"Hi..." I said nervously as I started backing away. A few diamond dogs started approaching me, growling viciously. I cautiously unsheathed my sword, but I held it to the side to appear unthreatening. The diamond dog closest to me, similar to a doberman pincher, leapt at me, fangs bared. I lifted my sword in defense, but before he hit me, another diamond dog flew from behind me. He tackled the doberman and they both rolled to a stop at the paws of the rest of the dogs. The second dog seemed vaguely familiar.

"No! This is the saver!" The second dog yelled at the doberman. The new one looked like a pug. The doberman's eyes widened.

"Saver?!" He looked at me. "You are the saver?!" I gave him a confused look.

"I'm the what?" The pug crawled off of the doberman and walked up to me.

"You save me! You save me and my friends from demon wolf!" All of the sudden I remembered the dog.

"Hey! You were the the dog Fang beat the crap out of!!" The pug shuddered.

"The beast had name... Fang. It try to kill me. You stop it! You saver!" I frowned.

"Wait but... Ohhhh.... Yes, I guess in a way I did save you." The pug nodded vigerously.

"Yes, and now you come to save us from scary shaking!" I continued to frown for a moment, then I got an idea.

"Yes, I did come to save you from the scary shaking! You see, on the surface there's a dragon!" I shouted. The dogs all gasped and cowered. "It has come to steal all your gems!"

"No!" A few dogs shouted at the same time. They all seemed to cower even more.

"Don't worry, I have a smart plan!" The dogs all quit their quivering and seemed to perk up their ears to listen to me. "Show me your gems!" The entirety of the diamond dogs all moved like a wave, pushing me down several tunnels until we reached a cavern easily big enough to put two football fields in it, and taller than Carousel Boutique. The whole entire room was filled with gems of every shape and size, every color except white. My jaw dropped in pure amazement.

"These our gems! We don't want dragon take them all!" Another random dog shouted. I shook my head and went back to my plan.

"Ok, here's my smart plan! We fill up four carts with these gems, and I'll tell the dragon it's all we have! Then she will leave us alone and you can keep almost all of your gems!" The diamond dogs looked at each other for a few moments, trying to grasp my plan. As they thought, their faces lit up.

"Oh! That very good plan!"

"This plan perfect! We keep most gems!"

"No dog have to be eaten by dragon!" They all shouted with glee at my 'clever plan'. Soon they cleared the tunnel behind me and came back with a few huge carts. They immediately set on filling the carts. In a matter of minutes, we had four carts filled to the brim with gems, hardly even denting the enormous pile. I led them back down to the first tunnel I had been in. I turned to the tunnels I had sent my pets down and yelled for them.

"Hey! Robin! Come back!" After a few seconds I heard a chirp from down the tunnel. I turned to Fang's tunnel and yelled again. "Hey buddy! Get back here!" I heard a bark from down the tunnel. In a few seconds, both of my pets appeared. Fang's appearance brought some cries of fear from the dogs.

"It's the Fang!"

"Please guys, could this little wolf be the Fang? You don't expect me to believe this small wolf beat up a bunch of you big, strong diamond dogs, do you?" The dogs all thought for a moment.

"Yes, there is no way this tiny thing beat us..."

"The true Fang is enormous!"

"His teeth are like diamonds!" I covered my mouth to supress a small laugh.

"Ok now, I will go up to talk to the dragon! When I call to you, send up the gems and my pets and I'll send the dragon on it's way!" The diamond dogs all cheered for me and I dug my blade into the side of the tunnel walls. I climbed out of the hole to find Esmerelda sitting right next to it.

"Sharky y--" I leapt out of the hole and pressed my hand to her mouth.

"Shhh..."  She shut her mouth behind my hand and looked at me intently. "Ok, I've got four carts of gems for you, but I need you to stand over there, look intimidating, and sound mean." She gave me a confused look.

"What?"

"Don't ask what just do it!"

"Ok!" She turned and walked a few feet away.

"Oh mighty dragon! We bring you all of our gems!" I shouted out as loud as I could.  Esmerelda had puffed up her chest and flared out her wings. She looked like a blue turkey. I had to supress a laugh, but I managed to keep myself calm.

"How much is there?!" She boomed, managing to sound suprisingly threatening.

"We have a humble four carts full..."

"What?! That is all you pathetic dogs have scrounged up?!" She mouthed 'sorry' to me.

"Please Oh mighty dragon, it is all we have!"

"Very well, I will accept it. Bring it to me!"

"Send up the carts!" I yelled down the hole. The four carts were all flung with suprising strength out of the hole, closely followed by Fang (in a cart) and my robin. My robin perched on my shoulder. They all landed just outside the hole. "I will never know how they do that..." I mumbled. "Here you go great dragon! I hope this meager offering appeases you!" Esmerelda tapped her chin with a foretalon.

"Not quite, I think... I'll take you as well!" She darted her head forward and snatched me up in her jaws. My robin tightened his grip so much that he drew a little blood. Then she grabbed each of the carts and flew away quickly.

"No! The saver! He gave himself to save our gems!" The pug cried.

"What a great hero! We must have thanks for him!" The doberman shouted determinedly. The diamond dogs gave a great cheer of agreement before all scattering into their tunnels to honor their new hero.

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"WHAT THE HELL?!? Esmerelda?!" I yelled at Esmerelda as she carried me back to her lair. I could feel her grin around my midsection.

"Yuu'll be thine!" She muttered around my body. We soon landed back at her cave where she spat me out and set down her new gem carts. "See, here we are!" Esmerelda

"Back at your cave? Why did you bring us here?" Esmerelda frowned at me.

"Because?"

"Esmerelda, I was going to go home!" Esmerelda looked crestfallen.

"Already? We were just starting to spend some time together..."

"I know, but I have to get back soon."

"Ok... I'll just stay here... all alone... again..." Esmerelda muttered. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"I guess I told Fluttershy I'd be home late at night anyway..." Esmerelda quickly grabbed me and hugged me to her chest.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" She cheered as she squeezed me. "Oh, that reminds me!"  She pulled me away from her chest and kissed me on the cheek. A little odd considering the fact that her mouth was as big as my head, but I decided it was nice. "Thank you so much for the gems!"

"Geez, you're so freaking huge." I laughed. "You're welcome for the gems though!" Esmerelda gasped.

"Of course! I almost forgot!" Esmerelda placed me back on the ground. Suddenly blue flames burst out of her in every direction. I closed my eyes and flinched away as the flames roared in front of me.

"What the hell?!?" The flames stopped as soon as they started, and when I turned around... Esmerelda was gone. I looked around and even into the sky for her. "Esmerelda?! Esmerelda!! You can' be dead can you!?" Then I heard some throat clearing in front of me. I looked down, and there was a light blue pegasus with a shimmering dark blue mane.  Her mane flowed down her back like a river before falling to her side and curling like a wave. She had Esmerelda's eyes.

"Hi Sharky!"

"... Esmerelda?" The pony smiled at me.

"Correct! Good job."

"Wha... bu... how?"

"It's a simple polymorph! All nice dragons can do it once they grow up!"

"... Then why the hell don't you live with the ponies!?!" Esmerelda frowned and looked at her hooves glumly.

"It only works for a short amount of time... We could never start a life with the short amount of time it gives us... We can't risk trying and turning back into dragons right in the middle of a town..."

"Why don't you just change once every few hours or something?"

"It only works once a day."

"Geez... Well, I'm outta ideas. Sorry..."

"It's ok. It's meant for more... special moments anyway. Like... if a dragon loves a pony..." I had to think for a moment before I understood what she meant.

"Whoa whoa, I thought dragons and ponies couldn't have kids! If you can just do that, then why were you so suprised about Blaze?"

"Well, to be honest... I've never seen a child produced from that kind of thing. Never before has there been a half-dragon pony. Blaze is... unique."

"Wow... that's very peculiar... I have a sudden desire to find out more..." Esmerelda winked at me.

"Me too." She waved her tail around a bit and moved closer to me.

"What are you doing?"

"Look, when you've lived as long as I have, you learn to recognize a compatible mortal quickly. When you do, you go for it while you can, otherwise you're just losing time."

"Riiiiggghhhtt... Well, who is this mortal? Oh balls, back off you scaly bitch!" Esmerelda stopped for a moment.

"You... You're kidding right?"

"Kidding about what?"

"... Dear Celestia...  You... weren't just flirting with me about the half  dragon stuff?"

"Oh, did it seem like that?! I'm so sorry! I'm just gonna go..." I backed away from Esmerelda, then turned around and walked to the edge of the ledge. "Bye." I stepped off the ledge. As soon as I started to fall, I turned to face the mountain and stabbed my blades into the rock. I slid to a gentle stop, clinging to the wall, before I continued down the mountain.

"Sharky?!" I could hear Esmerelda's hooves tapping against the stone ledge as she ran over to the edge to look for me. She found me scaling the mountain. "Oh my gosh! You scared me! I don't want you to leave!"

"Yeah, but now I feel kinda awkward for seeming like I'm flirting with you. Sorry! Maybe next time I'll spend more time with you!"

"... Am I not good enough to flirt with?" Esmerelda sounded sad.

"What? No! Of course you're good enough!"

"Then why are you running? I didn't mind the flirting... I was hoping you were flirting acually!"

"What?"

"Yeah! I liked it!"

"What?!"

"Pleaaaaseeee come back?!"

"What?! I can't hear you!! Oh well, bye! I'll see you later Esmerelda!" There was a roaring wind heading right up the mountain. I couldn't hear Esmerelda over the wind, but I knew at the very least she could hear me. I saw her facehoof though.

"That's... inconvinient..." Esmerelda sighed. "It's obvious today was not my day... I'll try again later I suppose." Esmerelda sadly trotted back into her cave, alone.

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I finished climbing down the mountain and walked to Fluttershy's house. I managed to catch my breath on the walk. I knocked on Fluttershy's door, and Fluttershy pulled it open rather quickly. She was still half human.

"Hi Fluttershy! Did I ever get to tell you how good you look in those clothes?" Fluttershy blushed and hid her face in her tail.

"S-sharky!? B-back already? That's a very s-sweet thing to say..." Fluttershy seemed to swing from suprise to shyness very quickly.

"Yeah, Rarity did a great job. You look fantastic. Anyway, I came to see Unity real quick before I went to the market." Fluttershy frowned.

"You h-have to go to the market?"

"Well yeah. We're almost out of bottles and powdered chocolate. I need to get more. Do you need anything?"

"N-no... but I can just g-go to the market for you..."

"Nonsense, I've got it. I'll be back in no time after I just see Unity."

"Ok, h-hold on..." Fluttershy took a few steps into the house before coming back out. She was holding Unity in her arms. He smiled at me and gurgled a little. I grinned at him and took him in my arms.

"Hey guy. Good to see you again." I kissed him on his forehead and got another load of giggling from him. I grinned even wider and handed him back to Fluttershy. "I'll be back soon little buddy." I gave Fluttershy a quick hug, then I was gone. I walked all the way back to town. I had no idea where Fang or my robin had gone, but they left. I was on my way back to Twilight's library to get some of my pay. Unfortunately, I ran into my favorite maroon newspony on the way.

"Look! There he is!" A random camera crew came out of nowhere and started taking pictures. I shielded my eyes and stumbled away, only to run into the news mare that had appeared behind me.

"Oh crap, not you guys again!"

"Sharky! How nice to run into you!" Th mare grinned at me with a huge genuine smile. "We've got a few questions if you don't mind!"

"Oh no, please ask away." I made sure to lay the sarcasm on thick.

"Good good, what are your thoughts on the cult worshipping you?"

"... I'm sorry, what?"