Ponies All Day-Writing Challenge

by ThunderTempest

16:30-17:00 "It's the Best Way To Know Someone"

Celestia delicately placed her piece into its new position, and levelled a perfectly even stare at her opponent. This move was a little tricky to counter correctly, but if they pulled it off, then maybe Celestia would have finally found a worthy opponent.

“I find you can tell a lot about a pony by the way they play chess,” said Celestia, “How they think, how they react to unexpected difficulties.”

Her opponent made a thoughtful noise, then repositioned a knight. Celestia raised a single, delicate eyebrow. Not the most conventional counter, but not completely ineffective. Several of her more powerful peices were in danger now.

“For instance, Twilight Sparkle, my old student, liked to memorize specific strategies, but had trouble adapting if something outside her game plan happened. All it would take to throw her off would be one pawn moved at exactly the right time. Her friend Pinkie Pie, though,” Celestia paused in her commentary to move a bishop to threaten her opponent’s queen.

“It was impossible to throw Pinkie off balance, but she lacked any real strategy, moving peices at random. It was like she rolled a die to decide which piece she moved each turn. Rarity was a challenge.”

Celestia’s opponent nudged a pawn forward one space.

“Rarity reminded me of myself. The plan of Twilight Sparkle, and the improvisation of Pinkie Pie. She could adapt, overcome a situation, but like Twilight, still has some trouble when something completely unexpected happens, though mind you, with Rarity, it had to happen several times in quick succession for her to be truly off balance. She’s likely the most practiced of Twilight’s friends.”

Celestia used a knight to remove a rook from the board, and was repaid as her opponent’s queen replaced her knight.
“Rainbow Dash and Applejack were so similar it was almost funny. Neither gave much thought to strategy, nor planning, instead charging for the king directly from the first move.”

Celestia moved a bishop into strike range of her opponent’s king, and immediately regretted it, as the rook that replaced it immediately locked off half the board to her own king. They exchanged the next few moves in silence, as both put their full concentration towards the game. Eventually, the game reached a stalemate, and Celestia stood up, and graciously dipped her horn in respect to a game well played.

For a reply, Gummy just blinked.

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #158: “Game On”
It’s not if you win or lose … it’s how you play the game.