So, Discord was behind this the whole time? At first I did not know how this made me feel. It was interesting because I saw a lot who liked everything else otherwise find this particular aspect somewhat questionable. Freaky enough around when Friemies premiered I saw someone suggest this as a theory but I immediately disregarded it as one of those crack pot fan theories. Never saw anyone bring it up again before I dropped out of most speculation when the leak happened. I'd say it's understandable, as, minus the tiniest hint or two this came completely out of nowhere for most of us and our brains struggled to wrap around it. Though upon thinking it over I'd say I actually quite like this plot twist, and not for a stupid surface level "because I didn't see it coming!" reason. I think this fits much better with Discord's nature than some would first think. Discord is chaos. Since his redemption the show (and other official works) have strangled with whether to have him as a cosmic force of nature like he was originally portrayed or just a joker who would sometimes get over his head and really wasn't that scary or powerful. If he was so powerful, why was he so inactive in certain major plots and easily nerfed by Chrysalis' thrown? If he was so weak, than why did he seem like he was manipulating things behind the scenes at times and was brought back by Celestia to fight Tirek? This season finally made a choice and actually brought a pattern here that makes some sense. Discord underestimating and being outright dismissive of his foes is how he has been defeated before by Celestia and Luna, the Mane6 and Tirek. This defeat doesn't feel like an arbitrary plot hole or Discord acting uncharacteristically stupid so much as a flaw he has had from the very start where he thinks he is in control only to find himself taken out by some unforeseen magical force that he discounted do to his arrogance and forgetting that he is still can be valuable to such forces. What better way for a Spirit of chaos than to lose control of his own chaotic plan? Arguably, it makes his chaotic nature stronger because chaos itself can't be controlled. Do you see what I mean? This season made him both a chessmaster and a force of chaos. It also feels like it fits with season 4 when many thought that he was helping Twilight Sparkle grow and learn in his own twisted way with Tirek (speaking of that, this season fits season 4 in several ways, but I'll get to that later in this huge review/thought dump). I'm not saying you couldn't draw a line of criticism toward it, but it just fits in so many ways that are previously established. Regardless if it was intentional or not it, Discord this season actually felt woven together as oppose to having a new set of info that just makes it more confusing for us to figure out.

One other note: I can understand those who wanted Grogar to be his own big deal, but I actually think this was the better option. They would have had to give him his own motivation and backstory, setting him up in the final which would have cut from the main cast and probably robbed us from om good moments.