spoiler How did the princesses know about the dragon lord summons?

[ManaMinori 4,146]

Is ponies don't know anythng about dragon culture, and Spike is experiencing his first summoning, then how the hay do the royal sisters know what's going on, to know that it's the dragon lord summons?

[Mesme Rize 15,690]

Is ponies don't know anythng about dragon culture, and Spike is experiencing his first summoning, then how the hay do the royal sisters know what's going on, to know that it's the dragon lord summons?

 

That's also what i said.

 

For me, this came straight out of nowhere and was just there to move the plot forward. I mean, if the princesses knew about this, why didn't they warn Twilight about it, that this could happen?

[Scootalove 10,689]

To give Spike a reason to explore there, Twilight recording knowledge on how dragon culture and how they act, etc. Who really knows?

[Luminance 2,187]

Plot convenience. They stated that they only know so little and yet they know so much too.

Edited April 17, 2016 by MiataPony

[TheRedHoodedWraith 52]

I would like to point out that the two sisters have been alive for quite some time, long enough to our live many generations of ponies. For example: Celestia still looked the same when Granny Smith was young, Celestia was ruling Equestria when Tirek was a teenager and the two sisters ruled when pony lifestyle reassembled Greeks!) So, living for so long, it would be inevitable that they noticed or learnt at least something about dragons.

Edited April 17, 2016 by TheRedHoodedWraith

[Megas 27,948]

They've been around for 1000 years at minimum, they had to pick it up eventually

[ManaMinori 4,146]

I would like to point out that the two sisters have been alive for quite some time, long enough to our live many generations of ponies. For example: Celestia still looked the same when Granny Smith was young, Celestia was ruling Equestria when Tirek was a teenager and the two sisters ruled when pony lifestyle reassembled Greeks!) So, living for so long, it would be inevitable that they noticed or learnt at least something about dragons.

all irrelevant when it's been said thrice now that ponies know next to nothing about dragons. If Spike is the first of his kind to live amongst and be studied by ponies, including Luna and Sunbutt, that still doesn't explain how they know wht they know. You credit Luna and Sunbutt for being old, but what good does age do, when they still don't have record of anything involving dragons, because they never bothered to study them in their thousands of years of existing? Not once have the sisters seen nor said to have interacted with dragons themselves, to know what the dragon lord summons is. (Journal of the Sisters doesn't count, because no dragons glowed and Dragon Lord never mentioned)

[Marimo 555]

all irrelevant when it's been said thrice now that ponies know next to nothing about dragons. If Spike is the first of his kind to live amongst and be studied by ponies, including Luna and Sunbutt, that still doesn't explain how they know wht they know. You credit Luna and Sunbutt for being old, but what good does age do, when they still don't have record of anything involving dragons, because they never bothered to study them in their thousands of years of existing? Not once have the sisters seen nor said to have interacted with dragons themselves, to know what the dragon lord summons is. (Journal of the Sisters doesn't count, because no dragons glowed and Dragon Lord never mentioned)

Well similarly they don't have a record of not interacting with them. All they've done is not talk much about their past. There's probably just some untold story about how they learned about what a dragon lord's summon is.

[Pastel 7,630]

They've been around for 1000 years at minimum, they had to pick it up eventually

I agree, after 1000 years they've certainly seen other dragons glowing before, or had a dragon friend like Spike...

[JonasDarkmane 19,790]

@@Nightmare Muffin

Hey there

 

Considering that this topic discusses the newly released episode, I have added a spoiler tag to this thread. It is best to keep in mind that after the release of an episode, spoiler tags are needed for discussions about new episodes. To be able to omit the spoiler tag, it is best to wait a week at most after the release of an episode . 

[Jeric 46,871]

A logical argument can be made with valid justification that they were aware of the glow based solely on their dialog and information found in past episodes. Or rather, nothing in canon eliminates the following:

 

The Princesses are long lived. 

Dragons are aware of Ponies. 

Ponies are aware of dragons. 

The Princesses are aware of dragons. 

The Princesses had dragon inspired architecture at least 1000 years before Twilight and her Friends. 

At least one pony encountered a dragon, dragon nest, or dragon egg by the time Twilight took her exam.

Celestia commissioned Twilight to handle a dragon in the past. 

Celestia and Luna are known to keep knowledge internally.

Therefore, the Princesses had unpublished encounters with dragons and did not share everything. 

[Sonic5421 428]

I have to agree with some of the posts on here about how, with Celestia and Luna having ruled for as long as they have, they must have experienced seeing a Dragon Lord summoning more than once in their lifetimes, so that is why they were so quick to identify it once Rarity brought Spike in and he explained what was happening to him.

 

They may know a lot, but keep it a secret unless they have to reveal it due to circumstances.

[ggg-2 3,553]

I asked this question too, but remember, Celestia and Luna have been around for at least a few thousand years. At some point, a dragon might have come to Equestria to pillage and might have been summoned by the Dragon Lord in front of them, giving them an answer to the glowing if asked.

[cmarston1 5,962]

I don't even really care how they know this.

I am just glad that so far in this season Celestia is already way more useful than she had been in all of season 5 combined.

[TBlaze 158]

 

 

For me, this came straight out of nowhere and was just there to move the plot forward. I mean, if the princesses knew about this, why didn't they warn Twilight about it, that this could happen?

That's not like our Great and Beloved Ruller Princess Trollestia rather chooses to keep all the VERY IMPORTANT details and information to HERSELF. Gee golly gosh Y U DO THAT PRINCESS?

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

When in doubt, do the Hand Wave.

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HandWave

 

[Sonic5421 428]

I asked this question too, but remember, Celestia and Luna have been around for at least a few thousand years. At some point, a dragon might have come to Equestria to pillage and might have been summoned by the Dragon Lord in front of them, giving them an answer to the glowing if asked.

That I agree with wholeheartedly. As long as they saw a dragon do that, it gave them enough to understand what it meant.

[MLPFanatic34 3,241]

They've been around for thousands of years so it makes sense they'd know about dragons and whatnot.

[Lucky Star 972]

They're both so old, there's just no way of telling how many thing they could know about their world and it's secrets. It's not far fetched to say that they may have come across this at one point or another.
I mean there's no doubt in my mind that Celestia and Luna had at least tried to make friends with their nation and the dragon lands. 

but it clearly didn't go well...

I can see it.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Lucky Star

[sweetolebob18 728]

As many have said, the Princesses have doubtless picked up a lot over a lifetime.  As to "why didn't they tell Twilight?".  May I point out they've never told Twilight jack squat about anything until they absolutely HAD to, why start now?  (I point to Changelings, Discord, Tirek, the Crystal Empire, other dimensions (EQ girls) & Sombra as evidence)

[LHfunk 422]

You guys all seem to be forgetting that at the beginning of the episode Celestia and Luna said that they had seen this happen before.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,003]

This was something that I felt needed some better wording in the episode. They said (if I recall correctly) that they still know so little about dragon culture and whatnot, but they somehow knew about this whole dragon summoning thing? I feel like that was a writing mistake. Plus, how could they not know much about dragon culture when they have lived for potentially thousands of years? 

 

Another question: how did Twilight, one of the most booksmart ponies in the entire show, also know nothing about dragon summons? 

 

I did enjoy this episode, but it definitely had plenty of plot convenience to it.