“During the last lesson I've given several examples of the environmental magic, which affects creatures in the certain area. This can be both, obvious or imperceptible. Unicorns, usually, are able to sense even the imperceptible magic emission thanks to their horn. Other examples of the magical environment will be: Everburning Forest, Ponehenge, field around Crystal City as the city itself, Yak's Groove near Mörön, Well of Shade in Hollow Shades.
“All these places are magical with their own characteristics. In the Crystal barren there is a magical storm circling around the city which can get you if the cold won't beforehoof. Crystal City is shielded with its own magic from the external cold, but we cannot study it due to the obvious reasons, considering Cadance's regime. From the rare sources we can conclude that unicorns are still able to use their magic there so it seems that it's not affecting ponies much. At least not to the extent that unicorn would be able to sense.”
“What are the timberwolves then? Are they created by environmental magic? They are not alive, aren't they?” student asked.
“I always get this question. Not so early though. Anyway, timberwolves are not creatures, to the full extent. They are better described as a special kind of tree, which uses magical energy in order to mimic the shape of a creature like wolf or bear. We still cannot determine if that tree has any intellect behind its actions or it's just so aggressive by its nature. But they are a wonderful example of the environmental magic. You know that not every forest is inhabited by timberwolves. Usually, they are aggressive only towards high creatures, such as ponies, griffons, deers, changelings and others, but they leave simple forest inhabitants unharmed. Magic scientists think that timberwolves and timberbears are a security mechanism for magical forests, which are able to create such trees somehow. It's kind of synergy that is left to be studied further.
“Timberwolves and bears are not the only ‘non-creatures’ which are able to convert internal energy into the magical. Magical crystals, which you have seen during geography lessons or just in various mechanisms. These crystals are a phenomenal container for magical energy. Properly set up they are able to power a magical device instead of a unicorn, which is priceless for the industry. Sadly, their use is very limited by the bare inability to extract the magical energy in an easy way. As a side note I can tell you that some scientists are very close to discovering the crystal mystery and maybe in future we will be able to use them for the better purposes than weapons, tools or rituals.”