After such a display of tender love and stunning loss, both involved decided to end the conversation and to continue it at a later date. Rainbow Dash had left shortly after, claiming that she had to fix some 'leaking faucets'. The implications were… unsettling. The Forgemaster, on the other hand, was still incredibly tired. He went back upstairs and to his room, undressed, and fell asleep in his bed.

Handy thing about magic was; you can do almost anything that comes to mind. If it can be imagined, and with a suitable application of either magic or high explosives, The Forgemaster still wasn't quite sure how the later worked, though it did on occasion, it can be done. That had led The Forgemaster to a rather happy discovery; a simple sleeping spell with a few controls placed on it can put a body to sleep for a set amount of time. Casting such a spell on oneself was relatively simple, so he had scheduled himself to wake up at 10 o'clock the next morning.

wWwWwWw

He awoke earlier than planned.

Apparently, sleep spells were all well and good, unless someone just really, really wants to wake you up.

One of the locals was knocking on his door; the noise awakened him. Quickly pulling on his pants, he went downstairs to check on the door. To his surprise; it was not Twilight with more questions, nor was it Rainbow wanting to talk some more. In fact, it was several young fillies he had only met once before.

These young fillies were Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom, to be exact.

"Good morning younglings, what is it that you wish of me?"

"Hi Forgemaster!" They all yelled at once.

"We came by to ask how you got your cutie-mark!" Applebloom said.

"Yeah!" the other fillies interjected.

"I don't have a cutie-mark, at least, not naturally. Humans never get cutie-marks."

The young fillies were taken aback, "What! No cutie-marks! That's got to be awful! How do they know what their special talent is? Those poor, poor humans." The fillies said all at once.

"Think of it this way; my people never know their special talent, but they also are not limited by such a mark. Anyone can be anything they want, they just have to want it badly enough."

Stunned, only Applebloom managed to say, "I've never thought of it that way before."

"Hey, yeah!" yelled Sweetie Belle.

The fillies started chatting at a rapid pace, far too fast for The Forgemaster to keep up with in his groggy state. Apparently, even female ponies were capable of light-speed communication.

'I swear, it's got to be magic.' He thought.

"Girls, what exactly was it that brought this on?"

"Well, we were tryin' tha get our cutie-marks, but nothin' seemed to be workin'! So we figured; why not ask ponies that already got their cutie-mark?" Applebloom replied.

"Why don't you just do what you are really good at?"

"How do you know that'll work? If we're already really good at it but we don't have our cutie-marks then it can't be our special talent!"

"According to what sources I have; the pony has to realize that it is their special talent before they get their cutie-mark."

Scootaloo was getting impatient, and the other fillies weren't listening to him, "Come on! Let's go find Rainbow Dash and ask how she got her cutie-mark."

He sighed at the sight of them rushing away on Scootaloo's scooter. No matter where he went; children refuse to listen to the advice of their elders. He went back upstairs and got dressed, completely this time. He then left his house and went down to Sugarcube Corner. He walked in and ordered 3 dozen cupcakes. After getting them, he sat down at a table and started on them.

Over the course of a few minutes; Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash came into the store. Rainbow Dash started to steal his cupcakes when she thought he wasn't looking and the other mares got their own food. A conversation sprouted up almost immediately.

"So, have Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom came around and asked you girls about your cutie-marks? asked Twilight.

All of the ponies at the table assented in some form, save Rainbow Dash.

"I would say that yes, they did come and ask me about my cutie-mark but, I'm not a female, in case you haven't noticed. So I'll just not respond." declared The Forgemaster.

Twilight glared at him, "Why do you always have to be a jerk?"

"Why do you insist on referring to me as a female?"

She looked exasperated, "I wasn't calling you a mare! I was just asking the ponies here."

"Yes, because I'm not important enough." He said in a mocking tone.

"Ugh, stop acting like such a foal!"

"I'm going to be the bigger man here, and not dignify that with a response."

Twilight groaned angrily, while the others at the table just snickered at their antics.

The Forgemaster took this time to whisper to Rainbow Dash, "I know that you noticed that I was male."

She choked on the cupcake she just took a bite of and started coughing into her hoof. The others looked at her strangely, but were distracted by The Forgemaster's coming question.

"So, how did you all get your cutie-marks? And, I already know yours, Twilight Sparkle."

He giggled and pointed at her outraged face.

"We'll, Ah thought that the best place for me was to leave the farm and go to the city. Ah didn't really like it there and went back to the farm, realizin' that I belonged there is how Ah got mah cutie-mark."

"I was making some costumes for my friends in a school-play, but their costumes were lacking something, but I didn't know what. Then my magic took control and dragged me out to the outskirts and to a large rock. An explosion cracked the rock and allowed me to find the large cache of gems hidden within. As it turns out, those gems were exactly what my costumes needed."

"It was super-dooper boring on the rock farm that I grew up in, so when I saw the most awesomest, splendiforest, coolest, and happiest thing ever, I just wanted to spread the happiness. And that's how I got my cutie-mark, by throwing a party for my family!"

"I was, b-being bullied, and then Rainbow came to my rescue. But, I was knocked down to the ground and couldn't stop myself in time; I was never the strongest flyer. But this group of butterflies saved me from hitting the ground, and I realized how beautiful it was on the ground. Then, an explosion startled all of the animals, when I helped them I realized that that was my special talent and I've never left the ground or my animal friends since."

Twilight took her turn to tell the others about her cutie-mark story. But, The Forgemaster just tuned her out; not listening to Twilight tell a story he already knew was infinitely a better option than actually listening to her.

"So, what about you, Forgemaster?" asked Twilight, smugly.

"Don't have one, don't want one, and don't need one. You already knew that, Twilight Sparkle. Humans don't get them." He said, not even looking at her, instead focusing on his next cupcake that he had been diligently demolishing.

The other mares glared at Twilight, thinking that she had offended him.

"Jeez, I'm so sorry."

"I couldn't care less, Twilight sparkle. If anything, your cutie-marks delegate you to only one skill set, only one career. Human potential is endless. I actually pity you."

"WHAT!" they all yelled at him simultaneously.

"Cutie-marks are both good and bad. Good because you know without a shadow of a doubt what you're good at. Humans don't get that opportunity. Bad because you are only good at that one thing, Humans have no such limitation. Have you seen some of those fillies in the school's cutie-marks? What in the hell are Silver Spoon or Diamond Tiara going to be good at?"

The mares couldn't respond, he had brought up a decent argument, after all. Thankfully, The Cutie Mark Crusaders chose that moment to walk in through the doors. Rainbow Dash looked smugly at the rest of those present before turning to the young fillies.

"Rainbow Dash, you're here!" screamed Scootaloo.

"I hear you're looking for my cutie mark story?"

Scootaloo sighed, "You have no idea what I've been through today to hear that story."

"It all happened during the race at Flight Camp, where I stood alone against all odds to defend Fluttershy's honor. I've never flown like THAT before. That freedom was unlike anything I've ever felt. The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in my mane... I liked it a lot. Turns out the only thing I liked more than flying fast... was winning! Most people thought that the Sonic Rainboom was just an old mare's tail. But that day... The day I discovered racing... I proved that the legends were true. I made the impossible happen! And that, little ones, is how you earn a cutie mark."

"Wooow!" The CMC replied simultaneously.

"Wait a second. I heard that explosion. And I saw the rainbow too. Rainbow Dash, if you hadn't scared the animals, I never would have learned I could communicate with them and gotten my cutie mark." said Fluttershy.

"I heard that boom! And right afterwards there was this amazing rainbow that taught me to smile." Said Pinkie Pie.

"When I got my cutie mark, I saw a rainbow that pointed me home. I bet it was your sonic rainboom!" said Applejack.

"There was an explosion I could never explain when I got my cutie mark, too." said Rarity.

"This is uncanny! If that explosion didn't happen when it did, I would have blown my entrance exam. Rainbow Dash, I think you helped me earn my cutie mark too!"

"Oh, gods. I sense a group hug coming on." The only male present declared, which the others ignored.

"We all owe our cutie marks to you!" screamed Pinkie Pie.

"Do you realize what this means? All of us had a special connection before we even met." Said Fluttershy, as loudly as she possibly dared.

The Forgemaster put his head into his hands, groaning.

"We've been BFFs forever and we didn't even know it!" exclaimed Rarity.

"Come here, y'all" demanded Applejack.

The 6 mares all came together in a group hug, saying, "Awwww."

"I told you, group hug. I could feel it in my bones a mile away."

The Forgemaster gathered the 2 cupcakes that remained and quickly left the store before anything worse could happen. On the field of battle, he was fine, in a room full of sickly-sweet ponies; he was so out of place he might as well be a full-grown dragon in the Human Relations department at Wal-Mart.

Making his way home as quickly as he could, he still managed to notice that he was being followed. Time to follow rule number 1: always assume the worst, in this case, assassination. Azodious was a very cut-throat kingdom, but there hadn't been any assassination attempts on him in years. At least, not since the last assassins that tried to kill him. 150 years later and they still hadn't found all of the pieces of those assassins. Poor bastards. Well… at least they didn't suffer too badly… for the first 3 minutes.

Whoever was following him was doing a terrible job of it, to be perfectly honest. Living in a peaceful world apparently made you soft. Then again, being a predator amongst prey is always a benefit.

He went into his home and went into his armory, leaving the front door open as he did so. He found his new favorite toy, the 'Zapper', and went back into his living room. Concentrating, he became invisible with the aid of magic. Due to the appropriate runes in his blade and in his clothes, they too became invisible. Totally impossible to see, he sat down on the table, and quieted his bodily functions. His heartbeat, normally too quiet to hear, became dimmer nonetheless and his breathing became slow, measured, and silent. To anyone that didn't know that he was there, in that exact spot, they could never find him if they had an hour and 30 men searching the house. He sat, waited, and faced the doorway.

Either the assassins were inexperienced or they were just fools. They entered the front door, an obvious trap, in just under a minute. As The Forgemaster got the first chance to look at his stalkers, he noticed that he was right: these were assassins, not spies searching for information, but murderers out for blood. Another thing he noticed was that the 3 griffon team was in fact comprised of griffons. An amateurish mistake; if the king of the griffons wanted to kill him and not leave evidence, he should at least have hired some other species besides the one he ruled over to do the work.

But, then again, other species wouldn't be as much fun as a pack of griffons could be.

The 3 were obviously careful, if inexperienced. They were also wary for a trap, one that they had unknowingly already sprung. The 3 hadn't gone much further than the very beginnings of his living room, searching the room for him with their eyes and ears. In fact, they hadn't even reached carpeting yet. The Forgemaster ever so carefully stepped down from his perch and crept past them and to his door. He flicked a bit of magic towards where he kept his pots and pans, disturbing them. The resulting crash and jingle was more than enough to get them away from his door and into the kitchen, though they froze immediately once they noticed he wasn't in there

For his part, he reached out to the door and slammed it as hard as he could, and then locked it.

The *boom* of the closing door alerted them to the fact that something was very wrong. The trio looked between themselves, but froze when they heard a demonic voice come from the very air.

"Griffons… I want to play a game, and you're the participants." Manic laughter followed.

The Forgemaster used his magic and slowly, one by one, lowered the blinds on all of his windows leaving the room very, very dark: dark enough that they could still see the others' silhouettes, but nothing else and no definition. The griffons were getting scared now… but not scared enough.

Tip toeing quietly behind one of them, the youngest if appearances are anything to go by, grabbed him by the leg and dragged him away from his fellows at an alarming rate. The poor griffon struggled against his grip and screamed, clawing at the floors to stop himself, and failing miserably. Safely alone in the other room, The Forgemaster applied pressure to his wings joints, making him scream out in agony. The Forgemaster quickly silenced the creature with a sleeping spell, giving the griffon the appearance of death. The remaining pair were panicking once they discovered the 'body' of their compatriot.

The 2 picked up the griffon and ran towards the door, they started to pull on the handle and panicked even more when the door didn't budge an inch.

The Forgemaster laughed a manic laugh once more, scaring the griffons even more. In fact, one of them soiled himself. He then retreated into the kitchen and brought out a pair of manticore bones. He held them in his left hand and with his right, reached out and grabbed the other griffon that wasn't the leader around the neck. Simultaneously casting the sleeping spell, lifting the griffon into the air, and crushing the manticore bones in his left hand create an amazingly accurate neck breaking illusion. The moment the griffon struggled, followed by his immediate going limp when the bones were crushed further amplified the illusion.

Psychological warfare was The Forgemaster's favorite weapon, and his deadliest. If an enemy was too frightened of you to fight, than you always win. But, you must always remember to back up your reputation with cold, hard facts. For there will come a day when you face an enemy that knows no fear. The Forgemaster needn't worry about facing an enemy to fear: he knows no fear for he is fear incarnate!

The one remaining griffon, the leader, was absolutely bat-shit scared for his life now. He even went so far as to beg for his life to an invisible specter that wasn't there. A quick tap on the shoulder with The Forgemaster's electric weapon stunned the leader, and the sleeping spell laid over him would insure that he stayed asleep.

The Forgemaster picked up the 3 griffons and carried them over his back. He created a portal with his magic and stepped through the shimmering oval. Once through, he was in Celestia's throne room. He dropped the 3 griffons at her feet, Royal Guards raising their weapons at the trio.

Without preamble, he said, "Celestia, we have a problem."