And welcome back to the Fight Club! That was a close one, am I right? We've already got questions coming in about the battle, but first, let's look at some stats from the sim. First, the kills:
Rainbow Dash
Hurricane: 128
Speed Burst: 174
Sonic Rainboom: 227
Total: 529
Twilight Sparkle
Pulse Bolt: 156
Telekinesis: 233
Teleportation: 82
Total: 471
Let's check out each weapon's post-battle evaluation.
The Hurricane technique was Rainbow Dash's worst weapon, and for a few reasons. First, if the battle was in close quarters (about 25% of the time), it was impossible to pull this off, simply because Rainbow Dash didn't have enough space to create a funnel. It's just not meant for CQB. Second, as we mentioned in testing, if Twilight could escape the area of effect, Dash was left in a particularly ineffective and vulnerable position. Finally, it's just tiring for Dash to perform, and the fatigue-to-damage ratio was too high to be effective.
Speed Burst shared the Hurricane's main flaw: ineffectiveness in CQB, once again as a case of space. However, it was far more effective in terms of damage potential. It also acted as a defensive technique, as Twilight could not attack or counter an opponent she couldn't see. It also took advantage of Dash's stronger physicality as a contact weapon. All in all, when Dash wouldn't (or couldn't) use a Sonic Rainboom, this was her advanced attack of choice.
Where do I begin with the Sonic Rainboom? It's just so frickin' strong! Just about every time Dash used it, it hurt Twilight in some way. At best, she was knocked off her hooves; at worst, like Scootaloo predicted, direct contact in ideal circumstances made for a one-hit KO. The Rainboom also suffered in limited space, and if Dash could pull it off, she was left racing at high speeds with quite a bit of force needed to slow down. The energy drain was significant, as well. But when it worked, boy, did it work. Further analysis led us to determine that the Rainboom's energy burst is spherical in nature, meaning it could hit Twilight wherever she was. If she was far enough away, she could often block the blast. But if she was too close, there was no way to deflect that kind of power, not to mention the prismatic flash often gave her temporary blindness. The Sonic Rainboom is, in the end, probably the most powerful single attack in terms of energy release we'll see on this show, only dampened by the fact that it's dispersed in all directions.
The Pulse Bolt attack, contrasting the Hurricane, had a very nice fatigue-to-damage ratio. It acts effectively as a weapon(like we said before, a magic gun), and at almost no energy cost to Twilight. She could churn out hundreds of these things and not even break a sweat. The only limitation was that each bolt was relatively weak, so when added to Dash's maneuverability and dodging skill, Twilight had to land quite a few of these to make any kind of dent on her.
Telekinesis was the battle's most deadly weapon, barely edging out the Sonic Rainboom. And, like Nightmare Mist from our last episode, it stems back to versatility. Twilight could use this ability in so many ways, against almost any other opponent it would've been unfair, a non-unicorn especially. She could (as we saw) slam Dash into objects, slam objects into Dash, hold Dash in place, and any number of other things. The limitations were that it took focus to grab and keep a hold of Dash, which was difficult when she was moving at mach speeds. In addition, this attack was very draining to Twilight, meaning she could rarely maintain it for more than 30 seconds at a time. Very powerful, but a technique that was rarely used extensively beyond once a battle.
In stark contrast, Teleportation was the worst-faring weapon of all. This is simply because it's a defensive maneuver, designed to dodge and disappear, but not really leading itself to a lot of offensive options. The few kills we recognized for it were from when Twilight used teleportation to counter or sneak-attack, or to escape a situation that would otherwise kill them both. Honestly, compared to a Sonic Rainboom, it just can't hold its own.
Even more so than last time, X-Factors were critical components of the simulation that gave deciding edges in battle. Here are my top picks.
Physicality: It should be obvious by now that Rainbow Dash can take an absurd amount of hits. She is, as TVTropes says, made of iron. This meant that it was extremely hard for Twilight to kill her by blunt trauma or concussive force. She could keep going and resist attacks that would've torn apart other ponies. This also allowed her to survive high-speed crashes and other dangerous situations that magic and flight produced when combined. Had it not been for this, we would've seen quite a different battle.
Fieldcraft: This skill came to the aid of both sides. Twilight was able to use her environment to disrupt Dash's sequence-based techniques, often telekinetically tossing a monkey wrench into the process. She also used telekinetics on her environment to create weapons or tools, or to shield herself from attack. But Rainbow Dash could control the weather, and this made a great ability for a variety of purposes. She often hid above cloud cover for concealment, and could use lightning strikes to attack Twilight.
Hoof-to-Hoof Combat: This one also played into Dash's favor, coming in with her all-around physical advantage. With her background of scrapping all her life, she was more equipped for fisticuffs or brawling. Being a pegasus, her light weight also made her faster and more agile. She could go hoof-to-hoof with the strongest Earth pony known and win, and Twilight could never surpass that. Twilight may know several fighting styles, but she is in no way strong enough to practice them, giving Dash a solid edge.
Alright, now let's head to our Questions section! Just a reminder, we are still open for questions on Celestia vs. Nightmare Moon, since only one user posted a question. So hit us up!
First question, by The Grey Pegasus: "...which of them do you think would be better in leading ponies in battle?"
Since neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash command armies like our previous combatants, all of our battles were one-on-one. But isn't leadership an X-Factor, NightmareDash? Go ahead and bring it up. Oh, by the way, he says we consolidated field leadership and long-term strategic command into one category.
Leadership: A pony's ability to command and lead their followers in warfare. Twilight, being a book-smarts genius, is very well-versed in tactical knowledge. She's also probably read a few books on how to lead, meaning she knows the by-the-books approach to leadership. However, her at-best developing social skills don't do her any favors, and Rainbow Dash is a more natural leader. This stems from her years of leadership on the Ponyville Weather Team. Her rough upbringing makes her a more down-to-earth commander, and allows her to make tough decisions with a minimum of time-wasting. And, alas, no leadership opportunities to be found in isolated studying. For experience, we gave Rainbow Dash an 87, compared to Twilight's 83, though this was a relatively inconsequential X-Factor in the end.