Theory: the neurotic behavior of Twilight Sparkle · 12:56am Apr 4th, 2017
Early in My Little Pony, we saw how neurotic and fearful Twilight Sparkle could be. For example, she came up with the idea of Celestia banishing a pony, then locking them in a cage in the place they have been banished to in "A Bird in The Hoof." Also, practically everyone who is familiar with the fandom is also familiar with the "Magic Kindergarten" line from Lesson Zero. Often, it's thought that this neurotic behavior from Twilight is something she had in her childhood.
But what if it wasn't?
What if it was caused by two things: Sunset Shimmer, and Princess Luna?
I'm not saying that those were the sole causes, but that their existence tied with Twilight's pre-existing personality led to the neurotic behavior that so many of the shows fans are familiar with.
Elaboration after the break.
First, there are pre-existing traits to Twilight that do contribute to the matter. She is a very smart mare, and has a very active and creative imagination. This is shown by some of the way she thinks, such as figuring out Nightmare Moon's return, and if we go by some of the comics, we know where she got it from since her mother is a well to do author. It could also what led her to becoming such a great student: by relying on facts, science, logic, and the laws, she does not have to worry about her imagination coming up with ideas or possibilities that are too outrageous. On top of that, she idolizes Celestia and very much wants to please her, to make her proud. Just disappointing Celestia, with no other possible consequences, is enough to get Twilight worked up.
On top of that, we then add Sunset Shimmer. I'm not suggesting that Sunset herself was directly responsible like in Sandbox by Summer Dancer, or that Sunset and Twilight had even met each other prior to Equestria Girls. I'm referring less to the pony herself, and more to the public image of her. Sunset was Princess Celestia's personal student, which would make her a minor celebrity in Canterlot.
As such, her sudden disappearance would not go unnoticed. It is unlikely that Celestia gave any sort of explanation to the public, both out of her own feelings (guilt and self-blame), and out of respect to Sunset (and maybe her family) to have some privacy. However, it would not keep ponies from gossiping, even speculating on what happened to Sunset, or trying to get information from ponies who may know, and leading to exaggeration with each telling. To that end, talk about having Sunset removed as Celestia's personal student and sent to normal classes could eventually grow to her being sent to magic kindergarten. The story of Sunset ran off to another dimension becomes her getting banished. This then mixes with the common idea of having her imprisoned in a dungeon, and becomes Sunset being banished, and locked up in the place she had been banished to.
Now, no pony would say this directly to Twilight, but they would likely talk about it when she is around seeing as she is taking Sunset's place. Plus, as adults, they likely think that Twilight -- being a child -- was not listening. As such, it is possible they talked about it where Twilight would overhear, whether she realized it or not. Either way, Twilight would not believe it. She idolizes Princess Celestia, and looks up to her. Twilight sees her as something great, kind, and gentle. There was no way that the princess would do such a thing to a pony. So she would disagree and forget about it, although not entirely.
Then comes the pilot episodes of the series, and Princess Luna's return. That is when Twilight learns that the sister that banished Luna to the moon was none other than Princess Celestia herself. The same mare she had looked up to since she could barely do any magic. Granted, there were reasons to it, and even if extreme, it is at least partially understandable, but it would still be a massive shock to Twilight. Something that would be incredibly hard to believe.
This would rattle Twilight, and have her wondering: if Celestia could do that to Luna -- her own sister -- what could the princess do to her student? Then -- even though she doesn't actively remember it -- those stories and rumors about Celestia and her previous student come back. Except now, they don't seem so preposterous as they used to. After all, if she was willing to banish her sister to the moon for one thousand years, then it doesn't seem that unwilling to imprison and banish a student that had done something bad, or send them back to magic kindergarten if they failed at their lessons.
So Twilight would still idolize and look up to Celestia, but some part of her would still remember those rumors and fear being on the receiving end, in a way making it so she was that way after coming to Ponyville.
I have to admit, this IS an intriguing theory. Definitely makes a certain amount of sense.
Very interesting.
Definitely makes a LOT of sense to me. though I would still expect some sort of public statement from the palace (that would likely be a partial truth at best, if not a complete fabrication due to the nature of what actually went down), even if Celestia herself isn't the one to give it, after Sunset's departure to explain her sudden absence. Of course, said statement might come off as even fishier to Twilight than none at all would, particularly if the cover story/half-truth would justify a marehunt that failed to happen.
Edit: and an official statement that seems not to hold water would really set the rumor mill off, which would lead to the same effects as above. And the Sunset Shimmer rumor mill (along with tangential rumors about anypony else who disappeared from the public eye suddenly) would likely flare up again in the immediate wake of Luna's return, with a lot of new speculations that could lead to a lot of fresh paranoia fuel for Twilight.
This actually makes a lot of sense.