Check Mate is Best Ponyby CozmosusChaptersKnight to Queen's Rook FiveThe Naive KnavesLike a Snake in the Grass... Erm- StoneKnight to Queen's Rook FiveUgh... Pain... An undesirable feeling, truly. Slowly blinking his eyes open, the mighty wrestler found himself atop a lone mountain, cold air blowing around him as he attempted to stand. "Few times hath I felt pain such as this. Only the most powerful of forces be-ist enough to maketh me feel such a thing," he stated in his blatantly British accent. Head pounding, the man made it to his feet, his grave headache causing him to sway from side to side and making him realize a very important detail about his body. "What be-ist this?!" he exclaimed. "I do not rememberist activating my Chess Piece Change." His upper body was the same as it always had been, the smooth, muscular chest of a man, armoured with a near-pink reddish chest plate with shoulder-covering spaulders and segmented razor armlets of the same colour. But his lower half, he saw, was that of a fully grown stallion, a deep blue colour coating the entire body, his hooves and tail black. His head, of course was also a blue horned horses head, replacing his normal King head, which is what normally retained his human form. He reached an arm up to his right shoulder in an attempt to activate his Chess Piece Change, which would swap his horsey Knight head with his King head only to find that it was missing. in fact, his Rook head was also missing from his left shoulder. "Dost mine eyes decieve me? My chess pieces hath disapeared from atop my shoulders! What treachery is this!" He reared up on his hind legs, letting out a terrifying whinny. "I shall find whomever hath caused this and I must findeth my way home from this mountainous wasteland." He began his gallop towards the nearest incline, leaping from stone to stone to keep himself from losing his footing and tumbling down. Overhead he could hear the crackling of thunder begin. The half-man half-horse peered upwards to find that many small black clouds were zipping about, squeezing themselves in place beside eachother to cloak the sky in a blanket of darkness. A storm was brewing, but something seemed unnatural to him, as if each cloud had a mind of its own, though he could not exactly see that high. KRACKOW! A bolt of lightning struck a nearby collection of stones, sending them tumbling. The horse-man cringed. Though he himself could not feel pain as a regular man should, he would prefer not to descend the mountain in that particular fashion. He continued to make his way down the mountain, seeing various dead trees and peculiar rock formations, but nothing in particular that stood out. Lightning continued to strike down, thunder sounding off all the while. KRACKABANG!! As his hooves made contact against one boulder, a bolt of lightning stuck, cracking the stone and causing him to tumble down the side of the rocky hill. "Forsooth! A lightning bolt caused my literal downfall! 'Tis minor inconvenience. I feel no pain, 'Twill be a mere matter of time before I reach the bottom, methinks." Unfortunately, even though pain was not a worry for him, the wrestler was still human; or at least, as close as he could be to human in his condition. He was sent into unconsciousness when a boulder made contact with the back of his head just under his mane. He made one last exclamation before the world faded to black. "Oh bloody hell!" "Is he okay?" "I think so, but I can't quite tell." "He does not seem to be fatally injured." "I'm stuck on his strange physiology. He seems to have the body like the creatures that inhabited the world I traveled to through that mirror between where his head should be and his actual head. Have you ever heard of such a creature, Celestia?" "No, Twilight, I have not..." The unconscious wrestler jumped up on all four hooves, waking from his slumber. "Huzzah! What dost thou want with me, knaves!? Huh?" He found himself face to face with not one, but three strange looking unicorn-like candy-coloured horses. They were certainly not the strangest thing he had ever seen. He had come in contact with many strange looking wrestlers throughout his career. A walrus-man, a dik-dik, a frog man, a guy that looks like a giant cheese grater. Pastel ponies were not a problem for him. "What are thee? Horned horses attempting to hold me captive? I think not," he proclaimed, balling his hand into a fist, prepared to defend himself if need be. The purple one of the three backed away wildly, waving her front hooves in front of her. "Nonononono! We're not holding you hostage, sir!" The purple mare motioned toward the larger blue horse and the even bigger white one, each with their own flowing manes. "We found you lying outside on the ground. Can you tell us your name? Are you hurt anywhere?" The man calmed himself and crossed his arms and smirked. "I am Check Mate, and I need not the help of thee, for I feel no pain. I desire to depart from this place, for I grow weary of my time here. Cheerio, I have elsewhere to be." Check Mate trotted away from the two princesses and the talking filly and towards the giant double doors that marked the only exit to the room they were all in. "Wait," a soft voice came from behind. Check Mate, along with the other two ponies turned to look at the white one whose voice he identified as the Celestia from before. "Before you leave, I ask of you, where is it you come from? Why did you come here? Answer me these two question, and you can leave." Check Mate hesitated. "I hail from the planet Earth; from Monaco to be exact. And the reason I am now here?" He stopped and lowered his head. "I do not know. I appeared at this place atop yonder mountain missing my two most valuable possessions. Now, if thou excuseth me, I must take leave." Princess Celestia nodded, smiling. "If that is truly how you feel, then you may now leave. But I offer you the assistance of my student, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Twilight, the purple pony gasped, jumping up in the air with a pained look on her face. "But Princess Celestia, I can't help him! We don't even know what him is," she muttered. "The girl is right in her hesitance to assist me. I need not thy help in my quest. I shall go-est it alone." The other pony stepped forward. "Twilight, Celestia is right. You must help this stallion with his plight." She turned toward him. "Sir Check Mate, what is it that you have lost? We shall help you find what it is you've lost." "Hrm... Fine. I shall accept thy assistance. I need only to findeth my two chess pieces before returning to mine home. Methinks that the purple one may be of some use to me," he said, motioning for her to follow him. "Come along then, girl. Thou knowest this land better than I. Showest me the best place for us to begin our search." He walked towards and then out the door, hooves clacking against the hard marble floor loudly. Twilight shot the two sisters a worried look before they both nodded, telling her that she would have to endure the pain of assisting the strange man. The lavender princess lowered her head and sighed. "Follow me," she told him, "let's go to Ponyville. Ugh..." After both Twilight and Check Mate left the room, Luna looked up to her sister. "You are sure that Twilight helping him is a good idea, right, sister?" she asked. "I do not know, Luna. I only know that she should help him. It is, after all, still her duty to learn as much as she can about friendship, even as a Princess. This will be a great challenge for her to overcome. We shall find out in time if helping this strange creature was worthwhile." "Why must thou insist on observing me the entire way to yonder village, knave?" "You just look so weird. I've never seen anything like you!" "Hurm. Now that I examine thou more closely, I see that thou hast both wings and a horn. A peculiar sight to be seen upon a horse, not to mention thy ability to speaketh like a man." "What?" The Naive Knaves"Yes, well, thy mother is so dumb, she put lipstick upon her head to make-up her mind," Check Mate retorted to his filly friend. Twilight groaned, steam billowing in columns from each of her nostrils. She rubbed her temple with one hoof before looking up to see that at long last, they had finally reached their destination. "Ugh... Why am I helping you again?" Twilight asked. "Thy ruler ordered thou to assist me in my quest. I would thinketh it be in thy best interest to follow," Check Mate responded, clueless to the rhetorical aspect of the question. Twilight brought a hoof to her face and groaned once more. "Ugh, just forget it. Anyway, welcome to Ponyville, here's where you'll be staying until we find your, what did you say you were missing again?" Check Mate crossed his arms and pointed at each of his shoulders. "Mine Rook piece and King piece beith missing from atop mine shoulders," he pronounced. "But tell-est me again how being in this peasant town is to helpeth me in my quest?" "You are being very rude!" the purple pony princess yelled at Check Mate. "But if you have to know, this is where my friends and I live. If I can get the five of them to help look for your chess pieces, we can find them faster, and you'll be out of our manes by the end of the day." She huffed, her gentle hoofsteps now becoming heavy stomps, indenting the soft loomy soil beneath her hooves. "And you knowest for certain that what I seek can be found so easily?" the horse-man asked. "Judging by your position on the mountain, assuming you fell from the very top of the mountain, what you're looking for should be either in or around Canterlot," Twilight responded. "Canterlot is close enough to Ponyville that we can afford to at least get some extra help." Twilight slowed to a halt, Check Mate following closely behind as the both of them reached her tree home that doubled as a library for the town. "Now, you stay here and I'll explain to my friends what's going on." She began trotting once again, away from the tree now. "I don't want you scaring the town. Stay. Put." Check Mate breathed heavily from his snout. "Twilight Sparkle! I shall not be left alone to sit inside an oversized plant! I demand that you taketh me with thee so that I may deem whether your 'friends' shall be useful in my quest!" Twilight seemed to ignore him, just walking away. He could not see it but her horn glowed a bright pink, and a small stick floated up behind him glowing the same pink colour. It tapped him on the back, inviting him to turn around. He did so, and it gave him a swift smack on the face. He flinched, though his expression did not change. Check Mate huffed and sat down in front of the 'Golden Oak Library' (according to the sign in front). "I shall not take orders from a woman, be she of my own race, or otherwise." Check Mate shoved his large body off the ground with his muscular arms, allowing his horse legs to lift him up into a full standing position. Looking around, he made an attempt to find a good place to start searching for any of his missing chess pieces. He remembered that the mare had mentioned that he had fallen from atop a mountain. If so, that was the first place he would looks. The wrestler beamed at his surroundings in search of said mountain. To the north-east of the small village he was let in, a large snowy peak sat hiding behind the tops of houses in the distance. That was where he decided to go. As he began trotting in that direction, a trio of young, small fillies zipped passed him as fast as the wrestler Eskara of the d.M.p. This caught him by surprise and caused him to jump. At least it would have had Check Mate had any noticeable emotions. He did not, and therefore continued walking, but was forced to soon stop when he realized that the three foals that had sped by him were standing in front of him, blocking his path and staring at him. "What be-ith thy problem, children? Begone, or thou shall be trampled beneath mine hooves as I continue forth," he stated. They did not move. Instead, one of them spoke up. "You look weird, mister." The one on the right, whose coat was orange and whose mane was a darker shade of pink. She had a small pair of wings on her back and a confused look on her face. Check Mate looked down at the pony. "Thou looketh stranger than any quine I hath met. Maybe not as strange as the three claiming to be of royal decent, but a pair of wings upon a horse be-ith verily strange." The child scrunched her nose and ruffled her brow. One of the other two, the yellow one in the middle then said, "You talk weird to." There was a hint of an accent in her voice, similar to that of Terry 'The Grand' Kenyon. "I could say he same about thou. Accents of the country have always escaped me. The way I speak is more normal than thou speaketh." The girl frowned. He looked to the third one, a white one with a mane of pink and purple and eyes of green. "What about thee? Dost thou wish to maketh fun of mine colour? What about the lack of chess pieces that normally grace my shoulders?" She looked confused, but eventually spoke with a high, squeaky voice. "No. I think you look cute. Like a teddy bear." "Thou decides to insult me by comparing me to a children's toy? How darest thee, I am a strong and manly wrestler!" He struck a pose, light seeming to shine from behind him. He looked back at the three fillies who were still staring at him, not moving. Check Mate decide to ignore the three and continue forth towards the mountain. He had much more important matters to attend to that three young girls. He continued trotting along on his way, thinking nothing of the bothersome girls that had blocked his path mere moments ago and began reminiscing of the past. "Come on, Check Mate my boy, you need to learn to fight of your own abilities! You need to fight without your wondrous powers!" yelled Sunshine, foster father to the young orphan boy whose dark pink helmet obscured his hair. "You need to become invincible!" His gravelly voice was muffled by the rain. "Feel the burn, bun the feeling, feel the burn, burn the feeling," young Check Mate whispered to himself as his left arm and right leg were being bitten and pulled in opposite directions by a pair of black wolves. He flexed his young, undeveloped stomach muscles and twisted around, throwing each of the wolves off balance. When one tried to get up, he stepped on its throat and pressed his foot down hard. The other made jumped at him, making an attempt to save its brother from the small human. Check Mate merely punched the wolf in the muzzle, breaking all of its teeth and somehow managing to kill it instantly. "Feel the burn, burn the feeling..." "Where are ya goin'?" asked a voice from beside Check Mate's ear. This awoke him from his daydream, startling him, as very few things could do. The yellow one with the bow was sitting on his shoulder, smiling at him. In fact, he felt another one sitting on his back and saw that the orange one was walking beside him, her legs moving very quickly in an attempt to keep up with his stride. He stopped. "What art thou doing? Why dost thou insist on pestering me whilst I quest forward?" Check Mate responded, picking up the pony with his large arms and placing her on the ground. Only then did he notice that she was wearing a bow in her heir. Not that it mattered to him. "Ooooh! What are you questing for? Is it for your cutie mark?" asked the one on his back. He could tell by her voice that it was the white one. "We don't have our cutie marks either," said the orange one, "Can we come with you? Maybe we can all get our cutie marks in questing!" Check Mate stopped abruptly, knocking off balance the pony that rested on his back. "What is this 'cutie mark' of which thy speaketh?" He shook his horsey head and put a hand to his face. "Never mindeth. I care not. What I do care for is that if thou truly insist upon following me wherever I go, thou shalt keepeth quiet. Dost thou understand?" They nodded. "What's with your body?" "You don't know what a cutie mark is?" "Why are you so big?" "Can I stand on your back again?" Like a Snake in the Grass... Erm- StoneThe steady clopping of hooves echoed throughout the empty plains as Check Mate trotted along the singular path leading straight through the field towards Canterlot. There was not much else in terms of scenery, other than the gravel path and grass. Occasionally a few birds would appear and glide along beside the man-pony, happily twittering their little songs before their little birdy lungs got decimated by Check Mate's powerful fists. Other than that, his trip towards the mountain was relatively quiet. "Are we there yet?" Aside from the three children that had decided to pester him. Check Mate reached behind himself and grabbed onto the scruff of the young unicorn filly that decided it was a good idea to constantly jump on his back for a ride. He looked the filly in the eye and said, "No," before placing her on the ground to walk with her two other friends. "Must thee ask the same question every ten seconds, knave?" he asked without breaking his pace or looking anywhere other than forward. The white would have answered had the one with the bow not interrupted to ask, "What's a knave? Is it some sort of fruit? Like an apple?" The winged pony quickly interjected. "No way, it's probably an awesome weapon!" Check Mate grunted before responding. "It is what grown ups call annoying young children such as thyselves." He turned to his left to look at the orange girl that he had dubbed 'Kiwi', due to the girl's inability to fly, even though she had wings. "That remindeth me, where art thine parents? I do not enjoy thine company in the slightest and would suggest that thou return to thy parents immediately," said Check Mate. The three fillies zipped in front of him and began trotting backwards at precisely the same pace as both himself and each other, perfectly in sync. "Our older sisters are watching us today," said the white one that Check Mate decidedly named 'Margaret'. He thought it fit. As did he think his nickname for the southern-accented yellow pony. "They said we can go crusadin' wherever we want as long as we don't go gettin' hurt or somethin'," said 'Apple Bow'. "And we sure won't get hurt walking, right girls?" Kiwi asked. She looked to her left at her two companions in time to see Margaret trip backwards over a rock and land flat on her face. The rest of the group stopped to stare at her for a moment before she answered. "Yeah, walking. Can't get hurt doing that..." Check Mate and Apple Bow looked to Kiwi, who simply shrugged in response. "The point is," she said, "We can go wherever it is you're going. We don't need any adults. They're okay with us because we're big ponies." Meanwhile, in front of a fairly large farm back in Ponyville... "Consarn it Apple Bloom, where are you? You're supposed 'ta be doin' chores today!" An orange stetson-wearing mare was wandering about and yelling, searching for her missing younger sister. She had just come back from searching one of the nearby orchards and was returning to the barn for a short break. Trotting toward the door, however, she happened upon a small note attached firmly to the door with what looked to be several badly hammered in nails. "Out Crusadin'. Will be back by dinner. Maybe. Signed..." Her eyes flared up. "APPLE BLOOM!" "Yeah," Apple Bow muttered, "perfectly okay with us goin' out on our own." Soon enough, the horse-man and three fillies came to a full stop. The area that they had arrived at transitioned quickly from an open field to a dark and looming forest. It was tough to see anything under the shade of the trees that seemed to have grown so unnaturally and wildly. It was— "The Everfree Forest," the girls whispered to themselves, continuing to smile. "The Everfire say-what-now?" Check Mate asked. Margaret was the one that decided to answer for him. "The Everfree Forest!" she exclaimed, jumping up in front of his face, almost too close for his own comfort. "And what, pray tell, may that be?" "It's the scariest forest in Equestria," stated Kiwi. "The plants grow without ponies planting them, the animals all take care of themselves and the weather isn't controlled by Pegasi. It's all unnatural and creepy." Chek Mate stared at her as if she was joking. He knew for an absolute fact that that was exactly what a normal forest was. Animals, plants, weather all acting on their own without any assistance, but the look on the young girl's face said otherwise. He decided not to question it. Things like that did not matter. He needed to collect his pieces and return to his home. That was all that mattered to him. Questioning the logic of three fillies would not get him any closer to completing his quest. Whatever the case, he decided it best to enter the forest. There was not to be a single rock overturned if he were to find his pieces. He continued on at a normal pace, simply trotting into the Everfree without a care. Though the girls had expressed ponies' concerns about the forest, it seemed like they themselves did not believe in the rumours of danger. They continued to follow Check Mate without hesitation or worry, which was not exactly what he was hoping they would do. The group of four cantered into the dense overgrowth the forest provided, all light beginning to drain from the world around them, and the cheery chirping of birds fading out of existence. The forest introduced them to the sounds of the true wilderness; wild and untamed. But such atmosphere did not deter the little ponies (and one large man-stallion) from continuing forth. Margaret hopped back onto her favourite spot on Check Mate's back, spinning around a few times before sitting down comfortably. "You still haven't told us what you're looking for, or told us your name," she stated. "That is correct," Check Mate responded blankly, letting the statement hang in silence. Margaret raised an eyebrow and said, "Sooo... You should tell us. You know, so we can get to know each other!" She climbed up onto his left shoulder (The one where his rook piece would normally stand), and smiled intently at him. "I'm Sweetie Belle! They're Scootaloo and Apple Bloom." The two came up from either side of him and 'Sweetie Belle' —Margaret— motioned to each as she told him their real names. Check Mate did not look at either of them, though he did respond. "I am Check Mate. I am the greatest wrestler in the entire world. I feel no pain and cannot be hurt, for I doth be perfect. And to tell thee what I am questing for, I seek my two missing chess pieces that grant me the power to change forms. I must find mine rook and king pieces and return home from this world." Apple Bloom's eyes grew very wide, along with her smile. "Wow! You can't feel pain! That's really neat. Does this hurt?" She bucked one of his front legs as hard as she could, which wasn't really all that hard. But if it were actually hard like the bucks of one of her siblings, it would have elicited the same response from the man. "No." "What about this?" Scootaloo took a running start before leaping forward and bashing her head into his side. Still trotting, his body did not budge. "No. "What about—" Sweetie Belle was cut off before she could suggest another way to hurt Check Mate. He raised his hand to signal for her silence. They were in front of a giant ruined castle, probably the very same one that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's sisters and their friends fought the dreaded Nightmare Moon. At least, that's what they thought from the stories they were told. The entire place was crumbling apart, pillars toppled over and archways caved in on themselves; the place was a right mess. But Check Mate paid no heed to the decaying infrastructure, as there was only one thing on his mind. And that thing was sitting in front of him. An oversized chess piece stood firmly in front of the entrance to the castle. It was a rook that looked almost as if it was made out of sandstone. Check Mate silently walked towards it reaching out with one arm, bewildered at the sight of his missing piece. GRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR! The ground began to shake violently. A few stones began to fall down, pillars toppling over all around him. The three fillies that had decided to act as temporary companions stumbled about before falling over. Sweetie Belle screamed. "Aaaaahhhhhhh!" A large chunk of the castle decided it would be best to detach itself from its previous resting place and leap off, hurling itself toward the ground and towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Check Mate turned his head, slightly curious as to what the girl's scream was about. He saw the chunk of stone plummeting downwards. It would be a great relief for his stalkers to be crushed. That way he would not have to deal with them any more. It seemed profitable, but then he remembered that he was supposed to be a good guy. After his loss to Kid Muscle, Check Mate made a vow to dedicate his life to being not bad. Unfortunately for him, that meant he had to do extra work to help those other than himself. CRASH! The sound of stone smashing against stone rattled through the air. Check Mate had managed to gallop at top speed to the fillies and snatch the three up in his very muscular arms and place them out of harms way. He turned back to try and find the chess piece he sought, only to find it rising out of the ground somehow. Raising above him was a strange creature, something he had never seen before. The monster's height came not from being tall, but from its length. It was a giant serpent, rising out of the ground, slowly. It had a scaly purple body with a pink head in the shape of an elongated dome. It seemed to have a red collar made possibly out of fur. It didn't matter what it was made out of though, Check Mate could not see it. The beast's mouth burst open into three pieces, revealing three long black tendrils that wriggled and writhed about as it screeched. GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! "Ah, forsooth! A challenge I see before me! Prepare thyself, creature, for you face the might of Check Mate, greatest wrestler in the world!"
Knight to Queen's Rook FiveUgh... Pain... An undesirable feeling, truly. Slowly blinking his eyes open, the mighty wrestler found himself atop a lone mountain, cold air blowing around him as he attempted to stand. "Few times hath I felt pain such as this. Only the most powerful of forces be-ist enough to maketh me feel such a thing," he stated in his blatantly British accent. Head pounding, the man made it to his feet, his grave headache causing him to sway from side to side and making him realize a very important detail about his body. "What be-ist this?!" he exclaimed. "I do not rememberist activating my Chess Piece Change." His upper body was the same as it always had been, the smooth, muscular chest of a man, armoured with a near-pink reddish chest plate with shoulder-covering spaulders and segmented razor armlets of the same colour. But his lower half, he saw, was that of a fully grown stallion, a deep blue colour coating the entire body, his hooves and tail black. His head, of course was also a blue horned horses head, replacing his normal King head, which is what normally retained his human form. He reached an arm up to his right shoulder in an attempt to activate his Chess Piece Change, which would swap his horsey Knight head with his King head only to find that it was missing. in fact, his Rook head was also missing from his left shoulder. "Dost mine eyes decieve me? My chess pieces hath disapeared from atop my shoulders! What treachery is this!" He reared up on his hind legs, letting out a terrifying whinny. "I shall find whomever hath caused this and I must findeth my way home from this mountainous wasteland." He began his gallop towards the nearest incline, leaping from stone to stone to keep himself from losing his footing and tumbling down. Overhead he could hear the crackling of thunder begin. The half-man half-horse peered upwards to find that many small black clouds were zipping about, squeezing themselves in place beside eachother to cloak the sky in a blanket of darkness. A storm was brewing, but something seemed unnatural to him, as if each cloud had a mind of its own, though he could not exactly see that high. KRACKOW! A bolt of lightning struck a nearby collection of stones, sending them tumbling. The horse-man cringed. Though he himself could not feel pain as a regular man should, he would prefer not to descend the mountain in that particular fashion. He continued to make his way down the mountain, seeing various dead trees and peculiar rock formations, but nothing in particular that stood out. Lightning continued to strike down, thunder sounding off all the while. KRACKABANG!! As his hooves made contact against one boulder, a bolt of lightning stuck, cracking the stone and causing him to tumble down the side of the rocky hill. "Forsooth! A lightning bolt caused my literal downfall! 'Tis minor inconvenience. I feel no pain, 'Twill be a mere matter of time before I reach the bottom, methinks." Unfortunately, even though pain was not a worry for him, the wrestler was still human; or at least, as close as he could be to human in his condition. He was sent into unconsciousness when a boulder made contact with the back of his head just under his mane. He made one last exclamation before the world faded to black. "Oh bloody hell!" "Is he okay?" "I think so, but I can't quite tell." "He does not seem to be fatally injured." "I'm stuck on his strange physiology. He seems to have the body like the creatures that inhabited the world I traveled to through that mirror between where his head should be and his actual head. Have you ever heard of such a creature, Celestia?" "No, Twilight, I have not..." The unconscious wrestler jumped up on all four hooves, waking from his slumber. "Huzzah! What dost thou want with me, knaves!? Huh?" He found himself face to face with not one, but three strange looking unicorn-like candy-coloured horses. They were certainly not the strangest thing he had ever seen. He had come in contact with many strange looking wrestlers throughout his career. A walrus-man, a dik-dik, a frog man, a guy that looks like a giant cheese grater. Pastel ponies were not a problem for him. "What are thee? Horned horses attempting to hold me captive? I think not," he proclaimed, balling his hand into a fist, prepared to defend himself if need be. The purple one of the three backed away wildly, waving her front hooves in front of her. "Nonononono! We're not holding you hostage, sir!" The purple mare motioned toward the larger blue horse and the even bigger white one, each with their own flowing manes. "We found you lying outside on the ground. Can you tell us your name? Are you hurt anywhere?" The man calmed himself and crossed his arms and smirked. "I am Check Mate, and I need not the help of thee, for I feel no pain. I desire to depart from this place, for I grow weary of my time here. Cheerio, I have elsewhere to be." Check Mate trotted away from the two princesses and the talking filly and towards the giant double doors that marked the only exit to the room they were all in. "Wait," a soft voice came from behind. Check Mate, along with the other two ponies turned to look at the white one whose voice he identified as the Celestia from before. "Before you leave, I ask of you, where is it you come from? Why did you come here? Answer me these two question, and you can leave." Check Mate hesitated. "I hail from the planet Earth; from Monaco to be exact. And the reason I am now here?" He stopped and lowered his head. "I do not know. I appeared at this place atop yonder mountain missing my two most valuable possessions. Now, if thou excuseth me, I must take leave." Princess Celestia nodded, smiling. "If that is truly how you feel, then you may now leave. But I offer you the assistance of my student, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Twilight, the purple pony gasped, jumping up in the air with a pained look on her face. "But Princess Celestia, I can't help him! We don't even know what him is," she muttered. "The girl is right in her hesitance to assist me. I need not thy help in my quest. I shall go-est it alone." The other pony stepped forward. "Twilight, Celestia is right. You must help this stallion with his plight." She turned toward him. "Sir Check Mate, what is it that you have lost? We shall help you find what it is you've lost." "Hrm... Fine. I shall accept thy assistance. I need only to findeth my two chess pieces before returning to mine home. Methinks that the purple one may be of some use to me," he said, motioning for her to follow him. "Come along then, girl. Thou knowest this land better than I. Showest me the best place for us to begin our search." He walked towards and then out the door, hooves clacking against the hard marble floor loudly. Twilight shot the two sisters a worried look before they both nodded, telling her that she would have to endure the pain of assisting the strange man. The lavender princess lowered her head and sighed. "Follow me," she told him, "let's go to Ponyville. Ugh..." After both Twilight and Check Mate left the room, Luna looked up to her sister. "You are sure that Twilight helping him is a good idea, right, sister?" she asked. "I do not know, Luna. I only know that she should help him. It is, after all, still her duty to learn as much as she can about friendship, even as a Princess. This will be a great challenge for her to overcome. We shall find out in time if helping this strange creature was worthwhile." "Why must thou insist on observing me the entire way to yonder village, knave?" "You just look so weird. I've never seen anything like you!" "Hurm. Now that I examine thou more closely, I see that thou hast both wings and a horn. A peculiar sight to be seen upon a horse, not to mention thy ability to speaketh like a man." "What?"
The Naive Knaves"Yes, well, thy mother is so dumb, she put lipstick upon her head to make-up her mind," Check Mate retorted to his filly friend. Twilight groaned, steam billowing in columns from each of her nostrils. She rubbed her temple with one hoof before looking up to see that at long last, they had finally reached their destination. "Ugh... Why am I helping you again?" Twilight asked. "Thy ruler ordered thou to assist me in my quest. I would thinketh it be in thy best interest to follow," Check Mate responded, clueless to the rhetorical aspect of the question. Twilight brought a hoof to her face and groaned once more. "Ugh, just forget it. Anyway, welcome to Ponyville, here's where you'll be staying until we find your, what did you say you were missing again?" Check Mate crossed his arms and pointed at each of his shoulders. "Mine Rook piece and King piece beith missing from atop mine shoulders," he pronounced. "But tell-est me again how being in this peasant town is to helpeth me in my quest?" "You are being very rude!" the purple pony princess yelled at Check Mate. "But if you have to know, this is where my friends and I live. If I can get the five of them to help look for your chess pieces, we can find them faster, and you'll be out of our manes by the end of the day." She huffed, her gentle hoofsteps now becoming heavy stomps, indenting the soft loomy soil beneath her hooves. "And you knowest for certain that what I seek can be found so easily?" the horse-man asked. "Judging by your position on the mountain, assuming you fell from the very top of the mountain, what you're looking for should be either in or around Canterlot," Twilight responded. "Canterlot is close enough to Ponyville that we can afford to at least get some extra help." Twilight slowed to a halt, Check Mate following closely behind as the both of them reached her tree home that doubled as a library for the town. "Now, you stay here and I'll explain to my friends what's going on." She began trotting once again, away from the tree now. "I don't want you scaring the town. Stay. Put." Check Mate breathed heavily from his snout. "Twilight Sparkle! I shall not be left alone to sit inside an oversized plant! I demand that you taketh me with thee so that I may deem whether your 'friends' shall be useful in my quest!" Twilight seemed to ignore him, just walking away. He could not see it but her horn glowed a bright pink, and a small stick floated up behind him glowing the same pink colour. It tapped him on the back, inviting him to turn around. He did so, and it gave him a swift smack on the face. He flinched, though his expression did not change. Check Mate huffed and sat down in front of the 'Golden Oak Library' (according to the sign in front). "I shall not take orders from a woman, be she of my own race, or otherwise." Check Mate shoved his large body off the ground with his muscular arms, allowing his horse legs to lift him up into a full standing position. Looking around, he made an attempt to find a good place to start searching for any of his missing chess pieces. He remembered that the mare had mentioned that he had fallen from atop a mountain. If so, that was the first place he would looks. The wrestler beamed at his surroundings in search of said mountain. To the north-east of the small village he was let in, a large snowy peak sat hiding behind the tops of houses in the distance. That was where he decided to go. As he began trotting in that direction, a trio of young, small fillies zipped passed him as fast as the wrestler Eskara of the d.M.p. This caught him by surprise and caused him to jump. At least it would have had Check Mate had any noticeable emotions. He did not, and therefore continued walking, but was forced to soon stop when he realized that the three foals that had sped by him were standing in front of him, blocking his path and staring at him. "What be-ith thy problem, children? Begone, or thou shall be trampled beneath mine hooves as I continue forth," he stated. They did not move. Instead, one of them spoke up. "You look weird, mister." The one on the right, whose coat was orange and whose mane was a darker shade of pink. She had a small pair of wings on her back and a confused look on her face. Check Mate looked down at the pony. "Thou looketh stranger than any quine I hath met. Maybe not as strange as the three claiming to be of royal decent, but a pair of wings upon a horse be-ith verily strange." The child scrunched her nose and ruffled her brow. One of the other two, the yellow one in the middle then said, "You talk weird to." There was a hint of an accent in her voice, similar to that of Terry 'The Grand' Kenyon. "I could say he same about thou. Accents of the country have always escaped me. The way I speak is more normal than thou speaketh." The girl frowned. He looked to the third one, a white one with a mane of pink and purple and eyes of green. "What about thee? Dost thou wish to maketh fun of mine colour? What about the lack of chess pieces that normally grace my shoulders?" She looked confused, but eventually spoke with a high, squeaky voice. "No. I think you look cute. Like a teddy bear." "Thou decides to insult me by comparing me to a children's toy? How darest thee, I am a strong and manly wrestler!" He struck a pose, light seeming to shine from behind him. He looked back at the three fillies who were still staring at him, not moving. Check Mate decide to ignore the three and continue forth towards the mountain. He had much more important matters to attend to that three young girls. He continued trotting along on his way, thinking nothing of the bothersome girls that had blocked his path mere moments ago and began reminiscing of the past. "Come on, Check Mate my boy, you need to learn to fight of your own abilities! You need to fight without your wondrous powers!" yelled Sunshine, foster father to the young orphan boy whose dark pink helmet obscured his hair. "You need to become invincible!" His gravelly voice was muffled by the rain. "Feel the burn, bun the feeling, feel the burn, burn the feeling," young Check Mate whispered to himself as his left arm and right leg were being bitten and pulled in opposite directions by a pair of black wolves. He flexed his young, undeveloped stomach muscles and twisted around, throwing each of the wolves off balance. When one tried to get up, he stepped on its throat and pressed his foot down hard. The other made jumped at him, making an attempt to save its brother from the small human. Check Mate merely punched the wolf in the muzzle, breaking all of its teeth and somehow managing to kill it instantly. "Feel the burn, burn the feeling..." "Where are ya goin'?" asked a voice from beside Check Mate's ear. This awoke him from his daydream, startling him, as very few things could do. The yellow one with the bow was sitting on his shoulder, smiling at him. In fact, he felt another one sitting on his back and saw that the orange one was walking beside him, her legs moving very quickly in an attempt to keep up with his stride. He stopped. "What art thou doing? Why dost thou insist on pestering me whilst I quest forward?" Check Mate responded, picking up the pony with his large arms and placing her on the ground. Only then did he notice that she was wearing a bow in her heir. Not that it mattered to him. "Ooooh! What are you questing for? Is it for your cutie mark?" asked the one on his back. He could tell by her voice that it was the white one. "We don't have our cutie marks either," said the orange one, "Can we come with you? Maybe we can all get our cutie marks in questing!" Check Mate stopped abruptly, knocking off balance the pony that rested on his back. "What is this 'cutie mark' of which thy speaketh?" He shook his horsey head and put a hand to his face. "Never mindeth. I care not. What I do care for is that if thou truly insist upon following me wherever I go, thou shalt keepeth quiet. Dost thou understand?" They nodded. "What's with your body?" "You don't know what a cutie mark is?" "Why are you so big?" "Can I stand on your back again?"
Like a Snake in the Grass... Erm- StoneThe steady clopping of hooves echoed throughout the empty plains as Check Mate trotted along the singular path leading straight through the field towards Canterlot. There was not much else in terms of scenery, other than the gravel path and grass. Occasionally a few birds would appear and glide along beside the man-pony, happily twittering their little songs before their little birdy lungs got decimated by Check Mate's powerful fists. Other than that, his trip towards the mountain was relatively quiet. "Are we there yet?" Aside from the three children that had decided to pester him. Check Mate reached behind himself and grabbed onto the scruff of the young unicorn filly that decided it was a good idea to constantly jump on his back for a ride. He looked the filly in the eye and said, "No," before placing her on the ground to walk with her two other friends. "Must thee ask the same question every ten seconds, knave?" he asked without breaking his pace or looking anywhere other than forward. The white would have answered had the one with the bow not interrupted to ask, "What's a knave? Is it some sort of fruit? Like an apple?" The winged pony quickly interjected. "No way, it's probably an awesome weapon!" Check Mate grunted before responding. "It is what grown ups call annoying young children such as thyselves." He turned to his left to look at the orange girl that he had dubbed 'Kiwi', due to the girl's inability to fly, even though she had wings. "That remindeth me, where art thine parents? I do not enjoy thine company in the slightest and would suggest that thou return to thy parents immediately," said Check Mate. The three fillies zipped in front of him and began trotting backwards at precisely the same pace as both himself and each other, perfectly in sync. "Our older sisters are watching us today," said the white one that Check Mate decidedly named 'Margaret'. He thought it fit. As did he think his nickname for the southern-accented yellow pony. "They said we can go crusadin' wherever we want as long as we don't go gettin' hurt or somethin'," said 'Apple Bow'. "And we sure won't get hurt walking, right girls?" Kiwi asked. She looked to her left at her two companions in time to see Margaret trip backwards over a rock and land flat on her face. The rest of the group stopped to stare at her for a moment before she answered. "Yeah, walking. Can't get hurt doing that..." Check Mate and Apple Bow looked to Kiwi, who simply shrugged in response. "The point is," she said, "We can go wherever it is you're going. We don't need any adults. They're okay with us because we're big ponies." Meanwhile, in front of a fairly large farm back in Ponyville... "Consarn it Apple Bloom, where are you? You're supposed 'ta be doin' chores today!" An orange stetson-wearing mare was wandering about and yelling, searching for her missing younger sister. She had just come back from searching one of the nearby orchards and was returning to the barn for a short break. Trotting toward the door, however, she happened upon a small note attached firmly to the door with what looked to be several badly hammered in nails. "Out Crusadin'. Will be back by dinner. Maybe. Signed..." Her eyes flared up. "APPLE BLOOM!" "Yeah," Apple Bow muttered, "perfectly okay with us goin' out on our own." Soon enough, the horse-man and three fillies came to a full stop. The area that they had arrived at transitioned quickly from an open field to a dark and looming forest. It was tough to see anything under the shade of the trees that seemed to have grown so unnaturally and wildly. It was— "The Everfree Forest," the girls whispered to themselves, continuing to smile. "The Everfire say-what-now?" Check Mate asked. Margaret was the one that decided to answer for him. "The Everfree Forest!" she exclaimed, jumping up in front of his face, almost too close for his own comfort. "And what, pray tell, may that be?" "It's the scariest forest in Equestria," stated Kiwi. "The plants grow without ponies planting them, the animals all take care of themselves and the weather isn't controlled by Pegasi. It's all unnatural and creepy." Chek Mate stared at her as if she was joking. He knew for an absolute fact that that was exactly what a normal forest was. Animals, plants, weather all acting on their own without any assistance, but the look on the young girl's face said otherwise. He decided not to question it. Things like that did not matter. He needed to collect his pieces and return to his home. That was all that mattered to him. Questioning the logic of three fillies would not get him any closer to completing his quest. Whatever the case, he decided it best to enter the forest. There was not to be a single rock overturned if he were to find his pieces. He continued on at a normal pace, simply trotting into the Everfree without a care. Though the girls had expressed ponies' concerns about the forest, it seemed like they themselves did not believe in the rumours of danger. They continued to follow Check Mate without hesitation or worry, which was not exactly what he was hoping they would do. The group of four cantered into the dense overgrowth the forest provided, all light beginning to drain from the world around them, and the cheery chirping of birds fading out of existence. The forest introduced them to the sounds of the true wilderness; wild and untamed. But such atmosphere did not deter the little ponies (and one large man-stallion) from continuing forth. Margaret hopped back onto her favourite spot on Check Mate's back, spinning around a few times before sitting down comfortably. "You still haven't told us what you're looking for, or told us your name," she stated. "That is correct," Check Mate responded blankly, letting the statement hang in silence. Margaret raised an eyebrow and said, "Sooo... You should tell us. You know, so we can get to know each other!" She climbed up onto his left shoulder (The one where his rook piece would normally stand), and smiled intently at him. "I'm Sweetie Belle! They're Scootaloo and Apple Bloom." The two came up from either side of him and 'Sweetie Belle' —Margaret— motioned to each as she told him their real names. Check Mate did not look at either of them, though he did respond. "I am Check Mate. I am the greatest wrestler in the entire world. I feel no pain and cannot be hurt, for I doth be perfect. And to tell thee what I am questing for, I seek my two missing chess pieces that grant me the power to change forms. I must find mine rook and king pieces and return home from this world." Apple Bloom's eyes grew very wide, along with her smile. "Wow! You can't feel pain! That's really neat. Does this hurt?" She bucked one of his front legs as hard as she could, which wasn't really all that hard. But if it were actually hard like the bucks of one of her siblings, it would have elicited the same response from the man. "No." "What about this?" Scootaloo took a running start before leaping forward and bashing her head into his side. Still trotting, his body did not budge. "No. "What about—" Sweetie Belle was cut off before she could suggest another way to hurt Check Mate. He raised his hand to signal for her silence. They were in front of a giant ruined castle, probably the very same one that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's sisters and their friends fought the dreaded Nightmare Moon. At least, that's what they thought from the stories they were told. The entire place was crumbling apart, pillars toppled over and archways caved in on themselves; the place was a right mess. But Check Mate paid no heed to the decaying infrastructure, as there was only one thing on his mind. And that thing was sitting in front of him. An oversized chess piece stood firmly in front of the entrance to the castle. It was a rook that looked almost as if it was made out of sandstone. Check Mate silently walked towards it reaching out with one arm, bewildered at the sight of his missing piece. GRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR! The ground began to shake violently. A few stones began to fall down, pillars toppling over all around him. The three fillies that had decided to act as temporary companions stumbled about before falling over. Sweetie Belle screamed. "Aaaaahhhhhhh!" A large chunk of the castle decided it would be best to detach itself from its previous resting place and leap off, hurling itself toward the ground and towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Check Mate turned his head, slightly curious as to what the girl's scream was about. He saw the chunk of stone plummeting downwards. It would be a great relief for his stalkers to be crushed. That way he would not have to deal with them any more. It seemed profitable, but then he remembered that he was supposed to be a good guy. After his loss to Kid Muscle, Check Mate made a vow to dedicate his life to being not bad. Unfortunately for him, that meant he had to do extra work to help those other than himself. CRASH! The sound of stone smashing against stone rattled through the air. Check Mate had managed to gallop at top speed to the fillies and snatch the three up in his very muscular arms and place them out of harms way. He turned back to try and find the chess piece he sought, only to find it rising out of the ground somehow. Raising above him was a strange creature, something he had never seen before. The monster's height came not from being tall, but from its length. It was a giant serpent, rising out of the ground, slowly. It had a scaly purple body with a pink head in the shape of an elongated dome. It seemed to have a red collar made possibly out of fur. It didn't matter what it was made out of though, Check Mate could not see it. The beast's mouth burst open into three pieces, revealing three long black tendrils that wriggled and writhed about as it screeched. GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! "Ah, forsooth! A challenge I see before me! Prepare thyself, creature, for you face the might of Check Mate, greatest wrestler in the world!"
