Rainbow Dash and Barnaby were both back up in the main office of the mine’s central staging area. They stood in there with Crom and most of the other important chief’s and senior miners along with a group of miners who had been working in the mine right past where the explosion had happened and the tunnel caved in. Right now Crom was pacing back and forth in front of everypony else—his balding black mane falling down the back of his head while a harsh look settled on his face. It was the same look that Barnaby had.
“In case any of you were wondering-” Crom started and all of the other miners stiffly stood in place, hanging off his every word. “We’ve figured out that there’s no way this was just some accidental placement and discharge of TNT. Somepony did this on purpose. In my mine. In Oreville’s pride, joy and lifeblood. And now we have to figure out who, how, and why.”
“Are we sure it was on purpose? Like really sure?” One of Crom’s senior miners asked.
Crom nodded and looked over at Barnaby. “Barnaby? Care to tell everypony what you found out in your investigation so far?”
Barnaby breathed heavily out of his nose and stepped forward while Rainbow Dash hung back and watched him. The two of them had been even more busy after rescuing the miners in the first place. A quick glance at the clock on the wall of the office told her it was well past midnight—another night in Oreville she had stayed awake through. At least she was getting the most out of her days.
“I talked with the supervisor of the new mine down where the lift leaves off. He told me that not only was there no scheduled blasting in those tunnels for the day, they didn’t even have any stored TNT just sitting around,” Barnaby started. “That led me to wonder where the TNT that caused that explosion and cave-in came from. As you all know, all the TNT that goes through these mines is first brought here, stored here, and then given out for scheduled blastings. It’s all kept recorded in inventory and every last little bit of it is carefully kept track of when first brought here and when taken away.” Barnaby frowned. “So what did I find when I went to look for any missing or stolen TNT? I found that every last bit of it was well accounted for. Nothing was missing, there was no discrepancy in any paperwork, no signs of theft. Nothing. The TNT—the bomb—that caused that explosion didn’t use any of the TNT that was brought into the mines for regular blasting. Somepony brought their own explosives into this mine with the express purpose of using them to blow up that tunnel.”
“But how? Why?” One of the miners from the collapsed tunnel asked.
“Why didn’t he use any of the TNT already here? To make it harder to trace. He probably didn’t even have clearance to retrieve TNT in the first place and didn’t want anypony suspicious of him. As for why in general… I have even fewer ideas. But obviously he smuggled in TNT of his own somehow. How and where he got that I don’t believe I’ll be able to figure out without first finding the perpetrator,” Barnaby looked at all of the recently rescued miners. “Which is where you come in.”
“According to your supervisor—you were the last group to go into that tunnel before the explosion went off. Also according to him, he remembers that one of you came back from the tunnel and went up the lift early, shortly before Rainbow Dash and I arrived. So who was it? Who was the pony that wasn’t trapped with you behind all that rubble?” Barnaby asked.
The miners looked between each other before the one who had spoken up earlier gulped and came forward. “D-Dolph. He’s missing.”
“Dolph?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.
“We thought he was just lost—or something else happened or maybe he was even caught in the blast but...”
Barnaby shook his head. “Nopony was caught in the blast or buried in the rubble. We’re certain of that, luckily or intentionally, nopony was hurt by the explosion. All it did was destroy those tunnels.”
“Dolph, huh?” Crom muttered and walked over to some of the filing cabinets in the office. “I should have his file and picture somewhere in here...” he began rummaging around.
“And meanwhile, what can you ponies tell me about this Dolph fellow?” Barnaby asked.
“Well he’s our friend for one and he wouldn’t do something like this!” One of the miners angrily said and stomped his hoof on the ground.
“I-I agree with you, Kent, but...” another said.
Barnaby raised an eyebrow. “But what?”
The miner sweated nervously and tried to look away as he answered. “Well Dolph was, uh, kind of being a lot quieter than normal earlier today. We were all talking and having fun when we were getting ready to head to the mine but he wasn’t really saying nothing, I remember. And there was another thing… we all had our tools and stuff but Dolph also had a big bag, and he didn’t say what it was for or nothing.”
“I remember that bag, I didn’t really think nothing of it but it’s kind of weird now that you mention it,” another minder said. “There wasn’t anything big that any of us needed to carry to the mine, was there?”
“Nope,” Kent grunted, grinding his teeth as he stared at the ground. “I-I don’t know what he would’ve needed that bag for either.”
“And you also didn’t notice when he left you behind and wasn’t in the mine with you?” Barnaby asked.
The miners sheepishly looked around and shrugged at each other, none of them wanting to speak up and answer that question.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. They were friends, huh?
“Ah, found it!” Crom suddenly said from the cabinets as he pulled out a file. He walked over to Barnaby and hoofed it over to him, with Rainbow Dash coming up and also looking at it. “This is Dolph.”
Rainbow Dash and Barnaby looked at a simple photograph of a smiling stallion paperclipped to the inside of the file. He had a mop of unruly red mane on an ashen gray coat with hazel eyes peeking out at them. It was just a photo, but it made Rainbow Dash instantly frown. This guy just didn’t look like the type of pony who would do something like this. Barnaby took the photo from the file and showed it to the miners.
“So this is your friend, Dolph? And you’re sure it was indeed him with you today?” Barnaby asked.
“Definitely,” Kent nodded. “You could never mistake that mane.”
Rainbow Dash read bits of his file while Barnaby still held it open. “Says he’s married too and started working in these mines right after getting out of school.”
“Not just married—kids too,” one of the other miners said.
Barnaby frowned and lifted a hoof to his forehead, rubbing it in circles. “Why would he do something like this? What’s going on here?” He checked the file once more. “No marks for poor behavior or performance… he seemed like a stand-up miner.”
“We’ll have to find out exactly where he went after leaving that bomb, see what exit he took from the mines,” Crom said.
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Kent tried to say once more. “I-I don’t know what’s going on or how to explain all this, but Dolph would never do something like this! What does he even have to gain?”
“Nothing,” Barnaby said, causing Rainbow Dash to look at him. “Nothing at all. Nopony has anything to gain from sabotaging the mines—every last soul in Oreville is reliant on them. There’s no benefit to doing something like this for anypony. And that’s what worries me the most.”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes before giving the file and picture back to Crom. “Thank you for your help, you may leave. I suggest you all go get some sleep now.”
“Suggest?” Crom snorted at the miners. “You’ll need all the sleep you can get, tomorrow you’re going to have to help out fixing up the damaged tunnels. This has set us back by quite a bit.”
“Yes sir,” Kent and the other miners said before shooting a couple lasting looks at Barnaby and Rainbow Dash and then shuffling out of the office.
“Sorry about all this,” Crom said to Rainbow Dash once the miners had left.
Rainbow Dash shook her head in exasperation. “Dude, just like I told Barnaby, you guys don’t have to apologize. And uh—no offense since I know you won’t take it the same way but I don’t mind at all actually having something to do while I’m here.”
“The mines are my responsibility and I let something like this happen...” Crom ground his teeth.
“I don’t think you should blame yourself either,” Barnaby said. “There are too many questions here, and things that don’t make sense. An accident would at least have a real explanation. But this? This Dolph pony just doesn’t seem like the type to blow up a tunnel—for any reason. There has to be something else going on.”
“You think someone else wanted him to blow it up? Rainbow asked. “Dolph just set the bomb there but it was another pony’s plan?”
Barnaby nodded. “That’s exactly what I think. But the who and why still eludes me. And they had to have gotten their TNT from somewhere else.” He glanced at Crom. “Right?”
“Right,” Crom nodded back.
“There has to be a trail somewhere...” Barnaby said.
“Hey, I’ll help out anyway I can too,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m kind of used to it.”
Barnaby chuckled. “Yes, you are. I’d almost say trouble follows you but I know you’re far too well meaning. This is just bad timing. Exceedingly bad timing. I was hoping to show you the best of Oreville and you could tell your home and others about all of the nice and amazing things you saw here but now...”
“I can still do that,” Rainbow Dash reassured him. “Now I’ll just get the chance to tell others how you deal with criminals and work in times of crisis. Those kinds of stories are always the ones ponies want to hear most anyways.”
“Thank you but for now you shouldn’t have to do anything. And I know you’re going to keep offering but it’s really not something I want you to get involved with—you shouldn’t have to deal with our own internal problems,” Barnaby said.
“But you said-”
“This is different. Right now you’re a guest of Oreville and you should be treated as such. Not made to do grunt work or chase down criminals, that’s my and my officers’ job.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you I’d have more fun doing that stuff anyways.”
“Be that as it may, there’s a lot that I would need to do first and report on anyways before getting you involved. And secondly, it’s very late and we all should’ve gotten some sleep a long time ago,” Barnaby looked at Crom. “Sorry that we couldn’t really catch up or anything but Rainbow Dash and I are going to be heading back up to the city.”
“We’ll talk again some other time,” Crom shrugged and faced Rainbow Dash. “And it was nice meeting you… even though I wish your first visit to the mines was more normal.”
“Nice meeting you too, dude. Don’t sweat it,” Rainbow Dash winked and both she and Barnaby headed out of the office, towards the elevators that would take them back up to the main city of the Copper Section.
“So what does happen next?” Rainbow Dash asked him.
“Your tour and education of Oreville continues as normal. There’s a motel close to the mining building up above. We’ll get you checked in there just for the day while I go report everything that happened in the mines at the Correctional Facility and get the ball rolling for the investigation on my end. But you don’t need to worry about any of that. Tomorrow the two of us will be joining Lords Gold, Silver, and Copper for dinner in Gold Section. That’ll be your first real duty as a visiting diplomat and I know Lord Silver is enthusiastic about it. Gold and Copper… we’ll see how it goes.”
“I’m already looking forward to it,” Rainbow sarcastically grumbled.
“That makes two of us.” Barnaby yawned.
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Well at least I know exactly what I’m going to do when I get that motel room: sleep.”
“I’ll find a more permanent residence soon...”