Celestia and Luna

Princess Celestia is an Alicorn pony, the former co-ruler of Equestria alongside her younger sister Princess Luna, and the adoptive aunt of Princess Cadance. In addition to her responsibility of raising the sun, she has also been the teacher of Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer at different periods in time, often addressing Twilight as "my faithful student" while mentoring her. She has a pet phoenix named Philomena. Princess Celestia is larger than most ponies, with four exceptions being Nightmare Moon, who is about the same size until she reverts back to being Princess Luna, Trouble Shoes, Steel Buns, and Twilight as a fully-grown Alicorn in the future. As with regular unicorns, when Celestia casts magic, a magic aura surrounds both her horn and the objects her magic affects. The color of this glow varies: for instance, it is blue in A Bird in the Hoof, pink 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, pink when she levitates the empty box the Elements of Harmony are supposed to be in, and blue when she drops the box. The glow is yellow in the remastered title sequence introduced with Lesson Zero, as well as in that episode itself and all the second season episodes that follow it. Her tail and mane have a natural flowing motion, even when Celestia herself is not moving, but they stop doing so when Celestia is weak, as in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, unconscious, as in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2, magic-less, as in Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2 and The Ending of the End - Part 1 and Part 2, or covered in slime, as in Make New Friends but Keep Discord. 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 student find the answers she needs. 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. Despite being royalty, she often encourages her subjects to relax through the use of 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. Princess Celestia displays a fun-loving side when she chuckles at the bottle of disappearing ink sent to her by Twilight in Griffon the Brush Off. 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. She watches with a smile on her face when Pinkie Pie devours one of her cupcakes, while Mrs. Cake gasps and drags Pinkie away. Celestia tells Twilight and her friends in The Best Night Ever, after they ruin the Grand Galloping Gala, that she always found the Gala awful and she was hoping they would liven it up. In Make New Friends but Keep Discord, Celestia invites Discord to the Gala for this same reason, and by the end of the episode, she declares it to be "the most fun Gala in years." 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 makes her aware that Twilight inadvertently unleashed mass chaos onto Ponyville in her obsessive attempts to find a 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. In A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, after Twilight furiously accuses imposter Cadance of being evil, Princess Celestia, along with the others, makes clear her deep disappointment in her student and walks out on Twilight after Shining Armor and the other ponies. But in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, while displaying righteous rage to the newly exposed Queen Chrysalis, she eventually commends Twilight for her instincts that told her the imposter Cadance was evil.

In Ponyville Confidential, the Cutie Mark Crusaders manage 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." At the end of MMMystery on the Friendship Express, she admires the cake made by the combined efforts of the bakers and overlooks Pinkie's attempts to gain her attention. Celestia can also be very forgiving. She does not admonish Fluttershy for taking Philomena without asking in A Bird in the Hoof. As mentioned above, she does not punish Twilight for the chaos she caused in Lesson Zero. In Keep Calm and Flutter On, she firmly believed that Discord could be redeemed, in spite of the trouble he had caused in the past. She mentions that fall is one of her favorite seasons in Fall Weather Friends while at Ponyville to celebrate the Running of the Leaves. In Celestial Advice, Celestia reveals that she once shared some of Twilight's anxieties as a teacher, having worried a lot over sending her pupil away to Ponyville and that Twilight wouldn't need her anymore after making her own friends. In A Royal Problem, Celestia is further revealed to have a tense relationship with her sister Luna. Despite her efforts to bring them closer with daily pancake breakfasts, their lack of appreciation for each other's royal duties creates a rift between them, and Celestia demonstrates more impatience and irritation than usual. In School Daze, she shows great trust in Twilight's ability to run the School of Friendship and restore good feelings between Equestria's kingdoms. In Between Dark and Dawn, Celestia shows a liking for exciting activities while on her vacation with Luna, such as ziplining and diving into the ocean, and shows boredom when Luna takes her to the theatre, or an art museum. During the song Lotta Little Things, she displays a love for stuffed animals, and later in the episode, is revealed to have trouble with maps, and suffer from alektorophobia (a fear of chickens).

Princess Luna, known as Nightmare Moon or Night Mare Moon when transformed or under certain other circumstances, is an Alicorn pony, the younger sister of Princess Celestia, and the main antagonist of the season one premiere of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic as Nightmare Moon. She is also the adoptive aunt of Princess Cadance. Eventually, the Elements of Harmony restore Luna to her former self and she returns to rule over Equestria alongside her older sister. Princess Luna has two designs, differing in that her coat is a darker shade of blue and that her mane is partially translucent, rippling and sparkling like Celestia's. Depiction of her as a filly—on the fan-designed WeLoveFine T-shirts "Old School Cutie Mark" (without her cutie mark) and "Flying in Circles" (with her cutie mark)—uses the lighter-coated-and-normal-maned design; depiction of her as a mare has switched between the two designs on multiple occasions. Much like many archetypal, over-the-top villains, Nightmare Moon is overly confident of herself and dramatically declares that the protagonist is a fool (foal) for thinking she can defeat her, and that "the night will last forever." She is portrayed as vicious and maniacal, shown when she attacks Princess Celestia and cackles evilly in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2. The narration at the beginning of Friendship is Magic, part 1 speaks of Luna's bitterness which transformed her. When she first appears, she intimidates the ponies with her evil laugh and pointed questions. She snidely refers to the ponies as her "beloved subjects," but appears genuinely impressed when Twilight Sparkle recognizes her as Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon uses her magic to set obstacles in Twilight and her friends' path to the Elements of Harmony indirectly, making creatures unwittingly assist her. These include the manticore, whose paw she embeds with a thorn so he'd attack the ponies, or Steven Magnet, whose mustache she cuts off so he'd make the river impassible. She further indirectly attacks the ponies by causing a cliff side to collapse underneath the ponies' hooves and making trees look like monsters. As the Shadowbolts, she tries to persuade Rainbow Dash to abandon her friends so they won't be able to cross a fallen bridge and reach the Elements of Harmony. Despite her indirect approach, when she is attacked by the royal guards, she quickly repels them with lightning, then turns into mist and floats away. She also confronts Twilight Sparkle directly when the two charge at each other, right before shattering the Elements of Harmony. Once transformed back to her former self, Princess Luna is remorseful and tearful upon seeing her older sister. She runs to Celestia's side, apologizing for what she had done. The two sisters later join the celebration in Ponyville, where Luna receives a welcome wreath in wonderment, and gazes up with an anxious smile at her older sister. However, as stated in Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?, Luna's sense of guilt causes her to create the Tantabus in order to give herself nightmares every night as punishment for the suffering she caused as Nightmare Moon. Princess Luna returned to the show exactly one year after the broadcast date of Friendship is Magic, part 2, in the episode Luna Eclipsed. The episode takes place in Ponyville during Nightmare Night. Despite wanting to win over the citizens of Ponyville, the townspeople are frightened of her booming voice and assertive manner. Twilight Sparkle tells Spike that Luna must be having trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years. When Luna tries to express her happiness with being purged of her dark powers, Twilight tells her that she sounds like she's yelling, and Luna explains that she's using the "traditional Canterlot voice," the royal we, and high volume in order to properly address her subjects. She uses archaic terms like "hath," "thy," "nay," and "thou," as well as other constructs. Twilight encourages Luna to lower the volume of her voice, but Luna is hesitant. Twilight Sparkle recruits Fluttershy's help in teaching Luna to speak in a softer voice, and later takes her to Ponyville so Applejack can show her how to be likable. For a short while, Luna manages to mingle with the villagers of Ponyville and have fun with them, by playing games where she throws toy spiders or pumpkins onto a target. In Sleepless in Ponyville, she seems to show less of her former decorum, dispensing with the royal we, and speaking in a far less harsh manner. Princess Luna reverts to her intimidating self after Pinkie Pie accuses her of eating Pipsqueak, while she was actually saving him from drowning in the apple bob. She attempts to endear herself to the villagers by turning toy spiders into real spiders, trying to elicit "fun" by making them crawl on their own to the bulls-eye, but the spiders only frighten everyone. The villagers panic and flee, and after a few seconds of indecision, Luna stops the commotion by shouting "Be still!" in her royal Canterlot voice, to the accompaniment of a crack of thunder. She then decrees in anger that since the ponies dishonor and insult her with the celebration, Nightmare Night is canceled forever. Thanks to Pinkie Pie's insight, Twilight Sparkle realizes that because of the holiday, Pinkie Pie and her entourage actually want to be frightened, so she arranges for Luna to purposefully scare them. Luna appears as Nightmare Moon, scares the ponies, and bares fangs. After the ponies run away in fright, she changes back to her usual appearance and spits out the false fangs she was wearing, confused as to why Twilight wanted her to do that. Then Pipsqueak approaches Luna on behalf of the children and asks her to come back and scare them again next year, even though she canceled Nightmare Night. Luna begins to understand and reinstates Nightmare Night, at which point Pipsqueak declares her his "favorite princess ever" and hugs her leg. The princess manages to relinquish the use of her royal Canterlot voice, and in the epilogue she plays a variety of games with the villagers, accepts the foals' candy, and frightens Rainbow Dash by firing a bolt of lightning behind her, a trick that Rainbow Dash had been playing on other ponies over the course of the night. In the episode Sleepless in Ponyville, she displays kindness and offers wise advice to Scootaloo when she tells her to face her fears. At the end of the episode she gives Scootaloo a wink and a smile, as she knows that Scootaloo has faced her fears and she also knows that she has Rainbow Dash to help her overcome them. In For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils, Luna once again appears in a nightmare; this time, in Sweetie Belle's nightmare. She gives advice to Sweetie Belle and tells her that she as well has a sister that often "shines more brightly" than her and that she struggles with it. She then takes Sweetie Belle into the past at her fifth birthday party and shows her that Rarity did not want to take over the party, just simply save it. Later, Luna tells Sweetie to go inside a door of what the future might hold if she does not fix her sabotage of the headpiece Rarity had designed for Sapphire Shores. Later in the episode, Luna appears again in Canterlot in order to help Sweetie Belle undo the damage she did to the headpiece. In Bloom & Gloom, Luna brings the Cutie Mark Crusaders together into a dream to help dispel their fears about their future cutie marks. In To Where and Back Again - Part 1, she appears to Starlight Glimmer in her nightmare, empathizing with Starlight's past regrets, and encouraging her to talk with Twilight about her problems.