“I can’t believe I’m doing this again. Don’t we have a better idea?”
“Well it was you who told me about doing this, and on such short notice? No, we didn’t.”
It was early in the morning in the mammoth city, barely after sunrise, and Larkon was walking across the bridge to the slums while wrapped in a heavy green robe. Rainbow Dash was lying down on his back just like she had done with Abalun so she could go incognito through the slums just like Larkon. It was uncomfortable but there wasn’t really anything either of them could do about it at the moment.
“So we’re just hoping nobody looks over and recognizes the famous historian that Karkona hates?” Dash whispered to him.
“Pretty much. At least until we get to Abalun’s place,” Larkon replied.
“There’s already going to be a bunch of mammoths out and awake in the slums, I should’ve just flown over last night,” Rainbow said.
“Maybe. But we have no idea what we’ll actually be doing today, I thought it was good to have a full night of rest,” Larkon said.
“I’m definitely grateful for that huge comfortable bed you have. We’ll see,” Rainbow said.
Larkon had told Shibu before they left about what was going on (mostly) and asked her to keep her eye on Samarkon for the entire time they were gone. He was not to be allowed out of the house. She hadn’t asked any questions about it, silently accepting whatever Larkon and Rainbow Dash were doing with a nod. Rainbow Dash knew this was hardly a good or permanent fix but it was the best they could do for now. After they took down Karkona they could get to the other stuff.
Taking down Karkona… the thought filled Rainbow Dash with excitement. Her adventure in the mammoth city was finally taking off and boy would it feel good to bring down that huge oaf. Everything about him just burned her, like Blizzard, and she couldn’t wait to humble him. She knew how little he and the thugs under him thought of her just because she was a pony, the looks on their faces when she beat them all up would be priceless. It would be cool to have another ancient civilization saved thanks to her too. Maybe they’ll throw a big celebration and party for Rainbow Dash—the hero from Equestria.
“Oh yeah, I could definitely enjoy that,” she said.
“Are you talking to yourself?” Larkon asked her.
“Uh, sort of. What else am I supposed to do to pass the time? You walk really slow.”
Larkon snorted and shook his head, they were almost across the bridge and into the slums. “Just be quiet when we’re walking through the streets, okay?”
“Yeah we wouldn’t want someone to see you having a conversation with the top of your head,” Rainbow teased.
“No, we most certainly would not.”
Larkon stepped off the bridge and onto the snowy, dirt ground of the slums. It seemed he at least knew where Abalun’s place was because without any hesitation he headed down the side of the river to one of the many streets and openings between the various shacks and huts that lined the outside of the slums. Rainbow Dash only vaguely knew the right direction to go in, having only flown in and out of here in the dead of night before. Either way, Larkon made sure to keep his head down and his eyes covered, his trunk and tusks the only thing visible outside the robe, and tried to come off as inconspicuous as possible. It almost might’ve been better if he tried to look threatening or had a mean look on his face like most of the mammoths here but they couldn’t chance a mammoth recognizing him.
Larkon walked with purpose and ignoring any of the urchins and scourge that were also out walking about in the early morning of the slums. He didn’t want to be accosted so he wouldn’t meet the eyes of anyone and give them a reason to bother him. Instead he just powered through the snow like a mammoth on a mission, with everyone else in the slums beneath his notice.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t really see at all like this now, unlike her time with Abalun, and so she just had to hang on and hope for the best. Abalun hadn’t been randomly attacked but he might’ve been more well known. If Larkon was a stranger… did that make it more or less likely for the mammoths here to bother him? It was also during the day and not at night like when Samarkon almost got jumped, Rainbow figured their chances were pretty decent.
On the inside though, Larkon was dismayed by the little he saw as he walked through the slums. It really tore him up and there was so much he wanted to say and do right this second but he just had to keep it bottled up. Everything about these slums was wrong. From the mammoths living here, to their existence in general and how they’ve been forced into this squalor, it was all wrong. No wonder so many had turned to Karkona when the rest of the city (and unfortunately he himself) had allowed this. He could tell himself no place was perfect and a lot of the issues here with the slums was these mammoths own doing, but maybe his lack of action and sheer aversion to do anything more than talk was partially to blame too. Even now he didn’t want to hurt Karkona or anyone—it was wrong—he wanted them to be stopped legally and maybe some real help given to these slums after Karkona is imprisoned when they find proof of his lawbreaking. Which Larkon was certain he was doing in some way or another.
But was that just naive? Was that kind of naivety and optimism what had led to this situation in the first place?
Larkon didn’t know for sure. But for now he wouldn’t throw out his morals and ideals, he’d charge forward and bring Karkona to justice, but nonviolently and fairly. The mammoths would not return to their old ways.
“I think I recognize this street,” Rainbow suddenly said, although quietly.
“Shh,” Larkon frowned. “I know, we’re getting close to his shack.”
“What if he’s not in though? He doesn’t know that we’re coming.”
“He’ll be there. What else would he be doing?”
“Oh yeah, that’s really not a total guess from you or anything. He could be doing literally anything else.”
“Well if he’s not there then we sit outside his door until he comes back and no big loss.”
“I’m getting itchy from your fur, dude.”
“Shh!” Larkon shushed her again and kept walking to Abalun’s place, ignoring anything else she said.
Eventually they made it to the small hovel wedged into the block of so many other small dwellings that made up this part of the slum. Rainbow Dash couldn’t see the familiar door and closed shutter window but she could tell when Larkon came to a stop in front of it. The historian lifted up his trunk and knocked three times on the door, if Abalun was in or not they’d see very shortly.
The sounds of footsteps from inside proved Larkon right, which made Rainbow Dash scowl and Larkon smirk, although neither of them could see the other.
The door was opened up just a crack and an eye peeked out to see just who it was was there. And then that eye widened up and Abalun let the door fall open in sheer shock.
“Hello, friend,” Larkon said to him as he lifted up his head and slightly moved his hood back so Rainbow could finally see too.
“W-What are you doing here?” Abalun asked, and then he saw Rainbow Dash. “And Miss Rainbow Dash too?”
“I’m very happy to tell you but let’s go inside first, shall we? Your doorstep isn’t exactly private,” Larkon said.
Abalun dumbly nodded and moved back, giving plenty of room for them to enter. “Right, of course.”
Larkon looked around the cramped one-room building as he walked in. “This is my first time actually being inside here.”
Rainbow Dash slid right out of his robe and jumped to the ground, stretching her wings and cracking her neck. “Ugh!”
“It’s going to be a little smooshed in here with all three of us,” Abalun said. He then looked at Rainbow Dash more closely and raised an eyebrow. “What happened to your mane? And what’s with all that jewelry?”
The pony blushed. “Look, just forget about it, okay?”
“Heh,” Larkon chuckled. “But yes, there’s hardly enough space for one mammoth in here. Luxury isn’t exactly important to us right now though, Rainbow Dash and I have come here for something very important. Something long overdue.”
“What happened? You wouldn’t have just come here for no reason,” Abalun wondered.
Larkon sighed and fully took off his robe. He carefully folded it up and placed it on Abalun’s table. “Last night, a mammoth by the name of Murrank who works under Karkona came to my house.”
“Murrank...” Abalun thought for a second. “Scar on his trunk? I’ve seen him before.”
Larkon nodded. “Correct. Anyways, he came to see my son.” Larkon’s expression darkened. “Apparently Karkona heard about my son’s little visit to the slums and his attempt to reach him, so he sent Murrank to tell Samarkon that Karkona wanted to see him. The drawbridge has been left down permanently and supposedly Karkona will welcome my son with an open trunk if he ever gets here… although I’m doing everything I can to put a stop to that.”
“Samarkon tried to sneak out last night,” Rainbow Dash told Abalun, a frown on her face.
Abalun gave Larkon a pitying look and patted his shoulder with his trunk. “I’m sorry, friend.”
“And I’ll have to deal with that later,” Larkon said. “Although it is the reason we both came here today.”
Abalun raised an eyebrow. “Pardon me if I’m being rude… but does this mean you’ll be taking action as well? We’ll finally make a real move against Karkona?”
“Yes,” Larkon nodded. “We can’t just keep an eye on him and watch things, something needs to be done. I just don’t really know what. But we need to find out for certain that he’s been breaking the law in a big way or planning something. Something big enough that the senate and the rest of the city will have to respond to it.”
“I think I know where to start then,” Abalun said and glanced at Rainbow Dash.
Realization dawned on her face and she grinned back at him. “The warehouses?”
“The warehouses,” he nodded.
Larkon though was a little lost and he looked back and forth between them. “What warehouses? I think I’m a little out of the loop here now.”
“When I was here with Abalun he showed me three warehouses that Karkona was using for something. We don’t know what but they’re these huge buildings he has guards outside of all day to make sure nobody he doesn’t want to get in can get in. If he’s doing anything wrong it has to do with those warehouses,” Rainbow Dash explained to him.
“I see… so we need to find some way to sneak into those warehouses and find evidence of his wrongdoing,” Larkon said.
“Which won’t be easy,” Abalun said. “The simple fact is that there are only two ways into each warehouse. A front door that’s always guarded, even during the latest hours of the night, and a backdoor that’s always looked. I would know, I’ve checked.”
“Two ways in for mammoths maybe,” Rainbow Dash smugly said. She flew up onto the table and looked at the two of them. “I saw the windows up at the top of those warehouses. They might be the kind that you can pop open if we’re lucky.”
“If they are then you can get inside and...” Abalun started.
“Unlock the backdoor for the two of you,” Rainbow finished.
“Either way that still sounds very risky,” Larkon said. “We have no idea what or however many mammoths may be inside those warehouses from what the two of you have said. And there’s the possibility that Abalun and I could be spotted trying to get in as well.”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I think it’s still the best thing we can do right now. Gotta do something, right?”
“We’ll go at night so we can’t be spotted so easily either,” Abalun said, he then looked over at Larkon’s robe. “You should definitely still wear your robe though, you’re too easily recognizable without it. At least you didn’t come with one of your hats too.”
“Oh haha, very funny,” Larkon rolled his eyes. “But yes, I’ll wear my robe at all times when we’re outside. I’ll need it for when we enter the warehouse anyways if it happens.”
“So we’re going out tonight then?” Rainbow asked.
Larkon nodded. “Yes, it should be as soon as possible.”
“We’ll just have to sit around here until nightfall then. Sorry I don’t have more room,” Abalun sighed as he looked around his small home.
“Well we might be a little bored but that’s all we can do about it,” Larkon said and took a seat at the table.
Rainbow Dash cracked her hooves and put them behind her head. “Heh, doesn’t bother me. I’m looking way forward to tonight now. Doesn’t matter how many guards we have to get past or what’s going on in that warehouse, I’ll totally get us inside and then the three of us can show that jerk Karkona who’s boss! Count on it!”