Tell me, what do you live for? Is it for work? For study? Or is it for the important things? Pleasure, art, friends, family, love? Do you live to work? Or do you work to live?
Magic 101 - An introductory course to unicorn magic and its applications. Prerequisites include: Geometry 101 and Physics 101.
In this class, you will be taught the basics of unicorn magic and some simple spells that will be very useful to know in the future. We teach everything from levitation to pyromancy (under adult supervision of course). Ask your counselor to add this class to your schedule if you want to attend.
Taught by: Mrs. Lilly Founder
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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I clicked this story just 'cuz. I am NOT disappointed.
Granted, the class feels like it's a few minutes long (which may make sense given the world of MLP) but other than that; including real science with thaumatic principles!? Totally awesome idea.
Yeah, this' getting a rare thumbs up. Thanks for the read.
7034857
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
Magic not devoid of science. Neat!
7034992
Explains Twilight's extreme power doesn't it? She's a genius which means she understands the sciences really well. Understanding physics, math, and science makes spells easier and she naturally has a ton of magic to start with, so she's insanely strong.
7035296
Now I'm wondering if it can work the other way. If a rigid understanding of science, maybe something that screams impossible, can mess with their perception of magic and therefore their ability with it.
7035345
Well, there are a lot of things in science that scientists don't understand but they still use. Just because you don't understand how something works doesn't mean you can't use it. For example a computer. Most people have no idea how most of the technology inside a computer works. For all most people know, it's a miracle of magic. But people still use them.
7035345
Wasn't that what happened when Twilight studied the Pinkie sense in a way? despite her knowledge she couldn't understand magic that defied physics.
7036326
True. "Defy physics" really only applies to physics we understand. There is a lot about ourselves and other creatures that we don't understand at all, and seem to conflict with what we understand. A lot of quantum phenomena do the same, and yet despite the fact that we don't understand it, we still use it.
So, if we understood everything, things we think are impossible now would look easily possible then.
In our world, this is true in a more literal sense.
As a physics major, I appreciate this tremendously. Aside from just being cute, this made me very happy. Thank you.
This is nice, but magic has demonstrated some physical impossibilities, or at the very least, improbabilities. Even the telekinetic leverage idea falls apart when one considers autolevitation. No amount of leverage can lift you by your own bootstraps, but that doesn't stop Pumpkin Cake or Starlight Glimmer. And that's before getting into something like matter creation, as with the mustache spell. Logically, that would generate an equivalent mass of antimatter which, thankfully, it doesn't seem to. And don't even get me started on the time travel...
Don't get me wrong, this is a fascinating concept. I just don't think it holds up well.
7036200
No, no. I don't mean that they don't understand something and therefore thinking it's impossible.
What I'm wondering about is when they've studied something extensively, did the research and everything comes up with "that should not be possible" but it still works.
This would probably apply to someone from a world with no magic and arriving in equestria. Like, they might understand that there is magic here and that is another variable that they never considered before but they've still got that mind set of 'impossible'. Would that hinder them learning magic? (assuming they got a pony body to go with displacement)
7042163
Well, let me address each case. As this is a Magic 101 class in the story, there are a lot of my magical head-canon rules and tools I didn't touch on.
I'll go over each one.:
>The mustache creation
It was really a reorganization of molecules. Ever wonder why it was so hard for Twilight to perform it despite being immensely good with magic? It's because it took all of her focus to make the microscopic connections that would form the mustache. As spells get more complicated, there are some fractal based instructions that can be sent to the leylines that allow the spell to work on its own without the caster having to think about every single molecule individually.
>Autolevitation
This one is easier than it looks. Remember that the leylines can connect things, and they don't necessarily have to be part of you. In this case however, it does, but it works in reverse. The pushing force instead of pushing up on the outside object and down on the body, it's pushing down on the outside object and up and the body. The easiest version of this is to push down on the air immediately surrounding you, allowing you to more easily control height without having to extend the connection as you move around (hence the glow surrounding only the pony levitating). It's still somewhat difficult, but once one understands the concept and knows how to perform it, it isn't as much.
>Time travel
That requires an interesting understanding, and in Starswirl's case, a great deal of experimentation and luck. A few things are involved in that: A basic understanding of general relativity (fabric of spacetime, speed of causality and all that), the skill of connecting both ends of the leylines outside of oneself, and the use of fractal based instructions being sent through the leylines. Starswirl managed to connect both ends of his leylines to spacetime itself, and then sent some very complicated instructions through his leylines involving multidimensional mathematics. Through years of experimentation, he came to a more instinctual understanding of what worked and what didn't, and because such experimentation was possible, he was able to gain an understanding of spacetime that we currently are unable to have. He even managed to learn how to control the causality of his spells, which meant he could cast a spell for immutable time travel, or in the case of Starlight changing his spell according to other notes of his that she found, cast a spell for mutable time travel (see more about these concepts in my time travel lecture).
In this fic I only explained the really basic concepts that I had in mind. But these concepts are concepts that I've also had planned for some time now, but I probably won't be writing any fics about them unless they come out as sequels or whatever, very likely about Starswirl and his experiments. I even have ideas for how shorthand spell notation would work, dictating everything from leyline arrangement and required energy/force, to the mathematical/fractal instructions to be sent through the leylines.
I've thought this through quite a bit. A lot is based in the part of science that we don't have a full understanding yet, so there is still speculation, but from what we do understand, these things are possible in a world where such magical rules exists.
7042780
Interesting. I hope you do expand this; a 400 level course sounds like it would be quite enlightening.
7042521
>Would that hinder them learning magic?
Well in short, it absolutely would, not because the laws of physics obey their understanding, but because they limit themselves by holding onto incorrect understanding.
The simplest example I can think of is someone who says "I can't draw". Of course they can if they practice and put their mind to it, but the fact that they believe that they can't draw, the fact that they believe it requires some sort of innate talent, severely constricts not just their motivation to learn how to draw, but their confidence in drawing something. It's a self fulfilling prophecy.
The same would apply to magic. If someone believes they can't do magic, that they are unable to control their leylines, then of course they won't be able to. However if they're willing to try, to experiment, to learn, then they can.
>What I'm wondering about is when they've studied something extensively, did the research and everything comes up with "that should not be possible" but it still works.
Well, in that case, their understanding must be flawed. If it works, then there is something that is allowing it to work within the realm of possibility.
Is that more the question you were asking?
This.
Must.
Continue.
7048647
Heh, I'll definitely be integrating it into some of my fics in the future. So who knows. I really want to do one about how Starswirl came to be the most well renowned unicorn of current Equestrian history. Sort of like, his life adventure studying magic, the struggles he went through to prove his theories, the backlash he received from superstitious groups claiming witchcraft, etc.
I think it'd be fun.
Combining science and magic in a cheerful setting. I love it!