I removed my head from the mini-crater in the wall and turned back to pick up my crying son. With an unnatural calmness, I began rocking him in my arms to soothe him. It turned out he wasn't that disturbed, just surprised. He stopped crying and looked up at me with confused, huge, adorable eyes.

"D-daddy?" He whimpered. I smiled softly and nuzzled his cheek with my head.

"It's alright son. Everything is ok, just a loud pony is all." I soothed quietly.

*FLASH*

"And a really annoying camera that daddy might break here soon." I continued. That got the little guy to giggle.

"Whoops, forgot to turn it off..." the cameraman muttered.

"Wow, this is a great start already! Father and child!" the newsmare gushed. "What's the little one's name?"

"Hold on, hold on. I'd prefer my son not be here for the actual interview. Let me go see if my ma-- Twilight doesn't mind watching him."

"Oh yes, of course." she conceeded a little too easily. I gave her a skeptic look, but shrugged and walked upstairs in search of Twilight. She was on our-- my bed in the room. It was still too small for us to effectively sleep together. Unless she slept pressed up against m--

"Ohhhhh!" I exclaimed suddenly, realizing every little sleeping episode I had with the girls had been planned. Twilight sat up quickly with a startled gasp. "Hi Twi."

"Sharky! You're back! Could you consult me next time? Before you let a strange mare and her brother into our house?"

"Oh... heh heh, sure. Sorry. Anyway, would you mind putting Unity to bed while I talk with the reporters?"

"Oh, you did manage to get him from Fluttershy. I was worried she may have asked you to prove it or something before giving him to you."

"Really? Why?"

"Mr. Shiny said she seemed determined to make sure it happened. For obvious reasons." she gave me a small wink.

"What reasons?" I tilted my head and gave her a vacant expression. Twilight sighed.

"Nevermind. Here, I'll take Unity..." Twilight levitated the drowsy little bundle out of my arms. "While you go deal with that mare downstairs."

"Thanks sweetie, you're the best." I said in my best cheesy T.V. show voice. I leaned forward and kissed Twilight on the cheek before going back downstairs. "Alright, where were we?"

"Please, come stand over here." the newsmare beckoned for me to join her next to the table in the middle of the room. They had removed the horse head carving from the table and placed it in the corner of the room.

"Alright then." I walked over to stand across the table from her. Her brother was standing a few feet away from the table with his camera at the ready. "So, before we start, can I get your names?"

"Alright, usually I start the questioning, but you're a special case. My name is Beeze, Beeze Kneeze. My brother's name is Cats Pajamas. Great names, huh?" she asked intently. I was about to sarcastically agree with her, but she seemed pretty serious about it.

"Uhhh.... yeah, great." I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Anyway, let's get to those questions."

"Of course! Now, let's start with recent events. You were being held captive in the Gryffin Death Arena. Why was that? We've all heard the rumors and statement from the King, but what do you say happened?" she leaned a bit too far in and held her notepad just a little too readliy as she asked her question. It kind of creeped me out.

"Well, I had requested permission to officially protect his daughter, Gilda. The princess, you know. He had me prove my worth by fighting in the Arena. Now I'm her protector."

"Really? You risked your coat to just get permission to protect her? Most ponies wouldn't do that kind of thing just out of the goodness of their hearts. Unless... is there something special about this princess you're protecting?"

"Well yeah. She's a good friend of mine, and she was in danger. I'll do anything to protect a friend."

The mare stuck out her lower lip in a tiny pout. "She's just a friend? How boring. Oh well, very noble of you to protect her like that."

"Boring?"

"Next question. That child you brought in. Is he yours?"

"Well... yes. I'd like him to be left out of the interview though."

"Nopony has ever even thought you had a child... This is stupendous! What's the little munchkin's name?" the mare began nearly bouncing in her seat as she scribbled furiously on her notepad.

"Unity, but--" I began slowly

"Who's the mother?"

"None."

"What? You mean he has no mother?" the mare suddenly stopped her erratic, excited movements.

"Nnope. He's only got me. Well, admittedly, he's more got my friends to watch after him. Twilight and Fluttershy."

"Oh? He's adopted? Or... is he somehow yours?"

"No... well, yes... Let's just say he's adopted." it was better to say that then say he was the offspring of my mirror image and Discord.

"Ok, and these friends of yours... are they like his mothers?"

"Yes."

"In every aspect? They're in a relationship with you?"

I grinned at the possibilty of finally being able to sate this mare's obvious desire for dirt on my love life.

"Why yes, Twilight is my marefriend. She's the mare that owns this house, and likely greeted you when you arrived." as I finished my statement, the mare's eyes seemed to expand with delight. "In fact, would you like me to get her down here to talk with her a little bit as well?"

"Yes. That would be quite nice." the mare said in an unnervingly calm voice. Her pupils were nearly as large as her irises, and she had the dumbest grin on her face.

*FLASH*

"Totally not holding this picture over her later..." I heard her brother mumble. I supressed a snicker and walked upstairs to find Twilight. I cracked our bedroom door open. The room was pitch black, and I could only guess as to where she was.

"Twilight? You here?" I whispered, knowing Unity was likely asleep nearby.

"Hmmm?" a sleepy groan came from the direction of our bed. "Sharky? I'm trying to sleep..."

"You tired already?" I turned to look at the windows downstairs. "It's not even dark yet though."

"Yeah... our little event earlier made me really sleepy..." she mumbled as if she were about to pass back out.

"Well, would you mind coming downstairs for a moment to answer some questions and maybe take a picture?" I listened to her silence for a moment, and almost gave up on getting a reply when I heard her hooves tap against the ground.

She let out a sigh. "For you, Sharky, I'll do it." The room suddely lit up from a faint light. As soon as my eyes refocused, I could see that the light was from Twilight's horn, and that she was trotting over to me. Her mane was a little disheveled, but even so, she looked great to me. "Do I look good enough for pictures?" she wondered drowsily.

"Always, my love." I assured her with a smile and a pat on her head. She returned my smile and began going downstairs.

"Oh good! You're back!" Beeze exclaimed as Twilight sat down and I stepped off the stairs. "Now we can continue. So, how long have you two known each other?" she asked before I even joined Twilight downstairs.

"A few months now. Ever since he showed up in Equestria." Twilight answered for me.

"Awww, adorable!" Beeze squealed as I sat down by Twilight and laid my arm behind her neck.

*FLASH*

"How long have you two been an item?"

"Technically ever since right before I went to the Arena, but only about a day or so officially." I answered.

"What made you interested in this young mare, Hero?" Beeze flinched a little bit as I gave her a bit of a glare.

"It's Sharky. My name is Sharky. To answer your question, she's smart, pretty, thoughtful, sweet, a great mother figure for Unity, and she's been nothing but kind to me ever since I arrived. I didn't have to become a hero for her to like me... Oh, and you should taste her killer omelets." by the time I finished talking, Twilight was blushing furiously.

*FLASH*

"You're quite the romantic, Sharky. Yet another thing the public doesn't know about you! Hmmm... tell me, Miss Twilight, was it? What do you find so appealing about Sharky?"

"Well... He's smart, strong, brave, whenever we read together he's always so warm and nice to lean on, he's a good dad, he loves his pets and friends, he makes me feel pretty, his cooking is delightful, and more than anything, he cares. About everything. Everypony he sees, he would protect with his life. It scares me a lot, when he gets hurt for it, but I also love him for it." Twilight leaned into me and looked up lovingly. I smiled at her and inwardly scolded my tears for trying to escape my eyes. Without thinking about it, I leaned down to give her a kiss.

*FLASH*

"I will break that camera if you don't turn the flash off." I warned Cats. Twilight giggled a little bit as I sat back up for the interview.

"Awww.... You two are just soooo cute together!" Beeze squeaked. "Tell me Sharky, who else is in your herd? A stallion like you must have quite the herd, am I right?"

"... My what?" I questioned dumbly.

"Your herd silly! The group of mares you decide to spend the rest of your life with? Don't tell me somepony like you has only got one girl!"

"Herding? Stallions take multiple mares here? Well, no. I've only got Twilight here, and that's how it'll stay for awhile. Right Twilight?" I turned to Twilight as I finished, but she wasn't listening to me. In fact, she seemed to be thinking really hard. I gave her a small shake and cleared my throat. "Right Twilight?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm still really sleepy. Do you three mind if I head back to bed?" Twilight asked. Something about the way she spoke led me to believe that wasn't the whole truth, but I chalked it up to me being overly analytical and seeing things that weren't there.

"Sure, we can be done with this section of the interview if you want." Beeze offered graciously. "Please, go get some rest."

Twilight nodded thankfully and headed upstairs for some shuteye. I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was up, but I decided to ignore it for now.

"Anyway, next section. I'd like to get to know a bit more about you as a stallion. Everypony sees the hero side of you, but what about the real you? Tell me, how old are you?"

"I'm 21 as of last winter." I explained easily. Beeze's eyes widened a bit.

"You're 21? Wow, still so young! I had you figured somewhere around 30."

I frowned a bit in confusion. "I thought you guys were considered mature around 14 though. Why would 21 be considered really young?"

"Well, technically we're mature at 14 and can date, even choose to mate in some cases, but we aren't really considered to be adults until around 25."

"Huh..."

"Anyway, what do you do in your spare time? You know, when you aren't hunting and saving ponies."

"Well... I dunno, I usually spend most of my time doing just that. Whenever I'm not on the job, I spend whatever time I can hanging out with my friends, pets, and son."

"Alright, last question. Why do you risk your life hunting monsters? Obviously you aren't a pony, and if you wanted, you could do pretty much anything you wanted. Why use your power and abilities to help a race that you don't even belong to?" she seemed a bit uneasy while asking her last question, as if bringing it up would make me change my mind about helping them.

"Why? Well..." I paused for a moment to truly ponder the reason I did what I did. I mean, she was right. If I wanted to, I could just take whatever I wanted. I could make life hell for all these ponies, up until either Celestia or Luna put me down like a mad dog. Deep down though, I knew I wouldn't do that. There were reasons for that. "Because back on my world, I always dreamed of being able to save anypony. I wanted to be a hero, like any young child does at some point. When I was sent here, that chance presented itself to me. Here, I'm a giant. A force to be reckoned with. Back on my world, I was the puny, nerdy, freak that was too smart for his own good. So, I guess I protect you guys to fufill my own selfish dreams."

"Really? Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but one doesn't usually nearly die to protect ponies they barely know in their dreams. Any normal pony would likely turn tail and run the moment they realized their lives were very much in danger. Judging by Luna's hunt reports, you've been on the brink of death many times, yet you keep fighting for us. There has to be some reason beyond selfish need."

*sigh* "Well, that's all there is. Maybe I'm just not the hero you think me to be. I've told you all before, and I'll do it again. I'm not a hero."

"Sharky... There's more to you. You're not just a selfish brute that protects us because he can. There's a reason, I know it. Please, try to find it and tell us the truth!"

"... Look, I'll tell you... I do this for me, but not for myself. Earlier I mentioned the fact that I was small and nerdy. You see, I was very intelligent. I was in High School before I even hit puberty. Because of this... I was always the smallest kid. The wierdest kid. The most vulnerable kid. I was picked on nearly all my life. Then, one person reached out to me. A young man that will forever be a hero in my eyes, because he stood up for me. He protected me. He was my hero, and my friend. One day, he was killed. My hero was gone, my friend was dead. I didn't know what to do without him...

I was lost...

I so nearly fell into a dark hole that I would've never gotten out of in my mind. I nearly gave up hope. Then, one day... I heard his voice. I don't know how, I might have been so depressed I imagined it. He said to me: 'Be the hero.' I sat in the spot where I had heard him for hours, begging him to come back. He never did, but his words stuck with me. I needed to be like he was, strong. Not only for myself, but for him." I swallowed roughly and continued, "I never stood by and let anyone pick on me, or anybody else again. Now... now I do the same in his memory. I protect because it's what he would want, what my family would want, what I want."

"That's... that's..." *sniffle* Beeze wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof quickly. "Wow. That's quite the story..."

*click*

"Yeah..." I mumbled, not quite sure what else to say.

"Well... if it means anything... I'm sure your friend is very proud of you..." Beeze offered.

"Yeah... He totally is." Cats agreed, tears evident in his voice. I hadn't even known he was really listening.

"Thanks. Anyway, it's late. You two should get going. I'm sure you've got a deadline to meet or something."

"Yes, yes we do." *sniffle* "C-c'mon Cats, time to go. Thanks for this, by the way..." Beeze backed away from the table and trotted to the door as she had said. Cats followed her dutifully, but at the doorway, he stood straight up as if he had just been shocked.

"W-wait a minute! Didn't you say you were small and weak for your kind? W-what the hell is a strong version of your species like?!"

"Actually, I used to be small and weak. I grew up though, and I've only gotten stronger since coming here. I'm likely the strongest of my kind now. Most likely." upon hearing this explanation, Cats seemed to calm back down and left. He was kind enough to close the door behind him. With them gone, I let my exhaustion take over. I drooped over and let out a huge sigh. "Man, my bed is gonna feel so great here soon... especially if Twilight's there." I grinned to myself and stood to go to bed.

*HAAAAAAALLELUJAH*

"... You're kidding."

*HAAAAAAALLELUJAH*

"You're not kidding!" I whipped out my phone and answered Luna's call dutifully. "Luna, what is it? I was just about to go to bed!"

"We apologize for interrupting thine vacation, but We desperately need thine aid!"

"Luna, slow down. It's 'I' and 'your'. Not we and thine." I corrected. Luna gave me a dumbfounded look.

"This is not the time for such trivialities! Thine skills as a hunter are needed now!"

"What for?"

"A hibernating Scorpio Major was discovered during a mining expedition! We sent a small group of specialized hunters to deal with it, but the last member of the party called back to report mission failure. Typically we would just ask Steel to deal with this in thine stead, however, thou beat him into a quivering pulp only a few days ago."

"... Crap. Well, duty calls! Best part of this one is Twilight is too asleep to complain! Let's go!"

"Very well, brace thyself."

"Wait, did you say Scorpio Major?!" I shouted right before vanishing in a flash of black light.