Twilight’s Short and Incomplete Guide to Equestrian Magical Theory

by ReaderReads

Chapter 3: Mana and Magical Interaction

Mana, as many ponies call magic itself, is a separate term. In fact, mana is the word that's actually assigned to describe the refined form of magic I described in the first chapter of this book. Many of you reading this have probably heard of the term 'mana pool', handily used in famous works of fiction to explain away why a certain pony can use a lot of powerful magic when compared to others. You may expect me to say that this is wrong, but it is technically right. For example, I, compared to your average pony and especially unicorn, have a very large mana pool, giving me the ability to use teleportation as freely as I do, to nearly exclusively use magic in place of other things, and to- as many of you may have heard- time travel, though not too far back without a complex spell structure.

A mana pool for a pony cannot, contrary to popular opinion, be improved upon after birth. The size can decrease, but never can the mana pool of a pony get larger. The mana pool of a pony is judged by first of all what kind of pony they are- a unicorn will often have a larger mana pool in order to manipulate magic in such a fluid way, though will have their mana pool regenerate much slower than an earth pony or pegasus, which is why a unicorn can suffer from afflictions from IMB (Intense Magical Burnout) to MAD (Magical Absorption Disease).

See, a mana pool being completely empty- obvious via the intense heat of the magical organ of any pony species- will result in whatever magical organs they have ceasing to function. An earth pony will lose their increased strength, resilience, etcetera, a pegasus will fine it is nearly impossible to fly properly or even have an empty mana pool lead to permanent deformation of the wings, while a unicorn can be afflicted by any kind of magical disease, degeneration, or pain- such a large list, in fact, that I will definitely have to cover magical diseases in another chapter.

Secondly, the size of the mana pool will be taken from the surrounding area; being born in a magically rich area such as Canterlot will often result in a significantly larger mana pool than a pony born in Ponyville, though there are exceptions to this rule, such as the infamous thief Amethyst Star twenty years ago, a Ponyville-born unicorn with a massive mana pool who later died from IMB.

Thirdly, and finally, the size of a mana pool is influenced by the parents in the same way as genetics do, though not to the same extent. However, though these all influence the size of a mana pool, it is also quite random, which is why you'll see random fillies and colts born in Ponyville with massive mana pools and vice-versa for Canterlot. The size of a mana pool, for anyone curious, can be seen via a Thaumaspectometer, represented as a bubble in the centre of the pony- however, since mana pools are in essence ethereal things, it isn't truly possible to see a mana pool in full form at the moment, the bubble being only a representation of how much is leaking out of the pony and creating an image from that, since a mana pool is always leaking, though drawing in raw magic faster than leaking refined.

Basically, mana is the plural, in some ways, for magic. This isn't a language book so I won't go into too much detail, but if referring to multiple spells from one pony it is 'magic', if multiple spells from multiple ponies then it is mana, and the refined unused magic inside a pony also as mana, though there are more intricacies with the word that I won't go into any more detail with. Now, let's move onto magical interaction for the final part of this chapter, which I'm sure many of you are interested to hear about.

Magical interaction is how magic interacts with certain materials- because it does interact with everything in some way, shape, or form. Every element interacts in a different way, no matter how different. Halogens, for example, will react incredibly violently if forced to interact with magic in anything more than passing by a pony. Transitional metals with special notice to iron, silver, scandium, palladium, silver, and gold will not react with magic at all- iron, chromium, scandium, palladium, silver, and gold are, in fact, the easiest to fuse with magic- this is done by using refined magic and, in essence, 'sticking it' in-between the very atoms of the material. This is a tedious process if not done by a professional, taking hours, while a trained enchanter can speed through thousands of objects in a day.

These 'threads' of magic intertwine with the electrons and neutrons of the atoms, changing them in a way we still don't fully understand, possibly replacing them with a different, more flexible object. Depending on the type of magic used- again, apologies, something to be discussed in a later chapter- these materials can be effectively 'enchanted'. Gold interacts best with psychic magic, silver with anti-magic, palladium with dark magic, chromium with light magic, iron with harmonic magic, and scandium with chaos magic. Any transitional metal can be used for any type of magic though. This interaction can, for example, increase or decrease the density of an object, repel magic entirely, drain or give off light, multiply the atoms in order to basically enlarge or shrink the object, or interact with the magic flowing through the air and manipulate a pony.

The famous image from the old theatre play 'Trot von Trassen' of a pony holding an iron long-sword which lights itself on fire is the achievement of an enchantment that both increases the resilience of the material and the temperature, to the point of which a small area around it- not the material itself- will light on fire. Alkali metals can also interact with magic, though to a lesser extent with the atoms trying- and failing- to actively reject magic being forced upon it, while noble gases react with magic most interestingly.

Noble gases will actually absorb all magic. There isn't anything else known about this, just that noble gases will literally take magic and make it disappear. Research is constantly being done into this interaction, though much progress is never made. This is a slow interaction however- magic can harmlessly otherwise pass through noble gases, but bit by bit that magic will be attracted towards the noble gas and, when touching atom-by-atom, destroy itself. I can't tell you much else; the noble-magical interaction is, rather simply, unknown, like most parts of magic.

Author's Note:

The next chapter: What is a spell structure, matrix, etcetera; how exactly do spells work, how are they made? Or, more on magically-based diseases and afflictions. Or maybe even types of magic in general. Jesus, so much, so little time. Still need an editor, especially for science. I'm bad at that. Criticism appreciated, angry/troll comments too, funny comments of course. That is all. Hope you enjoy this.

Comments

[i_am_the_jam]

So helium balloons are magic-proof?

[ReaderReads]

9301203 Well, I suppose the insides of the balloon are. I'm not entirely sure what rubber is made of- I truly am horrible at this science stuff- but yeah. Helium balloons are now effective defences, I suppose?