//------------------------------//
// Part 4: The First Return 
// Story: Darkness Awakens 1 : Discord's Side 
// by Tyler-the-Brony 
//------------------------------//

	Luna had disappointed Discord by coming back to Canterlot after so many years as the Forgotten Ruler and not as the oh so malevolent Nightmare Moon. Fortunately, Discord did not have to observe in silence the shift he felt within Celestia and Luna for long.

It began as only another day to Discord. At first, Discord only heard the sound of the arguing fillies before him as yet another group of school foals toured the Canterlot Gardens and examined his statue. Eventually though, as the degree to which the fillies argued and their volume increased as they left the garden, Discord felt a shift in his form.

Ecstatically Discord waited as he began to feel the sensation spread outwards from a single point on his body. Discord knew that a crack had finally appeared in the spell the Elements of the Regal Sisters had imprisoned him in for so long. The thought of being free again made Discord laugh, and for once, he heard the laugh outside his body too.

It was mere minutes later that Discord fully freed himself. As he stretched free of the remnants of the petrification, Discord laughed again as he looked across Canterlot at just how much it had grown beyond what he could sense as a statue.

Discord slithered into the air shortly thereafter, and set off across Equestria, looking forward to seeing just who this ‘Twilight Sparkle’ that Celestia forever droned on about was.


**


Discord smiled from his viewpoint disguised as nothing more than another tree among the apple orchard he had found the first of the New Bearers of the Elements of Harmony in. And even better than that was the fact that the others had joined the first nearly immediately after Discord began his first Chocolate Storm.

True that these ponies had managed to corale all his clouds and a few more aspects of his influence together in one area, but Discord felt content to see that alone, not one of these ponies could resist his influence at all.

The pink one seemed to quite enjoy the after effects of his influence, while the cyan one was perpetually angry at them. The orange one seemed confused, and the white one seemed reluctant to help. The yellow one seemed disturbed, and the purple one was overconfident.

Thanks to recently overheard pieces of conversation from Celestia herself, Discord was certain he knew which pony was which, and was able to place the facts he’d heard about each together in his head.

Discord began to see an idea of how to stop these ponies from interfering with him, and set off immediately for Canterlot, intent to greet them and Celestia as only he could.


**


Discord felt such joy at the shock plastered on Celestia and the other ponies faces as they discovered he’d taken away their precious Elements of Harmony.

Discord decided there was no better time to reveal himself and goad some nice responses out of all the assembled ponies than now. As he took over the form of his which was forever carved into the nearby window, he felt as he hadn’t since before the sisters had drawn him out to his first and only defeat.

Goading Celestia had its joys, but she was too worn from time and duty to truly appreciate his influence as anything more than the worst kind of nuisance. The other ponies were an entirely different story.

Rainbow Dash had the shortest temper of them all, whilst Pinkie Pie couldn’t be bothered to take Discord seriously. Applejack and Twilight Sparkle both revealed themselves to boil easily under their surface, while Rarity remained unfazed and Fluttershy got startled from a mere passing reference.

Tormenting these ponies was guaranteed to be the best kind of fun for Discord, so he gave them clues to lead them where he could divide and conquer them. 


**


As the ponies arrived at the maze, Discord felt both shock and extreme joy at being able to remove the things that 4 of them held dearest to their bodies; he hadn’t even been able to attempt removing wings and horns when he had dealt with Luna and Celestia. Not only was he back, but Discord was now stronger and craftier than ever it seemed.

Discord watched as each of the ponies slowly followed his lures, and then fell into his traps.

Applejack was simply pathetic at how easily she believed that Discord alone could break their friendship. How gullible she was for the Element of Honesty. Her failing single hoofedly assured Discord an immense opportunity to destroy the others.

Pinkie Pie truly feared peer pressure it seemed, no matter how outwardly different she tried to be. Though it mildly pained Discord to warp the one who enjoyed him the most, he still knew it must be done to assure his reign.

Rarity proved herself to be as vain as any Canterlotian when she couldn’t sacrifice temporary solitary gain for herself over helping her friends as a whole. My, how terrible a thing to do.

Rainbow Dash was funny to deal with, as Discord knew the temptation of these so called ‘Wonderbolts’ wouldn’t work on her after hearing rumor of Nightmare Moon’s attempts to shatter the group. And so, Discord threatened her home town, which seemed to work far better than he could have ever hoped it would.

Fluttershy infuriated Discord as she proved herself to be the strongest. FLUTTERSHY of all ponies. Discord decided to directly interfere with her, as he hadn’t done to any of the others aside from a small degree. Her change was the easiest to detect, though at this point there was no stopping Discord.

Twilight did not fail in the maze, but Discord knew she held their shared friendship in the highest regards, so she would take the most work. As Rainbow flew off to save her ‘home’, Discord declared his victory and sped off to Ponyville, certain his next victory would lie there.


**


Twilight fell after constant goading by Discord’s influence, as well as a botched attack with the now found yet useless Elements of Harmony. Discord danced and laughed about all of Equestria at his victory, until he felt a minute shift in his influence in Ponyville yet again.

Discord sighed profusely, as he was certain this shift he felt could only mean another headache focused around Twilight Sparkle and her ‘friends’. And, as though she heard his silent thoughts, Twilight and her meddlesome friends showed up in front of his throne but a few short minutes later.

Discord berated and tried to warp the ponies yet again, though his heart wasn’t really in it this time, as he refused to believe his power could be so easily defeated again, especially by 6 such common ponies.

As Discord awaited what he felt would be but another failed attempt to use the Elements of Harmony against him, he suddenly felt shock and fear as he saw genuine unity between the Elements and their Bearers reignite against him.

As the Elements power approached Discord, all he could do was wail and attempt a futile escape, all of which only amounted to a slightly different pose in his statue this time. Again, only when Equestria was ‘righted’ again was Discord moved somewhere more suitable for a statue, which happened to be a different area of Canterlot than before. 

And so, Discord waited for freedom inside Canterlot again, this time far angrier than he had been in his last stint as an ornament.