Season 5 Finale (Obvious spoilers) · 5:24pm Nov 28th, 2015
In terms of finales this one was...eh.
I mean, it was cool seeing a couple of villains again that we haven't seen in a REALLY long time (Chrysieeeeee~ 
) but the way time travel is explained here...makes little sense. (If the Rainboom not happening made Twilight not hatch Spike's egg, shouldn't that make Spike like, fade from existence? Or are those that time travel not affected by the changes? It's never explained.) But lets face it, time travel stories are nearly impossible to get right so I'll give them credit for trying. Though seeing all those alternate timelines was kinda cool (Especially crystal empire war Rainbow Dash. 
)
And oh goodie yet ANOTHER villain being reformed. I've complained about this before so I won't do it much again here. No. What REALLY bugs me is that after all the shit Starlight's done, she gets off COMPLETELY UNPUNISHED "because friendship". They at least got this right when they reformed Sunset Shimmer, having her punishment be that she had to repair the school and everything but Starlight? Nope. Apparently if you try to tear apart the fabric of time and space as we know it, you'll be just fine and everypony will love you immediately .
(Speaking of character reformation, I've been asked if I feel bad for writing Discord Vs. Diamond now that we know why Diamond was bad. My answer?....Nope. 
)
Those are really my only major gripes. Wasn't bad but wasn't really my favorite either. That still probably goes to the season 2 or 4 finale, it's too hard for me to really decide that.
Agree with me, disagree with me, whatever. I actually like hearing opinions.
Aaaaand now another hiatus....
I can't believe I didn't address this here. The writer also made Starlight WAY too OP in this episode. The only reason they did this was so that beating her with words would be the only way to beat her and to lead to a reformation that was way too rushed and the motivation for Starlight turning the way she was was completely unrealistic.
I take it back. Despite some parts of this episode being cool, this is the worst finale by far. All because of the rushed ending mostly.
I know, I find it annoying as well (the redemption thing).
3575783 I don't mind so much that she was redeemed in the first place, whatever. But I DO mind that it was way too rushed, the mane six accepted her into their circle immediately without any form of skepticism at all (unlike Discord where they were skeptical as all hell, but seeing how Discord acted, it was warranted). It basically says that there will be no consequences for the actions you do, no matter how bad, as long as you're sad enough. That is a TERRIBLE message.
Also, Starlight's reason for turning to her equality ideology was really stupid.
3575848 So out of the alternate bad futures, which one is your favorite? Mine was Discord's.
3575852 Mine probably would've been Discord's if it wasn't for the fact we only saw a few seconds worth of it. Probably my favorite would be between Chrysie's or Sombra's. (Sombra's has badass Rainbow, and Chrysalis just showed Chrysalis after not seeing her for three seasons...only one problem. They took out the intimidating echo in her voice. Whyyyyy?
)
3575939 I agree about what they did to Chrysalis's voice. WORST! DECISION! EVER!
I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of echo in Chrysalis's voice, but, for the whole Starlight thing, ponies as a whole, as 5 seasons have shown, are ridiculously forgiving. And I get the feeling it wasn't quite that simple, it was a song montage. I kinda hope next season, Discord reminds her that if she screws up and hurts Shy, things will end poorly for her. As for Ponyville, they didn't know about Starlight. Either way, it'd be interesting to see an episode in Season 6 with our reformed villains, Luna, Discord, Sunset and Starlight, besides, Sunset's adorable and Discord is hilarious, it'd be fun if only for that.
3577438 Ponies are meant to be forgiving yes. But not THIS forgiving. Even before the song montage, they all let her into their group with all smiles and no skepticism. Hell, even with the ponies in her previous town only took a whopping one second to forgive her. This is not a good reformation. Not to mention Starlight abandoned her entire lifestyle and way of thinking in the matter of only a few seconds. This was really bad writing and a completely unrealistic way to go about it.
Even if the writers take full advantage of this reformation in season 6, that doesn't excuse the way it was introduced.
i think the time travel works on multiverse theory. Also fuck starlight they play her as a clever villain with a plan but she is so stupid.
3577723
Again, montage, it's basically a condensed version of what happened, besides, seeing that barren landscape with absolutely nothing must have shaken her up more than she cared to admit.
3577846 I honestly thought she was fine in the season 5 premiere. In the finale though, she was at her worst. I can't tell if she was just victim of bad writing in this finale or what, but come on.
This finale is just one of those things I wish would be retconned. Not for the fact that Starlight is joining the mane cast, I don't give a shit about that. It just seems this finale goes out of its way to make Starlight a Mary Sue. Just look at the stuff that happened here:
-Overpowered as fuck to the point where Twilight (AN ALICORN) can only beat her with her words.
-Is way too quick to give up her lifestyle
-Has shitty motivation that's played off as justified
-Is accepted into the group with no conflict or questioning.
-Suffers no consequences for the terrible things she's done
...Yeah. Writers, you can do better than this.
3577857 The whole montage thing now that I look at it actually makes the reformation worse because it gives the writer an excuse to not have to show anypony slowly warming up and to Glimmer and building their friendship up. It just leads to an overly sappy and annoying ending. That's not just bad writing, that's lazy writing.
3577886
I can't help but feel the need to point out that there's only so much they can do in the time frame given, and B, fanfic fuel, heck, I was planning on maybe writing a little fic about Starlight trying to make amends with Double Diamond and the other Our Towners. Besides, since Castle Mania, you have to admit, Josh Haber, who wrote this, has gotten a lot better.
3577889 Agreed that Josh Haber is a good writer. But it's entirely possible for a good writer to write a bad episode once in a while. Also, they didn't NEED to show Starlight's entire reformation in this one span of 24 minutes, they could have saved most of it for next season which I think would have been a lot better. I'm sure they'll take full advantage of Starlight being reformed next season because they do tend to expand on this kind of thing after it happens (Discord's reformation, Twilight's wings, etc.) but when a reformation is done like this, it leaves an awful taste in my mouth.
3577914
That's fine, much like most reformations in the show, it was a bit rushed, however, it'd be interesting to see her and Sunset interact, reformed unicorn to reformed unicorn, and maybe Discord interacting as well as the one who's been reformed the longest. Not that's not just to see how Starlight and Sunset would react to Discord. *shifty eyes*
3577920 I really would love to see Sunset in the show at some point, but given that the writers can't seem to decide whether Equestria Girls is canon or not, I don't see that happening. Which really sucks because I would LOVE that.
3577926
Eh, either way, it'd be nice to see Season 6 taking advantage of Diamond Tiara and Starlight's respective reformations, sometimes perhaps struggling not to slip into their old mindsets. Either way, I get the distinct feeling that Discord would warn her that if she ever hurt Fluttershy like that again it would end poorly for her.