//------------------------------// // Lěng Chénmò // Story: Marks Of Babylon // by Phoxjes Rome //------------------------------// Marks of Babylon Chp. 11 Lěng Chénmò "Find her before she escapes!" The guard shouted to his ally's down the corridor of the Crystal empire, on search for yet another intruder. This time, however, no pony actually knew where she was, or even what they were looking for. "What does she look like?" Another guard asked while slowly backing up with a spear in hoof. "No one knows yet; just keep your eyes peeled for anything moving!" The first guard shouted for the same guy, but got no reply. "Hey, did you hear me?! I said-" before being met with a thud and the sound of metal clashing. "IT'S HER!!" Numerous guards shouted at once. Every one of them headed down the corridors to the sound. Once they arrived, they noticed him face down on the floor, with his back cut open by what looks like three knives. "Was this her?" One of them asked in slight fear. As he did, he was met with a hoof on his shoulder. After gasping and drawing his spear, he turned around with his shaky hooves, only to see his captain. "Pull yourself together, solider!" Shining Armor told him. "She just wants us to panic, so everyone stay calm. Spread out and find her, now!" With that, every guard spread across the empire, trying to find this intruder, whoever she was. As two of them were backing up on their hind legs, about to bump into each other, they both heard the sound of something razor-sharp and metal being drawn right behind them. Following their instincts and training, both of them turned right around and attack with their spears. When they realized that they had nothing to fear, both were put on ease, which left them open to having something beneath their hooves and trip them both over. As they fell, whatever was there had jumped out of the way and continued through the hallway. "It's headed for sector 4!" One of the downed guards shouted to the others, right before the girl came back and threw a blade at his shoulder, possibly for knowing her whereabouts, but more likely because of being referred to as 'It'. "Sector 4? But that's where..." Shining's face turned into confusion, right before his heart skipped a beat and his pupil's shrank. "... Flurry." Shining then dropped all other thoughts in the world and charged full speed in the direction of his daughters nursery. "ALL GUARDS MOVE TO THE PRINCESS'S QUARTERS NOW!! IF THE INTRUDER GETS ANYWHERE NEAR HER, YOU'RE ALL FIRED!! UNDERSTOOD!?!" "Yes sir!!" Everyone of them shouted in reply. Hoof steps were heard trampling to the nursery from all angles. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "If only you could stay as quiet as this all day..." Princess Cadence whispered to her now asleep daughter in her crib. Flurry Heart's gentle snoring seemed to make the stress of getting her to do so all the worthwhile. "While your daddy and I are ruling the kingdom, you're busy ruling the land of dreams. The simple life is the hard life, I suppose." The monarch smiled onto her little princess. Her attention was drawn, however, to the sound of charging towards this room. Unfortunately, this noise got Flurry slightly scared, as she began to whimper in her sleep. A worried daughter equals a worried mother, so Cadence ran over to the door to stop this miniature mob. "Shining, stop!!" Cadence loudly whispered to her husband, as the doors flew open and she saw the charge. "Sweetie, watch out!" Shining yelled as he tried his hardest to stay put, causing a screeching sound effect. As he stopped right in front of her, silence came across between them for about two seconds, before the sound of crying of their child. "Your fault, your turn." Cadence stated as she tried to force him into the bedroom. "Okay dear." He replied as he withdrew his spear and turned to the guards. "Keep an eye out for her. Two of you stay here and keep watch." As they both walked into the room, Cadence's attention was drawn to his words. "Keep an eye out for who?" The princess asked her husband with concern. "There's an intruder in the castle. Female and armed, but that's about all we know." "I see... Well, right now, you can deal with this little dangerous female. Start with one of her teddy's." "Yes dear." Shining then walked over to the shelf full of toys, only to be met with a particularly creepy stuffed animal. It was a white bunny with Chinese looking reptilian eyes, as well as a creepy razor-sharp teeth smile. "Um, Sweetie? When did you get this?" The captain pointed to the creepy faced rabbit. "Get what?" Cadence asked, before looking at the vicious toy. As she began to come closer, Shining was about to touch the evil-looking smile, but his hoof was grabbed by an invisible claw. As he gasped, he was lifted up quickly on his hind legs, spun around and kicked down onto the floor. "It's her!" Shining said after getting up, somehow following the creepy face. The face had moved from in front of the toys to the side of the room, noticeable by the difference of the wall color and the yellow narrow eyes and white razor teeth. The smile appeared to be crawling around the room. "Come on out!" Shining Armor demanded to the intruder. "We don't have to hurt each other, miss." Cadence told her, while still holding the crying child in her hoof. She stopped moving, only to stand on all four legs, before only on two. "Are... Are you done?" Shining asked her, before she replied by pouncing on him in the face and jumping on her, which they both learnt the hard way. Upon falling, she threw Flurry in the air, who was then caught by the Chinese girl. Once she had the baby in her claws, her smile faded and then, surprisingly, her whole face, hair, body and outfit became visible. She was what they hadn't hoped for: a dragon. This one was a Chinese hot pink Salamander, with 2 pitch-black 5ft. long hair braids coming out of her head. She was also wearing a Kimono, long light green with an ivy theme all across it. The sleeves were long enough to cover her arms and claws completely, with a long skirt at the front and back. Under the skirt she was wearing black leggings, with small green pumps which matched her outfit. Upon seeing her real face, however, Flurry's crying appeared to have ceased. Likely because of her colors of her scales, or her traditional outfit, or even her calm yet menacing face. But whatever it was, Flurry was either too entertained to cry, or scared to move. "Let go of my baby!" Shining demanded, snarling at the dragon. As he did, she got on one leg and did a quick twirl which caused her braids to smack him in the face, then stood up to face him on both legs. When Shining was hit, he felt a sharp, literally and seriously sharp, pain slide across his face. Once he fell to the ground after wincing in agony, this raised a question: Was she hiding something in her hair? This question was unfortunately answered with the girl holding Flurry in her left claw, and drawing her right Kimono sleeve down, revealing not only her claws, but also four dagger blades strapped to her arm. The blades alone would've been threatening enough, the fact that she had the princess in her hand was terrifying as well, but because the blades were pointing directly AT her made everything in the world seem as important as what's going through a worm's brain right now in comparison to this. Somewhere, in another part of Equestria, a wormologist felt insulted by something. "Don't. Hurt. Her." Shining told her after getting back up. Looking at this predicament, fear was the only thing either of the parents could feel. "We'll do anything. Just don't harm her." Cadence begged the Chinese drake. She didn't even look at the princess and instead proceeded to look around the room some more, almost as if she was analyzing everything around her. She was finished a few seconds after, and literally just handed over Flurry back to her father. "Flurry, you're safe now." Shining Armor sighed in relief, as he held his daughter safely in his hooves. Before he was able to say anything to the mysterious girl, she appeared to be gone entirely, smile and all. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Okay Twilight..." Pinkie Pie said to her, as she was pulled in to a earshot distance. "So let me get this straight: Caxpe grew up in a broken trailer site, abandoned by his parents, with no friends, and only a bike and jacket to rely on?" Pinkie whispered to the princess. "Pinkie, you don't have to whisper only to me; the others need to hear us as well." Twilight replied, seeing as how they were all sitting outside at a table from Sugarcube Corner. "Sorry~" Pinkie replied as she backed off. "It's just that this is where we were when we were wanted by Mr. dog, that handsome guy, a British lad, the token female character, some kid and one pony who wants to kill us... If only we knew their names..." She then got lost in thought. "You're joking. right?" Rarity asked. "We know their names. We've met them all at least twice, and never for our benefit." "Which brings us back to this:" Rainbow Dash butted in. "Kidnapping and interrogation. C'mon, first Babylonian we see, take 'em down and start asking." "Rainbow, we ain't gonna kidnap anypony just so we can get a slight edge in battle." Applejack told her Pegasus friend. "But Applejack, don't they have your, um, brother?" Fluttershy asked in return. "You just had to bring that up, didn't ya?" Applejack turned to her, having a very serious expression on her face. This caused Fluttershy to whimper under her hooves. When she did, Applejack sighed to herself. "Ah'm sorry, sugar cube. Y'all can't understand what it's like knowing that ya might never get someone back, especially your family." "Maybe not, but we've also lost Spike, Scootaloo, Discord and who knows who else. I know it must be hard not knowing where your brother is..." ""Um, Twilight?" Rarity interrupted. "And that five stallions and a mare are having him do Celestia knows what..." "Twilight?" Rainbow Dash said to her, rubbing her shoulder. "Plus, he may be turned against us in a battle or something like that..." "Twi." Pinkie said. "But we can't be disheartened by that, and all it means is that we need to help them come to their senses, or even win them their freedom back." "Twilight!" Fluttershy whispered loudly as she whimpered behind the table. "Even if the magic of friendship isn't enough, we can't let the Marks of Babylon take over Equestria, or else everything we know and love could be gone." "Would ya just turn around all ready!?" Applejack snapped at her. With a look of confusion on her face, Twilight looked behind her, only to see three figures standing there. The one on the left was a scaly blue torso, in a lab coat. On the right there was a massive muscular body on four legs, with two black razor sharp clearly from a smiling mouth. In the center another scaly torso was shown, being green in the vertical middle and purple on the sides, which could just barely be seen by the cornflower blue parka coat. "Gah!!" Twilight cried as she fell off of her seat after quickly realizing who they were. "Ha ha." The middle one laughed as she hit the ground, still with his arms crossed. "S'appining?" The bulky guy asked with his dragon wings spread out. "Feeling well?" The last one spoke with a smile. "Xervint! Auxron! Exphrient!" Twilight shouted in a mixture of surprise and fear. "Twilight! Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Rarity! Fluttershy! Pinkie Pie!" Xervint replied by mocking her with a look of "Shock" on his face, backed up with the other two snickering. "What are you doing here?!" She asked as she got herself back up. "You don't think that line's a bit cliche?" Expherient asked. "Answer the question!" She demanded, looking up at him. "Uh-oh. Better do what she says, before she gives us a lecture we'll never forget(!)" Xervint whispered to his brothers, before turning back to the girls. "So, basically, we need Rarity." A long silence drifted into the atmosphere, until one spoke up. "You... need me?" Rarity asked in confusion. "Well, no, not so much you, just your special talent." Expherient answered. "You see, there's a small little event that we're preparing for, and we thought that you would be useful, seeing as how THAT'S your destiny signature." "Seeing as how that's her what?" Twilight then spoke up. None of the six of them knew what that really was. "Her destiny signature." ... "He means those nice-looking gems on that sweet rear of hers." Auxron replied, pointing to her. Upon hearing his words, Rarity immediately blushed and tried to hide herself behind a menu. Seeing her face like that, Pinkie and Rainbow then snickered to each other. "Do you guys mean her Cutie Mark?" Applejack asked, looking at the three of them in confusion. "Her Cuti-" Xervint couldn't even finish his sentence before he and his bros burst out into laughter. "Did you just say-" Expherient tried to ask before resuming laughter some more. "- Cutie Mark?! You call those Cutie Marks?!" "A-Alright then, we need her talent, cause her "Cutie Mark" says it's useful!" Auxron tried to say, his laughter growing stronger as he continued the sentence. The three dragons were practically in hysterics, while the ponies just looked in confusion. "Seriously, though, Rarity: Come with us nice and quiet, or come with us nice and quiet and unconscious." Xervint said to her as he cracked his knuckles. With his words, however, some mysterious music began to play from out of nowhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGw8DWctAts Auxron and Expherient then backed up slightly as he walked over to her. "Oh no you don't!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she tried to flew up and kick him back. Once she impacted him he look winded, with his arms around his stomach. Rainbow then backed up a bit in case he tried to attack her back. "Nice trick..." He weakly said as he turned around slightly from the attack. Before she could even say anything, he felt her hoof being grabbed by a claw, only to realise that it was his. Xervint then stood up straight and looked at her with an evil smile on his face with his eyes glowing green. "...Here's mine." He then said normally as his spines then became electrified, which then travelled down to his arm and then to his claw, which then electrified her entire body. The other five knew that they couldn't just sit there and watch their friend in pain, so they each tried to rush him like they did last time. Unfortunately, he still had back-up. When Applejack tried to buck him, she felt the gravity around her decrease harshly, and she was then lifted into the air via Auxron's magic. Speaking of magic, Twilight then tried to use hers to bring Rainbow Dash back over to her. However once her horn lit up, she felt an instant sharp pain up there. Her magic was cancelled out entirely, as she found out that there was some sort of crystal in her horn, pointing to Expherient. She looked at him, noticing that the dragon was holding a weapon: an arrow gun of some kind, designed to shoot those crystals. Xervint did eventually stop the energy surge, causing Rainbow's body to become limb as she was almost unconscious. Noticing that Rarity was trying to escape, Xervint had to act fast, so he threw Dash right at her, knocking them both to the floor. Fluttershy, at first intimidated by the trio of beasts, saw the pain that they were causing her friends, and decided to get assertive on them. This, however, was quickly disbanded when she felt her gravity increase so much, that it her hurt her to stand up, so she fell right down. Looking at Auxron, it was likely his power keeping her down. Lastly, Pinkie tried to attack the trinity with her cannon, only to have a tail wrapped around her torso and lifted slightly. "Uh-oh..." She said as she came to the unfortunate realization, then followed up with the familiar feeling of having her talent drained from her. When Xervint was finished with her, he threw her up into the air, and slammed her down with the same tail, and proceeded to walk over to Rarity. "OK, time to collect." He continued to walk over to the unicorn underneath the cyan Pegasus. When she saw him approaching, she tried to climb to her hooves and make a break for it, only to see that Expherient was already there right in front of her. Seeing him made her stop, turn to the left and try to run there, not noticing Auxron until she was about within 5 ft. of him. She then turned round and tried to run there, which was followed up with Xervint flying to be in front of her. "So, you wanna help us or not? Not that I'm giving you much choice." Xervint commented to her as he began to walk forwards towards her. She then began to back up slowly, not really thinking about what was behind her; escaping his grasp was all that mattered to her at this moment. He then stopped moving forwards, which caused her to become confused, and then worried as her tail was grabbed by a claw, and she was lifted into the air upside down Auxron. "Unhand me, you ruffian!" Rarity demanded as she squirmed to get away. "Okay~" Auxron complied, letting go and dropping her on her head. "Oof." She said as she tried to get back up. When she was crawling to her hooves, she heard the sound of something reloading. Curious, she turned to see the source of the sound, felt an impact on her horn, and fell right down into unconsciousness. The other five saw this and looked back at Expherient was still had the same arrow gun in claw, as he pulled it up to his mouth and blew the smoke away. "C'mon, we gotta get goin' if we want dis done 'fore tomorrow." Auxron stated as he carried Rarity over his shoulder and began to walk over to Xervint. "I'll drop her off when I'm finished with her." Expherient laughed as he snapped his fingers and opened his hand behind him. When he did, a large sphere of blur light emerged behind him. The sphere then concentrated itself, and formed itself into a sun. The three drakes then walked into the sun, which caused Applejack and Fluttershy to have their gravity return to normal. "Oh no you don't!" Pinkie shouted as she run for it after them. "Pinkie what are you doing?!" Rainbow Dash asked from further away. "You're not getting away with MY talent!" Pinkie cried as she jumped into the sun the split-second before it began to disappear. "PINKIE NO!" Twilight yelled as she and her 3 friends ran after her, only to see that the sphere was evaporating quickly, and had vanished before they got to it. "Oh, not again..." Fluttershy whimpered as she realized that this was the forth time she's had someone she knows taken away by the Babylon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Tho, in concluthion, if our guild manageth to get the funding, our project might be capable for revolutionithing the geothermal induthry. Thank you." The purple mare closed with the meeting of the guild coming to an end. She was met with applause as she walked off the stage and out of the door. Frazzle Rock mad her way over to her favourite little café. Being in Canterlot, it was needless to say to the food and drinks here were all above average. When she opened the door, she noticed a mysterious stallion waiting at the counter where she usually stood. Curious, she approached the guy to get her order. As she was about to get the waiter's attention, the strange unicorn spoke up. "Side Order." The employee then turned around to face him. "Liquor Coffee for me, Honey-glazed tea for the lady, please." "How did you know that?" Frazzle asked him. "Lucky guess, darling." The blonde stallion answered. "Illiux." "Um, F-Frazzle." She said with a blush after seeing his face. Like most females, aside from the mane six and the princesses, she found him gorgeous. Even the mares and fillies at the tables were shooting looks at him from afar. "Sugar, sir?" Side order asked him. "Latte, no sugar. I have something sweet already." Illiux replied, clearly indicating Frazzle Rock. "Wow. Um, thank you. I, uh, I uthually don't have any boyth flirting with me." She said with her head facing the ground. 'Come to think of it, no boys really ever talk to me, except for the guys in the guild. And that dragon that one time.' She thought to herself. "I find that rather hard to believe." Illiux complimented her again as they took their drinks. She continued to blush like crazy and remained silent, occasionally taking sips from her tea. "Now then, my dear, the reason why I'm here, apart from having the privilege of meeting you today..." Illiux then drank his latte and took hold of her hoof with his own. "...Is that your assistance is required. What if I were to tell you that you, Miss Frazzle, could be a key roll in revolutionizing the entire world as we know it?" "Um, how tho?" She lisped. "I understand that you hold a high position of authority in a guild of geothermal rock analysis? Well, with your knowledge, a little experiment that a few friends of mine are working on may be able to succeed. It is his life's work after all, so please have a think about it my darling." Illiux finished as he drank down his latte, leaving his money for Side as he left. Walking out the door, Illiux took a deep breath in, then exhaled. "Hello Caxpe." He said while walking forwards. "How's things with your bird?" Caxpe laughed as he appeared out of nowhere. "They're fine. How're you doing with your lady? Oh, pardon me, you don't have one, nor will you ever." Illiux replied, taking out his golden hand mirror and checking his parted mane. "Rather not have one then have her, to be honest mate." Caxpe retaliated. "Now come on, Better get started. Canterlot castle's waiting for us." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Aww, Come on. Please? I just wanna see it! Aaaaaand maybe get my talent back at the same time, but mostly the first thing!" Pinkie pleaded to the dark lime dragon that pinned her down. Without her special talent with her, her options were even more limited than before. "You're not getting in the way of Expherient's project." The dragon replied, keeping her on the ground with his foot and tail. Being right outside the laboratory, pretty much anything could be in there. Wondering what was happening with Rarity in the next room, Pinkie couldn't hear the sound of walls and floors being pounced on, and that the sounds were approaching this direction. "She's coming." A pale grey dragon said to them as he turned corner. "Already?" The first one asked in response. As he did, he stood up straight, and held Pinkie in his arms, still keeping her immobile. The other dragon came to his side and stood in the same position, as Pinkie still tried to escape. "Lady Xiaoshi." They both said, seemingly in union. Pinkie turned her head to him and tried to ask what they were talking about, but before she asked, she turned her head back forwards and saw a creepy smile right in front of her. The smile then proceeded to come closer to her and the other two, then the dragons moved out of the way. The doors behind her opened, and the smile appeared to walk through them. "Uhh, what was that?" Pinkie asked the two dragons. "That was my S.I.C., and my girl." A voice answered her question right behind her. She turned her head, and saw someone she really did and didn't want to see right now. "Xervint!" She yelled in surprise. Even the guards holding her were surprised to see him appear like that. "Boss, how'd you do that?" The grey one asked. "I have her talent." Xervint answered, pointing at Pinkie. "So, babe, what'd you think of Babylon? Pretty cool, I know." "I've only seen this one corridor." Pinkie replied. "And to be honest, it's a kinda dump. Couldn't you have kept me held in a more suitable environment?" "Firstly, since when have you cared about your surrounding environment? You lived on a rock farm for most of your foalhood. And secondly, because of you and the other elements, this room is actually one of the more appealing places in all of Babylon." "Boss, aren't you supposed to be in Caterlot?" "Not yet, man. Rare-bear isn't finished yet with the ring, so I gotta wait for her. Might take her a while." Xervint answered as he reached his arm out to the side of the screen and grabbed on to the next scene. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Honestly, kidnapping me is absolutely pointless. They simply could've asked me to sort this ring out." Rarity complained as she continued to work on the small circular golden object. "Just shut up and keep working." Left said to her, with a toilet pipe in his hoof. It was his job to make certain that she couldn't leave the room, which he was doing great at right now, much to her dismay. "All I'm saying is that it seems absolutely pointless to keep me hostage down here, just so I can attach a gem to a ring." "Look, I don't care if he asked you to bathe Auxron after he's finished a full day at the gym, they say something and you gotta do it. Capiche? 'Sides, that ain't the only reason you're here; someone's 'ere to see you." "Oh, well I'm sure that I'll be delighted to see them too(!)" Rarity looked back at the ring, making sure that it had to exact measurements requested and a lack of scratches. "Okay, I think I'm finished. Happy now?" Rarity turned her head to look at him. "Well, it's got literally naught to do with me, so no." Left walked over to her to see the ring. "Cool, but you're not finished yet. Turn around, babe." "Would you mind not calling me 'babe'?" Rarity said as she complied. Her jaw then dropped slightly, and her hoof rose to her mouth when she saw who was standing there. "He'll call you what he wants." Spike said with an evil smile on his face as he walked over to her, but then stopped half way across the room. "Babe." "Sp- Spikey wi- ow!" Rarity was cut off by the feeling of a metal pipe being whacked in her head. "Don't call him that." Left loudly whispered to her, and then turned his head to see him. "Yo, Skixep!" "What up, Left?" The dragon shouted back to the greaser. "She sorted it then?" "Yeah, without using you as her personal slave this time." Left joked to him, which caused Rarity to become interested at both his new name at what he thinks he is to her. "Hey, whe-whe." Skixep/Spike whistled to her as though she was a dog. "Eyes on me." He began to walk forwards again, and she looked at him. "You got the ring sorted, now attach this." The dragon ordered, as he pulled out a luminous gem from his pocket. He was still wearing the same outfit as the last time they encountered. On further inspection, this gem looked awfully familiar to her. Recently, somewhere, important to her and her sister. Then it hit her: it was the same gem that Auxron stole from Sweetie belle at the bank. And now, here she was, about to attach it to a ring that she could possibly never see again. Rarity couldn't believe her eyes, or the order she was just given. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "There HAS to be something in here that can tell us more about them. Anything." Twilight continued to scan through the one artefact that she had to might have even been close to a help against the Babylon. "Look, if there ain't nothing in there, then let's just wait fer them to strike and then counterattack." Applejack suggested. "That's not gonna work!" Rainbow Dash replied. "Don't wait for them to strike, just go for it." "Um, I still think that we can talk them out of this..." Fluttershy interjected. "Hold on a second, I'm trying to think!" Twilight silenced them all. "There is a limit to thinking, Twilight." A male voice came from behind the four of them, causing them to turn around. "If you overthink your strategy, you'll think too far ahead and leave yourself exposed for an attack." He said. The pony was a sort of Brown-barley color. He was wearing a white long sleeve polo shirt and a black and white tie with a pin to keep it from hanging low. He also wore a pair of light green glasses on his face. "Who are you?!" Twilight asked the stallion. She was beginning to get sick of asking ponies that question. "My name is rather fitting for your current situation: Checkmate. I'm Xandra's most trusted member and S.I.C. of the Ingenium faction of Babylon." He replied. "S.I.C.?" Fluttershy asked him. "Second In Command." "Come here you!!" Rainbow Dash charged to the unicorn. "A head-on attack?" Checkmate asked in somewhat confusion. As she was about to make contact, his horn lit up for a few seconds, and just then a giant vintage chess clock appeared behind him, and Rainbow Dash started to become much more slower. Checkmate, however, then just walked right out of her way and walked over to Twilight. His horn lit up again as the clock vanished, and her speed returned to normal, allowing her to crash into the wall. "The knight can move evasively, so beware its movements." He turned to face her on the floor. before he could talk to Twilight though, he felt himself being grabbed by two pretty strong hooves. "Yeah? Well, ah'm not so evasive, but ah can make sure you don't go anywhere either." Applejack said as she tried her best to bind him. "You just saw that brute force can't do much to me, and now you're trying this?" Checkmate asked the farm pony. "Interesting, but I feel I should warn you: Even a pawn can be more than a throw-away. Observe." A chair was then levitated with his horn lighting up, as well as herself. "Hey! Let me go." She demanded. Her demand was met with denial, as the chair was then rammed into her, knocking her away, and leaving the chair in perfect tact, and being placed back on the ground. "Are you next then?" He turned his attention to Fluttershy. "Or do you know better?" He asked her, right before she backed up slightly. "That's better." He whispered. "Now, I'll cut to the chase: Twilight, beat me in a game of chess, and you'll have Sk- I mean, Spike back. However, if you los-" "I accept." Twilight firmly said, cutting him off and closing the book and dropping it on her desk. "You... You haven't even heard the condition yet." "Doesn't matter. I'm gonna win, no matter what and get my broth- er, assistan... no, my BROTHER back." "Emotional. Very well, let's get it on." He said as his horn lit up again, and a pair of chairs, a table, a 64 place checkboard, a chess clock and all 32 pieces showed up. "Who's first?" He asked as they took there seats. "I want you to be." She replied. "Very well." He said as he moved pawn from D2 to D4, and pressed the clock. "Alright..." Twilight studied the board. She thought that he wanted her to move her pawn forwards so he could take it out, and then have her take that out, only to have something take that out. She wasn't going to fall for it. She moved her pawn from C7 to C5. "You've not played chess in a while, have you?" Check mate asked, as he looked at her in the eyes. "What makes you say that?" Twilight asked as she pressed the clock button. "You do know it's a rule that you must move your king once you're in check, don't you?" "Yes, so what?" He then took hold of his queen and moved it from E1 to A5. Looking at the state of the board, he smiled and sat up straight. "Checkmate." "What? It's not che-" Twilight saw her situation, and her pupils shrank. She could only move her king, and the only direction she could move it was diagonal, but it was the same direction that the queen was it. She was boxed in, and had loss. "Well, that's no surprise." Checkmate said as he made the whole equipment then disappeared. "I... I lost." Twilight said, with a large tone of disappointment and sadness. "So you have. Tragic really, I thought we'd be here longer. Oh well, can't win everything." He said as he closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "Hold on! You're not taking this away from me again!" Twilight shouted in such a violent tone that even her three friends backed up a little bit. She then growled and ducked down slightly, then spread her wings out and tackled him to the ground. "Oof!" He grunted as she pinned him down on the floor. Seeing this, Applejack and Rainbow dash walked over to him to help her keep him immobilized. "We're done playing around now, ya hear?!" Applejack questioned the stallion on the floor. "You're gonna take us to Spike and our friends right here, right now!" Rainbow added. "You know what, girls? That's exactly what I'm going to do." Checkmate told them, causing the four of them to become confused. "You... You are?" Fluttershy inquired. "Well, no not so much me. You'll have to take it up with my leader. I have a feeling you've already met." "Who is she?" Twilight asked as she got off him. "Me." A very faintly familiar voice spoke from behind her and in front of the others. Twilight turned around and saw someone who filled her with dread right now. "Hello again, ladies." She said to the four of them. She was in a business suit and skirt, wearing her hair straight, down on the right hand side of her face, halfway down her hooves. Her hair was nearly all black, with a few strands of blue across random sections of it. She also had a pair of circular black glasses across her face. "Xandra!!" Twilight shouted across to the girl at the desk. "Salutations, Miss Beswick." Checkmate said to her as he stood up. "Checkmate, Xervint needs to see you for the plaid décor, if you please." "Understood. Farewell." was the last thing he said before teleporting out of the room. "Hey wait!" Twilight yelled as he vanished to who knows where. "He said he would take you to your former assistant, I know. I can take you there myself, if you desire." Xandra calmly told them. "I don't trust you with my life." Twilight turned back to her. "The last time you told us where Spike supposedly was, you almost had me obliterated." "Almost, but not quite." Xandra replied, her facial expression remaining the same. "Now I'm going to see him, so are you four coming with, or would you rather not risk it?" The four of them then looked at each other, in a way that they clearly didn't know what to do, so they had to reach a conclusion soon.