Over the past day, its an understatement to say that the finale tore a divide in the fandom. A lot of people didn't plan on Starlight being redeemed at all and I will admit, I was in the group of people who wanted her to stay a villain before watching the finale.

But her reformation made a lot more sense than many seem to give it credit for, so I decided to write down all my thoughts here so that those who may be interested can see why Starlight's reformation was the best route the finale could have gone down.

1) Traumatised And Hurt...

I've seen many people complaining that Starlight's backstory does little to justify the things she has done in both the premiere and finale of season 5, and certainly if the events occurred when she was more adult, I could agree.

However, this all happened to her at a very young and impressionable age. Imagine it, your inseparable best friend who you do everything with is suddenly taken away from you. No goodbyes, no explanation of why, there is just suddenly a void where that friend used to be. All because they got their cutie mark.

At Starlight's young age, she couldn't have fully understood what transpired, all she knew is that the one friend she had was gone. All that sadness and hate inside of her would grow as she got older. Without ever being told otherwise, she grew up believing cutie marks just drove ponies apart like it did with her and Sunburst. While it may seem petty enough to make her creating an entire cutie-markless town ridiculous, having that much hate fester in your mind for such a long period of time can really change someone. Especially when all that hate is based around cutie marks.

What Twilight does however, is tell her the one thing no-one in her life ever would; that just because that one friendship was broken as it was, doesn't mean that any others will end the same way. Twilight's friendship speech was all about breaking the shell that Starlight built up around herself. We saw the exact same sort of thing in Tanks For The Memories, when Fluttershy told Rainbow that her winter would be pet-less. It broke Rainbow's shell and resolved her internal conflict.

2) Who's to know?

Villains like Tirek truly deserved the punishment they got, he was a villain through and through and there was no reforming that. Starlight on the other hand, WAS reformed so any punishment would be more minor anyhow.

But the main reason I believe there is a lack of punishment, is because in the long run, her actions didn't really do that much. In the premiere, she had a little town in the middle of nowhere that run off some ideals. While what she was doing was wrong, no-one was hurt and in fact, those in the village made new friends with each other and made something out of the town.

And in the finale, her actions literally had no effect. They couldn't have otherwise the entirety of time would be a total mess. Apart from Twilight, Spike and Starlight, no-one in Equestria would know anything ever happened with her trying to stop the rainboom. How can you punish someone for a crime that never happened?

And also...this IS a kids show where they're trying to promote friendship and kindness. What better way than to show kids that even your worst enemies can become friends if you give them a chance to be?

3) That Starlight must be PRETTY magical

Twilight made a smart move keeping Starlight around. Not only do we get a new recurring character to bring something fresh to the table, but also it makes her reformation feel much less rushed.

One of my main peeves about Sunset Shimmer's reformation is that it was INCREDIBLY rushed, I mean seriously, one film she's evil, two minutes of redeeming and then the next film she's super good! All that aside though, Starlight's reformation still felt quick but having her as a character that will stay in season 6 allows more time for her character to develop and her reformation can be much more appreciated.

Maybe we get to see some reconciliation with Sunburst? Or at least we see her begin to let go of all the pain Sunburst's departure caused? Perhaps we can see more of her amazing magical capabilities? Better still, how she learnt it all?

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Her character has a lot of places it can go, if given the opportunity. I am happy with the finale's ending as it is. Starlight was a worthy villain but she is an even more worthy ally with all of her power. And plus, her character has a lot of room for some really healthy development.

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Well if you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings Did you guys think Starlight's redemption was a good thing? Or a bad idea?