@Background Pony #9F4B  
Justice is for people who aren’t close friends with the ruler of the entire country.  
Being on good terms with rich and powerful people means you get away with all kinds of stuff. If you oppose those rich and powerful people instead, you will get your yay completely yayed up.
 
It’s not a happy lesson, but it’s a very useful one.

@Lokizade  
Walk away if you like, but that doesn’t make invalid points any less so. Lightning Dust was reckless, definitely, but Rainbow prioritizing her pet (that went into hibernation anyway) over her ENTIRE COUNTRY, which relied on the weather system she selfishly hoped to destroy, was also quite reckless. It’s completely unfair that Lightning gets punished where Rainbow doesn’t.
 
Discord didn’t show remorse before being given a second chance, he changed his mind when Fluttershy threatened him with being alone again. He didn’t show remorse for betraying everyone until he was betrayed himself. You keep saying that the Dazzlings showed no remorse, but we didn’t see them for more than ten seconds after they lost everything. They may have been the same as Sunset if they were given a chance, but they weren’t. If they were offered friendship like Sunset and Sci-Twi were and rejected it of their own free will, I’d happily drop the matter, but as it stands? They were completely screwed over and it’s okay because they didn’t grovel at our heroes’ feet?
 
Pretend that’s justice if it helps you sleep, but you’ll still be wrong.

@Background Pony #9F4B  
Fair point with Discord, although he did show remorse and regret all throughout the ordeal, and especially so after his demise when he truly realized what was important to him and that he screwed up royally and lost everything, rather than continue to try to convince Tirek to allow him allegiance again, plus, the reformation of an established ancient villain is still a different situation than Twilight and the gang making some mistakes in the past with good intentions.
 
With Discord though, I will concede on your point in some regards, the way he acted and his portrayal in “What about Discord” did tick me off quite a bit, for him to still be acting that way isn’t right to me, especially after all the mercy and understanding he’s been shown previously, though the ending was kinda nice.
 
LD showed no remorse about putting ponies in harms way, she acted utterly reckless and was out for herself, RD was trying to do what she thought was best for Tank and his well-being with the factory incident, even if some things did go pear shaped.
 
But you said it yourself anyway, “I understand that the Dazzlings were evil, but their punishment is insanely harsh by pony standards”, exactly, ponies are more forgiving to those who show remorse and a desire to be good and do good, the Dazzlings didn’t, neither did Tirek, they spread misery and showed no desire or inclination to stop or change and be good, for all of Discord’s mistakes, he has at least expressed a desire to become good and befriend the others, though I’ll admit that he’s been granted more of a chance to do so than Tirek, then again, Tirek isn’t encased in stone either, and could probably request a meeting of some kind if he wanted to.
 
That’s all I have to say anyway, I have little desire to continue this debate, I think we’ve both made our viewpoints clear enough, I’m off to bed, night.

@Lokizade  
Do you know who else showed no remorse for considerably greater crimes? Discord. The guy who betrayed everyone and ALSO wasn’t punished. Were there good intentions in handing Equestria over to Tirek (who, by the way, I’m hoping at least gets visits from Scorpan every now and then)? Lightning Dust wasn’t trying to cause damage with her little hurricane, she just didn’t care, same as Rainbow in the weather factory, but did she get off the hook like Rainbow always does?
 
To someone that gets run over by a drunk and/or reckless driver, their family will not give a damn about the intentions involved, but it seems like the protagonists will always, always be absolved almost immediately no matter their crimes. That said? I’m actually kind of okay with that. People may want retribution for the pain they suffer, but as that doesn’t actually help fix anything, I’d be willing to let it go.
 
When others are harshly punished and never so much as offered an olive branch, however, I can’t help losing sympathy for our so-called ‘heroes.’

@Background Pony #9F4B  
The Dazzlings showed no remorse at all and clearly had ill intentions, unlike with your other examples, even after losing, they continued to sing to try and maintain and exert their control, until they were run off stage, and yeah, I’ll admit that I did feel a bit bad for them too at that point.
 
If they expressed genuine remorse instead of trying to enslave everyone, like, again, they might have had a better time in general, but they are villains through and through, and good ones at that, your examples aren’t relative to villainous/ill intended behaviour, but more so the notion and fact that even good people with good intentions can make mistakes, but show genuine remorse and learn from them moving forward.
 
That’s how I look at it anyway, an offending driver that has caused some damage shouldn’t be locked up or banned from driving forever, but should be taught to improve and express the desire to improve themselves, if they are purposefully causing damage with the privilege of having a license and take joy in it, that’s another story.

@Lokizade
 
@DK2K1
 
If she was in a stable enough state of mind to be using such advanced magic all those times, I’d say she was sane enough to be tried for her crimes. If someone repeatedly causes serious damage through reckless driving, do you say “Oh, well, they just weren’t thinking clearly/had the best intentions that time” and let them keep driving?
 
This isn’t even accounting for stuff Rainbow messing up that weather factory or Luna nearly dooming all of Equestria with the Tantabus. I understand that the Dazzlings were evil, but their punishment is insanely harsh by pony standards (destroying what amounts to their special talents ON TOP OF leaving them trapped in another world) where ‘good guys’ usually get off with no penalty.

Sigh~!<3 Isn’t she loveable?

@Background Pony #9F4B  
Look up Mens Rea.

@Background Pony #9F4B  
And each time she had good motives, was trying to help improve things, and didn’t want to disappoint others or let them down, and felt terrible when she did, it’s natural to make mistakes and misjudgements, calling her “evil” in any regard is a Mr. Fantastic tier stretch, The Dazzlings were a different story entirely.

The Dazzlings did it with STYLE!

But I liked the Dazzlings better, so argument is invalid twilight  
:p

@PonyPon
 
@Background Pony #9F4B  
It was kinda obvious when the Elements banished Luna to the moon and imprisoned Discord in stone. Then when the Mane 6 used them they “healed” Luna.

@Background Pony #C2D1  
Yes she does. That is why it should happen more.

@Background Pony #9F4B  
As do the elements, which made that decision.

If we’re making this comparison, shouldn’t Twilight have gotten her magic permanently ripped away from her too? If not for the Smarty-Pants incident, then for all the times (Parasprites, botching Starswirl’s spell, Flutterbat, etc.) she’s made a huge mess with it and gotten off scot-free?
 
Justice plays favorites in Equestria.

Twilight is best villain.

Why the downvotes? Funny and true

Just saying, they were at a fraction of their magical capacity in the magically starved land of humans.