My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Page 115

In the interview with the shows producer, he said that this two parter was always intended for season 2, but to get a jump start on season 2 (and keeping their employees active) they started making it during season 1.

edit: found the quote.

Tek: Ok, first of all, the first episode. Was it a postponed season 1 episode, and if so why was it postponed?

JT: Ah, no. It was always part of season 2. We were producing season 1 and 2 back to back, so it wasn't.. Nothing was postponed. We just knew that the premiere episodes were so epic that we wanted to make sure we had extra time to do them.
Phoe: Oh, wow.
Tek: Ok.
JT: We wanted to keep our staff onboard as well, you know, because sometimes between seasons, people, they finish their contract and there's time in between, and they end up at another studio or in another job, so... We wanted to keep people around as long as possible so it was like a good way to keep as many people as possible on staff so that we could bridge the gap between the two seasons.

Just saw the episode! Discord is so awesome! The painted glass scene was brilliantly animated. Brilliant.

I wonder if RD-honesty and AJ-loyalty would have made more sense though. I feel like the Rainbow Dash scene just didn't make any sense. Her dilemma had nothing to do with loyalty or disloyalty: she has ties to both her friends in Ponyville and her cloud city. The choice to stay on the hunt for the elements of harmony is not necessarily any better or worse than the choice to go to the cloud city, assuming it actually is in danger - and RD is not the kind of pony to see through deception easily.

I've been hoping that at least one pony will see through or resist Discord's manipulation, and if that's to be the only pony left is Twilight. However, she also got to see every other pony go bad, so it's like she's been forewarned - it would have been cool to see somebody resist the manipulation through a strong conviction in her morals, e.g. Fluttershy not turning away from kindness, because no logic or fallacy no matter how twisted could turn her away from compassion, imo (where as logic very well CAN show that lying can be good, which could trip up Applejack - even if you believe that lying can't be good, you can see how it can be argued that way).

Anyway, fantastic season opener, and I'm glad they were allowed to get away with a bit of a darker tone

Go Discord!

Also, I like how they're playing up the Luna mystery

Now time to read the pages of the thread I missed

edit: not only forgot to spoiler, but forgot to mention the fact that Discord said that Twilight's strength was magic instead of friendship (or organizational skills, haha)

Didn't the Fluttershy scene pretty much establish that Discord is doing the mind tricks just for fun? When she didn't bend to his will immediately, he just went, oh screw it, you're cruel now.

Yeah, that's what it looks like. This is why he kind of reminds me of the Joker from the Dark Knight movie. He likes spreading chaos and mayhem for the sake of it. He's more of a "chaotic evil" archetype instead of Nightmare Moon's plain old evil.

my thoughts exactly

think a lot of people are missing the bigger picture here. Discord isn't trying to corrupt all of the elements of harmony, just one: Twilight's. He's not tricking anypony, he's tormenting them and then using them as puppets to make Twilight feel like her friendships are falling apart. It's not about them, it's about her.

Let's look at the rather deft use of imagery throughout the episode. Discord is portrayed as a puppeteer, in the stained glass windows and again in the "Grove of Truth" scene. I think this is meant to be taken literally: he's not manipulating the ponies into abandoning their elements, he's using them as puppets. When he "possesses" them or whatever he's doing, their color drains away. They lose something vital: free will, or the ability to make their own choices, or whatever it is that makes them who they are, however you define it. They do what he wants, even if he doesn't have a direct mind control link.

This raises an important question: if Discord is a puppeteer, who is the puppet show meant for? I think it's pretty obviously Twilight. At the end of Applejack's scene, he could have chosen to reunite her with any of the others, but he chose Twilight because he wants her to see her friends at their worst. Likewise, after each scene, as another pony rejoins the group, it's Twilight who reacts to her changed behavior. The writers take the time to show us her reaction, and in a 22-minute episode about six characters with a whole mess of backstory, that's quite a red flag. Those reactions are important.

But what about Dash? Doesn't he offer her a choice? No. He's really just feeding her a cue. We know that Dash wouldn't choose to abandon her friends when Cloudsdale is in danger because she didn't do it earlier when Clooudsdale was having a nasty cola storm. She stayed in Ponyville to help them clean up the cotton candy clouds. She doesn't really have the choice, he's just using her to make another wrinkle.

What's the point of all the theatrics, then, if he's just hypnotizing them? Why bother to lure Applejack to the Grove of Truth, or make Pinkie Pie doubt her laughter in the balloon park, or show Rarity the illusion of the diamonds? Because he's sadistic, and he's playing with them. He only loses his cool and zaps Fluttershy because she's ruining his fun. He's just bucking with them. Because he can. This isn't a game; there aren't any rules; he's not really giving them a choice. He's just torturing them. For fun.

Granted, I can't really offer a full reading of the show because, like the rest of you, I've only seen half of it so far, but I think that the whole point of this has been to get to Twilight. She's the one who felt the "spark" of friendship in Season 1 Episode 2, which makes her the weak link. Discord isn't really a trickster; he's a bad dude who's trying to extinguish that spark by using Twilight's friends against her. If he is playing a game with them, he's using Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Dash as the pieces, and Twilight Sparkle is his true opponent.

Actually I was just referring to the part where you wanted one of the ponies to see through the deception and resist Discord that way, when the Fluttershy scene showed that buying the deception isn't necessary.

Didn't the Fluttershy scene pretty much establish that Discord is doing the mind tricks just for fun? When she didn't bend to his will immediately, he just went, oh screw it, you're cruel now.

I think that was Pacifist, not me. I'm assuming Twilight somehow goes apeshit with magic and breaks Discord's hold over the others, then the elements of harmony kamehameha him into the sun, or something.

Also you d'awwwwwwww (or cry?) you lose: + Show Spoiler +

the whole Harry Potter thing is that maze part of the episode is awfully similar to the maze task in the Tri Wizard Cup in the Goblet of Fire (book 4).

Actually I noticed this the first time but I didn't know what it meant.

Discord: "...because I don't turn ponies into... stone."

He's implying he does turn ponies into something. He turns them into little grayed out trolls! lol. But I think it might confirm the theory that he's not actually manipulating any of the ponies, he's transforming them while trying to manipulate Twilight. Also, if RD did not leave of her own will, but rather his will, that means the game is probably still on. But if the game is still on, that means Twilight could screw it up by using magic... unfortunately magic is always her plan A instead of plan B