Last Option and a Pair of New Wings

"Introduction is necessary now, isn't it?" said Roco as he gave a warm smile. Although, he could still sense the uneasiness coming from Discord. He remained in his welcoming composure and dare not to point it out. "I'm Roco, head of the royal guard. That there is Drew," he gestured to his comrade, "-And that newbie there is Miles."

"Head of the royal guards....hmm, that explains your straightforwardness," commented Discord. "Although, Miles. I thought Celestia wasn't accepting newcomers for now."

Miles laughed awkwardly. "You could say i'm an exceptional case." Discord stared at him blankly.

"Miles, share your story," told Roco. He gulped but nodded.

"Well, my family and I refuged from Ponyville a few months back. And the closest city we could refuge to was Canterlot. We got help from smugglers. It was really expensive, we loaned them and until now I still do, I guess. Coming to Canterlot was hard, but living in Canterlot was harder. I had trouble finding my family a place to say. And with all the controversies, ponies had it hard accepting refugees into their establishment and or letting them rent apartments. It was hard to find a job too! So one day I requested to meet Celestia and explain my situation and asked if she could help me, and she did! She gave me a starting loan of money first, however I insisted she help me find a job as I couldn't just ask for money for everything- it didn't feel right! So she gave me a form to apply for the royal guards, although she was pretty hesitant. I went through simple training, then I was passed down to Roco instead to be an assistant as training at the moment had to be pushed back due to other things going on in the world. But no biggie, Roco has taught me alot already about being a royal guard!" he perked up.

"The key to a peanut butter sandwich is spreading from side to the middle, that way you have peanut butter everywhere," said Drew as he then looked to Roco, "Thank you for that information." Roco momentarily rolled his eyes.

Discord turned to Drew, finding his attitude similar to...well, his. "How about you, Drew? How did you get into the royal guard?"

"Applied for it, duh. I always wanted to be a guard, ever since I was little. And seven years ago I was given opportunity," he slammed his hooves down onto the porcelain floors. "Bet they be laughing at me still after I finally did it! Take that! Haha!" he cackled maniacally. "'Celestia won't accept a brute like you'- like yeah go figure, less criminals would bow down for softies like Miles."

"Hey...." whined Miles.

"Main point, I dreamed. I did it. I got it. That's how life works," he then looked to Roco. "You're up."

Discord looked to Roco expectingly. He tilted his head a little, as if waiting for him to start. Roco hesitated then sighed. "I.....maybe not today, for me."

"Come on, Roco, we all did it! It's not that hard-"

"I said no," he said coldly as he stomped his hoof slightly, staring at Drew with the eyes that made him the guard he was that very day. "You can't make me less I want to share. And frankly, I don't."

Miles sweated. "Let's talk about something else, shall we? Liiiike," his eyes trailed away, but then back to Discord almost expectingly for him to help change the subject. "Help...." he mouthed.

".....uh....let's talk about how...how grey the skies are! Yes! Like look at that pollution!" he got up from his spot and went towards the windows, eyeing the outside like it interested him so. Roco and Drew certainly knew the shtick he was playing but they didn't care enough to continue their argument and instead relented to change the subject.

Roco spoke up. "Yes, it has been very smoky every since they found a new way to dispose bodies."

"Why of course, because it would pollut- wait wait, what?" Discord's eyes widened as he turned to them, then back up at the skies. Then back at Roco.

"Aren't you aware?" asked Drew as he got closer to the window as well. "Due to the massive overflood of ponies passing from, oh I don't know- fires and gasses being released, they had to find some other way to dispose of them. So they burned the victims to ashes," he said bluntly. "They collect the bodies without a care of who the bodies are or which family it belongs to so often that ponies that go missing for over a day are easily claimed dead. The guards probably had a leeway to sneaking bodies for burials. Sometimes, when families knew they lost someone, they'll try to find a trustworthy guard to look for the body and give it to them for a proper burial- and a good stack of cash. Last respects are important."

Miles chimed in. "W-well, there's also a rumour that some guards would tattle on these kinds of folk, and Twilight never liked these kinds of folk, saying they shouldn't dwell with the dead and instead focus on the future."

"Pfft, that Princess sure has one rotten mouth and mind," chuckled Drew grimly.

Miles continued. "But sometimes when she's not in the mood to deal with these kinds of folk, or if rioters wouldn't leave her castle alone, it's said that she'll command her guards to deal with them. And being as ruthless as they are brought up to be, alot of cases resulted in....." he shivered at the thought. "...b-burning them alive."

Discord's eyes widened at the fact. Burned alive. Civillians. Innocent pony folk.

He still follows his way of thinking that ponies were selfish, and still had in mind that they deserved the chaos he had wrecked. They think too highly, he would think. He always wanted to change that, so he tormented them endlessly. But, he never crossed the line as to end lives. Never, he never thought of himself as being able to be that cruel. That cold hearted.

He lived in Ponyville for only a few years until he....... bailed, in a way. Even though his time there was cut short, he still managed to know so many different ponies living different lives. Like the Cake family. The music duo, Octavia and DJ Pon-3, the cutie mark crusaders.....

....whatever happened to the trio? He suddenly grew worry for his friends. Friends. Friends. That word rolled down his tongue before he could even stop it and he mumbled to himself. After hearing the rumour of being burned alive, he felt himself feeling naseuose. The three fillies. They deserved no harm. Did harm ever come upon them? Hopefully not.....Hopefully....

...but, the smoke becomes thicker and thicker as time passes. And he felt himself getting sick the more he thought about it. Them.....he never thought about them.....rarely has he ever thought about them......

He excused himself. "I.....have to leave," he left eruptly. Roco nodded but the gesture went unnoticed as Discord sped off. Drew shook his head.

Hopefully the Princess expected her ways of censoring news like this from him to not last forever. And God forbid he goes insane once he hears of what has happened to almost half of the mane six.

He trudged down the hallways, trying to remember the way to his own room. He rarely went back to the room, although he had decorated it to his own liking and whatnot. He has always been bedbunking with Celestia, not that she minded anyway. It eased his worries a little, but now as he learned of this information, he realised how fast his worries are crawling back to him.

....has Celestia been hiding these kinds of information from him?

Rumours are rumours but, she has always said that the smoke was only caused from forest fires started by angry rioters. She never told him about......

The more he thought about it. The more he felt his dinner crawling back up his throat. He felt as if someone had kicked him in the stomach. He felt dizzy, almost in disbelief. His friends. Friends. He mumbled again. Friends. He never succumbed to calling them friends willingly less Fluttershy tells him to do so. And he never felt such guilt torment him as he said it.

He could've done something. But he never knew....he never knew it could come to this. Homicides. Murders. The thought of who the victims were made his head spin. He...maybe i-if he had stayed he could've helped to do something. A creature with godlike powers who fled because he couldn't stand words. How pathetic.

...what if something happened to-

No! H-he shouldn't think of them. They were behind it as well. They removed accomplices. He shouldn't.....he shouldn't.

He felt himself teary eyed as he finally reached the hall to his room. Running on all fours now, he swinged his door open only to slam it behind him and lock it, as if he could lock out the thoughts. The thoughts. The thoughts.....

"I....hehe....heheheheeee....." he held onto the sides of his shoulders as he leaned and slumped against the door, laughing in disbelief. His laughs then turned to hysterical sobs, and his heart became heavy with grieve, guilt, pain......

He choked on his tears as he fell on his side, curling himself up as he felt guilty of crimes he never committed. Crimes he could've prevented. Crimes......crimes......

Crimes he had been blamed for before.

He....hated them. After the shitshow that spouted before he came to Canterlot, how much his heart burned at the words that called him a traitor. Words that were so familiar yet so foreign coming from them. He hated them, he hated them, he hated them......

...they used to be so friendly.

Maybe they planned it since the beginning. To betray him this way. To believe someone else rather than him because obviously he never had a clean record when it came to betrayal. Betray. Betray. Betray......

.....they were so nice. So, so friendly to him. How they fooled him, honestly. How.....how Applejack invited him to an apple family reunion to give him a taste of the simple life version of get togethers. How Pinkie would always have in mind to make up a new insane cupcake recipe for him to try pending to his tastes that very month. How Rainbow Dash would invite him for cloud fights and races to determine the best competitor between them both. How Rarity knitted randomly coloured scarfs and sweaters for him from time to time even though he rarely would wear them but accept them anyway just to be polite. How Fluttershy.......

...how Fluttershy....

...how Fluttershy always looked out for him, and scolded the ponies that would talk bad about them with her there while he snickers at them from a distance, how she always made sure he's properly fed even though he would occasionally eat banana peels as midnight snacks and ruin his breakfast and worry her for not eating, how she always told him he was a beautiful creature no matter his looks, how she always....

....how she always trusted him.

....what if something were to happen to her. What if....what if she got...

No.

No, no, no!

He cursed his mind, cursed his thoughts, cursed himself for bringing everything he had ever feared back into light. Fluttershy. Sweet, dear, kind Fluttershy. She doesn't deserve torment. He remembered the pain in her eyes when he was accused. She believed it. He remembered how painful it felt to be looked down as he had been looked down as. He remembered how much he despised her for believing someone who had always hated him. Always.

He knew that. Hatred. She hated him. He knew that.

But.

He didn't care.

He's become desperate, it's clear to see now. Oh how he wanted to just bring the pegasus into his embrace, to comb her hair out and apologise profusely, saying how sorry he was for whatever he did. And everything else wouldn't matter. It wouldn't matter how wrong she was. All he wanted now was to embrace her.

Her soft coat, her lush hair, her sweet and gentle smile. How he wanted to see it again. Oh how he wanted to hear her laugh. At this point, if he even sees her, he'll immediately embrace her. His shouts for release would mean nothing as he tightened his grasp. God forbid he lost his chance to redeem himself again.

He could've just stayed. And explained. But through the ringing of accusing shouts or misdemeanours, he bailed. Like the coward he was.

He sobbed harder at the thought. He bit his lip as he knew how vocal he became. But he felt so weak. Helpless. He couldn't do anything. He bit hard enough to draw blood, however. But it didn't change anything.

He digged his nails into the sides of his arm, up to his shoulders, scratching. He wanted to forget. He hated the fact that he reminded himself of all this. His worries came back like lightning. The wanted to forget. To take his mind off. To feel pain so that he'll focus on that instead. But he couldn't.

He was too far deep.

So there he laid on the ground, his flesh being digged at, his lips bled, and he himself was curled up against the door, sobbing, until finally tiring him to sleep.