The whole remainder of the week went by in a flash. Nothing much happened that differentiated it from any other normal week.

On both Thursday and Friday, you had hung out with both Twilight and Rainbow Dash, nothing much happening with either pony. Like always, the wait for a birthday slowed down time drastically.

Of course, it didn't really slow down time, that was just what it felt like.

The rest of the week brought in nothing special, nothing noteworthy, nothing at all. That was, until Saturday arrived.

Waking up, you expected it to go like any other day. And at the beginning it did. You got up, got a shower, and spent some time with Twilight and Spike. You had started reading the third book in the Daring Do series, and you were almost surprising yourself how quickly you were getting through them.

After about an hour of reading and conversing, it was time to go out and meet with Rainbow Dash. You said goodbye to Twilight, and then to Spike who was once again transporting stacks of books from one side of the library to the other.

Quickly taking off from the ground, you began flying towards the Cloudomonium. The town on Ponyville was bustling, as always, but you couldn't help but notice that the marketplace was a lot less busy than yesterday.

The golden stall that was selling tickets to the Wonderbolt's Derby in Canterlot was nowhere to be seen, even from your height. They must've sold out of tickets, which explained why it was a lot quieter this time around.

Before long, you had reached Rainbow's cloud house, and were expecting the usual. You would sit down, talk for a bit, then go out and relax on a cloud for the entire day. That was how it had been going for the past couple of days.

But to your surprise, she had other ideas.

"Relaxing on clouds is getting a little boring as a hang out," Rainbow said, as you leapt onto the cloud couch, "So why don't we do something different?"

You didn't have any objections, and from the look on her face, it seemed like she already had an idea.

"Sure! What've you got in mind?" you asked, curious as to what Rainbow could find more appealing than sleeping on a cloud all day.

"Well," she began, looking a little embarrassed, or maybe even nervous, "Rarity asked me if I could get her some gems."

"Ok..." you said, not quite seeing where she was going with this.

"But that sounded really boring, but I found out a way to make it fun!" she exclaimed.

Your curiosity had peaked. She didn't seem like the type of pony to enjoy work, so it must've been a pretty fun idea. Noticing your curiosity, Rainbow didn't wait for a reply.

"Twilight once told me that the rocks thrown by Golems have some of the rarest gems in Equestria hidden inside them." she explained, hovering above you. You looked at her, confused. You could guess what she was getting at, but you didn't want to believe it.

Don't say it, you thought.

"So why don't we go give that Golem in the Everfree Forest a nice workout?" Rainbow said, enthusiastically.

She said it.

At first you didn't respond, and simply gave her a stern look, but before long, you found the correct response.

"Do you have a death wish?" you asked, with a monotone expression. Now sitting up on the cloud couch, she could quite clearly see that you were being serious.

"No! I mean, we can both fly now, so it'll be a lot easier than before!" she said, attempting to persuade you into going with her.

You let out a quite sigh, placing a hoof on your face as if facepalming.

"You're gonna go either way, aren't you?" you asked, defeated.

"Yep! I just thought some extra help would've been nice." Rainbow replied, crossing her hoofs over chest. If she was gonna go either way, you were gonna go with her.
You didn't want to risk her getting hurt, and there was no chance she could take on a Golem on her own.

"Fine. I'll come with you." you said, finally giving in. Rainbow was already heading towards the door, but upon hearing that, she turned back around with a surprised smile on her face.

"You will?" she asked, sounding a little shocked.

You nodded, happily, while also trying to supress your hidden nervousness. To your surprise, she hovered back over to you and gave you a quick hug.

"Thanks, Storm!" she said, smiling even more than before. For once, she didn't seem flustered after pulling away from the hug. Maybe it was because nopony else was here to see her break of character.

"Now lets go. We've got a Golem to fight!" she added, the two of you turning towards the door.

_______________________________________________________________

After a quick flight, the trees of the dreaded Everfree Forest had begun to appear in the distance, along with Fluttershy's familiar cottage. As far a second you were aware, Rainbow wasn't a very big fan of the place, based on her hesitation to enter the forest last time you had faced the Golem.

"So what does Rarity need the gems for?" you asked, curious as to what would make Rainbow Dash want to go into the forest for seemingly no reason other than sheer boredom.

"You know, she didn't tell me," she said, barely audible over the sound of the wind, "She said I couldn't know, no matter what."

"No matter what?" you asked, now confused as to why Rainbow in particular couldn't know.

"Yeah. It did seem a little suspicious." she replied, now looking skeptical. She looked as if she was deep in thought, but managed to maintain her momentum whilst flying to stay at the same pace as you.

Not wanting to break her out of the trance she had put herself into, you continued to scan the ground, searching for spaces between the trees where the Golem could have been hiding.

So far, there was nothing more than a few small crevasses between trees for the light to pass through.

"And how are we getting the gems back?" you asked, realising that you had nothing to carry them. Rainbow gave you a smile, before pulling out a large sack that would be capable of holding many gems.

Again, you had no idea how ponies kept doing that. It was like any object they needed would just materialise right in their hoofs whenever they needed it.

"Ah. That'll work." you said, continuing to search the ground.

Once again, you had no luck, but before long, Rainbow had found something.

"Storm, down there!" she exclaimed, pointing down at a large clearing of trees. Thick brambles circled the clearing, as if forming an arena.

You remembered the area well. In the centre was a large boulder, dotted with colourful gleaming gem spots that were carved into it. This was definitely the place.

You hovered lower, along with Rainbow Dash, now able to examine the Golem prior to battle. Last time, you had the disadvantage of a flightless Rainbow Dash, not to mention being lured in by that glowing orb.

After returning to the library after that event, you had done some studying to figure out what the orb was. Twilight's books held info on almost every known mythical creature there is, and surely enough, the glowing orb was one of them.

As it turns out, the orb was known as a 'Will-ò-Wisp', a sentient ball of light that lures in its prey via mystification. It causes its enemies to become curious of its presence, before making them follow it into a location where they could be easily picked of by another form of threat, in your case, the Golem.

This time, however, there was no Will-ò-Wisp to help the Golem get the first strike. You had the advantage this time.

Both you and Rainbow settled an a tree branch, claiming one each to stalk the stone brute from above. You didn't know much about combat, but one thing you were familiar with was the term 'know your enemy'.

Relaying the creature from above, you noticed a lot of things about it that you hadn't before. The most obvious of which was its gleaming crystal weak spots that were dotted all around its body. They were like gashes, open wounds that may have been caused by the environment. The Everfree Forest was a dangerous place, after all.

If the Golem was made entirely of gems, then taking it down would come with a huge payoff. It would be a much needed pride boost for you and Rainbow, it would provide Rarity with the gems she needed for whatever she was planning, and just for the sake of it you would be able to singlehandedly keep Spike fed for weeks with the leftovers.

You had to take down this monster, and you knew it. You had promised to never put yourself in danger, but if it was for two friends, you could make an exception.

That being said though, you didn't know if you could bring yourself to straight up kill another creature.

"We don't have to kill it, you know?" Rainbow whispered, noticing your worried expression.

"We don't?" you replied, looking over at her from the branch you lay on.

"Of course not, duh! What, did you think I brought you here for a fight to the death?" she said, jokingly, "We just need the gems from the rocks it throws!"

You didn't respond, instead you looked down at the Golem, who was still slumbering six feet in the ground. You couldn't believe you had actually thought about killing it, even though you knew you could never kill another creature just for a bigger payoff.

"Ready?" Rainbow asked, noticing your silence. She was looking at you with determined eyes, awaiting your response. The sooner this was over with, the better.

"Yeah. Let's go." you said, finally finished with your study of the creature.

Rainbow was the first to jump down, landing directly in front of the dormant creature. She seemed a little too excited about this whole thing.

You jumped down after her, landing behind the sleeping beast.

"Wake up!" Rainbow shouted, whacking the creature with her hind hoofs. If that was how you were going to defeat the creature, then it was going to be easy. Working at Sweet Apple Acres had made you a bucking pro.

With a shaky groan, the Golem rose from the ground, causing the surroundings to shake. Rainbow looked a little startled by the beast's sudden gain of height, but she stood her ground.

The Golem let out a mighty roar, seeming pleased that its earlier prey had came back. It swung a huge boulder at Rainbow, who jumped out of the way seemingly effortlessly.

"That all you got?" Rainbow mocked, seeming to aggravate it.

The boulder that had previously been swung down had erupted into a dozen or so sparkling gems. They were just what Rarity needed.

"Rainbow! Give me the bag!" you shouted, as she dodged another giant boulder.

Rainbow threw the bag over to you, and you caught it in your mouth with ease. Now holding the bag in your hoofs, you flew around the arena, staying close to the ground.

The few piles of gems that there were got quickly swooped up in your bag, ready to be used in Rarity's project.

Honestly, this wasn't as bad as you thought it would be. All you were doing was picking up gems and putting them in a bag.

"Why couldn't Rarity do this herself? This is eas-"

"Storm! Watch out!" Rainbow cried, interrupting you. Turning around, you saw a great boulder being hurled at you. Moments before it made contact with your face, you darted out of the way as fast as you could.

The Golem let out another mighty roar, it's attention now fixed on you. Glancing at Rainbow Dash, you nodded at her with determined eyes, before tossing the gem-filled bag to her.

Moments later, another boulder came flying your way. You dodged it easily, and countered with a well placed buck to the creatures stone legs.

Truth be told, it probably hurt you more than it hurt the creature, but it seemed to keep its attention focused on you.

Now mad with rage, the Golem summoned a storm of smaller boulders, throwing them at you at a faster speed than should be possible for such a huge creature. The rocks rained down on you like a torrent of pain, but thankfully none of them hit you directly.

Taking the few seconds of down time you had been given, you glanced down at Rainbow Dash to see how many gems she had collected.

To your horror, she wasn't as lucky as you. A rock had hit her directly, and she was now knocked to the ground.

The Golem's attention had once again shifted, now prioritising the weakened Rainbow Dash over you. It held a boulder over her, the shadow casting down like a rain cloud.

Rainbow regained consciousness, as she seemed to have lost it for a few seconds upon impact.

"Gah!" she cried, noticing the boulder held above her.

The Golem let out a menacing laugh as it prepared to strike, cherishing the moment. Rainbow had begun crawling backwards, her wings frozen by terror.

You didn't have time to talk. It was now or never.

Moments before the Golem could deliver the killing blow to Rainbow Dash, you flew up behind it and delivered a powerful buck to one of its glowing crystal weak spots.

The raised boulder dropped to the ground, harmlessly, as Rainbow held her hoofs over her face in an effort to protect herself.

Finally, the Golem let out a roar of pain as it collapsed to the floor. A giant crack formed, slowly spreading across its entire body, before finally splitting apart into dozens of shiny gems.

Rainbow peaked out from behind her hoofs, still awaiting what she believed to be her death, but was instead met with a clear view of the sky.

You simply hovered still, suddenly realising that you had killed the Golem. But should you be feeling bad about it? It threatened the life of your friend, so in a way it was justified, but it was only protecting itself.

"S-Storm, you did it..." Rainbow said, flying up to with a look of both happiness and sadness on her face. The two emotions mixed together, cancelling each other out.

"I killed it..." you said, in disbelief. You had never killed another living being before, unless you count the occasional ant or fly back on Earth.

"No, dummy! I mean you just saved my life!" she said, breaking you out of your remorseful trance. You couldn't find the words to say, so instead she pulled you in to another out of character hug, "Thank you."

Still not able to find the words, the two of you separated, each of you blushing slightly. Rainbow rubbed the back of her head with a hoof nervously, before you finally found the words to say.

"We don't need anymore gems, right?" you joked, pointing at the huge pile of multicoloured gems that were resting on the broken remains of the Golem.

"The bags already full!" Rainbow laughed, swooping up the fallen bag of gems.

"So I killed it for nothing..." you said, once again falling back into your trance. You weren't sure whether it was justified or not, but it was technically self defence, and it was just a beast that lurked in the Everfree Forest.

You were interrupted by Rainbow Dash placing a comforting hoof on you, but her face showed an expression of seriousness.

"No, it wasn't for nothing. You saved my life, remember?" she said, a smile shifting onto her face. You responded with a smile of your own, "Now what do ya say we get out of this place?"

"Nothing has ever sounded so appealing." you replied, causing her to giggle slightly.

The two of you set off flying into the air, set for Rainbow's house. After what had just happened, you didn't want to be anywhere near the Everfree Forest for a long time.

"You know," you heard Rainbow say over the sound of blowing wind, "I think I've had my share of near death experiences for now."

Both you and her laughed as you soared through the air, the bag of hard earned gems slung over her wing.

Whatever Rarity needed those gems for, it better be worth it.

Author's Notes:

I needed filler content to lead up to the birthday, so I came up with a side storyline for Rarity.
The first part of which is this chapter right here, where I brought back the Golem from Chapter 17 - Grounded. I didn't think the fight scene in that chapter was very good, so I thought that the Golem deserved a second, more fleshed out fight scene where Rainbow can actually fly.
The second part of this side storyline will be the next chapter. It will also be the first chapter where Rarity has more than one or two lines. After that, I've got something planned for a Pinkie Pie chapter, and plenty more focused on Rainbow Dash (obviously).
As always, I hope you enjoyed :D