I liked it. I'm not a huge Luna fan, but she should have been in Canterlot with Celestia. Chocolate rain = fantastic.

I think they all acted appropriately in the maze. The balloon garden was super creepy and made me think that's how Pinkie sees the people in her life. :p Rarity was the only one to resist but ultimately caved for that dumb rock. I think that Dash is up to something and didn't leave for no good reason. Fluttershy clearly is the strongest one because Discord literally had to give up his ruse and just take the good out of her. Great cliffhanger and I look forward to next week!

CLIFFHANGER.

I personally think that the episode opened somewhat badly; they re-introduced the mane 6 way too fast IMO. Especially Twilight was very jarring. However, when I look at the rest of the episode, I realize why they couldn't do it any other way; there is a LOT stuffed into there.

Discord... is a very good villain IMO. He's bloody nasty, but I like him. I seriously hope he stays for most of season 2. It's quite creepy to see how he manipulated the mane 6 in the laberynth, but kinda funny too.
Quite the odd villain. Infact, The Joker from Batman comes to mind when I think about it.

And lastly... Fluttershy is too kind to be corrupted. xD
That was so awesome to watch; Discord had to literaly force her to be corrupt xD

Also; Sweetictionary? Fuck yeah. xD

Goodness I love the villain. This one scene just completely won me over. xD <3


Also I absolutely loved the way he ended up dealing with Fluttershy, hahaha! "Oh to heck with this! *evilzap*"

John DeLance is perfect for this - Discord basically IS Q as a villain

Just for a comparison Nightmare moon tried to convince Rainbow Dash to abandon her friends by presenting her with a chance to be in the shaddow bolts. Discord threatenend to destroy Cloudsdale if she didn't abandon her friends. Bit of a difference.

I totally disagree with Jack, I'm very happy that they didn't waste any time setting up the characters. This was what kept the pilot from being really great. It had to spend time introducing the characters, and that made the adventure story suffer a bit. In the new episode, all the characters are already well established, so now they can cut to the chase and focus on the adventure story. Also, Discord is by far the best villain in the show so far. I was worried that I was getting my hopes too high, but the episode was everything I could have hoped for. My only disappointment is that I think that they should have had both Celestia and Luna in the palace scene. We might still see her next week, I suppose.

If Luna were going to appear, it would have been in Canterlot with her sister, so I would not expect her next week. Frankly, I expect Celestia sent her to the sculpture garden over some trifling slight. "It's quite lonely encased in stone, but you wouldn't know that, would you, because -I- don't turn ponies to stone."

My favorite parts were corrupt Rarity and normal Pinkie. "Oh well, if anyone needs me, I'll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a GIANT swizzle straw."

It would be just like that episode of Captain Planet where they created the five negative rings for the bad guys! Or just about any other show where there's a similar yet opposite character to provide an antagonist for the protagonist!

Maybe Discord is in fact Q! He is apart of the Q continuum. Anything is possible. But, seriously, the blown out pink umbrella at the end was great.

A few resisted the magic of Discord but the will save must have been horrendous.

It is interesting that he avoided Twilight. But I guess she would know what he was doing to her.

Where was Spike?

Joking aside, the episode was great. Discord is really good Villain.

I'm not even sure whether I agree with myself here xD
On one side, I think it was kinda... random, how everyone just popped up. Okay, RD, Applejack and Pinkie (who is randomly anywhere at any rate) were okay, and Rarity was stretching it slightly. Twilight was just too random IMO; they could atleast have had someone fetch her; I think 30 secs would've been okay to do that, at most.
Oh, and the scroll bit; they should have had Twi read the letter out loud; would have made for a smoother transit IMO.
But on the other side, I'm glad they skipped right to the action; makes for more awesome in one episode xD

In essence; a few small tweaks would have made the episode slighty better IMO.
Still, Discord kinda made up for it; he's an awesome villain, as I mentioned before. xD

Only Celestia can unlock the door. The Elements of Harmony are gone.

Trollestia strikes again!

the riddle Discord gave said that the elements are "where they began." Or however it went.

My guess is that the elements were in the box all along, just turned invisible. <.<

On one hand, it sounds like they could be in the everfree forest, but I don't think they would reuse that location so soon. On the other hand, it might be somewhere back in the palace. Not sure which, if any, of those are right

Ok. After watching and reading the riddle over and over again, here's my possible theories:

1)He somehow just managed to turn the Elements invisible while they were in the box and didn't gain access to them until Celestia opened the case. They could also still be there, but invisible which would fit in with the whole "where you began" part of the riddle.

2)They're back in the old castle in the Everfree forest. He does make them disappear from the stained glass depicting them there and he may have just hidden them back there as well. That would also fit with the "where you began" part.

I don't think he can actually touch them or they've affect him negatively somehow. My best guess is that they're at the old castle in Everfree because that's where they first became the bearers of the Elements and they did go through a lot of twists and turns to get there. He probably banked on Twilight figuring out the hedge maze and he just set traps to create the negative versions so there wouldn't be a clear headed pony to actually figure out what the riddle really means.

P.S. I also don't think Dash was duped. I think she purposely took those wings knowing that she'd be able to leave and possibly get help. The spell would wear off eventually and I think she'll come to and save the day.

As much as I'm not a Luna fan, it would be great if she figured everything out and worked with Celestia and Twilight to get the Elements from the old castle.

~D

Another "where they began" possibility. The Elements the mane 6 as wielding aren't the stones from Episodes 1 and 2, but a manifestation of the fact that they show those traits so strongly. Perhap "back where they began" is back within the mane 6 and they need to rediscover that via Twilight giving another Captain Kirk speech. It also fits how his plan was to deharmonize them, as that would prevent them from bringing them back out.

I'm still with the "invisible in the box" theory, though