#twilight with chaos magic would have been op

[authorunderthevoid]

Hasbro were cowards for not making Twilight Discord's best friend along with Fluttershy.

[yaboy-robin]

Finally; Element swap au Rainbow Dash- the element of Empathy. And, her future wife, Wonder! 

I decided to scrap Magic as an element from this au. As, it always felt a lil weird to me that they had all these elements based around friendship. And, suddenly, they throw magic in there. And make it the most op. Nah. So, we have Empathy! A few other concepts I was working with was supportiveness and forgiveness, but I thought those didn’t think that fit this version of Rainbow Dash.

Anyway, on to Rainbow Dash herself!

The race against the boy bullies was never finished, as Hoops and Rainbow Dash crashed after Hoops attempted to bump Rainbow Dash so she would crash. Due to the race being unsupervised, and no pony going to check on Fluttershy who had fallen, all three children were sent to detention. 

This started Rainbow on a path of delinquency, causing her to rebel more and more. Cause more damage. And chaos. At some point she did it because ponies expected it of her. She’s not sure when though.

Rainbow was forced into an “after school program” that would keep her out of trouble. For this program, she had to chose an extra curricular to do. She went through them all, causing problems and getting kicked out. 

Until she found the science program.

Here, she could cause as much chaos as possible- and it was seen as a positive result! The cool explosions and things she was making to bring home- they were actually pretty neat! 

This program is where Rainbow Dash earned her cutie mark, representing her talent with more action oriented science. She wants results! 

Wonder was born to a pure pegasus family and was raised with pegasus expectations. She eventually earned her talent in organization and became the manager/organizer of the Wonder Bolts, which she was named after. 

She is, however, shadowed and not thanked a lot for her work. Not many ponies know it’s her making sure Soarin isn’t late for that show that inspired you to go into flight because he had a hangover. Or making sure no pony notices that pregnancy until the pegasus is ready to announce it. It was a thankless job, and the Wonder Bolts really took advantage of her and her kindness and patience. 

Until Rainbow Dash wins a day with the Wonder Bolts.She, at first, laughs off the teasing and shadowing of Wonder. These are her heroes! It has to be okay.... right? But, eventually, she sees it isn’t okay. And she stands up for Wonder.

The Wonder Bolts realize how terrible they’ve been to Wonder and have an appreciation show for her. Wonder, in thanks for making helping her out, gives Rainbow her rainbow item instead of Spitfire. 

Wonder herself is a bit of a shy dork. Like a fusion of Fluttershy and Twilight. These two love having book dates with the newest Daring Do!

[inamindfarfaraway]

It’s interesting he makes a similar mistake with Tirek in “Twilight’s Kingdom”. Yes, he’s betraying his friends and helping to doom Equestria, but he underestimated Tirek’s ruthlessness and willingness to betray him the way he would later with Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and once again Tirek. I think his real problem is that when he’s actually invested in a situation, he tends to assume he has more control of it than he does. In “The Return of Harmony” one of the things that makes him such an effective villain is the cunning brilliance hidden behind the kookiness: he knows the heroes will fall for a wild goose chase with his riddle about the Elements of Harmony’s location, isolates them to make them vulnerable, lures them into traps and manipulates their weaknesses. In particular he’s chillingly good at rapid psychological analysis. He’s just barely met the Mane Six, but he understands their flaws and sensitivities well enough to leverage their very elements against them (Pinkie Pie’s fragile self-esteem where her comedy is concerned, Rainbow Dash’s struggle with conflicting loyalties, etc.), despite his incredible raw magic power meaning he doesn’t even need to. Quite the evil mastermind. The spontaneity and silliness of his casual behaviour beg you to underestimate him. To think he does nothing but drift from one impulsive whim to the next. The truth is for a literal embodiment of chaos, he’s surprisingly fond of personal control. When he gets to have it, that is. Discord is clever, tricky and prefers convoluted plans dependent on his ability to predict others’ behaviour to quick solutions. These are core aspects of his character.

We see this strategy again in “Keep Calm and Flutter On” when he’s pegged Fluttersy as naive, gullible and too accommodating for her own good, and is totally sure he can use her to his ends. He’s tripped up by the same flaw that got him petrified in his last appearance: overconfidence. Then he let the Mane Six take their shot at him certain they still couldn’t use the elements; now he lets Fluttershy get close to him certain it won’t trigger any emotional revelations about himself having a fundamental need for companionship that’s never been met before. Both times he’s wrong. He takes a similar gamble with Tirek, except his assumption is the opposite because of how much he’s internalized his friendship lessons - that Tirek does value his company and is capable of caring - and is wrong again. This is his fatal flaw. It’s deeply ingrained and a hard habit to break. It’s realistic he’d slip backward and make the same mistake in Season Nine.

The Grogar scheme is a perfectly natural extension of his established character traits and behaviour. His plan is to manipulate the villains serving him to their downfall - as OP pointed out, his emphasis on cooperation implies he thought he might as well make an effort to teach them the value of love and friendship while he was at it - and set Twilight up to triumph. The elaborate deception is a gesture of kindness to a friend he had faith would succeed. It’s like “The Return of Harmony”, only altruistic. It’s like his indirect attempt at mentoring Twilight in “Princess Twilight Sparkle” on a much bigger scale. He’s pulled exactly this type of long-term, underhanded operation off before. Why wouldn’t it work now that he’s wiser than ever? He’s actively playing to his strengths. But that fatal flaw kicks in once more and he overestimates his ability to keep things under his control. Afterward he still demonstrates growth by taking full responsibility and, drained of magic, risking his life to buy the Mane Six time against the villains!

~Disclaimer, s9 MLP spoilers~

So I get that there’s a general debate with Discord being Grogar in s9, so strap in folks: this is gonna explain exactly why s9 portrayed everything flawlessly, and a look into the communication styles that MLP has to offer.

Discord being Grogar was not OOC. I don’t see this as a form of betrayal, this was an act of confusion. An act of someone who’s used a communication/personality style for so long, that they can’t quite yet discern when something goes too far. He wasn’t doing this to betray his friends, or to cause chaos (even for him being, y’know, a being of chaos). He did this because in his mind, what better way to help Twilight come to terms with ruling?

Discord reunites the four main villains of the franchise (excluding himself, as he’s the mastermind behind it, and excluding Starlight: a redeemed antagonist has no business in his plans anyway). He even, perhaps absentmindedly, starts teaching them the friendship lessons that he’s gathered over his time as a “reformed” lord of chaos.

See how he tries to get them to work together? Yeah, his subtext was “you can’t achieve destroying/conquering Equestia unless you work together”, but he was asking villains to work together. Again, this may have been absentmindedly, but it’s still a sign that he was learning something after all.

Some people might argue that this is stupid, and it ruins Discord’s character: I beg to differ. Discord never wanted them to rule Equestia. He never expected them to turn against Grogar either. He thought, if it all went his way, that the Mane 6 would destroy/imprison their enemies once again, and it would prove to Twilight that she could handle things. Anyone who thinks that he intended for anyone to get hurt, should turn their attention to the second episode of s9.

When King Sombra is in the castle, and the mane 6 think they can’t stop him without Discord, there’s the well known scene where he takes the blast to protect Fluttershy. Yes, that blast didn’t actually injure him all that badly, but he still took it. He never had any intention of actually letting them get hurt. That’s where he made mistakes in the end of s9, because clearly while well intentioned, he was sorely mistaken with how far the main three villains would go against his friends. (And for those who say he only did this for Fluttershy: 50/50 on that. Yes, they’re closer/implied to be romantic partners, but I think it’s safe to gather that at this point, he would’ve saved any of the ponies. Fluttershy was just a prime choice for the audience, as they have a deeper connection.)

Discords betrayal arc already happened at the end of s4. S9 isn’t an act of betrayal, as much as it is a misguided morally-gray type character, who’s intentions were in the right place, but who couldn’t quite realize he wasn’t going about this the right way.

How does this fit in with communication/personality types? I’m so glad you asked.

When you have a character, who’s intentions were perhaps not the best, when they actually try to do good, they’re in a bit of a learning curve. They’re genuinely trying, but they haven’t quite grasped it. Discord knows, especially from Fluttershy, that helping your friends is a super important element of friendship, and harmony. However, he also still maintains that chaotic part of himself, that can’t quite yet discern between which is a good helpful friendship tactic, and which is just.. too much.

Dare I also say, I find it interesting that almost all the main villains come from after Discord’s introduction? Chrysalis shows up in the S2 finale, Sombra (although defeated early in s9) shows up in s3, and Tirek is in s4. This is a fantastic foreshadowing of Discord being the “leader” of this band, as Grogar. Even though he didn’t want them to win, it’s a fantastic way of tying everything together, from a film stand point.

In conclusion, S9 is probably one of the richest, lore-centric seasons of any show, ever, and Discord only grows as a character. He does not become OOC or anything less by his actions, it’s just a whole, big, communications metaphor. This also isn’t saying that he wasn’t in the wrong: he absolutely was! But being wrong, doesn’t erase character development: sometimes, it just strengthens it.

EDIT: I came here to say, I think the fatal flaw in Discord’s plan was that he thought since he was a villain, he could still understand villains enough to have his plan go down without a hitch. If anything, his flaw was that he’s been separated enough from his villain-mindset, that he didn’t realize the lengths they would go to. I also want to say that his chaotic shenanigans don’t equal him being a villain. From his redemption onwards, nothing was outwardly harmful, further proving my point. It was only mischievous.

[themusiciantraveler]

A Trip Down the Rhine

Saturday.  June 2, 2018.

 The day started rudely early as we had had quite a late night the evening before, but 7:30am it was, and we were at the front door after a rushed but wonderful breakfast. We walked out to be greeted by a new van – shiny and black all over.  We began by investigating the new steed, which somehow seemed to have more leg room even though the van was most certainly smaller (we ended up downsizing from a 17-passenger to a 14-passenger).  But alas, we started to load the new van, hoping all the luggage would fit in the back.  By some magic, we somehow made it all fit with sheer willpower and Tetris skills. We won this morning’s round of Tetris and finally around 8:30 we were on the road in our shiny, new van.

We drove quite a while before we next stopped for gas, where we all proceeded to the nearest Rewe (another lovely grocery story) for snacks and such for the road.  After our stop, we headed on to Bonn and Beethoven’s childhood home.  Our little trip up to the north of Germany took us along the beautiful Rhine River.  Trains wound around the mountainside to our right and boats glided along down the river on our right.  The views were absolutely picturesque as we passed castle after castle through the countryside.

We finally arrived in Bonn, one of the many cities Beethoven called home, after one more brief pit stop and another small nap.  Bonn once used to be the capital of West Germany, however, today the once important city in the hierarchy of German culture is rather modern and messy.  But suddenly, in the middle of all the chaos, the crowds seemed to magically part to reveal a petite pink building in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the grey, industrial city – Beethoven’s birthplace and home.  We entered the home and were greeted by instruments and artifacts from the composer’s life.  After a brief run-in with a disgruntled tour guide over my camera, we finally entered the main house.  A note and fair warning: if you see or hear “Fotoapparat” or “Kamera”, be prepared to put your camera away, lest they confiscate it in some of the older monuments.

I was almost in tears seeing Beethoven’s compositions and furniture, and my heart nearly stopped when my eyes settled on his famous Heiligenstadt Testament.  Tears sprung to my eyes as I pondered this document that spoke to how miserable the deaf musician was towards the end of his life – how broken-hearted he was in the twilight years of his life after all but losing his precious connection to music.  We finished our tour with Beethoven’s very own pianos – I just wanted to stay there forever and cry.

We then went into yet another adorable gift shop where I decided to purchase a miniature bust of this favorite composer of mine.  At the last minute, I decided to flip through the stacks of Henle-Urtexts they had on hand. Now Henle-Urtexts are the nicest scores on the market and are the closest thing to the original manuscripts that we have access to today.  And what do you know, the very first score I pulled out was my own Sonata in F minor (Op 2 No 1) that I have been working on for my senior recital!  It was almost like it was drawn to me.  I just could not resist and ended up purchasing it for less than ten Euros.  I left on cloud nine as we attempted to find Michael and the car.

We got on the road to Cologne and another stunning cathedral.  We arrived the description of the cathedral did not do it any justice. The Cologne Cathedral is 240 feet tall and the stained-glass windows contain enough glass to fill over three entire football fields.  The cathedral was simply breathtaking and honestly beyond words.  The crowds surged through the place of worship and filled the hallowed halls, with voices echoing off the high vaulted ceilings.

We soon had to rush back to the van and were soon on our way to Rothenberg ob der Tauber, passing up Worms due to time.  Rothenberg ob der Tauber, not to be confused with simply Rothenberg, is a cute, but large walled-in city from the Middle Ages.  In fact, it is the oldest walled-in city from that time period that is still standing today.  They are world famous for their Christmas shops and souvenir markets.  It took just shy of five hours to get there, but it was well worth the drive.  The quaint little town was absolutely picture perfect at dusk and the most beautiful and relaxing end to quite a long day.

We wandered around the city for some time before we finally found everyone after they had all meandered off and stopped for dinner at one of the last few places that were still open.  The food was some of the best food we have had the whole trip.  I had veal tenderloins, smothered in gratineed cheese, over a bed of spätzle and wild mushroom ragu.  The restaurant was also featuring a fresh white asparagus (spargel) soup, which was absolutely delicious and tasted like heavenly melted butter.  After dinner, Jenessa and I wandered down the street to get ice cream for dessert and ended our day with one last little bit of exploration around the city wall in the moonlight.

I highly recommend that you visit Rothenberg ob der Tauber at either dawn or dusk.  The city is absolutely stunning and picturesque when bathed in the early morning or last rays of the day and is far less crowded than when it is filled tourists during the middle of the day.  Plan to allow enough time to visit the famous Christmas shops and enjoy a stroll around the city in the pale sunlight.  No matter the time of day, enjoy an ice cream cone from the shop in the heart of the city with the Italian flag over its window display.  It is never too early or too late for ice cream.