//------------------------------// // Chapter Nineteen: When Chess Becomes Awesome // Story: That One Time: Celestia and Luna Married the Mane Six // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// Chapter Nineteen: When Chess Becomes Awesome Written by TheCrimsonDM It was some minutes later that Celestia had left the room with Cadance and Twilight. In all her years, in all her time, she had only managed to do that to one other pony, who also happened to be a virgin before Celestia’s arrival. To say she was mortified would be an understatement. To say she was not still thinking of the grape flavored pony and the tiny rump being squeezed in her wing would be a lie… Celestia liked it.  Deep down she knew she shouldn’t have enjoyed it. Yet for all she wanted to think, she could not deny just how much she enjoyed the feeling of Twilight against her. Still making the poor thing vomit from an overeager makeout session was far too humiliating to think of. At least Cadance could take the time to explain to Twilight what just happened as Celestia went to brush her teeth. Which was the first thing she did, pancakes only tasted good the first time you ate them. After brushing her teeth and still feeling far too embarrassed to show her face to Twilight again she made her way around the castle looking for something to distract her. There were a few options that an upset and disturbed princess could do. Playing chess was one of them. Lucky for her she had a friendly partner waiting for her about this time of day. Even today knowing that the marriage was underway she could still find him on one of the balconies. Fancy Pants was found near the Canterlot gardens around this time of day looking for any would be opponents. Celestia of course being given the first and primary rights of challenge. Next to her would have been Luna but after their last game, which involved turning all of the staff into living chess pieces, Celestia had put a temporary ban on Luna’s chess games. For now she found him at the chess set having just finished a match with a mare who scoffed at him as she left nose turned up in what had clearly been an easy win for him. Celestia joined him across the table and he smiled up at her. “Princess Celestia, what a pleasure it is to see you here. And I fancied you may be busy with your lonely brides.” Celestia smiled as she watched the table being reset for a match with her. “Of course I have many things to see to before the wedding but I value our games very much.” Fancy Pants smiled. “You get the first turn.” She moved a piece looking almost absent minded as she did. “So, tell me how things are going in the high society these days. It’s been some time since I’ve been around them.” He laughed. “It’s been a week, Princess Celestia. I know high society can change a lot in a short time but it does not change that quickly without good reason too.” Celestia watched him move a pawn. She matched his move with her own. “Do you suppose there might be such a reason in the near future?” “Well there are some changes going on in the royal palace. When that happens the nobles tend to follow suit with changes of their own. Some are already speaking of the possibility of herds becoming popular again.” Celestia kept her frown inside and maintained the friendly smile on her face. Outside of certain company she needed to maintain a certain appearance no matter how displeasing a sentence might be. At this point she feared even if she stopped the wedding now the nobles might still start marrying in mass and if that happened she knew inbreeding was only a step away. Those ponies, she swore, were the worst when it came to wanting to sleep with their own brother. Even Twilight, who by every right was a noble was… just as bad as the rest of them. Several moves later she began to see a pattern to Fancy Pants motions. “So, what do you think of our wedding?” “It is not my place to question anything you or Princess Luna do. For me, I am simply happy with the way life is now. I’m sure once things calm down in a few years time things will work themselves back to normalcy somehow.” That was at least a little reassuring.  He added as he moved his queen into an odd position, one that made it vulnerable to her knight. “So you don’t think the other members of the upper-class will stay with herds.” He laughed as his queen was taken down. “Of course not. These ponies can hardly stand even one pony in the same house for more than it takes to make some lifelong regrets. Having more than that is only going to cause problems.” Celestia's smile grew. “Well that sounds reassuring somehow.” Fancy Pants moved a rook into place and smiled. “Of course we never know the state of the future. Also, checkmate.” Celestia stared at the board. There was no way out of this. She had just committed to actions that saw to her defeat and was stuck with the consequences of such. She shook her head. “Well at least it was a good game.” “It always is, Princess Celestia.”  Once the game was finished Fancy Pants took his leave. Celestia thought maybe she could rest here for a little. In the garden courtyards surrounded by the hedges, the flowers, and the empty place where Discords statue had once stood.  It was peaceful, quiet and a rainbow fell from the sky and landed in front of her on the other side of the table. Celestia blinked a few times as Rainbow Dash sat there staring at the chess table with a confused look in her eyes. Her mane was frazzled and the feathers on her wings looked out of place. There were traces of lipstick smeared on her cheek and eyeliner smeared on her eye. “So… how do you play this?” Celestia continued to stare.  Rainbow Dash eventually looked up. “What?” With a sigh Celestia’s horn began to glow and a washcloth was summoned from thin air as well as a hairbrush. “I will teach you how to play, but stand still for a moment.” She cleaned the half finished makeup off of Rainbow Dash’s face and worked on brushing the mare’s mane. Meanwhile she was also focusing on preening the feathers a little to make them more approachable. It reminded her of when Twilight first got her wings, the poor thing had no idea how to preen and Celestia spent hours a day for a couple of weeks teaching her what she would have been taught for years if born as a pegasus. Rainbow Dash’s face was a bright shade of pink the whole time. Once Celestia was finished and Rainbow Dash was back to her normal self Celestia smiled. “Looking cool, Rainbow Dash.” She grinned. “Thanks. Last time I let Rarity trick me like that.” She looked back at the chessboard. “So… what do I do to win?” Celestia laughed. “Alright, alright. Let me teach you how to play and you can tell me all about what the big bad Rarity did to make your mane and face such a mess.” “Deal.” Celestia spent the better part of the next thirty minutes explaining the pieces and showing Rainbow Dash how they moved and how you were supposed to win. Once she had an idea of the rules they set forth to play their first game. While playing Celestia made sure to keep mental notes on everything, after all she just might need it and it might somehow prove useful for her escape. “So,” Rainbow Dash began as she moved a pawn. “Rarity said she wanted to help me get laid, so I went with her to her room. What she didn’t tell me was that she and Pinkie Pie were working together to tie me up and use me as a doll to put makeup on. I mean, gross right?” Celestia smiled as she followed Rainbow Dash’s example and moved her own pawn. “I personally think you’re beautiful without the need for makeup. You have a natural and rugged beauty.” “Thanks!” Rainbow Dash’s chest puffed up with pride. She moved another pawn. “I tried to say that, I was all like, I’m too cool for makeup, you're ruining my coolness. My cool factor was being dropped like the temperature in the frozen north. I mean, how uncool is that?” Celestia smiled moving one of her pawns. “Pretty uncool if you ask me.” “Yeah, and then she tried saying, ‘but if you want to get Celestia or Luna to notice your beauty you need to accent it.’ Like my beauty or whatever doesn’t need an accent, that’s what Applejack has.” A small laugh escaped Celestia as she moved a pawn to follow Rainbow’s obsessing with moving all of her pawns first. Even though she noticed the attention of a few ponies who were visiting the courtyard she ignored it. “You’re quite right you know, you are beautiful just the way you are. All of you are in fact, but I do know mares can be so obsessed with such things.” Rainbow Dash moved her final pawn. “Do you like wearing makeup?” “After a thousand years of life, not particularly, no. At some point you stop caring for personal beauty so much as you start caring for reputation.” “Yeah well my reputation is all about being-“ “-Cool.” Celestia finished. Rainbow Dash looked up and met Celestia’s eyes. “Uh… yeah…” her cheeks began to turn a little pink and she returned to the table moving her knight. She moved it like a rook and after a quick correction she fixed her mistake and moved it appropriately. Celestia smiled. “I think you are probably the coolest pony in the castle right now. No matter what any of these nobles think of themselves.” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Glad you could see it. You're pretty too you know.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Pretty huh?” “Pretty cool I mean.” Rainbow Dash’s face grew increasingly pink by the second. “And yeah… pretty, pretty too I guess.” Celestia moved her rook. “Well I’m glad you think so.” Rainbow Dash moved her queen leaving her king wide open. “You know I have no intention of listening to Twilight.” Celestia smiled. “As you shouldn’t. You are your own mare, you should make your own ‘cool’ decisions.” Celestia moved her queen next and smiled. “Checkmate.” “That means I lost right?” “Yes, yes it does.” Rainbow Dash shrugged, and then a wicked grin spread across her lips. “Well I guess I get to make my own choices right? Just like in this game?” Celestia nodded. “I have always found chess to be a good metaphor.” Rainbow Dash hovered into the air with a few flaps of her wings. “Thanks… guess I got to give the winner a prize now.” Celestia shook her head. “No need to do that, this is just a friendly game between fiancés and friends.” Rainbow Dash’s grin widened. “Yeah, but I’m choosing to do that.” “Oh, then what would you give me as a-“ Rainbow Dash bolted forward, her lips met Celestia’s. It was nowhere near as furious or as passionate a kiss as the one with Twilight. It lasted for more than a few seconds but not long enough for Celestia to lose control again, not that she would. Rainbow Dash pulled away. “Wow, minty fresh. You really are good at chess, ten steps ahead and all that.” No, no she wasn’t. She just didn’t want to taste Twilight’s stomach contents all day. The howl of a screaming banshee sounded from nearby. Everypony that was currently ogling Celestia and Rainbow Dash after the kiss suddenly looked to the entrance of the castle. Celestia and Rainbow Dash followed their gaze. She feared Twilight had seen this and lost what little of her self-control she had. Instead, it was Rarity marching toward her with a rope levitated in one aura and a makeup bag in the other.  Rarity nearly screamed as a poor guard was trying to hold her rear leg back but being dragged across the ground by the overzealous mare. “Rainbow Awesome Dash! You run away from my experimentation just to go play hookie with the princess! She is our bride and you should only kiss her after you are dressed up and look appropriate! Now come back here this instant!” Rainbow Dash blew a kiss to Celestia and with a single flap of her wings vanished into the sky leaving a rainbow trail behind revealing that she was heading back inside. Rarity screamed and Celestia actually saw a cocktail glass nearby behind held by a noble shatter in response. Rarity turned and galloped back inside. The poor guard being dragged behind.  He pleaded with Princess Celestia. “Rainbow Dash said I had to hold her back, please help me!” As those two disappeared back into the castle, Celestia couldn’t help it. She began laughing.