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Valkyrie-Girl — Forgiven
Published: 2012-12-20 04:28:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 25510; Favourites: 1079; Downloads: 521
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So I was recently asked which princess is my favorite. I've observed that most people's answer is Luna and I can completely understand. She's a great character. She's fun, memorable, adorable.. She's gone from being a villain to an amusingly socially awkward princess to the guardian of ponies dreams. She's grown so much as a character over the course of the series so it's only natural that she would get attention. But she's not my favorite.Celestia has been the ruler of Equestria for more than a thousand years. She is wise, kind and beautiful. She knows when to be a princess and when it's ok to laugh. She's helped Twilight grow from a bookish recluse into a wonderful friend to many ponies. She is all this and more. But that is not why I love her. I love her because she forgave a traitor. She forgave the unforgivable. She loved the unlovable. Luna was supposed to rule by her side, to abide by the Elements and keep the peace throughout Equestria. But more importantly they were supposed to love each other, to be each others friend through the long years of their reign. But Luna allowed jealousy to blind her to love. She chose bitterness and anger over love and she betrayed her sister. I know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone close to you. It's like a knife in the back, slowly twisted until your heart breaks from the pain. It is the hardest thing in the world to look that person in the eye and tell them that you still love them and that you forgive them.
Celestia did just that. Luna did nothing to deserve her sister's forgiveness. She did nothing but cause Celestia grief and pain and loneliness. Celestia would have had every right to punish Luna, to strip her of her royal title and banish her from Equestria. But she didn't do that. She welcomed her home with tears of joy as though she did nothing wrong. It is this beautiful act of love that makes me adore Celestia.
The quote is a slightly adjusted version of some of the lyrics from the song Forgiven by Skillet. [link]
In case anyone is interested, this one was drawn and inked traditionally then scanned and colored digitally.
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Comments: 207
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I have to say I prefer this version of the line to the original.
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What are your thoughts on the episode S7 E10 “A Royal Problem”? This is my favorite season seven episode so far and is in my top ten episodes of all time.
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php…
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You know it's cute but still in this what you writen down there it's like you hate Luna im not saying you hate her but it's like this
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... You are one of the people i see that really inspire me to become a better artist because I know I can reach this level of beauty and expression, if I keep trying. People like you and your artwork allow me to keep moving on and to not just give up on myself, and it reminds me that even in the past two years I have been making amazing progress in going from 1 2 grade level to being better at art and expressions than most of the eighth graders in the school, considering I'm only in sixth grade.
This picture is beautiful, and holds so much emotion and story, it encaptures the characters of Celestia Luna perfectly. Seeing this made my day. Thank you!
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Thank you for making this beautiful picture! It is beautiful in multiple ways: the art, of course, but also the feeling and story behind it. I really appreciate someone pointing out Celestia's good qualities in such fine detail; I'm a little suspicious that the fanbase for Luna is slightly hipster sometimes, like, "Oh of course Luna is better because Celestia is the popular girl in the show and Luna doesn't get her dues." You make many excellent points about the awesome lesson behind the story of the pony sisters.
Also I THOUGHT those words sounded suspiciously inspired by a Christian theme! I love Skillet. ^^ That's an awesome song.
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I definitely agree, and Celestia is my favorite too. Your reasons are very touching, and I think incredibly valid for why she's great. Another aspect about Celestia I like is the simple fact that, despite having to go it alone for 1,000 years, Celestia ruled Equestria and maintained peace in all that time. That's assuming, too, that it was even peaceful all throughout; if she had to deal with a lot of conflicts during those 1,000 years, than all the more credit due to her ability to keep Equestria together through it. Also credit to her fortitude for doing it without her sister, somepony who ruled and fought by her side countless times before.
The reason I find this significant is because of the fact that countries, in real life anyway, are difficult to maintain; they always shift based on outcomes of wars, economics, and industry, sometimes dissolving entirely if the leadership is poor and anarchy divides the people. We also get a few hints of what life may be like without civilization in the world of the show: the lands beyond the Equestrian border are depicted as wild, chaotic, and filled with monsters. The Everfree shows how nature can overtake itself and anypony trying to traverse it, and is crawling with all manner of monsters as well (though the show is a bit inconsistent with just how dangerous Everfree is). That's not even getting into all the magic, the power-hungry tyrants, and other such individuals who are completely out for themselves and willing to take down anypony and anything that gets in their way. Point is, this world can be hostile, so Celestia's responsibility to keep the country united and prospering is that much more important, else all the ponies may end up living in that hostile world.
And it seems like she's been very successful for a full 1,000 years, not even counting the time before Luna's banishment. Still, I think your reasons are especially powerful, and has got me thinking. ^u^
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Here the questions, if there is a few Ponies who still have the grudge against Luna and try to kill her, what will happened? And if they success, what will whole entire population of Equestria think about her dead?
I mean, they can lived without Princess Luna for a thousand years. They can do it again. Will they think about like 'nothing had happened' or go into the mood of sadness along with Princess Celestia?
Have 6 questions here from the sentences above that I had write...
1 If not success in killing her...
2 If success in killing her...
3 What will Equestria think about the Ponies who did this?
4 Will the Ponies still treat this as normal like 'nothing had happened' or go into the mood of sadness along with the Goddess of the Sun?
5 Will Princess Celestia blame herself for let this happened to Luna?
6 Will anypony still see Luna as a Monster?
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Hmmm those are some very good questions which I will attempt to answer, though this will simply be my own opinion so take it or leave it as you will.
Nightmare Moon has been a legend for 1000 years. The ponies who experienced her power first hand and feared her for are all long dead. Though however brief her return to power was at the beginning of the series, I have doubt that she left a huge impact on the population of Equestria. She defeated Princess Celestia and kept the sun from rising for an entire day. I'm sure that some ponies will never get over the fear of that no matter how much Luna proves that she is no longer Nightmare Moon. And it is entirely possible that some of those ponies would try to kill her out of fear. Were this to happen I think it very likely that they would fail simply because both Luna and Celestia are very powerful and it would take a lot to kill either one of them. If they failed I think Luna and Celestia would deal with them very justly. Luna knows what she became and she understands how much fear she inspired so while it would sadden her to see ponies that still feared her so, I don't think she would deal unjustly with them. And while Luna would be very understanding about it I think the rest of Equestria would be in an uproar. Luna has been working for four seasons to win back Equestria's trust and I think she has succeeded for the most part. I think most ponies accept her as Equestrian royalty and would be just as outraged by an attempt on her life as they would be if it had been an attempt on Celestia's.
And if they had succeeded I think there would be even more outrage. Even if they didn't love Luna, most of Equestria seems to adore Celestia and at the very least they would be outraged for her sake. They would probably call for the assassins to be executed for their crimes. Whether they end up executed or not, I definitely don't think Equestria would just go back to the way it was. The majority of ponies would probably go into mourning right along side their surviving princess. And I don't think Celestia would blame herself. Sure she might have a bit of survivors guilt at first, wondering if she could have one something to keep it from happening. But in the end I think she would know that it is the fault of the ponies who killed Luna and no one else. She had a 1000 years to brood over Luna transforming into Nightmare Moon but she never became bitter over it. She regrets it happening and it saddens her that she lost all those years with her sister but she doesn't linger on the past. Instead she celebrates her sister's return and works to make up for lost time. So if Luna was killed I think she would mourn, possibly for years but in the end I think she would take comfort in knowing that this time their separation was not because Luna betrayed her again but because other ponies could not see the change in her. She would carry on and continue to be the princess Equestria needs her to be.
I hope that made sense and, again, this is just my opinion.
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You mean they have to give the Goddess of the Moon a change because they all just love her big sis?! That... is not necessary! And I don't think everypony going to miss her that much. They don't even know about her.
Why they have to lost the tears for the one that they don't even know? If you're going to said that it's because Princess Celestia really much love her little sis, you can said. But that still no sense for the other Ponies.
And you did not yet answer the last one. 'Will anypony still see Luna as a Monster?' (Not include the guys that try to kill/killed her of course.)
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At the beginning at least, yes I think so. They all love and trust Celestia so if she's willing to give Luna a chance, why shouldn't they? And you're right, if thos assassination we're talking about were to happen in season 1, I don't think anypony would care save for those closest to Celestia and even then they would only be sad for Celestia's sake and not because they care about Luna. But as we get into later seasons, especially as far as season 4, Luna has made her presence known. She has actively been trying to win back the trust of the ponies of Equestria. She has once again taken up he duty as the Guardian of Dreams. By the end of season 4, how many ponies' lives has she touched, has she helped change for the better? So yes, I still say that if she were to be killed, Equestria would go into mourning. That doesn't mean that every pony would cry for her. I think many would simply be solemn out of respect but many would be genuinely sad like Twilight and the mane six, Cadance and Shining Armor (because I'm sure they've gotten to know her behind the scenes), Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle who's dreams she walk through and helped over come their fears and make good choices, all of Ponyville whom she proved herself to on Nightmare Night, and many more.
I think there might be a few who still fear her, who can't let go of the thought that she was once Nightmare Moon. They might not say it but, if she would killed, they might be thinking "Good, I'm glad she's gone". There are always those people out there like that. So yes, I think there might be a few who think she's a monster, some who really do like her and some who don't really care either way.
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So if Princess Luna's get killed, how many years of the Goddess of the Sun going to used to repair her broken heart? I bet that it must be longer than when she 'hurt' her.
And for those few Ponies that have a grudge on her had killed her, I bet they didn't killed Princess Luna because they just fear her only. But because of Equestria's safety as well.
And to earn the safety, sometimes it's mean must sacrifice the happiness of the other to get it. So they can have safety. What do Princess Celestia, the Mane Six and the other Ponies will do with this reason?
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Hmmmm, that's really good question. I don't think she'd ever truly heal from a loss like that. I think Celestia is strong enough to get through it and move on for the sake of Equestria but I think she would always carry the pain of loosing her little sister, especially after getting her back.
I would say that fear and wanting to protect something go hand in hand. If you are trying to protect something that means you are afraid of loosing it or of it being harmed in some way. If they killed Luna because they thought they were protecting Equestria then that implies that they were afraid she was going to harm it or destroy it.
It's true that sometimes sacrifices must be made to secure the safety of all. But such sacrifices are unnecessary when they is no danger. If this was the reason that the assassins gave for their actions I think Celestia and the others would be angry. They would be angry that the assassins couldn't see past their own fears and see that their was no danger to Equestria. Luna hates the fact that she allowed herself to be consumed by her jealousy become Nightmare Moon and she would never allow it to happen again. Celestia knows this and she would be angry that they couldn't see it. And she would be angry and confused why they didn't bring their concerns to her directly. She would have listened and she and Luna both would have done their best to put their fears to rest.
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Here another question, if these assassins are exist during the episode Luna Eclipsed. I saw Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy's hiding in her house and whole entire villagers of Ponyville scream and run away from
Princess Luna everytime. And if those guys were there and then Princess Luna got murdered by them. What do Pinkie Pie and the rest of Ponyville will think of this? (For Pinkie Pie, she do just because of
her own fun but others are in real fear. Except for Twilight and Applejack who have no fear of course. And I knew Twilight and Applejack will do their best to protect the Goddess of the Moon.)
And I believe that the Ponies who murdered Princess Luna will think they're heroes who save everypony from a ruthless monster.
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That situation would be more difficult to predict. Luna Eclipsed is supposed to be her first public appearance outside of Canterlot so no one really knows her yet. The mane six would be angry for sure but as for the rest of Ponyville I'm not quite sure. I don't think they would be celebrating the fact that she was dead but beyond that I think there would be very mixed responses.
And yes, I agree that the assassins would have completely convinced themselves that what they are doing is heroic and that they are making the world a better place.
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If Princess Luna was killed during the Luna Eclipsed and Twilight reported about this to Princess Celestia.
How much of the angry that the Goddess of the Sun along with her student and her friends will have from this?
And how do Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy going to feel that when those assassins said that it's because she heard her scream and run away from Luna
and see Fluttershy run to hide in her house to go away from her. What do they both feel when they said they're the main reason that make them do this?
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If you're asking if Celestia would be angry with Twilight for not stopping the assassins before they killed Luna, I don't think she would be. Despite being angry beyond belief, Celestia would never take her anger out on an innocent party, especially Twilight.
As to how Pinkie and Fluttershy would feel about it first, it would be a total jerk move to say that it was because of their reactions to Luna that they chose to do what they did. For one thing, it would be a total lie. An attempt on a princess's is not something that you just choose to do on a whim. It would have taken months of planning and preparation. Even if the assassins got into their heads and Pinkie and Fluttershy did blame themselves, Twilight and the other would make sure to keep telling them that it's not true. There is no way it's their fault.
Out of curiosity, why so many questions about this particular scenario?
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I am the guy who is a VERY SERIOUS! And the question about how much of angry of Princess Celestia has is not from Twilight not protecting Luna but from Luna get killed by those assassins. And of course, I'm just be happy to have someone who can understand me.
The serious person who are serious in study and life being threaten by someone that are our friends by make us being a jerk and 'clown' in front of the others.
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So... Celestia may forgave Luna. What about the other Ponies?! I am sure there are a lot that still treat her as a Monster! And I'm believe that Goddess of the Sun have too much of the soft side in her heart!
Luna is not worthy for the offer that her big sis had offer in the first place! Why did she think she is worthy to take it?! After what did she had done, she is nothing but the worthless one and have no honor!
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You are absolutely right, Luna has no honor. She betrayed her country, her sister, her values, everything she claimed to hold dear. There is no way that she could earn forgiveness after what she had done so there was really no reason for Celestia to forgive Luna, and yet she did. She could have sent Luna right back to the moon for everything she had done and she would have been justified in doing so.
And yet she chose not to. She chose to extend mercy and forgiveness to her traitor sister with no guarantee, no promise that Luna wouldn't hurt her again, betray her again. Why? Because of love. Celestia loves Luna so much that she can set aside all the hurt, all the anger, she can set aside her right to justice in order to have her sister back. And while this would appear to be the soft-hearted choice, the week choice even, I would argue that it isn't. It is hard to forgive. It is far easier to hold a grudge, to hold onto the anger and the hurt and to want to make the person who betrayed you suffer.
But Celestia made the hard choice and look at the result. Luna has been transformed! She has become kind and understanding. She despises what she became as Nightmare Moon and and has worked to earn back the trust of the ponies of Equestria. She watches over young ponies dreams and helps them to overcome their fears. She empathizes deeply with with other pony's fears and insecurities and does her best to try and alleviate them. And above all, she returns her sister's love. And i beleive that is the far greater prize Celestia sought when she chose to forgive Luna; to see Luna become the pony she was always meant to be rather than watch her suffer for her crimes.
And i know you may see things differently. This is simply how I see it.
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I wanna tell something. It is a VERY BAD THING! This was happened when I'm at 13-15. I'm once get bullied with another friend of mine from a gang of goons that have 10-12 at every lunchtimes.
We have been tortured for three years. When I was 14. Me and my friend make an escape, we found a place that we can hide.
We hide at their for a few months. When we make an escape, it was of course is my plan to do an escape from them. But after we get our freedom,
he revealed to be as nothing but another worthless goon! When those goons found us, I blame my friend that he is the one who made an idea about the escape.
So we get captured back and being bullied again, I get the original as the same that I have but my 'friend' get more torture than me for making an idea of escaping. And I never apologize to him. Because he bullied me like them!
It has been 5 years now. I never tell anyone about this. Even my friends, who are very much different from him.
The point of this detail is... when I get betray by someone. I will betray that someone back! (If I have a change of course!)
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First I would like to say that I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right.
Second I would like to say that I can understand (at least a little) how you feel. I am no stranger to being betrayed. While I've never been physically hurt because of it, I have been (and am still being) emotionally hurt by someone who claims to love me, someone who promised they would never hurt me. I know how it feels to want to see them suffer for what they did. But the anger, the hurt, it eats me up inside. It exhaust me. It's gotten so bad in the past that I couldn't even draw because it was all I could think about. And that's no way to live.
I'm a Christian and as a Christian I am taught to forgive others because God forgave me first. The person who betrayed me doesn't deserve my forgiveness but then I don't deserve God's forgivness. I have hurt and betrayed Him just like that person hurt and betrayed me. So if God can forgive me then I surely I can do the same for others. And when I do, when I chose to forgive, the anger that has been sitting inside me eating me up disappears. The pain is still there of course but the exhausting, consuming anger is gone, replaced by God's beautiful peace.
I understand that this may not make sense to you but it is what I know to be true in my life. Take it how you will.
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For the religion, I'm worshiped the Buddhism. But like what you said, the Buddhahood is always taught that too. But it is hard to do like you said.
And I'm kind of can't hold myself when I see one of those goons get suffered. It is fun for me after all.
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No I don't think you're crazy. In fact i would say it's very natural to want to hurt people who hurt you. That's why it's so hard to forgive, because it goes against everything that we think we want, that we think will make us happy. But it wont. In the moment it might make us feel good but that feeling doesn't last and the pain will always come back. It's only when we let go of our anger and forgive that healing can begin. I don't know about you but I'm willing to let go of my desire for vengeance if it means I can be free of that exhausting, consuming anger.
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I think the 1,000 years was, in part, Luna's punishment.
But perhaps it was the Elements themselves that were the Judge in that trial which pass that sentence.
In either case... yes. Episode 2, and Michael and Lucifer embraced once more... a better world than our own.
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I like Celestia too! However, speaking in Luna's defense, the Nightmare Forces had taken advantage of her insecurities and Luna, believing them, was corrupted into their Nightmare Queen. Not saying it's Celestia's fault, or Luna's, but we can safely blame the Nightmare Forces. That is, if you accept the comic books as conon.
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Until the show contradicts them I do take the events of the comics as canon. But I will say that I'm pretty sure it was more complicated than "the Nightmare Forces took her over so it's not really anyone's fault". If that were so then Luna would have no reason to feel as guilty as she did. And by saying that Celestia is my favorite I'm not saying that I dislike Luna. I love her. I just like Celestia a bit more.
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sisters,kinda like brothers baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
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Magnificent piece! And I completely agree with you, that's very much why Celestia is my favorite character as well.
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Thank you! I'm glad to know that there are others who feel the same way about her.
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I agree. Luna did cause Celestia pain, and she did go far with her jealousy, but she couldn't really help it. She was overcome by the bitterness and, in my own imagination, was also in a way, possessed by an evil spirit. And I do like Celestia. I just want to know more about her. Hopefully in season 4... I actually want both Luna AND Celestia (and Zecora, and Fluttershy... You know what, forget it. All ponies are my favorite. I cannot decide properly. I just don't think I like Shining Armour and King Sombra as much... Maybe even Cadence... but if I'd find out more about them, then...y'know...) to be my favorites. And in season 4, all princesses and Zecora and Shining and Chrysalis and King Sombra and Trixie should have some more attention and more of a background story. But in conclusion, I like all ponies. (I write too much... *sigh* Sorry)
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I would argue that no matter how much pain and bitterness she felt, Luna (and anyone really) always had a choice and she made the wrong one. Which does not mean I love her any less. We all make the wrong choices sometimes and all we can do is hope that we have a Celestia in our lives to love us no matter what.
And you are quite right. Pretty much every pony is great.
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While I agree that Luna took her pain and anger to an extreme level, I still understand why she did it. She was outshone (no pun intended) by her older sister, and no ponies seemed to love or even respect her night. Many feared it. She felt bitter and pained and shunned by the ponies she protected, and felt as though they only loved Celestia, and that kind of hurt can cause people to lash out to try and stop the pain. She is also shown to be younger than Celestia, and age may also have not helped her judgment. So although it is true that Luna caused Celestia a lot of motional pain, Celestia did the same to Luna by not understanding her pain and not realizing that Luna felt the way she did. In the end though, yes Celestia did show very forgiving love and understanding, and all ills were basically done away with on both sides, hence why I love both sisters.
Your work is beautiful by the way.
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Celestia is my favorite for that reason exactly. I'm so glad someone else understands. <3
That being said, this piece is gorgeous. It flows very nicely.
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I often feel like I'm the only one who feels this way about her so I'm really glad whenever anyone shares my feelings. So thank you for that. Thank you very much.
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Actually it's "All I long to be erased, you have forgiven".
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i still don't understand what that means.....
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What it's saying is that everything that Luna has done that she wishes she could undo or erase, Celestia has forgiven.
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Not only is this picture beautiful, but your words in the description are also beautiful. They gave me chills ^-^
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Well thank you very much!
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