Discord

By Sazama Ichida

• February 24, 2015




Age: Unknown

Gender: Male

Species: Non-Pony

Appearance: The word "draconequus" is composed of the Latin "draco" or Greek "drakon", meaning "dragon", and the Latin "equus", meaning "horse". Discord is technically a chimera since he is composed of the body parts of different animals, but this term is not used for him in the show (a more traditional chimera appears in the episode Somepony to Watch Over Me). His head is horse-like, much different from other ponies' head styles, though Cheerilee describes it as a "head of a pony". He has a deer antler on the right, a blue goat horn on the left, one long fang, different-sized pupils, a snake tongue, a goat beard, and white bushy eyebrows. He has the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. In addition, he has a bat's right wing, a Pegasus' left wing, a horse's mane, and a dragon-like snake's tail with a white tail tuft. The shape of his body resembles that of a snake. Discord bears a resemblance to a Chinese dragon, a creature often depicted with a serpentine body, facial hair, feline claws, and antlers.

Cutie Mark: None

Personality: In The Return of Harmony Part 1 and Part 2, Discord is shown to be a mischievous and manipulative trickster who effortlessly pulls pranks on others through the use of his powerful magic, illusions, and hypnotism with little to no consideration towards his victims. He has a sense of showmanship and drama, preferring to be playful towards his victims before getting down to business, as seen when he mocks and banters with Celestia and the Mane Six in Canterlot Tower. He laughs and amuses himself with his magical chaos, mostly at the cost of others. Among other things Discord turns the ponies against each other, making Twilight Sparkle miserable and depressed, and generally causes ridiculous things to happen. Discord is arrogant and overconfident, as he underestimated the ponies' ability to restore their friendship and wield the Elements of Harmony. Despite having a fondness for chaos, he can become easily annoyed if things don't go according to his plan; he becomes impatient when he cannot corrupt Fluttershy as easily as the other ponies. In Keep Calm and Flutter On, Discord states that he's never had a friend. He appears touched when Fluttershy declares herself to be his friend, and it is that glimpse of genuine friendship that causes him to undo the chaos he had caused. He states at the end of the episode that he will use his magic only for good from now on: "most of the time". Since then, he has kept his chaotic tendency to a low, though is still more than willing to cause mischief. In Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1 and Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2, he was shown to indirectly aid the Mane Six in defeating the plunder seeds, which he himself planted long ago in a bid to defeat the royal sisters. Even after the force that is most capable of defeating him is gone, he keeps his word to Celestia and does not go on a rampage, and he is rather easily swayed by Fluttershy. In Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1 and Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2, after he betrays the ponies of Equestria and Lord Tirek subsequently betrays him, he shows deep remorse for his actions and apologizes to Fluttershy and her friends upon realizing the true importance of friendship. When Twilight and the others forgive him and the ponies accept him in the end, Discord appears truly happy, which he expresses by giving Princess Celestia a bouquet of flowers.

Backstory: Discord is a recurring character and former antagonist introduced in the season two premiere. Princess Celestia explains that Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony who once ruled over Equestria in a state of unrest and unhappiness, until she and Princess Luna used the Elements of Harmony to imprison him in stone. However, after the sisters lost their connection to the Elements, the spell was broken and Discord broke free. Later in the series, Princess Celestia decides that Discord should be reformed so his magic can be used for good. Discord first appears in The Return of Harmony Part 1 during the opening scene, encased as a statue in the Canterlot sculpture garden. The statue is posed in a cheerful manner, in contrast to the frightened pose that Discord assumes when being turned into stone at the end of the next episode, which concludes the story arc. Cheerilee, who is taking her Ponyville class on a field trip, stops the class to point out the draconequus statue. The three Cutie Mark Crusaders bicker over what it is supposed to represent, resulting in his statue beginning to crack.<br /><br />Before he is directly introduced, the six leading characters witness the effects of his power in Ponyville. Inexplicably, things begin acting irregularly, such as clouds made out of cotton candy that move of their own accord, chocolate milk pouring down from the sky as if it were rain, and animals that behave uncharacteristically and spontaneously change shape. Princess Celestia explains to Twilight Sparkle and her friends that Discord is the spirit of disharmony in a way similar to Cheerilee's teaching. He caused unrest and unhappiness throughout all of Equestria for Earth ponies, unicorns, and Pegasi alike. Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna, rose up against Discord and used the Elements of Harmony to turn him to stone. However, since she and Luna are no longer connected to the Elements of Harmony, the spell imprisoning Discord has broken and he has escaped from his stone imprisonment. When the Elements of Harmony go missing, Celestia accuses Discord of stealing them, because they were held in a chamber protected by a spell that she believed only she could break. Discord appears in the stained-glass windows of the palace and replies with a riddle, leading Twilight to believe that he hid the Elements in the Canterlot castle labyrinth. When Twilight and her friends venture into the palace labyrinth, Discord prevents them from "cheating" in his "game" by magically removing the ponies' wings and horns. This enforces the first rule of his game: no flying and no magic. The second rule is that they must all play the game, or else he wins. He physically separates them in the maze and the game begins. Discord uses representations of the friends' cutie marks to psychologically brainwash them into contradicting the elements they represent. The one exception is Fluttershy, who is not embittered by Discord's claim that her friends think she is helpless; he gets frustrated at the difficulty of upsetting Fluttershy, and manually brainwashes her. He bids her goodbye with an extremely agitated "arrivederci".<br /><br />After making Applejack dishonest, Pinkie Pie disagreeable, Rarity selfish, and Fluttershy unkind, Discord plays with Rainbow Dash's loyalty to her friends by showing her a vision that her hometown of Cloudsdale would be destroyed without her. He offers her a choice: she can either have her wings back and go to the aid of Cloudsdale, or continue to seek the Elements. Falling for the bait, she flies out of the labyrinth and breaks Discord's "no flying and no magic" rule. Discord, having "won", destroys the entire labyrinth and proclaims that they "might be due for a big old storm of chaos". Twilight is upset when Discord takes away the maze before they can find the Elements of Harmony, until Discord reveals they were not in the labyrinth. Discord magically shows her the riddle again, and she realizes that the Elements are "back where she began". Afterward, Discord turns Ponyville into what he claims will be the "chaos capital of the world". Twilight finds the Elements and forcibly places them on the corrupted ponies and Spike who was hastily substituting for Rainbow Dash. However, the Elements fail miserably just as Discord expected. Twilight loses faith in their mission and almost becomes entirely corrupted herself until she re-reads the letters that she wrote to Princess Celestia about the magic of friendship. With renewed motivation, she cures all her corrupted friends by making them remember the wonderful times they had together. Discord continues to be unconcerned and is easily defeated by the reawakened powers of the Elements. After being struck with a rainbow similar to that previously used on Nightmare Moon, Discord is turned back into stone, but this time with an expression of fear frozen onto his face. Discord's next appearance is in Keep Calm and Flutter On, in which Princess Celestia delivers his statue to Ponyville in the hopes that the six ponies can successfully reform him as a mutual ally. She casts a protective spell on the Elements of Harmony and personally requests Fluttershy to give him a chance. Once Celestia leaves, he is released by the elements and reveals that he has heard everything while imprisoned in stone. He resides in Fluttershy's cottage for most of the episode, taking advantage of her enduring patience and hospitality. During Discord's stay, he is legitimately surprised to hear that Fluttershy defends his actions and even considers him a friend. The situation soon becomes critical because of an earlier prank resulting in the flooding of Sweet Apple Acres, so Fluttershy asks Discord to reverse everything. He says he will do so on the condition that Fluttershy will never raise her element against him, so she reluctantly agrees much to the chagrin of her friends. This leads to Discord betraying her and only freezing the water, believing that he is finally free to wreak havoc and offering Fluttershy to indulge in ice skating with him. Though Fluttershy does not break her own promise, she angrily renounces her friendship with him and walks away.<br /><br />Initially, he brags about how no one tells him what to do and asks if she truly believed that he cared if he lost his first and only friend. This results in an epiphany as Discord finally understands the consequences of his actions - and realizes that he actually does value her friendship. Feeling ashamed and with his eyes welling up with tears, he returns everything to normal after finally understanding the magic of friendship, if somewhat embarrassed to admit it. When Princess Celestia arrives later, he announces that he is ready to put his magic to good use "most of the time". While Celestia senses a change in Discord's outlook and is eager to accept him, she is aware that she is dealing with the spirit of chaos and leaves the Elements of Harmony in the possession of Twilight Sparkle as a contingency plan. Discord overhears Celestia revealing her intention to Twilight and shows a face of concern. Fluttershy holds his paw and reassures that "He can be a real sweetheart once you get to know him." However, the others give expressions of uncertainty.<br /><br />Discord appears in the season 4 premiere two-parter when the Mane Six summon him in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1, accusing him of the chaos occurring in Ponyville. Discord denies any of this was his doing, claiming he enjoys the new style of Ponyville, but that he can't claim responsibility for it, mentioning that he is reformed.<br /><br />With Discord still claiming innocence, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash get ready to turn Discord back into stone. Fluttershy stands up to the trio and gets them to stand down by mediating that he might not be lying after all. Discord thanks his friend "Shutterfly" whilst embracing Rainbow Dash, before Fluttershy corrects him on the name and the pony. Twilight Sparkle asks Discord to help them find out who is behind the trouble, but after showing a disapproval of the way he was treated, he points them with a large arrow towards Zecora as she was arriving. Afterward, in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2, Zecora uses a potion to show Twilight Sparkle how Celestia and Luna first found the Elements of Harmony and used them to originally imprison Discord in stone. Later, Discord is still enjoying himself using Gummy as a nail file, and even watches Cherry Berry and Comet Tail getting squeezed by vines, up until Twilight Sparkle arrives to scold him, and demand he help, which he does by getting rid of said vine. He asks about the Tree of Harmony, and Twilight Sparkle tells of her friends' decision to have her stay behind. Discord is surprised that Twilight Sparkle agreed to such a plan, accusing her of keeping herself out of harm's way while her friends rush headlong into danger. The draconequus' words get to Twilight Sparkle, and she races back to help her friends in the forest. Later on, after giving up the Elements of Harmony and saving the Tree of Harmony, Discord appears to congratulate the ponies as they emerge from the forest. This is despite the fact that, when the power of the Tree destroyed the vines, Discord reacted with disappointment at this outcome. When he asks about the Elements, the ponies inform him that they were gone. Discord is quick to ponder the possibilities of this, but Fluttershy swiftly warns him to control himself if he wants to remain friends. Applejack wonders why this all happened to begin with, and Discord mentions out loud that the seeds he planted should have sprouted long ago. Twilight Sparkle asks him what he means, and using Zecora's potion, Twilight Sparkle observes that prior to his original imprisonment, Discord had secretly planted his "plunderseeds" to steal the Tree of Harmony's magic and capture the princesses, but it was only until now that the tree had enough magic to keep the seeds from growing. Twilight Sparkle berates Discord for withholding this information, but Discord explains it was to teach Twilight Sparkle a valuable lesson about being a princess. Discord visits Ponyville claiming to be suffering from "blue flu" and asking for help from his pony friends. With Fluttershy away on a trip to observe the Breezies, it ultimately falls to Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance to care for him while he is ill.<br /><br />Ultimately, the blue flu turns out to be a deception, albeit Discord somehow managed to spread it to both Rarity and Applejack earlier. Discord claims that he was worried Twilight Sparkle was not really his friend and concocted an elaborate test to determine if she would really act like a friend to him. He is overjoyed to see that she chose to help him, even though it interfered with her time with Princess Cadance. Ironically, Discord becomes infected with a real disease when a Tatzlwurm sneezes on him. He is placed in a quarantine bubble in Fluttershy's cottage where his Pegasi friend can care for him.<br />During his visit, Discord reveals that he and Fluttershy have been keeping a correspondence. In the first part of the two-part finale of season four, Princess Celestia chooses Discord over Princess Twilight to help track down a villain. He appears before the Mane Six and gloats about his new mission, even jokingly suggesting that he be made an Alicorn princess. Discord brings up the Tree of Harmony's mysterious chest and mentions that whatever's inside could help Twilight prove her worth as a princess. He gives Twilight her journal, marking several entries for her. Twilight later discovers the common theme of these entries having a connection to the mysterious chest at the Tree of Harmony. Later on, Discord is convinced by Tirek into returning to his old ways of chaos. He then assists Tirek in consuming the magic of all three pony races. In the season four finale, Discord helps Tirek take over Canterlot before targeting Ponyville. He reveals his treachery to Twilight's friends, causing Fluttershy to break down sobbing. However, Discord is himself betrayed by Tirek and drained of his powers, making him unable to transport, transform or cause chaos. Discord sees the folly of his actions and is remorseful. It is ultimately Discord who helps Twilight discover her key by giving her a trinket that Tirek had previously given him, which Tirek had previously received from his brother Scorpan. He then truly reforms at last, having realized the true importance of friendship, and has his magic restored when Tirek is defeated. At the end of the episode, he is accepted by the other ponies and is seen celebrating with them before offering a bouquet of flowers to Celestia and winking at her.