To The End of Drudges

by GWFan

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Rarity, Fluttershy, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character
Length: 67349

Twilight and her friends are summoned to defeat an ancient evil.

In the distant past, Discord created three creatures called the Drudges that terrorized ponykind until their eventual defeat by Princess Celestia. One thousand years later, the Drudges are rediscovered and recaptured, and it is up to Twilight and her friends to seal them away with the Elements of Harmony. However, things don’t go so well when the Drudges escape and cause havoc. Thus, Twilight and her remaining friends must go on an epic quest to defeat the Drudges once and for all. (Originally written for the first National Pony Writing Month.)

Published 2011-11-16 00:06:08 UTC
Last updated 2011-12-07 16:03:39 UTC

An Epic Quest

Chapter 2: An Epic Quest

Utter chaos erupted in the room when someone fell from the ceiling and crashed into the glass cases containing the Drudges. Fluttershy screamed when a bright light blinded everypony.

Twilight couldn’t make out anything but could both hear and feel magic energy exploding around her. Trying to open an eye to see what was going on, she made out the form of a very tall pony jump in front of her and was then vaguely aware that Princess Luna had been shoved next to her. She could barely see various spheres of blue light flying around the room, bouncing off walls, and firing through doors that flung open from the force.

Then Twilight heard George’s voice boom, “Dispel!”

An even brighter light enveloped the room and the blue spheres of energy vanished into nothingness. George bent down and sat hard. Whatever he had just done, it had exhausted him. But that wasn’t the foremost thing in Twilight’s vision.

“Sister!” Luna cried.

“Princess Celestia!” She was hunkered over both Twilight and Luna with her wings fully spread as if protecting them. But her body… her body looked like it was made of some kind of crystals or gems. She was frozen with a barely recognizable expression of concern for the two ponies in front of her.

“Sister! Sister!” Luna hugged the crystal Celestia and cried.

Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes. She wanted to cry too, but the shock of the moment forced her to sit there and just stare.

“Rainbow Dash!”

Twilight turned when she heard Pinkie Pie cry out. Nearly all the color drained from her face. “Rainbow Dash…” she whispered. “And Applejack.” Both of her friends stood frozen, crystallized just like her mentor. Rainbow looked like she had started to fly somewhere and lay on the ground, her arms and wings extended. Applejack had reared up on her hind legs, apparently trying to dodge the blue light. Only her hat hadn’t been crystallized.

Feeling the tears starting to escape her eyes, Twilight walked closer to them, looking around the rest of the room as she did. She saw Rarity, dazedly picking herself off the floor, facing completely opposite from her. Fluttershy hugged a crystallized Philomena, who apparently had tried to shield her just as Princess Celestia had done for Twilight. Tears welled in Fluttershy’s eyes as she spotted her crystallized friends. Two of the six guards in the room had been crystallized, as well as…

“Trixie.” Twilight could feel just as much remorse as she had for her friends when she saw Trixie frozen on the spot, crystallized in a position that showed true fear.

“Perimeter!” one of the guards suddenly yelled. He and the three other guards galloped to Celestia and Luna, encircling them in a defensive manner. From the expression on their faces, they looked just as scared as every other pony. And why shouldn’t they? One of the princesses they were sworn to protect had been crystallized.

“Oh, my back.”

Twilight turned when a pony she didn’t immediately recognize stood up in the center of the room. Was that Mr. Davenport from the Quills and Sofas store? Her bewilderment was quickly replaced by shock when she noticed one thing that was different about him.

“Oh my gosh! You’ve got something on you!” Pinkie Pie suddenly bounced in front of Davenport and pointed.

“Huh?” Davenport looked down. “What the hay is that?”

“Drudge,” Pinkie Pie said, actually sounding worried for once. Just as she had said, one of the Drudges had grabbed a hold of Davenport’s chest and had stuck there, its mouth flat against him. Pinkie slowly reached a hoof out towards it.

“Don’t touch it!” George commanded, slowly walking towards them. He nearly fell over though when Pinkie gently poked the Drudge and its shell bounced like jello.

“Nothing’s happening, silly. What’s a matter?” Pinkie asked, looking quizzically at him. Then the Drudge’s eyes lit up, a brief flash of blue light exploded between them, and Pinkie was instantly crystallized.

“Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy cried out.

“Stupid pony. I told you not to touch it,” George shook his head in disgust. “Why doesn’t anypony ever listen to me? And you!” George pointed his staff menacingly at Davenport. “What have you done, you foal!”

“I… fell?” Davenport asked, still shocked that Pinkie had just transformed in front of him.

“You stupid, idiotic, buffoon! Do you know what you’ve done!? Isis has found a host.”

“Isis who?”

“The Drudge on your chest, it’s feeding off you, you mule! It’s feeding off your energy!”

“It’s doing what? Get the dang thing off me!”

“Davenport!” Twilight called out.

Davenport looked at her in surprise. “Huh? Twilight Sparkle?”

“You know this idiot?” George said, turning to her.

“Yeah. I buy quills from him all the time.”

“Quills? This isn’t a time to be worried about quills. This is a disaster. Isis has found a host! This idiot broke the cases and allowed…” George’s expression changed so gradually to fear that Twilight nearly thought he had stubbed his hoof. “The Drudges. Where are the other two Drudges?”

Twilight jumped to her hooves. The guards lifted their hooves, looking everywhere for signs of the evil black creatures.

“Don’t just stand there you foals. Look for them! But carefully! If they get loose…” George didn’t finish his sentence. He stalked right by Trixie without so much as a glance, searching the ground and walls.

“Fluttershy, let’s search the halls,” Rarity said hurriedly, galloping to the nearest door.

“Rarity, wait! What’s that?” Fluttershy called after her. Rarity stopped and turned back.

“What’s what, dear?”

“Behind you.”

Rarity whirled around, light igniting on her horn. “Where?”

“Look.” Fluttershy pointed. “Underneath your tail.”

“Huh?” Rarity turned back around and lifted her tail. Then she started to shiver. “Oh my stars,” she said slowly. Right underneath her tail, the reddish Drudge had latched on to her.

“Salamander,” George said quietly. “Salamander has found a host.”

“Oh, gross. Whoa is me. Why!?” Rarity cried. Then soft blue light enveloped the Drudge as she tried to pry it off. “Come off! Come off you grotesque thing!”

“Stop! Stop! Don’t provoke it! Do you want another display of their power?”

Just as Rarity was about to stop, the Drudge let out a screech akin to hooves on a chalkboard and its eyes lit up red. Fire erupted from its body in a straight line, very nearly scorching Fluttershy. The fire hit the wall and actually stayed lit, slowly spreading across the stone floor.

“Fire! Get some water!” one of the guards commanded.

“Stop immediately!” George shouted, halting the guards in mid-step. “That’s Salamander’s fire. Only magic can put it out. Water would just make it spread.” George walked over to the flame and chanted something under his breath. He touched his staff to it and the flame died out.

Seeing his magic dowse the flame, Twilight asked George the first thing that came to her mind. “George, can you reverse the crystal process with your magic?”

George looked at her, a slight hint that he appreciated her approval of his power. But he frowned as he answered her. “I’m sorry. That is one thing I’m afraid I can’t do. Isis’s ability to turn living matter into diamonds is as hard to reverse as making time stop, the reason being that it involves actual life. I could very well kill them if I try to reverse it. Don’t worry though, the Elements of Harmony can fix this easily enough. Twilight Sparkle, send in the other spirits of the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight gaped. “They are here. We’re here. That’s what my friends are here for.”

“What? These other buffoons are the spirits of the Elements of Harmony?” After hearing how great George claimed to be, Twilight was surprised that he hadn’t guessed that already. What did he think they were there for? “You’ve got to be… This is terrible. We can’t use the Elements like this. And even if we could, Salamander has tainted one of you and it still wouldn’t work.” He pointed angrily at Rarity as if the whole thing was her fault.

“It’s not like I asked for this,” Rarity nearly shouted, but she was too upset to put any force behind it.

“Great! Just great!” George shouted in annoyance, banging his staff on the ground. “Now we’re going to have to go on an epic quest of life and death to the Temple of Discord in order to remove the Drudges and their power, so we can finally eliminate them with the Elements of Harmony. Dang it all. I hate epic quests.”

“Um… what about the other Drudge?” Fluttershy asked.

George gasped. “Rip Van Winkle! I forgot about him. Quick, we have to find him before he finds a host!”

Fluttershy twisted her face in confusion. “Rip Van Winkle?” That was certainly a mouthful compared to the other two Drudges. The only question was where could he have gotten off to in the confusion? It didn’t seem like he could have gone far.

“Young lady!” one of the guards yelled out.

Fluttershy turned to look when she saw a shadow drop onto her from the ceiling. Fluttershy screamed when she felt something sharp dig into her back.

“Young lady!” the guard screamed again and ran to her. But George stopped the guard with his magic.

“Don’t. It’s too late. You’ll just provoke it.” George turned a weary eye to Fluttershy. “Rip Van Winkle has found his host.”

Fluttershy stood up slowly and turned around. The last Drudge was resting peacefully, having gripped onto her back and part of her left wing, its mouth flat against her, just under the back of her neck.

“I’m… so sorry,” the guard said and lowered his head.

“I don’t believe this,” George pouted. “All three of them.” Abruptly he rounded on Davenport and shouted, “This is your fault!”

“I… I didn’t mean too. I don’t even really know what’s going on,” Davenport stammered and looked wearily down at the Drudge on his chest. “It was that thief. If I hadn’t followed him up there-”

“Thief? A likely story. You’re the thief I’ll bet.” George’s horn lit up and a scroll, quill, and inkpot suddenly appeared in front of him. “Here! Sign this.”

Davenport stared at the quill. “Look at the condition of this quill. Don’t you know how to take care of them properly? I could sell you a few I happen to have on me.”

“Just sign the paper!”

“Okay,” Davenport said slowly, took the quill in his mouth and signed his name. As soon as he had finished, George examined it as if making sure it was genuine. “What did I just sign?”

“It’s a contract,” George said nonchalantly. “Starting today I will remember to hate you and your family for the rest of eternity.”

“W-what? Isn’t that a little harsh?”

“Them’s the breaks for being a moron, moron,” George said, as if it were no big deal. The scroll evaporated and George turned away in annoyance. “This is terrible. Just terrible.” He examined Celestia and some of the others.

“George,” Twilight spoke up again. “What exactly does it mean that the Drudges have found hosts? What’s going to happen to them?”

“It’s like I just said, the Drudges are feeding off their hosts. They are eating a sort of internal energy you can’t see normally with the naked eye. Their intention is to get their full strength back, upon which time they will separate from their hosts.”

“So it’s not stuck on me forever?” Rarity asked excitedly.

“When they separate, the host will probably die.”

Rarity’s entire body seemed to droop as the shock of George’s blunt statement sunk in.

“Wait. What do you mean probably?” Twilight asked.

“The Drudges have had immense power since their initial creation. But in order to replenish that power they feed on hosts, just as they are doing now. However, they need to regain all their lost strength this time, so sucking host after host dry until they’ve reached that goal is easily a possibility. Or at least, that is the theory proposed by past Mystics who believed the Drudges were still alive.”

“Then what are we waiting for? We have to get them off now!” Rarity panicked, running up to George and shaking him violently. “You know a way to remove them, don’t you? Don’t you!?”

“It’s, not, that, easy,” George shouted, trying to speak around being shaken. Rarity stopped shaking him when she heard this and George fell over. He shook his head to get his bearings before speaking again. “Forcefully removing them is virtually impossible. And anyway, there’s no longer a way to contain them since somepony broke the cases.” He glared at Davenport again.

But Davenport whirled around, looking as if he had just been spooked. “Huh? What? What was that? Who said that?”

“What happened? Are you okay?” Twilight asked, actually sounding alarmed.

“I heard a voice. But I don’t know where it came from?”

George’s eyes widened a bit. “What did it say? Word for word, what did it say?”

Davenport’s expression looked tense. “Well, it laughed a little first and then it said, Revenge is mine, Princess Celestia.”

George surprisingly gaped a little. “Isis? Isis is speaking into your mind? She already has that much control?” George shook his head. “The scrolls said Isis was always the strongest of them but this…”

“Is that bad? Is she going to do something to me?” Davenport worried.

“Weren’t you listening at all, you idiot? She’s going to suck you dry!”

“Please, you have to do something!” Rarity pleaded with him. “I’m too pretty to die like this.”

“Maybe if we ask real nicely?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Like that would work. You’re all buffoons,” George said annoyed.

“Stop saying things like that. It doesn’t help that you’re being so rude all the time,” Twilight said angrily.

“I’m the Great and Powerful George. I can say whatever I want.”

“And just how great are you really? Does it even bother you that your own daughter was turned to diamonds?” Twilight retorted and pointed at the crystallized Trixie.

“It’s reversible. It all depends on whether we can destroy the Drudges or not,” George answered nonchalantly.

“That’s hardly an answer. You don’t even sound like you care,” Rarity said angrily.

“BE STILL! EVERYPONY BE QUIET!” an enormous voice boomed.

The ponies all turned when Princess Luna pushed her way through her guards and fixed them all with a glare. “This isn’t the time to be arguing,” she said in an amazingly loud voice. “This is a serious problem and we need to work together.” Then she turned to the guards. “Captain, We want thee to lead a full search of Canterlot. We need to find out just how far Isis’s power has extended. And We don’t want a word of this incident leaking any further than the front gates if at all possible. If everypony finds out Celestia has been diamondized, it could start a panic.”

Though the guard looked briefly startled at Luna’s change in demeanor, as well as the startling volume of her voice, he immediately saluted. “Yes ma’am.” He made a motion and two of the other guards galloped out of the room with him.

Content with her guards’ quick response, Luna turned back to the rest of the ponies and spoke in a quieter tone. “George, what was all that you were saying earlier about an epic quest?”

Down on the busy streets of Fillydelphia, a small group of ponies worked tirelessly, constructing a tall new building. The city was booming and many new apartments and homes had to be built to meet the high demand for living space. However, one carpenter felt a sudden chill and dropped his hammer.

“Cork!” one of the other carpenters called out to him. “Be careful over there. What if somepony was hit by that?”

His hammer had landed harmlessly on the ground below, though it probably would have a crack in it and need to be replaced. That wasn’t what had Cork on edge though. He licked his lips and stared at the sky, a very strange feeling overcoming his entire body. He was little more than a simple earth pony, a dusty color, with a cutie mark of a hammer to match his profession. He had never done much of anything in his life other than build, but all of a sudden, he realized there was something more he needed to do.

“Drudges…” he uttered softly. Cork baffled himself. He didn’t know why he had said the strange word. Even stranger, he realized there was a sentence he still wanted to say. “The Drudges are awake.”

“Cork?” the other carpenter asked him. “What are you talking about? Are you feeling all right?”

Cork turned to his coworker and licked his lips again. “I gotta go.”

“Huh? Cork? Cork, wait!”

But Cork was already jumping down the levels of the unfinished building. Something compelled him. He didn’t know what. When he landed on the ground, he spun around in a circle, wondering just what he was doing before he suddenly chose a direction and started galloping. He dashed through town past stores, homes, and ponies, not sure why he was doing this or where exactly he was going. He just knew he had to go.

As he ran, he was suddenly joined by a female unicorn, looking just as frantic and confused as he did. Her blonde mane was full of curlers and she wore a bathrobe over her light blue coat. He could just make out her cutie mark, which resembled a flower of some kind.

“Drudges?” Cork yelled at her.

“Yes!” she answered.

“What are the Drudges?”

“I don’t know, but I have to find them!”

Cork couldn’t find a single reason to argue the matter. Whatever the Drudges were, he had to find them too.

Cork and the unicorn raced on, not speaking a word. Suddenly a pegasus flew overhead. Watching him fly ahead, Cork realized there were two earth ponies running a short distance in front of them. All five of them raced out of town and onto the open road where they all stopped and started spinning around in circles again.

“Where are we going? Where are we going?” one of the two earth ponies asked.

The pegasus flew higher into the air and looked around frantically. Abruptly, he pointed to the west. “There. The Drudges are there.”

The five of them took off in that direction without question. It felt right for some reason. This was the right way. As he continued to wonder why he was searching for these things called the Drudges, Cork realized that pretty much the only significant city in this direction was Canterlot.

Rarity rummaged through the saddlebag that had been provided for her, wondering why nopony had thought to put any clothes or accessories inside. Surly she wasn’t expected to quest clear across Equestria into unknown lands without the proper accessories.

“How does one even pack for an epic quest anyway?” she asked Fluttershy. “Because if it requires tights and a tunic, I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive.”

Fluttershy shrugged and ran her hoof along the stone floor, wondering if she should be doing something. Being a pegasus, a saddlebag would have gotten in the way of her wings, let alone the fact that Rip Van Winkle was attached to her back and might retaliate if she tried to cover him with something heavy like that. So far, he was the only Drudge that hadn’t displayed any form of terrible power.

In general, it seemed Princess Luna and George had planned out most of the quest, leaving the other ponies involved with little else to do but wait to leave. Twilight was pacing back and forth, running over an unseen checklist in her head. Even though she hadn’t been able to prepare her own saddlebag, she still had a multitude of things to consider, such as what would happen if their food suddenly ran out, or what if they encountered poor weather, or what if they suddenly became involved in a war between rabbits and squirrels? In the latter case, Fluttershy was probably all they would need but the other ones were legitimate concerns.

The quest in itself seemed simple enough. Travel to the Temple of Discord and remove the Drudges. So far, it had been decided that both she and George would participate in the quest. Other than that, Rarity and Fluttershy had no choice but to come along since they had two of the Drudges stuck to their bodies. Then of course, there was poor Davenport who had started this whole mess in the first place.

They were still in the room where the Drudges had been released and Davenport sat down on the side, not even bothering to check the saddlebags he had been given. The concern on his face shown like a jade among rubies. He must have felt quite guilty for freeing the Drudges, accident or not.

Feeling otherwise useless, Fluttershy approached the sad earth pony. “Are you okay, Mr. Davenport? You look worried.”

“Hey kiddo. Fluttershy was it? I’m okay I guess. I was just thinking about something.”

“No one blames you Mr. Davenport. Well… George blames you… but the rest of us don’t.”

“Huh? No, I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just wondering what’s going to happen to my store while I’m gone.” Fluttershy cocked her head in surprise. “You know, my store? Quills and Sofas? I left it with a temp employee, but I’m not sure the kid really has what it takes to sell quills and sofas. I’m kind of worried.”

“You’ve got a Drudge stuck to your chest and that’s what you’re concerned about?” Twilight said, jumping into the conversation.

“Well sure. I do run a business for a living. How long do you think this quest is going to take? Think it’ll be over by tomorrow?”

Though she was a little annoyed that Davenport didn’t seem that concerned about their immediate Drudge problem, Twilight answered his question seriously. “I’m not even sure how far we’re going, so I don’t know. It sounds like it could take a couple of days at least.”

“Oh. Bummer. I hope my store can last that long.”

Twilight groaned quite loudly.

“Are you all right in here?”

Twilight looked over to the farthest exit and saw Princess Luna walk in.

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just… thinking about something stupid. Anyway, how are things looking around Canterlot?”

Luna closed her eyes and sighed before answering. “It’s not good news, but considering the circumstances it’s not entirely bad either. There are a lot of guards and servants in the castle that were diamondized. So far at least, it doesn’t seem like Isis’s spell reached outside the castle walls. Reports have come in that no citizens have realized what’s going on. At least not yet.”

Luna looked briefly at her crystallized sister. “So far, the panic in the castle has been kept to a minimum and the servants and guards have agreed not to speak of this incident. I don’t know how long before this inevitably gets out though.”

“Don’t worry, Princess Luna. We’ll complete this epic quest as soon as we can. Won’t we Davenport?” Twilight said, trying to get him to see the urgency of the situation.

“Yeah. Of course.” Davenport laughed weakly. Princess Luna looked a little more comforted at least.

“I wish I could go with you, but without my sister, somepony has to take care of royal affairs. Not to mention raising the sun and moon.” Luna looked out the window and smiled nervously. “Actually, I’ve never raised the sun before, so if eternal night happens to occur, it’s not because I’ve turned into Night Mare Moon again.”

Twilight laughed, trying to feign amusement. “I’m sure you’ll do fine. I believe in you. And I’m sure Celestia believes in you too.”

Luna nodded and looked at her sister again. Celestia must have been even harder to look at for Luna than she was for Twilight. Twilight could only feel sympathy. Luna was virtually alone again. Being alone might have become her greatest fear after spending one thousand years in the moon by herself.

The silence of the somber moment was broken when George entered the room. “Well, are we ready to go yet? I want to get this over with as soon as possible.”

“Patience, George. There are still a few preparations I’ve ordered before you leave,” Luna told him. They already had saddlebags and provisions ready so Twilight wasn’t sure what else Luna could have prepared for them.

A few minutes later, two palace guards walked in side by side, both wearing saddlebags. “Rhubarb and Grey, reporting for duty ma’am.”

“Good. We are glad thou were so prompt,” Luna said with a smile, speaking in a strange way again, though not as loudly as before.

“What’s this? Guards for Celestia?” Twilight asked.

“No. For you.” Twilight looked surprised. “I can’t go with you and I can’t send an army with you either. So I figured I would have the two bravest knights left in the guard accompany you and the others on your epic quest.”

The two guards looked just like any of the other guards, both white pegasi with golden armor. Actually, Twilight silently wondered if it was a requirement for pegasi guards to have a white coat or if maybe they dyed it upon joining. Nearly all guards looked alike, whether it was the white pegasi or the dark brown unicorn guards who protected the throne room.

The two guards walked up to George and saluted. “Greetings Master George. We, Rhubarb and Grey, will be joining you on your quest.”

“Ah, good. Expendables. We’ll need plenty of those,” George said enthusiastically.

The two guards dropped their salute and stared at each another in concern.

“Uh… he didn’t mean it good sirs,” Twilight apologized. “What he meant to say was, welcome to the team.” She smiled as best she could but the two guards didn’t look comforted.

It seemed they were getting off to a great start, or so Twilight thought with more sarcasm than amusement. Everypony was so tense, though it was understandable. The events of the morning hadn’t left anyone with a good taste in their mouth.

Fortunately, the awkward moment was broken when some more guards entered the room.

“Princess Luna, we found this pony sneaking out of the ventilation system outside. Shall we throw him in the dungeon?”

The ponies all beheld a light grey unicorn wearing a dark green hood as well as hoofcuffs and an anti-unicorn bracelet to block his magic. Davenport dashed over as soon as he saw him.

“That’s the guy! That’s the thief I told you about earlier!”

“Shut up, Pops,” the unicorn grumbled, annoyed.

“So you were actually telling the truth?” George said with a bit of astonishment.

“See, I wasn’t lying. It wasn’t my fault I fell in here.” Davenport looked expectantly at George. “So in that case, do you think-”

“No,” George said dismissively. “Even if you followed him in, you’re the one who broke the cases, so I’m still going to hate you and your family for the rest of eternity. Besides, you already signed the contract.”

“Awww.” Davenport sighed.

“Wait a minute. Don’t throw him in the dungeon just yet.” Luna walked over to the unicorn and pushed his hood back. She took a few moments to look at him. “We have seen thee before. There are wanted posters of thee all over Canterlot. Art though not Burgle?”

The unicorn paled when she mentioned the name. “Uh… no. I’m just a look-alike. I mean, Burgle is my evil twin brother. I swear.”

“You are Burgle, aren’t you,” Luna said knowingly, dropping her strange speech again. “I’ve read quite a bit about you, master thief Burgle. You’re one of the most wanted burglars in Equestria.”

“No, no, no. Maybe more like third most wanted.”

“Uh huh. And what exactly were you doing in the ventilation system?”

“He said he wanted to steal something. I caught him looking into this room,” Davenport said.

“Would you keep quiet, Pops?” Burgle said angrily.

“Was it the Drudges?” Luna asked him, smiling for some reason.

Burgle looked at her smile in bewilderment. Then he stomped the ground once with his hoof. “Ah screw it. Yes, I was contracted to steal the Drudges. You happy?”

“You’re kidding. Who the hay wanted you to steal them?” George asked him.

“I don’t know. I was given the job through a telegram. I don’t even know how whoever it was, knew where to find me. They sent me a box and a contract promising me 100,000 bits. The letter said I had to put the Drudges in the box or else.”

“Box? What box?”

“Oh. He was carrying this with him.” One of the guards produced a large box.

“Put that down. Let me see that.” George looked over the box, feeling it with a hoof. Then his horn glowed and he enveloped the box with his magic. Slowly, his expression changed to pure fascination. “I’ll be a donkey’s uncle. This box has the power to contain the Drudges. All three of them at once.” George looked up from the box and addressed Princess Luna, “This is amazing. Whoever made this box must be a very talented magician. I can’t even begin to imagine who.”

“Does that mean we could use it?” Rarity said, feeling hopeful.

“Not with the Drudges attached to you. Still, I’m very impressed by this. It could prove useful once we get to the Temple of Discord.”

“Okay then. Cool. You can have the box. Are we done here?” Burgle asked, annoyed.

Princess Luna shook her head and took up a stronger voice again. “Not quite. There is still the matter of thy thieving. Thou hast stolen from many a pony over the years.”

Burgle crossed his arms. “Well! Excuuuuuse me, Princess. Some of us less fortunate subjects need to make a living somehow.”

“I see,” Luna said and nodded her head slowly.

“I see,” Burgle said, copying her with a prissier sounding imitation. “Whatever. Just put me in the dungeon or whatever you’re going to do.”

“Actually, Burgle, I’m going to give you a choice,” Luna said. “If you want to redeem yourself, then I would like you to join this quest.”

“The thief?” George asked her, his jaw nearly dropping.

“Quest? What quest? I don’t know anything about a quest.”

“It’s an epic quest,” Fluttershy put in. “We’re questing to remove the Drudges from our bodies.” Fluttershy turned and showed Burgle the Drudge on her back.

“What the hay is that thing doing on you? Is this going to be dangerous?”

“Very. Life and death don’t you know,” George confirmed.

“Heck no!” Burgle shouted. “Lock me in the dungeon. I’m not gonna put my neck out for some quest.”

“Burgle,” Luna said again. “Either thou shall join the quest or be banished to the moon.” Not only Burgle, but Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy stared at her.

“The moon? Why the moon? Isn’t that kinda overkill? I’m just a thief.”

“Nonsense,” Luna said in a normal voice again. “The moon is awfully nice this time of year. If you look real close, the rocks are 20% brighter than usual.”

Sweat poured down Burgle’s face. The moon did not sound nice this time of year or any other time of year for that matter. “Okay, I’m in. When do we leave?”

“We art glad to hear it. Guards, take Burgle, clean him up, provide him with supplies, and inform him of our current situation. We expect him ready to leave in one hour.”

“Uh… yes, Princess Luna,” the guards responded, sounding uncertain.

As they carried Burgle away, Fluttershy approached Luna.

“We’re you really going to banish him to the moon?”

Luna laughed. “No. Of course not. I just said that to get him to go on the quest.”

“Um, Princess Luna? If I may, why do you want the thief to come along? I mean, he is a thief after all,” Davenport asked almost as timidly as Fluttershy.

“Why not? Every quest needs a good thief. I thought his skills might come in handy. Besides, I assume you’ve never heard of Burgle?” The ponies all shook their heads. “I’ve read quite a bit about him since my return. You know he has escaped from every prison he was ever incarcerated in? And on top of all that, he actually snuck into Canterlot today. There is no record of anything like that ever happening in the last one thousand years. It’s not an easy feat. That’s why I think he would be a perfect addition to your team.”

The ponies all sat in silence for a moment, letting Luna’s explanation sink in. It sort of made sense, though it sounded like Burgle was more a fascination to her than anything else.

“Well, in any case, I guess we could always use another expendable,” George finally said.

Twilight groaned in exasperation. Now they had a party of eight going on the quest. Herself, three ponies with evil creatures stuck to them, a rude mystic, two apparently expendable guards, and a thief who had tried to steal the Drudges once already. What a strange team.

“This quest sucks,” Burgle grumbled.

“Oh hush. If I have to quest with you, I don’t want to hear you whining the whole way,” Rarity said in annoyance.

“As you wish, my queen,” Burgle answered sarcastically.

“And don’t get snarky either.”

“Now who’s the one whining?”

“I know a great comeback for that, but I don’t feel like exploiting it right now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? If you’ve got something to say to me, then say it.”

“Sorry, but you’re insult is in another castle.”

“We’re outside.”

“Clearly you’re not sophisticated enough to understand such witticism.”

“Witta-whatism? Do you come with subtitles?”

“Come on everyone. Can’t we all just get along?” Fluttershy pleaded.

“Tell that to him. He’s the one whining.”

“You’re the one talking in a foreign language. What the hay is whittle-cism?”

“Oh come on,” Twilight threw her head up in exasperation. “A witticism is a witty saying or phrase. End of conversation, please.”

“That was supposed to be witty? It didn’t even make sense.”

“Of course it did. You just didn’t understand it,” Rarity remarked.

“Um, Rarity, I didn’t really understand it either,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Oh, Fluttershy, now you’re putting me in an awkward position. I’m not trying to insult you.”

“Wait, so that was supposed to be witty and an insult?” Burgle asked.

“You didn’t get that the first time?” Twilight said in amazement.

“Would you all shut up?!” George bellowed. “I can’t believe this. We’re not even five minutes out of Canterlot and already you’re all arguing?”

The small band looked back. They could still see two unicorn guards standing outside of Canterlot’s front gates. Both of them looked concerned, having been close enough to clearly hear them arguing.

“Any journey goes a lot smoother if everypony finds something in common,” Davenport added. “Anyone want to hear about quills or sofas?”

“You shut up too,” George commanded.

“But I wasn’t even part of the-”

George stopped and pointed his staff at Davenport. “I’ve already promised to hate you and your family for the rest of eternity! Don’t make it longer!”

The ponies all looked at each other quizzically.

“What’s longer than eternity?” Twilight finally asked.

“Indefinite eternity of course,” George responded as if it were the most obvious answer. He continued walking along the road again. “Why is it every time I go on an epic quest, I always end up traveling with the most dysfunctional ponies?”

“Hey!” Twilight said, but George ignored her. She sighed to herself, wondering how they were supposed to complete their so-called quest if things kept up like this.

The Unconquered Inn

Chapter 3: The Unconquered Inn

It was a long trek, and although there had been quite a number of arguments along the way, the small band of ponies finally found themselves overlooking a lone building in the distance. The road led directly to it and three other roads led in the other directions away from it. It stood right in the middle of the intersection, surrounded by a few trees, and an ancient looking well.

“Is that supposed to be some kind of hotel?” Rarity asked nopony in particular.

“That is the Unconquered Inn, last stop before we’re no longer in Equestria,” George announced. “It’s called unconquered because it sits right on the boarder and holds no elegance to either our country or the next.”

“And the Temple of Discord is somewhere in that other country?” Fluttershy asked, sounding a little worried.

“Yes. It’s still quite a ways though and we probably won’t reach the temple for at least two more days.”

“What a bother. I’m not used to covering so much ground so fast,” Burgle sighed.

“What did I say about whining?” Rarity warned him.

“Not now you two. Let’s just go. It’s almost dark and I’m ready to hit the hay,” Twilight said, trying to avoid yet another argument.

The ponies hiked the remaining twenty minute distance across the dirt road to the inn. As they got closer, it became more and more apparent how large the establishment really was. Not to mention how desperately it needed repair.

“This is an inn?” Rarity snorted. “I’ve slept in tents nicer than this.”

“It might as well be a shack,” Burgle added.

“I’m surprised to hear you say that, junior,” Davenport said. “Aren’t you used to being on the lam and sleeping in dirty places?”

“Hey! I may not make an honest living but I have better taste than this.”

“That’s nice,” Twilight said with no emotion. “I’m going in now.” After listening to her traveling partners bicker the whole way there, Twilight just wanted to get into a nice quiet room and maybe read a little before bed.

“Keep you’re guard up, Twilight Sparkle,” George suddenly said. “Like I said earlier, this place has no elegances so we could find any manner of creature in there.”

Twilight stopped with the door halfway open. He only thought to tell them that now? They had just past a town maybe five miles back, not much smaller than Ponyville. Burgle had mentioned in passing that it was called Colton and had a four star hotel.

“Oh, whatever,” Twilight sighed. “It can’t be worse than the Drudges.” She opened the door the rest of the way, which made an eerie creaking noise, and stepped into the lobby.

The inside was actually a little nicer than the outside, though not that much. At least the floor didn’t look like it would give if anypony stepped on it. Twilight took the initiative to test that as she walked across a worn carpet to the front desk. The sleepy-eyed earth pony behind the counter didn’t even look up from his Sudoku puzzle. A very young bellhop pony sat on a chair next to the desk, asleep. Drool hung from his mouth, threatening to touch the floor.

“Ahem,” Twilight said expectantly. The clerk silently wrote a number on his puzzle. “Ahem!” she said louder. The clerk scratched his nose.

George walked up next to her and gently tapped his hoof on the service bell. The clerk looked at them lazily. “Can I help you?”

“We need some rooms for a party of eight,” George said rather cheerfully for once.

“Let me see what we got.” The clerk turned around and looked at a wall of keys behind him.

“Oh boy,” Twilight grumbled. Why had George insisted on staying in this inn of all places?

Twilight turned toward another much larger doorway to her right and noted that it was some kind of dining room. There were a few ponies sitting around eating hay on one table, which seemed perfectly normal. But, at another table, there were three rather tough looking griffins playing cards. And in the back of the room at an even larger table, a manticore busily lapped up milk from a saucer. Twilight gulped.

“Okay, I’ve got your room numbers. That’ll be 152 bits, please.”

George nodded his head in approval. “Well, you heard him Twilight Sparkle. Pay the man.”

“Me? Why do I have to pay?”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Princess Celestia will reimburse you when the quest is over.”

Twilight groaned and pulled a series of bits from her saddlebag, using her magic. After handing it over, the clerk took almost five minutes to count it.

“Looks like it’s all here. Just sign your names to the guest book and I’ll get you your keys.” The clerk reached under the desk and dumped a large book on the counter, kicking up all kinds of ancient dust on Twilight’s face.

“Thanks,” Twilight answered exasperated. She grabbed up a quill with her magic and signed her name harshly in the book. Each of the others in turn signed their names as well. That is, until it was Davenport’s turn.

Davenport walked up to the counter with a smile and held out his hoof. “Hello there, kind sir. My names Davenport and I couldn’t help but notice that your inn could really use some sprucing up.” The clerk stared at him, the first sign of any emotion other than boredom crossing his face. He didn’t shake Davenports hoof. “Do you realize what a difference a grand sofa can make in a simple room such as this?”

Twilight wasn’t the only one who looked at Davenport with disbelief. The clerk raised an eyebrow and pointed to the corner of the room where a dust covered sofa sat. “We have a sofa.”

“I have an eye for sofas my friend and I can see that that sofa has seen better days. It’s time for a replacement and I’m just the pony to sell it too you.”

The clerk clicked his tongue once. “Sooo, you gonna sign the book or…?”

“And another thing my friend, this quill has a slightly bent tip. I happen to have several high quality quills with me that I can sell you for a great price.”

The clerk stared at him lazily and snorted. “Look, buddy, either sign the book or sleep outside. You’re choice.”

“You don’t seem to understand, sir,” Davenport put his front hooves on the counter. “My business, Quills and Sofas, has a wide variety of items that could easily change your life.”

“Do you have to do this now?” Twilight asked him. This was just getting embarrassing. She was considering pulling him away from the counter and signing his name for him when she noticed the clerk looking, not at him specifically, but at his chest.

“You know, you got a little something there.”

Twilight’s eyes widened when the clerk started reaching for the Drudge.

“Oh that thing?” Rarity suddenly jumped in. “My friend here just had an unfortunate accident with uh… tree sap and a rat. The poor thing has been stuck on him for miles.”

“It looks like a bug.”

“That’s because it’s a… insect rat,” Twilight smiled. “You don’t really see them that often.”

“This isn’t a rat,” Davenport said.

“Shut up, moron. Ponies are staring,” George said through clenched teeth. “And other things are too.”

Twilight looked around and noted that the occupants of the dining room were all looking at them. More specifically, their eyes seemed to be on the Drudges. Many of them had noticed that there was more than just the one on Davenport. Even the bellhop had woken up, though he looked so nervously at the Drudge on Davenport’s chest that it almost seemed like he knew what it was.

“Davenport, just sign the book,” Twilight whispered to him.

“But Twilight, I have a potential sell here.”

“Just sign the darn book!” Twilight and the others all shouted together. Only Fluttershy stayed silent, feeling increasingly nervous from all the stares in the room.

Davenport quickly signed his name and replaced the quill in its inkpot. “You know, if you change your mind about the sofa, you can always look me up. Whoa!” Twilight grabbed him with her unicorn magic and pulled him away from the counter.

“Thank you for the rooms, sir. We’ll be going upstairs now. Bye.” Twilight bolted up the stairwell, dragging Davenport the whole way. As soon as she got to the first room, she stopped and dropped him harshly. “Davenport, do you even remember why we’re on this quest? The Drudges are dangerous. We have to keep them as secret as possible. Did you see all the ponies and things who were looking at us?”

“Gosh, I’m sorry Twilight. But I have to think about my business.”

“Can’t that wait until after the quest is over? You’re business is fine.”

“I guess. Still…,”

Twilight wanted to tear her hair out but decided against it. It just wasn’t worth it.

“Twilight?”

She looked back down into the stairwell and saw Rarity and Fluttershy coming up after her.

“Are you all right?” Fluttershy asked her.

“I’m just frustrated. Everything about this quest is a walking disaster. We almost blew it down there.”

“Just take a deep breath, darling. Too much stress will give you premature wrinkles and we wouldn’t want that now would we?” Rarity said sarcastically.

Twilight let out a brief laugh, feeling a little better for the small joke but the situation still frustrated her.

“Here,” Rarity handed her a key. “The boys are sharing one room and us girls are sharing the other. It’s a little further down the hall, room 134.”

“All the boys are sharing a room? All five of them?” Twilight asked.

“Well, in light of all the attention downstairs, the guards decided to take turns and put up a watch. I guess they’ll be patrolling the halls or something. In any case, it won’t be too crowded for them.” Twilight nodded. She should have guessed the guards would still want to do something related to their usual job. “Anyway, I’m going on ahead. After all that traveling, I need to take a shower.”

“See you in the room, Twilight,” Fluttershy said as she and Rarity went further down the hall.

“This quest still sucks,” Burgle said, walking up the stairs.

“I’m kind of starting to agree, but no one ever said that quests were supposed to be easy.”

“Whatever. Maybe the moon wouldn’t be that bad after all.”

Twilight had almost forgotten why the thief was even on the quest with them. It probably would be best if he didn’t find out that Luna hadn’t been serious. “So what room are you in?”

“103. The one Pops happens to be standing in front of.”

Burgle actually shoved Davenport out of the way and unlocked the door. All three of them looked inside as the door creaked open.

“Twilight, I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep in there. Look,” Davenport pointed.

Twilight scanned the room again. “Okay… what am I looking at?”

The room looked pretty much like one might expect an inn room to look like while on a quest. A cramped little room with four beds, some nightstands, a writing desk, some chairs, a table to eat at, bathroom door, and two windows in the back. True it was a little dirty but still…

“There. Right there. Do you see it?”

Twilight looked again. “See what?”

“A lounge chair.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, noting the single lounge chair that one might find in any inn room. It stood silently, looking heavily used as if it had seen many pony rumps throughout the years.

“I don’t get it. What’s wrong with the chair?”

“It’s a lounge chair. Don’t you see? It’s my worst enemy.” Davenport shook his hoof at the evil lounge chair.

“It’s just a chair.”

“Not at all. The lounge chair has been undermining the sofa for years. Little by little, ponies are preferring to sit in lounge chairs rather than indulge in the comfort of a well-made sofa. I just don’t think I can sleep in the same room with that… that thing.”

Twilight could feel a vein threatening to pop out of her head. “So teach it a lesson and don’t sit in it.”

“Yeah… yeah! You’re right. I’ll show that dirty lounge chair. Nopony will sit in you all night.” Davenport walked into the room, seemingly more determined and uplifted.

“You have serious issues,” Twilight said quietly. She turned away from the room and saw Burgle standing there. “What? Don’t tell me you have a problem with the furniture too.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…,” Burgle glanced into the room briefly. “Do I really have to share a room with him? He’s weird… and he kind of scares me… and he’s got that Drudge on him.”

At least Burgle’s concerns were more legitimate. “Just don’t bring up quills or sofas or that lounge chair and he probably won’t bother you. And don’t worry about the Drudge. If it does something then you’ve got George in there to handle it.”

“George?” Burgle scoffed. “That old coot is sleeping in the luxury suite upstairs.”

“He’s what?”

“He said it’s always reserved for him since he’s so great.”

Twilight facehoofed. “I don’t believe this. And he made me pay for the rooms? No wonder it cost so much.” And no wonder he wanted to stay at this particular inn.

“If you’d like, I’ll go boot him out of there for five bits.”

“It’s tempting but forget it. Let him have his luxury suite.” Twilight sighed in exasperation. “Anyway, Fluttershy, Rarity, and I are going to be just down the hall. I guess Rhubarb and Grey are going keep up a watch, so sorry if they’re coming in and out of your room all night.”

“Like I could sleep in a hovel like this anyway. Especially with him in there.” Burgle trudged into the room, only looking a little weary of Davenport, and closed the door.

“Why does it feel like it’s going to be a long night?” Twilight sighed again and went down the hall in search of room 134.

Rarity stepped out of the bathroom with a bathrobe on and a towel wrapped around her hair. She breathed in calmly though she looked rather depressed.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you like the shower?” Fluttershy asked her.

“How could I? I don’t feel comfortable getting under the water with this thing on me.” Rarity gestured to the Drudge with her horn. “Besides, have you seen how dirty it is in there? All I did was wet my hair and even that wasn’t very pleasant.”

“Maybe it’s for the better,” Twilight said from where she was reading a book. Out of pure disgust for Davenport’s absurdity earlier, she had decided to read while sitting in the room’s lounge chair. “That Drudge used fire earlier, remember? So maybe it wouldn’t like getting wet.”

“There’s no reason to accommodate the darn thing,” Rarity said angrily as she started to rummage through her saddlebag.

“There is if it decides to burn the building down.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Rarity conceded. She pulled out a couple of dresses from the saddlebag and started examining them.

“Where did you get those? I thought Luna only gave us food and survival gear?” Fluttershy asked, noting that some of the dresses looked rather expensive.

“She did, but I’m not leaving Equestria looking like some simple pony. So I asked some of the servants to do some shopping for me while we were waiting. Honestly, they didn’t make half-bad choices either. I think I could almost wear these as is.”

“Almost? Don’t tell me you’re going to be sowing all night,” Twilight asked, concerned that she wasn’t going to be getting much sleep.

“Not really. I just need to put something together that can cover up the Drudge. Ponies were staring at me and not in nice ways.”

“Maybe it’s just because it’s on you’re… um… you know…,” Fluttershy stammered.

“You can say it Fluttershy. It’s attached to my big butt.”

“I wasn’t going to say big,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“But seriously, if it had to stick to me, why did it have to be back there? I feel so violated. At least that one is on your back.”

“I guess I really can’t complain when you put it that way.” Fluttershy craned her neck, but she could just barely make out the Drudge there. Rip Van Winkle hadn’t so much as breathed since attaching to her and sometimes she forgot he was even there, except for the slight tingling she constantly felt from its legs digging into her. The Drudge was actually quieter than she was.

“I wonder what would be the best look to cover it with? This Drudge certainly doesn’t make it easy to choose a dress style.” Rarity draped a dress over her tail and tried adjusting how tightly it wrapped around her backside without upsetting the Drudge. “Which do you think is more in fashion right now, big behinds or small behinds?”

Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other. “No offense Rarity, but didn’t you just say yours was big?” Twilight said carefully.

“That’s not what I asked,” Rarity said, rolling her eyes. “Oh never mind. Where is that strawberry dress they bought?” Rarity used her unicorn magic to lift the saddlebag and shake it upside-down, but she was surprised when she shook it too hard and it slammed down on the bed.

“Yeesh. Sorry Rarity. I didn’t know you were that sensitive about it,” Twilight said, almost dropping her book.

Rarity looked at her rather astonished. “I… I didn’t mean to do that. It just sort of…,” Rarity tried picking the bag up again but this time it flew upwards, nearly hitting the ceiling before she caught it.

“Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

Again, Rarity slammed the bag down on the bed, making one of the legs break. Rarity looked horrified. “I swear I didn’t mean to do that,” she apologized. “I don’t understand. I mean I usually have such precision, but right now…,”

“Wait just a moment,” Twilight put her book down. “Rarity, do you know how magic arm wrestling works?”

“Of course I do. Practically every young unicorn plays it in school at some time or another. Why do you…?” Rarity paused, realizing what she was implying. She gulped. “Right now?”

“I think it might be worth the test.”

Rarity removed the towel from her hair and set it on the bed she had just broken. Then she and Twilight stood facing each other, both of their horns igniting in magical light.

“Ready?” Twilight asked.

“I hope so.”

“Go.”

In the air between them, two waves of light collided, forcing against one another. The concentration on both unicorns’ faces intensified, as they both tried to focus all their power into it. Twilight was emanating so much power, her eyes started to glow, but Rarity’s magic force wasn’t wavering. In fact, it started to push Twilight back.

“Time out!” Twilight shouted. The two waves vanished almost simultaneously and Twilight puffed in exhaustion. Rarity however just looked stunned.

“Twilight, please tell me you were holding back.”

But the lavender unicorn shook her head. “I actually gave it everything I had. I almost lost control there. I haven’t done that since the entrance exam when I was still a filly. And still, you were starting to beat me.”

“But… but I can’t be stronger than you. That doesn’t make any sense. I thought the Drudge was supposed to be eating my energy. Why would I be getting stronger and in so short a time? It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours yet.”

“I… don’t know.”

“Do you think perhaps I tapped into the Drudge’s power or something?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight shook her head. “I’ve never heard of anything like this.” She tiredly sat back down in the lounge chair. “We’ll just have to ask George about it in the morning. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“Oh my stars….” Rarity moped, walked to one of the beds, and collapsed into it. “This is just too much. My heads starting to hurt,” she said as she put her foreleg over her eyes, dramatically.

“Do you need some ice?” Fluttershy offered.

“It’s not necessary, thank you. A wet rag will work fine.”

Fluttershy smiled warmly. “It’s okay, I don’t mind. I’ll go get you some ice.” She picked up an ice bucket off the table with her mouth and went out the door in search of an ice machine.

“That Fluttershy. She never stops thinking about others, does she?” Rarity smiled. “Say, if my Drudge is making me stronger, do you think Fluttershy’s Drudge is making her stronger too?”

“Could be. I guess we’ll know if she starts making Sonic Rainbooms.”

Rarity giggled. “I’d love to see the look on Rainbow Dash’s face if she did that.” Finished giggling, Rarity lifted her foreleg enough to look at Twilight with one eye. “Do you think our friends are all right in Canterlot?”

Twilight breathed in and out slowly. “George did say the diamondization was reversible. I’m sure they’re fine.” Even so, she missed her other friends terribly. And no matter how much George insisted everything would work out, she couldn’t help but worry about them.

Twilight woke from her thoughts when she heard a knock at the door. “Is Fluttershy back already?” she asked aloud and went to answer the door. Before she got to it, the knocking got even louder.

“That doesn’t sound like Fluttershy,” Rarity said, sitting up slightly, though not enough to crush the Drudge on her rump.

The knocking continued to intensify, leaving the two unicorns feeling uneasy, not just for themselves but for Fluttershy.

After closing the door behind her, Fluttershy walked down the hallway. She hadn’t seen an ice machine on the way to the room earlier so she figured it must be further in the back of the inn. She heard a chime somewhere strike ten o’clock. Even though it was pretty late, it was rather unnerving for the inn to be so quiet. She didn’t even hear snoring as she passed by various rooms. Which room were the boys staying in again? Now that she thought about it, it was in the opposite direction. Otherwise, she probably would have seen Rhubarb or Grey in the hallway. Come to think of it, why weren’t either of the two guards patrolling yet?

Trying to shake the heebie-jeebies from her mind, Fluttershy kept walking. Further ahead, there was a small light illuminating the ice machine. And right next to the machine stood a pony.

Fluttershy slowed her approach. The pony was a young male, maybe just a little younger than herself. He was a dusty color, and otherwise had no other particularly distinguishing features other than that he was an earth pony. The pony just stood there, watching her slowly walk closer. He seemed to be breathing rather fast, though not particularly heavy.

Before she got too much closer, Fluttershy stopped. Being a shy pony herself, Fluttershy didn’t know what to say. That and the fact that she had an ice bucket in her mouth. He continued to stare at her and she turned her head away, not sure where to look. It wasn’t like her to start up a conversation with somepony she had just met and apparently, it wasn’t like him either. But she still needed to get ice.

Finally, not sure what else to do, but still not brave enough to speak, she smiled and nodded her head at him as she started for the ice machine again. He slowly nodded his head and strangely enough started trembling a bit. Fluttershy walked next to him, put her bucket in the ice machine and smiled politely at him again. From this angle, she could see his cutie mark, which resembled a hammer. The poor young pony was sweating profusely.

“Are… are you okay?” Fluttershy ventured. The sound of her quiet voice breaking the silence almost seemed deafening in the eerie hallway.

The strange trembling pony licked his lips and finally spoke. “Drudge…”

The very word made Fluttershy freeze, not that she had really been moving much already, but she certainly felt a chill.

“Please… Master Drudge… tell me what I’m supposed to do,” he said slowly.

Fluttershy started to back away when she realized she was right up against the ice machine.

The other pony reached his hoof out to her. “Please… I’ve come all this way and I don’t know why. Tell me what to do.”

“I-I-I-I’m sorry sir, but I really don’t know what-”

“Drudge.”

Fluttershy turned her head when another voice sounded out in the silence. A unicorn with a hair full of curlers was standing at the end of the hallway.

“You found one?”

“I found one,” the young earth pony answered.

“We’ve been looking for you. Tell us what to do.”

“Tell us what to do!”

Fluttershy’s legs nearly gave out. There were six other ponies walking right behind the unicorn, all asking the same question.

Fluttershy jumped when the young earth pony touched a hoof to her shoulder. “The Drudge… please give us the Drudge… Master… Master Rip Van Winkle!”

“P-please. Stop,” Fluttershy pleaded, but the group of ponies were closing in. She had nowhere to go. They were all reaching their hooves out to her, trying to touch her. Fluttershy wanted to scream.

“Excuse me.”

The young earth pony turned his head when a hoof suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. In the next moment, two back hooves bucked him right in the side of the head, launching him into the group of advancing ponies. Fluttershy watched him hit the ponies and knock them all over like bowling pins.

“Young lady, are you all right?”

Fluttershy turned in surprise and saw one of the two guards standing there. He had come to her rescue. Wait… young lady? Was he the same guard who had tried to save her from Rip Van Winkle that same morning?

“Thank you so much, sir.” Fluttershy said in relief.

“Sir? Sir is too formal. We’re questing together aren’t we? So you can call me Grey if you want.”

“Oh. You’re Grey? I’m sorry, I can’t tell you apart from Rhubarb.”

Grey silently scratched his nose. “Yeah. We guards tend to get that a lot.”

Fluttershy smiled, but then she looked back at the ponies who had just about attacked her. “Who are those ponies?”

“No idea. They just came upstairs all of a sudden. There’s actually more down the hall.”

Fluttershy stared at him in shock. There were more?

The ponies Grey had knocked down began to get up. Still, they were asking the Drudge what they were supposed to do. Only the unicorn seemed concerned that the young earth pony was knocked out.

“Come on, young lady,” Grey motioned for her to come back with him the way she had come. “Let’s go back to your room and get your friends. We need to get everypony out of here.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy said quietly as she started to follow him. But abruptly he stopped.

“Do you smell something?” he asked.

Fluttershy sniffed the air. It kind of smelled like…

The wall slid open silently and a pony walked into the room quietly. Two of the beds were occupied. One of them undoubtedly held what the pony was looking for. He inched his way over, focused on the nearest bed, when two hooves suddenly grabbed him.

“Sorry, kid,” Burgle apologized, pushed the pony against the wall and held up a knife with his magic. “It’s kinda hard to sneak up on a seasoned thief. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice that false wall?”

“P-please…” the pony pleaded.

“Hush,” Burgle warned him and held the knife closer. “Pops! Wake up!”

“Huh? Sofas?” Davenport rubbed his eyes and switched on the lamp on the nightstand. In the low light, it was clear that the other bed only had a few pillows sleeping in it.

“This kid just tried to sneak up on us,” Burgle informed him, before looking at the pony again. “Wait a minute… You’re that bellhop from downstairs!” Burgle was a bit surprised. “What are you doing up here? Trying to rob us?”

“It’s the Drudge,” he answered. “Master Drudge! Master! Please… Give me an order. I… I have to listen.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with him?” Davenport asked, getting out bed. “Is he all right?”

“You are… you are…” Despite Burgle holding him back, the bellhop reached his hooves out toward Davenport. “Isis!”

At the sound of the Drudge’s name, Davenport’s eyes widened. He felt Isis move on his chest ever so slightly and then…

My little ponies…

“What? What did you say?” Davenport asked.

“Pops?”

“What are you…” Davenport covered his ears.

My little ponies…

“Stop it! Stop!” Davenport screamed, almost cowering in place.

“Isis! I know you somehow! I’ve come to follow you! Please tell me what I’m supposed to do!” the bellhop yelled.

“Everypony’s gone nuts,” Burgle yelped, trying to make sense of what was going on. He didn’t have long to think though. The door suddenly flew open and one of the guards sprang in. He slammed the door behind him and heaved himself against it, just as something on the other side tried to open it.

“Hey, guard guy, what the hay is going on?” Burgle asked.

“There’s a mob out there.”

“A mob?”

“Grey just ran over to the girls’ room to get them out.” So this guard must have been Rhubarb. Burgle had no idea why palace guards all looked alike since it seemed terribly inconvenient. “We need to get out too, but-”

Something hit the door and Rhubarb bounced against it, trying to hold it shut.

“My little ponies… My little ponies…,” Davenport started chanting.

“Mistress Isis!” The bellhop called out.

“Curses and mules,” Burgle said in frustration. Using his magic, he weaved a small spell to put the bellhop to sleep. It was probably his second most practiced spell, after unlocking doors.

“Don’t just stand there, help me bar the door! Get some furniture over here!” Rhubarb commanded.

Burgle quickly used his magic to slowly scoot one of the beds over to the door. “Where did this mob come from?”

“I don’t know. A bunch of ponies just came charging up the stairs.” Something pounded against the door again and Rhubarb nearly lost his footing. Rhubarb looked back to tell Burgle to hurry up, but his sharp eyes quickly fell on the window. “Burgle! Pegasus in the window!”

“Wha?” Burgle turned but it was too late. A pegasus crashed through the window hard enough to knock himself out. Why were these ponies so determined?

“My little ponies… My little ponies…,” Davenport sang, reaching out for the window. His face was split by a wild smile.

Burgle switched tactics and used every last ounce of magical strength he had to toss the bed against the window just as another pegasus tried to fly through it.

“Shoot. We’re trapped,” Rhubarb cried, nearly losing his struggle with the door again.

“No we’re not. There’s a secret entrance in the wall,” Burgle pointed to where the wall was still slightly ajar. For a brief moment, Burgle wondered why he was thinking of anyone other than himself. He had a clear shot to the hidden wall. Finally, he said, “I’ll grab Pops. On the count of three, get away from the door and…” He sniffed the air. “Do you smell smoke?”

Rhubarb sniffed loudly. It was smoke. But from where? And why?

Fire

Chapter 4: Fire

Twilight backed away from the door when powerful unicorn magic broke the hinges and flung it open. Rarity jumped off the bed when a yellow unicorn and four earth ponies dashed into the room. They looked around frantically for a moment before laying their eyes on Rarity.

“The Drudge… it’s over there… but where?” one of the earth ponies said.

Rarity gulped and lowered her backside a little, trying to hide the Drudge. “It’s uh… under the bed.” She scooted away from the bed as the ponies scuffled over, practically pushing each other away to get to the bed. However, as they past by her, they all stopped and turned.

“It moved over there,” another earth pony said, pointing at Rarity.

“Is it her?” the unicorn asked. “What do the Drudges look like?”

“Stop it, everypony!” Twilight shouted. “What do you know about the Drudges? What are you doing here?”

One of the earth ponies looked at her. Sweat poured down his face. “I don’t know. That’s why I have to find the Drudges.”

Twilight blinked in confusion. What in the name of Celestia was going on?

“I feel it. It is there.” The first earth pony pointed at Rarity again. “Salamander?” he said as if he had never heard the word before.

Rarity backed up slowly as the ponies all advanced on her. “I assure you, there’s no Drudge here. We’re just your average travelers-” Abruptly Rarity stopped and put a hoof to her head. “My headache…” She closed her eyes tightly, shivering.

“Rarity! Get away from her!” Twilight yelled, using her magic to drag the ponies away. But the yellow unicorn suddenly used his magic to toss three lamps at her. It took all of Twilight’s concentration just to divert them away from hitting her.

“Don’t try to stop us. We have to do this!” the unicorn shouted.

“What is it? What are you saying? Are you… the Drudge? Salamander?” Rarity babbled.

“Where? Where is he? Show us Salamander!” the strange unicorn demanded.

“Oh my stars,” Rarity wailed and opened her eyes. “I can hear him, Twilight. Salamander’s calling to them.”

Twilight paled. “You can hear the Drudge? Calling to who?”

“These ponies. He’s…” Rarity grabbed her head again and shut her eyes. “What is that? What is it? Is somepony there?”

“We’re here, Master Salamander. Tell us why we’re here,” one of the earth ponies practically pleaded as he groveled on the ground.

Rarity opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. “What is that?”

Twilight was about to try to pull the ponies away again when something unexpected answered Rarity’s question. A blood curdling, high-pitched screech, similar to hooves on a chalkboard. Before the Drudge stopped screaming, fire erupted from behind Rarity, scorching the wall and igniting everything behind her. The strange ponies all screamed and groveled on the ground, pleading for an answer as Rarity scurried to the side to get away from the flames.

“Don’t just stand there, everypony! Get away from the fire!” Twilight screamed, but the ponies weren’t listening. They howled and cried, as if Salamander’s answer had broken their spirits. “Come on! Your lives are in danger!” Twilight pleaded.

Two of the earth ponies started to back away, but the others stared at the flames. Twilight’s magic surged as she tried to dowse the fire, but no matter what kind of spell she tried, they just wouldn’t go out. In fact, they almost seemed to be spreading across the room faster.

“This is ridiculous. Where’s the Great and Powerful George when we actually need him?” He was the only one who knew how to put out Salamander’s flames.

Not knowing what else to do, Twilight used her magic to grab the remaining ponies and drag them out of the room. And not a moment too soon, because Rarity’s backside abruptly ignited in flames again and lit another part of the room on fire.

“Rarity, can you stop him?”

“How? He’s a Drudge. I don’t think asking politely will work.” Rarity winced as Salamander shot another wave of fire. “Please stop doing that!” Another burst of flames shot out as if he was intentionally trying to be defiant.

“Rarity! Twilight!” It was Fluttershy. She and one of the guards were running down the hall to them.

“What’s happened?” the guard demanded.

“Salamander, he’s setting everything on fire!” Rarity screamed.

“And these crazy ponies won’t run away,” Twilight confirmed, still dragging the ponies along. Even the yellow unicorn had stopped struggling.

“That’s the fire that’s not easy to put out, right?” the guard asked, though he had already guessed the answer. “There are more ponies and guests still in the building. We have to warn them and get them all out.”

“That’s not going to be easy. The Drudge is still throwing fire everywhere. We’ll have to get George so he can stop this.”

“There are ponies in the stairwell. How are we going to get upstairs?”

Ponies in the stairwell? Twilight looked down the hall and saw a large crowd of ponies all standing in front of a door, trying to push their way in. They were pretty much blocking the way to the stairwell.

“Who are they?”

“They just showed up all of a sudden. I don’t know how they know, but all of them keep talking about finding the Drudges. I just saved the young lady here from getting attacked back there.” He pointed down the other way.

“It’s true. They even knew Rip Van Winkle’s name,” Fluttershy put in.

“They knew Salamander’s name too,” Rarity confirmed.

“If I’m not mistaken, that’s Davenport and Burgle’s room they’re trying to get into.”

Just as the guard finished saying that, the ponies in the hall erupted into the afore mentioned room and started pushing and shoving their way in. The fire was starting to spread just outside of Twilight’s room too.

“Are they going to be all right? Shouldn’t we help them?” Fluttershy worried, referring to Davenport and Burgle.

“Rhubarb should be in there with them. He’ll get them out of there safely. Trust me on that,” the guard said, smiling.

“Rhubarb? So you’re Grey?” Twilight asked.

“I really need to get a name badge.” Grey rolled his eyes.

“Master Salamander, please forgive us!” The ponies Twilight had been dragging suddenly bowed to Rarity. “We’ll do whatever you ask. Please don’t burn us.”

Rarity looked startled for a moment, but then a knowing smile crossed her face as if she had just gotten a great idea. “Twilight, let them go,” she said calmly. “Now everypony, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Anything, Master Salamander! Spare us!” they all replied in unison.

“Run to all the rooms in the inn. Get everyone up and warn them about the fire. You here me?” she commanded sternly.

“Yes, Master!” they all screamed and took off in different directions, pounding on doors and yelling, “Fire!” as loud as they could.

“I’m not sure what’s really going on, but at least it’s not all bad,” Rarity said. Almost as soon as she said that though, she winced and held a hoof to the side of her head again. “Salamander… What is it…? What are you feeling…?” Rarity jumped when another burst of flames shot out of the Drudge and ignited the wall behind her. “Why do you keep doing that!?” she shouted at it.

“Come on! We have to get upstairs and find George,” Twilight said.

“Wait, what about the other ponies?” Fluttershy asked.

“What other ponies?”

“The ones who attacked me. I think Grey knocked one of them out.”

The ponies moved further away from the fire Salamander had just started in the hallway, consequently pushing them closer to where Fluttershy had been attacked. Twilight only then realized how hot it was getting as she brushed sweat from her forehead. Smoke was starting to spread rapidly and it was getting harder to breath.

“We better get moving then.” Twilight just hoped there was another stairwell further back.

Even though Rarity had just sent those strange ponies running through the halls, Twilight could see them ahead, pounding on doors, but otherwise ignoring anypony that happened to rush out into the hall to see what was going on. That included a dusty colored earth pony who was lying on the ground in front of an ice machine. There was a light blue unicorn with curlers in her hair, hovering over him, but otherwise she looked completely lost, if not worried.

“I guess I should have told them to make sure everyone gets out too,” Rarity said with some regret. Twilight couldn’t blame her though. She couldn’t have known the strange ponies would listen word for word and nothing else.

As soon as the light blue unicorn saw them, she reached out towards Fluttershy. “Master Rip Van Winkle! Please help him!”

Fluttershy nodded in answer. “Grey?”

“I’m on it. Miss Twilight, put him on my back. I’ll carry him out.”

Twilight quickly lifted the earth pony up with her magic and gently placed him on Grey’s back. Then, joined by the light blue unicorn, they all ran further to the back of the inn, hoping to find another set of stairs. Other ponies raced out of their rooms ahead of them, also screaming about the fire. One or two mentioned that they would be suing for psychological trauma.
Fortunately, there was another stairwell in the back and, even more fortunate, George was making his way down them. When he saw Twilight and the others, he stormed over and stopped them, waving his staff fiercely.

“What did you buffoons do?” he demanded.

“Us? What makes you think we did anything?” Twilight retorted.

“There’s smoke in my room! Did that stupid Davenport knock over a candle or something?”

“It wasn’t Davenport! Salamander started-”

Abruptly, Salamander screamed again. Fire shot down the hall, igniting nearly the entire stretch of the long rug they had just run over.

“What did you do to provoke it now?” George said annoyed.

“Never mind that. Please just put the fire out,” Rarity pleaded.

“Yeah. I should have known you’d need me.”

Twilight and Rarity both rolled their eyes as George calmly walked up to the fire and started chanting. In a few moments, he touched his staff to the fire and about half the line died out.

“Great. Now get the rest. Our room is on fire too.”

“Wait, what? How much is on fire?”

Salamander screamed yet again. Rarity winced when more fire shot out of him, burning the stairwell behind them. Their only other exit.

“Too much,” Rarity answered miserably.

“You’ve got to be kidding. I don’t think I can put out the fire if it’s spread this much,” George said, noticing the growing flames at the end of the hall.

“Is there another exit? We’re surrounded,” Grey pointed out, choking on smoke.

There were ponies as well as various other creatures starting to run into the hall, noting the flames in one direction and trying to run in the other. If George or somepony couldn’t do something soon, panic could easily start to overcome reason.

“We have to get everyone out of here,” Twilight said, starting to feel a bit frantic herself. The fire seemed to burn faster than a normal one and the hallway was losing oxygen fast.

“I know, let’s go into one of the rooms and go out through a window,” Rarity suggested. She ducked through an open door, noting the windows in the back. “Let’s get out through here!” She called as her horn lit up with magic.

“Good idea. Let’s tell everyone-” Twilight cut herself off when she remembered a few things about the properties of fire and Rarity’s enhanced power. “Rarity! Wait!”

But Rarity had already started. She had intended to break the window through, but her new magic strength overdid her attempt and a huge hole exploded in the wall. Then another explosion sounded behind them. Twilight turned to the door in panic just as George waved his staff and created some kind of barrier. In moments, flames shot through the room like a tidal wave, knocking back furniture and splintering the already busted wall.

“W-what was that?” Rarity shouted.

“A backdraft,” Twilight said a little frazzled. “That’s what happens when you reintroduce oxygen into an oxygen deprived room during a fire.”

“It’s even more potent with Salamander’s fire,” George added.

“What happened in the hall? Is everypony all right out there!” Fluttershy worried, racing back. Looking down the hall, it seemed that not everyone was okay. Some ponies and creatures were running down the hall, on fire.

“Stupid foals. Don’t they know about stop, drop, and roll… not that it would work in this case, but still…,” George remarked as he entered the hallway and raised his staff. He started chanting gibberish loudly and then shouted, “Dowse!” An invisible wave of energy shot through the hall, dowsing the fire on the ignited ponies and other creatures as well as erasing some of flames on the burning walls. George sat down hard. “Get them out,” he said tiredly to Fluttershy.

“This way, everyone! There’s an exit here!” Fluttershy shouted, standing on her hind hooves and motioning into the room like a crossing guard.

Though many pushed and shoved, the escape was at least somewhat orderly. Twilight used her own magic to create an inflatable slide to the ground and everyone made good use of it, not even bothering to thank her.

“That’s the last of them!” George called when the hall finally emptied.

“Are you okay, George?” Fluttershy asked, noticing the state he was in.

George put a hoof on her shoulder and smiled. “I’m the Great and Powerful George. Of course I’m okay.”

“But…,” Fluttershy’s wasn’t fully convinced.

“Young lady.” Grey came back into the hallway. He no longer had the hurt earth pony on his back. “Everyone else is evacuated. You need to as well.”

“What about George?”

“I told you, I’m fine. Now go on. You get out too.”

Fluttershy gave him a look that said she didn’t believe him. “Grey, can you help me here?”

“Um… sure young lady… I would be happy too.”

Surprisingly, Fluttershy gave him a look of displeasure. “You’re the one who said we were questing together. I don’t mind if you call me Fluttershy. Calling me young lady just makes you sound like my father.”

Grey smiled sheepishly. “Of course… Ms. Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Are all guards as formal as you?” Grey stammered, not really sure how to answer her question. “Uh… never mind. Just help me get George out.”

“Hey wait a minute!” George protested, but he gave up as the two helped him to his hooves and put his forelegs over their shoulders. “Don’t you dare tell anyone that the Great and Powerful George needed help.”

Fluttershy and Grey both nodded and helped George into the room and down the inflatable slide, before going down themselves.

A portion of the outside of the building had started on fire. From what Twilight and the others could tell, all of the guests as well as the strange ponies had gotten out, which was relieving.

Fluttershy sighed. “If only we could have prevented the fire in the first place. I hope the owner is going to be able to stay in business.”

“It’s not you’re fault Fluttershy, you did everything you could have done and wonderfully,” Rarity comforted. “Anyway, you had nothing to do with the fire. Besides, in the end it was Salamander who made the flames and my foolish mistake that made the backdraft.”

“Don’t blame yourself either, Rarity,” Twilight said. “You didn’t know.”

“It doesn’t make me feel any better about it nor about my accursed Drudge. If only I could have stopped him.”

Twilight lowered her head a little, watching Rarity forcefully making herself watch the fire. The determination in her eyes was only partly clouded by speckles of dry tears.

Turning her own eyes back to the burning building, Twilight saw a pony stick his head up from a window well at the base of the inn.

“Burgle?” she called.

Burgle looked her way and waved. “Hey kid, help me out here.”

Twilight and Fluttershy both ran over, seeing that Burgle was lifting a young pony from inside the basement.

“Who’s this?” Twilight asked, lifting the pony with her magic.

“The bellhop. He snuck into our room and I put him to sleep. He was trying to get Pops and the Drudge.”

“Another one? Why are these ponies all after the Drudges?” Twilight exclaimed as Rhubarb came out of the window well carrying an unconscious pegasus on his back. “What are you guys doing down there anyway?”

“There was a secret passage behind the wall in our room. We followed it all the way to the basement,” Rhubarb informed her.

“Is everypony all right?” Fluttershy asked.

“Pops is being a little kookier than usual, but otherwise, we’re cool.” If he had thumbs, Burgle probably would have given her a thumbs up.

Davenport slowly climbed out of the window well, looking a bit spooked.

“You okay, Mr. Davenport?” Fluttershy asked him.

“I think so. She finally stopped,” Davenport answered, shaking his head a little.

“What happened? Why’s the building on fire?” Rhubarb demanded.

“Salamander,” Twilight answered curtly.

They all moved away from the burning building and joined back up with Rarity, George, and Grey. Seeing that everyone was all right, they all relaxed a little. But not that much. Davenport, Burgle, and Rhubarb were the only ones who had thought to bring their saddlebags from the room, or perhaps it was more accurate to say they were the only one who had had time to think about it. Twilight and the others on the other hand had just lost everything they had brought with them, including food. Twilight silently grieved over the checklist in her head.

“Well, there go all those dresses,” Rarity sighed, trying to take her mind off her mistake. “How is it that the only thing I have left to wear is a bathrobe? I practically stole this,” she said, indicating the robe she was still wearing.

Technically, since it belonged to the inn, she had stolen it unless she planned to give it back. It hardly made up for the 152 bits that Twilight had just wasted, either.

Not knowing what else to do at the moment, Twilight turned to George. “Aren’t you going to do anything yet? Can you put the fire out, now?”

George partially jumped, as if she had caught him by surprise with her question. “Well… I mean… um…,”

“It’s a yes or no answer!” Twilight shouted at him.

George sighed, clearly disgruntled. “No. I can’t. The fire’s too big. It’s beyond even my fantastic power to stop.”

“But its Salamander’s fire. You’re the only one who knows how to put it out. How long before it stops burning?”

George growled and closed his eyes. “It… it won’t stop. It will keep burning indefinitely.”

“What?” Twilight stared at the building. “But, doesn’t that mean it will keep spreading until… until it burns down all of Equestria?”

“I’m only one Mystic. There were always small armies of us in the past to stop things like this. I’ve been racking my brain over this but I just don’t know what we can do.”

Twilight almost started hyperventilating. How could this have happened? Wasn’t there anypony who could stop it?

“Rarity?” Twilight called out when she saw the white unicorn step towards the burning inn.

Rarity looked at the building for a moment before magic enveloped her horn. The wind itself picked up, blowing all around Rarity like a tornado. Rarity growled audibly louder and louder until she pointed her horn at the inn. The wind instantly ceased and the flames blew back and died out. Rarity smiled and nodded at her work.

“How the… how did you do that? Even I couldn’t do that,” George said in astonishment.

Rarity turned around, facing him. “I don’t know how I knew, but for some reason I knew I could put the flames out.”

“That makes no sense!”

“I’m not saying it does. It doesn’t make any sense to me either. It’s just something I realized I could do.” She sounded more relieved than anything else, though she held her head as if her headache had intensified.

Twilight sat down. The only logical explanation was that her connection with Salamander somehow had imbued her with the knowledge, let alone the strength to pull such a spell off. Before she could make a speech on the matter though, she noticed some of the strange ponies walking around, slowly edging their way towards them. The last thing they needed was for Salamander to go off again.

“Come on everypony, we need to get out of here and fast. Those weird ponies are coming.”

“Ponies?” George wondered, looking at the ponies who were slowly coming closer. “What’s going on?”

“Stop! Stop right there!” Rarity bellowed at the advancing ponies. “Salamander commands that you sit there and wait.” Almost as one, the ponies sat down. “Now you keep waiting there until… until tomorrow night. And if anyone else tries to follow us, you tell them Salamander’s command too.” Rarity quickly turned back to her questing cohorts. “Come on then. I don’t know how much time we have before they figure out that I’m not a Drudge.” She hurried along away from the inn and across the border of Equestria.

“Wait, what they hay is up with those ponies?” George asked.

“I’ll explain on the way. Let’s just go,” Twilight told him as she and the others quickly followed. That is, all except for Burgle.

“Burgle?” Fluttershy said to the thief. “Are you coming?”

“Did you see that?” he asked her.

“Yes. Rarity was amazing wasn’t she?”

“No, not that. On the roof.” Burgle pointed, pulling back his hood to get a better look. “Just now I thought I saw somepony on the roof.”

Fluttershy looked, but she couldn’t see anything up there. “Are you sure?”

Burgle looked uneasy. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just seeing things. I don’t like it though. This whole quest is starting to give me the heebie-jeebies.” He turned away, following the others at a slightly slower pace.

As Fluttershy was about to do the same, something told her to look up. She blinked in surprise when she thought she saw something jump off the roof. Swallowing in nervous fear, Fluttershy quickly followed the others.

Evil Speaks

Chapter 5: Evil Speaks

The land outside Equestria was dreary and almost seemed unnatural. Though it was still dark, the small band of ponies could see clouds moving around in the sky all by themselves without pegasus ponies pushing them. The ground itself had sparse grass, almost seeming more like a desert than a grassland. The tiny path they walked on seemed hardly used, and was difficult to follow in the darkness.

In the end, they walked until about midnight when they felt they were far enough away from the strange ponies and far enough without risking losing sight of the road. No matter what, they had to try to get at least some sleep. They quickly made camp close to an outcropping of rock so that they weren’t completely visible from the road. During the trek, Rarity, Rhubarb, and Grey had relayed to George what they had seen of the strange ponies who had come looking for the Drudges. As Twilight lit a small fire to keep warm, George sat and thought about the mobs’ sudden appearance in the inn.

“Okay, I think I know who they are,” George finally said after a few minutes. “Or perhaps I should say who they think they are.”

“What does that mean? They’re actually someone else?” Fluttershy asked.

“No, no, no. This goes back to the story of the Drudges again. Like I said before, the Drudges formed a small army of confused ponies who they duped into following them. It wasn’t like they tricked them with words or anything either. They did it with a sort of spell. When the Drudges were defeated, the spell that bound them was broken, but not lost. This is exactly what the Mystics of the past feared would happen.”

“And that would be?” Rarity asked as she tried to reclaim some form of luster to her air-dried hair. She hadn’t had time to dry and brush it properly before the fire.

“The spell must have been passed down dormantly from generation after generation. Somewhere between today and when the Drudges woke up, that spell reactivated and the descendents of those original followers were compelled to serve the Drudges again.”

“That’s horrible,” one of the guards said. “They’re seeking out the Drudges against their will?”

“Yep. Even though they’ve probably never heard of the Drudges before, they can’t help but want to find them and follow any orders the Drudges deem to give them. Apparently the spell is strong enough to give them some kind of sixth sense that tells them where the Drudges are, or something like that if so many of them found their way to the inn at the same time.”

“Creepy,” Burgle said, eating a banana. “They almost sound like some crazy cult.”

“That’s actually not a bad comparison. They are basically a cult, if not a forced one.”

“So those poor ponies are unwilling occultists? That’s so sad,” the other guard put in.

“Not unwilling. That’s the problem. Did you see how they reacted to Rarity back there? They didn’t question her orders in the slightest,” George pointed out.

“Couldn’t we just fool them again and send them away?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know. Pray that that works a second time if we happen to run into those… well, those occultists again.”

The ponies fell silent for a while, listening to the sounds of crickets. Then Davenport spoke up for the first time in the last hour.

“My Drudge is called Isis, right?”

George shot him a look as if he wished death on him for breaking the silence. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

Davenport stared into the fire. “That boy back there in the inn, he called Isis by name. And when she heard it, she started calling to him. She kept singing, My little ponies.”

“I heard it too,” Rarity confirmed. “When those occultists came into our room looking for the Drudge, Salamander started calling out to them. He said, I am Salamander. Come to me my little ponies. He was chanting it over and over again in my head.”

“I never heard anything,” Fluttershy said. “That poor earth pony said Rip Van Winkle’s name too, but Rip never answered, or at least I didn’t hear it.”

“Hmmmm,” George thought a moment. “Even though he’s still feeding on you, Rip Van Winkle has probably been sleeping since he latched on. The scrolls I’ve read said he was lazy like that.”

“He’s lazy?” Fluttershy said in surprise. It was the first time she had heard of any of the Drudges displaying a pony quality. “How long is he going to sleep for?”

“I don’t know. If he does wake up though, you’ll probably know.”

“Will he start calling for those occultists too?”

“Could be, I suppose. Doesn’t sound like they need to actually call for the occultists to find them though.”

“Hang on a minute,” Twilight interrupted. “If they were calling them there, then why did Salamander try to burn the inn down? I thought they were supposed to serve the Drudges.”

George was about to answer, but Rarity abruptly cut him off. “No. He seemed happy that those occultists showed up. But then I think he felt something. I could feel it too. It’s like he sensed somepony else there and freaked out.”

“Hey, I thought I saw something on the roof before we left. Was that it?” Burgle asked.

“The roof…,” Rarity said slowly. “Salamander was focused on the roof. Did you see what or who it was?”

“Uh… not really,” Burgle stammered, finishing his banana.

“Actually, I saw something to,” Fluttershy said. “I thought I saw a shadow jump off the roof after Burgle pointed it out to me.”

“You did?” Burgle looked at her in surprise. “For real? Then I wasn’t imagining it.”

“But even if there was someone there, what would a Drudge be afraid of?” Twilight asked.

“Nothing. It might not have been afraid. Maybe it thought somepony was trying to interfere or… no that doesn’t sound right either.” George scratched his scruffy beard. “I admit you’ve got me there. I don’t know why a Drudge would react like that.”

“Because he’s a coward,” Davenport suddenly put in gruffly.

George scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. The Drudges don’t have anything to fear from anyone or anything except the Elements of Harmony. And maybe a Mystic like me,” he added proudly.

“You think so highly of yourself, yet you have no idea what we Drudges are really capable of.”

The ponies all stared at Davenport. He wore a small smile and calm eyes as he looked straight ahead, not focusing on any of them in particular.

“Isis?” George ventured.

Davenport chuckled. “What’s the matter Great and Powerful George? Surprised?”

“Fiend!” George screamed and scrambled to his hooves. Twilight and the others did the same and backed up a few paces, with the exception of the guards who took up defensive positions in front of them.

“What did you do to Davenport?!” Twilight demanded.

“Relax. You can clearly see he’s fine. I just felt like talking, that’s all,” Isis replied through Davenport in a calm, condescending voice.

“Talk is cheap. What are you after?” one of the guards asked. Based on his voice, he was probably Rhubarb.

“Me? Whatever makes you think I’m after something? I’m perfectly content eating off Davenport. In fact I should really thank him for saving me this morning.”

“You bug-eyed little whelp. I should have tossed you in the ocean,” George said, unsuccessfully trying to sound threatening.

“Calm down, old man. For being so great, you’re not very bright. You seem to forget the power I’m capable of.”

Silently, Twilight wondered why they had ever thought it was a good idea to travel with a Drudge that could turn them all to diamond with a whim. Salamander had used his fire multiple times already. Why had Isis held back?

“Try it! I dare you! I’m so great, you’ll never touch me!”

“George! For Celestia’s sake, what are you doing? Now who’s provoking the Drudges?” Twilight scolded him.

“Even if I felt like it, there’s not much need to waste my power on him, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight swallowed. It was unnerving for the Drudge to call her by name.

“Oh?” It was the only thing she could say. She was a little surprised that she had mustered up the nerve to say anything at all.

“Don’t worry. You’re perfectly safe. Unlike that cowardly Salamander over there, I’m not going to drain all my power over something insignificant before I even have time to recharge.”

Rarity visibly shivered when Salamander made a sort of growling noise.

“Oh shut up, Salamander. You don’t even know what that presence was. You wasted you’re power over nothing and you know it.”

Salamander shot a long flame out of spite, surprising all of them with how sudden it was. Burgle all but stared. It was the first time he had seen Salamander do that. Rarity quickly put it out, while Isis chuckled loudly.

“Still short tempered I see. You haven’t changed at all in the last thousand years.”

Salamander growled again.

“The sooner we get rid of these things the better,” George whispered to Twilight.

“Are you sure you can even do that? You could always speed up the process and just kill the hosts,” Isis said with a devious smile.

“Excuse me? What are you even getting at? Are you crazy?” Twilight cried in anger.

“If you kill the hosts while we’re still eating sustenance from them, then we die as well.”

Twilight could feel the hair on her neck raise.

“Bah! Like you’d even let us do that!” George scoffed.

“I’m sure if you and Twilight Sparkle teamed up, you could muster up just enough power to defeat me as I am now. Or you could save yourself the trouble and just sneak up on us. You know, finish it real quick before we even know what’s happening.”

Rarity abruptly held her hoof over her neck. Fluttershy covered her mouth with both hooves and visibly shook.

“You are crazy!” Twilight shouted at her. “What makes you think we would ever consider doing that? And it’s ridiculous. You’re talking about your own life. Why would you even suggest such a thing if it were true? It makes no sense.”

Isis cackled. “Because it amuses me. Your whole silly quest amuses me. You can’t succeed.”

“We will succeed!” Twilight shouted back.

“Oh? How? At the Temple of Discord?”

Twilight gasped. If Isis knew their plan, then why was she being so calm about it?

“Oh please, you all look so surprised. I can hear. And anyway, we Drudges know everything our hosts know, so it’s not like you can hide anything from us. Salamander and Rip Van Winkle know too. It’s just that Salamander is too cowardly and weak to do anything about it, and that fat slob, Rip Van Winkle is too lazy to even defend himself without relying on somepony to do it for him.” Isis laughed a real hearty laugh.

“Humph. You laugh now, “George said confidently. “But it won’t be much longer before our epic quest is over.”

“Epic quest? Your epic quest was over before it even started. The Temple of Discord doesn’t even exist anymore.”

“You’re lying!” George shouted at her.

“Am I? We’ll see.” She laughed even harder than before. Then abruptly, she just stopped.

Davenport gasped for air as if he had been holding his breath for a long time. “Isis… She, she… I’m so sorry.”

“You stupid moron. You have such a weak mind,” George growled at him.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. She just sort of took over.”

“Clearly.” George sat back down, throwing his staff on the ground.

“George?” Twilight ventured.

“She’s lying,” George said calmly. “Even if it was gone or whatever, there’s no way she could possibly know about it. The Mystics have kept the Temple preserved for centuries just in case the Drudges returned. There’s no reason it couldn’t be there.”

“But what if she’s not lying?” Fluttershy asked.

“She is. Trust me. I’ve been to the Temple myself. I know it’s still there. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

“Is it true what she said about the Drudges dieing if their host dies?” Fluttershy asked wearily.

George looked at her but was slower to answer this time. “I have no idea. If there were any solid evidence to it, we would have at least one less Drudge by now.”

“She probably said it to make us hosts suspicious and paranoid of everypony,” Rarity said. “I certainly felt a chill when she said it. It scared me half to death and I’m sure that’s exactly what she wanted. Besides, I don’t think amusement is a good enough excuse for her to intentionally endanger herself or the other Drudges.”

“I agree with Rarity,” Rhubarb said. “I am not willing to risk the safety of this party for little more than a rumor.”

“Relax everypony. There’s no way we would do something like that. We’re going to defeat the Drudges with everyone still alive and if anypony thinks otherwise, they’ll have to go through me first,” Twilight told them.

“Does that include the occultists? There’s so many of them they may prove to be quite a challenge to stop, especially since they’re essentially innocent in all this,” Grey pointed out.

Twilight’s confident expression turned to one of doubt. She actually hadn’t thought about running into them again.

“Don’t worry about the occultists,” Rarity said as her horn lit up. A small streak of light shot from her horn and exploded like a fountain, showering them in it. “That should hold them off for a while,” she said proudly.

“What was that?” Grey asked her.

“Something that Salamander is yelling at me for.” She held her head again. “Hush up. It’s your own fault for thinking about it while I was listening.”

“You learned that from Salamander? Wait, you’re talking to him?” George sounded surprised.

“I guess so. Anyway… Hush I said! Anyway, that should block the Drudges from the occultists for a little while.”

George raised his eyebrows in astonishment. “I never would have thought that the Drudges would even know a way to cut off their own spell.”

“They’re not exactly cut off. Let’s just say, dampened. Now that I’m aware of it, I can feel the spell the Drudges are transmitting to the occultists. All I did just now was weaken it, sort of like blocking water with a sponge. If they happen to get close… Be quiet, Salamander! I don’t care if you’re angry with me!” The Drudge made a squealing noise and shot off a small wave of fire. “And knock that off. I swear you’re acting like a spoiled colt.” She quickly dowsed the flames as if they were nothing. Salamander growled. “Don’t you take that tone with me!”

“Rarity!” Twilight interrupted. “Please, would you stop arguing with it? You’re kind of starting to scare me.”

“Sorry, Twilight. My Drudge is just being stubborn right now. Now that I actually hear him, he’s quite rude.” Rarity glared at the Drudge. Then she gasped. “Why I never. A lady should not be subjected to such fowl language. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“Rarity, please!” Twilight begged.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. My Drudge won’t stop talking and I don’t know how to turn the volume down.” She sighed. “You’re fortunate Fluttershy. Has you’re Drudge said anything to you yet?”

“Um… no,” Fluttershy stammered, being caught a little off guard by the question. “I haven’t heard a peep from the Drudge.”

“At least that makes one of us who isn’t going crazy.”

“Hey, I’m not going crazy either. I’m just having a harder time controlling mine,” Davenport said, nearly whining.

“I have a really bad feeling about this,” Twilight said, messaging her head. “I’m even more worried than I was this morning.”

“Then its best you try and get some sleep,” Rhubarb said. “Grey and I will set up a watch again and make sure nothing happens.”

“You two need to get some rest too. You already did a fine job at the inn, so let’s split the watch into three shifts. I’ll take the last one,” George said, actually sounding sincere for once.

“Thank you sir, but it’s not really necessary. This is what we do for a living,” Grey put in.

“I insist. We might really need you boys tomorrow and I can’t have your performance diminished because of lack of sleep.”

The two guards looked at each other. “Does this mean we’re not expendables anymore?” Rhubarb asked.

“It’s because you’re expendables that I do this.”

The guards grimaced. So much for being sincere.

Cork slowly opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was being kicked in the side of the head. And Rip Van Winkle…

Cork tried to get up quickly, but lost his balance and fell over. He was surprised when a soft shoulder caught him.

“Don’t try to stand up so fast. You’ve been hurt.”

It was only then that Cork realized that his cheek hurt where he had been kicked. He could feel a small swelling there and suspected that he might have a bruise. Cork looked to see who he had fallen on and was surprised to see the light blue unicorn with curlers in her hair. Or at least she had had curlers. Somewhere between now and when he was knocked out, she had started to take them out. There were several curlers littering the ground and a few still in her hair, leaving him to suspect she had been doing so just before he woke up.

“Rip Van Winkle! Where’s Rip Van Winkle?” Cork didn’t know why that was the first thing on his mind. He should have thanked the unicorn for helping him.

“He left.”

“Let’s go. We have to find him.”

“Stop! Don’t move. Salamander commanded us to sit here and wait.”

“Salamander?” Something in his mind told him that that was one of the Drudges. Without even thinking, he sat down. “How long do we wait for?”

“She said till tomorrow evening.”

“She?” Something in Cork’s mind clicked. “Salamander is a he.”

The unicorn’s eyes slowly widened. She blinked twice. “You’re right. That’s so weird. Why do we even know that?”

Cork thought about it, but his only answer was to shrug. They sat there and stared at each other for a few moments.

“Should we still be waiting here then?”

“I don’t know,” she answered cautiously.

This was ridiculous. What were they doing here? For the first time, Cork realized he was outside. The building he had walked into was nearby and many ponies were sitting in the grass all around it. Cork knew that they were others like him. During his journey, more and more ponies from all over Equestria had slowly joined him, the unicorn sitting next to him, and three others, until they had numbered something like fifty or more strong. He had no idea who any of these ponies were and yet something in his mind told him that they were all his friends. No. Allies. They could trust each other for some reason.

“I’m Cork. Who are you?” Cork suddenly thought to ask.

“My name is Daffodil. Pleased to meet you.”

They nodded at each other. “What happened anyway? You know, after I got knocked out?”

“Salamander started a fire. I don’t know why. But then Rip Van Winkle and the pony who attacked you came back and rescued us from it. Then they left with Salamander, Isis, and some other ponies. They were really strong ponies too. I think maybe they were the Drudges servants or something.”

“You ponies don’t really know anything about what’s going on do you?”

Cork and Daffodil turned to the voice that suddenly spoke behind them. Cork actually gaped. Before him was a brown pony with a jet-black mane. The thing that made Cork gape was that the pony reminded him of Princess Celestia. The pony was tall and had both wings and a unicorn horn. The pony looked at them with a simple smile. He wore a strange necklace with a small box-like object as a jewelry piece.

“You’re all hopeless. I thought you would have figured it out by now, and yet, here you are two hours later, still sitting here.”

“Who are you?” Cork asked, not even caring that he sounded kind of rude.

“You’re salvation.” The pony walked past him and through the crowd of ponies. Cork saw his cutie mark, which was an upside-down blue heart. “Here me, army of the Drudges, I am the salvation to all of you. My name is Rave.”

He opened his wings and leapt into the air. He flew over the crowds’ heads towards a withered tree stump and used his magic to zap it and turn it into, strangely enough, a soapbox. Landing neatly on his newly made soapbox, Rave turned to face his baffled audience.

“You’ve all traveled a long distance, a very, very, long distance. But do you know why? No. You can’t explain it and yet you can’t stop yourselves can you? You sought out the Drudges, creatures you had neither seen nor heard of before. Maybe you questioned yourselves and thought about turning back, but you could not. You moved as if by an addiction. Am I wrong?”

Many ponies started talking amongst themselves, openly admitting to one another that Rave was speaking the truth. Cork put a hoof to his aching head as he recalled the feeling. No… he didn’t have to recall it. He felt it now. He wanted to move, and yet the orders supposedly left by Salamander ate at him, forcing him to hold still.

“So what are the Drudges? What did you come here for? What do you hope to gain by following the Drudges? Allow me to provide you all with answers.” Rave paused, allowing his promise to sink in. Cork found himself desperately wanting to hear what Rave had to say next. “The Drudges are ancient creatures of incredible power, who sustain their life by draining the life from ponies just like you.”

Oddly, the audience didn’t react at all. As soon as Rave had said it, Cork found a memory in his mind that told him he already knew that. He was more shocked that he wasn’t shocked by the news than anything else. The description alone made the Drudges sound bad or even evil, and yet, Cork found himself perfectly fine with that. The fact that it didn’t bother him strangely enough bothered him. Just trying to rationalize his feelings in his own mind was driving him crazy. He couldn’t figure out how he was supposed to feel. He was starting to sweat again.

“You are an army. Your purpose in life is to serve the Drudges, fight for them, protect them, and ultimately you are to be their lifeblood. You will willingly give up your lives to be their hosts, just as the ponies they’ve found now are.”

The crowd buzzed, looking at one another, some crying out that they didn’t want to die. Cork swallowed. He was vaguely aware of Daffodil nudging closer to him and trembling.

“You can’t escape it. No matter what you say, you want to be their hosts. You can’t help yourselves can you?”

Cork realized that it was true. Even after hearing what he was supposed to do, he still felt a desire to seek out the Drudges. The desire was so strong, he was sweating even harder. He wanted to go out and look for them right now.

“But all is not in vain,” Rave continued. “The Drudges will feed on you, but not all of you will die. If you have particularly strong energy and survive their feeding, you will be rewarded with incredible power. Do any of you recall the return of Night Mare Moon?”

Cork remembered reading about it in the newspaper, but otherwise it was something he didn’t know much about, other than the fact that it had happened and Princess Luna was now back in Canterlot after a thousand years.

“She was a product of the Drudges. She is proof that rewards can be obtained.”

The crowd buzzed again, this time with wonder and slight disbelief. From what Cork could make out though, it sounded like most ponies were feeling positive about that statement. He felt uplifted too, but he didn’t know why. He couldn’t get his mind around it. Night Mare Moon was supposedly evil. The Drudges had created her. Everything he had heard about them eating ponies for sustenance and creating evil made them themselves sound evil. He was perfectly fine with that and yet he really wasn’t. Hearing about it, he didn’t care, but he did care because it bothered him that he didn’t care even though he actually didn’t care because he wanted to serve anyway despite being bothered by the fact he wasn’t bothered even though he really was bothered by the idea of serving despite wanting to anyway, which bothered him even though he didn’t care that it bothered him…

Sweat poured down Cork’s face and he held his head in confusion. He couldn’t rationalize the feelings in his mind. His thoughts were full of contradicting desires and feelings making him want to serve even though he didn’t actually want to. Just thinking about that in itself was confusing to him. His feelings of doubt must have been what he was actually feeling and his desire to serve was… something else? Or was it the other way around?

Cork stomped his hoof on the ground. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. It was just too confusing. He glanced briefly at Daffodil and saw that she was closing her eyes tightly. She looked like she was concentrating. And sweating. Could she be feeling the same way he had just now? Cork put his hoof on hers. She opened her eyes, startled, and looked at him. She looked worried. Cork gave her a reassuring smile, silently telling her that everything would be all right. Though she looked uncertain, she returned his smile, weakly.

“I tell you this not to make you scared, but because I can help you obtain that power. What if I told you that none of you has to die?” Cork and Daffodil turned their attention back on Rave. “I have with me a promise that every last one of you will live and obtain that great power. The promise is here!” He held up his necklace. “With this, you will have the strength to survive the Drudges feeding and obtain the power they will provide. I guarantee it on my own life!”

Scattered cheers erupted from the audience. It seemed at least some of them had doubts to Rave’s promise, including Cork and Daffodil.

“However, there are those who would stop you. The group of ponies who left with the Drudges only two hours ago, they have taken the Drudges to fulfill their own selfish desires. They will take the power and destroy the Drudges.”

A wave of horror rushed over the crowd. Even Cork screamed and he was hardly sure why. The thought of something happening to the Drudges filled him with unfathomable terror.

“The pony who gave you Salamander’s command lied. They were buying time to get away from you. Surely, you know by now that the Drudges do not look like ponies. Many of you have seen them for yourselves. They are the creatures attached to those three ponies, the white unicorn with the diamond cutie mark, the yellow pegasus with the butterfly cutie mark and the tan earth pony with the quill and sofa cutie mark. We must stop them. We must seek out the Drudges. I beg of you, help me find the Drudges so that I may help you to live.”

Before Cork could even rationalize it, he started to move. He wasn’t even sure why. He and the entire troop of ponies suddenly took off in the direction of the border, stampeding to something that told them the Drudges were somewhere that way.

“Wait, wait!” Rave shouted, but nopony wanted to listen. They just had to protect the Drudges. All of a sudden, the wooded area around them started to grow. It shot out and knotted all around them, making a sort of corral. The ponies all charged and bucked at the trees and branches, forcefully trying to get them out of their way.

“Wait! Everything is all right. The Drudges are safe for now,” Rave’s voice boomed over them.

Even Cork didn’t feel particularly comforted, but most of the ponies at least stopped to look into the air at the alicorn floating there. In the moonlight, he actually looked nervous this time.

“I know you’re all anxious to get to the Drudges, but we cannot go about this like a stampede of cattle. What if something were to befall the Drudges in such haste?”

“But isn’t that what we’re trying to prevent!” Cork suddenly shouted. He was surprised at how well his voice carried in the silence. He was the only pony who had spoken up. Then he got another idea. “Unicorns, use you’re magic to break the wall down! Pegasi, fly ahead and find our Masters!”

“No, stop!” Rave shouted.

But the ponies started to follow Cork’s orders. Even Daffodil. In almost an instant, the wall of trees virtually vanished. Pegasi took to the sky. As soon as the path cleared, the ponies charged forward.

“Stop! Stop!” Rave called, but they ignored him.

Cork ran beside Daffodil, feeling a strange new confidence in himself. Even though he felt that what they were doing was somehow wrong, his desire was taking over his reason. It was a lot better then trying to think about it.

Then Daffodil fell over. Cork skidded to a stop and saw many other ponies falling over and pegasi falling out of the sky. He rushed to Daffodil’s side and shook her. She was sleeping. What happened?

Cork turned when he heard something land on the ground behind him.

“Who are you?” Rave asked him angrily.

“Cork,” he answered strangely calm.

Rave growled under his breath, “Listen Cork, this isn’t going to work if you all charge in to this. Apparently I underestimated just how strong a connection you all have with the Drudges so I would appreciate it if you held back a bit and listened to me.”

“Why? You’re not one of us. I can tell.”

For a moment, Rave looked like he wanted to strike him down, but instead he smiled. “Okay. Fair enough. I’m not one of you. But you don’t really want to die when the Drudges decide to drain you, do you?”

Something in the back of Cork’s mind told him to answer with a yes, but thinking about the other ponies, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Instead, he shook his head.

“Then let me help you. I can grant you all the life and power through the Drudges and all I ask in return is that you help me find them. Fair enough?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really understand what I’m doing, but I’m doing it anyway. You’re not one of us, so why do you want to find the Drudges?”

“I want to be a follower by choice. I’ve been following all of you since you turned away from Canterlot and started heading here. I’m very dedicated to the cause, so in a way, I really am one of you. Doesn’t that make sense?”

It wasn’t really much of a reason, but Cork didn’t really see anything wrong with it either. He was offering them some form of their lives back in any case and Cork didn’t want to see any of the other followers die.

“Okay, as long as you’re going to help us. Please just wake everypony up and we’ll…,” Cork felt the sweat on his face turn cold. Something wasn’t right. What the heck just happened? Cork looked around slowly. Where was it? Where were they? Cork started to panic. “Wake everypony up now!”

Rave stepped back in surprise. “I said I would help you. Don’t think you can turn me down!”

“Please! The Drudges, the Drudges!” He looked around frantically. He all but stared in the direction he and the others had been about to head. “Where are they!? They’re gone! Why can’t I feel the Drudges anymore!?”

But Cork’s panic slowly started to die down as he felt himself falling asleep. Rave’s horn had lit up. Cork fell on the ground, unable to keep himself awake. Before everything went dark, he heard Rave speaking.

“What is going on? They can’t have been destroyed so easily. I’ve worked too hard…,” Cork’s mind slipped and he fell into a not so pleasant dream about his Masters.

Uncertainties

Chapter 6: Uncertainties

Twilight yawned and woke from her slumber rather slowly. After all the goings on the evening before, it had actually been hard to fall asleep. Still, Twilight opened her eyes to behold sunlight. She smiled, happy that Luna had succeeded in raising the sun.

The others were still asleep, all except for George who stood vigilantly, watching out for occultists or other dangers that might decide to seek out the Drudges.

Stretching a little, Twilight got up and approached George. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” he answered stiffly, not even looking at her. He didn’t seem to be in a particularly good mood and it made Twilight feel a little awkward.

“So… it looks like Luna raised the sun all right.”

“Yes. It rose five minutes late, but it did rise.”

Twilight sighed. Nothing ever satisfied George did it? It made her feel sympathetic of Trixie who must have gone through quite a lot dealing with him as her father. In that light, she didn’t seem quite as vain as she appeared, having such a high standard to live up too, despite not being as talented as him as a magician. It hadn’t even seemed to bother him that she had been diamondized back in Canterlot.

Sighing again, Twilight realized it was actually around midmorning. George had let them sleep in a bit. “George, shouldn’t we have gotten up earlier? We need to make sure we stay ahead of those occultists.”

“I kind of thought so too, but I haven’t seen any sign of them, not even pegasi. It seems that whatever Rarity did last night actually worked.”

Had he let them sleep so he could test it? Not only was that reckless, but potentially dangerous too. They had no idea how many of the occultists were out there. Of course, Rarity had told the occultists to wait at the inn for a day but still. Before Twilight could speak her mind on the matter though, George started talking again.

“This is uncanny. I’ve lived my life to protect the world from the Drudges and yet, here I am being protected by a unicorn who only just heard of the Drudges yesterday. And she did it by listening to one of them think? What does that even mean? Did she figure out something the rest of us don’t know?”

He was asking Twilight for answers? She still had her own questions for him.

“I don’t know how any of that works, but since you’re supposed to be the expert on the subject, I have to ask you something else about Rarity.” George finally turned his gaze to her. “Rarity is a unicorn like any other and her unicorn magic is normal to. But last night, we found out that her magic ability increased exponentially. She even beat me at magic arm wrestling.”

This time, George’s eyebrows rose. That had certainly gotten a reaction out of him. “Her magic is stronger than yours?” Twilight nodded. “I’ve heard from Celestia that you have a raw talent for magic, unsurpassed by any unicorn she has ever seen. Is that also true?” Twilight nodded more hesitantly, embarrassed to admit to such a thing. George looked straight ahead again and was silent for a few moments.

Then he sighed, loudly. “Thank you for calling me an expert, but to be honest, I have no idea why that happened to her. I know the Drudges are known to give power to their hosts from time to time, like Isis did with Princess Luna, but it was always for more dubious reasons. To give her that added ability while he’s still regaining his own power… I admit it. I have no idea. I’ve never even heard of Salamander doing that till now.”

The Great and Powerful George admitting a lack of knowledge? Twilight was shocked more so by his actual admittance than the answer itself.

“What do you know about the relationship between the Drudges and their hosts? Do you know of any kind of side effects at all? I think it would help to know.”

George looked at her again, this time looking a bit more serious. “I’m not sure about specific effects but I am growing a bit concerned about the effects the Drudges are having on them so far and how quickly. Especially where Rarity and Davenport are concerned. I know I spoke about it in Canterlot, but all this about the hosts hearing them talk and such is completely new to me and I’ve been studying them for almost my entire life. Isis even spoke to us through Davenport. It’s taken me completely by surprise.” He slowly shook his head.

“Yeah. I don’t see how anypony could have expected that. George, did you notice that Rarity kept calling the Drudge hers, as if she owned it?”

“I did. Davenport said it once or twice too. They’ve both started calling the Drudges by name otherwise and neither of them did that before those occultists showed up. As for Fluttershy, I don’t know if it’s something in her nature that makes her immune or if Rip Van Winkle is really just that lazy, but so far, she seems totally unaffected by him.”

“I’d rather believe it’s just Fluttershy. She’s too kind to fall into the control of the Drudges.”

She wished she could say the same for Rarity. Before she went to sleep, Rarity had had a twenty-minute conversation, or rather argument, with Salamander. Twilight didn’t know if that really meant anything other than the fact that Rarity and the Drudge didn’t get along very well. She could only hope it wasn’t a sign that Salamander was slowly taking control of the white unicorn.

“Is there anything we can do to help?”

George scratched at his scruffy beard. “Finish the epic quest. That’s about it. If there was another answer I knew about, I would have done so already.”

As long as he wasn’t willing to try Isis’s suggestion, then Twilight was fine with that.

“Well come on then,” George suddenly spoke up. “Where’s my breakfast?”

“Excuse me?”

“Breakfast. You don’t expect me to continue the quest on an empty stomach. So get to it, make me some breakfast.”

Twilight facehoofed. And here she thought she was finally connecting with the snobby Mystic.

Most of their food had burned up in the fire. Surprisingly though, it was Burgle who came up with a solution. As if this were nothing new to him, he turned hay, some wild flowers and fruits, and some eggs he had found into a pretty decent and large breakfast. Apparently, eating on the fly was a specialty that most thieves were well versed in.

“Get everything together in the next ten minutes. It should take at least two more days to reach the temple so we need to get on our way.” After filling his belly with the food he complained was not anywhere near fine cuisine, George had started to give orders as if he was running the whole show. Technically he was, but he didn’t have to act so proud of it.

Twilight rolled her eyes before turning to one of the guards. “So what do we have left?”

“You mean with our saddlebag situation?” The guard looked at the bag he was about to pick up. “Well, we have three bedrolls, enough food for half of us to have another full meal, a bunch of quills, a sofa catalog, two of Burgle’s knives, and this.” He pulled out the box Burgle had intended to put the Drudges in. “Fortunately, I was carrying this in my bag. It might be the most important thing we have left.”

Twilight nodded, checking off all the items in a mental checklist. Briefly, she wondered where Davenport had found the sofa catalog, but decided there were more important things to think about. If it was going to take at least two more days to reach the Temple, then finding food would be more important, possibly even more than having the box. With as little vegetation as there seemed to be in this new land, even procuring hay wasn’t going to be easy. Still, maybe Burgle would be able to figure something else out in that regard, though Twilight didn’t like the idea of putting all that responsibility on one pony, especially a reluctant one like Burgle. Of course, they wouldn’t starve in just two days, but it was still a concern. Not to mention water. Fortunately, that seemed to be at least a little more abundant.

Twilight had used her magic to turn some dry wood into canteens. Fluttershy, Davenport, and the other guard were filling them up at a nearby stream, so Twilight decided to go check on them.

When she got to the stream, she saw Davenport filling the canteens, but not the other two.

“Hey Twilight,” Davenport said rather glumly when she approached him. “Sorry again about last night.”

“It’s not like you could have done anything about it,” Twilight said, trying her best to smile. In reality, the whole thing had scared her a bit.

Davenport paused with a canteen still in the water. “I think I get it. Maybe I just didn’t want to believe it, but I get why we’re on this quest. My store is not as important as this, even if it’s sad that other ponies can’t experience the same joy I feel with quills and sofas.” Twilight smirked, actually feeling a little amused for once at Davenport’s strange obsession. Maybe it was good that he could still think about other things. “I don’t know if I should be saying this, but I could hear Isis while I was sleeping last night.”

Twilight winced. It was bad enough that Isis could take control of him at her whim without the poor pony having to listen to her in his dreams.

“Can you tell me anything about it?”

Davenport smiled nervously. “Probably not. I mean really, it was mostly just nonsense to me, but maybe there was something in there I just didn’t understand. You think Isis would get mad if I told you about it?” Abruptly he jumped. “Yeah. I guess she would. Sorry!”

“Forget about it. It’s too dangerous for you to tell me anything that could potentially endanger the Drudges.” Twilight gave him an understanding nod. “I’m sorry you have to be a part of this.”

Davenport pulled the canteen out of the water and shook his head. “No, it’s my own fault. I have to take responsibility. This whole epic quest is happening because of me. If I hadn’t been so dense and realized what Burgle was doing, I never would have ended up in that ventilation shaft and I never would have broken the cases.”

“Well… yeah. That is true.”

Davenport looked at her, seeming a little hurt. “Oh come on, at least blame the thief a little for this. I can’t take all the blame can I?”

“According to George, you can.” Twilight tried to laugh but Davenport just looked miserable. Twilight cut off her fake laugh and cleared her throat. “Actually, if we really want to blame somepony, it’s whoever hired Burgle to steal the Drudges. We still don’t know who that is or how that someone knew the Drudges would be in Canterlot.”

“I don’t blame that someone. In fact, I’m quite grateful that someone was such an idiot.” It didn’t take Twilight even a second to realize that Isis was talking. “You should see the look on your face. Are you having a nice morning, Twilight Sparkle?”

“I sort of was,” Twilight answered, taking a step back. In a defensive reaction, she pulled magic into her horn.

“Oh please, you don’t really expect to beat me with you’re petty magic abilities do you? You really want to risk hurting your precious friend here?”

Twilight let her magic go. “I don’t understand you, Isis. You seem to have a lot of power back, so why aren’t you doing anything to stop us?”

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, haven’t you learned anything about provoking the Drudges? That was a really stupid thing to say, don’t you think? Really though, the truth of the matter is I’m enjoying our little game. A thousand years of waiting in a dark cave is really quite boring. I’m guessing I have you and your friends to blame for Discord’s defeat?”

She called this a game? Honestly, she sounded like Discord. If he had really tried, he might have been able to defeat them straight out, but instead he had decided to taunt them all with the crazy game he cooked up and separate them with disharmony. Perhaps that had something to do with the nature of chaos in itself.

“What’s the matter? You don’t want to talk to me anymore? Why, I’m crushed.” Isis laughed. “You ponies really are amusing. However, just to make things even more interesting, let me give you a little heads up on your time limit.”

“Time limit…?”

Abruptly, the canteen Davenport had been filling rose into the air as if lifted by unicorn magic. Twilight saw the Drudge’s eyes light up in blue and the canteen instantly diamondized without the flash Isis had used on Pinkie Pie before.

“My power is not limited to just living matter anymore. But I’m biding my time and waiting to get stronger before I ditch this host and find another more suitable one.” The canteen fell in the stream and Twilight stepped back in shock when a portion of the running water turned to diamond and washed away. “Speaking of such things, tell that stupid Salamander to stop wasting all his power on trifles and insults. He should be more patient like Rip Van Winkle and me. Otherwise he’s going to waste that unicorn away before he gets even a fourth of his power back.”

“Rarity…,”

Twilight looked back at camp where she could just make out her friend talking to the guard that was there. Had she really gained power from Salamander or was Salamander actually using hers every time it made fire? Or could it be that their power had been fused together so Salamander could eat her energy faster?

“It’s only a matter of time before this game ends, Twilight Sparkle. I was thinking about diamondizing the vain and pathetic George, but it might be more satisfying to do you first, especially since you have a connection with Celestia.”

“Isis…” Twilight’s horn ignited in magic again, as she prepared to defend herself.

“Now, now, it wouldn’t be much of a game if I finished you so soon. I just wanted you to know that it’s something to look forward to. Go on back to your friends. Have your little epic quest. Just remember it won’t end well and denial is futile.”

“Twilight!” Davenport jumped. “I’m so sorry. I tried to stop her, I really did.”

Twilight dropped her magic and only then remembered to breath. “I said it’s not your fault. Just… I don’t know. Just hurry up. George wants to leave in ten minutes. Probably more like five now.”

Without giving him a chance to respond, Twilight walked away as fast as she could without looking like she was rushing. She didn’t want to admit it, but she wanted to keep away from Isis. This quest was insane. How could they travel so openly with the Drudges? Any one of them or at least two of them so far, could destroy them at virtually any time. Why either Isis or Salamander had decided to let them travel was a mystery. Could Isis really be amusing herself or was taunting them what was amusing her? That was when Twilight thought about something else she had said. She had talked about Salamander wasting his power, twice now. Salamander had been quite offended by it too. Did that have something to do with it? Were she and the other Drudges being careful and saving up power? She had mentioned being patient.

Twilight was so consumed in her thoughts that she very nearly walked past one of the guards. He wasn’t looking at her, but instead watching Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus was singing and apparently playing with some small local animals.

“Good morning… um… sir,” Twilight said, not sure which of the two guards he was.

“Uh… good morning.” The guard didn’t take his eyes off Fluttershy, looking rather bewildered. “If you don’t mind my asking, what exactly is the young lady… er, Ms. Fluttershy doing?” It must have been Grey. He always seemed to talk funny when it came to Fluttershy.

“I guess she’s befriending the local animals. She’s like that. Ever since I first met her, she’s had a way with animals that is just amazing.” Clearly, Grey was amazed.

“What’s that song she’s singing?”

Twilight listened for a moment. It was the same song she always heard her sing with her animal friends as well as that time long ago when she had cleaned Twilight’s house as a favor for getting a Gala Ticket. “I’m not sure what it’s called, but most animals seem to really like it.”

“It’s a very nice song. She has a very nice voice.”

Twilight stared at the guard who still hadn’t taken his eyes off Fluttershy. Could he be…? If he was, Fluttershy probably hadn’t even noticed. And if she had, she would be too shy to even talk to him, probably.

“Why don’t you just ask her about it yourself?”

“Who, me?” Twilight nodded. “Well… that is…,” Grey clearly started to blush, confirming Twilight’s suspicions of his behavior. “Look! An eagle!” He shouted, pointing to the sky.

Twilight looked. She didn’t see many eagles in Ponyville and was excited at the chance to actually study one.

“Where? I don’t see…” Twilight turned back to Grey but he was gone. She could just make out a dust cloud running back towards camp. “Of all the…” Twilight sighed. It was none of her business so she wasn’t going to get involved.

“Fluttershy!” she called out. The animals Fluttershy had been singing to scurried away. “Oh… sorry about that.”

“It’s okay.” Fluttershy smiled sheepishly, looking only a little hurt. “Did George finally decide to eat Burgle’s breakfast?”

“Yeah, he wants to leave soon. We better get back.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Goodbye animal friends,” she quietly called, looking back to where the animals had run off.

“Knowing George, he’s probably getting impatient. Think you could fly ahead and tell him I’ll be right there?”

Fluttershy frowned and shyly looked at Twilight from between the tresses of her long pink hair. “I can’t,” she admitted and turned around so Twilight could see her back. “Look, the Drudge is gripped onto one of my wings. I can’t fly.”

“Oh, Fluttershy, I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault. Besides, you know I don’t really fly as much as other pegasus ponies anyway. I’ll be all right.” Fluttershy smiled briefly but then lowered her voice even more than usual. “Um… Twilight, I don’t want to alarm anypony, but I actually heard the Drudge today.”

“What!? Oh no! Not you!”

“Well, I didn’t hear him in my mind the way Rarity and Davenport described, but he did make a weird noise. It happened when I sang to the animals.”

“When you sang? What kind of weird noise?”

“I’m not sure. It was sort of a whimper. I don’t think he really likes singing.”

Well that was kind of strange. It was practically the first sign that Rip Van Winkle was even conscious since he first latched onto Fluttershy. In fact, that attack had been the most active he had been so far. George had said he was lazy, but the Drudge seemed so lax it might as well be an afterthought in their quest.

“Well, we can think about that on the way. I don’t want George complaining that we took too long. Besides, the sooner we get the Drudges off of you and the others, the better.”

Cork relentlessly wiped the sweat that dripped in his eyes. He couldn’t stand this. Where were the Drudges? He and the other followers had split up in several directions, trying to feel any sign of their beloved masters. Cork had split off with Daffodil and three others. All of them looked just as bad as he felt, all sweating and painfully trying to keep from panicking. The others wanted to move quickly, but Cork was forcing them to keep a slower pace. He didn’t want to miss the slightest sign of the Drudges presence because they had bypassed it too quickly to notice. He knew it wasn’t easy for the others though. It was all he could do just to keep himself from bolting.

He hardly paid attention to his surroundings and only occasionally noticed if they passed a tree or rock. The land itself was quite desolate, hardly anything like Equestria, which was fresh with vegetation. He didn’t care though. No matter how hot, hungry, and thirsty he was, he wanted to continue the search. Briefly, he realized that he hadn’t eaten anything since his strange journey began. His stomach was empty and grumbling profusely, but he had ignored it, keeping the Drudges as his number one priority. The other followers all probably felt the same and were just as hungry and thirsty as he was. The only sleep they had gotten was from when Rave had forced them too.

Cork was actually in a pretty weird position. He had somehow rallied the other followers behind him. They listened to him, as if they thought he had the answers to their long search. Even Rave had recognized this and spoken his wishes through Cork. The only reason Cork listened to Rave was that he didn’t want the other followers to die, if what Rave said about the Drudges was true. Somehow, Cork knew it was.

“There!” a pegasus in the sky suddenly shouted. “It’s faint but I feel something!”

“Where!” Cork called up to him.

“I think it came from that way!” the pegasus shouted back and started flying to the southeast where he pointed to.

“Wait! I know you want to find them, but we have to wait!”

The pegasus stopped but he looked antsy. He kept looking the way he wanted to go. Cork moved closer southeast, trying to feel the pull. It was faint but abruptly it came to him.

“What should we do?” Daffodil asked him.

“Use your magic and contact Rave the way he showed you. He has some kind of plan so we don’t alert those strong ponies who have the Drudges.”

Daffodil nodded and closed her eyes as white light engulfed her horn. Cork waited for what seemed an eternity to him for her to communicate with Rave. The pegasus and the other two followers all watched in anticipation too, waiting for a signal to move. Finally, Daffodil opened her eyes.

“Rave is on his way. I think he wants us to wait.”

They all groaned miserably. Cork was feeling antsy himself. Something in his mind was telling him to forget Rave and just go. In fact, he had to go. His emotions were getting the better of him. Only the thought that he didn’t want the followers to die, kept him still as he waited. It must have been the only thing keeping the others still too. Either that or their unquestioning acceptance of Cork as some kind of leader.

The sun was already down and even with the light of a full moon and the magic of four unicorns, the barren surroundings were not easy to distinguish. The fact that George was the only one of them that actually knew where they were going didn’t help either. He had stopped, turned back, and looked at single trees and other landmarks so many times that he finally gave up and decided to call it a night. It was nice to finally get a little rest after walking with only a single break for a small lunch. Of course, Twilight thought it was a little amusing that George was the most exhausted from the journey and still not wanting to admit that his old age made him the most physically feeble member of the group.

Still, Twilight felt uneasy. The day had been almost completely uneventful. Rarity arguing with Salamander and then developing a headache was the most that had happened. Twilight was beginning to suspect that the arguments were somehow intentional on the part of the Drudge. After George, Rarity was the second most winded and she had only complained of feeling tired after her headache had started. There really must have been a connection with her headaches and Salamander eating her energy.

After finding some wood, Twilight ignited it and they all sat around it while the guards scouted the area. It was actually a bit colder here than in Equestria, where spring should have been almost over. It just brought up more questions about how the weather worked not being controlled by pegasi and Twilight wasn’t in the mood to study strange phenomena at the moment.

“Hey, old man,” Burgle suddenly broke the silence. “Why are we questing to this temple place anyway? What’s it got to do with the Drudges?”

Twilight was surprised. For some reason, she hadn’t thought about that before.

George looked crossly at Burgle. “First of all, you can address me as the Great and Powerful George. Secondly, why are you asking now? We’re already two days into the quest.”

“That’s true,” Twilight said, “but it would be nice to know. Besides, I thought Discord ruled Equestria before the princesses. Why is his temple so far away?”

“What have you been studying all this time, Twilight? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.” Twilight silently fumed but otherwise ignored the insult. “Don’t you ponies know anything? Discord may have the head of a pony, but he was born outside Equestria. He established a name out here before taking rule over ponykind. His temple is an old homage to him that still resonates with a small dose of his power. As a failsafe, the Drudges lack the ability to use their power against Discord, so if we go to the temple, we should be able to pry them off of their hosts without them being able to retaliate.”

“You must be joking,” Rarity said angrily. “Why didn’t you just imprison the Drudges there instead of taking them to Canterlot? It would have saved us all this trouble.”

“Consider it a last resort and a double-edged sword. The last thing we want to do is leave the Drudges at the temple because even though they’d be powerless, they’ll slowly regain their energy without the need of hosts. Why do you think they needed the occultists to protect them? What’s more, if the Drudges soak in the energy there, they can exceed the limits Discord placed on their power. They could become even stronger than they already are.”

The thought made Twilight cringe. “And you said the Mystics preserved it?”

“If they hadn’t we wouldn’t have to go on this stupid epic quest, but we wouldn’t have a way to restore the Elements of Harmony either. Not without finding some other ponies who embody the spirits and who knows how long that could take. The Drudges could take over Equestria by then. Besides, it’s guarded day and night by Celestia’s special hoof picked guard so the Drudges couldn’t rest there. That means it’s perfectly safe.”

“Why doesn’t that sound reassuring?” Twilight said glumly.

“Trust me, I’m a Mystic. I know what I’m doing.”

The ponies all looked at one another. Coming from George at least, it didn’t sound reassuring at all

“I’m starting to agree with Burgle. This epic quest kind of sucks,” Davenport said. The others, minus George, all nodded in agreement.

“I told you from the start that I hate epic quests. At least now maybe you understand why,” George said huffily, not liking the way they were treating him at the moment.

The moment didn’t last long though. Rhubarb and Grey returned from their scouting.

“The area seems safe enough. It seems we’re near a lake and some form of canyon.”

“A lake!” George said excitedly. “Right, right. The lake. And a canyon to the west, right?” The guard nodded. “Now I know where we are. We’re on the right track. We should reach the temple in about a day and a half.”

“A day and a half?” Rarity complained, “You said this morning it would take two days. Doesn’t today count?”

“I said at least two days. Besides, it’s not my fault we got a late start this morning.”

The group was silent a moment.

“Yes it was,” Burgle argued.

“Burgle, just drop it,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “Rhubarb, what was that you said about a lake?”

This time the other guard spoke up. “Um, well, as Grey told you, there is a lake nearby.”

Twilight blushed. She still couldn’t tell the two guards apart. If she listened, she could just tell their voices apart but that was still a stretch.

“It might be a good idea to wash up. There’s no telling when we’ll find anymore clean water out here. Not unless Master George knows of any,” Grey said.

“Actually that’s a good idea. The next closest body of water isn’t on our path and I don’t want to go too far off course.”

“Finally a bath. I really need to change this old vest of mine,” Davenport said excitedly.

Twilight hadn’t even realized he was still wearing the same vest from the day before. Actually, he probably couldn’t change it since Isis was latched on through his vest.

“Let’s go, are you two coming?” Fluttershy asked her and Rarity as the guards, George, and Davenport left for the lake.

“Excuse me?” Rarity said in surprise. “You want to take a bath with the boys?”

Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged glances.

“It’s just swimming. What’s the big deal anyway?” Twilight wondered.

“Pardon me for having some class. Ladies do not bathe with boys. I swear, it’s like peer pressure back in college all over again.”

Twilight cocked her head, not sure what Rarity was getting at. What was wrong with swimming?

“Besides, you’re the one who advised me not to get Salamander wet.” She motioned back to the Drudge on her rear. “If his fire burns on water like George claims, that could kill us all.”

“I doubt he would try to kill you. You’re his host after all. He’s got to have his daily dose of Rarity power, right?” Burgle said with a smirk.

Rarity glared at him. “I suppose, for once, you’re right. Touché.”

Burgle snorted a laugh.

“What? What did I say?”

“Touché.”

Rarity looked at her friends, bewildered. They both shrugged in confusion.

“You know, touché? The Drudge is on your touché.”

Rarity groaned. “That’s a pun, right? Very funny. And just as vulgar as I’d expect from a pony like you.”

“Oh come on. Lighten up, Rearity. You’re such a rump on a log.”

Rarity growled in exasperation. “The only lightening up I do is when Salamander gets angry and lights up everything. How can you expect me to relax when I have this stupid beast on me?” Rarity suddenly turned her attention behind her. “Be quiet Salamander. I know I just called you a name. No. Don’t you dare!”

As might have been expected, Salamander lit a line of flames.

Rarity reacted very calmly, looking more annoyed than anything else. “I swear it would be easier to train a rock to speak.” With a wisp of her magic, the fire went out. Then she turned her attention back to Burgle. “Now what are you laughing at?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking that I wouldn’t mind having fart powered flames,” Burgle remarked, snickering at his own joke.

Rarity on the other hoof looked more than offended. “I did nothing of the sort. That was all Salamander’s doing. And in any case, a lady does not fart. She foofs.”

Burgle snickered in further amusement. “Yeah? Well I think your foofer is on fire.”

“What? Ah!” Rarity stared at her tail, partially on fire. “Darn you Salamander!” Rarity’s horn lit up and, after a moment, the fire died out. But not without a casualty. “My tail. My beautiful tail! It’s singed! You heinous little riffraff. Huh? What did you say?”

Rarity paused a moment, listening to Salamander speak in her mind. Whatever he had said, she gasped. “Why you rude little…” Rarity sat down hard, smashing the Drudge underneath her rear. “Take that!” Then she stood up and sat again. “And that! And that!” She stood and sat a final time, smiling. “That’ll teach you.”

Abruptly, a flash of fire erupted underneath her. Rarity’s face twisted in an excruciated expression as she grit her teeth together.

“Rarity, are you okay?” Twilight asked her.

“… Yes… Just fine…,” she answered through clenched teeth. “I’m… going to the lake… now…” She stood up awkwardly and slowly walked towards the lake, her back legs moving rather haphazardly. Under her breath, Twilight could just hear her saying, “Ow… ow…ow…”

“What happened to Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

“I think Salamander just retaliated,” Twilight answered softly.

“Either that or she foofed,” Burgle openly cracked up.

“That’s enough out of you,” Twilight scolded him. “You shouldn’t bother Rarity like that, especially since she has a Drudge on her. I know she doesn’t say so, but I’m sure she’s worried about it draining her. We don’t have any idea when any of the Drudges will be done feeding and you know what George said might happen then.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Burgle said somewhat dismissively. “Maybe she should enjoy herself more, just in case. Wouldn’t hurt her to get a few laughs, right?”

This actually surprised Twilight a little. Burgle made it sound like he had been poking fun at her out of some kind of pity for her predicament with the Drudge.

“You know, you’re pretty strange for a thief.”

Burgle shrugged. “I may not live an honest life, but I don’t want ponies to die or anything. Even I still have that much heart left over.” Burgle walked toward the lake rather nonchalantly.

“I think maybe Burgle is right,” Fluttershy said.

“How do you mean?”

“It’s really stressful dealing with the Drudges and the quest and everything. When’s the last time any of us laughed or reminisced about good times and other things like we used to do? I don’t think I’ve laughed once since the quest began.”

Maybe Burgle did have a point. Being depressed and worried all the time wasn’t going to help. The last time Twilight had laughed might have been a little before the fire in the inn when Rarity had joked about getting premature wrinkles. That’s right, Rarity had been the one to make the joke. Why couldn’t things be like that again?

“I wish Pinkie Pie was here. She’d keep us all laughing,” Twilight said, smiling for once.

Fluttershy giggled. “Yeah. Or Rainbow Dash. I’m sure she’d tell us to stop moping around.”

“And Applejack would tell us everything is going to be fine, because that’s the honest truth.”

Twilight and Fluttershy both smiled.

“We’re going to finish the quest and save our friends. That’s also the honest truth,” Twilight said confidently.

“Because we’re just as loyal as Rainbow Dash and we want to laugh with everypony like Pinkie Pie would,” Fluttershy finished.

They both nodded. For the sake of their friendship and Equestria, they would finish the quest no matter what.

Attack

Chapter 7: Attack

“Well, I have to admit that was strangely relaxing,” Rarity said, releasing her hair from the shower cap she had put on before getting in the lake.

“I’m surprised the Drudge didn’t drown,” Davenport commented, referring to a moment when Rarity had gotten angry at Salamander and sat in the lake for almost thirty minutes.

“I agree with you. If only it was that easy to get rid of them.” Rarity was disappointed. Salamander had taken his dunking surprisingly well. After a while, she realized he was actually breathing through his connection with her. At the moment, Salamander was snickering at her failed attempt of revenge. Still, sitting in the water had been enough to refresh Rarity and she was at least content with the fact that she was clean. She had even put on the bathrobe she had stolen from the inn.

“There’s no food left, is there?” Twilight asked, though she already knew the answer.

“I’m afraid not. Not unless Burgle can find anything,” one of the guards said.

“Who me? No way. I don’t care how hungry we get, I’m not going out there. It was creepy enough just walking to the freaking lake.”

“He’s right,” Fluttershy put in, looking out into the moonlit gloom, wearily. “It’s really quiet. I don’t even hear crickets chirping.” She shivered at the sound of her own voice. Even she sounded loud in the silence.

“It’s understandable. The closer we get to the temple, the less wildlife we’re going to see. We’ve probably already past the point where animals dare to go,” George said casually.

“Why? Is there… is there something dangerous out here?”

“Not really. Animals are much more in tune to Discord’s energy than ponies are. They tend to stay far away from that temple.”

“Is that why it’s so dead out here?” Twilight asked. “If even insects stay away, then that means there is little pollination going on, which would explain the lack of vegetation. Either that or this is just a natural desert.”

“I don’t really understand any of that but I do know that the journey is going to get rougher from here on out. If the thief is able to find food, then now might be our last chance.”

“You guys are just ignoring what I said, aren’t ya,” Burgle said knowingly.

“I hate to say it, but we’re kind of depending on your survival skills right now,” Twilight told him.

“What survival skills? I don’t normally wander around in places like this. I prefer to stick close to cities where I can still get a good meal.”

“What about the meal you cooked up this morning? That was pretty amazing and… survivaly,” Fluttershy said.

“Just because there happened to be flowers and an apple tree nearby, and I happen to know how to cook, you call that survival skills? That was just common sense. What kind of pony do you think I am? I’m a thief, not a forest ranger. I can steal, open locks, put ponies to sleep, walk on clouds, and every now and then, I might even dance the hula, but I’m no survivalist. You’re the braniac, Twilight. Don’t you know that kind of stuff?”

“Um… the survival thing or the hula?”

“I know the hula,” Fluttershy said timidly.

“As absolutely adorable as that sounds, we don’t have time for dancing right now,” Rarity said. “It’s late and I’m tired, hungry, and a little cranky. Regardless if you’re a survivalist or not Burgle, you’re still a unicorn. That means you can light up the darkness with your horn so I’d appreciate it if you’d help us look for something edible.”

“Come on, do I really have to…?” Burgle grimaced. “Yeah, I guess I do have to. This sucks. I don’t want to get banished to the moon, but… come on…” He gestured out into the gloom, noting the relative deadness of the night.

“Don’t you think we should tell him?” Fluttershy suddenly asked Twilight.

“Fluttershy,” Rarity tried to quiet her.

“What? Tell me what?”

“I think we should tell him. It’s not fair that he was forced to come with us.”

“The truth about what? Did I step in something?”

Fluttershy looked at the group, silently pleading her case. Her face alone was enough to make Twilight give in. “I suppose you’re right. He has helped us a bit so far.”

“Tell him whatever. It’s not going to make any difference to me,” George said grumpily.

“You’re all hiding something from me? Does my breath stink or something?”

“Yes, but that’s not it,” Rarity gave in as well.

“Luna is not going to banish you to the moon. She just said that because she wanted you to come with us for some reason,” Twilight told him.

Burgle went wide-eyed. “Say what?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t figure that out already,” Rarity scoffed.

“Soooo…. she’s not going to do anything to me?”

“I doubt it,” Twilight confirmed.

“Well, it’s been fun. See ya,” Burgle stood up and started walking away.

“Are you seriously going to run away?” Rarity yelled at him.

“I’m not running, I’m walking. You got nothing on me, so just try to stop me. I dare you.”

Before any of them could make a retort, a terrifying roar boomed in the distance.

“I wasn’t being serious,” Burgle said in surprise, stopping in his tracks. “What was that?”

“It sounded like a dragon,” Fluttershy said nervously.

“Dragon? Around here?” George started, but abruptly his eyes widened. “Oh no. How could I have forgotten?” George stood up fast. “Put the fire out!”

“George, what’s the matter?” Twilight asked him.

“Put the fire out! We can’t let the dragon-” Another roar erupted and an enormous dark shadow dropped out of the sky, right behind them. “Too late…” George said slowly.

A green dragon looked them all over before charging, opening its massive jaws as if intending to eat them. The ponies all scattered. As Twilight ran away, the dragon turned away from her, as if looking for something. Then it lifted into the air and soared in the direction that Fluttershy and Davenport had bolted in.

“Dang it all! How could I be so stupid!?” George yelled at himself.

“Come on! We have to help!” Twilight shouted, giving him a slight push with her magic. They both chased after the dragon, though the creature was far faster than them. “What’s going on? What did you forget? Why is that dragon attacking us?”

“It’s Isis,” George responded. “It’s going after Isis!”

“What? What makes you so sure?”

“Dragons were created specifically to fight Isis. Dragons eat gems, Isis makes diamonds, so dragons are attracted to Isis because they want to eat her.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! How could you forget something like that?”

“Even great minds forget things every now and then.”

Twilight groaned in exasperation. She wanted to berate him, but she realized he was starting to fall behind her. “George, come on! We have to help Davenport!”

“Go on ahead! I’ll catch up!” George said tiredly. He looked pretty winded.

“So much for being great and powerful. Pick it up, old man!” Twilight picked him up with her magic and pulled him along despite his incredible tirade of protests. Twilight ignored him though and galloped on as fast as she could. She wasn’t gong to let anything happen to her friends. Even if she had to fight a dragon, she wasn’t going to let anything stop her.

Davenport and Fluttershy raced on along the side of the canyon. They could hear the dragon right behind them and feel the beating of its wings overhead. They weren’t galloping fast enough. Davenport looked back and saw the dragon right on top of them. It reached for them with its jaws.

“Hiya!” From out of the sky, a pegasus in golden armor dropped down and bucked the dragon’s nose. The dragon actually slowed, shocked that it had just been kicked.

“Ms. Fluttershy! Davenport! Keep going!” the guard shouted. It must have been Grey. He was the only one who called Fluttershy, Ms.

However, the dragon had other ideas. It took a mighty swipe with its claws. It missed Grey, but just barely tagged Fluttershy. She flailed sideways and actually started falling down the side of the canyon.

“Fluttershy!” Grey called and flew down after her.

Now Davenport was alone. The dragon didn’t seem to care that Grey had just gotten away, keeping its sights set on Davenport. It caught up to him almost instantly. Davenport looked back again, terrified.

“I don’t suppose you would be interested in purchasing a nice sofa!?” he shouted.

The dragon roared and reached for him with its jaws again.

Davenport wanted to dodge to the side, but for some reason his legs didn’t agree with him. He found himself stopping and turning around all in the same motion. Then a low howl emitted from the Drudge on his chest. One of Isis’s arms abruptly let go and grew into something that looked like a sword at least six feet long. It slashed right across the dragon’s nose, making the dragon flail back in pain. Seemingly infuriated, the dragon lashed out with its claws. Isis caught the claw in her sword-like arm, forcing both her and Davenport skidding backwards across the ground. Surprisingly, they didn’t move any further than ten feet or so. Davenport wasn’t sure why his legs were holding, especially with such incredible weight and power behind the dragon. He also didn’t know why he wasn’t running.

A second sword-like appendage extended from Isis and cut the dragon’s claws at the tips. Davenport’s legs jumped forward. The dragon had tried to bite him again and Isis had forced him to jump right into its gaping mouth. Her sword arms caught the teeth and held them open, as a third arm extended and ripped through the dragon’s upper jaw. The dragon wailed in pain, stepping backwards at the astonishing blow.

Davenport shivered when he heard another dragon roar above. There was another dragon out there? Just as he had suspected, a second dragon, this one blue, dropped from the sky, its claws outstretched. Once again, Davenport’s legs moved on their own, evading the claws and jumping straight for the new dragon’s head. Isis slashed it across the top of its mouth and leapt away. The dragon shook its head wildly and then suddenly slumped down. Davenport gaped when he saw it start to diamondized. A small portion of its upper mouth changed.

“Isis, please stop! We don’t need to fight them! Let’s run!” Davenport shouted. But he couldn’t stop her.

He heard her voice in his head, You have no sense of fun you weakling. Dragons can’t stop me. I’m Isis!

“Davenport!” Twilight appeared just beyond the dragons. “Get back!” she commanded.

A light ignited on her horn and the dragons were wrapped in clear energy. Then Davenport saw George raise his staff. Rarity and Rhubarb ran up behind them and Rarity joined her magic to their’s as well. Combining their power together, the dragons suddenly went poof. Davenport stared in awe when he saw two bunnies scurry away.

“That probably won’t last more than an hour or two,” Twilight said, sounding a little tired. “Come on, we need to-” Twilight stopped when one of the bunnies suddenly turned to diamond. Then she saw the Drudge on Davenport. Isis’s arms were still extended like swords.

Davenport’s voice suddenly started working on its own. “You stopped my fun.” Isis was in full control again.

“What’s going on?” Twilight said rather quietly. “George, what happened to Isis?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never heard of this before.”

Isis laughed through Davenport. “Guess my little secret’s out. I’m tired of traveling with you anyway. Ta ta.” Isis retracted her arms and Davenport felt his legs turn and start galloping. What was Isis doing? Running away? Running away where?

Davenport didn’t want to go wherever the heck it was she was running to, but he couldn’t control himself at all. Help! Help! He tried to call but his lips wouldn’t move.

“Isis, stop!” Twilight suddenly appeared in front of him in a flash of magic. Davenport felt something building inside the Drudge and somehow, he knew what it was.

“Twilight, look out!” he called with his real voice. He forced himself to turn slightly as a sphere of blue light shot from Isis and collided with the ground, leaving a circle of diamond behind that spread out several feet. Davenport’s legs kept running in the direction he had turned, right over the diamondized ground and onward to who knew where.

“Twilight, help me!” he yelled.

“Shut up!” his own voice suddenly answered himself.

Davenport felt his legs start to move faster. And faster. Davenport was pretty sure he couldn’t move at this speed. Wherever he was going, he couldn’t hear anyone following behind. Isis was literally running away with him.

Burgle was stupefied. He watched Isis suddenly come to life and start fighting the dragon. The crazy thing was that she was actually winning. The Drudges were really so powerful that even a full-grown dragon couldn’t match them?

“Forget this. I’m outta here.” Burgle turned away just as he heard another dragon roar. He turned back when a second dragon dropped down on Davenport and Isis. “Come on Pops, what are you doing? Get out of there.”

Honestly, he didn’t know why he cared. He already knew that Luna hadn’t been serious about banishing him to the moon, so he should have been long gone already. This wasn’t his adventure. If only had had the guts to call the Princess’s bluff and risk the moon, then he wouldn’t be on this suicide mission. Being a thief was a heck of a lot easier than this.

Isis was winning against the second dragon too. And the Drudges were weakened? If this was weakened, then what were they like at full power?

“Aren’t you worried?”

Burgle turned. Nopony had ever snuck up on him before. What he saw though shocked him.

“Davenport!” Twilight called. She tried to chase, but he was moving so fast, only Rainbow Dash could have caught him.

“Twilight!” she heard Rarity call. Twilight slowed, realizing she didn’t have the energy to chase Davenport after galloping after the dragon. She stared after Davenport, breathing hard. She couldn’t let him go and yet, there was little she could do to stop him at the moment. Twilight sadly turned away and walked back to the others who dashed over to her.

“Are you all right? Did she hit you?” Rarity worried.

“No. I think Davenport made her miss at the last minute. We have to go after him.”

“Wait a minute,” the guard suddenly said. “Where’s Grey? And Fluttershy? Wasn’t Fluttershy with Davenport when the dragon attacked?”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight hadn’t seen her when she caught up to the dragon, but she distinctly remembered seeing her running with Davenport. “We have to find them.”

“They’re in the canyon.” Twilight and the others looked and saw a pony approaching them.

“Burgle? Where have you been?” Rarity scolded him. “I thought you’d have left us by now.”

“I’ve been around. I saw Fluttershy fall in the canyon and that guard jumped down after her,” Burgle replied as if nothing had happened.

“But Fluttershy can’t fly!” Twilight said in alarm. “Where did she fall? Show me!”

Fluttershy flapped her one free wing hopelessly as she fell. The dragon had been terrifying but Fluttershy’s fear of hitting the ground from such a height terrified her even more. Even though it was nighttime and the canyon was so deep, there was enough moonlight to just make out the bottom. Fluttershy covered her eyes as the ground rushed up to her.

Then she jerked to a slower descent. Fluttershy looked up through strands of her hair and saw Grey, holding her up by her tail. Slowly, the two descended until they reached the canyon floor where Grey sat her down gently.

“Thank you so much, Grey. You saved my life.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s my duty as a knight after all.” The two looked at each other silently for a moment. “Um… sorry I had to grab your tail.”

“It’s okay. You couldn’t have saved me otherwise, right?”

“Right.”

Another awkward silence.

However, the silence was interrupted by a sudden growling. Grey stepped defensively in front of Fluttershy as he heard the distinct sound of something walking closer. Then, in the moonlight, the two pegasi saw monsters emerge from the gloom.

“What are those?” Grey asked alarmed.

“I… I don’t…” Fluttershy stared. There were several creatures stalking towards them. They all had three heads, each one representative of a different animal, a lion, a goat, and a snake. They also had three tails and giant wings on their massive buffalo-like bodies. Fluttershy had never seen anything like them before. What were they?

Chimeras…

“Chimeras?” Fluttershy repeated.

“What are chimeras? And what are they doing here? I though George said nothing lived out here?”

The troop of chimeras advanced, growling and bearing teeth. There were at least ten of them and there was no way the two ponies could defend themselves against them.

“I could try to fly you out, but I don’t know if I could out fly those massive wings of theirs,” Grey said nervously.

Kill… kill the chimeras.

“Oh my gosh,” Fluttershy stammered. “Rip Van Winkle’s awake.”

“What?”

Abruptly, Rip Van Winkle came to life. A giant scythe erupted from his body and slashed forward. Fluttershy screamed when the scythe dug straight into Grey.

Grey stared at her, eyes going vacant and blood dripping from his mouth.

“Why… why did…?”

Rip pulled the scythe from Grey’s body, spraying blood on the ground and on Fluttershy as the valiant pegasus fell over.

“Grey! Nooo!” Fluttershy screamed. “Why Rip!? Why!?”

The scythe on Rip Van Winkle retracted into a normal leg and the Drudge itself started to glow a sickly purple color. Then Grey was enveloped in purple light.

Kill the chimeras.

A darker light emanated from Grey as he stood up, red illuminating from his eyes.

“Fluttershy! Grey!” Twilight called down the side of the canyon. “I can’t see anything,” she said to the others.

“Hang on, I’m going down there,” Rhubarb said, stretching his wings.

“Wait! I see something,” Rarity pointed, trying to use her horn to illuminate some of the darkness, which was quite potent with Salamander backing her up.

The ponies all stepped back when a pegasus in armor flew out of the canyon carrying a more feminine looking pegasus by the scruff.

“They’re all right!” Twilight announced, galloping to where they landed. “I’m so glad you two are safe.”

“Yeah… we’re fine,” Fluttershy said rather cautiously. Then she noticed Rarity looking at her.

“Fluttershy… what is that on you?” Rarity approached her friend almost cautiously. She nearly stumbled and stifled a scream. “Oh my stars! Darling, is that blood? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“No, no. I’m fine, really. It’s not my… I mean it’s just… um…,”

“Grey?” Rhubarb asked, raising an eyebrow at his fellow guard. “Are you, okay?”

Something about Grey looked different. He looked… actually, he looked very grey.

George suddenly waved his staff, emitting a radiant glow, swinging it at Grey. “Back! Get back!” he shouted angrily.

“George, what are you doing?” Fluttershy asked in alarm. “It’s Grey.” Fluttershy winced when Grey suddenly jumped in front of her. His entire demeanor had changed.
Grey growled like a rabid dog and his eyes glowed in a deep red. He lowered his body like a lion about to pounce, his wings standing straight out to either side, rattling like a rattlesnake. He bared his teeth and hissed like a cat. Saliva dripped from his mouth as he eyed George’s staff.

“Get back or I’ll destroy you!” George commanded.

“No! Don’t hurt him!” Fluttershy yelled, jumping in front of Grey and holding her forelegs out as if to shield him.

“Step away,” George said angrily. “He’s not even alive anymore. He’s Rip Van Winkles puppet. Now step away I say, he’s no longer one of us.”

Fluttershy looked terrified, but not because of Grey’s behavior. She was much more concerned with George’s reaction to him.

“Please, just give him a chance. He won’t hurt anypony. I promise.”

“You can’t promise anything. Didn’t you hear me? Don’t you know what he’s become? I can sense it. This is Rip Van Winkle’s power. Grey’s already dead, child. There is no cure for death. Now get away from him.”

“Please, George, don’t hurt him.”

“I said step away before he hurts us!”

Fluttershy turned around and looked at Grey. He still looked ready to pounce even though she was standing in between him and George. Timidly she walked up to Grey and looked into his angry red eyes. Then she embraced him.

“It’s okay. We’re safe.”

Grey’s furious expression looked pained and his eyes slowly changed to a deep black. His wings stopped rattling and his whole body visibly relaxed. He didn’t speak, but instead made a series of small noises as if he were trying to.

“Fluttershy, I swear in the name of Celestia that there is nothing you can do for him. Do you really want him to be a brainless slave to the Drudges? He’s worse off than the occultists now.”

“Please, just give him a chance. I’m sure we can change him back.”

“And I’m telling you there isn’t. Step away and let me deal with him.”

“George, stop!” Twilight stood by Grey and Fluttershy. “Leave him alone. If Fluttershy thinks he won’t hurt anypony then I believe her.”

“Not you too,” George said annoyed. “You youngsters don’t understand anything. Step away or so help me-”

Then Rarity stood in front of Grey too. “Don’t you dare, George. If Fluttershy believes it then I’ll stand behind her too.”

“You ponies are crazy! You can’t be serious about this. Just look at him.”

“I have a flaming behind and I’m not afraid to use it!” Rarity shouted, turning her rear-end to George. “Burgle, stop snickering over there. You’re not helping.”

Burgle covered his mouth, unable to suppress a snort of laughter. “… flaming…” He stood there and silently cracked up.

Though George looked plainly annoyed, he lowered his staff. “Fine. Let him come along. You’re all going to regret this though.”

“Do your worst George. I don’t care what you do to me, as long as you don’t hurt him,” Twilight said.

As George turned away, he scoffed. “It won’t be because of anything I’m going to do.” He glared at Grey one last time and walked away.

As soon as he left, Rhubarb approached them. “Grey? Are you all right?” Grey looked at him, but didn’t say anything. “Come on, don’t you remember me?” He walked closer, but Grey’s eyes burned red again and he started growling.

“No, Grey. Don’t,” Fluttershy whispered, practically pleading as she hugged him tighter. Grey stopped growling but his eyes still glowed red.

“Grey…,” Rhubarb said slowly. “Don’t forget your duty as a guard.” Grey still looked at him, not saying a word. His eyes didn’t change. “Maybe you haven’t. You’re just guarding something else,” Rhubarb said sadly. He glanced briefly at the Drudge on Fluttershy’s back.

“Rhubarb?” Fluttershy said timidly.

“Please… don’t say anything.” Rhubarb turned away. “When you’re all done here, we need to relocate our camp to someplace safer. I saw a cave a ways back. I think we should try taking refuge there.” With that, Rhubarb waited for them.

Fluttershy whimpered and hugged Grey tighter. “Please Grey, no one is going to hurt us. Change back. Change back, please.” His eyes didn’t change, but Grey seemed to relax.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight spoke up. “What happened down there? What happened to Grey?”

Fluttershy held on to Grey, petting his mane in a comforting manner as if he were her colt. His eyes flickered between red and black. He was still struggling with Rip Van Winkle it seemed.

“Grey saved me from falling. He set me down at the bottom of the canyon and all of a sudden, a bunch of chimeras showed up.”

“Chimeras!” Twilight was astonished. She had heard of the creatures before. They were monsters created from science gone wrong, a fusion of several different animals. The chimeras’ original purpose was no longer known.

“I don’t know why they were down there, but they almost attacked us. Then…,” Fluttershy hugged Grey closer. He looked like he wanted to cry. “Rip turned one of his arms into a weapon and pierced Grey. I thought he was dead, but then Rip did something else and Grey woke up again. The chimeras pounced on him but he held them back and fought them. It was… it was awful. It was like watching a bunch of wild animals fight in Everfree, only Grey was so strong and the chimeras couldn’t overpower him even though they had him outnumbered. He fought them off and he was actually going to chase after them but I screamed and told him to stop.” Fluttershy finally smiled. “He listened.”

Twilight and Rarity looked at each other. George had said Grey wasn’t alive. Rip had killed him and resurrected him as a zombie pony. Could this be a creation similar to what Night Mare Moon had been or something different all together? Unlike Night Mare, Grey seemed to have limited self-control and reacted like an animal rather than a pony.

Fluttershy let him go and Grey stood up, looking around wearily. He glanced briefly at Twilight and Rarity, and then turned away as if he were ashamed.

“It’s okay Grey. Nopony is mad at you… well, George is cause that’s just the way he is, but no one else is mad at you,” Fluttershy comforted.

He didn’t say anything and slowly walked away. He glanced at Rhubarb who refused to look at him, though the other guard looked pained to do so.

“I’m so sorry Grey!” Fluttershy shouted after him.

Grey turned his head back, gave something that looked sort of like a smile and shook his head silently. Then he walked away again.

Fluttershy looked at her friends. “What are we going to do?”

“Fluttershy,” Rhubarb spoke up without looking at her. “I’m glad for what you did for my comrade, but… I’m not so sure it was the best idea.”

“Rhubarb, how can you say that? Aren’t you two friends?”

Rhubarb didn’t answer right away. “Yes. In fact we are. We’ve been friends for a long time. We entered the guard and trained together. But because he’s my friend, I don’t want to see him like this. I want to see him as the same pony he’s always been, but it’s so hard to see it now.” He slowly shook his head. “Shall we go? I don’t want to leave Grey and George alone together.”

Fluttershy looked at Twilight and Rarity. They both smiled weakly and nodded. Sighing a little, Fluttershy got up and they all followed Rhubarb to the cave he had mentioned earlier. Only Burgle lingered a moment, seemingly taking in the events that had just transpired.

Cave Talk

Chapter 8: Cave Talk

The cave was pretty deep and as far as anypony could tell, there was nothing living in it, including dragons. There was also enough air flowing through it to start a fire without smoking everypony out. Grey was the only one of them who didn’t go in, preferring to keep just outside. He didn’t say why and in fact didn’t say anything at all, but acted as if he was guarding the entrance. Even George didn’t argue the matter.

Like seemingly always since the quest started, Twilight found herself sitting around the fire with the others, all of them just as glum as earlier. The silence was killing her, so she was glad when Rhubarb returned from deeper in the cave.

“The cave seems to verge into a maze of tunnels, but otherwise seems safe enough. Nothing significant to report from the rear.”

“Not even her rear?” Burgle said, pointing at Rarity.

Rarity shook her head. “Just stop. Can’t you let everypony be disconsolate in peace?” Then she looked at Rhubarb. “You’re a guard. Can you guard me from his mouth?”

Rhubarb turned his eyes away. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Not anymore.”

Rarity was a little surprised. “Is something troubling you? Is this about what happened to Grey?”

“I don’t know.” Rhubarb shook his head. “Some guard I turned out to be. I haven’t been able to protect anypony since the Drudges escaped. I can’t even protect my own friend assuming he still is my friend. What’s a guard who can’t guard anything?”

None of them had an answer for him. Rhubarb walked past them and toward the entrance.

“I’ll go search for some food. I’ll be back.”

Rarity sighed, watching him leave. “This is terrible. How did things turn out like this?”

“Because of Davenport,” George said harshly. They all rolled their eyes, even Fluttershy.

“That wasn’t Davenport’s fault. He didn’t attract the dragons,” Fluttershy pointed out. “And what are we going to do about him anyway? Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“I don’t think Isis will hurt him or anything since she still needs him, so he’s probably safe for the moment. We can search for him in the morning,” George said dismissively.

“Is that a good idea? Shouldn’t we go now?”

“What exactly do you want to do now? It’ll be pretty hard to follow his trail in the dark, even with unicorn magic. We don’t have much choice but to wait.”

Rarity stood up. “If we’re definitely going to rest then I’d like to excuse myself and go to bed. My head is still killing me from working magic on those dragons. Good night, everypony.” Even Burgle didn’t say anything as she walked over to the three bedrolls they still had and climbed into one. She laid her foreleg over her forehead as she closed her eyes.

“Poor Rarity. I wish we could do something about her headaches,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“I’d say removing Salamander is the best choice. I’m 99.99% certain that he’s the cause of her headaches,” Twilight answered.

“Really? What was your first clue?” Burgle said with a smile.

“Anyway, changing the subject…” Twilight said annoyed. “How are you doing Fluttershy? Are you getting any headaches or anything?”

“No. I feel fine. Physically anyway.” Fluttershy looked to the entrance of the cave where a lone shadow still sat. “You know what’s really weird? When I fell, Rip didn’t do anything to stop it from happening. Grey really did save me back there.”

“Huh…” George thought a moment. “It might be because of Rip Van Winkle’s power. Perhaps he had intended to let you die so he could resurrect you as his servant.”

Fluttershy gaped and squeaked. George had said it as if discussing what they were going to have for dinner.

“You know, if that’s true, it might disprove Isis’s claim that the Drudges die if the host…” Twilight started but then she looked at her paling friend. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I didn’t mean to talk about it so thoughtlessly.”

“It’s… okay…” the yellow pegasus replied slowly. “Um… What about the chimeras?”

“Chimeras?” Now George looked intrigued.

“There were chimeras in the canyon. They attacked us before Rip… did that to Grey. Actually, Rip is the one who told me what they were. He didn’t like the chimeras at all.”

“You heard him?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy nodded.

“Rip Van Winkle must have inadvertently attracted them. He’s the one who originally created chimeras before he became a Drudge.”

Twilight stared at George in surprise. “Before? What do you mean before? I thought Discord created the Drudges.”

“He did, but you can’t create life from nothing. The Drudges were originally earth ponies before he turned them into what they are now.”

“Ponies…” Twilight gaped. “You mean… but they look like… well, like Rainbow Dash said, they look like bugs.”

“I know what they look like, but that is just the form they take whenever they feed or at the moment at least, whenever they have no choice but to feed. It wouldn’t be easy to do that as a full-grown pony I suppose. Until they get their strength back, their stuck like that, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

“Discord really is crazy. I can’t believe he would do that to ponies.”

“It wasn’t exactly against their will. Each of the Drudges volunteered for their own reasons or so the story goes. Isis wanted power and veneration, Salamander was a pyromaniac who didn’t like well-off ponies, and Rip… well… Rip wanted an easy way to be lazy.”

Twilight glowered. “He wanted what? Is there a hard way to be lazy?”

“Considering that he went to the trouble of creating chimeras, I’d say so.”

“But why would he make creatures like that?” Fluttershy asked.

“He created chimeras because he wanted something brainless that could be his servants. Rip Van Winkle may be lazy, but he actually has a brilliant mind. Through his simple desire, he inadvertently became the father of modern science. His dabbling in things never before seen by ponies sparked the later research that went into the science we know today. Chimeras weren’t his only creations or research, but they are what he’s most recognized for because their fused minds retained a hatred for what Rip originally did to them. Just like dragons do with Isis, chimeras will hunt Rip Van Winkle if he happens to be nearby.”

“And now instead of chimeras, he creates zombie ponies,” Fluttershy said sadly.

“The only real advantage they have over being alive is their enhanced physical strength and near-immortality. They may not have a lot of power like Night Mare Moon, but Rip’s ability to make them is almost limitless because he doesn’t need much energy to do so. As long as he can find even a piece of a dead body, whether pony, animal, or even dragon, he can resurrect it and make it his slave. Couple that with the fact that the only way to destroy his slaves is with one specific spell, and he becomes a very troublesome Drudge… if he feels like it, anyway.”

“They’re not just slaves,” Fluttershy said surprisingly defensive. “Grey listened to me when I told him to stop. And look at him now. Rip didn’t tell him to sit over there and guard us. He’s doing that of his own freewill. I know it.”

“Are you sure he’s guarding us or just the Drudge,” George said coldly.

“Um…” Fluttershy couldn’t find a confident answer.

“I’m telling you again, it’s in his best interest that we destroy him. He has no will of his own left and if he really does, then it’s cruel to make him stay like that. Don’t you think?”

“Well… um…” Fluttershy stammered.

“George, stop it. This is difficult enough to accept as it is,” Twilight said angrily.

“But you know I’m right, don’t you?”

“He’s not just a tool of the Drudges. He is still conscious of what’s going on and I’m sure he doesn’t like it either.”

“That’s practically what I just said. It’s cruel, don’t you think? If you don’t believe me, then why don’t you prove your point and go talk to him? See if he doesn’t bite your head off or something.”

“But… I mean he…” Fluttershy stammered again.

“Just leave it to me, Fluttershy. I’ll talk to him.”

“Twilight…”

Twilight got up and determinedly walked the somewhat long distance to Grey. He was sitting at the entrance of the cave, watching the full moon. Twilight didn’t want to believe that he really belonged to the Drudges now. She walked up next to him, sat down, and looked up at the sky as if it were just an ordinary night.

“Beautiful moon out tonight isn’t it? Princess Luna really outdid herself.” Grey looked at her, but he didn’t answer. Twilight cleared her throat. “Have you ever stargazed before? I really love it myself. Do you know any constellations?” Again, nothing. “Look up there. Do you see that cluster of five stars just to the right of that cloud? If you connect the stars there, you can see how it’s kind of circular. Then if you look down the line of close stars, you can see that it looks like it has a really long tail. That one is called Hydra.” She glanced at Grey. He had lowered his head and looked like he was straining himself. He looked at her slowly.

“Twi-” he visibly gulped. “Twi-light…” He clenched his eyes shut for a moment before looking at her again. “Twi-light… Spark-le…”

“Yes?” she answered hopefully.

“You… you shouldn’t…” he gulped and cleared his throat. “You shouldn’t be near me. You never know what I might do.” Though his voice was a little low and gruff, he sounded like he was struggling. Maybe it was an effect of his condition.

“I’m not afraid. And I’m not worried either. Fluttershy has full confidence that you won’t hurt anyone and if Fluttershy says it, then I believe it too.”

Grey shook his head. “Look at me. What am I? What did Rip do to me?”

“I can see you and I still see Grey. You’re still one of us. Don’t let what George said get to you.” She smiled, but Grey didn’t. He looked like he wanted to cry.

“I’m not me. I can feel Rip Van Winkle in the back of my mind. I have to protect him. It’s driving me crazy but it’s practically the only thing I want to do.”

“Just take a deep breath and relax.”

“I can’t.”

“Sure you can. Just try. I’m sure you’ll feel much better.”

“No, I mean I really can’t!” The way Grey looked at her almost scared her. “I can’t breath. I haven’t been able to breathe since Rip changed me.”

“What do you mean you can’t breathe? You wouldn’t be able to talk if you couldn’t breath.”

“I’ve been trying to talk for the last hour and I just relearned how. I’m not even sure I can explain how I am, but I’m not breathing.”

Twilight was flabbergasted. The logic didn’t make any sense at all. But if he was really undead… “Grey… I…”

“Twilight, get away from me. I’m telling you right now, leave me alone and get away from me. Now!” His voice became louder and gruffer, and his eyes changed to a terrifying red just before he turned away.

For a moment, Twilight stared at his back, barely able to make him out even in the moonlight. She could see him trembling, as if he was crying. If he really was dead, could he even produce tears? The thought made Twilight start to tear up. How could the Drudges do something as cruel as this to anyone?

Twilight quietly walked away. She wasn’t sure there were any words in the world that could console the poor pegasus. As well as what to do with him was concerned, was it better to seek out an impossible cure or do what George claimed was the only way? Her feelings were a mixture of sorrow and pity as she reentered the dank little camp.

“Twilight?” It was Fluttershy. “Is Grey all right?”

“Well… Why don’t you ask him?”

Fluttershy lowered her head and stared at the ground. “I don’t know what to say to him. I couldn’t stop Rip from, from…” She shook her head. “Twilight, do you think there’s a way to reverse it?”

“Um…” Looking at Fluttershy on the verge of crying on top of what she had just seen of Grey, made Twilight want to start crying too. “Yes. I’m sure there is. If we can reverse our friends’ diamondization then we can definitely reverse Grey’s condition too.” Fluttershy didn’t look very comforted. “What about Rip Van Winkle? Can you hear anything from him? You know, like Rarity heard things from Salamander? Maybe he knows a cure or…” Twilight cringed a little as she said it. She was virtually asking if Fluttershy was as much under Rip’s control as Rarity was slowly succumbing to Salamander.

Fluttershy though, shook her head in a no. “I can’t hear anything. I can feel him though. He went back to sleep again.”

“Again? He really is lazy.”

He must have been confident that Grey would be able to protect him while he slept or something. If he didn’t though, he might start creating more zombie ponies. That thought alone chilled Twilight to the bone. It occurred to Twilight that Rip could make use of the more destructive powers of Isis and Salamander, especially the latter, making more zombie followers in the wake of the other two. It was like having a secondary army to the occultists. Then again, the occultists themselves could be used as zombies too. George had said the Drudges were known to grant power to some of their hosts.

In any case, it wouldn’t really matter if Fluttershy could learn the cure from Rip since she wasn’t a unicorn. It wasn’t like a pegasus could teach a unicorn how to perform a spell either.

Twilight stomped the ground in frustration. Everything was going wrong. Isis had run off with Davenport, Grey was transformed into a zombie, George was angry at all of them, Rhubarb was questioning his ability to protect any of them as well as his friendship with Grey, and who knew how much longer before the Drudges finished feeding. The only one who didn’t seem flustered at the moment was Burgle, though he had been unusually quiet for a while now. He sat staring at their fire as if thinking about something. He wasn’t even harassing Rarity for once. Perhaps that was because Rarity was lying down from yet another headache.

Twilight wondered if the headaches were some kind of indication that Salamander was doing something specific to her. She seemed to get them whenever Salamander spoke to her or actively did something. So far, he seemed to be the chattiest of the Drudges. Whether that meant anything or not though was hard to say. He was also the most sensitive, jumpy, and defensive, as well as weary of whatever Rarity did, especially compared to Rip Van Winkle who seemed perfectly content to let Fluttershy do whatever she pleased. Twilight thought about what Isis had said about Salamander wasting his power. Could Rarity’s headaches be a sign that he was draining her energy too fast? Twilight’s earlier hypothesis about Salamander fusing his magic strength with Rarity’s might make sense in that regard since using her own magic gave her headaches too.

And what about poor Davenport? Isis was by far the most confident of the Drudges and definitely in control. Based on what had happened, she might have been able to control Davenport since the beginning, which made Twilight cringe. She practically taunted them and seemed to enjoy their efforts to defeat her, very similarly to Discord. Could Isis have been right about the Temple of Discord?

Twilight shook her head. She had to remain positive. The quest was lost of she and the others lost hope. They would overcome the Drudges and restore harmony to Equestria. She just had to keep believing that. In fact, she had no choice but to believe.

Morning seemed to come all too fast, or maybe it was the fact that Twilight had stayed up later than she thought and gotten up earlier than the day before. She could just see the morning light peaking into the cave. Rarity and Fluttershy were still sleeping soundly in their bedrolls. Burgle was sleeping on his back with his head resting on a rock and drool hanging from his mouth as he snored. His hood was pulled over his eyes. Rhubarb was already busy packing up a few things and George sat silently, apparently deep in thought.

Grey was also awake, apparently not being able to sleep at all. He stood alert at the entrance. Though it appeared he was observing Fluttershy sleep, he was more watching Rip Van Winkle than her. In the sunlight, the effects Rip had had on him where much more apparent. His coat was no longer white. He was now a dark grey pegasus, mane and all. His slightly dirty golden armor had a chunk missing on one side where Rip had assumable pierced his body to kill him the night before. That and the fact that there was an enormous black scar on that side.

Twilight got up out of her bedroll groggily and rolled it up with her magic. Trying to shake herself awake, she stretched and yawned.

“Good morning, you two,” she said to George and Rhubarb.

“Good morning, Twilight,” Rhubarb answered quietly. George didn’t say anything.

“George, don’t tell me you’re still mad at everypony?”

“Not really.”

Twilight shook her head and sat down, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She wished she had a mirror and a hairbrush. She could see from her shadow that her hair looked ridiculous.

The two sat in silence for a few moments before George finally spoke again. “I was thinking that we should probably split up to search for Isis and that moron.”

“Huh? Why? Don’t you think we should stay together?”

“It might be safer that way, but I don’t want to waste any time sealing the other Drudges away. The sooner we get them to the temple, the better. I thought you and I could search for Isis and catch up with the others at the temple later. The only thing is I’m not sure I can trust the care of the other two Drudges to just Rhubarb and that thief.”

“You’re discounting Rarity and Fluttershy. And what about Grey?”

“What about him?” George and Twilight looked at the afore mentioned knight who had switched his focus to them. With Fluttershy still asleep, he didn’t look ready to trust anypony.

“I told you already that he’s not one of us anymore. If those Drudge followers show up again, he’ll aid them. And as for those two mares, they’re hosts to the Drudges. They can’t protect them from themselves. They’ll lose control eventually too. I’m certain of that.”

“Well I’m not,” Twilight retorted. “Rarity and Fluttershy are strong willed. Both of them are spirits of the Elements of Harmony even. Besides, you said that Isis was always the strongest of the Drudges. Maybe the other two won’t have that kind of control for days. Anyway, Rip Van Winkle is too lazy to take control of Fluttershy, right? That’s why he…” Twilight cut herself off. She had been about to say, killed Grey.

“I don’t even know why I’m defending this,” Twilight continued. “What do you expect the two of us to do against a Drudge? Isis fought off two dragons last night, so obviously she’s hiding more power then she let on before. Even if we took the containment box, there’s nothing we could do with it while she’s still attached to Davenport.”

“You’ll have me. I have power I haven’t shown yet either.”

Twilight fixed him with a glare. “I’m sorry to doubt you and your great power, but you’re the one who admitted the Drudges keep doing things you’ve never heard of. Suppose Isis has a power you don’t know about. What then?”

“We’ll get to that if it comes to it. What it really comes down to is that we can’t have a Drudge wandering around at leisure. Like I said, you have no idea what I went through to catch them the first time and that was before they had hosts. I can tell you that they’re much stronger now and could cause a lot more havoc. I’m not willing to let Isis go free for even a little while, so will you come with me or not?”

“Are you saying you would go by yourself?”

“If it becomes necessary.”

Twilight groaned. “Then you’re not giving me any choice. Of course I have to come with you then. But do we really have to split up? I just don’t like the sound of that. Bad enough things have happened to us as a group already.”

“Like I said, we’ll handle it when it comes to it.”

“Not for us, for the others. We’re leaving Rhubarb and Burgle with two Drudges to watch over. I’m not worried so much about Fluttershy but Rarity is talking more and more with Salamander and it’s making me nervous. What if the same thing that happened to Davenport happens to her while we’re gone? What if the occultists find them?”

“You’re a real worrywart, you know that?”

Twilight’s mane nearly burst into flames. “With good reason. Bad things have happened to us every night since we left. Isis regained enough power to run off, not even two days after finding a host and you have the nerve to call me a worrywart? Fine then. I’m worried. I’m very worried. Don’t you think that’s normal for somepony in our position? Why aren’t you worried? Can you at least answer me that?”

“I am worried. I’m worried the Drudges will win. I’m not saying I like the choice, but I have to send the others ahead and specifically, I want to make sure that Rarity and Fluttershy make it before it’s too late. If we lose them, then we lose the Elements of Harmony and the only thing capable of destroying the Drudges. At the same time, do you want the same thing that happened in Canterlot to happen somewhere else? Isis has the power to shatter diamonds too.”

Twilight shivered at the thought. She hadn’t known that. For Isis, turning Celestia to diamond was not just revenge, but possibly a symbolic trophy.

“All right George, I see your point.”

“I knew you would.”

It was too early in the morning to deal with George’s vain attitude. Twilight still didn’t like the idea of splitting up but she wasn’t being left with very many options. Maybe it was more the thought of being stuck with just George, but she was worried about the others.

Twilight silently ate the last bit if hay Rhubarb had found the evening before. There hadn’t been much for them all to share and her stomach was still growling. She had just finished telling Rarity, Fluttershy, and Burgle about George’s plan and both of her friends were worried for her.

“Are you sure there’s no other way?” Rarity asked her.

“George did make a good point in the end. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I really can’t think of a better plan so… I guess there is no other way.”

“Salamander seems rather happy about it. In fact he seems to think it’s funny that Isis ran off.”

“Good for him. I’m glad one of us is.”

“Say what? Now what’s so funny?” Rarity looked at the afore mentioned Drudge. “What? How did you… stop peaking! I forgot you could do that.”

“What happened? What did he say?” Fluttershy asked.

Rarity frowned. “Something we agreed never to speak of again.”

“You mean… Tom?” Twilight whispered

“Yes. The stupid rock.” Rarity crossed her forelegs grumpily.

“The rock and what now?” Burgle asked.

“I could tell you, but then I would have to kick you. Actually that’s rather tempting.”

“But how did the Drudge…? Oh, right…” Twilight said. “The Drudges know everything their hosts know. Which means…” Twilight scratched her head. “Wow. So that includes their past hosts too, right?”

“I didn’t think about that before but I guess that would be true,” Rarity said, sounding amazed.

“It’s kind of mind boggling to think that the Drudges have actually retained all the knowledge and memories of every pony they’ve ever fed on.”

“I guess that means that Salamander knows how to be a fashionista like me. It’s actually a rather amusing thought.” Rarity giggled. Then she turned her head around and looked at the Drudge. “Oh be quiet. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like sowing. You know how to do it now.” Rarity was silent for a moment while she listened to his response. Then she stifled a laugh. “Hate me all you want. You have the know-how of a fashionista and you’re stuck with it.”

“Um… Rarity?” Twilight said.

“No I’m not going to buy red cloth. You know what’s in my mind, so you should know that.”

“Is Salamander discussing fabric with her?” Twilight whispered to Fluttershy.

“I don’t know, but it’s strangely scary,” Fluttershy whispered back.

“It is not dumb fabric. I’ll have you know…” Rarity stopped. “Why am I arguing with my Drudge? This is ridiculous.”

“Ya think?” Burgle said, amused.

“Don’t even get me started on you,” Rarity said in annoyance. “All this internal talking is giving me a headache again. I’m going to wet a washcloth in the lake. I’ll be right back.”

Twilight watched Rarity leave and felt a bit more concerned. She was talking to Salamander more and more. It might not have worried her as much if Rarity hadn’t referred to Salamander as her Drudge, again. Isis had already run off with poor Davenport. Was Rarity going to be next?

“Should we let her go off by herself?” Twilight asked Fluttershy.

“It’s Rarity we’re talking about. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Fluttershy didn’t sound very confident though.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll watch her back,” Burgle said, flicking his hoof as if it were no big deal. It didn’t really sound like something he would say for no reason, especially since he didn’t have an obligation to help them anymore.

“All right then Burgle, I’m counting on you to watch over Rarity and Fluttershy while George and I are gone.” Twilight didn’t feel like she had much choice. She didn’t want Rhubarb to take all the responsibility alone.

Burgle’s reaction was surprising though. He looked downright shocked. “Are you serious? You want to count on me? The thief?”

“You helped Davenport and Rhubarb back at the inn and you helped us find Fluttershy after the dragons attacked. I think I can trust you.”

Burgle didn’t answer. He slowly nodded his head as if her answer was more unbelievable than the time Twilight had tried to use her magic to control a flea circus and ended up multiplying them. That had been shortly after become Princess Celestia’s student. Celestia had taken the first flea infestation of Canterlot surprisingly well.

“Twilight!” George called. “If you’re done then I want to get going. Isis is already far enough ahead.”

“You’re the one who wanted to wait until morning,” Twilight said under her breath.

“Stay safe, Twilight.” Fluttershy said.

“You too. Tell Rarity for me too. And keep Burgle out of trouble.” She smiled at the thief.

Burgle nodded though he still looked a little bewildered. “Don’t worry about me, I’m… just gonna go watch Rarity’s back like I said.” He walked towards the lake slowly but looked back once as if what Twilight had said had actually bothered him.

“Come on, don’t take all day. I found Davenport’s tracks. We should be able to follow them,” George said, trying to hurry her along.

“Just hold your horses. If you’re so worried about time then maybe I can fix that.” Twilight looked around and spied an old log. She used her magic to turn the log into a four-wheeled cart with a steering wheel.

“Nice. Are you planning on pulling me?” George asked.

Twilight glared at him as she tossed a saddlebag into the cart. Of course that would be the first thing he would think of. “Just get in.” Twilight hopped into the cart while George slowly tried to pull himself up. Waiting for a good ten seconds, Twilight lifted him into the cart with her magic. “Now sit back and keep your tail and hooves in the ride at all times.” Twilight concentrated, using a spell on the cart. In moments, it was moving of its own accord.

“Wha… what was that? What did you do?” George asked in surprise.

“A come to life spell.”

“You can use magic like that?” George was wide-eyed. “I’ll be a donkey’s uncle. I didn’t know there still were unicorns who studied this kind of magic. I think I’m actually impressed.”

Twilight didn’t know how anypony could make a compliment sound like an insult, but apparently, George was a master at it. Twilight decided to just ignore it like all his other insults and focused on steering the cart as it slowly picked up speed.

Splitting Up the Party

Chapter 9: Splitting up the Party

Davenport’s legs raced on at a blistering pace. He was already panting, but still Isis refused to let him stop. Of course, at the same time he was terrified to try to stop her. There was no telling what she planned on doing. If only he hadn’t let the Drudges out, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

What, do you really think that’s your fault?

“Huh?” Abruptly, Isis stopped. Davenport breathed heavily as he sat down. He was finally in control of his body again. “What do you mean?”

Those ponies are so cruel, blaming you for something that is so obviously the fault of Burgle.

“Yeah, but I’m the one who followed him, thinking he was a plumber.”

Who could blame you for that? Burgle is a true blue schemer.

“Well he is a thief, but-”

And what about the Great and Powerful George? What’s so great about him? He even said he’s going to hate you and your family for all eternity. Where does he get the gall to do that?

“It is kind of unfair, especially to my family. They never did anything to him.”

Face it Davenport, no one respects you. You have a wonderful love of quills and sofas and yet ponies always give you horse berries about it. Where’s the love?

“It’s not so bad. I mean, Twilight buys quills from me all the time. She appreciates a good quill. I’m sure someday she’ll buy a sofa from me too.”

She doesn’t appreciate quills. She just needs them and tosses them aside when she’s done. What pony would really write so much as to go through so many quills at a time? Even your mother never went through quills so fast.

“My… my mother?”

Davenport’s mother had been a writer. She had gone through quills pretty quickly but Twilight came into the store every other week and bought several quills more than Davenport’s mother ever needed in the same time frame. What was she doing with all those quills?

These ponies… bah. They don’t even like you. Look how they treat you. Twilight even ran away from you yesterday just because I talked to her. Was she even worried about you?

“I… I’m sure she was… I mean…” Davenport was aware of some rather strange thoughts that started swirling in his head. Were these feelings of hatred?

You’ve tried a few times to discuss quills and sofas with them. And for good reason. Everypony needs a good sofa to sit on, right?

“Of course they do.”

Your father knew that. He put a lot of love into every sofa he built.

“Yeah, he did.”

Just look at what happened. They blame you for something that was not your fault and then force you along on this meaningless adventure. What will become of that store you wanted to buy? They’re all keeping you from expanding.

“You’re right. But…” Davenport shook his head. “No, no. You Drudges are evil. That’s why I’m on this quest. I can always buy another store. My sales are up. Things are going great.”

Is that so? Then why do you feel so sad?

“Huh?” Davenport was feeling sad. But why? He wasn’t a moment ago.

Am I really so evil? Princess Celestia wants to destroy the Drudges. Destroy! How is that fair? Even Discord was imprisoned in stone and yet, just because we Drudges need energy to live, to live mind you, we must be destroyed? Obliterated? Forced to cease? Where is the justice in that? We only want to survive. This quest is a farce. The only thing those ponies want is control. They feel threatened by us. Do you really think they want to drag you to the Temple of Discord just so they can hold us in a box? Of course not. The Elements of Harmony can’t be used anymore. I tried to warn you already, the only way to kill us is to kill the hosts. I can’t protect you once we get to the temple. You’re going to be sacrificed, Davenport. And so are those other two ponies if we don’t save them.

“No! They wouldn’t do that.”

Really? What do they keep telling you, Davenport? What does George keep telling you? Shut up and follow. Is that not suspicious?

“Well… I mean…”

Don’t let them fool you, Davenport. Don’t let them win against you.

Davenport started to sweat. His feelings were swirling in his head. Why were they on this absurd quest? What did they really hope to accomplish? Davenport dropped to the ground and cried.

Fluttershy looked at the sun. It was getting late. Where was Rarity? She couldn’t still be at the lake. Fluttershy was getting worried. Rarity had been gone for almost thirty minutes now.

“Rhubarb, I’m going to the lake.”

Rhubarb looked up from the saddlebag he had been packing. “What for? We already have water.” Then he looked around. “Rarity’s not back yet.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I’m going to go look for her.”

“Hang on…” Rhubarb took another look around. “Burgle is gone too.”

“I think he went with Rarity.”

“Really? I didn’t think she liked him.”

“He said he would watch her back. Twilight asked him too.”

“I don’t know. With everything that’s been going on maybe I should come with you.”

“Wait there,” Grey suddenly spoke up. He walked out from underneath the shade of a tree he had been sitting under. “I’ll go with her. You stay in case they come back.”

“You’re actually talking again?” Rhubarb looked his friend over. “Maybe it would be best if you stayed instead.”

Grey’s eyes changed red. “You don’t understand. I have to go with her. I have to follow Rip Van Winkle.”

“I can’t leave you alone with her in good conscience, Grey. Stand down.”

“I’ll go crazy if I don’t. You stand down.”

“Stop you two!” Fluttershy called. “Rhubarb, it’s all right. Grey can’t hurt me as long as I have the Drudge. He can go with me.”

Rhubarb looked hurt. His expression was that of shock. Then he sighed. “Fine. But if you’re not back in eight minutes, I’m coming after you.”

“Rhubarb, please don’t lose faith in Grey. He’s still your friend and he’s still one of us no matter what mean old Rip did to him.”

“You have no idea how much I want to believe that.”

Fluttershy gasped. She couldn’t believe he would actually doubt his own friend.

“Don’t lose faith. You don’t want to lose a friend,” she said softly.

Rhubarb didn’t make any sign as to whether he had heard her or not. Instead, he flicked his hoof, telling them to go.

Fluttershy turned around sadly and almost squealed when she realized how close Grey was standing. He was all but staring at her back.

Fluttershy gulped nervously. “Let’s go.”

She led the way and Grey followed. He followed so closely, he was practically bumping into her. Fluttershy looked back at him and saw him looking every which way as if he expected something to jump out and attack them.

“Um… Grey?” He turned his attention to her almost immediately. “A little personal space?”

Grey stopped dead in his tracks. “S-s-sorry. I kinda couldn’t help it.” His eyes were still red.

“Is it a comfort to you? You know, to be so close?”

“I’m… not sure. I just know I can’t be very far from my master…. I mean Rip Van Winkle.” He held his head as if he had a headache. “I’m losing my mind aren’t I?”

“It’s not your fault.”

“You keep saying that. Why do you sound so apologetic all the time?”

“It’s just who I am. I can’t help it if I feel this way. I wish I could have stopped him.”

“He’s a Drudge. How could anypony stop him?”

“I know, but still…” Fluttershy sighed. “You can stay close if you want.”

“But… but I…” Fluttershy started walking again. “Thank you, Fluttershy.” Feeling terrible, Grey walked silently behind her, not even realizing that he was involuntarily getting closer to her as he did so.

“Grey!” Fluttershy suddenly stopped.

“I didn’t mean to get so close.”

“No, not that. I don’t see them anywhere.” They were at the lake, but all was quiet. “Rarity!? Burgle!? Are you there!?” They both listened, but they heard no reply. Fluttershy turned to Grey in a panic. “You don’t think Salamander got control of Rarity do you?”

Grey didn’t answer. His eyes weren’t just red, they were glowing.

“Grey?”

He looked around, baring his teeth as if trying to scare something away.

“What is it? Is there something there or…” Grey stood silently, looking at her. It was almost as if he was waiting for an order.

“Grey, are you okay? Say something.”

Don’t worry about it. He’s just thinking of my safety.

“Rip?”

Salamander isn’t around. I don’t know what happened to him but my servant doesn’t sense anything and neither do I.

“He’s not your servant.”

I’d beg to differ and explain why, but I don’t really feel like it. There’s no danger here so I’m going back to sleep.

“Rip, wait! Don’t make Grey be like this! Change him back! Rip?” No response. “Grey, you don’t have to do this. Please, Grey!” Grey silently looked at her. She turned away from him and called, “Rarity, where are you!? Burgle!? This isn’t funny!”

She stood and listened for only a moment. Flapping her one free wing frantically, Fluttershy dashed back to camp. Grey galloped right behind her.

Burgle walked slowly across the road. Rarity slept soundly on his back. She had succumbed quiet easily to his sleep spell. Salamander had nearly retaliated, but once Burgle told him what he was planning, the Drudge had stopped and let Burgle do what he pleased.

He had taken a bit longer than he thought and he was only halfway to the meeting point. There was no way he would make it by the following day. He wondered if the occultists would care that he was a bit late. Burgle had ran into them and a very strange pony right after the dragon attacked them. Apparently, that pony had been the one who sent Burgle the letter about the Drudges. He still wanted his assistance and had promised twice what he was going to pay before to bring at least one of the Drudges to him now. Salamander apparently didn’t like that pony or so his reaction at the inn seemed to indicate, but Burgle had left that part out. Salamander only thought he was being taken to the occultists.

Burgle suddenly spoke to himself, “Come on, this is for a heck of a lot of money, Burgle. Just a little ways more and you’ll be back in the Neighhamas, sipping lemonade and chasing girls in the sand.” He tried to smile, but his hooves weren’t moving any faster. And why?

All right then Burgle, I’m counting on you to watch over Rarity and Fluttershy while George and I are gone.

“She must be crazy to trust me. I’m a thief for crying out loud.”

You helped Davenport and Rhubarb back at the inn and you helped us find Fluttershy after the dragons attacked. I think I can trust you.

“Finding Fluttershy wasn’t my idea. I did it for the money.” But why had he helped Davenport and Rhubarb then? He still wondered about that.

…I’m counting on you to watch over Rarity and Fluttershy… I’m counting on you… I think I can trust you…

Burgle stopped. “Twilight, you should know that trust doesn’t apply to a thief. This isn’t my fight. I should be robbing the rich to fill my bank account. I should be…”

Burgle stood there for a few moments more. His legs refused to move.

“Gosh darn it, how do these freaking ponies keep guilt tripping me into this crazy horse dung?” Burgle set Rarity down gently and released the sleep spell she was under. Almost immediately, her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him. Then she screamed.

“What did you do!? Did you do something to me? What did you do to me!?”

Burgle groaned. “First Pops and now you. Why does everypony always assume the worst of me? I’m not that kind of pony.”

“Then what kind of pony are you!?”

“A very confused one, that’s what.” Burgle sat down. “I’m supposed to take you and the Drudge to the occultists, but for some reason I changed my mind.”

“What do you mean for some reason? What are you scheming you, you…. thief!”

“You think I understand it? I’m turning down 200,000 bits for this.”

Rarity actually looked surprised. In fact, she even looked impressed. “You’re not lying?”

“For some reason, no. I think I’ve gone crazier than Pops. You know how long I could go without stealing, with that much dough?”

“You really are a strange thief.”

“Tell me about it. Three days ago, I was chilling at a nice beach resort. The next day I’m trying to steal Drudges and end up on an insane epic quest. I wonder if my buddies are still waiting for me to come back?”

“Are they good friends of yours?”

“Heck yeah. You wouldn’t believe how much stuff we’ve stolen together or how many messes we’ve gotten ourselves into. Nothing as heavy as this though.”

Rarity stood up and smiled. “They’re probably still waiting then.”

“If they are, they’re probably still chasing girls on the beach.”

“Burgle, I don’t know why, but I’m going to be generous and believe you. If you feel sorry about it, then I’ll even forgive you.”

Burgle snorted a laugh. “You got to be kidding me.”

“If you’d prefer then I can sick my Drudge on you.”

Burgle grimaced. “You know, you really need to stop talking about that thing like you own it. It’s kind of creepy.”

Rarity sighed. “Yes, I know. But for some reason I can’t help it. I wonder how long before Salamander will be controlling me?”

“Then you better hurry up and get that thing off of you. Go on. Go back to Twilight and Fluttershy. I’m positive they’re waiting for you.”

“You’re not going to escort me?”

Burgle stared at her. “Pardon?”

“Aren’t you going back too? You’d let a lady walk back by herself?”

“Are you kidding? Back to that crazy quest?” Rarity nodded. “That Drudge really has gone to your head. You’re freaking loony!”

A vein visibly appeared on Rarity’s forehead and she smiled an angry grin. “This isn’t a castle but congratulations, you’ve found your insult. You’re a bigger coward than Salamander.” The Drudge abruptly growled, though it didn’t shoot flames for once.

“I’m no coward, I’m just smarter than that.”

Rarity turned her nose up at him. “Suit yourself.” Rarity turned away and started walking. Then she stopped. “Um, Burgle…?”

“What? Aren’t you leaving?”

Rarity looked at him, blushing. “Where are we? Which way am I supposed to go?”

Burgle stared at her again. Then he thunked himself on the head with his hoof. “Ah screw it. I’ll take you back. I’ve got something interesting to tell the Great and Powerful freaking George, anyway.” Burgle got up and huffed past her.

“You don’t have to sound like I’m forcing you to-” Rarity stumbled and almost fell over. “Oh come on Rarity old girl, what’s wrong with you?” Rarity tried to stand up and stumbled again. She blinked when she realized her vision was blurring a bit. She could feel her headache coming back, but Salamander hadn’t even done anything.

“Are you okay?” Burgle actually sounded sincere this time.

“I… I don’t know. This hasn’t happened before…” Rarity stood up slowly, realizing that her legs were shaking a bit. “I think it’s Salamander. All his obsessive feeding must be catching up to me.”

“I swear to Celestia…” Burgle said in annoyance. He lowered himself down. “Come on, I’ll carry you,” he said, still sounding annoyed.

Rarity wanted to say no, but her legs didn’t want to agree with her. Instead, she slowly set herself on his back. “I’m sorry, Burgle. I don’t want to be like this, but-”

“Look, I get it. Don’t even say it.” He stood up and started back to the rest of the group. “And for the record, this quest still sucks.”

Twilight had expected Isis to run far, but this was really something. She and George had followed Davenport’s trail for quite a distance, enough to take up almost the entire day. The sun was still in the sky, but it would be sundown in an hour or so.

“I don’t like this,” Twilight said, looking towards the sun. “It seems like every time the Drudges do something unexpected, it’s after sundown.”

“True. Even in the scrolls, the Drudges were always most active at night. It’s speculated that they’re stronger in darkness.”

“You knew that and you couldn’t have told us sometime sooner?”

“It wouldn’t have really changed anything now would it?”

Twilight was all about logic but even if it didn’t give them any new options, it still would have been nice to know when they should have their guard up. Then again, maybe it was best to always have their guard up with the Drudges.

“At least it might explain why bad things always happen at night.” Twilight abruptly reversed the life spell she had placed on the cart. Or at least she tried too. It took her several attempts before she finally succeeded. Even after the winter wrap-up incident, she still hadn’t perfected this technique.

“What did you stop for? We could be right on top of them already.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. If Isis is somewhere around here, then she could be waiting for us. If the Drudges really are stronger at night then we shouldn’t take any chances and let Isis surprise us.”

“That’s all the more reason to hurry up. I don’t want Isis causing any trouble.”

“If she does, I’m sure we’ll find out about it. She probably knows we’ll come looking for her, so she’s not going to do anything obvious to attract attention. Remember she doesn’t have her full strength back yet.” Though of course, she had enough. Enough to fight dragons with. Twilight was beginning to wonder if there even was any logic to the Drudges behavior. The only thing they did that made any kind of sense was their desire to protect themselves.

“Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight and George turned fast, when they heard Davenport’s voice.

“Isis, there you are!” George shouted, raising his staff.

“It’s not Isis. Just me, little old Davenport.”

“Davenport? Are you okay? What’s going on? Did Isis decide to sleep now?”

“Just… just be quiet, Twilight, you, you… quill waster!”

Twilight blinked in surprise. What was he talking about? She used quills until they practically burst into flames.

“Davenport-”

“I said be quiet. I don’t want to talk you right now. Just go away and leave me alone.”

“Has that Drudge finally gotten to you? You sound even more like a moron,” George said annoyed.

“Shut up!” Davenport yelled at him. George actually looked surprised to be told such a thing. “You’re the worst of all. You don’t ever have anything nice to say about me. And no wonder with you trying to sacrifice me.”

“I’m doing what?”

“Don’t play dumb, George! I know what you’re trying to do. You’re going to sacrifice me just so you can kill Isis.”

“I’m going to do what? What are you talking about?”

“Davenport, we’ve been over this. Nopony is going to sacrifice anypony.”

“Lies! I know it! Stop lying to me! What do you care what happens to me? You don’t even like quills and sofas.”

“Are you still going on about that stupid stuff? You need a new hobby.”

“Not helping, George,” Twilight said through grit teeth. “Something’s not right.” Abruptly, Twilight realized what it was. “Davenport, whatever Isis has told you, it’s not true. She’s trying to turn you against us just like she did with Night Mare Moon. Please, let us help you. We have to win to against the Drudges.”

“I…I…” Davenport’s face contorted in rage. “I won’t let you win!”

“Perfect,” another voice chimed in.

Twilight stared when Isis fell off Davenport’s chest and a dark light slowly enveloped him. The Drudge scurried to his left, turned around, and faced them. Then she changed. Her spider legs fused into four, her body started to grow, and Twilight could make out a head beginning to form. In moments, a dark blue pony with an icy blue mane and tail stood before them. But not just any pony. Isis had grown into a small alicorn, similarly to Princess Luna.

“Are you surprised? Didn’t think I had recovered this much energy? Guess you were wrong.” She laughed and then turned her attention to Davenport. “Now this looks familiar. Where have I seen this before? Oh, that’s right, I remember. This is just like when I changed Princess Luna into a certain mare of darkness.”

“No. Davenport!” Twilight shouted.

Davenport screamed and transformed before her eyes. His eyes turned a deathly white, he physically grew taller, and a strange sort of white armor grew over his body except around his face and chest.

“Oh oh,” Isis mocked. “Looks like you’re a little late. Davenport is already on my side.”

“I am no longer Davenport,” he said menacingly. “I am Quilleficent!”

Isis stared at him. “Quilleficent?” She audibly groaned. “Darn you and your accursed obscure knowledge. Don’t you know anything else besides quills and freaking sofas?” Of course, she already knew the answer to that which was mostly a no.

“Davenport… This can’t be happening,” Twilight said slowly.

“You will not harm Isis,” Davenport pulled a quill from his vest pocket, which was one of the few places on his body not covered by armor. “By the power of my quill, I will not lose!”

“Is he serious?” George whispered to Twilight. “What’s he going to do with a quill? Write on our faces while we’re asleep?”

Davenport put the quill in his mouth and his eyes glowed. Then, his quill suddenly started to expand. Twilight and George both gaped when it grew into a giant quill-shaped sword, roughly the size of a standard sofa.

“Does that answer your stupid question?” Isis said and looked a little surprised herself.

While they were still waking up from the shock, Davenport swung his giant sword at them. Twilight screamed and used her magic to push George out of the way as she jumped back. She felt wind blow through her hair from the force of his swing. She tried to use her magic to push him back but was surprised when his armor flashed and her spell died.

“Not good,” Twilight turned and ran when Davenport charged. “Not good, not good!” She continued to try various spells but his armor nullified every one and his sword sliced through anything physical she tried to throw at him. Finally out of options, Twilight winked out, disappearing and reappearing a few feet behind Davenport. She galloped back to George, who was backing away from Isis.

“You really thought you could bring me back? You ponies are less than pathetic.” Her horn glowed and several spheres of blue light appeared. “The games over. Are you ready for this?”

“Yes!” George waved his staff, igniting a flash. The spheres evaporated, but Isis didn’t look very worried.

“How long can you keep that up? Look at you. You’re already tired.”

George was breathing hard. The spells he knew always seemed to take a lot out of him. There was no way he could stop Isis the way she was now. Twilight prepared to defend herself, but paused when she heard Davenport walking up behind her. They were surrounded.

“How sad. I thought I was going to be able to enjoy this. Oh well.” Isis horn lit up again, but this time she paused, grimacing a little. After a moment, her smile returned. “You’re boring me. This isn’t even worth my time. You’re no threat to me.” She spread her wings and floated into the air. “Come my little knight, we have better things to do.” She lifted Davenport with her magic, which for some reason worked despite the armor, and took off.

It took Twilight a moment to realize that it was over and they had somehow survived.

“Darn that Isis. She made a foal of me,” George slumped on the ground. “And Davenport…” He growled. Then he shook his hoof in the air and screamed, “I’m still going to hate you and your family for all of eternity! Make that indefinite eternity now!”

“George, calm down. That’s not helping right now,” Twilight said and took a deep breath. Still, it wasn’t hard to understand his frustration. “So, now what? We can’t follow them in the air.”

George hit his staff on the ground. It was amazing that it didn’t break with as much as he did that. “I don’t know,” he answered gruffly. “I’m not sure there’s anything we can do. I… I’m not prepared for anything like this.”

“What happened? Why didn’t she finish us off?”

“I don’t know, she…” George growled under his breath. “She must have used a lot of power transforming Davenport. If she loses too much, she would revert back to her parasite form. She probably didn’t want to risk the chance we had the containment box, even though Davenport would have protected her.”

“What do you mean? Does the form she’s in make a difference?”

“If the containment box could work on her in her original pony form then it would work on anypony. It only works if the Drudges are in that other form.”

“What!? Then you mean…”

“Yes. Even if we had it, the containment box is useless while she’s in that false alicorn form.”

Twilight drooped. Now things had gotten even more complicated, the worst of which was that Davenport had been changed into Quilleficent or whatever he had called himself. And if he was anything like Night Mare Moon, then only the Elements of Harmony could change him back.

“I could try to give our cart wings and bring it to life or…” That was a really dangerous idea. She had never tinkered with flight in any of her magic studies other than the wings she made for Rarity that one time, but that spell was too difficult to do more than once in a day. In any case, she couldn’t fight both Isis and Davenport by herself. In fact, both she and George together couldn’t do it.

“Let’s go back to others,” Twilight finally said. “The only way we can deal with Isis now is as a team.”

“I don’t know about that. Unicorns are the only ones who could fight her as she is now and you and I are the only ones strong enough to even attempt it.”

“You don’t know much about the magic of friendship do you? Do you have any friends?”

“I’m currently the world’s only member of the Council of Mystics. I take my studies very seriously. I’m not even home very often.”

Twilight started to make her way to the cart.

“That’s really sad. No wonder Trixie want’s your approval.”

“What’s my daughter have to do with anything? She’s doing just fine. If she would focus more, she has her own raw talent she could tap into.”

“If you know that, then maybe you could help her focus.”

“Honestly, I haven’t been able to figure out how and she may very well be stronger than me anyway.”

Twilight stopped with a hoof in the cart. “What do you mean?”

“I tried to teach her about magic once before, but she just didn’t seem to get it. I got a little frustrated actually. Then when I wasn’t looking, something happened and she displayed some amazing power. That’s actually when she got her cutie mark. I tried to get her to do it again but she just didn’t seem to remember it. If she’s going to be a great magician, it’s going to be through her own effort.”

“Is that why you treat her the way you do?”

“I suppose it is. I can’t think of any other way.”

Twilight smiled. “Come on, get in.” George raised an eyebrow at her and managed to pull himself inside this time. “Take a lesson from Fluttershy and try a little kindness every once in a while. No one improves on sheer effort alone. Sometimes they need a little support.”

George went silent as Twilight cast a life spell and the cart started to move.

Regroup and Plan

Chapter 10: Regroup and Plan

Fluttershy sighed as she gazed at the moon. Even after Rhubarb had flown around the area several times, he wasn’t able to find a single sign of either Rarity or Burgle. She had no idea what had happened, but if Salamander had taken control of Rarity then she worried that he may have done something even worse to Burgle.

“Please don’t look like that, Fluttershy,” Rhubarb said, having returned with firewood. “It couldn’t be helped. Two of the Drudges got away and we couldn’t risk a third.”

“I understand, but sill…”

Rhubarb had made the decision to start on their way to the meeting point George had told them to wait at. He didn’t want to chance Rip Van Winkle taking control of Fluttershy. Because of the delay, they wouldn’t get there until the following afternoon.

Grey sat almost right beside her. Since Rip had spoken to Fluttershy, Grey had stopped talking all together. Even when Fluttershy begged him, his eyes never stopped glowing. What’s more, he seemed weary of Rhubarb speaking to her and wouldn’t let him any closer than ten feet without getting defensive.

“I wish things didn’t have to be like this,” Fluttershy said suddenly. “Everything is so wrong. I want everyone to be together again. We shouldn’t have split up.”

“Rarity’s disappearance wasn’t something we planned on. Wishing for them to just suddenly come back isn’t going to help anything.”

“Hey, we’re back. Is dinner ready yet?”

Fluttershy and Rhubarb both stared when Burgle walked into sight, casually carrying Rarity on his back.

“W-where have you two been?” Rhubarb asked angrily.

“We ran off to get married, but I got cold hooves.”

Rarity’s face abruptly contorted into a dark void. “Put me down before I do something I might regret later.”

“Like kissing me?”

“Keep up with the jokes and there won’t be a later.”

Looking at her face, Burgle seemed to take her seriously for once. “Got it.”

“Rarity, I’m so glad you’re okay!” Fluttershy said excitedly. “Oh, and you too Burgle.”

“Happy to be an afterthought,” Burgle said, sitting down across from her as Rarity carefully lay down on her stomach much further away from him.

“So, what happened?” Fluttershy asked Rarity.

“Just the jerk over there deciding to be a good guy for once.” Much to Burgle’s discomfort, Rarity told Fluttershy and Rhubarb all about what had happened. Rhubarb in particular didn’t look very pleased with him.

“Thank you, Burgle,” Fluttershy suddenly said.

“Huh? For what?”

“For staying and helping us. I’m glad you changed your mind.”

“Um… you’re welcome?”

“Don’t thank him too much. We almost got lost trying to find you,” Rarity said. “Though I admit his tracking skills are rather impressive.” Burgle grinned and scratched his nose sheepishly. “But don’t think that means anything between us. You’re still a jerk.”

“Ouch. Harsh.”

“Still, I’m glad you’re both back. Now we just need to catch up with Twilight, George, and Davenport and we’ll all be together again.” Fluttershy smiled.

“Speaking of which, I hope they found him all right,” Rarity said with concern. “How do you suppose they plan to bring him back with Isis still in control?”

As Rarity and Fluttershy got deeper into a conversation, Burgle was suddenly aware of a large pegasus standing over him.

“Hey there Rhubarb? How’s life treating ya?” Rhubarb raised an eyebrow at him. “What? What is it?”

“Just let them be a moment and come over here. I need to discuss something with you.”

Burgle gulped. “Look, I came back didn’t I? I mean, yeah I ponynapped her but-”

“No, not that.” Rhubarb reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a piece of paper. “It’s about the meeting place and George’s map.”

“What about it?”

“How does he expect us to follow this?”

Burgle looked at the map and paled. It had some dotted lines, some crudely drawn landmarks, and a big X on top.

“I have no idea.”

Twilight watched George pace back and forth at the base of the rocky hill. The reason he had chosen this spot to meet up was that climbing up the rock trail to the temple could be difficult and hard to navigate if a pony didn’t know where to walk.

“Where are they? This is the exact time I specified. They couldn’t have gone ahead yet,” George said and tapped his hoof impatiently. “I was expecting a hot meal.”

“You weren’t listening to a word I said about friendship and teamwork were you?” Twilight said though she already knew the answer. While they were traveling, she had been telling him a bit about the Elements of Harmony and how she and her friends had used them to stop Night Mare Moon and Discord.

“Teamwork should guarantee somepony on the team making a hot meal. That’s what I got out of that.”

Twilight groaned. “You’re hopeless.”

“Finally, there they are.”

Sure enough, Twilight saw Fluttershy and Grey coming up the trail, followed by Burgle, Rhubarb, and Rarity.

“What took you so long? Didn’t you follow the map?” George said, expecting a good explanation.

“You and your stupid map. We’re lucky we found this place,” Rarity said exasperated.

“Are you okay, Rarity? You seem kind of tired,” Twilight asked her.

“What was your first clue?” Rarity answered angrily. Rhubarb was carrying her on his back.

They took a brief break to let the others rest as well as catch up on what had been going on while they were separated. Davenport’s corruption, Rip Van Winkle’s stronger control of Grey, and even Burgle’s attempt to ponynap Rarity, which Burgle looked quite ashamed of. Still, their biggest concern was Isis and Davenport who they no longer had any way of finding.

“Poor Pops. I can’t believe he went crazy. I mean, he was kind of crazy to begin with but still…” Burgle actually shrugged.

“Well, we’ve wasted enough time. The only thing we can do at this point is remove the other Drudges and use the temple’s power to undo Isis’s damage in Canterlot.” George finally said.

He turned to the trail as if he expected the others to follow him. Of course they did, but more because of Fluttershy and Rarity than him. Rhubarb still had to carry Rarity who didn’t know if she could make the difficult climb unaided. Not in her present condition anyway.

“By the way, I’m blaming you for my still being here,” Burgle suddenly said to Twilight. “You must be crazy to depend on a freaking thief for help.”

Twilight didn’t really understand what he was getting at, but she was glad he was still on their side. Princess Luna was right. It wasn’t so bad having him along after all.

“So George, how exactly are we going to fix Canterlot with the power in the temple? They’re awfully far apart,” Twilight asked.

“What do you think I carry a staff around for?” George replied, waving his staff at her. “This is made of a special wood that will absorb some of Discord’s leftover energy. Then I can bring it back and in the least, change your friends back so we can use the Elements of Harmony again.”

“Well at least we can do that. That way we can help Davenport too. Maybe we can break the spell the Drudges have over the occultists too.”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me,” Burgle spoke up again. “You know the pony who wanted me to steal the Drudges? Somehow, he’s the one leading those occultist ponies now. And get this, the guy is an alicorn.”

“What? That’s impossible. The princesses are the only true living alicorns. Who is he?” George demanded.

“I think his name is Rave.”

George’s eyes widened at the sound of the name and he stopped walking. “Rave?” He lowered his staff to the ground. The light on his horn finally died for once. “He’s not a true alicorn. His wings are a result of a powerful spell cast on him a long time ago.” George clenched his lips and shook his head slowly. “That explains who made the containment box. I can’t believe he’s still alive.”

“So who is Rave? Is he dangerous?” Twilight asked.

George took a deep breath, “You remember what I told you about the occultists and how they’re descended from ponies who were duped into following the Drudges?” The others nodded. “Rave is descended from the few ponies who followed the Drudges by pure choice. Over the centuries, his family kept their dedication to the Drudges alive and eventually passed the knowledge on to him. But apparently, Rave developed a different interpretation of what the Drudges really were. About a hundred years or so ago, he joined the Mystics. His intentions though were to study a way to use the Drudges power for himself. He was found out at some point and was sentenced to several years in prison after trying to kill some of the other Mystics. But he escaped and disappeared before he could serve that sentence and nopony has seen him since.”

George looked at each of his companions in turn. “And that is Rave. If he’s leading the occultists then he’s probably just using them to get what he wants.”

“If he has all those ponies at his beck and call then why would he try to get the Drudges through Burgle? Those occultists could easily subdue us, especially with all the unicorns they have,” Rhubarb said.

“Good question,” Twilight said, thinking aloud. “If he’s just using them to find the Drudges then maybe he’s afraid the occultists would overpower him if he tried to use the Drudges’ power. Um… how would he do that anyway? The Drudges are way too powerful.”

George shook his head. The others all looked at each other, not sure how the lone false alicorn expected to accomplish his task. It was on their minds for quite a ways up the rocky hillside but none of them could come up with an answer.

“Grey?” Fluttershy stopped when she realized that the poor zombie pony wasn’t following her. He was standing with his head slightly lowered and his eyes shut tightly.

“Flu… Flu…” He opened his eyes and they quivered.

“What’s this all of a sudden? What’s he doing?” Twilight wondered.

“Grey, are you trying to fight, Rip?” Fluttershy said, rushing back to him. “Come on Grey, I know you can do it.” He was obviously struggling. Whatever he was doing, he was losing. “Grey, please fight it. We believe in you. Think about your duty. Think about everything you love.”

“Love?” Twilight was suddenly hit with an idea. “Fluttershy, sing your song.”

“Song? What do you mean?”

“You know, the song you sing to your animal friends.”

“But…”

“Trust me, just do it.”

Fluttershy blushed and looked at Grey. She took a deep breath and sang. For a moment, Grey kept struggling. Then he just sort of froze. Fluttershy kept singing and Grey’s eyes slowly changed black.

“That is such a beautiful song,” he suddenly said.

“Grey, you’re all right!” Fluttershy said, hugging him. Then she realized what she was doing and took two steps away. “I mean… yay.”

“Twilight, how did you know that was going to work?” Rhubarb asked her.

“Oh Rhubarb, I swear, boys have no eyes for romance,” Rarity said rather dreamily.

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Are we going to search for Davenport after this? I hate to think what would happen if he or Isis started making chaos in Equestria.”

Well she had certainly chosen a good change of subject. “I want to, but I don’t even know where to begin looking. I hate to say it, but we might have to wait for the two of them to do something first,” Twilight said glumly. “Darn, Isis. Why would she do that to Davenport?”

George shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I can’t believe that Isis really got so much power back just from him alone. And yet, she’s regained her original form. It’s possible she gave him power just to mess with us or to protect herself while she searches for another host.”

“Oh man. She’s going to keep taking hosts isn’t she? How could this get any worse?”

“At least it didn’t start raining,” Fluttershy pointed out. They all stopped and looked at the sky, almost surprised that a downpour didn’t start.

“Even if it rains, it wouldn’t matter. We’re almost to the temple. In fact, we should see it pretty soon.” George looked around. “Very soon actually.” George was silent a moment. “I’m sure this is the right way. Where are the guards? We should have seen at least a few by now.”

They kept walking, but still they saw no sign of any life, sound, or movement anywhere.

“George, are you sure we didn’t go the wrong way. I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this,” Twilight said nervously.

“No, I’m positive this is the right way. I recognize that outcropping there. It should be…”

As they passed the outcropping George had pointed out, they came across a surprisingly flat clearing. There were no rocks or anything around it.

“What is…? I don’t remember this. We should be…” George gaped. He dashed into the clearing and looked around everywhere. “This can’t be, can it?” He galloped around frantically, looking at every little rock he came across as if expecting it to tell him something. “No,” George whispered. “No. No, no!” George fell back on his haunches.

“George, what’s wrong!?” Twilight asked him.

“This is it. This is it. Isis wasn’t lying. It’s gone. The Temple of Discord is gone!”

Isis led Davenport, or rather his new persona, Quilleficent, to a strange building sitting in the middle of the first wooded area Davenport had seen since arriving in this strange land. After flying down and landing in the clearing, Isis set Davenport down behind her and walked in. As soon as she did, her horn and wings vanished. Davenport walked in slowly, pulling a quill out in case he needed to fight something.

“What is this place?” He marveled at the marble pillars, elaborate floors and, most importantly, a beautiful sofa in the back of the room.

“The Temple of Discord.”

“What?” Davenport took a second look around. It did look rather ancient, except for the awesome sofa anyway. “But this is where George wanted to take you. Why would you…?” Davenport trailed off. Isis was smiling at him as if she thought he was a fool.

“You know why. I’ll grow stronger here. In any case, George and the others won’t find this place. I had it moved.”

She walked into another room. Davenport followed and stopped when he saw a little pink filly with a purple mane, sitting in a back corner. When she saw them, she walked timidly up to Isis and bowed.

“I did as you asked and waited for you.” The filly was a unicorn. She had a cutie mark that looked like an eye. Davenport felt a strange pang in the back of his heart. What was a filly doing here?

“And the guards?”

“I sent them away first. They’re in the Everfree Forest. Did I do good?”

“Everfree huh? I suppose that will do. As a reward, you may go out and play. However, do not run off or else.”

“Yes ma’am. I would never do that.” The filly cowered.

“Go on then. And keep an eye out for any intruders. I’m expecting some of my followers to find me, but there are others I would rather not meet up with.”

“Yes ma’am.” The filly dashed out of the room.

Davenport watched her go. “Who was that?”

“A host I found after waking up,” Isis answered nonchalantly. “She was so small and weak though, that I barely got anything out of her before I realized that accursed Mystic was coming for me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight him off like that, so I gave that filly a nice little power boost before I separated from her.”

Isis walked back into the main room and lay down casually on the sofa, even closing her eyes as she relaxed. “Even though she’s young I could feel that she had a natural talent for winking.” Winking, a magic ability that allowed a unicorn to teleport short distances. Maybe that’s what the filly’s cutie mark symbolized.

“I enhanced that ability and told her to teleport to the Temple of Discord. You see, I need this place. It’s the only way I can exceed my natural limits. That’s why I had that filly transport the whole thing here where nopony knows about it.” Of course, she could have gotten away from George the same way, but she just couldn’t pass up the chance to get to Celestia and throw it in the Mystic’s face. Davenport’s folly had been rather fortunate though, and she might not have survived her gamble otherwise.

Davenport looked back at the entrance again. “What’s her name?”

Isis opened an eye. “Her name is Bubble Gum, but what’s it matter? She works for me and I’ll take good care of her as long as she’s good. In fact, with her around I’ll never have to worry about any Mystics finding me ever again and Princess Celestia is already done with.” Isis smiled and raised a hoof to her chin. “Oh, I know. I should have Bubble Gum transport Celestia here. It would make a wonderful decoration.” Isis chuckled to herself. “Of course, I’m expecting you, my brave and proud knight, to protect me while I reside here.”

Davenport nodded. She had shown him the evils of the ponies around him and he owed her for giving him the power to fight back against those who would mock him.

“I will, even from the Elements of Harmony if I have too.”

“The Elements of Harmony. Who would have thought they could still be used.” Davenport’s promise was relatively empty. The Elements could turn him back to normal as well. “I wouldn’t worry about that. Salamander and Rip Van Winkle will eliminate the Elements soon enough. You can protect me from anything else though.”

“I promise, for as long as there is a quill in my hooves, I will not let any harm befall you.”

“A quill?” Isis glared at him. “You and your obscure knowledge. Because of you I’ll never be able to forget the perfect weight and balance of a good quill.”

“I’m so pleased you approve.”

Isis groaned. “Why don’t you go out and guard something. Guard the kid. She’s important to my plans.”

Davenport saluted and walked out.

“Why did I have to make him my host? I should have gone back to Princess Luna.” Isis rubbed her chin. “That’s not a bad idea. As soon as I get some more of my power back, I should have that filly bring Luna here too. Night Mare Moon was the best success I ever had.”

The ponies stared at the small campfire before them. They had made camp in the middle of the open space that was formerly the Temple of Discord. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Burgle, Rhubarb, and even Grey sat in remorse.

George walked into the light and sat down glumly. “It’s no use. I can’t feel even the slightest trace of Discord’s power. We can’t remove the Drudges here.”

Rarity shuddered, holding a wet rag to her head. After listening to Salamander’s thoughts, she had learned that he was feeding on her energy quickly whenever she got the headaches. Now that he knew she knew and that the temple was gone, he didn’t care to try to distract her before attempting it. She wondered just how much longer she had left.

“So, what do we do now?” Fluttershy finally asked, breaking the silence.

“There isn’t anything else to do. The quest has failed,” George said quietly. “Without the temple to remove the Drudges and the taint, the Elements of Harmony can’t be used and without the Elements, the Drudges can’t be destroyed. In any case, the Drudges will probably kill you and Rarity sooner or later anyway, and then there will really be no chance.”

“But that hasn’t happened yet. That means there’s still hope, right?”

“What hope? This was our only hope,” George said and stabbed the ground with his staff.

“I can’t believe that there is nothing else we can do,” Fluttershy stood up. “Twilight? Rarity? Rhubarb surely you’re not giving up?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to give up, but… I just don’t know.” Rhubarb sighed.

“I’m not sure what else to do either Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “Don’t think I haven’t been trying to think of a way to fix this. There’s just so much I don’t know about the Drudges. I wish there was something I could read that could just give me all the answers, but I’ve never read anything that even mentioned them before.”

“Fluttershy is right though,” Rarity spoke up. “I for one am not giving up without a fight. I’m not about to let the Drudges win.” She threw the wet rag on the ground. “I’ve got nothing to lose anymore. I’m willing to try anything.”

“Like what? You actually have any ideas?” Burgle asked her.

“What about the containment box we have? Can’t we still use that?” Rarity suggested.

“Oh, that stupid box. I forgot about that.”

“Maybe, but that still hinges on the Drudges separating from you and Fluttershy first. Not to mention catching Isis in her parasite form. We would have to make her use a lot of power first,” George noted. “Besides, even if we do trap them we won’t be able to reverse what Isis has done in Canterlot now that the temple is gone.”

Rarity paused. That wasn’t exactly an answer she had been expecting.

“It’s still better than letting the Drudges go loose,” Fluttershy said, sounding much more determined. “I’m sure we can find some other way to reverse the spell on our friends.”

“You’re both crazy. There is no other way. Besides, do you even realize what we’re up against? On one side, there’s the renewed Isis and a deranged Davenport. On the other side, there’s Rave and the occultists. And on yet another side, we still have to worry about the two Drudges we have getting their power back and killing the both of you. Then there’s us, smack dab in the middle of everything and I have no idea what in the name of Celestia we’re supposed to do about it.”

“Like you just said, we have two of the Drudges,” Rarity suddenly put in. “And we also have you and Twilight who are both powerful magicians, and we have Rhubarb and Burgle and even Grey. So why can’t we use that?”

George looked at her as if she were crazy. “You said the Drudges? How exactly are we supposed to use them? They’re what we’re fighting. And that knight…” He pointed at Grey, who stared back with an unreadable expression.

“He’s tame, isn’t he Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy nodded, putting a hoof on Grey’s back. Though he was already lying down, the undead pegasus visibly relaxed and actually smiled for once.

“Maybe Grey won’t fight the occultists, but what about fighting Isis or Davenport? For that matter, how do the Drudges feel about this Rave pony?”

“You’re right,” Twilight agreed. “Rave wants to use the Drudges power for himself. He’s no friend to them. Which means…”

“Which means the Drudges aren’t going to bow down to Rave,” Rarity finished.

“And that would include Isis too,” Burgle added. “She and Rave may be bad, but she’s not going to join up with him if it means bending to his will. Her only master is that Discord guy.”

“I don’t know about that,” George said more methodically. “True they were dependent on Discord’s presence, but after so many years without him, they may have developed a bit more free will. Isis especially.”

“That’s all the more reason to pit Isis against Rave. Maybe we could trap her in the containment box while they’re fighting or something,” Burgle said, being surprisingly methodical about it.

“And if we combine our strength, Rave won’t stand a chance against us by himself,” Rarity said happily.

“That’s all fine and dandy on paper,” George said. “But the real problem is still Isis. Let’s say Rave can’t weaken her enough to force her into her parasite form. The box won’t work in the form she’s in now and if she’s even remotely close to her full strength then she’ll be more powerful then Twilight, myself, and even Rave combined. Only the Elements of Harmony could match her.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Rarity said, giving a devilish grin. “What if you add another Drudge to the mix?”

“Pardon?”

“Salamander has made me stronger. If I fight too, then I think we can handle Isis”

“Are you kidding me!?” George jumped to his hooves. “Salamander isn’t going to let you fight Isis! He’ll stop you himself!”

“So let him shoot his flames everywhere. That’s not going to stop me and I can put them out anyway. You’d just be wasting your power again,” she said, turning to the Drudge on her backside. Then she turned back to George. “Salamander doesn’t really like Isis anyway. He might not try to stop me at all.”

“No way. We can’t trust that. And you want to risk burning the whole countryside?”

“Do we have any other choice? You’re the one who said Isis is too powerful to handle. We’re going to have to take a gamble here.”

“But Rarity, every time you or Salamander uses magic, he drains you even faster. Are you sure you can last in a fight like that? You’re having a hard time standing up as it is. How do you intend to fight at all?” Twilight pointed out.

Rarity smiled reassuringly. “I’ve thought about that and it’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means defeating the Drudges. I should be able to fight for at least a little while.”

Salamander growled, clearly not happy with her statement.

“You better be careful Salamander. If I waste away too quickly, you won’t be able to revert to your original form which means it’s into the box with you.” Salamander growled again, though it made no sign of arguing. “See, Salamander won’t stop me. Not if he wants to stay free.”

George crossed his forelegs in thought and sat for a few moments in seeming contempt. Finally, he spoke again. “Okay, say we do rely on you and Salamander. What about Rip Van Winkle?”

All eyes turned to Fluttershy. She looked a little embarrassed.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have been listening. Rip is getting kind of irritated with the conversation.”

“I can tell,” Grey said and closed his eyes again. He looked like he was in pain. “Rip is mad. He’s really mad. He wants me to… he’s trying to make me…”

“But I know you won’t.” Fluttershy put her forelegs around Grey and started hushing him like a baby. “You can keep control Grey. I know you can.”

“Fluttershy…” Grey’s face showed great pain. If he had the ability too, he probably would have cried right then. “Accursed Rip. Why did he have to do this to me?”

“This plan has way too many variables. I don’t like it at all,” George said and actually gulping.

“It will work. We’ll make it work. Right everypony?” Rarity said cheerfully.

Before anyone could answer, the air was filled with a blood-curdling scream, much deeper than the one Salamander had made before. Abruptly, a giant spider leg erupted from Rip Van Winkle. Then a second… Then a third… In moments, four spider legs were lifting Fluttershy off the ground.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight and Rarity screamed.

“I’m sorry, but I did say Rip was angry,” Fluttershy yelled, flailing her own legs in the air.

Rip swatted at them with one leg and started to walk away.

“What? Come back here! You’re too lazy to even fight?” Rarity yelled at him. She used her unicorn magic to stop him. Rip howled again.

“What do we do? Rarity can’t hold him forever,” Twilight announced.

“You know, as long as she’s got him pinned, we could try this,” Burgle pulled a knife out of his saddlebag with his magic and flung it accurately at the Drudge. However, at the last second, Grey caught it in his teeth and snapped it in half. His eyes burned red.

“Or not,” Twilight said downheartedly.

Abruptly the magic field around Rip died. Rarity held her head painfully. “Salamander… stop eating me. Do you want to go in the box?”

If Salamander answered her, there was no immediate sign nor was there time for one. Rip turned around to face them. One of his legs turned into a scythe and it stretched out toward the ponies. Twilight and the others practically danced as the scythe continuously chopped and sliced around them, barely missing. Twilight wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep it up.

“Rip, stop it!” Fluttershy shouted. Somehow, she turned her head almost completely backwards and stared right into Rip Van Winkle’s eyes. “You’ve got a lot of nerve,” she scolded him. “First you turn Grey into a zombie pony and then you start attacking my friends just because you’re mad. That’s not nice at all. You should be ashamed of yourself, picking on ponies who are obviously weaker than you.”

“Hey!” George complained, but Fluttershy wasn’t done.

“If I were your mother, I’d send you to your room right now, mister. You do not play rough with my friends. You got that? You’re grounded!”

Rip Van Winkle let out a tiny whining noise. His legs slowly retracted until Fluttershy was back on the ground. Rip actually slinked back slightly on her back, released her wing, and went silent. Grey’s eyes turned back to black too. Fluttershy nodded in approval.

“Now you stay there and think about what you’ve done.”

The other ponies stared at her completely awe struck.

“What was that?” Burgle finally said.

“The seventh Element of Harmony, the spirit of two strict mothers,” Rarity said, only half in amusement. “Seriously though, you just witnessed her special talent, The Stare.”

“The Stare?” George repeated. “If I had known a power like that existed in Equestria, I would have hired her to guard the Drudges.”

“In any case, I guess this means we don’t have to worry about Rip Van Winkle getting in the way either.” Rarity shrugged.

George looked at her wearily. “This is supposed to be a guarantee? This is a terrible plan.”

“Like I said, what have we got to lose? We have no choice but to try something risky. Don’t you agree, Twilight?”

The lavender unicorn looked at the sky, thinking. She was still recovering from Rip’s attack, but she was calm enough to get back to the larger problem. “I can’t say I like everything about it, but it does sound like the best option we have. We have to at least contain the Drudges if nothing else.”

“That may be, but even with all this, there’s still the problem of actually finding Isis. She could be anywhere,” George said, still not convinced.

“Why not just let the occultists find her for us,” Burgle said confidently.

“The occultists?” George said with surprise.

“They’re still expecting me to come back with a Drudge, specifically I promised them Salamander. It’s not like Rave can do anything with the Drudges the way they are now. If you guys follow at a safe distance, we can let them find Isis.”

“That idea…” George said angrily, but trailed off. “Actually, that’s strangely brilliant.”

“Hey, I’m a thief. I’ve had to con more than one pony in my lifetime.”

“Wait, what about Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. “The occultists will sense Rip Van Winkle and come after him too won’t they?”

“Oh. Right,” Burgle scratched his chin.

“Rave’s not stupid either. It’s not going to be easy to follow him even if he’s letting the occultists lead the way,” George added.

“Take Fluttershy to him too,” Grey suddenly spoke up. The ponies all stared at him, surprised that he had suggested such a thing. “I can feel where Rip Van Winkle is, just like the occultists. I’ll be able to follow him no matter where he goes.”

“Sweet. That’s perfect,” Burgle said deviously.

“This plan keeps getting worse and worse. We’re actually going to give Rave what he wants? He’s not a pony to underestimate,” George said sullenly.

“He’s a pony obsessed with power. When you hang around powerful ponies long enough, you start to realize they all think the same,” Burgle put in.

“What about the occultists themselves though?” Twilight added. “Won’t they try to get involved if we manage to get the Drudges in the box? We don’t really want to hurt them.”

“Um… sleep?” Burgle shrugged. “I am a master at sleep spells. If Twilight helps me and combines her power with mine, I might be able to pull it off. How do you like that plan?”

“Maybe it needs to about 20% cooler,” Rarity said with a smile.

“What? What’s that even mean?”

“Nothing. I was just… reminiscing more then anything else. Don’t pay it any mind.”

“Okay…” Burgle said slowly.

Twilight nodded slowly. “Well, I’m fine with this if everypony else is. What does everypony say? All in favor raise your hooves.”

Twilight raised her own, and Rarity and Burgle immediately followed. Fluttershy timidly raised her hoof and as soon as she did, Grey raised his. Rhubarb looked at them all with their hooves raised and tried to smile as he raised his too. George sat with his forelegs crossed.

“If this is what teamwork is, then friendship is stupidity,” he slowly raised his hoof.

“It’s settled then. We let Burgle take Rarity and Fluttershy to the occultists, follow them to Isis, let her and Rave weaken each other, put the occultists to sleep, and at some point we trap Isis in the box.”

“Aren’t we forgetting Davenport?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, he has that sword, and magic doesn’t work on him, but maybe we can keep him busy with something else. We could always let him chase one of us.” Twilight thought about it some more. “The only other thing I’m worried about is how are we going to convince Rave that Burgle managed to nab two Drudges? That’s just asking for trouble.”

“You leave that to me,” Burgle said confidently.

The Climax of the Quest

Chapter 11: The Climax of the Quest

Burgle walked nervously into the clearing with Rarity pretending to sleep on his back. He didn’t like the look of this at all. There were scads of ponies asleep everywhere, all except for Rave and four of the occultists. They watched him approach. The occultists looked quite anxious. Rave looked none too happy.

“I was beginning to think you had forgotten our contract,” Rave said sourly.

“Nah. Burgle always delivers for the right price. I even brought a little bonus. Check it out.” He waved his hoof and Fluttershy walked into the clearing. “Rip Van Winkle took control of the little pegasus here. I guess he wasn’t too lazy to want the occultists to wait on him, huh?”

“Bah, this bores me,” Fluttershy said with poor acting skills and trying to deepen her voice. “I’m going back to sleep.”

“Perfect,” Burgle whispered to her.

“Thanks,” she whispered back.

Rave looked surprised. “How unexpected. But welcome.”

“Master Salamander, Master Rip Van Winkle, we are pleased to serve you,” the four occultists said together.

“Be patient. Keep them in line, Cork.”

“Um… sure.”

The pony apparently named Cork waved his hoof and the three other ponies stepped back. Fluttershy and Burgle were surprised. These few occultists consisted of two earth ponies, a blue unicorn, and a green pegasus. Why would all the others be asleep? Fluttershy slowly realized that the earth pony called Cork and the blue unicorn were the same that had tried to attack her in the inn.

“Well, here you go,” Burgle said and dumped Rarity off his back. She groaned a little when she landed but kept up her sleep act. “I’ll just take the money you promised me and then be out of your hair.”

“Burgle?” Fluttershy whispered in surprise.

“Oh yes, you’re pay. 200,000 bits was it?”

“Yep.”

Rave nodded as he slowly approached Rarity. Salamander started to growl.

“Now, now, we don’t need any of that.” He reached up to his necklace and pushed something on it. It opened and started playing a music box song. Listening for a moment, Fluttershy was surprised to hear that it was the same song she sang to her animal friends, but not half as surprised as the sudden reaction she felt from Rip Van Winkle. He started shivering and the grip he held on Fluttershy’s back seemed to loosen a bit.

Salamander made a small whining noise and then went silent.

“Now then…” Light enveloped Rarity and Rave lifted her swiftly in front of him, upside-down. It was enough of a shock to make her open her eyes. “I knew you weren’t asleep. I couldn’t feel any spells on you.”

“Um… hi?” Rarity said nervously.

“You have a lot of power there. Got that from Salamander did you?” he asked knowingly.

“Hang on a minute Rave, I can explain this,” Burgle said.

“Don’t explain anything. I don’t really care.” Rave turned Rarity around so that Salamander was facing him. Then his magic enveloped the Drudge. Fluttershy and Burgle gaped when he pulled the Drudge off.

“Master Salamander!” the occultists all said as one.

“Relax. I just had to remove him from our enemies.”

“How… how did you do that?!” Rarity screamed. “Salamander, sick em!” However, the Drudge didn’t do anything, not even growl.

“It’s useless. I know what I’m doing.” Rave dropped Rarity. Smiling at the Drudge, he held Salamander to his own chest. As if by will, Salamander immediately latched on.

“What’s going on?” Rarity asked in surprise. “What did you do?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. However…” Rave’s horn glowed again and Rarity suddenly fell over, asleep for real this time. “You’re still too strong from contact with the Drudge.”

“Rarity?” Fluttershy leaned down and shook her.

“Now, as for you, Mr. Thief…”

Burgle gulped. “You know what? I forgot I just won the lottery the other day. I don’t need the money, so if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear my mother calling.” Burgle tried to back away but he found himself enveloped in unicorn magic.

“Now, now, wait a minute my friend. I can’t let you go away completely empty hoofed.”

“Oh, yeah? So… are you gonna pay me? Please?”

“Even better. Let me show you what I can do with my Drudge…”

Twilight and the others had given Burgle a thirty-minute head start. They couldn’t follow too closely behind after all, even if they already knew where he was meeting Rave, especially if the occultists happened to be waiting somewhere along the way. At least Grey had been able to keep control of himself while they walked, possibly because of what Fluttershy did to Rip Van Winkle earlier.

They all slowed when they saw light from a fire up ahead.

“Is that them?” Twilight asked Grey.

Grey kept walking, seemingly indifferent to the fire. However, after he had gone a few more paces, he shook his head. But then he kept walking.

“Grey, come back! We don’t know who that is.” Grey ignored her though, his determination to find Rip Van Winkle and Fluttershy overtaking the rest of his self-control. In fact, he started to speed up.

“Grey!” Rhubarb called after him, but Grey started flapping his wings. He didn’t fly, but he did gain even more speed. Rhubarb took off and flew after him. He pounced on top of Grey just as they got within a few feet of the fire. Grey howled and tried to fight Rhubarb off.

“Grey, relax! Remember Fluttershy! Remember her song!” Twilight shouted. At the mention of Fluttershy’s name, Grey did seem to calm a little, at least enough for Rhubarb to hold him still.

“Are you all looking for Rave?”

Twilight and George turned when they heard someone new speak. They saw a dusty colored pony with a hammer cutie mark and a blue unicorn with a flower cutie mark sitting by the campfire. Twilight blinked in surprise. They were the same two ponies she and the others had helped escape the inn. And in between them…

“Burgle?” Twilight rushed over to the thief who lay on the ground with a large bandage around his waist. He looked up at her as she approached.

“Hey, Twilight,” he said casually. “Say, if a double-crosser gets double-crossed, does that make him a quadruple-crosser?”

“No, I don’t think it does,” Twilight said, sounding at least a little relieved.

“Burgle, what happened?” George asked him.

“Like I said, I got double-crossed. Rave took possession of Rarity and Fluttershy, and kicked me to the curb. I’m kind of surprised I’m still alive.”

“Well except for this, it’s still part of the plan. We’re still a step ahead of that guy,” Twilight assured him. However, Burgle grimaced.

“Yeah… about that… there’s a little snag in the plan.” Now Twilight and George grimaced. “You see, he’s got this little necklace thing.”

“Necklace thing? What thing? What is it?” George demanded.

“It’s some kind of music box,” the dusty colored earth pony suddenly spoke up. “I don’t know if it’s magic or something, but it neutralizes the Drudges power when it plays.”

“It does what?” George startled. “I’ve never heard of anything like this. There is no power that can stop the Drudges like that.”

“Well that music box does and Rave proved it,” Burgle said seriously. “He used it to pry Salamander off of Rarity.” George and Twilight both gaped. “Yeah. Salamander is on him now and he’s got total control over it.”

“But what about Rarity and Fluttershy? Are they all right?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know why he’s letting Fluttershy keep the other Drudge, but…” Burgle groaned in annoyance. “He told me to tell you that Rarity and Fluttershy are his hostages. If you follow him, then… well I don’t know what he’ll do to them, but it can’t be good.”

“Shoot! He got a step ahead of us!” Twilight shouted.

“I knew this plan was bad,” George shouted. “Now what do we do?”

“We don’t have any choice. We have to keep going and save Rarity and Fluttershy. Rhubarb, let Grey go.” Twilight commanded.

“Rave is going after Isis. I can only hope Isis is strong enough to fight him.”

Twilight looked at the dusty colored pony who had just spoken. Rhubarb held on to Grey.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?”

“I’m Cork and this is Daffodil. We’re both followers of the Drudges.”

“What are you doing here? I mean with Burgle and everything. I thought you’d be following the Drudges?”

“Believe me, we want to but I couldn’t leave this pony here as hurt as he was. Besides, you helped us escape the fire. We owed you for that. You should hurry up and get going. If you’d like we can show you where Rave is going.”

“I don’t understand. Why are you helping us?” Twilight asked.

“Because it’s helping the Drudges,” Cork explained. “I’m still having trouble deciding what’s right and what’s not, but one thing I’m positive about is keeping the Drudges away from Rave. Most of the others are convinced that he’ll help them, but I’m not. I don’t think he plans to do anything good with the Drudges and he’s just too powerful for me to stop alone, especially now that he has Master Salamander.”

Twilight blinked in surprise. She had assumed that the occultists would be a continuing problem. “Thank you, but we have our own way to find the Drudges. That pegasus over there.” She pointed to Grey. “I don’t really know exactly how the spell you’re under affects you, but we’re trying to help you too. We’re trying to free you of the Drudges.”

Cork and Daffodil looked at each other. “My mind tells me I want to say no, but a feeling deep down inside tells me that I don’t want to be like this. We’re supposed to be hosts for the Drudges and I don’t want to die even though I want to be a host, even though…” He shook his head. “Please don’t make me think about it. I won’t be able to stay put if I do.” Then he looked at Twilight, pleadingly. “Please take us with you. We can’t stand to be away from the Drudges for so long. It’s driving us crazy.”

Twilight looked at her other companions. “What do you guys think?”

“You want to join up with the occultists now?” George said dejectedly. Then he laughed. “Why not? Everything else about this quest is crazy. Why not join the bad guys too?”

“Are you okay?”

“Not in the least!” George sighed. “Do whatever you think is right, Twilight. You’re the one who understands this magic of friendship thing. I’m too old for this stuff anymore.”

“You’re never too old for friends.” Twilight smiled. “Okay you two, come with us. But try to stay out of the fight. There’s no telling what’s going to happen.”

Cork and Daffodil smiled as if a great burden had been lifted from them.

“Twilight, we have to go. I can’t hold Grey back for much longer,” Rhubarb told her.

“Okay then, we’re going. Let’s finish this epic quest.”

Fluttershy marched alongside Rave. She had been forced to tell him about Isis’s disappearance and he had woken the entire legion of occultists to find her. They had been marching for almost a full day and according to the occultists, they were very close. Rave didn’t seem the least bit concerned that Isis was somewhere nearby. There wasn’t much Fluttershy could do to stop him anyway. She knew Rip Van Winkle didn’t like Rave or want to be anywhere near him, but he had no power to do anything. With that strange music box in Rave’s possession, Rip had fallen asleep again. Fluttershy actually felt a little sorry for Rip.

She glanced back and saw some of the occultists carrying a sleeping Rarity on a cart that Rave had made with his magic. At least the white unicorn was safe from Salamander now, but it wasn’t exactly a great alternative now that he was on Rave. If he had increased Rarity’s power as much as it had, then what had Rave become?

Fluttershy looked ahead and saw that they were still marching towards the forest that had come into view a mile back. This was bad. With all the trees everywhere, fighting was going to be even more difficult, not to mention the fact that nighttime was approaching yet again. Why did they always have to deal with the Drudges when it got dark?

I’m rather surprised you’re so scared. Isn’t this part of the plan? I thought you believed the most in all that magic of friendship bologna.

“Rip?” Fluttershy whispered. “But… I thought you were-”

You should really relax, Fluttershy. I know you’ll play your part just fine.

Isis opened her eyes and smiled. “Oooooooh, my worshipers are here.” She clapped her hooves together in anticipation. “I feel as giddy as a filly on prom night. I need a host. This temple is too slow… Huh?” Isis sat up. “What the hay?” Isis jumped off her sofa and stormed out of the temple. As soon as she was outside, her horn and wings returned. She looked out into the woods and felt familiar presences close by. “Salamander and Rip Van Winkle and… the strong presence from the inn? What’s that doing here?” She perked her senses trying to decipher the presence. Isis slowly frowned in anger. “That stupid Salamander, what’s he doing with that presence? Is he trying to surpass me?”

“Isis, what’s going on?” Davenport raced over to her.

“Be quiet Davenport. There’s something unsettling coming.”

“If it’s an enemy then I’ll protect you from it with my quill. And my name is Quilleficent now.”

“Right,” she replied dismissively. Then she smiled. “Actually this could be fun. What are you planning my fellow Drudges? Who is this strong presence? I want it.”

Rave was a little surprised when he saw the Temple of Discord. What in world was it doing here? However it had gotten there, he didn’t care. His prize was standing just a few paces ahead of him, alongside a strange pony in white armor.

“Well, well, seems you’ve made a nice choice there, Salamander. That pony is much more fitting than that fashionista.”

Rave smirked. “Salamander? Are you talking about this thing on my chest?”

Isis looked at him wearily. “This is a surprise. Is Salamander taking his time for once?”

“Isis!” Rave and Isis both looked when Fluttershy suddenly called out. “This pony has taken control of Salamander.” Rave angrily knocked her to the side with his magic.

“Stupid little pegasus. What do you think you’re trying to accomplish?” Rave turned his attention back to Isis when she started laughing.

“This is rich. A pony who thinks he can control a Drudge? You’re quite delusional.”

“Not delusional. Ambitious.” Rave opened the music box on his neck and it started to play.

Isis flinched. “What is that? What’s that song?”

“My victory.” Rave laughed.

“Are you kidding? Do you know who I am?” Isis launched several spheres of blue at him, but they dissolved in front of him as if they had struck a barrier. “What?” She launched several more, but they too dissolved.

“This music box nullifies your powers. You’re mine, Drudge.”

Isis glared. “Is that so?” Her horn glowed and several spikes made of diamonds appeared and hovered around her. “Did you really think diamondizing ponies was my only weapon?”

She launched the diamond spikes and this time, they didn’t dissolve. Rave barely diverted them with his own magic, partially missing only one, which nicked him in the shoulder. He was thoroughly surprised.

“Isis, let me protect you,” Davenport said and stepped forward, but Isis held her hoof in front of him.

“Forget it. Go find that little Bubble Gum. I’m going to rip this amateur apart and then we’re leaving. Get going!”

Davenport hesitated before complying. He obviously didn’t want to leave his new savior to fight alone.

“I’ll show you what it means to challenge a Drudge.”

“Likewise.” Rave’s horn glowed and Salamander came to life. He extended two of his arms, which grew into spears and his eyes started to glow with fire.

Rarity groggily awoke. She couldn’t feel any magic around her anymore so Rave’s spell must have been broken somehow. As soon as she opened her eyes, a bright explosion of fire lit up the sky. Rarity jumped upright and stared as Rave collided in the air with a blue alicorn. It must have been Isis. They were already there. But where was there?

Rarity looked around and realized they were in a forest clearing right in front of a strange ancient looking building. The occultists were all around her staring at the fight as if they didn’t know what to do. And right in front of her…

“Fluttershy!” Rarity dashed over to her friend who was cowering on the ground.

“Rarity, you’re awake?” Then she turned her attention back to the sky. “I didn’t think their fighting would be this scary.”

“Well at least this part is going as planned,” Rarity said nervously.

“Rarity!” Fluttershy panicked, pointing behind them. The occultists looked ready to make some kind of move.

“What’s going on? What do they think they can do?” Rarity said in worry.

Fluttershy suddenly gasped. “Rip Van Winkle?”

“Fluttershy, what’s happening? Is Rip talking to you? What is he saying?” Rarity asked her frantically, but Fluttershy wasn’t paying attention to her.

“Rip, the followers can’t fight Rave. He’s too strong.”

“Wait, does he want them to fight?” Rarity said in alarm.

“No, Rip! You can’t!”

“Fluttershy, what is Rip saying?” Rarity asked again.

“He’s going to use his power on the followers!” The occultists started to move around them and Rarity saw Rip Van Winkle’s eyes start to glow purple. Not sure what else to do, Rarity quickly cast her magic. Her horn glowed with powerful magic, enough to stop the occultists and to pinch Rip Van Winkle to Fluttershy’s back.

“Don’t you dare involve all these ponies, Drudge! I won’t let you!” In truth, Rarity wasn’t sure she could hold them all. She had lost a lot of the power Salamander had granted her before they had been separated. Even now, she could feel it slowly diminishing down to normal.

For a moment, Rarity thought Rip Van Winkle might actually listen. But then she saw Fluttershy turn her head slowly towards her, her eyes glowed a sickly purple.

“Let go or I’ll change my host first.” Rip replied through Fluttershy’s voice. One of his legs grew into a scythe and he held it under Fluttershy’s neck. Rarity shivered. When had Rip taken so much control? Feeling she had no other choice, Rarity let go. Strangely though, the occultists didn’t move. Rarity looked and saw them falling down, asleep.

With her eyes still glowing purple, Fluttershy turned her head to the right. Rarity followed her gaze and saw Grey approaching them quickly. A ways behind him, Twilight and Burgle were casting a spell together. Rhubarb was standing a bit to the side, waiting to move in.

“Thank Celestia,” Rarity said in relief.

“Is everypony all right!?” Twilight said as soon as she and the others reached them.

“Sort of. It looks like Rave and Isis are fighting as planned too.”

Twilight looked up and nearly gawked. Fire and diamonds were flying everywhere in the sky. The two ponies fighting up there were exuding so much magical force, the air was vibrating.

“Look at that!” George said, finally catching up. “I can’t believe it. Rave is really fighting her? How’s it possible?”

“I have a hypothesis that Salamander combines his power with his host so that he can eat their energy faster. It’s the only reason I can think of that explains why his hosts become so much stronger.”

“Really? I never thought of that before.”

“Actually, if my hypothesis is correct, then this proves how much stronger Isis is than the other Drudges. Salamander and Rave’s power should have combined and yet she’s equaling Rave’s ability,” Twilight said methodically.

“Twilight, this is no time to be analyzing the Drudges! What are we going to do about Salamander? If he’s still attached to Rave then we can’t trap him,” Rarity said. “Rave has control over him right now too.”

“Let’s let them fight a little longer and see if one of them starts to win. We might be able to intervene and catch them by surprise.”

Speaking of catching by surprise, a flash suddenly burst in front of them.

“You’re not going anywhere if it means hurting Isis!”

“Davenport!?” Twilight shouted in astonishment. He was standing in front of them. Strangely enough, there was a unicorn filly standing behind him.

“I’m Quilleficent darn it all!” The quill in Davenport’s mouth grew into a giant sword.

“This is a really bad time for this, but that has got to be the most awesome thing you’ve done, Pops,” Burgle said, admiring the bizarre quill-shaped sword.

“Burgle!” Rarity scolded him. “Davenport, it’s us, we’re your friends. I even bought a sofa from you once.”

“I think your going to need more than once,” Rhubarb said, surprised by Davenport’s new appearance. He looked pretty darn tough.

“I’ll handle this,” Grey suddenly stepped forward. “You all just worry about stopping Rave and the Drudges.”

“Grey, you must be crazy! This pony has been given a lot more power than you.”

Grey actually smiled at his fellow guard. “What’s he going to do to me? I’m already dead.”

Without waiting for a reply, Grey charged. Davenport swung his sword, but Grey jumped over it, turned around in the air, and bucked. He caught Davenport by surprise and smashed him in the side of his armor. However, he didn’t really react all that much. Davenport kicked Grey away and swung his sword. It ripped cleanly through Grey…

Grey looked down at where he had been sliced. The wound Davenport had made didn’t even bleed and slowly sealed back up as if nothing had happened at all.

“That is awesome,” Grey said happily. He looked up and saw Davenport swing his sword again. Grey backed away and dodged it. However, Davenport continued to spin upwards as if the force of his swing had turned him into a helicopter. After rising a few feet in the air, he came back down and aimed a hoof at Grey. Once again, he dodged, but when Davenport’s hoof hit the ground, the earth around him erupted and cracked, leaving a small hole there.

“And that is not awesome…” Grey said worriedly as Davenport started to charge him.

Just before he reached Grey, a blue light pelted him in his unprotected chest, picked him up and flipped him backwards. Rarity stepped beside Grey, looking quite determined. Magic danced off her horn as she held Davenport down around his unarmored body parts. Then Rhubarb flew through the air and kicked Davenport’s sword out of his mouth.

“We’re not letting you do this alone, Grey. Like we already told you, you’re still one of us,” Rhubarb said proudly as he tried to hold Davenport down. Even between him and Rarity’s magic, Davenport was slowly forcing his way upright.

“Thank you so much,” Grey said and rejoined the battle as Davenport threw Rhubarb off him and drew another quill from his vest pocket.

“Twilight!” Rarity called. “We’ll keep him busy. You figure out what we’re going to do about the other Drudges and Rave.”

Twilight nodded and looked at Fluttershy. Her eyes were still glowing purple. “Are you Rip Van Winkle?”

“Since I don’t like Rave, I suppose I’ll help you for now, though I can’t really do much while that song is playing. Still, this pegasus has some strange abilities. Why is she so freakishly kind? I can feel it gripping the back of my mind.”

“Because she’s Fluttershy. That’s all the answer any of us needs.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight spied the filly who had been standing behind Davenport. “Hey little one. Are you lost?”

The filly squeaked like Fluttershy and abruptly vanished in a flash of light. Twilight gaped. Had she just winked out? She didn’t have time to think about it because George suddenly screamed and pointed.

“What the hay happened! How is it possible? That can’t be here!”

Twilight looked where he was pointing and noticed a large building in the back of the woods. “What is it?”

“The Temple of Discord!”

“What?” Twilight was getting more than her fair share of surprises today. It was amazing that she didn’t get the hiccups.

“This explains how Isis is fighting Rave and Salamander so well. She’s been recharging.”

Twilight felt her heart beating in her chest. She didn’t know how much more of this insanity she could take. Their plan was slowly crumbling to pieces.

As if there hadn’t been enough surprises, Twilight jumped when something slammed into the dirt nearby. It was Rave. Isis had just knocked him out of the sky.

“You pitiful pony. I was always the strongest Drudge. You can’t hope to defeat me,” Isis mocked as she descended from the sky. Then she noticed Twilight and her friends standing there, as well as Davenport fighting Rarity and the two guards a ways behind them. “Twilight Sparkle? I’m honestly happy to see you. I still want you to be the first I turn to diamond.”

“Don’t forget you’re still fighting Rave. Save your strength for him first,” Twilight said as confidently as she could.

“Forget him. He’s nothing to me.”

“Twilight, I’d like to point out that this voids your silly plan,” Rip suddenly said.

“Rip? Did you finally decide to get your lazy flank up?” Isis said in amusement.

“Yep,” Rip answered as if he was bored with the situation. “As I was saying Twilight, Isis can still regain her strength without a host as long as she has the temple.”

“Is that so?” Rave suddenly raised his horn to the sky. An enormous bolt of lightning shot down right on top of the temple, reducing it to ashes.

“No! I need that!” Isis screamed.

“We needed that…” Twilight’s ears drooped. How could they reverse Isis’s power without the temple? The Elements of Harmony were lost again.

Rarity looked when the temple suddenly exploded. She hardly realized she was gaping when she heard Grey scream. Grey held his head and his eyes flickered between black and red. Whatever had made the temple blow up just then must have made him fear for Rip’s safety. Either that or Rip had decided to call him.

However, Davenport took the opportunity to swing his sword at him, cutting through his middle. Though Grey split in two and fell apart, he just looked somewhat shocked rather than hurt. Rhubarb tackled Davenport, but the white armored pony pushed him off with ease, practically flinging him over Rarity’s head.

“This wouldn’t be so hard if I actually knew some kind of offensive magic.” Rarity knew she was no magician. All she knew how to do without Salamander was find gems, multitask with several lifted objects, and maybe fling something. Rarity gasped when she saw Davenport charge at her and start swinging his sword.

“Stop right there you roughian!” she shouted at him. Surprisingly, Davenport stopped in front of her, mid-slice. “You wouldn’t dare strike a lady would you? Think of what that would do to your business’s reputation.”

“My store?” he said around a mouthful of his sword. “Well, I guess I really wouldn’t…”

“Hiya!” Rarity jumped and karate kicked him in the face. He dropped his sword and fell backwards on the ground. He lay there, apparently unconscious with his tongue sticking out. Rarity harrumphed and nodded her head at him.

“Uh… Rarity?” Rhubarb said in surprise.

“I suppose I should have just done that from the start, huh?” Rarity said and smiled cutely.

“Yeah…” Rhubarb picked himself up from where Davenport had thrown him. “Grey?”

“I’m actually okay.”

Rarity wanted to vomit when Grey pulled himself over to his other half and reattached himself somehow. Being undead was convenient but so gross.

Another explosion sounded somewhere nearby. The three ponies looked and saw Isis fighting Rave again. Isis looked furious and was pushing Rave back.

“That’s still a good thing, right?” Rarity said nervously. She and the guards galloped over to where Twilight and the others were cautiously watching the fight.

“Rarity? What happened to Davenport?” Twilight asked when she noticed them.

“He’s taking a nap,” Rarity said and pointed back at the downed Davenport with her horn.

“You actually defeated him? I wasn’t expecting you to do that without my servant. You should have died,” Rip said through Fluttershy.

Rarity glared specifically at the Drudge on her friend’s back before turning her attention back to Twilight.

“Anyway, how about you? Is everything okay?”

“I’m not sure. We’re lucky that Isis is angry enough to forget about us, but it doesn’t look like she’s slowing down. We have to make her use more energy.”

“Perhaps you should help Rave then,” Rip said through Fluttershy.

“What are you getting at? Isn’t Isis your ally?”

“Just saying. It’s logical, right? Of course, I won’t bother helping you with that. Not that I can anyway.”

Twilight raised her eyebrow at him. For being restricted by the music box, he was keeping control of Fluttershy easily enough.

“Twilight, stop talking to the Drudge. He’s still our enemy,” George scolded her.

Rip made Fluttershy yawn. “This is such a drag.”

Twilight groaned. He was too lazy to even bother being their enemy. Twilight looked up and watched the fight again, thinking. “Hmm. I think I’ve got an idea, but it’s going to take everypony to pull it off.

Capture the Drudges

Chapter 12: Capture the Drudges

Twilight carefully watched the fight continue. She hadn’t had much time to explain her plan so she and the others would probably have to improvise along the way, but at least they had something in place. Rip watched her from where he was making Fluttershy relax underneath a tree, not looking the least bit interested in what Twilight was doing.

That’s when something happened. Isis hit Rave’s wing with a diamond spike and he fell. The battle was probably over and it was time to start Operation: Just Get the Darn Drudge. Twilight hadn’t had time to come up with a fancy name.

Isis launched another diamond spike and pinned Rave to the ground by his other wing. She hovered over him menacingly.

“I should turn you to diamond right now for what you’ve done, but I think I’ll enjoy tearing your hairs out one by one, dipping you in hot tar, and crushing you under a mountain.”

Rave retaliated with a wave of fire from Salamander but Isis dodged it easily.

“Feisty aren’t you? Too bad for Salamander I’m going to have to kill you.”

“Isis!” Twilight yelled and cast a spell to trap her in a barrier. As she expected though, Isis broke it with ease.

“You’re a fool, Twilight Sparkle. What have you learned about provoking Drudges?” She launched a blue sphere at Twilight, but George ran out and cast a spell to erase it. “What is this now? You can’t be seriously thinking of fighting me?”

“Not exactly,” Twilight responded.

Isis started to raise her eyebrow in question when Rhubarb dove out of the sky and kicked her from above. Isis plunged a few feet before regaining herself. She glared at the armored pony and formed another sphere but Twilight held her in a barrier again.

“Little foal!”

Isis broke through Twilight’s barrier and instead launched several diamond spikes that rained down on her. However, the diamonds stopped mid-flight, enveloped in light. Twilight had been expecting Isis to try her spikes at least a few times and had Rarity waiting to catch them with her experienced precision with objects. Rarity tossed them right back at Isis, with almost as much speed. The spikes however shattered as soon as they neared their owner.

“You’re all beginning to piss me off,” Isis growled at them.

“Twilight, we still need to weaken her more,” George whispered to her.

“Don’t worry George, just stick to the plan. Rarity, start… Rarity!”

“It won’t hurt if I just keep one, right?” Rarity hugged a single diamond spike that she hadn’t thrown back.

“Twilight!” George suddenly pushed her with his magic just as an enormous sword made of diamond sliced right where she had been standing.

“George!” Twilight screamed and pushed him with her magic when a second diamond sword came crashing down at him. “Now you see what the advantage of having friends is?”

George just looked a little stunned. Rather than wait for him to answer, Twilight turned her attention back to Isis. She actually paled. Isis had created a diamond sword above her head, three times as large as the ones she had already thrown. It was easily the size of four boxcars.

“I’m getting so tired of you!” Just as she finished, a knife flew from the ground and hit her in the flank. Isis yelped, and her giant sword shattered into millions of pieces. Burgle had stopped her with his last knife.

“That was surpassingly good thinking,” Rarity said in approval.

“That’s not what our part is supposed to be. That was desperation. Why the heck did I agree to this?” Burgle said frantically as he glanced at the containment box he had left behind him. He seemed a lot more scared than the rest of them.

“Right, my part.” Rarity dropped the diamond spike and started to gather various leaves from the trees and ground.

In the meantime, Rhubarb once again kicked Isis while she was pulling the knife from her smarting flank. This time she fell and hit the ground.

As soon as she did, Twilight used her magic to hold her down. Isis growled as she struggled and launched several spheres at her.

“Dispel!” George shouted, erasing them all. However, he slumped down, exhausted from the effort.

Isis screamed and her eyes lit up in blue. Twilight struggled to hold her. Her eyes glowed, threatening to force her magic out of control. But Isis’s magic smashed against hers in a magic arm wrestling match. Isis slowly stood as her magic easily overpowered Twilight’s.

“Do you see now? Do you see how weak you are compared to me?”

“Rarity!” Twilight yelled as Isis’s magic overcame hers and knocked her back.

“En garde, Drudge!” Rarity shouted and surrounded Isis in a tornado of leaves.

“Are you joking?” Isis formed a blue sphere but a leaf caught it and diamondized. “Oh, this is rich. Are you trying to fight me or help me?” Her eyes ignited and all the leaves diamondized.

“Fight you of course,” Rarity said wickedly. She still had control of the diamond leaves. Isis went wide-eyed as the leaves started to cut and slice at her.

“Ow! Ow! You little… Ow!”

Isis’s eyes lit up again and the diamond leaves shattered into dust. That was a bit too small even for Rarity to control at a distance. Isis growled. The various nicks and cuts she had gotten from the leaves slowly dissolved and disappeared.

“You’re more annoying than the Mystics.”

Abruptly, Grey ran up to her and grabbed her from behind.

“Now, Twilight!” he shouted.

Magic danced on Twilight’s horn and she started to weave a spell to force Isis to defend herself. But she didn’t get that far.

Grey burst into flames and Isis’s tail caught on fire as well. She jumped away in surprise as Grey fell on the ground, flailing in a desperate attempt to put out the fire.

Rave had managed to pull his wing free of Isis’s spike and was back in the fight again. He glared at the whole lot of them. “The Drudges are mine. Mind your own business.”

“Dowse,” George shouted tiredly, putting the fire around Grey out, as well as what part of the ground had caught. George virtually fell, sweating. Twilight was surprised he had even done that for how he felt towards Grey. He didn’t look to have an ounce of magic left to wield.

Isis looked between Twilight and Rave as a weak light glowed on her horn and the fire on her tail went out.

“It’s just one stupid thing after another isn’t it?”

She formed two more diamond swords and flung them at Twilight and Rave. Twilight jumped out of the way while Rave blasted the other sword aside with a fireball. Twilight gulped. The three of them faced one another in almost a perfect triangle. Twilight didn’t dare move, fearing that one or the other would attack her if she did. Instead, she winked out.

Seeing that she had disappeared, Isis and Rave glared at one another. Rave’s music box was the only sound that broke the silence.

“I don’t know which is more annoying, these ponies or you thinking you have a chance of defeating me,” Isis said angrily.

“It’s only a matter of time. I will have the power of all the Drudges soon enough.”

Isis smirked. Several diamond spikes began to form around her one after the other. “Even with Salamander, you lack the experience to be a truly powerful…” Isis paused. Her smirk slowly left her face and she actually looked nervous for once. One of the spikes she made stopped growing, only half finished. For a moment, she looked at Rave and then threw all her diamond spikes at him.

Rave blasted them all with fire, intending to return the strike, but Isis abruptly transformed into her parasite form and scurried away.

“Twilight walked out from behind the bushes where she had teleported.

“Did we do it?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but she’s gone,” Rarity pointed out.

Rhubarb landed behind them. “Blast it. Where did she go?”

The all looked at each other, worried that Isis was looking for another host. That was the last thing they needed. However, they didn’t forget about Rave who slowly turned to them, fuming.

“Look what you did,” he said angrily. “Now Isis has gotten away.” Rave held his hoof over his forehead as he spoke. Was he getting a headache?

“What a simpleton,” Rip Van Winkle suddenly said. Twilight looked back at him quizzically. She had forgotten that he and Fluttershy were even there. He was still making Fluttershy lean against the tree with her hooves behind her head. “Regardless of what he thinks he’s done, Salamander is still eating his energy just fine.”

“Shut it you stupid Drudge. I’m completely in control. Salamander is mine and you will be too,” Rave said angrily.

“I’ll enjoy eating you… maybe,” Rip replied without a care.

“The Drudges are rightfully mine! I will make them so!” Rave put his hoof over the music box and magic ignited on his horn. His whole body flashed several times as he turned into a living pony light bulb. When the glow subsided, a very noticeable difference had overcome him.

“What did he do?” Burgle said as if in a trance.

Rave’s coat had changed to a reddish tint. Salamander looked as if his body had half melted into Rave’s chest and several visible veins shown around him.

For once, Rip, as Fluttershy at least, actually looked impressed. “I’ll be darned. He merged with him.”

“He what?” Twilight asked, not taking her eyes off Rave.

“Rave actually merged his body with Salamander’s. I didn’t know that was even possible.”

“Merged. Then he’s…” Twilight trailed off as her brain quickly tried to work some of her past studies and theories together. “Hey Burgle, exactly how good are you at stealing?” Twilight asked.

“Excuse me? I’m the best there ever was. I could steal a tooth off an alligator.”

“Can you steal a necklace off a hybrid Drudge?”

Burgle paled. “Did I say the best? I meant more like third best.”

“What do you want his necklace for?” Rarity asked her.

“It nullifies the Drudges power, right? I don’t want Rave to have it when we defeat him.”

“Burn!” Rave suddenly yelled at them, launching a wave of fire.

Though she knew it was risky, Twilight tried winking with Rarity, Burgle, and Rhubarb. It worked just as the flames sprayed where they had been standing.

Twilight and the others reappeared a few yards away but not in the greatest shape. They all coughed smoke. Twilight didn’t have much experience teleporting more than just herself.

“It’s going to take forever to get these burns out,” Rarity complained, looking at the charred hair on her body.

“Forget about that right now,” Twilight said, using her magic to clean away the burn marks on their bodies. “Can you get the necklace or not?”

Burgle gulped. “I guess I’ll try.”

“Don’t try, just do,” Rarity told him.

“Easier said than done.”

“Shoot, we forgot Master George!” Rhubarb shouted.

“And the forest is catching on fire,” Twilight noted.

“I’ll see about handling the fire. Just make sure Rave doesn’t burn down the forest,” Rarity told them.

“But Rarity, you don’t have Salamander anymore. Are you sure you can do it?”

“Like I said, don’t try, just do.”

Twilight nodded.

She, Burgle, and Rhubarb raced back to the clearing where they saw Rave slowly approaching George. George was still lying on the ground, panting. His staff wasn’t even floating for once.

“Stay back. I’m the Great and Powerful George. You don’t want to tangle with me.”

“You’re right. I don’t want to bother tangling with you. How about a barbeque instead?” Rave’s eyes glowed red.

Twilight used her magic to pull George away quickly. Rave didn’t use any fire but turned to look at them. “You’re beginning to annoy me.”

“Tell me Rave, why do you want the Drudges power so much? Clearly you’ve got plenty of your own,” Twilight said.

“My family served the Drudges for generations. We searched for them, found them, and waited, and waited, and never got a reward for it. It’s past due that we get our reward and it’s going to start with me. The Drudges power will be mine and then even the princesses of Equestria won’t be able to stop me. My family will possess both power and status as we rightfully deserve thanks to my efforts and this…” Rave reached for the music box but realized that it wasn’t there.

“Oops.” Burgle paled when Rave laid his eyes on him. He had skillfully pulled the necklace off with his magic, but Rave had noticed quite a bit sooner than he had been expecting. The necklace was still floating halfway in between them.

“Drop it if you want to live.”

“Um… no? Go long!” Burgle shouted and threw the necklace with his magic towards Twilight. However, the necklace stopped.

“You stupid foal. Did you forget that I’m a unicorn too?” Rave had stopped the necklace with his own magic.

However, Rhubarb swooped down out of the sky and snatched it up. “Mine!” he called.

“Come back here!” Rave shot a flame at him, but Rhubarb was skilled enough to dodge.

“You don’t want to burn your precious music box do you?” Rhubarb taunted him.

Rave answered by taking off with his own wings. Apparently, his transformation had healed the damage Isis had done to his wing earlier. He chased Rhubarb and nearly overtook him, but Rhubarb took a steep dive to the ground and tossed the necklace.

“Burgle!”

Burgle caught the necklace with his magic and made a run for it.

“You whelps are all going to burn for this!” Rave fumed at them as he flew after Burgle from the air.

Burgle galloped away frantically. “Never again! Never again am I going to take up a job through a telegram!”

Before Rave caught up to him, Burgle quickly tossed the necklace away. Rave dove after it. He was so focused on it that he didn’t see Fluttershy approaching his general destination lazily. Rip Van Winkle reached out and grabbed him, holding him down with pincer-like legs. Rave glared, laying just inches from his necklace.

“If you weren’t such a nuisance to my health, I wouldn’t even bother doing this,” Rip said casually, actually yawning.

“Accursed Drudge… How dare you do this to me.” His eyes lit up in a fiery red.

“Hey Rave,” Twilight called. Rave looked at her and his eyes stopped glowing. Twilight was holding the containment box in front of her. “The way I figure it, merging with Salamander makes you the same thing.” She opened the lid to the box.

A vacuum gushed out and Rave saw his hooves start to bend and warp. “What are you doing? How are you doing this?”

“I just told you,” Twilight yelled over the vacuum. “You got exactly what you wanted. You’re a Drudge. But you’re a Drudge in parasite form.”

“What!? No!” The rest of Rave’s body swirled and bent until the vacuum sucked him up.

“Gotcha!” Twilight said as she closed the lid.

“Sweet move, Twilight. I didn’t think you could catch Rave in the box,” Burgle congratulated her. He nervously wiped sweat away from his forehead.

“I wasn’t 100% sure either, but I figured it was worth a shot. Best of all, we finally caught a Drudge,” Twilight said happily.

“Hey, we did, didn’t we? Sweet. We rock!” Burgle celebrated.

“Don’t get so excited. We still have two more to deal with,” Rhubarb said seriously from the air. He landed on the ground and picked up the music box. “And what about the fire Rave started?”

“Don’t worry about it. I managed to put it out.” Rarity stepped out from behind the trees though she looked rather tired. “It’s a lot harder to do without Salamander. I think I might actually miss that power boost a little.”

“Right,” Twilight laughed. Her laughter was short lived though. She turned her attention to Fluttershy and Rip Van Winkle. “Thanks for helping us but you stay right there, Rip. Don’t you dare make a move.” She and the others slowly backed away from them.

“I don’t feel like moving. That took a lot of unnecessary effort.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. At least getting him in the box was going to be a lot easier. However, the containment box abruptly moved away from her.

“Hey, what’s going…?” Twilight paled. “Daffodil?” Cork and Daffodil had appeared from wherever they had been hiding since arriving in the forest. The containment box landed neatly at Daffodil’s hooves. Cork stood on his hind hooves and picked it up.

“Cork, Daffodil, what are you doing? I told you to stay out of the fight.”

“We can’t help it. We have to protect the Drudges,” Cork answered.

“Oh for the love of…” Twilight groaned. “Snap out of it. The Drudges don’t care about your well-being. Besides, Rave is in there. He and Salamander are the same now.”

Cork and Daffodil looked nervously at the box. “Then Rave is our Master too,” Daffodil answered rather sadly.

“Daffodil, you give me that box!” Twilight shouted as magic ignited on her horn.

Before Twilight could do anything though, she screamed when something landed on her. She was vaguely aware of something digging into the back of her head.

“Twilight!” Rarity wailed.

“This host will serve me much better,” Twilight said slowly. “And such knowledge of magic. I’ll be more powerful than ever.”

Rarity gaped. Isis had landed on Twilight’s head and attached herself.

“No. Not Twilight,” Rarity uttered in panic, as she and the others quickly backed away from her.

“Well, we’re screwed,” Burgle said dismally as he turned and galloped into the trees.

“Mistress Isis!” Cork called. “We’re here to serve you.”

“Good, good. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive.” Twilight, or rather Isis, casually cantered over to the two occultists. “Good job on obtaining that box by the way. It would have been a real nuisance.”

“Shall we release Master Salamander and Rave?”

Isis made Twilight grimace. “Forget it. Leave him in there. I don’t want anything to do with that stupid Rave pony.”

“But Mistress-”

“I said don’t open the box.”

As Isis argued with her followers about Salamander, Rarity and the others silently slipped away and convened with George.

“We’re screwed. We’re totally and royally screwed,” Burgle wailed, coming out from where he had been hiding.

“Not yet,” Rarity said determinedly. “I’m not abandoning Twilight. They may have the box, but we have Rave’s necklace just like Twilight wanted.”

Rhubarb held the necklace up in his hoof as if proving that he had it.

“So that necklace nullifies the Drudges power? I’ll be a donkey’s uncle,” George said.

“It didn’t affect Isis much as a pony but if this could control Salamander in parasite form then I’ll bet Isis will be stuck too,” Rarity announced.

“The only problem now is getting the containment box,” Rhubarb put in.

“There are only two occultists guarding it. I’m sure Burgle can steal it.”

“Do I have to?”

“When the Drudges take over, my last request will be to see you banished to the moon.”

Burgle drooped. “Stupid epic quest.”

“Well its do or die time now so it won’t last much longer either way. Let’s go.”

“I want to listen but Master Salamander is still in there. I don’t know what to do.”

“You listen to me! That’s what you do!” Isis bellowed at Cork. “If I say Salamander stays in the box, then he stays-” Isis froze. “No… not the music box again.”

Rarity stood a ways away from her and the occultists, holding the necklace in her mouth. She had opened it and it played its haunting but cheerful melody.

“Followers!” Isis shouted though Twilight. “Get that music box!”

Cork and Daffodil charged at Rarity. However, as soon as they got close, Rhubarb dove in front of them, reared on his back legs, and slammed their heads together. The two occultists fell down in a daze.

“Rhubarb, you didn’t have to be that rough,” Rarity said.

“A guard’s duty isn’t always easy. This quest proves that.”

“Whatever works I suppose. In any case…” Rarity and Rhubarb turned their attention to Twilight and Isis.

“I hate you and I hate you now,” Isis said angrily.

“Well your about to hate us even more. Burgle, just grab her and get her off Twilight!”

Burgle popped out of the woods behind Twilight and put his hooves around Isis. However…

Twilight’s horn lit up. Burgle was enshrouded in unicorn magic. Twilight turned her head back and smiled. “Perks of possessing a unicorn. Apparently, just because that necklace stops me, doesn’t mean I can’t use my host’s power.”

“No hard feelings?” Burgle said dejectedly as Isis launched him against a tree.

“I’ll crush you and your little friends too.”

“Never send a thief to do a Mystic’s job.”

Isis turned and beheld George. His horn was already glowing. He enveloped Isis in his magic and peeled her off.

“Youch!” Twilight screamed, holding the back of her head.

“Sorry,” George said sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it. She just pulled some hair out.” Twilight scratched the back of her head. “I didn’t think I would ever hear you say sorry.”

“Well… you did say be kind every now and then. Was that good?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Just put her in the box. She’s caused us enough trouble.”

George nodded. Twilight opened the box and a vacuum pulled in the powerful Drudge.

“Finally. That’s two,” Twilight said relieved. Then she remembered something. “Burgle, are you okay?”

“I might have a broken spine, but otherwise I’m cool.” Burgle slowly picked himself up off the ground. He limped over to Twilight and George. “Why am I the only one getting banged up by the Drudges? I didn’t even want to go on this stupid epic quest in the first place,” he complained, holding his bandaged waist.

“Sorry. You have been a big help to us though. Thank you.”

“Really? Can I request a kiss from Rarity then?”

“Are you still on that?” Rarity said as she and Rhubarb walked over to them. “I’d rather be eaten by the Drudges.”

“Ouch. Do you hate me that much?”

“I don’t hate you but I certainly don’t like you either. Not like that.” She gave Burgle a final glare and closed the music box with unnecessary force to drive home her point. Then she switched her focus to Twilight. “Anyway, are you all right, Twilight? I was so scared for a moment there. I’m glad you told us to get this music box. It really came in handy.”

“That’s not exactly what I planned to do with it, but I guess it worked out in the end.”

“Right, we still need to get Rip Van Winkle off of Fluttershy.”

“Actually, besides that, I thought that since it nullifies the Drudges power, we might be able to use it to reverse Isis’s spell in Canterlot.”

The other ponies went wide-eyed. Apparently, that hadn’t occurred to any of them.

“Then you mean…” George started.

“Yes. Assuming it works, we have the Elements of Harmony again.”

The ponies raised their hooves in celebration. The quest was almost over.

Then a shadow dashed past them. Rarity screamed. Grey snatched up the necklace in his mouth and jumped away from her. He bared his teeth and growled.

“That was a real pain.” Fluttershy and Rip Van Winkle still sat in the same place under the tree as earlier, un-amused. “Your whole plan from the start was so stupidly complicated that I had to come up with something even more convoluted. How annoying.”

“Twilight, I don’t like where this is going,” Rarity said nervously and watched Grey slowly back away towards the Drudge controlled Fluttershy.

Twilight gulped. “What are you saying Rip? What’s going on?”

“You’re going to make me explain?” Rip groaned. “What a nuisance. Even though it might have been nice for Rave to make all my decisions for me, I still like my freewill. I had to get rid of him. That’s why I spoke for Fluttershy and made him and Isis fight.”

“Wait a minute, I saw Fluttershy cowering when I woke up. How long have you been in control of her?” Rarity demanded.

“You already know when. Since those stupid followers of mine tried to get involved. I couldn’t let potential servants go to waste before Twilight and Burgle arrived, so I had to get you to hold them still. I’m surprised you didn’t try to do that without my leading you.”

“Wait. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?” Twilight said in surprise.

“He planned this?” Rhubarb said quietly.

“Curses and mules…” George said, actually sounding scared. “I should have guessed something was wrong when he helped us.”

“But what about Salamander and Isis. Aren’t they on your side?” Twilight asked him.

“I hate repeating myself. What a drag. I already told you I had to get rid of Rave. I don’t really care what happens to Salamander so it was a necessary loss, I suppose. As for Isis, she’s just annoying. She thinks she’s so important, but she’s never been very good at making plans. The best she ever had was moving the temple, which was also a pain. Seriously, she’s so dumb. We have more than enough power. That temple leaves us too vulnerable. It’s such a liability that I had to get rid of that too. Good thing Rave was stupid enough to blow it up. I didn’t think he’d fall for that so easily. Wait, why am I still talking? Talking is such a pain. This sucks.”

“I don’t believe this. If you wanted this to happen then what was that whole thing back there with you trying to run away with Fluttershy?” Twilight demanded, trying to make sense of the Drudge’s logic.

“You’re dense. You thought I was going to be a liability in your plan, remember? I had to make you believe otherwise and I know what goes on in Fluttershy’s mind so I knew she would react that way. Duh.”

“If I’m so dense then why are you explaining everything to us…? Hey! Where are you going?” Rip had turned Fluttershy away from them and started walking.

“That’s a good question. I hate talking, but I’m kind of beginning to understanding why Isis likes to taunt so I’ll tell you more. I’m going to Canterlot now, because Celestia is already dealt with and I’ve still another princess to deal with… annoyingly. Aren’t you two coming as well?”

Cork and Daffodil got up off the ground where Rhubarb had assaulted them. They looked at each other nervously and then at Twilight. They both grimaced and ran to catch up with Rip. Then the both of them and Grey began to follow.

“You mean, Luna? Stop it, Rip! What do you think you’re going to do?” Twilight said as magic danced on her horn. Rip stopped and looked back with Fluttershy’s eyes.

“Isn’t it obvious? If Luna becomes my slave too, then I get to rule Equestria. If I rule, then I don’t ever have to lift a hoof again. It’s that simple. I wish I didn’t have to bother saying it, but don’t think you can stop me either. Isis failed to get rid of you but I planned for that too.”

The Drudge glowed purple and for a moment, it was as if silence itself had enveloped the forest. Then the ground started to move.

“There are so many dead things out here. What a perfect place for me.”

The ponies shuttered as various zombie animals and ponies climbed out of the ground. There was even a medium sized dragon. All together, there were hundreds of creatures surrounding them, hissing and growling in utter madness.

“Rarity, I don’t suppose you’d consider kissing me as a last request?” Burgle said nervously.

“I don’t suppose you’d consider a, no, as my last request,” Rarity said harshly.

“George, can you…?” Twilight started.

“I can take out a couple. That’s all I can promise,” George said, gritting his teeth. Twilight wanted to cry. Why hadn’t they taken the opportunity to remove Rip when Rave was playing the music box?

“Oh gosh… Grey!” Twilight shouted. “Remember who you are! Remember Fluttershy’s song! Remember how Fluttershy cares!”

Grey didn’t even react.

“Twilight, that never worked to begin with. I let it happen every time,” Rip said annoyed.

“Didn’t I tell you, you would regret it?” George said angrily.

“Not now, George.” Twilight elbowed him. Rip seemed perfectly calm. He had planned everything out to the last detail. “Dang it… this can’t be happening…”

“But it is. Perhaps you can be my servants too… if I feel like it.” Rip slowly started walking again. Then he paused. “Aren’t you supposed to be taking a nap?”

Davenport stood several feet in front of him. “I’ve been watching this for a while. You know what? I would never sell a sofa to you.”

Rip made Fluttershy raise an eyebrow. “You are weird.”

“Bubble Gum, can you do it?” The same filly Twilight had seen before timidly walked out from behind Davenport. She silently nodded her head. Then she winked out.

It all happened in barely a few seconds. The filly, apparently named Bubble Gum, reappeared next to Grey. Both of them winked out and reappeared next to Davenport. The white armored earth pony punched Grey across the jaw, forcing him to drop the music box. Bubble Gum grabbed it in her mouth, winked out again, and reappeared right in front of Twilight.

“What?” Rip said in shock.

“He said to give this to you,” Bubble Gum said timidly to Twilight.

Twilight slowly accepted the music box with her magic and looked at Davenport.

“I was thinking about it and I realized what was really important, Twilight. Forgive me?” Davenport shouted.

“Absolutely,” Twilight said and opened the music box.

The beautiful song that played echoed in the dense forest. The various zombies all shuttered, including Grey whose eyes reverted back to black.

“Davenport, get the Drudge off of Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted.

“No!” Cork and Daffodil stood defensively in front of the yellow pegasus.

“Uh… pardon me.” Davenport rather roughly shoved them both away. His extra strength actually made him fling them into the bushes. “Sorry. I’ll give you both a free sofa later, okay?”

Davenport put his hooves around Rip Van Winkle and pulled him off.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy uttered softly, breathing hard. “I’m so sorry.”

“Forget it, Fluttershy. Davenport, toss him over here,” Twilight commanded. “Rhubarb, the containment box!”

“Right!” Rhubarb grabbed the box just as Davenport tossed the Drudge.

“From downtown!” Burgle called.

Rhubarb opened the box and sucked Rip Van Winkle inside.

“Three points! Game!” Rarity cheered. Then she blushed. “Not that I really care about sports of course.”

The box closed and Twilight remembered to breath.

“That’s all three of them,” she said slowly. “We’re done. We beat the Drudges.”

“We rock. Whoo hoo,” Fluttershy cheered softly from where she was standing.

“I don’t believe it,” George said in astonishment. “The epic quest is over?”

“Not yet. We still have to dispose of them,” Rarity said.

“What about them?” Rhubarb pointed at the wincing zombies.

“Once we destroy the Drudges, these zombies should turn to dust,” George told them.

“Dust!” Fluttershy cried. “But, what about Grey? He can’t turn to dust.”

“I’m sorry, but I already told you, there is no way to reverse death.”

“No…” Fluttershy turned her attention to Grey who was still wincing from the music.

“Fluttershy…” Twilight said softly.

“Please, go!” Cork suddenly pulled himself out of the bushes. “Leave… Get out… before we try to stop you…”

“We don’t have any time. We have to try the music box back in Canterlot. We should head back there immediately,” George commanded.

“Canterlot?” Bubble Gum spoke up. “I know where that is. I can take you there right now.”

“Now?” Twilight said in surprise. “You mean by winking? All of us? And all that way? I’m sorry, but that’s a bit too much to ask.”

“I can do it. Moving the Temple of Discord was kind of hard but moving all of you to Canterlot should be easy.”

“What?” George said in utter amazement. “You moved it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Twilight, I would like to adopt this filly.”

“For crying out loud. I’m sure she already has a family. You still have Trixie, anyway,” Twilight said in annoyance. Then she looked at her other friends across the sea of zombies. “You’re name is Bubble Gum?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Before we go, can you get our friends over there and bring them here? Including Grey.”

“Twilight, you’re just going to make it more difficult for your friend,” George said harshly.

Twilight however, ignored him. “Can you do it, Bubble Gum?”

“Sure.” Bubble Gum looked at the three ponies. Then abruptly they all winked out and appeared in a flash in front of Twilight.

Twilight gaped. “Good job…”

“This filly is absolutely amazing. Are you sure I can’t adopt her?”

“George, please. Okay Bubble Gum, let’s go to Canterlot.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bubble Gum replied happily and they all winked out.

Harmony

Chapter 13: Harmony

Luna shut the door to the outer chambers of the castle and sighed. How did Celestia deal with so many ponies every day? There were emissaries from all over Equestria coming in and out daily, asking for numerous things Luna hardly knew anything about. Keeping them all in the dark about Celestia’s condition was the hardest though. Not to mention the condition of the rest of the castle. After she had sent Twilight and the other ponies off on their epic quest, Luna had spent a portion of the rest of that day with her remaining staff, gathering up the various diamondized guards and servants. Currently they were all stored in Celestia’s room like an ocean of prized statues. After all, it wasn’t like Celestia could use the room.

Luna made her way to the room where everything had happened. She had left it untouched since that day. Celestia, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and all the rest who had been diamondized were still in the room, unchanged.

As soon as she entered, Luna looked at her sister, frozen in her silent attempt of protection. Luna hugged her crystallized sister, hoping that the epic quest succeeded and the ponies would return soon with good news.

Luna was temporarily blinded by a bright flash. When she opened her eyes again, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the other members of the quest were standing there, looking just as surprised as she must have looked.

“Princess Luna?” Twilight said slowly. “Um… we’re back… and in the right room apparently…”

The silence was short lived. Luna recovered from her surprise and tried to address them like royalty. “We are glad thou returned so quickly. And suddenly. Okay, I have to ask, how did you do that?”

“It was her. This is Bubble Gum, a filly with an amazing talent for winking. Bubble Gum, this is Princess Luna.”

“Princess Luna? Night Mare Moon?”

Luna grimaced.

“Don’t mind her, Princess. She’s been hanging around with Isis for a while,” Davenport said apologetically. “She received her power the same way as you.”

“She was a host to Isis?” Luna said, shocked.

“I didn’t know that. When did that happen?” Twilight questioned him.

“When Isis woke up. I kind of thought I woke her up because I winked into some place that was locked up and she was there,” Bubble Gum admitted.

“So that’s how Isis knew about the temple’s disappearance,” George said as he scratched his beard.

“Speaking of the Drudges, how goes the quest?” Luna asked them.

“It’s done.” Twilight smiled. “Rhubarb?”

Rhubarb pulled the containment box out of his saddlebag and presented it at Luna’s hooves. “All three Drudges present and accounted for your highness. As well as a hundred year old criminal named Rave.”

“Rave? Never heard of him.”

“But you’ve heard of Burgle?” Rarity asked.

Luna blushed. “Well… he’s more current isn’t he?” Luna cleared her throat. “That’s not important right now. Can you reverse Isis’s spell?”

“I sure hope so. Grey, you better cover your ears,” Twilight said to the quiet pony in the back.

“Grey? The guard? What happened to him?” Luna stared at the strange pegasus.

“We’ll explain later. For now, let’s just pray this works.”

Twilight produced the necklace with the music box. Taking a deep breath first, she opened it and let it play its song. After a few moments of playing, the diamond ponies around them glowed and then the diamonds shattered.

“Waaaaaaah!” Rainbow cried, flailing her legs on the ground. Then she looked around. “What happened? Where’d all that blue light go?”

“Whoa! The cases are gone!” Applejack shouted. “What happened to the Drudges?”

“They’re right here, Applejack,” Rarity said with a smile, placing a hoof on the box.

Applejack looked at the small group around the box. “What’s goin’ on? What’re ya’ll doin’ over there?”

“Why do I feel like we missed out on something?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We’ll tell you about it later, Dash. I promise,” Twilight said, afraid she was going to start crying for joy.

“See, nothing happened,” Pinkie Pie said, finally finishing her sentence.

“Oh, Pinkie.” Twilight shook her head in amusement.

“Luna? Twilight? Are you both okay? The Drudge didn’t get you?”

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight cried.

“Oh, sister! I thought I’d lost you,” Luna hugged her as hard as she could.

Celestia looked surprised for a moment and but then smiled. “I guess this means Isis must have gotten me?”

“We’re just glad you’re back to normal,” Twilight said in relief as she closed the music box.

“Normal? Of course Trixie is normal! The Great and Powerful Trixie is always like this!” Trixie shouted at them, hardly realizing that her father was standing there. He looked rather surprised as if he had never seen this side of her.

“Twi, whaddaya mean by normal? Did somethin’ happen?”

“It’s a long story, Applejack. Let’s just say that everypony has been asleep for the last five days and leave it at that for now,” Rarity told her.

“So the Drudges are contained once again?” Celestia said. “I see. Then you all must have saved us.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah. We all worked together and defeated the Drudges. Even Davenport.”

“Davenport?” Celestia looked at him in surprise. “I don’t recall sending you an invitation to the castle, but if you helped save us then I am grateful.”

Davenport smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t really do all that much. Although…” He looked at George. “Are you still going to hate me for all eternity?”

George thought a moment. “Well… you were surprisingly useful in the end. I suppose I could reduce my indefinite eternity of hatred to just eternity again.”

“It… increased to indefinite?”

“Oh, fine. I’ll only hate you and your family for ten years.”

Davenport stared at him. “I guess that’s better than eternity.”

“George, you’re really cruel,” Twilight scolded him. “It’s no wonder you don’t understand the magic of friendship.”

“He doesn’t understand the magic of friendship!?” Pinkie gasped. “Well, let me tell him with a song!” Pinkie stood up on her hind hooves.

“Save it for later, Pinkie. This epic quest has been long enough as it is,” Rarity said, rubbing her temple as if she had a headache again.

“Good idea. Let’s wrap this up as quickly as possible,” Twilight agreed.

“Winter wrap up?” Pinkie said excitedly.

“No singing whatsoever!”

“Um, Twilight?” Davenport interrupted. “I don’t suppose you could help me get this armor off? I don’t want to be Quilleficent anymore.”

“That’s because it’s a stupid name,” George said in annoyance.

“George!” Twilight scolded him again. “Of course, Davenport. We can use the Elements of Harmony to change you back.”

“We have more than just that to do. I’m not sure exactly what happened but we must deal with the Drudges after you have helped Davenport. To Canterlot Tower everypony,” Celestia said very seriously. The ponies all nodded.

The Elements of Harmony, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic, each represented by Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle, respectively. As the Elements’ name implied, they could only work through the harmony and friendship of the ponies who wielded them. Twilight and her friends possessed just that sort of harmony. Together, the Elements sparked and flashed, creating a dazzling rainbow that would vanquish evil.

The Elements of Harmony sparkled as the Rainbow of Light erupted around Davenport. In a matter of moments, his armor shattered and he was the same tan earth pony he had always been.

“I guess you can’t do that cool sword thing anymore, eh Pops?” Burgle said.

“That’s fine. I prefer things better this way.”

“Wow, Mister, I didn’t know you looked so normal under there. You look a lot cooler with the armor on,” Bubble Gum said in amazement.

“Thanks,” Davenport said dejectedly.

“Say, what about Bubble Gum anyway? She was tainted by Isis too wasn’t she?” Rarity asked.

“But she’s not confused like Davenport or Luna were, so I don’t know if it really matters,” Twilight said.

“I agree,” Princess Celestia approached the young filly. “George has been telling me about your amazing talents, Bubble Gum. Tell me, are you planning on going back to your family some time soon?”

“Um… I guess so.”

“Would you consider bringing your parents here when you do? Actually, before that, let me just ask you straight out. Would you consider studying here in Canterlot at the School for Gifted Unicorns?”

“School for Gifted Unicorns! You mean your school?! I’ve wanted to go to your school since forever!”

“Then please do bring your parents here.”

“Oh, yes ma’am! I can bring them in two seconds!”

Celestia held her hoof up. “I didn’t mean right now. We have some other issues to attend to first, but perhaps tomorrow afternoon I would like to talk to them about your enrolling.”

“But doesn’t she still need to take the entrance exam?” Twilight asked.

“I think I can let that slide just this once, beings as this is such a special case. After all, she assisted in the defeat of the Drudges or has George been lying to me?”

“Of course I wouldn’t lie! I’m the Great and Powerful George.” George puffed out his chest.

“Sounds like it’s been one heck of crazy adventure for ya’ll. I wish I coulda been there to help ya. How did ya’ll defeat the Drudges?” Applejack asked.

Twilight cleared her throat. “The Drudges failed because they didn’t have any friendship with one another,” she said as if making a speech. It was too bad she didn’t have a soapbox. “Isis didn’t care what happened to the other two as long as she had power. Salamander was too busy trying to devour Rarity as quickly as possible so he could protect himself. Lastly, Rip Van Winkle flat out betrayed Isis and Salamander just so he could have his easy life. Their lack of cooperation with each other was their ultimate downfall and why they lost to our teamwork.”

“I think you could have stopped at the Drudges not being friends,” Rainbow said and yawned.

Twilight cleared her throat again. “Anyway, we still have one more job to do.”

“Use our friendship to stop the Drudges once and for all,” Applejack finished for her.

“Wait!” Fluttershy stopped them. “We can’t do it yet. Grey will die.”

“Wait. Who’s goin’ to die?” Applejack said alarmed. All eyes turned to the zombie pony sitting in the corner.

He visibly sighed. “Its okay, Fluttershy. I can accept this. I was no help on the quest and became a hindrance.”

“That’s not true Grey. You protected me from the occultists and from falling. You saved my life. I… I just can’t let you…”

“You have to accept this, Fluttershy. It’s the only way.”

“I can’t. It’s my fault you’re like that. I just can’t.”

“Fluttershy…”Rarity said sadly.

Fluttershy turned when she heard a small whine next to her. “Philomena?”

The phoenix nuzzled against her. Fluttershy hugged her, not sure what else to do. Then Philomena rummaged in Fluttershy’s hair and pulled out a bright red feather.

“Oh. That’s the feather you gave me. I always keep it with me.”

“I think she want’s you to hold it,” Princess Celestia said with a smile.

“Is she kidding? That’s not going to work,” George spoke up.

“I don’t understand. What is he talking about?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t even need my Pinkie Sense to know what’s going to happen next,” Pinkie Pie said amused.

Philomena let out a happy squawk and put the feather in Fluttershy’s mouth.

“Make a wish, Fluttershy,” Celestia said.

Fluttershy lowered her head. “I don’t want Grey to die because of me.”

The feather glowed and rose in the air. Then it circled around the undead pony until he glowed as well. The ponies all closed their eyes from the bright light.

Fluttershy shielded her eyes and tried to look. She gasped as the light began to fade. “Grey? You’re…”

“What happened?” Grey said. His coat was a shiny white again.

“You’ve been resurrected through the power of a phoenix, my dear guard,” Celestia said knowingly. “And maybe a little something more.”

“I knew it,” Pinkie Pie said. “I bet the alternate ending would have been more compelling and less cheesy but what do you expect? This is a pony story. We have to do the happy ending.”

“Grey!” Fluttershy hugged him. “You’re alive.”

“Uh… yeah…” Grey said in shock.

“But I don’t get it,” George said in confusion. “I had heard that phoenix feathers can be used to resurrect Rip Van Winkle’s creations, but I always thought it required a sincere desire to bring that pony back.”

“You’re not very perceptive, are you?” Rarity said flatly.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked, indicating the crying Fluttershy.

“Long story. Way too long,” Rarity said, smiling.

“So this is it, huh?” Twilight said determinedly.

After the ponies had given Fluttershy a moment to regain herself, which had resulted in a lot of blushing in embarrassment, Twilight and her friends gathered around the containment box. Inside were the greatest evils Equestria may have ever known as well as one very ambitious criminal.

“I can’t believe it’s finally come to this. It almost seems unreal,” Rarity said.

“It’s real. If it’s not then I’ll eat my books when I get home,” Twilight said, almost being serious. She took a deep breath to prepare herself for what they were about to do. “Well, this is what we came all this way for. To the end of Drudges.”

“To the end of Drudges,” the others repeated.

Twilight nodded to her friends. If they were going to do this, then this was it. They joined hooves and released the magic of their friendship. Dazzling light enveloped them and in a matter of minutes, an amazing rainbow formed between them, swirled in the air, and enshrouded the containment box. Twilight held her eyes closed, not wanting to imagine what they had just done to the occupants of the box.

“Hey ya’ll, look!” Applejack pointed.

Twilight opened her eyes and blinked in astonishment. Four ponies were sitting on the ground among fragments of the containment box. A normal unicorn and three earth ponies, red, blue, and purple.

“But… but I thought… I thought we were going to destroy the Drudges,” Twilight stammered.

“Twilight, my faithful student, you did,” Celestia said with a smile. “George, if you would.”

“Uh… yes, princess,” George said slowly, looking confused himself. He waved his staff as his horn glowed, and closed his eyes. After a few moments he opened them again, seemingly startled. “It’s gone. All traces of the Drudges’ power is gone!”

“Good.” Celestia nodded happily. “Then all the others transformed by Isis’s power have changed back to normal if I’m not mistaken.”

“This can’t be,” one of the three earth ponies who looked suspiciously like Isis said. “What have you done to me? I’m nothing without that power! Nothing!” She buried her head in her hooves miserably and maybe a bit melodramatic as well.

“Give it a rest, Isis. I’m sick of hearing you talk,” the red earth pony said exasperatedly.

“Salamander? Is that you?” Rarity asked him.

“Yeah. But I’m not Salamander anymore. My real name is Larry.”

“Larry?” Rarity said in surprise. “I think I like Salamander better.”

“That’s what everypony says,” Salamander said grumpily.

“What a drag,” the third, purple earth pony said suddenly. “I suppose this means I’ll be expected to get a normal job? This stinks.”

“Get away from me!” the unicorn shouted, backing away from the guards that approached him. He must have been Rave but surprisingly his hair wasn’t black anymore. It was grey with hints of blue in it. “I’m not going to stand for this. I worked too hard to have all my plans ruined-”

Abruptly, the unicorn was engulfed in a soft light. Princess Celestia stepped forward as her horn glowed with power. “Rave,” she said sternly. “If I recall, you never served your prison sentence about a hundred years ago.”

“Can it, princess! I’ll get you yet! Mark my word, I will have the power I desire!”

Princess Celestia smiled warmly. “What do you think, dear little sister? Should I banish him to the moon?”

“The moon!?” Rave shouted.

“Maybe you should banish him to the sun instead,” Luna said with an equally warm smile.

“No! You can’t do that to me! It’s cruel and unusual punishment!”

“Just kidding,” both princesses said with a laugh.

“What?” Rave said, looking truly confused.

“Guards, take him to the dungeon. I’ll decide what to do with him later,” Princess Celestia commanded.

“Yes, ma’am!” Rhubarb and Grey said together.

After clapping an anti-unicorn brace to him, the two loyal guards took Rave away.

“As for the three of you,” Celestia said, addressing the former Drudges. “You have committed a great many crimes in the past, including the killing of innocent ponies. Do you admit that you should be punished?”

The three earth ponies looked at one another and gulped. They no longer had the power to fight Celestia anymore. They stared at the ground and said together, “Yes.”

“I see. For your punishment I am sentencing you to the library.” The three ponies stared at her in surprise. “As I understand it, you retain the memories and knowledge of every pony you have ever fed on, correct? The Mystics kept a list of each of those ponies who you used as hosts. I want you to take up quill and paper and write down a biography of each and every one of those ponies from birth to death and from an autobiographical point of view. As I’m sure you already know, it’s quite a long list.”

“Wow! And I thought homework back in my school days was bad,” Rainbow whispered to Pinkie Pie.

Princess Celestia turned to Davenport. “It will require a great number of quills to complete such a task and of course, all of them shall be purchased from you, Mr. Davenport, if you would be so gracious as to supply them.”

“Really!” Davenport said excitedly. “That would be swell. Er… I mean, I would be honored to supply you with the necessary quills, your highness.”

Celestia giggled. “I knew I could count on you.”

Twilight felt a little amused by the notion herself, but in truth, she actually felt a little sorry for the former Drudges. Their punishment required them to remember the lives, thoughts, and memories of each of their hosts, including the fear they must have felt being attached to the Drudges. It was practically forcing them to relive what they had done. Celestia really knew how to pick a severe punishment. Maybe Rave really would be banished to the moon.

The sweat stopped. Cork looked around the desolate land, for the first time realizing just where he really was. The other followers had woken up from the sleeping spell a while ago and Cork, Daffodil, and all the rest of them had started chasing after the Drudges again. But all of a sudden, something was missing.

Cork looked at Daffodil who was looking around as if she’d just woken from a dream.

“They’re gone,” Cork said flatly.

“You’re right. The Drudges are gone.”

The two of them sat for a moment, looking at each other as other ponies around them started talking and looking around.

“How do you feel?” Cork asked.

“Relieved.”

“Me too.” Cork smiled. He hadn’t felt this way in days. He had been worried that the Drudges defeat would leave him insane, but it seemed to have broken the spell they had over him entirely. Daffodil seemed to feel the same way too. They also realized they were starving.

“I can’t believe we came all the way out here following those things,” Daffodil said with slight amusement. It really was a nasty place to be.

“Yeah,” Cork agreed. They sat in silence for a moment. “Maybe we should go home.”

“Oh, please let’s do. I don’t want to be in this nowhere land.”

“Me too. I mean, I really need to get back to work... assuming I’m not fired for leaving.” The two of them got up slowly, not really looking at each other. “Say, Daffodil…?”

“Hmm?”

“I know this is kind of sudden and all, but after we get back, would it be all right if I took you to a restaurant or something?”

Daffodil blushed. “Sure, why not. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve done in the last few days.”

They both laughed as many of the other ponies started on their way home as well.

Twilight breathed in the fresh morning air. The epic quest was finally over. Even though she had already spent so much time outside and so much time away from her books, Twilight couldn’t help but sit outside in the castle courtyard and watch the sunrise. This time there would be no Drudges to worry about and when evening came, no more frantic fighting for her life. There didn’t seem to be anything that could ruin this moment.

“What did you do to Trixie’s dad?” Twilight was surprised when Trixie suddenly confronted her, talking in the third pony as usual.

“What do you mean?”

“Trixie’s not sure. He just seems different!”

“Trixie!” George suddenly called, approaching them. “Are you being a loudmouth again?”

“Wha… No, dad!”

“Ah. Good.”

“Dad, I… huh? Good?”

George nodded, patted her on the head and kept walking.

“Trixie?” Twilight asked.

“Trixie did good?” Trixie said, sounding both surprised and a little choked up. “You see. He’s different. What did you do?”

“I’m not sure I really did anything. If he changed at all, it was probably the epic quest.”

“Epic quest,” Trixie kicked the ground. “The Great and Powerful Trixie never get’s to go on epic quests.”

“Maybe you’ll get to go on the next one.”

“Trixie certainly hopes so,” she said and followed after her father.

“Twilight!”

Again, Twilight was surprised. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and oddly enough, Burgle ran over to her, though Rainbow of course was actually flying.

“Come on, Twilight. Pinkie Pie improvised a party in the castle. It’s got everything,” Rainbow Dash said excitedly.

“Sure. I’ll be right there.”

“Have you seen Fluttershy? We still need to tell her too,” Rarity said.

“No. I’ll bet she’s in the garden with the animals…” Twilight trailed off when she remembered what had happened the last time Fluttershy visited the garden during the Grand Galloping Gala. “Maybe we better hurry over there just in case.”

The four ponies quickly raced to the garden, three of them hoping they wouldn’t find Fluttershy chasing animals. However, what they did find made them pause. Fluttershy was standing under a tree opposite a palace guard.

“Princess Celestia wants me to take a few days off to recuperate from my ordeal with Rip Van Winkle. I’ve declined though and I’ll be returning to palace duty tomorrow.”

“Are you sure you shouldn’t rest? I mean, what if you collapse while you’re on duty?” Fluttershy said with concern.

“After everything that happened, I think I can handle a few rounds around the palace.” The guard laughed. “Besides, I actually have a paid vacation coming up. I’ve never taken one before, but I thought maybe I could just this once and uh…” The guard scratched his nose. “Fluttershy, maybe if I happen to come to Ponyville, you wouldn’t mind um… uh…”

“Kiss her you blockhead!” Rainbow Dash suddenly called out.

“Rainbow!” Rarity scolded her.

Fluttershy and the guard startled when they noticed their audience. Finally realizing just what the guard was getting at, Fluttershy blushed. It seemed she hadn’t been expecting him to say that. She looked away for a moment, but then smiled shyly. “I guess. If it’s not too much trouble.”

“No trouble at all,” the guard replied quickly. “I would love to treat you to… uh…” The guard trailed off and scratched his nose again.

“Ooooooooh! Fluttershy and palace guard, sitting in a tree!” Rainbow sang out, but Rarity kicked her with her back leg.

“Rainbow!” she said sternly. Then she smiled. “His name is Grey. If you’re going to sing that silly song, at least use his name.”

“You know his name? How can you tell who he is? He looks just like all the other guards,” Rainbow asked.

“Um, girls?” Twilight said. “They’re gone.” Rarity and Rainbow looked and noted that the two were running away… in opposite directions.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, are those two actually serious? I mean is Fluttershy actually…?” Rainbow’s jaw dropped to the ground. “I have totally got to get the scoop on this. Fluttershy, wait!” Rainbow flew after her. “Are you and that guard going steady or something!?”

The three remaining ponies stood in silence for a moment. But only for a moment.

“Soooo,” Burgle suddenly said suavely. “Rarity-” He stopped when Rarity shoved her hoof in his mouth.

“Not if you were the last pony in Equestria,” she said harshly.

“Got it,” Burgle said around a mouthful of hoof.

“What are you still doing here anyway?” Rarity asked, putting her hoof down. “I thought you were going back to your friends at the beach.”

“You’re not going to believe this, but Princess Luna actually wants to hire me for a job. Said something about locating a lost artifact of Equestria or something. Never been a treasure hunter before, but the pay she promised is well worth it.”

“Luna really is infatuated with you isn’t she? I never would have taken her for the type to like bad boys.”

“I don’t know about that,” Burgle said, smiling sheepishly. “But I do know how to be a bad boy.” Then he leaned over and kissed Rarity on the cheek. Rarity jumped away from him in shock. “Hope you don’t miss me too much!” he said and ran away.

“How dare you…” Rarity fumed. “You. Are. Dead!” Rarity took off, chasing after him. “When I get my hooves on you, you’ll wish the Drudges were still loose!”

Twilight watched the two of them run off, feeling a little dumbfounded. Then she laughed a good hard laugh, the first she had had in days. She had to admit, as imperfect as it might be, harmony had returned again.

The End

The Drudges

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, though if I did, I would be more than 20% cooler.

To The End of Drudges
By: GWFan (The Softcore Brony)

Chapter 1: The Drudges

Twilight Sparkle looked out into the distance, eager to see her destination. Princess Celestia had not only sent for her and her friends, but had supplied transportation to Canterlot. This wasn’t all cheers and excitement though, this was business. Currently, Twilight sat in the front of a pegasus drawn carriage alongside her friends Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Flying close behind, her other best friends, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity sat in a second carriage. It wasn’t often that Celestia called for her like this, but the letter Twilight had received sounded quite urgent.

“So what do you think, Twilight?” Applejack suddenly called from the other carriage. “Did the Princess tell you anythin’ specific in her letter?”

Twilight shook her head in response. That was the thing. Celestia hadn’t said anything about why she needed them or more specifically why she had requested the Elements of Harmony.

The Elements of Harmony were an ancient form of magic that Celestia had originally used to imprison Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony. Later, she had been forced to use them to banish her sister Luna, when she had transformed into the wicked Night Mare Moon. When Night Mare Moon had escaped one thousand years later, Twilight and her friends had gone on a quest to find them, only to discover that they themselves embodied the spirits of the Elements through their friendship. It was an incredible power to say the least and to have use for it once again must have meant that something terrible was ahoof. That was why they were on their way to Canterlot now.

“You know, I never thought having somepony else fly for me would be so cool,” Rainbow Dash told her, stretching her own wings as she did. “They could speed it up a little though.”

“We’ll get there in plenty of time, Rainbow. Just be patient and enjoy the elegance of this ride,” Rarity called from the other carriage. Even though she considered herself an upstanding lady, Rarity clearly seemed to be enjoying having the wind run through her indigo mane. Plus, the sunlight reflecting off her unicorn horn seemed to give her an extra shine.

Applejack chuckled a little at Rarity’s display. Because of the wind, she had to hold her cowboy hat to her head as her long blonde braid sailed back in the breeze. Nevertheless, Applejack was not an earth pony to take things lightly. She knew that they would probably be busy when they finally arrived. Pinkie Pie on the other hoof…

Pinkie Pie was holding her head out the side of the carriage and letting her strangely large tongue flail in the breeze like a dog. Despite the wind, her poofy magenta mane hardly flared at all. The saliva from her tongue flung back onto the ever-quiet Fluttershy, who was using her wings to shield herself from Pinkie’s spit. Even though she clearly wasn’t enjoying being spit on, the sense of kindness the yellow pegasus possessed wouldn’t allow her to disturb her friends fun. So instead, she decided to grin and bear it all the way to Canterlot.

Canterlot was already visible from their home in Ponyville, but seeing it up close was something altogether different. Of course, Twilight had lived there for many years being an apprentice to Celestia herself after attempting to enroll in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Going back filled Twilight with nostalgia. The elegant spires of the castle, the beautiful waterfalls pouring into the river below, and of course the wonderful businesses that she had frequented in her youth. Especially the doughnut shop during her late night studies. She wouldn’t mind visiting the shop again if there was time. Nevertheless, duty called first and Twilight’s nostalgia didn’t last long as the carriages made a slow descent down to the castle courtyard. Hopefully, whatever was going on wouldn’t be as serious as say, the return of Discord had been. The memories were still fresh in Twilight’s mind and she couldn’t imagine dealing with another crazy creature like him.

His was a simple dream. The selling of quills and sofas. Davenport moved down the streets of Canterlot with a smile. The sells at his store in Ponyville, aptly named Quills and Sofas, had been up by a substantial margin lately. It looked like he finally had made enough funds to expand his store into a franchise. There was a recently closed business right on one of the most frequented streets in Canterlot, busy perhaps because it was right up against the castle walls. Davenport was on his way to see about purchasing the now abandoned building. Location, location, location, after all and what better location than Canterlot?

However, the streets of Canterlot were rather confusing for a simple earth pony like Davenport, who was used to the more tranquil and smaller Ponyville. He had quickly become lost in the maze of streets. In fact, he was pretty sure he had past the pony selling fresh fruit, at least twice already.

Feeling winded from the long trek, Davenport scooted into the shade of a back alley and loosened his blue vest, letting some of the sweat pour from his white collar. There were ponies moving every which way on the street, but back here, things seemed a lot quieter. Actually, Davenport nearly stepped on a couple of white pegasi sleeping on the ground. The funny thing about them was that they were wearing golden armor and looked an awful lot like the royal guards he had seen escorting Princess Celestia the last time she had visited Ponyville. But why would they be sleeping in a place like this?

“Probably just on a break,” Davenport told himself. It was a good place for a break, being away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city. In fact, this little nook was pretty much hidden away from any prying eyes. The only thing back here was a small hole in the wall.

For some reason, Davenport found himself mesmerized by the hole, which reminded him of playing adventure games as a young colt. Curiosity got the better of him and he stuck his head in. The hole was easily big enough for an average size pony to slip through. Looking around, Davenport realized that he was inside the castle walls right by some more sleeping guards. Standing where he was, Davenport was right next to the castle.

Then he saw something that made him puzzle. A pony’s rump. Davenport walked over to where the back end of a light grey pony was trying to climb through yet another hole on the side of the castle. Whoever he was, the cutie mark on his flank resembled a key.

“Hey, junior!” Davenport called out. The pony inside jumped and banged his head on the ceiling of the hole. Holding his head, he fell out. Then the pony saw Davenport.

“W-w-w-what? Oh, hey! Hey there,” the pony said rather nervously. Davenport realized that the light grey pony was actually a unicorn. His dark grey mane peaked briefly from underneath the dark green hood he wore that extended into a sort of cloak.

“I… I wasn’t… um…” the unicorn stammered.

“You need a boost?” Davenport offered.

“A boost? Uh… yeah. Sure. Thanks.”

Davenport stood under the hole, allowing the unicorn to stand on him and jump in. For some reason, the unicorn looked around quickly before he did so.

“Well, thanks. See ya later,” the unicorn said before disappearing into the hole.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Davenport called. The unicorn peaked his head back out slowly.

“Yes?”

“Is there a problem in there? You fixing something?”

“Fixing? Oh… oh yes. That’s exactly what I’m doing. Uh…” The unicorn looked back inside briefly. “I’m just fixing a broken pipe.”

“Oh. Sounds serious.”

“Very. The princess needs running water since… you know, she’s a princess and all. Well, I better get to fixing so I’m going.” And just like that, the unicorn scrambled back into the hole and disappeared.

“What a nice guy. Everypony around here seems so dedicated to their work. Like me.” Davenport briefly raised his head to the sky and a tear came to his eye as he thought about his burning passion for quills and sofas. Maybe there were lots of ponies in Canterlot who shared passions like that. “I might have to think about managing the new store myself.”

Just as Davenport was going to leave for the street again, he noticed something sitting on the ground. It sort of looked like a big toolbox. “Poor guy. He forgot his tools. Maybe I should bring them to him.”

Davenport tossed the box, which was strangely light, into the hole and climbed in. There was no sign of the light grey unicorn anywhere, so Davenport grabbed up the toolbox and searched for him.

There had been only a brief introduction. Fluttershy had barely been handed a towel to dry off from Pinkie’s saliva when two unicorn guards led Twilight and her friends into the castle almost as soon as their carriages had landed. The guards kept up such a quick pace that Twilight hardly had time to admire the various paintings, potteries, and other relics of the past that adorned the walls of Canterlot’s castle. Whatever was going on must have been very important. The guards walked them into a large, somewhat circular room with several exits.

“Wait here. Princess Celestia will be in shortly,” one of the unicorn guards told them before both of them filed out of the room.

Still wondering what was going on, but having little better to do, Twilight took the opportunity to finally look at some of the ancient artwork and architecture in the room.

There was an amazing tapestry towards the back that depicted the beginning of the story about the two pony sisters prior to Night Mare Moon. There were also some more recent portraits of those same two sisters, Princesses Celestia and Luna, as they were today. It made Twilight happy to see the smiles on both those portraits. She noted another tapestry that depicted the evil reign of Discord before the two sisters defeated him. Other things in the room included golden pony statues, beautiful stones, gorgeous designs engraved in the pillars, a light azure unicorn who was staring at her, a group of palace guards standing in front of some glass cases…

The light azure unicorn who was staring at her… Twilight couldn’t believe it.

“Look,” Pinkie Pie pointed out. “It’s Tootsie!”

“That’s Trixie. The Great and Powerful Trixie!” the unicorn corrected.

Of all the ponies Twilight had expected to see in Canterlot, Trixie most certainly was not one of them. She had once come to Ponyville, boasting of her incredible powers. Twilight had bested her somewhat inadvertently when she stopped an Ursa Minor from attacking. Trixie still wore her purple cape with stars on it, but she wasn’t wearing her hat.

“Trixie? What are you doin’ here you old showoff?” Applejack demanded, asking just what had been on Twilight’s mind.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie was invited here,” Trixie responded, talking in the third person, just as she had before. Then she turned her head away slightly as she added, “Not by Princess Celestia exactly, but Trixie was still invited. What are you all doing here?”

“We were invited by Princess Celestia,” Rainbow Dash answered proudly, trying to rub it in as much as possible.

“What for? This is important and only important ponies were summoned.”

“We are important and certainly more welcome than a loudmouth like you,” Rarity retorted.

“Trixie is not a loudmouth!”

“What is all this racket?” another voice suddenly boomed. An old unicorn walked into the room, his white mane and scruffy beard dotted with streaks of grey. Whatever his cutie mark was, it could only be described as a staff with pixie dust around it. He waved around a sort of wooden staff with his unicorn magic as he said, “Trixie, are you causing a scene again?”

“What!? No! It isn’t like that, dad.”

“Dad?” Twilight and her friends all said at once. The old unicorn was clearly a darker shade of azure and, other than his scruffy beard, more masculine features, and advanced age, looked very much like Trixie.

“I… I was only- Ow!” The old unicorn suddenly rapped Trixie on the head with his staff.

“Stop being such a loudmouth.”

“But-”

“Stand up straighter. Chest out. Look more magical for once in your life.”

“I… I am,” Trixie nearly whined. It took Twilight a second to realize that Trixie hadn’t spoken about herself in the third person during the last few moments.

Trixie’s father stalked around her as if examining her stance when he turned his head to Twilight and her friends. “Well? What are you all looking at?”

Though she was taken a little by surprise, Twilight didn’t want to be rude, so she tried taking up some casual conversation. “So, you’re Trixie’s father?”

“Of course I am. I am the Great and Powerful George.”

“George?” Twilight was surprised. It sounded like something a pony would name a pet. In fact, she remembered having a pet rock named George when she was a very young filly.

“Great and Powerful George. Of course you’ve heard of me?” George raised his eyebrows and smiled a knowing grin.

Twilight looked at her friends. Most of them shook their heads and Rarity shrugged. “No. Not really,” Twilight finally answered.

George’s face fell to a mixture of anger and confusion. “That’s preposterous. How could you have heard of my no-name daughter and not the Great and Powerful George?”

At his belittling mention of her, Trixie lowered her head and sighed. George’s staff immediately tapped her leg. “Straighten up, daughter. You don’t want to look weak.”

Trixie straightened stiffly, sweat beginning to form on her brow.

“Excuse me sir, but don’t you think your being a little mean?” Fluttershy ventured.

Twilight paled. If he was Trixie’s father, then it was none of Fluttershy’s business. The expression on George’s face showed that he was thinking the same thing.

“I’m mean? And who are you, you who don’t even know who I am, like the rude little pony you are. Don’t you know you must respect your elders?”

“She didn’t mean any disrespect by it, sir,” Twilight jumped in. However, now that George’s attention was focused on her again, she sort of wished she hadn’t. Twilight cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’m Twilight Sparkle-”

“Twilight Sparkle?” George’s eyes suddenly lit up. “You’re Princess Celestia’s prized student? The egghead?”

Twilight stiffened, only a little offended that he would so blatantly call a stranger that. “Yeah. I’m the egghead.”

“I see, I see. You’re one of the spirits of the Elements of Harmony. Good, good. We need you then. Come, come, take a look at this. This is what you’ve been summoned for, Twilight Sparkle.” George walked over to the guards who were standing in front of the glass cases. His staff followed him and then pointed. “Behold all you ponies, the greatest evil in all of Equestria.”

The ponies all cocked their heads.

“The guards?” Pinkie asked.

George turned to where his staff was pointing. The four guards stood stock still, looking shocked and terrified.

“But… but sir, we’ve served Princess Celestia for years. We would never-”

“Not you,” George said annoyed. “Get away. Step aside, step aside.”

Though the guards still looked rather confused, they stepped away at his request. That in itself surprised Twilight who didn’t think the guards would listen to anypony but Princess Celestia or Princess Luna.

“Behold,” George said again, pointing with his staff, “the greatest evil in all of Equestria.”

Again, the ponies all cocked their heads.

“They look like bugs,” Rainbow Dash said, not sounding the least bit impressed.

“Eeeew,” Rarity stammered.

Indeed, they did look like bugs. Before them stood three glass cases. In each case was a strange creature none of them had ever seen before. The three creatures were about the size of turnips and appeared to have the shape and shell of a pill bug along with the legs of a spider and two large black eyes. The creatures were definitely deep black, though on closer look, each one had a distinct hue of another color. The first was somewhat reddish, the second was striped with dark blue, and the last was dark purple with a hint of brown splotches.

“These are not just bugs,” George retorted angrily. “These are the Drudges.”

“Those things are the Drudges?” Trixie said with a hint of annoyance. “They still look like bugs,” she grumbled.

“You foolish daughter of mine. Haven’t I taught you anything about the Drudges? These creatures…” George paused when he noticed Rainbow Dash tapping the glass of the blue striped Drudge, trying to get its attention.

“It’s not moving. I think it’s dead,” Rainbow said, tapping the glass harder. George rapped her on the head with his staff. “Ow!”

“Stop that. You don’t know what you’re doing. And it’s most certainly not dead.”

Staring at the creatures in the cases, George’s horn lit up and a brief flash erupted in each case. The ponies all winced when they heard a blood curdling, high-pitched screech, similar to hooves on a chalkboard. The red Drudge started bolting around the case wildly as if looking for an exit. The dark blue striped one, reared up, curled and uncurled its spider-like legs, and opened its mouth, which resembled a leech with several rows of needle-like teeth. The last Drudge twitched a leg or two but otherwise didn’t move.

“Eeeeeeeeeeew. That’s disgusting.” Rarity covered her mouth, trying not to vomit or faint as she stared at the blue striped Drudge.

“You see. Pure evil radiates from these creatures,” George said with a bit of satisfaction.

“Ahhh. Maybe they’re just misunderstood,” Pinkie Pie said affectionately, petting the glass that contained the purple Drudge.

“Maybe they’re just like the parasprites?” Fluttershy ventured.

“Parasprites?” George said with disgust. “Those disgustingly cute little devils are nothing like the Drudges. They don’t even compare. They…” Abruptly, George cut off and looked at them all as if it was the first time he had seen them. “What are you all doing in here anyway? This isn’t a spectator event. Get out.”

“Whoa there. Who died and made you king?” Applejack retorted angrily. “You don’t need to be rude. We’re here on orders from the Princess.”

“A likely story. Are you here to take the Drudges you felons?”

“Excuse me? Why ever would we want to do that? We don’t even know what these… things, are,” Rarity exclaimed and looked disgustedly at the Drudges again.

“See, you’re not even in the loop. Princess Celestia couldn’t trust you with that information could she? These creatures are the epitome of evil itself.”

“We don’t even know that. All we’ve seen so far is that you’re tormenting them in those cases,” Twilight said angrily. “What are they?”

“They are the Drudges, my faithful student.”

Twilight and the other ponies all turned and beheld Princess Celestia herself entering the room. She stood far taller than any of the other ponies and the elegant horn on her head and beautiful wings on her back only magnified her radiance. As usual, two royal guards escorted her, being pegasi in golden armor. Twilight was only a little surprised to see Princess Luna enter the room too. She was a pony of a more normal stature though still tall. She shared her older sister’s unique feature of both unicorn horn and pegasus wings, though of course that was perfectly normal for alicorns. Luna glanced briefly at the Drudges and looked nervous.

Then another creature flew into the room.

“Philomena!” Fluttershy cried in astonishment. Philomena, Princess Celestia’s pet phoenix, landed in front of Fluttershy and nuzzled her neck. “I missed you too, Philomena. I still have the feather you gave me too.”

“I’m glad you all could make it here so quickly,” Celestia welcomed them, giggling briefly at Philomena’s excitement to see Fluttershy. The ponies before her bowed in acknowledgement of her status but Celestia raised a hoof, signaling them to never mind the formalities. “I’m afraid what George has told you is the truth. The Drudges are indeed tools of evil.”

The princess’s statement was met with general shock and pleads of “No way,” and “It can’t be.” Twilight took another look at the Drudges, still wondering as to how these strange creatures could really be that evil.

“Sure. Just because the princess tells you, you believe it now. Never mind what the Great and Powerful George has been saying.” George growled audibly and thrust his staff into the ground.

“Well it’s not like we had any reason to believe ya. We only just met,” Applejack said, though she sounded at least a little apologetic.

“I’m the freaking Great and Powerful George. You should believe me because I only speak the truth. And because I’m great!”

“What’s so great about you, anyway? I bet you’re all show,” Rainbow guffawed.

“Show? Show? I’ll show you show!” George threatened her but Celestia put her hoof up to stop him.

“I assure you all, the Great and Powerful George is as adept as his self proclaimed title suggests. I couldn’t possibly call this gathering without him,” she confirmed.

“Thank you,” George said, sounding quite annoyed. “At least some ponies around here know how to give a little respect.”

Celestia ignored George’s blatant disrespect and continued. “You see, George has been studying the Drudges for decades. At the moment, he is the foremost authority on the subject. He has trained and honed his unicorn magic for dealing specifically with the Drudges and is the only pony of this age to have earned the title of Mystic.”

“See. Told you I’m great.” George smiled a self-satisfactory smile.

Celestia leaned closer to Twilight and whispered in her ear. “Though even I admit he is very difficult at times.”

Though Twilight was a little amused at Celestia’s remark, there was still one question that concerned her. “Princess Celestia, what exactly is so bad about these Drudges? Do they have something to do with why you need the Elements of Harmony?”

Celestia’s serious expression was answer enough. She looked up at the elaborate tapestries Twilight had already noticed hanging on the wall. “By now you all know the story of Night Mare Moon as well as that of Discord. However, there is still one part of the puzzle I have yet to explain. Discord’s creations known as the Drudges, the very creatures you see before you now.”

“Discord’s creations?” Twilight and her friends looked at the Drudges with new interest as well as a bit of contempt and respect. Each of the three Drudges seemed to stare at Celestia, as if they knew she was the opposite of their creator.

“Long before my sister and I stood up to Discord, he used the Drudges to create chaos throughout Equestria, the most notorious havoc being their eventual use in turning Luna into Night Mare Moon.” The ponies went wide-eyed. “That Drudge there in the middle, it is called Isis. That very Drudge created the doubt and hatred in Luna’s heart that turned her against ponykind and aided in her final transformation into Night Mare Moon.”

The Drudge with blue stripes stared wickedly at them, almost seeming to stare down into their soles. Or maybe it wasn’t them. Luna seemed fixated on the Drudge called Isis, the very sight of which seemed to cause her great fear and panic. She stopped trembling when Celestia gently placed her hoof on Luna’s back. Luna breathed in and out heavily, and spoke.

“It’s true. I’ll never forget the anger and resentment I felt for Celestia. I want to say it was all Isis’s fault, but I know she couldn’t have done so if my feelings hadn’t already been there.”

“Luna, that’s enough. You are the only one who has not forgiven yourself.”

“Oh big sister…,” Luna buried her face in Celestia’s chest. Philomena uttered a concerned whine as Celestia took a few moments to comfort her sister before addressing the gathered ponies once again.

“Isis has done more than that one deed and the other Drudges are not much different. Many ponies in the past have died from their actions, not all of them commanded by Discord either. Luna’s transformation was their own choice, since Discord was already imprisoned at that point. Though their very name suggests that they are little more than slaves, they are conscious beings and capable of making decisions on their own.”

“But, if the Drudges are really so bad, then why are they all here? They don’t seem very dangerous now,” Applejack spoke up.

Celestia turned to George. “Would you care to explain what has become of the Drudges in years past?”

George cleared his throat, obviously ready to make a grand monologue of his own. His horn glowed and he raised his staff in the air, creating an image akin to the tapestries on the wall, though this one featured the Drudges. As he spoke, the image changed and matched the story he then told them.

“As Celestia said, the Drudges created a lot of havoc on behalf of Discord. However, when Discord was imprisoned in stone, the Drudges took their own initiative and began seeking ways to free him as well as increase their own power. They aroused quite a gathering of confused and otherwise easily duped ponies to do their bidding and betray ponykind. That’s when they attacked Luna and turned her into Night Mare Moon, effectively neutralizing the Elements of Harmony after they were used to banish her. They must have known that the Elements were powerful enough to stop them and believed themselves invincible otherwise. But then, under the guidance of Princess Celestia, the very first council of Mystics was formed. Combining their strengths, they suppressed the armies of the Drudges and fought the very creatures themselves. They were thought to have been defeated.”

The images in the air ceased and George looked at them all more seriously. “Thought to have been defeated is the key here. In truth, they fooled everypony, even Princess Celestia. Over the centuries, evidence surfaced that the Drudges had actually gone into hiding, the reason being that they had been severely weakened by their battle with Celestia and the Mystics. They slept for centuries, apparently waiting for their creator Discord to free himself of his prison. Their whereabouts were even found, but nopony recognized them and it was thought that they could do nothing in their dormant state so their locations were not reported to Princess Celestia until about a year ago, when Night Mare Moon returned. Truly it was poor judgment and lack of knowledge, the foals.” George shook his head in annoyance.

“Nopony ever thought the Mystics would be needed again. That’s why I’m the only one left. But those foals should have known better. When Discord escaped his stone prison, the Drudges awakened. You have no idea what I went through to capture these things. Clearly, they’ve retained some of their wicked power from before. It was little more than fortunate that the Mystics of the past were not so foolish and created a way to contain them if ever they returned. These cases the Drudges now sit in, they are made of magic glass to suppress their incredible power inside. And if you stop touching it!”

Rainbow Dash turned around sheepishly. She had been tapping on the glass again.

“It might contain them from the inside, but the cases are otherwise as fragile as normal glass. The last thing we need is for them to become free again.”

“Ooooooh. I sense foreshadowing!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, noting her ear flop.

George stared at her. “Seriously, who invited you buffoons?”

“Anyway,” Twilight said, interrupting George’s insult, “if the Drudges have been contained, then what do you need us here for?”

Celestia fixed Twilight with a solemn expression. “The Drudges have hurt many ponies in the past and I am not willing to risk their evil in this world anymore. I need you and the Elements of Harmony to destroy the Drudges once and for all.”

Burgle pushed back his dark green hood, getting a better look at the goings on below. From his vantage point in the ventilation shaft, he could see both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna talking to a small gathering of ponies. Most interesting of all were the three glass cases in the room, which contained even more interesting black creatures. There was also a pretty nifty phoenix sitting in the room.

“So those things are the Drudges,” Burgle whispered to himself. To think that somepony had actually contracted him to steal such bizarre looking creatures. Even though Celestia and all those guards were in the room, Burgle didn’t think it would be too difficult to take them. It might be a bit of a struggle, but his quick wits and unicorn magic had never failed him before. He just had to wait for the right moment. Then he could swoop down, put the Drudges in the magic containment box and…

Burgle felt around with his hooves before he realized that the box was missing. Looking around frantically and shining a dull light from his horn, Burgle searched for the missing box, wondering what could have happened to it.

“Curses and mules,” he grumbled under his breath. He must have left it back there where that stupid pony had offered to give him a boost into the ventilation shaft. Burgle silently wondered how he could be so careless. He hadn’t botched a job in years. Celestia had just mentioned destroying the Drudges. If he went back to get the box now, the Drudges might be gone. He didn’t even know that much about the Drudges. He had found his way to this vent just as some old unicorn below had said something about the cases the Drudges were in being fragile. In any case, he might just have to jump down there and cause a little confusion to buy time. This would have been so much easier if he hadn’t decided to work alone.

“Hey, junior!”

Burgle jumped and, for the second time that day, hit his head on the ceiling. Rubbing his throbbing head, Burgle looked back and almost cursed. The same stupid earth pony from before had followed him into the ventilation shaft. Great. This was just great. The darn pony had ruined everything and for the first time in years, Burgle was going to fail.

“Junior, you forgot your toolbox. I brought it for you.”

Celestia be praised! Luck was once again on Burgle’s side. That wonderful, wonderful earth pony. Now if only he could get him to leave.

“Thanks. I was just wondering where my toolbox went,” he whispered.

“Here you go. Glad to be of help.”

“No problem, Pops. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really must get to work.” Burgle gestured with his horn for the pony to leave.

“Pops? I’m not that old yet. Names Davenport. How are you?”

“Good.” Burgle nervously shook hooves with him.

After firmly shaking hooves for a few seconds, Davenport smiled and lingered. “So, I’ve never actually done any plumbing myself. Had a nasty leak in my store just the other day as it happens. Think you could give me a few pointers on fixing pipes?”

“Uh… well… um…,”

“You must understand,” a voice that sounded distinctly like Princess Celestia echoed from the room below. “This is the only solution to our problem. The Elements are the only thing that can destroy them now. The Drudges must be dealt with.”

“Hey, that sounds like Princess Celestia,” Davenport moved over to the vent opening and peered down. “That looks like Princess Celestia.”

“Well… she does live here after all.” Burgle laughed nervously, but quietly.

“This is a ventilation shaft. I may not know much about plumbing but I’m pretty sure you don’t get to it from the vents.”

“Yeah, I sorta got lost back there. Happens all the time in these big castle type places.”

“Wait a minute,” Davenport looked suspiciously at Burgle. “You’re not a plumber at all, are you?” Burgle gulped. His cover had been blown. “Are you peeping?”

“What?” Burgle almost hit his head on the ceiling again.

“You’re peeping aren’t you?” Davenport pointed a hoof at him accusingly.

“Are you kidding me? We’re freaking ponies. What the hay am I going to peep at?”

“Why… intimate moments of course,” Davenport said positively.

Burgle stared at him, more dumbfounded than the time he had accidentally walked into a circus act where a pony was trying to get an elephant to swallow a bag of fruit and barf up a sculpture of Princess Celestia.

“You’re weird,” he finally said.

“You’re the one who’s peeping.”

“I am not peeping. I’m trying to steal some… thing. Crud.” If his cover hadn’t been blown before, it surely was now.

“You’re a thief?” Davenport said, as if the thought had never crossed his mind. “Of all the nerve. I aught to turn you in.”

“Oh, to heck with this.” Burgle’s horn lit up and he pointed it at Davenport. “You know, if you think about it, earth ponies don’t really stand much of a chance against unicorns.”

Apparently, that thought hadn’t crossed Davenport’s mind either. He stared nervously at the horn in front of him. “Now wait a sec there, junior, let’s be rational about this.”

“This conversation hasn’t been rational since it started, so I’m not about to now.”

“Come on junior, I’ve got a business. You need a sofa? How about some quills? I can get you a great discount.” As he spoke, Davenport inched sideways.

“Wait, Pops. Not over there!”

But it was too late. Davenport leaned down on the vent opening. Unable to support the weight of a full-grown pony, the vent gave way and Davenport fell into the room below. Burgle heard the sound of glass breaking just before someone screamed. Then a blue light exploded and Burgle was temporarily blinded. The next thing he knew, a bright blue light of magic energy shot past him, bouncing off the walls of the ventilation shaft and screeching away. What the hay had that been?

“Forget this. The pay’s not that good,” Burgle shouted and scrambled back out of the shaft, praying that no more light shot after him.