New Reign

by Dream Seeker

Bonus: Magic For Dummies

Author's Note:

Again, this is a bonus chapter, and can be ignored. Again, it will be updated irregularly, with all necessary information already present. ANY ASPECT OF THIS COULD CHANGE IN AN EDIT. Next chapter includes some intense studying, which required me to invent fully-functional magic, so I could make spells realistic. One hint: Twilight is going to mess with runes. I believe this chapter was VERY clear about what happens when you mess with runes...

I would have used picture examples of runes, but I can't draw for my life.

Any questions about magic? Just ask!

Welcome. If you wish to learn about magic, this is the place. The first thing you should know about magic is how to measure it.

The Equestrian standard system uses Maguns. A Magun is equivalent to 1 Newton of force. (A Newton is a kilogram meter per second, or the amount of force it takes to move a kilogram a meter in a second.). A single Magun can teleport you 1 meter, can allow you to make a shield that can be 1 meter in radius and hold strong against up to 1 Newton of force being applied to it. A Magun can also levitate a kilogram for one second, that travels at 1 meter/second. Other spells will be listed at the bottom, with effect based on the usage of a stated amount of Maguns.

Step 1: Learning Types of Magic

Now, onto casting and different types of magic. Every unicorn has 3 spell nodes. Spell nodes are the spirals on a unicorn's horn. The first is the most intuitive, commonly called the "soul node". Magic channelled from this node can be used in levitation and cutie-mark based magic. For example, Rarity's soul node allows her to cast the gem-finding spell, and have extra powerful levitation. Twilight is a special case, however. Her soul node is shaped to allow her to cast any magic, as long as she has enough Maguns to do do. If Twilight was lacking magic from one node, her soul node could redirect a portion of its magic into the necessary node, making Twilight good at everything magic-related.

The second node is the "aura node" that allows for self-sustaining magic. The aura node is used for spells that stay active for a period of time, or have permanent effects, often drawing some ambient magic to aid their effects so constant casting is not necessary. Examples include teleportation, shield spells and transformation spells (Note: Changeling transformation is different).

The third, and most dangerous, node is the "dark node" that allows the user to cast dark magic. While dark magic is easier to use than other types of magic, each use subtly adjusts the mood and personality of the user. Repetitive dark magic casting has been known to drive ponies crazy, and can increase the likelihood of the user's Nightmare to take over. Dark magic often causes permanent effects, such as Sombra creating crystals.

Magic beams don't use any nodes, they're a raw expression of pure magic. There is no actual spell involved, the user just points and releases magic. This is similar to what happened to Twilight when she got her cutie mark, but with slight differences. Twilight lost control of a spell she was trying to cast, and the result was magic released in every direction, while Twilight was attempting to regain control. This cast many random spells on many random targets within range.

There is one more class of magic: Rune magic. Rune magic calls ambient magic through the ground, air and life forms to perform a specific effect. Instead of channeling magic through a spell node, magic is channeled through a specifically drawn rune made of specific materials. If a rune is created wrong, it will probably explode, or drain all the magic within a 100-ft radius before exploding with the force of all of the magic is just gained. The resulting explosion can be more powerful than an atomic bomb, and mess with the natural magic distribution of the land. This can effect spells cast for up to miles around, causing random changes in spells or increases and decreases in the power of spells cast. It is for this reason that rune magic is regarded as dangerous and outlawed in Equestria. DO NOT MESS WITH RUNES. An example of a functioning rune is the Elements of Harmony. The Elements of Harmony draw magic from the power of the wielders' friendship, which can be quite powerful. The Elements of Harmony have a few recorded powers, but it is not clear how one chooses between them. They can banish the target to a celestial body, turn them to stone, remove their Nightmare from power, and maybe cause other effects. The Elements of Harmony are equipped with a powerful spell that can repair them if they are damaged. That is a spell cast using the "aura node", by the way. The spell will repair the Elements with ambient magic from friendship.

Step 2: Casting Magic

Time to learn how to cast your first spell. First, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think of a pattern. Some choose music, and essentially play their horn like an instrument. Some picture building, they pretty much "build" spells in their horn. Twilight, for example, pictures formulas. Her method is very efficient, as she merely has to picture the equations she just read in order to cast a spell. This allows her to learn spells very quickly. However, equations can be too confusing for most. Take a look at an example:

6M=TK^W3K*V2ME/S

This equation means 6 Maguns is required to move, using telekinesis, 3 kilograms of weight at 2 meters per second. This doesn't seem too hard, but imagine having to recalculate the entire equation if you wanted to change the amount of weight, or the speed. This is the simplest spell, telekinesis, and yet to cast it Twilight's way you need a complicated equation every time. Most unicorns see the object, eyeball its weight, and play the melody, build the spell, whatever feels natural to them. Twilight uses an equation because it feels natural to her. Note that most unicorns picture their magic in a way that's related to their cutie mark.

Step 3: Runes

As previously stated, DO NOT MESS WITH RUNES. That being said, a rune may be necessary to use. Celestia help you if you ever get into that situation. Before even starting a rune, you need to know how to create an anti-magic forcefield. Such a forcefield can be used to turn a rune off. Now, onto power source. A simple rune will have generally one straight rod in the middle for every power source, but if more energy is needed more rods can be used. Gemstones are inscribed with a pattern that determines what it will absorb, and from what distance. If this is inscribed wrong, it will probably explode like so many other parts of runes. Friendship magic is rarely used, as the power supply varies greatly depending on who is nearby. If life-long friends are nearby, the rune may overload with power, depending on what type of gemstone is used. Quality of gemstone, from greatest to least, is below.

Changeling Poo: Changeling poo is actually quite good for Runes 101. Not only can it be shaped safely before it dries, the amount it stores depends completely on its size. This means that you can limit the size of an explosion, depending on the size of the poo. For more uses of Changeling poo, read the story Changed.

Gem of Harmony: Found only in the Tree of Harmony, these gemstones have seemingly limitless power. When in possession of great friends, they can be used to shoot out power, much like a magic beam.

Fire Opal: These rare gems are infused with a strange magic that can allow them to be used as a power source of their own, instead of draining nearby magic. However, if you make a mistake while cutting a Fire Opal, or smash one, it will explode violently. Almost everything related to runes will explode violently if you mess up while using it... Note: A dragon that eats a Fire Opal will grow huge and become very powerful. Fire Opals vary in power from 1,000,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Maguns. (Trillion to Quintillion) After a Fire Opal is drained, it pretty much becomes a ruby.

Diamond: Diamonds can hold close to 1,000,000,000 Maguns (Billion)
Ruby: Rubies can hold close to 1,000,000 Maguns (Million)
Emerald: Emeralds can hold close to 100,000 Maguns

After obtaining your power source, you must find a place with a stone floor. This is for convenience, and so it doesn't read whatever it's sitting on as part of the matrix and blow itself up by mistake when the matrix short circuits. Next, for the wires. They should be made of copper or another metal, but copper is usually used for its cheapness. However, metals do have a maximum amount of Maguns that can run through them at one time, or they will explode, and cause the whole thing to explode. Resistance of metal types is below, each is per square millimeter radius.

Platinum: 1,000,000 Maguns^2
Gold: 100,000 Maguns^2
Silver: 10,000 Maguns/mm^2
Iron: 1,000 Maguns/mm^2
Copper: 100 Maguns/mm^2

Next, comes the shape of the wire. The wire needs to be in a specific shape, depending on the effect you want to produce. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INVENT A RUNE. Attempting to invent a rune often ends in an explosion. If even a single wire is even a centimeter out of place, the entire rune will explode. The ambient magic collectors need to be "jumpstarted" with a little magic to turn on. DO NOT JUMPSTART A MAGIC COLLECTOR UNTIL THE RUNE IT IS ATTACHED TO IS COMPLETE. IT WILL EXPLODE IF YOU DO SO. Once your rune is active, don't let anything touch it. Again, if even one wire is moved even a centimeter out of place it will probably explode. You've made your first rune! To turn it off, cast the anti-magic shield around just the power sources.

The shape of a rune is like a language. Different "letters" formed by bending the wire in the right way spell out different words that do different things, or combinations of words that have different effects. Unfortunately, there is a grammar system to runes that is not yet fully understood. Failure to use the proper words, phrases, sentences, and so on will result in a massive explosion.

Spells Equations (per Magun):

1M=TK^(W1K*V1ME/1S) (Telekinesis)
1M=R1ME*FR1N/1S (Basic Shield, radius around the caster's center of weight. The caster cannot move while the spell is up.)
1M=1ME (Teleportation) Note: You must know the exact distance and direction in order to teleport. If you don't, you could end up stuck in something, or buried, or floating, or inside another pony... with explosive effects.
1M=100L/1S (Horn Light) Note: You may need about 1000 L (Lumens) to see well.

Comments

[Handsome Shadow]

Liking the concept, this is definitely on my watch list.

[Dream Seeker]

4611106 Ok, I'll start writing it, when I have its name I'll make a blog post or something.