From Beyond

Once Twilight had fallen asleep, she was dropped into a small room with a single table in the center.

“Ok Seed, what is it this time?” She asked, looking around. Her eyes passed over the table, before moving back and noticing what was on top.

“Tonight, something simpler. Have you ever played chess Twilight?” Seed asked, his voice coming from everywhere around her.

“I played it once or twice in my tutelage with Princess Celestia. I was never one much for the game though.” Twilight replied, walking over to the table. She picked up one of the pieces, noticing that it looked like one of her friends.

“A shame. I offer the same thing as yesterday. A single answer, to any question you may want to ask me.” Seed said, as a silver blob popped into existence on the opposite side of the board.

“Are there any rules I need to know about before we start?” Twilight asked.

“You’re learning. There are a few special rules for this game.” Seed said, a hand extending out from the silver blob. It grabbed the king on its side, and tossed it to Twilight.

She caught it before it hit her, and looked at it. It appeared to be a pony, but had harder features than any stallion.

“Who is this? I have never seen anypony even resembling this.” Twilight asked, turning the piece back and forth.

“That is Prophet. He will come for me, regardless if I am underneath a mountain of dirt or a mountain of corpses.” Seed said, as the silver blob started shifting into a pony form. He had grey eyes, and a flowing silver mane.

Twilight blushed, as she realized that he was actually quite handsome. And entirely nude.

“Equis to Twilight. I’m an asexual weapon from space with sentience. No googly eyes.” Seed said, snapping his fingers in front of her. As he leaned back into a chair that had appeared, the chess board seemed to blur before doubling. “We’ll be playing on two boards at the same time. The special rule is, any piece you get to the opposite side of one board can be moved to the opposite board.”

“So if I got my queen to where one of your bishops is, I could have two queens on one board?” Twilight asked, confused by the rule as she twirled his king.

“Correct, and if you checkmate my king on either of the boards all of your remaining pieces from that board are moved over.” Seed explained.

“So the faster I can checkmate you, the easier it will be on the opposite board for me to win as well?” Twilight asked, as her eyes roamed over both boards.

“Correct. There are other rules as well, but if the situation arises where they could be used I will make sure to inform you.” Seed said, as he moved a pawn forward.

“That isn’t very fair. You know rules to the game, and I only have your word that you’ll tell me about them.” Twilight said, moving a pawn on the opposite board.

“Is my word not enough?” Seed asked, as he moved his knight in response.

Twilight sighed before turning her focus on playing both games. This would be a test of not only her ability to multi-task, but her focus and strategy capabilities.

“And so the king is in the hands of a pawn, as his pieces dance their dance.” Seed said, as he sat back to watch her play.

“So who were you hanging out with? I noticed you were quite decorated when you showed up again.” Aphrodite asked, removing parts of her armor to polish it.

“Pinkie Pie found me. I tried to get away, but that pony found me everywhere I went. After five times in a row, I just gave up and followed her.” Hades asked, pulling a streamer off his shoulder.

“Poor you. It seems like the pink one would fit into the infiltration squads quite well with her capability to track and get past security.” Ares said, running his blade along his gauntlets.

“Indeed. If this world was to fall under the Aetherian Protectorate, she would most likely be drafted into your squad.” Aphrodite said, disconnecting her breastplate.

“It would be winter along the path before I allow something like her on my squad. She has no understanding of the concept of quiet.” Hades said, glancing at her. He noticed the scars she carried every time. He couldn’t do otherwise.

“Do you wanna try and have a pass at me Hades?” Aphrodite asked, noticing his glance. She turned to face him, leaning back and striking a seductive pose. “Do you think you’re man enough?”

“You would break me before we got anywhere. You have a modified skeleton and extremely dense musculature. You’re about what now, two hundred kilos?” Hades asked, his eyes passing over her form. She appeared to be extremely light, but appearances were always deceiving.

“Two hundred and fifty actually. I got another modification before this mission started. Subdermal implant to increase my resistance to cutting and stabs. We were getting dropped into a low tech world, I just wanted extra protection. ” Aphrodite said.

“Exactly. My modifications lighten my body, while yours condenses and strengthens it. You would break me in half with a light groping.” Hades said, sighing as he pulled off his helmet.

“You’re no fun. The only ones who are strong enough are in the Reaper squadron, and all they care about is killing.” Aphrodite said, pouting. She lifted her hand in front of her face, flexing each finger one at a time. She turned to look at Hades, her eyes going straight to his augmented eyes. “You’ve never said why you chose your augments when you became squad commander.” Aphrodite said.

“They allow me to notice every detail about any situation I come across. Night vision, infrared scanning, and they pull up whatever information they can about whatever I come across. Schematics for door locks, energy readings, anatomical scannings to dictate weak points, even chemical scannings to figure out if something is dangerous.” Hades explained, closing his eyes to relax.

“And you Ares?” Aphrodite asked, turning to look at him.

“I have heavier versions of the same modifications you carry Aphrodite.”

“How much heavier?”

“Eight hundred kilos.”

“Quite the powerhouse you are.” Hades commented, turning to look out the window. He could see threads of magic extending over the horizon. “Do you expect her to do something? Celestia I mean.”

“I expect she will try a formal apology, to make up for the grievous mistake she made at the duel. Since she doesn’t understand what she did, more than likely she’ll ask more about our culture so she can not repeat further mistakes.” Aphrodite said.

“And how can you so accurately guess that is her plan?” Ares asked, testing the edge of his blade. It cut deep into his arms, but the wound was almost instantly healed.

“I’m trained to figure out how people think. She wants to protect her people at all costs, so she will throw herself onto whatever mercy she believes we have in order to spare them. We’ll play along, for now.” Aphrodite said, placing the last of her armor aside and climbing into her bed. “Whatever will happen, will happen. We can only accept it and move forward with the plan.”

“Very well then. Before you slumber, do you expect Blueblood to survive the night?” Hades asked. “You did quite the number on him in the duel.”

“Two beings have survived a fight with me, and that will not change any time soon.” Aphrodite replied before rolling over and falling asleep.

“Enough. We’ve tried everything, and none of it is working. Magic couldn’t even save him.” The doctor said, as he removed his surgical gloves. His eyes roamed over the group of nurses and doctors, each of them downfallen.

“Someone get one of the princesses. Blueblood is dead.” The doctor shut off the room lights as a nurse pulled the cover over Blueblood’s head. They all left in silence, knowing they had failed their jobs.

“Checkmate.” Twilight said, moving her queen to take Seed’s king.

“Congratulations. You’ve taken both of my kings.” Seed said, as the second board disappeared. “Now, think hard on what you want to ask.”

Twilight thought for a few minutes. She finally came to a single question she wanted to ask.

“What are you?” She asked, locking eyes with Seed.

He smiled.

“An interesting question, with an interesting answer.”