Ponyville Chess Club and Mail Swap
One of the many, many lingering aftereffects of Discord's return was the new fact that the Ponyville weekly chess club now had mailboxes that swapped mail with each other. When the mailmare came by with each day's mail, the letters she put in one of their mailboxes would show up in another.
In Manehatten, or even Canterlot, this would be a cause of wonder and/or fear. With a team of scholarly Unicorns sent out to study it with the intention of fixing and/or duplicating the effect. This being Ponyville, it was used as a reason for the six friends to get together for lunch every day to see who got whose mail and gossip. It even got the introverted loner of the six, who previously had only left her house for groceries and the weekly chess games, out of the house and socializing more. They hadn't needed to ask Fluttershy to visit the chess club meetings to translate barely heard squeaks for months!
Which, for this group of ponies and a few others, went a long way to show that pre-redemption Discord hadn't been all bad. The little hints of friendship assist here and there during the chaos were why a whole lot of ponies in Ponyville were willing to give him a chance. Once Twilight Sparkle had confirmed Discord being reformed officially, of course, even the ponies willing to give Discord a chance weren't going to take his unsupported word for anything. None of them wanted a return to the capitol of chaos insanity no matter how nice the lingering effects were. Though some of the larger incidents, such as Vinyl Scratch's and Octavia's houses merging together, would have been a legal nightmare to work out in any other town. Here in Ponyville they decided half the rent for only a 25% decrease in square footage was worth the unexpected roommate and became friends as time went on.
All was fine and peaceful (by Ponyville standards) (also except Tirek) until the early afternoon our story begins...
(Things will continue to be fine and peaceful [again, by Ponyville standards] after the story begins [probably]). It's just that before the story is the fixed certainty of the past and the story itself remains in the fixed uncertainty of the future)
"Good afternoon, Orchid Blossom!" Cherry Blossom said to her sister as she trotted to the usual table at the fancy sandwich cafe.
"Hey, Cherry Blossom," Orchid Blossom said to her sister as she sat at the usual table at the fancy sandwich cafe.
"We the first ones to show up?" Cherry took the pile of mail from her saddlebag and placed it next to the pile already on the table.
"Yeah. Sandy got a visit from her Royal Bookness today. I saw her dealing with the questionnaire around the corner of her house."
"Better her than us. Just hope she doesn't have my mail. I should be getting a very important letter today!"
"Another response from your admirer?" Orchid leaned over the table to check her sister's pile of mail. "Drat. How come we never get each others?"
"From my mysterious secret admirer, yes." Cherry swooned. "Whoever it is has such the gift for sweet talk. They know just what to say to me." Cherry paused mid-swoon to glare at her sister. "It's not you, is it? I still remember that one time in high school...."
"For the last time, It's not me!" Orchid facehoofed in long-suffering frustration. "I did that once, for two letters, in high school. Get over it! Do we need to go to Twilight for another truth-spell interrogation?"
"Neeerrroooowm. Kaboom!" Were the sound effects not normally associated with a Pegasus drifting down from above to land in her usual seat across from the sisters. "Must be the day Cherry is getting another love letter."
The Blossom sisters paused their glaring to smile at the one Pegasus in the chess club. Both just a little jealous of the slender mare's body. Razor Sharp had the high burning metabolism to fuel her wings, but preferred to move through life at a gentle pace and therefore had never built up the muscles most dedicated fliers do. Which gave her the body, if not the matching magic aura, of a Unicorn supermodel. The sisters shared a sympathetic look. Neither of them were very powerful, Cherry worked at the train station moving cargo with the primarily Earth Pony crew, while Orchid sat behind a counter all day and liked having a second mid-afternoon lunch. So neither of them could claim slender as a defining trait.
"Oh, I guess I won't interrupt." Sharp said breezily while waving one wing with a pile of mail carefully balanced on top of it. "Guess I'm wrong, since she hasn't asked to see whose mail I got..."
"Gimme!" Cherry's magic surrounded the letters being waved at her. All of them getting torn open at once in an impressive display of magic.
"So! That clumsy weathermare, was staring at my mailbox from her door across the road again today when my mail arrived." Orchid politely ignored her sister's violent envelopicide.
"Oh, jeeze, again? She mumble something about it making no sense?" Sharp couldn't look away from Cherry's quick scan, discard, scan, toss, hunt through her mail. It reminded her of the sharks she had seen as a foal on the merchant ships with her parents.
"Nah, this time I'm pretty sure her mumble was the 'how am I not seeing anything?' category. Oh! Sandy got ambushed by the Royal Inquisition today. So she'll be running late."
"Oh thank Luna!" A fourth voice exclaimed as she collapsed in her usual chair next to Razor. "I saw the palace doors open and nearly sprinted the whole way in case she was lurking to get me!"
"Dawn, she cornered you last week. You are safe for at least a month." Razor reached over to stroke the exhausted mare's back with one hoof.
"She might have decided to switch schedules about who to question!" At that statement from Dawn Trader all four mares looked at her. Well, three mares looked at her and she blushed and looked at the table. "Okay, that was a tad paranoid of me. Sandy will understand. Her Royal Dimness has added a whole new section of questions about emotional states writing and waiting for replies. With a cross-referenced list of all the mail I've sent and received the week previous."
"Really? That's a bit of royal abuse I didn't expect from Twilight." Cherry was lovingly nuzzling the chosen piece of mail from her admirer.
"She hadn't looked at the list herself. Apparently the mail ponies were given orders to put together a anonymous numbered list for her with a matching itemized list for me." Dawn sighed as her chin rested on the table. "Something about avoiding observer bias in the test results."
"Now that sounds like her." Orchid smiled and waved to a waiter.
"So, another good letter?" Razor flapped to hover and tried to drift over the table to peek at the letter Cherry was continuing to cuddle.
"Yeah! Spill all the naughty details." Dawn Brilliance leaned over from her spot next to Orchid to peek as well.
Cherry's magic zipped the letter into her saddlebag as she giggled breathlessly. Then she the thought occurred to her that one pony at the table wasn't asking about her letter. She turned a glare at her sister.
"I know you like privacy!" Orchid yelled. "I did not write any of them!"
"Uh-huh. That's not how you acted when I was dating Tone Tuner." Cherry kept glaring. "You followed us on dates and still asked about what happened afterwards."
"It's! Not! Me!" Orchid was beyond the help of a facehoof so she slammed her face on the table and kept it there.
The weekly argument paused as the waiter came to their table to serve their drinks. Ice tea for each of the Blossom Sisters, hot chocolate for Razor Sharp (no matter the temperature), carrot juices for Opalescent Shine, and one grass smoothie for at the empty place for Sandy Shores.
"Thank you," Opalescent Shine said quietly.
Everyone at the table jumped. Even Cherry, though she didn't raise her head so it hit the table once again when gravity returned them all to their seats.
"Wha? Who? How?" Razor Sharp stared at the suddenly present Shine. The Pegasus hovered in the air to drift over to start brushing both hooves through the young Earth Pony's mane as if looking for a horn hidden in her bangs. "Okay, now I know you've got to be a unicorn in disguise. I know for a fact that it is impossible for you to get this close to Sugarcube Corner without us hearing Pinkie Pie, so you must have teleported."
Shines giggled, blushing as she tried to push Razor away from her search for a non-existent horn.
"I... Heehee! I asked Pinkie to not do the loud noises for me," Shines blushed and slowly sank into her chair as friendly amusement melted away as every nearby pony was looking at the slender Pegasus fooling around with the young Earth Pony. "Eep."
Terminal embarrassment was avoided by the interruption of a bright flash of royal purple light that delivered the sixth member of the group. Sandy Shores looked frazzled, mane literally smoking, and she was twitching with a unhinged expression.
"Um, Sandy..." Dawn was the first to break the stunned silence.
"I don't know what the ratio of fiction to non-fiction books I read before I got my tax notification paperwork!" Sandy shouted reflexively.
Dawn got up from her chair to trot over to give Sandy a hug. One hoof gently rubbing the other mare's mane.
"There, there. It's all over. You don't have to answer any more questions."
The rest of the group made sympathetic sounds as they sipped their drinks. All conversation on hold until the latest victim of royal scrutiny had recovered enough to sip at her own drink.
"So! All of us are here. Cherry was gotten hers, so lets divvy up the rest." Orchid smiled as she pushed her pile across the table. "I got yours today, Dawn."
"Oooh! My palace gossip magazines! Let's see who Princess Cadance is hooking up with this week."
Orchid sat back in her chair and blinked at the mail already in front of her stacked neatly from biggest envelopes on the bottom and smallest on top.
"Thank you Shine," Orchid said with a smile, but without looking at the shy mare.
Razor nabbed hers, pushing the last pile to Shines from her high position over the table as she did so.
"Ding. Ding. Ding." The Pegasus smiled as she hefted a thick legal sized envelope with the local royal crest on the front. "Looks like I hit the jackpot."
"Finally got the job at the palace?" Opalescent Shines smiled. "Congratulations."
"Yeah, well, its the only way I was going to get employed by royalty on my resume. The Canterlot palace window washers are all old servant families whose service goes back to before Ponyville was founded, and Luna likes those bat ponies for all her tasks."
"Who wouldn't?" Dawn smiled dreamily. "I'd love to have a couple of them hovering around my windows all the time."
"So, did the princess hire you herself? Might be just to pester you all day with questions." Sandy had not quite lost the haunted look in her eyes.
"I'm not a idiot. Went straight to the guy who knows whats what. Spike hooked me up." Razer grinned. "Everypony else was out of towners trying to get the prestige of serving royalty. Her Divine Purpleness threw out three applicants while I was hanging out with Spike talking about comic books."
"What kind of gems did you bribe him with?" Orchid asked with a grin.
"How dare you- Yeah, I got him some pearls from the eastern ocean. My parents had a really good harvest getting back from Zebrica."
"Neat! How long are they in Equestria? Are they going to visit? I love chatting with your mom about work." Dawn perked up as she sorted her letters into piles for business, personal, and unwanted. She had by far the most mail of the entire group.
"Another two weeks from yesterday. Apparently the new Zebrica truce has all the trading houses worked up so they are heading back right away. I'll let them know you want to see them."
"You Pegasus ponies are odd." Dawn shook her head as she started in on her pile of unwanted mail. "You should want to see them too. They are your parents."
"Nah. Spent enough time with 'em on the ship as a kid." Razor waved a hoof dismissively. She had just stuffed her mail into her saddlebag to open later. "Aaaanyway, you get something fun planned for today, Shines? Pinkie Pie said that she wasn't going to accept our usual order for cake to give you for the chess club birthday celebration tomorrow."
"Um. Yes." Opalescent Shines tried to hide behind her short mane. It was not effective. "I'm, um, I am having a birthday party and you are all invited if you want to come?"
For the second time at today's lunch the table went quiet. Though they knew better than to all stare at the shy pony.
"Of course we want to come!" Sandy exclaimed brightly.
"Duh." Cherry smiled. "Way to go, Shines. Anypony else going to be there?"
"Yes. Fluttershy said she would come, and Aloe, and um, mumble," She trailed into unheard mumbles for the last name.
"Oooh... Did you invite a colt? Someone you've got your eye on?" Cherry leaned into the table. "Come on, tell us who the mystery guest is that has you so flustered."
"*mumble mumble*," Shine tried to disappear into her chair.
Razor Sharp floated up from her chair to gently hover near Shines. The Pegasus bringing her head in close to catch the softly whispered name. When she caught it her wings froze in mid-flap. Falling the foot distance to the found, so shocked that she didn't porovide the massive impact sound effect she would normally say. Sandy responded by pushing the stiff Pegasus over. Pouting when the Pegasus fell quietly onto her side.
"Aww. I wanted to hear that cute goat sound." Sandy kept up her pout.
"They only do that when they are scared, silly." Orchid said with a smile. "I've got to get back to work. Lovely seeing you all. I'll be sure to bring a nice gift when I come to the party. Hope your mystery guest doesn't mind lots of attention."
"I am sure she will be fine." Shines whispered, but loud enough to hear.
Orchid got up from her seat, but lingered just long enough for the waiter to bring everypony's lunch. Her magic surrounded hers to take it with her as she left.
"So!" Razor sprang into the air. She floated over to her seat to settle down. "I won't spoil the surprise, but I have to know how the two of you met!"
"Well, um, it wasn't anything special." Shines fidgeted with her lettuce sandwich. "When I went to Canterlot two months ago to see Fluttershy defending her championship at the Quiet Game?"
"Oh, yeah!" Sandy perked up at that mention. "I heard about that. Fluttershy killed one of her opponents!"
"Um, no. He was already dead when the match started." Shines corrected softly.
"Ah man, that's not-" Sandy paused. "Wait, are you telling me Fluttershy won a round of the Quiet Game against a dead pony?"
"Um, yes?"
"Wow. I'm kind of impressed." Sandy nibbled on her daisy sandwich while pondering this new fact.
"A-anyway, one of my opponents in the amateur matches mentioned there was an open chess tournament at the palace that night." Shines didn't have much sandwich to fidget with, her little nibbles having worn it down bite by bite. "I've always wanted to see the palace, so I decided to enter."
"How did you do?" Cherry had already finished her sandwich and was slurping the last of her drink through her straw.
"Okay, I guess. The tournament was in honor of Princess Luna so it used old rules of chess, so it was kind of weird. I did get to the finals." Shines smiled brightly at that statement. "My first opponent in the finales beat me. The game did go on for a while and we got to talking, afterwards we were friends."
"Wow." Dawn used her magic to stack up everypony's empty plates. "I'm real proud of you, Shines. Happy to hear you made a new friend without anypony pushing you. What is she like?"
"Oh no," Razor spoke up. "We'll all meet her tonight. No spoilers. I got to go get a camera to capture every moment of the party. Woosh! Zoom!"
Razor Sharp flapped her wings just enough to get lift and lazily flew away, making soft super-speed sounds to herself as she drifted through town.
"I should be getting back to work as well," Cherry got up and waved to everypony. "See you all tonight!"
"So dawn," Sandy leaned over, almost falling out of her seat in her attempt to elbow her friend over the empty chair between them. "Is your brother sill doing the weekly bridge game with those other three royal guards? Twilight still doesn't seem to have connected the dots."
"Ugh," Dawn covered her face with both hooves. "Thank Luna she hasn't gotten so obsessed with genealogy that she researches everypony she knows. Yes, Glittering Helm is still doing the bridge game. Though it's once a month now with Shining Armor up north."
"Wait, your brother plays cards with the captain of the royal guard?" Shine's blinked with amazement. "Who are the other two?"
"Gleaming Shield and Polished Pauldron," Sandy grinned. "All four have younger sisters with likewise similar names to each other."
"Shush!" Dawn nearly knocked the table over in her rush to tackle Sandy into silence. "I don't need the trouble that would follow if her royal dimness figured that out!"
"Um, what am I missing?" Shines blinked in confusion at the pile of the two earth ponies next to her on the ground.
"I'll tell you later, someplace safe. It is pretty hilarious." Sandy got out from under Dawn.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Dawn grumbled, but with no real heat in it. "Time for me to get going. I'll be a little late, but I will show up at the party Shines."
The remaining two ponies finished their lunch in companionable quiet. Sandy leaving first, then Shines. Both had plenty do with the remainder of the day.
Ponyville Chess Club and Mail Swap
2 Birthday Party With Friends
Author's Note
Fair warning: This chapter is extremely unpolished. It had absolutely no editor. Good ideas, but technically flawed to a absurd degree.
2 Birthday Party With Friends
"You were supposed to order her present!" Cherry accused her sister as she walked to Shine's house on the outer edge of Ponyville.
"You were supposed to pick it up!" Orchid accused her sister as she walked to Shine's house on the outer edge of Ponyville.
"How do I picked up a present that isn't there because you didn't order it?" Cherry stomped her front hooves one after another as she trotted.
"It was there because one of our friends ordered for us!" Orchid flicked her tail to snap it against Cherry's side.
"I know that now!"
"How did the two of you survive growing up in the same house?" Dawn Glitter asked in an amused tone as she joined up with the sisters just before they got to Shine's house.
The sister's looked at each other. Mirror images as they blinked in unison and then stuck their tongues out at each other. Dawn rolled her eyes and trotted forward to knock on the door with one hoof.
The door opened enough for one eye to peek out the crack. The three smiled and waved at the shy pony. Opalescent Shine opened the door more to let them in. Dawn went in first which meant the Blossom sisters almost ran her over when she stopped just inside the door. Orchid was the first to speak.
"Shine. Your front room is not this big. I am pretty sure your house is not this big."
All three mares moved far enough into the huge room to let the door close behind them. They each looked in different directions to collectively take in the gigantic ballroom they found themselves in. A ceiling four stories high, long banquet tables with snacks and sweets along the left and right walls, the far wall almost hazy with the distance. The average Ponyville house could fit inside Shine's front room twice over at the moment. Aloe and Fluttershy were already present, talking softly near one of the many snack tables.
"Isn't is awesome?" Razor Sharp did a leisurely loop-de-loop in the expansive airspace before landing nearby.
"It, um, was Fluttershy's gift." Shine rubbed her foreleg as she looked down at the floor. "My house doesn't really have enough space for all my friends to enjoy a party. So Discord did this. He says it will go away tomorrow."
"Nice to know that being reformed hasn't imbued him with a sense of restraint." Cherry said. "Is he around?"
"Um, no. Pinkie Pie's present was that the two of them would go do something exciting together somewhere else so I could have a quiet party." Shine blushed a bit while she answered.
"Looks like our little friend has all the top-notch connections." Dawn Glitter smiled and hugged Shine before she looked around once more. "Table for presents around here anywhere?"
Shine pointed at one of the tables that already had a few wrapped presents on it. She was working up to say something when an interruption in the form of a firm knock on the front door. Dawn looked over with a puzzled expression from the table she had just set the present down on.
"Did you invite my brother?" She called over at Shine.
"So, at least I don't think so..." Was the reply as Shine paused halfway to the door. "Why?"
"That was a royal guard knock. Do you even know other guardponies?"
"Ohmygosh!" Razor jumped into the air. "Wait a sec, I gotta grab my camera!"
The pegasus moved with uncharacteristic speed to where he had left the camera he brought for this exact moment. Shine swallowed as she was reminded just how exciting this first meeting could be between her two sets of friends.
I just couldn’t get this scene from my head onto the page, so point and laugh at the author. Then pretend there was a good bit here about Princess Luna showing up, introductions and everything is made. Then they all socialize casually because Ponyville is coolness central and seeing Princesses is no big deal.
"So tell me," Princess Luna spoke in a quiet voice. "I would have thought that Dame Twilight Sparkle would be a member of any local chess organization?"
Fluttershy flinched just a little. She had been on the other end of the situation to console her friend afterward.
"We, uh, we had to kick her out," Orchid rubbed the back of her neck as she avoided royal eye contact. "After only three meetings. Discord popped out like a month later. We figure that's why she bothers us so much about our mail."
Princess Luna blinked. Her magic aura around three pieces of cake wobbled for just a brief moment before she continued to serve herself and the two guards nearby.
"Why would you kick out Dame Twilight? Surely she is the epitome of polite behavior?"
"Sure, most of the time," Orchid progressed to scuffing a hoof on the floor. "She couldn't handle games against our speed chess princess. After two ten minute games we caught her trying to use time manipulation magic for the third one."
"Surely Dame Twilight would not cheat in a friendly game between friends?" Princess Luna's curious expression got some confusion for company.
"You've never played speed chess against Shine, have you Princess? Twilight won both of the two games they played. It wasn't cheating to win, but it was cheating. When we confronted her about it she had a bit of an episode and we had to kick her out."
"Now I know you are fibbing. Lady Opalescent could not possibly do anything to cause that kind of a reaction. Even in Dame Twilight, as tightly wound as she gets."
There was a sigh from Orchid.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me. Sis, get a cheap set and a timer!"
"Hey!" Cherry's voice protested from right behind a nearby door that was open just a crack. "We could be busy! Just ordering us around without seeing if we are free is rude!"
"Not if you are standing behind a door eavesdropping on our conversation." Orchid replied in a level tone.
"..." Cherry did not respond right away. "Gimme a minute. Chess sets are in the other room and it's a bit of a walk at the moment."
A few minutes later a table with a cheap chess set of plastic pieces and flimsy board was set up. A much longer period passed until Razor found where Shine had hid herself and pestered her out of it.
"What is this device?" Princess Luna inquired while waiting for her opponent to show. "Why have two clocks in one object?"
"This is a chess timer. They are used for speed chess and some tournaments." Orchid had been democratically chosen to continue to explain things to Princess Luna. More precisely everyone else had called 'not it' faster then she could. "Each player has a certain amount of time for the whole game. When you finish a turn you push the button on your side of the clock and it switches to counting down your opponent's timer and vice versa."
"Ah! So each moment spent on any particular turn shortens the time you have to think on future turns!" Princess Luna clapped her front hooves together. "Very clever! I wish our friend Lady Opalescent had taught us about this sooner!"
"There is a reason she didn't," Orchid once again rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "She's a great pony and we all consider her a great friend, but..." She sighed. "Maybe you will handle it better than we all did the first few times."
"She can hardly handle it worse than her Royal Twitchyness!" Dawn shouted from the next room over.
Orchid flicked an annoyed ear, but just gave Princess Luna an apologetic smile. "Once your allotted time is up you still get a set amount of time for each turn. We use two seconds."
"We don't have to play if you don't want to, Princess Luna." Shine said from the seat on the other side of the table. Razor blink-blink-blinked and looked around at the expected sudden appearance of the youngest member of the group.
"Nay. This is your celebration. It is you who should decide. Your friends insistence on this demonstration have little weight compared to your comfort."
"I would like to play," Shine bumped one of her unicorn nobles with a hoof as a fidget. "I mean, if we do play speed chess this is as good a place as any. Just... Don't hate me, okay?"
"We swear on our Tiara that no matter of the outcome or shape of this game, we shall remain a friend to thou." Princess Luna accompanied her words with a warm smile.
"Okay," Shine returned a shy smile. "Night goes first?"
Orchid gave a nod as she pushed the start button for the timer. Princess Luna had the black night pieces so she moved one of her eight guard pieces forward two spaces, then hit the button on her side of the clock.
*click* *click*
Only Razor, who had pegasus eyesight and reaction times, could see so much as a blur. The rest of the ponies could only see that one of Shine's pegasus pieces was now in front of her guard line and Princess Luna's clock was ticking off seconds. Princess Luna made another move and pushed her timer button once more.
*click* *click*
As soon as Princess Luna's hoof lifted from the timer, Shine's piece had moved and her clock showed only a second off her time.
"Yes, I see how Dame Sparkle would have trouble with this," to everypony's relief Princess Luna sounded calm. Also completely unconcerned about her allotted time ticking away. "Miss Orchid, would you please bring me an official Equestria chess tournament rule book? I wish to look up specific wording on a particular part."
"Now?" Orchid gave the timer a look as Luna's time continued to tick away.
"Yes please. I am sure Lady Opalescent has a current copy," Princess Luna moved another piece and hit the timer button.
*click* *click*
Shine blushed and fidgeted with her hooves on the table, but did not look away from the board. Princess Luna once again took her turn.
*click* *click* *click*
It took a moment for everypony to register that Shine's clock was ticking away. Princess Luna smiled, one of her pieces on a different space that nobody had seen move. Shine was the first to move, a full ten seconds of her time gone before her hoof touched a piece on the board.
*click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click*
For the ponies watching it was a very surreal and short experience. The pieces flickered around the board like a stop-motion film missing most of the frames. Rapid fire *click* *click* *click* of the timer buttons made Razor's eyes twitch as it just kept constantly clicking at a rapid pace. The pegasus was about to lose it when Shine put a hoof on her remaining Princess piece to tip it over in surrender.
"That was amazing! How did you-" Sandy was interrupted by a raised royal hoof.
"That was a lovely game, Lady Opalescent." Luna's voice was soft. "Do you understand what you have been doing?"
Which was when Razor snapped awake out of the half-trance the constant clicking had driven him into. "Wha? Who? How?"
Dawn shoved a hoof into babbling pegasus mouth to shut him up so everypony could listen.
"Sort of?" Shine was nervous all over, hooves rolled her prone Princess piece back and forth along the mostly empty board. "Great Grandma taught me how to focus like that, but Chess is the only time I can do it that well."
"I am quite happy that we have one more subject to converse upon when we talk together. I had started to think that deliberate use of earth pony magic had been lost in these modern times. Miss Orchid, the rule book please."
A few moments of silence as Princess Luna flipped to the section she wanted to read the passage in question. Possibly more than once to be absolutely sure of her interpretation.
"What are you checking for, Princess Luna?" Shine inquired after those few moments.
"The exact words in the section about the use of magic to cheat. To answer the concern that I'm sure has been in your thoughts more than once, for sure now if not before, you have not technically been cheating. I will have to speak with my sister about the unicorn bias that continues to linger in the written rules. I told her she was too short sighted in allowing the unicorn nobles be the ones that wrote down the original official rules for the game."
A few more friendly games of chess between various ponies. Princess Luna got a nice surprise when both Razor and Dawn managed to beat her when they each played against her. Dawn summed it up the best.
"Princess, after Shines and Twilight Sparkle and playing through the occasional Everfree Forest monster attack, we learn to be pretty focused. Playing against our semi-divine ruler and once evil tyrant is not going to throw off our game." A smile softened the slightly harsh words in that statement.
When the competitive spirit had died down it was time to open presents. Shine enjoyed each one, but everypony agreed the best present was the one Princess Luna brought. One of the oldest chess sets to exist. Earth pony carved and reinforced stone. Marble and obsidian pieces with a beautiful polished granite board. The story about Luna getting into a fight with a minotaur warband over the game was pretty good apart from the gift. Not many chess sets prove superior to minotaur weapons and armor when a brawl breaks out.