//------------------------------//
// Bonus Chapter 2: Magic through a Tomato 
// Story: Hope, Imagination, Magic, and Love 
// by MuffinPonyPoser 
//------------------------------//

Once again, a screen floats down and looks upon the world of Equus. This time, however, it seems to be looking down on Ponyville from a nearby hill. Twilight is standing on the hill, horn alight with magic, as she writes the names of the eight elements on the board in a circle. Fire is on the top, Earth the left, Water the bottom, and Air the right. Between Fire and Air is Chaos, Water and Earth Order. Between Earth and Fire is Death, opposite of it is Life. In the middle, with lines stretching out to each of the elements, lies one word: Teleportation.

“After last time, you might be wondering the minute differences between the types of magic, so I thought I would demonstrate the differences through something each type of magic has in common. That is, teleportation.

What do we know about magic thus far? All kinds of magic are made of Thaums, yes, but how are they influenced to make spells, and how do they influence the kinds of spells that can be made?

Well, as Teleportation is a universal spell, I can show you different types of teleportation.

First is displacement teleportation, which is a type of Air magic. It works by focusing on a place and switching where they are in the fabric of the universe. This is not the only type of teleportation capable of this, but it is, by far, the most efficient. By switching where the universe perceives me, my only limit is how precisely I can cast, and knowing the distance which I have to teleport.

It is for this reason that I was not able to teleport out of the cave, As I didn’t know how far I was from the service, I didn’t know how far I needed to teleport. Too much and I could have fallen out of the sky in exhaustion. Too low and I could have gotten fused with the earth around me.”

Twilight draws an image of a pony in a circle with a double sided arrow leading to another circle to the right of the word ‘Air’.

“Earth magic, on the other hoof, allows you to phase through most solid objects as long as you have enough magic to phase through them. It’s the equivalent of making yourself invisible to the universe. It, of course, has its limits. If you don’t have enough magic to make it to somewhere open, you could fuse with the earth. It is also horribly inefficient in comparison to Air teleportation.

Ponies do use this type of magic, though usually only with large objects that have massive amounts of thaumatic energy stored inside. Our train systems, for example, use this instead of tunnels, to phase the train and passengers through mountains that would make travel to Appleoosa or the Crystal Empire impossible.

The Canterlot railway was built before said storage could be made, however. It was generally agreed that the system they had, while inefficient, gave sightseers and tourists something to look at, so the tunnels remain.”

To the left of earth, Twilight draws a black box with a pony silhouette on both sides, an arrow connecting them.

“Fire teleportation is something you all have seen before. It’s how Spike delivers his letters! The way it works is that there is a system of mail that revolves around the burning of letters and mail, transporting it through the two fires. Spike is a little special, as he’s able to send letters without the need of a middlemare, but only to Celestia’s room. He and her room’s fire are connected by magic, and has been since he asked us to cast the spell on him.

Ponies have been capable of using fire to teleport themselves without the need of a middlemare since Starswirl came up with the equations to do so some nine hundred years ago. The way the spell works is it connects the realm of Equestria to a thaumatic equivalent to a ‘fire realm’, and one can see a certain amount of flames from this realm. The amount they can see depends on the distance they can see, which is determined by how much magic they initially put into the spell. 

This is the fastest way of teleportation, though it is less efficient than simply swapping locations, as the user momentarily slows time until they choose their location. It is possible that they get stuck if they wait too long, but it is so unheard of that a pony with the knowledge and skill to teleport would be dumb enough to stay too long. There are just too many warnings, like the degradation of fires able to be viewed.”

Above Fire, Twilight draws two flames, an arrow between the flames, and a pony walking through the flames.

“Water is similar to fire in the sense that it speeds up time, but it technically isn’t teleportation. The user of Water-style teleportation fuses with the water and speeds up to points even Rainbow Dash couldn’t comprehend, then emerges in a new location. Most casters gain an intimate knowledge of everything in the water at a certain range. This is the least efficient teleportation technique by far, but the one that old navies used to use to get the drop on enemy ships.”

Professor Sparkle then draws a pony liquifying in one location, then solidifying in another below ‘Water’

“Life and Death are intimately close in their teleportation methods. Life allows one to teleport through the roots of any plant or fungus. It allows one to travel miles along fungal roots, but is almost as inefficient as Water teleportation in casting power required. Life also allows ponies to teleport using light if they are powerful enough. Anywhere there is light, they can both duck into and emerge to teleport, similar to Fire teleportation. Death allows one to teleport through Shadows, similar to Life teleportation, or through paths that spirits make. The former is only exceeded in efficiency by Air teleportation, and the latter restricts the user to spirits’ whims.”

Next to Death, she draws a moon casting a shadow on a pony silhouette and shaky lines traveling every which way.

Below Life, she draws the sun casting light on a pony silhouette, as well as a pony walking through one tree and emerging from another.

“Teleportation through Order and Chaos are both tricky, as one requires absolute precision, while the other hasn’t been done successfully since Luna’s banishment. Luna has supplied me with the knowledge that it requires one to be free of emotion, as one stray thought can send a pony off course. Luna has told me that it feels like being everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Order, while requiring a precision even I can’t reach yet, is powerful enough to move planets and stars with ease. It requires the use of runes and magic circles that are so condensed that they risk tearing themselves apart if even one thaum is out of place. This is how the Unicorns might have moved the sun before Celestia, but that is only speculation. This is also capable of causing permanent wormholes that stay relative to gravitational objects, but testing for that is inconclusive.”

Next to chaos, she draws a pony that seems to be fading away, and by order she draws three runes.

“The runes I drew represent ‘Order’, ‘Balance’, and ‘Chaos’, in that order. They are the building blocks of Order’s teleportation spell.” Twilight adds.

“Well, today’s lecture is over. Hopefully the author decides to write more on the actual chapter, and not introduce everything in our world via me. I mean, my throat is starting to feel a little sore just from this lecture!”