I'm a Seasons 1-5 Kind of Fan

As for the apparently long-discussed "golden seasons" since the show's end in 2019 (I didn't get into the show until last year), I understand the general consensus is that seasons 1-4 are generally considered to the the golden age. After that, I've seen an array of opinion on seasons 5-7, and most agree season 8 and 9 are the weakest. I'm a season 1-5 kind of person. Basically, I thought seasons 1-4 orchestrated an excellent execution in character and lore development with an overarching story slowly integrating itself, season 4's story arc leading to the confrontation of the ever-imposing Tirek and the succeeding erection of Twilight's castle. Season 5? I feel season 5 showed signs of actually choosing to continue on rather than maintain the status quo.

First of all, the obvious villain was introduced in the opening, "The Cutie Map," except this time, we didn't haven an imposing or slithery villain, and that villain happened to be...a delightful unicorn. There was something different. Starlight emanated with, "I'm different." There was ambiguity. Ominousness. Complex moves. No reasonable intention can be inferred as opposed to pre-reformed Discord's desire for total chaos, Sombre's fascist desire for power, Chrysallis's obsession with terrorism against Equestria, and, of course, Tirek's unholy cryptid of desire for terror, power, and suffering. Remember in part one of season 5's finale? There was a subtle pan where Starlight wasn't even intended to be obviously seen or the subject. Starlight's mysterious but looming threat was genuinely unsettling. What did she want, and just how powerful is she?

The (initially) indescribable personal feel to the battle between Twilight and Starlight was harrowing. Sure, the stakes were high in the war against Tirek, but Twilight vs. Starlight was a face-off. Now that we know Starlight, in hindsight, the face-off holds more weight. Two immensely powerful, complex, and passionate unicorns doing battle over the fate of Equestria, but this face-off was held through a time-loop above the cutie map. A map. The map, the cultivation of the mane six's role in Equestria's evolution beyond Twilight's destiny as a princess (and eventual princess of Equestria). Above that map, unlike the battle with Tirek in which Twilight saw Equestria at its knees, this face-off showed newly-ish Princess Twilight every harrowing potential timeline without Dash's sonic rainboom forcing her to confront just how arbitrary Equestria's fate is in the wake of an approaching new era for the land.

What was that back story?

Seriously? All imposition, ominousness, mystery, and seemingly deep layers to this new, truly challenging villain is reduced to losing a friend to a cutie mark manifestation? This leads into why I say I'm a seasons 1-5 kind of fan.

Starlight Glimmer could have changed the status quo for the show's themes. In hindsight, I see why season 5 is seen as the rocky start to the show's decline, but up until the total waste of an interesting villain's backstory (who went on to be a great character), season 5's end could have been the perfect transition to a new theme. Reformation. Starlight's change of heart should have been extended, she should have had a stronger backstory, and we should have seen those feelings of love and friendship slowly grow and not manifest in a handshake with Twilight just because of an apocalyptic vision of Equestria. So,

Seeing as how the changeling's return and Chrysallis's second, more exact and calculated attempt to take Equestria is the culmination of season six in To Where and Back Again, remember when Starlight extended her hand in an attempt at friendship with Chrysallis and Chrysallis turned her away? Imagine how much more power that would have had if Starlight's agreement to stop upsetting the timeline wasn't conditional on friendship. As if she was still hesitant to this "friendship" idea when Twilight extended her hand, and then when Chrysallis, a representation of the absence of love, turned Starlight's offer away, Starlight would then beautifully and tragically see the power of friendship. After all, there's an implied rivalry between Starlight and Chrysallis all the way until the end. We could have gotten more from that. Because season 5 seemed to be changing the status quo, in hindsight, season 5 simply shows signs of seasons 1-4's formula, adventures, and themes rusting, and it could have used this new villain and story arc to use old formula for a new era, but instead, we learned season 5 showed no intention of changing things up much. How could this have happened after season 4, a brilliant, seamless amalgamation of standalone episodes, story episodes, and a climactic, bone-chilling finale?

I actually have more to say about what I would change about Starlight's villainy, but I'll share that in a later post. I've just been wanting to share my gripes with this particular story beat, and how disappointing it was despite such excellent buildup.