//------------------------------// // Something To Be Proud Of // Story: Utaan // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// —and the top dredger flinched, rolling across the bulkhead... for Rainbow Dash's hoof had just kicked him out of the way. Sputtering for breath, Skagra stared up past a curtain of sweat. The vent continued expelling vaporous heat. And then Rainbow swung the lever back in place, cutting off the flow of steam completely. Skagra blinked... then watched from a slumped position as Rainbow Dash marched around the platform, standing high before the crowd. Tilting her head up with a glint of her pendant, she spoke loudly... boldly before the ponies of Red Barge. “Blood! Suffering! Slavery!” She hollered into the polluted mists. “That's what this entire place runs on! I mean... it ain't dredge coal!” She waved her forelimbs. “It's just one stupid friggin', endless cycle! Huh?! One jerkface rises up to the top of the muck pile and kills the guy bossing him around. And then that guy gets offed by another pony even more ugly and pathetic than him! Before you know it, your entire legacy is just one scrap of melting flesh after another! But to what end?! Like, do you guys just adore having some cruddy plop bucket shove his jerkfacedness into your lives without question?! When did all this crap start, anyways?! And just when did having a license to be crazy become having a license to rule the rust?!” She turned around, gazing at the crowd—and even at the few limping figures gathering along the edges of the Southern Strut. She recognized the faces of Digiff and Nixkit, and she gave them the same iron glare. “A lot of you have heard some nasty crud about me. The 'Rainbow Rogue' this and the 'Monster from the Blight' that. Well, yeah, I've done some pretty monstrous stuff, for sure... downright cruel, even. But this jerkface you see before you is not gonna be your new Top Dredger! Nuh uh! It ain't gonna be that easy! Not anymore! After all, the easy way is the lame way, and you guys are made of stronger stuff! You know this! You power up an entire friggin' Continent, for crying out loud!” Frowning, she brushed a hoof across her chest and placed it against her left eye. “I swear on my wings that you guys aren't going to have a Top Dredger ever again! Because... come on!” She pointed at Skagra's figure. “You see this?! This right here?! You all deserve better than this garbage! I mean... who would want to live under that!” “Snrkkkt... they... they won't listen to you,” Skagra sputtered. “Once sea foam, always sea foam—” Whap! Rainbow kicked him, causing the dredger to yelp. “Shuddup. Heroic monologue here. Ahem.” She tilted her head up to face the crowd again. “All your lives, you've been told that you're nothing but muck... scum of the seven seas... boils on the butt of the world—or whatever. I dunno. Doesn't matter. It's all lies! Complete and utter horse hockey! Now I dunno who made you think that way about yourselves to begin with. Maybe it was the guys who buy your dredge coal. Maybe it was all of Rohbredden. Maybe it was Verlax herself. Doesn't matter. The ponies who need to stop calling you that is you.” She pointed. “And unless you pull yourselves out of the trash that jerkfaces like this scumbag have made, then you'll never go anywhere! And this crud...” She pointed at the blood stained bulkheads. “This right here?! It will never... end.” Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity hovered close together, watching as Rainbow Dash stepped down and started pacing before the circle of onlookers. “I know it seems impossible to live life differently. But I'm telling you... it can be done! I've been to a lot of places in my travels, and I passed through many kingdoms—some of them as bad off as this place... if not worst. Maybe you don't believe me. You don't have to. But believe this.” She scuffled to a stop, pointing. “Most of these places I've been to? They had the power to change. And it sure as heck didn't happen easily. Most of the time, it didn't happen overnight. But places... nations... ponies have the power to change! So long as they don't give into despair... so long as they don't accept the horrible elements around them as... as...” Rainbow bit her lip. She shook... shuddered... then exhaled. “...as fate.” A hard gulp. “And a pony's fate is not up to anyone or anything but that pony herself. I... lost track of that for a while.” She turned and looked at her four friends with glazed eyes. “And I would do anything... anything to undo the mistakes I made in my despair. But... thankfully... I have a new chance to make things right... if not for me... then for the ponies I continue to meet in my travels.” Rarity sniffled, hugging Fluttershy closely. Pinkie grinned while Twilight exhaled through a soft smile. “But...” A meager voice spoke up. Rainbow Dash spun around. Whony fidgeted where he stood. “But how can we even begin to change?” He gulped, waving at Skagra, the rust, and the muck beyond. “This is all we know.” “Look around you, kid,” Rainbow Dash said. “With all the stuff that's gone down...” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you the same pony now that you were hours ago?” Whony merely blinked at that. He stood up tall, jaw tight. Rainbow gazed at the others. “This place just... doesn't have to be so stinkin' awful!” her voice cracked. “I mean... other ponies are getting along fine, aren't they?! Rust... Shoggoth... the other Barges...” She pointed. “Was it really so bad to dredge coal shelves before psychopaths like this melon fudge right here started crapping into everyone's mailbox?!” The citizens of Red Barge murmured with one another. Voices—young and old—rang across the bulkheads. “With... w-without Skagra...” A stallion muttered, “Who will designate the new labor assignments?” “Who will give us nibbles?” voiced a colt. “Where will we establish housing?” asked a mare, nuzzling her child. “And who will work the harvest chambers?” asked another stallion. “Dude...” Rainbow Dash shrugged her forelimbs dramatically. “You guys will decide! As a group! As a team! As friends!” She turned around. “Running a Barge... running anything doesn't have to be so friggin' cutthroat!” Her glaring vision fell on the likes of Nixkit and Digiff from afar. “And it certainly doesn't need a bunch of idiotic thugs telling other ponies what to do! Does it?!” The few dredgers conscious on the Southern Strut blinked at that. Many of them exchanged anxious glances. Some collapsed on their flanks in a contemplative stupor. Others, weary and winded, limped forward... blending icily into the crowd. Among them was Nixkit. The bruised, lurching stallion made a sluggish bee-line for Rainbow Dash. Keris watched warily from the sidelines. His wing muscles coiled, ready to spring at any moment. But once Nixkit reached the pegasus, he looked up at her... then stripped off his vest and all of the tools and weapons stowed away in it. “Honestly...?” He slumped to his knees beside Skagra, sighing. “...I'm just so mucking tired of everything.” He gulped, then glanced aside at the crowd. “It's over, boys. It's been over for ages now...” To that, Digiff and several of the other dredgers hung their heads. Meanwhile, a strange sound of elation bubbled through the crowd. “Mrmmmfff... coward...” Skagra hissed across the bulkheads as he glared at Nixkit. “They shoulda named you 'Pixie.' You're about as fleeting as a fart, anyways.” “Yeah yeah... chew on shit, ya whalemuck,” Nixkit hissed back. “It's the only thing you're good at, anyways...” Skagra blinked. Meanwhile, Whony and several orphans around him broke into insatiable giggles. The oldest colt bore a dumb grin on his face. “But... but Miss...” A pony spoke from the crowd, forcing Rainbow to spin around. “So much has happened to Red Barge...” “How will we recover?” asked another. “What if the pirates try attacking us again?!” “Without a Top Dredger, we... we j-just don't know how to work!” “How can we control the Barge as a group?” Rainbow took a deep breath. “These... are all very good questions.” She gulped. “Very important questions. You guys don't just need each other... but Rohbredden itself needs you! Which is fortunate...” She turned and looked across the way at Keris. “...because we happen to have a member of the Right Talon of Verlaxion right here in our midst.” Murmuring, the crowd turned, following Rainbow's gaze. Keris blinked as Croche and Swab looked up at him. “This is Lieutenant Keris,” Rainbow Dash said. “He may not look it at the moment—but he's one of the wisest, most badflank griffons in Rohbredden security. His beak holds—like—super authority in the continent n'stuff. You want guidance?” She nodded her head towards him. “Keris here will be here to help you get on track... to transition into something that's... y'know... friggin' sane. After all, it's his duty to look after the innocent citizens of Rohbredden, be it on land or in the seven seas beyond.” Her ruby eyes narrowed. “...isn't that right, Lieutenant Dude?” “Is what she saying true?” asked a citizen. “Will you help us?” “Do you have Verlaxion's blessing?” Keris stood with all eyes upon him. Wincing a bit from his wounded talon, he nevertheless took a deep breath and gradually said, “As a member of the Right Talon of Verlaxion, I am bound to protect the citizens of this kingdom, yes. That being said, I am also bound by the rulings of the Council of Verlaxion. At present, I've been charged by both the Council and my superior Commander to track down the Rainbow Rogue and bring her to justice.” Swab bit his lip. Rainbow stared back, silent. Keris exhaled, his headcrest tilting back. “However... due to having suffered... grievous injuries in the line of duty...” There was a twinkle in his magenta eyes. “I was... unable to fulfill the duties that were physically required of me in apprehending the suspect in question.” He swallowed. “Therefore, it is my obligatory decision to act as supervisory counsel for the citizens of Red Barge while they recover from a major event of social upheaval—as it is within my mental and emotional faculty at the present to do so.” His last few words were nearly drowned out by an uproar from the crowd. The air rang with voices—most of them jubilant and enthusiastic. Rainbow Dash smiled from afar, and Keris grinned slyly back. The four marefriends spun in a floating hug, meanwhile Croche and Swab exchanged squealing grins. Clearins his throat, Keris tossed his booming voice at the crowd, “And my first advice is this—namely an order!” He pointed at the surrounding decks with his good talon. “That the chambers to the harvest machines be opened! And that we retrieve every single body that's slaving away down there! That we distribute them food! Water! Anything we can supply!” “But Lieutenant...” A stallion wandered up to the griffon. “Our resources are stretched too thin. We barely have enough nibbles to spare even the ponies you see before you!” “He's right,” Nixkit muttered, lifting his head slightly. “Hoofing over the Rainbow Rogue was supposed to get us the bars for resupply.” “Very well then...” Keris turned about. “Who here can fly?! Any able-bodied pegasi?!” After a few seconds of silence, one... two... three dozen hooves raised from the crowd. “Step forward!” Several mares and stallions nervously complied, dwarfed by the earth pony majority. “Listen to me carefully,” Keris said. “I want you to fly north. Head to White Barge. Ask for a stallion named Elsaack. The ponies of that Barge want to help you... they've been wanting to for years, and chief among them is Elsaack. Tell him to bring food... supplies... medicine—hell—the whole damn Barge. We all know these rust buckets can move.” The crowd broke into louder and louder commotion. All the while, stallions, mares, and workers alike galloped towards the lower holds, opening the doors with loud, metallic clatter. “We'll unite their barge with ours!” Keris exclaimed above the chatter. “And working together, this day forward, we will clean the muck from the seven seas. As Verlaxion is our witness.” There was scarcely a spot left on the platform to stand straight. Ponies were rushing in every direction to gather supplies and prepare for the influx of needy bodies from below. Meanwhile, three dozen pegasi formed groups and took to the skies, flying due north as fast as their wings could carry them. Rainbow Dash watched all of this in silent awe. At one point, Twilight floated down, hovering behind her. “For a second there...” The unicorn shuddered. “...I really thought you were going to go back on your word. I thought you were going to kill the stallion.” “Would you have blamed me for it?” Rainbow muttered. Twilight hovered... floated... and then her voice blurted: “No.” She shook her head. “Not anymore. Not with this stallion.” “Well I would have.” Rainbow droned. “And I think that's what matters.” “I'm... I'm very proud of you, Rainbow,” Twilight said. Rainbow turned towards her. She exhaled in a squeak. “And I'm just sorry I couldn't get you to say that sooner.” Twilight smiled tearfully. “Grnnffff...” Skagra grunted. Both the pegasus and the spectre glanced down at him. “Mrmmfff... should be dead...” Skagra shook his head, eyes clenched tight. “I've g-got nothing being alive. Mrmmmfff... just years and years of misery ahead.” Rainbow leaned forward. “I know,” she cooed. “Plenty of time to meditate on it.” With a flick of her tail, she trotted off. “Shiny... shiny dolphins.” Meanwhile... Chandler panted... panted... huffed and puffed... He ran along the mostly empty decks of the eastern strut. Until... at last... The Consortium Executive came to a slumping stop. He bent over, panting... wheezing... Then he looked up, his eyes framed with sweat, widening more and more as he gawked at the empty decks before him. “... … …!!!” Muzzle gaping wide, Chandler flailed his forelimbs and hollered: “Where the Hell is my boat?!?” “Heh heh heh heh...” Monket grinned, his green dreads flouncing in the warm sea breeze. “Hmmm-hah hah hah hah hah!” He gripped the rudder wheel and steered towards the northwest. Across the deck of the Consortium steamship, several slaves and servants aimed crossbows at a tight group of surrendered workers. As the ship rocked, a stallion turned towards the Slaver of the Waves. “Boss...” He cleared his throat. “Do we slit their throats and dump them, or...?” “Shut your muzzle, runt,” Monket grumbled. “It's a calm sea, and you're still full of Skagra talk!” Nevertheless, Chandler's crew shivered where they were forced to sit. “What are you going to do to us?” one stammered. “Sell us to Mudtop?” “Are you kidding?” Monket flashed them a crooked-eye stare. “With all the bars in this ship's hold, I've got the money to buy Mudtop ten times over! Including every family birthed beneath!” “Wait... boss...” One servant gaped at him. He turned, squinting through a spray of ocean mist. “Does this mean...?” “Paradigm shift, my little ponies!” Monket's voice boomed as he twirled the rudder wheel again. “Mudtop is getting a brand new polish! What you do with your putrid little lives after we sail into port is no difference to me.” He took a fresh breath of the western winds and grinned to himself. “At least I'll be sitting atop the muck by the time I die.” He grasped a cord to the foghorn for the heck of it. “What other flankholes in the seven seas can say the same? Savvy?” And he pulled the cord, serenading the ocean with laughter.