"Yes, well, thy mother is so dumb, she put lipstick upon her head to make-up her mind," Check Mate retorted to his filly friend. Twilight groaned, steam billowing in columns from each of her nostrils. She rubbed her temple with one hoof before looking up to see that at long last, they had finally reached their destination.
"Ugh... Why am I helping you again?" Twilight asked.
"Thy ruler ordered thou to assist me in my quest. I would thinketh it be in thy best interest to follow," Check Mate responded, clueless to the rhetorical aspect of the question.
Twilight brought a hoof to her face and groaned once more. "Ugh, just forget it. Anyway, welcome to Ponyville, here's where you'll be staying until we find your, what did you say you were missing again?"
Check Mate crossed his arms and pointed at each of his shoulders. "Mine Rook piece and King piece beith missing from atop mine shoulders," he pronounced. "But tell-est me again how being in this peasant town is to helpeth me in my quest?"
"You are being very rude!" the purple pony princess yelled at Check Mate. "But if you have to know, this is where my friends and I live. If I can get the five of them to help look for your chess pieces, we can find them faster, and you'll be out of our manes by the end of the day." She huffed, her gentle hoofsteps now becoming heavy stomps, indenting the soft loomy soil beneath her hooves.
"And you knowest for certain that what I seek can be found so easily?" the horse-man asked.
"Judging by your position on the mountain, assuming you fell from the very top of the mountain, what you're looking for should be either in or around Canterlot," Twilight responded. "Canterlot is close enough to Ponyville that we can afford to at least get some extra help."
Twilight slowed to a halt, Check Mate following closely behind as the both of them reached her tree home that doubled as a library for the town. "Now, you stay here and I'll explain to my friends what's going on." She began trotting once again, away from the tree now. "I don't want you scaring the town. Stay. Put."
Check Mate breathed heavily from his snout. "Twilight Sparkle! I shall not be left alone to sit inside an oversized plant! I demand that you taketh me with thee so that I may deem whether your 'friends' shall be useful in my quest!" Twilight seemed to ignore him, just walking away. He could not see it but her horn glowed a bright pink, and a small stick floated up behind him glowing the same pink colour. It tapped him on the back, inviting him to turn around. He did so, and it gave him a swift smack on the face. He flinched, though his expression did not change.
Check Mate huffed and sat down in front of the 'Golden Oak Library' (according to the sign in front). "I shall not take orders from a woman, be she of my own race, or otherwise." Check Mate shoved his large body off the ground with his muscular arms, allowing his horse legs to lift him up into a full standing position. Looking around, he made an attempt to find a good place to start searching for any of his missing chess pieces. He remembered that the mare had mentioned that he had fallen from atop a mountain. If so, that was the first place he would looks. The wrestler beamed at his surroundings in search of said mountain. To the north-east of the small village he was let in, a large snowy peak sat hiding behind the tops of houses in the distance. That was where he decided to go.
As he began trotting in that direction, a trio of young, small fillies zipped passed him as fast as the wrestler Eskara of the d.M.p. This caught him by surprise and caused him to jump. At least it would have had Check Mate had any noticeable emotions. He did not, and therefore continued walking, but was forced to soon stop when he realized that the three foals that had sped by him were standing in front of him, blocking his path and staring at him.
"What be-ith thy problem, children? Begone, or thou shall be trampled beneath mine hooves as I continue forth," he stated. They did not move. Instead, one of them spoke up.
"You look weird, mister."
The one on the right, whose coat was orange and whose mane was a darker shade of pink. She had a small pair of wings on her back and a confused look on her face. Check Mate looked down at the pony.
"Thou looketh stranger than any quine I hath met. Maybe not as strange as the three claiming to be of royal decent, but a pair of wings upon a horse be-ith verily strange."
The child scrunched her nose and ruffled her brow. One of the other two, the yellow one in the middle then said, "You talk weird to." There was a hint of an accent in her voice, similar to that of Terry 'The Grand' Kenyon.
"I could say he same about thou. Accents of the country have always escaped me. The way I speak is more normal than thou speaketh." The girl frowned. He looked to the third one, a white one with a mane of pink and purple and eyes of green. "What about thee? Dost thou wish to maketh fun of mine colour? What about the lack of chess pieces that normally grace my shoulders?"
She looked confused, but eventually spoke with a high, squeaky voice. "No. I think you look cute. Like a teddy bear."
"Thou decides to insult me by comparing me to a children's toy? How darest thee, I am a strong and manly wrestler!" He struck a pose, light seeming to shine from behind him. He looked back at the three fillies who were still staring at him, not moving. Check Mate decide to ignore the three and continue forth towards the mountain. He had much more important matters to attend to that three young girls.
He continued trotting along on his way, thinking nothing of the bothersome girls that had blocked his path mere moments ago and began reminiscing of the past.
"Come on, Check Mate my boy, you need to learn to fight of your own abilities! You need to fight without your wondrous powers!" yelled Sunshine, foster father to the young orphan boy whose dark pink helmet obscured his hair. "You need to become invincible!" His gravelly voice was muffled by the rain.
"Feel the burn, bun the feeling, feel the burn, burn the feeling," young Check Mate whispered to himself as his left arm and right leg were being bitten and pulled in opposite directions by a pair of black wolves. He flexed his young, undeveloped stomach muscles and twisted around, throwing each of the wolves off balance. When one tried to get up, he stepped on its throat and pressed his foot down hard. The other made jumped at him, making an attempt to save its brother from the small human. Check Mate merely punched the wolf in the muzzle, breaking all of its teeth and somehow managing to kill it instantly. "Feel the burn, burn the feeling..."
"Where are ya goin'?" asked a voice from beside Check Mate's ear. This awoke him from his daydream, startling him, as very few things could do. The yellow one with the bow was sitting on his shoulder, smiling at him. In fact, he felt another one sitting on his back and saw that the orange one was walking beside him, her legs moving very quickly in an attempt to keep up with his stride. He stopped.
"What art thou doing? Why dost thou insist on pestering me whilst I quest forward?" Check Mate responded, picking up the pony with his large arms and placing her on the ground. Only then did he notice that she was wearing a bow in her heir. Not that it mattered to him.
"Ooooh! What are you questing for? Is it for your cutie mark?" asked the one on his back. He could tell by her voice that it was the white one.
"We don't have our cutie marks either," said the orange one, "Can we come with you? Maybe we can all get our cutie marks in questing!"
Check Mate stopped abruptly, knocking off balance the pony that rested on his back. "What is this 'cutie mark' of which thy speaketh?" He shook his horsey head and put a hand to his face. "Never mindeth. I care not. What I do care for is that if thou truly insist upon following me wherever I go, thou shalt keepeth quiet. Dost thou understand?"
They nodded.
"What's with your body?"
"You don't know what a cutie mark is?"
"Why are you so big?"
"Can I stand on your back again?"