Though Hell Should Bar the Way

Rainbow Dash didn’t return that afternoon, but the next morning Twilight awoke to find Applejack and Rainbow sitting together, focused on tying strips of cloth and rock into impromptu weights for Rainbow’s wings. They never said a word about the previous day, at least not in Twilight’s hearing, focusing all of their attention on discussing the correct starting weight to rebuild muscle without straining or damaging what was there.

For the next three days, morning and evening Rainbow worked her wings, and that was more or less the only quiet moment. While Applejack and Rainbow would each spend a few hours a day in the tree looking for search pegasi, the combination of nervous energy and increasing comfort in their safety sometimes made the camp feel to Twilight more like one of their old picnics. While they mostly ignored her, Twilight watched Rainbow and AJ invent games and contests, tease and encourage each other... and of course bicker over the results.

“It was a trick of the light,” Applejack said as she sat down on the blanket, taking a swig from one of the canteens.

Rainbow smirked and leaned against a tree. “Yeah, the light tricked you into losing.”

“I didn’t lose,” Applejack insisted. “If y’all hadn’t picked up the rocks so fast, you’d have seen that mine was sure as hell closer to the target than yours was.”

“That’s weird, since mine was in the inner ring and yours was in the outer ring.” Rainbow raised her eyebrows.

“Maybe someone can’t draw a circle straight,” Applejack said, shooting Rainbow a look. At first, Twilight had worried about things like that, knowing how much Applejack’s approval meant to Rainbow. But apparently it was different when it came to contests….

“Maybe someone can’t throw a rock straight,” Rainbow replied, shooting her own look at AJ and then sticking out her tongue. .

“If that’s what ya’ think, maybe both of us need to go again.” Applejack rose to her hooves and walked over to Rainbow.

“No way, I won, fair and square!” Rainbow poked a finger into Applejack’s chest to emphasize each of the last three words.

Applejack raised her eyebrows. “And now I’m askin’ you to prove it wasn’t dumb luck, and you turned chicken.”

“Watch it.” Rainbow’s face darkened and her plucked wings folded tighter against her body.

Applejack simply nodded. “Sorry. I mean you’re scared I’ll beat ya’ this time.”

“Why would I be scared of that?” Rainbow said, casually running her fingers through her hair.

“Because ya’ lost the last seven outta ten times,” Applejack pointed out.

“But I won this time. I just needed to get the hang of it.”

“If ya’ had the hang of it, you wouldn’t mind goin’ again.”

“I get bored of games I know I can win.” Rainbow smiled and flicked the edge of Applejack’s hat. “Maybe after you’ve had a chance to practice, you can offer me a real challenge.”

“Oh, I’ll offer ya’ a challenge alright,” Applejack growled, looking for all the world like she might throw a punch. But she just turned up her nose. “How about you try not bein’ a cocky pain in my ass? I bet you can’t do that.”

Rainbow leaned in, getting in Applejack’s face. “I could do that, if you could admit when you’ve been beat.”

Applejack paused for a moment, then she nodded. “Fine, I admit it. Ya’ beat me there... I still don’t think you can do it again.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to prove it!” Rainbow said, crossing her arms in front of her.

“Good! This afternoon?” Applejack offered her fist for a bump.

“You’re on, cowpony!” Rainbow said, bumping fists.

Twilight just lay on the blanket and watched. Over the past few days, she had started to realize that this was part of what they’d said they wanted; neither one was afraid of each other in these interactions. Like the weights on Rainbow’s wings that would eventually make them strong enough to lift her, the occasional argument over a trivial contest was training them to trust one another, showing Rainbow that she could stand up for herself, and showing AJ that Rainbow could withstand a challenge without worrying about the other running off and abandoning them.

This sort of willful posturing would be nothing but trouble for them with their masters, they would both get punished to force them back into their proper places… and for some reason she wasn’t comfortable with that. It almost made her angry. Applejack and Rainbow Dash needed this, she could see that.

Applejack headed off to the lookout tree, and Rainbow walked over to the blanket and sat down across from Twilight, getting ready to start her workout. Twilight noticed a faint sheen of tiny, blue feathers that were becoming visible in certain lights on Rainbow’s wings. It made her smile as she spoke up:

“Your wings are getting blue. Your feathers are growing back.”

Rainbow shot a look at her as she slid the weights on. “Gonna try to pluck them again?”

“I couldn’t if I wanted to,” Twilight pointed out, tugging on the ropes binding her hands. “But… I don’t think I want to.”

“Why not? I thought mares don’t need wings?” Rainbow said as she started her repetitions. The rocks seemed small to Twilight, but there was clear effort on Rainbow’s face as she lifted them with each flap of her plucked wings. Twilight wondered, if Rainbow’s wings were that weak, how bad her own wings must be inside their satin-lined sheaths. Not that she wanted to fly again, of course.

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking a lot the past few days…” Twilight bit her lip. “I hurt you and Applejack, and even if it was true I never meant to hurt you.”

Rainbow just stared at Twilight. “Yeah, well, you’ve been doing that for a while.”

“I’m starting to realize that, and I don’t like it,” Twilight whispered. “I never wanted to hurt my friends…”

Rainbow’s flaps got faster as her face became agitated. “Then how could you have done all that stuff? You betrayed me, Twilight. I would’ve died to save Equestria from this, I would’ve done anything you asked me to do, and you handed me over.” She paused her wings, and crossed her arms in front of her. “Why?”

“I thought I was doing the right thing.” Twilight said, looking at the ground. She felt a little confused, and tried to explain, “I thought you’d come around, and be as happy as I am with being a slave and having a master to take care of you… and now I think I might have been wrong about that… you and Applejack seem different from other mares.”

“We aren’t,” Rainbow said, resuming her exercises. “All the other black collars feel the same way… and probably some of the red collars too. And the purple collars… Twilight, there are lots of mares like us out there! And you’re hurting them all!”

“No, you two are different. I-- I can’t tell you how sorry I am I didn’t see it sooner.” She shook her head at her failure. “I don’t know why the caribou haven’t seen it… there should be an exception to the rules or something for mares like you.”

“If you let mares decide what they want to do and how they want to live, there wouldn’t need to be an exception!”

“Most mares can’t handle that level of freedom, Rainbow. It’s hard for you to understand, because you’re different, but most mares need a master, even if they don’t realize it yet.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay, whatever. So, you get that me and AJ aren’t slaves, and you’re sorry you let them torture us for a year in ways that are probably gonna mess us up forever. Good for you.”

Twilight cringed. She knew Rainbow was right, the logical conclusion of this new way of looking at Rainbow and Applejack was that Twilight had been an awful friend for not seeing it earlier. But she couldn’t change that, it wasn’t her fault that a one in a million anomaly like a mare who wasn’t going to be happy as a slave had slipped her notice. The best she could do now was to try to make amends… somehow.

“I want to help you.”

“Yeah?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “You wanna take down the caribou?”

“No. I don’t know what to do. I want to help you and Applejack be free. You both need it, and you deserve it, and I owe it to you. But I need a master. I need to help other mares learn to be slaves…” Twilight tried to ignore Rainbow’s derisive snort, and hesitated as she went on. “I thought about helping you find a place out here to live, then going back. I wouldn’t tell anyone about you, but I could… I don’t know, I could talk to King Dainn and maybe tell him what I learned? That there might be some mares who just aren’t slaves or dumb sluts, and they shouldn’t be punished for it, and we should just let them be happy… but he’d never listen to that coming from a dumb slut. Maybe… maybe that’s the problem. Maybe my stupid mare brain isn’t thinking right…”

“No!” Dash was staring at Twilight. She let the weights drop from her wings as she carefully went on. “Twilight, you’re totally thinking right… I mean, mostly. You’re not stupid, and some mares don’t want to be slaves, and we should just let them be happy, and you should be able to talk to King Dainn and let him know that! And of course you can’t, and that’s the problem! That’s why we need to get rid of them, because they don’t care about things that are right!”

Twilight frowned. “Rainbow, they care about things that are right for most ponies. They-- they probably don’t realize that there are ponies like you out there. I didn’t.”

“They realize it, Twilight,” Rainbow insisted. “They just don’t care if ponies are happy, as long as they’re getting their cocks sucked. They aren’t even ruling us, they’re… they’re farming us, and they’re shitty about that too. AJ cares way more about her apple trees than King Dainn cares about you.”

“He’s the king!” Twilight shook her head. “He has much more important things to worry about than how a mare feels.”

“Princess Celestia did too, and she still cared.”

Twilight thought of Celestia as she’d last seen her, happily licking the hooves of the guards while they sprayed cum on her face and hair. That was so clearly where she belonged. “Celestia was a weak whore, Rainbow.”

Rainbow shrugged. “I never got raped or tortured when she was in charge. I’m not really seeing the improvement.”

“You’re… different.”

“Am I?” Rainbow raised her eyebrows. “What’s better in Equestria now, except that you’re happier?”

“Other mares--”

“They were pretty happy before too.” Rainbow cut in. “What’s better, for anyone except you?”

Twilight searched for an answer. Life was better for her, but besides that… Equestria was peaceful, but less peaceful than before, thanks to mares like Rainbow and Applejack. Ponies were happy, but Rainbow was right, before the caribou came they were just as happy. Some of the ones who couldn’t just accept the change seemed happier before, even. Life was probably better for some stallions, and the caribou, but she could already hear Rainbow’s curses and shouts if she bothered to argue that.

“I don’t know…” Twilight finally admitted.

“So, on the one hand you tore apart families, let ponies like me and AJ be tortured, let mares and foals be raped, and gave your loyalty to a king who only cares about you or any pony as far as he can ram his dick in… but hey, on the other hand, some ponies are still happy, and it makes you feel better. Good work, Princess.”

“Stop it! That’s not true!” Twilight protested automatically, with a strength that surprised her. “I-- I did something wrong to you and Applejack, and I’m sorry, and I want to fix it. It hurts that a mistake I made hurt my friends. But I didn’t-- I couldn’t have-- I did not hurt Equestria just so I could feel better! That’s not how it happened! It’s not!”

Twilight’s voice was speaking, but something inside her was pointing out that she sounded like a foal stomping her hoof. Rainbow hadn’t said anything that she didn’t know, she had just put it more bluntly, in the worst possible light. But if it was true, it was equally true in the best light and the worst. And in the worst light, what she had done was--

“No! Just stop!” she yelled, cringing. “You don’t understand. We can’t understand each other.”

Rainbow just looked at her and took a deep breath. “Twi, I got mad when you said I wanted to be AJ’s slave. I said it was because that wasn’t what I wanted, but really it was because it is what I want, and I don’t want it to be what I want…” Her face was more sympathetic than Twilight had seen it in a long time as she went on, “I think I do understand you. Are you mad right now because that’s not what happened? Or are you mad because it is what happened, and you don’t want it to be what happened?”

Twilight shut her eyes and jerked her face away from Rainbow’s gaze. “Go away!”

Rainbow sighed and stood up, walking over to the tree where AJ was taking her turn as look-out and leaving Twilight alone.

Twilight tried to clear her mind of the painful thoughts. This was what she got for thinking for herself. She was a dumb slut, she was so much happier as a dumb slut. She didn’t want to be here away from her master, and she didn’t want to think, and all of this guilt and uncertainty and complication was exactly why. This was supposed to go away.

But clearly it hadn’t, no matter how good and dumb she had been for her masters.

***

Rainbow Dash looked up at Applejack in the tree as she approached. AJ was lounging on a branch, scanning the sky. Her hair and tail hung down like ropes, and Dash smirked, considering tugging her down before she knew Dash was there.

But AJ spoke up just before Dash could make up her mind: “Sounds like your work’s done for the day… you got Twilight good and riled up.”

“I think you need to talk to her.” Dash said, leaning against the tree. “I’m kinda bad at it.”

“Everyone’s bad at talkin’ to Twilight these days, unless ya’ speak crazy,” Applejack pointed out.

Dash had noticed that AJ was more terse than usual with Twilight since a few nights ago. If she was honest with herself, she was kind of flattered that AJ seemed to be just as mad at Twilight for humiliating her as she was. But that could just be because she knew how weak Dash was… maybe AJ was trying to protect her.

But that wasn’t how AJ had been acting since Dash came back late that same night. She’d been careful to stay back a little, to let Dash have her own fights with Twilight, and even with AJ herself, and never try to jump in or pull punches. So maybe she was just mad that Twilight had hurt a pony that Applejack cared about, and since Twilight seemed to be trying to apologize...

“I don’t know… I kind of felt like she’s not as crazy as she was.” Dash shook her head, confused. “She doesn’t think we should be slaves, AJ. She thinks all the other mares in Equestria should be slaves, but she thinks we’re different.”

“Really?” Applejack’s eyebrows went up in shock. “That’s… still crazy, but she really said some mares ain’t slaves?”

“Yeah, and I was trying to convince her that maybe things were better before, when no mares were slaves, but then we started fighting,” Dash said with a shrug.

“Well, even so…” Applejack glanced over towards the blanket where Twilight sat. “Somethin’ is gettin’ through.”

“Yeah… maybe it was a good idea to bring her.” Dash smiled up at AJ.

Applejack smiled back and nodded. “And to save her from that plant.”

The smile faded from Dash’s face, and she looked away. “I almost didn’t… I didn’t want to.”

“But ya’ did it anyway.” Applejack pointed out. “Ya’ had faith, even if you were doubtin’ pretty hard. I guess that’s all we got right now, so we’d better hang on to it.”

“Yeah.” Dash nodded. “It’s hard to remember that when everything sucks. It just seems so dumb to think there are good things that could happen in the world.”

“But if there ain’t, what’s the point? We might as well just lay down and die. I thought ‘bout that a lot, this past year, and if it weren’t for Mac and Bloom…” Applejack trailed off, looking at the sky in the direction of Ponyville. “That life wasn’t livin’, it was countin’ days as they passed. The second I decided to leave, when I let myself think things could get better, that’s when my life started again… and look where it’s got us.”

Dash looked up at her again and swallowed hard. Something about how AJ looked just then seemed larger than life, like a statue that represented hope or justice or victory or some other cool idea. And it made Dash want all of those things really badly.

“Okay, fine. I’m sorry I called you dumb for believing in stuff,” Dash muttered.

Applejack chuckled. “Ya’ sorry you called me cute, too?”

Dash blushed and looked down, then said quickly, “Ready to toss rocks again? I’ll let you win this time.”

“Like you let me win best two outta three yesterday?” Applejack smirked.

“I was still practicing then.” Dash relaxed and grinned at AJ. “Since I got it down, I haven’t lost yet.”

“That was one match,” Applejack pointed out.

“Hey, I’m on a roll.” Dash gave AJ’s tail a light tug. “And if you get your butt out of that tree, I’ll prove it.”

“Let’s see what ya’ got.” Applejack leaned forward, preparing to swing down off the branch. She froze as she caught sight of something on the horizon. “What the…”

Dash took a step back, trying to get a view through the tree tops. After a moment she saw what AJ was seeing: A whole troop of pegasi coming from the direction of Ponyville, and heading right for them.

“Oh shit! Hide!” Dash hurried to the camp as AJ swung down from the tree and followed.

“Hurry, in the shelter!” Twilight called, struggling to her hooves. “It’s covered with leaves, they’ll never see it!”

Dash blinked as she realized that Twilight was right, and that was actually the best place to hide. Twilight seemed not to notice that she was actually helping them avoid guards, so Dash shrugged and helped her up, and they both made their way into the rough shelter. It was just large enough for three ponies to lay in, and high enough for them to crawl on their knees. Dash crawled in and lay on her stomach, and helped Twilight to crawl in next to her, with Applejack following on the other side of Twilight.

“Rainbow, you should make a small hole in the roof we can watch through,” Twilight suggested. “AJ, untie me.”

Dash reached up and carefully removed some of the leaves and branches, leaving them hopefully hidden by the shade and the netting, but with a view of the sky and trees around the campsite.

Applejack, on the other hand, just raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Hold up. Why should I do that?”

“If they land nearby, I’ll run out and tell them I escaped from you days ago, way to the east. They’ll take me back, and they’ll be looking for you in the wrong place. It’ll buy you time to figure something out,” Twilight explained, as though once again failing to notice that she was helping escaped black collar slaves and suggesting that she would lie to stallions for them. Dash wanted to suspect a trap, but given their conversation earlier she wasn’t sure what Twilight was thinking right now.

“How do I know you ain’t gonna turn us in?” Applejack asked.

Twilight just blinked, confused. She hesitated a moment as if she just realized the things she was saying. Then she closed her eyes and went on with resolve. “I won’t. You have to trust me. I want you and Rainbow to be free.”

“That’s hard to buy, after just a few days ago…” Applejack eyed Twilight suspiciously.

“You saved my life,” Twilight insisted. “I won’t let them take you, and I won’t tell about Mac.”

“AJ… trust her,” Dash said, surprising herself as much as she obviously surprised AJ. But Applejack moved quickly to undo the ropes binding Twilight’s arms.

They lay quietly for a few moments, and the pegasi came into the limited view offered by the top of the shelter. They didn’t even slow down, and they obviously weren’t flying search patterns. Dash shifted to try to follow them through the thinned part of the roof, and saw them head in the direction of the town that AJ hoped was there. She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, but she swallowed hard.

“They passed us. They’re heading towards--”

“Bayou.” Applejack’s mouth was a grim line.

“We should stay in here. They’ll be back when they’re done there, and they might be searching more thoroughly if they don’t find you,” Twilight whispered.

Applejack nodded, distracted by unhappy thoughts.

Dash suspected they were thinking the same things, so she whispered, “Do you think they found it when they were looking for us?”

Applejack cringed, but shook her head. “The only one we saw past the fireswamp never made it back. There’s no way they coulda spotted the town from there.”

“They might have been trying to figure out where you’d go, and found out about the town somehow,” Twilight pointed out.

“Or maybe they already knew about it,” Dash countered. “For all we know, it’s just another brainwashed town like Ponyville. You said yourself that rebel towns don’t exist.”

“Then why’re they sendin’ a whole troop of guards?” Applejack closed her eyes and rested her head on her arms.

Dash just cringed and shrugged. The idea that there was a town full of mares being captured just a few miles away, and what that meant for them, felt like it was twisting everything inside of her. Every thought came with a flood of anger, fear, or guilt.

She shifted to try to get a view of the sky over the town. There didn’t seem to be any signs of a struggle, there was no smoke or flashes of magic, no pegasi diving from the sky… she wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Twilight frowned and eyed the sky through the cleared part of the roof. “Well, they weren’t exactly subtle about it. If that is a resistance base, and they’re smart enough to have a lookout, there should be plenty of time for the extremists to hide. Not that I should be second guessing the stallion in charge, of course.”

Dash blinked and looked at Twilight, the tiny ray of hope cutting through the knot of bad emotions. She glanced at Applejack. “See? Even Twilight thinks it’ll probably be okay.”

Applejack just sighed. “And, if it ain’t… it ain’t somethin’ we can worry on. I-- I done my best, right? I tried not to lead anypony there. I had to go someplace… I couldn’t stay where I was…”

Dash nodded, and reached a hand over Twilight to pat AJ on the back. She felt so bad for Applejack, she’d really done everything she could do… she’d done amazing things… and the idea that might have put more ponies in danger had to hurt really bad. Dash hadn’t done half the thinking and worrying that AJ had, when she acted it was with a couple minutes of thought, if that. She knew she would have messed things up even worse if she’d been the one they were counting on. In fact...

Dash swallowed and said hoarsely, “I shouldn’t have killed that guard. I bet they found it when they were looking for him. This is all my fault, AJ.”

Applejack pushed herself up on her elbows and looked over at Dash. “What choice did ya’ have? We could’ve captured him, I guess, but we couldn’t just send him back knowin’ where we were. If they were lookin’ for him, they woulda been lookin’ for him all the same.”

“And more likely he would have captured you and AJ instead,” Twilight added.

“Right.” Dash nodded, trying to convince herself. Those moments of acting without thinking scared her, and it seemed right that they might have led to this. But Applejack and Twilight were right, she was no more to blame than AJ.

“Should we try to rescue them?” Dash asked.

Applejack seemed to consider that for a moment before letting out another sigh. “We don’t even know if they need rescuin’.”

Twilight nodded. “We don’t even know if there’s anyone there to rescue.”

“Yeah, walkin’ into a troop of guards without even knowin’ if we need to ain’t likely to help anyone.” Applejack sunk back down, laying her head on her arms again.

“So we’re just sitting here,” Dash said, looking up at the sky again.

“Guess so,” Applejack said, then she went on softly, “I know, Dash. It hurts me too.”

The three sat there for hours, barely breaking the silence as they watched the sky. Dash let various ideas of what was happening play out in her mind… maybe the resistance was able to hide before the guards got there. Maybe they even set traps and attacked the guards when they didn’t see it coming-- there were more ways to fight than charging in head first.

Of course, the guards could have surprised them… interrupted a sunny morning with a shadow of terror from overhead, easily grabbing mares, chaining them, beating and raping the ones who resisted. She knew every fiber of the mares, their bodies and minds and spirits, would fight back, insisting it couldn’t happen to them, they wouldn’t let it happen… Dash remembered that feeling, and the worse one when she realized that it could, and it had.

It was late afternoon when she noticed movement in the northwest sky. She reached over and shoved Applejack. “They’re coming back.”

Twilight had been napping, but now blinked awake. “Are they coming this way?”

“Looks like.” Dash squinted as the formation of indistinct spots came into focus. Her heart beat fast at simply the sight of the armored males, but she breathed a sigh of relief. “They don’t have any mares with them!”

“Keep it down, featherbrain, or they’re gonna have three,” Applejack whispered sharply, but she was smiling.

“They must have been searching that whole time.” Twilight whispered as she rubbed her eyes. “I wonder if there are regular masters and slaves there, or if they really didn’t find anyone…”

“We’ll find out tomorrow. If we don’t see them pegasi again, we’re headed over there,” Applejack said with a firm nod.

Dash nodded back, watching the pegasi as they retreated back toward Ponyville. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Twilight nod too.

Applejack smiled. “Hey, Twilight? Thanks.”

Twilight bit her lip, frowning. She seemed troubled, but she just said softly, “You’re welcome…”

Finally, the pegasi were out of sight. Dash gave it another few minutes before she spoke up again. “All clear.”

With a sigh of relief, Applejack crawled out of the shelter, followed by Twilight and Dash.

Dash looked around, not sure what to do with herself now. Applejack was stretching, and Twilight walked back to her spot on the blanket automatically.

Twilight looked up to Applejack, and asked hesitantly, “Do you want to tie me up again?”

Applejack glanced over at Twilight. “Do I need to?”

Twilight looked down at her hands, then back towards Ponyville, before looking at Applejack and swallowing. “I guess not…”

Applejack nodded. “If ya’ wanna talk about it, we’re here.”

“No. I need to think right now.” Twilight lay down on her side and rested her head on her hand.

“I gotcha,” Applejack said. “I’m gonna head back up in the tree, and make sure those guards don’t send anyone back.”

Twilight nodded absently, and Applejack headed towards the tree.

Dash watched as Applejack climbed up and settled onto the branch. But she wasn’t looking towards the fireswamp or Ponyville, she was looking towards Bayou, deep in thought. There was a lot to think about, Dash had to admit. Too much.

On the ground, Dash spotted her weights. That was what she needed, something to do. Something other than think, and wonder, and worry. She strapped the weights to her wings and focused on working her muscles, losing herself in the repetitive motions. Repetitive, but productive; feeling the pain of straining against the rocks made her smile.

She could worry right now-- about getting caught again, about what was at Bayou, about if they could trust Twilight, about if she’d ever get to actually use her wings again, or if she’d end up locked away or worse after all this work. But it didn’t matter, because there was a chance she’d fly again, and there was something she could do to make that happen. That was how a pony should live, if a pony got stuck in a life like this, Dash decided. Just keep doing something, keep working towards good things, and stop trying to think about it.

Dash grinned, and almost started to laugh, thinking about something else she could do instead of worrying.