Canterlot Castle

Canterlot Castle was a large castle located in Canterlot on Canterlot Mountain.

Construction and early history
The castle was designed by and the Canterlot critters in the later periods of the Age of Heroes. Originally, the castle was designed to be a heavily fortified citadel, but it was soon decided that a beacon of hope and light would be a far better alternative. Although was critical over the redesign at first, she soon (begrudgingly) fell in love with the new design. The development of the castle was troubled, with many sabotage attempts by mysterious culpripts, eventually causing Luna to stakeout the castle to catch whoever caused it. When she discovered Mistmane and the Critters were doing it, she was shocked and angry at first but eventually reasoned with them. Afterwards, the castle's development went far smoother.

After the castle was built, it remained largely the same for quite some time. Eventually, the city of Canterlot was built around it. Celestia, Luna and Starswirl the Bearded all lived in the castle as a makeshift family until Starswirl eventually disappeared. Eventually, a jealous Luna turned against her sister and became Nightmare Moon, forcing Celestia to exile her to the for a thousand years. As a result, Celestia presumably lived alone in the castle-ignoring various servants, aides, visitors, and the Royal Guards of Equestria-for much of that period.

Centuries later, a wandering branch of the Apple family came to the castle for an audience with Princess Celestia. After hearing the story of their travels in search of home, Celestia bequeathed to them a land some distance south of Canterlot, visible from one of the castle balconies, which would eventually become the site of During Luna's absence, Celestia took to holding the Grand Galloping Gala at the castle, inviting many of Equestria's citizens to join her. During one such gala, met his future wife, Matilda.

Comings and goings
After became an Alicorn, Celestia adopted her as a niece and brought her to live in Canterlot, with the new princess joining Celestia at Canterlot Castle. Buck Withers came to the castle to escort Cadance to the Canterlot Academy Fall Formal, and quickly irked Celestia who advised Cadance to cut ties with him as soon as possible. At some point, Celestia also invited Sunset Shimmer to live with her. Although she cared for Sunset, the unicorn eventually grew envious of Celestia and escaped into her Magic Mirror into the Human dimension.

The castle also served as site of the first Grand Galloping Gala to be attended by the Mane Six, which culminated in a series of disasters-though to the mind of Celestia, they were the highlight of the historically boring event. The castle was later invaded by when he was freed from the Stone Sleep spell Celestia and Luna had long ago cast on him. The villain taunted Celestia and the Mane Six from within the stain glass windows before stealing the Elements of Harmony. stayed at the castle briefly during a visit to Canterlot, which once again became home to Princess Luna following her return and redemption. It was also the venue for the wedding of Cadance to, which was disrupted by a Changeling invasion.

was later summoned to the castle by Celestia, despite Luna's doubts, to receive a mission to the newly returned Crystal Empire. Celestia and Luna later witnessed the signs of Twilight and her friends' victory over King Sombra from the castle, with Celestia praising Twilight upon her return. As a celebratory Twilight and her friends departed Canterlot, the two sisters watched from a castle balcony with a book, which later proved to be a journal left behind by Starswirl. After Twilight completed one of Starswirl's spells and became an Alicorn, the castle hosted the Coronation of Twilight Sparkle as Princess of Friendship.

Shortly thereafter, Twilight visited the castle and prepared to take part in her first Summer Sun Celebration as a princess. Princess Celestia expressed gratitude for her presence, as well as the fact that this celebration would be the first since Luna's return from exile. Unfortunately, both Celestia and Luna were abducted from the castle by Plunderseed vines, leaving Twilight temporarily serving as the only monarch. After Lord Tirek escaped Tartarus and began stealing magic, Celestia was awakened at the castle by a vision of him.

She and Luna promptly summoned Twilight and Cadance to Canterlot to share the history of Tirek's previous defeat, and then informed the younger princesses that they would be sending the recently reformed Discord to bring the Centaur to justice. Unfortunately, Tirek persuaded Discord to join him in a reign of terror, forcing Celestia to recall Twilight to Canterlot. There, she and the older princesses resolved to transfer their Alicorn magic to Twilight in an attempt to prevent Tirek from stealing it. Tirek soon arrived only to find the three older princesses without their magic, and soon exiled them to Tartarus. Discord also took the opportunity to vandalize the castle with his Chaos magic.

The castle would later host yet another Grand Galloping Gala, with this one being disrupted by the attendance of Discord and. It would also serve as the venue for the Grand Equestria Pony Summit, and Princess Luna would awaken at the castle after the Tantabus escaped from her dreams. The Wonderbolts would stay at the castle as part of their assignment to perform at the Royal Garden Opening being put on by Princess Celestia. Celestia and Luna were both present in the castle throne room when a letter arrived with news that the had received their Cutie marks.

Meetings and assaults
Starlight Glimmer later visited the castle on assignment from the Cutie Map, and discovered that some friction had developed between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. In an attempt to resolve this, she used a spell to switch their cutie marks, allowing each to spend time handling each other's responsibilities in an effort to enhance their understanding of one another. Luna thus found herself handling visiting ponies at the castle and lowering the sun, while Celestia raised the Moon and took over Luna's dream monitoring duties. During Starlight's ensuing nightmare regarding Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, the new dream villains fought-and were defeated by Celestia-in a dream version of the castle throne room. Luna and Celestia afterwards enjoyed a happy reconciliation on a castle balcony, their cutie marks returning to normal as the Cutie Map signaled the completion of Starlight's mission.

Celestia later invited her old student Sunburst to the castle to examine Starswirl's long untouched archives. Later, she and Luna received Sunburst, Starlight, and Spike after Sunburst discovered Starswirl's journal, which contained a record of his fate and that of the other Pillars of Old Equestria. Later, after the defeat of the Pony of Shadows, Twilight's friends returned to the castle accompanied by the returned Pillars and Stygian. The castle was caught in the crossfire of the Storm-Equestrian war and taken over as headquarters of the occupying Storm Creature forces.

After the Storm King stole the princesses' magic and unleashed a magical storm, the castle was partly destroyed. Fortunately, when Tempest Shadow reversed this process, the castle was magically repaired by the wave of released magic. It was later visited by angry and concerned leaders or representatives from the Changelings, s, Griffons, Hippogriffs, and Yaks after a young member of each species went missing following the temporary closure of the School of Friendship. Twilight later visited the castle in order to offer Celestia the chance to play herself in a play dramatizing the first instance of her raising the sun.

The faculty of the School of Friendship and Cadance later gathered at Canterlot Castle after magic began disappearing from across Equestria, joining Celestia and Luna to discuss the problem in hopes of finding a solution. After being alerted that Cozy Glow was responsible for this phenomenon by Chancellor Neighsay, the two sisters led the Royal Guard in a march towards Ponyville to take her into custody. They later summoned Twilight and her friends to the castle to inform them that they intended to retire and allow Twilight to serve as Queen of Equestria.

Shining Armor later returned to Canterlot to help improve the castle's defenses at Celestia's request, and invited Twilight and her friends to attempt to breach his new security measures. These included pieces of Chrysalis' throne capable of nullifying non-Changeling magic, giant fans to repel aerial invaders, increased Royal Guard personnel, and a Geese-based alarm system in the throne room. After struggling to come up with a feasible plan, Twilight and her friends reached the throne room and were met by Shining Armor, who had anticipated their means of infiltration. However, he had failed to realize that Spike and Luna, the latter annoyed that Celestia had called upon Shining Armor over her objections, had collaborated to assist the Mane Six in their efforts.

Vacations and invasions
On the Mane Six's advice, Celestia and Luna later departed Canterlot Castle on a vacation across Equestria, leaving Twilight and her friends to manage the upcoming Royal Swanifying. Twilight and her friends struggled with preparations, until they were finally informed that the royal sisters had an infrastructure in place to help them with such matters as opposed to handling everything themselves. The castle was later infiltrated by the Legion of Doom in their bid to break into the Canterlot Archives, while the Mane Six were busy attending to the final Summer Sun Celebration. Unfortunately, the villains' plot succeeded, and they were able to obtain a book that taught them how to make use of 's Bewitching Bell.

After being exposed as the false Grogar, a magic-drained Discord fled back to Canterlot Castle, where preparations were underway for the Coronation of Twilight Sparkle as Queen of Equestria. He confessed to his activities in freeing and bringing together Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow, and Twilight quickly acted to organize a response. Unfortunately, Cozy Glow soon arrived, having made short work of the Royal Guard, and used the Bewitching Bell to drain Celestia and Luna of their magic. A battle soon ensued between her and Twilight's friends, with Cozy achieving victory after Tirek and Chrysalis arrived to support her.

The three villains blasted a large hole in the side of the castle during the struggle before attacking the beleaguered defenders, with Twilight's friends urging her to flee while they held back the onslaught. The three villains subsequently took control of the castle, imprisoning their various captives in the caverns beneath the city, though several of these managed to escape. They later witnessed the return of the Windigos from the wrecked throne room, as well as the approach of Twilight and her friends. The repaired castle would later serve as site of Twilight's coronation as queen.

Many moons later, Queen Twilight would summon Luster Dawn to the throne room of Canterlot Castle after determining that she was struggling with the concept of friendship. She would proceed to tell the story of her feelings about leaving Ponyville to serve as queen, and her subsequent decision to form the Council of Friendship. The members of said council then arrived for their once-a-moon meeting, impressing upon Luster that friendships could endure despite separation and time. The whole group then teleported from the castle to Ponyville.

Mobile game
In My Little Pony: Magic Princess, Canterlot Castle is a residential location in both Canterlot and Ponyville, the latter also being home to Future Canterlot Castle.