"A Trivial Pursuit": How you shouldn't rule a kingdom - A Guide by Twilight Sparkle.

This episode continues in an unexpected way after the end of last week's episode. Last week, I said how it shows that Twilight has really become like Celestia when it's about putting ponies on the right path because she did that with Rainbow Dash and that she is truly ready to rule Equestria. After this episode now, I'm not so sure anymore if she is ready and I'm questioning if Twilight will really be a good ruler for Equestria.

In this episode, we've seen a new side of Twilight; mannerisms that go beyond her usual obsessions and that have a sinister touch.
During the game of Trivia Trot, Twilight was actively trying to eliminate her competition by reporting rule breaks and, later, even resorted to manipulation to make another player breaking a rule.
And it was even worse, that other player was Pinkie Pie, her own team partner. Another red flag was that Twilight was also obsessed with winning the game alone, without the help of her partner. Trivia Trot is a team game, but Twilight wanted to win it alone. She wanted to have the glory of being the first pony who wins at Trivia Trot three times in a row all for herself.
That makes for disturbing associations with power-hungry dictators. Greed for success and greed for power are two traits that are very close to each other.
If we apply Twilight's behavior, her strategies and the cheating she committed during Trivia Trot to ruling a kingdom, it would mean that she uses the flaws of other political figures to her advantage by making herself look impeccable in comparison, that she betrays supporters and friends who help her to make it look like it was all her work and her work alone or, in the worst case, that she incarcerates or kills political opponents.
If Twilight would behave in the same way while ruling over Equestria and if it would come to a situation in which somepony else suggests that she shouldn't be the ruler anymore and that another pony should do it after Twilight made a mistake (something that is likely to happen for a while, since it will all be new to her), all of these things are easily possible if we go by the way she tried to ensure winning during the game.
Twilight wouldn't immediately descend to such a low level, it's a process that would take time, but the events seen in this episode have shown that she has a tendency to betray, backstab and eliminate if there's a goal she desperately wants to reach or if she wants to keep something that is extraordinarily dear to her.
Will Twilight be able to resist the temptations of power and to live up to the peaceful and harmonic legacy that Celestia and Luna will leave behind?

I love Trivia Trot. It's a simple game, but I love it. We've seen in this episode that the teams are always built by pure coincidence and chance. Former team partners of one week becoming rivals and competitors in another week, as Rainbow Dash and Applejack very effectively demonstrated, it makes for an exciting game that is just the right thing for a small countryside town like Ponyville in which not much excitement happens, unless a monster attacks or a despot reaches for power.
I also got excited for the potential it holds, to learn new things about Equestria. There sadly wasn't much heard in the end, other than finding out that the Ghastly Gorge was a cavern more than a thousand years ago, but I'm already grateful for that one information alone (and the tiny lesson in Old Ponish), it always helps to learn new things about Equestria. I'm wondering if quarray eels already lived in that cavern from a millennium ago and, if they did, if their were different back then and evolved to adapt to their new environment while the cavern slowly became a gorge. Maybe they used to be eyeless creatures once, because they always lived in the dark a thousand years ago?
I'm hoping to see Trivia Trot again one day, preferably in a more extensive fashion, in this generation or in a non-rebooted Generation 5 "Friendship is Magic" sequel. Someone should also go and recreate Trivia Trot. It would be an excellent game to test the MLP: FiM knowledge of people.

Lastly, I'm wondering what Derpy wanted to do during Trivia Trot. We've seen that she was locked out of the building and unsuccessfully tried to get into the building. That allows for several explanations; somepony accidentally locked the door, the door gets usually locked during the game or the doors only open to the inside (that would be bad during a fire, though, I hope not) and Derpy forgot about that. But one thing is pretty clear, Derpy arrived late for the game, as indicated by her desperate, frantic pulling at the door.
I'm sure she wanted to participate at Trivia Trot together with Doctor Whooves, poor Derpy. And also poor Us, because that would have been so interesting to see. Now I really demand another Trivia Trot episode that shows us Derpy and Doctor Whooves competing when Derpy wasn't late.
Also, Trivia Trot and its rules regarding player teams have a vast, almost neverending potential for stories and I hope the fandom and our pony author community uses that.

This was a very simple and easy episode, all things considered. But it still ended up being surprisingly deep with what Twilight's behavior and the implications thereof seem to predict for her and Equestria's future.
The next episode, that airs today because this review happens only so late, will also be centered around Twilight. Which, considering how we saw Twilight in this episode, doesn't feel like that's a coincidence. Maybe we will see consecutive events in this and the following episode.
"The Summer Sun Setback" might allow for some more clues to how Twilight will be as Equestria's ruler. It's also likely going to be a very sad episode, so I'm awaiting it with one crying eye already.
This will be the first day on which I will release two reviews instead of just one, now that I'm back, so I hope you will have the energy and attention span to read twice as much!

Stay easy as a filly!

~ Fluttercheer

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Everyone has it's weaknesses. After al nobody's perfect, not even someone as Twilight