Talk:Diamond Tiara/@comment-13642021-20151010164820/@comment-10390252-20151013092752

Depending on whether you take the comics as canon, Sunset got it into her head that Equestria needed a defender and that it was her. She demanded power so that she could be that defender because, in the end, there was nopony else suited to the role (certainly not her well-intentioned but ultimately weak-willed mentor).

It's not exactly a sensible or even particularly sane chain of reasoning but it does fit in with my headcanon that Sunset was and still suffers from narcissistic paranoia. This is why she has such strong mood swings and why she took the whole issue with magic in Friendship Games so very, very personally.

In terms of Diamond Tiara, it's a lot simpler. Nopony is naturally a bigot; they need to be taught to be one. Spoiled Rich did that to Diamond Tiara. That was the point of having her utter all the same slurs as we've heard from her daughter's mouth. All Diamond Tiara was doing was imitating her mother like any filly naturally would, under the comprehensible belief that this is how good ponies should behave. The Crusaders helped her suddenly realise that in no way was her mother 'normal' or worthy of emulation.