//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Prove your worth 
// Story: Great Power 
// by Harkbilde 
//------------------------------//

(Previously on the last chapter)

Hearing that he chuckled. "Good, because Princess Luna......" He paused and spun around with eyes burning with anger while pointing his finger at her and shouted in an earth-shattering voice.


"I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!!!"


(Present)

For a moment, there was silence, the residents, the Mane 6, the platoon, and even the rulers were speechless of his shout and what it meant. But the first one to snap out was Twilight Sparkle. "Magnus! are you crazy! This is Princess Luna! An alicorn! Alicorns have all the traits of the pony race! They have the earth pony's superior strength, the pegasus' superior speed, and magic that trumps unicorns!" She all but whispered urgently to him.

"All the more reason to beat her..." He said, not even thinking about backing out

Twilight, dumbfounded by his words, tried to persuade him out of this, "I know you're strong and you're proud of i-"

"𝕀Ｔ 𝐈ร 𝕟𝐎ⓣ 𝒶ⓑ𝕆𝓊Ｔ ᵐү ģⓄᗪđ𝕒爪ℕ 𝕡𝐑𝓘Ďє......" He cut her off coldly, which made her step back a few hooves.

He then looked back at the Lunar princess. "So, do you accept, your highness?" He asked with the last part in a not so respectful tone.

Luna was then snapped out of her thoughts and regained her composure. "And Why must I-" Whatever she was going to say was cut off by Magnus.

"Oh? Is the great and powerful Princess afraid of this weak creature?" He said in a condescending tone.

Luna has now gritted her teeth at that. "Very well, thou hast asketh of this request and thou shalt receive it." She haughtily replied to him.

Celestia was then snapped out after hearing Luna reverting back to her old speaking, which indicated that she was pissed off. "Luna! You mustn't just accept his duel request! This was not-" She was trying to dissuade her, emphasis on tried.

Luna cut her off whilst still glaring at Magnus, "Thou shalt not worry sister, we will only teach this creature a few lessons."

Not missing his chance, he gave her a mock bow. "And I, you Princess..." He retorted after lifting his head up.

And after that, they went to their respective side of the empty field, while still glaring at each other. 

Seeing things getting out of hand, Celestia teleported to Magnus' side. "Sir Magnus, I ask of you to reconsider, you seem to be from a faraway land and don't know about ponies and evidently of an alicorn's pow-"

"It is fine Princess Celestia, as much as I don't know about ponies, you ponies know about humans either..." He replied while looking at her with faintly glowing eyes and went back to glaring at the lunar princess.

Celestia seemed surprised at his little light show but sighed after realizing he couldn't be convinced, so she went back to where she was.

As she went back to the sidelines, Luna spoke, "Having second thoughts, creature?"

"Other than how to give your high and mighty royal hindquarters a smackdown... Well... non." He said while smirking.

Gnashing her teeth again at the reply. "Well then, shalt we begin?" Luna said with a small snarl.

Magnus then replied coldly, "Yes, let's..."

Right after he finished, the sound of air being sharply ripped was heard.

WHOOSH!!!

Luna, using her legs and wings instantly moved in front of Magnus and sent a very sharp Haymaker to his head.

Right before Magnus was about to get hit, he accelerated his thought with a smirk, 'Who said anime never helps?'

Now, let it be known that Magnus is not a hardcore Otaku, but he really likes to read Mangas and Animes in his free time. Couple that with his eidetic memory, he practically remembers ALL of them down to details and often used them as references for his new moves.

'I dedicate this to you Killua......God speed......' As he finished his thoughts, he disappeared from Luna's sights.

Then, of course, the haymaker missed, and Luna was left confused as to where he went until she heard a voice behind her, "Hit..."

She then spun around with a spinning elbow to his jaw and Magnus casually jumped back before it hit him.

Luna also stepped back, but in surprise at what she saw, on there standing a dozen feet away from her was Magnus, clad in purple lightning with his hair spiking up, while his eyes were emitting a purple light.

Before Luna could question, Magnus spoke in a no-nonsense tone, "I suggest you take your spear out and take this seriously because even if I did not dodge your attacks, your fists would not be enough to hurt me."

Luna seemed a bit surprised at what he said but still replied haughtily, "I admit that thou art fast, creature, but it doesn't mean that I must-" Luna then widened her eyes as she blocked a punch from the front that was aimed at her chin with both of her arms crossed.

Seeing as she was sent skidding back a few meters from his obviously toned down attack, he continued, "Start getting serious or you'll get seriously hurt..."

Everybody gasped as they saw, an alicorn, being pushed back by someone who is not one. To the ponies, this was outrageous, they say the alicorn's strength equals an earth pony but that is indicating right after when they have ascended. Another perk of becoming an alicorn was the longer they live, the stronger they physically and magically become, and Luna was at least a millennia-old.

CRACK!

All heads were snapped towards where the sound originated from, and they were even more surprised at what they saw, for the gauntlets of the lunar princess cracked!

Celestia couldn't help but whisper, "How?..." and thought, 'This is preposterous! Luna's armor is made out of star metal! It in itself is naturally strong enough to handle an A-class boss monster! Add it with that it can be enchanted, it should be nigh impervious!'

Luna seemed also seemed to be very surprised about this, but before she could properly think through it, Magnus spoke, "Afraid Princess?" 

Luna snapped out of her thoughts and replied with a snarl, "What did you say?"

Magnus didn't even flinch and kept his stare at the Princesses with lightning still around him and continued, "You must be quite strong, seeing that the other 2 Princesses were worried about me getting hurt by you, they must've believed you were strong... Strong enough to rely on you......" He said the final part in a somber tone and then looked back at Luna in cold anger, making her spine shiver. "So are you not afraid that you are not the strongest?" He asked the princess of the moon.

Luna was caught off guard with that question, she was expecting him to be snarky, taunting, but instead the creature- no, STALLION seemed like he was trying to teach her something. Like he was trying to teach her in order to not make a mistake, a mistake he had experienced.

Before she could dive deeper into her thoughts, Magnus finished, "Now enough talk... Let's get serious shall we...?"

Luna snapped back to reality as she heard him and then narrowed her eyes. This time, not because of anger, instead, it was of determination. 

She then took her spear out and started to charge her horn with magic, making her eyes glow . 

Magnus chuckled and lost some of his cold looks. "Good!" He said, then vanished and appeared in front of Luna again with another punch at the ready, and this time Luna was prepared. She parried it with her spear and shot a bolt at magic in front of his face, Magnus just sways to his side and uppercutting her stomach, sending her back a bit. He then charged his hands with lightning and prepared to shoot at her.

But he stopped after seeing his opponent and deactivated his God speed a bit after, and looked at the sight in front of him with confusion.

The reason was that princess Luna was sitting on the ground whilst holding her gut and panting in pain. He was confused for a moment but then a look of realization dawned on his face, "You got hit, not because you couldn't dodge but because you didn't dodge... Why?" He said the last part even colder.

Luna winced at his tone and then started speaking, "We-I wanted to apologize to you, Sir Magnus."

Magnus still didn't stop looking confused but now completely lost his cold look. "Why?" He said.

Luna then replied, "The purpose of my words were to provoke you and find out about your character, or any other ulterior motives you might've had. And once you had challenged us, I thought you were a prideful fool. But our short exchange had shown me that I had done something personal to you. For that, I, Princess Luna, Princess of the moon, and Ruler of the Night apologize Sir Magnus..."

At that, Magnus couldn't help but let his jaw drop a little and utter one word.

"Huh?"