A Slave's Freedom

It all seemed unreal to me. We've been here before, but many things have changed. The fog has lifted, the clouds have drifted, the sky is blue, and thankfully, green leaves dip over the edge connected to hanging branches that stay still. I can even see one right now, a leaf, slowly making its way to the ground. It floats to the left, and right, before landing in my palm. I cup it and smile, knowing that this is the sign of something real above. Everything is at peace, a notion that gives me a sense of hope that we will maybe see the world that she wants me to see. The fog never gave me that. It felt like the fog from before was hiding me from my Master. Or was the fog trying to keep me trapped? I'm not sure, but I know that these grey grains rubbing against my worn feet don't give me the same sense of comfort as the leaf in my hand.

The world around us wasn't the only thing that changed. We changed. My leg has lagged behind me since the eel attacked her and I. My rib still aches from being hit by Rainbow Dash the first time we met. My hand is the only injury that isn't infected, or so I hope. If we don't get out of here soon, maybe I'll lose my leg. Maybe I'll be like Rainbow Dash, whose wing is in shambles. Her feathers are out of place, her skin is completely torn from the bone, and the remaining skin left on what is of her wing is scorched black to remind her of the eel that took her love of flying away from her. I don't know how she's going to deal with it, but when she wakes up again, we'll have to talk about it.

Or do we?

Change is hard to talk about, especially when we're starting at the same place again.

Looking at those treetops reminds me of the plantation. Sweet Acres, to be exact. It had some trees, most of them near the creek. Only a few were near the farm, while one was right by the house, standing tall. It was one big tree. We stayed underneath it to keep cool, but when the Master or his workers were around, us slaves had to keep working while the sun bore on us. It wasn't a good time, but keeping cool in the shade and being able to talk to family and friends in the fields (they watched us to make sure we weren't talking bad); those were the good times.

I've been wondering about the good times. Rainbow Dash talked about her friends and her life, which to me sounded a lot better than any plantation I've heard of. Yet, the thought of the life on the plantation still lingers on. All those good times... Those times will bug me until we get out of here to see what's out above this... gorge.

Maybe I could ask Rainbow Dash?

I look down at her tear-stricken cheeks. Her damaged self is curled up into a ball. She is snoring softly, something that would've given me a heart attack if she wasn't considering we're both badly injured, but knowing her there wouldn't be a problem. From what I've heard from her, she's not likely to give up. She's loyal and will fight until the very end.

She's jus' like you.

The thought whirled in his head. It made sense, but she's still a horse.

She's jus' like you...

Maybe not a horse...

My train of thought is cut off though, as the... pony squirms in my arms. With a  gratifying yawn, and a stretch of her good forehoof, Rainbow Dash comes back to the land of the living. She looks at me with her floppy ears standing up. "Dyson?"

I give her a smile. "Had a good nap?"

Rainbow Dash yawns again, this one more longer than the last. "Good enough, I guess," she says with a shrug. "Is my--" She notices her wings. "Oh... I thought that was a bad dream..."

I sigh. I can hear the sadness seep out of her voice. "We'll be fine, Dash. You'll get ya wing back, right?"

For some reason, she smiles at me. "Maybe Twilight could fix it..."

"Twilight?" I raise an eyebrow. "Ya mean the one that ya turned down?"

She frowns. "Yeah, but she'll help me with my wing..." Looking at the skies above, she adds, "I hope..."

"You missum?" I ask.

All I receive is a gentle nod before she turns away to check out the area. "We're stuck here again, aren't we?"

I nod. "Again, Dash."

"Then we gotta get out of here," she declares defiantly. "We could go back the way we--"

"And risk it all over one bridge that neither you and I can walk on?" She frowns. "Exactly, Dash. The only way we have is goin' upstream to the--"

"But that's where the quarry eels live!"

Are ya kiddin' me? "More eels?"

She waves her hooves dismissively. "Not like the one we had to face!" She calms down and looks at her wings. "They're easy to fly around, but they should be easier to walk by. Most of them are up high, so if we duck and walk closer to the wall, they shouldn't be able to get us."

Being curious as I usually am, I raise a brow. "Why?"

She groans. "Unlike the one that almost killed us, they can't easily burrow through rock. It takes them a long time to just make a new hole and such. That's what they do: break and..." She pauses, her muzzle contorting and scrunching up. "I'm not sure what else they do. That's more of Twilight's territory than mine."

"It's alright," I say, while patting her mane. She glares at me in response. "Can't pat ya head?"

"Don't test me, Dyson." She looks at my hands. "Mind putting me down?"

I look at her injured forehoof. "You can walk on that?"

She shrugs and points at my leg. "I'd rather walk than injure that more."

She's got a point. My injury could get worse if I possibly fall while having to carry her the whole way there. Yet, leaving her as she is isn't a good idea either. "I guess," I reluctantly say. "Jus' make sure ya stay close, all right?"

She nods. "I got it, Dyson." As I set her on the ground while making sure I didn't bend my broken leg, she looks up at me and says, "By the way, how long was I out?"

I sigh. "Couple of hours." She gasps and opens her mouth to say something, but I interrupt her before she could put her thoughts in, "I waited because I want to get your opinion on where we be headin'." I sigh. "Guess I should'a gone upstream, since downstream led us to a bunch of problems..."

Her floppy ears splay against her head again. "Sorry..."

I was about to pat her head, but I didn't want to test her. "You have nothin' to be sorry 'bout." I give her a smile. "We're goin' to get out of here, no matter what we face."

She responds with a large grin, "Right! We'll get out of here if my name isn't Rainbow Danger Dash!"

...Danger?

She told me we were going to see eels. Lot's of them, as a matter of fact. They would be sticking their heads out of the rock and stare hopelessly at us as we passed by. Instead, I'm looking at a bunch of vines. They have jagged edges on them, some sharp as a fresh axe head. The vines twist around each other, while others reach for the sky. They look like they last forever as I see vines behind more vines. This is something I'm not prepared for.

"Thinking we can get through them?"

Hearing Rainbow Dash's voice made me stop staring at them. "Not sure," I say, looking at her confident smirk. "Why, ya have somethin' planned?"

She moseys on over to the vines and looks at them: over one vine, under several others, peeking around a spiral of them; she was making sure she was thorough as possible.

"Havin' fun over there?" She freezes momentarily, a glare of death watching me with intent. "Guess so," I add, before having a look at them myself. "What are these vines?"

She shrugs. "Egghead would know, but not me."

"Why?"

"Flunked Biology."

"Biology?" She tilts her head in response. "What?"

"You've never heard of Biology?" I shake my head. "Egghead is going to have so much fun with you."

She looks away from me and slowly approaches the vine patch, her good hoof landing in the soft dirt. She carefully hobbled around the first vine spiral which barely even touched her skin. Then, she placed her hoof in an open spot of dirt nearby, dancing around another large one with ease. She made this look easy. Too easy, as she dipped around another vine.

Feeling envious of her, I follow into the thicket, dancing around my own vines. One almost got me in my good leg, but I was thankfully able to keep my balance. If I fell into it, I would be a dead slave.

"Dyson?"

I look around for her, but have trouble finding her. "Dash?"

"Over here!" she yells to my left. I turn to that direction, but no rainbow mane in sight.

"I can't see ya!" I yell.

I swung my leg around another vine, and ducked under another, before I found her smiling at me. "Took you long enough."

Ignoring her comment, I look around us, seeing more vines, and no end in sight. "What ya want to show me?"

She sighs. "Nothing, just wanted to make sure we were..." Pausing, she looks at the vines ahead of us, "You know, together?"

"I remember sayin' that," I reply. "Then let's make a proposition: I hold onto your tail and you lead the way."

Red blush gathers onto her cheeks. "H-hold my tail?!"

"Well it'll at least make sure we be not losin' each other in these here vines," I say. "Why, this be a problem?"

She slowly shakes her head, but the twitch of her ear and her brief flick of her tail tells me otherwise. "N-No..."

She looks away from me, clearly embarrassed. "If there be a problem with holdin' your tail, then ju--"

"There isn't a p-problem!" Denial. "Let's do it."

Gripping her tail, I give her an okay before she starts hobbling and dancing around those vines again. I had to let go of her tail once in a while, since some vines were too difficult for me with just one arm. Besides, she races through these things without a care in the world, while I'm just lagging behind.

Like a slave would.

As we progress through the vines, I get this sense of urgency. A hot, baring sting of heat and pain course through my veins. I look to the source and gasp, a vine had scraped part of my shoulder, leaving me scraped from the shoulder down to my right elbow. I grimaced in pain, but Rainbow Dash didn't seem to see it. She was too focused on the task at hand to turn around and see me. Either that or I just didn't scream or gasp loud enough for her to hear me. But, after we danced past one of the last giant vines, and got to those grey grains again, I decided to voice my concern. I scream, loudly, giving into the pain's demands. Rainbow Dash snaps to me and sees the scrape. "Dyson! Are you all right?"

She comes close and nuzzles me. "I-I'm fine..." Gripping my arm, I look around. "We made it, didn't we?"

Panting hard, she gives me a nod. "Yeah! Nothing to it!" Right... "Phew, I'm tired..." Her stomach loud growl adds to the party, "And hungry."

My own stomach growls in response. "Guess I'm in the same field as you."

"But there's no field--oh..." Her face meets her hoof.

To her dismay, I let out a dry laugh. She frowns when she hears it, but I think it's not for the reason I'm thinking of. I thought she would be frowning for the purpose of not getting what I said, since we're from two different places, where words may mean something completely different. Yet, she and I have been communicating well so far. So why is she frowning?

She looks at the rest of the gorge, eyes flickering in hopes of finding some stairway in sight. At least, that's what I'm hoping for.

"Dyson... I'm--" She pauses, her ear twitching like mad. She sighs again and adds, "We need to find water soon..."

I frown. I had forgotten about water or food. We were swimming in water the whole time, but that water wasn't good for us to drink. And we haven't seen anything edible to eat. "You're right, but where would it be, Dash?"

Her eyes flicker to mine. "I don't know... I don't come here all the time. I just--" Another pause and another ear twitch. Is she all right? "We need to go now if we want to survive!" Then, she begins to hobble ahead, heading straight for the next bend. I follow her too, silently, wondering if my friend is okay while I stay close behind like a slave.

Like a slave should.

It's night out. I had left the Master's Quarters, since he didn't need me 'til tomorrow for another delivery. Something about the need for feed? Not sure, since he doesn't raise any cattle. He only has us slaves...

Shaking my head of ever eating cattle feed, I walk into the living room, where my Master keeps his books. I clean them at night, making sure there isn't a speck of dust on them. In return, the Master lets me read one of them a month. After the month is over, he lets me pick another. In a way, he's educating me, which was something I never thought would come from him. He always calls me the tallest, dumbest nigger, yet he wants me to read more. He thinks I don't know what his books are saying, but I've understood what they have been telling me: they want me stand tall, be free to think and reason, and to become something greater than what I was given.

The elation of being free always motivates me for the days ahead. Working in the fields, running around with letters jutting from my pockets, and hands cleaning rooms and keep books clean; all manual labor, but with a reward at the end. I guess that's why I still do things for him, not that I have a choice. I need to survive, and make sure that my family and I are alive.

We'll leave this place someday, and we'll be free too. Like the white men are. A little house on top of a hill, where a new city is born.