she’s not happy at all being a princess

Seriously what is stopping Twilight from doing any of those things; Cadence was a foal sitter before anything else. Twilight was clearly happy. Besides she became a princess based on heroic accomplishments so it doesn’t even send a bad message. Stop being cruel.

Twilight’s happy being a princess and there is nothing stopping her form doing nay of those thing, hell Cadence was a foal sitter, Princess means something entirely different in Equestria. Stop being so cruel to Twilight.

And why couldn’t a princess do these things?

Princesses can’t do all this?

There is a crucial difference in leadership between authoritarian and authoritative styles. I once defended Princess Celestia because she tried to help other ponies solve their own problems in their own ways. Now are we to be told that one übermench should strive to gain more power over others because of their superiority instead of helping others up to their level?
 
I liked Best Night Ever’s take on being a princess: being that it was an unreasonable expectation, and that there was nothing particularly special about nobility.
 
People need motivation in their lives, its true, but anyone who says that role-models that display unattainable perfection are healthy for young girls clearly does not understand the reality of the situation. Mass media constantly bombards them with the message that they must be perfect in order to be worth while, and it leads to depression and destructive behavior. Having a role-model that provides plausible goals would have been nice to hold onto.
 
Also, other background pony: If my dislike of princess Twilight offends you so much, nobody is forcing you to read it.

Twilight becoming princess leia would kick ass.

@Hurricane
 
Twilight has shown herself to possess all the qualities of a true noble;
 
Selflessness, compassion, bravery, forgiveness, loyalty, humility and dedication.
 
Not to mention she has been the crucial pony that has saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon, Discord and Queen Chrysalis and the Crystal Empire from King Sombra.
 
All together this makes her more than worthy of being a princess.

If Twilight becoming a princess offends you this much just fucking leave.
 

@Too_Offensive  
 
uh oh.

Also cake. Princesses can’t eat cake ever. It’s not allowed. Because reasons.

Wow never really checked the alicorn drama tag.  
That’s a lot of drama.

you can still do all that stuff. now with professionals

This is implying you can’t be a well rounded person and enjoy several different things.

Oh, my most faithful student.
 
Stop being a wussy.

@Background Pony  
Twilight has not earned this any more so than the other 5 ponies in this show. I like the idea of her being a teacher, yes, that would be a good improvement, perhaps even an alicorn teacher, but not a princess.
 
Twilight has shown that she can handle ordering 5 ponies around, 5 ponies who pretty much all act independantly anyway, and she can perform administrative duties for a medium sized town. These qualities are what we need in the leader of NATIONS?
 
Look, the biggest point I am trying to make has already been said, and that is that Twilight has not earned the title of Princess as it is applied in our world and apparently, given current evidence, in the MLP universe. If Princess is an indication of power, why have alicornhood too? If it is an indication of royalty, where is her marriage/royal blood? If it is a political position, why HER over, say the honest diplomacy of Applejack?
 
I am not saying that no-one should have anything better. I’m saying Twi already HAS that, she has a direct line to the leader of the entire country/whatever, she has been accelerated to leader of a group of awesome ponies, she has power coming out the butt, and the respect of her peers. WHY THE UNHOLY BALLS DOES SHE DESERVE A CROWN AND WINGS TOO?
 
The bottom line is, this IS selling out. The show started out with a powerful message to young girls of ‘you can be whoever you want to be’ but now it has added ‘but it’s best to be a princess’ to that statement, UTTERLY undermining it’s values.

In “The Crystal Empire,” Shining Armor is addressed as Prince Shining Armor.
 
Marriage to someone important = a lifetime of hard work and dedication?

@Hurricane
 
I’m under the impression Alicorn = Figure of Great Power in the MLPverse and all signs point to that. So your idea of Alicornhood=/=Princess is pretty moot as the story is concerned.
 
Shining Armor is a great military leader, we don’t know how he’s doing under the title ‘prince’ or even if he has it. And being a captain is entirely different from being someone who has run over the entire country and in Equestia’s case share it with three other ponies.
 
It makes sense from a sales perspective and if you had no other choice Twilight would be the most logical choice.
 
A time skip isn’t a bad idea, but the problem I have with yours is “Twilight is still studying”, no, just no (What is with you and you wanting everything to stay stagnant?), Twilight deserves to have more in life than just being a studious bookworm. If not an alicorn than a teacher, or a tutor, people move on in their lives, characters should show that change too.
 
Merchandising isn’t selling out when the entire damn show was built around merchandise in the first place! That’s like me complaining about them making Cliffjumper toys even though he’s not in the actual show anymore.
 
What’s wrong with moving forward in your life, what’s wrong with being happy for the good things in other peoples lives, especially when their your friends? That’s coming across as “no-one should have more than you, you should want and envy what they earned because you haven’t gotten it yet.” There’s nothing wrong with showing kids that your blood, sweat, and tears will get you something.
 
@Background Pony
 
The only time princesshood ever actually hurt a character in a Disney movie was ‘The Princess and the Frog’, and even then it wasn’t that bad.

from artist da:  
“Twilight Sparkle, once a paragon of reading, math, and science, is sacrificed to a longstanding motif perpetuated by children’s media - particularly Disney movies - where the female protagonist either is a princess or becomes one.
 
Becoming a princess is the highest and most desirable level of achievement for the main character, unless she is already a princess, in which case she can become worthy by finding a male she loves and marrying him after some ridiculously arduous trial and/or opposition from her family. (See also: Cadence.)
 
I’m going back to my Rainbow Dash corner, where everything is awe~some. From there I’ll be happily watching the last episodes of the season, even if they happen to play into the damned princess curse.”
 
^THIS

This rather foolishly assumes that being a Princess precludes any of those activities.

Looking at this from another perspective:
 
If the title of princess is trivial, if being a princess/alicorn does not prevent you from doing the other things you want to do, why not make everyone a princess/alicorn? The mayor isn’t a princess, Blueblood and Shining Armor aren’t alicorns.
 
If the title of princess is not trivial, if it represents hard work and what someone has earned, then why are the others ineligible? Applejack and Spike are as hard working as Twilight, if not more so, and a fair bit less crazy.

And for them there are still Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack respectively. Guess what? None of them are becoming princesses. The little girls in question still get their role models. Argument moot.

@EQUINE_excite  
Implying that the next level from ‘studying magic’ is ‘Princess’
 
I have no qualms with her becoming an ALICORN, if ALICORN is an attainable step for any unicorn with great enough potential (not magical potential, simply potential, in their chosen field), or indeed for any pony with enough desire. My issue here is the status of Princess randomly given out.
 
If we are talking leadership qualities, why not Shining Armour? Magical potential is great, already married to royalty, CAPTAIN of the royal guard. Alicorn Prince material right there.
 
Why should it have to ‘make sense’ for there to be an alicorn? Why does just one of them have to change? I have a simple idea that would’ve given them MUCH more scope for toy selling. Time skip. Move it maybe 5 (Human equivilent) years into the future, give them mroe mature bodies, have Twilight still continuing her studies, sans wings and insulting title, forth season shows her becoming more and more overtly powerful, bam, series finaly, she attains Alicornhood. NOT Princessdom.
 
I can quite easily say sold out without seeing the episode. Twilight Alicorn plushies, Twilight Alicorn figures, Twilight Alicorn stickers.
 
@Background Pony  
I will grant you, the analogy is flawed, but can you not see the point? If that sort of change had occured over, say 2 months. A small amount of time, as is implied (Again, speculation) by the episode, then isn’t it unfair on those who have put in equal effort? Yes, unfairness exists in the world, but this is supposed to be about friendship. Is the lesson truly ‘that your friends will probably get a better deal in life than you, just be cool with it?’ That’s a pretty sucky lesson.

@Hurricane
 
Developing the potential between friends? You made it seem to be implying the rich guy got everything he could ever want while his friends are still at the bottom begging and clawing their way up.
 
Ever since the beginning Twilight was a well-rounded leader. Yes the other ponies were no less important, but Twilight was the one who gathers everyone up, makes the plans and executes them. Were they always perfect and went off without a hitch? No. But she always made it her duty to make up for it, and try to move past it even if it wouldn’t have easy for her. Does that mean the others can’t lead? No. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are probably the closest to Twilight, and Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy could probably lead in their respective areas of expertise. But Twilight has proven within the show to be the best choice in leadership.
 
If a character would become an alicorn and have it make sense it would be Twilight.
 
If you want to get down to it, Transformers Prime is a toy commercial, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a toy commercial, the goddamn TOY STORY sequels are essentially toy commercials. Any story can be good with enough thought put into it. You can’t say they ‘sold out’ when you haven’t seen the finished product yet.

@Hurricane
 
So Twilight, with the greatest amount of magical potential, should NOT try and get to the next level.  
Right, that’s also a great lesson; don’t ever bother trying to be anything better, just so you can force a terribly misguided lesson about equality. Let’s keep the girl mindlessly studying for the rest of her life to never go anywhere with it, just to stay on equal terms with everyone around her.
 
Remember little girls: you can be smart, athletic, and creative, but you aren’t allowed to prove it. You might make your friends jealous, and we can’t have that, can we?