Eeeyep!

So many feels.

Who says she has to be a princess of anything? MLP royals are different.

Rather than necessarily having a city or country to rule over, it seems like MLP princesses are defined by representing concepts or forces of nature. Like how Celestia and Luna rule over Equestria together (so they're not each princesses of separate places) but Celestia is the Princess of the Day and Luna is the Princess of the Night. Before the Crystal Empire appeared, Cadance was probably the Princess of Love, given the powers she showed. I suspect that Twilight will be the Princess of Friendship, to complement Cadance's domain over romantic affection, Twilight's domain will be platonic affection and teamwork, given her powers came from using a spell that involved the Elements of Harmony, which are a friendship-related magical artifact. Or she could be the Princess of something else like Magic or Knowledge that would also fit her character.

This episode has left me feeling a bit sad though, and I have no idea why.

It's a happy sadness though. And it's centred around Celestias ballad and the ending.

Either way the pun works, the concept of a ponyfied Las Vegas is too good not to use. If my work ever gets off the ground I'll stick with that name. Though horse puns for everything else would be difficult.

They had to nail one emotional beat to make the ascension feel right, and they obviously did.

edited 17th Feb '13 9:19:23 AM by edvedd

Now that the ongoing goals have been met for Twilight Sparkle, the show will have to come up with a new setup for season 4, and anything that may or may not come after. I'm just a bit sad we probably won't be getting friendship reports anymore. Even though this season's backed off from that a good bit, and as corny as some could be, it's still very sweet to hear the familiar "Dear Princess Celestia..."

It's just so heartwarming to watch Twi figure out what Star Swirl couldn't and save her friends :3

The more I think about this episode, the less I like it.

So Twilight has a spell she knows next to nothing about, and which she can't even tell is unfinished (despite her supposedly extensive knowledge of how magic works), and she casts it anyway, pretty much just to see what it does, and without even bothering to make more than a cursory examination of her surroundings before deciding that nothing went wrong? And she's going to be rewarded for this grotesque lapse of common sense by being made a princess?!

And she's been secretly molded to be a princess from the beginning of her career? No, that's not the slightest bit creepy or manipulative...

And apparently it's not enough that she's the most powerful mage in Equestria, she has to become an alicorn and a princess too? Like she doesn't surpass everybody else enough already, including her friends — she has to outrank them too?

And the process of Twilight's ascension supersedes in importance the safety and happiness of every other pony in Ponyville, including her FRIENDS?!

No, no, no, screw that, and no.

edited 17th Feb '13 9:48:28 AM by JakesBrain

Mind your rage, the last guy who lost it here got banhammered.

In the near future, Dinky follows in her mother's hoofsteps.

edited 17th Feb '13 9:48:42 AM by Blissey1

*sniff*

Ha.

@Jake

Lets not get super angry here. That's no reason to dismiss your problems with the episode, though, so lets tackle them one at a time:

You're forgetting/ignoring details, here. She knew it was unfinished because it said so right in Celestia's letter. The actual visual effect that it had was so subtle that it's pretty much impossible to notice unless you're looking for it, and it displayed none of the signs that we've seen before of a spell actually being cast. The it's quite logical for her to think that it did nothing in that situation. Also, how can you call her self-centered when the distress of her friends thanks to her mistake is shown to be very painful to her? If she were self-centered, she wouldn't care, since the spell didn't effect her.

When you're the personal student of the Princess, it's kinda common sense that she has a plan for you.

So you're saying that her hard work and perseverance shouldn't be rewarded? I mean, this is the most logical payoff given the setup we've had for three seasons.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Twilight placed the safety of her friends way above the task Celestia had given her, dropping it immediately in favor of returning them to normal.

I wonder if any other towns will get a Princess. It seems like more towns keep getting Princesses.

You get a Princess! You get a Princess! You get TWO Princesses!

Overall I liked the episode, but I disagree strongly with this point. And so does Rarity!

Twilight was never working to become a princess. She was surprised by this. It would be like rewarding my studying of Science by making mepresident. There is no logical relationship there at all. Hard work is rewarded by giving what the person was working for. Not some other gift with no relationship.

Anyway, I actually did like the episode, rushed as it was, and thought that the alicornificaion was presentwd well for a single episode.

The implications still bug me though. I'm not going to be too harsh on them though as this is apparently part 1 of three.

Didn't Faust even post a tweet that said something to the effect that she hadn't been planning on making Twilight a princess/alicorn?

It wasn't what Twilight was personally working for, but it was definitely what Celestia was planning for.

Judging Celestia for her machinations is another matter altogether.

What Faust wanted really doesn't matter. It's not her show anymore.

edited 17th Feb '13 10:09:37 AM by PerpetualLurker

You're forgetting/ignoring details, here. She knew it was unfinished because it said so right in Celestia's letter. The actual visual effect that it had was so subtle that it's pretty much impossible to notice unless you're looking for it, and it displayed none of the signs that we've seen before of a spell actually being cast. The it's quite logical for her to think that it did nothing in that situation. Also, how can you call her self-centered when the distress of her friends thanks to her mistake is shown to be very painful to her? If she were self-centered, she wouldn't care, since the spell didn't effect her.

Wouldn't it behoove one to be extremely damned careful with unfinished spells? It seems to be the equivalent of walking around with nitroglycerin in your pocket.

When you're the personal student of the Princess, it's kinda common sense that she has a plan for you.

Different strokes for different folks. I find the idea of spending your entire life being groomed for a position you don't even know you're going to get to be very disturbing, and unconscionably manipulative on the part of whoever is doing the grooming.

So you're saying that her hard work and perseverance shouldn't be rewarded? I mean, this is the most logical payoff given the setup we've had for three seasons.

I'm saying that what happened at the end of this episode pretty much guaranteed that Twilight Sparkle will not fade from the history books soon, while offering no such reassurance to the other Bearers of the Elements. She's going to be the one Element everybody remembers, kind of like how the Founding Fathers are "Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Adams... uh... uh... uh... I can't think of any of the rest." Equestrian schoolkids in two hundred years will be saying: "Princess Twilight Sparkle, and... uh... uh... uh... I dunno the rest." Some reward, to be forgotten while your friend is remembered — or worse, to be remembered while all the friends you loved are forgotten.

edited 17th Feb '13 10:21:56 AM by JakesBrain

Thank you. I get a bit tired of X sucks because it's not what Faust wanted. Yes she created the show and did a fantastic job of it, but she's been gone for some time now and said herself she's done with the show and is moving on to new projects.

edited 17th Feb '13 10:15:50 AM by darkabomination

In two hundred years, Twilight will probably still be commissioning statues of her friends made.

I highly doubt Twilight won't commemorate her friends in some way and allow them to be forgotten.

Considering the likelihood of Twilight living for a very long time, I doubt the others will ever be forgotten.

I lookat it like this. Being a princess may not have been what Twilight expected, but you almost never receive responsibilities because we want them, but because we're best qualified for them. Twilight is well qualified for her new role and is the best use for her unique skills.