Why did the Main 6 befriend Starlight Glimmer?

[Good100193 4]

All of this is coming from a Starlight fan BTW.

After re-watching the Season 5 Finale, for some reason I got a different vibe from the final scene of that episode than I had originally got. At first I thought that the Mane 6 decided to reform Starlight Glimmer because they legit saw some good in her, but watching it again I don't really feel the same way. Taking in to account some things that happens in later seasons such as Twilight always cleaning up whatever mess Starlight makes and the other Main 5 not even considering hanging out with Starlight unless Twilight is involved, at least untill recently, I feel as though the reasoning behind Starlight's initial reformation may not have been as black and white as it initially appeared. I now believe that even though the Main 6, as of Season 8, consider Starlight a part of their group and one of their closest friends, the initial reason behind them befriending Starlight wasn't because of them wanting her to experience friendship, it was the Main 6 and especially Twilight were AFRAID of her.

They were AFRAID of what her powerful magic was capable of, or what other villains would be able to accomplish with Starlight's help/magical power.

They were AFRAID of what would happen if they were to banish/imprison her and what her return from banishment would mean for everyone involved, because banished villains never appear again right? (Nightmare Moon being banished to the moon, Discord being turned to stone, Queen Chrysalis after getting blasted from Canterlot, King Sombra after being banished to the arctic north, Tirek after being imprisoned in Tartarus, The Dazzlings being sent to another world, The Pony of Shadows returning from limbo, etc)

Even the forced montage at the end of the Season 5 Finale comes off as the Main 6 forcing themselves to "befriend" Starlight by acting nice and getting on her good side. You know that old saying keep your friends close and your enemies closer, thats what I believe was going on not only in that final scene, but throughout most of Season 6 as well. In Season 6 only Spike actively tried to get to know Starlight on a personal level. Twilight was acting more as a parole officer than a friend, and the other girls rarely hung out with Starlight unless Twilight told them to or the situation demanded it. (The Crystalling, Every Little Thing She Does).

In Season 7 it was shown that Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie Pie truly thought of Starlight as their friend while Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash would still barley talk to her unless they had to.

In Season 8 so far, Pinkie Pie seems to be the closest to Starlight other than Spike and Twilight. Pinkie Pie literally went to go talk to Starlight first in The Maud Couple rather than her other friends. By the time the Mean Six aired, it was shown that most of the others are comfortable around Starlight even though they have not had individual episodes to show it like Spike, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie have.

The point is even thought the Main 6 are friends with Starlight now, I find it hard to believe that them becoming friends with her was their original intention when reforming her. What do you think? I know I'm probably over analyzing.

Edited July 13, 2018 by Good100193

[Lord Valtasar 12,691]

the mane6 are 6 different characters not a single unit,they are friends with eachother but they don't have to be friends with everyone's other friends aswel(except pinkie who wants to befriend everyone),their personalities are so different after all so its kinda expected,which is also the reason starlight herself has other friends like Maud and Trixie,
I agree with the part that Twilight initialy didn't care about reforming her,but only did it as a last resort when all her attemts to stop her failed.but after all she had seen happen in all those alternate timelines how could she genuinely care about her from one momment to the next,she needed time to warm up to her after that and thats pretty much what happens

[Phill 1,287]

Because friendship is magic 

[TransitPony 238]

Twilight understood Glimmer's situation of what happened in the past, so she told her a different way of finding friendship, thus helping Glimmer become a good pony. Plus the way she was able to re-connect with Sunburst in-spite of the chaos that was occurring over the Crystal Heart, and helping out Cozy Glow when she went to the Crusaders to improve her grades is what made the Mane 6 trust Glimmer more often. 

[DonMaguz 1,023]

As I see it, Twilight legitimately wanted Starlight to see how she had been wrong in not giving friendship a second chance, and how was the best way to do so? By offering her own friendship. Even if she was forcing herself to do it, Twilight knew that friendship can only be offered sincerely, otherwise it wouldn't be friendship. That's the same reason Starlight didn't get a punishment, how could Twilight offer a sincere friendship after punishing Starlight?

The Cutie Re-Mark is the biggest game changer to Twilight since S3's finale.

[Brainstorm 4,112]

They befriend her cause Twilight could tell Starlight wasn't a real villain, she was just a pony who got her feelings hurt.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

Do understand that friendship in FIM is not a choice but an inescapable state of all things.

[Misty Shadow 7,927]

I personally don't believe that the Mane 6 are afraid of Starlight. A similar kind of logic could be applied to Discord, because he, like Starlight, has the power and potential to easily cause a lot of destruction. Even after they lost their means of putting him back in his place, they weren't afraid to display their annoyance with him and return his sass, just like how they displayed annoyance with Starlight for her mishaps in No Second Prances. Outside of Fluttershy, no individual episodes explained how Discord became friends with the rest of the main cast before What About Discord?. I think it's more to do with the limitations of the creative team and how many things they have to add to the show as well as keep track of. We've seen anomalies like this before with the 'rushed reformations' of Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Sunset Shimmer. I'm sure the writing team's intent is that the Mane 6 honestly do trust Starlight, especially after she did things to prove that she changed like making up with her village, saving them from Chrysalis, and even fighting to save an innocent pony from the Pony of Shadows.

[KH7672 1,604]

I've always said that ending montage was never a "hooray for our new bestest friend let's do the best friend stuffs now!" and more of a "Welcome to Ponyville and your new life. Allow us as the first ponies you met to show you what we do as friends to help you feel comfortable"

The song that accompanies the montage is called "Friends Are Always There For You" for a reason and not just because it's a finale and needs a generic "friendship song." Starlight's biggest fear was that cutie marks perpetuate differences and those differences lead to friends leaving her, so what the Mane 6 wanted to exemplify is the guarantee that they will not abandon her. They don't need to be the CLOSEST of friends but they are friends enough to be a reliable resource.

I have to say you are wrong with the assumption Twilight wanted to be friends out of obligation. Just look at all the stuff she personally invested in this friendship. From restoring past relations to exercising her magical strength and as for this:

2 hours ago, Good100193 said:

Twilight always cleaning up whatever mess Starlight makes and the other Main 5 not even considering hanging out with Starlight unless Twilight is involved

You're exaggerating as that only happened once, "Every Little Thing She Does" but as for the Mane 5 you are correct in the more ambiguous nature of their relationship. I still think they are closer than you give them credit. See the Crystalling, No Second Prances, Every Little Thing She Does, To Where and Back Again, their interactions while not in the vein of best friends still had a friendliness and approachable feeling for any of her problems. They helped her find new friends for the dinner, they alleviated her fears and even accepted her apology not because Twilight told them to but because they appreciated her honesty.

And I don't agree with the parole officer parallel. They're not really keeping tabs on Starlight or watching her every move to keep her and others out of trouble. She is just under supervision to the leave of a private student.

[Thrond 3,263]

Starlight needed guidance, and Twilight could tell. Her friends sort of went along with it because they trusted her, and only later came to trust Starlight when she finally began demonstrating all she had learned. In those early days, though, Starlight was as much Twilight's personal project as a friend; she saw something broken within Starlight, and thought she might be able to fix it. As is often the case in this show, friendship was something the mane six - and Twilight especially - worked to attain because they consider it inherently valuable. 

[cmarston1 5,959]

They are just really, really, really, really, really, really forgiving.

[Denim&Venöm 19,151]

Haven't you defeated your enemy, when you've made them your friend?

[Abstract Chaos 20]

You see, there is prison. But there is also reformation, the original purpose of prison. If you can skip a step, why not?

[gingerninja666 487]

Honestly, I don't really think of the cast as "close" friends with Starlight. They're certainly good aquaintences, and they essentially are friends. But I certainly don't think of them as the same type of true companions that the Cast are.

 

Originally, the cast were essentially Starlight's training wheels. They were the ones Twilight was using to teach Starlight things about friendship. The episode where Star befriended Trixie was really an exercise in Starlight making a friend all on her own. Which already makes her relationship with the cast look a little artificial. I don't mean this as a bad thing at all. I actually find it somewhat interesting that Starlight is clearly much closer to Twilight and her own friends than she is with the Remane 5. She's very respectful of them and is grateful for what they've done for her, certainly, but she never hangs out with them or even really talks with them unless it's a thing Twilight puts together (be it a lesson, or a teaching job, or a camping trip) or there's some other go-between. The Pinkie thing for example. She speaks with Pinkie more because they both have a connection to Maud.

 

I think there is an element, at least initially, of the cast being friends with her because it's clearly a project that's important to Twilight, and some of them like RD and AJ really did let her have it on occasion in season 6, but I do think a sort of friendly equlibrium has been found now. They're friends but not the same way the MAne 6 are friends. That's just how I see it anyway.

[Lunar Glow 676]

I feel like they befriended her simply because of their natural forgiving nature; they always try and give antagonists a chance to be good and do good. A real friend is what Starlight needed to reform, so that's what they did.

While I might be a little biased for thinking this, as I am not at all a fan of Starlight, I feel that the friendship was forced and they her and the other Mane 6 don't have that much chemistry. It seems the ponies only did it for moral purposes only instead of pure liking. 

The ponies befriended her not because they genuinely felt a connection, but because it was just the right thing to do.

Of course, this is just how I see it. 

[Lord Midnight Madness 1,544]

I think they befriended her because they are kind and loving ponies. But also because that she wanted to change her ways and the only way she could change her ways was to have good friends backing her up every step of the way.

[EpicEnergy 23,221]

They saw the good in her and they are also kind ponies, but what I have a problem with is why they befriended her and not Cozy Glow.

[Thrond 3,263]

16 minutes ago, EpicEnergy said:

They saw the good in her and they are also kind ponies, but what I have a problem with is why they befriended her and not Cozy Glow.

To be fair, Cozy Glow didn't seem all that interested in becoming nice. After all, they kinda *did* befriend Cozy Glow, and then the kid went and betrayed them. 

[EpicEnergy 23,221]

7 minutes ago, Thrond said:

To be fair, Cozy Glow didn't seem all that interested in becoming nice. After all, they kinda *did* befriend Cozy Glow, and then the kid went and betrayed them. 

That means there was a line that was drawn where a pony or creature cannot be befriended. However, when doing so, one must be consistent. So this presents another problem - why is betrayal crossing the line? Another problem with consistency is that Cozy Glow wasn't given a second chance, but numerous others were. Ultimately, I can't find a good reason, in-universe, as to why Cozy Glow wasn't befriended. I would like to believe the mane six were right and justified in sending her to Tartarus and rejecting her, but when you look at the lack of reasons to do so, it's difficult to believe that.

[Tom Gallagher 33,590]

Because Friendship is Magic and so is forgiving.

[ExplosionMare 18,067]

They knew she needed friendship, not isolation. Isolation would have turned her into an even worse pony than she was when she formed the cult.

[Splashee 28,566]

Starlight Glimmer is just one of those ponies you must befriend. It is like, the best friend you can have? That's probably why. But did the Mane 6 really befriend her? I think she lived in Twilight's acrylic castle being almost completely ignored by the Mane 6 (unless Spike, Maud and Trixie are part of Mane 6). Not much friendship from the Mane 6.

[Thrond 3,263]

On 2021-11-19 at 6:40 PM, EpicEnergy said:

That means there was a line that was drawn where a pony or creature cannot be befriended. However, when doing so, one must be consistent. So this presents another problem - why is betrayal crossing the line? Another problem with consistency is that Cozy Glow wasn't given a second chance, but numerous others were. Ultimately, I can't find a good reason, in-universe, as to why Cozy Glow wasn't befriended. I would like to believe the mane six were right and justified in sending her to Tartarus and rejecting her, but when you look at the lack of reasons to do so, it's difficult to believe that.

That's not really my point. I mean that Twilight & co. spent a whole season teaching her friendship and got nowhere. Starlight Glimmer was given a second chance because she showed signs of vulnerability, whereas Cozy Glow was just a cartoon villain with no redeeming qualities. 

[EpicEnergy 23,221]

18 hours ago, Thrond said:

That's not really my point. I mean that Twilight & co. spent a whole season teaching her friendship and got nowhere. Starlight Glimmer was given a second chance because she showed signs of vulnerability, whereas Cozy Glow was just a cartoon villain with no redeeming qualities. 

Cozy Glow wasn't given the opportunity to display redeeming qualities as she was sent straight to Tartarus when she was exposed as a villain, whereas Starlight was allowed to escape, return, and give Twilight her tragic backstory, giving her plenty of opportunities to prove she had redeeming qualities.

With that said, I could go further and explain why Cozy Glow got nowhere with friendship despite being taught about it from the mane six themselves, but I would rather refrain from doing so because of the fact that it would be going further off-topic; moreover, I think that it would be best to end our discussion there. While I still hold to my opinion and my points, I respect yours and think that they do hold validity.

[Scootaloo9074090 501]

On 2021-11-22 at 7:53 PM, EpicEnergy said:

Cozy Glow wasn't given the opportunity to display redeeming qualities as she was sent straight to Tartarus when she was exposed as a villain, whereas Starlight was allowed to escape, return, and give Twilight her tragic backstory, giving her plenty of opportunities to prove she had redeeming qualities.

With that said, I could go further and explain why Cozy Glow got nowhere with friendship despite being taught about it from the mane six themselves, but I would rather refrain from doing so because of the fact that it would be going further off-topic; moreover, I think that it would be best to end our discussion there. While I still hold to my opinion and my points, I respect yours and think that they do hold validity.

maybe Cozy glow is a Nihilist who see life as meaningless.