Unpopular opinion time

@AC97
 
Come to think of it, there’s an established example of this sort of thing happening in MLP, with Tempest Shadow: she was never actually ostracized by her friends, according to the comics, but Tempest in her biased POV didn’t see it that way.

@AC97  
when have the comics ever been canon in the first place, tho

@DanielTepesKraus  
When someone wants them to be.

With Cozy being sent to Tartarus, I beleive, much like with Starlight, it’s due to a lack of proper integration with the world building and story being presented that caused a disconnect with a lot of fans.
 
So with Tirek, prior to his arrival, season 2 has already Tartarus as, to quote “[a place where] all the ancient evil creatures that have been imprisoned [and that they could] destroy Equestria!” so it’s already been established in universe as existing. Then add on in Twilight’s Kingdom that it’s mentioned Tirek escaped from Tartarus during the events of It’s About Time, so it’s then explained where he comes from. So then when the final showdown happens and Tirek is sent back to Tartarus, the story and world has already been established as the place he was banished and as to why it happened as such.
 
With Cozy, we don’t get any of that really. Cozy is presented as a normal everyday filly, physically speaking and who’s best trait is at most a silver tongue, but no real threat level she can cause without outside information or coercion from others, so once she’s defeated and outed, her threat no longer exists.
 
But Cozy is also the only villain the heroes have ever captured and so need to deal with her but there’s been no actual prison or correctional facilities established in universe so literally the only option is the pits of Tartarus, which is not set up as a correctional facility in the episode nor as someplace they regularly use as a prison outside Tirek, so it comes out of left field, nevermind that it seems far harsher than anything the characters have ever done when the likes of Starlight and Discord get reformed and Chrysalis is just able to fly away. And because it was the only option it now feels like there is a very black and white mentality going on with any ethical concerns being shoved aside by going “Cozy was evil, therefore any punishment is completely justified”.
 
So for a decent amount of fans, the punishment seems over the top (because no other alternative was ever presented in the universe), harsh (Because Cozy was still bad and something needed to be done with her) and seemingly out of nowhere as an option (no pony or literally any other villain besides Tirek, who was already establish to be sentences to Tartarus, has ever been sent to) all for a powerless child.

@EotD  
YES. ALL THIS, WITH A SIDE OF CELESTIA BEING AWFULLY CASUAL ABOUT IT AND IT MAKING NO SENSE GIVEN HOW SHE’D OBVIOUSLY ALREADY COMPROMISED THE PLACE’S SECURITY IN SOME UNKNOWN WAY.
 
Now in retrospect, form a writer’s perspective she needed to be there to be summoned with Tirek by Grogar, right? Except that a)that just makes it seem like a dumber option than just throwing her in prison (Seriously, that place need a guard that can communicate in more than barks!)and b) Chrysalis proves that she could have been summoned jut as easily while “at large”.
 
And if she did need to be in Tartarus, you know what would have worked better for that? The Young Six getting new Elements and blasting her there, or her being swallowed by her own backfiring spell (with optional rejection of rescue). Sure, you lose the capture scene that way, but you’ve got to give a little to get a little, right?
 
In conclusion, there’s a reason that that ending was what finally inspired me to write fanfic after 8 seasons of lurking. So I suppose I should be thankful - and I do love Frenemies dearly - but the whole thing still grinds my gears a bit. So thanks for explaining some of it, EotD.

@EotD  
yeah. the big problem is it goes unmentioned in-universe. there’s never a line of dialogue or any in-universe justification for the double standard, so it’s just a double standard. which makes it worse when it seems to fall in line with the main character’s biases, because that comes off as the reason for it which makes the characters seem shallow: right now it seems like the only reason cozy got sent to hell was she refused to try and tug at the princess’s heartstrings with a bullshit sob story, which makes their decision to send her there seem like a biased villainous action rather than justified, no matter how “deserved” it could be argued to be.

 
So… what’s the consensus here exactly, are those two kind of lacking in the parenting department, and Rarity does more of it than they do? Sweetie Belle does seem to take after her sister more…
 
@DanielTepesKraus
 
I mean, are we likely to have anything else to go on with Tempest, in terms of the show, let alone something that contradicts that?

@AC97  
I had hoped they would get an episode this season - and IMO, they might have made a better intertribal couple than Scootaloo’s.

@EotD  
@Latecomer  
@DanielTepesKraus  
Haven’t you guys ever thought that they locked Cozy up because she had like zero good in her. I mean, she was taught friendship and harmony (which is they very thing that reformed Discord and helped Starlight get in the right track) and look what she did. And it’s not like she didn’t know the harm she was doing, no no, she knew exactly what she was doing. And she even straight up said that she’ll try it again elsewhere. Which means she’ll stop at nothing to be the most powerful pony in the world. She’s basically a Disney villain. I don’t think her being a pegasus child should erase all this.
 
That being said there’s NO WAY she should’ve been able to do all of that unless all the other characters are gargantuan morons. But that’s just me

@MegaAnimationFan  
perhaps, but “good” characters judging people as such on a whim is an objectively evil act, as is locking a female prisoner in a small cage, in a mixed-gender environment, with no privacy or bedding material or bathroom facilities, and especially when that small cage is in literal hell, as is not respecting the most basic of rights like due process or a fair trial.
 
i’ll grant that cozy’s probably pure evil, and that she probably isn’t worth the time of day, and that she would have ended up in a cage even if she got a trial, but what’s even the point of good characters fighting evil if they’re just going to adopt the ways of evil to do it? that’s what makes good characters good, when they act better than the evil characters, when they recognize what are evil acts and strive to do better for the sake of it. celestia’s supposed to be a role model of what others should strive to be, not an example of bad behavior to be better than. she’s supposed to be a loving ruler, not one who rules by fear.

@DanielTepesKraus  
I believe Cerberus gives Tirek and Cozy at least 15 minutes to bathroom time. Maybe the absolute power to the princesses in regards to punishments is the cause about exaggerated (Cozy, Nightmare Moon and Troubleshoes) and lax (Sunset, Starlight, Trixie, Tempest Shadow) punishments in Equestria. We need more eyes to judge.

@MegaAnimationFan  
And how exactly were they meant to determine this? Were they hiding another artifact that can detect good and evil in ponies? Because that might have come in handy earlier.

@That Little Faggot with the Earring and the Makeup  
Trixie could of appeared without starlight tho and the rescue of the mane six could of went a different way or never happened at all, it could be replaced with something else entirely.

@Hali the Emoji girl  
But why, when it works so well as it is? i mean, I’m still discovering new layers of meaning there.

@Badumsquish  
It wasn’t for no reason, Rainbow Skittles decide to deal with the dragon that way.

@Latecomer  
What?

@Hali the Emoji girl  
How about if Starlight had never been introduced to the series and her role had been given to Trrrixie instead.

@DanielTepesKraus  
No offense but I think you’re over analyzing a little. to the point where you lost me
 
@Anonycat  
Yea no. Trixie doesn’t have the capability, nor is she selfless enough to take on such a role. I legit can’t see Trixie in Starlight’s role

@Anonycat  
for one thing, the show would be a lot better. the slap on the wrist “oh you keep fucking up but it’s okay because you mean well” angle would work a lot better for a sympathetic jerk than it would a violent psychopath with more blood on her hooves than every villain in the entire series ever combined.
 
@MegaAnimationFan  
good characters needlessly doing evil stuff to fight evil is bad.

@DanielTepesKraus  
Trixie could fit perfectly into Starlight’s role and everything would have worked the same, but infinitely better.  
And more beliveable as well.

I decided to rewatch Magic Duel… and I still felt like Trixie was only apologizing to escape punishment there.
 
I don’t hold it against Twilight at all, how she acted in No Second Prances.

@Anonycat  
…

@Anonycat  
i’ve said it before, but it is jarring how trixie is the character the show thinks starlight is, and starlight is the character the show thinks trixie is.
 
@AC97  
to me the real issue was the hypocrisy and the double standard. twilight trusts a maniac like starlight without question, and urges her friends to do the same, but she won’t trust someone like trixie?

@DanielTepesKraus  
Well, I’ve said it before, she does not and never will fear Trixie.
 
@Anonycat  
Minus maybe the town, I could see that working.

@DanielTepesKraus  
Twilight only didn’t trust Trixie cause Starlight was a Equestrian threat yet..any tiny bad influece (according to Twilight) was plenty to Starlight to find new extreme methods to find friends. Twilight didn’t care Trixie cause her powers was pathetic.