Bronze Tiara

Chapter fourteen

It seemed like it was just a few days since they had been on a train to one of his mines. Yet, here Bronze and Marble found themselves once more, riding the rails. This time however, for far different circumstances. The mare looked over the letter written to the mine owner for what must have been the fifth time since she took hold of it, as her redonned cloak covered the rest of her form.

‘There… really isn’t anything in here about me?’ Bronze asked herself once again, as she finally passed the paper on to Marble, “have you gotten any other word from the mine until now?”

“No, that’s why this all is a surprise,” Marble answered as he got up in the cabin and looked out the window to the terrain passing by, “It’s like they just went and dropped themselves in the shafts.”

“Hard to imagine they did without any creature seeing them,” Bronze knew all too well her creations weren’t what you’d call stealthy, “could they have gotten in another way?”

“Hmm perhaps, there are a lot of spent veins that were mostly abandoned after they dried up,” the colt tried going over any and all blueprints to the mine in question he could, “hopefully they haven’t hurt any of the workers…” in a snap his face turned from questioning to worry at the thought.

“You’re worrying too much about this,” Bronze tried to lay out some encouragement as she got up and stood by him, looking over his calm expression that still told her wonders about the turmoil that plagued his head. “A few of these tin soldiers made their way in to one of your mines, you didn’t get any reports of lives being lost, just employees being drove out of sections…” ‘at least no lives lost so far,’ the mare continued trying to paint the lie in her mind that everything with this mine would be alright.

After a sigh and a slow shake of his head, the colt worked himself away from the window and to the door of the car, “Well hopefully you’re right… I’m just sorry I had to drop Topaz on her friend once more, especially without warning.”

“Well, you can’t exactly have her trying to run around with all this commotion going on,” Bronze tried to lighten his mood, “plus she hates train rides, and I would really hate for her to be around if we had one as eventful as the last.”

“On the other hoof she would have loved to meet the princess,” Marble gestured the mare to follow him, and with a small pep she was up by his flank as they walked down the train car. “It can’t be too good if Princess Grace is making her way to my mine as well.”

“Or she’s just taking this matter seriously?” Bronze offered as another bead of sweat started to trickle down her neck, already thinking of back up plans when they reached their stop.

“You have an answer for everything, don’t cha?”

“Eh you could say,” she rolled her eyes at him as they stepped in to the dining cart and were once again greeted by the gryphon from before.

“Well fancy meeting you all once more,” Desiree chirped as she grabbed a few menus and brought them to a table. Pouring a few glasses for the couple, the gryphon looked across the bar counter for what stock of bottles they had, “I’ll start you off with some water, unless you have any other preference, and let you look over the menu.”

“Much appreciated, Miss Desiree,” Bronze nodded to her as she draped her cloak on the back of the seat and the gryphon bounced off. Leaving the mare to turn her attention to both the menu and the colt before her, “Though I will offer this…”

“Yes?”

“Considering the last few encounters, I could always offer a helping hoof to those that might enter the mine,” she set on the table for him to mull over, and sipped from her glass as he thought on it.

“Ahh… so you do just go looking for this kind of trouble,” Marble raised a brow to her.

“No, no… I just have a knack for it whenever it raises its head.”

“I still couldn’t ask you to do this.”

“And you didn’t ask,” Bronze pointed out to him, the colt blissfully unaware to the penance she sought, “I offered.”

Pondering it once or twice more, the colt brought his glass up and waited for her to do the same. With as stubborn as she was in the past. It was a debate he couldn’t see himself winning after all, “I would say let’s get some wine, but if you’re really serious about going down there, then you’d probably want to be rather clear minded.”

With a brow raised to him, the mare set her glass down and closed her menu, “Oh I can handle myself regardless, besides the night is young still, and we won’t be there till morning.”

“In that case…”

Bronze watched as he called over their waitress and ordered some a wine bottle likely as expensive as it sounded. The name she hadn’t been paying attention to in the slightest, as the train of thought stuck on much more pressing matters. Every rail it could run in her mind of past projects, lead to but one question Bronze was left to ponder.

Why they would be seeking out a mine of all places?

‘What’s going on with all of you?’ the mare asked herself, and let that thought linger around her mind.

***

The morning sun greeted the pair as the train came to a stop on its rails right in front of the station. This time however, it was a far different view as they arrived. There on the platform were several royal guards with standard soldiers mixed in, each with either some form of their standard armaments, or one of Bronzes’ designs.

‘Well, they’re prepared at least,’ the mare told herself as she and her companion stepped forward.

“Mister Marble I presume?” the Sargent asked as the colt in question nodded in response, “Princess Grace asked us to escort you ourselves.”

“Much appreciated sir,” Marble responded as he looked at all the firepower they had, “Though were you expecting a war?”

The chuckle under his breath died though the moment it left his lips. Leaving each of those there under Serens crown to just look to one another grimly, knowing far more than he did. Yet, the mare present knew more than all those combined.

“Hopefully, that is not so… right this way,” with the pair falling in line behind him. The Sargent led the way down the road to the mine.

Some towns handled the almost invasion of those into their boarders well, this one… not so much. As they passed through the town Bronze started to get a very familiar feel about it, like she had at another before. Every citizen that inhabited this town, that likely popped up due to the mine as a business, had the same face of fear she had seen caused by her creations.

“Everyone here is quite worried…” she said to the colt with her if only to break the silence, as she looked to the stricken faces of those that hurried through the streets, or even closed their windows and blinds.

“This mine does have a lot of workers from the town,” Marble answered, keeping his eyes forward not wanting to see the sorrow, “They’re probably worried about their loved ones.”

With a silent understanding, they drew closer to the mine, and the once flowing machine of production had come to a standstill from the infestation. Workers lined up outside with one another on one side packing their equipment in lockers, as those answering Serens’ call worked with a few to map out the shafts and possible routes for attack.

“Her majesty is up in your offices,” the Sargent stepped to the side at the entrance.

Without a word, Marble and Bronze stepped inside, as the mare waited for the door to close to make her move, “I’m… going to use the mares’ room.”

Though before she could get to far away, Marble called out to her, “You don’t want to see the princess? It would be better if you really wanted to help down there.”

‘Think… Think! Anything at all right now,’ Bronze turned her head around to meet his own, only giving away half her face of truth as the other half showed the lie, “I’m just… nervous around royalty, especially after they pretty much ordered my dad to… you know? Fight…” ‘Well not a total lie.’

“Oh! Ahh say no more,” Marble plodded the floor with his hoof, knowing the wound he wanted to keep from opening, “I’ll talk to her then.”

With a smile of thanks, the mare made her way down the hall, realizing she hadn’t a clue where the princess could be and hoping she didn’t run in to her herself along the way. Looking at the signs, the mare followed her way around till she found the main office entrance, and then promptly went to the room next door.

Putting her ear to the thin walls, Bronze calmed her breath and heartbeat to try and get a good tune of what they were saying on the other side, and in a few seconds from what sounded like the door being open she heard the regal voice of the mare.

“Hello there, Mister Marble,” Bronze could only picture the snooty face on Grace in her mind, never the less she put that picture out to listen in.

“Your majesty,” Marble paused, likely as he was taking a bow, “How can I be of service?”

“It would seem that some pests have infested your mine,” Grace paused there as Bronze heard her hoof steps going through the room, “according to your employees that encountered them, they were largely forced further away from some of your old caverns.”

“Those areas had been spent of ore long ago, and the few gems that remained aren’t worth the trouble,” he explained, “we just closed them off, though they should still have vents leading to the outside.”

“We had figured as much, though what I called upon you here for was to see if you knew of anyway to… bury this problem?”

“What?!” Bronze yelped, before clenching her tongue.

The silence on Marbles’ part spoke more than he ever should have needed after that suggestion, “you want me… to collapse the mine?”

“Oh no! not entirely I mean,” Grace stammered to herself, the mare on the other side of the wall hearing the shaking of her head at how that idea must have come off. “You said these parts of the mine were not used, so would it be possible to collapse them, without harming the rest of your operation?”

‘You might as well level the who damn thing and be done with it,’ Bronze rolled her eyes, wishing that the princess could see her own expression. Though the silence this time from the colt seemed more deliberate, as if he was mapping out the structure and planning the whole operation.

“It… could? Be possible,” Marble stopped once more in his thought process, as the mare on the other side of the wall nearly pressed her ear through, “the tunnels leading to the caverns have their own supports, so if you were to destroy the structures keeping the caverns themselves intact, it shouldn’t affect the others.”

“Wonderful…” Grace all but purred over her tongue, “while I wish these things to be out of your mane, and mine as well, I don’t want it to disrupt your business either.”

“I appreciate the consideration, your majesty.”

“Kiss ass…” Bronze grinded her teeth at the praise he was giving her.

“We should have more than enough explosives to do the job too, and my workers can show your troops how to rig them,” the shuffling of papers left the mare blind as she listened harder, “I can bring up some old schematics of the layout to those caverns, mark where to place the charges for those you brought.”

“That would be very much appreciated, Mister Marble,” Grace paused as hoof steps once again made their way through the office, “I will leave you, and those that serve the crown to get to it, talk to Sargent Frostfire whenever you’re ready. Your service, will not be forgotten either.”

“…Your majesty?” Bronze heard the regal mare halt in her tracks, “I have a friend that had come along with me,” for a moment the mare in questions heart stopped, waiting for his next words, “she had dealt with these, things, on a few occasions. If it’s all the same to you, she had volunteered to assist with them.”

“Hmm… where is this friend now?” Bronze even through the wall could hear the gears of the less than mechanically inclined counterpart turning.

“She’s… rather shy of royalty, though I swear, she’s as trustworthy as they come.”

The breath in her lungs left the mare, as Bronze about fell to her rump at that proclamation. ‘Trustworthy? Me? I’ve lied to you sense day one of meeting again,’ The dread and guilt started to build up once more in her gut, even with all that she tried to do, with every wrong she tried to right. ‘Just how many wrongs are going to be added to that list?’ Bronze held a sorrowful talon on the wall, before slapping it against her side.

“That’s very brave of her,” Grace replied almost as if it was a record, “please, give her my thanks, and the best of luck to the both of you.”

With the door to the office closing, Bronze rushed over to the door to her own as she poked her head out in the hall. Watching the mare, she had once held captive not too long ago, walk away with her own guards. With all her weakness and loss Grace had then while in her talons, at the mercy of herself and the combine strength of the DDR and Gryphon Kingdom. Not a trace of it survived that battle, as the regal poise of the mare held firm like solid granite.

“She’s changed…” Bronze muttered as the blond tail of the mare disappeared around the corner.

Waiting a few more minutes, the mare crept her way to meet up with the colt, as she opened the door and saw him flipping through schematic after schematic. Every tunnel, every shaft, every ventilation duct, all had its own different paper detailing its structure and dimensions.

“So… did it go well?” Bronze tried to play the dumb card.

“Better than expected honestly… she wants to see if we can collapse the part of the mine that’s lost,” Marble continued going through his papers, making markings along the lines.

“Well… it’s not a terrible idea,” Bronze rolled it in the back of her head, wondering how likely it would be to get out of there should something go wrong.

“Hey it’s probably better than just sending soldiers in to fight them,” he said with a small chuckle under his breath.

Looking over some of the details listed, Bronze saw that the cavern in question was certainly a large one. A few hundred feet in length and width, with even more in height. The spiral rampway that spun along the sides seemed to be the only real way in and out of the hole. A simple design, but one that didn’t really need to be improved upon either. One thing though that intrigued her though, was the huge hollowed out area along on the side.

“This is quite impressive…” she pointed to the hollow, “but what is that supposed to be?”

“Air duct,” Marble said simply, before bringing the blueprint closer, “See this is one of my family’s oldest mines, so before there were pumps to move air, we had to rely on just big holes built with the mine.”

Judging by the size though of the duct compared to the rest of the mine, Bronze had to tack on to his statement, “You mean really big holes… it’s almost a tenth the size of the whole shaft.”

“If anything, that explains how they would have gotten down there,” he examined under a more scrutinous eye, “they were boarded off from the surface, but a determined individual could get through them.”

“Aren’t you worried that collapsing it will cause the whole mine to come down?” Bronze pointed out, now getting the full picture of the scale they were working with.

“Oh, trust me, if there’s anything my dear old dad did right, it was build something to last,” Marble brought out a different schematic, one that showed what looked to be the whole mine, and one that took up the better part of the table. “You see, we have a few shafts just like it. All with their own support and access tunnels, so losing that one won’t do any harm… hopefully.”

The door to the office opened up as another colt covered in dirt entered before dusting himself off. “Sir, you called for demolitions?”

“Yes, I did,” Marble turned his attention away from the blueprint for a moment, “I need you to talk to a Sargent Frostfire, and work with them on getting munitions ready to hit these locations,” quickly bundling up the parchment of the shaft in question, he passed it off to his employee.

Without even a question, the demolitions pony that came in was out the door just as fast. Leaving the two there alone. A silent moment though can breed many thoughts of worry, much to the dismay of a mare.

“Are you sure you want to go in there?” Marble asked with the utmost of sincerity on his breath, “fighting them is one thing, but blowing up part of a mine is another.”

Bronze had been thinking of that since Grace mentioned it, whether he knew it or not. Being buried alive wasn’t a prospect she would be looking forward to. Then again, neither was trying to fight her own creations in the first place in rather tight quarters. Even so, she was probably the one best suited to deal with them.

“I’ll be alright,” she reassured him, waltzing over to the window as the demo pony and several of the soldiers started grabbing crates of explosives, setting themselves up to make charges for the operation, “let’s be real here, I’ve been through worse than you can imagine.” Her dealings behind closed doors, and the creations that spawned from them came to the forefront of her mind. “Laying some explosives is… Child’s play.”

Though the smile she tried to show him only was half confident in its words, even with his slight confusion. As Bronze waited to see what he had to say on the matter further, with a deep sigh of defeat, Marble simply joined her at the window and watched things unfold.

“Just… be careful, please?” he looked over to her with a caring eye, as Bronze held her breath unsure quite what to say.

So, with the best mask she could put on, Bronze tried to reassure him against the unknown, “I’ll do my best.”