Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Realization

Rainbow Dash was snoozing on a ratty old couch in Barnaby’s office while the Chief Constable himself was snoring his way through the night in his desk chair. Neither of them were particularly comfortable but this was one place the both of them considered safe in Oreville. Rainbow’s hooves and wings moved around a bit in her sleep as she dreamed of a race, she was just about to cross the finish line when-

The door to Barnaby’s office was thrown open with enough force to make the handle smack into the wall on the other side. The loud noise startled and woke up both ponies inside, with Rainbow Dash accidentally slipping off the couch and falling to the floor.

“Wha-what’s happening?!” The half-asleep Rainbow asked as she launched herself to her hooves and looked around.

“Ch-Chief Constable!” The pony who had opened the door said, he was sweaty and out of breath. “There’s been a break in at the TNT warehouses! Several crates were stolen, I just got it on the radio with the constables stationed there!”

“WHAT?!” Barnaby yelled and jumped out of his chair.

“I-I came to get you as fast as I could,” the constable said.

Rainbow Dash shot Barnaby a knowing look and he nodded back at her.

“Let’s get over there right now,” Barnaby said.

---

The lights had come on in Oreville by the time they made it to the warehouses and the rest of the city was starting to wake up, ponies were walking down the streets to work and wagons were carrying things already. The rest of the city had no idea what had happened yet.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby were now right inside the front gate where most of the rest of the constables had gathered. Some of them looked injured, as if they had just gotten out of a fight, while one was still lying on the ground with his head being supported by a pillow another constable had brought. Barnaby was fuming but he wasn’t angry at his subordinates this time. He tilted his helmet back and looked around at all of them.

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

“We figured out that they came up from the sewer beneath the washroom of the main warehouse,” one of the constables said. “We’re not sure how many there were, maybe twenty, but they overwhelmed the constables inside the warehouse and ran out with a few crates of TNT. Then one of them attacked Xavier here,” he nodded at the constable lying on the ground. “And opened up the gate.”

“This aint good...” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“And you lost them?” Barnaby asked. “Do you know who they were or at least where they were taking the TNT?”

“T-That’s what we were waiting for you on, we wanted to be sure of what you wanted us to do,” the constable said, rubbing the back of his neck, he looked nervous and scared at the same time.

“What do you mean?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

“Xavier heard something... and he and some of us thought we recognized some of the ponies that stole the TNT...” The constable said.

Before Barnaby or Rainbow Dash could tell him to spit it out already, Xavier coughed and weakly opened up his eyes.

“Mines... bombs... to the mines...” the pony said.

“That’s what he’s been saying,” the first constable said.

“They’re going to set off more explosions in the mines... we can’t let that happen!” Barnaby said.

“Why are you all so dang slow to act?!” Rainbow Dash said to the constables. “If you know where they were going to be taking bombs to-”

“Malthus... security guards...” Xavier coughed.

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash looked at him while the first constable gulped.

“T-That’s the thing. We think some of the other ponies who came to steal those crates were some of Lord Copper’s security guards. Some think they recognized the face of his chief of security. I-If Lord Copper is involved... I’m sorry sir, but we know what happened earlier between you and him and Lord Silver. If we’re wrong about him again won’t you be in a lot of trouble?”

Barnaby shook his head. “That doesn’t matter right now. Whatever Lord Copper is planning to do with those bombs has to be stopped, consequences be damned. And if you can identify some of the ponies that stole the TNT as his security forces I think it’s certain that he’s the one behind this. He always was.”

“What do we do now?” Rainbow Dash asked him. She then shook her head. “Scratch that. I know what we do now.” She punched her hooves together.

“Right,” Barnaby nodded. “But it’s a little more complicated than that. If three crates were stolen and all the TNT in them was used to make bombs and they were taken to the mines... that’s the worst case scenario and I don’t want to rule it out. It wouldn’t just be a single collapsed cave we’d be facing, there could be catastrophic damage that could put the entire Copper Section at risk. Finding the bombs and stopping them from going off is more important than apprehending Lord Copper right now.”

“But he has to know exactly what’s being done with them!” Rainbow said.

Barnaby bit his lip. “You’re right but we aren’t even sure where exactly he is right now and his security could cause us problems if we try to force our way into his building...” Barnaby paced back and forth and tried to think of what to do. “Rainbow Dash, can I ask something of you?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, what?”

“It’s easier for you to travel through the Copper Section, and I know you’re perfectly capable on your own, I don’t think his security officers are a danger to you if you’re fighting back,” Barnaby said. “I want you to find Lord Copper and get him to spill the beans on everything, tell him we know for sure he’s behind things now. Threaten him if you have to. But in the meantime I’ll be taking my constables into the mines, I can meet up with Crom and his teams and we’ll scour the mines together to find the bombs. I can grab a pair of long distance radios back at the correctional facility and give one to you so we can stay in contact with each other.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “You can count on me, and I know you won’t be upset if he ends up with a few bruises.”

“Not at all,” Barnaby smiled back. “Now come on, we need to get back to the facility quickly.” He looked at the other constables. “Some of you stay here and watch over the injured, get in touch with the hospital, but the rest of you get to the elevators that will take you into the mines right now and wait for me! Together we’ll go down and tell Crom what’s going on.”

“Yes, sir!” The constables saluted and began to break off into groups to do their duties.

Barnaby gave them a last nod and shared a glance with Rainbow Dash before they both zoomed out of the warehouse grounds. He was running at full speed and she was keeping pace in the air right beside him.

“So Lord Copper finally ran out of patience and made a move I guess?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Must have,” Barnaby answered. “I’m still not sure what happened with that bomb that blew up his office last time though. And I still have no idea what his goal with all of this is.”

“Actually, I think I can piece together what that whole explosion in his office was about,” Dash said.

“Really?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’ve got a nose for picking out lies and evil jerks. Now that we know for sure he’s the one doing this, I’m finally getting what happened back then.” She narrowed her eyes as she looked ahead and thought back on that day when they confronted Lord Copper. “This guy had to know we were suspicious of him and would be coming after him sooner or later after surviving that explosion at your home. So he got himself some insurance to try and throw us off his back or at least make himself look like a victim and sympathetic or whatever to the public and Lord Silver.”

“But the timing-”

“It was just like with Dolph,” Rainbow Dash said. “That bomb wasn’t on a timer like the one that blew up your place. It was activated by him pushing some kind of detonator. I bet Lord Copper had one that worked both ways, do you remember how he was acting? And how he looked at the clock right before he went into his office?”

“Yes... yes, I do.” Barnaby said, thinking back on the moment as well.

“I think he was checking to make exactly sure when that bomb was going to go off. The moment he saw us in the hallway I bet he pressed a detonator he had concealed in his clothes or something. And after that it was just stalling and waiting for the right time. He cut us off and tried to get out of the conversation right before the bomb exploded. That was too perfect to be a coincidence, he knew the bomb was going to explode right as he was about to open the door,” Rainbow said. “And then the way he acted after it exploded and during the meeting with Lords Silver and Gold was just a show.”

“Except Lord Silver’s proclamations caused new problems for him,” Barnaby suggested.

Rainbow nodded. “Exactly. And that’s why this is happening now. Still don’t know what his main goal in all this is though.”

“We can figure that out later, let’s just get the radios we need and work together to stop him and those bombs. I get the feeling we don’t have all the time in the world,” Barnaby said.

---

Carter whistled as he walked down the Copper Section tunnel to start his shift as checkpoint guard today. It was early morning now and he was preparing to relieve Herman who worked the night shift. Unlike most others from Silver Section, Carter actually volunteered to come out here and help since it meant getting away from his wife and in-laws back in Silver Section. Besides, it was a nice easy job and you hardly had to do anything at all. He always brought a book with him to pass the time, technically he wasn’t supposed to but nopony was going to come out here and find out.

As he made his way down the tunnel he suddenly shivered thanks to a cold breeze blowing down it.

“Brrr... what the?” Carter tilted his head. “Why’s there a breeze?” He looked down the lit up tunnel until it became little more than shadows. Was the door open or closed?

He quickened his pace a bit to make it to the checkpoint and the booth that Herman should be in. Did he fall asleep and accidentally open up the door or something? Only a bit further along did he get to where he could see the checkpoint and the entrance to the tunnel beyond that. He had to squint for the moment but he was pretty darn sure the door was open and the very first glimmer of sunlight was starting to peak in.

“Herman? Herman!” Carter shouted at the booth as he quickly trotted up to it. “You fall asleep?”

Carter reached the door on the side of the booth and opened it up with his key. As soon as he opened the door and looked inside, he dropped his keys in shock. Herman was fallen on the floor of the booth, his stool tipped over, and glass from the broken window in front his station lying all around him.

“Herman!” Carter yelled and ran over to his coworker. He grabbed his body and rolled him over, checking for a pulse and to see if the security guard was still breathing.

A pained wheeze from Herman told Carter that at least the other pony was still alive.

“Hey, hey! What happened?! Were you attacked?!” Carter shook Herman a few times to try and get an answer.

Suddenly Herman’s eyes shot open and he gripped Carter’s shoulder with his right hoof. A sharp intake of breath made his entire body shudder and his grip loosened, his limbs going limp and his eyes almost rolling back into his head. “Hahhhhh...” He choked out, trying to speak.

“What is it?” Carter stopped shaking him so as not to accidentally hurt him.

“Danger... t-tell Lord Silver... m-monster...everypony is in danger...” Herman choked in another lungful of air. “Run... tell everypony... run...”

Herman’s back arched as he finished his last words and his eyes rolled back into his head completely, before his body fell slack in Carter’s embrace. Carter stared at the corpse he held for a few moments longer before realization hit.

“H-Hey? What... this can’t be real can it?” Carter said as his body went cold and he accidentally dropped Herman’s body back to the floor. “M-Monster?”

Carter’s eyes glanced up at the booth’s desk. A newly placed radio sat there that would give him a direct line to the Silver Section government offices. He stood up on shaking hooves and walked over to it, pale in the face and lightheaded, turning it on and trying to make the call.

“Pick up, pick up, please pick up soon...” Carter said as the radio buzzed and a cold breeze continued to blow in from the outside.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapters!

Did Rainbow Dash mentioned Heartless to Barnaby or the Lords? Was it mentioned in the paper?

[MagicS]

11215561
No, Rainbow Dash didn't want to mention something like that. She would've stuck to the cool parts of her adventures. And as far as she knows right now, Heartless is stuck at the bottom of a giant whirlpool.

[redmar]

It's over for Lord Copper and I hope they can stop those bombs from going off. Carter warning everypony will limit the damage at least if they're listening whihc they really should.

[TheCommunistDog]

Y

In today’s chapter: Copper busted!! And the pink Demon is inside!!!