The Forgemaster, Shining Armor, and Princess Celestia were walking down a very, very, very, very long series of stairs. It was as though the Royal Dungeons were smack dab in the center of the giant mountain that Canterlot rested on. In the center, and about 3 miles below the surface. The Forgemaster wasn't making the trip better for the other 2 as he told them stories of the times he had been captured, by his own choice, he adamantly declared, and of the times that he had captured other people. He then began an exceedingly detailed account of how the 'Art of Information Retrieval' had evolved through the years that he had been alive. Basically, he was lecturing them on the best ways to either: A; torture them, B, screw with their minds, or C, some combination of the 2. He didn't make it any better with the excruciating detail he was using. In fact, he had expressed a desire numerous times to 'open them up' to 'see how they worked', to which Celestia repeatedly denied him.

Finally, they reached the prison proper, after thoroughly freaking out both the good Captain and the princess. Celestia walked them towards a series of 3 doors. The one on the left had a sign over it that said; 'The Moon'. The one on the right said; 'Prison', and the one in the middle said; 'Interviewing Room'. The 3 were walking towards the middle room.

"Celestia, why does that room have a sign that says it's the moon?" asked The Forgemaster

She shifted her gaze over to the room for a moment before continuing to walk to the middle door, "That is where those that are banished to the moon go."

"So… they're not really sent to the moon?"

"Well, Luna and I have that power; but it's so much easier to teleport them down here than away up there, and it's just as effective."

"Was the Nightmare sent in there?" he asked, pointing at the room while doing so

"No, she really was sent to the moon." Celestia said, sadly

"Hmm, I'll ask her about it someday."

The 3 ponies walked into the 'Interviewing Room'. When they walked in, they were greeted with an interesting sight: the 3 griffons were each behind a panel of one-way mirrors, allowing the 3 to see in, but not allowing the griffons to see out. The 3 griffons were each in their own separate room, each mindlessly pacing the small cells they were in. The Forgemaster stood there, formulating a plot for the 3 griffons. Suddenly, an idea came to him.

He walked up to the middle cell and put his hands on the glass before saying, "Alright, we'll put them in one room and tie them all to chairs. Then, I'll need a scalpel, and 1 syringe of griffon adrenaline."

Shining Armor asked, "Why?"

"I believe the other 2 will be willing to talk when they see one of their friends receive open-heart surgery while awake."

He looked absolutely horrified, "What?"

Celestia was similarly affected.

The Forgemaster shrugged, "It's possible one of them has a heart condition."

"Are you sure?"

The Forgemaster crossed his arms over his chest and then said, "No, but I'm willing to find out."

Celestia facehoofed, the second such occurrence in the history of Equestria, and Shining Armor looked sick; he was turning all shades of wrong.

Keeping her hoof to her face, Celestia hissed out, "You are not allowed to perform any medical procedures in Equestria without a medical license. Also; no."

He scowled for a moment, appearing angry, "Fine. But, I have an idea that will blow their minds. First; I'll need a chunk of meat. Any kind will do. And then-"

wWwWwWw

The 3 griffons immediately ceased their bickering once the door was opened into their cell and looked to see Shining Armor walk in. Shining Armor walked up to the trio of griffons, all currently tied down to chairs, he walked up to the table and dropped some files onto it. He then took a seat. He proceeded to open up the file on top and leaf through the documents inside. He appeared to be reading whatever it was that was written on the documents, though if you were behind him you would notice that very little was written on them, Shining Armor made some noises that sounded disapproving before finally looking up at the 3 griffons seated across from him on the table.

"You boys are in a lot of trouble, you know." He said

He then went back to 'reading', though he was in fact merely doing exactly as the instructions written on the documents he was reading told him to do. He delayed speaking again to let the griffons stew.

Finally, he looked up again, "Officially, all we have you on is breaking and entering." The tense griffons all relaxed quite a bit, "Unofficially, we have attempted murder of a high Equestrian official; felony, espionage; felony, blackmail; felony, racketeering; felony, attempted rape; felony, and, finally, destruction of royal property; felony."

The griffons were all suitably upset, now. The youngest one was actually hyperventilating, while the other 2 were sweating, heavily.

Shining Armor smiled dangerously at them, having been coached on it prior by The Forgemaster, "But, that's all unofficial. Then again, we are in the heart of a mountain: nopony will hear you screaming."

Shining Armor tried his best at an evil laugh, though he fell far short; it was enough to scare the griffons into almost begging for mercy.

"But, you're probably wondering how we knew you were spies, am I right? Well, Equestria has the best intelligence agency in the whole world. Hold on, I want to introduce you to somepony. Hey, Beatrice, come in here!"

It was proceeding exactly as some cheesy and cliché movie would've, though the griffons were just eating this up. Through the door came a large, griffon, female: 'Beatrice'.

'She' came up to the table, smiling maniacally the whole way. 'She' stopped behind Shining Armor and just stared straight at them. Her eyes contained the gleeful spark that only those who were insane, recognized that they were, and fully enjoyed it could ever hope to have. Shortly: 'Crazy Eyes'.

'She' said, "Haven't you scared them enough?" before cackling out crazily, as if daring them to refute her insane status.

He smiled at her, "I just wanted to show them who you were, and how we knew."

'She' looked down at the trio for a long moment, and then her gaze snapped off as if she remembered something. 'She' then laughed for a long moment, before having her body slowly shift, morph, and basically melt into a smaller being. In the griffon's place was a small, sickly green unicorn mare with a hungry gleam in her eyes and a bloody knife for a cutie-mark.

The small unicorn said gleefully, "I've been amongst the griffon court for almost 3 months now. Hahaha! They haven't noticed a thing! I know someponies that are in the griffon intelligence service too, and they say that they get to go out on missions and stuff, too!"

She then bent over on the ground, holding her sides in an effort to contain the agony that laughing so hard brought to her. Suddenly, she shifted and became deadly serious.

"I bet you're thinking, 'All we have to do is give everypony in the court a piece of meat and that'll flush out the spies'. Am I right? Well, you're wrong anyway! Look, I brought a snack!"

The griffons watched in horror as the tiny mare brought out bloody morsel of meat and waved it at them, before putting it in her mouth and chewing audibly before moaning in ecstasy.

She then smirked at their shocked faces, even Shining Armor didn't quite keep his face under control, even though he had been expecting it and it was all according to plan, "It takes a while to get used to it, I'll admit. But it tastes ever-so-delicious once you do!"

Shining Armor read the next line off of his documents, still somewhat shocked at watching a pony eat a piece of meat, "A-alright, Beatrice: you can go back to your post."

She waved at them before leaving, "Bye Cap!"

Once the obviously insane unicorn had left the room, all of the occupants let out a breath they didn't know they were holding in.

Shining Armor looked back at the griffons, putting on a face that radiated a confidence he didn't feel, "Well, I believe that you're served your time for the official stuff, though you'll be put under watch for the unofficial stuff. I suggest you leave Equestria as soon as you can."

A door opened and Shining Armor led them through it. Once through it revealed a prisoner departure area, and the griffons were left to be discharged by the resident Royal Guards. Shining Armor then went back through the door he led the griffons through and found a smirking Forgemaster and a calm Princess Celestia waiting in the room where he had 'interviewed' the griffons.

The Forgemaster spoke up as soon as he entered, "Good job, Shining Armor! You kept to the script and thoroughly made the griffons completely rattled. With that little misinformation about the ponies being in their ranks spread around, I'm sure their 'infiltrations' will come to a halt as they review their own spies. First day on the job and I completely paralyze an enemy intelligence service."

The Forgemaster stretched out a hand towards him, "I look forward to working with you, Captain Shining Armor."

They shook hands/hooves on the deal, sealing it.

"As do I, but what if they find us out?"

"How could they? Their only source of information will be 3 trusted agents that all saw the same thing. Only the higher-ups will think anything suspicious of it, and by then all of the lower ranks will be convinced that their best friend is a pony spy. Even if they get their agents whipped into shape, which I doubt, that'll be months from now."

Celestia intervened, "Indeed, but now is not the time to speak of such matters. Forgemaster, I believe that you have your Guards to review, Captain please assist him."

Celestia then teleported away, gone off to do… princessy duties. The Forgemaster then shifted back into his pony form. He and Shining Armor began the long, long, long, long climb back up the stairs to the castle.

wWwWwWw

"Alrighty then, Shining Armor, please take me to the barracks."

The Forgemaster and Shining Armor left the hidden doorway the way they had found it: closed and hidden. The 2 then left to go visit the barracks, as The Forgemaster wished to review the so-called soldiers he would be leading. On the way, he received a report from Shining Armor on the types of training the various guards receive, and what specialties they may have. In addition, The Forgemaster learned the differences between the 2 houses of Guards, namely the day time guards, and the night time guards. Apparently, they received the same training in basic though when the new guards are assigned to one of the 2 houses they learned differing skill sets.

The Forgemaster was quick to remedy the 'deficiencies' he saw in the training.

The Forgemaster arrived at the barracks, but didn't go inside. Instead he yelled and screamed at the ponies inside the barracks until they came out to him. Once in proper lines, The Forgemaster demanded that they form a circle, which they did. He then pointed to 2 different guards and told them to enter the circle. He placed them about 10 paces from each other and then stood between them.

Yelling out in a throaty growl, The Forgemaster said, "You have all sparred before, this I know. But you are not sparring anymore. From here on in; you lot are fighting! You are going to try to stop your opponent at all costs; a real enemy will do the same. If you do not go at your enemy with the intent to kill, then you will die! If I do not see any form of actual damage within 1 minute of starting each match, both participants are to run around Canterlot 1 time before returning to the circle. Actual damage includes: broken bones, which the match will not stop for, severe bruising and/or lacerations, which the match will not stop for, and any form of concussion or other disability, which the match will not stop for. Do you understand me!"

After receiving various form of agreement, he yelled out, "I said; 'Do you understand me'!"

"Yes, Sir!" the guard ponies replied as one

"Very well, begin!"

So the legend of the fighting circle was begun. Recruits from then and onwards would receive valuable experience from the fighting circle; as it was completely and utterly brutal fighting. That day, the guards' win/loss ratio wasn't very good, 10 years later with the circle still being used and the ratio would be drastically improved. Though, The Forgemaster still liked to refer to the circle as the 'Killy Circle'.

Leaving the ponies to beat the tar out of each other as best as they could, and leaving Shining Armor there to oversee such a glorious undertaking, The Forgemaster went in search of the actual leaders of any army: the sergeants, drill sergeants, staff sergeants, gunnery sergeants, though Equestria didn't have gunnery sergeants. As all recruits are shaped and molded by the training they receive from the sergeants; the sergeants, whether they know it or not, have the most authority over where an army was going in the future: either up, or down.

The Forgemaster managed to find some, and ordered them to round up the rest. He then proceeded to have a meeting with these glorious leaders of ponies. He described a future where the Royal Guards were the best fighting force in the whole world, and the sergeants readily agreed with is ideas. All of them, in fact. The Forgemaster drew up a list: improved pay, improved benefits, increased training, increased retirement pay, specialized training, and better equipment. Though, by far, the best thing The Forgemaster had done was to make all of the soldiers go through advanced medical courses. Instead of giving all of the soldiers basic, and having designated medics, The Forgemaster basically made the Royal Guards an entire army of fighting medics. The Royal Guards would go on to have the lowest casualty rating, and yet still be in the thick of the action constantly, for years to come.

wWwWwWw

The Forgemaster stood on a podium, addressing his troops.

"You are all good ponies. But, with my help you'll become the deadliest ponies this side of hell. Equestria will need you to be at your strongest, will you answer her call? What about when enemies threaten our beloved leaders, will you let them harm them? The answer is a 'hell no you disgusting fool'. Look to the ponies that stand next to you: they are now your battle-brothers. A bond forged in the heat of battle, in the fires of war, in the crucible of deadly combat is a bond that can never be broken. You will have to be the best for not only yourselves, but for your brothers, your leaders, and the citizens of Equestria. And I'll be damned if let those Equestrian Army grunts steal any of the credit!"

The answer from the assembled ponies was a mixture of laugh and cheers.

The Forgemaster nodded down towards his troops, "Good, I'm proud of you: one day and you've already gained the fires necessary to temper a warrior!" The Forgemaster then stepped back from the podium, saying over his shoulder, "If you'll excuse me, I have to see a mare."

The Forgemaster ignored the hoots, hollers, and laughs of his guards as he flew off towards Ponyville.

(A/N – You lot should check out this great thing called 'Pony Creator', just type that into Google. FYI)