Princess Orwellian Control Theory

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

 I have a theory that may or may not include sanity, your mileage may vary.

 

What if the sun and the moon in Equestria move on their own, and the Princesses are the only ones who know that? Notice how we never actually SEE them raise the sun or the moon. When they are present for it, their horns don't even appear to glow!

 

You're probably going to mention Nightmare Moon. But what if she knew that eternal night could not be created? If there are spells to modify a pony's destiny, surely there are spells to create artificial light and darkness. Perhaps she just wanted to control the pony populace with fear.

 

"But their cutiemarks are the sun and moon!" you're saying to yourself, surely.

 

What if they control the cutiemarks of all the ponies, and nobody knows that either? I base this theory on the fact that the Cutie Marks were changed in the Season 3 finale with that spell. Maybe Clover the Clever was catching on and the princesses disposed of him/her. Thus it is not unreasonable to assume that the Princesses could control the cutie marks, with their powerful magic and all that.

 

Notice how, despite their ability to use magic, nopony has apparently been to space from what we can see. But with magic, wouldn't that be easy? Perhaps the Princesses are controlling more of the ponies' worlds than they suspect, even limiting what scientific knowledge and inventions are available to the ponies.

 

Perhaps their free will is an illusion?

 

Maybe the Alicorns are the true ruling class, controlling all of the information (and thus the minds) of all other ponies in Equestria.

 

Another way to support this is that strange dream-like chamber that Celestia has Twilight in when she is becoming an Alicorn, it seems possible that she can monitor everything happening at every moment that way.

 

 

 

Thoughts?

Edited June 12, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Zygen 6,066]

You have a good point, but I think that on the literal interpretation for the show it isn't the case and its just overthinking kinda.

 

That said it does add up pretty well more or less, the only time being on the first episode when Nightmare moon captures Celestia, and I assume if she didn't the sun would've been up soon after, but it didn't. I think that would be the one time where their control of the sun and moon was apparent, and the one scenario where the theory doesn't totally add up to me.

 

Now every other time it seems to add up pretty well, so who knows xD.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

You have a good point, but I think that on the literal interpretation for the show it isn't the case and its just overthinking kinda.

 

That said it does add up pretty well more or less, the only time being on the first episode when Nightmare moon captures Celestia, and I assume if she didn't the sun would've been up soon after, but it didn't. I think that would be the one time where their control of the sun and moon was apparent, and the one scenario where the theory doesn't totally add up to me.

 

Now every other time it seems to add up pretty well, so who knows xD.

But like I said, could they not simply use a spell to make artificial dark or light? Perhaps Celestia was in on it, after all, how exactly did she get freed?

[FractalMoon 378]

What. The. Frak? Someone needs to write a fanfiction based on this NOW. It actually makes a surprising amount of sense, then again I AM known as one of the less mentally stable people around here...

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,795]

Dude, waaaayyy too dark...

 

That's even more disturbing, in my eyes, than "the evil door" or "Discord is actually Starswirl". Of course, some things activate everyones headcanon, but even if some things in the show are or will be presented in an arguable way, I think something like that woud never become canon...

 

But on the other hand... a very simple understanding of destiny and everyone-has-his-nicheesque kind of lifestyle... It would of course never be shown in a negative way. Celestia more as the guard than as the keeper.

 

Maybe a mix. Sun and moon are actually controlled, but the reason why ponies have cutiemarks at all and their importance and actual meaning is hidden by Celestia for a "good" reason...

 

Dammit. So much potential that will most likely never be used in the show itself because of the complexity.

 

Well, we still have fics...

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

What. The. Frak? Someone needs to write a fanfiction based on this NOW. It actually makes a surprising amount of sense, then again I AM known as one of the less mentally stable people around here...

 

I am so writing one of those now. Another thing is that room that Celestia brings Twilight to when she is becoming an Alicorn. If Celestia can show Twilight so many moments from her past, who is to say that Celestia cannot monitor everything going on that way and maintain complete control of the world.

 

Maybe the reason Nightmare Moon never succeeded in defeating Celestia is that there was never a real conflict, but that is just what the ponies were being told so that they would think Celestia was protecting them..

Edited June 12, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Scootalove 10,692]

Maybe the ponies besides the princesses are able to see how things really are when they aren't in control of the sun or moon. There are a lot of theories that could pop up where Twilight does not realize what Celestia is hiding from her.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

Maybe the ponies besides the princesses are able to see how things really are when they aren't in control of the sun or moon. There are a lot of theories that could pop up where Twilight does not realize what Celestia is hiding from her.

Maybe Twilight, searching for knowledge, was about to realize that things weren't what they seemed. To stop her from revealing the information to the public population of ponies (Since Twilight's opinions are highly respected) the Princesses allowed her into the 'inner circle' (They made her an Alicorn) so that she doesn't ruin the power that Celestia and Luna have worked so hard for by covering up the truth.

[Zygen 6,066]

But like I said, could they not simply use a spell to make artificial dark or light? Perhaps Celestia was in on it, after all, how exactly did she get freed?

Thats true I guess, I kinda think if that was the case the sun would still rise, unless they actually did infact control it, it didn't appear to rise therefore I don't know exactly where the darkness could've come from.

 

I assume she was just freed after Nightmare moon was banished and that released the spell trapping her in, idk wherever .

 

Theres also the fact that in Heartswarming Eve the story told that the unicorns of before Equestria controled the sun and moon, and those horns light up I believe when they raise the sun and moon, although I'm not totally sure, it still does make it seem like the sun and the moon must be raised by someone.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

Thats true I guess, I kinda think if that was the case the sun would still rise, unless they actually did infact control it, it didn't appear to rise therefore I don't know exactly where the darkness could've come from.

 

I assume she was just freed after Nightmare moon was banished and that released the spell trapping her in, idk wherever .

 

Theres also the fact that in Heartswarming Eve the story told that the unicorns of before Equestria controled the sun and moon, and those horns light up I believe when they raise the sun and moon, although I'm not totally sure, it still does make it seem like the sun and the moon must be raised by someone.

 

Again, could the stories not simply be made up by the Princesses? If they are really thousands of years old, that would be more than enough time to alter tradition.

[Zygen 6,066]

Again, could the stories not simply be made up by the Princesses? If they are really thousands of years old, that would be more than enough time to alter tradition.

I guess thats true, long as they are thousands of years old(Which it appears they are). 

 

Who knows, maybe all Celestia wants is all the worlds cake .

[FractalMoon 378]

Again, could the stories not simply be made up by the Princesses? If they are really thousands of years old, that would be more than enough time to alter tradition.

THIS. The quote "History is written by the victors" comes to mind... Actually, I'm going to take this a step further. What if the princesses are not ponies at all, but an invading species that conquered Equestria long ago. They staged the 'Nightmare Moon' event as a way to supplant their power as protectors, not conquerors. They created the stories to make people think they aren't as malevolent as they truly are. Twilight discovered this, and was forcibly metamorphosed into an alicorn to destroy any sort of validity she may have had if she tried to out them.

[Nohbdy 4,108]

I like this theory. Definitely very interesting. Tyrant Celestia, regardless of its plausibility, has always fascinated me. I remember speculating on a similar scenario in the past, although I was thinking about a Stalinist/Maoist rather than Orwelllian Equestria. 
 
To add on to what you said, there's also the "Friendship is Magic" thing going on with Twilight and her friends. Smells fishy, doesn't it? I'll just copy/paste, since I'm a bit lazy today. 
 

Friendship is used as an indoctrination tool to keep Celestia in power and to maintain public order. Dissidents are exiled to the Everfree Forest or beyond, where they will inevitably succumb to starvation, thirst, predation, or insanity. When an insurrection occurred a thousand years in the past, its leader disappeared. It turns out that this leader was none other than Her Highness' own sister, whose very existence was destroyed and remade into that of a terrifying monster. Numerous rumors asserted that the sister, now called "Nightmare Moon," was incarcerated in a maximum security facility on the moon.
 
Furthermore, magic is not magic, but technology. The Alicorn master race's powers and immortality arise not from biological or magical superiority, but from advanced technology that originated from the democratic world beyond Equestria's borders. The sun/moon-raising does not actually take place; instead, it is a means of propaganda to further strengthen Celestia's cult of personality.
 
EDIT: And let's not forget our dear "friend" Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash's suspicions were right--Twilight is a spy. She is an agent sent to report on Ponyville's activities under the guise of researching the most important virtue in Equestrian society: friendship. She and her assistant, Spike, report to the government using code, which is why the writing is completely unintelligible to any pony or human reading it.
 
It's 4AM and I can't be bothered to write any more. So here's a picture that you're all familiar with:

 

[pinkiefan1287 610]

O boy another crazy theory about how Celestia and Luna are both evil monarchs and are manipulating all the ponies.   I am going with no on this idea. 

 

For starters, we already know that in Hearts Warming Eve, we know that the unicorns used to control the cycle of the sun and the moon. This already shows that this theory is wrong. The unicorns would have noticed if their magic was not working on the sun and moon to make this work.

 

We do see Celestia raise the sun. In the episode, Cutie Mark Chronicles we see Celestia raise the sun. 

 

If they controlled cutie marks, why would they have ponies like the CMC wast their time finding what they are good at and just give it to them? Another problem comes up with this. If Luna never could control the moon or night, then why would she become Nightmare Moon? She would not be bothered by the fact that no one enjoys her night, because it's not her real power.  

 

Also in MMC the cutie marks wert changed they were switched. 

 

Also why would Celestia and Luna get rid of Star Swirl and then have Twilight finish the spell? It makes no seances to do that.

 

 

 

Notice how, despite their ability to use magic, nopony has apparently been to space from what we can see.

 

Read comic. 

[Cwanky 17,746]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

 

I hate to say it but this applies to the creators of MLP:FIM and the Equestrians themselves. No I am not suggesting that they or the viewers who support the show are going to face eternal damnation in any form. But the intentions of the writers and animators and hence the characters can easily be construed with negative consequences much like the dictator who drives his country to civil war to root it of external threats.

 

I have said this before in the past, but Equestria simply seems almost too utopian for its own good. Sure the populace does experience the same daily problems we do or might, including aging, death, conflict and finances. But the way the society operates is essentially in a giant utopian bubble where Celestia is the almighty and wise, yet benevolent Goddess and Monarch. The ponies feel a compulsive need to control everything or ignore things that they don't understand, further shutting themselves in a bubble gated community. They compulsively control the weather, environment and even wildlife, which they seemingly fret if they lose control over as seen in Winter Wrap Up.They have outlandish and incredibly offensive stereotypes and notions about other sentient races including zebras, dragons, bison, despite the fact that individuals like Spike and Mulia Mild exist who prove these assertions to be outright wrong.

 

And what a more perfect way to top it all off than to have Celestia and Luna act as the immortal goddesses and rulers that raise the sun and moon, the 2 things which literally are the livelihood and essence of Equestria?

 

Do you know what it sounds like? Its an awful like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, an exceptional utopian book with a society that also chooses to immerse itself in a mindless state of harmony and happiness all the while despising and ignoring the outside world, the reservations for example. 

 

HOWEVER

 

Its highly notable that the Mane 6 are the ones that constantly find themselves dealing with the problems of their own flawed society often in subtle ways. They learn to befriend Zecora the zebra and overcome biases, reach out to the bison, talk to their enemies, befriend a dragon, manticore, cerberus, etc, and realize they are more than they give themselves credit for, especially true in Magical Mystery Cure.

 

I am compelled to believe, as the optimistic fool that I am, that Celestia had good intention to groom Twilight Sparkle to be perhaps her successor one day and hence become an alicorn. When we think about it, she truly fits the role. Of the Mane 6, she's the one true outsider, that helps bring the others together, not through some mystical magic but via loyalty, compassion, integrity, joy, and generosity, things which make up friendship and they spread to and outside Ponyville. Celestia more than likely understood that and  was deeply scarred by her sister Luna's banishment, Discord's tyranny and the unspoken but clearly visible barriers and attitudes of many of the ponies. The autocratic rule of a single monarch wielding all these elements tends to go against this idea. 

 

What better then than to have those that can best represent the Elements of Harmony help bring true harmony to Equestria? Celestia thus put her faith into Equestria by having its key power, harmony through friendship, entrusted to those that are the regular citizens of Equestria.

 

But I do agree. I think its very easy to construe that the Princesses are manipulating all of Equestria in their grander scheme and plans. Let's hope that in the future the Mane 6 realize that their foes are simply not defeated by simply blasting them with magic beams but instead with the strengths they already possess. I pray that Twilight and the Mane 6 are in good hands.

 

Don't screw things up Hasbro and co. 

Edited June 12, 2013 by Cwanky

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

O boy another crazy theory about how Celestia and Luna are both evil monarchs and are manipulating all the ponies.   I am going with no on this idea. 

 

For starters, we already know that in Hearts Warming Eve, we know that the unicorns used to control the cycle of the sun and the moon. This already shows that this theory is wrong. The unicorns would have noticed if their magic was not working on the sun and moon to make this work.

 

We do see Celestia raise the sun. In the episode, Cutie Mark Chronicles we see Celestia raise the sun. 

 

If they controlled cutie marks, why would they have ponies like the CMC wast their time finding what they are good at and just give it to them? Another problem comes up with this. If Luna never could control the moon or night, then why would she become Nightmare Moon? She would not be bothered by the fact that no one enjoys her night, because it's not her real power.  

 

Also in MMC the cutie marks wert changed they were switched. 

 

Also why would Celestia and Luna get rid of Star Swirl and then have Twilight finish the spell? It makes no seances to do that.

 

 

 

 

Read comic. 

First of all, by the things you tried to use to disprove my point, I can assume that you did not read my posts in this thread, since I addressed most, if not all of them.

 

Celestia could have made the propaganda about the story of Unicorns raising the sun and moon. After all, she is thousands of years old and has had plenty of time to spread lies, considering everybody trusts her.

 

We see the sun raise, how can we tell Celestia was involved?

 

Because they believe what the princesses tell them, and they think that's how they get their cutiemark. 

 

Yeah, but switching has the same effect, since the cutie marks are supposed to be their destiny. If destiny can be so easily switched, is it not reasonable to assume it is not destiny at all?

 

The answer is that they didn't know what the spell was supposed to do, if they did they would not have assigned it to her. Notice how vague the letter sent to Twilight was.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[pinkiefan1287 610]

First of all, by the things you tried to use to disprove my point, I can assume that you did not read my posts in this thread, since I addressed most, if not all of them.

 

Celestia could have made the propaganda about the story of Unicorns raising the sun and moon. After all, she is thousands of years old and has had plenty of time to spread lies, considering everybody trusts her.

 

We see the sun raise, how can we tell Celestia was involved?

 

Because they believe what the princesses tell them, and they think that's how they get their cutiemark. 

 

Yeah, but switching has the same effect, since the cutie marks are supposed to be their destiny. If destiny can be so easily switched, is it not reasonable to assume it is not destiny at all?

 

The answer is that they didn't know what the spell was supposed to do, if they did they would not have assigned it to her. Notice how vague the letter sent to Twilight was.

 

First, the first part makes no seances. I would have to read this part here. If you are talking about a past post you made then leave a link or something.

 

The story they celebrate has been around much longer then Celestia and Luna. So Celestia would not be able to change anything about it.

 

We do see the sun raise, but she could have been involved with it.

 

Wow, Celesita tells them it's true and thats it. That is pretty weak. The response you gave is answer that a 4 year old would give just to say they are wright. Besides them getting their cutie has been around longer then the hearts warming eve story and Celestia and Luna.

 

You are also dodging my big question, why did Luna become Nightmare Moon? If her true talent was not bring the night, she would care less if anypony liked it or not, because that is not her true skill. 

 

So your theory is still very weak.

[FractalMoon 378]

First, the first part makes no seances. I would have to read this part here. If you are talking about a past post you made then leave a link or something.

 

The story they celebrate has been around much longer then Celestia and Luna. So Celestia would not be able to change anything about it.

 

We do see the sun raise, but she could have been involved with it.

 

Wow, Celesita tells them it's true and thats it. That is pretty weak. The response you gave is answer that a 4 year old would give just to say they are wright. Besides them getting their cutie has been around longer then the hearts warming eve story and Celestia and Luna.

 

You are also dodging my big question, why did Luna become Nightmare Moon? If her true talent was not bring the night, she would care less if anypony liked it or not, because that is not her true skill. 

 

So your theory is still very weak.

Harmonic speaks of previous posts made on this thread, so there's nothing to link (It's only one page).

The points made are not, as you said, an argument made by a four year old, but a well thought out and quite well reasoned counter-argument. Governments do the sort of thing outlined in the theory all the time, learn your history. We are told the Hearth's warming Eve story is older than the princesses, but are we given empirical evidence? Any smart propagandist would falsify the dates of a story to give the illusion of tradition when they know there is no one older that can disprove them.

As for why Luna became Nightmare Moon, the ruling party of a nation is known to stage threats to keep the people out of the internal corruption that plagues them. Nightmare Moon was what Celestia and Luna decided was necessary in order to keep everyone in line. After all, what keeps a populace docile better than a threat to their way of life?

[pinkiefan1287 610]

Harmonic speaks of previous posts made on this thread, so there's nothing to link (It's only one page).

The points made are not, as you said, an argument made by a four year old, but a well thought out and quite well reasoned counter-argument. Governments do the sort of thing outlined in the theory all the time, learn your history. We are told the Hearth's warming Eve story is older than the princesses, but are we given empirical evidence? Any smart propagandist would falsify the dates of a story to give the illusion of tradition when they know there is no one older that can disprove them.

As for why Luna became Nightmare Moon, the ruling party of a nation is known to stage threats to keep the people out of the internal corruption that plagues them. Nightmare Moon was what Celestia and Luna decided was necessary in order to keep everyone in line. After all, what keeps a populace docile better than a threat to their way of life?

 

The only thing I said was answer a 4 year old would give is the part where, Celestia just tells them they earn their cutie marks by trying finding their own talent. That's all I said was answer a 4 year old would give. Noting more. Everything else is well stated.

 

Please who would agree to be sealed away for a thousand years just to keep them in line? Why not only for a few? 

 

Besides the comics already tell us that Luna was corrupted by a dark force. So that already proves this idea is wrong.

[FractalMoon 378]

The only thing I said was answer a 4 year old would give is the part where, Celestia just tells them they earn their cutie marks by trying finding their own talent. That's all I said was answer a 4 year old would give. Noting more. Everything else is well stated.

 

Please who would agree to be sealed away for a thousand years just to keep them in line? Why not only for a few? 

 

Besides the comics already tell us that Luna was corrupted by a dark force. So that already proves this idea is wrong.

Alright. Your post was unclear as to what you were stating was the answer a four year old would give. 

Note that we never actually see Luna on the moon, it could have all been a ruse on the part of Luna where she simply went elsewhere to mislead the ponies. As for the comics, are they canon? If so, then this hypothesis loses a bit of credence, but who isn't to say that the dark force wasn't also corrupting Celestia and making her perpetuate the exploitative government.

[Nas 2,874]

Interesting theory. Here's my take on it.

 

Well, firstly, think about this. Before Luna and Celestia took reign, who controlled the ponyfolk's cutie marks? Perhaps there was some deity figure beforehand, maybe the god(s)/godess(es) that created the universe?

 

As for the controlling the sun/moon thing, that was probably something handed down to Luna and Celestia too, from the previous deity(ies). Both that and controlling cutie marks are things I think only alicorns can do, as I also consider them deities. Considering ponies are the master race on the earth, perhaps the initial god(s)/godess(es) resembled the shape of ponies, in which they perhaps modeled the dominant race after.

 

Well, actually, were Luna and Celestia ruling at the time the events of Hearth's Warming Eve (the events the play was based on)? I don't recall.

 

In short, I think that the fact that their horns don't glow when their moving the sun and moon (as far as I know we've only seen that once in the show, it was Twilight's cutie mark memory from Cutie Mark Chronicles). Perhaps they forgot to make the horns glow for those sequences, or alicorns have a special magic that doesn't come from the horn but the inner body to do special things. Did Twilight's horn glow when she switched the mane 6's cutie marks? I forgot.

 

Anywho, that's my take.

[Durandal 623]

The points made are not, as you said, an argument made by a four year old, but a well thought out and quite well reasoned counter-argument. Governments do the sort of thing outlined in the theory all the time, learn your history. We are told the Hearth's warming Eve story is older than the princesses, but are we given empirical evidence? Any smart propagandist would falsify the dates of a story to give the illusion of tradition when they know there is no one older that can disprove them.

As for why Luna became Nightmare Moon, the ruling party of a nation is known to stage threats to keep the people out of the internal corruption that plagues them. Nightmare Moon was what Celestia and Luna decided was necessary in order to keep everyone in line. After all, what keeps a populace docile better than a threat to their way of life?

 

As a creative endeavor, sure. Orwellian Celestia is plausible as fanon, and an interesting direction. It's not my cup of tea, (I believe that as a result of being an alien race, their society, which they view as normal, can be viewed as utopian to a more conflict-oriented race like us) but I'll respect an author's ability to consider Equestria a facade dictatorship.

 

However, when we start getting into actually considering Celestia to be a tyrant in canon, I can't say I can agree with it at all. Mostly because to do this, you need proof - proof that Celestia is a malevolent tyrant, proof that she's actually doing anything malicious or defining of a totalitarian ruler, proof that trickery has been done. Since we do not have these things, any argument (that I've seen) that postulates Celestia as a tyrant is invalid. Not because of a lack of effort, but because of a failure to uphold the burden of proof.

 

This argument isn't any different. Do we have evidence of Pre-Alicorn Equestria being true? No. That, however, does not mean that we assume the opposite - that it is ficticious. That is a fallacy, specifically argumentum ad ignorantiam (or argument from ignorance). Just because you can not hear the rain does not mean it isn't raining.

 

Furthermore, not a single shred of evidence that we've seen in-canon supports the assertion that Celestia is a tyrant - all it goes on is assumptions of malevolent intentions, which makes it nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

 

On an unrelated note: if there is hope, it lies in the proles.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Durandal

[Cwanky 17,746]

Here's some more food for thought: as early as the 1st episode we run into several major plot holes already. Celestia tells Twilight to go to Ponyville and make friends and even "stop reading those dusty old books." Despite this Twilight does correctly predict Nightmare Moon's return. And of course later on she uses her "power of friendship" to defeat Nightmare Moon.

wi

There's plenty to be said here. Did Celestia know of Nightmare Moon's return, which is very likely? And if so, why would she make such a large gamble to have Twilight, a student she knows to be aloof to try and befriend strangers in just a day or so to defeat Nightmare Moon? She must have foreseen or known what would happen. 

 

Moreover though we come to perhaps an even trickier question. What happened to the Elements of Harmony all those years? How did they break apart or rather did Celestia deliberately have them broken from 1 whole into 6 parts? The Elements of Harmony are demonstrated to be one of the most powerful weapons wielded both by Celestia alone and with Luna. Despite this we never actually see either of them use the elements. If anything we saw Celestia quite handily with Luna take out King Sombra, but not with the Elements, and the former was overpowered by Queen Chrysalis. For the sake of argument in the hypotheticals, the elements could have rejected Celestia over time. She or Luna may have never wielded the elements to begin with but wove up tales of wielding the Elements to justify their rule over Equestria. Old kings did the same thing to validate their rule: weave tales about how they are sons of God and performed miraculous feats to justify why they are fit to be rulers.

 

That's plenty to chew on for now but there's plenty more to be said about Equestria and its "benevolent" ruler. 

[Durandal 623]

Celestia does have quite the thing for being The Chessmaster, but I don't see any malicious intent behind this, nor do I consider it enough to justify tyranny. I mean really she's the archetypical mentor, so lets just let her have her fun. It's done no-one any harm.

 

As well, how could she not? If Twilight could deduce it in her short lifetime, then surely she, having observed things for thousands of years, would have been noticing as well.

 

Additionally, we were shown in the scene where Celestia and Luna reunite that she felt some remorse for what she did, so I'm willing to bet she might have instigated the event out of pity. Luna was her own sister, and as we can see in real life, people can do... Stupid things for family. And she had an ace in the hole - Twilight. She could count on her to save Equestria, allowing her to get her sister back. A bit manipulative? Yeah, probably, but I wouldn't call it malicious. Perhaps a bit foolish, though.

 

The elements broke apart much the same way a nation accustomed to peace will be a shadow of its past military glory. In peacetime there is no need for the elements. Sure, to keep them guarded would be great, but no threat apparently was big enough to necessitate their use. As well, Celestia may be immortal (or just really really long lived) but she isn't infallible. Nations have their failures, the loss of the elements of harmony could just as well be theirs.

 

Also, honestly there's no good reason for the fact Celestia and Luna haven't used the elements besides the fact the Plot Demands It. Had Celestia said 'hold on Chrysalis, lemme stop you right there,' and then activated her macguffin, it would have resulted in more focus on Celestia than the Mane 6 and the two 'guest' co-stars, Shining and Cadence, and quite a few shorter episodes. Yes, it's still a bit of a loophole, and that's a failure of the staff writing the episode, but I don't think it's enough to really dirty Celestia's record. Not only this, but let us keep in mind that Gen Four is pretty much My Little Pony: Aesops are Magic. What lesson do we learn from relying on the macguffin in a pinch? Not much really, except that the best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one (and that killing villains is hard). Something tells me Hasbro might feel iffy about airing that sort of Aesop.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Durandal