//------------------------------// // A Glorious Day // Story: A Victory in Defeat // by Blade Heart //------------------------------// He 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.