Starlight Glimmer's own personal account told in interview like style of her foalhood, how she was raised, how she came to believe what she believes, her adulthood, and all around what shaped her into the mare she is.
Starlight Glimmer, "What cause is more noble than equality and freedom? Since friendships are based on similarities, differences are the enemy of friendship."
Starlight (of My Little Pony Tales, G1,) "Now all anyone will think when they hear my name is HER! And the evil she's done! My name is mucked in SHAME twice over! No one will ever even REMEMBER! All they'll ever remember is that monster!"
Just how did Starlight Glimmer become a self-styled white knight of equality and freedom, and a complete and utter zealot against cutie marks.
OPTIONAL CANON to the Pony POV Series.
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It is interesting to notice the parallels with our real-world monsters (Herr Shickelgruber, Vladimir Ulyanov and Mao) that are placed in her origin along with the jab at middle management. This is a very good illustration of why the quiet boy (or girl) down the street who keeps their nose clean can be a real threat. The bit with Discord, it being your main schtick and all, did give me a chuckle.
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THANKS!!!
5883658
In her mind she was also likely protecting Equestria from the Sirens. And thank you!!
And in some place (or probably several) of the Cosmos, Rota Fortuna facehoofs and groans "Not this shit again"
When I started reading this, I expected some fan theory about cliche mistreatment. What I just read was an incredibly well-written first person account of a pony that, personally, was the best villain of MLP thus far. You showed a very possible backstory for Starlight Glimmer, and I especially like the throwback to Gen 1's Starlight that you made. The name changing also explains why so many pony names match their cutie marks so well, and I personally see this whole account as canon. Thank you for writing such an amazing story.
-Chaos Storm
5883830
You're likely right.
5883991
Thanks! I wanted to avoid Starlight being this way because she was hurt by someone.
Second, as a fan of My Little Pony Tales, I had to reconcile Glimmer and Starlight having the same name somehow.
There is of course another way to interpret this. Her elder brother was decent and likeable and hence able to attract a richer mare; her little sister's short-term conniving made her unpopular and other Ponies were disinclined to cooperate with her. But we already know that Starlight Glimmer is an unreliable narrator in the sense that she can't put aside her own major biases.
Regarding her other stories, simply wanting a talent doesn't logically mean that one gets it, nor that getting it would necessarily be the best outcome. Would the filly who wanted to be a pinball wizard necessarily have been happy with this being her lifelong destiny? Perhaps she turned out to be good at something more suited to her long-term personality and attributes. When I was a small child I wanted to be a super-strong berserker -- I'm not sure that this would have really been a good path for me to take!
The two similar fillies who wanted to develop techniques of flight for non-Pegasi ... perhaps they lacked the intelligence or discipline to do so. Perhaps they gave up too soon. Maybe their friendship simply wasn't that strong, given that one big mutual failure apparently wrecked it. Not everypony can be Spark Wheel. And cutting Spark's briliant engineering skills down to the average would make society as a whole poorer. We do not know what those fillies went on to do.
No, it's supposed to be life. Some friendships last, some don't. Some are dropped only to be resumed in the future; some are never repaired. Life's not perfect, and Ponies aren't perfect. Instead of constantly demanding perfect friendship, one should be happy for the friends one has and be good friends to them while one can still enjoy what one has with them. As is often the case, "the Perfect is the enemy of the Good."
Good dramatic irony. Trixie goes on to be quite a success, but first has to learn how to use her own talents to their best advantage rather than wish for ones she doesn't have, and she has to learn how to make friends; Rainbow Dash eventually learns to master the Sonic Rainboom. For extra humor value, in my fanon, the best friend Trixie ever makes is a Pony who has a soul-searching gaze as his primary talent, learns how to do card (and stage-mentalist) tricks, and by dint of hard work and making friends becomes the co-owner of a major theatre. And Piercing comes from humble origins, he starts out working on a traveling show.
Her conversations with White-Beard and Celestia count as "tragically missing the point." But then we knew that Starlight Glimmer was stubborn.
Oh, so she inspired her! Yeah, I can see Starlight of the Age of Wonders being unhappy to learn this ...
Starlight Glimmer, of course, here confuses "competition" and "debate" with "irresolvable conflict." And misses the point of diversity. Children have different desires at parties than do wedding guests (and I got the Shout Out there to Pinkie Pie and Cadance in "A Canterlot Wedding," but then Cadance in canon finds formality necessary but tiresome).
I'm guessing that her special innate talent is for mental or destiny-changing magic in general, and this was but one of its possible applications. This means, ironically, that Starlight Glimmer's own success contradicted her theory -- she pushed her innate talent and chose one of its many possible manifestations, the same way that Rarity's aesthetic sense and gem-dowsing might have been applied to geology, gemology or architecture rather than fashion design -- Rarity chose fashion design. Naturally, Starlight Glimmer misses the implications of her own actions.
I like these origin stories. I like that you show why they were originally willing to sign on to Starlight's philosophy in the beginning, and the obvious alternate paths they could have taken to succeed despite having made mistakes in the past.
I got from the episode that Double Diamond was special to her.
Yes, I imagine that Starlight Glimmer would be in law-vs.-chaos terms pretty Lawful, and so would the Spell of Sameness. This is an excellent example of why Lawful doesn't have to be Good (I'd actually rate her as Lawful Neutral in D&D terms, which is an excellent example of why D&D alignment systems can't describe everything in enough detail to understand them).
I liked the way you showed how Changelings would intersect (and conflict) with Starlight Glimmer's philosophy and the Spell of Sameness.
The story really sounds like it needs another chapter, or a sequel.
5884117
Oh? Tell me more about them.
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Starlight Glimmer, "No, what did you tell me? That my vision for an equal Equestria is beautiful?"
Starlight, "Hm?"
5884167
Night Glider might have chosen a use of her talents as a flier that wasn't about competitional or show athletics. Party Favor might have moved out of art into entertainment, or even into something where he could use his balloons as emergency supplies in support of somepony else (search and rescue, maybe?) Sugar Belle could have gone into specialty baking, finding a niche that the chain store wasn't serving -- or she might have become a specialty supplier for the chain store. And Double Diamond didn't have to alienate everypony who cared about him to excel as a skier.
They fell into their traps through lack of imagination in the application of their talent, and Starlight Glimmer -- with her bias -- was only too ready and willing to blame it on the mere existence of Cutie Marks.
What about communist? Also, evil, is fairly subjective. I don't approve of what you did, but still.
Oh really?
In society's defense, they've had cutie marks far longer than your Equal Marks have existed, and ponies tend to like being able to stick to what they know.
Again, subjective.
Elaborate.
And yet in more than once case, said cutie marks allow them to be happy doing what they love, Pinkie loves making others happy and is a Super Duper Party Pony, Applejack loves apples, and she's an Apple jack-of-all-trades. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.), Rarity enjoys gems, and her talent is finding and using them. Dash loves going fast, and she's a racer at heart, and her cutie mark is racing.
Again, what if it makes you happy? I'm more than willing to concede that there might be such a thing as getting a cutie mark you don't like, I won't elaborate further in case anyone reading this hasn't seen the latest episode of Season 5.
I think you think you're an ally, not an alley.
How so?
Ah.
Halfway house?
All this talk of middle seems like it's leading to something else.
92.
You are aware it's not always like that?
ResponsibilIty. Life is rarely fair.
Not particularly, but, your middle filly thing did remind me of Trixie, who shares a few similarities to you, she has a brother, a sister, well,sisters, is a unicorn with a connection to Twilight, is a middle filly, but your views and talents are fairly different.
Once again, fair enough.
The Force works in mysterious ways. That, and would the kid have been happy in the long term with getting a pinball pro cutie mark?
Your bias is showing.
No worries, Miss Glimmer.
Which is perfectly normal. Mind you a single incident CAN have a lasting impact on a pony, a prime example, would be The Jester (my headcanon name for the Pony equivalent of The Joker) and his "One Bad Day".
I know what you mean.
That sounds a lot like Nightmare logic.
I see. And studYING, not studier. Also, as Mr Jordan179 said, not everypony is destined to be the quote unquote "inventer of the wheel."
No, it's supposed to be life, things like this happen.
I see. Seriously though, what is a halfway house?
If it helps, we ALL have moments like that.
Face their parents' dissapointment. You can remove the the and extra space. And again, life isn't fair.
Hm.
Trixie and Twilight.
Like I said, life isn't fair.
And why not?
Ah.
Middle again.
Poor Trixie.
Hilarious thing is, Trixie eventually became an Element of Magic, and Rainbow Dash, both in the main Pony POV timeline and Dark World/Light World, have mastered the Sonic Rainboom.
Twilight, and in the show, that magic got her out of many a tight jam.
Because it can also produce Twilight Sparkle.
I see. And it'e slEight of hoof.
Shocker.
You have no idea.
You want the short answer or the long one?
Or you could do it for me, suck all the fun out of it why dontcha.
Tragically Missing The Point, check.
No you won't.
Now if you'd done that, she might be happier.
Hm.
That's why.
More like she literally can't.
You are a sad strange little mare. Well, not that little, I mean, you're roughly normal unicorn size, and while your hairstyle is rather unique, it doesn't detract from anything. Though many have pointed out the physical similarities between you and one of the Sirens from legend, you have the same color scheme.
I'm sure.
That'd be a yes.
Nope.
*le shrug*
Even a low level can beat an elite if they train hard enough, to paraphrase Goku. Also, the reason they're all different, is for the sake of variety.
Downright infuriating, not A downright infuriating. And yeah, I can see what you mean. Though knowing Mr Warlorn's style, I can't help but feel that's a Take That at something.
G2?
CallED operation. And it's software, Miss Glimmer, and flash drives.
WitH the end. And because you're a zealot.
Who are you talking about?
Hm.
Let me f*cking guess, the original Starlight?
Fair enough.
And thus was born the villain of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Season 5's premiere's villain. And my name would BE Starlight Glimmer.
We'll see.
And cue Starlight complaining about her counterpart.
Ever thought that ponies are happy the way they are?
Not a madmare huh?
Yes, but gradually, I doubt ponies will take it well if they have all they are sued to ripped away from them just like that.
Calm down Miss Glimmer, you're starting to get worked up.
Says the pony who is all about being average.
That's different.
Breaking brainwashing is not violation, brainwashing like you are doing IS however.
I see.
*rolls eyes*
You realize by that logic, that there are no winners, and everypony loses.
Fair enough. Also, not sure sublime is the word you want.
Hm. Also, one them.
Night Glider.
Party Favor. (My headcanon is that his balloon art cutie mark gives him slight toon powers, similar to Pinkie or Cheese, but on a much smaller scale and it only applies to his balloons.
Sugar Belle.
Reminds me of Sunset in a sense.
Red my lips Glimmy, Z-E-A-L-O-T!
Good Lord I traded Vegeta for this.
I'm reminded of Harrison Bergeron, ever heard of it, Hadicapper General?
One word for ya, lady, equinox.
Makes sense, Glimmer is either Lawful Neutral or Evil, and her Spell of Sameness seems to be as Orderly as it gets, the opposite of Discord, even on a good day.
That explains it.
Interesting.
Normally, yes.
A parallel between Chrysalis and Starlight Glimmer. Not sure what's worse, the comparison, or the fact that they are similar in more ways than one. And dictatED them.
One comma between one and the impostOrs. Also, "We are The Borg, Resistance Is Futile."
Hm.
Pity you didn't.
Must be hard for them.
Good idea, I sincerely doubt you could beat Chrysalis, heck, the Mane 6 and co barely did.
GOod.
*pouts* Fine.
This reminds me of Celestia in a twisted way.
Makes me wonder how she'd react to the original Starlight chewing her out?
No, you are Starlight Glimmer, and you are a ZEALOT.
(Well, this was fun, seeing your take on Starlight Glimmer, our latest villain, and a totally different one to every other villain, to the point where this 2 parter doesn't even fit the "checklist" of tropes used in previous 2 parters. I look forward to seeing how you may or may not incorporate Miss Nightmare Anti Cutie Mark into the main universe. In the meantime, this is ShadowLDrago, signing off.)
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^ This guy. You win the Internet sir.
5884167
Wait, Starlight is Suri Polomare's sis?
5885292
For readers to decide.
5885291
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfway_house
5885328
Ah.
5885291
?????
I was thinking more of Twilight one night saving the world with the girls.
Starlight, "Hm?"
Ironically, if Glimmer had gotten to KNOW HER, she'd find out Trixie was everything she thought a unicorn should be! Average in everything!
Dude. I know you hate G3. But what do you have against MLPTs?
Starlight Glimmer, "How so?"
????
I have.
5885291
Didn't Luna say that getting a cutie mark you don't like would mean that you don't like YOURSELF?
Rather like the Zombuktos in Bleach.
5885375
Sorry, just a little hobby, I keep an imaginary list of how many times I've heard certain themes, you'd be amazed how many time I've heard "such and such is more helpful than the Princess" or stuff.
Fair enough.
I'd rather not talk about it.
I know. I know.
Nothing in particular, I just wrote this while I was rather frustrated and while I know this is your thing, all the references to previous generations can get a bit tedious, no offense.
For one, doctors remove the harmful part of a virus that allows it to multiply, and as for violence, let me put it this way, if somepony tried to hurt your mother, would you do anything in your power to protect her?
One of TFS Frieza's lines, it's basically exasperation mixed with disbelief.
I was talking to Starlight Glimmer.
I think.
Who the hell is that?
5885419
http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Zanpakutō
I really like this. There were some typoes I think, but in terms of content? It was fantastic. You made Starlight sympathetic, and hit some great points as to how she would arrive at that philosophy, while still making her a villain.
I mean, its told from her PoV, but I don't think anyone can read about ponies screaming, or her trying to find out the changeling conversion process and still think she's a hero. Starlight is a complicated villain, and this feels like a nuanced take on her.
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Thanks! I wanted her to be more than 'something bad happened to me, so I do bad things.'
An excellently written piece as always.
Although how the Equally crippled wrecks managed to catch and hold changelings I have not the faintest idea.
5886988
Element of surprise. Superior numbers. Having a turn coat that they trusted completely.
When I first saw Cutie Map, I remember thinking it reminded me of a Pony POV episode. Faux-cheerful creepy opening, dark and edgy middle and happy ending? Check. Complex villain with a coherent ideology and goals, who breaks into the hero's exposition with her own? Check. "Background" ponies getting fleshed out and ultimately saving the day, instead of just the Mane 6 doing everything while everyone else stands around? Check. The only thing it was missing was the villainous origin story, which was supplied here.
As you can tell, I love your origin for Glimmer, and I love the idea that she was inspired by the original Starlight. Heck, I think G1 Starlight is being a little harsh on Glimmer, they aren't THAT different, and Glimmer never changed anyone's gender.
Oh, and I definitely agree that there was some sort of special relationship between Starlight Glimmer and Double Diamond. I don't know if they were "equal-someponies," but he definitely was her 2nd in command and enforcer.
I do hope we see more stories about what Our Town was like. One thing I've been wondering about: Remember Magical Mystery Cure, when Fluttershy almost went home to Cloudsdale because she hated "her" cutie mark? Can you imagine if she had somehow ended up at Our Town instead of Cloudsdale?
5890145
You thought of MY fanfiction when watching a season premiere episode?! I'm blushing!!!
*Starlight Angel breaks down crying being reminded how her unconscious dislike of her failed relationship erased an entire gender!*
As to your what if scenario. Fluttershy would have become Starlight Glimmer's minion faster than you can say "Welcome to Our Town."
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS COMMENT!
5890217 I wonder if the = sign removes the Stare? If not, the conversion shack would probably no longer be necessary.
5890227
That is a disturbing thought.
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Starlight, "What do you mean? That feels like forever ago, I can't remember."
I don't quite get the stuff with the changelings, though I suppose it's part of some larger part of the universe you write these things in, but regardless this story is really interesting. Since the premier I've really liked Starlight Glimmer as Well-Intentioned Extremist type of antagonist and this lines up with that idea perfectly. I don't know how closely it will match any future revelations about the character, but this certainly is a cool take on her story and a great character exploration. This one is going on my list of favorites!
5908527
Agreed. She's more interesting as a fanatic with a Messiah Complex than a female Flim and Flam.
I really liked your take on her origins. You should write some more stories involving Glimmer some time.
6321979
Thanks. I wanted her to explicitly not to have a freudian excuse in the traditional sense, she comes to this conclusion logically and rationally in her way, and she does what she does cause she thinks she's a hero.
5884117
Not sure what a sequel would be, or the next chapter would be. And I've learned adding stuff to stories that wasn't intended to have stuff added to is a BAD IDEA.
She lied.
@Starlight: You do realize this kind of equality leads to replacability.
6798924 Starlight, "Which means we won't lose any friends! Yippie!"
Now I just want a sequel where Pane "Starlight" Glimmer meets the real Starlight, who as we know would not be happy with this behaviour at all.
Considering her behaviour in Cutie Re-mark, I think she'd either (a) collapse in grief over her role model not being everything she imagined her to be
, (b) go completely bonkers over her role-model being as insane as the rest of the ponies in the world 
or the most likely option (c) both because Starlight Glimmer does nothing by halves.
6931940
One of Princess Amicitia's visit to the grim dark worlds HAS HER meeting Starlight The First as a final resort measure to get her to come to her senses in the Friendship is Equality verse when the stakes and ante just keep rising!
6931957
Says the most extreme extremist this side of the nearest nightmare.
7573196
The biggest absolute is the absolute middle.