The rebel alliance. A coalition of mismatched vigilantes calling for peace. They are nothing significant, mainly owing victories to outstanding soldiers who picked up slack of lesser ones. The actual war: Celestia has a problem. Apple exporting businesses are getting mad over taxes and prices. After a lot of runaround they start rebellion. (sums up moonlightavenger’s spoiler.) She begins looking for allies to help silence these farmer/merchants and finds that only her sister is willing to help. Cadence realizes Celestia as a threat and Twilight’s eyes have been opened. Celestia begins sending regiments out across Equestria in waves of freedom trampling hooves. Some are sent to Ponyville to nullify the threat of the Mane 6 traitor scum. Leaks within Celestia’s army help them escape ponyville and Celestia’s trap, however a few of Luna’s guardsmen catch them in the act and manage to eliminate one of the targets and executes the mole for treason. The other five escape and escape to refuge in the Cloud City Crystal Empire, where Cadence accommodates them. Soon Solar Imperial troops reach the crystal empire, led by none other than Celestia herself. She convinces Lando Cadence to turn in the Jedi Mane 6 in return for amnesty and safety of the Crystal lands. With most of the significant enemies out of play, The Solar Empire steamrolls the rebellion and returns life to its previous idyllic state. Maybe over the years petty underground rebellion affiliates poke their head up and are promptly squashed, or maybe the gryphons do decide to get involved and they decide to help the rebellion, then dragons get involved in an attempt to make a land grab and burn everything then Discord realizes he himself has never in his entire life caused this much chaos and grabs a bag of popcorn and roasts a s’more over the dragon burned remains of Canterlot while watching the fireworks. in the end, either Celestia wins, or Discord wins. Such a rebellion would be futile.

Okay. Sorry to offend. I am not directly calling her a Tyrant though, I think she is a good person and princess, she just might have some skeletons in the closet I want to know about...

What is Celestia ultimately trying to protect them from? One thing that always gets me is the insane amount of guards that seem to appear in so many episodes (Their incompetence is a kicker). Yes I understand human leaders all have their guards, the United States President has his not-so-secret service and The Pope has the Swiss Guard (and yes I understand that I compared Celestia to real world leaders even after moonlightavenger pointed out it isn't a good match). If the world is a peaceful one though, would there be need for them? Have they even done anything other than stand still in polished armor? In addition, every other villain that has come up so far she has treated as a test for Twilight, directly calling the entire battle with King Sombra a test. What force could she possibly be building up our new princess to face? So she keeps has a large standing military, constantly prepares her student for a "Boss fight", but yet never mentions once to any of her subjects her worries? Could it possibly be that she herself doesn't know? This has nothing to do with the current argument but are you suggesting that they created more government to avoid Bureaucracy?

I believe that Celestia is a ruler with the interests of her citizen ponies at heart, but I think that she is using methods that I might not always agree with. I never thought about comparing it to Nazi rule, and I probably wouldn't. I don't think she would even come close to that. I hope.

Creating Shining Armor as a sibling for Twilight Sparkle just so she could get mad at him for not telling her about a wedding was already a waste of an episode. I don't consider the second episode in the two part a waste because we got to see another cool villain. Albeit for a short time.

I don't think that Luna/Nightmare Moon would have gotten the chance to Permanently raise the moon in the first place. If you believe the comics are canon and she was corrupted by an outside force with no hope of redemption, then it would end up like it did, with Celestia banishing her corrupted sister using the elements of harmony. If the comics are irrelevant and Luna willingly went to the dark side, I think that after a few days, (weeks maybe?) Luna would realize what she was doing to the populace and stop. She wanted to be loved by the ponies, why would she kill them? Make them remember she existed perhaps, but I'm sure after a week of her sister begging and appeasing Luna, things would return to normal. (The latter option relies also on the fact that Celestia believed her sister could be saved by words and not blasting her with a friendship cannon.)

Okay yes, what nightmare Moon was planning to do was very bad (understatement). Depending on if you think the comics are canon though, Luna may not have been in control at that time. I do believe she was misguided in her thinking of the way the ponies treated the night and I do not make excuses for allowing herself to become Nightmare Moon. I also truly don't think that the scenario could have ended any other way. But at the very first episode, when Twilight realizes that Nightmare Moon is coming back and sends Celestia a letter, which is seemingly rebuffed. Celestia knew the entire time what was happening, she just didn't feel that Twilight needed to know. again, maybe the way she handled it is for the better, but I would rather know.

I'm not directly saying she means to harm anybody, it just seems to me a bit like a 1984 type world. Everything she does seems to be manipulating Twilight. And maybe its for the best, she made Twilight a princess after all. I think that she also has even bigger plans for her apprentice. Plans that I think have to do with unlocking her true potential as the guardian of harmony or something as she unlocks the box revealed at the end of "Princess Twilight Part 2" Season 4 Episode 2. Even so, if my life was being planned for a larger destiny, I would like to be informed instead of just being ordered around.

So in that reasoning ponies have been around since the beginning of time. We know that to be false as the ponies came to Equestria only after being kicked out of their last home by the Windigos. Clearly Equestria was doing fine without the interference of the ponies if it was as appealing as they said it was in "Hearth's Warming Eve" Season 2 Episode 11. So the manipulation of weather is not necessary.

I have the habit of re-watching episodes as I wait for the next one to come out and I did so, something I saw got me thinking. I was watching the episode "Winter Wrap Up" Season 1 Episode 11, when I began to wonder as to why they were having to bring spring in 'on schedule'. Wouldn't it come naturally? Then I thought of something I heard in the previous episode: "The Everfree Forest is the only place in Equestria where plants and animals grow up with out the help of ponies. Why do they have to do everything? It hit me when I listened to a song By StormWolf - "The Beginning of Order" When Celestia created order, how much did she create? Perhaps she overdid it a little? I want to know what you think of Celestia. I myself can still see her as a benevolent ruler, I just find myself trying to look into her motives a little deeper when ever she sends Twilight on a new errand. (Maybe this is already an idea used in a different thread. If so, oops.)

I'm hoping that they do a continual plot, even if they just reference previous episodes like they have so far. As for the actual episodes, I want to see more of the royalty and their history. I mean, We saw how the three tribes created Equestria, but that doesn't explain where the alicorns came from. I also think it is time we see at least one of the CMC get a cutie mark.

I don't think she is the guardian of the tree yet. My guess is that this is the ultimate goal but until Twilight opens up the locked box she won't be. I think it is safe to say that our princess even with her new magic is still no match for Discord.

I always want to give them hugs at the end of every episode! The ways they just come together at the end is so cute!