Third Crimes The Charm

by BL00DW1TCH

Chapter 1

Discord paused halfway through his wormhole, choosing to dip out of it just outside of Fluttershy's cottage rather than appearing directly in her living room (She never really seemed bothered by it when he did, but other ponies seemed to frown upon it, so he was trying to break the habit). It was night time, and she was likely to be sleeping anyway, so he had a bit to himself before it was a socially acceptable time for him to bombard her with questions and vent about the issue at hand.

Trotting up and onto the leafy roof was no issue, and gave Discord a cozy place to sit and ponder while he waited for the sun to rise.

To be frank, he still was not as ok with the situation as he'd tried to make it seem. He seriously could not fathom why Celestia would suggest he do this again, after he failed so spectacularly with the last villain he was sent against.

He grimaced to himself at the foggy memories, shaking his head to clear them away with a snort, "This is just another fool's errand. I'll try it, but this is the definition of madness. She can't expect the same thing to happen differently a second time around, right? Tell me you agree," he demanded lightly, propping his chin on his knuckles as he addressed the clone now floating in front of him on a small cloud.

"She can't. Buuut this situation is different, isn't it?" The other replied, quirked an eyebrow over his cartoony therapist glasses at him. The original Discord frowned.

"How is it in any way different? She's sending me after yet another villain, expecting me to apprehend and subdue him successfully for her. They are identical missions."

The clone rolled over onto his back, shrugging upside down, "Amazingly, everything you just said is wrong. You've forgotten one key word, my friend."

Discord sat up straight and crossed his forearms, ears angled back in irritation, "Is that so? Then what word did I miss, hmm?"

"Exactly what I just said--friend. Or, rather, befriend, but that's besides the point. The point is that this time around it is different. Yes, with Tirek, we were told to bring him back to her as a prisoner," he began, "But Sombra is no prisoner: he's dead, and she wants him brought back, JUST so that you can try to make him your friend. That's the key, here, you see?"

Discord stared silently for a moment, nose crinkling up bitterly, "...Ok, So I suppose that is true, but why does it matter? It does not change that fact that putting me on this pedestal is a dangerous gamble."

"Well, you won't have to be the only one on it. She already told you it's not a task you must complete alone. You have friends who'd be more than willing to help you out. I'm sure once she's had time to think it over more, she'll encourage you to seek their assistance far more fervently."

Discord groaned and rolled over, "Uuuuugh, I hate it when we're right."

"And yet we almost always are. Such is the life of a tortured mastermind--I'd lament with you further, but I must take my leave. We have an audience," the clone said, snapping out of existence. Discord glanced down to find Fluttershy peering up at him from her window, giggling softly.

"I'm terribly sorry, Fluttershy--Did I wake you?" He apologized, slinking down the wall after she motioned him inside.

"No, not at all! I've been up reading--some books I ordered a while ago finally arrived and I've been bingeing them all day!" She explained excitedly, trotting back over to her bed, which had been reshaped into a little reading nest. Manga books lay around it haphazardly, amongst several small animals sleeping soundly.

Discord picked one up and flipped through it, smiling, "These are those ones you preordered a month ago--I'm glad they finally arrived! I assume they were worth the bits?"

Fluttershy hugged her bookmarked one vicious with a trill of delight, "Oooh, absolutely! But, we can talk about them later," She composed herself, setting it down and laying down on her stomach, "I didn't hear everything, but it seems like you're here because you want to talk about something--you mentioned friendship, I believe?" She says, with a professional little smile and upturned nose--clearly she was ready to educate.

Discord sighs dramatically and slithers around her nest on the bed till he was comfortable, "Yes, I do need to talk to you about something. Celestia has come up with a doozy of a redemption scheme, and she wants me to spearhead it."

Fluttershy gave a small gasp, "Another villain redemption? … Which one?"

Discord pouted, "King Sombra. She thinks that the final step in my reformation is befriending him. I think it's ridiculous and frankly impossible, of course, but still," he elaborated, the fur tuft on his tail petting Fluttershy's head to comfort himself.

Fluttershy hums to herself before speaking up, "Well, I think that might be a good idea, actually."

Discord gaped at her, "Not you too!"

She giggled again, hoof covering her mouth, "I'm sorry, but it is! You have been, and still are, a very good friend, but you're very…" She squints and looks up, searching for a word, "Passive, when it comes to making friends. You wait for others to befriend you, rather than go out and actively make friends yourself."

"And? I don't see anything wrong with that. If they won't put in the effort to try to get to know me, why should I?" Discord crosses his arms, snorting in a huff.

Fluttershy shakes her head, "Oh, no no no, there isn't anything necessarily wrong with that! It's just that being able to be friendly on the fly is a good skill to have. Putting effort into getting to know other ponies shows just how devoted and great of a friend you can be, you know?"

"...Let's say I don't know. Go on."

She sighs with a roll of her eyes, "I didn't want to get depressing, but it's the easiest way I can think of getting my point across. Promise not to get too sad?"

He crossed his claw over his chest, "I promise."

"Alright--Say it's way in the future, and there's a bunch of robots everywhere and ponies are going to other planets in spaceships. The distant, distant future, where me, and Twilight, and everypony else you consider friends have died."

Discord was already tearing up at the thought, but wiped the tears away when she looked at him again, grinning widely.

"... You'll be alone. You'll want to have new friends, right?"

"Of course I would."

"Right now, how would you go about making those new friends?"

He rubbed his beard in thought, "Well, I'd probably wait until one of you all introduced me to somepony new and forced me to spend time with them until I grew attached."

Fluttershy waited for it to click patiently.

"...Ooooohhhh… Drat."

"See what I'm saying now?"

He let his head plop down on the mattress, disturbing a sleeping Angel, "Yes… I suppose I do."

She pets his head in return now, "I'm sorry I had to explain it like that. Though, to get back on topic--Did you accept the mission?"

"Yes, I did. Mostly in a panic, but I don't really think I need to worry, so I won't back out now," He said, looking up at her, "That's another reason why I came to you. I need advice."

She wiggled a little bit in excitement, "Oooh yay! I'm glad you decided to come to me for help! What exactly do you think you need advice on? Helping him feel comfortable? Or maybe getting to know his likes and dislikes? Where do we start?"

Discord chuckled awkwardly, "Well, that's exactly it--I don't know where to start."

Fluttershy nodded slowly in understanding before glancing down, tapping her hoof on one of her books, "Well, when I started with you, I focused on my element, kindness. I went out of my way to ignore any preconceived notions I had about you, and did everything I could to help you feel comfortable in my home and around me, and expecting nothing from you for it other than common decency. Does that help?"

Discord let it stew before bobbing his head side to side with a 'not bad, not bad' expression, "Yes, actually, I suppose it does," a notebook appeared in his hand--he pulled a pen from the pocket of his white button up shirt and scribbled her advice in bullets with a few pleased mumbles.

The getup disappeared into thin air when he threw the notebook away, "Thank you very much, Fluttershy. Now I'll leave you back to your bingeing--have a fantastic rest of your night! Be sure to get at least 8 minutes of sleep!" He bid her farewell, teleporting to the window and crawling out.

"Bye-bye! I will!" Fluttershy called after him, before scooping Angel up and settling back into her nest for more reading.

He voted to simply glide his way to his next location--Twilight's castle. She was definitely supposed to be sleeping, and he won't bother her while she is, but he can at least take the time to look through her books and journals on the subject.

~~~

"Twilight..? Twilight!"

The Alicorn woke slowly to the familiar sound of her dragon friend Spike, slightly panicked but clearly trying to keep his cool (as per usual, most days). He sat up and yawned with a gentle, sleepy smile, "Good morning, Spike."

"Um--Good morning to you, too--I'm sorry I had to wake you a little earlier than normal, it's just that the Library is overflowing with paper, and I think that's something you might want to sort out as soon as possible..?" He said with an awkward laugh, tapping his claws together.

She raised an eyebrow as she clambered out of bed and gave her wings and back a good stretch, "What do you mean 'overflowing with paper'? I haven't ordered enough books for you to be teasing me about it already, have I?"

He waved his hands with an expression of offense, "What?! No! I mean literally! Floor to ceiling filled with paper! I couldn't even get inside to see what had caused it!"

Twilight frowned, starting her way out of her room to see to the issue, "Could you hear anything from inside?"

"Mostly just quill pen scribbling, but some humming too. I couldn't recognize it, though--too muffled."

Twilight pondered it for a moment, unsure of who it was still until she saw the inked parchment spilling into the hall herself. She shook her head and readied her magic calmly, "It's probably just Discord, as far as I can tell."

Spike rose a claw to argue before dropping it and shrugging, "Ok, yeah, that seems likely… ish. But why's he in the Library? He doesn't seem that… Bookish."

Twilight flicked the paper lightly with the spell, smiling much more pleasantly as it curled away as intended, "Only one way to find out!"

Her spell spread up the paper in a flash, and it began to curl up neatly into a thick scroll like tape into a retractable tape measure. Sure enough, behind the wall of poor hoofwriting and scribbled out typos, Discord sat at a desk inside, still writing notes at the bottom most portion of paper left to him. His reference was being flipped through back and forth rapidly while he mumbled to himself--the book was none other than Twilight and her friends' journal.

"You know, you really should have more entries on the topic of reforming villains--resources are massively lacking already in the genre, and it makes coming up with a comprehensive, fool-proof plan incredibly difficult!" Discord declared sourly, not taking his eyes off his studies to greet the Princess of Friendship.

Twilight smiled as she approached but she clearly looked bewildered, "It isn't exactly the kind of thing that happens every week, Discord. Why are you so interested in the topic all of a sudden?"

Before Discord could reply, Spike began to dry heave--burping out a letter with his flames in the same manner as usual. Twilight grabs it before it hits the ground, and Discord finally speaks, peering out one of the frosted glass windows that now had sunlight filtering through it, "I imagine that letter will have the explanation you're looking for."

She unfurls it and reads it quietly to herself. Discord sighs and sits back, shutting the book and rolling up his scroll of notes, nodding right in time for Twilight's gasp of horrified surprise.

"Right, so, before you explode about how horrible an idea it is, let me show you my--" Discord started to say, but Twilight didn't seem all that interested in it at that moment.

"Spike, go round up the girls, we're all going to need to be in Canterlot for this," She orders, and Spike obeys with a dutiful salute and Twilight's no nonsense attitude. Discord can't help but recoil a bit when she finally addresses him, "Don't worry, Discord, everything will be completely under control, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure this mission goes smoothly for you. Celestia will apparently be needing me to help out with some of the preparations, which is why I'll be heading there now. As for--"

"WAIT! Wait, waitwaitwait! What? Why are you…" Discord yelped, slinking around behind her when she tries to put her hoof on his shoulder, "Did you get the right letter? No no, this can't be right--"

He stole the parchment from her grasp, floating up higher and reading it through with a scrutinizing gaze and tiny reading glasses. He takes them off once he sees that it is, in fact, the correct letter, sent to tell the purple princess about his new mission.

He gave her a look meant to be on the meaner side of suspicious, but she read it as being on the sadder side of distrustful, "Aren't you going to try to convince Celestia and I that it's a bad idea?"

Twilight's face dropped immediately, "What? No! Why would I do that?"

"... Because it is?"

Twilight shook her head and dragged him back to the ground with her magic, "I don't know enough yet about the situation yet to make a sound judgement, so I'm not going to try to. There will be time left to call things off before it gets dangerous as far as I can tell, so there's nothing wrong with going to her and talking it out to make sure Princess Celestia has the safety of Equestria in mind."

The draconequus grimaces, "That's an analytical way of putting it."

She makes a shrugging motion with her head, "I'm working on controlling my freakouts, looking at worrying situations from a distanced standpoint helps me out," She smiles again when she turns to the door, "Besides, I doubt there will be much to worry about once all is said and done. I think both you and Celestia have learned your lesson when it comes to arrangements like this."

Discord follows her out with a humourless chuckle, "Yes, I suppose we both have, haven't we?"

"Exactly. You're also already taking it very seriously--You? Taking notes? I'm very proud!" She jokes, leading the way to the throne room and pushing the doors open.

Discord rolls his eyes, speeding past her to curl up on the head of her chair, "Yes, I am taking it very seriously this time around--If I'm to be given another try at this, I refuse to mess it up." He says with a nod of determination, "Which is why I'm here. I figure that if I must befriend such a foul fellow, I should get a few pointers from one of the best professional friends in all of Equestria--Second only to Fluttershy, of course."

She sits beneath him with a laugh, "Of course," she agrees, "And I'm glad that you decided to come to me instead of galavanting off on your own to do this. What kind of pointers do you need?"

Discord flopped down to the floor in dismay--same question.

"All of them. I've gotten Fluttershy's advice but I'm worried it won't be enough, so I'm going to gather as much as I can," He elaborates, rolling up onto the table in front of her, "You and the girls are better at this than anyone--So it only makes sense that if I want to succeed, I should emulate all of you at once, right?"

Twilight considered the assumption with a slice of lemon based on her expression, "I mean… I guess so, but I haven't got it down to a science yet, so I can't say that's 100% right. If anything, I'd say it isn't. Especially in your case," She says, watching Discord's befuddled expression.

"Discord, it's literally just like making friends with anyone else. You have to be yourself, not pretend to be us. They'll need to like you for you for it to be real," She stated firmly.

Discord tossed up streamers of paper with a scowl, "Well that's no help! I'm no good at that stuff!"

"Nopony is--this is a chance for you to learn by experience. Practice!" She reassured him, finally reaching him long enough to pat his shoulder comfortingly. She froze after a second pulling away again.

When Discord sat up and gave her a questioning look, she waved him off, "The freak out is starting to set in anyway. Mind leaving me for a bit? Maybe head to Canterlot a little early?" She asked, voice shrilling up with her nervous laughter.

Discord smirked and rolled his eyes, floating up to ruffle her mane, "You got it. But i'll be expecting more help from every one of you once you get up there."

He's gone before she can nod in agreement, so instead she shakes her head with a laugh.

"Sweeeeet Celestia, this is going to be a disaster…."

~~~

Gathered in the throne room, the Princesses convened quietly, while Twilight's friends sat to the side, listening in on the discussion--until Rainbow Dash groaned obnoxiously in boredom, "UuuuuUUUUUGGGGHHHHH, shouldn't he BE HERE by now?"

Twilight turned to reply with tired sarcasm, but the double doors to the room creaked open. She smiled when Discord strolled in leisurely, "Speak of the draconequus--"

"--And he shall appear! Delightful twist by the way, princess, points for inclusivity! My species are so often excluded from discussion," he laments in mocking woe with a smirk, bumping against Fluttershy in greeting before sitting beside the Princesses, arms crossed, "Now, on with the briefing! I must know everything before embarking on my suicide mission," He concludes with a bitter tinge to his voice.

Celestia sucks in an annoyed breath through her nose, "I'm glad you could join us, Discord. I trust you're prepared for this first step?"

"Indeed I am," he returned to his cheerful tone, snapping his fingers--he was instantly encased in countless layers of winter coats and ski pants, legs and arms held stiff so his body was in the shape of a starfish. His voice was muffled by three overlapping, gaudy scarves, "Ahh bummb'd uhmp fhor' mmh trehk uhmp nohrmfh!"

Celestia looked exhausted, and Luna put her hoof over her face-- disappointing, but at least Pinkie had the courtesy to give him a giggle.

He snapped it away with an eye roll, however, at the lack of a response, "YES, I'm ready. Just point me in the right direction and I'll be on my way."

Twilight pulled a scroll of parchment out from her saddlebags, magicing it over to Discord's hands--he unraveled it to find a map.

"Unfortunately, we do not know precisely where it is, only the vaguest area around the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. Me and the girls will be traveling up there with you, to keep my brother and Cadence occupied while you go out to search..."

Discord's eyes snap up to her, then to Celestia, "They don't know about this plan?"

The princess stood her ground, chin held high in confidence, but Discord saw the way her eyes flickered away before meeting his again, "... They will be informed of it. In time."

Discord's ears flicked back, eyes narrowing as he rolled the scroll back up, "Not that I'm opposed to it, this will make for GREAT taunting material in the future, but are you sure you don't want to inform the rulers of an empire that their worst enemy and former dictator is soon to be roaming free? I mean, REALLY sure?"

"Yeah, I… I didn't want to say anything before, but Discord is--I'm sorry for this--making the most sense right now. I'm not opposed to trying to reform Sombra, but not telling the Crystal Empire just seems… I don't know--"

Celestia interrupted in a sterner voice than the girls were used to, "I know that it is not ideal, but I have proposed the idea to Princess Cadence before, and she…" she frowned sourly, "She would never go along with it. She was clear on that."

The girls had shrunken in on themselves, feeling as if they'd intruded on something they shouldn't have despite the fact that they were invited. Luna had a sympathetic look on her face, putting a hoof on her sister's shoulder comfortingly before turning to the rest on them, while Celestia looked away.

"What my sister means is that… As much of a risk as this is, the outcome could far outweigh any hiccup in political relations it may spawn. We do not wish to push our luck--He will never be allowed back in the Crystal Empire ever again, unless it's rulers' explicitly allow it."

Discord made a face, glancing back the girls for a moment… Then a realization hit him.

'Is that the real reason you're putting me in charge of it, Dear Celeste? So if things go sour, you can blame it on me?'

Something in his head told him that was ridiculous (the mousy, trusting, friendly part of it, of course), but the rest of him flushed with indignation. Like Tartarus was that mare going to blame him for something like that! He may have the leg and beard for it, but he was NO ONE'S scapegoat!

He was going to reform Sombra so well that the Crystal Empire would be GLAD to invite him back in!

"Um--Discord?" His soliloquy was interrupted, Fluttershy waving a hoof in front of his face, "Twilight's trying to give you, something else--"

His eyes blurred back into focus, Twilight giving him a bizarre look as she held a book too her chest, "Are you… Ok? You look… Pissed, all of a sudden?"

"Oh, I am--my bad for drifting off, thought. So what's this?" He asked with an air of clipped professionalism, snapping the book into his hands, licking his thumb to begin flipping through the pages.

"Sombra's journal."

He stopped abruptly, snapping it closed before he could even properly read a single letter, "Oh?"

"Cadence and I found it while exploring the Empire's castle. It might help you learn more about him, and give you more to work with. Understanding, about why he is the way he is, why he's done what he did, all that," She explained, seeming humbly proud of herself for it.

"Many thanks, Princess, but I'm not in a habit of reading other people's diaries anymore. I believe it was, hmmm…" he rubbed his chin in thought, "Oh, yes, right; it was you who taught me it was a, how did you word it? An invasion of privacy?" Discord said, standing up and shoving it into a dainty purse he suddenly had, along with the map, "But I will keep it nonetheless the less, to return to him once he's revived. I think he'll appreciate that, don't you?"

He doesn't not wait for a reply, blipping over to the doors, "I will wait for you at the train station, lovelies! Let's get this show on the road."

Twilight sat in her flushed hypocrisy sourced embarrassment, while the others' ambled to the door, suppressing their awkward coughs and laughter. Celestia and Luna merely sat there, wondering silently if this was as bad an idea Discord had illuminated it to be.

Author's Note:

Hello there! Apologies in advance for the delayed update, and any pacing issues or typos or other inconsistencies within this chapter (and all future chapters really), I do not use betas, and this is my first real pony fic, so learning to use the Lingo is a process in and of itself.

I would also like to use this note to clarify--the "canon" of this fic is not rooted entirely in either the show or the comics--I was never fully happy with either of them on their own, so I've constructed this fic only using the bits and pieces of each that i like and can intertwine with the plot at entertainingly as possible--and make up everything else completely from scratch! (Mainly Discord's backstory--it will be explored at length later on!)

As always, comments and thoughts are always appreciated--thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in this story, I was not expecting the amount of feedback I received!!! I hope it will live up to expectations once things really get rolling 🌟

Comments

[Spiritofchaos227]

I can already tell that this is going to be fun! A cool concept, character development for Discord, Discord interacting with ponies that aren't Fluttershy, an interesting rarepair, and MORE. I am excited. Also Discord backstory???? Bless

I'm 100% on board with you playing it loose with canon. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wishes that Discord's last major role in the show wasn't him causing yet another problem for his friends.

[craftman]

waiting for the next

[Nerfyy]

Hell yes very nice Chapter !
Now im fully hyped for more 🤩

[dashingapples]

this is a really interesting concept. looking forward to more! i like this already.