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Could Starlight Glimmer be the most powerful unicorn in Equestria?


BoopMan

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As we saw in the season five premiere, Starlight had the power to take away a ponies cutie mark, thus taking away their magic talent. She could even do it to Twilight, an Alicorn.

 

And the season 5 finale made it pretty clear her magic power was on par with Twilight Sparkle. Is it safe to say she's just under the alicorns in terms of magic capability?

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Pretty much.

Since Twilight is now an alicorn and not a unicorn, Sunset Shimmer is at Canterlot High in the human world and Starswirl the Bearded is MIA, all major competition for that title are gone.

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I'm not sure it's that simple. You have to measure it by multiple factors. Let's go with POWER, CAPACITY, and ABILITY. Power would refer to how much energy they can channel into a single spell, kind of like bandwidth. Capacity refers to their total reserve of magical energy. Ability refers to spellcasting knowledge and skill.

 

Celie and Lulu easily win in terms of Capacity because 'tis stated in canon that manipulating their respective celestial bodies actually energises them. This seems more to do with their cutie marks rather than being alicorns. Twilight and Starlight appear to be equals here, as they both looked pretty exhausted after their battle.

 

Twilight may very well have the most Power, though she rarely uses her full potential. She seems to be some kind of magical savant, judging by her eyes glowing white on rare occasions. Celie and Lulu would not be far behind, if at all.

 

Starlight certainly seems to have the most Ability of any pony currently living, at least that we've seen. She rewrote Star Swirl's time spell on her own, not to mention her remarkable ability to fly without wings. Twilight obviously has considerable Ability, but she's got nothing on Starlight.

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I'm not sure it's that simple. You have to measure it by multiple factors. Let's go with POWER, CAPACITY, and ABILITY. Power would refer to how much energy they can channel into a single spell, kind of like bandwidth. Capacity refers to their total reserve of magical energy. Ability refers to spellcasting knowledge and skill.

 

Celie and Lulu easily win in terms of Capacity because 'tis stated in canon that manipulating their respective celestial bodies actually energises them. This seems more to do with their cutie marks rather than being alicorns. Twilight and Starlight appear to be equals here, as they both looked pretty exhausted after their battle.

 

Twilight may very well have the most Power, though she rarely uses her full potential. She seems to be some kind of magical savant, judging by her eyes glowing white on rare occasions. Celie and Lulu would not be far behind, if at all.

 

Starlight certainly seems to have the most Ability of any pony currently living, at least that we've seen. She rewrote Star Swirl's time spell on her own, not to mention her remarkable ability to fly without wings. Twilight obviously has considerable Ability, but she's got nothing on Starlight.

 

You clearly did not read the topic title. It says UNICORN, not Alicorn.

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I feel like Starlight Glimmer may be powerful, but she isn't the most powerful.

I have a feeling that Star Swirl is even more powerful.

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I wouldn't like to entertain that idea. You want a strong leader for Equestria. That nice idea of Twilight taking Celestia's is now gone because Starlight is a walking plot device. She's powerful! wow, awesome.. People hate Superman for being perfect and now we have a unicorn who makes Celestia and Luna look like losers. I would like to see Starlight move the sun or moon, or fight Tirek with those powers. 

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I feel like Starlight Glimmer may be powerful, but she isn't the most powerful.

I have a feeling that Star Swirl is even more powerful.

 

Possibly. But he may not even be alive. Plus Starlight is in her prime, Starswirl is old.

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Possibly. But he may not even be alive. Plus Starlight is in her prime, Starswirl is old.

I know and that's why I hope the show explores Star Swirl sometime soon!

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You clearly did not read the topic title. It says UNICORN, not Alicorn.

 

I used the Royal Sisters for comparison, same with Twilight. We don't really have any other unicorns to compare to except Sunset Shimmer, but we saw very little of her.

 

Anyway, my main point still stands: "most powerful" is rather vague, as there are multiple factors to consider. And as I mentioned, Starlight clearly has the most Ability of any unicorn we've seen. Safe to assume her Capacity is above average. Power we have no real measurement of for her, presumably above average.

 

Does this mean she's the #1 unicorn in Equestria? That we've seen, yes. But there's a whole school for gifted unicorns, any of whom could be her equal or even superior. It's all speculation and headcanon from here.

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I used the Royal Sisters for comparison, same with Twilight. We don't really have any other unicorns to compare to except Sunset Shimmer, but we saw very little of her.

 

Anyway, my main point still stands: "most powerful" is rather vague, as there are multiple factors to consider. And as I mentioned, Starlight clearly has the most Ability of any unicorn we've seen. Safe to assume her Capacity is above average. Power we have no real measurement of for her, presumably above average.

 

Does this mean she's the #1 unicorn in Equestria? That we've seen, yes. But there's a whole school for gifted unicorns, any of whom could be her equal or even superior. It's all speculation and headcanon from here.

 

Fair enough. though I'd say she would be superior to Starswirl due to his age when last seen of him. Starlight is in her physical prime, meaning she'd like would have more as you say capacity.

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She probably is, thanks to the power of bad writing and lack of justification. Starlight is incredibly skilled in magic, apparently able to rival a pony that is both an Alicorn and the Element of Magic entirely, because...reasons. I am pretty vocal against this whole idea, it makes me dislike Starlight as a character, her being pretty much the definition of a 'Mary Sue'.If she had more justification for all of this, then I could give it a pass, but for now, I can't.

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She probably is, thanks to the power of bad writing and lack of justification. Starlight is incredibly skilled in magic, apparently able to rival a pony that is both an Alicorn and the Element of Magic entirely, because...reasons. I am pretty vocal against this whole idea, it makes me dislike Starlight as a character, her being pretty much the definition of a 'Mary Sue'.If she had more justification for all of this, then I could give it a pass, but for now, I can't.

 

Honestly I wouldn't rule out her being an unknown descendant of starswirl.

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Honestly I wouldn't rule out her being an unknown descendant of starswirl.

Now that could be an interesting take on it, especially since it would explain how she got that scroll in the first place. I really hope we get an explanation like this in season 6, because right now her character is so blank and baseless that it makes it difficult to care about her.

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Fair enough. though I'd say she would be superior to Starswirl due to his age when last seen of him. Starlight is in her physical prime, meaning she'd like would have more as you say capacity.

 

Possibly. 'Tis also possible, however, that Capacity doesn't shrink with age. I've seen some impressively fit and healthy seniors in my time. It may be that Star Swirl kept himself "fit" in regard to magic as he aged.

 

She probably is, thanks to the power of bad writing and lack of justification. Starlight is incredibly skilled in magic, apparently able to rival a pony that is both an Alicorn and the Element of Magic entirely, because...reasons. I am pretty vocal against this whole idea, it makes me dislike Starlight as a character, her being pretty much the definition of a 'Mary Sue'.If she had more justification for all of this, then I could give it a pass, but for now, I can't.

 

I'm going to disagree with you there. I'm not sure becoming an alicorn had any effect on Twilight's magical prowess, nor should it. Alicorns bear the perks of the three other pony races, and since she was already a unicorn there's nothing to be gained there. The Royal Sisters are extra powerful because they were born alicorns, and their cutie marks give them an extra edge there too.

 

As for the Element of Magic, I interpret it more in the context of the whole Harmony set - that is, the magic of friendship. Twilight is the focal point for the power of the Elements. But without the others present, it doesn't really do anything.

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She probably is, thanks to the power of bad writing and lack of justification. Starlight is incredibly skilled in magic, apparently able to rival a pony that is both an Alicorn and the Element of Magic entirely, because...reasons. I am pretty vocal against this whole idea, it makes me dislike Starlight as a character, her being pretty much the definition of a 'Mary Sue'.If she had more justification for all of this, then I could give it a pass, but for now, I can't.

I made a topic about this.

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Possibly. 'Tis also possible, however, that Capacity doesn't shrink with age. I've seen some impressively fit and healthy seniors in my time. It may be that Star Swirl kept himself "fit" in regard to magic as he aged.

 

 

I'm going to disagree with you there. I'm not sure becoming an alicorn had any effect on Twilight's magical prowess, nor should it. Alicorns bear the perks of the three other pony races, and since she was already a unicorn there's nothing to be gained there. The Royal Sisters are extra powerful because they were born alicorns, and their cutie marks give them an extra edge there too.

 

As for the Element of Magic, I interpret it more in the context of the whole Harmony set - that is, the magic of friendship. Twilight is the focal point for the power of the Elements. But without the others present, it doesn't really do anything.

But we actually had justification for Twilight's excellent skill in magic, with Starlight, all we got was a bit of exposition and that was it. No real justification to why she can friggin' yank Cutie Marks off of pony flanks. That seems a bit overdone and without any major justification at all, it makes me think they just made her immensely powerful for the sake of her being immensely powerful and that makes me dislike the character. Perhaps in season 6 this will be absolved, but for now, I am just not sure. Starlight definitely does not know much about Friendship, which that is a thing, but her skill in magic was a bit too over-the-top. 

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Starlight is ridiculously powerful. :/ Kind of strange that she never made it into the school for gifted unicorns, and isn't on Celestia's radar.

 

Aanyways, I'd score her at ...level 8? I dunno. She's hard to place, seeing as her power kind of changed between her first and second appearance. The first time, it seemed as though she wasn't particularly well-versed of powerful, she just devoted her life to a couple particular spells. But now that she's flying around and time travelling, Ii really don't know. 

 

Although, it seemed to me like the time travel spell didn't actually require much magic to activate--like all the power was all already in the scroll, and Starlight just had to turn it on.

 

I feel like the writers just overpowered her for the sake of this episode's plot. :/

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But we actually had justification for Twilight's excellent skill in magic, with Starlight, all we got was a bit of exposition and that was it. No real justification to why she can friggin' yank Cutie Marks off of pony flanks. That seems a bit overdone and without any major justification at all, it makes me think they just made her immensely powerful for the sake of her being immensely powerful and that makes me dislike the character. Perhaps in season 6 this will be absolved, but for now, I am just not sure. Starlight definitely does not know much about Friendship, which that is a thing, but her skill in magic was a bit too over-the-top. 

 

Eh, I don't really see it as lazy writing or anything. Given the 22 minute time frame they have, lots of stuff is always missed. But there's a good chance we'll learn more about Starlight later on. Perhaps not right away, but I'm sure they'll get around to it. Took a while, but we got some backstory for Gilda eventually.

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I higly doubt it. If we were to rank unicorns from most to least powerful, I think they would be:

1. Starswirl the Bearded

2. Former unicorn Twilight Sparkle

3. Sunset Shimmer

4. The students of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns

5. Starlight Glimmer

6. Trixie Lulamoon

7. Rarity, and the average unicorn.

 

Alicorns bear the perks of the three other pony races, and since she was already a unicorn there's nothing to be gained there.

Well, she did get a larger horn after becoming an alicorn, so that must account for something... Edited by WriteCodes46
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I higly doubt it. If we were to rank unicorns from most to least powerful, I think they would be:

1. Starswirl the Bearded

2. Former unicorn Twilight Sparkle

3. Sunset Shimmer

4. The students of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns

5. Starlight Glimmer

6. Trixie Lulamoon

7. Rarity, and the average unicorn.

 

Well, she did get a larger horn after becoming an alicorn, so that must account for something...

 

i dunno.... twilight is no longer a unicorn, so she is crossed off, and the students, well, twilight was a star student so I can only assume she was more powerful than the other students. She did manage to best twilight with a few of her spells so I'd say she'd be above them

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i dunno.... twilight is no longer a unicorn, so she is crossed off, and the students, well, twilight was a star student so I can only assume she was more powerful than the other students. She did manage to best twilight with a few of her spells so I'd say she'd be above them

I mean Twilight when she was still an unicorn, as an alicorn she would rank above Starswirl, on par with Cadence, and only below Celestia and Luna. Who do you say managed to best Twilight?

 

It's not the size of the horn that counts, it's how you wield it! :derp:

Please, let's not get into comparisons between horns and... that...

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I mean Twilight when she was still an unicorn, as an alicorn she would rank above Starswirl, on par with Cadence, and only below Celestia and Luna. Who do you say managed to best Twilight?

 

Please, let's not get into comparisons between horns and... that...

One comics arc (that fleshes out Starswirl) has RD say to Twilight at one point "Didn't you say he was the most powerful magical pony that ever lived?"

 

...Or something like that. I'm going off of memory from months ago here. *IF* my memory's accurate (which it might not be), we've gotta wonder what they meant by "magical pony". Just "wizardy mage" types? Or all ponies able to use magic? If the latter, is that implying he was actually more powerful than Celestia and Luna?

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