A Chessmaster and his Game

Jackson walked into the snowy field, looking up at the sky.

It was all dark, but the horizons, the horizon served as a rim of red, a sign of the dawn.

His body, despite being assaulted by cold winds and a lot of falling snow, was hot, so much so that he became quite wet as the snow melted within seconds of landing on him.

"Ugh, I need to just stay up in this final stretch, it feels like the final stretch, I need to keep talking. Oh god my stomach, my whole body," he groaned, feeling like every ten seconds was an hour.

The moment came to him, and he sang, but on the song's accord, not by any measure of his own will.

By the time he was done, it was bright out.

*ding*

The incubation period has ended, transformation: ENGAGE!

Everything suddenly went white as blasts, waves, spikes, and all sorts of shapes of pain assaulting his senses, just barely keeping him below the 'blackout' line, he felt like he was bleeding, like his whole body was in the middle of Hell's lakes of fire, it was almost too much.

Almost.

Suddenly, he felt a cool sensation, but at the same time, warm, it was a nice lukewarm feeling, however he also felt heavier.

*FWOP*

~At the beginning of the transformation, about a hundred feet away~

"THERE HE IS!" Scootaloo shouted, catching the attention of both the stallions accompanying her.

"HOLY SHIT, HOMIE, I'M COMING!" Samuel called out, running at a speed only capable by zebras.

"Master, I shall help you!" Anjuel called out, much more reserved in his reaction.

A pillar of golden flames shot out of the ground around the transforming man, reaching into the sky and hitting the sun itself.

The trio stopped in their tracks as they watched this.

Jackson's eyes were glowing even brighter than the pillar, he was spinning around, and finally the pillar went away, the tall man gently touching down to the ground.

Scootaloo gasped as she saw the massive marking on her brother's back.

*too cool for a normal sound*

You got: The Mark of Dovahkiin the Savior

This mark has replaced the Force Edge with the Binary Sword, a blade of great holy power.

You now permanently have the dragon wings, sorry about that.

You are also now sworn to protect the very concept of 'dawn' itself, as dictated by the powers that be.

Good luck, young hero.

Try not to die too quickly.

Suddenly, the dragon wings spread from Jackson's back, snapping out to their full span.

*FWOP*

"What?" Anjuel half-asked, nearly speechless.

"The," Samuel muttered under his breath, as he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Fuck," Scootaloo said plainly, she was at a loss for words, so that one was the only word she could manage at the moment.

The two stallions snapped their attention to the little filly and her swear, but found that the important thing at the moment was the master of the home with dragon wings.

The wings were amazing. Massive, first of all, both of them were five feet long, giving him a wingspan of a bit more than ten feet, since there was a distance between the two wings. The scaly frames were black, and the skin between the bones was a bright, pale orange.

"Ughhhhh," the winged human groaned, getting to his feet and stretching out.

*shhhhhiiiiiiiiiiing* a very long sword appeared in his hand, progressively forming from ivory flames.

His hand was level with his hips, yet the blade still poked into the ground, the grip could easily fit both of his hands, the code on the side was odd, though.

"Hehe, Jebus Chryst, nice birthday gift," Jackson chuckled, raising the sword high into the air with both hands.

A mighty downwards strike launched a fierce wave of blood red energy, staining the snow with residual magic.

The sword disappeared in a flash of white flame, and the tall man turned around to face his family.

"So, Scoots, y'know how you said you can't fly," he asked, his eyes glowing a bright gold.

"That's because I don't know how," she clarified, a bit put-off by her brother's eyes.

"Well, that makes two of us," he joked, laughing only a little because he was feeling lightheaded.

He scooped the little filly up and led the way back to the house.

~Some time later~

Jackson rubbed his face, feeling the freshly shaved skin in all of its smoothness.

Dressed only in his jeans and 'JUST ONE MORE LEVEL' shirt, he made breakfast for the family.

It was a huge amount of food, yes, but he had four mouths to feed, including his own.

Scootaloo got her blueberry pancakes, grape juice, plate of haycon strips, and bowl of chocolate ice cream, it was the perfect day for a big breakfast.

Since neither sibling had a gift for the siurl or zebra, the large breakfast would have to suffice.

Next came the little present exchange between brother and sister.

Jackson presented a strapped up set of Micro Uzis, almost just like the ones in the movie Invasion USA, but they were a dark purple, the same purple as her mane.

Scootaloo gaped at the gift in wonderment, taking off the hoodie and putting the shoulder straps on underneath the stylized garment before putting said garment back on.

The dual guns were concealed, and she looked closely at both, finding the inscription 'Grim Fandango' on the sides.

"This is so COOL! Thanks bro, here, I got you something, but I don't think it's as cool as these," she said, handing over the small box before going back to messing around with her new weapons.

Jackson looked at the small box nervously, why did Scootaloo have to not know what this kind of box is for? He decided 'sure, why not' and opened it, finding an awesome Hunger Games ring inside.

*dah-nah-nah-NAH~*

You got: the Fire Flier

This ring was made by your little sister Scootaloo, she made it with love, enjoy the gift and the gesture.

It bears uncanny resemblance to the Hunger Games logo, most-likely based on it.

If the need ever arose, this ring, made with the love, the care, and the innocent heart of your precious little sister, could be used in a searching spell.

A small tear escaped the big brother's eye, he put the ring on his finger, a perfect fit, he looked at it, it looked really nice.

Scootaloo was busy using Anjuel as a target for her Uzis, finding that the small SMGs fired shards of really sharp and highly electrified ice.

Fortunately, the siurl had a 'sticky shield' spell, and harmlessly caught every single one of the dozens of projectiles.

Scootaloo stopped when she was picked up and hugged, but it was her brother and it felt nice.

Jackson motioned for Samuel and Anjuel to join in for a group hug.

The filly at the center didn't mind, in fact she loved it, feeling surrounded by warmth and love.

"Just remember, Scoots, until, and even after, my last breath, I will always love you, no matter what, I might get disappointed in you, I might get angry, but I'll never stop loving you, do you understand?" the tall man assured, gently breaking the other two out of the hug.

"I understand, thank you, Jackson, thank you so much for being my big brother, you're the best, I'd say you're even better than Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo meant every word, without her big brother by her side, she probably wouldn't have made it this far, winters were the worst for the filly, because the nights when she could stay home were few and far between.

The winged man silently accepted the praise, wrapping said wings around himself and his sister, amplifying the hug.

When the two finally broke the hug, Anjuel made his presence known with an *ahem*

"Master, Mistress, I have gifts for you both," he informed, pulling out a nicely wrapped box.

He hoofed it over to Scootaloo, who eagerly tore into it.

Inside the box was a fancy lantern, burning toxic green flames.

"It is much like our fireplace, its flame shall never go out unless extinguished on purpose. Green flames are much brighter than orange flames, so it would be very good for nighttime desk-work or something such as that," the butler explained.

"Wow, thank Anjuel, this is awesome!" the orange pegasus cheered, hugging the butler.

"D'aaawwwwwwwww," the master of the house d'aw'd at the sight, it was cute.

"Now for master, your gift is outside, I must say that I prepared it before this 'transformation' incident occurred, or even began, still, I believe that you will find the gift to be... 'badass', as you would put it. Your gift is outside," the siurl explained.

Jackson shrugged and walked outside, the others following.

The first thing he laid eyes on, he could only say "You were right, this is badass, this is one bitchin' ride,"

"Come on, we're taking this bitch for a spin," the tall man insisted, mounting the vehicle.

"This is so much cooler than my scooter," Scootaloo said as she jumped up onto her brother's back and climbed onto his shoulders.

"I guess I'll take up the back," Samuel said, before being halted by Anjuel's hoof.

"You shall indeed be in the back, I was master's butler at least three minutes before you became his 'soul brotha', I shall sit behind me, and I shall sit behind Jackson," the undead stallion said matter-of-fact-ly

"I'm feelin' like I shud be takin' dat da wrong way, but I just can't be allowin' mysef to be dat stupid, ya enjoy havin' a face fulla wings, homie," Samuel countered, remaining chilled out.

"I shall then," Anjuel got onto the motorcycle with a great amount dignity and esteem

Samuel sat behind the butler.

"Alright, now all I need is a good one-liner, OOH, I got it," Jackson paused to clear his throat.

"This is gonna be awesome," Scootaloo said, he voice quivering with excitement.

"Let's ride," Jackson delivered, the launched forward on the great wheels of fire.

~Some time later~

The group made their way to Sugarcube Corner for the Hearth's Dinner.

Coming to a halt several feet outside of the bakery, the ponies got off to allow Jackson to walk it to the side, he turned off the cycle, which also extinguished the flaming wheels, and let down the kickstand for the badass piece of machinery to stand up on its own.

Walking inside, the bakery looked completely different, a large table had been set up, big enough to seat fifteen people.

Pinkie was already laying out the food, it was really odd for Jackson, as most of the food comprised of lots of fresh bread and a load of various 'adding' things, like jellies, butters, frostings, a few types of peanut butter, chocolates, syrups, and the centerpiece, rather than a turkey, was a huge cake in the shape of a pony, with its hooves stuck in pies.

"Holy shit," the tall man and his little sister said simultaneously at the spread.

"Now Jacky, Scoots, no need for that kind of language, I know this story is rated 'mature', but that's no excuse to start spouting out curses," Pinkie lectured, before rushing back to the kitchen to grab more food, because there was still plenty of space at the table.

"Howdy y'all, nice to see some new faces 'round here," Applejack greeted, waving the over from the side of the room.

"Scootaloo!" Sweetie and Applebloom called out from the far wall.

Jackson nodded for the butler and zebra to talk to Applejack, and for Scootaloo to go talk to the crusaders.

The tall man stepped a bit more into the room, turning to walk into the kitchen to talk to Pinkie Pie.

~With Applejack and da boiz~

"So, what's yer names?"

"Aight, I'm Samuel, Samuel R. Freeman, the R is for Ratchetness, I gotta say, I like yo voice Applejack." he patted her on the hat, a common zebra sign of friendship, Applejack knew because she had received the information from Zecora.

"I am Anjuel Smitonio, ancient paladin, now a butler for my master, who bested me in a glorious battle, I hope you don't mind it, but I am a necromancer, one who can raise and control the dead, but now I am sworn to be humble and submissive to my master's whims, I am on the side of good, and will stop at nothing to prove so to you," the siurl explained.

"Nah, Ah'm the Element of Honesty, ah can tell that you're being honest, but in case ya are lyin' somehow, ah should tell ya that ah buck apple trees to knock apples off of them, most of the day, most days, so iffin' ya do somethin' bad, ah could do quite a blow to that pale face'a yers," Applejack warned in a sweet tone, as if she was trying to get him more comfortable at the same time she was unnerving him.

"I shall keep that thought in mind, Lady Applejack," Anjuel replied.

"Good ta know, but why'd ya call me La-" Applejack looked over just in time to see Jackson's new 'attachments', "Hubba wha'? What're those?" she asked, not sure why she asked, because she already knew the answer.

"Oh, right, Master McCard has been transformed by powerful dragon magics, and one of the transformations is that he now has dragon wings, along with golden eyes and I noticed he had claw-like fingernails," Anjuel explained, trying to remember if there was anything else.

"That's...... nice........." Applejack was at a loss for words.

~With the CMC~

"So bro gave me this awesome hoodie, and these things," Scootaloo revealed as she unveiled her dual Micro Uzis.

"Cool, sis made my this," Sweetie Belle gestured to her new scarf, it was colored in nice green stripes, light and dark greens.

"The family got me this," Applebloom showed off her new little Stetson, dyed a pretty maroon color.

"Nice, y'know I really have ta say, now I know why you two like talking about your older siblings so much, having a big brother is awes-" Scootaloo was cut off by Applebloom doing an exaggerated pointing gesture.

"Why is yer big brother a dragon?" the yellow earth pony observed, pointing out the wings on the tall man's back.

"Oh, those, he got them this morning, apparently a lot of magic was going around in his body, and it was waiting to transform him, he's got the cool glowy eyes though, they're like gold, but burning gold, like... like the sun, he's got mini suns for eyes," Scootaloo explained with childish wonder.

Specifically childish wonder. Why? Because she's a child, so of course her wonder was childish, that makes it a practically natural choice, that's why.

"Wow, that's really cool," Applebloom responded with glee.

"So what'd you guys get us?" the white filly asked, getting an incredulous look from her friends, "What? My sister is the Element of Generosity, not me," this statement caused the three to laugh.

"Sorry girls, you two'll have to wait until present time like the rest of us," Scootaloo declined, hoofing the two gifts onto the gift table.

"Oh well, come on girls, I bet there's plenty we can try to get cutie marks for at the party," Applebloom led the crusaders onto adventure.

The three breathed in deep, getting as much air as possible for what they were about to shout.

~With Pinkie and Jackson~

"So, right, I am not going to see if I can breathe fire, I don't want to test that here," Jackson declined, again.

"But this is a kitchen!" Pinkie argued, again.

"I mean in a wooden build-" he was cut off by a sudden.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PARTY CUTIE MARKS!!! YAAAAAY!!!" the trio of fillies was surprisingly loud.

"JESUS CHRIST ON A CRACKER WITH A SIDE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE CHEESE!" Jackson covered his ears from the ear-destroying shriek of joy.

"Who's that?" Pinkie asked.

"That's my sister and her friends, I thought you kn-"

"No, that Jee-zus guy, I already know them, and Neighpoleon Ponabarte," Pinkie clarified.

"Oh, well, on Earth, my home planet, Jesus was this guy who was born on this day, December twenty fifth, back home we don't call it 'Hearth's Warming', we call it 'Christmas', because that was his name, Jesus Christ, he grew up to be first a carpenter, then a messenger for the powers that be," the tall man explained.

"Wow, that's quite a promotion," Pinkie laughed.

"Yeah, so he died on a cross, which looked like the centerpiece of my back tattoo," the strong man pulled off his shirt to reveal the marking.

"Ooh, cool," Pinkie didn't mind the dragon wings, they were nice.

"It is, but to honor him, we put these things up everywhere and await him to return to Earth, which is weird, because if John F. Kennedy came back to life, I doubt he'd want to see a bunch of sniper rifles," the burnt-brunette laughed, attempting to put his shirt back on.

"Or if Discord came back, I doubt he'd want to see a bunch of stone statues everywhe- OH WAIT!" Pinkie remembered.

Discord was kept in a stone statue garden.

"I can't, seem to... get this.... UGGGH!" the winged man was failing to put his shirt back on.

Pinkie stopped laughing when she saw the human's incredible musculature.

An Adonis-like structure, and those skinny jeans clung to every ripple in his long legs.

"Pinkie, could you stop sitting there and help me out?" the struggling human requested.

"No," she flatly replied, ogling his body.

"Why not?" he argued, trying, and failing, to once again put his shirt back on.

"It's too hard for you to get it back on," Pinkie's mind was elsewhere.

"I don't know how I got it off so easily," he grunted.

Pinkie's mind was still somewhere else, she was drooling, all she heard was 'get' and 'off'.

*RIIIIIIP* went the shirt, its abuse too much for the comfortable fibers to handle anymore.

"Dammit!" he said a bit loudly.

"Yeah?" Samuel thought he heard his name.

"I said 'dammit', is your name 'dammit'?" Jackson sarcastically asked, laughing at a bit of mind-slip.

"No," the zebra replied with a laugh.

"Well now it is, Dammit, I ripped my shirt because I can't put it on," he informed, walking into the main room again and tossing the ruined garment to Anjuel.

"I shall schedule it to be fixed, master," the butler assured, magicking the torn shirt away.

At that moment, Rarity just happened to trot out of the bathroom.

"Hubba-wha?" she gasped at the sight of Jackson's transformed state.

'He's a lot thicker, and all of that is beautiful muscles, muscles of a strong, healthy stallion, wonderful, amazing, I want it,' the white mare thought, staring at the winged man with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

"Rarity? Could you stop staring please? It's... uncomfortable," the tall man scratched the back of his head in awkwardness.

"Oh I apologize, darling, it's just that I was enraptured by your form, I must say that you look even better than before," she praised, getting closer.

She reared up and supported herself on his chest, tapping it with a hoof, receiving a nice 'thock thock' sound.

"My my, quite the strong man I see," she cooed through half-opened eyes.

".... nigga GET OFF MAH CHEST!" he said, taking a swift back step and leaving Rarity to fall back on all fours.

"Aww," the indigo maned unicorn quietly whined.

"Seriously, did the transformation make me British?" the tall man muttered as he re-entered the kitchen.

"The Brimish, unlike us Equestrians, regularly wear clothes, because their bodies are somehow inherently sexier when naked, where as studies have shown that Equestrians are sexier when they have clothes on," Pinkie said quietly, trying not to get caught by Jackson's body, lest she probably let something burn by accident.

"Great, I don't want this attention," the tall man lamented, watching the door open up, then Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy entered, the former flew while the latter trotted.

"How's it goin' everypony, 'sup new guys, hey crusaders," the spectrum-maned mare greeted, her eyes going wide at the sight of the food, "Pinkie, this looks delicious."

Fluttershy merely went 'ooh' at seeing the gratuitous dinner.

"Ello, I'm Samuel, Jackson's soul brotha," the zebra greeted with a smile.

"And I am Anjuel, Master McCard's butler," the siurl greeted, also with a smile.

"Sup, I'm Rainbow Dash, no doubt Jack's told you about how awesome I am," the cyan pegasus introduced herself, flexing her muscles and hovering in front of the two.

"No, not a word, he says that Scootaloo is the best pegasus he's ever known, and he knows who you are," Anjuel corrected.

"What? Nothing? What about me? Am I not awesome?" she asked indignantly, landing and getting all up in the undead stallion's grill, smushing her muzzle against his nose.

Fluttershy merely hid behind Rainbow Dash, avoiding the butler's cold eyes and the zebra's Pinkie-sized smile.

"I must say, all you've done since you came in was hover around, brag about yourself, and get in my face," the literally-face-to-face unicorn recapped, "If that, and your putrid breath, is anything to go by, then you are not 'awesome' at all, you're a bad pony, and you should feel bad," he snarked.

"How's about we take this outside?" she threatened, very angry at this point.

"Why bother? We'd be evenly matched, you can fly at incredible speeds, and I can summon the dead, our fight would damage the nearby buildings and nothing would be accomplished other than building destruction," he analyzed, gently pushing the now hovering pegasus away.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to sound offended, but she was only confused, she hovered backwards.

Finagle's Law ensued.

The athletic mare ended up bumping her rump into Jackson.

She specifically bumped into his crotch.

He happened to have a 'no reason' erection at the moment.

She felt all of it.

"Whoa, back off," he said, pushing her away.

"Hey hey hey, quit pokin' me with ya thing," she said, blushing in anger and embarrassment, before realizing how bad that sounded.

Twilight walked in with Spike, and the first thing she saw was Jackson shirtless, and she was caught in the trap.

Spike just said, "Whoa! dude, that's creepy, but cool." at the sight of the tall man's wings.

Jackson stood still, trying to think of what just happened.

'I'm being ogled by my six friends, why? I am really that sexy?' he mentally asked himself.

The golden-eyed man backed up, still being watched by the six mares, each of whom had smiles that were getting bigger with each passing second.

He backed himself up the stairs.

Finagle's Law was still active, as Mr. and Mrs. Cake happened to bump into his unprepared body, sending him off his feet.

And the unwilling man tumbled down the stairs, straight into the enraptured mares' grasps.