CHAPTER 1
If you have been following the life of Drake, this is the long-anticipated beginning of pert three of his story. I hope all of you enjoy this volume as much as you enjoyed the last. If this is the first Drake-centric story you have read so far, that's fine. This fic can be read by itself. In fact, I wrote this story before any of the others, and originally intended it to be a stand-alone fic. Then, I got into MLP more, and decided to make it a series. So, without further ado, here is Chapter one of volume three. I hope you enjoy. Please send me your reviews, everypony!
There have been a lot of wild rumors circulating about the events surrounding the infamous 'cupcakes' incident, what some folk call 'the Pinkamena murders', and the ponies connected with the dark occurrence. What drives me, and everypony else involved mad are the ones who write their own narratives about the twisted case, when they weren't even there. What's even worse is that some...fans of this case who draw some sick, sadistic pleasure from hearing about the events that still give me and other ponies involved nightmares.I want to put this damned story straight once and for all.
Pinkamena is dead. Her young accomplice is safely in the crazy farm, and all traces of the brutal murders have been...ahem...erased, save for the written history. Protection for the living victims is no longer necessary, and all evidence is now declassified, and so I have gotten permission from Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia, my superior officers Colonel Surcingle, commanding officer, 12th Equestrian Cavalry, Colonel Saber Rattle, commanding officer Royal Military Police Division, as well as the Ponyville constable to write this account.
My name is Drake. That's not my real name. My name, in case it has any special interest to you personally is 1st Lieutenant Dragoon Sabre, 12th Royal Equestrian Cavalry, currently assigned to the Royal Military Police Division as a special investigator. But since everypony just calls me Drake, Lieutenant Drake, or 'You with the ridiculous hat', the readers of this little story must be happy with Drake. Now, knowing my name, I insist that any mentally disturbed folk out there obsessed with this case not try to track me down for more gory details than I wish to even remember.
Now, where to begin? Well, for one, I'm a soldier in the 12th Equestrian Cavalry. Being a lieutenant in a cavalry regiment specializing in frontier guardianship offers many opportunities for hardship, isolation and danger. So I found myself early on in my life in a perfect position for a rattlesnake or a sagebrush. I commanded a small frontier garrison consisting of a small squad of cavalryponies and two civilians, a scout and a sutler.
My home, my prison, and my duty for over five years was Fort Mesquite, in the Badlands to the west of Canterlot, Manehattan, and all other 'civilized' parts of the land. The nearest settlement was a small village, five miles from the fort. This, like it or not, was my entire world. Day after day of patrolling the countryside for wild Buffalo threatening the towns and the settlers, and week after week of mostly boring routine and staring at the same four walls amounted to a life of dust, privation and monotony, broken only by what few instances of fun we could muster, or by the frantic action of battle.
Not that I shy away from a fight. We had our scraps, and I never back down from a fight if I am under orders or if it's for a good cause. Unfortunately, our adversaries preferred sneak attacks, hitting and running, before disappearing into the wilderness like ghosts. Still, we fought. We defended the frontier. We guarded the settlers, and lived our lives of duty, my troopers and I, for almost five years. Then...there was the incident.
Unless you have been there, you can never know the horrors of war. Orders and military structure exist for the sole purpose of saving as many lives as possible...on your side. A soldier...an officer needs only to make a single mistake, act rashly only once, and all hell breaks loose. Things happen, bad things, and ponies die. I will say no more about it.
So, I found myself disgraced for what I had done. I was sent back to Canterlot, and expected a full court martial. Maybe prison time, execution, or at least a dishonorable discharge. Apparently though, my regimental commander appealed to the general, and the general appealed to somepony. I do not know. Maybe somepony really high up got ahold of my paperwork and saw something in it, and in me. I don't know, and I couldn't have cared less at the time. I'd had enough. If I were thrown out of the cavalry I loved in disgrace, I deserved it. If I were hung from a gallows in the middle of Canterlot, I would have welcomed it as a fitting punishment for my crimes.
Until the final verdict was decided, I was stuck behind a desk in Canterlot, doing the one thing all field commanders dread...administrative work. I sat at a desk and filled out and stamped forms for the cavalry, and passed them on in a never-ending assembly line of papers and forms, orders and transfers, leaves and requisitions. I hated it. From the very beginning, I feared being stuck in a position like this, and I invited the day to come where I would be dragged to court to face the charges leveled against me by the military and my own actions on the frontier. After the incident that plunged me into self-loathing, this was a fate worse than death. Here I was, 28 years old, and without friends, family, and now stuck in a cubicle waiting on the brass to pass judgment on me for making the biggest damned mistake of my life.
Every night, I sat in my small room, staring at my beloved cavalry sabre hanging on the wall. Soon, the visions would come, the memories. It was almost like I was there again, that day on the frontier. I thought about it, the sabre...if I could bring myself to do that. It seemed only right some nights, to die by the sword, my own sword. Then my mind would clear, though I wondered at times which thoughts were really mental clarity, and which instances were truly insanity.
Then, one morning, as I get ready for another day of menial and unsatisfying work, there was a knock on the door to my small apartment. Without a word being dais, the door opened, and there stood a tall, stoutly build light tan earth pony. He wore the distinctive dress uniform of a Cuirassier, complete with the polished steel helm with a brass ridge and black crest. On either sleeve were the stripes of a Sergeant Major. I stared at this imposing figure a moment, and realized that almost like the shadow of death, this powerful-looking NCO had come for me.
"First Lieutenant Dragoon Sabre?" He inquired.
"Yes." I answered simply.
"Sgt Major Sword Breaker." He replied. "You must come with me at once." I sighed.
"Alright." I answered. "Where?"
"Court...lieutenant." The sergeant major stated. He stood in the doorway, obviously waiting on me to get myself together and go with him, and looking like the type of soldier who takes his duties seriously, and wouldn't take no for an answer. I strapped on my sabre, and pulled on my hat. My reckoning had finally come, and I was ready to face it with cautious optimism. Sergeant Major Breaker stood aside as I walked out of the room. As I started down the hall, the stern NCO walked beside me.
"Cuirassiers?" I asked in a low voice as we walked. He looked slightly to my direction, and snapped his eyes back forward. We walked in silence a few seconds before he finally replied.
"I was with the 39th Cuirassiers." He replied. "Command Sergeant Major." I nodded. The 39th. Good unit. You know you're a good unit when they make up fables about your exploits. "Currently Sergeant Major of the Cavalry, sir." So they had sent the highest-ranking NCO in the entire damned cavalry to fetch me, and a battle-hardened veteran at that. I just knew at that point that this day would end with me at the end of a rope, or wishing I was. Sergeant Major Breaker escorted me for a long time, leading me down the street of official buildings, until we came to a door guarded by two soldiers of the Canterlot Royal Guard. The gold-armored ponies allowed us passage through the large ornate door, and we walked down a long hall. We stopped just before another large door, white with gold inlay.
"We here?" I asked simply, ready to get this over with.
"Through that door, lieutenant." Breaker stated. "My duty was to escort you to court, and nothing more. Good luck, lieutenant." He stood there a moment, and his bright green eyes wandered a bit. "I knew your father...your adopted father, sir. Good pony."
"Yes..." I whispered. "Yes he was."
"Good luck." He said, and nodded.
"Thank you, sergeant major." I replied. He walked away, and I stood there in silence, staring at the door. I walked up, and pushed open the doors, ready to accept my fate.
I had been told I was being taken to court. expected the kind of court with a military judge, jurors, and JAG lawyers painting me as the unstable, incompetent monster I probably was. I found myself confused and surprised. I had not been taken to military court. Instead, I had just been escorted to the kind of court I had never expected...Royal Court.
Clad in my sword belt and sabre, and wearing my coquettish gray cavalier slouch hat, upturned on the right side with a large griffon feather sticking out of the brim, I found myself standing before the trone of Her Majesty, Princess Celestia herself. I was in awe. With her brilliant mane shimmering like the morning sky, and her powerful gaze upon me, I felt choked up. I stammered for a moment, then cast my hat to the floor, and knelt before my monarch.
"Your Majesty!" I gasped, averting my eyes downward. There was a moment of silence.
"Lieutenant..." The princess finally said, her voice seemingly full of compassion. I looked up to see that she had descended from her throne, and was slowly coming toward me. For all I knew, my crime had been so great that the Royal Sisters themselves wanted to punish me personally.
"I...I am at the mercy of my Princess." I said in a low voice. "And I am prepared to die for..." I began to tear up. "...for what I have done." Another silence. I looked back up to the princess. She stood before me, trying to maintain a smile. Or was she smiling in understanding? Her eyes were full of tears, and as she blinked, they ran down her cheeks.
"Without a doubt, you have been punished enough, my faithful soldier."
"Your...Majesty?" I whispered.
"I see that you are a loyal and gallant soldier, and that you feel very deeply for all that has happened." She said, composing herself. "You made a mistake. We all make mistakes, my dear lieutenant."
"Some worse than others." I stated cynically. "Oh...I...my apologies, your highness." I whispered, bowing low.
"Please stop." Princess Celestia implored. She picked up my hat and placed it back on my head with her magic. Then she stepped forward, and gently and carefully wiped the brass crossed sabres pin on the front with her foreleg. My eyes grew as wide as saucers. "There now." She said with a warm smile.
"I...I..." I stammered.
"No," She said with another smile. "No more of that, Lieutenant Drake." She looked into my eyes, and it felt like my entire soul. "You are supposed to be one of the best, lieutenant. You are an expert tracker and hunter, and a great fighter...lest I've been lied to?" She was still giving me a friendly smile.
"I...I do my job, your highness." I replied.
"This I know." She said. "I have heard that you are one of the finest cavalry officers in Equestria."
"Well, I'm afraid that may have been a lie." I returned. "Would one of the finest cavalry officers in Equestria be waiting on a full military court martial for pulling a General Custard?"
"There will be no court martial, Drake." The princess said. "I have something else planned for you." She motioned with her head for me to walk with her. I obeyed. "A great tragedy has gripped Ponyville, a small city near here. I need a pony of strength, courage and intelligence to solve this...calamity."
"A calamity?" I muttered. "Wait! You're reassigning me?! After...after..." Princess Celestia had stopped by a window, and was staring out, concern on her face.
"Several ponies have disappeared. Simply vanished, lieutenant." She said gravely. "We are beginning to suspect...ah, how to say it? Foul play."
"What about the local police, you majesty?" I interjected. "Surely they..."
"Have hit a dead end." The princess said, finishing my statement. "They have been unable to uncover any clues pertaining to the disappearances. Nopony has. That is where you come in."
"But...I mean...Your Highness, this is not a..."
"A military matter?" She asked.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Four days ago, an off-duty Royal Guard disappeared in Ponyville. As of now, this has become a military matter. My military advisers have requested I bring in a professional military tracker and guerrilla expert."
"I understand." I said. I felt honored that of all the soldiers in Equestria, Her Highness had chosen me for this job. "What about JAG? Military PCIS? The Equestria Bureau of Investigation?"
"I have assigned you." She replied frankly. A letter appeared in a puff, and floated to my hoof. "These are your orders...but lieutenant?" I looked up to see the princess staring into my eyes with a hint of sadness. "Think of this not as an order, but as a second chance for you...and a favor to me. Please find the cause of the disappearances. See that...justice is done, Lieutenant Drake?" I was almost speechless. I nodded solemnly.
"I will...Your Highness."
So begins chapter 1 of volume three. Drake has gotten a second chance, investigating some disappearances in Ponyville. So he is probably gonna run into a few characters you may know well. If you're familiar with the dark and twisted MLP...thing...that this story references, then you may already know what's coming. This is NOT a rewrite of 'Cupcakes', which is the sole intellectual property of Sergeant Sprinkles, who is most credited with being the original author. This is a re-envisioning of the events of that story. Also, Sergeant Major Sword Breaker is not my creation. That honor goes to one Captain Fuckew McHugerage. Thanks for all the advice, mate! I'll try to have the next chapter up in a couple days. Starting monday, I'll start posting one or two chapters a day, as per usual. Please review, everypony, and thanks for reading!