You know, there's something that I've wanted to ask on this group but never got around to. I guess I was just wondering how everyone felt about the direct contrast between Starlight and Discord's reformations?

What exactly about that should be grabbing our attention?

6265378
You mean how Discord was resented and doubted by most, while Starlight was accepted almost without issue?

6265378
I don't want to say it but ponies are a bit speciest, Starlight is a unicorn which makes that she is a bit easier to rehabilitate back into community

6265378 We call it speciesism, or whatever it's called. Granted you could argue that the Mane Six have come a long ways since Discord.

6265440

Yeah, pretty much. Personally, it's always left a bitter taste on my tongue that Starlight was the one that had the most effort put into her and not Discord.

After all, Starlight fell down the path of villany because of one friend moving away. Not to mention, we don't even know if she ever tried to contact Sunburst while he was away or if she ever tried to reach out to any other filly or colt in her village. It just seems like she gave up after one failed friendship and went down this road of "anti-cutiemark". She knew about friendship; she just rejected it and tried to create a conformist fashion of "making friends".

Discord didn't. He had never had any friends; since we know so little about his backstory, I can't know for sure what his childhood was like. But, given how ponies tend to react to all things different and against their little "status quo", I can imagine it wasn't a fun time for Discord. He had nopony to teach him....anything. His whole problem in the first place was that he didn't know to use his powers in moderation and had a very skewed perspective of morality. Had the entirety of the Mane Six, excluding Fluttershy, taken initiative and actually bothered to give a shit about helping Discord turn good, things with Tirek would've gone much better.

6265488
6265509

I know it's a harsh reality to face, given how much the show tries to preach about friendship, but I have to agree with the both of you. Because Starlight was a pony, Twilight thought that she was much more deserving of a chance. Because a pony is much more naturally inclined to be "good" and "harmonious".

To be fair, Even though it seems Discord has some trust issues among the ponies more then Starlight, because of his famed chaos reign, and his betrayal in season 4, let's not forget that Starlight does get reminded in more ways then one about her past misdeeds, and they are still pretty frequent reminders. It goes to show that, even though they consider both former villains friends, their pasts are not easily forgotten about by the others. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Tempest Shadow/Fizzlepop Berrytwist shows up in Season 8 and she's getting some trust issues among the ponies of Equestria, or maybe among the Hippogriffs/Sea Ponies of Mt. Eris. Honestly, her shift into pony society would be an interesting episode or series of episodes.

But I am getting a bit off topic. I am hoping to see more of Discord in the upcoming season, cause, even though he's chaotic, he's a pleasure to have on the show and...

6265588
I actually am tackling a bit about Discord's betrayal with Tirek and how it pertains to his reformation in a story I've been meaning to submit to this site (and likely this group) for the past 4 years, pointing out that they've forgiven Spike (who became a threat due to his draconic nature) quite easily and Luna (who caused an equal amount of damage and upheaval) for their respective rampages whereas Twilight and her friends (minus Fluttershy) have shown not even the slightest sense that they even want, let alone believe, he is reformed, and that despite Discord not doing everything he could as well, they owed him way more than they gave in return. In conclusion, I completely get where you're coming from.

6265588
The way I see it, it's either a result of the show's writing, or the girls learning from their mistakes with Discord and actually try the next time they befriend a previous villain.

6265607
If that's true, it may be something unconscious they do, or something they don't really pay attention to unless it's pointed right on their faces, like in the main comic series (issues 55 and 56).

6266119

Yeah.... I know Discord often didn't make as much of an effort as he should've, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't pay attention as to when he did make an effort. Yet, the Mane Six all but expected him to be a model citizen just because he had Fluttershy; Discord was not allowed to have any bumps in the road whatsoever and was threatened with being turned to stone with no proof supporting the need for such an extreme action.

But let's, again, take a look at Starlight. Used her magic to force Big Mac to talk, used her magic to hypnotize the Mane Six minus Twilight into her mindless slaves, used her magic against her own rulers by means of a spell with no failsafe on it. Yet, all she ever seems to get is a stern lecture and a slap on the hoof with no ill repercussions or feelings towards her....

6266125

Then...that's a serious problem. Ignorance isn't an excuse and that's doubly so if they've had this pointed out multiple times, but never make any action to correct this behavior.

I think more along the lines of how Discord's reformation arc is more realistic then Starlight's. Starlight's change has frequently come under fire as being 'completely unrealistic' and 'the differences between her pre- and post-reformation character gives people whiplash'.

Discord, on the other hand, has a reformation arc that's not only realistic, but quite beautiful. Everything about it makes perfect sense, and even though he changes for the better, he's still very much the same person (er, draconequus).

6266226

Discord almost destroyed Equestria in the S4 Opener and he almost killed two princesses in Three is a Crowd, all for funsies, and he never faced any consequence for it. He also betrayed the ponies and almost destroyed Equestria (again) in the S4 finale, and he was forgiven instantly. Then there was the Gala accident, and for the first time Fluttershy actually got angry at him and he actually apologized.
Aaaaand then he returned to his old beautiful sociopathic self in the next episode, and proceeded to joyfully turning Twilight happy face into a miserable frown!

I absolutely agree that Discord's reformation arc was realistic and made perfect sense! It never actually happened.

6266226
Well, behaviour can be hard to change, and you can't always do it in an instant. It takes constant, conscious effort.

Then again, we have to have in mind that this is a show, and writers and producers differ in how to handle characters and episodes. The root of the problem may be on them, not on the characters they write.