S1E1: exactly what DID happen to Celestia?

[Gatekeeper Giggle 2,902]

I always just assumed Nightmare Moon had kidnapped her. As for why Nightmare Moon was easy to defeat, I'm fairly certain she didn't actually relive Twilight and her friends were a threat until it was too late. 

[Aly 77]

Of course.. She was with me playing chess and having tea. Sorry

[Sazama Ichida 2,367]

I'm thinking Celestia knew that Twilight and her friends would defeat Luna and turn her back to normal and that was why she chose to show up when she did.

[Fractured 2,684]

Of course.. She was with me playing chess and having tea. Sorry

Quickly becoming one of my favorite posters.   Anyways...

 

Sorry this isn't int he actual S01E01 thread, I just thought this deserves a thread of its own.

 

Anyway, during the Summer Sun festival (or whatever it's called), Celestia should have been standing on the balcony in front of everyone to lower the moon and raise the sun when she mysteriously vanished.  Supposedly, Nightmare Moon kidnapped her, but that just doesn't seem right to me.

 

There should have been some kind of struggle, unless Celestia just willingly surrendered to Nightmare Moon without any fight.  Or, maybe, Nightmare Moon put some kind of freeze spell on Celestia and locked her in a closet, but then, how did she get out to raise the sun once Nightmare Moon was defeated?  Right when Nightmare Moon was defeated, Celestia just gracefully floated through the window of the castle in a ball of light, unharmed.

 

Unless, it was a conspiracy between Nightmare Moon and Celestia, to set Twilight on her path to becoming princess.  It just seems so weird to me that Nightmare Moon was so easy to defeat.  She didn't make any attempt in avoiding the beam from the Elements of Harmony like she did when fighting Celestia a thousand years ago.  Also, it's like she set up the whole Elements of Harmony thing, with her little obstacles.  She could have just shape-shifted herself into a giant wall of spikes and easily get rid of the mane six.

 

So, what's your theory?

According to the all-powerful Faust, Celestia was chilling inside the sun during the events of S1E1/E2 after she lost her fight with NMM. As for Nightmare Moon herself...

Methinks Luna was fighting the effects of the Nightmare at the time. It's the only reason I can think of she didn't murderalize any of them during any of the tasks, especially when it would've been stupidly easy just to cut the bridge they were on (circa Shadowbolts) before they got to the Castle of the Two Sisters while they were on it. That, or she had something else on her mind, like finding the elements and destroying them. There had to have been a reason she chose to go to the castle.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Shimmer5000

[Henny Penny Benny 936]

I tend to believe that Luna banished her to the sun, but even Nightmare Moon's power wasn't near that of the Elements of Harmony, so she couldn't hold her there for long, and when she was defeated, the spell was broken and she was released.

[DragonoftheSkysWind 66]

Nightmare moon trapped her in the sun possibly for 1 thousand years but when the elements of harmony defeated nightmare moon, celestia returned and raised the sun and harmony was restored to all of equestria, and I think celestia purposely let nightmare moon "defeat" her so twilight could find the elements of harmony and eventually fulfill her destiny to become princess twilight sparkle, if that makes sense.

[SilverStarApple 849]

1. Celestia was killed. She got better.

2. Celestia was hiding behind the scenes, waiting, and all the Nightmare Moon stuff was actually an elaborate con to cement the relationship of the Mane Six, Elements of Harmony, Users of Rainbow Power, and the ones who power up the absolute Biggest Gun in all of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

3. Celestia was attacked. She faked her death, and waited.

[LZRD WZRD 1,929]

I think Celestia was waiting on Twilight to stop NMM, this being another test. You get the feeling that Celestia could just show up at any time and kick Luna's butt, but she wanted to give Twilight the chance first. Kind of unethical but Celestia was smart to invest in the future like that. Celestia's a really interesting character honestly. I get the feeling that she's not always moral and has kind of a utilitarian perspective of some sorts.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 513]

Celestia was trapped in the sun when Nightmare Moon returned according to Lauren Faust-who also wrote the pilot, and since she wasn't connected to the Elements of Harmony anymore, she needed Twilight and her friends to purify her sister.

 

If I had to speculate, I would say that it was because after being forced to banish Luna to the moon, she didn't want to risk hurting her sister after waiting over one-thousand years for her return and searching for a way to bring her back.

[Guest]

@, as a thread already exists which is dedicated to Celestia's mysterious absence in S1E1, I have merged yours with the pre-existing thread. Please use the search function before posting to see whether your topic of discussion already has a dedicated thread.

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

She suffered a sudden case of weneedtogetheroutofthewayuntiltheendofthepisode-itis. It's the silent killer of our generation...

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

She was locked inside the sun by Nightmare Moon, and when Moon was defeated, the spell holding her there was lifted.

[Dark Horse 12,961]

She fell into a plot hole, duh! 

[Larkybird~ 734]

She was stuck in the sun. So nmm got to get her revenge. For a short period of time.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

She was banished to the sun. Celestia allowed Nightmare Moon to do this, as she knew her sister Luna was trapped inside Nightmare Moon, and also that altho she could defeat her, by doing so she would be hurting her sister. So Celestia allowed herself to be trapped inside the sun cuz she couldn't bear to risk hurting Luna, and instead, put her faith in her student Twilight Sparkle to find a way to defeat Nightmare Moon, thusly freeing both Luna and herself.

[Zekromic 1,054]

I think Faust herself tweeted that Celly was banished to the sun 

[AlbaTross 1,586]

I just got season 1 on DVD, so I saw this episode yesterday. I think I agree with the banishing to the sun notion. It is evident that she was banished somewhere or otherwise incapacitated until near the end, but hey, if you want to come up with some creative headcanons, go for it.

[Larkybird~ 734]

I just gotta wonder why we never got to see "the mare in the sun".

Hmmmm.

[Bird Mom 900]

Even if Luna was Nightmare Moon at the time(a.k.a pure and bitter evil) Celestia is still her sister and probably wouldn't have done much..

[Jangocoolguy 433]

She was kept prisoner in another castle

[ManaMinori 4,145]

pretty sure Celestia was just in hiding. In the first episode, in the Lore book Twi read from said that 'the stars will aid in her (NMM's) escape, so I'm under the impression that Celestia saw that Twi was ready, set NMM free, went into hiding (knowing NMM would likely be looking for her, and to just stay out of the way for the Mane 6 to do their thing, and reform her sister, whereas she couldn't), and then come back, when all was over with, and reunite with her sister.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Nightmare Muffin

[Timid Lullaby 20]

My theory is that Celestia in fact was aware that NMM was returning and decided to test her pupil by leaving the task to.. purify.? NMM solely on her shoulders. Meaning Celestia sat by with a bag of popcorn and watched the Mane 6 struggle to do so, but in a good way of course. It brought the 6 friends together and forged new bearers of the elements of harmony.

 

 

Celestia - 1 

Everyone else - 0

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

She was swallowed up by a plot hole the size of ponyville. Lost, floating into writing space.

 

Dangerous things, those holes.