Phillip pushed open the door and he and Flash walked out of the mill towards the collection of ponies waiting around the campfire. "Flash!" Twilight shouted, flying at him and nearly knocking him over in a hug. "You're all right!"

"Course I am," Flash said, hugging her back with equal relief. "Are you okay? Were you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay," Twilight said.

"She's okay, he's okay," Pinkie Pie smiled, bouncing over happily. "I'm okay, we're all okay!" She hugged both ponies, then the others gathered in a large group hug.

Having managed to escape the hug, Phillip leaned against a wall to catch his breath. It was now almost two in the morning and he was exhausted, but the sight of his friends, alive and safe, caused a surge of relief to flow through his veins.

That's when they heard a sound. A single pair of hooves, slowly stamping out against the ground in a round of applause. A voice spoke out of the darkness. "Congratulations, Mister Finder. You're as smart as I'd hoped."

That voice. He hadn't heard that voice in eight years, but there was no mistaking it. It belonged to a pony that was supposed to be dead. Instantly alert, he turned towards the voice, moving to place himself between it and his friends, who had frozen in surprise and were looking towards the pony that was slowly approaching them from the shadows.

The unicorn had neatly combed tan fur and walnut brown mane, mustache and tail, which had some streaks of gray. He wore a dark blue suit, perfectly clean, with a black tie. His cutie mark was a chess piece: a black king. He approached them with a small, arrogant smile, nose upturned as he examined them. His eyes were as black as a deep tunnel, displaying no emotion at all.

"Surprised to see me again, Mister Finder?" he said softly. His voice had a Gerwhin accent, though not as strong as Photo Finish's. It was slick as oil, but cold as ice water.

"A little," Phillip replied, glaring icily at the unicorn. "Last time I saw you, you jumped out of a fifth-story window." In his mind, he went back eight years, to that day...

Trottgart, the capital city of the region of Gerwhinny. He trotted quickly down the cobbled-stone street through the shadowy haze of an early cloudy morning. He had him at last. Today was the day the villain would pay for his crimes.

He turned the corner and there it was: a tall building, red brick with white trim, five stories stretching towards the dim gray sky. A few carriages, a number displaying family coats of arms, were parked in front of the building. As he came around, he saw a shape in the fifth-story window. It was him: there was no mistaking the walnut mane styled around the horn.

Almost as soon as he had seen it, the pony in the window leaned forward and plummeted out the window, falling towards the ground. He disappeared briefly behind one of the carriages, but Phillip heard the wet splat of flesh striking solid ground. For a moment, he stood there, astonished by what he had seen. Then he hurried forward: he had to see, to be sure. But before he had taken a couple steps, a powerful blow knocked him to the street. Pain erupted across his head, radiating from where he had struck it against the stone.

"Entschuldigung!" the delivery pegasus called over his shoulder, not even bothering to slow. It took a moment for Phillip to get back to his hooves and recollect his hat. By that time, a small crowd of astonished pedestrians had already gathered around the body. Moving around the carriages, he pushed through the crowd and knelt by the body.

The black eyes were open and empty. The head lay in a small puddle of its own blood, which stained the expensive suit. He reached down and placed his hoof against the unicorn's neck. There was no pulse to be felt.

As he stood back up and turned to leave, he felt a momentary disappointment that he would not see the villain charged for his crimes, not have the satisfaction of seeing him pay for his crimes in a prison cell. But the feeling quickly passed. It didn't matter. The chessmaster was dead.

"Now, just a minute here," Applejack said. "Who are you?"

"Ah, forgive me," the unicorn smirked, bending his forelegs in a slight bow. "My name is Zugzwang."

"Zugzwang?" Twilight asked. "The famous Gerwhin scholar and nine-time Equestrian chess champion?"

"Ah, so my reputation has not been entirely forgotten," Zugzwang replied, looking slightly pleased.

"But...you're dead," Twilight said. "You committed suicide eight years ago."

"That's what he wanted everypony to think," Phillip said icily, never taking his eyes off of the other stallion. "How'd you do it?"

Zugzwang scoffed. "Easy. A well-parked carriage to block your view for a moment, a cushioning spell to slow my momentum when I was near the ground, some makeup for the blood, a few willing actors—including a messenger pony hired to knock you down at the right moment to give me time to prepare—a squash ball concealed underneath my foreleg to temporarily stop my pulse, and a form of meditation to slow my breathing. A child could have done it." He smirked. "Of course, I couldn't have pulled it off without you. You, like anypony, saw only what you wanted to see. And what you wanted was to see me dead. So I gave you a little show, and you went and told everypony that Zugzwang was dead, and the rest is history."

Phillip's jaw tightened at the realization that he had been tricked so easily. "Clever bastard," he growled through his teeth.

"Danke," Zugzwang replied, inclining his head.

"Okay, officially lost here," Rainbow said, using her wings to rise a few feet off the ground. "Just who the hay are you?"

"The only one of my kind," Zugzwang replied. "I'm a consulting criminal."

"A what?" Rainbow asked. Smiling, Zugzwang nodded to Phillip, gesturing for him to explain.

"It means he's a planner," Phillip said, his voice low. Every syllable was heavy with disgust and anger. "Hiding behind a facade, he plans and organizes crimes; in exchange, he gets part of the profits. He controlled over half the crime in Equestria at one point—everything from bank robbery, forgery and smuggling to kidnapping, blackmail and murder."

"Until you came along, that is," Zugzwang said. For the first time, his eyes showed emotion: anger flickered in the cold darkness like a flame as he stared at Phillip. "You almost got me, Mister Finder. I had to fake my death to escape, go underground and start over again. It was extremely inconveniencing: took me seven years to rebuild." He lit up his horn with a pale golden glow, extracting a pack of cigarettes and a silver lighter from the pocket of his suit. Extracting one of the cigarettes, he lit it with the lighter. "And that's when I moved my attention to you, Mr. Finder. I've been watching you and your friends for some time."

"Yeah. I found your little hovel," Phillip said. The memory of the walls of photographs still sent a small shudder down his spine.

"I wanted to be close to you," Zugzwang said, inhaling his cigarette. "Wanted to see for myself how well you handled the various tests that I gave you."

"Tests?" Twilight said, understanding slowly dawning on her face.

Zugzwang took a longer drag on his cigarette and exhaled smoke out of his nostrils, a smile on his face and the black eyes empty once more. "Yes. I arranged for that pearl necklace to be hidden in your book. I told Monopoly about the silver vein underneath Fluttershy's property and convinced him that she could be persuaded to give it up. I gave Blast Cap the plan to flood Canterlot. I told Lockpick about the rare coins in the Town Hall vault. I helped Doctor Nevermore set up his laboratory in the Everfree Forest. And I kidnapped you and brought you all here."

Rainbow Dash glared at the other pony. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't bring you down hard!"

"Because if you attempted to harm me, you would die," Zugzwang said calmly. "And it would be very inconsiderate of you to get blood on my suit." He dusted off the front of his suit and adjusted his tie. "It's an Arponi."

"He's not bluffing, Rainbow," Phillip said. "Stand down." Rainbow slowly lowered herself to the ground, glaring at Zugzwang the whole way.

"Why do this?" Spike asked. "Ponies could have died. My friends could have died!"

Zugzwang chuckled. It was a horrible sound: forced and harsh, like a tree branch creaking in the wind, containing no humor at all. "Well, you see, little dragon, that's what ponies do!"

The sudden violence, the intense hatred in his voice struck them all like a physical blow. Everypony flinched slightly as the last syllable echoed in the dark air.

Zugzwang took another long drag on his cigarette, seeming to calm himself. "And I have to admit, it did make a fun game. An excellent distraction. But it's over now, Mister Finder. Tonight, I had all of you in my power, and could have killed you all in an instant had I desired. So consider this a friendly warning of what happens if you don't keep your distance."

"Oh, let me guess. You kill me," Phillip said dryly, obviously not intimidated at all.

"Kill you?" Zugzwang stated, frowning slightly. "Well...yes. I will kill you, eventually. But I can't just kill you. That'd be so boring. No, no, no." He took a breath and locked eyes with Phillip. "If you don't keep your distance from me, Phillip Finder," he said slowly. "I will burn you. I will burn from the inside out. I will trample on everything you value. I will destroy everything you care about. I will kill everypony you love. Your friends there, dead. The clockmaker and the mailmare, dead. The candymare and the musician, dead. The sniper and the psychiatrist, dead. The blank flank fillies, dead. And then, when you have nothing left, when the only thing of value you possess is your life...then you will have my permission to die."

"Not gonna happen," Flash snarled, stepping forward. "You're under arrest."

Zugzwang smirked. His horn lit up, flashing out a signal. The next minute, a red dot of light appeared on the head of everypony: laser sights from sniper rifles. Everypony froze, knowing that any sudden movement could mean death.

"Amusing, Corporal Sentry," Zugzwang said. "But did you honestly think I would appear without backup?" He looked at each of them, frozen like statues, swallowing and sweating as the red lights flickered over their skulls. "You know, now that I think about it, there's really no reason for me not to kill you here. I'm truly sorry, but you just can't be allowed to continue."

Phillip's mind raced. He felt the others behind him, felt their fear, could hear their accelerated breathing and their hearts pounding in their chests, theirs and his. He had to think of an answer: he couldn't allow them to die here. He locked eyes with Zugzwang and gazed into the black abyss, and the abyss stared back.

And then he knew.

"But you need me," he spoke. Zugzwang did not react, but continued to stare. Phillip continued. "You said so yourself, you enjoyed this game, this game of chess. And you can't play a game on your own. No, you need an opponent. Somepony to outsmart. Somepony that you can use to prove just how clever you are." He paused, swallowing. "So, come on, mate. Let's play."

There was a long silence. The red dots continued to shine in the dark, dancing across their heads. The drumming of the pony's hearts sounded louder and louder in their heads until they thought they would go mad. Then, just when the heaviness in the air became unbearable, Zugzwang smiled.

"Yes," he said softly, in an almost loving tone, striding towards Phillip. "There he is. The great detective, the cold logician and strategist." He paused inches from Phillip's face. "The white knight, striding across the chessboard to save the day. That's the pony I want." Slowly, he reached up and gently stroked Phillip's cheek with the back of his hoof. Phillip did not respond to the gesture.

"Yes. Let us play." He backed up. Taking a final puff on his cigarette, he flicked it at the ground at Phillip's hooves. "Auf Wiedersehen, Liebling. We will see each other again soon." His horn glowed and with a final nod, he teleported away. A moment later, the red laser sights disappeared. The ponies panted in relief.

Phillip slowly looked down at the cigarette, then raised his hoof and stamped it out, grinding it beneath his hoof as he gritted his teeth. "It's over, everypony," Twilight stammered. "Let's...let's go home."

Each of the ponies turned and headed back towards Ponyville, trembling from both cold and shock.

Author's Notes:

At long last...the chapter I waited over a year to write.

We're almost done. One more chapter of this story.