Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

The Eternal Furnace VII

She had traveled into a part of the access corridor that was monumentally dirty and grungy looking. It wasn’t enough that rats were scurrying around the other parts, now the floors looked like they hadn’t been wiped down in ages and dust and other sorts of grime covered the pipes and vents. Some of the lights on the ceiling were out or buzzed off and on, making the whole place just look eerie. While the rest of the corridor had a cool steel look to it she was now in such a dump of a place that it was all a moldy brown around her.

“So this is really just getting better and better,” she complained. At least she didn’t have to walk over the dirty floor.

Finding the Wrenchers was going to be tougher now, she wondered if everything started to get worse the further one got from the work area. Again, that was another thing that would make sense when it came to Resin’s beliefs and orders. If that was the case the Thunderbirds’ housing block was probably in shambles.

“Could it really be worse than not having a door to your own house?” Rainbow said as she thought about how the ponies living under the Diesel Kings were forced to live.

The plain answer was none of them were in a good situation.

Rainbow Dash flew past one tunnel that led to an exterior hatch only to see the entire thing blocked off by garbage and debris. No one was wheeling a cart full of toxic waste through all of that. She had no idea why it was like that either, it didn’t make any sense. Oil Slick had said that they recycled and incinerated all their usual trash. And even if they didn’t want to do that they could’ve just pushed all this stuff to the hatch and dumped it off the mountain. Did they want to live in what was basically a garbage dump? Or did no one care enough to put even the smallest modicum of effort into taking care of this? Well, Rainbow Dash couldn’t really blame them if they felt that way about their city now.

After that she ended up going through a darkened part of the corridor that had a bunch of beams welded near the top of the ceiling going from side to side. She could only assume Wrenchers had done that on purpose to keep pegasi from flying too high in the corridor. That gave her less options in case she was attacked again but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Rainbow Dash flew in low and kept her eyes peeled for any movement in the shadows. As much as it annoyed her she also went down on hoof, keeping her wings at her sides might be better right now and she could still react plenty fast on her hooves. Not as well as in the air but she was confident against any group of gang members in this city.

Immediately though she felt the gross sensation of sticky filth beneath her hooves. She couldn’t see the floor but it was obviously just as messy and dirty as the rest of this area. Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and frowned, heading towards a light flickering in the distance. It was the only sign of, well, anything in this corridor now.

She began whistling to herself more out of sheer boredom than anything and walked a little slower than she was comfortable with just to make sure she didn’t stumble over anything or step on something sharp. Every now and then she’d hear a rat scurrying off somewhere or step on some board or tool left on the ground but no ponies showed themselves to her yet. Rainbow Dash was left to whistle through the darkness on her own without even being able to check for more hidden areas.

“There anybody here?” She asked the darkness.

No answer.

“You know if there are Wrenchers around and you guys know I’m looking for you but you’re just letting me wander around like this I’m going to be really annoyed,” she angrily stated.

Still no answer so she just snorted in annoyance and continued on. At least that flickering light was close and she’d actually be able to see what was around her soon and get back to checking on anything out of place in the corridor. She didn’t know exactly how far she had traveled, or how many housing blocks there were, but just judging by the size of the mountain she was sure she must be getting close to the end and where the tunnel leading to the Thunderbirds’ housing block was. If that stupid bell or whatever rang before she could do anything…

Rainbow narrowed her eyes and ducked under a bar that had been welded across the corridor so low that anyone older than a colt would have to duck under it. Why though? Good thing she was able to see it thanks to being closer to the light, now she was starting to get some real illumination again and she could focus on looking around.

“Okay, okay, what else do we have here?” She said as she walked under the flickering light, looking up and down the walls.

Right up until the floor fell out from under her.

She didn’t even notice the panel in the floor missing, ironically the light cloaked the darkness on the floor by drawing her attention solely to it after walking though a dark hallway for so long. Rainbow took a sharp intake of breath and extended her wings—having no idea how far she might fall she was about to flap them and keep herself hovering in one spot—when her hooves touched the floor after falling just a few feet and nothing more. She managed to catch herself and not stumble or fall on her face, her knees tense and her wings still ready to work in case anything else happened. It looked like she was on a steady floor though.

“Wooh,” Rainbow Dash breathed out and looked up. “Where am—oh.”

Six ponies surrounded her, carrying an assortment of pipes and wrenches. They closed their circle around her and the two in front held their “weapons” up to her face threateningly.

“You guys Wrenchers?” She asked nonchalantly.

“That’s right,” one in front of her holding a pipe—a mare—confirmed. “We’ve been watching you and waiting for you to come down here, Frayed Wire’s orders in case you ever came looking for us.”

Rainbow Dash flatly stared back at her. “Then you heard how annoyed I was going to be if any of you were listening.”

“Well what are you going to do about it? It’s six on one,” a unicorn behind her said.

“You could have sixty on one and I’d still bet on me,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“We aint here to fight anyways,” the mare said and glared at the unicorn behind Dash. “Frayed Wire wants to talk to you.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Okay, good. That’s what I wanted to do too. Where is he? Where am I?”

For the first time she really took a look around the new place she was in after falling down that small hole. It looked to be a cramped tube or crawlspace directly under the access corridor. Looking ahead she saw it seem to stretch endlessly off into the distance and back over her shoulder it looked much the same. Surprisingly it was decently lit with a bunch of small lights along the wall no greater than flashlights. The ceiling of this tube was low and barely a couple of inches above her head, similar to where the Diesel Kings worked. It was grungy and the air inside it smelled stale with an uncomfortable humidity to accompany it, dirt and grease caked all of the I-bars and L-beams that held up the access tube and below her the floor was a grating that covered bare wires and pipes that yet more rats were scurrying over.

“This is part of the maintenance tunnel network that goes all throughout this part of the city. Here we can get to every housing block, the work area, anywhere that isn’t locked down. Us Wrenchers are the only ones who know it without needing a map. It’s our turf,” the mare proudly stated.

“Good for you, now hurry up and take me to Frayed Wire,” Dash said.

The mare narrowed her eyes at Dash. “Fine, you’re lucky it’s not a fight we want. And you just remember that the Wrenchers are always moving around down here, so just cause you know where we are today doesn’t mean you’ll be able to find us again. Or tell the Thunderbirds and Diesel Kings where we are.”

“You seriously don’t have to worry about that. I’m not on anyone’s side right now but my own and all I’m trying to do is make you guys stop fighting each other,” Rainbow said.

“Whatever. Just follow us and don’t try and go off on your own,” the mare said. She took her pipe out of Dash’s face and started walking down the tube.

It was clear that the others were waiting for Dash to start moving so they could always watch her from behind and have her surrounded. Not like it would help them if she wanted to leave but she figured she might as well play along. So for now she kept close behind the mare and let her take her to Frayed Wire and wherever it was that the Wrenchers were calling headquarters for today.

“What’s your name anyways?” Rainbow Dash asked the mare. “You Frayed Wire’s second in command or something?”

“I’m just the one he gave orders to. Name’s Cast Iron,” the mare told her. Cast Iron was a bronze earth pony with a wavy teal mane pulled back and tied in a ponytail behind her head.

“Alright, well in a couple of days you’ll be my friend, Cast Iron. Maybe less. That goes for the rest of you, especially if you’re willing to tell me your names too,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Shut up, nobody cares about your stupid lies and whatever other delusions you’ve got in your head,” the unicorn told her.

“The only interest anyone has in you is how much use you can be to them. Frayed Wire and all us Wrenchers feel the same way,” a unicorn mare from beside her said.

Rainbow Dash had to roll her eyes again. “Suit yourselves. I’ve already gotten used to proving ponies wrong a long time ago.”

Aside from a few annoyed grunts they didn’t bother to retort. It was getting on her nerves but she knew at this point she had to let her actions speak for themselves. These ponies were just so dead inside and suspicious of everything and everyone. Probably came from being mistreated by their own and forced into this situation. Could she really blame them? She certainly wanted to. But it was times like these she just had to think about how Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight would handle things. Since it wasn’t quite time for her to just punch the problem away. She was serious about Cast Iron being her friend though, she was serious about that with any pony here who gave her the chance.

It was good to plant any sort of seed now and let them see how earnest and genuine she was. Rainbow Dash was always true to herself.

These guys just needed to be reminded of what real friendship was and then they could all work towards dealing with the true enemy in this city.

For now Cast Iron led the whole group through a maze of small tunnels that spread under the floor of the outer corridor and housing block. Rainbow Dash couldn’t even count how many twists and turns they took, she really would have an issue with finding them on her own in this place. What a pain. And some of the tunnels were so cramped they had to walk single file, not to mention just how dirty they were too. She was worried about accidentally stepping on a rusty nail or something. The hissing of steam and the sound of pistons going up and down filled her ears down here, the noise echoed right off the cramped walls. From deeper in the tunnels she was pretty sure she heard ponies talking and moving about but Cast Iron didn’t bother acknowledging it just yet.

As they made their way further in this maze, Dash was pretty sure they were intentionally doubling back and going in circles a couple of times to try and confuse her. That was starting to annoy her cause she knew they didn’t have much time left. She was going to say something to Cast Iron when they walked into a different tunnel Dash was sure they hadn’t been in yet and headed straight towards a bright light at the end of the tunnel. New room? It had to be something important.

“I sure hope we’re getting to Frayed Wire soon,” Rainbow Dash intentionally said louder and more obnoxiously than she needed to.

Cast Iron seemed to take the bait. “Be quiet, we’re almost there.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and waited for them to get out of this tunnel—after a moment more of walking they emerged into a new lit up room. She had to squeeze her eyes shut for a second to adjust to the change in lighting. This room was very bright thanks to a bunch of white lights not just stuck in the ceiling, but portable ones that were stood up at all the corners. The room itself looked to be some kind of old storage room, square, with a roof about ten feet above her head, and the only entrance and exit being the little tunnel they had walked through. She didn’t know what other purpose it may have served or where exactly it was nestled in the city but it was a well hidden nook.

And there were a number of Wrenchers inside the room, including Frayed Wire sitting atop a metal crate.

“So you came to see us?” The copper unicorn asked her. “Did you finally come to your senses and you’re planning on joining us or are you still going to try and peddle your nonsense.”

“She’s still peddling nonsense,” Cast Iron said before Rainbow Dash could respond.

Frayed Wire scoffed. “Of course. Why don’t you just leave our city already? There are plenty of exit hatches close to here.”

“No,” Rainbow Dash glared. “It doesn’t matter if I can just leave or not. I’ve already told you that’s not what this is about. I’m up here on an awesome adventure to help you ponies, so hurry up and let me help you.”

“Even if I believed you it doesn’t mean the Diesel Kings and Thunderbirds will. And we can’t show any sort of weakness to them. If we tried to act all friendly to them suddenly they’d think it was a trick or that we’d gone soft,” Frayed Wire shook his head. “You’re chasing a fantasy.”

“I’ll deal with them too. Don’t you think you’ve been cynical long enough? If they see that I’ve convinced you guys that I’m right maybe they’ll take a chance too. And if they don’t you still don’t have to worry about them fighting back or hurting you guys cause I’ll protect you. That’s how I am. Rainbow Dash protects her friends,” she stomped a hoof on the floor for emphasis.

“Words, words, words. You’re still just some random outsider pony. You want me to trust you? Then do something for me first,” Frayed Wire said.

“I already planned to. But I’ll tell you that I’m not going to fight or beat up somebody you don’t like just cause you told me to. That’s not how I’m planning on helping, so you better have a different kind of request,” she said.

“Well you’re lucky, cause I do. And it’s practically the same kind of thing you say you want to do with all us gangs,” Frayed Wire grinned.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve heard our gang’s had a bit of a schism. After our original leader died, a mare by the name of Nut said she should become the new leader of the Wrenchers. Well I disagreed with her. Most of the Wrenchers sided with me but a good amount followed her and we’ve been fighting with each other ever since. More than we’ve even been fighting with the Thunderbirds and Diesel Kings,” Frayed Wire narrowed his eyes at her. “You want us on your side? Well maybe I’ll start believing in what you’re saying—maybe—if you can convince Nut and the ponies she’s got on her side to give up her stupid spat and rejoin my group so we can make the Wrenchers whole again.”

“Fine,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with that.”

“Good. You won’t be getting on the Thunderbirds’ and Diesel Kings good side by doing this though, you know?” Frayed Wire mockingly grinned at her.

“One step at a time. And besides, I’m not helping you. I’m helping everyone,” Dash grinned right back at him.

The unicorn scowled. “Just do what I told you to. And don’t get any funny ideas either.”

“Whatever, so where is Nut? She somewhere in these tunnels too? Cause if she is I don’t think-” Rainbow started.

“She’s working today,” Frayed Wire cut her off. “Cast Iron and the others will take you to the work area where Nut and her group of fake Wrenchers always works. You can meet her there.” He shrugged. “As for whether or not she’ll hear you out or you can actually convince her of anything, well, that’s up to you. Heh, good luck.”

“Sounds like you almost want me to fail,” Dash said.

“Not really, but even if you do it’s still better than you helping one of the other gangs. You fail at this and no one’s going to take you seriously and we can all get back to normal and ignore you. We only got interested in you cause you were an outsider with no attachment to anyone or anything in this city, if you show everyone how useless you are then who cares anymore?”

“Great. Doesn’t matter because I’m not planning on failing. At anything.”

Frayed Wire opened his mouth to speak again when a familiar noise rang out.

riiiiiiiiiiiinnnng!!!

It was quieter thanks to where they were but the ringing of that bell signifying the start of the work day still easily reached their ears. Besides Frayed Wire all the other Wrenchers immediately got ready to leave the room and head to the work area. With Cast Iron waiting for Rainbow Dash to come along with her.

“You’re not coming too?” Rainbow Dash asked the “leader” of the Wrenchers.

He shook his head and lied down on the top of the crate. “Nope, taking the day off.”

“How nice for you,” Rainbow rolled her eyes and turned to walk back out of the storage room, but she paused briefly and looked back at Frayed Wire. “Oh yeah, I had another question. How many pegasi are there in the Black Hoofs gang?”

Frayed Wire shot her a confused look. “As many as there are earth ponies and unicorns I suppose. They took on any right at the start and Acid Rain’s smart enough to never try and recruit any from them. Why?”

“Just asking,” Rainbow Dash replied and went back into the tunnel with Cast Iron.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

[TheCommunistDog]

Yeah they sure ain't gonna have a good time fighting a mare which has served in both Equestria's elite division and in the "true Pegasi" army + having saving the world against Overpowered People multiple times.