There was a Ninja, some woman with green hair named Gertrude, probably my sister Vengeance, and Lord Skywalker. You know. The one that likes to snorkle.) colabed on a story! On Starlight Glimmer and the Newest Episode Because Why Not? · 6:06pm Apr 3rd, 2016
On Starlight Glimmer
As many of you have noticed, Starlight Glimmer has been getting a lot of focus in my stories, especially the last couple. Heck, she was the only one who warranted a character tab in All Things Being Equal. One would often think all this writing with her is because I really like the character. Oddly enough, this was not the case.
Starlight felt like a pretty solid villain. Hell, she has one of the most disturbing modus operandi. While most villains plan to conqueror through the sheer force of their magical power, straight-up mind control , or some combination of the two, Starlight, while powerful, lacks the sheer power or abilities that would simply allow her to declare herself ruler of all she sees.
While the equalizing process left it's mark (
), Starlight had to ultimately convince or even brainwash everypony who went through the process and convince them her way was better. This calls to mind the idea of cults or certain groups that have existed in the past or even ones that are quite likely operating to this day in this regard. Starlight's vision is so frightening because, if she actually succeed, it's not clear if anypony would actually be upset or technically being "controlled", at least not in a magical sense.
Her revenge on Twilight was nothing short of impressive, even if the greatest effect was the unintended side effects. One of the things that struck me the most about her was that when she was show exactly what she was doing, she didn't have an "Oh, God! I'm a monster!" moment like Sunset. After a few cringes at looking at the wasteland, she blows up on Twilight for having the audacity to try to get her to change her mind even though her actions will likely result in a world much worse, even possibly devoid of any living thing.
And then we're quickly shown her past regarding Sunburst and then Twilight gives a speech about friendship and suddenly Starlight apparently sees the light.
To be polite, it feels rushed.
We're shown her walking back to her old town and facing the ponies she once equalized, but apparently they all accept her with open forelegs. I mean... I get forgiveness is a big theme of the show but it feels like we were denied what could have very well been the hardest thing Starlight has done in her entire life.
And of course we have the Crystalling, where Starlight has had her "woobie" setting set to 11. An issue I have here is this is quite close to what was done with another villain turned main character I'm sure I don't need to mention be name at this point.
One of the issues here is we seem to be missing a crucial bit of information. We know her best friend got his cutie mark and thus both his and Starlight's lives changed considerably, but with Starlight also getting her cutie mark in magic, it begs the question as to why she didn't follow in his hoofsteps and also go to Celestia's school. Instead of course, she started a crusade against cutie marks. The only answer we've been given is that she "went berserk" which is really a non-answer that dismisses the question.
Basically, we're told "she's crazy."
Not really a great explanation.
On it's own at least.
After watching a lot of the Starlight's exploits very carefully for both Sunset Shimmer is MAD About Everything and All Things Being Equal, I've determined one of two things. Either, yes, what we've presented of Starlight is still missing those crucial pieces around how why Sunburst leaving completely broke Starlight, or what we're presented does answer this but it's too subtle for its own good (or too glossed over).
There's a couple things in the show that suggest the later. Again... they're subtle. Twilight mentions in the Crystalling that one of the friendship lessons options is for Starlight to reconnect with the first pony she ever cared about. Starlight immediately replies with "Sunburst?" If taken at face value, this suggests that Starlight either didn't care about her parents or she had no parents. Either answer helps explain how Sunburst's sudden leaving had a very profound impact on her. She was left with nopony who she cared about, quite possibly no pony who cared about her. Likely nopony to help her follow Sunburst when the obvious solution presented itself.
The other thing is so ridiculously subtle I'm still not convinced it's not me overthinking things. The two flashbacks we're shown of when Starlight and Sunburst are foals are slightly different. In the Cutie Re-Mark, we're brought to the past, meaning it's likely we're shown an accurate portrayal of how events unfolded. In the Crystalling Starlight is recounting the tale from memory. There's a few more details shown, but also something that happened slightly differently. In the past, Sunburst gets his cutie mark and runs outside, narrowly missing bumping into Starlight. In Starlight's memory, Sunburst bumps her in the face with his newly cutie mark adorned flank on his way out. This would both symbolically display the cutie mark as the 'culprit' in Starlight's mind and show she's further victimizing herself in her own head.
She, in fact, could very well not be healthy mentally (which is the theme in my fic here, as mentioned). This is possibly a result of neglect on the part of anypony who was supposed to be taking care of her when she was young. This would certainly add some much needed depth to Starlight and better explain her motives. It also would help explain how she was so quick to change her ways. Twilight showing her the world could be ruined by her actions quite possibly wouldn't matter to her. What had the world or anyone in it ever done for Starlight? She spent her whole life lonely and uncared for, and when she had one pony who did seem to care, he left her without a second thought when his destiny became clear.
But Twilight did something else. When showing Starlight what happened failed, Twilight showed she cared about Starlight. That Starlight mattered to somepony, even her worst enemy, and that kindness was quite possibly something Starlight had never experienced before.
Now if Twilight would only remember how good she is at this stuff when she's not trying to use checklists to solve the world's problems. 
So, in conclusion, I do enjoy Starlight a lot more than I did only a week ago. She's quite possibly one of the most complex characters the franchise has gifted us with... even if that happened accidentally. 
and the Newest Episode Because Why Not?
On the heels of the Crystalling, this had me worried. My thoughts on Starlight aside, quite a few things in the two parter bumped me. This episode started with Pinkie and Rarity being presented in typical "Pink pony loves PARTIES and is ENERGETIC and white pony is dignified and-IS THAT SOMETHING COSMOPOLITAN?!" However, both Pinkie Pie and Rarity are a couple of my favorite characters, and after the sort of bizarre shoving in our face of characters most everyone watching should have a pretty good grasp on, they fell into a more natural feeling of how they should behave and I enjoyed watching these two run around Manehatten. Maud was her usual monotone self, but that's what we love about her and the contrast to Pinkie and Rarity was fantastic. Smartypants?! Twilicane?! The SHARK from 'Slice of Life'?! Krieger_can_only_ get_so.gif Was... was... was... that a reference to the movie 'Big'?! That was most certainly a reference to the movie 'Big'.
I was irked that the party canon was suddenly so important when it always seemed like Pinkie may have quite a few of them, but eh... Maybe that was her favorite and oldest.
Hell, that weirdness got us this glorious piece of art, so I consider it a net positive at this point. Oh, and Rarity's "fire in her eyes, jaw clenching" bit? Fan-freakin'-tastic. Hell, as sappy as the ending was, I loved it. And I mean... we should all be able to make our own syrup with the amount of sap we get from this show, so no surprises there.
So yes. Looking forward to next week. Even looking forward to more Starlight (especially if she palls around with Spike more).
Catch you in the comment sections everyone! Thanks for reading!
Those is why I read reviews. Always something I missed or didn't think of.
Pinkie: "Oh Maud, this is just like the story Gift of Magi! I sold my party cannon to get you a pouch for Boulder! I'm so so sorry that you felt obligated to sell Boulder to get a super super expensive gift for me!"
Maud: "I bought you some ripped-up candy wrappers."
That should have been the entire movie.
Huh. That bit at the end...
Everyone I know says Spike shines best when he's supporting someone. Do...do you think that's why they added Starlight to the cast? To give Spike someone to consistently support who needs that support? I mean, Twilight seems to outgrown her need for a constant assistant, and Spike assisting just about anypony else has played out...could it be Starlight was added to the main cast to give Spike a chance to truly shine?
My mind...blown...twice.
(The first time was the idea of Starlight as the mentally unstable orphan. Explains everything about her...including her going Twilight levels of "I mustn't upset Twilight or act at all ungrateful for anything she's done for me or I'll lose it". I mean, that's how Twilight acted about Celestia back when she was a unicorn...
...
...my mind...blown again. Starlight as Twilight's student directly parallels Celestia's teacher/student relationship with Twilight...and I'm suddenly picturing a young unicorn Celestia (since Crystalling confirms Celestia and Luna both ascended) acting the exact same way with her teacher Starswirl.)
...how do you manage to blow my mind three times with one blog?
I still hate to admit this, but I'm kind of still in the camp about Starlight having the "rushed" redemption arc compared to other characters, 1) Because I'm kind of behind on the episodes because of the real world coming a-knocking, and 2) I'm still under the camp of Sunset Shimmer being the more "superior" redemption arc, because we actually had the time to show her transition of becoming a better person, which is more realistic in my opinion. Redemption and moving on past issues doesn't just disappear in a short time, even with support helping you. It's a process that's a lot to both filter and consequences that have to be dealt with in the long run. But again, my opinion my be biased based on my reasons, so that opinion can change hopefully in the future.
As for the idea of Starlight's "Mental Health", I think it probably could be a good idea to explore this type of mature subject matter towards a younger audience, similar to how "grief" was confronted with in "Tanks for the Memories", cause kids are a lot smarter than we take them for. Maybe not as intense as the plots of let's say "Legend of Korra", but helping to explain to children that some people may have issues that we don't really understand at the surface, but we shouldn't judge them harshly because of how different they may behave, as well as help kids identify issues that may need professional help. The possibilities of the writers tackling this possible subject are pretty immense, and hopefully they can do it justice for the episodes to come.
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I didn't think about that bit with Spike, but you make an excellent point. When Spike is helping someone, usually Twilight, he often comes off as the most street-smart character in the show. When he's given his own episode, he's suddenly suffering from brain problems and is possibly an uncoordinated goof he can't do the things we've seen him do time and time again. Though why with all his experience he thought Twilight's checklist would help if followed to the letter is beyond me. He should know better, and there's no way Sunset is going to let that slide.
Hopefully one of the episodes is just Starlight and Spike this season, or maybe Starlight, Spike, and only one or two of the mane six. Actully, she needs to be setup against Fluttershy a bit. I'm sure those two have plenty to talk about... Anyways, really hoping Sunlight learns about friendship in a bit more natural fashion or we get to see her actually deal with some of the fallout caused by the equalizing plot.
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Maybe she could go back to the unnamed town with just Spike, only to discover that a lot of the "instant acceptance" was because Princess Twilight was right there with her, leaving her to do a lot of work to make up for what she did? With Spike encouraging her not to give up?
Then the ponies there see she's truly sincere, and maybe even hear a bit about her own story, and get a bit more forgiving?
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I like Sunset more than Starlight and I think Sunset's redemption arc has been handled better than Starlight's. Forgiveness is great and all, but oh lordy did Sunset suffer for what she did.
Even without a story about her past, it was a lot easier to infer some things about Sunset. For one, if she was so willing to leave her world, then it's quite likely she wasn't leaving much behind in her mind, so she also likely didn't have much in the way of a family or parents. She clearly acts the way she does because she craves attention and adoration, this further hits home that this was something missing from her life at one point. We also know she was Celestia's personal student for a time, (quite possibly a long time). Taken together, it's likely Sunset also grew up an orphan, or at the very least emotionally starved before Celestia took her in. Celestia could very well be the only real mother figure Sunset ever had.
Which, of course, we know resulted in tragedy. Sunset likely went from a blank-flank nopony to one of the most important ponies in all of Equestria, at least in her eyes. A truly fairy tail outcome for the little filly, but it went to her head. Celestia either didn't notice this or failed to curb this negative behavior and the end result was Sunset leaving (or being banished from the castle if one accepts the IDW story on this) and then attempting to prove to herself and everypony that she was indeed as deserving of their love and adoration as she thought. So, when that blew up in her face in the most spectacular way possible (I still smile every time I see Sunset Satan manifest), she realized that her behaviors and beliefs about herself and the world could literally turn her into a monster and felt regret.
Ultimately, I don't think Sunset wanted to hurt anyone or anypony. She just thought she was basically the makers gift to the universe and couldn't understand why this wasn't obvious to everyone else and was willing to go very far (just short of physical violence) to prove it. Her demonic transformation was quite accidental, but the message she received was loud and clear. She was hurting people, and if she kept on the path she was going, she was going to hurt A LOT of people. Repentance made sense from the get-go at that point, even if she initially thought she was beyond forgiveness.
And that I pieced together without taking a magnifying glass to everything.
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Damn.
I don't know if the writers would rexplore that a bit, but that would be a damn solid episode. Maybe someone here will need to write this if nothing like this happens this season.
At the very least, I'd like to see more of the mane 4 ponies of "Our Town".
3845855 Not necessarily. It could be they were still born alicorns but don't understand the details behind it unlike Flurry. Like instead of having parents they just poofed into existence all of a sudden. Plus it's stated this is the first alicorn in EQUESTRIA. Remember if we go by their journal and by the canon that is the story of Heathwarming, Equestria's founding, the princesses weren't just born then, they were already young fillies at that point or young teens I suppose.
Equestria didn't exist yet when they were born so it wouldn't have seen their birth unlike Flurry. Plus if they did ascend wouldn't it have something to do with their special talent? Cadence had to do with her love magic and stopping Prisma when that necklace was overwhelmed with dispair or something then love which also got her her cutie mark. Twilight when she created new magic from Starswirl's unfinished spell having already gained her cutie mark at least a decade or 2 ago depending on her actual age. The princesses would have to do something with the sun and moon to ascend and moving them plus gaining their cutie marks in the process would be the most logical reason since that's the only thing we've seen them do with the celestial bodies. BUT that's where the problem lies with the ascended theory. They were ALREADY alicorns before they met the 3 rulers. Months to a year or 2 before they even got their cutie marks. Leads us to believe they were born princesses since they didn't do anything special to ascend unlike the 2 future ones.
3846003
Care to share with us your findings about Sunset UNDER the Magnifying glass?
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I would, but that might spoil some stuff for Sunset Shimmer is MAD at Everything. I didn't give full thought to the implications that basically putting Sunset in this fic means she's now going to meetup with a few ponies from her pre-EqG past.
Should prove to be rather interesting. 
When did she have this moment? Gonna have to say, as someone who personally really loves Sunset, her redemption in the first movie was handwaved.
*beam of friendship* You're good now because rainbow beams make people good, I guess.
Yeah, but then again, her entire character in the first movie was a stereotype so I'm not surprised they didn't put effort into that part. Glad they did in the sequel.
You mean seeing her entire philosophy, everything she ever worked for, everyone she wanted to help being turned to ash in front of her eyes didn't change her mind?
It did. That's why she didn't rip the map. THe main thing Starlight wanted was someone to care for her. To make her feel safe and loved. TO have a friend and loneliness can be a major motivator. Take it from me, Justice. I mean, I almost committed suicide over similar feelings years back. Starlight herself was shaken by what Twilight said and showed her.
However, she couldn't let go. That would be the equivalent of putting a gun to your own head and pulling the trigger. She had built her life around this ideaology. She couldn't just give it up and that's why she blew up on Twilight. She was scared that she was wrong. That she was nothing more then a tyrant because she honestly believed what she was doing is right. If she let that go, she would have nothing to live for and I really hesitate to think what would have happened if Twilight wasn't there.
Which is why it worked then and not before. Starlight was on the precipice. This was the perfect point to reach out and help her. So I have to say, I didn't think it was rushed. I thought it was given its dues and that's why Starlight's my favorite. {Or tied with Sunset. Hard to say.}
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Regarding the Sunset Shimmer part, she has it RIGHT after she changes back:
I mean, unless the interpretation is she's only sorry because of magic friendship rays. I'd assume this line implies she's really sorry for how things unfolded. Another tell is that a few tears come out of her eyes right before she transforms, imply Sunset herself did not expect/did not LIKE what was happening. A good parallel here is what happens with SciTwi before she transforms.
We've also seen what happened to the Sirens when they got blasted. As soon as the beam is gone, they attempt to sing again, launching back into the mind control song they had going on before. The beam stripped them of their powers, but didn't change their attitudes at all.
I wouldn't say this is all clear cut, because obviously I mentioned all three movies to reinforce my point, but I think it's safe to say Sunset's actions are not because of "good" mind control and more because she earnestly wants to change after seeing what her selfish actions could lead to.
As far as the rest, I believe I basically came to similar conclusions later on in the post. Seems you and I have a sort of flipped perspective on Starlight and Sunset. I managed to piece together what happened with Sunset despite very few tells, though found doing the same with Starlight far more effort-some, where's you seem to have identified with Starlight's plight rather quickly, meanwhile Sunset appears to be fixed via "magic".
3879535 That's very much true. However, Sunset's actions and general attitude was very clear cut as pretty much every bad girl in high school movie ever. I'm not saying it was it was awful. Sunset was actually hilarious. It's just because she was this set character that her change was... abrupt. If the movie was perhaps fifteen or so minutes longer, there would be something that would smooth over this transition. As is, I wasn't exactly impressed. I didn't hate Sunset, in fact I was one of the first to say there was potential... and got a lot of heckling for it.
Hehe, that's true. I do apologize if I sounded grouchy. I didn't get a lot of sleep and finals are coming up. As for why it didn't take so long, let's just say I was passionate about the season five finale, which I have to be honest, is one of my favorite episodes of the show. I actually cried during it and the positive output and fascination I had for Starlight kind of helped me out when working on my final essays. That and, well, I felt like a minority in admitting I could see how Starlight's redemption and character worked.
Wasn't exactly nice. Still, thanks for the reply.
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I think the franchise in general has a habit of either being subtle or not giving us enough time to sort out what's going on with the characters who turn:
Sunset spends a good few years ruling Canterlot High with an iron fist after leaving Celestia, two transformations later, and she's suddenly seemingly better at friendship than Twilight.
Starlight spends a sizable portion of her life hating cutie marks and then transitions to hating Twilight when the princess wrecks her work, after a speech she's suddenly ready to learn all about friendship for one Twilight Sparkle.
And now Ember , who spent her life in a society that seems to mostly look out for #1, up and learned friendship after Spike helped he a couple times that she basically allowed him to become Dragon Lord (until Spike gave that up, of course).
Yeah, it'd definitely be nice if more characters redemption arcs had a bit more substance, say akin to Gilda's or Diamond Tiara's.
3879564 Well Starlight really didn't have any options at the time. It was either go with Twilight or withdraw into herself, which would have deepended a sense of self hatred which would have.....
Not ended well for her, just putting it there. I still standby that I felt it was the best of the lot.
As for Gilda, eh, I don't like her. I still don't like her.
Didn't care before, didn't care now. Her story didn't make me feel all that sad for her. Maybe a little, but eh. Not sure if I'd rewatch her episodes again.
Honestly everytime (or almost everytime) Starlight opens her mouth or does something. It proves that her Special Talent is in Super Villainy.
When is her magic the most strongest (aka. Can canonically tank an Alicorn. Who are known to have magical power many times greater than a normal unicorn)? When she’s feeling something strongly enough.
The little episode that inspired the Newspaper Solves Everything fic? Creates “Speed Clones” (Reverse Flash, and every other evil speedster ever); And then creates from scratch a “Domination” / “Super Mind Rape Spell”.
Get’s mad at a Twilight? Fixes Starswirl’s Spell (just like Twilight did, but with Time Magic), and re-writes the timeline for the lolz.
Get’s mad at a pony who was once her friend? Invents a new magic that allows her to steal cutie marks (and thus proving that the “makes new magic = alicorns” thing is utter nonsense). Then brainwashes / coerces an entire populace to move out to the middle of nowhere, and live as equals. And stole the Cutie Mark from an Alicorn.
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So yeah. Definitely born to be a super villain. Heck even her plan to not blow up at Trixie. Revolved around ripping emotions out of a pony (herself) and imprisoning them. Something she invented on the fly, just because she didn’t want to hurt a ponies feelings ... so that’s Super Villainish for the right reasons.
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But yeah. Your explainations on the character ... make her sudden reform (which still bugs the hell out of me. Especially since Trixie did a whole lot less worse. But had her entire life destroyed from blame shifting their shit parenting skills in Ponyville to her. Then when Twilight forgave and wanted to be Trixie’s friend (at the end of Magic Duel), sees her seasons later. And is an epic cunt to her. A pony who never had friends or anyone to care about them pre-Starlight. And is treated with disdain, distrust, and less than garbage.
But Starlight F’ing Glimmer? Almost (and in a way did) destroy all life in Equestria and ruined countless lives in the timelines she created; mind raped an entire village and tried to do the same to the Mane 6 (and with Twilight being a princess now. That’s treason); and what happens to her? Automatic forgiveness. No community service; no redemption arc (or at least not a real one); nothing. Just a music number and hugs.).
Sorry for the rant at the end there. I just really am pissed at how Twilight treated Trixie. And noone calls her out on it (I’d actually like to see a MAD fic that has Sunset knock the stupid out of her for that. At least someone with brains would call her out on being a C-word to the pony she “befriended” before abandoning). And a bit miffed still for Best Super Villain getting auto-forgiven without having to earn it, while Trixie got shat on. I mean heck. Even Discord had an entire episode where he got a face heel turn (and then turned kinda super creepy stalker on FlutterButters.).