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DannyJ
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Supplementary material: File 7GBQ-RR3S2654B: DISCORD | The World on Fire (spoiler-free) | House Songbird and Offshoots (spoiler-free) | Map of Dragonfall

Based on Part of a Pantheon, this short piece expands on Discord in the context of a wider, living universe, and gives an idea of the scope of his history. We've seen him interact with gods. Here is how the mortals of the universe deal with his existence.

File 7GBQ-RR3S2654B: DISCORD
Aliases:
"Chaos," "Tau," "Eris," "Loki," "Discordia," "Entropy," "D," "Professor Chaos Theory," "Freedom Reigns," "Three-Seven-Six," "Captain Cool," "Admiral Anarchy," "Mister Baron von Shiggy Diggy," "The Very Concept of Madness, esq.," "King Fish Sticks of the Planet Zom," "Uncle Sheo."

See attachment A for full list.

Titles (formal):
"High King of Hestia," "King of Morcom III," "King of the Heartland," "Queen of Letrishima," "Forsworn King of Gratimarrow," "Duke of Plastricrow," "Lord of Cold Rock," "President of Hasting," "Archmage of Sandilot," "Archmage of Descress," "Supreme Judge of the Kangaroo Court of Cossmeyer," "Mayor of Soulbrome," "Knight of the Order of Casings Crow," "Honorary Paladin of Kessyth," "1st Lieutenant of the Glorious Revolutionary Army of Borrowlock."

See attachment B for full list.

Titles (informal):
"White Guardian of Time," "Serpent of Time," "Spirit of Chaos," "Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony," "Spirit of Change," "Lord of Chaos," "Lord of Ruin," "Lord of Games," "Master of Chaos," "God of Chaos," "God of Lies," "God of Tricksters," "God of Madness," "Prince of Madness," "Prince of Thieves," "Herald of Change," "Bringer of Darkness," "Bringer of Seasons," "the Great Disruptor," "the Great Liberator," "the Exalted One," "the Laughing One," "the Discordant One," "the Inelegant God," "the Child God," "the Mad God," "the Trickster God," "the Trickster," "the Devil," "the Chaos King," "the Cosmic Serpent," "the Dissimilar Dragon," "the Star-Touched Chimera," "the Celestial Toymaker," "He of Many Faces," "He Who Brings the Midnight Sun," "the Right Hand of the Coming Doom."

See attachment C for full list.

Age:
Unknown. Speculated at thirteen billion, based on statements.

Gender:
Male, but has been known to temporarily take female form.

Species:
"Draconequus."

Physical description:
Subject's preferred appearance is in the body of a species named by himself as a "draconequus," thought to be native to a yet undiscovered world. Subject's body is long and serpentine, with a red, scaly tail and furred upper body, brown in the midsection and light grey around the head. Face is long and equine in nature, with yellow eyes and red pupils, a single protruding carnivore tooth, and white facial hair and eyebrows. Subject has one horn and one antler. Subject is bipedal. One leg is reptilian, while the other ends with a cloven hoof. Subject's left arm ends with a talon, while subject's right arm ends with a paw. Subject's wings are also mismatched, one blue and feathery, and one dark and leathery.

Classification:
OMEGA-level threat.

Capabilities:
Subject is capable of extremely powerful chaos magic, able to wield it with efficiency and skill unseen in any other known being, even in quantities previously thought impossible to survive. Subject has demonstrated an ability to move multiple stars in tandem with some effort, and has proven capable of unassisted time travel and teleportation across light-years of distance without issue.

Biologically, subject is mortal and can theoretically be harmed, but previous attempts have shown subject to be extremely cautious and capable of using chaos magic defensively to negate many of his body's vulnerabilities. As a being of chaos, subject has previously proven vulnerable to some forms of dark and harmonic magic in sufficient quantity, but has only rarely been debilitated by them for a significant length of time.

Subject has demonstrated an ability to transfigure himself into data for the purposes of directly entering cyberspace to disrupt computer systems. In this state, the subject is vulnerable to programs and algorithms able to deconstruct his "code," including sufficiently advanced antivirus and antimalware programs, and in theory can be killed with the right software.

Locations active in:
Subject has no limited sphere of influence, and has been spotted on over a thousand worlds spanning the breadth of known space. A full list of sightings and encounters can be found in the enclosed document (attachment D).

Psychological profile and modus operandi:
Subject is defined by an ingrown, seemingly uncontrollable need to cause chaos and disrupt order wherever he sees it, at least in cases where he perceives a lack of already existing chaos. He has been seen to empathise with those of a revolutionary spirit and is fond of uprising, rebellion, social change, and change in general.

In a sufficiently chaotic system, such as the functional anarchy of the planet Cossmeyer, he is seen to merely observe and enjoy chaos, with occasional contributions. In more orderly systems, such as the former Kingdom of Mogrothar on the planet Chalmoss, he is compelled to tear down the system, whether with the help of the local inhabitants of the planet or without them.

In such cases, his actions afterwards depend heavily on the particular culture of the planet's population. In cultures naturally gravitating towards order, subject has been known to stay on the planet for a sufficient length of time, ensuring that it remains chaotic. In planets with cultures more prone to chaos, especially those with an affinity for chaos magic themselves, subject instead often leaves them to their own devices, sometimes even leaving their societies intact.

For planets with more chaotic cultures, the subject also often encourages or assists revolutions and counter-revolutions of a wide range of ideologies. In such cases, the post-revolutionary societies often treat or remember Discord as a more heroic or benevolent force, as opposed to the more orderly worlds where Discord's chaos was more indiscriminate, which often cast him as a devil figure or tyrant instead.

Of note is that while the subject appears to be an ideological anarchist, he has been to show to be somewhat more tolerant of democracies than other forms of government, sometimes even allowing democratic societies to continue existing after his stay on a planet, despite possessing the power to end them. It is possible, though unconfirmed, that the subject may perceive democracy as an inherently more chaotic system of government than others, and this may be the reason why he has never made a serious concerted effort to overthrow the Galactic Alliance.

Subject's chaotic nature goes hand-in-hand with a strong sense of humour, which encompasses a lot of visual humour, aided by his chaos magic. Subject may fancy himself a comedian, and often gets along best with those with a similar sense of humour, who "get the joke" and laugh with him, and conversely, more serious individuals often become the subject of mockery for him. However, the subject has also shown hostility, and even anger, towards insincere laughter made to placate him.

A lot of the subject's actions and moral ideology seem deeply rooted in his own personal sense of fun. Causing chaos is fun, therefore he causes chaos. Consequently, he is opposed to anything that may cause less chaos and therefore less fun. Subject was once quoted as explaining his disinterest in killing by saying that a dead person is "static and orderly," as opposed an alive one, who is unpredictable, and thus chaotic.

"Not being fun" has also often been the subject's stated reason for an observed borderline hatred for overtly orderly concepts such as organisation, repetition, binary choice, patterns, conformity, symmetry, and linearity. Although this is not universal, and there is some level of basic logic that the subject must follow to function in day-to-day life, some recorded conversations with the subject have suggested that he considers order as a force in the universe to be an enemy of his, and order as a concept and practice to be literally offensive, or at least disgusting, though, he has never been observed to actually get angry at the presence of too much order, instead viewing it more as a challenge or opportunity.

Subject's extreme power and age have also granted him a level of arrogance, as he rarely considers anything short of a fellow OMEGA-class entity to be of any kind of threat to him. This is a strong personality flaw that has often been exploited by Alliance agents, as the subject's inability to conceive of losing often blinds him to possibilities that he may have overlooked. Most of the Alliance's more successful attempts to harm him have all been attributed not just to ingenuity, but also to playing the subject's own ego against him.

However, said arrogance is not entirely unwarranted, as the subject's power and experience are, indeed, very great. Subject has demonstrated knowledge and skill in an extremely wide variety of fields, and it remains difficult to tell if he has genius-level IQ, or if his accumulated knowledge and skill is normal for a being of average intelligence at his unprecedented age.

On a final note, subject has a proclivity towards overly elaborate schemes and manipulation, and this can range from a personal to a galactic level, with the subject being famous for the many "games" he plays against opponents with stakes of his choosing. Subject often lacks empathy for those chosen as pawns or opponents in these games, and has been known to cheat, but will just as often abide by rules, depending on whether or not he feels he can win without cheating. Be advised that entering a game with the subject is a high-risk situation, and has been known to be mentally damaging.

History:
Discord was first encountered by the Galactic Alliance during the Yolkmire Incident (File 7GBQ-RR3S2654A) in the year 758090, when he appeared onboard the starship Archangel and proceeded to redirect the ship into a then-unknown sector of space. It was there that the Alliance made first contact with the Volorox Engine (File 7GBQ-RR3S2654C), an enormous, magically-animated space station that had gained sapience after being haunted by the soul of a deceased god, and which had designs on annihilating the surrounding star systems.

Discord remained neutral during this incident, letting events play out and merely observing the efforts of the Archangel's crew as they attempted to stop it. The ship's captain would describe Discord as finding great fun in watching the events, spending the entirety of the Yolkmire Incident eating snacks and periodically teleporting around the ship to get the best view of the action. One memorable instance mentioned in the report included Discord sitting on a couch on the exterior of the Archangel to watch a technician repair a damaged thruster, notably showing no need for a spacesuit.

Upon the Volorox Engine's apparent destruction, Discord would return the Archangel to its starting position and depart, telling the crew that they had "proved themselves," and that he would be watching them from then on.

Following the Yolkmire Incident, a large, collaborative research effort began to determine the true nature and identity of Discord, as he was at the time the most powerful being the Alliance had yet encountered. It was during this research that Discord's past came to light, as figures matching his description were discovered in the ancient history, legends, and folklore of a thousand different worlds. It soon became apparent that Discord had been around for a very long time.

Depictions of Discord vary from culture to culture, as do his names and titles.

Many worlds view Discord as a religious figure, depicting him either as a creator god, a destroyer or devil figure, an elemental spirit, or just one of a larger pantheon of gods. He is usually characterised as a force of chaos, disharmony, change, entropy, deception, madness, or in his more benign depictions, games and trickery. In most religions in which he appears, Discord is known by his true name, but he has been referred to by aliases as well, particularly in cultures which believe in the old adage, "speak of the devil, and he doth appear."

Other worlds treat Discord not as a god or godlike being, but instead merely as an influential historical figure. Indeed, as one could tell by his lofty list of titles, Discord has ruled nations on many alien worlds, and has many times been honoured with titles and military ranks for services rendered. Most often, Discord has been observed assisting in revolutionary efforts, often regardless of the ideologies behind said revolutions, seemingly just because he enjoys the chaos of revolution and overthrowing orderly systems of government.

Discord even appeared in some early galactic history, appearing in the ancient logs of a few of the extinct spacefaring civilizations of the Ancient Times. It is believed that famous slogan attributed to the Dragonfire Fleet from this era, "As long as there is discord in the universe, we will fight," was made in reference to Discord the entity, rather than discord the concept.

The results of the research effort had Discord classified as an OMEGA-level threat by the Alliance, due to his well-documented history of tearing down governments seemingly for its own sake. However, Discord would not make himself known to the Alliance again for a further seventeen years after the Yolkmire Incident, although he was suspected or assumed responsible for a number of bizarre occurrences in the intervening time (see attachment E for full list of unconfirmed sightings and incidents).

The Alliance's second official encounter with Discord was during first contact with a remote and primitive planet, Karkarax IV, where Alliance scouts were surprised to find depictions of Discord as a heroic liberator in the temples of one nation's capital city, and learned that he had long ago helped to overthrow a long-lasting empire that Karkaraxian history had taken a dim view of. Alliance scouts tried to inquire more about Discord, and found that Discord was still named as the Lord of Cold Rock, a province in the planet's southern mountainous regions, and that the king still had magical methods of summoning Discord should he ever be needed.

Due to misunderstandings, the king summoned Discord to Karkarax IV to meet the ambassadors, and he proceeded to intiate a planet-wide festival that lasted thirty-eight years of local time. The Alliance scouts were never heard from again, their last transmissions being a message of warning to the Alliance that the planet was not safe, and that any non-terrestrial to set foot upon it was doomed to dance forevermore.

Discord would remain mostly quiet for several centuries afterwards, appearing again sporadically to toy with ships, planets, and space stations to little lasting consequence, as well as occasionally assisting in ending some minor injustice. It was not until the Fifth Galactic War against the Colomoric Empire that Discord properly re-emerged, when he appeared onboard the Alliance starship Heartshine during the Battle of Black Ring, and offered the acting captain the gift of foresight.

Captain Berephil Mexicus reportedly suffered ten thousand years of time loops, reliving the battle again and again without end, contracted to repeat it until he was able to defeat the enemy. The Alliance's statistically impossible victory at Black Ring that day was attributed to the captain's foreknowledge of events from having lived through so many loops, to the point that he knew every possible event of that day in intimate detail. Upon the end of the loops at the conclusion of the battle, the crew of the Heartshine had to restrain the captain to prevent a suicide attempt, and he was placed in a psychiatric ward for four years upon his return home.

Discord was also seen during the Battle of Fellowmore's Deep, where he was seen to save an Alliance fleet from an approaching Colomoric armada by maneuvering a sun between the two and providing warning to several key Alliance ships.

Although the Galactic Alliance reclassified Discord as an ally after the war, he would return to threat status during the Alliance's attempts to colonise the outer worlds in 758362, during which he purportedly caused the entirety of the planet Homoros to vanish. It was later discovered that this was not Discord's doing, but merely an effect of an uncontrolled time ripple that he had coincidentally been hiding in at the time from a being called the Orphaned Starchild (File 7JSG7-XR-CVB3). Nevertheless, the Alliance was quick to blame Discord for the planet's disappearance, and initiated Project Cosmic Order to neutralise him.

The Discord War (758362–758433) was the name given to the period in which Project Cosmic Order was active, and this time would see the greatest amount visible of activity from Discord we have ever observed. Although he never engaged units in direct combat, Discord's tactics when responding to assassins was usually to use a form of brainwashing upon them that would send them back home to cause chaos in Discord's place. Technology was invented to circumvent the effects of Discord's magic, but doing so only caused Discord to become more personally involved.

The Discord War concluded with the headquarters of Project Cosmic Order being phased into an alternate dimension, and Discord sending a very strongly worded letter to the Galactic Senate asking them not to reestablish it. When they refused, the senate building was flooded with milk for three months. The senate did not reverse their decision until later learning of the true fate of Homoros, despite the smell in the senate building as the milk expired. A conversation between Chancellor Velmorah and Discord led to an unofficial truce and an official decommissioning of Project Cosmic Order, after which the headquarters returned to normal space, along with all staff inside, albeit now severely aged and decrepit.

Minor incidents involving Discord, usually working in Alliance interests (though not always), have persisted in the decades since.

Internally, Discord has remained classified as a threat since the war, and various agencies and companies have continued to privately develop methods for neutralising Discord in the event that it should ever truly become necessary, although for the moment, protocol still dictates that he is not to be treated as hostile until he proves otherwise in any future incidents.

Protocol:
In the event of contact with Discord, all efforts should be made cooperate with him. Commanding officers during an incident are advised to not become too outwardly emotional from his presence or actions, and to remain polite at all times, while also making efforts to not appear overly formal, as formality is likely to cause Discord to attempt to antagonise them. However, neither is Discord placated by niceties, false attempts at friendliness, or deliberate attempts to impress him. The order is firm, but casual.

Should Discord board a ship in deep space or an isolated base, the commanding officer is NOT to initially treat Discord as a hostile element. Discord is too dangerous to fight without significant preparation, and will respond to lethal force in unpredictable ways. Though he has never been known to kill Alliance officers in self-defence, the fate of Project Cosmic Order and Captain Berephil Mexicus should be sufficient evidence that Discord is capable of causing massive harm without applying lethal force.

Lower-ranking officers are advised to keep their heads down during an incident, and to do their best to not draw attention or distinguish themselves, as Discord will often default to dealing with important leader figures such as the captain or lieutenants of a starship, or a base commander. Individuals who distinguish themselves during an incident in any way may be the subject of Discord's attention, which can be occasionally beneficial, but is more often disastrous. For safety's sake, personnel are advised not to take the risk.

Discord incidents are often marked by the extension of an offer for some kind of bargain, wager, game, or even simply a unique experience. Anybody asked for their consent for such a scenario are advised to decline if the circumstances are made clear to be frivolous, as these deals can have disastrous consequences that can cause an incident to spiral out of control, and Discord will not usually initiate a deal if the other party doesn't agree.

In more high-stakes scenarios, where the outcome will affect a significant number of people, Alliance or otherwise, circumstances determine the preferred response. If Discord presents an opportunity to neutralise a threat to the Alliance, officers are advised to agree, as Discord has rarely displayed any hidden motives when dealing with large-scale threats. If presented with an opportunity to potentially benefit the Alliance in some more indirect way, officers are advised to use their judgement and discretion as to whether it is necessary or worth whatever risk it is balanced against, as Discord has been known to tempt individuals with promises of wealth, power, and glory this way, while actually setting them up for failure. Regardless, an opportunity to save innocent lives is generally expected to be taken.

In any scenario, officers are allowed to accept or decline Discord's offers at their discretion, particularly if they are a lower-ranking individual approached by Discord personally, and not in any position of command. However, personnel will be held responsible for whatever consequences may follow their decision, within reason.

While Discord should prove difficult to push to the point of violence without attacking him first, in the event that he does turn hostile, commanding officers are advised to attempt to calm him and end the incident on good terms at any cost, as failure to do so could potentially reignite the Discord War. If he is unable to be placated and seems beyond reason during such an incident, commanding officers are to call for reinforcements immediately using the appropriate code command, whereupon a class-seven Godslayer starship should arrive to assist, along with a specialist team to engage Discord directly.

Be warned that, although it is unprecedented, should Discord ever display a willingness to kill, the Godslayer support ship's standing orders are to annihilate the spacecraft or planet he is on with Worldbreaker-class dark magic cannons, so as to destroy the now-murderous Discord before he can be unleashed upon our galaxy. So remember: THIS IS THE FINAL OPTION. AVOID REACHING THIS SCENARIO AT ALL COSTS.

As well, it should go without saying that Discord should not, under any circumstances, find out about the Alliance's internal protocols or the existence of this file. Were he to access it and know that the Alliance is still developing contingency weapons that could kill him, he may feel threatened, and this may also potentially reignite the Discord War.

Final notes:
All Galactic Alliance officers are advised to never stop being hilarious.

Man, you really like Discord. But that's ok, because I do too. This stuff is like candy to me.

Also the secret message is "I am Chaos. I am eternal." which I think is lame, because it should've been a joke.

DannyJ
Group Admin

3818771

Leftover from a darker earlier draft. Sorry.

3818711
Heh. The secret message and the final note remind me of the much less subtle hack I once had Q Jr do on a similar document outlining protocols for dealing with the Q, which, being a teenage boy, he filled with sexual innuendo and dumb jokes.

Your Discord is very, very, very much like my Q, though he seems to be a somewhat more independent operator (Q's Continuum can keep him in line; Discord seems to be mostly at odds with, but equals with, the other entities of the multiverse.)

DannyJ
Group Admin

3857304

I certainly did take a lot of cues (heh) from Q when writing about Discord's space adventures here. The direct parallels to TNG should be obvious. I couldn't comment on any similiarity to your Q specifically, though. I have read the Next of Kin to Chaos series, but I haven't ever really read any other Star Trek fanfic, so I kind of don't mentally separate your version from the canon one, and I don't know how your version differs from Q in other fics.

Though, that said, I really would like a link to this Q Jr. fic. I'd like to see how you handled the concept.

Discord here does indeed remain independent from the rest of the gods, and he's also spent most of eternity feuding with a lot of them. But that's actually kind of the norm in the Borderworld. In this universe, there really is no order in the existing pantheon like the Continuum has. It's more like Lovecraft. Every god has rivals, enemies and allies, and they all while away eternity by plotting against one another, their games and battles deciding the fate of planets and star systems. Allusion was made in Part of a Pantheon to Discord losing one such game against Orsim, and Discord and Orsim are actually on relatively friendly terms compared to how most gods get on, because Orsim at least bears no ill will towards Discord, even if the reverse isn't true.

Equal, however, he is not. He's one of the oldest of the gods, being one of the primordial forces, but that doesn't exactly translate to power or respect in the Borderworld's pantheon. He can hold his own against most of the other gods, even those who are technically more powerful than him, like Orsim. But there are a rare few that send even him running, like the Orphaned Starchild, and they actually could keep him in line. If, y'know, Discord felt like listening to them. Or indeed if they ever actually felt like trying to impose their will on Discord instead of attempting to eat his soul.

3857424
It will surprise no one that this was never finished, though I still mean to get to it someday. The link is Boys' Night Out, but here's the relevant quote:

"Computer, find Starfleet regulations pertaining to the Q Continuum and display."
"Acknowledged. One regulation found."
"It says," Icheb read, "the Q are a powerful and potentially dangerous race whose internal politics and law are not fully understood by Starfleet. It is strongly recommended that no deliberate contact with the Q be initiated. In cases where a Q initiates contact, Starfleet officers are not to accept gifts or offers of assistance from the Q except in the most dire of circumstances."
"I can read, you know. A lot faster than you."
"Okay, so you know I'm not actually supposed to go someplace with you. Even if it would be more fun than this."
"You're not a Starfleet officer yet; it's not like they can court-martial you or something."
"They could kick me out of the Academy."
"Yeah, because I'd sure want to stay someplace where my best buddies tried to beat me to death. Gee, that sounds like so much fun."
"It's not like that," Icheb protested. "They were scared. The Borg nanovirus was infecting everyone on Earth and they thought I'd started it."
"Yes! The guy who was genetically engineered to destroy Borg thought he'd infect the planet Earth. For kicks! Oh, I'm getting more and more impressed with humanity's general intelligence every time you open your mouth, Itchy. Come on. Blow this popsicle stand and go someplace with me."
"I'd actually really like to. But I can't just disobey regulations whenever I want and still stay in Starfleet-- and I do want to stay in Starfleet. It was Starfleet that saved my life, it was Starfleet that solved the Borg thing, and I want to make a difference with my life. So I've got to obey the regulations."
"What regulation?"
"I just read you the regulation."
"Read it again." Q smirked. "I don't think it says what you think it says."
Icheb turned back and read it, this time not out loud.
The Q are a powerful and potentially dangerous, as well as really hot-looking, race whose internal politics and law are not fully understood by Starfleet, because we suck. It is strongly recommended that no deliberate contact with the Q be initiated, because the mind-blowing sex can ruin one for mere mortals for the rest of time. In cases where a Q initiates contact, Starfleet officers are to be strict in the use of birth control, or you will be changing diapers for about 500 years. Pinheads such as stuffy old admirals are not to accept gifts or offers of assistance from the Q except in the most dire of circumstances; however, Starfleet officers should freely accept such gifts if they are good-looking, or bald, because certain Q with really weird tastes have a fetish for bald guys.

So, yeah. A lot of teenage dude-level jokes, not nearly as sinister sounding as Discord's stunt, but the general concept of making fun of the regulations about them is there.

DannyJ
Group Admin

3857449

This is enchanting.

3857424

I certainly did take a lot of cues (heh) from Q when writing about Discord's space adventures here. The direct parallels to TNG should be obvious. I couldn't comment on any similiarity to your Q specifically, though. I have read the Next of Kin to Chaos series, but I haven't ever really read any other Star Trek fanfic, so I kind of don't mentally separate your version from the canon one, and I don't know how your version differs from Q in other fics.

It's not so much that my version of Q is significantly different than canon as that I've filled in a lot of backstory, in ways I felt were consistent with canon, and one of the things I've had him doing for years, long before there was a new MLP, is going to planets he considered stultifyingly orderly and inspiring or assisting with revolutions, or being an engine of change by being an enemy the society needs to improve itself in order to be able to fight. He can't get away with the stuff you have Discord doing because he is answerable to his Continuum, but a lot of his missions are authorized. A lot of fan writers have him doing random crap on alien planets because he just feels like it, but I've always felt that most of Q's antics have a higher purpose, even if that higher purpose does boil down to "it's fun to stir shit up". In my fanfic, he was created by the Continuum to question authority, because at that time they recognized that they needed someone to serve that function, but by the time we meet him he has been living under the equivalent of a totalitarian majoritarian democracy in which he is only one vote for three billion years, and gets absolutely no respect from his peers, so his ability to question the authority he was made to question is very limited. So he goes and does it with mortals instead.

I was curious, though. If this is your Discord's backstory, what's your take on the whole Tirek thing? I haven't even decided if I'm going to extend Next of Kin to Chaos into the fourth season, but if I do, my take on Tirek for that universe was that it was part of an elaborate plan to reform Tirek and make the girls immortal, and it failed miserably on the first count and came very close to failing on the second, because Q isn't the perfect puppetmaster he thinks he is. As other fans have speculated, it was a scam intended to get the girls the Rainbow Power, but Tirek getting Q's power was never part of the plan and being blindsided by Tirek's betrayal, not because he doesn't know Tirek is the kind to do such a thing but because he didn't imagine his power being vulnerable to Tirek, was absolutely something that genuinely happened, not a put-on, so his emotional epiphany is entirely real, as is his recognition of what these mortal friends mean to him. Because a being like Q can't possibly be sincere about siding with Tirek; Tirek has nothing to offer him.

In your case, Tirek has a little more to offer because the Elements are seriously OP (not that I'm complaining, obviously the Tree is one of those gods that can kick Discord's ass under the right circumstances) and Discord doesn't have any off-world superiors he has to answer to, but on the other hand, if Discord can travel to other planets why is it so important to him to have his freedom on Equestria? So I wonder how do you interpret his behavior in the last episode within your canon?

DannyJ
Group Admin

3857486

It's all very complicated, but the basic idea is that the being who we call Discord is an ancient soul born of primordial chaos that has reincarnated throughout time. He originally gained consciousness for the first time somewhere out in deep space, but as soon as life started showing up, he began taking corporeal form. Every time a body died, he'd move on to the next, along with his old memories and personality. ("My body is weak, but my soul is eternal.") But they'd take a while to surface after each reincarnation, and who he was in the meantime dictated much of who that reincarnating soul identified as.

So he is primordial chaos. But he is also a thousand-something draconequus born in Equestria whose biological parents named him Discord, and that's a large part of who he is. Even the godlike entity from Just Dodge! that he called his mother was not some creature from the beginning of time, but Hixelkicks, Godmother of Chimeras, who made the draconequui and who is also a native of the Borderworld.

Now, Equestria was already special in the first place. It's referred to as the Borderworld because it's chock full of rifts and portals and gateways, and Equestria is basically a hub between a number of pocket dimensions and alternate worlds, making it a unique place in the universe. The Tree of Harmony made its roots there because it could use them to spread its influence across all of time and space without having to actually uproot and move, and it was also an advantageous position because the locals were so harmonious and it grew powerful there. At some point in the distant past, another incarnation of Discord went there to cause havoc and impede the Tree's power. Obviously, he failed and something killed him. But Discord was reborn on Equestria, and it became a home to him.

That's why having free reign in Equestria is still important to him when the whole universe is his playground; it's got both sentimental and strategic value to him. And it doesn't help that many of the other homeworlds he's been born to through the eons are gone now, either due to the ravages of time or because another god was feeling hungry. Remember that planet that Discord played Orsim for and lost? Yeah...

I find it kind of funny the Galactic Alliance, a alliance between several extremely advenced cultures, couldn't defeat Discord in a seventy-one year war while six magical talking ponies beat him in a day. (Granted, they had the Elements of Harmony)

Captain Berephil Mexicus reportedly suffered ten thousand years of time loops, reliving the battle again and again without end, contracted to repeat it until he was able to defeat the enemy. The Alliance's statistically impossible victory at Black Ring that day was attributed to the captain's foreknowledge of events from having lived through so many loops, to the point that he knew every possible event of that day in intimate detail.

I want to read this story.

DannyJ
Group Admin

4297430

I'd recommend looking up the FMV game Star Trek: Borg, which this passage was a reference to.

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