To The End of Drudges

by GWFan

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.

Comments

[Final Fantasy BRN]

"Burgle" A name that best suits a thieving pony.

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Exciting, action-packed chapter. I enjoyed it.