Princess Celestia

== General Info ==
Princess Celestia is the president of the horse country, Equestria alongside her younger sister Princess Luna, and the adoptive aunt of Princess Cadance. In addition to her responsibility of raising the sun, she has also been the teacher of Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer at different periods in time, often addressing Twilight as "my faithful student" while mentoring her. She has a pet phoenix named Philomena.
== Background ==
=== History ===
==== Ruling Equestria ====
Celestia is introduced in the prologue of the first episode, depicted in a series of medieval-style drawings with a narration that says that "two regal sisters who ruled together [...] created harmony for all the land," and that "the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night."
The narration continues: their subjects, the ponies, played in the day but "shunned" the night and slept through it, which made the younger "unicorn" grow bitter, eventually refusing to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. Her bitterness "transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon." The elder sister reluctantly harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony and banished her "in" the moon for 1,000 years, maintaining harmony in Equestria by taking responsibility for both sun and moon.
The day of Nightmare Moon's return is also the 1,000 year anniversary of the Summer Sun Celebration, so Princess Celestia sends Twilight to oversee the celebration's preparations, which are being held in Ponyville, and encourages Twilight to "stop reading those dusty old books" and make some friends, much to Twilight's surprise.
Celestia is expected to appear at Ponyville's pavilion, but she goes missing and Nightmare Moon appears in her place instead. Celestia doesn't reappear until Nightmare Moon is defeated and transformed back into Princess Luna at the end of the second episode by Twilight and her friends. Princess Celestia offers her younger sister a chance to rule by her side again, and she accepts.
: "Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship?"
: — Celestia offering Luna redemption
In one alternate timeline in The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1, Celestia wages a war against King Sombra and his Crystal Ponies, leading the royal guards and Wonderbolts into battle. In another alternate timeline in The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2, Celestia is banished to the moon by Nightmare Moon. In a third alternate timeline, Celestia and Luna are reduced to being Discord's personal entertainment.
==== Prior to ruling Equestria ====
Celestia describes more of her history in The Return of Harmony Part 1. She tells Twilight Sparkle and her friends that before Princess Luna and she stood up to Discord, he ruled over Equestria, keeping it in a state of unrest and unhappiness. Celestia goes on to describe that after seeing how miserable life was for Earth ponies, unicorns, and Pegasi alike, she and Luna discovered the Elements of Harmony and defeated Discord, turning him to stone. Discord's spell is later broken because, as Celestia explains, "Luna and [herself] are no longer connected to the elements." In The Crystal Empire - Part 1, Celestia describes how she and Luna worked together to defeat King Sombra, turning him into a shadow and imprisoning him in "the arctic north."
Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1 confirms that Celestia was an associate of the legendary Star Swirl the Bearded. After Star Swirl disappeared to imprison the Pony of Shadows in limbo, Celestia remained unaware of his reasons or whereabouts until the events of Shadow Play - Part 2. During the Pre-Classical era, Celestia and Luna were involved in the first defeat of the evil centaur Lord Tirek, sending the villain to Tartarus.
==== Summer Sun Celebration ====
The Summer Sun Celebration is first mentioned in the first episode. Twilight reads of the legend of the Mare in the Moon, who is set to return and bring everlasting night "on the longest day of the thousandth year"–the summer solstice–since her defeat, which is also the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration. Princess Celestia sends Twilight to oversee the preparations for the celebration in Ponyville, where it's being held this year, also telling her to make some friends while she does that. Nightmare Moon claims to have been imprisoned for a thousand years, so this indicates that the first celebration happened after Luna was imprisoned. It is a celebration of Celestia imprisoning her and restoring the sun to Equestria.
During a party, Spike reminds an irate Twilight that the ponies have to stay up all night in order to witness Princess Celestia raise the sun. Later, at the Ponyville pavilion, Mayor Mare holds a brief speech and introduces Princess Celestia, but she turns up missing, and Nightmare Moon appears in her place. Only at the end of the following episode does Princess Celestia reappear with the defeat of Nightmare Moon, and the sun subsequently rises.
The Summer Sun Celebration is featured again in Twilight Sparkle's flashback during The Cutie Mark Chronicles. Twilight describes it as "the most amazing, most wonderful thing" she'd ever seen, which made her want to study as much as she can about magic. The event itself takes place in Canterlot, where eight royal guards play a fanfare for Princess Celestia, who comes on stage and flies up, raising the sun behind her.
In the two-part season four premiere, the Celebration is featured and mentioned. Unlike the previous Celebrations, this represents not the defeat of Nightmare Moon but the return of Princess Luna. In The Summer Sun Setback, the Celebration is held for the last time, as Celestia and Luna feel no need to continue it after they retire, and Twilight creates a new holiday to replace it: the "Festival of the Two Sisters".
==== Overseeing Twilight Sparkle's studies ====
Princess Celestia refers to Twilight Sparkle as her "most faithful student" in the first episode, and Twilight is very proud of this fact. At the end of the second episode, Celestia tasks Twilight with staying in Ponyville with her friends and writing a weekly report about her studies of the "magic of friendship", which Twilight usually sends via Spike. These letters typically serve to illustrate each episode's moral for the show's viewers.
During a flashback in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, Princess Celestia witnesses Twilight's rare magical talents and takes her as a protégé. Lauren Faust has suggested that there is more to Princess Celestia than has been depicted of her in the series. Relating to the events in the flashbacks in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, Celestia sensed that Twilight Sparkle was connected to the Elements of Harmony and arranged the dragon-hatching test for her; the time travel events of My Little Pony: IDW 20/20 follow. Celestia then raised and trained Spike, and subsequently assigned him to be Twilight's assistant; see My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #40.
In a flashback in Celestial Advice, Celestia sees Twilight progressing in her studies, but not so much in her social life, which leads her to contemplate how to further her studies. This leads her to her decision to send Twilight to Ponyville, a decision that she is, at first, rather hesitant about.
Celestia has been present during an episode in a few cases, allowing for Twilight Sparkle or another pony to deliver the report to her in person. She arrives for a scheduled royal visit in Swarm of the Century, and meets the six main ponies outside of Ponyville where Twilight makes her report. She comes to celebrate the Running of the Leaves in Fall Weather Friends, and Twilight makes a brief report about friendship being more important than a competition. She also attends the Best Young Flyer competition in Sonic Rainboom, where Rarity delivers the report to her directly. She is present for a royal visit in A Bird in the Hoof, so she hears Twilight Sparkle's intended report from Fluttershy.
Celestia makes a surprise cameo at the end of Feeling Pinkie Keen, dropping out of the sky to grab Spike's letter and then taking off just as quickly, confirming another one of Pinkie Pie's twitchy tail predictions.
Celestia is asked to come to Ponyville by Spike in Lesson Zero, after Twilight, fearing that being unable to send a friendship report will have dire consequences, enchants a doll, causing all of Ponyville to fight over it. Celestia arrives and undoes the spell, then sternly asks Twilight to meet her at the library. Despite Twilight's fears, Celestia does not reprimand her, telling her that she should only send a friendship report if she learns a lesson. She also decrees that Twilight's friends may also send her friendship reports.
Celestia makes a brief appearance in Sweet and Elite, showing Rarity to the room she will stay in while visiting Canterlot. She also displays awkwardness at Rarity fawning over her in thanks. At the end of the episode, she hears Rarity's friendship report. She next appears in It's About Time, passing by the "Star Swirl the Bearded" wing of the Canterlot library. She shows no signs of objection to seeing Twilight who had made an elaborate show of sneaking in, and compliments Twilight for her new hairstyle.
Celestia presides over the wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 and Part 2, and monitors an anonymous threat that was made against Canterlot. The threat turns out to be an invasion by the changelings and their queen, who was already in Canterlot impersonating Princess Cadance. However, through most of the two-part episode, no one except Twilight suspects there's something wrong with Cadance. When Twilight brands the fake Cadance as "evil" at the wedding rehearsal, Celestia is greatly disappointed by her actions and agrees with Shining Armor's suggestion for Twilight not to bother coming to the wedding. Celestia sternly tells Twilight, "You have a lot to think about," before walking out on her with the others. However, after the exposure and defeat of Queen Chrysalis and the wedding ceremony, Celestia commends Twilight for persisting in the face of doubt and following her instincts in bringing Princess Cadance back, reaffirming their good relationship.
== Appearance ==
The Princess is an Alicorn. Celestia stands around 8 feet tall, counting her horn (which is about 1.5 feet tall while angled forward, and that's without factoring in the distance from her eyeline to the base of her horn, which is about 6 inches), 2.5 feet long (not counting her tail, which is fucking huge), and 1.25 feet wide. She has white fur and her mane is pink, green, teal, and purple. Her wings are approximately 4.5 feet in length, making her full wing span greater than 9 feet, counting the ridge across her back. She has lilac colored eyes. Her cutie mark is the sun.
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