Derailed
Twilight yawned, curling up on the seat as the train rocked and glided over the tracks. Rainbow, briefly illuminated by moonlight, was already snoring up a storm across from her. Giving in to her sleepy desires, Twilight wrapped the cheap blanket around her turning herself into a pony burrito. Looking outside at the vast desert landscape, with its uncountable mesas and buttes, made it seem like the entire world was nothing but an arid, inhospitable desert.
They had boarded the train at nearly midnight, and it would be nearly a day before they arrived at Sierra Maredre, the capital of San Palomino. Such was the incredible size of the desert. Twilight could even feel the heat under her from nothing but the fire magic in the ground. It burned at her horn, like a stream whose water was a bit too hot. On the plus side, it countered the air conditioning vent above her.
Twilight nestled into the pillow, finally warm and calm enough to let her consciousness drain away—only to be caught by rumbling thunder.
Opening her mind’s eye, she found herself standing on a cloud. A cloud in the middle of a dark vortex, with stars above and ground below. She was back in her inner world, a place of her mind, and there to greet her was a filly that looked exactly like a young Twilight.
Aurora held open her forelegs, wide and waiting, and Twilight dove into the hug, picking her up.
“If you want to see me, you can always ask, silly.” Twilight gave her a little noogie like a big sister should. A cold chill crawled over her, which Twilight assumed was her armor deploying from the hug.
“I'm scared.” Aurora sniffled.
“Of what? The desert?”
“No.” She shook her head and buried her muzzle in Twilight's shoulder. “You're getting a bonded blade. There's going to be somepony new here. Somepony that'll hate me.”
“Hate you?” Twilight sat the filly down. “What makes you say that?”
“I'm armor. I exist to protect you. It's all I live for.” Aurora shrunk down into ball mode. “Blades don't think like that. They exist to kill. We're too different.”
“Hey, sword or not, it'll be made from me. It'll exist to protect others, while you exist to protect me. We'll find a balance, okay? I'm not going to let a newbie start up a storm in my head.” Twilight blinked. “Well, other than the one that already exists here for some reason. I really should look into why my inner mind looks like the middle of a giant tornado.”
Aurora giggled and wiped away a tear. “Because Ascension is eventful.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Right. How silly of me.” A sudden gust of wind rushed past them, sending their manes flapping about. “Guess the eye of this storm isn't always calm.”
Aurora looked around her, sniffing the air and poking her head over the edge of the cloud. “There isn't supposed to be wind here. That came from outside.”
“Outside? What, you mean like it's something my body felt?” Twilight chewed it over in her mind. “Well, I am under an air conditioning vent. So I suppose it makes sense.”
Aurora shook her head. “That's not what it felt like. That was magic.”
“Magic? That shouldn't be possible. We're in the middle of a desert.”
The cloud, vortex, sky—everything—shook back and forth like the universe was being swung to and fro. “Twilight! Twilight, wake up!”
“That's Rainbow! Something’s happening.” Twilight squinted at her ‘sky.’ “How do I wa—”
“Twilight! Oh, thank Celestia, you're awake. Something's seriously wrong.”
Twilight groaned and blinked, then rubbed her head with an armoured hoof. “What it is, Rainbow? What time is it?”
“Just, well, look!” Rainbow pointed out the window.
The clear northern skies had been replaced with a rolling, boiling, oncoming storm. Lightning was everywhere, accented by the crack of dawn in the east. Clouds as black as smoke approached like a wave.
Rainbow shuddered. “Something's not right with that storm. There shouldn't even be a storm here; the magic shouldn't allow it. Plus, it just feels wrong. I don't even know how else to describe it.”
“I think you're right. Something's up.” Twilight squinted at the clouds, watching a trio of yellow flashes. The thought in her mind matched with Aurora’s instantly. That's not lightning.
A sudden clap of “thunder” blasted Twilight’s eardrums, deafening her for a moment, though through the haze of her mind, she swear she heard steel ripping steel. The world went tumbling, striking her with the walls, the broken glass, and finally hot rock. Her eyes only returned glimpses of visions. Fire burned and smoke smothered, and copper stained her tongue. Sound returning only brought screams and the crack of cored cannons, followed by chains and scraping on the ground.
“Twilight, wake up! Please, please, Celestia, let Twilight wake up…” a voice whispered in prayer.
“I'm up…” Twilight coughed, sputtering out words and blood in equal measure. She could feel Aurora’s healing magic at work, but the first blow clearly came before her armor reacted and deployed. Her head pounded with whatever had hit them earlier, and her legs were sure there was an ongoing earthquake. “What the buck happened?”
“Sssshhhh!” Rainbow held her hoof to her lips and dragged Twilight to the burning wreck of a derailed, overturned train car. She pressed both their backs to the hot, metallic roof. A little hop was all it took for her to peek over the “top” of the train.
Twilight followed suit, keeping her ears down and horn unpowered.
A massive airship had landed, with its maw of a cargo hold open and swallowing whatever the crew had their hooves on. Boxes, crates, bags, mail sacks, even a few families of survivors being led in chains were all devoured by the floating monster.
Twilight ground her teeth and curled up her lip. “Rainbow, we have a new priority. We need to sneak on that ship.”
“We aren't a match for that many guns, Twilight. They're armed to the teeth.”
“Hence the emphasis on sneak. I need to know where they're going. Once I do, I can call in the Bellerophon. These pirates messed with the wrong pony. Come on.” Twilight slunk low to the ground, scraping her belly on the hot, sandy stone. Wind from her magic scooted her past a gap between burning, tossed rail cars, and Rainbow followed suit.
The next car over was unrecognizable, having been reduced to flaming rubble and shrapnel. A shell had blasted a hole the size of a chariot in it, and that was likely just a glancing blow. Bodies littered the ground, some staining the sand an even darker red, while others burned in magic flame. Others still were only pieces of their former selves.
“I think I'm going to be sick…” Rainbow lurched.
“Keep it together. We will make these bastards pay.” Twilight locked onto a second series of cars tossed the opposite direction from theirs, closer to the ship. They were on fire like the others, but otherwise intact, suggesting they were set ablaze rather than hit with shells.
Rainbow ducked her head down and whispered, “Twilight, I think somepony is coming…They're checking for more survivors!”
“We won't be here.” Twilight grabbed hold of Rainbow and charged her horn, sparking them through existence to the other cars. The ship now loomed above them, a gasbag monster with armoured grey canvas skin, devouring the life of innocents.
“I think I see a hatch.”
Twilight followed Rainbow's hoof to a rusty door a third of the way up the beast, which was sealed with a wheel. She then glanced back at the rear engines of the ship. They jutted out like tiny limbs, each a focusing turbine for the flow of magic, with their own crystals for control.
“Previous-generation tech. This thing is older than it looks; probably retrofitted heavily. Good intel to know. It also means that it's likely that any security seals on this door have a key vulnerability... Give me a second.”
“What are you… Twilight?”
Twilight closed her eyes and breathed out as slowly as she could, wiping the desert from her mental mindscape. There were no mesas or sandstone, no dunes or desolation. There was a field, an openness unrivalled by anything in real space. Nothing but fresh air and eternity existed as she reached for a door that didn't exist, because there was only the vast expanse of open space.
“Whoa!”
Twilight opened her eyes, finding the hatch now wide open.
“How did you do that?”
“Stellar Horizon’s book. He talked a bit about alicorn magic and how it intertwines with emotions, but he was kinda cryptic and pedantic about it. After I read the other one Charlemane loaned me, I've been able to start putting the pieces together. This is about the most basic example I know that’s truly alicorn magic... and about the only one I’ve been able to really figure out. It's not like the other high-power ‘alicorn spells’ I know of that are really mostly unicorn magic.” Twilight crouched like she was going to pounce, wiggling her butt around in the air. “Grab on.”
She sparked them both in the hatchway the instant Rainbow put a hoof on her, breaking through spacetime and landing directly on the airlock-like entrance.
“You're getting good with that, Twilight.” Rainbow rubbed her head. “I'm barely even dizzy. And that magic on the locked door? Maybe these guys aren't a match for us. Or rather, you.”
“The latch only worked because it's old. Newer ones are better able to deal with hybrid magic. This thing might not even be able to handle Trixie's telekinesis.”
Twilight peered out of the door, looking down at the scene below. The entire train had been derailed, and much of it was destroyed. Most of the passengers were dead, and those few that had survived were being whipped with lashes to corral them onto the ship. What must have been crew were stealing anything they could get their hooves on. “They're taking slaves, or hostages for ransom. Somepony is going to get added to the garden for this.”
“What's the plan? Where do we hide?”
“Not sure yet. Follow me.” Twilight grabbed the inner hatch wheel with her hooves and pulled, spinning it open and stepping inside. The hall was dimly lit with caged, jaundiced lights and vagrant sparks from exposed wires. Rust and an unexplainable sickness covered the metal grates their hooves banged on as they walked, finally coming to a dead end and a window.
“Looks like that's the storage area.” Rainbow said as she peeked over the bottom edge of the glass. “Lots of ponies down there. Lots with guns, too.”
“This way.” Twilight turned back, pulling open a door on her immediate right. The room was brighter than the hall, and didn't have the stench of miasma. The cleaning chemicals and tools probably helped. As a storage closet for a janitor, it was a place of cleaning, in a way.
“Dead end there, memsahib.” Rainbow pulled the door shut, then wedged the mop in the wheel. “What are we doing?”
“Thinking…” Twilight bit down on her hoof, scanning the room. Some of the chemicals could be hazardous if mixed, but not enough to cause a mass panic. There were too many ponies for a direct assault, and the pirates’ brazen actions meant that intimidation was unlikely to work. The only other things in the room were buckets, shelves, and a large vent. “Wait!”
She sank her magic into the screws of the vent, grabbing them with the force of a wrench and twisting them out of their holes. All four plopped to the ground, and the cover was off. A filly would have to duck slightly to walk in, but a mare like herself had to crawl.
An icy chill sucked at her coat from the metal of the vent as she moved, inch by inch. Not a meter into the vent, and it split with a long path left, and another vent directly in front of her face. While Rainbow crawled into the tunnel behind her, Twilight peered out through the slats, watching the ponies below her in the cargo hold.
“Hey, Twilight, good hiding spot. But, uh, what happens if somepony breaks into the closet?” Rainbow flopped around, flapping her wings against the metal. “Also, terrible hiding spot.”
“It'll have to do.” Twilight put the vent cover back on, and stashed the screws away in her bag. This thing is already half falling apart. They won't notice these. “Get in that corner while I spy on them from here. I don't want them to see your spectral mane; it tends to attract the eye.”
“Ugh, you want me to move more.” Rainbow tumbled again, and as before, was careful to avoid making too much noise. Twilight could even feel the blast of pegasus magic she was using to help her.
The ponies below, however, had no such qualms about noise. Boxes and hooves banged, clanged, gangled, and even crashed all over. From Twilight’s vantage point, she could see that the ship had cargo doors on either side of the bay, and both were open.
“Whoa!” Rainbow whispered as the ship shuddered and lurched, giving off a lazy groan from the engines. “They're in a hurry, I take it.”
“Makes sense. If the military finds them, they're history.” Twilight leaned forward, watching the patterns of the ponies as they moved. A few families huddled, whimpered, and cried together on the far left. A dozen or so pirates were rummaging through the cargo, tallying their haul. In the center was a massive stack of crates, each a couple stories high, going nearly to the ceiling.
Most important, though, was the loud stallion in the hat. His grey coat and black mane were unremarkable save for the latter’s incredible curliness. The thick loops looked professional, and the beard and goatee finished the look. His deep, dark blue formal overcoat over a white shirt matched his hat, though the gold loop earrings were a bit much. It was his voice, drenched in a creole accent, that caught Twilight's attention more than anything. It was yelling constantly, with a stream of threats creative and degrading enough to be in Luna's league.
“I think we found the Captain.” Twilight scanned the rest of him, committing his sabre cutie mark to memory. “How does one even get a cutie mark in piracy? If that isn't a ‘hey, I'm evil’ warning, I don't know what is.”
“Hey, do you feel something funn--Whoa!”
Twilight and Rainbow both cracked their jaws on the vent floor from the sudden pressure, both of them thankful the rest of the ship was just as noisy with banging and cries from startled ponies. Gravity had seemingly become vicious in an instant, pulling down with an invisible, crushing hoof. It was over in less than a minute, and the popping in Twilight's ears told her just what had happened.
“The ship, it climbed… We must have shot up over a mile. But how? Not even the Bellerophon can do that.” Twilight peered back out the vent, watching the continued action below. “I wonder if that's how they've been evading the military so far.”
“Maybe, but I think it was more to do with the clouds we saw. Maybe it's some kind of cover, giving them the element of surprise each time. Ponies just get a moment to wonder what's going on before the shooting starts.”
“Hmmm…” Twilight zeroed in again on the apparent leader, pointing her ears at him and listening as best she could, though the subordinate was just too quiet.
“So, she wasn't there, you said?” The leader, however, was plenty loud. His words covered the entire bay as he paced. “Well now, that sure is interestin’. Especially considering that we knew she was gonna be there. So are y'all suggestin’ that our source was wrong? Or maybe Miss Sparkle just went an’ jumped off the train at some point?”
The pirate subordinate mumbled something.
“What's that, boy? I can't right hear ya. Go on an’ talk a bit louder now. I want the whole ship to hear us.”
The pirate cleared his throat and blushed. “I-I said, maybe she was killed by the ship’s guns.”
The leader took off his hat and rubbed his head for a few seconds. “Well, if that don't beat all. Maybe that's the case! I mean, it certainly would make sense, if'n we were that lucky.” He put his hat back on. “Now, just how stupid do ya think I am, son?”
The blush on the pirate turned into a ghostly pale. “N-no, I didn't say--”
“Oh? You callin’ me a liar now, boy?”
Even a ghostly pale wasn't enough to describe the fear in the stallion’s face. “I-I-I…”
“All y’all, do you think I'm stupid?”
“No, Captain Farriér!”
“Looks like it's just you, Tack. I'm wounded, fo’ sure, that you think so little of me that I might go’n imagine a prized mare like Grand Mage Sparkle would be killed so easily, ’specially after you went an’ tried to warn her!”
Tack’s lip trembled. “Captain, I swear, I would never!”
“There ya go again, callin’ me a liar! And yer callin’ Crown Agent Cob a liar, too!”
Tack froze.
Farriér grinned and glared Tack down from the corner of his eye. “Son, just who d’ya think runs things ‘round ‘ere?”
Tack mouthed something, but the words never came out.
“Tandem, seein’ as how he ain't usin’ them anyhow, be a good lad and blow Tack's brains out.”
Twilight's heart stopped as another pony pointed a mounted, cored cannon at the stallion. No, he can't mean--
Bang!
A body dropped to the blood-stained floor.
“No…” Twilight whimpered, putting a hoof on the vent. “Tack, I'm sorry. You tried to do the right thing. You tried…”
Farriér pulled a lever, and the far bay door screeched and whined as it opened the ship up to the storming, howling wind outside. Two ponies wasted no time picking up the body and tossing it overboard.
“Captain, Tack wasn't wrong about one thing.” Tandem tightened the bandana on his head. “We didn't find her body in the wreckage. We really sure she's alive?”
Another crack broke the air from Farriér’s hoof hitting Tandem's jaw. “O’course she's alive, ya nitwit! Miss Sparkle is the Grand Mage, not some dirt-licker who grew up in a tin shack like you! Y'all best remember who we dealin’ with, lest you end up like Tack!”
Tandem spit a tooth on the floor. “How we find her then, Captain?”
“That's easy, son.” Farriér signalled with one of his wings to a pony in the midst of the captured families, and the pirates pulled a stallion away from the group and next to where they killed Tack.
Twilight clenched her teeth, hoping it would stop her seething from setting fire to the vent under her. “Rainbow, get ready to hide.”
“What? Hide? Are you serious?”
“No matter what happens to me, stay out of sight, spy on them, find where their base is, and report to Celesti--”
“Papa! Papa, no!”
The mare next to the foal, presumably the mother, hushed her child with a hoof drenched in the river of her own tears. The stallion, meanwhile, was made to sit in the still-fresh blood.
“Stay strong, son.” His own tears were there, but he clearly fought back against them. “Daddy loves you.”
Tandem almost looked shocked. “Boss, no!”
Farriér raised an eyebrow. “Boy, you’d better have a good explanation for tellin’ me what to do, less you aimin’ ta join him.”
Tandem just smiled. “I think you should shoot the mother instead.”
Twilight locked eyes on the mare. “Rainbow, hide. Don't get--”
Bang!
The mare slammed into the wall along with her blood, and Farriér smiled as the blades hidden in his wings glowed and crackled. The leading pinion blade on his right lined up to the mare's body, a trace of death through the air. The ponies all, save for the pirates, stood in shock, though none more than the foal.
“M-mama?”
Farriér grabbed onto the stallion and shoved him a few paces to the open cargo door. “Well, my boy, I do declare, I believe you were right! And look, we even got another to--”
Twilight wasn't in the vent anymore. The vent didsn't exist, there was only fire and rage, along with a telekinetic blade screaming out for vengeance. It burned the air around it, but couldn't reach its target from being held back by Farriér’s wing blade. It was all that was between it and cutting off that smug, evil smile of his as he stood before her.
“Well, Lady Sparkle, I presume. Been waitin’ ta make your acquaintance.”
“Die.” The word didsn't come from her mouth, but her heart, and it echoed all the more for it as she drove the blade forward.
“Not bad!” Lightning rolled through the blades, pushing Twilight back, sliding her on her hooves across the floor. “But not good, either. Cataclysm!”
Lightning consumed Farriér, burning around him in a ball, but never touching him. It built up, then pulled back.
Twilight flared her horn ever brighter as her blade burned with dark flames hungry to destroy the sinner. She connected the stream to the house-sized crate next to her, pulling with blind, bloodthirsty rage and lifting it into the air over Farriér. “You want this? Have it!”
She let go.
Lightning cut through the wood, disintegrating it and pushing through with a current arcing into the floor. Metal and splinters flew like bullets, cutting Twilight's cheek and lodging in her armor. More power surged at her in a wave, a living rope of electricity whipping through the room and anything in its path.
Twilight pulled over another, smaller crate, and it popped like a bubble in the path of the magic. She lunged to the side, and the light followed her. She pulled down an avalanche of cargo, burying half the bay, and the lightning pushed through it like a vein. She even threw her blade, but the explosion only cleared the way.
“Electrical Apocalypse!”
Twilight pulled the debris in with her and painted it with her magic. The shell hardened and submerged into a solid, purple shield that followed her as she drove forward, into the maelstrom.
The edge of Farriér’s lightning attack broke Twilight’s shield into splinters, then sank into her chest.
Bang!
She fell, but not to the floor. She simply fell amidst a rainstorm of charred wood, glowing metal, and warped glass. The ship was no longer around her, and though there were storm clouds, those too soared away from her.
“Twilight! We're falling!”
Aurora’s plea rattled in her ears, and Twilight shook her head to clear it. She saw the ship, cloaked in cloud, floating away. Innumerable pieces of debris fell with her in the post-dawn air, some the size of a cart, others no larger than a superheated grain of sand.
The light came again, this time as flickers of yellow light deep in the clouds.
That's not lightning. Twilight pushed to the side with her pegasus magic, narrowly avoiding a hail of anti-aircraft bolts that was the opening crescendo of an entire symphony. Bolts rained down from the storm, followed by the hail of full cannon shot. She kept pushing, flying, moving through the air without wings through the desert sky.
The rain of firepower kept firing, seeking her out in her old spot.
They can't see me through the clouds this far away! I'm too tiny! Twilight snapped her attention to the debris, one piece of which bounced off her back. One large crate hit the ground and exploded under her, forecasting her fate in mere moments. Nail, bottle, wheel… No, that's not wha-, wait, there!
She snagged a crate the size of a small coffee table and ripped off one of the large sides. Here goes nothing! Twilight lit a magic circle on the wood, then turned the side over and fired the spell. Sender's Shower blasted magic and water at the rapidly approaching ground, and Twilight hooked into the circle with her thoughts to send more and more magic its way, reprogramming it as she went. The water caught the air before hitting the ground, slowing the board down for Twilight to approach it.
Twilight grabbed on tight to the board, turned herself upside down, held it against all four hooves, and fought back against gravity with every ounce of pegasus magic she could find. The water from earlier rushed passed her, winning the race to the ground.
“Poomf” was the only sound she made as her back landed on the newly-formed steam cloud just above the desert floor.
It was exactly what Twilight had counted on.
She turned herself over, walking off the hot cloud with board in tow. The ship had only just stopped firing, but that still left the echoes of its guns to ring out in the mesas, warning anypony in earshot of the new craters in the desert. Seconds later, the storm clouds vanished completely, along with the ship. Not even her thaumic sight could find a trace.
Twilight swallowed in her already dry throat. “Tack, everypony, I'm sorry. I couldn't save you.” Only a single tear escaped the growing rage in Twilight's pounding heart. “Rainbow, I'm counting on you. Find their base, and get back to me.”
Aurora gave voice to a thought Twilight didn’t want to confront: “What if she can't get out?”
Rainbow ducked back into the depths of the vent, praying that her pounding heart wasn't beating a warning to the pirates through the metal. “It can't… She can't be…”
Thunder and shocks rocked the entire ship, swaying it left and right and all but shaking it apart.
The guns? They're... firing? Rainbow’s eyes went wide. Of course! That means they don't think she's dead! If she's okay, and can dodge the shots, she'll live! But what if they hit…
The walls in the vent pushed in.
I let her down. I should have pushed out the grate.
The dirty, dusty metal closed around her as the mechanical snake swallowed.
I might’ve only been a distraction, but that's all she needed. I'm the Captain of the Evening Guard. I'm supposed to die, not her.
Her breathing stopped as if fangs dug into her throat. Her heart slowed, squeezing down in her chest.
The guns stopped.
I'm… I'm… Rainbow stopped. She simply stopped. Stopped everything. The world fell away, as did her mind. There was nothing; no pain, no sound, no taste, no light, no planning, no possibilities. There was only her.
There was only loyalty.
Being true to Twilight means trusting her. It means trusting in her abilities. I didn't see her die, I only saw her fall. She's an alicorn. She can survive that. And her armor is incredible. I doubt some little zap like that is enough to take her out. The guns? Pfft. Like they could track a target that can teleport. They just lost sight of her.
Rainbow laid back in the wide, abnormally spacious vent. She even kicked back and yawned. All I gotta do is stay put until they dock somewhere, then fly. They got nothing that can catch me. And if they try to stop me? Tch.
She poked her head into the vent intersection just enough to see the light from outside for when the cargo doors opened again. “If they try to stop me, then Una Salus Victis.”
“Rainbow will be fine. Even if she can't get out, all she has to do is stay put. Eventually, I'll find her. And Farriér.”
Twilight pointed the board at the ground and set off another Sender's Shower, and a geyser of steam bellowed into the air. A swirl of pegasus wind was all it took to make another, smaller cloud.
She hopped on her cloud, grabbing her board before it lifted off. Her pegasus magic pushed them up dozens, then hundreds of meters into the air. She had a perfect view of the desert floor, and the air was much cooler. She was even able to shield her coat from the harsh rays of Celestia’s sun with her multi-talented piece of wood.
Twilight shifted her magic from pushing her up to pushing her forward as she aimed for the railroad tracks in the distance.
“Where are we going?”
“Isn't it obvious? To Sierra Maredre, the capital of San Palomino, to find somepony who knows where Farriér hides.”
Action! Couldn't have fluff forever, could we? 
Hope you all like this one. It’s kinda dark and violent, definitely, but Farriér is one dark, violent individual. Bonus points to whoever figures out which real world pirate inspired me to make this character. Note: Unfortunately, just like Whose Line, the points don’t mean a thing. ;)
Big blog post to go along with this one. As always, the blog is a good way to keep tabs on me and get updates on my lazinesswriting. The other way is the Discord chat.
Patreon will update shortly!
-Cv
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Oh man, stuffs going down quickly here!
So that's obviously a bonded blade, but seriously... why does EVERYONE have weapons powerful enough to do anything to Twilight? Her shields shouldn't be as tissue paper thin as your making them out, let alone after she accessed Shining's unique spells.
I understand not making a mary sue, but you've done quite the opposite. She's hardly living up to her pedigree, let alone having been trained by Luna for a significant period of time.
So much yes.
Hope Farrier likes bride crapping on him, cause that's his new destiny.
8202604 Kid's got a point, at least make it seem like the baddies have to really struggle to get one over on her in combat.
hnnnggg
Aaand then instantly the combination of a Grand Mage's power and the planning of Equestria's intelligence service are easily thwarted by some random baddie.
At least he'll get what's coming to him eventually.
8202604
I get the impression it's because of a giant conspiracy trying to kill her amongst other things.
welp here comes twi's first kill
8202671
8202604
I think you're forgetting the fact that Twilight's a Jack of All Stats. Yes, this means she's extremely powerful, but going up against someone who is simply faster, or stronger (physically), or has a spell that hits harder can be trouble for her just as much as anything.
It's like, Farrier here is akin to the Hydra from the show. Twilight couldn't have out-muscled that, so she out thought and out maneuvered it, and she's already forming plans to do the same to this asswipe who thought killing a pony would make her surrender.
8202604 Agreed. I was hoping for Badass Twilight. I want to see her dominate pirates. They're thieves. Even if they're privateers, no benefactor would be stupid enough to give them top of the line weaponry/magic.
8202604
Because if she went up against someone who didn't, he'd be dead in an instant and the conflict would be over? Story done?
:/
8202860 That's a very Doylist answer, but Obsidian was looking for a Watsonian explanation instead.
Personally, I've found this trend (Twilight being overhyped and underpowered) to be one of the few major flaws in the story all along; it doesn't ruin my enjoyment, but does tend to temper it somewhat. She's one of maybe half a dozen ponies in the past thousand-plus years with the potential to be an alicorn. She's been trained by both princesses and has studied magic (her special talent) for decades with the help of a powerful mind and a lot of dedication. But the story pegs her as maybe a C-ranker, power-wise, with neither the experience, the raw power, or the talent to match most of her enemies (dragons, gryphons, competent ponies, whatever) on equal ground, instead having advantages chiefly in extreme flexibility and sometimes superior equipment. (For example, Zebrica, where she was able to do some on-the-fly spellcraft nopony else would likely have been able to manage at all.)
It's as though alicorn ascendants aren't actually powerful, just uniquely flexible. To be fair, variety has a quality all its own, but a jack of all trades is just not as good as a master of several… or a master of one with a large bankroll, which most of her enemies seem to be.
This dissonance was probably worst with the gryphons; we're told that Twilight wouldn't be a match in combat for most gryphon warriors. That there are hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of competent warriors that even a nominally high-end mage like Twilight couldn't match even one-on-one makes one wonder how Equestria can possibly project any power at all.
8202920 Battlemasters aren't garden variety warriors. They're the elite.
Twilight would ROFL-stomp your garden variety gryphon solider.
8202767 - Just to counter...
Faster - She can teleport, fly by proxy, and has plenty of pegasi magic.
Stronger - She's got that bounding mass spell which ramps up her mass to excessive degrees, oh... and her TK isn't exactly weak. I understand she can't pick up other ponies directly, but just about anything else is fair game. Not sure what/how Earthpony magic plays in, but she's got some of that too, even if she scrambles her meridians on occasion.
Spell that Hits Harder - Before she went through combat training? Sure... she didn't have offensive spells. Now? She 'was' the most powerful unicorn by a factorial. Her brother was the next closest and she was still significantly stronger than him. The only thing that should hit harder are dragons (older dragons), true Alicorns, Generals could probably give her a challenge, and of course anti-ship artillery. Cored cannons? She'd probably be able to deflect them easily... she survived a close range thaumo-nuclear blast, not uninjured, but seriously... anything short of howitzer level artillery should be easily deflected, potentially by her armor alone, let alone with her direct shielding.
8202920 - Yea... then she goes and defeats the big daddy of all gryphon battlemasters, armed with artifact tier weaponry/armor who also happens to be an effectively immortal/invulnerable illusionary projection in a one on one conflict after simply getting pissed. Dissonance indeed. It'd of been better if Twilight as an ascendent hadn't been described as being excessively stronger than every other unicorn, thousands of basic unicorns wouldn't equal her and that was before she started changing.
8202920 The part with the griffons made sense to me, only because of their overabundance of experience. And Twilight ended up being able to defeat their champion, anyway, even if he was only a really good illusion.
But yeah, the weapon instantly shattering the shield was a little unsettling in this chapter. Especially since she learned Shining's techniques. Maybe she didn't have the time to cast one of the more advanced ones?
And remember, she has been trained by Luna, but also remember that Luna considered it to be the bare minimum of training, and that Luna's Night Guard has more intensive training. So it isn't unprecedented at all that these ponies, who have fought for years longer, and specialized in a single style, would be able to defeat her, at least initially.
In other words, Twilight's mind is her best combat strength, and this pirate made sure she wouldn't have the chance to use it.
8202931 So what specifically prevented her from applying the telekinetic strength necessary to lift an Ursa Minor to his head and shoulders in opposite directions? It'd be just like twisting a piece of paper. Or tearing it. Fighting while preserving your opponents life is hard as hell. Killing then is easy. Grab him, smash him into every surface like a ragdoll, or just go with the old standby and use fire, considering there's an entire wellspring down in the desert to draw on. I mean normally Twilight isn't an especially violent individual so she isn't likely to be spending the mental acuity to conceptualize the best way to kill somebody but someone that pissed off.... why isn't she just ripping him literally in half with her telekinesis?
Every day telekinetic actions that are horrifically and terrifyingly lethal given the strength to pull it off:
Tearing a piece of paper.
Opening a jar.
Splitting an apple.
Icing a cake (using a bag).
Coring an avacado.
Removing an individual leaf of lettuce.
Peeling an orange.
8202931 Hmm, OK. It was Charlemane who warned her off competing, too.
Still, the fact that there are at any given time quite a few warriors that might reasonably be considered capable of matching a once-in-ten-generations prodigy is itself disturbing.
8202920
There's a difference between Doylist and what a story needs to have to be a story in the first place.
No conflict, no story. That isn't Doylist. Related in a way, but not quite relevant either.
8202992 Telekinetic fields from unicorns have a hard time affecting ponies themselves. Earth ponies and unicorns can disrupt the field with ease, even against a more powerful pony than themselves. Pegasi are "slippery" and can wiggle free easily — if you can catch them to begin with. They have a sixth sense to warn them when one is coming, and they're fast enough to dodge much of the time.
8203014 Counterpoint.
The reasoning might work on anyone but Twilight, who repeatedly uses telekinetic magic on living beings, including magic-resistant Spike.
Also, you didn't actually say what kind of pony the stallion is, I don't think? I mean I'm assuming pegasus because of the lightning theme.
the Pirate is SOOOOO dead.
On the subject of the Captain, I'm thinking it's either Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart), Charles Vane, or Edward Teach (Blackbeard). Roberts was the most successful by number of ships stolen, but he had a code. Blackbeard was the most infamous, but he was quite pragmatic and he mostly relied on intimidation to raid ships.
Which leaves Vane for my part, because he wasn't - shall we say - the most merciful of pirates. He was very cruel, bordering on psychopathic and he certainly didn't care much for his men.
It's one of those three, at the least.
8202937 Correction, she survived a thaumo-nuclear blast, but it was anything but "close." She wasn't at Ground Zero when it went off, she was at the edge of it when she finally stopped it.
And you can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure she never defeated the Gryphon Grandmaster, rather, the grandmaster just went poof when the tower in the center of the arena was destroyed.
And what 8202920 said is what I'm getting at, too. Twi's a badass, sure, but she's still only a "level 7" badass. This pirate jackhole may not be a badass, but he's still at least 5 levels higher than Twi, not to mention he's in his element, and Twi started that fight angry as a motherbucker.
8202604
Aye, this honestly has been the story's biggest pitfall from day one. The narrative likes to pretend that Twilight is some sort of a big deal, but then you get to the actual action and it turns out to be one big case of Informed Ability and the actual reality of the situation is that Twilight is barely above basic mook level even with all of her numerous advantages like bonded armor, Luna training, access to materials and notes by ponies who actually know their stuff (a group which Twilight isn't a part of).
Like, she has got to be the most embarrassing alicorn ascendant in the history of forever - why are they wasting time and resources on her when they could be put to much better use on another loyal pony (one of the Nightguards perhaps) who would make a far more effective agent by virtue of being smarter, more creative and a far better combatant?
Twilight clearly isn't worth the investment when pretty much any named character can run circles around her.
We don't want a Mary Sue of course, but when you pile this many third party advantages on to one character and they keep underperforming this badly time and time again, you sort of slide down the other side of that hill and create someone who looks highly incompetent and undeserving of the position they are meant to hold, there forms a dissonance between what is told/implied and what is actually shown, and the story's ability to create tension and tone suffer for it.
For example, if Twilight could occasionally trounce her enemies and sometimes be stymied by others, it would create a far more tense environment because you'd never know how things are going to turn out, and when someone bests her you could go "Dang, this guy really knows what he is doing, have to keep an eye on that one!". That's not the case now though, because everyone is better than Twilight, so beating her is no real accomplishment and doesn't help establishing how dangerous someone is and how seriously they should be taken - because Twilight herself isn't worth taking seriously and overpowering her is something that everyone does on routine basis. It's like a watered down version of the Worf effect, where Worf was never actually impressive in the first place.
And this, sadly, results in things like the fight scene of this chapter, where I never felt excitement, tension or uncertainty about the outcome. My gut level, instinctive emotional response wasn't "Oh boy, I can't wait to see how this goes!" - it was "Gee, I wonder how Twilight is going to lose this time". Which is exactly what happens, because being unable to hold her own in a fight and losing is what Twilight does. Her most defining characteristic is how useless she is in a fight despite her numerous should-be advantages, which robs the fight scenes of atmosphere and tension.
And makes it pretty hard to take scenes seriously where Twilight is threatening someone, like this chapter ... talking about her "bloodthirsty rage" and saying "die" in a voice that reverberates through more than the physical doesn't work as serious/badass moments when it has been long since established just how inept of a fighter she actually is. A small kitten trying to roar like a fierce lion isn't intimidating to the onlookers - it's precocious and adorable and makes you want to rub its belly while making silly faces and going "who's a fierce little warrior? You are, yes you are!". And that's, sadly, the situation of Twilight in the story.
The story is absolutely amazing when it comes to the worldbuilding, the overall plot, the politics, the backstabbing conspiracies, the shadowy games behind the surface, the motivations and the mysteries. I could read that stuff non-stop for chapter after chapter after chapter and be always left craving more, because all of it is written at a high level with lots of thought put in to it and the intrigue and continuous uncertainty about which shoe is going to drop next and how big of a splash it will make is always keep me on the edge. I Crave this stuff, because we know it's going to be of incredibly good quality. The story is by far at its best when it sticks to political intrigue and development.
And inversely, unfortunately, the story is at its weakest when it comes to the fighting and action and the explosions, where all the tension bleeds away and something akin to a resigned apathy sets in, because of how gosh-darned incompetent and incapable Twilight is. It's simply not exciting to read about what's sure to be her next showcase of underwhelming performance.
Thankyou again CV, its nice to see another chapter up.
"but the first blow clearly came before her armor reacted and deployed"
Wasn't it already deployed from the hug earlier? Oh, or was that assumption inaccurate?
Mmm, not quite. It was established that Twilight's ability to 'hit hard' is actually pretty subpar. In RPG terms, she has an enormous mana pool but her Spellpower stat is abysmal. Shining is immensely more powerful than her - Luna herself compared Shining's magical output to an "onrushing river" if memory serves, as opposed to Twilight's "fire hose". She could keep casting forever ... for all the good casting a wet noodle does :P
Luna was unpleasantly surprised by how long Twilight took to raise the moon. IIRC it took her at least 4 times longer than Luna's worst guess before the test. It's also the reason why Luna didn't teach her any alicorn magic in the end and settled for unicorn training - Twilight's power output is far too sucky for casting alicorn spells on a relevant timeframe.
See, what I am seeing in the comments is people are noticing a specific problem:
How do you balance Twilight coming into alicorn powers without it basically being a curb stomp on everything but the primary villains? The answer is you really can't, at least not without a LOT of effort. Either A: she's going to be having trouble against people she presumably should be able to simply negate the existence of, and I mean that in a more literal fashion of 'zap, there is no longer an evil pony there, but a mound of dust that used to be one' or B:....well, she instantly negates the existence of evil ponies with a 'zap, dust' or 'zap, statue' and there is no struggle. Finding a solid area between those is the struggle and the hope. The last time I feel like I saw it done right was, personally, The Immortal Game.
Also, we have to remember that while Twi is trained by Luna in combat, and has a massive wellspring, she is NO WHERE near as powerful as her brother, or even anywhere NEAR combat experienced. Sure, she fought a lot during the Griffin Arc, but that was her....third or fourth actual combat in her entire life? With a few months of training before hand? If Twi had been training for...oh, I dunno, around a year minimum, with her torc/armor, and with a blade on the regular, I'd be expecting her to flip the captain's table, with all his shit on it, in a heart beat, maybe two, but what we have here is a stallion who fights and kills for a LIVING, has clearly done this for YEARS, and is more than willing to cause some collateral damage if it suits his needs. I am not surprised that Twi failed to simply smite him, I am glad the combat was written the way it was, and lets face it:
If Twilight could just stone/ash/banish people already, the story would have been over like, 20 chapters ago, if not sooner. Council? Mostly dead, except those Twilight could confirm are relatively non-corrupt. Military? Possibly being combed harder than you could imagine, with more court martials every week. Granted, I'm assuming the idea that Pissed off Twilight = Statues, and boy, does the Council have that button rigged, if anyone did.
8203089 I have to disagree about the fighting being the weakest. It's the second weakness in my opinion. I mean yes, it was astablished that Twilight should be, even if not fully ascended yet, god tier about every other mortal on the planet except Dragons. That's why her very first fight was against a dragon that was young. And this is why with the battle against Canterlot, it wasn't that enemies overpowered her, but that they out numbered her. For as powerful as she was, she can't be everywhere at the same time. So yes, when a normal pirate captain can one on one take down Twilight, even a ship using Advance Tech? It's not meant to be possible. Twilight could easily put up a shield around the 'Hostages' that no amount of Magic or Firepower would have been able to crack, let alone destroy. She would have went under the ship and disabled the engines. She could have Teleported all the Hostages to Spike, or Celestia. There is NO upper limit to what she can do, especially since her powers are meant to be growing more and more as time goes on.
But honestly, that's all fine compared to what I feel is the weakest part of the story. And that's the group of invisible illusionist that can never be found, and can create illusions so powerful and complex for so long that until Trixie popped up, no one in the entire world even knew they existed, and yet they are vast enough to have major connections in every country, race, and access to advance magic that not even Alicorns can compare to. Like fucking really?!
Think Illuminati in the real world, if they had access to perfect invisibility that nothing can detect, immune to EMP, guns, and explosions, and they had the power the minipulate your 5 senses so you don't notice anything they don't want you to see or interact with.
It's just too OP. You set this group up too power. Especially since they now have access to a spell that will literally mind control anyone they want, anywhere, for any reason, to do anything they want. They literally, at this point in time, rule the planet and can do anything they want, and nothing can be done against them. They only reason they lost Trixie and the fight against Twilight is because the writer forces them to lose to keep the story going. That's it. To me, THIS is the weakest part of the story. Because even all the Alicorns combine, with Discords powers, they would lost to this group, with how it was set up in the story with how powerful it is.
Hmm... The way Ferrier is broadcasting his abilities makes me think he's a digimon in disguise
I found this story a year ago and have been following it since then. My absolute favorite story by far, to the point where I felt the need to register for Fimfiction just now to comment and say it. I have reread the story 6 times already. Please keep up the good work. Oh and erm, It's totally your story, but if there is ever a vote taken on the subject, i cast my vote against turning this into a Twixie romance story.
8203129 It was actually compared to a hydroelectric dam outflow during a flood. But you are forgetting that after her first Una Salus Victis, that had she not been an ascendant, would have permanently destroyed her horn, her horn regenerated stronger than ever. The second time she fired Una Salus Victis there was no large buildup but it was powerful enough to destroy Gryphonhelm Tower. The thing is we haven't been given an actual new comparison for her ability to channel magic since Luna compared it to a firehose. We don't know how much magic she can use at once currently.
8203089 - I think your overstating her 'ineptitude' a bit. The fact is, she is quite competent, if inexperienced and a little hesitant about her abilities and situations.
A nightguard would probably have ended up killing the blue dragon (assuming most of them could), where as Twilight was forced to banish it from lack of true offensive spells (A weakness that should really have been solved early on).
She should probably have tried to grab the rig holding the 'After' gems by the rope, as well as simply dumping the cauldron of potion, instead she holds it by the part with the charged gems, so yea... but again, necessary for the plot. Besides which, she does rupture the portal and survives the aftermath.
She was quite competent against the battlemaster, for all the griffon was going easy on her initially, eventually discerning and disabling his weapon. Sure she had to blast the tower to defeat him, but he did have significant advantages of being effectively immortal without it, being a realized illusion and all. She then went and cheap-shotted Gilda disabling her instantly.
But see... these are rather high tier threats. A regenerative dragon, a battlemaster, a thaumo-nuclear bomb, and now a pirate pegasi with a bonded wing-blade... one of them really just doesn't match the others, unless this just shows how powerful a bonded weapon can be. Though at the same time, wouldn't that much firepower have torn the ship apart from the inside?
Actually, weren't ponies supposed to have an innate instinctual fear/submission response to angry alicorns? Granted it's weaker with Twilight, but Rainbow Dash was briefly freaked out after the Gilda encounter. I'd think a Rage Shifted Twilight would be a bit more fearsome than all that.
8203129 - Yea, pretty sure her 'bottleneck' has been solved, at least to some degree after her encounter with the explosion. Her throughput is far greater now, and I expect alot of the restriction was mental rather than physical. She had her power buttoned up pretty good.
8203235 - Pretty sure the illusionists are different from the group that mindcontrolled the town. The geas is pretty hard to pull off, and one assumes they have a limited amount of material to do it. It probably has other restrictions so I assume it's nowhere near as widespread as people make it out, at least not to the primary actors in the story.
The illusionists are a true illuminati it's true, but there may well be a good basis for it. They obviously are pretty subtle and only Trixie, a skilled illusionist herself, with lots of experience with them, has managed to come to any sort of solution to their magic. Besides which, I'm fairly sure Charlemane is one of them (controls them). He's not an anarchist and them being connected to noble lines does have them acting in a different fashion than the 'Majestics' that seem to want a true coup.
8203235 It's actually The Majestics that have the Geas and Power Words for mind controlling others. And it was shown in A Majestic Reveal that the Majestics are capable of killing the Illusionists. So while the Illusionists are ridiculously strong for now, they are not unbeatable, and I think it will make the moment when Twilight takes the fight to them all the sweeter. However, even though I know first and foremost this is a story about Twilight, it's a bit disappointing to see just how ineffective Rainbow is. Can we even say she is Day Guard Charioteer level capable? She was actually trained as a soldier but she seems to be kinda useless in a fight. We never saw her defeat any golems, we did get to see her outwit a couple of scrubs early in the story, but she lost a hooffight to an (albeit invisible) Illusionist that even Twilight was able to land some physical blows on, she lost to Gilda spectacularly, and she got dragged to the ground and pinned by a spec ops Pegasus. I'm not expecting her to be some OP super soldier, but at least some combat competence should be expected.
8203012 It's still Doylist, it's just that every story gets a few free passes to set up the basic premise without needing to justify its inevitability or even plausibility (except internally). It's only after the skeleton is laid down that plausibility comes back. Here, though, the premise is basically "Twilight is slowly ascending to be an alicorn in the face of a great many powerful and subtle foes that have been menacing Equestria for some time". And that's fair enough, as far as it goes. It's just that when all those foes are so powerful that not only is Twilight needed to handle them, she can't even do it in a standup fight without cheating her way to victory, it makes less sense. Clearly these foes were, individually never mind collectively, easily a match for Equestria before Twilight (assuming she is one of Equestria's most competent combatants, which is admittedly not necessarily the case *cough*Obsidian Armor*cough*), and are still causing a lot of trouble, so why did so many factions wait so long to close in?
8203627
Being overly hesitant is a form of "ineptitude" of its own I'd say, but it's not just strictly combat/combat related magics that's she is bad at - it's magic and spells in general that Twilight feels mediocre at. It's fine if Twilight was bad at combat but good at magic, but that's not the case as is portrayed in the story. And yeah, her lack of "offense" (what does that even mean, honestly?) spells should have been addressed - but even the in-show Twilight knows how to happily spam rock-shattering magical beams, something this Twilight seems to have forgotten. And when coupled with the fact that this story has pretty much disabled TK as a viable form of magic (it can't be used on ponies directly, and Twilight lacks the creativity to use it indirectly in effective manner) ... well, it leaves her looking quite inept.
Even beyond combat magic, every new magical development in the story mystifies her, everyone seems to possess magic that Twilight hasn't ever seemingly heard of and is clueless about, despite magical theory being the point where she ought to be the strongest. Passage? Never even heard of that. Illusions in all of their forms? Clueless about them. Something as simple and mundane as a projected chalkboard? Beyond her imagination. Magical spells being customizable to give them special or additional properties (Something that should be right up Twilight's alley as a supposed academician) ? Never evidently heard of that, and has done zero tinkering or customization since Shining brought it up. And other stuff I'm forgetting right about now ...
She's not just bad at combat or combat magic - she's mediocre as a mage in general, despite apparently having spent many years doing nothing but studying magic. Everything she manages to accomplish is either thanks to magical artifacts or hand-me-down notes of actually good mages, up to and including her brother. Pretty much any random unicorn who is at all interested in spellcasting could accomplish what she has, if they had access to the unique resources that have fallen in her lap. Arguably most would do better, on account of Twilight's aforementioned hesitation and evident lack of drive to better herself, her spells and fix her own shortcomings.
Or, to bring up a quote from someone else from one of the many other times this debate has come up in the story (roughly each time anything magically important happens?
):
"It's that she's not been shown to be good at anything else related to magic. She has a big mana pool, but can't actually bring it to bear; every magical development in the story completely blindsides her. Frankly, I just want to see some situations pop up where it's 'oh no, a magic problem! Good thing Twilight's here!' rather than 'oh no, a magic problem! Good thing someone better at magic than Twilight foresaw this and clued her dumb arse in on how to not fuck up'. The closest thing we've had to that is the Zebrica event, and even that is based on Shining's shields."
Or in other words, it would be neat if we got a situation or two (doesn't even have to be strictly combat) where it showcases why Twilight is at all considered a fitting candidate for being called the Grand Mage, or why she is considered a competent spellcaster in general, or why sending her out instead of some other, more capable agent is a good idea. A scene or two where she manages to shine by her own merits and applies her own (supposed - but narratively kinda nonexistent) magical expertise and smarts to solving a serious problem that might have eluded all others - to show that she can do more than piggyback on the notes written by her betters in selective situations, something that anyone can do. That she is worth having a story told about. That's kinda what's missing from the story so far, and why it keeps summoning this same reaction from readers time and time again, as it's a recurring issue.
And, like you noted, a pirate of a pegasus with a (presumably) fancy weapon isn't exactly a world shaking threat. It's about as far dwon the totem pole of threats as one can go before hitting nameless mook level, really. There is no leeway and no excuses to be made here - when Twilight manages to lose against this, of all things, it only illuminates the lingering doubts about Twilight's competency in sharper contrast and brings them to the forefront once again. Because if she can't handle this ... then she truly is hopeless.
Hmm, was it ever stated that having her horn fractured/regenerated did anything for her output? I admit I can't remember one way or another, but I believe Twilight herself has never mentioned or showcased anything to that effect (I could be forgetting though).
And nah, it wasn't mental at all from what I recall, though her mentality did cause the issue. If memory serves, it was simply a case of Twilight being so slow and careful with her spell buildup over the 30-ish years of her life (mental trauma about losing control ever since her childhood flare) that she had essentially managed to atrophy her mana channels.
8203737
I don't think I even need to say anything. You did it for me.
Also, being able to fight a single person does NOT mean they are a match for EQUESTRIA.
That's like saying "I can fight Mike Tyson, so clearly I can take on the United States."
"just a lousy pirate captain"
Yeah, no. He is raiding for quite some time now, successfully so. He has evaded all attempts of capture. He owns an outdated, but very rare and expensive ship. He (was hired to?) specifically targeted the train Twilight was on and then specifically lured her out by executing hostages. He whouldn't do that if he wasn't sure of his victory. What in the world makes you guys think he is supposed to be a weakling?
Looks more like his lightning is on the level of Obsidians shields.
8203807 The problem with that is, Twilight was able to shield herself , Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Cloudburner from the lightning magic from "Tens of thousands of exploding cored cannons" and it didn't even phase her. "We are resistant, but paper isn't!". I don't care how amazing a bonded blade is, there is no way it produces more power than tens of thousands of exploding weapon cores, which means Twilight shouldn't have even had to use a shield to laugh off his lightning. It's a minor inconsistency. His confidence comes from his lightning, but Twilight should already be strong enough to handle one overconfident pirate captain, even if he has been doing it for years.
8203775 The power levels in Rites vary enormously more than in our world, obviously. A high-powered individual pony is not Mike Tyson at all, but a squadron of fighter-bombers or a tank company. And while Obsidian is (somewhat disturbingly) more competent than Twilight, it's also true that General Towers was substantially less, so if individual elite warriors can defeat Twilight, that's a relatively large chunk of Equestria's defense they can take down.
8203845
Again, ONE ON ONE.
You completely disregarded my entire point. Mike Tyson was an example, dude. The point is that individuals are not the entirety of a country's defense.
8203834 With the vastly varying power levels of the fighters in this story, I find it entirely possible that Farriérs concentrated lightning was stronger at the point of impact than those exploding cores. It might not blow up an entire factory complex, but aiming it at a single pony could have more of an effect.
Also, fighting just doesn't seem one of Twilights strong points. The help she gets barely keeps her alive.
8203951 There is nothing in the fight scene to imply that, it raced across the floor but didn't cut the ship in half, which it should have if it's contact point is stronger than the combined force of tens of thousands of exploding weapon cores. It was strong enough to blow apart a house sized crate, but the explosion in Cloudsdale was large enough to vaporize the CDA warehouse. It just seems like this would have been the perfect time for Twilight to show she has gotten better. It's not like this one pirate is the only objective of this mission, so having Twilight lose to him seems counterproductive to showing she isn't still just lucking out during every fight. It's been a very well written story, but it still seems Twilight is as bad at being a Grand Mage as she was before she even knew she was an ascendant. Not every single villian she comes across has to be some daunting task. She has been at this for nearly a year but after training with Luna, trading blows with a dragon, fighting invisible unicorns, stopping a world wide disaster, and fighting a gryphon battle master, she is still battle incompetent. I know Ascension is eventful, but it's starting to feel a bit like DBZ where every enemy just happens to be stronger than the last.
8203879 In Equestria, individuals are, if not the entirety, a much much larger portion of defense than here. Obsidian Armor isn't just a commander, but a mobile city-defense shield. Luna and Celestia aren't just princesses, but forces of nature. The Bearers of the Elements aren't just exemplars, but part of a superweapon capable of almost instantly removing unnatural influences in an area hundreds or thousands of miles across. Charlemane isn't just a minister, but a combat time mage or some such. A dragon isn't just a wild beast, but a city-wrecker.
Same thing with equipment; while they do have expensive vessels filled with tons of complex equipment that must be operated by a large crew, much like any aircraft carrier, a lot of their expenses go into extremely potent individual equipment, like cored or bonded weaponry or armor. The result is rather like giving someone a fighter jet without any need to maintain or re-supply it: the manpower necessary to project the same force shrinks by a good order of magnitude or more.
So no, I didn't disregard your point. It simply isn't applicable, because Mike Tyson is just some dude, but no powerful individual in Equestria is just some pone.
Seriously, at this point I am beginning to wonder why anyone is making a big deal out of the 'grand mage' at all. She has only won a single major battle, and she very nearly killed herself and everyone else around her to do it. Not to mention that it was made clear that Shining could have done it in a single spell. In fact, why not have Twi act as the head of Luna's forces, as she is quite good at the desk work, while sending Shining to handle all of this? He would clearly have stomped all over these guys if that is to be believed.
I get it, she is still learning, but if Twi never gets a victory under her belt the old fashioned way, I really have to wonder why she is being made such a priority target. She is clearly small change to anyone who doesn't know about her alicorn ascension at this point, so I just don't get it.
8203879
Nor are individual pirate captains going to be even close to the best the villains can muster, and individual strength matters a heck of a lot more in worlds where beings' strength varies so much. If the enemies had a single being even close to Celestia's level (which they might end up having at some point given the type of setting this is), they could literally singlehandedly raze Equestria to the ground if Celestia and Luna were somehow missing or unavoidably preoccupied.
Heck, the gap between Celestia/Luna and literally everyone else known is so huge that someone could be weak enough to get oneshotted by the two of them (if they didn't have to worry about collateral damage), and yet still be strong enough for everyone in Equestria to be ants to them.
8204085
Says fucking who? Headcanon and actual canon are different things dude. Just because you have examples of powerful individuals, does not mean that's ALL they have. They're just the interesting things in a story.
Now I am curious, was the attack of someone who gotten to big for their birches and figure Twilight could be their biggest hiest yet. Or did someone hire a hit out on Twilight? I guess we'll find out soon.
Just something I noticed. This comes after, the armour deploys during her "sleep".