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Finally got off my butt and managed to create another piece after the Training Grounds.
Originally planned to do this one in pencil, since I plan it to be part of Equestria at War, but it soon turned out that it really didn't work in grayscale, especially the wings.Kinda glad I ended up doing it in colour, since it turned out much better than I expected.
The current idea I have in mind is that with the passage of time obviously being a tad convoluted between Equestria and the human world, Sunset would still be around during Twilight's Reign (I might still age a up a bit though, not sure about that yet).
I kinda envision her as a semi-mythical figure among the Equestrian soldiers; an apparition appearing only in the direst of circumstances to turn the tide of battle and disappearing without a trace as soon as the battle is won.

Attention: This is where I start to rant about a subject unrelated to the piece.
I usually don't do this, but I got a whole lot frustration to vent right now and typing it out helps.
Obviously, everything below is my personal opinion and I won't think less of anyone for disagreeing.

Today I got up, poured myself a bowl of very unhealthy cereal and proceeded to watch the Legend of Everfree.
It wasn't very good.
Not necessarily bad, just not very good.
There main story was predictable from start to finish and while the romance subplot wasn't as forced as in EQG 1, it still had a very tacked on quality, expecting the viewer to care for some random character introduced for the sole purpose of serving as a romantic interest.
That and the fact that a camp counselor hitting on a highschooler is pretty icky, even if he's not all that much older.
Overall not a terrible movie, but definitely the weakest out of the four.

Then I watched this week'sepisode.
There aren't many episodes in the series that I dislike; the show is usually solid, even at its weaker moments. There are however some epidsodes I downright despise.
One is 28 Pranks Later, which chooses to chuck five seasons of character devellopment out of the window and portray Rainbow Dash as a complete asshole, another one is Keep Calm and Flutter On, wherein the spirit of shaos and strife ins converted by Fluttershy acting like an abused housewife, making excuses for her abusive husband for most of the episode.
Every Little Thing She Does is easily the worst episode of the series.
To me, Starlight Glimmer represents the polar opposite Of Sunset Shimmer:She started out as an effective and rather refreshing villain, someone not downright evil, but ideologically opposed to the values of the Mane Six, whereas Sunset was an okay villain with a really stupid endgame (teenage army).
It's only when we get further into their motivations, that the cracks begin to show:Sunset was the personal student of Celestia before Twilight, presumably being groomed as a candidate for the Elements of Harmony. Her having held this esteemed position only to have all that taken from her is an understandable motivation for revenge.

Your childhood friend moving to another city is not.

Taken aside that there is no reason why Starlight couldn't have kept in contact with Sunburst via letter, there is no reason whatsoever that she could not have simply enrolled in Celestia's School herself, seeing as she has a level of magic usually only found on badly written OCs.
Instead she choose to erect her own little dictatorship, strippig her subjects off their individuality and keeping them in line through fear.
Again, because her friend moved away when she was a child.

Which leads me to my biggest gripe: the redemption.
Sunset got off pretty easy at the end of EQG 1, arguably too easy.It is only in EQG 2, where we see her feeling the consequences for her actions, facing adversity and struggling to forgive herself in order to start over. And the important part is that she doesn't make excuses for herself, she doesn't whine about how it isn't fair; she accepts that she has to work hard earn everyone's trust after what she has done. And it's that struggle and her willingness to undertake it that makes her eventual redemption, in the eyes of others and herself, so satisfying.

We never get any of that with Starlight.
The closest she ever comes to remorse is making a few jokes about her past actions making it sound like some trivial offence, before complaining about how no one is willing to give her a chance.

Which leads me to this week's episode: Starlight brainwashing the Twilight's friends.
She literally takes away their free will, rather than confess to Twilight that she has been slacking off on her studies.And again it is swept under the rug with a halfassed "I'm sorry" speech.
Not only is she not taking her studies, the very thing that is supposed to redeem her, serious, she has obviously learned nothing since having been taken in by Twilight.
She actually needs to be told that enslaving others for your comfort is wrong.
And somehow the writers still expect us to sympathize with her.

What. the. Hell.

I can comfortably say that by now I'm sufficiently invested in the setting, charcters and the fandom as a whole, that there is very little that the show's writers could do to actually make me stop watching the series and I still throroughly enjoy most episodes.That being said, everything involving Starlight Glimmer has taken a lot of enjoyment out of this season for me and for the the frst time since the beginning of the series, I'm not really looking forward to the finale.
[/rant]

Sorry for that, have a nic day.

Upvotes at import: 102 | Stars at import: 77
Posted previously at: 2016-09-26T01:34:11