“I know where you’re going with this: Harmony wins in the end, right?” Cozy spread her wing to the collection of chess sets: crystal, wood, onyx, glass, and metal. Some traditional, some ornate, and some made to push Power Ponies merchandise. “No matter who wins, the same pieces go back in the same box. Even if pieces look different for different sets, they don’t change. The board doesn’t change. Players change.” She glanced at the taped hourglass beside the onyx board. “I’m back in the game, and I don’t let any piece go to waste.”

It was way too early in the morning for chess metaphors. “This isn’t a game, Cozy.”

“It’s always a game.”

---

In the shadow of political turmoil, riots, and inter-tribal conflict, Equestria cannot afford another crisis. When a legal snarl over a funeral explodes into a scandal, there may be a chance to set things right.

Now, armed with total faith in the power of friendship and harmony, Twilight Sparkle arrives in Cloudsdale to talk down a fringe movement of radical young Pegasi.

It would be a lot easier if their leader hadn't been petrified for fifty years.

• Takes place roughly 30 years after “The Last Problem” and two centuries before MLP: A New Generation