“Knight to E5.”
The chess piece moved over the board of it’s own accord, and my opponent’s piece moved in kind. The lights in the library briefly went dark only to reignite. The card in front of me had once said, “Mate in 8.”
Now it read, “Mate in 5. You made another mistake.”
I felt my cheeks burn green as ve saw what he meant. Our king was much more vulnerable now that he opened a path for his bishop. And ve didn’t have the knight for protection anymore.
I didn’t normally play chess. Our ability to keep track of all the possible ways the game might flow usually made it too easy for us. Matches almost always ended in stalemates, and that was no fun.
Castle was on another level entirely. The very first turn that hive forsaken card had shown up after I blinked in surprise at his move.
It had said, “Mate in 42.”
His moves made no logical sense, yet at around turn 22 he’d moved a single pawn forward, and the web of probable outcomes had suddenly shifted violently in his favor. Ve had spent the rest of the game trying to force a draw, but I was too panicked from the idea that ve might actually lose a game. Now it was a guaranteed loss in 5 moves.
I toppled my king in surrender. “Best two out of three?”
The pieces began to reassemble for another game.
“Interesting.” Twilight scribbled more into her notes. “Subject appears to be able to manipulate some objects anytime, but others continue to require a complete lack of observation from surrounding creatures.”
The chess pieces finished rearranging, and Twilight pulled several more books from their shelves. “Castle, is there any way you can talk to us without turning the lights off? I’d like to actually see the process through which you communicate.”
The lights fell again and upon relighting she read her card and sighed. “Of course not.”
My own card now read, “Mate in 32, you’re slipping.”
What the— Neither of us had even moved yet! If he was gonna rub it in, we were going to do this the changeling way.
“Twilight, can we play a different game?”
The lights flickered and I found my card unchanged.
Twilight read hers and huffed. “I can read the sarcasm in that, Castle.” She looked at me. “What did you have in mind?”
I gave a smirk. “Chess is normally nymph’s play for changelings. I only agreed to begin with because I thought it would show you how well changelings handle probability.” I glanced at my card. “Problem is, Castle is even better at playing than me. I suggest we play a real game.”
Twilight squinted at me. “And by ‘a real game’ you mean?”
My fangs glinted as my smirk became a grin. “I suggest a game of Swindler’s Chess.”
Right on cue I saw the head tilt. “Swindler’s Chess?”
I nodded. “Yes. Changelings need a bit more variety to their games than ponies. We’re simply able to optimize our strategies too easily. The Swindler’s Game is one of a number of rule set variations we’ve made to account for this. In a Swindler’s Game, each player is provided a list of five rules they may break and how they may break them. The players then use these cheats to ‘swindle’ their opponent of victory. Since we won’t know the exact rules until all the cheats have been used at least once, it will end up being a much fairer game.”
Twilight squirmed on her cushion. “That sounds a bit… overcomplicated.”
I tasted a small bit of curdled milk in the air and realized I was still baring my fangs. Shifting them into a slightly smaller set, I made a mental note to try and curb smiling widely around others.
Castle came to my rescue, however. With another flicker of the lights, Twilight and I both read our cards.
“He is right, milady. Chess is foal’s play to me. I, for one, would relish an actual intellectual challenge, and his proposal has merit. I can’t predict the game if I don’t know all the rules. Think of it as a way to test my limitations.”
Twilight bit her lip. “Alright, then….”
“Excellent! Excellent!” I cackled and rubbed my hooves together. It had been a long time since I had been able to play a real game without stressing over the consequences of losing. This would simply be a glorious struggle between Castle and myself to completely and utterly destroy each other—no politics attached.
There would be no quarter given in this game of kings, and—
Wait a minute. Something tasted wrong….
Oh, Spike had come in with dinner.
Both he and Twilight were staring at me.
And I was voicing my inner monologue on exactly how Castle would suffer a slow and agonizing defeat.
In a mix of equish and chitri that probably sounded like I’d lost my mind.
Curdled emotions ran rampant through the room, and the two stood still as they processed the scene. I felt my face burning the most verdant shade of green, and ve chastised myself for commiting one of the oldest villain clichés in existence when I was supposed to be on my best behavior.
“I can explain….” I cast my gaze about in case escape was needed.
The overwhelming taste of curdled milk was suddenly mixed with gobs of cotton candy and other sugary sweets as Twilight fell to the floor laughing. “Oh my gosh. That was just so… so Rainbow Dash!”
She laughed harder as I blinked at her bemusedly. “Don’t— Don’t get me wrong! You were totally terrifying just now! You could easily give Nightmare Moon a run for her money with that laugh, and you’ll need to work on it so you don’t petrify the town, but it was all over winning a little game of chess.”
There was a clatter as the tray Spike had been holding dropped to the ground. A small cloud of dust denoted his parting, and Twilight and I stared at the spot he’d been a second before.
Twilight’s smile faded, while my sigh of relief died before it had even gathered in my lungs. She bolted to follow him, and I sighed for a different reason.
Massaging my forehead, ve counted to ten and ran some very important estimations. I could hear Spike fleeing down the corridor to the left at a fairly impressive speed. There was sobbing, crying, the whole nine yards, and the question was whether or not I should intercept Twilight to help.
On the one hoof, helping would score points with my arbiter and judge. On the other, I had already said this was something they needed to work out on their own.
Picking up the scattered tray, I let them go for now.
“There’s always the chance that he won’t completely ruin my chances of success,” I grumbled as I used the clean up to distract me. Three agonizingly slow sweeps of the later, I stopped to glower at the door. “Yep. He’s definitely coercing her against me now…. All my hard work lost because some dragon threw a tantrum.”
The light’s flickered and a card appeared before me. “If Twilight walks in on you right now, it’ll be all your hard work down the drain because you’re about to throw a tantrum – not Spike. Just relax and take a deep breath. They’re about to hit the hug and make up stage.”
I snorted and kicked one of the cushions. “Does that mean I’m about to get evicted?”
A rapid series of flickering with a rapid number of responses followed. Eventually the lights settled and I could actually read one.
“You know, you really need to trust us more if you’re going to make friends here. It’s a two way street. Forget whatever life was like back at the hive. Life runs on different rules here.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the flickering lights interrupted me.
“Don’t say anything. Just think on it. And for now let’s enjoy a round of this so-called Swindler’s Chess while we wait.”
The cushion I’d kicked out of place slid back into position, fluffing itself. Brooms floated in from down the hall to clean up the mess. And the chessboard was replaced with a much fancier jewel encrusted one.
I hesitated, looking towards the door one last time and biting my chops. In the end, though, the siren call of the game won out, and I seated myself before the board to move my pawn two spaces forward.
It was most certainly the right choice, as we had a long and glorious game.
“You cheated….” Somehow the text was sulking.
“Of course I did!” I grinned in triumph. “That’d be the point of a Swindler’s Game. You’ll get used to it, though. It took us a while to figure out how ve could best break the rules in a way that fit our play style.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Care for another?”
The flicker lasted slightly longer than normal. “No. You should be getting company in about 3… 2… 1…”
Twilight walked through the entryway. Her gait was just short of a shamble, and there were tear stains on her face. The occasional sniffle was loud—and congested—enough that I must have really been into the game not to hear her coming down the hall. I had to tighten the filter to avoid getting punch drunk on the amount of sorrow in the air.
“Hey….” She sniffled and I could see her blinking to force back a few more tears. “Spike’s going to be going to Canterlot for a week or two. Things were way worse than I thought.”
Her pout could melt carapace, and I felt my insides twist at the sight. “I-It’s me right? I-I can stay somewhere else.”
She shook her head. “It’s not just you. He’s apparently been having nightmares on and off since the Nightmare Moon incident. He’s terrified about being unable to help the girls and I when we need it most. He seems to think that leaving him behind on most of our adventures means I don’t trust him enough to help, but I just can’t let him get—”
She choked on a particularly violent sob.
Her voice was wavering as she continued. “I’m going to send him to my parents in Canterlot for a couple weeks so Princess Luna can start to give him counseling in his dreams. Hopefully by the time he gets back the rest of my friends will trust you enough that they won’t need to freak out about both you and him.”
No…. Please don’t cry. Damage control. Damage control!
I patted the cushion Castle had conveniently slid next to me and offered a shoulder to cry on. The friendship reports demanded it—no matter how awkward it seemed.
Twilight took a hesitant step forward and stopped.
I sighed. “Yeah. I figured that might be a bit much. We’re not exactly best friends yet, are we?” I tilted my head to the side. “Would it help if I looked like one of your actual friends?”
She still managed to glare despite the sniffles and watery eyes. “It’s not the same, and you know it.”
I flicked my wings and kneaded the cushion with my hooves. “Of course…. Is there anything I can actually do to help? You’re the resident friendship expert here.”
“C-could you play a game of Swindler’s Chess with me?” She squirmed, ruffling her wings.
There was an audible crack I tilted my head to the side.
She smiled weakly as I heard the pieces behind me being reset. “I actually got back somewhere in the middle of your game but didn’t want to interrupt. I really enjoyed watching you and Castle play. Celestia used to play all sorts of crazy games like that with Spike and I when we were in my lessons. She said it was to teach me to think outside the box. I’m not sure it worked, but they were always fun to play.”
“Sure….” I gave a small smile, remembering to hide the fangs this time. I motioned to the board. “Pick your color and pick your cheats, but I feel it’s only fair to warn you I don’t believe in going easy on others.”
That was my first real day in Ponyville—first as I thought of it anyways. It was… nice. Not perfect, but nice, and it still baffles us how it proceeded as smoothly as it did. Sure, Spike presented a problem, but Twilight was truly trying to give me a chance.
The following day she would take Spike to Canterlot, and I ended up… well, let’s say Twilight’s schedule for introducing her friends fell apart. I don’t have time to go into that this session, however. We’re already running late, and I have half an hour at most until Celestia realizes ve sent another proxy to that dreadful dinner party.
