@moonlightaveger  
By people, are you referring to the five or so individuals online who do not see the line between fan ideas and official material? <_<

@thps48  
No. The “problem” is people treating those as if they are canon.
 
@Dusk Raven  
I disagree. People aren’t perfect and even the best written stories can have problems that the writer didn’t realize. This way, it’s easy to mess up the moral of a story, for example. Or, in this case, some detail about some character.
 
I like imagining, speculating too. But I keep them distant from the actual story being told. Because I don’t see the point of reading a story, watching a movie or cartoon, if you’re changing the story to something you like. Then, I think it’s best to write something on your own.
 
When talking about mysteries, yes. Definitively. The point of a mystery is to withhold information from the audience for the sake of keeping them wondering about the story. Because, yes, it is fun to discover things. Isn’t that the point of consuming material others have produced? Sorry if I’m missing the point, but I’m not seeing the relevance.

@moonlightaveger  
I never mean to imply something was intended, because intent doesn’t matter as much as interpretation. Also, the point of watching it is that we enjoy it, and some of us also enjoy speculating. Imagination can be a huge part in enjoyment - just look at mysteries, for instance. Besides, sometimes it’s more fun to think about another idea than your own, especially if you’re the type who likes to discover things - it’s just not the same when it’s your own idea…

@moonlightaveger  
I don’t understand. You’re having trouble understanding fan theories or fan-designed reinterpretations? :\

@thps48  
Yes, and all of the time they’re not part of the cartoon, but of people putting their own imagination into what they saw in the cartoon.
 
I’m not seeing how this idea would be too intricate or mature for the show to implement. Just a line from Luna about Celestia’s use of her power doing that would suffice, instead of mentioning how all of that could harm Starlight Glimmer.

@moonlightaveger  
Half of the time, theories are educated guesses, the other half they’re just fan fiction or comics material, if it’s largely assumed the theory is too intricate or mature for the show to ever implement. ^3^

@Dusk Raven  
Talk about headcanon. Not that it’s bad, but it’s not what the cartoon said. What is the point of watching it, if the most important part is our imagination.
 
Sure, it’s fine to write stories, draw fanart about this. But implying that it was the intention when the cartoon was made is a bit too much. Also, in that scene, Celestia is crying because she can’t fix the problem. It has nothing to do with Daybreaker.

@Dusk Raven  
Because it annoys lesser minds who don’t to think about the deeper implications present in the show and cannot be asked to avoid such discussions altogether? XD

@moonlightaveger  
Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t. If thinking about potential deeper context of MLP and developing it in our minds enriches our enjoyment, why shouldn’t we do so?

@moonlightaveger  
We weren’t doing art of that stuff for years.

People, please… Talking about Daybreaker as if MLP is some extremely layered and dense psychological drama to justify saying that she is anything more than SG’s dream.
 
I can’t remember people doing this when Filthy Rich started going superhero on the shared dream or when Luna showed up to blast nightmare monsters in the CMC nightmares.

@Daneasaur  
Probably true. With the introduction of Dayb, it seems to be implied if she had used 100% of her strength against Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, et cetera, she’d probably go all Dark Phoenix. Presumably, even with her outstanding strength, the show time and time again meanwhile suggests no force can withstand Friendship, i.e., a group on individuals who combine their energy to perform an attack together. Which may be why she depends on the Mane Six oftentimes because side-by-side they’re stronger than she could ever be, even when turned evil.
 
Something JRPGs like to hammer; some monsters and enemy units are stronger than every individual player unit, but cannot withstand the combined efforts of every player character’s attacks, spells, buffs, debuffs, special skills and techniques, et cetera. :3

@Amethyst_Crystal  
You make a good point, and I could really only see her getting this “mad” if she had actually been cornered into releasing and acting out on her untapped rage.
 
However, due to said control, I could also see her stepping back after the deed is done and being exceedingly regretful she ever would have to tap into such power.
 
I mean, she could have died and lost all of equestria to the changelings, all because she wouldn’t exercise greater power for fear of harming the surrounding ponies.

@Amethyst_Crystal
 
can I upvote comments?…I can’t?…Darn. Because you, Amethyst, deserve ten upvotes… no, a hundred!

Just to add to the discussion:
 
I would hope that this Daybreaker scenario helps put things in perspective,  
for all the mlp fans who actually believe that Celestia is a tyrant.  
No, no she is not.  
Because THIS is what a REAL tyrant-Celestia would be.  
Any excuse or explanation that ‘regular celestia is tyrant’ are invalid now.
 
Also, despite how terrible and ominous it would seem that Celestia may have a Daybreaker alter-ego lurking under the surface,  
I think that this in-your-face dream confrontation has done a fantastic job of helping Celestia confront this aspect of herself and get it under control.
 
When she said ‘you will never exist again’ to Daybreaker, I think she really meant it,  
and I will be deeply disappointed if canon ever declares otherwise.  
Celestia has proven she has a massive amount of self-control and patience, when she chooses to,  
and you can be sure she would exercise it for something like this.
 
She won’t ever let herself ever become such a terrible danger to her little ponies after this dream.  
Ever.

@BigRedJ  
Something to remember is that Luna very much can fall prey to her own dream magic. Remember in “Do Princesses dream of magic sheep”, the tantibus caused nightmares, but even when it was gone or not directly involved, dream magic frequently interrupted or otherwise stopped Luna, such as Pinkie’s random thought jumping.

@FlonnesIkramant  
Well, I’m no stranger to giving more thought to a particular series than the writers themselves did…
 
I’m not too concerned with the issue of how accurate Starlight’s dream really was regarding Celestia’s “fallen” form. Dreams in Equestria seem to be rather more significant than ours are, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Starlight’s version of Daybreaker was spot-on.
 
Anyway, some people have brought up Celestia saying, “You will never exist again!” but for some reason that strikes me as quibbling, and is a bit of language I have surprisingly no interest in analyzing. Despite myself, however, I thought about a scenario in which she might have existed - before Luna’s banishment, perhaps the stress became too much for Celestia, as I mentioned, and she became Daybreaker… briefly. Luna was on hand and was able to talk her down, because unlike with Nightmare Moon, Celestia’s grievances were not directed at her sister. So Celestia returned to normal without lasting harm or requiring the Elements of Harmony, and the incident was brushed off or forgotten by those who were even aware of it. But of course eventually Luna became Nightmare Moon, and this time talking didn’t work because Luna was envious of her sister, so no negotiations could be had with Celestia.
 
Not the explanation I went with when I wrote a little something about this episode, but I think it’s workable.

@Dusk Raven  
The show’s writers might or might not get quite that deep but still that would actually make a lot of sense in canon.  
Combine that with all that has been said about dream magic and you got a pretty good explanation.

@FlonnesIkramant
 
@Background Pony Number 17
 
Something I noticed about Daybreaker is that she was more narcissistic than Nightmare Moon was, and also what I’d describe as “gleefully psychopathic.” My personal hypothesis is this: Luna became Nightmare Moon to loneliness, and Celestia even mentions how lonely Luna’s job is after experiencing it for herself. Luna, meanwhile, can’t stand Celestia’s job because of how fake she feels while trying to attend to everypony else’s desires. I believe Daybreaker is what would have happened if Celestia snapped under that very different sort of pressure, and decided she would do what she wanted, and care about nopony but herself - Equestria could burn for all she cared as long as she had fun.
 
If Daybreaker represents any sort of fear, it’s Celestia’s fear that she’ll just throw everything away - Chaotic Evil as opposed to Nightmare Moon’s Lawful Evil. And it’s largely something she keeps at bay now, but after Nightmare Moon was banished, while Celestia was still reeling from Luna’s loss and dealing with sole leadership, how would she have felt back then? She puts on a serene face for Equestria, but she still has her own feelings…

I would counter with a strange idea.  
This could be a dream of Starlight, only fed by Starlight’s fears, with some of that imaginary fear hitting really close to Celestia’s feelings, and having nothing to do with Celestia at all other than a distorted figment made by Starlight.  
But also remember the Tantibus, created in the dream world from fear and self-loathing, and powerful enough to escape into the real world (of Equestria) if it hadn’t been stopped. With Starlight’s magical power, and if Daybreaker wasn’t stopped, could it be possible for that figment of a dream to break out, as well?

@Background Pony #4EB9  
Yeah, I think something along those lines, too.  
She might also be influenced by Luna’s magic and thoughts since she had Luna’s cutie mark so Daybreaker may simply be her version of luna’s fear of becoming nightmare moon again.  
The whole point of the episode was for them to see what being in the position of the other was like so Celestia had to see what it was like to be in Luna’s position including the negative aspects of her psyche like her fear.  
She may even be a combination of Starlight’s, Luna’s and Celestia’s fears.

@Mugen Kagemaru  
Her days of burning every stooge that faced her are long behind her.

I merely attribute the fact that Celestia’s unfamilarity with Dream magic and how to protect herself from the negative aspects if it, leaving her exposed.
 
So in a sense her own fears and sins bleed into Starlight’s nightmare and projected itself as Daybreaker.
 
Kinda like how Luna became Nightmare Moon, by being consumed by her lonliness and cry for praise,and how the Tantibus is still tied to Luna by being a manifestaion of her self loathing, punishment, and guilt.
 
 
Remember in Equestria the mind itself can be your worst enemy.

And then there was Celestia declaring DayBreaker would never exist AGAIN
 
What do you mean, again, Tia?

@Background Pony Number 17  
Or part of Luna’s psyche since she had Luna’s magic and cutie mark.  
Celestia’s fears might also not be entirely reasonable.  
We have seen ponies be afraid of silly things before.  
The possibility of turning into something like this or the possibility that her subjects see her as such a tyrant and fear her could both be frightening concepts for Celestia.  
Celestia also fought villians before and it’s in character for her to act serious in situations like this and not take them lightly.  
And we shouldn’t forget that this is a nightmare and people act differently when they are in a dream.  
Her mind could simply be overwhelmed by the nightmare making daybreaker frightening to her.