World Building: Primal Magic · 2:12am May 10th, 2014
Many types of magic exist. This blog will focus on the most basic three, what I call the Primal magics. These magics are those that are inborn and ingrained in every pony from birth onwards. They are elemental magic, dealing with the most basic forces of the world (borrowed from Ancient Greece.)
I may or may not cover other types of magic in a later blog post. This is related to the stories in the Lost Past Quartet, so I will be focusing mainly on these. Harmonic magic (The Elements of Harmony) I will cover in a later post, but not as in depth. Probably.
Primal Magic
This is the first magic, the ur-magic from which all other natural magics flow. It is the magic of the individual. But, as a herd, even the magic of the individual is tied to the magics of others. It is in this way that other, more complex magics came to be.
Primal magic was born in a time millennia in the past, when ponies roamed a nearly endless plain, living nomadic lifestyles and only coming together as a primal herd for moments of great importance. For them, the individual herd was life, love, and family. The Primal Herd was survival.
Primal magic is tied to the elements of the plains and, through the plains, to the ponies that roamed them. This magic is still in every pony and ties them to the world and the world to them, even if the plains themselves have been long lost to catastrophe and the relentless march of time.
Earth pony magic - That of growing things and the earth.
Pegasi magic - That of the clouds, wind and rain.
Unicorn magic - That of shaping the world.
These are analogous to the three classic elements, Earth, Air, and Fire.
Roaming the plains, there were four major forces at play in the pony's lives.
Earth embodies the stubby prairie through which they ran, the wild grains and nourishing grasses which they ate, and the shrub trees from which they made their shelters, baskets and first garments.
Air embodies the wind which made the sea of grass move and made the world alive, and the clouds which brought life giving rain.
Fire embodies the great wildfires that reshaped the plain in great plumes of smoke and ash that swept past quickly and left behind a fertile ground from which new life could grow.
All three are also tied to the element of Water: that which makes life possible, that which the clouds are made of, and that which brings fire under control.
The name of primal magic is more than a reference to its origins. It also taps into the emotions of the pony wielding them. For earth ponies to use theirs most effectively, they must be calm and steady. Pegasi magic, wind magic, is more volatile and responds more readily to wilder emotions. Joy, Excitement, Lust, Hate, Fear. Unicorn magic responds much like earth pony magic. But, instead being steady and rooted in the world, they must be disconnected from it. The manipulation of the world requires that they detach from the feeling of how it is to reshape it how they wish. Not all are accomplished at this.
Below, I have crafted three examples of each type of magic at work. Present tense, close third person perspective. Enjoy!
Earth Pony: Applejack
The sound of her hooves sounds in perfect cadence to the beat of her heart, steady, slow, solid. The wind sighs through her mane, stirring against her ears and the sun warms her heart and hide, but it is not these that call to her, as good as they feel.
The farm is alive with life, both under her hooves in the form of earthworms, grubs and beetles of all kinds, and the roots and bodies of plants. But it’s not these that call to her either, as sweet and full of wonder as they are.
No, what calls to her is a seedling resting in a saddlebag at her side. She can feel it’s young life aching to begin. So full of earnest desire, it is; much like she was as a young filly. It will settle down and grow stronger, learning patience along the way. Just like she did.
She smiles. Patience is necessary to work the earth, and she is nothing if not patient when in her element.
She finds the place where she set out her needs the day before. A pile of dark, rich soil, full of the things her little passenger will need to start its life, some sand and a few small pebbles.
She closes her eyes for just a moment and sinks her hooves down into the soft, bare soil where she will dig. A place calls to her, just under her left hoof. Without preamble, she begins digging.
Three hooves deep, two across. Dark soil sprinkled at bottom, a few of the smooth pebbles, and just a little sand. Her passenger is getting restless. It can feel, through her, the place where it will spend the rest of its life, and a budding joy blossoms in her heart.
She can feel the other trees around her as she works. Their lives continue on steadily, their roots reaching deep, just as her own roots reach back. Just as her own passenger’s roots will begin to reach and stretch for the deeper water that runs deep under the farm: cold, clean and nourishing.
She thinks of the past as she works. Parents long gone, taken from her family by tragedy, and grief threatens to overcome her, vision blurring as a sprinkle of her own tears water the disturbed earth.
From the earth comes a steady reassurance. It has always been there. It will never leave her, and it will welcome her home when her time is done.
“Ain’t gonna be for many a year,” she answers it, smiling as she pats down the last clump of earth around her one-time travel companion and settles her hooves to either side. She closes her eyes again and lets the steady reassurance of the earth and the eager bud of life between her hooves mingle.
Pain comes, but it is eased by the life resting on the other side of the hole. Some of her will go into the life of that tree: some of her sorrow, some of her joy, and her patient endurance.
Calmed, the seedling stretches upwards and touches a newly budded leave to her chin.
Pegasus: Rainbow Dash
Atop her cloudy perch, she looks down at the land below, at the tiny dots of ponies at play, rushing about, full of passion and joy and the verve of life. The wind howls around her, tugging at her varicolored mane, teasing her, urging her to come play with it. But she can’t. Not yet.
She blinks and looks away. From atop her cirrus, she can survey the land below for miles about, but it’s not the land she’s looking for. There, just starting to form, is a plume of misty air that will become a thunderhead later today.
She snaps open her wings, but does not dive just yet. She hesitates a moment, letting the wind tug at her feathers, tease her uncovered sides. She can suddenly feel so much more. The air wants to move, and it's going to go...
She leaps and dives down, snapping her wings back in a powerful sweep, chasing the wind as it rushes past. The wind races ahead of her at first, joyous and ready to play.
Then she feels it.
The tug and flow of currents subsides and she is in the lead. She snaps her wings to her sides briefly, hooves leading, and plummets, leading the wind where it wants to go for a moment only. She can feel the current building around her, nudging at her wings, urging her to open them, wanting to fill them and carry her.
The wind is now ready to follow where she will lead.
She snaps her wings open again, long practice guiding her muscles without thought, and slices between the flow of warm air rising from the forest below and the cooler air just above. She catches the thermal at just the right angle, catapulting her higher on a billow of warm, moist air.
Another sweep of her wings, just before she leaves the thermal, and she's moving far faster than the wind could ever hope to. She revels in the sleek majesty of her youthful vigor, her muscles shifting smoothly across her ribs as she slides her wings through the colder air, finding the pockets of air that will least resist her and let her gain more speed.
It isn't long before she can feel it, the pressure against her hooves, her mind, and her body. Another snap of her wings and she brings them in close. The wind tears at her, testing her strength and resolve, but she refuses to give. Her wings stay steady locked to her sides and her hooves pressed against a wall that thunders past her ears and tears at her mane.
Faster, harder she pushes, and rainbow light gathers in specks and sparks along her mane and through her tail. Excitement builds in her chest, a thumping, thudding sensation that spreads throughout her body.
It's an effort, a supreme struggle against forces she's barely able to comprehend, to bring her wings up to catch one last stream of air rushing up past her and snap them back one last time, catching the current and casting herself forward again.
Even though she's done this a dozen times, it's still thrilling to feel the surge, and the final, breathtaking crackle of power as she parts that solid bulwark of wind, snapping it apart in one final burst to explode around her as she accelerates faster than any other pony in history. Behind her, expanding faster than she can think, is a ring of light and sound and power, roaring across the sky.
A laugh bubbles up in her chest, demanding that it be let free, but she pushes it back. She wants to revel in the moment. The tingle of power flowing through her, the wind bowing aside before its mistress, and the sun watching in awe.
She tears across bright sunshiny skies that howl admiration of her feat and through air that thunders applause. Tears of utterly unrepentant joy stream from her eyes, only to be caught and burst into rainbow light by a streamer of wind that stands aside at the last moment.
This is what flying is about.
This moment.
Unicorn/Alicorn: Twilight Sparkle
Everything is prepared. The looking glass glimmers on the table, its rim etched in symbols she is well familiar with. They are symbols of power: graceful, beautiful and potentially dangerous. She has spent her entire young life learning the ways and mysteries of magic, and now she is ready to perform a spell even a master had difficulty perfecting.
Her power calls to her constantly, singing sweet melodies of starlight and moonlight through her mind. It’s easier than breathing for her to grasp hold of that power.
A violet evening glow surrounds the looking glass, filling in the spaces left by her careful etching, infusing the gold, silver and copper inlays with the might and majesty of the universe.
The mysteries of the universe unfold before her mind, each one tempting and teasing her to look just a little closer, apply just the right touch at the right time. She has felt their call before, always tempting her to lay down and listen to their siren’s song. But she resists. Life’s siren song is stronger, by far, for the young alicorn.
The mysteries beyond the stars are not her purpose. Before her lays her purpose. A complex, highly specific spell which will sunder the foundations of time and space. The spell for a window in time, a way to look back and view the past without having to wander through its squalor and muck, nor brave its dangers.
But also to not embrace the mysteries and adventures that could be had. That temptation she pushes away too. She has faced far more tempting things in her life. Azure blue and a swift rainbow dance at the edges of her thoughts and a blush creeps up the insides of her ears.
Resolutely, she pushes aside the thought and her blush fades.
She begins the spell by focusing her will in the braid of metals resting at the base of her horn. The metals are familiar to her, but she’s not sure why. They respond when she touches them with her magic, as though welcoming her back.
Gold is first, the symbol of the sun. She feels the ring respond, unsealing secrets that she can barely guess at. But they too, must wait. The spell is paramount. The spell requires absolute focus.
Around her, the air shivers with anticipation. She waits.
The moment comes, precisely as described. A ringing tone, like that of a delicate silver bell fills the air. The second ring glows, silvery light and shadows fill her chamber, mingling with the golden hue, filling her with a sense of being in the sky, standing on a cloud.
She opens her wings, and sensations thrum down the nerves of her still new wings, threatening her concentration. Energy, pure and wild, pours through her. It is the wild, joyous feeling of the winds in the sky.
Dusky motes gather about her feathers, winking in and out as the air in her chambers stirs against them. A gale gathers in the confined space, plucking at her tail and mane, but respecting the power she is gathering. Before long, a small tornado of dust gathers about her.
Once more, the moment comes and the third ring, copper for the earth, glows the deep orange of iron rich clay. She’s no longer on a cloud. She can feel the tree: it's ancient soul and the life still vibrant within its limbs. Her hooves shimmer with the promise of life, green and verdant, brown and musky.
The tree groans in response.
Branches begin to sprout within her chambers, guided by the fierce gale and fed by the glow of the sun coming from her horn and start to cocoon her within a vibrant, pulsing web of light, life and wind.
For the last time, she waits.
The moment does not come as described. The mirror snaps. The highly polished silver surface has a hole punched straight through. The spell tried, but there was a vital force missing… Something-
A thunderous boom shakes the tree and washes of rainbow light shimmer across the broken surface, leaving behind faint afterimages of… the past?
The scroll in front of her also shimmers, revealing words that had been hidden before.
This was written sporadically over the course of about 2 weeks. The examples were a last few days inspiration and only of about 3rd revision quality.
Interesting. This is very well thought out.
2094130
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. I thought providing examples of the theories at work would be more entertaining than a boring lecture on how they work.
2094181
Right you were.
I can't believe I never made the connection between the three tribes and Earth, Wind, and Fire. Those ancient elements show up everywhere! TV, movies, video games, comic books, everywhere!
Another blog well done. You blow me away with these things, and you made a good point about Earth magic. I couldn't stop thinking about the Bats! episode while I was reading Applejack's section. Actually feeling and knowing the trees, not just thinking of them as a means to the end of being a farmer, really adds some weight to her position on the bats.
2094282
I actually hadn't thought of Bats! while I was writing it, but you're right. Also the tree she brought to Appleoosa. I did think of that one , though I forgot it's name.
I actually had the idea for the uricorns being Aether, but that didn't make a lot of sense. Sure, they move the sun and the moon, but that's as a group (in my headcanon) pooling power together to accomplish a very difficult task. As fire, they are a force of change and reshaping the world, not something cold and distant from it, but intimately involved in its survival and history.
Might not the lost Sea Ponies be Water, and the Flutter Ponies Spirit?
2094339
I'm not actually going by the sea ponies being in my headcanon. Or not yet, at least. As I state, this is from a perspective of the descendents of the plains ponies of pre-paleo-pony times. As for the flutter ponies... Do you mean breezies?
I actually have Alicorns pegged as Aether for the spirit side. I didn't include that bit, though. This was only focused on the original three primal magics as I'm envisioning them for the Lost Past Quartet.
2094354
Oh no, I mean the full-sized flutter ponies from G1.
The Alicorns could be aether, yes. Though I was thinking along the lines that the Alicorns partake of the nature of all the Kinds.
2094406
The... uh. Hmm. Nope. G1 barely even registers on the canonical meter for me, honestly.
I have that thought as well - but through binding all three types of magic together, aether is formed/made/bound/whathaveyou. The example of Twilight shows her binding all three magics together to perform a powerful enchantment.I have this thought that only Alicorns can enchant items with any kind of good intention. Other objects, like the Alicorn Amulet, either absorb evil or are created and imbued with dark magic from elsewhere. I may cover that in a later world building post, but as it doesn't really touch on the Lost Past, probably not any time soon.