Epilogue

Hey everypony, I'm back with the ending of volume eight. I hope you have all enjoyed the story. Soon I will begin the next volume, which promises to be much unlike any of the stories so far. In fact, the next four stories are going to be full of twists and turns, and keep you riveted to your computer screens. But for now, loyal readers, please enjoy the last installment of The Drake Chronicles: Volume 8. And please review.

Finally home after our adventures, we all sat at the large formal dining table, discussing our cases. I had insisted that Rainbow Dash go first, and now I sat with a mug of coffee halfway to my lips, staring at my marefriend in curious contemplation. She gave me a nod as if to say 'I'm serious, dude', and I sat my coffee back down on the table.

"Alright...you uh...you care to run that story by me again, sweetheart?" I asked. "And don't leave out any details. I gotta hear this again."

"Okay..." She began. "So I go down to Ponyville, right? And by the way, Twi and the gang say hi. Oh, and Scootaloo is gonna come visit in a couple weeks."

"That's good." I said. "The case, Dashie?"

"Huh? Oh yeah...anyway, I started digging right away. Money had been stolen from the town treasury, but I also found out that there was a bunch of bits missing from the Ponyville Trust Bank too, not to mention the city council had funds that had been taken somehow. I figured it was an inside job, so I started looking into some of the ponies working at those places..."

"Uh-huh..." I mused, taking a drink of my coffee.

"So after a day of asking questions, guess what I found?"

"Pray tell." I stated.

"Well...the chairpony of the city council, the head of the treasury, and the bank president were all members of the Republipony Party. So was the pony who balanced the books for the treasury and a few ponies on the city council. See, I didn't think anything about it at first, you know? I mean, I know Mayor Mare is a Republipony and stuff, but so is like half the ponies in Equestria."

"Mmhmm..." I pressed.

"But they are all members of The Ponyville Headquarters of the Republipony Party, and the Committee for the Reelection of Mayor Mare too."

"Does sound a bit suspicious." I admitted.

"I know right?" She gushed. "That's exactly what I thought too. So...I remembered what you always say...dig, dig deeper, and when you hit bottom..."

"Dig some more." I finished the statement.

"Yep. Soooo...I did that. I dug some more. And I was starting to suspect that instead of a few regular ponies stealing a few bits here and there, it might be a big deal, you know? Well, one night, a watchpony I had keeping an eye on the town came to Twilight's and told me that he'd seen somepony breaking into the Democracolt building. I got down there with the watchpony and the constable, and sure enough, two stallions were lurkin' around inside. We jumped the burglars, and grabbed one of them, and the other stallion actually tried to jump out a window."

"Hahaha..." I laughed. "They always go for the window. Didn't make it, I suspect."

"Nope. I tackled him." Dash grinned. "So we searched the stallions, and on the one that tried to escape, guess what we found?"

"I dunno." I replied. "I wasn't there."

"Heheheh..." She chuckled. "Sorry. So anyway, he had a check on him for like five hundred bits. The name on the check? Dude, it was The Committee for the Reelection of Mayor Mare! These two weren't even members of the committee, and they didn't have anything to do with the party. It was totally obvious that they'd been paid by the committee to do whatever they were doing. The next morning, me and the constable took the check to the head of the reelection guys, and I slammed it down on the desk in front of the chairpony. He started sweating and stuff, and when I told him I had a ton of evidence against him, he broke down and confessed."

"It turns out that these ponies had been moving money around, stealing from the treasury and the bank to funnel bits into the Mayor's reelection campaign. After we arrested six ponies for being involved in the whole thing, I walked into the mayor's office with the constable, and questioned Mayor Mare herself. She denied knowing anything about it, of course, and we had no evidence that she was even involved."

"So she got away scot free..." I sighed.

"Not...entirely..." Dash replied. We were getting ready to leave her office, and Constable Copper opened the closet door by mistake. We were almost buried in an avalanche of candy."

"Candy?" I asked, confused. "Why the Hell did the mayor have a closet full of candy?" Dashie sighed.

"Well...you know how on Nightmare Night, foals dress up and get candy?" She asked.

"Yeah..."

"Well, it's an old Ponyville tradition that at the end of the night, they leave their candy at a statue of Nightmare Moon outside of town."

"Some traditions are better left forgotten..." I muttered. My sister loved Nightmare Night, and we always celebrated it, but I didn't allow any mention of Luna's past in my house, out of respect for my friend. Dashie smiled meekly and nodded.

"So...like yeah...all the foals leave their candy at the statue. Now...you know how high taxes are in Ponyville?"

"Well...it's a clean, nice looking little town...I'm gonna guess they're pretty high?"

"Like majorly!" Dash stated. "Applejack's always complaining that with all the land taxes and business taxes she has to pay, her family barely makes a living!"

"That's pretty harsh..." I commented. I thought for a moment. "But what's that got to do with the mayor and the candy in the closet?" I asked.

"Think about it..." Dash answered dryly. "How can you tax kids?"

"I don't know wh..." I paused. "No...of for the love of..." I groaned. "You're not sayin' she..."

"Yup." Dash said seriously.

"Ugghhhh..." I groaned, putting my face in my hooves.

"Thing is..." Dash added. "It's not technically illegal...what she was doing, so we couldn't do anything. But...you should've seen her when the candy fell out of the closet. It was kinda funny. So the constable opens the door, and all the candy falls out...and Mayor Mare is standin' there with this freaked out look on her face. She gets all red in the face, heehee...and...heheh...she screams 'I AM NOT A CROOK!' Hahahahahaha!"

"Wow..." I remarked. "That's just...politicians..." I sighed and took a drink of my coffee.

"So...you guys haven't told me about your trip yet." Dash said. "What happened with you guys anyway?" I looked over slowly at my sister, and Budder looked back at me for a long silent moment before I turned back to Dashie. I shrugged.

"Well, Budder helped cut firewood for the Gala." I said.

And so ends volume 8. I look forward to your critiques. I will probably begin writing volume 9 sometime early next week. This weekend is my birthday, so I'm taking a little time off. I'm turning 31, and not relishing the idea of getting old. Trust me youngsters...you hit 30, and all that reckless stuff you did in your intemperate youth begins to catch up with you. Heheh. Until I return with the next novella in the series, thank you all so much for taking time to read about Drake's life. Knowing there are people out there who actually read these stories is what keeps me writing them. Until next time, my loyal readers. Be well, and thanks for reading.