It was easy to find someone when you were Discord.

The draconequus first asked to a police officer where the city kept their registers about its inhabitants. From there, he just took a taxi to the bureaucratic building and used his charm and personality on the receptionist and a couple of employees (good thing they closed at midnight; he knew voting for that mayor was a good idea). After that, it was just ten minutes of dull browsing to get the address of the dragon.

'Wow, he sure didn't take good care of himself.' Discord mused, looking how healthier he looked in the photo attached to the document before putting it back. 'Well, he's gonna look a lot worse when I'm done with him.'

Waving goodbye, Discord adjusted his suit and walked off, before picking up speed and sprinting down the road. It was time to send that dragon straight to Tartarus... after he punished it.

It was easy to find someone when you were a cop.

Calling the station by radio and leaving them the description only left Rainbow waiting for thirty minutes as they searched for the information.

"Remind me again when are we buying new computers?" She asked Soarin while they waited.

"With our budget as it currently is?" he deadpanned.

They got lucky and went right away to the location, a small flat in the top of a five story building. You didn't need to get close to see it was a really cheap thing.

With two more officers with them, they entered and went right up to to the last floor.

And at the end of the stairs, trotting up the last steps, was Discord. His angry glare was masked behind a smirk as he looked at the pegasi behind him.

"Officers," he saluted with a nod before walking towards a door. Rainbow zoomed past him and made him stop in front of the threshold.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned, her eyes narrowing in suspicion when she realized it was the address they were looking for.

"The same thing you are doing, I suppose," he shrugged, not paying much atttention to her as he focused on the flat at his right. Behind those walls was that murderer.

Before he could even reach for the doorknob, Soarin walked past him and stood next to Rainbow. "Sir, this is a police matter. Please go out and let us do our job."

"And I'm doing my job, so no, I won't..." He suddenly trailed off, looking at the door as a certain smell reached his nostrils.

Sniff, sniff. Yep, there was no doubt.

The pegasi looked at each other in confusion; but before either of them could utter a word, Discord said a single one that caught all their attention.

"Death."

He then launched himself at the door; breaking it off its hinges like it was nothing and entering the apartment.

"Hey, wait!" Rainbow was right behind him... but both stopped at the sight in the small living room.

Small, crumped, full of garbage and stains and a still dragon fallen over a small, broken table.

He fit perfectly the description Discord had given her, including the smell. A syringe was practically stabbed in his right arm, where it met the joint with the forearm.

"Well, we found our suspect," she mumbled. Soarin walked over and checked the body while the other two officers entered the apartment and went to inspect the rest of it.

"Yeah, too bad he's dead. But he's still warm, so it was recent-" He then was pushed back as Discord stepped forward and grabbed the dragon's chest with his talon, digging into the scales.

"You're not leaving yet," he said with a cold, restrained rage as the dragon suddenly drew a desperate breath, panting. His wide eyes moved everyway, having a hard time focusing on anything.

"What? Where-"

"Still among the living, for now. You're lucky I'm not in Tartarus waiting for you," the draconequus growled while the pegasi watched, stunned.

"Wha-but he-he was dead!" Soarin sputtered.

"You sure you checked well? Because he sure seems alive to me," deadpanned Rainbow.

"Why did you kill Sapphire?" Discord demanded.

"Apart from the fact that she owed me?" The dragon rasped, staring at those eyes that shone with an unholy fire. If he wasn't so overdosed, he would be peeing himself at the scary sight.

"Don't make me repeat myself."

"Hey, I just killed her. And she killed me, so... why don't you go after... her..." He mumbled, before his eyes dulled and his head fell.

Dead again.

"Great," muttered Discord, letting go of the corpse and standing up, his tail almost knocking over the officers as it moved around in frustration.

As the police checked the apartment and the forensics did the same with the body, Discord was reclined against a wall and his neck pressed against the roof-'too tall for this building'- while Rainbow hovered in front of him.

"What did you do back there?" The pegasus wasn't sure what happened, but either Soarin made a mistake, or this guy actually brought the dragon back to life for a few seconds.

"His soul hadn't crossed to the spirit plane yet, so I managed to make it talk while it was still tethered to his body. It didn't took long for it to go away, as you saw," he explained like it was an ordinary thing.

Rainbow just blinked. 'Ok, Soarin made a mistake, and this guy is nuts.'

Said pegasus came out of the apartment, carrying a bag with a white powder in it.

"Well, it seems he used this place to make drugs, if the small lab in the back is any indication."

Discord put a finger in the bag and scooped up a little of the powder, taking it to his mouth and tasting it. He winced as the pegasi stared at him in disbelief.

"Must be a terrible one; this is atrocious."

"... Seems like Sapphire was in debt with him, and he simply took her out as payback; then came here and overdose himself by mistake, like an addict would do," Soarin said, choosing to ignore that while making sure the bag was out of the draconequus' reach.

"You sure about that?" Discord queried, lifting an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

"Sir, stay out of this, please," Rainbow said, before turning back to Soarin. "But he's right; you heard what the dragon said. It seems like there was someone else here, and they could have overdosed him to keep themselves unknown."

"That's a good reasoning; isn't your job to check these possibilities to catch the wrongdoers?" Discord queried again, his head getting between the two of the while staring at Soarin.

"Sir, stay out of this," the pegasus demanded, pushing his long muzzle off his face. "Rainbow, he was dying; people don't make a lot of sense in that moment, and even less when it's an overdose of drugs what's killing them. To me, it seems like he was talking about Sapphire."

"And what if he wasn't?"

Soarin, open his mouth, closed it, looked at Discord and then guided her away while whispering his answer."Rainbow, remember what happened last time we had a discussion like this? Believe me, I don't want a repeat of what happened in the docks anymore than you do."

That was a bit of a low blow for Rainbow.

"What happened in the docks?" Discord whispered, his head only inches above theirs.

The pegasi startled, hitting their heads with his muzzle ."Seriously, back off!" They both exclaimed; Discord lifted his arms in surrender before walking back to the apartment.

Rainbow took a deep breath before gazing at Soarin."I know; but that's a risk I'll have to take."

The pegasus shook his head in defeat. "That stubborness of yours is gonna get you in more trouble; but you're a big mare. If that's what you want, I won't stop you."

An officer exited the apartment and walked past them, carrying several objects as evidence. A glint caught Discord's attention, and he took the object -a necklace- without the officer noticing.

Soarin and Rainbow did, but they didn't complain as they saw the draconequus' eyes widen in recognition.

"This was Sapphire's."

"Are you sure?" Rainbow asked, looking at the golden, elegant necklace.

"She presumed it to me in her second-to-last visit; she had made a music video and the first thing she bought with that check was a few of these for her, the other singers and some of the production people that she got along with." He smelled it. "There are too many chemicals and drugs in it for me to catch her scent, but I'd recognize it anywhere."

"Probably gave it as pay to the dragon for drugs," Soarin conjetured, taking it back. Discord frowned but turned to Rainbow.

"So, what now?"

"Now? I'm going to escort you out of this crime scene," the pegasus said, doing what she's been wanting to do for the last half hour; though that last bit with the necklace could be useful.

"Do me a favor and escort him out of the building!" Soarin screamed as she pushed the draconequus downstairs.

"Okay, seriously, what now?" Discord asked as they were out of the building and into the night sky. Rainbow Dash hovered to talk to him face to face.

"Sir-"

"Discord," he interrupted. 'Sir' felt too formal to him.

"... Sir, you're not a cop or a royal guard, so you don't have any permission or authorization to work on this case," she continued, ignoring his comment.

"You do know it is my eternal duty to punish those who commit crimes like this, right? I may be retired, but I'm making a brief comeback for this special occasion."

Rainbow massaged her temple with a hoof. "Look, I don't know why you believe yourself to be the Beast, and I don't care. But you're not interfering in this investigation; is that clear?"

Discord rolled his eyes and snorted before answering in an annoyed tone. "Yeah, yeah, I heard you loud and clear. See you later, detective."

With that, he turned around and walked away. Rainbow watched him go before going back into the building, both deep on thought.

'He better listens to me and doesn't interfere anymore; this seems like it's going to be complicated enough without having him around...'

'Ok, whose of Sapphire's friends and acquaintances should I interrogate first?'

Author's Note

What, you expected Discord to do as Rainbow told him? He never said he would, after all...

Sorry for the delay in the chapter. I've been either procrastinating or working on other fanfics.