Season 6 Episode 17: Dungeons & Discords
We start this episode off with Fluttershy talking to Discord about an upcoming trip. Discord thinks that Fluttershy has planned a vacation for the two of them, though is disappointed to realise that Fluttershy will be heading off to Yakyakistan without him. She suggests that to pass the time, Discord should hang out with Spike and Big Mac. Because that sounds absolutely thrilling! Apparently the two have a top secret activity that they get up to while the others are gone, so Discord reluctantly agrees to share in their activity. Roll opening credits!
As the ponies take off on what sounds like a much more interesting trip to Yakyakistan (which purportedly involves an active volcano and a pony-eating yeti), Discord bids farewell. Spike and Big Mac discuss inviting Discord to join them in their activity with trepidation, before finally approaching him. Discord makes up an excuse as to why he's going to be busy, so won't be able to join them. As Spike and Big Mac begin to wander off, they mention that they'll be having their "guys night" by themselves. The thought of a 'guys night' piques Discord's interests, to which he exclaims that he can move his (non-existent) plans. The three plan to meet up later that night.
Evening rolls around, and there's an unnecessarily long scene in which Discord announces his own arrival. Spike informs him that they'll be playing the "best game ever"; a role-play game called Ogres & Oubliettes. Despite bearing a *remarkable* resemblance, the writers go deliberately out of their way to distinguish Ogres & Oubliettes from Dungeons & Dragons. The distinction in itself is particularly odd, as Hasbro *legally* owns the rights to Dungeons & Dragons!
Spike goes on to explain the rules of the game -- the trio have to team up to defeat the evil squid wizard, or 'squizzard', in order to rescue the beautiful unicorn princess Shmarity. Heck, if you're going out of the way to avoid trademark issues from within your own company, you'd better change Rarity's name while you're at it! As Discord puts it, Spike's romantic delusions are safe with him. Spike goes on to ask Discord to create a persona, and briefly describes his and Big Mac's characters. They're revealed to be imprisoned, and Discord has to roll a die to get out. His roll fails, so he immediately comes up with an alternative approach; casting a spell to turn the guard into a parsnip. The second roll fails, and the spell backfires, much to the hilarity of Spike and Big Mac.
Losing patience with the game, Discord proposes an alternate 'guys night', magicking up a scene filled with jazz, fedoras, and cocktail bars. Spike complains that he and Big Mac don't want to get involved in that sort of scene, and would much rather simply play their own game. If Discord doesn't want to play, he's welcome to sit and watch. Discord agrees to continue playing Ogres & Oubliettes... with a twist. Instead of reverting the world back to the original state, he instead magics up a real life version of the game, where he, Spike, and Big Mac donne the role of their respective personas.
Almost immediately, the trio come under attack, and have to roll the dice yet again, this time to save their very lives. After a successful roll, they run away, and take shelter in a cave. Spike proceeds to chew Discord out for putting them in actual harm's way, and reveals to him that they only invited him to join because they felt sorry for him. Apparently Fluttershy practically begged them to let Discord join them, and Spike thinks Discord is a weirdo. Harsh! Unsurprisingly, Discord mopes off, and it's not long before Spike realises he was too harsh on him. Spike calls out to Discord to apologise, and Discord accepts the apology, apologising in return. They come to the compromise of a controlled level of enjoyable magical intervention.
There's a brief cut to the mane six, who are returning from their escapade. As they open the castle doors, they're greeted to a scene of Discord, Big Mac, and Spike in the apex of a fight against an animated squizzard. Spike and Discord team up to bounce an arrow off a rock, hitting the squizzard from behind, defeating him in the process. Twilight, embarrassed by the performance, suggests that the mane six simply let the boys finish whatever it is they are doing. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie vehemently disagree, exclaiming that it looks awesome, and proceed to join in on the fun. Roll credits!
In terms of overall quality, Discord can sometimes be interesting, though Spike and Big Mac are most boring and mono-dimensional characters on the show. And when the only pony featured in an episode is Big Mac, you know it's going to be a snooze-fest. In fact, this episode was so boring that I honestly fell asleep while watching it! It would have been nice to have the boys' 'secret activity' heark back to The Cutie Map Part 1, wherein Spike was spending the weekend with Big Mac, discussing Hoofball. Just a throwaway line about how they 'usually watch Hoofball, but tonight they thought they'd try something different' would have gone miles for continuity. The actual D&D concept was executed fairly well, but unfortunately it just isn't a concept that many fans would appreciate to begin with. While playing a role-playing game can be fun, *watching* a role-playing game is on a par with watching paint dry.
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