How come Princess Celestia never does anything?

[MrJK 399]

I don't know if its just me but it seems that Princess Celestia doesn't do anything! Supposedly she is the most powerful Alicorn their is but i have yet to see any of her immense powers.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

She's a tyrant...

 

[Knight Shadrahk 158]

Well maybe she does off screen.

[Doctor XFizzle 8,651]

She runs Equestria so smoothly that she doesn't need to open a can of whoop-flank until she absolutely needs to. You would think she would have needed to for Discord but she was like "lolz get teh elementz and do it yourself".

 

So maybe she IS lazy after all. o_o

[Electrobolt 2,068]

But don't forget the whole mess Twilight caused in Lesson Zero... Who cleaned that up? Celestia, that's who... But other than that... Never seen her do anything o_o

[Starshine 16,330]

If Celestia did do anything at all, there will be no need for the mane 6 :/

[Luurilka 325]

Well, don't forget that she's the one who raises teh sun everyday.

[RippedOffMattress 314]

Same I could say about the Earth Spirit Giah from Captain Planet.

 

>Most powerful thing in existence

 

>Relies on others to do things for her

 

Coincidence?

[RagingTwilight 101]

Maybe she just likes using henchmen for everything.

[Slendermane 474]

It's possible that she doesn't actually run the government. She raises the sun, but maybe she is like the Queen of England, with no governmental powers left. Or she is just so good that everything moves smoothly. She has had over 1000 years of practice, after all.

[NewCalamity 3,454]

She does quite a bit actually.

 

http://youtu.be/SdHl-HRK9zI

[Tom 890]

Same I could say about the Earth Spirit Giah from Captain Planet.

 

>Most powerful thing in existence

 

>Relies on others to do things for her

 

Coincidence?

 

Sounds about right.

 

If Celestia did everything some episodes would be a lot less interesting, such as Lesson Zero if Celestia stopped Twilight form going crazy we'd lose one of the best episodes.

[SrFrog 926]

Bu..but, she rose the sun.

[windy_prance 114]

Ponyville is such a tiny town and Twilight is there as her representative to solve the problems there.

 

I bet Celestia is trying to stabilize the more lawless portions of Equestria...

Edited February 19, 2012 by windy_prance

[Aureity 3,055]

You really wonder why? This is Trollestia we are talking about! The one who sends 2 tickets to her student when she knows her student has 6 friends :S

[Zero000 435]

To do list:

1. Raise Sun

2. Wait for Twilight's letters

 

 

I'm with you on this one, not much happens in Equestria without us knowing about it.

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

Seeing as us members of Western Society have only one representative of a monarchy, the United Kingdom's Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (and a pretty poor example of "Absolute authority delegation") we have a very poor appreciation for what kind of power and responsibilities Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would have to attend to in Canterlot whenever they're offscreen. We've only ever seen her in either A. An emergency that pertains to Twilight and her friends B. On vacation.

 

The business and the firm of the Equestrian Crown are probably a lot more than we would care to think about (which explains why each of us is not an elected official). However both of them are likely wise and knowledgeable enough (compounded by their age) to manage their schedules well enough that they have plenty of free-time.

That would explain why she seemingly whimsically drops in to Ponyville.

 

If it wasn't obvious, I'm one of those freaks that takes seriously the ontological considerations of Celestia being a Princess (who also has a playful side; a fitting characterization ) and ignore the Trollestia hypoethetical.

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

To do list:

1. Raise Sun

2. Wait for Twilight's letters

 

3. Send defiant subjects to moon

 

That's pretty much her day.

[Eenohay 318]

Three things: We dont know how big is Equestria, but appart from ponyville, we've heard from Canterlot, Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Hoofington, Trottingham, Appleloosa and that town from the last round up, plus there must be many more, so she must be doing things elsewhere.

 

About important things, like discord or nightmare moon, she doesn't do anything because she can't. We already know that the elements of harmony are stronger than her, but that doesn't mean she isn't more powerful than any other pony without elements. She did stop Twilight disaster in ponyville, and was about to solve the parasprites problem in fillydelphia.

 

And finally, it's simple, she runs everything so good, that it simply doesn't seem like she does anything, because there's almost never a problem to fix. And yes, we've seen some pretty nasty stuff going on in ponyville, like the sleeping dragon or rampagin spike, but she must be busy with other stuff, there's Twilight, her personal protegee, bearer of the element of magic, and the most powerful unicorn ever is there to handle things.

 

I dunno about the wonderbolts attacking spike, did she send them?

Edited February 19, 2012 by Eenohay

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

Setting aside jokes about Trollestia, recall that even in the time of Abraham Lincoln one could walk directly into the White House and request a personal audience with the president. If we hark back to the Ancient period, local governors, and even reigning monarchs, were often busy directly overseeing appeals, requests, and cases brought before their office. For example, the Roman emperor acted as arbitor and judge; we know Roman citizens could request their case be brought to Rome; in short, even those who ruled one of the greatest empires in history were tasked with busy schedules and official duties which are alien to our own governing officials. Therefore, it is quite reasonable to envision Princess Celestia reading through numerous letters and receiving guests into her castle on a frequent basis. Aside from national emergencies, Celestia likely travels through Equestria in order to remain in contact with local officials and to keep her hooves on the pulse of the country. She doesn't appear to be an aloof, out of touch monarch.

 

I don't have the sense that Celestia's position is merely as figurehead; given her possession of the Elements of Harmony and her response to emergencies, ultimate authority resides with her office. Instead of directly ruling over all of Equestria personally, however, she delegates to local officials, granting them limited autonomy. Since she is a benevolent monarch, I highly doubt Celestia ever really needs to wield her power in an autocratic fashion. The most extreme punishment we ever see her distribute is banishing Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon, to the moon. Otherwise, Celestia is probably extraordinarily forgiving and generous to even her most wayward subjects.

 

Princess Celestia could exercise greater authority if she so desired. After all, she is effectively a deity who raises the sun and possesses enormous magical power. But what need is there for her to micromanage and force the Equestrian population to submit to her? They already hold her in the highest regard, and most of the regions within Equestria are fairly well managed. Because the Mane Six are connected to Celestia via a crisis (i.e., the return of Nightmare Moon), we tend only to view her through the lense of when there is a dire situation. Otherwise, at least according to her own testimony, Celestia has her hooves full with governing the whole of Equestria.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Thereisnospoon303

[Nah 3,181]

Simple, she is a lazy troll who is self centered and immortal, and gives no cares whatsoever for her subjects. Oh wait, thats Molestia.

[Goodra 530]

Cuz she's busy with real duties, lifting the sun, and helping her sister recover after her time in/on the moon.

[Inactive01 5,298]

Think of her like the British monarch today. The Queen's an important figure to Britain, but who does most of the leadership? The others.

[NewCalamity 3,454]

[Comet Tail 808]

You really wonder why? This is Trollestia we are talking about! The one who sends 2 tickets to her student when she knows her student has 6 friends :S

 

Seeing as us members of Western Society have only one representative of a monarchy, the United Kingdom's Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (and a pretty poor example of "Absolute authority delegation") we have a very poor appreciation for what kind of power and responsibilities Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would have to attend to in Canterlot whenever they're offscreen. We've only ever seen her in either A. An emergency that pertains to Twilight and her friends B. On vacation.

 

The business and the firm of the Equestrian Crown are probably a lot more than we would care to think about (which explains why each of us is not an elected official). However both of them are likely wise and knowledgeable enough (compounded by their age) to manage their schedules well enough that they have plenty of free-time.

That would explain why she seemingly whimsically drops in to Ponyville.

 

If it wasn't obvious, I'm one of those freaks that takes seriously the ontological considerations of Celestia being a Princess (who also has a playful side; a fitting characterization ) and ignore the Trollestia hypoethetical.

 

I think she's somewhere in-between a God and a monarch, which would explain how she works:

She doesn't do things directly because she uses her subjects as much as possible, for their own benefit.

I say she's benign and loving, and ironically, I'll use the 2-tickets situation to show why, which many people call her "Trollestia" for...

 

That episode was immediately after the mane 6 had just become friends. This time was important to cement their friendship. She knew there were six, and she sent one extra ticket. True. She knew it would cause a lot of arguing, and a lot of strain on their friendship. But, amazingly enough, I think she also knew Twilight so well that she knew how she'd handle it, or at least decided this would be a test to see if she could handle it. And in the end, because of this little trial/problem, every one of the characters saw a flaw in themselves (except maybe Rainbow Dash: "Wohoo! I got the ticket!") and fixed it, and because of it, they grew closer together as friends, and became better individuals. They learned, which is what it's all about.

 

In that same sort of way I think she manipulates events for the ponies' benefit. Sure, she could fly in and solve all the problems, but as an old English proverb goes: "A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner". Her objective isn't to make life easy, her objective is to make her subjects happy and teach them, which is much better done by being as hands-off as she is, except for times when it's necessary, like in "Lesson Zero".

 

 

As for her connection with the Elements, and how she keeps forcing the Mane 6 to work for her:

 

1.) Nightmare Moon:

She vanished! Apparently she was defeated by Nightmare Moon or something, and she probably knew she would be. The last thing she did with the Elements of harmony, banish Nightmare Moon to the moon, probably destroyed her connection with them:

 

Remember in S2E1 she said She and Luna used the elements to defeat Discord? They bore them together. So Celestia using the Elements to banish Luna to the moon would be something like Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash using the elements to teleport and keep Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity alive on the moon _{(sides chosen at random)}. By fighting eachother they broke their connection with the Elements, but I guess Celestia somehow managed to pull it off because technically it was Nightmare Moon, not Luna, and she only teleported her somewhere and kept her alive, she didn't imprison her in stone like they did to Discord.

 

This also suggests some part of Luna was resisting Nightmare Moon, otherwise she couldn't have used the Elements, in the same way the 6 couldn't use them until all of them were united together. Well, this, and the stuff I mentioned at the end of the last paragraph about it technically being Nightmare Moon, not Luna, and all she did was teleport her somewhere and keep her alive, not imprison her in stone...

 

2.) Discord

I'm bringing out the Canon!

 

Celestia: "I thought the spell we cast would keep him contained forever... But since Luna and I are no longer connected to the elements, the spell has been broken!"

Twi: "No longer connected?"

Celestia: "This, is canterlot tower, where the elements are kept inside, since all of you recovered them. I need you to weild the elements of Harmony once again, and stop Discord, before he thrusts all of Equestria into eternal chaos!"

Twi: "But why us, why don't you - "

Pinkie Pie: "Hey, look! We're famous!"

 

*Pinkie Pie looking at stained glass window depicting mane 6 defeating Luna with Elements*

 

Celestia: "You six showed the full potential of the elements, by harnessing the magic of Friendship, to beat a mighty foe.

Although Luna and I once wielded the Elements, it is you who now control their power, and it is you who must defeat Discord!"

 

And then Pinkie Pie notes how eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain...

Edited February 19, 2012 by EASA - Dr. Braun