So, the series finale of Ponies finally aired in non-leaked form in the US.
In it, it was revealed that Discord was actually Grogar,
the magical goat man who brought Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow,
and very briefly Sombra back to form the Really Rottens.
His plan was to use them for easy wins for Twilight to build her confidence
before she became supreme horse god of all of Equestria.
We were thoroughly Pink Diamonded.
This was a great twist, and no one was mad.
ShadowFax Machine: Let me tell you why this is NOT a great twist!
This is goddamn cop-out.
It's lazy writing! I mean, they were clearly checked out at this point.
They all hammered their last paychecks, and said:
"We just need an easy way wrap this up in a stupid bow!"
...REALLY?
You took a great G1 villain and just made it Discord?!
What the hell is a matter with you?
Misty Sparkles: This made a lot of sense to me, since Discord is just Q but in Ponyland,
and therefore an effed up god hyper-focused on teaching lessons to a person that never really asked for it.
And it left me with one big takeaway:
If Discord was Grogar, and was able to disguise himself so completely
that he was only able to be found out through very powerful magic,
then… What other characters have actually been Discord this whole time?
There must be others.
We only found out that Discord was Grogar to test Twilight in the most screwed up way possible
because something went wrong.
There had to be other times where he did this.
Trying to teach lessons to his friends while completely disguised as someone else,
but we just never found out because they played out so perfectly.
ShadowFax Machine: A-And then Twilight makes it out like every one of their challenges was caused by Discord!
How far back are we goin'?
I thought it was just the King Sombra thing?
Or do you believe the Hydra was Discord?
Or the Tri-Horned Bunyip?
Was there no challenge in this whole series at all?!
This is all John de Lancie's fucked up coyote trickster shtick?
Misty Sparkles: So, here are my Top 6 characters who were actually Discord the whole time.
Six! Suri Polomare!
A seemingly nice pony that turns out to be a not-so-subtle villain steals Rarity’s whole fashion line,
and treats little waifu Miss Pommel badly.
Just a jerk of the week villain?
I don’t know, sounds more like Discord in disguise testing how true Rarity’s generosity is.
Number 5: Feather Bangs!
Weak and irrelevant Justin Beiber parody to only act as a romantic rival for Big Macintosh?
Nope. Discord shapeshifting into what he thinks women like in a dude to inadvertently give his good buddy,
Big Mac, the confidence he needs to ask Sugar Belle out.
Four! Fancy Pants, but only as he appears in "Between Dark & Dawn."
I think we can all agree that this episode was a delightful look into how the princesses act when casual.
However, the B-plot was about Twilight trying to do a royal swan ceremony thing
or whatever the hell this was, not realizing that the princesses didn’t do everything themselves,
and there was actually a whole team of ponies who help with this sort of thing.
Notably, Fancy Pants was a prominent part of this team,
but seemed very uptight and didn’t explain himself well,
and didn’t even get along with Rarity.
It was very uncharacteristic for him.
Now, it could have been because this episode was written by a comic writer
who doesn’t know every single character inside and out, but that’s not what’s happening.
No, Fancy Pants here is actually Discord.
This was one of his lighter tests for Twilight, teaching her the importance of delegating.
Three! Sludge.
A dragon claiming to be Spike’s dad shows up in Ponyville just as Spike and Twilight
are wondering if he’s missing something from his life due to not being raised by dragons.
Sludge then proceeds to jerk Spike around and confuse the hell out of him,
then reveals he was never Spike’s dad and was lying to him just to get in on living in the castle,
thus making Spike okay with who he is already.
A cruel freeloader who probably mentally effed up a child for life?
Or Discord forcing Spike and Twilight to come to terms
with the fact that it’s okay for him to be who he is and live how he does?
Number two. Hoo'Far.
So, this character baffled me.
In Road to Friendship, this unicorn told Trixie that she should come to Saddle Arabia
to show everyone her subpar generic stage magic show,
even though much more impressive magic just happens in the street daily.
He keeps offering Trixie his much bigger and much nicer caravan for her worn out dinky one,
which, since she’s so attached to hers, she doesn’t want to trade.
Then when Starlight makes the trade without Trixie’s consent,
he smarmily refuses to give Trixie’s property back,
even though he knows this thing is hers and was given to him without her permission.
And yeah, as he says, Trixie does not have his caravan so there can’t be a trade back.
But then when Starlight does show up and does have his caravan,
he will only budge if they somehow prove to him what good friends they are.
There is no other explanation, this is Discord.
He’s a very specific stranger that just shows up, keeps showing up,
and keeps putting up a persistent offer that he knows Trixie doesn’t want, but Starlight clearly does,
and then cruelly makes them prove something just to give Trixie back her property that she never agreed to trade.
Starlight: "Is he going to be following us for the WHOLE TIME?"
"I do not know."
The first time I saw this, I was just thinking there had to be something up with this guy,
like he was some kind of weird trickster god.
Nope, never got an explanation.
But now I know.
He was just Discord the whole time.
Before we get to number one, I want to give some honorable mentions,
because there are many more characters that are Discord that just aren’t listed here.
So, here’s some Discords.
The Storm King.
Lightning Dust.
Gladmane.
Zipperwhill.
That one lady in Equestria Girls that was happy to let her student become evil.
That weird puppet guy.
Dr. Caballeron’s minon that kind of looks like Ganon.
Holder's boulder.
Plaid Stripes.
Flurry Heart’s real father.
And of course, both of Scootaloo’s parents.
Now! Number one!
M.A. Larson.
I mean, come on now, we all saw this coming.
I don’t think there’s an explanation needed, frankly.
He’s written episodes that have really left a mark on the series,
also wrote some episodes that really left a mark on the fandom.
And he embraces it completely, with glee.
Not to mention, he wrote the episodes Discord premiered in.
Just throwing that out there.
Larson, since he’s Discord, was just testing us the whole time.
Testing what we enjoyed and testing if we could deal with change and critique.
"Twilight was better before she got wings!"
And you know what we did?
We failed!
ShadowFax Machine: That's it, uh, Bronies and Gentlebrones.
My Little Pony was a lie!
We wasted our lives for nine years and I want them back!
Editor's Note: You would have just wasted them anyway.
Silence...