Chapter 25
Moving ahead to Chapter 25. Is when Twilight and the others seek to meet Starlight when Applejack informs Twilight about Starlight’s situation at the 2nd of Chapter 24. Eventually they meet at the Rock farm, where Starlight came screaming to see Applejack after seeing… the spirits of her parents. But to Starlight’s surprise. The others already knew, because Twilight and Spike have already been using a newly discovered ability of the magical tear-drop shaped gem on Spike’s necklace that he had gotten at the end of another story that took place between Seasons 4 and 5 that allowed them to summon and talk to spirits of the deceased as long as someone touching the dragon’s tear is blood related or was a friend of them when they were alive. By this point they had already summoned Spike’s dragon mother, the first ever genie, and Applejack’s parents. The very spirits that Starlight herself saw. Getting into everything else revealed along side the spirits will already make this very long post even longer to explain everything. But I can elaborate in another post if necessary. They tell Starlight everything they have learned about spirit summoning before finally heading out to help Starlight find her mother. Starlight coming clean to Twilight that part of the reason she so quickly turned around at the end in the events depicted in the Season 5 finale. Is in the moment Twilight was softly talking her down, it felt like the closest Starlight had to a mother figure. Coincidentally, with Spike on Twilight’s back (In the Genie Twilight universe, Twilight and Spike had adopted eachother as mother and son a year after she became a genie)
They head to Sire’s Hollow, Starlight going in and dragging her father out of the house so he can be there for whatever results in finding her mother. First, Starlight tries wishing from Twilight to know where her mother is on the planet. The wish however fails, with Twilight fearing that this very likely means that Starlight’s mother is deceased. Firelight however is in extreme denial, he doesn’t want to believe that she’s dead despite it having been so long since he last saw her. But knowing he’s entrapped, especially with the gem on Spike’s neck newfound spirit summoning ability. The truth was finally going to come out. The spirit is summoned, and Starlight’s mother turns out to be the spirit of I Dream of Twilight Sparkle’s Sunset Shimmer (In case you have any objections, Equestria Girls wasn’t canon to IDOTS. And this Sunset is much older then the one we saw in the series, although she did die young. So she still looks at around the same age of the Mane 6 because she was their age when she died)
Chapter 26
This incarnation of Sunset was never a villain, in fact she was actually quite steadfastly loyal to Princess Celestia. She was very magically gifted, her raw power as a filly more impressive then Twilight’s was at that age. She loved being Equestria’s premier hero in her teenage days, keeping track of all threats to Equestria and saving the day constantly. Overtime however, the constant pursuit of criminals wore on her. Though it wasn’t Celestia ordering her to deal with the threats, it was Sunset herself who made it her prerogative. Eventually at some point, she decided to step down as Celestia’s protege. At the time of her stepping down she had been married to Firelight for a few years and was now pregnant with a foal. She believed that for the most part, Equestria would be fine for until Celestia would find her next pupil. However, shortly after her foal (Who was natually, Starlight) was born. She went after one more remaining threat to Equestria. An evil family of 3 ponies that seeked to take or destroy the magic of Equestria. It is on said mission that Sunset went missing.
Firelight comes clean to Starlight that the reason he never told her about Sunset, was he feared one day that Starlight would disappear too, just like Sunset did cause he knew Starlight might of likely wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Especially after using what would turn out to be… her mother’s spellbook when she got her Cutie mark. On a side note, Sunset doesn’t immediately tell everything that happened because despite being a spirit. She’s having trouble recalling her memories with vague information about who the 3 she chased after were. But bit by bit the conversation with her reveals more.
Chapter 27
Chapter 27 has the spirit of Sunset, Sunburst, and Stellar Flare go see Sunspot’s father. Back in Chapter 6, Sunburst mentioned to Starlight that his father’s not been around much for a while. The reason for that being that Sunspot has been looking for his long lost younger sister for any sign of where she could of gone. Said younger sister… having also been Sunset. Meaning in the IDOTS universe. Sunburst and Starlight have been cousins the entire time (Apologies in advance to StarBurst shippers BTW). They found Sunburst’s Father in a place pretty close to where Sunset died. Nightmare Cliffs. The mere mention of Nightmare Cliffs actually jogs more memory on Sunset’s spirit. Sunburst’s father is noticably sad that his sister has been dead the entire time. But at the same reacts as if he knew it, because he had actually found something of a major clue. A gold-yellow unicorn horn detached from a body that he placed in a jar. Said jar jogging Sunset’s memory further, now remembering that during the moment of her death. Her horn got broken by a rock that was dropped by someone.
Chapter 28
The next chapter, Sunburst’s father and the group that went to see him return to the house in Sire’s Hollow sharing to Twilight and the others what they learned to unravel the mysteries of what happened to Sunset. In the meantime, Sunset asks Twilight for a recap of all the villains she’s faced ever since becoming Celestia’s student. As Sunset had kept her eye on enough potential threats as to be aware of most of what Twilight’s had to deal with. When they get to mentioning that Starlight was one of those. She at first sighs but understands the cult thing since it was her who left that manifesto in the house. She tried to hide it, but it was the lone copy she kept in order to have a sort of historical record of what to watch for. Any other copies of that book she had burned. but when the subject turns to Starlight’s time traveling. That’s when things get heated. Sunset telling her straight that if she had seen her own daughter do such a thing. She’d only have two choices, either put her own daughter frozen in a statue. Or imprisoned in Tartaurus. Starlight then tells pretty much her life’s story. And how it all stemmed from the fact Sunset was not around. For without Sunset, Starlight did not have the mother figure in her life to help tell her right from wrong (And with Sunset having been the hero she was, there’s every indication she would have been able to raise Starlight better then Firelight did on his lonesome). Seeing how regretful Starlight was of her past, and her lying on the floor in tears gets Sunset to reconsider her disappointment in Starlight having done time traveling spells. And comforts her daughter in tears, singing a different rendition of My Past Is Not Today (Only it’s Your Past Is Not Today when Sunset is singing, though it’s also something of a duet. Where Starlight’s verse is My Past Is Not Today). Before ending off Chapter 28, Sunset assures Starlight that while the situation of her past may not completely balance off what she did, she understands how her untimely death impacted Starlight’s life along with everything else in her life that conspired to make it feel like she had to do things such as the Our Town Cult. Sunset still tells Starlight that she loves her, and would of been there for her had her unfortunate death hadn’t happened.
Chapter 29
Chapter 29 finally gets into just what happened. The recap of the villains Twilight faced continued eventually reaching the final one: Cozy Glow. The mere mentioning of Cozy floods just about all the memories Sunset had left unlocked. As it turned out, the family of 3 that Sunset were chasing was Cozy and her parents. Cozy’s parent’s names being Cheque Mace and Glitterani, who had King and Queen chess pieces as their cutie marks. They were some of the most narcissistic psychopathic ponies to ever exist, and those traits also applied to Cozy. There was no method that would work to reform those 3 (Admittedly yes, this is a bit of a Ron the Death Eater on Cozy herself. But we knew less about Cozy’s backstory more then we did of Starlight. Plus Cozy never really seemed to regret her actions unlike Starlight). When Sunset went to deal with the three, she’s at first fooled by Cozy’s manipulation into thinking maybe she is different from her parents. But upon a situation where she’s winning a fight against Cozy’s parents. With Cozy’s father having been blasted off the cliff. And Glitterani’s wing injured, Sunset doesn’t realize that up in the air is Cozy carrying a large rock. And before she realizes it, the large rock is dropped on the base of Sunset’s horn. Cracking it, and giving Sunset a temporary concussion. Sunset manages to shortly get back up, when she looks up. She sees a psychopathically laughing child laughing at her misery. It being Cozy, revealing that Cozy was indeed just as evil as her parents. Sunset tries blasting something at Cozy despite her broken horn, and previously in the story it was established that usually a broken horn especially in powerful unicorns can cause random effects. The said random effect that gets Cozy just so happens to be a time travel dome that sends her to about the time of the beginning or early parts of Season 8 chronologically in the timeline. With only Cozy’s mother and Sunset left. In anger of likely the death of her husband and no idea what just happened to Cozy. Glitterani grabs onto Sunset and hurls them both off the cliff into certain death. Sunset trying one last desperation move to save herself. Cozy’s mother puts a hoof on the hole of Sunset’s broken horn. Pressure building in Sunset’s head until a large magic explosion just above the water envelops them both. Any remains of either mare dropped into the ocean and/or eaten by hungry sharks.
Now that it is known what happened, this bubbles up anger quickly in Starlight. She uses another portal gum to the location of Cozy’s statue and tries to blast it to smithereens. Twilight stepping in front to stop her. The context of this is that while most of the dead end up in a soul shield around the planet. Those were died evil end up as dark magic that damages the planet, killing Cozy most certainly resulting in some consequence for Ponyville. Starlight is so enraged that it was Cozy’s fault her early life was so awful, she pleads with Twilight and her mother that they’ll be able to beat back the consequences in time. Just like how the Windigoes (Which was noted earlier in the story as the most notable example of deceased evil ravaging the planet). But Twilight and Sunset manage to calm Starlight down and stop her from destroying the Cozy statue. From there, things get back into a happy place. And Starlight and Sunburst decide to stay in Sire’s Hollow for a little longer so spend time with Sunset while she’s still down there. The mysteries of Starlight’s life mostly solved with mostly the only thing left is what Starlight’s going to do with this information now that she knows.
Epilogue
This is answered in the epilogue of the story. Where having had some time to think about it. She is the daughter of the only other pony to catch Celestia’s attention. Plus, she had inherited said pony’s magic power, having gotten her mark using their spellbook. She now believes that this means she was destined to follow in her mother’s footsteps. And considers asking Twilight if she could be her student once more. After the wedding of Twi’s Saddle Arabian friends were over. Starlight’s goal now either being Twilight’s ace for the rest of her life, or even… Twilight’s co-ruler. As the new younger (albeit adoptive) sister of the new royal duo with the void of Luna also retiring alongside Celestia. (After the story there’s comics where she does ask and Twilight does agree, although Twilight’s still giving some time left for Starlight to earn her sisterhood/wings later). Considering I feared Starlight was going to be rushed into an Alicorn without ever going further into her backstory, this is something of a 180 for me where I actually wrote her back into that situation where her ascending might be inevitable at some point. Though I hope I at least managed something of a decent explanation for it for this universe’s Starlight. Most of the story I don’t consider canon of course, and I shouldn’t be accused of thinking so more then I think Twilight is a genie in canon
Writing said story managed to actually make me realize Starlight was perhaps one of, if not the show’s biggest missed opportunity. The way the show could of have expended on her of course could of gone on the same cores of what I did to expand on her in the story but in a different direction. Even Ring Team’s thing fixated on Starlight’s mother too, although in Ring Team’s case for their thread. The hypothetical mother was far from a good one, where as I went with a missing And turned out to be deceased before Starlight could pick up any memory of what she looked like good mother instead in the story. Other things such as whether or not if Firelight knew about Starlight’s evil deeds, and having some connection with other bad guys other then her rivalry with Chrysalis. At the very least, the show probably should of gotten to show how Starlight got her cutie mark as a startoff point even if nothing else is covered. Just knowing that alone may have gotten into subjects that would of helped endear her quicker in Season 6.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought this thread was perfect to give out my own perspective as well a s potential way to wrap-up what Starlight could have been. Obviously, for alot of reasons what I did to expand on Starlight couldn’t have happened in canon Especially Sunset being her mom. For Hasbro getting phone calls about indirectly promoting teen pregnancy reasons. (In case you see this spoiler without everything else again, Equestria Girls is not canon to I Dream of Twilight Sparkle. And this Sunset in context is older then EQG Sunset. I would be just in interesting in hearing other interpretations as I really do view Starlight now as an interesting character. It’s just the show never bothered to milk any of the potential she could of had. I praise anyone who could call themselves a Starlight fan during the show honestly, they must of saw things that I just couldn’t for a long while. I’m making up for lost time though in appreciating Starlight’s character though, she has a pretty major role in some things I have planned for the future. And while G5 is going on, Starlight’s character is going to be one thing that those who still want to talk about G4 more should discuss at length. As even if G5 gets into returning the Mane 6 (Or at least only Twilight) through a limbo or other situation. Starlight’s going to feel like a footnote in G5 probably. For fans who want to keep her alive in some way. Discussions about her is all she may have left alongside fan art and fan fictions.
I didn’t really hate Starlight during the show’s run, but it was hard to necessarily say I liked her either. But now I can say I do like her, but in a sense that there was so much they could of done with her that they just didn’t. But at the very least, I enjoyed expanding on her myself. So in a weird twisted way I guess I should be grateful they didn’t expand on Starlight in the show cause then what I did for her wouldn’t have gotten me to write her part of the story. But this is certainly a big change for me in just a year ago I was still among those lukewarm to her. And now I kinda consider myself a Starlight fan in some fashion at least. I have so much I want to do or see with her now in terms of fanon stuff. The old me would of been bewildered that I was doing this much with Starlight, heh heh.
