Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle is a unicorn pony and the lead character of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Her hometown is Canterlot, where she used to study under Princess Celestia. She represents the Element of Magic.

Personality
When she was ordered by Princess Celestia to see to the arrangements of the Summer Sun Celebration, Twilight was formerly averse to making friends in Ponyville. Priding herself on being Princess Celestia's dearest pupil, she had devoted all of her time to studying and none to making friends (or any other activities, for that matter) until learning of Nightmare Moon's legend. Twilight thought she could handle Nightmare Moon alone until her then-aquaintances insisted on aiding her with the task. After seeing the lengths the others would go for her, she began to open up and realize that she couldn't defeat Nightmare Moon alone since, without her newly found friends, she would never have been able to survive the Everfree Forest let alone take on the fallen princess by herself. This realization helped her to garner trust in her companions and, in turn, unlock the Elements of Harmony needed to save Equestria from eternal night.

While Twilight possesses a wealth of book-knowledge, she is rather bookish and has a relative lacking of social skills; she can appear simultaneously worldly and naive because of this, as demonstrated by her first slumber party during which she employed an instructional book on such topic. When a tree toppled through her bedroom window, she was at a loss for ideas because this detail was not in her book (albeit because she was new to the idea of slumber parties and did not want to remove the tree from her premises only to discover it was a regular part of the slumber party experience). On the other hand, she took part in her first long-distance running event after having only read about the sport, and used the results of her studies to come in fifth place out of a large field of more athletic competitors.

Twilight is the most educated of all her friends by far, and tends to take a practical approach to solving problems. She is straightforward and honest, but is prone to sarcasm when her friends are being unreasonable. She is also prone to skepticism in things she does not believe in. Despite being highly intelligent and having extraordinary magical power, she remains very humble and modest, not wanting to outshine her friends or make a big deal out of her talents. Despite her initial aversion to the concept of friendship, she treasures her friends more than anything, and always does her best to be a good friend in return.

She is also very tidy and organized, and is seen on many occasions cleaning up her house, sorting her library, and helping with the cleaning and preparations of different events in Ponyville.

Hubworld description
''For a unicorn who's new to the magic of friendship, Twilight Sparkle gets an "A+." She uses her magical powers to help her friends, and she's always ready to lend a helping hoof. Sometimes she gets on her high horse, but her love for her pals makes her a natural leader.''

History
Twilight tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders in The Cutie Mark Chronicles how, as a young filly in Canterlot, she always wanted to go to the Summer Sun Celebration. There, she witnessed Princess Celestia raising the sun, and it inspired her to read a great deal and learn everything she could about magic. Her parents decided to enroll her in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but there was one catch: she had to pass an entrance exam. Under the supervision of four teacher ponies, she had to use her magic to hatch a dragon's egg. Despite her best initial efforts, the egg did not hatch, and it looked unlikely that she would be accepted into the school. Just then, Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom startled her and caused her horn to fire off a powerful beam, hatching the egg into the infant Spike.

Twilight was unable to control her raw magical power, causing it to overload and fire off a flurry of troublesome, random spells. Princess Celestia took notice of this and quickly arrived to quell Twilight's magic. Twilight apologized, but Princess Celestia was not upset; instead, she recognized Twilight's power. She recommended that Twilight learn to tame her abilities through focused study, and offered to take Twilight as her own personal protege at the school, which explains her particularly affectionate attitude towards her. Ecstatically, Twilight accepted the offer, and at that moment, her cutie mark appeared.

Skills
Twilight, being a unicorn, has shown to be exceptionally skilled with her magic. Unicorns tend to only possess a small amount of magic that suits whatever talent they have, but Twilight, being the wielder of the element of magic, has proven herself to be a very powerful magician. She appears to have shown mastery at telekinesis, being able to simultaneously move dozens of apples at a time in Applebuck Season, and hold an Ursa Minor while moving a water tower in Boast Busters. She can also cast spells that control animals' behavior as in Swarm of the Century, and she ignites into flames both in Friendship is Magic, part 1 and Feeling Pinkie Keen, though these instances are more likely cartoon stylization.

It was confirmed that Twilight's ability is unusual in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, where Celestia states that she's never seen her level of raw ability in a unicorn before, significant considering that she has been alive for more than a millennium. However, it can occasionally go out of control, as seen in Winter Wrap Up and Swarm of the Century. This indicates Twilight's control over her magic is not yet perfected and she is more likely to lose control when she's under stress.

Twilight can also teleport short distances (generally no more than a few feet), and has been shown doing this several times in Applebuck Season. She does so again in The Ticket Master without intending it to happen (perhaps implying this is her "personal" spell). It was also done when she charged Nightmare Moon in Friendship is Magic, part 2. She can also create light and mustaches on others' faces, and transform apples into carriages, mice into horses, and rocks into formal attire. Spike boasts about Twilight's magical powers quite frequently and notes that she can do at least 25 different kinds of magic. Later in the episode in which this is stated, she learns another one while attempting to tame the Ursa Minor (mistaken for a Ursa Major at the time).

Her organizational skills are quite impressive as well; in Winter Wrap Up, she is able to coordinate the actions of several different pony groups and make them more efficient as a whole, allowing them to finish the Winter Wrap Up on schedule for the first time in years. The mayor of Ponyville is so impressed with her, she makes Twilight Sparkle the official organizer of the pony teams for all future Winter Wrap Ups.

As for areas in which she lacks, while she was shown to be extremely quick at organizing the raw materials for the bird's nests in Winter Wrap Up into neat little piles, the result of her work was shown to be so inept that Rarity spent most of the day trying to fix it. The same episode depicts her dearth in physical strength, with her being unable to even move the snowploughs that many stallions had pulled the entire day, partially uphill. In Fall Weather Friends, it is shown that even her close friends place no confidence whatsoever in her athletic abilities, and they are surprised that she would even think about entering the Running of the Leaves without any previous experience in the sport. Based only on her book learning, she places fifth and considers this a good result for her first race.

On the other hand, her ability to research quickly and efficiently and remember pieces of knowledge she has picked up "just in case" may be uncanny enough to be listed as a skill of its own.

Relationships
Princess Celestia – Twilight is the student of Celestia, who is responsible for her relocation to Ponyville. They seem to share a familial bond, and Twilight has great respect for the Princess. She feels a need to please Celestia that borders on obsession. She is afraid to be embarrassed in front of her or get her angry, even though the Princess has not yet been shown to retaliate to any of her or her friends' mischief.

Rarity – Twilight has been on the receiving end of Rarity's makeovers multiple times. Rarity is one of three participants in Twilight's first sleepover. Twilight admires Rarity for her generosity; Rarity, in turn, admires Twilight's intellect and magical prowess. Both being unicorns, they have shared their magical skills with one another, as shown in the events of A Dog and Pony Show.

Fluttershy – Twilight is extremely confident in Fluttershy's natural empathy with animals, even more so than Fluttershy herself.

Rainbow Dash – Twilight has been shown to be impressed by Rainbow Dash's cloud-clearing abilities, and considers Rainbow to be a brave pony.

Applejack – Twilight has been seen to appreciate Applejack's hard work, offering to help her with farmwork on at least one occasion. The two have a few things in common (e.g. being hardworking and stubborn).

Pinkie Pie – Twilight seems to enjoy being around Pinkie Pie most of the time, but is quick to show her disinterest in Pinkie's antics when focused on studying. At the beginning of Griffon the Brush Off she reads a book and pretends to agree with everything Pinkie Pie says in a deadpan tone; similarly in The Best Night Ever, Pinkie talks to Twilight enthusiastically while Twilight tries to concentrate on her studying. Twilight occasionally gets frustrated with Pinkie's randomness when she does stuff Twilight can't figure out, but Pinkie Pie takes her outbursts when that happens in stride.

Spike – Spike is Twilight's assistant and closest companion, having been hatched when a filly Twilight was in the process of taking an entrance exam to get into a school for gifted unicorns. Although Twilight tends to not show gratitude to Spike on several occasions, she seems to be genuinely appreciative of Spike as both an assistant and friend. They share a lot of friendly banter and spend a good deal of time together, often with Spike riding on Twilight's back. Spike also serves as a channel of communication between Twilight and Princess Celestia via scrolls, which he often reads as well.

Zecora – While everyone in Ponyville was convinced that Zecora is "an evil enchantress", she and Apple Bloom simply wished to understand her. Later, when the "evidence" showed Zecora was going to eat Apple Bloom, Twilight began to share their beliefs briefly prior to Zecora and Apple Bloom setting things straight. Twilight and the other ponies then apologized to her and helped her reputation as a respectable visitor of Ponyville. Twilight visits Zecora every now and again.

Owlowiscious – Twilight's pet horned owl. His first and only appearance was in Owl's Well That Ends Well.

Twilight's Parents – Delighted at their daughter's magical talent, they approved of her abilities and decided to enroll her into a school for gifted unicorns.

Appearances
Twilight has appeared in every episode so far. She is the only character to hold this distinction.

Gallery



 * Complete image gallery for Twilight Sparkle.

Trivia

 * Twilight Sparkle is both based on the Generation 1 Unicorn Pony named Twilight, who appeared in the pilot episode Rescue at Midnight Castle with the colors appearance of the Generation 3 Earth Pony named Twilight Twinkle, except for the mane and tail. While Twilight is known to have magic to teleport by wishing and Twilight Twinkle likes to watch the fireflies, Twilight Sparkle shares both aspects of both of these ponies, but being more of a knowledgeable and powerful magician.
 * Her name is a combination of Twilight, a term for the time of day before sunrise or after sunset and Sparkle, a little/tiny spark of light.
 * A few people find her name humorous because of Stephenie Meyer's novel  Twilight. (The vampires in the series are known to sparkle in the sunlight).
 * Twilight runs away from some bats and snakes in Winter Wrap Up, and gets startled by an alligator (specifically, Pinkie's toothless pet Gummy) in Feeling Pinkie Keen. Due to this, it's possible she may be phobic and/or afraid of these creatures.
 * When Twilight became enraged in Feeling Pinkie Keen and when she drank some hot sauce in Friendship is Magic, part 1, her appearance became similar to that of the Pokémon Rapidash.
 * Interestingly, the voice actresses of Twilight and Pinkie Pie/Fluttershy have both voiced Marvel Comic's character, X-23.
 * Despite her intelligence, Twilight Sparkle apparently has difficulty finding books, even when they are well organized.