Deadliest Pony

by NightmareDash

Twilight Sparkle vs. Rainbow Dash: Aftermath

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.

Comments

[spirit shin]

1153731 ditto brain usually wins over brawn

[The Grey Pegasus]

"As TVTropes says..." That's funny for some reason.

And on the leadership note, that is the good second-opinion I need to keep writing my story with reduced doubt.

[NightmareDash]

1154111 Glad to help.

[Dashole]

Nightmare Moon vs Discord.

[NightmareDash]

1158319 Unfortunately, Nightmare Moon's already been used, and since Discord's the host, he's probably not going to fight. But you've given me an idea for Back for Blood...

1158968 Especially in one-on-one combat. In large-scale warfare, where strategy and planning come into play, it's usually a different story, but that's not what Deadliest Warrior is about.

[SomeRandomMinion]

Will there be any squad-on-squad fights?
Changelings vs. Diamond Dogs, perhaps?

[NightmareDash]

1230542 Well, I consider Celestia vs Nightmare Moon a squad-on-squad fight, since we had the guards, but here's the thing: besides those two and Chrysalis, there aren't many other forces that can amass an army in Equestria. Unless I can think of another, I'm sending Chrysalis in a one-on-one fight. Diamond Dogs might be interesting, but since they haven't had near as much character development (and aren't near as popular) as other characters, they're kind of low on the list.

[shynight]

Do you plan on ever actually continuing this?

[NightmareDash]

2399529 Yes, but I have several active stories at the moment, and I wanted to pause this at a natural point so I could finish some of them, then come back to this. Unlike some of my stories, this one has no clear ending point, so I put it on the backburner to wrap up some that do.

[shynight]

2401518
awesome sauce, glad to hear this fic isn't dropping off the face of existance like so many others do

[zsewqthewolf]

I think you for got about twilight carzy side, if rainbow say one woger word about her she will spn and find spells out of no where, like the want it need it spell.

If you use that spell in this battle it would have been twilight that win becasue all she have to do is find a big ass fucking rock make it look like shiptfire form the woderbolts and make it look like she want sex and put a want it need it spell on it met make rainbow go carzy and speed right into the rock.

[ace_attorneyfan800]

I have an idea for a battle:
flash sentry vs shining armor

[NightmareDash]

2861661 I'll have to wait until the movie hits the Hub; there wasn't a theater anywhere near Dallas showing it.

[thecookiewookie]

Nothing in this or any other universe is faster than The Dash when shes pissed off. Still, in my headcanon, if Twilight can build enough fury as a weapon, she gets access to an unlimited source of magic (like Raven channeling every ounce of Trigon's power, or Aang going Avatar State), but about a billion times as powerful. However, nothing withstands an all-out Rainboom at nuclear levels, gods included. I cant see anything other than a tie, Rainbow reaching a light-speed Rainboom exactly as she hits Twilight, who is unleashing infinite magical energy in her direction because she's gone pure rage, Dark Side style, and doesn't care about collateral damage anymore. Either the clashing explosion disintegrates pretty much the entire universe, or each completely neutralizes the other, leaving two mares completely drained in a huge crater, not dead but comatose without hope. FYI, this story is at least 20% cooler while listening to the Rainbow Dash version of 'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid'. This is my mental picture of Unleashed Twilight:

http://www.fimfiction-static.net/images/story_images/84676_r.jpg?1361153895

And yes, I do imagine Twilight is effectively a god when she reaches this stage. Rainbow can kill gods with the energy from a 300,000 Kilometer/second Rainboom, but she's not indestructible to magic. End result, tie or draw: everyone dies or no one dies, both lose either way.

[NightmareDash]

3298931 Well, this was written before "Magical Mystery Cure", so of course I was placing limits on Twilight's magic that I had no reason to suspect weren't there. Not to mention I wanted to keep the characters as close as possible to their normal forms and not have any "god-mode" type stuff to make them OOC, especially since we've never seen that in the show. But if Rainbow Dash can get going fast enough, one would think she gets access to powers like the Flash's: vibrating her molecules to become intangible, moving fast enough to basically stop time, aerokinesis, etc. Since she's the only pegasus who can do a Sonic Rainboom, I'd bet she also has her own "god-mode" to discover, which gives her unlimited speed. And in a way, that means time manipulation...

[thecookiewookie]

3301043
Not "infinite speed", but definitely impressive. The way I see it, when she hits Rainboom velocity, she channels so much pegasus magic that the laws of physics basically no longer apply to her. Also, 'God mode' was an exaggeration, but its sort of a Dark Side thing. When they go dark, mega power boost. It also explains how Nightmare Moon was so much more powerful than normal Luna (not to say Luna's a wimp. I meant nothing of the sort, my Lord of the Night, please spare me my faux pas.). Also how Sombra was so crazy powerful. He permanently tapped into the Rage Nimbus (yes, you can use the Rage Nimbus thing if you want. It's a free internet.) and gained near-godlike power. I imagine that just like friendship, Rage, Fear, and Love can be tapped into, as well as the Sun and the Night. Each has its own Nimbus, or fount of power, where the magic originates from. So Nimbus Twilight would just tap into Rage and Fear if she was desperate enough and beyond caring about the collateral damage.
...
Jeez, I've gotta stop starting these Batman vs. Superman-style arguments.

[NightmareDash]

3301978 Certainly an intriguing concept. So is Celestia permanently tapped into the Solar Nimbus, and if so, does that mean she's always Dark Side? And did Cadence go Dark Side when she used Love to banish Chrysalis? Of course, if your Dark Side isn't like the Sith, and Dark Is Not Evil in this case, then the questions are pointless.

[thecookiewookie]

3303159
I should've been more clear. I used that as an example. No school of magic is inherently evil, only what you do with it. Obviously, it's hard to do good with Rage or Fear, but a strong willed enough mage could do it. Nightmare Moon (in my mind) is a combination of possession by an exceptionally powerful Nightmare, and Luna being tapped into Night, Rage, and to some extent Fear, all at once. No, being Nexus Linked isn't inherently evil, but even with Love or Friendship, it's easy to lose control and cause collateral damage.

[thecookiewookie]

3303159
Also, I prefer Nexus to Dark Side. My mistake even using that term.

[NightmareDash]

3303225 Holy crap, I was checking out Inner Demons only a few days ago and that exact same line about "no school of magic is inherently evil" was there. Awesome.

[thecookiewookie]

3303245

Anyway, awesome story. Try reading it with Rainbow Dash version of You're Gonna Go Far Kid playing in the background. At least 20% cooler.

[thecookiewookie]

3303245
Also, just had a brainwave. Nexuses aren't limited to unicorns. If a pegasus focuses hard enough and channels the energy right, they get a sort of 'ancestral link' thing, granting them moderate magic resistance, supremely toughening them, as well as increasing their agility, speed, and combat prowess at least three times over, as well as imbuing all of their physical attacks with huge bursts of magical energy, usually whichever of the four elements (fire, water,earth, air) that pegasus most closely embodies. The effect appears as spectral full plate armor, like an up-armored uber-version of this story's cover art.
If an earth pony taps into a Nexus, they get bigger, tougher, become almost completely immune to magic, and have pretty much everything about them amplified. The effect appears as a brilliant chromatic aura of a color which depends on which Nexus was accessed (e.g. gold for the Sun, silver for the Night, crimson for Rage, black for Fear, warm pink for Love, and my personal favorite, scintillating rainbow for Friendship. The auras appear like mini auroras.

[NightmareDash]

3304686 Alright, I came up with a theory so much like this one for another story I'm writing.This chapter sums it up about midway through. The parallels here are uncanny.

[thecookiewookie]

3308884
Whoa...well, I guess if two great minds thought it up, it's just begging to be canon, or at least fanon. Therefore, I congratulate your fellow clairvoyance, and if you want to review my first story, A Story of Heritage, then just ask, I'll PM you with the view unfinished code.