Let's just talk about these two for a second, okay? As we all know, the both of them are reformed villains that are currently living among pony society in Equestria nowadays after renouncing their evil ways to embrace the "Magic of Friendship". Yet, their transgressions are starkly different from one another as well as their punishments and reformations for them. Let's analysis them, shall we?

Discord: Spread chaos through Equestria until he was frozen in stone by the Royal Sisters. Upon breaking out of his stone prison, caused chaos in Ponyville after corrupting the Mane Six to render the Elements useless, but still ended up in stone. Was only released on Princess Celestia's authority to be reformed by the Mane Six.

Starlight: Because of an experience of her friend moving away as a child, went on to create a village of ponies that renounce cutie marks and was not above pushing the ideology onto other ponies forcefully. Upon losing the village, crafted a spell to traverse through time and undo the Elements of Harmony coming together, thus leaving Equestria open to threats like King Sombra, Tirek, Discord himself, Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon. Was offered a deal at friendship, took it and was automatically welcomed and made Twilight's student in Friendship.

....Does anybody else think that's just a little...unfar?!

I'm not saying that Discord didn't do wrong, but if you really think about it, he did less wrong than Starlight did! He caused chaos and made the ponies unhappy with how he was making their world, sure, but that was it. He never killed anypony and, as far as we know, never actively put them in situations that would do them any real physical harm. Yet, he got cast into stone...twice! And let's not forget what Discord is; he's the literal Spirit of Chaos, he essentially got locked into stone for doing what only came natural to him.

And yet, look at Starlight! She went on such a bloodthirsty quest for revenge that she rewrote history just to keep the Mane Six from becoming friends and getting their cutiemarks, which in turn, stopped the Elements from coming together. Her motive? Her friend got her cutiemark before her and went away to study magic at Celestia's private school. ....That's it. Nothing else to it than that. For such a trivial reason, she fucked over her own country, like, five times and created parallel universes where ponies are absolutely miserable and/or fighting their very lives. With who knows how many already dead in these situations. And what is her punishment? OH wait! She doesn't fucking get one! She is instated as a Student of Friendship and immediately welcomed into the circle of close-knit friends. While for an entire season, Discord was treated like a general nuisance and not a friend and almost getting recast into stone because three of the Mane Six didn't believe him when he was telling the truth! In fact, it took him betraying them to Tirek and being forgiven for him to finally be accepted by everypony except Fluttershy.

I'm sorry, but that just seems like a fine sack of bull excrement to me. But please. Let me know what you guys think; I actually wanna have a debate on this.

It's actually a bit worse than you make it out to be. Starlight got off scott free for brainwashing Twilight's friends because she was essentially too lazy to do her lessons when even Twilight at least had to deal with some consequences for doing the same thing under a mental breakdown because her friends laughed in her face when she talked about her problem (she only didn't get punished because her friends stood up for her and took part of the blame). Also, when she goes back to the village, the ponies there were practically throwing themselves at her to lead them, with no ill will whatsoever. Heck, her performance in the season six finale ended up being panicking while her friends sacrificed themselves for her, then using Thorax (the one with magic) as bait while she tried to break the thrown. The only reason they won was because of all her friends sacrifices and Thorax Ex Machina, but Starlight basically got all the credit for what? The team gathered naturally. I guess there was the password to check if they were replaced?

Quite literally the only arguments I can see in Starlight's favor against Discord are that she didn't know how far she was going (didn't realize that the fate of Equestria depended on the Rainboom), she willingly gave up to be reformed (Discord technically did it under threat, though in the end he gave in for Fluttershy's friendship), and that Discord did betray them (though they were all very unpleasant towards him except Fluttershy). All I can think about whenever Starlight gets off without any punishment is what would happen if any other character did this (especially a certain other Twilight foil that had to work to become Twilight's student...).

This is why i think Suelight Glimmer is a terrible character.

5887558 What else is new? She's the worst character of the show, bar none. Even after reformation, she is still a sociopath and that's is never a good thing. It's not even entirely clear as to why the character was introduced in the first place or why she is being kept around.

Just bring SHimmer home. Why the hell are we keeping Shitlight?

Firstly, Discord wasn't punished by being put into a statue. He was stopped by being put into a statue. If you break into someone's house and they shoot you dead, that's morally and legally different than receiving a death penalty from a judge for breaking and entering.

Secondly, Starlight quit while she still had cards left to play and a decent chance of "winning". Discord didn't do that and neither did Nightmare Moon. Her reformation is considerably more believable than Discord's or Luna's because she gave up something she cared about to get it.

Thirdly, lets take a look at those alternate realities. In none of them is Starlight the villain. It's either Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, the Flim Flam Brothers (!?), or our poor, misunderstood ex-villains Luna and Discord. We can see that neither of them were going to come around on their own; if they hadn't been forcefully stopped, their villainy would've continued unabated. Interestingly, and maybe worth exploring further, Celestia apparently had no idea how to deal with any of them. A glimpse into the land of What If doesn't do the God of Chaos any favors.

As a sidenote, how do you even judge this whole temporal mess? Does changing the timeline count as mass murder if a bunch of people who otherwise were born now aren't? If so, doesn't changing it back kill a fresh set of people? Is there some "correct" timeline that has a right to exist at the expense of all others and how do you know which one? In any case, once it's all over and things are restored, all the harm she did goes back to never existing in the first place. It's not like Rainbow Dash could sue her for the loss of her wing that she never lost and the trauma she never experienced of having to fight in a war that never happened. For these kinds of reasons, I tend to loathe time travel stories.

Instead of punishment, what she - and Discord and Luna - should be doing is penance. She should be looking for ways to make up the harm she caused. She needs to do something like the title character of My Name is Earl and make a list of all the wrongs she inflicted (in this reality, anyway) and seek to right them.

5887670
Starlight's cards to play were mass genocide (as that was the last timeline, the one she saw) for revenge. She would've had nothing left if she won. She's also not seeking penance, either (usually begrudgingly) doing what Twilight says or running from her problems. As for Nightmare Moon, what was so bad about her future? Oh no, it's eternal night, which has no effect on anything. Oh no, Celestia is gone, and so are all the villains. Nightmare Moon wouldn't have done anywhere near the damage Starlight did if either of her plans succeeded. Plus, Luna tried to reconnect with everyone, but they rejected her at first and punished herself by giving herself with the Tantabus. Discord knew nothing of friendship before hand (Starlight started her equality thing because her friend went to school after saving her from falling books. Also, that's Apple Bloom's first episode with Twist...) and would've had free reign because Fluttershy refused to use her Element (meaning he still had cards to play before surrendering). The difference is that the worst Starlight gets is mild disappointment. She gets off way easier than any character other than Celestia.

5887670 I agree with Veylon and would add a fourth point to Starlight's defense. She didn't realize how bad what she was doing at the time was. She lived as a hermit with that town she had never heard of Twilight till that day. She knew Twilight was a princess after that point but not how she became a princess. Throughout her actions during the time loop her only goal was to make Twilight as friendless as she was without realizing how catastrophic the consequences of that would be.

When she found out Twilight not meeting her friends literally meant the end of the world she willingly gave up her plans even when she could have continued. Discord on the other hand had to be basically emotionally blackmailed into giving up and even still wasn't sorry or at least didn't show remorse for his past as a villain and was a pretty huge dick afterwords.

Don't get me wrong though I hate Starlight's reason for being a villain and I also think she gets off too easy for her actions. The willingness to repent goes a long way though.

Also look at this I love Discord but this makes a lot of great points I agree with.

Can I say something?

5887558. My sediments exactly.

5887710
Yeah, go ahead.

5887558 Well I will say this much, there were times post reformed that Discord was just an outright jerk for no reason other than to get under Twilight's skin. Yes, the way the mane six treated him in "Three's A Crowd" was horrible, for all they knew he could actually be sick. But Discord admits at the end that he faked his illness solely to test Twilight, and it's obvious he actually did it just to ruin her fun weekend with Cadence. Same goes for "What About Discord?" even if Twilight was unnecessarily paranoid, Discord admitted to intentionally excluding Twilight from the weekend, and then he tried to pass it off as a friendship lesson.

Also, Starlight did take something of a leadership role in "To Where and Back Again", even if her victories came about through her friends. I'll admit the set-up and resolution were questionable, but it's not like Starlight was perfect throughout, and complaining that she wasn't feels counter productive when you then complain that she has no flaws, or that her flaws are insignificant.

5887826 I don't pay much attention to the show, I basically lost all interest with it after Season 2, and hoped it would be remade with mostly just Dragons staring SPIKE.

I think starlight was punished badly for her crimes anyway. There is obviously timegaps. We can assume two years happen between hearthsbreaker and a hearth warming tail.

Because of this fact alone.

Twilight and spike were shocked to her starlight opinion on the day. So we can assume starlight reformation happened just before the hearths warming eve that we didn't see and since Twilight was shocked that means it was her first in the castle. There for starlight might have been carrying out her punishment. And that's even more so with flurry heart!

I'll be honest, Discord never seemed evil to me.
He seems more like a child not allowed to grow up. I mean, he's the last/only one of his kind so he was probably raised wrong or not raised at all and let me ask you a question: If you'd been given reality warping powers at a young age, what would you'd used them for?
I would've done the same stuff Discord did; make junk food appear everywhere, use it for stupid jokes and/or punish those who wrong me.
but even with that very good motive with him, Discord still got to see that there were consequences to his actions and learned to keep his powers at minimum for the sake of his friends.

This is a show aimed at kids; that wants to teach them what's right and what's wrong. It's right to be kind, forgiving and to give second chances to people but NOT LIKE THIS!!
"Yes, sweetie, you can totally have a playdate with the person who treathened to kill and brainwash you!"
Does Twilight have no sense of morality? Or justice?
"Yeah, I don't care about the lives you've ruined and how you tried to ruin mine! I won't send you to jail, I'll just bake cupcakes with you!"
Actions have consequences. If you do something illegal and/or hurtful, somebody somewhere is gonna wanna punish you and that somebody somewhere is probably right. Specially about something THIS illegal and THIS hurtful.

Yeah I know.
I mean... this was her reason? Her friend moved away so she went cuckoo? You are taking the fuckin piss aren't you? And Twilight forgives her. See, this is why we have alternate endings. They show how it should of happened

5888761

And that's another thing that bugs me about this; Twilight is a princess, a pony that others look up to for guidance and has influence across Equestria. ...What is she saying by doing this? I mean, every other villain they have run against had to suffer a consequence for their actions:

Chrysalis: Ejected from Canterlot via magical love bubble and scattered to the badlands.
Discord: Trapped in stone by the Elements twice.
Nightmare Moon: Purged by the Elements.
Tirek: Banished once more to the pits of Tartarus.
King Sombra: blown to bits before he could actively do anything to the Crystal Empire.

The list goes on. Yet, some had actual compelling reasons to do the things they did. Chrysalis is in charge of an entire species of creatures that need love to survive and thrive off of. Not something most nations would want to affiliate themselves with. Attacking a major city like Canterlot, especially where the rulers of the country live never seemed like an act of pure malice to me. But one of pure desperation. They were probably starving for who knows how long, she must've felt like she had no other choice to find food for her subjects.

Nightmare Moon was just Luna's jealousy and loneliness personified from feeling neglected for so many years. And I can't say anything for King Sombra and Tirek, but!

Twilight is willing to let Starlight's gigantic thing of messing with the space time continuum, and let's not forget, welcome her into her home and friendship without so much as batting an eye at how absurdly stupid her reasoning was! "Oh, you lost your friend? I completely understand why you did everything that you did and hurt so many ponies, so I'm going to help you out!" So what, a pony can do whatever they want to whoever they want, so long as its tied to a friendship problem? What sort of message is that to be sending out to easily impressionable ponies?

This was a massive threat to all of Equestria; Twilight and her friends aren't the only ones that should've had a say on what happened to Starlight. I'm pretty sure Celestia and Luna would've had a problem with her just deciding to let somepony that had no regard to how messing with time in general could screw things over off the hook so easily.

5891050 Only thing to really point out, Chrysalis' actions can't really be excused. She claims her subjects needed love to feed, but that doesn't mean she was justified in anything she did. She could've just as easily shown up as herself in Canterlot and sat down for negotiations with Princess Celestia, who would've gladly been willing to let the changelings assilimate with no trouble. Chrysalis made it perfectly clear that she chose to do what she did out of her own selfish desires, and the Season 6 finale makes it clear she intentionally starved her subjects so that they'd be dependent on her. So don't try to make it look like she's deserving of sympathy or forgiveness more than Starlight.

5887558 I agree, very hypocritical. That stings especially hard for me as I am in the camp of those who feel Discord, as it is against his nature, to be reformed at all without more background and setup to change his character, and yet not only do they do it, they go above and beyond to make it the most ridiculously underdone redemption ever. Then to rub it in, they have a more flimsy excuse for a villain get handed friendship on a silver platter, rrrrrgghhh!

5887558 I completely agree with your words, but watch this. When I say it, like thinking Starlight Glimmer should be in jail, I'm gonna get talked down, flamed, bashed, harassed, tarred and feathered for it. Why? Because I'm President Obama and everyone else is fucking Mitch McConnell. You do the math. Just watch.

5891435
Please don't draw attention to yourself about how you get talked down. You're entitled to your opinion, just as everyone else is entitled to their opinion.

5891749 Even if I didn't, I still get talked down. Watch.

5891050 yeah, when it comes to being princess; ruling and leading properly and other things like that, Twilight is "The New One/The Young One". I have no problem believing that Celestia facehoofed herself when she heard about this... and the events on Party Pooped.
bottom line, Twilight's smart but she's not one to think objectively about what's "Best for her people". just look at "Princess Twilight Sparkle"

5887698 wait, so she didn't know how bad her actions were after multiple timelines of war and conflict? That seems kinda far-fetched.

5887670 time travel is a confusing subject but I think the show might have a multi-universe theory going on.

It is as Zecora said in the episode but instead of time put universe there.

So it is one big river. It stays the same size even when it forks and keep on going. So now there is an Equestria at war, Equestria under the control of Nightmare moon and so one.

So every choice shown both are the true answer.

Let's say spike tell twilight about his gift for moondancer and we know twilight doesn't go. But in another timeline she goes to moondancer and then misses the chance to meet some of the characters that would have help. It would mean the episode amending fences never happened.

I think starlight was punished anyway because just before the season 5 finale we had both hearths warming eve and nightmare night. So we can assume that starlight did get punished for her crimes because of this line in a hearths warming tail:

Princess Twilight: Are you ready for your first hearths warming in Ponyville?

The line is implying that starlight was elsewhere and that would explain why the baby is around now. Starlight must have spent a fair bit of time in the dungeons of canterlot.

5902110 Remember that Starlight wasn't pulled into the alternate timelines until the end when Twilight grabbed her and pulled her along to the last one. She didn't know until that moment that every time Twilight got sent back the timelines got worse and worse and even then she doubted that it was true.

Her goal was to make sure what happened to Sunburst and her happened to Twilight, not end the world. Her reason for hating cutie marks is still stupid though, it would have made more sense and been ten times better if she was written as a blank flank.

Her anger with cutie marks over losing her friend causing her to never get her own, making her even more bitter with cutie marks causing her to make "Our Town", etcetera etcetera till she stops fighting Twilight and gives friendship a chance finally getting her mark.

5891050 I would love to read a fimfic that tackles this issue and the possible consequences. For example; Somepony who works under Celestia, possibly a guard or a maid or a chancellor (maybe even Blueblood or Fancy Pants), overhears her expressing concerns over Starlight's lack of punishment after such rash actions. Horrified with what they heard, the pony takes what they discovered to the public, leading to Equestria questioning Twilight’s competence as a Princess and starting a petition to have Starlight convicted for her crimes against ponykind.

5902292

That's a spin on this that I'm also curious to see elaborated on. Did Twilight ever tell anypony else what Starlight did or was she just horribly vague about it with those that aren't apart of the Mane Six? Did she even tell Celestia? Or Luna? I don't think it was ever stated in the show if she did or not, but it honestly doesn't seem like she did. And let's be honest, more than a few ponies wouldn't be willing to accept the whole "royal pardon" thing Twilight did with Starlight.

But when it comes to the actual calling out, I think it would work best coming from Celestia or Luna or both. Not only in allowing somepony to get away with fucking with the time-space continuum, but making the decision to give them no punishment for this act without consulting her fellow princesses beforehand. That's irresponsibility to a level that Celestia cannot and should not ignore. Being the Princess of Friendship, yes, she is suppose to be the first one to extend a hoof to those that need it, but that doesn't give her the freedom to make choices like this alone. Especially when it's in the subject of Equestria's safety.

5902579 I mean, what Trixie did with the alicorn amulet wasn't on the same scale as manipulating time but it was a lot more visible to everyone.

Starlight's time dickitry only had two witnesses and technically only effected those two because going back and stopping what she was doing erased those timelines. And if you don't subscribe to the idea that timelines can be erased then it's meaningless anyway because those timelines would always have existed.

In every reality she would always have either chosen to fuck with time or not. Both would always have happened so even if she chose not to, those timelines would still exist meaning she's as much a god creating horrible timelines as you are, which is to say not at all.

Uhg time theory is fucking bullshit to explain and I feel like I didn't do it justice.

Okay basic gist of the matter is either you believe in Back to the Future rules, with one timeline and any changes in the past destroy the future and rewrite it. Meaning the futures Starlight made don't exist and never existed anymore.

Or you believe in infinite timelines where every decision makes a new timeline. In which case those timelines would have always existed in one way or another so blaming her for the fates of those worlds is pointless.

5903595
5902184

I...think I get what you're saying, but can I offer my own two cents to this issue? Let's say infinite universes do exist; who's to say that new ones can't be created and maintained because of one event? All Starlight had to do was keep Rainbow Dash from winning to keep the Elements of Harmony from forming together, thus creating another timeline. In those specific timelines, true, Starlight might not have had reason for traveling back in time, but she still inadvertently caused them. In the category of there being a "Main Timeline", her decision to travel back in time created timelines that splintered off of it in different directions; like Zecora said: "...Time is a river, where even the tiniest changes seen can lead to a cascade of effects downstream." Let's say the main timeline is a river and every time Starlight interfered with Rainbow caused a new stream to develop, like when a river erodes a new path for itself over time. Those streams are still there, regardless if it splinters in the same direction that the main river did when the stream was created.

.....That's as good as I can explain it, so I hope I got my point across. Explaining time travel really is hard...

As for her "not knowing how much damage she was doing", I say this; "Ignorance is bliss...except when it's fatal." If you were going to do something as drastic as screwing with time, don't you think you would do just a little bit of research on significant events in history? Even if she didn't think Twilight's friends were that important to Equestria, Starlight should've still brushed up on her country's past before time traveling. At least to be one-hundred percent positive that what she was planning to do wouldn't affect any ponies outside of the ones she wanted to hurt. Not knowing isn't really an excuse when you essentially throw your entire country under the bus for a petty reason.

5921729 She's a sociopath. I'm pretty sure she just didn't give a shit and still wouldn't have had the writers not needed a quick happy ending for the episode.

5902114 Starlight should have been spending life in prison, not just a few episodes.

5902110 It's not just far fetched. It's impossible. She simply didn't care, but I wouldn't be surprised if she also got some twisted enjoyment out of knowing how many other lives she ruined due to the utter control she had over them. She always was obsessed with superiority over others.

5921824 did you know that some people that do have life sentences can sometimes get a chance to get freedom for really good behavior? And if that happens they go on probation for a few months to years. And since the princesses run Equestria you can think of season 6 being starlight probation year and Twilight her probation watcher.

5922255 Why do you keep making little to no sense to me?

5922312

I think everyone is being too hard on Starlight Glimmer. Sure she did mess up timelines but not the one we follow. Beside if starlight didn't take twilight on in the final of season 5 Sunset Shimmer wouldn't have been forced into a leadership role. As Zecora said in episode 26 she meant time is a river. So all I'm saying that in other timelines she would got worse punishment but since she chose not to destroy the scroll and Twilight convenced her to try again it would be bad if twilight betrays the trust starlight is giving her. Taking on starlight as a student is the smartest thing she has ever done. Or starlight could have betrayed them when or if she thought they didn't care like discord in the tirac invasion.

5922363 Look, you. It wouldn't be so bad, really it wouldn't. Except that Starlight Glimmer literally gets a free pass for nearly destroying the time-space donut thingy, whereas Discord can't even hold a candle to that and all throughout his Season 4 appearances where he was supposed to be treated better, the Mane 6 sans Fluttershy keep giving him those angry looks as if he's secretly Xigbar or that he killed their fathers. It's like those Spongebob episodes of the dark times where Bikini Bottom regulations are messed up. Do you get what I'm saying? Or am I gonna be blue in the mouth and then some before you finally understand these particular opinions based on fact?

5922435
While you have sound reasoning, that comment about you being blue in the mouth sounds a little rude.

5922777 Then I'm sorry, but it's just frustrating for me to voice what I have to say with not only some users not getting it completely to just slamming me up against the wall because I'm the one saying it.

5922807
No one is slamming you against a wall. You're just thinking that's the case. Nobody is out to get you.

5922866 I'll have to PM you with why I think otherwise.

5922435 I'm just trying to point out one of the many sides to the starlight reformation issues that a lot have been denying it. Try thinking as Twilight. It's a lot harder Sure starlight could go to jail but Starlight is powerful. Twilight herself admitted that starlight is stronger than her hero! Starlight could have easily escaped and take revenge because we don't know how strong the horn limiters are.

Frankly from Twilight's point of view taking starlight as a student is the only way. Please try thinking like Twilight does before you respond

5924966 Well, good luck convincing some users of all this, then.

5924982 well I am starting a plot plan for a story that will be called choices and desions. It will be a multi chapter story that will show that the most controversial episode and others that there are many ways something could happen. I will also be doing in betweens. The episodes I will be doing are Bridel gossip, feeling pinkie kneen, mare do well( I'm going show the worst possible episode for this one because it is one of the ones that does not deserve the hate) and several others but there are three I will not do.

5924966 Reformation too implausible/unlikely? Imprisonment too difficult/impossible? Execute the psychotic bitch then. They did it to Sombra, who was already a master of dark magic and magic-negating crystals. He was evil. Starlight is/was both evil and unstable and, as revealed, more dangerous.

I get that this show can only go so far in terms of character deaths, but if you kill off Sombra on screen, you have no right to pretend you're no allowed to do it to other villains. A satisfying end for Starlight would be to possibly trick her into triggering a time paradox, probably by doing something to her younger self that would result in an untimely demise, and erase herself from the present timeline. Clean, bloodless, and satisfying.

5924966
5925059

I know this is going to sound mean-spirited, especially for this show, but Twilight...wasn't really thinking that much about it. She saw Starlight's past and, through her initial bout of pity of seeing it, she made the decision to take her under her wing as a student of friendship. Twilight is a critical thinker, to a fault and we've been shown this trait of hers excessively. She over analyzes like crazy! Yet, she didn't here; she didn't take into account all of the wrong Starlight did in the village, all the worlds she created where ponies were suffering and miserable, the fact that she was so full of spite that she'd travel back in time just to stop her friends from ever coming together!

As unbelievable as it sounds, Twilight just...didn't think here. If she did, she would've come to a conclusion that Starlight is just too powerful and the way she has used this power was completely unacceptable and a record of how unstable she really is. Though throwing her into a time paradox might be a bit harsh, there is still another punishment to match the crime. Thanks to Tirek, we all know that it is possible to remove a pony's magic from their person... It sounds cruel, but Starlight even now is a unicorn poster child for using her magic irresponsibly. A pony with that little disregard for others with that much raw magical prowess? Doesn't deserve to have magic at all, especially after how she's used it.

5925201 Remove her seemingly unnaturally powerful magic and force her to live as a powerless loser?

As much as she deserves an outright early demise, that would be a damn effective way to punish and humiliate her. Power and superiority was everything to her and permanently losing it all would be probably the most agonizing nonlethal fate she could ever receive.

5925059 well Twilight can be mentally unstable too. Remember lesson zero? How about No second prances? Twilight was not in the right mind there because she had a reason for it. It's hinted at that starlight may have a crush on sunburst. That's got to hit hard in the heart if someone you care about just forgets about you.

5925201 I disagree Twilight did think that one through. Twilight knew Starlight was powerful. So here is the choice. Send her to jail where the useless guards are and she is alone and could escape anytime or keep on eye on her under the pretense of a student teacher relationship to show her she was wrong? The second one is the best because Starlight can match an alicorn. Twilight applied this tactic:

Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.

Twilight was holding back even Celestia would have to hold back a lot more. Twilight made the best choice out of them all.

5925453 Twilight was only outright unstable for a single day/week, not her entire life. Starlight's case is a chronic issue.

As for Starlight, it's also something that most kids go through in life that they learn to get over and move on from. Lots of relationships, especially friendships during childhood, are prone to not lasting that long for a variety of reasons and very few last into their adult years. Any friends I made back in elementary school are long gone and I don't dwell on it at all. If a relationship with a friend doesn't work out, you just pick yourself back up and move on and try again with someone else when the opportunity arises. Starlight's case of giving up right at the start was nothing more than a case of shameful weakness and utter cowardice. It would be insightful if the show gave us a look into how her parents handled her throughout the rest of her childhood, but expecting that by this point would be giving the writers too much credit.

And I will say it again. Killing her was an option as well. If not through force, then through trickery ala Magic Duel.