A Game of Chess

Two blades crossed. One, a dagger of obsidian, with a curse that condemned all to agony. The other, a sword with a blade like ice, with a power that could cut the flesh of even the most powerful monsters.

It was these swords, and their wielders, who fought atop the sacrificial platform in Darkfrost, blocking, countering, parrying, and dodging blows that flew from all directions, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal, as Rainbow Dash could only watch in awe.

Checkmate fought Wendigo, the two locked in a dance of blades, as they struck out at each other, neither hitting their target, but instead hitting the other's weapon, with accuracy that absolutely surprised her.

Wendigo struck out with pure power and agility that was shocking for one so large, stabbing and slashing and dodging so quickly and strongly that Checkmate looked as if he were to collapse under the pressure of the dagger.

Checkmate, on the other hoof, swung with an odd grace that was as fast as Wendigo - if not faster - and was taking a more defensive approach to the battle, striking out only when an opening appeared, but having it blocked every time.

Rainbow couldn't interfere at this point. The battle was too intense (and, she had to admit, really, really cool) for her to just run in there, grab Checkmate, and get him out of Darkfrost. No, that required a perfect, precise timing, so she just stood, along with several others on the ground, a good distance from the platform, watching the battle in awe.

"Impressive, isn't it?" asked the windigo from earlier - Rolan, as Checkmate had called him (based on his voice and build, Rainbow assumed him to be a male).

"Yeah," she replied, awe-struck.

"Wendigo's always been known for his power and magic," said Rolan, "and Checkmate's always been known for his speed and his ability to learn things quickly. This may actually be the most intense battle between Wendigo and anypony for the last few centuries, depending on how long it lasts."

He grinned at her. An odd sight, given the fact that his teeth were semi-transparent.

"If Checkmate can win this and kill Wendigo, then we - everypony in Darkfrost - all go free."

Rainbow looked over at him. It was unheard of for a windigo to be friendly. According to the ancient lore, they were all selfish, vile creatures that only wanted to destroy whatever lay in their path. But there, beside her, was a surprisingly friendly and laid-back windigo who was watching this battle with a large grin on his face. It seemed especially odd to her, given that the same windigo had just been shouting at her and telling her to return home.

"Do you really think he can?" she asked.

Rolan shrugged. "It depends. If he can get the upper hoof, then he should have no problem. On the other hoof, however, this is Wendigo that we're talking about, and he didn't become the king of the windigoes for just sitting around and giving us orders... It could go either way at this point really."

"You sound awfully casual about it," Rainbow replied. "I mean, your king - who you all seem to hate - could be killed here and you could be freed. You don't exactly seem too excited about it."

"After a few thousand years, Rainbow Dash," replied the windigo, "you learn not to get overly excited over something like this. Otherwise, you may be disappointed."

They turned back, and watched as Wendigo struck out towards Checkmate.

"You worthless brat!" the king of the windigoes growled. "Just go to Hell already, will you?!"

"Not yet," hissed Checkmate. "Not until I've killed you!"

"Too bad," sneered Wendigo, striking from below. "Looks like you're just going to die here!"

Checkmate blocked the attack, and ducked to dodge a horizontal slash. "You think that I'm going to die now? I've struggled - by Chronos I've struggled - for eight damned years! All to kill you, and I won't let you hurt anypony else!"

Checkmate slashed from on high, but immediately changed the direction of his blade so that the sword went diagonal, the tip of the blade grazing the area just beneath Wendigo's eye.

The monster shouted in pain, dropping the dagger to the ground, and clutched at the area below his eye where blood the color of foamy water dripped.

Wendigo simply smirked at this, though. "Ha! You've drawn blood. Already you're one of my best opponents."

"Are you admitting that I'm good with a sword?" Checkmate asked, seeming genuinely surprised.

"Of course!" said Wendigo, smirking. "Anypony who can even hit me deserves some credit. However, I'm afraid that this game of ours is at an end."

Rolan tensed up, "Dammit, no!" He hissed, angrily. "Checkmate...!"

And then, Wendigo raised his hoof, the one not holding a dagger, and pointed it straight at Checkmate. In an instant, ice covered the stallion's legs, leaving him immobile, as the sword went flying from Checkmate's hoof and landed on the platform, elsewhere.

"Too bad, Checkmate," taunted Wendigo. "And here I thought that you knew of my magical proficiency. Oh, well. I guess that you'll just have to die. Slowly, and painfully."

The windigo raised the dagger high above his head, plunging it into Checkmate's back, and tearing his cloak. The stallion let out a scream of pain, and the monster began to laugh.

"D-damn... you..." Checkmate hissed. "I..."

"What's wrong, Checkmate?" Asked Wendigo. "I thought that you wanted to die, coming out here and all... And if you desire death, then who am I to deny you the right?"

Rainbow felt herself beginning to fly, but Rolan quickly grabbed her tail.

"Get down, you idiot!" He hissed. "Do you wanna die, too?!"

"I have to help him!" She countered. "Let me go! I'm not about to let him die!"

"Why not?!" Rolan hissed. "What does Checkmate mean to you?! Is he worth dying for?!"

"Of course he is!" The words left her mouth before she thought of them. "Because Checkmate is my friend!"

Immediately, the grip on her tail was released.

"That's all that I needed to hear," replied Rolan. "Now get going! If you're gonna save Checkmate, then do it now!"

"R-right!" Rainbow flew forward, landing on the platform behind Wendigo. "Hey! Bastard!" She still didn't know what that word meant, but it seemed to get the windigo's attention.

He turned towards her, pulling his sword out of Checkmate's back, leaving a large red stain on his cloak as the stallion, now unconscious, lay on the metal.

"Now... who are you?" asked Wendigo, seeming rather surprised by this. "Why don't you tell me, so that I can make your death nice and painful?"

"Yeah, right!" Rainbow countered. "I'm not stupid, you know! I'm not about to give my name away to some psychopath!" Again, a word that she didn't know the definition for, and had only learned from Twilight. However, it seemed oddly appropriate here.

"Smart brat," muttered the windigo. "So I guess you're here for Checkmate, eh?"

"What does it matter to you?" Rainbow growled. "Just let him go, and I won't hurt you."

"You? Hurt me?" Wendigo threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, what a stupid, worthless little brat you are. Nopony, save Checkmate and a few other, slightly more significant creatures can even touch me."

"Well, I will!" Shouted the cyan mare. "You wanna know why? Because I'm the most awesome pegasus ever!"

Wendigo smirked. "Let's see you put your money where your mouth is, while Checkmate bleeds to death!"

This time, Rainbow Dash was the one who laughed. "You really think that I'm gonna fight you?"

"Wh-what do you...?" the king of the windigoes looked surprised, again. "What do you mean?!"

"I mean that I'm no fool. I've planned this out, and now, I take Checkmate out of this place!"

Rainbow Dash shot straight up, to as high as she could reach, before she began to spin rapidly, massively accelerating. Then, she began to flash between every visible color of the rainbow - fitting, of course -, as she flew straight down towards where Checkmate lay, creating a massive ray of rainbow light that shot off in all directions.

"A sonic rainboom," whispered Rolan, in awe. "I haven't seen one of those in years... Maybe this mare's got more to her than meets the eye..."

"What the hell...?!" cried Wendigo. "How could any pegasus generate this much speed?! Gah!" he shouted as Rainbow Dash flew through him, the energy knocking him down, as she grabbed Checkmate and flew off.

"You worthless brat!" shouted the king of the windigoes, in rage. "I'll kill you for this! I'll kill both of you!"

But Rainbow Dash was not paying attention, as she was holding Checkmate, who was bleeding heavily, and flying through the wind storm, leaving a massive rainbow in her wake. She flew with an impossible amount of speed, towards the horizon and out of Darkfrost, making sure not to fly directly towards Equestria, but away from it. That way, she figured, Wendigo would not be able to track her. As she continued to fly, this time readjusting her trajectory to go towards Equestria, she saw the clouds begin to give way to moonlight. But, still, she continued to fly with alacrity, not stopping for anything.

At last, after mere minutes of flying, surprisingly, she reached Ponyville, carrying Checkmate's prone form.

The stallion had lost consciousness, and was still bleeding heavily. The hospital couldn't help a pony like this, as they dealt only in broken bones and small illnesses. Perhaps, occasionally, a more serious disease, but never such a massive gash. They would never even have seen such a thing before, let alone treated it.

No, Rainbow had to find a pony who could close up this wound, and fast. Her mind quickly came to a conclusion on who to seek out, and she grimaced as the option came to light. It would have to do.

Without any hesitation, she flew to Carousel Boutique, and knocked on the door as loudly as she could.

Rarity opened the door, then, and stared at her for several seconds before talking.

"Rainbow Dash, why are you out flying at this time in the morning?" she hadn't noticed Checkmate yet, and sounded as tired as she looked, with her eyes half-closed, appearing as if she were to fall into unconsciousness then-and-there.

"Rarity, please! It's Checkmate!" Rainbow begged.

"Why, what's wrong with...?" and then she saw him, bloody and unconscious, and her eyes snapped open. "Oh, Celestia... Come on, get him inside. I'll see if I can sew up this wound. And... don't wake up Sweetie Belle, whatever you do! The last thing that I need is for her to see this..."

"I-is there anything else that I can do?" asked Rainbow, desperately.

Rarity looked up at her, as she pulled the cloak off of Checkmate's back. "Yes, go and get Twilight! For a wound this great, I'll need all the help that I can get to ensure that it heals properly and does not become infected... Oh, Celestia..."

Rainbow leaned in to see, and Rarity clamped her hoof over the pegasus's eyes. "Don't look! Just... just go and get Twilight."

"R-right, I'll..."

"Hurry! We don't know how much time there is before he bleeds out, and a wound this large could become infected by anything around it!"

Rainbow, as soon as these words left Rarity's mouth, rushed from the boutique to the library, and knocked on the door even harder than she did at the unicorn's house.

The door was answered by Spike, who looked almost half-dead from tiredness.

Dead...

No, she couldn't think about that! Without even letting Spike say anything, Rainbow rushed inside, glancing about frantically for Twilight. She had to find her... Otherwise, Checkmate would...

"Spike," she shouted, cutting off her own train of thought, "where's Twilight?!"

"She's upstairs, trying to -"

"Twilight!" Rainbow shouted, as she flew up the stairs. She was frantic, and rushed as fast as she could, nearly hitting the ceiling due to her speed.

The cyan pegasus quickly glanced about the upstairs, attempting to locate the alicorn. At last, after what felt like an eternity (but was really only two seconds), Rainbow saw Twilight in the lone bed that sat in the room, and flew over to her, shaking the lavender alicorn with all of her might.

"Twilight!" she shouted, again, "wake up!"

"Wh... whatizzit?" Slurred an obviously tired Twilight Sparkle.

Rainbow grabbed her, then, and pulled her out of bed.

"Twilight, come quick! It's an emergency!"

The alicorn immediately snapped awake. "Wh-what's wrong?!"

"It's Checkmate! He's..." Rainbow sobbed.

"What is it?!" Twilight shouted in reply. "What's wrong with Checkmate?!"

"He left today, and I followed him, and... and he's..."

"Where is he?" Twilight asked.

"I left him at Carousel Boutique. Rarity's... Rarity's sewing up the wound. She wants you to help her heal it up completely."

Twilight immediately began to run, not questioning Rainbow anymore. "Alright, let's go, then!"

It was evident that she realized just the restriction on time the two had, even with not knowing the whole story.

The duo ran - well, one ran, one flew - from the library to Carousel Boutique as quickly as they could, and burst into the front, quickly running into Rarity's sewing room.

The white unicorn was using her magic to sew up Checkmate's wound, staring at it with horror and disgust as she ran the thread through it.

"Rarity! I've got Twilight!" said Rainbow.

"Good," replied Rarity, urgently. "Now get her over here!"

Twilight walked over, stared at Checkmate's back, and her eyes widened in horror. "Oh, Celestia..." she whispered.

"I know," said Rarity. "It's no wonder he never took that cloak off."

Rainbow ran over. "Why? What's... Oh..."

Checkmate's back was covered in no less than twenty scars, green and yellow in color. They completely took up his back, running all over it, some straight lines and others curved, and gave it a wretched, discolored look. Such a disgusting thing as that made Rainbow all the more enraged with Wendigo and his actions. How could anypony, regardless of their reasons, do such a thing...?

She shuddered. "That... that monster..."

"Pardon?" asked Rarity, not taking her eyes off her work. "What do you mean?"

"The one who did this to him... he's the one who Checkmate was after," Rainbow explained.

Twilight looked over at her as she used her magic to heal the wound. "The one who did this to him? He wouldn't happen to be a... windigo, would he?"

"How'd you guess?" asked Rainbow, grimacing.

The alicorn shook her head, as her magic began to wash over the gash. "A week before he left, Checkmate picked up a book from my library. The Adventurer's Bestiary, a book on monsters, and told me that he was researching windigoes. Plus, based on the way that he reacted to hearing me say that they'd all died out years ago..."

"You're right," Rainbow muttered, ruefully. "He was a windigo. The king of them, actually. Some... bastard called Wendigo."

"A windigo named Wendigo?" asked Rarity, still focusing on stitching up the wound, as it was absolutely massive, and it was evident that the unicorn was taking her time to ensure there were no mistakes. "That doesn't exactly sound very creative. In fact, it sounds positively bland."

"That's not the point!" growled the pegasus. "The point is that Checkmate suffered - for years - in a land that we thought no longer existed! And now... Now look at him!"

"Calm down, Rainbow," said Twilight, quietly. "We need to be careful about this. If we make one mistake, then Checkmate could end up being scarred."

"Why would it matter?" Rainbow asked, coldly. "He's already got twenty."

"Just go upstairs and sit down, darling," said Rarity. "We don't want to wake up Sweetie Belle and have her see... this."

"R-right," the cyan mare whispered. "I'll just go and sit down for a bit." It was a bit strange, coming from her, but she just needed a way to calm herself down after seeing Checkmate get his back cut open. She needed to relax, to clear her thoughts. After all, freaking out wouldn't help the stallion become better.

If anything, it would only make things worse.

And so, Rainbow Dash flew upstairs, and walked into the guest room. She sat down on the bed, and had almost cleared her head of everything when she saw something sitting against the wall.

She stepped over to examine it, and leapt back in surprise, a small cry escaping her.

It was a blue sword, semi-transparent, like ice.

Just like the sword that she'd left back in Darkfrost.

Rainbow examined the blade, quickly, and saw the milky-white blood from Wendigo on its tip. She felt her heart beginning to race, and her face paled, again.

How... how was this possible? She made sure to fly away from Equestria at first so that Wendigo wouldn't find them, and the rainboom should have died off by then, so how had this sword found its way back to them?

Unless... No. That couldn't be possible.

She held the sword in her mouth, and glanced at it from several angles, before she replaced it against the wall.

It was the exact same as the blade that Checkmate had used.

Which meant that either the windigoes had somehow found them, in which case they were trying to help Checkmate defeat Wendigo...

... Or that it followed them back to Ponyville itself.