> The Golem > by TheExhaustedBrony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Golem > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "That should do it." Twilight wiped her brow as she flew down from the scaffolding that surrounded the cause of her most recent week-long science binge. Even without the Golden Oaks library, Twilight still had the urge to explore beyond the realm of magic from time to time. "Twilight, what exactly have you been doing in here? What's with that statue?" Spike tapped on the large stone structure in the center of the room. "Spike, don't tell me you forgot about my research hypothesis already?" "You mean that three and a half hour long presentation you gave to me last Tuesday?" Spike sighed, "Twilight, I was bored out of my mind. I can't even tell you what I did to pass the time during the presentation, let alone what you were presenting." Twilight frowned, a little disappointed that her words had fallen on deaf ears. "Well, my project to create artificial life is now at its final stages. The construct is complete and all that's needed is power." Spike's eyes widened in fear. "We're not going to have to sabotage the towns power again, are we?" "Not to worry Spike, this time we'll be using a different type of power to charge the golem." Twilight paused, eyeing here creation carefully, "We'll be using the elements of harmony." "How is that supposed to work?" Spike asked in a rather sarcastic tone. Twilight rolled her eyes, "Since the elements of harmony are, for lack of a better term, a life essence of all ponies, I don't see why putting this same energy into a vessel with the power of storing energy wouldn't be able to create something sentient." Something about Twilight's explanation didn't quite sound right to Spike, but he felt like leaving it well alone would be for the best. Lest he incur the wrath of another long winded explanation from the Princess of Friendship. "Spike, could you go get Starlight and the other girls? I'm going to need their help." Without any sort of response, Spike headed for the main entrance to the castle. "So this is where Twilight has been this past week? I suppose that she's been left out of solving friendship problems for a while now. It's been us mostly." Rarity said, sweeping her mane out of her eyes with her hoof. "Yeah, well you know what happens when she gets bored." Spike mocked. Applejack pushed open the large crystal door leading to exactly what she, and the other girls, must have expected. There were papers strewn all over the floor and carelessly tossed books littered the tables. It's strange to see this sort of mess from a pony that's so notoriously known for her organization. Twilight, who was deeply engaged in her notes, noticed that her friends had arrived and promptly put them aside and greeted her friends. "Glad you could all make it." Twilight smiled, "Now last week I got an ingenious idea..." "What in the wide world of Equestria is that?!" Pinkie interrupted. "Oh this? This is what I wanted to talk to you all about. You see, last week I felt like I could take my magical creature studies to a whole new level by creating a living statue." "What's so special about a moving statue?" "It'll be more than just a moving statue, Rainbow Dash." Twilight chuckled, "You see, I want to create an individual. I want this statue to be able to think and feel as its own singular entity." "What basis do you have to even go on? How do you know that this could work, sugar cube?" "Well, we've all seen timber wolves. They're aggressive but they think and feel some sort of emotion. Whether its simply self-preservation or actual fear, nopony is quite sure, but what we do know is that they are nothing but animated pieces of wood." "So, how do you know that this thing wont just attack us like a timber wolf," Starlight inquired, "if it works at all." "To put it simply, we each need to channel our elements into the giant statue behind me. If I am right about this, which I have no reason to think I'm not, then the stone will be infused with its own life force. The same life force that resides in all ponykind." Twilight explained, trying to stop herself from getting to excited. "If you're just using the elements of harmony to create a fully sentient life form with its own individuality, then why am I here?" Starlight Glimmer shrugged, "I'm not so privileged to have an element." "During our little, uh, encounter, you encased me in crystal a few times, remember?" "Uhh, yea, but-" Starlight's eyes lit up with excitement as she realized what her mentor was suggesting. "I need you to encase the golem in that same crystal during the infusion process. I don't want to risk the golem breaking or exploding. I'd do it myself but I'll be busy and wont be able to maintain the crystal." "Alright girls, are you ready?" Twilight asked. Each one of the girls gave an affirmative nod "Starlight, how are you doing?" Starlight Glimmer cracked her neck and took a deep breath as she shot the statue with the spell that she had used on Twilight Sparkle during the time traveling event. The statue looked like a bug trapped inside a purple piece of amber. Twilight looked at each of her friends as they all lined up and began channeling their elements of harmony. The whole room seemed to become bathed in a bright white light followed by each of the ponies' elemental colors being blasted into the statue. The element bearers held their beams on the statue for another minute until Twilight signaled them to stop. "Alright Starlight, remove the crystal." Just as effortlessly as she had formed it, she zapped the crystal out of existence. Twilight approached the statue, "Hello? Can you hear me?" Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as everypony went silent with bated breath. Not sure what would happen. Before anypony could make any remarks about how Twilight's test was unsuccesful, the sound of grinding stone boomed through the room and shook the entire castle. Without a doubt, everyone in Ponyville also heard and possibly felt the shake. "Did... did that come from the statue?" Fluttershy said, peeking out from her hiding spot behind Applejack. "I don't have the darndest idea as to where it could've come from." Twilight cleared her throat, "Hello?" Just then, the eyes lit up with a bright magenta glow. "Spike! Get a piece of paper! I have to write this down!" The statue made loud cracking and grinding noises as it began to turn its head and move its arms and legs. The now living, statue lurched forward and grabbed Twilight Sparkle in its stony hand. "Twilight!" The girls screamed in unison. "It's okay! I can handle this." Twilight assured her friends of her safety but wasn't entirely sure herself. The alicorn was one hundred percent confident in her magic abilities and knew she could easily defend herself, but the risk of damaging the statue wasn't worth it. She just hoped that it was friendly. The statue brought Twilight right up to its face and in a deep, slow voice asked, "What. Are. You?"