You know what I just realized? Starswirl and Discord now canotically exist in the show in the same time period. Know what that means? That age old flame war that already (hopefully) died can be put to rest. Who's ready to get shipping?

Wait, what?

what flame war? I always shipped starswirl with Luna and Discord with Celestia.

Also, I hold to my theory that Sunburst is Starswirl, and simply changed his name to pay homage to Starlight after he returned to the past.

6187886
If he were Starswirl he never would have washed out of magic school so you may want to rethink that one.

Don't encourage people!!

6188006

Wasn't Einstein not that good in school in general, but proved to be a prodigy at specific things? Sunburst could be the same.

6187839
I always had a feeling discord was starawirl gone mad. I wish that had been the truth. It would habe been awseome if the major villians had been the original bearers of the elements of harmony.

6188029
That idea comes from the apocryphal account od Einstein being supposedly bad at math, which makes no sense because physics especially the terrifyingly high end physics he practiced requires lots and lots of math.

Not a super great source but here you go

6187839
So...

You expect everyone to get what the hell you're talking about about on the topic of one of the many terrible fandom ideas that went around. "Terrible flamewar" pretty much can describe any disagreement anyone has had ever. Be it two people posting one time each of "I like X" and "Well, you're an idiot."

While I was trying to figure out what the topic is, it seems other people in the thread mention that there was a theory that Discord was Starswirl. As the writer of the thread topic, you should be more clear about that which you're bringing up. One single sentence there would clear things up.

"Old theory that people fought over, but canon has destroyed." Why should we care about this when the discussion already died out? What purpose is there in dredging it back up? Is this some really pathetic, "ha, I told those losers!" ?

This thread is the opposite of putting it to rest.

6188587
Hey now, twas but a joke. The Starswirl is Discord theory has been around a long time, it isn't an issue anymore. I was poking fun at it, mainly because I keenly remember when it was blazing around.

6188561

One potential source
Wikipedia
Another source

He seems to have had some trouble with his early schooling, some of which was disagreement with his teachers, and some may have been hyper-focusing. He seems to have done well in anything he put his mind to, but he had to put his mind to it.

Which are things that Sunburst could also have had trouble with!

6188006
Not every great genius finishes school. Many actually drop out because they're being held back by the system. Twilight is just a bookworm who loves school. I have no doubt Starswirl was writing spells his teachers couldn't comprehend.

6188561
wasn't the whole reason he was believed to be bad at math because his teachers couldn't understand his results. He basically failed for being smarter than the teachers.

6188656

I am still going to go on this....he has a ton of knowledge but not much in the way of ability. Starswirl had BOTH, Sunburst only has knowledge....hell I would be more inclined to say that Starlight is the second coming of him because her ability is so great that even Twilight couldn't defeat her when she modified Starswirl's time spell to make it better. Until Sunburst shows a lot of ability,

I can only imagine what would happen if Starlight became obsessed with studying like Twilight. Hell I'm betting she would become so powerful that her abilities would rival that of Celestia and Luna....and maybe even surpass them.

6188677
True enough on starlight. And I get what you're saying about Sunburst, and I think the writers just missed that. They've been laying it on so thick since he was introduced. They introduced him as a great wizard, they showed that his cutie mark was to do with his magical ability—which if you think about it, only pales next to Starlight Glimmer. Sunburst actually has quite a bit more ability even as a foal than most unicorns—they pointed out that he had a beard (even though other stallions have been shown to have beards) and they even gave him a cloak that looks remarkably similar to the original Starswirl design. He's an intellectual magical prodigy who has yet to fully realize his magical potential. Starlight may be the second coming of Starswirl, or the first if my theory is correct. I imagine he travels through time out of desperation, first inventing the 1-day time travel spell, then taking Starlight's spell and using it to jump back centuries for a problem he discovered in his intellectual studies. I can even see the awkward naming sequence
"What's your name, stranger?"
"Um starlight Star... swirl."

It wouldn't be hard considering his cutie mark.

Now, a lot of this is shaken heavily by Starswirl's gray coat (but that could be attributed to any number of things, since pony coats tend to pale over time) and his rather arrogant and douchey demeanor. And of course his now very canon backstory. I still believe however, that all that could have occurred after he jumped back a millennia.