Weird theory of mine regarding Twilight and reformed villains · 8:43pm Apr 16th, 2021
Especially if the villains in question were ponies.
Tell me, what do these clips have in common:
They all involve villains being redeemed with some assistance from Twilight and occasionally her friends. All fair and good, right?
But what if I told you that those villains didn't reform willingly? What if I told you that Twilight, whether consciously or subconsciously, rewrote their personalities and that Celestia was enabling such behaviour?
Now, before you comment about how that's not possible and that the Jedi would be aware of it (especially if you understood what I was referencing), just hear me out. In the season 2 episode, Lesson Zero, Twilight tried to engineer a friendship problem by giving the Cutie Mark Crusaders a worn-out doll she used to play with and hoping they would fight over who gets the doll first. But they don't want the doll and, ironically, squabble over who has the unenviable possession of the doll. Not that Twilight noticed because she used a particular spell of a mind-altering persuasion. The 'Want-It, Need-It' spell, which causes those afflicted with the spell to obsess over an object of the caster's choosing as you can see for yourself:
Did you watch the clip? Good. Then you would have noticed what Twilight said after the CMC fight over Smartypants:
The 'Want-It, Need-It' spell. Works every time.
"Works every time"? Going by that line, it's pretty obvious she used it before. Often enough that she knows it off the top of her head. And how do I know she knows it off the top of her head? Because in the season 3 episode, Keep Calm And Flutter On, she had to look up reformation spells only to find out all the spells that could have reformed Discord by force have been ripped out of the spellbooks. And if you've seen that episode, you'd probably know who ripped them out in the first place (hint: rhymes with "piss board")
And now that brings us to the next part of my theory: Celestia enabling Twilight's mind-altering ways.
Think about it. Why does Twilight have spells that, for ethical reasons, should be banned? We've seen what the 'Want-It, Need-It' spell could do so, logically speaking, use of those spells should be very restricted. In other words, normal unicorns of little significance like the Flim Flam brothers shouldn't legally get their hooves on the 'Want-It, Need-It' spell but somepony of high prestige, like Celestia's faithful book-obsessed protege, could be easily supplied those spells for their own purposes. And I know somepony, most likely Celestia, had been supplying Twilight books with mind-altering spells because the Golden Oaks library blew up in season 4 (which meant the reformation spells would have went up in smoke had Discord not eaten them beforehand) and yet in the season 6 episode, Every Little Thing She Does, Starlight walks into the library of Twilight's castle and easily casts a bunch of spells that mind-controlled the Mane Six (sans Twilight because she was busy at the time).
Speaking of Starlight, another reason why I believe Twilight is at least on a subconscious level influencing the minds of soon-to-be former enemies:
When Starlight tried to pull the same shtick, it didn't work because she wrongly assumed Chrysalis would just accept her hoof in friendship the same way Starlight herself accepted Twilight's hoof in friendship.
Now, at this point, you're thinking to yourself "but Leon, why would Celestia want Twilight to learn how to control people? Didn't she intervene when the 'Want-It, Need-It' spell got out of hoof?" And that's true, she did intervene when the 'Want-It, Need-It' spell got out of hoof. But because she easily undid the spell's effects, it's safe to assume she knew the risks of teaching her personal student mind-control spells and was therefore prepared. And why would she allow Twilight access to those spells in the first place? Simple. She needed more tools to protect Equestria with and, if those tools were fashioned out of former enemies of Equestria, that's just killing two birds with one stone. We already knew she had use for Discord's magic, which in hindsight was that he was supposed to round up the other Tartarus escapees as well as Tirek, and it's been a headcanon of mine that Celestia has one hell of a Machiavellian streak so if none of the baddies ever willingly reformed, Celestia could have always counted on Twilight and her friends to reform them by force.
And now onto another question you're probably going to ask me. What about Cozy Glow? Why didn't she get mind-controlled? Well, it's simple. Twilight simply spared her. As Tom eloquently stated to Twilight in A Beautiful Lie:
You allowed her to keep her free will. But that’s nothing new. Every now and then, a very naughty pony is spared. Because they smiled, because they got a nice cutie mark, because they begged for forgiveness. And that’s how you live with yourself. That’s how you can strip your enemies of their free will while telling yourself it’s for the greater good. That’s how you feel you have the right to give ponies hell for using the same spells you yourself have no problem casting. Because once in a while, on a whim and/or if the wind’s blowing in the right direction, you just so happen to be merciful.
And yes, I was thinking of this theory when I wrote that chapter. And yes, Tom is a firm believer in this theory and that's why, in addition to the corrupting influence of the Alicorn Amulet, he has no reservations about bending everypony to his will. Mercy will get in the way of his plan. But enough rambling about Mr. OP Overlord-to-be OC, back to the theory. You're gonna say that Twilight could have subconsciously influenced Cozy but because she already knew that Cozy knew a lot about friendship while previous victims of her mind-bending ways didn't, it really wouldn't work on Cozy.
Okay, that's the end of the theory. Personally, despite it being a theory I cooked up myself, I don't consider it a headcanon of mine. Mainly because there are still a few things that don't make sense such as Luna and Starlight still possessing the character traits that played a significant part in their villainy anyway (envy and a serious impulse control problem respectfully) as well as Twilight's horn not glowing when she befriended Starlight and Tempest.
Let me know what you think and, if you really want to, you can fill in the two theory holes I mentioned or even point out something that I might have glossed over.
PS: The only reasons why Twilight controlling Discord or Tirek wouldn't work when she and her friends were blasting them with the Elements of Harmony and Rainbow Power respectfully is because Discord's chaos magic probably shields its wielder from such effects. Either that or they have a strong enough will to resist such things.
I wish I save these blogs, man. They are really good for inspiration.
5504224
Thanks.
Honestly, I think this works on narrative level simply because Celestia is old as dirt. That's it, was going to explain but...not now...I am not! Instead! I am going to read your lovely story up there! Hmph.
Thank's for the cool blog post!
It's great for fanfit fuel, but realistically, that might only apply to Sunset, and would give a reason for the 180 she did. Luna lost her overall power-hungry traits she might have had before becoming Nightmare Moon, and the reformed Starlight would have never cast mind-control spells if Twilight cast some type of "reform" spell on her and changed her personality.
One thing I learn about what makes a true viable theory/headcanon, including real-life theories, is that even parts of it cannot be negated by something in canon or facts, or could be easily explained (Like Sunset and Sunburst being sibilngs), but this one, in my opinion, has too many holes to be viable. Fun to know about and is still interesting though!