[Spoiler, obviously] Keep Calm & Flutter On · 9:04am Jan 20th, 2013
Well!
Again, they thwarted my expectations, this time by not thwarting my expectations! See, here I was all prepared for the episode's moral to be "You need two people to be friends; no matter how much you offer your hand in friendship and reconciliation, if the other guy does not take it, it won't work."
Instead, they went with "Even bad people can desire friendship (even if they don't realize or admit it) and giving them the benefit of doubt can be a good thing. But that doesn't mean you have to be a doormat for them, however!" which is so not what I expected, but still a reasonable enough moral.
The only real problem I have with this episode is that it would worked better as a two-parter, with more build-up. Or even with a montage showing Flutters and Discord interacting more. As it is now, the pacing feels kinda abrupt, which detracts from the episode... but does not ruin it by any means.
I didn't mind the rushed and less believable parts as it would otherwise be cutting into Discord time.
But yes, a two parter would be nice. I hope fanfic will fill in the slack.
Discord and Fluttershy didn't really have any friendship interaction in that way, or at least it was not shown.
The way Celestia looked when Fluttershy mentions that Discord can be a real sweetheart...
So they have a back story, in *that* way.
(Sorry for late reply, I've been lazy with checking newer messages, even though I've looked for 'em when new ones kept coming up over past week.)
Kinda confused here... you say the episode thwarted your expectations, but at the same time, DIDN'T.
I mean, you said what you expected to happen (which is what I had hoped somewhat for as well); yet by the sounds of it, you got what you WANTED to happen, which isn't the same as what you expected to happen, I think. Not sure if could elaborate, assuming you even remember what you meant when posted this. 
And yeah, it's a little off-putting that the WHOLE episode seems to take place in one episode over a DAY (except the end, though we don't know how long before Twilight mails Celestia about Discord's reformment according to Fluttershy), unlike other episodes mostly, where they cover at least a couple days (if not more). But I suppose writers decided to do it how they felt was best with number of episodes they were probably given and came up with.
Will be curious to see if Discord and Fluttershy's friendship develops further as she hopefully gets more of her own episodes and he'll make an appearance in some of those, or if he'll befriend any of the rest of Mane 6, what with all the fanon there is of Pinkie Pie being the only one who truly appreciated Discord for his chaotic pranks, even if he is/was evil, before this episode. Though there were others as well with other members of the Mane 6... //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Celestia.png
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Hah! Yeah, that's a rather confusing statement I make there.
Remember Sweet and Elite, where the episode seems to be setting up a moral of "It's bad to lie to your friends!" But instead, Rarity never gets called on her fibbing, and the moral is actually "Being true to your self and to your friends is better than pursuing the acceptance of strangers". Similarly, in Bad Seed Babs does not get her comeuppance despite bullying the CMC throughout the episode, because the moral is "It's easy to perpetuate the cycle of bullying and violence, and having been bullied yourself is no justification for bullying others. Also for Celestia's sake, talk to the adults!" (And more than a few of adult fans threw a fit, because it did not validate the bullied lashing back at the bullies.)
Here, I was expecting another subversion of the expected moral like that. Instead, they played the moral straight, and did it pretty well, showing the importance of trust and the need for both sides to compromise while also pointing out that being nice and kind does not mean you have to be a doormat, and indeed standing up for yourself is a vital part of friendship.
So they sort of subverted the subversion.
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(Sorry again for late reply.)
Yeah, well, it can be argued that a bit of Iron Will's lessons are still in her head from Putting Your Hoof Down, because while she's still hesitant to interrupt kinda (Crystal Empire 2-parter, part of Magic Duel, and beginning of the latest episode, Just For Sidekicks) or fight (A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2), she DID stand up to Twilight sort of in beginning of Magic Duel and in this episode as you pointed out. Even if the series has aired events out of order without a clear timeline in first two, pretty sure most of them have aired in order since the beginning of Season 3. It's nice to see Fluttershy not be a doormat anymore, even if it never bothered me before and is cute at the same time, the way she stands up for herself while still being somehow adorable.
//dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Fluttershy_lolface.png
And funny, that point about stuff in episodes you mentioned I was maybe aware of, but didn't KNOW I knew if that makes sense.
It did bother me how it didn't happen how I expected in One Bad Apple or whatever, and that AJ (Element of Honesty 
) kept something that should've been told from the beginning, but eh, it was still interesting enough. And was at least happy (even if I was almost certain Babs wouldn't stick around permanently) that we didn't get another DT-esque character, as she's one of the few ponies I actually dislike. Also, the show is still supposed to be rated for little girls, as was its intended target audience, so they approach such subjects lightheartedly, even if its not entirely realistic.