I quickly walked through the castle to the girls' rooms. Luckily I had been down this path enough times now to remember the way without help. Unity was rather loud the whole way, which meant I had to dodge servants and such while I went. Unity was getting big. Soon, I wouldn't just be able to hide him in my arms. He'd have to start wearing his disguise all the time or somepony would see him. Eventually I made it to the room and knocked on the first door. There was no response. I began to worry a little and hastily knocked on the next door. Still no response. I ran to the next and last door quickly, only to hear giggling from inside the room. I breathed a sigh of relief and opened it to see that all the girls, including Esmerelda, were just hanging out and talking to each other. Spike was out cold on a bed in the corner of the room.

"Hi Sharky!" Twilight greeted cheerfully. "We were just talking about you!"

"Oh, really? What about me?"

"Nothing important dear. At least, nothing you won't find out soon enough." Rarity tossed me a coy smile as she spoke. It suddenly struck me that everyone in the room had a mischievous look in their eyes. They were probably planning a prank of some sort, so I decided to be a good sport and just take whatever crazy scheme they had cooked up.

"Well, alright then. Well, it's time to start heading home guys. Let's all go to Luna so we can get teleported to Ponyville. Gilda... I guess you can be teleported wherever you want now."

Gilda gave me a confused look. "Whaddya mean?"

"Well, you wanted to leave us all a little while back, but I made you stay because your life was in danger. Now the gryffin that wanted you dead is gone, so you're free to go wherever you please."

"Oh... yeah..." Gilda mumbled. "Ummm..."

"Yeah Gilda, you can stay. I don't mind." RD told her as she patted her on the back with one of her wings.

"... Thanks. I mean uhh... I think I'll stay. Who knows if some other jerk wants me dead too? I think I could still let you protect me." Gilda tried to muster up some of her old air of superiority, but she wasn't doing it too well. I decided to humor her and got down on one knee and grabbed one of her talons.

"Well I'd be honored, princess. Now, let's get going home guys." I released Gilda's talon and stood back up. She was blushing a little, likely in embarrassment. Without another word, I picked up Spike then turned to walk back down the halls to Luna's room. The girls wordlessly followed behind me, still giggling and whispering to themselves.

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

"Luna! The article I gave you is a lie! Nothing but slander!" Celestia shouted as she burst through the doors to her sister's room.

Luna gave her a smug smile and levitated a dark pile of ash to her sister. "I knew it! That's why I disposed of it. I told you I believed in him, no matter what you say!" Luna paused for a moment. "Wait, why would you tell me it's lies if you want to keep us apart?"

Celestia smiled at the ground and breathed a sigh of relief. "I no longer wish to see you two apart sister. This morning Sharky came to my chambers and asked to talk to me for no better reason than to get to know me. Not once did he seem malicious or impure in his intent, he truly is a good stallion as you have told me. I want you to know you have my support now."

Luna teared up at her sister's words and dashed over to hug her. "Oh 'Tia, you have no idea what it means to me that you condone my relationship! It was horrible having to fight you every step of the way... I doubted myself, I doubted Sharky, I doubted you... Now everything can be right though! If you can accept us, maybe the whole of Equestria can accept us!"

Celestia pulled away from the hugs and gave her sister a worried look. "Whoa, what do you mean Luna?"

"I'm going to ask Sharky if he would like to make our relationship public! I want the world to know how we feel!" Luna explained giddily.

"Hold on Luna, don't do something like that so hastily!" Celestia warned frantically. Luna frowned at her.

"Why not?"

"Well... errr... I think you may be moving just a bit too fast. You don't want to scare him away, do you? Sharky is a very olden type when it comes to courting. That's why he refuses to touch you and things like that." Celestia gave herself a mental pat on the back for her quick thinking there.

Luna rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm, I suppose you're right..."

"Of course I am! Now, what you should do is go out on a few dates with him. Have a few nice dinners, go for walks, whatever. Then, when he's ready, he'll ask you to go public and such."

"Of course, that makes sense." Luna smiled widely. "Thank you sister, I would have hated to make a mistake like that. I'm glad you're willing to help me now rather than fight me."

"Of course, what are sisters for, after all?" Celestia turned to leave. "I'll see you later sister. I've put off my morning duties for far too long as it is."

"Very well then, farewell sister!" Celestia left quickly to return to her duties, just barely missing Sharky and the girls as they rounded the corner to get to Luna's room.

"Oh hey Celestia, what are you doing here?" I shouted to her down the hallway when I spotted her.

"Oh, I was just visiting Luna. I'd love to talk, but I have tasks that need tending to. Goodbye."

"Wait! Are you not even going to say hi to me?" Twilight shouted after her. Celestia turned back to us again. "So sorry Twilight, it's very nice to see you again. I'm sorry but I really have to go!" Celestia took off down the halls after that and I shrugged nonchalantly. It made sense that she was busy. I led the others into Luna's room.

"Hey Luna, how are you?" I greeted as I walked in. She gave me a big smile.

"Wonderful, Sharky. Even better now that you're here!"

"Great! Well hey, we need to get back to Ponyville ok? We've been away from home too long as it is."

Luna gave me a pouty frown. I could hear the girls' whispering increasing behind me. "Are you sure you can't just stay and chat for a while?"

"I'm afraid not Luna. My pets are at home, unattended right now. And I need to be able to make food for Unity."

"I can only imagine how confused Sweetiebelle could be right now..." Rarity added.

"Scootaloo must be worried sick too!" RD said urgently. "Oohhh... I sure hope the house was low enough for her to get into last night..."

"Very well, I see you are very busy then. I'll... just send you on your way. I'll call you soon though, ok Sharky?"

"Alright Luna." I said impatiently. She nodded, then we vanished in a flash of black light...

"Wait, why am I still here?" I asked after the light vanished. Even Unity and Spike were gone from my arms. Suddenly Luna had her forelegs wrapped around my neck in a surprise hug.

"I'll call you for dinner tonight, that is." she clarified. "See you then." Then there was another flash of light and I was really gone.

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

I appeared in the library only seconds after the others, so nopony seemed to really notice I was late. Spike and Unity were laying on the ground now though, so I scooped them up quickly. "Alright, anypony that doesn't live here needs to leave; I'm going to follow Spike's example and get some sleep." I announced as I stepped away from the group and headed towards the stairs.

"What? It's almost the middle of the day though!" Twilight protested.

"Actually he's got the right idea." Esmerelda said with a small yawn. "We spent all night flying around Equestria. I'm beat and he probably is too."

The girls all slowly began nodding in agreement as the drowsiness from their near sleepless night set in. Twilight herself released a huge yawn, even though she had been the one to question me sleeping in the day.

"Geez, I almost forgot how much last night sucked." Gilda muttered. "Ya, bed sounds good right about now. Later..." Gilda started to walk out before she stopped like she had remembered something. "Errr... I mean, later chumps."

I laughed a little at her fake jerk attitude and drifted upstairs as everypony left to their respective homes. Twilight followed closely behind me into the bedroom. I placed Spike in his bed softly and placed Unity beside him. Then Twilight and I crawled into my bed and cuddled up close together. I was asleep before the last pony had left the building.

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

I woke with a sudden start. Where were Fang and Robin?

"Sharky? Why are you up? You literally just fell asleep..." Twilight muttered drowsily.

"No tired!" Unity protested from his bed. I slid out of bed and stretched lethargically.

"On second thought Twilight, sleep can wait. I have some things to do." I muttered as I walked back over to Spike's bed and picked up Unity.

"Alright buddy, if you're not tired what do you want?" I asked as I left the room. Twilight flopped her head back down on the bed and just went back to sleep rather than debate with me. The slight clinking of metal from my back reminded me I still had my weapons with me. I must have been really tired to have gotten into bed with them.

"I hungwy! Bad bird no feed!" he shouted poutily. I nodded. All he had eaten so far today was one gem. I went to the kitchen and started looking for some chocolate powder and a bottle. When I had finally made the bottle though, he refused to eat it.

"Oh c'mon man, please behave? You love chocolate milk! Shaddup and take the food ya little brat!"

"No! Want dwagon food!" he protested. I sighed and placed the bottle on the counter. Normally I would go to Esmerelda's to get gems, or go to Fluttershy's so he could eat some of the golems. They were both trying to sleep though, so I didn't want to bother them.

"Alright then, let's go visit the diamond dogs! They seem to like me, maybe I can get some gems from them. Or kill some and take the gems. Either one is good."

"Yay! Doggies!" Unity cheered.

"Alright, but before we go to the mines, we gotta find Fang and Robin."

"Oh! I play hide an' seek! I find!" Unity cheered happily before a huge shockwave erupted from his body. The wave made the world turn dark orange, making the scenery and buildings around us see-through as well. I nearly crapped my pants from the sheer shock of the sudden color change of the world, but before I could two bright white dots showed up on the horizon near the Everfree Forest.The wave receded from that point and returned to Unity. "I found!" he shouted as he pointed in the direction the dots had been in.

My jaw just hung open for a while. Had Unity literally just turned the world around us into some form of radar? Man, I would have to read the news report on that one. "Y'know, for someone that's supposed to train and control the kid, you're pretty shit at it. Unity! No big tricks like that, remember?!" I hissed angrily. Unity's little face bunched up and he started wailing.

"I j-just wanna help daddy!" he cried. I sighed and lowered my head. He was still a baby, I couldn't really be mad at him yet. Unity dissolved into a puddle of tears in my arms. Literally! He became a mass of tears as he sobbed miserably.

"No no no no no, don't cry Unity! I'm sorry, I'm glad you helped ok? Please don't cry!"

Unity ignored me and kept wailing on. It was starting to draw attention from ponies randomly walking nearby. I noticed just in time and took off towards the forest with a heavy sigh. The only solution to Unity's sadness now was to get him some food to shut him up. It didn't take long for me to reach the area of the forest the dots had been in, and I stopped just around the area I thought I had seen them in.

"Fang! Robin! You guys here?" I shouted hopefully. Sure enough, there was a bark from not too far away followed by some chirping. In a matter of seconds, my pets were by my side where they belonged. "Sorry about leaving you guys! There was an emergency!" I apologized over Unity's wailing. Fang nuzzled my leg as a response, reassuring me that it was alright. My Robin sat on my shoulder and looked away from me as if he were upset. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Right, anyway. We're going to the diamond dog mines, alright?" I shouted at them. Fang nodded and Robin continued shunning me. I sighed and shrugged. At least the trip to the mines would be easy enough.

After all, what could go wrong with that?