Actually, I think she was Stygian’s. All that was missing was Starlight turning into a shadow monster to complete the similarities.

@NamelessNP
 
the elements of harmony didn’t exist back in starswirl’s day. as he said, they planted a seed that would grow into the tree of harmony, then got imprisoned.

Are there really parallels? I don’t see Rarity being anything like Mist Mane or Pinkie being anything like Somnambula and so on. Take Stygian, for example. He’s the 7th ranger to the pillars. He’s a scholar with little to no abilities in magic. He turned evil on the group and served as a super villain. No one’s like that in the current set up.
 
If you really want to stretch it, I’d say Starswirl and Stygian is a lot more like Twilight and Spike gone wrong.

@Background Pony #F49E  
He’s putting him on a pedestal. He seems adamant to push any and all blame away from Stygian to the point where I’m almost waiting for him to say the Pony of Shadow should have won. He even calls him Twilight Sparkle’s equal, only failing because ‘things had gone differently’, not because Stygian made any mistakes.
 
I understand why Sunburst would do so even. Stygian is like him. A scholar filled with insecurities and bitterness about his lack of power. So of course Sunburst will talk him up, he’s more his mirror than Twilight or Starlight.

@Starswirl
 
This similarity is not in their motives, but in their backgrounds and actions. What made Sunburst’s preaching questionable (the claim of Star Swirl being a villain is kinda a joke in universe)?
 
 
@NamelessNP
 
Maybe Starswirl being the less effective embodiment of Friendship (of Friendship being split between him and Stygian) is why things didn’t work out as well for them.

Twilight and Starswirl have an element, the same element just with a different word, in fact  
Stygian and Starlight have none as of yet  
Those are the parallels that make sense

@Mr. Horrible
 
@Background Pony #F49E  
I don’t know. Still seems like reaching to me. Starlight Glimmer came across to me as deluded and insanely jealous rather than just arrogant. She was driven by loss and by a need to lash out.
 
Actually, she sounds more like Stygian to me, thinking about it. But I’ve thought a lot of what Sunburst preaches to be questionable.

@Starswirl
 
Both are magically prodigious unicorns who had antisocial backgrounds, hardline beliefs, immediately resorted to magical solutions as opposed to friendship, which had dire consequences, and realized how mistaken they were.

@Mr. Horrible  
Eh, I’ll always maintain that Starlight isn’t selfish, but self-centered. It’s the difference between not caring about what other think or feel, and not considering what others think or feel. She comes up with an idea and just assumes it’s great and that others will think so too, because she doesn’t take other people thoughts and feeling into consideration.
 
It’s a pretty realistic flaw for someone who purposefully isolated themselves for years, you get used to looking out for yourself and it can be hard to break that habit.

Of course, Starlight is the center of the universe, as S07 clearly showed us.

@Starswirl  
Immensely powerful and inventive magic user, but (originally) arrogant, selfish, and with no faith in the power of friendship? I can see it.

Stygian being her counterpart, sure. Starswirl being Starlight’s makes no sense.

@Danilo  
Stygian, as the dialogue of Sunburst made painfully obvious.

So who is twilight counterpart?

what ? really ? if thats true my mind is blown … o.O what the fuck