“You ever get the feeling that ponies are staring at you?” Rainbow Dash asked Barnaby as the two of them walked down the streets of the Copper Section.
“Considering you’ve been an outsider and have a—if I’m being totally honest—incredibly eye-catching appearance, I would think you’d be used to that by now.” Barnaby answered.
“True. But this is a different kind of staring. Like, the worried and unsettling kind,” Rainbow said as she looked around at the other ponies on the streets.
“You’re not wrong. I’ve noticed it too pretty much from the get go this morning. But it’s not only centered on you, the stares are coming for both of us,” Barnaby breathed out his nose and looked around. As soon as his eyes met another pony, they instantly averted their gaze. “It’s fear. Simple fear after everything that has happened. And they know we’re at the center of what’s going on and trying to uncover it.”
“So wherever we go they’re going to think...”
“That it concerns the bombings. And that perhaps they don’t want us around.”
“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash facehooved. “Just great, this is what I really wanted, to scare ponies wherever I went.”
“You have to understand, Rainbow Dash. The unusual, the unexpected, it’s scary. These ponies aren’t used to change or conflict of any sort. For generations now we’ve lived peaceful and quiet lives in Oreville uninterrupted by anything or anypony else,” Barnaby.
“And then I come along and bombs start going off at the same time.”
“Yes...”
Rainbow looked around and saw a few ponies turn away from her with fear on their faces, not even the fear that something was going to happen right now, but an all-encompassing general fear. A mother quickly hurried her child down a side-street and a pretzel vendor grimaced in the hopes that Rainbow and Barnaby wouldn’t come over to his cart. There were times in the other places Rainbow had visited on her journey where ponies and other creatures reacted similarly to her, and where her presence caused distress. Rainbow just knew she had to get through it and leave Oreville better off than it was now. That would erase this atmosphere of fear.
But they had no leads and nothing to go on for finding the culprit behind the bombings and setting the populace at ease. That’s why she and Barnaby were out here just mindlessly walking around in the first place.
“Come on, let’s go to one of the local business parks and relax. Maybe it’ll set the minds of my ponies at ease if they simply see us having an ordinary day just like them,” Barnaby said.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Whatever you want to do, you’re still basically my tour guide. If we aren’t looking for bombs and crazy criminals I guess I might as well try and have fun another way.”
“I know you appreciate a good rest,” Barnaby smirked.
“Yeah, but not when there’s way more awesome stuff I could—should—be doing,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I can take a nap after the cool stuff.”
“Sorry but the “cool stuff” looks like it’s going to be on hold for a good while. And personally I don’t quite consider it as cool as you do,” Barnaby said.
Rainbow winced. “Look, I didn’t mean-”
“Relax,” Barnaby chuckled. “I’m messing with you. Although it’s true I want things to go back to being quiet and peaceful here I know you like things a bit more exciting.”
“Yeah but I don’t want anypony getting hurt either. I like having a big, obvious, villain right in front of me who I can punch and laugh in victory over!” Rainbow thumped her chest. “But, ugh, this is so not turning out like that at all. You know if it had been like two or three days of nothing happening down here when I first got here I would’ve just left? Just totally flown away looking for a more action-packed adventure.”
“So are you happy or sad about what’s occurred here?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.
“The answer that doesn’t make me sound like a jerk,” Rainbow groaned and dragged a hoof down her face. “It’s complicated, okay?”
“Life is,” Barnaby shrugged. “I can’t really say I understand exactly where you’re coming from or what drives you. You’re such a larger than life pony I don’t think anypony else can. But I’m certainly not judging you.”
“Thanks, it’s just… after what happened with Dolph, and with how important the mines are to you guys, it’s kind of awful of me to wish for something to happen again. Isn’t it? That’s just going to make the ponies here more afraid. And who knows what else might happen,” Rainbow sighed.
“I don’t think you’re just craving fun for your own sake when you’re wishing for something to happen though,” Barnaby said.
Rainbow looked up at him. “Oh yeah?”
“I think you’re wishing for justice and true peace and happiness that can happen after you do something awesome. Deep down that even you may not have noticed it yourself,” he grinned at her.
Rainbow Dash gave a brief laugh before a smile came over her face. “Heh. Well it at least sounds better than what I was saying.”
“Do you want a snack to eat while we walk? Pretzel? Snowcone? Churro?” Barnaby asked as they passed by a few different carts and stands selling snacks on the street.
“Naw, not right now at least, most of these ponies look like they might faint if I talk to them,” Rainbow said.
“Good point,” Barnaby nodded.
Their stroll took them in-between some of the larger skyscrapers, where smaller buildings and business popped up all around the surface level of the streets and thoroughfares between the huge structures. Rainbow couldn’t see far off into the city anymore because the buildings were clustered so closely together. As were the ponies. It said something of Oreville that even with the budding fear over recent events that hundreds were still out and about going along with their normal lives. Barnaby took her to a pavilion where a number of stone benches sat around an area dotted with stone statues and several fancy fountains that dripped water in a weave of streams.
“So we’re just here to chillax?” Rainbow asked.
“I’m not entirely sure what that word means but I can venture a guess,” Barnaby said. “So yes. Just let the ponies see us doing nothing, staying calm, having fun.”
Rainbow Dash and Barnaby sat down on a bench and watched the civilians of Oreville walk on by at a brisk pace. She noticed immediately that most of the ponies walking by had also taken note of the two of them but were either trying not to look or had picked up their pace to get by faster. It made her snort in annoyance, she hated having this weird stigma attached to her. Though even though this was supposed to be a temporary solution, Rainbow Dash was pretty sure it wouldn’t be fixed for good until she brought down the pony behind the bombings.
She looked at one of the statues of a pair of marble mares standing up on their back two legs and holding a ball between them. Rainbow didn’t care much for art but even she could appreciate the symbolism of something that said “unity”.
Her wings felt itchy and Rainbow Dash looked at her sides and gazed at the bandages still wrapped around them. So annoying. Her wings were constantly twitching and moving around inside the bandages and it was especially troublesome when she was trying to sleep. She felt so wrong with her wings clipped like this. It wasn’t just that they were injured but that they were contained, held down, caged. She wanted these dumb bandages off already so she could fly around freely and just feel normal again.
“Seriously need to go back to Abernathy and see when I can get these bandages off,” Rainbow grumbled.
“Hm, I wouldn’t imagine it’ll be too much longer,” Barnaby mused. “Maybe a day or two. When you do get them off I have something special to take you too as well.”
Rainbow’s head swiveled up at him. “What is it?”
“It’s a surprise, I can’t tell you yet,” he smirked.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah whatever. Better be worth the suspense. Whatever you’ve got in mind, let’s go back to the hospital tomorrow anyways. The sooner I get these off the better.”
“I’m sure Nurse Abernathy will enjoy seeing you again too,” Barnaby said.
“When I’m not injured for once,” Rainbow couldn’t help a small grin. She then let out a short breath through her nose as the grin left her face. “Are you afraid that you can’t really trust a lot of your constables?”
Barnaby frowned. “I’m afraid that I’m unable to clean house like I truly need to. Chief Constable I may be, but the Lords would kick up too much of a fuss if I suddenly fired half of my force and personally tried to find and screen every new recruit. They might think I was up to something.” He snorted.
“And so instead you just have to deal with a bunch of corruption...”
He shrugged. “I make it work. The ones guarding the TNT now are the ones I fully trust, and right now in the city that’s all I need. As long as we can make sure no more bombs go off… well that’s all I can ask for at the moment.”
“Don’t have to worry about the factory or anything?” Rainbow asked. “What if Lord Copper, or whoever, tries to steal from the source?”
Barnaby shook his head. “Not possible. The TNT is carefully manufactured on an assembly line from the raw materials and chemicals that go into it. Once it’s done it’s immediately shipped off by cart to the warehouses. The insides of that factory are carefully guarded and protected by the owners, an old family who have been in the TNT business for generations. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lord Copper attempted to buy the factory as well but was rebuffed. Even he would have trouble dealing with them. Not only are most employees and workers at the factory either members of the family or close family friends, but Lord Copper wouldn’t have the facilities or know-how to make bombs with any stolen chemicals. He would need finished TNT.”
“So I guess trying to spy on him or the factory won’t get us nothing either,” Rainbow folded her hooves. “I was thinking how wicked cool it would be to set up a sting...”
“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Barnaby laughed.
Rainbow shrugged. “It’s alright. Just throwing ideas out there.” After she said that, a family walked through the pavilion and looked over at Rainbow Dash. She smiled and waved at them and much to her delight, the children waved back. The parents only offered up some awkward smiles but Dash was okay with that for now. “Not too bad.”
“I think it’s all worth it to see a smile on a child’s face,” Barnaby said. “Stop me if that sounds too schmaltzy.”
“It does,” Rainbow gagged.
“Well, to each their own.”
“Also—is it really going to make that big a difference for the ponies in here if some of them see us like this? No offense, but most of them are just going to keep walking by without giving us a second thought. And Copper Section is a really big place,” Rainbow sighed and unfolded her hooves, propping them up and instead resting her chin in them.
“We’re not going to be able to change the whole city, but it still matters for these ponies here. Ponies talk and word spreads. A few more days of everypony around Copper Section seeing us not stressed out or chasing down criminals and things will get back to normal for the average pony. They’ll be happy and get to live their lives in peace. And we’ll still deal with the culprit whenever another lead comes up for us to follow,” Barnaby said as he watched one of the fountains shoot out a complex pattern of water spouts from multiple different nozzles.
Rainbow Dash breathed out her nose and watched a few more families and business ponies go by. She blinked a few times with an even expression on her face, thinking about all the things she had been through recently and seen in Oreville. “I guess it’s worth being bored for a little while.”