"Well... hey guys." I gasped as I looked up to the trembling scientists. I was surrounded by shattered glass and liquid miasma. My pants and shoes were both soaked. One of the scientists fainted. Pansy.

"B-break! Experiment break!" The other scientist yelled as he flipped around and hit a huge red button on the wall. An alarm began sounding and I heard shouting nearby.

"Hello to you too..." I grumbled. The second scientist screamed and ran out of the room after hitting the button. I ran over to the unconcious scientist and took his jacket, glasses and badge as quickly as I could. I put them on and dragged the scientist to the nearest door. I opened it, to reveal stairs leading down. "Sucks for you buddy..." I heaved the scientist to the staircase and tossed him down. I closed the door just as a bunch of men in S.O.L.I.D.E.R. uniforms ran in. I pointed at the nearest door that one of the scientists hadn't gone through. "That way! The experiment ran that way!" The lead one nodded and they all charged through the door I had pointed at. I looked around for an escape, but there were only four doors in the room. One the soliders had come from, so I didn't want to go that way in case there were more. One the soliders had run into, I really didn't want to go that way. I didn't exactly want to be around the unconcious scientist, so I guess I was following the one that hit the button. He was most likely heading for an exit anyway. I ran into the hallway the scientist had fled down. It was inclining upwards slightly, and there were lights on the walls every few feet. I heard metal scraping metal way ahead of me, and figured the scientist had opened some sort of door. I heard angry noises from behind me, and I could only assume that the S.O.L.I.D.E.Rs had discovered my trick. I sprinted as fast as I could down the hall, reaching the end in a matter of seconds. Sure enough, there was a huge metal door left wide open for me. I stepped outside and gently pulled it shut, hoping my pursuers would assume it had never opened.

"N-no! Stay away from me!" The scientist was just outside as well, cowering in fear. "Don't hurt me!"

"With what? Do you see a weapon on me?" I asked sarcastically. "Maybe I should beat you to death for the crap you pulled back there!"

"Please! I have a wife and kids!" He begged.

"Dude, I just said I don't even have a weapon... So I'll rip off your own arm and beat you with it!" The scientist curled up and started babbling incoherently. I sighed and turned to examine my surroundings. The door I had just exited from was nearly invisible. It was camoflaged to look like a large rock. I turned to examine the surrounding area. It looked like a wasteland all around me, except for a patch of cliffs and hills to the right, and a crumbly looking city to the left. "Hey, you work for Shinra I assume?" I asked the scientist. He nodded fearfully. "So that city... It's Midgar right?" The scientist nodded again. "Excellent." I took off in the directions of the cliffs, eager to see a particular landmark.

"S-shinra will get you! Their grasp is world-wide! You can run, but they'll kill you!" The scientist suddenly found his voice behind me.

"That'll make three deaths for me! Bye!"

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

Twilight and Spike were awoken by Unity crying. They hazily blinked a few times, before Twilight's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh! I haven't fed Unity yet!" She jumped up and Spike smiled. Twilight was acting normal again. Halfway to the staircase, her ears drooped and her body sagged. "Oh yeah... Sharky is dead..." She muttered. Spike face-palmed.

Just when I thought she was getting over it... He sighed inwardly. Twilight continued her slow trot upstairs though, so at least she was still able to remember to take care of Unity. Spike stood up and walked into the kitchen to make breakfast. Was it lunch? He took a moment to check the sun's position through a window. Dear Celestia! It's already past noon! He exclaimed internally. No wonder Unity is so upset! He moved to the fridge to begin prepaing a late lunch.

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

"Gilda, meet Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash said proudly. Scootaloo stared in awe at the gryffin.

"Wow! You're a gryffin!" She gasped. Gilda rolled her eyes and looked at Dash.

"You got yourself a real genius here." Rainbow punched Gilda in the shoulder.

"Be nice!"

"I've never seen you up close before!" Scootaloo interrupted. She started zipping all around Gilda, examining her. "You are so cool! You're almost as cool as Sharky! Hey, have you gotten to meet Sharky yet? He's really nice, I think you'd like him!" Gilda and Dash both flinched and lowered their heads.

"Yeah... Yeah, I have met him kid..." Gilda mumbled glumly. Scootaloo looked at them confusedly.

"Why are you two sad all of the sudden?" Rainbow looked up and thought for a moment.

"Look... I... didn't tell you this last night... but... Sharky--"

"Will be on a trip for a while!" Gilda interrupted. "We're sad because he's gonna be gone for a long time." Scootaloo nodded her head and looked at the ground.

"Well that sucks, I wanted to talk to him a bit more... Rainbow Dash says he's really cool, and I wanted to see if it was possible to be as cool as Rainbow Dash!"

"Heh, believe it or not kid, he was. Maybe even cooler." Gilda laughed to lighten the mood a bit.

"Well, I wouldn't say that..." Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"Yeah! Nopony is cooler than Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo interrupted.

"Ha! Thanks Scoots! Hey, now that you've met Gilda, why don't you and your friends crusade with her?" Scootaloo put on a broad grin,but Gilda frowned and looked to Rainbow Dash.

"Crusade?" Rainbow Dash grinned.

"You'll see..."

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

"That... was horrible..." Gilda had flown up to Rainbow's house. She was covered in leaves and had a bruise on her head. Rainbow Dash burst out laughing.

"W-what was the crusade this time?"

"First, they wanted to try gryffin riding, then it was lion taming. I tried to tell them I'm not a lion, but they said it was close enough. Luckily I got away before one of them managed to find an actual whip!" Rainbow continued laughing, and Gilda narrowed her eyes. "Oh, so that's funny huh?"

"It's bucking hilarious!" Gilda crouched down.

"Well, then this'll be a riot!" She leapt up and pounced on Dash, and they rolled around on the floor wrestling. Eventually Gilda pinned Dash and they just sat there laughing. Gilda eventually rolled back off of Dash.

"Just like old times, huh Gilda?"

"Yeah... just like old times..."

"Rainbow Dash?!" Scootaloo's voice drifted up from the ground.

"Oh!" Rainbow stood up and trotted over to a window. "Hey Scoots! Coming home already?" Scootaloo beamed up at her.

"I love hearing that word! Home... Anyway, whaddya mean already? It's like an hour until night!" Rainbow looked up at the darkening sky.

"Wow! I guess I lost track of time! Ok, I'll be right down!" She jumped out of the window and drifted down to her new daughter. She lifted her in her forehooves and flew off the ground. "Geez, you're heavy Scoots! Heh, this has gotta be great for my wings!"

"Ha ha! Glad I can help! ... Hey... Thanks for adopting me... I never really got to say it... but I'm really happy now!" She beamed up at her idol, and Rainbow smiled back.

"You're welcome Scoots... I'm sorry it took so long for me to figure out what you meant to me..."

"It doesn't matter! We're together now right?" Rainbow Dash's smile broadened.

"Yeah, we are... Thanks to Sharky..." Rainbow Dash's mood became somber again, and the smile disappeared from her face.

"Rainbow Dash? What's wrong?" Rainbow Dash had begun to tear up again.

"Oh, nothing Scoots... Here we are, home sweet home..." She flew through the floor of her house and placed Scootaloo down. "Hey Gilda, it's getting late, shouldn't you be getting home?"

"Eh, like I care. I'll find somewhere to crash I'm sure. Night." Gilda opened her wings and prepared to take off, but Rainbow Dash stopped her.

"Well hey! If you aren't heading home, do you wanna stay here for a while?" Gilda closed her wings.

"Here? With you? Sounds lame... but ok." Rainbow Dash smiled. She knew Gilda was happy on the inside.

"Cool, let's just make you a bed real quick..." Rainbow set to work manipulating the floor of the house, quickly forming a bed just large enough for Gilda. "There you go!" She said proudly. She turned to Scootaloo. "Well, it's getting late Scoots, you should get to bed 'kay?" Scootaloo nodded.

"Ok Dash, night!" She trotted off to her bed obidiently, eager to please her idol.

"Night Scoots!" She turned to Gilda. "She had dinner right?" Gilda nodded.

"Yeah, they stopped by Carrot Top's place and she gave 'em some--"

"Carrots?"

"Heh, yeah. Well, Imma hit the sack myself. Night Dash."

"Night Gilda." Rainbow turned to go to her room, and soon she was tucked snugly into her bed. Without anything to distract her, her thoughts quickly turned to Sharky. She let out a few more silent tears for him, the let herself be lulled into sleep.

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

Thursday, January 15th

"Hmm...." Twilight groaned and stretched as she woke up. She had managed to make it through the day yesterday, but only with a lot of help from Spike. Internally she was proud of him for being brave through this, but she couldn't bring herself to express any emotions recently. She blinked her eyes open groggily, to look directly into Pinkie Pie's eyes. "GAH!" She shouted and jumped up.

"Twilight! Do you have any spells for making somepony not dead?!" Pinkie Pie asked determinedly. Twilight blinked a few times to clear the last of the sleep haziness from her eyes.

"W-what? No Pinkie, no spells like that exist..." She said regretfully. Twilight had already considered the option herself.

"Then I've got no use for this place! See you later Twilight!" Pinkie Pie dashed out of the library before Twilight could say another word.

"... She left too..." Twilight sighed to herself.

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

Fluttershy woke up, determined to not be sad today. She had spent all the time she felt she should missing Sharky. Stormy was right, crying wouldn't make Sharky happy, wherever he was. She told herself that she needed to be happy today. Yesterday, she had decided she only needed to arrange one more thing before she could feel like Sharky got all he deserved in terms of mourning. She set out of her house to see her friends. She decided that Sharky needed a funeral.

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

"Hi Rarity..." Fluttershy greeted as she walked into Carousel Boutique.

"Well hello Fluttershy! How are you this fine morning?" Rarity asked suprisingly cheerily.

"Umm... fine I suppose... Hey, I need your help..."

"With what dear? I'm always happy to help my friends!"

"Well... I wanna plan a funeral for Sharky an--" Rarity whipped around with astounding speed and trotted closer to Fluttershy.

"Nonsense! Sharky isn't dead!"

"B-but Spike said tha--"

"No! We don't know about humans! I'm sure he's alive! He'll come back any day now! Just you wait!" She said huffily. She turned again and went back to her fabrics.

"Well... Will you help me plan a funeral that way we can have one in case he doesn't come back?"

"No! He WILL come back! He doesn't need a funeral! ... However I will help you plan a funeral... Not that he might be dead, but it'll be nice if he thinks we wanted to honor him right?"

"Right... Thank you Rarity... I'm going to go tell the others now..."

"Have fun dear, I'll see you soon to discuss details!"