Shining charged me, and I decided to grab the... unicorn by the... horn. I grabbed his horn as he ran at me, halting him instantly. I knealt down and swung his horn down quickly, smashing his face into the ground.

"Now, let me make one thing perfectly clear, ok?" I asked him as I held him to the ground. I lifted his head so he could look into my eyes. "Nopony insults my bravery, understand?" In response, he brought up his right forehoof and hit me across my right cheek. I released him in suprise, and he got back to his hooves and leapt away from me.

"Let me make this perfectly clear! I'll not stand by and let a monster like you roam around under the guise of a hero!" I rolled my eyes and stood back up.

"Tell me, what exactly makes me a monster?"

"Yeah, he's no monster Shining!" Twilight agreed. Shining turned to her and his horn glowed again. The wall around her turned into a box.

"Sorry sis, but this might get dangerous..." He turned back to me. "Now, you're a monster because you pretend to be a hero! I've known you for only a short time, and already you've threatened to kill not only me, but an entire crowd of civillians! Celestia knows what you do elsewhere! Not only that, but you've completely fooled my sister into believing you're noble and causing her to fall for you!"

"Ok, two things. One, you're insane. I never threatened anypony. Two, you're foolish to challenge something as powerful as me. Now, I'm going to enjoy killing you. Wait, what was that bit about Twilight?"

"Ha! Again you make empty threats! I will strike you down before you can cause any real damage!"

"... Can we fight now?"

"Dear Celestia... YES!" I jumped at Shining Armor, swinging my right fist at his head. Before I reached him, his horn glowed and he lifted me off the ground.

"Hey! No fair!" I shouted.

"Quit whining beast! Now, to dispose of you!" He raised me with his aura. I started trying to focus in on his magic, but I couldn't absorb it very quickly. I changed my mind and directed my efforts at Twilight's magic instead. It flowed into me almost eagerly. Shining rushed me down, slamming me into the stone floor of the platform.

"Was that supposed to hurt? Wow, that didn't hurt too much. I guess I'm more resilient than I thought." Shining Armor lifted me again and slammed me into the ground, repeating this process over and over again.

"When I--"

*BAM*

"Get out of--"

*BAM*

"Here, you are--"

*BAM*

"GOING TO DIE!"

*BAM*

"More empty threats from the false hero I see!" Shining jeered.

"I still didn't--"

*BAM*

"Say any--"

*BAM*

"Thing!! Ow."

*BAM* Twilight was scrambling around in her little box. She was screaming in Shining Armor's direction and shooting little blasts of magic at the box, but nothing was working. Luckily, I had copied her magic enough at this point to use it.

*BAM* I lifted Shining with Twilight's magic, and we were both suddenly hovering above the ground.

"W-whoa! Who dares to--" He looked at the aura around him. "Twily?! You're doing this!?" He looked to Twilight, still scrambling in her box. "T-then who...?" He looked at me and the small half-grown horn on my head. "B-but... what?"

"Oh, believe it. Now, where were we? Oh yes!" I thrushted Shining down into the platform floor.

*BAM* The light around his horn faded and he dropped me. I landed on the ground crouching and the box around Twilight faded. I walked over to him.

"Sorry about that. Now, you going to not try to kill me while we figure whatever just happened out?" His eyes had been closed, but when I knealt next to him, they flew open. He jumped back to his hooves, and his horn glowed. All of the sudden, I was in a box. "Oh cheap shot!" I yelled at the magic walls of my cage. Twilight ran over to him and started pushing on his side, like she was trying to force him to stop physically. He turned and said something to her, then she was suddenly in a cage too. He turned back to me. Suddenly, the walls of my cage began to shrink rapidly. "You bastard! You coward! I swear I'll kill you! Hey! You're going to just murder me?! Where is the honor here? The dignity?!" He didn't seem to hear me, and the walls kept shrinking in. Twilight was across from me, beating on the walls of her cage and seemed to be crying.

Crap! What am I going to do?! Uhh... think... Oh! Maybe if I... I focused my void in specifically on the wall in front of me, the one facing Shining Armor. I could see it begin to fade as the magic began to flow into me, instantly cancelling out Twilight's magic. It didn't disappear, but I didn't need it to. I started beating on the wall as hard as I could. Shining Armor started laughing at me, and right then, my left hand smashed through the wall. I could her Shining gasp as I broke the light barrier apart. I stepped out of the shrinking box and strode over to him.

"W-what are you?!" He gasped.

"Me? I'm just a Lunar Knight. With power you can't even begin to understand." I pointed at ground on the platform right beside him. "Case of point, Thundraga." A bolt of lighning struck right next to him, pelting him with pebbles from the shattered top of the platform. He yelped a little.

"I-I still have t-to defeat you! You're evil!" He shouted with a suprising amount of bravery. I sighed.

"I'm not evil! I swear! If I were evil, wouldn't I have just killed you with that bolt instead of making it strike next to you?" Shining seemed to think for a moment.

"I-I suppose..."

"If I were evil, why would I throw my weapons down and engage you in fair combat?" He looked at my sizeable weapons and thought again.

"Y-you h-have a point... but then why did you keep making threats huh? I've never heard of any good pony making threats like that!" He countered. I thought for a moment.

"When I was threatening you, did I sound like I do right now?"

"No, but what does that matter?" I sighed.

"Dear lord, Steven you prick! Quit messing with everypony! Hey! It's fun as hell! You know you liked the fight!" Shining gave me an incredibly confused look.

"What the buck?"

"Look, long story short, I'm two different people. One is the real me, this one. The other is a dick. He is Steven. Sup bitch. When I change my voice, I'm Steven." Shining looked confused.

"So... you are evil, but only half evil?"

"No, not quite. The other voice can only talk for the most part. I control my body, so I'm doing good with it only."

"... Then I just royally screwed up didn't I?"

"Oh yeah. You're just lucky I can't move these arms or I'd rip off your forelegs and beat you to death with them!" Shining shuddered.

"That Steven one is truly terrifying, and I've seen stuff that would make hardened stallions piss themselves." He looked to Twilight, still beating on her box with her eyes closed. I guess she hadn't just seen what happened. "She was trying to explain that wasn't she?"

"Most likely."

"Aww... I shoulda listened to her..." He dispelled the box around Twilight.

"No! No you can't kill him!" She fell forward as her hooves started hitting only air. She blinked her eyes open with a start right before she hit the ground. Shining caught her with his aura and stood her back up. "W-what just happened?"

"Shining here realized how big he just fucked screwed up." Twilight glared at him.

"Y-you... you just almost killed him!" He grimaced.

"I'm sorry Twily! I didn't know about the Steven thing!"

"Hey, no hard feelings right? Besides, you aren't the only thing that's tried to kill me so far." He looked at me apologetically.

"I truly am sorry sir White, I truly believed you were a threat."

"Eh, it's ok."

"Whoa no! He just tried to kill you! You can't just pass it over like that!" Twilight shouted. I gave her a confused look.

"Why not?"

"... Forget it. Shining, you didn't listen to me!" He sighed.

"You're right Twily, I should have let you talk. I'm very sorry, it won't happen again." Twilight nodded with satisfaction.

"You better. I'm just happy you both seem to be getting along now..."

"Yeah. All we had to do was almost kill each other. Now, what should we do since we're both alive?" I asked.

"Well, I made us reservations at a nice little restaurant... If you think it would be ok..." Shining offered.

"Sounds great! I haven't eaten all day! Just one more thing..." Shining gave me a questioning look.

"What?" I punched him in the jaw. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Insulting my bravery. Now, let's go get dinner." Shining looked to Twilight. He leaned in to whisper to her.

"Are you sure about this guy? He just hit me, and we weren't even fighting that time!" Twilight whispered back.

"Yes, I'm sure... and you deserved that one." Shining nodded.

"True." He straightened back up. "Well, follow me everypony. Dinner is this way." He started trotting off, Twilight and I following closely behind.

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We had been ushered into a huge fancy building in a matter of minutes. The inside was filled with gold trinkets, armies of waiters in tuxedos, a gigantic crystal chandelier, and tons of tables decorated with candles, fancily folded napkins, and decorated tableware. A unicorn waiter, clearly shocked to see either Shining Armor or I, showed us to a table for three. It was square with four seats. Twilight sat to my right, and Shining sat across from me.

"So... *Ehm* What can I umm... get you all to drink?" The waiter stammered nervously. I could feel the eyes of everypony in the building on us.

"Just water, thank you." I replied as I started shying away from everypony's gaze.

"Same for me sir." Shining agreed.

"I think I'll have some unsweetened hay tea please." The waiter hastily scribbled down our orders on a notepad he was levitating. He nodded once then disappeared. "Well, if you two will excuse me for a moment..." Twilight pushed herself away from the table.

"Where you going Twilight?" I called after her.

"Umm... just... going to the little filly's room..." She trotted off quickly. I looked back to Shining Armor.

"Sooo... Fancy place..."

"Yeah, yes it is." He agreed. He was staring at me intensely.

"Awww crap, here it comes."

"So... Sharky. I've heard a lot about you being some kind of hero." I groaned.

"I hate that title!" Shining's eyes widened. "I just do what anypony else would do if they were me!"

"Wow, suprising amount of humility. That's good. So, what do you think of my sister?"

"Well, she's very nice, a great friend, and definitely one of the smartest girls I've ever known."

"Strange that you specifically mention girls. Are you sexist Sharky?"

"What? No! I was raised to respect women!" Shining Armor nodded.

"Good, good. Now, Twilight tells me you have a son."

"Twilight told you that? What did she say about him?"

"Nothing much, but who's son is he?"

"... Mine?"

"Don't play dumb with me! What's the mare's name huh?"

"Mare?" He leaned forward into the table.

"What mare had that child?!" He said each word firmly and slowly. I frowned.

"What? He's adopted! He's too dull to even know if a chick wanted to go through that process with him." Shining nodded again.

"Ok. Now, if my sister was in danger, would you protect her?" I scowled and and leaned over the table.

"With my damn life. Hells no! I'm savin my own ass!"

"Good. Now, what are your intentions with my sister?" I frowned again. I've been doing that a lot lately.

"What do you mean? I intend to be a good friend? I plan to rut her harshly, then leave her alone for the rest of her life. Potentially with my child. How's that for a dick answer?" Shining growled.

"Shut that Steven guy up! You know damn well what I mean!" He was almost hitting me in the face as he pointed at me aggresively.

"Whoa! Calm down dude!"

"Look, you better treat my sister right, or I'll--"

"Hey boys!" Twilight interrupted. Shining Armor shrank back to his seat and smiled at her warmly in about two seconds flat, leaving me totally confused about what just happened.

"Hey Twily! Glad you're back!"

"Uhh... Hi Twilight..."

"What's wrong Sharky?" Twilight gave me a concerned look.

"... I... I don't know..."

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

The rest of the dinner went off without a problem, until the bill arrived. I pulled it to me and pulled out my coin pouch.

"What are you doing?" Shining asked harshly. I gave him a confused look.

"Paying?"

"I'm supposed to do that! I was the one taking you two out!"

"Tough tits. Oh, well I'll pay anyway." Shining Armor opened his mouth to talk again, but Twilight cut him off by placing a hoof on his shoulder.

"It's ok Shining Armor, he does this." Shining looked at her, and as soon as he turned his head I placed 5 gold bits on the 326 bit bill. I waved the waiter over and handed it to him before Shining could do anything. "See?"

"Well... What do you guys want to do now?" Shining glared at me.

"Did you really just do that?!"

"Eeyup! Now, I'm going to find someplace else to go. You guys coming?"

"Right behind you Sharky!" Twilight hopped down from the table and trotted after me as I left.

"Hey! Wait up!" Shining left the table and trotted quickly to join us. We left the building and stepped out into cool night air. I inhaled deeply.

"Whew! Feels good to be outside! ...Do you guys hear that flapping sound?" I heard a giant 'whoosh' every few seconds.

"Yeah, sounds like dragon wings..." Shining agreed. I stepped further away from the building and out into the wide street. I looked up, and I could see Esmerelda's pale underbelly above the city.

"Hey! It's Esmerelda!"

"Who's Esmerelda?" Shining looked startled by the dragon, but didn't jump to attacking it.

"Relax, Esmerelda's my friend!" I turned back to look at him. He was looking up at Esmerelda.

"... Umm... Sharky... your friend... is coming." Shining started slowly moving backwards.

"What?" turned to look at her again, to see a talon reaching out for me not 20 feet away. "What the?!"

*FWOOSH* I was grabbed by the talon, and in moments I was flying high above the city in Esmerelda's grasp.

"Whoooaaaaaahhhh!!! The hell bitch?!" Esmerelda lifted her talon to her neck without speaking. I crawled out of her grasp and sat down in the middle of her neck. "What's going on?!"

"Sharky... I learned something terrible... I don't want to be here right now. Where's this Ponyville?" I could hear tears in Esmerelda's voice.

"Uhh... If memory serves, just fly west of Canterlot!" Esmerelda turned to adjust her flight path. "What the buck made you so upset?"

"War spoils." She said simply.

"What the heck does that mean?!"

"The dragon eggs Celestia allows her students to experiment on! She makes the dragons give her a few eggs every year to remind them of their defeat!"

"She what?!"

"I know... it's horrible!"

"Does she know you are upset about it?"

"No! I told her I was just going to meet your friends! I can't be near her though... Not after learning about that!"

"Wow... I can't believe that..."

"I know! ... I know..." Esmerelda sounded heartbroken.

"Hey... hey, it's ok Esmerelda..."

"No it isn't! Those are our children!" She wailed. "I only found out because she got the next shipment of them while we were talking..."

"... So, she just got some more?"

"Yes!"

"Well... If this really upsets you... I think I have an idea..." She turned her head to look at me while I was on her neck.

"What? What is it?" I grinned maliciously.

"Let's pay her a visit..."