I'm Afraid of Changeling (and other short stories)

by Cold in Gardez

The Player and the Game

“Knock knock!” Rarity stuck her head through the crystal library doorway without actually knocking. “Twilight?”

“Over here!”

Rarity found Twilight Sparkle at a low table near the library’s fiction section. She had a jade chess board, and was setting out the pieces as Rarity approached.

“Playing a game?” Rarity took the opposite seat.

“Well, that depends on my guest.” Twilight gave her a hidden smile and spun the board to present the white pieces to Rarity.

“It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?” Rarity contemplated the pieces, then slid her king’s pawn two spaces forward. “Nostalgic?”

“Inspired, actually.” Twilight matched her move. “When I saw how much fun Spike and Big Macintosh had playing with Discord, I knew I had to try it.”

“Board games?” She advanced her queen’s pawn one space, forming a rank.

Twilight matched her move again. “Magic board games.”

Rarity had been about to leapfrog her knight, an armored pegasus, into the center of the board, but now she paused. “Magic?”

“Yes. I was inspired.”

None of this seemed like magic. Rarity glanced at Twilight, then shrugged and jumped her knight into the fray.

Outside, distant thunder boomed, rattling the windowpanes. Rarity started and turned to stare at the bright sunlight pouring through the curtains.

“Uh, Twilight…”

Twilight’s smile grew. “It’s just a game, Rarity.” She moved a knight beside her queen’s pawn. Outside, the clear skies filled with clouds. They spun in a wide, dark gyre over the town, and rain began to lash the windows.

“Ahem, of course.” Rarity swallowed her doubts. “Just a game.”

The next few moves were inconsequential – pawns jockeyed for position and formed serried ranks. But that opened the path for Rarity’s bishop – a marble unicorn mage – to advance, and she lanced forward with it to harry Twilight’s knight.

The light dimmed. Gas lamps along the walls turned on automatically. Rarity looked outside to see the sun in glimpses between the rotating clouds. It climbed down from the sky toward the east horizon.

“Aggressive,” Twilight mumbled. She moved her bishop to defend the knight, and the sun froze just above the mountains.

“Well, you know me.” Rarity cleared her throat and slid a pawn forward, opening her front ranks. “Twilight, what have you done?”

“Just a spell is all. It’s harmless.” Here she picked up king and rook, and castled them.

Rarity was seized with a sudden sense of vertigo, of incredible velocity, though nothing in the library budged. The view out the window became a sickening blur, and when it resolved she saw not Ponyville but the dry, moonscape desert outside Appleloosa.

Rarity lost a rook, and the castle walls crumbled, exposing the room to the stars. She castled herself, and they landed in a snowy pine forest bedecked in night. Overhead, a huge, leering moon beat the sun into submission.

Finally, many moves and lost pieces later, Twilight selected her queen. Unseen trumpets filled the air with brassy peels as she advanced it into the fight.

Rarity swallowed. “Twilight… Princess… is this safe?”

Twilight’s smile grew into a grin. She grew taller, her mane shifting across a dark rainbow of hues into an airy nebula. Her muzzle stretched, elegant and thin as Celestia’s. Long diamond fangs peeked out beneath her lips.

“There are no princesses in chess,” Twilight’s voice was filled with snakes. “Only queens.”

Rarity met Twilight’s queen with her own. She felt herself swell with power. Enormous bat wings sprouted from her back. Her horn evolved into a wicked spire.

They traded bishops, and the sky burned with falling comets. She lost her other rook, and the rest of the castle fell away, leaving only the two queens and their table atop a tall chimney of rock.

Finally, disaster. Rarity lost her queen to a hidden fork. Overhead, the moon cracked and broke apart. Bells sounded defeat.

But… Rarity smiled. Down to the last of her pawns, she maneuvered her king onto a special square. One from which it had no escape. The world grew still around them, the very air freezing as the game ended.

Stalemate.

And then she blinked, and they were back in the castle in sunny Ponyville. Twilight – Princess Twilight – beamed at her from across the board.

“Good game, Rarity.” She started collecting the pieces. “We’ll have to play again sometime.”

“Mm.” Rarity gazed out the window. In the distance, she saw the pennants flying from her boutique, where a dozen orders still awaited her hoof.

“How about now?”

Comments

[Crack-Fic Casey]

That was really great! I love how the effects of Twilight's spell played out.

[Noble Cause]

Oh wow... cosmic battle via chess... Discord would approve!

[iisaw]

Nice character bit for Rarity at the end, there. I always thought she was that type.

[MitchellTF]

NOOO! It's done! I'm out of stories to read!

[Angelo_Streak2]

I am suprised this updated so quick, it updated, what 2 days ago? Sometimes its months.

[Cold in Gardez]

7549513

I thought about it, but the Teen rating is, in my opinion, not warranted for something as benign as simply using the word 'condom' in a story.

But then, I try to give a lot of credit for maturity to children.

[Lurks-no-More]

Now I'm wondering what other board games would be like after getting Twilight treatment.

[ClockworkMage]

I need this board game. Badly.

[B_Munro]

Now that's some proper wizard's chess.

[PresentPerfect]

Well, at least there was more to it than ponies just playing chess...