I'll bet this made shippers happy. Not only is there a bigger opening for Discord/Celestia, but now it's opened up Fluttershy/Discord.

edited 19th Jan '13 3:43:41 PM by Pannic

Yeah, that reformation spell weirded me out as well. What kind of mind control stuff are you looking into Twi?

Regarding Celestia's protection spell on the elements, she probably designed that specifically because of the events of Ro H.

About that reformation spell: the first thing I thought of when I heard that was Sanctify the Wicked, which isn't exactly a brainwash spell, but no less disturbing.

Also, I found this. It made me laugh.

Twilight's into shady stuff. Want it Need it, Love Poisons, Reformation spells. Celestia really needs to step in and put a stop to this.

So I had a thought as I was out walking today— just what did all the other citizens of Ponyville think of Princess Celestia simply coming by and dropping off Discord? The Mayor or anybody doesn't get a say in this?

It may not have actually worked. We'll never know.

I never thought this supposed "reformation spell" had a chance of working anyway.

@JM: That's a really good question. I'd be pretty against that guy just showing up in town again after all the crap that happened last time. Did they even get a warning?

I also never thought that the reformation spell had a chance of working, but the fact that it exists is still disconcerting.

Even still, whether it works or not, just the sheer amount of literature there was that had instruction on the spell. You saw how many pages he was eating, and how many books Twilight was looking through. Is the sanctity of free will an alien concept in Equestria?

edited 19th Jan '13 4:06:09 PM by CDRW

Discord evidently thought it would.

Yeah, I do like it more after thnking about it. He DIDN'T just suddenly become good for the sake of being good. he's simply trying to get and hold onto a friendship he never knew he wanted.

he's trying to behave so that others will like him and be his friends, cuase he realized just how much more fun it can be to have others willingly participating in his games rther then just be puppets. He's trying to be "good" or at least not evil, but hasn't actaully changed that much. but the hope is there.

And agin, LOVE that Tia isn't trusting him right out. And nether are the rest. Sans Fluttershy maybe. but they are willing to give him a chance.

@CDRW: That's assuming an awful lot about how what the spell does or how it works. For all we know it has nothing to do with mind control and is more some sort of confinement spell meant to prevent ponies from attacking each other or something.

Just finished the episode. Solid overall, though the ending did feel a little heavy handed, especially with Twilight explaining what we just saw happen ourselves, but I enjoyed Discord a lot more this time around than I did in Return to Harmony. Plus, the "Say it!" bit was cute.

Celestia's reference to having a greater purpose for Discord's magic, combined with her ominous dialogue with Luna in the season opener, have my season arc senses tingling.

I'm not sure what they could be fighting that would challenge Discord though. The Auditors?

I don't know how much of a fight the Auditors would really be, though. As I recall, the only thing stopping Death from just taking them down is that he's not allowed to. I'm probably wrong about that, though; I haven't read any of the books with them in a long time.

So, watched the episode. Pretty good, Discord was a laugh as always XD

Hm. I just realizes that this breaks my theory about the nature of the elements - that they only banish discord(The concept, not the entity), and nothing else. Looks to me like their more of a power source with a few ideas of their own sometimes.

Considering they can be defeated by something as simple as taking on a sense of self, they don't pose too much of a threat. Discord could differentiate them from one another, pretty much killing them instantly.

edited 19th Jan '13 4:35:35 PM by kegisak

Hahaha sorry sorry was this posted already? [1]

Cause it made me laugh.

Even if Celestia isn't planning to use Discord's power to deal with some other threat, I have to say that reforming Discord is much better for Equestria in the long run than just hoping they can re-imprison him every time he escapes.

Clearly, Celestia is preparing for the Decepticon invasion and wants all the magical firepower she can build up beforehand.

Yeah, and now that we know the synopsis of the finale, it just, makes things even odder. WTF!! Three weeks till we find out.

Pinkie Pie could probably fight them pretty well with chocolate. If she could find a way to resist eating it herself.

@Meta Four: I would imagine that it wouldn't be that difficult to get the new group that wields the Elements to just reinforce the prison. This episode did show that the Elements are more flexible then we thought.

Though now that they can call on Discord there really shouldn't be any problem they couldn't be able to solve.

edited 19th Jan '13 4:45:13 PM by Mio

My theory was that they couldn't risk a showdown every time the Elements change hooves, so Celestia wanted this ended. I guess that's a secondary reason now.

Other then ones that require somehing he can't or wont do. Or he's not in ponyville anymore but off helpping the Princess, or any of a number of other possible reasons.

And, The "have the next bearers reinforce the prison" idea, assumes that there will BE 6 new bearers found and ready when the Mane 6 lose their connection. That it'll be lost by the new group forming their own connection, not by the existing one being severed by them dieing before a replacement can be found.