//------------------------------// // Chessmasters // Story: Spoiled Fruit // by RazgrizS57 //------------------------------// So close. He had been so, so close. He just took one step too few, and that’s all she needed to get through his defenses and strike him down. One heavy blow from a staff ablaze with righteous flame, an explosion of ice and hissing steam, and her own body shoved into his, forcing them both end over end into the glacier. But once he had finally regained the strength to move, he found himself bound, imprisoned in cold glass. And he had been so, so close to doing the same to her. If only he’d been one mere step to the right, it would be her helm sitting atop a pike in the frozen wastelands of the north, not his. He danced around his small cell, which was a rather generous word for the thing. Calling it a container would be more accurate. A box—a jar tucked away into the darkest corner of some lightless basement. A broken toy to be dealt with later and inevitably forgotten. He had nothing anymore, really, and that’s all he amounted to here. He had had it all with only everything to gain, and now he was but nothing. He pondered for the umpteenth time how she would look in his situation, stuffed into a jar a fraction of her size. It’d probably look well above the grand mantle of his castle’s study. If his castle still stood, that was. If she hadn’t razed it to the ground like he intended to do hers. He had been so, so close. He had spent his time here for an eternity before at last, a light flooded the chamber. Fresh air breathed into the room, stirring long-settled dust and cracking open the dry atmosphere. It would have blinded him if he had eyes to see, but it at least gave color to his swirling mass. The light bounced around inside him and poured back out into the room, basking the dreary stonework room with a faded shade of blue. It was Princess Celestia’s first time here in ages. The air was thick in her lungs and it seemed to make heavy her steps. Although, that might have been her reluctance at play. No matter; of all the encounters she’s had over the millennia, of all the monsters she’s faced and burdens she’d had to carry, what would follow would be a pleasant change of pace. That didn’t mean she was going to enjoy it, however. She never enjoyed dealing with these creatures. She made sure the door behind her was once again sealed, and so the only light in the room was the gentle glow of her horn. However, his swirling mass still created a very faint blue, which sparkled like a blanket of stars. Princess Celestia steeled herself, taking stand in the middle of the room, and then released him from his confinement. Instantly, the temperature in the room dropped well below freezing. There was no moisture in the air, and yet ice spawned along the cracks in the walls, building on top of itself, until the room quickly resembled a snowy cave. Everywhere except for a small pocket immediately surrounding Princess Celestia, which remained warm and untouched. He poured out of his container like a fog, coalescing into a form that resembled that of a ghost. His lower half turned to cloud and bled into the air, whereas his top took solid form and resembled a grotesquely scrawny stallion. The skin was stiff as if embalmed and his features were grossly elongated, and his eye sockets were hollow and glowed a blinding white. “You windigos always know how to make an entrance,” Princess Celestia said. Wisps of frost licked at her just to fizzle apart mere inches away. “If only I could say the same of you, Celestia,” he growled, his voice seeming to come out of the very air itself. It echoed and scratched along the icy walls. “But I suppose you are too cunning for that, now.” “Still bitter?” she asked. He danced through the air and between the room’s various corners. “For what, the destruction of all I once held dear? For stuffing me inside this tiny thing?” he asked, turning towards the container that once held him. His tendrils wrapped around and spilled into it, then grabbed at the rim and pulled. It shattered into a cloud of glass and ice. “Perhaps. But no, I do not think I am bitter. Just impatient.” “Would you like to take a guess as to why I’m here, then?” Celestia offered with a kind smile. The windigo stopped its dancing and hovered just above the floor. He was easily twice Celestia’s size, and could probably hold her head in a single hoof if he could. Unfortunately, her little spell was preventing him from getting close. And yet, she had released him from that accursed jar. “I cannot imagine you are just going to let me go,” he mused. “Of course not,” Celestia said. “I have every intention of imprisoning you again, in fact, but not here. You’ll be getting transferred to a specially designed hold in Tartarus, just for you.” There was a pause as he picked from the thoughts in his mind. “However...” “Perhaps a bit of an explanation is in order, first,” she said, and a spark erupted under her hooves. It quickly transformed into an elegant throw pillow which she then sat down on. “Luna and I have recently taken an initiative to reform our various enemies, to see if we can’t at all instill a bit of harmony into their malicious selves.” She closed her eyes. “Unfortunately, there are some who are beyond reason and redemption. So long as they remain a threat to Equestria and the world at large, we can’t tolerate their presence in this realm, and so we’ve started banishing them to the depths of Tartarus.” “I concede the point,” he hissed. “It is a wise decision, even if the ethics behind it are questionable at best.” “That is something we’ve had to consider,” she said, nodding. She looked up at him. “However, it should be noted that at the worst, very few would oppose the idea, especially when the subjects of that question are brought to light. Nonetheless, we can’t in good conscious just oust you without some form of reparation. So, Luna and I have decided to grant these... stubborn characters a wish. A last request, if you will.” He paused again in thought. “For anything?” “Within reason.” “Interesting,” the windigo mused. “And what makes you think I cannot be... reformed?” “Your siblings had every chance, but refused our kind approaches and responded with bloodlust.” Celestia blinked at him. “Would you really like to give it a shot?” He stirred. “My siblings...” he mumbled, and then slowly let out a hearty chuckle. It pounded against her like a stone to chest. “Those fools were always so dense and narrow minded,” he said. “I was always the quiet one, calculating, cautious. I suppose that was my downfall, was it not?” Celestia stared quietly at him. He snorted. “Dare I ask what has become of them?” “Pavor possessed my sister a thousand years ago and attempted to plunge the world into eternal night. I banished him then, and he returned in recent years only to suffer the same fate—this time, free of his clutches on my sister.” “My condolences,” he said. Celestia continued, “Sombra took over your kingdom shortly after I had initially defeated you, enslaved the populace, and tipped over the balance of harmony. When my sister and I struck him down, he took the kingdom with him. Once he resurfaced, again recently, he was destroyed by the crystal heart. The kingdom now lives prosperously as an Equestrian vassal.”