Ohvist
[@Changeling17](/images/2559359#comment_9538873)
[@VampireScratch](/images/2559359#comment_9538555)
It is the only logical conclusion to be seen. Despite all that Princess Celestia has done to prepare for Twilight Sparkle, no matter how much she wanted for Twilight's reign to be more memorable than Celestias' own, but in the end:
*"Only Caesar can lead the Legion."*
We have followed Twilight from the very beginning, and over time her natural sense of curiosity and leadership was slowly eroded over time, replaced solely by more and more of her blind faith in Princess Celestias' very word. Since her first Coronation following her ascendance, she had surrendered herself completely to the whims of "Destiny", a Destiny that wasn't made by her own hooves, but decided upon by Celestia. Throughout Season 4, Twilight had struggled and lamented about trying to find her own place in this world; acting more like a lost little lamb than as a leader we had seen of her before, she had lost her sense of agency and drive to accomplish stuff on her own, turning instead for the approval of Celestia to go and do whatever it is commanded of her in that moment. If she lamented about not having anything to do that would qualify her position as Princess, she could have done a number of things in the months already following that she could have taken full advantage of, one of which I could believe she would have been perfect for: Starting an alliance of her own with the Diamond Dogs.
> 
>
> While the initial meeting between their two groups in the past wasn't one that had ended on good terms, things could have became different the second time around. Twilight could have tried to reach out to the Diamond Dogs in a sense of understanding and take a chance to try learning about their own culture and values to why they would want to dig up gemstones inside of the cave. Perhaps there is some connection that isn't known about, that had allowed for these canines to develop bipedalism, basic speech, and a semi-intelligent community of their own compared to that of common dogs.
>
> Understanding what it is that makes the Diamond Dogs who they are, Twilight could try to reach out and help them in little ways such as food, medicine, tools in-exchange for building materials that the Diamond Dogs could provide. Perhaps even among their numbers, there are Diamonds-in-the-rough: talented builders, artists, and stonemasons; whose skills could be nurtured and encouraged to achieve many a great thing. When the time would be right, Twilight could help in the establishment of a surface-bound village for the Diamond Dogs that could better help facilitate trade between themselves and Ponyville much easier, to help bring in those talented Diamond Dogs to help contribute however they would know to Ponyville in order to make life for its residents a bit easier: Cobblestone roads instead of dirt paths to prevent wagon wheels from snapping apart in mud. Stone bridges that can withstand flooding more than their own wooden bridges, things of that nature. Given enough time around Ponyville, the Diamond Dogs would become more close and neighborly towards them, integrating both communities as one with the Diamond Dogs taking on other work that wouldn't have been possible for them beforehand. In the end of it, the Diamond Dogs would have been grateful for all that Twilight had in that moment done for them and how she had needed a proper seat of power within Ponyville, and would have built a castle for her after Tirek had destroyed the Golden Oaks Library, taking the Crystal Tree into account to build a keep around the aforementioned tree and having the grounds be the perfect evacuation point should another threat arise within Ponyville so its denizens could retreat to for protection.
Beyond Twilight's own diminished sense of agency and desire for leadership, there is also the matter of how Equestria has been built up and shaped over the course of 1000 years; shaped not by the scope and understanding of their own history, but by the scope and worship that its' people have for Celestia: viewing her not as a mere ruler like Platinum, but as an eternal Goddess that is far above them.
Due to this uplifting, it has had profound effects on how the other Alicorns thaat lead Equestria operates by, viewing them not as equals to Celestia but as subordinate to Celestia herself in how important they are by comparison. One needs to look no further than this than with Celestia's own sister Princess Luna; the unloved and abandoned younger sibling of Celestia who had lashed out at the world for not giving her the dues and accolades she had needed and were owed. Staying only within Celestia's shadow for most of her tenure as ruler. When Luna finally couldn't take the pain of loneliness any longer; she had rightfully lashed out at her sibling for how their own subjects that they should rule over together had treated Luna with scorn, fear, and even contempt. Instead of taking measures to resolve this problem or to talk it over with Luna like a responsible older sibling should, instead what we saw was the face of an unwavering ruler that wouldn't bend the knee or even seek to reason with or appeal Luna to try calming her down; inflaming the hatred that Luna felt even further than she did before. And we all know the end result of that...
...What isn't well-known is that Celestia herself had the power all along to help free her Sister from the Moon whenever she had felt like it, but simply endeavored to leave her trapped up there for 1000 years as the world went by; slowly forgetting more and more of Princess Luna and growing ever-fearful of the figure of Nightmare Moon as Celestia went about calling her as.
When she was finally released from her imprisonment, there was very little that Luna could actually do to lead Equestria. Regardless of whether she lived within the palace that Celestia had built, filled with servants that Celestia had chosen among the populace of ponies that all worshipped Celestia in cities that Celestia had controlled: Luna is knowingly now more alone than she had ever been before, all she could do now to avoid another 1000 years spent caged on the Moon is simply to nod and accept this new gilded cage that Celestia had fashioned for her own sister. A Slave and a Prisoner to Princess Celestia, in all but name.
Stepping away from familial matters, there is also the fact regarding the national defenses of Equestria being controlled at the whims of a mare that does not seem to care at all for her own peoples' protection at the cost of their ideologies of Friendship and Destiny. A King that cannot protect their people properly is not a King. If you need an example of what a pacifistic leadership can bring, I offer not an example from within My Little Pony, but examples within the ever-fragile rulership of Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, who herself had preached about pacifism, yet had left Mandalore defenseless from brigands and cartels due to her stance as the leader of the Neutral Systems during the height of the Clone Wars.
Or more-recently with the slow-to-action leadership of Mon Mothma when establishing the Alliance To Restore the Republic that saw the rise of the New Republic that had once more repeated the same mistakes of the Galactic Republic that caused its' own downfall in the end.
All three leaders have one fundamental quality in-common, and it is the naïve belief that just because your own people are willing to agree to a rule of pacifism; does not mean that others within will just accept this, or that those outside will not try to take any advantage that presents itself to them. And such threats are indeed present beyond Equestria as there are threats within Equestria...
*Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum:* "If you want Peace, than prepare for War."
To really think that a group such as large as The EEA can act upon their own against the authority of the Royal Sisters is an anomaly in itself is considered ignorance at its' best. There are very well those within such positions of power and authority that have grown insular to control portions of the government for themselves with Celestia being completely unaware of their involvement or even of their very actions. The racist ideologies once preached by the Equestrian Education Association isn't at the root of things, there is also the general attitude that exists between Pegasi and Unicorns towards Earth Ponies; who even after leaving Equestria are still at the very bottom of the totem pole due to how little influence they even have to stand up against Weather-Manipulation and Magical-Prowess, something that was taken advantage of by the Legion of Doom just days before the Coronation.
For all that we do know, there are probably Pro-Unicornia Nobles within Canterlot that are holdouts of the beliefs once held by them from the days of Princess Platinum when they resolved to move and create Equestria, Pro-Unicornias that are waiting for the right moment to at long last strike out and take control over Equestria: having already brought the Seat of Power within Equestria to the city of Canterlot as opposed to the Castle Of Two Sisters. And now with such an impressionable mare like Twilight who has no agency of her own, brought far away from her friends and has chosen to take Celestias' place within Canterlot; she is now easily the most vulnerable pawn in their little game that all of them **WILL** be taking full advantage of: an Alicorn that is in possession of not just sole rulership of Equestria, but of a device that can allow one to move the Sun and Moon at will on their own without needing to sacrifice their own Magical abilities in the process.
If you doubt the veracity of this claim, and want proof of it happening: I shall bring your attention to nowhere else but *Alicornundrum,* the third part of the Nyxverse Saga written by Ralph "Reality Check" Hayes Jr. In the seventh chapter, Twilight Sparkle is made aware of an incident that had happened following her Ascendancy and her Coronation; her father parttook in a number of celebratory toasts that congratulated his own childs' Ascension, yet during the festivities Duke Blueblood had hoofed over a sheet of parchment while dear Night Light was completely hammered and told to sign it, when he finally became sober hours later did he realize exactly what it was that Night Light had signed: __A Marriage Contract__. A Marriage Contract that had promised the newly-crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle to Prince Blueblood. Naturally when he and Twilight Velvet went to go and try to annul the contract did Duke Blueblood read them both the fine print that says should the Marriage be annulled, than the entirety of Sparkles' Estate and Wealth will be taken by Duke Blueblood for compensation. While the situation would be resolved, it just goes to show exactly how underhanded and competent certain ponies can be when they see something to take advantage of.
With all of that in-mind, it is very easy to see how in G5 Equestria had fallen once Twilight Sparkle was given control over it all. It was a nation that was solely built by Princess Celestia, and could only truly be ruled by Princess Celestia.
> *"The Legion dies with Caesar. What follows now is the last steps of a man that does not yet realize... that he is walking dead."* -Joshua Graham, *Fallout: New Vegas*
[@VampireScratch](/images/2559359#comment_9538555)
It is the only logical conclusion to be seen. Despite all that Princess Celestia has done to prepare for Twilight Sparkle, no matter how much she wanted for Twilight's reign to be more memorable than Celestias' own, but in the end:
*"Only Caesar can lead the Legion."*
We have followed Twilight from the very beginning, and over time her natural sense of curiosity and leadership was slowly eroded over time, replaced solely by more and more of her blind faith in Princess Celestias' very word. Since her first Coronation following her ascendance, she had surrendered herself completely to the whims of "Destiny", a Destiny that wasn't made by her own hooves, but decided upon by Celestia. Throughout Season 4, Twilight had struggled and lamented about trying to find her own place in this world; acting more like a lost little lamb than as a leader we had seen of her before, she had lost her sense of agency and drive to accomplish stuff on her own, turning instead for the approval of Celestia to go and do whatever it is commanded of her in that moment. If she lamented about not having anything to do that would qualify her position as Princess, she could have done a number of things in the months already following that she could have taken full advantage of, one of which I could believe she would have been perfect for: Starting an alliance of her own with the Diamond Dogs.
> 
>
> While the initial meeting between their two groups in the past wasn't one that had ended on good terms, things could have became different the second time around. Twilight could have tried to reach out to the Diamond Dogs in a sense of understanding and take a chance to try learning about their own culture and values to why they would want to dig up gemstones inside of the cave. Perhaps there is some connection that isn't known about, that had allowed for these canines to develop bipedalism, basic speech, and a semi-intelligent community of their own compared to that of common dogs.
>
> Understanding what it is that makes the Diamond Dogs who they are, Twilight could try to reach out and help them in little ways such as food, medicine, tools in-exchange for building materials that the Diamond Dogs could provide. Perhaps even among their numbers, there are Diamonds-in-the-rough: talented builders, artists, and stonemasons; whose skills could be nurtured and encouraged to achieve many a great thing. When the time would be right, Twilight could help in the establishment of a surface-bound village for the Diamond Dogs that could better help facilitate trade between themselves and Ponyville much easier, to help bring in those talented Diamond Dogs to help contribute however they would know to Ponyville in order to make life for its residents a bit easier: Cobblestone roads instead of dirt paths to prevent wagon wheels from snapping apart in mud. Stone bridges that can withstand flooding more than their own wooden bridges, things of that nature. Given enough time around Ponyville, the Diamond Dogs would become more close and neighborly towards them, integrating both communities as one with the Diamond Dogs taking on other work that wouldn't have been possible for them beforehand. In the end of it, the Diamond Dogs would have been grateful for all that Twilight had in that moment done for them and how she had needed a proper seat of power within Ponyville, and would have built a castle for her after Tirek had destroyed the Golden Oaks Library, taking the Crystal Tree into account to build a keep around the aforementioned tree and having the grounds be the perfect evacuation point should another threat arise within Ponyville so its denizens could retreat to for protection.
Beyond Twilight's own diminished sense of agency and desire for leadership, there is also the matter of how Equestria has been built up and shaped over the course of 1000 years; shaped not by the scope and understanding of their own history, but by the scope and worship that its' people have for Celestia: viewing her not as a mere ruler like Platinum, but as an eternal Goddess that is far above them.
Due to this uplifting, it has had profound effects on how the other Alicorns thaat lead Equestria operates by, viewing them not as equals to Celestia but as subordinate to Celestia herself in how important they are by comparison. One needs to look no further than this than with Celestia's own sister Princess Luna; the unloved and abandoned younger sibling of Celestia who had lashed out at the world for not giving her the dues and accolades she had needed and were owed. Staying only within Celestia's shadow for most of her tenure as ruler. When Luna finally couldn't take the pain of loneliness any longer; she had rightfully lashed out at her sibling for how their own subjects that they should rule over together had treated Luna with scorn, fear, and even contempt. Instead of taking measures to resolve this problem or to talk it over with Luna like a responsible older sibling should, instead what we saw was the face of an unwavering ruler that wouldn't bend the knee or even seek to reason with or appeal Luna to try calming her down; inflaming the hatred that Luna felt even further than she did before. And we all know the end result of that...
...What isn't well-known is that Celestia herself had the power all along to help free her Sister from the Moon whenever she had felt like it, but simply endeavored to leave her trapped up there for 1000 years as the world went by; slowly forgetting more and more of Princess Luna and growing ever-fearful of the figure of Nightmare Moon as Celestia went about calling her as.
When she was finally released from her imprisonment, there was very little that Luna could actually do to lead Equestria. Regardless of whether she lived within the palace that Celestia had built, filled with servants that Celestia had chosen among the populace of ponies that all worshipped Celestia in cities that Celestia had controlled: Luna is knowingly now more alone than she had ever been before, all she could do now to avoid another 1000 years spent caged on the Moon is simply to nod and accept this new gilded cage that Celestia had fashioned for her own sister. A Slave and a Prisoner to Princess Celestia, in all but name.
Stepping away from familial matters, there is also the fact regarding the national defenses of Equestria being controlled at the whims of a mare that does not seem to care at all for her own peoples' protection at the cost of their ideologies of Friendship and Destiny. A King that cannot protect their people properly is not a King. If you need an example of what a pacifistic leadership can bring, I offer not an example from within My Little Pony, but examples within the ever-fragile rulership of Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, who herself had preached about pacifism, yet had left Mandalore defenseless from brigands and cartels due to her stance as the leader of the Neutral Systems during the height of the Clone Wars.
Or more-recently with the slow-to-action leadership of Mon Mothma when establishing the Alliance To Restore the Republic that saw the rise of the New Republic that had once more repeated the same mistakes of the Galactic Republic that caused its' own downfall in the end.
All three leaders have one fundamental quality in-common, and it is the naïve belief that just because your own people are willing to agree to a rule of pacifism; does not mean that others within will just accept this, or that those outside will not try to take any advantage that presents itself to them. And such threats are indeed present beyond Equestria as there are threats within Equestria...
*Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum:* "If you want Peace, than prepare for War."
To really think that a group such as large as The EEA can act upon their own against the authority of the Royal Sisters is an anomaly in itself is considered ignorance at its' best. There are very well those within such positions of power and authority that have grown insular to control portions of the government for themselves with Celestia being completely unaware of their involvement or even of their very actions. The racist ideologies once preached by the Equestrian Education Association isn't at the root of things, there is also the general attitude that exists between Pegasi and Unicorns towards Earth Ponies; who even after leaving Equestria are still at the very bottom of the totem pole due to how little influence they even have to stand up against Weather-Manipulation and Magical-Prowess, something that was taken advantage of by the Legion of Doom just days before the Coronation.
For all that we do know, there are probably Pro-Unicornia Nobles within Canterlot that are holdouts of the beliefs once held by them from the days of Princess Platinum when they resolved to move and create Equestria, Pro-Unicornias that are waiting for the right moment to at long last strike out and take control over Equestria: having already brought the Seat of Power within Equestria to the city of Canterlot as opposed to the Castle Of Two Sisters. And now with such an impressionable mare like Twilight who has no agency of her own, brought far away from her friends and has chosen to take Celestias' place within Canterlot; she is now easily the most vulnerable pawn in their little game that all of them **WILL** be taking full advantage of: an Alicorn that is in possession of not just sole rulership of Equestria, but of a device that can allow one to move the Sun and Moon at will on their own without needing to sacrifice their own Magical abilities in the process.
If you doubt the veracity of this claim, and want proof of it happening: I shall bring your attention to nowhere else but *Alicornundrum,* the third part of the Nyxverse Saga written by Ralph "Reality Check" Hayes Jr. In the seventh chapter, Twilight Sparkle is made aware of an incident that had happened following her Ascendancy and her Coronation; her father parttook in a number of celebratory toasts that congratulated his own childs' Ascension, yet during the festivities Duke Blueblood had hoofed over a sheet of parchment while dear Night Light was completely hammered and told to sign it, when he finally became sober hours later did he realize exactly what it was that Night Light had signed: __A Marriage Contract__. A Marriage Contract that had promised the newly-crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle to Prince Blueblood. Naturally when he and Twilight Velvet went to go and try to annul the contract did Duke Blueblood read them both the fine print that says should the Marriage be annulled, than the entirety of Sparkles' Estate and Wealth will be taken by Duke Blueblood for compensation. While the situation would be resolved, it just goes to show exactly how underhanded and competent certain ponies can be when they see something to take advantage of.
With all of that in-mind, it is very easy to see how in G5 Equestria had fallen once Twilight Sparkle was given control over it all. It was a nation that was solely built by Princess Celestia, and could only truly be ruled by Princess Celestia.
> *"The Legion dies with Caesar. What follows now is the last steps of a man that does not yet realize... that he is walking dead."* -Joshua Graham, *Fallout: New Vegas*