Thoughts on the Mane Six (Part 1?): Twilight Sparkle · 8:54pm Jul 9th, 2012
Well, we've looked at the bad guys. Now let's take a look at those posers who think they're the reason we watch the show.
All six of our heroines have interesting portrayals both in and out of the show, whether it be through art, fics, and just general discussion. Every pony fan has their own opinion of who is the most likable or despicable, who they would gladly fall in love with and who deserves to suffer for their terrible misdeeds. And that's why I'm wasting your time here. That, and I have to fight back the urge to go insane over Chapter Seven.
So let's start with the show's (original) main character: Twilight Sparkle.
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Twilight has changed oh-so-much between seasons. In the first season, she was a shy bookworm, generally good-natured and kind but also totally withdrawn from society and obsessed with her mentor's approval. Were it not for Spike, she would have gone crazy long, long ago. Even after learning about the magic of friendship, she remained obsessed with learning and expanding her education, only this time in the name of being a good friend and citizen in Ponyville. However, this also left her as a rather flat character, which was reflected in a lot of the fanfiction to come out of that season. She was just a nice pony who had to be there to give the Aesop, and even when she is allowed to act a little badass, she still had a tendency to remain in the background while the more interesting ponies took center stage.
And then Season 2 happened.
In the second season, her devotion to Celestia was stretched to the point of total insanity. "Lesson Zero" and "It's About Time" further gave her a Monk-level Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, which was one of the few things from the season that REALLY bothered me. Naturally, fans jumped on this, and more and more stories have come detailing what would happen if Twilight thought she was in danger of losing Celestia's trust and love. In addition, she was given a brother and foalsitter, thereby dropping a nuclear bomb on all the precious fanon we had built up over the year or so we've existed as a fandom.
She's also one of the only two ponies I would consider "book smart." (Fluttershy being the other.) She will ALWAYS have a book on hoof for anything she encounters, can master any spell with little effort, and is one of the only ponies in existence to have magic as a talent. And yet, she also has the lowest wisdom of any character, as she's always screwing up every spell. Whatever the spell is supposed to do, you can be guaranteed that it will do anything but that when she uses it. Many a fic has its beginning with Twilight goofing a spell, despite the instructions being clearly written out, and she then has to fix her mistake before it's too late.
...She DID actually attend classes, right?
When it comes to shipping, Twilight tends to be either oblivious to what romance and love actually is, or approaches the subject like a research project. As a result, she is bookish and standoff-ish at first, but once she finally realizes what that funny feeling is, she'll gladly start clopping away with Trixie. I know it seems weird to actually point out somepony to hook her up with, but seriously, 90% of all Twilight Sparkle shipping fics pair her with the greatest and most powerful pony in Equestria. After all, such a pairing makes perfect sense. The two are magically inclined, and...um...uh...that's enough, right? Then again, it ties into the "Trixie eats pine cones and must stop eating pine cones and make friends" thing that permeates the fandom, so yeah, it's obvious where this ship comes from.
Twilight's relationship with her friends is very straigthforward for the most part. She's very much the only thing holding the group together at first, as she's the only friend they have in common, but by the end of the first season that has changed completely. Now, she's one of the most dependable ponies in the group whenever somepony needs advice, even if she's not always 100% sure what to do. She also seems to have a good relationship with Cheerilee, which makes sense given her scholastic background. However, she still finds herself exasperated at Pinkie's insanity, especially when she's trying to prove a point or finish something important. If any of the Mane Six can oppose her temperament, that would be Rainbow Dash; the Pegasus places more emphasis on physical fitness and athleticism compared to Twilight's book reading and studying, although both can still excel in the other field when the mood strikes them.
Besides her friends, Twilight's closest relationships are with Spike and (most recently) her bother, Shining Armor. They both have a brotherly relationship with the Unicorn, but are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Spike is the annoying younger brother, constantly getting in trouble while making snarky, backhanded comments towards his big sister. Twilight, in turn, is frequently frustrated with some of Spike's messes, and does not hesitate to scold him when he does something wrong. At the same time, however, they both love each other dearly, and Twilight is very protective of her Number One Assistant. Shining Armor, on the other hand, is her BBBFF, and as such inspires awe in his little sis. Given her self-isolationist tendencies, Shiny is the only pony Twilight was ever really close to, even more than her parents and Celestia, and was always there for her. This has also left her more than a little possessive of his affections, and Celestia help anypony that gets between them. At the same time, however, they are both grown ponies, and as such have drifted apart. They still love each other, and Twilight still can't help but admire her brother, but they have their own lives.
Twilight's Element is Magic, something that seems utterly straightforward given her special talent. And yet, she is also one of the ponies most eager to share the wonders of friendship with others. This was made especially apparent in "Luna Eclipsed," where she's the only pony to give Luna a fair chance and gladly helps her learn how to be more sociable and friendly. She also called Rainbow back when she was ready to pound Trixie into the dust, saying that she would one day learn her lesson and become a better pony. She told Pinkie that Gilda probably wasn't evil, and even though the griffin still turned out to be a bully, Twilight's heart was in the right place. She's probably the first pony to offer friendship, even if she can occasionally stumble at it in the process.
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So, should I do more of these? Any thoughts are welcome. And now, back to Chapter Seven.
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Urge to kill...rising...
i think its twilight
Twilight is best poni. Twinkie is best ship. Twixie is best crack ship. Because ponies.
At least, that's what I got from that. 
Now that the jokin' is outta the way, (outta doesn't get the red squiggly?) lets have some more in pony analysis. That was a pretty neat read.
And now you know...Twilight Sparkle
But all silliness aside. This is a good analysis from the combination of fanon and canon of Twilight. Can't wait for the other ones, and maybe even more. The only thing is missed was Twilight relationship with Celestia, which is like a mother for her (and sometimes even more)
Should indeed do more! fun to read. My favorite Twilight is the over powered, goddess/alicorn Twilight that is badass. She'd consume her enemies with fireballs from her eyes, and bolts of lightning from her ass!
I rather like these in depth character analyses. Please do continue.
Interesting thoughts, didn't mention her obsessive-compulsive disorder. (Anyone with THAT big a fixation on checklists and schedules who doesn't have penalties to pay...)
You touched briefly on Shining Armour, and I think it could be interesting to explore that further, perhaps in a fic. She would have no reference as to how to treat him or Princess Cadence, now, since AFAIK she doesn't know anyone in similar circumstances, with a big brother getting married.
First and foremost, you should do more of these IAH.
This doesn't seem like a "best pony" as the title suggests. This seems almost like a character analysis. If you will, similar to what Wanderer_D has been doing with his posts on how to improve ones writing as a new author. This blog seems like it would be the thing of "Hey, i'm a new writer and what to know a bit more about Twilight because i'm still a bit fuzzy when who she is" kind of deal. Still interesting no matter what it is.
However I would like to make one argument. While I agree that Twilight, in fanon, should be better with her spells. I would argue that it is her want/need for approval from Celestia that has Twilight biting off more than she can chew when it comes to magic. This can be seen in the first Discord episode. She runs to Sweet Apple Acres when the initial shit is hitting the fan claiming she has a spell that will fix everything. Lo and behold, nothing happens. Her ravenous hunger for knowledge(that we can see the beginnings of in Cutie Mark Chronicles) develops into a constant need for more learning that(and here is just my personal interpretation) has grown bigger than her magic can handle. If I can make a comparison to make this a little easier to understand. Think of one's magical abilities like a muscle. You have to train it and make it grow to handle bigger tasks, or more weight in this instance. Say I never worked out a day in my life, I would have a slim chance, if one at all, to deadlift 300 pounds on a dumbbell.
P.S. Yes, I do realize that I just gave a long winded justification of a overly used, and frankly bad, plot device.
That was a really interesting look into the character, and I think will be quite useful to help put her in perspective for our own writing. I'd be very interested to hear your look at the other characters.
Goddamn I freaking love you. Why is everything you write so amazing?!
That was good do RD next
Twilight is my favorite out of the 'Mane 6' with RD taking up a close second. I find Twi's Bookish nature and choice to think first act second are often times much better choices then immediate action in the face of a difficult choice or uncertainty. It doesn't hurt matters when you consider the fact that she has the whole (in my headcanon) hot for teacher thing as a likely possibility. After all it makes the most sense for her to have a romantic relationship with Celestia, seeing as they have a lot in common
221405 so much brave heart LOL
My personal favorite is
with 
in a very close second, and 
in third.
You haven't done the best pony yet, therefore you cannot stop.
Nice exposition on Twilight's characterization in canon, but you never actually came to a conclusion. Not whether she's "best pony" or not. I'm talking about a conclusion with regard to her changes during the two seasons. Do you think she's become a deeper, more complex character? Have the writers forgotten to flesh her out and left some of her initial characteristics go by the wayside? Does her characterization contradict itself in your interpretation of the canon universe?
221482
That actually does justify things to an extent, but yeah, it's still a ridiculously overused plot device that just makes Twilight look like a dullard.
222257
I admit I flubbed that part. Originally, the one post was going to go through EVERY one of the Mane 6, examine their strengths and weaknesses in and out of canon, and then leave the "Who is best pony?" question open for discussion. But when I started writing Twilight's stuff, I suddenly realized that I had a whole post right there, and if I kept going I'd hit the blog's word limit, so I decided to see if this one sailed before trying the others. I'll try to write up a more concise conclusion.
Here's a start, hopefully:
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Twilight is certainly a more well-rounded character nowadays, but still pretty flat compared to the rest. She had minimal development in the first season because her entire reason for existing was to give the moral. Once they loosed that restriction, it felt like the writers had no idea what to do with her anymore, so she got an opening two-parter that ended with her as a badass, two episodes that basically rehashed the same plot, and a co-star with Princess Luna. She became more defined by being a simple bookworm and her sudden OCD complex than anything else, the one exception being "MMMMystery on the Friendship Express." And that's not to mention her abhorrent behavior for much of the first half of the finale, where she openly yells at her brother, conspires behind her soon-to-be sister-in-law's back despite having no proof of her evil yet, and then calls her an evil monster without any proof whatsoever and expects her friends to instantly believe her despite acting like a tantrum-spewing three-year-old for the rest of the episode. To quote SF Debris, "You don't get out of being a passive-aggressive pain just because the script is structured to prove you right."
That being said, she at least now has actual faults and issues, whereas in the first season she was pretty much perfect at almost everything. She won fifth place in a race despite having no experience outside of books, single-hoofedly solved the town's Winter Wrap-Up problems, and even managed to pacify an Ursa Minor when nopony else could. Her only issues were with pleasing Celestia (which only came up in two instances) and using magic without thinking (which caused problems in "Swarm of the Century" and "Winter Wrap-Up"). In Season 2, Twilight is far more high-strung and panicky, as well as more plan-oriented. She thinks things through more clearly (which might be considered development given the above instances), but now has a problem with OVER-planning, to the point that she can't sleep because she doesn't have enough time in her schedule to plan another schedule. While not a great development, it does give her some more angles to work with, and certainly contributes towards making her a more viable character in fanfiction.
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Glad to see so many enjoyed it. I'll try to write up another one, but not until after Chapter Seven is finished.
>Urge to kill...rising...
CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY! SWAG! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Twilight_Sparkle_lolface.png
The aforementioned planning might be one of the reasons she is flat. Seriously, who plans every day of their life by the month a month in advance? Then comes another pair of questions: "Why is she OCD about planning her life?" and "What happens when she doesn't plan her life?"
My answers to these would be, respectively:
She feels as if the planning gives her something in life she controls, and she doesn't want to lose that "power". I've met people IRL who act similarly.
When she doesn't plan her life, or her life doesn't follow her plans, she would (and has) lose it.
Oh this is a great commentary, I like stuff like this, examining the characters personalities and whatnot.
Ya know pretty much all the main characters, except perhaps Applejack, have had a serious mental breakdown at some point.
It seems that at any time Twilight could just snap and cast a spell that causes chaos and destruction on the whole town.
Because that's exactly what she did when she made them all madly in love with that doll in the episode where she goes crazy because she doesn't have a report for Celestia.
Left unchecked, that would have been the end of civilization.
Interesting analysis but I have to stop you here:
> In the first season, she was a shy bookworm
Watch the start of Dragonshy again and say that. Also watch the end of Winter Wrap Up where she basically leads an entire town. Twilight Sparkle was never shy, in fact, quite the opposite, she's a natural born leader. Now she does say the wrong things from time to time, lacks patience and starts out a little uncertain about how strong her new friendships really are (the Trixie episode) but she's not shy.
In fact, one of the things I like about her is that she is a bookworm who is not shy, which is a rare thing to see.