@ThatGuyImpious  
You were almost right!  
I thought this image would be more popular as a backdrop…

Oh no, they crossed the streams!

I just noticed that the beams of light aren’t actually a rainbow but more of a mixture of Celestia and Luna’s magic colors.

The really interesting thing here is that they don’t seem to be using the Elements of Harmony, but rather their own combined power.

@BP
 
They’ll sooner do a “dear friend/family member dies” episode with Granny Smith than Celestia. Even so, it’s that “never say die” thing. I’ll believe that she’s passing the torch, but she probably just wants to take a freaking vacation.

OH SHIT SON!  
YOU’RE FUCKED!

Agreed. But there’s something in that exchange with Luna I did not like.
 
Its almost as if…Celestia is setting herself up to die. And she wants to see if the Elements of Harmony, especially Twilight Sparkle, are ready to take her place. Luna’s reluctance with Celestia makes me suspicious, along with that mystery book.
 
King Sombra himself wasn’t the purpose of this season premier, unlike the other villains. It was a theme change. One more ominous and more worldly then the Mane 6 would normally want.

Wonder Twin Powers ACTIVATE

They’re both wonderful ponies, Celestia especially, but you don’t rule a utopia for that long without being forced to take certain measures. And it’s pretty much canon that Celestia is a chessmaster. Closet full of skeletons? More like an entire house.
 
But I don’t think she enjoys having to use the people she cares about as game pieces. If it were up to her, she’d quit the game entirely, but, too much is on her shoulders. At least she’s damn good at what she does.

She’s undoubtedly a good person, but I wouldn’t put it past her to take a few cues from Machiavelli’s manual.

@CronoM
 
You try creating and maintaining a flawless utopia of a country for over a century without getting your hooves dirty! All governments have dirty work that someone has to do.

Well, obv it wasn’t exactly a thousand years. Plus or minus a few.
 
Princess Luna’s banishment was probably under precise control when Princess Celestia initiated it, so she knew when to send Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville. But the Crystal Empire was iffy, which is why she needed news of its return.

About this, if the Crystal Empire has only just returned from its thousand year vanishing act, how was Luna there when it vanished?

YOU CAME TO THE WRONG NEIGHBORHOOD, MOTHERFUCKER

Am I the only one who is getting an ominous feel from Celestia?
 
Not evil, but someone with more then a few magical skeletons in her closet, and has a few ideas concerning that book that the Mane 6 won’t like?

THIS IS SO EPIC.