On Starlight and justice · 7:25pm Nov 30th, 2015
Quite a few people seem upset at the finale because Starlight wasn't 'punished' for her actions. I personally didn't like her backstory, nor did I like the need to throw in a Freudian excuse for her actions, but the resolution of her not getting punished and becoming Twilight's student is actually a great ending that I'll defend.
First off, as leader, converting one of your most powerful enemies to your side is one of the best types of victories there is. Twilight putting aside any anger she felt at the end and offering peace was what was best for Equestria. Also, it was smart of her to take Starlight as an apprentice and keep her close, now she'll be able to personally oversee Starlight's change. If you're a leader and you get the chance to turn one of your strongest enemies into one of your strongest allies, while keeping them close to see if they've actually changed, you should take that deal. This is doubly true if you know there are still powerful enemies out there trying to destroy you -- like Chrysalis for instance.
Secondly, punishment itself is not justice. Putting someone in a cell and throwing away the key just to make yourself feel better because you punished them is self-gratification, nothing more. The best form of justice comes when people actively try to atone for what they've done, which is what Starlight will be doing.
I admit that you do have a point here but I have two specific problems with this. First, while this is a good political standpoint the show itself doesn't care about politics. The straightforward message adds up to "if you have a good sob story you will be forgiven for terrible crimes." Like it or not, this show is not written for the kind of deep, political message you're implying and so the entire things looses some air. The second issue is that this is totally inconsistent with what happened to other villains in the series. Luna and Discord did get redeemed but they were punished for their crimes first. Chrysalis had an even better excuse for her invasion than any other villain, the need to feed her people, and she gets banished without any kind of solution being looked for otherwise. Sombra got straight up executed and Tirek is imprisoned in the show's version of HELL for all eternity. Glimmer is getting a slap on the wrist and gets to hang out with the main six, something that most people would kill for. Considering that Starlight doomed the nation with time travel crap after spending a year stalking Twilight, on top of her brainwashed pseudo-commie village that convinced ponies to give up their identities on a physical, magical and effectively spiritual level, not to mention holding several national heroes hostage as well as a princess, which adds up to high treason on its own, and then using 1984 style brainwashing to break their spirits, what she winds up getting as "punishment" is practically a reward, whether she feels regretful or not. If she can get forgiven and practically rewarded for high treason, brainwashing, stealing the magical identities of ponies and then destroying the country with time travel, how is that fair or just towards any of the other villains who received actual punishments before even being given a chance at redemption and the ones who just straight up never got that chance to begin with?
3582371
That's not "the straightforward message." The most straightforward message is the one that the episode explicitly gives: that destroying a friendship ruins the world. Any other themes have to be inferred. I think the converse idea, that forgiving people is good because it can help create new friendships, is actually more obvious from the ending than the one you've pulled. (That's my opinion, of course.)
Did any of them ask beforehand? Did any of them make the slightest attempt to do better things with their lives before judgement was brought down upon them? I see no reason to complain about the injustice of characters not getting something they never wanted in the first place.
3582371
This is part of the reason I didn't want her to be given a sob story. I think the point would have been made better if she was just a well intentioned extremist that became willing to try something new when she saw the wasteland present.
Different context for those actions though. None of those people were willing at have a conversation or talk it out. Nightmare Moon was attacking Celestia and wasn't going to stop and listen. She forced Celestia to act out of desperation. Sombra and Tirek definitely weren't going to listen to anything the others had to say. Those two are examples of people that might just be irredeemable, in which case the heroes needed to separate them from society by any means. However, Starlight did listen, she was willing to have a conversation. Also, they were doing damage that wasn't going to be easily undone. In Starlight's case, all the damage she did with the other timelines got fixed (at least it was fixed for the right timeline, who knows if those other ones still exist or not). Given the context, Starlight getting a form of community service while kept close to Twilight makes sense.
As for considering this practically a reward, I disagree. I just don't think giving the chance for atonement to those willing to change is a reward.
3582568 I'll give you the point on context, but the thing is that Discord and Luna were still offered redemption /after their punishments/. They still were imprisoned/banished for their crimes and then were given second chances after those had ended. Luna had to have Nightmare Moon blasted clean out of her with artifacts of power and Discord got turned to stone /twice/ and during his redemption he was kept under constant watch with the threat of being turned to stone a third time if he didn't play nice. It's possible this can be addressed in S6 if they show a general reaction to Starlight's crimes like they did in EQG2 for Sunset, but in the moment it seems kind of hollow. I have other problems with Shimmer that are unrelated to the debate on justice, and I am going to admit they do color my view a little, but I still feel she's getting off way too easy for crimes that are, in some cases, far worse than what any of the other villains did. Kidnapping, high treason and the stealing of cutiemarks, the centerpiece of a pony's identity, are some pretty hefty charges, and these where what she chalked up in just her first appearance. To me, it feels like forgiving a cult leader for destroying the lives and identities of his cult members just because he said sorry and then not punishing him for the kidnappings and brainwashing he did.
I agree with pretty much all of the points you made and will throw in that people REALLY need to study history more. After world war one we tried the strictest punishment we could concoct for imperial germany with the intent that they would be punished so harshly they would never again have the ability to give the world grief.
This only succeeded in giving rise to Nazi Germany and lead directly to world war two.
After world war two we tried exactly the opposite of punishment and the end result was that western Germany and Japan became two of the most prosperous and peace loving nations in the world. Results speak for themselves.