Is Twilight being groomed to rule?

[Silverwisp the Bard 2,353]

Thesis: Celestia and Luna originally came to Equestria to free rid the land of Discord's tyranny and never intended to rule, but found that their presence and mastery of the Elements was required to ward of evil.

When Celestia found Twilight and recognized her potential, she took it upon herself to shape her into a ruler capable of governing the land after Luna and her where gone.

 

Discuss

[Bright Honor 2,406]

It is possible. Celestia does call Twilight her most faithful student, and if Celestia being mostly absent during Discord's return and losing to Queen Chrysalis are to go bye, it would seem that her abilities are not what they used to be, implying a potential need for a future successor.

[Driz 1,552]

I don't really think Celestia and Luna will ever be "gone". I mean, they are immortal after all. I'm not sure if they came to Equestria not intending to rule though. In fact, I don't know much about the whole story at all. ô-õ

 

But I don't think Twilight will ever rule. Celestia found potential on her and turned her into her personal student only because of the Elements of Harmony, I believe. And also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think only Alicorns are allowed to take the throne.

[Starshine 16,330]

It's looked more like Celestia took twilight under her wings because she was a walking atomic bomb and the bearer of the Element of Magic :/

 

Twilight might be powerful and smart, but she doesn't have the charisma for a leader

[Silverwisp the Bard 2,353]

And also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think only Alicorns are allowed to take the throne.

 

Idon't think, there's much in the way of precedence: The unicorns had kings before the founding of Equestria, but I assume that after that, there was some sort of council comprised of member from all three races. And after defeating Discord, Luna and Celestia took over, making the question of succesion kind of irrelevant.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

Twilight might be powerful and smart, but she doesn't have the charisma for a leader

 

She's more than a competent leader, but you're right on the observation that she doesn't have a lot of charisma to her (though I think she's really cute in her own way). She can learn though, can't she? She's much more than capable of doing so.

 

Now, to make this "grooming to be a leader argument", some things need to be established first. Were Celestia and Luna always alicorns, or did they somehow transform into alicorns after it was realized by everypony that they had the power inside them to lead ponykind? That's my personal theory, at least. There's a few plotholes that still need to be uncovered because when Equestria was first founded by the three pony factions (Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth pony), their flag already had Celestia and Luna as their logo.

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Edited April 16, 2022 by throw

[Homura Akemi 974]

You make a good point. I never really thought about why Twilight Sparkle was studying so hard in the first place. I always just thought she wanted to be a powerful unicorn or something.

[Silverwisp the Bard 2,353]

...when Equestria was first founded by the three pony factions (Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth pony), their flag already had Celestia and Luna as their logo.

 

I always put that down as the play being not that historical accurate (otherwis, I doubt Puddinghat would have been elected).

[SBaby 660]

While I don't know if the writers deliberately PLANNED it that way, I could see succession being the reason Celestia chose to take Twilight as her student. In fact, there is quite alot of evidence to support this theory.

 

To be fair, Celestia immediately saw Twilight's potential when she was a filly and her magic went out of control. She personally met with Twilight right in the academy she was applying to, even though she likely wasn't planning a trip there that day. Which means she probably sensed something in Twilight before that even happened. So Twilight spent alot of her childhood honing her magical abilities and learning to control them, under Celestia's tutelage.

 

When she got older, Celestia had her go to Ponyville to make some friends, eventually putting her up in the library as a permanent resident of the town. Now she's still able to improve her magical ability, while mingling with the commoners. It's a well known political fact that you meet with the people you are going to lead. This way, you can get to know them and better relate to any problems they might be having.

 

We've seen many examples (especially in Season 1) of Twilight's ability to lead in tough situations. One of the best examples of this (and one that's often overlooked) is in Dragonshy, where despite the objections from the other ponies, she knew that Fluttershy had empathy with animals, and bringing her along was the reason they were ultimately successful in getting the dragon to leave. Another example is in Winter Wrap-Up, where she steps up to coordinate the ponies in getting spring started, when even the mayor of the town can't manage to do it. So she definitely has Charisma.

Edited September 22, 2012 by SBaby

[ToriTheThespian 5]

I think that its diffidently possible. Twilight is a wielder of an Element of Harmony and Celestia and Luna used to wield them. Plus she is super smart. But i don't the she has the temperament of a leader.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

Twilight is very smart, has lot's of magic, can solve most problems, and is the leader of her group, but I just don't see her being a ruler of the land. She may not be able to handle the pressure of ruling a land and sometimes she overreacts on things. Also Celestia and Luna are needed to rase the sun and the moon. Yes unicorns in the past did it, but it most haven taken all of them to do it. Even with her powers, Twilight would have to rase the sun, rest for the whole day and do the something at night.

[Doctor XFizzle 8,651]

I'd like to see Twilight take over as mayor of Ponyville as a stepping stone first to the eventual ruler of Equestria (because I feel that's the endgame for Generation 4, either Twilight ruling or the Mane 6 ruling together as a...hexumvirate? That's probably not a real term but you get it).

[Silverwisp the Bard 2,353]

Also Celestia and Luna are needed to rase the sun and the moon. Yes unicorns in the past did it, but it most haven taken all of them to do it. Even with her powers, Twilight would have to rase the sun, rest for the whole day and do the something at night.

 

I don't think, Luna and Celestia would have to be present in Equestria to bring forth day and night.

randomletterstofilllimit

[SBaby 660]

I don't think, Luna and Celestia would have to be present in Equestria to bring forth day and night.

randomletterstofilllimit

 

I imagine that if Celestia and Luna weren't around, day and night would just come about normally. And there's no rule anywhere that says they HAVE to be in charge to raise the Sun and Moon.

 

If it was absolutely necessary for a pony to do it, then it's likely that if they ever relinquished their power, then that power would probably be passed on to two other ponies.

Edited September 23, 2012 by SBaby

[pinkiefan1287 610]

I imagine that if Celestia and Luna weren't around, day and night would just come about normally. And there's no rule anywhere that says they HAVE to be in charge to raise the Sun and Moon.

 

If it was absolutely necessary for a pony to do it, then it's likely that if they ever relinquished their power, then that power would probably be passed on to two other ponies.

 

Well in the episode "Heats warming eve," it was said that the unicorns would bring the day and the night. So to what we know only magic can bring day and night. Still it can still be looked act.

[Vanilla Twilight 5]

Unlikely. Remember, Celestia and Luna are immortal. And by the time they are gone, Twilight would be looooong gone. Perhaps she is there as a helper of smth.

[Glaceon 793]

Twilight would make an okay leader, but still we have to take in account her life span is not as long as Celestia or Luna's. Unless some how she would turn into an alicorn I don't see this happening.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

Unlikely. Remember, Celestia and Luna are immortal. And by the time they are gone, Twilight would be looooong gone. Perhaps she is there as a helper of smth.

 

This is true, but could it be possible that by harboring the strongest of the elements of harmony Twilight became immortal as well, but no one has told her yet. I don't know just a thought...

 

Yeah I do think that she was groomed to rule. There are clues to it in almost all the episodes that have Celestia in them.

[Lightning Fluttershy 1,844]

Well in the fanfic To Be An Alicorn Twilight comes back to Ponyville as an Alicorn and a princess so if you go back that fic then yes. Otherwise I think it would be damn cruel of Celestia to force Twilight to make friends and then make her immortal so she has to watch them all pass away.

[The Dark Soul 10]

Honestly Twilight would need to learn to deal with some problems I mean in one episode she caused the entire town to go into a frenzy over smartypamts because she gonna be tardy with a asignment so I'm afraid she might so that on a country wide scale...

[Argumedies 1,748]

Personally? I think she is being groomed to rule… Twilight has shown to have the most potential for the position. Since we don’t really know how changes in leadership develops and changes, (I highly doubt there voted in) and because of becoming the element of magic, she would be the most logical choice. Edited September 26, 2012 by Argumedies

[NavelColt 22,876]

An interesting theory. To me, at the core, Celestia teaches Twilight because she knows she's a once in a generation prodigy at magic, and that not training her to develop to the best of her ability would be a terrible mistake. Why?

 

-An incredibly powerful unicorn like Twilight can grow up to be a great teacher for future pony generations down the line, especially someone like Twilight who loves learning.

-Being a pioneer in magic and learning, Twilight could easily grow up to be something similar to Starswirl the Bearded, and act as an arrow head in discovering new magic.

-A powerful unicorn like Twilight is an asset to Equestria because she can help protect it.

 

That's my thoughts. 'Groomed to rule' I don't believe is a leading factor in Celestia's mind, but it's all too likely that Celestia would add 'Possible future ruler and or important royal figure of Equestria' to that list of reasons.

Edited September 26, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[Shift 4,271]

Ugh. Obviously that fanfic 'Stars and Moon' or something tells us that sooner or later Rainbow and Twilight will take Celestia's place and go on epic adventures and use a hex that makes everyone think they were immortal princess's.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

Honestly Twilight would need to learn to deal with some problems I mean in one episode she caused the entire town to go into a frenzy over smartypamts because she gonna be tardy with a asignment so I'm afraid she might so that on a country wide scale...

 

Well yes... She does do stuff that doesn't seem like she knows what she's doing so it makes sense that that would happen. Maybe that's one of the things Celestia is trying to help her do, because it seems that the two princesses s, are trying to get her and her friends to solve complex problems to test them and make them more reliable ponies.