Why couldn't I beat her?

by Gingerquill

Pride and Uncertainty

Author's Note:

Thank you for taking the time to read my first ever attempt at a short fic.
I was inspired to write this from reading an unhappy review of the season 5 finale. Though by and large I personally liked the episode, there was one question that niggled me, and after reading the review, well I hope I've managed to answer my own question well enough.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little offering, thrown together over the course of two afternoons, and please leave any critique, help me grow as a writer.

Why Couldn’t I Beat Her?
By Gingerquill

The grand double doors leading out of the Canterlot Palace auditorium were swung open by the attending royal guards, allowing the exit of Princess Celestia, her towering, pure, elegant form flanked by her onetime student and Equestria’s youngest princess, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Your testimony to Starlight Glimmers reformation was greatly appreciated.” The alabaster monarch said warmly to her young companion, as they passed through the magnificent galleries of the royal palace. “No doubt there will still be some matters of disciplinary protocol to deal with, but I’m quite certain they will be little more than a formality.” She reassured.

“She’s actually a really nice pony,” the lavender princess smiled back up at her peer, “she was just misguided and angry.” The hearing regarding Starlight Glimmers misuse of magic had hardly been taxing on either princess, but it had been necessary. Many of the nobles and royal council had been disturbed to learn of her exploits, and even though Twilight had attested that the timelines had been set back to their original course, they were still afraid and required much assurance. “Honestly I’m glad I could help her.”

“With guidance and training, she will go far.” Celestia said, a little smile playing on her face as the two wandered through the grand halls, alone save for the palace guards at each junction, afternoon light pouring through stained glass. “I’m considering offering her a place as my new protégé. I’ve only ever met a handful of unicorns with so much potential.” She continued, idly giving voice to her thoughts. After a moment of silence, she became aware that she had left her friend standing several paces behind her and swung her head around to see her confusion mirrored in Twilight. “This concerns you?”

“No!” Twilight snapped far too quickly. “No, definitely not, she’s powerful, talented, and will benefit greatly from your teachings. I can’t imagine a pony who wouldn’t!” She beamed, much too broadly, her eyes writ with insincerity.

“But?...” Celestia prompted, clearly seeing she had more to say. Twilight didn’t move or speak, seemingly rooted to the spot as she tried to smile even harder. “Please Twilight, don’t be afraid to speak, I’ve always valued your thoughts.” She finished, turning round fully to face her friend.

The young princess slumped, giving up her efforts to hide her feelings, she took a deep breath before speaking.

“I remember when I received my cutie mark and you took me as your student,” she began hesitantly, feeling as unsure of herself as she did on the very first day she met her mentor, “you said you had never seen a unicorn with so much raw talent.”

“Very true,” Celestia agreed with a fond smile, remembering what proved to be a prophetic day, “and what I said remains true.”

“But when I duelled her, I fought with everything I had, heart and soul,” Twilight spoke, slowly gaining certainty in what she wanted to say, but still disturbed by the admission of what had frankly scared her, “by the end, I didn’t even have the strength left to defeat a Timber Wolf.”

“And this worries you.” Celestia made it sound halfway between a question and a statement.

“Well, yeah.” She replied, still trying to get her head around the confused feelings. “I was gifted as a unicorn, and having transformed into an Alicorn I was certain my powers had only grown.” She grew more animated as she spoke, more confused and frustrated as she faced the question that had nagged at her mind. “I’m the Element of Magic itself! I even stood before Tirek after he had consumed nearly all magic in Equestria!”

“And yet, she duelled you to a standstill.” Celestia spoke, her voice even and unhurried. Finally, Twilight focused on her, not angry, not upset, just very confused.

“Why couldn’t I beat her?”

Celestia didn’t answer at first. She simply regarded her former pupil thoughtfully, considering how best to handle her uncertainty. Gesturing her to follow, Celestia strode through an arch and out onto a balcony overlooking the great city of Canterlot. It’s elegant spires, roof tops and bustling thorough fares stretched out below them. She sat on a bench, placed to allow those seated to enjoy the view with some privacy from the hall behind, and motioned for Twilight to join her.

For long moments the two said nothing, simply sat next to each other, lost for a time in their own thoughts.

“There are many who call me the most powerful being in the world,” Celestia broke the silence, her melodic voice had taken a wistful tone, “some even whisper goddess, despite my protests. Yet when Queen Chrysalis took Cadence’s place, invaded Canterlot and nearly married your brother, I was defeated.” She looked down at her friend pointedly.

“That’s because she was fed by my brother’s love.” Twilight told her, very matter of fact, as though surprised she needed to explain the mitigating circumstances.

“And when I faced Nightmare Moon, a millennium ago, it was the Elements of Harmony that overcame her, not me.” Celestia argued back, using the same pointed tone.

“But she was your sister, you couldn’t strike at her.” Twilight was clearly shocked and further confused to learn the glorious leader of her nation, who she had admired for as long as she could remember, had ever harboured such self-depreciating thoughts. Celestia herself looked away towards the city with an amused smile.

“Making excuses for me?” She asked. Twilight quickly began to gabble a response, but Celestia politely raised a hoof to silence her. “My point is I am not so all-powerful as the stories have made me to be.” Looking back to her student, she could see her mind at work, trying to reconcile these admissions with her image of the princess and somehow piece together the lesson she was trying to teach. She decided to take a different approach. “Have you ever heard the tale of the Great King Bucephalus?” She asked conversationally.

Twilight’s brow furled as she wracked her memory to answers.

“Briefly, he was a ruler of the Roaman Ponies in ancient times wasn’t he?”

“Quite right.” Celestia raised an eye brow in pleasant surprise, never ceasing to be impressed with Twilight’s incredibly broad reading interests and powers of recollection. “Only a little history has survived the ages, but in his life time he took a disparate and violently opposed set of city states, and wielded them together to form an empire. He was gifted, powerful and brilliant.” She told her, emphasising every quality with a pointed gesture of her hoof, so Twilight might grasp her meaning. “So much so he was never defeated in battle, until the Fields of Serenity, where he met his end and his empire fragmented.”

“How was he beaten?” Twilight asked, the gears in her head continued to turn as she absorbed and processed what she was being told. Celestia locked eyes with her.

“It is his story that gives rise to the phrase, pride goes before a fall.”

“Pride?” Twilight hadn’t expected so simple an answer. Maybe some secret of magic, a tragic betrayal, but nothing so simple as pride.

Celestia nodded sagely.

“In defeating all his enemies, King Bucephalus fell victim to his own pride.” She explained. “Pride is at once a powerful force that can drive us to excel, and a terrible poison for the soul, for there is no more than a hairs breadth between pride and arrogance. In his arrogance, he believed there was no one left who could threaten him, and allowed his strength and skill, and that of his empire, to wane.” As Twilight looked away, Celestia fell silent, allowing her words to sink into the young princess, allowing her to realise the lesson she was being taught.

“He grew overconfident.” Twilight said after a moment, her head bowed.

“Exactly. And that lead him into a battle he was not prepared for. Pride cost him his strength, and ultimately his empire and his life.”

There was another uncomfortable silence.

“Do you think that’s happened to me,” Twilight asked slowly, fearful that she had fallen from grace. “I’ve become, arrogant?”

Celestia wrapped one large wing about her, remembering that she was not only a princess, but also a young lady. One who now looked up to her for comfort.

“Not arrogant, merely overconfident.” She smiled her comforting smile. “When one spends one’s time hearing everypony tell you how magnificent and powerful you are, it becomes very easy to listen, and believe them.” She finished, sounding a little sad as she did.

“I did believe them.” Twilight admitted, burning with shame at what she saw as her failure. “My victories and triumphs had everypony believing I was so powerful…” she trailed off, letting the sentence go unfinished.

“Where Starlight Glimmer had spent all the time since your first encounter training, practicing, honing her strength and skills.” Celestia finished.

Twilight finally understood, she had the answer to her question, and the knowledge brought her little comfort.

“Don’t feel bad about it, you aren’t the first pony to ever succumb to pride.” Celestia tightened her hug in what she hoped was an uplifting gesture. “It is a failure that I have likewise made, many times. Once it even cost me my sister.” She admitted sadly, the pain of her own mistake from an age past, still easily recalled. She turned the subdued princess to face her, one hoof under her chin to make her look up into her eyes. “You are a being of peace and love and friendship,” she told her with conviction born of absolute certainty, “violence does not come naturally to you. And that is to your credit.” Her smile, genuine and affectionate, was soon mirrored on Twilight, and the young princess leaned into her mentor’s warm embrace.

They sat quietly for a long while, just watching the city together from their private perch.

“You know, I think having somepony capable of pushing me will be a good thing.” Twilight broke the silence, her voice and face cheery once again as she looked up to her fellow princess. “Wouldn’t want pride getting the better of me, would I?” She joked with a broad and sincere grin.

“No you would not.” Celestia smiled back with a titter. “I can certainly arrange for the two of you to share some lessons, and if you like I can ask Luna to provide tutelage as well.”

“Luna?” Twilight was surprised.

“I may be the elder, and arguably wiser of the two of us, but she was always the more…” Celestia paused in thought as she carefully searched for an appropriate word, “assertive. When was the last time you truly had to push your limits, trained to defeat an opponent? Even against Tirek, you relied more on borrowed power and brute force than technique.”

“You mean martial arts and magics?” Twilight quickly caught the meaning.

“Think of it as a thorough work out.” Celestia said, putting a positive spin on her suggestion. “And trust me, if you accept, she will make you work.” She added with a wry grin.

Twilight thought about it for a moment, going over and over the events of her misadventure with Starlight, and todays lesson in her mind, pondering the gift of humility.

“I think, that despite everything I have learned and achieved, how much I have grown,” she said, “I still have a lot of learning and growing to do.”

Comments

[DarkBlueDreamer]

Hmm! Now that is an excellent analysis, and a very show-worthy lesson on top of it! Well-paced discussion and writing too! +1!

[Wanderer D]

Yes, I approve.

[Proper Prose]

Nice story. Many complain about Starlight's level of power, especially when compared to Twilight Sparkle, but Princess Celestia said that Twilight was the most powerful unicorn SHE had seen. A profound statement to be sure, but it does not exclude the possibility that there is a unicorn out there who could be more powerful than Twilight, just that Celestia had not met one. Also, we do not really know how much more powerful being an alicorn has made Twilight, just that it gave access to Earth Pony, Pegasi and alicorn magic (the former two she hardly uses). In my own opinion, she does not seem that more powerful than when she was a unicorn.

[Gingerquill]

6705181
6705154

Thank you both for the positive words :) I'm grateful that you took the time to read and enjoy my work :)

[Gingerquill]

6705451

I'm glad you enjoyed my story, and that you found one of the points I was making
For all Twilights potential and power, there is nothing to say there is not another with the same power and potential, and really, when was the last time Twilight really worked out?
A good hero needs a good rival, some one who can beat them.

[Grekoy]

You are right about Luna. She can be more direct when a problem arise and more combat than Celestia, so far.

[Titanium Dragon]

I reviewed this story!

My review can be found here.

[Gingerquill]

6726128

Thank you for the review, and of course your feedback too, they're both gratefully received

[TitaniumTao]

THIS, this is reason I think Twilight couldn't win that fight directly. AS Jim butcher of the the Derstin Files stated, most battles of magic practitioners are won though knowledge. Twilight's strong but her focus is mostly scholarly. Starlight had been training to fight, specifically against Twilight; and she had set up the battlefield ahead of time as well.

[Gingerquill]

6781942

Glad you enjoyed the story :)
That's very much the point I hoped to get across, but also the fact that maybe Twilight is on too high a plinth.
We expected her to win, she expected to win, but Starlight was thoroughly prepared to win.
Between expectations, overconfidence and Starlight's hard work, I think many folk were caught off guard by the outcome.

[HiddenMaster]

This was rather nice, and it provides a nice little explanation for why Starlight was able to match Twilight. I've always been of the opinion that Twilight, while very talented at magic, doesn't live up to her true potential with combative magic. Part of the problem is that she doesn't have very many opponents, and when she does they usually aren't around for very long or are overcome through methods other than violence.

HiddenMaster out.

[calinjc]

“You are a being of peace and love and friendship,”

To Celestia:

[Gingerquill]

6820093

Soooo, you didn't like the line?

6801010

Good point, but then I suppose it's not meant to be a violent series,

[calinjc]

6820348
I just thought it was funny, seeing as how Twilight rarely ever does what she was supposedly born to do.

[Gingerquill]

6820878

Ah, with you now :)

[Queen of Fools]

Wow. This was really good.

[Gingerquill]

6908942

Thank you Glad you enjoyed

[BlueColton]

Well done. I really liked this introspective look into Twilight's inability to defeat Starlight. Very insightful and a potent lesson in humility.

[Gingerquill]

7280496

Thank you, glad you enjoyed this little tale

[Fido]

A nicely written piece I have to say and a great perspective on Celestia's part but honestly Twilight in this comes off as way too egotistic for me, like basically she's asking "Why am I not over-powered and able to beat anyone without breaking a sweat? Oh, I'm so troubled!" and then wondering why Celestia is more self-deprecating and not bragging about her abilities like she, not to mention showing jealousy when Celestia mentions how impressed she is of Starlight's potential. But since that final line sums up Twilight's dilemma quite well, I guess maybe all of that was the point?

I dunno... I'm not a bright person. Have a like anyway!

[Gingerquill]

7507905

I'm glad you enjoyed the read and thanks for the like
You did get my point at the end, that overconfidence will come and kick you in the ass if you're not careful, so you're clearly brighter than you say you are
She does come off quite proud, but that's because I wanted her to come down with a bit of a bump. We've put her on this high plinth, telling her how great and powerful she is, she's accomplished so much, pride is bound to set in, and not necessarily in a good way...

[Artist]

Wow

[Gingerquill]

8471819
Thank you glad you enjoyed.

[Artist]

8471837
Your welcome

[titanhades70]

Shadow play confirms that Starlight can be more powerful than an alicorn. Since Starswirl is, there's nothing that says Starlight can't be stronger as well.

[Gingerquill]

8645722
Glad you enjoyed the story
I tend to think of it as not necessarily more powerful, but better studied or practised.

[Cavenerd20]

I like this, it's a plausible explanation as to why Twilight struggled magically against Starlight.