//------------------------------//
// Bitter 
// Story: A Slave's Freedom 
// by Soaring 
//------------------------------//

After sharing a couple drinks with his friends, Mr. Burr walked out of the Crossroads with two new folks in tow.

The first was an older woman, who was a bit grave in her appearance. Even though her hair bounced happily as she walked, those lush locks couldn't compare to her dragged gait, which collected dust along the path to her new home. In fact, she didn't even look where she was truly going, her eyes downcast. Was there something the matter? Or was she just conflicted? Her face could tell a different tale, a mixture of sadness and relief, a downed woman with lips trying to curl up into a smile, as she brought her gaze to the second.

The second was a boy, a long and tall fellow who smiled back at the woman while he clawed at his wrist. It was, as if, he could feel that woman's presence every time she looked at him. Although, when they weren't looking at each other, their emotions seemed to differ. The boy's smile soon faded into obscurity, wrestled down by the chains that bound him to limited movement. They rattled and dangled like those ready for prison. The boy frowned, whether it was the sound or the fact of them existing was not known, but he frowned nonetheless, as he too walked to the jingle of corrections.

Out of the lot, Mr. Burr was smiling the most. He had finally done it. He had beaten Mr. Stockton in the bidding war, while still carrying a good deal of banknotes on his person. The only thing that worried him was that Mr. Stockton didn't boost the price as high as it could've been, which worried Mr. Burr at first, but now served as nothing but a warning not heeded. He had gained a foothold on the plantation. He had more hands to help him revitalize his force. Mr. Burr could see the banknotes flooding in.

But…

...

Mr. Burr hopped on his horse. It replied with a harsh neigh and a bit of impatient stamping to boot.

"Now, now, don't fret," Mr. Burr cooed. "These are just the newest slaves to the plantation…"

Explaining it didn't help the matter. The horse was still an irritated horse, as it glared at the two newcomers.

Mr. Burr sighed. "Come close, boy."

The boy did as he was told, but not without some apprehension. He took a deep breath before he slid next to his new owner, which made Mr. Burr pause. "Yes… sir?"

He seemed like a nervous one, that was for sure, but Mr. Burr didn't want to start attaching labels so early on. This boy was a new one, if those chains clanking against each other had anything to say about it. What gave way that nervousness were those legs of his. They visibly shook where he stood. What was he afraid of? Was it the horse, or was it Mr. Burr?

"Are you alright boy?"

The boy nodded. "Y-Yessir."

"Now don't lie to me," Mr. Burr said sternly. "I'm just worried about you."

Instead of flinching, the boy's gaze went adrift. The ground apparently looked more of interest to him. "Mm sorry, sir. I… won't be a bother."

"A bother?" Mr. Burr craned his head towards the boy, peering down at him. "How so?" When the boy didn't respond, Mr. Burr hummed an affirmative. "I see… Well, when we get to the plantation, I will make sure that this is addressed. I do not want my slaves to be scared of me." He rubbed at his chin. "I think you shall see your time with me as… an experience." 

The two nodded. The boy gravitated towards the older woman, who he held onto for dear life.

Mr. Burr couldn't help himself. Seeing the scene was both sad and confusing, but his body failed to let him see the difference any farther. Hell, he nearly had to stifle a chuckle. It must be that whiskey that was doing him in. Maybe some sleep would help fix him up.

"Alright, let's head on back. Make sure to stay close to the horse, unless you want to be shot by the folks walking about."

"S-Shot?"

"Of course, boy! Every plantation got some hired hands for that alone!" Mr. Burr said joyously. He let out a hearty laugh. "Look at it this way, at least mine are told when to fire!"

The two weren't laughing. They were just walking on while Mr. Burr harped about life in a world they never knew existed.









I guess I needed to focus on more than just climbing.

"So, what did you do as a… slave?"

At first, it sounded like she couldn't say the word, but then she said it with such bitterness. I didn't know why she sounded so upset over it. I mean, what was there to be upset about? That's what I was, a slave. The word didn't affect me, it was just a part of me, so while she was burdened with the word, I was keeping my mind focused on climbing, hoisting us higher and higher against the grit and grime of a place long gone. "I did quite a b-bit, actually. Moved some grain, helped my master with whatever he needed, and kept an eye out on the others that were with me."

The pony behind me gently grazed the back of my neck. It nearly made me shiver. I didn't get why she did that; Dash didn’t seem like she’d be the type to— "Why didn't you leave?"

"The plantation?"

"Yeah! Couldn't you just bust out of the place?" 

I knew the answer, but it was lodged in my throat. She didn't need to know the specifics. She didn't need to know about the pain. She didn’t need to know about Master. She didn’t even need to know about Leo. No, no. I didn't trust her with all that yet. Besides, she wouldn't understand. 

"Dyson?"

I quietly hoisted myself up to the next ledge.

"Dyson?"

That sounded like how momma used to say my name. She was a bit more angry than this pony was, though. I knew that I needed to say something though.

But what?

I sighed. "You really want'a know?"

A neigh in response, with a tinge of a whinny behind it. What type of yes was that?

"I reckon that's a yes?"

I could sense her roll her eyes at that one. "Yes, Dyson."

"It's because they had a lot of guards around at all times of the day," I began, feeling the tension slowly leave me as I gripped onto the next bit of rock jutting from the wall. "Master was… afraid that we'd leave, even though it hadn't happened to him. Well, and there's another reason too, but ya might not like it."

"Well, I already don't like the fact that you were a slave—" A yelp interrupted her thought as I had to hop a bit too far to the left in order for us to get to a safer path. The heat that bore into my shoulder was certainly not from the sun. She picked up where she left off, "Slave's aren't a thing here in Equestria! The only pony who ever had some was Sombra, and well, let's just say he won't be enslaving anypony anymore."

"Who was Sombra?"

"Some King who wanted to enslave ponies up North. Unfortunately for him, my friends and I were around to stop him… sort of."

"Sort of?"

She hummed as I hopped over to the next ledge to my right. "Let's just say, it was more of Princess Cadance and Spike than me, but I still helped!"

Her wing flapped behind me. I knew that was not because she wanted to fly. "Sounds like ya wanted it all."

"N-No!" Dash stuttered, which caused me to chuckle. I had to keep still, because it was hard to concentrate on climbing when your insides were begging for air. "Dyson, come on! It's not that funny!"

I kept on laughing. She neighed once again, a bit more aggressively this time.

"You still haven't answered my question, Dyson."

And just like that, my laughter stopped. She flipped the coin back in my direction, and I was caught with my tongue stuck in my gullet. "I…" I was about to reach for another ledge, to get this feeling away, but I couldn't. My hand wasn't working like it should be.

I gulped down whatever tension was in my throat. I had to say something here.

"Master… was like a second father to me."

I closed my eyes. I could see her eyes widen, those big ole pink things looking at me with fire in them. But I could imagine that muzzle contorting and such, like when Master got mad at me way back when for taking the wrong letter, the paper getting ruffled and bent out of shape. It wasn’t a pretty sight with what he did afterwards.

I still remember the crackle of the—

A fierce growl threw me out of the vision I was having, which made me open my eyes to make sure I was still holding on to the ledge in front of me.

"How could he? He enslaved you, Dyson!"

"More like saved me," I mumbled, as I began my routine again, my fingers rubbing against the rough rock. I could feel the pain sear through my dry, cracked skin, but I pressed on. “It didn’t matter. I didn’t get no say. He… was so much nicer than the rest of them.”

For a while it was just the sounds of me breathing in for the next lunge, or grunting as I swung from rock to rock. She didn’t talk, I didn’t talk. It was like silence was the new one holding onto me, while I kept on going up and up.

Then, it stopped. I reached this ledge that jutted far out. I had to swing my body nearly horizontal to get to it, but with quiet little Dash in the back, I was able to get to it with ease. No more yapping in my ear, just a nice place to relax while… well, while I thought about what to say to her.

Was I supposed to say anything to her? I mean, the air had been pretty thick for a while there, since she found out about my Master. Not sure what the big fuss was, but maybe she didn’t get it like I do. That’s it, that’s all there was to it.

Still, maybe I needed to try to talk to her about it. It might be nice if I did that for her, especially since we were sitting on this pretty thick slab. Heck, it had enough room for us to prop up against the wall and watch the sun dip down further. It could even be a good spot to rest at, as long as we weren't looking down the whole time. Bet she would get stressed over that.

Or maybe she's stressed over my response.

I groaned, and it wasn’t because I was pulling us up onto the ledge. Nope, my legs weren’t numb, and my fingers weren’t blazing like the sun. Not at all.

Crawling towards the wall, I let Dash hop off beside me, which she did, or well, tried, only she slid straight on her butt in a heap of fur and duress.

My back thanked me for leaving her there. She was light as could be for a hor—pony, but she sure could make an impact after being on my back for a while. I’ll be aching until we get to whatever place she has been speaking of. Maybe that fancy clinic she was talking about knows how to cure a bad back.

For now, I stayed put, and closed my eyes. I could feel my heart pumping fast. It did this when I did too much for me to handle. Master told me to keep myself in check, because he didn’t want me to keel over. I was someone he could trust within the slaves he had, so I had to be alright for anything to get done.

My voice hummed. Felt good to just lay and relax. This reminded me of the ole oak tree on the farm, the lone one that us little ones hid behind when it was cold, and when Master didn't need me to bring in a yield. He actually let me relax for a while, surprisingly, but whenever I was there, my back felt relieved, and warm. How Iong had we been climbing? Must been long, the sun was almost down.

“Still a long way to go.”

Dash’s tired tone told me to look up. So I did.

That wasn’t what I wanted to see.

“How? It felt like I was climbin’ for hours.”

She giggled rather hard at that. “This gorge takes forever to get out of if you’re not a pegasus.”

As if she spoke the wrong words, Dash’s hurt wing reminded her of a story long since forgotten.

“A healthy pegasus,” she murmured through clenched teeth.

She was a bit of a ways from me now. Probably didn’t want me seeing her stretch her legs (probably accidentally stretched her weak wing too). Since suffering was rough alone, why not have her a bit closer? She might not mind it, would she?

I patted the ground next to me. “Have a seat, Dash.”

The pony trotted over to me on her good three legs and set herself down. She didn’t lean into me at all. Maybe she’s still awkward about me being here. I was new to her, after all.

Still, she did like talking to me. “Thanks,” she said. “I… guess we should talk.”

“‘Bout what?”

“You know what.” Blank. As if her eyes were staring into me, expecting me to know what she meant.

Funny thing was I knew. “Yeah, guess we should.”’

Rainbow Dash sighed and looked out into the gorge. “It stinks that you had to go through all that.”

I felt like I had to look elsewhere. The ground down there was something I wasn’t too fond of, though. “What do ya mean?”

“Being a slave? I don’t think I’d be tough enough to stick it to ‘em. I’d want to get out as quickly as possible.” She shook her head. “No pony like that gets to be in charge of me.”

Stick it to them? What did that mean? And being in charge of? I knew I was in his possession but he never…

“You’d want to leave?”

She gave me that look like I was dumber than the rocks I climbed on. “Of course! No pony should do that to another! It’s wrong on all sorts of levels!”

I looked at my fingers. They were grayer than before. “It’s all hard work that was meant for us, Dash. That’s all we got.”

She paused. A cloud floated on by. “How many of them were there?”

I shrugged. “I ain’t as good at countin’ as I was speakin’.” I took one of my fingers, the longest one, and etched a little in the grit on the rock. “But I was smarter than the rest of them, and Master knew that. So, he kept me close.”

Dash frowned. Why? Maybe there was something I wasn’t getting. “Yet you can’t count?”

“I mean, I can count to twenty.”

“Prove it,” she fired back.

I held my hand up, and pointed at each of them one by one. She heard them all, and then some.

“...eighteen, nineteen, twenty!"

She smiled, but it felt so forced. I wonder why?

“Well, you weren’t lying, but that’s sad that you only know so little.”

“Why do I need'a count higher when I don’t need'a?”

Dash scooted closer, and quietly leaned up against the wall. “Maybe when we get to Ponyville, I’ll get my friend Twilight to give you a few reasons to count to a million.”

“Sounds… great, Dash.”

How high was a million?









I yawned.

Apparently I fell asleep with her beside me. It must not been long, because here I was, sitting where I was before. I stretched a bit, and looked to see...

...she was not there.

“Dash?”

“Over here!”

She had gone a little further down this big rock.

“Why ya walkin’ with your weak hoof?”

“Oh, now you’re worrying about that?”

I get myself up to find her hind. “You know what I meant!”

I walk down the little edge to see another thing I wasn’t expecting to see.

“You found this here cave?”

“Yep!” she said with a bit of a hop. I gripped at my heart. She nearly made me keel over! “Sorry, did I scare you?”

“When you come hoppin’ out there like ya want me to fall off this here ledge, how am I supposed to react?”

“Carefully?” she said with a head tilt. Silly pony. “Look, come on, let’s actually sleep in here for the night! It’s so much bigger than out there!”

“Really?” I asked, stepping into the place.

“Look how much space we got to work with!” She raced around like there was no place like home. “This is going to be much nicer to crash at! There’s no eels to get us, and it’s wwaaayyy safer than being outside with those hydras!"

She was right. Those guys could have killed us if we stayed out there. Don’t know why she didn’t wake me up—

“Tried to wake you up earlier, but you’re a heavy sleeper. I’m going to have to figure out a way to wake you up without knocking you upside the head.”

“Knocking me upside the head!?”

I felt gobsmacked there. Was that why I felt a sudden headache?

She laughed. “Don’t worry, Dyson, I didn’t hit you! It was a joke, yeesh.”

Frowning, I told her how it was. “Terrible joke. I actually felt my head hurt when you said that."

An eye roll was what she gifted me. “You’ll be fine. As long as you’re in shape, and we're well-rested, we'll be out of here in no time!”

“Ya really think so?”

Her grin was ear-to-ear as she spoke all happily, “Of course! You’re way better at climbing than anypony I know!”

“Even though we have a long way to go?”

“Hehe… ever heard of an exaggeration?”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. Ignoring that. “Well, I don't know 'bout you, but I think it's time to get some shut-eye. Good night, Dash.”

"Alright, g'night, Dyson."

I tried to find a comfortable rock to lean against, but to no avail. It was just a wet, open cave that gave little to no comfort. Thankfully, I curled up near one that didn’t make my back scream in pain, so I closed my eyes and let my mind drift.

This’ll be the last night I have to deal with this, anyways.