Twilight Sparkle vs. Rainbow Dash: Analysis
Twilight Sparkle: Apprentice to Princess Celestia, and one of the most powerful unicorns Equestria has ever seen!
Rainbow Dash: Acrobatic queen of the skies, a pegasus powerhouse with unmatched aerial prowess!
Who is deadliest?
Welcome back to Deadliest Pony. I'm your host, Discord. Tonight, we're going to pit two of Ponyville's greatest fighters against each other and see who comes out on top. With the aid of our Fight Club and combat experts, we will be able to determine exactly who is the Deadliest Pony! These two are part of those dinky little Elements of Idiocy, and they've been good friends for some time. So tonight, we get to have some of the best, most wholesome family fun you can find in Equestria: tearing apart close friendships! But as always, before we get to that, we have to have our history lessons. Now, I've turned both of these two into complete opposites of themselves, so I know them inside and out. But after the last episode, I've decided that talking all the time is kinda boring. So I'm going to start bringing in "experts" on some of our fighters, when I can find them. But if I want to do it myself, I will; God of Chaos, remember? But anyway, here's our expert for Twilight: Spike is a baby dragon, and Twilight's own personal doormat, erhm, I mean assistant.
"Hey, I'm not Twilight's doormat!"
Uh-huh, sure you aren't. But get on with the backstory, kid.
"Urgh, whatever you say. I only knew Twilight when she hatched me from an egg. Boy, what a fiasco that was. Being in an egg is like taking a really long nap, and when she hatched me, it was like slapping me awake. She literally made me fifty feet tall as soon as she hatched me, the ceiling was forty feet up, and so I went..."
You're digressing, kid.
"Oh, am I? Man, I was. So, anyway, Twilight was born to two unicorns in Canterlot, the second of their two foals, next to her brother, Shining Armor. She showed magical talent from a very young age, and a passion for learning. Keep in mind, F.Y.I., that this is all based on what she's told me about herself. So after a few years in a standard elementary school, including an unpleasant experience with magic kindergarten, her parents moved her to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. That's where I come in, at the entrance exam. She hatches me, and in the process become's Celestia's personal student. Then we fell into a rut for a couple years, with both of us maturing and Twilight learning all she could about magic under Celestia's tutelage. But man, was it boring, let me tell you! I remember this one time, Twilight couldn't find a book about cryptozoology, and she never said why, but she really wanted it, and..."
I hate to interrupt, but...
"Whoa! What the heck is that?"
It's a God of Chaos thing. You wouldn't get it. But unless you want me to start ni-ing you, get this story moving and done. My viewers are getting bored!
"Alright, alright, whatever that means. So anyways, we kind of fell into obscurity for a while, until last year's Summer Sun Celebration. The rest is history; Twilight predicts Nightmare Moon, gets sent to Ponyville, Nightmare Moon shows up, Twilight and friends find Elements of Harmony and blast her. Then you show up, and we repeat the process. Finally, you have that deal with Shining Armor, Cadence, Chrysalis and the changelings, and that brings us back to where we are today. To sum it up, Twilight's proved herself to be one of the most powerful and intelligent unicorns in Equestria, and given the kinds of battles she's won, I don't think Rainbow Dash stands a chance."
Well, that's what we're going to find out, isn't it? But at least you're done. Don't worry, loyal viewers, we're half-way through the boring part! All we need is to hear about Rainbow Dash's history, then we can get on to the weapons! So let's bring out the Rainbow Dash expert. A chicken who'll show us games to play, it's Scootaloo!
"Hey, I am not a chicken! And what does that last part even mean?"
Believe me, kid, you don't want to know. And sorry, viewers, but I keep forgetting that my experts aren't in on these kind of jokes like we are. They're still bound by the laws of reality! Oh, how I pity them! But no matter, get on with the backstory.
"Oh, you want me to talk about Rainbow Dash? Alright! She's, like, the most awesome pony that ever was! She is 20% cooler than anything else in Equestria, and dang, look at how fast she is! She's like the definition of amazingness! Literally, if you were to take all of the coolest things in Equestria and combine them..."
Dear Faust, she's worse than the last one. Scootaloo! I asked you for a report on Rainbow Dash's past, not your personal opinion on how great she is. One word, filly: objectivism! Get some!
"Alright, jeez, you don't have to go psycho on me. But a history report on Rainbow Dash. Sure, I can do that. Here's what I know about her. She was born in Cloudsdale and raised by a single mother. She had a rough life as a filly, trying to make due in Equestria's lower class. She lead a pretty boring life for a few years, until her mother died in a weather-factory accident, leaving her an orphan. Dash was heartbroken, but she didn't have much time to grieve. Losing most of what she owned to pay off her mother's debts, she found herself faced with the unpleasant prospect of a state orphanage. When the headmistress arrived to take her, she literally ran away, flying out of her old house to escape. She learned that day that it payed to think fast and move faster. This led to Dash's years on the streets of Cloudsdale. She began training herself to fly faster, leading her through several flight camps. At these camps, she built several important connections, such as meeting Gilda, Fluttershy, and eventually performing a Sonic Rainboom and earning her Cutie Mark. And it's been awesomeness for her ever since. Lacking options after graduating from the most advanced flight school she could get into, she followed Fluttershy to Ponyville. There, she signed on with the government as head of weather management for the area. But she maintains her highest dream to this day: joining the Wonderbolts flight team."
Good enough, kid. So sum up Rainbow Dash for me; you can be more opinionated here. Tell Equestria what to expect from her.
"Oh, that's easy. Rainbow Dash is the definition of speed, and there is nopony even remotely in her league. We're going to see her fly circles around that egghead Twilight Sparkle."
Ooh, Twilight just got burned! But enough smack talk. Let's get on to everypony's favorite part: the weapons! Like last time, we're going to look at short-range, long-range, special abilities, and X-Factors. So bring on the destruction! Spike, what does Twilight have in her arsenal for short-range?
"Well, let's see, she has the mustache thing, the want-it-need-it spell, no, no... Aha! I've got one! When she's going short-range, Twilight isn't afraid to drop back to basics. So her spell of choice is the Force Bolt! Quite simply, she fires a short burst of magical energy as a single shot. It's strong, fast, and easy to use. And its strength comes in numbers; Twilight can shoot them off in groups of 20 or more at a time, because they don't take much energy to make. So when she sees something she wants to destroy (like a Trixie poster), she just points and shoots, and bam, no more target."
Sounds nice. Scoots, anything Rainbow Dash can fire back with?
"Are you kidding? She could just dodge those little magicy bullets all day long! Like I said, she's going to fly circles around Twilight Sparkle, and I mean that! Rainbow Dash's short-range attack is called the Hurricane. You've seen it plenty of times before: she starts flying in a circle, and picks up speed. Pretty soon, she's moving so fast that she makes a small tornado! It can suck up anything in the air or on the ground around it, including Twilight Sparkle. And whatever's inside is getting thrown around and battered by everything else inside. It's not only strong, but it looks awesome in the process."
Alright, fangirl opinions aside, that does sound pretty impressive. So which one wins? Let's take a look. Force Bolt is your run-of-the-mill magic gun; dependent on line-of-sight, low energy cost, decently strong but easy to dodge. Hurricane is more powerful, but it's only a single attack. If Twilight can escape from that area of effect, it doesn't really do much to her. But if Rainbow Dash dodges a Force Bolt, Twilight can just shoot off another one. Not to mention Hurricane has a build-up time and is more exhausting to use.
In the short-range category, the edge goes to the Force Bolt. Let's move on to long-range. Spike?
"Long-range? I think I've got something for you. If you know jack about magic, you know this one, and Twilight knows it better than anyone: Telekinesis. If she can see it, she can grab it, and if she can grab it, there's a lot she can do with it. She can throw it across Ponyville, or bring it up close to her. She can slam it into a wall, or rip it in two. Basically, what can Rainbow Dash do when she doesn't even control her own body?"
"Oh please! Rainbow Dash is too fast for that! She's, like, the fastest thing in Equestria, duh! And she can use that speed! When she wants to hit you from a distance, she's got a little move I like to call the Speed Burst! Has someone ever brushed into you because they were moving too fast to get out of the way? This is like that, but a hundred times better. Rainbow Dash flies off, somewhere where you can't see her. From there, she shoots straight at you, so fast that you can't even see her coming. She's just a rainbow blur. She charges you head-on, knocking you down as she whizzes past. Then, before you can even get up, she zips at you from somewhere else, hitting you again! You could be pulverized from all directions in a matter of seconds, and never have seen what was attacking you!"
Both very impressive tactics. Telekinesis is one of my favorite tricks; I once used it to make Celestia keep hitting herself with her own hoof for almost an hour. It was just too funnny! But in all seriousness, telekinesis is a unique, powerful, and diverse ability. You can attack, block, and counterattack with the same power. But then again, if we're to believe Scootaloo, it's hard to counter when you can't even see what you want to attack. And the opportunity only lasts for the split-second Rainbow Dash is anywhere near you, and let's face it, nopony has those kind of reflexes. By the time Twilight tried to telekinetically attack, Rainbow Dash would be somewhere completely different. These two are just too evenly matched.
For long-range techniques, Telekinesis and Speed Burst are at a draw. Now we move on to special abilities. This means things that are harder to categorize, and may not necessarily be weapons. Spike, anything come to mind?
"Special abilities? I'd guess teleporting would be Twilight's thing there. Yeah, Teleportation! In a flash of light, Twilight can disappear and show up somewhere else instantly. From the other side of the room to the other side of Equestria, she can teleport anywhere. And then she can attack from where Rainbow Dash least expects it! Now, it does take more than a bit of energy to use, but what can you do when you can't even figure out where she is?"
And, cue Scoots' proud comeback...
"Guess what? Rainbow Dash doesn't even need to teleport! She's so fast, she might as well be teleporting! And her special ability is beyond 20% cooler than that. Mares and gentlestallions, the moment you've all been waiting for! You thought it wasn't real, you thought it was a myth! Well take a look, everypony, because it's real tonight! I give you, the one, the only, the Sonic Rainboom! Rainbow Dash gets flying up to mach speeds, exposing herself to 11 G's of force! Then, right at the perfect moment, BOOM! Rainbow Dash unleashes a massive explosion of rainbow energy by her own sheer speed! I don't care where Twilight's teleported to, the Rainboom will hit her, and it will take her down. And if Rainbow Dash hit her directly? I don't want to sound cocky (oh wait, yes I do!), but I'm calling that a one-hit K.O.. End of story, egghead."
Well, we've got the data on that, Scootaloo, so we'll just have to see. But you can't be far off the mark. The Sonic Rainboom is a dangerous release of large amounts of energy, in a radial blast that's next to impossible to avoid. If you were to focus all that energy on a point the size of Rainbow Dash's hoof, it would be enough to melt through reinforced steel plating a few feet thick. Teleportation can shake things up a little, but it's both defensive-oriented and an energy-drainer. It's pretty clear which way this is going.
In special abilities, the Sonic Rainboom takes the edge! Our final set of evaluations is at hand; let's look at a few X-Factors. You two shut it; I can handle this part myself.
Field Tactics: This is a warrior's ability to think on their feet and react quickly to changing situations. Twilight is an admitted egghead, but that's going to play in her favor here. She has studied more than a few military history books, so she knows her Art of War. Her repeated exposure to life-or-death situations has also gifted her with cool-headedness. However, Rainbow Dash also has this gift, though to a lesser extent. But she lives at high speeds by her very nature; she has to have reflexes to match. She probably has the best reaction speed a pony could ask for. But we valued Twilight's book knowledge a little higher, giving her an 85 and Dash an 80.
Stamina: A warrior's physical endurance and ability to take hits and continue fighting. Twilight may be smart, but she's only book-smart. She is most often found in her library, and rarely ventures outside the comforts of Ponyville. This means she's probably not in the best physical shape. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, has a very active job as weather manager. She's flying all day, pushing around clouds. And her hobby is speed flying; if asked, you know she'd tell you
"
"
We gave Rainbow Dash a 93, and Twilight Sparkle an 82.
Fieldcraft: This is how a warrior uses their environment to their advantage. For Twilight, this comes back to her knowledge of magic. She can use a wide variety of spells to manipulate the world around her, from transmutation to telekinesis. But this would be a distractor from actual combat, and Rainbow Dash is definitely going to take advantage of that. Dash's strength in fieldcraft is in her weather control. As a pegasus weather manager, she is experienced in creating all manner of weather phenomenon. Storms, sleet, tornadoes, or even just a torrential downpour, they're all valuable options. However, this would also take a while, and the availability of clouds is another limit. We gave her an 87, compared to Twilight's 92
Combat Experience: This one's a no-brainer. Once again, Twilight has the book smarts, but that doesn't equate to real experience. She's an upper-class nerd from Canterlot; that's about the most sheltered existence you can get. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was an orphan on the streets of Cloudsdale; she's probably been brawling all her life. Not to mention she has experience in infiltration, high-speed evasion, and several other combat skills. We gave Dash a 94, and Twilight a 75.
"Hey, that's not fair, Rainbow Dash should've won everything! She's way more awesome than Twilight could ever be! This is such a rip-off! I demand a recount! Why, I oughta..."
Faust, I'm getting irritated with her. I didn't want to do this, but I have no choice. Bring on the G3!
"Oh my Celestia, what is that? It's so freaky! I gotta get out of here!"
And, there goes the wall.
"I know, right? Man, that kid can be such a psycho. I remember this time where I tried to borrow her scooter, and it wasn't very much to ask, but she just wouldn't let me borrow it, and I don't know why, but she freaked out on me, and..."
Buck it, I'm getting tired of you, too.
"Oh, Miss Rarity, what are you doing here? Do you need something? Wait, where are you going? Don't worry, Miss Rairty! I'm coming with you! Wait up!"
And, there goes the other wall. Anyway, now that those two are gone, we can go on without distraction. Let's plug in the figures, run the sims, average it all up, and we're done. Twilight, drop your books and pick up your boxing gloves. Rainbow Dash, I expect this fight to be over in 10 seconds flat, but make it 20% cooler than our last episode. Now then, as a good friend of mine likes to say...
Allons-y!
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I think Dash wins this real experience is better than only reading but lets see if Twilight can even the oods with its magic
931709 Don't worry, they don't actually die, though I'm a little confused myself as to how it all works. Here's my best explanation:
Discord tells ponies that the fights are to the death.
The battles are set up as a situation that would lead to a fight.
In battle, one pony really will kill the other.
Discord uses chaos magic to revive that pony when nopony else can see it.
Everypony thinks that the losers are really dead, until the Back for Blood special at the end of the season (if we get there).
And Discord is doing all of this for laughs.
twilight sparkle, because she is smart enough to teleport outside the blast of the sonic rainboom then inside once she is comfortable with the distances she would be in
i.imgur.com/LrOeF.png
932599 But she'd have to teleport pretty much the millisecond it was pulled off, to the exact point Dashie was when she executed the boom to actually avoid anything and considering Dashie seems more of a close-range fighter she'd probably execute it right before throwing a punch. Let's face it, for how smart and magically advanced Twilight is, no-one's that accurate. Plus even if she pulled it off and her enemy was still pretty far away, being that close to the source'd still disorient her, giving Dashie enough time to change course and execute something else... or just execute.
Structural weaknesses; Technically speaking, a Pegasus' wings would be the weakest part of their body, yet Rainbow Dash has proven time and time again that to break her wings she needs to completely lose control and crash at supersonic speeds, only then fracturing a single bone and getting out of hospital in a single day. Judging from how her friends reacted when she woke up, she'd only been out for a hew hours, tops.
Unicorns on the other hand, have to channel magic through their horns. If Rarity's a good example, we can assume that it's also a very sensitive apendage and highly fragile... at least when conducting magic. Considering Twilight relies on magic to fight, breaking the horn leaves her utterly helpless while if Dashies wings are broken she still knows martial arts and is strong enough to go toe-to-toe with one of the strongest earth-types there is, actually beating her in hoof-wrestling.
And if I didn't miss anything, the total is
Dashie; 354
Twilight; 334
I personally vote for Dashie if that wasn't already obvious
.
932964
light travels faster then sound (by a significant amount) so if twi saw the blast from around 500 feet ( the accuracy of rd dropping a srb right on top of twi would be damn near impossible due to the fact of traveling at mach five its easy to misjudge time and distance from a non direct angular line of site) see pic
also rd has used the srb directly over canterlot (assuming this is cannon to the show and not head cannon) it had no adverse effect on the inhabitants
i.imgur.com/vVi3d.png
images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120429142849/mlp/images/f/fe/Sonic_rainboom_over_Canterlot_S2E26.png
i.imgur.com/sUV40.png
935544 Perhaps, but if you combine the Sonic Rainboom with Speed Burst, Dash could get an accurate hit if Twilight had no idea where she was coming from. Or if you use it as a follow-up after Hurricane, where Twilight is too disoriented to do anything. And with the Canterlot thing, remember that everypony was surrounded by thick, structurally stable buildings, even if they weren't inside at the time. The blast hit these buildings before it came anywhere near them, dissipating its force exponentially. The first Sonic Rainboom (during the open-air race in Cloudsdale, when Rainbow Dash was a filly) was shown not only to be able to travel an extreme distance (from Cloudsdale to Canterlot, the outskirts of Manehatten, the Pie family rock farm, and however far away Rarity's horn dragged her), but to have unique properties with serious effects even at that distance (splitting a very large rock in two, curling Pinkie Pie's hair through nothing but wind blast, and overloading Twilight Sparkle with magical energy by channeling its own power into her). A funny episode would be to see some unintended consequences of every Rainboom (giving Derpy her derp, inspiring Trixie's love for illusions, attracting the interest of Doctor Whooves (which itself generates an MLP/Doctor Who crossover episode), etc.) But I digress. In an open area, with only one thing to take the blast (Twilight), it would be an effective weapon even at long ranges.
935755
but then again, we can see that the sonic rainboom is a can be compared to a directional explosive
935544 second picture
as it only travels on a plane and not in a sphere as would be optimal for an attack
I'm not sure if I missed anything, but did we touch on the Sonic Rainbomb from Lesson Zero?
943523 I'm somewhat grouping that in with the Sonic Rainboom. They're pretty similar.
943764
Except for the fact that it has proven destructive power, but okay then.
943821 I mean, they're both two big rainbow-colored explosions done by Rainbow Dash flying extremely fast. It'd be too hard to differentiate between them, and more people know the Sonic Rainboom than the Tactical Rain-nuke.
944157 A shame. Ah well, the nuke seems to be have less range but more destructive power while the Rainboom has the opposite.
However, being a close-range fighter Dashie probably wouldn't give her enemy any breathing room for attacks more effective at range and knowing her she'd probably try tackling the unicorn while executing the manoeuvre... I think, could easily be wrong. Also, depending on the proximity to the point of execution, could the Rainboom temporarily blind Twilight if she's close enough? And will she be able to pull it off as easily as in the season two finale?
Both eagerly awaiting and anxious about the upcoming fight. Still hope Dashie wins despite technicalities.
938063 I'm getting ready to write the battle, and I just realized: When Filly Dash does the Sonic Rainboom for the first time, it's traveling horizontally, as a result of her "bouncing" off a point in the sky (steep drop, followed by steep incline). This proves that the Rainboom need not go perpendicular to Dash's direction of travel, and that she may have some control over the plane it affects. Second, in every scene of "Cutie Mark Chronicles", said Rainboom goes far above their heads of the rest of the Filly Mane 6, traveling horizontally, but they are still affected on the ground by a powerful burst of wind/energy. Hence, while the visual effect of the Rainboom may be planar, the resulting wind (and possibly energy) burst is definitely spherical, and that's the weapon aspect of it.
1090071 i notices the sonic rainbomb comment and that would (in my eyes) be the only weaponized sonic attack she posses due to the fact that the clouds survived when the mane 6 were in the stadium while the wonderbolts + rarity were falling to their demise, which means that sometime between filly and mare the sonic rainboom must have become weaker.
1091970 Or Rainbow Dash has somewhat learned to control the energy release from the Sonic Rainboom, and can direct it to an extent. But one would expect that as she got older, the Rainboom would become more powerful, since she can fly faster. Otherwise, none of this makes sense to me. Or, we could consider it like a Superboy-Prime reality punch, powerful enough to break the laws of physics and defy all logic. But then we'd sink to the level of the idiot at DC who thought that was a good idea.
or you can write it however you want, im sorry for taking up your time by pointing out what i see are flaws in logic, but now i realize, its a cartoon and you are the author, i should just be happy with how it is. btw thanks for writing this story, its good
i.imgur.com/oIcVJ.png
1096016 Don't worry about it. It takes bronies like us to go at stuff like this, with point after counterpoint, to establish canon. Our discussions will hopefully pave the way for future authors to write about the Sonic Rainboom as accurately as possible, and that will lead to a better quality of MLP fanfic in general. Or not,
and we've just had fun debating the physics of an animated show which often defies physics. 
I'm happy either way.
1096109 i still think twilight would win
WHAT ABOUT THE BUCKANEER BLAZE!?!?!