Spike's eyes fluttered open and the world slowly came into focus. He jumped a little as he realized he was looking right into Unity's eyes. They were sleeping together, and Unity had woken up first. Spike smiled and rubbed the top of Unity's head gently.

"Good morning buddy." He said softly, unsure if Twilight was asleep nearby. Unity grinned back at him. He extended his lion paw and copied Spike by rubbing the spines on his head in return. Spike gave a short laugh, but then realized that somepony was knocking on the door downstairs. He groaned and climbed out of the bed. He trudged down the stairs, grumbling about somepony visiting this early. He got to the bottom, and jumped as he realized Twilight was still sitting in the exact same spot she had been last night. "Twilight?" Twilight slowly turned to him in recognition of her name. Her eyes still held no focus, it was like she was looking through him.

"He's gone Spike..." She mumbled dully. Spike flinched at the heart break evident in her voice, then lowered his head as last night's events came flooding back to his memory. He had almost forgotten about Sharky's death in his early morning haze. He sighed deeply. Twilight looked back away from him. He wanted to go hug her, console her, but he knew it wouldn't help. Instead he simply went to answer the door. Standing outside, was a large stallion with... dragon wings?

"Whoa!" Spike exclaimed in suprise. The dragon-stallion jumped back as well.

"Hey! Y-you're a dragon!" The stallion shouted.

"You're a dragon-pony! Why are you here?!"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't expect to see a dragon I suppose... Anyway, Sharky told me to come talk to Twilight about a house?"

"Oh, what's your name?"

"Sharky named me Blaze."

"Oh, Twilight told me you were a new friend of his... She didn't mention the dragon thing..."

"Oh... yeah... dad was a dragon... mom was a pony... I never really asked about the details there..."

"I hear ya bro... Well... listen... about Sharky..."

"Yeah, is he here? Last I heard he went on a hunt. Nopony tells me anything, so I've really got no clue how he is."

"Yeah... He's kinda... dead." Blaze's eyes swelled and he rocked back on his haunches.

"He's what?!"

"Yeah... He died..."

"On the hunt?! I knew I shoulda offered to help him! Now the only pony that ever accepted me is dead!" Blaze started hitting himself with a hoof.

"No no! He didn't die on the hunt!" Blaze stopped hitting himself.

"He didn't? Well what in Equestria could kill him other than a monster fight?"

"A thousand foot fall off the Gryffin Empire..." Blaze flinched.

"Oh... oh... So there's no hope he's still alive?"

"Afraid not..."

"Well that sucks... Well... I... damn... I can't believe he's just gone..." Blaze turned around. "I... need to figure out this odd emotion I have right now..." He flapped his wings and took off towards the forest. Spike sighed.

"Well... Only one more pony to tell I guess..." He started to leave, but he was caught by a purple aura.

"You can't leave too Spike... You won't leave me too right?" Twilight asked.

"Of course I won't! I just gotta go find Stormy to tell him about Sharky!"

"No. You have to stay. You can't leave too..." Spike sighed.

"Ok Twilight, I'll stay..." As soon as he said that, the aura lifted him and carried him to Twilight. Her gaze was still blank, but she wrapped her hooves around him.

"Good..." She hugged him closer and sighed. "He's gone Spike..."

"I know..." He hugged her back, feeling a few tears land on the top of his head. They were both still sleepy, and soon they were both snoring soundly.

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Gilda was sad to be sure, but she knew she couldn't just let him be dead without telling anypony. He had said he left ponyville, and he had talked about his friends a lot, so she figured she could tell them he was dead. For Sharky, not for them.

Man... What's it gonna be like to see them again? She wondered. She knew they were most likely still mad at her for the last time she visited, and she wasn't looking forward to seeing them again. She pushed her doubts aside and continued on to Ponyville. She had been very near to it when she had started doubting herself, and she was almost there. She had flown straight through the night to help keep her mind off of her friend. Now, she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! It's Gilda!" Gilda turned to face the voice, and a cyan pegasus pony smashed into her head.

"Ow! Geez! Way to say hi loser!" Gilda snapped. Rainbow Dash looked furious.

"You got my friend killed!!"

"What?" Rainbow Dash flew up and slapped her with a hoof.

"Don't you play dumb with me! You got Sharky killed! How dare you!" Tears began to flow from Rainbow Dash's eyes, and she started flailing wildly at Gilda. Gilda took the first few blows in suprise, but quickly caught all of Rainbow Dash's hooves and held her still.

"You know Sharky died?" Gilda asked in shock. Rainbow Dash struggled and managed to get a forehoof free. She slapped Gilda again before she could grab the loose hoof.

"Don't you DARE call him Sharky! Only his friends get to call him that!" Gilda started tearing up.

"I WAS his friend you idiot! He was my only friend since you left me!" She cried painfully.

"Yeah right! He wouldn't be friends with a jerk like you! Even if he was your friend, why would you get a bunch of gryffins to kill him huh?!"

"Because I couldn't stop them! It was a bar fight! I tried to catch him before he fell... but I... I wasn't fast enough..." At this, Rainbow Dash's rage subsided. Gilda had started crying. In all the years Rainbow Dash had known her, she had never once seen her cry.

"A... are you crying?"

"Of course not! Only babies cry!" Gilda sobbed a little. "... Ok, maybe a little..."

"Wow... well... Y... you tried to save him? Why was he in a bar fight anyway?" Gilda flinched.

"I... it was my idea... I thought it would be fun for him to beat up somepony... I enjoy it..." Rainbow frowned. Gilda was still as violent as ever. "I... I didn't think he would die... It's my fault..." Gilda started crying again. She released Dash and sobbed into her talons.

"Why do you care so much?"

"H-he was my o-only friend! Ever s-since you abandoned me, I've been alone! S-sharky... He accepted me even though I was a t-total jerk to him... and I went and got him killed!" She started wailing, and Rainbow began to feel guilty. She was the element of loyalty, but she had abandoned one of her oldest and closest friends. Sharky... Sharky had been more accepting of Gilda then she had. Now here Gilda was, willing to face her again to... What was she here for?

"G-gilda? W-why are you here anyways?" Rainbow was a little suprised that her voice was choked with tears as well. Gild wiped her eyes and snifled.

"That's right, I-I'm acting like a l-little cub!" Gilda smacked herself and wiped her eyes again. "I c-came here to tell you he was dead. He talked about his friends in Ponyville a few times, and I t-thought you would wanna know..."

"Y... you came all the way here, knowing we didn't like you, just because you thought we'd want to know?" Gilda looked up at Rainbow Dash.

"Y-yeah... I figured you guys, lame as you are, deserved to know. I think Sharky would've wanted you to know..." Fresh tears sprang back into the girls' eyes. Rainbow flew over to hug Gilda. "H-hey! D-don't touch me you geek!"

"Just shut up Gilda... You're a good friend for coming back here just for Sharky... I'm sorry I abandoned you..." Gilda faltered and broke into sobs again.

"I... I... I... I was s-so alone..." Gilda started shaking. "Do you know what it's like? To have nopony there for you? I was so alone Dash... and then I got the one guy willing to put up with me killed..."

"It's ok Gilda... I know you didn't mean it... I forgive you... I know if Sharky were here he would be ok with it too..."

"T-that reminds me... Sharky talked about you a bit... You have a kid now?" Rainbow smiled and wiped the tears from her face.

"Y-yeah... she should be getting out of school any minute..."

"... Can I see her?"

"Sure!" Rainbow started pulling Gilda towards Ponyville Elementary.

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"Hey Fluttershy! Are you here?" Stormy asked as he came to Fluttershy's house.

"I d-don't wanna talk!" Fluttershy yelled from inside the house. Stormy could hear the tears in her voice.

"Fluttershy? What's wrong?"

"I t-told y-you I don't want t-to... waaaahhhh!" She wailed in sadness. Stormy opened the door and trotted to Fluttershy's room. She was sobbing into her pillow, and tissues covered the floor.

"Fluttershy! What in Equestria happened?!"

"S-s-s-s-s--"

"Sharky died?" Fluttershy's head popped up from her pillow, and she turned towards Stormy. Her face was streaked with tears, and her eyes were really red.

"Y-you heard?" She choked.

"No." He trotted over and patted Fluttershy on the back.

"T-then how d-did you k-know?"

"Guessed."

"Why aren't y-you sad?"

"Oh, I am, but it's the natural order of things. Good ponies die all the time, and there's nothing you can do. You just have to move on."

"B-but I don't wanna move on! I w-want Sharky back!" She turned her head and started crying again.

"I know, I know... but think about it, would Sharky want you to just sit here and cry?" Fluttershy sobbed a few more times before sitting up and wiping her eyes.

"Well... no... but I'm sad..."

"Well, I understand that, but I think Sharky would want us to be happy! He wouldn't want us to lay around and cry for him!" Fluttershy sat up a bit straighter.

"Y-you're right... Sharky would want that..." Then she collapsed back into her pillow. "But I still want him back!" She sobbed. Stormy sighed.

"I know, I want him back too, but wanting isn't going to help us. When you're done missing him, try to be happy ok? I know that wherever he is, he doesn't want to see you cry anymore." Stormy backed away from the bed, and left the house. Fluttershy did her best to stop crying for Sharky, but she couldn't bring herself to be happy. She continued to cry.

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FUCK IT! I'm opening my eyes now! I had been floating for HOURS now. I had been waiting for some heavenly/demonic voice to greet me, but none had come. I opened my eyes and saw... green. Just green. Whatever I was floating in was some kind of green liquid. I looked around a little more, and I saw all these weird little cords attached to me with suction cups. What the? This is... not heaven or hell is it? My eyes began to be able to focus through the pale green liquid. I could see that a few inches in front of me, the green liquid ended. I guess I was in some kind of glass container. I moved my head forward a bit further to see past the glass. In front of me were two human men in white lab coats. I could barely make out what they were saying.

"What happened to the original test subject?" The one on the left was asking.

"Maybe this is the effect of the genetic experiment?" The other one guessed skeptically.

"Then why does he have pants now?" All of the sudden, I realized what was going on. I had seen this in a video game a few years back. Test tube full of green liquid, genetic mutations, one of the scientists said the word 'miasma' and I knew exactly what was going on. I was in deep shit, and I started beating on the glass as hard as I could. The scientists backed away in fear, and the glass gave way to my fists. I was loose in the world of Final Fantasy 7.