A Game of Chess

The Desert of Death, so it was called, was one of the most notorious places in the entire world. Known as the "place of fell light", the desert was a wretched, horrific place. Monsters dwelled within the dust and beneath the various crags and crevasses that were filled with sand, and they were things that nopony was ever meant to face. The temperature fluctuated so massively - wherein the night froze like an arctic night, while the day burned like solar flares - that it was nearly impossible to so much as step through it without proper preparations. Even with the proper equipment, enough water and food to last the time necessary, and enough training to survive the creatures of the sand, the desert was still extremely difficult to traverse.

And now, much to their own chagrin, four children were tagging along with the seven adults into this horrible place. Nothing could be done, now, as the way back to Equestria had shut closed along with the departure of the wounded Cloud Cutter and the sergeant.

No, the foals had to come along, regardless of what hell was to follow.

And hell was not one to disappoint.

The sands seemed to scratch away at their hooves as they walked. Checkmate was the worst off, having to constantly readjust the cloths on his hooves in order to avoid getting any grit into the scarred lumps of flesh. The others were more discreet about their uncomfortableness, and even the four children did not complain, but simply carried their bags on their backs with quiet disdain.

Although they had yet to encounter any monsters, Checkmate knew that they eventually would; After all, their luck wasn't exactly known to be perfect, and the idea of stepping through one of the most dangerous places on the planet without at least drawing the attention of one creature of the sand, regardless of whether it was a gold vulture or, Chronos forbid, an antlion.

Checkmate shook his head. It would do them no good to step through the sands if they were afraid. No, they needed to be careful, cautious, and always on their guard. Otherwise, something could easily take them by surprise.

But no matter how much the stallion reminded himself of the danger in the desert, all that he could think of was that red flash that attacked Cloud Cutter, and sent them toppling towards the surface. What could it have been? He was almost certain that the flash was not an ally, but was it a foe? Perhaps, but he couldn't be too reckless out in the Desert of Death.

Not with Deun stalking his every move.

At last, after roughly two hours of paranoia and walking, Checkmate stopped.

"We should rest," he said. "Are you guys up for a twenty minute break?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, you guys take a rest," she said. "I'm gonna scout out this area for any monsters, or any windigoes out to kill us."

Before any of the others could protest, Rainbow Dash had flown off, leaving the group without its cyan pegasus.

Twilight let out a sigh. "She just can't go two hours without taking off like that, can she?" muttered the lavender alicorn.

"Well, y'all know how Rainbow is," replied Applejack, staring off into the sky, "but... Dangit, that girl's gonna get herself killed one of these days!" The farmer shook her head.

"Agreed," Rarity murmured. "Maybe if this wasn't in a place called the 'Desert of Death', I would feel safe, but this is too dangerous for her!"

"Oh, c'mon!" shouted a voice, and the group turned towards Scootaloo. "Rainbow Dash is the coolest, toughest, most awesomest flyer in the world! I don't think that some desert is gonna kill her."

Checkmate shook his head. "If it were just the desert," he said, "I'd have no problems. The problem is that there's a certain general following us. Wendigo's general, to be precise."

"Deun..." Twilight said, quietly. "That's what Wendigo called him, right?"

"Yeah," Checkmate replied. "Deun's the one that I'm worried about. Not the jadetails, not the gold vultures, and not even the antlions. At least, none of them even begin to reach his level of power."

Twilight glanced over at him. "Tell me about him," she said. "If we're going to end up fighting him, we'll have to know just who he is, right?"

"Deun is not just a mere windigo," Checkmate replied. "He's... dangerous. Not crazy, and not sadistic like Wendigo, but just... dangerous. Deun is renowned for his strategic abilities, his horrific speed, and his coldness."

Fluttershy looked over at him, as well. "C-coldness?" she asked, quiet as ever. "W-what exactly... I-I mean, what do you...?"

Checkmate looked away from all of them, instead choosing to watch the sky. "He shows no emotion, regardless of what's happening around him."

"Oh, you mean like yourself?" Rarity asked, "or, I should say, as you used to be?"

The earth pony let out a sigh. "Not exactly," he said. "You can tell that Deun is hiding something beneath his exterior, but you just don't know what. His eyes are absolutely cold, and it's almost impossible to understand just why he fights for Wendigo."

"Why he fights..." murmured Twilight, thoughtfully. "Why would anypony willingly fight for that... monster?"

Checkmate, once more, shook his head. "Like I said," he mused, "none are entirely sure. None except for Wendigo himself, and maybe Rolan."

"What do we do if we come across this guy, then?" asked Spike.

"You'll do nothing," Checkmate replied. "Deun is too powerful for anypony so young to defeat, and considering that he's a windigo..."

"Magic," Rarity guessed. "You feel that he would be vulnerable to magical attacks?"

"That," said Checkmate, "and the Glacius as well. The Ignis, too, if we can find it before he attacks us."

"Which, knowin' our luck," muttered Applejack, "means that this guy'll get ta us before we get even a chance at gettin' the Ignis."

Checkmate glanced back at them. "Right," he said. "Odds are, Deun is being as cautious as possible. He's not he type to risk the lives of his soldiers in battle. Unlike Wendigo, he actually cares for them. So it's likely that he'll try and stop us before we can compromise his mission."

For just a second, there was silence, before Rainbow Dash burst back towards them.

"Any news?" asked Checkmate.

"All clear," replied the cyan pegasus, before she sat down. "Ugh, my wings're killing me."

"All clear..." Checkmate repeated, softly. "Good, then let's rest for a few minutes, and then get going."

But, at that moment, it appeared that fate had different plans, as a sound of deep rumbling began to permeate the air around them.

"Hey, what's that?" Rainbow asked, standing up, quickly.

Pinkie looked around her. "Ooh, maybe those sleipnirs sent out a party, or something!"

"Pinkie, I doubt that's it," said Checkmate. "It's coming from below us..."

Twilight's eyes widened. "B-below... But..." she looked over at the fillies. "Kids, look out!"

The lavender alicorn threw herself at the four children, shoving them - and herself - out of the way, as a massive object burst from the sand.

It was at least ten feet in height, and it appeared to be covered in a green metallic substance, ending with a massive stinger. And then, beside it, emerged another, and yet another beside the first.

"Wh-what the hell is going on, here?!" gasped Checkmate. "Wait... those tails...!"

"What a gaudy color for tails," muttered Rarity, "but... is this one creature, or three...?!"

Twilight stepped back to the group, as they formed a line in front of the children. "I'm not sure," she admitted, "but I think that I get just why the sergeant wanted us to be wary of jadetails."

From the sand, a good distance in front of the three tails, there emerged a large claw from the sand, and another a good distance away from that one.

And, at last, the massive creature flew from the sand. Three large tails, each ending in a stinger, came from the scorpion's back. Its claws were the same jade color, albeit a much more faded shade of it. The monster's back was covered in scales that ran from its head - small, compared to its body - to its massive tails.

"So," Checkmate gasped, "This is a jadetails?"

He drew the Glacius, not taking his eyes off the monstrosity. "All of you," he said, "stand back, and allow me to handle this."

Twilight stepped up next to him. "Sorry, Checkmate," she said, "but I'm not going to let you fight alone. If we're going to help you fight your battles, then we're going to start with this one!"

The other five stepped up to him, as well.

"Yeah!" Rainbow declared. "We'll take this thing down with you!"

"Indeed," agreed Rarity. "Perhaps I can make something using this monstrosity's carapace. Now that could be an intriguing project."

"C'mon Checkie!" laughed Pinkie. "Let's do this thing!"

"They're right," Applejack said, crouching into a fighting stance. "After all, we ain't gonna leave ya alone yet!"

"R-right..." murmured Fluttershy. "I wish I didn't have to fight, but... I-I'll do what I can..."

Checkmate looked back to the six mares. "A-all of you..." he started.

Rainbow flew up into the sky. "There's no more time for words, Check!" she shouted. "If we're gonna stop this thing, let's do it now!"

The stallion simply nodded, although he couldn't hide the grin on his face. "Okay, all of you!" he shouted. "Come on! Let's see just how good of fighters you girls are!"

The jadetails let out a screech, and stabbed at Checkmate with one of its massive tails. The stallion dodged the attack, instead veering off to the side, while Twilight used her magic to lob sand into the beast's face. The scorpion let out another screech, this time of rage, as the sand blinded it temporarily, and it proceeded to turn around wildly in search of the one who removed its eyesight.

The monster stabbed wildly with its tails, not aiming for anything in particular, and Rainbow Dash grabbed one - the one on the far right - before it could strike the ground. The pegasus pulled away as if to try and pull the appendage from the jadetails's body, only for the scorpion to spin rapidly and knock her to the ground.

Before it could attempt to strike her, however, Applejack ran into the jadetails's side, but couldn't quite knock it over. Instead, the beast turned towards where she'd attacked it from and attempted to crush her with one of its claws. The earth pony, nimble and strong, escaped before she could be gripped, and instead grabbed the fallen Rainbow Dash, pulling her out of the jadetails's line of fire.

"H-hey!" protested the pegasus. "I was doing just fine!"

"Sure you were, Rainbow," teased her friend, "but that don't mean that ya didn't need mah help, does it?"

Fluttershy stayed behind, along with Pinkie, as the two kept the four children away from the jadetails, in spite of their insistence that they could easily take it down.

The scorpion, however, had other ideas. As its eyesight returned to it, its vision focused on the one who had blinded it: One Twilight Sparkle. The creature struck out at her with its claws as the alicorn leapt back, trying to escape from the beast's attacks.

Jadetails, in spite of their bodies appearing to be rather bulky and slow, were actually quite fast. This one in particular was quickly overtaking Twilight, in spite of her attempts to blind it once more. Without Rainbow Dash and Applejack (the latter of which was tending to the former), the beast looked as if it were going to horribly injure (because alicorns could not be killed by conventional means) Twilight.

Checkmate, noticing this, rushed towards it from behind, attempting to gain its attention. However, as his blade struck the carapace, a new, horrified thought entered into his mind.

"I-it's not working," he breathed. "The Glacius is not piercing its carapace!"

Twilight, still dodging the jadetails attacks, let out a cry at this. "Wh-what?!" She screamed, horrified, "but then... what can we do?!"

And, as these words left her mouth, one of the jadetails's signature "jade tails" rose into the air, seeming to focus in on its target before striking down towards her...

... Only to fall, harmlessly, to the ground, detached from the monster's body.

The jadetails let out a shriek of agony and rage at this, blood running down its back and onto the sand.

Twilight stared forward, her eyes wide in shock. "Who did that...?" she asked.

Then, before their eyes, a figure stepped forward, slow and deliberate. It was quite evidently a stallion, apparently an earth pony, with a sword at least three feet long held effortlessly in his front-right hoof. He was covered in scars - discolored marks that were even more evident than Checkmate's - that ran over his entire being, making his coat's color hard to make out, but his eyes appeared to be a bright and clear orange, and his mane, a mixture of light purple and midnight blue, hung just above them.

"My apologies," the stallion said, his voice deep. "I would have come earlier, had I known that you were being attacked. It would appear that I've arrived just in time to give you assistance."

"Who are you?" Checkmate asked. It was the only question that he could ask, at this moment.

"My name?" replied the stallion. "I think that we can worry about that later, at least until after we've taken care of this jadetails, wouldn't you?"

Checkmate stared at this new arrival for just a few seconds, before nodding. "Right..." he said. "Right, right! Okay, let's take this thing down!"

"Good," said the stallion, calmly. "You all - meaning all of you - can pitch in, here. We're going to need your assistance if we're to take down this jadetails."

Twilight stepped up beside them. "Alright," she said, still seeming somewhat shaken. "What can I do, here?"

"Whatever you can to help," replied the stallion, raising up the massive sword, and holding it out in front of him. "You just let Constellation and I take care of the rest."