To The End of Drudges

by GWFan


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