Meh, never liked this song anyway…  
I prefer Message In A Bottle and King Of Pain.

@Stotter  
Would they still exist if Starlight wasn’t so OP as to create and perform a time travel spell? Or if she didn’t exist at all? That’s what I was getting at.

@Background Pony #07C7  
Sure they manage, but telekinesis makes everything you can do with hooves so much easier.
 
Many-worlds theory: Those alternate timelines would have already existed before Starlight got involved, her actions only rearranging their positions relative to her native timeline.

@Background Pony #07C7  
mind control is like inspiration manifestation, where you’re the one doing it, but it makes you want to.
 
so, pretty much any advertising.
 
but really I was just joking around. hard to say exactly where the body ends and the mind begins. starlight’s spell knew how to follow recipes, so maybe it was using pinkie’s memory somehow?

@redweasel  
Well, the best analogy I can think of is that they were computers with a very simplified operating system. They still had muscle memory, and basic cognitive skills, but lacked the ability to make their own judgements. That ability being removed by magic. So… I suppose you are technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.

really that was more body-control than mind-control.

@Background Pony #0984  
In the end, yes. But she still needs to work on that whole “I can fix this, with magic!” thing. Especially when the problem is her friends.

I’d say she’s learned to much more effectively get ponies to get along and do things orderly.

@ViperBits  
Now i am sorry here strictly didnt mean to become personal to you. Seriously sorry  
Can anyone else confirm that i want to know where i got personal.
 
Then this is good how you understood it.  
Its a tv show and ruled by writers minds. From that base the whole discussion is always pointles that is right

@Naughtypony2010  
I am not a native speaker, that’s why I asked you to type more carefully. I really didn’t understand half of what that message said and had to piece it together. I might have done it wrong, but heck, I did my best there, I really did :\  
Also, I am not posting my personal opinions solely to annoy you or to target your statements. I am a participant in the discussion just as everyone else is. I was just busy and replied when I got the time. You pointing out me and trying to alienate me as a public enemy is indicative that this discussion has really gone downhill and became personal. I am perfectly capable of reading proper English as well. Hostility is not the answer if you don’t have any other tools at your disposal. You could have just called quits and agreed to disagree instead of going in the more personal direction.
 
Also, a criminal giving themselves up are still charged with all their deeds, albeit maybe with a slight benevolence, even despite it ruining the moment. Just because she escaped capture the first time doesn’t mean she also escaped the punishment. Plus I doubt Twilight has any REAL power to rid ponies of criminal and capital charges. You did say the truth though as part of your message. I’ll just give you a comparison of what you’ve just said and what we were implying the whole time:
 
“That action would 1st of screw up the whole mood of that ending of the season.” - Naughtypony2010.  
“She probably should have been punished, she wasn’t, and that’s not just because ponies don’t punish other ponies. The show didn’t want her punished.” - Background Pony #07C7
 
All other reasons are complete speculation and are totally irrelevant because they had no effect on the outcome. The only real reason why Starlight happened the way she happened is that writers wanted it to happen like that, and didn’t think of a better way. Whether you find the way things were handled acceptable or not - is up to you. But sadly it did happen, no matter how much some of us wish it didn’t. There isn’t much left to discuss, really…

@Background Pony #07C7  
our latest conversation was pretty accurate. i had no more contact to viper shortly before. I enjoyed talking with you more too and it was all good, we found a solution for ourselves.  
but viper had to hop in again to reply his, yes, opinion, to me

@ViperBits  
simply no. to that last sentence
 
i can indeed say it would have went otherwise when they had gotten Starlight in the first episode as it was the heat of the moment and they might have punished her properly.  
on the other side no i dont say at all she only harmed twilight. maybe you dont understand some more complicated subjects or you can not think twice about everything that was already said or you dont read careful enough i dunno man.
 
Clear for you:  
every moment is different. and in each moment you act different. yes?  
so case 1: Starlight gets captured right after the village was freed and she will get a proper punishment as clearly everypony is angry at her, the villagers as well as the mane 6 want to get her.
 
case 2: Twilight is all alone against her and there is nother way to either give up or try to speak on a more mental level to Starlight. So she does.  
That case has not as much pressure and heat in action as the first one. yes?  
Here Twilight wins and Starlight sees a possible life for herself in better ways with the others.  
Starlight does not get a punishment.  
Why? That action would 1st of screw up the whole mood of that ending of the season. 2nd Everypony trust in Twilights judgement and do not want to start a bad thread again after it went all so good they dont want to put the freshly reformed Starlight in prison.
 
hope thats clear. oh and please read twice.

@ViperBits
 
@Naughtypony2010
 
Getting a little heated again, folks. No need for that. Naughty, I think at the end of the day it might be okay to acknowledge that Glimmer kinda fucked up. That doesn’t make her a bad pony, or even irredeemable. She probably should have been punished, she wasn’t, and that’s not just because ponies don’t punish other ponies. The show didn’t want her punished.

@Background Pony #07C7  
Mind control (repeated might I add as of this episode), kidnapping, stealing ancient spells from restricted archives, magical misuse/misconduct, forced entry into princes’s palace, property damage, destruction of ancient relics and knowledge, and direct assault on royalty. And what she did to filly RD, even if in alternate reality, shall not be excused just because it didn’t happen in the main one. This was the same Starlight that did it in that timeline, therefore the consequences lie solely on her.
 
@Naughtypony2010  
She did plenty of damage to more than 20 ponies by forcefully holding them in her little commune for who knows how long. She still has dangerous magic and doesn’t hesitate to use it. By your own words, she SHOULD be restrained.
 
@Naughtypony2010  
Can you PLEASE start typing more carefully? I can barely understand what you’re typing. If you are saying that Starlight only ever harmed Twilight and that makes it okay for her to be forgiven then you would be forgetting all the other ponies she has affected and how one princess can’t pardon all the crimes someone did to others. Also, this is a losing battle for you simply because Starlight remaining unpunished (even rewarded in fact) simply makes no sense WHATSOEVER. Only the most dedicated of fanboys will attempt denying that.

@Naughtypony2010  
Well, yes, of course. We’re all armchair quarterbacks. We’re a community of artists, and we all see other ways things could have gone.

@Background Pony #07C7  
as said it is abig matter of the moments when the protagonists, Glimmers case it was only Twilight face the enemies.
 
It is just alright how they are keeping the plot with the right acting for every case. but here it starts with everyones opinion for everything

@Naughtypony2010  
Fair enough, except for Trixie, who posed no threat at all when she first visited, and became a villian out of revenge. Starlight was doing serious harm before she started seeking revenge, and only became a worse threat afterwards.
 
I’m sorry, but the show is not consistent when it comes to punishment, but then, who is qualified to judge how Glimmer should be punished? Her crimes were largely related to ruining alternate realities. Well, except for the mind-control.

@Background Pony #07C7  
that is equestria and serious harm in present that they do. and sometimes its impossible to cooperate with them just in that moment to make them unable to do more damage. you see?

@Naughtypony2010
 
Except if you’re Discord, or Chrysalis, Sombra, or Trixie, or Tirek, or Sunset Shimmer. If you’re any of those, you get treated with suspicion, blasted with rainbows, blasted out of existence, put in Tartarus, or ostracized for your misdeeds.

@Naughtypony2010  
Just everlasting imprisonment or financial ruin.
 
Unless your sob story is good enough, or you have something the good guys need control of.

@PonyPon  
exactly. punishment was never a message this tv show wants to give

@ViperBits  
This fandom doesn’t believe in punishment.

@Torzar  
Which is a really bad thing IMO. Shouldn’t we be teaching our youth that their actions have consequences and, therefore, they should act responsibly?
 
I don’t care which rating this show has, but don’t you think that even excluding her destroying multiple Equestria’s, kidnapping anyone who comes close or crosses her village, forcefully removing their cutie mark (which alters who they are), and then locking them up in a room that basically uses World War 2 brainwashing methods (exerting huge stress on their mind) is not really something that should remain unpunished?

@ViperBits  
You have to realize that the destruction of multiple Equestrias was an unintentional side-effect of the spell she used.  
It’s also highly questionable whether the movement of celestial bodies is needed at all for Equestria to survive.  
In the Nightmare Moon timeline, things seem to have been just fine with the moon up for years on end. And in the Discord timeline, things are otherwise fine as well if you ignore the chaos. Same goes for the Chysalis timeline.
 
I agree that the lack of punishment is annoying and I’d rather see consequences like when the CMC wrote for the newspaper, but at the same time, not being punished for something severe is also not unique to Starlight, either.  
Luna wasn’t punished for almost destroying Equestria with the Tantibus.  
Twilight wasn’t punished for recklessly casting a spell she had no idea what it would do in magical mystery cure.  
She wasn’t punished for making most of Ponyville go crazy over a doll, either.  
Trixie wasn’t punished for going crazy with the Alicorn Amulet.  
Snips and snails weren’t punished for bringing the ursan minor to Ponyville.  
Fluttershy wasn’t punished for keeping some parasprites when she knew full well that they were dangerous.  
Rainbow Dash wasn’t punished for sabotaging the cloud factory in order to stop Tank from hibernating.
 
I can see why people think she’s overpowered, though, even if we can’t say whether she’s better than Twilight at magic or not. She’s definitely more unhinged when it comes to using it, though.
 
We don’t actually know what the extent of Twilight’s magic is, because she never was as casual at using it and what is considered powerful has always been pretty arbitrary.  
Twilight levitating a couple of animals is considered an amazing show of magic and leaves her exhausted.  
Rarity casually levitating just about every item in her boutique for her Art of the Dress song is nothing unusual, though.  
We also don’t know if Twilight’s magic actually got any more powerful by becoming an alicorn.  
Then there is the fact that they always had the Elements of Harmony to solve the most severe of problems.
 
My personal problem is that I consider Starlight a likeable character outside of that, since she has shown self-reflection several times and because she wasn’t reformed “Taste the Rainbow!”-style. She also gave Twilight some things she had a hard time arguing against like the bullying part, which made her more interesting as a villain than most villains we saw before her.  
I’d like them to stop overdoing her magic so much, but I won’t write off the whole character as a result.

@Background Pony #0516  
Actually, here. I’ve just had an idea about all this junk, have a look at it.