I entered the room in the back of the boutique which had been designated as my work area to find five dresses sitting in a row on hangers. I had been up only an hour, and already I had enough work to keep me busy for the morning. I glanced at the calendar and frowned. Of course, all this work would just happen to come in today.
One needed a hem realigned. One needed additional accessories. Two needed to be taken in a bit in the hindquarters. The fifth was my own project: I was finally going to try patching my damaged dress.
I glanced at the calendar again as Rarity trotted into the room. "Candy, I need to head to the marketplace. I shouldn't be gone--"
I whirled around to face her. "I'll go!"
Rarity glanced at the dresses. "You appear to already have a sizable amount of work, and I expect you'll have more orders to do later."
"I can get it done, no problem."
"Really, I do appreciate you wanting to help, but--"
"It's no big deal!" I said. "I mean, I could use some fresh air and sunshine."
"It's raining, dear."
"Oh. Well ... I like rain."
Rarity narrowed her eyes. "What are you trying your best not to tell me?"
When Rarity suspected an ulterior motive, I could argue all I wanted and get nowhere. She knew me too well. "Okay, well, I thought I might, um, go visit Fluttershy for a bit."
Rarity smiled. "All you needed to do was say so. But ... wait, today is Tuesday."
"Oh, is it?" I said in what I hoped sounded like a casual voice.
It didn't work. Her smile faded and her voice dropped into a more serious tone. "Candy, what are you planning?"
"Nothing!"
Rarity took a step closer to me. "Let's try this again: why, exactly, do you want to visit Fluttershy when you know Discord will be there?"
"Um, I like the tea Fluttershy serves?" When Rarity simply raised an eyebrow, I rolled my eyes and said, "All right, fine. I want to talk to Discord about something."
Rarity frowned. "And I can guess what."
"Are you really going to stop me? I mean, what harm could it do?"
"Normally I would tell you to discuss this with Twilight, but she's been so utterly immersed in her research that I have yet to see her leave her castle for the past three days. Just what do you hope to accomplish?"
I had no good answer, as I was unsure myself. This was a shot in the dark. Intuition rather than any well-reasoned plan guided me. "Discord gave me hints before, so I thought maybe he'd be willing to share more information with me."
"Discord operates only to his own ends," said Rarity. "And often his own amusement as well. I don't want to see you hurt."
"I know, and I appreciate that, but you can't shelter me all the time."
"Yes, you're right," Rarity said in a reluctant voice.
I wondered if I would have had discussions like this with my birth mother had she lived long enough. I wanted to think so. Perhaps that's why I felt a stronger pull lately to actually start addressing Rarity as "Mom."
"I'll go to the marketplace," said Rarity. "You go to Fluttershy's place and get back here as soon as you can. If I think you're taking too long, I will head over there to ensure Discord hasn't harmed you. I normally trust Fluttershy to keep him under control, but--"
I cut off her words with a hug and said, "Thanks, you're the best! I'll see you later." I rushed towards the front door.
"No galloping inside the boutique!" Rarity called out. "And put your raincoat on!"
I slowed (barely) to a canter. I flung the hall closet door open with magic, levitated the raincoat around me, and burst out of the boutique.
I stopped at the end of the walk and stared at Fluttershy's house as a gentle rain pattered down, wondering not for the first time exactly what I was getting myself into. After I finally approached, I hesitated again. I turned my head and placed an ear to the door. My heart skipped a beat as I heard Discord speaking in an amused tone. "--and that's when I turned and said to her, 'But my dear Celestia, the grass was already purple when I got here!'"
Fluttershy erupted into a fit of giggling. "Oh, Discord! You have such funny stories of when you first met the Princesses. I hope they consider them just as--"
I frowned, drew my head back, and rapped my hoof on the door. I heard Discord approach. "Allow me, my dear." The door opened, and I managed not to flinch as my gaze fell upon the draconequus. His eyes narrowed, and suddenly he was dressed as a butler, standing stiff and formal, casting an imperious gaze at me. "Miss Fluttershy is engaged in an important affair with a dear friend and has no time to entertain solicitors."
"Oh, is there another salespony at the door?" Fluttershy said from inside with a sigh.
"I'm not a solicitor!" I cried. "And I'm actually here to talk to--"
I heard a rush of wing as Fluttershy appeared beside Discord. "Candy??"
Discord lifted his snout in the air and uttered a supercilious sniff. "Shall I eject the riff-raff from your property, Miss Fluttershy?"
"Oh, don't be silly, Discord, Candy is always welcome here." She turned to me and smiled. "Please, come in. Would you like some tea?"
Discord rolled his eyes and slumped slightly as his butler uniform vanished. I stepped warily past him and levitated my raincoat onto the coat rack before following Fluttershy to the table. Fluttershy glanced past me as she set a cup down. "Um, Discord, what are you doing?"
I turned my head. Discord stood frowning, his forelimbs folded. He had shrugged them up so that his normally serpentine body sported shoulders of a sort. A tiny cloud floated above each, causing a miniature snowstorm. "Why not ask Candy here?" he said as snow quickly coated his shoulders. "After all, she gave these to me."
I tilted my head. "I did what?"
"Oh, how soon they forget how they toyed with another's affections!"
"I did nothing of the ... oh, you mean ..." I face-hoofed. "Right, cold shoulder. Ha ha, real funny."
"I'm sure she had perfectly good reasons not to go with you to the Gala, Discord," said Fluttershy as she poured the tea. "But I'm curious, Candy, what brings you here? I know you and he aren't exactly, well, the best of friends."
Discord threw up his arms (which stayed attached this time), the clouds and snow disappearing. "What are you talking about, Fluttershy?" I let out a shocked yelp as he subjected me to an unwanted embrace that lifted me off the floor, my hind-legs flailing. "We're buddies! All that stuff about the Gala is, well ..."
Water suddenly flowed through the room and around us, soaking my fur past my barrel. A stone bridge arched over it.
Fluttershy hovered above the water and uttered a soft sigh. "Discord? Could you not have a stream flowing through my house, please?"
Discord sighed, and water and bridge vanished, leaving my fur dry. He dropped me unceremoniously to the floor, briefly knocking the wind out of me. Fluttershy helped me back onto my hooves. "Hmph," Discord snorted, turning his back to me. "I'm beginning to think I'm just not appreciated."
"I do appreciate you," said Fluttershy. "I just--"
"I don't mean you," Discord said in a cool voice, folding his forelimbs again.
Were Discord's feelings really hurt, or was this just another of his stupid tricks? I had to play along if I wanted to get anywhere. "Fine," I said in a softer but still defiant voice. I took a deep breath. "Thank you, Discord, for saving my life and bringing me to Equestria."
Discord turned towards me, regarding me with a narrow-eyed look as he tapped his chin with a talon. He broke into a wide smile. "See? Now was that hard? You'll get the hang of this friendship stuff yet, Candy. You may even get as good as me at it!"
I wisely held my tongue and instead grabbed the teacup in my magic and took a sip. I nearly dropped it when Discord suddenly appeared at my side, his body half-twined around me.
"But I am curious now, my dear little pony," said Discord in a sly voice. "Just why did you drop by at this particularly auspicious time?"
"Auspicious?" Fluttershy said.
"Well, any time I'm around is auspicious," said Discord.
I should have realized Discord would figure out that I was here to see him. I could not have been more transparent had I been made of glass. I struggled to put the right words together in my head. My mind wanted to follow the impulse to spew the same demand for answers, but this had driven me to my wits' end last time. "I want to know if you have any more information about my pendant and why Sevfivtoo wants it."
"Do you still have an unhealthy obsession with that hunk of jewelry?" Discord said in a tired voice, his paw motioning towards the pendant.
I slapped his paw away. "I'm not the only one with an obsession over it! You were the one looking for it in the first place back on my world."
"He told me he simply wanted to return it to Equestria," said Fluttershy.
"And you believed him?" I blurted without thinking.
Discord snapped his talons. A paper appeared on the table before me titled "Friendship 101 Exam." The rest of the page was a giant, circled letter "F" in red. "And here I had such high hopes for you. Clearly you need some remedial work."
I grabbed the paper in my magic and wadded it into a ball. "Stop it! I don't have time for games!"
"Oh, pish-posh!" Light flashed, and I blinked rapidly as I felt a sense of dislocation. I was no longer at Fluttershy's table, but instead seated a short distance away at a smaller table opposite Discord, a chess board now sitting between us. "There's always time for games." He swept his paw, and pieces appeared.
This was going exactly as I had feared it would, with Discord playing my frustrations like a fiddle. Only Fluttershy's presence prevented me from simply grabbing the board and tossing it aside like some little kid having a tantrum.
Fluttershy trotted up to us. "Um, Discord? Maybe you should listen to her. She's really concerned about her friend and--"
"Now now, Fluttershy," said Discord. "I find there is much to be learned through the simple exercise of playing a friendly game of chess."
I looked down at the board. I had the white pieces. My queen was shaped like Twilight. Images of Celestia, Luna, Rarity, and Fluttershy graced the rooks and bishops. The knights appeared to be royal guards, but I swore one looked like Strong Wing. And the king piece was me, shaped as a human.
I shuddered when I saw that one of the pawns looked like Sweetie Belle, another looked like Michelle, and a third appeared to represent my birth mother. Yet another looked like a changeling. Was that supposed to be Wuntusix? Why was it on my side? The remaining four pawns looked human, but no one I recognized.
I looked at Discord's pieces. His queen was Chrysalis. The king looked like him. One of the rooks was a changeling. From how much bigger it looked than my changeling piece, I assumed it was Sevfivtoo. One of the bishops was Starswirl. Scattered among the ranks of other pieces were more humans, far more seedy-looking than mine.
"Your move, Candy," said Discord with a shark-like smile.
I glanced at Fluttershy, who gave me a resigned look. Great. I had no choice but to play Discord's game. Literally.
In my struggle to remember how the damn game was played, I made some stupid opening moves. I blundered into an attack by one of Discord's human-shaped pieces that took out the pawn which looked like my mother. When he moved his Sevfivtoo rook forward, I tried to keep it tied down, but at the expense of several human-shaped pawns. I managed to threaten it briefly with the Michelle pawn, but this left it open to attack, which Discord seized upon by taking it with the Starswirl bishop. This opened up a hole in my defense, and very soon a rook fashioned like a human had checked my king.
I frowned and sighed. "Let's just forget the whole thing."
"Giving up so soon?" Discord said with a smile.
"Um, Discord?" said Fluttershy. "You kind of have her beaten already."
Discord chuckled. "Oh? Do I?"
The board shimmered. The Starswirl bishop changed from black to white. "Wait, what??" I cried.
"I don't think you're supposed to do that," said Fluttershy.
"Oh, now, my dear Fluttershy," said Discord. "Have you never heard of 'house rules'?"
"Chess is not supposed to have house rules!" I exclaimed.
"Really, Candy, what are you complaining about? Didn't those very same house rules give you a chance to reverse your fortunes?"
I considered resigning or throwing the game. This was no more than an exercise in frustration. I was never very good at this game against ordinary humans, let alone a reality-warping draconequus. Yet the bishop that had now changed sides was in the perfect position to take out the human-shaped rook.
"Go ahead," Discord said. "Do it. You know you want to."
I clenched my teeth. "Fine." I grabbed the Starswirl bishop in my magic and slid it across the board. I hit the rook so hard that it tumbled off the table.
I dropped the bishop in shock when it twisted and shimmied in my grip. It fell over, but promptly picked itself back up. It morphed first into Michelle, who waved at me, and then Discord, who winked and sent a tiny sparkle of magic towards my king. The king morphed from human to pony, and the bishop returned to the shape of Starswirl.
Fluttershy picked up the fallen rook and placed it on the table. "I don't understand what's going on."
Discord smiled and clasped claw and paw together. "Oh, but I'll bet Candy understands now."
My heart thundered. I stared at the piece that Fluttershy had retrieved. It was shaped exactly like the man who had tried to kill me in the alley. I looked again at the board. The game had played out events from my life starting with my mother's death from drugs. The human pawns that the Sevfivtoo rook took out must represent the people it drained.
Discord chuckled. "Now are you so intent on resigning?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "No. We'll keep playing."
"That's the spirit! Now, I believe it's my move ..."
Discord's next attack was lead by his Chrysalis queen, and once more my ineptness left myself open to being checkmated. Only by recalling how much Princess Luna had helped me did I remember the castling move. I thus castled with the Luna rook and took my king out of danger, then I finally got my Twilight queen out and used her and the Celestia rook to drive back the Chrysalis queen, while at the same time using the Fluttershy and Rarity bishops to help protect my king better. I tried a sacrifice move with the Strong Wing knight, and Discord went for it with his Sevfivtoo rook. It put me in a perfect position to take it out with my Starswirl bishop.
Yet just as I was about to pick up the piece, it suddenly morphed to look like Michelle, and when I attempted the move, the piece would not budge. Discord wagged a talon at me. "Tisk, tisk, Candy. Are you forgetting the basic rules? Rooks can't move diagonally."
"I know that!" I snapped. "This is a bishop!"
"Not anymore, apparently."
"You can't do that!"
"House rules!" he said gleefully.
"That's not house rules, that's cheating!"
Fluttershy cast a troubled gaze at Discord. "Um, I think I agree with Candy."
"Oh, but Fluttershy!" said Discord. "Candy knows perfectly well she can't take out Sevfivtoo quite yet."
I quelled the urge to retort. Perhaps the move I was about to make represented whatever Michelle was really trying to do when she appeared to me in the White Tail Woods. I shivered as I realized how close Michelle may have come to sacrificing herself right then.
Did Discord know? Did he watch the whole thing? Did he place bets on whether Michelle would succeed? Perhaps Sevfivtoo was not the only monster here.
I tried to bring up the Twilight queen to threaten the Sevfivtoo rook, only to completely miss that I had left the Sweetie Belle pawn in danger. Or did Discord somehow make me miss it just so the event happened? Or did I simply stink at the game so much that even with a greater number of strong pieces in play than him that I still had trouble making headway? Discord took it, and my heart pounded as I realized that time represented by the game was rapidly approaching the present.
I sought to attack the Sevfivtoo rook again with the Twilight queen, trying to use the other pieces to block any possible escape routes. When I finally thought I had maneuvered it into a good spot, Discord used his move to cause the tiny horn of the Sevfivtoo rook to glow. It levitated the Sweetie Belle pawn back onto the board, placing it in the way of the attack from my queen.
Before I could rail at this, I spotted an opening. Some of my options had been restricted by Discord's remaining ordinary pieces that he used only to frustrate my offense. I was able to take out one of them with the Rarity bishop without placing her in a threatened position. The Sevfivtoo rook was still trapped. All I had to do to close the trap was get the Sweetie Belle pawn out of the way and move the Fluttershy bishop. Yet it also meant a piece would have to be sacrificed somewhere.
Was that what this was about? Was this Discord's sick way of telling me he was pulling all the strings, and I had to decide who made the sacrifice to bring down the changeling?
"I don't like where this is going," Fluttershy murmured.
"It's all up to Candy now," said Discord. "It's her move."
"This is just a game," I said in a quavering voice. "Right?"
"Isn't everything just a game when you come down to it?"
"Um, that didn't really answer her question," said Fluttershy.
Discord waved his paw. "Oh, stop worrying so much about it. Look, Candy is making a comeback!" He grinned. "In fact ... I think Candy is having just a bit too easy a time of it."
The board shimmered again. I stared as his Chrysalis queen abruptly dematerialized from its square and reappeared on another square, except ... it was no longer Chrysalis. Instead, it was shaped like a question mark.
"What the hay did you just do?!" I snapped.
"Why, I made my move, of course," said Discord.
"That wasn't anything remotely like a legal move! And don't tell me 'house rules' again, I'm not buying it!"
Discord smiled slyly. "It's exactly what it looks like, Candy. It's the unknown. Things yet to come which nopony can predict. Well, most can't, but that's beside the point. What will you do now, Candy?"
In that one move, Discord had shattered my plans by threatening the Fluttershy bishop. I had to move it or it would be taken on Discord's next move. If I could be sure this was really a game, I would simply sacrifice it in hope of reorganizing my attack. Did it make any sense that Discord would allow a game to determine reality even if it meant harming Fluttershy?
In the next few moves, I found a way to pin down Discord's queen, but it meant preoccupying both the Rarity and Fluttershy pieces and having my Twilight queen do double-duty against it and the Sevfivtoo rook. Yet I still could do nothing more than hold things in a stalemate, as afraid as I was of sacrificing any more pieces. Maybe a better player would be able to figure this out, but that simply wasn't me.
Discord had fallen strangely quiet, and when I looked at him, he was frowning slightly. What was he upset about? I doubted I could win this even if I did take out that damn rook. Unless that was what the whole game was about in the first place. I never really sought to attack his king.
I let out a quavering sigh as I realized I had a move that could take out the rook. But ...
"Oh, come now, Candy!" Discord finally said in an irritated voice. "I don't have all day."
"Discord, you're not being fair," said Fluttershy. "Honestly, I wish I knew what the point of this was."
It didn't matter. I made my move. I slid the Michelle rook and placed it next to the Sevfivtoo rook. His only real move was to take my piece. Then I could take his with my queen. If he didn't move it, then the Michelle piece could take it. If he made some other move with the rook, he ran into danger against my other pieces.
When my move was met with only silence, I looked up. Discord stared wide-eyed at the board. He finally frowned at me. "Why did you do that?"
"Huh?"
"Why are you trying to sacrifice that piece?"
Now I really wanted to throw the entire board in his face. "What did you expect? You messed me up completely when you did that stupid illegal move with your queen!"
"But you're not supposed to have to sacrifice a piece!"
"Maybe I didn't have any choice!" I roared. "M-maybe that's exactly what's going to happen. Maybe that's what she was trying to do in the White Tail Woods, and it didn't work for some reason. Don't you know? Isn't that why you made sure to screw up my move by changing the piece?"
Discord's frown deepened.
Fluttershy gasped. "Discord, is this really more than just a game?"
Discord remained silent for a long moment before uttering a grunt and grabbing the ends of the board. He snapped the board closed with such force that I flinched, most of the remaining pieces being crushed flat between the two halves of the board save for three, which bounced and clattered across the floor. "Of course it's just a game," he muttered as the board vanished. He grabbed the table and folded the legs against the top. "What else would it be?" He folded the table top in two.
"Then why are you upset?" Fluttershy asked.
"Upset?" Discord folded the table again. "Me? The life of the party? The king of frivolity?" He folded the table still more. "Surely, you jest."
"What was that game all about?" I demanded. "What did it mean? Why are you so angry?"
"I am not angry about anything!" Discord declared as he folded the table so small it now fit between two talons. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed.
I jumped off the chair. "Look, I came here to get answers! I need to know what to do. If that game is anything like what's going to happen, then you know Cherry is going to try to--"
"Sorry, Candy, I'm fresh out of answers, and the new shipment is on back-order." A door appeared behind him, and he reached for the knob. "Well, I think that about wraps this up! Thank you as always for the tea, Fluttershy, but I need to be on--"
Fluttershy frowned and flew up to him. "You just wait a minute, mister! You're not going anywhere until you tell us what's going on! Candy was already upset when she came here, and you just made her more upset. That's not the way friendship works!"
Discord frowned. "But I ... that is to say ... the game ... but she ..." He sighed and gave Fluttershy a forlorn look. "I'll talk to you a little later." His eyes shifted to me. "Alone."
"Discord, wait!" Fluttershy called out, but the draconequus had already stepped through the door and closed it behind him. When Fluttershy opened it, it led simply to the space beyond it in her house. She sighed and landed. "I'm sorry, Candy. I'll try to talk to him later and see what I can do."
I shook my head. "Never mind, this was a bad idea anyway."
Fluttershy retrieved the three chess pieces scattered over the floor and presented them to me. "Maybe you should keep these. They might mean something."
One was the black queen, still shaped like a question mark. The second was a white pawn shaped like Wuntusix. The third was the white rook shaped like Michelle.
Fluttershy placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Do you need to talk about this?"
I took the chess pieces in my magic. "No, it won't do any good. Just let me know if you get anything out of Discord."
"Either that, or I'll have him talk to you." Fluttershy gave me a hug. "I'll try to get it sorted out, I promise."
I smiled faintly, though I had my doubts as to whether that would be a promise she could keep.
Sweetie Belle poked her head into my work room. "Candy?"
I trotted across the room, levitating several spools of thread. "Hi, Sweetie," I said in a tired voice. I opened a drawer and put the spools back where they belonged. "What's up?"
Sweetie stepped fully inside. "Rarity sent me to tell you dinner will be ready in ten minutes."
"That's fine, I'm just cleaning up." I closed the drawer and levitated a fabric bolt.
Sweetie stepped towards the line of dresses, ten in all. "Wow, did you finish all of them?"
I slid the fabric bolt into its slot before grabbing the next one. "Just barely."
"Wait, this last one looks familiar." Before I could turn around, Sweetie Belle had levitated my dress off the rack. "Oh, cool, you repaired it!"
I put the last bolt away before trotting over to her and taking the dress from her. I sighed as I turned it around so that the repair was more clearly visible. "Still looks like it's patched, though."
"I can barely see the stitching," said Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah, but the color is obviously a little off, and I wasn't able to trim the frayed edges as well as I would've liked."
"Still, it's a nice effort," said Sweetie as I put the dress back. "So, you ready for dinner?"
"Almost. My mane is a bit mussed. I want to give it a quick brushing."
"Okay, I'll let her know."
I watched Sweetie Belle go. I cast one last forlorn look at the dress. It had been a good effort, the best I could do. I had done no less for Bon Bon's dress, though the holes on hers had been a lot less pronounced. I supposed I was expecting miracles where none were to be found. Much like earlier that day.
I headed up to my room and grabbed the brush from the top of the bureau. I was about to head into the bathroom when I glanced at the bookshelf where I had placed the three chess pieces ...
... except now there were four.
"What the hay?" I muttered as I stepped over to it.
The three pieces I remembered bringing home had been joined by a fourth standing between the black question-mark queen and the white Wuntusix pawn, colored gray and shaped like Discord.
As I stared, the piece winked at me. I stumbled back, my eyes wide, the brush clattering to the floor.
The chess piece looked around. "So this is your room?" it asked in Discord's voice. "You disappoint me, Candy. As a teenager, your room should be delightfully messy and disorganized." It turned its head towards the books. "Ah, splendid! No order whatsoever to your filing system. Well done!"
"D-discord?" I said in a soft, quavering voice.
The piece disappeared, only to be replaced by the full-sized version standing next to my bed. He flicked a talon, and my door closed. I opened my mouth, but he narrowed his eyes and said, "Here's an idea: I talk, you listen. Any time we both talk, it always leads to an argument."
I frowned. "That depends on what you have to tell me."
Discord sighed. "Really, how does Rarity put up with your sass? Anyway, you should know that I'm here only as a favor to Fluttershy." He paused and added in a lower voice, "Mostly."
I reminded myself to give Fluttershy a big hug the next time I saw her. "Fine. I'm not even looking for answers anymore because I know you just won't give them to me."
Discord smirked. "Why Candy, I do believe you're back in the running for the annual 'Pony Most Likely To Get A Clue' award!"
"All I'm looking for is a hint. I just need more pieces of the puzzle."
"If it's pieces you want ..." Discord turned and swept an arm towards the shelf. "You have almost all of what you need."
I trotted up to the shelf. "What, the chess pieces? So you did leave them for me?"
"Happenstance left them for you, my dear," said Discord in a silky voice.
"I don't believe you."
"Chaos doesn't require your belief. It simply is."
I stared at the pieces. "But one is still a question mark."
"I told you the piece represents the unknown. Sometimes, the unknown becomes known. Sometimes, what was once known and disregarded is important as well."
I considered. "You mean it's going to change?"
"Stop asking all these infernal questions!" Discord hissed. "You say you won't insist answers be given to you, and yet you do it anyway. Which is it?"
I took a deep breath. I reminded myself that I had to play by his rules or not at all. "Okay, fine, those pieces are important." I looked at the changeling pawn. "Even the color?"
Discord raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
I face-hoofed. "You can't tell me even that?! All right, never mind. Do you have anything else for me?"
Discord gave me a sly smile. "Keep your mind open while your opponent makes a ruckus." He paused. "Or fracas."
"Huh? But that doesn't make any sense!"
"It can, if you're paying attention at the right moment."
I sighed and resisted stomping my hoof in frustration only because I didn't want to draw Rarity's attention.
"I'm counting on you to be more clever than perhaps you're giving yourself credit for." Discord raised a talon and said in a lower, more sinister voice, "Don't disappoint me."
He vanished in a flash of light.