A Head Full of Clay

by Squinty Mudmane

Chapter 14: A Matter of Trust

“Seems rather peaceful here, doesn’t it?” Scootaloo commented as Golem continued its steady march onwards. All three fillies were lying across the clay pony’s back, and while it was not exactly comfortable, it was a nice break from having to walk. Its back was curiously warm, which was a welcome change, too. Shortly after they had left town, Scootaloo had asked if they could ride on Golem’s back. She had mostly meant it as a joke, but surprisingly, the clay pony had actually stopped and knelt down until all three fillies had climbed onto its back.

“Yeah. Guess we’re pretty far away from most things out here,” Apple Bloom replied, watching a squirrel dart up a nearby tree with an armful of acorns, which it deposited in its home near the top of the tree.

The mist had all but evaporated, revealing the landscape in all its tranquil splendour. The grassy hills went on in every direction, sprinkled with trees and various bushy growths here and there. Sunny Hill lay behind them, and the faint silhouettes of other houses were visible far away. Silverpeak Mountain rose up further ahead of them, though it was still some distance away. Birds and the occasional pegasus passed overhead from time to time, though none of them seemed to pay the four ponies on the ground any attention.

“Hey, uhm, Golem?” Sweetie Belle asked their transport cautiously. “Did you really wait a thousand years in that room? Or the remains of the other golems did, I mean.”

“Yes,” came the short reply.

“And nopony else came by in all those years? Not a single one?”

“No. After the Architect left, no earth kin came by. Many passed by above, at first, but none could hear the Five’s cries for help. Then there was silence for a long time. There was one other, decades before the little earth kin came, but that one never got close enough to properly hear them.”

“Another ‘earth kin,’ huh?” Scootaloo looked at her friends. “You reckon that might’ve been Jitterleaf?”

“Seems likely, doesn’t it? Ah mean, he did go an’ find the tablet, which was right above the cellar an’ all,” Apple Bloom agreed.

Sweetie Belle nodded a bit. “Were they, uh, aware of time passing? I mean, a thousand years is a long time.”

“Their memories are my memories. I remember it. There was frustration, and even despair, but they were compelled to wait and remain aware.” The clay pony was quiet for a bit. “It is not something I want to experience myself.”

Scootaloo furrowed her brow. “Wait a minute, didn’t you make it very clear earlier that you don’t have things you want or don’t want?”

Golem stopped and became silent for several moments. Its head swiveled from side to side slowly before settling on something to the right. “Behold, a rock,” it said.

“Erh, what?” Apple Bloom followed the direction of the clay pony’s head, looking puzzled. There was indeed a moss-covered boulder a short distance away. “Oh, so there is. Good eye, Ah guess? Or, uhm, eye socket. Erh…”

Scootaloo looked at the two other fillies. “Is it lying to us?”

“I do not lie. There is a rock. Behold.”

“I know there’s a rock, you mud pile! I meant why you said something different about wanting things earlier.”

Golem was quiet again for a few moments before speaking. “Thinking of a name was distracting. I attempted to distract you from distracting me.”

“Why didn’t ya want us to give ya a name?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.

“Helping the Five comes ahead of myself. Once I have fulfilled their purpose for them, perhaps they can rest at last. The waiting was painful for them. Afterwards I can look for my own purpose.”

“Is it because you feel sorry for them?” Sweetie Belle asked quietly, looking at the clay pony carefully.

“If your kin were suffering, would you not want to help them too?” Golem replied, its head still turned towards the mossy boulder. The fillies exchanged glances.

“Still… you could’ve just told us you weren’t interested, and we’d have let it drop,” Scootaloo said in a slightly softer tone.

“Your kin are confusing. I know little of you. What the Five remember is that the Shaper made them but did not give them a purpose. Then the Architect came and destroyed them, taking away only the Sixth. The Shaper never returned,” Golem said.

“We, uh, think she was... destroyed, too. The Shaper, I mean,” Scootaloo muttered uncomfortably. Sweetie Belle winced slightly at the memory.

“Why?” the clay pony asked.

“That’s what we’re hopin’ to find out,” Apple Bloom said. “It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but maybe we’ll know more if we can find that last golem.”

“Yes. The Sixth must be found,” Golem agreed, beginning its purposeful walk towards Silverpeak Mountain again. Even though the clay pony had essentially just told them that it did not trust them, Scootaloo found it somewhat hard to blame it. Its predecessors getting blasted into rubble probably did not do much to give good first impressions of ponies in general.

“Do you think our letters have reached Ponyville yet?” Sweetie Belle asked after a few minutes, looking down at her front hooves and rubbing them together absently.

“Ain’t sure. Depends on how often they ship their mail in Sunny Hill, Ah guess. Ah reckon it’ll probably be a while still, so we’ll be plenty ahead by the time they hear from us,” Apple Bloom said with a little smile that did not quite reach her eyes.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow a bit. “You really don’t want them to find us, do you?”

“I…” Apple Bloom hesitated a bit before trailing off. She swallowed a bit, unable to meet Scootaloo’s gaze.

“I miss Rarity,” Sweetie Belle muttered to no one in particular. “And I miss Mom and Dad and my bed and Mister Paws, too, but mostly I miss Rarity. I hope she’s not too upset with me.”

“Apple Bloom… do you really still think we’re going to find our Cutie Marks through this?” Scootaloo asked, looking at the earth filly carefully. “And be honest with me here,” she added before her friend could reply.

Apple Bloom paused with her mouth half open. She looked from Scootaloo to Sweetie Belle, who was still staring at her own hooves. She bit her lip for a moment and swallowed, shaking her head slightly.

“No. Ah don’t. Ah reckon Ah kinda stopped believin’ that a while ago, actually, but Ah just didn’t wanna admit it,” she confessed. Both her friends looked up at her.

“What? Why didn’t you say anything?” Sweetie Belle blurted, gaping at her. “We went ahead with this because you wanted to!”

“Ah know! An’ Ah’m sorry, Ah really, really believed in it, too, but… then we found that cellar an’ all the bad stuff within it, an’ now Ah feel responsible for helpin’ Golem, because we made it come to life an’ all. An’ Ah didn’t want to look like Ah’d given up when Ah was the one that brought y’all along for this in the first place.” Apple Bloom looked from one face to the other with a pleading expression. She took a deep breath and looked down for a moment.

“Also… Ah’m kinda scared to go back now without somethin’, anythin’ to show for it. Ah had to lie to Applejack too, even though Ah told mahself it wasn’t really lyin’, but it was, an’ Ah feel awful about it. Ya don’t lie to yer own sister like that, ya just don’t!”

“Or to your friends,” Scootaloo muttered. Apple Bloom let out a little whimper.

“Ah’m sorry—”

“You should have told us right away.” Sweetie Belle glared reproachfully at Apple Bloom, who shrank back somewhat beneath the look. She let her friend stew in it for a few moments, before continuing in a softer voice. “Still, I kind of get what you’re saying. We’ve already gone this far, and I want to help Golem out as well.”

“Me too,” Scootaloo affirmed. “Even if you are a numbskull, AB.”

“Thank you,” the clay pony said.

“Just keep walking.”

Apple Bloom gave her friends a careful smile. “Thanks, girls. Ah promise Ah’ll take this on me when we get back an’ tell the others.”

Scootaloo was about to come with another slightly teasing remark when she saw a flash of colour at the edge of her vision. She looked up and did a double take as she saw a rainbow-streaked projectile shoot through the sky. It suddenly froze mid-air, then changed direction and came straight towards them. Rainbow Dash pulled to a breakneck halt just before she would have slammed into the ground, hovering in front of the clay pony and three fillies.

“Well, that was quicker than I expected,” Sweetie Belle muttered.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?” Scootaloo blurted, looking at the pegasus with wide eyes. She looked only slightly winded from the flight, despite the speed at which she had just flown.

“Looking for you three, of course! What else?” Dash replied. Golem, unperturbed by the pegasus that had just appeared in front of it, continued walking and pushed past her. “Hey! Stop!” she barked at the clay pony, flying in front of it again, which Golem once again seemed supremely unconcerned by.

“Rainbow—” Scootaloo began.

“I’m warning you! Another step, and I’m bucking you right in your stupid face!” Dash snarled at Golem. When the clay pony showed no sign of stopping, she turned around and kicked it forcefully in the head with a dull, wet thud. Golem stopped, a pair of hoof-shaped indentions left in its face from the impact. After a moment, the clay reshaped itself, reverting to the previous featureless face, and the clay pony resumed walking, leaving the pegasus gaping slightly.

“Golem, please stop,” Sweetie Belle said urgently to their companion. Golem halted midstep and became still. Rainbow Dash, still shooting the clay pony a suspicious glare, landed next to it and faced the three fillies on its back.

“How did you find us?” Scootaloo asked, still confused about the sudden appearance of the blue pegasus. She felt elated and appalled in equal measure.

“Well, you did tell us in your letters where you were. I’ve been flying all over this place looking for you.” Strangely, Dash seemed to avoid looking at Scootaloo, instead focusing her attention on Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

“They know already?” Apple Bloom asked in a slightly panicky voice.

“Are they very upset?” Sweetie Belle’s voice was little more than a whisper.

“Well, yeah. We’re all worried. You did sort of, you know, leave without saying a word to anypony,” Dash replied, furrowing her brow. “What were you thinking, exactly? And what’s with that… thing?” She gestured at Golem with her right hoof.

“It’s complicated. We’re tryin’ to help it find out what happened to the rest of its kin,” Apple Bloom said, wringing her hooves nervously. “Uhm… Applejack isn’t… too mad, is she?”

“She looked like she was going to bite somepony’s head off. You’re probably in for an earful when you get back,” Dash replied bluntly, eliciting a nervous gulp from Apple Bloom.

“And Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked, already dreading the answer.

“Crying and yelling a lot,” Dash said in a spectacular display of social skills. Sweetie Belle whimpered and curled up on Golem’s back. Dash looked at the two clearly uncomfortable fillies with mild confusion. “Well, you did ask,” she murmured defensively. She glanced over at Scootaloo, pawing a bit at the ground with a hoof.

“Hey, uh, Scootaloo? Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Scootaloo looked at her warily. There was something rather un-Rainbow Dash about seeing her idol be nervous like this. “What about?”

“It’s, uh… Think we could maybe talk about it somewhere else? Like over at that tree?” Dash nodded towards a tree on a nearby hilltop, rubbing her right foreleg nervously. Scootaloo glanced briefly at her two friends, who still looked decidedly uncomfortable at the unwelcome news Rainbow Dash had given them.

“Yeah. Okay, sure,” she said with a little shrug. “Just be quick about it.” Before she could say anything else or start to climb off Golem’s back, Rainbow Dash tipped Scootaloo off the clay pony with a wing, causing her to land on the blue pegasus’ back. Scootaloo barely had time to let out a yelp of surprise before Dash took off towards the tree like a bullet. The older mare held Scootaloo’s front legs in a firm grip with her own to make sure she did not fall off during the flight, only letting go once she had landed safely on the ground.

Scootaloo became acutely aware of how fast her own heart was beating, and it was not just from the brief but intense flight. She slid off Dash’s back and dropped onto her hooves, looking up at the other pegasus with a mixture of anticipation and dread. It was the first time she had ever seen Rainbow Dash look so decidedly uncomfortable.

“So, uh—” Scootaloo began after mustering her courage.

“I saw your picture wall!” Dash blurted in a slightly frantic voice. “I went to your house to talk to you, and the door was unlocked! I didn’t mean to go snooping around or anything, it’s not like I make a habit of that—except for that one time where I didn’t get to finish my Daring Do novel before being kicked out of the hospital—and I saw the pictures and stuff you kept in your room,” she continued. “And then I saw the article about your mom, and then your dad appeared like some sort of three-legged ninja pony, and, uh…” She finally slowed down when she noticed the somewhat slack-jawed look on Scootaloo’s face.

“You… saw it? All of it?” The filly felt panic creeping on as she digested Dash’s words. “You weren’t supposed to see any of that!”

“I know, but I did, and I’m sorry! But not for that! I mean, not for reading about your mom! No, wait! I mean, I am sorry about that, really, really sorry, but that’s not what I meant!” Dash rambled on desperately. “I’m sorry for having been such a jerk towards you. It wasn’t intentional, I swear, but Fluttershy helped me realize how I’ve been acting, and—”

“Uh, Rainbow? You might want to remember to breathe.”

Dash took several deep breaths and closed her eyes for a moment. Scootaloo found herself rooted to the spot, still reeling from the barrage of words and the implications of them.

“Right, so here’s the thing,” Dash said in a voice closer resembling her usual self-confident tone. “I know you really look up to me and all that. And I can understand why. I mean, hey, look at me. But I really haven’t treated you as well as I should, and I’m sorry for that. It’s something I want to make up for, if you’ll give me the chance.”

The older pegasus hesitated for just a moment before continuing. “I also want you to know that the admiration goes both ways; I really like you as well. You’ve got a lot of guts and fire, just like me, and you’re pretty hardcore on that scooter of yours. What I mean to say is, I guess you’re kind of like a little sister to me. I guess the only problem is that I’ve never had a little sister before, so I’ve probably not been doing a very good job at it.”

Scootaloo realized after a few moments that she was gaping at Rainbow Dash. She quickly closed her mouth and tried to get her brain to process what she had just heard. A sister?

“Are you serious?” she finally asked, looking at Rainbow Dash incredulously.

“Well, uh… yeah?” Dash replied with a somewhat uncertain smile. “You don’t really believe me, do you?” she asked, her expression falling somewhat.

She’s lying! She’s just trying to worm her way back into your good graces!

Scootaloo took the nagging voice and sealed it inside a soundproof box, before throwing said box out the figurative window.

“Yes, I do. I think I do, at least. I mean, it’s just… a bit much to wrap my head around right now, I guess.” Scootaloo shook her head a bit. She was still trying to come over the unpleasant surprise that Dash suddenly knew that Scootaloo kept an entire wall dedicated to the blue pegasus, not to mention that which was beneath all the photos and articles.

Dash’s posture deflated somewhat. “I guess this isn’t just something that can be fixed with a few words, huh?”

“There’s just a lot else still going on,” Scootaloo replied, glancing over to her two friends atop the immobile clay pony. Even from this distance, she could see that they both looked defeated and miserable. “I mean, Apple Bloom is terrified of going home, because she’s afraid of what Applejack is going to say, and I guess it’s the same for Sweetie Belle. Uh, speaking of which, my dad isn’t too upset about all this, is he?” she asked, feeling a pang of anxiety. She was pretty sure her father would not freak out in a way that somepony like Rarity would, but it still gnawed at her.

“He seemed sort of okay with it, at least after I promised him I’d go look for you.”

“Oh, good. That’s what I hoped.”

“They have to come back eventually, you know,” Dash pointed out with a nod towards the other Crusaders.

“I know, but Apple Bloom really wants something to show for all this. Something that proves it wasn’t just a wild goose chase.”

“Well, what about bringing back that walking pile of mud? That seems like pretty solid evidence,” Dash suggested, not unreasonably.

“I don’t think that’d work. It kind of has a mind of its own. Besides, I think we’re getting close to whatever it is it wants to find. That mountain over there,” Scootaloo said with a nod towards Silverpeak.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head a bit. “Well, that’s nice and all, but I kind of told Applejack and the others I’d bring you all back, so I can’t really come back without you.”

Scootaloo thought for a moment. It would be awful to ask the Element of Loyalty to choose between whom to support, but still…

“What exactly did you tell them you were going to do? Look for us, or bring us back?” she inquired. The other pegasus looked a bit puzzled.

“Well, uh… As far as I can remember, I promised I would find you,” she replied.

“Just find us?”

“Bringing you back after finding you sort of goes without saying.”

“But does it? Does it really?” Scootaloo pressed. She would not normally resort to this kind of word distortion, but this seemed like an emergency. “How about if you went back, told them you found us so they wouldn’t worry as much, then came back to keep an eye on us until we finished this? Then everypony would be happy.”

“I don’t know…” Dash said hesitantly, looking at Scootaloo uncertainly, clearly feeling torn on the matter.

“Please, Rainbow? It’d mean a lot to us. And to me,” the filly pleaded. Dash looked about to protest, then sagged slightly in her shoulders.

“Oh, all right,” she relented. “I’ll tell them, but afterwards I’m going to be on you like an eagle with a telescope until you’re done, got it?”

Scootaloo nodded in affirmation. “Got it! Thanks, Rainbow.”

“Might wanna hold the thanks for now. I haven’t tried breaking the news to Applejack or Rarity yet,” Dash muttered.

“Just try. And if they don’t accept it, well… I’ll know you tried your best anyway,” Scootaloo said with a little smile.

Dash knelt down to allow Scootaloo to climb onto her back again. “You sure this is the right thing to do? I mean, I don’t think drawing out your return is going to help anypony.”

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo admitted as she climbed on. “I hope it is, at least.” Dash stood up and unfurled her wings in preparation. Scootaloo swallowed a bit and took a deep breath.

“Hey, uh, Rainbow?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you really see me as your little sister?”

Dash looked over her shoulder at Scootaloo and smiled warmly at her.

“Yeah… I do.”

Scootaloo leaned forward and wrapped her forelegs around Dash’s neck, hugging her tightly and burying her face in the rainbow-coloured mane for a moment.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

---

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both looked up as Rainbow Dash touched down next to Golem.

“Are ya gonna take us back now?” Apple Bloom asked quietly.

“Nope,” Dash said as Scootaloo jumped off her back. She straightened up and flapped her wings a few times as the two fillies looked at her in confusion.

“What? But Ah thought ya said—”

“Rainbow Dash agreed to let us finish our trip as long as she can keep an eye on us the rest of the way,” Scootaloo explained.

“I’m going to tell your sisters that I’ll follow you around. Maybe that’ll be good enough for them. If not, expect to see Applejack and Rarity come running soon while trailing a blaze of fire,” Dash said. “I’m joking. Mostly,” she added after seeing the expressions of the two younger sisters.

“If they’re okay with letting us go through with this, can’t we just wait for Rarity and Applejack to come with us too?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Then we can go together, like we perhaps should have done in the first place.” She gave Apple Bloom an ever so slightly reproachful look.

“That’s all assuming they agree to this,” Dash pointed out. “If they refuse, I’ll have to take you back, and there won’t be any discussing it then.”

“Still, you’re goin’ to let us try?” Apple Bloom asked, brightening up almost instantly. “We promise we’ll come along without any fuss if they say no!”

“I’ll give it a shot, but don’t expect miracles.”

The farmfilly nodded in understanding. “We’ll be headin’ towards that there mountain over yonder, then. It seems to be where Golem wants to go. We’ll wait for ya at the foot of it.”

“If you can get that far before I’m back. Now that I know where to go, getting back here shouldn’t take too long,” Dash said. She looked over at Scootaloo and gave her a little grin. “After all, I am both the best and the fastest flier in Equestria.”

Scootaloo was unable to keep a big, dumb grin from spreading across her face, but she did not care. Whatever the reply to Rainbow Dash’s suggestion would be, Scootaloo felt that she had already gotten something far more valuable than anything they could possibly find with the help of the clay pony. For that reason alone, she was happy to continue.

“Right, I’ll be back before you know it,” Dash said, spreading her wings. “See you when I see you!” With that, the blue pegasus took off and zoomed back the way she had come, towards home. Golem knelt down to let Scootaloo take her place next to her two friends. Apple Bloom had perked up again, and even Sweetie Belle seemed mollified, most likely bolstered by the knowledge that she would soon see her sister again, regardless of the potential storm she would have to face upon her return.

Scootaloo had barely climbed onto Golem’s back before the clay pony suddenly and without warning began to gallop towards the mountain at an astonishing speed. The three fillies could barely hang on, clinging themselves to Golem’s back for their dear life.

“Golem, what are you doing?!” Sweetie Belle squeaked in a panicky voice.

“The earth kin must not be taken away!” Golem replied, and for the first time, its flat monotone was coloured by a trace of urgency, even fear. “I cannot allow it. The Sixth must be found first.”

The three fillies were too focused on simply trying to hold on to say anything else. The great mountain grew ever larger as the frenzied golem carried them forward at a reckless speed.

---

Everyone was still assembled in the library when Rainbow Dash returned, gently nudging open the abused front door. Applejack was pacing restlessly while Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy were sitting on the floor. Spike and Pinkie Pie were nowhere to be seen, but a clattering of metal from the kitchen hinted at their presence.

“…Just finished sending a letter to Princess Celestia. Normally I wouldn’t bother her unless it’s strictly important, but I felt it would be beneficial for us to know as much as possible about golems and this Tincoat figure,” Twilight told her friends. She paused and looked up as Dash entered the library and closed the door behind her. “Oh, back already, Rainbow? That was quick. Did you manage to find them? Are they really travelling with an actual golem?”

Dash nodded in affirmation. “Yeah, I did,” she said. “And yes, they are,” she added for Twilight’s benefit.

“So, where are they at?” Applejack demanded. “Unless ya carried all three of ’em back here, there better be a good reason why you’re here alone.”

Rainbow Dash let out an inward groan. The earth pony did not seem any less on edge than when Dash had left. She was like a powder keg just waiting to explode. Still, there was only one way to go about this.

“I talked with Scootaloo, and we agreed that I’d let them finish up whatever it is they were doing, provided I am there to keep an eye on them. I’m just here to let you know and get your approval for it.”

Complete silence fell over the library, even the kitchen, where Pinkie Pie and Spike eventually poked their heads out. “You did what?” Rarity finally asked, rising from the floor, but Applejack was already in front of Rainbow Dash, her muzzle pressed against the pegasus while glaring at her.

“Ya did not just say what Ah think ya said,” Applejack hissed. Dash did her best not to budge before the farmpony, looking back directly at Applejack while doing her best to stay calm.

“I said I’d find them. I did. Now just give me the all clear and I’ll go back and escort them the rest of the way,” she replied carefully.

“Ah only waited around here twiddlin’ mah hooves ’cause ya said ya were gonna find ’em. Now Ah’m supposed ta sit on mah rump for Celestia knows how long so they can finish runnin’ around with some freaky mud pony?” Applejack snarled, pacing again, her voice rising in volume.

“I already said I’ll be looking out for them.”

Applejack whirled around, looking furious. “No! Sod that! Ah’m gonna go get them mahself, even if Ah have ta drag ’em back by their tails!” she snapped.

“Applejack, I looked at the map, and even if you gallop all the way, it’ll take you almost a day, perhaps even more to get there by hoof. It’s on the other side of the Everfree Forest,” Twilight interjected in an attempt to reason with the earth pony.

“Then Ah’ll plow straight through the darn Everfree Forest!” Applejack yelled, heading for the door. “Ah’m gettin’ mah sister back, an’ Ah’m gettin’ her back now!”

“And I’m coming with you,” Rarity declared, moving over to join Applejack.

“AJ, wait!” Dash called after the earth pony, but she had already opened the door and was about to storm out. Unfortunately for her, she found her path blocked by a tall, dark mare, wings unfurled, a long slender horn cresting from her forehead, and an ethereal mane like a piece of the starry night sky dancing around her. Applejack and Rarity both stumbled back from the doorway, their expressions of utter bewilderment mirroring that of their friends.

“Element Bearers,” Princess Luna said by way of greeting. “We must speak.”

Comments

[Learn for Life]

The quality on this is still strong. I especially like how Golem's getting some empathetic qualities about it. The conflicts between the crusaders, and the conflicts between the Element Bearers, was also nice. Keep it up!

[arcane drain]

Loving this I love how Golem is getting some more emotions/humanistic traits (ponyistic?). Keep up the good work!

[hawthornbunny]

Oh my gosh Luna. This just keeps getting better and better.

[Puzzle Reader]

Aww, it's always nice seeing some Scootalove, especially where Scootaloo doesn't have an abusive home life.
I have also discovered that I really like seeing Pinkie be a mediator between her friends, WITHOUT throwing a party. It's pretty rare.