The Codex Explained: Crazy little thing called Harmony

Alrighty then. After a long time in planning, I have finally got round to writing up The Equestria Codex which basically draws together the various thoughts I have about the magical nature of Equestria. This story started out as a self-imposed challenge to try and find a self-consistent backstory for all of the historical events known to have occurred in the MLP:FiM universe, and has sort of snowballed since. I only hope my rusty writing skills can do the story in my head justice.

I have big plans for this world I have constructed, and intend at least one sequel/midquel to EC once it is complete.

I figure I'll try to update this blog occasionally as well, in order to keep score of the important aspects of the universe as they appear in the story.

Harmony
The view I have taken of magic in this universe is that of a nebulous, fractal-like structure in which every concept has its own spirit. While being its own discrete magical entity, each of these spirits is a part of a greater whole which I have called Harmony. If two objects are combined together, then their union gives rise to yet another spirit, which includes but it greater than the spirits of the constituent parts.

This structure of Harmony gives rise to a simple explanation for the lessons about friendship and cooperation that the show is based around. The idea is that each spirit has a connection to all other spirits within Harmony. As two things work together, their connection is strengthened, but if they work against each other the connection becomes weaker. The damage this can do can be seen as what happens when a knitted jumper starts to wear through. As more links weaken and fray, a hole starts to open up running through the fabric. These "holes" in Harmony can in a sense be thought of as an anti-Harmony, or Chaos (this will of course make a full appearance down the line. It may even be voiced by John de Lancie.)

The Pony Race
As regards the pony race, it is of course inevitable that, as with all creatures in this universe, everypony will have their own spirit, which exists by virtue of their being alive. This spirit is exactly what it says on the tin: the pony's spirit or soul. The idea with the special talents is that , in addition to their innate spirits, each pony gains a connection to another spirit, in some way linked to the subject of their talent. With this effectively being an active attempt to ward off Chaos by encouraging cooperation between otherwise unconnected spirits, this mechanism produces a direct explanation for the significance and power of friendship in the MLP universe.

Those Meddling Alicorns
Having individual spirits for each tribe which give rise to their powers was (while in a way inevitable in the setting) a neat way of explaining the nature of Alicorns. This unity of the three spirits will play a very significant role in Chapter 2, so watch this space.

Regarding specifically the princess sisters, I have taken the view that they are literally the spirits of the sun and moon, who have taken residence in pony avatars to reside on the earth. Their connection to the world and all three races grants their avatars the form of alicorns.

Strange as it may sound, contemplating the nature of Twilight's transformation actually helped me iron out the kinks in another part of the universe which had been causing me some headaches: the existence of Cadance. I won't say too much as it will be explained in time, but I was finally able to reconcile her existence with the still special nature of Celestia and Luna. In addition to this, I therefore think that Twilight's transformation was actually not as a result of her fulfilling her destiny. It was instead a result of a major magical upheaval centering around her, said event being what her destiny was. At least one other pony in history has had a destiny involving a new set of wings, but for very different reasons.

More Codex is on its way, and the next chapter should be a biggie, so keep a weather-eye on the horizon.