The Fallen Angel

It was a brand new day.

Stirring among his silky bedsheets, Discord got up from bed and went to take a long, hot shower. The draconequus was in such a good mood that he was even humming a catchy tune.

Ever since solving that crime last week, he'd been in really high spirits, to the delight of the ponies he'd been with last Sunday and Wednesday.

As he made an omelette in the oven while wearing only a bathrobe, he mused about that. He probably missed imparting punishment; making evil souls pay for their crimes was something he enjoyed.

And still do, he thought with no amount of satisfaction. There was something... fulfilling about making evil pay in this plane of existence, something that was missing in Tartarus; but the fallen angel couldn't quite tell what it was.

He flipped the omelette in the air, where it lazily turned around, almost at the peak of its ascension. Seeing his food move at a snail's pace got rid of his smile.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding..." he groaned.

Turning around, he was greeted with the sight of his sister, wearing a silver yoke and a simple, white dress. "Couldn't you at least have waited until I finished my breakfast, Selene?"

"Luna," she corrected."This matter is more important than your breakfast, brother."

"First my drink, now my breakfast... what's next? Paying me a visit when I'm in the shower?" He sat on a chair, still holding the pan in his paw. His talon drummed on the table as he stared idly at the alicorn.

Doing her best not to laugh at the mental picture of her brother singing in the shower using the soap as a microphone, Luna cleared her throat. "Discord, whatever game you're playing has to stop. You have to go back."

"This is no game, sister. This is retirement." Luna's eyes widened at that; his tone may be casual and with a tinge of annoyance, but his gaze was serious. "I've spent eons doing the job dad so kindly 'asked' me to do. Well, no more!" He said, making air quotes with his fingers.

"But-!"

"No buts. I got tired of the job and decided to quit. End of story."

Luna looked at a loss for words, before staring at him with an even more serious face than before. "That was your punishment. You can't simply walk away from it!"

"He gave me the ability to choose; it's not my fault he doesn't like my choices," He replied, his gaze never leaving hers while he absently twirled the pan; "and he didn't seem too keen on stopping me from leaving Tartarus in the first place."

They stood in silence for a minute, daring the other to make the next move. The older sibling caved first.

"I have orders to send you back to Tartarus, brother," Luna said, adjusting her stance and looking ready to pounce at him, wings extended and flapping twice as a metallic shine flowed over her feathers.

Discord looked alarmed for a second before relaxing again.

"You can try to force me to, but we know I'm the better fighter; not even that little trick with your wings will help you beat me." He snorted, gesturing at them with the pan. Though he would fight with her if he had to, he didn't want to.

He was rather fond of his kitchen.

Reluctantly, Luna eased her stance. "We all have a duty to do, Star. I'm His herald, and you're His punisher. It's what we are meant to do."

How long has it been since he'd been called by that nickname? Eons, that's for sure.

"Not anymore," he asnwered nonchalantly. "Dad can assign someone else to the job for all I care. He probably did it already, didn't He? So who has to suffer in my place?"

Luna simply glared; among the seriousness and annoyance, Discord caught sight of a particular emotion:

Resentment.

The draconequus snorted, trying not to laugh. Luna glared even harder as he fought to keep his laughter under control.

"PffftthahaHAHAHA! Sorrry, sorry, it's just-oh, I can't believe it. Selene the First Angel, Father's messenger and carrier of His will when he doesn't feel like doing something directly... is -hehe, is now at the very bottom of existence as regent of Hell! Oh, are you now the Lady of Tartarus?" A cackle escaped before he gripped his muzzle shut, trying to not explode in laughter.

Luna took a deep breath, doing her best not to hit Discord in his goat-like muzzle.

"Yes, I'm your temporal replacement." She emphasized. Something I plan to solve as soon as I can.

"Then you better start having auditions or plan a tournament to assign a new ruler, because this one is retired."

"You won't go back." It wasn't a question.

Discord groaned, exasperated. "Are the screams of the damned driving you deaf, sister? No, I won't!."

"… This isn't over, Discord. We need you back there, and I'm not leaving until you go." She said with resolution, walking out of the kitchen and towards the balcony.

"Oh, joy, just what I needed: my older sister bothering me endlessly."

With a scowl, Luna stopped her power, letting time go back to normal. Discord stared annoyed at his pan, before a sudden realization had him jumping from his chair in a saving dive.

"My omelette!"

Luna took to the air, a petty smirk blossoming on her face as her brother groaned over his ruined breakfast.

Hovering out of the station, Rainbow read through a folder, going through the content over and over, ignorant of what was around her.

"Good afternoon, Detective. "

"AH!"

Her wings beat faster, lifting her up in surprise as the folder slipped from her grasp, the pages spreading through the ground.

"A bit jumpy today, aren't we?" the draconequus asked with a smirk as he bent down, picking up the papers.

"Discord! No, you just took me by surprise. I was... too focused." She landed and picked up the pages alongside him.

"I can see that," he laughed, returning the folder to her."So, any new case for us to tackle head on?"

Rainbow looked at him and sighed; though as annoying and flirty as he could get, he was very helpful. But...

"Discord, we've been over this; I can't have you going with me. I appreciate your help, but that was a one time thing."

"The 'one time things' I usually have tend to involve a dinner or a dance before adding a bed, so I wouldn't call it that. I can show you, if you want," he offered with a smirk, causing the pegasus to scoff and roll her eyes. His charm still didn't work on her."Ok, flirting aside, you can't deny we make a good team. The best, I would dare to say!"

Before she could answer, something in the pocket of her jacket vibrated, followed by a quick, energetic tune. Rainbow grabbed it with her hoof and put it out.

The object was a cellphone, relatively simple in design. She hooked it in her ear, ignoring Discord's inquisitive look.

"Hello? Yes, that's me," she talked to the microphone. For the way the phones were designed, almost no sound could be caught from the speaker when one had it on their ear, so Discord could only hear some mumbling even with his acute sense of hearing.

"She what?! " Rainbow asked, her eyes slightly widened. Discord rose an eyebrow at her reaction.

"Ok, I'll be there soon." She cut and shoved her phone back into her pocket.

"Something important?"

"My daughter got into a fight in school," she answered as her wings extended, ready for takeoff. Her next words were cut short, though.

"You have a daughter?!" Discord did not see that coming."Wow, you don't look like you had a child; I mean, no extra fat or anything. Operation, luck or healthy lifestyle?"

She just glared at him before taking off and flying away.

Discord followed her with his gaze before walking into the station with a groan.

"Great, now the curiosity is killing me..."

Rainbow walked out of Manehattan's Public School N° 55, an orange pegasus filly with saddlebags going alongside her.

"I am very disappointed in you. And you are grounded; no dessert for a week."

"But mooooom!" she whined. I won't make it to the weekend without my chocolate cake!

"You fight in school, you don't get to complain. We'll talk about this when we get home."

Turning around the corner, she stopped in her tracks as her eyes caught sight of Discord, lying against the wall with a lit cigar in his mouth.

"You know, a 'see you later' would have been appreciated," he said after a puff of smoke.

"Discord?! What are you doing here? How did you even know where I was going?" The pegasus asked, suspicious.

"Well, we were having a chat before you have to come here to pick up whom I assume is your daughter, right?" he said, gesturing to the wide-eyed filly. "As for the how, I asked in the police station for the school's address. Morning Dew was more than happy to tell me... not to mention agreeing to go out this weekend."

Rainbow groaned; the gossipy, flirty unicorn of the precinct struck again. Resigned, she gestured to the filly.

"Discord, she's my daughter Scootaloo. Birdie, he is Discord; he helped me solve a case last week."

Closing her mouth, the filly cautiously walked forward and gestured the draconequus to come closer. Bemused, he lowered his neck until he was almost at eye level with her.

"Discord, as in... the Beast?!" she whispered.

"The very same!" He smirked at her before straightening up again.

"… Cool!" she exclaimed shortly after, to the adults' bemusement.

"Well, that's a first. I must say, you have a very peculiar daughter," he commented to the unamused pegasus, ignoring the filly moving at his feet. "Children tend to be scared of me; not that I mIND!"

Surprised at the sidden tug, he look at his tail to find Scootaloo standing on it, playing with the white hair growing from the tip.

"Is this real? Because the dragons at the school don't have hai--"

"SCOOTALOO!" Embarrassed, Rainbow picked her daughter off his tail.

"And people wonder why I don't like children..." he grumbled, fixing his puff of white hair.

Rainbow's attempts-subtle and not- to get rid of Discord in a somewhat polite way were fruitless, so she eventually relented and let him come with them.

Their house was a cozy place on the ground. Being on the coast, the savage winds that came from the sea made it impossible to build cloud buildings on a long term, so pegasi in Manehattan and Baltimare had grown used to living on the ground, though their houses were made spacious enough to hover comfortably. Discord liked that aspect, as he didn't have to crouch or walk on four legs, though he had to be wary of the occasional candlelight.

As Rainbow opened the door and the ponies entered, the groan of wood contorting made them look back; the doorframe trembled and grew at least half its size. Discord still had to bend over to pass, but he couldn't push the doorframe any wider without damaging the structure; the physical world was fragile and even his powers had limits.

As the pegasi looked dumbstruck at the now shrinking door, the draconequus walked past them and looked around, taking note of the large sofa on the living room. Some ponies liked to snuggle with their families, so a furniture big enough for all of them was common; but that one was way too big for just two or even three ponies.

"Nice place," he commented.

"Thanks," she muttered absently, tentatively touching the doorframe with her hoof, half expecting it to move.

"Though I don't think a cop's salary would be enough to cover it. I don't think it's even enough to cover a good fridge."

Rainbow rolled her eyes at the joke, but silently agreed with him. She didn't joined the force to get rich, after all.

"It's grandma's place!" Scootaloo said, going to the kitchen to get a snack.

"She has more than one house, and rents them. She's letting us stay here until I save enough money to buy my own." Rainbow explained, letting the folder in the living room table. She would go over it again later.

There was a chimney in one of the living room's wall, and as was common there were pictures resting over it. Discord walked curiously and went over them: Rainbow with her parents -her mother looked familiar, bu he couldn't place her at the moment-, with her daughter, and one of the two with a stallion he'd seen before.

"Isn't that the detective that works with you?" Discord asked.

"That's my dad!" Scootallo said, coming back from the kitchen with a plate full of cookies balancing on her head.

"Why am I not surprised?" He muttered in a deadpan tone. 'I think I saw this twist in a movie once...'

He grabbed a cookie. "So, why didn't you tell me you're married?" he asked before biting on the snack.

"Would that have stopped your... " she looked for suitable words to use near her daughter, who was devouring her cookie and looking innocently at them. "…poor attempts at flirting?"

"Poor?!" Discord's hackles raised, clearly offended." I'll have you know my charm is exquisite!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I beg to differ."

The draconequus fumed, but let it pass. Now was not the time to ponder why his charm didn't work with her."Yes, it would have stopped my flirting."

The pegasus did a double take, her expression a mix of disbelief and bemusement."Wait, really?"

Oh, I wish I've had a camera on hand; that face was priceless, Discord thought, an eyebrow raised in amusement. "A relationship is a promise; I always keep mine, and I won't be with someone who's already taken."

If anything, Discord was a celestial being of honor. It got annoying eons ago how surprised everyone got at that.

"Huh," Was all Rainbow said.

"Now, if they like experimenting or are open-minded, I don't have a problem in taking part of a thr-mmpph." Discord was interrupted by a sudden hoof pressing against his mouth.

"Not in front of my daughter!" She whispered sharply, hovering in front of him. Not even standing in two legs could she reach his face.

Scootaloo was actually too distracted enjoying the cookies, but came back from her musings to find a funny scenario."Mom, why's he kissing your hoof?"

Rainbow quickly hovered back, and Discord's face scrunched."Blegh! What did you step on?! Now I have the most terrible taste in my mouth," he complained.

"Nothing that the power of chocolate can't cure!" the filly exclaimed offering the plate to the draconequus. He quickly took another two.

Rainbow's phone rang again; she flew nearer to the wall and answered. "Rainbow Dash. Where? ...Ok, I'm on my way."

She hung up and turned around. "Sorry Birdie, but I have to go back to work. Why don't you go to play with the neighbors? They should be back from school."

"Ok!" She flew and hugged her mom tightly." Bye mom!I love you!"

Rainbow hugged her back. "I love you too, Birdie."

Scootaloo turned around and hugged Discord, who went stiff from the discomfort.

"Bye, mister Discord!"

The draconecuus didn't know what to do, so he simply patted her head and pushed the pegasus away. "Yes, yes, goodbye little pony. Now go."

Scootaloo giggled and flew away. Rainbow peeked through the window to see her enter the neighbor's house. She then found herself with Discord standing at her side, his lion arm giving her a side hug.

"So, ready to go out there to punish some dastardly evildoers, partner?" He asked, a silly police hat hanging from his horn.

She rolled her eyes. "You're not going to stop, are you?"

Discord pouted. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing to work with me," he said, feigning hurt.

Rainbow groaned, but gave up. "Fine! You can come with me. But this is the last time. And If you interfere in any way with the investigation, you're out." She warned him.

"I assure you, I'll be nothing more than helpful," he said with a charming smile.

This headache says otherwise.The pegasus just shook her head, hoping this wouldn't get her reprimanded, or worse.