The Discover Check Chess Club was a small establishment, but the building itself seemed to exude an almost hubris-like pride, standing proud and gleaming on its own block, apart from the strip malls that surrounded it. Even the wooden sign that hung outside the door, swinging in the breeze, seemed to carry a certain arrogance to it.

It was 9:15 and a unicorn with dark brown fur and long blue mane with pencil-thin mustache strode into the club. He wore a gray business suit and tie and thick glasses that magnified his angry blue eyes. His cutie mark was a golden bit and a pair of diamonds. The club was filled with several chess tables, at which several couples and groups sat, playing chess on polished boards and drinking sparkling champagne and fancy hors d'oeuvres served to them by uniformed waiters. A crystal chandelier cast the whole room in light and an antique phonograph in the corner was playing Beethoofen. Ignoring all this, the suited unicorn walked into the back of the room, going past the restrooms and up to a door that read "Employees Only." He knocked at the door and the sign slid backwards, revealing a pair of green eyes glaring at him suspiciously.

"Passphrase," a voice grunted from the other side of the door, muffled by the soundproofing spell.

"Add a G to it and it's 'gone,'" the unicorn grunted back, rolling his eyes at the ridiculous riddle. What was it with Zugzwang and riddles? The jerk was probably just trying to prove how smart he was.

The door unlocked and swung open, permitting the visitor entrance to the private room. Here there were several low tables, each sitting one. A hanging lamp in the center of the room provided inadequate lighting, casting everything into shadow. A small stage was set up at the front of the room, shielded by a velvet curtain. Most of the other tables were already occupied by other ponies, all of whom turned and glared at the new entrant suspiciously. Even in the shadowy lighting, he recognized them all: representatives from the Canter Nostra, the Japonese Yakuza, the Sinalope cartel, the Mareish Mob...there was even a griffon that bore the tattoos of a Griffon Mafia enforcer and a heavily scarred zebra that was no doubt sent from the zebra militias. Members of every major and a few minor criminal organizations in Equestria, and some beyond.

This was a terrible idea. Every single one of the guests in this room almost certainly had a very good reason to hate all of the others. The room had turned into a tinderbox, and judging by the furtive glances, tight jaws and twitching hooves, it wasn't going to be long before some idiot set a spark. Slowly, the unicorn took a seat at a free table, glancing around at everypony else as he settled into the cushioned chair. The guard shut the door and locked it behind him. The minutes ticked by in total, tense silence, nopony daring to move or to look at one another.

Finally, at 9:30 precisely, the curtains on the stage swept open to reveal Zugzwang. He was sitting in the midst of a stage, backlit by a lamp that cast most of his body and his face into shadow, but allowed enough light to make him recognizable, even without the scent of Saddle Arabian tobacco wafting from the cigarette in his mouth. Every head turned to face him.

"Mein freunde," Zugzwang spoke, looking around at them all. "It's good to see you all here. Now, you all know why you're here." He paused for a moment, puffing on the cigarette.

"You all wish to bid on the secret to my recent miracle. You all want to know the spell that allows one to open any lock. You all want to be the ones with the power to get into anything, go anywhere you please. And you—or, at the very least, your masters—are all willing to pay dearly for it...even kill for it, judging by the fact that all of you are armed.

"So, we shall start the bidding soon, as it would be unwise for you gentleponies to be left in the same room for too long. But before we start, some entertainment. It seems we have an uninvited guest."

Zugzwang's shadowy head turned to face the unicorn in the back. Like puppets on a string, every head turned to follow his gaze.

"Mr. Finder, why don't you take off that silly disguise and join us as you are?"

For a moment, the gray-suited unicorn did not react, looking around the room to see that everypony was staring back at him with growing comprehension and hatred in their eyes. "Damn," he muttered and sprang into action. Reaching into his suit, he pulled out a boomerang and tossed it at the guard, stunning him and preventing him from drawing the pistol from his concealed shoulder holster. In the same movement, Phillip grabbed the chair he was sitting on and tossed it at the griffon's head, making direct contact and knocking him flat.

As one, the other ponies surged to their hooves and charged at him. Overturning the table to slow them down, Phillip ran back at the wall. At the last moment, he leapt up, kicked off the wall, and seized the hanging lamp. With a groan, the lamp chain broken, bringing the heavy weight down on the heads of several of his attackers, knocking them all out.

The remaining thugs all leapt at him, but he rolled, twisted and dodged, avoiding every attack and striking back with powerful counters to the most vulnerable targets. Blows resounded throw the room, mixing with the crashing of tables and oaths and curses of combat. One by one, the bodies fell until it was only the zebra remaining, grappling with him in the center of the room. He seized Phillip by the collar and made to strike him, but Phillip headbutted him in the nose, trapped his hoof, and twisted his body to throw him to the ground, breaking his elbow as he did so. The zebra's cry of pain was cut short by Phillip's knee striking him in temple.

"Ah, alone at last," Zugzwang said, a faint trace of amusement in his voice as he watched Phillip doff his disguise, removing the false cutie mark, fake horn, wig and mustache, and glasses and contacts. "Did you like my riddle, liebling?"

"You just couldn't resist being clever, could you?" Phillip growled. Keeping his voice even and refraining from attacking right away took a great effort: he was, once again, face to face with the pony who had threatened to destroy everything and everypony he loved. Only the knowledge that he was probably protected against attack in some way prevented him from leaping up onto the stage and crushing his skull.

"It amuses me to see these donkeys stumbling over the simplest of problems," Zugzwang replied, his eyes obscured by shadows as he stared back at Phillip. "Speaking of which, you no doubt know how I managed to open the vault and the jail cells?"

"Not with a spell," Phillip replied. "Through simple blackmail. Both the bank manager and the warden have a child at the PCRTC: they were both wearing wristbands. They were the ones who opened the vault and the jail doors, because you have somepony working for you at the center, somepony who will kill their children if they disobeyed."

Zugzwang chuckled, a short, humorless exhalation that sent chills up Phillip's spine. "Very, very good, Phillip. Yes, indeed, there is somepony among the fine doctors and nurses there, a cold-blooded killer who works for me, who today will be lurking nearby two of your closest friends."

Flash and Twilight, Phillip thought, struggling not to reveal any emotion, not a trace of concern or fear. Out loud, he said in his lowest voice that rumbled like thunder, "If you hurt them, I'll kill you."

"Afraid you're going to lose them like your people, Phil?" Zugzwang replied, obviously not intimidated in the slightest. "Worried that you'll fail them like you failed your father?"

Phillip froze up, his expression changing to resemble somepony who had just been hit in the face with a sledgehammer. The cruel words echoed in his mind, silencing every other thought.

"It's true, mein liebling," Zugzwang continued, the unseen smile evident in his mocking tone. "I know everything about you. And not unlike the child who peeks at his Hearth's Warming presents, I have to say, the truth is sadly anticlimactic. Beneath that cold demeanor, behind the stern facade, you're just a little colt playing detective, crying over daddy." He snorted, puffing smoke out of his shaded lips. "I can't decide if that's the funniest thing I've ever heard or the most pathetic. Either way, thinking about you wailing over your father's corpse always brings a smile to my face."

Some sort of explosion took place in Phillip's brain, rage rushing upwards and spurring him to move. With a snarl, he leapt up onto the stage, seizing Zugzwang by the collar. Instantly, he froze, staring in disbelief.

Proximity had revealed what the shadows had hidden: the pony on stage was nothing more than a dummy. Its blank gaze and idiotic smile mocked the horrified detective.

"You're very, very clever, Phillip," Zugzwang's voice spoke out of the concealed speaker in the dummy's chest. It was as light and even as before, but it carried a chilling darkness in it now. "I was so hoping you would be here. Because now it means that I get to teach you a lesson about what happens to ponies who get in my way."

An acrid scent assault Phillip's nostrils. A poison gas was spreading into the room, seeping in from concealed vents in the ceiling. Coughing, Phillip leapt off the stage and sprinted towards the door. He made it halfway before his knees gave out, sending him to the floor. Choking, he struggled back up and began to crawl desperately towards the door, using every ounce of willpower into moving one hoof before the next.

But the gas was too strong. Phillip collapsed to the floor inches from the door. His eyelids wavered as he fought a losing battle against sleep. The very last image that flickered through his mind was Flash, lying dead on the floor, staring sightlessly upward.

And then the darkness claimed him.

Author's Notes:

In which things go from bad to worse.