Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS


A Mammoth of a Problem XXXIII

Abalun squinted to see what he could through the open sliver of the door. There was more light in this warehouse than the other one so it was easier for him to see. There weren’t any mammoths directly in front of him, nor did he see any really looking over to the door either, but there were some off to the side and a few were pushing carts loaded with crates through the doors that would lead to the third warehouse. The crates on the cart were much taller than the ones they had just seen though. He tried to look down into the “basement” that Rainbow Dash suspected existed but he couldn’t see from this angle with such a thin opening. It looked like the floor was still level for a bit right outside their door, did they just walk out and discreetly look around? Should they head right to the third warehouse?

As Abalun looked though, he also heard more coming from below. With the door slightly open it was easier to hear. Voices calling out from down underground, the sound of metal groaning, heavy things being moved and unseen doors opening and closing. He couldn’t see it but there was something big right beneath them. There had to be a lot of space excavated out of the bottom of this warehouse and replaced with… who only knows what.

Whatever it was they had to investigate it first before waltzing into the third warehouse. Abalun would push open this door and he and Larkon would confidently stride out as if they owned the place. Then the real business would begin. He just really hoped no one would give them a second thought.

“Alright, I’m going to open up the doors and we just walk in there like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Don’t look at anyone, follow me unflinchingly to whatever’s in the middle area and we’ll look like we’ve got a purpose,” Abalun said to Larkon.

“Right,” Larkon nodded.

“And I’ll just stay here, not moving or doing anything, getting itchy and stuff,” Rainbow said.

“Sorry,” Abalun apologized. “Maybe you’ll be able to come back out later.”

“Forget it, let’s just get out there and see what’s up,” Rainbow said.

Abalun faced the doors and took a deep breath. Without further ado he pushed them open and walked into the second warehouse, Larkon right on his heels. They didn’t look around to see if anyone had glanced up at them or were watching them when they entered. All they did was look straight ahead as they walked. It was just a few feet in that they came to the edge of where the floor lowered down and Abalun had to disguise his surprise as soon as he saw what was actually down there.

Forget a simple sunken cargo hold designed to hold more crates. This warehouse was the beginning of something much bigger.

The basement had two different levels that Abalun could see right now. The top part was accessible by several ramps from the ground floor and was mostly empty but had a few unattended carts sitting between the ramps. At the edge of the top level there were two platforms that could go up and down to the bottom level operated by chain pulleys connected all the way to the ceiling and a mammoth standing beside them. The bottom level he couldn’t see entirely but there seemed to be more doors and enclosed lifts down there along the bottom of the back wall with a spiral steel staircase in the middle of it all that went below the ground too. Who even knows where all of that went but there was a light and some muffled voices coming from the staircase. Rainbow Dash must’ve heard that earlier.

At the same time there were two mammoths at the bottom level with one of the large boxes Abalun had seen others taking into the third warehouse. They had it on a small cart of their own and they whistled up at the mammoth on the top level to send them down a platform. Once he did so one of the mammoths rode it up with the box while the other walked back into the lift on the bottom level and closed the doors.

So whatever was in those boxes was coming from the underground area right beneath this warehouse. It was being made and packaged down there and then brought up to be kept in the third warehouse.

Abalun steadily walked along the edge of the top basement, he knew where they needed to go. When he got to one of the ramps he went down it right as the other mammoth who had come up from the bottom was pushing his cart up another. Neither of them gave any sort of notice to the other. Abalun still kept his head tilted down and mostly obscured by his hood, Larkon even more so. Both of the invading mammoths now went right for the platform nearest to them that could take them to the bottom level of the basement—and then to the doors and stairs even further below.

The two of them stepped onto the platform casually and just waited for the mammoth to lower them down without a word or any sign of acknowledgment. Professional. They hoped.

Luckily it seemed the other mammoth thought it was normal or had no cares of his own as he lowered the platform, the chains rattling as they descended. Abalun had to fight to keep from wiping his brow with his trunk in relief. One obstacle down, an untold number to go.

“Where should we go now?” Larkon whispered.

“Yeah, I can’t see anything,” Rainbow said.

“I was thinking the stairs,” Abalun answered. “There’s definitely a lot of noise coming from down there, it must be important.”

“Lead away,” Larkon shrugged.

Abalun took a steadying breath once the platform came to a stop and the two mammoths walked off of it. It was a possible big risk going down those stairs but so was everything else they had done in here tonight. He stopped in front of them for a second and looked down, the spiraling staircase seemed to go a distance of two or three floors before stopping at a doorway that light was pouring from. The voices and other sounds were much clearer now. Heavy sounds, metal striking metal, heavy objects being moved, grinding noises, and the lumbering footsteps of mammoths.

“Doesn’t sound like I’ll be able to get out of Larkon’s cloak down there,” Rainbow muttered.

“Sorry,” Abalun said and started down the stairs.

There was a heat coming up from the room too, sweltering almost. It made the cloaked mammoths and the unfortunate pegasus stuck inside them sweat profusely. Finally Abalun and Larkon’s big feet carried them to the bottom of the stairs and they walked out together into this next room.

The floor, walls, and ceiling were all just plain natural rock and they boxed in the heat like a microwave. It was mostly so hot because of all the mammoths doing work in an enclosed space. Larkon and Abalun both had to pause in the doorframe as they took it all in. A huge room that stretched more than a hundred feet back greeted their eyes, where even back further there were two more open doorways that led into darkness. From those doors there were tracks and several minecarts going in and out at a time, bringing raw rock and metal from deep underground. On the route of the tracks there were all kinds of tables with tools stationed by mammoths, who would take the raw materials from the carts and begin working on them. Although Abalun and Larkon couldn’t tell what they were making.

Rainbow Dash tried to peak down to see what was in here but Larkon shifted to keep her from exposing herself.

“Stop that,” he grunted.

“Well what’s going on?” She asked.

“Karkona has his own mine, and a forge and smith of some sort,” Abalun said.

“What’s he need all that stuff for?” Dash asked again.

“I don’t know, let’s walk,” Abalun said to Larkon and the two of them began walking along the minecart tracks to see just what all these working mammoths were doing. Maybe they would even be able to go into the mine itself.

While Larkon still had to keep his head down, Abalun allowed himself the ability to look around a little more. On one of the first tables they came to there were sheets and plates of metal being pounded into a particular shape by a strong mammoth with a hammer. For the life of him though Abalun couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be. It just looked like a misshapen piece of metal to him.

He walked down to the next table and saw… a mammoth constructing a bunch of chain links? And next to him was a mammoth measuring several large iron balls and shaving them into perfect spheres. What was Karkona doing?

There were several carts and boxes off to the sides of the walls that must be filled with finished products ready to be taken up to the ground floor. Abalun sincerely wished he could go over and look into them but that would probably be too suspicious. Right now their plan was to walk dead ahead and not bother or converse with anybody else. Maybe when they got to a secluded spot the three of them could talk with each other and come up with more of a real plan. If that opportunity ever presented itself.

When they got close enough to the dark holes at the back that the tracks led to, Abalun could see that they started to slope down a bit. Who knows how deep Karkona’s mine went, or how long he had been excavating it. Must’ve been ages at least. And to secretly dig out and dump all the extra dirt, it would’ve been a huge undertaking. If there was any reservation in their heads that maybe Karkona wasn’t completely serious this did a good job of completely stamping that out. Karkona meant business down here.

They were close to getting to the mining tunnels when a voice from the side called out to them. “Hey, you two! Where do you think you’re going?”

Uh oh. Abalun thought and turned around, still keeping his head low while Larkon tried to completely obscure himself behind Abalun.

“Who? Us?” Abalun said, trying to sound as nonchalant and oblivious as possible.

“Who else?” The mammoth said. He was wearing the same workers overalls that all the others were but he had a denim hat on his head too and he was standing behind the tables closer to the wall. He didn’t exactly look angry though, just annoyed. “Why are you down here? You new guys should be up in the sorting room, that’s where Karkona needed you, not down here or in the mines.”

“Oh, sorry,” Abalun did his best to play it off. “First time being in here...”

The mammoth, the foreman of this place most likely, rolled his eyes. “Whatever, just get back upstairs and go to the sorting room and get to work! It’s the door right next to the stairs, just take a right when you go back up em and there you go.”

“Thank you,” Abalun nodded and without another look he and Larkon began walking back the way they came, back to the stairs. That was a close one. If they did go into the mine tunnels now it would have to wait until later, forcing the issue would be no good.

Larkon walked up beside Abalun so he could whisper in his ear. “Sorting room for what?”


As they left the assembly and manufacturing room, the foreman eyed them the whole way out. He was glad to have gotten some more trunks on duty, they really needed them, but how come all the mammoths in the slums had to be so dumb? How do you confuse stairs for a door? Whatever, it wasn’t a big deal, he needed to focus on his mammoths down here and make sure all the work that needed to get done got done. Otherwise Karkona would be very cross. And an unhappy Karkona was not something anybody wanted to see.

Something was naggling at the back of his mind though and he looked back at the stairs the two mammoths had recently gone up. There was something off about one of them. The one that hadn’t talked. There was something the foreman was missing but he just couldn’t quite put his trunk on what it was yet. A strange gut feeling he had that something had been wrong about that mammoth in the brown cloak.

He shook his head and went back to looking over the mammoths under his charge. Whatever he was missing it probably wasn’t a big deal either. Let someone else worry about it.

A new pair of minecarts came up through the tunnels and the foreman watched as they deposited their hauls along the various tables. It was an endless stream of work down here that required multiple different shifts of mammoths. Karkona had big plans and lofty ambitions and he entrusted all of his loyal followers to give it their all to accomplish those.