Celestia is a terrible ruler

REBUTTALS 1. No Pony Ever Rebells My point is, if you keep Equestria in check, or at least, if the ponies think so, then they won't rebell. One example is the Mongols. Their power was so strong that they managed to create a time of peace, called the Pax Mongolica, in which practically no crime was throughout the empire and barely any war. [1] And of course, since the Mongols were so powerful, they managed to put down pretty much every rebell against them--and even those rebells were rare, since the Mongols destroyed everyone in their path. 2. Sovereignty My opponent hints Celestia's ineffectiveness with her statement "Despite apparent guards all around the city, not a single guard comes running to her aid, nor attempts to defend the city during the attack (maybe they are rebelling in a form of passive rebellion)." However, it must be noted that within S2E25, Queen Crystalis was so darn smart the only pony who even dared to think that she was not Princess Cadence was Twilight--who was manipulated by poor "Cadence" in such a way that she actually went to apologize, thinking herself wrong. Nothing suggests that Celestia is as smart as her student, neither does anything suggest that the guards are as smart as Twilight. Furthermore, there is no way to reveal Crystalis unless the villain herself wishes to. By the time she reveals herself, her minions are pretty much already broke through the shield. Now, you may ask "why did Celestia only use Shining Armor's magic barrier? It's shown that it's weak!" However, you are slightly incorrect. Cadance using her magic on Shining Armor apparently to heal his "migraine." ^^ The above picture is from source [2]. It shows that Shining Armor had his love zapped from him as a source of magic for Crystalis. Sure, it doesn't seem to be magic, but how can a poor hypnotized pony keep up a shield barrier? He can't. No hypnotized pony can. Celestia was never expecting any of this to happen, and neither were the guards. If any guard wanted to rush in, they probably couldn't, since Crystalis' army was already invading the city and they had too much problems on their hands. In addition, nothing suggests that some changelings wouldn't be smart enough to act like guard to give the illusion of safety, then strike when the real guards are unsuspecting! The changelings could change into the guards! [3] 2. Tirek Actually, the Bin Laden example is kind of different than what we have in this show. Discord is actually truly thinks that friendship is awesome--he can go a little bit his way, and the others would still like him. He could play around and have fun, and perhaps later manipulate them bit by bit to follow his master plan! It's genius! On the other hand, Tirek, while seemingly NOT sly, as my opponent may think, he is actually very clever. You can jump to about 13:45 within source [4], and we can tell Tirek makes up an extremely persuasive speech right on the spot, praising Discord and evoking Discord's arrogance. (Source [3] within round 2 can tell you that Discord is very arrogant, and lots of times it is used against himself) If you don't believe me how sly Tirek is, these are the exact words he said:"I am surprised that someone with your intellect does not see this friendship...a form of imprisonment. Clearly you had to abandon your true nature to stay in their good graces." (From the video)"Oh, please, I've seen this before. But he was always weak minded. You are Discord, you are legend, you cannot fall into the same trap that claimed my brother! Help me to grow strong, and be rewarded with something far greater than friendship: freedom." [4] "Once I have stripped....upside-down....master of chaos himself...reclaim your greatness" (From the video again) As you can see, Tirek is actually very manipulative, with the bold words highlighted to note the important parts of his speech. While it may seem simple when you listen to him, one look and you can tell he's malicious and has another intention--Discord was only used as a stepping block, and once Discord had fulfilled his usefulness, he sapped all of Discord's powers, once again showing how clever and evil he was. Moreover, Celestia’s plan would have worked either way, no matter who she transfers her powers to. If she didn’t transfer, Tirek either could call in Discord, defeating Celestia with force, or if Tirek already sapped Discord’s powers, threaten the mane six. Due to the lack of battle (my opponent agreed it was a 1,000 year streak without war), Celestia’s skills are very rough and unpracticed. It is actually expected that she transfer her powers to Twilight; Twilight was the one who defeated the villains before, and Celestia doesn’t trust in her own battling skills. This actually makes sense. Celestia disappeared during Nightmare Moon’s rampage (supposedly, she was trapped…or something?) Celestia could not defeat the power of Shining Armor and Cadence’s love. She was so rusty that she didn’t think that she could go and get the elements of harmony, and so she was forced to put the mane six in danger. It all makes sense, Celestia is trying hard to regain her battling skills in the face of danger, but time and time again her job is made hard by the fact that the villains all come back stronger than before. Her thousands of years of experience are useless because she hasn’t battled in a thousand years. Therefore Tirek would not have been walking into his own defeat, and as a result sacrificing the mane six would not have been a very good idea. As for the mural, it was probably more of Discord’s work than anyone else’s. I mean, would Celestia put a humorous mural of Discord+Tirek? Of course not. Discord was probably just trolling Tirek and “testing” him. Of course, this “test” failed, but Discord’s arrogance once again gets in his way and he fails to see that Tirek is extremely manipulative and has more in his mind than it seems. Let’s talk about Celestia’s plan now. Did I mention that Celestia is stupid and the plan works out either way, and Tirek gets defeated either way? Celestia probably depends on Discord’s reveal. I mean, Celestia knows Discord is over-confident and will help you if it helps complete his ultimate goal of chaos everywhere. Besides, Celestia knows Tirek hates traitors, as Tirek hates his own brother for going against him. Therefore Celestia probably predicted that Discord would reveal, and Tirek would trap the mane six and betray Discord because Tirek is malicious and wants to get back at Discord, then because Celestia taught her student so many lessons, Twi would obviously sacrifice her power for her friends. Celestia and Luna do not have six keys. They cannot open the box and defeat ultimate Tirek at his greatest power. However Twi and her friends can. This is another explanation for why Celestia had her seemingly suicidal, stupid plan. In this case, then Celestia cannot defeat Tirek. Again, lack of battles in 1000 years? That’s a lot. Finally, I bet you’re wondering how Celestia knows that Twi and her friends have the keys to open the box to defeat Tirek. Well, as far as we’re concerned, the only thing that can defeat the tree are the plunderseeds. Surely Celestia knows how powerful the tree is—enough to defeat Tirek, even if Tirek has all the magic in the pony universe. Furthermore, Celestia is a stalker, explaining how she knows Twi and her friends have their keys. (See the music video) http://www.youtube.com... My opponent has the final round to make final rebuttals and conclusions. I wish her good luck. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org... [2] http://mlp.wikia.com... [3] http://mlp.wikia.com... [4] http://mlp.wikia.com...