@Lunar Protege
Why is Celestia always portrayed at the assertive pony in a relationship?
For some reason it clashes with my perception of her as a very passive being.
I figured something to that effect myself. I suppose the best way to put it to words would be "Celestia is basically Fluttershy, minus the anxiety, plus 1000 years of life experience".
I wouldn't be so sure about the passive part, though. I suppose it appears that way, but consider the fact that we've been shown next to nothing of her activities. I'm very much hoping for a Celestia episode, because while being mysterious and inscrutable is kinda her shtick, it'd be nice to know at least something of substance.
As for why she's depicted as the assertive party, it's quite simple. She's the one wearing the goddamn crown around here, and doesn't need to remind everyone of the fact. No true king needs to reiterate that he is one, after all.
It all makes sense in context, too. Even if she is introverted, which is heavily implied to be the case (she'd rather engineer a posh party's destruction than attend it, after all), she'd have to be the initiator because everyone's put her on such a high pedestal. Not too many who'd consider casually flirting with a god-empress, I imagine. Hey, that might be part of the reason Discolestia has such traction, eh?
And she's not always depicted as assertive. Plenty of stories where she's got a submissive streak of royal proportions, heh.