//------------------------------// // 7 - Recipe For Victory! // Story: V for Victory, V for Victini! // by zelkova48 //------------------------------// Sugarcube Corner, 20 minutes earlier Pinkie woke up with a bright smile on her face and messy bedhead to start off her day. She was feeling pretty good considering all that happened yesterday. She'd beaten the odds and challenged fate all at once with a sudden burst of courage and confidence that came from seemingly out of nowhere. She'd guessed that it was some sort of hidden power that she didn't know about that was really inside of her all along. It seemed plausible of a theory, so she just rolled with it. She got up, or more appropriately, sprang out of bed and hopped to the lavatory where she brushed her teeth and brushed her ridiculous fluffy mane. She took extra care when it came to brushing her teeth, making sure to get both the front and the back and getting some very thorough flossing in between her gums. She may have loved sweets, but if all her pearly whites fall out of her mouth how is she going to properly enjoy food? After one final spit and rinse, she gingerly sped down the kitchen where it was eerily quiet. The Cakes weren't around, not even the twins. She looked around and found that there was a little note that was held up on the nearby fridge by a magnet. She walked over and read aloud the note. Dear, Pinkie Pie Sorry to leave you all alone here on such short notice. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake started to sneeze a lot this morning and their father began to have a panic attack about their health. So we both took them down to the doctor's office for a quick checkup and closed up the bakery for the time being. It may take a while, so please behave yourself while we are away. We'll probably be back around noonish. Love, Cupcake P.S. try not to set the kitchen on fire again, dear. We all remember what happened the last time we left you alone here. Pinkie read the note some more and found that there was an arrow drawn onto it. She followed the arrow and it came to a picture that the Cakes used to file their insurance claim. In the background, it depicted a burning Sugarcube Corner as the Ponyville weather team desperately tried to put it out. In the foreground, you could see a devastated Carrot Cake as he cried a river of tears while his wife comforted him. Next to the couple was none other than Pinkie who had a charred birthday cake in her hooves. Pinkie blushed as she remembered that particularly embarrassing moment of her life. it was Granny Smith's birthday, and she had baked her a birthday cake while the Cakes were away on a short errand, leaving her all alone with the party guests. Given how old Granny Smith was, Pinkie went and placed the appropriate amount of candles on it to represent her age. The rest was pretty self explanatory. Thankfully the damage wasn't as severe as most thought it to be. Shaking away he sheepish thoughts, Pinkie turned around and made herself some breakfast before busting out into full party mode. With blinding speed, she swept across the main foyer of Sugarcube Corner like a pink blur and set up streamers, balloons, and a mini buffet of snacks with a chocolate fountain up on the side of the room. She stopped to dust off her hooves and smiled proudly at her work. But the one thing that she admired the most was the big sign that hung over the ceiling. On it read: WELCOME TO PONYVILLE VICTINI! "Yep, the little guy will definitely love this" she said as he placed on her apron "But not as much as he's gonna love the macarons I gonna bake for him" she sung. Without missing a beat, she ran back into the kitchen and began to make Victini's favorite treat. She made sure that she had all of her ingredient and waited for that special inner power to kick in. "Alright! Macaron making powers, go!" she shouted. But nothing happened! "Um...Okay. Not what I was expecting..." said Pinkie as she furrowed her brow. She'd expected a tingly sensation before entering into a state of extreme concentration as she went on a macaron making frenzy "Oh! I got it! Macaron making powers, activate!" again, nothing significant happened "Huh, weird. How about... it's macaron time!" she shouted once more as she assumed a standing pose "Hmm... Guess I'm going to have to do this the old fashion way" She looked down at the ingredients and back up to the blank wall before her. She could feel a creeping fear settle in her as she broke out into a cold sweat. Her expression sank, all that confidence that she earlier had melted away and she was replaced with doubt. She knew how to make it, but she had had weeks to practice before the big bake off yesterday. She took a deep breathe and tried to steady her nerves. "It's alright... *Gulp!* I've done before, and I could probably do it again..." she said as she attempted to raise her spirits "Yeah, I got this. How hard could this possibly be?" * * * Present time Victini coughed as the smoke entered his lungs. Being a fire type pokemon may have given him immunity towards harmful smoke, but that didn't stop him from coughing uncontrollably. He didn't like the harmful atmosphere at all, so he decided to fix all of that. He held his breath and began to channel his some of his power. His big orange ears glowed softly, cutting through the thick black cloud like a beacon as Pinkie watched in intrigue. Then, he raise his hands up and covered the room in a light reddish glow. He used telekinesis and gathered up all of the smoke and packed it all into a small floating black ball of hazy smoke. "Oooh! Neat trick!" said Pinkie, forgetting about her previous screw up. Victini raised the hazy ball up as he exhaled, glad that the room no longer smells like the inside of active volcano. He let out a relieved sigh and wandered over to the other end of the kitchen, right next to the sink. He flew up and continued to use telekinesis on the window that was present there. Making sure that no one was in plain view, he pushed the door open with his powers and tossed the ball of smoke out into the air where it dissipated away into the ozone. He then turned around, dropped to the floor and dusted his hands off with a look of accomplishment on his face. "Tini, tini, tini, tini?" he asked Pinkie as he flew up to face her. "Oh, me? I'm fine" Pinkie replied "Thanks for getting rid of the smoke by the way. I didn't know you could move things with your mind! What else can you do?" she asked eagerly. but Victini's attention was drawn elsewhere. Specifically, the tray of burnt macarons on the table. She saw his bummed out expression and frowned at her lack of success "Aw, I'm sorry little guy. I thought I could still make them like yesterday. Guess I can't" her head hung low. "Tini, tini, tini" said Victini, as he waved off the whole situation. He smiled brightly at her as he regained his usual cheerfulness. This wasn't about the macarons, this was about his friendship with Pinkie "Tini, tini, tini, tini" "I'm glad you don't think bad of me for screwing this up" said Pinkie as he gently hugged the little floating rabbit "I just don't understand what happened yesterday. I was in the zone for that whole competition. And the poof, just like that, I can't seem to make them like I did anymore" Victini blushed a little at the recent memory. He might as well come clean about the whole. "Tini... tini, tini..." Victini confessed, causing Pinkie to gasp. "What? That was you?" Pinkie exclaimed "You helped me win? How?" "Tini, tini, tini. Tini..." Victini shrugged. To be honest, he didn't really know how it all worked either. Victory was such a relative concept that he never thought too deeply about it. All he knew was that he was a living avatar of victory, the very embodiment of success, accomplishment, achievement and just about every other synonyms in every sense of the words. Not only that, he could share his powers of victory with others too. How it worked, well, he could only guess that it probably involved the other fact that he was also a tiny furry battery that contained and generated infinite amounts of raw energy within himself. "Wow, so you can give people victory? How does that even work?" said Pinkie as he eyes widened in amazement "Boy, if Twilight were here right now, she'd have a mental breakdown about how improbable it would be for victory to be given to someone" she snorted a cute giggle "Hopefully that doesn't actually happen when you meet her, heh heh..." "Tini, tini, tini?" said Victini. "It's alright, I didn't invite that many ponies today' said Pinkie "I kind of got that you were the shy type after you went and turned invisible on me back in the alleyway. So, I decided to limit the party to some close friends only. Namely, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Trust me, you'll love them" Pinkie said reassuringly. "Tini, tini, tini!" Victini smiled as he flew circles around Pinkie's head. Pinkie enjoyed a curt laugh as Victini playfully performed aerial flight around her noggin, it was there that an grand idea popped up into her head as she was laughing. "Hey, I got a great idea!" she exclaimed as a light bulb appeared her head. She motioned for Victini to come close before she began whispering in his big ears "So, here's the plan..." After a few seconds of explaining her great plan, Victini couldn't help but smile at a little bit of mischief. "Tini, tini!" Victini exclaimed as he landed atop Pinkie's head. "I know right! It'll be great, just you wait!" she said as she walked out towards the main foyer "By the way, have you met my pet Gummy yet?" she asked. * * * It was around 2 o' clock when the front door to Sugarcube Corner violently swung open as a cyan blur rushed into the foyer, leaving behind a polychromatic trail in her wake. Rainbow Dash appeared as dramatically as she could get before landing with a smug look on her face, hoping to impress anyone in the room. Sadly, she scanned around and saw that only Pinkie was there with the Cakes working in the back kitchen. "Whoa, this place is a ghost town" said Rainbow Dash as she dropped next to Pinkie "Where is everypony? I thought this place would be packed since you were throwing a party for that new guy you met yesterday" "Well the twins got sick so we had to close up for a while" said Pinkie as she stifled an incredulous giggle 'Don't worry, Sugarcube Corner will be up and running again in just a few minutes. In the mean time, it'll just be us two and the floorboards!" "Oh, I wouldn't count on that, darling" the two turned to see that Rarity and the rest of their friends had just stepped into the room, all eager to meet the new person of interest. They all dusted their hooves off on the doormat before gathering around a nearby booth for a quaint little chat about their day. "Honestly dear, you shouldn't have just flown off like that and leave the rest of us behind" said Rarity as he brushed her hoof past her mane "Punctuality is one thing, rudely entering an establishment by smashing through the front doors are another" "Pinkie and the Cakes don't seem to mind" Rainbow replied as she laid back in her seat "Besides, I'm sure most ponies have already gotten used to me crashing into their homes whenever I screw a stunt" "Most ponies..." Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight grumbled beneath their breath. "Besides, I wanted to see if I could impress what's his name..." said Rainbow as she furrowed her brow. "Didn't you say that his name was Victini?" Twilight chipped in "Where is he anyway? I'd love to meet him" "Don't worry, he'll be here soon" Pinkie lied as her giggle masked Victini's own "He's very shy and tends to avoid crowds, that's why I kept the guest list to just us six!" she giggled again "Before he shows up, how about we play a few games to pass the time?" she suggested as she pulled out a pristine chess set. Everyone, save for one very ecstatic alicorn princess, raised an eyebrow at this odd gesture. It was one thing for a game of twister or pin the tail on the donkey or even bobbing for apples, but chess? There had to be some kind of catch. "Chess, really?" said Applejack as she inspected the set "No checker pieces, no rule where you can move your pieces as much as ya like?" she asked, but Pinkie shook her head. "Nope, just good old fashion chess" said Pinkie with a devious grin plastered all over her face "Any takers?" "I'll play with you!" Twilight exclaimed as she scooted right in front of Pinkie, nearly tackling Applejack off the side of the booth with her force "I'll have you know, I've won the nationals at the Canterlot chess tournament and still hold the top spot for over three years now" she bragged "Since then, I still haven't lost a single game of chess yet" she held her head up high. "Wow, I'm impressed" said Pinkie which only served to fuel Twilight's ego "Well, I'll be even more impressed of the fact that I will be the one to break that winning streak of yours, Twilight" she grinned even further with her eyes closed in a sweet yet devilish way. Everyone stared at her like she grew a second head. A loud clattering could be heard in the back as Carrot Cake and Cupcake peeked their head out to see what the hubbub was all about. The whole bakery fell silent, all that could be heard was the wind, the soft chattering of the ponies outside and the cooing of the twins from above. Twilight was probably the one that was the most shocked, considering the fact that she had her position as the best in chess challenged by a newbie. Arrogance thy name is Pinkie Pie "Really now?" said Twilight as she broke the stagnant silence, her eyes narrowed upon Pinkie as a confident smirk formed on her face "I was just gonna go easy on everyone because I'm being nice and handicapping myself, but it seems you forced my hoof, Pinkie. Very well, I accept your challenge. How much experience do you have with chess anyway?" she asked, hoping to size up her opponent. "None. This is my first time ever playing it like it's meant to" Pinkie stated obliviously. Causing Twilight's smirk to fade off into an unsure expression. "None, whatsoever?" Twilight asked "Really?" Pinkie nodded "Unbelievable, and you really hope to defeat me with zero knowledge of chess at all!?" she practically yelled. "What's the matter? Afraid of losing to a beginner?" Pinkie taunted without ever losing that expression of hers. "Hmph, don't think you can psyche me out like that, Pinkie" Twilight sharply retorted "Fine, I'll play your game. But don't cry once I win just because you don't know how to move the pawn" "The what now?" Pinkie asked with a tilt of her head. "Oh, nevermind! Just play, I'll go first" Twilight went on and moved her pawn, waiting for Pinkie Pie to make her move. * * * Pinkie didn't know what she was doing at all, and that was the time she had to pull out her secret weapon. She wiggled her ears ever so slightly, signaling for Victini to grant her Victory. A few seconds later, she felt that familiar jolt that she felt yesterday during the bake off. The wave of pure energy rushed throughout her body once more and she began to move on autopilot. Her instincts subconsciously grabbed hold of her and she began to work her way towards Victory. One by one, the pieces on the board moved in a dizzying pattern as the game progressed at lightning speed. Pawns, knights, rooks, bishops, queens, repeat. It all happened so quickly, everyone was getting nervous, but none more than Twilight herself. Like respective queens of their nations, they saw to it that their soldiers and warriors fought strategically towards victory. But Twilight found herself without any proper footing. Each move she made, Pinkie immediately retaliated with one that put her in a corner, effectively limiting her options to just one or two moves. Just when Twilight thought she got a leg up one Pinkie, one pawn in the right place at the wrong time screwed everything up for her. It was a massacre, Twilight was running out of soldiers while Pinkie, by some bizarre stroke of luck, lost only one pawn. Twilight couldn't believe it, she could feel defeat creeping up ever so softly from behind her as the match slowed to it's final turns. Before long, the words were uttered by the victor, and Twilight was dethroned from her position as Equestria's best. "Checkmate"