“Knight to E5.”
The chess piece moved over the board of it’s own accord, and my opponent’s piece moved in kind. The lights in the library briefly went dark only to reignite. The card in front of me had once said, “Mate in 8.”
Now it read, “Mate in 5. You made another mistake.”
I felt my cheeks burn green as ve saw what he meant. Our king was much more vulnerable now that he opened a path for his bishop. And ve didn’t have the knight for protection anymore.
I didn’t normally play chess. Our ability to keep track of all the possible ways the game might flow usually made it too easy for us. Matches almost always ended in stalemates, and that was no fun.
Castle was on another level entirely. The very first turn that hive forsaken card had shown up after I blinked in surprise at his move.
It had said, “Mate in 42.”
His moves made no logical sense, yet at around turn 22 he’d moved a single pawn forward, and the web of probable outcomes had suddenly shifted violently in his favor. Ve had spent the rest of the game trying to force a draw, but I was too panicked from the idea that ve might actually lose a game. Now it was a guaranteed loss in 5 moves.
I toppled my king in surrender. “Best two out of three?”
The pieces began to reassemble for another game.
“Interesting.” Twilight scribbled more into her notes. “Subject appears to be able to manipulate some objects anytime, but others continue to require a complete lack of observation from surrounding creatures.”
The chess pieces finished rearranging, and Twilight pulled several more books from their shelves. “Castle, is there any way you can talk to us without turning the lights off? I’d like to actually see the process through which you communicate.”
The lights fell again and upon relighting she read her card and sighed. “Of course not.”
My own card now read, “Mate in 32, you’re slipping.”
What the— Neither of us had even moved yet! If he was gonna rub it in, we were going to do this the changeling way.
“Twilight, can we play a different game?”
The lights flickered and I found my card unchanged.
Twilight read hers and huffed. “I can read the sarcasm in that, Castle.” She looked at me. “What did you have in mind?”
I gave a smirk. “Chess is normally nymph’s play for changelings. I only agreed to begin with because I thought it would show you how well changelings handle probability.” I glanced at my card. “Problem is, Castle is even better at playing than me. I suggest we play a real game.”
Twilight squinted at me. “And by ‘a real game’ you mean?”
My fangs glinted as my smirk became a grin. “I suggest a game of Swindler’s Chess.”
Right on cue I saw the head tilt. “Swindler’s Chess?”
I nodded. “Yes. Changelings need a bit more variety to their games than ponies. We’re simply able to optimize our strategies too easily. The Swindler’s Game is one of a number of rule set variations we’ve made to account for this. In a Swindler’s Game, each player is provided a list of five rules they may break and how they may break them. The players then use these cheats to ‘swindle’ their opponent of victory. Since we won’t know the exact rules until all the cheats have been used at least once, it will end up being a much fairer game.”
Twilight squirmed on her cushion. “That sounds a bit… overcomplicated.”
I tasted a small bit of curdled milk in the air and realized I was still baring my fangs. Shifting them into a slightly smaller set, I made a mental note to try and curb smiling widely around others.
Castle came to my rescue, however. With another flicker of the lights, Twilight and I both read our cards.
“He is right, milady. Chess is foal’s play to me. I, for one, would relish an actual intellectual challenge, and his proposal has merit. I can’t predict the game if I don’t know all the rules. Think of it as a way to test my limitations.”
Twilight bit her lip. “Alright, then….”
“Excellent! Excellent!” I cackled and rubbed my hooves together. It had been a long time since I had been able to play a real game without stressing over the consequences of losing. This would simply be a glorious struggle between Castle and myself to completely and utterly destroy each other—no politics attached.
There would be no quarter given in this game of kings, and—
Wait a minute. Something tasted wrong….
Oh, Spike had come in with dinner.
Both he and Twilight were staring at me.
And I was voicing my inner monologue on exactly how Castle would suffer a slow and agonizing defeat.
In a mix of equish and chitri that probably sounded like I’d lost my mind.
Curdled emotions ran rampant through the room, and the two stood still as they processed the scene. I felt my face burning the most verdant shade of green, and ve chastised myself for commiting one of the oldest villain clichés in existence when I was supposed to be on my best behavior.
“I can explain….” I cast my gaze about in case escape was needed.
The overwhelming taste of curdled milk was suddenly mixed with gobs of cotton candy and other sugary sweets as Twilight fell to the floor laughing. “Oh my gosh. That was just so… so Rainbow Dash!”
She laughed harder as I blinked at her bemusedly. “Don’t— Don’t get me wrong! You were totally terrifying just now! You could easily give Nightmare Moon a run for her money with that laugh, and you’ll need to work on it so you don’t petrify the town, but it was all over winning a little game of chess.”
There was a clatter as the tray Spike had been holding dropped to the ground. A small cloud of dust denoted his parting, and Twilight and I stared at the spot he’d been a second before.
Twilight’s smile faded, while my sigh of relief died before it had even gathered in my lungs. She bolted to follow him, and I sighed for a different reason.
Massaging my forehead, ve counted to ten and ran some very important estimations. I could hear Spike fleeing down the corridor to the left at a fairly impressive speed. There was sobbing, crying, the whole nine yards, and the question was whether or not I should intercept Twilight to help.
On the one hoof, helping would score points with my arbiter and judge. On the other, I had already said this was something they needed to work out on their own.
Picking up the scattered tray, I let them go for now.
“There’s always the chance that he won’t completely ruin my chances of success,” I grumbled as I used the clean up to distract me. Three agonizingly slow sweeps of the later, I stopped to glower at the door. “Yep. He’s definitely coercing her against me now…. All my hard work lost because some dragon threw a tantrum.”
The light’s flickered and a card appeared before me. “If Twilight walks in on you right now, it’ll be all your hard work down the drain because you’re about to throw a tantrum – not Spike. Just relax and take a deep breath. They’re about to hit the hug and make up stage.”
I snorted and kicked one of the cushions. “Does that mean I’m about to get evicted?”
A rapid series of flickering with a rapid number of responses followed. Eventually the lights settled and I could actually read one.
“You know, you really need to trust us more if you’re going to make friends here. It’s a two way street. Forget whatever life was like back at the hive. Life runs on different rules here.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the flickering lights interrupted me.
“Don’t say anything. Just think on it. And for now let’s enjoy a round of this so-called Swindler’s Chess while we wait.”
The cushion I’d kicked out of place slid back into position, fluffing itself. Brooms floated in from down the hall to clean up the mess. And the chessboard was replaced with a much fancier jewel encrusted one.
I hesitated, looking towards the door one last time and biting my chops. In the end, though, the siren call of the game won out, and I seated myself before the board to move my pawn two spaces forward.
It was most certainly the right choice, as we had a long and glorious game.
“You cheated….” Somehow the text was sulking.
“Of course I did!” I grinned in triumph. “That’d be the point of a Swindler’s Game. You’ll get used to it, though. It took us a while to figure out how ve could best break the rules in a way that fit our play style.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Care for another?”
The flicker lasted slightly longer than normal. “No. You should be getting company in about 3… 2… 1…”
Twilight walked through the entryway. Her gait was just short of a shamble, and there were tear stains on her face. The occasional sniffle was loud—and congested—enough that I must have really been into the game not to hear her coming down the hall. I had to tighten the filter to avoid getting punch drunk on the amount of sorrow in the air.
“Hey….” She sniffled and I could see her blinking to force back a few more tears. “Spike’s going to be going to Canterlot for a week or two. Things were way worse than I thought.”
Her pout could melt carapace, and I felt my insides twist at the sight. “I-It’s me right? I-I can stay somewhere else.”
She shook her head. “It’s not just you. He’s apparently been having nightmares on and off since the Nightmare Moon incident. He’s terrified about being unable to help the girls and I when we need it most. He seems to think that leaving him behind on most of our adventures means I don’t trust him enough to help, but I just can’t let him get—”
She choked on a particularly violent sob.
Her voice was wavering as she continued. “I’m going to send him to my parents in Canterlot for a couple weeks so Princess Luna can start to give him counseling in his dreams. Hopefully by the time he gets back the rest of my friends will trust you enough that they won’t need to freak out about both you and him.”
No…. Please don’t cry. Damage control. Damage control!
I patted the cushion Castle had conveniently slid next to me and offered a shoulder to cry on. The friendship reports demanded it—no matter how awkward it seemed.
Twilight took a hesitant step forward and stopped.
I sighed. “Yeah. I figured that might be a bit much. We’re not exactly best friends yet, are we?” I tilted my head to the side. “Would it help if I looked like one of your actual friends?”
She still managed to glare despite the sniffles and watery eyes. “It’s not the same, and you know it.”
I flicked my wings and kneaded the cushion with my hooves. “Of course…. Is there anything I can actually do to help? You’re the resident friendship expert here.”
“C-could you play a game of Swindler’s Chess with me?” She squirmed, ruffling her wings.
There was an audible crack I tilted my head to the side.
She smiled weakly as I heard the pieces behind me being reset. “I actually got back somewhere in the middle of your game but didn’t want to interrupt. I really enjoyed watching you and Castle play. Celestia used to play all sorts of crazy games like that with Spike and I when we were in my lessons. She said it was to teach me to think outside the box. I’m not sure it worked, but they were always fun to play.”
“Sure….” I gave a small smile, remembering to hide the fangs this time. I motioned to the board. “Pick your color and pick your cheats, but I feel it’s only fair to warn you I don’t believe in going easy on others.”
That was my first real day in Ponyville—first as I thought of it anyways. It was… nice. Not perfect, but nice, and it still baffles us how it proceeded as smoothly as it did. Sure, Spike presented a problem, but Twilight was truly trying to give me a chance.
The following day she would take Spike to Canterlot, and I ended up… well, let’s say Twilight’s schedule for introducing her friends fell apart. I don’t have time to go into that this session, however. We’re already running late, and I have half an hour at most until Celestia realizes ve sent another proxy to that dreadful dinner party.
Yep, this is fascinating. Several different really neat ideas, all wrapped up together in an interesting package.
The sapient Friendship Castle alone makes this worth the read, let alone the cool architectural design.
i like where this story is going
don't need the it
HUUUUUUUUUGH THE SHOCK!!!!
“I think you’ll find that Spike’s an amazing cook.”
not gonna lie, thought it said cock
its
good story so far!
I NEED those cheats for swindlers chess, it sounds awesome
You know, I've never read someone making the castle sapient before. This story's been fun so far.
The Sapient castle is a great idea I admit, it really contributes both to serious situation as well as lots of comedy.
I rally like it when supposedly 'objects' that have no conscience, suddenly gain one as well as a personality, and interact with other character.
The castle being a 'thing' made out of pure magic from the tree of harmony, could very well be legitimately alive, as magic is a living thing as well (similar to the Lifestream from Final Fantasy 7). Giving it the possibility to interact with other though, plus adding a sassy personality makes it all the better.
I know one other story, 'Cultural Artifacts', where Discord actually animates an object to life that gains a personality. He utilizes 'Tom', by putting part of his own magic, soul or essence into the 'rocky fella'. The 'once an object' gains another 'rational' personality of it's own and even Discords magical abilities, so Tom levitates to move, and constantly argues with Discord in order to make Discord grow/learn/understand. Tom actually understands ponies and other creatures better than Discord, ironically, so he is the one teaching him, despite Discord having created Tom.
More and more Tom becomes a unique and sympathetic entity that even befriends others.
The Castle reminds me of him (except for the sass).
So bonus points for that.
But Never the less there are some things I find hardly to believe or out of character, as well as not logical:
Spike.
The following passage doesn't male much sense to me:
I know you have given yourself some lee way with personalities here in this story. Twilight feeling the urge, and wording it accordingly, to outright KILL Discord simply because he annoys her, but then not understanding, out of the context of what's being said, what Genocide could mean for example.
Or even the general idea of Twilight scheming to kill someone seems unfitting, no matter if it's said out of jest.
But what Spike has learned or how his feelings have emerged in this passage, does not fit with any of the historical events that actually happened, when putting it into connection to his personality or state of mind.
Through all of the recent seasons, spike has been shown as a determined and tenacious character, with a certain sense of wisdom or reason unusual for a boy his age.
The passage described that he had Nightmares, sprouting from doubt, about the events of NMM return, in which he was unable to provide aid to Twilight. Which was true, sadly. Yet it is pictured that Spike has serious issues with nightmares shortly after those events, which you never see any evidence of in the series, he is mostly sleepy and thinks/dreams about rarity and himself.
So that is taken from out of nowhere.
Yet you could still argue it is a possibility, if he doesn't have those dream consequently.
Then his encounter with King Sombra is addressed.
For all that it's worth, these events here take part after the end of Season 4 at the very least.
The end of season 4 both include the events of: 'The Crystal Empire', and most importantly 'The Friendship Games'.
Twily has the Castle, that is a clear anchor point.
Now then, The passage describes Spike feeling helpless, or rather useless after Sombra has happened, while fearing Twilight not trusting to shoulder responsibility.
All in all he is pretty unsure himself.
That though, severely contradicts the events that actually happened, greatly.
At the end of Sombras defeat, Twilight was reminded of how she did need help, and was glad that Spike provided it without herself actually asking for it. As she believed it was her own task to accomplish.
Thank you Jerklestia.
She shared her appreciation with him, so that should have sufficed as a reassurance for him, that he is needed, and that he can provide enough help to make a difference, plus that he is welcome to contribute.
Also the empire celebrates their saviors, including him
Then 'The Friendship Games' Happen.
To sum it up, Spike is actually given a higher rank as the savior of the Crystal empire than anybody else, he is even gifted with a Crystal statue in honor to his deeds.
So that is a great boost of confidence, I really can't see how he could even remotely have the nightmares described in the quoted passage.
He becomes disappointed in the very same episodes. Yadda Yadda yadda happens, but in the end he saves the entire event by using his Draconic powers, the fire breath, and everybody cheers him on and praises him even more then before.
Spike gains extra bonus points in being the savior of Crystal ponies, and he IS in fact aware of that.
Then Tirek happened, who everyone was powerless to since Dissy and Tirek Tricked them. The Crystal Castle was born.
Then this story takes place.
I can't, in good honesty, see any reason for Spike being so hung up on 'Changelings', and his own 'usefulness', considering recent events, that definitely happened, unless mentioned differently, which is not the case here.
Especially I question his PTSD like attitude/dreams regarding this issue.
Until this point he has been provided with enough redemption and praising that those issues should have been reduced to an absolute minimum, if not solved entirely.
Yet it seems he is still constantly having Nightmares and thoughts of doubt swirling around his head, which only benefits the 'goodness' of your OC changeling character.
Spike is utilized as a means to get closer to Twilight, but in a way that contradicts canon history, without it being mentioned to have changed in the past.
I find this hardly acceptable.
Well, lets read on. I really don't dislike the story, but this part really bothers me greatly.
Now I'm curious. Who won? Morpheus or Twilight? onto the next chapter I guess.
Not bad so far, in fact very good, typically I avoid stories this long, too much good stuff to read, not enough time, you know how that goes. I kinda like the sentient castle, though I do think it's a bit too sentient. I kinda prefer the first impression that the castle was sentient, but not in the way a pony is, having a need, a purpose and being sad that it wasn't fulfilled. Still, interesting idea, interesting take on changelings, very good over all.
That said, there are mistakes here and there, a paragraph that read weird in the second chapter IIRC, and Morpheus has a bad habit of messaging his forehead rather than massaging it. Still, looking forward to seeing where this goes.
7781284
I've always liked to think of the castle as sort of its child, it did effectively grow from a seed after all. Oh, and I prefer Castle of Harmony to Friendship Castle/Castle of Friendship, I think it just sounds better.