friendship games Midnight Sparkle contrived?

[SteveMorison 404]

This type of transformation has happened before, Luna turning into Nightmare Moon and Sunset Shimmer turning into Demon Sunset. Luna was corrupted by jealousy and Sunset was corrupted by greed and was already a cruel antagonist to begin with. Before the incident there was never any hint that Human Twilight had any evil tendancies, was just very curious, so why did the magic turn her evil other than simply plot convenience?

[KillerKingBakudan 702]

I think it is a bit contrived, but it could have been worse. They could have had Cinch act totally out of character and steal Twilight's device, so she could have all the power for herself and turn into a demon. I really thought that's where they were going with her when she spied on the girls after the motocross event.

[DeadAccount 4,603]

I was also wondering this.. Considering that she never had any evil intentions in the first place.

[Sunset's Shimmer 394]

I feel like the energies that we're gathered in sci-twi's necklace device, is what contained the means as to what happened. If you think about it; when pony twi had to absorb all the alicorn magic during the Tirek episodes, it was barely enough for her to control.
 

Imagine what all the Humane 6's magic would do to a timid sci-twi, who has no experience with equestrian magic. I feel that the energies, reflected her own desires to have control and power over her own life, the device just amplified that 10 fold. She lost control of herself, and got enveloped in the root of her desire, loosing control of her goal.

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

Going back through the series, impatience and desire are traits Twilight always seemed to struggle with. Much of Twilight Sparkle's success can be attributed to patience and diligence, which has been touched on many times not only by her ("Winter Wrap-Up", "Twilight's Kingdom", EqG1, among others), but also other characters (it's pretty much the whole of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' character arc). Twilight Sparkle has always had a desire to come out of any figurative social box in which she finds herself, in light of her natural curiosity.

 

Numerous other characters Twilight has encountered have failed, and no matter what negative emotion it's directly tied to, it all goes back to patience and desire. Nightmare Moon came about because Princess Luna couldn't temper her desires to outperform her sister. Sunset Shimmer was originally evil because she couldn't hold back her own lust for validation against Twilight's success. The lion's share of villains in this show, likewise, have a power lust that can not be satisfied by any legitimate means.

 

Midnight Sparkle is basically the physical manifestation of Twilight's extreme curiosity. In a way, it was Equestrian magic telling her that she was trying to find it for all the wrong reasons while doing it the wrong way. It's not something you exploit for personal satisfaction, neither is it something you try to make happen artificially. It wasn't a conscious choice any more than it was a misguided tendency she did not yet know how to control.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Wind Chaser

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

They basically copy pasted sunset shimmer's transformation from the first movie. Yeah, it was hella contrived.
 

Edited September 28, 2015 by Blue Moon
Removed duplicate line of text.

[PROJECT: Simon 3,953]

 

 

Twilight had any evil tendancies

Maybe she did had thoughts of having magic~? =)=)=) <3 <3 Or it's just for the story~ xDDD ^~^              

[Jeric 46,835]

I don't consider it a literal contrivance. It occured spontaneously within the context of the story and also operated as symbolic symmetry.

 

Also Twilight did have a flaw that could be turned against her ... for simplicity we can call it isolation or loneliness ... based on our knowledge of the prior endings an argument can be made that this transformation was partially a natural extension of the themes foreshadowed by Cadance who had concerns about Twilight preferring isolation. Twilight also seemed to inwardly refect that something was missing in her her life.

 

As a wise man once said

 

Connect the dots LA LA LA LA

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

It's possible the negative emotions she had while studying in CA made her transform into Midnight. She was obsessed with uderstanting magic, but I got a theory it was because understanding everything was the only thing that filled her hollow heart because of how badly she was treated  

[Jeric 46,835]

There was definitely some hints that human Twilight was more of a victim than her counterpart in Equestria. It adds a new dynamic to the character

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

I actually don't find it contrived at all. Human Twilight was a person who was pushed around, pressured, blackmailed, picked on. I don't blame her for wanting to go somewhere she would be isolated, the people at crystal prep, staff included, made her afraid of everyone around her. Add up all that on top of a power that she can't control and it would make sense that the magic would make her crazy.

 

It wouldn't be the first time that a villain came to be because the power of magic just made them snap.

 

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

I find some of it contrived, but in terms of her character being the outcast and being bullied I say no, I mean she simply wants to find her own place in the world and understand more than she already knows, what confused me was her motivations once she was corrupt, I mean was she like that before she became corrupt, wanting to understand magic and everything, or did the magic just warp her curiosity?

[Buck Testa 5,503]

If they had played it up that she was obsessed with the magic she was finding it wouldn't feel quite as contrived. My head canon is that magic taken by force causes that evil madness look, while magic freely given is what causes what happened to Sunset. 

[takai 1,060]

I believe it was Twilight's obsession with the magic and learning more about the unknown is what caused her to change. Obsession is something that it not foreign to Twilight's character as she seems to obsess over many things.

 

But Jeric explained it the best.

[NO_LONGER_AVAILABLE 22]

Well Principal Cinch forced twilight to "Unleash the Magic" turning her into an overpowered she-demon just like sunset.

But then when sunset got magic again she turned into Daydream Shimmer.

That means when you learn the magic of friendship the powers of magic have different side-effects instead of it using evil magic to control your whole body.

Right?

[colt .45 259]

It has been stated in both the show, and in the movie that most powerful magic of all is the magic of friendship. Human Twilight didn't have any friends, and therefore didn't understand friendship. The same goes for Sunset Shimmer in the first movie, she didn't understand friendship. This is why they both turned into similar demons in both movies. The lack of understanding friendship. Friendship magic without understanding friendship becomes chaotic, and corrupts those attempting to use it. You can see, when Sunset finally gets it in the movie. She summons the elements from her friends (which is what Twilight Sparkle does in the show) and combines them to create friendship magic. Human Twilight (inadvertently) stole the elements ( where as Tirek did it intentionally) and it corrupted her into a demon. Likewise, when Sunset stole Twilight's crown in the first movie she became a demon. This also explains why Sunset Shimmer was able to use the elements to defeat Midnight Sparkle, once she realized the magic of friendship, she was able to use friendship magic. In turn her ability to weild friendship magic makes her an alicorn, although in human form. If/when she goes back through the portal to Equestria she will have wings, and it is likely that Celestia will coronate her.

[JonasDarkmane 19,777]

I think numerous factors played into why she had evil tendencies. 

 

I think it was mostly pain. I imagine she has dealt with loneliness for a long time, felt bad for basically being the odd and disliked kid in Crystal Prep, for being judged by her teammates and used by Cinch. All she really had was Spike (in her mind). So I am guessing that her sad emotions played a part there, not really caring if she destroyed her own world, the world, that had caused her this pain (from perceived perspective). 

[Dawning Demon 950]

Midnight Sparkle was a mixture of Twilights great curiosity for magic and negative emotions connected to Crystal Prep and Principal Cinch, take note that right before she changed her own classmates and school principal wouldn't even help her, plus she was consumed by dark magic at the same time which seems to make ones desires even greater for example Nightmare Moon and Demon Sunset. 

[Josiah_E 63]

I believe that if not controlled, magic can corrupt even the purest of hearts.

[Evil_Emperor 176]

Depends on which way you look at it. I assumed the magic inside Twilight's device was corrupting the magic it consumed, or at the very least Twilight's despair, anxiety, loneliness and fear was corrupting it or caused it to be corrupted when she merged with it.

[Jangocoolguy 433]

Not so much contrived as so much as it could've been set up better. Certainly not resolved as quick/easy.

[Summer Wish 102]

Less talk about Midnight Twiley more talk about FREAKING ALICORN SUNNY!

[Josiah_E 63]

You have a good point there, Evil_Emperor.

[Greyhawk 100]

it's also temptation that caused twilight to unleash the magic. Even before she was corrupted by magic, judging from the chant in the song she was already consumed by the thought of what magic is and it was all her own desire and choice of what she did, even if she didn't realize the outcome.

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

Wonder what would have happened if Cinch had used the magic to cheat, not that her doing so would have made any sense.

Edited October 2, 2015 by MLPFanatic34