Night Among Royalty

Fleur sits on the attacking pieces leaving me on defense.

“So tell me Mr. Frostbite, do you have any special requests for this game?” she asks moving the c2 pawn to c3.

“For each piece we lose, the player who captures the piece will ask one question and the player who lost the piece will answer truthfully no matter how personal the question is” I answer moving the g8 knight to f6.

“Fair enough” she moves the A2 pawn to A4.

I move the E7 Pawn to E6… in the distance I hear Fluttershy hum a tune in the hopes of attracting the garden wildlife, little does she know these animals domesticated and any hopes of getting near them will be unsuccessful.

Fleur moves her A1 Rook to A3, I move my D7 Pawn to D5. She looks at each piece as the rhythm of the clock drowns out Pinkie’s antics to make everyone dance… maybe I should have told her that the Gala wasn’t a party meant for the modern age. We don’t say much to each other so the air is filled with nothing but the stone taps of our chess pieces but somehow she doesn’t strike me as much of the amateurs I’ve played against in Ponyville she moves her G1 knight to H3, I look at each path of all our pieces and guess which move we’ll both make then move my C8 bishop to D7. At some point we start to mirror each other; she moves a pawn to D4, I move a pawn to H5, she moves a rook to B3, I move a bishop to E7 then she moves her bishop to G5.
I move my H8 Rook to H6, Fleur chuckles as her bishop removes the rook from play, leans forward and places a hoof under her chin.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night?” she asks.

“Because everyone who sees my eyes ends up trying to kill me, (Pawn takes Bishop)” I take off my glasses, her eyes bulge and she sits back.

“Beautiful” She gasps.

“Bullshit. So what is a ballet dancer attending a party for corrupt bureaucrats?” I ask.

“Two years ago, Princess Celestia attended one of my shows, but before the show ended I ended up falling and breaking one of my legs but before they took me to the hospital-“
I hold up my hoof.

“So she took pity on you healed your leg and now you attend one of the most dismal gatherings anyone with half a brain could ever attend, I would have gone with the broken leg, now let’s get back to the game shall we?”

“You’re not me” she growls, and moves her queen forward to the D3 space.

I move my B8 knight to A6; Fleur moves her B3 Rook and takes my B7 Pawn another question for me.

“Why are other ponies scared of your eyes?” she asks.

“They fear what they don’t understand… even though we may advance in technology, most of us are doomed to live with the mindset of the dark ages so when they see my eyes they don’t see me as a pony… they see me as a demon or witch who’s only purpose in life is to be hunted down and burned alive or turned over to the authorities for a sizable bounty.”

I move the A9 Knight to B4 and her pawn takes it.

“How did you earn your cutie mark?” she asks.

“I grew up in an orphanage were the headmaster would beat me at the earliest chance he got, one night he got drunk threw me into a mirror where I received the scar that’s under my eye… once I recovered I flew into a cross beam crushed his spine then broke his horn off and held it against his throat but I didn’t kill him when I saw that the worst thing I could do to him is let him live, I threw his horn in a chamber pot saw that I had a cutie mark and flew off into the night… I was ten.”
I move my last Bishop taking to her C4 pawn out of play; she moves her queen diagonal to it making me move it back in front of my king.

“What are those flowers you stitched to your dress?” I ask.

“Lilies” she answer not taking her eyes off the pieces
Queen takes pawn; Bishop takes Queen, Rook takes Bishop and King takes Rook… two questions each.

“Why were YOU invited? How do you know the Elements of Harmony?” Fleur asks.

“I was invited because Celestia placed me under a life sentence in which the Elements of Harmony have to watch my every move as for meeting the Elements themselves… Let’s just say I’m only allowed to tell you that they helped me deal with an issue that nearly got one of them killed-” If she’s even remotely surprised she hides it well. “-What do you think of Prince Blueblood? Have you ever met any of the Elements?”

“I’ve never met the elements and I think Bluelood is a fucking pussy… Knight to C3”

“Queen to B8” I chuckle.

“Knight to G5” she retorts.

“Pawn takes knight-“ Something starts gnawing at my chest, and I let out a long sigh “-Do you believe in Gods Fleur?”

“I used to, but after I started to see that the scriptures were being used to brainwash my friends and family to believe that ponies like you should be shot in the streets instead of talked to and nurtured while the ministers who were supposed to use the words in the scriptures to teach us love and tolerance for others used them to fund their own greed. Pawn to E4”

I chuckle “Knight takes pawn. How did you get your cutie mark?”

“If we were going for a contest on who had the more colorful cutie mark story I’d say you won but if you really want to know it was when I was five and I saw my first ballet, I was so transfixed with the unity and togetherness that the dancers showed… something that my family never had so I tried to dance when I could, even though my family didn’t approve I still danced. One day when I was eight there was a street performer in the city square who was trying to play a violin, while most ponies were laughing each time he hit a sour note I would move with it then with each movement I made, the music became more clearer and pretty soon I had the entire town dancing, that’s how I got my cutie mark by showing others how equal we are in music and dance.”

Fleur moves her C3 knight takes D5 pawn and says “Check” so I move my king from C7 to D6 and she moves her A4 pawn forward.

“Queen takes pawn” I mumble “Why did you decide to approach me?”

Fleur laughs “Because you were the only one who called the Wonderbolts out on their faults in public! Bishop to A6”

“Rook to B8” I mumble.

Fleur’s eyes twitch as they start darting from chess piece to chess piece

“Pawn to F3” She sighs.

I move the B8 Rook to B1 and whisper “Checkmate” a small smirk stretches across my mouth as the white king falls… yet Fleur keeps a calm demeanor.

“Aren’t you going to boast?” she asks resetting the board.

“I fucking hate boasters… so they did something that makes them feel important to the world, once they get to full of themselves, it’ll be a rare occurrence when they have to step up and they actually bulk up to take action”

“So this is what your cutie mark means” Fleur whispers.

“That's my talent…I see certain paths before they're even set, but when I choose one I stay on it till the end ignoring any other forks in it so there is always that one path I miss, so my last question is this. Did you let me win?”

“Well-“She begins when the sound of hoofsteps on the cobblestone interrupt her.

“Ms. De Lis?” a voice calls.

I turn to the source to see a unicorn with a monocle and burgundy suit walk forward.

“Who’s he?” I ask getting out of my seat.

“Frostbite, this is Fancy Pants. My manager and plus one for the Gala”

“A pleasure to meet you sir-“Fancy bows “-but I’m afraid WE must take our leave”

Before I can ask, a door slams following the echoing roar of ‘LOVE ME!’ while the sounds of glass breaking, metal screeching, marble crashing and screams of royalty filling the night can only mean that the other’s plans didn’t go as expected.

“No need to explain Mr. Pants-“I sigh “-Fleur it was a pleasure meeting you and although you owe me a rematch, we will never see each other again”

“So you say.” She says walking forward, untying my ribbon and tying it around her neck “You’re the best of both sides Frostbite, just because other ponies don’t approve of your methods it doesn’t prove that you’re evil, even though somepony can have the courage to make the hard decisions but bear their burdens alone… that only means they’re not ready to open their hearts and let others carry some of the weight. Have faith in your friends Frostbite. You think that because you can tell me that we won’t meet again that I’ll simply do as you say? Well I say that we’ll meet again sooner then you will expect”