ChimeNotesworth

I made a post about Starlight Glimmer being the Element of Empathy: Also, on Sunset Shimmer... I think “the Element of Forgiveness” would be her rightful place. At the end of the first EQG movie, I cried—I **** you not. I love Sunset Shimmer. I’m sure hardcore Sunset Shimmer fans would notice how much just her change of jacket in Friendship Games entails. I guess I like “reformations” in general, because I’ve gone through a similar phase of it, even with a similar—quick—fashion as Sunset Shimmer’s and, in a sense, Starlight Glimmer’s. Discord didn’t tick for me. He’s just playing. There’s no emotional baggage. Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer are different—they have emotional baggage to be who they used to be. Starlight Glimmer’s emotional baggage, however “succinct,” is out there for all to see—something from her childhood. But Sunset Shimmer’s? We don’t really know! And this is no bad writing, is it? It’s what makes her so fascinating. I get to assume—the best part of any story to me! My theory of Sunset Shimmer’s past is, in one sentence, Celestia wrongfully took her as the Element of Magic. I have loads of proof for that, but for now I’ll name one. Remember what she said to Twilight Sparkle when she was a bout to—hehe—smash that mirror with a sledgehammer? But I digress. The Sunset Shimmer vs. Starlight Glimmer comparison is so thrilling just to think about! I think the main difference between the two is... Starlight Glimmer really thought what she was doing was justified. She experienced something extremely painful when she was young (I’ve talked about this in the last post), and she sought to create a world where “nopony has to go through that again”! There’s a certain nobility and respectability in that. She went about it the wrong way, but you can see a train of logic. Sunset Shimmer doesn’t give me that impression at all. What she did feels much more “visceral” and emotional. Not to say Starlight Glimmer wasn’t emotional, but hers “made sense” in a twisted way. Sunset Shimmer was just... angry! Her villainy felt like a rebellion. Perhaps a protest to the assigned life in a world she didn’t previously belong, just because of a monarch’s mistake. I would say Sunset Shimmer didn’t get reformed at all, because she never was the person she was acting like. I don’t think she ever, for a moment, thought what she was doing was OK, and that’s why her turnaround was so instantaneous. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time imagining Starlight Glimmer singing: That my past does not define me 'Cause my past is not today For Starlight Glimmer, her past is what defines her—it was irreversible crime whose guilt she has to compensate emotionally for the rest of her life, and it was a manifestation of an inherent doer with good will. Sunset Shimmer’s past was a frustrated response—an unhealthy way of processing her pain, not who she was. Her “reformation” was just a return of her true self. All it really took was someone’s forgiveness—a chance to remember who she really was and who she really could be. Only forgiveness can make that happen. Empathy itself cannot—there’s nothing more to understand about her. You need to forgive her. And when you do, she’s a terrific friend. Oh yeah, while we’re at it, I want to talk about this “bad writing” opinions on reformations. Many times people say I’m just making excuses of bad writings, saying “I relate to them.” I don’t know... I guess that’s what I’m doing? But this is not how I see things—not MLP:FiM. For Starlight Glimmer, as an example, sure, they might have more audiences and make more bucks if she were more “likable,” but I don’t give a flying **** about that. I-I mean... but they would sure as hell lose me as their hardcore fan! When some people see Sunset Shimmer’s and Starlight Glimmer’s “reformation,” they go: “This doesn’t make sense! Why would the writers do this?” But that’s not how my brain works. You see, I give the show the benefit of the doubt and think in its logic before criticizing. I say: “This doesn’t make sense! Why would she do that?” Then, one by one, I reach the most brilliant epiphanies I could ever ask for. I cried many times for that. ... Seems I cry a lot. By the way, I really agree with content creator DWK on this one. Go check out his videos! Thanks for reading again! I hope someone can change my mind!

Wait, there are *two* pages now?? Uhm... alright, hold on... Things I disagree are a few: The show does have continuity and consistency, just in a broader context and limited scale. We should focus on the whole picture, right? We don’t nitpick like LittleshyFiM (who, by the way, conveniently praises the show in his comment under Every Little Thing She Does’ Cinemare Sins) does—that’s their job. (Err... I don’t know how it insert images—just scroll down in the comment section. Littleshy’s comment in one of the replies.) While I believe in punishment and responsibility, in my opinion, the mentioned metric in the human world shouldn’t apply to MLP:FiM. Let me explain. You bring up your friend; I bring up mine. I have a friend who studies law. He told me one thing: one of the important thinking characteristics of anyone practicing law is “legal judgement before moral judgement.” Only children want to distinguish between the so-called “good” and “bad.” The lawyer distinguishes between matters of guilt and innocence. The criminal procedure law (in where I’m from) tells me that any citizen has not been tried by the court, in the law should be regarded as innocent citizens. In fact, we put suspects into a “machine,” the legislative and judiciary system, and let the “machine” more righteously decide (ideally) their outcome. That’s why “bad people” have the right to hire lawyers. Here’s the catch: although Starlight Glimmer is clearly guilty by our standards, there is not a system—and not any calls for it, as far as I’m concerned—to render her guilty in the fantasy world, where “friendship” rules. She’s innocent until possibly never proven guilty, because, without legal judgements first, there is only moral judgments, and it seems that Starlight Glimmer passed her test at least under Twilight Sparkle’s judgements. No one suspected this “timebomb” because ponies are smarter than you and I (I can write you an essay on this) and she’s passed the moral test, so now, she’s alright. “No reason not to forgive her.” If they were wrong about Starlight Glimmer and she took a wrong turn again, they wouldn’t regret their decision either—not regretted, just “disappointed.” They would still have followed their “laws.” However “unjust,” in MLP’s worldview, the outcome seems rather desirable, as she processed to benefit the society in a considerable scale. Don’t get me wrong—we humans need laws as tools to peruse our wishful justice. However, what we aspire to is not “justice” itself. It’s *our* version of justice, oftentimes heavily flawed. That said, we need a construct to get us as close to justice as humanly possible. And you can’t go about justice without a system. I want to be as rational as can be. I say we shouldn’t just punish—or decide not to punish—someone out of indignation if they did horrible things. One example of this would invite more horrible things—further deviating from what we set out for. As you said, the show depicts a very idealistic world—a wildly dreamy utopian worldview that perhaps isn’t practical for our society, not in our wildest dreams. The idealistic world has idealistic systems. To my mind, the show is trying to tell us that the system of friendship, love, understanding and all is more desirable—not to say realistic—than human’s only laws and regulations. Also, to say the least, ideally, every criminal would be assigned a “Twilight Sparkle” to put them under the right judgement, but the representative case of “forgiving Starlight Glimmer” is the closest we—or rather, ponies—can get. In conclusion, there lie two options to deal with a person with an unresolved “record.” One, decide punishment according to rules, and if there aren’t rules satisfactory enough, make new rules. This is convenient for ruling the masses, but rules are oftentimes unjustly set in stone. Two, decide punishment or the absence whereof through personal and moral judgments. This is oftentimes inaccurate and can lead to more injustices, but ideally, it maximize the benefit for the society. In my opinion, the ultimate objective of justice is to improve lives; without that premise, justice is but a meaningless invention of the mind. If we can run the calculations of measurement of penalty in a supercomputer with infinite computing capacity, that’s when justice is served. As of now, can you really blame those who forgives Starlight Glimmer because “those people think they understand who she is”? Furthermore, one question needs to be asked: how do we morally define a “bad person”? Well, evidently, answers differ from person to person. My standards are low—I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a “bad person.” I get to know them as a person, I help them all I can, I try to talk to them, reason with them and teach them hard lessons, and when it comes to that, I put them in trial. I’m fine if anyone tries to do the same to me. Hopefully, I can maximize the good I bring to the world, by how I treat them. I wanted to make Starlight Glimmer “responsible for her actions” at first, because she’s decidedly just too dangerous to be around, but then I think I got to know who she is, and that’s just enough for me to forgive her. It was an illusion spell. Hmph! Thanks for reading!

Wow, I made the right decision checking today! You guys made so many good points! This time I want to talk about writing. In my opinion, Starlight Glimmer doesn’t need a rewrite—her writing is already close to perfect. To my mind, there is no “lack of motivation” to carry out her ambitious wrong deeds; I’m inclined to think the opposite: Sunburst’s leaving and Starlight Glimmer’s maverick nature were more than enough. If we imagine a tragedy was responsible for her mother's absence in the show, which rings true to me given how Firelight acts, Sunburst was all she had; Sunburst’s leaving was her last straw. My anecdotal experience bore witness to how fragile kids under eight years old are. We also have rather little knowledge of her past—we shouldn’t exclude the denial society feeds her back which strengthens her pre-established belief. That Twilight Sparkle’s “solicitation” instantly changed her mind also rings true to me, only because I relate to it heavily (if you’re interested, I explained this point in details two posts earlier). I might not speak for even a fraction of the audience, but it all adds up when my life experience and worldview meshes neatly with her arc and fills all—and I mean all—of the gaps. Now, I’m under the impression that Starlight Glimmer’s so-called “bad writing” is what the writers left to the imagination. Taking a step back, I can’t help but admire Starlight Glimmer. This character makes big mistakes, walks a checkered path, constantly repents, changes her ways, suffers, destroys the world, and saves the world. Moreover, in my opinion, she enjoys the writing that has all the big and small things executed nicely. Generally speaking, she is a very successful redeemed protagonist. The character’s debut is in Season 5, entering the second half of the series, so her growth trajectory is relatively compact, and the overall plot of character growth and transformation is relatively reasonable. Of course, all of what I said above isn’t saying that other characters didn’t grow up. The series took nine seasons to finish, after all; I did see inspiring episodes of more wonderful character building. However, in my view, due to the somewhat excessive length of the series, the writers had exhausted their arcs. As a result, the growth of the Mane 6 inevitably appeared inconsistent. For example, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who had gone through thick and thin, had conflicts because they told the students that "different views and interests do not prevent us from being friends," and finally needed an unsubstantiated plot of "Treasure Hunt" to get back together. Same with Rainbow Dash and Applejack (S8E9), Pinkie Pie with her musical instrument (S8E18), Spike’s identity struggles (S8E24), Twilight Sparkle’s idolatry (S8E7, S7E25-26), and so on. A strong sense of retrogression is clear to me. Examples of other characters’ inconsistencies are many. I shan’t bore you anymore. In my opinion, in the end, many characters are inconsistent and inflexible, jumping back and forth across the spectrum of maturity as if they are designed to be flat characters, and helplessly so. As the show “dragged on,” it became more and more challenging for the writers to conjure up new materials that are both ideally profound enough and simplistic for the cartoon “kid’s show.” However, this leaves the character of Starlight Glimmer advantageous, as she appeared rather late. She performed relatively well in character development within the last two seasons, contrary to a few other characters, because of this—many would say, unfair—advantage. With prominent examples being Shadow Play (S7E25-26) and School Daze (S8E1-2), as much as I hesitate to say it, to me, Starlight Glimmer, in the late seasons, appears to be the only character “with reason,” character-wise and storytelling-wise. By the former, I mean that only her methodology is what I can understand and even sometimes agree on; by the latter, I mean that, taking her character into account, her actions make perfect sense. Besides, She became a completion of Twilight Sparkle, and both of their characters’ growths are indispensable to each other. Starlight Glimmer enjoyed “the spotlight” as the so-called “the writers’ pet” because only she still had that potential. In part, Starlight Glimmer is my favorite pony because “she’s the only one left.” You could argue that (as Fluttershy stated in S7E14) trials and repetitions are needed before lessons are learned, but, personally, this sense that “old habits die hard” or that “the leopard cannot change his spots” isn’t what I look for. I want more growth. In conclusion, in my opinion, not Starlight Glimmer of all ponies should bare the title “badly written.” Selfishly speaking, she only deserves more screen time. By the way, One major thing I love about MLP is exactly that every characters have the potential to be heavily disliked, and that the characters are full and three-dimensional. You like likable ponies; I like all ponies—that's OK, but I don't think MLP can be what it is without the less likable aspects of each characters to make them alive. That's why I think we can agree to disagree on whether she is "a good person." I see myself similar to Starlight Glimmer in character. I'm aware that I can't help it if some people think, for example, that I, who did many bad things, am a bad person, and that I don't deserve forgiveness. Hell, maybe they're right. However, at least forgiveness is healthier to me. If you don't substantiate your claims with logic or reason, I won't let you destroy what I have... but I will if you do. Thank you for reading! What do you think?

Thank you for your reply! My opinion stays the same. I don't think there is "bad writing" with respect to the character Starlight Glimmer--quite the opposite. One man's trash is another man's treasure. If a character resonates with me in every little thing about her, which is the case of Starlight Glimmer, I consider the character a success. I won't reiterate my previous points about how applicable and potentially realistic the character arch was to me. I also stand by my opinion concerning the non-standard title of "the Element of Empathy." The following is my reason why. I can see this is sarcasm, and I accept the fact that, as shown in S6E21: Every Little Thing She Does (by which point the friendship lessons hadn’t really begun), Starlight Glimmer started off lacking empathy. However, I have well-grounded arguments that Starlight Glimmer is worthy the title “the Element of Empathy.” Bet this’ll win you over hands down. The dialectics of “empathy” in this case is typical. Viewers would hate being “manipulated,” therefore sympathize with the ones being “manipulated.” We, especially the younger audiences, don’t want anyone being above us, ordering us around, especially not for the wrong reasons. I can understand this state of mind. However, if you were Starlight Glimmer’s acquaintance, by resolving that she’s “manipulative” and withdraw empathy towards her stifles the chance of her personal growth. No one “reforms” over night. Twilight held the friendship lessons off because she needed to know Starlight Glimmer better by doing things she enjoys—magic, but she was too confident in Starlight Glimmer, as Starlight Glimmer clearly still wasn’t ready for a friendship lesson. Later on, Starlight Glimmer received a chance to explain herself and even apologize; I believe it once again convinced Twilight Sparkle that Starlight Glimmer “is not a bad pony.” What she showed in Every Little Thing She Does was an impatient and emulative disposition, inherently. While this wouldn’t justify her means, it opens possibility of empathy, forgiveness and growth. Also to say the least, “reformation” is a myth; it doesn’t matter whether a person was “manipulative” before or after the “reformation.” What matters is whether a person is trying to be better. We should all learn from Twilight, and see that ourselves. But this isn’t enough for a title as weighty as “the Element of Empathy,” is it? To start with, the title itself should be dialectical. Applejack, Element of Honesty, lied profusely when she was a teenager (S6E23). Moreover, she avoided the truth that she didn’t perform well in a contest, and let shame and escapism take over (S2E14). Rarity, Element of Generosity, forced her friends work hours because she felt unbalanced when her generosity only benefited an ungrateful so-and-so (S4E8). Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, chose escapism over either sides she cared about, when she had to, to a degree, choose between personal success and her friends as well as hometown (S4E10). Fluttershy, Element of Kindness, dumped trash onto others’ heads because they got in her way, and dug at her friends so viciously that both her friends broke down crying (S2E19). Even in season 8, the Element of Laughter herself played the role of a killjoy, giving way to utter sadness because of something as “trivial” as “my friends don’t let me play music because it bothered them” (S8E18). Twilight Sparkle never believed in Friendship to begin with, and when things got dire, she doubted friendship once again (S9E25). The Mane 6 represents the Elements of Harmony not by being perfect in respective traits—not by a long shot. Instead, I think we should agree that, in the case of the main MLP protagonists, each of these characters has a history of doubting or even betraying those qualities they assert. This is no “bad writing.” Making mistakes and correcting them is something that every one of them has to experience. It is these experiences, I think, that signal the character's growth and make it truly "emblematic" of a quality. Starlight Glimmer decidedly showed traits of empathy later on. Such examples abound in the original show. Only she could think of exchanging the princesses' cutie marks to put them in each other's shoes (S7E10). Only she can oppose Star Swirl and Twilight Sparkle and do the right thing (in the show’s logic), and rekindle Stygian’s belief in friendship. Only she can befriend Trixie and Discord, while those are the ones even the main cast glowered at, and only she befriended ponies as eccentric as Maud Pie. Perhaps “the Element of Empathy” (or Sunset Shimmer's "forgiveness," for that matter) doesn’t mesh well with the other Elements, since empathy is such essential trait that can hardly be drawn parallel with the rest. However, if there is an Element of Empathy, it has to be Starlight Glimmer and none other. Her unique experience always puts her in a different, empathetic perspective. Namely, having gone through childhood (feelings of) betrayal, lunacy, hatred, self-denial and all the hard times she needed to do the wrong things, and as a (heavily) flawed character herself, Starlight Glimmer could easily empathize with others who have the similar hardships and beyond. What’s more, unlike an unrepentant ingrate, she could help them along, while helping herself whereby. That, my friend, is empathy. In my opinion, some viewers “hate” Starlight Glimmer and believe she “never changed” because these viewers hate, for example, being “manipulated” so much that they’re willing to deny Starlight Glimmer’s whole character for it, not even allowing the cartoon’s exaggeration that is likewise applied to, say, other Elements of Harmony. While I can understand the mindset, to put it bluntly, this denial is a lack of empathy, and it helps nobody. Thanks for reading! What do you think? I look forward to future conversations!

Hello! Wow, I don't know why I haven't read about this sooner! Actually, I had a strong aversion of the character in question as well. But almost unbelievably, I found myself seeing Starlight Glimmer in a completely new light after some realization, so much so that she's now undoubtably my favorite throughout the show! I would rewatch just her episodes many times in a row, still picking up something new about her. I'm really thankful to Josh Haber and the others who were responsible for this absolutely controversal character's emergence. One thing I have always knew about Starlight Glimmer is that she is a very, very hard one to relate to. No empathy can be spent on her easily and little real-life experience can be ever so alike to the piont you'd connect her with yourself. Therewithal, her "turning good" seemed brash and her "redemption" wasn't explicit. With some of her future actions you might wonder how come she got what she didn't deserve. You have all the reason to say she wasn't "changed" at all, in contrast to what she's been told. The writers did nothing to correct that. Well, almost nothing. She's shown to be "manipulative," "brash," and awkward that way. But that's the thing--I relate to that on a personal level. I want to start with my opinion on life choices--not too off our common ground. Sometimes it's easy to realize how much of a sh*tty person you are, given that you believe in logic. Sometimes, to say that "reformation" or even "redemption" of a non-headcase is "hard" is not as appropriate as to say that the person lacks just a "trigger." Your logic can do the rest, gradually or swiftly, if triggered to think in reason. On the other hand, a trigger can just as well make you fall into an irredeemable pit of delusion or false belief, the trigger being trauma or whatever else. Easy like in a "supervillain" character arch. (Life is but deluted cartoons anyway.) It's embarrassing but it has happened to me. "I can't believe I was so blind!" easily marks a change in character, in one way or another. For me, in the past, I'd latch on to what we call "falsehood" firmly and dearly because it and only it could account for, for example, my experience, and I'd build an indestructible fort of world view and values, thinking I'm doing the right thing, and that I, "unlike most people," are on the right path of truth. It serves as a belief all the same. I needed it to survive. The way I see it, this misbelief, given some exceptional aptness, bares a Starlight Glimmer. That's why I don't think her "transformation" was hasty at all--oh, no, no, no. You just don't understand. Oh, I think I should confirm my stance... I generally agree. Her (magic) abilities could actually be a decisive factor of how she was treated. You can't deny: she's still a very dangerous character around all the powers. But I like to think that in turn fuels her self-doubt more, too. Agreed. I disagree. Unlike to Discord, I think Twilight matured along the way and could actually see Starlight's state of mind which could account for her wrongdoing. Twilight was being a patient mentor. "Starlight, I'm not mad at you. But I am disappointed." (She was mad though--her meme face don't lie.) I have nothing to disagree here--them's the facts! That is how mental illness can be found, at least to me--when your personality is still integrating into one when you are a kid. Actually, to say I like her just because I heavily relate to herself isn't as fitting as to say I like her because I was deeply attracted by her story. Starlight and I might not have the same experience--or namely the past, but strangely, our insecurity and inner conflicts seem to be quite alike. Even in real life--seeing the way many people think of her hits home dearly. At first, I found her really interesting to watch, but then some "realizations" made me lose faith on her. Her fate were way too out of phase of her perpetration, which seemed really suspicious, and her absurdity of her frivolous "reformation" and suspicious "original intentions" into the bargain. That was not a long while ago either. But I realized, to Starlight, I was just being one of "them" who just do what we do--judging others based on what we see. (They are not to blame either.) I don't mind saying I cried a bit ... when I found myself in the same situation--when things just began to jell in my mind. It was empathy, with everything happened to her while she stayed around, that finally got me. You can't deny she's suffered. I didn't want to hate her anymore, for I didn't want to hate myself anymore. What if she's innocent like me, or am I innocent? I can't give you any answers, because I don't know. However, there's one thing I know--I want to be a better person, better enough to be good. Finally, I hoped people can say they hated me, so I'd ask more about why. I needed some time to heal... or to just set things right. I needed to abandon the values and morals that sustained my life for too long, and you know your core values are painful to ever change--that's why we'd risk it all to defend them. It was hard, and--one would say--altimately impossible. And, desperately grasping at straws, I actually managed to see that struggle in Starlight, too. With the help of "Starlight Glimmer" I've been getting better! I started to care about others! To forwardly make friends! To think I'm not that bright and humbly correct myself from time to time. But I kept my habit of using logic. And my passion to know about this miraculous world. I saw all of this in Starlight. It may be me intentionally misreading, but ... I looked really close, and I can't belie myself. Actually, in my opinion, every little thing she does is just perfect for her character and need not to be changed beyond the show's discription. It was as if the writers knew about me all along and hid these little sweet secrets about Starlight for me to ruminate day and night. And we actually have many other things in common. Finally I just resolved that she's my favorite character. Oh, you know, she's never the "Element of Justice." That would be crazy talk. I have to agree with content creator "DWK" (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT1tAbK9XgoSxAi2xUIqY4w) on this one: if she has to have an element assigned to her, she would be the "Element of Empathy." Just look at who she's friends with--Trixie, Disocrd, Maud Pie! I bet you can't stand Trixie one day; that's saying something. You know what? I just realized something. What made her my favorite is that I can seemingly understand her most. And it feels good to understand something others don't, especially when that "something" is a literary image. It's the pride at work. That is to say, I am pretty proud! Thank you for reading my harangue. Feel free to contact me if you want more discussions, or just to make friends. I'm open to questions too. (I actually wrote most part of this a long time ago in another occasion. I guess I'm a little late to post it here now. If my English is cheesy... it's the language barrier. Sorry about that.)

Hello! Wow, I don't know why I haven't read about this sooner! Actually, I had a strong aversion of the character in question as well. But almost unbelievably, I found myself seeing Starlight Glimmer in a completely new light after some realization, so much so that she's now undoubtably my favorite throughout the show! I would rewatch just her episodes many times in a row, still picking up something new about her. I'm really thankful to Josh Haber and the others who were responsible for this absolutely controversal character's emergence. One thing I have always knew about Starlight Glimmer is that she is a very, very hard one to relate to. No empathy can be spent on her easily and little real-life experience can be ever so alike to the piont you'd connect her with yourself. Therewithal, her "turning good" seemed brash and her "redemption" wasn't explicit. With some of her future actions you might wonder how come she got what she didn't deserve. You have all the reason to say she wasn't "changed" at all, in contrast to what she's been told. The writers did nothing to correct that. Well, almost nothing. She's shown to be "manipulative," "brash," and awkward that way. But that's the thing--I relate to that on a personal level. I want to start with my opinion on life choices--not too off our common ground. Sometimes it's easy to realize how much of a sh*tty person you are, given that you believe in logic. Sometimes, to say that "reformation" or even "redemption" of a non-headcase is "hard" is not as appropriate as to say that the person lacks just a "trigger." Your logic can do the rest, gradually or swiftly, if triggered to think in reason. On the other hand, a trigger can just as well make you fall into an irredeemable pit of delusion or false belief, the trigger being trauma or whatever else. Easy like in a "supervillain" character arch. (Life is but deluted cartoons anyway.) It's embarrassing but it has happened to me. "I can't believe I was so blind!" easily marks a change in character, in one way or another. For me, in the past, I'd latch on to what we call "falsehood" firmly and dearly because it and only it could account for, for example, my experience, and I'd build an indestructible fort of world view and values, thinking I'm doing the right thing, and that I, "unlike most people," are on the right path of truth. It serves as a belief all the same. I needed it to survive. The way I see it, this misbelief, given some exceptional aptness, bares a Starlight Glimmer. That's why I don't think her "transformation" was hasty at all--oh, no, no, no. You just don't understand. Oh, I think I should confirm my stance... I generally agree. Her (magic) abilities could actually be a decisive factor of how she was treated. You can't deny: she's still a very dangerous character around all the powers. But I like to think that in turn fuels her self-doubt more, too. Agreed. I disagree. Unlike to Discord, I think Twilight matured along the way and could actually see Starlight's state of mind which could account for her wrongdoing. Twilight was being a patient mentor. "Starlight, I'm not mad at you. But I am disappointed." (She was mad though--her meme face don't lie.) I have nothing to disagree here--them's the facts! That is how mental illness can be found, at least to me--when your personality is still integrating into one when you are a kid. Actually, to say I like her just because I heavily relate to herself isn't as fitting as to say I like her because I was deeply attracted by her story. Starlight and I might not have the same experience--or namely the past, but strangely, our insecurity and inner conflicts seem to be quite alike. Even in real life--seeing the way many people think of her hits home dearly. At first, I found her really interesting to watch, but then some "realizations" made me lose faith on her. Her fate were way too out of phase of her perpetration, which seemed really suspicious, and her absurdity of her frivolous "reformation" and suspicious "original intentions" into the bargain. That was not a long while ago either. But I realized, to Starlight, I was just being one of "them" who just do what we do--judging others based on what we see. (They are not to blame either.) I don't mind saying I cried a bit ... when I found myself in the same situation--when things just began to jell in my mind. It was empathy, with everything happened to her while she stayed around, that finally got me. You can't deny she's suffered. I didn't want to hate her anymore, for I didn't want to hate myself anymore. What if she's innocent like me, or am I innocent? I can't give you any answers, because I don't know. However, there's one thing I know--I want to be a better person, better enough to be good. Finally, I hoped people can say they hated me, so I'd ask more about why. I needed some time to heal... or to just set things right. I needed to abandon the values and morals that sustained my life for too long, and you know your core values are painful to ever change--that's why we'd risk it all to defend them. It was hard, and--one would say--altimately impossible. And, desperately grasping at straws, I actually managed to see that struggle in Starlight, too. With the help of "Starlight Glimmer" I've been getting better! I started to care about others! To forwardly make friends! To think I'm not that bright and humbly correct myself from time to time. But I kept my habit of using logic. And my passion to know about this miraculous world. I saw all of this in Starlight. It may be me intentionally misreading, but ... I looked really close, and I can't belie myself. Actually, in my opinion, every little thing she does is just perfect for her character and need not to be changed beyond the show's discription. It was as if the writers knew about me all along and hid these little sweet secrets about Starlight for me to ruminate day and night. And we actually have many other things in common. Finally I just resolved that she's my favorite character. Oh, you know, she's never the "Element of Justice." That would be crazy talk. I have to agree with content creator "DWK" (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT1tAbK9XgoSxAi2xUIqY4w) on this one: if she has to have an element assigned to her, she would be the "Element of Empathy." Just look at who she's friends with--Trixie, Disocrd, Maud Pie! I bet you can't stand Trixie one day; that's saying something. You know what? I just realized something. What made her my favorite is that I can seemingly understand her most. And it feels good to understand something others don't, especially when that "something" is a literary image. It's the pride at work. That is to say, I am pretty proud! Thank you for reading my harangue. Feel free to contact me if you want more discussions, or just to make friends. I'm open to questions too. (I actually wrote most part of this a long time ago in another occasion. I guess I'm a little late to post it here now. If my English is cheesy... it's the language barrier. Sorry about that.)