Chess at 8:39

by Pencyke

To Earn Those Bits

~Ironwood closed his eyes and nodded sagely, "I see… That's a lot of bits."~

The raven-maned stallion looked between the key in his hoof and the crowd around him. He shrugged, "They won't mind if I disappear for a few…" And so he made his way towards the set of stairs that supposedly led up to the residential area.

Just before his hoof landed on the first step he felt a chill crawl up his spine. Looking up with a blank face he saw Pinkie Pie looming above him, her smile a little too wide. "You should know the guest of honor doesn't leave the party early."

"Huh," Ironwood chose to play it cool while inside he was panicking, "Y'know Pinkie, you're right." The stallion flashed her a pleasant smile, actually keeping the terror off of his face as he continued, "I do know the guest of honor doesn't leave the party early…" He brushed his mane back with one of his forelegs, "But y'see I'm not actually leaving the party. Technically it's in Berry Punch's Bed 'n Bar, not specifically any part of this fine establishment. Since I'm not leaving the building, I am by extent, not leaving the party. Either way I'll be back down in a few jiffies." With that he confidently strode past the stunned mare, the gears turning in her head almost visible.

As soon as he turned the corner he let out a breath as he took shaky steps towards room number 13. "I have never met such a scary mare in my entire life." The silver eyed stallion decided to note the pink pony under his list of ponies to avoid as much as possible.

He slid the steel key into it's hole and twisted. With nothing more than a click, the door glided open to reveal a dark room. One bed, one window, one desk, one cushion, one sink, one door presumably to the washroom, one dresser, one bookshelf, one overhead light, no stove, no refrigerator, no pictures, no cabinets, half a potted plant, no holes in the walls, no coatrack, no mirrors. Over all, pretty bare, but not unlivable. Casting a look over his shoulder at a pink shape down the hall, Ironwood tossed his briefcase on the bed. Shutting and locking the door he approached the stairs where the equine shape was spying on him.

Before he got too close though, it disappeared. Putting the snooper down for later investigation, Ironwood returned to the party where it seemed a large group of them were playing pin the tail on the pony. There were other games strewn about the bar on one side of the room and one in particular caught his silver eye's interest. He walked over and put his hoof to one of the pieces. The black pawn.

"Are you familiar with the game of chess?" The voice sounded worn, like that of one who had been many places and seen many sights.

It turned out that the speaker was an old donkey wearing a blond toupee. Ironwood wracked his brain for the name, "What was your name? Clanky? Pranky? Franky?"

"It's Cranky. Plain and simple." The donkey held a look of indifference as he pushed his queen side center pawn two squares forward. "New in town, eh?"

"Yeah, I arrived today." Ironwood plucked one of the black knights off of the board and inspected it, "Though I didn't see to many ponies on my way here." Done with the inspection, the stallion placed his knight in front of the row of black pawns.

"With the exception of Pinkie Pie." A pawn moved to back up it's comrade. "She welcomes any and every newcomer to Ponyville." Crankey somewhat snorted as he lifted his hoof off of the piece, "Even when they don't want a welcome."

Ironwood smiled as he moved his pawn up to block the precession of the enemy, "I suppose you speak from experience?"

A knight moved to attack the black pawn, "Let's just say that on my first day in Ponyville I got the exact opposite of what I came here for, compliments of Pinkie." The donkey had a hell of a poker face.

The move was mirrored to attack the white pawn, "I sense there is more of a story than you're letting on."

Cranky nodded as he inspected the board, "You're right, shenanigans had defiantly ensued on that day." Suddenly the white bishop was attacking a pinned black knight.

Ironwood raised an eyebrow at the apparently foolhardy move. "What sort of shenanigans are we talking about?" The black pawn on the end traveled forward one square to attack the white bishop.

"The kind involving cake batter," The bishop backed up to the edge of the board, while still keeping the black knight pinned.

A second black pawn was driven forward two spaces to continue chasing the white bishop, "Wagons,"

The white knight swooped in and gobbled the offending pawn, "Singing and dancing,"

The pawn protecting it's brother killed the knight in an act of revenge, which also freed up the black rook, "Running in terror,"

The bishop simultaneously slaughtered the avenging pawn and sidestepped the rook's deadly sights, while keeping a certain black knight pinned. "Pinkie Pie,"

Ironwood shoved his white-square black bishop in between his knight and king, thus protecting said knight from meaningless obliteration and also freeing it up for movement. "And last but not least, a romantic reunion."

They were both silent as Cranky observed the board and debated his next move. The silver-eyed stallion licked his lips in anticipation, attempting to calculate what the donkey's next move in this game of war would be. Finally Cranky pushed his pawn up two squares to C-4 and both protected his bishop from potential dangers and attacked the black pawn on D-5.

It was then that Ironwood decided to continue their conversation, "Sounds like that day had a pretty unique type of shenanigans."

"Yes, yes it did."

And so the game of chess continued, both sides too engaged in mental combat to pay attention to the party around them. They remained focused even after the ponies with offspring went home and the hard apple cider was broken out for the ponies of age. They remained focused even after a pair of drunk mares tried to duke it out before being taken care of by the owner of the establishment. At one point or another there was a musical number about what it meant to be a decent mare but the two couldn't care less about how embarrassingly drunk some ponies were acting.

Finally after hours of mental warfare both Cranky and Ironwood were left with only their kings. Ironwood was the one to speak first "Well. I guess that's stalemate. Good conversation and game, Cranky."

The toupee wearing donkey nodded, saying "Anytime, my friend."

Suddenly there was a large gasp from across the emptying room. "WHAT?" Pinkie Pie's voice cracked with shock "How did you become Cranky's friend in just a couple of hours, when it took me a whole DAY to get him to say it?" She eyed Ironwood suspiciously "What's your secret?" When the raven haired stallion shrugged Pinkie 'Hrumph'ed and slowly backed away from the table saying "I got my eye on you…"

"And I you, Pinkie. And I you..." At the donkey's questioning eyebrow the grey stallion shrugged, "She's quite the character."

Cranky nodded his head in affirmation, "That she is." The donkey craned his head over the board and ran a practiced eye over the positioning of the pieces, his brow scrunched in concentration.

The raven maned stallion turned away from the battle of wills and faced towards the ponies who'd gathered a few tables away and were betting up a storm from the sound of bits hitting the table. "-think? Who'll win? The local champion or this no-name new guy? Five to one odds on the grey stallion, do I have any more takers?"

Just as the earth pony was about to put a stop to the betting, Cranky spoke, "Ah let them have their fun, those stallions ain't got nothin' else but each other to keep 'em company. They, like so many others came here for the peace that you can only get from a place like Ponyville."

Ironwood sighed, "I know that better than most, it's why I came. It's just, it doesn't sit well with me, leaving it up to chance like that." The stallion's silver eyes lowered for a moment as his mouth creased into a reminiscent frown, "I know from experience that Lady Luck up there just loves to shove her dirty socks down our throats every chance she gets."

Cranky's eyebrow ascended once more, "I sense there is a story here."

The stallion released a sigh, "For another time." He glanced down at the board and moved a piece, "And, checkmate. Good game you old coot."

"Heh, cheeky brat." The two players turned away from each other, smiling greatly.

---

Ironwood stared at the ceiling from his perch on his bed. Sleep had never come easy for the stallion but it was especially hard for him that night. His mind was full of possibilities, he wondered if Ponyville would truly be a new start for him and he wondered if the past would try to gobble him up as it did his father.

Banishing such thoughts from his mind the stallion sat up, thinking about how he'd pay for his stay. He supposed he'd have to fall back on his special talent to get himself those bits. He opened his briefcase, reaching in. What he pulled out was a small contraption. One flick of the fetlock later and the contraption was revealed as a silver extendable axe. An identical axe was also depicted on the grey stallion's rump.

Ironwood gave the axe a few experimental twirls, allowing himself a small smile, "Perfectly balanced as always." Staring at his prized possession, the raven maned stallion's mind began to whirl as an idea began to form. The earth pony began to pace as he twirled the extendable axe unconsciously, almost as if it where a habit, "Yes, no one would miss a tree here or there in that Everfree forest, and those trees themselves are almost undoubtedly magical. After all, the forest itself is, while not as well known as, say, the fires of Morhorse, it is somewhat known. Perhaps I'd be able to fashion charms of a sort out of the wood?" The earth pony shook his head, "No, ponies wouldn't want any kind of product from a place they believe to be cursed. That leaves me with the question of what I could provide that anypony around here would want. Well, I could probably get by as an employee? But, what if they manage to track me down? No, better to involve only myself, for the safety of others. That still leaves the question of what I'll be able to do for money." The tired stallion turned his gaze toward the night sky, a flick of the fetlock and the axe collapsed back into itself. Ironwood rested his head on the cushion at the head of the bed, pondering what he should do.

---

Berry Punch had just finished her normal morning setup when she happened to look up. She hadn't noticed the new guy sitting there when she came in. It bothered the feisty bar tender that her gaze had just passed right over him. "It's a bit early to be smelling the coffee don't you think?"

"I could say the same to you, but I agree." The stallion nodded to the purple mare, "Yeah, it's kind of habit for me, rising early I mean? Right now I'm extra tired, though. I couldn't sleep a wink, I was so busy pondering the question of how I'm going to make some enough money for an extended stay here in Ponyville."

An eyebrow was raised, "Money problems, you say? I've seen some of your moves so I can confidently say I think I can help you with that. If your up for it, of course."

Author's Note: