The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab

by Fuzzyfurvert

405. Rapier by Donraj

by Donraj

***

Twilight made an experimental thrust with the slender blade.

“I always snickered at Blueblood for spending so much time practicing with these,” she commented. “It just seemed so pointless.”

Twilight paused for a moment. “That pun was not intentional.”

Celestia grinned as she worked her own weapon through a dizzying practice routine.

“They’re actually quite deadly even without augmentation. Especially back then; my little ponies knew enough about medicine to handle slashing wounds by that point. Puncture wounds not so much.”

Twilight cocked her head as she considered that. “…That makes so much sense,” she said, clearly embarrassed she hadn’t considered that particular context.

“Their major weakness was that they were utterly useless against armor,” Celestia continued. “They actually first saw use by toughs and street gangs well before they caught on with the nobility.”

Twilight nodded a bit absently as she started channeling magic into her sword the way Celestia had described. As the link between it and her horn took form the rapier began to glow of its own accord.

"Which isn't to say that their reputation as useless ornamental weapons is unjustified in the case of the sporting versions that came later," Celestia concluded as her own sword lit up with golden light. "But yes, they were perfectly effective even before we realized they could deliver pinpoint magic attacks if used as a focus."

Celestia whipped her rapier up into a ready position and smiled. Her face had a slightly predatory expression at odds with her usual gentle wisdom and authority. "And that's why we're here."

Twilight mirrored the Princess's stance. "Focused study," she repeated for the thousandth time.

Celestia nodded, quick and curt. "Power will never be a problem for you, Twilight Sparkle. What determines your success will be how well you can learn discipline and control."

Both ponies bent their knees slightly as they prepared to lunge.

"En garde!"

Comments

[Toiski]

Hijacking this to theorycraft.

A hypothetical history of unicorn weapons

To explain why the rapier became the preferred telekinetic weapon of unicorns, one has to view its development from both the perspective of the wielder, as well as the intended target.

Armor was, and still is, relatively uncommon outside of the Guard. In the early centuries of Equestria, local militias would sometimes have barding ranging from simple padded cloth trough metal-studded leather, up to ring mail in the case of exceptionally wealthy mercenaries and local lords' bodyguards. In the Modern Era, as the central oversight of Canterlot has solidified in the border regions, the Guard has taken over most military duties. The remaining armor-wearers - outlaws, outsiders and the occasional adventurer - prefer easily concealable protection. Only the exceptionally foolish or exceptionally powerful would go up against a guardsman in open combat, so the vast majority of use cases of a telekinetic weapon are against unarmored and poorly armored targets. Shields are uncommon, as few unicorns can fight effectively with two telekinetcally controlled objects, and the other pony races are limited in what areas they can protect with one.

Bludgeoning weapons are, of course, often preferred due to their capaciity for less-than-lethal damage, but when you want someone dead, a blade or point is the preferred implement. Therefore, we now focus on the slashing and piercing weapons favoured by unicorns. When one's reach is not constrained in the manner of an earth pony or pegasus, who needs to maintain connection with their weapon, a light weapon is easier to reposition for attack and defense. Blades and points rely on mass less than bludgeoning weapons like hammers and mauls. Some inertia is useful to carry the attack through to a wounding depth, however, and thus the common telekinetic weapons occupy a scale between two and six pounds of weight. Rare are the unicorns whose power to control ratio is skewed far enough in either direction to make a lighter or heavier weapon more efficient. With these design constraints established, we arrive at the dueling rapier (and dueling spear, where metal and metalworking skills are scarce).

"Dueling rapier" is a slight misnomer, in that it only covers the more commonly used half of the weapon. Rapier refers to the sharp and flexible spike of metal that is used in thrusting motions to pierce the target's vital organs. It concentrates the weapon's force into an arbitrarily small area, enabling it to easily pierce leather and chainmail. However, as the damaged area is small, if the attacker is limited to targeting the limbs, it does not usually result in an incapacitating injury. Therefore, the hilt of the rapier, where an earth pony would grasp it, is relplaced with a slashing blade. Here, two designs are most common: the straight, double-edged blade, and the crescent blade that ranges from a half-circle with its open side facing the rapier to the full circle, usually in a plane with the rapier blade. Some variations of the latter have the circular blade perpendicular to the rapier, like a platter balanced on top of a stick, but these versions are somewhat more prone to bending or breaking due to the unbalanced forces. The circular part, even when perforated to reduce weight, is an excellent parrying tool, which explains its comparable popularity with the lighter but less versatile straight blade. The dueling spear replaces the rapier with a wooden-hafted spear, and can have its edges tooled from sharpened stone instead of metal, either because of cost concerns or to avoid magical detection. It is vulnerable to having its haft broken from a successfull parry, which is why it is not commonly seen in history past the advent of cheap smelting and casting techniques.

What does combat with these weapons look like, then? The basic situation in a one-on-one duel is that each participant positions their weeapon between themself and the opponent's weapon, in order to be ready to parry. Combat range is limited by the magical range of the unicorns. However, as soon as one combatant recieves superiority, whether through external factors (allies in a non-duel situation), spell use, or proficiency, they can move their weapon freely to the other side of the opponent, distracting them from either the weapon or the assailant. This will usually end the duel, as a slash, thrust, or spell catches the flanked defender.

[Donraj]

5976946

Everything Celestia said about rapiers other than the bit about using them as a magical focus is true in real life, incidentally. Or so the person I once knew who studied traditional European martial arts said.

[LuxAeterna]

5976946

That is really well thought-out, it's certainly something I'd use in a story, when I get around to properly writing a pony story. I've been thinking of having a character who has two telekinetic shatterable blades like in The Immortal Game, but that character won't actually be a pony and I'm not sure whether or not such a weapon would be at all common