Check Mates

by Marezinger Z

Check Mates

Sunset stared out of the motel window blankly as she watched the fierce rain beat against the glass. Her daze was broken by a flash of light followed by a crack of thunder that shook the walls.

“Geez.” Sunset drew the curtain closed. “Of course the worst storm of the year would hit while we’re in town.” She turned back to Pinkie who bounced up and down on the side of the bed.

“That just means it was waiting for us.” She smiled. “Guess that makes us special.”

“That’s one way to look at it.” Sunset grumbled. “This storm better let up before the concert tomorrow. We can only afford this room for one night. If the show gets delayed, or worse, cancelled; then our whole route will be messed up.”

“Don’t worry so much.” Pinkie lackadaisically toned. “Why spend your time imagining the worst; you should imagine fun things instead.”

“We’ve just been planning this trip for awhile now.” Sunset took up the remote for the television. “I just don’t want anything to spoil it.”

“Nothing’s going to spoil it as long as we’re together.” Pinkie assured with a wide grin.

Sunset smiled and nodded. “I know.” She aimed the remote at the screen. “At least we’ve got T.V.” Another deafening boom shook the room and the lights went dark; Sunset lowered the remote with a raised eyebrow. “I’ve got to learn to keep my mouth shut.”

“Eh, too much T.V. is bad for you anyway.” Pinkie shrugged.

“I need electricity to live, Pinkie.” Sunset huffed as she opened the curtains again, the street lamps in the parking lot affording enough light to dimly illuminate the room. “Everything I do is based around it. When the power goes out at my place, I just wind up staring at the wall thinking about what I’ll do when it comes back.”

Pinkie giggled and leapt from the bed. “That’s pretty sad, Sunset.” She began opening drawers around the room. “I’m sure there is something around here we can do.” She ran from nightstand, to dresser and to closet before gasping in excitement. “Jackpot!” She proudly held up a colorful box labeled Chess.

“A chess set?” Sunset cocked her head.

Pinkie sat on the floor between the beds and began un-boxing the game. “I know, lucky right?”

“Do you even know how to play chess?” Sunset sat across from her.

“Nope.” Pinkie said plainly as she took up a handful of pieces. “Ooh, I want to be the horse!”

“Uh… that’s called a knight, Pinkie.” Sunset looked down at the board. “I don’t know about this. Chess might be a little… complicated for you.” She phrased as nicely as possible.

“Teach me then.” Pinkie braced her elbows on her knees and laid her head in her hands.

Realizing there was nothing else to do; Sunset put her phone aside and began setting up the board. “Okay.”

“Yay!” Pinkie clapped excitedly.

“Here, you can be the black side.” Sunset twisted the board.

“I get all these?” Pinkie asked in amazement.

“Sure do.” Sunset laughed. “First off, the board is a grid with numbered rows and lettered columns.” She ran her finger up the side of the board. “1 through 8.” She then ran her finger across her side of the board. “A through H.” Her hand took up the smallest of the pieces and held it before Pinkie. “Now, these little guys here are your pawns. They’re sacrificial in the long run, but really important to your strategy.” She set the piece back on the board. “Normally they can only move forward 1 space at a time, but on their first turn they can move 2 spaces if you want.”

“Got it.” Pinkie moved a few of hers to try them out.

“Next is the knight.” She lifted the piece. “Knights are the only pieces that can jump others and they move in an L.” She hovered it 2 spaces forward and 1 to the left.

“Hee hee, that’s a 7, not an L silly.” Pinkie copied her move.

“It’s… never mind.” Sunset shook her head. “7 it is.” She swapped the knight for the bishop. “This is the bishop, it can only move diagonally but it can move as far as it wants until it captures or is blocked by another piece.”

“He’s pointy.” Pinkie tapped her finger on the tip of the piece.

“Yes, he is.” Sunset nodded as she swapped to the rook. “This is the rook, it can move vertically or horizontally as far as it wants until it captures or is blocked by another piece.”

“Got it.” Pinkie smiled as she ran the piece across the board with a vroom noise.

“This is the queen.” Sunset laid her finger atop the board’s matriarch. “She’s the most powerful piece. She can move in any direction, like a bishop and rook put together.”

“Off with his head!” Pinkie laughed as she used her queen to knock down her bishop.

“Lastly, there's the king.” Sunset lifted the piece. “This is the one you want to protect at all costs. If it’s put in a position where he can’t avoid capture, you lose the game.”

“Don’t worry little guy.” Pinkie patted her king’s head. “I won’t let that mean ol’ Sunset get you.”

“Honestly the best way to learn is to just play.” Sunset reset the board. “I’ll explain things as we go.”

“Okie dokie.” Pinkie put on her game face.

“The white pieces go first, so I’ll start the game.” Sunset took her bishop’s pawn. “Pawn to f4.”

Pinkie stroked her chin methodically. “Well played.” She reached down and took her king’s pawn. “I’ll do pawn to…” She paused to calculate the coordinate. “e6.”

“Playing defensive, huh?” Sunset smirked. “Okay then, I’ll move pawn to g4. Taking control of the center of the board as quickly as possible is a key strategy. It limits your opponent's…”

“Queen to h4.” Pinkie moved her piece and sat back with a smile. “I got your king!” She celebrated.

“What!?” Sunset looked at the board and realized she was checkmated. “How…”

“This is fun.” Pinkie beamed. “Let’s go again.”

“Yeah... let’s.” Sunset returned the board to its starting position. “I’ll be black this time.”

“Okay.” Pinkie nodded and looked over her new pieces. “Pawn to e4.”

“That’s a more traditional opening.” Sunset said as she took her bishop’s pawn. “Pawn to f5” She smiled as she set the piece down. “Now, you have the option of capturing but you don’t…”

“I will!” Pinkie greedily used her pawn to take Sunset’s.

Sunset pointed to the pawn. “You may have taken my pawn, but now yours is overextended.” She took her knight’s pawn. “Pawn to g5. Now we both have a pawn near the center of the board.” She explained. “Chess isn’t always about attacking. Sometimes the best offense is a….”

“Queen to h5.” Pinkie swiftly moved her queen. “Ha ha! I got your king again!”

“Huh?” Sunset looked down to see that she was again checkmated. “Oh come on!”

“Wheee!” Pinkie bounced on the rug. “Rainbow Dash always said this game was boring, but it’s a lot of fun.”

“Glad you’re… enjoying it.” Sunset said with wavering composure. “One more time?”

“Alrighty.” Pinkie watched as she reset the board.

“I’m on to you now.” Sunset proclaimed. “Your beginner’s luck is over.”

“Um… are you okay, Sunset.” Pinkie’s head tilted as she noticed her friend's twitching eye.

“Peachy. Make your move.” Sunset instructed.

“Sure.” Pinkie took to the board. “Pawn to e4.”

“Pawn to e5” Sunset copied her opening.

“Queen to h5.” Pinkie repeated her winning move.

“I’m not falling for that this time.” Sunset said smugly. “Knight to c6.”

“I see.” Pinkie’s eyes scanned the layout. “Bishop to… c4.”

“Knight to f6.” Sunset quickly deployed her opposite knight. “Now, with a setup like this I have good opening control of the center and I’m attacking your queen.”

“Hmmm.” Pinkie twisted her lips, suddenly smiling with wide eyes. “I use my queen to take your pawn on f7.” She proudly removed Sunset’s piece. “I got your king again!”

“That’s…” Sunset saw the queen/bishop pin on her king. “Excuse me.” She quietly stood and went over to her bed; she suddenly flopped onto it and screamed into her pillow.”

“Sunset?” Pinkie watched her in mild confusion. “Are you mad?”

“Why would I be mad?” Sunset asked sarcastically as she raised her head from the pillow. “I’ve only been playing chess since before I came to this world and now I’m getting my butt handed to me by Bobby Fischer Price over here.”

Before Pinkie could respond the lights suddenly came back on and the various electronic devices around the room hummed to life. “Aww.” She pouted.

“Yes!” Sunset rejoiced. “Power!” She grabbed the remote control but stopped as she saw Pinkie looking up at her from the floor with puppy dog eyes.

“No, let’s keep playing.” She rolled her king around in its spot. “I like being able to play this with you… it’s something just you and I can do together.”

Sunset, as usual, melted under her sweetness and tossed the remote aside; she sat back across from Pinkie and reset the board with a smile. “You’re right.” She rotated the board, giving Pinkie the black pieces. “Now that I think about it, no one has ever really wanted to play chess with me since I got here.” She moved her pawn to e4. “It’s nice.”

“Yeah, now we have PostCrush and chess in common!” Pinkie moved her pawn to e5. “I love it!”

Sunset laughed. “Me too, Pinkie.” They smiled at one another as Sunset made her next move.

Author's Note:

Just a fun little idea I had after watching Backstage Pass. If you're interested in playing along, the move annotation is legit.

Comments

[Vaguely Demented]

You’d think Sunset would know to avoid Fool’s Mate.

[Samey90]

9799640
Well, she's talking about controlling the centre while developing the kingside pawns. Though I suspect she's intentionally letting Pinkie win.

[Vaguely Demented]

9799650
Seems unlikely given her annoyance.

[Marezinger Z]

9799661

9799650
I know the chess part is pretty basic and the stuff Sunset falls for is elementary; but I worked to play this as close to an EQG short as I could. Also, I wanted to balance it out so that people who play chess might get a laugh but people who aren't into it as much could still enjoy the story without becoming bored by too much annotation and rule explanation.

[Crimson Dawn]

I always like the idea of Pinkie being good at chess.

[Krixwell]

Sunset gave up rather quickly in the third round. That's not a checkmate – Qxe5+ was actually a terrible move on Pinkie's part (though not too terrible considering she hasn't played before). It'd be trivial for Sunset to get out of this check with Nxe5, capturing the queen and significantly weakening Pinkie without even sacrificing her knight.

In any case, this is a fun idea, and well executed. Nailed that EQG short feel you were going for!

I definitely think keeping it simple was the right decision, since even for those readers who do know their chess, it can be hard to follow along with a game in text form without pulling up a board to visualize the moves.

[Vaguely Demented]

9799820
Fair enough.

[Inspector Brown]

9799820
I appreciate what you intended with this short story. But, I would like a sequel that goes a little bit deeper into the rules and tactics of chess.

[jqnexx]

You're out of practice Sunny! Celestia would be disappointed in you!

[redandready45]

Pinkie Pie and Sunset flirting over chess?

Somehow those words shouldn't fit together in a sentence, but you make it work so well.

[reader238]

To win at chess you need to be able to both be unpredictable, as as well as predict your opponent's moves accurately. Unfortunately for Sunset this describes Pinkie quite well

[Anybisan]

I was laughing. That's great.

[Marezinger Z]

11280786
Thanks.

[SUPERETHAN2]

I found this kind of boring and a little aggravating to be honest. It really bugged me seeing Sunset getting arbitrarily nerfed for no reason just to make Pinkie seem better than she should be. I did like the idea another review pointed out with how Pinkie being unpredictable would help her in a game like chess, but the problem is this fic doesn't actually show that. It's more Sunset who has played chess before and should know better than to lose in only a handful of moves, ends up doing so. At the very least she should know to think ahead at what would happen when she moves her piece.

I get where you are coming from with this 9799820 response, but at the same time there are other ways you could have appealed to the casuals. Instead of three short games that only lasts for a few moves there is one long game where it's more evenly matched. You don't even have to show the whole game and instead have the focus be on the two just chatting like friends. Have Pinkie distract Sunset by being silly and implied it's her strategy to be unpredictable to help even things against the more experience player. You can skip around the match and show the moves at different stages and the more experience at chess can even have a bonus game where they try to map out how the whole game could have played out from the little moves we got. There are countless things you could have done. Your way of doing it by arbitrarily nerfing Sunny just to make Pinkie look better actually makes this fic worst for me. I am somebody who enjoys things being more logical and consistent than comedic even though the comedy to be honest kind of falls flat for me. In short while I understand at least partially why you had the fic played out like it did, I feel there are and were better ways you could have done it the way you wanted.

[RainbowInfinityReadings]

Greetings. Your reading has been completed and can be found below. I hope you enjoy.

[Malandy]

Congrats on being the 20th bested Rated "comedy pinkie pie equestria girls" story on site!

Cool that all the notation's legit and Pinkie's not using her powers to win!

If I wanted to explain it, well, Sunset's stressed, she doesn't seem to be waiting and really thinking about her moves that much, sorta Speed Chess-y, and she's out of practice.

[Marezinger Z]

11731235
Thank you. I had no idea it was ranked that high, that's awesome.

[Malandy]

11731610

You're welcome! Apparently "Pinkie Pie" captures both Mane and EQG, so without that, you're 19 in "Pinkie Pie (EqG) #comedy"

12 in "Pinkie Pie (EqG) #comedy #slice-of-life"

And 6 in "#pinkie-pie-eqg #comedy #slice-of-life #sunset-shimmer"