Oldnew Luna

by arandompenguin

Interlude: Extract from Starswirl the Bearded's book

Author's note: A couple of people asked me about the magical frequency theory I had, I thought about a couple of stuff and people came up with some ideas. This is an extract from Starswirl the Bearded's "A Beginner's guide to Magical Theory" written completely by Hay Hooves, I take no credit for this piece.

Greetings young unicorn! You are about to embark on an exciting journey of self-discovery. By the time you have begun reading this book you have most certainly experienced more than your share of magical mishaps. You may have snuck a cookie from the top shelf, or you may have blown up a neighbourhood vegetable stand to keep your mother from buying broccoli for supper. Whatever the case, now is the time to learn how your magic works and how to control it. In this first chapter we will cover the basics of how unicorn magic works and a couple exercises to help you learn more about your own magical talents. Well, let's not waste any more time, let's begin!

You may have noticed that when seeing other unicorns use magic, they give off a colored light, usually emanating from the horn. This is commonly referred to as a magical aura. Each unicorn has their own unique aura which is related to the colour that is emitted when a spell is performed. I have theorized that the reason for each unicorn having an individual frequency is to ease the transfer of power from the magical plane to our own, and our natural portal is built strong to keep that connection as stable as possible. Should you continue your studies into advanced magical theory you are likely to spend a great deal of time studying the relationship between the qualities of light emitted and the resulting magical endeavour. While my editors insist that young unicorns are not interested in the technical aspects of magic I hope you will indulge me in at least introducing some of the basic terminology to you, at the very least you can impress your parents with it.

In everyday conversation regarding magic it is common to describe a unicorn's aura in terms of colour or brightness. When distinguishing between the auras of two unicorns you may also hear ponies refer to the magical frequency or wavelength. None of these are entirely accurate, but none are technically incorrect; rather, all of these are a part of what makes up a unicorn's magical aura. At the time of this book's writing the most complete measurement we have for describing the individual unicorn's "frequency" is it's spectral irradiance. I hope that one of you reading this book will someday surpass this method as I have never found it entirely satisfactory, if you are interested feel free to find my book, "Third dimension of the spectral power distribution: Experimental theories on magical auras". Anyway, I hope you didn't find that too boring. Now that you have learned more than you may have wanted to know about auras, let’s discuss how they affect you.

One question I often get from young pupils, particularly those lacking raw magical power, is, "Why can't two unicorns make one big powerful spell?" Well, my dear fillies and colts that is where each of your different auras come in. It is an unfortunate reality that two magical auras cannot combine into a single spell. While it is rarely dangerous to attempt this, it has been known for the frequencies of two unicorn's auras to cause either interference or resonance that can have unpredictable results.

The next question is often, "Can I match their frequency?" The short answer to most is no, but for a select few, this is technically possible. I say technically because there is a method by which a unicorn can change the frequency of their aura, however this method is exceedingly complicated, requires a massive amount of power, and is incredibly dangerous. In order to explain the danger involved it would be easiest to compare your link to your magical skills to a bridge, a very solid bridge that connects directly from your mind to the magical source. As far as we can tell, there is no other way to access magic aside from our natural connections; therefore, in order to change your frequency, you need to destroy your own bridge, while simultaneously constructing a new bridge where another bridge already stands.

Failing in any part of this process could result in anything from complete loss of magic to death of yourself or the pony you are trying to match. Oh my, but this is getting grave for a children's study book, my apologies to any I may have frightened. It is unlikely you will ever need to concern yourself with this in any case, I am certain my editors will want to remove this segment but if I can help any of you by including this information, then I think it is worth the extra ink.

Oh, and just in case any of you were wondering, I have never met anypony who successfully altered their own frequency. In studying this phenomenon I learned that both princesses, Celestia and Luna, have seen it accomplished, but warned me against ever attempting it, apparently the cases which they witnessed led to some tragic tales. Should they allow me to chronicle and print those stories I shall add a cross reference in this book to further warn you youngsters against trying this yourself.

Comments

[Pwnytown]

I like the excerpt being put in like this. A nice little intermission making me want to read the next chapter even more to see where you're taking it. Definitely going to be tracking.

[arandompenguin]

700181
Thanks, but you're gonna have to thank Hay Hooves for the excerpt, he wrote it all.

[arandompenguin]

701521
Thanks, to be honest I didn't expect it either.

[arandompenguin]

701853

[Antor]

701868
is this an actual excerpt? because I think I want to read the whole thing now nice fiction so far, I'll keep on reading now!

[Menoshe]

/exposition

[gryphon88]

Starswirl sounds like a cool guy.

[Kapuchu]

This... doesn't sound like something written by a powerful and wise Unicorn from hundreds, if not, thousands of years ago. He sounds like someone who's writing it just because he feels like writing something, not to educate people.

[Cadencegirl1]

cool

[Lunar Eclipsed]

1432646 Ah but that is the point you dont want to sound all powerful and serious in a CHILDRENS study book you want to sound well like this chapter