+ The Time Has Come, the Time Is Now +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: Everyone in Wonderland!
Where: The chessboard hills
When: Monday, June 11, all day starting at 10:00 AM
Rating: R for (sometimes excessive) violence
Summary: The Queen of Hearts has declared war and the time for battle has come.
The Story:
♥ ICly, the Real Things who will act as pieces volunteered and are led by the Red Queen. The Mirrors were chosen by the Queen of Hearts without being given a choice. The Queen of Hearts announced her choices to her Mirrors very directly, with an order to show up at 10:00 AM on the chessboard, ready to fight. The Red Queen announced her choices more politely, but just as firmly, with a text message sent out over the network listing her pieces and requesting their assistance to protect their fellow Real Things. Characters were not ICly able to respond to this message.

♥ Those pieces who choose to obey the summons will have time to gather any items or weapons they might want to have with them, within reason. Those who don't heed the summons will find themselves suddenly and instantly transported to their square on the chessboard when 10:00 AM rolls around. They will arrive with anything that was on their person at the time, as well as one weapon (whatever it would be normal for them to use). Likewise, any spectators who are not in or around the stands by 10:00 AM will find themselves transported there.

♥ Each player sports an armband, white for the Real Things and Black for the Mirrors, with the shape of their assigned chess piece embroidered in the opposite color. Royalty pieces wear crowns indicative of their status. Should a pawn be promoted to queen, a crown will appear on their head.

♥ Pieces will find that they can't leave their assigned spots until they're told what square to move to by either the Queen of Hearts or the Red Queen. And if they refuse to move, after a couple of moments, an unseen force will scoot them along to their new space.

♥ When threading moves on the board, please find the appropriate top-level under which to comment! It might be helpful to label your thread with which move/encounter you're playing out.

♥ Players on the board can not communicate with those in the stands and vice versa (other than by jumping around and flailing, I guess). However, players on the board can communicate directly with those in squares adjacent to them or with any challenger whose square they share. Since some pieces have a lot of down time, feel free to have them chat with others on the board while they're waiting around.

♥ Directions from the Queens can be assumed. Go ahead and play out moves without waiting for a comment to officially announce them.

♥ The plotting and info post for this log is here.

♥ For your convenience, here are links to the thread headers:

The Donation Box
Pre-Game
The Game - Moves 1-20
The Game - Moves 21-40
The Game - Moves 41-60
The Game - Moves 61-80
The Game - Moves 81-100
The Game - Moves 101-117
The Holding Area
The Stands

Have fun!

Comments

[modore]

Me too, for my Mirror.

[He pauses, then decides to just ask her what he's wondering, because really, this conversation can't get much more awkward than it is.]

Why is your Mirror's cutie mark different from yours? Does it mean something?

[He has no idea if that might be normal for Mirror ponies. His own Mirror is an adult, so...]

[truefriendship]

We have the same cutie mark. She's just covered hers up with a fake one.

[She assumes, anyway. Maybe in her world Starlight really did get an equal sign as a cutie mark. But the staff she's carrying around, completely lacking in any magic power besides what Starlight gives it, suggests otherwise.]

[modore]

Why would she do something like that?

[He glances at the field.]

And why an equal sign?

[truefriendship]

Because she hates cutie marks. It's her whole deal.

[It used to be Starlight's whole deal.]

[modore]

[He thinks about that for a minute.]

I don't really get it.

[But he also doesn't really know what cutie marks are about. Just that ponies seem to have them.]

But...you know, if this is too personal, we don't have to talk about it.

[truefriendship]

No, it's okay.

[It hurts to talk about, but... hiding it is probably worse. She knows what Applejack would say. Be honest.]

Cutie marks are a mark of a pony's special talents. Both Sunburst and I have magic as our special talent, but he got his first. I... didn't take it well. I kind of blamed cutie marks for our friendships falling apart and then created a brainwashed cult of cutie mark-less ponies? So... presumably, she's still leading that cult.

[modore]

[He listens in surprise and then takes a second to consider.]

You're that powerful?

[truefriendship]

Yep. [She sounds a little sheepish, but she's not about to deny it.] I didn't even mention the part where I turned back time as part of a revenge plot.

[modore]

[Turning back time? You don't say...]

You...turned back time? How?

[truefriendship]

A spell, of course. Modified and tied to the power of a magical friendship map.

[modore]

Yeah...of course.

When I travel through time, it just kind of happens.

[truefriendship]

[What.]

Is that... normal for humans?

[modore]

Not where I'm from. I think I'm the only person who can do it.

[truefriendship]

The only po--person in the entire world? Why you?

[modore]

I don't know. Usually, it's mostly just annoying and I get involved in things that just end badly for me.

[truefriendship]

And you don't get to time travel away from that?

[modore]

I can't control it. Not really. Or not usually anyway. For the most part, I just end up going back in time a few minutes to fix or change something so that it turns out better.

[truefriendship]

So wait, how does it end badly if it turns out better?

[modore]

Once I saved a kid from being hit by a truck and I got hit by a car instead.

[...]

Trucks and cars are motorized vehicles.

[truefriendship]

Like on trains, yes, so I assumed.

[Don't try and comprehend the level of technology in Equestria it makes no sense at all.]

That's unfortunate, of course, but… you clearly survived. Would the kid have?

[modore]

No. I was just unconscious for a few days. The kid would definitely have died.

[He knows the tradeoff is totally worth it. But it still doesn't change the fact that getting involved in other people's problems has traditionally not gone well for him.]