>>205587>I don't begrudge you your opinion, but I disagree.No prob. It's been long enough since the event that I imagine a civil conversation about the whole thing shouldn't be too hard.
>its that she was dabbling with powerful magic that alluded to the fundamental nature of ponykind...Which is entirely conjecture. Which is the problem. There are so many unknowns that it all boils down to if someone likes or dislikes the change on a gut level, and anything can then be justified either way.
>Its not that she was rewarded...Not by a pony, sure, but definitely by the universe she lives in. Her actions resulted in a significant benefit to her, and so she will be more inclined to take similar risks in the future.
>its not a matter of merit, its a matter of cause and effectExcept this is a TV show written by people, and is not merely uncaring mechanical reality. The writers create the rules of the universe, and those rules have benefited Twilight above and beyond the other ponies. They may not have intended them to, but that is what happened. The writers of a work are the gods of that universe, and anything that happens is their responsibility.
>it was entirely unknown. Celestia said this herself.That makes the whole thing worse. First, it means that the existence of Cadence can't possibly have foreshadowed Twilight's transformation, and Twilight is thus the recipient of magical powers that literally nopony knew about, and which had not been foreshadowed to the audience either.
Imagine if in Lord of the Rings, they didn't know what the ring was or that it had any connection to Sauron, and then they decided to launch a desperate sneak attack on Sauron's tower with a handful of warriors hoping to slay him, and Sauron just died when somebody dropped the ring in Mt. Doom on a whim.
Or imagine if in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, nobody mentioned Aslan at all, and he just suddenly showed up during one of the battles and killed the White Witch.
This is what happens to Twilight. She just becomes an Alicorn, and apparently even Celestia herself had no idea it was possible.
Surely you can see how this would, at the very least, be rather jarring to many people.
>a rite of passageThat sounds fancy and all, but is purely conjecture. Surely, throughout pony history, there must have been somepony else who figured out, whatever it was, and didn't need to destroy their friends lives in the process. Why is Twilgiht special? There is no answer to that in the actual work, so the only thing that leaves is even further conjecture, which cannot be expected to convince anyone who doesn't already like the idea of Twilght becoming an alicorn. That is the entire problem with how it was handled.
>to a full and comprehensive explanation, which I find to be pretentious at bestIt does nothing of the kind. It asks the work to have coherent rules, so that it is understandable. According to your own comment, Celestia did not know ponies could become alicorns, so at the very least her and Twilight should be asking themselves some of these questions.
For example, oughtn't Luna or Celestia be worried that Twilight might use an alicorn's power for selfish reasons, as even Luna herself, being much older and wiser, still fell for that temptation. Does an alicorn even have more power? Nopony in the show knows or cares, even though they really ought to.
>or maintaining an appreciation for the show>many developed a sense of ownership over the show>people bailed? How cursory and superficial was their involvement then?You've just done the reverse, though, and implied that the show has ownership over the affections of the audience. If the show does something people don't like, they have absolutely no obligation to just power ahead and stay with it. The writer also, has no obligation to do what the audience wants.
In fact, the writer has an obligation to write what they themselves want to write, and the audience has one to stop if they don't like it. Anything else would be sacrificing the integrity not just of the party concerned, but probably of artistry itself.
>a direction that defied their preconceptionsThat is so wrong it's bordering on dishonest. It went in a direction some people *didn't like*, not merely somewhere unexpected.
For example, how many people dislike the show because Fluttershy got mad and very, very, sternly talked down the dragon causing the smoke? Or because dragons physically eat gems? Or because Luna became more lighthearted and fun-loving than Celestia? Or because Applejack has lots of hats? Or because changelings were introduced? Or because Discord existed?
Heck, the Discord finale could not possibly have been what anypony was expecting, and yet Discord is a pretty well like character. Even his reformation seems to mostly just be disliked because it was crammed into such a short time, and so shortly after his defeat.