Some thoughts on Celestia and war · 10:22pm Sep 17th, 2014
This was inspired by BronyWriter's Warmongering, which features a Celestia who does everything she can to avoid war, and its contrast with some stories that make Celestia warlike or even genocidal. I've been thinking for a while about why those stories make me uncomfortable, and I'd like to outline some possible views of Celestia.
Celestia as Greek god
This Celestia is incredibly powerful, but subject to all manner of mortal flaws. She can be petty, vengeful, or even spiteful, and she doesn't always think before she acts. Furthermore, she's intimidating enough that she can't easily be talked down.
This Celestia has a lot of tragic potential, but I don't think the canon supports her. From what we've seen of canon Celestia, she's very patient and doesn't act rashly. She could certainly be driven to act outside the ordinary, but it would take something she hadn't experienced before after centuries of life.
Celestia as unknowable being
This Celestia is not and has never been a pony. She sees in dimensions ponies can't comprehend, acts according to patterns ponies wouldn't recognize, and may not naturally think in the same moral dimensions as ponies. Nonetheless, she chooses to take pony form, and she's enough in tune with pony morality that she can wield the elements of harmony. Perhaps she sees weaker beings as innocents to be protected, or perhaps she finds value in their struggling and striving.
This is the most powerful possible Celestia, but she's also the least likely to be a warmonger. To draw an analogy, Fluttershy would protect her pets from a predatory fox, but she wouldn't snap the fox's neck. Wherever she came from, Celestia is clearly a strong moral figure, and if she's not a pony, that can't be compromised in pony fashion.
Celestia as Princess, not goddess
This Celestia is and has always been a pony--a very big pony, but a pony nonetheless. Her moving the sun is ultimately no different from how other ponies control the weather or change the seasons. As such, she's quite loyal to her roots, and potentially vulnerable to pony frailties.
Celestia is old, but she's not omniscient. There are plenty of plots that could push her into a corner, particularly if she's weaker than she seems. The problem is ultimately one of moral alignment. A powerful moral figure might kill enemy soldiers to save her kingdom, but if she's laughing as she kills them, and she slaughters them even as they cower in fear, she might not be such a powerful moral figure anymore.
What it comes down to
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either Celestia uses her power without qualms, or she's a paragon of virtue. If your character is completely unstoppable, no mortal can present a threat to her, and the narrative justifies her no matter what she does, there's only one path open to her:
One thing's for sure, Celestia's not a Mary Sue, since the show's narrative has never revolved around her, or even portrayed her as an all-knowing paragon of perfection.
Personally, I think of Celestia as a princess, not a goddess.
Another option to consider is "Greek god who grew out of it." Immortality allows for millennia of experience and potential character growth. Celestia may have seen Discord as the ultimate end of the path of treating mortals as toys and thus chose to change her ways.
I interpret Celestia as being as powerful as you'd expect for someone who single-hornedly controls a naturally occurring fusion reactor. This means that she has the World of Cardboard dilemma. You can't use napalm to rid your house of termites, and you can't use the full power of the Sun on a changeling in your own castle.
That being said, I still see her as still a pony with a pony mindset. My take on her would rather avoid war if at all possible, and would prefer to end it as swiftly as possible otherwise, with as few casualties on either side as she can manage.
2462958 There was this one story I read . . . I forget the title. Celestia discovered the location of a changeling hive where ponies were being drained of love and slowly killed, and she sent in troops to rescue them. She did everything she could beforehand to prepare the troops to get in and out quickly, not just to minimize her own casualties, but to reduce the time spent fighting changelings and the resultant changeling casualties. Then the plan broke down in the field, as such plans tend to do, and more deaths resulted than anticipated. I thought that was a pretty good portrayal, and it fit what we know of Celestia from the show.