CHAPTER 7

Hey everypony. I'm finally back with another chapter for your reading pleasure. Something that happens in this chapter is going to be a major moment in the whole series for a particular reason. And however you take what happens here is entirely up to you and your own moral code. I don't want to hear any negative comments about what happens. That said, enjoy the chapter, and please review.

"Where were you last night?" Dash asked. I gulped down a mouthful of coffee.

"Huh?" I asked innocently.

"Last night. You said you'd come up when you were done writing or whatever." My marefriend said. "I came down lookin' for you about two in the morning, and you weren't here." I hated lying to Dash, or anypony for that matter, but there was no way I could tell her where I'd really been. A little fib would be the lesser of two evils in this case.

"Oh. Yeah, I was trying to write, and nothin' was coming to me, so I went out and took a walk. Down by the stream, you know?"

"Oh." Dash replied. "Just makin' sure everything was cool, ya know? Did it help? Your walk or whatevs?"

"Uh...not really..." I answered, telling the truth on that one. "So, what do you have planned for today, sweetie?"

"Well Derpy's gotta work at the post office, and Cheese is throwing a baby shower, so I was gonna go help AJ with her apple harvest."

"That's awful nice of you." I commented.

"Well we're buds. Plus I'm sure to get all the cider I can drink." Dash grinned.

"Go easy on the cider." I cautioned, then took another drink of my black coffee.

"Says the stallion who's like twenty percent coffee..." My marefriend returned. "You know the doc said to stop drinking so much of that stuff..."

"I'm down to a pot a day." I said defensively. "I call that a personal achievement."

"You really wanna see bub without his coffee?" My sister asked, entering the kitchen.

"Umm...come to think of it, I've never seen him without coffee in his system." Dash answered. "Kind of a scary thought.

"Death by decaffeination..." I mused.

"You want to do anything today?" Dash asked me. "You haven't done anything for the last two days but sit around and be lazy."

"It's a vacation. I'm supposed to relax." I explained. "Eh, I may go out and get some lunch somewhere. I'm about finished with the whole Ponyville part of my story...thank Luna."

"Okay then..." Dash remarked. "You can stay here and be...boring then. I swear sweetie, you've gotten so normal since you retired."

"Tell me about it..." I grumbled. "Not having terrorists to chase and monsters to fight is making me a fat, boring old stallion. I need something to do."

"Yes you do, Drake..." My marefriend agreed. She walked over and kissed me on the cheek. "I'll see you this evening, okay?" I turned my head and caught her on the lips with a short kiss.

"Have fun, Dashie." I said warmly. "Love you."

"Love you too." She said. I watched her leave the house. It may have been the stallion in me acting up, but I couldn't help but realize that even at twenty five, Dash was still just as attractive as she was when we first met. I sighed and finished my coffee.

"What about you?" I asked, turning to Budder. "What are you doing today?"

"I dunno." She shrugged indifferently.

"Gonna go hang out with your friend, I'm guessing?"

"I guess." She replied. "You gonna be okay, bub?"

"You asking if I'm gonna be okay by myself all day?" I grinned. "I would hope so."

"I don't like you being alone." She stated grimly. Always the overprotective little sister...

"It's not all bad, angel." I reassured her. "Maybe I'll get to finish my writing." She rolled her eyes. "When you comin' back?"

"Dunno...a couple hours maybe?" She answered. "Why?"

"Well, Dashie's gonna be gone till this evening, probably." I thought out loud. "When you get back, you want to practice your swordplay?"

"We ain't done that in forever." She said happily. "I brought my wooden sword."

"I know." I nodded. "Alright. You get back, and we'll spar a bit, alright?"

"Yep!" She agreed with a big smile. The next thing I knew, she had imprisoned me in a hug. "You're the best big brother in the world, you know that?" I smiled a little at that.

"Just trying to teach you some things you might need to know in the future." I stated. "With all three of us watching each others' sixes, we have overlapping fields of sixes being protected." She looked me in the face curiously, and I gave her a comical grin, making her laugh. "Go catch up with Scootaloo. I'll be here when you two get done doing whatever it is that teenagers do these days.

"What did you do?" My sister asked. "When you were a teenager?"

"Read, mostly." I admitted. "And practiced with swords."

"You were boring before you met me, bub." Budder commented.

"Come to think of it, yeah." I chuckled. "Dashie says something along the same lines."

"Well, you go write or whatever, and I'll be back in a little bit." She said.

"Love you sis."

"Love you too, bub." Budder replied before leaving the house. I finished another cup of coffee and finally settled down to work on my writing.

I reviewed what I had written the day before, and made some changes. I wanted whoever read my autobiography (If anypony did) to have the real story, to understand exactly what it was like to be on the investigation that had changed not only my life, but the lives of so many ponies in this town. After three hours of working on my narrative, I was finally nearing the completion of the Ponyville chapter of my life. It was then that something else happened that would come as a shock and change a great many things.

They say that no matter how strange something is, given enough time, it becomes normal. Over the last few years, I had definitely seen the strange. I was long desensitized to things that would make most ponies stop and take notice, and even being in the presence of a dead body...or a monster...or Equestria's worst criminals didn't faze me very much at all. No, it was when something happened out of the blue that affected me on a personal level, and made me pause and rethink even the smallest aspects of life that got to me at that point. This is precisely what happened.

"Um...bubby?" My sister said in a low voice, walking slowly into the room.

"What's up, sis?" I asked, putting down my writing.

"I uhhh...I need to tell you something..." She said meekly. Now I was curious. Budder was hardly ever this nervous talking about anything.

"Bub...I really like Scootaloo..." She said plainly. I shrugged boredly.

"Okay..." I returned. "She's a nice young filly. What's not to like?" My sister just stood there, staring at me like there was more to the story.

"No...bub..." She sighed. "I...I mean I...really like Scootaloo...you know?"

"Uh-huh..." I said, somewhat annoyed. "You're attracted to Scootaloo. I heard you the first time."

"Bub?" She had a scared look on her face.

"Sis...what did you want me to do? Yell at you? Tell you it's just a stupid phase?" I gave her a warm little smile to show her that I cared. "I love you, sis. No matter what. You are who you are, and nothing will ever chance that." I admit that I was a little taken aback by her confession, but what I said next summed it up, I suppose. "I...I guess I accept it. I mean, it's not really a bad thing, and it's part of who you are, sweetheart. You gotta go do what makes you happy. You gotta love whoever makes both parties happy." She smiled, and tears welled up in her blue-gray eyes. She sniffed, and knocked a lock of dirty-blonde mane out of her face.

"Thank you, Drake." My little sister whispered.

"Thank you, Budder." I said back. "For being the kind of kid I can trust to almost always make the right decisions. I never had to raise you...you've been mature enough to make your own choices since I met you. I just had to legally put a roof over your head." I leaned over and wrapped my forelegs around her, and my sister hugged me back. "The easiest part has always been loving you and respecting you, sis."

"I love you, bub."

"I love you too, sis." I whispered back. I broke the embrace, and wiped a tear from her cheek. "So...uh..." I began. I was the last pony in Equestria that needed to give relationship advice. "Does she uh...she feel the same...you know?"

"I don't know..." Budder sighed wistfully. "Like...I think so. I mean...she is a...well, like me. And I can usually tell."

"Really?" I asked. Damn, they grow up fast...

"Yeah. I kind of...uh...eheheh..."

"What?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well, me and Echo kissed once...so...yeah..." I just stared at her a few moments. "She wasn't gay, bub. Just...experimenting. And we didn't take it any f..."

"Stop!" I ordered, holding up my forehooves to show that I was done with all of this for now. "Please just...leave it at that, okay?"

"Heehee..." Budder giggled.

"Just one thing, sis." I added. "Be careful. I don't care if it's a colt or a filly, relationships and...relations...are the same across the board. It's not fun and games, you understand that?"

"Yes." She answered seriously.

"You're still too young for some things, and I don't have to tell you what those...things are. You'll be old enough when you get into a serious, long-term relationship, get old enough to move out, or brave enough to tell me to go to Hell."

"Like that's ever gonna happen..." Budder remarked. I grinned.

"Exactly. Now what are you going to do?"

"Um..."

"I'm gonna give you some money, and if you want to spend time with your...damn, this is gonna be hard gettin' used to...your girlfriend...you can." I motioned for her to speak. "So you're gonna do...what?"

"Um...meet her after...school?" Budder asked.

"And?"

"Take her...out to...dinner?"

"Hm. The cafe's really good." I said. "It's where Dashie and I had our first date."

"Then that's where I'll go." My sister smiled.

"Be a perfect gentleman." I advised. "Hold doors, and don't let the lady pay for anything."

"Um..."

"Luna damn it, Budder...you threw me a friggin' curveball with this one, okay? I don't know anything about this stuff, I'm just assuming you're the...colt..."

"God, buuuuuuuub..." She groaned.

"I think I've had enough drama for one day now..." I said. "I'm gonna go make some coffee and see about getting some lunch. Then I guess we can work on your swordplay." I stood and started for the kitchen. "You coming?"

"Yee..." My sister answered. "Can we have waffles?" I paused.

"Waffles...for lunch?" I asked incredulously. "Damn you're weird."

Well, that was a bombshell, huh? Welcome to my world. And like I said, I understand that everyone feels differently about this sort of thing, but it is what it is, and as conservative and right-leaning as I can be, I also believe in loving and supporting your family no matter what. So that's that, and that's all I'm gonna say about it. I hope you all liked this installment, and I will attempt to get the next one up soon, probably in the next three days. So until then, thanks for reading. As the famous general said, I shall return. -Drake