She...used her powers for good? And had an open, honest conversation with someone?

If it hadn't been for the end I wouldn't have thought this was the same character.

11106361
Villainy comes in degrees

This is a fun story.

good chapter

Wow this might actually get finished! Considering I thought it was going to remain half finished forever. Personally I would have made rarity still deny herself but every time think about me and start trying to get relief in the real world but only starlight can help her.

both vital and pointless

Ya, it felt kinda rushed, like you needed to do an exposition dump and didn’t know how to gracefully splice it in. You should have led up to it in previous chapters of course, that was a long time ago though and your vision of the story might have changed. It feels like you’ve got a destination on the other side of this bridge chapter, looking forward to coming to it!

11106460
I'm also working within the original canon storyline as much as possible in a lot of contexts. I had always intended to work within the framework of the two Crystalling episodes but within the new context of this Starlight

I don't quite see the purpose of following canon to the point of introducing Sunburst to the story, but I imagine you have some plan for him, and it does at least relate to the plot of Starlight wishing she was the person she's pretending to be.

11106880
It all has purpose. I like the sense of grounding the canon episodes can have and the intent is to change just a single variable in the world, being Starlight in her means and somewhat in her backstory and motivation. With Starlight mostly keeping her hypnosis secret, events would proceed very similarly to the show in the grand scope.

One of the original creative inspirations for OiM was how trivially I felt the series 'explained' Starlight's heel turn the instant her friend went to school in a different city. It makes sense that her falling out with Sunburst should be large contributing factor in her personality unless I craft a radically different past completely, but it need to be a somewhat more grey falling apart. And seeing how even hashing some of that past out doesn't actually reform Starlight shows a deeper sense of her internal reasoning and the personal insecurities that are driving her.

Didn’t expect to see an update from this but I’m super glad you did. This is still one of my favourite stories on the site.
I do see how this chapter might have been a struggle, blending in the canon scene while also expanding on it to fit this story. That said I do like the changes, that they both slowly drifted apart rather then it being one event that turned Starlight “evil”.
Can’t wait for next chapter, especially if Cadance is the next target.

Holy Heck an update? (Reads ... after midnight don't care)

So ... "Wow," and "Nice."

First, it's actually nice to see the classic handshake induction, and where it actually fits.

Second, very nicely done on getting them back together. And yea, seeing Starlight actually concerned about others ... even knowing she was saving herself at the same time, she was still saying "Lives on the line in more important than my fear".

So lets see:
Last chapter she does therapeutic hypnosis on Shining Armor, and then does her mind control.

This chapter, she does memory aid on Twilight, and then actually puts someone else (many someone else's) before herself; then does a mind control.

She's not giving up mind control, but she is doing a lot more to be helpful. So ... still a villain, but now actually being a helpful villain?

Hey, im glad that you still have the motivation to keep this piece going, this story is one I particularly enjoy.

Just found an update. Am I mistaken, or did this used to be chapter 20?

(New chapter to read ... and now I've added this story to a subscription notifier.)