Epilogue

I sat in the formal parlor of our home near Manehattan. As I looked down at my still unfinished book three of my memoirs, I chuckled to myself. The way things worked out between then and now had been strange beyond words. Whoever would be bored enough to read my autobiography would be getting a Hell of a surprise once they got to this past incident. Then again, I had to sit back and think about that myself. My life had changed so much, just in a hooffull of years. The fort, Spring, Hardtack...my mistake. If only Spring had been more like Shadow, not the indiscriminate killer she was...I sighed. The Ponyville case...my first stint as a detective, and where I met Dashie...where all of this, my entire life now had started. I thought through all of my adventures. I thought about my dad, and everything he had taught me, most of which were things I had taught my sister.

I felt tears. She was so much like me...and I was so much like my dad. I knew that he would be proud. I had stopped wondering and worrying over that. I knew that he would be proud as a peacock that his boy had grown up and done the things I had done. And he would have been proud of Budder. Maybe he had known about her. Maybe he wanted me to find her, and that's why he had given me my parents' names. I knew that when I died, I needed to find him over there on that other side my sister talked about, and thank him for everything. Then, we would catch up, and wait for Dash and Budder, so I could introduce him to my family. So we could all be a family. I had to fight the tears now.

"Drake?" Dashie called. "I'm making sammiches. You wanna come eat?"

"In a minute, sweetie." I answered.

"Alrighty! I'll make you some coffee." My family...my life. I wouldn't have it any other way. I loved them. I used to think I'd never love anypony. Now, I couldn't live without these ponies who had changed my life so completely, and given me the best years of my life. Dashie was the best marefriend a stallion could want. She was my wife alright, even though we never made it official. I made a mental note to tell her how much she meant to me again tonight.

Budder was the light of my life. I could never be sad when she was around, and it was never boring. Dash was right. My sister had changed my life for the better when she came into it. I was a different pony. I still hadn't told her everything I had been through, but it was time I did. She was old enough, and she wanted to know. I would do that tomorrow. I would take her to the park, just me and her, have a picnic, and tell her my story. She had stood beside me through the worst, and I knew that she was more than just my little sister now. She was like a daughter too, and she was my best friend. I had asked her if she planned on moving out soon to be with Scootaloo. She looked at me like I was nuts.

"No bub...I can never leave you." She had said. "I want her to move in with us...that way I never have to leave any of my family." Of course I agreed.

My family...an odd bunch we were. Shadow, the undead assassin. She had become like a sister to me. She still dropped in whenever she felt like it, and almost never knocked. Some ponies didn't like her, mostly because of her job or her foul mouth...or the whole half-demon thing. To me, she was family, plain and simple. Like Luna. Not many ponies can say that one of their best friends is a princess, let alone the Princess of the Night. Then again, not many ponies have the problem of a princess having romantic feelings for them. I love Luna. Not the way she would like to have it, but as a faithful and true friend. And all of this from a pony who had started out thinking he was nothing but a tumbleweed.

It was all so cloudy at first, my life. I had once thought I was an orphan, just drifting with the wind. Now I knew better. Now that I looked back on my life, I realized how everything was connected. Everything had come full-circle. Now I was my dad, and Budder was me. Now the real Pinkie Pie was back, and everything was put back the way it should have been. yeah, everything in the world was pretty much the same as it had been before, but that was because of me. Had I not been there, how would things have turned out? I never wanted to admit the fact that Celestia kept trying to drum into my head, that I was part of something big, that I saved ponies, and that I was changing the world. I guess I sort of did. And I guess I changed my own world in the process...or maybe that was just part of the fate that I had once been afraid of. If it was, then fate might not be such a bad thing. In retrospect, I suppose I ended up with a pretty decent life...or at least one I could write about. Not that bad for a poor adopted son of a Royal Guard, huh?

So ends the story, and the saga of 1st Lieutenant Dragoon Sabre. I hope that all of you have enjoyed following Drake's life. It has been an emotional rollercoaster, and a life-changing joy for me to write. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to share this anthology with all of you, and to pass it down to posterity. Now that this is over, I will soon begin writing other works that I hope you will all find as enjoyable as these have been. Thank you all again for your reviews and you support. You have all helped make The Drake Chronicles what I wanted it to be from the start...my legacy. See you all next time. -Drake