That night after work, Rainbow Dash happily returned to Night Reader and Brilliant Star’s home with a wide smile on her face. They might not have believed what she told them but she didn’t care. It felt good to succeed and prove others wrong. Things were looking way better for her and she even enjoyed sleeping in this small bunk a little more than usual. It felt like the goal was already so much closer even with a way’s to still go. The little steps she was taking lit up more of the way and always showed her what to do next. She knew talking to Double Duty and trying to convince him to settle down would be really difficult but stubborn was just one of many of her middle names.
“So you’re saying you’ve actually gotten the Wrenchers and Diesel Kings to stop fighting?” Brilliant Star asked her the following morning.
“Partially. It’s not all the way there yet,” Rainbow Dash admitted as she ate some more gruel.
“I’m impressed if what you’re saying is true. I didn’t think any of the ponies in those gangs had it in them to be nice anymore,” Night Reader said.
“Well they’re willing to try, most of them are probably still really angry and stuff as long as they don’t think what I’m doing is pointless there’s a lot you can do with that little bit of hope,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’ve just gotta keep proving I really can change things here and stop Resin too.”
“Good luck. I guess you really might be able to accomplish some things here if you can get the gangs to be nice and listen to you,” Brilliant Star said.
“Yep, the plan hasn’t changed. Soon I’ll be talking to Silver Tooth and those Black Hoofs soon too,” Rainbow Dash nodded.
But Double Duty is first and today. Rainbow thought. And I don’t have any time to spare when it comes to convincing him.
Shortly after her little speech with Soot Mane and the others yesterday, Rainbow Dash told them to go and wait for her the next morning. Don’t bother Double Duty with anything she had said just yet. Rainbow Dash wanted everyone rested and able, not exhausted after a hard day of work. Now the day was fresh and new and first thing in the morning here she was ready to go speak to Double Duty again and convince him to end this silly garbage. Not all the gang was down there to hear her but a large portion was and she hoped they and Soot Mane would be willing to help convince Double Duty that she was right—and more than that that he should trust and help her.
“I’ll see you both after work again, try not to work too hard!” Dash grinned and waved at her hosts before departing the house, heading out quickly to the adjacent housing block.
“Same as ever in here,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she looked around at the disparate conditions of this housing block and the doorless hovels most ponies were forced to live in.
Those ponies who weren’t actually in the Diesel Kings’ gang regarded her with a mixture of suspicion and fear. Hopefully she could win them over today too. Convincing Double Duty to give them their doors back (after whatever he had done with them in the first place) would probably go a long way towards doing that. But first thing’s first. She had a gang to talk to.
It was early in the day but not so early that none of the gang was up and about. Some were down on the ground floor of the block while others patrolled along the higher levels just as before. And they all quickly noticed her appearance. A few “guards” quickly started running around to get to Double Duty’s room while Rainbow Dash flew down to greet the Diesel Kings that were shuffling together on the ground. Soot Mane was with them, and a few others from yesterday, so Rainbow Dash gave them an easy grin and wave when she landed.
“Morning,” she said.
Soot Mane nodded, an uneasy look again on her face but she at least returned Dash’s wave. “Morning.”
“I saw some other ponies up there going to get Double Duty so I guess we’re waiting here,” she smiled at the other gathered Diesel Kings. “Sup?”
One of them, a stallion, stepped forward and rubbed the back of his neck. “Er, I didn’t get the chance yesterday but thank you for all your hard work, and for saving Soot Mane.”
“Like I said it’s no problem. I just hope all you guys now will do the same thing in the future,” Dash shrugged.
“I don’t know if things are going to be forgiving enough around here for that,” another unicorn Diesel King said with a pessimistic look on his face.
“I’ll make them, watch me,” Dash confidently stated to his face.
Up above a door swung open and Double Duty stepped out. He went right over to the railing and stared down at Rainbow Dash with a more or less unreadable expression on his face, only a slight narrowing of his eyes told her anything. He headed towards the stairs and whistled and all the other guards and watchers on the balconies and other floors started heading to the nearest stairs to get down to the ground floor with him. Seems Double Duty wanted his whole gang with him when he talked to Rainbow Dash.
She waited as he took his time making his way to her, waited and watched as every Diesel King from colt to adult gathered and looked with trepidation between her and their leader. Lots of other ponies watched from their homes too, quietly staying out of the way.
Finally Double Duty reached the ground floor of the housing block and strode forward with his gang parting to easily allow him through so he could stand right in front of Rainbow Dash and stare her down. The Diesel King gang leader seemed determined to not be the first one to speak. He wanted Rainbow Dash to hurry up and break the silence.
And patience wasn’t Rainbow Dash’s forte.
“You know why I’m back?” She asked him.
“I know you had a fun time working with the Wrenchers. But no, I don’t know what you expect to get from me. Not unless you’re willing to say you’ll be in my gang now and do what I say,” Double Duty’s tone was icy.
“Yeah, no, that’s not happening.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Sorry but I’m here to convince you to do what I want you to do.”
Double Duty sneered at her. “Then we don’t got anything to talk about.”
“Yes we do,” Soot Mane said.
Double Duty’s head swung towards her as if he didn’t quite believe what he had just heard. Along with a number of other Diesel Kings.
Soot Mane gulped and didn’t have the courage to meet his eyes. She said much quieter: “We do.”
“What happened yesterday with all of ya?” Double Duty growled at her and looked around at the rest of his gang, many of the ones who had been with Soot Mane and Rainbow Dash looking away or pawing at the ground. “You let this pony get to you at work when I wasn’t around?!” He stomped his hoof on the metal floor for good measure.
“Things happened,” Rainbow Dash told him. “I just showed them the value of being nice to each other. Soot Mane wouldn’t be standing here right now if it wasn’t for me.”
“What?” He balked at her.
“Ask her yourself,” Rainbow Dash said.
Double Duty looked over at his second in command. “What’s she talking about?”
“One of the machines had a problem yesterday and it almost exploded right in my face,” Soot Mane said, still barely able to look him in the eye. “Rainbow Dash barely knocked me out of the way. If it wasn’t for her...”
“And I didn’t do it to get anything out of it, or because I liked Soot Mane, I just did it because that’s the kind of thing any pony should do. And it’s the way I want to get you all back onto again, before Resin took over and made everyone else miserable,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Oh so we’re all just going to play patty-cake with each other and magically get along now?” Double Duty sarcastically rolled his eyes.
“Not magically. I’ve already got the Wrenchers—Nail’s Wrenchers now—to see things my way a bit. They’ll be willing to get along with you, and maybe make things peaceful again. You can all stop fighting like this and work towards fixing things for real and fighting against Crush and Resin,” Rainbow tried to convince him.
Double Duty scowled, his eyes searching about in their sockets, trying to find something to disagree and disprove her with. “You really think it’ll be that easy? That’s a fantasy.”
“If anyone can make fantasy into reality it’s me. I’m the pony so awesome that I can do anything,” Rainbow Dash smacked a hoof to her chest and smirked.
“And what if I say I don’t want to be nice?” Double Duty glared dangerously at her.
Rainbow Dash raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him. “Really?” She then looked through the gathered gang members and spotted a familiar pony, Rainbow Dash walked up to the bruised and beaten form of the stallion she had stopped from fighting a Thunderbird to the death. “You want this to be normal instead? This guy and a Thunderbird came at each other with a hammer and a screwdriver in a room full of furnaces. Maybe this became normal to you guys but do you seriously want it to stay that way?” The injured earth pony and most of the others winced as memories of old fights and injuries flashed through their heads. Rainbow Dash then pointed at Double Duty and glared right back at him. “A leader should protect the ones loyal to him, shouldn’t he? If you don’t care about these ponies and what’s been happening all this time then you don’t deserve to be their leader at all!”
All the eyes went to Double Duty.
The stallion gulped and began to sweat just a little bit. “Um… well I didn’t say anything like that.”
Rainbow Dash smirked and walked back up to him. “Then what are you saying?”
Double Duty stammered as he looked around at his Diesel Kings, but none of them looked like they were going to be backing him up anymore. Soot Mane in particular looked disappointed and most of the others that didn’t look angry or sad just looked tired. “I… I suppose what I’m saying is that if you can convince Acid Rain to come down and talk peacefully… I’d be willing to do the same with him and Frayed Wire.”
“Good,” Rainbow Dash smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Glad you could see things my way.”
“You’re going to have to try and win over Acid Rain now too though,” Double Duty furrowed his brow and wiped off his shoulder. He was still a bit upset with her.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already got a plan.”