Chapter 15: Check
(I gotta stop using these chess-related names)
The library door swung open, and a white hoard rushed out to battle. The black and the white each sought out an opponent in the other army, and proved to be evenly matched. It became obvious that there were several types of ponies amongst these shades, and they were pitted against each other on the ground and in the air.
Suddenly, a tan-yellow pony bearing a Cowboy hat leapt from above and struck down a black Earth pawn. The stallion bucked him in the head hard enough to take a door off its hinges, and the head flew off, dissipating into a cloud of smoke as it flew. The body began to sway, before finally falling over in a cloud of black smoke.
“Who the buck is that?” Said George, still waiting for an imbalance in power to fire a shot at.
“Who is that?” Asked Sam, just a few feet back from an upstairs window, putting his sights over anything that looked like it was doing too much better. Applejack and Big Macintosh ran to his side, and watched as he began tearing into the whites as well.
“That there’s mah cousin Braeburn. If he twern’t mah cousin…Well, we’ll leave it at that,” Said Applejack, tilting her hat back with a hoof. “Make sure y’all don’t hurt one o’ tha family, else we’ll all come down on ya’,”
“Eeyup,” Confirmed Big Macintosh, shifting his saddle forwards slightly.
Featherback’s nose began twitching. Suddenly, he recognised the smells of battle and sat bolt upright, wings flared, eyes wide and searching for an enemy. A snore escaped Pinkie’s muzzle and he remembered everything up to the explosion, then blackness, a bit of bumping and prodding, then the smell of battle and he awoke.
“Get up, you lazy bones! There’s a fight and we’re missing it,” ordered Featherback, prodding Anonymous Pegasus #2 with a hoof. The unconscious Pegasus remained stubbornly asleep. “Oh well, I can fight on my own I guess,”
Golden Shield was putting an ever increasing part of his concentration into this battle, as he assumed his opposition was. He wasn’t putting in so much, however, that he failed to notice one of his comrades and a hostage was missing. He sighed and went back to the battle, wincing slightly whenever one of his pawns was struck down.
The heroes of both sides who had rushed into the fray didn’t fight each other, instead destroying any pawns they could get near. No bullets had been fired, yet, and Trixie had gotten a halberd from somewhere and was swinging it like a mad-mare, her face a picture of rage.
Suddenly a buzzing filled the air and all things held or created by magic fell to the ground. Any guns simply jammed, if anyone had tried to fire a shot they would then discover this. All eyes turned towards the doctor, standing atop a cart.
“Right, well, now we can all hear me talk. Who is the leader of the ponies in the library? We just want to talk,” Said the Doctor, lowering his screwdriver and taking charge. “I wouldn’t advise trying to stay there. I’ve disabled all firearms and magic in the immediate area, and we have more skill with swords. Come out now and we can talk,”
“Hey, Twilight Sparkle,” Said Sam, walking over to the exhausted unicorn. “This situation reminds me of a game back where I’m from. It’s called chess. I can’t remember what country invented it, India or China or something, but each of the pieces represents a part of an army. Most of the time, pawns are expendable. If you lose one, no big deal. But if all of them get taken out…Well, your knights and rooks and bishops can’t do much. If the other guy gets within range of attacking your king, it’s called ‘check’. If you don’t put something in the way, or move him out, you lose. Check-mate. The way I see it, you’ve taken a few of their pieces, and they’ve taken a few of yours. Can you see where I’m going with this?”
“I think so, and the answer is no,” she said with some difficulty. “I’m not going to risk a valuable prisoner over some self-obsessed showmare that speaks in the third pony. And how do I know it isn’t a trick? This isn’t some game from wherever you’re from,”
“Well, when I was looking through that window, I saw something. Something which is a bigger bargaining chip than you realise,” He said, not mentioning George. “I say you negotiate, leave me inside if you need to. Oh and I had some skill with a sword even before I got here,” He tried to use some magic, finding that it was also disabled. He frowned, then tossed his gun unceremoniously to the side.
“Alright…I’ll see if they’re willing to give our ponies back and leave us alone, in return for our hostages. They might be more willing than either of us realise,”
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, all the ponies that were engaged in the fight gathered around George and the Doctor. The generals stood off to the side.
“Well, we’re going to need to make an exchange in order for these negotiations to go well, or else it’ll be stalemate,” Said George, abandoning his sub-machineguns to see if his pistols would work. They felt right, so he decided to keep them in reserve for now. “What would they ask for in return?”
“Well, they’ll almost definitely want Trixie back, and I have no idea where this cowpony came from, so who knows about him,” Said the Doctor, walking around the circle of gathered ponies. “What else would they want? What do all anarchical secret societies want? To be left alone,”
“Trixie is probably our best bet for now, on both bargaining chips and finding out what they want. I say, we give them Trixie and we have our guy, and further terms can be established later,” said Golden Shield, pausing in his tending to the still unconscious ponies. “Our only hope is to agree on something now, and start our talks on a positive note.”
“If Ah might say somethin’,” interrupted Braeburn “Ah was in town tah see mah cousins, and they’ll know Ah was comin’. If there’s one thing y’all don’t want, it’s the apple family havin’ a reunion on you.”
“That sounded like a threat. Are you threatening me, appleflank?” said George, leaning towards him. George always had a hot temper, but when everything started going wrong, he was like a cyclone. “I might not be able to kick a phantom pony’s head off, but I do have a few moves you wouldn’t see coming. If you threaten me again, I’ll let you have a look,” his words would scare the crap out of most people and a fair number of ponies, but they had no visible effect on Braeburn.
“Ah ain’t exactly threatening ya, no. Ah’m just sayin’ that mah family don’t take too kindly to harm coming to each other,” He replied, pushing George back with a hoof. “And if ya don’t mind, Ah’ll be going back to the farm with mah cousins Applejack and Big Macintosh,”
“Alright you two, break it up,” Said Golden Shield, stepping in. “Look, we shouldn’t fight over what we want to happen until afterwards. There’s no guarantee it won’t,” they both seemed to calm down at this, and stood away from each other. “So, we’ll trade Trixie for Anonymous Pegasus #3, then see what we can organise for everypony else,” The doctor moved off, and began to watch as they threw different ideas around, some being supported, some overruled, and some were changed, gradually escalating to a cacophony of shouting, arguing voices. The doctor simply sat with a hoof on his chin, saying nothing and only watching.
“Why don’t we just go in there and fight!”
“Ah don’t think we can just sit here and argue. Why don’t we ask what they think?”
“I’m not going to make any trade unless I think it’s fair! If you can’t cope with a soldier telling you what to do, then don’t be a part of this!”
“Look, where I’m from, the value of the items didn’t matter, it’s all about how much they want it.”
“Oh, um, I think I’ve made a decision now…”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Oh, now that’s bull,” said Sam, interrupting George’s recount. “You told me you can hardly hear Fluttershy talking, even without all the other noise, and I don’t think you would remember everything that got shouted.”
“Well I’m trying to fill in all the details. People won’t believe it happened if you leave the argument out,” He replied quite reasonably.
“Keep arguing. It’s all going in there. We only have like, 1.4k words. Besides, it’s almost like what we’ve just interrupted,” I suggested. That seemed to get them slightly annoyed.
“Jay,” Sam said levelly “Why the hell are we even doing this again?”
“Because if he tries to write it will be completely ridiculous with characters aware of the fact it is fictional. Remember chapter 3? It’s better if he just transcribes.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me of that sensory rape."
“Well, we’ll let people assume what the argument was like, and I’ll just skip that bit,” I suggested. They seemed to like that idea, and continued their story.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Everypony,” Twilight suddenly announced, standing up. “I’ve decided that we need to negotiate. Keep our guests still and silent, until I return.” With that she trotted out the door. Sam stood out and opened his arms, palms facing outwards in a gesture of passiveness.
Anonymous Pegasus #3 wasn’t aware that it was a gesture of surrender, instead assuming it meant confusion, and prepared to fight. He began to draw his sword, only to feel the point of one against his neck.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” warned Spike. “You might have training, but I have natural instincts in fighting. Not to mention magical breath that I forged this in. Your sword would break on my armour, and mine would cut though yours like it was nothing.” He shrugged.
The Pegasus slowly complied and lay down, a glare at Spike remaining in his eyes. A gag was put in his mouth and a guard placed, while another pony took away his sword. Sam came down and sat beside him, handing over the sword quite happily, and looking quite cheerful despite the predicament they now found themselves in.
“Now, are you gonna be quiet, or do we need to gag you too?” Asked Spike. Sam responded with what could only be defined as a childish motion, and mimed zipping his lips shut.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Oh come on,” complained Sam. “I told you why I did that, and it was because it’s a show made for little girls. I figured that if I used words like,” He paused to look around the room for examples. “Truncat-wait, why do you even have that on a poster?”
I shrugged “I like the word Truncated Icosahedron, and it’s a very useful shape. Soccer balls and the Fat Man atomic bomb are two examples I can think of.” He ignored me and went on with his story.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Twilight pushed the door open with a hoof and walked out, just as Golden Shield and the doctor began to move in as well.
“Keep Constantine hidden until I say otherwise,” Whispered the Doctor quickly, lips barely moving. “I want to keep ahead of them, and something tells me they’re quite a way along already. Let’s not give them a hoof-hold.”
“Greetings, mystery mare,” Said Golden Shield, meeting halfway across the battlefield, earning a kick to the shins from the doctor. “My name is Golden Shield, and this is The Doctor. Whom might you be?”
“My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I have a proposition for you, General.”
(Authors notes) Well, I literally just finished it seconds before uploading, so feel free to point out any errors. I can't believe I only wrote 308 words over the weekend. Still, TENSION what is her proposition, and is it check-mate already? Find out next time on Constantine and the Eternal Night. Also, *Spoiler alert* Epic song made and sung by me, possibly featuring Sam himself. Only time will tell if I care enough to make it and find people to play instruments, but until then, GOODBYE, PEOPLEZ!