Knights and Pawns

Chapter 3

A Night With a Knight

Twilight sat in the dim candle light of the library trying to continue studying but her nerves just wouldn't let her focus. Checkmate hasn't said a single word to her all night, he just sat there staring out into space, unmoving. Except for the faint signs of breathing one may assume he was dead.

“So... First General.... How did you advance so fast?” Twilight nervously asked, trying to spawn some conversation and ease the tension.

“Strategy.” Checkmate responded so seamlessly it almost seemed like he was expecting the question. “Tactics, and manipulating your enemies. These are the signs of a great military leader, and I posses all these skills.” Having answered the question Checkmate fell silent again.

“Oh... I see... but what about loyalty?” Twilight tried her best to keep him talking.

“I am loyal to the Princess.”

“That's not what I meant... I mean wouldn't gaining the trust and loyalty of your troops be important too?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Twilight was a little irritated that he would only give basic answers.

“Must I explain it?” Checkmate sighed as Twilight just stared at him, “very well, loyalty is not an issue if you know where the disloyal are. The rest mindlessly follow instructions so the fear of consequence keeps the less loyal from speaking out. I do not lead them to foolish or self serving goals and I get them back out with minimal casualties. They are loyal to the Princess, they do not need to be loyal to me.” Twilight blinked a little while she registered what he was saying.

“Oh...” she couldn't respond, his views were really dark, cold, they seemed very familiar. That's right... I thought that same way before I came to Ponyville.

“Are you through with your questions Miss Sparkle?” the room fell silent for another hour while Twilight tried to figure out what she would do. Finally, she decided she would teach this cold stallion about the warmth and magic of friendship. First step, get him talking.

“So... Do you have a special mare waiting for you in Canterlot?” Twilight suddenly blushed and realized she may have gone too far.

“No.”

“uhhh... family?”

“No.”

“Friends?”

“No.”

“Anypony?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Princess Luna.” Twilight's heart stopped, did he have a thing for Luna? Noticing her reaction Checkmate decided he would elaborate, “every week Luna and I play chess, I missed this weeks game to come here.”

“Oh...” Twilight settled a bit before trying to force further conversation. “So, you were born in Ponyville?”

“Yes.”

“Grew up here?”

“Yes.” Still, short matter of fact answers. How could she get him to relax?

“So... you play chess with Princess Luna every week?”

“Yes.”

“Is she any good?”

“No.” Ouch, he could have been a little nicer about it.

“Would you care for a game?” even twilight noticed the shift in Checkmate's stance. This was it, she could finally get him to relax.

“I guess.” Finally a two word answer! Twilight dug out her chess board which was covered in dust, most ponies in Ponyville didn't like chess so it hadn't been used in a while. After setting it up Twilight sat on the white side and Checkmate on the black, while they played Twilight continued to try to spark a conversation, with more relaxed results.

“So, General, do you like Canterlot?”

“It's alright, it has it's charms. How about you? Do you miss it?” Twilight took a second to respond, not expecting him to lighten up so quickly.

“Oh... yea, a little, but I couldn't imagine living there again without my friends.”

“I can see that, you rely heavily on your friends.” Twilight couldn't help but feel there was an insult under that remark.

“Why don't you have any friends General?”

“They are a weakness. You turn a blind eye to them because you trust them and then when they finally stab you in the back it hurts even more. I have seen this happen many times, and even caused it to happen from time to time.” Checkmate's words sent a chill down Twilight's spine, how could anypony think so negatively?

“Oh, that's not true. Friends are wonderful, they make you laugh and smile, they help you whenever you need it, and a true friend will never betray you.”

“Calling somepony a 'true friend' is like calling an apple the perfect apple. It's not really perfect, just the best one you have seen yet.” Twilight fell silent hearing those words, there was no way she could respond. “On a lighter subject, do you have a special stallion somewhere around here?” Twilight jumped at the thought her face turning as bright as one of Applejack's apples.

“No, just me and my friends. Why do you ask?”

“No reason, I thought it was only fair since you asked me the same question.” Twilight wondered if that was a joke, his voice gave no indication.

“I see, well no I don't have a....” she was cut off by a very proud yet cold voice.

“Checkmate.” No, it wasn't someone calling for the general, it was the general claiming his victory. Twilight blinked a little.

“How... how did you beat me so easily?” For the first time the General smiled.

“I kept you talking.” This answer surprised Twilight.

“But... I started the conversation.”

“Which I could have ended at anytime, but I didn't.”

“So, everything you just said... Wasn't true? It was just you prolonging the conversation?” Twilight was clearly steamed about this, being deceived and put through that much awkwardness for a game.

“No, everything I said was true.” suddenly all the anger turned into sorrow, she needed to help this pony out... but how?

“Why do you think so poorly about friends?” she asked her voice filled with sorrow.

“Because...” He paused a moment before continuing “I used to have them...” Twilight could hear through the ice and cold a small bit of sadness.

“What happened?”

“I was betrayed... I didn't get my cutie mark until I was 16 years old. When I lived here in Ponyville I just started wearing a cloak around town. People would try to guess what my cutie mark was but of course... they were all wrong. I had a friend once, the best friend in the world, and we shared everything. He was the only one who knew the truth... We were inseparable and completely loyal to each other until...” by this point the ice was all but gone and the General's voice was hollow.

“until...?”

“He met a mare. A beauty for sure but none-the-less they talked about everything... including me.” Twilight saw where this was going but before she could stop him he was already burning with rage. “He told her, and she told EVERYPONY! In a day I went from 'that silent colt' all the way back to 'blank flank'. Everypony knew, and everypony laughed! 15 years old and no cutie mark, no clue who I was in the world, and now no place to call home either. All because of HIM!” He slammed his hoofs down on the table knocking over the chess pieces. Checkmate quickly calmed down and just slouched down. Scraping his hoof along the ground he continued with a voice devoid of any good, only sadness and pain “I trusted him.”

Twilight understood his anger, most ponies got their cutie marks around the age of 9, but he was 15. That would have been awful to go through, for anypony... but was this really a good reason to rid yourself of all friendship?

“So just because of that one betrayal you are going to shun friends forever?”

“No... It was what came after...” He sighed remembering, “two years later I ran into the mare again, she had joined the military and was even put under my command. She felt horrid for what she did and in time we became friends... or so I thought.” Checkmate removed his officers coat and began undoing his shirt, Twilight assumed he was finally relaxing, but his voice kept getting more and more hollow. “Not even 6 months after her assignment I woke up, in the middle of the night, to loud explosions as our armory was blown up, but even more prevalent...” he let his shirt fall off to reveal a large scar to the left of his spine, “was her blade in my back.”

Twilight walked over to take a better look, tears welling up in her eyes. How could anyone do that? That is horrible. For anypony, especially a friend... it's terrible... it's ruthless... it's heartless... it's... EVIL!

“That was the day I learned the value of friendship... ten thousand bits.” Twilight burst out in tears crying at the story and the sight of the scar.

oOoOoOoOoO

Checkmate was confused, not only at the sheer amount of emotion this one pony was showing for him, but also why he would have told her so much. She wasn't important, the information wasn't required, so why? Why did he tell her? He looked down at the chess board for a while, just letting her cry into his shoulder. When she started to calm down he picked up a white knight piece with his magic and looked at it, the purple unicorn sniffled and started staring at it too.

“You know...” He started trying to find a way to cheer her up, “The knight is my favorite piece in chess.”

“Why?” she asked sniffling again.

“Because it's the hardest to use, yet at the same time the most potent. This piece can jump clean over any other, yet it always has one set path, you can't make it slow down or speed up, it always moves at the exact same rate.” Through the glow of his magic Checkmate could see the tear stained cheeks of this beautiful purple mare lift into a small smile.

“I suppose it does,” Twilight nodded before using her magic to lift a white pawn up beside it, “but the pawn is pretty good too, it can only move forward and will protect you no matter what, and when it reaches the other end, it can become something spectacular.” Checkmate couldn't help but smile. They weren't talking about chess anymore were they?

“So... care for a rematch? No tricks?” Twilight nodded with a nice big grin.

“Gladly, maybe this time I'll win.”

They played deep into the night, game after game, even after the candles went out they kept playing by the light of their horns. Twilight was relaxed now that Checkmate's icy cold demeanor was gone, and Checkmate could at least pretend to be while he sorted out the meaning of the night in his head, he couldn't understand what was so special about this mare to make him open up so much. He had to think, but he couldn't let her know, so they played... all through the night.