Is Starlight Glimmer more powerful than Twilight?

[Thrond 3,263]

To be honest I think any pony or creature can be stronger then Twilight, Twilight is always unsure of herself and hesitates and she always needs somebody there to help her mostly her friends I understand that its a kids show and Hasbro wants it to be all about friendship, but she can't win alone I know in the time travel episode she was alone, but she still had Spike and Zecora had to tell her how to fix it then it went into a sob story of little Starlight Glimmer so she did not do it herself I know everybody is probably going to murder me for saying all this, but I felt like it had to be said so please people please don't murder me.

As someone whose favourite pony is Twilight: You have a point there. Twilight is frequently anxious about her decisions, and is shown to be much more powerful with her friends. With that said, she does possess great magical power, and she has honed it through years of practice and studying. She's powerful, but she's not necessarily the MOST powerful - the show never says that, if I recall.

 

I think that, if nothing else, Starlight is more adept at combat magic than Twilight. Twi doesn't have a particular interest in fighting, whereas Starlight clearly studied such magic at some point before confronting Twilight for her revenge.

[El Duderino 879]

I think Starlight is equal when it comes to natural talent, but Twilight has years of training under princess Celestia, so I think Twilight is more powerful. Starlight has the potential to be just as powerful, but hasn't had the training. 

[CT-1138 3,182]

More powerful than unicorn Twilight, but equal to or lesser than Alicorn Twilight. Either way Starlight is one badass mamma jamma. 

[user1342342 143]

Seriously, who really cares? The amount of thought put into this character equates to nothing. Her abilities are almost like a parody of plot armor it's that bad, she's just that talented according to the writers. It's like if Rarity could weave together a hundred beautiful dresses at a whim, or if Rainbow Dash could do sonic rainbooms out the ass without even trying. She's just another generic, pukingly special mary sue character that should be sucked into a black hole.

[CT-1138 3,182]

It's like if Rarity could weave together a hundred beautiful dresses at a whim, or if Rainbow Dash could do sonic rainbooms out the ass without even trying

"Canterlot Boutique" and "A Canterlot Wedding" respectively.  

[user1342342 143]

"Canterlot Boutique" and "A Canterlot Wedding" respectively.

 

No, she took time to make the dresses. It would be like if she just magicked a boatload of unique and beautiful dresses without even trying, at once. I don't really feel like stressing this any more. Specialmuffin mcsparkleshit's "talent" is absurd.

 

She doesn't even need to learn any magic from Twilight now, that's just more wasted potential.

Edited July 19, 2016 by CJPony

[The MegaBrony 219]

When Starlight starts quoting Darth Vader, you know Twilight is officially in trouble.

[CT-1138 3,182]

No, she took time to make the dresses. It would be like if she just magicked a boatload of unique and beautiful dresses without even trying, at once. I don't really feel like stressing this any more. Specialmuffin mcsparkleshit's "talent" is absurd.

 

She doesn't even need to learn any magic from Twilight now, that's just more wasted potential.

Oh, now they have to be unique? I thought they just have to be dresses. 

 

Also, I thought Starlight's lessons were in friendship, not magic. 

[user1342342 143]

Oh, now they have to be unique? I thought they just have to be dresses. 

 

Also, I thought Starlight's lessons were in friendship, not magic. 

 

They are, but what could have been more story potential is now gone. If anything, she could be giving Twilight lessons in magic. Instead of her working to be great at something, which I can relate to, she's just that impossibly special. No, I'm not rooting for these shitty oc level mary sues to win, I'd rather have a character build their path to success with their own two hands. 

[AriaTheLovely 578]

As someone whose favourite pony is Twilight: You have a point there. Twilight is frequently anxious about her decisions, and is shown to be much more powerful with her friends. With that said, she does possess great magical power, and she has honed it through years of practice and studying. She's powerful, but she's not necessarily the MOST powerful - the show never says that, if I recall.

 

I think that, if nothing else, Starlight is more adept at combat magic than Twilight. Twi doesn't have a particular interest in fighting, whereas Starlight clearly studied such magic at some point before confronting Twilight for her revenge.

I see neither being stronger then the other its more about the writing they want to make a good episode so they had to make a character stronger then the main protagonist.

[CT-1138 3,182]

They are, but what could have been more story potential is now gone. If anything, she could be giving Twilight lessons in magic. Instead of her working to be great at something, which I can relate to, she's just that impossibly special. No, I'm not rooting for these shitty oc level mary sues to win, I'd rather have a character build their path to success with their own two hands. 

Starlight Glimmer is not without her faults, though. Is she ridiculously OP, sure, but that doesn't mean she lacks character faults. 

[SolyWack 482]

I would say so. Twilight always needs her friends support to do anything that qualifies as powerful. While Twilight was reading dusty old books in a fancy library, Starlight was taking over villages and taking away cutie marks with just her raw magic. She defeated Twilight with such ease every time Twilight came back through the time portal. 

 

It was only when Twilight convinced Starlight to surrender that Twilight won. If Starlight had AJ (I love you AJ, but this is true) levels of stubborness, then Twilight would have been REKT, no doubt about it. 

 

GlimGlam can fly with magic for pete's sake.

[pony.colin 156]

I'm kind of somewhat on the fence about this because I originally was being general about it and thinking SG was just as powerful as Twi, but now I feel it's a little more complex than just a "power level".

 

Magic seems to at least require two basic components,

 

1. Magical capacity/potency

2. Knowledge

 

A unicorn might have the potential or capacity to harness their magical capacity (beyond the basics of magical telekinesis), but they must be further educated about the various spells and techniques (and probably other things I'm missing). 

 

But going back, I think others already in the thread have already greatly pointed out some major points between SG and Twi in the final duel of S5.  The basic thing I would just add is that SG had seriously planned all of her moves out like a tactical strategist and basically forced Twi to fight in a disadvantaged situation (that's impressive battle skills), but I supposed on a overall level, that Twilight must have a larger breadth of magical knowledge than SG (or at least I'd like to assume Twi's a bit more well-read than SG). I'm not sure if I recall, but I had always thought that SG was a self-taught unicorn who learned all of her spells through personal study, but I don't know if the show ever addressed this little detail about her personal magical background.  SG has spectacular magical potency and she's been able to harness it well. Although I can't exactly determine if that potency was on par with Twi, or if it was because SG was being the better tactician in that duel. Still, Twi was able to pull out her best tactic to try and hold the situation together.

[KatonRyu 1,033]

I don't think she's more powerful than Twilight, but there's no doubt she's highly talented. I'm still waiting for the explanation of why she was able to fight Twilight on even footing despite Twilight being magic incarnate. Then again, my headcanon has always been that Twilight's true power comes from her friends and she faced Starlight alone in their fight. Still, given Starlight's reaction to Twilight's on-the-fly copying of her shield spell in the Season 5 opener, I think it's reasonable to assume that Starlight pursued more obscure magic purposefully than Twilight, who seeks to understand all magic equally.

[kingfan 4]

yup she really more powerful then twi

[Jane 123]

On 6/24/2016 at 8:29 PM, Midnight Seashell said:

Twilight mastered it thanks to her friends help.

That gives me more proof that Starlight is more skilled in magic than Twilight.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

Ask the ex staffers on twitter. I'm sure it will be a nice change of pace from all the shipping innuendo

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

2 hours ago, Jane said:

That gives me more proof that Starlight is more skilled in magic than Twilight.

Eeek. Big gaping hole in her backstory. Where was she studying all that time? Also, when did she get her cutie mark?

[Jane 123]

11 minutes ago, BornAgainBrony said:

Eeek. Big gaping hole in her backstory. Where was she studying all that time? Also, when did she get her cutie mark?

You know, everyday in her village, without practicing magic at all for years in addition to the spell of cutie marks.

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

1 minute ago, Jane said:

You know, everyday in her village, without practicing magic at all for years in addition to the spell of cutie marks.

Seems off though simply because for being that skilled, you'd think she would've just ended up being at the same school as Sunburst and she would have had her friend back.

[Jane 123]

34 minutes ago, BornAgainBrony said:

Seems off though simply because for being that skilled, you'd think she would've just ended up being at the same school as Sunburst and she would have had her friend back.

Can't she just be self-taught simply? She didn't need to go to a school to learn something she could do on her own. She also didn't need a 'deep' backstory or have been raised in a 'communist' town or taught by a magician.

Twilight is also not justified by having OP powers beyond normal for having attended a school of `` gifted '' unicorns, where her teacher is defeated every time someone throws lightning at her, in a world where unicorns only knew do telechenesis

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

16 minutes ago, Jane said:

Can't she just be self-taught simply? She didn't need to go to a school to learn something she could do on her own. She also didn't need a 'deep' backstory or have been raised in a 'communist' town or taught by a magician.

Twilight is also not justified by having OP powers beyond normal for having attended a school of `` gifted '' unicorns, where her teacher is defeated every time someone throws lightning at her, in a world where unicorns only knew do telechenesis

It's a bit odd. I never pegged the town she's in as being the same town she grew up in. I can't remember for sure if she was a runaway, but it seemed likely she hauled all those Ponies there after rallying them to her cause, and then built the town.

It's a bit weirder than someone like Tempest though, falling into the influence of evildoers. If she got that powerful while living in her old town, you'd think that would've gotten the attention of someone. Either, "Wow, you're really good," or ... "Why are you building a killdozer?" So did she become a reclusive mountain dweller for a while or something? Inquiring minds want to knoooooow!

[Splashee 28,563]

The ones who animated the episodes where they have used magic together want Starlight Glimmer to be more powerful than Twilight. But I don't know about the writers.

[Odyssey 5,716]

I like to think that Starlight is more powerful than Twilight, but in raw magic power. Twilight's more powerful when it comes to technique

[Megas 27,565]

She's a ridiculously op character. A lot of it coming down to favoritism on the writers