Starlight used to be a horrible pony. Enslaving an entire town as its dictator? Preventing the Sonic Rainboom from ever happening? Nearly destroying Equestria as we know it? Very few things come close. But there's one thing Starlight is certain of: she's still the same magically-gifted, intelligent pony, and she hasn't lost sight of herself in that regard.
So then why does Twilight believe that Starlight was acting irrationally up until the point of the latter's redemption? You may agree with that assessment, but not Starlight, she even takes offence to this kind of allegation. She wasn't somehow "less rational" when she was a villain. Right?
Chapters (1)
Now watch as the comments gets turned into a discussion area.
Enslaving that town is actually debatable. In what sense was it even enslaved? From their perspective, Starlight would be as weak as them because they didn't know she had her cutie mark. They could have rebeled at any time. Since they were already markless the 'stick' would have been useless and if Starlight actually used any power to try to keep them there, she would have revealed she was lying, which would have resulted in them chasing her out anyway.
They did and took over when they did know she had all her abilities. So from their perspective, when they didn't know she was still powerful, it would have been even easier.
Which doesn't matter because every pony there willingly gave up their cutie mark until the Mane 6 arrived. Remember, the ones that actually wanted their marks back said that the removal was a beautiful experience. Not something someone who was forced to do it would say.
Plus there is no proof that she even held that ideology throughout her past. The village and cutie mark thing was only a few months old when the Mane 6 arrived there. So it is very possible there was a lot more that lead to that outcome than just a friend leaving. Twilight did ask what started it, (Not the whole story) meaning it was just one thing in a series of events that eventually lead to that.
This story was so beautiful and thought-provoking, great job!
I liked this. it got really wordy, a little too much for either character to feel in-character, but that's a given with these philosophical musings.
Going into this I was afraid it'd be a Starlight bash-fic, but I'm glad to see otherwise. It respected her background even though it was wrong. The thing a lot of people missed, is Starlight created her village, in essence, so she would never be alone again. Taking that into account, despite what she did it's sad she was so broken by her own self-damaging rational for doing this.
A lot of people still hate her for what she did, but, considering she really was just a misguided soul lashing out, I'm glad she was given a genuine chance to start her adulthood over again.
Interesting outlook and I love that you have a strong philosophical discussion framed in formal logic.
How delicious.
8555527
The show itself said that Starlight enslaved the village.
—S5Ep25, The Cutie Re-Mark Part 1
—S7Ep2, All Bottled Up
—S7Ep4, Rock Solid Friendship
Starlight had a point in her world view. When's the last time you saw a pony with a cutie mark for garbage disposal being treated with equal esteem to a pony with a cutie mark for quantum physics?
8557228
Every here of exaggeration? Ponies and people do that. If you actually watched the town part, she dudn't actually enslave the town. She was the one who built it from the ground up. And every pony arrived a willingly gave up there marks. The fact that the ponies that actually wanted their marks back said it was a beautiful experience should clue you in to that fact. Not exactly something somepony would say if they were forced into it. And when they find out she still has her mark. They don't yell 'You stole our marks' or 'You brainwashed us'. They say 'You lied to us'. They were mad she lied about not having her mark.
And how would she even have done that anyway? From there perspective, she was just as powerless and weak as everypony else. Nothing was stopping them from getting their marks and leaving. The only way Starlight would be able to stop them is too reveal she still has her mark. But then the gig would be up.
God, MLP fans are idiots.
8555682
People forget that despite how they act, they are still ponies. A herd animal. They actually need to be with other ponies or another creature. They will become anxious, flighty, and hard to manage if they are isolated. They require a stable companion for company and to reduce stress. Sound familiar? Being isolated like she was very well could have driven her off the deep end. It is the best backstory because that is exactly how it works with ponies, and any other horse species. No companship is ones of the things that cause them to develop psychological problems and bad habits. It's obvious that is what they were going for.
Doesn't the bold parts sound like a certain lilac unicorn? It's a brilliant backstory because they are using a real problem ponies can suffer from.
8645660
You're reading too much into it. Starlight was the de facto leader of the town, her word was law, and no pony was allowed to leave, regardless if they wanted to or not; many of them were obviously not themselves (probably due to brainwashing). Locking up the main six in a tiny room and playing propaganda to them sounds like enslavement.
Okay there, bud.
8645869
8645660
By technical definition, it isn't enslavement, by social definitions it is. Happy now?
Of course you aren't, this is the internet.
Oh author (or other person, if you can), may I please have some of these arguments set up in formal logical structure? Pwetty pwease?
8652522
Sure, go ahead. It's not like these arguments are trademarked or anything.
8652911
No no, you misunderstand. I'm lazy and was asking someone else to do it for me.
But i guess I could do it myself too. I'll put that on my to-do list.
Mwhahahaha! YES I FEED OFF OF THEOLOGICAL DISCUSSIONS , 10/10
Awesome arrangement and elocution of this fic, I would love to see more.
Although I disagreed with some of your views I felt that this was a very well put together expression of thought
Great job with character portrayal as well
Inept.
My one criticism, small though it may be, is that the voices of twilight and starlight didn't seem like their show counterparts. Perhaps that's a bit inevitable with going deep into a philosophical argument, but I think it's a genuine place the fic could be improved.
But overall? Pretty flippin' fantastic. I'm certainly a sucker for intellectual/philosophical debates like this one. They both made some good points (I think, anyway), and it certainly left me with some food for thought regardless.
While this is certainly a niche style of fic that I can't see going big, I sill very much love it, despite my earlier criticism.
9054893
Could you... Elaborate? I feel like there's more that can be added to the discussion if you specify how the author can do better.
Name-calling helps no one. It doesn't help the author know how to improve, and it doesn't add to the discussion.
Thoughts exist.
There's no requirement that they need a thinker in order to do so.
Cons: Rubbish. They don't make us us, they only make us worse
You can has review!