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@Dan

How many times have I typed out some huge tl;dr only to have other people bring up my exact points only a few posts later…

@Fifths, below
Aw, did I steal your page get?
So sad!

@Discord
They were certainly being influenced to a degree, but but it still wasn't full-on body-controlling hypnosis.
He lured them into a weakened state, then took over (except Fluttershy, thus making her the most emotionally stable pony of all! Take that Fluttershy haters!)

I do somewhat agree on the cruelty bit.
I really had a hard time hating Discord because he was just so damn happy most of the time.
He's like a little kid putting obstacles in the way of a line of ants just to watch them panic.
I'm not sure what to call it, but 'cruel' seems too strong.

In honor of Gigatoast and his new tumblr, I propose a Screwball page get.

Edit: Oh fuck you dead parrot

@Dan

I don't think it should really count as temptations. I mean, their eyes got all wobblyand they turned grey, which suggests some kind of enchantment, and I find it hard to imagine the mane six acting as they did without a little outside motivation. If it should be so easy to tempt them, then I see no reason why they should be considered paragons of their respective elements. There was definately some magic at play.

Also, I disagree. I really don't think Discord was cruel in the sense that you or I would be cruel because we want to hurt someone. He wasn't pointlessly cruel to the ponies, he didn't torture them, he just fucked with them mercilessly. It was all just a game, and the ponies meant no more to him than pieces.

@Dead Parrot

Fluttershy didn't display any extraordinary feat of will, her mental vocabulary simply lacked any concept of pettiness or cruelty, Discord trying to tempt her with those things was like speaking to her in a language she didn't understand. Until Discord taught it to her that is…Hmm, Discord the language teacher, hooked on Discord.

Anyway, the bottom line is that he was still able to influence the ponies to make decisions they normally wouldn't in the same way nature can influence us to make decisions we normally wouldn't under a clear mind, I think my interpretation of Discord as representing the cruelty and capriciousness of nature remains strong.

also why is there rule 34 of her

@DeadParrot

And they are always excellent points as well, that's why you get all tha karmaz.

@Fifths

It's really interesting when you think about it, because on the one hand, you have Fluttershy, upon whom we seemingly had forced hypnosis. On the other, you have Rainbow Dash, who had a very real dilemma to consider, and it doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to realize that she may have made that choice very consciously. You also have Rarity, who actually made a distinct effort to resist Discord's influence, but unfortunately lacked persistence in that effort. And then, you even have Twilight, who managed to come out from under the hypnosis without the particular aid of magic at all. It really does create an interesting scenario where conflicting desires and strength of will all seem to play a part.

Yes, magic was involved, but that wasn't the entire picture. Otherwise, how would Twilight have managed to break out of it without some kind of spell? A contest of wills was definitely at play.

As far as the notion of cruelty goes, he tore apart the closest of friends and seemed to take great delight in doing so. If that's not the very definition of mean-spirited, I don't know what is. I mean, just look:

Here he is, having created an unwinnable situation for Dash where she literally has to choose which friends she's going to protect from his antagonism. And he couldn't be happier about it. He's the type of character that enjoys the suffering of others above all else; and if he's not cruel, then neither is the Joker for cryin' out loud. Realize that nature can't be happy, or unsettled, or experience any other kind of emotion, but Discord displays these attributes, and is quite capable of reason. Rather than behaving like a force of nature, I see him as the pinnacle of cognitive evil.

As for Fluttershy, I think it does speak loudly to her emotional stability at the time that she simply didn't possess any of the emotional angst that he was looking for.

@The Sims Analogy, below

The difference being that you know full well you're not toying with living, breathing, feeling creatures. Discord has no such excuse.

Everyone say 'Happy Birthday' to MLP's most schizophrenic voice actor!

@Dead Parrot the page stealer

I'l have you know I have a file of Scootabuse that I've been accumulating. Terrible, nasty stuff.

@Dan

So I'm playing the sims and I'm bored. I decide "eh, fuck it." and start to utterly wreck the shit of the little family I made. I make the spouses cheat on each other and I lock the baby in a cupboard to suffocate. I don't do this stuff because I'm cruel, cruelty would require me to think of my sims as real people. I'm doing it because fuck it, let's see what happens.

Concerning Dash's betrayal, I don't think it should count. I remember the guy who did the Discorded pony stories making this point, Dash was forced to betray either Cloudsdale or her friends. It was a bad choice either way. I think Dash should definately count as a pony who was forced by Discord's magic to behave against her nature.

I mean, the fact that Dash was even willing to believe Discord when he said Cloudsdale was in danger was an obvious enchantment. She didn't exactly walk in willing to hear what he had to say.

@Dead Parrot below

See, here's how I always figured how Dash's mind works. If you try to tell her that the sky is falling, she'll laugh right in your face no matter how many arguments you try to make. If she sees something that leads her to believe the sky might be falling, well then the sky is falling, no self-doubt whatsoever. She seems very much a pony who will trust in her own sensibilities above all things, a good trait to have for a stunt flier.

@Fifths
Bring it on!
You can't produce anything worse that what I've already seen!

@Dash
She definitely had the biggest dilemma to face, and Discord did 'enchant' her to a degree by showing Cloudsdale collapsing.
Then again, I have to think that Dash would be one of the more gullible of the ponies.
She tends to have an immediate, emotional gut reaction in intense situations, so I really don't think it would be too difficult to trick her if you really wanted to.
God help you when she figures it out, though.

@Dash's dilemma

Yes, Discord's magic may have played a part in weakening her resolve somewhat, but like DeadParrot said, she's not always the cleverest pony anyway. Discord had already shown that he was more than capable of carrying out his threat as well, so that made the situation even more difficult. Basically, there were various factors affecting her state of mind.

But regardless, my main point in bringing up that particular situation was to demonstrate Discord's undeniable sense of sadism, taking pleasure in the torment of Dash's choice.

@Andrea Libman

I wished her a happy birthday on Twitter. For someone who voices best pony #1 and best pony #2, I'd say she is far too underrated.

I think Discord isn't intentionally cruel, he just doesn't seem to think how his actions would affect others. He's only thinking of how funny it is to him. He doesn't stop to think: "Hey, how would I feel if I was in their place?"
That's the only reason I can think of why someone would have fun at others' expense.

I think his method of corrputing ponies is both temptation and force. He can always do it completely by force, but he chooses play with them a bit ('cuz it's fun for him). He tricks them into believing something is true, then he uses that to tempt them into going against their principles. After they're weakened in this way, he uses force to corrupt them. It's like making a small hole in the dirt, planting a seed, then a plant grows.
But if he can't make somepony believe an idea is true, then he can't plant the seed. This was the case with Fluttershy. Since he couldn't tempt her, he used force alone (like putting an already-grown plant in the ground).

Discord is my favorite villan. Instead of wanting power or valuables, like most villans do, he just wants to have fun. I like an out-of-the-ordinary villan.

Pinkie looks so adorable in her socks. :3

@Discorded Fluttershy

Discord didn't just turn everyone into polar opposites of their formal selves, he did it by exploiting their weaknesses and insecurities. Pinkie Pie just wants to be loved, Applejack wants to sustain their friendship, Rainbow Dash wants to be loyal to everyone but can't, etc. Fluttershy's main weakness is her frightfulness and meekness, and since she's already scared shitless, what does Discord have to work with? And maybe Fluttershy is the most emotionally stable, but she's still second-worst mane 6, and-

Shit. We are way over analyzing a scene that was pretty much just comic relief meant to forward the narrative.

@Discorded Dash

Again, Rainbow Dash's insecurity is that she couldn't stand letting anyone down. Given a choice between five ponies and an entire city, she just goes with whichever one affects the most colorful horses, although there is clearly some trickery involved, seeing as she was convinced a single cloud was all of Cloudsdale.

Aaaaaand,

BoxFigs wrote:

I think Discord isn’t intentionally cruel, he just doesn’t seem to think how his actions would affect others. He’s only thinking of how funny it is to him. He doesn’t stop to think: “Hey, how would I feel if I was in their place?”
That’s the only reason I can think of why someone would have fun at others’ expense.

You give the character far too little credit. Discord knows full well what he's doing, and he's just evil enough to enjoy it. Observe:

Discord seems perfectly capable of empathy, so why does he do what he does? Because he's a jerk. He knows he's hurting others, but he just doesn't care. He's gonna have his jollies and that's all there is to it. That's what makes hum such a brilliant villain, in my opinion, he literally has no redeeming qualities, and yet like the Joker, who I mentioned before, he sort of reminds us of the more demented sides to our own selves. If you think back to when you were a kid, weren't there times when you really wanted to hurt someone? And you weren't ignoring the fact that it would cause suffering to them, but rather, that was entirely the goal! It's the pinnacle of selfishness, deriving joy from the pain of others. Now there's a villain you love to hate.

Affluence wrote:

We are way over analyzing a scene . . .

Hey, it's what we do, right? We can brush aside virtually everything as "just this or that", but what fun would that be?

Sorry guys no Tumblr update again tonight, I kinda have plans. *cough*darkknightrises*cough*

Most of the updates I've planned would take a bit too long to fire off in an afternoon anyway, but don't worry I've got all weekend off.

(I'm starting on those illusive Screwloose questions tomorrow. /wink)

@Dan
I always loved that line from Discord because it really showed how he views himself.
Yes, he's completely aware that he's doing wrong, but he still seems to have limits.
He would never turn a pony to stone!
That's just cruel!
(It also makes them far less fun to play with.)
Then again…

@Thor
These SFM movies are getting really good!
Can't wait to see what comes out as people get more used to the tools!

So apparently, the Crystal Kingdom is presided over by none other than Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, not to mention that it is NOT the Crystal Kingdom, but the Crystal Empire! Let pre WWII-esque expansionism commence!

Equestria Daily

And Scootaloo, so that this post isn't just a waste of space to those not interested in spoilers.

That is one massive Scootaloo gif.

That EqD post isn't a very big spoiler for those of us who've heard the second S3 song that was revealed, but I suppose it might be for those who have avoided it so far.

By the way, here's something unrelated: a buddy of mine took a picture of something creepy and I tampered with it. Go for the full view.

And earlier gen fans wonder why most bronies don't care for that look.

No post with Scootaloo could ever be a waste of space!

@Dan
…
…
…
Except old gens… shudder

The amount of ponified Ace Combat characters is TOO DAMN LOW!

This is the best thing ever…

@DeadParrot

So true, so true.

@Deadpool

Nice. That video led me poke around for other Source Filmmaker stuff, which led to this:

And when I watched this, I realized that apparently this guy figured out how to make pony eyes from the G-mod pony pack actually move, which everyone has been saying they'd like to be able to do. Celestia's eyes move in the video above as well. According to the description in the video it wasn't even that hard, so hopefully others will soon catch on as well.

Do you rememeber the picture of the warning sign that i uploaded about two weeks ago?

Well somebody else spotted it, took two pics and wrote a small text to Equestria Daily. And it got featured in this daily roundup, i was really surprised. As i never thaugt of submitting it.

BTW: The small sticker on the MLP sign seems to be quite new. I spotted it just two days ago for the first time.

Mabel would make a great human character in Equestria.

I kind of want SFM, but I feel like that's best left to the people who are better at that sort of thing than me.

@Ric

Yes.

@Discord: The thing is, Discord is a Chaos God. Chaos Gods tend to be massively self-centered and care only about the type of chaos they make (though this may not always be the case).
And I won't get into your whole "humanity vs. nature" thing there, but Good Adam Jensen agrees with your points. But the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I'll leave it at that.

@Crystalponies: …so Cadence and Shining Armor lead them. Well… I was completely wrong then, they are coming back.

@Tesla: Dipper would be too busy going "AAAAAH OH GOD WHY DID YOU SEND ME HERE", so I'm inclined to agree.
But Mabel and Pinkie in the same room… get out of that room.

i swear half of all creepers must be pinkie pie considering how often they sneak up on people.

and there sold out of The Dark Knight Rises tickets so i guess i will watch the Batman TAS marathon on the hub instead

So, I left suddenly because my dad got pneumonia, so I had to take care of him and all of his chores for a few days.

You had a lot less pages than I expected. Anyways, there's a GW2 beta weekend going on, and I pre-ordered the CE so I'm in it, so I'll likely be mostly inactive.

@SFM:

I got it, but I'm too lazy to watch the tutorials and boot it up. I think, eventually, I'll get around to using it. Eventually.

@Pony dosage:

LONG LIVE THE CELESTIAL RUSSIA!

@ Dan (in his post directed at me)

Yeah, I guess you're right.
After I posted that (before your post), I was starting to think that part of my post doesn't make much sense. Now that I read your post, I see why it doesn't make sense. Thanks (not sarcastically).

Also, funny how talking about Discord made discord (the "dissagreement" sense) between us, especially Dan and Fifths.

I just love this so much!

Hey guys, you have just been given a ticket for one interdimensional transport ticket good for one one way trip between here and Equestria.

What do you do with it? You can either transport a pony here, transport yourself to Equestria, or you can auction off the ticket to the brony community.

@Dead Parrot

Someone needs to get Andrea Libman to read those lines.

Rainbow Dash X Bloomberg = New OTP

@randomman

That's dirty.

@RandomMan

…

That's impossible in so many ways.
For one thing, Zap-Apple trees were around way before Rainbow Dash was even born.

(Am I beginning to sound like Twilight?)

@RandomMan

And suddenly, the phrase "not seeing the forest for the tree in front of you." becomes a euphemism for free love. Fuck the trees Dashie, fuck ALL OF THEM!

I love how my first thought at seeing that picture was "Huh, the colors in Dash's tail are off, that's annoying." Internet desensitization, I love it!

Fuck you, why'd you have to point out the colors on her tail? Now I can't clop to this anymore!

Everfree Forest is a never ending orgy.

@Fifths: I'd keep the ticket as an "Exit Plan" and bug out if things get too hot.

@RandomMan: Well… that was interesting.
\is never going to touch a zap-apple ever

Is this what passes off as "good" nowadays in this fandom? Borderline R34 artwork that consistently lacks substance, style, and humour? I'm honestly dumbfounded at this sudden and steep decline in quality of pony fanart. Is the dearth of new episodes causing artists to resort to drawing such aberrant abominations, as so well evidenced by RandomMan's profoundly obscene example above that I dare not deign myself to view again?

Words cannot express my disappointment.

For shame, for shame.

yea there's that and the fact that people seem to deliberately ignore the fact that there's a wing boner/clopping section on this site.

But seriously whats the reason for not putting them there? Or … hell on this site to begin with if its EXTREMELY nsfw?

The point being at least put them in the designated section please….

@Twins

I say!

All this nonsense over childish sexual jokes is indeed rustling my jimmy's. We should run a foundation to turn the tide of this drastic turn towards such vile immature humor.

We shall call it Bronies Offended Over Blatant Sexuality

B.O.O.B.S

So what's everyone talking about in here?
Nothing dirty, I hope.
I'm trying to eat over here.

Hey guys, what ya'll doin'?

@DeadParrot

BIG Tumblr update coming soon guys!

It's definitely the most effort I've put into one so far. I've been trying to phase out the blank white backdrops, so I've been teaching myself how to do environments in Illustrator and import them into photoshop. Which is why it's been taking so long to do each page.

It's still a learning process for me, I'll get into the groove eventually. :P

But in the mean time, I'm making sure what I put out is funny, well made, and helps build some Screwball fanon for the rest of the fandom.

LATE NIGHT DANCE PARTY!

SOURCE

Go to bed, DeadParrot. Stop looking up those Scootgifs.

ITT: Ponibooru dance parties live on in spirit!

kicks down door

My party sense was tingling.

Appropriate music:

@The NSFW crap discussion:

Need I say it?

I.

Just.

Don't.

Give.

A.

Fuck.