A Game of Chess

Checkmate, Dusk, Twilight, and Valice reacted quickly, dodging the antlion's strikes and separating to various areas around the chamber. Twilight began to throw bursts of magical energy at the massive insect, attempting to incapacitate it while she ran throughout the cavern. Checkmate and Valice struck out at its sides with their weapons, cursing as they were deflected from the shell on its back.

However, those three were not the ones the antlion focused on. Instead, the creature struck out at Dusk, who seemed overwhelmed by its surprising quickness, and swung at the mandibles in an attempt to cleave them from the beast's face. These attacks, though, were in vain, as the monster refused to surrender its prey, and showed such power as to push the mercenary back.

"Dammit," hissed Dusk. "I hate these things so much..."

Checkmate lowered the Glacius as he watched the mercenary be driven back. "Dusk!" He shouted, and the unicorn looked over.

In that one second that Dusk dropped his guard, the antlion struck, cutting deeply into his left foreleg with one of its pincers. Dusk let out a scream of agony, and dropped Constellation to the ground as he clutched at the wound, which, oddly enough, did not seem to bleed much for one so deep.

Then, immediately after Dusk fell, a shout echoed throughout the chamber, as a certain pegasus, yellow in color, flew straight up to the antlion, even as she hovered within its mandibles.

"How dare you," she hissed, her eyes boring into its.

Dusk stood up, still clutching at the wound. "Get out of there!" he shouted. "That thing will -"

"HOW DARE YOU!" shouted Fluttershy, her voice level reaching the point that a chill ran down Checkmate's spine. "HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK OF HURTING MY FRIENDS?! YOU SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!"

She leveled herself to it so that her eyes met its perfectly, as they seemed to tear into its very soul. "Now," she hissed, "what do you have to say for yourself?"

The antlion began to tremble, as if terrified, and Dusk's jaw dropped.

"Oh, Chronos," breathed the mercenary. "I can't believe it..."

The creature, its kind long since seen as beasts of prey, began to shake, and shiver, and it tried to avert its gaze, only for Fluttershy's eyes to follow it wherever it went.

"Well?" asked the pegasus, her eyes cold.

The antlion stepped back, and lowered its head before letting out a noise that indicated either fear or sorrow. Checkmate assumed the former, and made a mental note never to enrage Fluttershy. Then, out of nowhere, the antlion stepped forward and touched its head to the pegasus's body as if nuzzling her.

"There, there," she said, her voice suddenly becoming more compassionate. "You just got woken up from your nap. Just go back to sleep, and it'll all be fine, okay?"

The antlion nodded, stepped back to the center of the room, and closed its eyes, the sound of its slumber echoing throughout the chamber.

"Fluttershy..." breathed Rainbow Dash, "that was awesome!"

Dusk stepped towards them, clutching at the area where the creature had cut into him. "Agreed," he said. "Do you realize what you just did?"

"O-oh, I'm sorry...!" squeaked Fluttershy.

"You just convinced an antlion - regarded as one of the most deadly predators in the entire world - to stop attacking us," Dusk said, slowly. "That's something that nopony has ever been able to do before."

Fluttershy blushed. "I-I just have a way with animals," she said, smiling.

"I guess so," replied Dusk, and he stepped forward. "Well, then, shall we?"

"What about your wound?" Twilight asked, stepping up to him.

The mercenary turned towards her. "It's nothing to concern yourselves with. I've walked away from far worse."

He removed his hoof from his leg, and Twilight stared in awe. The gash had vanished, instead being replaced by another scar that ran across his leg.

"What... how did you...?" Twilight started to ask, but Dusk had already stepped out of the passage behind the sleeping antlion.

Checkmate stepped up to her. "There's no point in asking," he said. "Dusk'll probably just brush us off."

Twilight lowered her head, and sighed. "Yeah, you're right," she said, "although it just makes me even more curious..."

"All of us are," remarked Valice. "Like how he managed to find me, where he got that sword... There's a lot that we all want to know about this guy."

"Yeah!" agreed Rainbow. "I mean, I guess I trust him, but isn't there something... off about him?"

"Everything is off about him," quipped the red pegasus, "but I just want to know why it's off..."

"Well, we're not gonna get anywhere jus' sittin' around here, are we?" asked Applejack. "C'mon, let's jus' get outta here before we try ta come up with anythin' else."

And so they did, as they stepped from the darkness of the cavern into the passage behind it, and, from there, into the light.

There, right outside of the underground cavern, as Valice predicted, there lay a massive mountain, surrounded on all sides with sand, from which smoke seemed to spew.

"Well, it looks like I was right," said Valice.

"Yes," Dusk said, rejoining them. "This volcano is Solace."

"So the windigoes have an entire nation, and the sleipnirs get a mountain?" asked Rainbow. "That doesn't seem very fair to me."

"Most sleipnirs don't actually live here," said Dusk. "They're... different from windigoes, after all, and these differences are very obvious, once you learn about them."

"Like what?" Checkmate asked, cautiously.

"You'll see," replied Dusk, ominously, as he stepped towards the massive mountain.

Checkmate grimaced. "Dammit, I hate it when he does this..." he muttered.

"I think that we've already established that," said Valice. "Although let's just repeat it a dozen times, shall we?"

The stallion rolled his eyes, and walked over to join Dusk on his trek to the volcano.

"Why can't you just tell us anything?" he asked the mercenary.

Dusk smiled in reply. "I don't think that I could quite do the sleipnirs justice if I did so," he said. "Besides, I think it's best for you all to learn these things on your own, rather than have me tell you everything. That's part of life, isn't it? Discovering new things."

"I'd rather know that the sleipnirs aren't going to kill us the instant we step in there," complained Checkmate.

"Please. With Fluttershy helping us?" Dusk flashed him a smirk. "I think that we'll be safe, considering that she took down an antlion without even fighting it. That kid has a lot of potential."

"There's something we can agree on," remarked Checkmate. "All of them do, actually."

"Yeah," replied Dusk. "They can all do things that some of the most hardened and most dangerous ponies in the world couldn't dream of, and the absolute power they exude is immense. I'm looking forward to see how this plays out, once we face Wendigo. And, perhaps, even..." He cut himself off, then, and smiled. "Well, you understand. I'm certainly looking forward to when we charge into Darkfrost."

"Why do you want to stop Wendigo, anyway?" asked Checkmate. "Is it a personal thing, or is it more general than that?"

"Personal," said the mercenary, but he didn't elaborate on it further.

"And what about you, Checkmate?" Dusk asked, changing the subject. "Why do you want to stop Wendigo?"

"I want to end his tyranny, once and for all," replied Checkmate. "After what he's done to me, I can't let him do that to anypony else."

"Really?" Dusk asked, bemused. "Is it truly that you want to stop his tyranny, or perhaps -" he paused "- Is it that you want vengeance for all that he's done to you?"

"I-I'm not sure, really," Checkmate admitted. "I mean, I want to make sure that nopony has to suffer down in those damned mines ever again, but... I also do want to watch him die... for everything that he's ever done to me and to those I've cared for."

"Don't worry about it, about longing to watch him die," Dusk said. "You're not the only one."

Again, he said nothing more on the subject, but began a new one. "I must admit, though, your abilities with a sword are excellent. How long have you been training?"

"Eight years," replied Checkmate, as he held out the Glacius. "One year with my right hoof, one with my left, two with both, and four just trying to master everything that I could in total."

"Huh, I'm impressed," said the mercenary. "Most would just run up to Wendigo and stab away at him until he ended up killing them, but you took your time. You must have a lot of patience."

"You have no idea," Checkmate shook his head.

"I think I do," replied Dusk. "After all, I've been training quite a bit myself, and all so that I can finally do exactly what I've meant to for years."

"Kill Wendigo?"

"Something like that."

The two walked in relative silence for a while, the sounds of the others behind them being the only thing showing that they were still there.

"Ah, here we are," said Dusk, as they reached the base of Solace. "Well, are you all ready? I can't exactly say that we'll get a good welcoming party once we step inside..."

"Where's the entrance?" asked Rainbow, flying over to the side of the mountain. "It looks like it's just a flat wall!"

Dusk walked over, and placed his hoof on it. "You're right," he said. "It certainly looks like just a flat wall... But sometimes you must look past the exterior of things. Rainbow, if you would? Please hit this area with your hoof."

The cyan pegasus gave him an odd look at this suggestion, but nonetheless complied, slamming her hoof into the wall several times in succession.

"Now what?" Valice asked. "Do we just... wait for them to answer?"

"Exactly," replied Dusk. "You seem to have a decent knowledge of how this place operates, Valice. Is there something that you're neglecting to tell us?"

The pegasus smirked. "Only when you tell me about just who the hell you are."

"Then we're trapped in a stalemate," said the mercenary. "A pity."

Then, another voice began to ring throughout the area. "Who is there?" it asked in a somewhat evident accent that was similar to Rarity's.

"Travelers," said Dusk, calmly. "We are here to make a request of your leader."

There was silence for a time, but then the voice came again. "Very well," it said, "I shall grant you a chance to speak your place."

The wall began to change, then, as pieces of it began to go inward, before it swung open like a massive door, leaving the interior of the volcano, and its guardian, showing.

He stepped towards them, and seemed to take a strange delight in their looks of surprise at his form. His body was similar to a windigo's in stature, being mostly the same as that of a stallion, but with a reddish-orange color - while still being semi-transparent - rather than a coat that was similar to ice (the coat of a windigo commonly was anywhere between white and light-blue), and his mane was crimson, as well. However, what struck Checkmate the most - and presumably his friends, as well - were the number of legs the sleipnir had.

Instead of having four legs like a windigo - or any other type of pony, for that matter - the sleipnir had eight legs, four on each side, that reached the ground.

"I assume that this is your first time meeting a sleipnir?" he asked, looking to all of their faces.

Dusk nodded. "Theirs, at least," he said. "Would you mind taking us to your leader? We have a very important matter to discuss."

"There is no necessity for that," came another voice, as another sleipnir stepped from the mountain, flanked by two others on either side.

The new addition was roughly the size of Luna, his coat a slightly darker shade of red than that of the gatekeeper, and his mane a dark auburn that ran over his eyes, and down to the back of his neck. His voice was sounded similar to Checkmate's, but slightly lower and with the same accent as the gatekeeper.

"Who are you?" asked Dusk, cautiously.

The new sleipnir held out a hoof. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said, his voice completely polite, "I am called Asgard, the lord of Solace."

"Asgard...?" breathed Dusk. "But what of Illia?"

"Illia? How do you know her?" asked Asgard, and his eyes seemed to gleam. "Are you an old acquaintance of hers? If so, then I must apologize."

"What for?" Dusk asked.

"I'm afraid that Illia was killed years ago in an attack on our beloved home."

Dusk paled. "What...?" he breathed. "By who?!"

"The same creature who tortures us to this day, and why we must be so... cautious," replied Asgard. "He is a beast born in the deepest pits of Tartarus, who fled its depths in an effort to take our beloved land for himself."

"What is his name?" asked Dusk. "Anypony who could slay Illia would truly be an immense threat..."

"Indeed," agreed the sleipnir. "He is called "Hecatoncheir", although we know him as one of the twins born in flames."

Dusk stared him over, his eyes showing nothing but distrust. "My condolences for your loss," he said, sadly. "Although I've not come here to talk of my old friend's death. No, we're here to ask a favor of your kind."

"Whatever could that be?" asked Asgard.

"We would like to request use of the Ignis," replied the mercenary.

"Whatever for?"

Dusk sighed, and turned away. "I think that my friend here can tell you better than I," he said, and gestured towards Checkmate.

The earth pony gulped, but stepped forward. "Asgard," he said, slowly, "my name is Checkmate Vigarde." He noticed a flash in the sleipnir's eyes as he said this. "I am an enemy of Darkfrost, Wendigo in particular, and I feel that the only thing that can stop him is the sword that you hold deep within this mountain. If you give me permission to use the Ignis, then I promise you that I will do everything in my power to end Wenidgo's tyranny once and for all."

Asgard turned away. "... Allow me a chance to think on this," he said, not looking at them. "You are welcome to stay the night, if you so desire. I shall have my answer for you in the morning."

And then, before their eyes, the mysterious lord of the sleipnirs began to step away, his eight hooves hitting the ground as he did so, and they were soon to follow suit.