S05:E01+02 - The Cutie Map

[Dawnshine Wonder 2,692]

On 2024-09-15 at 3:24 AM, Antiyonder said:

YouTube upload of the episodes:

To put it mildly, Starlight Glimmer was naughty, however her behaviour did improve over time. After the Re Cutie Mark episode she shown herself capable of offering the same mercy she was given by Twilight Sparkle and her friends. She wanted to help Queen Chrysalis change her behaviour, to show her that there was a better alternative to aggression to get what she needed for her hive, and although that was seemingly hopeless as Chrysalis remained a problem all the way up to through season 9, Starlight Glimmer tried, demonstrated both her bravery and her moral consistency. People can say what they want about Starlight Glimmer however she was not beyond redemption. In the later parts of the show there was a consistent pattern of behaviour that showed her wanting to be reformed and accepting help from others to do that, even though that change got off to a rocky start in Every Little Thing She does, at the end of that episode Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer calmy discussed what the heart of the issue was and resolved it with understanding, not malice. No, redemption is not about being perfect either, it is about accepting the help from others to learn to improve one's behaviour, which does not happen over night, it takes time. I think our world is too toxic to understand things like that, though, rehabilitation and mental health is not taken as seriously as it should in the real world.

 

[TheTrueMelissa 44]

My first thought was that someone must have re-read A Wrinkle in Time. "Alike" and "equal" aren't the same. 

My best guess is that the spell didn't touch the pony's inner talents, only their surfaces appearances. They all looked alike except for mane color, right down to their cutie marks, but did it even out their underlying skills? We don't see enough to be sure if they've all lost their skills or if they're just determinedly ignoring concepts like "better at this" on ideological grounds. 

[ExplosionMare 21,165]

On 2025-06-30 at 6:58 PM, TheTrueMelissa said:

My first thought was that someone must have re-read A Wrinkle in Time. "Alike" and "equal" aren't the same. 

My best guess is that the spell didn't touch the pony's inner talents, only their surfaces appearances. They all looked alike except for mane color, right down to their cutie marks, but did it even out their underlying skills? We don't see enough to be sure if they've all lost their skills or if they're just determinedly ignoring concepts like "better at this" on ideological grounds. 

Considering how Sugar Belle lost her talent for baking, I'd say that everypony did lose their talents but still kept basic abilities like levitation and flying. You know how Rarity couldn't tell if the curtains in the room she was trapped in were tacky? She may have previously built up fashion skills but the Equalizing magic made her lose her skills and made her unable to recall them.

 I still wonder how Twilight didn't have a moment where her Equal Mark pulsed. She still had the same knowledge she always had about the things she studied, she just couldn't apply them to any spells. I suppose Starlight's spell was more focused on the actual erasure of talent but not so much knowledge. Sugar Belle, for example, had the knowledge to bake treats but her magic was altered to the point where she physically could not use it to make anything actually delectable. Same with the cloak pony. He probably knew how to make clothes but his lack of a talent made it impossible for him to make anything actually fashionable.

I believe Starlight's goal was to neutralize everypony so that everypony could perform any task they wanted without fear of failure since they could all perform at the same (albeit terrible) level.