Hey there everyone. I'm sure we all remember that subjectively awesome season 4 finale. I just watched it again recently and I just wanted to talk about the fact that Twilight was so powerful, Tirek resorted to using hostages and bargaining. It only took her a few days to adjust to her added power and use it well enough to force a feared ancient monster, with the magic of Discord and nearly every pony in Equestria, to back down and declare that they were at an impasse, probably because he feared he could lose. I still have a hard time believing it happened, it sort of felt like watching an overpowered Twilight fic. Anybody else agree that Twilight was just about the most badass pone ever during that battle?

7321343
There is nothing at all subjective about Season 4's finale being the best the show had. And Twilight only had a few hours to become a total badass. Not days. Unless I forgot something.

7321355
I'm not really sure exactly how much time she had so I just generalized. There was the scene with her raising the sun, so there was probably at least around a day. Either way it's very impressive and I never get tired of watching the episode. And it's better to be safe about people's opinions, y'know? although everyone should probably agree that it was kickass

7321343

The season 4 finale was peak MLP for me, and I'm genuinely sad FiM didn't become a pony version of DBZ afterwards lol.

7321418
I'm not sure if I would have personally enjoyed that turn, since at its core MLP is about friendship, but it would have been super interesting! Maybe a spinoff series? Alicorn Ball Pone?

7321355
This is perhaps one of the few things we can agree on.

Oh, come on. It's a story about happy little ponies who won't even step on a bug crossing the road. What possible conflict...

.... Oh.

7321343

...probably because he feared he could lose.

Definitely. Nobody bargains when they are certain of victory, least of all a megalomaniac. Corollary: beings who are truly powerful don't have to brag to everyone about how powerful they are. If they do, they're insecure, and that's a lever a smart opponent can use.

Something else that the (awesome) layout artists put into that battle: Twilight is a smart and ruthless fighter. She actually goes for Tirek's eyes at one point, and teleports to a position where she'll be able to nail him in the back. Purplesmart was not messing around.

7321355
Speak for yourself. Season 2 for life!

(... William Anderson is a god.)

I still laugh when I think about the one rule they were given. 'Twilight is not allowed to punch Tirek in the face'. I heard that that was the only restriction they were given for the fight. Other then keeping the rating down of course.

7321499
"Alright so she's not allowed to punch him in the face. So instead let's make her magically bodyslam him into the ground at extremely high speeds"

7321492
Yeah, I think it's likely Twilight was fighting to kill. She was firing such massive lasers at Tirek, it doesn't seem like she was holding back at all. Bookhorse wanted to protect her friends, and her home, no matter what.

7321493
Season 2 definitely had some really high moments. Episodes and songs like "TSSCS6000", and "Smile Song", are definite high points. The finale and premiere are also classics, with the introduction of two great antagonists. But I think season 4, even discounting the finale, or season 7 could be my favorite season.

sidenote i should have put all my replies in one comment aaa

Twiggles activates lazer

Tirek:
"Uh.... yeah, we're at an impasse, for sure. 100%"

7321343
I didn't like it that much. Frankly because it didn't feel like it was TWILIGHT who was fighting. Honestly you could've swapped her with Celestia, Luna or Cadance and you wouldn't have changed much.

If it was really Twilight who was fighting Tirek, she would've played it much smarter than just blasting him full power and bum-rushing him Leeroy Jenkins-style. Maybe she could've constantly teleported into his blind spots and blasted him. Or maybe tried to trick him into using up all his energy. Or he'll, use that brain of hers to try and figure out if he's got any weak spots or weaknesses that she can exploit.

I'm just saying that for one of, if not the, smartest ponies in all of Equestria, her plan of attack on Tirek was pretty stupid.

7321522
Well, the good thing about being reasonable people is that we can disagree while still being respectful. Amazing!

7321524
Honestly, Twilight has never been a smart fighter in Canon. That's what we have Fanon for.

7321524
I can see those points pretty well, Twilight probably could have played it smarter, though she does have a history of getting too into the moment and acting rashly. Like how in the season 3 premiere, when she found the crystal heart, she ran straight towards it without stopping to think about checking for traps, thus trapping herself. Plus, Twi's plan for fighting villains is usually just "Get Elements, then go from there." She's also not really trained for combat, and was likely just going on her instinct of "Shoot + Dodge". And in the end, just throwing her power around worked fairly well. If she played it as smart as she could have, she probably could have defeated him instead of being forced to accept his compromise.

For another point, the other princesses probably couldn't have got their combined power under control so quickly. They have been shown to have less magical know-how than we would expect from the probably immortal rulers of the land. Meanwhile, Twilight's special talent is magic, her Element is magic, and she's been studying magic her whole life. That pony practically lives for magic, and books.

In the end, the point is that it was incredibly cool, well animated, and extremely unexpected from MLP. I mean, really, they had no right to make a fight scene so anime for a show about colorful equines.

7321536
Exactly. In our realities, Twilight can be an all-powerful god wizard that plans fifteen steps ahead to destroy her enemies before they even become evil.

Also yeah, opinions shouldn't be worth fighting to the death in medieval blood sports. Friendship is Magic, right?

Hey so this isn't really related to the topic of the thread, but i'm just watching random episodes of the show, and in the Season 6 premiere, Twilight was able to perfectly recall a spell that she "read for the first time two minutes ago".

What a super nerd amirite?

although cadance may have helped a little but it's cooler to say it was just twi

7321565
Twilight seems able to learn a spell just by seeing it cast.
At first, she couldn't teleport, until she saw NMM do it. Shortly after she was teleporting all over the place. And for the longest time the only ones who could were, Twilight, Celestia, Luna and Discord (I don't count pinkie, she just twisted reality so she was somewhere else). Until Starlight showed up, Twilight was the only mortal I recall seeing with the ability. Not even Cadance, another alicorn, could teleport.

7321653
Is that really true? I never noticed other unicorns weren’t teleporting. That just further enforces that Twi is the most legendary and powerful nerd ever.

Also yeah, Pinkie is a statistical error in the fabric of reality.

7321653 On this point, I have the headcanon that Twilight's talent is not 'magic'; but instead being able to copy and learn spells by just witnessing them.

This story brings up one of my favourite points about that episode. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence did not want to engage Tirek. Presumably because they thought they couldn't defeat him. What does that say about Twilight's power?

7321948 I mean, they kind of gave Twilight a mightly power-up.

7322214
They gave Twilight their power. Which they seemed to believe insufficient. My question stands.

7322268 Insufficent separately.

7322827
And do we have any real reason to believe that when they gave Twilight their power it somehow became greater than the sum of its parts. Surely Celestia and Luna would have known if giving one individual all the power would somehow make it more powerful, and if that is the case why did they not build a strategy around that instead of effectively just giving up and leaving their subjects at the mercy of Tirek?

7322853 I have no idea what point are you trying to defend. You seem to be saying that Twilight's power is the reason that she was able to face Tirek in equal terms, while also dismissing the possibility that this was the Princesses' plan.