Story notes: Twilight the Tyrant · 7:24pm May 15th
Thanks and attributions:
I would be remiss if I did not note two who pre-read this story, as well as Vinylshadow for providing the cover artwork. They provided what I could not!
Origins and inspiration:
Some of my story concepts come from examining inconsistencies in the show and wondering how they could come to be.
Did you know that there’s no actual canon evidence in FiM that Twilight is immortal? It’s true! In fact, there’s a fair bit of evidence against it; the supposition is, as if now, entirely community-driven. Mostly for the drama that sprang out of the “immortality blues” trope, but it gained a second wind with the show finale showing us a Celestia-shaped Twilight in the time-skipped future. (Whether G5 will stick to this is, as of yet, unknown.)
This, then, raised a question in my mind: Why would Twilight be so closely emulating her mentor? The answer I came up with was that Twilight was incredibly nervous about her image as a ruler, it being thrust upon her so suddenly, and in classic Twilight style has chosen a magical solution to it.
The second source was a bit more esoteric: A while back, I built up an entire timeline of known events in pre-show Equestrian history sourced from official content. One of the things I found is that there’s no actual listed handover of total rulership from the tribal triumvirate to the Royal Sisters. Instead the triumvirate vanishes following Discord’s reign, while afterward the Sisters are Equestria’s unquestioned rulers.
What then, I wondered, if they had never actually formally received the right of absolute rulership? As some comments pointed out here, the right to rule may come from legal grounds, raw force, inheritance, or some other basis. Which would Twilight choose?
Themes:
While these two sources of inspiration came together, the reality is that this story is much more about Twilight’s emotions and approach to problem solving than the actual politics. I must apologize if I mislead some into expecting a cold-edged political thriller, when instead I was painting the picture of a mare struggling with the weight of the task set before her and the conundrum that her successor - a successor few even knew would soon be needed - might face.
The mask of leadership is a trope I love, and here it is most leveraged by someone who truly isn’t sure if she’s actually a ruler just yet.
Critiques:
I do wish I’d had somewhat more to work with in this story. I’m not entirely satisfied with the conclusion; yet, for the story I wished to tell, it is also the end of the narrative. Twilight has made her decision, and the consequences - if there are such - are long in coming. When I think of ways I could have extended the story, I find none that do not seem contrived or wouldn’t have felt like blatant over-stretching the concept.
For example, one conceptual scene would have had Celestia covertly appear to Twilight during the celebrations for her “renewed charter” and congratulate Twilight on holding things together. This, however, would seem to undermine the story’s concluding question: Was this even the right choice? Is Twilight taking a pragmatic, real-world approach to problem-solving, or merely kicking the can down the road to emerge worse than ever later on? Has she, in the end, become a tyrant of some form?
In the end, this scene - like others - was left to be, and the conclusion to you to interpret.
Given that the only glimpse of Twilight we've seen in G5 seems to be pre-timeskip, it appears that that entire reality is on a different timeline than "The Last Problem." I blame Starlight.
iirc, wasn't there some official word of god saying something along the lines of 'Twilight will not outlive her friends.'?
Twilight is not a tyrant, but she's set up her successor to be one if they want.