CHAPTER 10

Hey everypony. As promised, I have returned with chapter 10 in a timely fashion. Now with the case over, the remaining portion of this volume changes pace as Drake returns to Fort Mesquite to confront his past. All of you who have followed Drake's journey from the beginning know what our detective has been through since that fateful day on the frontier, and you have all probably been waiting for this day to come. Well, the moment is finally here, and I hope I didn't disappoint. Please review, loyal readers.

We stood at the gate I had last walked out of over three years before. It was surreal. Fort Mesquite hadn't changed at all since I had seen it last. The walls, the blockhouses and towers, even the old sutler cabin sitting on the small rise near the fort was the same. The wooden gate had been repaired, and the fort had been used for a year or so after I had left. Memories came rushing back, all the good ones and all the bad ones at once. I had spent almost a third of my life so far at this place, and now here it sat...abandoned, derelict, a wooden monument to a great war jutting up out of the broken desert landscape as a reminder to all.

"You okay, Drake?" Dashie asked.

"I think...I think I've always needed to do this." I finally answered. "For myself, you know?"

"Yeah." My marefriend nodded. With my family watching me, I stepped forward and pushed open the gates. With that, a thousand memories came rushing out.

"Those were the barracks. That's where all the soldiers lived and slept when they weren't on duty." I said, pointing the long, low structure built onto the inside wall of the fort. And over there...that was the blacksmith's shed." I looked out over the courtyard in the middle of the fort. "This big open area is called the parade ground. It's where we drilled and did inspection. Heh. It's also where we had our snowball war one winter. Over there, by that little building is where we planted out garden..."

"What's that house?" My sister asked, pointing toward my old dwelling. I smiled warmly at Budder and leaned my head against hers.

"Glad you asked, angel." I said softly. "That's where I lived. That's the officer's quarters, and that was my home for eight years."

"Can we...go in, bub?" She asked. "I'd like to see where you lived, you know..."

"Yeah...we're going in." I nodded, staring at the door to the small house. "I spent almost a decade living in that cabin. I'm not coming all this way and missing the chance to see how...how it feels again."

"It?" Dashie asked. I gave her a small smile, and walked up to the door. I pushed it open and walked in, seeing the small office just the way I remembered it, only a little dustier. There was the same desk I had run the fort from. I slowly walked around the heavy wooden office desk, and there sat my old chair, that ugly padded wooden chair that probably still had my flank worn into it. I sat down in the chair, causing three years worth of dust to waft into the air. It felt different somehow, like wearing a crown when you weren't king, or a helmet when you weren't a soldier. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the desk.

"You know, I sat at this desk almost every day for over eight years..." I commented. "This sure as Hell feels funny now..." As Dash and Budder watched without saying a word, I slid open the drawers one by one. They were all empty now of course. Like the rest of the fort, all of the supplies, equipment and paperwork had been removed from the fort. Still, I'd hoped to find some small memento to take with me. I had spent so long trying to forget this place, but all along I'd just needed to remember. It had taken until now for me to figure that out. I finally stood from the chair and walked over to the door on the side of the room. I slowly turned the knob, and pushed the door open.

"This room..." I whispered. The bed was still there, as were the bookshelves I and my troopers had built from rough lumber. I closed my eyes. "This was the room I stayed in my first night here at the fort. This was the room I had turned into a library so that everypony here could come and read whenever they wanted. It was..." I opened my eyes, and looked at Rainbow Dash, who was staring at me with a look of worry on her face. "It was her room..."

"It's okay..."

"Yeah..." I whispered. I slowly entered the bedroom. With what little light shone through the front door, I could see a couple of books still lying on the shelves, abandoned but preserved in the dry air after all these years. I walked over and picked up the largest one. It was a copy of 'Millstone's Military Poetry.' I sighed, holding the book in my hoof as if it were a holy relic for a few moments. "Here sis..." I said, reaching it to Budder. "Put this in your saddlebag. We're not leaving these books here to rot." She took the volume and stuck it in her saddlebag as I picked up the next book. It was a small paperback book called 'Big Gardening on a Small Lot'. It made me think of the crops we grew inside the fort. I handed the booklet to Budder and picked up the next. It was a murder-mystery called 'Flame in the Night'. I scoffed, and handing this one off as well.

"You know guys..." I began, "When I was out here, I started reading detective novels and books about crime detection. I started thinking about being a detective in this little house..." I looked around. "Now...here we are, I guess."

"That all the books, sweetie?" Dashie asked. I paused, struck by a memory.

"No...it's not." I answered gravely. "There's one more, and I'm gonna need your guys' help getting it if it's still there..."

I stood on my hind legs, the water nearly up to my neck, and prepared to go down again. I took a deep breath, and plunged myself into the cold water, feeling around on the bottom of the well for what I was searching for. Again, I didn't find it, and had to come back up for air.

"You okay bub?!" My sister called.

"Yeah.." I called back up, wiping my face. "Still didn't find it though."

"Are you sure it didn't like...disintegrate or something?" Dash questioned.

"No..." I stated. "It has to be down here...some...part or...piece at least...something..." With that, I dove down again, and started feeling around. Finally, my right forehoof hit upon something that didn't feel like a rock. I grabbed the object, and carefully lifted it from the slippery goo at the bottom of the well. "I got it!" I yelled up. I stepped into the bucket and grabbed the rope with my free hoof. "Alright, pull me up." With that, Dash and Budder began turning the winch on the well, and I began my ascent back to the surface.

Once out of the well, I sat down on the ground with the rectangular object from the well. I knew without even looking it over what it was, and I was unsure of how I felt about it. The book was waterlogged, and had swollen from sitting in water for so long. I very carefully opened the front cover to see a folded piece of paper tucked inside. I felt tears rising in my eyes.

"What is it, Drake?" Dash asked as she and Budder moved up beside me, and held me in their forelegs. "You gotta tell us. What's up with this book, and why did you throw it down the well?" I sniffed, and felt a tear roll down my cheek.

"This book..." I said, unsure of how exactly to explain. "It was Spring's favorite. That...that note there...it was something she wrote to me. I didn't find it until after she...I found it right after she died, and..." I closed the cover. "Damnit...I could've saved her if I knew...if she'd told me how she felt earlier. I needed to find this. I had to...for her...for all of them." I choked back a sob.

"It's okay, bubby..." Budder whispered soothingly. "Me and Dash are here. We love you."

"I know, angel..." I sighed. "We have to go out there now." I pointed outside the gates.

"You sure?" Dash asked.

"Yeah..." I nodded. I rubbed my nose and stood. "There's some ponies I want you two to meet."

We stood in the graveyard on the hill, a short distance from the fort. After the massacre, the cavalry had moved the bodies of my troopers back to the fort's graveyard, and given them a proper burial. Now, after three years, I finally stood amongst my command again. The twenty six wooden planks stood upright, as if they themselves were honor-bound soldiers, each standing guard over the lone grave of a fallen hero. I stood there at the entrance to the burial ground for several minutes, remembering each of the ponies interred there as they had been. I finally stepped forward.

"Hey guys..." I said in a low voice. I looked at the ground, feeling ashamed of myself for not knowing how to speak to these ponies I had shared so many memories with. I walked on a little, until I came to a grave in the center of the cemetery. I had put up that marker, and I had dug that grave. I felt Dash and Budder standing behind me. I cleared my throat. "Hey Spring..." I said to the grave in front of me. "It's...it's been a while, I guess." I was silent a moment. "I guess I should have come here sooner. I'm sure you'd probably kick my ass if you could for not visiting you." I felt tears falling down my face. I sat down beside the grave. "I uh...I'm a detective now. I know, right...who would have thought? This...this is my family. This is Rainbow Dash, my marefriend. You two would get along...or beat each other half to death, one or the other." I smiled amid my tears. "She's good to me. You don't have to worry about that. And um...this is my little sister, Budder. We're raising her, and she's a great foal...and fearless too. I don't think even you could scare her..." I sniffed, and leaned forward, placing a hoof on the grave. "I got your letter, Spring. I want you to know that. We're free now. Both of us. I'm happy now, and you should be too. We both got out of here. We're both free." I looked up to see Dashie standing on the other side of the grave, looking down. She had tears in her magenta eyes.

"I...I never got to meet you..." She said softly. "But thanks...thanks for taking care of Drake while he was out here. From uh...from what he says...I kinda get how you felt. I'll take care of him now...okay?"

"We both will." My sister squeaked, hugging me tightly as she looked at the grave. We sat there in silence until I spoke.

"I've never forgotten you." I finally whispered. "And I never will." I sniffed and stood up. I looked around at all of the markers. "I will never forget any of you." I said in a louder voice. "Many of you are the reason I became the stallion I am now, and I owe you. You were the best command an officer could ask for, and I owe you all for that too. Thank you, troopers. Thank you for everything. I'll...I'll try to come back and see you whenever I can. I promise you all that." I stood up straight and snapped a salute to the grave markers. "At ease, my brave troopers."

At that very moment, I could almost feel the two dozen troopers salute in return, and I could swear I could feel the eyes of Spring Shower looking down on me with love and happiness that I had finally escaped desperation and loneliness, and found a peaceful and wonderful life that we had both only dreamed of so long ago...

A long-awaited catharsis for Drake...I'm willing to bet that reading this chapter brought tears to more than a few eyes. I know, because I wept as I wrote this one. I hope that for all of you who have read Drake's story from the start, this has given you some measure of comfort, now knowing that Drake has finally been able to move on from his terrible past. There is one more chapter to this story, and I will try to get it posted tonight. So until then, please leave your reviews, and thank you all so very much for reading, everypony.