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// Game night 
// Story: Discord is Bored 
// by TheLocoPony 
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Discord had just perfected his new game, now all he needed was some pony to play with. He focused and another version of him appeared some distance away.

It was a simple world he had created for himself in his mind. It was a tropical island surrounded on all sides by the shimmering sea. Palm trees jutted out from the ground and provided excellent shade from the searing sun above. This was all in his mind of course so there was no danger of overheating or getting sun burnt. It was a small island, only around 100 meters in any given direction but that was ideal for creating your own worlds. 

He had got a lot of practice the last thousand years he was trapped in stone but even so this was still his limit for a perfect world. Having a small world allows you to concentrate on the fine details, it makes it a lot more realistic and...homely. If the world was too large then details changed. A small flower might grow several new leaves while he was concentrating on something else, this ruined his illusion of being free and reminded him he was trapped within his own mind. If he had a small world he could keep everything the same and still do something else to help pass the time as his energy grew. That was another thing...Celestia and Luna still had no idea where all his power was coming from, that would be their...

Whoa, whoa. Best not think like that, they could pop in at any moment. 

"Hey, over here" Discord called to his other self.

His other self smiled before disappearing in a blaze of fire, rising again next to him frozen in ice. He still wasn't used to using chaos powers in his mind. Discord rolled his eyes and bashed his head again the ice, shattering it into small pieces which fell as rain to the floor. Of course being Discords world quite a few things were fundamentally wrong with physics but that happened in Equestria when he was around so he could still accept the world as real, which thinking back on it does show an extreme mental instability to be able to convince yourself any world is real, even when you created it yourself

Sub (subconscious) rose groaning and shook his mane, chocolate flying off in random directions. Discord missed chocolate milk. It was his all time favorite of all time, with it's smoothness, and sweetness, and milkiness. He wiped his mouth quickly before he started drooling.

He gave a small cough "Very well, i have devised a new game. Sit down while i explain." A chair appeared and Sub sat down crossing his arms. "It's very simple. You have a board like so" He thought and a chess board appeared. "There are lots of different pieces. This is a pawn, this is a rook, this..."

Sub coughed and held up one paw. Discord gritted his teeth "Yes, what is it?"

Sub took on a smug impression. "It's already been done and it's called chess. In fact you played a version of it only last week! Don't tell me you've forgotten already."

Discord concentrated for a moment and the world around him wobbled and faded away until it was just voices in his head

*

Yes, now that i'm not thinking about the island I can think clearer. That's such a stupid mistake to make. I would be banging my head against a post, you know if i could

This imprisonment is really getting to you isn't it

Yes, but i'm getting out today, if only for a bit.

*

Discord felt the stone slide off his skin. As soon as he regained control he fell to the floor slowly. His body hit the floor before the stone. He felt the patter of rubble on his back. While his face was buried he gave the smallest of smiles. If he judged Luna properly, and he was good at judgement, she should do THIS

He felt a small spark of energy and felt his own reserves increase minutely. This was good, he was slowly building up his own reserve of power given by both Twilight and Luna. Ah but this was only the half the plan. The rest would wait until he built up enough.

He looked up at the cold face above him. Being such a good judge of character, helped with corruption and targeting ponies weakness, he saw the small line of worry on her face.

He got up slowly rubbing his back "Sorry, i'm still having trouble adjusting to the stone." He gave a sneer. Play the blame game.

Luna rolled her eyes and used some of the chains to drag him to his feet. "You've got the evening free. But we'll be watching, closely." She narrowed her eyes.

Discord snorted "Do what you want, or even better, join in!"

Luna groaned "No, we am not going to help you perform chaos."

Discord put a claw to his heart "You wound me Luna! I only meant we should play a game together...chaos chess maybe?"

Luna's eyes practically glowed red "Twilight has told us about this game, and the trick you played."

Discord gritted his teeth "It was a harmless prank. Come on! I won't do it again."

Luna sighed "Very well, our duties do not begin until sunset. We have until then."

Discord grinned widely and crafted a small table from his imagination and brought it into reality. The board was one of the strangest things Luna had ever seen. Instead of squares there were circles and the pieces were just as odd.

Discord coughed and brought forth a 'pawn' which was shaped like a spider. "This is the pawn in this game, it has the same move set as a normal one except it can jump up the roof and drop down on enemies." He waved his hand and rows appeared on both sides forming lines of spiders. Next he summoned forth  two golems. These were stone ponies which were larger and stronger than regular ponies "These act as the rooks. They can go in a straight line either horizontally or vertically and destroy any piece in their way, including your own."

Luna nodded and tried to commit the different pieces to memory. She remembered something of playing this game a few thousand years ago or so, when Discord was just an annoyance in another country. It was quite popular.

Discord continued, holding out a small dragon "These are the cavalry. This time they move five places in one direction, then two in another." The dragon gave a small roar and settled down into position at its respected place. When Luna looked back to Discord he was holding out small cannon. "This piece is not very similar to bishop as it fires 3 squares to any side including diagonals, but only three squares. And now for the final pieces" He placed two pieces in front of Luna. One was, of course, Discord. But the other was unfamiliar. It was a small earth pony with strange swirls for eyes. She had never seen anypony like this before. She raised her eyebrow.

Discord fought hard not to give up and just throw the pieces at her. "I am the king, I move as Celestia does in normal chess. The other is Screwball, you. She, once again, moves as your piece does, except she can absorb other pieces and use their move set as well as hers."

Luna coughed and held up on hoof. Discord sighed "What is it?"

Luna pointed at the small statue of the earth pony "Who or what is 'Screwball'? The others are all creatures we have seen, and met. This, Screwball, does not ring a bell."

Discord raised his eyebrows in surprise. They truly did not know of Screwball?

Then she was safe.

He smiled brightly "Oh she was a strange creature of chaos, not unlike myself who lived a long long time ago. She doesn't exist nowadays." While he kept Luna's attention on him he subtly morphed the small statue until it looked just enough that Luna wouldn't notice the difference, but would would also stop her recognising her in real life. The little Screwball looked up and giggled silently.

Luna gave a smug grin and settled down. All those thousands of years of video games had made her very, very competitive.

Discord put one paw on a piece and returned the smile "Ready?"

Luna narrowed her eyes "Go on"





The spider piece crawled forwards, threatening Discords Canon. He scowled as he realised he was trapped. An idea came to him.

"Why don't we spice things up a little?" He clicked the claws of his right hand. At once Luna's spider transformed into bat and flew off.

Luna whipped her head around and glared daggers at Discord. "What was that for, we were winning!"

Discord gave a dark chuckle "New rules. Every turn something random happens. Have fun" And moved his piece forwards. it exploded, destroying two other pieces of his. He looked up to see Luna suppressing a laugh. 

He huffed and crossed his arms. Luna then shifted a golem forwards, running over two of her own but three of Discord's pieces. A spider on both teams turned into cupcakes.

Discord moved himself sideways and out of the current danger, straight into the path of Luna's trap.

Luna gave an evil smile as she moved her piece forwards. "Check mate."

Discord spluttered and looked closer. True enough his piece was cornered on all side. It looked up at him and shrugged. He sighed and lent backwards. "Very well, you win" And held out his paw.

Luna looked at it dubiously before shaking it. An almost invisible spark of energy passed through.

"Well played Discord. It has been far too long since we have played that game with anypony" Luna nodded

Discord made a pleading face "Rematch?"

Luna rolled her eyes "The time for night has come, and we must raise the moon. Maybe next time" She turned to walk away.

Discord groaned "And when will that be?"

Luna frowned "We will check up on you again soon. I know how it feels to be trapped for a thousand years with no pony." She walked off as the stone reclaimed Discord

Discord was surprised. He had forgotten about that. Now this was interesting.