The Round Stable

Princess Celestia's fillyhood dream of being in a play is realized when Twilight Sparkle casts her in a production, only to discover Celestia's talents may lie elsewhere.

This thread is for discussion of the episode. This episode airs at 11:30 Eastern / 8:30 Pacific on Saturday, April 28!

Official preview clips and images are okay to post, as is speculation about the episode.

Things that took 8 years.

Thanos finally getting a movie
Celestia finally getting an episode

A Celestia episode? I am looking forward to this

After all these years, finally her time has come

Princess Celestia's fillyhood dream of being in a play is realized

Celestia, you've had well over a millennium to appear in one. Surely even in the years while your sister was on the moon, you had at least some time to yourself?

More Celestia ineptitude. I love it.

Sounds like fun

If this isn't one of the best episodes of the season I will be disappointed.

Fizzbuzz wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:32 am

Celestia, you've had well over a millennium to appear in one. Surely even in the years while your sister was on the moon, you had at least some time to yourself?

She was attaining her other fillyhood dream: building a scale model of Equestria entirely out of popsicle sticks

The Doctor wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:32 pm

Things that took 8 years

a “horse play” pun

Mechanical Ape wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:54 pm

a “horse play” pun

No...

That has to have been said in the show before....

Hasn't it?

Now that's what I call horsin' around!

deleted

My theory is, Celestia’s spent so many millennia being PRINCESS CELESTIA that she’s simply never had an experience of being somepony else. This would explain why she’s never acted before, and why she turns out to be pretty bad at it. She doesn’t know how to not be Princess Celestia.

You know which ruler is great at acting, though ——>

Maybe Fluttershy can pass along some acting tips and we can have Goth and Valley Girl Celestia.

I will never get tired of Glimmer murdering Twilight with words.

Definitely my favorite episode of the season. I bet Nicole Oliver had a blast with it. Spike was amazing in the episode as well.

It basically had the same message as Winter Wrap Up: "If you have no talent, go into management."

I liked it quite a bit. Celestia being a total goof was fun. The ending is what really elevated the episode for me. Celestia totally taking charge and putting things right. Competence is something they've really lacked with her in the show. She knows everyone's strengths and weaknesses and was able to rally everyone immediately. I also loved her little pep-talk to Fluttershy. Reminded me of her words of confidence to her way back in "Keep Calm and Flutter On". All in all, a really, really enjoyable episode.

Now we just need Celestia to help save the day when Equestria is threatened and we'll be good.


Only 2 things I didn't care for.

-I think they took the bad acting joke a bit far. I also don't think Celestia would be that clueless that she's doing a bad job. Also, the voice thing. Celestia knows how to project. And that bit makes me wonder if this episode might have been a Luna episode originally.

- 1111th anniversary. I don't think they should have given a timeframe and left it ambiguous as to how long Celestia and Luna were around before Luna's banishment. It just doesn't sit right with me that Celestia has 10x more experience raising the Moon than Luna. Though, we can say that Celestia is the REAL Princess of the Night.

Side note: Celestia taught Twilight how to dance confirmed.

So as of this episode it's been 1111 years exactly since Celestia took over raising the sun. If any source later states the amount of time between that and when Nightmare Moon was banished, then we'll know how long has passed between the beginning of the series and now. But anyway...

Fantastic episode, especially seeing as it came from a new writer. It managed to be both hilarious and heartrending. Celestia being a bad actress seems like it comes out of nowhere, but as I think about it now, I think about how Luna has been just as much of a stick in the mud in similar social situations (Luna Eclipsed the best example). I suppose that, even beneath Celestia's extra thousand years of royal veneer that she built up, the sisters really do share that dorkiness.

Oh, and did anyone get an exact count of just how many times Twilight got owned this episode?

I enjoyed this episode a lot. It was funny, and had some good scenes between Celestia and Twilight as well. Nice to see everyone, including the Breakfast Club, involved.

I liked hearing Celestia do the royal voice.

The scene where Celly helped the play by actually raising the sun was great.

A+ pony, best of the season so far.

The Doctor wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:05 pm

Now we just need Celestia to help save the day when Equestria is threatened and we'll be good.

This is never going to happen because for one, the show isn't about her, and two, deus ex machina from an all-powerful character is really lazy writing.

Octavia wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 28, 2018 1:03 pm

This is never going to happen because for one, the show isn't about her, and two, deus ex machina from an all-powerful character is really lazy writing.

A good writer can make use of powerful side characters in a way that does not detract from the main characters.

Look at Dumbledore and Gandalf in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Never main characters, but shown to take proactive roles in the adventures.

Just having Celestia and Luna play damsels in distress all the time? THAT is lazy writing.

deleted

Octavia wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 28, 2018 11:39 am

I will never get tired of Glimmer murdering Twilight with words.

You're not a PRINCESS princess...

She's right you know...

The play’s the thing, you dingus / In which we’ll catch the conscience of the princess.

• Celestia’s been celebrating her 39,999th birthday for the last millennium.
• More like PRANCESS Celestia
• Still odd to think of the god-princess as a normal schoolfilly with friends and not some eternal entity, licked from creation’s ice by the primordial cow or whatever.
• “This is gonna put a snag in my ‘Springtime for Sombra’ scam.”
• “Wormy Applecores, Pinkie! That’s the name of my second cousin twice removed! He annoys everypony too!”
• Ha, Rarity visibly twitching before her silk freakout.
• Starlight: still the best.
• Oh shit, unicorns had to sacrifice themselves to keep civilization from collapsing. That is WH40K as fuck.
• Finally, Celestia busts out the Royal Canterlot Voice.
• She is preternaturally bad. It’s glorious.
• Celestia broke the sun! I never imagined I’d type that.
• “Well, I’m not the Element of Making Another Pony’s Dreams Come True.”
• Ha, improv humor.
• I can handle Lyra sitting like a person, but Celly’s breakin’ my brain.
• It would not surprise me if ponyworld’s sun actually was a burning marshmallow.
• Luna’s really got her jealousy beat if she’s OK with The Princess Celestia Story Starring Princess Celestia as Princess Celestia.
• Trixie totally smuggling fireworks, great!
• Twilight flipout, better!
• Aw, Celestia and Twilight hashing out their feelings as equals and shit.
• Celestia giving orders like a boss.
• Ponies continue to be assholes.
• And Pranklestia returns.

This was more of a Twilight episode than a Celestia episode.

I think this episode highlights the problem I've been seeing in newer episodes -- possibly since season 6. Having taken part in Pony Rewatch helped to give me some perspective on things.

I'll give my thoughts on the episode itself after I finish giving my thoughts on this recurring trend I'm alluding to.

From season 6, I've been cringing more and more in certain episodes and I think I understand why: the conflicts in these given episodes come across as very forced. In the really bad ones, not only is the existence of the problem itself forced but also how the situation deteriorates. It's as if the writers are not only trying too hard to make the episodes happen but they're also pushing too hard to hit that rock bottom. This often leads to some very big facepalm moments along the way. Of course, once the pony does hit rock bottom, there's really nothing else to do but hammer it in like forcing a nail through cold steel. If just a little common sense would have been applied at literally any moment along the way, disaster could have been mitigated if not entirely averted.

This episode has all of that. Twilight doesn't think things through. You'd think that a pony who's all about learning would understand that learning anything from scratch takes time and relentless dedication. Learning is more or less making almost every possible mistake before you start to figure out how something is actually done right. Princess Celestia had zero experience and it doesn't look like there was much time to show Princess Celestia the ropes. Worse still, much of the preparation done beforehand had to be adjusted. How did Twilight think she'd schedule all of this in such a short amount of time? Had it been planned a year early, it may have been possible to teach her the basics and allow her to play a simple role befitting of her training up to then.

All that for how this started... As this progressed, red flags were coming up everywhere at every moment. Twilight even made the decision to let her believe that she's doing everything well while she is very clearly making rookie mistakes. I get that Twilight's sole objective here was to give Princess Celestia the star role but at the very least she'd know that she'd need to be earnest with the Princess because that's how she is to fulfill her role as the star actress. The decision to take her to acting class was a sound one but Twilight's insistence on protecting her feelings -- essentially treating a princess with a thousand years of experience like a foal -- made it impossible to make any progress whatsoever and it was just agonizing to watch. She finally reaped what she had sown when the set is virtually destroyed, leaving her with nothing else but to vent all the pent-up stress -- and, of course, what stressful rant would be complete without being overheard by the very last pony she wanted to hear it. This just comes across as so avoidable to me and that made it so painful to watch. I don't recall ever having facepalmed and groaned so much watching an episode.

Luckily, though, all the other parts of it were fantastic. Princess Celestia prancing around with impulsive delight was just too adorable. Really loved the first scene before the intro.
Then there's the second half when Twilight had been caught. Princess Celestia was right to be disappointed and angry. After their heartfelt exchange, Princess Celestia was brought back to the set and that's where she put her managerial skills to good use -- and boy, was she killing it! Seeing her fix such a broken situation with such elegance and skill was truly an amazing sight! From salvaging the set to directing Spike and the other ponies in real time to rectify whatever problems popped up... It was simply nothing short of spectacular!

In hindsight, had it not been for Twilight's blunderous shenanigans, we would not have seen Princess Celestia make picking the pieces up look like such an art. Perhaps I can be thankful for Twilight's blunder for setting up the stage for such a performance (pardon the pun).

Then, of course, there are things other than the plot to be thankful for. Princess Celestia has already had episodes where more of her personality has been expressed but this one easily tops the list (and probably will for some time to come). We also got a bit more of Equestrian lore here. Apparently, the unicorns all worked together to raise the sun but despite their combined power, their power was still being depleted. Princess Celestia, on the other hand, could carry out the astronomical task without exhaustion. It certainly is interesting.

Another thing: anyone else remember that Fluttershy dressed up as Princess Celestia before in Testing Testing 1-2-3?

Mechanical Ape wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 28, 2018 3:03 pm

• Oh shit, unicorns had to sacrifice themselves to keep civilization from collapsing. That is WH40K as fuck.

It just makes you wonder, though... When exactly did it become necessary to move the sun and moon manually? Did someone else move them before the unicorns did? Did they move on their own until something went wrong?

Mechanical Ape wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 28, 2018 3:03 pm

• Trixie totally smuggling fireworks, great!

Erythema wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 28, 2018 5:40 pm

In the really bad ones, not only is the existence of the problem itself forced but also how the situation deteriorates. It's as if the writers are not only trying too hard to make the episodes happen but they're also pushing too hard to hit that rock bottom. This often leads to some very big facepalm moments along the way.

Over-the-top freak-outs driving the story have been happening since season 2. Or season 1, if you count "Party of One."

Highbrow Dash wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:09 pm

It just makes you wonder, though... When exactly did it become necessary to move the sun and moon manually? Did someone else move it before the unicorns did? Did it move on its own until something went wrong?

Maybe the ponies were rude to Helios, so he left.

This was deffo the best episode of the season so far. Funny and emotional. Best Twilight freakout in a long time.

They probably never bothered moving the moon since it really isn't that important. Nights would be darker and tides would be less noticeable, big deal.

No wonder Luna felt underappreciated. Ponies were probably like "yeah whatever" when she found out she had the shittier version of Celestia's power.

I want to note that this episode featured all Mane Six plus Spike plus Starlight plus Princess Celestia, and everyone had something to do and it didn’t feel overstuffed. That’s some efficient, on point writing on display.

Hope the new writer sticks around.

SlateSlabrock wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:57 pm

Over-the-top freak-outs driving the story have been happening since season 2. Or season 1, if you count "Party of One."

When you think about it, it was Twilight massively freaking out over an ancient prophecy that kicked this whole series off in the first place.

That was quality horsie cartoon.

Top tier horsie

Something neat about the pre-Celestia backstory presented here is that it's actually from the Journal of the Two Sisters. It's cool to see supplementary materials come back and be used in the show proper. It creates a stronger sense of continuity within the property as a whole.

This episode was absolutely fantastic and I am genuinely surprised and pleased that the doctor also enjoyed it.