scienceandponies

Ever since his rather weak "reformation" in season 3, I've been loving Discords ambiguously villainous portrayal this season. I was just waiting for his betrayal ever since the events of the premier (entirely Discord's fault) oh so conveniently ended with the Elements of Harmony out of the picture. What really doesn't sit well with me though, is the fact that Discord, a character portrayed to be a magnificent bastard and master manipulateor of the highest caliber, who always seems to see the big picture and play a ver long game (thunder seeds plan for example), couldn't see the most obvious betrayal in the world coming. I think I have to jump onto the idea that he was at least partially trying to set up a situation in which Twilight gets her key, given how hard he was pushing hints at Twilight in the beginning, and the information he kept from Tirek. Not that he planned it all from the very start, but I see Discord as the kind of character who would play all the angles. Instead of just dragging in Tirek on the spot, join up and maybe actually plunge Equestria back into chaos if Tirek actually follows through on his promises, arrange for Twilight to get her key to the box if not. Notice he only spills all the information on Twilight and her friends after he has the medallion which he can gift to Twilight as a key. The only real confusing bit is Discord's emotional responses, which are all over the map. Gleefully destructive, his general sly "I've got all the answers" attitude, and genuinely remorseful at times. Either he's really good at acting mopey and conflicted (and later genuinely sorry after the fact) or he's not even aware of what he's doing. His mind is probably a tangled mess. Given his chaotic nature, I wouldn't be surprised if he's constantly running a dozen different long term schemes at cross purposes to each other without even being being conscious of most of them.