We arrived in Twilight's library in a flash of light. I looked around for a second for a place to put Unity so that I could run off into the forest and kill whatever was threatening Ponyville. I'm a great dad.

"Twilight? Could you hold Unity for a second?" I asked the lavender mare. Twilight wrapped her aura around Unity and lifted him out of my arms.

"Sure thing Sharky, but why?" Twilight asked.

"So that he's safe and you can't stop me from running off into the forest to fight the monster. Byeeeee!" I said as I ran out the door, Fang already hot on my heels.

"HEY!" Twilight yelled. I slammed the door behind me and took off towards the forest.

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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ALREADY LEFT?!" Stormy yelled at the guard he'd been talking to.

"Your friends left earlier today sir." The guard explained calmly.

"YOU BASTARDS!" Stormy yelled out angrily. He ran out the nearst window, and took off into the morning sky.

"I wonder if he knows the Princesses can teleport him..." The guard wondered to himself.

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"GAHH! I CAN'T BELIEVE I FELL FOR THAT!" Twilight yelled out angrily.

"Don't worry, I'll get him!" Rainbow Dash offered. Rainbow Dash started running towards the door, but Applejack caught her before she got there.

"Now just hold on a minute Sugarcube, yer wings don't even work, how ya gonna catch him?" Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash turned her head to look at her bound wings, then hung her head in defeat.

"You're right Applejack..." RD muttered sadly. "Why does he keep DOING that?!" She asked angrily.

"Well iffn ya ask me, he's doin the right thing. You girls need to quit yer worryin' and just let him do this." Applejack offered. Then she turned to Shadow. "Now, you come with me. Ah need ta introduce y'all to mah family." Applejack ordered. Shadow nodded obediently, and they both left the building.

"I-I think she's right..." Fluttershy said.

"Well, I've got to get to Sugarcube Corner! The Cakes are going to be so far behind! I gotta tell them Sharky's busy too. I'm sure they won't mind him being busy with him being a Knight and all, and beside--" Pinkie's voice faded as she left the library.

"I think so too..." Twilight said, totally ignoring Pinkie Pie's comment. "Gah... what are we going to do?! He's more likely to die on one of these crazy missions then he is to like one of us..." Twilight said sadly. Unity heard her sad tone, and reached out to touch her cheek. Twilight looked at him, hovering by her right side, patting her cheek. She smiled.

"Well, I don't know what you girls are gonna do with him," RD interrupted. "but I'm gonna take him to dinner. I gotta go set things up. Bye!" She said happily. Twilight rolled her eyes and looked back to Unity.

"Well, you are a cute little one, huh?" Twilight said to him. He giggled happily.

"Y-yeah... he is really cute..." Fluttershy agreed. She looked to Twilight. "Umm... Sharky asked me... to help take care of Unity... too..." She mumbled slowly. Twilight's smile slowly disappeared and was replaced by a small scowl.

"HE DID WHAT?!"

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I had a good pace going towards the forest, and it only took me about 10 minutes to run to the outskirts of it. I hadn't noticed it before, but these pants were really warm. My upper body was cold, but the cloth was helping a little. I stared up at the branches of the trees at the edges of the forest. They looked... menacing to say the least. Luckily, I'm not afraid of trees. I ran right in, I searched around carefully, looking for signs of dragon prints or dead animals. I didn't really see much, I was new at this whole tracking thing after all. Then I came across something strange. I was really deep into Everfree forest, but for some reason, I found hoof prints.

What the... a pony all the way out here? I thought to myself. I hunched over to look at them. Then I heard a snarling sound, and I turned around to find the source. Right as I turned, a Timber Wolf had jumped at me, and was only a few inches away from my neck. My life flashed before my eyes, and time seemed to stand still. I closed my eyes and tried to move out of the way, knowing I'd never make it in time.

..............Ok, what the hell? I opened my eyes, and looked around. The Timber Wolf was gone. I looked around in confusion, and I saw Fang nonchalantly rip the Timber Wolf's throat out a few feet away from me. Sap sprayed everywhere, and the Timber Wolf shuddered a few times as it died. Fang trotted over to me happily.

"Uh... Good boy..." I said in amazement. BEST. PET. EVER. Fang wagged his tail, and sat next to me. "God I'm sick of Timber Wolves..." I muttered to myself. I turned my attention back to the hoofprints.

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"Umm... Pinkie? Why are you repeatedly kicking the counter?" Mr. Cake asked. Pinkie shrugged.

"My Pinkie sense is going off, but this is a new one! I don't know what's going on!" She answered. "It has happened a few times now, but I don't know why!" Mr. Cake rubbed his jaw with his hoof. He shrugged and went back to work.

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I tried to at least figure out which way the prints were headed, but I couldn't figure it out. I sighed.

"Fang, do you think you can track this scent?" I asked him. I pointed to the hoof prints. He stood up and sniffed them. He looked back to me and nodded once. I grinned back. "You are so cool. Lead the way boy!" I called to him. He took off further into the forest, following the prints. I rushed after him.

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"He said you had the magic to help keep him under control, but that Unity would need my kindness..." Fluttershy explained. Twilight flinched.

"Does he think I'm not kind enough? I can be kind..." Twilight mumbled.

"Oh no! I'm sure it's not that. He just knows I work with little ones problably..." Fluttershy consoled. Twilight sniffled and looked up at her.

"You're right... It's just... when he asked me... I felt special... like he cared about me... I guess not..." Twilight said sadly. Fluttershy flinched.

"Y-you are special Twilight!" Fluttershy consoled her.

"I mean special to him!" Twilight shouted. "I thought for a moment that I might mean more to him than just a friend..."

"Y-you... Y-y-you..." Fluttershy sighed. "Y-you're r-right... Maybe he won't ever like us..." Fluttershy admitted sadly. Unity looked up at the two sad mares. He didn't know what was wrong, but he could feel their sadness. He started to cry.

"Oh no! It's okay Unity... It's okay..." Twilight consoled. The cries weren't sonic this time, but it hurt almost as bad just to see him so upset. She tried to pat him on the back, but as soon as she touched him, she fell asleep. Her aura faded from around Unity, and Fluttershy rushed to catch him before he hit the ground. She caught him, but didn't fall asleep herself. Unity was no longer crying, and when Fluttershy looked up at him, he was smiling at Twilight.

"W-what d-did you d-d-do?" Fluttershy asked him. He gurgled and grabbed one of his feet with his lion paw. "Awww..."

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We crossed an empty clearing, empty because it had all burnt to the ground. I couldn't see tracks anymore, and Fang lost the scent among the ash. I sighed.

"So what do we do now Fang?" I asked him. He looked up at me and started panting. "Right, you're still just a wolf..." I mumbled to myself. I scanned the little clearing, looking for any sign of the direction the pony went. Then, I spotted something in the middled of the clearing. "Huh, what's that?" I asked myself. I started walking towards it, when all of the sudden I realized what it was. "Holy crap, it's the pony! Come on Fang!" I shouted. We started running towards it. When I got closer, the finer details of the pony came into focus. He had a black coat. He had a short black mane with red streaks through it. He was huddled on his side, but I could still see that he looked taller then the average pony. I couldn't see his cutie mark very clearly, it just looked like a white blotch. As I got even closer though, something started to seem off. The pony didn't look... right somehow. I couldn't figure it out exactly. I shook my head clear of doubt, and ran to the downed pony. I squatted down next to it, and started shaking it.

"Hey! HEY! Are you alright?" I asked. The pony's eyes didn't open. "Look, there's a monster on the loose! You gotta get out of here!" The pony laughed.

"Oh, what kind of monster? Lemme guess, dragon-like, breathes fire, hunts animals?" It's voices was that of a stallion. It sounded distorted somehow, like he was talking with something in his mouth.

"Actually yes. Have you seen it? I was sent out here to hunt it down. It didn't attack you did it?" I asked as I started checking him for injuries. He growled at me, and shot the wing he wasn't laying on out to it's full length. I gasped and fell backward. It was a dragon wing.

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"GAH where am I?" Twilight asked herself. She had somehow appeared in an empty space after touching Unity. There was nothing but blackness everywhere. Twilight was starting to worry. "What happened to me?" She asked the empty space for the 15th time. She sighed. "I wish my friends were here..." As soon as she uttered those words, images of her friends started flashing in front of her. The moment Unity met Sharky popped up. Then the moment Fluttershy first held him. Then the moment Pinkie first bounced up to him to see him. All Unity's memories of her friends flashed by. In an instant. "Wh-what?" Twilight asked as the images faded. She felt a tug, like somepony was pulling on her back. She began to drift backwards.

"Twilight?" A voice called. It sounded distant. "Twilight!" The voice called again. It sounded like Fluttershy. "TWILIGHT!!!" Twilight snapped her eyes open.

"Hmm?" Twilight groaned.

"Oh good, you're ok... You are ok right?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight stretched out her limbs.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine..." Twilight groaned as she rolled to her hooves.

"What happened?" Fluttershy asked with concern.

"I... honestly don't know..." Twilight answered.

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"W-what?" I stuttered. The pony opened his eye, and it was red as blood. The pupil was a slit, like Nightmare Moon"s eyes. I took a closer look at the mark on his flank, and it was really a pattern of light green scales. "Y-you..."

"Are the monster you were hunting? Most likely. Now, I've heard all the heroic lines before, so get right to the part where you try to kill me." He said. He sounded extremely sad.

"W-why would I do that?" I asked. He jumped.

"B-because I'm the monster?" He asked hesitantly.

"You don't look like a monster to me." I answered. "I'm more the monster than you." He took a look at me.

"Y-you are strange... I'll give you that... but... Luna sent you after me yes?" He asked as he pointed to my hip.

"Well, yes, but you aren't a monster." I responded calmly. He stared at me intently.

"How do you know? I burn down forests! I kill animals!" He said angrily. "All excuses that other hunters have used to attack me!"

"Yes, but I'm no other hunter." I said. I smiled at him. "And there's no way you're a monster."

"H-h-h... What make you say that?" He asked. I smiled.

"Simple, if you were, Fang would be attacking you. He's good at that." I said, pointing to my wolf. The strange pony looked at my wolf cautiously, then back to me. His face slowly changed from a scowl, to an expression of pure sadness.

"Y-you really don't want to attack me?" He asked. I smiled and shook my head no. Tears formed in his eyes, and he fell down next to me. "Thank you! I can't tell you how many times I've had to fight.... I'm only trying to mind my own business... I don't like hurting anypony..."

"Well, why do they attack you in the first place?" I asked. He sighed.

"I'm not normal." He said sadly. "I grew up in a small town a long way away from here. I grew up like any other foal, but my dad was never around for some reason. On my 5th birthday, I woke up looking like this, and I knew why. I tried to act normal, but whenever anypony saw me, they called for help or attacked me. After awhile, I got tired of running away from them, and I fought back. I hate myself for it... I came here hoping I could hide forever. I want friends... but nopony will talk to me..."

"Then why don't you just leave the forest and introduce yourself?" I asked. He looked up at me in surprise.

"Are you kidding?! I've been watching this town for awhile... They'd never accept a beast like me..." He murmured sadly.

"Well, they accepted a beast like me! I'm sure you will be even easier than that!" I said cheerily. He looked up at me in confusion.

"You live there?!" He asked.

"Eeyup. Now let's see if you can too."