What exactly is that supposed to mean? I'm genuinely confused. What have I said to you that you deem thoughtless? What does it mean to "set a good example for myself?"
Well I was going to say some stuff, but Dilly seems to have put it more eloquently than I was going to, so I'll just bring up the Twilight Sceptre: Without Princess Twilight, there is no Twilight Sceptre.
All hail the Twilight Sceptre! Its magic and wisdom know no bounds! EDIT: I appreciate the effort, I really do. It's more than a lot of people on the internet can say. However, I only meant to say that additional snide remarks are superfluous to your post and really only serve to hurt people's feelings, which seems beneath you. And I really was confused by your previous comment.
Well, it depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for the reason why Twi became Princess Twi, then I suspect you need look no further than the Hasbro toy department; I imagine they wanted to sell a Princess Twilight doll and all the related accessories, and the show's writers just had try and make it fit. As for how well they made it fit, and how much of a believable difference it made to the show, I would say on several counts you're right; UniTwi and AliTwi (and I use AliTwi and Princess Twi interchangeably, as she cannot be one without being the other.) aren't vastly different. She still goes on the same kinds of dangerous and important quests she's always gone on, and she hasn't been given some new realm to rule over, so her day-to-day existence hasn't been drastically altered. But to say it has made no difference does the writers a discredit; there have been changes, even if they are only aesthetic ones, like Twilight's physical alterations, or her new castle. I suppose the issue is that they couldn't just cast her in a similar role as the other Princesses, as that would effectively remove her from the Mane six and render her a secondary character (who would really want a whole season revolving around 'Tia's daily duties, for example?). But she already led a pretty action-filled life, performing lots of important acts for the good of Equestria, so there aren't really a lot of changes they could make, although I would like her to be more powerful magically, (they seem to have been in quite a few situations recently which supposedly powerful Alicorn magic should have been able to solve fairly easily, such the whole Starlight Glimmer fiasco.) and you made a good point about nobody challenging or questioning her sudden coronation. Out of interest, what changes do you think they should have made to post AliTwi seasons?
I'm glad more people are using AliTwi instead of Twilicorn, that nickname never made sense... Twilight's castle, oddly enough, has absolutely nothing to do with her being a princess. An episode revolving around Celestia's daily routine would be pretty fantastic if you ask me. There's no canon reason to believe "alicorn magic" actually exists, or that it's more powerful than the magic Twilight's always used. As for what changes could have been made, well... That's a good question! My point is always that if the ascension changed nothing, there was no reason to do it in the first place. I'm not an AliTwi hater, but it was very obviously a poor writing decision made entirely to sell toys at the expense of the show's lore. This is gonna sound like a cop out, but I guess if I had to direct what happens after she becomes a princess, Twilight simply wouldn't accept. She'd know that she's not right for the job, she never wanted it, it was forced upon her without even asking her, and more than all that it simply doesn't make sense. Maybe if she cared enough, she'd become determined to actually become a princess in her own eyes, by finding out what makes a princess and doing those things. Her friends would probably help out. She'd want to be a princess on her own terms, because she feels she's earned it and not because Celestia one day told her she's a princess with no explanation. Until then, she'd put it off and refuse the title.
Just one? Why, have a bunch of them: "Twilight Time". The whole episode hinges on Twilight's new celebrity status after becoming a princess. To a lesser extent, "Princess Twilight Sparkle". Zecora specifically needs alicorn magic for her potion to work. I'll freely admit that the story would have worked just fine even without that oddly specific requirement, but whatever. At least it confirmed that there is indeed such a thing as "alicorn magic". Also, the Twilight/Pinkie part of "Trade Ya!" may have worked a bit differently without Twilight being in charge of the whole thing and her status yet again (which made Pinkie go overboard with her sale tactics). Not to mention that this was one of the first episodes to give Twilight the opportunity to "train" being in charge of other ponies, at least for this small event. In "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" it was Twilight's ability to fly alongside Rainbow Dash which enabled her to notice her friend's unique method of learning. Lastly, though I'll admit it has never been explicitly stated, it's unlikely that Celestia could have transfered the combined powers of three alicorns into Twilight safely if Twilight had not been an alicorn herself at this point. Celestia would have had to come up with another plan then. Maybe even one that was... I don't know... actually smart? We may never know... Now you may think that all of these examples are insignificant, that most of these plots could still have worked with a bit of tweaking here and there. But to this I say: Pff! Who cares? Twilicorn may be underutilized at times, but your claim was that nothing - not a single thing - would have changed at all had she still been a unicorn. I think I've refuted this claim well enough. Also, most fans seem to be quite happy with the fact that Twilight, as a character, didn't change all that much compared to how she behaved as a unicorn, so what exactly is your problem with this?
Yeah, pretty much. I've found that it's healthy to be skeptical of any claim that can be refuted with just one counterexample.
Alright! Let's get started refuting- Um... oh. I was going to go over those one by one to show that none of them make any actual difference, but... you're already admitting your points are actually flawed? That none of the episodes would have actually had any significant or even substantial difference if she weren't a princess? Uh, thanks? Still waiting on a counterexample, something that actually makes a difference.
Your failure to understand my (IMHO not particularly inscrutable) message amuses me and just confirms my suspicion that you are not actually interested in an intelligent conversation. Feel free to prove me wrong by actually giving some evidence yourself instead of just choosing to ignore all of the evidence I've given you.
Sorry, your suggestion to prove a negative makes quite clear that you're not actually interested in being correct. But since we've hit an impasse, I'll just do what I was going to do and explain how none of your examples work. Twilight is already a national hero, having saved the world multiple times, and is also Celestia's personal protegé. Her celebrity status would have been totally unaffected had she not been a princess. This one's funny, Twilight actually already performed alicorn magic in The Crystal Empire, as did Sombre, which strongly suggests it really isn't any kind of exclusively "alicorn" magic. There's no reason whatsoever for why a princess would need to preside over the trading convention, and Twilight did that kind of thing all the time before she became a princess. Heck, even the reasoning for why her books are popular doesn't change at all, because they were given to her by Celestia. Testing I'll admit is actually the best example out there. That is to say, being a princess still changes absolutely nothing, but being an alicorn does seem important to the story. But at the same time, it demonstrates just how irrelevant it is by the minuscule tweaks that could fix that, leaving the episode almost completely unmarred. Fluttershy could have been the one to fly with Dash at the end, or Twilight could have been talking with Dash from the ground, or she even could have been in her silly balloon. Yeah, it's a change, but the princess angle is still worthless, and the fact that the best example demonstrates such an absolutely minuscule change showcases how bad all the other examples are. And as you've already pointed out, the idea that Celestia wouldn't have given her the princesses' magic if she hadn't been a princess herself is just unsupported speculation.
@Dulset Tarn - What we have here is one of those unpopular opinions I mentioned earlier. Most people like Twilycorn, so you're going to have a damn hard time convincing anyone that going Alicorn was a bad thing. I know a lot of people will agree that it could have been done better, but (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this) you seem to be implying that Twilight becoming a princess has been somehow detrimental to the series. Quite frankly, I don't think this is a debate you can win.
I'm not sure why anyone would assume I'm saying that. What have I said that implies it's been detrimental?
Uh... well... All of it. Everything. You're expressing dissatisfaction with something. That is literally the definition of complaining.
I mean, like anyone else I think it could have been done in a more satisfactory way, but I don't think anything I said had the connotation you've ascribed.
I am already correct. You've made your claim, I've proven you wrong by giving you not just one, but a whole selection of examples and now you're just trying to find justifications by blatantly ignoring the facts. They are still there though, even if you choose not to see them. Ah, but when has the show ever even hinted that her being a national hero made any difference to how she was perceived by other ponies? For that matter, all of Twilight's friends should be celebrated for being heroes. They aren't though. Strange as it may sound, but being a hero doesn't seem to mean a thing in Equestria, but being a princess is a big deal, at least for some ponies. Or do you honestly believe that the episode would have played out the same had Twilight not been a princess? Where were the foals flocking to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle because of their sisters being national heroes? Nowhere to be found, because they were too busy gushing over the CMC spending time with Princess Twilight. Debatable. It sure looked the same as Sombra's magic, I'll give you that, but it was never explicitly called alicorn magic in The Crystal Empire, only simply magic or "dark magic" once. It being the same thing as alicorn magic in anything but appearance is, as you like to put it, just unsupported speculation. Indeed, there is no reason for a princess to do that stuff. There is still a good reason for Twilight to do it. Like I said, it's good training for her to eventually accept bigger responsibilities, not as a hero, but as a princess. As for the books, yeah, them previously being owned by Princess Celestia already makes them valuable, but Princess Twilight also having owned them makes them extra special. In Pinkie's words: "Double princess!" I'm sorry, but weren't you going to try and explain to me why none of my examples work? And here you are, basically saying: "It changes absolutely nothing... except this and that and a little bit of this and ba bla bla..." Sorry, but you'll have to do better than that to prove that nothing would have changed at all. Whether you personally find my examples worthless or not is quite irrelevant to me. Facts please, not opinions. And yet you can't prove that it wouldn't have changed anything at all. Hey, even if Twilight could have harnessed the powers of the other three princesses as a unicorn, remember that Twilight was only able to stalemate Tirek because she harnessed the power of four alicorns at the time. One less could have made quite the difference in this battle. But hey, no point in overthinking a cartoon show, am I right? Unless you care to bring something new to the table, I concider discussing this any further a moot point. So, if you want to, feel free to indulge yourself in the illusion that you have won this debate. I don't mind.
