Author's Note

DISCLAIMER: Viewer discretion is advised. You brought this upon yourself if you don't like the language being used.

Thanks again to Barracuda Cyborg for editing this chapter with me. Helped me out loads with a lot of issues regarding characters sounding off. Always a great time working with you, bud.

Check out the blog for this chapter here. Let me know if there are any other errors in a private message.

Blood

Dyson was out in the fields. It was the beginning of another day of harvest, and he had just gotten finished with some minor duties inside the estate. His master had him working with one of the new older negro women, who, surprisingly looked younger than what he had thought. She introduced herself as Lucinda, and that she was surprised when his master had picked her and her son out at the same time.

“I thought the white man was jokin’ when he said he wanted both of us,” she said as she scrubbed the floor with a towel. “None was buyin’ in bunches like that… especially ones that knew each other. Yet he did.”

It made Dyson think how his Master did the same for his family. His sister, his mother, his father; all of them were bought by the one he calls master. Why? What did he see in this? It still struck Dyson as odd, since his master talked like them, walked like them, even thought like them at times. He couldn’t do anything about it though, couldn’t even voice his thoughts to his master. He didn’t have a choice.

But they did.

Which made his mind drift to her son. His name was Leo. Dyson was standing next to him now, although if someone came by, they might not see the boy. Dyson dwarfed Leo by far.

Leo was quiet. He hadn’t said much to Dyson since he arrived. A simple hello was all he muttered, before getting down to work, hands gripping the nearest wheat stalk and slicing the bottom with his small little scythe.

Maybe Dyson could change that.

“Hey, Leo!”

That got the boy’s attention, his head turning back towards Dyson. “How do ya know my name?”

Dyson sighed and bent down. “Worked with your ma inside the house. She mentioned ya so…”

“She did?” Leo asked. Dyson nodded curtly. “She must be happy I’m here at least.”

“At least?”

Leo sliced another plant with his scythe. “Mama and I got separated from my sister when we got here.”

“At the plantation?” Dyson asked, wide-eyed.

Leo shook his head and moved towards the next plant. “No, when we got to Mississippi.” The plant fell as he continued. “I tried to grab her from one of ‘em white man but he pushed me away. Told me and my ma to know our place.”

Another plant fell. Dyson watched as he took the stalks and put them aside in a bundle. “Ya think ya might see her again?”

Leo paused and turned to look at Dyson. His lips had sagged down, and his brows crushed in defeat. “I hope so…” He wiped sweat from his head. “What about you?”

“Just got me, my mother, my father, and my little sister.”

“Your whole family is here?”

Dyson nodded. “Yep. Master bought all of us at the same time!”

The boy’s head hung low at the sound of that. Dyson frowned.

Silence pervaded the area. Dyson had even joined in, having walked back to grab a small little scythe of his own to work with Leo for a bit. Master wouldn’t mind.

Besides, Dyson wanted to get to know Leo. He didn’t know why, though.

Dyson fell into the line, working a row ahead of Leo. “So, what ya think of our Master?”

“He different,” Leo replied bluntly.

“How so?”

“He likes jokin’ a lot.”

Dyson tilted his head. “He does?”

Leo gripped the plant’s stem tightly, snapping it at its core. “Says he tells ‘em when to fire.”

“Yeah…” Dyson murmured. There weren’t that many guards out today, but a couple still could be seen on horseback or holding their muskets.

“How many are there usually?”

Dyson turned around. “Well, there be about eight of ‘em out mostly—”

“Only eight?!” Leo practically shouted. He dropped his scythe to cover his mouth with both of his hands. He earned a glare from one of the guards, which Dyson saw from the corner of his eye.

“Sorry,” Leo said, scrambling to pull himself back together. He picked up his scythe and grabbed a couple more wheat. “That’s not a lot for somethin’ like this.”

Dyson sighed. “Master told me somethin’ about ‘em bein’ short around here. Says most called up to go to war.”

“Really?” A soft hum could be heard from Leo. Dyson raised a brow. “Dyson, this is great! We could… you know…”

Dyson knew what he was alluding to. “No, Leo. I can’t.”

“What do ya mean?”

“Master needs m—”

“No he don’t!” Leo growled out. “He don’t need none of us! Dyson, they wouldn’t be able to catch us and—”

“Leo, they’ll shoot you before you even think about leaving.”

“And what? There’s way more of us than them! We can take ‘em!”

Dyson felt a presence linger over him. One that he knew wasn’t truly there, but the ever-watching eye of a guard from that oak tree down by the road was staring directly at them. He needed to steer this conversation elsewhere, or it’ll only be time that he’d trudge on over and really ask what’s going on.

“Leo that’s not the—”

“Point? Dyson you’ve been here for how long?”

“A few years before the war even started…” Dyson murmured. “But what difference does that make?”

Leo dropped his scythe and picked up some of his bundles he left behind. “A lot! I mean, you’ve been here for so long. Have you ever thought what being free was like?”

“No… I’m fine here.”

Leo stopped walking, dropping the bundles he had to the ground. “W-What?”

Dyson cleared his throat. “Master been nice to me and my family. Although rough in the beginning, Master and I been good to one another.”

While Dyson chipped away further and further down his row, Leo hadn’t. He was frozen there, which worried Dyson. Had he said something wrong? He was just telling Leo the truth. Nothing else to tell but the truth.

It took a couple more stalks for Leo to regain himself. He had just bent down to pick up his bundles when suddenly, a voice called from afar.

“Dyson!”

Dyson’s head popped up from where he was situated. It was that young negro woman from before, a friendly face before the war. “Sable!”

Her head wrap bounced as she carried herself toward the two boys. “Finally found ya!” She paused to control herself, panting all the while. “Massa needs ya!”

“He does?”

She looked up and nodded. “He lookin’ weak. Said he had a slight fever.”

Dyson’s eyes widened. “Where is he?”

“On the back porch.”

Dyson dropped everything and ran towards the estate.

Leo looked on. “Does Dyson really care about him?”

Sable nodded. “He does. Massa important here. There ain’t none like him. He saved us from the others.” She turned to look at Leo’s progress. “You better too. Guards ain’t too nice.”

Leo gulped and looked down at his blunder. He tried to pick them up carefully, but his heart was beating faster than he could grip them. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Just keep ya head down and ya do fine,” she said softly, patting him on the back. Leo slowed his pace and picked up the remaining plants.

Neither of them saw Dyson running into the burning red glare of the sun.

I couldn’t believe that I was doing it again, but I was. Rainbow Dash was on my back, gripping me from behind like her life depended on it, while I took these hands of mine and carried us up this wall. I never had done something like this before, so having gotten this far was a good thing. When I was back in Mississippi, good times were hard to come by. I always worked. Master always had something for me to do. At first, times were tough; Master didn’t let me get off so easily if I made mistakes.

“God damn negro, not listenin’—”

He used to be very… aggressive. Angry. It could be because he felt like he was on top of the world. That I couldn’t be like him, or more. I’m always a slave. I didn’t get a choice to do that. I just obey. Yet, he realized who I was. Who I could be. He said it to me after I’d been there for a year.

“Dyson, if you weren’t such a lowly nigger, I wouldn’t mind havin’ you as my son.”

Son. Master hadn’t ever had one of them. No daughters either. Just him and his wife, who we used to call Mother Burr. Don’t know why they couldn’t have one kid at least. Imagine he’d be adorable. That’s all I could do now. Imagine what could of been. This also reminded me of why Master was so angry.

When she was no longer there, Master turned grim, an empty white man who couldn’t accept himself. He, for the first week, couldn’t get out of bed. He’d have some of the other slaves come in, but they would come out with no order or request, except for them to leave him alone. I’d ask them to give him some food and water for the day, hoping he’d let that be, which he had done, accepting the food even though he didn’t feel all too well.

After that week, I never heard him speak out so aggressively. He let me run errands in town more. I felt… free for a time, or rather, more free. Something in Master just changed, and I welcomed it wholeheartedly.

However, even in another world, as I put my hands to the test, his presence lingered. Not sure why—

“Dyson!”

Rainbow shouted into my ears. I had been swinging from one ledge to the next, completely lost in thought. She sounded like she wanted to talk.

“Sorry, Dash. Ya need somethin’?”

She growled, and even whinnied a bit. “Not really, just thought you went deaf for a second.”

“Deaf?” my voice raised a bit at that one. “Why ya sayin’ that?”

“‘Cus I was trying to ask you something and you just… didn’t hear me,” she said, breathing softly near my ear. “Is there something bugging you?”

Tried to say something, but my lips were cracked as the wall. I tried to dampen them, but even my tongue felt withered. I still pushed it out there though, “To be honest, yes.”

“You don’t have to tell me, I und—wait, really?”

I hummed to myself. “Yep. Got lots on my mind.”

“About what?” she said. I could feel her head resting just below my shoulder blade.

“What it was like back in Mississippi.”

A gentle lull hung over us, as I swung ourselves up to the next ledge. Did I get her all mad again? Was she upset I was thinking of that place, a world that would be fine with making me a slave? I couldn’t turn my head around to get a glimpse of what she looked like. I bet she looked like she was frowning while curious about my past. That’s what she seemed the past couple of days.

A neigh confirmed my thoughts. A bit aggressive, like she just forced a blow out of her nostrils. What was she thinking about?

“Dyson?”

“Y-yeah?”

I felt my face heat up. I stuttered. Hadn’t done that since Master had tried to punish me for talking to a lady in town long ago.

“What was it like?”

I paused, my hand nearly reaching towards the next little rock jutting from the wall. “What was what like?”

“Mississippi. Being a... ‘slave’. Your... ‘master’.”

I took a deep breath and took a lunge for the next rock. It gripped into my palm so effortlessly, yet I could not feel my hand at all. It just felt like powder, with bits of smaller grey rocks mixed in. I kept us there, my feet gripping around those little jutted pieces, while I gathered my thoughts.

“It was an interesting place,” I began. “People there were… different. Master wasn’t my first. Had another that was way worse.”

“W-Worse?”

Her voice cracked when she said that. Made me think of the words I needed to say. Didn’t want her worrying too much about me. “Yep. He hated my father. Made sure to not give much room to breathe, so to speak.”

I swallowed, my salvia flooding my throat. It was hard to recall this memory. My head had been good to me so far through this climb, but even it sent surges of pain down my spine. “P-Pa got a lot of l-lashes. Ma had to keep an eye o-on him and—”

“Dyson…” The pony behind him cooed softly in his ear. “Please, don’t go any further.”

“Is it uncomfortable for ya?” I asked.

“Kinda… I didn’t know your kind was as bad as Sombra…”

Her mumbles trailed off, as I willed myself up to the next ledge. Dash didn’t seem like the type to just let things go, but I knew I wasn’t in the right state of mind to be saying all of this. Still, I had to do it. She had to know.

“Not all them were that bad, y’know.”

“They… weren’t?”

I tilted my head. “In Mississippi, there were free people, and then there were people like me. We just so happened to be different than them.”

I heard Dash sigh behind me, the air that escaped her nostrils tickled the hairs underneath my ear. “Sounds doesn’t cool at all to me. I couldn’t imagine being singled out like that.”

“Are other ponies different colors?”

“Yeah!” Dash excitedly replied. “You remember Twilight. She’s purple and has a huge horn and wings!”

I swung to the next ledge. “Really?”

“Uh-huh!” She sounded like my sister when she wanted to ask for some of my bread. “Totally purple! And Applejack? She’s an apple farmer, and she’s orange!”

“Orange fur?”

“Yeah! And then Fluttershy. She’s my best friend and she’s…”

I started to ignore her as he talked about her friends. It reminded me of my mother, who tried to rant about our previous owner in the mucky shed we slept in. It got old, much like hearing her ramble about her friend’s multicolored fur. No use when I needed to make some progress, then we could talk about it.

While Rainbow rambled on, I spotted a ledge above us that was wider than the rest, but the path to it was very confusing. I had to swing my way to the left and then follow the rocks in an outward fashion to get to it. Maybe then we could rest for a bit before continuing on u—ergh!

“Dyson, are you alright?”

Another bit of pain surged through me. “Don’t speak to anyone about this, Dyson. If you do, I’ll have to—”

I shook my head, frantically looking around for the sound of that voice. It was him, wasn’t it? Was he here? Mr. Stockton?

The woman in the room screamed in pain as another flick of the whip cracked against her sk—

“Dyson?”

A nudge from a hoof of my passenger sent me back to where I was. I blinked away the images of back then. What was happening to me?

“I…”

“Let’s get up there, Dyson, okay? We can rest up on that ledge for the night.”

I look up to the ledge she was talking about. The same one with the rocks that jutted in the opposite direction.

All I had to do was lift us up there.

I reached out and—

She looked at me, begging for me to do something, but I knew I couldn’t do anything. I just kept my mouth shut, blankly staring as the shadow of the whip flicked back behind the man. Why was he like that?

—nearly slipped, but I regained control, my hand gripping onto the rock once again.

Rainbow Dash had yelped when I almost missed my mark. She wasn’t too pleased about it either, shouting my name and thensome.

“Don’t scare me like that!”

Why did I always do something like this? Making mistakes is for a slave that don’t belong here. I shook my head. I needed to get these thoughts out of my head. I needed to focus. I needed to breathe. For myself. For Dash.

I sucked in a dry pocket of air. It felt terrible in my lungs, bearing a fire that set my body aflame. However, I had to keep on breathing it in. I would be fine afterwards. I’d be free from this torture. I’d be free from everything here, for now.

“Keep going, Dyson! We’re almost there!”

“Now get going, you’re burnin’ daylight.”

I reached for the first one. My right arm extended out in full.

It didn’t take much effort. I had a good grip on her, and the energy I had behind that made me swing for the next.

“Do you want to meet him again?”

I grimaced and shut my eyes. I don’t know why, but these thoughts of mine were hurting my head. Why now? I was so close to getting out of here and my body was failing me. Why? “Why can’t you help me? Can’t you see what he’s doing to me?!”

I nearly missed that rock too, but I used what little weight I had on my feet to get a second shot at it. Got her with a vice grip.

My heart was racing. One more and we’ll be able to rest for a while.

“Just one more!”

“Wait here, Dyson, while I go get you the letter for your Master.”

The air that rushed through me sent my body for one final jump.

And then…

The sound of a musket firing behind me. A body lurching back. A boy just like me. I fell to the grou—

Suddenly, the world fell to a blur. My legs gave out. My head hit me full force, and everything just looked different.

“DYSON!!”

She was still latched on to me, but not like I remembered it. She was above me now, and I was looking far down below. Air rushed between my arms and legs. I felt as if weightless, and all I could see was how the world looked from this far up, and how fast it was coming so close to us.

Wait, close to us?

My eyes widened. I could hear Dash frantically flapping her good wing, trying to angle us somewhere else, but I couldn’t see too well, everything was a blurry mess of grey. All I could do was be a passenger who was hopelessly hopeful that maybe this wasn’t the end.

But as my body arched back, I felt the pain wash over me, probably like Leo did, tasting the world that some slaves said was between life and death.