Goddess Celestia

## General

Known by many names, — including but not limited to the Herald of Dawn, Helesta, Sel Lest, the All-Mother, the Queen — Celestia is worshipped by the bold, the daring, and the prideful. Her homelands lie in Western Equestria, where the sun of this world rises. Celestia worship is at its peak in the Sun Pony Dominion.

### Appearance

With a slender yet strong build, Celestia stands tall, sporting three sets of feathered wings, with a fourth on her hind ankles. She has a coat, taupe in color like the pale desert sands, with burnt orange markings draped over her. Her horn juts out crooked in the shape of a lightning bolt. Her mane is two toned, the underside boasting the colors of dawn, the top showing the bright blues of high noon skies. It's said the bottom represents Vesper, the cold lands the unworthy dead go, while the top holds the Mornlands, the warm and heavenly land her honored dead rest. Cream colored eyes sit without pupils underneath a mock helmet on her head.

### Values

Like any religion this widespread, takes on Celestial values vary greatly. The general take-aways from her teachings are to be bold and unyielding. This may mean, for some, to be brave on the battlefield and dauntless in the face of danger. For others, it may mean to be unwaveringly passionate and undeniable. Celestia's faithful will not be taken for granted, they will command attention and respect others who do the same.

### Imagery

While the sun is the easiest to connect to her, Celestia worship can be noted by any depiction of fire. Lightning is a symbol of Celestia as well, even if storms belong to her younger sister. Lightning and thunder represent the quarreling sisters, the lightning being Celestia's flashy attacks against Luna's dark clouds. Sand and autumn leaves both can be used in religious artwork of Celestia. Animals that symbolize her divinity are butterflies, wyverns, and colorful birds — including the mighty phoenix.

## Stories and Myths

### Overview

The events described below are both a mix of historical and religious fabrication. For Celestia worshippers, this is the way of the world and how it came to be. While those stories vary, their facts ever contradicting, boldness will guide you to the truth.

### Demon Banishment

Not long after Equestria's first dawn, demons covered its surface. Stories vary on what coexisting with them was like for the earliest ponies but none are pretty. Gruesome battles are described, not between the ponies and the demons, but Celestia. She defended her subjects endlessly, wielding divine flame like her faithful soldiers would for her years later. The war wore on her heavily, it came to a standstill, she could fight no more. Celestia pushed them as far back as she could before asking Luna and Cadence for help in making a border, a proverbial shield to hide behind. They would not be able to rid the world of the demon blight, but they could keep the ponies they held dear safe. And that would be enough.

### Floating Isle Origin and Divine War

The origin of the sun and moon islands in Celestial tales is attributed to a great war that spanned millennia. This war included not only the two sisters, Cadence being absent and neutral, but the ponies that dedicated their lives to pleasing the two. To avoid spies in their headquarters, each sister raised the ground of their people’s homelands and pulled it to the sky. Those who lived upon the island were granted with the Goddess’ divine image and long after the war had drawn to a close did they resemble their divine general.

### Birth of Flame

When Celestia's soldiers began faring poorly in the Divine War, she gifted them fire. Granting them it as a weapon and a tool to stave off the cold. Fire had always existed in her holy sun and in Celestia's war against the demons but its warmth was never harnessed in this way. It changed the game for her troops, so much so that Luna granted Equestria the gift of rain, to diminish said flames and even the battlefield once more.

## Afterlife

### The Mornlands

Also referred to as the Morn. Its name is a double entendre, those who are worthy to mourn arrive in a meadow seeming stuck in the warm light of morning. To reach it, one must live their life and die honorably, though definitions of this vary for each species. Pegasi take this to mean dying in battle to reach the Morn while a zebra may see it as living long enough to become well-read and wise. This meadow is told to sit in the endless blue sky of Celestia's daylight. Instead of grass, her followers live on vast fields of fluffy white cumulus clouds that stretch far into the horizon. They experience dawn and dusk but never witness the sun dip low enough to leave the sky, its light and warmth never leaving them even when it should be night. Tales about this Celestial paradise often describe it to the feeling of laying within the breadth of a sunbeam. Similar tales talk of the near weightless feeling of running across the cloud tops and how it feels akin to flight with no need for wings. It is said that once you reach Celestia's divine morning, you live out the rest of eternity with anyone they knew in life that has passed. At dawn, when the sky is lit up in vibrant pinks and oranges, it is said Equestria and the Morn are connected and your loved ones are checking in on you.

### Vesper

Those who die dishonorably end up in a cold unforgiving place. Reasons for being sent to Vesper vary from species to species. Many species who value bravery may see dying of sickness or old age as dishonorable, those who value other things may see things like leaving no legacy or not contributing enough in your life as such. It is described as a land of ceaseless winter. A blizzard is always rolling through the expansive fields and there is very little shelter than can harbor any of the poor souls caught in its winds. The cold is said to be so intense that any living pony wouldn't be able to withstand it. Most of Vesper is shrouded in a near endless dark, with only the glimpses of blizzard and the snow blanketed floor visible, but there are fleeting moments of sun. These moments arrive at dawn and dusk, where the sun graces the edge of the horizon for just a moment before tucking away, offering no warm in the brief time it shows itself. Those cursed to this fate only have to bear it until they are forgotten by those who knew them or until the last person they knew in life has passed. Once they are forgotten they simply fade, going nowhere, and are free of the freezing land of Vesper. Sunset is often seen as a time where the dead who reside here are allowed to walk among the living once more, many foal's tales take advantage of this in order to get young ponies to sleep early.

## Holidays

### Summer Sun Celebration

The Summer Sun Celebration is held on the Summer Solstice, the Celestial New Year. The way it is celebrated in modern Equestria is through an all night party ended by a large gathering outdoors in which ponies will watch the sunrise on the longest day of the year. Those particularly devout will spend the rest of the day reflecting on the past year while the rest will often sleep, exhausted from the night before. The parties the night before are often filled with lights and music while the sunrise itself is a silent viewing free of artificial light, to take in Celestia’s grand dawn completely on its own.

### Great Harvest Feast

At the height of the autumn's harvest, Celestia’s followers will cherish their wealth of food by enjoying it together with friends and family. This is a large event in agricultural areas. It is similar to a potluck and while every group celebrates differently, it's typically food you grown and prepared yourself. Desserts are a big part of the holiday and bakeries are often sold out the week of.

### Nightmare Night

Late autumn is host to Nightmare Night, where ponies big and small dress up as ghoulish monsters and horrifying beasts to represent Luna and those who follow her. In the old days, it was more about villainizing the moon goddess but as religious tensions ceased it became more about costumes, candy, and late night partying.

### Winter Wrap Up

At the end of winter, pony communities will often get together and clean up their neighborhoods to welcome a warm and beautiful spring. This is a week-long event most times and they take the planting of new flowers and landscaping their public parks seriously. Her followers wish to honor the return of Celestia’s warmth and sunshine by decorating the places most enjoyed by it.

### Day of Basking

As spring starts to turn into summer and the world warms up, the first sunny day in the third week of spring, ponies gather in the fields and parks near their homes to relax in the light of the sun. Younger ponies will play games like tag and run relay races. The older generations often just sit back and enjoy the weather. It’s meant to thank Celestia for the warmth she grants them and to bond with those around you.

## Followers

* Sun ponies
* Earth ponies
* Kelpies
* Zebras
* Antelope
* Kirin
* Pegasi
* Griffins
* Fairy ponies
* Unicorns