My thoughts on "What About Discord?" [Obviously Spoilers]

While I found the lesson a good one, this episode angered me more than it touched me. I guess the best way to describe what I’m feeling is in a thought for thought analysis.

So we start off with Twilight doing something we’ve seen her do before: Re-shelving all the books. And we learn something most of us already sort of knew: Twilight actually enjoys this process. I enjoy moments like this, where we see one of the characters do something adverse to popular methods of thinking, but is really just part of their core. Twilight enjoys being organized, and finds the process of organization relaxing, in much the same way I find running to be relaxing, while others find it exhausting.

What a great way to spend a weekend, letting the stress built up over the week seep out while you partake in an activity you find relaxing, sort of like a mini vacation. A book sorting vacation, or as Twilight the wordsmith put it, A book sortation. *rim-shot*

Then we see Rainbow Dash and Discord hanging out together, having a great time and sharing some memories and inside jokes that Twilight wasn’t a part of. I thought, okay, cool. They’re friends now, and this is going to be a little slice of life about Twilight dealing with her friends growing close to someone she has an aversion to. I’ve run into this myself where the friends of my friends aren’t always also my friends. What a great friendship lesson!

Nope! Here’s where things go south. Discord takes this moment to intentionally rub it in that Twilight missed out. She handles it well, and the encounter looks innocent, but I’ve seen that done before, and it was way too obvious. Also the end of the episode confirmed this behavior. This makes me mad. Discord is intentionally antagonizing Twilight because it amuses him and yes, that’s his nature, but that doesn’t justify it.

Since his reformation, we’ve seen Discord only play mild and harmless pranks on people which are for his own amusement perhaps, but everypony else laughs right along if they aren’t a part of it. And that’s because they don’t hurt anyone’s feelings and aren’t meant to get anyone worked up—They’re just a mild nuisance for a short time.

Furthermore, he’s been sort of a mentor to Twilight. He helped her see what she was doing wrong during the Season 4 premiere, and he gently and earnestly steered her in the right direction, in his own way. And all of it was with the best of intentions, and never really hurt anyone. He was always a third party observer to her problems, simply offering an objective opinion and rare wisdom. Here he’s just being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk—a bully, and something that I will never, EVER tolerate.

But I digress. Moving on with the episode, we find that Discord is *conveniently* everywhere Twilight goes, and while this may seem like a coincidence, it breaks my rule.
Once (Rainbow Dash) is a fluke.
Twice (Rarity and Fluttershy) is a coincidence.
Three times (Applejack and Pinkie Pie) is a problem that needs to be dealt with.

While this is not a perfect rule, it is not often wrong, and throws up a big red flag when I see it. Here we see Discord laughing with Twilight’s friends (harmless fun being had) and then making a note of how Twilight would have had to be there (also harmless fun… once or twice). All three of these incidents would be fine on their own, but adding them up creates too big of a coincidence, especially how thick Discord lays it on.

He is intentionally antagonizing her, and while Twilight is trying so hard to be a good sport. He doesn’t let up either. He makes a point to be overly meticulous in recreating the scene Twilight missed, in a way that makes it frustrating for everyone else, then mentions over and over about how poor Twilight simply wasn't there. This is the type of subtle manipulation that makes my BS-o-meter fly off the scale and causes my blood to boil. He creates a situation that makes Twilight look insensitive and unreasonable, and then he pressures Twilight into becoming exactly that.

It was Discord’s plan the whole time, and I could see right through it, and I almost punched my computer because of it. I understand that Discord isn’t the most like-able character, but surely I should enjoy this show? The only reason I didn’t turn it off is because I knew there’d be spoilers of something all over Tumblr (Like that eye gouging Bob Ross joke and the horrifying image of Orange Fluttershy I'll never be able to unsee) and I don’t like not being a part of the joke, even though there are times—like this—when ignorance is bliss.

Maybe that was the point of the episode? A subtle brainwashing to convince us it’s not worth the stress to not watch the show and not be in on the jokes? I doubt it, and I would be even more mad if that were the case.

Anyway, after most of the episode has gone by and Twilight has descended into such a lucrative state of jealousy that she’s concocted a conspiracy theory that Discord cast a spell on everyone (which actually isn’t far from the truth. He just didn’t need magic to do it), we find out that Discord intentionally excluded Twilight for the sole purpose of bringing this all about.

I actually punched a wall at this point because I was so mad. There’s Discord playing jokes, and then there’s THIS manipulative heartless bastard! What the actual FUCK?! You just don’t do that. I'm actually beginning to sympathize with Twilight, a character I've disliked since the very beginning of the show.
Then finally, FINALLY the girls noticed something was off, and expressed their disappointment with him, and he actually played it off as just a joke. Seriously, dude? Not cool.

Then the episode ends with Twilight joining in the humor of the whole thing, and showing real maturity, meanwhile there’s a hollow sort of justice in the irony that Discord doesn’t understand the “joke” when it’s turned on him. Instead of a great lesson about allowing your friends to be friends with people you might not like, all this episode taught me was that Discord is an immature asshole who understands next to nothing about actually being a friend, and that Twilight is very socially adept for an introvert.

All in all, this is by far my least favorite episode in the entire series, and I can’t understand what Megan McCarthy was thinking when she approved this.