To reach for the sky · 12:55am May 2nd, 2017
Nopony ever truly appreciated the power of wanton destruction until they saw the evidence of it. The battle that had taken place here, Tarnish had trouble believing that there had been any victors. Had any survived? How had this ended? All of the unicorns had gone mad and… then what? Battled each other to the last, locked together in magic-induced hatred? The artificial ley line at least explained some of what happened here, with its power boost and its effect upon sanity, but the things that he and his companions were seeing, there would be no unseeing this.
The air was tainted with a musty, swampy smell, the scent of decaying vegetable matter. Some of the passages were impassable, even now, centuries later, and the tell-tale shimmering of magical radiation lingered, revealing pockets of magic gone sour. Tarnish had an almost-instinctual understanding of these pockets, these failed spells, these dud castings. In the wilds of Equestria and other places, animals might get pulled into these pockets and mutated—or worse, multiple animals might be pulled into the pools of soured magic and merged.
These pockets of soured magic weren’t like typical pockets of magical radiation, not at all, and it wasn’t something his own poison joke magic could nullify, much to his own dismay. These shimmering, warping, glimmering pockets of magic were magically charged with the emotions that had spawned the spell, and had perhaps contributed to the spell’s failure. In his travels through the wilds, he had encountered these failed spells a few times. There was one near the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree and it was a mild one.
Avoiding these magical hot-zones was becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous. Seeing them took sharp eyes, and sensing them required well-attuned senses. As for getting rid of them, Tarnish had no idea how such a thing might be cleaned up, and having talked with Princess Celestia once about it, neither did she.
Of course, his own Druid’s Grove was awash with magical radiation of a peculiar type.
Just a little something I'm working on.
*geiger counter softly ticking*
Hmmm. Emotionally Charged Magical Radiation. I wonder if maybe changelings as Emovores would have any insight on this.
*Eagerly awaits the incoming chapter*
4516661
Yeah. They would. And advice too.
"Run like hell."
add 'be'?
You wonder if this may be how manticores, hydras, cockatrice' and the like came to be.
4516678
Better than nothing.
4516690
Magical radiation of all kinds cause mutations. This has been discussed in various stories already.
4516661 Would be interesting to see if Chryssi shows signs of this radiation in trace background amounts?
4516661 Considering the emotions are probably anger hate and such it would discourage or poison them.
Well, if thaumatons are actual, physical particles, it would make sense for there to be thaumaton radiation...
There are different kinds of radiation in real life - electromagnetic, and particle radiations contain the most well-known forms.
Electromagnetic radiation is the radiation of energy - light, sound, heat, etc. The truly damaging forms of this are x-rays (which can still be useful in small doses) and gamma-rays (bad bad bad), and to a lesser extent ultraviolet light (hey sunburn and melanoma!), but any of them can be dangerous in high enough quantities.
For thaumatons, though, they're more likely to be in the particle radiation section. This is where you have alpha, beta, and neutron radiation.
Alpha-radiation is when an alpha-particle is emitted by an atom - this is two protons and two neutrons (It's basically a [He]2+ ion). It's not the most dangerous radiation though, as it's a fairly large particle - it's easily countered by adequate shielding, say, a piece of paper. If you eat something emitting alpha-radiation, though, it's probably not going to do you all that much good because then it'll be stuck there.
Beta-radiation is when an electron (or positron) is emitted. They can start causing mutations and such, because they can penetrate the body and if they hit a DNA molecule, the cell may mutate.
Neutron-radiation is, quite obviously, where a neutron is emitted from an atom. This only really happens in stars, or the really big-ticket equipment, like particle colliders and nuclear reactors. Or nuclear bombs. Basically wherever you can get nuclear fusion or fission. Neutron-radiation is nasty - it can activate radioactivity in other substances, causing them to emit other kinds of radioactivity, and in general this is the one that you're endangered by if something nuclear goes into meltdown.
Those are all really brief explanations and I'm not really a physicist, but, bearing that in mind that thaumatons can be added to an atom's nucleus - they're probably around the same size as protons and neutrons.
So, it is likely then, that there are potentially several kinds of particle-radiation linked to thaumatons:
1: 2 protons, 2 neutrons, 2 thaumatons. Like Alpha, but also with thaumatons.
2: 2 protons, 2 thaumatons. Like Alpha, but with thaumatons replacing neutrons.
3: 2 neutrons, 2 thaumatons. Like Alpha, but with thaumatons replacing protons.
4: Thaumaton-radiation. Like Neutron radiation. (Only triggered by emotions, rather than fission/fusion?)
Things only get more complicated if you consider the negative/anti-thaumatons. Hm. Is it possible that different emotions might put different charges on thaumatons?
Heh, sorry for the ramble, but I'm finding all of these little peeks into the science of the Weedverse too interesting.
4516755
Emotions do in fact, change and charge thaumatons. It is why Vinyl's experimentations into emotionally charged magic are frowned upon. It introduces an element of chaos into the outcome. With calm, neutral emotions, the intended and desired spell output can be reproduced time after time, offering a textbook finish to any spell cast. Vinyl adds an element of chaos to her magic with emotion. This might allow her spells to punch through specific protections that are designed to defend against specific effects, but it also means that her spells might have varying and sometimes unpredictable degrees of strength.
It is actually a contradiction found within Vinyl's character, as she is very science oriented and focused on producing measurable results. She's a sound engineer. However, her magic practices are less science-based and more exercises in playing the long odds. It makes her powerful, but like her counterpart, Tarnish, she is wildly unpredictable and dangerous. Together, they represent organised chaos and chaotic organisation.
Emotion triggers what could be described as 'quantum' effects on thaumatons.
IT HAS ALWAYS been easier to destroy than it is to create
4516751
Changelings might have methods of filtering such emotions in order to keep such from affecting them, or at least older, more experienced ones, as we have seen Honeysuckle, who is just a filly, being unable to. Have somepony like Twilight or Vinyl probably work with them on that and they might come up with a way to separate the emotions from the magical radiation leaving something that Tarnish possible could handle. Though this is all what ifs.
4516836
No.
Entering the pool of radiation would mean almost certain mutation or death.
This particular one is hot enough to make stone boil.
4516839
You don't mention the stone to be glowing though. And quite frankly lowering the boiling point of solid rock down below ambient temperature seems like an even more worrying effect.
4517098
I was hoping that somebody would notice that.