Thoughts on Dungeons and Discords

This is a great one in general, especially in the second half, but I wished it did more with the premise it presented, which helped me make a future fanfic idea. Basiclly The mane six go on a trip to Yakyakastan, leaving "the boys" by themselves (minus the fact they don't have a pet sitter for their pets like when they went to the Crystal Empire, but that's a nitpick). Discord is the most distraught seeing the only pony he really connects with is Fluttershy, so Spike offers to have him come to Twilight's castle to have a "guys' night," which Discord thinks is more "going out on the town" in some old-timey fashion style. Meanwhile, Big Mac and Spike want to play their own version of D&D, called Ogres & Obiuletees, aka O&O. Discord gets bored of the game and starts to belittle their hobby and even goes as far as having the two be thrust into a board game and be attacked by the paper monsters. In which the two get angry and tell Discord to leave if he doesn't want to play and, in turn, have him realize they invited him because they felt bad about being left behind without Fluttershy. The ending is the best part of the entire episode as the Mane Six return to see Discord, Big Mac, and Spike larping in their fantasy world, and Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash also jump in to play. Discord turns into a ranger; Spike plays a wizard; Big Mac becomes a fighter; Pinkie Pie plays a bard; and Rainbow Dash is a rouge.

My biggest issue with this episode is Discord. He seems to have the same issue I have with Applejack, where they sort of already when through this same problem in season five, where he goes nuts when Fluttershy doesn't invite him to the gala, and in season four with screwing around with Twilight & Cadance. He seems to always go back to his old habit of forcing ponies to see his point of view like a child. Then, after a tantrum with chaos magic, he eventually learns he's wrong and then makes up with them. I think what could've made this episode better is if he went overboard playing O&O and they really ramped up him making Spike and Big Mac play in his crazy version of the tabletop game as it would've been way more creative and fun to see outside of his typical formula. Regardless, the episode was enjoyable, and I did like it regardless. I wish the premise were utilized more, like in the Power Ponies episode.

That's actually the premise of my Fimfic idea of Discord making a real-life version of O&O but messes up as he loses his chaos magic and has to play as a ranger within the rules of the fantasy world along with Spike, Big Mac, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. I haven't written it yet because, over the past year, I wanted to get familiar with D&D and understand how to play beforehand so I can make the story more interesting as they play through a crazy world I created. So it will come out eventually, and with how things are, probably not until late 2024.