Should Twilight be allowed to succeed in preparing Starlight?

[ManaMinori 4,143]

Guys....Think about it. Twilight has been shown to fail many, many times throughout the series. So should her attempts at grooming SG to be her successor for the future be allowed to succeed on her first experience at having an heir to guardianship? Especially when it took Sunbutt thousands of years to find and groom a suitable successor and protector of Equestria?

Should the pressure drive Starlight away, and cut ties with Twilight?

Edited January 19, 2017 by Nightmare Muffin

[Regent 77]

I think it's a bad idea, and I'm not sure why, but Starlight's actions, expressions, and voice appear less than sincere at practically all times.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Well, if you dont like Starlight, the answer is no eventually, even you like her, the answer still depend on how you think about change of status quo. The change of status quo or another failure of Princess of Friendship, whichever you think is ok, this will be your answer.

 

To be honest, Twilight character after S3 lacks directions, stop providing any more unique story perspectives and ... being absense in the whole bunch of episodes. Starlight is being written out then what? What will Twilight do next? Being a princess figure, do some royal duty, fight some villains to save Equestria and being with her friends in her freetime and learn some friendship lesson along her friends. In S1, Twilight appears in almost every episode, write friendship lesson, being the one who summary lesson of the day, and seasons after seasons, her friends are grown so much that they can figure out the lesson themself, they dont need Twilight to be there to learn anything from her anymore. How about bring back Sunset Shimmer, her fans want her so badly that they dont realize that character will steal every thunder of Twilight and the mane 5, and replace them one by one, heck, talking about Starlight will steal some thunder, huh?  Sunset is already a talent unicorns, and can figure out friendship lesson without some silly scrap books, Twilight is one WHO NEED TO LEARN FROM HER, not the opposite. Twilight is a lector of friendship, but since everypony are even match or surpass her in friendship, who will be the student? the one is inferior than her about friendship? STARLIGHT GLIMMER  :=:  that character lacks everything about friendship, terrible social skills, questionable moral choices, lack of awareness of consequences, basically a Twilight without friendship and any proper education (she isnt in Gift Unicorn School, so i assume Starlight didnt have a proper education, she kinda a street smart Twilight, in my theory). Starlight is the perfect student for Twilight, the only genuine student Twilight ever had, if Starlight is gone forever, Twilight will be "directionless" once again   .

 

Maybe Starlight will become Twilight's successor in future season or just the one who ABANDON TWILIGHT like SUNSET DID TO HER MENTOR   ahahahahahahahahahahah, both of them are interesting in their own way, i dont lose anything at all. 

Edited January 19, 2017 by Lambdadelta

[Regent 77]

To be honest, Twilight character after S3 lacks directions, stop providing any more unique story perspectives and ... being absense in the whole bunch of episodes. Starlight is being written out then what? What will Twilight do next? Being a princess figure, do some royal duty, fight some villains to save Equestria and being with her friends in her freetime and learn some friendship lesson along her friends. In S1, Twilight appears in almost every episode, write friendship lesson, being the one who summary lesson of the day, and seasons after seasons, her friends are grown so much that they can figure out the lesson themself, they dont need Twilight to be there to learn anything from her anymore.

There's a story somewhere about an alternate ending to the Pinky clone episode.

 

 

After mistakenly sending the real Pinky to the pool, the clone slowly dies.

Twilight's friends don't take this well, and some of them blame her. Celestia, as punishment, takes her out of Ponyville and assigns her to new studies, thus ending her journey as we know it.

 

At the end of that story, I felt a strong sense that the author could have taken it further. Twilight's massive failure can spark her greatest triumph. By leaving everything she knows, by losing most of her friends, and the respect of her teacher, I have no doubt that she would run off and spend the rest of her days trying to get

Pinky back.

Eventually she'd succeed, and come out of all of that more adept in magic than ever and knowing how to handle failure.

 

My point is this: as far as stories are concerned, these kinds of problems - failure, betrayal, accidents - are the flames that ignite some of the greatest stories.

 

I think Starlight will betray the mane six. I think Twilight should have a huge failure at some point. One that can't be easily undone. No spooky Sombra doors, it was all a dream, just in your imagination, or anything like that.

 

Real, quantifiable failure, on a character who has yet to really learn how to handle it.

 

That's a good thing. It has nothing to do with liking or disliking the character. I like them both. They're a great match, but there needs to be a serious shake up.

Edited January 19, 2017 by Regent

[ManaMinori 4,143]

There's a story somewhere about an alternate ending to the Pinky clone episode.

 

 

After mistakenly sending the real Pinky to the pool, the clone slowly dies.

Twilight's friends don't take this well, and some of them blame her. Celestia, as punishment, takes her out of Ponyville and assigns her to new studies, thus ending her journey as we know it.

 

At the end of that story, I felt a strong sense that the author could have taken it further. Twilight's massive failure can spark her greatest triumph. By leaving everything she knows, by losing most of her friends, and the respect of her teacher, I have no doubt that she would run off and spend the rest of her days trying to get Pinky back.

 

My point is this: as far as stories are concerned, these kinds of problems - failure, betrayal, accidents - are the flames that ignite some of the greatest stories.

 

I think Starlight will betray the mane six. I think Twilight should have a huge failure at some point. One that can't be easily undone. No spooky Sombra doors, it was all a dream, just in your imagination, or anything like that.

 

Real, quantifiable failure, on a character who has yet to really learn how to handle it.

 

That's a good thing. It has nothing to do with liking or disliking the character. I like them both. They're a great match, but there needs to be a serious shake up.

It's really not so farfetched, considering the past she has with Twilight, already. SG was pissed that Twilight strolled into her village and messed up everything so hard she worked to create- which is why she started the whole time skip shenanegans. Then Twilight doesn't trust her to make her own friends, and tried to prevent the one friendship SG had made on her own. with Trixie. Surely, those past events, and possibly still having a seed of doubt and distrust in her heart toward Twilight and her actions, will spark something

[Props Valroa 25,971]

Yes. Twilight and the Mane 6 have had way too much focus. I want to see Twilight Prepare Starlight for sure.

[ManaMinori 4,143]

Yes. Twilight and the Mane 6 have had way too much focus. I want to see Twilight Prepare Starlight for sure.

to be fair, the show IS about them and their friendship

[Props Valroa 25,971]

to be fair, the show IS about them and their friendship

But they have had 6 seasons of focus. It is time for something new in my view. 

[Princess_Bellalatanya 1,052]

I believe it should be both twilight and starlights decision. Admittably she just saved the mane 6 and the princesses from chrysalis with no magic at all. Twilight has the power to become the master of magic. Althoygh it seems starlight has a head start on her by all the numerous spells starlight knows. Trixie could be next in line for being twilights student as well. She has already suffered enough and helped save everyone from chrysalis.

[heavens-champion 1,893]

But they have had 6 seasons of focus. It is time for something new in my view. 

I will never understand this opinion. It sounds like you want a transition in the middle of the show, when it could just happen between this one and a potential sequel series.

[Props Valroa 25,971]

I will never understand this opinion. It sounds like you want a transition in the middle of the show, when it could just happen between this one and a potential sequel series.

A sequel with Starlight and her friends would be good, but unlikely. 

[heavens-champion 1,893]

A sequel with Starlight and her friends would be good, but unlikely. 

There's always fanfiction.

[Props Valroa 25,971]

There's always fanfiction.

I know, but it doesn't quite add up to what could happen in the show. I want to see more history, Celestia's parents, Cadence's parents and stuff like that, plus Starlight getting more focus along with her friends.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

 

 

I think Starlight will betray the mane six. I think Twilight should have a huge failure at some point. One that can't be easily undone. No spooky Sombra doors, it was all a dream, just in your imagination, or anything like that.

 

I dont think it will happen, they used that plot with Discord already. The betrayal will make Starlight anti-fan hate her even more  Right now, any reckless move the writers make is like giving anti-fan more ammunitions against Starlight, Every Little Thing She Does is an example, her heroic act in To Where and Back Again finally give her fan ammuntions to fight back...

 

 

 

My point is this: as far as stories are concerned, these kinds of problems - failure, betrayal, accidents - are the flames that ignite some of the greatest stories.

It would be great if the writers can decide to take risks once again, but this is a kids show, i wont blame them if they decide to stay with their target audience. 

[Thrond 3,257]

My thoughts on this require a bit of unpacking, but to put it briefly: yes, except I don't think that's what Twilight is trying to di. 

 

1. I'm really not convinced that Twilight is grooming Starlight as a successor. She's just trying to make Starlight a well-adjusted member of pony society, and nothing else. I'm even a little ambivalent about whether Celestia was looking for a successor, to be honest, as even with Twilight having become a princess, Celestia hasn't stepped down. And it's doubtful that Twilight has loftier goals than just helping Starlight understand friendship, which even now she's only just beginning to.  
2. We have no idea if Twilight is Celestia's only student to not go rogue, or even if she's the only student who's become an alicorn. We know that Celestia and Luna are long-lived, but although any evidence to the contrary is pure conjecture, it's never confirmed that alicorns always have long lifespans. Even then, over this long period of time, maybe another simply got sick or fatally injured or something. It could have happened. And even then, maybe Celestia had students who just never became alicorns. It's clear that she only takes in ponies with significant magical potential, but nothing has confirmed that this inherently means becoming an alicorn, or inherently becoming royalty. 
3. It seems doubtful to me that we'll see the conclusion of Starlight's arc. Even after three seasons, Twilight's ascension felt rather sudden, so if Starlight reaches her level, it certainly won't be for a good while still. It would require a much greater level of investment than the show has thus far provided, and multiple seasons of her having a solid grasp on friendship, which she currently still has less of than Twilight ever has since the pilot. 
4. This show has an optimistic outlook, to the point that any halfway sympathetic character generally has their life move in a positive direction. Any permanent betrayal just seems unlikely in this show - even Sunset Shimmer we only learned about from being told about her past, and she wound up getting back on the right path anyway. People keep talking about Starlight wandering off the "right" path, but that's just not something which happens in this show. 

So yes, I do think that Twilight will succeed in teaching Starlight, but only how to be a good friend, because that's the main thing she's trying to do. 

[ManaMinori 4,143]

I believe it should be both twilight and starlights decision. Admittably she just saved the mane 6 and the princesses from chrysalis with no magic at all. Twilight has the power to become the master of magic. Althoygh it seems starlight has a head start on her by all the numerous spells starlight knows. Trixie could be next in line for being twilights student as well. She has already suffered enough and helped save everyone from chrysalis.

just because you're a hero one day doesn't mean you'll be one all the time. Especially in SG's case. Her villagers considered her a hero, when she was leading them, to join her cause....but look at how things went with them after Twi and friends showed up there.....

And SG hasn't been studying magic anywhere near as long as Twilight. She may be more powerful in terms of strength, but she'll never match the knowledge and longevity of study that Twilight has with spells

As for Trixie- I can't imagine that she'd ever want to learn anything other than stage magic. I can't see her becoming a truly powerful unicorn with actual spells

My thoughts on this require a bit of unpacking, but to put it briefly: yes, except I don't think that's what Twilight is trying to di. 

 

1. I'm really not convinced that Twilight is grooming Starlight as a successor. She's just trying to make Starlight a well-adjusted member of pony society, and nothing else. I'm even a little ambivalent about whether Celestia was looking for a successor, to be honest, as even with Twilight having become a princess, Celestia hasn't stepped down. And it's doubtful that Twilight has loftier goals than just helping Starlight understand friendship, which even now she's only just beginning to.  
2. We have no idea if Twilight is Celestia's only student to not go rogue, or even if she's the only student who's become an alicorn. We know that Celestia and Luna are long-lived, but although any evidence to the contrary is pure conjecture, it's never confirmed that alicorns always have long lifespans. Even then, over this long period of time, maybe another simply got sick or fatally injured or something. It could have happened. And even then, maybe Celestia had students who just never became alicorns. It's clear that she only takes in ponies with significant magical potential, but nothing has confirmed that this inherently means becoming an alicorn, or inherently becoming royalty. 
3. It seems doubtful to me that we'll see the conclusion of Starlight's arc. Even after three seasons, Twilight's ascension felt rather sudden, so if Starlight reaches her level, it certainly won't be for a good while still. It would require a much greater level of investment than the show has thus far provided, and multiple seasons of her having a solid grasp on friendship, which she currently still has less of than Twilight ever has since the pilot. 
4. This show has an optimistic outlook, to the point that any halfway sympathetic character generally has their life move in a positive direction. Any permanent betrayal just seems unlikely in this show - even Sunset Shimmer we only learned about from being told about her past, and she wound up getting back on the right path anyway. People keep talking about Starlight wandering off the "right" path, but that's just not something which happens in this show. 

So yes, I do think that Twilight will succeed in teaching Starlight, but only how to be a good friend, because that's the main thing she's trying to do. 

After rewatching some of the episodes with SG, I take back my earlier opinion of SG being groomed to be a sucessor. In fact, it was Sunburt's own words, mistakingly assuming SG was Twilight's protoge, and Starlight corrects him, saying that she's merely a student. (there are several other episodes that confirm this) So I can only hope that she remains as such, rather than being groomed for a position of power, if anything happens to the royals and the mane 6 in Future Equestria's time. 

[cmarston1 5,951]

Well so far Starlight doesn't seem to be groomed into being a successor to Twilight, but than again Twilight hasn't really taken over Celestia's role as leader of Equestria yet.

I still hope Starlight doesn't become an alicorn.

She already has unjustified OP magic abilities, turning her into an alicorn would be too much.

[Mast. Equestos/Gigas 340]

​*Laughing inside from sunbutt joke* *clears throat* Ahem, sorry. 

 

I will say no to that one. Twilight maybe experienced with her studies for a long time. Still like they always say "once and always."

 

Starlight will be better off without her and succeed in surpassing her by not disappointing sun- um I mean Celestia. Sorry there, I just laugh inside every time someone uses that word. ^_^" 

 

    

Edited January 23, 2017 by Lord Necrodeus

[Thrond 3,257]

After rewatching some of the episodes with SG, I take back my earlier opinion of SG being groomed to be a sucessor. In fact, it was Sunburt's own words, mistakingly assuming SG was Twilight's protoge, and Starlight corrects him, saying that she's merely a student. (there are several other episodes that confirm this) So I can only hope that she remains as such, rather than being groomed for a position of power, if anything happens to the royals and the mane 6 in Future Equestria's time. 

I can't imagine something that significant happening to the royals and mane six, and even then, I have my doubts that Starlight would be the next in line. Students from a class don't usually substitute for their teacher. 

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Starlight is already awesome, she dont need to need wings to clarify that xD. The princess status is a curse, you will be reduced to the background and being kipnapped all the time...

[Baykush 328]

I don't think Twilight is grooming Starlight to be her successor, Twilight hasn't been a princess for so long so that she'd need one, and she became Starlight's teacher because it was dangerous to send her on her way being aware of her magical abilities, not to mention part of her studies is learning not to rely on magic so much, so it'd make no sense to give her even more power when she already has enough. Even if Twilight did indeed have that plan for Starlight, what would Starlight think about it? Unlike Twilight, she's not predestined to be the savior of Equestria (Twilight is by the tree of harmony) nor does she have the seemingly blind devotion Twilight has to Celestia, so she might just want to do her own thing. I'm sure teaching about friendship will be something she'll want to do, but not to the level of becoming an authority like Twilight.

[heavens-champion 1,893]

I look at the name of this topic, and I must ask... what is Twilight preparing Starlight for? I thought she was just teaching Starlight friendship.