I can't even come up with a title for this thread [xD]

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The grey-furred unicorn had come to a stop at the 'board's' edge. It was rather large, big enough in fact, for ponies to take the place of the pieces. The large pieces, occupying the make-shift play arena, were made of stone, quite heavy. It required magic, or strength, to play. Discord, luckily, had magic. It was in open view to the walking paths in the green, some already gathering to watch as it's participants began to gather. The spir-- unicorn seated himself and looked over towards themare.

He offered a smirk. "Oh, did you want me to take you seriously?" He teased. "I was going to give you a handicap considering your injuries." He lovingly cooed.

The stallion, of sorts, pushed to stand, rubbing himself against the subspot. He walked onto the gamefloor. He weaved around the stone pieces, which would eye him as he passed, some snorting in aggression as they were pumped for the game. Discord walked toward the blacksidr, his ear pricked forward. His horn lit up with a white aura as he moved one of his pawn forwaes. The stone base shuffled against the grass as it was pushed into the grid.

"Oh, an important thing about wizard chess. It can be a wee bit messy. Take care with your choices." He sat and eyed the mare.

Challenge ho!

Many of the pieces seemed to be armed, in armor or with some sort of decorative piece that suited their role. The problem with wizard chess was the enchanted pieces were very aggressive and destroyed the enemy piece when correctly place. It would be quite a chaotic game. Ho ho ho!

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The alicorn in disguise offered the draconequus in disguise a small smile. "Why, how chivalrous of you strife" she pushed to stand an moved to the white side (which she assumed would be her side) The alicorn couldn't help but note, in amusement, that he had moved his pawn forward. Was it not the white pieces that traditionally went first? No matter, she preferred to go second anyways.

Before that she addressed the animated pieces. "Good morning." she offered them all a smile. "I'm sure you are all eager to get the game under way. I just have one thing to say. ~ Thank you for your valiant efforts!" She'd at least try to get on the good side of the pieces since that might mean they'd argue a little less.

Has she played so-called 'wizard's chess' before? Maybe, maybe not... She and Star Swirl discovered many things on their multi-dimensional adventures. And... who's to say that she didn't continue to dabble in the practice here and there over the millennia? The discoveries in those worlds were always so.. fascinating.

Who's to say that those discoveries aren't the reason for many things 'modern' Equestria had.

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He knew what his life was about and if Sunny thought the rules would be followed in even this game, she would be sorely mistook. White did normally go first, it was tradition, but Dis--Strife had a thing about tradition. Living outside the box created fulfillment and pushed a pony to think, ponder, and change. Thinking creatively, particularly foregoing green in all things, provided the highest level of production. Transcending boundaries by knowingly forsaking what is expected allowed Discord to survive as long as he did. Enemies or not. He was a selfish creatures with a happenstance for creating trouble, though that hardly stopped him. While he could bend reality and find ways to avoid all physical harm, that did not mean he could not be hurt. Having a body had its downsides. Could he overcome it? No question. Would he always manage? Not often. How many times has he failed so badly...?

He wasn't telling.

Strife narrowed his eyes at the mare as she tried to kiss-up to the pieces. "It won't be so easy~ you know." Maybe it would.

His ears pinned back in annoyance as she always tried to be so primp and prime. He ruffled: fur standing on end as he perked up that stubby bit of a tail. His hoof stamped on the ground and gave it a scrape, mane shook out as he snorted. Posturing of course, to make the game really fun. He was ready for a show and he wasn't going to make it easy for the mare, for beneath certain squares were rather -- explosive additions to make the battlefield a bit more risky... Though there were some traps that moved pieces back, others up! One never knew!

"Your move my love, but -- before the game really gets settled... how about a little wager.." He cooed. "If you can beat me... one can make a request of the other, no questions asked. With -- limitations of course." He assured. "Nothing publicly humiliating, and nothing that would harm the other." Though he would not harm her, it was still needed to be said for the sake of honor!

---

Roll 1D5 every square moved from here on in!

1: explosion
2: moved back a square
3: moved up a square
4: moved left
5: moved right

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Celestia glanced back at Discord and foalishly stuck out her tongue. "Besides... how many of you want to see his face when he loses?" Was that a challenge? I do believe it was. However... she quickly found out some of the rules of this game...

"I believe that might be a fun challenge; you're on." she smiled and spun to her pieces again. "Move ahead a space pleace." And she began to move about the same time the piece did... oops...

Just as the piece crossed into the next square the trap went off and the ground (and the piece) exploded! Celestia was taken off guard: But she did manage to throw up a sun-colored shield. Unfortunately the force still sent her flying back at Discord's side of the field. Before the piece Discord had moved had a chance to react she bounced right off of it and high into the air with an 'eeeeeep'. The magical field was thankfully protecting her until it began to sputter and went out on the recovering alicorn. Then came the fall. The pieces would catch the pretty mare!

Sure the fact they were stone and would probably hurt more didn't matter much to them. They didn't think that far ahead.

Each piece tried not to leave the square they were in since it was against the rules though...

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Discord seated himself off the field, in the grass. He knew there were rather dangerous traps, but it seems Tia was a bit of a fool when it came to battle! Seeing her move and the explosion happen his horn lit up, but she seemed to manage to shield herself. He had no such protective magic, but he did have a plenty of reality bending spells. His ears pricked up as he fluffed out, frizizng out. Padiding back he would stop when she came to a halt-- sort of. If she wasn't too tossled about he would attempt to levitate her and set her off and outside the board. He narrowed his eyes in a scowling grump.

"Sunny!" the old 'pony' snorted. "You don't step in the middle of a battlefield!" And not expect to not get blown to smithereens. "THe little Eventide would have my tail, or what's left of it." He noted with a scoff.

Shaking his head he motioned his hoof, his other pawn sliding forward, but as he moved his piece a glow surrounded his paw, which had been moved beside his other pawn, and it was moved forward an extra space (3).

"Ho ho~ your turn little sunspot. And -- let us not step hoof into the field again?" Since, due to the explosion, the piece she moved would have been either destoryed or heavily damaged....

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Celestia was thankfully not harmed when she came own into the catch of the stone soldiers. It was enough to aggravate the healing wound a little and cause her to cough but besides that she forced down the coughing spasm and let herself be set down beside the board.

"A little warning would have been wonderful." she blew her somewhat messy mane out from in front of her eyes and glanced to her pieces. The piece had been well... Destroyed. "You ~ please move forward." she'd say with a bit of a glower. She brought out the knight piece and it went all the way to the right place only to get moved to the right a space.

"I won't... Now that I know it's a minefield." was she a little upset? Maybe, probably... But she wasn't apoplectic (And she found anger to just be... tiring) so she thus just focused her efforts on attempting to outplay Discord at the game.

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The 'unicorn' arched his brow, head canting a bit as he chuckled. She seemed to be a little upset after the fumbling. So sometimes he forgot the battlefield was a bit menacing. Could that have annoyed Celestia? My, my. Tia did seem a bit upset. "Twas not as if I planted the traps." He could, or couldn't have, but wouldn't have siad he didn't unless it was true, right?

Maybe.

The officer pricked his ears and looked to Sunny. He had been standing a bit to the side of his board so of any of those squares erupted he would be at risk as well. He hoped she did not take exception to his game! The male's tail flicked as he watched her move her pieces with a bit of ire in her voice and motions. So she was a bit ruffled at the booby-trapped board. His ears pinned back as he raised his head, eyes narrowed. He motioned for yet another pawn to move ahead. He seemed to only be moving his pawns... But when he moved that pawn it was moved a space to the right (5).

"Come now Sunny...shall I kiss it better?": He cooed, doing his best to look cute and irritating at the same time.

It is possible he had no idea it was trapped, but you never know what he planned or didn't plan in the grand scheme of things. He pursed his lips and grinned at the mare. Clearly he was trying to flirt with her, make her forget the terrible explosion! Though he has been flirting with her all this time, thus far. The pieces seemed to be glaring at each other, defensive of their commander's rights to the land, it seemed! They could move on their own at times and it seemed (70) that they decided they would take revenge for their commanding officer (78). The knight would move towards Strife's pawn and slam the stone blade down onto it, destroying it for the white side! Strife flinched as stone debris was tossed all his way. He raised a hoof to block his face and looked toward the field. His ears pinned back.

"Of course you know, this means war." He dared quote.

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Celestia raised an eyebrow and gave him a look that said she didn't believe him when he said that. Alas who else could have planted the traps And Discord did like to be in multiple places at once. He did have the ability to do so should he so want!

The alicorn took a moment to sit and fix her mane, coughing quietly. The indignity of getting thrown about like that! At least she was just in the guise of a unicorn save her normal self! That would have been beyond embarrassing! Hopefully Luna never heard about that either... She'd likely never hear the end of it. 'Sunny' raised an eyebrow and found her scowl twitching as she tried to suppress a smile.

"Perhaps you could... " she let herself drift only for a smirk to appear on her face as the knight seemed to move on his own to smash down a pawn!

She got a terrible idea (81/100) ~

"Attack, my dear soldiers ~ take his troops by surprise!" (CHA 89/100) She dramatically pointed a hoof! Well.. what began a chess game was definitely warping into something else! If Strifecord's pieces were caught by surprise she could win with ease! Haha!

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The stallion seemed pretty smug with himself. He was sure she did not know the rules of wizard chess. As with anything that involved wizards there was a set of rules to be strictly followed, which wasp proceeded by another, arbitrary set of rules, that were often deemed unnecessary and flighty. It made a pony wonder how wizards, mages and the sorts didn't have more rules given their powers and it would be more closely governed... nope! If they were how else would they know that chimeras were a bad thing! Well all that aside Strife was assured he had the intellectual upperhoof, being that he was a proper mage. Battlemages like Celestia had a far different perspective on combat. Barbaric really. Feeling he could still stand a chance he would dust the debris off his chest fur.

"Quite." He murmured. "You would think this was some archaic practice, now Sunspot do remember--" But before he could spin his ego around and assert that only the most ingenious could win at this game, he was taken by her suggestion of letting him kiss her wounds. "Oh, well, perhaps later my dear we could certainly k--" But her expression slowly shifted into something quite familiar (given that the little troglodyte was often up to something himself)!

Strife's pieces were indeed caught by surprise (13)! They looked up only to se the white pieces crossing the borders. The rules of war were tossed out the window! Paw against Knight, rook knocking over kings! The queens could do naught but laugh in a distinct tone that riled their troops to sunder the others into piles of rubble! There was certain a sense of loss on the unicorn's face. He was surprised she knew the rules (or lac k-there-of) of wizard chess! Over half the explosive booby traps were detonated creating a fantastic display that had onlookers stamping their hooves in appreciation. Never had they seen such a spectacles in the longest! The park walks were always so boring, quiet. One could hear a pin drop in the exciting rabble (sarcasm) that nobles participated in. The rest of the traps moved and zipped pieces around the board until all that remained standing was Sunny's Queen and Knight and Strife's Queen and Pawn. It was a battle for the kingdom. The stallion fluffed up and scuffed his hoof.

"So, this is how it ends my dear?" He taunted.

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'Sunny' found her gaze being drawn to the gathered crowd of ponies who were stomping their hooves in appreciation of the rather chaotic mayhem that had erupted upon the squared 'board'. She cast a concerned look as a pony was narrowly missed by a piece of debris and decided to put up a shield of sorts. At least until the fighting died down and all that were left was a pair of queens and a pawn for Strifecord and a Knight for her. She kept her eye upon the pawn and hummed.

Battlefield strategy was something she had a good bit of experience with....

"Hold position.." she told the two and smiled playfully in the direction of Strifecord. "Indeed! The queens and their loyal retainers face off." she'd look to her pieces and then to Strifecord's queen and pawn.

"I believe it is your move my dear prince." oh yes she was lathering it on a little thick; all the better to potentially muddle Discord's devious mind! Going for a little psychological warfare on the side? It seems so!

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The field of battle had become ruon. Stone corpses little the gridded war platform. The sequestered sections were scorched by the booby traps released or smoldering with magic dost casthe by pieces so fierce. Positions were in such disarray that were a professional chessplayer were to observe the combatants' field, they could never solve such a conundrum. Pieces were moved in directons forbidden, black has been released of its handicap by proceedING first. It was pure... chaos.

Perhaps such had been the plan from the beginning. To stalk his mare from her place of rest and find she was quite naughty on her spare time in the stead of rest she found more work to fret over. The god of Strife would take exception to that and disrupt her little failure of vacation, marking it as a slip of the mind. Ring bed ridden she must have forgotten whom it was she shared bedding with.

In his eyes was a glimmer of pride. How quickly everything evolved into pure anarchy. He held his head high, a deep, dark chuckle rumbling in his throat. Said noise was drowned out by the thunderous clapping of hooves. The characteristically quiet nature of the park had been turned on its head. The birds warble to the excitement of battle and foals ran around laughing at the debacle that was once a sacred game of nobles turned into an unholy war of engagement between living pieces. Each piece had its own personality, manifested by the discordant nature of their creator.

Strife was beside himself with amusement. Whi would have thought? Sunny taunted him, led him, and egged his ego into responding. He was a sore loser afree all... all gods were. "Is that a challenge my love? Do not forget the pawn's strength..." his pawn was moved forward, but it was nah moved left a square, away from the knight. The pawn glared in the knight's direction.

"There are few traps set on the borad
Go in my love, find the correct one..." and quite a challenge that was.

The old officer was becoming excited, planing with no regard to actua plans. He wanted to see it... who would lose? How will the scene? He wanted to bury his chaos into her desires. Could she win or were these aspects of natural, good and bad luck just show up to hinder her...? All they had to do was capture his queen.

"Come now sunspot, impress me~" he goaded her.

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'Sunny' bit her lip as she eyed the board in which was covered with pieces of stone 'corpses'. How would she dare get her two pieces to take out the pawn before it could 'promote' itself?! She took terrible exception (1) to the presence of the pawn... A queen was manageable because one knew exactly what a queen was capable of. Now a pawn... a pawn, while weak in the beginning of a game, could become powerful and unpredictable. Two words that she didn't want to have firmly in Discord's corner!

The disguised alicorn's ears perked when she came up with a rudimentary plan. Aha! (18) "As distasteful as it might be. Do not leave your squares! Gather the large rubble under-hoof and throw it at them! Hit them~ Hit around them! Trigger the traps" And if one fell onto an exploding square? Well... that was all the better! The queen couldn't advance from across the board without risking multiple squares. The knight was in much the same risk. Who knew which square was trapped with explosives? So she'd.... bend the rules a little again. The pieces were free to move themselves.

She still intended to win this little game of theirs! But would this little plan of hers pay off? Well, she'd see!

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Strife was just as fine of trouble as Discord was. While in this form it was his duty to lay put the law of the land, he did not use a formula that was generally acceptable by law encforcement. Those that did follow his mad pace were individuals already weakened by the prongs of monotony. He broke the rules, to adhere to a strict balanfe, he didn't follow! Being able to succeed while changing the way one did something was overwhelmingly satisfying for many with the feeling that the old ways were too ineffecient. Being able to meet the same end, even when bending or breaking protocol had more officers siding with the old pony believing him an innovator and forward thinker. Even by the chains of a game he very well brought forth seemed to have no sense of reasoning.

And why should it?

He was the god of chaos and it was his perogative to twist the mundane, overbore schedules and events into the extraordinary. He did sometimes go above and beyond the call of duty which now seemed a precursor to this very moment. The riddle solving officer of law now stood against his own mate in the field of combat. Corpses of allies and enemy alike lay crumbled at their hooves. If not for the barrier it was likely the current audience would have unwittingly become participatory. Too bad. Her attempt to protect then was -- typical. He did not think one way or another of the mess that could have been. He was far too engulfed by his current game and the underhoof actions of the one before him.

Her knight would just manage to set off a few number of them (25%). "Go, show the white queen who's boss." His deep voice purred cruelly, the game going to his head. He refused to lose!

His pawn moved forward, the only direction it could go, but as soon as it moved the grid beneath it glowed and moved it towards the right (5). It would be it's advantage!. How smug was the officer. His little sunspot had become quite the rabble rouser. He couldn't be more proud. Disturbing rhe peace and assaulting a police officer were all too pleasant things to stick to her! His piece would manage to strafe any debris to toss it's way (16) and proceed towards the white queen. It needed only one more turn to vault itself into their territory.

What would such bring?

"Did you think, even with your rule bending, you could stop me?" He chuckled. "Naughty, naughty mare~" He cooed.