Talk:Starlight Glimmer/@comment-25559529-20161108014300

I have explained why I don't think Starlight was ever a great villain to begin with before. That comment also explained why her redemption sucked. Here is why I still don't like Starlight:

Starlight's inclusion in the show's main cast works against the messages the show has been producing over the years. Starlight is not a foal. She is one of Twilight's peers, and she can't be "taught" friendship the same way one would talk down a foal.

Twilight is always putting pressure on Starlight. In The Crystalling, she has a full-blown checklist of steps to reunite with Sunburst (which in and of itself contradicts the lesson we've learned multiple times that moments of friendship can't be manufactured).

Starlight does not react well to pressure—even the slightest bit of self-induced pressure—which makes her do what people like TallTitan have rightfully lambasted her for—resorting to possibly unethical magic.

The real point of contention comes in the following transcript excerpt.


 * Starlight Glimmer: Maybe if I had reversed the Fiducia Compelus and Cogeria... Or maybe I added too much Persuadere... What?
 * Spike: You're really missing the point here.
 * Twilight Sparkle: [sighs] I finally untangled that mess of a spell and got everypony home. It was really powerful stuff. They're gonna feel that in the morning. Now please try to explain to me how in the name of Celestia things got this out of control.
 * Starlight Glimmer: Well, it was the first time I cast that particular spell, and I didn't fully think it through. I-I bet if I had reversed—
 * Twilight Sparkle: I think you might be missing the point here.

She doesn't even care that what she did was wrong! No, instead, she's trying to get it "right."

This is why I don't think what Starlight did is comparable to the Want It, Need It spell, apart from what BenRG already stated a couple months ago.


 * Twilight Sparkle: Big McIntosh! Thank goodness! You've gotta help me get that doll away from those girls!


 * Twilight Sparkle: Oh no!


 * Twilight Sparkle: Can't... get... a clear shot! [grunting]


 * Twilight Sparkle: Oh, what have I done?!


 * Twilight Sparkle: I'm a bad student!

Each of these transcript excerpts is either Twilight immediately expressing guilt over what she did or immediately trying to fix the problem. Celestia doesn't need to come in and tell her that what she did was wrong because Twilight has the moral decency to realize that on her own—and try (unsuccessfully) to fix it on her own—unlike Starlight.

And it's not like someone who's trying to quit smoking after having done so for 20 years; Starlight using on everyone can seriously hurt Big Mac or the Mane Six.

This completely unethical act comes from the pressure that Twilight puts on her.


 * She insists Starlight reunite with Sunburst with a freaking checklist.
 * She tells Starlight to get a friend to take to dinner with Princess Celestia on the day of the dinner.
 * Somehow learn a "friendship lesson" (which I'll get to in a bit) by the time Twilight finishes whatever she was doing in Canterlot (I can't be bothered to check.).

This contradicts one of the show's most recent (decent) lessons, namely from Buckball Season.

This also contradicts Twilight's own lesson from Testing Testing 1, 2, 3. Funny how the episode that only exists for its moral has a moral that is completely ignored by the show later on.

So Starlight sucked from the start, and now she's in an awkward position where she's constantly hanging around the main cast despite being contradictory to what the show initially set out to do (other than sell toys).

The fault may not lie with Twilight—Starlight's missteps are her own fault—but that's another problem with Starlight. She gives Twilight the opportunity to start acting completely pretentious about friendship and talking as though friendship is some sort of tangible thing. That's not how it works, or at least that's not how it used to work. Life isn't some journey with predetermined lessons at the end. Lessons are drawn from experience. Celestia did not directly teach Twilight about friendship. She sent Twilight to Ponyville, Twilight made friends, and then Celestia looked on with joy. It does not work when Twilight is trying to directly "teach" Starlight friendship. No one learns anything by starting with the morals first and then experiencing it.

Twilight isn't even a very good teacher. In The Crystalling, she says that she'll give Starlight more room to make her own decisions, but she does the exact opposite in No Second Prances, and then try to get her to come to Hearth's Warming.

In sum, Starlight was a terrible villain, her redemption was awful, and nowadays, she's a source of a backwards way of teaching morals that does nothing but let Twilight get on a pedestal and contradict the show's original message.