Appendix
Ditzy Doo's journal transcribed for publication by Redline Proof; original submitted to the Canterlot University Library's rare and unique book collection.
Excerpt from Princess Twilight Sparkle's notes on the First Edition, annotated:
"Sigilistics" is the foundation of all magical theory, the symbolic underpinnings of magic manipulation and spellweaving. It's the magical equivalent of mathematics, with basic sigilistics being analogous to simple arithmetic; and advanced sigilistics to calculus.
Excerpt from Cloudsdale Oncology Clinic's publication "Pegasus Oncology Cross-Reference Guide, Eighth Edition":
Calamular Follicle Carcinoma, aka Calamus Rot, is a rare and hard to detect cancer that affects Pegasus ponies, Griffons, and certain large birds. It starts in the follicles of feathers, mainly flight feathers. Unlike other follicular cancers, it doesn't kill the feathers, but makes flying increasingly painful. In its early stages, the pain is typically assumed to be due to overexertion, irritation from over-preening or feather mites, or in more serious cases, recurring low-grade feather flu due to the paraneoplastic symptoms. In the rare cases where it is diagnosed early, treatment with a combination of medication and magic has proven reasonably effective, with a life expectancy of 10-20 years. Unlike most other cancers, CFC is not known to affect the immune system, so opportunistic infections are not a significant consideration. Tumour cells are highly invasive and metastasize quickly. By the time the pain is severe, and the symptoms obvious enough to be diagnosed as cancer-related, it is nearly always at stage 4, and average life expectancy is 3-6 months. At that point, only palliative care is possible, no effective treatments have yet been found.
Excerpt from Princess Twilight Sparkle's publication "Application and Consequence of magus Meadowbrook's intelligence enhancement spell suite; revised with post-mortem evaluation of subject Ditzy Doo." Presented to Canterlot University by Princess Twilight Sparkle and reviewed by the Chair of Experimental Magic:
The Fine Structures of the brain are a set of white-matter nerve channels that only exist in creatures that have magical potential; eg. Equus ferus sapiens terra, pegasus, and unicornis (the three Pony tribes) and Equus zebra sapiens (Zebras); or which are partially magical in composition, eg. Equus fata sapiens (Breezies). Fine structures support the cerebral cortex, channelling mana and enabling communication between the various components of the brain. All ponies possess these structures, although they are most pronounced in unicorns, where they are particularly concentrated in the alicornal bulb at the base of the horn, and enable common unicorn abilities such as telekinesis and spellcasting. In pegasi they enable flight, cloudwalking, and arcane physical abilities. In earth ponies they provide the ability to directly sense and manipulate the complex properties of plants and soil. Breakdown of the Fine Structures is typically caused by mana overload, neural degeneration, or traumatic brain injury. Symptoms of overload can vary, but most commonly manifest as similar to disorganized schizophrenia. Fine Structure channels start leaking mana, causing communication disruption and cross-communication between various regions of the brain. In minor cases, this manifests as disorientation, incoherent thought patterns, migraine, and/or sleep disturbances resulting in unusually vivid and unpleasant dreams, ephialtes nocturnus in the most severe manifestations. If the breakdown is degenerative, then further symptoms manifest, typically synaesthesia, hallucination, delusions, eventually culminating in frequent episodes of florid psychosis. In the most severe cases, this leads to neural burnout and death. Caught early, treatments are available that can reverse the breakdown and restore normal functioning. The later it is caught, or the more severe the case, the more difficult this is to do. By the time psychosis manifests, reversal is typically not possible, but the disorder can be managed, and symptoms minimized.
The case of Ditzy Doo is an atypical presentation, as Meadowbrook's intelligence enhancement spell's unstable primary component caused the Fine Structures to overload, while the other components served to create a network of protective pseudo-structures that re-channeled the leakage and prevented degeneration while they remained stable. The breakdown of the pseudo-structures in the degenerative phase resulted in the documented episodes of temporal lobe and generalized epilepsy. These pseudo-structures are also what created the subject's cognitive multi-focal ability and the extremely rapid increase in memory retention and information processing. Due to the inherent instability of the primary component, there is no way to predict how long this process will take in any particular individual, variance is estimated between a few months and three years, but the end result in every case is increasingly frequent neurogenic pain (migraine and/or neuralgia) followed by intermittent absence seizures and/or tonic-clonic seizures, and finally death from cortex failure. It is highly unlikely that Meadowbrook even realized this was happening, as the effect of the spell on the Fine Structures is indirect (and knowledge of pony neurology was still in its infancy), although he recognized enough of the instability of the primary component to establish several levels of exceedingly and unnecessarily complex protective buffers. Only three sapient subjects were ever documented: one pony and one donkey treated by Meadowbrook himself, and Ditzy Doo. The donkey, whose name was not recorded, was treated with an earlier version of the spell lacking some of the protective components, and only lasted roughly nine weeks. The other, an Earth pony named Dry Grass, survived two years and eight months, but little else is known about her. Animal tests by Meadowbrook and others resulted in survival rates between fourteen weeks and three years.
Dramatis Personae
Canon Characters:
Ditzy Doo (aka Derpy Hooves)
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Roseluck
Cherilee
Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy
Pinkie Pie
Rarity
Applejack
Princess Luna
Princess Celestia
Princess Cadance
Zecora
Sunset Shimmer
Original Characters:
Quick Line (a pegasus)
Misty Peak (another pegasus)
Flowing Script (a unicorn)
Index Card (an earth pony)
Compound Sigil (a unicorn)
Redline Proof (a unicorn)
Bountiful Pasture (an earth pony)
Muffins (a mouse)