Did Celestia have a plan B in case Twilight failed in stopping Nightmare Moon?

[Azureth 686]

She obviously had a lot of faith in Twilight at not just making friends in 24 hours but in getting them all to work together to stop NM. Do you think Celestia had a plan B in case she failed?

[Techno Universal 2,575]

Well most likely Celestia did have a redundancy plan in place but still she probably knew that her backup plan may not work.

[Hierok 11,829]

First of all, she knew that the mane 6 were in ponyville and probably that they are adventures too. So I think she didn't. If that failed it would be fighting NM herself.

[Guest]

I get the feeling Twilight and the elements of harmony were Plan B. For Celestia having lived as princess for so long, I don't see a reason why she would, after all this time, begin asking for help keeping an entire kingdom under control when previously she had done it all herself. Maybe Nightmare Moon is a very specific scenario, but Celestia herself once used the elements of harmony against her alone. Unless for some reason she wouldn't be recognized by every element any longer, I don't see a reason why she wouldn't be willing to handle Nightmare Moon herself, particularly considering it's old family business. I think using Twilight was a contention plan in the event Celestia herself couldn't get the job done.

[Mirage 24,135]

Celestia was nearby, and likely observed Twilight's entire Ponyville adventure. I believe that Celestia had faith in Twilight's ability to awaken the true elements of harmony. So, I don't think Twi was sent out on a sort of 'do or die' scenario - it was more like a, 'yes, she is who we have been waiting for...' kind of hope in her.

[RulesofRarity 489]

No. She wouldn't of. If the " Cutie remark" taught us anything it's that Celestia is incapable of combating the big bads without Twilight or the EOH. 

Edited September 26, 2017 by RulesofRarity

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

1 hour ago, RulesofRarity said:

No. She wouldn't of. If the " Cutie remark" taught us anything it's that Celestia is incapable of combating the big bads  without Twilight or the EOH. 

What?

The first timeline implies Celestia was able to defeat Nighmare Moon, Discord, and Chrysalis

the Second one Celestia was able to stop Nightmare Moon and Discord

the third one Celestia was defeated by Nightmare Moon

The Tirek one implies that Celestia was able to stop Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, the Plunder seeds, and was defeated by Tirek.

 

At_OP Yeah, she would have tried to defeat Nightmare Moon herself, likely having a 50/50 chance of winning. 

Edited September 26, 2017 by Ryanmahaffe

[KH7672 1,604]

1 hour ago, RulesofRarity said:

No. She wouldn't of. If the " Cutie remark" taught us anything it's that Celestia is incapable of combating the big bads  without Twilight or the EOH. 

Celestia may be weak when it comes to combat, (I mean when has she ever not been especially after 1000 years) but her strengths are in her contingency plans. The Cutie Remark timelines are those where there is no planning ahead, Equestria has to take these threats immediately and head on, ultimately ending in failure (although there is the possibility of her defeating the villains in the other timelines)  I'd still have to say no she had no plan B but that's because she knew her plan would work carefully evaluating every last detail from the time Twilight became her student until now.

[RulesofRarity 489]

58 minutes ago, Ryanmahaffe said:

What?

The first timeline implies Celestia was able to defeat Nighmare Moon, Discord, and Chrysalis

the Second one Celestia was able to stop Nightmare Moon and Discord

the third one Celestia was defeated by Nightmare Moon

The Tirek one implies that Celestia was able to stop Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, the Plunder seeds, and was defeated by Tirek.

 

At_OP Yeah, she would have tried to defeat Nightmare Moon herself, likely having a 50/50 chance of winning. 

I think it's clear that the circumstances within each timeline are different. For example, it's pretty safe to assume Discord never broke free in the Sombra timeline because there is no way Celestia would've been able to defeat him without the Elements of Harmony. As for Celestia being able to stop either Chrysalis or Nightmare Moon without the EOH that's debatable, I think Chrysalis and NMM both of the advantage over Celestia simply because they have the ability to be heartless. And as for Chrysalis we've seen her whooped Sunbutt's butt before. https://youtu.be/mfLQHW3_qVw

Sadly, the one thing that's consistent about these alternate timelines is that Celestia is unable to defend Equestria without the EOH or Twilight and that's rather troubling.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

4 hours ago, RulesofRarity said:

I think it's clear that the circumstances within each timeline are different. For example, it's pretty safe to assume Discord never broke free in the Sombra timeline because there is no way Celestia would've been able to defeat him without the Elements of Harmony. As for Celestia being able to stop either Chrysalis or Nightmare Moon without the EOH that's debatable, I think Chrysalis and NMM both of the advantage over Celestia simply because they have the ability to be heartless. And as for Chrysalis we've seen her whooped Sunbutt's butt before. https://youtu.be/mfLQHW3_qVw

Sadly, the one thing that's consistent about these alternate timelines is that Celestia is unable to defend Equestria without the EOH or Twilight and that's rather troubling.

How could she defend Equestria from threat after threat, Celestia could have outsmarted Discord or found the Elements when he was returning. 

Celestia could have seen the signs of Chrysalis in Cadence early on, or she could have better prepared

There is no other way of going about it, the only one that's debatable is Discord, it's not like Chrysalis decided to just not invade and Sombra just didn't return in the Tirek Timeline and Nightmare Moon just chose to stay and chill on the moon. 

Celestia is powerful, but not enough to deal with crazy 1000 year old threat over and over again

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

On 2017-09-26 at 5:52 PM, Ryanmahaffe said:

How could she defend Equestria from threat after threat, Celestia could have outsmarted Discord or found the Elements when he was returning. 

Celestia could have seen the signs of Chrysalis in Cadence early on, or she could have better prepared

There is no other way of going about it, the only one that's debatable is Discord, it's not like Chrysalis decided to just not invade and Sombra just didn't return in the Tirek Timeline and Nightmare Moon just chose to stay and chill on the moon. 

Celestia is powerful, but not enough to deal with crazy 1000 year old threat over and over again

Also, most of her time is spent managing Canterlot and such. That would cut into anyone's energy, effectiveness, availability, etc.

Otherwise — we'd probably see more of her feats from the flashbacks, the Comics (Who do you think gave Chrysalis and her Changelings those leg holes?), etc.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Even Evil Has Standards

[sweetolebob18 724]

I've seen this elsewhere.  Remember the prophecy in the pilot?

(then)

.....The stars will aid in her escape

And she will bring about Eternal Darkness

OK, look at Twilight's Cutie Mark (plus its resemblance to the mark on the Tree of Harmony in Princess Twilight)

Remember that more than one Her escaped -including Princess Luna

Remember that nobles, especially royalties, often have a meaningless but poetic title or two

If you assume that one of Luna's was The Eternal Darkness (or whatever, it's been awhile since I watched that episode)

Then the "she" obviously refers to Twilight & the whole thing was completely accurate if a bit poetically expressed.

 

Plus, remember that Ponyville is where it is because Celestia put it there (Family Appreciation Day).  Then ask yourself:

Who made that prophecy in the first place? Who left that book for Twilight to find? Why was so important a celebration in a hick town like Ponyville? Celestia could have had just about anyone in Equestria handle the preparations. Why were 4 of the other 5 Elements part of the celebration? Call it a coincidence that the only 5 ponies she met "just happened" to be the Elements of Harmony? Look at Fluttershy's behavior.  She should have wet herself, ran home, hid under her bed, & died of fright. (For those who doubt this, I point to her behavior in Dragonshy) She was obviously under a geas of some sort.  

No, clearly she had a plan & had been working on it for centuries.  In the Season 5 finale, most of the other alternatives she found other Element bearers & at least managed to banish Nightmare Moon

Edited September 28, 2017 by sweetolebob18

[Thrond 3,257]

I think she deserves more credit than the Mane Six for defeating Discord, given that she bailed them out once Discord had defeated them, so it's easily conceivable that she'd have a plan B.

Which is why I disagree with this: 

On 9/26/2017 at 9:00 AM, RulesofRarity said:

No. She wouldn't of. If the " Cutie remark" taught us anything it's that Celestia is incapable of combating the big bads without Twilight or the EOH. 

Not that "The Cutie Re-Mark" actually acknowledges Celestia's part in defeating Discord. What, he would have won against ponies who already defeated him in the past just because ponies whom he successfully outsmarted weren't there? Bollocks.

Furthermore, I have numerous issues with the "Celestia planned everything" interpretation of the show. I don't want to get into them here, but I'll simply say that she must have understood her plan might not work, and since she ruled Equestria for some 1000 plus years, she must have known to have contingency plans. 

[EpicEnergy 22,074]

I think that it didn't even cross her mind that her pupil would fail, so I doubt she had a plan B.

[Splashee 28,537]

Princess Celestia was the plan B 

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

I think she had enough confidence in Twilight not to need a Plan B.

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

Plan B was doom and eternal night  Unless she was thinking of recruiting some other gifted unicorn, of course. That would've been too risky though since her first student (Sunset Shimmer) left.

[Sparklefan1234 161,861]

Celestia: "Uhh...Uhh...Congratulations, Spike, you're the new savior of Equestria!"