//------------------------------// // What Brought Him Here // Story: A Victory in Defeat // by Blade Heart //------------------------------// He 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."