It Was Just A Game

by KalaAWild

Part 3: The End

"You are not going to win Discord," Twilight said with conviction in her voice. "I'll see to it that I seal you in stone."

"Let's see if you can, my little pony," Discord snickered as he returned the chess game to its original layout.

It was Twilight's turn first and she wanted to keep her friends safe this game. She didn't know what would happen to them if her friends disappeared from the game and were in Discord's control in the stone graveyard. She raised her hoof and directed a pawn on D2 to D4. Discord jumped into the air and slithered his way to the pawn piece on E7 to E5. He was making it way too easy for Twilight. She surpassed the pawn by capturing it. It was a terrible choice.

Discord's queen on E8 moved straight into E5 and captured the pawn without a problem. It was a problem for Twilight as she fell for one of easiest tricks in the book. To redeem herself, she tried a far-fetched move to capture the queen.

"Move bishop on C1 to E3," Twilight commanded.

"Are you sure about this Twilight?" Fluttershy asked quivering.

"Don't worry. Discord wouldn't allow his queen to be taken, especially since there's a pawn behind you to capture if you do. I just need you to stay there!"

"Okay."

Fluttershy's square on C1 glowed with the E3 and she walked over there with her staff in her wing. Discord raised a furry eyebrow at Twilight's move and learned about her plot to capture his queen. He moved his pawn on F7 to F5. While trying to corral Discord's queen to a certain spot, Twilight moved Applejack from G1 to F3.

Discord scratched his goat beard with his claws and tried to figure out how Twilight would exactly capture his queen. Discord moved his queen piece to B2 in an attempt to capture Rainbow Dash. She followed the queen by moving Fluttershy to C5.

"Um Twilight," Rainbow Dash asked as she stared down the queen. "Why can't I just capture this queen or let Fluttershy do it?"

"You can only move in an L-formation and Fluttershy can only move in a diagonal direction. I'll teach you how to play later, just trust me for now."

"You're not teaching me how to play this game egg-head."

Discord ignored the banter of the little ponies and proceeded to move his knight to E7. Twilight pulled Rainbow Dash to safety by moving her from B1 to D2. Discord's first knight moved closer to Fluttershy on D5. You could hear Fluttershy squeal in fear when the menacing knight got closer to her. Twilight commanded Fluttershy to move to D4 so she wouldn't be afraid anymore. Discord's queen was somewhat trapped so Discord evaded an impending capture by moving diagonal one square to C3. Twilight knew it would be a good idea to capture the queen then but she knew Fluttershy would be then captured by Discord's knight. All she could do was to dead-lock it with Rainbow Dash back on B1.

"I am wide open!" Rarity yelped in fear.

"Rarity, I am next to you," Twilight said. "If Discord captured you, I would capture his queen back. I just need to capture the rest of his forces while his queen is trapped. Applejack, ready to move?"

"Sure am!" Applejack said with a confident smile.

Applejack moved to H4 with Discord's bishop moving to E7. Applejack captured pawn on F5 which still gave Fluttershy some support if the queen decided to try and capture her. Discord's last knight moved to C6 which endangered Fluttershy now even greatly. Moving her diagonally, Twilight moved Fluttershy to G7. Discord's knight advanced forward one more time to B4.

"You are doing great, keep at it Twilight!" Rarity cheered on.

"Thanks," Twilight said back. "Rainbow Dash, can you please move to A3?"

"Where?" Rainbow Dash asked. She didn't know what the directions were.

"Move two spaces forward and one space to the left."

Rainbow Dash did so as Discord's bishop moved to B5. More and more of Discord's strongest pieces moved closer and closer to each other and it made it difficult to predict where the next piece would land next. Twilight continued an assault on some of Discord's unmoved pieces with the capture of his castle.

When Fluttershy captured the piece, she got frightened at the huge pony piece and cowered in fear. Her staff that she carried fell like a falling tower and smacked on top of the castle's head. The castle disappeared in a bright flash of light.

Discord was unmoved by the loss of one of his main pieces and moved his knight to E3 to check Twilight. Twilight made a weird look at Discord and thought that the move was easy to beat. Twilight's pawn moved diagonally from F2 to E3 to capture the knight. Discord's bishop went in for the kill and captured that same very pawn.

"The queen is no longer protected!" Applejack yelled across the board. "Rarity, you can go for it!"

"Applejack is right," Twilight added. "You can do this!"

Rarity made a stern look at the queen and right before moving made a comment about the queen's fashion sense. Everypony rolled their eyes as Rarity judged every piece of cloth the pony was dressed in and compared them to her magnificent design. She wore the same red robe the other queen wore. She finally moved when she was done and bucked the queen under the jaw for the capture.

Discord attempted to attack Applejack by freeing his bishop that was on C8. Applejack retreated back to G3 and Discord continued to move his other pawn on C7 to C5. Twilight's castle was free to move and she moved him to C1. The last knight of Discord jumped to A2 and captured yet another pawn. Rarity was in trouble now again and Twilight quickly pushed her to the nearest pawn in front of her. Discord's knight went to C3 and Rainbow Dash to C4 next. Discord's bishop to F2 and Rarity to E2.

Almost like the twist of a knife, Twilight's friendship was about to be tested in the worst possible way. Discord's bishop on G4 moved to E2 which left Twilight at a huge check. Twilight couldn't move left because of her castle being in the way, she couldn't move right because Discord's other bishop and if she tried to capture the bishop on E2 but the knight would end the game soon after. There was only one way she could get out of the check.

"I can't get out," Twilight said in fear. "There's only one inevitable way to get around this check."

"Well what is it Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked her friend.

"One of us has to sacrifice each other to continue this game..."

"You got to be kidding me Twilight! That's insane!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed at her. She tried to escape her square but a wall of magic stopped her. "Why can't I leave this square?! I'll gladly do it for my friends!" Sadly, she couldn't move. Rainbow Dash couldn't take the place of protecting Twilight with her knight's limited moves.

"No you won't Rainbow Dash. I'll do it because I will sacrifice myself for you guys!" Rarity said.

"I'll do it. I can't allow my friends to be sad forever in stone or alive," Pinkie Pie argued.

All four of the ponies argued with each other on what to do. Fluttershy couldn't help but to stare at them from across the board as she could do nothing as well. Applejack wanted to offer herself up to continue the game but her voice wasn't loud enough to overcome the combined voices of everypony's. She stared at the ground and circled her hoof around. She noticed a small glimmer of light shined on the floor beneath her. The entire square lit up in a light and so did the square on Discord's bishop also lit up. She knew what to do.

"Hey everypony I got something to say," Applejack said. She was fortunate to be able to be heard over the volume of the voices. "To be honest, I want everypony happy and we need to win this game. Twilight, win this game for us, okay?"

Twilight looked at Applejack's square and the bishop's square as well. "Applejack, I know what you are thinking and I say you don't do it!" Twilight commanded but it did not work. Applejack was free to move. "Don't do it! Please! There has to be another way!"

"There is none, good luck."

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy looked away as Applejack began to move closer to the bishop. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity rammed into the magical wall as an attempt to stop her by force but they were given no passing. Discord in the back of the board smiled evilly as his plan to capture one of the ponies was a success.

Applejack captured the bishop and then Discord's lone knight captured her. As the knight moved into Applejack's square, a shroud of light began to cloak Applejack. Lights crept up Applejack as she slowly disappeared into the stone garden. Twilight stopped her furious tantrum to escape to look into Applejack's eyes. Applejack cried a single tear before disappearing. When she disappeared, that tear turned into stone as it touched the ground.

"I will win this game if it's the last thing I do. Whose with me?" Twilight said out loud.

"I will!" Everypony chanted back.

"For Applejack," Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie and Pinkie Pie gave her a smile of assurance. "Move to E2."

Pinkie Pie moved closer to E2 and captured the knight. She shot her party cannon at it and the knight flashed out of existence in a motley of confetti colors. Discord's last castle moved to the right on C8 while Rainbow Dash moved to E2. The castle moved forward to C6 while Twilight's moved to F1. Discord's castle chased Rainbow Dash to C2 but Twilight protected her by moving to the spot and capturing it.

This marked the end of Discord. His last bishop was trapped and it was captured as it ran away from Pinkie Pie's party cannon. It checked Discord and he was forced to move to D7. Twilight's castle moved ahead to F7 which checked Discord again. Rainbow Dash moved to B3 on Twilight's turn and Discord's pawn moved forward to D3. Twilight got confused on why Discord just threw away his pawn like that and captured it herself with ease. Discord checked himself into a corner and retreated to C6. Rarity to E6 and Discord to C5. Rainbow Dash to D4 and once again checking Discord. Discord moved to A4 afterward. Twilight was determined to check Discord with all her might and moved her castle to A1 to check him again. Discord jumped away from the castle's path to B4. Twilight's other castle charged at one of Discord's last pawns to check him again.

"Just stay put Discord!" Twilight grunted.

Discord ignored Twilight's angry voice and moved to C5. Fluttershy came closer to her friends by moving to D5. Discord was trapped so he moved his pawn on H7 to H5. He didn't want to forfeit and at least wanted to lose with a fight. Twilight's castle on B7 moved to C7 to check him again. Discord moved to B4. Twilight's castle moved to B1.

This had to be one of the longest checkmates ever!

Discord finally moved to A3. Fluttershy was cheered on by everypony to move and go for the check. She did so by moving to D6.

"Yay!" Fluttershy yelped quietly. "I'm not scared anymore."

Discord moved to A4 and Twilight's castle to C3. Discord's pawn to A6 and Rarity to C7. Discord pulled the final string in his defeat and moved to A5.

"Rainbow Dash! Now it's your time to check-mate him!" Twilight yelled to her friend.

"On it!" Rainbow Dash said to her back.

Rainbow Dash headed to C6 and check-mated Discord. Finally after one intense game, it was over. The entire chess board glowed in magical light and everypony was forced to close their eyes. When the brightness lowered down and then hazed out, Twilight was able to see. Everything was gone except for the giant chess board and Saxon.

"Where's Discord?" Twilight asked in a stern and angry voice. "Where's my friends?"

"Your friend's were never here, young Twilight," Saxon replied as he got closer to her. "It was all part of an illusion from the arcane magic of the chess board. I promised you that you would get better after one session and here you are. You have just beaten the world's best player in chess; magic."

"Everything was an illusion? So it really was just a game?"

"Yup. You're friends should still be safe in Ponyville."

---

"And that's how you won the Equestrian Millennium Chess Championship!" Twilight's foal said.

"Yea," Twilight said to her daughter before pulling the blankets her head. Her daughter ripped the blankets off of her purple colored mane. "I think without meeting that mysterious stallion, I wouldn't have gotten better at chess and met your father at the finals. Now it's time for bed."

"Aren't you going to ask me the usual question?" Twilight's daughter asked.

"What's most important in life?"

"The six virtues of friendship: honesty, laughter, generosity, loyalty, kindness and magic."

"Very good."

Twilight kissed her daughter goodnight and shut the lights off of her room. She closed the door using her unicorn powers. She went to her room soon after and sat down on a chair in front of a pedestal. She took out a quill and a piece of paper and wrote a letter to Princess Celestia.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I remembered when I won the Equestrian Millennium Chess Championship and I remembered how I prepared for it. I had my friends with me prepared and through think and thin we can make it through all problems with friendship on our side. I may have written a letter similar to this one but this one is special because I told this to my daughter who learned vicariously through me what it means to have friendship. Thank you for all your teachings and I hope that once my time is up that I can tell you this myself in the place where ponies go in the end. Life is like a game and it should be lived to the fullest.

The End

Author's Note:

Thanks for those who favorited the story for all my readers out there! I really recommend that you try reacting the last chapter on a chess board. When you set up the board though, make sure the kings are exactly on the "D" I think because I accidentally wrote the entire story with the kings aligned. If you see any incorrections or want to give a comment about how you feel about this story, send me a PM or comment below. Until then, thanks.

P.S. Did anyone get surprised at the ending?

-KalaAWild

Comments

[bahatumay]

Mildly surprised, yes.

[darthvader45]

"The six virtues of friendship, trust, honesty, laughter, generosity, loyalty, kindness and magic." I think you mean seven, either that or remove trust, because of the EoH. Other than that, epic. Love the twist with her daughter at the end. What a tweest!

[KalaAWild]

1931376

Thanks for the comment darthvader45. I am going to get this story edited by a proofreader and then submit it to EqD. I hope it get's admitted. It would be really cool

P.S. I fixed that mistake you found. Thanks

[darthvader45]

1940653 No problem, always willing to help. I can tell you this, if I go to Equestria, I am gonna tell Twilight about your story, and she'll definitely want to read it.