A Game of Chess

The first reaction to seeing Dusk's blood drip onto the ground and Checkmate's body was simple: shock. None of the ponies watching could believe their eyes as the mysterious, stoical mercenary had thrown himself between Hecatoncheir's blade and its prey, taking the blow rather than its intended victim.

"D-dammit..." gasped Dusk, obviously in massive pain. "I-I probably should've thought that... through a b-bit... a bit more, shouldn't I?"

Hecatocheir let out a gasp of pain, then, as the dagger fell from his hoof. Dusk fell with it, crashing down on his stomach beside Checkmate, the blood-soaked weapon's hilt sticking up from his back, as blood began to pool beneath him.

"Dammit, you idiot!" shouted Valice, as the changeling ran over to the fallen unicorn. "What the hell were you trying to accomplish?!"

Dusk groaned. "I-I'm not sure," he admitted. "I guess... I just wanted to help Checkmate... but... I guess it's too late now... i-isn't it?"

"Too late?" hissed Hecatoncheir, and he let out a cry of agony. "Oh, it most certainly is TOO LATE! I swear to Fear, Chronos, and all those other damned gods, that I will tear you pathetic lot apart! Oh, but Dusk" - His voice became more cruel, and less enraged - "you're right-hooved, aren't you?"

Cora's face paled. "Wh... You wouldn't dare!" she shouted. "How could you even insinuate such a thing?!"

"Please," snarled the burnt sleipnir, "I... Argh! He's already dying, isn't he? Not absorbing him would be a... a WASTE!"

He reached a hoof over Dusk's body, just as Valice drew the twin daggers and pointed them at his throat. "Don't even try it," she hissed, "or, I promise you, I'll kill you."

"Oh, a worthless changeling is showing love towards others? How... cliché..." Hecatoncheir's eyes widened, then, and he gasped in pain. "D-dammit! DAMN YOU ALL...! Such worthless, useless creatures... I-I am immortal! I can't... be bested by such..."

Dusk's eyes glimmered. "Perhaps, it's time, then," he said, although his voice still shook, "that I show you... that I show you the true power of a pony such as I..."

He stood, then, slowly, as he worked his way to his hooves. His legs shook, and his face showed clear signs of agony, but still, Dusk stood.

"But... but how...?!" Hecatoncheir hissed, stepping back. "How could you possibly show such willpower...?! To even be able stand with such an injury is... IMPOSSIBLE!"

"What's the matter...?" rasped Dusk, as he slowly stepped forward, stumbling as he walked. "Are you... afraid, Hecatoncheir? Is a sleipnir showing fear...? How... cliché..."

"No, stay BACK!" screamed the burnt sleipnir.

"Stay back?" asked Dusk, and his voice seemed to quiver in rage. "You and your brother... you threatened an innocent with death... You tried to kill these children... And worst... of all... Hecatoncheir, you tried to kill my friends..."

Twilight's eyes widened. "F-friends..." she whispered.

"LEAVE ME BE!" screamed Hecatoncheir. "You... NO! STAY AWAY!"

Dusk still continued to step towards his enemy, stumbling and nearly falling several times, but continued, nonetheless. "This dagger," he gasped, running his hoof over the hilt, "it's yours, isn't it...? Well, then, do want to take it back...? Because I'll show you... I'll tell you just why I've know Illia for all these years... why I knew to come here to the Desert of Death after these ponies... and... why I have so many scars, but not on my face... Can you guess why, Hecatoncheir...?"

At last, he had the beast cornered, at the edge of the platform. "Here," he breathed, and his hoof closed around the hilt of the bloody dagger, "let me show you!"

The dagger was ripped from Dusk's back in an impressive show of blood and gore, as both burst from the wound, as if the dagger had been actling like a lid on the gash.

"Take a good look, Hecatoncheir!" Dusk shouted. "Look at the reason for everything!"

The group let out a collective gasp, then, as the wound began to change. A small, light-blue light ran along its length, and the gash began to sew itself up, as the blood stopped erupting from it.

All that remained was yet another scar that seemed to blend in with the rest.

Hecatoncheir's eyes widened, then, and he screamed once more. "You...!" he cried. "You're... an ALICORN?!"

"Former alicorn, actually," Dusk wheezed, "a prototype, so to speak, but everything's still here. I can't die, and wounds simply heal themselves up, I have immense power, and my magic is still powerful, even with a broken horn." He threw the dagger, then, into the magma, and watched as it disintegrated.

Checkmate stood up, as the hands around him had dissipated, and he stared at Dusk in shock. The others seemed to be following suit, as they drunk in everything he said with wide eyes and gaping mouths. The only one who didn't display those traits was Cora, who simply watched with a deadpan, cold look on her face.

"Twilight Sparkle," said Dusk, then, and the mare jumped in surprise, "do you recall what I said yesterday, as we went through the cavern towards the antlion's den? That lighting up was only one of constellation's most basic abilities? Well, I'm about to show you a more... intermediate one, and the reason that this blade is truly so special."

He held the massive sword outwards, then, and the group watched in silent awe as the sword known as "Constellation" began to alter. A layer of ice began to form over the blade, as the sword itself became a pale, whitish-blue, and the lines that ran over it changed to grey. Then, to their collective surprise - for the umpteenth time that day - Dusk himself started to change, his coat becoming pure white, and his mane a light-blue. The scars still remained, however, even through the alteration.

Hecatoncheir stepped back once more, so that his hooves were just barely touching the edge of the platform. "No... NO NO NO! D-don't... DON'T EVEN TRY TO...!"

"So you are afraid," said Dusk, nonchalantly. "How positively droll. I was originally just going to wait until we challenged Wendigo to make this reveal - after all, it feels somewhat off to have two of these in a row, wouldn't you say? - but I feel as if this is necessary. I'm not just going to kill you, Hecatoncheir; that would be far too light for a being such as yourself."

"No, you wouldn't dare!" hissed Hecatoncheir.

"I wouldn't?" Dusk asked, his voice cold. "You don't know me, then, do you? You don't understand who I am, what I am, and why I'm here now. I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to shatter your soul, and I'm going to send you to hell where you belong!"

Hecatoncheir gasped, then, and looked behind him. Fire behind, ice in front. Flame and frost, both undesirable outcomes. "I... I don't..."

The blade was plunged in, then, into Hecatoncheir's chest.

The beast let out a gasp, and whimpered. "I-I... I don't... want to... die... Brother..."

And then, before their eyes, Hecatoncheir slumped forward, dead, and Dusk pulled the blade from his body. The mercenary looked at the creature with disgust, before he shook his head, sadly.

"Too late," he said, quietly.

The others still stared, their eyes still wide with shock, before Twilight decided to speak. "Dusk..." she breathed, "that was incredible! Why didn't you ever tell us that you could do that?"

And then, before Dusk could speak, a new sound entered into the room: clapping. Slow, mocking clapping that seemed to echo around the area.

"Good show, Dusk," said the voice slowly, mockingly. "Honestly, you're quite good with a sword, although I shouldn't expect any less from you, should I?"

The group whirled around, then, to see a figure standing in the passageway that had once been blocked by fire. It was a windigo; tall, with a cruel smirk on its muzzle, and eyes that were like ice-flows.

"Wendigo," Dusk growled. "Why are you here?"

"You two know each other?" Rainbow asked, looking between the tyrant and the mercenary.

"Oh, but of course!" laughed Wendigo, as he stepped over to Hecatoncheir's corpse. "Asgard was such a fool, thinking that he could hide his brother behind himself and call it a 'disguise'. A shame that his consciousness was able to flee, though... Oh, well, it won't distract me from this, I'm sure."

The windigo gripped the hilt of the Ignis, and looked it over. "Such a strange weapon, wouldn't you say?" he asked. "A blade that can not only pierce the flesh of a windigo, but that can force them to become tangible, opaque... How intriguing, eh, Checkmate?" Wendigo threw the blade up into the air, then, and Checkmate caught it.

The stallion looked over the red blade that shone in his left hoof, and back up at Wendigo. "Yeah," he said, "it's strange, alright, but considering what we've just learned over the last hour, it seems absolutely normal."

Dusk shook his head, and glanced over at Wendigo with eyes of fire. "But that begs the question: why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Wendigo said, and he laughed. "Please, why else would I be here, if not for this thing that lay before me now?" He gestured to Hecatoncheir's dead body, and ran his tongue over his muzzle. "Well, would any of you like to make a guess?"

Cora's face paled. "You're not -!"

Wendigo laughed once more. "Oh, you're quite intelligent, aren't you? What about you, Checkmate? Do you understand?"

"You bastard...!" hissed the stallion.

"I certainly try," replied the tyrant, as a cruel sneer fell over his face. "Indeed, what an idiot these two are... it would be such a waste to just leave this body here, unabsorbed, un... devoured."

Twilight's eyes widened in realization. "You sick monster! How could you even think of doing that to anypony?!"

"T-Twilight..." Applejack said, her face pale, "he doesn't really mean... devoured, d-does he...?"

"D-don't be ridiculous, Applejack," Rarity said, although she seemed nervous, "not even a ruffian such as him would do such a... a revolting thing, I'm certain!"

Wendigo laughed, again, and clapped his hooves together mockingly. "You honestly believe that I have standards?" he said, and showed off his teeth. Many of them were flat, but some had been noticeably filed into sharp, jagged structures. "Oh, come, now! A cruel, irredeemable bastard such as myself?"

"At least he admits it," growled Valice, readying her daggers.

"Why should I bother to hide it away?" asked the beast, as he stepped closer to their dead enemy. "It's true, isn't it? You lot despise me, you want to see me dead, and gone, and away from those worthless little creatures you call 'friends'..."

"You're disgusting," said Checkmate, not even bothering to hide the venom in his voice. "I don't know how Rolan could ever have come to trust you in the first place, you Chronos-damned, heartless bastard!"

"Seconded," said Dusk, drawing the ice-coated Constellation. "Do you really think that you can best us?"

Twilight stepped up between the two. "Yeah," she growled, "you can say whatever you want about yourself, but it doesn't change the fact that you're just a sick, murderous criminal!"

"Ha!" laughed Wendigo. "I guess there's no arguing with such shortsighted fools! None of you can possibly understand the will of a god such as I!"

"'A god'?" asked Rainbow. "You're no god! Celestia is a goddess and Luna is a goddess, but you? Even Dusk is more of a god than you'll ever be!"

Wendigo looked towards the mercenary in question. "Dusk, eh?" he asked, and he smirked. "Really, do you find my old foe to be as powerful as I? I am the strongest creature on the face of this damned planet, and in its heavens, and even beyond that! Some mere former alicorn cannot possibly be even a fraction of my true strength!"

"You're just inflating your own ego," Dusk growled.

"Perhaps," admitted Wendigo, "and that's where the Zephyr comes in. I'm already powerful as I am now, but with a weapon as great as that, I shall become the most perfect creature in this entire world - no, this entire universe, and then..." he stopped, and his eyes widened. "Never mind, that isn't important."

"What isn't?" Cora asked, cautiously.

"What I was about to say, of course," replied the tyrant. "It doesn't concern any of you, after all, so why should I say it? What is important, however, is the body at my hooves... You did quite a number on him, didn't you, Dusk?"

Wendigo reached down, then, and sliced one of Hecatoncheir's forelegs loose from his charred front. "Hm... I love it when my meat is already cooked. It makes it so much more worth the wait, wouldn't you agree, Checkmate?"

Checkmate's eyes widened. "You're not seriously going to...?!"

He didn't even have time to finish that thought, as Wendigo bit down into the charred flesh that lay in his hooves. "Perfect," he said, "you're quite a chef, Twilight Sparkle, wouldn't you say?" He laughed again, throwing his head back as his foul mirth filled the air around them, and blood began to dribble down his chin.

Checkmate began to shudder, then, as the words that were sewn into his mind began to resurface.

"There are no graves in Darkfrost..."

Twilight began to tremble, horrified. "You... you...!"

"What's wrong?" taunted the tyrant. "Is there a problem with eating the flesh of another species? Griffons do so, and nopony ever calls them out on it."

"They don't eat sentient ponies!" Rainbow hissed, although her eyes were wide, and her face looked green.

"Oh, but is there truly a difference between a rabbit and a sleipnir? Both are beneath me, after all."

"What disgusting arrogance...!" Rarity growled. "So this is the reality of Darkfrost! It is of little wonder that Checkmate wants a beast such as you dead!"

Wendigo laughed. "Oh, but can he do so? That is the question. I am immortal, powerful, and have the entirety of Deun's army serving me. Nothing can stop me."

"Famous last words," Valice growled. "I promise you that, when we're finished, Darkfrost shall be freed!"

"But can a changeling truly stop me? If your worthless queen can't stop me, can a lowly servant such as you do so? And of the rest of you, Dusk is the only one who even remotely worries me, and he's lost much of his powers since our last clash, so now, nothing can stop me, short of Chronos himself, or Pr-" He stopped, then, and cursed, silently. "No, nothing can stop this, so I'd advise you to either surrender now, or to die with the rest of your pathetic kind!"

And then, before any of them could say anything else, Wendigo vanished once more, not even attempting to fight them. With him left the body of Hecatoncheir, and the leg that he'd torn into with his fangs.

Dusk let out a gasp, then, and fell to the ground, the ice disappearing from Constellation, and his coat and mane changing to become normal, once more. "Ugh, I think I pushed that a bit too much..." he gasped.

"Dusk!" Twilight, Checkmate, and the rest of the group gathered around him. The former alicorn didn't move, his eyes shut, but they could still see the steady rising-and-falling of his chest.

"He's alive," Rarity said, stepping back. "It seems that he's lost consciousness due to using a large amount of his magical energy on that transformation. But still, to imagine that he held that much power within himself, and he never thought to tell us..." She shook her head.

"We'd better get him back to our chamber," said Checkmate. "Cora, can you tell the others about what happened with Asgard and Hecatoncheir?"

There's no need for that, said a new voice. They should be fine if I speak with them.

The Ignis began to change, then, as a new sleipnir appeared before them. She was about Khaza's height, and had a crimson mane and a copper-colored coat. She spoke in a voice that held the accent that all of the sleipnirs seemed to have, and was slightly higher pitched than Rarity was.

"My apologies for everything," she said, and shook her head. "I did not expect Asgard to go so far to protect his brother, but I am here, now, and I want to make things right."

"Thank you," said Cora, softly. "I'm sure that the others'll listen if you're the one to tell them, Illia."

"I certainly hope so," replied the spirit of the Ignis, and she sighed. "However, who's to say that they'll listen? Perhaps they will assume me to be an impostor..."

"I think they'll just be happy to know that Hecatoncheir's gone," said Twilight. "But I don't think that this is over just yet. Remember what Wendigo said? Something about Asgard getting loose...?"

Illia sighed, once more. "I wouldn't worry about Asgard. Without a body, he's quite harmless, and has not truly done much to warrant an arrest, in any case. The only crime that he's truly guilty of is sealing me away, and even then, it was all for his brother..."

Checkmate shook his head. "I'm amazed that such good intentions would lead to all of this," he said, quietly.

"The world isn't black and white, Checkmate," said Cora. "It's all grey, and sometimes even the villains only want to do the right thing, but wind up on the wrong side..."

"In either case," said Applejack, "Ah think that all of us should go an' rest up. We ain't got a clue jus' what tomorrow's got in store fer us, an' we'll prob'ly have to leave here soon if we wanna stop Wendigo..."

"She's right," Twilight said. "I think we're all a bit shaken up over today's events. Let's just go and get some sleep, and try to recover from all of this, okay?"

"Sounds good," admitted Spike. "This entire day's just been really stressful. Pinkie's kidnapping, Valice and Dusk revealing their true identities, and watching all of you dominate Hecatoncheir makes a dragon tired..." He yawned, then, and began to walk away. "Yeah, I'll see you guys tomorrow. I think I'm just gonna sleep..."

"Wait up, Spike!" Apple Bloom shouted, as the fillies ran after the baby dragon, determined to get to bed, as well (or, as Checkmate assumed, form some other pointlessly elaborate plan).

Checkmate shook his head. "I think we should hit the hay as well," he said. "I don't think tomorrow's going to be much easier, and we've still gotta head off towards Darkfrost, and stop Wendigo for good."

"Bed first," said Rainbow, and she yawned. "Let's just go to sleep, then we'll think about stopping Wendigo..."

"Right, let's do just that," said Twilight, and the group began to walk back towards the chamber, exhausted from the activities of the day.