Prologue
Over a game of Chess
“Good to see you.” The black stallion said, approaching his best friend, a yellow mare with rust colored mane and tail and a bishop as a cutie mark. “So B,” He began. He had a long black mane and tail with gray streaks in it. His cutie mark was a rook and bishop putting a king into checkmate. “You wanna go at it again?” He said, pulling a chess board out of his saddlebags with his magic.
“Mayt (pronounced mate), You know I can never beat you in chess. Hell, even your cutie mark is you beating somepony in chess.” The mare named Bishop retorted. “But I might as well play you anyways.”
Halfway through the match, Bishop and Mayt were in heated competition. Bishop had taken all but two of Mayt’s pawns, both of his knights, a bishop, and his queen. Mayt wasn’t doing much better. He had captured four pawns, both of Bishop’s bishops, a rook, and a knight. The tension was so tight, neither friend said anything. Finally, Mayt dared to break the tension.
“What would you say,” Mayt started, his deep voice seeming to echo off everything, “If I told you that several hundred years ago, there were a group of ponies that were chosen?”
“Chosen for what?” Bishop inquire, looking up from the board.
“That they were chosen by the Creator, Faust, to be special.”
“I would probably call you a liar.” Bishop smirked. “And special how?”
“Well,” Mayt continued, “Each pony was different in what they were able to do. One could turn invisible, another might be able to lift entire houses. It all depends.”
“Bullshit.”
“I kid you not, B. There are books. Records of these ponies’ adventure to defeat evil. Sadly, they are classified, and thus, cannot be accessed by somepony as yourself.”
“Then how did you get a hold on these classified documents?” Bishop nickered, taking Mayt’s second to last pawn.
“Well,” Mayt answered, capturing her queen with his rook. “I have connections with ponies inside the palace, such as Princess Luna herself. The Princess let me borrow these documents and read them. They were quite interesting.”
“Okay, okay.” Bishop decided to play along, taking his rook with her pawn, “Aren’t you supposed to keep this stuff secret if it’s classified in the first place?”
“Never made me swear to confidential on it.” Mayt assured his friend. “Anyways, apparently two hundred years after the passing of the Mane 6, Evil was growing in the hearts of ponies and faith was being lost in the Princesses. Princess Faust, the Creator, had been observing the ponies of Equestria for several decades to find those who would be the best for defeating Evil. Overall, Faust made good choices on the ponies she picked.”
“Overall? What do you mean?”
“Well,” Mayt started back up. “Even goddesses can make mistakes. Apparently, Evil noticed the changes in the chosen ponies, and manifested itself inside the ones it could get a hold on. Therefore, there were heroes and villains.”
“Makes sense.” Bishop interrupted, closing up many of Mayt’s options for movement by taking one of his rooks and putting him in check.
“Quite,” Mayt responded, putting his king out of check by taking Bishop’s last knight with his final pawn, putting her in check at the same time. “There were more heroes than villains, though. Princess Faust picked the most true hearted ponies in all of Equestria. Overall, there were eight main heroes and 5 villains. The main heroes were: Veil, Castor and Pollux, Canis, Vulpis, Check Mate, Sirus, and Vox Angelica”
“Check Mate?” Bishop inquired, moving her king out of check. She could take the pawn, because his rook would put her in check again. “Why does your name sound so much like his?”
“Her name.” Mayt corrected, moving his pawn forward, closer to getting his queen back. “Check Mate’s name is so similar to mine because she is my ancestor. World champion chess player, and according to the Chosen files, could read minds and solve most any problem. She was an Earth pony.”
“Okay,” Bishop accepted that, moving her rook after his pawn. “what were the other heroes able to do?”
“I’m getting to that.” He retorted, taking her rook with his bishop, putting her in check. “Veil was a Unicorn mare that could shape shift into any other pony. Canis was a Pegasus stallion with super-pony strength. Vulpis was an Earth pony mane with super speed. Sirus was also an Earth pony that had the ability to use unicorn magic or fly, he couldn’t do both in a 24 hour period. Vox Angelica was apparently called the Copycat. She could apparently sound like anypony or act like anything if she heard or saw it. After 72 hours of seeing it, though, she could do it.”
“What about Castor and Pollux?” Bishop asked, moving her pawn in front of the bishop’s way. “You didn’t say what their powers were.”
“That is because,” He started, moving his rook in front of Bishop’s king, putting her in check. “their power is very difficult to explain.”
“Well try.” Bishop pressed, moving her king out of check.
“Castor and Pollux had the ability to open wormhole. They couldn’t do it by themselves though. One twin would open one side of the worm hole five feet in front of him, and the other would open the other. They themselves could travel through it, but others could. Some argue that their power was the most powerful of them all.” Mayt explained, moving his pawn forward once more, trading it in for his queen, putting Bishop in check.
“Wow.” Bishop replied, moving her king out of the way. She hadn’t ended forfeited yet because she wanted to hear the rest of the story. “What about the villains?”
“History,” Mayt started, using his bishop to put her king onto the edge. “Didn’t keep good track of those who were influenced by Evil. Only what they could do. One could live indefinitely. Another could phase through solid objects. The third could turn invisible. Villain four could shoot fire from his hooves. The last could use others abilities by just being near them.”
“You said one could live indefinitely. Does that mean the pony is still around?” Bishop asked.
“Yes. But he is buried seven hundred feet underground at the moment. He won’t cause any trouble.” Mayt moved his rook around to put her king into checkmate. “And checkmate.”
