The Forgemaster was having a wonderful day, relatively speaking of course. Every day will seem to be wonderful after some of the hell holes he's been through. He was walking through Ponyville, going to meet Rainbow Dash at the town square. And all of a sudden a vibration was felt throughout the town, thoroughly shaking the local ponies. He saw Rainbow Dash, in the distance, fly up to look around the town for what may be causing the commotion.

That question was answered when Rainbow yelled out, "STAMPEDE!"

'What is it with this place and attracting the strangest sorts of danger?' he thought

He stood calmly in the middle of the street as the ponies panicked around him, most fleeing into nearby buildings.

He watched as Pinkie vibrated on past him saying in a reverberating voice, "Hey! This makes my voice sound silly!"

Twilight called out, "Pinkie, Forgemaster, are you guys crazy, run!" before following her own advice

The Forgemaster yelled after her retreating form, "At least I'm not a coward!"

The mayor of Ponyville, The Forgemaster's public face of the village since becoming Duke, tried to calm the situation with a cliché, "Everypony calm down. There is no need to panic."

Rarity walked up to her and asked, dramatically, "But Mayor, whatever shall we do?"

Before the mayor could respond, Rainbow pointed out something in the distance, and closer inspection revealed it to be Applejack and her dog trying to stop the stampede.

The ponies all crowded together and began to cheer her on. The Forgemaster just yelled curses at the approaching hoard of cattle, to which the ponies either giggled or just glared at him. They cheered as she and the dog split up and began to corral the cattle, and even more so when Applejack jumped up onto one of the cows and threw a rope around the leader, before pulling it off course.

Somehow Pinkie managed to get some popcorn, and The Forgemaster partook in the snack, making Twilight roll her eyes at them.

"This is the best rodeo show I've ever seen." said Pinkie, as they ate some of the popcorn.

"I've seen better." Said The Forgemaster.

"What 'dyah mean! That was great!" yelled Pinkie

"Humans also had cattle. Saw a huge one once, almost 1000 cows were involved. Completely destroyed the town of San Juan." The ponies looked downcast at the story, and glared at him when he said, "Funny, though."

"Ugh, how can something destructive be funny?" asked Twilight, clearly disapproving

He shrugged at them, "There's just something beautiful in the how something gets destroyed… it's hard to explain."

The ponies just shrugged it off as something exclusive to the human species.

Thankfully, they were distracted from any further conversation when Applejack appeared over the hill with her dog, the sun in the background casting a truly epic figure. The Forgemaster approved. Applejack then reared onto her back legs and ran off into the distance.

The ponies cheered for their latest heroine.

Pinkie then bounced into the square yelling, "Yee haw! Ride 'em, cowpony!"

The mayor was off to the side singing Applejack's praises to Rarity and Twilight, "Applejack was just… just…"

"Fine?" suggested The Forgemaster

Then Pinkie broke some physics and appeared above them, screaming, "Appletastic!" and then physics resumed their normal course and Pinkie returned to earth.

"Exactly. We must do something to thank Applejack for single-hoofedly saving the town." Said the mayor

Pinkie got a gleam in her eye that really could only mean one thing, "I know! A party!"

Just as expected.

wWwWwWw

1 week, or so, later and the party was set. The entirety of Ponyville had been decorated for the occasion, and the inhabitants were ecstatic. The Forgemaster was lazing about on top of the 2 floor balcony around Carousel Boutique, with the various ponies surrounding him actually doing work; his work had been finished earlier that week when he made the actual award for Applejack. He watched as Twilight, with Spike on her back, walked up to Rarity and asked about the preparations.

"We all ready?" she asked Rarity

"Just one last thing." Rarity levitated the banner that The Forgemaster was lazing next to into the air and attached it to her boutique, "Now we're ready."

"Is Applejack all set?" Twilight asked

Rainbow fluttered up to provide the answer, "Actually, I haven't seen her all week."

Pinkie walked up and put in her 2 cents, "Not since the stampede."

"But she'll be here for sure. Applejack is never late." Declared Rainbow with confidence

"5 bits says Applejack is late!" he yelled down to the ponies

"You're on!" Rainbow yelled right back

The Forgemaster nodded and went back to sleeping.

Rainbow turned to her friends and snickered out, "Easiest money I ever made."

wWwWwWw

The Forgemaster actually managed to fall asleep in the time it took Applejack to arrive. Unfortunately, few of the ponies noticed him sleeping above the stage where Twilight was going to make a speech. Thankfully, one of these was a pegasus and flew up to wake him.

Biggest mistake of that young colt's life.

The pegasus flew up to the balcony and hovered over him. After a few tries of trying to wake him up by yelling his name, the pegasus gently prodded the human on the chest with his hoof.

Second biggest mistake of that young colt's life.

The instant that hoof touched his chest, The Forgemaster woke up with a roar, grabbed the hoof painfully tight, and wrapped his other hand around the colt's throat, eyes burning with anger and hate as he glared directly into the pony's eyes as his hands applied enough pressure to crush the colt's throat. However, The Forgemaster seemed to snap out of whatever stupor he was in after a second, and released the colt, who immediately fell to the ground, holding his wounded throat and coughing his lungs out.

The Forgemaster reached out and patted the colt on the back, apologizing, "Sorry 'bout that, you shouldn't wake me up, or at least do it with a 6 foot long stick."

The colt nodded his agreement with the statement as The Forgemaster reassured him, "I didn't cause any permanent damage, aside from some pain, you'll be fine in a few minutes."

The Forgemaster picked up the pegasus and jumped over the railing. Once on the solid earth, he gave the colt a few bits and waited in the crowd with the other ponies. He arrived just in time to see Twilight walk up to the podium.

Twilight used some magic and apparently conjured up a few hundred note-cards out of thin air.

'She's been practicing…' he noticed.

Twilight began her speech with gusto, "Welcome everypony! Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small. A pony whose contributions to—"

Here she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash flying in and knocking her note cards everywhere.

"Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there? What an athlete. This week she's gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's gonna be so awesome." Said Rainbow, making the most adorable face The Forgemaster's ever seen, including from Fluttershy.

'By the gods…' he thought.

Twilight then pushed Rainbow Dash out of the way and magically conjured up even more note cards, before she was again interrupted by Pinkie Pie appearing directly in front of her.

"This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time."

"What does that have to do with Applejack?" asked Twilight

"Oh. Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me. Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for everypony!" announced Pinkie, making all the ponies in the audience cheer for free food

Twilight then tried to get the speech back into order, "Oh-kay, that's great. Now if I could just make a point without being inter—"

Twilight was interrupted… by Fluttershy.

"-rupted."

"Twilight, I'm so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills."

"Anyone else? Anyone?" asked Twilight

She groaned when the Forgemaster stood up to the podium.

"I would also like to make a comment about Applejack." He stated

Twilight waited in silence for a few moments as The Forgemaster didn't say anything; so she prompted him with, "Well…"

He said, with a smirk, "Applejack is late. 5 bits please, Rainbow." He held out a hand towards the mentioned pegasus, who glared at him.

"It isn't over yet!" She yelled t him

The Forgemaster said, "I disagree." but still returned to his position in the audience.

Twilight then tried again, "Well then, as I was trying to say..."

Twilight noticed the mayor standing right next to her on the stage, smiling sweetly at her.

Twilight groaned and threw the note cards into the air before storming off in a huff, "Ugh! Never mind."

The mayor then took her position at the podium, "Ah-ahem. And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the prize, Pony of Ponyville Award, to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend: Applejack!"

The ponies all cheered while the mayor waved towards the curtain which swung aside to reveal… nothing. Applejack really was late. The Forgemaster held a hand out towards Rainbow Dash, who scowled before putting the bits into his hand.

Spike didn't seem to get the memo and continued to cheer, even as all the other ponies stopped after seeing that Applejack wasn't here. Truly an awkward moment for the young dragon.

"I'm here. I'm here. Sorry I'm late, I was just... Did I get your tail?"

Not more than 12 seconds after Spike's outburst, Applejack came through the crowd, weaving and yawning.

The Forgemaster leaned in towards Rainbow and whispered, "Is she drunk?"

Applejack stumbled onto the stage and went to the podium, "Miss Mayor. Thank you kindly for this here... award thingy."

Applejack then stumbled over to the actual trophy and looked at, saying, "It's so bright and shiny and, "she started to giggle, "I sure do look funny."

Applejack then proceeded to make a fool out of herself as she watched her distorted reflection in the shiny metal.

Rainbow leaned back in and whispered, "I'm not sure, she's sure actin' like it, but that's not the Applejack I know."

"My thoughts, exactly… something must be wrong."

He then noticed that Pinkie was up there with Applejack and they were both looking into the curved metal to see their distorted reflections. Twilight was up there, too, looking strangely at them.

"Okay. Well, thank you Applejack for saving us from that scary stampede, and always being there for everypony." Twilight said

The Forgemaster snorted indignantly when she said 'scary stampede', "It may've been scary for you, Twilight, but I was perfectly content to stand my ground."

Twilight glared at him, and he smiled cheekily back.

"Yeah. I like helping the pony folks and, and stuff." Applejack began to sleep while standing up, and then immediately snapped out of it, "Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, Thanks."

Applejack then dragged the trophy away to her farm, making The Forgemaster cry out, "Hey! That's good metalwork!"

Applejack ignored him and continued walking away. The ponies watched her walk away for a few moments in silence.

Then Twilight asked, "Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little—"

"Tired?" supplied Rainbow.

"Dizzy?" said Fluttershy

"Drunk?" said The Forgemaster, getting glares from the ponies, prompting him to say, "What? Didn't you see the way she was stumbling about?"

Pinkie Pie, literally, jumped into the conversation, "She seemed fine to me." Before 'woo'ing quite loudly a few times.

The Forgemaster watched as Twilight's face narrowed… he knew that look. That was the face that Twilight put on when she was thinking something but wasn't quite sure… The Forgemaster was the leading cause of such looks, so he could identify one when he saw one. He had a feeling that Twilight would attempt to get to the bottom of this… whether Applejack wanted her or not.

"If any of you need me, I'll be at my place making some whimsical contraption for Rainbow." The Forgemaster said, before walking off to do just that.

wWwWwWw

The Forgemaster and Rainbow were waiting for Applejack to arrive. The Forgemaster was assembling his contraption, while Rainbow, for whatever reason, decided to stand on one of the fence poles. And, once again, Applejack was late, prompting The Forgemaster to ask for more bits from Rainbow, which she begrudgingly supplied. The Forgemaster managed to get his creation assembled early, it wasn't his greatest work, but then again; he didn't put much effort into it, almost none, in fact. He spent the rest of the time asking, demanding, and finally begging Rainbow to do the face again, but she steadfastly refused. Finally, after many minutes of waiting and arguing, Applejack showed up.

"There you are." Rainbow said an accusation in her tone.

Applejack yawned before saying, "I'm a might' sorry, Rainbow. I was busy applebuckin' and I guess ah, I closed my eyes for a second and, when I woke up, I was late. Now, what's this new trick a' yours?"

"See this contraption?" Rainbow indicated said contraption with a hoof.

"Yes, a contraption: it's something so advanced and technologically superior that none of you could know what it was really called… so it's a contraption." The Forgemaster said, clearly mocking them.

"Shut up, you!" Rainbow yelled at him, getting a rolling of the yes in response. Rainbow then turned back to Applejack, "Anyway, I'm gonna stand on one end, then you're gonna jump down from that platform, launching me into the air faster than I can take off on my own. Once I'm in the air, I'm gonna do some amazing flips and spins that are sure to impress the Wonderbolts."

The Forgemaster shook his head at her delusional adoration of the Wonderbolts: Rainbow was clearly superior to them, anyway.

"Isn't that a might' dangerous?" asked Applejack

"Heh, not for a pony who can fly." Said Rainbow

"You know, I probably should've brought some cushions…" said The Forgemaster; he shook his head once more because the mares seemingly ignored him.

"Well, alrighty then." agreed Applejack

The Forgemaster flew up to the platform that Applejack was to be jumping off of, while rainbow flew over to the other side of the 'contraption', as they so called it.

'It's a simple lever, honestly. They don't call it one of the 6 simple machines for no reason. M=Fd, it isn't hard.' He thought.

He waited up there, hovering next to the platform, not trusting it to carry his weight, when Applejack appeared next to him.

He raised a brow at her, before asking, "And just how did you get up here?"

He hadn't added a pony-friendly ladder to the construct; in fact, he hadn't added a ladder at all!

Applejack just looked at him with a 'are you serious' face, before looking over the edge and gasping out, "Oh my."

She appeared to waver for a moment before turning angrily towards him, "And just why aren't you doing this?"

He shrugged as best one can whilst also having wings and currently using them, not very well, it turns out, but enough to carry across his message, "I didn't want to. Besides: you agreed to this, I just made it."

Rainbow noticed Applejack and called out, "Ready? One... two... THREE!"

And Applejack fell off of the tower… completely missing the giant, red X'd wooden paddle she was supposed to be landing on.

Rainbow seemed to have the same thought s as he did when she said, "Umm... maybe I wasn't clear. You're supposed to land on the other end."

"I thought it was pretty obvious from up here." He called down

Applejack un-screwed her face up, and then said, "Got it."

Applejack then fell the same way again 3 more times. This prompted The Forgemaster to do something that even he had never done: counsel a pony on how to fall accurately.

Rainbow was upset by the very, very obvious failure of her orange compatriot, "Applejack, what the hay is going on? I mean, I thought I was working with Ponyville's best athlete!"

"You are." Said The Forgemaster and Applejack simultaneously, getting a laugh from The Forgemaster and Rainbow.

"I'm okay. Really. I-I have an idea. Watch this." Applejack then reached up to the platform she was supposed to be falling onto and then pulled it down to her. "Ta da! Oh... Maybe not. Okay, one more try. I'm sure to get it this time."

"Way to go Applejack, you successfully demonstrated the power of a lever without achieving the desired result." He called down to Applejack, who was, somehow, getting back onto the platform.

When Applejack had released the platform, Rainbow's end came crashing to the ground, momentarily stunning her, though The Forgemaster didn't notice.

Applejack looked over the edge one more time, getting last minute advice from The Forgemaster to 'aim left', "Here I go!" she called out, before flinging herself to the void.

Rainbow screamed, "Wait!" only after Applejack was in mid-air.

When Applejack hit the platform, the results were as expected: Rainbow getting flung half-way to no-where, though she clearly wasn't ready.

Rainbow screamed, "Applejaaaaaaaaaack!" as she flew through the air, not under her own power.

As she disappeared into the distance, The Forgemaster swore and flew after her, and Applejack looked over her shoulder and said, "You're welcome!"

As it turns out, Rainbow's unwilling destination was exactly 3.48 feet in front of Twilight, who was reading on her balcony. The Forgemaster managed to catch up with Rainbow just as she crashed into the balcony railing. He wasn't fast enough to catch her, but fast enough to be there when she did crash.

Twilight asked Rainbow,"Can I help you?"

"I think somepony else needs your help." She managed to get out.

"Applejack?"

"Yep."

"C'mon, Rainbow. We'll go back to my place and I'll see if you have internal bleeding." Said The Forgemaster

He picked a groaning Rainbow up off the railing and flew with her off to go to his house to check for internal bleeding, and while he was at it; treat Rainbow to a nice home-cooked meal.

Unfortunately, Twilight spoiled the 'dessert' by showing up with an emergency.

'Cock-blocking, Twilight? I thought such a thing was beneath you.' He thought.

wWwWwWw

"We came as soon as we heard, Nurse Redheart." Said Twilight

"Not me, I took my sweet time getting here." Said The Forgemaster

"Oh thank you, Twilight, Forgemaster. We need all the help we can get."

The curtain was pushed back to reveal about a dozen ponies, all ridiculously sick. Most of them had turned a comical, lime green, though The Forgemaster didn't laugh at the sight, sickness was a serious business, after all.

"Oh no! What happened?" yelled Twilight, eyeing the numerous sick ponies

"It was a mishap with some of the baked goods." Informed the good nurse

"No, not baked goods, baked bads." Said a very sick Pinkie, before puking into a bucket.

Twilight appears to think for a moment, before whispering harshly, "Applejack…"

Spike walks up with a pair of the 'baked bads' and offers them to Twilight, "Want one?" he asked.

The Forgemaster intervened, "Hell yes!"

He took one of the muffins out of his hands, making Twilight gag as he put it into his mouth and apparently savored the taste.

Chewing thoughtfully for a few moments before swallowing the muffin, he licked his lips and smiled before saying, "Hmm, lemon juice… potato chips… soda… earthworms?" Twilight flinched when he made his deduction, "Not as bad as fried Persian guts, I suppose. Overall; I'd rate this a C+, not good, not bad, but in the middle."

"B-but, it had earthworms!"

He cocked a brow at her, "It tastes like chicken, Twilight. It. Tastes. Like. Chicken." And then he laughed when her face turned green.

Spike, naïve as he was, asked, "What's fried Persian guts?"

The Forgemaster grinned at Twilight, who was glaring at him threateningly, even through her green face, he turned to Spike and said, "Well, guts are your various internal organs, Persians were a group of Humans that I hated, and fried is a way to cook things."

"You... you ate your own kind!" asked Spike, his face turning green too, and Twilight's worsened, in fact, she reached for a bucket with her magic.

"First off, Spike: if you ever try to tell me that Persians and I are in any way related, I smack you upside your head. Second of all: no, I'm not a cannibal, I didn't have enough time to cook them properly during the battle, and I wasn't about to catch some disease from eating uncooked meat."

Nurse Redheart, having heard the conversation, wasn't as green as the others, "What he said is true, meat should be thoroughly cooked before eaten. By any species that so requires it. Though, I don't think any of them would stoop to cannibalism." She said with a pointed glare at him

"I don't eat other humans; they taste disgusting!"

"And how would you know?"

"A disastrous trip into the Himalayas. It was him or me, damnit! Don't judge me!"

He flicked a wrist at the gathered ponies, and Twilight felt a powerful discharge of magic, along with a blinding flash of light. When she could see again, he was gone, but all of the sick ponies appeared to be better. Even Pinkie wasn't quite as green as she used to be, and she was undoubtedly the hardest hit.

Twilight just shook her head at his antics, and set off to find Applejack.

wWwWwWw

When Twilight finally found The Forgemaster after talking with Applejack, she was incredibly confused as to what she saw. She saw The Forgemaster in the middle of the road, laughing his head off so much that he was holding his sides. But the strange part was the 3 collapsed mares close to where he was. As Twilight walked towards them, the mares appeared to wake up out of their stupor.

"The horror, the horror!" the first yelled out, over The Forgemaster's booming laughs.

"It was awful!" yelled the second.

"A disaster, a horrible, horrible, disaster!" yelled the third.

Twilight looked up and down the street, not seeing anything amiss except for the large human in the middle of the street laughing loudly, "I don't get it."

The Forgemaster snapped up out of his laughing coma to say, "It was so very, very adorable!"

"Our gardens, destroyed." Said the second.

"Every last flower, devoured!" yelled the first.

"By… by… THEM!" said the third, pointing over Twilight's shoulders.

Twilight looked to see dozens of bunny rabbits eating everything in sight that was edible to them, with a panicked Fluttershy saying, "Oh my. Oh... Please stop, little bunnies. Oh no! Please, let's go home. Oh my goodness."

Twilight appeared to harden her resolve when she said, "Alright. Enough is enough!"

Which was almost completely ruined when The Forgemaster said, "Indeed you are correct, Twilight. In fact, I believe 'enough' is the exact meaning behind the word 'enough', Bwahahaha!"

"Shut up, Forgemaster. And come with me; we're going to talk to Applejack!"

"Aww, damnit." He hung his head low, and followed Twilight with his head steadfastly looking straight down: the very embodiment of dejection.

They swung by his house, which was on the way, and The Forgemaster ran inside and came out with a small bottle of red liquid. She wanted to ask The Forgemaster what it was, but she knew he wouldn't tell her.

They arrived at the orchard fairly quickly, and found an exhausted Applejack still bucking away at a lone tree on top of a hill.

Applejack was mumbling to herself when they approached her, "Must keep buckin'... just a few more. Must finish harvestin'.

Twilight got into lecture mode… Gods how he hated that mode.

"Alright, Applejack. Your apple bucking hasn't just caused you problems, it's over-propelled Pegasus', practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand new bouncing baby bunnies. I don't care what you say, you.Need. Help."

"To be honest, I don't care either way. But, I don't want to see you over-strain yourself." The Forgemaster added, unhelpfully.

Applejack kicked the tree behind her one more time, with all of the apples falling into her baskets, "Ha! No I don't. Look, I did it. I harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres without your help. How d'ya like them apples?" she said, indicating the eastern fields of the orchard

A large red stallion that he had never met before strutted up to them and said, "Um, how do you like them apples?" indicating the entire western section of the orchard, which was entirely untouched.

Applejack appeared to lose grip with reality after hearing that, and quickly fell down, unconscious.

She awoke, thankfully, a few minutes later, to Twilight yelling at her because she was still in lecture mode and wouldn't stop until the target of her irritation had learned its lesson.

"Applejack… Applejack…" she said to the unconscious farmer pony, who just then woke up.

"Huh?"

"Oh, good, you're okay. Now Applejack, I completely respect the Apple family ways. You're always there to help any pony in need, so maybe you can put a little of your stubborn pride aside and allow your friends to help you."

"Okay, Twilight."

Twilight apparently was oblivious when in lecture mode, too, "I am not taking "no" for an answer-what?"

"Yes, Twilight. Yes, please. I could really use your help."

"Here Applejack, take this. I guarantee that after drinking this it will feel like you've been asleep for 8 hours straight." Said The Forgemaster, handing her the small bottle of red liquid he got out of his house.

She looked up at him skeptically, but at his nod downed the whole thing in one go. She immediately fell into a deep, restful sleep.

Twilight raised a brow at him.

In his defense, he said, "I didn't lie: once she wakes up 8 hours from now, she'll feel like she just slept 8 hours! Gods, I love potions!"

He started laughing wildly, before picking Applejack up as easily as if he were picking up a pillow and carried her into her house. She did not even stir slightly.

Exactly 7 hours and 59 minutes later…

The Forgemaster and the rest of Applejack friends were in the orchards of the Apple family and were working hard to bring in the apple harvest. The Forgemaster assured them that no matter how hard they worked, or how much noise they made; Applejack wouldn't wake up, so they all worked to their fullest.

Though most of the ponies were bucking the trees and gathering the apples, though Fluttershy just collected them. He and Twilight seemed to have vastly differing methods from them.

Twilight was using her magic to pull every single apple off of the tree at once before dropping them into buckets.

The Forgemaster was doing something similar, in a way: he was using magic to get the apples down off of the tress and into the buckets, he just wasn't using levitation. He was walking up to entire groups of trees and placing baskets underneath them. Once the baskets were in place, he lifted up a foot and magically charged it before bringing it crashing down to the ground, shaking all of the apples off of the trees near him and into baskets.

Between the 2, Twilight claimed that she was faster and more efficient, but The Forgemaster said that he was doing it the traditional Apple family way, by a technicality; he was knocking them down by shaking them, causing the apples to fall while Twilight just picked them up with magic, and therefore was superior. It didn't really matter, either way, because either one of them took down more apples than the rest of the ponies did combined.

At exactly the appointed minute: Applejack awoke from her slumber. She rose quickly to find her friends still hard at work, and decided to bring them all apple juice in thanks.

"How about y'all take a little break? I got some fine apple juice waitin' for ya!" Applejack set up a table quickly, and the workers all stood around it and sipped at the apple juice provided, "Girls, I can't thank you enough for this help. I was acting a bit stubborn."

"Why do you lot insist on calling me a female?"

"We don't mean to… it's just that… well, have you noticed that there's a lot more mares than stallions in Ponyville?"

"Yes, I have. Though I don't see you calling them females…"

"Ugh, I'm sorry, okay."

"Apology accepted. And, for the record, I could shape shift into a female, if I wanted to."

She waved it off as just another thing that The Forgemaster did, "I'm awful sorry for being so stubborn. Now, I know the town gave me the Prized Pony award, but the real award is having you five as my friends. Oops, sorry, 6 friends."

He raised a brow at her. Normally he would've said that they weren't friends, but damnit if these ponies weren't growing on him.

"Phew! That apple bucking sure made me hungry." Declared Rainbow

"I know of another kind of 'bucking' that usually makes me hungry…" The Forgemaster trailed off, leaving the answer to the imaginations of these 6 mares, who immediately connected the dots and laughed.

"Shut up, Forgey!" yelled Rainbow, giggling.

"Have we told anyone besides Twilight, Dashie?"

"Urgh! For Celestia's sake, it always slips my mind!" Rainbow angrily yelled out.

"Tell us what, dear?" asked Rarity.

"Rainbow and I are mare and colt-friends."

"Oh… my, well congratulations!" said Rarity, obviously flustered.

"I'm so happy for you!" screamed Pinkie.

"That's so nice for you." Whispered Fluttershy.

"You best treat 'er right, Forgey." Grumbled Applejack

Rainbow beamed happily with all the well-wishing.

"This calls for a party!" yelled Pinkie

"At least announce it as being between Crimson and Rainbow. I don't want anyone criticizing her or me on our life choices."

Pinkie slightly deflated, "Alright…"

Rainbow smiled at him, clearly happy that he had thought that through.

"So, Applejack: how is the feeling of sleeping 8 hours straight going for you?"

"Be quiet, you! I thought it was some sorta magical potion tah give me back mah energy!"

"And it was, was it not? It sent you to sleep: the best way to regain your energy."

Applejack grumbled to herself while the other ponies laughed at the exchange between the 2: even Applejack's lie-detection abilities were nothing for The Forgemaster to break through with a small amount of thought.