A Game of Chess

Rainbow Dash watched, cautiously, as Checkmate made his way towards the Everfree Forest. She didn't trust him in the slightest, after all, and seeing him walking so briskly and quietly towards one of the most dangerous areas in all of Equestria did little to calm her mentally.

And so, out of his sight, she flew, watching him like a hawk watched its prey, waiting for a chance to prove him as a monster, or a criminal, or anything else that would make her point known to any who thought that he seemed like a nice enough pony.

Admittedly, it was mostly so that she could point at them and say that she was right, and that those who thought otherwise were all right in that he was really creepy and dangerous, but little things like that didn't matter to her. No, what mattered was that she won. That she was able to look at him, that smug jerk, and say "Ha! I guess that you lose! Better luck next time, Checkmate!"

Only there wouldn't be a "next time", because she would save all of Ponyville. Possibly even Equestria, but she wasn't going to stretch this thing too far. That might make her forget what she was doing, and just think of all the praise she would get.

But then, she watched closer, as Checkmate hesitated at the front of the Everfree Forest, before, at last, he entered.

She made sure to stay behind him at all times, and to leave his line of sight if he even glanced in her general direction. Rainbow couldn't have a small mistake ruining her entire operation.

Although she felt kind of bad, stalking him like this. He didn't seem to be doing any harm in slightest, as he walked out into a small clearing, the ground lightly dusted with snow, and pulled out the light-blue sword, holding it in his hoof in such a way that it almost looked unnatural, as hooves were not made to bend like that. He simply stood for a few seconds, as if contemplating something, before he turned around and stabbed the sword into the nearest tree.

Rainbow let out a small gasp - small, of course, as she was too cool to just lose herself over something like that - as he pulled the blade from the tree, and slashed quickly across it. Somehow, one stab, followed by a single stroke of a sword, caused the entire tree to fall, crashing down to the snow-coated earth.

There! That was all that she needed! He was killing trees, and possibly the animals that were living in them, and destroying the natural ecosystem of the Everfree Forest! Now that she had this, she had all that she needed to convince everyone that Checkmate Vigarde was an evil, heartless, monstrous, cruel, bad-mannered -

And then her train of thought stopped, as Checkmate spoke.

"I know you're there," he said, loudly.

Rainbow's blood ran cold and her face paled. How did he know? How did he...?

And then, almost miraculously, Checkmate turned towards the opposite direction of where she hovered above him, and held the sword out in front of him.

At that moment, a large creature, the size of a grown stallion, but composed entirely out of bark and leaves, leapt towards Checkmate from the trees. It had sharp fangs (again, made out of twigs and other plant matter) and claws that could tear open even the most stout of boulders, and it was staring down Checkmate as if he was to be its prey.

The earth pony did not look amused by this in the slightest, and instead sighed. "Truly? My second day in Ponyville and already I'm being hunted again? This is beginning to get old, fast."

What did he mean "hunted again"?

But that was not what mattered at the moment, as the timberwolf, obviously very hungry, lunged at Checkmate like one would expect an animal to.

Rainbow's heart nearly stopped in her chest. She may not have liked him, but she didn't want to watch Checkmate get mauled to death by a timberwolf.

Thankfully, she didn't have to, as the stallion immediately reacted, dodging the lunge and striking back at the creature from side.

His attack missed, and the timberwolf lunged again, only for Checkmate to sidestep away from the attack again, before striking at the timberwolf from above with the sword. This time, the attack connected, as the blade split straight through the middle of the timberwolf's face. The bramble composing it fell to the ground, and the rest of its body followed suit, leaving it, once more, as a mere pile of plant matter.

Checkmate stared at it for a few seconds, and sheathed his sword, turning his back on what had once been a timberwolf.

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief. Part of her would have been happy to know that Checkmate was no longer a threat, but being killed by a timberwolf would be the worst way to go.

Although, she did have to admit that what he'd just done was pretty cool.

And then, suddenly, Checkmate turned towards where she flew, and he spoke again.

"And I know you're following me as well, Rainbow Dash."

Nothing could have prepared her for that, as she flew guiltily down towards him, and he simply stared at her with a look that was neither angry nor joyous. In fact, there was nothing in his face, not even disappointment or annoyance.

"You followed me all the way out here, didn't you?" he asked.

She simply nodded, not meeting his gaze.

"Why?" Checkmate asked.

Rainbow Dash looked deep inside herself, hoping to find an answer that would not offend Checkmate. She didn't find one.

"I don't trust you," she said, as plainly as she could. "I wanted to make sure that you're not a threat to Ponyville!"

Checkmate stared at her for a few seconds, before he spoke. "I understand your reasoning, and you have a right to be wary of me. I've done nothing since I've arrived here but show disdain and apathy towards others. And besides -" he glanced away, and Rainbow could have sworn that she saw a hint of regret in his eyes "- it's only natural for one to desire to defend their home."

"Y-you're not mad?" she was completely caught off guard by this.

"Of course not," responded Checkmate. "Simply... annoyed, I guess would be the correct word."

"So you're not out to destroy Ponyville, right?" the pegasus asked, cautiously.

"No," Checkmate said, "I don't want to do anything that would hurt this town. Even if it does have the most unoriginal name on the entire planet."

Did the most stoic pony Rainbow Dash had ever met just make a joke? Either way, she felt a small smile appear on her face after he said that.

"Then why are you here?" she asked.

"Because... I have something that I must do," Checkmate said, quietly, "and I plan to accomplish it."

"That's kinda vague," the pegasus said. "I'm not exactly sure if I believe you completely."

"Believe what you want," said Checkmate, dismissively. "It's your decision."

"Well... what's all of this?" She waved her hooves towards the fallen tree and the bundle of sticks that had been a timberwolf.

"I have to train, Rainbow Dash," the earth pony said. "It's the only way I'll ever get stronger. Don't you have to work to complete your goals?"

"My goals don't generally involve swords and monsters," she replied dryly.

Checkmate sighed, and turned away.

"Anyway," he said, "I have something that I must do. It's a choice, certainly, but it's one that I have to make in order to..." He stopped, then, and cut himself off.

"In order to... what, exactly?" asked Rainbow, getting annoyed by Checkmate's vagueness.

"I'd... rather not say," mused Checkmate, calmly. "It's a personal matter, and I don't want to have anypony get hurt because of my mistakes."

The cyan mare stared at him. "Your mistakes? C'mon, we all make mistakes! Stop acting like yours are so bad!"

The tan stallion snapped back towards Rainbow and glared at her, then, with a look that could melt ice. "My mistakes, my consequences," he enunciated, slowly and forcefully, "are mine to suffer. I do not want any of you - you being yourself and your friends - to get hurt on account of me. If you want to know what I've done, then fine. Do so. But I refuse to allow anypony to have their lives torn apart because I was a fool."

His voice carried with it an odd amount of emotion, for Checkmate, at least. Not fury, not anger, but a strange kind of sorrow that lingered in the air even after the words had left his mouth, leaving Rainbow speechless for several seconds as the earth pony's eyes bore into hers like drills.

She shuddered slightly at the implication of his words, and at the look in his eyes. What had he done that caused him to be like this? Even if she didn't necessarily like Checkmate, she couldn't deny that he wasn't cruel, or mean-spirited, or callous. If anything, he was just blunt and cold, but nothing more than that.

Great. Now she was feeling guilty over stalking him out into the Everfree Forest. Now she wished that she hadn't followed him out there, and that she'd just been smarter about the whole thing.

But still, she had to say something. Anything, she thought, that could get her away from the conversation - away from Checkmate - as he struggled with his demons. At last, after what felt like an eternity, an idea crept into her mind.

Rainbow Dash sighed and said. "You know what, Check?"

He gave her a strange look at this, making all of his scars (and there were many of them) stretch slightly. The effect was rather disturbing, but Rainbow stopped the sickness that she could feel rising in her throat.

"Check?" he asked. "Is that my new nickname? Like how Pinkie Pie is calling me 'Checkie'?"

The mare smirked. "Yep, just like Pinkie."

"Very well. You were saying?"

"You... don't actually seem like too bad of a pony, I'm not gonna lie."

"Really? You've spoken to me for less than ten minutes and already you completely trust me?"

Rainbow Dash flushed. "What... No! I mean that you don't seem like the kinda guy that everypony thinks you are. Which is weird, since this is just making me want to know where those scars came from more, but -" she paused, and changed the direction of what she was saying "- what I mean is that you're kinda weird, yeah, and you don't really act like you care about anything, but overall, you seem pretty cool. I mean, I've never seen a pony that good with a sword before, and that was actually really awesome, the way you dealt with that timberwolf! What I'm saying is, I'm sure that you'd make a great friend for anypony, once they get over the fact that you rarely seem to care about anything."

There. She wasn't sure how she'd been able to say that with a straight face, but it seemed to have done the trick.

Although she did actually find the way that he'd fought off the timberwolf very impressive. After all, nopony could use a sword without magic, and Checkmate just walked up to that monster and cut it down without even looking worried in the slightest. Even Rainbow Dash, in all of the pride that she was known to have, had to admit that he was really good with a sword, especially considering that he didn't even look uncomfortable bending his hoof that way.

Checkmate stared at her for just a few seconds, allowing her words to sink in. "Honestly, the ponies in this town are just obsessed with friendship, aren't they?"

"What's wrong with that? Friendship is awesome!"

"Maybe for you, Rainbow Dash. But for me... I've never really been one for it, is all."

"Oh, come on! You can't really mean that!" The very idea that a pony didn't really care about friendship was especially surprising, given that Ponyville was almost entirely built on it.

"I do, though," said Checkmate. "I don't desire friendship. It's hurt me too much in the past for me to long for something like it."

Rainbow cocked her head slightly. "How could friendship...?"

"Please... don't ask me that."

"Fine," she grumbled, dejectedly. She was so close to cracking the secret of Checkmate...

Well, actually, she wasn't close at all, and that just made her even more determined to learn about him.

"Good. Now, I think that it's safe to say that I've done enough for now," Checkmate mused, glancing about his surroundings.

Rainbow Dash stared at him, rather surprised by this. "Wait... you want to train, but you only fight a tree - which doesn't even actually fight - and a timberwolf?"

"Yes," Checkmate replied, turning away from her. "After all, I've been seeking something for a while. A book, actually, and I'm sure that the local library contains it. Especially considering that it contains hundreds of books found nowhere else..."

"Wait... so you're gonna leave now? Just like that?" she flew in front of him, then, and stared at him in confusion. "For a book?"

If there was one thing that she thought Checkmate was, an egghead sure wasn't it. Then again, given her own history with reading, Rainbow knew that she probably shouldn't judge his decisions.

"Yes," Checkmate said, again, as he walked past her. "I've much to do, and not too long to do so, after all. I can always return to this forest after I've acquired the book. I can't risk it being loaned out to anypony else, after all."

"You keep saying that, but I don't quite get it," Rainbow replied, folding her forelegs over each other and watching as Checkmate continued in front of her.

"I know," he mused, and stopped walking. "Anyway, I must be off. I suppose I'll see you later when you stalk me into the Everfree Forest once more, Rainbow Dash?"

The pegasus flushed, and stammered. "Erm... well... I might not..." She rubbed the back of her head and glanced away.

Checkmate simply looked back at her for a few seconds, and then began to walk away, towards the exit of the forest.

After about a minute of just flying in place, Rainbow Dash sighed, and flew up, high above the trees. She looked out, over the horizon, and then flew back towards Ponyville.

Did she trust Checkmate? Kind of, but not entirely. Not yet, at least. She still had much she needed to know about him, and she wouldn't trust him completely until she knew why he acted like he did.

And, one way or another, she was going to know just what drove the stallion to this state. After all, if she gave up now, then she'd end up losing this challenge against Checkmate.

And Rainbow Dash hated losing.