Blood and a few other things

The balcony of the Lunar Princess. It was calm, peaceful, and rather beautiful in some ways. An almost giddy princess sat atop their chair and waited for the sound of her chamber door to open, as that would be the signal for the arrival of the nights companion. Soon enough the signal was heard.

There was a click and and a clack as the one who opened the door wordlessly approached the balcony. They stepped onto it then took a seat across from the princess. Now, instead of being giddy, she was confused at their lack of action. Her visitor was a lot more calm and it was hard to tell what he was feeling. Silence was the only thing that accompanied them for what felt like ages and to be honest, she was almost worried. That worry turned to surprise though.

"I beleive it is your turn Luna"

She snapped into attention and looked at the speaker, confused. His voice was cold and rather intimidating for some odd reason. She ignored it though and threw away her worry as she looked at the board and the ticking clock that was just off to the side of it. Once she realised that it had almost made a full circle, her horn lit up in a panic and she moved a pawn two spaces forward. She hit the button for Spike to go next and he did so immeadetly, without any hesitation.

Luna didn't have a chance to think as Spikes pawn was pushed forward by a small bit of flame that surrounded the base of his chosen piece. All the while he had no expression and the audible click of his button was heard. After that he just stared at the board with his claw resting over his button in wait. He was impossible to read for some reason. She moved a pawn that was to the right of her first one a single space forward and just as she hit the button, a second click was heard. He had moved his knight and she hadn't a single moment to think. She moved another pawn after some short thought and just as last time, when she pressed the button and the click was heard, another click followed it not even a second after.

Spike was playing quickly and wasn't allowing her time to think. She may not have been the best at chess but she knew that if you wanted to win, you had to be thoughtful about your actions. This time she wasn't granted the extra time to think though. One of her knights went forward and Spike pushed one of his pawns right after. She moved a pawn and then Spike moved a bishop. She didn't even think as she made her next move and before she knew it Spike had one of his own bishops across the field. She looked at him for a split moment but he was still as stagnant as ever. She scanned the field in a frenzy and moved her other knight forward after a short moment only for Spike to take one of her pawns. She returned the favor immedietly and Spike moved his king to the side instead of taking his pawns killer with his knight he had moved in the beggining.

Somehow the next click managed to throw her off and she quickly moved a pawn only for his other knight to appear in front of it. She didn't know what he was doing but she didnt like it. She couldn't do anything about it though since she didn't have any way to attack it. With each click came more disaster for her and before she knew it she was making random, unthoughtful moves that Spike quickly punished again and again. Each piece lost felt like a slap to the face and each piece she took felt given to her. It didn't feel rewarding at all and she just felt like she was being toyed with. Soon enough her only pieces left were her king and a single bishop. Somewhat angrily, she slid her bishop forward several spaces. Then for once the clock ticked... and ticked... and ticked. Then it stopped. There was only silence after that and she knew what that meant. She waited for the two words of victory to be spoken. Then she waited... and waited. She looked slightly up from the board and to Spike who was just sitting and looking at her with a small smile. His words would have stung if they were what she had expected...

"Congratulations Luna... For the first time in years have I actually had to think about my next move..."

She lifted her head away from the board completely and looked at him curiously. Her anger was ebbing away, bit by bit and her curiosity grew with each second of his small pause.

"I will say that at first you had me confused. You corrected yourself in the middle of our match only for it to sadly fall apart in the end."

Her response was to frown at this

"That is not to say that I am not impressed though. Even within your anger, Part of you managed to think and gain back some control... Next time, don't panic. Instead, I would recommend that you run the clock so you may think. Each second is valuable and it is not a bad thing to wait."

She watched him and followed his movements as she spent a few moments to think, but before she could reply he had gotten to the door. He let a claw rest on it as he spoke his next words.

"I shall now be leaving Luna. I would like to do this next week at the same time if that is alright with you. Until then, I recommend you rest. Goodnight Luna. Rest well."

He opened the door and then slowly shut it behind him, signalling the departure of her companion. The click clack of his foot steps were only heard for a few short moments until the sound of the door closing managed to silence them with a resounding thud. Luna stared at the foot for a few moments then let out a breath as she slowly turned to face the moon. Questions plagued the lunar princesses mind but she was calm and rather thoughtful about them. Instead of being mad or confused she felt somewhat empty. She would be over it in the morning though. There wasn't a thing that a good nights rest couldn't fix.