"Wait, hold on, did you just say you're going to be a father?" Daffodil asked, still catching up on my half rambled sentence.

"Yes, I did."

"You must be so happy!" Chilly exclaimed.

"You know it, but that's still a ways off, can we focus on what we're doing?" I replied. My personal life is of no concern to them.

"For once, I agree. So, braniac, how are we going to pull this off?" Black Tattoo aka 'Inky' asked.

"Well, since me running the course as a griffin simply won't work due to the crawl wires, I'm going to run it as a human." I answered.

"Right, but you're not strong enough and don't have wings. In case you don't remember, that was the main reason we were so fast with the obstacles to begin with. You need to be able to help me throw Posh over that wall, and then let the rest of us scale it."

"Right, well, I have an idea on how to handle that. I'll need to dip into my resources a bit, but until I get what I need, I just need to focus on getting this body stronger. As for you guys, just let me get what I need. We'll shatter our current time. I'm going into town to find a craftsman, and I'll need you all to come with me. Just trust me on this one."

"Alright, you're the egghead." Inky replied.

"I gotta go to the castle first to grab some things from my safety deposit box, meet me at the gate to the town."

I met them at the agreed upon location, and the five of us set off into Canterlot proper. Walking down the streets, we caught sidelong glances and looks of haughty scorn. I say Inky's eye start twitching.

"Calm down, they do that to everyone. Just because they have money, blah blah blah. They wouldn't survive a day in the real world. Sure they sneer, but that's all they can do. It's better not to make a scene out of it, unless you want to play a little game with them."

All while I was saying this, Pish Posh returned their snobbery. After all, he was from a wealthy family as well. So, just for kicks, we all started mimicking them, acting like they were the dirt beneath our feet, not even giving them the privilege of being looked upon. After an indignant huff, they cleared a path, not wanting to breathe the same air as 'commoners'.

"Let's just get to the craftspony." I gave up a very good opportunity to troll them, but, this was business, fun could come after.

"Ah, greetings! Welcome to Shine's Shoes! My name is Shoe Shine, how can I help you?" A voice greeted us following the jingle of a bell as we entered the store. A middle aged, beige earth pony stallion with a stylized horseshoe mark on his flank, a pair of circular rims in front of his eyes, and a wispy mane that had been brown at one point, but had the telltale grey of age staggered through it stood behind the counter.

"I'd like to make a special order."

"How special?" He asked, pushing his glasses up on his face to get a better look at us. I pulled out a bag that was hooked to my belt, and dumped the contents on the counter. Gems, a fair number of them at that. "That's... pretty special. What exactly were you thinking tall feller?"

"Well, for these four, I need these gems made into horseshoes, so you may need to get a gem cutter for assistance."

"That's not too difficult."

"I'm the special order. You see, I have very different... hooves, that have very particular requirements."

"I see... well, come in back and let's take a look at you."

We all walked into the back of the shop, where I removed my running shoes, the things I'd been wearing since I came to Equestria, except in bed of course. I passed him the shoes so he could get a better look.

"Specifically, I need a pair of those made, but with gems in them, under the rubber cushion. I also need a pair of gloves done in the same manner."

"Uh... what are gloves?"

"Cloth covering for hands." I held out my hand to let him take a good look at it.

"Hmm... and what about payment?" He asked.

"As long as the quality is good and they serve their purpose, I have no complaints about you keeping the excess. I know how hard gems are to come by, what with their prices nowdays. That should cover it."

"Eh, alright, what the heck. I was hoping for something interesting to happen. Let me take all your measurements."

The four ponies were rather simple. He just measured their hooves, and sent them off. He told me that he'd use a mold he had for the size, pour the liquid steel in with crushed gems, let it cool, then make the fine adjustments afterwards, so it would be a kind of steel/gemstone alloy. As for me, he spent quite a bit of time measuring my feet and hands, and had his neighbour, a tailor, come over to inspect the shoe.

"So, on the feet, it just encompasses the entire appendage, but on the hands, there has to be space between each claw?"

"Finger, and yes. If there wasn't, I couldn't pick anything up."

"But then why not the feet?"

"Do you pick things up with your rear hooves?"

"Fair enough."

"So, wait, the glove needs to have fabric around each digit?" The tailor, Miss Threadbare, a unicorn who had a grey coat, cobalt mane, and spool of thread for a mark asked.

"Yes, but only go about half way. I prefer fingerless gloves because they don't make my hands sweaty."

"So complex, and you want gemstones inset? For what reason? That much wouldn't be very stylish."

"Just put them in the wristband. It'll be fine."

"I understand the shoes at least. Hmm, perhaps I could come up with padded horseshoes, hmm, but most ponies don't like the feeling of rubber. Condensed cloud?"

"Try felt." Shoe Shine suggested.

"Too ticklish, go for folded silk or satin for a smooth feeling." I added... Damn, I'm getting distracted. "Wait, never mind that. Yes, I want mine made with rubber soles, with gems set into it. And for the surrounding material, something strong, but make it breathe. If the wind is blowing, I want to feel it on my feet."

After hashing out the details, I left my shoes with the capable couple of crafters, who told me to return in three day's time, and walked back to the castle.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow." I sat in my room, massaging my feet.

"Is something the matter Griffin?" Celestia asked during her once daily check in on me as she took her stroll around the castle..

"Yeah, I'll never take shoes for granted again. You don't think about them till you walk a mile on cobblestone barefoot. Protect spell doesn't stop them from getting sore... I wonder if I should have used the cushion spell for that? Hmm, no, that would make it like walking on memory foam and I'd just fall over."

"Why didn't you just fly back?" She raised her eyebrow at me.

"Well I... um... well, uh........."

...

...

Facepalm.

So, for the next three days I stayed as a griffin, opting not to have sore feet again, before flying back down to the store, meeting my team there. We picked up our order, and the four of them had their new shoes put on, while I tried out my new ones as well.

"Well, the design was complicated, but I think we got it. Shoes, designed like your old ones, rubber sole with gems set into the platform, silk interior, cotton for the outside, dyed white, placed over banded steel for strength. Gloves, velvet, steel ring wrist clasp with gem dust mixed throughout, fingerless. Try them on."

Well, considering they basically copied my old shoes, which fit fine, the only difference being the interior material was smooth and felt better on my feet, and the gems in the sole, it was great. The gloves were also up to my specifications, and fit, well, like a glove. The four ponies trotted around, hearing the 'clink clink' of their new shoes against the stone, and looking at the sparkle they gave off when the light shined on them. They were quite happy as well, if a little confused.

So, we made our way back to the guard barracks, where Shining's squad was waiting for us, mockery in full.

"Well well, didn't see you on the course today, finally realized it's useless and there's no way you'll win?" Lieutenant DOUCHEBAG chided. That's not his real name, he's just not important enough for me to bother learning it.

"Nah, just getting new shoes. Old ones were worn out. Causing some problems. Without those old things getting in the way, we'll drop maybe, hmm, twenty seconds from our time? Have to test it out, but first we need to break in the new shoes. See ya later, Captain Crunch." I turned to the other members of my squad. "Let's go eat in my room to discuss tactics."

"So, why is it then that we're wearing these?" Daft asked.

"Hold on, Umbra. There, the room is sound proofed."

"Why?" Chilly questioned.

"It may be paranoid, but our opponents REALLY want to win this. I don't think they believe themselves above spying on us."

"Okay, enough with keeping us in suspense. Why are we wearing the worlds most expensive horseshoes?" Inky glared seriously.

"Are you familiar with Starswirl's Triune of Magic Proficiency?"

So, I taught them magic. Gem charging, rather easy since they're in contact with their horseshoes all the time, and a couple spells for speed, strength, and whatnot. The whole point behind it was to give us an edge, but a discreet one. If we suddenly ran so fast we caused rainbooms they'd know what's up, but the way I figure, these shoes, when charged, would give at nice boost without being obvious.

"Alright, so, Daft, you were having trouble on the balance poles. Volare is your spell. It's a flying spell, but with such a low caliber, it'll be more like a light footed spell. It's not enough to make you fly, but it IS enough to make you nearly weightless. Balancing is pretty easy when there's almost nothing pulling you down. You ought to be able to hop across those poles like nothing, once you've practiced with them. Everyone else can use them for speed to move through the other bits of the course more quickly like the ring run and wire crawl, while Inky and I use them for strength to put you three over the wall. Then Chilly and Daft use your horns to lift us over, and we finish the course. What we should be training now isn't the course itself, but charging our shoes while we move. Just try to be aware of your body, and think of the gems as an extension of it." I explained.

"So then, what are you going to do?" Inky asked.

"I need to go see a friend."

"Hey Etch, you busy?"

Author's Notes:

I came up with that thing at the beginning myself. I haven't checked anywhere to see if someone else has written it, but I didn't check anywhere, so if someone else did, then I'm not copying.