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.