I’ve been working on an analysis on why Discord doesn’t really work as a character since he had been reformed, and it got me thinking about his overall friendship/relationship with Fluttershy. To be honest, I did generally enjoy their relationship...originally. It was the one thing that kept Discord from being completely unlikable.

However, in retrospect, the more I think about their relationship, and especially after the series finale, the more I realize just how unhealthy it actually is. When you really break it down, Fluttershy had basically become, “metaphorically speaking,” a battered housewife.

Now, hear me out. Discord continuously does awful things to his friends, and to a lesser extent even Fluttershy. You know, the ponies he supposedly cares about. He does this for nearly every episode he’s in, for the last six seasons after he had been reformed. Yet, every single time Fluttershy’s responses are always the same. “Oh, he’s trying to be good. He’s just misunderstood.” Then in his next appearance, he’ll do it again, and then again, and then again. 

But even beyond just being a douchebag, there’s a handful of times, post reformation, where Discord’s actions had nearly gotten Fluttershy and the rest of the cast killed. From betraying them for Tirek, or I don’t know, creating the Legion of Doom. So even after putting all of Equestria in jeopardy on multiple occasions, Fluttershy once again ignores his awful behavior, and gives him a pass.

Do you think I’m overthinking their relationship, and making it sound more toxic than it actually is, or does Fluttershy honestly come across as a battered housewife trying to justify her drunk, abusive husband? Tell me, what’s your opinion, especially from anyone who actually ships these two?

7187535
While we've beaten the subject of Discord to death as one of the most destructive decisions made by the staff, you do bring up an interesting point about Fluttershy. Even though Discord actually seems to care about her, it is an abusive relationship due to her inability to stand up for herself. This is a general issue with any possible Fluttershy relationship, and the well-known problems with Discord just make it worse.

By the end of the series, Fluttershy could wrap Discord around her hoof without even trying and has used her position as Discord's first friend to guilt-trip him on several occasions, so amusingly it's Fluttershy that's the abuser in the "relationship" more than Discord - Discord abuses others far more than he torments Fluttershy

7187535
I never had a problem with Discord's reformation until the much later (7-9) seasons, and that's more of writer choices than not liking him as a non-antagonist character. He had an interesting social pattern of 'one best friend and hangs out with their group as a friend of a friend' and also 'the asshole friend' that was incredibly understandable for him to have.

However, it does start to show signs of a toxic friendship later on and when you apply a romantic aspect to the relationship he has with Fluttershy, it becomes downright horrifying (and textbook intimate partner abuse). Huge instances of a clingy jealous partner who isolates their target from others. A passive soul paired with someone who doesn't fundamentally understand them in the way a partner should. Fluttershy always being in positions where she is unable to refuse the relationship. An obvious power dynamic. One is very dominant while the other is a submissive fuckwad. The chemistry that is the worst possible interpretation of the old, horrible idea of a saying "opposites attract" when made romantic. You can always argue that certain mane six dynamics (or those of other characters) would not work out romantically, either based on show material or reasonable interpretations of the characters. Fluttershy and Rainbow come to mind for this as often being explained very well for why they just wouldn't work out in the way many people might not. Rarity and AJ are often shown as a convincing pair that is made of two souls similar deep down.

They made fine friends, but shipping them is legitimately uncomfortable. This artist posts a really good blog about why the pairing doesn't work and her own opinion on it. I would encourage reading it. A lot of clever, overlooked stories do show that once the relationship between Fluttershy and Discord becomes a romantic one, the domestic abuse aspect rings all too clear (oh, and that it would also be a probable cause of the apocalypse). I'll embed some of my favorites below. Most stories shipping the two on here force the romantic chemistry so spectacularly that it becomes a hard sell, if possible at all. I've read quite a bit of stories with the pair because there's usually always a story about a pairing that I'm not fond of that manages to make it work and tell a good story. For this one? That's not the case. I've found good subversions of it, but no story that convincingly passes them off as a couple beyond background shipping or having Fluttershy orDiscord be required to give up something fundamentally important to them (oh wow, another dysfunction sign) in order for the relationship to work. And no, not in the "us against the world as a healthy couple struggling in the face of discrimination/other external factors" way.

Between the vast majority of stories with the two having a romance as a focal point that fall flat, way more of the stories force them in Stockholm-inducing situations or those where one partner is given to the other like a godsdamn trophy or even sold to the other. And these are played completely straight and never disassembled or revoked at any point for healthy relationship development in the story. It's always the same fucking horrid power dynamic dreck and it's abusive as hell. I can provide examples if needed. These are unfortunately all things I've read in my quest to find a story that actually makes the two work. I once reviewed (can provide links to it if anyone wants) one of the most well-known stories on this site that featured Fluttershy and Discord together, and had to dissect why this supposedly family-friendly story has one of the most apparent portrayals of kidnapping and domestic abuse I've seen in fiction. And we're supposed to want them together in the story.

They're not cute or funny or all Beauty and the Beast together.

TAll Things in Time

• MLP: FiM
• Sad
• Slice of Life

A hundred years have passed since Twilight's coronation. The merely mortal among her generation have passed. A few yet remain, but for how long?

• Death
• Fluttershy
• Twilight
• Pinkie
• Discord

Zontan · 4k words  ·  402  13 · 5.4k views

T(THE FLESH IS) WEAK

• MLP: FiM
• Romance
• Horror

Here's how Fluttershy puts her life in danger: "I love you." Here's how he sentences her to death: "I love you, too."

• Death
• Fluttershy
• Celestia
• Discord

Paper Thin · 2.2k words  ·  425  40 · 6.8k views

EThe Corpse Bride

• MLP: FiM
• Romance
• Dark
• Tragedy

Fluttershy's love has kept Equestria safe from Discord ... till death do them part. But what happens after that?

• Fluttershy
• Twilight
• Discord
• Main 6

Bad Horse · 2.8k words  ·  365  18 · 10k views

EGone, Gone, Gone

• MLP: FiM
• Romance
• Sad
• Slice of Life

"And here you'll see the statue of the Lord of Chaos, Discord, imprisoned in stone." A tour guide tells the story of how the reformed spirit of chaos slipped into stone for the third and final time.

• Fluttershy
• Twilight
• Discord
• Other

Harmony Charmer · 2.9k words  ·  1,279  30 · 15k views

7187588
Two quick points. First, the big problem with reforming Discord is how his power breaks the setting. His powers could instantly resolve the plots of most episodes, especially the big adventure episodes, so that really undermines a lot of the show from that point on.

Second, I don't want to explore each possible pairing, but none of the mane 6 ships work. The conflicts that make them interesting characters and drive the show also undermine their ability to form long-term romantic pairs, so all of those relationships would wind up failing one way or another.

7187730
On mobile so my reply won’t be super long: there’s numerous well-crafted stories that show inter-main six pairs working that are worth checking out whether you’re invested in them as a whole or only particular ones.

However, the idea that if you brushed aside general headcanon (particularly for whatever you see their orientations as) then there’s lots of fodder in the show for exploring the characters and how they could potentially have romantic chemistry that wouldn’t make them just fall apart. The reasons for why some of them could possibly have good romantic relationships is because they have good relationships to begin with, though some combos could be debatably more stable than others.

7187745
They can get together, but sooner or later the tension from those conflicts will boil over and they'll break up.

7187730

His powers could instantly resolve the plots of most episodes, especially the big adventure episodes, so that really undermines a lot of the show from that point on.

I recently realized something, Discord really don't have anything to do in the show in general, no job or duties to keep him occupy.
Unlike Star Trek's Q, Discord have no responsibilities, restrictions or rules holding him back.

Discord wasn’t even supposed to be reformed, as stated many times before. He was brought back entirely out of popularity. The resulting memes, especially with Fluttershy, only gave the writers more leverage to keep him around.

I always though that Discord's "relationship" with Fluttershy should've gone in a "I Want My Beloved To Be Happy" fashion.

7187763
Honestly, that doesn’t mean that reforming him was a horrid idea. Yes, his character was used (because let’s face it; final seasons just used the characters instead of writing them) terribly in the last couple seasons, but he isn’t the worst possible reformation candidate at the time. He’s a trickster god during his first appearance and interviews with staff about his development show that it wasn’t just pointless pandering but did make sense considering they liked him, his inspiration, and lack of overt brutality some villains had (Tirek, for example). It was at a point when reforming in the show was an important, genuine thing.

Season four was developed as a kind of response to season three, which makes it unique among the seasons because they’re otherwise standalone (not that they don’t build in each other) and actually really had him learn and complete a solid character arc from his first appearance.

It was fun seeing interviews with a Lauren Faust where she gushed over him too.
7187760
That’s kind of an interesting aspect of him, though.
7187749
Again, there’s really no inherent evidence for this, especially when applied to so many different possible combos. Plus, for that kind of buildup of stuff bottling up to happen, it would have to have a more unforgiving dynamic than these characters are shown to have towards one another.

It really sounds like you’re reaching for personal character interpretation at this point that shuts out all other possibilities.

7187778
It would been okay if they explained why he didn't use his godly power to solve the problem.
Simply ignoring and leaving his "friends" deal the dangerous situation.
I find it frustrating.

7187786
I generally chalked it up to his mobility/transient lifestyle in earlier seasons. It makes sense why he wasn’t there for episodes that weren’t openers and finales, at least for a while.

Of course it would never work out. Fluttershy's a pony and Discord a draconoques. You ever see a human try and date a nonhuman? Same reason it doesnt work here. And for the record, it's the same reason why a Spike and Rarity relationship doesnt work.

7187835
If you’re going to troll, can you at least be funny about it?

7187839

Funny ponies be here.
7187835

7188000
Much better.

7187562
Oh, don’t worry. I’m perfectly fine with seeing Discord get beaten to death. Honestly, after the finale, he’s probably become my least favorite character in all of fiction. It’s not that Fluttershy can’t even stand up for herself, it’s that she willingly chooses not to. That’s what makes it even more disturbing. She’s well aware of how badly Discord treats everyone else, but completely ignores his actions. She will almost always side with Discord even at the expense of her friends. The more I think about, the writers may have also damaged Fluttershy’s character beyond repair, as well.

7187578
That’s true, she could if she truly wanted to. Which really just shows you how broken their relationship is from both sides. Fluttershy guilts him into pretending to be good, even though he clearly still wants to be evil, and Discord takes out his pent up aggression on everyone else.

7188188
All the characters were damaged beyond repair years ago. That said, it's so clearly a writing problem that I can generally separate it from the characters, especially since what's left of the fandom has largely ignored most of them since season 3/4 drove their fans off.

7187730 There was the possibility for Discord's powers not being able to insta-fix everything, and that avenue was touched upon in "Discordant Harmony". There could have been a great risk to him for using his powers to flat-out help every time. Instead, he'd have had to act indirectly and bizarrely, otherwise he'd be creating harmony and in danger of disappearing.

But, you know, that would have required talented writers.

I think the last 4 seasons of the show just boil down to having writers whose skills were mediocre at best. Just look at what some of the best fanon writers have created, for crying out loud. We have enough A-grade material on this site to keep a show going to 30 years (the ponies would have to regenerate now and then... they do that...)!

7194961
Yeah, they really should have hired fanfic writers instead of the hacks they got. Then again, having people who legitimately love the show on the inside would have made it blindingly obvious how little regard hacks like McCarthy had for it because those ascended fans would have actually respected the fandom and used their fame to get the word out.

7195022
Sad as it is to say, that wouldn’t guarantee success. The IDW comic book series are run by established fans of the series, but it has its own share of problems to the point where I genuinely cannot recommend it for the most part aside from a few examples. It would take some special kind of planning to get the right people who wouldn’t replace the old problems with new ones.

7195041
Of course. Vetting is always important, but there were plenty of creative fans to chose from. I haven't read most of the comics, but based on what I've seen here I assume they fell into the same trap of following the show down the toilet. The one big issue I know about is the lack of communication, consistency, and common vision, but having Faust at the helm probably would have solved the vast majority of problems since she could have easily sorted things out.

Alternatively, they could have brought the fans in on a per-episode basis with some kind of script submission process for low-impact slice of life episodes they can slot in anywhere. That provides full control while tapping into the talent of the fandom, and they always have the ability to bring in the most successful fans full-time.

7195056
I wouldn’t necessarily say that. The comics do frequently and discreetly take the piss out of some of the show’s failings, including one example where they diss the entirety of Season 5. Instead, they mostly replace old problems by adding in new problems only overzealous and unfocused fans would do where less corporate control exists. You really have to examine the series yourself to see how it’s as bad as the show most of the time, but for different reasons.

7195094
Fair, and since I definitely don't have the motivation to dig into it at this point that's not going to happen. That said, you do make it sound like the problems could be avoided with better management. Based on your description of the problem, I'd assume someone like Faust could easily provide the missing central control and turn out a vastly superior product, or alternatively she could probably pick one of the fans running it to promote into that kind of management role. Does this make sense to you?

7187588
I find the author's comparison of Discord to a kindergartner interesting because, let's face it, any kindergartner that pulled Discord's crap would be getting sent to the corner (if they were lucky.) But...how do you punish a god? A dangerous, mentally unstable god at that?

7294478
Children do get the “taking away the toy” punishment pretty often too. I think that revoking something (within reason) could be a good idea. If the rest of the main five convinced Fluttershy to give Discord a curt silent treatment for misbehavior and had her not hang out with him until he learned his lesson, that would be in proportion to a lot of his shenanigans.

7294541
Hmmm...the fact that we're talking about Discord as a misbehaving child whom Fluttershy should discipline sort of kills the romance, doesn't it?

7294571
Another reason why the romance is a no-no, since Shy literally has to be a disciplinarian and friend.

7294577
That's, uh, that's called a "mom." HOW old is Discord?

7294586
Ancient but immature!