Starlight Glimmer/Synopsis

The Cutie Map
In her episode debut, she is the head of a village where all the ponies have equal signs for Cutie Marks. She greets the Mane 6 when they enter the village. She and the townsfolk explain their philosophy - that being equal is what brings true happiness. The Mane 6 (except Fluttershy, who is warmed by the townsfolk's benevolence, and especially Pinkie Pie, who is adamantly suspicious of the location), find this odd. They promptly meet a trio of ponies who miss their Cutie Marks, showing that Starlight's village is not as happy as it seems. The trio informs the group of a vault inside a mountain which contains the taken marks. Starlight leads the ponies to the vault and shows them a wooden staff, which she dubs the Staff of Sameness. She claims that it's a magical item she uses to take away ponies' Cutie Marks. When Pinkie Pie prematurely discloses that a group of ponies told them about the vault, Starlight immediately sees the Mane 6 as threat to the town's lifestyle and steals their Cutie Marks with the staff, placing them in the vault.

She imprisons the ponies in a house, wherein she condemns them to remain until they resign themselves to their fate of living in her town, markless and talentless forever. Unable to break out, the ponies persuade Fluttershy to feign having converted. Starlight is initially not convinced and commands Fluttershy to denounce the ponies who told her about the Vault. Fluttershy hesitates, but one of the free-thinking ponies - named Party Favor - voluntarily confesses that he was responsible for this, subsequently causing him to be imprisoned with the rest of the Mane 6. That night, Fluttershy intends to break into the Vault, but before she can get going there, she finds out that Starlight has taken their Cutie Marks to her house to guard them personally. She also discovers that in reality, Starlight still has her cutie mark and her equal mark is fabricated. The following morning, Fluttershy convinces Twilight to claim that she'll join Starlight and the rest of the village to distract Starlight's attention. While this is going on, Fluttershy tries to splash water on Starlight to reveal her cutie mark but misses. However, a drop of water wipes a smudge off the mark. Party Favor notices this and further wipes off the Equal mark, revealing Starlight's cutie mark and shocking the town. Starlight admits that the Staff of Sameness is just a regular staff she discovered in a desert, and that the Equalizing is the product of her own magic, which she hid from the town. Starlight tries to save face by claiming she did it all for the sake of establishing harmony, but the townsfolk turn on her for her deception. A group of ponies breaks into the Mark Vault and throws the Staff of Sameness at the glass, breaking it and releasing the population's Cutie Marks. Meanwhile, Starlight hides in her house and takes a secret passage, trying to make off with the Mane 6's cutie marks as revenge for exposing her. While the Mane 6 is failing to catch up with her since their forced equality causes them to move slowly, Party Favor and other ponies set out to apprehend Starlight and retrieve the marks (and in the process, use their individual talents to counter Starlight's obstacles). Just before reaching the caves, wherein she could have lost her pursuers, the villain winds up being covered in snow, forcing her to release the marks. Starlight emerges and tries to blast her former followers, but Twilight defends them and says to Starlight that her groups' individuality was what led her to become a princess. Starlight rebukes this and insists that her actions presented the townsfolk with a kind of friendship they couldn't have obtained otherwise, but is shot down by Double Diamond, who claims that she never gave them a chance to be friends before converting them to her beliefs. Enraged and defeated, and having lost all her followers, she uses her magic to escape. Twilight hopes that Starlight will consider what the townsfolk have taught her.

Cameos
Starlight makes a cameo appearance in Amending Fences, when she was hiding behind a menu she was holding in the cafe. She has a second cameo in What About Discord?, hiding behind a bush and spying on the Mane 6 and Discord with a pair of binoculars.

The Cutie Re-Mark
Starlight returns as the main villain of the season finale, The Cutie Remark. After listening to Twilight's speech of how she and her friends obtained their cutie marks through Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom, Starlight appeared in Twilight's castle and used an altered version of Star Swirl the Bearded's time travel spell with the Cutie Map to travel back in time. She blasted Rainbow Dash away before she could do the Sonic Rainboom, altering time so that King Sombra ruled Equestria and was at war with Princess Celestia. Twilight's attempts to stop Starlight only led to Starlight crystallizing her and then convincing the jock bullies not to pick on Fluttershy, creating a timeline in which Queen Chrysalis is in power and at war with Zecora. Twilight tried to fight Starlight, but it distracted Rainbow Dash, creating a timeline in which Nightmare Moonwas in power, with Rainbow Dash and Rarity working for her and Celestia imprisoned.

Twilight's attempts continued to be in vain; Starlight tripped Rainbow Dash, putting Lord Tirek in power; Starlight got Twilight to crystallize Rainbow Dash, putting Discord in power; she made Fluttershy fly with her magic, putting the Flim Flam Brothers in power. When Starlight blasted Rainbow Dash away again, Twilight took Starlight with her to the new apocalyptic future. When Twilight wondered what made Starlight think cutie marks were evil, she took Twilight to when she was a filly and her friend Sunburst got his cutie mark and left for Celestia's magic school, which began her vendetta against cutie marks. Returning to the Rainboom, Starlight attempted to destroy the spell so Twilight could never travel through time again, but Twilight convinced her to make new friends and give friendship a chance. So, Starlight allowed the Sonic Rainboom to take place, and she, Twilight, and Spike returned to the present, where Starlight became friends with the Mane 6 and Spike, became Twilight's student, and reconciled with her village.

The Crystalling
In the season six premiere, Starlight has taken up residence in the Castle of Friendship as Twilight Sparkle's pupil, and Twilight presents her with her first friendship lesson: reuniting with her old friend Sunburst. Because of her past actions, Starlight is very nervous about seeing Sunburst again. When the two finally meet again, their dialogue is mostly awkward stuttering.

After a failed reunion, Starlight is convinced that Sunburst no longer wants to be her friend. However, when she approaches him later and discovers that he did not become an important wizard like she believed, Starlight learns that they both have their own histories of shame. The two then help Twilight and her friends save the Crystal Empire from an eternal winter.

With their friendship rekindled, Starlight and Sunburst say goodbye on much friendlier terms and promise to keep in touch.

No Second Prances
After several attempts to make friends in Ponyville end in failure, Starlight meets and befriends Trixie. When Twilight expresses skepticism in their relationship, Starlight feels that Twilight doesn't trust her to make her own friends. However, when Trixie admits that she became friends with Starlight partly to one-up Twilight, Starlight is emotionally hurt. With Twilight's help, Starlight makes amends with Trixie and helps her in her magic show.

A Hearth's Warming Eve Tail
Starlight is unenthusiastic about celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve and considers it no different from any other day. However, after Twilight reads her the story "A Hearth's Warming Tale", Starlight gains a new appreciation for the holiday.

Spice Up Your Life
Starlight Glimmer briefly appears helping Twilight to reactivate the Cutie Map after the events of The Cutie Re-Mark caused it to go inactive.

The Times They Are A Changeling
Starlight accompanies Twilight and Spike on their visit to the Crystal Empire to visit Sunburst and Flurry Heart. She is present when Spike's changeling friend Thorax exposes himself by accident, and she is quick to help defend Flurry Heart against the suspected changeling spy. Later, when Spike pleads with his friends that Thorax deserves another chance, his words strike a chord with Starlight, who comes to accept Thorax as a friend.

Every Little Thing She Does
Starlight excels at her magic studies, but she avoids her friendship lessons. To fix this, she takes on several friendship problems at once with Twilight's friends to impress her. In an effort to make things easier, she uses the Fiducia Compelus to mind-control the ponies into following her orders. Unfortunately, the ponies follow her orders so exactly and literally that things quickly spiral out of Starlight's control.

After Twilight helps fix her mess, Starlight confesses that she avoids her friendship problems out of fear of failing and being a disappointment to Twilight. With Twilight and Spike's guidance, Starlight apologizes to her friends for using magic on them, and she learns to address her friendship lessons more naturally.

Top Bolt
Starlight makes a brief non-speaking appearance.

To Where and Back Again
In the season six finale, Starlight Glimmer is invited back to her old village to celebrate the Sunset Festival. The next day, Starlight travels to her old village, where Double Diamond, Party Favor, Night Glider, Sugar Belle, and the other villagers have decorated for the Sunset Festival. When Starlight greets them, they cruelly turn her away and tear up her festival invitation. As the villagers start to laugh at her, Starlight shuts her eyes. When she reopens them, day has turned to night, and everyone around her has vanished. Just then, Princess Luna appears through the fog and reveals that Starlight is only having a dream. Realizing she is more nervous about the festival than she thought, Starlight asks Luna what she should do. Luna tells Starlight that the Mane Six have helped her time and time again and suggests that she share her concerns with them.

The next morning, the Mane Six and Spike are gathered in the castle throne room, and Starlight confides in them her worries about going to the Sunset Festival, questioning how much they have truly forgiven her and how much she has really changed. The ponies assure Starlight that she has changed for the better and that she would not have been invited to the Sunset Festival if the villagers did not believe the same. Twilight suggests that Starlight bring a friend along to help make things easier. Though Twilight subtly hints that Starlight bring her along, Starlight instead chooses to bring along Trixie, much to Trixie's delight and Twilight's disappointment. Some time later, Starlight and Trixie arrive on the outskirts of Starlight's old village. Starlight hopes to enjoy the festival without attracting too much attention, and Trixie promises to drag her out of there if she gets too uncomfortable. As they enter the town, the villagers greet Starlight much more positively than they did in her nightmare. However, they quickly overwhelm her with questions about where she is living and how long she will be staying. Surrounded by ponies on all sides, the panicked Starlight pushes them away with a magical force field and cowers to the ground in fear. Recognizing her friend's discomfort, Trixie spirits them away from the town with a smoke bomb. As they return to Ponyville, Starlight feels ashamed about how she left, but Trixie tells her that everyone makes mistakes—even Trixie herself.

Back in Ponyville, Starlight Glimmer meets up with some of her friends, but she notices them acting strangely: Pinkie Pie does not know Starlight's name or where she went, Applejack and Rarity laugh at her misfortune, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy whisper to the others in secret. When she goes to speak to Twilight about it at the castle, Spike almost refuses her entry, and when she explains to Twilight what happened at the village, Twilight advises her to "cut her losses" and never go back there. Starlight is considerably surprised to hear such advice from the princess of friendship. That night, Starlight Glimmer has another dream about her old village. The villagers she encounters all ignore her, and Twilight appears with her friends to harshly scold Starlight for disobeying her orders. As Starlight senses there is something wrong, the Mane Six vanish into thin air. Princess Luna appears out of the moon, but something appears to hold her back. She informs Starlight Glimmer that the changelings have returned and captured her and Princess Celestia. She tells Starlight to find help but to also be careful of who she trusts. As Luna is detained by the changelings, Starlight is forcibly awakened from her dream.

Starlight sneaks out of the castle and goes to wake up Trixie in her nearby cart. After determining that Trixie is not a changeling herself, Starlight brings her up to speed on the situation. They sneak back to the castle and find the Mane Six and Spike—changelings in disguise—in the throne room using a magical scarab beetle array to communicate with Queen Chrysalis. The changeling drones report to their queen they have taken the Mane Six's places and seized control of the castle. Chrysalis reports that Celestia and Luna have also been replaced in Canterlot. Having thought too small the last time she attempted to take over Equestria, Chrysalis has organized a systematic capture of all of the most important ponies in the land, leaving no one left to stop the changelings from taking over. When their communication ends, Starlight nearly gives herself and Trixie away with a creak in the throne room doorway, but they avoid being discovered with Starlight's invisibility spell. Starlight teleports herself and Trixie back to Trixie's wagon, and Trixie feels unqualified to deal with such a situation as a changeling invasion. With Twilight, Celestia, and Luna captured, Starlight suggests seeking the help of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire, but Thorax appears to inform them that Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart have all been taken prisoner as well. Trixie and Thorax look to Starlight Glimmer for guidance, but Starlight is unsure of what to do. As they are certain there is no one around with powerful magic to help them, Discord appears. After determining that Discord isn't a changeling, Starlight informs him that the Mane Six and all of the royals of Equestria have been taken prisoner. Discord is furious to learn that Fluttershy has been taken, and he transports the four of them to the outskirts of the Changeling Kingdom, where Queen Chrysalis' castle lies.

On the outskirts of the Changeling Kingdom, Discord is confused as to why he and his allies didn't instantly teleport to Fluttershy's location. Before Thorax can explain or Starlight Glimmer can make a plan, Discord attempts to storm the changeling castle on the back of a flying pig, but as soon as he breaches the changelings' perimeter, his magic fades away. Thorax explains that Queen Chrysalis' throne is carved from ancient dark stone that soaks up all non-changeling magic, rendering Starlight, Trixie, and Discord virtually powerless. As before, Starlight's friends look to her for guidance, despite her discomfort being in a leadership role. Hesitantly, she makes a plan for them to infiltrate the hive, destroy the throne, and regain their magic. On their way to the hive, Discord and Trixie squabble. Starlight suggests they come up with a way to identify each other in case they get separated, like a secret code. After Discord trips over a rock, Trixie comes up with the code phrase "klutzy draconequus", much to Discord's chagrin.

Inside the hive, Starlight, Discord, and Trixie find the inner layout to have a constantly shifting geography; chamber doorways are always opening and closing in random locations, and only changelings are able to navigate it. As Starlight and her friends traverse the inner workings of the hive, Starlight is unsure how they will even destroy the throne when they find it, and Discord and Trixie continue to argue. Starlight is barely able to keep it together being thrust into her role as leader, and the situation is made worse when they become lost in the hive in spite of Thorax's navigation. As Trixie gives up hope, she asks Thorax about changelings' feeding habits, and Thorax explains that he hasn't been hungry since meeting Spike, despite the fact that changelings are always hungry. He also explains that, since becoming friends with the Crystal Ponies, he has disregarded his usual feeding habits, and his wings became embedded with crystal. When Discord loudly announces his intention to save Fluttershy, he attracts the attention of a changeling patrol. Starlight Glimmer comes up with the idea of Thorax disguising himself as Trixie and evading the changelings with smoke bombs. After giving them the slip, Starlight expands her plan further by following some of the changelings to Chrysalis' throne room. Starlight and her friends follow the changelings to Chrysalis' inner sanctum, but with the hive now on high alert, the entrance is heavily guarded. Trixie is out of smoke bombs, so Discord distracts the changeling guards with stand-up comedy. The changelings chase after him, allowing Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax to enter the inner sanctum. Unfortunately, Discord is captured when numerous crying Fluttershy duplicates appear, leaving him wondering if one of them is the real Fluttershy. Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax wait for Discord to return, but Trixie believes he might have been captured, and Thorax suggests they move on toward the throne room. Just then, Discord appears to regroup with his friends and says he learned from the changelings where the throne room is. However, he doesn't recognize their "klutzy draconequus" code phrase, and the others immediately realize he's a changeling. As "Discord" leads his friends down the left path at a fork in the road, Thorax warns that he's leading them into an ambush. Trixie volunteers to distract the changeling while Starlight and Thorax find the throne, but Starlight is unsure of moving on without her best friend. Trixie assures Starlight that, even without magic, she has been an excellent leader thus far. After Trixie distracts "Discord" with a magic trick that binds their wrists together, Starlight and Thorax escape, leaving Trixie to be captured by the waiting swarm.

As Starlight and Thorax continue running from the changelings, they split up in order to avoid capture. Eventually, Starlight finds her way into Chrysalis' throne room and discovers the throne – as well as all of her friends trapped in cocoons on the ceiling. Unfortunately, Chrysalis had been waiting for Starlight to arrive, and the changelings come out of hiding to restrain her. Chrysalis brags that she thought so little of Starlight that she didn't bother replacing her with one of her changeling drones. With all of the most important and powerful ponies in Equestria captured, Chrysalis is certain of her victory. However, Starlight reminds her of Thorax, and Chrysalis angrily tells her not to mention the "traitor". As Chrysalis threatens to teach Thorax a lesson for betraying the hive, Starlight's eyes glimmer with a blue light, and Chrysalis realizes that Thorax has been in front of her the whole time. Meanwhile, Starlight herself attempts to break the throne, but she is caught in the act and forced to take shelter from Chrysalis' attacks inside the hollow throne. Despite this development, Chrysalis remarks that everything has gone according to her plan to harvest all the love in Equestria and feed her hive for generations.

Remembering Thorax's crystallized wings and satisfied hunger, Starlight proposes to Chrysalis that she and her changelings don't have to take others' love by force. Chrysalis dismisses this notion, stating that changeling hunger can never be satisfied. Starlight explains that ever since Thorax made friends and started sharing love, he hasn't needed to feed as often as changelings usually do. Starlight's words start to reach the changeling drones, but Chrysalis is still dismissive of the claims of a "mewling grub". Despite her powerlessness, Starlight confronts Chrysalis directly, understanding what it's like to lead through fear and intimidation. Ignoring Starlight's words, Chrysalis starts to drain the love that Thorax gained from the Crystal Ponies. Thorax is unable to hold onto the love inside him, so Starlight tells him to share it with Chrysalis willingly. This creates a tremendous burst of light that blows Chrysalis away and transforms Thorax into a new form of changeling: he is now taller with a green coat, orange pincers, and luminescent wings, and the holes in his hooves have been healed. The other changelings follow Thorax's example of sharing love and take on similar, colorful forms. The resulting magical energy causes Chrysalis' throne to explode, and the ponies that the changelings captured are all freed. As Princess Luna commends Starlight on her accomplishment, Chrysalis emerges from the rubble. Starlight Glimmer stands before her again, telling her that she can be a leader her subjects deserve, and offers her hoof in friendship. However, Chrysalis rejects Starlight's offering and swears absolute revenge upon her before flying away.

With Chrysalis' abandonment of her kingdom, Thorax is declared the changelings' new ruler, and Princess Celestia looks forward to improving relationship between ponies and changelings. Discord proposes a tea celebration at Fluttershy's Cottage, but Starlight Glimmer has a better idea. Starlight returns to her old village, and Double Diamond and Party Favor are surprised to see her again after the way she left just recently. Starlight expresses how much she has changed since she first founded the village and how more comfortable she is in being a more positive and listening leader. With that in mind, she offers to help oversee the remainder of the Sunset Festival and asks to allow her other friends to join, to which the villagers happily agree, much to Starlight's happiness as she joined her villages and friends in the Sunset Festival.

Celestial Advice
In the season seven premiere, Starlight receives a Pink Heart of Courage for saving Equestria from Chrysalis. After Twilight struggles to come up with a plan for her after she has progressed beyond needing friendship lessons, she graduates Starlight from her pupil status.

All Bottled Up
Starlight teaches Trixie transfiguration and teleporting magic and inadvertently causes the Cutie Map to disappear. She uses a spell to bottle up her anger until the map is found, but it backfires once the bottled-up anger infects other ponies. Starlight and Trixie eventually recover the map, and Starlight learns not to bottle up her emotions.

Rock Solid Friendship
Starlight befriends Maud Pie, and the two form a connection over rocks and kite-flying. It is also revealed that Maud and Starlight met before during the initial founding of Starlight's village.

Fluttershy Leans In
Starlight is among Fluttershy's friends who help her build her animal sanctuary.

A Royal Problem
Starlight is summoned by the Cutie Map to solve a friendship problem between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. When she determines that the two sisters don't appreciate one another, she uses a spell to switch their cutie marks for twenty-four hours so they can spend a day in each other's shoes.

Fame and Misfortune
Starlight helps Twilight make copies of the Friendship Journal, which are distributed across Equestria. When the readers start arguing over the friendship lessons and its writers, demoralizing Twilight and her friends, Starlight brings in two young fillies, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, who assure them that the lessons in the journal helped them to become better friends.

To Change a Changeling
In To Change a Changeling, Starlight and Trixie pay a surprise visit to the Changeling Kingdom and meet Thorax's brother Pharynx, the only changeling to not accept the hive's new way of sharing love. Starlight and Trixie try to convince Pharynx to abandon the old changeling ways, but their actions inadvertently drive Pharynx to almost leave the hive forever. When Pharynx crosses paths with a monstrous maulwurf, Starlight manages to rally the changelings together to support him, and he is finally accepted by the rest of the swarm.

It Isn't the Mane Thing About You
Rarity asks Starlight and Twilight to use their magic to fix her ruined mane. Starlight and Twilight try their best, but are unable to do so. Starlight later joins Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in their attempts to comfort the distraught Rarity.

Uncommon Bond
Starlight Glimmer is eager to spend time with Sunburst when he visits Ponyville. However, she gets upset and jealous when Sunburst ends up having more in common with Twilight, Trixie, and Maud, even more so when Sunburst refuses to play their favorite board game with her. In the end, though, Sunburst organizes a pony-sized version of the game for all of them to play together.

Shadow Play
After the diary of Star Swirl the Bearded is discovered by Sunburst, Twilight and her friends learn Star Swirl and his fellow Pillars of Old Equestria sacrificed themselves to trap the Pony of Shadows in Limbo.

Twilight, eager to meet her idol, leads her friend to free the Pillars from their prison. Starlight voices her concerns over the project, pointing out what happened the last time she interfered from one of Star Swirl's spells. She is overruled, but proven right when the Pony of Shadows is also released from Limbo.

While the weakened Pony of Shadows is forced to retreat, Twilight, Starlight and their friends plan for his return. Starlight suggests that the Pillars could attempt to reach out to Stygian, the pony within the shadows instead of banishing him again, but Star Swirls scoffs at the suggestion, claiming "once a villain, always a villain". Starlight is dismayed, and even more so when Twilight does not speak up against her idol.

During the final confrontation, Starlight is once again proven right when it is revealed Stygian never meant to betray the Pillars. After the darkness is removed from Stygian, Starlight receives thanks from Twilight for reminding her of her own way of doing things.

School Daze
Starlight is told of Twilight and her friends' adventure beyond Equestria, and she is appointed as guidance counselor for the new School of Friendship. She manages to get Twilight over her depression over the school being closed by convincing her to run the school her own way. She later assists the Mane Six and Spike in saving the runaway students from a group of puckwudgies, and joins them back at the reopened school.

Depiction in Equestria Girls
In the half-hour Equestria Girls special My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Mirror Magic|Mirror Magic, when Sunset Shimmer returns to Equestria, Starlight gives her a new magic journal and becomes very interested in the world on the other side of the Crystal Mirror. She convinces Sunset to take her along, and she transforms into a human upon arriving.

When Sunset and her friends become trapped in limbo through Juniper Montage's enchanted mirror, and Juniper starts terrorizing mall patrons, Starlight convinces her to stop by offering to be her friend. In the end, Starlight helps Sunset to not worry so much about future dangers and to live in the moment, and through a message from Twilight in Sunset's journal, she is allowed to stay in the human world for a few more days.

Depiction in My Little Pony The Movie
Starlight appears in a non-speaking cameo during We Got This Together, watching Trixie set off fireworks. She and Trixie also appear during the end credits setting off fireworks off a cake.