New story, updates, other things, maybe finale discussion too · 11:47pm May 11th, 2014
You've been warned.
So first, anyone who saw this journal might be interested in the sequel:
Second, Check Yourself Before You Tirek Yourself is my second fic in, uh, like three days? It's a stupid look at the finale, in the vein of shit what I normally do. :V It was inspired by a chat last night, along with a bunch of internet-related garbage that's been bouncing around in my head (like Turn Down for What, to name one), and also venting about season four. People who liked that story will want to check out pretty much anything I've written with the Random tag, but especially Cutie Mark Cancer and Fluttershy Goes to Fucking Narnia.
I'm pleased to note that Branch Management has passed the view threshold. :3 And if you go looking for the view threshold story, you will no longer find it because I unpublished it! :V Wahaha, it will never get another view again!
In case anyone is miffed that I've put out two stories in a week while Epic Unicorn History stagnates, know that I finished the draft of chapter 3 today! Assuming I get hold of my editor quickly (after a pass-through on my own, of course), it should go up very soon! :D
And I think that's it, so let's talk about the finale some more. Specifically, let's talk about Discord. I've been tossing this around on Tumblr for a while, but I want to lay out my thoughts here.
After Keep Calm and Flutter On, I was considerably miffed that they had reformed Discord. The episode was enjoyable, but I felt it was a bad turn for the show. However, season 4 has shown that the writers really know how to use him. Three's a Crowd aside (just because I don't remember it well enough to analyze), both the premiere and the finale featured him in really great roles, and the finale especially. It's interesting, because he sets in motion both the complications and the solution to those complications, but more importantly, he got a really good character arc across those two episodes.
Think about it. His heart was warmed by Fluttershy's friendship, and he hated it. Still hates it. Has hated it ever since it happened. Fluttershy is not just a friend in name. She really and truly believes in him, and he recognizes that, and he hates that she won't give up on him, and (fan speculation here) quite likely, he hates that no one else has ever felt this way about him in all his long existence. So he recognizes that Fluttershy's friendship is a sort of yoke, a chain tethering him to ideas of what's "good" and "proper", which is very against his nature. This is how Tirek's able to get under his skin: the centaur quickly sums up Discord's situation and goes for the kill.
It's of course easy to see that Discord's heart isn't completely in the plan, especially whenever the ponies are mentioned to him. But at the same time, he naively believes that Tirek is his friend now, a friend who gives him the freedom to be himself instead of rules and regulations. Discord thus gets to go through the "you have to learn which people are worth making friends with" lesson that's such a hallmark of after-school specials. (Notably, Babs did this a bit in season three, but she basically doesn't exist, so who cares.) The really great thing about this is none of the protagonists have to learn this. It's a lesson we see over and over again, so it's kind of cheesy to rehash, but by having a secondary character go through it, the main characters are left open to explore friendship lessons that are less often delved into by children's media, not to mention focus on the main plot of the episode. And this is just such a great idea, I can't even explain it.
Not to mention the whole denouement as Discord realizes he's been played and has his essence drained from him. I think Fluttershy still believing in him just completely broke him around the time they all got captured by Tirek. That's a hard thing to have to see, someone who you betrayed forgiving you immediately and realizing just what a complete and utter douchelord you've been. That's some deep shit for a kid's show. But not only that, while the mane cast for the most part still don't trust Discord (aside: I want an episode with him palling around with Pinkie, because the two of them hardly ever interact; usually it's AJ, Rarity and Rainbow Dash moaning about everything he does), Twilight was willing, unequivocally, to welcome him into her circle of friends. (Fuck, Fluttershy even got the "Yeah, you're not really our friend" line at the end! That's cold, Flutters.) She was just as willing to fight for him as for the friends who she's loved and trusted for the last four seasons. Discord's role in this pair of episodes was just some really powerful writing, and a significant reason why I loved the finale.
Also, dat DisLestia shipping. :V Though Skywriter gives a good theory as to why this may not be so. I am actually okay with this (it's likely closer to what the scene really means), but I still prefer to think that they can finally pick up where things left off a thousand plus years ago. :3
I still think that Discord played (at least a little) Tirek.
Granted, I'm basing this on the bookmarking he did to the diary and his general antics.
This version is probably more correct, though. I think. At least the general consensus would say so.
~Skeeter The Lurker
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Well, the bookmarking happened first, before he actually went after Tirek. Unless I've mixed up the timeline in my head. (It's hard to keep track of all the awesome.) I do think he at least played Tirek somewhat by withholding information of Twilight's existence, so it's not that you're completely off base or anything.
It's like Discord was unleashing controlled chaos.
Yup, still some of the funniest pony videos I've seen.
...our overlap of taste might seem questionable...
One of the things I liked is that Discord was deliciously ambiguous. He certainly knew more than he let show, but his actions can be interpreted in multiple ways, from the direct approach taking what he said and did at face value to a conspiracy with Celestia while deceiving everypony else (plus Tirek), and anything in between.
For example, he sensed the magical disturbance when the princesses passed their power to Twilight, and apparently even the actual nature of what happened, but never told Tirek, not even after he told him about Twilight; Tirek only discovered that the other princesses had transferred the power to her when he fought Twilight.
How much Discord knew about the keys is also an interesting aspect, specially because he personally gave Twilight her key, after making sure she would notice the keys the other ponies had already received. If he knew the relevance of the passages he bookmarked earlier he likely figured what he was doing, perhaps even before giving Twilight the key.
Add to that Discord's acting in Three's a Crowd and it's hard to say what exactly he was up to. What was coincidence and what was planned by him? Which of his reactions were real, which were fake? Everyone will have his own opinion, and many will actually fit with the facts
(BTW, even if Discord was acting to some hidden agenda meant to make the ponies prevail in the end, this does not necessarily means his pain at "betraying" Fluttershy and her friends, or the friendship lesson afterwards, was any less real.)
This might result in some very interesting fan art, including fanfics
Summation of episode:
"If DBZ were cute"
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Bullshit. He was pure evil and should probably be put down at the nearest opportunity.
The plan to capture the other 5 was all him.
I like to think that Discord just tosses out preparation and the first stages of dozens of plans as he goes about his business, then gets to find out which one is successful with everyone else. Given his power level and his chaotic nature, he would find it too boring always successfully plan/execute/succeed at anything he did all the time.
2103004
But of course he planned the capture of the other six (Spike was there too). The question, though, is: why?
Discord knew that gaining a key required making a tough choice where the character's element was on the line. For Twilight, what better situation than having to choose between her magic and her friends? So, effectively Discord not only gave Twilight her key, but before that prepared the ideal situation for her to gain the key in the first place. What if that was intentional?
2103298 The items are only the keys because of the experiences they came from. There was no key out in the world for Discord to find; Twilight earned it by making a noble decision.
That said,
she made THE OPPOSITE decision in Equestria Girls and saved the day anyway...
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Yep, the item itself wasn't important; it might have worked if he picked a pebble from the ground and gave it to Twilight. What was important was the decision that led to the item being presented and the way the item was presented.
In Twilight's case, the decision Twilight made in a situation that only arose from Discord's meddling, and the way Discord presented the item.
Though, if I was going with the master plan idea, I would have Discord's capture be Celestia's doing, manipulating Discord to let his guard down around Tirek. This would allow Discord to be legitimately surprised at Tirek's betrayal and make him need rescuing, allowing him to better serve as the key bearer. It would also make for a more interesting story, two "chess masters" manipulating each other, neither of them in full control.
Actually, in both cases it was self-sacrifice. Not really that different.
Though I would have felt better about EQG if Twilight had actually figured that Sunset Shimmer was bluffing.