How can the show further develop Twilight?

[heavens-champion 1,893]

Titles Says it all, really.

[BastementSparkle 20,312]

Show more of her struggles with the responsibility of being a Princess, for one. Perhaps now that she's been one for so long, Celestia starts to hand over more important jobs to her, more diplomatic missions, more royal duties, new responsibilities she has to struggle with. Perhaps some of these new duties begin to cut into her time with her friends, and she needs to find a way to make a good balance in her life. 

 

 Also, more focus on her teaching as well. She's become Starlight's friendship tutor, and she's also had her "Twilight Time" sessions with the CMC, but so far with Starlight we've mostly just seen Twilight messing up a bunch. I want to see her develop there, learning how to be a better teacher.

 

 Basically, put more effort into developing her into a good teacher and a good ruler...But, I'd also like to note that on the opposite spectrum, I'd like to see more of the "Old" Twilight breaking through as well. I always love Twi and she's one of my favorites, but in more recent seasons she's sort of...felt like she's lost bits of her personality to some extent. I think it'd be nice that, as the responsibilities and stress builds up, we begin to see more shades of her old sarcastic side, or some more minor "Mental breakdowns".

 

 Maybe something with Celestia? Even now as a Princess, Twilight still seems to put her and her other idols like Starswirl on a bit of a pedestal, maybe something happens where Twilight has to come to terms with the fact that even the seemingly "Perfect" ponies aren't perfect, and starting to kind of calm down with her Celestia worship.

[cmarston1 5,951]

Have her become Celestia's successor as ruler of Equestria.

[ChocolateCrane 155]

We need more Twilight-on- Spike sibling love action, like in Owl's Well that Ends Well. Spike clearly has alot of issues, I need to see Twilight comfort him and help him improve.

[Malcontent 196]

We need twilights parents to die. Nothing Springs forward development emotionally then a protagonist whose suffered a great loss.  

 

Also it could be a great lesson about Death and the lot. 

[ChocolateCrane 155]

We need twilights parents to die.

 

^made me burst out laughing xD

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

Now that Twilight has become an aunt, I think we should see how she deals with having to look after a baby--who isn't Spike--and whether she can live up to such lofty expectations.

[Malcontent 196]

^made me burst out laughing xD

 

I do aim to amuse xD heheh. 

Additionally...

 

Twilights parents death could really be a opening for Celestia to begin to let Twilight understand the ramifications of Princess...ship. (is that a word? ) 

 

Celestia has lived many thousands of years and there's nothing indicating Twilight won't now too. The death could lead to a lesson about mortality and how important it is to take the time and speak with the ones we love. 

 

I think that's a rather important lesson to teach anyone child or adult..don't you? 

[Kivil 1,721]

I know this won't happen in show, but I want Twilight to take over Equestria and put the others of the Mane 7 in control of their own lands and then wage wars against the other lands who do not accept the power of friendship! IT wouldn't be a bad idea for a fan-fiction now that I think of it

[Malcontent 196]

I know this won't happen in show, but I want Twilight to take over Equestria and put the others of the Mane 7 in control of their own lands and then wage wars against the other lands who do not accept the power of friendship! IT wouldn't be a bad idea for a fan-fiction now that I think of it

 

Ah but what would the motivation be? see it goes against character. :/ but I do like the idea. 

[Kivil 1,721]

Ah but what would the motivation be? see it goes against character. :/ but I do like the idea. 

Well not like a gov't take over but like Luna and Celestia retire and Twilight takes over the position and uses her friends help to rule the empire

[Malcontent 196]

Well not like a gov't take over but like Luna and Celestia retire and Twilight takes over the position and uses her friends help to rule the empire

 

Tempting but your right it's more fanfiction based. The idea would be hard to implement..maybe if Celestia and luna died in the movie...which I think should happen..then maybe we could do the whole warlord idea. 

 

Friendship by force. Hmm. 

[The Nth Doctor 652]

Have her actually perform her princessly duties without screwing up or pulling a Celestia/Cadence

 

Give us less Season 5/6 Twilight and more Season 4 Twilight

[Malcontent 196]

Have her actually perform her princessly duties without screwing up or pulling a Celestia/Cadence

 

Give us less Season 5/6 Twilight and more Season 4 Twilight

Better yet we follow her to the princessly  (is that a word?) Duties and see more of Equestria! Saddle Arabia!  

[Them's Seeing Ponies 282]

Simple. Actually allow her to do ​something with her title. Twilight has been a princess for literally over half the show now, but outside the premiere and finale of season 4, she has done squat with her title - imagine if all that wasted time had been devoted to further developing Twilight before ​she ascended (in hindsight, her main arc from seasons 1-3 seems rushed in comparison to the creative sloth that has consumed Twilight's character in subsequent seasons).

 

The point of Twilight becoming a princess is that she was meant to have mastered the art of friendship and become a wise mentor. Not much room for storytelling there (this is probably the reason why the writers are taking so long to write a Celestia episode and have never written an episode that actually focuses on Cadence as a character) outside of the 'newbie princess pressure' plotline, and with that resolved two seasons ago, the writers have written themselves into just about the biggest corner imaginable and simply left Twilight to sit around in her castle out of being unsure what to do with a character basically intended to have reached character perfection by now. Starlight Glimmer I can see was an attempt at salvaging Twilight's character, but it was an unsuccessful one as Twilight regressed right back to season 1-levels of stressed meticulousness and poor friendship knowledge out of creative desperation to ensure there is a conflict in her episodes (yes, 'No Second Prances', I am glaring at you here). Any attempt at developing Twilight in any major direction now would simply qualify as 'too little too late' - they have had three seasons ​to develop Twilight further, and the writers have done nothing in this time but pile filler episodes ('The Cart Before the Ponies', anyone?) upon us instead of having the courage to actually step forward with Twilight's character.

 

What they should have done was:

Instead of ignoring status quo shifts for an entire season and then lazily making her the 'Princess of Friendship' (does Equestria even need a Princess of Friendship, and if so, what exactly is their role asides from an excuse to stop more critical bronies complaining?), they should have bitten the bullet and established right off the bat that Twilight was going to need to commute to Canterlot regularly to handle royal duties - this ​should have been the main emotional hook of the season 4 premiere (although what we got was fairly good nonetheless, they could have used the situation in so many other, more interesting ways) and it should have concluded that while friends cannot always be together, friendship will remain strong as regardless of where you are, thoughts and memories of them will remain with you (which would tie nicely into the loss of the Elements). The season should have then built up Twilight's responsibilities and featured her status when important or natural to the plot ('Rarity Takes Manehattan' was a monumental missed opportunity regarding this). The finale should then have focused on Twilight angsting over beginning to lose sight of her friendships as responsibilities pile upon her - the season 4 finale would then grant her the title of 'Princess of Friendship' (a role actually justified within the context of the episode - was there really all that much friendship in the season 4 finale to build up to Twilight's title?). Season 5 should then involve Twilight actually fulfilling her responsibilities as Princess of Friendship - her castle may be located in Ponyville, but it is her responsibility to spread friendship and harmony across Equestria, therefore there could be multiple episodes focused on her travels across Equestria and the new races she meets - she could also bring along any of the other Mane Six depending on their relevance to the setting (alternatively, this would nix the Cutie Map completely, but that was fairly ridiculous and a contrived plot device to drag the Mane Six to dull locations or the same damned episode three times).

Then enter Starlight Glimmer. Play out the fifth season similarly regarding her (although re-write 'The Cutie Re-Mark' to nix her sudden revenge-obsessed comic-book villain vibes) but focus the sixth season on her character (and not being a Sunset Shimmer clone with less personality than Boulder) and equally on Twilight's (who would be angsting about how to be a mentor to Sunset Shimmer, but not to the level of a certain episode I have mentioned) but actually give them more of a dynamic - have them teach each ​other in a symbiotic relationship.

The season 7 premiere should have been about Twilight being granted the power to transform Starlight into an alicorn and realizing that her path leads directly towards becoming Celestia's successor, but we all know that has about the same likelihood of occurring as Ryo Saeba actually getting a mokkori chance, correct?

[Malcontent 196]

We could have Spike leave. For whatever reason. Have her deal with things herself. Learn what the meaning of being a princess is..the isolation..the needs of the many being her new drive. 

 

The harsh lesson of leadership is a vital one nonetheless. 

[Goat-kun 2,496]

There are a few venues one could explore, but since Starfoals told me she has reached the end of her journey I guess I should just give ... them an inappropriate gesture? Yes, I shall!

 

-Celestia starts tutoring her on statecraft, untold history, and advanced alicorn magic.

-Diplomatic quests unrelated to Map.

-Bigger problems loosen the princesshood stranglehold and bring out Dorklight Snarkle.

-Learning that confidence comes from experience which cannot be gained without mistakes (Inb4 Starfoals, this is about Twilight's own journey filled with mistakes that have nothing to do with teaching one single shitty pony how not to behave like a dissocial loser)

-Quitting the too-shit-to-work quest giver job and becoming a leader while retaining her personality.

-She starts playing a Jeskai deck.

 

... A subplot where she gets triggered by shitty writing of previous seasons and spends an entire week meticulously booby trapping her entire castle with magic that would make Sombra look like an idiot.

 

You think these things are impossible? You think it's over? Rainbow Dash has an airship. All your arguments are invalid!

Edited March 24, 2017 by Goat-kun

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

I have no clue, but the MLP staff never fails to amaze me.

[Thrond 3,257]

It should have been so easy.

 

Twilight's entire status changed. Her life changed. Her career trajectory changed. There's so much potential there. How is she dealing with the new pressures of being a princess? What's her approach to state duties? How is she adjusting to all her life changes? At most we've gotten a small handful of very vague explorations of that idea, because the way Twilight's coronation was viewed as the end of her character arc meant the writers couldn't apply much nuance to it. That ship has sailed.

 

Still, maybe she could be given more responsibilities, and be made to adjust to those. "Party Pooped" gave us a hint of that, so what if we had more episodes following that format? More of Twilight and friends getting used to the pressures of administration and diplomacy could honestly be a lot of fun, and I'm not convinced the show needs to go over the top to make such a story work. 

 

Starlight, too, should have been an answer, and arguably it worked a little better, as the S6 premiere implied a character trajectory for Twilight. It's a shame that went nowhere, and the more of Starlight we see, the less it'd work for the show to explore Twilight struggling with the mentorship thing. If the writers can find new ideas for Twilight's struggles with her newest role, that could have real potential. 

 

What I might like to see, however little could be done with it, would be more about Twilight participating in academia. Could an episode's conflict revolve around her giving a lecture at a school, or perhaps just her higher studies? Maybe she starts writing a book about something. Now that's an idea which I'd like to see, even if just in the background. 

 

And yes, I would like something, anything, to bring out the "old Twilight." So many of her prior quirks and imperfections have been sanded off, and so often it's just in favour of Twilight being a perfect little princess. More stories about her obsession with organizing and studying. More stories where she gets the opportunity to completely nerd out about something. Maybe even more cases where she overthinks something and becomes disproportionately stressed out, but like, in the fun way of the early seasons. I want that Twilight back. 

 

There should be so so much room to continue growing Twilight. I don't know why the writers haven't taken it. 

[RDDash 18,850]

Thats easy, we need somepony to blow up her crystal castle.And the new villain please, someone who would actually use their brains for once.

Edited August 31, 2017 by Rabit2017

[Magic_Spark 154]

Twilight has already a lot on her plate. She has to maintain her friendship in Equestria and she has to maintain balance with her friends in the alternate universe. She also is looked on when there is a grave threat to Equestria. 

So it would be logical that her next duty would be to close the magical rift between the worlds. At the end of "Legend of Everfree" there was a bit about how there is still a tear in the two dimensions. It would be her job to close it. 

Next she could face other threats from lands like where lord tirek came from or others. The areas have not been explored yet. (Like the griffins and dragons)

Many lessons with those. Should keep them very busy. 

We have seen one of the main 6 parents and there can be episodes on them as well. Maybe learn about life and death as one of them could have died during a struggle prior to the elements of harmony. 

A good episode would be one that explains why they are so important. What makes them more special than the rest other than the ability to wield those elements. Celestia did it on her own so what is it that makes it possible? Could be an interesting one with a backstory of the elements themselves. 

Another idea is more backstory on Discord? Where did he come from? Are their more like him?