Chapter 34

(Drakalian’s POV)

I listened to the golem explain it’s life story, letting the time pass on as I waited for the others to appear with the crystals so that we could save Ditzy and the fillies, and I found the story to be rather interesting as well, though a few of the things that it did say surprised me.

One of them was that ‘it’ used to be a ‘she’.

“Wait, wait, wait. You said that you used to be a…mare?” I asked, finding it hard to believe.

The golem nodded. “Yes, I used to be of the female gender, though I have given it up, like I did so many other things, so that I could serve the temple better.”

“So, you decided to give up everything that made you who you are in order to better serve the temple?” It just nodded. I was quiet for a good while, absorbing what it just confirmed. After a few seconds of pondering, I finally shrugged and said, “Well, all I can say is that I don’t think I would be able to do what you did.”

“Yes, most of the others said the same when they heard my decision, but I had nothing to live forward to, so I dedicated my life…first and second…to the serving of this temple.”

This made me a bit curious as to why she had nothing to look forward to. “But you were a young mare when you said you gave up all physical possessions in order to become what you were. I mean, there must have been something that you were looking forward to.”

The golem went silent at this, seeming to be thinking hard about something. It then spoke, and when it did, I could have sworn that I heard something of longing in its voice. “There was…something that I hoped to have.”

I stayed quiet, not sure if I should try to pry it out, or to tell it that it didn’t have to tell me if it didn’t want to, but the golem beat me to it and continued its story.

“A long time ago, I was looking forward to bearing my own children, raising them, watching them play with others, teaching them the ways of our tribe, but that all melted away in just a simple moment, like a candle being blown in the wind. I was minding my own business, tending to the garden with some of the other mares, when we heard the alarm, signaling that we were being attacked. I, along with all other able tribe members, went to gather our weapons to help defend our temple, for this temple was our home as well as a sacred place. I won’t bore you with the details; just know that both sides had a hefty toll paid that day. During the battle, I was wounded, taking a spear to the lower stomach.”

“After the fighting, we brought the wounded to our shamans, and they began to heal as many as they could, while the others they took their blood for later uses. When it was my turn to be healed, they realized that I had some…complications… They said that due to where the spear penetrated me, I would be unable to bear my own children. When I heard this, I felt like the gods themselves dropped me into Tartarus, for no stallion would want a mare that would be unable to bear their own foals.”

It then brought its fore hoof to its stomach, seeming to be remembering that time long ago. “I felt devastated, not knowing what to do with my life, for until that point, the only thing that I had in mind was to find a fair stallion and start a new tribe with him, but now, due to my condition, I would be left out, unwanted. The shamans, in an attempt at making me feel somewhat better, offered to teach me to be one of them. Not knowing what else to do, I accepted, and after long years of training, I began to do my own studying, starting with different types of blood for different spells.”

The golem grew silent at this, seeming to be deep in thought. I decided to let it be, not wanting to interrupt its thoughts. Instead, I just laid my back to the wall and closed my eyes, deciding to get some rest. After a few minutes of laying there, I felt something crawl on my lap, and opening my eyes, I saw that Rasi was trying to get herself comfortable on me, before she laid down, looking back in my own eyes. Giving myself a small smile, I tried to pet her, but just like the last times, she just growled at my attempt.

Sighing, I said, “You know, if you really want to make me feel better, you would at least let me pet you.”

Rasi just shrugged, not seeming to really care about it. Sighing again, I just decided to let her be, and I closed my eyes once again, letting me fall into a light and fitful slumber.

(Applejack’s POV)

Pinkie Pie and ah were currently walking down the large tunnel for a good few minutes, and ah was busy thinking about what the test might possibly be. At least, ah was trying, for Pinkie just kept on talking about all sorts of nonsense.

“So, what do you think this test my be, AJ? Maybe it will be about finding what one’s destiny lies, or maybe they will have to do some sort of mathematical equation in a limited amount of time, before some trap is triggered and kills us in ten seconds flat! Oh, or maybe we have to go through some strange sort of obstacles without touching the ground, while also bouncing on top of some giant red balls? Wait, it could also be a test in which we are on some sort of game show, and we have to pick out our favorite cake flavor, in which case mine would have to be fruity mango dipped in strawberry jam, or strawberry dipped in fruity mango jam, oh it’s just so hard to choose! Oh wait, I think it might be-”

“Tarnation, Pinkie Pie, could you please stop your yabbering for five seconds so ah can at least think?!” Ah shouted at her, my headache only getting worse and worse with her talking. Pinkie seemed to deflate with my shout, noticing that she was being an annoyance to me, her eyes growing all teary. Realizing that ah went too far, ah quickly said, “Sorry, partner, but all of your talking is making mah head spin, and ah don’t want to get a headache before we even get to were the test is supposed to even take place.”

At my words, she seemed to puff right back to normal, her huge smile back on her face. “Oh, well why didn’t you say so? I’ll be a bit quieter, I Pinkie Promise.”

‘Ah wonder how long that will hold up for? Oh well, at least she did Pinkie Promise, so ah guess that’s something.’ “Well, alright, so if we are done with that, what do you really think what the test might be?”

The pink mare shrugged at this. “Honestly, AJ, I really don’t know what it could be, but if it’s anything like Mister Pony Rock said, then it should be right up your alley.”

Ah blinked and looked at Pinkie, a bit surprised by her calm answer. “Wow Pinkie, that was a pretty normal answer coming from you. Maybe you are taking this seriously for-”

Suddenly, Pinkie said, “Well, my bet is still going to be a cupcake baking challenge, in which case I will make my super-duper-double-luper-supreme-ultimate-ultra-deluxe -mega…ultra…great…gravy…uh…I ran out of words.” With that, she suddenly began to giggle, and continued to bounce along the long hallway.

“And there she goes.” Ah said with a sigh, pulling my hat down a bit. We stayed quiet for the rest of the walk, which was only another thirty seconds, thankfully, for it looked like Pinkie was desperate to say something else after her little burst. Ah didn’t know what was keeping her from talking, and ah didn’t bother asking her either.

The room that we were in was rather large, but also devoid of any sort of decorations or even any furniture. From what ah could tell, the only things in the room were a couple of statues that were in the middle of the room. Both of the statues were shaped like a pony and colored differently, one of them was red, while the other one was green. They were also only about half our size, and standing on top of a couple of pedestals. The strange thing though, was that they seemed to be staring at each other intently. Ah was about to approach the statues, when suddenly; Pinkie raised a hoof to stop me from approaching it.

“The hay, Pinkie? Why did you stop me?” Ah asked. Pinkie said nothing, just staring intently at the two statues, seeming to be focusing on something. Ah then remembered that we were in a place that was possible full of traps, and with that in mind, ah began to search the area for possible traps, but ah couldn’t see anything, unless they were really well hidden.

We both remained quiet for a good while, the minutes ticking by us. Ah was soon going to step in and examine the two statues, when suddenly, the green statue blinked.

“YES, I WIN!” Ah jumped back when the red statue suddenly shouted, throwing its hooves in the air in celebration.

“AHRG! No fair! The others bloody distracted me!” Shouted the green one, glaring at the other statue.

“YAY! You win! Congratulations!” Exclaimed Pinkie, who also threw her hooves in the air as well, before giving a big hug to the red statue.

“Darn right I win. That will make you think twice before you challenge me.” Said the red statue, which hugged Pinkie Pie back.

Ah just stared at the scene in confusion, trying to think what in Equestria was going on? “Um, can somepony tell me what the hay that was all about?”

“They were having a staring contest, silly.” Exclaimed the pink party pony, releasing the statue from the hug.

The red statue nodded. “Yup. This guy thought that he could beat me in a staring contest, but what he didn’t know was that I could stare anypony down for days.” He said, a smug smile on his face.

“Well, it doesn’t really help that we don’t need to blink at all.” Said the green one, his look of annoyance still showing on his face, though it appeared to have lessened a bit.

“True, it did get a bit boring after the first decade or so, but I’m still not one to back down from a challenge.”

Ah just remained quiet the entire time that they spoke, not sure as to what to make of it. Finally, ah just shook mah head, thinking that it was best to just drop it, and asked, “Well, anyways, do you guys know were the test is?”

This caused both of the statues to laugh. “Well, look no further, missy, cause you’re looking at the test right now.” Said the green one, puffing its chest a bit.

“Yup, we are the test of truth, justice, and…well, just the truth part, at least.” Said the red one.

“Then again, only one of us is really the truth, while the other is the lie.”

“I thought that it was the other way around?”

“No, I said it correctly. You just can’t remember the exact words that the masters said.”

“I can’t remember? You can barely remember what happened two centuries ago, let alone what those old fools said for us to tell the others!”

“Well, at least I still look good.”

“We’re both bloody statues, you nitwit! Of course we are going to look good.”

“Hey, it’s better then the time that we were both made out of wood, now that was some horrible times.”

“True, those termites were murder on the old arse.”

“Agreed, at least as stones, we don’t have to worry about decay.”

“I actually thought it was funny when you began to panic when your head fell off of your shoulders.”

“Well, at least I didn’t loose my arse to them damn bugs.”

“Oh, have you two been anything else?” This time, Pinkie was the one that spoke up.

The green one shrugged. “Not that many, just stone, wood, ground, and even plants. In my opinion, the plant one was the best one of them all.”

“Really? I hated being a plant! I don’t even know what gave them the idea of giving us plant bodies in the first place. All it did was get us hungry looks from everypony, and not the good kinds, either.”

“Still, we had a lot more flexibility with our bodies, and when one of the mares really wanted a good time, all we had to do was just bring some tentacl-”

“ENOUGH! Now, for the love of Celestia, please just stop talking for two minutes so that ah can get rid of this headache that has been driving me mad for the past five minutes!” Ah shouted, the constant talking finally getting on mah nerves. They both went quiet at mah outburst, just staring at me. After a few seconds, the green one turns to look at Pinkie and asks, “Is she always such a party pooper?”

Pinkie shook her head. “No, she usually has lot of fun, especially at my parties.”

“Really? And just how good are your parties, for I have been to some good ones, and believe me when I say good ones.”

“The bestest best ones ever! In fact, I’ll invite you to the next one once we finish with our test.”

“Well, that sounds top. So, what kind of-”

“Ah-em!” They all turned to face me, sheepish smiles on their faces. Once ah was sure that ah had their complete attention, ah asked, “So, if ah may ask, what in Equestria are you guys? Are you two some sort of golem like the one that we met in the main chamber?”

The red one laughed at this. “Na, we are nothing like the hulk of rocks there. We are what you would call spirits, or ghosts, if you would prefer.”

“Though some of them bastards also called us easy labor.” Said the green one, huffing a little.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just a little pissed that he lost his contest.” The red one smirked. “Anyways, apologies for keeping you beautiful mares busy, but we can get easily distracted, as you could tell.”

“Yea, I mean, it does get bloody boring waiting for somepony to come around and solve our riddle.”

“Well, with all of that said, can we just get to the darn test, please?” Ah asked.

“Relax, don’t go getting your knickers in a twist.” Said the green one with a bemused smile.

“What knickers, we rarely wear clothing as it is.” Said the red one.

“Still, you never know. There could be a white unicorn pony that began designing clothing for a living for all we know.”

“How do you two know about Rarity?” Asked Pinkie.

“Wait, there is a white unicorn that does make clothing for a living? I need to meet this pony.” Said the green one.

“Ah swear, if you guys don’t begin the test right now…” Ah began to say.

“Ok, ok, chill Miss…uh, what are your names, anyways?” Asked the red one.

“I’m Pinkie Pie, but you can call me Pinkie, and my friend here is Applejack, but you can call her AJ.” Said Pinkie, her huge smile still on her face.

“Well, nice to meet you two. My name is Crescit, and my friend here is called Incendius.” Said the green one. Then they both bowed to us, and once they bowed, Incendius said, “So, shall we begin?”

“’Bout time, partner.” Ah said, glad that we were about to begin.

They just chuckled at this, and then, thankfully, Crescit said, “Well, without further ado, let the test begin!”

Suddenly, something like spotlights shone on us, and they both disappeared. Once they vanished, we could hear one of them speaking. It seemed like Crescit, but ah couldn’t really tell.

“So, first of all, can you hear me?” said the voice.

“Of course we can, Cressy! So, what’s the test?” Said Pinkie. Ah had no idea how she knew who it was, but ah didn’t bother asking, deciding that the sooner we finished this, the saner ah will stay.

“Ah, good, good! So, we shall now bring you to a place that will have your test, and to succeed in the test, you need to ask the pony one question, and one question only. Now, with that question, you will have to figure out how to get to Truthsville.” Before ah could say anything, the scenery around us changed, and we soon found ourselves on a long dirt road. Once the area seemed to solidify, we heard Crescit speak again.

“So, our heroes were walking for a very long time, and they were hoping to reach the town soon to get some supplies. If they didn’t get there in time, then they would pass out due to dehydration. Can you kids say-”

“OI! What the hell are you trying to do?” The voice that interrupted was none other then Incendius.

“What, I’m just making it PG for everypony, is that too much to ask?”

“Well, I would normally agree with you, but you forgot that the story is already rated M, and has lots of things not appropriate for fillies and colts.”

“Yea, so?”

“So that means, you’re Royal Stupidness, that you don’t have to bloody censor everything b*cking thing!”

“Hey, no swearing. Besides, I’m the one in charge here, so you just let me keep it at rated E, alright.”

“No, that’s just no fun at all, I mean, come on! We won’t have enough freedom to do what we usually do.”

“You mean what you usually do.”

As they kept on bickering between each other, ah was about to yell at them to just stop all of their nonsense, when suddenly, Pinkie spoke up.

“I know! Why don’t you two just make it T, then you both can get the best of both worlds.” There was silence for a few moments, and then, we heard Incendius speak up.

“Well, I’m ok with that, I guess. How about you, Crescit?”

“Yea, I guess I can do T then. So, may I continue?”

“By all means, please do.”

“Thank you, so anyways, yada, yada, yada, going to Truthsville.” There was a pause. “Well, what are you two waiting for, an invitation? Start walking!”

“YAY, we’re going to Truthsville!” Shouted Pinkie, who immediately began to bounce along the path. Ah just sighed and followed. Thankfully, we didn’t go very far, for after a few seconds of walking, we reached a crossroad, with no signs either.

“Suddenly, the two mares reached-”

“Um, we can see, you know. Besides, somepony already beat you to it.” Said Pinkie. Ah just looked at the pink mare, confused as to what she was saying.

“Oh, right, forgot. Anyways, once you two reached to crossroads, you only have a few minutes to get to the closest town, Truthsville, though, close by is another town, called Lies Town. I think you know were I’m getting at?”

Pinkie nodded vigorously, while ah did so hesitantly.

“Good, now, you two meet a stranger nearby, and…wait, where’s Incendius?”

“Hmm? Oh, right, sorry mate!”

Suddenly, with a poof, the red spirit was there at the fork, seeming to be wearing a fancy suit like one that Rarity would make.

“Good, now then, as the heroes approached, they meet a resident of one of the towns, however, they didn’t know which one he was from, and they could only ask one question, due to some sort of reasoning that we are unable to provide. Anyways, they had to figure out which way was Truthsville, and which way was Lies Town. Beware, though, for the ponies at Lies Town will always lie to your answer, and the residents of Truthsville will always tell the truth. So, start thinking.”

For the first time since we began, ah smirked a little, and then said, “That’s all, partner? Well, we shall be done in only a few seconds then.” With that, ah approached Incendius, and clearing my throat, ah said, “Excuse me, but could ya’ll tell us which way Truthsville is?”

Incendius smile. “Why, it’s to the left.” He said, pointing a hoof down the left path.

“Thank you kind sir.” Ah said. “Come one, Pinkie, lets go.” With that, ah began to walk down the left path. We walked for what felt like a few minutes, when, suddenly, we were back at the same spot as before.

“They hay?!” Ah said, confused. “Ah could have sworn that he was telling the truth.”

“Well, I guess that means that he was lying.” Said Pinkie, before bouncing along the right path. Ah was about to join her, when I felt something bump me from behind, and turning around, ah was surprised to see that it was Pinkie who just bumped into me.

“Wowie, AJ, you got here faster then me. Are you secretly a unicorn?” Said the pink mare.

Ah shook my head, and then pointed at the red ghost. “No, you just got it wrong as well.” With that, ah turned to the ghost and asked, “Now, what is going-”

Crescit suddenly interrupted me. “Now, I’m going to stop you there, for as funny as all of this is, you really need to realize something about us. We’re not really alive, so the whole seeing if they are telling the truth thing isn’t going to work. Yes, we both know that you and your friends are the Elements of Harmony, and we are aware that you are the Element of Honesty. However, your Element can’t work with us, since that would be cheating if you could use it. So that one was a freebie, but that’s all. Now, you really do have one question left, otherwise you two will be leaving here empty hoof.”

Ah was quiet as he spoke, ah didn’t even notice that mah mouth hanging open until Pinkie closed it for me. Ah shook my head to clear it, and then, turning to Pinkie, ah asked, “Well, that sucks. Any ideas on what ta do, sugarcube?”

With that, we began to brainstorm on possible questions on what we could ask Incendius, but all we came up were questions that would be the same no matter what. We thought about asking if one of the roads lead to the city of truth, but we realized that wouldn’t give us the answer that we were looking for. We kept on thinking for what felt like hours on end, but so far, we came up with nothing.

“ARG! Ah can’t figure it out at all. If only ah could tell if he was telling the truth or not, then we would be done with this faster then Big Mac and ah bucking apples during apple bucking season. So far, all we know is that he is either from Lies Town or Truthsville. If we only knew were he is from-”

“AJ, that’s it!” Shouted Pinkie.

Ah blinked at her, confused by what she was thinking. “Uh, what’s it, sugarcube?”

Instead of talking to me, Pinkie just walks up to Incendius and says, “I got my question!” Incendius just smiles and nods at her. Before ah could stop Pinkie from wasting our question, she is already speaking.

“Where are you from?”

Incendius seems to look a bit surprise, but nevertheless, he points his hoof to the right. “Come on, AJ, let’s go get the crystal!” With that, she began to bounce along the path again, and deciding that ah might as well just go with her, since she did waste our question.

We were walking for a few minutes, and ah was still waiting for us to end up back at the crossroads, but instead, we suddenly found ourselves in a large town. The town seemed to be empty, the only two occupants of the area were Crescit and Incendius, and between them was-.

“CONGRAGULATIONS!” they both shouted, and suddenly, there were streamers flying everywhere, with fireworks being shot into the sky. We just stood there, with Pinkie clapping to the whole display like some sort of filly. Then again, that's basically what she was.

“YAY! That means we can go and save Ditzy and to others!” Shouted Pinkie, and then she quickly took the purple crystal that was between them. Once she had the crystal, everything disappeared, and we were suddenly in the original room, both of the spirits were still on their pedestals. It also seemed like both of them also changed back into their normal statue forms, which ah thought was a relief, since they acted almost as bad as Pinkie Pie. Well, almost.

Ah was about to breath a sigh of relief, when suddenly, we heard Crescit speak up.

“Well, I got to say, that was a bloody good show, my friends, bloody good indeed.”

Suddenly, we heard Incendius speak up. “I concur! That was the fastest that anypony ever solved one of our riddles. I would have thought you would have at least been stuck for a good few hours rather then the ten minutes that you were here, but-”

“Wait a gosh darn tootin’ second. You mean we only took ten minutes and not a few hours? It sure felt like a few hours to me.”

“Of course, AJ, they are spirits after all.” Pinkie said. Ah just looked at her with a very confused look, and then remembered that this was Pinkie Pie, so of course she would understand what was going on.

Once we were quiet again, Incendius spoke up. “Well, regardless of that, I believe you two have some friends to save. Oh, and Pinkie, we are going to hold you to that promise about throwing a party for us.”

“Okie dokie lokie.” Said Pinkie, a huge smile on her face. With that, she turned to me and said, “Well AJ, let’s go save our friends.” With that, she quickly began to bounce back out of the room and to the hallway, leaving me behind in a Pinkie shaped cloud. Ah was about to follow her, when I suddenly heard Crescit speak to me.

“So…AJ, was it? Well, since you finished the test and all…we were just wondering, if you don’t mind, that is…would you like to…stick around for a while, you know…just ‘hang’ with us? We could show you some of the tricks that we learned with the plant bodies.”

Ah just barely held myself from giving myself a face hoof from the response, before ah said, “Sorry, fellas, but I’m already taken.”

“Oh, that’s fine, would he like to join us as well?” This time, it was Incendius that spoke.

Ah was quiet for a few seconds, barely able to contain my stunned expression, and instead, turned around and galloped after Pinkie as fast as I could.

“Was it something I said?”

“Of course it was you bloody idiot! The was our chance to get some action for Faust knows how long, and you just had to ruin it by asking if her coltfriend could join. Next time, ask if one of her friends would be interested instead. But noooo, it is always about the sex with you.”

“Well sorry, Mister Sensitive Ghost! Geez, and I thought I was the weird one around here.”

“Shut up, bastard. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to see when the next party that pink mare is going to throw next.”

“Hey, you think she would be willing to let us do some plant things with her?”

*SMACK*