Quote Originally Posted by Kd7sov View Post
Lalala alicorns and characterization and... there's not really any concise way to describe this spoiler, is there? Anyway, a couple of points that occur to me.
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I'd like to point out, first, that this is a world with magic. Magic, further, that explicitly can effect physical changes, specifically granting new abilities.

That being the case, then, I'm not aware of any particular reason to suppose that Celestia abdicating in favor of Twilight, and Twilight becoming an alicorn princess, is necessarily different than, say, Edward VIII abdicating in favor of his brother Albert, who then became King George VI. Obviously there'd be some kind of magical ceremony, but given this was established as a "magical land" in the very first line of the first episode I'd be highly disappointed if any legitimate transfer of power didn't have a magical ceremony.

Your position on the desirability of characters changing confuses me. The status quo works, therefore change is to be avoided? One unicorn is known to dream of royalty, and there's reason to believe others do, therefore one who's shown no sign of it isn't allowed to be royal?

Now, certainly, if Rarity were to become Princess Out Of Nowhere, that would be jarring and probably a bad sign. But I can see the edges of how such a thing might be set up in such a way that it wouldn't be. It'd require character development on her part, and considerably more interaction with Celestia, but it could happen. How much more plausible and viable, then, is it for Twilight, who not only hasn't shown interest in becoming royal for the sake of becoming royal, but also already has connections at that level?

I feel like I got off track there, but I'm not sure how or where. The point I think I was trying to make was, good things happen to people. And that's allowed to be the case even if they're good people.
I do not think we've seen magic provide permanent changes to the body. We've seen Twilight's temporary wing spell, and Discord temporarily removed wings and horns. Even if that could have been permanent, maybe, that was Discord, who may be a special case. I can not think of a case of permanent change, so we don't know that it's possible beyond very small things. We've seen that it's apparently not possible to give a pony their cutie mark, so it seems possible that other defining traits are likewise difficult or impossible to give.

Yes, good things are allowed to happen, to Twilight just as much as anypony else. But why does it have to be "become a pretty princess?" We have no indication that Twilight dreams of becoming a princess, so there's no reason other than "but everypony should want to be a pretty princess, surely, and Twilight is oh so special", but I say she's already special, and she can be as special as you want without being an alicorn or a princess. Was Starswirl a prince? We don't know, but he certainly didn't have to be in order to be a legend.

I think Twilight and her friends are great as regular ponies, of their respective kinds. I do not think any of them would gain anything from becoming alicorns, and I do not think Twilight would gain anything from being granted the title of princess (wings or not) either. In fact I feel it would be detrimental to her character.

Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
Deadly, we've crossed from a discussion of what makes sense in the canon to what you, personally, want to have happen in the show. Also out of spoilers, mostly, which is nice. Anyway, if you think the show would be better if the mane 6 stay exactly as they are now and never advance in life, move away, or gain any kind of new powers, that's your preference. I'm sure there are lots of good stories to tell just in Ponyville. I don't think the show needs that limitation, however. There are a lot of good lessons about friendship to be told from the perspective of ponies that get older and have changes happen in their lives. Whether those changes are getting into relationship, new jobs, new magic powers, or new homes, those are stories I would also be interested in watching.

If none of those stories interests you, I'm sorry to hear that and I hope the show manages to go in a direction that pleases both of us.
I don't personally think it makes sense in the canon for Twilight to become a princess, actually, but yes, a lot of this is my personal opinion, though I feel I have good reasons (outlined already) for holding these opinions. I do not feel that all changes to the characters are good, I do not feel that all slightly plausible ideas would be good.

I don't have a problem with them growing in experience, power and responsibilities. But I am wary about exactly in what way and to what extent. Would you like Applejack to become a pegasus, for example? You could probably come up with a story about that, but would it actually fit the character and the show? If suddenly the mane 6 had 3 pegasi and only one earth pony? What if Pinkie became a unicorn? Would that be good (jokes about the end of the world aside?)

I also don't want humans to be a thing, even though they could just as easily show up as Twilight could become a princess, but some things like that would change the feeling and tone of the show in a way that I don't think would be good. Thankfully we have good reason to think humans will never be a thing.

I may be more open to Dash becoming a Wonderbolt during the show than I am to Twilight ever becoming a princess. I do not think Twilight should become a princess, ever. I feel it would ruin her as a character and harm the show, whereas Dash is obviously Wonderbolts material and should achieve that dream sometime (in the show itself or not). I do not think Twilight should ever become a princess, even as an implied future, for the various reasons I've outlined so far.