Something Worth Fighting for

by Blade Heart


Proving Mettle

Orisian and Luna were at the training grounds standing in front of a 10 foot tall stone wall, with one cleft every three feet. The head trainer for the lunar recruits, which had black hair, and a grayish look to his skin was dragging a very thick metal harness behind him as he came towards them.

"Alright. Put this on whelp."

He seemed to have trouble pushing it towards Orisian as he stepped forward to take it.

"Let's see if you can climb with a thousand pounds weighing you down maggot."

Orisian grabbed the object with both hands and lifted it with no visual strain on his face. Putting it on, and moving towards the wall, he began to climb, effortlessly, if not slowly, while the trainer looked on with surprise. Luna herself seemed impressed.

Once he made it to the top, the trainer instructed him to jump down, which he did. He landed, dropping to one knee and standing, still with no apparent effort.

"let's see you run with that. Follow me."

Orisian, Luna and the trainer moved on to a track that was filled with a multitude of obstacles, containing hurdles, 15 foot walls, rope swings and ditches with barbed wire you crawl through.

"The best time we have is 14.2 seconds. Beat it, or you do it again."

Assuming that there were no specific things he had to do besides best whatever was in his way, he went to the beginning of the track and began. The first thing he had to overcome were the hurdles, which were easy enough. All it took was timing and power, and he avoided them, lifting himself only a few inches above each one and then being pulled down by the weight he was carrying.

Next came the walls, which had almost nothing to hold on to. The only way he could climb this was if he got enough momentum and kept running up, but with the harness that would be impossible. But, he was a Kingsman, and impossible odds were what he favored. Doing exactly what was expected, his feet made it about 1/5 of the way before he stopped and had to grab on to something. But, there was nothing to grab onto, and he started to fall. Pushing off, he managed to land on his feet.

Meanwhile, the trainer was laughing, and Luna seemed amused. Orisian backed up and kept trying, which only caused the laughter to increase. This went on for a good few minutes. The laughing had ceased a while ago, and the two observers were looking on with mixed reactions. Luna was extremely impressed, and the trainer was beginning to get annoyed.

"Alright maggot, enough. You've wasted too much of my time."

Orisian stopped, only slightly breathing heavily, and made his way back to the two.

"Don't tell me you didn't know what you were supposed to do there. It should have been obvious."

"No, it wasn't."

"Really? Well then, that explains why your so fuckin tough. You're as stupid as a newborn animal. There was a switch about four feet up. If you would have pressed it, you would have gotten a few helping hands."

"It's not so much a switch as it is a magic infused slate. It's design is that of hiding the ledges on the wall to trick you into thinking you need to waste more energy than you actually do on trying to run your way up."

By the sound of this new voice, the trainer showed very obvious disdain, while Luna turned to meet the new spectator.

She was a very attractive woman, mostly because she was the first female Orisian had seen wearing armor. He didn't know why, but he found that very appealing. She had dark red hair with light orange skin, and wonderfully violet eyes. She was wearing the armor a celestial soldier would wear. Luna seemed pleased to see her.

"Greetings Morning Pen. I haven't seen thee for some time."

"Yeah, I was finishing the blueprints for some of Canterlot's new buildings. It's great to see you again princess."

Turning her attention to the trainer, she gained a playful smirk.

"It's nice to see you too, Nightly."

"I'd kindly ask you to not call me by your nicknames", 'Nightly' was talking through clenched teeth.

"Oh, right. You're self-conscious about being friends with others. Forgot about that. Sorry."

She had a smile on her face and was talking like she was trying to tempt him, but Luna paid no attention to it and changed the subject.

"So, why art thou here? Art my sister's projects finished?"

"Not yet. And probably not for a while, seeing as how she wants them to be perfect, and they're all prototypes. I actually came here to see how my other design was doing. Is it still intact? No replacements have been needed have they?"

"No, thine's training course is durable and lasting. 'Tis quite impressive to see it in use."

"Yes it is. It's also quite impressive your friend has so much stamina."

Turning her attention to Orisian, and looking him up and down, she let a mischievous smile spread across her face.

"I wouldn't worry about not getting it on the first try. Most recruits just go around it."

"Ahem. Most celestial recruits."

"Yes, there have been no reported lunar recruits doing that, but the numbers of the Celestial Armies still far outnumber that of the Lunar Armies. So yes, it's still most recruits. But I guess we should introduce ourselves. Knowing him, he didn't tell you his name. I'm Morning Pen, lead architect for both the celestial and lunar projects, and a reserve soldier. He is Night Force, lead trainer for recruits of the Lunar Army, and sometimes even the celestial. Of course, he doesn't show it, but I know he's got a crush on our princess here."

At the last sentence, Night Force became exaggeratedly defiant, and Luna calmly stated that Orisian should try the course again.

"A word of advice, You actually need to apply a little more force to the area. Most magic users get it pretty quickly, but our flyers and earthlies have some trouble."

"You're what?"

"You know. Unicorns, pegasi, and earth people. It's basic kindergarten stuff."

"He is not from our world. We will be attempting to help him return."

Pen looked at Luna with a curious image while Orisian made his way back to the beginning of the course.

This time was much like the first, the hurdles proving no challenge, but when he was coming up to the wall he tried looking for where he was supposed to touch. He was already climbing the wall before he found it however, and he just lashed out, hoping he hit in the correct spot.

Apparently he did, because immediately, small ledges came out of the wall, which he grabbed onto and used momentum to help himself up the first eight feet, and powerhoused his way past the rest.

Next up were the swings, which wouldn't be intimidating if it weren't for the fact that he still had the harness on. However, he remembered that this course was 'durable', and has yet to need replacements. That didn't do much to help him stop thinking the ropes would fail, but either way he was still going full speed towards them.

They held, and they were simple enough to do, an easy combination of momentum and an accuracy of where he was swinging, as well as precision on when to let go.

The final obstacle was the most time consuming, the barbed wire being enough to open more than a few scratches, but with the weight he was carrying and the fact he had to crawl through it was more than enough to assure that he was going to spend more than 10 seconds there. He did what he could though, and it took much longer than he would have liked. When he made it to the end, he stood up and rang the bell that signaled he finished.

Luna was watching him come back with a respectful smile, Pen was applauding him, and Night was standing there with an arrogant smirk plastering his face.

"Well, that was pretty fast, and impressive, but uh... Unlfortunately for you, I forgot the stopwatch. So you're going to have to go again."

"Unfortunately for you, I was counting. He took about twenty seconds.

"Well then, I guess he still has to do it again. Didn't beat 14 seconds."

Luna interrupted whatever argument Pen was about to give with a new idea.

"I would rather see thee in combat. Let us move to the sparring grounds."


He was up against three of the 'finest' lunar and celestial soldiers, 6 that were called in frequently to spar with new recruits. Two of them were wielding a wooden sword and shield, three were using a normal staff, and one was holding a wooden greatsword. Orisian had been given nothing, and was instructed to avoid being hit.

They weren't surrounding him, and he could tell they weren't veterans of actual combat based on how they stood together. The swordsman stood alone, while the other two groups stood by their own. If they wanted to maximize their effectiveness, they would have had one guardsman protecting the lone unit, allowing him to come in when the time was right and unleash a devastating blow. But, they didn't, which means that this would be easy.

The twins charged first, shields raised. Orisian didn't know if taking them head on would count as getting hit with the shield, so instead of risking it, he sidestepped and grabbed one by the collar of his armor and flung him into the three that had begun to disperse. All three managed to get out of the way quick enough, but one had nowhere to go but forwards or backwards, and the obvious choice meant just a little more distance between him and Orisian.

Upon hearing the sound of a weapon slicing through air, Orisian ducked and was just quick enough to grab his opponent's arm mid swing, forcing it down and bringing his own free arm up and slamming into his enemy's face. The force caused his head to jerk back as Orisian threw him at the swordsman, who had already closed half the distance to Orisian.

The new opponent had too much momentum to move out of the way, and instead decided to push his obstacle to the side, which slowed him down enough for Orisian to tackle him, taking him to the ground and leaving his sword useless. Orisian grabbed his opponent's head with both hands and gave him a skull crushing headbutt before pushing off and getting ready for the rest of the fight.

Two of the staff users had reached him and the swordsman, and if Orisian hadn't moved when he did, he would have been hit by both of them. Their mirrored attack caused their weapons to cross, and taking them both and pulling, Orisian knocked the duo off balance, forcing each of them towards him. Picking them up by the throat, he slammed them on their backs, leaving them half paralyzed and disoriented.

The remaining staff user and guardsman, who had now recovered, stood side by side. Both had uncertain looks on their faces, and, yes, both were wearing celestial armor. So the armies of the sun were less of combatants than the armies of the moon. Orisian decided the best course of action would be to gain a weapon of his own. Taking a few steps back while keeping his eyes locked on his two remaining foes, he stepped over the unconscious body of the first guardsman, and retrieved his sword. Stepping back towards them, he allowed them the first move.

The guardsman threw his sword at Orisian while the staff user threw his weapon at him. The sword was deftly deflected, and the staff was caught. A desperate move in their part, one of them was disarmed and the other only had a shield. This should have been more difficult. It didn't feel like Orisian was proving anything.

Orisian decided that he had too many weapons, and chose to throw the sword, which was easily blocked by a shield. His follow up attack, however, was devastating, the staff slamming into the guardsman's face and putting him on the ground. Keeping his momentum, Orisian made a 360 spin, aiming for the remaining combatant's face, but at the last minute, bringing the staff to the ground. His opponent ducked, and the staff brought his feet into the air. With nothing keeping him upright, the poor boy landed heavily on his shoulder, with Orisian's staff being brought down hard.

With the only man still able to stand being Orisian, the fight was over.

Night Force was looking on with a wavering smirk, while Morning Pen was clapping and cheering. Luna was calling for a doctor.

"Yeah, well... You're lucky you weren't against me runt. Very lucky."

"Aye. Maybe you would be the one out of all the other million to best me."

"Whatever he is, he sure as hell ain't coming close to beating you! You were a one man army, man!"

"While thee was nowhere near being a one man army, thine fighting skills are unbested."

"What the fuck ever. If you don't need me anymore princess, I've got work to do."

"Then thou best try to do thine job correctly, and efficiently."

With his presence excused, Night Force went off in the direction of the barracks.

"I guess I'd better get back to checking on my projects. I'll see you later princess. And you too... Uh..."

"Orisian. Farewell, my friend."

"Great! I look forward to testing your skills for myself. Bye."

Pen began to walk off in the direction of the training yard while Orisian looked to Luna asking a question.

"Surely she's joking? I had thought she just wore the armor to signifiy herself as a commanding figure for the building of the city. Surely she isn't truly a soldier?"

"What does thou mean?"

"She is a woman. Women do not fight."

"Perhaps that was true in thee's world, but here, it does not matter who, or what thee are. So long as thou art willing and able, brave and loyal, then thee can prove thyself in any way."

"Then it is going to be a hard world to get used to."

"Then let me give thee a history lesson. Follow me."

Orisian looked back at Morning Pen before following Luna to the castle. This was a strange world.