Hard Work, Training and The Confrontation

The very next day after the spa get together, Chains and Twilight had come to Sweet Apple Acres in the early morning and found Applejack working in the fields along with the twins, Lock and Stock. Applejack bucked a large tree, knocking most of the fruit to the ground, while one of the twins sat up in another tree, picking and tossing apples down to the other, who would catch them and toss them into a nearby basket.

The three of them soon noticed the unicorn and human couple approaching, and stopped their work. Applejack went to meet them with a friendly smile on her face. “Howdy Twi, howdy Chains, there somethin’ I can help ya’ll with?” she asked.

Twilight returned her smile, as did Chains. “Actually,” she started, “Chains wanted to know if he could help you on the farm for a while.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, taking a look at the human. Although he seemed a bit nervous, he nodded. She then noticed how he was dressed. His clothes were less formal than before, and more designed for work. Or at the very least, they seemed more disposable.

Still, Applejack had her doubts about this. “I don’t know Twi,” she said. “No offense, but Chains doesn’t seem the type for hard workin’.”

Chains frowned, but Twilight continued. “He asked to do this. Isn’t there something he could help with? You said yourself that you would be short-hoofed because of Big Macintosh getting hurt, didn’t you?”

Applejack nodded. “That’s true, but still…”

It was then that one of the twins spoke up, Lock, if Chains remembered the scars right. “What’s the matter AJ?” he asked. “No reason the little guy can’t help out if he wants to is there?”

“I suppose not,” the orange earth pony relented, before turning back to Twilight and her human. “But another thing is I really can’t afford to pay ya’ll anything.”

Twilight was about to speak but Chains stepped in. “I’m okay with doing this for the sake of hard work,” he said.

This earned him a couple of confused looks from both ponies and humans.

Applejack was the first to speak. “Well, far be it from me to deny hard work for the sake of hard work,” she replied. She felt there was a different reason for him working, though she wasn’t going to push it, and something about how Chains spoke made her think that perhaps she’d have a better time getting answers when Twilight wasn’t around.

Chains smiled at her, and nodded. “Thank you, just tell me what to do and I promise I’ll get it done,” he said.

Applejack sighed, but Chains’ apparent dedication to work made her smile none the less. “Alright then, I’ll get you started right away, come with me into the barn and we’ll get you set,” she said as Chains nodded in response as the apple farmer turned to Twilight. “I’ll see you later then, Twi, I promise not to work him too hard,” she joked.

Twilight chuckled lightly in response though something in her tone told the farmer that she was indeed slightly worried. “Alright, thank you Applejack.” She looked to Chains “If you get too tired, don’t push yourself, let Applejack know if you’re not feeling well.”

The human only smiled. “I promise, but I do intend to pull my own weight here, I don’t want to be treated special.”

The unicorn smiled, and nodded, and hesitantly turned to leave as Applejack also turned to lead Chains back to the barn. She gave the twins a quick look. “Get back to it, we’ll be right out to join ya.”

The two nodded, and immediately went back to their work, chatting as they picked apples.

At the barn, Applejack looked for a set of work gloves that might fit the human. Though that proved somewhat difficult as Chains was a bit smaller than the humans she usually had around, “So, tell me Partner,” she said as she tried finding a smaller pair, feeling somewhat certain that they had a leftover set from when they were first trying to find a pair that fit the twins.

She continued when she noted she had his attention. “What’s the real reason you wanted to come work for me?”

Chains fidgeted slightly and looked to the dirt floor of the barn. “Well,” he started, a soft blush on his cheeks. “I want to be stronger, so Twilight won’t put herself in so much danger to keep me safe,” he said.

The orange pony looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but it was replaced with a smile and a chuckle. “Well, hard work will certainly help bulk you up, but I really can’t think of dangerous adventures becoming a norm for any of us anytime soon. You sure you want to go through that kind of effort for something that may never happen again?” she asked as she found what she was looking for. Diving her head down in an old box, she pulled out a pair of gloves. “Found them,” she announced, tossing them over to the human.

Chains tried them on, and flexed his hands. The gloves were a bit too big for his hands, but they would have to do. As if to answer her question, he nodded as he put them on before making his answer more verbal. “It’s unfair to her that I should make her worry, even if it’s unlikely to happen, I….” he trailed off, again looking at the floor. “I don’t want to see her cry again.”

AJ smiled and sighed, shaking her head. “You two certainly are a pair, aren’t you?” she laughed lightly. “Well, alright then, Partner, we’ve burned enough daylight, let’s get on out to that orchard and put you through your paces,” she said with an exuberant smile, earning one from the human who nodded. Forgetting his melancholy, he followed her back out to the orchard, where the other humans were already working on the next tree.

Chains panted heavily as he ran to grab another empty basket to catch more apples in as Lock and Stock tossed them down from the tree.

Applejack had decided to leave this part of the orchard to the three humans while she tended to the next one, and the twins had decided if Chains wanted to get a workout with this, they would have him running with full baskets of apples as often as they could get him to.

When they picked the last ripe apple from the tree, the two hopped down to the ground and smiled at their new co-worker. “Not bad for a first time in the field, huh Chains?” asked Lock, as he reached over to Chains and pulled him close, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

The smaller human only took deep breaths, unable to answer with more than a smile. Stock overturned a couple of empty baskets and sat down on one, inviting the other two to sit with him. The three humans sat down, relaxing a little bit before they would get to the next tree.

“So,” Lock spoke up. “You want to get stronger for that Mistress of yours, huh?” he asked, a playful tone in his voice.

Blushing lightly, Chains nodded. “Yes,” he answered, having caught his breath.

“Well, physical strength is one thing, but that won’t make you any good in a fight,” Stock said, looking Chains up and down. “You ever been in a fight, Small Fry?”

Not sure what to make of the nickname the two brothers came to call him, Chains shook his head. “Not really, I mean, I’ve been attacked before, but….”

“Never much of a fight, I take it,” Lock said, standing up, stretching slightly. “Alright then, get on your feet.”

The younger human looked up at the standing one, a look of confusion crossing his face, not sure what he meant.

“Come on, you want to get strong you’re going to have to learn to do more than lift apples,” Lock teased.

“You sure he can handle it Lock?”

Chains started to get a little scared and tensed up some.

Lock noticed this. “Hey, relax, I’m not going to pound you into the ground or anything, I’m just going to show you a few things Stock and I learned while we were at the Quarry,” he told him

Slowly, Chains stood up on his feet, and Lock smiled at him. “Alright then, you see, when in a fight, you’re going to want your feet to be wide enough apart to give you balance, but not so wide apart that you can’t move right,” he told him, taking a stance, and waiting till he copied it.

Chains put his feet about shoulder width apart, as Lock showed him, but bringing his fists up, the twins noticed several things wrong.

“Alright, first thing, you want to keep your fists up so you’re ready to block your face, but we’ll work on that more later,” Lock said, holding out a hand open palmed. “Right now, I want you to punch my hand, as hard as you can.”

The younger human, hesitating at first, took a limp swing at the presented hand, only to have it glance off the palm pathetically.

“What was that?!” exclaimed his new teacher. “Come on, try again.”

Chains did so, this time his fist connected with a soft ‘thap’ and he smiled, but Lock egged him on. “Come on, you can do better than that. Again!”

Chains swung again, his fist connecting again, not much harder than before.

This time Stock sighed audibly, “Quit pulling your punches. Put your weight behind them and try to punch through his hand.”

The smaller human nodded, and did as instructed, and this time his hand connected with a satisfying smack of skin on skin, earning a smirk from the twins and a smile on his own face as he felt the connecting blow.

“Good, now try with your other hand.”

They continued like this for close to a half hour, and were again resting and chatting, the twins telling Chains about the fights they got into at the Quarry, either because the taskmasters wouldn’t feed them enough and they would have to fight for their food with other slaves, or because of smaller more personal disputes. Either way, they gave him what advice they could think of, before they heard a voice calling from a fair distance away.

“Hey! I ain’t paying ya’ll to just sit around and chat, am I?” came Applejack’s voice. The three turned to see her standing near another mostly empty apple tree.

Grinning, Lock cupped his hands around his mouth and called back. “You aren’t paying us at all.”

“You two get payed in a roof over your heads and apple pies in your belly!” she shot back.

Not one to give up this game, Lock responded in kind. “That last pie of yours gave my stomach cramps for a week.”

Chains couldn’t quite see the look on Applejack’s face, but her tone seemed to mirror the jovial one his fellow human was giving.

“Thems is fighting words, Lock!” she called back.

Lock and Stock were chuckling to themselves, before he called again. “Alright, fine. We’ll get back to work but only if Granny Smith makes the pies.”

“Keep talking like that and I’ll smash that pie in your face, you Varmint!”

Laughing wholeheartedly, Lock and Stock stood up, as did Chains, who was also chuckling, as they all got back to their work.

Chains continued to chase the apples, making sure they all landed in the basket instead of on the ground.

The sun was just setting as Chains exhaustedly made his way back home after his first day of work. A smile was on his face as he opened the door and walked inside the library made home. He was immediately met with the smell of what promised to be a delicious meal, his stomach already calling out to be fed after such a long day.

Turning to enter the kitchen, he smiled when he saw Twilight there, her mane tied back to keep it out of the way as she cooked.

As if sensing him, she turned around smiling, and rushing to him. “Welcome home, Chains,” she said, putting her hooves around him in an embrace, as she stretched herself to plant a kiss on his lips, both of which he returned happily.

“Thank you, Twilight,” he said, again smelling the dinner. “You cooked tonight?” he asked.

Twilight nodded with a smile. “Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to have you cooking after you worked so hard, would it?” she asked, before releasing him from the embrace. “It’s done now, if you’d like to have a seat.”

Chains nodded, his face a full smile as he sat down resting his tired body in the chair as Twilight made him a plate and placed it in front of him, before making her own. “Spike’s not home?” Chains asked, looking around.

Twilight shook her head, as she took her own seat. “No, he’ll be in later though, he wanted to spend some time helping Rarity,” she said.

Chains nodded, as he took his first bite of the meal, and proceeded to eat.

While Chains himself wouldn’t say it aloud, both Twilight and Spike agreed that she was not as good a cook as Chains was. She was far from a terrible chef, but cooking duties almost always fell to Chains, who was happy to do it, as his cooking would make Twilight smile.

But to Chains, especially after the day of work, Twilight’s cooking was the best in the world. He ate bite after bite of the simple meal, and shared in small talk with the pony who made it whenever his mouth wasn’t full.

“So, you had a good time at the farm?” she asked.

Chains nodded, swallowing another bite. “Yes, we got a lot done, and Applejack said that they would be able to get the harvest done on schedule,” he said.

Twilight smiled happily. “I’m glad, it wouldn’t do to have them running late.” “You’re working tomorrow too?” she asked, taking another bite, herself.

He swallowed his food. “Yes,” he answered. “She said she could use my help for the rest of the month if I was up for it, and I agreed.”

Twilight smiled, though it looked a little sad. “I see, well, it’s good that you’re helping a friend,” she said. She perked up. “Hey, maybe I could help out too,” she suggested.

Chains looked a bit shocked at first, but then smiled, “I’d love that Twilight, but who would watch the Library while you’re away?”

The librarian pony pouted and grumbled.

Chains sighed and reached over and placed his hand on her withers. “I’d love to have you there, but the Library couldn’t stay closed for a month.”

She sighed as well, and smiled up at him. “You’re right, I guess I’ll just have to put up with you being gone for most of the day,” she chuckled. “And we’ll all have to endure my cooking.”

This got a laugh from the human. “Your cooking is great, Twilight, I enjoy it.”

Twilight smiled at him, and leaned in, kissing him gently on the lips. “You’d say that even if it was horrible,” she said.

“But it isn’t,” he argued back with a smile.

Twilight shook her head and laughed. “Well, I guess I’ll get lots of practice, but you must be tired, we should get to bed.”

Chains nodded, and stood up. “I need to take a shower first, I smell horrible.”

The mare smiled, and with a mischievous smirk, she leaned in and sniffed him. He smelled like a mix of earth and sweat. “I don’t know, I think it’s a good smell for you.”

A blush tinted both their cheeks as Chains moved quickly to the shower room, leaving Twilight behind, giggling like a filly.

The next few weeks were full of both work from AJ, and fighting lessons from Lock and Stock when they could fit in a break. The twins had started to teach Chains how to grapple and wrestle, though his smaller size and build didn’t do much to his favor in such combat. Applejack came across them once, but only advised them to be careful and not let it take away from their work.

As time went on while working, it was clear that whatever fat there was, was being burned away and replaced with a modest layer of muscle. Twilight was first to comment on it when she gave him a hug and noticed he was a lot firmer than normal, something she said she liked, earning a blush from her favorite human.

The final week of the harvest had started, and by now Chains was able to keep up with the either of the twins, and it was almost as if he had been doing it for his entire life.

Chains was on his way home early, as they had run out of empty baskets, and decided to take this as a chance to empty them. Applejack insisted that they didn’t need his help with it and he could go home early. He was certainly not going to argue, and to be honest, he was itching to cook another meal.

A smile on his face and his mind thinking of what he might cook, he almost didn’t notice the hooded figure of a stallion standing alongside the road, until he had passed it. It spoke in a familiar voice he had hoped never to hear again.

“Finally doing something befitting your kind, hm?”

His eyes widened, and he whipped around, to come face to face with Blue Star as the unicorn lowered the hood to reveal himself.

The human would have run, were his legs not refusing to budge an inch as the former guard glared into his eyes.

He managed to take a step back, before Blue Star spoke again. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he spoke. His posture was relaxed, and though his tone sounded malicious, it didn’t seem dishonest.

This gave Chains pause, though he remained on guard, memories of what had nearly happened years ago now fresh in his mind, being tossed against the hallway walls and nearly getting his hands cut off. And this time there wasn’t anypony else around.

Trying not to show too much fear, Chains spoke up. “W-what do you want?” he asked.

Blue Star replied. “I want what you want, for Miss Twilight Sparkle to be happy,” he said. “That is what you desire, yes?” he asked.

Chains tilted his head, confused. “What are you talking ab—”

The unicorn cut him off. “You care about Miss Sparkle, don’t you?” he asked, keeping his distance as he walked around Chains, getting between him and Ponyville while talking. “You want her to get ahead in life, don’t you?”

Watching Blue Star’s movements, Chains listened. “Wha—”

“You’re holding her back,” Blue Star snapped, stopping his movements and staring him in the eye. Chains tensed up once more as the words hit him like a fist to the gut.

“She’s fond of you, for whatever reasons she has. The mare’s been too kind for her own good since the day I first met her, but more likely she thinks of you as a pet to keep around,” the former guard continued to speak. “She could be doing so much better if she didn’t have you holding her back. A mare like that should be married to a noble stallion and living in luxury, wouldn’t you agree?”

Chains almost stumbled backwards. He wanted to shout back that it wasn’t true, but when he tried to open his mouth, he just thought back to her entrance exam.

Back when she almost gave up her dreams to be around him.

Blue Star walked up to the human and looked him straight in the eye. “Do what’s best for her, and leave. If you want her to live a happier life, she’ll have far fewer problems without you around.”

Chains looked away from his gaze, and looked to the ground, as the unicorn was silent again, and turned around to leave. “Just disappear, you’ll do her and Equestria a favor by getting rid of one more of your kind.”

He was right.

Chains was nothing but a burden to Twilight. As detestable as Blue Star was, that didn’t change the fact that Twilight would most likely be much happier, and safer without him.

He thought of all the times Twilight held herself back for his sake, or nearly done so. The time she spent teaching him to read could have been better spent studying things herself.

The first time he made her cry… the last time her made her cry.

His heart almost stopped, and his eyes widened, and his hand went to his cheek where he remembered feeling her tears fall on him, over a month ago now, back in the old castle ruins of the Everfree forest.

He had put himself between her and danger and nearly died.

‘What would I have done if you died?!’

His hand clenched into a fist and his jaw tightened as he glared at the back of Blue Star’s head. ‘How could I be so stupid?’ he thought to himself.

“You’re wrong.”

Blue Star stopped stalk still, the smile he had been hiding on his face slipped away as he turned to look confusedly at the human behind him. “What was that?”

“You’re wrong about Twilight, and even if she could do better than me...that certainly isn’t you,” he said, his anger at the stallion overcoming his fear of him for the moment.

No more words, just actions. While Blue Star was stunned by his words, Chains charged forward in anger at the stallion who would dare try to cause Twilight grief and then swoop in to take advantage of her feelings.

His fist cocked back, he punched forward as he had been practicing to with Lock and Stock for almost a month now, and it felt satisfying as his fist connected with Blue Star’s face, and the world seemed to stop as the blue unicorn looked at him with a shocked expression.

Blue Star, however, did not stay stunned for much longer, and his shocked expression contorted to one of anger, as he swung a hoof out at the human, catching him in the rib and sending him back as his horn ignited with power as a ethereal sword formed.

“You insolent little Monkey!” He swung the blade of energy down at the human, who just barely managed to dodge it, only to get tripped up on a stone on the side of the trail.

Falling flat on his back, Chains stared up at Blue Star who was poised to swing the magical blade down at him once more. Reaching desperately for anything, his hand found a thick branch of wood, which he managed to bring up just in time to block the blow.

Blue pulled the blade back and knocked away the branch, moving to stab down. “Just die already!”

Suddenly, a stone flew into the left side of his head, causing him to lose concentration, making his ethereal blade dissipate. He glared in the direction the interruption came from, and froze.

Staring back at him were a pair of cold steel grey eyes, framed by a head of wild unkempt hair and an equally unkempt beard, giving him the visage of a Manticore. The human’s lone hand rested on the hilt of a blade, strapped to his side.

The former guard stared at the human disbelievingly. Before him was no cowering slave, or even a rebellious one.

His stance betrayed nothing but calm and resolve. He didn’t have any bravado, or cockiness. Blue Star knew that this human could easily match him in combat.

He sneered and backed off from Chains, before beating a hasty retreat.

Chains looked at Bandage after he saw the rock collide with Blue Star’s head, and was speechless at his timely arrival. He also noticed the lack of Bandages on the man.

When Blue Star bolted, Chains watched him until he vanished from sight, and groaned, looking down at the ground in disappointment.

He had to be saved again. Despite working so hard and becoming stronger, and even when trying he couldn’t best the unicorn.

It all felt useless to him.

He heard footsteps approach, and he looked up to meet the gaze of Bandage, before giving him a weak smile. “That’s twice you had to save me now.”

Bandage tilted his head. “Why was he attacking you?” he asked.

Chains looked away. “It’s a long story,” he said.

The older human nodded, and offered his hand to help up the downed human.

Chains took it, and let himself be pulled up as Bandage continued to speak. “At least you gave more of a fight than you did those timber wolves, might be some hope for you yet.”

The younger human sighed. “Not that it did much good, I still needed to be saved,” he went silent again, before looking at Bandage. “Thanks, again. But why are you even here?”

Bandage shrugged. “I was looking to see a pony who helped me before. I wanted to give her my thanks.”

Chains smiled. “I see, do you know their name? I might be able to help you find where they live,” he offered.

He was answered with a shake of the head. “No, I know where she lives, but thank you for offering.”

Chains nodded, and Bandage looked in the direction that Blue Star had run off in. “Is he likely to come back for you?” he asked.

Chains thought for a moment, and shook his head. “I think he’s smart enough to leave after what he tried to do. If he wanted to kill me from the start he could have done it.”

“What does he want from you?”

“He wants me out of the way,” Chains spoke. “He wants my Mistress, that much I know, and he doesn’t seem to like the idea that I, of all creatures, am standing in his way.”

“Why stand in his way?” Bandage asked him, looking at him with interest.

Chains was silent for a moment, before answer, “Because he does not love her. That stallion only cares about Twilight as far as what she can do for him.” His demeanor became angrier as he spoke of it. “They can hang me for all I care, but that stallion will not use her.”

Bandage raised an eyebrow. “You’re a confusing sort,” he said. “It would seem you are content in your slavery unless you feel your Mistress is at risk. You never thought of living for yourself, or running away?”

“Where would I run to?” asked Chains, giving a skeptical look to his fellow human, before sighing. “I’m not strong like you, I wouldn’t survive in the Everfree, and if I left, my Mistress would be sad, and I promised to never make her cry again, and that’s something I’ve broken once already.”

There was silence between them, until Chains began to move along the road once more, before turning to Bandage. “Again, thank you, I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful or cross, but, it’s just that I’ve been trying to get stronger, so I can be of more use to my Mistress, and this has reminded me that I am still weak.”

Bandage shook his head. “There is more to strength than muscles, you did a fair job, fighting somepony like that.”

Chains nodded. “Thanks, I hope you find your pony friend, and I hope we meet again. Take care.”

“And you as well, I’m sure you will get stronger in time,” he said, also turning to leave.

The two parted, both with their minds racing.

A short time later, Bandage came to a small secluded cottage along the edge of the Everfree Forest.

It was a place he had left quite some time ago, and had been meaning to return to.

There was no activity outside of it, the outside animals either sleeping or away. The tall human strode to the door, as he had done a few times before now. He didn’t know why it was so hard to do the next step, but if that scrawny slave could connect his fist with the face of a pony, then he could do the same to a door.

He raised his hand, and knocked firmly on the hardwood door and was answered with a faint ‘coming’ followed by hoof steps. He looked down, and the door opened to reveal a yellow pegasus with a pink mane, looking up at him, her eyes wide.

There was a silence between the two of them, before Bandage spoke. “Hello, I wanted to thank you for helping me some time ago.” He paused. “And to apologize for leaving without saying a word.”

The pegasus, was quiet, still looking like part of her wished to run at the sight of him, but she nodded. “Y-you’re welcome, y-you didn’t need to come thank me,” she said.

Bandage tilted his head. “But I wanted to,” he answered.

She gave him a smile, and seemed to calm somewhat. “Do you want to come in?” she asked. “I could make some tea if you want.”

The human slowly returned the smile and nodded. “I would be happy to.”

Chains reached the door to his shared home with Twilight, though he was somewhat wary of his surroundings on the way, worried that Blue Star would try and jump him.

Luckily it seemed the former guard had moved on. Chains hoped he left town completely.

He opened the door and went inside, and saw Twilight reading a book and humming to herself, the door opening and catching her attention. She smiled brightly when she saw him and got up to greet him. “You’re home early,” she said, stepping closer before she noticed his slightly crestfallen expression. “Is everything alright?” she asked, looking him over.

Chains put on a smile, and nodded. “Yes, just a little tired. Applejack sent me home early, we ran out of empty baskets and she decided we could call it a day,” he said.

Before Twilight could ask any more questions, Chains gave her a kiss on the cheek. “How about I cook for all of us again. It’s been a while since I was able to, and I don’t want to get rusty,” he said, moving to the kitchen.

Twilight smiled, and decided to drop the subject, following in after him to help with anything he might need.

As Chains started cooking dinner, part of him felt badly about lying to Twilight about what had happened. But he didn’t want her to worry about it. Blue Star wasn’t likely to try anything with Twilight around, or where there could be witnesses.

He just hoped he wouldn’t see him again for a long time.

“Damn it!” Blue Star slammed his hoof into a tree in anger. "Of all the times that human grows a spine,” he breathed heavily.

After Blue Star retreated from the two humans he had made his way out of town, and began to think on what had happened.

He had planned to get Twilight Sparkle’s slave to leave her on his own. It should have been easy, the spineless human should have just run from there. But he didn’t.

Blue Star growled again. He had lost control of himself again, and attacked the human, but that wasn’t what troubled him most. It was that new human, the taller one with one arm.

Slaves don’t have eyes like that. Not eyes of warriors. What the hell was that?

Blue Star sat on the ground and looked to Ponyville in the distance, his eyes narrowing.

He was going to have to kill the slave, but he couldn’t risk being caught doing it. Twilight would be his, but she was fond of him, and the marriage would certainly go smoother if she didn’t suspect him of killing her pet human.

Taking a deep breath, Blue Star adjusted his plan. He would watch for now, he would observe. He’ll figure out what made Chains so brave against him, he would find out when he was alone most often.

He would learn all he needed to about this filthy mongrel.

And when the time was right, he would confront him again. And Chains will die.

Author's Note

edited by DarkPhoenix

Thats right, I have a full time editor now. Things should hopefully go a little bit smoother from now on. With that said, I really do like how this chapter looks, in no small part due to my editor. Here is to this chapter and those to follow. Cheers.