Act I - Chapter 16 - Polar Opposites(Rewrite)
The Alicorn Warrior
Written by iAmSiNnEr
Edited by Stinium_Ruide
Writing assisted by MIGHTY_C
Chapter 16- Polar Opposites
“I am amazed at the sheer turnout today,” Twilight commented, gazing out at the crowd from the private viewing box she had reserved for her friends.
“It is probably your last official open challenge day,” Hard Line noted as he turned to face Twilight. “I have my assistant settling the challengers and allocating them their time slots. Of course, you won’t be fighting all of them, but it’ll be a tournament bracket, and the winner gets to challenge you once it’s done. After all, even you can’t fight that many.”
“What about the challenge I told you about?” Twilight asked. “You know, about how my friend Starlight Glimmer wanted to try?”
“Don’t worry,” Hard Line assured her, a thin smile emerging from his lips. “I have that scheduled as the opening fight, to start the day off.”
“I also noticed that you preemptively made sure that the betting stations had more than enough,” Twilight stated dryly. “Expecting a large number of bets today?”
“Mm,” Hard Line agreed. “According to my calculations, we’re going to have a larger number of fights than we normally have on a single day, so I had to make sure.”
“Twilight!” Pinkie popped up in front of her, and this time Twilight didn’t even flinch. “Do you know where we can get some snacks? I’ve looked all over, and I can’t find any!”
“There’s food stalls outside the Arena,” Hard Line said. “But I don’t think you’d want to make the trip-” But before Hard Line could finish, Pinkie zipped away, her pink mane being the last thing they saw disappearing into the crowd.
“Don’t tell Pinkie Pie what she doesn’t want to do,” Twilight advised. “Or what she could do. She’d just break reality like she always does.”
“Ah,” Hard Line nodded. “Perhaps I should concentrate on something I could understand.”
“That would be wise,” Twilight agreed, before turning around to look at Starlight. “Starlight, you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” the mare said resolutely, a burning determination radiating in her eyes.
“You know,” Twilight teased, chuckling a little. “It’s not too late to back out.”
“I’ll show you I have a chance at beating you,” Starlight smiled. “I’m no slouch, either.”
“No hard feelings though, right?” Twilight asked hopefully as she came forward to nudge Starlight’s barrel.
“Of course not!” Starlight replied incredulously. "What? Did you actually think that I would challenge you just for the sake of revenge?"
“Heh,” Twilight chuckled before clearing her throat. “Of course not. Just needed to make sure.”
“I also have a plan up my figurative sleeve,” Starlight added. “I am confident I can at least give you a run for your money, if not beat you. But I’ll do my best.”
“Leave the banter for the actual fight, eh?” Hard Line asked dryly. “In twenty-two minutes, you’ll both be down there, and you can show everyone your skills.”
“Talking about that…” Twilight turned her gaze back into the arena, trying to catch a glimpse of the commentator’s box. “Who’s today’s commentator?”
“I’ve gotten Bell to do it today,” Hard Line replied. “He arrived earlier today, and apparently he travelled through the night to be here today. His exact words were, and I quote, ‘I couldn’t miss this’, unquote.”
“He is pretty good,” Twilight mused, sighing. “A pity he retired last year after that griffon cut off his leg-”
“Excuse me,” Rarity interrupted as she walked in with the rest of the group. “Did you just say, cut off his leg?”
“Yes,” Twilight nodded as Fluttershy paled. “And he recovered from that, not to worry,” she assured them. “I made him another leg made out of metal, and he says it works better than the old one.”
“You know metalworking?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow. “Ah wasn’t under the impression you were taught smithing.”
“As with my other skills,” Twilight said patiently. “I learnt quite a few here. Painting, smithing, fighting, all of these skills were learnt for me to be able to survive and live comfortably.”
“Ah,” Applejack nodded. “Understood.”
“By any chance, darling,” Rarity interjected. “Did you learn how to work with jewels and gems?”
Twilight stifled a laugh. “Rarity, have you seen any in this town?”
“No- oh.” Rarity blinked.
“Yeah,” Twilight nodded. “To get jewels in the desert, you’d need to dig insanely deep down to get even the slightest hint of one. It’s just generally not worth that much work. In fact, the sand you’d dig up would be worth more than the gem you’d find. It’s that deep here.”
“So that’s why we haven’t seen any, then,” Rarity pouted. “A pity. The seamstress I visited yesterday had so many good designs, they would just look splendid with a few gems.”
“It is what it is,” Twilight shrugged. “We make do, and besides not many of us wear extravagant clothing, the clothes that she designs are meant to be comfortable yet look aesthetically pleasing to the eye.”
“Of course,” Rarity nodded. “It makes sense.”
“I’m back!” Pinkie announced, suddenly appearing in their midst with a plate of cakes and waffles.” Hard Line flinched, while the group jumped in their seats.
“Pinkie!” Rarity chastised. “How many times have I said not to scare us?”
The mare in question shrugged. “I didn’t intend to scare you all,” she pouted, before brightening up. “Besides, snacks!” she presented the plate to them.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said softly as she took one of the cakes in her hooves.
Rarity sighed. “Oh, alright. But I swear, one day, Pinkie, you’re going to give me a heart attack…” she levitated one of the waffles over to herself.
Rainbow looked over from where she had been staring down at the milling crowd, attracted by the food that Pinkie had brought. “That definitely looks good!” she exclaimed, grabbing one of the cakes for herself before stuffing it into her mouth all in one go. “Nd it astes good too,” she mumbled through the cake.
“Of course!” Pinkie beamed. “I made sure of that before I bought them using Twilight’s money!”
“My-” Twilight blinked. “Oh, right, I gave you that bag of coins this morning, didn’t I?”
“Yep!” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically.
“You two should get going now,” Hard Line pointed out. “We’ll be starting in fifteen minutes.”
“Right,” Twilight stood up. “Ready, Glim Glam?”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Welcome, every creature!” Bell shouted out to the arena with his magically amplified voice. “Today marks an important day, the day we say goodbye to the one and only...Sneaky Sparkle!”
The crowd roared at her name, cheering as loudly as they could. “She’s given the arena so much more to offer!” Bell continued enthusiastically. “She has given us a whole new world of entertainment, attracting so many creatures from all over the Badlands...I think I speak for all of us when I say I’m grateful to her. Plus,” he chuckled. “She did give me a new leg too.”
“So!” he shouted. “We’ll begin the day with a fight between Sneaky Sparkle and a new challenger, Starlight Glimmer! Let’s give it up for... Sneaaaaaaky Spaarkle!”
The crowd’s excitement rose to a fever pitch as the portcullis to the passageways under the arena opened with a characteristic creak, revealing Twilight waiting patiently, her eyes unfazed by the familiarity of the arena. Scanning her surroundings, she noticed that the arena was filled to the absolute brim with a roaring crowd. Seems like Hard Line wasn’t lying when he said that we’re going to be at peak capacity today…
“And now,” Bell continued. “We welcome a first-time challenger, Starlight Glimmmmmer!”
As the portcullis on the other side of the arena opened, Starlight trotted in confidently with a smirk on her face. Twilight frowned. What could she have up her sleeve…?
“Are you two ladies ready?!” Bell shouted. Both Twilight and Starlight nodded, lowering themselves into a battle-ready stance as the portcullis on both sides closed.
“Then…” Bell paused for effect, letting the roar of the crowd wash over them. “BEGIN!” he bellowed, sending the crowd into a frenzy as Twilight advanced, her horn awash in lavender light.
“Time to wipe that smirk off your face!” Twilight shouted as she released the spell, the bolt arcing towards Starlight. Starlight teleported away just as the spell was about to hit her, and the bolt slammed into a wall uselessly, cement flying everywhere.
Twilight whirled around, scanning her surroundings. No sign of- A stun bolt slammed squarely into her wards, pushing Twilight back a little from the impact. Twilight grunted as she dug her hooves into the ground, anchoring herself. So we’re going the invisibility route, eh?
“You can’t hide from me!” she yelled, flapping her wings to ascend into the air for a better view. Lighting her horn, she cast a spell. As the spell washed over the arena, she waited in anticipation for the reveal of the challenger. But even as the spell completely covered the arena field, no Starlight was revealed.
“What-?” Twilight blinked in surprise. “Oh, you sneaky sneaky little-” she swore under her breath. “Resorting to tricks now, I see.” Gotta conserve my mana, I still have another fight.
The crowd watched on with bated breath, nearly bringing every creature to the edge of their seat. This was the first time their champion had gotten this frustrated, and Twilight could sense the disappointed looks from the normally roaring crowd that she had not ended the match as fast as she normally did. Yeah, some of ‘em aren’t gonna win their bets...
“Damn it,” Twilight muttered under her breath. “How do I do this…?”
A pop from behind Twilight prompted her to whirl around, but it was too late. Starlight fired a blue-colored spell at her, shattering her wards instantly as she teleported away again in another brilliant flash. For the first time in months, Twilight was...vulnerable. How-? She clearly knows a spell that I don’t!
Time to up my game. “You can’t hide from me forever!” she shouted as she charged her horn to fire another spell.. “I’ve got spells you’d never have the mana for!” She fired the spell at the ground, causing the dirt and dust to shoot up into the air as she cast another spell, sending the dirt and dust into several mini tornados that she had conjured up.
“Dodge that!” she snarked.
The tornados spread over the field, churning up the ground as they searched for the challenger, making sure to spread as much dust as they could. Before long, her keen ears heard coughing from the northern portcullis. “Gotcha!”
Diving down, she materialized a lasso, throwing it towards where she had heard the cough. The lasso wrapped around something, and Twilight grinned as she yanked on the lasso, pulling what she thought to be Starlight up. As Twilight leveled down to the mystery object, she smiled. “Gotcha-”
Suddenly, the air around her exploded, and Twilight reeled back from the blast, her ears filled with nothing but ringing.
A trap! Twilight thought groggily, momentarily stunned. That sneaky little-
Before she could continue beating herself up, a barrage of spells was soon upon her, and Twilight was forced to pull up a shield, even as the ones she was too slow to stop slammed into her wards and were deflected away. The crowd was roaring in disbelief, their hollering even drowning out Bell's magically amplified commentary.
Starlight teleported in front of her, a wide grin on her face. Her mouth moved as if saying something. Twilight frowned. “What?” she asked. Starlight said something in response, and yet she still couldn’t hear what the other mare said. Enough of this! Casting a spell to clear the ringing in her ears, she immediately slung a stun bolt at Starlight.
The bolt passed through Starlight, and Twilight blinked as the illusion grinned back at her. “Didn’t expect this, did ya?” the illusion said. “Perhaps you sho-”
Out of a sudden, a bolt slammed into her shield as the illusion dissolved, “You forgot your own lesson!” the voice came from somewhere to her left, and Twilight twisted to try to find the source of the voice.
“You’re getting distracted now,” Starlight goaded as another bolt of magic slammed into Twilight’s shield. Where in the buck is she-
“Getting a little lost?” Starlight giggled from somewhere behind her, and Twilight whirled around immediately to try and find her, but there was no Starlight in sight. “I suppose, you are...kind of blind now, aren’t you? How about a little more? Take it as a little revenge for the dust trick you pulled on me.” A ball of sand splattered into Twilight’s face from inside her shield, causing her to splutter and rub at her eyes, the sand causing irritation everywhere it touched.
“Gah!” Twilight bellowed as the crowd’s whispers grew to loud murmurs. “Enough!” A wave of magic blasted from her horn in a circular radius, revealing Starlight immediately and sending her flying through the air. Clearing the sand from her eyes with a quick spell, she advanced on the mare.
“No more dirty tricks-” Starlight teleported away, leaving nothing but the ever abundant dust in her wake. “Gah! Hold still so I can-”
“What?” Starlight whispered teasingly from beside her. “So you can what?”
Twilight yelped, surprised by the sudden appearance of the mare beside her as she jumped. Starlight giggled and vanished in a flash again.
“Dammit,” Twilight growled. “I should have never agreed to this, you’re getting on my nerves.”
“Getting a little...touchy today, are we?” Starlight snarked as shards of crystal were fired at Twilight, slamming into her shield and weakening it bit by it. The barrage continued as Twilight was forced to feed more of her aura into her protective bubble.
“You little-” Twilight growled. Enough games.
“Eat this!” she shouted as she cast a teleport negating spell over the arena, making sure the mare couldn’t annoy her any longer. There was a yelp from behind her as a spluttering Starlight failed her teleport, the spell backfiring on her.
Now’s my chance! Twilight fired a stun bolt squarely at Starlight, but the bolt was easily deflected off the latter’s wards.
“And now the Sneaky Sparkle is attempting to make her comeback!” Twilight could distinctly hear Bell, even though she had already tuned out all noise except for hers and Starlight’s. “Will she manage it?”
Time to go all out now. Twilight stomped onto the ground, calling on her Earth Pony magic to send tremors through the nearby ground, and sending Starlight into a stumble. Dissolving her shield to conserve mana, Twilight flapped her wings to gain altitude for the high ground.
“Enough games,” Twilight stated plainly. “This ends here.”
“How about...no!” Starlight replied, firing a spell at Twilight. Twilight simply deflected it away using a quick slice of her horn.
“You fail to understand,” Twilight explained, shaking her head. “You’re right where I want you.”
Starlight blinked. “...what?” There was a rumble from the ground as Twilight smirked.
“You forgot your own advice!” Twilight grinned as a claw made of conjured stone and dirt swallowed Starlight up, before starting to crush Starlight. The stone claw stopped short of its objective however, as it was simply able to penetrate Starlight’s shield. Twilight lit her horn, applying more pressure onto the weakening shield. “Just say you submit, and this’ll be all over,” she offered.
“Never!” Starlight grunted from inside her shield. “I’m...not...a...quitter!”
Twilight sighed. “I already won, Starlight. Just give up, you can’t escape.”
“And Sparkle presents her endgame ultimatum to her challenger!” Bell shouted to the crowd as it cheered for Twilight. “Will it work? Let’s find out!”
“I can’t escape,” Starlight said resolutely. “But I can do this!” Twilight’s eyes widened as Starlight’s shield exploded, blasting the stone claw to bits and pieces. The stone sharpnel were thrown everywhere throughout the arena, and Twilight narrowly avoided getting hit by a rather large piece by swiftly banking aside.
“Time to show you I have a chance!” Starlight shouted, as a spell began building on the tip of her horn while a shield was erected around her. “Eat...this!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. An all-out attack? She shrugged as a shield popped into existence in front of her, causing the blast to slam into it, the roar of the spell deafening. After a few seconds, the barrage stopped. Dropping her shield, Twilight trotted forward and looked down at Starlight, the latter completely drained from her final attack. “That’s all you got?”
Starlight looked up, mystified. “What?” she breathed, scrambling back. “How?!”
“Larger mana well,” Twilight explained. “And it’s my turn.” She fired a stun bolt, and without enough mana, Starlight could do nothing as it slammed straight into her chest, knocking her unconscious and throwing her backwards.
“And the Sneaky Sparkle wins this one!” Bell roared to the crowd. “And boy, was that a close one!”
Yes, Twilight silently agreed as she gently scooped up the unconscious Starlight in her magic. It indeed was a close one.
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FIRST AGAIN!!!
HAHA!
And I got to read it before eveyone here!
HAHA!!!!
LOL
LAMO
Yes.
Huzzar.
Just realised this is probably the only time someones gotten first on a chapter twice.
LOL.
10819600
....................Ok.
Booo she's been fighting in the desert for how many years now, glimmer shouldn't of stood a chance. Twigles should have mopped the floor with her.
Not to mention she wasn't using her full potential, surely she knows how to fight physically. everyone know the easiest way to fuck with a mage/ranged attacker is get up in there shit.
Sparkle a combat vet at this point, she should have know this. She also would of countered her bullshit teleport trick the instant she knew she wasn't invisible. This is pointless pandering to glimmer fans, and makes no sense in the context of the story.
This scene would make more sense if glimmer Mabey dodged one attack, before twilight caught her off guard by doing something glimmer, and her friends, wouldn't expect the old twilight to do. For example blocking teleports after the first attack and closing into hoof to hoof combat.
Honestly to me twigles held back this fight. If she's as trained, and combat experianced as this story makes her out to be, Glimmer, who has NO combat experience would be K.O'd near instantly.
10819643
Mm, Twilight held back here since Starlight was her friend. After all, most of her stronger spells are much more dangerous.
10819607
I’m not usually that obnoxious, I was just doing it for a meme.
Tell him Sinner.
10819648
Vouch
10819644
Yeah I skimmed to the battle of re write (they promised not to hold back in the first version) Still my point stands even holding back sparkle should have mopped the floor with glimmer, considering combat experiance.
10819651
Glimmy's still a powerful unicorn in her own right, she held her own against Twilight last time and even dominated her. Sure, Twilight has more experience now, but like even so Starlight also is no slouch in the magic department. I'm sure others would agree with me.
I was intending for Starlight to be the scapel, and Twilight the hammer.
10819654
To each their own. power means, little in a combat situation, also please, that cannon fight was rigged to get fans to like the new twilight replacement!
10819651
The rewrite was because of how much Twi originally mopped the floor with Starlight, that and you have to remember where they are, in an ARENA.
An arenas purpose is to entertain their audience, and remember why Twi’s so popular, hint it’s not because she’s an Alicorn.
It’s because of her personality and entertainment factor, it makes sense outside of her conserving her mana for her hold back from the fact alone that Starlight is her Friend.
10819654
Starlight is indeed a pretty powerful spellcaster. And also bear in mind, all this time Twilight's been out in the desert, I'm sure Starlight was getting stronger also.
Two other things: one, like you said, Twilight was holding back for the sake of Starlight being her friend. Two, you can also point out that since this was supposedly going to be her final battle in the arena (I don't know if you have other plans up your sleeve for later on), despite the fact that it would have meant some ponies losing their bets (womp womp), even if Starlight wasn't actually giving her a run for her money, as long as it looked good, Twilight likely would have wanted to drag the battle out as long as possible for the sake of the audience.
Edit: looks like some of this was already said while I was typing out this comment...
10819665
Oo, that makes sense, thanks! I'll add that in once I'm more awake and coherent in the morning :)
Also, did you like the rewrite?
10819665
All good, support is support!
10819667
Yeah, it was pretty good. Some of the non-magical tactics (the use of sand) were a great addition. In a combat arena you don't want to just do magic-this, magic-that (unless it's specifically created for that purpose, which this one clearly wasn't). Of course, we are talking about two creatures whose specialty is magic, so it isn't surprising it would be their main tactic, but since 'Sneaky Sparkle' had battled non-magic-using creatures in the past, it was good for the crowd to see some of that again.
I will say, though, I think Twilight still could have used her wings a bit more, and that would have required Starlight to utilize her floating tactic more as well. We know from their canon battle that Starlight is particularly good with that ability, and like I said earlier, with Starlight likely getting better with her skills also, she would have been able to successfully use that tactic (combined with teleportation) even against a more experienced Twilight. She's very good with creating whiplash (which you did do pretty well with Starlight's illusion spells).
All in all, like I said, it was pretty good. There's always room for improvement with anything, but comparatively, this rewrite was definitely better than the first version.
10819648
I don’t care I’m the same way sometimes lol. Congrats. It just felt like the right reaction.
10819714
Welp it was genuinely funny.
Got a laugh out of both me and the now currently sleeping Author.
Just to clarify in case you guys didn’t know, I’m actually one of the ‘new’ (give or take a week or so) editors (although the appropriate title would technically be the creative assistant and morale manager) of ‘The Alicorn Warrior’ along with Stinium_Ruide being the main spelling and grammar editor.
So no I am not just a random stranger, heck it was my idea for the whole finale tournament thing, the rewrite, the new fighting style Sinner’s been attempting and what’s coming up soon...
Oh and in case you didn’t know we now have a Discord channel (you’ll find me as your resident meme lord
). It may be a bit quiet now but that’s just because we’re lonely 
Join it if you want to talk to either me iAmSiNnEr (the author), any of the other editors, offer suggestions with 100% guaranteed chance of one of us responding, or if you just want to have some fun, talk about whatever, or do as I do, meme.
You can join the fun here: https://discord.gg/BbjfUu7m3f
Don't worry about the naysayers, can't please everyone. I personally think this is an improvement on the fight, more detailed, easier to track actions and whatnot. Good work!
Am I the only one that liked the version before the rewrite for the newest chapter?
That was awesome! Hope Starlight wakes up for the fights
I like the rewrite a lot better, it's more entertaining. While in the previous chapter they made a deal not to hold back, it's rather clear Twilight did as she had the larger mana pool from the start. She may have underestimaed Starlight initially but she could have used her alicorn OP-ness to end the fight within seconds. However, seems like she picked up some showmareship which was translated very well. Nicely done!
Since our author is currently busy writing, sleeping, studying or eating, I've been tasked with replying to a few of your comments.
10820582
Exactly what we were going for with this chapter! Glad you noticed.
Thanks for the feedback!
10820483
Don't worry she will
10819880
Why thank you, Sinner worked really hard on getting the rewrite done as soon as possible. So it's good to know that all his hard work paid off!
The added details were to make the fight feel quicker, and more personal then the previous fights, and to really give of the impression of a hammer vs scalpel.
Twilight (the hammer) was big loud and obnoxious so that she could entertain the crowd. Her arena fighting style relies on massive attacks to completely overwhelm her opponent.
Starlight (the scalpel) was quick and sharp, she was trying to break Twi's confidence so that she might let her guard down (a task she somewhat succeeded in). She knew she wasn't going to win so she tried her best to instead attempt to defeat Twi by 'death by a thousand cuts'. (Not literally)
However, in the end a scalpel is meant for just one thing, small and precise cuts. A hammer is also meant for one thing, smashing something with and overwhelming amount of force.
So from the author and all the editors.
Thank you all for reading the Alicorn Warrior.
10820773
Vouch!
A review has been posted.
10820044
No, I actually liked the first Version more. I´m more the Guy for "Alicorns are Ultimate OP, and just deal with the Fact!" xD - Netherless the Rewrite was fun to read too.
Welp.... Damn. My typical first thought when reading rewrite is "okay, what did they
up?" with "what did the editors decide to ruin this time?" often being a close second (though less often in fanfiction for obvious reasons).
In this case, having read both versions, I'd say not only is the latter version a clean up, but more thought out in the way the story has been so far, making the first a rough draft (and nothing wrong with that).
The characters feel more real and expressive, there's that moment were you're not quite sure if Starlight really does have the match figured out, and even after all of that, you're left waiting for the next chapter, not just for the next match, but to see how Star takes her loss. Canonically, she was quite the narcissist, an issue she was learning to overcome, and some of that seems to be present here, but I might be reading to much into it, bad habit on my part.
10824571
Thanks!
When i saw rewrite i went wuh oh, whats ganninn on here? Having read the rewrite i understand and remember why i love this story, i wanna see Twily do badass things like mop the floor with Glim Glam (I love it).
Also in the original i got the sense Twilights inner darkness is coming out more and more, even more so in the rewrite. She seemed a bit too ticked off she was losing, but maybe thats just me
Huh. Nice chapter even if I never read the original.
10828120
Don't worry, she hasn't thrown it all away, she just doesn't want to let her friends see how much pain she went through.
The original was better
I did not see the original.
With that said, I am *not* disappointed by this version. Twilight vs Starlight is close. In canon, it was a standstill. The idea of Twilight basically outlasting Starlight because of a deeper mana well makes sense.
If anything, I was worried that Twilight might have gotten ... a little too frustrated with Starlight, and gone too much Alicorn on her at the end.
Ya I knew Twilight was gonna win, with being an Allicorn and having been basically training and fighting for 4 years, although this does give the chance for Twilight to learn some new fighting moves and styles, and also learning some new abilities.