//------------------------------// // Author's Notes: Fucking magic, How does it even work? // Story: Divine Entertainment // by Orthoros //------------------------------// In the beginning, there was a planet. A beautiful sphere glistening in the void with a wide variety of biomes and fauna. From dry deserts to cold tundras everything could be found within this singular biosphere. In these various environments, a great many plants, trees and flowers thrived. Yet, there was one thing missing on this wondrous planet. Somebody to appreciate it. When six beings of great power happened upon the planet in their travels, they were stunned by its beauty. For a long time, they traveled and marveled at the sights provided by nature. At some point they decided that it was a pity that they were the only ones able to enjoy their findings, so they decided to bless the planet with life. Each of them created a creature to inhabit this wondrous planet and live in harmony with the nature found upon it. From that day on, Griffons, Minotaurs, Yaks, Diamond Dogs, Dragons and Breezies walked the face of the planet. Which was, soon after, dubbed Equus. The beings loved their creations so much, that they bestowed part of their powers on them. Those gifts manifested with each race in different ways, such as allowing the dragons to live an extraordinarily long life, or diamond dogs to rule the subterranean earth they walked upon. Over the centuries that those six heavenly beings inhabited Equus, their very presence caused a change. The energy they radiated was partly absorbed by the planet itself, causing it to transform. It started to produce faint amounts of that energy to help sustain the life living on it, which had become reliant on it to survive. These trace amounts of energy are what would eventually become known as mana. They lived together in harmony for a long time, until the six beings felt that it was time to move on. As a last gift to the planet and it’s inhabitants which they had grown to love, they created one more race; a race with the purpose of making sure that harmony would continue to exist long after they were gone. Pooling together all their different powers, they created the ponies. Upon the Pegasi, they bestowed the gift of control, allowing them to create and control everything nature would need to persist. Upon the Earth Ponies, they bestowed the gift of life. They would be able to help plants as well as other living beings to lead a healthy life. Upon the unicorns, they bestowed the gift of creation. With their horns and unique mana pathways, they'd be able to access the energy of the planet, forming them into whatever spell they needed. Before they left, they tasked the ponies with keeping harmony, imparting their gifts to tend to the planet and its inhabitants in their absence. With a great celebration, they parted with their creations, wishing them the best of luck and leaving them to their own devices. Millennia passed and the six heavenly beings passed into legend until their existence was nothing more than a tale one told to their children. The memory of their creators faded, and the creatures living on Equus became independent. And slowly but surely, harmony started to crumble, as the task bestowed upon the ponies was forgotten. ------------------------------------- In today's times, everything on Equus is saturated with magic. The planet continued to produce mana until it became an essential part of the life on it. Six distinct types of mana exist, their properties allowing them to influence a different part of life. Eventually, the creatures inhabiting Equus attuned themselves to the energies flowing around them, until their very essence was connected to a certain type of mana. Unicorns call this connection "Affinity". Every unicorn would be able to instinctively control the mana they were connected to a lot more effectively than the other five types. Soon realizing that different types of mana had different purposes, they created the six schools of magic. Blue mana, the school of Illusion Unicorns practicing Illusion spells gained access to a wide variety of spells. Low-level spells could let them display pictures from their mind. They could change the color of light and other minor changes in how others saw something. High-level spells could even change how others perceived reality itself, tricking them into seeing what wasn't there. Pink Mana, the school of Manipulation One of the low-level spells of this school became immensely popular, through its wide range of use; Telekinesis, or Levitation as some called it, a spell which allowed the user to manipulate objects in close proximity. Few unicorns achieved the higher levels of this school, which allowed them to terraform their surroundings, creating mountains and ravines as they pleased. Red mana, the school of Combat By far the most versatile school of magic became the school of combat. Quickly it was discovered, that instead of just using raw mana to attack, introducing one of the four elements of nature to a spell could bring forth more effective or destructive spells. The four elements of nature, Earth, Water, Fire and Wind could be combined to create a wide variety of spells. Orange mana, the school of Energy Since everything on Equus was saturated with mana, the energy mages could influence almost everything. Low level spells allowed them to check objects and living beings for anything out of the ordinary. Scanning spells revealed the true nature of the world around them. High-level mages were able to manipulate and influence the mana surrounding them. Green mana, The school of Life Life mages are the most respected amongst the different practitioners. Their spells allowed them to mend the wounds of the injured. While a low-level mage would only be able to regenerate a simple cut, a high-level mage could slowly bring back critically injured ponies from the brink of death. Purple mana, the school of Magic Purple mana, a mystery to this very day and age. It remains largely unmapped since a low amount of unicorns are born with this specific affinity, meaning research hasn’t advanced nearly as far as the other schools. Mages which were blessed with this affinity were able to control the other five types of mana almost effortlessly. While a unicorn with a green affinity would have trouble controlling blue or red mana, a unicorn with purple mana could control all types equally. Blessed with higher mana reserves than the usual unicorn as well as control over all types of mana, this meant they made for excellent mages. The true nature of purple mana has not yet been discovered. Not yet. Combination/Fusion Magic This type of magic can be used by two or more unicorns, or one unicorn blessed with a twin affinity. A complicated, difficult to learn process is used, where the casting point of the spell is changed from the horn, to an outside point. Most commonly used is treated thaumium (a metal highly receptive to mana). Two or more spells are channeled into the new focus point, where they mix and create a new spell, usually not castable to a single unicorn. Unicorns with a twin affinity may use their horn as the focus point, as usual. (Thanks for handily demonstrating this, Starlight Glimmer). Megaspells Similar to combination magic, but on a much larger scale. Instead of mixing and matching different spells, multiple unicorns can be used to power a single spell. Usually reserved for highly potent spells that require an absurd amount of mana to be cast, unicorns can learn how to share their mana with others. When unicorns start their studies on high level spells in their own respective fields, it often requires a group effort to pull off the desired spell. Note: there are documented exceptions to mega-spells being performed by single exceedingly talented individuals. True Megaspells True Megaspells have not yet been invented as of chapter 37. Chaos Mana T̎̓̎̒͗̅ͦͬ̒҉͇̘̳͙͇̬̭h͍̦̳̝͙̮̫̘ͫ̆̀̚̕͝ͅe̝̺̜̠͙͇̺̓ͦͣͣͫ̽̈ͅr̶̦̻̱͈̔ͭ̒̑̆̌e̮̮͕̠̓͋̇ͦ́ ͒̽ͮͣ̂̓̉̓͢҉̜͚c̤̪̖̻͓̦̔͐́ͤͬ͗̄ͅa̸̡̩͙͎͙͂ͨͣ̾̀n̶̩̣̗̫̤͂ͫ ̧̲͇̟̞̳̜̟̅̑̔̈́̎ͩb̶͉̖͚͓̦̜͔͖̽̽̔̿̍ͤẽ͎̗̀͜ ͚͓̯͕̰͔ͮͯ̎̊n̸̠̤̹ͨͨ̌̍̊ͩoͥ͌̃̑̎̈́̑̈͏̭̹̺̹̞̫̼̀ͅ ̛̞̳̳̗̑͐̄͐̋̓H̸̡̟͔ͪͪ̃͗̎̾͘ḁ̴̡̞̻̳̟̘̰̩ͩ̔̽ͮr͎̾́ͪ̓̾ͦ͋̈ͅm̧͕͈͉͙̬̭̙̜̫ͦ̃̀ͣ̓̈͠o͖̲̻̫͈͒͆͘n̬̥̺͚̘͓̓ͧ̀ͭ̌̓̕y̠̹͍̬̠̣̮̤ͨ͒̀͛ͩ͋̓̀͢ ̡̭̟̣͕̠̿̂ͥŵ̷̬̖͍̫͈̘̹̪́̋͢͠ͅi̸̺̹̻͎̺̙̫̹̓̎̒̇͘t̵̷̠̙̳̳͉̄̓͆̀͛̋́ͥ́h͚̫̣ͯ̾͐̓̓͐ͣ̆ͣo̡̮̩̼̜̜͆̓̕ư̶̡̦̮̩̮͇̟ͦͬ̃̃̓ţ̧͍̻͇̯͖̣͍ͪ̾͒͛ͨͪ͗̐͐͡ ̺̻͇̩̥̽̊̀͆͛͠C̢̢͖̞̆̾̒h̰ͣͤ͘a̠̪̘̪̳̞̽ͩ́͛ͬ̒̏o̔͐ͨͮͦͮ͏̦͈̞̪̫̻̥̱̀s̶̯̺͔̜̳̼̑̉̽!̨̫̙̏̎̅͛͆ͫ̀