Singularity: Demons in Paradise

Nathaniel Renko was now sitting at an empty booth in Sugarcube Corner, the entire store was really quiet now... which he liked because it helped him think, he sat there silently playing a game of chess that seemed to be in the middle of a match against an imaginary opponent.

"Ok... pawn is gone on both sides, knights and other important pieces still have yet to move to their tactical positions...neither side has an opening to take the king or queen..." he sat trying to think of a move that wouldn't end the game in a stalemate, then his attention caught something.

A chess set was splayed out in front of Emperor Renko, as if he was playing against an opponent who had left in the middle of the game, he tried to think of a way to keep the game moving. He could see that his bishop could take a knight that was defending the queen... but he would have to lure the piece into a more vulnerable position. He sat for nearly a minute before an idea jumped into his head.

"That's it! use a pawn to draw out their defenses... then use the better pieces to blindside them."

A pawn was threatening to remove enough of Nathan's defense to give his unseen opponent a chance at his king. He quickly moved one of his knights to intercept the pawn, the knight's attack stopped short only one square but managed to keep the opposing pawn from advancing.

The Emperor saw that his opponent's knight had stopped his pawn from advancing but he smiled as he quickly brought his bishop, that he had placed several turns ago, down to bear on the opposing side and took the queen without any interference. He chuckled to himself as he thought about what his latest move meant.

"Well... the war rages on, but I have certainly taken down a piece that is crucial to your defense... you probably won't realize it until it is too late." He continued his chuckling as he moved the opposing pieces on his board.

Nathan did a small curse to himself as he realized too late that the pawn had only been a decoy when his hand had reached for the white bishop that took his queen while his piece was defenseless. He decided to keep going, he used his next few moves to bring one of his bishops, his other knight, and his rook to take several of his opponent's pieces, his opponent was able to use his moves to bring down nearly half the number of pieces Nathan took, the remainder of his pieces were rapidly approaching his opponent's king when his gaze fell to where his king was placed in the formation known as the "King's Castle" since he had been playing against an invisible opponent and he had focused on his own moves the second white knight moved in to take his king. His hand trembled as he picked up the knight piece and turned his hand to get a better look at it.

Emperor Renko looked at the knight in his hand with pride, then a little pity, he thought about how his little war had gone and felt that his final move had been far too easy.

"You should really pay attention to your surroundings, otherwise you could die like the rest." His thoughts flashed back to Katorga-12, how he could remember all the times that Nathaniel Renko died in his attempt to stop the Singularity.

"Maybe I can draw their attention soon enough to strike the decisive blow and make my victory that much easier." He chuckled at his own evil thoughts before placing the pieces in their container and putting his game back where he had it.

Mrs. Cake trotted over to Renko as he finished placing the pieces of his chess game in their container.

"It's time to go now, we gotta close up for the night..." Her face had more of a worried look than anything else, and Renko understood her fear. In the short time that he had been in Ponyville so far he had learned so much about the innocent families that seemed to be about to get thrown in harm's way just to defeat an evil that they could not comprehend, he felt a stab of pity as he thought of what might befall Ponyville if whatever was out there finally came looking for him.

"I will have to do everything possible to make sure this town stays safe, I cannot have what happened on Katorga-12 to happen here..." he mentally vowed before turning to Mrs. Cake and replying.

"I understand, I was just putting the pieces to my chess game away. I hope you have a safe night, see you tomorrow." he gave her a casual wave as he walked out of the store and down the road that led to the barracks. Each step he took seemed to be weighted down until it felt like each foot was five times more than what it normally weighed.

Upon entering the barracks he saw members of all the different types of guards walking around holding the rifles that had been custom-made for them, each one packed incredibly lethal stopping power and in the short amount of time that they had to practice with the weapons... most of them learned really quick how to shoot their new "full-metal-crossbows"

Renko stifled a chuckle before finding his tent, he walked in and collapsed onto the bed, the nightmares that he called memories returned in full force as he tried to get another night of rest.

Luna was afraid, she wanted to help Renko's mind feel more at ease when he slept... but the nightmares she saw plaguing his mind only made her more afraid to touch them lest she lose her own sanity in the process.

"If that's what it means to be insane... I hope that none of our subjects have to experience such traumatic events..." She sat alone in her personal tent as she tried to figure out how she could possibly help Renko but no idea came to her. She was worried for the human, she wanted to be able to reach out to him like Twilight Sparkle had for her and let him know that he was with friends that would be loyal to him no matter what. Each day that went by as discussions of a temporary truce between Equestria and Minotaurus were nerve-wracking because of how Renko explained that when a revert was spotted, it wasn't the only revert in the area. Everypony seemed to be on edge except for two... a certain pink enigma, and cross-eyed grey mailmare.