@The Twelfth Doctor Whoof
 
Okay, so Twilight being special was only implemented at around season 2, but that still doesn’t change the fact that complaining about it only now is stupid.

@The Twelfth Doctor Whoof
 
Yes, you’re right. Clearly Twilight is going to be a Mary Sue who will be the only character that ever does anything important, and the other characters bowing down to her means that they won’t even bother being her friends anymore.
 
Seriously, what the hell is up with that attitude? She’s a princess now. You always bow down to royalty, even if they are your close friend. That doesn’t mean you’re not worthy of being friends.

@PonyPon
 
And who’s to say that Twilight won’t be done right?

@Grieffon  
Hell no.
 
That’s an example of being done right.

@Grieffon  
How could I forget about the Avatar? Also the Avatar from the Ultima series, I see Twilight more like him.

Ok, I said I won’t reply here, but there’s something that needs to be said. Look at this guy
 

 
who has about 40 times the potential of anyone else, and tell me he could have done anything without all of these guys
 

@Zennistrad  
The military was probably the worst example you could’ve come up with. Yes you do salute a superior officer, but not out of respect. You do it because they outrank you. The superior officer then returns the salute, and that is the sign of respect (not really, but as close as you get in that context). Now, non-military may salute as what they perceive to be a sign of respect, but it’s actually incorrect form. Only military and Scouts are required to do so.
 
Bowing has always been a gesture of humility and/or a genuflection to someone of clearly higher rank. Look at any ceremony where the Queen meets with… well, anyone. Or when the Emperor of Japan visited victims of the Fukushima disaster; people refused to lift their heads off the ground while he was in the room (it was obvious he kinda felt bad about it, because he noticeably had trouble hearing them). The Chinese had kowtowing, which still exists to an extent even 60+ years into the Red China era. On the flip-side, the Chinese Premier does what’s called “the 90-degree Bow”. It’s a sign of humility during the bi-annual Party Congress.
 
So… yeah, the Mane Five bowing down to Twilight is most definitely a supplication and gesture of at the least humility, at worst inferiority, to their new Alicorn overlord.

@Background Pony  
Responsibility?
 
Keep in mind that Twilight has been shown, multiple times, to be the type of pony that cracks under pressure. She does not have the discipline to handle executive authority. Sure, her friends would probably be worse at it, but that doesn’t make her worthy.
 
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Given the talents we know Twilight has, she would be best as a Chancellor to a charismatic but ultimately figurehead ruler - the Bismarck to somepony else’s Wilhelm, if you were. She’d do the actual work but not have to deal with the public pressure.
 
And as far as Twilight being “special” goes? When the show first started, all we knew was that Twilight was a student to the Princess (who also served as a teacher). It was strongly implied that she got to that position entirely due to her own hard work. It was only later that the writers decided to have her come from a background of extreme wealth and privilege, being the scion of an ultra-high-ranking Noble family (thus depicting her as a real example of what Rarity aspires to), making her brother Captain of the Royal Guard, showing that she was cared for by a completely different Princess, and finally showing that Celestia has controlled her destiny almost since she was born.

@SeraphimDawn
 
Exactly my point. Being a Princess doesn’t mean the other characters won’t matter anymore, which is the most common argument I’ve heard.

@Background Pony  
If anything, Twilight was offscreen for most of Se03.

@SeraphimDawn
 
How she started out in a flashback is irreverent. I’m saying that, in terms of the events that happen in the series, Twilight has always been especially powerful when compared to the other ponies.
 
Despite this, the show has always managed to maintain a balance between characters. Twilight may be special, but she never steals the spotlight from the others.
 
Given what we’ve seen of the Season 4 animatic, such as the Scootaloo episode and the Apple Family episode, it’s safe to say that she won’t suddenly become the only character that matters.

@The Twelfth Doctor Whoof
 
Bowing down to someone isn’t a “sign of lower status,” it’s a sign of respect.
 
When you’re in the military, for example, you always salute your superior officer, even if he happens to be a close friend of yours.

@Background Pony  
According to cutie mark chronicles, even she started out feeble, barely even able to perform levitation. Her parents did not force her to become great in magic, she chose to study magic herself, nor did they even expect her to have such. potentials

@Background Pony  
Optimus Prime died for our sins ;)
 
But seriously, the problem is that Twilight isn’t staying the same character. Well, she may be in her own mind, but not in the context of the universe we’ve been given. She has been explicitly elevated above ponies to whom she had previously been (mostly) equal, if still far more powerful. The other five are now Lesser than her. That doesn’t make for a healthy character dynamic.
 
Now granted, there have been plenty of stories where a Princess runs around with commoners as an equal, but every last one has said Princess either keeping her status a secret (and devastated when the truth comes out), or the friends being a roguish bunch with little to no loyalty to her crown. Neither one can work with Twilight Sparkle because 1)There’s no way she can deny her status because she gave a public speech about it, and 2)The other five have been shown to be incredibly loyal to the Crown, oh and 3)Her friends already bowed down to her, thus cementing their lower status.
 
Like TSP said, going back and rewatching old episodes, it’s frankly annoying how much Better Twilight is at literally everything than everypony else. She’s better at harvesting apples than Applejack. She bests Rarity at Rarity’s own special talent. She’s smarter than every pony except Celestia. Due to her teleportation powers (which unlike previous gens, seems to be unique to her), she can be more of a reality warper than Pinkie Pie. She comes in fifth in a marathon with ZERO preparation, all by reading a book, thus beating Rainbow Dash (who managed to keep up with AJ on foot). The only pony she doesn’t have a leg-up on is Fluttershy’s knowledge of animals, and even there Twilight knows more about Dragons (though that can be excused because Spike).

@ClownDicks
 
Remember Rarity’s cutie mark story? She was literally dragged by an unseen force to discover her talent.
 
Not to mention the Mane 6 are all but explicitly connected by fate in Cutie Mark Chronicles.

@ClownDicks
 
None of the other Mane 6 could really handle the responsibility.
 
Fluttershy is far too nervous around other ponies to be put into the public eye and has so little self-confidence that she couldn’t even begin to handle the pressures.
 
Rainbow Dash’s brash attitude would likely offend someone important and cause trouble for Equestria.
 
Applejack would know next to nothing about actually being a leader unless it involved apples.
 
Pinkie being in a position of leadership, especially as an alicorn is a sign of the apocalypse.
 
Rarity, despite being a shrewd businesspony, is far too concerned with superficial appearances to accept any significant responsibility.
 
Twilight has always been the “special” one, despite what everyone might say. She was born into a noble family, her brother is Captain of the Royal Guard and now is Prince of the Crystal Empire, and is the most powerful of the Mane 6 by a very large margin. They had to write her out of several episodes just to make sure she didn’t become an instant Deus Ex Machina, such as getting turned to stone in “Stare Master” and her spell backfiring in “Swarm of the Century.”

@ClownDicks
 
I fail to see how being a leader and having friends are mutually exclusive.

@ClownDicks  
Celestia wants a new alicorn (for some reason). Does she:  
A- Do nothing  
B- Ascend her prized pupil and freak of nature uberunicorn  
C- Ascend her and her friends
 
C depends on ponies that aren’t freakishly powerful being able to ascend; that Twilight had magic swirly things coming from her to give her wings kind of implies Twilight’s just that damn special, on a physical level.
 
So we can pretty much assume C just can’t happen with the canon we’ve been given.

@SeraphimDawn  
Dragon Ball was obviously “The Goku and Friends Show”. FiM is kind of billed as “The Six Friends”. Except some friends are better than others. It’s almost insulting how much better than everyone Twilight is at practically everything. The only thing stopping every episode from ending 3 minutes after opening credits is that Twily’s either not in the episode or simply oblivious to how devastatingly powerful she was in the previous episode.

@The Twelfth Doctor Whoof  
Too bad there’s gonna be 26 episodes, some of which will probably revolve around her and nothing else is gonna change. Also, if Optimus Prime and Tatsurion could get wings and basically stay the same characters, I don’t see how this is a problem with Twilight.

@Background Pony  
It’s not just the wings.  
@The Smiling Pony  
Explanation=/=justification.  
@SeraphimDawn  
This is a slice of life show. And people hated that in DBZ too.

@The Smiling Pony  
I agree with everything you say, except MMC being the worst S3 ep. (my vote still goes to “Spike at Your Service”, which admittedly is a little unfair given the problems that one had during production)
 
Having a Princess in the group does invite imbalance. Lauren’s carefully-considered racial balance is also thrown out the window.
 
I’ve said before and you’ve said here, that Twilight’s ascension would have worked out well IF it had been the final episode. I honestly believe that MMC was meant to be the finale (see 65-Episode Curse), and it largely followed Lauren’s original vision, at least in the broad strokes. But then Hasbro threw a spanner in the works and unexpectedly renewed the series beyond the traditional limit, forcing the writers to scramble.
 
And (again, like you’ve said), given how offically~~OP Twilight now is, she new becomes one of those characters that, from a literary perspective, you cannot focus on because they’re just too game-breaking: Like Dumbledore in Harry Potter, Hiko in Kenshin, or Dragon in One Piece. It would just be too easy for Twi to solve whatever problem cropped up by pulling out her “I’m a Princess” card.
 
What the writers should do, I think (and they won’t), is relegate Twilight to a secondary role to concentrate on her duties as a Princess ~~ have Dashie teach her to fly, maybe have Rarity make her a dress, let her be uncomfortable in her new shoes - but allow her spot on the team to be taken by a new Unicorn, preferably Trixie or Sunset Shimmer (since they’re already known quantities), and have the cast learn about Forgiveness.

Guys… I’m really having a difficult time understanding why people get so butthurt over Twilight being overpowered and becoming even more so.
 
While characters such as Goku, who obviously fit this cliche, doesn’t get too much backlash. Yeah, Goku started out feeble and grew overtime. So did Twilight, as she was shown barely able to lift objects with telekenesis before the Rainboom.

@ClownDicks  
Did I say they didn’t? Difference being Twilight also happens to be Celestia’s protege and the most powerful unicorn a 1000+ year old demi-god has ever seen.

For all those saying it’s difficult to get used to a character with wings, yeah tell that to Optimus Prime.