Chapters Another day in the glorious land of Equestria. Life went on, that included princess Twilight Sparkle. She was invited to Canterlot by her family since they all did not see each other as oftenly as they did before she left the city, of course she took Spike with her since he was a part of the family as well.
Anon on the other hand was not and that is why he had to stay in the castle all alone. He was not saddened by that, in fact Anon was happy to stay and do some private fun that he would not do in front of others. Such as reading up untill 12 o'clock of night and also reading under the covers with a flashlight which damaged his eye sight badly! (Goodness me, he was a hooligan!)
With no Twilight to keep Anon occupied he had much time for himself. He of course being a wise person decided to finish what he started a long time ago, bringing his hobby back to life.
Anon played chess since he was 8 years old, since then he practiced, studied, and perfected his knowledge of the art of chess. His set was practially finished, it only needed some last decorative details to be scratched on the pieces. 5 hours of restless work, "accidentall" finger cuts and dark red bleeding hands is all it took to finish off his little toy.
Anon made his set from God knows what wood. He found it in the everfree forests but could not familiarize it with any tree from earth.
"At least with any normal tree from earth," Anon thought to himself.
The night was now young. He never thought that time would pass so quickly whilst he was bleeding his fingers out.
"I cooouuld possibly do some would cutting and make action figures to kill some time while waiting for something or someone, itnshould be a 'cool' new hobby," before finishing his thoughts Anon felt a squeeze and some sharp pain in his fingers.
Apparently Anons fingers decided that it was a bad idea and they let him know that. Back to the chess pieces. They were carved out very carefully, each of them unique, which proves that they were hand made, each of them had a special detail. Every single one smelled alike fresh morning in a forest, they were smooth and cold on touch, light and firm and when you knocked them against something you could hear a sound that usualy a nut would make.
"Weird, should be the fault of the 'strange' wood that i used," Anon chuckled.
"Why does everything in this world has to have some trick behind it, something strange or creepy, why can it not be norma... you are in a world of talking horses which posses magic and can fly... You have high logical expectations!" He chatted with himself before stopping and realising that this is going nowhere.
Since the time had entered the deep night Anon wandered off to his royal sized bed with luxury, fresh, crunching covers and pillows, so soft that it felt that they were filled with rose petals. Slowly he felt his body getting heavier from the tip of his toes up to his chest and finally reaching his eyes. Now his eyelids were so heavy and sticky that he just could not open them, he tried but failed multiple times.
"The ones who say sleep is for the weak never expirienced sleep in a royal bed," was Anons last thought before he finally descended into the sweet realm of rest.
"Tommorow is a promising day! So many ponies to beat..." alright this was his last thought, hopefully...
"Mwuahahahaha!" a maniac like laugh followed shortly by loud snores of the slumbering human.
The next day was normal 'to do list' completing for Anon. Of course the list was made by Twilight herself who else? After waking up and completing the everymorning routine he started to do what the list told him to.
"Put the books back in its places - check, wash the dishes - check, clean up Spikes bathroom - eurghhh, che... *cough* *cough*...ck
Anon made a couple of rough coughs that usually come before a vomit.
Sighing Anon placed the metre long to do list on the table before giving a victorious smile of satisfaction. He had completed another 'challenge' out of thousands that Twilight kept giving him, this one was a rather disgusting one.
"I will have my revenge on nightmare night! Just mark my words Twilight..." said Anon as he heard a bell ringing, this could only mean one thing.
He quickly made his way to the door and opened it, yes, Anon guessed right, it was Twilight and Spike. But he thought that they would be laughing, smiling, feeling fresh and new. Spike looked as tired as always but Twilight... This was a different story. Her hair was sticking out of her mane like straws, her eyes were red as if she had just arrived from Pinkies sleep over party, her tail hanging down and draging the dirt from the ground into the castle and of course she had bags under her eyes. And Twilights face looked as if she could strangle anyone who stood near her. Just in case Anon made a few steps back...
"Anon, pleeeeaaase make some tea and set the table, Spike should help you as well," Twilight said with a long and firm voice mixed with some tired whining that could be compared Rarities.
"Hey! I am not the only one who is tired here," said Spike with some irritation in his voice.
"Who carried you to the castle for half of the way?, are you so lazy that you do not want to make some tea for the one who was a mother for you starting from your earliest years? And why are..." Spike interrupted Twilight...
..."Please don't lecture me, it is the last thing we all want right now, i'll make some tea black or green, hehheee..." Spike stopped after seeing Twilights 'guilty' look. Luckily for Spike it did not last for more than a minute, instead Twilight sighed with a triumphant smirk on her face.
Twilight went to the bathroom straight away, while Anon whispered to Spike:
"Go and grab yourself a seat, I will do the rest of work,"
"Great! I knew I could count on you Anon," Spike changed his tone to happy straight away, he grabbed his fresh pack of comics and went to the living room which was mostly used. None of the inhabitants of the castle could get used to the fact that there is a couple of dozens of living rooms in there.
Some time later... Anon had already set the table and Spike had already passed the most interesting part of the comic when the villain was defeated and was now reaching the end. All of the sandwiches, biscuits, some left over cake and some cookies mixed with the aroma of the fresh green tea created an unresistable atmosphere of an ideal tea time. However Twilight was nowhere to be seen. Anon did not want to look rude so he waited for her before starting, yet spike was the opposite. He munched up all of the crisps already. Ponies actually had crisps with taste of diamonds and rubies! This world is getting weirder and weirder everyday.
Finally Twilight entered the room and instantly filled it with a variety of soap smells. Anon guessed what she was doing since Twilight did not look like a zombified zombie anymore. However she still did look a bit like a zombie, though not zombified.
Where were we? Ah yes...
A couple of minutes of eliminating and swiping off the treats from the face of Equestria and all of them have almost ended. Twilights appetite was as large as Pinkies at that very moment which was a great surprise for Spike and Anon. Finally whilst Twilight was taking a sip of tea with honey Anon decided to start a conversation.
"Sooooo, why did you both come so late and exhausted to the last bone in your bodies?" Anon asked.
"Thought you would never ask," was a warm responce from Twilight. "On half way from Canterlot the train stopped, it turned out that there was a large flock of sheep standing on the railway. They were as stubborn as Discord and did not leave!"
"You could have run over them and squashed anypony on your way," Anon chuckled, in response Spike giggled.
"Well we could, but Fluttershy was with us, she would run over us on her bear if we did it," Twilight sighed turning her head to the floor.
'Wait, did Twilight just joke back about what she would usually say is insulting!? Well judging by her tiredness she could have ran over them... Or was she honest and Fluttershy would even kill for animals?' Anon thought to himself.
"Why was Fluttershy with you and I am guessing you had to walk all the way back home? Could you not just use your magic? Did you get any compensation?" Anon barraged Twilight with questions.
"Too many questions and yes we had to walk home the rest of the way," Twilight shouted quitely.
"Oh... Okay, my apologies" Anon pronounced with a now weakened voice. "I know what should cheer you up! An intelectual ancient game, it always makes me relaxed," "Well mostly..." Anon whispered the last part so quitely that Twilight did not hear it.
"Thank you but i'll pass, I would prefere to go to go to sleep early today," Twilight added a fake yawn at the end of her sentence.
"Aww, come on Twiley-shmiley! When have you refused to a debate or a little game of riddling?" Anon still not giving up begged Twilight to join.
"Don't call me like that! And i'm just too tired right now sorry, possibly another day,"
"Well what if we make a bet, if you win I will owe you a massage, if i win then you will not owe me anything" Anon raised his voice a bit "This is a one sided bet, can you refuse it?"
"Well what if I lose?"
"Alright! Then if I win you will get a fifteen minute massage and if you win you will get an unlimited timed massage... This is my last offer" Anon said with a harsh tone in his voice.
"You are so eager to play this game, aren't you?" Twilight let out a slight giggled behing her teeth "Well, how can I refuse a practically free massage? Bring it on then, what is this game of yours called?" a short embarassed blush appeared on Anons face but it faded away swiftly.
Anon knew that he got himself into trouble, he would lose even if he wins, but at least he would test out his brand new toy.
The atmosphere in the room tightened, the air got warmer, was it because both Anon and Twilight were awaiting for the upcoming event so eagerly? Oh, it was just Spike that had just let out a loud burp which meant the crisps that he ate have now reached the bottom. Still the battle of titans was coming no matter what the weather will be like inside the castle.
Twilight was awaiting on her armchair in the reading room while Anon was setting everything up on the tea table. Anon once again analysed what had just happened and thought that this was going to be a long night. At least he was going to have some fun
"So this game is called chess and the rules are..." Anon went on for fifteen minutes while Twilight was carefully listening to every single one of his words. Twilight's mood changed slightly as for now a small smiled appeared on her face. This was not a good sign for Anon.
Anon played for the whites so he chose a typical aggressive strategy as anyone else would do. He decided to 'babymate' her since he had nothing to lose and wanted to finish this quickly. Anon moved the pawn, Twilight copied his move, Anon moved his bishop, Twilight copied again.
"The ones who copy always lose" Anon thought to himslef.
However after Anons move with the queen Twilight opened up her flank in between the pawn line, thus leaving her king defeseless.
"A piece of pie" Anon smirked.
"Don't rush at conclusion" Twilight said with a devious grin.
"Did you play chess before?" Anon asked.
"No! Not even heard of it," Twilight defended herself.
"Fine then" Anon said while loosing his confidence, his hands were shaking when he was making his last move before the checkmate.
"But I know a quite similar game," Anons eyes almost popped out when Twilight said this. His bishop and queen were so vulnerable and unprotected that if Twilight counter attacked he would surely lose his dominance on the field.
"Don't worry, I was never goo at it anyway," Twilight giggled.
"Stop fooling with me and make your move please," Anon felt nervous, what if she defeats him?
Twilight carefully picked her own queen and slowly moved it to Anons home front, not only her queen was protected by a pawn and her bishop, but now she took control of the entire centre of the battle ground, which means she threatened to check Anons king, she could now take out Anons bishop, she could relieve her defences. The possibilities were endless... With a single, light and swift move Twilights 'froce of darkness' turned from the prey into the hunter.
Anon gasped in surprise awaiting for his end he took the leftover of his armies back into the home front for preparations of defence, leaving the queen as a trophy for Twilight. God, she did enjoy it when she swiped this behated figure from the field.
Anon was too slow on preparation of defence, he was not even able to complete the castling. Twilight took out everything she had and supressed any of Anons opposition, she was even able to bring out her rook which was almost never done at the first phase of the game.
Twilight looked into Anons eyes, she saw that he was visually begging her for mercy.
"Anon must learn to respect any opponent that he faces. Strong or weak, big or small, expirienced or just a beginner. This will be a good lesson for him," Twilight thought when she savagely knocked out Anons king whith her knight and proclaimed herself the winner of this battle, It lasted for about five minutes which was highly unusual for such a skilled player as Anon.
Anon carefully rechecked if there were any possibilities to let his king escape, if Twilight made a mistake, but Anon was very soon to be disapointed by the fact that there was no escape for him and that he had suffered a humiliating defeat.
"Hey, I won! I beated you at your own game! I thought it would be harder and would require some intellect, well a deal is a deal, you must keep your word," Twilight screamed at the top of her voice with the purest form of excitment, as if she had just passed her yearly conclusion exams.
Anons face turned steaming red, he just wanted to beat himself up until he was bleeding dry, his teeth were laying all over the floor and until he would lose his consciousness all because he just let a beginner defeat him so easily.
"When?" Anon groaned like a bear, Twilight surely understood his anger and dissatisfaction.
"Since I am very tired right now, I can't find any better time for a massage," Twilight said still with excitment in her voice.
"You said that you did not know how to play chess or your similar game properly" Anon said with now a much calmer voice.
"It depends on how you look at it, heh," Twilight chuckled. "I was not a champion among the students of the royal academy, I usually would get bronze places, rarely I would get any gold,"
Anons eye brows started twitching and his face looked as if he was about to explode. If this was an good ol' 1980 cartoon then there would be steam coming out of Anons ears while making a train whistling noise.
"Look on the bright side, you weren't defeated by a beginner, but by a three year in a row grandmaster champion! Erm... alright I love this game!" Twilight tried to soothe Anons shock.
"What is your game called?" Anon asked, now calming down.
"Royal clash, the only difference is that we have Celestias army instead of the white figures and Lunas army instead of the black figures."
"Makes sense... Well what are we waiting for?" Anons enthusiasm had returned to him.
"So you are not mad at me?" Twilight asked curiously.
"As long as I will have a rematch!"
Both the pony and the human laughed for a bit. Anon was right, this game did make Twilight feel much better and forget about her tiredness, in fact she enjoyed shredding Anons helpless army into pieces. Even Anon had some fun, he did not face a true rival for such a long time.
He would have a rematch very soon, next time he will show his full potential...
