Why the Unity Crystals Make Much More Sense Than Twilight Outliving Her Friends

[Misty Shadow 8,153]

To this day, I still see people acting like it was some big bastardization of Twilight's character for her to create the Unity Crystals, even as it's been explained over and over how it was explained in the comics and Make Your Mark that it was the ponies' fault that magic got lost (they could still use the magic even after it was sealed in the Unity Crystals), not Twilight's. Regardless, there's something I never realized until now...isn't it much more out of character/"out of character" for Twilight to be okay with outliving her friends than sealing magic away to save the world? 

I mean, think about it. Twilight created the Unity Crystals because she believed ponies would choose friendship and bring magic back if it was lost. That's consistent with the friendship is magic theme...but how is her being cool with outliving her friends? 

[Ice Princess Silky <3 17,507]

2 hours ago, Misty Shadow said:

isn't it much more out of character/"out of character" for Twilight to be okay with outliving her friends than sealing magic away to save the world? 

This is actually a really good question. Especially as The Princess of Friendship, she would know quite well the intensity of bonds and friendship love that forms. Things are not the same and even living on without your friends can cause "survivor's guilt" that you continue living while your friends are just... gone. Not there to enjoy life with you. 

I would absolutely use whatever potion magic or crystals needed to prevent such a thing from happening. I love my friends and if I am to continue to enjoy this beautiful world, I would love them to be there enjoying it with me. 

[PluckyPizzicato 29]

I've always thought of it as Twilight being unable to outlive her friends. After all, even if* they die, they live within her; etched into her memories/heart with their actions and love, carried forth by her further advice and actions towards others, always expanding, never being lost. 

* I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist who thinks that none of them died; Twilight's rewritten reality to save them more than once, and she could easily do so again. Add on that even if not immortal per se, alicorns get a lot more time in Equestria than non-alicorns on average, and, well...how could they not still be somewhere? Perhaps waiting for something particular to happen, perhaps watching from some vantage point, or perhaps just tragically trapped nearby yet unable to escape. Whatever the case...she's not outliving them. They're part of her. 

[ZiggWheelsManning 12,861]

@PluckyPizzicato

But rewriting reality would lead to an immediate presence of new problems or old ones reformed.  

[PluckyPizzicato 29]

38 minutes ago, ZiggWheelsManning said:

@PluckyPizzicato

But rewriting reality would lead to an immediate presence of new problems or old ones reformed.  

Would it? That's rewriting "past timelines" like Starlight does. If you rewrite more fundamental aspects of reality, there's no backlash to be had. It's as if things indeed were always this way, and nobody can tell you otherwise because you cut out the bits that would suggest otherwise.

Let's not forget that she just casually changed her friends' destinies on accident by swapping their cutie marks - who knows what she could do if she set out to tackle the problem of her friends' mortality on purpose?

Still, she's a smart cookie. I like to think she's smart enough to recognize the "they live on through my life" imagery when she sees it. Perhaps others don't, but if Twilight's as wise as the show and fandom paints her out to be...she'll know what needs to be done and what can't be.