5378170 He is, in fact, a possible candidate. Though the fact that he's essentially the assistant of the new Avatar of Order might create some problems.
Killing the previous chaos avatar is one of the more reliable ways to end up with the job, second only to being the child of the previous chaos avatar. If the chaos avatar didn't have a child and wasn't killed by anyone (or wasn't killed by anyone who could possibly be a candidate), then it's pretty much open casting call, but the fact that Opposition Spike killed Opposition Discord, and is a dragon who knows a lot about magic and can perform some, makes him a fairly likely candidate, but his proximity to the Diadem of Order may interfere.
Twilight face-hooved. "That is so thoroughly implausible I'm going to need to do a spell check."
This is much more sinister a proposal than the "spell check" you ran on this story!
"Indirectly," Twilight said. "He turned her to Nightmare Moon again and forced Princess Celestia to have to kill her.
This would explain why Celestia's either gone mad, or become so apathetic that her condition is indistinguishable from madness.
The relationship between Fluttercruel and Discord actually makes me cry -- especially because Fluttershy became that way because the Discord from her universe broke her over time.
One terrifying thing about your Opposition Pinkie is that she's still very funny -- though rather like the Joker, or at best Harley Quinn, now. Harley, of course, is actually funnier than the Joker, mostly because she's not quite as malign.
"Yes, but they'll wake up if I tell them to," Fluttershy said. "None of my animal friends want me to be cross with them."
*shudder*
Twilight wanted to facehoof. "Fluttershy, he doesn't love you."
"No, I know that, but... what if he loves the other Fluttershy? What if he said it because you would think it was a lie, but it wasn't? After all, we know that his seizures come from contradictory orders that he can't fulfill, but if he tries to lie, well, he can't say something that's completely untrue. So the seizure might have come from failing to fulfill his orders."
Fluttercruel figured it out. Completely. Even though it has obvious potential to make her sad.
I'm impressed. Then again, I always thought Fluttershy in any mode was pretty awesome.
The only reason Twilight was still pretending to be friends with any of these mares was to preserve the Elements, because they were all horrible ponies now.
That's very, very sad. What's worse, I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't still each others' best friends -- they just hate the world even more than each other now
The clear rupture between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and how and why it probably happened, is truly painful.
"Hurt you? I'm trying to help you, sweetie. Because I love you. She hates you because she's nothing but kind, and cruelty hurts her. But you made me into somepony who likes being cruel. Just like you. I'm like you now. How could you think that anypony who wasn't like you could possibly care about you? I'm the only one who will ever love you." She straddled his neck, grabbed his collar, and pulled him up slightly, using all the slack that was left in the chain and choking him. "You broke me, you made me into something that's just like you, and even though I hate you for it, I can't stop loving you. She's pretending because she's a hero, and heroes don't love villains. Heroes don't make friends with then. But you made me into as big a bad guy as you were." Tears spilled from her eyes as she released him. "Both you and I are evil, Discord. That's why I'm the only one who could possibly care about you. And that's why I have to tell you what I know... because I used to be her. And I know I would have hated you, before. I would never have wanted to be your friend."
That is so horrible -- and for both Fluttercruel and Discord.
Fuck... just... fuck. I'm at a loss for words. I'm so ANGRY right now. You really have something amazing here. I Didn't care when Simba's dad died, and I didn't blink when Bambi's mom died. But this, this story has brought me to points of rage and sadness i cannot understand. I have never hated someone as much as i do this bitch. I hate her so much, in fact, i hate this story! But I LOVE it. It's so good, but it hurts me so much ( I sound like rapeishy now...) This is literally the best story i have EVER read. I have never felt so much pain for a fictional character in my life. Nor have i ever felt this much hatred. *Sigh* Okay rant over.
On another note, this is grand as always. This has taken a turn I didn't expect. I'm really worried about Discord's reaction to Fluttershy now... At first,Ii thought the main problems would be Discord believing that Fluttershy was HIS Fluttershy, and him following the plan of fixing the elements. But now... Even if he knows it's his Fluttershy, I don't think he'll really care. He may just wait till they free him, and then kill all the element bearers, the good and the bad. I hope it doesn't go that way. It'd be a sick loop: one Discord ruin the elements of harmony, then those elements involuntarily turn another Discord into a vengeful insane villain, and that Discord breaks his elements... God, my FUCKING BABY!
Also, you now have two stories where Discord is thinking about suicide... yay?
Oh god I've been waiting for this and this was so WORTH the wait! So worried this will end in bloodbaths and horror- which lets be honest, there's a 98% chance that it will.
Fluttershy glared at Rainbow Dash. "I'm so sorry you had to whore yourself out to the entire team of Wonderbolts so they'd let you join them. I know that must have been rough on you. All I had to do was whore myself out to the spirit of Chaos to save Equestria, but I'm sure you're a much better whore than me."
"I don't talk about all the coltfriends you don't have because they know you're a lying little diamond bitch."
Shots muthafuckin' fired, oh shit, theres blood and hurt feelings everywhere, caps are flyin' around this bitch like a graduation.
Can I just say Evil!Pinkie is hilariously terrifying.
Agh, I normally am not a fan of fic where characters are tortured, but the emotions of the characters are so well written that I'm addicted to this one. Like SpiritofChaos227 I'm worried Discord isn't going to be able to look at the real Fluttershy in the same way again!
Amazing stuff- looking forward to whatever you plan on writing next!
Fluttershy, his true friend. Fluttershy, who was the only pony in the universe he could be certain cared about him.
This is heartbreaking considering the end
Having been through exactly what this pony had been through, minus the very ending, even he could feel empathy, compassion, grief for her sake and what she'd suffered, because he knew exactly how she had felt.
Bad News: This is completely horrible and Discord will never be able to fully recover. Good News: Is that at least he's accidentally becoming a better draconequus, growing more empathy. If he ever escapes, he'll probably be nicer. And broken. Still, I'm trying to look at the bright side so I don't start crying.
Great story. I have never hated a fictional character more. Also, does Fluttercruel really believe what's she saying or is she manipulating him?
There's a potential destructive cycle of revenge here. The Discord from the Oppositionverse more or less created the Mane Six from that world by abusing them, before they killed him (and I see a tragedy even before that, in that manipulating Celestia into killing Luna, and this driving Celestia insane, may have driven the Opposition Discord even more insane than usual, as Luna and Celestia were two of the beings he had loved most in the world).
The Opposition Six are in turn taking revenge on (the wrong) Discord by abusing him (as that Discord never treated their analogues as badly as they are treating him). If Discord then takes revenge on the Opposition Six by severely torturing or killing them, he will probably wind up damaging his nascent love with Harmony Fluttershy and the other five of the Harmony Mane Six, as he would be showing his most monstrous side.
The only possible non-horrible outcome to this I can see would be if Discord is able to regain his freedom but also forgo his revenge.
Consider that in the main universe, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are really good friends, and have been so for most of their lives. That makes those cruel mutual accusations all the more horrible. Their friendship has perhaps been forever broken.
The only possible non-horrible outcome to this I can see would be if Discord is able to regain his freedom but also forgo his revenge.
Or rethink it.
There is a really, really cruel and brutal way to torture the Opposition 6 that would result in a positive outcome for the rest of the world, and which the Mane 6 would support him in doing and are in fact hoping to have his help in doing. But Discord is not known for his subtlety, nor does he have a lot of experience being tormented by a conscience, so he may not think of it.
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the gypsies that restored Angelus' soul to him and turned him back into Angel did it as a curse. Because he would remember the atrocities he commited as Angelus, but with his soul, he'd have a conscience to feel horror from remembering them.
Saving the Opposition 6 would necessarily torture them. Even a mindwipe couldn't save them, because there's too much evidence of who they've hurt and what they've done in the year and a half or so since they were corrupted. If the Mane 6 could convince Discord to consider that his revenge, that would probably be the best outcome possible.
However, what Discord is contemplating doing as revenge isn't compatible with anyone on this planet surviving. Someone's going to have to persuade him to change his mind, or the world will burn -- quite literally.
Also, does Fluttercruel really believe what's she saying or is she manipulating him?
Six of one, half a dozen of the other. She's saying it to manipulate him, but she also believes it, because she doesn't remember being who she was nearly as well as she thinks she does. Her memories of the past are colored by who she is now.
The real Fluttershy's favorite fantasy of revenge against her bullies, when she was a child, was "Someday I'll do something so nice for them that they'll realize how mean they're being to me, and they'll all want to be my friend instead!" This strategy never actually worked until she met Discord, but it doesn't exactly suggest the eternal hatred of bullies that Fluttercruel is claiming.
5382759 The way I write involves Chekhov's Semi-Automatic Machine Gun. I toss out so much stuff in a frenzy of fire and motion that anything might possibly be significant later, or might not be, because I find the idea that the gun on the wall has to be fired to make stories much more predictable. Also, I world-build, something Chekhov didn't need to do. So sometimes the gun is there to say something about the character of the protagonist, and sometimes it's there to set the scene, and sometimes it's there to misdirect you into thinking the lodge owner did it when in fact it was the butler, and sometimes it's there to establish the difference between this world and ours (say, if it was Chekhov's Raygun)... and sometimes it's gonna get fired.
I actually implemented Chekhov's Jar of Taffies in Not the Hero, where in chapter 6, we establish that there is a jar of taffies in Sugarcube Corner, and in chapter 7, Discord teleports them to him and makes a shield out of them to save his own life. So Chekhov's Can of Cotton Candy is certainly something I might do... but on the other hand, would Pinkie, in character, fail to bring cotton candy along to cheer Discord up, given that cotton candy is probably more compactible and therefore transportable via hair-accessed hammerspace than either popped popcorn or chocolate milk?
The Discord from the Oppositionverse more or less created the Mane Six from that world by abusing them, before they killed him (and I see a tragedy even before that, in that manipulating Celestia into killing Luna, and this driving Celestia insane, may have driven the Opposition Discord even more, insane than usual, as Luna and Celestia were two of the beings he had loved most in the world).
Aside from perma-discording them, he didn't actually abuse most of them any more than he did the rest of the world. He probably did something terrible to Pinkie to push her in the direction she went, because the first time he discorded her, she ended up as the Element of Anger... and now she is obviously still the Element of Laughter, just psychotic laughter rather than joyful laughter. And we know Discord prefers Pinkie to be Laughter. And while he never raped Fluttercruel -- their sexual relationship was consensual, and probably she started it -- he did emotionally abuse her, above and beyond turning her cruel (largely by pointing out her own cruelty to her and rubbing her face in the fact that she had turned into a monster.) But he didn't do anything directly to harm the others aside from the effects caused by what he did to their Elements.
But yes -- he never intended Celestia to actually kill Luna. He liked disharmony, so he wanted to see them fight each other, and he thought they were too evenly matched for one to defeat the other, and if it looked like one was going to win he figured he could intervene. He wasn't counting on Celestia to make an alliance with Chrysalis, who then occupied him while Celestia was fighting Nightmare Moon, allowing Celestia to kill Luna. This probably did him a lot of emotional damage and possibly led to some egregiously psycho behavior (and retribution against the Changelings -- Chuckfinley's A Persimmon Spring isn't canon to my universe, but I've taken parts of it and incorporated it into my story). It may also have resulted in him turning to Fluttercruel for companionship and distraction significantly more than was healthy for him, given that she used that against him to distract him and allow him to be turned to stone again, which left him vulnerable to Spike killing him. He knew better than to trust Fluttercruel, but he kind of did it anyway, which suggests to me that Luna's death hit him a lot harder than he let anyone know.
Madame, you continue to impress. I cannot wait to see where this is going, and I hope some relief will come for poor Discord, and that you don't plan on breaking him forever. Elements of Harmony, hurry up, will ya?????
(And oh lord, you've made Anti-Pinkie Pie absolutely terrifying. )
5382582 This was a fantastic chapter. I'm really glad I read it, even though I had to read every story in the League of Cuddles folder afterwards to sleep at night. I do wonder, how come none of the Mane 6 can see the likely outcome to the rest of this mostly innocent world if they take off the collar before they bring Discord home? Especially Fluttershy, who knows him better than anyone. I guess for all their horror at reading that note, it's not like they have a detailed understanding of the psychological effects of prolonged and profound torture.
5387484 To be fair, up until just about now, Discord himself didn't want revenge; he just wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. He was sincere when he told Twilight that he wouldn't cause them any trouble if they just let him go home.
And I don't think most people think, when setting out to rescue someone they care about, "oh, but we'd better make sure we don't let him brutally murder all the people who tortured him". When you're thinking of someone as a victim who needs rescuing, your mindset isn't in the right place to also think of them as a threat to be contained. Fluttershy might know better because this is actually very much abused dog behavior, but at the same time, Fluttershy can talk an abused dog down and calm them; she has a great deal of faith in her own abilities to shape the behavior of others with kindness.
5387632 That's true, they've really only thought about Discord and the Elements of Opposition, not the larger world. I guess Fluttershy's abilities will eventually be pushed to their absolute limit. Is this Discord the same one who did that horrible thing with the organs outside of the body to Twilight's ancestor? 'Cause that Discord can clearly be righteously vindictive, and Twilight should remember that story.
5387917 No, that was Q. This Discord has done some very vindictive things in the past, but nothing quite that bad, and Twilight wouldn't know about it anyway.
5388041 I believe that last scene was the last one. At least I hope so. I've put the poor guy through enough. Not that his life is going to get any easier in the next couple of chapters, but I don't think there will be any more rape scenes, at least.
Oh, you did this masterfully. The turning point, the perspective shift. It's no longer about just getting back any more. The shift from, if he could only choose one option out of going home or reducing the world to cinder, the former to the later. In the attempt to tame Discord they've turned him from merely sadistic, to actively malicious. To be sadistic you need your target to live.
Oh, no matter how it turns out in the end, Discord returning to his power will be glorious. So much excitement it hurts.
5392826 To be fair, I don't think Twilight had any idea how badly it would corrupt her. "Magic Duel" never happened in this continuity, so she had no experience with the Alicorn Amulet or anything like that. She was alone and afraid, with no one but Spike supporting her -- her friends had turned evil, Celestia was broken and apathetic after killing Luna, she didn't really trust Chrysalis and in part it was because she knew Chrysalis was feeding on her brother, who was allowing it in grief over Cadance's death, and all of Equestria was in total chaos. She probably thought she'd use the power to harmonize with the others, stone Discord, and then undo their transformations as well as her own... but it made her so much better at magic and so much better able to endure her own emotions, she couldn't give it up.
Twilight hadn't yet learned that you cannot do good by selling your soul, because once you've sold your soul, you are more or less bound to do evil. Our Twilight saw what the Alicorn Amulet could do, and would have at least some reason to avoid this; this Twilight never did, and she was desperate.
Is crazy spirit of Chaos truly capable of going insane? That's kind of like shark drowning. Anyway, i hope he will be able to regain his "humanity" and not seek revenge on those poor lunatics that are under a spell of his alternate self. If he become like them then he will prove that they won and broke him. It's a shame they were capable of doing it one day before the rescue.
5405868 Of course, the entire reason they were able to break him was the fact that he sent that letter for help. That's the reason this happened right before he was rescued -- both the rescue and the interrogation that let Fluttercruel know he was emotionally dependent on the other Fluttershy were triggered by the same event.
5438061 While Discord had been missing for a couple of months, no one but Fluttershy thought this was because something bad had happened to him, and the letter initially seemed much too creepy to be Discord's idea of a joke. Having faced Sombra, and having heard the tales of Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, Spike's initial reaction on seeing something creepy and bloody is not to imagine it coming from Discord.
I'm not sure if I still agree with the roster selection of the rescue mission, given that we now know that Luna isn't doing much ruling. I previously assumed that the reason Luna wasn't being sent was because she was busy, but now it can only be because her counterpart is dead. It seems logical since she'd have enormous emotional influence over the grief-ridden Celestia, not to mention combat abilities. I don't see a good justification anymore, to be honest.
But yeah, brilliant chapter. Really want more of this.
5448116 Keep in mind that Discord didn't know Opposition Luna is dead, therefore the Harmony team doesn't know. Celestia said that the other Celestia would detect her instantly because a Sun-bearer can feel the presence of another; this means that if there was an Opposition Luna still, the same would have applied to her. (In fact it's possible that Opposition Celestia, who is in the role of Moon-bearer, would be able to detect a Moon-bearer too.) So Luna couldn't go because as far as they knew, Opposition Luna would sense her; none of the Harmony team know that Opposition Luna is dead.
5407698 I've never seen or read it, so no. One of these days I'll get around to reading the books, though I probably never will watch the series -- I read so much faster than humans can talk, I find that watching television often feels like it's going way too slow to hold my interest. I do have the first four books sitting on my "to read" shelf, though.
I must say this is a very interesting story, the gore and violent parts might be a little...'extreme' for my taste but it is still enjoyable to read regardless, although there are somethings that seem to be a little " out of character" for Discord. While yes he is suffering and yes I am certain that him being powerless would tear down his cocky attitude, I do not see Discord being a idiot though, a lot of the wit and manipulation he has done in the past, surely he could still do even without his powers, so I am confused why he hasn't tried manipulating any of the weaker minded of the Alternate Mane 6. Perhaps he could have tricked Rainbow Dash or even Pinkie in to setting him free, I'm certain he could have played of of Rainbows brash nature by making it like she was so scared and that she could only defeat him while he was powerless as a means of challenging Rainbow Dash to remove the collar or maybe worked off of Pinkies desires, promising her endless ponies for her to "play" with in exchange of his control over his powers back. Also in the seen where you had Discord pleasure Fluttershy in her bed, until she fell asleep, you made seem like it would have been impossible for Discord to get his wing free without disturbing Fluttershy, with him eventually having to thrash around in order to free his wing, but you only made him try to free his wing using his wing muscle alone. Surely had he used both his paw and talon as well as his wing muscle he could have pulled his wing free without disturbing Fluttershy, and even if he did he would be aware of it and could play it off. Also you mentioned that it is unlikely that Fluttershy and Discord would get together when all of this is over, but I worry that this could have a bad ending that either leads to Discord dying or one of our Mane 6 dies in the process of saving Discord, and I am hoping that is not the final result. With all that aside I am very eager to find out what will happen when our Mane 6 manages to get to Discord, and if it will somehow boil down to Fluttershy's love and friendship that will undo any of the damage evil Fluttershy has done to him. Hope the update is soon.
5556364 The reason Discord didn't physically lift Fluttercruel off his wing was covered, actually; he is not allowed to touch them for his own benefit. He may touch them when he is ordered to or when he is given permission to, but he can't do it just because he wants to. So he couldn't actually touch Fluttercruel to remove her from his wing.
In "Discord in Hell" he says he did try to persuade Pinkie to release him, and that it didn't work because she has turned completely psychotic. It doesn't seem likely that he's ever been left alone for any significant length of time with Rainbow Dash, and he was only left alone with Pinkie once, and it was the occasion on which he learned she's become a psychotic cannibal who enjoys torturing and eating "bad" ponies (and other creatures). So those wouldn't have been options (and neither of them are that stupid anyway. After a year of suffering under the rule of this world's original Discord, none of them are inclined to believe anything he offers or to underestimate him.)
He actually has made several attempts to manipulate them. We're seeing him now after two months of captivity, after very little of what he's tried has worked, but we know that he's made attempts to manipulate Twilight (which failed, because she doesn't care at all), Applejack (which failed) and Fluttercruel (some of which succeeded, depending on what he was trying to get -- he's actually constantly trying to manipulate Fluttercruel, but since it's for goals like "don't let her ask that question because if she does I'll have to answer it honestly and then she'll beat me", or "get her to feed me food I can stand and think she's torturing me with it so she doesn't torture me with food I really can't stand", it might look too pathetic to count as manipulation.) We haven't seen it, because we haven't seen him interact with Rarity, but he actually successfully manipulates her for better treatment fairly often, as Rarity's self-image of a cultured, sophisticated mare is at odds with torturing someone. Whenever Sweetie Belle is around, for instance, Discord gets Rarity to treat him better than usual, because Rarity doesn't want to look like a monster to her little sister. And of course, the whole reason he was able to send a letter home was that he successfully manipulated Spike. So yes, he's trying his best to use his wits against them, but it doesn't always work.
5556472 I see, and I can understand the manipulation part but what I was referring to about Discord pulling his wing free is that he grabs onto his own wing and pulls with both his arms and the wing muscle itself, not that he would physically lift Fluttershy up to free it.
5556493 While that would probably have been easier and faster, it might still have knocked Fluttercruel off the bed... and keep in mind he's being systematically starved and sleep-deprived, so probably he really isn't as sharp-witted right now as he usually is.
5556533 Good point, I had not taken into consideration Discords physical or mental health at the time. It makes sense that if he has be sleep deprived and starved that he wouldn't be able to think clearly enough to be more easy in freeing his wing. Stupid honesty spell, if it weren't for that he probably could have atleast got himself out of a beating because he could have simply lied and said that he was having a seizure, because he was "technically" touching her without her consent because she had fallen asleep on his wing and his wing was touching her, so he could have used that as a excuse if he could lie.
5504520 I've been meaning to ask, about how similar and different are the timelines of the "Original Equestria" and the "Alternate Equestria"? I am aware that the difference between the two worlds are Discord, but at what point before and after he was turned to stone the first time, did things begin to take a different path? What could have lead to the Alternate Discord becoming so twisted and cruel?
5567629 Prior to his first stoning, the only difference was that our Discord found an item called the Godslayer Hammer and threw it into another dimension so it couldn't be used to threaten him; Opposition Discord did not, and the hammer was found by Celestia and taken up by her as a weapon after Discord was turned to stone. This had no effect on their psychology, but has had a lot to do with the eventual fate of Opposition Discord.
After that, though... forty-five seconds. The only difference between the two universes is that Opposition Discord figured out what was going on forty-five seconds before our Discord did, right before the Elements were activated to turn him into stone, and with that much lead time was able to make them misfire. (I'm going with DannyJ's theory that once the Elements are properly targeted, they cannot be misdirected; but forty-five seconds was long enough for Discord to set up a puppet before the Elements were targeted. Once the Elements have been locked onto a target by the Bearers, they cannot be fooled, but if the Bearers are fooled before the targeting lock is in place, they can be locked onto the wrong being because the Bearers are fallible.) Having nearly been turned to stone again, Discord fought back more competently, and viciously, than he had thus far; he bluffed the Bearers into thinking he would kill them if they didn't hand over the Elements to him (it was actually a bluff, but they had no way of knowing that), and then he cast his spell on them to corrupt them and infect them with their opposites. Also, he turned Luna into Nightmare Moon.
Up to that point, he wasn't really different from "our" Discord, who would be quite capable of fighting viciously in self defense if he knew he had to, and who's also quite capable of seeking malicious fun by messing with pony heads. But this circumstance created a situation so chaotic that even Discord got screwed up by it. He was trying to stir up conflict by getting an entertaining three-way battle going between Nightmare Moon, Celestia and himself, but he didn't factor in the involvement of Chrysalis, who had already kidnapped Cadance. Chrysalis used the riots in Canterlot that Nightmare Moon caused to fake Cadance's death so she could stop impersonating her, and could come out and offer an alliance to Celestia in exchange for all the emotion Celestia had ever felt for Discord, a deal Celestia took gladly. So it became Chrysalis and her changelings allied with Celestia, against Nightmare Moon and the ponies she mind-slaved, against Discord and the various agents he set into motion, and the fighting became worse and more dangerous, and Celestia ended up killing Luna, which screwed with Discord's head because he'd never intended anyone to die, particularly not Luna. And Chrysalis tried to kill him, which led him to retaliate viciously against the Changelings, which resulted in greater viciousness from Chrysalis and Celestia, and the whole thing spiraled completely out of control.
Meanwhile Discord had taken advantage of the fact that Fluttercruel was plainly drawn to him. She hated him, and herself, but the attraction Harmony Fluttershy feels for "our" Discord was still there, just twisted. They began a sexual relationship, which was consensual but totally fucked up.
There was a spell on the Mane 6 that would prevent all six of them from ever being in the same place at the same time -- Discord didn't want to take chances. But when Twilight found and united herself with the Diadem of Order, the amplification it gave to her analytic abilities allowed her to unravel the spell. Fluttercruel seduced Discord to distract him from the fact that Twilight was undoing his spell, the other five met up at Fluttercruel's house, and they ambushed Discord after he'd just had sex with Fluttercruel and wasn't fully alert yet. She joined in with them and they all turned him into stone... an act that has preyed on her mind ever since, since Spike used the Godslayer Hammer (now associated enough with Celestia to be called the Hammer of Celestia) to kill the stoned Discord.
So it wasn't one event that corrupted him. It was his own nature, the nature he shares with "our" Discord, in an environment where he won but was still faced with considerable potential threats, pushing him into situations where he frequently lost control of events and things took a darker turn than he'd wanted. Part of the reason "our" Discord is not a complete sadistic monster is that, while he has a quick temper, he has an overall cheerful temperament, doesn't usually hold grudges, and feels secure enough in his own invulnerability that he never feels like he has to hurt anyone permanently for self-protection. The things Opposition Discord set in motion put him in danger, frequently, leaving him insecure, lonely, guilty, angry and fearful, a lot, and this combination of emotions, coupled with his power, turned him very dark in a relatively short period of time.
I have a story I'm working on, "World Without Harmony", which is actually the history of the Oppositionverse and goes into this. Part of the point I'm trying to make is to confront our Discord with the potential consequences of his own actions. He's not fundamentally different from Opposition Discord. Had he won against the Mane 6 the first time, he might have gone the exact same way. Losing, and then being offered friendship by the foes that defeated him, was the best possible thing for him. He doesn't deserve what's happening to him, but that is not because he's a fundamentally better person than Opposition Discord, because he's not. He doesn't deserve it because no one deserves it... and because he hasn't gone down a path of corruption too far to be saved, as Opposition Discord did. He could have as easily as Opposition Discord did, but circumstances were more favorable to him, so he didn't. He's redeemable, while his counterpart became irredeemable.
5568074 So the universes are the same, its just both Discords went down different paths that lead to different outcomes. So Opposition Discord would have had the same kind of back-story and relationship with Celestia that "our" Discord had it's just fate made our Discord redeemable and the Opposition Discord irredeemable.
Holy shit
Or unholy as it were
FINALLY! I LOVE YOU
5378170
He is, in fact, a possible candidate. Though the fact that he's essentially the assistant of the new Avatar of Order might create some problems.
Killing the previous chaos avatar is one of the more reliable ways to end up with the job, second only to being the child of the previous chaos avatar. If the chaos avatar didn't have a child and wasn't killed by anyone (or wasn't killed by anyone who could possibly be a candidate), then it's pretty much open casting call, but the fact that Opposition Spike killed Opposition Discord, and is a dragon who knows a lot about magic and can perform some, makes him a fairly likely candidate, but his proximity to the Diadem of Order may interfere.
Oh shit. Ohhhhh shit. I have no words except oh shit.
I'm rooting so hard for the Harmony squad right now. I hope they get to the Opposition universe soon.
This is much more sinister a proposal than the "spell check" you ran on this story!
This would explain why Celestia's either gone mad, or become so apathetic that her condition is indistinguishable from madness.
The relationship between Fluttercruel and Discord actually makes me cry -- especially because Fluttershy became that way because the Discord from her universe broke her over time.
One terrifying thing about your Opposition Pinkie is that she's still very funny -- though rather like the Joker, or at best Harley Quinn, now. Harley, of course, is actually funnier than the Joker, mostly because she's not quite as malign.
*shudder*
Fluttercruel figured it out. Completely. Even though it has obvious potential to make her sad.
I'm impressed. Then again, I always thought Fluttershy in any mode was pretty awesome.
That's very, very sad. What's worse, I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't still each others' best friends -- they just hate the world even more than each other now
The clear rupture between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and how and why it probably happened, is truly painful.
That is so horrible -- and for both Fluttercruel and Discord.
And then she really breaks him.
Fuck... just... fuck. I'm at a loss for words. I'm so ANGRY right now. You really have something amazing here. I Didn't care when Simba's dad died, and I didn't blink when Bambi's mom died. But this, this story has brought me to points of rage and sadness i cannot understand. I have never hated someone as much as i do this bitch. I hate her so much, in fact, i hate this story! But I LOVE it. It's so good, but it hurts me so much ( I sound like rapeishy now...) This is literally the best story i have EVER read. I have never felt so much pain for a fictional character in my life. Nor have i ever felt this much hatred. *Sigh* Okay rant over.
On another note, this is grand as always. This has taken a turn I didn't expect. I'm really worried about Discord's reaction to Fluttershy now... At first,Ii thought the main problems would be Discord believing that Fluttershy was HIS Fluttershy, and him following the plan of fixing the elements. But now... Even if he knows it's his Fluttershy, I don't think he'll really care. He may just wait till they free him, and then kill all the element bearers, the good and the bad. I hope it doesn't go that way. It'd be a sick loop: one Discord ruin the elements of harmony, then those elements involuntarily turn another Discord into a vengeful insane villain, and that Discord breaks his elements... God, my FUCKING BABY!
Also, you now have two stories where Discord is thinking about suicide... yay?
Oh god I've been waiting for this and this was so WORTH the wait! So worried this will end in bloodbaths and horror- which lets be honest, there's a 98% chance that it will.
Amazing job as always!
YAY! An update at lo g last. Wow, the depravity of this world is terrible. Harmony squad to the rescue!
Moar, moar, moar!
aww yea this is gonna be goood. who will be the first to fall
Shots muthafuckin' fired, oh shit, theres blood and hurt feelings everywhere, caps are flyin' around this bitch like a graduation.
Can I just say Evil!Pinkie is hilariously terrifying.
Agh, I normally am not a fan of fic where characters are tortured, but the emotions of the characters are so well written that I'm addicted to this one. Like SpiritofChaos227 I'm worried Discord isn't going to be able to look at the real Fluttershy in the same way again!
Amazing stuff- looking forward to whatever you plan on writing next!
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
finallly moar stuuuff
epic
really happy ^^
but now i have to wait again xD *cry*
This is heartbreaking considering the end
Bad News: This is completely horrible and Discord will never be able to fully recover. Good News: Is that at least he's accidentally becoming a better draconequus, growing more empathy. If he ever escapes, he'll probably be nicer. And broken. Still, I'm trying to look at the bright side so I don't start crying.
Great story. I have never hated a fictional character more. Also, does Fluttercruel really believe what's she saying or is she manipulating him?
5380315
There's a potential destructive cycle of revenge here. The Discord from the Oppositionverse more or less created the Mane Six from that world by abusing them, before they killed him (and I see a tragedy even before that, in that manipulating Celestia into killing Luna, and this driving Celestia insane, may have driven the Opposition Discord even more insane than usual, as Luna and Celestia were two of the beings he had loved most in the world).
The Opposition Six are in turn taking revenge on (the wrong) Discord by abusing him (as that Discord never treated their analogues as badly as they are treating him). If Discord then takes revenge on the Opposition Six by severely torturing or killing them, he will probably wind up damaging his nascent love with Harmony Fluttershy and the other five of the Harmony Mane Six, as he would be showing his most monstrous side.
The only possible non-horrible outcome to this I can see would be if Discord is able to regain his freedom but also forgo his revenge.
5381073
Consider that in the main universe, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are really good friends, and have been so for most of their lives. That makes those cruel mutual accusations all the more horrible. Their friendship has perhaps been forever broken.
5382409
Or rethink it.
There is a really, really cruel and brutal way to torture the Opposition 6 that would result in a positive outcome for the rest of the world, and which the Mane 6 would support him in doing and are in fact hoping to have his help in doing. But Discord is not known for his subtlety, nor does he have a lot of experience being tormented by a conscience, so he may not think of it.
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the gypsies that restored Angelus' soul to him and turned him back into Angel did it as a curse. Because he would remember the atrocities he commited as Angelus, but with his soul, he'd have a conscience to feel horror from remembering them.
Saving the Opposition 6 would necessarily torture them. Even a mindwipe couldn't save them, because there's too much evidence of who they've hurt and what they've done in the year and a half or so since they were corrupted. If the Mane 6 could convince Discord to consider that his revenge, that would probably be the best outcome possible.
However, what Discord is contemplating doing as revenge isn't compatible with anyone on this planet surviving. Someone's going to have to persuade him to change his mind, or the world will burn -- quite literally.
5381816
Six of one, half a dozen of the other. She's saying it to manipulate him, but she also believes it, because she doesn't remember being who she was nearly as well as she thinks she does. Her memories of the past are colored by who she is now.
The real Fluttershy's favorite fantasy of revenge against her bullies, when she was a child, was "Someday I'll do something so nice for them that they'll realize how mean they're being to me, and they'll all want to be my friend instead!" This strategy never actually worked until she met Discord, but it doesn't exactly suggest the eternal hatred of bullies that Fluttercruel is claiming.
5382759
The way I write involves Chekhov's Semi-Automatic Machine Gun. I toss out so much stuff in a frenzy of fire and motion that anything might possibly be significant later, or might not be, because I find the idea that the gun on the wall has to be fired to make stories much more predictable. Also, I world-build, something Chekhov didn't need to do. So sometimes the gun is there to say something about the character of the protagonist, and sometimes it's there to set the scene, and sometimes it's there to misdirect you into thinking the lodge owner did it when in fact it was the butler, and sometimes it's there to establish the difference between this world and ours (say, if it was Chekhov's Raygun)... and sometimes it's gonna get fired.
I actually implemented Chekhov's Jar of Taffies in Not the Hero, where in chapter 6, we establish that there is a jar of taffies in Sugarcube Corner, and in chapter 7, Discord teleports them to him and makes a shield out of them to save his own life. So Chekhov's Can of Cotton Candy is certainly something I might do... but on the other hand, would Pinkie, in character, fail to bring cotton candy along to cheer Discord up, given that cotton candy is probably more compactible and therefore transportable via hair-accessed hammerspace than either popped popcorn or chocolate milk?
In other words... maybe, maybe not. :-)
5382409
Aside from perma-discording them, he didn't actually abuse most of them any more than he did the rest of the world. He probably did something terrible to Pinkie to push her in the direction she went, because the first time he discorded her, she ended up as the Element of Anger... and now she is obviously still the Element of Laughter, just psychotic laughter rather than joyful laughter. And we know Discord prefers Pinkie to be Laughter. And while he never raped Fluttercruel -- their sexual relationship was consensual, and probably she started it -- he did emotionally abuse her, above and beyond turning her cruel (largely by pointing out her own cruelty to her and rubbing her face in the fact that she had turned into a monster.) But he didn't do anything directly to harm the others aside from the effects caused by what he did to their Elements.
But yes -- he never intended Celestia to actually kill Luna. He liked disharmony, so he wanted to see them fight each other, and he thought they were too evenly matched for one to defeat the other, and if it looked like one was going to win he figured he could intervene. He wasn't counting on Celestia to make an alliance with Chrysalis, who then occupied him while Celestia was fighting Nightmare Moon, allowing Celestia to kill Luna. This probably did him a lot of emotional damage and possibly led to some egregiously psycho behavior (and retribution against the Changelings -- Chuckfinley's A Persimmon Spring isn't canon to my universe, but I've taken parts of it and incorporated it into my story). It may also have resulted in him turning to Fluttercruel for companionship and distraction significantly more than was healthy for him, given that she used that against him to distract him and allow him to be turned to stone again, which left him vulnerable to Spike killing him. He knew better than to trust Fluttercruel, but he kind of did it anyway, which suggests to me that Luna's death hit him a lot harder than he let anyone know.
Madame, you continue to impress. I cannot wait to see where this is going, and I hope some relief will come for poor Discord, and that you don't plan on breaking him forever. Elements of Harmony, hurry up, will ya?????
(And oh lord, you've made Anti-Pinkie Pie absolutely terrifying. )
5382582 This was a fantastic chapter. I'm really glad I read it, even though I had to read every story in the League of Cuddles folder afterwards to sleep at night. I do wonder, how come none of the Mane 6 can see the likely outcome to the rest of this mostly innocent world if they take off the collar before they bring Discord home? Especially Fluttershy, who knows him better than anyone. I guess for all their horror at reading that note, it's not like they have a detailed understanding of the psychological effects of prolonged and profound torture.
5387484
To be fair, up until just about now, Discord himself didn't want revenge; he just wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. He was sincere when he told Twilight that he wouldn't cause them any trouble if they just let him go home.
And I don't think most people think, when setting out to rescue someone they care about, "oh, but we'd better make sure we don't let him brutally murder all the people who tortured him". When you're thinking of someone as a victim who needs rescuing, your mindset isn't in the right place to also think of them as a threat to be contained. Fluttershy might know better because this is actually very much abused dog behavior, but at the same time, Fluttershy can talk an abused dog down and calm them; she has a great deal of faith in her own abilities to shape the behavior of others with kindness.
5387632 That's true, they've really only thought about Discord and the Elements of Opposition, not the larger world. I guess Fluttershy's abilities will eventually be pushed to their absolute limit. Is this Discord the same one who did that horrible thing with the organs outside of the body to Twilight's ancestor? 'Cause that Discord can clearly be righteously vindictive, and Twilight should remember that story.
5387917
No, that was Q. This Discord has done some very vindictive things in the past, but nothing quite that bad, and Twilight wouldn't know about it anyway.
Damn, I need more of this story! Well, not more rape obviously, but more story.
5388041
I believe that last scene was the last one. At least I hope so. I've put the poor guy through enough. Not that his life is going to get any easier in the next couple of chapters, but I don't think there will be any more rape scenes, at least.
5388053 Woo!
Oh, you did this masterfully. The turning point, the perspective shift. It's no longer about just getting back any more. The shift from, if he could only choose one option out of going home or reducing the world to cinder, the former to the later. In the attempt to tame Discord they've turned him from merely sadistic, to actively malicious. To be sadistic you need your target to live.
Oh, no matter how it turns out in the end, Discord returning to his power will be glorious. So much excitement it hurts.
That character defining moment where we see how far gone Opposition Twilight really is. Worst part is she willingly did this to herself.
5392826
To be fair, I don't think Twilight had any idea how badly it would corrupt her. "Magic Duel" never happened in this continuity, so she had no experience with the Alicorn Amulet or anything like that. She was alone and afraid, with no one but Spike supporting her -- her friends had turned evil, Celestia was broken and apathetic after killing Luna, she didn't really trust Chrysalis and in part it was because she knew Chrysalis was feeding on her brother, who was allowing it in grief over Cadance's death, and all of Equestria was in total chaos. She probably thought she'd use the power to harmonize with the others, stone Discord, and then undo their transformations as well as her own... but it made her so much better at magic and so much better able to endure her own emotions, she couldn't give it up.
Twilight hadn't yet learned that you cannot do good by selling your soul, because once you've sold your soul, you are more or less bound to do evil. Our Twilight saw what the Alicorn Amulet could do, and would have at least some reason to avoid this; this Twilight never did, and she was desperate.
But yeah. She's pretty far gone, now.
Is crazy spirit of Chaos truly capable of going insane? That's kind of like shark drowning. Anyway, i hope he will be able to regain his "humanity" and not seek revenge on those poor lunatics that are under a spell of his alternate self. If he become like them then he will prove that they won and broke him. It's a shame they were capable of doing it one day before the rescue.
5405868
Of course, the entire reason they were able to break him was the fact that he sent that letter for help. That's the reason this happened right before he was rescued -- both the rescue and the interrogation that let Fluttercruel know he was emotionally dependent on the other Fluttershy were triggered by the same event.
5407120
Also was there any inspiration from Theon Greyjoy/Ramsay Snow "shipping" :)? My OTP in GoT
5438061
While Discord had been missing for a couple of months, no one but Fluttershy thought this was because something bad had happened to him, and the letter initially seemed much too creepy to be Discord's idea of a joke. Having faced Sombra, and having heard the tales of Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, Spike's initial reaction on seeing something creepy and bloody is not to imagine it coming from Discord.
I'm not sure if I still agree with the roster selection of the rescue mission, given that we now know that Luna isn't doing much ruling. I previously assumed that the reason Luna wasn't being sent was because she was busy, but now it can only be because her counterpart is dead. It seems logical since she'd have enormous emotional influence over the grief-ridden Celestia, not to mention combat abilities. I don't see a good justification anymore, to be honest.
But yeah, brilliant chapter. Really want more of this.
5448116
Keep in mind that Discord didn't know Opposition Luna is dead, therefore the Harmony team doesn't know. Celestia said that the other Celestia would detect her instantly because a Sun-bearer can feel the presence of another; this means that if there was an Opposition Luna still, the same would have applied to her. (In fact it's possible that Opposition Celestia, who is in the role of Moon-bearer, would be able to detect a Moon-bearer too.) So Luna couldn't go because as far as they knew, Opposition Luna would sense her; none of the Harmony team know that Opposition Luna is dead.
5407698
I've never seen or read it, so no. One of these days I'll get around to reading the books, though I probably never will watch the series -- I read so much faster than humans can talk, I find that watching television often feels like it's going way too slow to hold my interest. I do have the first four books sitting on my "to read" shelf, though.
..... Holy shit.
5504520 Any idea when the next chapter will release?
I must say this is a very interesting story, the gore and violent parts might be a little...'extreme' for my taste but it is still enjoyable to read regardless, although there are somethings that seem to be a little " out of character" for Discord. While yes he is suffering and yes I am certain that him being powerless would tear down his cocky attitude, I do not see Discord being a idiot though, a lot of the wit and manipulation he has done in the past, surely he could still do even without his powers, so I am confused why he hasn't tried manipulating any of the weaker minded of the Alternate Mane 6. Perhaps he could have tricked Rainbow Dash or even Pinkie in to setting him free, I'm certain he could have played of of Rainbows brash nature by making it like she was so scared and that she could only defeat him while he was powerless as a means of challenging Rainbow Dash to remove the collar or maybe worked off of Pinkies desires, promising her endless ponies for her to "play" with in exchange of his control over his powers back. Also in the seen where you had Discord pleasure Fluttershy in her bed, until she fell asleep, you made seem like it would have been impossible for Discord to get his wing free without disturbing Fluttershy, with him eventually having to thrash around in order to free his wing, but you only made him try to free his wing using his wing muscle alone. Surely had he used both his paw and talon as well as his wing muscle he could have pulled his wing free without disturbing Fluttershy, and even if he did he would be aware of it and could play it off. Also you mentioned that it is unlikely that Fluttershy and Discord would get together when all of this is over, but I worry that this could have a bad ending that either leads to Discord dying or one of our Mane 6 dies in the process of saving Discord, and I am hoping that is not the final result. With all that aside I am very eager to find out what will happen when our Mane 6 manages to get to Discord, and if it will somehow boil down to Fluttershy's love and friendship that will undo any of the damage evil Fluttershy has done to him. Hope the update is soon.
5556364
The reason Discord didn't physically lift Fluttercruel off his wing was covered, actually; he is not allowed to touch them for his own benefit. He may touch them when he is ordered to or when he is given permission to, but he can't do it just because he wants to. So he couldn't actually touch Fluttercruel to remove her from his wing.
In "Discord in Hell" he says he did try to persuade Pinkie to release him, and that it didn't work because she has turned completely psychotic. It doesn't seem likely that he's ever been left alone for any significant length of time with Rainbow Dash, and he was only left alone with Pinkie once, and it was the occasion on which he learned she's become a psychotic cannibal who enjoys torturing and eating "bad" ponies (and other creatures). So those wouldn't have been options (and neither of them are that stupid anyway. After a year of suffering under the rule of this world's original Discord, none of them are inclined to believe anything he offers or to underestimate him.)
He actually has made several attempts to manipulate them. We're seeing him now after two months of captivity, after very little of what he's tried has worked, but we know that he's made attempts to manipulate Twilight (which failed, because she doesn't care at all), Applejack (which failed) and Fluttercruel (some of which succeeded, depending on what he was trying to get -- he's actually constantly trying to manipulate Fluttercruel, but since it's for goals like "don't let her ask that question because if she does I'll have to answer it honestly and then she'll beat me", or "get her to feed me food I can stand and think she's torturing me with it so she doesn't torture me with food I really can't stand", it might look too pathetic to count as manipulation.) We haven't seen it, because we haven't seen him interact with Rarity, but he actually successfully manipulates her for better treatment fairly often, as Rarity's self-image of a cultured, sophisticated mare is at odds with torturing someone. Whenever Sweetie Belle is around, for instance, Discord gets Rarity to treat him better than usual, because Rarity doesn't want to look like a monster to her little sister. And of course, the whole reason he was able to send a letter home was that he successfully manipulated Spike. So yes, he's trying his best to use his wits against them, but it doesn't always work.
5556472 I see, and I can understand the manipulation part but what I was referring to about Discord pulling his wing free is that he grabs onto his own wing and pulls with both his arms and the wing muscle itself, not that he would physically lift Fluttershy up to free it.
5556493
While that would probably have been easier and faster, it might still have knocked Fluttercruel off the bed... and keep in mind he's being systematically starved and sleep-deprived, so probably he really isn't as sharp-witted right now as he usually is.
5556533 Good point, I had not taken into consideration Discords physical or mental health at the time. It makes sense that if he has be sleep deprived and starved that he wouldn't be able to think clearly enough to be more easy in freeing his wing. Stupid honesty spell, if it weren't for that he probably could have atleast got himself out of a beating because he could have simply lied and said that he was having a seizure, because he was "technically" touching her without her consent because she had fallen asleep on his wing and his wing was touching her, so he could have used that as a excuse if he could lie.
5504520 I've been meaning to ask, about how similar and different are the timelines of the "Original Equestria" and the "Alternate Equestria"? I am aware that the difference between the two worlds are Discord, but at what point before and after he was turned to stone the first time, did things begin to take a different path? What could have lead to the Alternate Discord becoming so twisted and cruel?
5567629
Prior to his first stoning, the only difference was that our Discord found an item called the Godslayer Hammer and threw it into another dimension so it couldn't be used to threaten him; Opposition Discord did not, and the hammer was found by Celestia and taken up by her as a weapon after Discord was turned to stone. This had no effect on their psychology, but has had a lot to do with the eventual fate of Opposition Discord.
After that, though... forty-five seconds. The only difference between the two universes is that Opposition Discord figured out what was going on forty-five seconds before our Discord did, right before the Elements were activated to turn him into stone, and with that much lead time was able to make them misfire. (I'm going with DannyJ's theory that once the Elements are properly targeted, they cannot be misdirected; but forty-five seconds was long enough for Discord to set up a puppet before the Elements were targeted. Once the Elements have been locked onto a target by the Bearers, they cannot be fooled, but if the Bearers are fooled before the targeting lock is in place, they can be locked onto the wrong being because the Bearers are fallible.) Having nearly been turned to stone again, Discord fought back more competently, and viciously, than he had thus far; he bluffed the Bearers into thinking he would kill them if they didn't hand over the Elements to him (it was actually a bluff, but they had no way of knowing that), and then he cast his spell on them to corrupt them and infect them with their opposites. Also, he turned Luna into Nightmare Moon.
Up to that point, he wasn't really different from "our" Discord, who would be quite capable of fighting viciously in self defense if he knew he had to, and who's also quite capable of seeking malicious fun by messing with pony heads. But this circumstance created a situation so chaotic that even Discord got screwed up by it. He was trying to stir up conflict by getting an entertaining three-way battle going between Nightmare Moon, Celestia and himself, but he didn't factor in the involvement of Chrysalis, who had already kidnapped Cadance. Chrysalis used the riots in Canterlot that Nightmare Moon caused to fake Cadance's death so she could stop impersonating her, and could come out and offer an alliance to Celestia in exchange for all the emotion Celestia had ever felt for Discord, a deal Celestia took gladly. So it became Chrysalis and her changelings allied with Celestia, against Nightmare Moon and the ponies she mind-slaved, against Discord and the various agents he set into motion, and the fighting became worse and more dangerous, and Celestia ended up killing Luna, which screwed with Discord's head because he'd never intended anyone to die, particularly not Luna. And Chrysalis tried to kill him, which led him to retaliate viciously against the Changelings, which resulted in greater viciousness from Chrysalis and Celestia, and the whole thing spiraled completely out of control.
Meanwhile Discord had taken advantage of the fact that Fluttercruel was plainly drawn to him. She hated him, and herself, but the attraction Harmony Fluttershy feels for "our" Discord was still there, just twisted. They began a sexual relationship, which was consensual but totally fucked up.
There was a spell on the Mane 6 that would prevent all six of them from ever being in the same place at the same time -- Discord didn't want to take chances. But when Twilight found and united herself with the Diadem of Order, the amplification it gave to her analytic abilities allowed her to unravel the spell. Fluttercruel seduced Discord to distract him from the fact that Twilight was undoing his spell, the other five met up at Fluttercruel's house, and they ambushed Discord after he'd just had sex with Fluttercruel and wasn't fully alert yet. She joined in with them and they all turned him into stone... an act that has preyed on her mind ever since, since Spike used the Godslayer Hammer (now associated enough with Celestia to be called the Hammer of Celestia) to kill the stoned Discord.
So it wasn't one event that corrupted him. It was his own nature, the nature he shares with "our" Discord, in an environment where he won but was still faced with considerable potential threats, pushing him into situations where he frequently lost control of events and things took a darker turn than he'd wanted. Part of the reason "our" Discord is not a complete sadistic monster is that, while he has a quick temper, he has an overall cheerful temperament, doesn't usually hold grudges, and feels secure enough in his own invulnerability that he never feels like he has to hurt anyone permanently for self-protection. The things Opposition Discord set in motion put him in danger, frequently, leaving him insecure, lonely, guilty, angry and fearful, a lot, and this combination of emotions, coupled with his power, turned him very dark in a relatively short period of time.
I have a story I'm working on, "World Without Harmony", which is actually the history of the Oppositionverse and goes into this. Part of the point I'm trying to make is to confront our Discord with the potential consequences of his own actions. He's not fundamentally different from Opposition Discord. Had he won against the Mane 6 the first time, he might have gone the exact same way. Losing, and then being offered friendship by the foes that defeated him, was the best possible thing for him. He doesn't deserve what's happening to him, but that is not because he's a fundamentally better person than Opposition Discord, because he's not. He doesn't deserve it because no one deserves it... and because he hasn't gone down a path of corruption too far to be saved, as Opposition Discord did. He could have as easily as Opposition Discord did, but circumstances were more favorable to him, so he didn't. He's redeemable, while his counterpart became irredeemable.
5568074 So the universes are the same, its just both Discords went down different paths that lead to different outcomes. So Opposition Discord would have had the same kind of back-story and relationship with Celestia that "our" Discord had it's just fate made our Discord redeemable and the Opposition Discord irredeemable.