//------------------------------// // What's That Coming Over the Hill // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Well, Dolph, I think you know by now that your work for me isn’t done yet. “It’s not my fault they survived, I did everything you said,” he clutched the radio in his grip with shaking hooves. That doesn’t matter. Results are what matters. It’s bad enough that plans have had to change because of Barnaby and that outsider, I can’t do what I truly want to do right now without suspicion falling on me. And if you ever want to see your family again you’re going to have to help me all the way to the end now. “There’s not going to be another opportunity to take them out...” Dolph cried into the microphone. I know, so I’ll have you do something else. “What?” A sinister chuckle came from the radio, reverberating through the small safehouse Dolph was inside. Here’s what you’re going to need to do… The following day saw Rainbow Dash and Barnaby walking through a part of Copper Section close to the main entrance to the mines that most of the workers traveled through. A large wall ran the perimeter of this area and inside it sat four different large warehouses. There was a little gate and a security booth set up blocking their way inside but Rainbow Dash had the distinct feeling that the guard wasn’t going to keep them from entering for long. “Excuse me,” Barnaby said with a cold frown on his face as he walked up to the security guard. “Could you open the gate for us? I have business here.” “Uhh...” the guard practically turned white as a sheet as Barnaby stared him down and Rainbow Dash glared at him. “S-Sure, let me get that for you.” Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes. He probably had been told not to let anypony in but he couldn’t exactly refuse the Chief Constable entry. A button was pressed and the gate rolled back into the wall, letting Rainbow and Barnaby just walk on in. “We’ll find the shift supervisor now,” Barnaby said. Rainbow Dash nodded and glanced up at him. “So what was the connection between this place and Lord Copper? What makes you so sure the TNT was taken from here?” “Immediately after the TNT is produced in its factory it’s shipped here for safekeeping before then being transported down into the mine and moved into the staging area. We know already from Crom’s records that no TNT that was brought down into the mines was missing or moved. The only place it could’ve been taken from was these warehouses—we need to find a discrepancy or missing order somewhere. As for Lord Copper… he owns these warehouses,” Barnaby narrowed his eyes. “He owns them?” Rainbow Dash frowned. “He didn’t used to. Previously they were privately owned by a family of businessponies, passed down from father to son and all that. But a few months ago, Lord Copper bought the rights to the warehouses and put them directly under Copper Section governmental control. The security guards and all the other workers you’ll see here answer directly to him now,” Barnaby said. “I can’t imagine the family that used to own these warehouses transferred ownership willingly. It’s more likely they were strong-armed into it or threatened in some way, but they’ve refused any attempts of me to contact them.” “Fantastic, so I guess Lord Copper has been planning this for a while. Who knows how much TNT he stole out of here?” Rainbow said. “I doubt that too much was taken. You see, the factory keeps records of how much they produce and the mines keep their records on how much is brought down to them. If there’s a discrepancy in the amounts left in these warehouses, the bigger it is the easier it will be to find, so Lord Copper probably only had a small amount taken to not make it easily noticeable,” Barnaby smirked. “However, we’re going to be able to find it anyways by cross-referencing the records from the mines, the factory, and here.” “Nice,” Rainbow grinned. When the two of them approached the central warehouse, a pony out front with a clipboard saw them approaching and walked over with an unpleasant frown on his face. It was clear he recognized Barnaby. “What are you doing here? This is private property, even as the Chief Constable you can’t just-” “Oskar, the day-shift supervisor, correct?” Barnaby immediately cut him off. The supervisor looked startled, not expecting Barnaby to know his name. “Y-Yes, but these warehouses are owned by the Lord Copper and you don’t have the authority to waltz on in here as you please.” “These warehouses are subject to an important investigation. I do have the authority,” Barnaby smirked at him. “Lord Copper is lord of Copper Section but not all of Oreville. What I’m doing concerns the well-being of every citizen that lives here—that is what my investigation entails. Of course if you’re not satisfied by that I can tell you the results of another minor investigation I recently partook in.” “Excuse me?” The confused Oskar raised an eyebrow. “Why, I merely looked into you, my good supervisor,” the smirk on Barnaby’s face widened as he leaned in and narrowed his eyes. “You see I had been researching these warehouses and I happened to come across some rather interesting tidbits of information. Namely the salary you’re paid for your job but also the fact that you’ve recently been seen dining at the Gilded Flower restaurant. A rather high-end and expensive place to be eating regularly for one such as yourself. In fact, looking into you further you’ve never been there before until just recently. Curious, right? I wonder where you may have gotten the money to afford to regularly dine at a place like that? You didn’t win any sort of lottery or prizes at the casino—I checked. So where did you get the money, Oskar? Perhaps a bonus from your boss, Lord Copper? Maybe some extra tax free, off the books, money for some exemplary service?” By now Oskar was sweating bullets and Rainbow Dash had to keep herself from laughing. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve just been saving up for a long time,” Oskar tried to explain. “I’m sure,” Barnaby’s expression darkened. “Now, I could care less about you. But if you want to not be stuck inside a cell for the rest of your life, you’ll let us into the warehouse and hoof over every record and count of TNT at your disposal.” “B-B-But-” “Are you going to keep defending Lord Copper at your own expense?” Barnaby growled. Oskar gulped. “L-Lord Copper hasn’t told me anything or given me any sort of extra money, t-that’s the truth. I don’t know what you’re investigating at all but it has nothing to do with him or me.” Barnaby rolled his eyes. “Some well-recited lines indeed. Either way, we’re looking through your records for evidence of stolen TNT. If you’re not going to be forthcoming on your own you should hope we don’t find anything. Otherwise I can’t promise you any sort of immunity when we uncover this plot and take down Lord Copper.” “I...” Oskar nervously looked back and forth between Rainbow Dash and Barnaby before clamming up. “I’ve got nothing to say.” “Sure you don’t,” Barnaby huffed and walked past him to the warehouses front door. “Come on, Rainbow Dash, we’ve got some paperwork to sort through.” Inside the warehouse was a carefully stacked up library of crates. Hundreds of large wooden crates of TNT. Rainbow and Barnaby both walked past rows and rows of them while ignoring the other surprised and confused workers inside the warehouse as they made their way to the back office. On every crate there was stamped a warning in red ink that the contents of the boxes were highly explosive and dangerous while on the walls there were multiple signs disallowing any open flames inside the warehouse. Rainbow Dash whistled as she took in the massive amount of TNT stored here. And if every other warehouse had the same amount? That was a lot of explosives. “You guys ever have any accidents with this stuff?” Rainbow asked. “There used to be rigorous weekly safety checks under the old management. Under Lord Copper? Who even knows,” Barnaby answered. They reached the door of the back office and Barnaby opened it up, startling awake a formerly sleeping stallion. “Huh?! What?!” “Get out,” Barnaby simply said to him. The stallion looked at him and Rainbow Dash from his desk with lacking comprehension. “Umm...” “Out,” Barnaby sharply commanded. “Y-Yeah...” the stallion gulped and got up, heading out of the office. “You’re pretty good at putting on an intimidating face when you want, you know?” Rainbow Dash said to Barnaby as the stallion shut the door on his way out. “Combined with a reputation for my distaste of Lord Copper and these putzes on his payroll don’t want anything to do with me,” Barnaby said. The two of them looked at the mess of filing cabinets behind the desk. Barnaby sighed and went to the one with the most recent date labeled on it. “Well at least we don’t have to bother with looking through anything from more than a few months back.” “Should we be worried about that Oskar dude or whatever? What if he calls Lord Copper and tells him we’re snooping through this stuff?” Rainbow wondered. “He doesn’t have the nerve. He’s trying to feign complete ignorance and he’d be in deep trouble anyways if Copper found out he let us in here. There’s nothing he can do,” Barnaby said as he pulled open a few drawers and showed off the files inside. “Alright, let’s see what we have here.” “Now the boring part...” Rainbow sighed and joined him. It wasn’t something that should be difficult to find. They needed to check how many crates came from the factory, how many had gone into the mines, and how many were currently in the warehouses. A single crate unaccounted for and Barnaby and Rainbow Dash would know where the TNT for the bombs had come from. Figuring out what exactly happened to that crate or who took it would be the second part. Although Rainbow and Barnaby both doubted there’d be a direct connection to Lord Copper. The good news was that even if the records kept at the warehouse had been altered or disposed of they could still check the factory and mine records to find anything missing. It would just possibly entail them having to do a manual count of all the crates in the warehouses. It just depended on how Lord Copper’s employees were treating this warehouse business. Barnaby threw a file down on the desk and let its contents spill open for Rainbow Dash, he pointed directly at a relatively newly printed piece of paper. “60 crates arrived from the factory last month. 59 were taken down to the mines.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head as her lip curled. “They’re… they’re not even trying to hide this.” “What diligent bookkeepers,” Barnaby shook his head, a sarcastic laugh escaping his lips. “No offense but… these guys are idiots,” Rainbow said. “I’ve been through a lot of things in my life and these guys? Lord Copper? They’re just stupid thugs doing something that’s way, way, beyond them. I mean come on, somepony at least thinking would’ve forged these or just written down the right number.” She facehooved. “Ugh, this is so lame.” “It’s good for us though. Even if we can’t prove that Lord Copper stole or planned the theft of the TNT, this proof of such gross mismanagement should at least let us place control of the warehouses under somepony else. Hopefully direct constable control, especially with the danger of another potential bombing,” Barnaby said. “And now we’ve got something that will make Oskar sweat even more,” Rainbow Dash somewhat malevolently rubbed her hooves together with a smirk on her face. “Oh yes, I think he’s going to be just a little bit more willing to talk now.” “Lord Copper isn’t involved-” “Oh shut it already!” Barnaby screamed and slammed a hoof down on the ground as he and Rainbow Dash cornered the day shift supervisor in front of the warehouse. “You are an accessory to two bombings that have taken place in this city! A crate of TNT was taken from this warehouse and used to make explosive devices!” “Maybe it was taken under the night-shift supervisor’s watch...” Barnaby had to resist punching the stallion, instead he settled for shoving the paper with the recent TNT records into his face. “This is still your signature on the paper! You are responsible, you had accountability! Now just tell us that Lord Copper had the TNT meant for the mines illegally and secretly taken from this warehouse.” Oskar’s lip quivered and he looked like he was on the verge of fainting. “I-I don’t know nothing about that.” “Are you that afraid of him?” Barnaby’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have any idea how many years you’ll be languishing in a cell now because of this?” “It is fear, right?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Obviously you’re being paid too, but you’re afraid of what he can do to you, or your family, or whoever if you betray him. Right? It’s the same thing with Dolph, I know it...” “I don’t know what either of you are talking about,” Oskar squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. “Urgh!” Barnaby slammed another hoof down. “This isn’t getting anywhere,” Rainbow said. “This idiot isn’t going to say anything about Lord Copper. He’s a coward. I really, really would just like to beat some sense into him, and Lord Copper too, buuut...” “I know,” Barnaby frowned. “I didn’t even do anything, n-none of this is my fault, I’m just a warehouse manager,” Oskar told them. “Don’t even start, Oskar,” Barnaby coldly responded. “Even if you didn’t know what the TNT was used for, you knew a crate was missing when you signed this report and did nothing, and even if you didn’t know what you were being paid extra for you had to know it still wasn’t on the up and up. And considering your fear of your boss, I’d say you knew exactly that the money you were given was to keep you quiet. You’re not blameless in this, Oskar.” The supervisor paled and his legs began to shake. “Y-You...” “Hm?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow at him. “Is there something you actually want to say now, Oskar?” “I-Immunity...” he barely whispered. Barnaby snorted. “What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you.” “Immunity! Give me immunity! Y-You said-” “I remember what I said to you. Are you willing to give us information on Lord Copper’s culpability in the taking of the missing crate of TNT?” Barnaby asked him. Oskar sweated buckets and he brought a trembling hoof up to his brow to wipe as much away as he could. “L-Lord Copper isn’t involved, honest.” Barnaby grabbed him by the collar of his suit and yanked him close. “Then what do you-!” “B-But I know something!” Oskar shouted. “I-I can t-tell you something about the missing crate!” “Oh? So you are willing to admit to something I suppose,” Barnaby said. “What is it? What do you know?” Rainbow Dash asked him. Oskar tried his best to look away. “I-I’m not admitting to nothing… b-but I may have overheard and may have seen something out of the corner of my eye one day while I was working here...” Barnaby rolled his eyes. “Just out with it already!” “I-I-I don’t know where the TNT was taken but I know who took it!” Oskar said. “T-They were four toughs who live in the Copper Section, I think they’re like a small street gang or something. I recognized one of them from seeing them in the news sometimes being arrested for petty theft, intimidation, stuff like that, you know?” “Some career-criminal hired to do the dirty work of actually stealing and relocating the TNT...” Barnaby mused. “What was their name? If they’ve truly been arrested a number of times I should know them as well.” “Malthus. I’m sure that’s what his name was. He had a yellow mane drawn back in a ponytail, and a few teeth missing, right?” Oskar said. Barnaby snorted in amusement, a chuckle escaping his lips. “Malthus, and his stupid gang of petty thieves and hoodlums.” He glanced at Rainbow Dash. “The bottom of the barrel when it comes to the criminal hierarchy in Oreville, they’re basically vagrants who act much tougher than they actually are. Practically just dumb ponies barely out of their teens who have been playing at being criminals their whole lives. Whoever hired them for this wanted ponies who could be bought off cheap and couldn’t cause a fuss on their own.” His eyes glanced back to Oskar. “So who was it who hired them? And did you just turn a blind eye while they were taking the TNT?” “I-I have no idea who hired them… and maybe I was busy doing something else when they moved the TNT,” Oskar said. “Useless,” Barnaby finally released his hold on the supervisor and Oskar collapsed to the ground as his legs failed him. He smiled and turned to Rainbow Dash. “I’ve got double good news, Rainbow Dash. First of all, I know exactly where we can find Malthus and his little gang.” “And what’s the other good news?” Rainbow asked as a smirk of her own started to spread on her face. “You’re going to get to partake in some action for once down here.” Rainbow Dash’s hoof collided with the face of a thug as she punched him through a table and he went sputtering down to the ground out cold. Around her lied several other down and out stallions either taken care of by her or Barnaby when they had arrived at the grungy dive in a seedy part of Copper Section. Probable Cause was a real door opener. Malthus was now wearing a black eye and being held up by Barnaby against the wall of the “gang’s” “hideout”. “And I couldn’t even use my wings for any of this,” Rainbow said as she cracked her neck and stepped over some of the other unconscious stallions to join Barnaby. “You’re not just going to get a few months or have to do some community service for this, Malthus,” Barnaby said to the small-time crook. “Have you been paying attention to the news?” Malthus gulped and nodded as best he could in Barnaby’s grip. “However, you can save yourself some considerable time in prison if you give us what we want. Right now, constables are on their way here to arrest you and the rest of your gang. Before that I would like you to tell us who hired you to take the TNT from the warehouses,” Barnaby narrowed his eyes. “N-No comment...” Malthus choked out. “Are you sure?” Barnaby’s grip tightened. “Honor among thieves, is it?” Malthus quivered in his grip and grimaced. “I-I won’t name anypony… b-but I can tell you where the TNT was taken… there’s a safehouse hidden in the sewers under Copper Section. If I tell you where it is… m-maybe a light sentence?” “Lighter sentence,” Barnaby dropped him. He hit the floor with a grunt and soon found a pegasus standing over him with a harsh expression on her face. For some reason, she was even more intimidating than Barnaby was. Rainbow leaned down and stared right into his face. “Okay, so where’s the TNT?” Rainbow Dash asked. The Gate of Winter opened and closed and a pink pony emerged from the True North, walking south.