Chapter 16 - Celestia's thief

The next few nights saw things calming down a bit in the mine. The newbies still chafed at being ordered around, but none of them wanted to see a repeat of the performance the other day. Bruno, after he came to, became my new best friend. This wasn't entirely unexpected, the same thing happened with Bigalo the last time. Bullies usually act the way they do because they are afraid of losing face. Once they have actually lost face, it's almost a relief to them. Now that the burden of 'tough guy' is off of their shoulders, they can settle in and support the new top dog, or in this case, top pony. However, Jingo wasn't taking this transition well. Whether it was personal loyalty to Bruno, or just a prejudice against ponies, he was the only one of the newbies who refused to fall in line. At some point he could be a problem. But, as long as he did the bare minimum of labor required, there was nothing I, or Big Tom, could do about it. Miners didn't have to like each other. We weren't here to make friends. We were here for the money, plain and simple. And we did a dangerous job to get it. As long as a miner did his job, he was free to hate whomever he wanted to.

I saw the pony in the 'funny suit' come in night before last, to switch out the lead bottle on the magic tower thingie. It was a funny suit indeed. I seem to remember seeing something similar back in my days at Celestia's school. They wore them in the High Energy Magic building on occasion. I need to ask her about that when I get out of here. I performed my own tests off shift and sure enough, there was no radiation, or Radon, for that matter, anywhere to be found. That tower works really good. I tried to scan it but it was shielded. Not sure if the shield was for radiation, or prying eyes, but I wasn't going to risk bringing it down just to find out. I'd report to Celestia everything I could tell about it, and let her and her big brains go from there. I do love giving them new puzzles to solve. Although according to the boss, the feeling isn't mutual.

Last night I got my first break. Big Tom told us we were going to have to blast our way through a granite obstruction, a pretty large one. He didn't want to send his good workers up for the explosives, and he sure didn't want to send the newbies, so I volunteered to go get what he needed. I could instantly see the relief in his muzzle. He trusted me not to blow myself to bits, because he knew I had a certain amount of fear about diamond dog explosives. He knew I'd be as careful with them as if they were a newborn pup. And believe me I would.

It isn't that I don't trust diamond dogs to make explosives. I just don't feel comfortable around any explosives that I didn't make myself. All explosives are dangerous, but the stuff the diamond dogs use scares the crap out of me. I'm not sure exactly how it's made, Twilight Sparkle could tell you, but I do know it starts with a special kind of salt. Then they use 'science' on it and it becomes a liquid. A very unstable liquid. If you tapped a jar of it, it would explode. If a sound vibrated a jar of it, it would explode. If you looked at it funny… alright, that might be a slight exaggeration, but my point is, this stuff is deadly. The dogs soak sawdust in this stuff, then wrap the sawdust tightly into paper tubes. Then they use the tubes to blow crap up. Thing is, after a while, if you haven't used the stuff, the liquid will seep out of the tube and crystallize. Then, once again, any little anything will set it off. I have a tremendous amount of respect handling it. And I always keep a shield of magic around it, ready to teleport it as far away as I can. I doubt my shield is strong enough to protect me if it ever were to explode, but I keep it there for my own peace of mind. Call it my security blanket.

The only good part about being sent to fetch the 'boom sticks', is that I get to talk to the dogs at the supply depot. One of the things I did as soon as I set up my Long Shot identity, was to ingratiate myself with all the dogs in charge of procurement in the mines. These were the dogs that knew what was REALLY going on. And like people in supply everywhere, they loved to gossip. Trade them a bit of dirt from topside, and they would gossip about anything you wanted to know. Usually I'd fabricate something out of thin air to use for currency, living in the Undercity they had no way to confirm or deny it, but this time I could pay them in cold hard facts. Facts I wanted them to spread around as much as they could down here.

As soon as I made my way back out of the mine, I replaced my nose filters with fresh ones at the nearest station. It doesn't take them long to go bad down with all that mine dust, and where I was going, my nose would need all the help it could get.

My writ from Big Tom got me past scrutiny at the explosives building. A concrete bunker set far apart from the rest of the supply depot. There were only ever two people that worked the desk there. An old dog with a classical diamond dog name 'Grr-ark-snuffle-bark-aroo', but everyone called him Scruffy. The other being was a human who went by the name Carl. As I mentioned before, I'm not a fan of humans, for reasons I have already stated. Carl was… tolerable, unless you had to watch him eat. I could see why he was down here with the dogs, he fit right in. Lucky for me Carl wasn't on shift.

“Evening Scruffy, how's it wagging?” I ask, smiling hugely.

“Slow and low, as you very well know,” comes the reply. “Well, if it isn't my favorite jittery pony. Come to once again risk life an limb with some of my little toys?” He says, with barely a trace of accent.

Scruffy is a very well educated diamond dog. He was the one who actually came up with the current explosives the dogs used every night in the mines. It was small wonder that he was put in charge of their distribution and care.

“Hey Long, wanna see somethin cool?” He asks with a feral grin.

“Um, no… no I'm good.” I say holding up both front hooves for emphasis. Scruffy's ideas on what is cool usually would scare the fur off me.

“Aww, c'mon, be a sport, just have a look eh?” He says, pulling a glass domed display out from under his desk and setting it on the counter.

Inside rests a crystal. I look at it in pure terror, it's one of those explosive salt crystals.

“S-Scruffy, what exactly are you planning to show me here?” I say, considering all my options.

If I teleport out, I'll blow my cover and lose any chance of tracking the explosives back to who took them, on the other hoof, I would still be alive. I LIKED being alive.

“Oh calm down youngin, all I wanted to show you was this.” Scruffy reaches back under the counter and pulls out a tuning fork. Before I can react he strikes it on the counter and points it directly at the crystal, smiling at me the whole time.

Still paralyzed with indecision I stare wide eyed at the crystal. Which does absolutely nothing.

After a few moments more of it continuing to do nothing, I finally find my voice.

“S-so it's a fake then?” I ask, still in 'terror mode'.

“Nope not at all, it's the real thing all right,” he says, tapping the dome with his paw, causing me to flinch. “Oh by the great Terrier youngin, you got ta be the most flinchy pony I ever did see. It's safe. Totally safe. I came up with it myself. Totally stable crystals. Even the most clumsy dog can tote this stuff around and not blow all of his friends ta glory. Pretty cool eh?” He says, resting his arm on the dome.

“Y-yeah,” I reply trying to unfreeze myself, “that's… totally awesome.”

And it was. Once my brain started working again I realized all of the implications that such a crystal could have on the mining industry. And then of course on the military industry. Crap. I was going to need a sample to take back with me to send to Celestia. If the dogs outside of the city got hold of this, and they would, it would only be a matter of time until the griffins, minotars, and every other race started using it. Better that Celestia be far ahead of any of them before this becomes public. Of course, better still if it never BECAME public.

“That's amazing Scruffy. And you came up with this yourself? I'm guessing that's what I'll be taking back with me today. It's a load off my mind, let me tell you.” I say, not having to fake the relief I put into my voice.

“Well, now hold on, hold on.” He says hurriedly. “Yeah, I made this stuff, but it was by accident. That fool Carl had left a box go bad in the back and crystals were already forming on it. He was walking by me while I was experimenting with various chemical reactions on my worktable. I saw the crystals on the outside of the box, and lunged across the table to try to stop the fool before he jarred it. In retrospect that was a dang fool thing to do, but at the time I just reacted. Anyway I spilled chemicals everywhere including onto the box, soaking the already formed crystals on the outside. I managed to stop Carl, got him to stand stock still, and then we carefully took the crate out back for disposal. We placed it in the 'box' for detonation.”

I knew about the 'box' out back in the cleared lot. It was specially made just for getting rid of this stuff when it went bad.

“So we stuck a primer inside one of the sticks,” he continues, “moved back and set it off. Ka-BOOM!” He yells for effect, making me jump once more. I hate when he does that. “Well, we go back to clean out the box and guess what we see? All the crystals that had been on the outside of the box are still there. There was enough explosives in that box to blow up a building, and yet the shock of that explosion didn't set off the crystals on the outside of the box.”

“Are you sure that the chemicals you spilled on them hadn't rendered them inert?” I ask.

“Silly pony, that was the first thing I checked.” He chides. “I took a small crystal put it back in the box, and ran a wire to it. Then I moved back and sent a small charge through it. Sure enough, KA-BOOM!” he yells once more, still making me jump. “But the funny thing was that that tiny crystal made an explosion just as big as the whole crate did. Isn't that amazing?”

“Yes, totally.” I respond my gut sinking. There was no way I could let this go, it was just too dangerous. “So,” I ask casually, “have you been able to recreate your accidental success?”

“Sadly no. I've run tests on the other crystal fragments however, and have determined that they are totally stable unless stimulated by an electrical charge. This is the final remaining piece of crystal. I've put in a request to the palace for an audience. If I can talk to Princess Luna about what I've found, perhaps she can have one of her magic ponies analyze it and determine how to duplicate it. It's all I can think of myself. I've tried everything else that I could.”

Relief washes over me like cold water. If Luna finds out what Scruffy has, then there is no way it's getting into the wrong hooves. Then I stop for a minute and think. On the OTHER hoof, if I were to manage to claim this little rock for Celestia…

“Well, enough fun and games youngin. I'm guessing some alpha sent you for some ordinance. Let's see your work order.” Scruffy says, shaking me from my thoughts.

I pass over Big Tom's list. Pretty standard stuff. As expected Scruffy asks me what I was hoping for.

“So Long, any juicy tidbits from topside?”

“Well as a matter of fact, I do have some recent news. Seems there has been a couple of explosions that were set off in the city. Now one of 'em in the red light district was said to be from a gas main. Funny that, since the place ran on electrics. But the other one was at a really fancy restaurant. And guess what they found on the scene? The place was bombed by someone, and the stuff that the bomber used? It was a standard ring of diamond dog explosives used for right down here in the mines.” As I say this I am paying particular attention to Scruffy.

He immediately stops what he is doing and returns to the counter.

“Explosives from here?” He says shocked. “How sure are you about this information youngster?”

“Really, really sure,” I reply. I was on the other side of the street when it happened. I came in to help get people out, the investigators were talking about it, I heard it all with my own two ears.” All of this was true, just not quite in the way that he thinks.

“But that just don't make no sense.” Scruffy replies. “You know me Long. I keep careful track of all of my inventory, there's no way I wouldn't notice if any of it went missing. And trust me, none of it has gone missing.”

The next question I ask is a risky one. It wouldn't do to make Scruffy suspicious of me, but it's a question only he can answer, so I couch it in a way that he more or less has to ask himself.

“Well, we know that nobody on a crew could have done it. They'd never get any explosives past the checkpoints in the mine.” This was true. Everybody gets checked after their shift. The bosses don't want anyone sneaking out any unreported gems or ore that they might happen to come across. They can't have the miners amassing a private fortune bit by bit at the companies expense. “And the miners are the only way that any of the explosives could get topside, so I just can't see how it could have happened.” I say, feigning ignorance.

“Weeeeell,” He says after a moments thought. 'Bingo' I think to myself. “There is one other way, but I just don't see how they did it. See, I recently received a large order for explosives from Night Industries. You know, the big corp. that works for Luna? I'm not sure exactly what they are using it for, but that is the only request I've had from topside in over a year. All I can figure is that this bomber fella must have stolen some of the explosives from that shipment. But I don't see how. That Night Industries place has more security than the Princess's palace. I ought to know, at one point or other, I've been to both.” He says with no small amount of pride.

I had known that Scruffy had met Luna once before, this much he told me himself. It was when she requested him to go over plans for the original mining tunnels. What I had not known was that he had been to Night Industries, and I said as much.

“You've been to Night Industries? Freeow, that's a fancy Dan place if ever I saw one. Isn't that where Dr. Brass works?” I say, making myself sound impressed.

“Yup,” he responds. “Matter of fact I met the pony myself while I was there. He had invited me to join a think tank on different forms of energy and their potential for use in the future of the city. He was very interested in my discoveries in the use of nitrates. Very smart pony. We got along quite well.”

“Well color me impressed. Someone I know has actually met Dr. Brass in person. You are quite the big dog Scruffy.” I say, making him flustered for a moment.

“Bah, I'm just an old dog that has learned a few new tricks,” He says as he finishes gathering the rest of the supplies Big Tom has asked for. “Still, if I can figure out this stable explosive crystal… well, then maybe I might have a moment or two in the spotlight.”

“Yeah, good luck with that Scruffy,” I say as I make my way to the door, waving to him as I leave.

“Yeah, and luck to you youngster, stay safe down there!” He says waving back as the door closes behind me.

I feel bad for the old dog. He's given me exactly what I wanted to know, and I plan on repaying him by making sure his discovery never sees the night or day. Sometimes, well MOST times, my job makes me be a right bastard. But I console myself with that idea that by doing so I'll be helping to save countless lives. That's got to count for something right?

I take my payload back to the mine and turn it over to Big Tom. The following night they began blasting out the new section. I work as hard as any other the rest of the week, making sure to keep the dogs in my section in line. I think that most of them will be alright after I am gone. They are finally working as a team. This is good because I am planning to leave just as soon as my weeks pay is processed.

“I'm sorry ta see ya heading back topside Long.” Tom says, signing my time sheet for the week. “Wish you'd decide to sign on for another week or two, we could really use you.”

“Yeah, well, you know how I get if I'm down here too long Big Tom. Mine starts closing in on me, I start getting the shakes. Besides, I need to get this money to a couple of ponies as fast as I can. I kinda don't want them to come looking for me. Things tend to get broken when they have to go looking for somepony.” I say, sounding a bit nervous for effect.

“Dese guys must be some major bad news if they make a pony as tough as you nervous Long Shot.” He says, worry creeping into his gruff voice. “You just go on back up an do what ya gotta do. We'll still be here whenever you wants ta come back.” He says clapping a paw on my shoulder and offering me a smile.

Tom is a good dog. And I wish him the best, but right now I need to get my pay, and get back to my office as quickly as possible. But before that, I need to do just one more thing.

As I exit the shaft and enter the cage, I hit the up button. As soon as I am out of the line of sight from the bottom, I make myself invisible. I'm really glad I recharged both of my kinetic runes during all that mining, because I was going to need to stay invisible longer than I would normally have the magic for.

Invisibility is a higher order spell. Keeping just one person from noticing you isn't all that hard. You'd just cast an aversion spell on him, then every time he happened to glance your way, he would feel compelled to look in a different direction. But it would be impossible to cast an aversion spell on everypony, one at a time, on say, a busy city street. That's where invisibility comes in. The basic idea is that you make a picture of what is behind you and put it in front of you, so that anyone that looks at you sees what is behind you. Yeah, that's the basic idea. Now imagine doing that 360 degrees, continuously, in all directions, at all times, as you move. THAT is invisibility. And it takes a large amount of magic to do it for just a short amount of time. Fortunately, not only do I have a considerably large natural store of magic, I also have two fully charged kinetic runes as back up. This should last me plenty long enough for what I planned on doing.

The cage rattled to a stop on the top floor. Silently I made back up and out of the mine. I passed several dogs on the way, but I had used another handy spell to completely hide my scent. Very useful in this case. I still had a hoofful of pebbles in case I needed to distract a dogs sensitive ears, but so far, so good.

After I left the mine, I made my way back to the supply depot. I waited until another dog passed through the security gate, and made my way inside undetected, along with him. A few moments later I was back at Scruffy's explosives depot. I had to wait nearly twenty minutes before someone finally went inside for supplies so that I could sneak in with him. Then I simply moved out of his way and waited.

Carl was working the counter today. Good. That meant I wouldn't have to do anything to poor Scruffy. Not being a fan of Carl, this would be easier on my conscious. I waited until the customer left. Then I made my way silently behind the counter. Carl settled into an old worn office chair at Scruffy's desk, and began to read the nightly news paper. I quietly created an invisible dome around his head, then slowly reduced the amount of oxygen inside. After a few moments he went unconscious and I released the dome.

I then removed the domed glass case from under the counter, and took out Scruffy's 'stable' explosive crystal. I reached into my mane and removed an exact replica made from quartz crystal that I had found in the mine and had tinted to match the proper color. I placed the fake in Scruffy's case and put it back under the counter. I then put Scruffy's crystal into a wad of rags that I brought with me from the rag bin, and placed it into my mane.

I was making my way to the door when it suddenly opened before me. I had to dodge out of the way as Scruffy made his way inside. He spied Carl a moment later, and slammed his paw on the counter, causing Carl to jump awake.

“Gol dang it Carl! I ain't payin ya ta fall asleep on the job! I swear you have got ta be the laziest human being in Equestria.” Scruffy rants, as another customer makes his way inside.

I don't waste a moment, and seize this chance to make my way outside. I could still hear Scruffy complaining as I exited the compound, heading back to the labor office to collect my paycheck.

An hour later I am on the surface once more. I shook my pseudo mane once to get rid of the last of the water from the decontamination shower. I make my way into a nearby alley, and making sure no one is watching, I remove the wad of rags I had kept hidden from the checkpoint dogs with magic. I take a moment to examine the crystal, and with a quick prayer that Scruffy was right about how stable it is, I teleport back to my apartment. I've got about eight hours until my office normally opens up. That's enough time for a normal shower, a meal, and what is, for me at least, a full night's sleep. First thing in the morning I've got quite a bit of info to send to Celestia, including a very important package. Then it looks like I will have to pay another visit to Night Industries. I'm very curious to find out if they have had any explosives go missing recently.

My evening plans went off without a hitch. Due in no small part to the fact that no pony knew I was home. The next morning I had a quick breakfast, sent my report, along with the crystal to Celestia, and then teleported to my office building. As I was climbing up the stairs, I knew instantly that something was wrong. For one thing, all the lights were on, and I could here the voices of Ori, Moonlight, and at least one other pony I didn't recognize. And none of them sounded happy. For another thing there was blood all over the floor and the outer door to my office.

I readied a combat spell and burst into the room, prepared to rain death upon any intruder present. Looking around the room at all the dead and dying ponies, I realized that I needn't have bothered. Someone had already beaten me to it.