Too many redemption stories focus on somehow doing enough good to balance out the evil done, which isn’t the point. By becoming a better person, they are redeeming themselves.
That’s pretty much it. A person redeeming themselves is putting the work in to change themselves (which somehow, people take away “she didn’t change a bit” in Starlight’s case), and living with the consequences of their actions/themselves. While being willing to commit self-sacrifice is a great indicator of change, it shouldn’t be the endgoal, because dying is the easy way out.
It’s reductive to place “redemption” on a mathematical equation of “did the good they do outweigh the bad;” Luna, even if she didn’t do much damage, taking the flashback at face value, could not outweigh the damage she caused by being merely absent 1,000 years, and Discord, being who he is, would be
very hard-pressed to outweigh the pain he caused as a villain, before, during, and after S2/S4, but again, that isn’t the point of it. It would’ve also been highly unlikely Chrysalis would’ve “outweighed” the bad she did in her life if she reformed in S6, instead, nor would it be true that she realistically wouldn’t have relapses.
@ichiban iceychan 1517
Not sure why I chuckled.
@DragonBoi471
Speaking of the pillars, one of my gripes with Shadow Play is that they were shoehorned/retconned into the story of the Dazzlings’ banishment, thus making the EQG series even more likely to be non-canon than ever before.
Aside from Starswirl, were any of the other pillars mentioned or featured in the Dazzlings’ banishment story in that movie?
When Star Swirl was already allegedly “obscure unicorn history” regarding the first time he was mentioned, and Equestrians seem somewhat ignorant to begin with, it wouldn’t actually be that out of place for them to streamline the tale to Star Swirl, who is the face of the Pillars, being the one to banish them.
Twilight Sparkle: If the sirens had their way, they would have divided and conquered all of Equestria. But a certain Star Swirl the Bearded wasn’t having it. Rumor has it he found a way to banish them to another world – one where he believed their magic power would be lost. That world must have been the one where my Canterlot High friends live.
Incidentally, Twilight’s wording kinda line up with it being a legend, that there were details lost to time.
It also wouldn’t be overly unlikely, absent of Twilight’s intervention, to have it summed up in history as “Twilight defeated Nightmare Moon/defeated Discord” by some account, especially if it’s the Quick Notes version of events, as it would be in the case of “sum up the Sirens, minute details including those Twilight wouldn’t idolize as much not needed.”