Discord (My Little Pony)

"You should see the looks on your faces! Priceless!"

- Discord, after scaring the ponies. "Who cares? I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I'm Discord, the master of chaos! You think you can boss Discord around? You think I'm just going to turn all this back because you say so? Because if I don't, I'll lose the one friend I ever had? [pause] Oh. Oh. Well played, Fluttershy. Well played."

- Discord

Discord, also known as the Spirit of Disharmony, is a (former) main antagonist-turned-supporting protagonist/anti-hero in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. He is also known as the spirit of chaos and disharmony.

He was voiced by the legendary voice actor John de Lancie.

Appearance
Discord is one of the species called a draconequus (as explained by Cheerilee from the beginning of the episode). Discord is a combination of many body parts from different creatures which also makes him a chimera. He has the body of a brown horse, the head of a gray goat, with an ivory deer antler on the right, a turquoise goat horn of the left, one long fang, yellow eyes with red pupils, an orange snake tongue, a black donkey mane, and a white goat beard. The rest of his body consists of the right paw of a pale yellow lion, the left yellow talon of a brown eagle, the right leg of a green lizard, the left leg with a sepia hoof of a chestnut deer, the right wing of a purple bat, the left wing of a blue bird, and a red dragon tail with a white tuft at the end.

The Return of Harmony, Part 1: Introduction
Discord was the main antagonist in his first appearance in The Return of Harmony: Part 1. Princess Celestia explains to Twilight and her friends that Discord was her predecessor as ruler of Equestria and caused chaos throughout for earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi alike. Nobody dared stand up to his outrageous rule until Luna and Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to turn him to stone, and took his throne from him. Celestia explains that since she and Luna are no longer in connection with the Elements of Harmony, the spell imprisoning Discord has failed and he has escaped from his stone prison and stealing the Elements of Harmony, implying to have hid them in the Canterlot castle labyrinth. With nothing to keep his powers in check, he begins to wreak chaos throughout Equestria, turning clouds into cotton candy that move of their own accord and rain chocolate milk, and causing animals to become wild and automatically change shape.

When the Mane Six venture into the Palace Labyrinth, Discord magically stole the pegasi's wings and the unicorn's horns so that they would be unable to use their magic or ability to fly to "cheat" in the "game" he forces them to take part in to find the Elements, and separates them by raising sections of the Labyrinth's walls. Discord used representations of the cast's cutie marks, and (with the exception of Fluttershy and Twilight) subtly manipulates them into questioning the morality of their element, which drains them of their color and severs their connection to the element they represent, causing their personality to become their polar opposite. He eventually plays on Rainbow Dash's loyalty by showing her a vision that her hometown of Cloudsdale would be destroyed without her, and offers her wings back and a choice to either go to its aid, or continue seeking the Elements. This tricks her into flying out of the Labyrinth, breaking Discord's first rule that all of the ponies must participate, or he wins. Discord then causes the entire Labyrinth to collapse, and standing before the five remaining Ponies, gleefully states that Equestria will now be thrust into eternal chaos.

The Return of Harmony, Part 2: Defeat
In "The Return of Harmony: Part 2", Equestria is thrown into eternal chaos, and Discord points out that he never said the Elements of Harmony were in the Labyrinth. It is not until she returns home that Twilight realizes the answer to Discord's riddle was that they were inside a book at her house. With the Elements, the ponies (minus Rainbow Dash, who is replaced by Spike) attempted to use them on Discord, but failed. Twilight was however able to restore them by using her magic to show them images of past adventures. She did this with Rainbow Dash last, after which they confronted Discord, who was still confident that they could not defeat him, and makes himself an open target. As the ponies' representation of the elements are restored, however, they use them on him in a similar style to Nightmare Moon, turning him to stone, this time with a look of horror frozen in his face.

Keep Calm and Flutter On: Beginnings of a redemption
In "Keep Calm and Flutter On", Celestia brought the stone Discord before the Mane Six and told them she could make use of his magic if they could reform him. As a precaution, she gave them their Elements of Harmony, enchanting them so Discord couldn't use his power on them. Twilight released Discord from his stone prison. With a combination of Fluttershy's stare and the threat of being turned to stone again, Discord didn't do much chaos, but brainwashed some beavers behind the ponies' backs. Fluttershy (whom Celestia was most confident in) was the only one willing to give Discord a chance, and had him stay at her house. Discord didn't act evil, but was trying to trick Fluttershy into eventually removing her necklace. He also ate several pages from books including a reforming spell Twilight planned to use on him.

While Discord was eating with the Six, attacking the other five for making comments about him, Fluttershy said she and Discord were friends, which affected Discord as he never had a real friend before. When the corrupted beavers flooded Sweet Apple Acres with their dams, Discord said he'd fix this in exchange for Fluttershy's promise not to use her Element of Harmony on him. Discord broke the deal and froze the water instead of removing it. Twilight wanted to turn Discord back to stone, but Fluttershy refused, having promised Discord not to. When Fluttershy walked away, however, Discord couldn't stand losing his only friend and restored everything to the way it was.

Fluttershy showed Discord how important friendship was to him, and once he had it he didn't want to lose it. Discord also said, rather reluctantly, "Friendship is magic", the first time the line was ever spoken in the series. However, the episode ends on a bit of a wary note as while Discord openly says he'd never use his magic for evil, he quietly adds "Most of the time", hinting that he might relapse into his former evil self. Celestia also, rather practically, leaves the Elements of Harmony in Twilight's position, just in case. Discord overhears Celestia revealing her intention to Twilight and shows a face of concern, possibly because of the lack of trust they have in him or because it will make any future evil plan of his harder to pull off. Whether Discord will truly reform entirely with everyone else in the series or relapse into his old ways has yet to be seen.

Discord was mentioned by Spike in the third season finale "Magical Mystery Cure". He was also shown in one of Fluttershy's flashbacks as well as in a flashback during Celestia's Ballad.

Princess Twilight Sparkle: Accidental villain
In the two-part fourth season premiere "Princess Twilight Sparkle", Discord appears when the Mane Six summon him, accusing him of the chaos in Ponyville.

With Discord claiming innocence, the girls prepare to turn him back to stone. But Fluttershy stands up for Discord, saying that he is indeed reformed. Discord thanks his new friend 'Shutterfly" while embracing Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy corrects him on name and pony. Twilight asks for Discord to help her find out who's responsible for the chaos, but he refuses, telling them to ask Zecora instead.

Later, Discord is still enjoying the mess in Ponyville and even enjoying the suffering of others, watching Cherry Berry and Comet Tail struggle from vines up until Twilight arrives and scolds him, telling him to help them, which he does. He asks Twilight what she's doing back already and Twilight tells Discord she left her friends behind because she needed to. Discord begun taunting Twilight, saying that he was shocked that she would leave her friends in danger. Discord's words get to Twilight and she leaves to save her friends. Discord waves as she leaves.

Later on, after she gave up the Elements of Harmony to the Element tree saving Equestria, Discord congratulates them and asks how they did it. They say they gave up the Elements of Harmony, Discord sees this as a chance to relapse, but Fluttershy warns him of the consequences, meaning he'll lose his friends. Discord agrees to clean up the mess, but he won't do the Windows. Applejack wonders why all this happened to begin with, and Discord mentions out loud that the planted seeds that should have sprouted long ago. Twilight uses Zecora's potion to see that Discord really did his Plunderseeds that were supposed to steal the Element Tree's power and capture the princesses, but the tree's powers were too strong. Twilight scolds Discord again saying they could have used this information, but Discord explains it was to teach Twilight a valuable lesson about being a Princess.

Three's A Crowd: Annoying trickster
In "Three's a Crowd", 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.

Ultimately, the blue flu turns out to be a deception. Discord claims that he was worried Twilight wasn't really his friend and concocted an intricate 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, who, although at first upset at being conned by the trickster out of her time with Twilight, tells the duo that the wild goose chase adventure was quite enjoyable to her as her duties at the Crystal Empire became predictable. Ironically, Discord is 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.

During his visit, Discord reveals that he and Fluttershy have been keeping a correspondence.

Twilight's Kingdom: Betrayal, forgiveness, and final redemption
In "Twilight's Kingdom", Celestia seeks the help of Discord to fight Lord Tirek. However, Tirek convinced Discord to betray his friendship with ponies in order to have freedom. Discord then helped him to consume magic from every pony of Equestria. Discord fell guilty when he allowed Tirek to absorb the power of his friends, but then Tirek betrayed Discord himself and absorbed his magic. Twilight exchanged her magic for all of her friends, including Discord who betrayed them. He then gave her a necklace which Tirek gave him as a symbol of their 'friendship'. The necklace turns out to be the final key that will unlock the chest which contained rainbow power. After Tirek is defeated, everyone, including Discord, gets their magic back.

By now, Discord has officially joined Twilight's group of close friends. To prove this, Discord creates a bouquet out of thin air for Celestia.

Make New Friends, But Keep Discord
In Make New Friends but Keep Discord, Discord learns that Fluttershy plans to take a pony named Tree Hugger to the Grand Galloping Gala instead of him. Jealous, he takes a green, slimy creature called the Smooze as his guest to the Gala. Throughout the evening, Discord tries to gain Fluttershy's attention while at the same time disregarding the Smooze. He unwittingly puts the Smooze in a position to consume a large quantity of jewels and valuables, causing it to grow exponentially and create havoc. When Tree Hugger soothes the Smooze to normal, Discord becomes fed up and nearly banishes Tree Hugger to another dimension. It is only when Fluttershy tells Discord that one can have more than one friend that Discord learns his lesson and apologizes for his actions.

What About Discord
In What About Discord?, Discord inexplicably bonds with Twilight's friends over a three-day weekend, much to Twilight's suspicion and envy. When Twilight is excluded from their inside jokes and tries to recreate the circumstances surrounding them, Discord tells Twilight that moments of friendship can't be manufactured. Twilight eventually admits her jealousy, and Discord reveals that he planned for Twilight to learn this lesson all along.

The Cutie Remark - Alternate timeline
The fifth alternate timeline created by Starlight Glimmer has Discord still evil and in power, chasing Celestia and Luna around. This timeline along the others that were created by Starlight Glimmer were all erase when Twilight Sparkle convince Starlight Glimmer to let Rainbow Dash do her Rainboom and history was restored to its original state.

Discord is set to return in Season 6

Personality
As the incarnation of chaos and disharmony, Discord professes great inclination to these two subjects. Every movement he performs is related someway with this. Discord possesses a very questionnaire and problematic sense of humor, many times grazing the madness, which is strengthened by his powers of reality bending. He specifically enjoys dressing up with different outfits, (some of them referencing to human topics, what raises the opportunity of him traveling to other worlds, such as our very world). As a semi omnipotent deity, Discord considers himself above all the rest, diminish magnitude to every setback presented before him, including those which suppose a threat to him. It could be said that Discord suffers of an superiority complex, something that has lead him to find himself trapped in a rocky prison twice. However, after every defeat he learned from his mistakes. After his first escape he did not underestimate the Elements´ power and tried to get rid of them, however, his overconfidence implied his failure once more when after corrupting the mane six he thought they were not a menace anymore.

After he was released under Princess Celestia's supervision, he tried to find a supernumerary way to counter the Elements power by manipulating Fluttershy for his own desires behind the trick of a false friendship, which eventually resulted counterproductive since he especially developed strong feelings for her. This leads to two prominent attributes in Discord's character. He is highly manipulative, showing no hesitation in lying, tricking, playing filthy and diverse mendacious methods in order to achieve his goals. He seems to have a rather sadistic side to him, such as when he was gleefully lying back and watching Cherry Berry and Comet Tail struggling to get untangled from the Plunderseeds, and due to the fact that he constantly laughs at other's dismays. In Keep Calm and Flutter On, he is seen wearing dead bunny slippers and chuckling at the ponies misfortunes at the dinner party. In fact, he is a supporter of physiologic torture, as he enjoyed Twilight´s despair once she found herself abandoned by her friends. However, if he can´t obtain the expected results with his charming skills he doesn´t doubt in using the force to brain wash his victims. However, there is still some good inside him. In the moment Fluttershy declared to consider him a friend Discord showed to be really affected by this statement, as he mentioned that he had never had friends before. Many fans consider this fact as the motivation that drove Discord the way he is. Until the moment Fluttershy had shown to see Discord as more than a monster but as a true "sweetheart" he hadn´t realized of how alone he was. If fact, he hated his loneliness that much that just for not being on his own again he renounced to domain the world as he had ever desired. However, since then, it seems he still remains his mostly mischievous self.

In "Twilight's Kingdom", it shows that Discord has begun to truly understand friendship with all of the ponies and fell guilty when he has allowed Tirek to drain their magic powers. He then asked Twilight for forgiveness and thanks her for saving him. At the end of the second episode, it shows that Discord made friends even from Celestia and Luna - his formal nemeses. Twilight even included him into her kingdom "court" as one of her closest, dearest, and most loyal friends.

However, despite this, come "Make New Friends but Keep Discord", Discord still apparently struggles with understanding the concept of friendship, and still shows his mischievous and self-centered traits, feeling that he was replaced by Fluttershy's new friend Tree Hugger and that Fluttershy no longer cared for him just because she had chosen to bring Tree Hugger over him. As well, he brings the Smooze as his friend to the Gala, knowing about the Smooze's non-malicious but rather disruptive and dangerous nature, intentionally trying to cause mischief just to make his point to Fluttershy.

PONY.MOV
A heavily modified version of Discord is also the main antagonist of Hotdiggedydemon's .MOV series. For more details on that incarnation, see Discord (Hotdiggedydemon.com).

Others
Fans have picked up on the Satanic elements present in Discord's character, notably him being an omnipotent, malevolent trickster and tempter who stands opposed to Order and Harmony itself. Many depictions of Discord thus cast him as the Ultimate Evil present in Equestria. In many fan works, he's been portrayed as a Complete Monster, in stark contrast to his portrayal on the show.

Some other depictions cast him and Chaos as a necessary force that balances Order. Occasionally, fans may straight-up portray him as a good-natured fun-loving guy (this is often accompanied by depicting Princess Celestia as an oppressive tyrant).

Powers and Abilities
As an embodiment of Chaos, Discord appears to be borderline omnipotent. He has manifested a great number of abilities and skills over the course of G4 MLP - abilities he has shown so far include:
 * Hybrid Physiology (Discord has a body made of different parts of creatures and animals)
 * Reality Warping (Discord is capable of alter reality into many ways and manipulate the laws of nature and the physics of the world - he is also able restore reality back into it's original state.)
 * Size-Shifting (Discord has varied in size from very large to being small enough to fit in a pony's ear)
 * Shape-Shifting (Discord has taken many odd forms, some of which defy physics or parody characters)
 * Probability Alteration/Logic Manipulation (Discord can cause extremely unlikely events to occur within his vicinity and alter the laws of logic to his whim)
 * Telekinesis (Discord has shown enough telekinetic skill to lift the entire Mane Six up magically, such as when he angrily "grabbed" them by the collars)
 * Hypnosis (Discord has shown the ability to corrupt others and is skilled at hypnotic magic - he can even outright take control of someone's mind, though he prefers not to)
 * Telepathy/vast knowledge (Discord was able to know all the strengths and weaknesses of the Mane Six as well as their names, without ever having met them before, He also knew about Twilight Sparkle's princess coronation and the "Winter Wrap Up Song", despite not being there, and he knew how Twilight Sparkle felt about her role as princess. However, he was unable to predict that Tirek would betray him, so he is not omniscient)
 * Fourth Wall Awareness (Discord appears to be aware he is in a cartoon, so far he is the only being in MLP that has this trait save for Pinkie Pie)
 * Teleportation (Discord is able to teleport from one place to another - he can also teleport an object or a creature to him as well - He is also able to make objects disappear out of thin air)
 * Creation: (Discord is shown to be skilled with creation magic - he is able to create objects, creatures and plants at will, including powerful magical creations like the Plunderseeds)
 * Levitation (Discord is able to float in the air)
 * Flight (Discord can fly using his wings - He was also able to achieve a supersonic flight similar to Rainbow Dash's)
 * Self-replication (Discord can create copies of himself)
 * Animation (Discord can bring any inanimate object to life)
 * Appendage Generation (Discord can grow extra body parts)
 * Anatomical Liberation (Discord can make parts of his body come apart, and is able to move them while detached so)
 * Object Possession (Discord was able to use his head to possess a balloon, he can also appear magically in various objects, such as gems and stained glass windows)
 * Transmogrification (Discord can alter the appearance of objects and creatures, such as: giving bunny rabbits deer legs, making a squirrel and a bunny rabbit large and hulking, and turning apples into oranges and oranges into apples)
 * Matter Ingestion (Discord is able to consume matter such as glass, a painting, and a tea cup)
 * Portal Creation (Discord can open portals to different dimensions by using his eagle claw to cut through the fabric of reality)
 * Disease Generation (Discord can inflict ponies with any kind of diseases and illnesses)
 * Blue Flame Generation (Discord is able to generate blue flames, as shown in Three's A Crowd)
 * Color Alteration (Discord was able to fade Twilight's friends' colors, he also changed his color to blue to make it look like he had the "blu flu" and turned a tablecloth from white to red by touching it)
 * Thought Manifestation (Discord is able to show his thoughts to others by using clouds of smoke, such as when showing Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadence a flower that would cure the "blu flu")
 * Enhanced Strength (Discord is deceptively strong, enough so to take a tree out of the ground)
 * Enhanced Hearing (Discord was able to hear Applejack from far away)
 * Weather Manipulation (Discord is able manipulate the weather by making rain clouds go crazy, causing thunder storms or creating cotton candy chocolate rain clouds)
 * Animal Manipulation (Discord is able to manipulate the animals' behavior)
 * Daytime Manipulation (Discord is able to manipulate celestial objects at will to bring about daytime or nighttime)
 * Gravity Manipulation (Discord is able to make things float into the air, and making objects lighter or heavier)
 * Time Travel (Discord is able to project himself and others into events that have happened in the past)
 * Prehensile Tail (Discord can use his tail to hold things, and can make his tail tuft into a hand)
 * Cartoon Physics (Discord is able to use cartoon physics by stretching his limbs, moving very fast, turning his mouth upside down and appearing out of unexpected places)
 * Magic Imbalance Detection (Discord has the natural ability to sense major disturbances in magic, such as magic being stolen, or transferred into others)
 * Immortality (Discord seems to be immortal, as he has stayed in his stone prison for thousands of years without dying. He is also presumably just as old as, if not older than Celestia and Luna)
 * Master trickster and manipulator (Discord is good at deceiving ponies and making them do his bidding without even realizing it)
 * Old Prime (Despite his age, Discord is shown to be skilled at water skating as well as ice skating)

Weaknesses
Discord's strengths are many, while his weaknesses are extremely few. Attacking him head-on is usually doomed to fail, as he can easily thwart any assault through his reality-warping power. However he is vulnerable to the Elements of Harmony, which have successfully turned him to stone twice. Using the Elements also dispels all of his chaotic magic, returning things to their rightful shapes and places.

He has also been shown to be vulnerable to other entities of immense power, such as a sufficiently empowered Lord Tirek. Discord was not able to escape Tirek's telekinetic grasp, nor stop the villain from draining all of his chaotic magic. This may be due to Tirek's anti-magic properties shutting down Discord's magic when sufficiently empowered. Similarly, a sneeze from the Tatzlwurm was able to infect him with a severe illness he was not able to cure himself of.

One important weakness of Discord is himself. He tends to be very overconfident and so assured of his own invincibility that he will not go all-out against enemies. In addition, his tendency to underestimate opponents means that he can be taken by surprise and defeated before having the chance to react. While intelligent, he is also not immune to being manipulated, and fell for Tirek's proposition to become allies, not suspecting that Tirek would betray him in the end. Also, prior to his redemption, he secretly wanted a friend, which allowed Fluttershy to sway him towards the side of good.

Trivia

 * He is voiced by John de Lancie, who also played Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Discord has a few similar traits from him, including the snapping of his fingers and teleporting in a bright light: however, Discord was originally more malicious than Q (who was more of an anti-villain): though since his return he seems to be more like Q in being a neutral trickster.
 * He is the second major villain on the show to have been presumably redeemed (the first being Nightmare Moon) and the first major villain to have been redeemed via non-magical means (without the use of the Elements of Harmony).
 * He is also the only being in the series so far who has been proven to be completely immune to Fluttershy's stare. Given that The Stare has in the past reduced a full-grown dragon into submission and overpowered the magical stone gaze of a Cockatrice, Discord shrugging it off like it was nothing is a testament to his incredible power.
 * Discord made a cameo appearance in the first ever fan-made My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode called Double Rainboom as a front cover of the book that Blossom was reading in the ending credits.
 * Discord can also be seen in Season 4, Season 5, Season 6, intro, in Fluttershy's house.
 * Discord is one of the most powerful characters in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the others are; Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, Tirek and Starlight Glimmer.
 * Although Discord has been reformed, he still performs acts of questionable ethical integrity, for example, not saving ponies in danger by the Plunderseeds (and appearing to take joy in their suffering), manipulating Twilight to venture into the Everfree Forest, or not telling the Plunderseed´s origin until the problem was completely solved. He also considered the possibility of going back to his old ways in the moment he was notified of the disappearance of the Elements, only to be stopped by Fluttershy. It is perhaps on this that Spike tells Twilight that Discord is "reformed, but not that reformed". This is all before the fight with Tirek which presumably sees him fully reformed.
 * It is implied Discord was much more evil in the past; one stained glass shows him dangling screaming ponies over fire.
 * He is the second major villain to have a song (the first being Queen Chrysalis).
 * Aside from Nightmare Moon, who is a dark transformation of Luna (and considered by some to be a separate entity manifested from her jealousy), Discord is the only major antagonist to return in a later episode outside of a flashback.
 * Discord is the only major antagonist who is confirmed to be behind another major antagonist. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, Sunset Shimmer, and Tirek were acting on their own motives but the Plunderseeds were created by Discord.
 * According to the Elements of Harmony book, Discord's redemption was done so new stories could be told with his character and to turn him from the known enemy into the "not-always reliable ally".
 * He is the third most recurring antagonist in the show, the other being Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon (not counting Nightmare Moon).
 * Discord is currently the only villain who successfully defeated the Mane 6, even if it was for a brief amount of time.
 * Discord is the first male major antagonist in the show (the others being King Sombra and Tirek).
 * He is also the first major antagonist who is not a pony.
 * Discord lives in a chaotic dimension as it was revealed in the episode, Make New Friends But Keep Discord.
 * Discord bears a similarity to Eris, since both enjoy "glorious chaos" and use the protagonists (Sinbad and Fluttershy) to help them reach their goals (stealing the Book of Peace/Stealing the Elements of Harmony) and both have red and yellow eyes. Unlike Discord, Eris still continue to cause chaos while Discord quit causing chaos when he became a friend with Fluttershy.
 * His alternate timeline in The Cutie Re-Mark, despite being heavily implied to be one of the worst possible fates for Equestria, is arguably the most lighthearted, as he merely resorts to juvenile hazing toward Celestia and Luna instead of being a destructive conqueror like the other villains. This is most likely due to his anti-villain status.