TS: “Fly, my pretties! Fly!!!”
 
Sunset: “Twilight, your books are not birds, and they cannot be alive. Stop creeping ponies out with your antics, will you?”
 
TS: “But … but a mare can dream!”
 

@Background Pony #8283  
The point is that the most dangerous of magic is still illegal under Equestrian law, no matter how one who uses them is ultimately punished.
 
@Solar’s Wrath  
This isn’t really about bad writing, though. Twilight has never been depicted as more powerful as an alicorn than the princesses are. If the princesses go down without their alicorn powers having been first removed, then it would be illogical to assume Twilight’s alicorn status somehow makes her immune, regardless of how contrived the original situation might be.
 
Starlight never got the upper hand in that magic duel. She was always met with an equal response from Twilight. And Starlight didn’t just decide to stop fighting because she felt like it; both her and Twilight were completely drained of energy (if you recall, both were visibly panting and sweating).
 
Bad writing aside, what do the guards bring to the table? All they have to offer are some combat abilities. They might be able to slow down the Storm King’s army and buy the princesses and the ponies a bit more time (I’ll give you that), but they certainly wouldn’t be able to stop his forces.
 
As I told BP, you have to consider the kind of country Equestria is. Villains who threatened to wreak havoc on all of Equestria and its inhabitants are generously given second chances. Even if they aren’t punished as harshly they would be here in the real world depending on the circumstances, things like treason and mind control still have to be illegal, otherwise Equestria wouldn’t be nearly as stable and prosperous as it is.

@cloudkicker108  
I think we haven’t seen the same show and justifying something like Twilight being an Alicorn not mattering because of bad writing making being an Alicorn not mattering is not really an argument that will convince anybody.
 
Also it has been established in the same thing you refer because it was not a stalemate. Starlight was dominating her every single time. The only reason Starlight didn’t win is because she stopped fighting on her own not because Twilight overpowered her or was on par with her at all.
 
I’m not going to also once again take bad writing as an argument for the guards
 
My point is that its not illegal simply because there was no consequence beside everyone being slightly mad. If it was actually frowned upon to the point of having actual consequence other then people being slightly annoyed with you then its not illegal. So no mind control isn’t illegal in Equestria.

@cloudkicker108  
Which makes the very idea of ‘forbidden’ into basically ‘frowned upon’ because there is no real punishment for anything.

@Background Pony #8283  
On their own, those three spells by themselves then aren’t illegal or dangerous because as you said, they don’t allow you to instantly turn someone into a mindless zombie when used separately. The situation is more like “making someone more open to suggestion is fine, but assuming direct control of them or forcibly altering their thoughts is forbidden.”
 
Keep in mind we’re talking about a world where villains with world-ending plans are given the opportunity to turn over a new leaf. Even with those reformations, I’d imagine negligence towards the well-being of others and psychological torture are still illegal one way or another in Equestria. Just because Twilight and Starlight weren’t punished harshly for their actions doesn’t mean what they did wasn’t unlawful.
 
@Solar’s Wrath  
Way to strawman me. I never said I thought the Princesses being incapacitated early on was a “good part” of the movie. I was honestly a bit disappointed at how fast they got taken down. My point was that it doesn’t make sense Twilight would have any advantage as an alicorn when the villain was already able to fell three other alicorns. When exactly has it been established that Starlight is more powerful than Twilight? The two ended in a stalemate when they fought each other in “A Cutie Re-mark”, and both were able to perform the same impressive feats in ELTSD. Instead of insisting to me over and over again that I’m wrong, how about you actually defend your argument? As for the guards, they have an entire history of being incompetent. Let’s face it, even if they were present at the Friendship Festival, there’s probably not much they could do to stop the Storm King’s invasion. Even if the weather patrol spotted the airships just as they entered into Equestrian territory and immediately alerted Equestria’s top brass, that still wouldn’t give the princesses much time to formulate a plan, let alone execute it.
 

 
Not sure what you’re getting at here. I wasn’t discussing what punishment Starlight should have received for her actions in ELTSD. I was just pointing out that the three spells Starlight combined do not pose a threat by themselves and that what was actually illegal was Starlight using all three at once to essentially hypnotize the remane 5.

@Ihhh  
I’m gonna agree with this person below because this is another world and even when Startlight mind controlled Twilight’s friends, they were just a little annoyed and nothing more  
@Background Pony #8283
 

 
@cloudkicker108  
Ok now you’re bringing another point, do you honestly think that I’m fine with the Princesses being captured like nothing once again? Its as if you think that was a good part of the movie too. No it wasn’t also no. Starlight is much stronger then Twilight magic wise and it has been established and repeatedly shown. Also for Discord and everyone else. especially Shining armor you’re wrong. This is an event, this is the exact reason why Guards exist and the fact that there was no guard anywhere and even that were was no weather patrol to see Tempest coming was stupid at best
 
 
@cloudkicker108  
Them being combined or not doesn’t matter, what matter is that it was done and all she got is the main six slightly annoyed and not actually punishing Starlight like someone who did something illegal.

@cloudkicker108  

That’s just it, she wasn’t trying for zombies, she just wanted them to be more malleable to her suggestions.
 
Fiducia Compellus - Trust my directions  
Cogeria - Prompting movement  
Persuadere - self explanatory.
 
These spells make sense for her to have been aware of long before she had access to Twilight’s library. They are ones she would have used to keep the Our Town citizens in line while she taught them how to sing along after making them stand still while she took their talents. And really, we’re arguing semantics when we say “Well, weak mind control is fine, but making meat puppets is forbidden.” We cannot know that.
 
What we do know is that in neither case (Twilight or Starlight) was any punishment doled out. Just a stern lecture. Based on that, we can assume ‘illegal’ is out the window. Likewise, forbidden is unlikely, or even the components would be unknown. We’re left with ‘considered rude and not to be done to one’s friends and neighbors’.

@Background Pony #8283  
Those individual spells clearly do not give complete control over the mind on their own (or even particularly strong sway over one’s thoughts for that matter). Else Starlight would have no reason to combine them in the first place. Moreover, combining spells to make new ones clearly isn’t something your average unicorn can do (the entire cold opening of the episode was dedicated to a montage of Starlight’s magical proficiency). If the want-it-need-it spell is indeed forbidden, then your original argument is further weakened, since that implies the general public shouldn’t be able to easily get their hands on it (as tends to be the case forbidden things).

@cloudkicker108  

 
No, Starlight combined Fiducia Compelus with Cogeria and a hint Persuadere to make her spell, and if you know even a little latin all three of those are types of manipulation. Twilight was also using mind manipulation all the way back in season one on the parasprites. Want it need it could possibly be forbidden, all we know is that Twilight let it get out of control. She presumably forgot that she knows a failsafe spell, which Celestia cast for her upon her arrival.

@Solar’s Wrath  
I believe we were meant to believe that, yes, Twilight’s want-it-need-it spell was in fact illegal. It was a very real possibility that Twilight would be punished for it.
 
And that’s not my issue with her behaviour in the movie. Since “Lesson Zero,” we have seen her resolve conflicts diplomatically on several occasions, and despite clearly being within earshot of Pinkie’s song, she still decided that theft was the best course of action. I confess my memory of that film isn’t perfect, but I wasn’t exactly convinced the situation was that desperate.

@Solar’s Wrath  
As the lord of chaos, Discord whereabouts could be literally anywhere. He could even be in another dimension. Starlight’s magic is equal to Twilight’s at best, and Twilight’s magic was already ineffective against the armor sport by the Storm King’s forces. Even with the Everfree, the mane six would still have to first decide on which animal to use and then track it down.
 

 
You’re joking, right? Tempest took out Celestia, Luna, and Cadence with relative ease. All three are alicorns.
 
Last I checked a city–especially one hosting a major event attracting probably hundreds or even thousands of outsiders–usually has a population much greater than 6. How do you know age doesn’t matter when it comes to species? Cerberus is honestly just a gigantic dog with three heads. He doesn’t appear to have any special abilities outside of that. Outside of Pharynx, the reformed changelings were out of practice in terms of combat. The whole swarm was unable to defeat a single maulwarf. As for Shining Armor, putting up defenses is no longer that important when the invading party has already taken over your land.
 
@Background Pony #8283  
The mind control spell used by Starlight was something she created herself. Starswirl’s time travel spell was in a restricted area; it was not accessible by the general public. We don’t even know what the reformation spell actually entails; Twilight never even cast it, after all. It might not be as manipulative as we think. As far as I can tell, the only dangerous spell the public could get their hooves on is the want-it-need-it spell, but even that can be reversed rather swiftly.

@Ihhh  
I’m amused that you think the standards of this world in any way apply to a land of talking pastel ponies. You were talking about moving the goalposts earlier, the fact is that we have no idea where they are in this scenario. We do know from canon that Canterlot has a restricted section for dangerous information, and yet somehow the mind control, time magic, and reformation spells are not in it. This leads one to conclude that they are not forbidden, or even considered much of a problem.

@Background Pony #8283  
How is it moral to literally manipulate someone’s thoughts, their very being, just to fulfill your own selfish desires? The morality of mind control is not debatable, and I’m disturbed that you somehow think it is.

@Ihhh  
I highly doubt it’s illegal, since spells to control minds are available in public libraries. Immoral is also in question. But at the very least it’s considered rude.

@Solar’s Wrath  
You’re moving the goalposts. That is a logical fallacy. Besides, even if mind control is legal in equestria, which you don’t know, it’s still immoral, and unlike the pearl, Twilight did it for selfish reasons.

@Thrond  
Well its not that I don’t like that event, its that I don’t like people bringing it up as an argument for Twilight purposefully breaking the law for greater good compared to the movie because first she didn’t break any law and second she didn’t do it against anyone in particular unlike the movie
 
@Ihhh  
She actually didn’t break any law nor did she do it on purpose if she actually did break a law. So i’m sorry Lesson Zero does not get included in her breaking a law on purpose at the detriment of others.

@Solar’s Wrath  
If you think that was out of character, watch lesson zero and you’ll see why it isn’t.

@Solar’s Wrath  
I don’t like the time spell thing either, but to be fair, she hadn’t slept for at least three nights.

@cloudkicker108  
Ok here i’ll break everything you were saying. They had Twilight which is an Alicorn. They have Discord. Starlight is stronger then Twilight magically so she could have fought. They can just go in Everfree forest. And in the end it didn’t even matter because nothing of the sort was even used.
 
Also she wasn’t struggling doing the transformation spell on herself and her friends at all and I don’t see why Spike wouldn’t work since he’s still a dragon, age doesn’t matter when it come to species. They could have got Cerveberus. Heck the Changeling could have helped. Where was Shining armor with his VERY strong shielding magic?
 
I’m just going to stop here its kinda not the subject of the picture beside that actual bad characterization of Twilight isn’t her screaming over books but her stealing something and no her breaking in Canterlot which is a public castle to take a time spell which is in public library which Celestia didn’t even cared seeing her there in a black suit matter because nothing she did there was actually illegal. Which Twilight in a way never did something illegal on purpose knowing it would have bad repercussion to at least someone which is also another thing.
 
Not saying you’re saying any of that, just backing myself up before anyone bring those points.

@Solar’s Wrath  
Tranfiguration isn’t necessarily the only feat the pearl is capable of. For the mane six (plus Spike), the point of acquiring the orb was to be in possession of an all-powerful magical artifact that could give them a leg up over the Storm King and his forces.
 
Even if transformation is the only function of the orb, it’s still much more efficient than Twilight casting spells. Magic that brings inanimate objects to life so far seem to only work on the small scale (i.e. teacup poodle, apple into a nest full of chicks). As for the species changing spell, the mane 6 would need a creature much more substantial than Spike to use as a template in order to stand a chance against the Storm King (at least not without burning Canterlot to the ground); that would require them to first think of an animal with the right attributes (brute force alone will not work) and then go out on a journey to find said animal. Moreover, we don’t even know what limitations that spell has. Seeing as how Twilight struggles just with holding a dozen or so ponies in place with magic, I’m doubtful she could cast the species changing spell on an entire city’s worth of ponies.

@Harmonio  
Which was dumb in my opinion
 
@klystron2010  
still
 
@northern haste  
Sure but she also has another spell that can make things come to life and also give those limbs like that orange frog thing. ALSO they do have Spike which is a dragon which is a pretty good template to use. So I don’t see the problem.

@Solar’s Wrath  
the spell needs a template the Pearl doesn’t  

@Solar’s Wrath  
Don’t remember exactly, but didn’t she need to transform the entire pony population?

@Solar’s Wrath  
Literally the only reason she did that was because the writers had to find a way to separate her from her friends so she could end up alone when she was captured by Tempest

@klystron2010  
You know this picture just reminded me that there was no reason for her to want the pearl since she canonically have a spell that can change a pony’s species