A Victory in Defeat

by Blade Heart

Armor Up

They 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.

---