Twilight loves playing chess, a new game that is rising popularity in Equestria. After playing several times with other ponies and Spike, she is confident in her ability as a chess player to play in the tournament in Canterlot after Rarity suggests it to her.
Before Twilight even embarks on this adventure, she says in her mind... Chess is only a game and it should never be taken literally.
Well, what would happen if she changes her mind after some "persuasion" from the game?
Oh, you may need to look at a layout of a chess board to know how this story works. :)
Twilight Sparkle, Equestria's brightest mare, never had a challenge like chess. In Magic School, tests about math or magic were not a problem for her and quizzes were a breeze. Unfortunately for her, chess proved to be a much difficult game to play.
After being introduced to the game of chess by her parents, she became obsessed over chess. She played for days, in between her own studies, to try and be the best player Equestria has ever seen. No matter how many times she played against her own father or mother, she always lost. Twilight took the game a little bit too seriously. After all, chess is just a game.
In her quiet library in Ponyville on a nice and cloudless day provided by the Pegasi, she played chess with her friend Spike. Spike is not the best player in Ponyville, for status sake, but he is not a bad player either.
Spike moved his knight piece from C3 to D5. Having confidence in his move, he released his small claws from the piece and relaxed a bit.
Twilight stared at the chess piece and lightly touched her chin with her hoof. She could have tried to approach that knight from multiple directions like with her pawn on E6 or with her bishop on B6. Twilight used her magic to push her bishop to A5.
"Checkmate Spike" Twilight said with a cheerful smile after realizing she made the right choice. "You lose."
Spike frowned and nodded his head. "Darn it. That's my fifth time losing. You are getting too good at this game."
"It's not that hard Spike. All you need to do is run the algorithms in your head and predict where your opponent might land."
"You see! Too good!"
Twilight chuckled at Spike's humor as she put the chess game away. She noticed she is getting better at the game and has thoughts if she should try playing against her parents again. As she slid the chess game box under her bed, a knocking at the front door called out for Twilight's attention
Twilight opened the door with her magic and permitted entry for the pony who was knocking. It was Rarity on the other side of the door. She came for a stylist book for her new fashion line she was developing. Her new fashion line had something about the era before the Equestrian Renaissance.
"Do you have another Fashion of Oi'?" Rarity asked Twilight who was still upstairs putting away the chess game.
"Yeah I have it. It's in the top shelf next to the biographies," Twilight grunts as she pushes the chess game under the bed.
"What in Celestia's name are you doing up there?"
"Putting my chess game away..." Twilight manages to push the chess game under her bed with enough force.
"You play chess?"
Twilight walked down her wooden stairs to meet with Rarity. "Of course I do."
"If you are good, I heard you could try playing at Canterlot. There is going to be a competition held in the castle tonight."
"I am not one for competition, you know."
"Suit yourself. Just talk to me if you are interested and I'll get you connected with some friends of mine to enter."
Rarity kindly asked Spike for the book she came for and Spike got it for her after climbing a tall ladder. Rarity took the book from him, put it in her saddle, and said goodbye to Twilight and Spike. As Twilight closed the door behind Rarity, she thought about the competition in Canterlot for chess. If she thought about it, a competition does not have to be a "competition" per se. It could mean a test of skill and she was the best when it came to tests. She does not like to grab attention to herself so she might drop out if she got to the finals. That is if and only if she made it passed the preliminary rounds.
"Spike," Twilight asks for his attention. "want to come with me to Canterlot for a chess competition?"
"I can't sorry." Spike denied her request with the humblest of apologies. "I have a dragon's reunion tonight." Spike looks at his watch and makes a shocking revelation. "I should be going now. Bye!"
Spike grabbed his white hat with a red feather from a coat hanger next to the door and bolted to the train station. Twilight doesn't even remember Spike even attending any dragon's reunion before. She was sure he was going to be fine. If anything happened, Twilight could just teleport to Spike and bring him home. She still remembered the last time Spike encountered a group of dragons.
Twilight grabbed the phone next to her study desk and called Rarity. Rarity gave the details of the competition to her and made sure not to miss a single lick of information. Twilight wrote everything she heard from Rarity onto a piece of parchment and then folded the instructions into several halves. She puts the paper behind her ear and made her way to the train station for Canterlot.
The train was not full as it usually was, which was great. Twilight did not like having the train crowded because ponies would distract her while she read a book. She found an empty seat next to a window and took out her newest favorite book; Chess Playing of the Past. As she flipped the pages, she glanced at something in the corner of her eye. A stallion with a black coat and white mane approached her casually.
"I do not mean to be rude but, are you a chess player?" The stranger asked Twilight. Twilight nodded and then continued to read her book. "May I sit in the chair across from you?"
She obviously acknowledged that the pony was a foreigner because of his strong accent but she knew better than to not to judge people according accents. Applejack had an uncommon accent but she wasn't foreign.
"I am sorry but who are you?" Twilight questioned.
"My name is Saxon Shihram. Call me Saxon, please." The pony replied. He sat across from Twilight.
"That is nice to know." Twilight put her book beside her so she wouldn't be rude to her new acquaintance. "I am Twilight Sparkle, by the way."
"You want to get better at chess? Reading a book doesn't get you far, Ms. Sparkle."
"And your point is?"
"I train the best of the best chess players all over the world and I could train you. Are you a little interested in what I am talking about?"
"Kind of." Twilight said shyly.
"There is a start. I could teach you how to be a good chess player for the competition tonight. I guarantee you will get one-hundred percent better at chess after one session."
"I'll try it. But wait, what will it cost me? I play chess as a hobby."
"Nothing if you can beat me at a game of chess during the teaching session."
The black stallion reached under his chair and took out a chess game. It was almost like he planned to meet a chess player on the train before getting to Canterlot. The chess board was prearranged and perfectly tailored to a standardized chess game. Twilight got a little surprised at the offer but she played the game with Saxon.
Twilight started the game by moving her knight from B1 to C3. Saxon moved the pawn on B7 to B5. Twilight could already see that his pawn was ready to intercept her knight within another turn if she did not move it. It might cost her a pawn or a bishop in the long run, but she could not afford to lose her knight. Twilight incorporated her knight into her coup de grace in any game. She moved her knight from C3 to E4, moved a pawn on A2 to A4, and advanced her castle from A1 to A3. Saxon retaliated back by moving his pawn on F7 to F5, moves another pawn from A7 to A5, and takes his bishop on a diagonal trip from F8 to A3, and removes one of Twilight's castles from the game.
"You are good at this game." Saxon compliments Twilight.
"I'm a little good." She says back to him.
She moved her own bishop diagonally to attack his bishop and removes it from the game. The game keeps playing like that over and over again. Since Twilight did not know how to play strategically against Saxon, she played it safe and allowed him to remove from play some of her pieces for a majority of his.
To what seems like a near end to a game, Saxon only had four remaining pieces left. He had his king on B8, a pawn on D2, a castle on E4, and another pawn on F4. Twilight on the other hand still had ten pieces left scattered across the board. It was really important that her king was on H1, her knight on B3, and her bishops on E1 and G2. Saxon advances one of his pawns forward to F3. It is now Twilight's turn. She moves her knight to C5. Saxon pushes his pawn forward once more and Twilight moves her knight to the king for check at A6.
"You got me cornered there, I'll give you that but you must have a back up plan next time." Saxon taught his first lesson to Twilight. His king moved to B7.
"Thanks for the help. I already learned that." Twilight said as she reached for her unscathed queen. Her queen moved from B1 to A1, checking his king again.
Saxon moved his king to A8. Twilight's bishop shifted to G3. With safety over the horizon, Saxon moved his pawn forward once more. Saxon aimed for his pawn to be promoted to queen to end the game in his favor. His fantasy victory was cut short when Twilight moved her queen to A1.
"Checkmate, you lose Saxon," Twilight said confidently.
Saxon was astonished and looked at the chess board. She did win. Her knight on A6 would have trapped the king if he moved to B8. If he took out the knight, the queen would have taken his king. Not only that but both bishops of Twilight stare down the king from both diagonal directions. Saxon was literally trapped in a corner. He did lose.
"Good game. You've deemed yourself worthy of my session, " Saxon congratulated to Twilight Sparkle.
"It was a challenging game but it was easy," Twilight said to him back.
It was not an easy game as she calmly said. Throughout the game, Twilight was at risk of losing her pieces to Saxon nearly every turn. She sacrificed all of her pawns just to have her most important pieces ready for the checkmate. She lost both her castles and one of her knights in that game.
Twilight thought in her head what if the game became real? Would she be thinking differently? Could she seriously sacrifice pony pawns for her advantage in actual warfare? Twilight knew though, that chess was just a game. It could not be any more real than the chess game board itself.
The train stopped in Canterlot when Saxon hid chess board game under his chair. Twilight and Saxon left the train as soon as it stopped and they made their way out of the station. Twilight made several observations of the stallion Saxon. She could tell from observation that he was a wealthy guy with experience in playing strategic games like chess. He might have played War with playing cards or poker if he was good at calculating moves ahead.
Twilight followed Saxon with her suspicions behind her. As she passed by fancy ponies with their up-tight lifestyles, Twilight missed her life in Canterlot. The massive library in Canterlot Square called Starswirl’s Library and the Canterlot Castle archives were her favorite places to go to when she was still living in Canterlot.
Even though she missed her old life in Canterlot, she could never regret meeting her new friends. Her new friends; Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie taught her new lessons on friendship every day.
She did not know it but her friendship was going to be tested soon.
Saxon stopped Twilight Sparkle at a marble building nearly thirty hoof steps tall. The building was more like a stone slab in the middle of Canterlot. There was no windows, no doors, and surely nothing that could even remotely give a description of a building. So why did Twilight have a strange feeling that it was indeed a building?
Saxon rotated his head slightly to see if his follower was still behind him and he placed a hoof on the stone slab. A bright circular pattern glowed under his hoof and Twilight jumps back a hoof step. The glowing pattern on the stone slap surprised Twilight since she does not know if inanimate objects could even conduct magic.
A glowing line came out of the circular pattern and an outline of a door was drawn from it. Saxon placed his hoof away from the pattern and moved the slab to the side. Saxon’s hoof print was the key to the hidden door. Saxon walked inside through the doorway and into a dark abyss. Twilight, having second thoughts, followed behind him. The door closed and both were in complete darkness.
The darkness frightened Twilight because it was the same complete darkness she experienced with the Chrysalis Queen’s crystal prison. She could feel chills down her neck and her hooves shivering a bunch. She hoped the lights would turn on and it did, after a couple seconds of waiting. Twilight opened her eyes from the darkness and witnessed an architectural feet.
In front of Twilight and Saxon was a large version of the chess board in a cave like arena. Twilight politely moved in front of Saxon and admired the excellent artwork. The ground was pure and smooth marble and the chess boxes were geometrically aligned perfectly.
“This is amazing! How did you do this?” Twilight says in awe.
“It was quiet easy really,” Saxon explains. Before he continued, Twilight felt something off with Saxon. “I used ancient arcane magic to create this battlefield.”
Twilight stood up from the floor and got stuck. Her hooves could not move and it felt like they were glued to the floor. Twilight tried her best to free herself from the invisible force that binded her to the ground.
“Arcane magic? What are you talking about?” Twilight muttered while trying to pull her hooves out of the ground. “Release me Saxon!”
“How about no?” Saxon laughed maniacally. “You are going to help me with an experiment first.”
Across the chess board was a square opening in the ground. A black shadow of a pony emerges from the ground and is parallel to Twilight. The shadow of the pony was dead as the starless night sky. There was no emotion on the shadow’s face, if there was any, and Twilight could not tell if the pony was even real.
“The game is simple,” Saxon’s voice echoed in the air. “Beat this shadow pony at chess and you advance to the next level in our game. You lose, well, try not to.”
Twilight looked up into the air for anymore instructions but the chess arena is silent. She turned her attention back to the black shadow pony across from her and observed the instructions she was waiting for. The black shadow pony stamped its hoof once on the ground and its side of the chess game is assembled with chess pieces.
The chess pieces were like the black shadow. The pieces were actual shadow ponies too but Twilight could see each of the pieces characteristics. The pawns only had a cloak like cover over their faces, the castles pieces carried a shield, the knights had heavy armor on, and the bishops had staffs with jewels on top.
Twilight took her hoof and stamped it once on the ground just like the shadow pony did. Her side of the chess game was filled with pieces too except they were different than the shadows. The pieces were actual ponies. The pawns carried the same physical features as the shadow pieces; cloaks covering their face.
“This game of chess, is now real?” Twilight said out loud. She thought real hard in her mind as she tried to compute reality.
“Twi? Is that you?” Applejack’s voice is heard in Twilight’s ear.
Twilight snapped out of her concentration state and looked around the chess arena. She found her blonde-mane friend Applejack on the field except something was not right. Applejack was standing on the knight’s square.
“Twilight! What are we doing here?!” Twilight heared Rainbow Dash’s voice this time.
Twilight followed the sound of Rainbow Dash’s voice and found her too on the knight’s square. Her rainbow colored mane was covered in a golden helmet and she had a metal saddle on her back.
“I’m scared,” Fluttershy’s voice called out.
Fluttershy cowered on the bishop square. She used her pink mane to cover her yellow and scared face. She had a staff in her hooves but she does not even realize that for herself.
“When did we get here?” Rarity said to Twilight.
Rarity was on the queen square next to Twilight. There was beautiful jewel crown on top of her head and a red cape on her back.
“Is this a party?” Pinkie Pie yelped.
Pinkie Pie is on the other bishop square next to Rarity and she held a staff in her hoof and a party cannon next to her.
“What in tarnation is going on Twilight? Give us some answers here,” Applejack demanded.
“I may have gotten us in trouble and we are forced into playing a real life version of chess,” Twilight explained really fast. Her friends are given very little time to react and respond. “and if we lose this game of chess, we could possibly die.”
"What is going on? What have you dragged us into now?" Rarity asks Twilight with a twist of nagging involved.
"I don't know," Twilight says to her. She looks around the chess arena her friends and herself got into. "Saxon! If you can hear me, tell me why my friends are in this cynical game?"
"It is quite easy to explain, my darling," Saxon's voice explains. His voices echoes for all ponies to hear. "A king has to have loyal followers in his army. Your friends that I saw in your heart seemed like a perfect fit."
"I should have never followed Saxon," Twilight says to herself.
"Pardon me but what did you say?" Applejack asks Twilight.
"I should have never followed Saxon to the chess game. I should have gone to the competition."
"Why did you even follow him?"
"He said he could make me better at chess after one session of playing chess. I did not know this would happen!"
"Well, whatever this game is, this Saxon guy has to explain the rules."
"Thank you for asking," Saxon's voice echoes again. "Your goal is to capture the shadow pony's king on the otherside of the board. Succed, and you advance one hoof step closer to victory. Lose, you can go join the statue garden I have assembled."
Saxon's voice becomes quiet when he finishes. Applejack, still unable to move her hooves, screams at Saxon for the game. She thrashes about on her standing but she eventually calms down. Pinkie Pie, still party cannon, stares happily at the pawns across the board. She makes funny and goofy faces at them but none of then flinch.
"Well at least we won't die," Fluttershy shyly speaks out.
"But we could be turned to stone. That is about the same thing," Rainbow Dash looks at Fluttershy. She tries to use the best tone of voice to give more strictness but Fluttershy hides behind her hair again. Rainbow Dash turns her attention to Twilight. "Alright Twilight, you're the egghead here. How we play this game of chess?"
"Well," Twilight takes a second to think over her thoughts. "chess is a strategy game where you have to maneuver your pieces to capture the opponent's king. If the opponent's piece lands on one of our pieces, they get captured and are rendered unplayable."
"What do you mean, 'unplayable'?" Applejack asks.
"The piece cannot be seen or heard from until I capture you back or the game is over."
"You better know what you are doing," Pinkie Pie gives Twilight some confidence through her cheery mood. "I am going to have the biggest party if we make it out of here."
"You make the first move," Rarity says to Twilight. "Make sure you know what you are doing."
Twilight takes a step into the empty king square and game officially believe. She makes her first turn of the game by moving her pawn on D2 to D4. The D2 square's outline shines with light with the D4 sqaure. The pawn walks over the square and ends the lights of the square. The shadow pony move its pawn too on E7 to E5. Twilight thinks about her next move before even moving a muscle. The pawn the opponent moved was in front of the queen, laying out a possible chain reaction called Tower Charge. This is where the queen can capture the high ranked pieces while using the pawns for protection. Twilight has to use the best of her knowledge of statistics in her head in order to bypass the move.
Twilight points her hoof at Rainbow Dash who was on the knight square G1 and points her hoof again on a different square at F3. Rainbow Dash's square lights up with light and the F3 does the same. Rainbow Dash can feel her ability to move again and she tries to fly away. A magical force field, probably something from Saxon, blocks Rainbow Dash from leaving the F1 square.
"Rainbow Dash," Twilight carps at her. "You have to follow the rules. Just trust me on this as much as I trusted you to catch me at the cliff."
Rainbow Dash remembers how much Twilight doubted Applejack when she first visited Ponyville at the cliffside. She hung by her hooves on the cliff and was barely saved by Applejack but she could not hold on. She gave enough trust to Applejack that she actually let go of her to fall down the cliff. Rainbow Dash, with the help Fluttershy, caught Twilight from a perilous doom.
With the thoughtful glimpse of trust in her heart, she moves to the F3 square. She flies over one of Twilight's pawns and into the square. The light disappears and the shadow pony makes a move. Just as Twilight predicted, the opponent moved its queen out of the backrow at E8 to H5.
According to the simple rules of the game; the queen can move in any straight and diagonal directions. Rainbow Dash was in the line of the queen's attack. Rainbow Dash could see the queen piece glaring at her with bright red piercing eyes. The silhouette reminded her of Princess Celestia's shadow. Even the hair flows like hers and the queen piece had a horn and wings. She nervously gulps as the queen remains motionless but scary.
"Twilight," She mutters to her. Twilight could hear the nervousness in her voice. Rainbow Dash was not one to be nervous. "get me out of here! I don't want to be this queen's next meal!"
Twilight makes a quickly and hastly move by moving her pawn in the line of the queen at F4. Her opponent leaves its queen as it was and moves its knight on B8 to C6.
Twilight moves a pawn forward from H2 to H3. Twilight has a plan to capture the queen but she runs the probability of it being successful in her head. A one percent probability, just one. She leaves her pawn alone on that square and ends her turn. The queen's square lights up at her astonishment and it moves in for the first capture. The queen uses her unicorn horn to stab the pawn and the pony disappears in a puff of smoke.
The pawn gets transported behind Twilight and is immortalized in stone. It was just as Saxon said, you lose you turn to stone. Twilight stares in shock at the frozen pony in stone. Even though she did not know the pawn, she wishes she could tell it sorry. The facial expression on the pawn still remains blank and unmoving. She turns her attention at the game at hand. The queen fell for the bait since her real target was Rainbow Dash. Twilight captures the queen with her pawn and the game was pretty much set.
“Thanks for making sure that queen did not get me,” Rainbow Dash says to Twilight She turns her head and smiles her famous win face . “I thought I was done for.”
“I wish I could say the same for that pawn,” Twilight mutters. She looks back at the stone pawn behind her.
Fast forwarding a few turns, the shadow pawn and Twilight fight back to back for victory over the game. Each passing turn, more pieces of the shadow pony disappeared to the stone graveyard behind it. Twilight suffers the same amount of casualties. She lost all her pawns but one and her unnamed castle was defeated. She tries her best to protect her friends but her efforts may be worthless with one slip up. Fluttershy got trapped into a corner last turn and Rarity nearly took a trip to the petrification garden. She scatters her friends across the board to help protect them; Fluttershy on C3, Rainbow Dash on F7, Rarity was moved back to E1 to protect her as she is the king piece, Applejack on H4, and Pinkie Pie on B3.
Twilight manages to check the king piece in a corner with a pawn blockade the only problem to get past. The pawns were in an “L” formation surrounding the corner where the king is the hiding. Rainbow Dash checks the king and took out one of the protecting pawns.
“This game was easier than I thought,” Twilight sighs exhaustedly. “Just a few more moves.”
“But I thought he was in check?” Fluttershy asks.
“Check but not checkmate. The king could easily move away from Rainbow Dash’s movement line.”
Twilight was right, as she always is. The king moves to the left onto G8. Rainbow Dash is in trouble now since the king could capture her within a move. Twilight tells Rainbow Dash to move to the right at H6. With the danger avoided, she calculates the next few moves. The king moves back to H8 and it was her turn again. She has an idea that will lead her to check mate.
She moves her last castle that was placed on G4 to attack the pawn and capture it. The castle piece, who wore heavy silver armor and an enormous shield across its body, charges at the helpless pawn and does a successful capture.
With phase one complete, it was the shadow’s turn. It moved the pawn piece on F8 to the castle and Twilight loses her last castle. His capture was not in vain though. Twilight shifted Rarity’s role and moved her to E4. All the pieces were set and all it took was for Saxon’s puppet to set it in motion.
The pawn moves forward without taking out Rainbow Dash and it is officially check again when Twilight moves Rainbow Dash back to F7. The shadow pony takes a daring move and moves itself to the H7 square. Twilight tells Rarity to move to the farend of the chess board on H4 and checks the shadow pony permanently.
"You lose, shadow pony," Twilight says confidently. She can finally rest in ease for a bit. "Checkmate."
The shadow pony vanishes into thin air along with the chess pieces. Twilight's friends appear beside Twight and they found the ability to move freely again without a command.
"Alright Saxon, we won your game now so let us go," Applejack yells to the cavern.
"I didn't say anything about you leaving yet. You got one more game to play," Saxon's voice sounds off.
The chess board reassembles without the mane six cast being put into the game. Saxon rises up from a rectangular hole in the ground when all the pieces were assembled. He decides to play the game but there is a surprise in store for them. On Saxon's side of the board, the king piece which used to looked like Princess Celestia before, had a different look but a figure that was recognizable. The figure had multiple parts of animals combined into one being and it frightens Twilight and the others when they see its face. It was the infamous Discord the Draconequus who was freed from his stone prison.
"I'm back for another game," Discord snaps at his old adversaries. "Let chaos ensue again like the haunting past."
A/N: This is a really long author note, sorry. Try having some fun after you've read this story. Maybe to understand how the final moves went for Twilight against the shadow pony, you should try replicating them on an actual chess board. I didn't explain this clearly about why the pawn not capture Rainbow Dash during the game. The shadow pony wanted it's queen back by returning a pawn piece to the other side. It would be checkmate for Twilight unless she worked fast to checkmate the shadow pony first. Thanks again for reading this story and don't forget to read the To Save Equestria series and to also read up on a new story I have been working on The Lost Journal of Kindra Skywing when it gets released. Ciao!
"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.
