Oh my.

Troper Report: TRU Status, Singapore

edited 18th Feb '13 8:41:16 AM by AceOfScarabs

@Enlong: Twilight is pretty much considered the pinnacle of a modern Unicorn, especially in terms of raw power. We can count the number of unicorns with magic anywhere close to Twilights own on one hand. Despite that Celestia has been able to undo her magic fairly easily on all the occasions she has.

I think that indicates that Alicorns do have greater magical potential then any unicorn, even a top-tier one.

edited 18th Feb '13 8:41:36 AM by Mio

Potential takes time to achieve, though. Remember that Celestia has at this for more than a millenium, whereas Twilight is newly minted.

What I mean is to say that yes. Twilight is not as powerful as Celestia.

Yet.

edited 18th Feb '13 8:44:15 AM by Enlong

Plus, we haven't had a chance for Twilight to be pushed to her limits in her now form. She could be quite a bit more powerful already for all we know.

, Well, yeah. But that's not what I was arguing against. I was arguing that Twilight the Unicorn is not, and probably couldn't be, as powerful as any other Alicorn. Now that she is an Alicorn that doesn't matter.

I'm basically just going to second what Perpetual and Enlong said. The episode didn't contradict any of what we already know about the elements/magic, it just introduced a new way they could be manipulated. Whether or not attributing new abilities to them is kosher is up to the individual. All we can really say about it is that we don't have enough info to say because counting the finale, we've only seen the elements in action 3 times, which isn't enough to really build a ruleset for them.

And yeah, I think that the cutie mark switch was just a symptom of their destinies being modified. Given that the elements have been tied into their natures from the beginning, I don't find that surprising.

Then I suppose we don't have an issue.

@Mio I don't think that's a point of contention here. There's quite a bit of middle ground between "normal" and "omnipotent god."

To further add to what I was saying, I don't think the elements were directly manipulated either. More like their connections to their bearers acted as a sort of easy connection for the magic to travel along to reach each of them.

I made a video.

edited 18th Feb '13 9:53:08 AM by Kerrah

I feel like I know that music, but I can't place it, except that it's from some anime.

Neon Genesis Evangelion.

It's an arrange of the intro music.

All those congratulations re from the ending of the series (which mae precious little sense before the movies)

Oh. That would explain it. When I watched NGE, I always skipped the intro, and I stopped watching it in the middle of the second-to-last episode.

edited 18th Feb '13 9:19:32 AM by CDRW

Concerning magic level - I think Twilight is top tier since she can do time magic.

/just not comfortable with a 'verse wherein majority of (young) magic-users can do time magic.

Perhaps from a very young age, Celestia knew/saw that Twilight had the potential to be as powerful as Star Swirl.

To be fair, said time magic had some pretty strict limitations to it.

I can barely remember what happened in that time magic episode, but it's time magic - so really potent magic.

Btw, was there another episode wherein there was time magic? I can only remember the one where there was a second Twilight with an eyepatch.

The time spell was You Already Changed The Past variety, and it could only ever be cast once.

So yeah. Really limited.

That's the only time it has shown up. It was explicitly stated that the spell can only be used once, and that the user only has a minute or two of time in the past before they get zapped back. Twilight herself can never time travel using that particular spell again. Plus it was heavily implied that all time travel simply results in a Stable Time Loop due to You Already Changed The Past, meaning that what Time Travel can do is pretty limited.

Ninja'd

edited 18th Feb '13 9:31:03 AM by PerpetualLurker

Re watched the Ballad Of Celestia...dam those feels.

For which I am thankful for. Time Magic should be really be limited. My God, too many complications already just from one time travel attempt.

Even though magic seems to be around a lot in that 'verse, Twilight's magic is noticeable more powerful than the rest. Most other unicorn's magic just seems to be the telekinetic variety.

Ah, also - that episode wherein Trixie got collar, Twilight was saying that that collar was allowing magic that shouldn't be possible. Lol, when Twilight said that - I thought, yeah - but you cast a time spell without magic powerful collar.

I have Celestia's song on replay. Just so beautiful.

edited 18th Feb '13 9:34:00 AM by probablyinsane

It's a real shame that the time travel spell can only be used once. I really wanted to see the episode where Twilight attempts to kill pony Hitler.

Given that both powerful spells were created by Starswirl, I think it can demonstrate that top tear unicorns like Swirl and Twilight are close to, or as powerful as a beginner Alicorn. Cadence is probably very powerful in her own right, but her magic is more subtle and universal. Or at full concentration, a shield powerful enough to protect attacks from a dark lord of Sombra's power however briefly.

Time travel is usually restricted if not enabled by a TARDIS or something like the White Chronicle or Homura's Wish.

Star Swirl got pretty far with a paradox-dodging single-instance time jump spell.

There's also Celestia's comment that they're now Twilight's students. That would imply their equal in standing, if not power. But that she has the potential to eventually grow stronger than Celestia. Though I hate to use power levels as if it was a D and D campaign. It's probably more subtle and complex than that.

Oh oh!

That Time Travel episode does foreshadow that Twilight can use one of Star Swirl's magic spells, and a Time spell at that.

Ah, that makes more sense now. Like some others, I also felt a bit bothered that Twilight so easily cast Star Swirl's (supposedly most powerful) magic spell that he couldn't even complete.

Like Twilight did not look like she was even trying to cast it. She just recited the spell, and it works.