On our way back to the town, we found Shadow's brother's body, and I dug a hole for him with my axe. We lay his body down, and I left to give Shadow a moment of peace. He came back a few minutes later, tear streaks running down his face. I didn't say anything the whole way back.

"Whew... that was... fun." I breathed when we made it back to town. My leg felt really strained, and at least one of my ribs was broken. I had reverted back to normal size during the walk. Shadow had been really silent the whole way back to town. "Hey, are you ok?"

"I... I... I killed them..." He muttered. I could see tears on the ground below his face. "I-I'm a monster..." I knealt down next to him and draped an arm over his shoulder.

"No you're not. You saved my life. Celestia knows how many others you saved as well. Plus, you avenged your brother! You should be proud." I consoled him.

"NO! They were ALIVE! They had thoughts and feelings! I can't believe I did that!" He wailed remorsefully. I was a little dumbstruck.

"Y-you're right... I never thought about it that way..." I mumbled.

What have I done? That manticore... Those wolves... They had family... they were sons and daughters, mothers and brothers... I... I AM a monster... I thought to myself. Then I thought about Stormy's broken body and the dead body of Shadow's brother. I gritted my teeth and let my sadness subside. No, I'm not the monster. They are. Right?.... I thought to myself.

"Look, it may be hard to accept what we did, but without us, many, many more ponies would have died." I tried. He wiped his eyes.

"Y-you're right... but I'm never doing this again..." He muttered. I laughed.

"I don't expect you to. Thank you for helping me though. I've got to get back to my friends and son now." I stood up to leave.

"W-wait!" He shouted. I paused and looked down at him. "I-I've got... nowhere to go now... C-can I co-come to P-ponyville... with you?" He asked. I grinned at him.

"I thought you'd never ask! I even know the perfect place for you to stay there!" He blinked up at me.

"R-really? T-that e-easily?" He asked.

"Sure, anything for my friends!" I shouted happily. "Now, grab me tight." I ordered. He did as commanded, and I pulled out my iPhone with my free hand. I hit 'dial' and only one button showed up. It was a picture of Luna. I pressed it, and Luna's face showed up on the screen. "Mission accomplished Princess!" I beamed. She gasped.

"A-already?! H-how!?" She stuttered in amazement. I grinned. Then I pointed the phone at Shadow.

"I had a little help." I said proudly. "Anyway, this guy will recieve half the pay, and he wants to come back with me."

"HEY! Half your pay wasn't part of the deal! Letting me come with you is enough!" He shouted.

"I don't care, you saved my life, you get half the pay."

"Shadow!?" Luna exclaimed. I frowned and turned the phone back to myself.

"How did you know his name Princess? I haven't even said it yet..." Luna's eyes darted around.

"Uhh... We try to learn the names of all our subjects..." She said. I nodded.

"Makes sense. Anyway, can you teleport us back now? I don't want anypony to see me and freak out."

"Fair enough, brace thyself." I hung up and grabbed Shadow tight with my free hand. We disappeared in a flash of black light.

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"Wow! This is the Princess's bedroom?!?" Shadow exclaimed in delight. He was awestruck by it.

"Could you focus for a second? Luna is trying to talk to us." I scolded him. He froze.

"Did you just call her Luna?!" He gasped in amazement.

"Sharky, shame upon thou! Thou art to adress me as Princess!" Luna scolded me. I looked at her, a little hurt, but she winked at me and tilted her head towards Shadow. I understood, she didn't want everypony knowing I was on a first-name basis with her.

"Right Princess, sorry." I said humbly. "Now, where can I find my friends?" I asked. Then I realized I still hadn't dropped my axe. "Oh, and do you want this?" I held it out to her. She laughed at me.

"We will escort you to your friends shortly, and thou should keep thine axe for future assignments." She said, still laughing a bit. "But for now, thine payment." She trotted over to a little safe that I hadn't noticed the first few times I'd been here. She opened it and withdrew a small bag before closing it again. She trotted back to me and dropped the bag into my hand. It was actually really heavy, and I opened it to count the contents.

"SIX FUCKING THOUSAND BITS?!?!?!" I yelled in pure shock. Luna nodded.

"We are sorry the payment is so small, but--"

"WAIT... THIS IS A SMALL PAYMENT!?!" I yelled, still entirely shocked. "I CAN'T ACCEPT THIS MUCH!!!" I pulled out twenty gold bits. "Here, take these back. This seems at least a little more fair." I offered. Luna shook her head and refused to grab the bits.

"No, the payment is what you've earned. Take it." She ordered. I wanted to argue some more, but my arm retracted against my will and put the coins back in the bag.

"Darn the oath..." I muttered. I took thirty gold bits out of the bag and handed them to Shadow. "Well, at least take your pay then." I commanded him. He reluctantly took the bits and placed them in his saddlebag. Oh, did I not mention the bag? Well he's had it the whole time. How else would he carry all the vials? Luna nodded.

"Good, now to take thee to thine friends." She continued. We exited her chambers and started walking down more hallways.

"Hey Luna, can we go visit Unity first? I want to make sure he's ok." Luna nodded and changed direction. We started going down even more hallways until we reached Unity's room. The door was still closed, and the surrounding area seemed normal, so I approached the door and opened it. To be confronted by a speeding freight train heading right towards me. "CRAP" I slammed the door shut. Shadow gasped in fear. I guess he saw the train too.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" He screamed. I sighed.

"Ok, have you ever heard of Discord?" I asked. He snorted.

"The old mare's tale my brother used to try and scare me with? Yeah."

"Well, my son... Is a baby version of him. His name is Unity, and he is not evil, you don't need to freak out when you see him..." I said seriously. Shadow gave me a funny look, then burst out laughing.

"BWAHAHA!! YEAH, YOUR SON IS DISCORD! GOOD ONE!!" He continued laughing.

"YEAH THAT IS FUNNY! HE'S NOT DISCORD, CALL HIM THAT AGAIN AND IMMA SMACK YOU!!" I thundered. It really annoys me when ponies call him the same name as an evil chaos lord. Shadow shut up really fast.

"Wait... you mean you weren't kidding?!" He said, fear growing in his eyes. I rolled my eyes and grabbed him with my free hand. I was still carrying the axe.

"No need to be afraid, he's a baby after all." I opened the door again, and the room was normal. Until I walked by a dresser and it tried to bite me. I smacked it with the flat of the axe and it left me alone.

"Ummm is that normal?" Shadow squeaked. I put him down next to the crib and rubbed my chin.

"Define normal." I laughed. "Look, there he is...." I said happily, pointing to Unity. Just seeing his cute little face made me smile, no matter how bad my leg wanted to give out. He was sleeping soundly, and he still had a big grin on his face. Shadow seemed extremely nervous, but his expression softened when he saw Unity.

"Well... he is pretty cute..." Shadow admitted. I reached down and ran my fingers through Unity's mane. Then we left the room and gently closed the door behind us.

"Ok Princess, lets go to the girls now." I said. Luna nodded and trotted off. Shadow and I followed close behind. Eventually, after walking through another sequence of assorted halls and rooms, we ended up at Rarity and Twilight's room again. I nodded to Luna, and she took off. Shadow remained. I opened the door.

"Deal!" Some of the girls shouted as I opened the door. I walked in and saw Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy all shaking hooves. Fang was lying down in a corner of the room, looking lonely.

"Hi girls! What's the deal?" I shouted. they all whipped around and looked at me.

"SHARKY!" They all yelled at the same time. They charged and hug tackled me, causing me to drop my axe and putting my leg in severe pain.

"Hi girls... ow." I responded. I tried to wrap my arms around them, but they were holding them to my sides. I could have forced my arms free, but I didn't feel like it. "I'm still waiting for the answer on that deal question..."

"Don't you question us! You left us, AGAIN!" Twilight yelled angrily, she didn't stop hugging me though.

"Well, what did you want me to do? Bring you monster hunting?!" I retorted. They flinched.

"Well... you could have at least said goodbye dear..." Rarity said sadly. My eyes widened.

"Uhhh... sorry about that... I uhhh... Really had to go... Lu-- the Princess said it was urgent." I lied. I could feel the girls nod against my chest.

"Yeah, that's what the Princess said too..." Twilight admitted.

"We were so worried..." Fluttershy said. "The Princess said there were 59 of those monsters..."

"59 huh? Wow, it certainly didn't feel like that." I muttered.

"How'd ya beat them all so fast?!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, to be honest, I only killed about 24. This guy killed 11. Then they all joined into one super wolf and we killed that one together." I answered. All the girls lifted their heads off my chest and noticed Shadow for the first time. He hid his face in his mane as they all turned to him.

"Ummm... hi..." He said shyly. "I'm Shadow Breeze..."

"This guy saved my life!" I exclaimed proudly.

"You saved his life?" Twilight asked. He nodded timidly. All the girls lept off me and hug tackled him.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" They shouted in unison. I took the momentary distraction as a chance to hobble over to Fang.

"Hey boy!" I whispered happily. He had been asleep, but he woke up at the sound of my voice. He jumped up on his paws and tackled me. "Heh heh, I missed you too boy!" I said happily. He was licking my face and wagging his tail like his life depended on it. "Sorry I had to leave so suddenly... That Pinkie Pie is crazy when it comes to parties." I whispered to him. The girls noticed I was missing.

"Hey, where'd he go?" Rainbow Dash asked. Shadow had curled up in shock, and he pointed a shaky hoof in my direction. I shot him a 'you bastard' look, and the girls rushed me again. I rolled Fang off my chest just in time. The four girls crashed into me again, wrapping me in another death hug.

"Don't you scare us like this again!" Twilight threatened. I laughed.

"I problably will." I said simply. The girls all sighed into my chest.

"Yes... you will..." Fluttershy mumbled sadly. "Please try and stay safe Sharky?" She asked.

"No promises..." I answered. A cyan hoof smacked my cheek.

"Jerk..." Rainbow Dash scolded. We sat there for a few more minutes, not saying anything.

"Ummm... Girls? Hugs don't normally last this long." I tried.

"They do when you come back from battle dear..." Rarity sighed. I groaned.

"Well, not that I don't enjoy hugs, but you girls are killing my injured leg." They all jumped off me at once.

Oh no... Let me see..." Fluttershy offered. "I can help..." I blushed.

"Uh... no, I don't want you to see it..." I mumbled.

"Why not dear?" Rarity asked.

"Well... you see... ummm... the injury is around my... inner hip..." I mumbled. "You know... the base of my leg... near..." I trailed off. Fluttershy's wings started rising.

"Let me see, I can help." Fluttershy said hurriedly.

"Ummm... no, I know that kinda thing doesn't matter to ponies, but I'd rather not..."

"Nonsense, it's for your own good Sharky. We can help." Twilight added.

"Uhhh... still no... Thanks for the offer though... ANYWAY! I need to talk to AJ about getting Shadow a place to stay in Ponyville." The girls snapped out of... whatever they had been in.

"He's coming to Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah, I thought he could get a job at the apple's farm." I explained. The girls gave me a funny look.

"They aren't open during winter..." Twilight muttered. I grinned.

"Not yet!" I said cryptically.