//------------------------------//
// Part 5: The Changelings and a King Sombrero? 
// Story: Darkness Awakens 1 : Discord's Side 
// by Tyler-the-Brony 
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	As it turned out, the upcoming year alone would be far more interesting than all the thousands Discord had waited through before. Discord also had far greater sensing range this time, so nothing that happened in Equestria escaped his range anymore.

At first, all Discord heard and loosely ‘saw’ was more and more about Twilight Sparkle and her insufferable pony friends, sometimes more about one or the other than another. As the year progressed though, Discord began to hear worry amongst the citizens of Canterlot, even in Celestia and Luna themselves.

Apparently, some foreign nation had laid a threat against Equestria, and nopony seemed to known who sent it, where it came from, or why they would threaten Canterlot and Equestria, leading to mass speculation and hysteria.

Having been around Equestria as much as he had, Discord knew most of the ponies thoughts and ideas were so silly it would make him laugh aloud if he could. What was worse though was all the talk of a Wedding Discord also heard now. It was all the mares and all the extra and normal Guards within the confines of Canterlot could talk and think about it seemed.

Discord eventually saw the bride and groom in question. The only interesting fact about the stallion aside from his place amongst the Guards and his amount of magic was the identity of his little sister. Discord thought it funny how Twilight Sparkle’s very own brother was the talk of Canterlot, and yet he hadn’t seen that particular purple mare about him once yet.

The bride was far more interesting. When Discord had viewed her at first, she had seemed to be the simple ideal of a teenage princess. Laughing and trotting about with her friends while they talked wedding details. It had sickened Discord. A month or so after he first saw her though, Discord noticed an immense change in the ‘blushing bride.’

She was colder to her friends and everypony else, and now seemed to be obsessed about only the timeline of her wedding, rather than the flowers or anything else trivial. Discord knew something must be about to happen at the Wedding now. It was no longer the normal affair it might’ve been a month ago.

When the day was finally close to happening, Discord blotted out everything about the trivialities of the Wedding in order to focus on the bigger picture. The better he listened to those details, the more excited Discord became. Discord finally was able to hear the true thoughts of the Bride as she sealed away Twilight and prepped herself for the ceremony. Oh how Discord liked the alicorn mare now.

This ‘Cadence’ or whatever had even managed to fool Twilight’s friends, as well as her brother and the princesses to her plan, an action Discord himself had not even succeeded at. As Discord watched the ceremony progress, he began to notice the odd creatures gathering about Canterlot’s Barriers as well. They looked as though they were sickly small Alicorns, though Discord knew they must be something much darker and much more invovled in the brides plans than that.

Eventually, the meddlesome Twilight and the ‘real’ bride made it to the event. What was even better about all that was the fact that it didn’t halt the now properly named Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings from battering Canterlot to submission. Twilight and her friends couldn’t even get to the Elements to attempt to stop her.

Though it was not of his own design, Discord liked the look of a defeated Canterlot. The only thing that ruined the whole day was when every Changeling was blasted out of the city, not by the Elements of Harmony, but by the power of ‘love’. Eughck. 

As Discord watched Chrysalis sail over him, he both physically sighed and mentally applauded her efforts. As the last Changeling flew beyond his sight, Discord closed off all his senses as he had no interest in the ‘true’ wedding anymore. Fortunately, Discord wouldn’t have to wait much longer for more to happen in Equestria.


**


Celestia and Luna were up to something. Discord was certain of that by all the whispered conversations he heard between them nowadays. As far as Discord could tell, this plan of theirs involved several different and complicated steps, some of which had Luna, some of which had Twilight, and some of which had somepony Discord could swear he’d heard called King Sombrero.

Discord knew he must simply be mishearing the name of this pony, but the name King Sombrero made him laugh, so he kept it in mind as the name repeated itself more and more frequently. Eventually, all Discord could tell was that this King had taken over something called the Crystal Empire and that the meddlesome couple from that Changeling wedding had already gone ahead.

Discord had heard of the Crystal Empire back when he had first come to Equestria, but he’d had so much more fun in Canterlot and Ponyville and such, that he never felt any need to directly investigate the supposed 'Empire’, though Discord though he’d heard of this Sombrero, or Sombra as he knew he should call him, had visited it just before the whole Nightmare Moon thing.

One day, Discord heard this all repeated to who else but Twilight Sparkle. It was amazing with all she did that the citizens of Equestria hadn’t rioted and demanded that she replace Celestia already. Discord only heard them talk for a short time though, then Twilight’s voice was gone. The Princesses got silent too, which puzzled and mildly irritated Discord. What else was he supposed to do to whittle away time except listen to those around him?

A day or two later, Discord saw an aurora appear over Canterlot, which could only mean that Twilight or that Cadence had beaten Sombrero in Celestia’s stead again. Discord tried to roll his eyes, but then remembered he was still imprisoned and merely mentally sighed as he waited for the next interesting tidbit of conversation.