@CronoM  
She only “admitted” that because Fluttershy was one of the few characters with a chance of getting through to him, which actually makes sense since she was the only one who resisted his mind games. And considering the fact that she made sure the elements could be used on him should he get out of line again, it’s pretty clear that he she knew that him deciding to go road was still a possibility.
 
It wasn’t because sweeping it under the rug for a thousand years was convenient, it’s because he presented himself as too dangerous to be left roaming free after his little stunt, so she took the appropriate action.
 
You seem to be forgetting the fact that as far as Celestia was concerned, Discord did everything that Cosmos did (and again, he took credit for it, so he should have seen this coming), so his punishment was more than justified.
 
Also, kind of weird that he never bothered to bring up his little grudge/desire to see Celestia discredited during Fluttershy’s reformation process if he was that dead-set on Celestia “admitting her wrongdoings” to him.
 
Almost as if this comic is basically him lying through his teeth.

I would also like to add that Celestia banishing Luna to the moon for 1000 years didn’t count as a blemish in the public eye in terms of Celestia’s reputation. Unlike some “fallen to darkness” characters who had evil amplified by a magical device, ex Sunset Satan, Midnight Sparkle, many of the EQ villains (many if which turned full demon after being exposed to the element of magic in particular)…Luna went Vader on her own. It’s not unbelievable that such a thing could happen because the sisters magical level just on their own fulfills the requirements of “absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
 
Even people who cite exclusively mlp comic #5 and #6 that Luna was corrupted by an outside force, have to remember that Luna reveals in #7 and #8 that she was lying to the heroes…Nightmare (though possessing rarity at the time) was all her, her leftover dark half, her King Piccolo to her Kami.
 
What the Mane 6 did to Nightmare Moon in episode 2 WAS truly a reset on Luna’s uninfluenced choice to go Vader. Not that characters like pre reform Sunset weren’t evil to a degree before turned demon, but the outside amplication of that was a real eye opener for her and others listed.
 
Luna did not come out of her demonification like Sci Twi/Midnight Sparkle. Equestria initially saw her return, as Luna, as a sister of good who willingly turned evil in the past and could go evil again, for those who didn’t know her. And she had made her return initially as the evil Nightmare Moon, so people were even more wary of her. Her banishment may be another skeleton in Celestia’s closet, but most would write it off as “she did the best she could, Nightmare Moon was pure evil and couldn’t be reasoned with” etc. Also, many had doubts Nightmare Moon even existed until she returned. Luna reforming took centerstage instead of Celestia banishing her for that long. The elements were the only key to saving Nightmare Moon from herself, and they reentered the world after Dash’s sonic boom 1000 years, not long before her release.
 
On the other hand, Celestia herself admitted that Discord was not outside the realm of diplomacy considering the Fluttershy initiative was by her approval. It was just more convenient to sweep Discord under the rug for 1000 years, something Discord did NOT appreciate.

@CronoM
 
You actually did imply Discord wasn’t evil several times in your previous comments.
 
Not having the guts to kill doesn’t automatically absolve him of being evil. Over taking someone’s entire home just for funsies doesn’t automatically become null and void because he had no intent to kill. He pretty much did everything he did to the Mane 6 out of pure malice.
 
And yes, he doesn’t have the right to hold a grudge, because he’s the one who brought it upon himself to begin with. As I stated before, if he had simply left Equestria alone after his girlfriend was dealt with, none of the events would have befallen him, but they did, and it’s his fault.
 
Nothing to admit on celestia’s part, he took over her home, she retaliated with an appropriate punishment. He has no right to demand any semblance of admission from her.
 
Strategy was removing what could imprison him, and then mentally breaking everyone who could stand against him. Even if Celestia did surrender he’d still he will quest you either way it was for his own sick amusement.
 
Stop pretending that he’s not petty and evil enough to do that.
 
A thousand year grudge doesn’t matter to anyone else. He’s the one who decided to turn Equestria into his own funand even after girlfriend was dealt with. The fact that you are casually ignoring it shows that even you know he was evil back then, you’re just too stubborn to acknowledge it.
 
Mind raping someone is NOT harmless, even if it’s reversible. You don’t get to pull that card when you decided to lambaste Starlight for her similar actions. So why does Discord get off the hook?
 
He doesn’t.
 
And you don’t get to pull that card on Twilight either. Her spell was, at best, and accidental casting because even she didn’t know what it would do at the moment. Not to mention the fact that when she discovered exactly what she had done she immediately worked to fix it (and when she did it intentionally with the wanted needed spell she was rightfully called out on it). Discord on the other hand intentionally pulled that stunt multiple times even though it wasn’t really needed, celebrated successfully doing so to everyone after Twilight gave up hope and had no intention of changing them back. So yes, he was still evil back then, and it wasn’t in any way justified.
 
You don’t get to pretend to that his long-term tyranny exist just because of you into dents in between here and there. His tyranny can easily fit into the timeline..
 
He wasn’t punished for his mistakes, he was punished for his crimes, get it through your thick skull. Discord wasn’t simply content with making “Celestia publicly admit her faults, her skeletons, in front of her loving subjects”, he was going to keep Equestria warped and distorted to his liking forever if the elements hadn’t stopped him. End of story.
 
That was NOT reasonable vengeance, because in the end, he brought it on himself. He was stupid enough to keep harassing the citizens of Equestria with his nonsensical chaos, like I said before, he should have seen imprisonment coming considering the fact that he took the blame for all the malicious things his girlfriend the dead. And then the fact that he continue to spread chaos in his own way when the citizens it didn’t like it, it’s no wonder he was sealed in stone. Because he was still evil.
 
And why the hell SHOULD Celestia have been pessimistic!? He came to Equestria, wrecked her home, turned her subjects into his playthings, and she’s supposed to just let that go? Did he really think she wouldn’t hold all his actions against him? and then when he gets out of thousand years later he decides to do it all over again instead of confronting dyslexia directly. If he honestly couldn’t spend those thousand years getting it through his thick skull that not leaving Equestria alone after his girlfriend was dealt with was a stupid idea, then he deserves to get imprisoned again.
 
He deserved that imprisonment 100%, his so-called grudge and vengeance was unjustified, the only thing that’s coming up shows is that this quote is a very convincing liar.
 
Why do you think he only brought this up in front of Fluttershy and not the rest of the heroes or the Princesses? Because he knew that would call him out on his BS.
 
He was evil then, and he was evil when he broke out, end of story.

@Frustration in Excelsis  
I’d be happy to address your counterarguments in a concise manor. You are far more civil and calm then some users on this site.
 
“I’m going to be honest; I really don’t see how someone willingly subjecting a large nation’s worth of innocent people to what Discord subjected Equestria’s population to simply for the sake of settling a grudge with one specific person doesn’t red as evil. “
 
*read
 
Did I ever say Discord was not ‘evil’? He has evil inside him, and good. But his grudge amplified his evil, and Ponyville is also Celestia’s responsibility as well. Discord’s ‘chaos’ is dissaray. Confusion. Not destruction. Not death. If he had the gall to hold a grudge against someone who had ruled an entire kingdom for 1000 years, he was willing to involve some of the people she is responsible for in it in his ‘dissaray’. That IS immoral, a literal terrorist of mischief, but its not exactly what I would call pure unadulterated evil either. He doesn’t even have the guts to kill.
 
Celestia is Equestria’s beloved princess. He has a massive grudge, but even he doesn’t have it in him to kill her directly. He doesn’t want her death, he wants her submission, her to admit to her side of the grievance, that 1000 years was too long.
 
And a Princess with champions doesn’t submit until her champions are defeated and her citizens are helpless. That was his strategy, and it was a very simple to understand one.
 
“So what did everything else have to do with it? What reason did he have to spend time and effort tormenting the rest of Equestria’s inhabitants in the way he did?”
 
What reason? HUH?! Did you miss the fact that Celestia is, in fact….
 
…a PRINCESS? A literal ruling Queen of a kingdom that believes her to be immortal and nearly faultless? What reason would Discord NOT want to involve some of the population in his grudge of temporary mischief? Discord vs Celestia alone, Celestia’s image is untarnished, and again, Discord isn’t evil enough to kill a person so no revenge in that manor he would ever want.
 
In a fight, Celestia would simply appear weaker, which is no biggee, Equestria has stronger foes then Celestia that need to be sealed away all the time.
 
Modern Trickster’s, BY DEFINITION, are beings that desire above else to see the apparently faultless but secretly blemished see their just desserts. And while he didn’t feel nearly that begrudged toward young Celestia enough to anything more then a silly play of messing with her kingdom with already rotten roots.(like Stygian)…of which he admitted later(Here) that after his play of ‘the dramatic defeat of the Evil Discord at the hands of the good and pure Celestia and Luna,’ he(Season 4) planted LITERAL roots so later that wouldn’t be able to mcguffin him that easily. He didn’t want to be under Celestia’s threat of harmony magic ad infinitum after all. He’s not THAT much of a good person even on his most guilty days.
 
 
“Assuming that a grudge against Celestia was Discord’s primary motivator, what he did was the equivalent of burning down an entire apartment building because you’re mad at one of the people who lives there  
“  
An interesting analogy….if the one person was the ruler and legally responsible of all those people in the apartment, the fire he used to burn the apartment down was more unsettlingly weird and temp mind bendy then actually burning and killing in any fashion, the fire and its effects was reversible anytime he wished, he has no will to kill anyone in the apartment even the one person Celestia and…..I don’t follow your analogy at all. I see the attempt at the analogy, but its just not there.
 
Celestia is NOT a random person, she’s the unblemished 1000 year ruler of a kingdom with dozens of skeletons hidden in her closet. Discord’s got a grudge big enough to want to pull those skeletons out for all to see, and that means messing with, not killing, some of her subjects that adore her. His thousand year imprisonment is one of those skeletons, so he feels way more angry at current Celestia then young Celestia from a thousand years ago.
 
“He’s a sympathetic character now, and probably he was so to begin with, but in “Return of Harmony” Discord was a monster.”
 
Give anyone a thousand year grudge and nigh omnipotence, and many of us would turn into monsters. And yet he was a monster not willing to kill. After a thousand years, normally someone would be willing to take that step. Tirek and Chysalis most likely have killed many in the past. His mind rapes were questionable, but also, quite reversible and in the long run, harmless. Didn’t Celestia send Twilight a book that would initially mind rape all her friends except Twilight herself? Mind rape doesn’t have that many consequences when good guys do it either.
 
 
“… I’m not sure where you’re getting that, because that is the first time I’ve ever seen that issue being raised. I’m a show fan first and foremost myself, and I can tell you that that’s nonsense. In my experience, the fandom has no particular doubt that Discord was a tyrant in the past — perhaps it was for a short time, and the details of how this started up are indeed not clear, but I’ve never met anybody that actually doubted that Discord tyrannized Equestria before the Sisters kicked him out.
 
 
You know the scene in “Princess Twilight Sparkle” where Twilight has a magical flashback to when Luna and Celestia stoned Discord for the first time and it shows him running things exactly like he did in “Return of Harmony”? Checkerboard landscape, flying islands, fish swimming midair, etcetera? That’s what everyone I’ve ever seen discussing this issue assumes to be the period when Discord was Equestria’s ruler.”
 
I think you miss the point. We only “knew” from Celestia’s testimony and that very brief flashback that Discord was a ‘long term tyrant’, in her terms for a long time….but between Platinum, Starswirled, and the princesses Starswirled raised……no where in Equestria’s history does a Discord tyranny exist. Its like it happened overnight, and was resolved just as quickly.
 
 
No ‘long term Discord tyranny’…actually exists in Equestria’s history. The more we learned about Equestria’s early history as the series went on, the less sense it made. And what would motivate a trickster like Discord into ruling a country for a long time anyway? If he’s always in charge, who’s his foil?
 
He made a chaotic mess of the capital, Celestia and Luna weren’t strong enough to beat him, they got the elements, Discord spread seeds while on his silly throne to mess up the elements long after he received his willing “punishment.”…. then got punished more then he bargained for. That’s what the comics and show story together seem to imply.
 
Haven’t you realized it yet? He KNEW of the elements from the start, just like the box, and that they could defeat him, and he sabotaged them in the future so he would have some freedom once he got his ‘punishment’ after the whole mess blew over.
 
He was willing to make a scene in the capital, be demonized for his mistakes AND his girlfriend’s misdeeds, brainwashed everyone to think it was all him, and take his punishment…..but he didn’t count on the ‘good guys’ to be so merciless. Imprisonment in stone….for ONE THOUSAND YEARS!? That must of been a shock to him.
 
WE are mostly good people. Discord is chaotic neutral by default. But stick him in stone for 1000 years? You bet he’s going to do some evil stuff…and yet he didn’t kill anybody, he just messed with them enough so that Celestia might be forced to publicly admit her faults, her skeletons, in front of her loving subjects. Even most tricksters usually go a little kill crazy after being subjected to that kind of punishment, but not Discord.
 
So does he have plenty of evil in him? Sure. But not only does this story explain why Celestia’s testimony about his long term tyranny didn’t make sense continuity or personality wise(ruling for a long time isn’t in his nature), or that he knew the elements would work on him ahead of time, as his seeds proved, yet he let them use it on him anyway.
 
Did you think Discord would think that younger Celestia was the type of person to seal someone in stone for 1000 years? No. Of course not. His modern impression of Celestia was FAR more pessimistic, for many reasons. And Discord’s method would have publicly ruined Celestia’s image to a degree, and then he would of warped off for a while high on his own victory, leaving everything fixed except Celestia’s image, at least by my guess. Not an unreasonable revenge for someone trapped in stone for 1000 years.
 
The top panel and bottom panel of this page made it clear his old impression of Celestia and his current impression of Celestia differed greatly. Again, he’s not a good person, its in his nature to mess with people, especially the high and mighty…but he’s not truly evil either, and his actions when he was introduced were definitely motivated by Celestia and her existing legacy, which includes her champions and her people.

@Frustration in Excelsis  
And let’s be honest here, if he really was less evil than his girlfriend to the point where this comic paints him as a “misunderstood trickster” afterwards, then he would have turned Equestria back to normal after his girlfriend was dealt with, then gone back to his home dimension (a place that very few can actually access and I’m pretty sure the royal sisters weren’t even aware of this location) and stayed there.

@CronoM
 

 
And as I pointed out many times before, he had no right to hold a grudge.
 
Even if his girlfriend did worse, he still decided to keep spreading chaos across Equestria, considering the fact that he still kept ponies around to mess with them on the mental and physical level. Just because he didn’t tell anyone doesn’t automatically mean he’s up solved of what he did. He pretty much just took over Equestria because he could, did you really expect no retaliation whatsoever?
 
Besides, he’s a god of chaos who can snap his fingers in warp reality, if anything he should have expected to be sealed away so that his powers couldn’t be used. He brought this on himself and deserve every moment of it. It doesn’t matter if he felt he was unjustly punished,if he was going to mess around with the princesses subjects like that, then he should have seen this coming. That’s his own fault, no one else’s.
 

 
I stand corrected, this is one of the more idiotic comments I’ve seen.
 
By that logic, he should have UNDERSTOOD that pony’s didn’t like being messed with. Having their homes and world turned upside down and warped beyond recognition just because he felt like it.
 
He should have UNDERSTOOD that Celestia and Luna will be rightfully pissed off that he taking their home from them just so he can have his own warped and disturbed version of fun.
 
And he should have UNDERSTOOD that the elements would have reacted cuz actions and made sure he couldn’t do it to anyone else ever again. With someone this powerful, did he honestly think that they just let him go willy-nilly? He already proved that he was too dangerous to be left running loose, which was made even worse by him taking the fall for his girlfriend’s actions, so once again, she brought this on himself and had no right to hold a grudge. If he was going to keep doing what he was doing and pile his girlfriend’s more murderous and malicious actions on top of that, then it’s his own fault that he didn’t see the appropriate punishment in his future.
 
Is Sunset looked into his memories, she’d tell him this:
 
“You could have easily just teleported to a different location and spread chaos there after you dealt with your girlfriend, but instead you decided to continue turning Equestria into a mad fun house on a sugar rush and saw no problem with messing with the princess is subjects, even though they were just recovering from the stunt at your girlfriend pulled, a stunt that you yourself took the blame for and pretty much showcase to that you were too dangerous to be left roaming free. Sorry, but your grudge was unwarranted, you brought it all on youself. You Should have UNDERSTOOD the consequences of not only your actions, but the actions of the one you were taking the blame for.”
 

 
Because it was all true. Discord proves that in the flashback and in his debit episode. As I pointed out, his grudge was unjustified, pretty much absolutely nothing the Mane 6 did warranted his attention, and get he decided to turn them into his playthings simply because he could. If he really had it out for Celestia he would have gone for her directly, but instead he decided to turn Equestria into his personal plaything. And he made it pretty clear that he was going to stay in power for as long as there was no one else to stop it.
 
Do you want to know why it makes sense he was a tyrant? Because he had all the power in the world and no one to stop him from using it the way he saw fit. the reason it doesn’t make sense here? It’s because he’s LYING, he’s a compulsive liar, he does it whenever it’s convenient for him.
 
So yes, partly everything he saying in this comment? Lies and false history. The only reason he got away with saying was because he knew Fluttershy wouldn’t bother questioning it.
 

 
Because That’s what he felt like doing a thousand years ago, and that’s what he feels like doing now. He never once indicated or claimed that he’d only said Equestria fee if Celestia surrendered to him. He never once claimed that this was all about his grudge and he’d leave Equestria alone once it was satisfied.
 
Discord was evil then, he was evil when they sealed him away, and he was evil when he broke out the first time.
 
Half of your entire argument doesn’t even make much sense, simply pretending that everything Discord did wasn’t as bad as people make it seem… despite the fact that he pretty much unashamedly admits it on several occasions. So as far as I and everyone else is concerned, discord’s lying his ass off in this comic.

@CronoM  

 
Harmony is a force of order yes, but it also is a force of purification. Pretty much every other entity that they went up against was a being of I have a corruption or pure evil. And the elements be acted accordingly, be encouraging them of their corruption, or simply stripping them of their power and imprisoning them. Tirek is a primary example of this, and it’s a pretty justifiable reason as to why Discord was turned to stone.
 

 
Here’s the thing, he has absolutely no right to hold a grudge. Fall Guy or not, he still has his own list of crimes that he had to answer for. Even if his girlfriend was the cause of the more malicious actions, that doesn’t automatically mean that his actions were any less terrible. Considering the fact that he willingly kept ponies around to mess with for his amusement. And don’t you give me that “it was going to be temporary” nonsense. If it was temporary he would have ended it all after Twilight gave up, but he didn’t, he took joy in the knowledge that he broke someone and kept going.
 

 
Those instances are completely different, mainly because none of the elements were used in those instances and Twilight laid down judgment herself. Starlight was more than willing to lay herself before the law for her actions, hence why it’s why Twilight took it into her own hooves, Cozy on the other hand willingly and unashamedly admitted to her crimes and show no intent on repenting and or remorse for her crimes.m, hence why she got the Tartarus treatment.
 
 

 
Yes I see what you’re getting at… you’re making asinine excuses.
 
There’s a difference between sticking to the old ways when dealing with a misunderstood individual… and using the ways that work when an unashamed chaotic tyrant is willingly and happily tormenting innocent beings for his own amusement.
 
Nightmare Moon with a separate entity from Luna who threatened to plunge the world into eternal Night, which in turn would have killed everyone, so Celestia had no choice but to banish her and hope that the elements would purify her overtime. And eventually with the help of Twilight they did.
 
Stygian on the other hand could have at the very least spoken with the Pillars of Equestria before pulling the stunt he did. Yes the pillars are in the wrong to an extent for not listening to him first, but he himself didn’t exactly paint himself in a positive light by simply stealing their objects behind their backs.
 
So the old ways did work, don’t suddenly pretend to that absolutely none of the victories our Heroes achieved over the years are somehow unjustified.
 

 
Congratulations, that is the stupidest explanation for trolling someone and ruining their own day I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
 
Discord did absolutely none of that for Twilight’s benefit. He simply did that because he wanted an excuse to troll them. Case in point, the fact that he didn’t even seem interested in Twilight until after he discovered that she was spending the day with cadence. Not only did she purposely make Twilight’s friends sick just to get them out of the way, but also continuously harassed while until they took care of his every needs. He didn’t do it out of some sort of attempt at a trickster lesson, he did it because he was being a dick. End of story.
 
 

 
there was no partly about it, he went out his way to do it to every single one of them just because he could. What point was there in breaking them mentally anyway? He had pretty much one by that point since he stole away the elements. You could have easily simply continue his so-called beef with Celestia right then and there. Regardless of them being her champions, he had absolutely no right to hold a grudge because he was still in the wrong for pulling that stunt a thousand years ago. If he’s that narrow-minded that he couldn’t see that when he was doing was wrong, then he has no right to complain and no one to blame but himself.
 
Celestia simply let him loose as a kind gesture. However his grudge was unwarranted.
 

 
Who cares?
 
I refer you to my statement above, that doesn’t justify his hatred or what he did to them, it simply shows that he’s just as evil as he was a thousand years ago. His grudge was unwarranted and pointless.
 

 
Again, so what? The fact that he had to do was forcefully shows he could have done it to any of them but decided to mess with them mentally for his own sick amusement. Once again, his stupid grudge doesn’t hold any weight.

@CronoM  
I’m going to be honest; I really don’t see how someone willingly subjecting a large nation’s worth of innocent people to what Discord subjected Equestria’s population to simply for the sake of settling a grudge with one specific person doesn’t red as evil. So Discord was mad at Celestia. Fine. Say also he saw the mane six as her agents and thus in a sense extensions of her – all right. So what did everything else have to do with it? What reason did he have to spend time and effort tormenting the rest of Equestria’s inhabitants in the way he did?
 
Assuming that a grudge against Celestia was Discord’s primary motivator, what he did was the equivalent of burning down an entire apartment building because you’re mad at one of the people who lives there – or better, burning down an entire city because you hold a grudge against its mayor. There’s no justification for something like that. You can have all the sympathetic reasons you want for having that grudge to begin with, but that doesn’t justify harming so many for the sake of hurting one.
 
He’s a sympathetic character now, and probably he was so to begin with, but in “Return of Harmony” Discord was a monster.
 

 
… I’m not sure where you’re getting that, because that is the first time I’ve ever seen that issue being raised. I’m a show fan first and foremost myself, and I can tell you that that’s nonsense. In my experience, the fandom has no particular doubt that Discord was a tyrant in the past – perhaps it was for a short time, and the details of how this started up are indeed not clear, but I’ve never met anybody that actually doubted that Discord tyrannized Equestria before the Sisters kicked him out.
 
You know the scene in “Princess Twilight Sparkle” where Twilight has a magical flashback to when Luna and Celestia stoned Discord for the first time and it shows him running things exactly like he did in “Return of Harmony”? Checkerboard landscape, flying islands, fish swimming midair, etcetera? That’s what everyone I’ve ever seen discussing this issue assumes to be the period when Discord was Equestria’s ruler.

@CronoM  
*edit
 
Nothing about Celestia’s aggrandized summary of Discord’s tyranny matched anything we ever learned about Equestrian history, and now we know why that is. Because it WAS nonsense. Discord originally wasn’t a good person, but neither was he an overly bad person. Like a proper trickster, he was chaotic neutral, but unfortunately for the protagonists, he was chaotic neutral with a big fat grudge, making him want to act out in an evil manor because that’s what he felt was due.
 
Don’t forget, he admitted here was still letting himself indulge in his own nature to a self destructive degree but, again, 1000 years will still cause a major grudge. Nothing about his attitude of retribution and self amusement in his first episodes was fake or retconned, it was all real. But we were never given a full backstory. The only retconned thing was the thing the fandom knew was a retcon for a very very long time, that Discord ever had a tyranny over Equestria, which was nonsense. The whole purpose of this panel is to FIX that retcon, to explain why Celestia believed it. Show only fans haven’t the slightest idea whether Discord was ever a tyrant or not, ask them, because it makes no sense, but Celestia claimed it was true.
 
If Sunset was there where Discord complained about being turned into stone and touched his claw, what do you think she would of seen? All the anger that made him feel justified to act as a villain for the sake of his grudge.
 
“And there is no “for a while”, he was going to keep it that way permanently and you know it.”
 
And…why should I know this nonsense? Discord had a grudge to fulfill, Celestia’s champions supposedly failed but he hadn’t received Celestia’s declaration of defeat yet but she would have to eventually soooo….why should I know that Discord, the fickle lord of chaos, was going to be full tyrant forever after his grudge was completed?
 
Your selling stuff that makes absolutely no sense as a certainty. That’s not a good bluff.

@Alphamon_Ouryuken  
(Sorry for the late reply, busy work week)
 
“Several problems with that, compared to his girlfriend he was just the lesser of two evils, but he was still evil. If he wasn’t the Elements wouldn’t have worked on him.”
 
Evil is relative. Harmony is relative. Harmony is both a force of good and a force of order. Discord WAS still an unashamed chaotic asshat with messing with people lightly like Q. No one is denying that. (although unlike Q, Discord would almost never be evil enough to introduce the Borg to the Federation.)
 
Discord may have been an intentional fall guy, but he was a fall guy with a large rap sheet. In the presence of Celestia and Luna with the elements, he WAS messing with reality to a degree that they couldn’t stop him and he WAS causing trouble, so the elements worked on his chaotic nature and turned him into stone. He may have been a martyr in this backstory, but he was still a very, very, VERY flawed martyr. Certainly not enough to actually change his ways entirely and become Captain Goodguy, like in the mirrorverse. He drew his lines in the sand FAR away from his girlfriend did, but he wasn’t willing to give up being a trickster either. The 1000 years of petrification was…not what he was hoping for his punishment. He’s not a good enough person to not hold a grudge after that despite the circumstances.
 
This, perhaps lacked wisdom on part of the elements, but that isn’t something we are unfamiliar with. The elements are not perfect. They are nigh infallible in usage but not infallible in intent. The elements can be uneven, and the element of magic absorbed by others not chosen yet turns them into pure evil demons. It happens so often in canon and semi-canon material that there is zero chance of coincidence.
 
(Not everything in Equestria is done with equal punishment. Starlight, an adult not under any evil-amplifying crown or amulet, created several warped timelines full of pain and suffering, and got off almost completely scott free with many benefits, and Cozy Glow did her shtick, a kid, and got Tartarus.)
 
The power of the 7th element is true understanding. It has the power to read a person’s true intentions. And its a power the old ways (Celestia, Luna, Starswirled) never learned.
 
Could Stygian have been the 7th element proto-bearer like Sunset if the old heroes were more wise and learned more from their mistakes?
 
Did we learn nothing from the first episodes onwards? The two sisters wielded the 6 elements. Then Celestia banished Luna to the moon for 1000 years……..you see where I’m getting at?
 
The old ways DIDN’T WORK. There is ALWAYS a blemish in Celestia’s perfect plan, and ruling a kingdom for 1000 years, she’s gotten a knack for making people ignore those. We saw Celestia do that to Luna at the beginning of Season 3. While the elements were now in better hands, one per person chosen by providence after Dash’s Rainboom, they were still inheriting Celestia’s and Luna’s old mcguffin’s. Y’know, the same 6 flawed ones that DIDN’T prevent the elements from banishing Luna for 1000 years just because she went Vader on us for a few minutes.
 
“Discord on the other hand was being a jerk just for the sake of being a jerk at certain points, particularly during the events of Three’s A Crowd”
 
The purpose of that episode was to incite an emotional reaction from Twilight. A healthy, selfish need for herself, for example, to be in on a joke for her own sake. We are humans, and like humans, ponies NEED to be selfish for their own sake once in a while. Twilight often represses her own selfish needs and wants in order to be a good ‘princess of friendship’, a very contradictory title from the start. Twilight was repressing that healthy, selfish need, and Discord, being a good friend and a good trickster, edged her through that barrier. Of course, being a good trickster still means being a complete ass about it in method. I’m not denying that. But like I said before, evil is relative. Especially when it comes to immortals who see the big picture, and don’t think Celestia’s methods have ever been course corrected.
 
“There are different kinds of chaos however, Discord still went out of his way to mind rape the Mane 6 for shits and giggles.’
 
Partially, but mostly did so because he had beef with Celestia and they were her new champions. His moral indignation of being turned to stone for 1000 years was made clear the very first he had dialogue. Unless Celestia’s successors earned it, he wasn’t going to let his grudge go so easily. Even Celestia understood that much, which was why, both being immortals, dealing with Discord a different way might be preferable. aka. The Fluttershy Plan.
 
“He could have just left them alone and went about his merry business, or you know, spread chaos in an area where they wouldn’t be bothered by him?”
 
Because spreading chaos randomly wasn’t his motivation at the time. He made that very clear. It was payback. And the Mane 6 wielded the elements now, not Celestia, and they elected themselves as Celestia’s champions. That is a clear opportunity for payback. And as Celestia’s indoctrinated heir, Twilight is his perfect target even during peaceful times. Again, the Picard to his Q.
 
“Hell the fact that he simply transformed Fluttershy directly shows that he could have done that to any of the other main six, in other words he didn’t have to go to the manipulation angle. He did it for his own amusement.”
 
Fluttershy’s innocence got in the way of his payback and amusement. He was irritated when he did it forcefully, because there was no amusement to be found in doing it that method. It was just the payback motivation there. That was probably Celestia’s clue that Discord could use a dose of kindness so Discord and Celestia wouldn’t be trying to get back at each other forever.
 
You use the word ‘evil’ too much. No one is saying he is without malicious intent. He had a GRUDGE. Any person with a big enough grudge can do some nasty things. He felt he was unduly punished on a moral level, no matter the circumstances, and a 1000 years IS a freakin long time. And he made this statement at the very, very, VERY start of his introduction so (normally) no one would forget it.
 
Its not about his malicious actions being non-existant or not.
 
Its about UNDERSTANDING.
 
Nothing about Celestia’s aggrandized summary of Discord’s tyranny matched anything we ever learned about Equestrian history, and now we know why that is. Because it WAS nonsense. Discord originally wasn’t a good person, but neither was he an overly bad person. Like a proper trickster, he was chaotic neutral, but unfortunately for the protagonists, he was chaotic neutral with a big fat grudge, making him want to act out in an evil manor because that’s what he felt was due.
 
If Sunset was there where Discord complained about being turned into stone and touched his claw, what do you think she would of seen? All the anger that made him feel justified to act as a villain for the sake of his grudge.

@CronoM  
Several problems with that, compared to his girlfriend he was just the lesser of two evils, but he was still evil. If he wasn’t the Elements wouldn’t have worked on him. The elements turned him to stone. Literally no one but Discord got that treatment when they were zapped. and no, that wasn’t Celestia and Luna specifically dealing out that punishment, that was a punishment the elements chose for him, indicating that on several levels he was still evil, just less so than his girlfriend.
 
Any trust that was broken between him and the ponies is no one’s fault but his own. Twilight was perfectly flexible when he came to reforming villains as long as they willingly thought it out, Discord on the other hand was being a jerk just for the sake of being a jerk at certain points, particularly during the events of Three’s A Crowd, so he has no excuses. So don’t go blaming everyone but him.
 
There are different kinds of chaos however, Discord still went out of his way to mind rape the Mane 6 for shits and giggles. Keep in mind that he didn’t have to go out of his way to turn the main six into the opposite of what they were, he just had to keep the elements away from them.
 
He could have just left them alone and went about his merry business, or you know, spread chaos in an area where they wouldn’t be bothered by him?
 
Hell the fact that he simply transformed Fluttershy directly shows that he could have done that to any of the other main six, in other words he didn’t have to go to the manipulation angle. He did it for his own amusement.
 
He was angry because Fluttershy never faltered under his verbal manipulation. Everyone else? He was pretty much having the time of his life.
 
But instead he mind-raped them into becoming complete jerks for his own amusement, cheered when Twilight had lost all hope in herself, and even went out of his way to make their home chaos Central for his own amusement.
 
The main problem is the way you’re phrasing it is like Eris being more evil than him somehow makes his actions as a villain suddenly non-existant.
 
We’re pointing out that just because he was less malicious and dangerous than his girlfriend, that doesn’t automatically make him completely not evil in the slightest.
 
And finally, what comeuppance? All the ponies that orchestrated him are long since dead by this point. The only ones who are left are the ones who dished out the punishments that could have been avoided had he just left them alone. so where the hell does he get off suddenly claiming that everyone but him needs to be punished when he’s the one who decided to make everyone his plaything with no regard for their well-being? And no, I’m not buying the “he took the blame for his girlfriend excuse”, if he was really that noble-hearted he would have left Equestria the moment he supposedly fixed everything and made sure no one could track him down. But he decided to stick around and turn equestria into a fun house on steroids just for his own amusement, so it’s his own damn fault that he got stuck as a lawn ornament for a thousand years, because the elements knew he deserved it.
 
And there is no “for a while”, he was going to keep it that way permanently and you know it.
 
That’s why no one here can get behind him suddenly being a good person from the start, because he wasn’t, he was evil, slightly less evil than his girlfriend, but still evil none the less. Plain and simple.

@PonyPon  
I dont think they did. The line between messing with people for funsies and suddenly finding yourself coresponsible in someone’s homicidal power trip is a big line for some trickster types, one not easy to simply shake off. He’s lived his immortal life as a chaos troll, mostly harmless, a lot of meddling, a little bit of good, a little bit of bad, but obviously not one to ruin entire civilizations. (Think like a less nihilistic, more positive version of Rick. We all knew that regardless of Celestia’s claim, it rang false COMPLETELY, yet we didnt know how that happened. ) Then a toxic vixen comes around and makes you an accessory to a whole lot of shit you can’t reconcile. And he’s immortal, thats a long time to not be able to reconcile something, especially since she’s immortal as well.
 
So he did his best to reconcile that…only to get a punishment way worse then he expected to recieve. Celestia and Luna’s 1000 year justice did not sit well with him, so while his core chaotic neutral values stayed intact, he woke up from the stone angry. Angry enough to be a villain willingly. Any trust he had with ponies were essentially destroyed. Fluttershy mended that bridge, at least with herself. Twilight, on the other hand, represents everything that is wrong with old Celestia’s ways, unfunny, inflexible, too stoic about good will simply as an idea, and he desires a great deal to tear that apart with his style of tests and lessons. If Fluttershy is the Data to Discord’s Q, an innocent soul he can hold no grudge against, Twilight is a young Picard.
 
If you want an example of Discord’s emotions during this debaucle, watch Rick and Morty’s episode Auto Erotic Assimilation whereRick starts hanging out with his ex Unity, long since accepted the cruel or not cruel method of assimilation, just wants to party then BOOM unity nukes a town and Rick freaks out in a “this is not okay, this is definitely not okay” way. Then Unity assures Rick the town was abandoned. Rick calms down a little, but it’s clear his high has gone down a lot Now imagine that your a somewhat better person then Rick (Discord), that assurance never comes, and it keeps getting worse. You initially feel like you’d do anything to balance things out, so thats exactly what you try to do. But at the same time, your not a saint, and you realize your not willing to accept an INSANE punishment. Your Discord dammit, not a lawn ornament, and these ponies deserve some comeuppance as well, at least for a while.
 
That’s Discord, and it makes sense to me.

@CronoM  
It was only questionable in the vein that it sounded like Discord exercised some kind of authority.
 
That he was so self-sacrificing before the series to frame himself as worse than annoying was never on the table.
 
There’s a difference between ‘not as bad as you thought’ and ‘never actually bad at all’.
 
And this comic has abused this line.

Can someone explain to me why anyone is confused by this creative revalation?
 
Literally the ENTIRE fandom was skeptical that Discord was ever in the position of a tyrant, despite Celestia’s ludicrous claim.
 
NO ONE bought it. The more we learned about Discord, the less characteristics that he was a former tyrant became obvious. While he was always a troublemaker, all of his antics on the populace were simply annoying, personal, and temporary.

@LordDiscord  

 
That’s what this arc has been saying since the beginning.

@Frustration in Excelsis  
Perfect explanation.

@LordDiscord  
I think that villain!Discord and Cosmos would both read as Chaotic Evil, but with different goals and desires.
 
Chaotic Evil is usually defined as consisting of the desire to seek personal pleasure and fulfillment without any restrictions, including things people don’t normally think of as restrictions – such as caring about how your actions affect other people. Discord very much wanted this sort of personal freedom – “The Return of Harmony” clearly shows him looking to turn the world into his personal playground without caring about how his actions affect other people. If other folks are mentally traumatized, twisted into being parodies of themselves or forced into ridiculous and humiliating situations against their will, so what? He’s having fun.
 
The difference between him and Cosmos is that Discord objects to killing – which I feel is consistent with his original portrayal. From a selfish point of view, this can be explained with him simply employing some foresight – after all, you can’t keep playing with your toys after you’ve broken them, and thus killing people severely limits his ability to have fun going forward; it’s a simple exercise of sacrificing immediate gratification for greater rewards at a later date. From a more empathetic point of view, it can also be argued that Discord has some moral standards – Fluttershy must have had something to tap into to get him to reform, after all.
 
Cosmos, by contrast, doesn’t really care about this – she’s easily unempathetic enough to not care about killing, and she seemingly gets enough pleasure out of causing permanent harm or death to not care about this cutting off her ability to interact with people. Further, if you can travel between dimensions, who cares if you kill a bunch of people in one or the other? You can always find a new dimension to play in when you’re done.

@Embracethechaos  
I don’t think that is what they are saying, Its possible Discord has always been bad, but just not to the extent on destroying everything. I feel Discord felt Cosmos, was too dangerous and took the fall, not to be the good guy, but because if she was free, everything would be destroyed, possibly including himself aswell. Also, Discords never been evil to the extent we have seen other villains behave. Discord just seems to like chaos, and spreading it, as well as being a troll and trickster. He essentially just wants to have fun with no restrictions on what he can do, but does not want to kill or destroy anything. Think of Discord as Chaotic Neutral, the Creative type of Chaos, where as Cosmos seems to be Chaotic Evil, the destructive type of Chaos.

reads page PFFFFT! HA HA HA HAAAAAAA!
 
Oh Discord, don’t lie to yourself. You know you are a total piece of shit.

Yay shitty retcon.

@Dustcan  
And hence his descent into villainy?

@Phoenixflambe
 
Well the comic still makes a point of him enjoying being a nuisance to everyone, just not to the level of a danger or threat. And some dialogue from Return of Harmony makes him sound angry at his imprisonment including being semi-conscious through it. Combined with the above monologue saying he didn’t think it’d last a millennium I guess the takeaway is that he was pretty salty when he finally got free.

@Frustration in Excelsis  
Especially when he actually seems devious in the show in season 2 which contradicts this. I mean if that was the case, wouldn’t he be more grateful than opportunistic when he was free from his petrification?

@Embracethechaos  
This wouldn’t make him a Mary Sue – a Mary Sue, by definition, is a character who enters a preexisting narrative and warps it around themselves. Canon characters cannot be Mary Sues by definition, unless they enter a narrative very late in its course, and Discord’s been here almost since the start.
 
That said, I do agree that retconning a redeemed villain into having always been good… isn’t really a good idea. It can certainly be done well – I am of the opinion that any premise can, provided sufficiently skilled writing, make for a good and compelling story – but there’s a big risk with this sort of thing, in that it by and large invalidates the character struggle and stories that led the formerly evil character into being a better version of themselves.
 
I mean, if Discord was really just a harmless prankster all along and never sought to harm people… then all that time spent learning to be good and care about how his actions impact other people suddenly feels a lot less meaningful.

That does it, I’m now calling the IDW universe Equestria 2.