Chapter 5: Old Pain
Rainbow Dash woke early. In her own bed, she would drowse for hours, but out in the wilderness she rose with the birds.
No birds this morning, though. No morning, either. Just moonlight and silence. The cold filled her. It passed through blankets and clothes, biting into her bones. Every time she woke like this, she was afraid. The numbness was akin to death, and every movement was sluggish. She couldn’t help but be afraid that this time, her body would simply refuse to move. Slowly, she moved in circles, doing a strange little dance under the covers. Warm blood welled from the secret places near her heart into her frozen limbs, bringing back life to every pointless flap of skin. Rainbow squealed in delight as every movement became more fluid and the fear of death abated. She sat up and arched her back, relishing in her mobility.
Unwilling to sit still for fear the cold would catch her again, she went out into the basin to explore. On the surface, it looked much like the outside forest, but Rainbow Dash knew better than to trust the surface. She kicked around in the snow, poking at the frozen roots and dead leaves to figure out what manner of things had lived here before the eternal night fell. She had just gotten out her big knife to collect a few specimens of edible varieties when she heard decisive steps behind her.
“Oh hi, Rarity,” she said without turning. “Didn’t expect you up so soon.”
“Where did you get it?” Rarity’s voice was hard as stone and filled with a disgust the likes of which Dash had only heard once before, many years ago when Rarity was given the final ultimatum by her clan.
“Got what? What’s the matter, Rares?” she said, turning to look her old friend in the eye. Only there didn’t seem to be much friendship between them at the moment.
“The seax, you incorrigible curr. Did you steal it off someone more deserving, or did you trick some poor, gullible gentleman into believing it was for your master?”
“Hey! I don’t know what your problem is, Rares, but this thing is mine, okay?” Dash said, waving the knife around. “I paid for it myself, with money you gave me for helping me prepare that feast, remember?”
Rarity was shaking with anger, and her voice was slow and intense. Half a lifetime among the Canterlot nobles and a rigid adherence to civility was all that prevented her from flying into a shrieking fit. Instead, she focused all the bile inside her into words. She spoke from the heart, but every syllable and synonym was designed to hurt, to batter Rainbow Dash in the only arena where Rarity felt comfortable fighting.
“You have no right,” she hissed. “That is the weapon of a free woman. You have no right.”
When she finally realized the source of Rarity’s indignation, Dash felt as if a trapdoor upon which she stood had sprung open, and she was falling into darkness. Her heart felt empty. But instead of being crushed at the bottom, flames rose from below, the heat of her own deepest indignation and hatred propelling her upwards. Instead of gently side-stepping Rarity’s fury, she met her concentrated flame head-on with her own unruly inferno of emotions.
She stepped forward, fixing her eyes and Rarity’s together.
“But I am a free woman. You don’t get to tell me what rights I have any more!”
Rarity stared back as unwavering as always.
“You are a freed woman, Rainbow Dash. Don’t you dare think a prize of gold could just erase all the obligations you have towards society. Towards me.”
Rainbow struck her. A full-palmed blow across the face that hit so hard, Rarity fell to the ground, head swimming. Through the haze, she saw Rainbow with tears at the edge of her eyes, voice cracking up..
“I don’t have any obligations towards you! That was the whole point.”
Rarity got up, wobbling unsteadily on flimsy legs. Despite obvious nausea, she retained her regal posture and an even more fiercely focused disgust. She frowned at Dash, the grimace causing pain in her rapidly swelling cheek.
“You don’t understand. There are still rules. You can grow your hair long, surround yourself with the trinkets of independence and call yourself a free woman all you like. Until you start acting as one should, all you are is a thrall with an an attitude problem.”
She spat on the snow, splattering it red. The slap had split her cheek against her teeth and her mouth was slowly filling up with the tell-tale iron flavour.
“Had I known you were going to be this disrespectful, I would never have allowed you to buy your freedom.”
Rainbow Dash sniffled, holding the tears back.
“If I’d known you were going to be such a bitch, I would’ve told Twilight what you keep in your saddlebag before we even set out.”
Rarity’s gaze turned from anger to fear.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I didn’t think I would, but you know, I never thought you’d talk to me like this, either.”
Rarity ground her teeth.
“You’re like a child. An unruly, ungrateful child!” she screamed with a wild gesture. “You know what, then? Fine. Be that way. When you’re ready to be a grown-up, throw away that blade and come talk to me. Until you do learn some manners, I would appreciate it if you could refrain from debasing my life with your presence.”
Still fuming, she returned to the camp to find the others engaged in the morning’s chores. She tried to help, but her violent temper caused her to fail the simplest of tasks, and she was quickly relieved of her duties and left to stew in a corner.
Rainbow Dash waited another hour to go back. She didn’t want anyone to see her crying.
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New chapter. This one's really short. I was actually more or less done with it a while ago, but I wanted to work it over a little it more.
Rainbow was a slave to Rarity?
Interesting development in Rainbow Dash's character, makes me wonder how you'll do the Wonderbolts in this storyline of yours ?
So there's more to this version of RD than meets the eye, but I do wonder what her connection to Rarity is about ?
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Rarity's and Rainbow Dash's relationship will be elaborated on further down the line, so I'm not going to rattle off the answers here in the comments section.
But I will say this; there's more to all of them than meets the eye. We're only just scratching the surface.
Bwuh? I don't get it. Rainbow _was_ a thrall. She is now more or less equivalent to a vassal. As far as I can tell, she has every right to comport herself as a free woman, albeit one who owes alleigance to Rarity. Unless Nordic culture held that such people have greater responsibilites to their leige than I am aware of, I fail to see Rarity's problem - or is this something that is going to be further explained?
Other than that, good chapter - if _excruciatingly_ short. Seriously - you _tease_!
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"Once a thrall was freed he became a "freedman" - a member of an intermediary group between slaves and freemen. He still owed allegiance to his former master and would have to vote according to his former master's wishes. It took at least two generations for freedmen to lose the allegiance to their former masters and become full freemen."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrall
I keep learning interesting shit. Can't help it.
884796 That's actually very interesting... but makes me desire to see Raritys brains smashed out with a rock. (Finding the 'friends' thing highly unlikely if Rarity acts that way towards Dashie.)
I'm curious, do ya have plans to continue this? 'Cause it's a pretty good read so far.
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I'm loathe to let it go, 'cause I think it has a lot of potential. It's just that working on this takes a lot of time from doing "real" writing, and it's hard enough to get the time and energy to do that.
I'm halfway through the next chapter, though, so I'll see what I can do about getting that done.
I don't want this to dead...
I really shouldn't read incomplete fics.
1889691 Chapter? It's been nearly a year!
Oh how I want to slap rarity... And the only people who are truly free, are those who have been freed
This makes me want to see some (some of them it just would not Make sense for them to go) of the mane six on a viking raid. On a side note would love to see more
I just finished a series of videos about Viking-era cuisine by a Youtuber called Tasting History and I absolutely adore art and stories that take Pony and build rich worlds, histories, peoples, etc. As such I am always bummed when an amazing story (or in this case amazing looking) turns out to be 3,4,10 years dead.