My first and most important step to finding the stupid bird that took my son was actually finding a way to find him. I decided to gather clues from the only things left behind by the would-be assassin that had gone after Fluttershy. The paper told me nothing, it only made me angrier. I wished I could have analyzed the thickness of the paper and the smell like Sherlock Holmes or something, but I simply couldn't. I moved on to the dagger to see what it could tell me. Again, I could figure out nothing. I looked it over several times, but nothing stood out to me. My mission was over before it even started. In a fit of anger, I tossed the blade across the room.

*thunk*

The dagger, which I had tossed wildly and without care, landed blade first in the wall. I went after it curiously and saw that not only had it hit the wall, but the blade was so sharp that it had sank into the wall all the way down to the hilt. It was strange that the dagger was so... perfect. It was weighted to be thrown point-first perfectly, and amazingly sharpened. I pulled it from the wall and gave it a few swings. I had never used a dagger before, but even the act of swinging it felt smooth and fluid with next to no balance issues to compensate for.

"Who could have possibly made such a high-quality dagger?" I would have also questioned why the common assassin had such a great dagger, but I just assumed 'Byron' had bought it for him. Suddenly, I realized that I was holding my first real clue. There was only one place I had been to with blacksmiths good enough to forge something like this. The same place I had the Buster Sword repaired and met my first dragon.

"Stalliongrad." I whispered to the blade.

If I went there, I would find the pony that made this weapon. Maybe the pony responsible for all the weapons Byron's cronies used. It would only be a matter of time until I found him after that. There was still another problem though. How was I supposed to get to Stalliongrad fast enough to find Byron before he got wise to my plan? Luna could only get me to Rutville, and then I would have to ride a train after that. I stepped out of Fluttershy's house and started walking to the library to get my sword. I thought the whole walk and could only really find one quicker way to Stalliongrad. I reached the library, grabbed my blade, and walked out to see smoke coming from Esmerelda's moutain.

I sighed to myself.

"Looks like I'm going to have to ask Esmerelda to open some old wounds." I admitted to myself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I hoisted myself onto the ledge next to Esmerelda's cave with ease. My focus and anger let me climb the whole way up the mountain without feeling almost any energy use.

"Sharky! Come quick!" Esmerelda squealed gleefully. I did as she asked and dashed into the cave. She was hunched over the top of her gem pile, where the 15 unhatched eggs sat. She was staring at one in particular, a blue one with green and yellow stripes.

"What's got you so excited?" I asked as I reached the bottom of the pile. The life went out of Esmerelda's giddy voice when she responded.

"Oh nothing... I thought that egg was about to hatch, but it was only a false alarm..." Esmerelda slouched against the back wall disappointedly. She looked at me and brightened up a bit again though. She leaned towards me and mover her massive snout so that she was right in front of me. "I'm glad you showed up anyway though. Sorry to have bothered you. Would you like to stay for a bit? It gets so lonely up here just talking to my eggs..."

"Actually, I did need to talk to you."

Esmerelda's warm breath washed over me as she exhaled, it was kind of nice.

"You see, I need you to help me."

Esmerelda began to breathe in, but stopped mid-breath. Her eyes narrowed and she finished inhaling. She stood up and glared at me a bit.

"Esmerelda?" I asked curiously, wondering why she was suddenly acting so strange. She ignored me and began sniffing me while her expression grew increasingly dark. "What's wrong? Do I smell or something?"

"You... you lying... BASTARD!" Esmerelda screamed in my face. I took a few surprised steps back and nearly fell into the gem pile.

"W-what?!"

"Abstinent you said, I have a marefriend you said..." Esmerelda swatted me away from the gem pile. I was unprepared for the blow, so it did a good job of smacking me across the cave. Before I could stand or even really move, Esmerelda was over me, pressing a talon against my chest to pin me down. "Lies!"

"Esmerelda, what the heck are you--"

"Shut up you jerk!" she cried. "I see how you are now! You just played with my emotions so that I wouldn't force anything on you! Made me love you, care for you, then shut me down. I still loved and cared for you though! I didn't force myself on you! It was all just a game for you though, wasn't it?! Because apparently you saw it fit to fuck some other dragon whore right after turning me down!"

"Esmerelda, that's not--"

"Am I just not good enough for you?! Not pretty enough?! Not experienced enough for the high-and-mighty hero of Equestria?!"

Instead of trying to talk again, I grabbed the talon pressed against my chest. With only a minor effort, I overpowered her one talon and slid it off my chest. Before she could pin me again, I leapt on to her snout, which she had held right in front of me, and thumped her right between the eyes.

"Bitch shutup and let me talk! Be quiet you whiny lizard! I'm trying to explain!"

Esmerelda snorted and tried to pry my off of her nose, but I held on tightly. "Fine, the explain why it's ok to fuck cheap sluts, but not somepony that really loves you!" she shoughted haughtily.

"Easy. I didn't fuck her, she raped me. My second night in the Arena was split between 16 different girls, and she was the only one I couldn't stop." I figured she smelled the dragoness from that night on me still somehow. It seemed that I was right, because Esmerelda suddenly lost all the fight in her eyes.

"... Oh." Esmerelda breathed out.

"Yeah, 'oh'. Now would you quit trying to smack me around?" Esmerelda lowered her eyes shamefully and nodded, shaking me around like a doll. I released her snout and fell to the ground below her. "Good."

"I'm s-sorry..." she mumbled without looking at me. "I really thought there for a moment that you had turned around and.... I should have known you're better than that..."

"Honest mistake, I understand. If I thought something like that had happened, I would have been pissed too."

"I-I.... I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions... Even if you do reek of dragon juice."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Don't worry, it only smells so strong to other female dragons. We can do it to mark a male as our property or partner."

"She marked me?"

"Afraid so..."

"What the... how the hell do I get rid of it?!"

"Well, you either bathe in lava..."

"That ain't goin' down."

"Or get marked by another dragoness to overwrite the other's scent."

"Nope, not happening. I'll just live with it for now. Anyway, I had something very important to ask!"

"Of course, anything!" Esmerelda offered graciously.

"Good, I need you to fly me to Stalliongrad."

"Except that." she squeaked quickly.

"Oh come on Esmerelda! I need your help!"

"I can't do that Sharky..."

"Why not?!"

"I hurt those ponies... Sure, it wasn't exactly my fault but... they hate me. I can't face them now! All those ponies that died because of me will never be forgotten..."

"Esmerelda, please, I really need your help on this. My son was kidnapped. The only clue I could find leads to Stalliongrad."

"W-why not have that princess boss of yours get you there?"

"It would take too long. You're the only one that can get me to where I need fast enough."

"Ooooooohhh..... Fine, I'll do it... but you owe me mister!" Esmerelda finally agreed.

"Deal. Now let's get going!" I shouted eagerly.

Esmerelda reluctantly made her way over to the ledge of the cave and lowered herself for me to climb on. I leapt off the ground and onto her back with a little effort. The moment I sat down, Esmerelda flung herself out of the cave and into the afternoon light.

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No matter how much I asked, Esmerelda simply wouldn't fly me within a mile to the actual town. She set down a small distance away and made me run the rest of the way. In any case, I made it to the town in a grand total time of only about three hours. The ponies of the town didn't run away from me this time, but they didn't run to swarm me either. Rather they regarded me with a silent appreciation, then continued on their way. I liked this much better than the over-the-top adoration I normally got. I caught the attention of the first pony I got close to and started questioning him. It was a stallion.

"Excuse me, sir?" I asked politely. The stallion had been walking away from me, but he turned to face me.

"Da?"

I whipped out the dagger I had taken from the assassin and held it out in the palm of my hand non-threateningly. "Do you recognize this craftsmanship? I'm fairly sure a dagger like this could only be made here."

The stallion took the dagger and examined it closely. "Dis vas made by Smelt Fireheart. See his crest?" the stallion pointed to a little flame in a circle on the hilt of the blade. "He is a fine smith, even among us. Zat is good blade, you're either lucky or rich to have it."

"Could you point me to this Smelt? I'd like to speak to him."

"Ja. He is on the north side of town in ze large stone shop. Good luck." the stallion took his cue to leave and I stood back to my full height and took off in the direction the stallion had pointed out. I eventually found the largest stone shop on the north side of the town and walked in. Sure enough, there was a muscular stallion at work in the heated forge, pounding away at some blade.

"Are you Smelt?" I shouted out over the pounding sound. The stallion nodded, but didn't turn from his work. I waited patiently for a few minutes, figuring he was just about to finish a new piece of work. My patience was rewarded when he dunked the blade into a large container of water and turned to me.

"Vat you vant?" he asked in a bored tone. "I have a large order to complete."

I stabbed his dagger into the wooden counter that divided the forge and entrance.

"I want to know who bought this dagger." I answered simply. Smelt snorted.

"You vill have to be more specific zan zat. Zis is only a common dagger of my making. I know nothing of the details of who purchased it."

"Alright, let me see if I can make this dagger a bit more recognizeable."

I ripped the blade out of the counter and grabbed the stallion by the throat. I lifted him into the air and held the dagger right in front of his face.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear. My son is in trouble. I am going to find him, no matter what. You do not want to mess with a desperate father. Now, think real hard. Do you think you know this dagger better now? If not, I'll be happy to see if you remember it better while looking at it with only one eye."

The stallion grunted a few times and flailed a little. He seemed a bit more willing to help now.

"Oh ja, I zink I remember zomething now. Z-zere vas a very large order of zese daggers ordered in Los Pegasus just a few months ago. I can give you an address for ze order..."

I dropped the stallion and he rubbed his throat.

"Glad you made the right choice. I'm sorry, I need to find out where the one that took my son went."

"Vhatever. I didn't ever like zat customer anyhow. Too pushy, too pompus. Always on about kings or zomething."

The stallion gave me the address I needed and I left him with another apology. I ran back to Esmerelda as quickly as possible and hopped back onto her back.

"We're getting closer to that Byron bastard Esmerelda. Next stop is Los Pegasus. Let's get moving before that cowardly pussy-chicken runs away."

Esmerelda took off eagerly without question, likely happy to be leaving this place of bad memories. I could feel my rage boiling as we got closer and closer to Los Pegasus. For some reason, I got the feeling that I wouldn't find Byron there. That wasn't going to stop me though...

Byron had angered a super human and made me a desperate father. Hell had a new type of fury, and I was going to introduce him to it personally.

Author's Notes:

Made it. I'm gonna get working on tomorrow's chapter now.