Fang bared his teeth at Gilda as she jumped at him. He leapt to the side and Gilda's talons struck only air. Fang whipped back around to face his opponent and rammed her side with his shoulder before she could readjust herself from her swing. Gilda wasn't seriously hurt, but she slid back a few feet.

"AH! Huh, a tough one aren't ya?" Gilda crouched down in another battle stance. "Well, I'm earning my breakfast today..." She assumed a more flexible attack stance and started slowly circling Fang. Fang crouched down in return and matched her pace step for step. Without warning, Fang dashed at Gilda, raking his claws across her face and bounding away before she could react. Gilda touched her left cheek in shock and felt blood. "Y-you... You're gonna pay for that!" She dashed at Fang, using her wings to get extra speed. Fang tried to jump out of the way again, but Gilda managed to rake his right foreleg as she passed. He let out a small yelp as a little blood began to trickle down his leg. Gilda hadn't had time to turn after her charge, so Fang lept at her and bit down on her right wing as hard as he could near the base of her shoulder. Gilda let out an eagle-like cry of pain.

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"Yeah, Gilda." Rainbow Dash said absentmindedly.

"T-that big, mean gryffin is here?! No! She scares me!" Fluttershy crouched down and began shaking. She covered her head with her forehooves.

"No! It's ok Fluttershy! Gilda's acting a lot nicer now!" Rainbow Dash tried to console her.

"H-how can she be nice?! H-have y-you forgotten she got Sharky killed?!"

"No! She didn't! Sharky was her friend!" Fluttershy's head popped up from the ground and she moved her forelegs away from her face.

"W-what?"

"Gilda was friends with Sharky..."

"Bu-buh... W-... how?!"

"Yeah... Sharky was her friend... They had gotten into a bar fight and he fell through the clouds..."

"... but that means... it's his fault he died..." Fluttershy whispered. Rainbow Dash flinched.

"I... I hadn't thought of it that way..." Rainbow Dash admitted. "But... I guess... You're right..." Both the girls stood in silence for a while until Blaze loudly interrupted.

"WELL! This is akward... Imma go back into the forest now!" He flapped his wings and took off towards Everfree forest.

"Bye Blaze!" Fluttershy shouted after him. "Well... I suppose if you say Gilda is nice now... She can come too... I'll trust you. Well... If you don't mind, I still have to find Pinkie Pie and tell her about the funeral..." Fluttershy mumbled sadly. Rainbow Dash wiped a fresh tear off her cheek.

"Yeah, go ahead... I have to get back to practicing anyway..." Rainbow Dash took off before Fluttershy could say another word. Fluttershy turned to leave the practice field and find Pinkie Pie, when she bounded up out of nowhere.

"Hi Fluttershy! I've been following you to hear about this funeral thingy! I'm gonna tell you, you don't need to do it! I'm gonna find a way to make him not dead! I'll go if I don't make him not dead before Tuesday, but I problably will, so don't expect to even have a funeral ok?" Pinkie Pie then bounded away before Fluttershy could respond.

"... O-ok?" Fluttershy mumbled dully. "I... I guess I'll go discuss the funeral details with Rarity then..." She turned to Ponyville and started trotting off slowly.

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"Eeyupp, good ole' forest! Sure is some kick-ass training!" Blaze grinned as he used his horn to make himself stronger. His aura surrounded himself from his bent horn and he charged at a tree. He bent his head right before he rammed the tree, and he impacted it with a resounding crack. "TIMBER!" He shouted as the tree stated it's decent towards the ground, breaking the limbs of nearbly trees as it fell. It hit the ground with a huge thud. Blaze trotted over and stood on top of the now downed tree. "Dammit I'm lonely." He muttered. Then he heard an eagle cry from the nearby trees. "SOCIAL ACTIVITY!" He shouted gleefully as he ran towards the sound. He broke into a clearing to find Fang latched onto the wing of some eagle-lion thing. "Hi Fang! Make a new friend?" The gryffin turned to look at him, and the wolf's eyes locked onto him as well.

"Well?! Don't just stand there! Help me kill this crazy w-- are those dragon wings?" Gilda asked, sheer shock dulling her pain.

"Yeah, you know. Dad was a dragon, mom was a mare. I never really asked many questions about that..." He shuddered. "Anyway, you two know each other?" He guestured to Fang gnawing on Gilda's wing. Gilda's jaw dropped.

"ARE YOU BUCKING STUPID?! He is chewing on my wing!!!" Blaze frowned.

"So you aren't playing?"

"NO!!! I was trying to eat him!! He won't die though!"

"Well duh! Heh, what kinda moron tries to eat Sharky's pet and expect to have him die easy?"

"... Did you just say Sharky's pet?"

"Well yeah, he's the only one around here with a pet wolf named Fang. That I know at least, I don't spend much time with other ponies though, so I guess there could be more..." Fang continued to gnaw on Gilda's wing.

"... Can you get him off me?"

"Sure, Fang? Can you please stop eating this nice... thing's wing?" Fang released Gilda's wing and trotted over to Blaze. "So sir or madam, what the heck are you?" Baze asked. Gilda turned red.

"Sir OR madam?! Why I oughtta..." Blaze turned away from her.

"Eh, I'm bored now. I'll talk to you later thingy!" He shouted over his shoulder. Gilda was about to jump at him, but he turned around a tree and disappeared. Gilda scratched her head in confusion, then sighed. Fang was still sitting next to where Blaze had been. Gilda looked at him.

"Sooo... Uh... Sorry about the whole... trying to eat you thing... It was really your fault for walking alone in the woods you know..." Fang growled at her again. "Hey! Look, I was just trying to say I'm sorry! I'm just hungry ok?!" Fang nodded and loped off a short distance into the woods. Gilda turned to take off. "Stupid mutt..." She mumbled to herself. Then Fang popped up again and dropped a dead rabbit in front of her. She halted in mid takeoff, dumbfounded. She looked the the rabbit, then back to Fang. Fang was gesturing towards the rabbit with his head. "F... For me?" Gilda asked hesitantly. Fang nodded vigerously. Gilda's beak tilted up into a small smile. "Thanks... I guess you aren't as lame as I thought..."

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Over the course of the next few days, not much happened. Fluttershy and Rarity managed to finish planning the funeral and have it all setup by Tuesday. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Gilda spent most of their time together or crusading. Blaze and Fang began to travel together through the forest. Blaze would have moved into his new house by now, but Twilight still didn't have enough focus to cast the stone-shaping spell for him and finish off the house. Pinkie Pie spent all her time using various methods to revive Sharky. One such method was a trip to Canterlot to take some phoenix down from Celestia's pet. Then she realized she didn't have Sharky's body, so they wouldn't be useful at all. Shadow didn't talk to many ponies, he stayed out in the orchards or in his room, constantly working. Applejack tried to stop him, but he flew somewhere else to work whenever she found him. Unity had stopped eating since Monday afternoon, and no matter what Twilight and Spike did, they couldn't get him to drink his milk or his bottle. Finally, Tuesday afternoon was upon them. Rainbow Dash had asked for it to be during school hours so Scootaloo wouldn't find out about Sharky. Rarity had agreed seeing as how she didn't want to tell Sweetiebelle either. All the ponies that had been invited showed up, dressed in black. Twilight's eyes still held no focus, Rariy wouldn't stop talking about how unecessesary it was, Pinkie kept talking about all the new ideas she had to make Sharky alive, and all the others were somber and quiet. The only two not dressed in black were Blaze and Fang. Within a few minutes after they all arrive, and elderly gray pony trotted in front of the empty coffin and started the ceremony. Everypony quieted down and turned to him.

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The solider with materia blasted Cloud with a lightning bolt before he could take another step forward. Smoke billowed out from the impact and I gave a small gasp. Then the smoke cleared, and Cloud was still standing solid as a rock, not even a slight sign of damage.

"Thundraga materia huh?" Cloud asked lightly. "Gonna have to do better than that..." He gripped the blade in front of him with both hands, and pulled a thin longsword away from the main sword so that he had the main sword in his right hand and the small blade in his left.. He leapt clear over his motorcycle and into the air over the S.O.L.I.D.E.R.s. They all crouched down and lifted various blades up to meet Cloud. He swung the larger blade down at his foes, knocking most of their blades to the side. He swung his lower body around and planted his foot firmly into the side of the head of the enemy below him. He flew over the heads of his comrades and landed a few feet away from the group. Cloud landed in the spot that the solider he had kicked had previously been standing in. A foe on Cloud's right side swung his blade at Cloud's neck as he landed, but Cloud blocked it with the larger blade and stabbed him through the stomach with his small sword. As cloud turned to stab the first enemy, two on his left quickly thrust their blades towards his exposed side. They both stabbed into him slightly, but he didn't even seem to care. He brought his elbow down on their blades, slamming their hands holding the swords into the ground. He pulled his small sword out of the other solider's gut and quickly turned and cut the throats of the ones that had stabbed him. The materia solider pointed his hand at the back of Cloud's head and began to cast the spell, but Cloud whipped around, grabbed his hand, and pressed it against the solider's chin. The lightning bolt flashed through his head, killing him instantly. At this point, the other soliders were looking unsure about continuing the fight. Another lunged a his exposed back, but Cloud jumped clear into the air again. He came down and brought the edge of the larger blade down on the offending solider's head. He was sliced clean in half. The other soliders all turned and ran at the same time. Cloud pulled the swords out of his side and threw them at the fleeing guards, impaling two of them, one with each sword. He gave the rest of the guards an uniterested glace. "Whatever." He turned to me, my mouth hanging open in a mixture of amazement and fear.

"... Holy f***..." I muttered dumbly. Cloud lifted his larger blade and pointed it at me. I almost pissed my pants.

"Now, who are you?" He asked coldly.

"What's it to ya jackass?" Sharky White! My name is Sharky White!" I yelled. Cloud tilted his head and kept his sword pointed at me.

"... Right... Why are there Shinra agents chasing you?"

"I broke out of a Shinra lab! Now go fuck yourself." Cloud looked even more confused and lowered the blade a little.

"You know, you really shouldn't insult me. Now, what were you doing in a Shinra lab?"

"None of your fucking buisness. I have no idea! One moment I was falling to my death, then boom! I was in a testing chamber in a Shinra lab!" Cloud started to look angry and he pointed the blade at me again.

"Watch it! Where did you come from?"

"Your mom's bed. Look, you may not believe me, but I'm from another world!" Cloud's face twisted with confusion.

"Alright, why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"That thing where you change your voice and act like a jerk."

"... What the heck are you talking about? Idiot." Cloud shook his head and let out a heavy breath. He lowered the sword, combined the two blades and placed the blade on his back.

"Whatever. So, from another world huh? What world?" He asked sarcastically. He walked around the bodies of the soliders, occasionally searching them as he passed. He picked up the thundraga materia which had popped out of the dead solider's arm.

"Well, I was on Earth, but then I was in a place called Equestria, and now I'm here. Like a boss." Cloud snorted.

"Yeah, ok. You want this materia? I don't need it." He held up the little yellow stone.

"F*** yes I want it!" He tossed it to me and I caught it in my right hand. I opened my hand to look at it, but instead all I saw was a yellow light shining dully through my skin. "So... how do I use this?" Cloud looked at me skeptically.

"You really aren't from around here are you? Just point and say 'thundraga'." I held my arm out towards a nearby rock.

"Thundraga!" I shouted. A bright bolt of lightning lanced from my hand and shattered the rock. "Freakin' awesome!" I grinned. Then a light flased into my eyes. I looked up for the source, and I saw a glint coming from a cliff pointing towards Midgar. "Hey! Is Angeal's sword up there?!" Cloud gave me another confused look.

"Who's Angeal?"

"Oh, right. Is Zack's sword up there?" Cloud narrowed his eyes.

"How do you know about Zack?"

"I played Crisis Core on Earth. I know more about Zack then you do." I started walking towards the cliff.

"... What?"

"Nothing, just rambling." I walked all the way to and up the cliff, finally reaching the legendary sword embedded in the ground. Far off in the distance, the sunlight reflected off the the ruins of Midgar.

"Hey! Get away from that!" Cloud shouted. I turned to look behind me, and he had followed me up the cliff.

"Why would you allow Zack's sword to rust?" I asked him angrily. He flinched. I guess he didn't expect anger from me.

"What? Why does it matter to you?"

"Because this is Angeal's blade! The few things he never wanted to happen to it were wear, tear, and rust! Up here it gets all three! You should at least come here and polish it once in awhile or something ya jackass!"

"Who is Angeal?!" The Buster Sword suddenly began flashing. I turned to look at it, and Cloud gasped.

"What the...?" On the side of the blade, there was an image. It was a picture of Unity, Fang, Gilda, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Luna, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Shadow, and Blaze all huddled in a group. They were all crying. "Hey! Those are my friends!" I shouted in recognition.

"Y-your what?!" Cloud asked in shock. The image was getting progressively brighter and seemed to be reaching out for me. I ran over to the sword and grabbed the hilt. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

"I've got no idea!" I pulled the sword from the ground and held it in front of me to better see the picture. With that, I got the strangest sensation of movement and the light wrapped itself around me. In a flash, I was gone.

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I let my eyes adjust as the light faded from the sword. The blade was suprisingly light despite it's size. I would still need two hands to use it to any effect at all, but lighter than one would think. My eyes readjusted to the new level of light, and I realized I was standing in Twilight's bedroom.

"What the... I don't even..." Some happy gurgling distracted me, and I looked down to see Unity laying in his bed with a sleepy smile. "You... you did this huh? Well... I'm not even gonna bother to stop and think about it 'cause my brain will explode." Unity fell asleep as I talked. I laid the Buster Sword on the ground and knelt to kiss his head goodnight. Then I stood back up and lazily positioned the Buster Sword on my shoulder. "Well... I can either run away now or go back to my friends..." I remebered the conditions I had originally left Ponyville in. "Well... I think it's time I manned up. I'm not gonna leave again." I walked downstairs to the main part of the library. "Twilight! Twilight I'm back!" I shouted. No response. I shrugged. She problably went to get some groceries or something. I left the library. To my suprise, off in the distance was a large gathering of ponies in the middle of a mostly empty field. They were all dressed in black, and there was a coffin at the front of the group. "Oh wow... I didn't hear about anypony dieing..." I took off towards the group. I noticed that all the girls, Gilda, Fang, Blaze, and Stormy were all in the group. I walked up to the back of the group.

"May his soul rest in peace..." An elderly looking gray pony at the front said.

"Hey! Who died?!" I asked loudly. Everypony in the group jumped about three feet off the ground and slowly turned towards me.

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