spoiler Is Twilight Sparkle a Defenseless Fool?

[WriteCodes46 178]

Given the events that occurred in the Season Finale, I just have to ask this question: Is Twilight Sparkle completely oblivious and defenseless against any threat against her?

 

Specifically, I'm talking about the fact that she had so many opportunities to stop Starlight Glimmer from doing anything harmful, and failed to act on any of them. I'll list and explain them below:

 

1. After freeing Starlight's village and having her run away, why didn't Twilight give a detailed description of Starlight, and have her put on a Most Wanted list with a hefty bounty? Given how Starlight openly wandered around Canterlot and Ponyville, she would've been caught very quickly, and would've been left to rot away safely in a dungeon, without Twilight having to encounter her ever again.

 

2. If Twilight suspected she was being targeted by Starlight, why didn't she take any measures to protect herself? She could've had the Royal Guard hunt down Starlight, and placed herself under witness protection or something similar. Instead she just hopes her suspicions are wrong, and upon the suggestion that Starlight may be planning to attack her, she just freezes and shakes in panic. Even if/when it came to a direct confrontation with Starlight, she should've been able defend herself, by force if necessary, rather easily. I'm getting to that shortly.

 

3. Related to the above, why didn't Twilight get guards for her castle? Surely she should have some permanent protection against an attempt on her life. Or at the very least, why didn't she lock her castle, and install an alarm system or, if they have such technology, closed-circuit television? It's like she wasn't even trying, and just treated her castle as an extension of public space.

 

4. When Twilight was finally confronted by Starlight, how come she just stood there like an idiot while waiting for Starlight to do anything to her? This is approaching Princess Toadstool Peach levels of helplessness, and even then, Peach was able to defend herself in one game, whilst Twilight had to convince "Bowser" to "let her go". Which leads me to the last point;

 

5. When it came down to a direct fight between them, how come Twilight didn't just waste Starlight right there and then? She is an alicorn with a lot of magical experience, she should've been able to curb-stomp her immediately, or at the very least gained the upper hoof pretty soon, but instead she drags it out until they're both exhausted (again, how come?) and then she doesn't even finish the job. Even if that timeline is ruined, with Starlight dead she would've been able to go back again and let things run their proper course. Does Twilight really not know anything at all about fighting or strategy? That's pretty baffling, especially considering how often it depends on her to save the world, which she witnessed in the multiple timelines.

 

So, I'll leave you to discuss what do you think about these facts, and whether this is a character trait or simply the result of poor writing.

[RusselZ 8]

1) It was probably one of those "let the villain go and maybe she'll see the errors of her ways" situation.

 

2) She probably didn't expect the revenge from Starlight until the beginning of the first part.

 

3) Twilight felt safe in Ponyville, so she felt no need to have extra security. In the first part, she even said "This is Ponyville. How bad could things be?"

 

4) I don't know about this one. It's always those things in movies or shows where the protagonist doesn't act right away and wait for things to unfold. After all, Twilight isn't too bright in these kinds of situations.

 

5) No one ever kills in Equestria (at least in that timeline). Also, even if Twilight did want to, we later learned that Starlight is probably almost (if not as) strong as Twilight in magic, despite Twilgiht being an Alicorn.

 

To be honest, my main complaint is that after Twilgiht JUST

They didn't put out a wanted list for her because it was probably one of those "let the villain go and maybe she'll see the error of her ways" thing.

 

Well, most of the explanation for those is that it's wrong to kill. And even if Twilight wanted to waste Starlight, their magic powers are equal in strength (or at least, very close).

 

As for not having security, Twilight felt safe in Ponyville, which is why she didn't have any security in her castle. ("This is Ponyville. How bad can things be?")

 

My main complaint is that after Twilight JUST had a lecture about how important Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom was, and after realizing they went back in time to that very moment, she had no idea what Starlight glimmer was planning.

[Jinxie Umbra 149]

While I agree that Twilight needs her own garrison to protect her castle, most of your other points fall under the "for the sake of the story" category. It's really not worth making a fuss about.

 

As for the battle between them, evidently Starlight is a far more talented sorceress than Twilight. Hell, Starry can fly using her magic - the only pony we've seen do so. And being an alicorn does not make Twilight some all-powerful goddess Mary Sue. She doesn't actually have much combat experience. We're talking about a bookworm who lived in a library for over a year.

 

Speculating further, you could say that the link between Friendship and Magic means only her defensive spells are augmented with abnormal power. This would explain the ease with which she saved the residents of "Our Town" from Starry's uber death-ray spell back in the premiere, while lacking the ability to instantly win their battle.

[Gearbox10mm 794]

If Twilight was as OP as she potentially could be, there would be no conflict. 

 

Even as an Alicorn, she is not all powerful. She was recently shown to struggle with freezing a couple dozen earth ponies. Showing that she is strong, but not "that" strong. On the other hand, Starlight must be an exceedingly strong Unicorn to be able to stand toe to toe with an Alicorn. 

 

As far as Twilight not taking proactive steps to insure the security of her castle and her own safety, it just goes to show her naivete and lack of experience. Not that the Royal Guard has ever shown themselves to be of much use in the first place, but that said, leaving her castle unguarded was basically inviting an ambush. 

 

She has shown herself to be inept as a military strategist. A youtuber I watch recently brought up the fact that she was terrified when the Yaks threatened to declare war with Equestria. He made the point that she had no apparent reason to fear them because Equestria has a chaos god, 4 Alicorns, military Pegasi, magical Unicorns and legions of Earth Ponies at it's disposal. The fact that she was fearful of the Yaks shows that she has a poor understanding of the military / security assets available to her.      

 

Having said all that, at the end of the day there must be a limit to her magical power and she must be incompetent at times or the show would be incredibly boring. Conflict must exist.           

[Ponies4Bronies 394]

As much as I like Twilight, and she is my second favorite pony, she is useless compared to the other alicorns. Sorry Twily but your sister-in-law is better than you and you can forget about being better than Celestia or Luna because it will be a false dream. You are a cute little bookworm pony though.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,933]

The writers had to make Starlight incredibly powerful because 'reasons'. Just seems like lazy writing to me. "Hey, let's make Starlight more powerful in magic than the element of magic herself! Oh, and let's NOT give any real justification for it!" Everything in the finale went too perfectly for Starlight, until the end of course but that is a given.

[Silver Stream. 708]

I have tp disagree. I believe Twilight is potentially the most powerful Alicorn but she's yet to tap into her "raw power'. Celestial chose her because she could sense...and she took a sneak peak... at Twilight's potential power. I will think it's just locked away.. where she must depend on friendship magic and the "alicorn magic booster" whenever she is against danger.

 

*shrugs* just my theory

 

Also....I would not call her useless compared to the other alicorns. She solved and did just as much as they have if not more regardless if she had help or not.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Silver Stream.

[cmarston1 5,960]

Maybe Twilight should have spent more time studying up on magic this season.

Either that or Starlight Glimmer is some kind of super prodigy that went to some kind of magical school and or will be expanded upon satisfactory in season 6.

[Daring_Do 552]

 that went to some kind of magical school 

You mean like the magical school Twilight went to?

[Bright Honor 2,720]

I understand what your saying. Starlight is very powerful for a unicorn, even on par with twilight sparkle. I hope this teaches Twilight to up her defenses a bit.

[Arrowstormen 62]

As much as I like Twilight, and she is my second favorite pony, she is useless compared to the other alicorns. Sorry Twily but your sister-in-law is better than you and you can forget about being better than Celestia or Luna because it will be a false dream. You are a cute little bookworm pony though.

What? It wasn't too long ago people complained about how useless Celestia and Luna is compared to the Mane Six. And the only things Cadence have ever done is grabbing the crystal heart and using the power of love with Shining Armor once. 

[Gearbox10mm 794]

No one ever said there can't be more than one pony with a specific talent. If you remember, Lightning Dust was just as fast, if not a little faster, than Rainbow Dash. It stands to reason that there could / would be another unicorn with just as much magical skill as Twilight.

 

Twilight's element is the "Magic" of friendship. Not "magic" as in lasers and telekinesis.

 

Starlight being powerful makes sense. Not to mention that due to her intense anger and hatred towards Twilight, she was probably going all out and not holding anything back. Twilight never seemed to reach the same anger levels we saw in her battle with Tirek, so she may have not been giving it her all, so to speak.    

Edited December 1, 2015 by Gearbox10mm

[Flying_Endeavor 73]

Excellent. Nice thread. :3 This gives more information, tbh. xD More for story development. :3 

 

And yeah, Twilight does not seem too capable as a military leader, but she is more of a political one.... or rather, one who tries to prevent war and conflicts. On her stance on making the castle open, well, we did see in the previous finale how it was open to virtually anypony. I think, Twilight wanted to give out a better feeling of harmony. That she is there to establish better friendships, therefore being more accepting of anypony who enters her domain. But, a little security won't hurt. Hopefully, after this incident, there would be at least some form of security in her castle. xD 

[Ponies4Bronies 394]

What? It wasn't too long ago people complained about how useless Celestia and Luna is compared to the Mane Six. And the only things Cadence have ever done is grabbing the crystal heart and using the power of love with Shining Armor once. 

It was the Tree of Harmony that gave them the power to defeat Tirek and the Elements of Harmony were taken from the tree by Celestia and Luna to defeat Discord the first time, when the mane 6 used the elements of harmony, they all had to be together or it won't work (Return of Harmony part 2 Twily has to find elements AND restore her friends to defeat Discord with the elements) Celestia and Luna don't need the elements to be powerful and Celestia is powerful enough to be able to rule Equestria for thousands of years.

[Blackshirt Brony 415]

Well, she made the main antagonist surrender just by causing her to feel bad about herself. I guess if you count ex-girlfriends as generally being "defenseless fools," then that will answer the question. Also, "fools" is probably considered offensive to all the forum's foolish people.

 

Rainbow Dash may have "started" the mane six's journey but Twilight is always the one to end it. If she hadn't been the star of Magical Mystery Cure, Rarity would have been left singing about her ugly cloud formations for all eternity!

[Arrowstormen 62]

It was the Tree of Harmony that gave them the power to defeat Tirek and the Elements of Harmony were taken from the tree by Celestia and Luna to defeat Discord the first time, when the mane 6 used the elements of harmony, they all had to be together or it won't work (Return of Harmony part 2 Twily has to find elements AND restore her friends to defeat Discord with the elements) Celestia and Luna don't need the elements to be powerful and Celestia is powerful enough to be able to rule Equestria for thousands of years.

Celestia and Luna were once cool, we know that, which is why people are puzzled by how they let the Mane Six handle everything since the return of Nightmare Moon. Not a problem I have, but it is a thing. Also, while ruling Equestria for a thousand years solo shows that Celestia is a capable leader, it doesn't mean she's actually especially "powerful". Celestia was beaten by a Chrysalis who'd sucked a bit on Shining's love and couldn't beat the Sombra Army in a way the elements of harmony would be able to in the Sombraverse. 

[Number62 1,264]

Bad writing.

 

1. Oh look, a mysterious unicorn who can take away cutie marks, and forced a bunch of ponies to live in some secluded village while essentially losing their individualities. Surely this is important enough to report to other authoritative figures, especially the other alicorns? Oh, I guess not because Twilight might lose her chance to hog the spotlight in saving Equestria again.

 

2. Starlight should've targeted the other ponies. If she wanted to go after one, Fluttershy would make the most sense since she's the one who screwed up her operations. But it was a plan that the Mane 6 agreed on, so they all played a part in her initial downfall. To actually answer the question, Twilight had plot armor. Defeat and death were never real issues for her.

 

3. She never gets into forced and unnatural trouble like Celestia. Since everything goes her way even with a few bumps along the road, she wouldn't need to consider protection. In other words, plot armor.

 

4. Plot armor, again.

 

5. Because plot says so. It's not like the show ever explained alicorns, natural or artificial, either.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Number107

[Justin_Case001 4,907]

4. When Twilight was finally confronted by Starlight, how come she just stood there like an idiot while waiting for Starlight to do anything to her?

Okay, to be fair, this is a common thing in practically every show and movie ever made.  Protagonists and antagonists alike often just stand there waiting for the other to make a move for the sake of story.  Obviously, real life wouldn't be like this.  It's just a problem in all entertainment, so I think it's not really worth singling that out in this show.

 

 

5. When it came down to a direct fight between them, how come Twilight didn't just waste Starlight right there and then?

Two reasons.  One--I believe Starlight really is that powerful, and I rather liked that decision.  I thought it was interesting and unexpected.  I also think it was strongly implied that Starlight is the descendant of Starswirl, so that right there is a perfectly good explanation of why she's so strong.

 

Two--Twilight is no warrior and certainly no murderer.  Just because she's powerful doesn't mean she's prepared for this type of thing.  She's done it when she's had no choice (and Tirek really pissed her off), but it's not like she's trained her entire life to know how to fight.  Perhaps Starlight has spent a lot of time practicing to prepare for the inevitable fight.

 

 

[Ponies4Bronies 394]

Celestia and Luna were once cool, we know that, which is why people are puzzled by how they let the Mane Six handle everything since the return of Nightmare Moon. Not a problem I have, but it is a thing. Also, while ruling Equestria for a thousand years solo shows that Celestia is a capable leader, it doesn't mean she's actually especially "powerful". Celestia was beaten by a Chrysalis who'd sucked a bit on Shining's love and couldn't beat the Sombra Army in a way the elements of harmony would be able to in the Sombraverse. 

Sure, but then the Tree of Harmony is OP because it gave the Elements of Harmony to the Mane 6. So then why is the tree OP? I know that the Mane 6 are OP but they only are that way because of the tree. 

[Sunny Fox 5,952]

The writers had to make Starlight incredibly powerful because 'reasons'. Just seems like lazy writing to me. "Hey, let's make Starlight more powerful in magic than the element of magic herself! Oh, and let's NOT give any real justification for it!" Everything in the finale went too perfectly for Starlight, until the end of course but that is a given.

Except that Starlight already proved herself able to get the drop on Twilight. Her alicorn magic didn't prevent her from getting her cutie mark removed in the Season Premiere, and Starlight was demonstrated to be a capable magic user later in the same episode. Indeed, both spent years practicing spells / magic, as they both mention towards the end.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,933]

Except that Starlight already proved herself able to get the drop on Twilight. Her alicorn magic didn't prevent her from getting her cutie mark removed in the Season Premiere, and Starlight was demonstrated to be a capable magic user later in the following episode. 

And still, without any justification at all. When I say Starlight has no justification for her extreme abilities, I am including the premiere as well. Why was she able to remove the Cutie Mark of an Alicorn princess again? Never explained, just her being immensely powerful with no justification. 

[Sunny Fox 5,952]

And still, without any justification at all. When I say Starlight has no justification for her extreme abilities, I am including the premiere as well. Why was she able to remove the Cutie Mark of an Alicorn princess again? Never explained, just her being immensely powerful with no justification. 

No, she mentions spending years researching magic/spells, just like Twilight. PS - Why does being an alicorn make one's cutie mark less vulnerable to being removed by a spell specifically designed to do so? It's like asking why a body builder isn't less vulnerable to being shot than an ordinary person.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,933]

No, she mentions spending years researching magic, just like Twilight. PS - Why does being an alicorn make one's cutie mark less vulnerable to being removed by a spell specifically designed to do so? It's like asking why a body builder isn't less vulnerable to being shot than an ordinary person.

I don't know, that seems pretty hastily thrown together to me. She spent years studying magic, just like Twilight, yet Starlight is able to actually OUTDO Twilight, despite Twilight 1. Being an Alicorn princess, 2. Being trained by Celestia herself and 3. Being the Element of Magic. 

 

I don't understand why many people were so quick to label Twilight as this Mary Sue horrific character as soon as she became a princess despite us SEEING her growth and development, but Starlight gets no such label despite having almost no development whatsoever. 

[Sunny Fox 5,952]

I don't know, that seems pretty hastily thrown together to me. She spent years studying magic, just like Twilight, yet Starlight is able to actually OUTDO Twilight, despite Twilight 1. Being an Alicorn princess, 2. Being trained by Celestia herself and 3. Being the Element of Magic. 

 

I don't understand why many people were so quick to label Twilight as this Mary Sue horrific character as soon as she became a princess despite us SEEING her growth and development, but Starlight gets no such label despite having almost no development whatsoever. 

Perhaps you're right, it could just be a Your Mileage May Vary situation. But 1. being an alicorn princess doesn't make one all powerful (See Celestia's beatdown at the horn of the Changeling Queen - if you want an example of bad writing for the sake of the plot, look no further ), 2. Celestia offered to be Twilight's mentor and make her her protege, but we don't see any actual lessons with Twi and Celly, so your guess is as good as mine as to how exactly that played out and 3. Element of Magic doesn't mean invincibility either. Applejack can lie, Rarity can be selfish, Dash can be disloyal, Flutters can be mean, Pinkie can be sad, why shouldn't Twilight fail where magic is concerned?

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would never refer to Twilight as a Mary Sue. Indeed, I find the term is used far too frequently and with far too little understanding of its origin. As for Starlight getting no development, keep in mind she is the first villain who wasn't trounced by the end of their debut episode, and we saw her cameo a few times during the season. She planned this all out, and one who plans well should have the edge over the one with superior power... pretty much like in the premiere.

 

I honestly don't see a problem with Twilight being outplayed, outwitted and outlasted by Starlight, as shown.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,933]

Perhaps you're right, it could just be a Your Mileage May Vary situation. But 1. being an alicorn princess doesn't make one all powerful (See Celestia's beatdown at the horn of the Changeling Queen - if you want bad writing, look no further ), 2. Celestia offered to be Twilight's mentor and make her her protege, but we don't see any actual lessons with Twi and Celly, so your guess is as good as mine as to how exactly that played out and 3. Element of Magic doesn't mean invincibility either. Applejack can lie, Rarity can be selfish, Dash can be disloyal, Flutters can be mean, Pinkie can be sad, why shouldn't Twilight fail where magic is concerned?

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would never refer to Twilight as a Mary Sue. Indeed, I find the term is used far too frequently and with far too little understanding of its origin. As for Starlight getting no development, keep in mind she is the first villain who wasn't trounced by the end of their debut episode, and we saw her cameo a few times during the season. She planned this all out, and one who plans well should have the edge over the one with superior power... pretty much like in the premiere.

 

I honestly don't see a problem with Twilight being outplayed, outwitted and outlasted by Starlight, as shown.

I have no real issues with Twilight be outperformed, but there needs to be proper reasoning to it and all I have seen as a result is mostly fan speculation because of how vague it all was. We get a few tiny snippets of info in the finale and basically no info in the premiere, so that leaves us with little to go with. So far, every other villain has at least had some kind of proper reason to their own abilities. Discord is the embodiment of chaos itself, Chrysalis is the Queen and mother of an entire species, Nightmare Moon had corruption combined with Luna's Celestial powers, Sombra had dark magic, even Sombra had more proper justification and he never said anything. Starlight can remove Cutie Marks outright, but we never got any real reason for that, other than 'she studied magic a bunch'. 

 

I don't know, maybe I am overreacting to it all, I just can't seem to bring myself to accept any of that as 'good' with her. This is why I am hoping season 6 makes me like Starlight more, because the ending in the finale was the best possible outcome. Everything up to that though, did not make her character grow on me at all.