It is one think sending Twilight into something she can handle and other think sending her into something what have only some % chance she will survive, Nightmare Moon was even more powerful then Celestia and how long it would take Celestia to kill Twilight and her friends, less then minute, if it was not for Nightmare Moon trying to scare off mane 6 instead of attacking them directly, mane 6 would be dead before they even went to everfree forest.

Celestia could at last observe Twilight form the shadow to protect her in case Nightmare Moon would attack, but letting her go alone considering the risk was just a gamble with her student live.



With Discord she could know that he does not use lethal force, but sometime mind heal far longer then body,there was risk that Twilight would never heal from her trauma caused by Discord, and since mane 6 did not had elements of harmony, it would be more logical if Celestia, Luna and guards searched for elements as well, 1000 eyes searching is better then 6, especially since Discord can not attack more then 1 target at once.



Again Chrysalis Celestia failed to defeat opponent what was just a bit stronger then herself just because she used raw power, everyone can use raw power, so the fact that Celestia did not dodge, use tactic or use many spells to defeat stronger opponent prove that she is a bit of failure, and how can a good mentor expect her student to deal with chalenges and far stronger opponents when she herself can not win in almost fair fight ( Twilight and her friends defeated 100 changelings before they were defeated, Celestia failed to defeat 1 Queen ).



I just fell that there is difference between sending student or daughter to do something hard but what she can handle, and risking student or daughter life in a gamble are two different thinks, Celestia could accompany Twilight and her friends every time to make sure that they wont die on they mission without affecting the outcome to much, but she did not.



That is why it is so hard for me to imagine Celestia as mother figure, it looks more like Twilight is just a pawn to her, a expendable pawn what can be sacrificed ( after watching season 3 finale I understand that she and Luna not helped to test Twilight and help her improve, but I still think that she could do far more to ensure that mane 6 wont die without helping them pass they test ).



PS: If you make picture of Celestia protecting Twilight from Chrysalis, Discord, changeling army or some other danger, PM me.