"Hey! Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called up to the cloud house.

"What? I'm trying to nap while Scootaloo is at school!"

"Have you seen Sharky since this morning? He was gone when Fluttershy woke up!"

"He was? Eh don't worry, I'm sure he's gonna be back soon!"

"Well, I searched for him with a spell, and he was almost out of my range! AND he was with Gilda!" Rainbow Dash was on the ground in two seconds.

"Did you just say he was with GILDA?!"

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I fell over in shock.

"Are you ok?!" Gilda asked. I sat up.

"You play the flute?" I asked in suprise. Gilda's blush deepened.

"Yeah, lame I know."

"No, that's cool! Ha, if you wanna know lame, I play the clarinet."

"Really?! No way!"

"Yeah, you don't need to be ashamed of playing the flute!"

"... You mean that?"

"Of course! It's not a bad thing! It's just really nerdy!" Gilda flinched back. I frowned. "What the buck did I just say? I meant to say it was really cool!" Gilda gave me a confused look.

"R-right... Ok... well... do you want to hear it?"

"No bitch, nopony likes you. Of course I want to hear it!" Gilda stepped back.

"W-what?"

"I SAID, I wanna hear the flute!"

"A-are you ok?"

"Hmm? I'm fine. BUT YOU WON'T BE."

"W-WHAT?!"

"I said I'm fine. Are you feeling ok Gilda? You're acting a bit strange..."

"Y-yeah... I'm fine... here goes..." She put the flute up to her beak, and music began to gently flow out.

Listen to the flute in this video.

"Wow..." I closed my eyes and let the music fill my senses. It was... beautiful. Gilda was tense for the first few seconds, but she eventually loosened up and played more passionately. She had her eyes open to play, and she saw Steven smiling and swaying to the music. She didn't know what had been wrong with him a few moments ago, but she was happy he seemed better now. She finished her song and put her flute down. Steven frowned. "Is it over?"

"Yeah... did you really like it Steven?"

"Please, call me Sharky. All my friends do!" I smiled.

"F-friend?" I looked up to Gilda.

"Well of course!"

"R-really?! I... haven't had a real friend since... since Dash got rid of me..."

"Well, you've got one now! Thanks Gilda, for showing me that. That was... that was something special..." I felt my eyes mist over as I remebered the music.

"Thanks... I'm glad I met you..."

"I'm glad I met you too Gilda... Would you mind playing that music again? It was amazing..." Gilda got a huge grin.

"Sure, only for you Sharky!" She brought the flute back to her beak and continued to play. I closed my eyes and let the music flow through me.

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"This is bad, this is very, very bad!" RD fretted.

"Why, what's so bad about him being with Gilda?" Twilight asked.

"Gilda doesn't like us remember?! If she finds out that Sharky hangs out with us, she'll try and do something to HIM to get to US!"

"I'm sure Sharky can handle one gryffin..."

"That's what I'm worried about! If he fights her, she can send the whole gryffin kingdom down on him!"

"Gilda has that kind of influence?!"

"Yeah, Princess Gilda does."

"Gilda is a Princess?!"

"Yeah, and Sharky is walking around out there somewhere with her, and the last two princesses he met he blew up and wrestled."

"... Oh dear..."

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"Sharky? Are you CRYING?!" Gilda shouted in suprise as she finished her music again.

"Yeah... I was just thinking..."

"Thinking about what?"

"Oh... it's lame, don't worry about it." Gilda put down her flute and sat next to me.

"Look, I'm new to this whole sharing feelings thing, but... tell me. If we're friends I should try to help right?" I laughed a little.

"Wow... You're much nicer than I first thought."

"I.. uh... blame it on the music. Puts me in a weird mood..."

"Yeah, sure... I was thinking about my son." Gilda jumped a little.

"You have a son?! Well... who's his... mom?"

"He technically doesn't have one. I adopted him..."

"Well, where is he?"

"I left him in Ponyville..."

"You just left him there alone?"

"No, he's got two great mares looking after him..."

"Then why so sad? You'll see him again soon right?"

"No. I'm not going back."

"Oh yeah... Why not?" I sighed.

"For reasons I'd rather not explain... Hey, it's really late, mind if I catch some Zs?"

"Ha, going to bed already? The night is the best part of the day!"

"Well, maybe to you, but I prefer to sleep during the night."

"Well, I'm going out to have some fun! I suggest if you don't feel like falling to the ocean you come with me."

"Ah, the old Gilda's back. How I missed her."

"Ouch, your sarcasm cuts me man. C'mon, lighten up! Let's go!" She stood up and started tugging on my wrist.

"Fine fine. Don't expect me to be excited about whatever we do though."

"Oh, you will."

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"Well, what do we do?!" Twlight asked in a panic.

"I dunno, don't you have some magic or something to bring him back?!"

"Not that I know of! I already wrote to Celestia, maybe she can do something!"

"Have you gotten a letter back?"

"Not that I know of! I haven't checked since I started looking for you though..."

"Well, come on!" RD took off twowards the library.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Twilight ran behind her, nowhere near as fast as RD.

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"Oh, hello Fluttershy dear, what brings you here so late?" Rarity asked as she opened the door for her friend.

"Hi Rarity, did you see Sharky this morning?"

"Humph. I wish. He never visits me any more..." Rarity kicked a roll of fabric glumly.

"Well... I don't mean to startle you, but Sharky's gone."

"Off on another hunt or adventure of some sort? I figured as much..."

"No, Twilight found him far outside of town with Gilda! He was so far away, Twilight's spell almost couldn't reach him!"

"What?! Why was he so far away? With THAT fashion train-wreck?"

"I don't know... I was hoping he talked to you before he left..."

"I'm sorry dear, but I haven't heard from him...."

"Ohhhh.... What are we going to do?!"

"Calm down dear. I'm sure he'll be back soon. I know he wouldn't leave his son for no good reason!" Fluttershy thought for a moment.

"Yeah... you're right... He wouldn't just leave Unity here unless he was coming back right? He sure wouldn't leave Fang either..."

"Yes... Though I do wish he would come back for one of us as well..."

"... Me too... Rarity?"

"Yes dear?"

"I have a confession..."

"What is it?"

"Well... I already to Twilight... so I should tell you too... I kissed Sharky..."

"YOU DID?! YOU kissed HIM!? How darling? You're ever so shy!"

"I had some hard cider..."

"Ah, I see. Had a little drink to build up your spirits? Well... What was it like?"

"It was... yay!"

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"A bar huh? I can't tell you how much fun this sounds." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, we aren't here to drink! C'mon follow me!" Gilda grabbed my wrist again and pulled me into the bar.

"Well if we aren't here to drink then what?" She rushed me over to a small booth in the corner of the building. She motioned for me to get low. I ducked so our table covered up all but my face. Gilda pointed at a large gryffin at the front of the bar.

"You see that guy?"

"You mean the biggest gryffin in the building at the very front of the bar in plain sight? No, I can't." Gilda rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that one. He's the captain of the guard. He likes to come here after a bad day and start fights."

"Ok, why do I care?"

"Because it'll be fun to have a bar fight!"

"... You are a strange girl. What makes you think he had a bad day?"

"Because you single-handedly crushed my guards. Guess who his highness took it out on?"

"You mean that guy got in trouble because of me? Heh, heh. Delightful. That's terrible!" Gilda gave me a confused look.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"That thing where you change your voice and say somethin' weird."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Gilda gave me a wary stare, but she shrugged and went back to watching the captain. "Bitch..." Gilda turned back to me.

"What?"

"Huh? I didn't say anything."

"... Okayyyyy..." She turned back to the captain again. I gotta say, his drinking was kind of impressive. He was throwing back mugs of whatever as fast as I could drink the hard cider. I guess gryffins have higher alcohol tolerance than ponies, because it took a few mugs before you could tell he was wasted. I guess gryffins don't have that sixth sense that tells you when somepony is staring at you, because he didn't seem to notice us at all. That is until he started scanning the bar for potential opponents, and he spotted me.

"Heey you! Yur the bastard that beat mah buds! Why ya starin' at meh?" He slurred.

"Ok Gilda, when you said he'd start a fight, you didn't say it would be with me."

"Well how was I supposed to know? Besides, he shouldn't be a problem for you right?"

"I'll beat him within an inch of his life. I don't like fighting for no reason!"

"Ok, you're starting to creep me out with that..."

"Hey, I'm talkin' ta you freak! What're you lookin' at?!" The captain interrupted.

"That ugly mug you call a face! Nothing!"

"Ya wanna go punk!?"

"No! I don't want any trouble! Go ahead bitch, make my day!"

"That's it!" The captain stood up from his bar stool and stumbled toward me. I got up and walked towards him, fists raised.

"Yes, I can't tell you how long I've been waiting to crush somepony! Please, we don't have to do this!"

"Just shaddup and fight!" The captain jumped at me. I reached up to force palm him with my right hand, but my left moved on it's own and hit him with a hard cross.

"What the?" The captain hit the ground, but he stood back up and shook himself. He rage-yelled and charged at me. I tried to jump to the side, but I spun in midair and caught him across the face with my left boot. The captain slid a few feet and slammed into the edge of a table leg. He didn't get up.

"Hey! That bitch beat th' captain! Let's get 'im boys!" Another random gryffin called.

"No! I don't want to hurt anypony! Bring it assholes!" About 16 large gryffins stood up from their tables and circled me. "Excellent..."

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"Spiiiiike!" Twilight called as she ran into the library. She saw RD and Spike in the middle of the room, reading a new letter. "Hey, let me see that!" She moved inbetween RD and Spike to read.

Dear Twilight,

Unfortunately, Luna has informed me that she has not sent Sharky on a mission. We have tried to contact him, but he is refusing to answer Luna's calls. I can only assume that this means he left on puropse, with no intention of returning soon. You have my deepest apologies.

With regret,

Princess Celestia

"D-do you think it's true Twilight? Do you think he left us on purpose?" RD choked out, tears in her voice.

"N-no... H-he wouldn't have... He... he's in trouble! He ran into trouble with Gilda! That must be why he didn't answer Luna!" RD's sorrowful expression was replaced with fear.

"You're right! He's in danger! What do we do?!"

"Well, we can't help him ourselves... We still don't know where he went... Maybe if we tell Celestia about him being in trouble she can save him!"

"... Are you sure that's all we can do? Send letters?"

"Unless you can tell me where Sharky is and get us there fast enough to help him, yes I'm sure!"

"... Darn... Well, hurry! Celestia knows how much trouble he's in if he can't answer Luna!"

"I'm on it!" Twilight magically grabbed a quill and parchment and started scribbling down her letter as fast as she could.

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"Please guys! We can work this out! Prepare to suffer horribly!" The gryffins all jumped at me. I didn't have time or room to react, so I was buried in a pile of gryffin. If it wasn't enough that they were punching and clawing me with abandon, my void lost contact with Gilda's magic and was quickly trying to absorb the energy of one of the gryffin attackers. I punched one of them in the beak, and he fell back holding it and whimpering. I could feel my wings shrink as I struggled against them. I smashed my elbow into another's crotch, and he fell away too. I grabbed another and used him as a club to beat two more off me. One of them got me with a good cross, and made me drop the one I was holding. I threw a wild haymaker and sent another one flying clear into a cloud wall. That still left 11 gryffins, and I could feel the cloud beneath me losing it's ability to support me. Then Gilda came out of nowhere and ripped another two off me. She started fighting them herself, and left me less to deal with. I tensed all my muscles and sprang up as quickly as I could. The remaining gryffins fell away, but didn't leave me alone. I grabbed the nearest chair and smashed it over one's head. The chair broke and he fell to the ground. I took the chair legs left in my hands and used them to beat another into unconciousness. I grabbed another gryffin by the throat and used him to beat another three. By the time I let him go, he had passed out from air loss. I frowned and stopped for a moment. I wasn't usually THIS violent in a fight... Then one of my legs fell through the cloud, reminding me that I was about to die. The remaining three gryffins took the oppritunity to jump at me. I punched one and another stumbled over him as he hit the cloud. I was quickly falling, but I managed to bring my knee up into the remaining gryffin's chin. He went down too. "Gilda! Help! Finish that last bastard off and get over here!" Gilda had beaten one gryffin, and was working on the other. She saw me falling through the clouds, and quickly dispatched the last one. She jumped for me, but at the last moment, the cloud gave out and I began my fall to the ocean.

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"Turn it off sister, we can't bear to watch..." Luna said sadly. Celestia had recieved Twilight's letter, and her and Luna had cast a long-distance scrying spell to locate Sharky. They had cast it in time to watch Sharky fight the gryffins and fall through the clouds. Celestia dispelled the scry.

"I... I can't believe it..." Celestia murmered. "If only I had the strength to teleport him from here..."

"Don't fret sister, we know it would take time to prepare such a  powerful teleportation spell..."

"Twilight and her friends will be devastated..."

"We know..." Celestia gave a heavy sigh and picked up a piece of parchment to write to her student.

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"Twiliiiiiight! I've got a new letter!" Spike called.

"Already? The Princesses must have found him! Quick, bring it here!" Spike ran over with the letter. Twilight unrolled it and magically held it up for RD and her to read.

Dear Twilight,

I... have located Sharky. He was in the Gryffin Empire, engaged in fierce combat. I regret to inform you that he fell through the cloud that holds up the Gryffin Empire. I must tell you that he has fallen to the ocean below. His chances for survival... are none. I regret the fact that in this letter I must not only send you my apologies, but my condolences as well.

My humblest apologies,

Princess Celestia.

"N-no... no it can't be..." Twilight had read the letter out loud. In the other room, Unity began to cry.