//------------------------------//
// The Chessboard 
// Story: Darth Edris 
// by AntiBronyBenSwolo 
//------------------------------//

The sun lowered once more on a bright and sunny day, bringing forth a dark and mysterious night. Celestia watched over the city of Canterlot as the little ponies down below surrendered all their faith to the Princess of the Sun. Celestia pitied them, as they were ignorantly bliss of a dark truth. She headed back over to her throne, facing her seat, and began facing the two royal guards behind her.

“Leave me,” Princess Celestia quietly demanded as the Royal Guards left the doors to the throne room unguarded and went to guard something else. Celestia took a deep breath and focused on her horn. Her horn lit up its usual golden glow as it surrounded the royal throne of herself and her sister. As her magic took hold of her throne, Celestia’s magic changed from gold to purple, and Celestia’s eyes began glowing green, as she unleashed a powerful bit of Dark Magic on the throne. The Dark Magic activated a secret contraption that opened a secret passageway underneath the throne. Celestia took a deep breath to hold herself together as she went down the secret corridor, with the contraption closing behind her.

The passageway was carved in nothing but stones and obsidian and was lit up by ominous blood-red torches, crackling and snapping at the air around them. The passageway led deep, deep, deep into the mountain Canterlot Palace was constructed on, until it led to a large corridor, lit up by more blood-red torches, and protected by strange-looking soldiers. Not anything like Celestia’s royal guards, but instead donned ruby-red armor obscuring anything including their faces, decorated by amethyst-colored cloaks, and wielding large black spears that looked like they’ve seen their fair share of battle, unlike the Royal Guard’s spears themselves.

Celestia passed these guards and walked a mysterious carpet, leading up to an ominous and dark throne, decorated in black and gold, highlighted in red, purple, and yellow. Suddenly, shadows surrounded Celestia and the throne, circling the ominous seat as the strange fog then formed a strange-looking pony. She was Twilight’s size, with a frightening horn and bat wings, blazing yellow eyes that reminded Celestia of candles, had a navy-blue mane almost similar to Luna’s except had hints of dark orange in there, reminding Celestia of a Nebula in space, rather than the night sky, and wore robes of purple, maroon, and black.

“Celestia, my friend. How pleasant to see you again,” The pony spoke up. Celestia almost froze up and began to bow to the pony.

“You summoned me, Lord Edris?” Celestia asked as she walked down the throne to pick up Celestia’s chin.

“Now, now, Celestia, you didn’t need to bow to me like that. I’ll save that for everypony else,” Edris remarked as Princess Celestia got up from bowing down. Darth Edris and Celestia walked over to the other room to the left of the throne, which was decorated with a large cauldron in the center, with magical relics and scientific devices scoured all over the place, like if a wicked witch and a mad scientist married one another.

“Now, what news do you have of Queen Chrysalis?” Darth Edris asked, pulling out a chessboard with pieces all over the place.

“Your plan was a complete success. Our capture motivated Starlight Glimmer and Thorax to overthrow Chrysalis, and now the Changelings are a close ally instead of an enemy,” Celestia informed as Darth Edris moved a white bishop piece resembling Starlight, and then a black pawn resembling a changeling, and then a white pawn resembling Thorax to the edge of the board, turning it into a queen piece, with both Starlight and Thorax’s pieces surrounding Queen Chrysalis as the king piece unable to move.

“And that would be checkmate. You have done well, Celestia,” Darth Edris said, giving Celestia her praise as the Sun Princess breathed a sigh of relief.

“There’s just one more thing,” Edris said, causing Celestia to freeze up in worry. What mad plan had Darth Edris conjured up this time for Celestia to have to endure, or to force Twilight to endure? Instead, Edris took a white pawn piece resembling Fluttershy, to the edge of the board, turning it into another queen piece. It had no effect on the chess game at hand, as it was already over, but Celestia knew Edris well and knew what she was trying to say.

“What have you done to poor Fluttershy this time? Haven’t you given her enough trouble already?” Celestia asked as Edris cleared her throat.

“For once, I didn’t do anything. Instead, she unleashed a powerful blast of Force Energy on her own on her changeling kidnappers. She’s now aware of her connection to the Force, which is just one step closer to her becoming my apprentice,” Edris explained as Celestia was now annoyed at Darth Edris, but still worried for the poor pony’s future.

“So, what next? You just yank her out of bed and bring her here?” Celestia asked as Edris used her magic to make a new chess game, this time with Fluttershy as the white king piece, and with herself as the black king piece.

You know me too well to know I wouldn’t just straight up kidnap someone. If Fluttershy were to disappear in the middle of the night, it wouldn’t be without a trace, and then our secret which we’ve worked so hard to keep would be exposed,” Darth Edris explained as Celestia stared down the smaller alicorn.

“Besides, it looks as though she decided to keep her Force Sensitivity a secret from her friends, which inadvertently keeps us safe. We’ll play the long game like we always do,” Edris explained, moving a white pawn forward, and then a black pawn forward. Celestia wished to leave now but still had other things on her mind.

“You wish to know about Twilight’s future, don’t you? And how this fits into my plan,” Darth Edris sighed as Celestia reluctantly nodded.

“Very well. When the time comes, you and your sister will retire, placing Twilight on the throne. When that happens, she will not only take your place as ruler of Equestria but a valuable piece which I need to help achieve my checkmate,” Darth Edris explained, picking up the black queen piece, showing Celestia how much it resembled Twilight. Celestia wished to object but knew it wouldn’t go well if she did. With Celestia having little to no objection, Darth Edris placed Twilight’s queen piece back in its position.

“What’s our next move?” Celestia asked as Darth Edris levitated a scroll with her magic.

“You are to wait for the Storm King’s invasion. When that happens, you are to feign capture and lead Twilight and her friends to venture outside of Equestria to rescue it,” Darth Edris instructed as she used her magic to send the scroll away.

“You are dismissed, my friend,” Darth Edris said as Princess Celestia left her secret lair the way she came. Edris turned to the cauldron and faced the deathly green substance in the cauldron. Her horn lit up a yellow-ish red and sent a spark of fire into the cauldron, sending green smoke across the room, creating a sort of mirror for Darth Edris to watch anything from afar. The mirror then showed Fluttershy, returning home from what everyone, both changeling and pony thought, was the medal ceremony, and sleeping in her nice warm bed. Edris chuckled because she already knew the truth. A much larger truth that Fluttershy only understood a small part of.

“Oh, sweet little Fluttershy. Do not fret, for I have come with news,” Edris spoke into the mirror as if she were speaking to Fluttershy through, though the mirror did not act as a form of communication.

“The day is coming soon when you will finally embrace your powers and join me at my side. Too long have you been overlooked, cast aside by others, and otherwise mocked by those insufferable children who dare bully you, and even by your closest friends. They can never understand you now. Not in the way I understand you,” the Sith Lord monologued as Fluttershy slept silently in the night.

“And besides, I’ve come to congratulate you on discovering your power. I’ve even been contemplating helping you unlock those powers on my own terms, but the risk of being caught by others was too great. And really? The wait was worth it in the end,” Edris continued, fiddling around with the surrounding green fog creating the mirror.

“And, to be honest, I don’t mind letting you be a Jedi for a little while. It’s much better for a great hero to become twisted and corrupted than it is to start that way. Those who have fallen end up having a greater philosophy of the world for their failures. And by corrupting you, I’ll have not only a strong student but a wise one as well,” Darth Edris finished monologuing, outstretching her hoof, almost trying to offer it to her. In a sudden moment, Fluttershy tossed and turned, and then gasped in the middle of the night. Edris grasped a cylindrical hilt on her hip and cut the mirror in a flash of light, as if Fluttershy could have seen her through the haunted window, quickly replacing the glow of the green fog with the red of Edris’ lightsaber. Darth Edris took a deep breath and deactivated her lightsaber, placing it back on her hip.



Fluttershy gasped and looked out the window. Angle Bunny hopped onto her bed as Fluttershy pat the top of his fuzzy little white head. Fluttershy then looked outside as the moon was still hanging high, and then checked the time on her clock: 10:30 PM. Angel nudged his head up against her, checking to see if she was alright.

“Ye--yeah. I’m alright, Angel Bunny. I just got the strangest feeling, like somepony's been watching me. And I’ve never felt so cold before either,” Fluttershy explained as Angel laid down on Fluttershy’s lap to calm her down. It always did seem to do the trick, in case it was just a nightmare.

“Yeah. Maybe you’re right Angel. Maybe it is just my imagination. Then again, after everything I’ve been through lately, maybe it wasn’t,” Fluttershy worried, staring once more at the moon, and then returning to her deep slumber, hoping for some nice dreams.



“You’ve taken your first step into a larger world. And you’ll just see how much larger this world is to yours in due time, my young apprentice,” Darth Edris commented as she laid her lightsabers down in her workroom and went off to her bed to get a long night’s rest of her own.