Pony chess headcanon · 8:30am Nov 16th, 2016
Tiny thing for a post. Typing up the second chapter to my second fanfic now. Still not going to be out anytime real soon, but at least there is forward progress. Since it's a chess scene that doesn't actually have any spelled out chess moves I don't really get a chance to put in what I think a ponyfied traditional chess layout is.
The two sides are night and day instead of white and black.
Two princesses instead of queen and king. Not sure how to distinguish them. Or maybe you don't? I don't have this worked out in detail.
From the inside outward:
Unicorns for the bishops.
Pegasi for the knights.
Earth Ponies for the rooks.
Pawns are... I actually think that pawns would vary between cultures and places. Like, the pawns are whatever the local army/militia are. Unicornia would have used unicorns for instance. Modern sets might come with three sets of pawns, or maybe just five of each type for players to mix and match.
There eas a very interesting game I saw. "Point" based like Chinese Checkers.
If you've got a sun side and a moon side, then there's no reason to have two princesses on each. Perhaps you'd have a Princess instead of a King, and a Student instead of a Queen.
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Well, I was trying to have close equivalents for the earth-prime pieces. King and Queen would translate into Princess and Princess. But the idea of Princess and Student is a really good one.
Personally, I've long been a fan of the idea that the ponies play Sun and Moon instead, and that it has essentially the same role in Equestrian society and culture as chess does in ours.