@neo4812: There could be some explanations for that. I could imagine Nightmare Moon outright doing to Discord what Sombra did to Amore, making sure the lava cooks Chrysalis while she’s trapped in that volcano mentioned in the Chrysalis FIENDship is Magic, and boosting boosting security on Tirek’s cell. No clue to what would happen with Sombra, though. Or any of the other timelines for that matter.
 
Still wondering how Baast’s victory ties in to the NMM timeline, assuming if it’s dependent of Discord’s and the CMC’s time travel trip.

Starlight’s spell actually created a rip into an ALTERNATE timeline, she never actually managed to change things she just ended up sliding into an alternate reality.
 
All those horrible timelines still exist and the entire episode was utterly pointless!

that ep made no sense. shouldn’t all the villains have taken over. like they did in Jacky chan adventures? season 3 i think the end of season 3?

Starlight’s time travel has me thinking. One of the timelines created by that trip, specifically, the Nightmare takeover timeline, seems to suggest that Baast and her group wins. f Discord’s trip through time with the CMC is affected by Starlight’s own shenanigans through time, how does Baast’s victory over Anubis happen? One thing I keep coming back to is a scenario similar to something in Fire Emblem: Awakening in that a different chain of events lead up to the same result in the long run.

also starlight didn’t change the past. when a change gets retconned, it literally did not happen.

what part about discord saying more or less isn’t obvious?

@Background Pony #9825  
They all have witch forms. just give the show time.  
 

@Wiimeiser: By that logic, Nightmare Rarity would be Rarity’s “wtich form” too.

@Background Pony #9825  
Nightmare Moon is Luna’s witch form.

@IceKitsune  
There’s very real differences.  
For example, “stopping” Starlight in a multi-world time travel situation really does nothing: nothing is saved, they just end up going back to the prime timeline.  
Whether or not Twilight stopped starlight, the prime timeline would continue to exist, unchanged and in absolutely zero danger of being destroyed in a many worlds scenario.  
Additionally, every world that twilight left would remain doomed, as stopping starlight would have no effect on them never springing into being, they will always exist and everyone in them is still suffering even at the end of the episode.
 
In a “real” time travel scenario, not stopping starlight however would destroy the prime timeline by wiping it from existence. Conversely, the “bad’ timelines cease to exist on stopping starlight, while they’re still exist in a many worlds time travel scenario.

@Gadgetphile: The one that clearly shows Luna being taken over by something else the very moment she became Nightmare Moon? Otherwise, how else would you explain her reaction to transforming into Nightmare Moon before the black mist completely envelops her?

@Background Pony #6709
 
I’m almost positive that would be exactly the same thing. There is a bit of a difference sure, but functionally from any observer’s perspective they are the same thing.

Prefer to think she didn’t actually alter time but ended up going into a many-worlds timeline situation.  
Discord has the magical ability to actually time travel in his own timeline, but Starlight ended up just randomly tunneling to one of an infinite number of alternate timelines instead while the prime timeline was never touched at all.

The comic doesn’t follow the show. Remember the season 4 pilot?

@orbsah  
Which line, specifically?

“You never did change your past though, did you? All you did was discover the countless versions of yourself whose past you can change. Personally I try to avoid it, as a matter of professional courtesy, but if you want to condemn your other selves to a fiery death in a doomed Equestria, well, who am I to judge?
 
“Oh, don’t feel bad. It’s not like you had a choice in the matter. Your actions were a part of their past long before they were a part of yours. Everything we do–past, present, future–it’s all predetermined, by forces even I can’t comprehend. And we, my little pony… we are just along for the ride.”

Discord’s not wrong here. Starlight Glimmer, after all, failed at her attempt at changing history.

*cough* Season 2 Episode 20 It’s About Time *cough*

Chaos.

This is Discord we’re talking about, how do we know he’s telling the truth?

@IceKitsune  
It helps the book’s case that not only did Berrow write an episode, the one about the rock concert was referenced in “The Mane Attraction”.

show never cares about idw continuty. show discord didnt even know applebloom.

This is where the “more or less” comes in.

@Background Pony #C1CC  
It’s possible he lied, but at this point even as someone who still sort of likes the comics (though even I’m getting sick of some of the stuff they do) I think it’s becoming pretty safe to say they are non-canon.
 
If you want expanded universe stuff to read just go for that Berrow’s Books, they are about as canon as you can get without being an episode of the show itself.

Or, he could be lying.
 
“Hmm, do I want to explain the physics of time travel or do anything else right now?”