//------------------------------//
// Evil Speaks 
// Story: To The End of Drudges 
// by GWFan 
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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.