Discord

Discord is the former ruler of Equestria, and the main antagonist of The Return of Harmony Part 1 and part 2. Once Discord escapes from his stone prison, Twilight Sparkle and her friends must act quickly to retrieve the Elements of Harmony in order to stop him.

History
Princess Celestia explains to Twilight and her friends in The Return of Harmony Part 1 that Discord preceded her as ruler of Equestria and caused unrest and unhappiness throughout all of Equestria for earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi alike. Celestia and her sister Luna rose up against Discord and used the Elements of Harmony to turn him to stone. Celestia explains that since she and Luna are no longer connected to the Elements of Harmony, the spell imprisoning Discord broke and he has escaped from his stone prison. He then goes on to steal the Elements of Harmony, claiming to have hidden them in the Canterlot castle labyrinth. With nothing to keep his powers in check, he begins to wreak chaos throughout Equestria, turning clouds into cotton candy that move of their own accord and rain chocolate milk, and causing animals to become wild and spontaneously change shape.

When the main cast ventures into the Palace Labyrinth, he magically steals the ponies' wings and horns so that they would be unable to use their magic or ability to fly to "cheat" in the "game" he forces them to take part in to find the Elements, and separates them by raising sections of the labyrinth's walls. Discord used representations of the cast's cutie marks to subtly manipulates them into questioning the morality of their element, which drains them of their color and severs their connection to the element they represent, causing their personality to become their polar opposite.

He eventually plays on Rainbow Dash's loyalty by showing her a vision that her hometown of Cloudsale would be destroyed without her, and offers her wings back and a choice to either go to its aid, or continue seeking the Elements. This tricks her into flying out of the labyrinth, breaking Discord's second rule that all of the ponies must participate, or he wins. Discord then causes the entire labyrinth to collapse, and standing before the five remaining ponies, gleefully states that Equestria will now be thrust into eternal chaos.

Personality
Discord is a mischievous, manipulative trickster that uses powerful magic and illusions to alter reality and control others. He seeks revenge against Celestia and Luna for imprisoning him in stone by stealing the Elements of Harmony and causing disorder all across Equestria.

He has a sense of showmanship and drama, preferring to be playful towards his victims before getting down to business, even mocking and bantering with Celestia and the Mane Six in the Canterlot Tower. He delights in chaos and confusion at the expense of others and believes that there's "no fun in making sense." He also seems to be very impatient, especially with Fluttershy when he can't corrupt her like he did with the others. When Fluttershy does succumb to Discord as easily as the others, he merely taps her head and magically alters her into a mean-spirited version of herself.

He is not without a sense of fair play, however, as he voluntarily returns the remaining ponies' wings and horns when the "game" ended though he did manipulate Rainbow Dash into breaking the rules, showing he's not above cheating.

Gallery



 * Discord image gallery

Trivia



 * A creature composed of several different animals is called a chimera. While Discord is technically a chimera in that sense, this term is not used in the show. He is composed of a bat wing, a pegasus wing, a snake tail, an eagle left arm, a lion right arm, a horse head, one fang, a deer left leg, a dragon right leg, an elk horn, a chinese dragon horn, and a snake tongue. He also has different sized pupils.
 * Cheerilee describes Discord's statue as a "draconequis" as transcribed in the closed captions, but The Hub's website spells it as "dragonokis".
 * Much like John de Lancie's popular character Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Discord appears with a bright white flash, and the two even share some mannerisms, including a fondness for "games".
 * When Discord manipulates Rainbow Dash, his horns are backwards.
 * After the encounter with Fluttershy he says "arrivederci", which means "goodbye" in Italian.
 * Discord resembles the Nordic god of mischef, Loki and his name come from the Greek goddess, Discord.