spoiler How Did Starlight Glimmer Get So Powerful?

[Shanks 10,811]

Someone raised a good question about Starlight Glimmer in the episode thread and it was about how she became so powerful. We know that it is possible thought difficult for unicorns to become just as powerful as an alicorn, but the things Starlight Glimmer was able to do with time travel magic are rather exceptional. Based on the evidence we have seen it is clear that Starlight Glimmer has strong natural talent and has likely gone through advanced training to learn but the cutie mark and time travel magic. Due to her fear and hurt from drifting away from her friend I have come up with a theory that I think is fairly likely.

 

After her friend was accepted into the Canterlot School of Gifted Unicorns Starlight Glimmer it is very likely that she may have tried to get in. Starlight Glimmer probably trained tirelessly trying to get good enough to be accepted. She kept trying with all her might but somehow couldn't make the final cut. Despondent and frustrated she likely became an anti social recluse eventually studying controversial and even forbidden types of magic, this probably alienated her even further from others causing her to eventually come to the conclusion that the only way to keep and maintain friendships would be to come up with her cult idea.

 

But the question was how to do so? She likely looked up mind control magic and came to cutie mark magic, she couldn't directly control minds but could combine this with advanced brainwashing techniques.

 

After her defeat by the mane 6 in the season premier we have seen her spying on the mane 6 multiple times in various episodes and even saw her in the audience during Twilight's speech. The time during Twilight's speech was the only time she was spotted, but why? Because it was deliberate, it was time to implement her time travel plan but that raises the question of how she got access to time magic.

 

The answer? The Canterlot Archives, we clearly saw Twilight go into the Canterlot Archives in the episode It's About Time and in that episode Twilight learned time magic (though she was unable to utilize it to the extent Starlight Glimmer did). Through her spying Starlight Glimmer found out about this, it could have been Twilight innocently mentioning it in a conversation with her friends like "did you remember when...happened" or something like that. Due to Starlight Glimmer being very good at blending in with crowds she probably snuck into the Canterlot archives to get Starswirls time travel spell and could well have gotten a few others along with it (it could be how she learned to use levitation).

 

As Starlight Glimmer continued to spy on the mane 6 she probably put the time travel spell into practice, learning it as she kept out of sight patiently waiting until the time was right to utilize the next stage of her plan, the stage which we clearly saw in the season finale.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Plot armor. The same reason Broly got so powerful.

[GrifCannon 102]

For the record, we have seen a form of mind control magic in the show already. Twilight's "Want it, need it" spell. Would be a safe bet that other more sinister spells may exist.

 

Also, I doubt we will be getting much more backstory on Starlight, it can be inferred that after her friend (Starburst?) got his cutie mark and she developed her hatred for them, she became obsessed with finding a way to remove them, once she learned the spell, she earned her cutie mark, which is why her cutie mark depicts the magical removal of a cutie mark. She would have had to have been naturally powerful in order to use such an advanced spell.

 

As for her gaining access to time magic, she already spelled it out: she took the same spell twilight used before and modified it to interact with the map. As she said Starswirl already took care of the hard part, the actual time manipulation part of the spell, all she had to do was augment it with the maps magic. The map gets its magic from an extremely powerful source, the Tree of Harmony, so it wasn't even really her power that allowed her to travel so far back in time, it was the maps. This also explained why the map persisted throughout every timeline, it was connected to starlight's spell. If she had sucessfully destroyed the spell, the map would have likely vanished from the alternate timelines leaving Twilight and Spike stranded.

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

I thought it was actually a really good an interesting idea to have Starlight be so powerful.  The Twilight Hate Club can't say enough how much they dislike her being OP, so here you go.  Twi was barely able to hold her own against Starlight, and was unable to forcibly stop her.  That made the story much more interesting, and quite frankly a bit frightening.  I personally never thought that "alicorn magic" was supposed to be inherently stronger.  I.e. I was never under the impression that Twilight got some massive magic buff when she transformed.  It's not like a freaking Offering to the Darkness in the Black Jewels Trilogy.  I know the "alicorn magic" was a big thing in Twilight's Kingdom, but it seems to me that it wouldn't have made any difference if the four princesses were all unicorns.  Like, whether a pony is a unicorn or alicorn makes no difference as to the strength of their magic.  It just depends on their natural talent.  Or on their midi-chlorian count.     Anyway, you look at Starswirl, and he was just a unicorn, but one of the most powerful sorcerers of all time.  So, I thought it was interesting and believable to have Starlight be so powerful, and I personally think it helps to punch a hole in the Twilight OP complaints.

[cider float 2,535]

Twilight Sparkle did notice how good she was with magic and mentioned it on Cutie Map.

 

Starlight is good with magic but bad with friends.

Edited November 29, 2015 by cider float

[Venomous 18,813]

I'd assume that she was also a hard studier of magic as Twilight was, if not a harder studier.

[pony.colin 156]

@@Shanks,

 

Very much in the same direction that I was thinking, but you really articulated this a lot more and its nicely well thought out. (Although I was thinking along the lines of more self-taught, and learned on her own, accumulating spell books for her personal study.  Though like you stated, motivated by her personal friendships falling apart to achieve her goal of becoming a powerful magical user)  I like it.  Also, I think the specific moment Starlight Glimmer might have heard about the Time Spell was specifically in 'What About Discord?' - actually, I guess you can say this was lampshaded then perhaps because you can spot Starlight Glimmer spying on the exact moment when they are talking about the time travel incident in 'What about Discord?'

 

Ah, would be nice to imagine she stealthed her way into the Canterlot archives to re-find Star Swirl's time spell.

 

@@GrifCannon,

 

I also like your explanation for why the map kept hanging around in every instance of the alternative future timelines.  And that would explain the extra boost with combining it with the time spell.

 

Also, way back in 'Keep Calm and Flutter on' - they mentioned that the had reforming spells (but Discord apparently ate all of them). I have two questions for this.

 

1. Wait, they've had "reforming" spells and they haven't used them before yet in the series?

 

2. About how powerful are these "reforming" spells?  Do they forcibly reform recidivists against their will type of powerful?

Edited November 29, 2015 by pony.colin

[Swifty 249]

One of the reasons i dislike this season.

 

How many more special snowflake unicorns is this show gonna pull out of nowhere after Twilight? Its getting old.

Moondancer, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer.... At least Trixie used an artifact.

[GrifCannon 102]

One of the reasons i dislike this season.

 

How many more special snowflake unicorns is this show gonna pull out of nowhere after Twilight? Its getting old.

Moondancer, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer.... At least Trixie used an artifact.

To be fair, its already been established that they have an entire school made up of magically gifted unicorns, so its not like they are completely out of nowhere. And Moondancer was never established to be "special snowflake," she just has a passion for learning like Twilight.

[Octavia_Melody2 187]

SPOILERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would've been nice to see a more lengthy flashback showing how Starlight became so powerful. That would have been interesting. And I thought her motivation in the end was pretty weak. She loses one friend who she doesn't bother to contact and then she goes mad with power? Also, all that buildup to an anticlimactic ending. I don't think Starlight should've been redeemed. Yet another villain given a rushed reformation and instant forgiveness. Are Chrysalis and Tirek going to be everyone's best buddy next season? I was hoping she would use the time travel to unite all the villains against Twilight. That would've been epic.

[Singe 2,109]

What if Twilight Sparkle became a bit rusty. We haven't seen her train in magic in a while.

[Jeric 46,834]

One of the reasons i dislike this season.

 

How many more special snowflake unicorns is this show gonna pull out of nowhere after Twilight? Its getting old.

Moondancer, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer.... At least Trixie used an artifact.

IRL truism ... No matter how good you are there is always someone better. Now that is a great moral.

[DeadAccount 4,603]

It is confirmed, unicorns are OP Good question, as that was my first question while watching the season finale. But it seems like every new unicorn that's introduced has to be better in some way XP

[Shanks 10,811]

For the record, we have seen a form of mind control magic in the show already. Twilight's "Want it, need it" spell. Would be a safe bet that other more sinister spells may exist.

True, but the control with that is very limited. With the Want It Need It Spell you can only give someone the overwhelming desire for an object (and likely a person as well). A dangerous spell for sure but not nearly as dangerous as a spell that could say completely control someones will. The closest we have seen to this is the Nightmare Rarity arc in the comics. It wouldn't surprise me if Starlight Glimmer tried to find/learn mind control magic but if she would have learned it she would have used it already.

 

 

 

As for her gaining access to time magic, she already spelled it out: she took the same spell twilight used before and modified it to interact with the map. As she said Starswirl already took care of the hard part, the actual time manipulation part of the spell

True, but that still dosen't answer the question as to how she managed to get the spell itself. Twilight's actions in the episode It's About Time were reckless and irresponsible but I doubt after that happened she would be stupid enough to not return it to the Caterlot Archives afterwards.

 

I personally never thought that "alicorn magic" was supposed to be inherently stronger.  I.e. I was never under the impression that Twilight got some massive magic buff when she transformed.  It's not like a freaking Offering to the Darkness in the Black Jewels Trilogy.  I know the "alicorn magic" was a big thing in Twilight's Kingdom, but it seems to me that it wouldn't have made any difference if the four princesses were all unicorns.  Like, whether a pony is a unicorn or alicorn makes no difference as to the strength of their magic. 

It is clear that there is a power boost from the alicorn transformation but some of this boost may not be immediate. In MLP it heavily implies and even outright states in the Twilight's Kingdom two parter that there is both active magic and well as latent magic in Equestria and that unicorns and pegasi have both (I do count controlling the weather as magic) while earth ponies seem to mostly have latent magic. In other words with such strong latent magic an alicorn at full potential will usually defeat a unicorn rather easily, but there are some rather exceptional unicorns that can overcome this disadvantage if they train hard enough and have enough talent. Twilight is extremely powerful but if I had to take my guess I would say she would be a low/mid tier in terms of power by alicorn standards.

 

 

How many more special snowflake unicorns is this show gonna pull out of nowhere after Twilight? Its getting old.

Moondancer, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer.... At least Trixie used an artifact.

Yes, but so did Starlight Glimmer by using the Cutie Map to amplify Starswirls time travel spell as a previous poster pointed out. It was never stated exactly how powerful Moondancer is, only that she shares Twilight's passion for learning. And Sunset Shimmer was Celestias apprentice before Twilight so of course she is going to be insanely powerful, I wouldn't be surprised if she was even more powerful than Twilight at the time.

 

 

 

What if Twilight Sparkle became a bit rusty. We haven't seen her train in magic in a while.

True, but just because we don't see something dosen't mean it is not happening. Part of the reason why we don't see training being shown as much is because while the season premiers and finales tend to be action/adventure based most of the other episodes tend to be more slice of life based.

 

 

 

IRL truism ... No matter how good you are there is always someone better. Now that is a great moral.

Yes, it is one of the main reasons why I like Dragon Ball better than Dragon Ball Z. Don't get me wrong I love them both but the power difference between Goku and the others eventually made the others feel as if they were getting in the way more than a help to him. Master Roshi competing in the World Martial Arts Tournament under the alias Jackie Chun to defeat Goku to prove this point was quite epic. And I like how the torch was passed to Tien in the next World Martial Arts Tournament.

[Marimo 555]

I'd like to think this Tweet from Jim is a hint that we'll learn more about how Starlight got so powerful.

I actually like the idea that she got so powerful simply though spending so much time and hardwork making her magic that good, essentially forcing magic to be her cutie mark, unlike other characters who seem to just have a natural knack for their talents and only need to realize them.

[EverEverOn 346]

My guess is that she studied magic like crazy to try to get into Celestia's school so she could be with her friend again. I really love the idea of her being very powerful so Twilight's power doesn't feel out of place anymore.

[Jora 164]

alicorns are Not OP twi is a new alicorn she at most has maybe 20-25% more power and it takes more of a toll on the users so no But in the 6 months to a year for all the cutie map "field trips" and twi being "bored" Starlight trained intensely.  and i'd say starlight is noticeably older by a number of years so youth vs wise age user 

Edited November 29, 2015 by Jora

[Goat-kun 2,496]

Dat pickle when writers can’t make a magically weak villain to work. You know, you could just let Plot Swirl’s scroll do all the work and leave Starlight to helplessly observe all the trouble she’s caused with it. Invincible but redeemable characters are one of the oldest and most boring tricks in the book, especially if you use mundane vessel such as a human (preferably a traumatized child).

 

And then there’s the confrontation. The whole thing reminded me of some comedic shonen anime, but without lively exposition and flashbacks. You know, the story where some unrelated filler episode nobody confronts the hero for the second time after he trained with bears in some legendary mountain temple just so he could finally defeat the hero and regain his warrior pride. In a way, that's probably what happened.

 

It’s a slight problem, having a show that wants shonen level confrontations without shonen level resolutions. Twilight and her friends are the only true protagonists and sidestepping them so late in the show is just asking for a shark. They should have let Twilight use some tricks form Nanoha Takamachi’s rulebook of magic and befriending. Wipe that smile off with a multi-cast Starlight Breaker. Then we can hear all about those deep, deep wounds that Starlight has sustained throughout the years. Oh, but we can’t let Twily be so powerful. Nope, but we can obviously let every disillusioned Jane Doe with a horn have a go at it. Next on S06: A pegasus causes global warming cause her friend ate her packed lunch.

 

The best excuse they could make for this debacle is if Starlight has made a pact with some daemon: the fiend gets XXX in exchange for vengeance. Other than that, I’ll gladly take these two episodes and use them as ammunition for all my wild accusation about bad writing. This isn’t some clever cliff hanger. It's sloppy storytelling, Jim. And showing us the legendary mountain bear temple in S06 won’t change that. By the by, how are those Starlight toys selling?

Edited November 29, 2015 by Goat-kun

[Humphrey 49]

Probably it is Twilight who is less powerful without her friends. 

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

I swear I thought Starlight was a former student of Celestia's, but that doesn't seem to true.

[Flying_Endeavor 73]

I am actually more concerned on where was Starlight during the time Twilight and Spike were exploring the alternate universes. 

 

She said that she also gets sent back in the past every time Spike and Twilight goes back, so she should have been somewhere, most likely back in the present day of the alternate universe. However, she has no idea what had happened to the world until Twilight showed her in the last AU, so yeah. I think that is sort of a plothole the writers forgot to fill out. Time Travelling is not a simple little thing to ponder upon. 

[NavelColt 22,875]

I love the fact that Starlight is basically as strong as Twilight, and probably even more cunning. I love the fact that Twilight admitted she couldn't defeat Starlight, that she had to use reason to make her back down. I believe that Starlight is inherently as highly magically gifted in magic as Twilight is, and, as others have said, has probably been sneaking around since the premiere, doing nothing but studying magic, perfecting the self-levitation spell and Starswirl's time travel spell, along with her scheme to break up the Mane Six from ever gaining their cutie marks.

 

Starlight is Twilight's antithesis in a lot of ways, or was in the premiere and finale of this season. Equal in strength and knowledge of magic, opposites in beliefs and the amount of allies and friends they possess.

 

I think it'd be wicked bad-ass to find out that Starlight is a great, great granddaughter of Starswirl. Would explain her inherent inclination for being an immensely powerful unicorn, as well as her ability to perfect Starswirl's time travel spell. Maybe that's also been mentioned already, but I'm too lazy to go look.

[rhizek 0]

I believe that making Starlight Glimmer as powerful as Twilight is something strange. We saw Twilight fighting Tirek in the 4th season final. At that moment Tirek had the magic power of almost all of Equestria (except the magic of alicorns). The magic of four alicorns(!!!) was able to withstand the magic of Tirek - we saw the even match against Tirek when Twilight wielded the power of all four princesses. I think that Twilight's magic is similar to power of other princesses. We should also keep in mind that Twilight represents the element of magic! In Twilight's Kingdom episode, when Twilight was afraid of taking on the magic of other princesses, princess Cadance said: "If there is anypony who can do this, it's you."

Edited December 3, 2015 by rhizek

[cmarston1 5,951]

I hope we get legitimate reasons for this in season 6.

[Sporemane 545]

Starlight is a Super Sayin