A Christian INFJ Psychology Major’s Thoughts on Season Five Partially in Response to joshscorcher/Commander Firebrand’s Reviews Part 3: Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Psychology?

In the closing paragraph of my last post, I conjured the most unsympathetic backstory I could possibly think of in order to test the limits of my desire to see Starlight Glimmer redeemed. I ended the paragraph by giving my grudging approval for an even more unsympathetic Starlight’s redemption and by questioning this version of Starlight’s psychological stability. After further thought, I realized that even with her canon backstory, Starlight Glimmer may have some psychological issues to sort through that would require professional help, which reminded me of another one of Mr. Scorcher/Commander Firebrand’s reviews where he critiques an episode unfavorably.
The episode in question was “Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?.” Like with the season finale, I found Commander Firebrand’s negative responses to be rather surprising, especially since one of his biggest criticisms about Luna is that she was not fleshed out enough as a character despite her multiple appearances, and I believed that “Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?” did a good job of addressing that particular issue. However, after watching his companion video explaining his reasons for disliking the episode, I began to understand why the episode elicited a negative response from him. Basically, Commander Firebrand believed that the episode implied that Luna had been suffering from depression and was upset that she had turned to her friends to fix her problems instead of going to a professional. As a psychology major, I wholeheartedly agree that depression isn’t something that friendship can magically make go away and that it is something that would require professional help.
So, we have here two characters who probably needed professional help yet had their problems magically repaired by the Princess of Friendship. Okay, I’ll admit it. Advertising friendship as a psychological panacea is wrong. I would go so far as to say stupid and dangerous. If you are suffering some form of psychological instability, I beg you, for your sake and the sake of those who love you, please, please, please go seek professional help. But what if Twilight being the Princess of Friendship automatically made her a qualified psychologist?
Okay, okay, the idea is pretty farfetched (and I might be biased towards this idea because I majored in psych and because I happen to relate to Twilight A LOT), but there is support for this hypothesis all throughout season five. Exhibit A: Moon Dancer. Okay, I know the episode that Moon Dancer appears in mainly focuses on Twilight making amends with her old school friends, but I think that the episode is also about Twilight helping Moon Dancer deal with her repressed feelings, get over herself, and move on with her life. There’s just something about Twilight and Moon Dancer’s interactions throughout the episode that just reminds me of psychotherapy. For example, after several failed attempts to try to reconnect with Moon Dancer the conventional way, Twilight realizes that she needed to accomplish two tasks. The first is to give Moon Dancer an outlet for her repressed feelings. The second is to show Moon Dancer that despite being slighted, she is still loved and valued by others. Twilight accomplishes the first task by having Moon Dancer unleash her hurt and anger on a piñata and accomplishes the second by inviting the librarian, the bookseller, and Moon Dancer’s sister to the party.
Exhibit B: the handbook. In the episode “The Hooffields and the McColts,” Twilight carries around a book containing potential friendship problems and solutions. Additionally, she frequently consults this book to help her find solutions to the problem at hand. Okay, I’m not a licensed psychologist, but I’m pretty sure psychologists spend a lot of time studying and consulting handbooks in order to do their job. The only reason why the book was completely useless to Twilight in this episode is probably because the book appears to be designed to help ponies with problems on an individual or small group level similar to how psychologists in real life are trained to help people deal with problems. There’s a reason why psychology and political science are two different fields of study.
Exhibit C: the ending montage. So, the season ends with a montage of Starlight Glimmer hanging out with each of the Mane Six individually and making amends with her former victims. Well, what if these interactions, in addition to helping Starlight become better friends with the Mane Six and atone for her actions, also functioned as therapy sessions of sorts for Starlight? So far, I’ve read two fanfiction stories exploring this, so I’m not the only one who thought of this idea. Both are by milesprower06, and they’re both really quite good. Additionally, did anyone besides me think that Twilight talking Starlight out of further tampering with the past was eerily reminiscent of a person trying to talk someone out of committing suicide? Think about it. Starlight was essentially about to throw her life away and doom Equestria to complete annihilation by stopping the Rainboom. That’s basically omnicide-suicide if that’s even a thing, and Twilight talked her out of it.
Now that I think about it. I think there’s evidence supporting the idea of Twilight being a psychologist as far back as season 2. In “Lesson Zero,” Twilight’s first response to seeing Rainbow Dash blow up Applejack’s barn was to make Rainbow Dash lie down on a bench and have her talk about her feelings. She even pulls out a notepad while doing so. That’s behavior that most people stereotypically associate with psychologists.
Okay, I am going to end this post by saying that if Twilight being the Princess of Friendship makes her a qualified psychologist, then she has cemented her status as my best pony. I mean, she became my favorite by being socially awkward, studious, nerdy, uptight, and modest to the point of bordering insecurity. Plus, her becoming a princess definitely gave her some relatability points in my book (I like princesses, okay?). But, to have her essentially function as a kid’s show equivalent of a psychologist? Man, these show writers are speaking my language. (No, Twilight being a psychologist will not make me want to buy toys.)