People have always questioned Twilight's ability to choose whether or not she wanted to be a princess, but if we look at it from the angle of her being comfortable with and accepting the idea, what would happen if something came along to throw that destiny into question? Say something happens that causes her to question her place in the world, where she's caught between moving forward with her ascension and going down a path nobody would've expected. It'd be kind of interesting to see how she might reconcile the two. Traversing through a post-apocalyptic Earth would definitely leave an impact regardless. It would lend a certain level of credibility and growth to her authority, as she would know things Celestia and Luna weren't able to foresee. She would surpass them in ways far more meaningful than magic, which in turn could affect the whole series leading up to G5.

Are there really still people trying to rationalize that? G4 ended 5 years ago and anything and everything that can be discussed about that has been done.

It was a mistake. It was forced. It was out of character. And the entirety of G4 was worse for it. It’s time to accept that and move on.

7969590
Rationalize what? It's not unthinkable something unforeseen could change the outcome of the series. That's why I set my story right before her coronation. Even if it didn't change the timeline, it would certainly change her. Kind of hard not to once you've seen an entire species wiped out overnight. It's all about the balance between positive and negative emotion. If nothing else, she'd appreciate what she has on Equus more.

7969593
then then stick to your AU headcanon and do what you must for your tale.

7969595
Not even a headcanon really. More of an experiment. I'm not sure how it's gonna go either.

7969565
Uhmm, what you mention is something I thought about when I started writing. But I didn't want to exaggerate so much by showing a post-apocalyptic world. No need to go that far. Some existential doubts are presented in a more subtle way.

7969618
It can be explored in ways more conducive to canon lore for sure. I'm just taking it to the extreme as an example. Part of the reason she's on Earth is to save Equus.

7969565
I think it'll partly depend on the details of what this event actually is, how it happened, and if she was the cause OR could've stopped it (or thinks she could have).

Even a relatively small difference in this destiny-changing event could spark anything from Twilight taking it hard but doing her best to not have the event happen again, to trying (and possibly in vain) to fix the damage, to thinking she shouldn't have been Equestria's ruler after all and gives up her title and enter a depression. Or, she keeps her title but goes off the deep end and takes such drastic measures to prevent this event from happening again (or "fix it") that she eventually becomes a tyrant, even if a well-meaning one.

Many options here.

7969590
I mean, I can kind of get Twilight being at least somewhat uncertain at the start if she's "ready" for royalty

7969634
I won't spoil too much, but the same way events on Earth are taken to their extreme, so are the themes from canon. She's afraid of humans at first because of all the bad things she's read about them, but grows to trust them once she realizes good people do exist. They're just hard to find. Luckily she had some help in doing so.

7969638
The problem is that she was never meant for it. Even after it happened, the writers tried to write the show without drawing attention to it when possible.

7969647
Fair, but in a way, it makes sense, especially as Twilight is a relatively humble character

7969656
When considering Boast Busters, that’s true.

Apparently, someone needs to tell Sunset that Twilight is now the ruler of Equestria, because she still thinks that's Celestia for some reason.