Sombra laughs at your failure.

This is what happens when you attempt to take on an end game enemy prior to your final acsension.

the sombra umbrum smoke

@Amethyst_Crystal  
Good point. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

@Background Pony #73AB  
Good thing he doesn’t have shoulders yet in this form, lol.

Careful, Sombra, you might dislocate a shoulder patting yourself on the back over planning for a unicorn trying to teleport out of your trap.

@Jades  
The emphasis on the test was because we were following Twilight for the majority of the episode, and she was focused on the test for most of it. This is not shown as a good thing, but as a part of her character at the time. For most of the episode, Twilight, in her faith in Celestia’s faith in her (plus some arrogance, probably), believed that if she followed the test’s parameters, she would naturally take the actions that would save the Crystal Empire. When Twilight was forced to see that the passing the test and saving the empire were exclusive, she had a mental war against her natural inclination to obey Celestia, and chose to disregard the test.
 
It was only after the Crystal Empire was saved that the test became important in Twilight’s mind again. However, this was not because she valued passing the test over saving the empire, but because she valued passing the test AND saving the empire over just saving the empire, where she felt she failed and disappointed Celestia.
 
Celestia never showed any doubt in Twilight’s ability to find the crystal heart in some manner; she believed both that Twilight would find the crystal heart, and would, in the crucial moment, accept the help of others if necessary. I am unsure as to why saving the empire could not be both a means to an end and an end itself. There’s not really any evidence on which Celestia considered more important, if either.
 
About the curse, you’re right; I thought Celestia had talked about the curse acting on it’s own (as in it automatically triggered when Sombra was defeated), but she was vague about it. In any case, I find it likely that they could forestall another attempt by Sombra to do the same thing (if he could even do that; he might not be able to do anything other than manipulate crystals while a being of shadow) now that they know about it. Just my thoughts, and I understand if you believe differently.

@Background Pony #CAB1
 

 
The problem is not the test itself but how the episode handles it. The handling of the test makes the message it tries to teach immoral.
 
Here is the biggest problem: “assigned” and “pass her test.” The Crystal Empire was put under siege by King Sombra, and he enslaved all of the crystal ponies with no conscience. When push came to shove, Luna and Celestia defeated Sombra and reduced him to a mere soul or shadow whatever . But with the defeat comes a consequence: Sombra takes The Crystal Empire and its inhabitants with him.
 
Then, it inexplicably returned. What do you think would be the most viable option? Find out a way to protect The Crystal Empire from King Sombra. That’s what Cadance and Shining Armor did (although that plot point came out of thin air, too). The protection of the Empire was important, but that wasn’t the point of the episode or goals from Twilight, Luna, and Celestia.
 
 
The whole episode was about Twilight facing a test and passing it. Storywise, protecting and saving the Crystal Empire was secondary compared to Celestia’s and Luna’s true intention: prove Twilight’s worthy of ascension.
 
The Crystal Empire was a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself. Celestia and Luna intentionally put thousands of lives on the line to see if Twilight can help lead a kingdom. You DON’T play games with lives just to see if your protégé is capable of becoming an alicorn princess.
 
What if Twilight genuinely failed? Once the common folk find out that the Royal Sistersknew about how much danger the revived kingdom was in and did nothing to personally protect it, they can kiss their reputations goodbye. To make it worse, Celestia and Luna treat their tactics like it’s a noble deed, when it’s not. Through this episode and tyrannical approach to protecting the Empire, Celestia and Luna appear very unlikeable.
 
Also, the whole episode constantly hammers the test.
 
Twilight’s assignment? To successfully protect The Crystal Empire.
 
Twilight’s biggest fear? Failing her test and thus not continuing her studies.
 
Twilight’s biggest goal? Passing her test despite telling Spike to bring the Crystal Heart back to its holster.
 
What was Twilight most excited about? Passing her test.
 
From the characters and story, passing the test was the primary and more important conflict than protecting the Empire. Even when Twilight decided to sacrifice passing it to save it, that focus never wavered, which is a damn shame because FIM should’ve presented itself in a more moral way.
 
Also some don’t notice this but everything else including the other Mane 5 and the Crystal Empire in general are a afterthought especially the Mane 5 since nothing they did mattered in the end because all it took was them finding the Crystal Heart.
 
I’ll concede your point on the curse but really the curse wasn’t really explained whether he set it up or banished it last minute and it doesn’t justify Celestia’s actions at all

@Jades  
She knows that Twilight will do the right thing in the end because she’s known Twilight for years, and knows that she’d make the right judgment when she’s forced to choose. And hey, look, Twilight did.
 
And no, Twilight did not care more about the test at any point. Before she got trapped, she was confident that she could get the crystal heart while passing the test, so she didn’t have to choose. When it became evident that she could no longer feasibly save the crystal empire while passing the test, she chose to save the crystal empire. Afterwards, ahe felt like she disappointed Celestia because she thought Celestia expected her to get the crystal heart to Cadance AND pass the test. Her feeling like she failed does not mean she’d rather have had the empire fall.
 
And no, the empire woul be unlikely to be banished again. The curse that banished it the first time had been set up in advance, and Sombra had not set it up this time; Celestia and Luna would probably be showing up pretty quick, unlike last time, where Sombra had time to set up his castle, make two staircases within some kind of dimensionwl space, enslave qnd chain all of the inhabitents, and place curses on everyone.

Why did it join my post -.-ugh

You know this episode is kinda ruined by Celestia’s plan mostly because they make her plan more important than enslaving an empire. It doesn’t help that at the end that twilight still cares more about this test than saving that empire. @Background Pony #CAB1  
The problem with any of Celestia’s logic is how did she even know twilight would ignore it in the first place. Throughout the whole episode she doesn’t ever question the test until literally she has no choice.Even then the test is botched anyway because the test was supposed to show self sacrifice but throughout the episode til beggining to end she cares more about the test than saving the empire even after she saved it.
 
My problem with Celestia’s plan is like I said is that she couldn’t have known that twilight would’ve done what she said and what if Celestia and Luna fight Sombra again? He could just banish the place i mean fighting him worked so well last time

@Jades  
Oh, and there’s also the fact that Celestia did not word the “you must deliver the heart alone” part like it was part of the test; for all Twilight knew, there could have been any number of bad things caused by her not doing it alone, even if the immediate goal of saving the empire succeedes.

@Jades  
You realize that the entire goal of the plan was for Twilight to ignore Celestia’s orders so she could save the empire, right, and that Celestia had 100% faith that Twilight would choose correctly?
 
In any case, the two sisters banished Sombra before, and now he’s just a smoke monster; odds are even if Twilight failed, the two of them could have came in and banished him again. Doing it this way not only taught Twilight a valuable lesson, but also gave Cadance legitimacy in the eyes of the Crystal Ponies.

You know this episode is kinda ruined by Celestia’s plan mostly because they make her plan more important than enslaving an empire. It doesn’t help that at the end that twilight still cares more about this test than saving that empire.

@anonymous14z  
Having someone like Spike save her was the entire point of the plan; Celestia was teaching Twilight that she’d sometimes have to disobey orders or rules from someone like her if the situation demanded it.

@Amethyst_Crystal  
How exactly is telling spike to take to Crystal Heart to the crystal ponies thinking outside the box exactly?

@Amethyst_Crystal  
Then I spose then celestia is showing her age. I do not recall her saying that twilight might need to improvise.

@anonymous14z  
Twilight must prove herself worthy of being Celestia’s protégé.  
That includes knowing when to sacrifice her own dignity and think outside the box.  
Which is what she did when she told Spike to take the Crystal Heart instead.

This crazy episode, where celestia puts twilight in unessesary danger without any guidance/oversight, and in a plan that woulda backfired anyways (spike saved her). What a bad planner.
 
Only saved by the “tv magic”.