Raven VS Twilight Sparkle

Raven VS Twilight Sparkle is the 89th episode of DEATH BATTLE!, featuring Raven from DC Comics and Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in a battle between two powerful magic users and empaths. They were both voiced by Kira Buckland.

Description
Two powerful titans of empath magic collide, and only the strong will survive!

Interlude
(Cues: Wiz & Boomstick - Brandon Yates)

Wiz: Emotions can be powerful things.

Boomstick: Ugh, are we really gonna talk about feelings and crying and stuff?

Wiz: Well, yes, and how they fuel some pretty powerful magic.

Boomstick: Sounds good, like with Raven, the half demon sorceress from the Teen Titans.

Wiz: And Twilight Sparkle, the magical prodigy from My Little Pony.

'''Boomstick: Yep, really doing this again. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.'''

Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.

Raven
Wiz: A strong emotion can drastically change a person. Fear can trigger instincts necessary for survival, anger can increase adrenaline for incredible feats of strength.

'''Boomstick: And for this edgy looking chick with a wicked cloak, that's kind of her thing. This is Raven. '''

Wiz: From the day Raven was born in her home dimension of Azarath, she wasn't the most popular girl around.

Boomstick: Yeah, it's not exactly a good sign when, right as you're born, the sky turns black and the whole world suddenly smells like farts.

Wiz: See, Raven is the daughter of a human mother and a fearsome demon.

Boomstick: Who is literally made up of hatred, not even kidding.

Wiz: Because of her heritage, Raven's own mental state holds the key to a fearsome inner power. She is an empath, a mage who can sense, create, and manipulate emotions.

Popup: She could naturally absorb emotions, but eventually learned to manipulate emotions entirely.

'''Boomstick: So her powers are all about feelings and stuff? That's pretty lame.'''

Wiz: Tell that to her when she scrambles your brain, or forces you to feel so greedy, you steal from your boss.

Boomstick: Oh, you don't need to convince me to do that.

Wiz: Wait, what?

Boomstick: Uh, I mean, yeah, that's pretty intense, but hey, she's got a lot more deadliness packed away under that cool cloak.

Wiz: When she was eighteen years old, Raven met her father for the first time, and it, uh, didn't go very well.

Boomstick: Yeah, demon dad shot her mom with a grandma laser, that pissed off Raven so much, she finally let loose.

Wiz: This shadowy figure is her Soul-Self, an extension of her spirit, and manifestation of the powers inherited from Trigon. Raven often wields it as her primary means of offense and defense, though it can function on its own.

Boomstick: I wish I had a pet bird that could do what the Soul-Self can, this beauty lets Raven fly, use it's eyes and ears, or just punch people like a big old battering bird.

Wiz: It can drain the energy and powers of others, and also serves as a sort of pocket dimension, which Raven can trap a limited number of foes and objects within.

'''Boomstick: Talk about convenient, but she can do way more, she can levitate, teleport, heal others, cast energy shields, phase through walls, and blast people with mystical energy beams. (makes firing sounds)'''

''Popup: She can also fly! At first, with just her Soul-Self, but after a body switch-up, she could do so on her own.''

Wiz: But there is one drawback, to wield her power, Raven must embrace emotion, and too much emotion risks opening her mind to Trigon's corruption.

Boomstick: When she gives into her darker side, her entire personality changes.

(a red eyed, demonic Raven uses tentacles to pull in Dr. Light)

''Raven: (Demonic voice) What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?''

Dr. Light: I surrender!

Wiz: Under a new persona, appropriately named Dark Raven.

Boomstick: Dark Raven is stronger, tougher, and freakier then your everyday Raven, she can shoot lasers from her eyes, disintegrate stuff with her hand beams, and shape shift, and her Soul-Self is so powerful, it can wipe most people off the face of the earth in an instant.

Wiz: However, Dark Raven's incredible capabilities are a double edged sword. By tapping into her father's demonic powers, she risks transporting Trigon himself to the living realm, kick starting devastation across the universe.

'''Boomstick: Kickstarting? Wonder what the tier rewards are like for that, pledge twenty bucks and get an autograph from Satan.'''

Wiz: Thankfully, she has been able to free herself from Trigon's control, granting her unlimited access to her own magical abilities.

'''Boomstick: Sometimes she even wears white to celebrate the occasion, or is that just for her wedding with Beast Boy? Oh wait, that never happened! These comic books reboot way too often for any relationships to actually have lasting consequences, silly me.'''

''Popup: In some timelines, the white garments appear when she's free from Trigon. In main series comics, they're more symbolic than literal.''

Wiz: Last, but not least, there's Raven's golden form, a spiritual body free from Trigon's influence, which manifested after she turned evil and had to be killed by her friends, the Teen Titans.

Boomstick: Oh, that's messed up.

Wiz: It happens a lot, actually. Anyway, Raven's accomplished plenty of incredible feats.

Boomstick: She's bent steel girders with her magic, toughed out getting thrown butt first into a brick wall so hard it broke, the wall, not her butt, and even helped Terra, a fellow Titan, raise the Teen Titans headquarters and the island it's on.

Wiz: Terra alone was barely able to stop the island's descent, and together, they pushed it back up to its rightful place. This means Raven lifted more than half of the island's weight. The Titan's Tower island is similar in location and size to Alcatraz, which ha a with of 559 yards. Assuming the most likely granite composition and accounting for a 30% hollow interior, Raven's energy output would need to be about fourteen million megawatt-hours, that's enough energy to power all of New York City for over three years.

Popup: This particular Titan's Tower is located in Jump City, which is based on San Francisco and Boston.

Boomstick: Raven's Soul-Self can survive thirty thousand feet below the surface of the ocean with no problem.

Wiz: That's almost 14,700 pounds per square inch, 42 times the PSI needed to crack most bones.

Boomstick: And it's tough enough to survive laser blasts from aliens that hurt Donna Troy, who can survive moon busting attacks.

Wiz: The villain Sparta's lasers could destroy people in an instant, which requires nearly three billion joules of energy, and Raven's Soul-Self powered through several of these blasts and held together.

Boomstick: The Soul-Self is also stupidly fast, it once flew from New York City to Blue Valley, Nebraska and back in less than five minutes.

''Popup: Back then, the Soul-Self could only exist separate from Raven for up to five minutes. This limit has been nullified since then.''

Wiz: The distance between those cities is 1,166 miles as the crow, er, Raven flies, to make this trip in time, Raven's Soul-Self must've flown more than thirty six times the speed of sound.

'''Boomstick: Not impressed? Well, when she was golden ghosty Raven, she flew between the Earth and moon like it was nothing.'''

Wiz: So, plenty of impressive feats, but unfortunately, Raven's powers have daunting and often costly limits. When the Soul-Self takes damage, Raven feels the pain herself.

Boomstick: She's kinda like a glass cannon, and overtaxes her own abilities pretty frequently.

Wiz: But don't disregard this as only mere physical ineptitude, when Raven utilizes emotions in combat, she tackles that emotion head on. The more negative the emotion, the more pain she feels.

'''Boomstick: And don't forget, she's also struggling not to feel so Satan doesn't show up. With all that going on at once, it's no wonder she passes out sometimes.'''

Wiz: But with the help of her friends, and her adoptive Azarathian family, Raven eventually overcame Trigon's iron grip and defeated him.

Boomstick: Yeah, you'd think a guy like Trigon would think twice before messing with someone as powerful as Raven.

''Brother Blood: (blasts Beast Boy and Blue Beetle with dark energy) No... you stay away from me, you demon filth!''

''Raven: They're not demons; let me show you one. Azarath metrion zinthos! (summons her soul self, which soars above Raven and screeches)''

Twilight Sparkle
Wiz: High above the peaceful Ponyville, the city of Canterlot rests among the mountaintops. There, a young filly had dreams as big as Canterlot Castle itself, her name was Twilight Sparkle.

Boomstick: (Sighs) Here we go again, I mean, we've seen a pony that breaks the sound barrier, and  one that breaks physics, so, what crazy powerful thing can this one do, Wiz?

Wiz: Hold your horses, Boomstick, we're "mare-ly" out of the gate.

Boomstick: Ugh, reign it in, Wiz, your lame puns are "mustang" with my script.

Wiz: Little Twilight wanted to learn magic at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, after a very, uh, eventful entrance exam, she didn't just get accepted into the school, she became Celestia's protégé.

Boomstick: Which is kind of a big deal, since Celestia is pretty much pony god of the sun.

Wiz: Not only that, Twilight also earned her Cutie Mark.

'''Boomstick: Oh, I remember those! It's that magical tramp stamp a pony gets when they grow up.'''

Wiz: Ehh, close enough? Twilight's Cutie Mark symbolized her life's calling, specifically, her destiny in mastering the art of magic.

'''Boomstick: This peppy purple pony wasted no time and hit the books to practice hard. By the time she was an adult, she'd read her entire collection of 20,000 books!'''

(Owlowiscious hoots)

Boomstick: What a nerd.

Wiz: Boomstick, have you ever read a book before?

Boomstick: Do gun manuals count?

Wiz: Sure, why not?

Boomstick: Oh, there we go.

Wiz: Twilight learned all sorts of powerful and useful magic. She knows so many spells, it would take well over an hour to describe them all. Her memory is so crystal clear, she can recall a complex spell after a mere glance

'''Boomstick: But here's some highlights. She can move stuff with her mind, shoot concussive energy blasts, raise magic shields, and rapid fire teleport.'''

Wiz: She can manipulate gravity, ignite things on fire, freeze others in place, walk on clouds, and even mastered the transfiguration spell. As a filly, she transformed her own parents into plants.

Boomstick: Talk about weird.

Wiz: She's even transformed a single apple into a nest of bird eggs, which, uh, hatched somehow.

Boomstick: Did she just create life?

Wiz: Yeah, but Twilight's magic doesn't just stem from her vast knowledge of spells and history, in the world of My Little Pony, magic is drawn from and controlled by a unicorn's emotions.

Boomstick: Ugh, here comes the touchy feely stuff.

Wiz: The stronger a unicorn feels about something or someone, the stronger their magic becomes.

''Starlight Glimmer: Well, I've always found magic is tied to my emotions. Whatever I'm feeling fuels whatever I'm doing, and the stronger I'm feeling, the stronger the magic.''

Wiz: Across Equestria, Twilight Sparkle is one of the few ponies to master the most powerful magic of all, the magic of friendship.

Boomstick: Okay Wiz, I know a metaphor when I see it, "Isn't a night out with the girls so magical?".

Wiz: Oh no no, that's not it at all, in truth, friendship is the only weapon powerful enough to defeat Equestria's most dangerous enemies.

'''Boomstick: What? They weaponized friendship? Awesome! Hey Wiz, your my best buddy, friends forever, come here, gimme a hug. (Beat) Where are the friendship lasers?'''

Wiz: Get off me.

Boomstick: Uh, yeah, oops, I-I slipped, ahem.

Wiz: Twilight's friendship magic is at its most powerful when focused through the Elements of Harmony. When used together, these ancient artifacts are a near unstoppable force, even capable of overpowering the villain Tirek after he stole Twilight's powers, along with the rest of Equestria's. Twilight's crown, along with her personal element, contains a powerful magic in its own right, enough to literally change the fabric of reality in another dimension with its mere presence.

Popup: The Element of Magic was used on its own in the Equestria Girls movie, and gave that universe never before seen magic.

Boomstick: And of course, we gotta talk about those wings of hers, she was born a unicorn, but after completing an ancient spell about, what else, friendship, she transformed into an Alicorn, a mix between a unicorn and a Pegasus, and a chance to sell just a whole ton more merchandise.

''Popup: An Alicorn possesses the magic of a unicorn, the flight of a Pegasus, and the strength of an Earth pony. Very few ponies have ever become Alicorns.''

Wiz: It's a good thing, too, Alicorn magic is leagues more powerful than a plain unicorns, and Twilight needed the extra boost to defend Equestria as it's newest princess.

Boomstick: Like when she fought that Tirek guy.

Wiz: After Tirek absorbed the magic from Equestria's entire population, Twilight was forced to confront him herself while wielding the power of four Alicorns.

(Twilight hurls a massive blast of energy, which Tirek blocks with a shield, a mushroom cloud erupts)

'''Boomstick: When did it become Dragonball Z with baby girl horse toys? Anyway, check out how Tirek rocketed Twilight straight into this mountain, and she was totally fine thanks to her magic shield.'''

Wiz: By comparing Twilight's apparent size just before impact to her actual size of approximately four feet tall, we can estimate the distance she was thrown to be about 145 feet. Tirek then closed this distance at 64.5 miles per hour, combined with his estimated weight of over 31,000 pounds, Twilight's shield had to stand up to over eight million newtons of force.

'''Boomstick: You know what? Forget it, I'm on board with this pony stuff.'''

Wiz: Twilight is tough enough to survive bombardment by anvils and pianos, fast enough to fly over three hundred miles per hour without using any spells, and even strong enough to lift and carry a rock weighing four and a half tons.

'''Boomstick: Her telekinesis is strong enough to lift a 340 ton bear, and even uproot this giant...flower tree thing, and with the other Alicorn's magic, she can move the sun and the moon. Okay, yeah, friendship power is way better than expected.'''

Wiz: However, if Twilight has one glaring weakness, its her unwavering neurosis.

(Twilight, newly transformed into a human in the EQG universe, screams loudly)

Boomstick: Oh, you mean how she's obsessed over staying organized, and if one small thing goes wrong, she totally loses it?

Wiz: Yes, she has a, well, difficult time dealing with unexpected stress, more often than not, she even makes bad situations worse before starting to fix them.

Boomstick: But hey, when push comes to shove, Twilight Sparkle pulls her weight and more.

Lord Tirek: (to Twilight, who is surrounded by her allies empowered by the elements of harmony) You have no magic!

''Twilight Sparkle: You're wrong, Tirek! I may have given you my alicorn magic, but I carry within me the most powerful magic of all: the magic of friendship! (the ponies unleash color-coordinated rays at Tirek, who screams in agony)''

Death Battle
In the Golden Oak Library down in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle is seen browsing through a book with her telekenesis that she places on a nearby stand.

''Twilight Sparkle: Transdimensional teleportation? Let's give it a try!''

Twilight casts the spell with her horn and accidentally transports Raven to the middle of the library. Raven was busy playing with dolls of Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and awkwardly looks at her foe and down at her toys. Twilight is confused by the sight. Raven then starts flying in mid air preparing for combat.

''Raven: You. Saw. NOTHING!''

(*Cues: Titans of Magic - Brandon Yates*)

Raven shoots a beam down at Twilight, who leaps to the side before facing her new enemy.

FIGHT!

The two empaths shoot powerful beams at each other which clash and starts burning the library.

Twilight Sparkle: No! Not the books!

Raven flies to the side and shoots another beam that Twilight deflects to the wall. Twilight uses her telekenesis to send some nearby furniture towards the Teen Titan. Raven summons her Soul-Self into the air.

Raven: Darkness take you!

The shadowy raven destroys the furniture with one swipe and charges towards the alicorn princess. Twilight uses a teleportation spell to escape outside and witnesses the burning library.

Twilight: Oh no! Not again!

Raven teleports near Twilight and punches her before kicking her into a portal that sends the pony crashing in the nearby forest. Raven enters the portal as Twilight recovers from the blow. Twilight notices the trees are covered by dark magic and start flying.

Twilight Sparkle: Huh!?

Raven: Azarath Metrion Zinthos!

Raven starts lifting a number of trees and tossing them at her opponent. Twilight uses her agility and magic to destroy the trees or dodge them. Raven then condenses all the trees for one massive attack. Twilight summons her elemental crown to increase her magic and withstand the barrage.

Raven: Is that all you can do?

Raven's cloak changes to white as her magic increases and covers the area in darkness. Twilight struggles to maintain her stance and casts the Want It, Need It spell on a nearby rock. She is seen ducking in the ground as the darkness dissipates.

Twilight Sparkle: Please work!

Twilight opens her eyes only to find Raven obsessively hugging and drooling the nearby rock she cast the spell on.

''Raven: I want it! I need it! It's mine, all mine!''

Twilight starts flying in the air more confidently.

''Twilight Sparkle: Aha! Now I've got you right where I want you!''

Raven stands up and angrily faces Twilight, as she's gained additional eyes and has entered her Dark Raven form.

Raven: GET AWAY FROM IT!

As Twilight is startled by her challenger, Raven sends her Soul-Self to envelop her enemy. Twilight manages to cast one last spell before she's cast into darkness. Raven uses her empath magic to drain Twilight of her emotions, causing her to turn gray. Before Raven delivers the killing blow, she's hit with Twilight's magic and turned into a potted plant. Raven's Soul-Self releases Twilight from it's grasp.

After Twilight is released, she attempts to cast magic again, but isn't able to thanks to her drained emotional state. She walks up to the plant with Raven's cloak wrapped around it and prepares to stomp it with her hoof.

Twilight Sparkle: Sorry to "soil" your fun!

Raven's Soul-Self emerges from the sky at high speeds and divebombs right into Twilight, causing a huge explosion and leaving only a Twilight-shaped hole in the ground. The Soul-Self then looks out of the hole and returns to Raven after having watched her getting restored back to normal. She takes off her hood while reflecting on the situation.

Raven: Well, that was odd...

KO!

Raven returns to her home dimension. Once she gets back to her room in Titans Tower, she destroys her Twilight Sparkle doll in anger. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash summons a cloud to put out the fire at the Golden Oak Library.

Results
* (Cues: Titans of Magic again)

Boomstick: "Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that the only thing more powerful than friendship is a giant bird spirit colliding into me at Mach 36!"

Wiz: This was a tricky one. Both Raven and Twilight possess numerous spells and techniques that could end the other quickly and easily.

Popup: When comparing the number of "instant-win" techniques Raven and Twilight possess, we found that they had a nearly equal amount.

Boomstick: Since they were pretty even in how many ways they could finish each other off, this fight really came down to strength, durability, and performance.

Wiz: First of all, it's pretty obvious Raven's telekenesis has been shown to be much stronger than Twilight's.

Boomstick: "But Wiz, what about when Twilight moved the sun and moon?"

Popup: Given the lack of glow and similar feats, moving the sun seems to be a spell only the Royal Sisters' magic can perform and not based on telekinesis.

Wiz: That's when she had the magic of Princess Celestia and Luna, and it's pretty well established that only their specific type of magic can move those celestial bodies.

Luna: So you're saying you want us to move the sun and the moon?

Twilight Sparkle: Well I'd do it myself except, I don't have your magic!

Wiz: With her own magic, Twilight has never shown anything close to the kind of force Raven used to lift the Teen Titans tower.

'''Boomstick: Raven had the durability advantage too. Remember how Twilight's shield held up against the hit a little over 8 million newtons? Well, Raven's Soul-Self is tougher than Donna Troy, who can shrug off a blast worth 290 sextillion newtons! That's uh, 16 more zeroes in case you're wondering.'''

Popup: When fighting Tirek, Twilight frequently drops her shield when performing other spells, implying she can't defend and attack simultaneously.

Wiz: And don't forget Twilight had the power of four alicorns at that time. The shield wouldn't have saved her from Raven's Soul-Self anyway.

Boomstick: Not only could it absorb Twilight's powers and emotions, and not only was it capable of operating even when Raven was unconscious, but it also made a mean dive-bomber.

Popup: While Twilight has lost her willpower before, she always required the friendship of others to regain herself.

Wiz: Raven's Soul-Self could fly at speeds exceeding Mach 36. Since it's often been used as a battering ram against enemies, we know it has mass, but not exactly how much. However, given it's size, strength, and durability far exceeds Raven's own, it's mass is likely greater than hers.

Boomstick: Let's just lowball it and say they're equal, all right?

Wiz: Sure! Adding Raven's mass to the Mach 36 calculation, the Soul-Self's ramming force at top speeds comes to 15 million newtons of force. FAR greater than what Twilight's shield has sustained.

'''Boomstick: Ain't no pony walking away from that! Plus, Twilight's positive attitude meant Raven didn't even have to worry about pain when using her emotions inside against her.'''

Wiz: While they may have matched each other in spells and skill, Raven's more powerful traits and exceptional Soul-Self earn her a hard fought victory.

Boomstick: Yep, Raven really ponied up for this one.

Wiz: The winner is Raven.

Trivia

 * The connection between Raven and Twilight is that they are magic-wielders, fought big events of evil magic, and learned the values of companionship.
 * They are also two of the most famous roles portrayed by voice actress Tara Strong. Possibly to reference this, both combatants had the same voice actress for the fight.
 * The scene with Raven playing with MLP dolls is a reference to a running joke in Teen Titans Go!; where Raven repeatedly hides her affection for ponies.
 * This is the third fight that pits a DC character against a non-Marvel character with the first two being Goku VS Superman and Joker VS Sweet Tooth.
 * This does not include Goku VS Superman 2 due to the fact that it's a Rematch Episode.
 * This is the second time that a second episode of a season where it does not feature a villain as a fighter, previous being Scrooge McDuck VS Shovel Knight. However it's the first time to be a female vs female fight.
 * This is the second episode to feature hand-drawn animation, after Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog.
 * However, in this case, it was only used for Raven's Soul Self, as opposed to the entire fight.
 * Raven VS Twilight Sparkle was done instead of Raven VS Scarlet Witch or Phoenix because Scarlet Witch and Phoenix were said to be able to easily beat Raven, although Ben Singer was hesitant to bring in another pony in Death Battle initially. Raven VS Twilight turned out to be surprisingly close, according to a Death Battle Cast.
 * Boomstick's comment about "Baby girl horse toys" in Twilight's analysis is possibly a callback to Starscream VS Rainbow Dash where he made a similar comment.
 * Raven falling in love with a rock could be a reference to Tom; a rock that the pony Rarity fell in love with in MLP:FIM.
 * During Raven's analysis, when Wiz mentions the distance between New York City and Blue Valley, NE being 1,166 miles, the onscreen graphic says 1,666 miles. This was fixed in the YouTube version.
 * Earlier in the analysis, the word circumference is misspelled as "circuference".  This was not fixed for YouTube.
 * Wings had to be added to Twilight Sparkle's sprites used in the animation because they were of unicorn Twilight.
 * This is the first episode with a My Little Pony character in it that isn't considered a Joke Battle because Twilight was a more serious character than the previous ones.
 * This is the first DEATH BATTLE in where a My Little Pony character loses. The reason why her death wasn't brutal was because due to the fact they both appear in family-friendly shows, so younger viewers might accidentally click on it and get traumatized.