How would you change or fix Twilight Sparkle's backstory?

Make her the town librarian from the start.

I think I would change little about her story but a lot about how the world views her. It left me a touch confused as to how she was seen by those in Canterlot throughout the series. I'm also still left trying to figure out if her family isn't at least some form of nobility given how closely it is associated with the royal family even before Twilight was Celestia's apprentice. For example: Is she a commoner who basically has the ear of the Princess as her student? Why aren't they plotting to eliminate her? Her being stuck in Ponyville away from the guards would be an ideal time to attempt it. After all it seems in the series they cover up what the element bearer's do from the general public's knowledge at least until Discord was defeated. From Blueblood and a few others we know their nobles are pretty much the stock sort for any fantasy setting so such plots are expected. Another example: Is she from a noble line that is a bit on the outs with the dominant faction in the government? Do they snub her, such as her birthday episode, as an attempt to hurt/insult her for being closer to the Princess than they are and it just doesn't work because she is asocial? Is it an attempt to get back at her for snubbing them in the past when she didn't have time for others due to her studies?

Biggest shift I'd probably work with: How many times rival noble houses/entitled nobles who think their children are better have tried to off or kidnap Twilight? How has she survived such attempts? How about rival nations? I mean Equestria has practically a villain a year at least, if we ignore the comics implications of nearly weekly, so surely an up and coming mage of Twilight's caliber would be on their target list. What of demon subordinates that want their masters free? Twilight knows how to get in and out of Tartarus in the first season after all.

As cliche as it is maybe give some tragic reason to why she was so antisocial. Maybe a close friend died or she had horrible relationship. Making her scared to have more friends either because she’d rather not have friends again then lose them or that they’d be just as bad or worse than her bad relationship.

7358929
You could easily achieve this without a tragic backstory but rather 'tragic' foreshadowing. Twilight, knowing the effects on aging of being a magical powerhouse, avoids others because she knows she will outlive them on average. Of course this relies on the trope of magic user=longevity. Say a world where earth ponies get about 200 years if they live well. Pegasi might get about the average human life span unless they are very cautious. Unicorns like Rarity that barely tap into their magic = 120+ years. Twilight, Starlight, Sunset = 400+ assuming they don't go out of their way to extend it even more. It would also help cover why she is so close to a dragon and two alicorns. They won't be dying before her.

7358930
Yeah you technically could but that’s how I’d write it

Give her a friend at the start of her foalhood.

One thing that's impressed me with Estee's Twilight Sparkle is Agency vs. Goals. In all of her stories, Twilight is trying her best to be what she thinks everypony else wants her to be, and trying so hard she loses track of what she wants to become. She's locked into certain roles since she is the Princess' student and a Bearer, and she feels inadequate to complete both of them, let alone what she would like to do. The cartoon focuses on her joy of finding out new things with her friends, but it leaves out *why* she is driven.

My take? Have Twilight be the twin of another 'twilight'. In essence, have her be someone who is struggling to achieve greatness. To boost this, have her find out periodically that her twin is succeeding where she failed.

I would rewrite the entire 9 seasons of the show but give her a fear of enchiladas instead of quesadillas. Would really change the dynamic, I think.

Okay, but for a serious answer, it's kinda hard to really pick and choose one single thing about her that would make a rewrite dynamic interesting. I guess if I had to choose one thing on short notice, I sometimes wonder how she would be if different scenarios were present. To name a few:

a) What if she never met Spike? We often forget just how valuable her number one assistant is to her. Without him, many of the episodes would drastically alter and there are too many examples of that than I am willing to type out in this short span of time here. He is her little brother after all and after Shining Armor and the rest of the Mane Clique is one of the most important friends in her life. Which leads me into...

b) What if she didn't have Shining Armor in her family? For this example, let's say she is an only child; you can decide for yourself if Spike counts to this. While their relationship may not have been as elaborated on as we'd maybe prefer (especially when he was first introduced), her BBBFF is clearly very important to her. So what if he never existed? Where would that leave us with Cadance and Flurry (if she even still exists)? And further, where does that leave us with A Canterlot Wedding (again, if it even still occurs), the Crystal Empire, and so on?

c) Speaking of Cadance, what if she wasn't in her life? Perhaps she just didn't need a foalsitter, or at least a princess foalsitter, and Cadance either never met Shining Armor or simply wasn't close to the family as a whole (once again, if she even exists in this example). Perhaps this one wouldn't as dynamically affect Twilight's life but having that sister figure vanish would change things when she becomes a princess herself.

d) What if Twilight was raised full time by Celestia. While some people may say otherwise, I think it's pretty clear she still grew up with her parents and brother while studying under the solar princess. But what if that wasn't the case? What if, say, she was taken in by Celestia to live in the palace. For this example, nothing happens to the rest of her family, her parents, brother, Spike, and Cadance are still in her life, just Twilight lives in the castle and grew up under the parentage of Celestia. I dunno, maybe it makes her less close to her biological family as she wasn't around them as often? Maybe this could cause a dilemma between them because of this? Not sure about the logistics of this one, but I'm sure it has been written about somewhere on this site.

e) What if became closer friends with Moondancer, Lyra, Minuette, and her old Canterlot acquaintances? Perhaps not full unbreakable friendship like with the Mane Clique, but certainly, closer than was in canon. This especially would affect Moondancer who as we know was affected by her departure from Canterlot to Ponyville. If they were all closer friends, how would that affect her dynamic with the Mane Clique? Depending on who you ask, this is either a minor detail or a massive alternation.

f) What if Twilight never got into the School of Magic? For this example, I'm going to assume something happened during the test since I can't really think of a way she would not enter the school otherwise, be it not applying for it or getting some sort of positive outcome of the entry test. Would she still earn that cutie mark or develop that talent without Celestia's help? See example "a" for Spike. I actually had an idea for this one though I'm gonna refrain from telling it here because it wasn't the point of the fic and the story idea itself developed into something kinda morbid.

g) What if Twilight was born something other than a Unicorn? Maybe Earth pony, Pegasus, or heck Alicorn? The dynamic changes for this one are too numerous for me to list out and I'm sure many many MANY writers on this site have done countless amount stories with this idea, so I'm just gonna let the imagination reign on this one.

I can go on really, but you can pick one detail and go from there with a near-infinite amount of possibilities. Or you can combine several to create even more from there. It's part of what I like about Alternate Universe stories. You can create a serious intricate story by making her an orphan or give her some self issues, or you can just be silly and make a comedic story out of simple change, like enchiladas instead of quesadillas.

EDIT: Jesus, why did I spend an hour to type 813 words for this simple question on a day off?...

Make her more sociable as a child.

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These are all potental alt-universe fanfictions.

7358928
Yeah, this bothered me too. Maybe not the assasination attempt, but I feel far more of the population should be at least aware of who she is. I do not think she would be a celebrity or anything (As far as we are aware, Twilight did not take part in any public event before the Gala), but at least her name should ring a bell. Rarity for example would definetly know who she was before meeting.

7358912
Fix? There's nothing to fix.

The only change that I would even think of would be making her an only child again. And even that is more of a reversion to a previous Canon.

7358929
This is the most Extrovert thing that I have seen all day.

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Trust me I’m the biggest introvert

7358928
Well, technically, Twilight isnt the only one, Celestia had as a protege. Celestia is the ruler of the country, but also the headmaster of her school, which she presumably took over from her old teacher (starswirl). So after hundreds of generations of students over a thousand years, all those conspiracy plots must have happened already (at least once), so celestia would likely have experience dealing with them. And if celestia has already seen all of them, there would be no point in trying.

Look at twilights first protege(?) at her school of friendship. Twilight didnt expect cozy to betray her, which is why she came as far as she did. but if in the future another student tried to pull the same thing, twilight should be able to pick up on it faster.
Celestia had a similiar situation with sunset, but when celestia picked up on sunsets behaviour they ended their teacher-student relationship.

well, technically its said, that sunset left, but only because she didnt get what she wanted, which is pretty vague, but it can be interpreted as "celestia wouldnt allow her to do, what she wanted" as in cockblocking her evil schemes or whatever, which is something celestias human counterpart had no experience in, cause why would a regular high school principal have any?