BastementSparkle

I'd counterargue that the Crystal Heart still has to have some kind of magical ability of it's own, otherwise, if it's really only the Crystal Ponies magic that is necessary, why couldn't they just replace the Crystal Heart with any other random artifact when it was missing or destroyed? The Crystal Heart must have some sort of special property of it's own for it to be seemingly the specific object they need to use.

The Crystal Heart, Spike's comic in "Power Ponies", Neighsay's amulet, and all of the other magical artifacts from Season 8, the Pillar's artifacts from Season 7, the Staff of Sacanas from the movie. There's quite a few really.

Pretty much what @Gestum said. The people who say the G4 fandom is dying think that because the fandom has shrunk and slowed down and isn't really in the spotlight that much anymore, at least not to the same extent it was. The previous gens might still have their dedicated fans who love to collect the toys, or make their own fanworks or discuss with other fans, but that's still dead in these people's eyes because they're no longer really "Popular". If G4 became a fandom like the previous gens, with a smaller but still dedicated and loyal fanbase, then it's "dead" to them.

"Maybe banishment by death?" Are you trying to argue that Starlight was trying to kill him? Yeah, the spell looked violent I'll give you that, Spike and the students were clearly freaked out, but Starlight says it was a banishment spell and Discord doesn't show up later on complaining about her trying to kill him. I'm pretty sure if she had been attempting to murder him he would have been very, very vocal about it. Anyway, Starlight was already angry about him endangering and tormenting the students, she was about ready to kick him out before then, him insulting her like that was just what pushed her over the edge. Yes, she reacted in anger, no surprise there. It certainly wasn't the best choice, but I could see plenty of "Good people" still making it. Her next attempt to handle it was much better and clearly showed how understanding she can be when she's trying though, she likely had time to think over what the problem with Discord was much better once he wasn't tormenting her for a while. Exactly, neither was a good choice, but Twilight specifically still intended her spell to affect others, while Starlight was trying to use her magic to keep from affecting others. Both were not necessarily the best of ideas, but I'd honestly argue Twilight's situation is slightly worse, because whether she meant for the town to go crazy or not, she still purposely tried to mess with 3 fillies minds to cause a problem, just so she could solve it. Also, "Being Good means being able to make a right choice"? Starlight's made some good choices, she was the one who wanted to talk to Stygian and try to reason with him first, before anypony else was, her decision to swap the Princesses Cutie Marks was impulsive but ended up being exactly what they needed, she's the one who knocked some sense into Twilight to stand up for her school in School Daze, she ended up helping the Mane Six to see some of the good their journal did in "Fame and Misfortune". Hell, she was responsible for saving Equestria once in the Season 6 finale. How often does one have to make good choices to be good? What about situations where there is no right choice? Who's a good person then? Who cares if most people wouldn't react that way? Starlight's an individual. Like I said, it wasn't even really bad, the worst that it caused was kinda creeping out Sunburst a little. She was trying to rekindle the friendship with him she thought she was losing. Lot's of people in life sometimes react in ways that aren't "Normal" or might be a little uncomfortable for other people, even if they aren't harmful. That doesn't make them a bad person, it makes them an individual with character flaws, like basically everybody on the planet. At this point, I think you and I just have very different definitions of what constitutes a "Good person". As you define it "Being good means making a right choice no matter what the circumstances are", which to me just sounds like an outright impossible standard. Nobody in real life could be a good person with that definition, because always making the right choice is impossible. By the way you've defined it, I honestly think none of the main characters in this show would really be good people. To me a good person is somebody who tries to be good, who tries to be better than they were before, who tries to make up for their mistakes and wrong decisions when they make them, because they're going to make them. A good person can still sometimes be greedy, or selfish, or manipulative, or angry, because that's how people are, and you don't have to always be perfect to be good. Personally, I find Starlight to be very, very sympathetic. She's somepony trying to be good and actually struggling with it, she wants to be better but as we've seen it obviously doesn't come easy to her. She's trying to work out her issues but it's a long process and involves a lot of slip-ups and she's a very flawed person, but she's trying and she's making it slowly but surely. She's compassionate, she was willing to offer Chrysalis the same second chance she was given, she was willing to give Trixie a second chance as her friend and was willing to forgive Discord too in "Matter of Principals", she was the first one who wanted to try to talk to the Pony of Shadows. I'd say she's been pretty friendly too since she was reformed, Maud and Trixie sure think so, and those two are the kind of ponies who can probably be pretty hard to be friends with at times, since Maud probably comes across as pretty dull most of the time and Trixie is...well, Trixie. Good is hard, you're right. It's hard enough that you can't always succeed at it. The measure of a good person, I think, is how hard you keep trying at it anyway.

She explicitly states it was a banishment spell. And yes, there is a difference between killing and banishing. Banishing would just kick him off of the school grounds, killing would mean he's dead. It's like the difference between banning somebody from school property in real life versus shooting them. Banishing and killing might be both hostile intentions, but they are not the same at all, that's ridiculous. The situation with Twilight in Lesson Zero and Starlight in All Bottled up are absolutely different. Twilight purposely enchanted the Smarty Pants doll to make ponies fall in love with it. She might not have intended for things to go the way they did, but she still did that action on purpose. Starlight never intended for the bottle to affect anypony else, in fact she was using the bottle in an attempt to keep her anger in check to not freak out on Trixie. The bottle only ended up breaking and affecting others because of Trixie trying to take the bag away, actually. Not the same situation at all. She was distraught and worrying she didn't have anything in common with her best friend anymore. She was trying to find a way for them to relate and have fun together again and she went way overboard trying to do that. It shows that yeah, she's still messed up a bit, but nopony even really got hurt by this incident and comparing it to the others is kind of silly, at worst Sunburst was kind of uncomfortable. I have a big issue with this idea of "People revealing their true nature under stress". Are you trying to say the only way to be a good person is to be good by nature? I can't really agree with that, and I think that would discount a lot of people's efforts to genuinely be better. Some people have issues with themselves they're going to struggle with for the rest of their life, especially a lot of people with things like mental illness. What if somebody has anger issues that won't go away, that they'll have to deal with for the rest of their life? Are they still a bad person no matter what, simply because they aren't "Good" by nature? If they still resort to anger at times when under great stress? Even if they try their best to control it, and make up for the wrong things they do when they slip up? I'd argue Starlight has changed, and is a better person because she's putting the effort in to be one. She tries to control herself, her efforts might be misguided at times, like with the bottle incident, but that was clearly an attempt to keep her anger in check, one she hasn't repeated since. While she banished Discord when under great stress, she fixed that mistake by apologizing and offering him the chance to help out the second time. Yes, she can still be selfish, yes, she can still be impulsive, but she tries not to be, and she tries to make up for it when she screws up. That's all a good person really can do in the end, try their best, make up for their mistakes, and learn their lessons as best as possible, even if they have to be learned multiple times.

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of men who appreciate stories about being good and "Friendship lessons", even if they don't necessarily appreciate MLP. Science Fiction shows, other cartoons, anime, comic books and other popular media that lot's of guys enjoy are full of things like that, even if they're mixed in with more violence and action or more adult themes. Most men in real life are more than just walking "Macho" stereotypes.

I just want to point out, a few of your examples of Starlight's "Ridiculous extremes" aren't exactly entirely accurate or fair. The "Biggest death Laser beam" she used on Discord was a banishment spell, infecting the ponyville residents wasn't at all on purpose, and turning herself and her friend into foals, while over the top and maybe a little creepy wasn't even slightly harmful to anyone. Plus, in the first example Discord was acting way more out of line than Starlight was anyway, from her point of view he was not only insulting her, but also putting the students in danger. She still has the same flaw of often acting on insecurities and impulses, but she mostly only does that now when under severe stress, as opposed to her past self when it was pretty much her first option nearly all the time. Many of her more recent relapses aren't anywhere near the same severity as they were in prior seasons. So, I'd argue that she has changed, one doesn't have to eliminate a character flaw from themselves entirely to have changed. I think she's a good person because she's clearly trying to be and I think there's enough in the show to see she's made progress.

Alterations how? Do you mean these alterations would exist from the start of the show or happen later on? That kind of changes my answer, as if they suddenly decided to make Twilight a goth at some point I'd definitely not like it, and having Shy suddenly be an Otaku 5 seasons in would be weird. As for if they started the show like that, well I'd never want to trade the current Flutters or Twi for anything, especially since the Twi we got is my favorite character. But if the show had started from the beginning with a Goth Twilight and Otaku Shy, I might be saying the same thing if they were written well enough. So, I guess it depends, I'd totally have watched the show still if it was written well, I'd know no difference.

I'm not the person you were responding to, but I can still tell you why I think Cozy isn't boring, and it's for the exact reason you think she is. She's a cute little girl with no magical powers, no big army, not even any magic at all since she's a Pegasus. She's interesting specifically because she lacks all the power of the previous villains, she get's by purely off of manipulation and planning. On a pure power scale she's beneath all the other villains, which makes her achievements all the more impressive. Her age only adds to that, think of what she could do now, as a young, inexperienced little filly...now, think what she'd be like as a more experienced, mature and intelligent adult? She's already scary as a filly, as an adult she could be outright terrifying. She doesn't need reality warping power, or an army of love-sucking drones to be a threat, just a charming smile and some sweet words.

Despite supposedly appearing less, between Celestial Advice, A Royal Problem, and Horse Play, Celestia has gotten more focus and development than ever. Frankly, I'm okay with the Princesses appearing less if they get some good stuff when they do appear.

Some people absolutely would, and do consider watching this show to be "Effeminate". Others don't. Me? I don't care either way, I just like ponies.