A Slave's Freedom

“Wake up, Dyson.”

That chilling voice; it wants me.

“It’s time to go to the fields,” it says with a rough, deep tone.

I stir and crack open an eye. I wonder who is waking me up at this hour. It can’t be Leo, he’s workin’ with the others. Not to mention that he’s usually workin’ in a different field than I. So who could it be?

I gaze up at the voice who calls me and gasp. The rugged face, beady pair of blue eyes, black stetson, and brown, buttoned leather duster told me who it was. Yes sir, it was the master himself. He usually changed his hats to show his mood and well, when he wears his black stetson, everyone knows he has some news to tell. He nudges me with what feels like a broom. “You ‘wake now?”

I nod as I sluggishly slide out of bed, struggling to open my eyes due to the sun peeping in through the old wooden blinders. My giant tall self stands proudly in front of my master with my only set of clothes I own dangling off my worn-torn body. All of my scars are able to be seen, yet only known by those who gave me them. He, of whom is my master, stares at me with a hardened gaze, eyeing me up and down. With a drawn out sigh, he announces firmly, “Dyson, ya’re to do me a favor. Somethin’ big.”

My ears perk up at this. “What is it, master?”

He lays his broom beside my makeshift bed. “I need somethin’ turned in to th—”

“To where?” I mindlessly ask while I watch him reaching for his satchel.

He glares at me with his hazel eyes. “Do you niggers always ask questions when a white man is attemptin’ to explain somethin’?”

A chilling fear enters me as I bring my gaze to the floor. “No, master.”

His demeanor changes: the once cold, harsh glare begins to dismantle itself little by little while the heat upon his face loses its red tint. “Boy, look at me,” he says sternly.

I reluctantly do so.

My master’s face fills my vision. “Listen carefully now, okay?”

I nod.

He smiles and takes a few steps back. “You're my slave, correct?”

Nodding is a tradition.

My master begins to set the pace as he walks to and fro. “You are therefore under my legal possession, and are willing to do anything I say.” He stops for a brief moment to turn his full attention to me. “Am I not?”

“No, you are sir.”

“Good,” he says in an appreciative manner. “So you must obey me, right?”

I stand still, thinking his question thoroughly.

He begins to approach me. “I said, you *must obey me*, right?”

Dismissing my previous attempt to think, I nod rapidly.

“Great!” he barks, his brow furrowing. “Then let me tell you what I’m wanting you to do!”

I stand still, nodding; the fear of him still shakes me to the core.

He stands back once again, giving me room to breathe. “You are to deliver this...  letter to a dear friend of mine,” he calmly explains.

Friend?

“This friend lives fifty or so miles south of the farm. He is like me: a farmer who owns slaves, except he not only has more fields, but also has a generous amount of cattle to boot.” The master kicks his boot against the wooden floor. “I need ya to send him this letter, it contains some really important information regarding a… recent mishap.”

He pulls out a nicely rolled-up letter in his white palm. As I reach for it, he slaps my hand. “Wait jus' a minute! Let me finish.”

I wince and retract my hand as the stinging pain courses through me.

My master clears his throat and continues his instruction, “I have two things to tell ya that ya mustn’t do. Understand?”

I nod.

“Good,” he says as he walks around the room, the pit patter of his boots colliding with the hardwood floor are all to be heard as he paced...

And paced…

And paced…

...before reaching his final decision, stopping abruptly in the middle of the room. He rushes over to me with a slight smile on his face.  As my master stands in front of me, I could not move, my body still frozen in place. “Dyson, you must not open this letter.”

I expected that one, so I nod to show my understanding.

“And… you must not socialize with anyone else ya encounter on that there road,” he begins, gripping the letter tightly in his hand. He waves it in front of my eyes. “Many will want this here letter and know of its contents. Do not let it get into false hands, understand?”

“Yes,” I say politely, giving my master a smile. This beats working in the fields. “I make me 'liver the letter.”

My master clinks his spurs on his boots and happily hands me his prized possession. “You will succeed. If not…”

He didn’t even need to finish; I know full well of what he means. I don’t want to meet *him** again.*

After walking through the mushy terrain and bogged down trenches, we finally reach the end of the gorge. However, there was a catch.

“Dyson?”

I stare at her, then back at the pitfall. This obstacle could make or break us both. We have to cross this giant pit and if we don’t…

We might be stranded here.

“Yes, pony?”

She scoffs. “I have a name, you know.”

“Ya never told me it,” I counter instantaneously.

She sighs. “It’s Rainbow Dash and I don’t know if I can cross this…”

“Why is that?” I ask, still eyeing the narrow, thin stone bridge in front of us.

“It’s too narrow for me to stand on.”

She was right. The narrow thin strip of stone wouldn’t be able to hold her large cyan hooves. This may be a bust if we tried this route.

I look passed the thin strip, hoping for something more stable for us to cross. As if God had heard my plea,  I spot a path embedded in the side of the gorge, which would allow us to cross.

“Rainbow, ya see that?” I ask, pointing at the pathway.

She turns her attention to my hand. “Yes, that’s your hoof.”

I groan. “No, look where I’m pointin'.”

Rainbow Dish, or whatever this clown pony is named, looks at the rock formation and gasps. “You want me to walk on that?”

“It be that or I carry ya across the path and lead us to our deaths,” I say with a shrug. “It be up to you.”

She sits on her haunches and considers her options. I know this because she’s rapidly looking between the two of them like she’s trying to figure out if both of them are real or not. Of course, this pony also is trying to chew one of her hooves, which I know is not good for any pony like that. As a result, I walk up to her and hold her poor, chewed-on hoof. “Look,” I begin, firmly grasping her hoof in my left while scratching underneath her ear with my right. She sighs and looks at me. “Do ya want to fall in that big hole there?”

She rapidly shakes her head.

“Do ya want to have broken wings forever?”

She shakes her head once again. I swear a tear landed on my shoulder with that one.

“Do ya want to be stuck down here forever?”

This is something I didn’t expect.

“I don’t wanna be stuck down here forever!” she says as she wraps me in her hooves, hugging me tightly.

I gasp as she hugs me. Talking horses that can hug without using their necks; it’s all new to me. A bit too new to me. I sigh and hug her back. “Then let's get goin’, shall we?”

I am about to pull away from her, but the horse pulls me back. “But wait!”

“What now?” I ask.

She sighs. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Okay… what do ya need?”

“I need you to… tell me I can do it.”

“What?”

She backpedals away from me. “L-let me explain. See, it all started when I was just a little filly, except I was in the flight academy at the time.”

I raise an eyebrow at this. “Flight academy?”

“It was called The Cloudsdale Youth Flight Academy and it was a place to basically… learn how to fly,” she explains with a smile. “I was there for a few years before I had to drop out.”

“Dropout?” I ask. “What be of that?"

She groans. “Did you ever go to school?”

It is my turn to shake my head. “No, we slaves never got an education,” I say with a frown. “But it didn’t be gone forever! We could be earnin' one, that is, if the Master allowed it.”

She raises an eyebrow at me. “Were you abused or something?”

That’ll leave a mark. “You could say it like that…”

Her eyes widen. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you!”

“It is alright,” I begin as I trap her in my grasp. She gasps but soon caves in due to my finger scratching under her ear. I smirk. “Ya don’t need to worry none, jus’ don’t do it again.”

She smiles at me. “Alright,” she hums with her eyes closed.

I nudge her. “So, you were sayin'?”

Rainbow Dash quickly opens her eyes. “Right! I-uhm… Dyson?”

“What?” I say, still holding Rainbow Dash in my arms.

A small blush forms on her cheeks. “Can you put me down?”

My mouth forms a quick small "O" before putting the pony down on the ground. “Sorry.”

“No problem,” she says as the blush on her face quickly fades away. “So, as I was saying. After I left the academy, the teachers told me that my parents must home school me for the remainder of my time I would have had there." She pauses. "I needed to do it so I could enter their high school.”

As I am about to ask her about the two school things, I stop myself. I don’t know what they mean, but it’s better to let her talk. Instead, I look up, noticing the fading blue sky above us. It’s going to get mighty dark out, we might have to get some wood when we get out of here.

“So my dad decided to agree with them and taught me how to do all the flying I know today. Unfortunately after he taught me, he left on a business trip and never returned…”

I sigh as I see her tear up again. “Hey you; don’t be cryin'.”

“I’m sorry, you’re going to have to deal with it,” Rainbow Dash says as she chokes back a sob. “It’s all part of the package.”

“I got a package?” I ask with a smirk on my face. “In that case, I’ll have to leave 'er here…”

I walk past the broken mare, her eyes wide as can be. I stifle a chuckle before beginning my ascent, climbing on the various, large stone rocks in front of me. Each grab and step counts towards the goal: to reach that path. It is a bit farther back than what I saw from my first glance, but it definitely is there. It's just a bit of a pain to get to. Of course, as I am about to pass the first huge obstacle, I hear a voice shout up at me.

“Hey, Dyson… can you help me up?”

I turn around and look down, a smirk adorning my face once again. “So the package be comin' with?”

She crosses her hooves and stares up at me. “I…”

“So…?”

She groans and uncrosses her hooves. “Yes, I do.”

“Grab it," I say with a smile and lend her a hand.

Of course, she doesn’t get that I don’t want my fingers bit off by a horse. She bites down hard on my hand, causing me to gasp. “I didn't say hard!"

She mutters to herself before turning to me with her head lowered. “Sorry, Dyson.” With that, she looks to her right. “Wait! I can walk up this way!”

My eyes widen as Rainbow Dash turns to her right and gallops up the rocky thin bridge beside me. I did not even consider this route because of its unstable appearance, but apparently she thinks it’s okay. I scoot over and watch her approach. I better be near the edge in case she misses.

I watch as she gallops up the incline, her hooves colliding with each piece of the rough, jagged platform. My heart begins to race after each  step she takes; I’m worried she’ll lose her footing on the thin piece of stone. As she jumps onto the platform I’m on, I watch as the rest of the bridge behind her collapses, falling straight into the dark depths below. I gasp and open my arms to catch her, but my painful reminder likes to stab me right in the gut, making me tumble onto my back. Thankfully Rainbow Dash makes the jump, but not before skidding almost off the edge.

“Dash, that was…”

“Crazy, awesome, Wonderbolt-material?!” she rapidly rambles, a large grin appearing on her face.

“Definitely a risk,” I begin with a wince while I loop an arm around her. “But one needed to be taken.”

She glares at me. “So I’m not awesome?”

“Ya’re one awesome package,” I reply, still not knowing what the word even meant. It must’ve meant something because she is nuzzling me and smiling from ear to ear.

After a minutes rest, we begin to travel up the stone incline, watching our every step. It’s not a huge path at all. There’s just barely enough room for Rainbow Dash to walk beside me, her fur rubbing up against my torn pant leg. We walk side by side, all chirpy and happy as two injured animals can be, that is, until we meet the second obstacle.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah?”

I stare at the rock formation. “Can you possibly climb with them hooves?”

She shakes her head. “No, hooves don’t grab like that.”

“So I guess the only way we be goin' up is by…”

She blushes. “Carrying me up there?”

I nod. “Looks like it.” I bend down to pick her up. “Come on.”

She smiles and gently snuggles into my arm. As any old slave could say, she definitely behaving more like a dog than any old pony I’ve ever seen. These ponies just keep making me tilt my head as I go.

With Rainbow Dash in my arms, I begin my climb over the first set of rocks. While I’m climbing, my ribs remind me that they’re a bit broken by sending a sudden shock of pain, making me wince from it, however, pain wasn’t foreign to me. Muscling through it all was something I always did on the farm. No pain, no gain, and certainly no dinner if we didn’t work hard enough.

With those painful memories of starving fresh in my mind, I climb up the jagged rocks without even consciously thinking about it. It felt like second nature for me, which scared me once we got up the first set of rocks. I set her down beside me as I take a breather, checking to see if I had any more injuries.

She sighs as she sits beside me, staring at my hand in... horror?

"Dash?"

"Dyson," she says, her eyes still glued to my hands.

I look down and gasp.

They were bleeding. Badly.

"Your han—"

"I see that, Dash," I say, looking for something to cover it up with. She didn't have any clothing, so it was basically mine or none.

I take off my shirt, revealing the scars on my back. This probably got her attention because she gasps from behind me, but I don't care about that whole ordeal right now, my hands are more important. Carefully, I wrap my shirt around the wound, letting it soak up all the blood.

"Dyson?" she whimpers out.

I know what she's whimpering for.

"Yes?" I reply as I finish up the bandaging job.

"Your back... It's—"

"A long story," I interrupt her. "It all happened on the farm."

"Oh," she murmurs, walking from behind me and out to the open where I can see her. She sits beside me. "It must've been rough on the farm."

A bit of suppressed rage deep within me tries to make some headway. "More than rough, Dash," I say with another wince.  "It be way more than rough..."

I can feel a tear leave me; it glides gently down my cheek. Then, it stops as I feel her near, nuzzling me. I rub her cheek too, the memories fully fresh in my mind.

"You don't have to say anything, Dyson," Dash begins to say, "I'm sorry."

"No," I reply and loop an arm around her, pulling her close. "I want ya to hear it."

"Why?"

I don't know. I'm stranded here in your world without knowing what it is. You exist, I probably don't, and we both are stuck in a gorge you know of, but never got stuck in.

After a few more moments, I answer her question, "Because you and I... We are together here," I move my arms out, and spread them slowly apart from another, "in this here place. I never been here before, and you have." I poke her in her chest, causing her to squeak. "We be needin' each other, because I can climb," I grab the closest hoof to me, "and you know this place. Together, nothin' should stop us."

With a light blush appearing on her face, she smiles and says, "Thanks, Dyson," before looking at the ground. She steals her hoof away and rubs it with kind. "So..."

"Yes, the story," I say. "It was when I met him..."