The Forgemaster was rather enjoying his nap. While using a tree as a pillow might be considered uncomfortable to some, The Forgemaster had slept on worse things. After Rainbow Dash had resounded him with some of her more difficult and flashy tricks, he had slowly fallen asleep while leaning against the tree.

As previously mentioned, The Forgemaster rarely, if ever, dreams. Instead, he remembers and relives past events. At the moment, he was reliving the Battle of Thermopylae. One of his larger and more memorable fights; it all would've been fine, for a while at least, if that damnable Ephialtes hadn't turned traitor. The Forgemaster hates a great many things, but traitors and betrayers are worse than the vilest of murderers, rapists, and sadists. Taking a quote from a conversation of his between himself and Mark Antony, 'Trash, scum, filth, waste, the absolute lowest denominator of humanity. That's what the fuck traitors are.' Of course, this was immediately after the death of Gaius Julius Caesar, so he may or may not have been extraordinarily angry at the time, thus skewing his words. However, he irrefutably hates traitors of all forms.

While he was musing on these events in his mind, he was suddenly awoken by Rainbow's scream.

He cracked an eye, noticed her on the branch above him, noticed the pets of the others around him, saw said others coming out of the corner of his eye, and closed the eye again.

The other 5 of his seemingly selective group of tiny, female friends decided to run towards him to be reunited with their pets.

'There goes my nap. Damn.' He thought.

Applejack ran by with Winona calling out, "Let's get this thing started!"

Pinkie Pie seemed to be giggling to herself while a small alligator bit her across her body.

'Yet more evidence that she's invincible to everything.' The Forgemaster thought. (A/N – he doesn't know that Gummy is toothless.)

Rainbow Dash flew down from her branch, where she had also been taking a nap apparently, and landed beside him.

The Forgemaster couldn't help but think, 'Great minds think alike.'

Rarity walked towards them with Opalescence on her back and said, "Sincerest apologies, Rainbow, if our pets were bothering you." She turned to her pet, "Say you're sorry Opal."

Opal hissed in obvious anger or disagreement, but Rarity turned back and sheepishly said, "She's… sorry."

Rarity moved away and Fluttershy walked forward instead, "Oh my, I'm so sorry that we woke you up from your nap. We didn't mean to- eep!" she squeaked.

Fluttershy had gotten too close to The Forgemaster; he reached out and grabbed her before pulling her in close to snuggle. Using sleep to explain away a snuggle session with Fluttershy was worth it, he'd do it every time. He pulled her in close with an arm and kept up the pretense of sleep by mock snoring while holding her next to him. He took the time to truly appreciate the moment.

It was truly one of the greater moments of his life, and that was saying something profound.

Fluttershy hadn't resisted, she just melted into the hug, and it was so adorable. Her pink mane got in The Forgemaster's face and it was incredibly soft. He held her close and relished in her soft, cute, adorableness. Every time he would pat her, she would giggle uncontrollably and snuggle closer to him. She was like a gigantic plush toy.

Fluttershy seemed to mumbling, "Oh dear, oh my, oh dear…" through the giggles and she was as red as a tomato.

And then Rainbow had to ruin it, "Hey! Get up! Forgey doesn't snore!"

The Forgemaster groaned loudly in discontent.

He let Fluttershy go and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning, he then weakly glared at Rainbow, who was smirking, and yelled, "That was the best moment of my life, and you ruined it!"

"If you want to snuggle anypony, it should be me!" she yelled back.

"But Fluttershy is adorable!" he yelled.

"I can be adorable too!"

"Yeah, but not on Fluttershy's level!"

"It's impossible to be adorable on her level!"

"I know!"

"Then stop asking for things I can't be!"

"Then stop being a spoil sport!"

"Fluttershy looked like she was going to die from embarrassment!"

"I was about to die from cuteness overload!" he said.

"Then it's a good thing you let go of her isn't it?!" she asked.

"No, I would gladly die of cuteness overload; it is one of the more pleasant ways to die!"

"If you ever die, I'll go to the underworld and drag you home myself!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"You can't! You'll be dead!"

"Then it looks like I'll have to die to see that, doesn't it!"

"Yes!" she yelled.

He narrowed his eyes, "Impasse, sir, impasse!"

"I'm a mare!"

"I know!"

"You want to go to out for food later!?"

"Of course! You combine 2 of my most favorite things; being around you, and eating!" he proclaimed.

"Great! And you're paying!" she yelled.

"I know! You ever wonder why when males get paid more than females it's 'sexism' but when males pay for the whole meal it's being 'chivalrous'!?"

"No! I never thought about that! You're still paying for the food though!"

"Yeah, well, fuck you!"

"I don't even know what that means!"

"'Fuck' is a unique word in English. It is used, often several times in a sentence, as a noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, and possibly even as a conjunction. Sometimes, all at the same time…" he explained.

"But what does it mean!?"

"It's basically the human version of 'buck'!"

"What!?"

"Yep, that's what it means."

"If you wanted to buck, why didn't you just ask!?"

"I don't know, why do you go around flying all the time!?" he asked.

"Because I love the feel of the wind in my mane, the freedom that I feel by flying above everypony else, and the sheer joy of being unrestrained!" she yelled.

"Then why do you like getting tied up when we have sex!?"

"Shut up! We promised never to discuss things outside the bedroom, but if you're being so open about our sex life: why do you like getting the-"

"Although I don't prefer it, I can get off on a little pain now and then. I call it selective masochism, is that so bad!?"

"No! But a better question would be why do you like to do it as a pony!?"

"As a human I'm more than 3 times your size, and I thought you would like a little familiarity in your sex life!"

"Didn't you ever think that I liked you because you were different!?"

"No! That's never a reason that anyone has ever liked anyone ever!"

"Well too bad!"

The argument ended with a set of mutual glares. They had been yelling loud enough to scare a dragon and angrily enough to put a Celestia rampage to shame. The others looked on with trepidation, they had been yelling awfully loudly after all, almost so loudly as to blur what they were saying but what they had heard was… incredibly private. They were staring at the couple and were very uncomfortable, they were afraid of what might happen next.

Twilight worked up the courage to ask, "Are you 2 alright?"

The glares were immediately fixated on her, scaring her quite completely.

The Forgemaster said, "We're fine, this is just what happens when 2 A-class personalities are in a relationship with each other."

Rainbow nodded and continued, "Besides, every healthy couple argues sometimes."

"And it usually ends in great makeup sex." The Forgemaster finished with a goofy grin and reached out an arm to drag Rainbow into a 1 armed embrace as they faced the other 5 mares and their pets.

"But, after the food." She said with the same grin.

"Yes, of course, Dashie." He sighed, "Now, if you don't mind me; I'm going to try to go back to sleep, far away from here, preferably."

The Forgemaster got up and walked away, hoping to find himself somewhere nice and quiet to take a nap. In Ponyville, random trees far from any paths just weren't good enough apparently. As he walked away, he couldn't help but hear some of the conversation going on behind him, along with the commotion that the mares playing with their pets caused.

"What are you all doing out here?" Rainbow asked.

"Why, we always round up our critters for a regular ol' Pony Pet Play date in this park." Applejack heartily replied.

"Uh, you do?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Same time every week." Applejack explained.

'So that's why they were there, it wasn't because the tree wasn't far enough from the path; it was because the made a group decision to ruin my damn naps… I'll get them back.' The Forgemaster thought.

He was now officially out of ear-shot, thankfully. Now he just has to find a nice, comfortable, quiet place to take a nap. A sudden thought struck him when he recalled where he was and in which direction he was heading - what better place for a nap than Fluttershy's house?

So there he was, not 5 minutes later, sitting on Fluttershy's nice grassy roof, her animal friends everywhere around him, as far as can be from Ponyville and still technically be in Ponyville, waiting to fall asleep on the nice, soft grass. There were a few ducks, a goat, what appeared to be a tortoise, a chicken house probably stuffed with chickens, a vulture, of all things, a falcon, a hawk, a couple miscellaneous birds, and a small baby fox that appeared to be an albino no more than 5 feet away from him with the same general idea: soft grass + quiet atmosphere = nap time. He laid out and stared at the sky, wishing that the clouds in the sky will help whisk him off to sleep…

Unfortunately, because the gods hate him, it wasn't to be.

He was a solid 5 seconds away from falling asleep once more, when into Fluttershy's yard flies Fluttershy with Rainbow, walking for once, right after her.

Completely shattering his expectations of an adorably quiet Fluttershy, he got an adorably singing Fluttershy.

"Now, Rainbow, my dear, I cannot express my delight

It's abundantly clear

That somewhere out here

Is the pet that will suit you just right!"

No matter how cute it was, and it was pretty damn cute, it prevented him from sleeping. It also appeared to have woken the baby albino fox as well. At the same time, The Forgemaster was thinking 'Rainbow's getting a pet? Ha! She probably caved to peer pressure…'

"I can't wait to get started, but first let me set a few rules

It's of utmost importance

The pet that I get

Is something that's awesome and cool!"

The Forgemaster, grumbling, did his best to block out the noise, and noticed the baby fox doing the same.

Fluttershy replied, "Awesome and cool? Got it!" she then sang.

"I have so many wonderful choices, just wait, you will see!"

The Forgemaster was holding his hands over his ears while crying anime tears, a little trick he picked up from Japan. The Forgemaster always thought that Japan became a little… weird… after World War II.

The baby fox was feeling much the same and ran over to The Forgemaster and buried his head into his gut while he lay there, to try and block out the noise and hopefully get some sleep. Come to think of it, The Forgemaster liked this little guy; he liked naps, for one thing, that's always good, and for another he as albino, can't get more interesting than that, and finally; he was a fox, foxes are always fun characters to have around.

"I need something real fast like a bullet to keep up with me!" Rainbow Dash sang.

'If Rainbow is going to keep making references like that, I don't mind teaching her about my homeland. That just reminded me of home.' The Forgemaster thought.

The little fox was snuggling into his stomach, growling quietly in contentment.

"Sure! How 'bout a bunny?

They're cutesy and wootsie and quick as can be!"

"Cutesy, wootsie? Have you even met me?" Rainbow asked.

'HAHA! That one was good.' He thought.

The fox had finally snuggled into him as close as it could get, and laid down on The Forgemaster with its bushy tail wrapped around his body.

"Rainbow, have faith

You see, I will bet you

Somewhere in here is the pet that will get you!"

'Do they plan these songs out or do they just rhyme completely randomly and it just happens to work out? Ugh, confound these ponies they drive me to confusion.'

The Forgemaster found himself scratching the ears of the young fox absentmindedly.

Fluttershy then flew away saying, "Come on, the sky is the limit!"

Rainbow followed, saying, "Sky is good, I'd like it to fly."

'I knew that before I even knew why you were here, Dashie.'

"Really?" Fluttershy reached into her home and withdrew a cat, "Because I think this widdle puddy tat has your name written all over it. Yes, he does." The cat cuddled up to Rainbow's cheek, "Aww, look, he likes you!"

Rainbow paused for an instant in thought before saying, "Pass."

The fox was having a grand old time having its ears scratched, and practically purred from the treatment.

Fluttershy skipped away, not the least bit concerned with Rainbow's constant refusals.

"I have so many wonderful choices for you to decide

There are otters and seals

With massive appeal!"

'I think Fluttershy is aiming in the completely wrong direction, hell if I knew Rainbow for 5 minutes I'd know what she might want as a pet, something fast, something agile, something with guts, something with style, something awesome, cool, radical, but above all: a loyal pet.'

Rainbow echoed his thoughts when she said, "Otters and seals do not fly."

Fluttershy replied, "Maybe not, but I've seen this particular seal catch 10 feet of air when he breaches the water."

The seal appeared to be happy in its achievement, and clapped its flippers together repeatedly.

Rainbow, obviously fed-up with the lack of 'awesome' animals, said, "That's it. I'm outta here."

The fox was done with the ear scratches, and climbed up The Forgemaster's arm and onto his head, before curling up and falling asleep there. Evidently, the fox had claimed him.

Fluttershy madly flew after her, singing.

"Wait! There must be a pet here

That will fit the ticket

How 'bout a ladybug, or a cute cricket? "

Rainbow replied, "Bigger, and cooler!" she then kicked away a tortoise that was a bit too close.

"Bigger, cooler. Right." Fluttershy replied, pushing Rainbow back towards the other animals.

"I've got just the thing in that tree, Dash

Meet your new fabulous pet, Squirrely!"

"It's just a squirrel." Rainbow replied.

'I bet it's a flying squirrel.' The Forgemaster thought.

Fluttershy picked up the squirrel, "Not just any squirrel." She flew up into the air and tossed the squirrel up, "A flying squirrel!" The squirrel glided around a few times before landing next to Rainbow silently.

Rainbow walked away, saying, "...Yeah. So, like I was saying..."

"Fluttershy, pal, this won't cut it

I need a pet to keep up with me

Something awesome, something flying

With coolness that defies gravity! "

Rainbow flew into the air, with Fluttershy following her, saying, "I'm sensing you want an animal that can fly."

"Ya think?" Rainbow sarcastically asked.

Fluttershy began to sing again.

"I have plenty of wonderful creatures who soar in the sky

Like a sweet hummingbird or a giant monarch butterfly!"

"Better, but cooler!" Dash emphasized.

The Forgemaster saw the tortoise's head retreat into its shell, and appear moments later with glasses on.

'Perhaps it wants to be Dashie's pet?' he thought.

"I see. How 'bout an owl, or a wasp, or a toucan?

There's so many wonderful creatures the likes of that

There are falcons and eagles

They are both quite regal

Or perhaps what you need is a dark and mysterious bat?"

"Now you're talking!" Rainbow looked around uncertainly, "But instead of just one standout, now that's too many.

"So many choices and such riches aplenty!"

"Not a bad problem to have, if you ask me." Fluttershy said.

'It's a problem when you can only take the one damn thing! Fucking ancients and their devious treasures… If Indiana was there, we probably could've made off with all of the loot, but n~o; I just get some crappy little golden spear.'

"The bat would be awesome, but the wasp I'm digging too

Do you have something in a yellow striped bat?"

"No." Fluttershy answered.

Fluttershy flew down to the ground with Rainbow right behind her.

"I've got a hot pink flamingo, just dying to meet you!"

"What to do, what to do? [gasp]

A prize! That's it! There's really just one way

To find out which animal's best

Hold a contest of speed, agility, and guts

That will put each pet to the test! "

'Oh shit, I sense some hard work for me in the near future. What Is it with these 6 mares and their constant need for various constructs that only I can provide?' The Forgemaster thought, grumbling to himself.

Fluttershy continued the duet.

"Don't forget style; that should be considered!"

"Then we'll know for sure who's best of the litter!"

"The one who is awesome and cool!"

"Just like me

Can't settle for less, 'cause I'm the best!"

"So a contest we will see!"

"Who's the number one, greatest, perfectest pet!"

"In the world for me!"

"May the games!"

"Begin!"

"And may the best pet win!" Rainbow finished.

There was silence for a few moments, raising The Forgemaster's hopes that they had stopped singing. His hopes were realized when Rainbow sped off into the distance, yelling his name.

He slowly stood up, moving carefully so as not to disturb his burden. He jumped off the house and landed with a loud 'Thump'. Fluttershy jumped in fright from the noise.

She turned around quickly to look at the source of the noise and visibly relaxed when she saw The Forgemaster, "Oh, you startled me…" she said.

"Hi Fluttershy, I wanted to adopt the little kit on my head, but I have a few questions for him first." He pointed at the small lump of white fur amongst his hair.

Fluttershy rose up into the air with her wings and looked down at the kit with a motherly smile on her face.

"Oh, him?" she asked, "I'm sure you'll be great for him, Forgemaster."

"He got a name?"

"No, he only arrived here a few days ago, I hoped that he would be adopted quickly and they would give him the name. If he had been here any longer I would've named him myself."

"Hmm… he got a story? Where are his parents?" he asked.

"Oh, his parents actually dropped him off here; they said that taking care of an albino baby in the forest would be too rough; he would be easy prey for any predator in the forest. So they decided to come by and gave him to me, they still visit every once in a while, actually, I'm sure they'll be happy knowing that their kit is being taken care of."

"Hmm… thank you, I'll ask him some questions now."

Fluttershy nodded and flew away to care of some of her other animals, before he woke the tiny kit he heard Fluttershy say to somepony, "Oh Ditzy, why are you in my chicken coop?"

The response was, "I'm sorry, but I have mail for you!"

Ignoring the others' conversation, he carefully picked up the kit and placed him on the ground in front of him with him sitting down too.

He gently prodded the fox awake; the sight of the kit awaking with an amusingly adorable yawn brought a tiny smile to his face.

"Greetings young one, I had some questions for you, if you don't mind."

The fox rubbed an eye with his paw, yawning again while nodding.

"I am willing to adopt you as my own, but first you have to meet a few criteria."

The fox barked once, affirming his agreement.

"What is the square root of 64?"

The fox blinked owlishly before barking again.

"A square root of a number is a number multiplied by itself to equal the original number. For instance, the square root of 36 is 6 because 6 times 6 is 36, do you understand?"

The kit nodded.

"Alright then, what is the square root of 81?"

A bark.

"Correct, you learn quickly don't you? Very well, let's try 289."

A moment's hesitation before another bark.

"Correct, but that's easy, how about 6595266.016?"

A second passed, and then another before a bark was heard.

"Hmm… you must truly be a genius, or perhaps a mathematical savant? Either way, that requirement is fulfilled: intelligence. Next question, how do you feel about genetic manipulation on you?"

A questioning bark.

"Well, perhaps give you wings, and maybe breath fire, use magic… there are a lot of things I could do."

A series of barks.

"Yes, but I would compensate for that, it isn't as big a problem as you might guess. I am hardly a foolish graduate student just out of school; I've been at this for many years now, I believe that I could do this with some time."

Another bark.

"Yes, wings, magic, fire-breath, greater regenerations on par with Jesus, perhaps a grater size: it's all possible, it's just a matter of whether or not you want to go through with it… come to think of it, I might as well give you an extended life-span, 10 or so years is hardly sufficient for a being of your intelligence. How old did you say you were? 4 months?"

A series of barks and growls.

"No I wasn't underestimating you because of your age. I must say, barks, growls, and yips are a much more efficient means of communication than speaking as I do." He thought for a moment, "And yes, I understand that you would develop both mentally and physically, at an accelerated rate because of your normal life-span."

The fox appeared to think for a few long moments, before finally giving an affirming nod and a yip.

The Forgemaster smiled, "Great! Well, then all you need is a name! How about Simba?"

A questioning yip.

"It means 'lion'."

A smile and another excited bark, followed by jumping in circles around The Forgemaster.

"I take it you're excited? Well, we better get back to my place, before Rainbow finds me and drags me off to make things for her."

A raised eyebrow was the fox's, Simba's, response.

"Hey, don't give me that look. Women are scary when they're pissed, and if I say no who do you think she is going to be pissed at? Trust me, when you get old enough and you start following your instincts like some sex-obsessed adolescent, you'll understand what I mean when I say that. Never piss of any female, it never ends well. Besides, it wouldn't do for me to have an unsteady hand during your operation now would it?"

Receiving a fearful shake of the head, The Forgemaster continued to walk towards his house.

Suddenly, out of the blue, The Forgemaster heard, "Fooooooooooooooorgey!"

And *Boom* something, probably Rainbow he realized, hit him square in the chest. He took an instant to collect his senses and look around at the suddenly off-kilter world around him. He was knocked flat on his back, Simba was sent flying into a nearby bush, and Rainbow stood on his chest.

"Hey Forgey, I need you to set up an obstacle course for some animals that I want to test to be my pet!"

"Do I have too?" he whined.

She glared down at him, "You know the answer to that. Now hop to it."

"Can it be incredibly dangerous and life-threatening?" he asked, hoping against hope.

"No!" she punctuated this remark with a stout hoof to the chest.

"Damn… Give me an hour or so."

"Fine, thanks Forgey!" she said while flying off into the distance from whence she came.

Simba came walking up to him, a confused expression on his tiny face.

"C'mon Simba, I guess your alterations will have to wait. Gotta go build a random obstacle course for a bunch of birds, I mean c'mon: they're birds! They can just fly around all this stuff. She's lucky I'm one of the richest men in Equestria, buying all this crap won't be cheap."

He spent the next hour buying and building an obstacle course for birds, of all things.

When Rainbow finally arrived with all of her prospective pets and the other 5 mares, the obstacle course was done and Simba was sleeping again.

The 'test' was announced thusly, "Agility!"

He watched as Rainbow flew alongside the pets and 'rate' their performance.

The monarch buttersly was given, "Sorta agile...

To the flamingo Rainbow said, "Not agile..."

A toucan was given, "Pretty agile..."

A bat, of all things, was given a rating of, "Could be more agile..."

He watched her fly down to the tortoise that was apparently competing; she said to the tortoise, "Wanna know the opposite of agility? That."

A hummingbird quickly zipped through the entire obstacle course, leaving The Forgemaster mumbling about the lack of deadly obstacles, all 5 of the observers cheering, and Rainbow to proclaim, "Yeah baby, now that's what I call agility!" Rainbow held out a hoof, "Don't leave me hangin'!"

When the hummingbird gave Rainbow a high… 1, er, wing, and fell to the ground, Rainbow said, "I'm gonna have to shave a point off your score for that."

He followed silently after the others when they followed Rainbow to the next challenge, he held baby Simba in his palm while walking.

Apparently, the next challenge or test or whatever you want to call it was of guts.

Rainbow set Opal's cage down and set a small mouse toy in front of it before opening the cage.

"Okay! Which of you has the guts to try and get Opal's favorite toy away from her?" Rainbow asked.

All of the animals were afraid, except for the monarch butterfly. Said butterfly just flew up, dazzled Opal with its wings, picked up the toy, and retreated back to Rainbow.

Rainbow proclaimed, "Now that takes guts!" when the toy was safely deposited in front of her.

The Forgemaster watched the tortoise sneak up behind the cage and try to push Opal's cage over her, it fail, and was immediately attacked by Opal.

The next challenge was style. Rainbow had a series of photo shoots with the various animals. He wasn't too sure which animal had won, but was sure it wasn't the tortoise.

When Rainbow was moving to the next area, The Forgemaster walked up and said, "Hey Rainbow, I noticed how you looked good in every outfit you tried on." Rainbow put her hear in the air and puffed her chest out proudly and was about to respond before The Forgemaster continued, "I especially liked how you looked in the vest with the owl and the slicked hair… you sure you're not an 'egghead'?"

Rainbow scared him away from the next few competitions, though he was happy to say that he had a hand, or rather, the only hand, in constructing the tortoise's extreme obstacle course.

A net, a guillotine, a flaming circle, a loop, a pool of sharks, and one bouncy platform and it was done. Not one of his more inspiring works, but certainly deadly; and that was all that mattered to The Forgemaster at the moment. It's been too long since he saw someone willingly dismember themselves, well… one that he also had a hand in.

After that, Rainbow had some words with the tortoise and announced that the next challenge would be a race through Ghastly Gorge against herself.

The entire group quickly mobilized and made it to the start of the gorge in seemingly record time.

While Rainbow was at the bottom of the gorge giving a pre-race pep talk to the animals, The Forgemaster thought it would be a grand idea to ask Pinkie for a few instruments and play Beethoven's 'Flight of the Valkyries'. He certainly appreciated the atmosphere the piece created during the race, but by the looks the others were giving him… it wasn't exactly shared by the others. He thought it was creeping them out, or at least unnerving them, therefore, bring the gentleman that he is, he continued playing.

Eventually, Rainbow started the race. With a flick of his fingers, The Forgemaster, Simba, and the rest of the gang and their pets were teleported to the end of the race, with him still playing.

Many, many minutes later, The Forgemaster suddenly narrowed his eyes and teleported away. The others were startled by his disappearance, but The Forgemaster could take care of himself.

Half-way through the gorge, The Forgemaster suddenly appeared in the midst of the aftermath of the landslide.

"Dashie, what happened!" he yelled out.

"Easy there, big guy, I'll be fine." Rainbow assured him from behind him.

He turned around to see Rainbow and the tortoise sitting next to a large boulder.

He noticed Rainbow's limp wing and asked again, "What happened."

She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Yeah, that's my bad. I may have caused a rockslide and my wings may have gotten trapped underneath a boulder, I think it's broken. The other animals flew off to finish the race, but then this little guy here came along and helped me out." She indicated the tortoise.

"Why didn't you use the 'help me' button on my necklace faster?" he asked.

Rainbow rubbed the necklace around her neck subconsciously, "Well, it fell off during the rock slide and it landed too far away for me to touch it! I called you as soon as I could."

The Forgemaster sighed, "Fine, let me bandage you up."

And he did so, expertly pinning the wing in place to prevent further damage.

"You know I could just heal you with magic, but then you wouldn't learn anything." He said as he wrapped her wing one more time with the roll of bandages.

She smiled at him, "I know. But I've got a race to finish!"

She tried to jog down the path towards the finish line but gasped and grimaced in pain before she made 3 steps.

"Oh, yeah, that's not gonna work." She said to herself.

The tortoise slowly walked up to Rainbow and gently lifted her onto his back and started to walk again, slowly however.

The Forgemaster watched them walk away slowly and called out, "I'll see you at the finish line Dashie! Maybe losing this race and not being able to fly for a little while will teach you to watch where you fly!"

He laughed as Rainbow told him to 'Buck off!'

He teleported himself back to the finish line where it appeared as though the falcon had just crossed the finish line.

The 5 mares currently watching were slowly becoming concerned at the absence of their friend.

Twilight summed it up best when she said, "Hmm, something's not right here.

She then magicked up some binoculars and looked through them.

Fluttershy butt in saying, "Where's Rainbow Dash?"

Then Applejack did the same saying, "Great galloping galoshes! There's been an avalanche in there!"

Spike cried out, "Rainbow!"

The others started chattering amongst themselves, clearly concerned for their friend.

Pinkie jumped to the front of the group and shouted, "Wait! Look!"

"It's the turtle!" Fluttershy said.

She was quickly corrected by the other saying, "Tortoise!"

Fluttershy then mumbled, "Whatever…"

Twilight then took the binoculars saying, "And he's carrying something on his back..."

Pinkie then gasped and began jumping and shouting, "Ahh! It's Rainbow Dash! It's her! It's Rainbow!"

The others cheered, which slowly slowed to a crawl… they seemed to be doing that a lot today…

Anyways, Fluttershy, noticing the speed or lack thereof, suggested to Twilight, "Maybe we'd better go meet him half way."

And then they do so with Twilight magically picking up the finish line and placing it directly in front of the tortoise and his burden.

The others quickly surrounded Rainbow and began cheering for her.

Spike ran up to the tortoise and said, "Huh. Way to go, little guy!"

Twilight, clearly not seeing Rainbow's bandages, said, "Oh, thank goodness you're not hurt, Rainbow!"

Rainbow replied, "Just my pride."

The Forgemaster snorted and said, "And a fracture to her carpus and metacarpus in her right wing, along with a split fracture to her alula, the digits themselves were shattered on impact, as they took the brunt of the boulder. Couple that with various bruises, lacerations, and a possible concussion from the whiplash of landing on the ground that hard… I'd say that Rainbow is not uninjured."

Twilight and Rainbow had the decency to look sheepish as Rarity said, "I certainly hope all of this dreadful dust was worth it!" Rarity then sneezed.

Rainbow cleaning herself of some of the dust had evidently caused the sensitive unicorn's allergies to act up.

"It sure was," Applejack said while rubbing Winona's head, "If'n it means Rainbow gets to have her own little critter just like the rest of us from now on."

Rainbow whispered something to the tortoise, evidently thanking it for services rendered.

Fluttershy spoke from the falcon's side, "Rainbow! Your new pet is over here waiting for you!"

Said pet took off from his position and flew over the group before landing on Rainbow's back.

While the others admired the falcon's aerial skills, Rainbow Dash sullenly said, "Oh... right... yeah. That."

Spike addressed the uncharacteristic tone, "What's the matter?"

"You got your perfect pet, right?" Pinkie interjected.

"The best of the best like you wanted, remember? It can fly and it's not a squirrel!" Fluttershy announced before thinking for a moment, "Should we sing about it again?"

"A falcon sure looks good on ya, Rainbow." Applejack noted.

Rarity set up a camera and took a picture of the new owner and pet combination, inadvertently startling the tortoise enough to send it into his shell.

Rainbow put a hoof to the shell and said, "Easy, fella. Nothing to be afraid of."

She then looked up at the falcon and said, "The falcon sure does looks cool... he's absolutely everything I wanted in a pet." She then sighed.

Fluttershy, confused about her friends actions said, "Yay?"

Rainbow suddenly brightened and said, "But I said whoever crosses the finish line with me gets to be my pet."

Pinkie enthusiastically jumped forward and said, "You did! You did say that! She did say that, that was the rule!"

"And the only racer who crossed the finish line with me, was the one who stopped to save me when I needed help. The tortoise!"

Rainbow then bumped noses with the tortoise, a significant pony sign of affection, while the falcon gave off a cry of sadness.

"But what about the-"Twilight started before noticing the falcon and the tortoise shaking convenient appendages.

The tortoise looked up at Rainbow after the flacon sadly walked away and slowly grew a grin, Applejack noticed this and said, "Wouldja look at that? He even smiles slow."

All of the ponies laughed at that, while The Forgemaster was getting rather impatient, as was Simba. The sooner the little guy becomes a flying, magical, fire-breathing fox, the better.

Rainbow then turned to Spike, "Spike, take a letter."

Spike obediently took out a scroll and a quill and began writing as Rainbow spoke.

"Dear Princess Celestia, I used to think that the most important traits to look for in a pet, or any best friend, were all physical competitive abilities. But now I can see how short-sighted and shallow that was."

The Forgemaster watched as the tortoise tricked Opalescence and stole the mouse toy.

"Today I learned what the most important quality really is. A certain kind of spirit. A stick-to-it-ive-ness. A never give up, can-do attitude that's the mark of a real winner. And this tortoise has it."

"Tenacity." Twilight supplied.

"Gesundheit." Rainbow excused her, "You just can't stop that little guy. He's like a... like a... Tank!"

The Forgemaster spoke, "What kind of tank?"

Tanks were a subject well covered in their late night discussions with Twilight, mainly because Rainbow thought it was 'awesome' but also because it was a fairly interesting piece of human history.

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin in thought, "Hmm… I think that he's a Tiger II! Slow, indomitable, and almost impossible to harm!" she said with a brilliant smile.

'Hmm… Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B… ignoring the whole 'completely unreliable' bit, it's accurate. Though I know for a fact that Rainbow detests, and that this tortoise isn't, an unreliable individual.' He thought.

"But Rainbow!" Fluttershy said, whispered, same thing, "You didn't want a pet that couldn't fly because it would keep you grounded and hold you back, remember?"

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin in thought once more, "Hmm…"

The Forgemaster broke her train of thought, "Alright, fine I'll do it." He bent over and picked up the tortoise, now dubbed 'Tank', and started to quickly walk away from the group, "We'll need to make you fly… shell too heavy for genetically introduced wings… perhaps a helicopter-type platform? Yes, yes, battery run… no, too bulky, wouldn't fly… so then… wired directly into his nervous system, controlled by thought and powered by food consumption? Yes, that would work; we would need an efficient catalyst though… Simba! Fetch some blank blue-print paper; we're going to have to plan this one out!"

The others stared after him and his ramblings, all of them with the same expression of 'what just happened' on their face.

1 week later, Pony Pet Play date

The other mares and their pets crested the hill and into the small field that was previously used for naps, but is now used for the weekly 'Pony Pet Play Date'. Though The Forgemaster complained about the name, saying that is was racist against humans, the others elected to ignore him and keep the name.

Rainbow went over the hill next with her week old pet 'Tank' right behind her, "Heh. C'mon, Tank! We're gonna be late for our very first Pony Pet Play date! You too Forgey! Simba!"

Immediately beside her, flying just as the other 2 were, was The Forgemaster and his genius, albino, flying, fire-breathing, magical kit Simba, the pride and joy of The Forgemaster.