A Game of Chess

The next morning came all too quickly for Checkmate. That night of sleep had been the best in days, and he'd fallen into slumber not long after hitting the bed.

However, the morning had come within only a few hours, and the stallion and his allies had been roused from their slumber at daybreak. The thirteen ponies - on the word of Cora, the captain of Asgard's guard - had gathered into the chambers of the lord of Solace so that they could either be granted the use of the Ignis or refused.

They stood, somewhat awkwardly, as the large sleipnir stood in front of them, and let out a sigh. "My... apologies," he said, his voice as calm and polite as it had been before, "however, after strenuous thought on the matter, I must refuse you access of the Ignis."

Checkmate felt his jaw drop at that statement. "What...?" he breathed, "but without the Ignis, how can we stop Wendigo?!"

"Again, my apologies," said Asgard. "However... this blade is necessary, for reasons that are far too important to disclose."

"Indeed?" asked Dusk, stepping towards the sleipnir. "What if we return this blade once we've slain Wendigo?"

Asgard shook his head. "I'm afraid that would do little good," he said. "After all... what if Hecatoncheir attacks our nation whilst you take this blade - our greatest weapon of defense - away from here? No, it would do us little good. None at all, actually."

Then, the lord of the sleipnirs looked them over. "Before you say anything else," he mused, "allow me a scenario, will you? Let us say that I arrive in your nation, and request use of the Elements of Harmony. How would you react?"

"Well... it depends on what you want to use the Elements for," Twilight said. "I mean, I'm sure that Celestia would give you their power if you really needed them, but..."

"So she would," muttered Dusk. "Celestia would, of course, just hand them over, no questions asked..."

Asgard looked them over, bemused. "Well, in either case, allow me to alter this scenario, ever so slightly. Perhaps, in this event, some monstrosity - let us say, for the sake of argument, Queen Chrysalis and her wretched changelings - was striking at Equestria, or, perhaps, simply threatening it with destruction. Do you suppose that your princess, kind as she may be, would grant me the powers that could potentially stop the loss of many lives?"

Valice shifted visibly. "I'm sure that Celestia and her ponies could stop the changelings without the use of the Elements, since they've done it before," she stated, a strange bitterness in her voice, "so I'm sure that they wouldn't need them if you wanted them to stop Hecatoncheir."

Dusk cast her a glance, a small smile forming on his muzzle. "Well, in that case, Asgard, if Hecatoncheir is truly as great a threat as you claim," he started, "what if I make you a deal?"

"A deal?" Asgard's eyes flashed. "Do tell."

"If we can kill Hecatoncheir for you," replied the mercenary, "will you grant us use of the Ignis?"

For just a second, a look of nervousness crossed the lord of Solace's face. "If you can slay Hecatoncheir," his voice changed as he spoke, but it was only somewhat noticeable, "and if you can stop the... greatest threat we've ever faced, I shall do just that, and I will allow you to not only take the Ignis, but keep it, as well."

"To keep it?" Checkmate asked, surprised. "Do you honestly mean that? I mean, certainly, I understand you allowing me to just borrow it for until Wendigo is dead, but... you're just going to let me keep one of the most powerful weapons in the world?"

"If you can slay Hecatoncheir," replied Asgard, "but I highly doubt that you can. He's been haunting these lands for the past two-and-a-half millennia, after all" - he cast a glance at Dusk, and his eyes glimmered - "and nopony has since been able to stop him, or to even so much as cause him any permanent injury. Certainly, there have been some wounds to him, but none have been able to finish the creature completely."

"Just a question, Asgard," said Twilight. "All of the sleipnirs here have called Hecatoncheir one of the 'twins born in flames', right? Then does that mean that there was another sibling of his?"

"In a matter of speaking, yes," said Asgard, as he turned away. "Hecatoncheir and his twin brother were born in the deepest pit of Tartarus - the thirty-second floor down, where only the worst criminals are sentenced to - and one day escaped from these depths after committing the murder of an infamous criminal. His brother was slaughtered along the way, and the beast, insane as he was, continued, alone, to the surface. He unfortunately reached it, and managed to seek us out."

"Tartarus..." breathed Twilight.

"The place where most sleipnirs are actually born," said Dusk, calmly. "Some of them leave for Solace to avoid the tensions of the place, even while the top floors are beautiful, and some are simply..." He stopped, and glanced over at Asgard. "Yet you are saying that Hecatoncheir cut his way up from the deepest level of Tartarus? That he went through thirty-two levels of armed guards, monsters, and even passed by Cerberus unharmed? He must truly be a formidable foe..."

"How else would he have slain Illia?" asked Asgard, though his voice was completely calm. "How else could he have possibly been hunting and haunting us for all these years? Of course, he does not desire to kill us, as that would do him little good."

"Then why?" asked Twilight. "Why would he be like that if he doesn't want to kill you?"

"What do sleipnirs feed on?" Dusk asked, not meeting her eyes.

"Fear," said Asgard. "He has been sapping and siphoning fear from our kind for thousands of years, now. That is the power of the sleipnirs; Windigoes devour hatred, changelings, love, and us, fear. That is where our strength emerges from, and that is why our kind is renowned for our terrible appearance. After all, an eight-legged pony is quite frightening, or, at the very least, unnverving, would you not say?"

"But why hasn't anypony from Tartarus come after him if he's such a threat?" Valice asked. "They sound like a bunch of idiots if they're not trying to stop him..."

"They do not see him as a threat to Tartarus itself," replied Asgard, although there was fire in his eyes, "and so they do not attempt to take him back to their world. Either way, however, it makes little difference. Nothing can possibly defeat him."

"But if we can," said Checkmate. "You'll allow us to use the Ignis, and to keep it, too?"

"If you can stop Hecatoncheir - not even kill him, but prevent him from attacking Solace ever again - then I shall certainly hand that blade over to you."

"Then we'll do just that," Dusk said. "However, we'll need a complete analysis of his abilities, first."

Asgard nodded. "I shall allow Cora to take care of that for you. She is far more versed in that subject than I. For now, however, I would request that you all return to your chamber, or, at the very least, do not leave Solace. I do not desire for any of you to be slain by an antlion, a jadetails, or the monster himself."

"Good point," replied Dusk. "We'll leave, then. Any objections, or any final questions on the matter?"

Nopony said anything, instead letting their silence speak for itself.

Dusk nodded. "Good," he said. "Very well, then, Asgard. We'll see you soon, I hope."

"Indeed, you shall Dusk," said the sleipnir. "Indeed... you shall..." He turned and raised his hoof, signaling for them to leave.

The group left the chamber, then, and walked back to their own, across the obsidian bridges that stood over magma rivers, and entered the passageway that opened into their chamber.

"So, what's the plan?" Rainbow asked. "We just find this 'Hecatoncheir' guy and punch him?"

"Something like that," Dusk said. "Although there's something that has been bothering me since we've entered Solace."

"What is it?" asked Apple Bloom, looking up at the mercenary.

Dusk shook his head. "I... cannot say. We don't know who could possibly be listening, be it Asgard or one of his own soldiers."

Silence reigned for just a short while, before Cora stepped into the room. The sleipnir captain carried herself with an air that even Deun would have scoffed at, right before he would have inevitably have resumed his cold personality.

"Asgard told me to answer you all any questions that you had about Hecatoncheir," said the captain, coolly, "What do you desire to know?"

Dusk stepped up to her. "Give me his personal talent."

"His personal talent?" asked Cora, and she seemed somewhat surprised. "Dusk... of course you would be the one to ask that, wouldn't you? Some ponies never change..." She chuckled, surprising them.

"Okay, Dusk, seriously," Valice said. "First Deun and now Cora? How do you know so many ponies?"

"I'm a mercenary," said Dusk, and he smirked. "I've many connections. But that is not what matters, is it? Tell me, Cora: what is is that Hecatoncheir can do?"

"He's known as 'Hecatoncheir of One-Hundred Arms'," replied Cora, although her voice had become far less cold, and even less formal. "He is able to make appendages using the environment around him, using materials such as sand, stone, and magma."

"One-hundred of them, I'm guessing?" snarked Valice.

"Exactly," said Cora. "You see, sleipnirs are different from windigoes in more ways than just our appearance and elemental alignments. Each of us has an ability that sets us apart from others of our kind. Not in the same vein as your talent signs, but more in the vein of magical abilities. For example, I can tell the abilities of a creature with a simple glance, Hecatoncheir can craft one-hundred extra appendages from materials, and Asgard -" she grimaced "- well, actually, none of us are quite sure exactly what it is that he can do. Some of us assume that his intelligence, which has earned him the role of our strategist, is his talent, but none of us are entirely sure."

"And what about Hecatoncheir's twin?" asked Dusk. "What was magical talent?"

"That say that his brother had one of the greatest gifts in the entire world," replied Cora. "Foresight."

"He could see the future?!" Twilight gasped.

"That's what I've been told, yet he couldn't predict his own death," she shook her head. "It's a pity, really. They always said that Hecatoncheir's brother was the wiser, more level-headed of the two. Why did you want to know?"

"Curiosity," replied Dusk. "Normally, I would say that he's not truly dead due to the way that slepnirs work, however, if he was killed inside of Tartarus, then I've no doubt that the kid's in Hell right now."

"Indeed," said Cora, "and that's our greatest concern regarding Hecatoncheir. If he's killed, then we don't know how long it will take for him to craft a new body, or for him to use our ability to travel the dream channels to his advantage."

"New body?" Twilight asked. "You mean that if a sleipnir is killed, they can just create a brand-new body and go on with their lives?"

"In a manner of speaking," said Dusk. "However, these bodies take years - centuries, in some cases - to create, and do you know what is required to make them?"

"Fear," said Valice, and the others turned towards her in surprise. "They need fear in order to make their bodies don't they? And they need fear in order to sustain them, too."

"That's right," said Dusk, a small smile indicating that he was impressed with Valice's knowledge. "They require fear not only to create new forms that they can use, but to keep this form from breaking apart, as well. The same is true of windigoes as well; They need hatred to survive, but the amount required is minimal for a large amount of time. That is why they must create fear - or hatred - artificially, so that they may live."

"Well, we've certainly learned a lot today, haven't we?" quipped Valice.

Cora shrugged. "You're the ones who wanted to know so much about us sleipnirs, aren't you?" she looked at the pegasus, and sighed. "My apologies for what I said last night. I was tired, and a bit annoyed at you being new arrivals. However, Dusk is an old friend of many of us, and, if he trusts you, I will as well."

"Indeed," said Dusk. "What is our next course of action?"

"Simple," said Rainbow. "We find this guy, Hecatoncheir, and we beat the tar outta him!"

"You make it sound so easy," muttered Twilight. "We don't even know where he is!"

Then there was the sound of a scream, long and loud, and Cora grimaced. "We do now," she said, and she glanced back at the group. "You guys either have the best luck or the worst."

"We know," said Checkmate, ruefully. "Well, then, let's go, shall we? We've got a monster to slay."

Dusk grinned. "And it seems like we don't have much time to slay him."

They ran, then, to where the scream had emerged: the gate that led outside.

The gatekeeper lay, his back pressed to the door, and his eyes wide while he panted. "O-oh, Fear," he breathed, his face pale, "You all... why are you...?"

"Step aside, Lynar," said Cora, her face calm. "These wanderers want to exit this place, and they desire to see what lies outside."

"What?!" gasped Lynar, "but... but if they exit this place... They'll be killed!"

"I assure you, we won't be," replied Dusk. "Our group has cleaved jadetails in half, stared down an antlion until it cowered, and escaped from Wendigo's most dangerous general. I do believe that we can handle whatever creature lay beyond this door."

"Open the door for them," Cora said. "Lynar, you do understand who this stallion is, don't you?"

The gatekeeper's face paled as he took in the creature who stood before him. "D-Dusk..." He breathed, and he nodded, "Very well. I'll open this gate for you, but I want you all to make sure that you return, alright? Also, leave the children here. They'll be safer inside this fortified volcano than outside where the predator can take them as his prey."

Checkmate stepped up to him. "I've no complaints to that," he said. "Alright, all of you, let's see just what this 'Hecatoncheir' is like, and then we'll take him down! When we're done here, we'll take the Ignis, and then we'll go to Darkfrost and stop Wendigo!"

With a unanimous cheer (besides, of course, the youngest, who grumbled), the door began to open, as the group, now consisting of nine, stepped outside, into the desert, and into the waiting arms of the monster feared by the sleipnirs.