Nightmare Moon, Part 3

The group of three made their way towards Ponyville from Sweet Apple Acres. Their pace slowed by the overstuffed Twilight Sparkle.

Chains was ever at her side the whole walk, rubbing her back gently, while Spike was a few paces ahead of them, reading from the checklist that they had just started. “Food’s all taken care of, next is weather,” he said, glancing back at his companions.

Twilight was almost apathetic to what he said, and continued to trudge on with her swollen stomach, mumbling about having eaten too much pie.

The baby dragon continued to walk on and looked at the sky, “Hmm, there is supposed to be a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds.”

Twilight stopped and looked around for any sign of said pony doing said job, but didn’t even see any evidence to prove that an effort had even been made to clear the sky today. “Well, she’s not doing a very good job, is she?” she asked, a tone of frustration evident in her voice.

At that split second, a rainbow blur collided with Chains and sent him to the ground a few yards away and into a mud puddle.

A pegasus with a rainbow mane and a cyan coat was laying on top of him, shaking her head clear from the collision. She looked down to see what it was exactly that she crashed into, and saw that it was a human, she looked away and laughed, a bit embarrassed, “um… excuse me?” she said, trying to find the situation more funny than awkward.

Once she was off of him he sat up, “I’m sorry,” he quickly said, bowing his head like he had just tripped Celestia herself.

This earned a confused look from the Pegasus, “hey, it was my fau…..”

Before she finished, Twilight had caught up with them, “Chains, are you alright?” she asked him. She shot an angry glare at the blue pegasus. “What’s wrong with you?!, why don’t you watch where you’re flying?!” she shouted, angry and concerned over the young man.

Chains tried to calm her, “p-please, it’s okay, I, I’m fine Mistress, really,” though she didn’t hear him, either he was too quiet or she was too angry.

The pegasus however narrowed her eyes, “hey, I was just saying it was my fault,” she shot back.

“You could kill somepony with how reckless you are!” Twilight yelled back.

“I said sorry!” the pony with the rainbow mane argued back, “I don’t need some uppity slave owner scolding me!”

Twilight was taken aback somewhat, and was unable to form a comeback before the pegasus huffed and flew to a nearby cloud and layed down, likely wanting to wash her hooves of the argument and of Twilight.

The unicorn herself growled in frustration and sighed and then looked to chains, “are you alright?” she asked him again, calming down some.

Chains nodded and hung his head low, he felt it was his fault that she had such an argument. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be,” Twilight told him, helping him up out of the mud puddle. “I guess we should get you cleaned up as soon as we finish here, just all the more reason to hurry,” she said, trying to switch gears.

Spike decided to interject, “um, I think that maybe a problem, I think that was Rainbow Dash that you just yelled at,” he told her, scratching the back of his head.

Twilight tilted her head to the side as she slowly began to realize that a pegasus with a rainbow mane probably would carry a name like Rainbow Dash, and her eyes widened, “oh dear,” she mumbled before growling at herself and putting a hoof to her head as if trying to fight a headache, “ugh, why does she have to be her?” she huffed, “and what was that ‘slave owner’ thing about?” she wondered aloud.

“Well,” Chains started to talk, looking himself over, his clothes being muddy and wet, “I read that a lot of Pegasi are abolitionists,” he said quietly. “Maybe she is one?” he suggested.

Twilight had to stop and think. She had heard a lot about a growing group of abolitionists, mostly pegasi. It made sense that if any group of ponies looked down on slavery it would be pegasi, most of them lived in cloud cities and humans wouldn’t be able to live there, so very few pegasi, the ones that lived on the ground would even have a use for them.

Pegasi philosophers were also famous for being the driving force behind the ending of the human fighting rings. Gladiatorial combat was, at least publicly, abolished. There are still underground fighting rings across equestrian.

Twilight nodded, and was about to say something when she heard a voice behind her followed by the landing of hooves, “so, you ‘read’ that, did you?” the cyan Pegasus asked with a raised eyebrow, and a curious look on her face.

Spike, Chains and Twilight were all speechless. She was the first to find out about Chains’ reading ability.

Their fears were slightly alieved when the Pegasus smiled “well, I guess you’re not so bad after all, at least a step above other slave owners,” she said, her mood much more friendly now.

“T-thanks?” replied the unicorn, still somewhat uncomfortable. “B-but please, don’t tell anypony else,” she said.

This earned a shake of the head from the Pegasus, “I won’t tell a soul,” she said. “Not often I find somepony who owns a human but isn’t scared to go against some of the laws of it,” she said.

“Well, thanks, but, are you Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked, trying to get back to the reason she was in Ponyville in the first place.

As if forgetting everything that had just happened, the Pegasus smiled brightly and puffed out her chest proudly, “the one and only,” she proclaimed, looking Twilight in the eye, “why, you heard of me?”

"I heard you were supposed to be keeping the sky clear for the summer sun celebration,” Twilight shot back, beginning to get annoyed. She sighed to calm down, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess sent me to check on the weather.”

The Pegasus known as Rainbow Dash smiled dismissively, “yeah, I’ll get to that in a minute,” she said, “right after I’m done practicing,” she said.

“Practicing for what?”

“The Wonderbolts,” was her enthusiastic reply, as she pointed out a poster of said flying team on a nearby building. “They’re performing at the celebration tomorrow, and I’m gonna show them my stuff,” she said proudly, doing a simple flip in the air and landing on a cloud with ease.

“They Wonderbolts?” asked Twilight with a skeptical smirk.

“Yup.”

“The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?”

“That’s them.”

Twilight scoffed, “please, they’d never accept a Pegasus who couldn’t keep the sky clear for one measly day,” She knew how competitive ponies worked.

Rainbow Dash looked at her with a furrowed brow “hey, I can clear this sky in ten seconds flat,” she boasted, not liking having her abilities questioned.

“Prove it,” Twilight said with a smirk, doubting that the Pegasus could actually do such a feat but would try anything to get her to do her job.

Rainbow Dash stood up on the cloud and then flew off, dispersing the cloud as she leaped from it, flying fast to the next one and kicking it apart. She went to one after another, turning fluffy white clouds into vapor. She landed on the post of a nearby bridge once she finished, and were somepony keeping time, they’d see she did indeed do the task in ten seconds flat. Give or take a millisecond or two.

“See, what I tell ya?” the boastful Rainbow Dash said. “Ten Seconds flat,” she finished with a laugh, seeing the expressions on her audience’s faces, Twilight’s jaw would be hitting the ground if it wasn’t attached so well.

This elicited another chuckle from the Pegasus, “you should see the looks on your faces,” she laughed while hovering about, “you’re a laugh Twilight Sparkle, I look forward to hanging out with you guys, you all seem pretty cool,” she said, winking before flying off to whatever other business she may have had, probably more practice.

“Wow,” Spike said, being the first to speak up, “She’s amazing,” he commented to his companions. He looked at Chains, who was still covered in mud, and suppressed a chuckle.

Twilight just scowled at him and moved towards their next objective, “come on, the sooner we get this done the sooner we can get to the Library, get Chains clean and find a way to stop Nightmare Moon,” she said, Spike quickly following after her. He noticed that Chains wasn’t with them and looked back.

The young human was still standing at the bridge, looking to where Rainbow Dash had flown off. He couldn’t help but feel admiration for the Cyan Pegasus, who was so free, and proud. He could only look up to somepony like that.

“Chains, you coming?”

Spike calling him roused him from his musings as he hurriedly caught up, “Y-yes, I’m sorry,” he said, walking in stride now with the two of them, he didn’t catch the worried look from Twilight as they walked towards the town hall.

………

Upon entering Ponyville Town Hall, Spike looked over the checklist once more, “Decorations,” he said, looking up from his list.

The group looked around the room, seeing all the lovely décor, ribbons and flowers hanging from the rafters and the railings. Spike seemed to voice all their thoughts when he uttered the words, “beautiful.”

“Yes,” Twilight agreed, “the décor is coming along nicely, this ought to be quick,” she said with enthusiasm. “I’ll be in the library in no time.” She took one more look, “beautiful indeed.”

Spike shook his head, “not the décor,” he said, pointing to a white coated unicorn with a purple mane who was looking over some ribbons, “her.”

The unicorn was much too engrossed in her activities to notice the presence of the three who had just entered looking over ribbon after ribbon. “No, no, no. Oh goodness no,” she said as she threw ribbon after ribbon over her shoulder.

Spike was looking at her as if he was love struck, and he looked at Chains, “how are my spines?” he asked in a whisper, not wanting the mares in the room to pay him any mind, “are they straight? How about my breath?”

Chains was about to answer, when Twilight began talking with the object of Spike’s affections. “Good afternoon…..”

“Just a moment please,” the white unicorn interrupted without even looking back, sticking to her business, “I’m ‘in the zone,’ as it were,” she said, tying up a big red bow on a wooden beam. “Ah, yes sparkle always does the trick, does it not?” she asked with a posh tone, “why, Rarity, you are a talent,” she said with no small amount of pride.

She turned to face the group, “now, how can I help youuwahahaaa?!” she exclaimed upon seeing Chains covered in mud with his clothes a mess. “Oh my stars, Darling, whatever happened to you?” she asked with notable concern in her voice.

Chains was taken aback and backed up a little bit, “uh, um, nothing, I, I just fell,” he said, not wanting to cause any trouble.

“Just fell?” she asked skeptically, “deary, you’re positively a mess,” she said. “I simply must get you cleaned up, come along,” she said, grabbing onto the young boy’s sleeve with her magic to pull him along.

Twilight was trying to protest, “really, we’ll take care of it later, we have business to take care of,” she said.

“No, it wouldn’t be right to let a young lady such as this go about in such a mess,” Rarity argued.

Twilight and Spike had almost stopped dead in their tracks. Did she think that Chains was a girl? Twilight tried to make an effort to correct her, “y-you don’t…….”

Rarity was clearly not listening as she continued to drag the stammering boy along, “b-b-but I’m not…..”

“It’s okay dear, I’m sure I can make you a nice new dress while you’re cleaning up,” she said, not understanding the human’s protests at all.

……….

Even once they got to Rarity’s home, which also seemed to be her place of business, the white unicorn wouldn’t let them get a word in edgewise to explain her mistake. “Now come on dear, there is no need to be shy,” she said, trying to coax the human to undress. “Get out of your clothes and I’ll draw you a hot bath to clean yourself up,” she said.

“B-but… I….” Chains was staring with eyes wide, trying his best to protest doing such a thing.

“Oh, I see,” Rarity said, getting an understanding smile. Her guests relaxed; maybe she realized she was mistaken.

“It’s because everyone is looking at you,” or not. “Well come on then,” she said, pulling the human behind a screen nearby. “Let me help you out of those dirty things,” she said.

While Chains was trying to form a verbal protest, Spike was trying not to laugh, feeling like his teeth were about to explode. Twilight was also trying her best to explain things to Rarity, following her behind the screen to try and stop her.

“Please, you got it wr…….”

“Don’t fret dear, I won’t charge you a single bit for cleaning and dressing her,” The white unicorn interrupted. “I consider it a favor not just to you but to fashion, a pretty girl like this shouldn’t be messy,” she said with an almost gleeful tone.

Her magic encased itself around the belt of the human’s pants, and with a pull, she slid them down.

And both Rarity and Twilight were greeted by something they weren’t expecting to see that day.

All those present in the room had blushes on their faces, except for Spike who was on the other side of the screen; he had also taken the silence as a cue to start laughing like a hyena.

Chains quickly covered himself up, looking mortified and distraught over his Mistress seeing him naked, and a pony he had never met before to add to it all. He was practically begging for a death that fate showed great cruelty in not providing.

The two mares realized that they had been scaring, and turned around quickly to give the human his privacy. Rarity’s blush was especially harsh, clashing so with her white coat beautifully.

“I…. I see, sh…. He’s not a girl,” she stammered out, trying to regain her composure over her very amazing blunder.

“Yeah,” was all Twilight could respond with, her blush was present for reasons other than sheer embarrassment. In truth, she had never seen Chains naked, even from when they were younger.

Rarity nodded, “I…. I’ll…. Just draw that bath and he can get into it when he’s ready,” she said, trotting off to save what was left of her own dignity.

Twilight only nodded and looked at the floor, her thoughts wondering, ‘it….. wasn’t that bad.’

…………

Once Chains was in the bath on the other side of another screen, washing himself in some semblance of privacy, Rarity had begun to chat with Twilight, both still pink in the cheeks, having gotten over the embarrassing situation that had happened just moments ago.

As way of apology, the white unicorn was stitching together a new outfit for the human, using the dirty clothes as a model to go by. “I see, so you were sent here to check on the preparations,” she said, making small talk while stitching together cloth carefully. It wasn’t going to be a fancy outfit, but the fabric she was using certainly looked nice.

“Yes,” Twilight said, accepting of the fact that while Chains was bathing they weren’t going anywhere. “The Princess asked me to make sure everything was going well.”

Rarity smiled, “well, they are, we have some of the best ponies taking care of each thing, you can be assured of that,” she told her, a bit of hometown pride shinning through. “You know, I’ve always wanted to visit Canterlot,” she said, containing her enthusiasm. It was much easier than one would think, having a needle so close by tended to keep one calm and careful.

Twilight nodded, “it’s a lovely city, though I don’t see much of it to be honest,” she said.

Rarity almost broke her concentration to star at her fellow unicorn, “you must be joking, how can you live in such a sophisticated city and not see as much of it as you can?!” she asked, acting somewhat like a foal who was told a water park wasn’t all that fun.

“Well, it’s just that I stay in and study a lot,” Twilight explained, trying to socialize as best she could.

Rarity narrowed her eyes at the purple unicorn, before turning her attention back to her work, making a pair of night blue pants with a matching vest with gold trim. She Kept the white shirt that Chains originally wore, knowing it would work just fine as an undershirt for the vest.

“There,” she said with a smile, “I don’t get to work on many human clothes, but they are indeed a joy, once he’s out of the bath we’ll get them fitted right, but I don’t think they’ll need too many alterations,” she said, very prideful of her work.

Twilight looked over the clothes, “they’re very nice, he’ll look pretty dashing in them,” she said with a chuckle, imagining Chains as a dashing person.

“Indeed,” Rarity said wistfully, “he’s so pretty, you have to understand why I thought he was a girl, with his build and that hair, and he just seemed so feminine.”

Chains was overhearing all of this while he sat in the bathtub and was beginning to wonder if he could will himself small enough to hide in a crack in the floor when he overheard what Rarity asked next.

“You know, not many ponies own humans around here, I know Sweet Apple Acres has a few helping out, but you just don’t see many humans in town,” she said with a thoughtful tone. “You know, I’ve always wanted one to help out around the boutique, they look like they’d make such great seamstresses with those hands of theirs.”

She continued on, “I’d love one but I never could afford one, that and some of the local Pegasi would probably try to boycott my dresses,” she said with a huff. “They tried to do that with Sweet Apple Acres, but stopped a while ago.”

Twilight’s curiosity was piqued, “why’d they stop?” she asked.

“Hard to say, but I know Applejack somewhat, she may not be very civilized, but she isn’t one to mistreat anypony, I guess the Pegasus realized that too and moved on.”

Twilight thought on this some more. Could it be that slavery was a much more heated issue in places like this?

“Hmm, come to think of it…. I think I heard of a couple slave wagons being attacked in the last few months,” she said while she made a few finishing touches that she thought of on the outfit. “Guards dead and wagons gone, certainly odd,” she said, her mind trailing off.

Twilight could only nod, but then shook her head, trying to get her focus back onto why they came to Ponyville in the first place. “Chains, hurry up, we have to get going,” she called to her human on the other side of the screen.

Author's Note

Sorry it's taken so long. The next one will be out faster, I promise.

Also, when I refer to Fate not letting him out of this mess, I meant me.

I'm so evil to my characters ^^