Luminessence / Luminescence / Lum-a-what · 4:17pm Nov 13th, 2021
Luminescence is a thing which it feels like we still have a lot to learn about.
The first reference I saw was this sheet:
From which I concluded that luminessence and luminescence are homophones. We have two distinct nouns:
Luminescence: ‘cold’ luminescent light emitted by an object due to processes distinct from incandescence (that creates thermal radiation), such as fluorescence, produced when fluorescent materials are exposed to radiation like UV light; electroluminescence, produced by an electric current; or bioluminescence, produced by biochemical reactions in certain plants, animals, and fungi.
Luminessence: a pony’s personal sparkle or aura, which shines brighter the happier they are, comes in a colour distinct to the pony, and can only be seen by Izzy Moonbow (as far as we know).
However, all later references have used the spelling luminescence, suggesting that maybe luminessence was just a typo on that first fact sheet. Maybe luminessence and luminescence are not so distinct after all.
It’s still not entirely clear what it is. The fact that only Izzy can see it does raise the possibility that it only exists in the mind of a hyper creative pony who craves friends, but that doesn’t sound like the best story. The one extra bit of information we have from Izzy about luminescence is that pegasi can steal it. Although the context suggests that this may be no more reliable than her report that earth ponies smell like rotten sardines.
But if pegasi can misappropriate another pony’s sparkle, how do they do it? It can’t be daylight robbery since daylight is of incandescent origin.
The first thing that comes to mind would be sucking out their magical colour like a certain centaur, but that is so last generation.
The tech-savvy G5 pegasi would surely have more sophisticated criminals. Perhaps they steal your identity through some phishing scan? Or maybe there’s an app for it?
These crazy thoughts were what led me to write my first G5 story: The Great Luminescence Theft.
Oh, those dastardly pegasuses!
By all rights Izzy Moonbow should be the least likely member of the new Mane 5 to be quoting Superman, yet here we are: