Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle is one of the main characters of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. She is a female unicorn pony who transforms into an Alicorn and becomes a princess in Magical Mystery Cure. She is also the younger sister of Shining Armor. At the beginning of the series, she moves from Canterlot to Ponyville to study the magic of friendship, and regularly sends friendship reports to Princess Celestia. She lives in her castle with Spike, her best friend and assistant. Twilight Sparkle represents the element of magic.

Development
Lauren Faust was inspired to create Twilight Sparkle by her childhood toy G1 pony Twilight. Faust's of Twilight shared a similar color scheme and cutie mark with the G1 Twilight, who appears in the pilot episode Rescue at Midnight Castle. Twilight Sparkle's color scheme was later changed to that of the G3 Earth pony Twilight Twinkle, with a slightly different mane and tail, but Lauren Faust said that Twilight originally had dark blue hair with a light blue stripe; Twilight Sparkle was called "Twilight Twinkle" in early scripts for the show. G1 Twilight teleports by wishing, and Twilight Twinkle likes to watch fireflies; Twilight Sparkle shares aspects from both of these ponies, with her ability to teleport and her occasional stargazing. Though she is much more studious and possesses more powerful magical abilities, she also shares a number of personality traits with the G1 Pegasus Wind Whistler, such as her tendency to rely on logic rather than instincts and her habit of using more advanced and technical terms. She additionally shares some personality traits with the G1 pony named Bright Eyes.

In a 2008 sketch for the series bible, Twilight's cutie mark resembles that of the character Moondancer from earlier My Little Pony generations.

Lauren Faust had planned for Twilight to acquire the power of self-levitation "at some point." Following Faust's departure from the show, Twilight has used this power in the season three episodes The Crystal Empire - Part 2 and Magical Mystery Cure.

As an Alicorn, Twilight is a little taller, and her horn is a bit longer than when she was a unicorn.

Depiction in the series
Twilight lived in Canterlot until Princess Celestia sent her and Spike to Ponyville to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and make some friends. Twilight befriends the rest of the main characters, and remains in Ponyville to continue to study the magic of friendship.

In A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, Twilight says that Princess Cadance was her foalsitter when she was a filly.

Twilight tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders how she got her cutie mark in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. She says that when she was a filly, she studied magic on her own and wanted to attend Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. At the entrance exam, Twilight was told to use magic to hatch Spike's egg, but her magic got out of control when she was startled by Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom. Princess Celestia took note of her magical abilities and made Twilight her personal protégé.

In Magical Mystery Cure, Twilight Sparkle completes an unfinished magic spell with her deep understanding of friendship. Princess Celestia tells her that Twilight is ready for the next stage of her life, and she is transformed into an Alicorn and crowned a princess.

Princess Twilight Sparkle becomes the ruler of the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom in  the season four episode Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2.

Love of books
In Friendship is Magic, part 1, Twinkleshine says Twilight is more interested in books than friends. Even after Twilight becomes good friends with the rest of the main characters, she continues to read and consult books. For example, she confidently joins a marathon after reading several books about running in Fall Weather Friends.

Rationality
Twilight tries to be rational in unfamiliar situations. During the investigation in MMMystery on the Friendship Express, Twilight tells Pinkie Pie to stop making wild accusations, and they work together to find clues and solve the mystery.

However, Twilight can be illogical in stressful situations. In Swarm of the Century, she hysterically suggests building a replica of Ponyville in less than a minute before Princess Celestia can see the parasprite infestation.

Twilight tends to be skeptical of unproven claims, such as her friends' belief that Zecora is an evil enchantress in Bridle Gossip, and Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" in Feeling Pinkie Keen.

Knack for organization
Twilight shows her knack for organization in Winter Wrap Up. When the Winter Wrap Up becomes inefficient and uncoordinated, she organizes the teams and ensures that winter is wrapped up on time. Mayor Mare gives Twilight the official title of "All-Team Organizer".

Magical talent

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Hot air balloon
Twilight rides a purple hot air balloon in the title sequence, and uses the same balloon to fly with her friends to Cloudsdale for Rainbow Dash's competition in Sonic Rainboom. In The Return of Harmony Part 2, the ponies use it to fly with Fluttershy in order to capture the brainwashed Rainbow Dash. The balloon is also used on other occasions.

Crowns
For the first three seasons of the show, Twilight possesses a crown containing the element of magic. She receives it in Friendship is Magic, part 2 upon defeating Nightmare Moon. The crown is studded with sapphires and a magenta star-shaped gem shaped like like Twilight's cutie mark. However, the crown is shaped differently after Twilight becomes a princess in Magical Mystery Cure. It is a lighter shade of gold, no longer has sapphires, and rests horizontally, not vertically, on Twilight's head.

Twilight relinquishes her crown when she and her friends restore the Elements of Harmony to the Tree of Harmony in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2. At the Summer Sun Celebration, she wears a new crown, which has the same shade of gold just like and looks completely different from her element of magic crown. It has more of a "classic" crown shape, with each point studded with a small magenta jewel.

Parents
Twilight's parents first appear in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. In a flashback, they excitedly nod their approval when Princess Celestia offers to make Twilight her apprentice. In A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, they attend Shining Armor's wedding and are moved to tears. They attend Twilight's coronation in Magical Mystery Cure.

Twilight Sparkle's mother resembles the notable G1 pony Twilight, also known as Galaxy in the original My Little Pony television series. Twilight Sparkle's father resembles the G1 pony named Nightlight, but gender-swapped.

Shining Armor
Twilight reveals that she has an older brother, Shining Armor, in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1. She sings B.B.B.F.F. (Big Brother Best Friend Forever), a song about their close bond and how much she misses him after she moves to Ponyville. Shining Armor, though extremely busy with his duties around the Crystal Empire, still has time for his little sister, whom he calls "Twily".

Princess Cadance
Twilight reveals that Princess Cadance was her foal-sitter when she was a filly. At the end of A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, Twilight becomes Cadance's sister-in-law when she marries Shining Armor. Twilight enjoys spending time with Cadance as seen in Three's a Crowd when Cadance comes to visit her.

Teaching
In the episode Twilight Time, Twilight takes time each week to teach the Cutie Mark Crusaders various skills. She attempts to teach Sweetie Belle to use the telekinetic component of her magic, Apple Bloom how to make botanic growth potions and Scootaloo how to strip and reassemble various types of scooter and cycle. She is also initially overjoyed when she thinks that all their classmates also want to learn new things and is very disappointed when she finds out that they merely want to spend time around a local celebrity.

Twilight's ability as a teacher is proven in that she succeeds in teaching all three Crusaders the skills she intended to teach them. They all demonstrate a high degree of aptitude at the end of their lessons.

Twilight attempts to teach Rainbow Dash the history of the Wonderbolts, but her methods of study prove futile as Rainbow Dash acts as a class clown in Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3.

My Little Pony Equestria Girls
In My Little Pony Equestria Girls, Twilight and Spike teleport to a human world to retrieve the stolen element of magic from Sunset Shimmer. Twilight and Spike enter Canterlot High School and meet the human counterparts of their Ponyville friends. When Twilight discovers that Principal Celestia will award the crown to the Princess of the Fall Formal dance, she decides to run for Princess. She wins, despite a smear campaign orchestrated by Sunset Shimmer, and receives the crown at the dance.

However, Sunset Shimmer takes the crown by force and transforms into a rage-filled demonic creature. She hypnotizes the students, whom she plans to use as an army to invade Equestria. When she attacks Twilight, Twilight's friends shield her and inadvertently activate the magic of friendship. They defeat Sunset Shimmer, who is remorseful for her actions.

After the dance, Twilight and Spike return to Equestria. Twilight feels more confident about being a princess than before. She bumps into Flash Sentry, who she encountered several times in the human world, and blushes. Twilight's friends tease her for having a crush, but she denies it.

My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks
A human version of Twilight is seen in animated short clips in the trailer for the sequel My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks, performing lead vocals in the band, Sonic Rainbooms.

In the novelization, Twilight is actually still in Equestria and, in the end, imagines that she is performing with her Canterlot High friends.

Depiction in comics
In the IDW comics, Twilight Sparkle is depicted as a wingless unicorn even in comic books released as recently as November 13, 2013; IDW editor Bobby Curnow had not heard about Twilight becoming an Alicorn princess until the public announcement in late January 2013, and wrote on the IDW Publishing Forums on May 27, 2013 "As of right now, I have the same knowledge about Princess Twilight as any of you guys. So it's not something I would want to touch in the comics until after I better see how Season 4 handles it." Twilight is depicted as an Alicorn in the preview of Little Brown's chapter book Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell included in both IDW's and, on a display shown on  New York Comic Con exclusive Comics World cover RE, on a sketch card bundled with one of the deluxe hardcover releases of The Return of Queen Chrysalis and shown in My Little Pony Art Gallery page 15, on a My Little Pony: The Magic Begins cover, on 's Hot Topic cover, and on a My Little Pony Micro-Series Volume 1 cover. She is depicted as an Alicorn princess in the comics from onward;   Curnow wrote on the IDW Publishing Forums in late September 2013 "We've got the season 4 scripts, and I've read a good chunk of them, and feel like I have a good idea how alicorn Twilight will be handled", and wrote on The Round Stable forums in mid-November 2013 "If we're referencing an issue that happens in the past, there's no reason why we can't show wingless Twilight. It's not like the past has been erased, it's part of her history."

Trading cards
By virtue of her brother's marriage to Princess Cadance, Twilight was listed as royalty in trading cards of Cadance and Shining Armor before the finale of season three.

Hasbro.com description
''Dutiful and intelligent, Twilight Sparkle is obsessed with one thing: studying magic! She once studied so much, she made no time for anypony else. That is until her mentor, Princess Celestia charged her with the study of a special kind of magic--- friendship! Newly converted to the joys of having friends, she uses her knowledge and unusually powerful gift for magical spells to help her companions in Ponyville. Though sometimes she gets on her "high horse" about what's right or wrong, her eagerness to learn and lend a helping hoof endear her to her new friends in Ponyville, and when the going gets tough, her big brain and love for her friends transform her into a natural born leader!''

Hasbro.com second description
''Meet Princess Twilight Sparkle! Twilight was once charged by Princess Celestia to learn about the magic of friendship and report her findings to her royal highness. Her magic increased until the day she grew wings and became a princess! The ponies of Ponyville look up to Twilight for her intelligence and admire her courtly background. As a natural-born leader, Twilight cleverly utilizes all her friends' skills and talents to achieve their mission, and oftentimes discovers new things about herself and all her amazing friends!''

Hasbro.com Equestria Girls description
''Twilight Sparkle isn't exactly feeling like herself these days. Still, the brains of most operations, this perky princess won't let anything get into her way. Even if that means transporting to another universe to reunite old friends, expose Canterlot High's most feared villain, and unite the masses before the Fall Formal so she can take home the crown. But it's all in a day's work for Twilight Sparkle, and she will use all the skills she has: her determination, her charm, and her intelligence to get the job done. Well, that, and a little bit of magic!''

HubNetwork.com description
''Dutiful and intelligent, PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE is obsessed with one thing: studying magic! Though Twilight’s attention to detail can become overly neurotic at times, her eagerness to learn and lend a helping hoof endear her to her friends in PONYVILLE. Twilight's become not only an expert in magic, but in friendship as well - which transformed her into a powerful alicorn princess, a unicorn with wings.''

Teacher For a Day description
''Meet Twilight Sparkle! She loves to read and study. The Royal Princess Celestia of Equestria has charged Twilight with learning something new: the meaning of friendship! She has a powerful gift for magical spells and uses it to lead her new friends through adventures in Ponyville.''

There's no problem Twilight Sparkle can't solve, especially with the help of other ponies, a little bit of magic and guidance from Princess Celestia.

My Little Pony mobile game description
Princess Celestia's most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle loves to study and wants to learn everything about the magic of friendship.

My Little Pony magazine description

 * Intelligent
 * Artistic
 * Friendly
 * Worrywart
 * Caring

''Raised in the Queen's court in Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle is a born leader. She loves to study and wants to learn everything about the Magic of Friendship.''

The Elements of Harmony guidebook
''TWILIGHT SPARKLE has a love of learning unmatched in Equestria. She is a natural leader, a patient friend, an obsessive organizer, and an avid reader. Her home in Ponyville is above Golden Oak Library, where she also serves as librarian, assisted by Spike and her pet owl, Owlowiscious. Of the six Elements of Harmony, she represents the Element of Magic. As a young filly in Canterlot, she was chosen by Princess Celestia to study the highest form of magic as the princess's apprentice. Seeing Twilight value knowledge over friends, the princess sent Twilight to Ponyville to learn the magical properties of friendship. Because Twilight not only mastered magic but also created magic of her own through such friendship, she has been bestowed with wings and the title PRINCESS TWILIGHT''.

Promotional material
The Meet the Ponies page of an Australian My Little Pony Wedding promotional site uses fanart of Twilight Sparkle.

A Hasbro stand displayed at Brand Licensing Europe 2012 included a poster depicting Twilight Sparkle as an Alicorn. Jayson Thiessen was not involved with the creation of the poster.

The Hub announced on January 29 and 30, 2013, in an EW.com article, Twitter and Facebook posts, and a press release, Twilight Sparkle's coronation as a princess in the final episode of season three Magical Mystery Cure, on February 16, 2013. The article and both posts are accompanied by pictures of her with both wings and horn, a dress, princess-esque shoes, and a new version of the element of magic crown. The Twitter post and the picture accompanying both posts each include the hashtag "#PonyPrincess".

4th Dimension Entertainment plush description
''A book loving and studious unicorn, Twilight Sparkle was specially chosen by Princess Celestia to be her apprentice when Twilight Sparkle was just a filly. The Princess later sent Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship.''

''Twilight Sparkle is always there for her friends, eager to help and solve any problem that anypony has. Organized and clever to a fault, her stubborn and obsessive nature sometimes gets her into trouble. She tends to favor logic over intuition, believing in only what she can prove rationally, giving her a healthy desire to ask questions. This natural curiosity aids Twilight Sparkle well on her adventures, constantly helping her solve problems and learn new, exciting things. Each day brings another lesson, and her magical powers and circle of friends both continue to grow. She currently lives in the Golden Oak Library with her young dragon assistant, Spike, and pet owl named Owlowiscious.''

With her closest friends Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle completes the Elements of Harmony – the most powerful magic in all of Equestria.

Quotes
"All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?!"

- Friendship is Magic, part 1

"You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic!"

- Friendship is Magic, part 2

"Hee-hee! Isn't this exciting? We'll do everything by the book, and that will make my slumber party officially fun."

- Look Before You Sleep

"I'm doing scientific research. I'm observing Pinkie Pie, scientific name: Pinkius Piecus, in its natural habitat."

- Feeling Pinkie Keen

"Everypony everywhere has a special magical connection with her friends, maybe even before she's met them. If you're feeling lonely and you're still searching for your true friends, just look up in the sky. Who knows, maybe you and your future best friends are all looking at the same rainbow."

- The Cutie Mark Chronicles

"I can't believe we're finally here. With all that we've imagined, the reality of this night is sure to make this... The Best Night Ever!"

- The Best Night Ever

"Move! Look out, here comes Tom!"

- The Return of Harmony Part 2

"We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for."

- The Return of Harmony Part 2

"Clock is ticking, Twilight. Clock. Is. Ticking. Keep it together. If I can't find a friendship problem... I'll make a friendship problem!"

- Lesson Zero

"I'm Star Swirl the Bearded! Father of the amniomorphic spell? Did you even read that book I gave you about obscure unicorn history?"

- Luna Eclipsed

"I have to finish this report to the princess summarizing all my other reports to the princess."

- Baby Cakes

"Reading is something everypony can enjoy, if they just give it a try."

- Read It and Weep

"Gee, maybe her name should be "Princess Demandy-pants.""

- A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1

"Spike! I'm going to need you to quiz me on everything! Everything I've ever learned! Ever!"

- The Crystal Empire - Part 1

"Just a test? Just a test!? Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam, and you're trying to tell me to calm down because it's just a test?!"

- The Crystal Empire - Part 1

"Something tells me everything is not going to be fine."

- Magical Mystery Cure

"A little while ago, my teacher and mentor Princess Celestia sent me to live in Ponyville. She sent me to study friendship, which is something I didn't really care much about. But now, on a day like today, I can honestly say I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for the friendships I've made with all of you. Each one of you taught me something about friendship, and for that, I will always be grateful. Today, I consider myself the luckiest pony in Equestria. Thank you, friends. Thank you, everypony!"

- Magical Mystery Cure

"Just because I have this crown and these wings, it doesn't mean I'll be a good leader!"

- My Little Pony Equestria Girls

"The crown may be upon your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it, because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all: the magic of friendship!"

- My Little Pony Equestria Girls

"My new role in Equestria may mean I have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendships may be tested, but it will never, ever be broken."

- Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2

"A.K. Yearling and Daring Do are one and the same! My mind is officially blown!"

- Daring Don't

"So much for "element of surprise"."

- Power Ponies

"You know, choosing not to choose isn't really a decision."

- Rainbow Falls

"Wait a minute, I think I get it. You keep saying you let everypony down, but we all keep saying you didn't. You know who's disappointed in you, Spike? You, and only you can make it right with you again. What would that take, Spike?"

- Equestria Games