Headcanon: the significance of chocolate milk · 1:37am Dec 12th, 2014
In "The Last Draconequus", chocolate milk is very significant; it's the food Discord's mother keeps conjuring for him so he won't starve like the rest of the draconequui are. But in canon, Discord only does the chocolate milk thing once -- as it should be, because chaos shouldn't repeat itself. It's the fannish significance of chocolate milk I was drawing on there... but within story, why is there a connection?
So I figured it out today. Ponyville is near the Everfree Forest and is where the plunder seeds first came up (the ones that didn't come up in the Everfree.) Discord picked out Ponyville to declare it the Chaos Capital of Equestria. Ponyville is probably where Discord was when he was turned to stone (it wasn't called Ponyville, of course, Granny Smith founded Ponyville.) Discord's power base was the Everfree Forest (which he created, to contain the Tree of Harmony and to destroy the capital city of Equestria, which was previously centered around the Castle of the Two Sisters, because the whole reason that's their castle is it's where they grew up as princesses.)
Discord brought his chaos to Ponyville first, before attacking Cloudsdale or anywhere else, because Ponyville has significance to him. (Not the town but the physical location.) And having just busted out of prison, and being allowed to eat and taste food for the first time in over a millennium, his chaotic creations center heavily around food in Return of Harmony -- aside from the chocolate milk and cotton candy, he attacks Applejack's farm with giant apples and popcorn, he makes pies float, he makes a cola storm that attacks Cloudsdale, and he sprinkles pepper on Berry Punch. In other episodes the food theme is toned way down.
So. The first chaos Discord creates is based on his favorite food. Which he's probably just pigged out on, because he can just now eat again for the first time in a millennium. He doesn't repeat chocolate milk and cotton candy because chaos doesn't repeat itself (not a whole lot, anyway), but they are some of his favorite foods and will turn up relatively often in his personal life.
I figured you were going for something like that. "Mother's milk" in a weird quasi-literal sense.
That...that makes a lot of sense
Very cool. I assumed the Castle of the Two Sisters was built to guard the Tree of Harmony, it's too much of a coincidence otherwise. I assumed they must have had a surrounding capital city, but they had to abandon it in the face of the magic of the Everfree and relocate to Canterlot.
2648223
Yeah. In my headcanon, the Tree sprung up where the Fires of Friendship were lighted. So the capital was placed there for the entirely mundane reason that it's where they signed the accord that founded Equestria, but it was also there to protect the Fires (which ended up being used as a weapon and are not around anymore, but they were only a manifestation of Harmony the same as the Tree is). The castle wasn't there to protect the Tree per se, but it's not at all coincidental that they're near each other, either.
2648232 I figured the tree was why the fires of friendship ignited, since the ponies were finally in range of its terrifying harmonious mind control powers (Overlay a map of the rang of the tree's powers and the political borders of modern Equestria and they will line up closely), but then again, that's one of my "out-there" theories.
2648256
After I get done with Elements of Opposition, I have a lengthy series of blog posts planned outlining the history of the world immediately before the founding of Equestria, because in my universe, the ponies were not the only ones affected by the windigos. Also because I want to work in a lot of other mythological references. :-) There was a previous Tree of Harmony in my stuff, but it was corrupted, hence the need for a new one. The prior one was very far north.
2648271 That would explain a lot about where this giant crystal city came from. If you're diving into ancient pre-Equestrian history, you might want to check out Anubis, King of Ancient Anugypt and one-time raiser of the Sun and Moon: derpicdn.net/img/2014/10/13/741933/full.jpg
All I can say to this is...I like it!
Well he did eat popcorn in later season too. But yeah, he also like normal food like cucumber sandwiches. Also, probably Fluttershy cooked him something normal on their tea parties and picnics
2648223
Funnily enough, while Alara's world is different, in the series' peripheral canon, that is the case. Journal of the Two Sisters by Amy Keating Rogers reveals that the existence of the Tree of Harmony was already known to ponies (or at least to the alicorns and Star Swirl), prior to Equestria's founding, and Celestia and Luna specifically chose the Everfree Forest (yeah, the Evefree Forest was also already there before Equestria's founding) as the site to build their castle because they knew that the Tree was there and felt like it'd be a good idea to be close to it.
2648624 Yeah, I haven't read the Journal, but whatever bits of it I pick up here, I incorporate into my headcanon. Though I think Ponies wanting to be close to the Tree is rather like Hypnotoad winning 1st place in the pet show at Futurama, you know something was... off about that decision.
2649067
If you haven't actually read JOTTS but want to use its ideas, then maybe this might be of use to you. It's a list of everything we learned from the book. I made it while writing up a review of of JOTTS a while back.
2649133 Thanks, that is awesome.
2649546
No problem.