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Techy Cutie Pony Collection!

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you had one job, starlight

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redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
@Scrounge
 
tbf twi might’ve been lying to keep dash’s ego under control.
 
I agree that certain events are more likely to cause harm than good, but it’s that prediction that the butterfly effect works against. the further you try to extrapolate into the future, the less certain you’ll be that the change in the past was good or bad. maybe some other ponies could become the elements of harmony, or having failed out of magic school, twilight could have got her degree in library science and transferred to ponyville months before the return of black snootie. spike could have had a dragon mother, etc. there are literally infinite possibilities, some good and some bad, and the bad ones were chosen arbitrarily by the writers.
 
I think the fear of changing formula is more the fault of the writers and producers. the viewers can actually get turned off to a show if nothing ever changes. the reality is a complex and difficult choice, to change it up or stick with what works, but too often the people running the show get scared and oversimplify it by saying that staying the same is always a safer investment.
 
but I dunno, I’m no expert in television politics. I just wouldn’t blame the viewers for preventing a change that they were kept unaware of.
Scrounge
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!
Since the Beginning  -

nobody's favorite
@redweasel  
A: Isn’t that as much on the viewers as it is the writers and b: Doesn’t the scenario i described seem totally fucking depressing to you?
 
…Okay, fine, Twilight is an idiot. Either that, or she’s just trying to seem profound. (And if this is the case, shouldn’t Sunburst be more important, or at least get a name-drop every so often?)
 
I honestly think that if time travel were possible, there would be certain events where messing with them is more likely to cause harm than good (and vice-versa for other events, naturally). Disrupting the Rainboom has the potential to disrupt the lives of all of Mane Six pretty heavily by forcing them to get their Cutie Marks another way and miss the sequence of events that would result in them all meeting. Plus by stopping Twilight from having that big surge of magic, it could possibly prevent Spike from even existing. Given the disproportionate importance of these ponies (and dragon) and their deeds, I think this is legitimately likely to cause problems down the line.
redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
@Scrounge
 
exactly. that’s why nobody has the balls to pull it off, because plots that don’t end up with everything the same lose viewers.
 
twilight said “friendship connects all of equestria, and undoing one group of friends made its magic less powerful.”
 
I’m not claiming that the rainboom was insignificant. I’m claiming that the result would be unpredictable. it could cause a worse future, or a better future, or in most cases, a future that’s neither better or worse. a ten-car pileup doesn’t tend to cause the end of the world, or really change things much overall, whether it’s time travellers doing it or not. the reason it was always worse was either twilight’s ridiculous claim there, or the writers just forcing it because they wanted to teach us (again (sigh)) that changing history is bad.
Scrounge
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!
Since the Beginning  -

nobody's favorite
@redweasel  
Characters generally don’t wind up in good alternate timelines because if they did, it would be morally wrong to prevent them from happening just for the sake of getting back “home”. So they’d be stranded in another world, surrounded by a bunch of strangers that look like their friends, except those friends don’t exist any more. For as long as the show stays on the air, or at least until someone pulls an utterly ridiculous deus ex machina out of their ass.
 
It’s possible Starlight (somehow) had no idea about Nightmare Moon (which would also explain why she didn’t know that this particular group of ponies was responsible for saving Equestria at least once a year), and all she was working with was what she heard Twilight say during that speech. Possibly unwise of her to make a decision with out investigating further, but by that point her hate had overtaken her and she was no longer the planner or visionary she once was. She couldn’t even remember, or just didn’t care, that her downfall was mostly the work of Fluttershy, with Twilight’s involvement far more limited. Small wonder things went pear-shaped.
 
I don’t think Twilight ever actually said that the timeline changed just because Equestria had a little bit less friendship. I’m 100% with you on it being a ridiculous assertion, but I don’t think it’s one that was ever actually made. There was the standard stuff about friendship making a better future, but I don’t think anyone claimed it could make a better past.
 
We’ll have to agree to disagree on the potential for damage. Obviously, not all changes are of the same degree; going back in time and stepping on a butterfly is one thing, going back in time and causing a ten-car pileup would be quite another. Can we at least agree on that much?
redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
@Scrounge
 
sure, but I’m tired of standard-issue panglossian guilt-trip time travel stories. like, I legitimately would have cried tears of joy if something like this happened.
 
anyway, all I said is twilight sparkle said she thinks it’s because equestria had just a little bit less friendship. she might even be totally wrong about that, in-character. personally I think if starlight went to mess up s01e01 it would have made more sense. delaying their cutie mark aquisition wouldn’t have anything to do with them forming their friendship. sure it could have just randomly messed their friendship up, just as a single breath of air molecules in the past could have, but by the law of averages, it’s extremely likely to have little to no effect at all.
Scrounge
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!
Since the Beginning  -

nobody's favorite
@redweasel  
Eh, I can buy that disrupting the lives of the Mane 6 would have a high chance of causing at least one of them to either A: not be where they need to be or B: turn out just different enough to not quite be qualified for the part they were meant to play.
 
Besides, this sort of thing is basically standard-issue for time travel stories, and I’m sure there are flimsier justifications for it out there. Screwing with the past always results in disaster. Why start questioning it now? :P
redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
@Scrounge
 
twilight’s theory is that there was no significant difference, but starlight ruined their friendship, which made equestria slightly less friendly. thus all the good guys had just the tiniest disadvantage, lacking in friendship magic.
 
…which is total bullshit since they didn’t form their friendship until years later, and one iteration starlight actually convinced the bullies to be friends with fluttershy. but that’s the best we have for an official explanation of why the difference led to disaster. the butterfly effect would have led to an unpredictable outcome, not consistently disaster every time.
redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
@Background Pony #C34F  
yes, but that assumes twilight wasn’t being a dumbass when she said “I totally know for hundred percent sure maybe that we’d never be friends if the sonic rainboom hadn’t happened hint hint wink wink starlight.” fact remains that they met in episode 1 of season 1, and they weren’t friends with twilight at all before that.
 
I think twilight’s just wrong, if even the humans in another universe can see why her argument is bullshit. twilight doesn’t even know, she’s just speculating at that point, yet starlight broke time just on the off chance that it would work. and it didn’t work.
Background Pony #628A
@Background Pony #F7A3  
No, their bond was formed at the Sonic Rainboom. Twilight outright explains this in the episode where all this happens. That’s how Starlight gets the idea to go back to that instant and stop it. Starlight Glimmer even says “Now it’s my turn to take something special from you! Without the rainboom, you and your friends will never form your special cutie mark bonds!” It wasn’t about removing their cutie-marks, it was about removing their bond.
Background Pony #3B26
@Background Pony #C34F  
But their bond was formed when they defeated nightmare moon and the sonic rainboom is only relevant for giving them their marks,so if they get them before becoming adults then the timeline should be the same.
Background Pony #628A
@Background Pony #F7A3  
I’m honestly surprised at how difficult this apparently is to understand.
 
Starlight didn’t rob them of any opportunity to ever get their cutie-marks, she only eliminated the moment where their bond was formed. The girls could have had many more opportunities throughout their lives to realize what made them special (and in each future it seems they did).
Background Pony #3B26
@Background Pony #C34F  
But by keeping them from their marks she renders them into inert miserable talentless losers with no purpose in life,that sounds like better revenge than keeping them from knowing each other.
 
Also she should have realized stopping them at all would effectively doom the world from past and future threats.
Background Pony #628A
@redweasel  
I’m not saying Starlight Glimmer wasn’t petty, what I meant to say is that it’s trivial to simply remove their cutie marks, even in the name of revenge. There’s no real pay off, no furthering of her plans, and she’s likely smart enough to know that stopping one event doesn’t bar them from ever obtaining their cutie-marks - she would literally have to monitor them their entire lives just to be sure it stuck. If you go back in time and knock an ice cream out of someone’s hand, does the act prevent them from ever being able to eat ice cream again?
 
By stopping them from acquiring their cutie marks, she doesn’t destroy anything other than that one moment. Their unique magic isn’t gone, it simply remains in hibernation. If you close your eyes the world doesn’t cease to exist, you simply cannot see it. She denied them their friendship bond not to rob them of “people to hug”, but as an effort to destroy the friendship that ruined her, as it not only would avenge her but also assures their friendship will never have been a threat to her plans to begin with. I’m honestly surprise you don’t understand the concept, this is a classic case of villainous time travel abuse.
 
And yes, Starlight Glimmer had no reason to think of Twilight’s trip to Ponyville - she wasn’t trying to cause eternal night, she was trying to satisfy her own goals.
redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
The goal wasn’t to remove their cutie marks – that’s petty
Starlight Glimmer wanted to deny them their friendship
destroy the unique magic that empowers ponies, making them helpless to disobey you, petty.  
trick them into not being besties so they won’t have anyone to hug, not petty.
 
 
@Background Pony #F7A3  
I was more Interested in seeing the Mane 6 without their Curie Marks,Just imagine their adult forms leading miserable sub-pony lives,
I don’t know if I’d go that far. I’d just make them less successful, and insecure about their butts.  
Also I don’t see how getting all of their Marks at the same time ties them together since their friendship started because of a Mutual need to stop Nightmare Moon,
because then she might not have become Celestia’s protege, which might have removed her from ever going to Ponyville on the return of Nightmare Moon.
sure would have been nice if starlight glimmer had mentioned that, or thought of it.
 
Background Pony #628A
@Background Pony #F7A3  
Never attaining their cutie-marks wouldn’t necessarily mean they’d live miserable lives for it. The show never really puts emphasis on what happens to ponies who never find their cutie-marks - if it even happens. It’s possible their marks would have manifested on their own one way or another.
 
Their friendship bond was formed when Rainbow Dash performed the Sonic Rainboom that triggered all of their realizations - that was basically established in Cutie-Mark Chronicles and re-iterated in part one of the Cutie Remark. They didn’t actually know each other, but they all found who they were because of the same event. Logic dictates that they have their whole lives to stumble upon the same answers anyway, so for Sunset Shimmer to actually assure they never got their cutie-marks, she would literally have to deny them any opportunity. As is, the only one who would have majorly been effected by the loss of the Rainboom is Twilight, because then she might not have become Celestia’s protege, which might have removed her from ever going to Ponyville on the return of Nightmare Moon.
Background Pony #3B26
@Background Pony #C34F  
I was more Interested in seeing the Mane 6 without their Curie Marks,Just imagine their adult forms leading miserable sub-pony lives,I could Even see a crazed Twilight that tried to use the Cutie Pox to find her mark but just became miserable cave-dwelling witch or the already no-esteem fluttershy living in her parent’s house with Zephyr,but most of all i’d want to see an outcast and ashamed rainbow dash with absolutely nothing to be proud of,still being picked on by billy. We’ve already seen adult Ponies without Cutie marks(Just look up tote bag) so I don’t see the problem with that other than maybe being too depressing but the alternative is 7 different apocalypses so…
 
Also I don’t see how getting all of their Marks at the same time ties them together since their friendship started because of a Mutual need to stop Nightmare Moon,they didn’t even know about how Important the Rainboom was until weeks after that,if anything Ponyville and the various villains tie them together more than the rainboom,getting their marks at all is way more important than the coincidence of getting them at the same time and if they get them anyway than it almost Completely removes the importance of the Sonic Rainboom and finally taking away their Entire Purposes in Life is a little more than just petty,it Hurts Twilight and her friend’s Lives way more than just making it so that they don’t know each other no matter how important their friendship is. as the top part of my comment hopefully illustrates.
Background Pony #628A
@Baskerville3  
Just because the Rainboom never happened doesn’t mean they could never get their cutie-marks - it just denies them that one moment in time where their bond is born. The things that conspired to give them their cutie-marks could have happened many times over, though under different triggers - Pinkie might see an unusual, pretty, or fun thing that inspires her, Rarity might keep getting yanked to rocks until she gets so mad she cracks one open, Fluttershy might stumble and fall to Equestria anyway, etc. The goal wasn’t to remove their cutie marks - that’s petty. Starlight Glimmer wanted to deny them their friendship, likely thinking this would remove them from the playing board and make it so her plan never failed to begin with.
redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
@Baskerville3  
she snuck into twilight’s lectures? starlight stalked the mane 6 all season without anypony the wiser.
 
what doesn’t make sense to me is if starlight cared about their friendship, not their cutie marks, then why didn’t she disrupt the event that actually did bring them together as friends? (nightmare moon’s return)
 
did starlight really think that them not getting their cutie marks at the exact same time would stop them from being friends? (of course she did. because she’s a dumbass. who failed hard.)
 
they didn’t even get them at the same time, the first time. starlight, you adorable dumbass.
 
Baskerville3

soooooo, how did they even get their cutie marks, if the rainboom never happened?  
(ignore this i looked through the comments and saw y’all talking about this already.)
 
so, i realized something. is starlight really that isolated from information about things everypony already knows? besides the fact tht she didn’t know about the mane 6’s heroics, she reveals she’s never heard of the wonderbolts. so in the 22 episode space, between season 5’s opener and finale, she knows nothing about the modern world or anything in terms of what anypony would know? how out of the loop is she on current events and common knowledge
Background Pony #628A
@redweasel  
“My village was a sanctuary of equality, where nopony’s cutie mark allowed them to feel superior! It was a special place, and you and your friends took it away! Now it’s my turn to take something special from you! Without the rainboom, you and your friends will never form your special cutie mark bonds! Cutie marks for cutie marks! Sounds like a fair trade to me!”  
  • Starlight Glimmer - Cutie Re-Mark Part 1
     
    Seems to me like that pretty blatantly suggests her goal was to destroy her friendship with the others.
redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
@Background Pony #B7C8  
what she erased was their special cutie mark bond, which she thought would take away their cutie marks, and she thought would keep them from being friends, but she was wrong. it was the total war that followed that wrecked their friendships, and nopony lost their cutie mark except in death. all she caused was the end of the world, and their friendship troubles were just a lucky side effect of that.
 
You don’t say?
Background Pony #DBC8
not exactly the same. in the crystal war timeline, applejack and rarity were pulled apart, but rainbow dash and pinkie pie ended up fighting together. but yeah, friends.
There were no mane 6, main 6, ‘circle of six friend’, whatever you call it.
 
P.S. In the Ashlans Timeline, there were nopony period, so even “they were still in their hearts” excuse won’t work.  
I am fairly sure starlight glimmer did not want to bring back nightmare moon.
You don’t say?
redweasel
Duck - "someone befriended them, saved them, coaxed them out of their shell, and showed them that sex is nothing to be afraid of. I’m kind of envious of that rape victim"

Fuzzbutt
@Background Pony #B7C8  
not exactly the same. in the crystal war timeline, applejack and rarity were pulled apart, but rainbow dash and pinkie pie ended up fighting together. but yeah, friends. I am fairly sure starlight glimmer did not want to bring back nightmare moon.