I. Canterlot Outpost #31
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" -H.P. Lovecraft
Sweat poured down Rainbow Dash's face as she focused all of her attention on the board in front of her. Nothing else in the world existed except for the her, the board and her opponent. Slowly, she raised her hoof picking up one of her few remaining chess pieces and moved it closer to her opponents side. Her lips formed a small smile after having made her move. She had completely blocked off her opponents rook, which was threatening to take her king. A sense of pride at having blocked such a powerful piece and maybe even stalling her foe filled Rainbow, and she eagerly watched her opponent to see how she would react. Twilight, who sat across from Rainbow on the other side of the board, quickly reached down and moved her knight to the spot where Rainbow had put her bishop, and quickly snatched the piece from the board while simultaneously freeing her rook from imprisonment. Rainbow frowned at this turn of events, and mentally facehoofed at having made so critical an error. How could she have missed that knight? It was right bucking there! Not letting this turn of events get to her, Rainbow reached down and moved her king to safety from the approaching rook. Seeing this, Twilight once again reached down and moved her second rook right in front of Rainbow's king. Rainbow's ears drooped as she fully realized what this meant.
"Checkmate." Twilight said smugly, knocking Rainbow's king over in the process. This was her fifth win in a row.
"Cheating bitch." Rainbow muttered under her breath, the words coming out a little louder than she had hoped, but still not loud enough for Twilight to fully hear.
"What was that?"
"Oh nothing." she lied.
"Well, good game!"
"Yeah, good game or whatever." Rainbow sighed and looked out the window next to the table she and Twilight sat at, staring into the endless sea of snow and ice that sat outside. It had been two weeks since they had first arrived at Canterlot Outpost #31, two god damn weeks and all they had done was sit around. She remembered the excitement she felt when Twilight first told her the plan, how their base would be the furthest anypony had ever gone in the Frozen North, and how it was going to be full of excitement and adventure. Obviously, it had proved to be quite different than what she was lead to believe. It wouldn't be so bad if she could just stretch her wings and fly like she wanted to, but because it was so cold outside she would be putting herself in danger or something like that. Not that she believed it of course. No, there was only one reason she listened to what the others had to say, and that was Fluttershy. Fluttershy, when she heard that flying outside without any sort of protection could be dangerous, she pleaded with Rainbow for hours to not go unless she had to. Rainbow, who couldn't stand seeing her friend like that agreed to stay inside, much to her annoyance and Fluttershy's glee. Now to combat the boredom that had been consuming her from the moment she got there, she found herself playing game after game of chess with Twilight Sparkle.
In the two weeks she had been here, she had not won a single game. Still, it wasn't all bad. AJ always seemed to be in the mood for a harmless hoofwrestling contest, and Pinkie Pie had thrown at least three parties a day making sure everypony was having at least a bit of fun. And then there were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they had snuck into their luggage without them knowing, and went with them to the outpost. They only realized they were there when one of AJ's bags started growling hungrily. Then of course, they found out Pinkie had known all along and just didn't bother to tell them because she didn't think it was important. AJ and Rarity were upset at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell for a while, but their anger didn't last long and to be honest, Dash was sorta glad to have Scootaloo around (and not just because it gave Spike company). Derpy was also in the group, she insisted on coming along to act as a sort of messenger since Spikes flames could only travel so far in the freezing cold. Of course because of the freezing cold temperatures any sort of travel that would take more than a day to get to was prohibited, and yet she insisted on coming anyways. Altogether there were twelve ponies at the outpost, and yet Rainbow still found herself feeling extremely bored. Something big had to happen, and it had to happen soon.
The outpost its self was rather small, being made of off three different buildings including the main base which consisted of seven rooms, a tool shed where they kept most of the supplies that weren't being used, and a pegasus tower which Rainbow Dash alone used, owing the Fluttershy's fear of heights.
"Howdy girls, how are y'all?" the familiar voice of AppleJack filled the air as she entered hat and all from the far side of the room.
"Hey AppleJack." Twilight said smiling. "How are you today?"
"Am alright ah guess. Where's Rarity and the others?."
"I'm right here." The three ponies turned to see Rarity walking into the room, yawning slightly as she talked.
"My guess is, everypony else is asleep." Twilight moved to a small kitchen in the back of the room as she spoke, and poured herself a hot cup of coffee. Twilight was about to take a sip from her coffee, when Rainbow Dash stood up suddenly, staring out the window with an intense face.
What is it Rainbow? What's wrong?" Rarity asked, noticing the intense look on her friends face.
"Somepony's outside."
