This story details how Applejack lost her parents. It's not a nice story - such things never are - but I hope it brings light on how she's come to be the pony we know and love today.

Discord has lived for quite a long time. Centuries as a ruler, a millennium as a rock, years as a reformed draconequus, it all gets very tiring. A nap is exactly what he needs. But when you live forever, time loses its meaning, years pass in the blink of an eye, mortals come and go like mayflies. And that's fine.
After all, any being that is truly important will live forever. Discord would never associate with anything less.