This story was inspired by LupiArt's original story on Deviantart and YouTube
Based on LupiArt's comic on Deviantart In the original version Chess is the one at fault. But in my version it's the father ( Joe) who is at fault and everyone are human pony hybrids with wings and horns. After Chess comes home from school she's upset to find out that her parents and little sister left to see the Wonderboltz show without her. In an act of rebellion she tosses her homework into the fire place and in doing so causes the whole house to set fire. But was it an accident? Or is someone out to get her?
Just outside of ponyville a small house stood. It was home to three pegasi and an earth pony. The pegasus father, Joe, and the earth pony mother Nancy. Along with their two pegasus daughters Chess and Sally.
And now...Our story begins.
The school day had just ended.. Chess walks into her home and closes the door behind her. She walks into the kitchen and spots a plate of cookies with a glass of milk her mom left her, as well as a note taped to the refrigerator door. She read it to herself
Dear Chess,
We went to the Wonderbolts show with your sister.
You’ll do your homework.
That’s what you get for not paying attention at school.
We’re back at 7pm.
-Mum and Dad
“ Ugh! Seriously?! I ALWAYS wanted to go to a show of the Wonderbolts...And now…”
“Ugh… I don’t wanna do my STUPID homework.”
Chess growled, taking one of the cookies and walking over to her desk. Getting her homework out her backpack and getting started. But after a while she stopped.In her mind saying
...No… it’s enough…
Chess crumbled up all her homework in her hands and walked over to the fireplace. She throw all her homework in the fire and just stood there and watched. Until…
“...”
Suddenly all the burning paper fell out of the fireplace and onto the carpet.
“No!”
Chess tried desperately to put the fire out with her shoe,
“Come on.”
But the heat quickly burned through her shoe and caught her foot.
“AAAAAAHHH!”
Falling onto her back chess screamed,
“No! Nonono! I...no...I didn’t want that”
Looking all around the house she saw flames everywhere. Then quickly turned her attention to her chess set catching fire.
“No… Please no! This can’t be!”
The flames started getting bigger
“Gasp!”
Chess, seeing the flames grow, tries her best to escape. But the flames kept popping up everywhere she went. Chess turned her attention to their family photo and more tears grew in her eyes as it became engulfed in flames. Still she ran, running through the flames trying to get out the house. She soon found that there was no way out. Chess searched desperately around trying to find someplace away from the flames. Looking toward her parents room she saw that the flames had not yet engulfed the door and quickly ran into the closet and closed the door to hide. Chess hoped that her parents would find her before it was too late.
2 hours later
“Daddy! The show was so awesome!”
Sally walked next to both her parents. Joe looked at Sally smiling.
“Hehe Yes it was.”
“We're glad you liked it my dear. At home you can tell your sister. I'm sure she'll like it.”
Nancy looked at little Sally.
“Yesss! Maybe she'll play with me.”
Joe faced forward.
“I’m sure she will,Sweetie. But first I want to see if she finished her homework and…”
“Yeah yeah sure. But after that, we're gonna be the best flyers AND Wonderbolts ever. Will you play with us daddy?”
Joe froze. Sally waved her hand in front of him.
“Daddy? What cha looking at? ...Huh?”
All three gasped staring at their house completely engulfed in flames. Nancy looked in all directions trying to spot Chess. But found her daughter nowhere in sight. She quickly turned to Joe
“Honey! I don't see Chess anywhere! Could she still be inside.”
Frightened by what his wife said realizing that he to cannot find Chess anywhere in sight.
“Dear. Stay right here with Sally and call 911 I need to get in there and find Chess.”
Nancy hugged Joe and told him to be carefully. He gave her his cellphone and ran through the front door careful to avoid the flames. Using his wing to cover his mouth and nose. And starts calling out his daughter's name. But receiving no answer. Joe run to check their bedroom and starts calling Chess’s name again. And by some miracle gets a reply
“D-daddy”
Joe rushes to their closet open it and finds something that broke his heart. Chess lying there curled in a ball her wings fully spread out covered in burns and ashes. Hearing the sirens outside, Joe takes off his jacket, wraps it around Chess and scoops her up in his arms. Softly whispering in her ear
“I’m here for you now Chess. Everything is going to be alright now. Please hold on Sweetie. I love you too much to lose you.”
Joe turns and rushes out the house just in time as the front door crumbled behind them. Firefighters already getting their hose out and a paramedic takes Chess from Joe’s arms and rushes her into the ambulance. Another paramedic walks up to Joe
“Sir. We're going to need you to come as well. Just to be sure you didn't sustain any serious injuries. You can ride with your daughter if you’d like.”
“Yes. I would. Thank you.”
Joe got into the ambulance with his daughter and held her hand as soon as he sat down. A police officer offered to give Nancy and Sally a ride to the hospital and the two got in the back of the cruiser.
“ Mommy? Is sis going to be okay?”
Sally looked at her mother with tears in her eyes. Nancy wrapped her arms around her daughter
Joe just sat there as the paramedics looked over his injuries. Just staring at Chess thinking,
"How could I leave her home alone like that? What was I thinking? What kind of a father would do something like that?"
He sighed.
"Nancy was right. The way I've been treating Chess was all because I wanted her to be the perfect daughter. But... There's no such thing as the perfect daughter. But how could I have not realized this sooner. Why is it when you finally realize your mistakes...It's always too late."
Tears started dripping down his cheeks
"Oh Chess... I am so sorry for how I've treated you. And I promise i'll make it up to you one way or another. But...sweetie you have to wake up first. I can't do anything for you if you don't wake up first. Please... Chess...please wake up. I just can't lose my own daughter... Please... Don't(Sniff...) don't go. I love you."
Upon entering the hospital, Chess was immediately rushed into the ER. Joe was sent to a normal room because his injuries weren’t too severe. By the time Nancy and Sally arrived at the hospital, the doctor had just finished with Joe while Chess was still being treated.
Inside Joe's room,
"Daddy!"
Sally shouted running up and jumping into her father's lap hugging him tightly.
"Daddy are you OK I was really scared? What happened to our house? Where are we going to live now? Where's Chess? Is she gonna be OK? What happened to her? Why aren't you two together like you was in the car?...(Sniff)Is...is sis gonna die?"
Sally asked her father all at once, and both her parents are shocked by Sally's last question. Joe immediately answered
" Nono sweetie. Chess is not gonna die. She's going to be OK I promise. I'm OK too. There was an accident with a fire. I'm going to ask my brother if we can live with him for a little while. Just until we can get a new house. Chess is with the doctors. She got hurt and they're fixing her. They're going to make her feel better. I can't be be in the room while they're fixing Chess because I'll be in their way. But she'll be out soon enough and then we can all go see her. Everything's going to be OK sweetie you'll see."
But in Joe's mind he's thinking
I hope so... Chess...please be OK.
After Joe gave his daughter a comforting hug, he sat Sally back down on his lap. Nancy sat next to Joe on the bed and wrapped her arms around him. Joe used his wings to pull his wife close to him, and gave both her and Sally another hug. This one lasting longer than before.
It had been three hours since Chess went into the ER, but finally after all their waiting a doctor came into the room. But the news was not what they all hoped for. The doctor asks to speak to the parents alone in the hallway, so Sally waits inside the room.
In the hallway Nancy is the first to speak up,
" Well... How is she? Is Chess going to be alright?"
The doctor took off his glasses. a worried look in his eyes, aware that the news he is about to give are not what any parent wants to hear. He took a deep breath,
"Her burns weren't as bad as we had thought. Fortunately they won't leave any permanent scars. A few of her wing's feathers were burnt off but those will heal and grow back in time..."
Now for the bad news.
" However... There's a 50-50% chance of survival."
Both parents gasped in horror.
"B-but how?"
Joe asked.
" She inhaled a lot of smoke and it did some damage to her lungs. But we are not yet sure if the damage is permanent or not. All we can do is wait. I'm sorry."
With that he walks off, leaving the two parents broken-hearted. Joe pulls himself away from Nancy
"Nonono! (Sniff) This is all my fault (Hic!) How could I have been so stupid? I never should have left Chess all alone. And it was all for what... Homework! It was just one assignment. Chess is a straight A student she can afford to miss ONE little paper. And she wanted to go to that Wonderbolts show so much. But I didn't let her. I made her stay home by herself. All because of one STUPID paper. (Sniff)(Hic)."
Joe sits down in a chair in the hallway face buried in his hands and tears streaming down his face. Nancy started crying even more than before she just can't bear seeing husband like this.
"I am a horrible father."
Her eyes shot open at hearing those words.
Horrible Father.
No it's not true, Joe is a great father he just makes a few mistakes but who doesn't. Nancy stood up from her seat she's not going to hear her husband tear himself up any longer. She walks right in front of Joe, looks him in the eyes and says.
"Now you stop right there mister! I refuse to hear anymore of this. You are an amazing father and no one can say otherwise. Not even yourself. You have a big heart and an incredible mind. You care about all of us and always go beyond your limits to make sure we're safe and happy. You've taught our girls so much and worked hard to make sure they achieve greatness. But you do tend to push them a little too hard. And that's OK it happens to a lot of fathers that want their daughters to be happy in life. Then they learn from their mistakes and always find a way to make things right. You've made a lot of mistakes because you want Chess to be perfect but no one's ever perfect. I know you understand that now."
She bent down and cupped his cheek
" And I know you'll find a way to make things right with Chess. I also know that she'll be so happy to see that you're trying and could never stay mad at you. (giggle) Because if I know my daughter."
Using her thumb to wipe away his tears
" Is that she will always count on her father to be there for her."
Joe smiles, wiping away the rest of his tears and pulling Nancy into the biggest hug ever says
"Thank you Nancy that's just what I needed to hear(Sniffle) Thank you."
One of the firefighters (a unicorn) Tom who took care of the house fire had asked to speak with the chief of the department.
"And you're certain about all of this?"
The chief Hank asked. Tom replied,
"Yes."
and reinstated what he had said.
"Once we got the fire out, me and three of my teammates went in search for the source of the fire. I was sent to check the living room, while my comrades checked the kitchen and bedrooms. When I approached the fireplace and took a closer look, I noticed something strange. The fireplace had a gate preventing any burning wood... or in this case paper."
Tom paused as he gestured to the bag containing the burned homework.
"...from escaping. I found this right outside the gate on the carpet. This is what caused the fire. But...even though the window was open, the wind that day wasn't nearly strong enough to blow anything over the gate. I then used my magic to transfer the paper to a plastic bag. I had also picked up traces of somepony else's magic. There wasn't much, but just enough for me to follow the trail to the window. When I checked over the entire window I found nothing out of the ordinary. So then I looked down, that's when I noticed a pair of footprints facing inside the house. More specifically the fireplace and the spot where we believe the young girl was standing when she threw her homework in the fire. And judging by how deep the prints were, that indicated that somepony had been standing there for quite sometime. And perhaps returned a few other times as well."
Hank simply replied.
" A stalker. Somepony who obviously wanted that little girl dead."
Tom just nodded.
"Alright. Thank you for giving me this information. This situation is definitely worth investigating. My team and I will begin looking into this at once."
Hank stood up from his desk and walked with Tom to the door.
" And one more thing. You should inform the parents on this. They need to know their daughter is in danger."
Tom had just informed the parents that Chess may be in danger. Also that they will need to speak with the detective in charge of her case. Joe's brother Bod(pegasus) and his wife Jenny(unicorn) both arrived just in time to hear the shocking news. Chess had been out of surgery for a couple hours before Tom showed up. But she's still unconscious so Jenny is staying with her and Sally and then call them when Chess wakes up. Bob is taking both Joe and Nancy to the detective's office to answer any questions he has and figure out who wants their daughter dead.
Entering the office,
Both parents are sent to different rooms to be questioned, even Bob is needing to be questioned. Inside Joe's room detective Hank sits down on the opposite end of the facing Joe eye to eye. He brings out a pen and notepad flipping it open he begins
"Alright Mister... Joe is it?"
He nods.
"OK. You can start by telling us what happened that night."
Joe sighed and began telling Hank about the three of them going to see the Wonderbolts show and Chess staying home because she wasn't paying attention in school. Then 3 hours later they came back only to see the house engulfed in flames. Not finding Chess anywhere outside and rushing in to save her.
"Hum, Is there anypony in or outside of the family that your daughter may have had a disagreement with? Or maybe somepony that feels treated by her in any way?"
"No everypony in our family loves each other very much. Yes. We do tend to have a few disagreements, but we always find a solution and make up with each other. As for outside the family..."
Joe paused for a second.
"There is this one pony that does have negative feelings toward Chess. But I doubt that he would do anything to hurt her."
"And why would you think this?"
"Because his son Bishops(unicorn) is dating Chess. And the worst he's ever done is just glare at her."
Hank sighs
" Joe. Ponies who are clever enough to make an attempted murder look like an accidental fire can easily hide their true feelings against somepony. If it's by putting on a fake but very convincing smile...or giving them a simple and rather harmless glare. Can I get the name of this pony?"
"...It's Charles."
Inside Nancy's room,
Riley(earth pony) continues writing down Nancy's statement. What she's getting is the father of one of Chess's friends, more specifically her boyfriend. It appears that this stallion does not like Chess all that much. Nor does he like his son being around her and is always giving her dirty looks plainly stating that he completely dislikes her. There was this one time when Bishops wanted to take Chess on a date to the movies. They were all perfectly fine with and Joe even offered to drive them both there. But when he arrived at Bishops house to pick him up Charles had canceled the whole thing saying that he doesn't want an (annoying little brat) like Chess wasting his son's time. Joe wasn't to happy about what he had said and what he called Chess. He had gotten into a big argument with Charles right there at the front door saying that has no right in treating his daughter the way he has since the two of them started dating. Charles had ended the argument saying that he is breaking the both of them up and does not ever want to see Chess with Bishops ever again and if he catches her with him she'll be sorry then he slammed the door right in Joe's face and that was the end of it. At first Joe was going to report him to the police for threatening his daughter, but decided not to and just keep Chess as far from him as possible. Even if that means keeping her away from Bishops as well. Chess started saying that they're just doing this because they want her to be happy with anypony. But they've seen how Charles is and when he threaten Chess like that they know for certain that he will do something to harm Chess. So they decided that it's just best to keep them away from each no matter how much it hurts them both. And that's it with Nancy's interview.
Finally, the last detective Clarence(unicorn) interviews Bob, but his statement that much for them to go by on. You see Bob only looks after Chess at least once or twice a month. That's because Bob has to work most of time he being a well knowing and respecting police officer. So no one was ever foolish enough to ever trying and mess with Chess while he's around. And every time Bob's taking care of the two girls he always takes them to the park to play and spend time with friends, sometimes meeting new ones. He takes them there for most of the day and at the end drives them back home. But he always waits for either Joe or Nancy to arrive home before he leaves and never leaves the girls by themselves. In fact he had told Joe before that it's not a good idea to leave Chess home by herself, even though she is a very smart girl and knows how to take care of herself and never open the door for strangers. Bob had said that it's not a good idea to leaves kids at home by themselves, even if they're smart and knows what to do. Anything can still happen if left by themselves. But Joe didn't listen he said that they're in a safe neighborhood with very few houses. Most of them, theirs including people have built themselves with their own hands and that they even have a neighborhood watch keeping eyes on everything 24/7. But Bob was still worried about leaving the girls home all by themselves. And from where he's sitting right now, it looks likes he was right to worry. But even though he worried about the more common problems, he had never thought about a possibility of somepony wanting to... kill one of them. Especially not somepony as loving as Chess.
A couple more hours later,
Finishing up with the interviews Joe, Nancy, and Bob are heading out the front door when suddenly Bob's phone rings, it's Jenny! He pressed the ANSWER button and held it up to his ear.
"Hey honey how is everything going with Chess...Really...That's Great! We're just leaving the detective's office we'll be there soon...OK I love you too Bye."
He hung and slid his phone back in his pocket, then turned to faced Joe and Nancy with a huge smile on his face.
"Great news you two! That was Jenny and she said that Chess has just woken up!"
Joe, Nancy, and Bob enter. Jenny is sitting in a chair next to Chess's bed with Sally on her lap. Chess is lying in her bed with an oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose. Bandages wrapped around her arms and wings. Joe can't help but feel guilty, but tries his best to hide it. Nancy is the first to act, she runs up to Chess and hugs her tightly
"Oh Chess I'm so happy you're alive."
Chess tries her best to return the hug while Sally hops up on the bed and hugs her sister too then Joe joins in and wraps his arms and wings around his family. A few seconds tick by and they separate then Joe speaks up
"Chess. Sweetie how do you feel?"
"I feel OK. Just a little tired is all. But I'm fine."
Chess's voice is a little bit low in volume since her lungs are still weak from all the smoke she inhaled. Nancy, Bob and Jenny notice the look in Joe's eyes. They know that Joe has something that he needs to tell Chess and he needs to tell her alone. Nancy puts a hand on Joe's shoulder giving him a soft a reassuring smile
"I believe you two need to have some time alone to talk."
She picks up Sally in her arms and walks out the door, Bob turns to them
"We'll be right outside in the hallway if you need anything."
Then turns back and closes the door behind him. Joe takes a seat in the chair next to his daughter and the two sit there for a moment in silence.
After a few moments Chess start to speak
"Dad...I...It was...Please, it was an accident, really!"
"Chess.."
"Please, I didn't want that. Please, forgive me..."
"Chess..."
"Dad, I'm so so sorry! I-I'm gonna make everyth-"
Joe puts his hand on Chess's cheek to stop her from going on, he looked her in the eyes then pulled her into his arms and wrapped his wings around her and held her there
"Chess...This isn't your fault. You have absolutely nothing to apologize for."
He pulls Chess out of the hug and looks her in the eyes
"I should be the one apologizing. Not just for leaving you alone and not taking you to that Wonderbolts show...But for not recognizing my real mistakes sooner...At first I always thought that I was doing everything right. That I was being a good father. We lived in a house that I built with my own hands. I made sure we had all we ever needed. Even though I always cared about my family...I did everything for you Chess. I...I wanted you to...to be just like me. I've put you under huge pressure because I thought you should be the perfect daughter. I know I always made it seem like you were always a disappoint for me..."
Joe closes his eyes as tears start running down his cheeks
"I-(Sniff!) I know you weren't the perfect daughter...Because...there is no such thing as a perfect daughter...(Sniff!)I-I'm sorry I never realized that sooner. And that I have been treating you so so horribly and I don't care how long it takes! I will do everything it takes to make everything right! I promise you that from this day on things are going to be different. I will be a better father! And I will never treat you the way I have done in the past. I-I-I'll get better I promise...Chess(Sniff!) I will get better."
"Daddy."
Chess lifts her hand up and wipes the tears from her father's eyes
"Please don't cry. It's OK we both made mistakes and we can fix them. Just like you said...we'll get better..the both of us..together. I love you daddy."
Chess scoots closer into her father's arms and snuggles up against his chest, listening to the beats of his heart sighing in content. Joe holds her close and wraps his wings around her. He kisses Chess on her head.