CHAPTER 1

Hey everypony! I was finally able to begin writing Volume 9, and I bet you're all happy to see this one finally arrive. It took me for a while to get cleared to write this one, as it contains multiple OC's from several sources. So first, I want to give credit where credit is due. Thanks to Zee66 of Deviantart for allowing me use of Echo the Bat Pony. Thanks to bluecatcinema for helping me track down leads. Thanks to Captain Fuckew McHugerage for one of his OC's, who will be showing up soon. And last but not least, special thanks to my little girl for supplying not only Budder to this story, but another of her OC's as well. And thanks to all of you who have followed this series from the beginning, and a warm welcome to all of you just now joining the anthology. Feel free to go back and enjoy Drake's story from the beginning. You won't be sorry for the time you spend reading it. And so, with that, let us now begin chapter one. Enjoy, and please review, everypony!

During my time as a detective in the employ of the Princesses of Equestria, I'd had a few cases that were just plain strange. A couple were beyond weird, and firmly in the domain of the dark and macabre. I cannot give a full account of my most monumental cases without mention of this particular incident. My sister wanted me to include this in my autobiography as well, and as you may all know by this point, I can't deny her anything, so I will include the twisted events here in my little personal history.

Dashie, Budder and I had just gotten in from a shopping trip in town. This means we went to the smaller mom-and-pop grocer, and not any of the fancy boutique shops that had become so prevalent in our town outside of Manehattan. A recent incursion of artsy-types and hipster-ponies had caused our suburban paradise to become a beatnik-hell. I liked my coffee shops, but seven in a town with a population of twenty five hundred ponies was just overdoing it. What town needs three art galleries anyhow?"

"Alright guys. Ya'll wanna help me put up the grub before we go get some lunch?" I asked as we entered the front door. I sat my three bags down on the dining table.

"Ah...I'm just gonna crash for a while." Dashie said. "Time for my mid-afternoon nap." She sat two bags of groceries on the table.

"As opposed to your mid-morning nap...or your noon siesta...or your evening snooze?" I commented.

"Shup." She said, sticking her tongue out immaturely.

"That's alright. Me and Budder'll put up the groceries, then we're gonna go out and grab a sammich. You can stay here and sleep if you want...but you'll be missing sammich, so it's up to you."

"Sleep now, sammich later." Dash replied with a wave of a hoof. "That's my philosophy."

"Alright...your loss." I shrugged. Dashie yawned.

"Wake me up when you get back, kay?"

"You sure you want us to do that?" I asked with a grin. "Cause I can think up some really inventive and disturbing ways to wake somepony up." My marefriend glowered at me.

"Dude, you'd better not." Rainbow Dash advised. "If you wanna sleep in the same bed with me, that is."

"Heheh..." I chuckled. "Alright...go get your beauty sleep." I said.

"Not that I need it..." She commented, fishing for a compliment.

"Beauty's in the eyes of the beerholder." I answered wryly. Rainbow narrowed her eyes, and with a toss of her head, she walked out of the room.

With my marefriend in the parlor dozing off, Budder put up all of the newly-purchased groceries in the kitchen, while I arranged all of the tropical fruits I had bought in a large red bowl on the dining table. Not that they'd last very long, but at least they could serve a decorative purpose until they served the purpose of being consumed. With all the foodstuffs now put up, and Dashie unconscious on the couch, my sister and I left to get ourselves some lunch at the small bistro down the street.

Budder and I got home a little more than an hour later. We walked into the left parlor to see Dashie still sawing logs on the soft couch. I shook my head and walked out of the room and down the small hallway to the dining room. I tossed my house key onto the table as always, then stopped. In the middle of the large table was an empty bowl. Where once an impressive assortment of tropical fruits once graced the table, was now an empty vessel. I narrowed my eyes. Dashie had obviously been asleep the whole time, and she didn't like fruit this much anyhow.

"The Hell..." I muttered. I looked around the kitchen suspiciously as my sister walked in. "Sis...did you swipe the fruit?"

"The what now?" She replied, looking around.

"The fruit, angel...the mangoes and the passionfruits and junk I had on the table?" I asked. "I was gonna make some kind of exotic fruit salad with those. Now they're gone." My sister looked around some more, as if the collection of strange fruits would be walking around the room somehow.

"Drake, I've been out with you." She said. "Rainbow Dash might have done it. We know how she eats."

"No...she don't like that kind of fruit. Besides, she's been asleep."

"Ghosts, maybe?" She offered.

"We ain't had no grocery-stealing ghosts in here before. If there's ghosts in here, you let 'em in. No...somepony did this."

"What? Stole your fruit?"

"Yes. Filched the fruit. Kyped the Kiwis. Purloined the Passionfruit!"

"Heehee." Budder giggled.

"Eheehee..." Another light, feminine voice giggled, making me freeze. For a brief moment, we simply stood there, staring into each others' eyes.

"Sis...I don't think we're alone in here..." I whispered. I reached over to where a broom was leaned against the corner. In one quick, adrenaline-fueled movement, I spun about, holding the cleaning implement like a lance, only to find the room behind me empty. I cocked up my right eyebrow in contemplation. "Okay...I'm not going completely crazy...you heard that too, right?"

"Uh-huh..." Budder nodded. "I told you...it's ghosts."

"Hm. Well, if you think so, get your equipment and some sage and get rid of it!" I stated. Wait...something wasn't quite right here. "Budder...I get the strangest feeling...that we're being watched." I muttered. Just then, a splat on the floor caught my attention. I looked to see one of my guavas, now brown and squishy, splattered on the hardwood floor. "What the..." I said. I looked up at the high-vaulted ceiling, and found the culprit. A bat pony mare was hanging upside down from the ceiling of the dining room, an innocent grin on her face.

"Heehee." She giggled cutely.

"You're the one that ate my fruit!" I exclaimed. "Wait...what the Hell are you doing in my house?!" The bat pony spread her dark blue bat wings and glided to the floor in front of me. She was a light gray-blue color, with a dark blue mane and tail. She looked at me happily with cat-like golden-amber eyes, trademark of the nocturnal equines.

"Oh...eheh. Princess Luna sent me to talk to you." She said. "She couldn't come herself, and said she's sorry about that, by the way...but yeah...I'm her messenger, Echo."

"Oh." I said calmly. Then I gestured to the guava on the floor. "But why did you eat my fruit?!"

"Oh...oops...eheh...sorry about that, Lieutenant." She replied with a smile. "I was waiting for you to get home, and I got like...really hungry. I couldn't help it. I love mangoes. Well...mangoes...and guavas and kiwis and..." She caught my stoical gaze and gave me yet another innocent little grin. "I'll buy you more if you want..."

"Ugh...no...it's alright, I guess..." I sighed. My sister walked up slowly to Echo, curious about the bat pony, and held out a hoof, as if to poke the newcomer. Echo playfully nipped at her hoof, and she jerked it back instinctively.

"You're a bat pony." Budder said, enthralled.

"Uh-huh." Echo replied proudly. "I got the wings and everything, see?" The messenger spread her wings, showing off the appendages as if they were a badge of honor.

"Cooooooool!" My sister gushed. "Bat ponies are so awesome!"

"I know, right?!" Echo replied excitedly.

"My name's Budder."

"Echo! Nice to meet ya!"

"Ahem..." I cleared my throat. The two easily-distracted ponies gave me their attention. "You said Princess Luna sent you to speak to me about something?"

"Yep!" Echo answered. She pulled a letter from the small black haversack she wore and unfolded it. "There's been a few incidents that have gotten her attention lately. A bunch of bad ponies, you know...killers, drug dealers, foal abusers and stuff...they've been murdered."

"Good for them!" I interjected. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Well, Princess Luna wants you to investigate the killings, and find out who's doing it. That's what she said, at least." The bat pony said.

"Ugh...I find and arrest bad ponies..." I groused. "I don't usually find who's killing bad ponies. I don't really get this case. They do a pretty good job of eliminating themselves all the time...and that usually saves me some work. Why is this such a high-priority, anyway?"

"Umm..." Echo thought, looking over the letter. "I don't think she mentioned that." I rolled my eyes.

"How long have you been Luna's messenger?" I asked.

"I just started!" She said happily.

"Uh-huh." I grunted. "Thought so."

"She talks about you all the time." Echo stated. "Um...the princess, I mean. When this assignment came up, I just had to meet you myself! That's why I volunteered to bring the message."

"Okay..." I began.

"And you're just as cool as Princess Luna said. I mean...I thought you'd be more...you know..." She stood on her hind legs and did her best impression of The Exterminator. "Ahm gonna bloo...you ahp. Hasta la vista baby." She dropped back on all fours. "But it's all good. You're funny and smart like the princess said, and handsome too." I rolled my eyes again and sighed.

"Are you always this hyper?" I asked.

"Meh. I have a sunny disposition. Most ponies seem to like it." Echo replied.

"I do! You wanna hang out sometime?" My sister asked bluntly.

"Totally!" Echo exclaimed.

"Oh lord..." I groaned. "Two of them..." I interrupted the blossoming friendship. "I'll go see Luna tonight to figure this out. Since you two are bosom chums now, you can stay till then, Echo."

"Sweet!" Echo exclaimed happily.

"Come on, you gotta see my room!" My sister called. "I have ghost hunting equipment!"

"Nice!" The bat pony replied just as eagerly. The two galloped out of the dining room.

"We'll leave in two hours!" I called after them.

"Wha...huh?" Rainbow Dash yawned, entering the room. "What they hay is goin' on?"

"Ahhh...we gotta go see Princess Luna in a couple hours. A bunch of criminals got offed, and she wants us to find out why, so it looks like we got a new case. Oh, and Budder is friends with a bat pony now." Dashie wiped the sleep out of her eyes and stared at me a moment.

"The heck did I miss?" She asked incredulously.

"Sammiches." I answered.

What did you think, loyal readers? I know that the first chapter alone is no way to judge a fic, but I think this one's off to a pretty good start. I look forward to hearing your input. Once again, thanks to Zee66 for Echo. I came across her, and just fell in love with her personality. I just knew that I had to find a way to use her in a story. She fits in so well with Budder, I think. Perhaps it's the start of a lifelong friendship? Maybe. I'm sure you're all wondering how this case will turn out. I will try not to keep all of you waiting too long for an update, and try to have chapter two up sometime tomorrow. So until then, thank you for reading, everypony. -Drake