//------------------------------// // (B'Tween) Illusion // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// *YAWN* "Midnight, pay attention," Twilight rapt her blackboard with her ruler, the noise irritating her student as he got it out of his system. "Twilight, why couldn't we save this lesson for our next scheduled session...?" Midnight sighed as he slumped onto his desk. "After the magic you displayed with the dragons Snips & Snails accidentally lured to Ponyville?" Twilight scoffed, "It means, your studies are going to accelerate." Midnight groaned, which Twilight ignored as she wrote and said, "'Magic 101: Illusion'!" "I hope by "illusion" you're not talking about Trixie's stageshow stuff..." Midnight rubbed his temple. "No, I'm talking about a real art of magic dedicated to Illusions," Twilight clarified. "A practice and art of magic that is purported to fool any or all of the five senses into perceiving something that isn't real!" "OK, you got my attention," Midnight sighed again but now looked a little more... alive, as he stood up straighter and paid attention. "The Art of Illusion," Twilight got into it, "spells that, as I said, fool any one or more of the five senses, convincing them they are perceiving something that isn't there. Be it a scent, sight, sound, taste or touch. As you can imagine, Illusions' primary purpose is to deceive someone. One schooled in this art could make a fly appear to be a dragon or a marsh a flowerbed." "Making something appear as something else?" Midnight gathered curiously. "Those sorts of illusions are called..." Twilight drawled as she wrote the word on the board, "Glamour!" "So... provided I know how, I could use a glamour to make myself appear as someone else?" Midnight asked. "Correct!" Twilight nodded, "But there are limits; think of a Glamour as... a blanket that's covering you. If you tried glamouring yourself as someone smaller or bigger than you, like say... Spike? It wouldn't really work because the Glamour can't conceal you enough to hide your larger mass compared to Spike's. "Also, it's not a transformation. You're still you but the Glamour is making you appear as someone else. If you made yourself look like Thunderlane, you could control your illusory wings but you couldn't use them to fly." "Could Glamour be applied to an environment?" Midnight asked as he scribbled down his notes. "You said you could use an illusion to make a marsh look like a flowerbed. So I'm guessing you could also, say... make wall invisible?" "Or make a woodpile look like it's on fire," Twilight nodded. "Glamour is a moderate level of Illusion magic but the simplest illusions are called Figments. The most basic of illusions, nothing more than images or sounds of something that isn't there. Like... Hearing a distant sound, a moaning, whistling, and you think it's just the wind. Or even seeing a fleeting image out the corner of your eye, a shadow or-or a light! You think it's just your eyes playing tricks on you." "Those sound like cantrip-level illusions," Midnight commented. "They are!" Twilight smiled in a praising way. "So simple even Delta unicorns can cast them. But no Delta could ever hope to cast a Mirage!" "A Mirage?" Midnight leaned forward in interest. "Illusions so powerful they can actually affect reality," Twilight explained. "A Glamour of Fire can look like a fire, even sound like a fire. But it can't feel like a fire..." "...whereas a Mirage of Fire," Midnight gathered, "can actually feel hot enough to burn!" "Exactly! A Mirage is an Illusion that can be seen, heard, and felt!" Twilight went on, "However, they have a glaring weakness. A Mirage is only so powerful as how much one thinks they're real. For example, if I cast a mirage of fire and you thought it was real, it could burn you. But if you doubted the fire's existence it could potentially feel less and less hot until you had no doubts and it was nothing more than a three-dimensional image of light behaving like fire. "But a more impressive example is a Mirage of a bridge over a deep chasm. If you had no suspicions and absolutely believed the bridge was real, you could cross it no problem. But if you doubted, the bridge would weaken and destabilize reflecting your degree of doubt." "You can make a bridge appear out of thin air to cross a chasm..." Midnight wondered, "and it's never real to begin with... That sounds-" "Unbelievable?" Twilight interrupted with a smirk. "Oxymoronic, I know." Midnight chuckled before asking, "What else is there?" Twilight hesitated a moment before saying, "The next two types of Illusions are a little more... darker, you could say. There are types of Illusions that are purported to be terrifying, to deliberately make someone afraid. To manifest images and sounds of something scary; ghosts, monsters, or something specific. These sorts of Illusions are called Phantasms, illusions with the specific purpose to scare somepony." "Hm! If I wanted something like that, I'd set up a 'beware of dog' sign and anypony who ignores it would see a big scary dog on my property," Midnight cracked. "Actually there there is a 'Beware of Dog' Phantasm," Twilight retorted with a raised brow. This spurred more laughter, between both student and teacher. "But the next type of Illusion is... questionable. It's called a Hallucination: It's an illusion that is perceived only by a selected target." "Sounds aptly named," Midnight commented. "Hallucinations have been used by dark unicorn mages to torture victims psychologically and isolate them from their peers," Twilight went on. "Because only the victim could perceive the illusion they were seen as... well, not of sound mind." "But they were," Midnight stated deeply, "in a way." "Hallucinations are prohibited these days," Twilight assured, "taught only to unicorn mages who are deemed trustworthy and responsible." "So you know Hallucinations?" Midnight asked, and Twilight's response surprised him. "No. Because I chose not to learn them." "Why?" "Believe it or not, I do actually think there's some credence to the saying 'too much information'," Twilight quipped but Midnight saw no humor behind it. "Now finally, we move onto the last type of illusion, the most difficult, possible only to Beta-level unicorns and above: Residuals." "Resi-what?" "Residuals," Twilight repeated, "Think of it as an illusion that... manifests a past event in the location the event occurred." "I don't get it," Midnight said with a dumb look. "OK, think of... The Castle of the Two Sisters," Twilight suggested, "You remember what happened there." "...Nightmare Moon, I took a blast of magic for you," Midnight remembered, "and then our friends showed up, you had a revelation, and we were able to unlock the powers of the Elements of Harmony." "Now think of all that as an illusion playing out those events in front of our eyes," Twilight added, "and instead of reenacting the events, we're observing them." "...Huh! I think I get what you're saying!" Midnight said as it dawned on him. "Like... hitting the rewind button on the VCR." "Very much so," Twilight nodded. "A Residual is an illusory "play-back" of an event that occurred in a location. In order to witness a Residual of an event you must go the location where it occurred and cast the Residual. Not a lot of illusionists are able to cast Residuals, because oftentimes we're looking for a specific event and no matter the location so many events have happened in the history of the world, minor or significant." "It kinda sounds like fishing," Midnight chuckled. Twilight appreciated the analogy and giggled in agreement, "Y'know what, it kind of is!" "Here's something I'd like to know though," Midnight brought up, "f you're under an illusion, can you come out of it?" "Well, yes. Under the effect of certain illusions, you would fall unconscious or you would interact with the illusion because you think it's real," Twilight explained. "Despite its creative uses, Illusion magic isn't the most reliable and cohesive among the mystic arts. It requires honed skills as well as keen intelligence to make the illusions more convincing. Some illusions can rely on the target's own knowledge of what the illusion is in order to fool them, like... Making an illusion of fire to fool somepony who had a bad experience with fire. Or even show somepony a situation or subject they are an expert on, use their knowledge of the subject against them. Also, some Illusionary spells require the target sees a particular something or even hear it. "But a good way to break free of an illusion is to experience a sensation that isn't caused by the illusion itself. Like... a loud sound, a pungent odor, or even real pain!" "So... If you figured out you were under an Illusion, all you have to do is hurt yourself enough to break out of it," Midnight gathered. "Correct," Twilight nodded. "Could you try an illusion on me?" Midnight asked. "I could, but since you'd already be expecting it, you'd realize all-too-quickly you're under an illusion and it wouldn't be as effective," Twilight clarified. "Remember, Illusions are meant to fool you into perceiving something and thinking it's real." "Got it. Are there any simpler illusions we could try?" Midnight asked. "Sure, but let's take a break," Twilight decided as she magicked away the blackboard. "I could got for a nice wheatgrass tea at the cafe." "Alrighty then," Midnight closed his notebook and followed Twilight out the door. At the cafe, Twilight and Midnight sat at her usual table and thanked Savoir Fare when he brought them their drinks. Midnight opted instead for an icewater with a lime twist due to his lack of appreciation for tea. "Twilight... I've been meaning to ask you something." "Hmm?" "Based on what you told me about Glamours, it made me think about a particular something I don't see on a regular basis." "Oh? And what's that?" "...Uh..." Midnight stalled, and Twilight noticed he was blushing a bit and looked uncomfortable. "You know how almost everypony goes around naked?" "...Oh!" Twilight's lavender coat pinked up a bit as she realized what Midnight was hinting. "Well... Ahem! You see, Midnight... The reason you don't see... that... is because... Well, a few centuries ago, as pony society became more... complex? Well, a unicorn alchemist, Ignis Flame, noticed how everypony wore more clothes to hide their..." "Privates?" Midnight offered with an understanding smile. Twilight rolled her eyes and nodded, "Well, yeah. Anyway, Ignis created a lotion through alchemy that employed a minor glamour. These days, that lotion has become widespread, made in the form of shampoo, soap, even perfume. It makes a glamour that covers us... down there. It was called the Decency Glamour." "Ah, so this... Decency Glamour is used to conceal our privates," Midnight couldn't help but giggle a bit. "The formula was refined to be mixed into any kind of coat-care product or soap used to clean one's self, including hoof soap," Twilight went on. "It lasts for half a day, and any additional uses prolongs the glamour by an hour." "Huh. Wonder what happens when somepony wants you to see them...?" "Midnight!" "What?! It's a legitimate query!" Midnight defended with a sheepish grin that Twilight couldn't help but smile at as they shared a nice brunch, and a nice laugh.