Why do the mane 6 need to be "balanced?"

[Pony Of The Month 534]

Is there really any purpose of having 2 earth ponies, 2 pegasi, and 2 unicorns? Is it really a big deal if there's 2 earth ponies, 2 pegasi, 1 unicorn, and 1 alicorn? Why does there have to be "balance?" Why does anyone care if there is only 1 unicorn in the group? It's not like Rarity is going to become lonely and depressed just because she's the only unicorn in the group. That's like saying a white person would feel lonely in a group of black people. It doesn't matter what color a person's skin is. They should not feel lonely, just because they don't have a white friend. If they have a lot of friends, than why should they care if none of them are white?

 

And even before Twilight became an alicorn, there still wasn't that much "balance" if you think about it. There were 2 earth ponies, 2 unicorns, 2 pegasi, and (here's what everyone is forgetting) 1 DRAGON! Sure, Spike may not be included in everything, but he's still a part of the group. 

 

And there's even less balance when you think about the ponies idividually. Fluttershy is a very weak flyer, while Rainbow Dash is wonderbolt status. When you think about it, Fluttershy is kind of like an earth pony with wings, while Rainbow Dash is the fastest pegasus ever. So you could say that there were 3 earth ponies, 2 unicorns, and 1 pegasus. Doesn't seem so balanced anymore, does it?

 

And I know that someone is going to reply "But Twilight being an alicorn now makes her 'better' than her friends." Well, I wouldn't say that she's "better" than them. But think about it. Were any of the other ponies striving to be a princess? No. Sure, Twilight has never said that she wants to be a princess, but she was a student. And do you know what happens to students? They eventually graduate. That's exactly what Twilight did, she graduated. She didn't just graduate from some community college. She graduated from her lessons from, not Cherilee, but Princess ****ing Celestia! Just because she's has higher social and political status than her friends doesn't make her "better" than them. And even before she was a princess, she still had higher social status than her friends. She was the only one who was considered Celestia's student.

 

Fluttershy owns her own personal zoo and takes great care of her animals. Does she really deserve to be a princess because of that? What if you owned a zoo. Would god give you wings because you took such good care of the animals?

 

Rainbow Dash wants to be a Wonderbolt. Not a princess. Spitfire didn't become an alicorn just for being part of the most famous flying team in Equestria, so why would Rainbow Dash turn into  an alicorn if she were to become a Wonderbolt?

 

If Rarity makes it in the fashion industry, will she become a princess?

 

If Applejack keeps working at Sweet Apple Acres, will she eventually become a princess?

 

If Pinkie Pie makes everypony smile, will she become a princess?

 

The answer to all of those questions is no. Unlike the other mane characters, Twilight was actually Celestia's student, and she actually graduated. The other mane characters aren't students. Except Rainbow Dash who is not Celestia's student, but Spitfire's. 

 

Saying that Twilight being an Alicorn makes her better than everyone is like saying Fluttershy is better than Lyra because she's an element of harmony. Fluttershy is my favorite pony, but that doesn't make her "better" than Lyra.

 

 

[jmaster234 0]

Wow. I never thought of it that way. Nice job thinking of it. Really good reasons. Although a little dissapointed that -acording to that logic- Rainbow Dash won't become an alicorn

[Shanks 10,816]

I don't think it is so much that there were only be 1 unicorn and 1 alicorn instead of 2 unicorns that has people upset except for some people that may have a slight case of OCD but that people feel like Twilight is or is at risk of becoming overpowered therefore placing her dangerously closer to Mary Sue or Mare E Sue territory as I often half jokingly half seriously put it. I am a bit concerned about this myself but have calmed down considerably after throwing a bit of a shit fit after the season finale, sure I still voice my concerns but I still have hopes that this will work and it probably will if Hasbro lets the writers do their jobs.

 

Twilight being a bit more powerful than her friends does make sense is this is often the case with the main character, but this transformation seems a bit premature and the rushed season finale did not help. So I am not so much concearned about "balance" as I am about how a concept which was introduced way too soon with not nearly enough build can work.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

At first I was a little up-set that the balance of the 6 was going to be off, but after reading this I kinda remember one thing I liked about each of the 6. I liked how 3 were the best at traits that matched their species.

Applejack was a great farmer.

 

Rainbow Dash was a great flyer.

 

Twilight was great at magic.

 

Then we have Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity who aren't as strong in these fields, but have other things that make them different from the other 3.

 

So Twilight becoming an alicorn is showing her becoming stronger in the filed of magic. So if Rainbow Dash became a Wonderbolt, it's just a sign saying she is becoming a better flyer.

[Vaportwo 3]

To tell you the truth, I never even noticed that they were "balanced". Each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses that make them part of the mane 6. And even background ponies such as Lyra or Derpy has their own set of strengths/weaknesses too, like the new Alicorn Twilight. So she has wings now. And she's technically a princess. Calm down people

[Scootalove 10,689]

I never noticed that they were/ need to be balanced. I don't really care if they are balanced or not, all ponies have weaknesses and strengths so I can tell that people don't really care I guess. Pretty much, they are the Mane 6 no matter if they are balanced or not they are still friends forever so I say they don't need to be balanced.

[Ficta_Scriptor 165]

I think it's because the whole '2 earth, 2 unicorn, 2 pegasi' grouping is sort of comforting, as it makes it so that not one race ever seemed favoured over another throughout the show. If the mane six was a group of 4 unicorns, 1 pegasus and 1 earth pony, unicorns would be totally overrepresented and I don't think the group dynamic would have worked quite so well.

 

I guess now there's the whole '3 winged, 3 grounded and a horned pony for each', but it's not quite the same. I think some of it also has to do with there only being 4 alicorns in existence that makes Twilight stand out too much. Personally, I don't see why she needed to be an alicorn since she could've been a princess just as well. (Interestingly, Cadence was supposed to be an unicorn as well according to Faust) Celestia and Luna are the most powerful ponies in existence and are also immortal (or at least, can live for thousands and thousands of years) so the whole 'alicorn' status had a lot of meaning behind it, which it doesn't seem to have anymore. If more alicorns show up in season 4 and beyond then it's only going to reinforce this. 

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

Here's the thing though. What if all the mane 6 turned into pegasi. Except AJ?

 

Wouldn't it feel weird?

 

While the change wasn't as drastict as the example above, it did affect the balance they had, them not being balanced isn't too bad compared to Twilicorn, but it's still bad.

 

Also, I doubt pony races work the same way as your example, for one human races don't gain extraordinaire abilities just because of their race.

[Fubz 300]

We must keep all the mane 6 balanced because then we'll get people reporting that it's imba and that twilight is OP. We will then either have to nerf them or buff up the others in the next patch update so that we can have a fair game, or else all the noobs will just choose Twilight and win all the 1vs1 games.

Edited March 13, 2013 by Fubz

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,481]

Very well put. Many people are complaining that this whole princess thing makes Twilight seem more important than the others. Well, yeah, that is because she is. Strongest Element of Harmony that is a combination of all the other elements....Does that ring any bells? Also, why are people complaining about her being OP NOW all of a sudden? Have they not seen all of the other things she can do with magic? She has always been powerful and has only grown more so as the show went on, which I enjoy that aspect. Watching her obtain greatness like this was very cool in my opinion.

 

I have said this a lot of times now, but I cannot get enough of opinionation! I may be a broken record, but I am an avid Twilicorn supporting broken record!

[Admiral Colt 61]

 

Fluttershy is kind of like an earth pony with wings

Well if you're gonna use that logic, then it's kinda the same for Rarity and Twilight.

 

Twilight is advanced with magic, but Rarity doesn't really need hers to do what she does. Then it would mean there's 4 Earth Ponies, 1 Unicorn/Alicorn and 1 Pegasus.

[Metaright 76]

There's really no overt need for the balance, but it's just nice to have everything fit together in such a neat and tidy way. Plus, the balance that we had before emphasized the fact that no pony race is superior to another, although, of course, we now know that to be false. Alicorn master race!

[~Scootaloo 440]

There's really no overt need for the balance, but it's just nice to have everything fit together in such a neat and tidy way. Plus, the balance that we had before emphasized the fact that no pony race is superior to another, although, of course, we now know that to be false. Alicorn master race!

As much as I hate to admit it myself Twilight being in a somewhat more superior form now does somewhat offset the balance. Things will [hopefully] work themselves out... in the meanwhile people need to stop acting like this...

 

Edited March 18, 2013 by ~Scootaloo

[LeoPrism 25]

On the one hand, the mane six are shown, let's call it, symmetrically. We have the 2-2-2 relation of races, in my opinion we even have three pairings with contrary personality: Pinkie and Shy, Twi and Dashie, Rarity and AJ (best ships by the way). And each of them has a unique feature their element is dedicated to without which they would have been screwed up more than one time.

 

On the other hand we have something more like a mane 6.5 when we include Spike, and when we think about it, even the elements aren't as perfectly balanced as you could assume - Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, Kindness are charater traits. Magic? Twilight was the main character from the very beginning. She got the diadem instead of another neclace.

 

But she still can't replace the other characters, as we see in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" for example, which is one of many reasons I like that episode so much. She didn't really trust Fluttershy's methods and pretty likely would have casted a reforming-spell on Discord, which I doubt would have ended well. I think Twily actually was close to blow everything, and who knows if Discord would have been able to take over again.

 

So I find it fair to say that there is just the right amount of balance to keep it from becoming one-sided.

[crazitaco 596]

...well, I aint gonna lie that its going to be pretty difficult to find an appropriate role for twilight in the next hearth's warming eve pageant, if they have one they'd have to find a random unicorn to fill that spot, then maybe twilight can narrate or something. but then spiky wiky is left without a role too. Speaking of spike, he doesn't really count as one of the mane six or interfere with the balance because he doesn't have an element. he's still their friend of course.

 

Also, i like the balance because my OCD demands it, uneven numbers are the work of the devil!

Edited July 19, 2013 by crazitaco

[hawkflame 3,310]

...well, I aint gonna lie that its going to be pretty difficult to find an appropriate role for twilight in the next hearth's warming eve pageant, if they have one they'd have to find a random unicorn to fill that spot, then maybe twilight can narrate or something. but then spiky wiky is left without a role too.

 

She was wearing a cloak of some sort as Clover the Clever, so the wings wouldn't have been visible anyway. 

 

As far as the issue of blanace, there was a certain level of implied equality in the friendships, like they were all at the same point in life.  Yes, Twilight was powerful, but she was still just a unicorn, like Rarity was just a unicorn, or Rainbow dash was just a pegasus, etc.  I like the fact that they were all kind of at the same point in their life, working on reaching their dreams but not quite there yet.  Now that Twilight's "made it", it changes the dynamic in a way that I'm not sure I like. 

[APonyToRemember 31]

The only form of balance that I'm concerned about is social status really. Twlight = Princess while Applejack = farm tender? Rainbow Dash = Wonderbolt (eventually) while Fluttershy = Vetrinarian of sorts? That's the only balance I'm worried about. As long as each pony stays true to themselves and remain unique I think Alicorn Princess Twlight Sparkle will work itself out in time. She earned it every pony, remember that even if you don't agree I do hope that you can see that. Love and tolerate every pony! <3

[WishingtotheStars 15]

I don't think they really need balance because they are all friends. Who cares if there's only one unicorn now. As long as they don't get jealous of each other, there is no need add another unicorn to the group. Also Twilight is still part unicorn.

[Cwanky 17,579]

Flavor and variety. The answer isn't so much "balance," although Hasbro would like to claim that all races are created equal even the squirrels and beavers. Think for a moment if MLP only had say 3 pegasi, 1 Earth pony and 2 unicorns, it really wouldn't be as exciting or fun. Since ponies, as in Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, are the 3 main species of the show (up until Twilicorn derped outta nowhere  ) the creators of the show want to showcase as much as they can out of these species and what better way than to use the Mane 6? Having an "imbalance" would create redundancy and thus limit character growth and potential. But with multiple characters representing each race we get much more variety." Remember also that as a kid's show viewers will inevitably be watching will ask questions like, "what are unicorns/pegasi/earth ponies like?" Giving variety gives the viewers different characters and personalities "partially defined via the races" to relate to. In reality not everyone's gonna be a Twilight Sparkle or Rainbow Dash fan let alone a pegasus fanboy.

 

Applejack and Rainbow Dash more/less represent the "typical" models for their races as does Rarity. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle are more unique stand out characters. From that model the creators can develop even more complex characters as we saw in Season 3 & 2. The contrast between the pony races is well demonstrated in Fall Weather Friends and Hearth's Warming Eve to a lesser extent.

 

So the answer really isn't whether it's "fair" or not, but whether its colorful and fun.  Sure we could have all the Mane 6 become Pegasi or even Alicorns but it would make for an awfully redundant and boring cast.

[Commander_PonyShep 349]

Back then, I once thought the opposite of what you stated.  I mean, I've been so used to two main ponies representing one of the three species that to have one of them now represent an entirely different species meant that the balance was disrupted.  Plus, I thought Twilight would be automatically more powerful than her friends, just because she gained wings.

 

Thank Celestia does it feel good to be wrong every now and then.  When you think about it, the six main ponies were individually unique from each other, not in terms of species, but rather in terms of personality and skill-sets.  Pinkie Pie lacked the physical strength of Applejack despite being an earth pony like her, but that didn't stop her from entertaining other ponies with her bad jokes and musical numbers.  Meanwhile, Fluttershy lacked the aerial agility of Rainbow Dash despite being a pegasus, but she didn't need to because she had the power to nurture and raise animals.  And with Rarity, the last thing on her mind was increasing her magical powers like Twilight normally does, because instead, she focuses her magic on fashion-design.

 

Each of them was neither better nor worse than any of the others, just different.  Twilight lacks the flying experience that Rainbow Dash has, but she probably doesn't need to fly because she can always do what she does best: Studying the art of friendship, so that she could apply those lessons to leading Equestria to a better future

 

Besides, Twilight was the student of Princess Celestia.  She was being raised by her to become her eventual and inevitable successor.  Sure, season three was probably meant to be the final season of the series, long before Hasbro renewed it for a fourth season due to popularity not just from little girls, but also from bronies.  However, it still didn't excuse the fact that she came-of-age as a full-fledged, strong-willed and independent leader of not only her friends, but also her own entire kingdom, not because she (or we, in our case) wanted to, but rather because she was being raised by Celestia to become leader.  It's like in the animated Transformers movie, when Hot Rod inherited the Matrix of Leadership from the late Optimus Prime, thus becoming the new leader of the Autobots under the name Rodimus Prime.

[Silver Dusk 7]

Besides, Twilight was the student of Princess Celestia.  She was being raised by her to become her eventual and inevitable successor.  Sure, season three was probably meant to be the final season of the series, long before Hasbro renewed it for a fourth season due to popularity not just from little girls, but also from bronies.  However, it still didn't excuse the fact that she came-of-age as a full-fledged, strong-willed and independent leader of not only her friends, but also her own entire kingdom, not because she (or we, in our case) wanted to, but rather because she was being raised by Celestia to become leader.  It's like in the animated Transformers movie, when Hot Rod inherited the Matrix of Leadership from the late Optimus Prime, thus becoming the new leader of the Autobots under the name Rodimus Prime.

 

Oh my goodness a Transformers piece there. But you make a good point she was trained to eventually take over. And I think the reason most people where mad about it is not because of OP issues but more because we all knew it was going to happen. My friend and I where talking about this and its like Well we knew it would happen so its almost like Hasbro was like well hey lets just end this at 3 because we have sold millions of dollars in stuff. Oh what you say that the Bronies are demanding more? *Looks at the books.* Well then more we shall give. It was probably planned to end this gen of the show and our Rage may have kept the show going. That might be a positive use of Rage on the internet that deserves further study.

 

As for Balance I don't think there needs to be a balance of pony types because even with the 2, 2, 2 the only ones that where even kind of the same was Rarity and Twilight with their magic though Twilight was always getting better with hers and more powerful while Rarity was comfortable where her magic was. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are completely different in how they do things and how they see the world. Fluttershy sees the animals and her friends and cares for all of that meanwhile Rainbow Dash just wants to be the best. The earlier point of Apple Jack and her strength and work ethic mixed with Pinkie Pie's craziness they aren't the same either. So this may actually almost balance the mane 6 out better then the last equation. So now maybe Twilight who can work on her magic and her flying may end up being the one to balance the group more because she can see from more then one view of the group allowing her to be more of the leader if you will in the group of friends. There is some food for thought.

[Radost 76]

mmmm this offset could be pretty serious! if twilight is not a princess, the off balance might bring a new character into play! It could also make the other ponies get turned into princesses/ become a wonder-bolt/ what ever they are going for. This could mark the beginning of the end if that is true, what happens when they all accomplish their dreams? or maybe just a fresh start, try to attract new fans or get old ones back into the heard. Will we find out? All in good time! i'mm going to have to say its good because the producers of MLP have yet to let me down. but for now, just tough it out.

[Vapor Trail 85]

I don't think it is so much that there were only be 1 unicorn and 1 alicorn instead of 2 unicorns that has people upset except for some people that may have a slight case of OCD but that people feel like Twilight is or is at risk of becoming overpowered therefore placing her dangerously closer to Mary Sue or Mare E Sue territory as I often half jokingly half seriously put it. I am a bit concerned about this myself but have calmed down considerably after throwing a bit of a shit fit after the season finale, sure I still voice my concerns but I still have hopes that this will work and it probably will if Hasbro lets the writers do their jobs.

 

Twilight being a bit more powerful than her friends does make sense is this is often the case with the main character, but this transformation seems a bit premature and the rushed season finale did not help. So I am not so much concearned about "balance" as I am about how a concept which was introduced way too soon with not nearly enough build can work.

 

She was wearing a cloak of some sort as Clover the Clever, so the wings wouldn't have been visible anyway. 

 

As far as the issue of balance, there was a certain level of implied equality in the friendships, like they were all at the same point in life.  Yes, Twilight was powerful, but she was still just a unicorn, like Rarity was just a unicorn, or Rainbow dash was just a pegasus, etc.  I like the fact that they were all kind of at the same point in their life, working on reaching their dreams but not quite there yet.  Now that Twilight's "made it", it changes the dynamic in a way that I'm not sure I like. 

you may want take a gander at wonderbolts academy (Season 3 Episode 7) Rainbow Dash achieves her dream first does that cause an unbalance? or look on the bright side it adds a whole new dynamic to explore.

[hawkflame 3,310]

you may want take a gander at wonderbolts academy (Season 3 Episode 7) Rainbow Dash achieves her dream first does that cause an unbalance? or look on the bright side it adds a whole new dynamic to explore.

Watch the episode and tell me where they said she actually made it onto the Wonderbolts.

 

And yes it would cause an imbalance. The characters would now be at different points in their lives.

[Shanks 10,816]

you may want take a gander at wonderbolts academy (Season 3 Episode 7) Rainbow Dash achieves her dream first does that cause an unbalance? or look on the bright side it adds a whole new dynamic to explore.

Rainbow Dash is not a Wonderbolt yet but is one step closer to becoming one, but Rainbow Dash becoming a Wonderbolt at this point in the story would have made a lot more sense than Twilight becoming an alicorn. Yes there have been some subtle hints throughout the series that Twilight might become an alicorn eventually but the season itself had very little to do with that and its introduction was seriously flawed. Rainbow Dash on the other hand has trained to become a Wonderbolt for years and has been her dream since she was a filly. Twilight has studied hard and has become very powerful, but I don't think she ever thought in her wildest dreams that she would be an alicorn princess she probably envisioned her future as become a teacher or a scholar.