Magic 101

by PiercingSight

First Day of Class - An Introduction

Sunlight filtered through the classroom windows, highlighting the chalk dust floating through the air as it danced in circles around each breath. A murmur of young voices filled the room, chatter like a fog settling in one's eyes as much as their ears. Fillies and colts laughing, gossiping, bragging, planning for the weekend.

Some were quiet, though. Not that they had no one to talk to, but that they were lost in their own thoughts, floating boats above the sea of noises, searching for shores on which to land and explore.

Short taps cut through the room, clearing the fog, emptying the ocean, and channeling the focus of everyone to the chalk board, next to which the teacher stood with a piece of chalk.

"Alright class. My name is Mrs. Founder, and welcome to Magic 101," she spoke in a pleasant tone.

A short murmuring responded before she cut through it again.

"Today, I would just like to-"

"Is your first name Lilly?" A student interrupted with curiosity.

Mrs. Founder chuckled lightly, nodding in the direction of the overeager filly. "It is. You know about me?"

The filly squirmed a bit in her seat under the newly imagined pressure to know a lot about the teacher. "I think you won the Starswirl Award last year, right?"

Mrs. Founder blushed a little. "Indeed, but I wouldn't say I deserved it. I pursue science for the sake of science, not for an award. I simply discovered something. I didn't invent anything."

"What did you do?" Another student spoke up.

Mrs. Founder tilted her head side to side as she pondered how to simplify the complicated subject of atomic magnetic moments for her students. "I found a way to control magnetism in metals using magic. It's useful for making certain kinds of machines like computers."

"OOOooohhh..." the class chimed together.

The teacher smiled at the interest of her students. And now that she had their attention... "Alright, let's get going on the subject of today. Since it's only the first day of class, I won't be giving out any homework today. I'll just be giving a nice little introduction to magic."

Moving over to the desk at the front of the room, she set the piece of chalk down on the front edge for all to see. "Now, some of the things we're going to go over in this class you may already know through practice, or perhaps your parents taught you, but for the most part, this is all going to be new.

"I believe that each of you has more magic than you think you do, and I'm going to prove it right now."

Looking out over the class, she sought a random victim to first embarrass then embolden. Finding a shy looking filly with red hair, she sprung. "Ruby, I want you to stand at the back of the class room and try to lift this chalk."

Ruby looked around as if pleading for her fellow students to defend her against the sudden spotlight, but all she met were expectant faces. Standing up, she headed to the back of the room and focused on the chalk.

"Are you sure? The chalk is so far away."

"Yes it is. The farther away something is, the harder it is to lift, but I'm certain you can lift it."

"I'll try," she said meekly. She lowered her head and lit her horn. A thin aura surrounded the piece of chalk at the front of the classroom.

Ruby strained her neck as the chalk began to wiggle around. Grunting, she lifted her head a little higher, trying to find a more comfortable lifting position. The chalk however, simply skid across the desk and fell onto the floor.

Ruby stopped, panting. "I-... I can't."

"That's okay. You tried, but I want you to try again, but this time I want you to do something different." Mrs. Founder lifted the chalk back onto the front of the desk. "This time, instead of pushing with your horn, push with your hooves. Try to feel the connection between your hooves and your horn, and then reach out to the chalk with it. When you get the chalk, push down on the connection with your hooves.

"Now try again."

Ruby tilted her head at the teacher but assumed the position. Closing her eyes, she began feeling around in herself and her horn began again to glow. She opened her eyes and focused on the chalk, wrapping it in magic. She crouched low then pushed down hard with her hooves, causing her to do a small hop.

The chalk shot straight up, ripping a hole in one of the foam ceiling tiles.

Many students gasped while others used words to express their surprise, but Ruby stood in awe with a huge smile on her face.

"See Ruby?" Mrs. Founder bubbled with a bright smile. "You're a lot more magical then you thought!"

"I did it! I did it!" Ruby cheered, looking around at the rest of the class.

"Yes you did. You may sit down now."

The mist of voices had returned, but this time it was bright and excited. A few items on students desks began floating short distances amazing the fillies and colts that lifted them. Mrs. Founder basked for a short time in the sense of discovery as she walked to the chalk board ready to put up some notes.

"Now, does anypony know how that happened?"

After the chatter died down a little, one of the students in the front spoke up. "The chalk was, like... uh... it pressed down on her hooves instead of on her horn, and because her hooves are stronger than her horn, the chalk went faster."

Mrs. Founder nodded. "That's right, Silk. Do you remember from physics that every action has an equal and opposite reaction?"

The class nodded and mumbled positively.

"That's right. So when you lift something with magic, it's going to push down as well. All magic does is change what it presses down on. A lot of you are used to trying to lift things with your horn because that's where magic comes from right?" A few more scattered nods showed that the class was hanging on her every word. "However, your horn doesn't have to do all the work. It's just there to connect things. We call these connections 'leylines'."

She began writing on the board 'Laws of Magic'.

"Now there are a few laws of magic that are good to know about," she said as she marked a number '1:' on the board.

"This first law is similar to the law that Neighton gave us in physics class. 'Every magical action requires the same energy or force as its non-magical form'." On the board, she wrote 'E|F = E|F' next to the '1:'. "When you're lifting with your horn, your horn has to take all the weight and force of lifting, which can be really bad for your neck. Your hooves are much better at holding weight. They hold all of you up all the time and sometimes more. By transferring the weight to your hooves, you're taking the weight off your horn and making it easier for you to lift things. Make sense?"

More nods.

"Perfect. That brings us to the next law of magic: 'The greater the distance from the pivot point, the more work will be required on the opposite side'." A neat '2: (Fd)1 = (Fd)2' appeared on the board. "This is exactly the same as levers. If you remember levers from physics class, the farther away something is on one side, the harder it is to lift from the other side unless you add more force, or put the pushing force farther away.

"When using magic, your horn is acting as the pivot point. So when you lift with your horn, your lifting really close to the pivot point and will have to use more strength. But when you lift with your hooves, you're lifting far away from the pivot point which makes it easier." As she spoke, she held up a meter stick, tilting it side to side while floating pieces of chalk on either end, increasing and decreasing the distances to show the difference. "See?"

While the nods quietly rolled, a student in the back lifted their hoof. "But what about other magic, like freezing spells and stuff?"

With a smile, Mrs. Founder responded. "Do you know how to do a freezing spell?"

"Well, no..."

"It's actually really easy when you know what temperature is. You see, when you were learning physics, you were learning magic as well. Can anypony tell me what temperature is?"

Ruby lifted her hoof, much ore confident than she was at the beginning of class. "It's the energy that's in the particles."

"That's right, Ruby. Temperature is just how much the particles are moving around. If the particles are moving really fast, then it's hot. If they're moving slow, then it's cold. A freezing or heating spell is just connecting leylines to the individual particles, or at least small groups of them, and either slowing them down, or moving them around really fast." A small flurry ball appeared next to her, then suddenly burst into flames before fizzing away.

"But because of these laws here," she pointed toward the board, "when you freeze something, you have to heat something else up, and when you heat something, you have to freeze something else. See?" She lifted one of her now frost covered hooves. "I used my hooves because they're very resistant to temperature."

The class began to mumble around excitedly. At this point, she could tell that she was losing attention to the imaginations of her students. She needed to call them back before their imaginations led them too far.

"Now class. These kinds of spells can be really dangerous and really difficult. They take a great deal of concentration and understanding, so don't go around trying to freeze things or catch things on fire because you might hurt yourself.

"Aww..." some of the students sighed.

"But not to worry, we will learn how to do these things. It will just take a lot of practice and a lot of attention from each of you.

"There's a third law of magic that I made up, but it's a law nonetheless. 'In order to perform a magical feat, you must understand the science behind it'."

A final line scrolled across the board under the other two laws: 'Knowledge = Power'

"So, the more physics, math, and science you learn, the more magic you can do!" She said with a smile.

Looking over the class, she could tell that the magic of the moment had dissipated for the most part. While some of the students looked excited to learn, others looked preemptively tired, as if they've become exhausted by the simple realization that there would be a lot of work in their future.

Overall, Mrs. Founder thought that the lesson went wonderfully.

Suddenly the bell rang, jolting the students out of their chairs, into their backpacks, and out the door.

"I'll see all of you tomorrow! Have a good day! Stay safe!" Mrs. Founder called out with a smile as the herd stampeded away.

Mrs. Founder felt a small poke on her foreleg and looked down to see Ruby standing in front of her with a smile.

"Thanks for helping me with magic, today," she said with a pleasant smile.

Mrs. Founder's heart fluttered a little bit. Ruby was just too cute, and she would clearly prove to be a very good student. Leaning down, she returned the smile. "You're very welcome, Ruby. If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask me okay?"

"Yes ma'am!" Ruby nodded confidently.

"Alright, it's time to head home now. You have a good day now! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow!" Ruby called back as she made her way out the door.

Mrs. Founder sighed, taking her little thought boat and casting it off amidst the ocean fog of sounds and chatter spilling in from the hallway. Looking up at the hole in the ceiling, she smiled.

"Well," she said, "this is going to be an interesting adventure for sure."

The chalk dust floating through the air glowed a light orange as the sun set beyond the mountains in the distance. Mrs. Founder wondered how many of the floating specks were ceiling foam.

Comments

[Mocha Star]

I clicked this story just 'cuz. I am NOT disappointed.

Granted, the class feels like it's a few minutes long (which may make sense given the world of MLP) but other than that; including real science with thaumatic principles!? Totally awesome idea.

Yeah, this' getting a rare thumbs up. Thanks for the read.

[PiercingSight]

7034857
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

[Araw]

Magic not devoid of science. Neat!

[Xanderfox]

7034992
Explains Twilight's extreme power doesn't it? She's a genius which means she understands the sciences really well. Understanding physics, math, and science makes spells easier and she naturally has a ton of magic to start with, so she's insanely strong.

[Araw]

7035296

Now I'm wondering if it can work the other way. If a rigid understanding of science, maybe something that screams impossible, can mess with their perception of magic and therefore their ability with it.

[PiercingSight]

7035345
Well, there are a lot of things in science that scientists don't understand but they still use. Just because you don't understand how something works doesn't mean you can't use it. For example a computer. Most people have no idea how most of the technology inside a computer works. For all most people know, it's a miracle of magic. But people still use them.

[Xanderfox]

7035345
Wasn't that what happened when Twilight studied the Pinkie sense in a way? despite her knowledge she couldn't understand magic that defied physics.

[PiercingSight]

7036326
True. "Defy physics" really only applies to physics we understand. There is a lot about ourselves and other creatures that we don't understand at all, and seem to conflict with what we understand. A lot of quantum phenomena do the same, and yet despite the fact that we don't understand it, we still use it.

So, if we understood everything, things we think are impossible now would look easily possible then.

[Scigatt]

A final line scrolled across the board under the other two laws: 'Knowledge = Power'

In our world, this is true in a more literal sense.

[GamermanZendrelax]

As a physics major, I appreciate this tremendously. Aside from just being cute, this made me very happy. Thank you.

[FanOfMostEverything]

This is nice, but magic has demonstrated some physical impossibilities, or at the very least, improbabilities. Even the telekinetic leverage idea falls apart when one considers autolevitation. No amount of leverage can lift you by your own bootstraps, but that doesn't stop Pumpkin Cake or Starlight Glimmer. And that's before getting into something like matter creation, as with the mustache spell. Logically, that would generate an equivalent mass of antimatter which, thankfully, it doesn't seem to. And don't even get me started on the time travel...

Don't get me wrong, this is a fascinating concept. I just don't think it holds up well.

[Araw]

7036200

No, no. I don't mean that they don't understand something and therefore thinking it's impossible.

What I'm wondering about is when they've studied something extensively, did the research and everything comes up with "that should not be possible" but it still works.

This would probably apply to someone from a world with no magic and arriving in equestria. Like, they might understand that there is magic here and that is another variable that they never considered before but they've still got that mind set of 'impossible'. Would that hinder them learning magic? (assuming they got a pony body to go with displacement)

[PiercingSight]

7042163
Well, let me address each case. As this is a Magic 101 class in the story, there are a lot of my magical head-canon rules and tools I didn't touch on.

I'll go over each one.:
>The mustache creation
It was really a reorganization of molecules. Ever wonder why it was so hard for Twilight to perform it despite being immensely good with magic? It's because it took all of her focus to make the microscopic connections that would form the mustache. As spells get more complicated, there are some fractal based instructions that can be sent to the leylines that allow the spell to work on its own without the caster having to think about every single molecule individually.

>Autolevitation
This one is easier than it looks. Remember that the leylines can connect things, and they don't necessarily have to be part of you. In this case however, it does, but it works in reverse. The pushing force instead of pushing up on the outside object and down on the body, it's pushing down on the outside object and up and the body. The easiest version of this is to push down on the air immediately surrounding you, allowing you to more easily control height without having to extend the connection as you move around (hence the glow surrounding only the pony levitating). It's still somewhat difficult, but once one understands the concept and knows how to perform it, it isn't as much.

>Time travel
That requires an interesting understanding, and in Starswirl's case, a great deal of experimentation and luck. A few things are involved in that: A basic understanding of general relativity (fabric of spacetime, speed of causality and all that), the skill of connecting both ends of the leylines outside of oneself, and the use of fractal based instructions being sent through the leylines. Starswirl managed to connect both ends of his leylines to spacetime itself, and then sent some very complicated instructions through his leylines involving multidimensional mathematics. Through years of experimentation, he came to a more instinctual understanding of what worked and what didn't, and because such experimentation was possible, he was able to gain an understanding of spacetime that we currently are unable to have. He even managed to learn how to control the causality of his spells, which meant he could cast a spell for immutable time travel, or in the case of Starlight changing his spell according to other notes of his that she found, cast a spell for mutable time travel (see more about these concepts in my time travel lecture).

In this fic I only explained the really basic concepts that I had in mind. But these concepts are concepts that I've also had planned for some time now, but I probably won't be writing any fics about them unless they come out as sequels or whatever, very likely about Starswirl and his experiments. I even have ideas for how shorthand spell notation would work, dictating everything from leyline arrangement and required energy/force, to the mathematical/fractal instructions to be sent through the leylines.

I've thought this through quite a bit. A lot is based in the part of science that we don't have a full understanding yet, so there is still speculation, but from what we do understand, these things are possible in a world where such magical rules exists.

[FanOfMostEverything]

7042780
Interesting. I hope you do expand this; a 400 level course sounds like it would be quite enlightening.

[PiercingSight]

7042521
>Would that hinder them learning magic?
Well in short, it absolutely would, not because the laws of physics obey their understanding, but because they limit themselves by holding onto incorrect understanding.

The simplest example I can think of is someone who says "I can't draw". Of course they can if they practice and put their mind to it, but the fact that they believe that they can't draw, the fact that they believe it requires some sort of innate talent, severely constricts not just their motivation to learn how to draw, but their confidence in drawing something. It's a self fulfilling prophecy.

The same would apply to magic. If someone believes they can't do magic, that they are unable to control their leylines, then of course they won't be able to. However if they're willing to try, to experiment, to learn, then they can.

>What I'm wondering about is when they've studied something extensively, did the research and everything comes up with "that should not be possible" but it still works.
Well, in that case, their understanding must be flawed. If it works, then there is something that is allowing it to work within the realm of possibility.

Is that more the question you were asking?

[Masterweaver]

This.

Must.

Continue.

[PiercingSight]

7048647
Heh, I'll definitely be integrating it into some of my fics in the future. So who knows. I really want to do one about how Starswirl came to be the most well renowned unicorn of current Equestrian history. Sort of like, his life adventure studying magic, the struggles he went through to prove his theories, the backlash he received from superstitious groups claiming witchcraft, etc.

I think it'd be fun.

[Kryssi]

Combining science and magic in a cheerful setting. I love it!