Thursday, February 21st (Twilight's fourth day)

I reclined further back onto Esmerelda, shifting my weight dangerously quickly and almost losing my balance. I recovered and squeezed Esmerelda's neck tighter with my legs. Were I less bored, I might have cursed my carelessness in that moment. However, we had been flying over nothing but ocean for what felt like hours. The night had gotten darker since we had started travelling, and dawn didn't seem to be on its way anytime soon. At least I would have the night on my side while trying to sneak up on Byron. Assuming we got there any time soon.

"Esmerelda! How far are we still?!" I shouted over the wind.

"Good grief man, are ya daft? That was right in my damn ear!" Artyom complained as her rubbed the side of his head. I had forgotten he was sitting so close to me. He now sounded sketchily scottish.

Wait a moment, wasn't he british... aust.... screw it, done.

"I don't know hon! I think we may be close!" Esmerelda finally answered. I could hear the unspoken apology for the length of the flight in her voice.

I sighed and turned turned my head to look at the ocean beneath us. It rippled and rolled beneath us. The pattern of waves was only broken by the occasional rock. After a few minutes of looking at the ocean, one rock in particular caught my eye. It looked like a pony carved out of a rock. There was something more strange about it than its pony like shape though. The legs on it were wrong somehow, and there was something on its head.

It suddenly turned its head up and looked at Esmerelda as we passed over.

I gasped and rolled my head back to look up at the sky. After a few moments of registering what I had just seen, I resolved to eat all meals more often and get some actual sleep instead of doing all this late night crap. If I was seeing things that didn't exist, I needed to take better care of myself.

"Sharkyyyyyy....." Esmerleda called out lowly. Her tone didn't sound overly pleasant. Panic was edging its way into her voice.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"Great scott... Come take a look laddie." Artyom had moved up on Esmerelda's neck while I was staring at the ocean. I carefully walked up Esmerelda's neck and placed myself behind her head with Artyom. Once again, my inferior eyesight didn't let me see what ever they were seeing. Sure, I had Artyom's wings, but I guess the eyes weren't a part of the deal. The only thing I saw was the sun rsing in the distance.

Then I realized it was rising in the wrong place. We were travelling south, the glow on the horizon was in front of us, not on the left like the sun should've been.

"What the hell is wrong with the sun!?" I shouted.

"Laddie.... it's the middle 'o the night." Artyom muttered darkly.

Suddenly, my mind put two and two together. A massive glow coming from the direction of the island we were heading to could only really mean one thing. As we got closer to the island, I realized that my horrible conclusion was true.

Hoofalulu had a volcano in the center of it, which was pouring lava onto the island and spouting ash and rock into the air.

"Oh shit."

The situation suddenly got a whole lot more complicated than I had thought it would be. I couldn't leave my son, but from the looks of the island, not many ponies would make it out of the eruption alive. The lava was already halfway down the volcano and would soon be spreading around the island. Only a few boats were moving out, and pegasai were being sturck down into the lava by falling rocks.

"Esmerelda, get us down there now!" I shouted out firmly, taking control to save as many lives as possible. Esmerelda approached a clear patch of beach on the island with a speed I didn't even know she was capable of. I leapt off her back and motioned for Artyom to stay with her. "Esmerelda, find and scoop up anypony you can! Artyom, try to calm down the ponies she grabs!"

"What about you!?" Esmerelda cried back. Clearly she hadn't been expecting me to jump off her back and run around on the island.

"I still have my son to find! Go! Now!"

Esmerelda hesitated for a moment more, then took off as I ordered. I saw her begin diving towards the island soon after she left, likely picking up ponies like I said. I whipped out my phone and hit Luna's call button. I hopped from foot to foot as it rang, desperate for her to pick up.

"Sharky, what a pleas--"

"Luna, the volcano on Hoofalulu is erupting! I need your help to evacuate the citizens!"

Luna looked stunned for a moment. "T-that's not possible, the volcano has not erupted in--"

"Don't argue with me! Get your ass down here now! Bring Celestia too!"

Luna stared at me with total shock.

"Now dammit, now!" I hung up without watching her reaction and ran towards the nearest screaming I could hear. A bright black flash behind me told me that Luna had indeed shown up. Her sharp gasp afterward told me she realized that the situation was all too serious.

The screaming led back to a mare in a house. Rather, trapped under the debri of what used to be a house. A large rock had flattened the building this mare used to live in, and she was trapped under what looked like the doorway. With an ease born of superhuman strength, I ripped the building parts away from her body and tossed them away. I lifter her broken form away from the wreckage.

"Ma'am! Focus for a moment! Do you know where a Byron is?!" I shouted over her screaming.

"My leg! Oh Celestia, my leg!" the mare cried.

"Bitch, focus and be helpful or I swear I'll just get rid of that leg for you!"

"Big- Ah! Ow!- big house!" the mare managed to squeak out. Satisfied with the little information I could get, I ran back to the area I had called Luna in. Luna was gone, but Celestia arrived as soon as I did.

"Oh good! Take this mare! I have to go find something!" I shouted at the sun princess. I placed the mare on the ground and took off in the same direction I had gone to find the mare. "Big house, what a brilliant damn clue." I muttered to myself.

I wandered for near half an hour, watching th lava get closer and closer to me. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of Esmerelda or one of the princesses, but nothing else really happened. I didn't even find another helpless pony, which made me believe that the others were doing a good job evacuating. Then, suddenly I heard something that no father could ever mistake.

I heard my son crying.

I filled to the brim with energy that flowed from my very core as Unity cried out. In no time, I was drawn to the building the cries were coming from. I do not remember opening the door, but I do remember a few gryffins being in my way.

They were ripped apart like tissue.

I found Unity's room inside the large house farily easily. At least, I assume it was easy. He was laying in a small crib, crying his little eyes out when I found him. I grabbed him and clutched him to my chest without thinking. I fell to my knees with him in my arms and cradled him against my chest.

"You're safe... oh thank god you're safe..." I sobbed quietly. Though I hadn't ever allowed myself to truly admit it, I was terrified they would kill him somehow. Seeing him alive filled me with relief; so much that I very nearly began to cry.

I might have if I didn't suddenly realize that my chest was burning.

"Ow! Geez!" I held Unity away from my chest to see that I was badly burnt right in the middle of my pecs. At first, I had no idea how I had been burnt. Then I realized that my hands were on fire too. "U-Unity?!"

"Bad! Bad! Go away!" Unity bawled in my arms. I placed him on the ground gently, then began waving my hands in the air wildly to cool them off. Unity was scorching hot to the touch. The wooden floor I placed him on began to char and catch on fire beneath him, and I now realized that the crib he had been in was severely burnt.

"Unity! Unity calm down! It's me! Daddy!" I shouted. Unity didn't hear me, and began flailing his little legs. I gasped as he struck the ground and the volcano boomed in the distance, undoubtedly releasing more rocks and smoke.

*CRASH* I was proved right abut the rocks when one crashed through the ceiling and onto my head. Luckily it was a mid-sized rock, so it didn't crush me. It shattered on my skull and nearly knocked me out instead.

"Oh geez..." I muttered as I swooned to the side. A few fragments of rock flew off my skull and hit Unity. He shook his head and opened his eyes to look for the source of the rocks. When he saw me, his cries died down to sobs and he reached out pleadingly for me.

"Daddy... I scared..." he whimpered. "Bad birdies not nice!"

To be honest, I was hesitant to pick him up again, since the floor beneath him was still burning. However, I decided to grin and bear the burns; Unity needed me. I picked him up again and cradled him back to my chest. I grimaced a bit as his still scalding hot body hit my fresh burns, but I didn't let him see it.

"Don't worry son, daddy's gonna get the bad birdie, then we're going home."

"Yay!" Unity smiled through his sobs. I stood up and began looked for the door, wich oddly enough was closed. Apparently in my desperate stupor, I had charged through a wall into Unity's room. The left wall had a cartoonish outline of my body in it and rubble littered the floor around it. I opened the door on the right wall and stepped into some hallway. After searching only a few seconds, I found a pair of large, ornate doors at the very end of the hall. I figured they led to Byron, since they likely led to a master bedroom.

"Unity, wait here and don't do anything chaotic or magical. Daddy's gonna go get the birdie so we can leave, got it?"

Unity gave me a nod that was broken by a little hiccup likely brought on by his crying fit only moments before. I cracked my neck, popped my knuckles and drew my sword before kicking the fancy door clean off its hinges and sending it crashing into the room.

"Byron! I'm here to cut off your phallus and beat you to death with it! Prepare to die you cowardly ba--"

There was nopony in the room. It was a bedroom as I had expected, with a large cushy-looking bed with a canopy and many soft chairs and a window with a gold gilded frame. Nothing but fancy furniture and a body was left in the room.

Yes, a body. A dead gryffin was in the bed. The window was broken open and glass littered the floor. I walked over to the body and saw that the gryffin's neck had been cleanly sliced open. On the back wall in between the headboard and the canopy, there was lightning bolt painted on the wall in the blood of the dead gryffin.

Somepony killed Byron.

"Some bastard stole our kill!" I scowled in anger and punched Byron's corpse. It was Byron, of that I was sure. He was wearing a luxurious purple cape and his feathers looked shinier than freshly polished armor. Everything about him was perfectly manicured, there was no way this was a doppleganger or something. Somepony had really stolen my damn target!

"D-daddy?" Unity called out weakly. My rage fizzled and I sighed heavily. I hit Byron's dead body one more time before walking out of the room and grabbing Unity.

"Alright son, let's go home." I turned back one more time to look at Byron. I found my gaze lingering on the lightning bolt painted above him. What kind of message was that? Why would somepony paint it above a victim? I shrugged it off and walked beck to the room I had found Unity in. I followed the path of destruction I had left on my way in back to the entrance of the house. Which was on fire.

The wall snapped and the front door fell open. The lava had reached the house. It began pouring in through the front door, assaulting me with waves of heat.

"Shit... shit... shit shit shit shitshitshitshit!"

I suddenly chided myself for cussing in front of Unity, but the smarter part of my mind began screaming at me to run the fuck away. I turned tail and ran back down the path I had created through the walls, but didn't stop at Unity's room. I kept going through the walls until eventually I broke out of the back wall of the house and fell to the ground.

"Bleh!" Unity retched as he spat up a large shard of wood from one of the walls.

I grabbed it and threw it away before I nervously checked him for injuries or more wood. When I found nothing else on him I sighed in relief. "Sorry buddy, had to--" Heat on my back suddenly reminded me that I was running for my life. "Run!"

I got back to my feet and sprinted towards the ocean, making me safe from the lava for a while. I ran into the first few feet of ocean, splashing nosily. I couldn't just sit in the shallows though, I had to get off the island. I turned my gaze to the sky and began looking for one of the girls I had preforming the evacuation of the island. Luna was the first to come into view.

"Luna! Luna! Luuuuuuuuunaaaaaaaaaa!" I shouted while leaping up and down.

"Woona! Woona!" Unity shouted along with me, possibly mistaking my actions for a game. Luna turned towards me and approached with worrying speed. She stopped right in front of me though.

"Sharky! When did your son get here?" Luna asked with mild surprise.

"Long before I did. Look, it's not important, just get us out of here!"

"Why are you ordering me around? Aren't I your employer?" Luna questioned intently. I gave her a dumbstruck expression.

"Is this really the time for questions like that?! Ponies are dying and I will too if you don't focus!"

"Quite right, quite right. Pardon my--"

"Teleport me to Canterlot Palace! Now!"

Luna finally said no more and I vanished in a flash of light.

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

I appeared in Luna's room right away. Now that I was out of danger, I was able to think properly about what had just happened. There were two things that beg for my attention the most.

1. Somepony had assasinated Byron. My only cluse as to who was a bloody lightningbolt, which had been consumed by fire by now.

2. The volcano grew more violent as Unity flailed earlier. That could mean only one thing.

My son was responsible for a disaster that killed an undoubtably large amout of innocent ponies.

"Unity... No one can know it was your fault." I whispered to him. "I won't let anypony take you away from me, and if they knew they would try... I won't lose you again...

No matter who or what tries to take you."