Princess Celestia

Princess Celestia is a Pegasus unicorn and the co-ruler of Equestria with her sister Princess Luna, both of whom are responsible for raising the sun and the moon and stars. She is the mentor of Twilight Sparkle, whom she addresses as her faithful student. She is a recurring character in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.

Development and design
Princess Celestia's name comes from the word "celestial," derived from Latin "caelum," meaning "sky" or "heaven". Lauren Faust has made several comments regarding the show on her deviantArt comments section, and they sometimes pertain to Princess Celestia. She was originally supposed to be Queen Celestia, the highest authority, with no parents who outrank her. Her status was changed to "princess" at Hasbro's request.

Faust also mentioned that, during the initial casting of the show, Kathleen Barr, Trixie's voice actress, did a "very good" audition for Princess Celestia before Nicole Olivier ultimately got the role.

Appearance-wise, Princess Celestia is larger than any of the other ponies, with the exception of Night Mare Moon, who is about the same size, until she reverts to being Princess Luna. As with other unicorns, a magic glow surrounds both Celestia's horn and objects she is magically affecting. The color of this glow varies: for instance, it is blue in A Bird in the Hoof, orange in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, and white in Griffon the Brush-off. In The Return of Harmony Part 1, it is blue when Celestia opens the door to the vault, but pink when she levitates the empty box the Elements of Harmony are supposed to be in. The glow is yellow in the remastered title sequence introduced with Lesson Zero, as well as in that episode itself.

Ruling Equestria
Princess Celestia is introduced in the prologue of the first episode, depicted in a series of medieval-like drawings with a narration that says "two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land", and that "the elder used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night." This resembles Norse mythology, where the horses Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi are responsible for pulling the sun and moon, respectively, across the sky.

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", Night Mare Moon. The elder sister reluctantly harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony and banished her "in" the moon, taking responsibility for both sun and moon, maintaining harmony in Equestria.

Following the prologue, Twilight Sparkle reads of a prophecy that states that "on the longest day of the thousandth year the stars will aid in The Mare in the Moon's escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal", though Spike dismisses it as "an old ponies' tale". The day of Night Mare Moon's return is also the thousandth day of the Summer Sun Celebration, so Princess Celestia sends Twilight to oversee the celebration's preparations which are held in Ponyville, and encourages Twilight to "stop reading those dusty old books" and make some friends.

The events of the first and second episodes revolve around Twilight Sparkle and her new friends' attempt to defeat Night Mare Moon by finding and using the Elements of Harmony, while Night Mare Moon tries to stop them in various ways. Celestia is expected to appear at Ponyville's pavilion, but she goes missing and Night Mare Moon appears in her stead. Celestia doesn't reappear until Night Mare Moon is defeated and transformed back to Princess Luna at the end of the second episode by Twilight and her friends. Princess Celestia offers her sister to rule by her side again, and she emotionally 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

Prior to ruling Equestria
More of Celestia's history is mentioned in The Return of Harmony Part 1. In the episode, she tells Twilight Sparkle and her friends that before Princess Luna and herself stood up to Discord, he ruled over Equestria, keeping it in a state of unrest and unhappiness. Celestia goes on to describe that seeing how miserable life was for Earth ponies, unicorns, and Pegasi alike, she and Luna discovered the Elements of Harmony and rose up against 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."

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.

Night Mare 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.

The various preparations are handled by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy, who handle the food, weather, decorations, and music, respectively. Twilight sees to the preparations in that order, and eventually finds that Pinkie Pie, who had earlier met her briefly, is holding a surprise welcome party for her in the library where she is supposed to reside. Spike reminds Twilight that the ponies have to stay up all night in order to witness Princess Celestia raise the sun.

Later, at the Ponyville pavilion, the mayor holds a brief speech and introduces Princess Celestia, but she turns up missing, and Night Mare Moon appears in her place. Only at the end of the following episode does Princess Celestia reappear with the defeat of Night Mare 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's 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 fanfare for Princess Celestia, who comes on stage and flies up, raising the sun behind her.

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".

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 is connected to the Elements of Harmony and arranged the dragon-hatching test for her. She then raised and trained Spike, and subsequently assigned him to be Twilight's assistant.

In the first episode, Celestia sends Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville and indirectly teaches her about the Elements of Harmony. At the end of the second episode, she instructs Twilight Sparkle to send her periodic reports on the magic of friendship in the form of letters, which Twilight usually sends via Spike. These letters typically serve to illustrate each episode's moral for the show's viewers.

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 attends the Running of the Leaves in Fall Weather Friends as "Fall is one of [her] favorite seasons", 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.

In The Best Night Ever, Celestia greets those who enter the Grand Galloping Gala. When Twilight's friends inadvertently wreck the Gala, Celestia, rather then being angry, admits that she invited them in hopes of livening up the Gala, which she declares is "always awful".

Personality
Princess Celestia acts as a mentor to Twilight Sparkle. She often does not directly state her goals, but rather gives the advice to help her students find the answers they need. For example, she wrote a letter prompting Twilight to make friends in Friendship is Magic, part 1 when her goal was for Twilight Sparkle to find the Elements of Harmony.

"I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more..."

- Celestia to Twilight Sparkle

Though viewed with great reverence and awe due to her position, she often encourages her subjects to relax with jokes and gentle questions. She also shows great patience with any inappropriate behavior towards her, as seen when Pinkie Pie snatches a cupcake from her at a party in A Bird in the Hoof. Also in the same episode, it is shown that she has a pet phoenix, Philomeena.

While always regal in both appearance and manner, Princess Celestia has been known to display a fun-loving side, appreciating the humor in a bottle of disappearing ink sent to her by Twilight in Griffon the Brush Off. At times, she will even disregard the strict standards of high-class society when they become too much of a burden for her. In A Bird in the Hoof, while sipping from a constantly refilled cup of tea, she pretends to sip from her already full cup causing Mr. and Mrs. Cake to overfill it. In addition, she did not react when Pinkie Pie abruptly ate the cupcake she, the Princess, was about to eat, while the Cakes panicked and dragged Pinkie away. In The Best Night Ever, even after Twilight's five friends completely ruined the Grand Galloping Gala, Celestia stated that she invited them to liven it up. Meeting the ponies at a doughnut shop afterward, she admitted that she always found the Gala awful.

However, it has been shown that while kindhearted and slow to anger, Celestia's patience does have its limits. When faced against the threat of Discord's return in The Return of Harmony Part 1, Celestia wastes no time in demanding that Discord return the stolen Elements of Harmony. Also, in Lesson Zero when Spike made her aware that Twilight inadvertently unleashes mass chaos onto Ponyville in her obsessive attempts to find an overdue Friendship report to send to the Princess, Celestia personally intervenes to undo Twilight's out-of-control spell. She sternly orders her student to a private meeting to discuss her actions, but remains understanding, and at the insistence of Twilight's friends she agrees not to punish Twilight, instead asking them all to send her friendship reports only when the lessons make themselves apparent to them.

She also seems to have quite a sweettooth. In Ponyville Confidential the Cutie Mark Crusaders, under the name "Gabby Gums," managed to get a hold of a photo depicting her eating cake in an unladylike manner for their Foal Free Press gossip column titled "Celestia: Just like us." Again, at the end of MMMystery on the Friendship Express she can be seen admiring the cake made by the combined efforts of the bakers, barely paying attention to Pinkie's friendship lession and only snapping out of it by Twilight offering her a piece of the cake.

Additionally, in Fall Weather Friends, she mentions that fall is her favorite season.

Powers
As indicated by her Cutie Mark, Princess Celestia's special talent is raising the sun at dawn and bringing the day. However, while her sister Luna was banished as the corrupted Nightmare Moon, Celestia proved that she is also capable of raising the moon and the stars to bring forth the night. Due to this formidable task and her Winged Unicorn nature, it is often speculated that Princess Celestia is a divinity (same goes for Princess Luna).

She has also wielded the Elements of Harmony on two occasions: once together with Princess Luna to petrify Discord, and again (presumably by herself) to banish Nightmare Moon. However, in The Return of Harmony Part 1 it is stated she is no longer able to do so, and her waning control over the Elements allowed Discord to shatter his prison.

In addition to this, Princess Celestia displays additional powers on the side. She is able to use standard unicorn telekinesis and appears able to teleport. She also seems to be skilled in reversing harmful spells, as per her nature of keeper of Order in Equestria. In Cutie Mark Chronicles she is able to easily stop Twilight Sparkle's wild magic burst, and in Lesson Zero she dispels the Want It Need It spell from a massive amount of affected ponies at once. Albeit she is rarely seen using it, it is probably safe to say that her magic is at least on par with the impressive powers displayed by her sister Luna.

Teacher for a Day
This Magnificent Princess pony is the ruler of Equestria!

''Princess Celestia is the most magical pony. She's responsible for raising the sun to create light in Equestria.''

''Wise and kind, she is a mentor to Twilight Sparkle. All of the ponies look up to her and depend on her. Some say she is SO wise because she is over ONE THOUSAND years old.''

Adventures in Ponyville
When the player plays Rainbow Dash's Cloud Bump game as a unicorn, the unicorn looks like Princess Celestia.

Appearances

 * See also character appearances

Princess Celestia's first appearance isn't until the second episode of the series, though her likeness appears in the book that Twilight Sparkle reads at the beginning of Friendship is Magic, part 1. She is sometimes shown reading Twilight's letters and occasionally visiting Ponyville. She appears in episodes 2, 3, 5, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 35, 38, and 46. Additionally, she is mentioned in every episode except Hearts and Hooves Day, due to the reports on friendship being addressed to her.

Merchandise

 * See also toys, merchandise

Celestia's likeness is used for several toys. She has appeared in the Royal Castle Friends, Gift P, and Princess Luna & Princess Celestia boxsets, and a Talking Princess Celestia figure.

In contrast to the show, the toy Celestia is almost always pink. According to Lauren Faust, this may be to sell more copies to retailers. A white Celestia will be a Toys r' Us exclusive in autumn 2012.

Gallery

 * Princess Celestia image gallery