Why wasn't Starlight sent to the little unicorns school of witchcraft and wizardry?

[Senko 459]

The more she gets presented as powerful and gifted in magic the more I'm wondering why wasn't Starlight sent to be educated in magic like moondancer, sunburst and twilight? Anyone got any ideas?

[Castle Bleck 19,376]

Because her application got lost in the mail.

[SaburoDaimando 1,196]

MAybe because her father wanted to keep her stuck in the past.

[Jade Fire 7,059]

the director said she was a latchkey kid,  and an outsider. so even though she was was gifted. no one really saw it.

[gingerninja666 487]

To add to what other people said, The Crystalling implied that most of Starlight's early success with magic came from having Sunburst there to guide her. She mentioned that he always knew exactly what to do, and in the flashbacks we see, she only ever cast spells after watching Sunburst do it first, even if hers were far more powerful.

So I think after he left for Canterlot, she lost the confidence to use magic for a really long time. I imagine when she finally discovered what she could do, it made her even more angry at Cutie MArks. Because they COULD'VE been together, her and Sun. They HAD compatible cutie marks, but because of a nebulous "destiny" or whatever, they didn't get them at the same time, and it split them up.

Edited June 24, 2018 by gingerninja666

[Will Guide 21,362]

2 minutes ago, gingerninja666 said:

To add to what other people said, The Crystalling implied that most of Starlight's early success with magic came from having Sunburst there to guide her. She mentioned that he always knew exactly what to do, and in the flashbacks we see, she only ever cast spells after watching Sunburst do it first, even if hers were far more powerful.

So I think after he left for Canterlot, she lost the confidence to use magic for a really long time. I imagine when she finally discovered what she could do, it made her even more angry at Cutie MArks. Because they COULD'VE been together, her and Sun. They HAD compatible cutie marks, but because of a nebulous "destiny" or whatever, they didn't get them at the same time, and it split them up.

That makes the most sense.

[rainbowdashacademy 114]

Because Princess Celestia said if she joined that place "she'd be sent the LUCIFER OF ALCHEMIST the magic of Demonization of Ponyville and I don't think other ponies or chaos gods would want it  now would they ?

[Senko 459]

Hmm I can work with no confidence and no one to nominate her I guess though the crowd swarming sunburst implies someone was. Rather odd schools they have there considering twilights entrance was "do something with a dragon egg in front of a panel" while sunburst was "one massive book catch in private with a friend" and starlight's cutie mark and other magical experiments went unnoticed.

[Twilight Luna 31,414]

The owl with her acceptance letter got lost.

[Senko 459]

Snicker, is that

4 minutes ago, Twilight Luna said:

The owl with her acceptance letter got lost.

Owlalicious

[ShootingStar159 2,157]

Considering how protective Firelight seemed of her, even if she could be accepted into the school, I don’t think he would send his little pumpky-wumpkins halfway across Equestria.

[Senko 459]

Hmmm I've been reading AKB49 recently and the father in that who dictates evey aspect of his daughters life including the proper colour school backpack for an elementary school girl (red not pink) would probably have destroyed the letter because he knows better than her what she can do. I wonder how starlight would react to finding out her father had done something like that.

[CherryAcorn 101]

Because Sunburst proof his talent but Starlight didnt soo she didnt saw Sunburst untill season 6 

[Goat-kun 2,527]

She could have pursued the studies in order to enroll into the same school as Sunburst, but that would involve character motivation and common sense. We can't have that.

[Midnight Seashell 206]

Maybe the magic teachers probably concentrate on what you are capable of at the moment instead of what you can achieve in the future with enough training and guidance.

[cmarston1 5,959]

Because her backstory wasn't thought out well enough.

[CypherHoof 26,483]

27 minutes ago, cmarston1 said:

Because her backstory wasn't thought out well enough.

Or because her backstory wouldn't have worked if she had been sent to Celestia's school.

But I suspect that it is more that her father didn't try to get her enrolled (when both Twilight's parents and Sunburst's did) because he didn't want his little filly to grow up.

More to the point though - how did Sunburst get into Celestia's school, given how hard the entry test is? Twi only got though it because Rainboom.

[KH7672 1,604]

It seems this kind of question spawns from the idea that Starlight may have been jealous or resented those that are sent to the school because they can't be friends because they achieved magic she didn't; which obviously she could have. However that would cause a vendetta towards the school, which she didn't have. She had one toward cutie marks. Cutie Marks are what get you shipped off somewhere. That unknown destination and path that these mystical markings carry is what she feared, what she resented.

To her, when you get this mystical mark THAT is what determines whether you go to magic school or not, like Sunburst. She didn't have one so...that's it. That's the end of story. To her that mark is what determined her friend was worthy for schooling. Not magic not knowledge because she knew he always had that yet that never caused him to leave. Nope it was only when that mark appeared did it happen. So how's she supposed to follow him what she doesn't have one? How's she supposed to get one if the show has shown time and time again you can't force a mark. So now she's stuck with a concept she doesn't understand and her only answer is gone because IT took him away to the school, not the schooli taking him away. The school means nothing to her but just another destination cutie marks will take your friends away to.

This is why we NEED Starlight's cutie mark origin to finally understand how she obtained it anyway even with this mindset and why things didn't change.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 1:35 AM, Twilight Luna said:

The owl with her acceptance letter got lost.

Was the owl's name Errol, by any chance?

[Kadeda 178]

What is most likely is that starlight wasn't that good as casting spells on her own... only with Sunburst help showing her that she could do it... but she has a huge amount of power behind her. Remember that her father only treated her like that because of the Sunburst situation so I don't think he would have stopped her going to the school.

Now... think of all the different spells Twilight has... they are extremely diverse.

[gingerninja666 487]

4 hours ago, Kadeda said:

What is most likely is that starlight wasn't that good as casting spells on her own... only with Sunburst help showing her that she could do it... but she has a huge amount of power behind her. Remember that her father only treated her like that because of the Sunburst situation so I don't think he would have stopped her going to the school.

Now... think of all the different spells Twilight has... they are extremely diverse.

Yeah, Star doesn't seem to know all that many weird esoteric spells like Twi does. She knows pragmatic spells and they have a lot of oomph behind them. She was surprised and kind of disturbed by the fact that Twilight knew a "turn into tiny ballerina music box doll sentry" spell.

Edited June 25, 2018 by gingerninja666

[Will Guide 21,362]

15 hours ago, KH7672 said:

It seems this kind of question spawns from the idea that Starlight may have been jealous or resented those that are sent to the school because they can't be friends because they achieved magic she didn't; which obviously she could have. However that would cause a vendetta towards the school, which she didn't have. She had one toward cutie marks. Cutie Marks are what get you shipped off somewhere. That unknown destination and path that these mystical markings carry is what she feared, what she resented.

To her, when you get this mystical mark THAT is what determines whether you go to magic school or not, like Sunburst. She didn't have one so...that's it. That's the end of story. To her that mark is what determined her friend was worthy for schooling. Not magic not knowledge because she knew he always had that yet that never caused him to leave. Nope it was only when that mark appeared did it happen. So how's she supposed to follow him what she doesn't have one? How's she supposed to get one if the show has shown time and time again you can't force a mark. So now she's stuck with a concept she doesn't understand and her only answer is gone because IT took him away to the school, not the schooli taking him away. The school means nothing to her but just another destination cutie marks will take your friends away to.

This is why we NEED Starlight's cutie mark origin to finally understand how she obtained it anyway even with this mindset and why things didn't change.

Again, really good answer. And it helps supports why her backstory makes more sense than some people give it credit for. 

[EpicEnergy 23,223]

I'm not sure, but maybe she didn't want to be sent there. 

[Splashee 28,566]

On 2018-06-24 at 1:40 AM, Senko said:

The more she gets presented as powerful and gifted in magic the more I'm wondering why wasn't Starlight sent to be educated in magic like moondancer, sunburst and twilight? Anyone got any ideas?

Because Josh Haber

 

Starlight Glimmer's tragic past is something that the show needed to expand and improve on. "She cried once and became a dictator because of it" doesn't work so well in my opinion. MA Larson should have written more for Season 5 and not quit at Amending Fences.