> A Game of Chess > by Vongola Famiglia > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > In the Beginning > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I sat down in front of my computer and logged in. I was about to play some Call of Cthulhu when a popup appeared out of nowhere. I was going to close it when I noticed it wasn't an ade, or at least it wasn't a normal popup. It simply said, "Want to play a game of chess?" with a yes or no option. It wasn't trying to sell me anything or telling me about single milfs near me, just wanting a game of chess. I thought to hell with it and clicked yes. There was a flash of light, the world felt like it was fading away. When it died down I opened my eyes to a peculiar sight. A skinny horse with white fur along with a red mane and tail. It had a pair of wings and a large horn on its forehead. Between us was a 8x8 chess board. On its side was a floating white orb and three pieces on C,D,and E 1. They looked like a pegasus, unicorn, and a normal horse. On my side was a black orb with two buttons under it, create and rank up. Directly under the create button was a screen that said 3 pawns and under the the rank up button was a small unlit bulb. Unlike her I didn't have any pieces. "Hello there, my name is Faust. What's yours?" The horse said. I was pretty shocked to say the least. "I'm Cory. What are you and why am I here?" I was completely confused. She giggled lightly. "I am a alicorn and your here to play chess with me remember?" I looked down at the board them back to her. "I've never seen a chess game like this before." "I made a few revisions to the rules." Her horn glowed a warm blue and a large book labeled rules. It floated over to me. It was kinda heavy. If I had to guess it was easily 50 pages at least. I started ready the first few pages. "What does this game of chess decide?" I wanted to know what the stakes were. "I created a new world for my subjects to live on, but they need have challenges to face. I will guide my ponies with my light while you try to corrupt them with darkness." I closed the book after page 12, getting a hold of the basics. First pawns can move like kings but still only able to attack diagonally. I can put special conditions on a piece but its strength is based on what piece it is, the pawn being the weakest. I pressed the create button. "Create pawn - Wendigo." A small blob of darkness detached from the orb. It landed in C8, taking shape into a ghostly blue pony with fiery blue mane and tail. "That is quite an interesting looking pawn. What other monsters and beasts do you have in mind?" She was leaning forward trying to get a good look at my new pawn. I gave a light chuckle. "Not all evils are physical." She rose a brow as I pressed the create button again, "Create pawns - Chaos, Distrust." Two blobs came out of the orb. In D8 was a 20 sided die on a pedestal, in E8 was a pegasus and unicorn side eyeing each other. I looked back up at her, "Let's begin the game shall we?" She gave a sly smile. Her horn and the unicorn began to glow. "I move my unicorn to D2." The unicorn floated one space forward. "Chaos to E7." I picked up the pawn and moved it diagonally. "Earth pony to D1." It slided over a space. "Chaos to E6." We continued to move our pieces. It was as boring as one would imagine. That was until something finally happened. Her unicorn was in H6, Earth pony in C4, and the Pegasus in E2. She didn't really play with them much. My chaos was on E4, Distrust was in G4, but I never moved my Wendigo. I could tell she wondering what I was planning with it. It was my turn. "Distrust to G5." I moved it forward. Once I let go the Earth pony turned light green and turned to the pegasus. Next to us a large screen showed up. Six pegasi were moving clouds over a town of unicorns. That's when a fire ball flew by one of them. On the ground were several unicorns with their horns lit. The pegasi flew off without taking the clouds. "What just happened?" She was completely confused. Just what I wanted. "It's my Distrust's ability. Since your Unicorns are in a space that my piece can take it, your piece gained a sudden distrust for the pegasi." Somehow she started to sweat, "That's not all since your ponies are no longer in harmony my Wendigo's ability activates, creating a second Wendigo." A blob separated from the orb and made another Wendigo in B8. that's when something unexpected happened, even to me. The entire 8th row was frozen in Ice. She gulped. "Pegasus to E3." As it moved forward the D20 on my chaos turned into a black one. I picked it up and began shaking it in my hand. "You activated my Chaos' ability. In exchange for not being able to take pieces anytime one of your pieces moves next to mine I can roll the D20 for a random effect." I rolled the die on a empty space on the board...18. The pegasus turned dark red and turned to the unicorn. The screen changed to a gruesome scene. Dead pegasi and unicorns were laying everywhere. Pegasi were flying around, blades strapped to their wings, cutting up unicorns. The unicorns were firing spells trying to retaliate. 'My vision must have improved somehow if I could see the blades on the pegasi.' "What did you do?! Why are they Attacking each other?" She was stressing out. "I rolled an 18, which apparently means you piece will wage a war on another." I looked at her, "I'm sure you remember my Wendigo's ability?" Another Wendigo was formed on D8 and the 7th row froze over. The light under the rank up button lit up, "It's my turn is it not?" > The Darkness Grows > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I pressed the rank up button. The orb of darkness grew slightly and gained a purple outline. A third button form next to the other two saying 'upgrade unit' with a one under it. The light under rank up turned off and create said I can make four more units. I scanned through the rule book. It says that I can create special pieces, minus the king and queen. I closed the book and pressed the create button. "Create knights- Death, Famine, War, Pestilence." Four blobs landed on the board. On E8 was the skeleton of...Some weird pony hybrid. It had the build of earth pony with the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn, but there were much larger. On F8 was another combination of the three. This one was deathly thin, I could see the outline of it's bones. on G8 was yet another combination, I quick glance showed the the fourth was one as well. War was bulky with his horn and wings being the smallest of the bunch. On H8 was a monstrosity. I know I made it but I felt like I was going to puke. It was a sickly green color with some of it's skin falling off. "This is a new combination. I wasn't really imagining this. I'll call them...Alicorns. A combination of all three pony tribes. But, that's enough gawking." I pressed the upgrade button. "Upgrade Unit- Chaos." Tentacles of darkness came out of the orb, wrapping around the pawn. When they let go a new creature was standing there. He has a deer antler on the right, a blue goat horn on the left, one long fang, different-sized pupils, a snake tongue, a goat beard, and white bushy eyebrows. He has the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. In addition, he has a bat's right wing, a pegasus left wing, a horse's mane, and a dragon-like snake's tail with a white tail tuft. The shape of his body resembles that of a snake. I'll name him Discord. Sadly he's still a pawn. In the rules Upgraded units are still the same units just more powerful. "Now..." She was getting really nervous. I clapped my hands together, "It's time for a break." I uncrossed my legs and stretched. Faust in the other hand was confused. "What do you mean 'time for a break?' We just started and I'm on the losing side, I need to start taking back my pieces." I smiled at her, "We've been playing for easily 5 or more hours. Even if time doesn't pass here we still need to relax and take a break every now and then." She gained a thoughtful look for a moment. "I suppose you're right. I need time to make a plan anyways." She pouted, it was kinda cute. "Do you think you can make this place more vibrite? The void is to bland and boring." "You can create something yourself." I just gave her a confused look, "Don't tell me you haven't noticed. You said yourself that we've been playing for over 5 hours. That much mental work would make anyone tired. Tell me, are you?" I thought and realized that I don't even feel drowsy. "When you agreed to play you did more than became a obstacle for my ponies. You became a god." I had a lot of things running through my mind, the main one being. "So I'm a god of evil and darkness to your ponies?" She gave a light chuckle. "Technically yes. As I am the god of good and light to them. Though I'm sure that means nothing to us." I had to agree with her. I turned to face the void, snapping my fingers. Around us formed the most beautiful garden. Every flower and plant you can think of was here. Right next to us was a large pond, the water so clear I could see the rocks at the bottom. The sun shined down on me with a warm breeze flowing through my hair. That's when I noticed that it was longer. I normally keep it pretty short but now it was a little past my shoulders. When I picked up a strand I saw it was no longer my normal brown but a light grey instead. My cloths were a few days old and started to smell so I snapped my fingers and changed into different ones. I went with black dress pants, a white button up long sleeve, a black dress vest with a purple tie, and black dress shoes. I sat under a Magnolia kobus tree across from Faust and gave a soft smile, "Let's continue, shall we?" She smiled back and nodded. I looked down at the board and saw discord scrambling back to place, glancing back at me. I gave a small chuckle and reached out to move my next piece. > Tables the turned > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We've been playing for...Well I'm not sure how long. It's hard to tell time with no clocks around. She's been strategically avoiding all my pieces, especially Discord. It took a few turns but the war between the unicorns and the pegasi ended. Since they started living in harmony again my Wendigo clones got reabsorbed into the darkness along with unfreezing the board. Luckily for me they each counted towards making a new piece. I chose to bid my time and wait. There was no way I can form a strategy if I didn't know a single thing about hers. I started moving my wendigo around but didn't use my knights just yet. They are for when things get dangerous. Whenever that might be. "My Earth pony takes your Wendigo." such as now. She knocked over the last wendigo with her earth pony. The Wendigo shattered into thousands of darkness shards. The screen appeared. The wendigo were closing in on the three leaders of the three races. However, at the very end a large flame in the shape of heart erupted. The wendigo were sent flying back and faded out of existence. 'Damn, there goes my potential army of clones.' with her hoof she pressed one of her buttons. The orb of white energy grew slightly larger and gained a gold outline. She pressed a second button, "Create Bishops - Princess Celestia, Princess Luna." Two blobs came out and landed on the board. On the left, her eyes are a light pinkish-purple and her mane is light turquoise, sea green, light purplish-blue, and light pink with a slight purple tinge. Her mane also is very long and has a constant flowing motion. Her coat is white and her cutie mark is a sun. The other one was a complete opposite. Her fur was a dark black and her mane was like the night skies filled with stars. Her eyes were blue and her cutie mark being a crescent moon. On the screen all three tribes bowed to the two. Soon the were being praised as sister princesses. Together the two would rule over the ponies for a long time. "Sister princesses to further unite the ponies. While not very original it will make it harder to turn them against each other. You're quite crafty Faust." She turned her head and waved a hoof at me, "Oh stop it, you're making me blush." She gave me a smug smile as I planned my next move. 'She is avoiding Discord with everything she has. That's good for me since I've managed to sneak him past her front lines. Two more turns and I can promote him.' I gave a small smile that quickly turned to a frown. 'Of course that makes my distrust all but useless. Not to mention she still has two more pieces she can create. I'm going to have to start moving my knights.' With that the four ponies for the apocalypse made their first move. While she did her best no one can escape the inevitable. Lucky for her, or I suppose unlucky, famine was the first to pass. "I move my knight to G4. Since my knight is in proximity to your unicorn it's ability activates." The unicorn started to get skinner and soon became similar to my knight. On the screen it showed the ponies that were all skin and bones. The crops they planted all dried up. "Of course since you're ponies are so close and harmonized your other pieces are effected as well." The Earth pony and pegasi turned to living skeletons as well. "Now for the next ten turns those pieces can only move once every other turn." She frowned before smiling, "You are a much tougher opponent than I thought you would be. But it is not over yet." She moved the unicorn to the right. "Now my unicorn ability activates. Since you war knight is in front of my unicorn even if by a few spaces a fire ball can, and will, destroy it." A fire ball left the unicorns horn and shattered my knight. A clapped at her move, "Even when at a disadvantage you managed to turn the tides is one move. I must say I am impressed." Unless my eyes deceived me a could see a blush through her fur. "Why thank you. I believe it is your turn now." I nodded and move discord one last time. "I promote Discord to Rook." The little creature created four walls on its small platform and was shiftily looking over them. I then pushed one of my buttons. "Create Pawn - Betrayl." A blob separated from the orb and landed on the board. It showed a unicorn quite literally standing a earth pony in the back. With snap of my fingers I created two cups of tea for us. Taking a sip from mine I stated, "Let's see how your ponies deal with yet another inviable enemy."