Remembrance - What's Your Interpretation?

[Rikifive 24,183]

> SEASON 2 ONWARD SPOILERS DETECTED

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I know it's nothing new, but I don't know if that was discussed before, so... I decided to bring that up.
This also may be the silliest thread I've created so far.

Important: Before proceeding, please watch this video, if you haven't seen this yet.

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SPOILERS AHEAD!
It is advised to watch the video before scrolling down.
Convenient white space to not see them when watching the video.

 

 

 

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I've noticed different theories appearing in Youtube comment section. People are arguing, if Twilight actually died in the end or not etc. etc..
The author himself mentioned:

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"There is no "official" story or meaning to the video. It is meant to be interpreted in any way that works best for you. Imagination should never be tied down."

So since it's up to our imagination, I'd like to start a discussion regarding this animation and share my thoughts.
I'm just curious about your thoughts.

 

What do I think?

Some Theory
As we know, princesses live for ages. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna live longer than thousand of years. (Thanks Princess Obvious for that information!)
It's not confirmed, but it may be possible, that Twilight acquired that kind of immortality when she became an alicorn.
That's why Twilight might still live, when all of her friends will pass away.
Again - as far as I know it's not confirmed, but we could assume, that it is like this, at least in this animation.

Animation Interpretation
At the beginning we're asked:

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"If you had to choose between friends and forever - what would you decide?"

One of the things is 'forever', so it clearly suggests, that being an alicorn has something to do with immortality, that Princesses have.
We're asked what would we choose - living forever or having friends? That's a choice, that Twilight is going to make.

Then we see her and Princess Celestia (also guards) in Canterlot Castle, where she's obviously thinking about her friends, that aren't with her anymore. The ones she loved, have passed away and she was struggling with her thoughts for years and years, suffering from being alone. Everything she got, was thanks to her beloved friends after all.

Not being able to handle the loneliness anymore, she decides to sacrifice her alicorn form in order to see her friends again. That way, she'll lose immortality, thus join them, because her life will fast-forward to catch up with her age.

Princess Celestia trusts Twilight and supports her to the very end, even though it's extremely difficult for her. She always trusted in her faithful student... Celestia closes in herself and expresses her 'Goodbye'.

Twilight enters the chamber (of some sort) all by herself and starts to 'sing' to her friends. She expresses her sadness, pain, says goodbye to ones she love and everything she has and then - comforts her friends, that she'll join them soon...

At the end, she successfully sacrifices her princess status and loses her wings, then collapses to the ground. She experiences the final relief followed by death. After a while she wakes up in 'the better place', where her friends greet her.

They're all together once again and the Magic of Friendship can grow further.

 

How Her Friends Died in the First Place?
The main themes are 'friends' and 'forever', so I believe they just passed away naturally.

But they are statues - What if magic had something to do with this?
That's a good point, let's take a look at few things we know.

Possibility #1
We know, that combining the Elements of Harmony can give such an effect. That's how Discord was defeated.
..But why anybody would use them against Twilight's friends? Somebody stole them? Possibly.
However, Discord managed to escape from that form of 'prison' by himself. Also it is possible to use the elements to set back free 'manually' as we saw that in S03E10.
I believe it wouldn't be difficult for Princesses to bring Twi's friends back. 

Possibility #2
We also know, that Cockatrices have the ability to turn others into stone.
It would be very likely if that's what would happen there, though bringing back would be even easier than in the first possibility mentioned before.
Quote from wikia:

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[...] cockatrice's stoning effect is reversible [...]

That's true Fluttershy wouldn't be able to help this time, but I believe Princesses or Zecora would find a way.
 

Why Does Twilight Die Then?
That's true it's not clearly shown, that she dies, nor anything like this, but if that would be just about sacrificing the alicorn form, then that wouldn't be a big deal.
Princess Celestia gave her that power - couldn't she do that again? Or couldn't she spare some of her magic power to bring Twilight's friends back? Our purple alicorn wouldn't lose much to be honest. What is more valuable? Friends or some magic power? That's not the question here, so it has to be something different.
Princess Celestia should be happy and proud of Twilight for the decision she made, yet she was sad and you could see the 'goodbye' in her eyes. There obviously has to be something more than that.
Twilight takes her time to express her sadness and say goodbye - if that would be just about some powers, then why would she perform that show in the first place? It obviously was more drastic, than it may seem to be.

There might be the possibility, that she actually doesn't die, but this view:

~Tells me otherwise.
Is Twilight's alicorn form and/or princess status that important for Princess Celestia? I don't think so.

It is about losing her beloved faithful student. . .

 

 

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Did I just create a wall of nonsense?
Are there other possibilities?
Did you manage to read all of this?
What do you think?

What is your interpretation of this animation?

Thank you for reading!  

Edited May 22, 2017 by Rikifive

[FallBreeze 16]

@Rikifive

 

Well, I heard somewhere that an actual MLP:FiM worker said that Twilight would not outlive her friends, but my interpretation of this is that Twilight long outlived her friends, and I think those statues could very well be her friends. The elements are embedded in every statue's base, so perhaps Celestia wanted to preserve Twilight's friends' bodies by turning them to stone after they died. It appears as though Celestia may have offered Twilight the option of friend or forever, and Twilight chose friends. Which explains why her cutie mark is on the floor of that room. It's not just a room to honor everything they did for Equestria, it's a room that possesses high magical power that only an alicorn can activate. From the looks of it, she used the elements of harmony to rid herself of her wings and her "forever" to break her friends free and breathe life back into them. She collapses because of such powerful magic and manages to sit back up when her friends are standing in front of her, living and breathing.

 

 

That's at least my interpretation~!

[Rikifive 24,183]

@FallBreeze That's more or less what I'm reading most of the time. I agree it looks like this.  However, that brings me questions.
 

Princess Celestia gave her that power - couldn't she do that again?
That's the first thing, that comes to my mind. How much of magical power it actually requires to do that?
Does it permanently sacrifice some amount of energy? Are we talking about huuuuuuuge amounts of that energy?

Why Twilight was waiting with it?
Knowing Twilight, if that would be just about sacrificing wings etc., then she'd choose friends in the first place. She wouldn't be even waiting, she'd do her best to bring them back. I don't think she values her wings more than her friends.
Twilight gave up her alicorn powers combined with princesses' in exchange for her friends once and she relatively quickly made that choice. She even risked much more than that - complete chaos in Equestria caused by Tirek's destructive powers. I'm sure she wouldn't hesitate to do it again, especially if the cost would be much, much lower.
There really has to be something more than that...

 

Probably that's just overthinking, but I can't help.  

 

Don't get me wrong of course. I respect your point of view.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts!