History Fanfic / Chains

* SacredHospitality: Brutally violated; see Lured into a Trap above. One commenter even stated that this is a major no-no in [[AlwaysChaoticEvil even the most cruel and barbaric of cultures]].

Can be found of Website/FanfictionDotNet [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7702067/1/Chains here]] and Website/FimFictionDotNet [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/53757/chains here]].

* {{Darkfic}}: Actually mostly subverted, because despite the dark twist placed on the humans, the fic mostly follows the MLP canon to a reasonable extent, to the point where [[SugarBowl Equestria]] could be looked upon as a CrapsaccharineWorld merely from the humans' point of view.

* [[spoiler: EvenEvilHasStandards: When Nightmare Moon saw Chains for the first time and found out he's a slave, she was actually somewhat disgusted by it, and this dislike still sticks when she's restored back to Luna.]]

* ForWantOfANail / InSpiteOfANail: The presence and enslavement of humans has obviously changed the overall world and backstory drastically, but so far the Nightmare Moon arc largely follows canon.

* HappinessInSlavery: After he was bought by Twilight's parents, Chains has shortly developed a strong friendly relationship with Twilight and her family, and is well appreciated for his work.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Subverted and deconstructed - [[spoiler: turns out part of why the ponies enslaved humanity was because they feared how humans were not only pretty technologically advanced, but also omnivores. [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch And not every pony is on board with this whole slavery thing either...]]]]

* [[spoiler: InterspeciesRomance: Chains and Twilight.]]
* {{JerkAss}}: Blue Star, a unicorn Royal Guard for Twilight in Canterlot. He constantly acts condescending towards Chains, to the point of FantasticRacism... and ''attacking Chains and trying to cut off his hands.'' [[LaserGuidedKarma He's stopped by, and subsequently kicked out of the Royal Guard, by Shining Armor.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Blue Star beats Chains and is about to cut off his arms when he is stopped by Shining Armor and Celestia, who merely fire him from the Royal Guard, charge him with property damage and banish him from the castle. Subverted in that Shining Armor considers Chains a close friend and [[JustifiedTrope is disgusted that this is as harshly as he can punish Star.]]
* LawfulStupid: Celestia allowed the enslavement of an entire species [[spoiler:rather than defy the council, because she was worried that if she overthrew them she would become a tyrant. This despite the fact that slavery is about as tyrannical as it gets.]]

** Also occurred in the comments after Chapter 15, due to [[spoiler: the reveal that Celestia was so quick to suggest slavery and doesn't appear to have made any effort to improve the living conditions of slaves. One commenter described her failure to do anything like this: "It's less like rushing into a burning building and more like stopping the arsonist from starting the fire in the first place. Celestia hasn't even been walking, she's been sitting for 300 years. By now the fire has spread and the house and rest of the town have already burned down."]]

* MismatchedEyes: Of the SharedUnusualTrait variety. [[spoiler: Chains looks so much like the Prince of the Azure Dawn that Celestia can't look him in the face without her guilty conscience tormenting her]].

* NotSoDifferent: Nightmare Moon states that Celestia can't claim moral superiority to her if slavery is legal.

* WhatTheHellHero: Luna is none too pleased to find out the humans have been enslaved, and accuses Celestia of having been too weak willed to execute her DeadlyDecadentCourt as its cause. When Celestia also refuses to make slavery illegal immediately, Luna only has more fire to her anger.

** It is also mentioned that humans were used in gladiatorial fighting rings for the public's enjoyment, but pegasai abolitionists were able to stop the practice. Underground fighting rings still exist, though.
* VillainDecay: A meta example. The Royal Guard subjugated an entire species 300 years ago, but are shown in the TV show to be incapable of fighting its way out of a wet paper bag, and can be effectively replaced in it's entirety by a RagTagBunchOfMisfits consisting of a schoolgirl, a seamstress, a homeopathic veterinarian with near-crippling social anxiety, a track-and-field athlete, a farmer, and the village loony.

* MyGreatestFailure: It was Celestia who [[spoiler: proposed that the ponies enslave mankind, she herself having been too weak-willed and fearful of what she may become to stand against the counsel, especially Head Couselpony Purpleborn IV, when they began plotting against humanity.]]

* DelayingAction: This was Celestia's true purpose for proposing the enslavement of mankind to the counsel and her [[spoiler: strong desire to capture Prince Taelon alive on the day he came to visit her castle; her goal back then was to keep Taelon safe and the counsel occupied long enough until she could come up with a plan to set things right later on.]] But that plan ''literally'' went out the window when [[spoiler: Taelon committed suicide before he could be taken into custody.]]

* MyGreatestFailure: It was Celestia who [[spoiler: proposed that the ponies enslave mankind, she herself having been too weak-willed and fearful of what she may become to stand against the counsel, especially Head Couselpony Purpleborn IV, as they plotted against humanity.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Blue Star beats Chains and is about to cut off his arms when he is stopped by Shining Armor and Celestia, who merely fire him from the Royal Guard and charge him with property damage. Subverted in that Shining Armor considers Chains a close friend and [[JustifiedTrope is disgusted that this is as harshly as he can punish Star.]]
* LawfulStupid: Celestia allowed the enslaving of an entire species [[spoiler:rather than defy the council, because she was worried that if she overthrew them she would become a tyrant. This despite the fact that slavery is about as tyrannical as it gets.]]

* MyGreatestFailure: It was Celestia who [[spoiler: proposed that the ponies enslave mankind (the other choice being outright genocide), she herself having been too weak-willed and fearful of what she may become to stand against the the counsel, especially Head Couselpony Purpleborn IV, as they plotted against humanity.]]

** It is also mentioned that humans were used in gladiatorial fighting rings for the public's enjoyment, but some pegasai abolitionists were able to stop the practice. Underground fighting rings still exist, though.

* TheAtoner: Subverted. Even though she's currently working behind the scenes to set the humans free as soon as possible, [[spoiler: Celestia]] honestly believes that she can never be truly redeemed for being directly responsible for humanity's enslavement and suffering in the first place.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: [[spoiler: Celestia has been secretly providing aid to multiple anti-slavery rebel cells across the kingdom for years if not ''decades'', which she admits qualifies as "high treason" in and of itself, but is also plotting the assassination of the current Head Couselpony as part of her plan to set the humans free sooner rather than much later.]]

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: [[spoiler: Celestia has been secretly providing aid to multiple anti-slavery rebel cells across the kingdom for years if not ''decades'', which she admits qualifies as "high treason," and is even plotting the assassination of the current Head Couselpony as part of her plan to set the humans free sooner rather than much later.]]

* MyGreatestFailure: It was Celestia who [[spoiler: proposed that the ponies enslave mankind (the other choice being outright genocide), she herself having been too weak-willed to stand against the the counsel, especially Head [[Jerkass Couselpony Purpleborn IV]], as the plotted against humanity.]]

* DirtyBusiness: Not a day goes by that Celestia doesn't regret her part in mankind's enslavement. She's seen weeping over it at several points and she can't even look Chains in the eyes because [[spoiler: he reminds her of the human ambassador she betrayed]], telling him that she feels ugly when she does. It's ''eating'' her, but she stands by her decision...
** Celestia also explains to Luna that, sadly, some of the arguments made by the ponies that are pro-slavery actually do have some merit: Equestria's crop and food production is currently at an all time high thanks to the large plantations that utilize slave labor, as is their mining for mineral resources and rock farming. And not only that, if/when the humans are freed, there's then the questions of "Where would they live, what rights would they have, and how would the former slave owners be compensated for their loss of their greatest resource," questions that most ponies don't care to ask.

* LuredIntoATrap: Celestia invited Prince Taelon over to her castle the day after she signed the enslavement order, the purpose being to cut him off from any potential reinforcements and separate the rest of humanity from their beloved leader, thus making their enslavement that much easier. [[spoiler: [[TearJerker Taelon himself was under the impression that he was simply coming over for an extended stay with his best friend/love interest; when he realized the truth, he killed himself, completely unwilling to live for even a single moment as a slave]]]].

* MyGreatestFailure: It was Celestia who [[spoiler: proposed that the ponies enslave mankind (the other choice being outright genocide) which led to her [[LoveInterest love interest]] Prince Taelon committing suicide and makes her directly responsible for all the suffering humanity has endured the past three centuries.]] It still haunts her to this day and is what drives her [[TheAtoner to do what she can to make things right.]]

** It is also mentioned that humans were used in gladiatorial fighting rings for the public's enjoyment, but some pegasus abolitionists were able to stop the practice. Underground fighting rings still exist, though.
* VillainDecay: A meta example. The Royal Guard subjugated an entire country 300 years ago, but are shown in the TV show to be incapable of fighting its way out of a wet paper bag, and can be effectively replaced in it's entirety by a RagTagBunchOfMisfits consisting of a schoolgirl, a seamstress, a homeopathic veterinarian with near-crippling social anxiety, a track-and-field athlete, a farmer, and the village loony.