8 Seasons, and here we are! Discussion below, with my own post to follow.

I liked that she saved the show by directing the play. I've always been fond of the idea that Celestia's Cutie Mark isn't about flashy fire spells, but being a symbol to follow and be listened to.

Double audience alienating premise. Goodnight.

Look, first thing's first: Pinkie rolled up a cannon called, "Big Bertha."

That was a WWI reference, and it made me happy. Moving on.

So, Celestia's been at it 1,111 years. We see that no, she really isn't replaceable, and also that it was pretty damn early in their reign that NMM became a thing. There's a bit of a sense of Celestia having had her childhood robbed by responsibilities, which perhaps echoed a thousand years later with her insistence Twilight get her head out of the books and embrace friendship.

Headcanons aside, this was the fun, low-stakes SoL episode I've always craved for dear Celly. The humor hit, the snark from both Spike and Starlight was palpable, it wasn't quite so cringey as to be hard to watch, and AJ remains best pony. I guess the only thing I sort of wish would have happened was a resolution of, "You suck at acting, but you love it, so go for it!" instead of "No, I just wanted to participate."

Happy Celestia freaking out is probably the best thing the show will give us.

I could complain abot Twilight being treated like a clueless idiot but really I suppose it makes sense considering her bloated idol worship for Celestia. Seeing Celestia call her out (not in a Pissed Off You Failed the Test Twilight way but more like the disappointed teacher she is) was also considerably satisfying. Seeing her act like a teacher is what I wanted from this episode the most, and I’m glad we got it.

Also, I have to wonder if this all is an extended metaphor meant to address how she’s been shown in the show so far—in the center stage she has her flaws, but when she’s in the background, helping her ponies succeed for their own benefit, she can make wonderous things happen.

Like I said, Twi’s behaviour at parts bugged me, as did the plethora of cringe-humor, and the morale was sort of shit, but this gave us tons of great Celestia moments so I have at least those to take away. It’s nice to see Celestia get some development but its too bad it was done in a mostly unremarkable episode.

For a princess who can't act for shit, Celestia certainly has some way for acting. I am a little pissed that Spike got the short end of the stick though.

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For an episode devoted to cringe, that moment was the worst. But I'm happy dear Celly didn't brush him aside at the end.

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It certainly did felt good to see him get a little limelight at the end, even if he had to pay for it in tomatoes.

So Celestia wasn't at fault in the episode? Good, then I have no reservations about watching it.

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I have no idea what you're talking about. There is no Audience Alienating Premise here. We finally got a Celestia episode that fleshes her out more then some other episodes.

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- I was alienated by Celestia not being able to act, which her having to do the dance with elites, diplomats, and other heads of state, makes no sense. There were plenty of other ways to do a 'Celestia is flawed but Twilight doesn't want to spill the beans' premise.
- The journal of the two sisters being made cartoon canon kills a lot of my heart for the series. Since Celestia as a example of divinity DONE RIGHT in fiction, without her being something Ponykind had to topple or outgrow but was simply there to help when needed a nice breath of fresh air, but the show has fought tooth and nail to destroy that interpretation. Which is depressing for me since it was part of what made me fall in love with the show.

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Then bye bye. Sorry this killed your interest.

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Oh it's been dead for a while, I'm just tugging along to keep up with the lore at this point.

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Sure.

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While I agree that Celestia being a bad actor just came out of nowhere, I didn't find it that egregious. Or at least, I didn't find it as egregious as I probably should have. Though I'm curious about your comment of "there could've been a better way to do this." I'm interested to hear how you would write it. Not as a challenge, mind you. Merely curiosity.

As I said in the episode discussion proper, I found the episode weird, but enjoyable. There was something about Celestia's antics that got a bit of a chuckle out of me, even if I can't quite fully wrap my head around it. As for making "Journal of the Two Sisters" canon, well, I don't have much to say on that subject that I didn't already say in the discussion thread for that particular book when it first came out. Long story short, I have no qualms with that bit of world-building.

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I would have had her be awful at baking cakes, while at the same time loving them, and entering a baking contest, which would have held IMHO the same conflict for Twilight, lie to her teacher, or tell her the truth? And since Celestia has had her cooking done for her for eons, it would make sense she had no cooking experience.

And you have no problem with it, I understand that. And that bit of world building basically broke me inside. That is all. Thank you for your time.

Can we just call this episode, The Adorable Sunhorse?

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Yes we can!

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But she makes pancakes every morning.

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1. People can be good at one kind of acting but not another. A lot of silent film actors failed at films with sound, and many live action actors fail at voice acting.

2. I've always hated the idea of Celestia being divinity. And what's wrong with the Journal? (aside from them being born Alicorns)

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We're going to have to agree to disagree on that second one.

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1. People can be good at one kind of acting but not another. A lot of silent film actors failed at films with sound, and many live action actors fail at voice acting.

Ditto. Weirdly the best example I can think of is Team America's parody with repeated claims that spy-work is basically just acting, anyway.

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Why don't you like the idea of Celestia being divinity?

Divinity is boring.

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There's difference between putting a persona and acting in general. Pretending is NOT the same as acting. If it was that easy then everyone can do it. Take children for example a child can pretend to be a doctor, but it doesn't mean they going be convincing to play the part of a doctor on TV, or in a movie. I mean ask yourself why are there are so many bad child actors in film or movies?

It takes skill, which Celestia said from the start that she had no experience. The show has pretty much made the the Journal of the two sisters cannon before. but they don't explain why Star Swirl has his magic.

I do wonder if this episode will have Luna fans be like "see she can raise the sun for some dinky play, but not let the moon stay a few hours more?"