“No, no, no, no, no!” Twilight shouted as she stared at her empty mailbox. “Where is it?”
“What’s the matter sugarcube?” Applejack asked as she cantered to Twilight’s side.
“My letter from Chester isn’t here!” She fell to the ground in exasperation and rolled onto her back. “How could this be?” She rubbed her face with her hooves and let out a low moan. “I told him to triple check the address before he sent it!”
“Who is this chester? Is he your colt friend?” Applejack asked as she nudged Twilight’s shoulder.
“What! Of course not.” Twilight shouted as she teleported herself upright. “He’s my opponent.” She galloped to the door of the library and raced to her desk. A massive chalk board was parked next to her work station, its dark green surface littered with letters, squares, and other scrawl. “Chester and I have been competing in the semi-finals for seven months!”
“That’s one long chess game.” AJ said as she place her hoof against the board.
“Don’t touch that!” Twilight shouted as she snapped Applejack’s hoof with a ruler.
Applejack winced in pain as she rubbed her hoof. “Well ya didn’t have to pop me.” She said as she turned back to twilight.
“Irrelevant, right now what is important is getting that letter.” Twilight declared as she resolutely stomped her hoof onto the ground.
“Don’t you think you are taking this a little too far?” Applejack asked. “It’s just a game ya know.”
“Just a game? Just a game!” Twilight shouted.
“Oh boy.”
“This is one of the last moves to the Equestrian Chess Champion Semi-Finals!” Her breathing grew heavy and deliberate as she tried to explain to her friend the severity of the situation. “It’s more than just a game!”
“Well I’m sure it will turn up in a few days. Maybe the post is running late today.”
“Impossible. The mailmare follows the same route every day, and today she was three houses down from mine.”
“Maybe it will come tomorrow.” Applejack offered. “Maybe Chester couldn’t get it in the mail on time.”
“Looks like I will have to play without him.”
“And how do you expect to do that?”
“Easy, I’ll just take every possible move he could make and then counter that move with every possible move I could make for his move.” Twilight said as she spun the chalk board over to reveal even more chess related scrawl.
“But won’t that be like a hundred different moves?”
“Now don’t be silly.” Twilight said as she quickly jotted some numbers down on the board. “That would be easy. Since I have to look at every possible move I could make for every possible move he could make it will be more in the range of ten to the power of two to the power of four.” She turned to Applejack who was absent mindedly staring at the board. “Did you get anything I just said?”
Before Twilight could repeat herself, Applejack spotted the mailmare out of the window happily flying down the street toward the library. “Why don’t you ask the mailmare yourself?”
“Good idea.” Twilight said. Immedately she teleported herself to the door and raced out to meet the mare.
“Hello Twilight!” Derpy said as the purple unicorn came bursting out of the library.
“Derpy!” Twilight shouted as she skidded to a stop in front of the grey pegasus. “Was there any mail for me today?”
Derpy squinted her slightly skewed eyes as she thought back to her mail route. “Not that I remember.”
“Ohhhhh.” Twilight moaned as she bounced up and down. “I was supposed to get a very important letter today. Do you think there could have been a mix up in the sorting room?”
“I guess so. I think there was a new stallion running the sorting today.”
“Could you see if you could find my letter?” She asked without giving a thought to the hours of work request would require.
“Sure!” Derpy said excitedly without giving a thought to the hours of work the request would require.
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” Twilight exclaimed as she hugged the gray pegasus. “Come back as fast as you can!”
“Okay!” Derpy said as she trotted off down the road.
“Twilight!” Applejack shouted as the grey pegasus rounded the corner and disappeared from view. “Do you have any idea how long it will take for her to sort through all of that mail for your letter?”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Twilight said, her voice flavored with remorse.
“Well it’s too late now.”
---Several hours and a few seconds later after Derpy stopped for ‘just a minute’ at the bakery---
Derpy burst through the door to the post office and raced into the sorting room. “Ms. Whooves! Did you deliver all of your mail yet?” The old postmaster asked in an unamused tome.
“Well… I…” Derpy stammered as she began rifling through the piles of mail, carelessly tossing the envelopes aside. “I think I left a letter here.”
“Derpy, look, all the mail on your route was put in your bag. You don’t even handle the mail in this room.” The mare said as she quickly cantered to Derpy’s side and grabbed her tail. “Now go finish your route while I clean up this mess.”
“But but but-”
“But nothing.” The postmaster said as she pushed Derpy out of the sorting room and slammed the door. Derpy could hear the irritated mare’s voice through the metal door. “I really need to keep an eye on that mare.”
Derpy sniffled as she let her head droop. She never knew how much of a burden she had been to her boss. “Okay.” She whispered quietly, more to herself than to the irritated postmaster. She pushed open the door to the post office and walked onto the edge of the street. Only a few more letters remained in her bag, these were all addressed to the houses she had missed on her new route through ponyville.
“I hate it when they change my route.” She mumbled as she pulled one of the envelopes from her bag. ‘Twilight’ was written across the front in large block letters. “Well its a good thing this letter will be delivered on time. It’s almost twilight right now.” Derpy turned the letter over to try and find the recipient, but the only thing the other side bore was the pasted together corners of the envelope’s paper.
“Good evening derpy!” a cheerful voice said, pulling the crosseyed mare’s attention from the letter before her face. “Say, are you delivering a letter to Twilight?”
“I don’t know.” Derpy said as she gave the letter to the mare. “It isn’t addressed to anypony.”
The mare held back a laugh as she turned the letter over to reveal ‘Twilight’ written boldly on the front. “I think it goes to Twilight.” She said as she handed the envelope back to derpy.
“I think it means to deliver it at twilight.” Derpy said as she looked to the setting sun. “And it’s twilight now.”
The mare paused for a second as she tried to devise a way to get the letter to twilight. Her face lit up. “Why don’t you take it to Twilight, she will know who it goes to.”
Derpy gasped. “Thats a great idea!” She exclaimed as she gave the mare a squeezy hug. “I’ll go there right now.” She quickly raced off, the wind masking the noise of the mare’s hysterical laughter.
Twilight had worn a groove in her hardwood floor from her incessant pacing. Every now and again she would check the chalkboard and jot down a mass of scribbles and lines. “This is very bad.” She mumbled as she walked back into the trench in the ground.
“I still don’t see what has got you so worked up.” Applejack said as she looked at the chalkboard.
“How can you not!” Twilight shouted as she ran to the board. “Last move I took my rook to B7!”
“So?” Applejack asked as she tried to understand Twilight’s dilemma.
“It means that if he takes his rook to C2 I’m finished!”
“I still don’t understand this game. How can the tower move in tha first place anyhow? It must be some strange dark magic of some sort.”
Before twilight could begin a dissertation on the origins and rules of chess a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in!” Twilight shouted as she continued to pace in her trench. “The door is unlocked!”
Derpy trotted into the library and quickly handed the letter to Twilight. “Can you help me figure out who this letter goes to?”
Twilight ripped the letter from Derpy’s grasp with her magic. “You found it!” Her voice carried as much relief as it did fear.
“Well I thi-”
“Now all we can do his hope Chester didn’t see my ridiculous mistake.” She tore open the envelope and withdrew the small scrap of paper. On it surface were four hoof written characters. The first three symbols commanded a piece to a location on the board, but the third was an uncommon little figure, its presence sent a shiver down her spine. The symbol, a simple hash, denoted the finality of the game.
It was checkmate.