A Slave's Freedom

We continue to walk up the grey, dull slope; neither of us batting an eye at each other. I know that she's a distance away from me, probably hugging the rock wall like it was her lifeline. I, on the other hand, am forced to the outside edge. She could push me off at any minute, and I'd be dead. Yet, she hasn't. Was she angry with me? Did I do or say something wrong?

I hear the pit-patter of her hooves abruptly stop. "D-dyson...?"

Her shakiness of her voice made me turn to her in an instant. "Yes?"

Right beside me is Rainbow Dash, her confident, caring form suddenly looking bleak. Her only workable wing is tucked to her side, while her broken one sits frozen, suspended in space. "I can't feel my wing..."

My eyes widen. "We need to get ya someplace fast."

She nods. "Ponyville has a clinic I can go to," she begins, her gaze shifting to the exit of the gorge, which was farther than it seemed. "I hope we can get past all those boulders..."

I turn to what she was looking at and groaned. "I don't know if I'm strong enough to carry ya up them rocks."

She turns to me and sighs. "Then we'll have to wait and conserve our energy."

"Conserve?"

She sits on her bottom. "Yes, conserve." She leans against the rock wall and cringes. "I wish I had a cloud to sleep on."

I sigh and sit down with her, grimacing all the while. "I wish this rib would stop bein' a pest."

She smiles. "Suck it up, buttercup."

I roll my eyes and stretch my arms. "Wanna snug?"

Her face instantly turns red. "W-what?"

"Snug? Ya know, share body heat?"

"I know you said that!" she squeaks. "I-I..."

Suddenly, the phrase registers in my head. "Oh, you want to do that too?"

Rainbow Dash stares at me, her mouth agape. "Dyson!"

"What?" I smirk. "You thought of it first."

She looks away and twiddles with her forehooves. "Yeah, but..." She pauses. "I... ugh, I'm just not comfortable with snuggling."

"Why is that?" I mindlessly ask.

The horse scoots closer to me. "It's a long story," she says before slowly bringing her gaze to mine.

I smile and loop an arm around her. "We have time."

"O-okay," she sputters, her blush still evident.

A grey cloud passes by.

"I have a couple of friends back at home." She pauses. "Oh, they're probably worried sick—they usually watch me do tricks out in the field by my friend's castle."

"Your friend's castle?" I ask. I could feel my eyebrow raising.

She snickers at me. "She's a Princess of Equestria, after all."

My mind proceeds to pick cotton at lightning speed. "P-princess?"

"You never heard of one?"

I stifle a reply, "N-no, I heard of 'em." I take a brief moment to calm myself down. "Princesses are in them fairy tales I read."

She raises an eyebrow. "Fairy tales?"

I bring her closer, causing her red face to intensify. "Yes. They're usually stories that aren't real..."

She stares at me, her blush blazing on her cheeks. "Sounds lame."

"Not really," I say with a shrug. "Jus' a bit different."

She nuzzles my shoulder. "Like this?"

I nod. "Very."

We sit quietly as another cloud passes on by.

"So, you were sayin' about your friends?" I ask, nudging her side.

She smiles. "Right," she begins, "My two friends, Twilight Sparkle, which was that Princess you were worried about, and Fluttershy, who is a pegasus like me."

"Then what is Twilight?"

"An alicorn," she says nonchalantly, before noticing my confused gaze. She groans. "A winged unicorn?"

"Oh..."

She facehooves. "You weren't lying when you said you weren't from here. This stuff is like... first grade!"

I nod. "Why would I lie?"

She rolls her eyes. "You might've wanted to eat me or something!"

I shake my head. "You are not my type."

"G-glad I'm not," she stutters as her ears splay back on her head. She looks away from me, the ground looking nice to her for some reason.

I shrug. "So, the story?"

She snaps to my gaze, nods, and continues to tell her tale, "So I had just finished an entire routine when Twilight asked both of us if we wanted to go watch this new feature film she got from the Princess."

"There be more than one?"

She rolls her eyes. "There's four of them." She pauses. "And one and a half princes."

I raise my eyebrow. "One and a half?"

"Blueblood does nothing but whine about his hair looking bland. He gets only half."

I chuckle. "That can't be it."

She waves her hoof in front of my face. "That's a whole nother story." She looks out from where we're at. "We'll save that for a rainy day."

I squeeze her, causing her to squeak. "I'll hold ya to that."

Another cloud passes by.

"Do ya get distracted easily?"

She gazes up at me and frowns. "No, you just lead the conversation in a different direction..."

"Then I'll jus' keep quiet," I say. I motion her to continue.

Rainbow Dash nods and continues with her story, "The film was called Days of Glory." She waves her hooves. "Some sort of war film Celestia needed us to watch." She glares at me for a moment, before smiling. "When we watched it, I was enjoying it: all the soldiers were fighting back the monsters that were attacking the castle." The smile she once wore turns to a slight frown. "It was then I saw one of them die." She grimaces. "I never knew they..."

She stops and nuzzles my shoulder. "Their deaths had caused me to snuggle up against my two friends, which, according to Twilight, meant a lot to her and Fluttershy."

I raise an eyebrow in response.

She rolls her eyes. "They were dating."

My eyes widen. I never heard of women dating before. It seemed... taboo. Yet, it made me want to open my mouth and ask her why, but I promised her that I would keep my mouth shut. So, I kept it shut.

"At that moment, they had asked me if I wanted to join their herd." She frowns. "I had to turn them down."

I have to open my mouth here. "Why?"

The mare in my grasp shakily sighs, the long, deep breath shaking her entire being. "I couldn't; they don't allow relationships."

"Who?"

"The Wonderbolts, of course!" she shouts. "It's even in their contract! It has to be all," she states, before throwing her hooves in the air. "Secretive!"

I sit in awe as she snuggles closer to me. "Dyson, I had to reject them for the Wonderbolts and well..." She takes a moment to recollect herself. "I don't like mares."

I pet her mane. "Don't you worry none, Rainbow Dash," I comfort her. "Besides, we're snug right now and you're not complainin'."

In seconds, her eyes widen as she looks at me in shock. "Y-you..."

Another cloud passes by.

A raindrop hits my nose.

"Rainbow?"

She nuzzles my side. "Hmm?"

Another droplet hits my head. "It's raining."

She looks up at the sky. "Huh, how did we not see the clouds forming?"

I look at the clouds too as they form into a giant, black collection of clouds. "Rainbow?"

"What?"

I see them begin to spin. "Do tornadoes happen 'ere?"

She tilts her head and raises a brow. "Not often," she mumbles. "They usually are created by the lack of harmony in an area..."

I hold her tightly. "Come on, we gotta find some shelter."

Still holding her confused look, she asks, "Why?"

Suddenly, a whisk of heavy wind flows to where we're at. I fall to the ground and grimace, still favoring my chest. I look up to see a vortex begin to form. "That's why!" I say as I point to the funnel cloud.

Rainbow gasps as she leaps into my arms. "Where do we go?"

"I don't know!" I say, knowing that our chances are quite slim. We've climbed up this slope so far that it'd be pointless to head back down, yet we're too far away from the exit to leave the area. With the pony in my hands, I run up the incline in search of some sort of shelter to hide in.

"Rainbow," I begin as I hold her in my arms. "Keep on the lookout for any caves!"

She salutes me and says, "Yes, sir!" before her brows furrow and her eyes become half-lidded.

After a few seconds of searching, we find one but it was gong to be a tight squeeze, especially for me. "Rainbow!" I shout over the loud noise of the tornado. A whisk of wind rushes past us, causing us to shiver. "Get in'ere!"

She nods and dives into the small cave. She turns and looks up at me. "But what about you?"

"I'll find a place," I reply as I regain my breath. "Just stay put, okay?"

She whimpers. "B-but—"

"No buts," I interrupt her. "It be only for a minute."

She slowly, and reluctantly nods while a tear slowly grazes down her cheek. "I-I won't move."

I flash her a smile before rushing up the incline, hoping for something ahead. This whole way up had barely any caves, let alone ones that were close to us. Thankfully Rainbow Dash is safe, but I...

...don't know if I can find one.

I search for nearly a minute, the wind buffeting me as I climb. My head is pounding and my heart is racing faster and faster as I run. My injured rib is crying for mercy but I need to find a place to stay before this tornado takes me away.

"Come on," I mutter to myself, picking up the pace. I'm panting right now and I bet you that injured rib is getting close to puncturing my lung. I need to slow down.

"Slow down, ya stupid nigger!"

The voice shouts loud and clear in my ears.

"You ever heard of a ditch!" it shouts. "That's where they hide'em!"

I look around, wondering where this voice is coming from. I turn to my right and notice a cave.

"Get ya both in'er." it states calmly. "I need ya for later."

I sigh and rush back to the horse's hiding spot.

"Rainbow Dash!" I shout as some wind splatters rain against my back. "Come on!"

She rushes out from her hiding spot and joins my side. "What's up!"

I slowly pick her up. "We gotta move!"

The rain impacts my chest. Each raindrop feels like a thousand whippings by him. Every crackle of thunder sounds like the screams of my every waking scream of agony. I cry out in agony as I carry her on my back. She whimpers and hugs me around my neck. "D-dyson."

"Not now! G-ah!" I cry out. "This rain is hittin' hard!"

She silently rests on my back, while I rush up the cliff, hoping to see the cave soon.

As I step on the now soggy, grey terrain, I hear the sounds of a locomotive enter my ears. Its loud, boisterous call seems natural as it storms by us. The train carries the rocks with it, and slams them all around. I duck underneath one, thankfully missing the both of us. It slams against the rock edge with force, making a dent in its side. "Rainbow!"

"Dyson!"

I hold her hooves tightly. "We're close! Jus' hang on to me!"

She nods and dangles off my back. I smile and begin to move forward. Step after step, I feel myself begin to grow confident that we'll find the cave. Yet, as my confidence grows, so does it wane as a boulder slides underneath me, sending her and I to the ground.

I slide off the edge of the slope, but thankfully grab the edge of it with my hands. I grimace as I feel my body stretch, making the rib move closer to my lungs. "Rainbow!" I call, hoping she'll come and save me.

She struggles to get up. "Dyson, where are you?!"

"Over here!" I shout, hanging onto the ledge for dear life. "Help me!"

She apparently spots me as I hear her hooves clip-clop over the ferocious, howling winds. "Dyson!"

"Rainbow Dash, grab my hand!"

She pauses. "But you said not to last time!"

"This time's different!" I shout back. "Jus' help me!"

She grabs my hand with her teeth and pulls.

I cry out in agony as I feel my fingers being crunched by the horse. "Stop!"

She stops.

A small tear races down my cheek. The howling winds rage on around us, tossing boulders and other debris with it.

"Dyson!"

I feel my grip begin to slip.

"What do I do?"

I try to speak, but nothing is coming out.

"Dyson!"

I turn to my left to see a boulder coming towards me.

"DYSON!"

I turn to her. "Goodbye."

"NO!"

The sounds of bones shattering is all I hear.