Well I was GOING to leave a long comment with thoughts about chaos and order and the like but…yeah the comments make me just wanna leave instead.

This is by far the best thing that ever happened to G5 so far.

There better be a pay off to this like Discord disocvering Misty as his lost daughter and he stop being depressed and becomes a happy father or something.

That’s why he got the hat from the episode “the Grand Galloping Gala” taken from Fluttershy’s cottage which he had visited in the lead up to the Mane 5’s arrival; that’s his endgame. Discord plans his demise as part of his plan to stop the magic or if the Mane 5 can pick up the trail of his friends in the Mane 6. Even when he took the pegasi crystal, he was so old that he didn’t have long left without magic. Absence of magic was what probably made him mortal - and more than a hundred years had passed since the magic disappeared.

Fluttershy’s voice can help him out, but it can also make him remember what he had forgotten, including how to leave the world of mortals since as a spirit of Chaos he is a multidimensional being. There is a possibility that he wants to say a final goodbye to us. An IDW cover in #11 revealed that the dead in the MLP are not beyond reach. Probably the Mane 6 minus Twilight in Elsewhere/Elysium, a separate dimension for departed ponies.

“Only mortals related to the gods and other heroes could be admitted past the river Styx. Later, the conception of who could enter was expanded to include those chosen by the gods, the righteous, and the heroic. They would remain at the Elysian Fields after death, to live a blessed and happy afterlife, and indulge in whatever enjoyment they had enjoyed in life.”

That’s what wikipedia wrote, and this is from Greek mythology, so it’s not out of place for the MLP. It may also be from where the active magic came to the world of mortals. This is not beyond Discord’s reach, he could go to Fluttershy if he wanted to. If the G5 teams will allow it.

Discord is at the end of his life.

@Jaredking779
Find out next time in issue 10!

@Embracethechaos
Besides, wouldn’t complete order cause him to fade?

To be honest, I absolutely LOVE this side of Discord. He’s truly gone insane again.

Once a guy all about chaos and disorder is now hell bent of creating equality and removing power/free will from the world to create harmony. He’s gone mad from loss and isolation and sees this as the only way to alleviate his pain. He may be trying to create ‘peace’ but he’s ironically more unhinged now than when he was the Embodiment of Chaos.

Hell, he even thinks this IS the right thing to do. He actually thinks this is what’s best for the world; in his eyes, he’s the hero for a change and is taking care of others in the way the Mane 6 would’ve wanted him to.

His actions aren’t acceptable, but that’s what makes a great antagonist. By shifting from chaos to order, he’s reached an entirely new level of insanity.

@Phoenixflambe
What?! Damn it! How else can they break free? Just breaking the bars doesn’t work at all.

@Jaredking779
It doesn’t appear to work though.

Sunny, use your alicorn magic. It’s the only way that will break you and your friends free.

@Phoenixflambe
Which would explain why I’m fine with him here, since I never really had a problem with Starlight either.

@Phoenixflambe
I think g5 discord antivillain backstory and reasoning is better written than Starlight. On the plus side of not having actually done anything evil as of yet.

@Dolphboi
Took a page from Starlight too much.

@Lurks-no-More
I personally like it a little bit, but I can definitely see how others may not, considering the whole… adventure in the comments.

He’s supposed to be a force of good that can act as a nuisance sometimes, although using his powers for some trickery, but in cases like this, he just ends up going way overboard and crosses a moral event horizon that he shouldn’t have, sometimes for the sake of something noble, like bringing equality to Equestria once more. A good cause, but it’s overshadowed greatly by the lengths he will go to do so.

@Andyxdr
As a rule, I don’t hate Discord; he’s a fun character. But in this particular story, he’s terrible.

@Background Pony #B7E3
Well, maybe they wouldn’t be commenting so much if Discord haters stopped insisting that he gets turned back into a statue. You can’t force to anybody to hate what you hate.

I’m getting kind of sick of Discord apologists.

I think the Mane 5 will save the pegasi crystal at the last minute, with the recording of Fluttershy’s voice taken from the memory crystal. It will give them time to talk to Discord who is not completely sane throughout the arc. Discord is going to accept that the Mane 5 will continue the legacy of the Mane 6, as so many IDW covers prove to us. The covers of #9 and #10 made that clear. I also think Discord will break down in deep grief after hearing Fluttershy’s voice again, so Sunny and her friends will step in with their comfort and assistance.

In the end, Discord’s stillborn plan succeeded. I don’t think he’s aware that Pip’s cell phone is capable of recording audio and even though he’d probably visited the memory crystal before leaving Fluttershy’s cottage for the last time, he probably hadn’t heard this message in all that time . But in the end he will be happy, because the Mane 5 had passed his test - and realize that a new beginning has begun, this time with his blessing.

Perhaps Discord will show us the Castle of Friendship or whatever is left, as a memorial to his friends, as hinted by the cover #10.

Comment duckery/adventure aside, I still like Discord’s anti-villainy here. Benevolent, but incredibly misguided, much to everypony’s dismay.

And before anyone asks me, no, he’s not innocent. There’s a reason I consider him to be inconsistently admirable.

@Background Pony #917D
All I’m saying is… Big Mac with Marble Pie is far better.

@Background Pony #CF87
What’s wrong with making him a villain who’s acting on the believe that what he’s doing is for the best of everyone and thus isn’t trying to actually harm the heroes?

But him and the Mane Five will become friends.

Also Discord isn’t a villain either. A villain would hurt the Mane Five and probably even try killing them.

@Background Pony #CF87
Who’s to say Twilight didn’t say it first and Discord expanded on it?