@feather  
“Eternal” can also refer to something that wouldn’t have ended of its own volition, even if it eventually did, in a figurative way of speaking.
 
But yeah, epic timescales are much more fitting for a show that started with a goddess being imprisoned for a thousand years.

@Background Pony Number 17  
I really doubt that it took the sisters “thousands of years” to defeat Discord; especially given that they lived right next to the Tree of Harmony and their closest advisor apparently knew quite a bit about it.
 
As for space, I’m not sure of the relevance, but in The Return of Harmony Canterlot, Ponyville and Cloudsdale all stay distinct locations. The worst he does is warp the ground and pluck individual buildings out to set floating in the air. Granted, those are “only his first changes”, but it’s still a long way from completely scrambling space until it’s meaningless.

You can see Batman’s logo in the floor pattern in the first panel.

@feather  
@BigRedJ
 
Consider that Discord’s reality warping would’ve made a hash out of both space AND time. His rule could’ve lasted thousands of years, or maybe only a day or two–time would have no meaning during it.

@feather  
The use of the phrase ‘eternal chaos’ is debatable in the way it is stated. While putting it your way is valid eternal could ado be referring to how often the ponies lived in chaos, as in it was chaotic all the time under Discord’s rule.

@Draco_2k
 
@Background Pony #9ABD
 
Inferring from Celestia’s statement that Discord ruled Equestria in “eternal Chaos”, they would have. Eternity is a long time.
 
If we ever learn more from the show, I give him maybe a week, given the way the writers handle these things onscreen, but I always prefered a longer, more mythological portrayal.

HNNNNNNG!

@Background Pony #9ABD  
That story was dumb though. Discord’s reign and princesses being something close to goddesses fits the puzzle much more snugly with mythology hinted at during season one. Aztec myths and all that.

@Background Pony #9ABD  
Also: I’m still holding out hope that we’ll find out it was part of Faust’s original plans.

@Background Pony #9ABD  
It was mine too until the Journal of the Two Sisters.
 
I’ve also seen it in at least one fanfic; I imagine that there are probably more.

@Draco_2k  
Looks like.
 
Odd, I though I was the only one with a headcanon that the royal sisters grew up during Discord’s reign. (A headcanon which “Hearth’s Warming Eve” made untenable, granted.)

Hold on… judging by the landscape, does this take place during Discord’s rule?

D’aw…