Probably the best thing to happen in Discord's long life was finding the magic of friendship. As much as the old Chaos Lord might complain, without it he would never have found so many that were dear to his heart.
When that heart finds itself empty, he comes to the Princess to ask a favor: allow him the opportunity to bring friendship to other dark hearts. All she has to do is lend him a statue.
The rest is in his chaotic claws.
Featured on 10/18/19, 10/22/19 and 10/25/19!
Featured in Equestria Daily on 6/18/2020 and in their 40 Fanfics to Read for Villain Day on 11/12/2020!
Also reviewed by PresentPerfect with the rating of Highly Recommended! And it also made the Top 10 of 2020!
Death tag - no horrible murder, just a few mentions and the natural consequences of time.
In light of all the hate given to the series finale and Discord himself, THIS is the proper way to react if one disagrees with it. Not a rant, not a breakdown, not accusing those that disagree with you of amorality and hypocrisy, but by creating and expanding on where canon left off to make a potentially(and already) wonderful story.
As someone weary and tired of all the back and forth and as a Discord fan, you have a like, a favorite, and the thanks of someone that dearly needed this pick me up.
Good day, salute, and arrivederci!
I am liking were this is going and I can see discord doing something like this.
9886006
Stole the words right out of my mouth.
I will watch your career with great interest, TCC56.
:)
As a fan Of Chrysalis, I'd still say that I rather have the canonic conclusion of staying defiant to the end in favor of being reformed. Or rather trusting Hasbro with their reformation. My animosity for ex-lings and/or Discord doesn't help either.
Eh, as long as it has it's readers and (as long as there would be at least SOME stories not going over that reformation itch yet again..)
I wanted the villains to reform.
My favorite pony (Fluttershy) may have passed, but this will be where I go to finally fill the desire to have them reform.
100% on board with all of this. I especially like Discord and Twilight's back and forth repartee. It really shows how their friendship has evolved.
I'm liking and tracking this. I look forward to seeing you continue it.
It's great to see that we, as a fandom, have taken the ending in stride and continued the show in our own ways. I salute you sir, as someone who is also doing this. Let MLP live forever in our hearts and words!
. . .
I'm gonna keep running into this everywhere now, aren't I?
And I was just feeling better...
At least tag your story appropriately... "death" or "tragedy"... you didn't even tag it "sad".
So it’s taken until after Fluttershy died, actual decades, before this option was even considered by Twilight? And it’s only considered because someone else brought it up?
Don’t get me wrong, I like the intent of the fic, but in seriousness...decades passed?
What would have happened if Discord hadn’t come into the throne room this day?
9886208
Good point. I'd left it off since death isn't in any way a focus of the story - more a consequence of the span of time - but I suppose it is appropriate. I'll add the tag.
9886290
Discord had been frozen for over 1000 years, escaped, re-petrified, and it took until season 3 for Celestia to suggest that maybe someone could befriend Discord and convert him to their side (ish). Compared to that, mere decades seems like no time at all.
We can't be certain, but I like to think that Celestia was waiting for the right pony to come along, and with the right attitude, before trying to reform Discord. Perhaps Twilight was doing the same - waiting until the time was right, and until the right pony (or chaos lord) came along with the right attitude to try reforming the others? It would make sense that Twilight was mirroring what she'd learned from Celestia, even subconsciously.
9886394
Celestia was very explicit that the only weapons capable of harming Discord were the Elements of Harmony. The fact that she didn't release him during his 1,000 year stint in stone, then, cannot be assumed to be part of any kind of intended punishment on her part: if she had released him and tried to reform him, and he had decided "no", then there would have been fuck all she could do to stop him from turning Equestria into his own personal wonderland until the end of time since she had lost her own connection to the Elements. Doing good does not mean taking stupid, needless risks.
Instead, I think it's rather telling that she waited less than a year from Twilight and her friends first claiming the Elements, and an even shorter time from Discord's little escape chaos spree, before throwing Discord at someone to try and reform. We know it's less than a year despite the show's nominally anachronic order because Twilight is still a unicorn in "Keep Calm and Flutter On", but "Princess Twilight Sparkle", where Twilight is now an alicorn, has Celestia explicitly note that this is the first Summer Sun Celebration since Luna's return, meaning that S1E1 and S4E1 is exactly one year.
9886394
(sighs)I wouldn't bother. He hates the finale and despises Discord, and been very vocal about that the last three days, so he was never going to actually like this fic. I'd just ignore him and enjoy the fic.
Ah, I love a good fixfic. Looking forward to how this pans out!
YES. GOOD!!!
I did not at all like that they shortcutted their way out of this arc by transforming the three into stone, esp. because the alicorns and Discord did it instead of the elements. I was honestly hoping someone would wrote a story that addressed this and gave them another chance, because being eternally encased in stone is horrible, esp for a mortal CHILD. And this is a great start! I cant wait to read how it goes!:D
9886450
Not quite sure how I can monopolize anything when I have no power to stop anyone posting or to delete or hide anyone’s posts except in my own blog or stories (but then again I have an ethical aversion to doing such), it entirely falls on you as to whether or not you acknowledge anything I write, but okay. I won’t read or comment on this fic that I actually probably would have enjoyed except for my opening gripe.
9886447
Tell me, do you remember why I hate Discord, or do you only focus on the fact that I hate him?
Given that the entire premise of this fic rests on the idea that Discord no longer possesses the quality that makes me hate him, and this opening chapter in fact reinforces that he no longer has the quality, I probably would have enjoyed it.
But fine. I’m gone.
9886435
We also don't know how long it was from the time Celestia and Luna originally defeated Discord to the time Luna became Nightmare and Celestia was forced to use the Elements alone. Maybe she's planned on attempting a reformation sooner but NMM happened - we'll never know for sure.
Or that they simply hadn't bothered holding a Summer Sun Celebration since S1E1 - possibly to avoid rubbing Sun-related celebrations in Luna's face - and that this is the first one since S1E1, sort of like the Olympics not being held in '40 or '44.
I also glanced through the transcript of S4E1 and S4E2 and I can't find where Celestia supposedly says it's been a year, or that it's the first Celebration since Luna's return. Perhaps I missed it, or the transcripts are incomplete?
9886497
Huh, could have sworn it was mentioned. Fie on my memory. Well, we can still be reasonably certain that it was nevertheless relatively soon after the series began, and the basic point of “we can’t know whether or not the 1,000 year wait was intentional on Celestia’s part or not since there is a valid reason for her to not risk it even if she wanted to do it” still stands.
9886290
Why doesn't Twilight think of it? Why doesn't it happen before this? Would it have been done if Discord hadn't done it this way?
Quite bluntly, those are all irrelevant to this fic. That isn't how it happened in this scenario, and changing those things would be an entirely different story. One that, at this time, I'm not writing. Someone else is more than welcome to use that take and I applaud them if they do so - but that's not what this story is about.
I'll be honest, I'd kind of echo RainbowDoubleDash's point--it feels like an odd choice to present it as though Twilight hadn't thought at all of releasing the three villains for a reformation, since reforming villains is kind of her shtick at this point. And I can see why that makes sense, on some level, if the intent is to get Discord working with the villains right away. I can also see why Twilight wouldn't have actually set them free by this point. But it also feels like a missed opportunity, since I think it would probably make for a really interesting scene if Twilight had been considering the same course of action, but decided against it for the moment, or something like that.
This makes me a little bit leery, since especially with the explanation given, that feels like putting plot ahead of character consistency and that's something of a red flag. But this seems possibly interesting, so I'll likely keep an eye on it.
9886531
I understand how you feel, man, but let's just try to enjoy anything that at least acknowledges that those three deserve as much of a second chance as previously reformed villians did. That... "finale" has caused enough discontent as is. I want to celebrate and support anyone trying to forge something good out of it. Perhaps Twilight did think of the possibility of reforming them, but much like she does, she kept worrying over details and not being sure how to go about it. And it's possible Discord waited this long so that, if this fails, the pony he cares about most is already passed on and out of harms way.
9886478
I dont know about that. Cozy Glow is the type of pony that would murder you and your whole family in your sleep. Im still not quite understanding why everyone is white knighting for a sociopathic monster just because she is a filly. While I would be interested in seeing a redemption arc for her and the other two, you have to be mental to think they didnt deserve being incased in stone after everything they did.
Discord: That’s me!
9886546
That’s fine. It’s still a question I feel needed to be asked, but “it’s not the fic I wanted to write” is a good enough answer, although 9886683 nevertheless has a good point of it seeming like putting the plot ahead of the character.
Good luck with this story.
9886850
I really don’t think she would, actually. She had a chance to commit murder, but instead she just knocked out guards or teleported them safely outside. Likewise in “Frenemies”, the most she does after getting furious with Rusty Bucket is have Tirek knock some snow on him.
Cozy may talk a big game about destroying her enemies, but the actual on-screen evidence is that she is not willing to kill by herself. Sure, she’ll stand aside and let others die as a consequence of her plans. She is certainly callous and uncaring.
But, again, we see her with both opportunity and motive to kill, and she doesn’t.
9886344
Thank you, I hope this avoids more people running into this unprepared.
I was actually hoping to get Cozy/Chrysalis/Tirek reformations stories out of s9e24/25.
What I don't get is why everyone assumes that their reformation has to take place in the distant future - it could literally take place, like, a few months later. You know. Before the timeskip.
And very definitely not even further into the future past the time skip.
Seriously, my first thought when I saw them turned to stone was "okay, so they get reformed in the next episode right after?" I didn't know that episode's description at the time.
I feel immensely conflicted about their non-reformation. On one hoof, I was resigned to let go of our villain characters which would take away our ability to tell reformation stories. But on the other hoof, all the episodes with them seemed to be building up to a typical MLP-villain reformation ending, but then the whole show pulled a complete 180° so hard it gave me whiplash.
Chrysalis and Tirek could probably take it. But Cozy Glow? Dammit, Celestia - she's still a filly! Even if she's a psychopath, you just don't do that! And it wasn't the magic of friendship that turned her stone - it was Celestia, Luna and Discord having their vengeance.
As for the "natural causes of time".
Well, here's my headcanon fix (image work in progress).
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/359fa84c-4492-4ffc-a3fe-cca85d9f8cd3/ddidjyp-24e8696c-5e2d-4a27-ad77-134b8c1745ab.png/v1/fill/w_816,h_979,q_70,strp/draft___it_s_not_too_late_2a_by_ultrathehedgetoaster_ddidjyp-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTUzNSIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzM1OWZhODRjLTQ0OTItNGZmYy1hM2ZlLWNjYTg1ZDlmOGNkM1wvZGRpZGp5cC0yNGU4Njk2Yy01ZTJkLTRhMjctYWQ3Ny0xMzRiOGMxNzQ1YWIucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.gf5S7ITg64_qwOKFtZGqjVbBfR_IXSq9WYMNd_r3orI
"Twilight Sparkle will not outlive her friends".
Because anything else would be too cruel as an ending to the show.
9887080
Actually, it's even more messed up than this. Think back to how all previous villains were beat:
Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow had lost. Were beaten, stripped of their power. Cozy was just a little filly again with no powerful magic. Tirek had become sickly and old. Even Chrysalis looked suddenly malnourished.
...And then Celestia, Luna, and Discord turned them to stone.
That is so completely out of character it is jarring. I mean, I can understand their anger - but then leaving them turned to stone for decades? No, that I can't really see.
9887100
Yeah, this was the very first time that the rainbow magic didn’t deliver the punishment itself along with fixing the problems.
To be frank I almost feel like this should have been a three-parter, and the rainbow power reducing the Legion to utter helplessness against the ponies was a test from Harmony to see if Twilights really ready to rule.
And her standing aside while the three are petrified without even a hint of remorse or desire to try and reach out to them, is her failing the test. And then the third part is dealing with the consequences and understanding where she went wrong; how, in spite of what she had just said, she really does view friendship ultimately as a rainbow laser.
9887080
“Together...forever.”
I certainly hope that the Season 10 comics deal with the legion much sooner than decades later - or longer - but the “assumption” comes from the stated intent in the show from one of the beings who carried out the petrification. The one who’s idea it was in the first place, in fact. It’s not apropos nothing.
9886850
Children are children, whatever their mental situation. Child soldiers are turned into brutal killers by force, but there are whole organizations dedicated to rehabilitating them. A 10-year-old exhibiting that kind of behavior needs help! The others are adults, IMMORTAL adults, meaning they have had a lifetime (several!) of learning how the world works and making conscious decisions based on those facts. Cozy is operating off of a child's mentality and lack of experience/understanding about the world.
I mean, just look at Cozy's explanation when Twilight asked her why she wanted to drain all the magic out of Equestria and take over. I was hoping for something a little more explanatory, but all Cozy had was her usual repetitive tripe:
"Friendship is POWER!!!"
That's EXACTLY the kind of simplistic explanation a spoiled child who doesn't ACTUALLY understand how the world works would say. She doesn't have any more in-depth reasoning than that; her mind is too underdeveloped to grasp deeper concepts behind her actions, same as the CMC couldn't grasp why LOOKING like an adult didn't actually MAKE them smarter and more responsible and like actual adults in the Season 9 episode. Cozy Glow's entire operation projects from a super-simplistic child philosophy: I can get people to do what I want, and that gets me ANYTHING I want, so I DESERVE to have ANYTHING I want. The idea that maybe people wouldn't actually accept her as their leader in spite of her fake friendships because of her age doesn't make sense to her. The idea that sucking all of the magic out of Equestria would logically cancel out her OWN ABILITY TO FLY and leave her just another magicless filly in a world full of magicless ponies doesn't even register. Because she's a dumb kid.
That doesn't mean she can be redeemed. She probably does have some kind of actual mental disorder causing this psychotic behavior (although that CAN be treated in most cases). More than likely her attitude stems from a SHOCKING amount of spoiling in her home life that got out of control. But she at the very least needs some dedicated time with a child psychologist before she should be written off as irredeemable. Children are malleable by default because they are in the stage of life dedicated to learning and growing mentally; if there is ever a stage in life where they have a chance at coming around to a better point of view, it is when they are still kids.
9887144
"I don't turn ponies into stone".
...Yeah, I hope they deal with them sooner than "decades later". The final episode had some really cruel implications that just make it impossible for me to see it as a "happy ending" to the show.
...This was literally the second post-s9 fic I dared to even read, and immediately, I got Fluttershy's funeral thrown in my face.
Like, that's the norm now. That's how people are gonna write from now on.
...I do appreciate that the author at least added the death tag on my behalf after. But still.
9887144
...And IDW is planning to do "Season 10 comics"? I wasn't following Equestria Daily anymore for the past 5 months for fear of running into leaks and spoilers.
9886955
Only if you count onscreen deaths. If her plan to drain all of the magic of Equestria went through fully it would've stranded Pegasi in their Cloud Cities (If not just straight up falling through to the ground because that magic is what lets them cloud walk too!), along with the fact they would not be able to do anything with the city as it'd fall apart below them since their magic is what lets them do their cloud shaping.
9887409
Ahem.
Sure, she’ll stand aside and let others die as a consequence of her plans. She is certainly callous and uncaring.
But, again, we see her with both opportunity and motive to kill, and she doesn’t.
9887451 You can say that about ALL the villains.
NMM: could have EASILY snuffed all the Mane 6... instead gave them obstacles that were mostly a joke. Scary trees? Shadowbolts? Steven Magnet? Please, toddler-level.
Discord: Could have killed EVERYTHING ON THE PLANET. And apparently then resurrected it all, only to kill it all again for his amusement. Nuff said.
Tirek: Had them all caught, could have stomped them one after another into bloody paste while mocking Twilight for being so stupidly trusting that a VILLAIN would keep his word... and then tear her limbs off one by one until she died.
Chrysalis: Again, had em all caught, did nothing.
The only 2 villains who didn't really get a chance were Sombra (first time he barely had a second or two in his full form), and the POS... which is such a pathetic non-character, it makes Cozy look developed.
So, it all boils down to 'IT'S A KIDS' SHOW' as the only reason the Mane 6 haven't died at least 4 times already. They actually blew it. If REAL villains had gotten hold of them, game over.
9887261
The problem is that you are viewing Cozy Glow like she is some poor victim in all of this like she was forced into doing what she did. She is one of the most intelligent, manipulative evildoers in the series and is in full control of her mental faculties. Saying she has a mental disorder is no different than saying every villain in the series has one. Should we open up a asylum for all of the villains not to mention King Sombra, who in case you have forgotten, our heroes killed TWICE! Let’s be honest here, the only reason why people are freaking out about the “moral ethics” of Equestria’s leadership is because she is a filly. You people are projecting your world views into a show filled with monsters and flying ponies. Cozy Glow’s punishment was received equally just like any other villain because she showed no remorse for her actions as it should be. A child in our justice system that commits atrocities like that is locked up in a Juvenile detection center until they are old enough to be tried as an adult and then either put on death row or locked up for the rest of their lives. Why should her situation be any different?
9887293
Pretty sure they are still in stone during the events of the timeskip. We’ll have to wait if they ever show up in G5 to see them again.
9886955
Only due it being a kids show. Cozy Glow would have already murdered them if not due to poor writing and that is not even considering what the other villains could have done to them had they been written better.
9887710
I’m sorry, did you just say that it’s poor writing to not have had Cozy Glow paint Canterlot red with the blood of the castle guards?
What the heck do you think eight-year-olds should be watching?!
Well for one thing since she’s locked in stone, she isn’t aging, thus will never become an adult, and thus can never be tried as one, and thus she has de facto been given a life sentence while still a child, which it is generally agreed upon in most Western societies is fundamentally a miscarriage of justice and thus why, for example, the US Supreme Court does not allow it.
By the way I best not be hearing “but Equestria isn’t the real world” because you are the one who brought up the real world here.
9887765
Again, Cozy Glow straight up not finishing off the ponies is strictly because it is a childrens show and the same applies to all of the villains here. This being a childrens show is the only reason they couldnt show you what would happen if Cozy Glow got her way. This show as a whole and that includes Cozy Glow has poorly written villains dating all the way back to Nightmare Moon. And again you dont seem to ever answer this question. Why does it matter that Cozy Glow is a child if she committed these crimes? Is she were an adult you wouldnt bat an eye and neither would most of this fandom. Instead of voicing complaints that actually matter such as the fact that we know next to nothing about her as a character, or the fact that they murdered King Sombra twice instead of offering him redemption like they do every character, you and so many other people are arguing over what was arguably one of the least important moments of the finale. I just dont get it.
9887788
Given that elsewhere I’m arguing in defense of Chrysalis at the moment, you may be surprised.
Also given how much I’m bringing up Starlight as a counterpoint in these arguments I thought that it was pretty implicit that I wanted the ponies to try and figure out why she was the way she was. Because that’s what helped Twilight win over Starlight.
As for Sombra, they never murdered him, they defended themselves from attacks each time. There’s a bit of a difference between squaring off against a foe in battle and killing them when they’ve given no indication of being interested in talking; and standing triumphant over defeated foes and not offering them mercy.
9887808
To be fair, Starlight is one of the worst examples and had by far one of the flimsiest villain backstories in cartoon history. That was one of the biggest writing blunders on this show. You people need to accept the fact that not every single villain can be redeemed or that Cozy Glow is a filly being punished for what she has done. Now because those three have been incased in stone it opens up the door for some possibilities down the road in G5 if they are ever revived again and that’s assuming it even takes place in the same continuity as G4. Im glad they went this route instead because had they went the other way with redeeming these 3 it would have made an already polarizing finale even more divided.
9887830
You...don’t understand at all what I’m annoyed about, do you?
9887863
No. No one does. That’s the problem.
A'ight folks, chill a bit. No need to get uncivil here, please.
9887864
I've only spelled it out in plain English over and over again in a half-dozen places, but okay, here we go again, in bold this time:
My issue is not that the Legion of Doom were not redeemed. My issue is that the Princess of Friendship did not even try, in fact that no one did throughout the entire finale. Not once does a single being reach out a hoof or hand or claw to the three and say with sincerity, "you don't have to do this, you can try and be friends with us". The success or failure of this attempt is irrelevent to my reaction, my anger is because in a show called "Friendship is Magic", in its finale, no one tried to make friends. It is particularly galling that Twilight herself did not try when she stood in a position of power over them when they were defeated.
If after this offer the Legion still spits in the eyes of whoever makes it, fine. Stone them, they've more than earned it. But after nine seasons of the ponies more often than not trying to reach out to villains and understand them at any point where it was feasible, it feels like a fundamental betrayal of the show's central tenets and themes for Twilight to not attempt it one final time at the end.
That statue...how does Cozy not fall? She's not adequately supported by Tirek. Floating stone filly. The heck.
Starlight offered Chrysalis a chance to reform...she turned it down. Tirek has already tried to enslave equestria multiple times and does not want to reform. Cozy Glow already stated she never has any intentions on reforming and after she was broken out of Tartarus immediately tried to destroy equestria again. Nightmare moon was sealed into the moon after one major incident. Discord was sealed in stone for 1000 years for his crimes. King Sombra was sealed away for his as well. The theme here is that you WILL be punished forthe crimes you have commited regardless of the circumstances. Maybe later down the road twilight might do the same thing Celestia did and release them to try to reform, but in no way are they wrong for what they did in the finale.
9887949
I think she is attached slightly to Tirek by her tail or maybe just magic I dont know hah.