Severance

by StealBox

I'm T-N-T...

I was thankful to find no kids hovering around me when I woke up this time. The wagon was still moving, but I could see light through the cloth. Why are we moving if the sun is already up? Silver said they only travel at night. I looked outside to see the caravan was obviously not in the badlands anymore.

I jumped out onto the ground and started trotting along side the wagon while looking around. The ground was very dry and we were currently on a dusty dirt road. There were fields of some kind of desert shrub on both sides of the road leading off into the distance on the very flat ground. Up ahead by what couldn't have been more than five miles were some small mountains with a nice big one right in the middle that seemed to have a settlement at it's base.

As we moved, several shapes began to take form in the sky. They drew closer until I could recognize them as several pagasi. Once they drew nearer one of them broke off from the formation and came strait towards me, quickly revealing itself to be Silver.

"Hey, good morning Cotton! Finally woke up huh?" She swooped around and landed in a trot right next to me, bumping her flank against mine as she landed. It could have been an accident, but I doubted it, and I was again cursing Discord in my head as I faught down the urge to bump her back.

"Yeah. So what's going on, what were you all doing flying up ahead?"

"We were just scouting ahead and letting the Minotaurs know we're coming. The Sheriff said we could set up camp a mile from town so we don't get in the way or 'cause any trouble'." She made her voice really deep for that last part.

"Cause trouble? What kind of trouble are you expected to cause?"

"Oh, who knows. Most places treat us like this, like just because we're nomads we're untrustworthy." She performed a noncommittal shrug of her shoulders, like it didn't bother her to be considered of suspect nature.

That sounds a lot like how Gypsy bands were treated in the past. "Doesn't it bother you? That it's just assumed that your people will cause trouble?"

"Nah, you get used to it. At least we don't get run out of most places, that's actually why we left Zabrica. I guess we just... outstayed our welcome." I actually felt a pang of sympathy for her people at that.

They seem like pretty nice ponies, if just a bit overeager... well, I have only really met two of them, so maybe it's just Silver and Diamond who are all flirty. Admittedly I didn't really know anything about these ponies I suddenly found myself associated with. All I really knew was that they were a nomadic band and they took care of my unconcious body for four days and haven't asked anything of me in return yet.

"But that's enough of that talk. I saw some nice restaurants while we were in town, wanna get a bite to eat once camp is set up?"

I had just been asked on a date. It took my brain a few seconds to process that. I've never been on a date before, or had any sort of girlfriend. What should I do?! I don't really like her in any intimate way, should I say yes for the free food? Or shoot her down? Does she really like me, or is she just trying to loosen me up for a quickie? Or is it completely benign and I'm just totally misreading everything? Augh! I'm not used to this being desired by women shit!

"Aww, come on, please?" She must have taken my silence as a no and was now giving me the puppy dog eyes.

"...Sure, I guess." I wasn't very certain about agreeing to this.

"Cheer up, it'll be fun, don't you worry!" She was certainly happy about my answer. Before I realized it she had her wing around me again, and that feeling was back. That damned feeling of warmth, of being held. I indulged in it for about a minute before telling her to let go.

---

It was a few hours later, camp had been set up and the sun was high in the sky when Silver and I started towards the town. I still didn't want her trying to hold me, but now it was for an entirely different reason.

"I hate the south sooo much. It's just too bleeding hot out!" I was swimming in my own sweat as the equatorial heat beat down on my northern born ass.

"It isn't too bad actually." My attitude definitely wasn't being helped by the peanut gallery.

"Oh piss off miss 'I lived in Zabrica for years and burned away all my sweat glands'! Where I lived, it got above eighty degrees maybe twice a year, it's got to be at least ninty out now! And it isn't even noon yet!" She just laughed at my predicament as we walked into town and started navigating the dusty streets. We must have looked quite a site if the stares we were garnering from the locals was anything to go by, and I couldn't blame them. Here were two ponies, one drenched in sweat and panting for breath, the other looking no worse for wear and happily trotting along without a care in the world.

It was definitely different being less than half the height of everyone around me. I was actually pretty tall back on earth, and having to look up at literally everyone was making me feel quite vulnerable. I found myself unconciously moving closer to Silver as the Minotaurs walking the streets increased in number the farther we got into town. Eventually we came to a stop infront of a building that looked an awful lot like a saloon. It even had a saloon door. Must just be a desert settlement kind of thing. I remember there being a saloon in Appaloosa with a door like this too.

Because minotaurs are so much taller than ponies I opened the door with my magic, so we wouldn't have to shove our heads against it to come in. The inside was pretty standard looking, like most bars I'd seen, but there was liquor behind the bar instead of cider. We hopped into our seats at a free table, the chairs being large enough that we could actually sit comfortably on our haunches, when the waitress walked over. It was a female, still very large compared to us, but her horns were small and rounded and she lacked the nose ring that most males seemed to have. She wore a thick piece of leather over her breasts which, honestly, looked more like a piece of armor than a bra, and she didn't look particularly happy with having to be our server.

"We don't have much here for ponies," she said as she tossed two menus onto the table in front of either of us. "What'll you have to drink?"

"Can I have a pitcher of water, or can I only get individual glasses?" She gave me a once over with her eyes, I was still covered in sweat and breathing hard. No electricity equals no air conditioning, and it was only marginally cooler in here than outside.

"I'll get you a pitcher. And you?"

"I'll just have a glass of water," said Silver as she started looking over the menu. She left us then to peruse the menu for anything edible for ponies.

This menu is really making me miss being human, some of this stuff sounds really good. There were pork dishes, chicken dishes, a few types of fish, no beef though. I guess that makes sense. That would be kind of cannibalistic for minotaurs... Eventually we found a mushroom stew that didn't have any meat in it and made our orders.

Silver started up some small talk while I just quietly listened and drank my water. It was nice having her all the way on the other side of the table where she couldn't try to hug me or anything. It let me focus and think clearly, without needing to fight any of my runaway emotions. She was regaling me with a story of somepony she met in Zabrica, when it happened.

"-And he had soo many piercings in his face that he-" rumble "-jingled with every-"

"Shh, wait... did you feel that?" Before she could answer me, a bowl of mushroom stew was roughly clacked onto the table infront of me, scaring the crap out of me since I hadn't been paying attention.

"That was just more blasting from the mines. You get used to it after a while," she said while putting the second bowl infront of Silver.

"Oh, alright th-" The ground rumbled again, longer this time, and harder. The tramers lasted for several seconds before they stopped, and everyone in the bar went quiet. "...I don't know much about mining... but that probably wasn't supposed to happen." Like a stampede the bar was evacuated as everyone ran outside, leaving only myself and Silver. I sent a longing glance at my stew before begrudgingly jumping out of my chair. "Come on, we've gotta go help." She followed me out, though she didn't even spare a second glance at her bowl.

We made our way through the streets, following the crowds to the mine entrance while I puzzled over my desire to help. This kind of selfless behavior really isn't like me. I don't owe these people anything, I don't have any more reason to care about their lives than the lives of the random shooting victims I used to ignore on the news... But when I thought about just ignoring this and eating my food... I don't know, I just lost my appetite.

When we made it to the mine there were several minotaurs in leather armor with swords and axes keeping the crowd back from the entrance.

"Keep your distance!" The one in charge was yelling, "we know you want to help! But we can't have the whole town packed into the mine! Go on back to your business and leave this to us and the remaining miners!" This one was distinguished from the others by a single steel plate strapped over his armor on the left side of his chest. Silver and I squeezed past the legs of the crowd until we made it to the front.

"I'd like to help if I can."

"And why would you want to help us pony?" He was looking down his snout at me and giving off the general impression that he didn't like me.

Wow, racist much? "Do I need a reason? 'Cause my magic and I can leave if you want." He looked at me like a small child might look at a piece of broccoli his mother told him he had to eat before leaving the table. He continued to glare at me for a few seconds, but he gave in and with a growl that sounded suspiciously like 'fine mommy, I'll eat it, but I want ice cream later', he pointed to one of his men.

"Lead the unicorn to the cave-in." He nodded and motioned for me to follow. "Not you bird, you have to stay out here." I stopped to see what he was going on about.

"Hey, why can't I go in!" Silver was butting heads with the leader guy now.

He's probably the Scheriff now that I think about it.

"The unicorn's magic will be useful down there, you won't be. These are rocks, not clouds, so go back to your camp or something bird."

A pagasus really wouldn't be of any use in this situation. But still, he could have put it less dickishly. Silver puffed up her cheeks in a rather cute pout before turning around and flying away. The two of us continued down into the mine, the minotaur grabbing an oil lamp hanging from the wall by the entrance as we went.

The walk through the darkness was quiet and interrupted only for the minotaur to read the signs at some tunnel intersections. After a while I couldn't hold in my curiosity anymore.

"I've only been here for less than a day, but I've been getting the impression that your people don't like ponies much." I let the implied question ask itself.

"We don't." He said, offering no further explination.

"... Are you going to tell me why..?" He grunted once, but otherwise seemed to ignore me. Wow... I don't want to be racist but... Minotaurs are dicks.

Eventually we made it to the collapsed areas where a dozen or so miners were breaking up larger rocks with pickaxes and hauling them down the tunnel a ways. The area was kept fairly well lit by several torches, and the miners quickly put me to work moving the larger rocks so they wouldn't have to spend time breaking them up anymore.

I was sweating again in minutes. This is definitely harder than carrying loads of wood. The rubble was steadily clearing away, but there was no way of knowing how far this collapse extended.

"Where did this pony come from?" I heard someone say from behind me. I was greatful for the excuse to take a break and turned to answer him.

"The group I'm traveling with just came to town this morning." He looked about the same as all the others I'd seen. I was having a hard time telling them apart to be honest, they just all looked the same to me. This one had a sort of rigging on him that held an oil lamp, with a mirror behind the flame, to the top of his head. He was also holding a large, rolled up piece of paper in one hand.

"Ah." A few other minotaurs came over and looked at him expectantly, "no luck i'm afraid." He unfurled the paper on one of the big rocks I'd moved, showing it to be a map of the tunnels. "The other two passages are caved in aswell. There's nothing we can do but keep digging until we reach the other side." The map showed what looked like a small staging area just ahead of this cave-in, it had several smaller tunnels leading away from it that cut off with small lables. There were two other tunnels that came in from other parts of the mine into that room, each tunnel had a curved line scratched through it, likely indicating where they were collapsed.

It looks like the cave-in originates at this room ahead. If it didn't, more tunnels would be collapsed than just the ones leading there. "What kind of-"

"Hey pony! Back to work, we need you to move this rock!"

"*sigh* Breaks over..." I turned around and found the indicated rock, which was a little bigger then the minotaur pointing at it. My horn glowed as I magically reached for it, but suddenly the rock was encased in a deep green and ripped from the pile.

"Allow me." Her voice was unforgettable after the way we met, and the way I subsequently made a fool of myself infront of her. Diamond Sigil walked up next to me, flanked by several more unicorns from the camp. "Silver Wind informed me of the situation and we came to help you, but you don't seem to have acclimated to the heat yet. You rest, while we take care of this mess." It was true, and I was very grateful for a nice break from manual labor. I had only gotten to slack off for less than a minute while looking at the map.

I wanted to thank her, but the words died in my throat when all of the unicorns started moving rocks. Each with the same deep green magic aura.

No way... Nonono, that's stupid, they are not changlings, that just doesn't fit with they're behavior. Why would changlings be disguised as a caravan of ponies when they were going into minotaur lands? Espescially with how much these people seem to dislike ponies in general. No love could be harvested from here that way, and helping with this would just be an unnecessary waste of magic. This is just a wierd coincidence, maybe magic color is a familial thing and they're all just relatives.

With so many unicorns at work the path was quickly clearing, and it wasn't long before we found the first body. Or most of one anyway.

"Poor bastard," someone said. "Got torn right apart. I hope it was quick."

"Torn apart?" How in the hell... I came over to take a look, but I couldn't make out much detail. This torch light really isn't doing it for me. I lit up my horn to get a better look at the body. It had both of it's arms missing, and was crushed up pretty bad from the cave-in, but looking past that, I managed to find what I was looking for. "It was quick alright. He was dead before these rocks got to him."

"What makes you say that?" It was the one with the lamp on his head.

"A lot of the intact bits of this guy are charred, and also, his arms would still be here if he was just crushed. This guy got blown up." He was probably holding whatever exploded. That would explain why his arms are the only things missing.

"Damn. I guess our luck finally ran out." I sent him an inquisative look at that comment. "This mine's been in operation for eight years, and in that time we've never had any sort of disasters. We'd heard stories from other mining towns, about dynamite exploding on it's own, but it never happened to us. After all this time, I guess he just got careless. Probably set the box down too hard after flipping it."

The sound of cheering pulled us away from the body to see a steady stream of men pulling themselves through the hole made in the rocks. There was a moment of silence for their friend who died before we all left the mine.

---

"So you're the foreman for this mine?"

"And general manager," he said before tilting his head back and emptying the rest of his mug.

After leaving the mine there was a party held to the good health of the survivors, followed by an informal wake for their friend. After all of that, I tracked down the only minotaur whose behavior had been half way decent towards me. I followed him to a bar I didn't see the name of. His name was Andre and I was getting to know him a little first, to loosen him up before I start grilling him for information on why his people are such pricks. I didn't know anything about minotaur customs, but people are always more willing to answer questions after a bit of casual conversation.

"How did you get both of those jobs at once? Aren't they both pretty involving?"

"My father owns this mine, he was the manager before he left a few weeks ago to inspect a promising site to start up another one. I've got a few secretaries to keep the paperwork in check and I'm training one of my senior crewmen to take over as foreman. Another week or two and I'll be able to start sleeping again." He only half heartedly chuckled at that, like it wasn't really that much of an exaggeration.

"I imagine working two fulltime jobs would run anyone ragged pretty quick. Especially in your line of work." He just nodded his head while the bartender refilled his glass. "So what'll happen with the mine after today? You gunna have to shut it down for inspection or something?" He sent me a funny look like I'd just said something crazy.

"No... We already know what happened, we don't need any inspection. I'm giving the crew the day off tomorrow for Ricard's funeral though. After that, we'll rebuild the tunnel supports and then get back to work. Production's gunna slow to a crawl for a while, but there's nothing to be done about it."

Huh... I guess OSHA doesn't exist here. "What do you mean by that? Why would it be slower?"

"That was the last crate of dynamite. It was supposed to last another week while the next shipment is on order. Without it, the ore and rocks will need to be broken down by hand, and that can take a while."

Hmm... I suppose my questions can wait. My business savvy side senses opportunity. An opportunity that my pyrotechnic side would like to persue... "What would you say... If I said I could make you more explosives, so you don't have to wait..?" He was quiet for a few seconds, just staring down into his drink, before looking at me with narrowed eyes.

"I'd say 'prove it'." I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"I'll need a few ingredients..."

---

I was getting a lot of strange stares as we made our way through the streets out of town, and I couldn't be bothered to care. I was so full of excited energy that I was hopping along like Pinkie Pie while holding a bucket of water, a small bag of nitre, and a shopping bag filled with a few other things I'd need for the demonstration. All the ingredients had been easy to find and they were pretty cheap too. You gotta love mining towns. Easy access to all sorts of raw materials.

"You seem a little too excited about this." Andre was carrying the other ingredients, a sack of coal and a small block of lead. The block had a hole going through it, but I didn't bother with that mystery.

"Well, yeah! I don't know a single chemist who didn't want to make explosives in there basement. Unfortunatly, the unlicensed manufacture of explosives is a federal crime that can get you marked as a terrorist, so we never get to live our dreams. But now I can!"

It wasn't long before we reached the edge of town and started off into the desert.

"There you are!" I didn't even start turning before Silver came to a skidding halt right alongside me. "I've been looking all over for you! You just sorta disappeared and..." She just sort of trailed off for a second. "Wow, what has you so happy?"

My very own stalker, and I haven't even known her for a day yet. My excess energy seemed to drain away as soon as she arrived, and while I was still totally stoked, I wasn't hopping anymore. "I'm gunna make some TNT," I told her, by way of explination.

"I've never heard of anything called 'TNT', but you must really love it, huh?"

"TNT is an explosive, and who doesn't love explosions! I mean honestly, the only way for someone to not love it is to have never seen it... Unless they were killed by one." We kept walking for a few more minutes before stopping a safe distance from town.

"So," Andre started after setting down the sack, "how are you going to make this 'TNT' out of these? Coal and nitre are components of black powder, but that's too weak, so you better have something else in mind or you're just wasting my time."

"Oh, I do. I'm not very good with conjuration magic or I'd make it out of thin air, but I am pretty good with transfiguration." Using said magic I turned the sand infront of me into a long glass block, to use as a work bench as well as for demonstration. The coal bag was emptied onto the block, and the bucket of water was poured over the pile. I feel like an alchemist... and I love it! "Alright, lets get the reaction started." Now to concentrate. Nitrogen from the air, oxygen and hydrogen from the water, and carbon from the coal. I've got everything I need, just put it together.

The red glow of my magic enveloped the work bench for a few seconds, and then with a bright flash the coal pile was replaced with a pile of small yellow chips.

"Ta-daa! Just like that, a nice pile of trinitrotoluene! Invented by some German guy, because Germans are awesome like that." Andre looked pretty impressed, Silver though, not so much. Well she does see magic from other unicorns every day, but still! She could at least pretend it was cool.

"Wait a second," Said Andre as he held up the lead block. "You only used the coal and water, what's the rest for?"

"The nitre is just mixed in with the TNT. It adds more oxygen to the equation and increases the explosive yield, just like it does for black powder. The lead though, is for the blasting cap." Walking up to the pile I scoop some up and move it onto a clear spot. "TNT is actually too stable to be used as an explosive on it's own you see-" This I punctuate by slamming my hoof down onto the smaller pile repeatedly. "-Nothing. You can even melt the stuff and it won't explode, which is actually very useful because you can pour it into moldings and make it whatever shape you want."

Grabbing the lead from his hand I floated it over to the work area, and after a few seconds of concentration it was converted into a pile of white powder which I quickly covered with the sack the coal had been in. It was mostly to prevent any wind from blowing it away, but I also wasn't completely sure the heat from the sun wouldn't be enough to set it off if I left it in the open too long.

"That powder is called lead azide, and that's what we'll be using to set off the TNT. It's far less stable and will explode if you drop it more than just a few inches. But enough of that, now comes the fun part, the demonstration!"

Digging into the shopping bag I pulled out an empty coin purse, a tea bag, a small spool of string, and a length of fuse wire. They both came over and watched over my shoulders as I began to jury-rig a grenade. Tearing open the tea bag and dumping out the leaves, I replaced them with a few grams of the azide, into which I gently embedded the fuse before tying it tightly closed with the string. I then filled the coin purse with a few hoof fulls of TNT chips and a few teaspoons worth of the nitre before carefully setting the tea bag inside and tying the whole thing shut.

"Alright, my half-assed grenade is ready, let's go set it off!" We walked a good distance away, at least fifty meters, before setting it on the ground. Andre pulled out a match box and lit it, whereupon we all turned and started running. I had left over a foot of fuse sticking out of it, giving us plenty of time to get away. I liked explosives, but I wasn't stupid. I treated them with a healthy degree of caution. After we made it back to the glass block we turned around and started waiting.

After a few seconds I started getting nervous. Shit. What if I made it wrong? This is the first time I've tried something like this with my magic. I stole a quick glance at Andre, he was just standing there, arms crossed, face stoney. Like a judge who was not moved by the defendant's story. Oh god... if this doesn't work I'm going to look like such an A-

*BOOM*

"HOLY Je-!" I need to stop getting so wrapped up in my thoughts all the damn time! I hadn't been prepared and the noise startled the crap out of me as I fell back into a sitting position. Both Andre and Silver just quirked an eyebrow at me, it made me feel very embarassed. I needed to get their attention off of what just happened. "Ahem... ha! I told you I could do it! You said 'prove it', well there ya go." I offered him a big cheesy smile.

"I admit I was sceptical that a unicorn would know how to make something that didn't run on magic, which is why I didn't sink a lot of money on your 'ingrediants'. But the proof is in the pudding. However, I'm doubting you did this out of the goodness of your heart..." He trailed off, obviously asking my price.

I... have no idea what TNT is worth... The azide would be expensive due to it being a hazardous material though... "How much coal did you actually buy? And the lead too... Actually, how much money did you spend on this?"

"Only nine bits. And the coal was only a half sack, about five kilos. The lead block was a weight for a fishing net, I don't know how much it weighed, but it didn't feel very heavy."

"Hmm. Alright, let me do some quick math..."

"So this is where you've been hiding all day." When I heard her voice I wanted to look at her, but I knew I'd forget the numbers I was calculating if I thought of anything else.

"M'Lady, what are you doing out here? If I had known you were-"

"What's two hundred and twenty seven devided by eighty four?" I interupted, wanting to get the numbers out of my head before I forgot them. I really miss calculators. All three of them sent me confused looks before scrunching up their faces in concentration.

"A bit more than two and a half, why?" Answered Diamond after only a few seconds of thought.

"I was trying to figure out how much TNT I made. So, that's five kilos times two point five... makes twelve and a half kilograms of TNT. Plus the lead azide, what would be a good price for all that?"

"What exactly is going on here? I was searching for you when I heard the explosion that lead me out here. That was you I suppose?"

"Yeah, and I'm in the middle of a business deal right now... I think fourty would be a good price for the lot of it." I turned to Andre, awaiting his answer. He was in a thinking pose for a few seconds.

"I'll give you twenty for it." I narrowed my eyes at him.

So that's the game he wants to play, huh? "Thirty five."

"Twenty five."

"Thirty, and that's as low as I'm going." It was his turn to narrow the eyes.

"... Fine. Thirty. I'll be back in a few minutes." As he walked back into town, I couldn't help but feel good about myself.

I just made thirty bits, and it didn't even cost me a dime in investment. "So," I said, turning to address Diamond. "Why were you looking for me?" She smirked at that and began walking closer.

"Oh? I was looking for you specifically, was I?" Her smirk stretched into a smile as her voice took on a sultry tone, "you certainly have a high opinion of yourself." My stupid heart betrayed me as it picked up the pase while I backed up a few steps to reestablish my personal bubble, and to keep myself from looking too deeply into her eyes.

"Y-you know what I meant! Why were you looking for us." Her face suddenly turned serious, an expression I hadn't seen on her before.

"Because we're leaving." I blinked at that.

"What?"

Comments

[Adam95F]

Although some parts with the flash backs and the parts with the changelings confuse me a bit, I feel it'll all work out nicely, anywho please continue this story!

[StealBox]

2441653 I'm writing it, so it all flows together pretty well inside my head, but what do you mean that it confuses you? Is it the lack of dates or labels, or something else?

[Adam95F]

2441716

Well kind of the lack of dates and stuff but that doesn't really bother me now that I re-read it. No worries anyway.

[Razzy]

Kaboom!