CHAPTER 6

I'm back with chapter six, everypony. I know I said I may not be able to get this one done anytime soon, but I somehow managed to get it typed up in good time, and get it posted before I had to meet my other obligations today. I hope you enjoy it. Please review, loyal readers.

It was now 3:40PM, and no assassin or terrorist had made a move yet. The Gala had started without incident, wealthy ponies, dignitaries and the like herding in by the dozens while Royal Guards and EBI agents checked their ID's against their invitations, and cross-referencing both against the invitation list. Their thoroughness, which they passed off as routine "can't let any party crashers in" behavior impressed me. They were managing to keep the terrorism threat a secret from the very ponies they were protecting, which made sense, though I doubted that would last very long. Somepony was bound to talk, then the word would spread. But for now, the upper crust of Equestria was blithely unaware of the danger they could be in, and that was good enough for me.

I stood by the drink table, as far as possible from the mob of snooty rich ponies and their boring little problems. I heaved a sigh as I gazed out over the crowd, looking for anypony that seemed suspicious. Insert cynical laugh here. They all looked suspicious. I wondered how many of these businessponies were involved in shady dealings, how many offshore accounts and flat out tax frauds there were in this one gathering. How many of these stallions had mistresses, and how many of the mares had special friends in their poolcolts? How many of these millionaires broke the law on a daily basis? The old saying was true...an uneducated pony will steal from a railroad car, but a pony with a college degree can steal the whole damned railroad.

"Drake...my, it is you! My olllllld classmate, Dragoon Sabre." I turned to see a face I hadn't seen in years.

"Shining Armor." I deadpanned. "How are you? Heard you were still captain of the guard."

"I am! And you know what I heard? I heard a rumor that you were a great detective now or something. I said to myself 'What? Dragoon Sabre a detective?' Huh. Never pegged you to do anything more than swashbuckling and wandering about in the wilderness." He said. Shining hadn't changed a bit. Everything he said still smelled of back-hoofed insults.

"Oh, I am a detective now, Shining...working for Princess Celestia herself too, actually. Remember the Maretanian blood diamond incident?"

"That was you?!" Shining asked in a surprised tone.

"Yup. Wrapped it up in no time. Heheh...they shoulda voted me most likely to succeed, huh?" I smiled. He cocked an eyebrow.

"Well I'm living in the Crystal Kingdom now...though I still have my fine house here in Canterlot." He stated. "What about you, old boy? You have a nice little log cabin somewhere?"

"Actually, I have a nice three-bedroom in Manehattan." I answered. "Two story...well three if you count the basement, you know?"

"Of course." He said. "Oh, have you met my beautiful wife? Cadence? Oh Cadence, dear?" He called.

"Yes, my love?" A gorgeous pink alicorn in a fancy ballgown answered, trotting over gracefully.

"This is my wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Cadence dear, this is an old friend of mine from military academy, Dragoon Sabre.

"Pleased to meet you." She said with a smile that could have melted ice. She looked back at the party. "Oh, sorry, but I am needed, Excuse me, sweetheart." She said.

"Of course, darling." Shining Armor answered. Cadance walked away, leaving Shining smiling widely at me.

"Beautiful wife, Shining." I said. And you snagged a royal, lucky stud. I assume she was the one you were after years ago, eh? Glad you took my advice." I grinned. "I have a good mare too now."

"Oh? Have I met the...lucky filly?"

"Maybe. You know Rainbow Dash, right?"

"Ah yes. She used to be an element of Harmony, right? The pegasus with the rainbow mane?"

"Yup."

"Hm. Good for you, Drake. Oh, how was frontier life? Heard you were on the frontier for a while. Heh. The dust...the heat..."

"Loved it." I interjected. I gave my old rival a smirk. "It's good...honest work. And alot more exciting than sitting in some stuffy old castle, or the boring day-to-day routine of guard duty, I guess. Am I right?" Shining Armor gave me a forced grin.

"Excuse me." He said finally. "I think I should go...assist my lovely wife. Heh...good seeing you again, Drake."

"Yup." I nodded. I watched as he trotted away, puffed up like a peacock as always.

"Oh, you know Shining Armor, sir?" A well-dressed stallion asked, pouring himself a glass of punch.

"Hm? Oh...yeah, he and I went to Canterlot Military Academy together." I answered nanchalantly.

"Marvelous. Have you met his younger sister, Twilight Sparkle? She is the personal student of Princess Celestia herself." He said in a nasally, upperclass tone. How these rich ponies sounded like they were bragging about knowing ponies they'd never met was beyond me.

"Yep. I've met her. Know Twilight personally, actually." I answered.

"Well connected I see. Then you know Princess Mi Amore Cadenza as well?"

"Nah, not really. I only met her a few moments ago." I replied.

"Huh...odd. You say you know Captain Shining Armor as well as Miss Twilight...I thought you must know the Princess too..."

"Well...why would I?" I asked, somewhat annoyed.

"Hum...well she WAS the royal foalsitter to Twilight Sparkle after all. Everypony knows that. Oh well..." With that, the uppity stallion walked away with his drink.

I was now plunged into a new kind of mental state the likes of which I had never felt before. He was seeing Princess Cadence when we were in academy...which meant that Twilight was only about eight...My eye twitched and uneasiness overtook me. When Cadence was his little sister's foalsitter, Shining was...I held it in. I held it all in until I felt like I was going to explode like a volcano. Finally, I could no longer restrain the pressure, and it violently errupted.

"HE'S SCREWING HIS SISTER'S FOALSITTER?!" I screamed. The crowd went silent. Deathly silent. Somewhere, a dropped glass shattered against the cobblestone. All eyes at the gala were upon me. I grinned nervously, and turned to make a quick exit, only to freeze in horror. In front of me was my sister, staring at me with wide, tear-filled eyes. Everytime somepony mentioned anything remotely off-color or lewd, she freaked out. This time, she had heard my outburst, and her mind did...this.

"Um...eheheh..." I chuckled nervously.

"What...did...you...say?!" Budder panted.

"Um...it uhhhh...it's not that bad...um eheheh...I mean...like...Dashie's your foalsitter, so I kind of...am...too?" Budder let out a keening cry and galloped off. I looked back to see a very disapproving herd of wealthy ponies glowering at me, some shaking their heads.

"Uh...heheheh...nothing to worry about, folks..." I choked out. "Juuuust a little technical difficulty. Um...please return to your rich...pony...stuff..." I grinned innocently. "I'm gonna...go away...now." I quickly departed the embarrassing scene, chasing after Budder. I knewthat nothing good would come of hanging around with these aristocrats. That Shining Armor...then again, I'd been the idiot that interrupted the gala with my paroxysm. I stopped galloping when I spotted my sister.

Hey...um...sis?" I said nervously, approaching Budder. She sat by a fountain, staring off into the setting sun.

"Ngugh!" She grunted back. I rolled my eyes and trotted up, sitting down beside her. I tried to put my right foreleg around her.

"Hey...uh..."

"Don't freakin' touch me!" She scolded. I instinctively jerked my hoof back.

"Ugh..." I groaned. "I'm really sorry about that, angel." I said. "I didn't mean for you to hear that. I mean...argh...I shouldn't have even said it in the first place."

"But-why-did-you-even-say-thaaat?" Budder implored in one long, whining word.

"Honestly? Heh. Because I'm a dumb old soldier who needs to watch his mouth." I half-joked, putting a foreleg around my sister.

"Ungh. Don't do that again." She replied.

"Alright." I agreed. "Heheh...gotta admit it though...the look on those aristocrats' faces...I bet they've never hear an 'outrageous display' like that before. Hahaha." Budder just gave me an angry look. "Oh damn...I hope Shining Armor didn't hear that...if he did, I'm gona be hearing about it later. Ugh..."

"Can they do anything?" My sister asked. "I mean...to you?"

"Not really...I don't think." I replied. Maybe get all angry about it. If Princess Celestia finds out, she'll probably get onto me for it."

"Eheheh..." Budder chuckled. She looked out into the trees beyond the veranda a few moments. "How much longer do we have to put up...with...all...these...rich..." She was acting strangely now, and as she trailed off, she lay her head on my shoulder.

"Sis, wha.."

"Bub...somepony is in the trees." She whispered quickly. "Yep, snooty old millionaires." She said normally, in a louder voice. I immediately got what she was doing. My brilliant, sneaky little sister...I'd trained her well.

"I know, sis." I said loud enough for an nearby pony to hear. I leaned in close. "It'll be alright though." I said. "Where and how many?" I whispered.

"Hey bubby, wanna hear a joke?" She asked. "Why did the ghost cross the road?"

"Dunno...why?" I asked, already on high alert. Budder leaned in close to my head.

"One pony, wearing black, up in the trees. Uh...one o'clock." She whispered.

"Hahaha!" I exclaimed, scanning the trees covertly with my eyes. "That...that's actually a pretty good one." Bingo. Up in the branches of an oak tree twenty yards away, a figure crouched low, obviously scoping out either us or the area. You were almost good enough, my friend. I stood and stretched, keeping the intruder in my peripheral vision without being obvious.

"I'm very proud of you, by the way." I said with a smile. Budder squeaked as she grinned brightly. Suddenly, back at the gala, trumpets sounded. No...bad timing, princess. Right when I was about to take up tree-climbing, too. I saw the pony in the tree do an incredible spinning jump to another branch, then disappear into the shadows of the forest.

"Damnit..." I muttered. "Spiderpony's on the move, let's go!"

"Spider...pony?"

"Nevermind." I stated, my mind elsewhere. "We gotta go save the princess. Good eyes though." I added as we rushed back toward the gala, where I knew the assassin was about to strike. I just hoped we would get there in time.

It appears that the villains are already out in force. Will Drake and Budder stop the assassin before he strikes? And what more does the terror group have up their sleeve for the gala? I will attempt to get the next chapter up, maybe sometime late tonight or sometime tomorrow afternoon. So as always, my loyal readers, please leave your reviews or shoot me a PM with questions or comments. Until next chapter, as always, thanks for reading!