Twilight: Nor'easter VI
“You will not believe this, and will likely believe I’m insulting your intelligence, but none of what is happening to Equestria, to the Provinces, to the Lands, was conceived of in malice. This is all part of a Game in motion long before the gods began playing dice with this world for their own advantage.”
After the filly and what seemed to be her father had walked directly through Terridora’s defenses (which based on Thalia’s reaction should not have been that easy), they’d simply turned around and politely requested that everyone in the room come with them. Which they had promptly done, without hesitation and very much without wanting to.
The diminutive crossbreed had completely dropped the cute playful filly persona, and looking out from the sapphire-blue eyes was the analytical wariness of a much older mare who had bought a great deal of her wisdom at a steep price. Her voice was still high and youthful, but now had the very precise dictation of a noble who’d gone through finishing schools and graduated with university honors.
“What th’ hay do ya mean, none of what’s goin’ on is meant ta be malicious?” Applejack snorted. “Ponies gettin’ sick all over, them atermors poisonin’ crops, that thing in the Barrens trying ta kill us and a buncha wounded ponies, yer pet torture thing carvin’ up Dawn, whatever the hay is going on in the Provinces, and ya sit there an’ say ya didn’t mean ta be mean?”
“Yes,” Penumbra said, “although none of what you listed was part of the plan. In fact, the time table for the plan would have seen the crowning of Princess Thryssa das Chrysalis’ great-granddaughter before it could bear fruit. The interlopers have… accelerated things.”
“THEY ARE APT TOOLS IN OUR HANDS,” the massive and resonant voice said, “BUT WE HAVE MADE THEM TOOLS BECAUSE THE ALTERNATIVE WAS TO ALLOW THEM TO FULFILL THEIR PURPOSE.”
“This world is ours,” Penumbra said with a tone of finality.
“WE WILL NOT ALLOW SOME PRATTLING FOOL OF THE VOID TO RIP IT FROM OUR HANDS. AND SO, PLANS WERE ALTERED, SLOWED, ACCELERATED. A PLAGUE MEANT TO BE REPEATED AT A TINY SCALE DOZENS OF TIMES OVER BEFORE SHIFTING TO PANDEMIC IS NOW A SINGLE PANDEMIC FROM THE START. YET THE LETHALITY IS VIRTUALLY NONE. CULTIVATING THE ‘GIFT’ DISCORD LEFT FOR CELESTIA AND LUNA IS NOW A BRUTE FORCE BID FOR THE TREE.”
“Which will fail.”
“WE CANNOT KNOW THAT YET. AND IT DEPENDS UPON WHAT MANNER OF SUCCESS WE WISH.”
“We can know that, and we do.” Penumbra tapped her chin with a hoof. “Although…”
“EXACTLY.”
“She should be arriving soon. I’ll divert her and describe what we need, see if the more extensive task requires extra pay.”
“THANK YOU, DEAR.”
“Anything to further the Grand Design, pater.” Penumbra looked at them. “Allowing you to leave is not conducive to our design, but if you wish, I could bring you victuals and comforts.”
Twilight blinked. Did she just… offer us food and drink? Like we’re guests? “I’m sure we’d appreciate that but… why would you offer us that?”
“It advances our goals, naturally,” she said. “Prisoners who become hungry, thirsty, and uncomfortable are motivated to leave quickly so they can rectify it. Prisoners supplied with food, drink, and comforts are motivated to patiently seek an advantage that would let them escape, inclined to spend time determining a way to minimize their risk and maximize their chances.”
“And?”
Penumbra smiled--an expression that seemed more pleasant on her face than when she was pretending filly-like excitement--at Applejack. “And old habits die hard, especially good old habits. It was something so simple as socializing every pony to make a guest of the stranger that led to a flourishing society over which the glorious Sun and Moon rule with altruism and benevolence.”
“And they had to band together against wendigos,” Dawn said.
Penumbra snorted at that. “The Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant.”
“The story makes ponies feel good.” Pinkamena gave Penumbra a look Twilight had never seen on her face before, that of a pony appraising a threat. “Promotes unity, and the values of Equestria. It’s good.”
“Not nearly so good as the truth,” Penumbra said. “When this is all over, I’ll tell you that story. You can pass it down to your foals as the special family version. But I have a great deal to do, and shall not tell you now.”
“You sound like you expect us to live,” Ember said.
“That is up to you, and whether you act cleverly or foolishly,” Penumbra said. “Father, if you’ll please attend to our guests while I discuss matters with her?”
“OF COURSE I WILL, DEAR.”
“Visibly.”
Twilight could have sworn ‘Father’ smiled. “YES.”
Penumbra smiled. “Thank you Pater. I’ll be back soon.” And with that, the filly simply popped out of visible existence. And then between one moment and the next, there was a black-scaled dragon lounging on the dias, taking up the entire thing. Or more accurately, Twilight supposed, there was the moving corpse of a dragon on the dias, empty sockets taking up the place where eyes were meant to be, its skin visibly hanging off of it like molding cloth, bones bleached and exposed beneath what remained of its hide, and what little could be seen of internal organs were decaying.
“This is what my daughter requested of me.” The corpse-dragon moved its jaws as ‘Father’ spoke, although the decayed face was too rotted to approximate the tongue and lip movements of speech. The volume and reverberation were gone and without them, the father’s voice was pleasantly basso. “I am given to understand that you would find it more comfortable to speak to a face instead of a sourceless voice.”
“And ya thought a… corpse would work.”
“It is symbolic.” ‘Voice’ turned his eye sockets to face Twilight. “I think I desire an amusement. Do any of you understand the fundamentals of kraespahl?”
Twilight frowned. “Isn’t that a chess variant popular in Germane?”
“No,” he said. “Yes, it is popular in Germane. No, it is not a variant of chess, unless you believe chess to have three dozen pieces per player.”
“Like Strategy?”
“No, that only has a dozen pieces and each side’s complement is partly visible to the other side.” He made a contemplative sound. “Pardon.”
“Depends on whether you want many participants.”
“True.” Another contemplative sound. “Perhaps chess itself then.”
“I know the rules and strategies but haven’t had anyone to play with in years.”
“I can take him on.” Twilight turned and looked at Ember, who was glaring in the direction of ‘Father’. “Besides, ain’t like there’s a point beyond bragging rights.”
“Perhaps.” ‘Father’ made a gesture with a claw and a chessboard appeared, suspended in midair, already set with pieces intricately carved out of what appeared to be onyx and sapphires. “I am aware of the rules, but you will move first.”
Ember moved her king’s pawn out, to a mirrored move from Father. She moved a pawn out, and then put her king’s minister on the field; Father’s first intricate pieces out was the princess side knight. Twilight felt Dawn and Applejack move up to either side of her, and the rest of her friends and Thalia on the other side, watching.as the two exchanged pieces. Given her abrasive demeanor, Twilight hadn’t expected that the dragon princess would have any real skill at the game, but Ember had clearly practiced because her strategies were too sophisticated for a novice.
Father was clearly no novice either, although there was something about the flow of the game where his moves seemed more responsive than planned. He managed to go on a windmill in the center of the board with his king knight, but a series of maneuvers on the peripheries found Ember with a smothered mate using her princess’ knight, and Father’s bony jaw gaped in an approximation of a grin. “Cleverly done, Heir,” he said as he tipped his king in acknowledgement of defeat. “You persevere through great losses, willing to sacrifice for victory.”
“Doesn’t look like that to me,” Ember said with a touch of bitterness. “Go again?”
“Yes, but not with you.” His head turned towards Rarity. “You, assassin. Will you play my game?”
“I’ll play chess with you,” Rarity said. “But I don’t play other people’s games.”
He chuckled as the pieces reassembled themselves, Rarity’s now made of diamond instead of sapphire. “You are wrong, dressmaker. You will play my game, you’ll see.”
Rarity put her king’s knight out as her opening move. “Will play? I’m not playing it now?”
He advanced his princess’ pawn. “No, not quite yet.”
Rarity turned out to be an advanced player, making sparing use of her pawns and using her other pieces in a strange and intricate dance that made them seem hanging one minute, and then well-positioned the next. As before, Father only seemed able to react rather than be proactive but his reactions were good and the game stretched on far longer than the one the eldritch entity had played with Ember. The end was an almost poetic one: Rarity advanced a pawn until it was right next to the king, and then promoted it to a princess to seal the mate.
“You seem to prefer playing my game,” Rarity said as he toppled his king.
“Removing obstacles your way is messy,” he replied calmly. “I prefer to set up the possibility, but only move in time with my opponent.”
“And what about Penumbra?”
The positioning of his jaws seemed more like a smile than a grin this time. “My daughter makes me look like a blunt instrument. Our Game is mostly hers.”
“How is she your daughter?” Twilight said. “You’re not mortal, not even from Equestria, and you don’t have a body of your own.”
“All true.” He gestured and the game board reset, the pieces made of amethysts now. “I would test your wits, Twilight Sparkle. You have nothing to lose by it.”
“But you have something to gain by it.”
“Do I?” He smiled again. “I would still test your wits, if you would consent.”
“Princess Ember allowed him to rampage among her own, bringing down many, before she trapped him in his own cave.” Twilight had to struggle not to jerk her head up at hearing her own voice in her ear. I shouldn’t be hearing the guide hallucination without having used the associated spell. “Rarity played a cagey game, distracting him with many more threatening pieces while a seeming pawn danced up to the unwary princess, and cut her throat. He could have won both games easily; the strategies were cunning, but visible.”
I see. “I consent,” Twilight said to ‘Father’ “If you make the first move.”
“That would be inappropriate,” he said. “But that would seem right to you, wouldn’t it? Very well.” His king’s pawn moved out two spaces. “There. Is that what you thought you’d see?”
Twilight couldn’t help but blink at him. What I thought I’d see? “It is one of the most favored opening moves,” she said. “So… yeah, I guess I thought it’s what I’d see.” She moved her princess’ pawn out a single space.
“Then you’d don’t see matters clearly, princess,” he said. “And I don’t think you understand yourself either. Perhaps we overestimated how dangerous you’d be.” He brought out his king’s minister, putting it as a direct threat to her king. “What about that? Did you see what you thought you would?”
“I…” Twilight cleared her throat and moved a pawn to block the path of the minister. “Yes, that seems like a perfectly reasonable move, taking advantage of an opening.”
He captured the pawn. “It is reasonable, going directly for the king early in the game. What I would ask you, Princess, is whether your move was right?”
“Of course it was right,” Twilight huffed. “The use of a pawn…”
“...did nothing,” he said. “Your mother would be disappointed with you, Twilight, to see you play the game so.”
Twilight stared again.”What… what does my mother have to do with this?”
“Everything, Princess Sparkle.” He gestured at the board. “Your move.”
Twilight captured the minister, and he responded by bringing out his king’s knight onto the right of the board. The game continued in silence for several more moves: he castled his king, she advanced her pawns, and the piece exchanging began until between her rook, minister, and princess, she cornered his king.
“Well played, Princess,” he said as he tipped his king.”and thank you for this game. It was very… interesting. You are not as much your mother’s daughter as I thought you were.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Your mother would have imposed her princess between my minister and your king,” he said. “Not her pawn.”
“But that would have been…” Twilight stopped suddenly. Mother would have imposed her princess between a threat and her most important piece. “...oh.”
“And that, Princess Sparkle, is what your mother has to do with this.” The eldritch creature’s tone was actually… sympathetic sounding. “But this is not the Game your kind plays.”
The decision with the pawn was symbolic, she realized, still staring at the nearly-empty board. And then something fell into place and she looked up at ‘Father’ looking at him for several moments. “I feel sort of odd saying this but… thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for? It was just an idle amusement while we waited for my daughter to return.”
“Right.” Twilight said. “Who was the ‘she’ Penumbra was going to meet?”
“My minister.” And then the construct vanished, and Twilight looked at her sister, her belly starting to twist with icy dread..
“...Dawn.”
“I heard,” Dawn spat on the floor. “So much for not intending malice.”
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Wait, you mean that The Empty Room has a sequel and I didn't know about it! Well damn.
Woo! Reading!
9717086
Sort of. I don't want to represent this as a direct sequel because that might imply that Wanderer is collaborating with me and making sure I stick to his story canon, so I prefer to term it an "unofficial sequel."
9717238
And hopefully, some of those reading will be commenting. ^_^;;
Chess games like these are very hard to portray in stories because of all the internal processes that cannot be explained by moving pieces along the board and expecting the readers to follow. Well done for a well-balanced introspection to reveal some of Twilight's and her antagonist's thoughts while still keeping it a mystery.
9717436
Thank you. :) I ended up stopping where I did because I couldn't think of a way to keep writing it without revealing what Twilight had realized about the symbolism.
Pinkie knows something of that which Penny speaks of.
Ah, this is a nod to the readers, meant to tell us that Penny's 'father' is Whisper, isn't it?
I used to always open with a knight, but now I usually open by allowing my queen and a bishop an opening. Uhh... the king's bishop. And I play a very reactive game myself.
...I'm a decent player, but I always lose to any experienced foe.
9717493
Hmm. Okay, I'll give it a go. Chess symbolism time.
Ember controlled tha board by permitting the death of a few as she closed in on the threat. Rarity went straight fer blood and death. Twilight sacrificed her pawn rather than risk tha match. That last one was specifically meant to remind of the scarring of Dawn, when Twilight allowed him to hurt Dawn to delay harsher punitive action.
My own style is very defensive, sacrificing only when a clearly better piece is traded. Or when I fail to see the enemy's trap, but that's not a deep insight into my character, it just means I don't see everything. I pick off enemy pieces one by one until only the king remains, then corner him. It's a slow, methodical game where victory or defeat is clear long before the game is over.
Who is speaking tha second line? My best guess is Twilight, as the one who spoke before Whisper. It could also be a typo, and Whisper is supposed to speak both the first and second lines.
Also, you skipped a line break between lines two and three.
piece, watching as
11744208
Yes. :)
I lose to everyone. The chess games were meant to be symbolic so I looked up the terminology to describe the strategies being used to get to the result I wanted.
All very good, although since I had Twilight's hallucination explicitly spell out the meaning of their games I'm entertained that you came up with alternatives. :)
As for Twilight, the pawn in this instance represented an ordinary, common pony and the princess represented a princess. Based on what we know about Celestia, she would step between one of her subjects and a Big Bad and protect them instead of sacrificing them to save herself. Obviously in chess, sacrificing the queen to save a pawn would be insane unless the pawn was positioned to win the game for you but like I said, the games are symbolic.
It just now occurred to me that 'Whisper' is Sotto Voce. And you are correct in your guess.
Yup, I see it. Thank you.
Thank you and thank you. :)
11745961
There's usually more than one way to interpret something. Sometimes, there's even multiple correct ways.
11745983
I know, and "Death of The Author" is a well-regarded concept. All I can do is make clear my intentions. :)