@Somber Star
Celestia is not a bad judge of character

1:she did not know wind rider was like that, no pony knew
2: Celestia was not letting discord “get away” with it she would know that he learned and faced consequences what he went through was punishment enough, same for season 9 finale she’s an understanding pony (in my view) but when someone is an obvious danger she would not hold back but of course is willing to give another chance for someone to be better

there is nothing wrong in seeing the good in others or at least wish them the best and hope they’ll be better ponies somehow

Yes

Good

I ship it.
 
Just kidding, I know that’s just a formal greeting

@Background Pony #9EA5  
That may be the case, but it doesn’t explain letting Discord get away scot free after the shit he pulled with Tirek.

@Somber Star
 
@Background Pony #9EA5  
That, or she lost because she wasn’t powerful enough.

@Somber Star  
She was just too genre-savvy. This “cross streams of magic/energy/power/etc” thing usually results in explosion. Longer they continue this, bigger the explosion. So, it makes sense that she cut it short, she don’t wanted to hurt her subjects at wedding.

@Starswirl  
Pleasant, yes. But well-adjusted means ‘suited to the situation’. My headcanon is that Celestia only lost to Chrysalis because she was trying not to hurt her too much. Her mindset seems to be a determination to make sure that everypony involved gets the best out of any confrontation she has any kind of control over, which unfailingly proves to be nearly catastrophic for her subjects when some individuals she does that for decide to exploit her kindness.

@lunafan22  
Perhaps a side-effect of her immortality is being “trapped” in a certain frame of mind. Which, considering how pleasant and well-adjusted she is overall, can’t be that bad.

@moonlightaveger  
From this scene in particular? As you said, Wind Rider is charming. Given that she is probably rarely if ever greeted with any kind of confidence, Celestia is probably dazzled by the act.
 
The bullshit he pulled on Rainbow Dash is most likely his first offense to that effect, and she has a penchant for letting things slide, especially if they amuse her. I mean, look at Discord. Celestia offering him a significant amount of trust resulted in the near extinction of ponykind, and she never mentions it and in fact even invites him to the upcoming 3G.
 
You can choose whether to believe the comforting lies or the truth. If you do not control your beliefs, then they control you. Most people who believe in lies will do what they can to make them the truth, or rationalize or dismiss contrasting evidence. Celestia seems to operate under the belief that everypony can be redeemed, and/or can find a way to live in harmony with one another. This might be the reason that Equestrian towns get attacked so many times that the events become boring.

@Somber Star  
Hold on. What do you read from Celestia’s reaction in this scene?
 
Because I see her being flattered by his gesture. It seems to me that the intention was to say that the guy is charming. Or something along those lines. I don’t think “optimistic” is appliable here. Either she doesn’t see that Wind Rider is a jerk or doesn’t care. Of course, at that moment he hadn’t done anything wrong, so maybe I’m reading too much into the scene, or expecting too much out of Celestia. Anyway, the point is: was that intentional, or did they just use Celestia simply to show that the guy is charming on the surface level?
 
About the other comment…  
You can lie to yourself and others all you want, but you can’t chose to believe in something or another. You’re presented with information and judge it, coming to a conclusion. So you can be convinced of something by a different point of view on a situation or by new information. But you can’t decide that suddenly you believe something or don’t. The way this tie into the conversation is that Celestia can’t just decide to only see the good in ponies. Unless she doesn’t see the bad, she’d be lying to herself.

@moonlightaveger  
Naivete is borne of ignorance, so that’s not the correct word to use here. Optimistic would be somewhat more suitable, but I’m sure there’s a label that actually fits Celestia’s mindset properly.

@PonyPon  
True. But if she only sees the good in others, doesn’t that make her naive?
 
I’m not saying that it’s a problem, just a trait that I don’t think fits that kind of character.

@moonlightaveger
 
If your beliefs are not bound by evidence, you can believe whatever you want.

@moonlightaveger  
Maybe genuinely is the better word to use.

@Somber Star  
How do you intentionally believe or not in something?

@moonlightaveger  
‘Naive’ implies not knowing any better. I think it’s more reasonable to believe that Celestia intentionally believes the best of everypony. And near as we can tell, it’s worked for her for over 1000 years, so I don’t see her breaking the habit any time soon.

@Somber Star  
I don’t know. I expected someone with a 1000+ years of ruling a country to not be so naive.

@moonlightaveger  
Except, as has been mentioned before, Celestia is a bad judge of character. Presumably because she assumes the best of everypony by default, until they give her reason not to. And even then she gives out second chances like t-shirts at a concert.

Spoiler because you can’t be too careful.
 
You know what would I think would have made this scene actually clever? If Celestia looked down at him in disapproval. It would have made it serve a purpose, since it was so clear from the start, that this character was the culprit, introduced only to be the villain. It would have made Celestia seem like she knows the creep or at least that she doesn’t fall for some charming exterior, like Rarity didn’t seem impressed by Rainbow Dash’s praise about him.

I don’t know why but he reminds me of a Tom Cruise with gray hair.

@Blissey1  
Point taken.  
I just thought that it is a given.

@moonlightaveger  
then you shoulda stated it as an opinion

@lunafan22  
Calm yourself. It’s just an opinion.

@moonlightaveger