A Victory in Defeatby Blade HeartChaptersWhat Brought Him HereHis Very Own PartyArmor UpA Glorious DayWhat Brought Him HereHe had fashioned his mental state into that of a warrior: fearless, headstrong, loyal. His physical state... Well, he was agile, and strong. Tough too. But he lacked the stamina. Sure, he has the stats to survive a few life or death situations and get the experience, but until then he still considered himself a runt, although his was a build slightly larger than most. And he was 16. Ignorant, possibly arrogant, and still had his innocence. At least, he had never seen an actual battle, so he had no idea of the horrors of war. He did, however, hate war, and preferred one-on-one combat. He thought that proving you were stronger was more important than proving you were right. After all, history is determined by the victor, but right and wrong are determined by the champion. As for his prowess, he had everything perfected in theory, although he had never been in a fight that would allow him to practice these "skills" on a true target. He liked to think of himself as a berserker, seeing as pain inflicted by another creature only served to enrage him, but he tempered this rage with discipline. In theory, at least. He thinks he would be enraged by pain by the simple fact that he enjoys a good fight, and he enjoys certain types of pain. The discipline part because outside of combat, he was calm and reserved. Those who go to school with him even say he's slow. Not to say he hasn't been in any fights. He had been in a few fights with his father. Lost, of course, but the last few he felt had been a tie, seeing as how his father had disengaged before he gave up. He had also been in a few fights with his friends. Although, they were significantly weaker than he was, and he subdued them without throwing a punch. As for his desire to fight... He wasn't in this world to make enemies, but if someone questioned his skill, or insulted his pride, he would attempt to intimidate them, and if that didn't work, he would taunt them, and wait for them to attack first. This way, he could either dodge, and counter, or get hit, go halfway down, and come back up twice as hard as he was hit, with his own strength behind it. He did, however have moments where he lost his temper, and he was an 'unstoppable' powerhouse during those times. Quickly worn out, however. If someone angered him by being purposefully annoying, he would just wait for them to stop. They usually ceased being annoying fairly quickly because the boys would often hold wrestling matches in the locker room. He had only been in a few one-on-one, and only with 3 others, but absolutely dominated one, and was a tie with the other 2, but only because they lasted about fifteen minutes, and school was out before they could finish. They also held a few free-for-all fights, in which he had been a juggernaut. But all this introduction, and I haven't even told you what the hell happened, or given you any insight as to what will happen. So let me start. He was in school, but he was alone. Upstairs, he usually came here every morning to listen to music away from the noise downstairs, where most students gathered before they were allowed to class. The teacher had gone out for a minute, and his friend that went up with him, still wasn't up yet. He was listening to a song that played tricks on the ears. So long as you had earphones, or headphones, it sounded as if the music was coming from far down a hallway. He was listening to it on his school given iPad. His earphones were in, and everyone down the hall could hear the music playing, so the only thing that told him he was being flung backwards was his feeling, and his sight. He hit a wall with his back flat against it, and fell to the floor, his black and grey jacket, with miniature black basketball players dotting its surface, falling, and surrounding his sides. His iPad slammed into the wall beside him with a loud cracking sound. He couldn't tell if it was the iPad or his back, but he didn't exactly feel any pain. His earphones had fallen out, and he could hear a growl of suppressed rage coming from his throat, before he breathed in and let out a heavy breath. He was on one foot and one knee by now, but the pain started to make itself known, and his spine was killing him. He felt someone crouching by both of his sides, and looked to his left. He saw a cute face, with purple dyed hair, with a line of darker purple and bright pink looking at him, and felt a light hand on his left shoulder. Looking to his right, he saw a face weathered by a lifetime of working outside. Her hand was on his side, ready to help him up, and he could tell she was much stronger than he was. Rather than putting his arms around them and having them help him up, he let his pride win, and put his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. Nevertheless, they helped him up, and helped him keep his balance. Standing up, putting his hands on his lower back, and leaning backwards, he caused a series of loud cracking sounds as his spine fixed itself. Muttering thanks to those at his side he took a look at those in front of him and stood stock still. In front of him were a number of faces he had never seen, and never expected to see, and a background that was nothing like it should have been. To the farthest left was a cute little light yellow skinned girl standing with her left hand grasping her right arm and light pink hair covering half her face. Of the one eye he could see, it was an amazing green color. One person to the right, was a light blue skinned girl with rainbow colored hair, and a curiously confused look on her face. Her eyes were an attractive violet. Another person to the right was a white - literally white skinned girl with fabulous purple hair and flawless diamond earrings, and a worried look on her face. A noticeable feature she wore, was a horn in her head. Her eyes were a clear blue. Going further to the right was a pink skinned girl with dark pink hair, jumping up and down on her toes with an excited look covering her face. She even managed to get about 30 quick claps in each time her feet left the ground. Her eyes were a light blue. Spaced apart from the others were two noticeably taller women. The one on the left was white skinned, with a horn on her head, and... Wings? On her back. She had beautiful flowing blue, green, and light and dark purple hair. Her eyes were a dark purple. The one on the right was dark skinned with amazing hair that looked as if it was the night's sky itself. She also had wings and a horn. Her eyes were a dark blue. She stood with a posture that forced the mind to think of royalty. The background looked like that of a royal house you would see in movies. Directly in front of him a few feet away was a large, decorated mirror. "Are you okay?" It was the girl to his left that spoke. Her voice was femininely attractive. "Aye" His wasn't a very tactical mind, preferring raw power, but he had fairly quick reflexes, and wasn't surprised by much. Nevertheless, his reaction time to the question was slightly off. And not to say that he was stupid. Far from it, in fact, but like the beginning of this story suggests, he was headstrong, and preferred to leave the tactics for after the battle. "I'm so sorry about that, I didn't know pulling you through would have so much force!" She said it as if she had just wronged his entire bloodline. Which, to him, wasn't even close. He considered this an opportunity for a fresh start. It was obvious he wasn't in his own world anymore, and he had read enough fantasy books to know a fraction of what was going on. He had been ripped from his own world and tossed into a different one. By this purple skinned girl, apparently. It would help explain why assistance had come so quickly. "Right..." His voice trailed off as he finished the word. He was waiting for something to happen. Whether it be something that caused his death, or his reign as king, he didn't know. "So...", it was the 'summoner' speaking again. "What's your name?" He paused a moment, before answering. Going over the possible names he could give himself. Eventually, though, he answered with as much pride as he could muster in his voice. Which wasn't much, considering he rarely talked. "Kanin." It was a name he had seen in a book before, and had stuck with him. Looking around, he realized that all eyes were on him. Save for the cute girl on the far left, who couldn't decide whether she should look at the floor or the ceiling. "Well, I'm glad you made it through Kanin! I wasn't sure if i could actually pull it off, even with the princesses helping me." She makes a gesture to the taller women. As if Hell had risen forth from the fiery depths of Hade's chamber, his iPad changed to a much louder, and noticeably violent song. He walked over to where it was laying, picked it up, and flipped the cover so he could see the screen. As it had been severely cracked, it was difficult to turn the music off before some of the lyrics stuck in his head. "What song is that?" The voice had come from the blue girl, and was surprisingly tomboyish. "You can ask him that later Dash, right now we should be telling him what happened." "Fine." "So, I guess you want to know how you got here first, huh?" Almost immediately, his answer surprised everyone in the room. "Not really. I'm here, let's just leave it at that for now." After a slight pause, she recovered enough to say "Ok... Then I guess we should introduce ourselves." She starts the next sentence as if beginning a speech to a large, attentive audience. "I, am Twilight Sparkle. Royal, and faithful student to Princess Celestia," Here she makes a gesture to the taller white-skinned woman. "The raiser of the sun, and overall guardian of Equestria." 'Celestia' clears her throat, enough to get the attention of the entire room. "This," she makes a graceful gesture to the woman standing beside her, "is Princess Luna, the raiser of the moon, and overall guardian of the night, and everyone's dreams." She says the last part with an amused glance to Twilight, who begins to blush in embarrassment at the apparent ignorance of the other princess. The other girl that was at his side during the beginning of this quickly took a step up to him and, shaking his hand with a bone crushing force and vigor, introduced herself as 'Applejack', stating she couldn't wait to show him the famous Sweet Apple Acres farm. Her eyes were a shining emerald, and her hair was brilliant orange. The blue girl stepped up next to the shy girl and introduced them both, "My name's Rainbow Dash," and pointing to her friend "and this is Fluttershy." As she was introduced, 'Fluttershy' squealed in terror and embarrassment. He smiled as she did this, a warm friendly smile that caught her off guard, and a moment after she saw, she brightened. He always did have a soft spot for shy girls. The white-skinned girl next to them brushed her hair back with a stylish grace and introduced herself as 'Rarity', while the pink girl literally tackled him to the ground, hugging and squeezing the life out of him. When she was finished with that, she jumped up, pulling him with her, and putting her face a hairs width away from his, letting him know, practically forcing him to know, that she was the one they call Pinkiepie, the one and only perfect party planner. "So, you think you'll like it here?" The voice seemed to come from below him and was oddly childish, but obviously male. Twilight looked down and picked up a small scaled, miniature humanoid creature. "And this is Spike, my favorite little helper." She gives him a little cuddle at the end of the sentence and 'Spike' blushes and giggles. Actually, now that he had the fraction of a second needed to think about it, he always had a soft spot for girls exactly like the ones here before him. From the faithfully devoted to the ridiculously cheerful, and over energetic 'party animal'. They were all certainly attractive in their own rights. As he took one last look around the room, an uplifted smile spread across his face, and he answered "Aye. I think I will." His Very Own PartyIt was a warm couch he was sleeping on. After they had shown him around the town that was just outside of Canterlot, the place he was brought into, he realized that Twilight also had a horn, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had wings, he decided it would be nice to stay with Fluttershy during his first night. She was amazingly hospitable, and the animals were fun to watch. Just outside her cottage, was her animal pen, that was home to multiple different creatures. Just use your imagination. If it's a real animal, chances are it was there. She offered him her bed, but he refused and chose to sleep on the couch. He honestly preferred to sleep on the floor, as it felt more natural to him, and woke him up earlier, and better. He chose to sleep on the couch, because he didn't want her to feel bad about him sleeping on the floor. And he really only slept on the floor outside, so really, he preferred sleeping on the ground. As he woke up, he realized there was an amazing scent coming from somewhere nearby. As he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of Fluttershy putting a tray of food in the counter in front of the couch. Immediately he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I hope you like salad. I don't really have anything else to eat around here, other than animal food." "Fine with me," Although he absolutely despised most types, if not all types of salad. Picking out the parts he thought would be least likely to make him puke, he slowly ate a portion of the food while, after an exploratory inquiry into her animals, Fluttershy told him all about them. Listening attentively, he learned almost everything there is to know about raising a few species of animals, and even learned the most effective cure for a cold, and upset stomach. After he stopped eating for a few minutes during her teaching, she noticed and took his tray to her kitchen. "Many thanks." When she returned, he asked if she could continue to teach him about her favorite things. Specifically put, he asked 'you have any other amazing things you can tell me about your animals?' "Oh, no, I think twilight would want to talk to you more about where your from. She did tell you she wanted to speak to you as soon as she could, didn't she?" "Aye, that she did." Fluttershy knocked on Twilight's door. Amazingly, someone had the creativity and skill to turn a giant tree into a house. Twilight opened the door, and let them into the strangely dark tree for the sun being up in the middle of the sky. As if the devil himself brought the screams of the damned to Kanin's ears, everything lit up and it seemed as if the entire town was there, screaming 'surprise' in his face. And Pinks was less than half an inch away from him, screaming louder than all the others. His mind unconsciously registered the fact that there were books on every inch of the walls in this room, which was as large as the tree would permit, but his focus was on the act of surprise. As he lowered the one arm he raised to protect himself, he looked around and saw food everywhere. Cake, and cupcakes mostly. He did notice a punch bowl by some of the cake. He could almost feel Fluttershy cowering behind him, and felt a spear of pride in his chest, thinking that, even if just for the moment, he was the immovable object protecting her from whatever she feared. Twilight was giggling, and as Pinks handed him a cupcake and telling him she baked them herself, Twilight let him know "isn't this great? She did the same thing for me when I first came to Ponyville." "Aye. Perfect party planner indeed, yeah? She giggled as she answered, "Yeah." As they entered Fluttershy's cottage, he commented on how beautiful she looked in the moonlight. He smiled as she blushed, a fire seeming to burst from her face, making her look even better. He always thought that the act of making love was the best way to show you enjoy the company of someone. Giving pleasure to a lover, or even a friend, but also felt that it wasn't his place to decide the time. And those thoughts were exactly what went through his mind as they entered the building. Armor UpThey were back in the castle of Canterlot, him, Twilight and Celestia. She was showing him all about the ancient magicians and scholars of this world, and rarely using books for anything but pictures, displaying her impressive knowledge of Equestrian history. She also appeared to have a mastery of focus, as she used magic to levitate what seemed like a thousand books, turning pages, and reading a hundred words at a time. She was mainly focusing on an apparently very famous and well remembered master of magic, Starswirl the Bearded. Kanin had nothing against magic, other than the fact that he didn't trust it, but had a feeling this 'Starswirl' was nothing but a madman who just happened on the secrets of the gods, and had just the right amount of insanity to understand them. As she moved on to the more recent occurrences, such as the return of Nightmare Moon, who's story had been told a few moments ago, she started on how she herself had discovered a small amount of dust on a book of fairy tales that go into the lives of other-worldly adventurers. This would have been no great discovery, other than the fact that when she tried to use her own magic to brush it off, she was rewarded with quite a powerful shock. She took it to the princess, who taught her a defensive spell that allowed her to study the dust. Turned out that it was dust from a dimension where there was a magic lock, forbidding all but the highest ranking figures to use magic. At least, that's what she gathered. She discovered a spell that shut down all magic through electric pulses that would flow through the mind, body, and soul altogether. As you may suspect, electricity running through only one of those would cause immense pain and possible paralysis. During her explanation on that, Celestia commented that Twilight was a very tough magic user to have even survived that, let alone be barely affected by it. Any magic lock spell had the potential to harm a magic user, it could numb the mind, or even destroy it. Nonetheless, she had a theory that if this dust could have been transported cross-dimension, whether by the magic lock spell on it, or by someone else, she could study the dust, and possibly find a way to enter other dimensions. When she proposed this idea, Celestia took her to the mirror he first saw, and told Twilight that it was a portal to another dimension, and she was thrilled. This meant that she didn't have to worry about having to find a doorway. She could study the dust, and the powers of the mirror, and hopefully use it, and if possible, master it. Which she did. Use it, at least. Celestia just commented it was lucky Twilight hadn't pulled a malevolent force from a world that had the power to follow. As Twilight asked the imminent question, Kanin was still absorbing all this magic crap, so he tensed a bit. "So, what about your world?" Kanin was thinking about telling her what he knew, then turned his thoughts to adding a little 'excitement'. In the end, he decided to leave it simple. "Well, not much to gather from me. I was still in school, so i don't really know much about anything outside of that. A lot in theory, but never really in actuality. Never payed much attention to the news either." "Ah... So, what kind of magic did your world have?" "Didn't have magic. At least, none that we could use." "Really? No magic? How?" "Guess we just lost it. Or never had it." "That's... Kinda sad actually." "Not to me. Can't cry over what you never lost, can you?" "I guess not. Still, your world had to have something that made it amazing." "Well, I guess that's an opinion. Personally, my favorite part was the music. Most of it anyway." Before Twilight could respond, Celestia cut in. "Which reminds me, what is your special skill?" "What do you mean princess?" He said the last word as if she were a spoiled child. Not to display any hostility, or disdain, but it was more of a way of making sure she wasn't a 'high class' overlord, who put down anyone who even thought of offending her. She actually seemed to take it as a bit of humor, and gave a slight smile. "Everyone here in Equestria has a special skill. It is displayed as a cutiemark on areas reachable only by those whose trust was earned." "What, you all have birthmarks on your asses?" He said it as a joke, but the look he got from the two women were enough to make him think he got a bullseye. "It is not a birthmark, but it is found during the early lives of each and every person, and is a mark of what they are best at. And yes... It is located on the owner's posterior." A foolish smile crossed his face. "Well then, apologies for my ignorance." Celestia gave an approving smile at that, and Twilight continued Celestia's question. "So what is your special skill?" "Well, if it wasn't obvious already, we have nothing like that. But, I will say that I find myself drawn to one-on-one combat, and getting my ass kicked just to find out who's stronger than me." Twilight spoke up, rather surprised. "Really? You like to get... Hurt?" He let out a short, oddly charismatic laugh. "Only in a fight, kid. But I've never had that chance, as no one had the guts to fight me. For real, anyway. Celestia looked as if she was very interested in him now. "Really? You enjoy fighting?" "Not war princess. Just a good old fight for dominance." "I think my sister would enjoy your company. She has been absent for a long while, and she is still stuck in the old ways. I'm afraid she still doesn't get that we don't inspire fear and obedience in our subjects anymore. Rather, we allow them freedom enough to live happy and prosperous, and only hold it in our power to guide them as best we can." "Inspire fear and obedience? Sounds like a pure bred alpha. Or a pathetic whelp who's too cowardly to fight battles them self. I sincerely hope it's the former." "I believe you would be impressed. She was quite fearless, and headstrong in any battle she partook. She was also always leading the charge." "Really? I must admit, I like the thought of that. I always did find warrioress' attractive. Hope you don't mind the compliment." Celestia gives a slight smile at that, just enough for him to know that she wasn't offended. After a moment of silence, Kanin spoke up. "Well, now that you know my secret little hobby, I hope you can get me a few pieces of equipment, and give me the chance to earn the right to keep them." "Of course. What would you like?" Kanin raised an eyebrow, not sure if she understood what he meant. "I can have the blacksmith make you armor ranging from fitted leather, to full plate mail, and he excels in making weapons from short bows, to crossbows, swords to halberds, and bucklers, to tower shields." "Well, I like the sound of that. Let's go with chain mail. The weapons and shield we can find when we get there, yeah?" "Of course." As the blacksmith measured his height, and width, he was looking at the weapons all around him. The gods had gifted him with his own little peak of perfection. There were weapons ranging from powerful looking crossbows, to masterfully crafted swords that looked like they could bypass the thickest of armor. His eyes were drawn to the heavier swords, the hand and a half bastard sword. There was a whole array of them, from balanced, to thickset, to a whole extra inch of blade. That was where his enthusiasm ended, however. The shields were all too small, or too big for his liking. When Celestia said he made shields from bucklers to tower shields, he didn't think that she meant that was all he made. Because that's all there was. "So... Any other shields beside what's here?" "Sold 'em all." The blacksmith's voice was gruff. The kind you'd expect from an old veteran. "Ah. Well, I was hoping for a large round shield." "I can make one for you, but it will take a while, with me making your armor. Did ya want the Shield first, or the armor?" "Armor." The blacksmith scoffs at his answer. "You recommend something else?" "Nah, I'm just disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm of learning how to keep you and your brothers in arm's sorry asses alive with unbreakable defense." "Right. As much as I love letting my opponent wear themselves out hammering away at me, I do prefer to attack." "And leave yerself open for a quick blow. Just enough to knock your weapon to the ground, or break your arm. Or sever it." "Heheh. That is why I prefer dual wielding." "Ha! Fancy yerself a berserker then?" "I'd like to." "Well then, I hope you can tolerate pain, because you will be taking wounds that can bring down an Ursula minor." Kanin shot Celestia and Twilight an unknowing glance. Twilight answered him. "It's a creature from the Stars themselves. An Ursula minor is almost as big as the castle of Canterlot." "Well, if I'm still bleeding, then I'm still fighting." "Haha! I ever tell you I like this kid, your majesty?" "He is unique." "That he is." He was in the soldier's training grounds. He had chosen two bastard swords for now. One was balanced, which allowed for significantly faster attack speed without sacrificing durability, or damage. The other was weighted, giving it much more swing force and damage, but sacrificing attack speed. "I still don't know why you didn't choose to take a helmet." Princess Celestia did have a moderately confused look on her face. "Well, if you don't mind me saying princess, I prefer to feel my opponents blood stain my face. Gives the fight a special flavor, don't ya think?" Celestia's eyes shimmered with a hidden emotion, and Kanin gave a small smile. Twilight was interested in his fighting style, however. "So why do you fight like that?" He had been swinging his swords with increasing vigor, until he was sweating. Each practiced blow making the next come faster and harder. His fighting stance was an aggressive one, one foot significantly ahead of the other, his chest leaned forward, and his swords swinging slowly at the ready, by his sides. "Care to give some tactical input, princess?" Celestia looked at him with a piercing gaze before sending a respectful smile his way. "It increases his attack power. He can use it to easily knock an opponent to the ground, or give several quick blows to open his enemy, and then attack with his full power. It also allows him a tough stance, giving him a resistance to any attempt of knocking him down, or back, and he can still block a blow to his body, or head very easily. He can also quickly change from standing to crouching to increase his chance at protecting his legs, seeing as how this stance isn't much one for agility, jumping, or dodging wouldn't be very effective. I wonder, where did you learn this?" He immediately shot up straight, his swords moving to point the opposite direction, and, bringing his legs together and crossing his arms on his chest, he gave a disciplined salute. "From a video game, princess. You'd be surprised what you can learn from nothing if you payed attention. I'm surprised, actually. You can see the strengths and weaknesses of most combat styles fairly quickly, can't you?" "It would appear so, wouldn't it?" Kanin smiled as he relaxed and went back to practicing. A Glorious DayHe had spent the majority of the time training, perfecting his stance, and exploring his weapons. The quartermaster even taught him how to take care of them, and with having just received his armor, the quartermaster began teaching him how to take care of that. The chain mail fit perfectly. He had to admit too, he felt badass. The rest of the time, he was either speaking with Fluttershy about her animals, and flirting with her half the time, or speaking with Twilight about his world, and even learning a bit about magic. It seemed, after all, that if he was staying in this world, he would at least learn as much as he could as quickly as he could. Either of those two, or training. He had even been given a private guest room in the Canterlot castle. Nevertheless, he did notice that Twilight had recently been very excited, and then moved on to very frustrated. And he also noticed a giant pink bubble go up around Canterlot. When he confronted her about this, she told him exactly: "My brother is getting married to an EVIL person! She has everyone fooled, but I know she's EVIL!" "Huh?" "I've seen her putting a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all - " At this point she made an exaggerated face with which her eyes went off in opposite directions. "And no one will believe me! Please tell me you believe me!" Here, she looked extremely desperate, like she was about to break down and cry. Kanin couldn't do anything here. His honor kept him from lying, but he hated seeing her like this. "Kid, I don't think I can do much here. I haven't been paying much attention the last few days, so I don't know anything about your brother, or the girl he's with. Maybe you could help with that?" She let out a frustrated sigh, and seemed to calm down. "Ok... First... Well, the girl he's marrying was an old babysitter of mine. She was my best friend other than my brother, but she's changed. And don't even try to tell me I'm jealous, because I would LOVE to have them both as family, but she's changed. She... She's evil..." She ended the sentence with a depressed sigh, and hung her head. "Maybe I am jealous." "Kid, I don't know what to say here other than to get a bit more evidence before you do anything. But, I would be lying if I said you shouldn't trust your gut. Instincts are what keep you alive, after all." "Really?" "Aye." "Well, if you think that, then I'm going to tell them. Are you sure?" "Let's go kid. I'll be with you, but I won't be taking anyone's side." "Ok... Let's go." After a moment of thinking, she turned, and as if with renewed purpose, she began walking towards the door that led to the Canterlot castle, with her head held high. Kanin followed quickly behind, chain mail tinkling with every movement. Twilight opened the doors to the main hall, to what looked like a wedding, only there were much less people. "STOP! I can't let you do this, she is EVIL!" Everything stopped, and everyone turned their attention to Twilight. As she moved further up the aisle, she yelled at the top of her lungs how she knew the pink woman, who's height was much like that of the other two princesses, was evil. Going through how she had badly treated Twilight and her friends, and even imitating the face she made for Kanin when she went to him. Kanin, however, remained where he stopped, far enough forward to allow the large double doors to close behind him. Eventually, Twilight was directly in front of the bride, chasing her off with words and violent motions with her arms. The woman seemed as if she was on the brink of tears, and eventually ran off, almost knocking herself down when she tried to run past Kanin, who didn't move an inch. The only thing he did as she ran past was move his eyes to follow her as far as they would allow. Everyone stood in shock for a moment, save for Twilight and Kanin. The former of which turned to the man nearly as tall as the princesses, in victory. The latter, standing calmly, waiting for what was to come. The groom was the first to recover, and he looked angrily at Twilight, before moving towards her, and stood above her, causing her to shrink back. At last he spoke, a clear, loud voice belonging to a young man who had his entire life ahead of him. With a fury as if something were blocking his way forward. "Are you kidding me!? Twilight, what do you think you're doing? Cadence is my bride, and if you think I'm going to let you ruin our special day, then you are insane! Cadence wasn't casting a spell on me, she was healing me! The reason she did that was because ever since there have been threats against Canterlot, I've had to keep this defensive spell around Canterlot at all times! I've rarely gotten any sleep, and I have been getting intense migraines! And did you ever think that, maybe, she had been acting a little harsh because this was a very important day for her, and she just wants it to be perfect?" At this point he stopped for a second, and took in a deep breath, before he finished his verbal assault. "You know, if you can't control yourself, then maybe its best if you don't come to the wedding at all." And with that, he pushed past her and walked towards Kanin. In a show of anger, he tried bumping into Him, but found himself trying to knock down a brick wall, and was soon picking himself up off the ground. And as a final way of showing he was angry, he let out a snarl of rage, and stormed off, not all his dignity in hand. Everyone else in the room, Celestia, and all of Twilights friends walked out, muttering their disapproval as they passed her. He watched as Celestia passed her, and winced as Twilight's face paled. He could tell that hit her the hardest. As Celestia passed Kanin, he started to move towards Twilight as she let herself fall onto the steps that led up to where the bride and groom would be married. She was crying by the time he got close to her, and she told him to leave as he sat down beside her. "Not going anywhere till you realize this wasn't your fault, kid." "Just go, Kanin. Let me cry in peace." "Kid, your not going to do that. Your going to beat the crap out of me, because I let you do this." "It's not your fault, Kanin. You gave me good advice. It's just... I didn't have enough evidence, and I made a mistake. I could have gained a sister, but instead... I just lost a brother." "Kid... It IS my fau-" "Excuse me, but could I have a moment to talk with Twilight?" It was the bride. Kanin looked at Twilight, who was already sitting up to face Cadence. "It's ok Kanin. Maybe I can fix this." And with Twilight's urging, Kanin left, Letting the doors close heavily behind him, vowing to let everyone know it was his fault twilight did that before the day was over. He was sparring with two other soldiers, hand to hand. And it was an impressive feat he was accomplishing. Taking every hit they send his way and returning them twice as powerful. No blood was spilt. Yet. No one noticed the fact that there were thousands of creatures hammering away at the shield around Canterlot. Clad in shining black armor, they would have looked like angels of death, had anyone bothered to look up. Everyone noticed, however, when the shield broke. Thousands upon thousands of them swept past the street, subduing any and all they could, even catching a few guards on surprise. The ones that had the chance to fight back, however, were killed quickly. Their weapons taken, the rest were easily overwhelmed. Kanin, however, was a whirlwind of death, spinning circles of devastation in enemy ranks, with both his swords extended. At the end, when he thought he wasn't spilling any more blood, he stopped, and nearly fell over, but quickly regained his stance, already charging forward with a scream of rage that sent electric shocks of fear through the hearts of those opposing him. His enemy's dodges and blocks were nothing, for every blow he missed, he had another one already hitting its mark. He was a terrifying sight to behold, Crimson blood already covering his armor, and soaking his blades. Try as they might, his opponents couldn't get out of his way before being cut down, his fatigue forgotten at the thought that he finally had the chance to prove his grit, and spill blood in true combat. Whatever blows they could hit him with were ignored completely as he proved that he was the dominant fighter in this battle. After what seemed like seconds, but was really hours, he found himself surrounded by the corpses of fools who thought they could win, or other warriors, loyal to their superiors to the death. He didn't know which were which, but with the red haze of battle no longer blinding him from pain, he didn't care. The blood covering him wasn't his, but the blood that was pouring out of him definitely was. His legs went weak, and he dropped to one knee. He briefly called himself a runt, and told himself that he wasn't going to die here, but as he looked up, and found the sun staring directly at him, he realized. This was a Glorious Day.
What Brought Him HereHe had fashioned his mental state into that of a warrior: fearless, headstrong, loyal. His physical state... Well, he was agile, and strong. Tough too. But he lacked the stamina. Sure, he has the stats to survive a few life or death situations and get the experience, but until then he still considered himself a runt, although his was a build slightly larger than most. And he was 16. Ignorant, possibly arrogant, and still had his innocence. At least, he had never seen an actual battle, so he had no idea of the horrors of war. He did, however, hate war, and preferred one-on-one combat. He thought that proving you were stronger was more important than proving you were right. After all, history is determined by the victor, but right and wrong are determined by the champion. As for his prowess, he had everything perfected in theory, although he had never been in a fight that would allow him to practice these "skills" on a true target. He liked to think of himself as a berserker, seeing as pain inflicted by another creature only served to enrage him, but he tempered this rage with discipline. In theory, at least. He thinks he would be enraged by pain by the simple fact that he enjoys a good fight, and he enjoys certain types of pain. The discipline part because outside of combat, he was calm and reserved. Those who go to school with him even say he's slow. Not to say he hasn't been in any fights. He had been in a few fights with his father. Lost, of course, but the last few he felt had been a tie, seeing as how his father had disengaged before he gave up. He had also been in a few fights with his friends. Although, they were significantly weaker than he was, and he subdued them without throwing a punch. As for his desire to fight... He wasn't in this world to make enemies, but if someone questioned his skill, or insulted his pride, he would attempt to intimidate them, and if that didn't work, he would taunt them, and wait for them to attack first. This way, he could either dodge, and counter, or get hit, go halfway down, and come back up twice as hard as he was hit, with his own strength behind it. He did, however have moments where he lost his temper, and he was an 'unstoppable' powerhouse during those times. Quickly worn out, however. If someone angered him by being purposefully annoying, he would just wait for them to stop. They usually ceased being annoying fairly quickly because the boys would often hold wrestling matches in the locker room. He had only been in a few one-on-one, and only with 3 others, but absolutely dominated one, and was a tie with the other 2, but only because they lasted about fifteen minutes, and school was out before they could finish. They also held a few free-for-all fights, in which he had been a juggernaut. But all this introduction, and I haven't even told you what the hell happened, or given you any insight as to what will happen. So let me start. He was in school, but he was alone. Upstairs, he usually came here every morning to listen to music away from the noise downstairs, where most students gathered before they were allowed to class. The teacher had gone out for a minute, and his friend that went up with him, still wasn't up yet. He was listening to a song that played tricks on the ears. So long as you had earphones, or headphones, it sounded as if the music was coming from far down a hallway. He was listening to it on his school given iPad. His earphones were in, and everyone down the hall could hear the music playing, so the only thing that told him he was being flung backwards was his feeling, and his sight. He hit a wall with his back flat against it, and fell to the floor, his black and grey jacket, with miniature black basketball players dotting its surface, falling, and surrounding his sides. His iPad slammed into the wall beside him with a loud cracking sound. He couldn't tell if it was the iPad or his back, but he didn't exactly feel any pain. His earphones had fallen out, and he could hear a growl of suppressed rage coming from his throat, before he breathed in and let out a heavy breath. He was on one foot and one knee by now, but the pain started to make itself known, and his spine was killing him. He felt someone crouching by both of his sides, and looked to his left. He saw a cute face, with purple dyed hair, with a line of darker purple and bright pink looking at him, and felt a light hand on his left shoulder. Looking to his right, he saw a face weathered by a lifetime of working outside. Her hand was on his side, ready to help him up, and he could tell she was much stronger than he was. Rather than putting his arms around them and having them help him up, he let his pride win, and put his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. Nevertheless, they helped him up, and helped him keep his balance. Standing up, putting his hands on his lower back, and leaning backwards, he caused a series of loud cracking sounds as his spine fixed itself. Muttering thanks to those at his side he took a look at those in front of him and stood stock still. In front of him were a number of faces he had never seen, and never expected to see, and a background that was nothing like it should have been. To the farthest left was a cute little light yellow skinned girl standing with her left hand grasping her right arm and light pink hair covering half her face. Of the one eye he could see, it was an amazing green color. One person to the right, was a light blue skinned girl with rainbow colored hair, and a curiously confused look on her face. Her eyes were an attractive violet. Another person to the right was a white - literally white skinned girl with fabulous purple hair and flawless diamond earrings, and a worried look on her face. A noticeable feature she wore, was a horn in her head. Her eyes were a clear blue. Going further to the right was a pink skinned girl with dark pink hair, jumping up and down on her toes with an excited look covering her face. She even managed to get about 30 quick claps in each time her feet left the ground. Her eyes were a light blue. Spaced apart from the others were two noticeably taller women. The one on the left was white skinned, with a horn on her head, and... Wings? On her back. She had beautiful flowing blue, green, and light and dark purple hair. Her eyes were a dark purple. The one on the right was dark skinned with amazing hair that looked as if it was the night's sky itself. She also had wings and a horn. Her eyes were a dark blue. She stood with a posture that forced the mind to think of royalty. The background looked like that of a royal house you would see in movies. Directly in front of him a few feet away was a large, decorated mirror. "Are you okay?" It was the girl to his left that spoke. Her voice was femininely attractive. "Aye" His wasn't a very tactical mind, preferring raw power, but he had fairly quick reflexes, and wasn't surprised by much. Nevertheless, his reaction time to the question was slightly off. And not to say that he was stupid. Far from it, in fact, but like the beginning of this story suggests, he was headstrong, and preferred to leave the tactics for after the battle. "I'm so sorry about that, I didn't know pulling you through would have so much force!" She said it as if she had just wronged his entire bloodline. Which, to him, wasn't even close. He considered this an opportunity for a fresh start. It was obvious he wasn't in his own world anymore, and he had read enough fantasy books to know a fraction of what was going on. He had been ripped from his own world and tossed into a different one. By this purple skinned girl, apparently. It would help explain why assistance had come so quickly. "Right..." His voice trailed off as he finished the word. He was waiting for something to happen. Whether it be something that caused his death, or his reign as king, he didn't know. "So...", it was the 'summoner' speaking again. "What's your name?" He paused a moment, before answering. Going over the possible names he could give himself. Eventually, though, he answered with as much pride as he could muster in his voice. Which wasn't much, considering he rarely talked. "Kanin." It was a name he had seen in a book before, and had stuck with him. Looking around, he realized that all eyes were on him. Save for the cute girl on the far left, who couldn't decide whether she should look at the floor or the ceiling. "Well, I'm glad you made it through Kanin! I wasn't sure if i could actually pull it off, even with the princesses helping me." She makes a gesture to the taller women. As if Hell had risen forth from the fiery depths of Hade's chamber, his iPad changed to a much louder, and noticeably violent song. He walked over to where it was laying, picked it up, and flipped the cover so he could see the screen. As it had been severely cracked, it was difficult to turn the music off before some of the lyrics stuck in his head. "What song is that?" The voice had come from the blue girl, and was surprisingly tomboyish. "You can ask him that later Dash, right now we should be telling him what happened." "Fine." "So, I guess you want to know how you got here first, huh?" Almost immediately, his answer surprised everyone in the room. "Not really. I'm here, let's just leave it at that for now." After a slight pause, she recovered enough to say "Ok... Then I guess we should introduce ourselves." She starts the next sentence as if beginning a speech to a large, attentive audience. "I, am Twilight Sparkle. Royal, and faithful student to Princess Celestia," Here she makes a gesture to the taller white-skinned woman. "The raiser of the sun, and overall guardian of Equestria." 'Celestia' clears her throat, enough to get the attention of the entire room. "This," she makes a graceful gesture to the woman standing beside her, "is Princess Luna, the raiser of the moon, and overall guardian of the night, and everyone's dreams." She says the last part with an amused glance to Twilight, who begins to blush in embarrassment at the apparent ignorance of the other princess. The other girl that was at his side during the beginning of this quickly took a step up to him and, shaking his hand with a bone crushing force and vigor, introduced herself as 'Applejack', stating she couldn't wait to show him the famous Sweet Apple Acres farm. Her eyes were a shining emerald, and her hair was brilliant orange. The blue girl stepped up next to the shy girl and introduced them both, "My name's Rainbow Dash," and pointing to her friend "and this is Fluttershy." As she was introduced, 'Fluttershy' squealed in terror and embarrassment. He smiled as she did this, a warm friendly smile that caught her off guard, and a moment after she saw, she brightened. He always did have a soft spot for shy girls. The white-skinned girl next to them brushed her hair back with a stylish grace and introduced herself as 'Rarity', while the pink girl literally tackled him to the ground, hugging and squeezing the life out of him. When she was finished with that, she jumped up, pulling him with her, and putting her face a hairs width away from his, letting him know, practically forcing him to know, that she was the one they call Pinkiepie, the one and only perfect party planner. "So, you think you'll like it here?" The voice seemed to come from below him and was oddly childish, but obviously male. Twilight looked down and picked up a small scaled, miniature humanoid creature. "And this is Spike, my favorite little helper." She gives him a little cuddle at the end of the sentence and 'Spike' blushes and giggles. Actually, now that he had the fraction of a second needed to think about it, he always had a soft spot for girls exactly like the ones here before him. From the faithfully devoted to the ridiculously cheerful, and over energetic 'party animal'. They were all certainly attractive in their own rights. As he took one last look around the room, an uplifted smile spread across his face, and he answered "Aye. I think I will."
His Very Own PartyIt was a warm couch he was sleeping on. After they had shown him around the town that was just outside of Canterlot, the place he was brought into, he realized that Twilight also had a horn, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had wings, he decided it would be nice to stay with Fluttershy during his first night. She was amazingly hospitable, and the animals were fun to watch. Just outside her cottage, was her animal pen, that was home to multiple different creatures. Just use your imagination. If it's a real animal, chances are it was there. She offered him her bed, but he refused and chose to sleep on the couch. He honestly preferred to sleep on the floor, as it felt more natural to him, and woke him up earlier, and better. He chose to sleep on the couch, because he didn't want her to feel bad about him sleeping on the floor. And he really only slept on the floor outside, so really, he preferred sleeping on the ground. As he woke up, he realized there was an amazing scent coming from somewhere nearby. As he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of Fluttershy putting a tray of food in the counter in front of the couch. Immediately he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I hope you like salad. I don't really have anything else to eat around here, other than animal food." "Fine with me," Although he absolutely despised most types, if not all types of salad. Picking out the parts he thought would be least likely to make him puke, he slowly ate a portion of the food while, after an exploratory inquiry into her animals, Fluttershy told him all about them. Listening attentively, he learned almost everything there is to know about raising a few species of animals, and even learned the most effective cure for a cold, and upset stomach. After he stopped eating for a few minutes during her teaching, she noticed and took his tray to her kitchen. "Many thanks." When she returned, he asked if she could continue to teach him about her favorite things. Specifically put, he asked 'you have any other amazing things you can tell me about your animals?' "Oh, no, I think twilight would want to talk to you more about where your from. She did tell you she wanted to speak to you as soon as she could, didn't she?" "Aye, that she did." Fluttershy knocked on Twilight's door. Amazingly, someone had the creativity and skill to turn a giant tree into a house. Twilight opened the door, and let them into the strangely dark tree for the sun being up in the middle of the sky. As if the devil himself brought the screams of the damned to Kanin's ears, everything lit up and it seemed as if the entire town was there, screaming 'surprise' in his face. And Pinks was less than half an inch away from him, screaming louder than all the others. His mind unconsciously registered the fact that there were books on every inch of the walls in this room, which was as large as the tree would permit, but his focus was on the act of surprise. As he lowered the one arm he raised to protect himself, he looked around and saw food everywhere. Cake, and cupcakes mostly. He did notice a punch bowl by some of the cake. He could almost feel Fluttershy cowering behind him, and felt a spear of pride in his chest, thinking that, even if just for the moment, he was the immovable object protecting her from whatever she feared. Twilight was giggling, and as Pinks handed him a cupcake and telling him she baked them herself, Twilight let him know "isn't this great? She did the same thing for me when I first came to Ponyville." "Aye. Perfect party planner indeed, yeah? She giggled as she answered, "Yeah." As they entered Fluttershy's cottage, he commented on how beautiful she looked in the moonlight. He smiled as she blushed, a fire seeming to burst from her face, making her look even better. He always thought that the act of making love was the best way to show you enjoy the company of someone. Giving pleasure to a lover, or even a friend, but also felt that it wasn't his place to decide the time. And those thoughts were exactly what went through his mind as they entered the building.
Armor UpThey were back in the castle of Canterlot, him, Twilight and Celestia. She was showing him all about the ancient magicians and scholars of this world, and rarely using books for anything but pictures, displaying her impressive knowledge of Equestrian history. She also appeared to have a mastery of focus, as she used magic to levitate what seemed like a thousand books, turning pages, and reading a hundred words at a time. She was mainly focusing on an apparently very famous and well remembered master of magic, Starswirl the Bearded. Kanin had nothing against magic, other than the fact that he didn't trust it, but had a feeling this 'Starswirl' was nothing but a madman who just happened on the secrets of the gods, and had just the right amount of insanity to understand them. As she moved on to the more recent occurrences, such as the return of Nightmare Moon, who's story had been told a few moments ago, she started on how she herself had discovered a small amount of dust on a book of fairy tales that go into the lives of other-worldly adventurers. This would have been no great discovery, other than the fact that when she tried to use her own magic to brush it off, she was rewarded with quite a powerful shock. She took it to the princess, who taught her a defensive spell that allowed her to study the dust. Turned out that it was dust from a dimension where there was a magic lock, forbidding all but the highest ranking figures to use magic. At least, that's what she gathered. She discovered a spell that shut down all magic through electric pulses that would flow through the mind, body, and soul altogether. As you may suspect, electricity running through only one of those would cause immense pain and possible paralysis. During her explanation on that, Celestia commented that Twilight was a very tough magic user to have even survived that, let alone be barely affected by it. Any magic lock spell had the potential to harm a magic user, it could numb the mind, or even destroy it. Nonetheless, she had a theory that if this dust could have been transported cross-dimension, whether by the magic lock spell on it, or by someone else, she could study the dust, and possibly find a way to enter other dimensions. When she proposed this idea, Celestia took her to the mirror he first saw, and told Twilight that it was a portal to another dimension, and she was thrilled. This meant that she didn't have to worry about having to find a doorway. She could study the dust, and the powers of the mirror, and hopefully use it, and if possible, master it. Which she did. Use it, at least. Celestia just commented it was lucky Twilight hadn't pulled a malevolent force from a world that had the power to follow. As Twilight asked the imminent question, Kanin was still absorbing all this magic crap, so he tensed a bit. "So, what about your world?" Kanin was thinking about telling her what he knew, then turned his thoughts to adding a little 'excitement'. In the end, he decided to leave it simple. "Well, not much to gather from me. I was still in school, so i don't really know much about anything outside of that. A lot in theory, but never really in actuality. Never payed much attention to the news either." "Ah... So, what kind of magic did your world have?" "Didn't have magic. At least, none that we could use." "Really? No magic? How?" "Guess we just lost it. Or never had it." "That's... Kinda sad actually." "Not to me. Can't cry over what you never lost, can you?" "I guess not. Still, your world had to have something that made it amazing." "Well, I guess that's an opinion. Personally, my favorite part was the music. Most of it anyway." Before Twilight could respond, Celestia cut in. "Which reminds me, what is your special skill?" "What do you mean princess?" He said the last word as if she were a spoiled child. Not to display any hostility, or disdain, but it was more of a way of making sure she wasn't a 'high class' overlord, who put down anyone who even thought of offending her. She actually seemed to take it as a bit of humor, and gave a slight smile. "Everyone here in Equestria has a special skill. It is displayed as a cutiemark on areas reachable only by those whose trust was earned." "What, you all have birthmarks on your asses?" He said it as a joke, but the look he got from the two women were enough to make him think he got a bullseye. "It is not a birthmark, but it is found during the early lives of each and every person, and is a mark of what they are best at. And yes... It is located on the owner's posterior." A foolish smile crossed his face. "Well then, apologies for my ignorance." Celestia gave an approving smile at that, and Twilight continued Celestia's question. "So what is your special skill?" "Well, if it wasn't obvious already, we have nothing like that. But, I will say that I find myself drawn to one-on-one combat, and getting my ass kicked just to find out who's stronger than me." Twilight spoke up, rather surprised. "Really? You like to get... Hurt?" He let out a short, oddly charismatic laugh. "Only in a fight, kid. But I've never had that chance, as no one had the guts to fight me. For real, anyway. Celestia looked as if she was very interested in him now. "Really? You enjoy fighting?" "Not war princess. Just a good old fight for dominance." "I think my sister would enjoy your company. She has been absent for a long while, and she is still stuck in the old ways. I'm afraid she still doesn't get that we don't inspire fear and obedience in our subjects anymore. Rather, we allow them freedom enough to live happy and prosperous, and only hold it in our power to guide them as best we can." "Inspire fear and obedience? Sounds like a pure bred alpha. Or a pathetic whelp who's too cowardly to fight battles them self. I sincerely hope it's the former." "I believe you would be impressed. She was quite fearless, and headstrong in any battle she partook. She was also always leading the charge." "Really? I must admit, I like the thought of that. I always did find warrioress' attractive. Hope you don't mind the compliment." Celestia gives a slight smile at that, just enough for him to know that she wasn't offended. After a moment of silence, Kanin spoke up. "Well, now that you know my secret little hobby, I hope you can get me a few pieces of equipment, and give me the chance to earn the right to keep them." "Of course. What would you like?" Kanin raised an eyebrow, not sure if she understood what he meant. "I can have the blacksmith make you armor ranging from fitted leather, to full plate mail, and he excels in making weapons from short bows, to crossbows, swords to halberds, and bucklers, to tower shields." "Well, I like the sound of that. Let's go with chain mail. The weapons and shield we can find when we get there, yeah?" "Of course." As the blacksmith measured his height, and width, he was looking at the weapons all around him. The gods had gifted him with his own little peak of perfection. There were weapons ranging from powerful looking crossbows, to masterfully crafted swords that looked like they could bypass the thickest of armor. His eyes were drawn to the heavier swords, the hand and a half bastard sword. There was a whole array of them, from balanced, to thickset, to a whole extra inch of blade. That was where his enthusiasm ended, however. The shields were all too small, or too big for his liking. When Celestia said he made shields from bucklers to tower shields, he didn't think that she meant that was all he made. Because that's all there was. "So... Any other shields beside what's here?" "Sold 'em all." The blacksmith's voice was gruff. The kind you'd expect from an old veteran. "Ah. Well, I was hoping for a large round shield." "I can make one for you, but it will take a while, with me making your armor. Did ya want the Shield first, or the armor?" "Armor." The blacksmith scoffs at his answer. "You recommend something else?" "Nah, I'm just disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm of learning how to keep you and your brothers in arm's sorry asses alive with unbreakable defense." "Right. As much as I love letting my opponent wear themselves out hammering away at me, I do prefer to attack." "And leave yerself open for a quick blow. Just enough to knock your weapon to the ground, or break your arm. Or sever it." "Heheh. That is why I prefer dual wielding." "Ha! Fancy yerself a berserker then?" "I'd like to." "Well then, I hope you can tolerate pain, because you will be taking wounds that can bring down an Ursula minor." Kanin shot Celestia and Twilight an unknowing glance. Twilight answered him. "It's a creature from the Stars themselves. An Ursula minor is almost as big as the castle of Canterlot." "Well, if I'm still bleeding, then I'm still fighting." "Haha! I ever tell you I like this kid, your majesty?" "He is unique." "That he is." He was in the soldier's training grounds. He had chosen two bastard swords for now. One was balanced, which allowed for significantly faster attack speed without sacrificing durability, or damage. The other was weighted, giving it much more swing force and damage, but sacrificing attack speed. "I still don't know why you didn't choose to take a helmet." Princess Celestia did have a moderately confused look on her face. "Well, if you don't mind me saying princess, I prefer to feel my opponents blood stain my face. Gives the fight a special flavor, don't ya think?" Celestia's eyes shimmered with a hidden emotion, and Kanin gave a small smile. Twilight was interested in his fighting style, however. "So why do you fight like that?" He had been swinging his swords with increasing vigor, until he was sweating. Each practiced blow making the next come faster and harder. His fighting stance was an aggressive one, one foot significantly ahead of the other, his chest leaned forward, and his swords swinging slowly at the ready, by his sides. "Care to give some tactical input, princess?" Celestia looked at him with a piercing gaze before sending a respectful smile his way. "It increases his attack power. He can use it to easily knock an opponent to the ground, or give several quick blows to open his enemy, and then attack with his full power. It also allows him a tough stance, giving him a resistance to any attempt of knocking him down, or back, and he can still block a blow to his body, or head very easily. He can also quickly change from standing to crouching to increase his chance at protecting his legs, seeing as how this stance isn't much one for agility, jumping, or dodging wouldn't be very effective. I wonder, where did you learn this?" He immediately shot up straight, his swords moving to point the opposite direction, and, bringing his legs together and crossing his arms on his chest, he gave a disciplined salute. "From a video game, princess. You'd be surprised what you can learn from nothing if you payed attention. I'm surprised, actually. You can see the strengths and weaknesses of most combat styles fairly quickly, can't you?" "It would appear so, wouldn't it?" Kanin smiled as he relaxed and went back to practicing.
A Glorious DayHe had spent the majority of the time training, perfecting his stance, and exploring his weapons. The quartermaster even taught him how to take care of them, and with having just received his armor, the quartermaster began teaching him how to take care of that. The chain mail fit perfectly. He had to admit too, he felt badass. The rest of the time, he was either speaking with Fluttershy about her animals, and flirting with her half the time, or speaking with Twilight about his world, and even learning a bit about magic. It seemed, after all, that if he was staying in this world, he would at least learn as much as he could as quickly as he could. Either of those two, or training. He had even been given a private guest room in the Canterlot castle. Nevertheless, he did notice that Twilight had recently been very excited, and then moved on to very frustrated. And he also noticed a giant pink bubble go up around Canterlot. When he confronted her about this, she told him exactly: "My brother is getting married to an EVIL person! She has everyone fooled, but I know she's EVIL!" "Huh?" "I've seen her putting a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all - " At this point she made an exaggerated face with which her eyes went off in opposite directions. "And no one will believe me! Please tell me you believe me!" Here, she looked extremely desperate, like she was about to break down and cry. Kanin couldn't do anything here. His honor kept him from lying, but he hated seeing her like this. "Kid, I don't think I can do much here. I haven't been paying much attention the last few days, so I don't know anything about your brother, or the girl he's with. Maybe you could help with that?" She let out a frustrated sigh, and seemed to calm down. "Ok... First... Well, the girl he's marrying was an old babysitter of mine. She was my best friend other than my brother, but she's changed. And don't even try to tell me I'm jealous, because I would LOVE to have them both as family, but she's changed. She... She's evil..." She ended the sentence with a depressed sigh, and hung her head. "Maybe I am jealous." "Kid, I don't know what to say here other than to get a bit more evidence before you do anything. But, I would be lying if I said you shouldn't trust your gut. Instincts are what keep you alive, after all." "Really?" "Aye." "Well, if you think that, then I'm going to tell them. Are you sure?" "Let's go kid. I'll be with you, but I won't be taking anyone's side." "Ok... Let's go." After a moment of thinking, she turned, and as if with renewed purpose, she began walking towards the door that led to the Canterlot castle, with her head held high. Kanin followed quickly behind, chain mail tinkling with every movement. Twilight opened the doors to the main hall, to what looked like a wedding, only there were much less people. "STOP! I can't let you do this, she is EVIL!" Everything stopped, and everyone turned their attention to Twilight. As she moved further up the aisle, she yelled at the top of her lungs how she knew the pink woman, who's height was much like that of the other two princesses, was evil. Going through how she had badly treated Twilight and her friends, and even imitating the face she made for Kanin when she went to him. Kanin, however, remained where he stopped, far enough forward to allow the large double doors to close behind him. Eventually, Twilight was directly in front of the bride, chasing her off with words and violent motions with her arms. The woman seemed as if she was on the brink of tears, and eventually ran off, almost knocking herself down when she tried to run past Kanin, who didn't move an inch. The only thing he did as she ran past was move his eyes to follow her as far as they would allow. Everyone stood in shock for a moment, save for Twilight and Kanin. The former of which turned to the man nearly as tall as the princesses, in victory. The latter, standing calmly, waiting for what was to come. The groom was the first to recover, and he looked angrily at Twilight, before moving towards her, and stood above her, causing her to shrink back. At last he spoke, a clear, loud voice belonging to a young man who had his entire life ahead of him. With a fury as if something were blocking his way forward. "Are you kidding me!? Twilight, what do you think you're doing? Cadence is my bride, and if you think I'm going to let you ruin our special day, then you are insane! Cadence wasn't casting a spell on me, she was healing me! The reason she did that was because ever since there have been threats against Canterlot, I've had to keep this defensive spell around Canterlot at all times! I've rarely gotten any sleep, and I have been getting intense migraines! And did you ever think that, maybe, she had been acting a little harsh because this was a very important day for her, and she just wants it to be perfect?" At this point he stopped for a second, and took in a deep breath, before he finished his verbal assault. "You know, if you can't control yourself, then maybe its best if you don't come to the wedding at all." And with that, he pushed past her and walked towards Kanin. In a show of anger, he tried bumping into Him, but found himself trying to knock down a brick wall, and was soon picking himself up off the ground. And as a final way of showing he was angry, he let out a snarl of rage, and stormed off, not all his dignity in hand. Everyone else in the room, Celestia, and all of Twilights friends walked out, muttering their disapproval as they passed her. He watched as Celestia passed her, and winced as Twilight's face paled. He could tell that hit her the hardest. As Celestia passed Kanin, he started to move towards Twilight as she let herself fall onto the steps that led up to where the bride and groom would be married. She was crying by the time he got close to her, and she told him to leave as he sat down beside her. "Not going anywhere till you realize this wasn't your fault, kid." "Just go, Kanin. Let me cry in peace." "Kid, your not going to do that. Your going to beat the crap out of me, because I let you do this." "It's not your fault, Kanin. You gave me good advice. It's just... I didn't have enough evidence, and I made a mistake. I could have gained a sister, but instead... I just lost a brother." "Kid... It IS my fau-" "Excuse me, but could I have a moment to talk with Twilight?" It was the bride. Kanin looked at Twilight, who was already sitting up to face Cadence. "It's ok Kanin. Maybe I can fix this." And with Twilight's urging, Kanin left, Letting the doors close heavily behind him, vowing to let everyone know it was his fault twilight did that before the day was over. He was sparring with two other soldiers, hand to hand. And it was an impressive feat he was accomplishing. Taking every hit they send his way and returning them twice as powerful. No blood was spilt. Yet. No one noticed the fact that there were thousands of creatures hammering away at the shield around Canterlot. Clad in shining black armor, they would have looked like angels of death, had anyone bothered to look up. Everyone noticed, however, when the shield broke. Thousands upon thousands of them swept past the street, subduing any and all they could, even catching a few guards on surprise. The ones that had the chance to fight back, however, were killed quickly. Their weapons taken, the rest were easily overwhelmed. Kanin, however, was a whirlwind of death, spinning circles of devastation in enemy ranks, with both his swords extended. At the end, when he thought he wasn't spilling any more blood, he stopped, and nearly fell over, but quickly regained his stance, already charging forward with a scream of rage that sent electric shocks of fear through the hearts of those opposing him. His enemy's dodges and blocks were nothing, for every blow he missed, he had another one already hitting its mark. He was a terrifying sight to behold, Crimson blood already covering his armor, and soaking his blades. Try as they might, his opponents couldn't get out of his way before being cut down, his fatigue forgotten at the thought that he finally had the chance to prove his grit, and spill blood in true combat. Whatever blows they could hit him with were ignored completely as he proved that he was the dominant fighter in this battle. After what seemed like seconds, but was really hours, he found himself surrounded by the corpses of fools who thought they could win, or other warriors, loyal to their superiors to the death. He didn't know which were which, but with the red haze of battle no longer blinding him from pain, he didn't care. The blood covering him wasn't his, but the blood that was pouring out of him definitely was. His legs went weak, and he dropped to one knee. He briefly called himself a runt, and told himself that he wasn't going to die here, but as he looked up, and found the sun staring directly at him, he realized. This was a Glorious Day.
