Pagan
"[@cloudkicker108":](/1414603#comment_6034696
)
I don't know how to say this in simpler terms, they still had free will, free will doesn't just disappear because of something someone says or how they treat you, you have to choose to believe them which they did they chose to believe starlight and in order to choose you must have free will, they also chose to turn against her on their own upon gaining proof. You are trying to say they didn't have free will when they absolutely did they had their own personalities and ways of thinking even the girl pony who wasn't in sync in the dancing showed this, free will isn't always inherently there even when the freedom of choice isn't.
The mane 5 on the other hand had their minds wiped they were not free thinking individuals anymore they were braindead, they did everything she said because they did not have the capacity to think anymore, which is why they took things so literally they could no longer distinguish certain actions they normally would because their minds were empty and blank, they were clinically dead till the end of the episode.
Gay Viking
I don't know how to say this in simpler terms, they still had free will, free will doesn't just disappear because of something someone says or how they treat you, you have to choose to believe them which they did they chose to believe starlight and in order to choose you must have free will, they also chose to turn against her on their own upon gaining proof. You are trying to say they didn't have free will when they absolutely did they had their own personalities and ways of thinking even the girl pony who wasn't in sync in the dancing showed this, free will is
The mane 5 on the other hand had their minds wiped they were not free thinking individuals anymore they were braindead, they did everything she said because they did not have the capacity to think anymore, which is why they took things so literally they could no longer distinguish certain actions they normally would because their minds were empty and blank, they were clinically dead till the end of the episode.