//------------------------------//
// Breaking the Chains 
// Story: Earning Freedom 
// by Daxisle 
//------------------------------//


Breaking the Chains




Spike, Sin and Macintosh ventured out into the wilderness of Equestria. Leaving the homely town behind, they had traveled north ward through the grass ridden planes of the country side. Passing fields of forestry and wildlife. Giant rock formations began to appear in the distance as the trio walked along side a narrow, though deep, canyon. for at least five miles before Spike called for a break. 

The stallions agreed and released themselves from their heavy saddlebags. Upon the sack dropping, Macintosh nearly toppled over from the sensation of weightlessness. It took him a moment to regain his balance and adjust his his actions accordingly. He looked over to see a bandaged wing ruffling the dark ponies own pack off, before it lay still at his side again. Mac tilted his head at the discovery, he thought sin to be an earth pony since he met him.

"Alright gentlemen, An hour to rest, then i ask that you join me in our advance to the Black Hoof tribe's mountain." Sin proclaimed looking north the the rock formations. 

"Black Hoof whats?" Spike asked wincing as he tried to rub the soreness out of his aching feet.

"The Black Hoof's Tribe." Cooed Sin turning back to face his companions, "They are group of Minotaur who owe me a favor." He wondered back to his saddle bag and pulled out a map of Equestria and give it a quick once over. Mac peaked his head over Sin's shoulder to gain a little bit of insight as to how big the world he was about to explore really was. While Ponyville was in the middle, Mac's eyes widened at how much of the country there actually was. Ponyville, was a small dot on the quarter of the way opened map. After the feeling of smallness passed, Mac looked over the parchment to discover all kinds of bigger cities and towns, some drawn in with harsh writing.

"Have you never seen a Map of Equestrian before?" Sin called, folding up the map again and stuffing it gently back into his bag."

"Nevah' one like that, All the maps Ah've ever seen had been drawin' where Ponyville and Canterlot were a lot bigger." Mac admitted raising his hoof to the saddlebag. "Is Ponyville really that small?"

Sin nodded, "Yes, I'm afraid in terms of scale to the rest of the country, it is a rather small village." 

Macintosh's ears laid back to his head. He always took pride in the size of his farm and the community in which he lived. The hastily drawn maps he had seen that made his town look bigger, and by association, his farm didn't help to ease him into the revolution that it all equated to a simple dot on the map.

"You alright?" Sin asked, beaming.

"Huh? Oh yea." Mac snapped out of his thoughts. "Just, 'lot bigger than Ah thought."

Sin nodded his head again, "Yes, when I am shopping around respective towns for maps, I always find that the town i'm in holds more space than it should." He took a breath before he cracked his neck from side to side, a sigh of relief following. "One would suppose it's part of the feminism your country embraced." He finished mindlessly looking around for something.

"Feminism?" Spike quirked an eyebrow. "What? You mean all the frilly and flowery stuff?"

"Well, that is part of it." Sin wondered to a near by rock and tapped his hoof on it. "However, there is a great deal more. Feminism has quite a broad interpretation: Some think it's female superiority, others that it's equality between the sexes, and others even think it's just about making everybody more... Touchy feely and emotionally connected."

"Everybody?" Spike nit picked.

"Here in Equestria, you say "everypony" back in the Federation, there were not only ponies; but all manner of creatures." Sin shook his head, pushing away the useless bolder. "Yes, the land once used to be entirely wilderness, untouched by any of the sentient races. The first to settle there were the wise and humble Centaurs, creatures with that were half pony from the waist down, and some kind of monkey from then up."

Spike and Macintosh were listening with great interest. They knew little to nothing about the history of the world outside of Equestria, save what little reading the baby dragon had done on the Griffan Empire. "Then what?" Spike asked, his tone as eager as his eyes.

"Well," Sin took a seat in front of the two, placing his hoof in between his eyes; trying to recall what he had learned years prior. "After the Centaur had began settling, the... Griffans came next? Or it was the Ent's from the east. Anyway, many of the races began to congregate on the continent. Some came to escape their oppressive governments while others merely wanted to stake some land they could call their own. Naturally, some of the races had past hatreds that they brought with them to the contentment, and it was not long until the fighting began."

"Fighting? As in like, war?" Spike asked, a mixed between excitement and terror.

"Yes," Sin answered, he continued his story about how the leaders of the factions would curse their rivals and send their subjects to fight in order to maintain territory, and war seemed inevitable. However, A Centaur tribe known as the Libertas Patronus had spread through out the land, and asked the creatures why they were fighting one another."

"Now keep in mind," Sin warned placing his hoof on a patch of dirt that lay in the middle of the trio. "The centaurs were an intelligent, and nature embracing race, well respected by all the creatures of the earth and sky. This particular tribe believed that the individuals themselves had no quarrel with the other races, and it was only their leadership. So they splintered off into the colonies and conversed with the races average citizen. For the majority, the "Libertas Patronus" were correct. None of the creatures that held no office wanted battle with the others, but were fooled by fear into believing that it was the other factions who would attack them."

Mac furrowed his brow, trying to piece everything together. "So, yer basic'ly tellin' us that: Nopony really wanted to fight? It was just all a big misunderstanding out of fear?"

"Almost," Sin smiled, "It was their leaderships who wanted war. They wanted to fight over power and control of the continent. Even though there was plenty for everyone, those in power, often want to expand that power. And by any means necessary, even sending their own subjects to die."

Spike blanched. "That is the most sickening thing i have ever heard."

Sin continued the story of how his country was founded. He drew crude and unjust pictures in the dirt with his hoof of how the citizens of the factions woke up to the reality that their governments were using terrorist tactics to scare the people into submission. But the centaurs proceeded from provenance to provenance, more and more of the creatures from each faction became aware of their government manipulations to pit them against one another. 

Finally, the after the Governments became desperate to maintain power and killed their own people as a show of force, A revolution occurred that brought the factions together. They brought their highest ranking leaders together, and executed them by decapitation. Thus sending a message to future leadership that such terrorism, authoritative control and violence would not be tolerated.

Though a little horror struck from the gruesome concept of selective murder, Mac and Spike seemed happy at the ending. "Good, those jerks deserved to die, even if it was in a way that that makes me wanna wet myself."

Mac and Spike laughed at the joke and looked up to notice the sun had fallen dramatically. Sin informed the two that it was time to get moving again, and the trio began their second march for the day.


"Who's bucking idea was it, to put all these rocks this way?" Spike cursed as he climbed over an awkward set up of sharp white limestone. He lost his footing and slipped backwards, yelling at the top of his lungs. Instead of the hard stone bellow cracking his skull into a thousand pieces, his back was met with by a softer pressure that pushed him upright. The baby dragon regained his lost balance after wavering some on the slippery rock and looked back to in anticipation of Sin's lecture on his recklessness.

"One thing about mother nature, she is as unforgiving a mistress as father time is a master." Sin jumped onto the stone by spike, he too lost his footing momentarily before he found it again. Spike looked in awe of the pony before him.

"You, aren't mad that was acting so recklessly and might have hurt myself?" Spike asked, a tinge of guilt in his voice.

Sin quipped an eyebrow at the confused dragon. "No, why would i?"

Spike sighed in relief, "Well, it's just that I would never have heard the end of it from Twilight if she saw." His cheeks reddened a bit from the thought of his friend seeing him. "She would yell at me for doing anything dangerous. Or anything I did that was fun that could get me hurt."

"Mr. Spike, I am not Twilight." Sin replied, jumping from the stone to some light dirt below and looking back, "I have no right to tell you: what to think, feel or how to live your life. I'm not here to coddle or hold you back." He fully turned his body to the hatchling, "Besides, how are you to grow in the world if you do not make mistakes and accept its challenges?" 

Spike grinned happily. "You really think I have what it takes to live my own life?" He tapped his claws gleefully before his tone soured. "I wish Twilight felt the same, but it's nice to know there is somepony who has a decent bit of confidence in me."

"None of your friends back home held confidence in you?" Sin asked as the young wingless wyvern jumped to the soft pale of dirt next to him. He looked down and inspected the adolescent for a moment,

"Nah, because I'm a baby dragon, ponies think they need to look out for me, and treat me like I can't do anything for myself." Spike sighed crossing his arms. "It gets really annoying."

"Strange." Sin quipped turning his body away from Spike. "I have never met a baby who understood the world as you do." He crossed one foreleg over the other, peering back the way they came. "Babies have a tendency to cling to their mothers, they cannot reason, rhyme; or think for themselves in any critical way. They must be under their mothers care for every need. The very fact you told Ms. Sparkle that this was your life, and you were going to embrace your own freedom; makes it obvious that you have matured past such an infantile stage."

The adolescent reptile beamed up to Sin, a pony who felt true confidence in him. He knew that Fluttershy and Applejack had small amounts of admiration for his abilities, but he also knew they looked down on him more often then not because of his size and stature. To know that somepony actually believed that he could make his life what he wanted with out help, brought a warm feeling to Spike's heart.

Deciding now was a good time to end the conversation, the purple dragon followed Sin's eyes and looked back to find Macintosh gingerly shuffling through the deepest part of the rocks, careful not to put himself into a situation that would could bring him harm should he slip.

"You alright Big Mac?" Spike called, cupping his hands to his mouth to amplify his voice to ensure the distant stallion could hear him.

The two waited for a moment before the predictable "Eyup" finally came. It took the quiet stallion some time, but he finally made it to where his friends sat in wait. He lifted his head with an apologetic look, verbalizing his concerns about them being upset that he took so long. 

"Why are you apologizing?" Sin smirked, "We don't have a time limit or a schedule to keep. If it took you two hours to get up here from where you were, it wouldn't make any difference to me, the important thing to keep in mind is, to take this at your own pace. Don't put yourself in a situation where the consequences could be detrimental, unless you decide you want  to do so." He bowed his head slightly.

Mac's guilty face grew a smile, it was nice to have somepony say he could take the time he needed instead of trying to rush him all the time. Mac had always had people pushing him to his limits, yelling at him to go faster or buck harder. That he needed to get things done before a certain time, and that there would be consequences if he didn't. It did his mind good to know that he could finally take the time he needed, and do things at his own pace. "Thank ya'."

Sin raised his hoof as he always did when he was given praise. "No thanks needed my friend, requesting that ponies do what they are comfortable with and not taking unnecessary and undesired risks is what I often refer to as, common sense."
Sin continued on, with Spike playfully leading the way through the limestone ridden trail. As Celestia's sun began to set over the horizon, the party finally made it to the grassy and tree enriched summit.

"Oh thank Celestia!" Spike proclaimed sitting on the soft and tender grass, the blades tickling the scraps that had formed on his scales. "Man, I'm starving, so where is the entrance to get to the Minotaurs?" The purple dragon asked looking around for some kind of entrance to the mountain.

"Minotaurs?" Sin questioned, "Spike, the mountain we have to get to is about another two days walk from here." 

Spikes jaw hit the mellow grass below, his eyes full of shock and his words impaired by his disbelief. Mac requested that they make camp for the night, and Sin agreed. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Spike finally spoke, well, yelled; coming out of his shocked state. Sin looked over to the dragon and rose a playful eyebrow. 

"You didn't think it was going to be this easy, did you?" The lead pony worked his saddlebag off his back, he shoved his hoof into to pull out a few carrots and two pieces of metal. After gathering some dead sticks from a nearby tree, he struck the pieces of metal together that generated a spark. After a few attempts, the wood caught a low flame that was breed to strength by Sin blowing on it.

Mac watched with delight as the fire came to life. The cool night air was refreshing to the overheated stallions aching hooves and legs. The stars had shown brighter than they ever had in the comforts of even the most distant part of the Apple farm. Mac recalled the map he had seen that made him feel so insignificant, as he looked up at the countless twinkling diamonds in the sky; Mac couldn't help but feel small again. If what Twilight told him was true, there were millions of planets just like his own. Some bigger some smaller; but still they were there. 

In the unexplored cosmos above, there were worlds, galaxies, asteroids, and who knows what. It was all so vast and grand that Mac began to question the significances of his own existence. If everything Twilight said was true, than these stars and planets have been around long before him, and would shine brightly after he was gone. In retrospect, was dwelling on his own life really that important? With such an epic concept staring him right in the face, laced with the ideas that It could be within the reach of ponykind in some way he knew. The ability to explore the outter realm above, that not even the bravest of pegasi dared venture. Was such a thing even possible?

"So, what do we do now?" Mac snapped out of his philosophical dilemma and turned his head to the disturbance. The young antagonist limped to a stand and his eyes caught the dancing fire in the middle of the camp. Mac observed as the young dragons eyes focused in on the flames. He could see their reflections in his eyes, but there was something else there with it. Some kind of uneasiness that plagued the dragons very consciousness. 

Before Mac could observe Spike in this new light further, he turned to sin with a blank face. Sin merely lay back with his head against an elevated sheet of grass and raised a dismissive hoof. "Whatever you want to do." he said taking in an extra large inhale of the mountain air before he listed off some examples. "Stargaze, soul search, draw in the dirt, yell at the top of your lungs; it makes no difference to me."

"Yell at the top of my lungs?" Spike repeated in a questioning tone. Why would i wanna do that?"

"You would be surprised what a good bellowing of insults will do for the soul." Sin called smoothly before nuzzling into the grass, trying to find as comfortable as possible. "Especially if you have someone in mind who you believe deserves to hear what you have to say."

Spike considered the option for a moment before looking to Big Macintosh, his eyes gleaming with skepticism and doubt. Mac thought about the option himself, his nature had always caused him to either shy away from loud situations, or end them as quickly as he could. But recalling the night he unleashed his repressed emotions on his family brought him nothing but liberating and proud memories. Save for the fear he installed in his family, though he was still undecided on whether they deserved it or not. Mac nodded his approval, and Spike shrugged his shoulders before walking to far end of the mountain.

"Rarity!" His young voice called, not really in an angry bellow, but more of an attention grabbing shout. "Rarity!" He yelled again, this time a little louder, and with much more expression. Mac rose his head looked over to find him looking up to the crescent moon above, his body slightly trembling. 

"RARITYYYYYY!" Spike yelled, his voice echoed and reverberated off into the distant nothingness of the night. Mac could hear him fuming now, Spike was angry, angrier than he had ever thought that such a young creature was capable of being. "RARITY! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING!" He took another few breaths. "I COOKED FOR YOU, I DUG HOLES FOR YOU, I FOUGHT DIAMOND DOGS FOR YOU, AND I EVEN GAVE YOU MY MOST PRECIOUS GEM STONE!"

Mac looked over to Sin to see his reaction to all of this, the pony was simply smiling, his goggle ridden eyes never leaving the stars above. With every word the adolescent cried, the smile on his face only grew more and more.

"I BUCKING LOVED YOU MARE! I ALWAYS HAVE, EVEN AFTER YOU DENIED MY FEELINGS I STILL CARED FOR YOU!" Spikes voice didn't waver this time, he wasn't afraid to yell, he wasn't afraid of getting a response to quiet down; or a lecture about how he shouldn't yell. "AND IT TAKES ME LEAVING FOR YOU TO FINALLY APPRECIATE ME? IT TAKES ME WALKING AWAY OUT OF ANGER AND HURT TO FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGE I HAVE FEELINGS? YOU STUPID BITCH?!"

Sin chuckled at the last bit. Mac rose an eyebrow to the stallion, beginning to contemplate his approval of such an act. Sin looked over to Macintosh, his smile genuine though slightly cynical. "So much rage kept inside, left to fester into something more." He shot Spike and approving glance before he laid back again.

Mac furrowed his brow, he was always taught that being loud for no reason was rude and unsophisticated. But the more he observed the lack of such a philosophy, the more he wanted to partake in it himself. He stood and walked over to Spike, who was now screaming about how Twilight only pretended to care about his opinions and how little she had actually listened to him. Mac place a hoof on the dragons shoulder, who turned his head with tears streaming down his face and and a smile gracing his lips.

Mac looked out into the night and began addressing his own quarrels along with the dragon. They yelled and screamed at their invisible antagonists, shouting out obscenities over grievances as they came to mind, and pointing out key moments in their lives and how they were treated by their loved ones. Minutes turned into hours, and even after the fire had finally burned itself out the two continued to verbalize their respective grudges. Sin grimaced from the constant shouting, and turned to his side, placing two small cotton bits in his ears.

"This is going to be a LONG night."

(Yea, yea. Not to much to this one, and I know when i started out i was uploading two chapters a day. Meh, I'll be honest here, I thrive and become inspired when i get feedback. Hence why I ask the questions. Mix that together with my fingers being sore from archery (Recurve two fingers) and you just wear yourself out. But enough of the Daxisle emo bullshit. Time for this chapters question(s): Does anyone know a good editor who would be willing to put up with my writing? And I'm sure most of you know the point of the yelling, but is the title "Breaking the Chains" a bit to pretentious for what's going on here?