My Thoughts on Keep Calm and Flutter on · 6:09pm Jan 18th, 2022
This is the episode about which I decided to write my most popular story. Discord to me is how I see my past self. I hate that person of who I was. It's why I actually empathize with him in this episode because it seems that he and Fluttershy do become friends. But it's obviously a trick to manipulate Fluttershy to think he is reformed so she won't use the element of kindness against him. He is a nihilist, basically, someone who thinks nothing we do has any meaning, so basically, he can do whatever he wants and not feel bad about the consequences. That's how I used to think, and the pain of being a nihilist is you drive a wedge between yourself and other people, and you're mostly alone. You don't form relationships out of love you form them out of a toxic need of approval or some other reason. The realization that if you don't change and you'll be alone forever is something that hit me hard, and seeing Discord's sudden change in behavior upon this realization was something that I felt before. But at the same time, I always wondered why Princess Celestia thought he could change. Why even give him a chance? Maybe it's just my headcanon, but I think they were friends or even lovers before seeing they're both immortal beings. So that's what gave me the idea for the story and what made me think maybe Celestia needs to also be in his shoes to understand him better—having all that power of chaos and having the self-control to use it responsibly. This is something that I thought would be a tough challenge for Princess Celestia, and I think despite my writing skill not being that amazing, I think that The Princess of Chaos turned out well, and it was a lot of fun to write, and it helped give me the confidence I needed to continue writing.
Back to the episode, Fluttershy really did outshine here as she was between giving up and using her element to turn Discord back to stone vs. trusting herself to change him. She instead kept her word she wouldn't use her element on him and also, at the same time, won't be his friend if he didn't fix his reckless behavior. I don't think Fluttershy really thought it through when she put Discord in a corner. Basiclly, Discord played himself, but Fluttershy forced him to change because if he didn't, he would have to live the rest of eternity alone. This is an intense and emotional episode for me, and I enjoy watching it; and I'm glad it inspired me to write The princess of Chaos.
The unfortunate thing is that while you've moved on some time ago, Discord... kinda didn't, much. As of that episode he's no longer malevolent as such, but,,,
Well, DWK (in his hot take on Dungeons and Discords, essentially) puts it better than I can.
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You don't change immediatly it takes time. You have to constantly be good every single day and that's somthing Discord doesn't do. Even small acts of kindess even if its just picking trash up on the street. That is what honestly keeps me from going back to being a toxic nihilist. Discord from this episode onward mostly does things for himself. Which doesn't help change your behavior.
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Like the guy says, Discord is an insecure man-child who thinks he's the smartest guy in the room; You might say "But, he's admitted to being a dick, a couple of times." Yeah, that's great, but there's a difference between admitting you're being a dick and actually not being one anymore.
(Also, he mentions that Discord was good in Keep Calm and Flutter On, at one point.)
Discord is something else