//------------------------------// // Shining Meets Chains // Story: Chains Tales // by BookyBrony //------------------------------// Shining Meets Chains The young unicorn filly by the name of Twilight Sparkle was excitedly running about her room, straightening up stacks of books, and picking up some of her stuffed toys. Her human, Chains, was helping her tidy up, though he was somewhat perplexed by his Mistress’s sudden need to make sure everything was twice as neat and tidy as it had been already, which was saying quite a bit. After a few moments, he voiced his curiosity, “Mistress, is there something special about today?” he asked her. Twilight nodded as she reshelf her personal bookcase for what must have been the fifth time that morning. “Yes,” she said, turning to him with a bright smile, “My Big Brother is coming home from The Canterlot Junior Guard Academy for a visit,” she said, bouncing on her hooves. Chains looked at her, “I didn’t know you had a brother,” he said, getting somewhat nervous, wondering if he was nice like the rest of Twilight’s family. The filly nodded, “uh huh, he’s my Big Brother, Best Friend Forever,” she giggled excitedly, dashing suddenly to the other side of the room to straighten up a stack of some books for the third time before looking at him again, “I’m so excited that you get to meet him,” she said, bouncing towards him on her hooves. Chains, despite his nervousness at meeting somepony new, couldn’t help but smile at his Mistress’s enthusiasm. He hadn’t seen her like this before. “I just know he’ll like you,” The smiling Filly said, before looking Chains over, and then giggling, “we’ll have so much fun together while he’s home.” The human boy looked down, “I hope so, Mistress,” he said, straightening out his clothes. He had been the property of the Sparkle family for a few weeks now, the scars on his wrists were healing up, and Twilight was excelling in her studies, something she says he helped her with. Twilight looked around her room one more time, “I hope I didn’t forget anything, I don’t want him to think I got messy since he’s been away,” she pouted while thinking. The room was cleaned to perfection, due to both their efforts, and then re-cleaned passed perfection. Chains wondered if maybe his Mistress was over worried about her Brother’s visit. Suddenly they heard a knock on the front door of the house, and they went out of the room to investigate just as Mr. Sparkle went to answer the door. Opening it, there was a young blue maned stallion with a white coat. He smiled brightly to the older stallion, who smiled back, “I’m home,” he said, before getting pulled into a hug by Moonlight. “That you are son,” Moonlight said, before letting him go, “come on in, if you’re quiet you can surprise…..” “Shining!” His sentence was cut off as Twilight called cheerfully and ran over to her brother, jumping at him to tackle him in an affectionate hug. Shining Armor Sparkle caught his little sister and laughed as they hugged and he ruffled her mane, “Hey Twiley,” he answered with just as much affection, “how you been kid?” he asked. “Good, real good, I’m getting even better at magic,” she said happily. “Really? You have to show me sometime,” he said, finally putting her down. It was then he noticed a third presence, and looked towards the young human, who was watching, while hiding somewhat behind a corner. Shining looked confused for a moment, and tilted his head. Twilight saw this, and looked to where he was looking, before smiling again and running to the young boy, “Come on, come and meet Shining,” she said, coaxing him to come out of hiding. Though nervous, Chains nodded, and came out from behind the corner and approached the stallion who was still somewhat confused at seeing him. Standing in front of him, Twilight by his side, he was still nervous and looked at his own feet, looking up once in a while. The silence was awkward, until Twilight spoke up. “This is Chains, he’s my friend, and he’s been helping me with my magic studies,” she introduced him. Looking back to the boy in question, she said, “come on, say hello.” Looking at Shining Armor in the eyes, the boy felt even more intimidated, as the stallion was taller than he was by a fair margin. He bowed respectfully, “i-it’s nice to meet you, Sir,” he said. Shining looked at the boy, and then to his sister, who was smiling up at him, and then to his dad, who returned his look with one that said, ‘I’ll explain later.’ After a moment, Chains looked back up at him, and Shining raised a hoof. The human closed his eyes, as if preparing for a strike, before he felt a gentle hoof ontop of his head, “It’s nice to meet you, Chains,” came Shining’s friendly voice. Looking back up at the Stallion, Chains saw that he had a friendly smile as well. He did his best to return it, but only managed a shy smile. “It’s good to see Twiley making some friends finally,” he chuckled, “I was worried he’d end up some sheltered hermit.” He was answered with a kick to his shin from said little filly, she pouted up at him. “Ow, I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he chuckled, mussing up Twilight’s mane once more, getting her to giggle again. “So, how long are you able to stay, Huh? Huh? Huh?” Twilight asked, while bouncing in place excitedly. “All week, kiddo,” he laughed, “And I’ll spend as much of it as I can with you, I promise,” he said with a smile, earning a ‘yay’ from his little sister. He turned his attention to their father once more, “so where’s Mom?” he asked. “She’s at the grocer’s right now, she wanted to get some things to make a special dinner when you got home,” Moonlight replied, happy that the children were getting reacquainted. “How about you have Twilight show you some of the magic she’s learned, I’ll call you when your mother arrives,” he said. Shining nodded, “that sounds like a great idea,” he said, walking into the home, Twilight hot on his heels, Chains following nearby as well, “alright Twiley, show me what you got,” he said. ………….. Dinner was a lively affair, as everypony ate together, and though he was uncomfortable, Chains ate at the table as well, enjoying his share of the meal, listening in as Shining shared stories from his time at the Junior Guard Academy. He was amazed really, Shining Armor seemed every bit as excited about being a Royal Guard as Twilight was about learning Magic. He wondered if all ponies were like this, or if it was just his Mistress’s family. After dinner was finished, Chains started to clean up the dishes and put away leftovers as Mrs. Sparkle insisted Twilight take a bath before bed. She protested at first, until she was reminded that if she went to bed early she could wake up early to spend more time with Shining in the morning. As Chains started to fill the sink of dishes, Shining told his sister goodnight, and then offered to help the young human. “Y-you don’t need to bother yourself with me, Sir,” he told him. “It isn’t a bother, I used to help clean up around here too,” Shining said, standing next to him, “And you don’t need to call me Sir,” he told the boy, “I’m not a Knight…. Yet. Now come on, I’ll wash, you dry,” he said. The human relented, not wishing to argue, though still intimidated by the older boy’s presence, despite his friendly attitude towards him. They cleaned the dishes in silence, until Shining spoke up, “Twiley seems to really be excited about you,” he said. Chains stopped for just a second, before continuing, “I-I’m nothing special,” he said. “Besides, she’s really more excited about you, Sir,” he told him. “She was running around all day trying to make sure everything was perfect for you.” Shining smiled, “I’m sure you helped her a lot,” he said. “I’m happy to do it,” was the reply he got. It was Shining’s turn to be taken aback, but he recovered as well and continued washing. That wasn’t something you’d expect to hear from a slave. “I’m glad she has you helping her,” he said. …………………. Later that night, Chains was laying awake in his bed on the floor, thinking over the subject of Shining Armor, when he heard Twilight whisper to him, “pst, Chains, are you awake?” she asked. He sat up, “Yes, Mistress?” he asked. “Could you get me a glass of water, please?” she asked, her voice a little sleepy. Her human nodded, and got up, and walked quietly out of the room to seek a glass of water for her. On the way to the kitchen he overheard voices coming from the living room at the other end of the hall. Curious, he crept his way closer, and heard Shining armor speak, “I see, so you just got Twiley a human as a friend?” he asked. “That’s about the size of it,” Moonlight answered back. “You know we’re not like that Shining, we’re still your parents,” he said. “I know, it’s just, sorta weird still, you know?” Shining let out a sigh. “I guess I just never put much thought into it.” “We didn’t either,” Starbright’s voice chimed in. “Believe me, I thought it a weird idea too, but Twilight is really taken with him, she goes everywhere she can with him, to the Library, the Ice Cream shop, the park, I never seen her so happy to do things outside of the house,” she chuckled. “But still, a human, a slave,” Shining said, “I never thought of our family being in the same group as those stuffy aristocrats who show off their wealth.” “And we’re not,” Moonlight quickly interjected, his voice stern. “We bought Chains as a friend for Twilight, but well, since he’s been here, he’s kind of become part of the family as well,” he explained. “He’s still a slave,” Shining said once again, “it seems wrong, no matter the reasons.” “And had we not bought him, where would he be?” Starbright asked. Shining was silent, unable to answer. “He’s a good kid, and Twilight likes him, the fact that he’s a slave barely matters in this house,” Moonlight explained. Shining was still silent, he must have been thinking. “I can accept that,” he sighed. “You’re right, he is a good kid, but, I’m not used to somepony being scared of me like that,” he said. Chains looked at the floor, thinking on the conversation, mostly on what Shining Armor had said. The conversation went on, but Chains wasn’t listening anymore. He quietly made his way to the kitchen, got a small glass of water for Twilight, and headed back to the bedroom. Twilight looked up at him as he came back in, “that took a while,” she said softly, as Chains set the glass gently on her night stand. “I, had trouble finding a glass,” he said as he made his way back to his bed. Twilight didn’t press the matter and just took a few sips of the water, before laying back down, “thank you, Chains,” she said, “Goodnight.” Chains layed back down in his bed, and replied, “Goodnight,” as well, though he would find difficulty getting to sleep for a while, his mind still thinking on what Shining Armor had said about him acting so scared. He resolved to try and not be so skittish tomorrow, and closed his eyes as he fell into a deep sleep.