A Head Full of Clay

by Squinty Mudmane

Chapter 15: Silverpeak Mountain

Rarity was the first pony in the room to recover her wits. “Princess Luna! What an honour it is to see you, your Highness!” The unicorn knelt down reverently. Her other friends immediately following suit, everyone except Applejack, who settled for a respectful nod of her head before fixing the Princess with an even look.

“Beggin’ yer pardon, yer Majesty, but could ya move outta the way? You’re blockin’ the door.”

Rarity let out a spluttering sound, while Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all looked at the farmpony with wide eyes. Only Pinkie Pie seemed unaffected, looking at Princess Luna with her head slightly tilted.

“She kind of is,” the pink earth pony agreed after a moment.

“Pinkie!” Twilight hissed at her between her teeth, before stepping forward and bowing before the Princess again for good measure.

“I’m so sorry, Princess Luna, but we’re all a little on edge here, as you can probably tell.” She let out a nervous giggle, glancing up at the imposing figure. Luna, for her part, had barely moved a muscle in her face since she appeared, her expression one of carefully molded neutrality, the only indication of her mood being a slight elevation of her right eyebrow. Twilight gulped a bit before continuing. “I mean no disrespect by this, but, uhm… what are you doing here? N-not that you aren’t welcome, or free to go wherever you please!” she stammered quickly. “Our homes are always open, and we’re thrilled to see you, but… the letter I sent was addressed to Princess Celestia, I mean, to your sister, and, uh…” Her voice trailed off, wilting slightly under the scrutiny of the Princess’ stare.

“I am aware of that, Twilight Sparkle, but my sister cannot simply drop everything in her hooves to come whenever you ask her to,” Luna said in a calm, melodious voice. “She has many other duties to attend to during the day, whereas I am not confined to one place at this time in order to perform my role.”

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t presume to—”

“Besides, given the nature of the subject, my sister and I both agreed that it was more prudent for me to look into this matter, rather than her.”

“If ya got somethin’ ta say, then could ya get to it? Ah got a sister ta find,” Applejack snapped impatiently. Rarity made a sound as if she had just swallowed her tongue. Luna turned her gaze to the farmpony, and for the first time, her voice betrayed a hint of annoyance.

“I am forever grateful for what you and your friends have done for me and for all of Equestria, Applejack, make no mistake. That is why I request that you treat me with the respect you might show another guest.”

Applejack blinked in surprise, her mouth half-open to reply, before lowering her eyes and scuffing a hoof at the floor, seeming suitably humbled. “Sorry, Princess. Ah really ain’t at mah best right now,” she muttered. Pinkie Pie bounced over to give the farmpony an affectionate hug. Meanwhile, Rarity seemed to have recovered from the shock of violated protocol.

“What Applejack is trying to say, your Highness,” the unicorn began, shooting Applejack a slightly reproachful look, “is that our siblings are missing and that we were on our way to find them when you graced us with your presence. Supposedly they are in the company of this... golem… thing, which I believe Twilight mentioned in her letter.”

“I could infer a certain amount of distress from the letter, yes,” Luna confirmed, inclining her head slightly towards Rarity. “Tell me exactly what happened. Perhaps then I may be able to help.”

Between the six of them, they were able to give the Princess a detailed, if somewhat jumbled account of the events of the past few days. Luna listened intently to the descriptions, her calm expression turning into a frown of perturbation when Applejack told her about the journal that Apple Bloom had been hiding in her bag upon her return from Canterlot.

“Most curious,” Luna said. “I did not know such a book was kept in the Royal Archives, and I do not believe my sister knew either. If she did, she would have told me. I am going to have words with the head archivist about this.”

“Wait, you don’t know? What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked incredulously, forgetting her awe for a moment. Luna turned her head to regard the unicorn.

“I mean exactly what I said, Twilight Sparkle. Neither of us was aware of the existence of this journal, which means somepony has omitted telling us about it. But we shall deal with that later. Continue for now.”

“There is little left to tell, I’m afraid. We all came here when we received letters from our sisters about what had happened, and Rainbow Dash went to find them,” Rarity said with a nod towards the pegasus in question.

“And I did find them,” Dash replied somewhat defensively. “I talked to them, and we agreed that I’d escort them back as soon as you allowed them to finish whatever it is they’re doing.”

“You found them, then? Were they truly in the company of a golem?” Luna asked, turning towards Dash. The pegasus shifted a bit, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under the full attention of the Princess. She gave a little shrug.

“Well… yeah, I guess. Either that, or it was the dirtiest pony in Equestria. We agreed that they’d wait near the foot of some big mountain.”

“Silverpeak Mountain,” Spike chimed in helpfully after checking the map still sprawled on the floor.

“Silverpeak,” Luna echoed thoughtfully. She was quiet for a bit before nodding a bit. “Of course. I know where it is. I can take us there.”

“Forgive me, Princess, but you still have not told us how you figure into all this,” Twilight said hesitantly. “I mean no disrespect, but—”

“I will tell you soon enough. Right now, though, I believe it is more pressing to go and find your missing sisters right away, is it not?” Luna asked, tilting her head meaningfully towards Rarity and as well as the impatient-looking Applejack, the former doing a slightly better job at masking her restlessness.

“Pressin’ is the word, yeah,” Applejack muttered.

“Uhm, how will you get us there, your Highness?” Fluttershy asked timidly. “Twilight said teleportation is too dangerous if you don’t know exactly where to go.”

“Yeah, Twilight said that if the teleporting goes willy-nilly, it might turn us all into rocks!” Pinkie Pie said, flailing her hooves wildly.

“I said you might appear inside a—”

“And being a rock is probably not fun at all! I’ve talked to a lot of rocks in my time, and most of them tend to be all stone-faced, if you know what I mean, even when I tell my best jokes, so pretty please, can you not turn us all into rocks?” She looked up at the Princess imploringly.

Luna nodded, seemingly unfazed by the barrage of Pinkie-logic. “It is true, blind teleportation is risky, and the landscape has likely changed in the thousand years since I was last there. However, somepony else in here might know what it looks like.”

All eyes in the room fell on Rainbow Dash, who once again found the undivided attention less thrilling than normal. “What? Me? Do I have to describe what I saw or something?” she asked, glancing around nervously.

“That will not be necessary,” Luna replied, stepping close to the pegasus and lowering her head slowly. “Just try to relax. This will not hurt, but it may be disconcerting.”

Rainbow Dash was about to demand an explanation for this somewhat ominous statement, but the moment Princess Luna’s horn touched her forehead, she felt as if she was plunged into herself. A rush of memories and emotions flooded to the forefront of her senses, as vivid and bright as if she were experiencing them all over again. One particular image stood out clearly, one of a blue rainbow-maned pegasus grinning widely like an idiot while a smaller orange pegasus filly on her back was hugging her tightly, beaming like a little sun from sheer happiness. They stood on a little hill crowned by a mighty oak tree, surrounded by fields of green. A rush of warm feelings flooded to the forefront of Dash’s consciousness at the memory, along with a nagging sense that her innermost self was laid wide open like a Daring Do novel for the Princess to read.

As suddenly as it had begun, the flood of images disappeared, and Rainbow Dash found herself once again in the library, looking up into the ageless eyes of Princess Luna. The pegasus felt a flush of embarrassment, but if the Princess was inclined to make fun of Dash for what she had seen, she showed no indication of it. Instead, Luna just gave Dash the barest hint of a smile, before raising her head again and turned around.

“Very good. Come closer, if you please. We shall leave right away.”

Everyone else moved towards Luna and Rainbow Dash; Applejack and Rarity wore expressions of determination, Twilight and Pinkie Pie looked excited at the prospect, though likely for different reasons, Fluttershy’s face was etched with worry and trepidation, and Spike was brandishing a rolled-up comic book like an improvised and highly ineffective club. Luna closed her eyes, wispy shadows enveloping them and shrouding everything in a thick blackness. An instant later, the shadows melted away, and Rainbow Dash found herself back at the hilltop tree, with Silverpeak Mountain rising majestically a short distance away. She shook her head a bit, trying to clear out the persistent faint ringing and pressure in her ears.

“Amazing, Princess! What spell did you use to get such a precise image of where to go?” Twilight asked in her ever-curious voice. Pinkie Pie was cheerfully bouncing around in little circles, chattering away about how fantastic it was not to have been turned into a rock after all.

Applejack adjusted her hat a bit and looked over at Rainbow Dash. “Foot o’ the mountain, ya said?” she asked. Dash barely had time to nod before the farmpony galloped away as fast as her legs could carry her.

“Well, no sense in just standing around,” Rarity said, before taking off after Applejack with a speed that surprised Dash. The others followed suit, with Spike hitching a ride atop Twilight’s back. Luna effortlessly kept up with them on wing, while Fluttershy seemed to be opting for running instead. Rainbow Dash shook her head a bit before zooming ahead to catch up with Applejack. It seemed like it might be necessary to try and rein the farmpony in a bit if she got to the fillies first.

---

Sweetie Belle felt reasonably certain that the sign they had passed a short while ago at the foot of the mountain path they were now ascending had said something about a mining operation being closed indefinitely until further notice. She also felt reasonably certain that they were all going to die at any given moment if Golem continued its insane reckless pace up the mountain. Several times she had heard the sound of stones dislodging, and every time she had expected them to tumble head over hoof down the mountainside.

“Golem! Ah order ya to stop, right now!” she heard Apple Bloom yell. Her legs were tensing and cramping from her desperate grasp on the clay pony’s back.

“No.”

“No? Ya can’t just say no!”

“Look out!” Scootaloo cried, moments before Sweetie Belle saw a gap where the path had partially collapsed. A moment later and they were sailing through the air as Golem leapt to the other side, barely slowing down upon landing. The clay pony suddenly veered off to the left, up a smaller path diverging from the main one, which led them into a crevice in the mountain. The pathway terminated in a gaping hole in the cliffside, framed by weathered woodwork, which formed a crude roof above the entrance into the mountain. The entrance itself was sealed off by a number of crossed planks hammered into the wooden pillars surrounding it. There was a sign as well, but the text was too small to make out. More worryingly, Golem was not showing any indication of slowing down.

“Golem!” Apple Bloom cried out. “The way is blocked! What are ya doin’?!”

“Golem!” Scootaloo repeated with rising panic.

“Stop!” Sweetie Belle shrieked just before they smashed straight through the boarded-up entrance, the wood splintering with a resounding crash. The clay pony’s reckless charge carried them into the dark tunnel before it finally began to slow down, eventually pulling to a complete halt. Golem knelt down, and it took a moment for the three shivering fillies atop its back to realize that it intended for them to climb down.

“I’m sorry,” it said. In the dim light creeping in from the entrance, Sweetie Belle could see that it had turned its head to look at them, its featureless visage failing to convey the sincerity that it somehow managed to project into its monotone voice. Apple Bloom was the first to jump off its back, stomping up to the clay pony’s front and glaring up at it.

“What was that all about? We already promised we were gonna help ya, an’ then ya go runnin’ off like some crazy pony!” she yelled. The perpetual bow in her hair appeared to have fallen off at some point during the wild ride.

“I’m sorry,” Golem repeated more emphatically. “I was…” There was a long pause. Scootaloo moved over to join Apple Bloom.

“Well?” the pegasus filly demanded.

“I was afraid,” the clay pony concluded.

“Afraid of what?” Apple Bloom asked in a slightly softer voice. “We already said we were gonna finish this.”

Golem was quiet for several more moments, turning its head from side to side before looking back at the fillies. “The larger winged one said you might have to go back,” it replied eventually. “And you agreed to do so if your kin demanded it. Then I would not have been able to continue. I could not think clearly. Running seemed to be the only option.”

“Great, and here I thought you were all calm and no-feely,” Scootaloo retorted. “Look, try and keep yourself from panicking, all right? We’re doing this, we just have to go and meet up with Rainbow Dash first.”

There was a groaning noise from the entrance, the sound of old wooden support beams on their last legs.

“Uhm, girls?” Sweetie Belle began in a quivering voice. “I think—”

She was interrupted when the supporting framework of the entrance collapsed, followed almost immediately by several tons of rock, completely blocking off all outside light, and more importantly, the entrance itself.

“—I think the entrance is getting unstable,” the unicorn filly finished meekly after the din had died down.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Scootaloo all but yelled, rushing over to the piles of rocks sealing them in. She began to pound the nearest boulder fiercely with her hooves. “No, no, no! Help me move these, come on!” she cried over her shoulder at the others. Apple Bloom obligingly began to fruitlessly shove her shoulder against another boulder, while Golem remained where it was, merely staring at the rock pile. It took them all a moment to realize that the tunnel was not, in fact, shrouded in complete blackness despite the collapse of the entrance, but was instead sparsely illuminated by a faint white light. It took them a further moment to realize where the light stemmed from.

“Wait a second… Sweetie Belle, your horn!” Apple Bloom pointed a hoof at the bewildered unicorn. Thin, wispy tendrils, all but invisible except for the glow they cast, coiled from the tip of Sweetie Belle’s horn and down the tunnel, giving off just enough light to paint out the contours of the walls.

“Oh no, not again,” Sweetie Belle groaned with dread, staring wide-eyed at the coiling threads. She turned towards her fellow Crusaders, her breathing coming in panicky short bursts. “It’s just like in the cellar! It’s happening again! The ghosts are gonna come back!”

Apple Bloom jumped over to her hyperventilating friend and gave her a reassuring hug. “Whoah, easy, easy! They can’t hurt us, remember? They were just… echoes or somethin’.”

“I know, but that doesn’t make them less scary. I don’t want them to reappear! I don’t want to make them reappear!” Sweetie Belle sniffled, squeezing her eyes shut while leaning against Apple Bloom.

“Can’t you just… not do your magic? Or whatever it is you’re doing,” Scootaloo suggested, giving up on trying to dislodge the heavy boulders and moving over to join her two friends.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “I can’t control it. I don’t even know what it is. It just… happens.” She glared up at her horn. “Stupid magic! Why can’t you ever do what I want you to do!? I hate it!” she yelled at the ceiling with a demonstrable stomp of her hoof.

“Feel any better?” Apple Bloom asked after a moment.

“A little,” Sweetie Belle conceded, giving the wispy tendrils emanating from her horn another rueful look.

“Well, we still have to do something about all those rocks. Rainbow Dash might be down at the foot of the mountain already, waiting for us.” Scootaloo looked over at Golem. “Help us out here, would you?”

The clay pony turned its faceless head towards Scootaloo, then towards the collapsed entrance, then back to the filly again.

“I will once we have found the Sixth,” it said. “Please, come. We are getting close. I can feel it.”

“What? You’re blackmailing us now? Even after we said we’d help you?” Scootaloo asked incredulously.

“You cannot move the rocks without me. I cannot go to the Sixth without you. Help me, then I will help you.”

“But we promised to meet with Rainbow Dash first! She’s probably already down there!” Scootaloo protested.

“Golem, Ah order ya ta move those rocks outta the way,” Apple Bloom said in a stern voice, walking over so that she was directly in front of the clay pony.

“No,” came the reply.

“But ya can’t just say no! Ah was the one that made ya!” Apple Bloom spluttered.

“And I am thankful for that. But the Five already gave me an order. I must follow that.”

“Now ya listen here a moment—” Apple Bloom began heatedly.

“We’ll go,” Sweetie Belle said in a quiet but determined voice. All three of her companions turned to look at her. She glanced to each of them in turn; her breath was still shaky, but she took a firm step forward. “We’re wasting time standing around arguing. The faster we find the other golem, the faster we can get out of here, find Rainbow Dash and go home.” She looked up at the clay pony. “Because you will help us get out after we find the Sixth, right?”

“I promise I will do whatever I can,” Golem replied earnestly.

“Then let’s go. The sooner, the better,” Sweetie Belle said firmly and started to head down the tunnel, following the wispy trail coiling from the tip of her horn. The others quickly went after her, Golem taking the lead with what almost seemed excitement in its ponderous steps, though it still kept close to Apple Bloom.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to go this way,” Scootaloo commented as she caught up to Sweetie Belle. The unicorn filly glanced at her.

“I don’t. I’m terrified to do this. I’m going to close my eyes when the scary bit with the ghosts happens,” Sweetie Belle replied quietly. “But I don’t really see us getting out without Golem’s help. Do you?”

“I guess not,” Scootaloo admitted.

“Besides, this magic… spell… thingy, it’s starting to give me a headache. I just want it to stop so I don’t have to have migraines on top of being tired, hungry, frightened, sore and homesick.”

Scootaloo gave her a little grin. “Yeah, guess I can understand that one.”

“Maybe there’s another exit somewhere,” Apple Bloom suggested, looking over her shoulder. “Then one of us could go find Rainbow Dash an’ tell her where we’re at.”

“Maybe,” Sweetie Belle replied dubiously, glancing around at the solid rock surrounding them on all sides. Here and there she could make out more support beams. In her mind, each one let out creaking, groaning sounds as the fillies passed them by. She swallowed and instead focused her attention on the wispy tendrils, though this was hardly an improvement in terms of soothing her bubbling anxiety.