Starlight Glimmer is a unicorn who appears in season five’s premiere, The Cutie Map and the season finale, The Cutie Re-Mark. She’s a former villain who now uses her powerful magic to teach Friendship.
She believes that cutie marks lead to pain and unhappiness, and she created a village where residents gave up their cutie marks for the sake of equality. The ponies who lived there had to wear wide grins to hide their true sadness.
She is a Lavender Unicorn
Starlight Glimmer is a unicorn pony who was originally an antagonist but later became a protagonist. She is Twilight Sparkle’s student in the ways of friendship and works as a guidance counselor at the School of Friendship in Canterlot. She is an intelligent and dutiful scholar with a focus on advanced unicorn magic, and her skills rival that of Star Swirl the Bearded’s. Despite her intelligence and talent, she tends to develop nervous breakdowns when confronted with difficult problems and is often irrational and paranoid.
Starlight was raised in a lone village within Equestria, where she grew up with a friend named Sunburst who shared her love of magic. She always felt inferior to him, and this shaped her views of friendship. She also developed a fear of losing her own talents and a sense of jealousy that other ponies might gain their own. This caused her to develop a spell that removed a pony’s cutie mark and replaced it with one resembling an equal sign, thereby suppressing their abilities.
Eventually, Starlight was able to overcome her jealousy and fears and make true friends with other ponies in the village. But she continued to miss her old life in the village and was upset that Sunburst had gained her own cutie mark before her.
When she returned to her lone village for a reunion, she found that many of the ponies had lost their cutie marks due to Queen Chrysalis’ kingmaking scheme. Starlight offered the village residents a chance to reform, but they refused and vowed revenge on her.
She then teamed up with Trixie, Discord, and Thorax to rescue the Mane 6, Spike, and the Changeling royalty from Queen Chrysalis’ castle. Starlight had a major flashback during this episode and cried in regret as she remembered her villainous past.
After defeating Queen Chrysalis, Starlight offered to teach Twilight the ways of friendship in exchange for her mentorship. She graduated from the School of Friendship in season seven and later became a guidance counselor at the School of Friendship after Twilight became ruler of Equestria. Her lilac coat, purple and teal mane and tail, and a cutie mark that resembles a star with two blue glimmering streams are distinctive.
She is a Human
Starlight Glimmer is a unicorn that can change into a human at will. She possesses magical powers and is highly proficient in magic, though she can also be very nervous and short-tempered. She has a history with the pony Sunset Shimmer, and she isn’t happy to see her when she returns to Equestria. Despite her dislike of the pony, she reluctantly agrees to help her return home after Princess Twilight convinces her.
During the course of her journey, Starlight meets many people and develops a deep affection for them. She is also a talented shaman, and she uses her abilities to heal others. Despite her benevolent demeanor, she is still a villain at heart. Her desire for power is often fueled by her own insecurities and jealousy of the Mane 6’s talents. This makes her easily deceitful and manipulative. She also has a tendency to use her skills for selfish ends, such as filling Spike with greatness to stall a meeting with Sunburst or using her magic to hypnotize Big McIntosh into tackling a lot of friendship lessons at once.
After being introduced to the Mane 6, she takes them to her village where she resides. She shows them a vault where she keeps her magic and reveals a wooden staff, which she dubs “the Staff of Sameness.” This device allows her to steal other ponies’ Cutie Marks and replace them with black equal signs that inhibit their special abilities. She claims to do this out of concern for the welfare of her villagers, but it’s obvious that she enjoys the feeling of taking away others’ magic.
Eventually, the Mane 6 convinces her to stop her vendetta against cutie marks. She agrees to stay in the human world with them, but she will not be allowed to return to Equestria until the portal and jewel are fixed. In her human form, she has mid back length hair with side bangs and wears a magenta pink beanie with a white star design. She can be a little on the shy side, but she is also quick-witted and very resourceful. She can learn spells quickly and is a master of preparation.
She is a Friend
Starlight Glimmer is a good friend, though she has a dark side. She is a manipulative, self-centered, and arrogant unicorn who is prone to putting her own needs above those of others. She is also a bit of a zealot, as she believes that the only true way to be a friend is through complete equality. She even went so far as to remove the cutie marks of ponies she felt were unable to live up to her standard. This is reminiscent of Amon in The Legend of Korra, who took away others’ talents and uniqueness in order to create his utopia.
Fortunately, Starlight has turned over a new leaf and is trying to learn friendship from Twilight Sparkle. She is also a helpful mentor to the Mane Six and works as a guidance counselor for the School of Friendship. However, her manipulative nature is still evident at times, such as when she uses her magic to make Spike and other recurring characters speak more articulately or when she manipulates the Mane Six into tackling many friendship lessons at once.
Although she has reformed, she is still a little bit insecure. For example, she has trouble overcoming her fear of being in a leadership role. She also struggles with her former inclinations to be selfish and arrogant. This is particularly apparent when she tries to use her powers to help others, but fails to consider that she could be hurting them in the process.
In addition, she is clumsy and awkward when confronted with her past mistakes. She is unable to admit when she is wrong, which makes it difficult for her to truly redeem herself. This can be seen when she manipulates Fluttershy into releasing her, Party Favor into believing that she is the only pony who wants their cutie mark back, and Twilight into being distracted. These manipulations are inexcusable, especially for a character who is supposed to be seeking redemption.
She is a Villain
Starlight Glimmer, as the overarching villain of Season 5, is a very powerful character who can control multiple ponies at once. She also has the ability to take away cutie marks, a very disturbing power. This is a problem, as it completely rewrites the established lore about cutie marks and makes her an extremely villainous character. She is not a good character because her motivations are very unclear and her actions are totally irrational. It’s not like she has a tragic past or is driven by deep-seated hatred for her sister. It’s just that she thinks her way is the right way and no other way is acceptable.
Starlit is the leader of a village where all the residents give up their cutie marks and live without their talents. She believes that the differences between different ponies are what cause fighting bitterness and pain. She is able to take away cutie marks and replace them with black equal signs using her magical abilities. The Mane 6 visit the village and are warmed by its benevolence but Pinkie Pie is suspicious. Starlight tells the group that she and her townsfolk are happy, but they don’t look it. They eat bland-tasting food and wear identical manestyles, but their wide smiles hide their inner misery.
Eventually, the Mane 6 realize that Starlight is hiding her true emotions behind her smiling façade. She reveals that she has been unable to find true happiness since losing her friends. Twilight convinces her to turn over a new leaf, and Starlight becomes friendly and kindhearted. She also remorsefully apologizes to those she has hurt.
Despite her remorse, Starlight still believes that her way is the right way and is willing to use her powers to make other ponies believe that her way is the best way. In addition to her teleportation and time travel abilities, she can perform other spells such as mass-teleportation, mind control, self-duplication, and even re-animate the dead. Starlight is a dangerous and ruthless individual, but she’s still not the most villainous character on the show.