A Second Chance

“FLUTTERSHY!!” Twilight screamed in horror at the sight of what was Fluttershy, “YOU MONSTER!” with some effort, due to her injured leg, she stood up, “At first I thought we could persuade you into finding a peaceful solution, but you have just crossed the line!” her eyes ablaze with anger.

Checkmate kicked the burnt patch on the floor. “Now with her gone, even if you had brought your Elements of Harmony they won't do any good,” he said as he turned around to face Twilight, only to be met with Applejack and Rainbow Dash slamming into him and pin him to the ground.

Twilight slowly walking towards him her horn sparkling like a firework with how much magic was stockpiled in it. Checkmate concluded that any spell that she used on him would most likely be fatal. Once she got to him, she angled her horn at Checkmate’s throat “Give me one good reason why i shouldn't kill you right now?” she stated, fury infecting her voice.

“Well first off, I did warn you that, If you were going to fight, that your friends we're just going to end up as collateral. To be honest, you brought this on yourself,” he answered calmly with a smug look on his face. “and secondly,” He kicked Twilight’s front leg, knocking her off balance and broke free from Applejack’s grip, smacking Twilight in the face, pointing her horn at Rainbow Dash.

“NO!” was Twilights only word as another flash of bright light engulfed the clearing, and when IT died down Rainbow Dash was gone, a similar mark to Fluttershy’s was left, and when she saw this she was frozen in shock at what she had just done. “Rainbow,” she muttered, choking back a sob. Even Applejack was shocked, with tears beginning to cascade down her face.

“Oh Twilight, now look at what you’ve done,” Checkmate said smoothly as he used the advantage of Applejack being distracted, kicking the farm pony into Twilight. “I guess me killing your friends wasn’t enough for you was it? No, you had to go and do it too now didn’t you?” he said teleporting over to Rarity, who lay passed out on the ground, her mane a mess, covered in confetti, streamers, and what appeared to be remanence of a cake, “Who’s next?”

Suddenly Pinkie came running into the clearing her eyes wild with anger, and little bits of tree branches and leaves lodged inside her, now deflated, mane. “HOW DARE YOU SHOOT ME OUT OF MY OWN PARTY CANNON!!” she exclaimed in anger.

“Seems like we have found our next contestant,” he muttered under his breath, “ah Pinke, your back, how did you like your flight?” Checkmate said laughing. Suddenly, his eyes flashed and Pinkie was frozen with her eyes glowing white under Checkmate’s influence. “Now Twilight, watch as your friends destroy themselves.” His eyes flashed again, this time lifting Rarity out of her unconsciousness. Picking herself up, Rarity looked directly at Pinkie and began charging her magic. Another flash and Pinkie was gone. Checkmate then proceed to charge his own, and fire it at Rarity, another flash another scar on the once peaceful land.

Twilight and Applejack just sat there, helpless to save their friends, until Applejack stood up. “I can’t take this anymore Twi’, I think it's high time we took him down! Together we can do anythin-guck!” she was interrupted as yet another beam was unleashed and slammed into her.

“Ugg, do none of you know how to shut up, and accept your deaths?” Checkmate sighed. “I was going to kill you next, but i think i am going to leave you here, so that you never forget that you could have, in fact, saved all of your friends, but you were too cowardly stop me,’’ he said.

“Just answer me this one question,” she stated her eyes staring at the floor, “What could I possibly have done to cause you to do this?”

“Well that brings me back.. think back to the day where you had taken your entry exam to Celestia's school of magic. There was a little colt who went just before you. That was me. When I took my exam, the judges said that I was guaranteed the last spot in the academy, but no, you had to show up and win the princess’ attention, and steal that spot away from me! My life started to spiral downward after that, I couldn't keep a job, and nobody wanted me. At first I worked in the shadows, causing most of your hardships, I woke up Discord, I gave Trixie the Alicorn Amulet, I was behind it all! But they only made you and your friends stronger while I was alone! Now you too will be alone, enjoy it,” he started to walk away until he started to hear her laughing.

“You're telling me that the only reason you killed all my friends, is because you were denied from the academy? That one event lead you to do all this?!” she had finally snapped, slowly she started to stand up, “all my friends are DEAD because YOU didn’t pass an ENTRY exam!?” suddenly she started firing mystical charges at Checkmate at rapid fire speed, each one like a rock, and each one scoring a direct hit, “EVERYTHING THAT WAS IMPORTANT TO ME, TORN AWAY BECAUSE OF A STUPID ENTRY EXAM!!!” A final shot sent him flying into a tree where he lay bloody and beaten.

Checkmate was barely able to stand up and say, “where would YOU be If YOU hadn’t passed that test? You’d be right where I’m standing. You yourself said that your life would have been completely different if YOU hadn't passed.” Checkmate began breathing heavily as he spoke, “but enough talk, I think we should end this here and now, both of us have been pushed over the edge. We are two sides of the same coin, you and I. Lets finish it, one last surge of magic, your strongest spell vs my strongest spell. I realized that with you being an alicorn your pool of magic had been increased, so, to even the playing field, I stole this!” the Alicorn Amulet materialized in front of him, and as he slipped it on. “Ready?”

Twilight gave a curt nod as both Ponies started charging their strongest spells. As their horns grew brighter the ground seemed to tremble under the growing force of the two magics. Soon the lights became unbearable to look at, like two suns had been drawn closer to each other, until neither Checkmate nor Twilight could hold them any longer. The beams launched forward with so much might that not even Princess Celestia and Luna combined could have stopped such a blast.

The two beams collided pushing against each other, the meeting point shot sparks of raw energy in all directions; enough energy was released to power all of Equestria for eons. The two spells began flowing back and forth as if playing a game of tug-of-war, but certain death awaited the looser. Both ponies were straining themselves, Checkmate was drenched in his own blood, and Twilight was being exposed to so much force that she was being forced into the ground. Suddenly, one of the beams shot forward and slammed into the other pony, the only sound heard was a cry of complete and utter agony, as the resulting explosion decimated that section of the forest. Then all was still. Through the settling dust only a mere outline of one pony could be seen standing, while the other lay on the ground motionless.

The sound of Checkmate’s maniacal laughter shattered the eerie silence. “I knew you didn’t have it in you to finish the job,” but as the fallout started to die down it became clear that Twilight was the pony standing, her eyes locked on Checkmate, whose body had been turned to stone, all of which except for his head. “Even though you have nothing to lose, You. Are. Weak!” he said after a moments pause, "and you will be alone just as I was."

Twilight's eyes flashed and the stone started to creep up Checkmate's neck "No I won't, they may be gone, but their memory will live on."

"Well I guess that leaves only this," Checkmate closed his eyes and after a moment a spark flew off of Checkmate's horn and zoomed off toward Ponyville.

Twilight watched as it speed off. "What did you do?" She asked, genuinely curious

“What you didn't think I would leave the final battle of revenge, to a magic duel with you? No one always needs an ace in the hole. Mine happens to be a bomb, that will annihilate Ponyville!" Suddenly a deafening 'boom' shook the ground, followed by a large column of smoke rising off in the distance.

With a look of terror on her face, Twilight used her magic to teleport to the outskirts of Ponyville. Once she got there she was shocked to see that Ponyville had been reduced to rubble, a few buildings were missing large portions of walls and barely managed to stand, but it wasn't the buildings that frightened her, it was the carnage. Everywhere she looked she saw ponies who were either dead, mortally wounded, or grieving over the loss of somepony.

Four of these ponies caught her eye, one was a light brown earth pony stallion that had a hourglass for a cutie mark, his lifeless eyes widen in shock. It seems that he was killed by the initial shock, but large shards of glass from a store window were lodged in his flank and neck, causing a bloody mess.

Not too far away was a grey pegasus pony was crawling across the ground, one wing completely missing and one of her hind legs seemed to have been crushed while the other one was gone, she made a long trail of blood as she dragged herself across the floor. She looked at Twilight, her eyes had trouble focusing as she mouthed the word ‘help’, but it was all for naught, for she dropped dead soon afterwards, tears streaming down her face.

Twilight’s eyes drifted to another group of ponies, one, a dark grey mare with a long black mane, was crouched next to a large boulder that seemed to have fallen from a building. Her eyes full of distress and tears as she tried to push the boulder off of what appeared to be a white pony, though it was hard to tell due to the massive pool of blood that was emanating from under the rock, the only clear thing that Twilight could see where a pair of cracked Red glasses.

Everywhere she looked, ponies were either dying or already dead, and the dead ones were lucky, because they were no longer in pain. The few who were still alive were either mutilated beyond the point of salvation, or would have to live with the sight of this destruction and gore for the rest of their lives. All in all The sight was too much for Twilight, and she vomited on the street. “I was so wrong, I thought he couldn’t do any more damage.”

“‘Sooo wrong’ I like the sound of that.” Checkmate said from behind Twilight.

Twilight spun around, her eyes wide in horror, “How did you escape!” she shouted in disbelief, “you were turned into a block of stone!”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this anymore,” he said his eyes dropping to the floor with sadness. Suddenly the sky began to ripple and the town began to melt away. Within moments the two were back in the clearing.

“B-but how?” Twilight said looking around her

“Everything from you turning me to stone, to the whole bomb segment was an illusion. You just looked so grief stricken, I just can’t do it anymore,” he said with a disgruntled look on his face. “Oh by-the-way, your friends aren't dead. I used a high powered teleportation spell that put them in their homes. Those burn marks on the ground just show how much power I had to put in the spells, I also wiped their memory of the incident. So they are just going about their day to day life. Even Rainbow Dash is still alive, My spell got to her just in time, and if you look closely, you can see that a tree has disintegrated from when your spell missed Rainbow and hit it instead,” he confessed, “I may be evil, but i still have a heart. but seeing you so utterly defeated... I just couldn't bring myself to finish the job.”

Twilight’s expression softened with the sudden realization that all of the things that had happened today were never really been real, and she began to weep with happiness, and also began to laugh. “You have no idea how happy I am right now,” and after a short while she walked over to Checkmate as if to hug him, but instead she punched him in the face.

Rubbing his nose with his front hoof Checkmate said, “Okay, I had that coming”

“You know, because you have shown me great strategic forethought and and since I have ‘Wronged you’ in the past, let me make it up to you now. How would you like to be captain of my royal guard AND my royal advisor?” she said with all seriousness.

“Are you serious, after all that I put you through today?” he said in disbelief.

“Do you not want it? Because I can always give the positions to somepony-”

“Nononononono! I accept, thank you!” he said excitedly.

“Now there are a few criteria that you will have to meet before you can fill the positions.” Twilight said, her horn suddenly flashed revealing a table two chairs and a mountain of papers.

Checkmate blinked his eyes several times to clear them, and when he finally did he noticed that Twilight’s mane had changed. It had changed from its regular straight to a bun, and Twilight was also wearing small glasses on the tip of her muzzle. this new costume change made her look like the stereotypical librarian.

“Now.” she began sitting down and levitating a clipboard in front of her face “Lets begin. First we're going to do some word associations to test your mental stability, so just answer with the first word that comes to your head.”

“Alright.” Checkmate said shrugging and sitting in the chair opposite of Twilight. “Fire away.”

“First word: Joy.” Twilight said not looking up from the clipboard.

“Chess. I like outsmarting ponies in a contest of wit and strategy.” Checkmate replied calmly

“ok, next word: Friends.”

Checkmate's face suddenly became stoic, as if all the emotion had been sucked out of him, and the only word he said was, “Traitors”

Twilight looked up from her clipboard, her face was full of concern. “Is there a reason for why that is?”

“it’s because the one friend that I had betrayed me and abandoned me in a time of need, but thats all in the past... what's the next word?

“Of course..” she said returning her attention back to the clipboard “um next word: Chaos”

“Unnecessary-” Checkmate began.

“Good next word is-” Twilight interrupted

“Hey you didn’t let me finish.. Unnecessary, but fun to watch.” Checkmate finished.

Twilight sat there in silence for a little while staring at Checkmate, her face impassive. “fine” she said after a brief moment. “Next word: Magic.”

“Immeasurably useful.”

“Next one: Cutie Mark.”

“umm... Achievement?”

“Next: Darkness”

“in need of some form of lumanate...”

“ok then Last word: Death”

“Tragic... but necessary if life is to continue..”

After another brief silence Twilight put down her clipboard and look up. “Well you passed the requirement for this portion, but only just.”

“Well I guess thats good... is that it?”

“Nope, one last thing.” Twilight said cheerfully. “Have you been convicted for, or committed, any felonies? These include theft, murder, and conspiracies against Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadence, or my brother Shining Armor.”

There was a silence that seemed to drag on for hours, but once it was over Checkmate took a deep breath and said, “Yes, I have.. Though I may not have been convicted.”

Twilight, surprisingly, didn’t seem to be too shocked. She simply nodded and said “Well maybe they're not severe and can be easily dealt with... what exactly is it that you did?”

“Well...” Checkmate took a deep breath and continued, “First off I Tried to break you and your friends apart with several schemes... first was the obstacles on the night of the summer sun celebration, others include Gilda, Trixie, I started the Parasprite infestation in Ponyville, the Flim Flam Bros. takeover was my idea, I told Trixie about The Alicorn Amulet.”

“Well... I wouldn't consider those necessary ‘Illegal’ but I do take them to some offence...” She said glaring at Checkmate.

“Oh...there’s more” Checkmate continued reluctantly. “I also released Discord, told him about the new holder of the Elements of Harmony and their weaknesses. Then I stumbled upon the Changelings cavern and the pointed them towards Canterlot...” He said.

“WHAT!?” Twilight said her mane and tail bursting into flames. The fire didn't last long for Twilight calmed herself down by inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, tracing the path of her breath with her front hoof.

“I realize that releasing the Lord of Chaos was a bad idea, but I was just so angry... I didn’t want to hurt anypony.” Checkmate confessed with remorse.

Twilight looked down on this unicorn with a cold stare, but after a brief reflection the princess’s eyes softened seeing that his apology was genuine.

“Of course, you do realize that before you become the head of my royal guard and my royal adviser, I’m going to have to, one, officially announce you as such in front of the rest of the Council of Equestria and, two, you're going to have to go to court, and clear yourself of all the criminal charges,” Twilight continued in warning. “and if you are found guilty you will not be able to serve as my guard, or even my advisor. In fact, due to the severity of your charges you might even be sent to Tartarus for the rest of your days,” she said sadly. “The only way around it, is if you get a majority vote among the the rulers of equestria, these include Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, Cadence, and myself. The way I figure Celestia will trust my judgement, Luna I'm not too sure, Cadence and my brother will most likely vote against you.”

Chapter 1: Revenge, End