Why I Believe Bronies Had A Hard Time Accepting Princess Twilight (3 years late edition)

Alright I know I'm a little late to this party but this idea has been bugging me for years, and I have yet to see a post describing this idea, so I figured why not?

I think the reason why the fandom absolutely hated the Princess Twilight change was because it broke the group symmetry that was pervasive through out the first few seasons of pony. First of all I want to talk about how the characters of the same races were portrayed as near exact opposites, for instance Applejack and Pinkie Pie, our earth ponies. You have Applejack the hard working, diligent, family oriented mare, who was about as down to earth as any character would be. On the opposite end we have Pinkie Pie, the party mare with pizazz, the queen of social connections, and the mare with her head somewhere in the clouds at all times, in some cases quite literally. While she did come from a farm pony background, like Applejack, she went off and forged a rather different path leaving family behind, but not forgotten. They both have what looks to others like boundless energy that might be a part of the earth pony package, just channeled into different pursuits.

Next we have our two pegasi who are once again two polar opposites. On the one end we have Rainbow Dash the spotlight stealing speed obsessed daredevil, who's goal is to have her name spread far and wide across Equestria, and has a bit of a bold and brash attitude to boot. Then there's Fluttershy, the introverted animal care-taker, living a quiet life in a little cottage on the edge of town, and one who lifestyle might better resemble that of an earth pony's. These two characters are probably the most polar of opposites, from how they approach problems to their choice of housing. Even their darn pets are historically clashing archetypes, although not the archetypes that would match their characters.

Finally, we have our unicorns, Twilight and Rarity. Twilight Sparkle is the bookish nerd, a bit of a social recluse, and a pony who puts the pursuit of knowledge before (almost) everything else. Then there is Rarity the fashionista supreme, a social networker, and (canonically at least) one very pretty pony. These two embody one of the old female duality of brains or beauty. They are also their backgrounds are played with, as it is usually the beauty being of noble up-bringing, and the brainy one coming from a more pedestrian background. The thing about these interactions that makes it rather unique is that the show brought no attention to the underlying differences.

Now the the character interactions don't stop there, as there was another layer of inter-connectivity between the mane cast that seemed to start in season one, but never quite got fleshed out. From early on it seemed that the mane six was paired off into “best friendships”, but this almost dropped off the face of the earth rather early on.

For instance, the one with the most evidence was the relationship between Twilight and Applejack. Several episodes in the first season Twilight is show to be hanging out with Applejack. In “Applebuck Season” Twilight is the one who goes to talk to AJ about her problems (though this might have been because of Twi's role as Main Character early on).

Another example is Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. The two are paired together in “Gryphon the Brushoff” as prankster buddies, and we often see these two either come to the others aid, or they happen to be on the same wavelength when no pony else is.

Finally there the relationship that Rarity and Fluttershy share. Aside from the weekly spa meeting that they share, and during which Rarity gossips to Fluttershy, they also share the same knowledge of needle work, and Rarity seems to be the best at getting Fluttershy out of her shell.

Now when you change one of the character's roles drastically, say by elevating there status and changing their species, it changes the balance of the cast, altering the cast balance and changing how the character fundamentally relate to one another. That is why I believe we had a fairly difficult time accepting accepting our new Pony Princess overlord.