//------------------------------//
// Servant of the People 
// Story: Rebirth of Magic: Law and Order 
// by The Blue EM2 
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I had often heard that beds in taverns varied from very nice to incredibly bad. At least this place had a mattress, rather than a series of ropes to pull together which needed to be done in order to prevent you from falling to the floor. Incidentally, this is where the saying 'sleep tight' comes from. Another example of the meanings of sayings we use without really thinking.

Anyway, I must comment on the sleep. It had been surprisingly relaxing, and as I awoke, my alarm going off next to me, I certainly felt extremely refreshed. That night had certainly cleared my aches and pains from the previous day and refreshed my mind ready for another day of what might be another long journey.

I rolled out of the bed and landed on the wooden floor below me, being careful not to get splinters in my hooves. I then headed out of the room and into the bathroom, which was reasonably well equipped for a bathroom of its type. I headed into it, and got ready to shower for the next day of action.

At least the plumbing works. I had read before going to bed that some of these mining towns had supply problems with their water, and it was a relief to be able to wash properly. I sighed again and went out of the room to dry myself with a towel, before applying the same process to my mane. A quick glance behind revealed my tail might be a challenge to do, as it was rather awkwardly placed behind me. It took a bit of wrangling with the towel, sure, but sooner or later I was able to get it cleaned up and dry. It would hardly do to have me dripping water all over the place, would it?

I pulled my bandolier and other equipment back on, and headed out of the room, locking the door behind me with the supplied key. I made my way downstairs to discover breakfast was being served, and already several ponies had gathered downstairs for this very meal.

The room provided for breakfast was extremely reasonable, all things considered. It was the same one I had entered into the previous day, and now light was flooding in through the windows, properly illuminating the space ahead of me. The tables were clearly spaced at a convenient interval to allow for dancing, and the bar was at one side. I took a seat and waited for a bit.

And waited. And waited.

Another pony trotted past. "You must be from outside of town," she said.

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

She pointed to a sign. Please order at the bar.

"Oh," I said, feeling rather silly. I got up and collected a menu to place my order. To speed up ordering, each combination had a number, so you simply stated the number you wanted rather than having to describe the meal in question. More places should do this, as it makes things more efficient.

Once I had placed my order, I then returned to a table, and observed a conversation going on between a group of older ponies. It seemed to be related to local news, and as I heard them speaking I couldn't help but notice a phrase being used over and over again- the lost miners.

This piqued my interest, so I quickly went over to the group. "Excuse me, gentleponies, but I couldn't help but overhear what you were saying. As you can probably see I work in law enforcement, so finding missing ponies is part of the job description."

One of them looked over, adjusting his flat cap. "You're not from round here, are you?" he asked.

"No sir. I'm on my way to the edge of the country to collect a bounty, and I'm staying here for a bit."

Another chimed up. "In which case, welcome to Hope Hollow."

Hope Hollow? Well, the place sure has changed a lot since Rainbow Roadtrip if a rural village settlement has turned into an enormous mining town. I nodded. "Well, it seems nice based on what I've seen so far."

Another pointed out of the window. "This town is dependant on the Pit, which is managed by the NEPCB. Seeing as you're not from here, I'll assume you don't know what that stands for. That's the National Earth Pony Coal Board, which manages the mines in Earth Pony territory."

"Thanks for the info," I replied. I had some vague familiarity with the coal mining industry- some of my ancestors back in the human world had worked in the South Wales coalfields- so this felt at once strange and oddly familier. "Now, about these missing miners. I'd like to help."

Another then spoke up. "There's a group of workers who mysteriously vanished underground a few days ago, and nopony can account for them. They haven't been seen, and the local management seem apathetic at best to go and look for them."

"What about local police?" I asked.

"They're in the company pocket," said the second to speak to me. "We wouldn't trust them to switch the pipes in a boiler round, let alone conduct an actual investigation into a group of missing ponies. But you're not from here. You're not in their pocket."

"That's correct, I'm from Maretime Bay," I replied.

"Went there on a holiday once," said a figure who was yet to speak. "Remember when they used to do special trains there?"

"Anyway," said the third, "will you look into this for us?"

"Yes," I said, "I will. There are a handful of things I will need, though. I'll need plans of the mine and the region, so I can plan my investigation properly."

"Well, Bob's your uncle!" said one. "I'll get the map to you as soon as possible, Mr..."

"Hitch."

They headed away towards the general store. That was an interesting moment. It makes sense a phrase like 'Bob's your uncle' exists over here, seeing as there's a pony in Maretime Bay called Rob. He's the one with the fedora.





I had looked at the map, and what they said checked out. The tunnel system was enormous, and radiated out in every direction under the earth. It had to add up to at least several hundred miles of tunnels and supply shafts. How in Equestria was a pony supposed to monitor it all? Presumably they had basic things like carbon monoxide checkers and other useful scrubbers to prevent problems, but this seemed otherwise to be quite poorly designed. Presumably there wasn't the resources to fully upgrade the place.

Based on the information I had gathered, I chose to take the southern entrance into the mine. The place had two separate winding houses, one for each end, as this minimised the amount of walking needed to be done underground to reach your seam. This was going to be a tough one, as I hadn't been underground in years. And most certainly not in this body either. I made my way out of the tavern and across the road, heading for the mine.

I showed the inspector on the gate my badge, and he let me through, seeing I was law enforcement. I trotted deeper into the region, I saw the surface buildings and operations were already running. Locomotives were propelling trucks about to be loaded with coal, presumably to be shipped off to other parts of earth pony territory. Large dispensers were dropping coal into trucks in numerous different grades. Clearly they had coal washers here too.

As I made my way round the area, moving past road vehicles and surface workers going about their business, I passed by one of the shifts that was heading out. They were absolutely covered in coal dust, and as I walked past them some of the dust fell off and transferred onto me.

Safe to say, when I entered the equipment room I looked like a miner. This made the next bit of the job easier, as the personnel simply assumed I was part of the workforce.

In that room, I collected my essential supplies. These consisted of a set of overalls, a helmet, a gas mask (to counter the toxic gases underground) and a geiger counter (these were supplied as standard). This may seem a strange selection of equipment, but trust me that last one would come in handy later in my journey.

A forepony helped me fit the gear and ensure it was correctly secured, and it was soon time for my mining adventure to commence. I joined a line of workers preparing to head in, and heard a series of bells informing me the winding gear was in action, and to expect the cage soon.

Before long it rattled into position, and as one group of ponies disembarked with a coal bin my group entered another one. The door was secured in place in front of us.

"Going down!" shouted the operator. "Good luck, lads!"

He rang the bells and we began to descend into the very bowels of Equis.