Quote Originally Posted by Metahuman1 View Post
Though on Chrysalis's power of love tap being more powerful then Celestia:


It wasn't more powerful then Celestia, it was more powerful then Celestia's opening attack. Which Celestia though would be more then enough to finish Chrysalis, but wasn't her full power. Thus, she was surprised, didn't react fast enough when the attack didn't work, and took a solid direct hit, which took her out of the fighting, much to everypony and Chrysalis's surprise. She didn't lose because her love wasn't strong enough, she lost cause she didn't use all of her power at her disposal.


If they got a rematch, My Money's on Celestia.
This makes sense to me and I think explains everything nicely.

Quote Originally Posted by Soras Teva Gee View Post
Turn it around why would you think for a moment Celestia can? Its never stated anywhere and Love is not among the EoH which is the only "external" magical source she is known for her. So why does Celestia get a power boost from the Power of Love?

When you assume a requirement into existence then the problem isn't in the show if it isn't upheld.



To get deeply philosophical for a moment that's getting it backwards. Love is a deep connection between two people. While I've know doubt Celestia intellectually cares for her subjects she can only even know a fraction of them, much less have any kind of personal bond that can be called love. Because she can't even know them. To push beyond that is well frankly just beyond her.

It requires her to not merely be, but to be omnipresent. To be not even merely goddess... but God. To borrow the Dresden File's distinction.

That's not a requirement she can meet by concept. I've no doubt Celestia loves Luna as a sister and Twilight as mentor/mother figure, but that covers characters we know who have any kind of personal connection with her. We can infer though that any Shining Armor to her Cadence either didn't work out or is long over. Which is the price being an ageless sorceress queen incurs, its lonely at the top, etc...

(To supplement this are you familiar with the idea of the Four Loves?)
I am not suggesting that Celestia has a deep and personal love for each and every one of her subjects individually. I am suggesting that she has a deep and profound love for all of her subjects as one. She may love a few specific ponies too, like Luna and Twilight, but that's besides the point and not what I'm thinking of here. Though no doubt her love for those two would also be strong and possibly something she could tap into if ever they were seriously threatened (with actual harm or something).

I'm willing to concede that she may need the Elements to harness the full potential of her Love (my head canon puts Love as a kind of Friendship and thus within the domain of the Elements), but we have seen for example in Twilights's cutie mark story that the magic of friendship can be used without the Elements present and even with all its wearers unaware of each other. Sure Twilight didn't have any control over it, but it's possible that this was simply a result of circumstances or Twilight being so young.

As I see it, the magic of friendship and love has a sort of life of its own and is likely to take over or surge in certain situations, probably dramatic situations in particular, but it can be intentionally focused to a degree but only to its full extent with the help of the Elements.