A Game of Chess

Blood.

Blood was everywhere, coating the stones, the buildings, the snow...

And Checkmate stood, amidst it all, his eyes unfocused as if in a daze. Where exactly was he? It appeared to be his hometown, the Hellgate Mines, but it seemed... off. Even the darkness that covered it bathed it in an eerie, crimson glow that seemed to burn all that it touched.

"Why...?" the stallion heard.

He turned towards the voice, his eyes widening as he recognized it, but saw nothing.

"Why... did... you..." it was less of a question, and more of a demand, as the voice, quiet, filled the air around him.

Checkmate bowed his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean for this... any of this... I didn't want it to happen..."

"But it did happen..." the air converged before him as a unicorn, her coat a dark red, and her mane a dark blue, stepped from it. "You know what you did... don't you... Check?"

"Yes... I was such a fool... Khaza," he said, not meeting her eyes. "I didn't realize... just... what it was that I'd done... until after the knife left my hooves..."

The unicorn stepped over to him, and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I understand," she replied, her voice calm. "I'd have done the same in your position. Honestly, I would've."

Checkmate smiled, slightly, "Thank you," he said, and shook his head. "I just... I can't even find the correct words. It's been... how long, now? Eight years. To think that day..."

Khaza looked away from him. "Yes, I know," she answered. "It has been far too long, hasn't it? But this place... you know where we are, right?"

"No... It looks like the Hellgate Mines, but I don't exactly..."

"It's your mind, Checkmate. This is how you view your home."

"My mind?" Checkmate cocked his head at this. "You mean... I'm dreaming, aren't I?"

"What is the last thing that you remember?" asked Khaza, as she stepped around him.

Checkmate followed her with his eyes, "Wendigo plunged Conviction into my back... but I remember nothing more. I assume that I lost consciousness?"

"Yes," Khaza replied. "Wendigo almost killed you... but you got lucky at the last minute."

"And... I guess that you're an illusion of my mind, Khaza?" Checkmate asked.

"Perhaps," the unicorn mused. "Although... who's to say? I could be but a figment of your imagination... or perhaps a Dreamwalker. Like, for example, the princess standing behind you."

Checkmate turned, quickly, and found himself facing a large alicorn, a coat the color of the night sky, and a mane that wavered and rippled as if it were alive.

"Checkmate Vigarde," she said, quietly, "Celestia sent me as soon as she heard from Twilight Sparkle of what happened in Darkfrost. I'm... sorry."

The earth pony relaxed, "You've nothing to apologize for, Luna," he replied. "You've done nothing wrong... I... however... I failed, didn't I...?" He hung his head, "I should have guessed, from the beginning, that I don't have the ability to fight Wendigo... I'm weak. Too weak, even."

"Check..." Khaza whispered. "You're not weak. I'd know firsthand that you're strong."

The stallion winced at this, as though he were struck. "I am weak, though..." he whispered. "I... Wendigo was right. I'm absolutely... worthless. I can't save Darkfrost. Not now... Not ever."

"But... you have to!" Luna said. "If you do not... then all hope is lost, and the world will perish."

"That's my point!" Checkmate shouted. "All of you... Celestia, yourself, Discord... You all expect me to be this great and all-powerful hero. Well guess what? I'm not a hero. I've never been a hero, and I never will be a hero. Eight years of my life were spent suffering at my training... I fought, and I fought, but I never grew any stronger. And so, in the end, I failed. I failed, and now Wendigo has won."

"But that's the problem," said Khaza, as she turned towards him. "You are a hero, Checkmate. You just don't think that you are."

Luna nodded. "She's right. You mustn't give up hope, not when you have done so much for so many ponies."

"Fine!" Checkmate hissed. "Name one pony who I helped. One pony whose life I made better."

"Mine," Khaza replied.

Checkmate and Luna turned towards her in surprise.

"How did I make your life any better?" The stallion asked. "I... I couldn't have. But if this were just a dream, then there's no way that you'd simply be forgiving me for everything..."

"Are you real?" The princess of the night asked the unicorn, "or are you a piece of Checkmate's dream?"

"What do you think?" Answered the mare. "Am I real? Or am I false?"

"It doesn't matter either way," mused a new voice, "because you will all die the same."

The three whirled around, quickly, and found themselves facing a windigo only slightly smaller than Luna. Unlike the others, his coat was slightly grey, rather than entirely white, and he stood tall with a knightly posture, his stance resembling that of the royal guards.

"Deun," growled Checkmate, "why are you here?"

Luna's eyes narrowed. "And, more importantly," she said through grit teeth, "how did you arrive here? Few ponies can swim the Dream Channels, much less find a specific pony."

"Indeed," replied the windigo, coldly, "And that is why Wendigo chose me for this mission. My abilities to travel the Dream Channels are... quite useful, to put it simply."

"'Useful' indeed," Luna growled. "To think that there are still windigoes with such power... And windigoes who still obey Wendigo without saying anything."

"I thought that all windigoes hated Wendigo," Khaza muttered. "Why are you acting so different?"

Deun turned away. "I have my reasons," he said. "None of them, of course, concern you. But that is beside the point."

"Why are you here?" Checkmate demanded, again.

"I've come to deliver a message from Wendigo. Nothing more." The windigo's eyes betrayed no emotion, instead looking between each of the three ponies with steel and ice.

Luna stepped towards him. "A message?" She asked. "Do tell."

"Of course. By royal decree, all who aided Checkmate Vigarde in his escape from Darkfrost shall be... put to death. Regardless of from where they hail. In addition to this, Checkmate himself is now an enemy of all windigoes. Besides me, of course, whoever sees him is to kill him on the spot. That is all." Still, Deun's eyes showed nothing, but instead a cool, steely glare that seemed to pierce through the three before him.

"He's waited long enough," Checkmate muttered. "And you, Deun... I'm amazed that Wendigo would send his own general after me."

"Indeed," Khaza growled. "How much has changed in the past eight years?"

Deun kept his face motionless. "Much, I'm afraid. Since the day that you decided to act upon your own selfish will and betray our nation, Khaza, I'm afraid that I've only become stronger, and Wendigo has accepted me as his most trusted general. And to think that you - especially you - would only surrender your abilities for such a heartless cause..."

"That's enough from you!" the unicorn hissed, her horn beginning to glow. "One more word... and I will end you!"

The general sighed. "So... emotional. How pathetic," he murmured. "But, as I said, I am not here to fight. If you so desire to challenge me, then simply pursue this useless quest of yours."

"'Quest'?" Luna asked. "What quest do you mean... exactly?"

"The foolish quest for the Ignis," Deun explained. "The only blade that can make a windigo's flesh become like that of a pony's... and possible to damage with conventional weapons. The blade held by the accursed sleipnirs, enemies of our kind, and those wreathed in flames."

Checkmate stepped towards him, "Why... are you telling us this?" he asked. "You never had to say that... so why did you...?"

Silence reigned for a few second, before Deun spoke. "Remember this, Checkmate Vigarde. I am a windigo, bound to the will of Wendigo. He is my king, and my commander, and I am not to question his orders. You, on the other hoof, are not my enemy, but nor are you my friend. I do not wish to see you become collateral damage in our want to build the Zephyr, but if you attempt to slay the king of Darkfrost, then I will use every weapon I have in my arsenal - be it magic, swordsmanship, or sheer numbers - in order to kill you. And I will not, no matter what occurs, give up on my pursuit."

He turned as if to leave, as Khaza stepped up to him from behind. "Halt! Tell me this, Deun," she said, coldly. "What has happened to Darkfrost?!"

"Whatever do you mean?" asked the general. "How could you - a... fabrication of Checkmate's own mind - know anything of how Darkfrost used to be... Unless, of course... No, that is absurd." He shook his head, as if purging himself of a thought.

Luna simply looked over at Khaza as if surprised. "Khaza, a-are you really a fabrication, or...?"

The unicorn continued, interrupting Luna's line of thought. "What has that bastard done to it in the last eight years that I'm not aware of?! Tell me!"

Again, for but a moment, there was absolute silence, before, once more, Deun spoke. "Again... it matters not. Regardless of who you are, whether the true Khaza or an illusion, I refuse to elaborate on my reasons. Farewell to all of you."

And then, just as quickly as he arrived, the general of the windigoes vanished, dissolving into nothingness, as he left Checkmate's dream.

The earth pony turned towards Khaza. "Tell me... Khaza... How do you know so much about this, when even I don't know some of this information? If you're just a dream, then tell me."

Khaza stared at the stallion, for just a moment, before she stated. "Checkmate... I understand that this must be confusing for you... given that Deun spoke to me as if I'm real, and with what I know... but... I cannot say everything yet, either. I'm sorry... but there is much that you mustn't know as of now. All that you need to know is that Deun is dangerous, and with this new decree... any windigo that finds you is to kill you. Or they'll face death."

Just as the general had vanished, so too did Khaza, as her body became like mist and joined the air around them.

Luna turned towards him, then. "Checkmate... who was that? You knew her, I'm sure."

"Her name... was Khaza. My best friend for ten years in Darkfrost, ever since I was just a colt, since I was only five years old," replied the earth pony, his voice quiet. "She and I were extremely close. We spent hours just talking, playing around... Everything that friends do, right?"

Luna nodded, and Checkmate continued. "However... eight years ago, everything changed," a tear ran down his face, as he said. "I returned home one day - the day that I ran - and found myself staring at several dead bodies. My entire family had been slaughtered, and I could do nothing... nothing to help them."

"But... what of the unicorn? What of Khaza?" asked the alicorn.

"That day... It's a day that will haunt me forever," Checkmate whispered. "Everypony that I cared for died... My parents... my sister... and Khaza herself. All because of a certain heartless bastard."

"Wendigo."

"Yeah. It was after Khaza's death that I fled to the border... And that I escaped to Equestria. It's all because I was so weak... I have to become stronger. Not just for Darkfrost, but for myself. So that I'll never have to watch innocents die by that monster's hoof again."

The mare placed a hoof on his shoulder. "And you shall become stronger," she said, quietly. "I know that for a fact. After all, nopony besides you has ever escaped from Darkfrost. That is a very notable accomplishment."

The stallion shifted. "I know... but it was all luck. From what I remember, I just passed out, and then... Somehow I awoke, unharmed by Wendigo."

"I understand that you were very lucky," she admitted. "But that is not what matters now, is it? The point is that Wendigo considers you to be a credible enough threat that he is attempting to kill you, even sending General Deun after you. Isn't that a good thing?"

Checkmate could not deny that she seemed much less formal, and certainly much more childish, than Celestia, who was already rather informal to begin with. It was somehow both endearing and, strangely, adorable. How she did that, he would never understand.

"Perhaps," he mused. "If Wendigo considers me to be a threat, then that means that he sees me as powerful enough to possibly defeat him... and, in that case, I may be able to do just that..."

"So... you'll try again?" Luna looked surprisingly excited.

"... Yes," Checkmate replied, after some hesitation. "I will."

"Yes!" Luna shouted, throwing her hoof up into the air in joy, before coughing. "Er... I mean, that is excellent."

Checkmate smiled, in spite of himself. He found himself liking this princess even more than Celestia.

"Well... in that case..." he said, "do you think that you can allow me to wake up? I'll need to consult my... my friends on this matter, and if I'm going to find this 'Ignis' that Deun mentioned..."

"Say no more," said the princess of the night. "I shall send you back to the world of the awake immediately. And I'll also make sure to tell my sister of what happened here."

And then, Luna's words still ringing in his ears, Checkmate Vigarde awoke.