(A/N – Adult Spike chapter, (SCREW CHRONOLOGY ONCE MORE BROTHERS!!!!), just to make things clear; no matter the series chronology, this all happens before The Gala- I'll be doing the Gala eventually.)

The entirety of Ponyville was woken up the following day once more by the sound of hammering of metal on metal. The Forgemaster was using his forge for the first time in days, so he has been using it as often as he could. The resident ponies probably didn't appreciate the early morning wake up calls, but The Forgemaster provided a very important service to the town.

This particular morning, he was fixing Big Macintosh's plow. He had cracked the plow down its center when Big Mac had accidentally driven it over a large rock in the ground. After that, he had to make a gift for the young dragon Spike. However, fate has a way of interrupting his plans. Out of the sky came a blue meteor with a rainbow tail flying behind it, and it appeared to be yelling at him.

"Forgey!-"

*CRASH*

He spoke to her without looking up from his work.

"Good morning, Rainbow Dash." He said to the blue pegasus who was lying in a heap off to his side.

"O~w! What did I hit?" she asked while rubbing her head with a hoof. Her eyes were pointing in different directions and spinning around.

"I run a forge and most of my supplies are out here," he looked over at her, "You appear to have crashed into a pile of iron ingots. That would explain your pain."

He continued to hammer at the almost-fixed plow while Rainbow Dash gathered her senses after her crash. It took her but a few moments and a quick head shake to return to her non-derpy state.

"I wanted to show you something Forgey!" she fumbled around in her saddlebags.

He looked up from his work, "Did you just call me Forgey?"

"Yeah. Why, don't like it?" she grinned at him while still looking through her saddlebags.

"I have a feeling that no matter what I tell you, you will continue to call me Forgey. Am I right?"

"Yep." She said, giggling to herself.

"You have something to show me, young one?"

"Who are you calling- oh wait. Right, centuries old immortal, sorry. Anyway, here's what I wanted to show you." She revealed a small necklace and tossed t to him.

It was the gift he had given her last night, but she doesn't need to know that.

He picked it up, and looked at it closely in the light.

"Hmm, this is decent work. Looks like a farewell gift from Crimson Hammer. He was always like that, hopeless romantic. But this is something more than that. Look there's an inscription on the inside: To: Rainbow Dash, from: Crimson "TFM" Hammer. Wonder what the anagram means; he never had a nickname as far as I know. Hmm, an excellent piece, if I do say so myself. Whoever made this knew what he was doing…"

"What, you don't think a mare could do it?" she asked, clearly joking with him.

He looked her dead in the eye and said, "This particular piece? No, there's no way that a female was involved in the creation of this necklace."

"What!"

"I'm a Forgemaster, no, I'm The Forgemaster. I should know these things." He said, handing the necklace back to Rainbow Dash.

"Ugh, stallions." She rolled her eyes, "You gonna be ready for Spike's party?"

"I'm going to begin on young Master Spike's gift right this moment."

He turned back to his forge, the plow now repaired. He began on his gift for Spike.

"What are you gonna make for the little guy?" she asked, looking over his shoulder.

"He seems to be dragged off by Rarity to dig for gems every other day. So I'm making him a new shovel; something that will cut through the ground faster than any other shovel or his bare... claws… could dig."

"Ugh… you're getting a shovel for Spike? Oh, Celestia that's a stupid idea."

"Gifts are supposed to be practical. At least, that's what I prefer. That necklace, for instance, when I made it; I put runes on it so that it would be more than just a pretty bauble."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." 3.. 2.. 1.. "WAIT! You made this?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me!" she was getting upset now.

"I did."

She took out the necklace and held it in her hoof while looking at it.

"This is beautiful, Forgey." She said, with a tear in her eye.

"Thank you.

"Why did you make this for me?"

"He wanted to."

She left soon after that, slowly flying through the air back to her home, all the while looking at her new necklace.

Technically, he hadn't lied throughout the entire conversation. He prefers not to lie if can help it, but he enjoys half-truths and evasive answers.

He looked down at the metal he was making, and prepared to make the best damn shovel this world had ever seen.

If nothing else, the Forgemaster was absolutely devoted to his craft. If he was going to make something, than by the gods, he was going to make it right.

wWwWwWw

Later that week

The Forgemaster had completed his gift for Spike. An appropriately sized shovel, enchanted enough that if necessary, it could cut through the Canterlot Walls. It would probably be faster to dig under them with this shovel, but, if one needs to go through a wall: one needs to go through a wall.

He entered the library just in time to see Spike attempting to run away from Twilight Sparkle. But each time he ran, he was teleported back to Twilight's side with her magic. Eventually, her magic failed, but she managed to teleport Pinkie Pie in instead. Pinkie Pie distracted Spike long enough that Twilight was able to wipe his face with a cloth.

'Silly ponies, all that for a dirty face?' he thought.

After that, all of the other 'Elements' showed up simultaneously. They proceeded to pile gifts onto Spike until he collapsed. The Forgemaster walked over and helped Spike up. As he did so, he whispered into spike's ear.

"Mares." He said, causing Spike to chuckle.

"Here's your gift Spike." He handed the unwrapped shovel to Spike.

"Um, thanks?" Spike said.

The Forgemaster paused, "Is it not customary for on to receive gifts on the anniversary of one's birth?"

"Well, yeah! But, I only ever got one gift, from Twilight, a book."

"It's just a shovel, young one. You should be able to assist Rarity much better in the future."

"Gee, well, thanks." The young dragon replied.

The Forgemaster then went into the corner, as was his custom, and watched over the 'Elements' as they celebrated. After a while, Pinkie Pie walked up to him.

"Forgey! Why aren't you partying!" she yelled, right into his ear.

"I never have a celebration for another year on this rock. I gave up long ago, I can't even remember the day of my birth."

Dumbstruck, Pinkie yelled, "WHAT!"

"After the first couple centuries, another year isn't all that much. I've taken to having decade parties now, and even that is stretching my patience. I don't even know what decade I'll be on, but the next one'll be in 7 years."

Pinkie, not fully grasping what he said, screamed, "REALLY!"

"Yes, pink one."

"I'll throw the bestest decade party for you ever! I'll need cake and cupcakes and streamers, I wonder if I can get the town hall for the party. Ooo, this I so exciting!"

She ran off, leaving a confused Forgemaster in her wake, he called after her, "It's in 7 years, Pinkie Pie!"

The other ponies in the room were looking at him oddly. With a bow, he took his leave of the party. He went back to his place and gathered his weapons. With, his sword and his gauntlets once more, he went into the Everfree Forest to kill more manticores.

He truly had a distaste for the manticore species.

He came back later that day with his latest kill dragging behind him. He was planning on cooking it up for food. No matter how many ponies told him that eating meat was wrong, he still needed protein in his diet. He could've eaten a whole lot of nuts and other protein-rich plants, but he found that eating meat was always a better option. He stepped from the Everfree forest to find that much of Ponyville was in ruins, and that ponies were running around in fear.

'Ugh… I'm gone for 5 minutes, and this is what happens!' he thought.

He noticed that a large purple and green dragon was wandering around the town. Apparently, the dragon was the cause of the destruction.

'Looks like Spike's grown up!' he thought, and then he looked closer at the destruction, 'Looks like his adolescence was almost as bad as mine.'

This was true; The Forgemaster couldn't remember much of anything before his… incident. But, he could remember most of his century long child hood better than most of his other memories. His adolescence had been almost a decade long, and he had destroyed several villages before he managed to get control of his emotions.

He dropped his dead manticore meal, and walked over to the town. He walked down Ponyville's main avenue, walking without a care, as all the resident ponies ran around him in a crazed fear.

Rainbow Dash noticed his arrival and flew down to meet him.

He spoke before she could, "Looks like Spike is having a merry time growing up."

"How do you… Never mind, c'mon, we need your help stopping him!" she said.

He cracked his back, and started stretching, "I've killed a few dragons in my day, but Spike's your friend, you sure you want him dead?"

She looked at him, horrified, "No, I don't want him dead! Just, stop him from destroying Ponyville."

He walked off towards the adult Spike in the distance, "Yes, I'll just go restrain a rampaging adult dragon with nothing but my bare hands. See you later, Rainbow Dash."

He took a running jump, and then started to lazily and slowly fly to Spike's position.

Rainbow Dash caught up to him in an instant.

"Why aren't you going to him?"

He grunted at her, "The situation will resolve itself, in time."

"What do you mean?"

He took a sideways glance at her, "He just needs to be shown the error of his ways by a friend. I don't think kicking the absolute, living, crap out of him will help to resolve his situation. Could be fun for me, though. But, I think we should just let Rarity fix this."

"What in the hay could Rarity do?"

"Hell if I know."

After a few minutes of fighting, Wonderbolt intervention, and more slow flying, the situation did indeed resolve itself. On the bridge after the situation had been resolved, all the 'Elements' gathered for a quick R&R and a debrief. The Forgemaster leaned over the bridge while the ponies were talking amongst themselves.

"By the gods, those Wonderbolts are pansies. They got taken out in 1 hit." He said in the 'Elements' general direction.

Of course, Rainbow Dash spoke up in their defense, "At least they tried to do something. They even took off some of his spikes! You didn't do a thing, you just flew around him."

He glared at her, "Fine, the next time one of you turns into a monster with the very real possibility of turning back to normal if shown some kindness, I'll just kill you, no fuss, no muss. I'll just take out my sword, and then take off your head. How does that sound?"

The ponies just looked at him, Rainbow Dash glaring.

"I'm more worried about Spike though, what was happening was his adolescence, I wonder if he'll ever become an adult since you've stopped it."

Twilight spoke up, "Yeah, I see what you mean. But dragons live a long time. I'm sure he'll become an adult some day."

"Stop speaking of Spike as though he were not here, Twilight Sparkle. It's very disrespectful, not to mention rude."

"Ugh! Why do you always pick on me for everything I do!" she screamed out.

"You are supposed to be the leader of these 'Elements', Twilight Sparkle. But you don't have what it takes. I'll have to make you have what it takes to be a leader. You have to have courage, honor, and be calm under pressure, amongst other things. But, you're a coward, a thief, and you crack under pressure. You've yet to even demonstrate mental stability to me yet, so I'll have to work on those later, and focus on making sure that you're sane."

"So, this whole time; you've just been trying to make me grow as a leader?" she asked.

"Yes, though it's not like it wasn't fun for me either."