(A/N – Trixie episode.)

The Forgemaster had been taking a nap inside of his home, when a noise akin to a traveling carnival woke him.

Now, The Forgemaster isn't an easily irritated individual, but he doesn't like being woken up by loud noises. His personality leads others to believe that he is always irritated, but that's usually not the case. However, in this instance, he was.

"Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

The Forgemaster quickly got out of bed and opened his window, leaning out of it, he screamed at the pony speaking, "Hey! Shut the fuck up! There are people trying to take a nap!"

The 'Great' and 'Powerful' Trixie seemed to not hear him, which would be impossible at the volume he was speaking, so he knew that she was just ignoring him. He got dressed and left his home to give this unicorn a piece of his mind. He joined the group of ponies that were gathering. He saw the 'Elements' and went to stand by their side. The 'Elements' didn't seem to notice his approach.

The mares were speaking amongst themselves about the boasting that the show mare was doing on stage. They didn't seem to appreciate her boasting. However, the unicorn on stage noticed their grumbling.

"Well, well, well, it seems we have some naysayers in the audience. Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?"

"No they don't, you insignificant worm. Please enlighten us as to how you managed to gain that title, even with all evidence to the contrary." The Forgemaster fired right back.

"Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major!"

Fireworks went off around her stage.

"When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to, but the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave deep within the Everfree Forest!"

The villagers gasped in awe, and more fireworks exploded around Trixie.

A pair of the villagers, sniveling fools named Snips and Snails, agreed wholeheartedly that Trixie was indeed the most magical unicorn in Equestria.

Spike spoke up to refute those claims, using Twilight as an example. Well, he tried to. A zipper appeared out of the air to zip his mouth shut.

"Don't believe the Great and Powerful Trixie? Well then, I hereby challenge you, Ponyvillians - anything you can do, I can do better. Any takers? Anyone? Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived!"

The 'Elements' took up the challenge, and were all put down, hard. Applejack went first, twirling a rope around until Trixie tied up with her own rope. Rainbow Dash went next, flying very fast before creating a rainbow with water droplets, until Trixie used the rainbow to create a tornado to fling Rainbow Dash away. Rarity went after, against some extreme hints making Twilight go next, rarity started to berate Trixie for her lack of class and then made a dress out of Trixie's curtain, but hen Trixie basically destroyed her hair.

The Forgemaster made the mistake of laughing quite loudly at Rarity's expense. Loudly enough that Trixie noticed him.

"Well, what about you ape? Do you have any sort of talent?"

He wasn't fazed by her insults, and wasn't taunted into destroying her, "While it's true that my species' distant relatives are apes; I find that my kind is quite a bit more sophisticated and developed than our simple cousins. I prefer to be called a 'human' if anything, but you may refer to me by my title as well; The Forgemaster."

"Ooo, a fancy title. That means you must at least be good at something."

"I am good at everything, insignificant show mare."

"You think that you are better than the Great and Powerful Trixie?"

"I know I am, foolish pony."

"Come on then, let's see what you can do."

"My arts are practical, not theatrical. I cannot just show you something, I require a challenge to be issued."

"Well, let's start with a boasting match."

"Ah, just like the olden days, I'm feeling all nostalgic, nowadays, they just kill each other. As the challenger, you may go first."

Taking a stance, she yelled out, "I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! I have traveled all over Equestria and I've not found my equal! I've banished an Ursa Major and am the most powerful unicorn in Equestria! And I will win this challenge like I've won all of the others."

After a few moments of silence from all watching, The Forgemaster spoke.

"Are you done tiny pony?"

Trixie nodded.

With a voice completely different than Trixie's, not boasting or haughty, but calm and weighty, he spoke. In a normal speaking tone, not loudly as Trixie had done, he spoke with confidence and with an age that defied his features, nopony couldn't not hear his voice, quiet though it was, it carried weight that reverberated throughout the town square.

"They call me The Forgemaster, and I've earned my rank. I've traveled a quadrillion miles and lived a thousand years. I am immortal and have always been, since the dawn of recorded history and to the depths of my memories. I am responsible for the development of my entire society, nothing resembling civilization occurred without my aid. I've killed millions of enemies and saved billions of innocents. I am called 'The Wind of Death' by my foes, and 'The Light of The Gods' by my allies. I am the most powerful creature that has ever lived. Gods bow at my passing, demons tremble at my sight. I am 'The Butcher of Gibraltar', 'The Ghost of Gaza', 'The Favored of The Gods, 'The Lion of Britain', 'The Shield of The Emperor, 'The Beast of The Himalayas', 'Champion of the Princesses', 'Primarch of The Spartans', and I know no fear." He shouted his titles at the end.

An awed silence greeted his words.

He spoke once more, "I will give you this one opportunity to withdraw your challenge."

Quaking in her hooves, Trixie's persona spoke up for her, "I will not."

"Name your challenge."

"Uh… never mind." The show mare said, taking a step backwards.

"A wise plan, insignificant creature. However, the challenge still stands. I nominate Twilight Sparkle to stand in my stead."

The mare in question was standing nearby, staring at him in shock. He walked over and waved his hand in front of her eyes. She didn't react.

He turned back to Trixie, "The challenge will be tomorrow evening."

He then picked up Twilight and took her back to his home. Once there, he put her in his sink and poured water from the spout onto her. She immediately snapped out of her funk from the running water.

"Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby ordered to participate in a challenge under my name."

She starred at him in shock once more, long enough that he turned the water back on. She sputtered and blew water out of her mouth, but at least she was conscious.

The other mares from her group of friends found their way to his house soon after he set Twilight into the sink, and were now snickering at what was happening. To them, it looked like a parent was washing their new-born foal in the sink for the first time. The size difference was correct, the species were different though.

He picked Twilight up and gave her a towel for her to dry off. Once wrapped in the towel, he brought her into the living room and set her down on the couch. The others quickly joined her.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Twilight spoke up.

"What was that, Forgemaster?" she asked.

"That, Twilight Sparkle, was the customary ritual between 2 individuals who consider themselves powerful. After the traditional boasting match, she quickly realized that she was nothing before me, so I offered her an easier challenge; you."

"How can you just do that without asking!" Twilight was understandably upset.

"Easily, you just watched me. Didn't you notice?"

"Ugh, you just entered me in a contest that I don't want to participate in." Twilight grumbled.

"Well, you are participating. My honor is on the line now. Come on twilight Sparkle, if you do this, your punishment will be up today…"

She brightened up at that, "Really!"

"Well, it was actually done a few days ago, you just didn't notice. But, the punishment is hereby extended until after the challenge is done, and Trixie is run out of town."

She glared at him with something similar to fury in her eyes, but his eyes evaded her gaze. He looked around the room, at the other 'Elements', at the pantry, at the ceiling. Finally, he spoke.

"I really don't want to do this, but, the rest of you ought to apologize to Twilight Sparkle; she was hurt by your words against magic."

The ponies were stunned by what he had said; after all, it was the first time that he was seemingly nice to Twilight. After a second, they started to apologize to the unicorn in question.

"The rest a'you, get out. Twilight Sparkle stays; she needs to learn how to win."

The mares all did as he told them to do, leaving Twilight alone in the house with The Forgemaster.

"Alright, young Padawan, you have a challenge tomorrow. You are going to win, easily, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't practice."

"What'd you call me?"

"Nothing, come, let's go out back."

He led her out back and gave her some of his books on basic magic. Even though it was basic to him and everybody else back home, to her it was all new information. Apparently, the ponies had gone a completely different route up the proverbial magic mountain.

Whilst she was practicing, he was making something on his forge that will help her greatly in the coming challenge. It was an amulet, but it had some of his trademark runes on them. These particular runes increase and store the presence of magic, acting like a battery of sorts that she can tap at will. By the end of the day, she had learned much, and he had finished with the amulet. It would feed off of background magic and store that, but it also drained an imperceptible amount from Twilight, herself. He told her to sleep while wearing the amulet, in the morning; the amulet will be full, and Twilight will be none the worse for wear.

wWwWwWw

The next day, everything was completely normal. Everypony went about their day as though nothing special was going on. Twilight and her friends were worrying themselves into comas, and Trixie locked herself into her cart. After some additional training, Twilight was ready. Now all they had to do was wait for the time of the challenge, slated to begin at 8:00 p.m.

Well, that time came around and all of Ponyville gathered to watch the spectacle. Even The Forgemaster showed up. He stepped up onto the stage and sat down next to one of the columns and leaned on it, appearing to take a nap. Trixie was glaring at him for being on her stage, and then realized exactly who he was and what he could do, so she wisely looked away.

As the challenge was about to begin, a loud roar was heard from nearby.

Snips and Snails, who were curiously absent earlier, now came to the front of the crowd.

They told Trixie that they had brought an Ursa Major for her to vanquish like she did the other one, once and for all proving that she was the most magical pony in Equestria.

Said Ursa Major now put in an appearance, right behind all of the ponies gathered. With an angry ROAR, it announced its presence. All of the ponies panicked, running, and flying, every which way, trying to get away from the rampaging Ursa.

Trixie, Twilight, and The Forgemaster were on the stage that seemed to be the center of its attention.

The Forgemaster lifted his head from its napping position and said,"Twilight, Trixie, your challenge has arrived."

Both Trixie and Twilight tried to vanquish the beast. Trixie going first, and failing miserably. Twilight going second and succeeding in getting the beast back to its home in the Everfree forest.

After a few hours of getting everypony gathered, Twilight, Trixie, and The Forgemaster were on stage once more. The Forgemaster stood in between the 2 on the stage. He picked Twilight up off of the round and held her up to his shoulder.

"I announce Twilight sparkle as the victor of this challenge. As the pony that stood in for me when I nominated her, I hereby give her the glory, the spoils, and the honor earned during this spectacle."

He set Twilight down and then pointed at Trixie.

"Trixie has lost. As per the terms of our agreement, she is to hereby leave Ponyville at her earliest possible convenience."

Trixie then left, creating a cloud of smoke and running off into the distance. The 'Elements' all went back to the library to have a celebration. The Forgemaster was invited as well. It turned into a slumber party, and once again, The Forgemaster was simultaneously unprepared and forced to stay.

Needless to say, he was mildly upset, but he stayed for the small party.

In the interests of fairness, he allowed Twilight to keep the amulet he had given her. She thanked him profusely for the gift.

As the party was winding down, he noticed that Rainbow Dash was sitting in the corner, looking down at something in her hoof. He approached her and noticed that it was the necklace he had given her. He looked at her face and noticed that she had a tear in her eye. He was confused, but knew what was wrong.

"You really loved him, didn't you?" he asked.

With a heavy sigh, she said, "Yeah…"

"How? You didn't know each other all that long."

"I don't know. It's just… difficult to explain." She sighed once more.

"Was he that good in bed?"

She blushed, but said, "Well… yes, but that's not just why I love him."

"Have you ever considered that he doesn't return the feelings?"

"I-I-I don't know. I-It doesn't matter, he will love me."

"You can't make someone love you, Rainbow Dash; you can only stalk them and hope for the best."

She giggled, "You're like him, you know. You're almost the same guy."

"I've had that thought cross my mind many, many times."