//------------------------------// // Celestia vs. Nightmare Moon: Aftermath // Story: Deadliest Pony // by NightmareDash //------------------------------// And welcome back from the battle. This's been one hell of a pilot episode, ain't it, folks? Now, we can break things down a little and look at the battle in our first episode of Deadliest Pony: Aftermath! We're going to see what carried the fight, and how Nightmare Moon took her revenge on Princess Celestia. Then we'll answer some of your questions, which you can post right here! First off, The Stats. From a thousand battles, here's how many kills each weapon got. Keep in mind this is only Celestia and Nightmare Moon one-on-one and guard teams against each other, so Celestia's weapons only killed Nightmare Moon, vice-versa, same with guards, yadda yadda... Celestia Solar Cloak: 253 Thermal Barrage: 202 Total: 455 Equestrian Royal Guards: 487 victories Nightmare Moon Horn Stab: 204 Nightmare Mist: 341 Total: 545 Lunar Guard: 513 victories So now, let's go through the weapons and see how they each did. Solar Cloak was Celestia's best attack, and garnered a majority of her kills. This is mainly because it works both defensively and offensively. In addition, because it is pure solar energy, it is particularly harmful to a creature of the night like Nightmare Moon. Its biggest limitation is that, comparatively speaking, it lacks offensive capabilities, instead being mainly a buff to enhance Celestia's melee combat. And as we saw in the sim, it is very energy-consuming to use, and this weardown was ultimately a factor in Nightmare Moon's victory. Thermal Barrage fared noticably worse, but not by a massive amount. Its main weakness was that Nightmare Moon, being black in color and thus better suited to stealth, could easily conceal herself in darkness and dodge, block or entirely avoid the shots. But even then, as we saw, they still had some effect. Against another enemy, it probably would have been more effective, just not Nightmare Moon. Horn Stab fell on the low end of Nightmare Moon's attacks, barely coming up better than Thermal Barrage. There were a few reasons for this. One, if Celestia had used Solar Cloak, this attack just couldn't break through, so the only hope was to hit a weak spot or gap in the armor. This did happen once or twice, but in the perspective of a thousand battles, that's too rare to make any kind of difference. Two, as we saw, Celestia has plenty of skill in healing magic, and though the poison was more advanced and difficult to cure, she was able to do it. However, this was another energy-drainer, weakening Celestia significantly. This worked for kills mainly when Celestia was too tired to cure the poison, or never given the chance to. Nightmare Mist was the most effective weapon on the battlefield, wielded expertly by Nightmare Moon. She used it several times to escape from Celestia's attacks, and to reposition herself for better ones. In the end, versatility was the name of the game: there were just so many ways Nightmare Mist could kill Celestia! We saw the suffocation bit, but it also caused the castle to cave in on her, solidified inside her vital organs, became several other weapons, and a number of other delightfully gruesome techniques. One particularly interesting sim had Nightmare Moon envelop the room in Nightmare Mist and make it a kind of fear toxin, then using a few stage tricks and dark magic, caused Celestia to frighten herself into a heart attack! I really should try that sometime. Assassination plots aside, Nightmare Mist was so powerful and versatile that Celestia just didn't have a way to block it out entirely; it would just find a new way to attack. The Equestrian Royal Guard found its advantage in superior numbers and royal backing. They had all of Equestria behind them, and this meant they were better armed, better supplied, and better supported in an actual war. Their inclusive admittance policies also meant that they had a personnel advantage, about a 3-to-1 ratio. They knew how to fight, but unfortunately, their lack of experience in large-scale warfare made them less effective. Relegated to what is essentially police-work, they just don't have that combat edge to win. The Lunar Guard was entirely different in this regard, training regularly in military scenarios to keep themselves sharp. They were also more diversely trained, using experience in sabotage, stealth, and as we saw, assassination to outmaneuver their opponents. And when this was coupled with their magically-augmented physiques, the Lunar Guard was a force to be reckoned with. They were lacking on the numbers side, but made up for this with superior hoof-to-hoof combat skills. Their status as a fringe group would also work against them in an all-out war, ruining logistics and supply lines. But with the element of surprise, they never had to face such a situation. In the end, these two groups were even more evenly matched than their leaders, but the better training and physical edge of the Lunar Guard gave them the advantage. X-Factors played out very importantly in this battle, some even I didn't anticipate. Here are just a few: Psych Warfare: Nightmare Moon was playing mind games with Celestia the entire time. She had a thousand years to analyze her sister's every weakness, and found a big one in her lingering love for Luna (say that three times fast!). This made Celestia easy to decieve, and her naivete didn't do her any favors, either. Celestia had held the throne for several centuries unopposed, and, just like her guards, this lack of experience played against her. Nightmare Moon used her words to her advantage, playing on Celestia's emotions, loves and fears; I'm almost jealous. Surprise: Like I said before, Nightmare Moon's forces had the element of surprise on their side. Celestia no doubt expected Luna to reintegrate into Equestrian society, so this attack came as a shot in the dark to her. Catching their enemies off guard with one powerful strike meant the LG never had to face extended warfare, which they undoubtedly would've failed at. Motivation: Nightmare Moon was on a hell-bent quest for revenge, and nothing was going to stop her. She would keep fighting until she got it, and this pushed her through a difficult fight with Celestia. Her anger became a kind of fuel for her. Celestia's fighting spirit was never completely there, as she knew she was fighting to kill her own sister. She was still feeling guilt for banishing Luna to the moon, and being reminded of this by Nightmare Moon, her fighting was always half-hearted. And in the end, convinced that the old Luna was gone, Celestia gave up hope, losing the will to live and choosing to die there rather than continue the fight. So in the end, Nightmare Moon kept Celestia fighting emotionally with some clever words, and used an extended fight to wear her down. Using techniques that drained Celestia's energy, she was able to outlast her sister and break her in the end. Now that we've looked at how this battle was fought and won, let's see what the viewers have to say! Leave your comment or question on this page, and NightmareDash and I will work together to answer a couple of them. Check back periodically to see if we choose yours. Go ahead, get asking! Nikent63 asked: "What X-factors played in Celestias favor you only listed Lunas?" Very well then, if you insist on being fair. NightmareDash, can you pull up descriptions on some of Celestia's winning X-Factors? Environment: Most battles of the thousand turned out as castle-siege scenarios. This meant that Celestia's forces had the high ground, and Nightmare Moon was put in a weaker attacking position. Aside from Nightmare Moon as Luna and a few LGs, the rest of Nightmare Moon's army had to force their way into the palace. They had to navigate unfamiliar territory, and despite training with diagrams of palace schematics beforehand, they were still out of their element. The ERGs, having worked at the palace for most of their lives, knew the place inside out. They knew choke-points, strengths and weaknesses in the design, and alternate routes to various locations. This was a strong tactical advantage. Logistics: We didn't really see it here, but Celestia had a strong command of logistics. She essentially controlled all of Equestria's resources, from foodstuffs to metals, and had the means to get them where she wanted them. If we had seen a prolonged war, this would have become a major benefit, which the Lunar Guard particularly lacked. In the sim, we saw that the ERG was able to quickly muster in the courtyard, armed and ready to fight, in response to the LG attacks. Mental Stability: Yes, believe it or not, this is an X-Factor we calculate. Nightmare Moon's drive for revenge, inspiring and motivational as it might have been, made her impulsive. She did plan out the attack in advance, but in the heat of battle, when she found herself in a situation unplanned-for, she had a tendency to act emotionally. This, plus a thousand-year isolation on the moon, made her mentally unstable, occasionally prone to psychotic episodes. Celestia, on the other hand, had several millennia's experience managing the largest and strongest country on the planet. This made her a more natural leader, and gave her a sense of cool-headedness and calmness under pressure. Nightmare Moon's wordplay did break through this sometimes, but otherwise, she's about as mentally sound as you can get. As you can see, most of the X-Factors that leant towards Celestia would have been more visible in a large-scale war campaign. Knowing this, Nightmare Moon elected to go for a single, decisive strike to end her and take over.