Roughshod

I love the flim and flammer, the salespony slammers, half mustachioed pistachio colored smooth talking scammers. They're the unicorn brothers, the double profit lovers, the cure for your bothers and the speedy apple squashers. Bit by bit they reap the bits, with no quit in 'em, take any pony and they'll win em', take any pitch and they can spin it. So come on over, no need for cold shoulders, and see the way their nonpareil can make the crowds beg to pay. EDIT: Squashers isn't the strongest rhyme but it seemed the best at the time.

I think what they meant was that King Sombra became solidified. Sombra regained his original form when he got nearer to the Crystal Heart, probably becoming more powerful. This is kind of ironic since it was also the Crystal Heart which destroyed him, similar to Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. When it comes to situations like the ones weve been discussing it's ultimately the results that truly. It's easy enough to say 'She didn't mean it!', but even if that's true it doesn't redeem her actions for me. Besides, who's to say carelessness and neglect don't involve some malicious intent? Choosing not to do anything about a problem is still an active choice. "There comes a time when silence is betrayal." - Martin Luther King Jr. Well yes. I have made my posts with the primary purpose of fleshing out my criticisms of Celestia but not so much my opinion on who would be best suited as her replacement. I have made general complaints about the political structure of Equestria and how I don't consider it to be ideal though. I might expand on that later. I'm sure I could keep it relevant to the topic and spark some debate in the process.

Aren't you forgetting about somepony? Keep in mind that Celestia did next to nothing in assisting with the defeat of Nightmare Moon or Luna's subsequent rehabilitation. Some have said that this was all planned by Celestia in he first place but I don't buy that. Once again it comes down to incompetence or malice. Perhaps a bit of both. I think he's pretty decent. "Regardless of the canonicity"? For the sake of this dialogue I would prefer if we kept to the television show as much ad possible since that is generally accepted as most canonical. With Celestia and the elements she did use them singularly but she did so using all of them and that's why Sunset Shimmer being able to utilize a single one seems so strange and nonsensical to me. The damage could be catastrophic? Well considering Celestia's apparent disregard and lazy approach I suppose that's possible. But I find it hard to believe that a single alicorn who had just received her power would be able to overpower the other three, especially without using the EOH(unless you're also suggesting the remane 5 would support her abuse of power). Of all the alicorns we know of Twilight has the least experience with her new powers and this can be seen in the season 4 premiere. You're using hyperbole and also arguing from a point of ignorance. I cannot agree that the theoretical sacrifice of an entire empire is of equivalent value to the threat posed by an inexperienced alicorn that Celestia was already well aquainted with and who's character she had already found sufficient to become her student in the first place. Hence the previous tests she had given her. This doesn't mean I excuse the mistakes and errors Celestia has made, but I don't believe she is that daft as to completely misunderstand Twilight(even given her neuroses) nor do I think she and her fellow princesses are so incompetent that they could not be able to contain the situation to some degree were something to go wrong. Ultimately moot to me when you remember that the fact that she needed Twilight at all is a strike against her as being incompetent. If she hadn't ignored her sister's feelings of jealousy that lead to her corruption and ultimate banishment she wouldn't have lost her connection to the EOH in the first place and become so dependant on her student to take care of her nation's crises. Some risks aren't worth it? Weren't you just agreeing that she takes risks all the time? And also implicitly justifying the possible eradication of an entire empire so as to prevent an inexperienced, but evidently still trustworthy princess? Celestia is largely still irresponsible and incapable when it comes to handling problems that arise in her kingdom, unable to even confine a former tyrant that has been petrified to a secure location or withstand an attack from a plunderseed vine. It is because of this, amongst other reasons I have outlined, that I do not believe Celestia is the best suited to rule Equestria.

A small point of fact is that Twilight became Celestia's student before she discovered the EOH. So unless you can prove that Celestia somehow knew that Twilight was going to become a wielder of one of those elements in addition to the others then it would stand to reason that her original basis for tutoring her still rests on the fact that she has exceptional magical ability. Note: The fact that her cutie mark resembles that of the element of magic both in it's crown/tiara form and symbolism on the Tree of Harmony has already been addressed as a possible reason for Celestia's motivations. With all due respect, and I generally do respect your opinions, that is largely immaterial. Not just because Equestria Girls isn't really cannon to the main series(which I don't think it is) but also because that transformation or whatever you want to call it didn't even make sense. If you have the time, this will explain it better than I can. Is that a serious statement? That's entirely self defeating! What is the point of having twilight ready to protect Equestria if there's nothing left of it? I agree that sometimes risks need to be taken, but it's just ludicrous to say that 'it doesn't matter what happens just as long as Twilight learns a good lesson.' This is exactly the type of thinking I was talking about with regards to Celestia and her often reckless and selfish behavior.

Being guilty of two out of five(by your judgement) is still pretty bad. I want to address some of your comments though. When I said "her own aims and desires" I wasn't specifically referring to personal ambition or greed, more like single-minded self-absorption, which I believe is a serious flaw for someone in a leadership position. As you said it does come down more to incompetence but even if there's no malicious intent directly involved I still believe that's an indictable offense for a ruler, especially when it's as recurring as this case. Of course, being a perpetual sovereign in a non-democratic country means Celestia is probalby not held accountable as much as most leaders we know of. No real consultation or apparent desire for consensus, which, given the type of position she holds makes sense in a way but does not justify her actions to me. But let's not get into political theory too much. By this account the user whom I was primarily responding to account of 'destiny' begins to look a lot less credible. If Twilight did fail to use her alicorn power appropriately then obviously part of the blame would fall on Celestia for giving it to her in the first place. I would go further; as Twilight's teacher such a result would be a consequence of Celestia's poor judgement and training. I also still don't agree that such training required such dangerous action and I wonder how any country's leader can think it appropriate to simply sit back and do nothing, even at the moment of peril, in defence of their nation just to prove a point to their student. I find that to be a highly vain and frankly stupid action. This may look like I'm being overly critical or too demanding but keep in mind that this is a character that is often portrayed and interpreted as a virtually flawless, infallible,almost divine being. At least at first glance. I believe this standard warrants especially high standards for behaviour and conduct.

That's a largely irrelevant point since most of those things would almost certainly not be canonically shown in a television show aimed at young children or in any of is associated media outlets. Equestria has a decent amount of technology in its own right, rivaling that of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century western nations. Locomotives, skyscrapers, regrigerators... All of these point to industrialization; but it doesn't seem to be very widespread throughout Equestria. The phenomenon of magic with it's prevalence and utility in ponies lives is likely the largest factor in that.