@Cirrus Light  
So Starlight gets a free pass over screwing the timeline and Tirek doesn’t (Even though his plan was less devastating than tearing the time stream apart)?

@cheezedoodle  
Starlight was given a second chance despite attempting murder, and you’re wondering why people don’t want to accept that she tried blasting those other ponies.
 
Also people like to imagine that threatening situations don’t happen in Equestria. They do, they just always turn out okay… Well, at least on-screen, anyways. And in the main timeline :q

@Cirrus Light
 
I have no idea how that relates to my comments, but I will nod and mumble “true” and move on with my life.

@cheezedoodle  
ponies can eat stone bridges for breakfast

@cheezedoodle  
Maybe it’s hard for some people to swallow that even a pony who’s attempted murder could be given a second chance…

@redweasel
 
Nobody’s saying she’s using some sort of soul-sucking death spell. If she was I’d expect to see signs of dark magic. It may have just been a powered-up version of the same spell many unicorns know that blasts things with magic force: a stronger projection of their regular telekinesis spell, except used to push rather than lift. Very useful for self-defense.
 
I doubt that’s what it was though. Just prior to this scene she disintegrated a giant stone bridge while on the run without breaking a sweat. This spell, whatever it was, clearly took more effort, and she was shocked when Twilight easily blocked it with her shield bubble:
 

 
 
@Phantom Rider  

 
Gimme a break. If she can blast a stone bridge to pieces she could do the same to ponies. Your assertion is insulting to the audience.
 
The whole episode is devoted to showcasing her dangerous magical abilities and her devious nature. I don’t know why she’d be throwing a cupcake spell at her enemies in revenge for ruining her carefully-laid plans.

@Josh103  
the day I see “written by: jim miller” is the day I stop watching my little pony.

@cheezedoodle  
While what Starlight was referring to is a bit ambiguous, I do believe she was referring to the shield Twilight used. At least, that’s how some people view it.
 
@redweasel  
Oh but it is. Ask Jim.

@SeraphimDawn  
@PonyPon  
Power levels? :P
 
Personally, I’ve measured Twi’s power in Watts in season 1.

@redweasel  
And then there’s the fact that at the time this episode aired there was no sign of the amount of power Starlight would eventually show. There was no reason to think she’d be capable of blasting five ponies to oblivion. That interpretation came purely from “edgy is cool.”
 
Now that we know what she can do, there’s a lot of room to speculate on what, out of her Twilight-level unlimited bag of tricks, that spell might have been. Phasers are surely within her level of ability, but so are a lot of other things. All we know is that it took a great deal of study, and was something she expected to not be stopped by Twilight’s force field because she’d worked on it so long.
 
Maybe a blow-stuff-up beam takes a whole, whole, whole lot of study and technique. But we now know it could’ve been almost anything. Maybe no ‘almost’ about it.
 
@PonyPon  
It’s always looked to me like it’s a combination of good genes and study/practice.

@SeraphimDawn  
well, pegasus magic is pretty much powered by wing and fast
 
unicorn magic is powered by book and scrunch
 
and earth pony magic is powered by hair and comedy

@SeraphimDawn  
No, and Yes it would.
 
But it’s way too late for that amount of planning now.
 
Like I’ve said before, just make your own rules.

@PonyPon  
Is magic even measured in MLP?  
You know it would be nice if they’d introduce a unit measurement for it in the show.
 
Ans what does magic run on in the series? Mana? Chi?

@SeraphimDawn  
Probably from a book, like every other spell.
 
And there’s probably no good explanation for her level of power.

@SeraphimDawn
 
don’t be silly. there’s no ponies in mlp showing signs of being altered as a young filly to be more powerful by mad pony science.
 

@redweasel  
Even bigger question is.
 
Where or who could she have learned these powerful spells from?
 
Also.
 
There is also question of whether she’s simply an anomaly in magic prowess or is part of some powerful magical bloodline.
 
I think I like my headcanon that she was altered when she was a young filly by a mad scientist.

@cheezedoodle  
which takes away their cutie marks.
 
or turns them into toads, or whatever.
 
why would she even study a spell designed to kill ponies?

@redweasel
 
Yes, it could’ve been anything, but the previous two spells she used in the chase were to knock a snowbank over onto Night Glider, and then reduce the stone arch bridge to rubble. She wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, she just wanted to cover her escape. Then Equal 4 ruined her plan and capture her. Now she was really mad. She emerges from the snowbank and appears to be winding up a powerful spell that we haven’t seen before.
 
The simplest explanation is she’s finally taken the gloves off and intends to do real harm, using her best attack, which she says took her years to learn.

@Cirrus Light  
but not ponies. ponies that got hit were slowed, encased in crystal, knocked off course, or otherwise inconvenienced, depending on what exact spell was being cast.
 
even the changeling queen could only knock zecora down with her magic.

@redweasel  
In their later battle in the finale, they used horn beams that cut clouds and cloud structures.

@cheezedoodle  
well, starlight did say that the staff was just some stick she found, and didn’t need it for the spell. we didn’t really see starlight’s do any magic on her own that wasn’t levitation or rock smashing, so we don’t know if all her magic looked the same, whether death beam, or demarcation. in fact that spiral magic was a lot different than when she just blasted the rocks, so I thought it had to be something special.
 
I suppose it could have done this to them:  

 
but my head canon is that twilight’s spell wouldn’t have exploded the real pinkie, and twilight just made up the story about it putting her in danger and needing to test her, to make pinkie think twice before doing anything like this again.
 
besides that, I don’t think a magic beam has done physical damage to ponies before. even trixie’s beam o’ agony was some form of magical lightning, not just a magic attack.
 
it could’ve killed them I suppose, just seems rash to jump to conclusions there. starlight was pissed at them, but I got more of the turn them into toads impression rather than murderous intent.
 
plus she said she “studied that spell for years.” what other spell would come to mind besides her signature demarking spell?
 
@Josh103  
it’s not a little girl’s show, but okay.

@Josh103  
Mane six could’ve died in the landslide or the Manticore attack in the first two episodes. There’s real risk in MLP. It’s just none of them will probably ever actually die.
 
Except Sombra. He got dead.

@redweasel
 
That spell had a distinct visual appearance:
 

 
Memory’s fuzzy but her previous attacks were hitting objects and started the avalanche right? It seems there was a kinetic component.

@redweasel  
Because that’s edgy, and everything must be edgy!

@Cirrus Light  
For someone as fragile emotionally and mentally as Starlight, yes I would agree. The best thing Twilight did for Starlight give her a home and someone to look up to. It wouldn’t have done good for Starlight’s psyche to have her be alone (again) after the fiasco with the time travel. For the first time in her life, she has someone to look up to, and is a follower, rather than being a lonely wolf and trying to be a false leader. With Twilight’s help, she strives to go from a follower to being a true leader, and the season 6 finale shows she’s well on her way to being a true leader like Twilight herself is.