My question about Princess Celestia

[Misterian 118]

Okay, make no mistake, I am utterly against the idea of looking at Princess Celestia as a troll, tyrant, or sexual deviant. I in fact tend to look at those that do and avoid them like the plague (which I find much easier than you think).

 

But I do find that she does always plan more than she lets on.

 

You know how Celestia has this Trickster Mentor way of teaching the Mane 6 certain stuff?

 

Like how Celestia told Twilight to make friends because of how that was how to get Elements of Harmony?

 

Or how Celestia sent Twilight 2 tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, when she already knows Twilight has 6 friends and apparently was just using the 2 ticket ruse just to help Twilight learn how dividing your blessings can affect your friendships.

 

Or especially during the Crystal Empire premiere when Celestia sent the Mane 6 to deal with Sombra threatening the titular Empire, but told Twilight that she has to be the one that ultimately saves the Empire. Yet at the end when Spike ends up the one who saves the Crystal Empire, Celestia tells Twilight that it was just a trick to teach Twilight about self-sacrifice.

 

Now here's a question I hope some of you might be able to answer (and a question I know I'd ask the Mane 6 if I ever stumble across them);

 

Why is it the Mane 6 have never caught on to Celestia's Trickster Mentor methods?

 

seriously, after 3 times, you'd think one of Mane 6 would stop to think there might be a string attached to something Celestia says or does.

 

Twilight in particular I find to be the most jarring example, she's been personally tutored by Celestia and obviously knew her for several years, while you could make the argument that Celestia might have been more straight-forward when she was tutoring Twilight, but even then, after several years Twilight had to caught on to Celestia's more mischievous side at some point. But not once did Twilight ever so much as raise an eyebrow at anything Celestia does.

 

seriously, what's up with that?

 

 

[Phoenix237 353]

Well for Twilight my guess is that she regards Princess Celestia wih the highest respect and doesn't reall think about her tricky ways of teaching her about freindship. Maybe she does know, but her respect for her is too grey that maybe she ignores it.

I don't know.

I have to think about it a little more.

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

I honestly don't know. It's a good question, though. I've always had kind of a beef with Celestia's borderline-deceptive behavior and how the ponies she rules over don't pick up on it, and just seem to blindly follow her despite her careless, ineffectual rule. It's like she's afraid to get up close and personal with Twi (which is exactly the kind of teaching she needs IMO) and is using the Mane 6 to do things she really should be dealing with herself. There's a ton of potential and unanswered questions between Celestia and Twilight, and the writers seem to miss it completely.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I think Celestia knows that Twilight can handle tasks on her own but, she thought to herself that since she sent Twilight to Ponyville to learn about friendship she thinks that the Mane 6 can be there to help on her adventures. But, there are some questions yet to answer with their student-teacher relationship.

[Veylon 255]

The Ponies practically worship Celestia. They probably feel safe assuming that she knows what she's doing and don't try to unwrap the logic behind her decisions.

 

And, really, Twilight is probably the least suspicious about her Princess of any of them. She's practically built her identity around being "Celestia's Student" and would probably rather not think about anything that might put a wedge between them. She trusts her mentor implicitly.

 

Though I do take issue with the Crystal Empire scenario. Twilight is exactly the wrong kind of pony to be given a rule with the expectation that she'll break it. If Celestia wants Twilight to be more independent, and even go against her from time to time, she really needs to take her aside and explain it to her one detail at a time. That's the kind of instruction Twilight needs.

[Koori 156]

Hmm... Celestia has lived for at least 2000 years. I think she'd have learned to be quite cunning yet wise at some time during her ruling days. Ever since Celestia saw the raw power Twilight displayed at her entrance exam, I think she put all of her hopes on Twilight and planned everything from there. ... Well at least to the point till Nightmare Moon returned.

 

After that she planned to see how Twilight would grow and learn (as she so sung in her song.).

 

As for the Mane 6 not noticing Celestia's... trickster side, I think I agree on previous answers in regards that they respect Celestia so much that they are practically blind to her true intentions, especially Twilight. There are many indications in the show of which obvious ones are between Celestia and Twilight. One such example would be in the episode "A Bird in the Hoof". It kinda made me wonder why would Celestia take her soon to be dying pet phoenix with her on the visit to Ponyville? Why not let Philomena stay in the castle? She must have known that Fluttershy would get shocked when seeing a sick animal and try to heal it, especially since she's the Element of Kindness. Celestia's way of teaching Fluttershy a lesson (and maybe Twilight too)... and her pet phoenix, I guess?

 

There's also indications of Celestia planning something else or else she wouldn't have let Discord free in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" (with extra insurance)

 

Twilight, however, does tend to fear Celestia though not because she thinks Celestia is a tyrant or something like that. As we kinda saw in Crystal Empire part 2, Twilight's worst fear is failing Celestia so bad that she would... "abandon" her. This is greatly amplified by her position as Celestia's personal and most faithful student (though that has changed now).