The Celestia's Academy Course Catalogue
Date: About one month after Dinky's graduation
Three sets of foals' hoofprints wound through the freshly fallen snow, leading to the door of a cozy home in Seaddle.
Anypony who had been present a few minutes earlier would've been surrounded by the whirlwind of activity that can only be generated when three foals engage in the most heated of snowball fights. But now, peace reigned over the frosty carnage, as the trio of combatants had finally retired indoors to warm up.
It was the day after Hearth's Warming. A well-decorated tree glowed with colored lights. A hearty fire crackled in the hearth. Three little unicorns who had spent their holiday together quickly tugged off their boots and coats and hurried to warm up in front of it.
"I think we can all agree that I am the ultimate queen of the snowball," Portabella bragged, shaking loose snowflakes out of her bouncy, curly mane.
"Even that is an insufficient moniker," Top Percentile muttered, trying to get his thick glasses clear of the frost. "You're a veritable armageddon of winter's wrath, personified in equine flesh."
"I didn't realize how good you'd gotten with levitation magic," Inkwell commented, trying to dislodge a bit of ice that was still wedged behind her ear. "Snowball fights are certainly more... intense when everypony involved had had a year of formal magic training."
"Wait till we have another year or two!" Portabella laughed. "We'll be teleporting around and setting enchanted traps and causing snow explosions! It's gonna be awesome!"
Top Percentile winced. "It is practicable to develop behavioral indicators of post-traumatic stress before the correlated trauma's occurrence?" he asked weakly.
Portabella tackled the scrawny colt, squeezing him like a plush toy. "You're cute when you talk like that, Top," she cooed, as her weight pinned her coltfriend to the floor.
"Thanks again for inviting us over for Hearth's Warming, Portabella," Inkwell said graciously. "These last few days have been a blast."
"No problem!" the other filly chirped. "I didn't wanna wait until next term to see you two again anyway."
"Kids!" called a female voice from the next room. "Something arrived in the mail for you today. Looks like it's from the Academy."
That got the three foals' attention. Portabella's mother appeared in the doorway with a box resting on her outstretched wing.
"Thanks, ma!" Portabella called, clambering off of poor Top and retrieving the package in her aura as her mom turned to go. "Let's see what we've got here..."
The filly tore open the box, and the three students discovered a book waiting within.
Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns: Course Catalogue
"Ah. It's the annual compendium of curricular opportunities," Top commented.
"Darn. I was hoping for something more exciting," Portabella grumbled.
"Actually... think about it, you two," Inkwell piped up. "In our first term, half our classes were required, and what few electives we could take were pretty limited. But now we're going into our second term, and Clarity once told me that might be the most important one. This is the term where we start to decide what fields of magic we want to learn in greater depth, so we can start taking the electives that lead up to the advanced classes we'll take in our fourth and fifth terms. If we brush off course selection and don't choose carefully, we might not be able to take some of the coolest classes, about the stuff we really wanna learn, further down the line."
Top glanced at Portabella. "Inkwell has constructed a most efficacious reasoning," he said.
"Yeah. That," the filly replied uncomprehendingly. "And also she makes a good point. I guess we should probably take some time to choose carefully, huh Inkwell?"
"We're not doing anything until dinnertime anyway," Inkwell reminded her companions, as she retrieved the three course selection sheets that had come with the book. "We've got all afternoon. Let's go through each option in the course catalogue and figure out what's best for each of us. The decisions we make today will affect the rest of our time at Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns."
Bella and Top nodded solemnly. Inkwell pulled back the cover, and togeter, the three foals began the long, careful process.
Celestia's Academy For Gifted Unicorns
Course Catalogue
Foreward:
Welcome, students old and new, to Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns. This may be my first term as dean, but I know I speak for all the faculty when I say we want to make the process of preparing you for each new term as stress-free and straightforward as possible. The course catalogue has been carefully organized with all the necessary information to help you select a combination of magic classes that perfectly fits your personal needs and interests.
As is the case every year, courses have been added, adjusted, or merged in order to keep up with our ever changing understanding of magic. A few of the most substantial modifications are listed below. Returning students, please heed these changes and select classes accordingly:
1. In light of former Dean Spiral Script's heroic use of runes in saving Canterlot from destruction last term, we have decided the Runic Syllabary program offered by the Academy was insufficient, and have expanded the program, extending the selection of classes and offering the first course to students in their third term, instead of just their fourth and fifth.
2. Due to the efforts of Princess Twilight, Equestria is currently broadening its positive relations with other creatures' civilizations. Those societies each have magic of their own that was previously not studied at the Academy. Assistant Professor of Transformation and Conjuring, Nester, has been promoted to full Professor, and will be spearheading the newly minted "Magic of Non-pony Cultures" program.
3. Student safety is our priority, so now that information on the topic is readily available, a few classes on the recognition, avoidance, and countering of dark magic have been added to the curriculum. One of these classes will be a requirement for all students.
With that, I leave you to your course selection. I look forward to meeting all of you at the start of your new term.
Regards,
~Sparkler, Dean of Magical Education, Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns
How to select courses
All courses are categorized into one of the following specializations, and each specialization is abbreviated with a four letter code, as follows:
ASTR- Astronomy
BATT- Battle Magic
DARK- Dark Magic Avoidance and Safety
ELEM - Elemental Magic
ENCH- Enchantments
HIST- Magic in History
MBIO- Magical Biology
MNPC- Magic of Non-pony Cultures
PHYS- Physics of Magic
PRAC - Practical Magic
RUNE- Runes and Spell Boosters
TRCO- Transformation and Conjuring
WEAV- Spellweaving and Spell Combinations
In order to graduate, each student must achieve a minimum of 45 credits, complete every course marked as "Required", regardless of specialization, and fully complete all courses available in at least one specialization, if said specialization contains seven or more courses, or at least two specializations, if those selected contain six or less. Each class is worth one credit, and the standard schedule is nine credits per term, though students can opt to take more or less as long as they have at least 45 by the end of their fifth year. It is also possible to fully complete more than one specialization if you like, but students can also focus on only one and earn the rest of their credits by dabbling more broadly in everything else.
A course entry in this catalogue will be formatted as follows:
--------------------------------------
Course Code and Number
Course Name
Instructor
Terms in which the course can be taken
Prerequisites
Description
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The catalogue will now proceed through the courses available in each specialization, alphabetically.
ASTR - Astronomy
ASTR 100
Introduction to Astronomy
Instructor: Princess Luna
Terms available: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: Astronomy is often considered a supplementary subject to the broader study of magic. The positions of heavenly bodies have an influence on the power of various magical disciplines, so many unicorns choose to study the stars to aid their performance in other fields. This basic astronomy course requires very little use of magic and no prior knowledge of the stars, and is thus available to students at any stage of their education. Students will learn proper use and maintenance of telescopes, and be expected to locate and focus on specific heavenly objects with them, based on written indicators such as coordinates or the date. The most major trends in astronomically-based spell power fluctuations, those caused by the twelve Zodiac constellations, will be explored as well. Students will learn basic star-charting skills, and be expected to chart specific regions of the night sky for some assignments, and one long-term project throughout the term will allow students to choose a spell they are familiar with and track its changes in strength from week to week as the celestial landscape changes.
ASTR 300
Influence of the Zodiac on Equestria
Instructor: Princess Luna
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: ASTR 100, ENCH 201, DARK 101, HIST 101
Description: This mid-level course doubles as both an astronomy and an ancient history lesson. Before they left the mortal plane and ascended to the stars, the ancient Zodiac were the creators of all modern fields of magic. Students will learn about each member of the Zodiac individually, and the discoveries that led them to develop the first fundamental spells in each discipline. This will include a newly-added lesson on the thirteenth Zodiac, Ophiuchus, knowledge of whom was lost until very recently. The constellations that now represent the Zodiac will be the subject of all astronomical work in this class, and the names and positions of the stars that make them up will need to be learned in order to study the celestial energy mechanism that allows these constellations to dictate the increase and decrease of the strength of their respective field of spells.
ASTR 400
Star Charts
Instructor: Princess Luna
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: ASTR 300, RUNE 301
Description: While the position of the twelve Zodiac constellations have the greatest bearing on the ebb and flow of magic, all constellations, and indeed every individual star, affect it in some way. This technical star mapping course is recommended for those who work with or plan to work with spells in which even very minute changes in input of magical power must be accounted for in order for the spell to function correctly. Students will learn to identify each constellation visible to the naked eye, all across the heavens, and which fields of magic each has an impact on. Each pony will be provided with a more powerful telescope than those used in lower level ASTR courses, in order to locate and identify distant stars. Dozens of detailed star charts will be created over the course of the term, fully mapping sections of the night sky, and will need to calculate which types of magic have the greatest net benefit at a given time, accounting for all the additional constellations, which will add to or subtract from the benefit provided by whichever zodiac is overhead. By doing this repeatedly on different dates, students will be able to graph the changes in celestial energy. Over the course of the second half of the term, students will complete a long-term project in which one specific magical discipline is chosen. They will then spend several weeks creating a full spherical map of any and all stars that have a positive or negative impact on their chosen discipline, and calculate the exact date that type of magic is at its peak.
ASTR 410
Celestial Energy Channels
Instructor: Princess Luna
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: ASTR 300
Description: The stars may be the most easily predictable feature of the heavens; the specific set of stars is overhead on a given day will be the same each year. However, they are not the only celestial bodies capable of affecting the magic of ponies far below. The movement of other objects in space can occasionally put them into positions to funnel magic into Equestria from the far reaches of the galaxy for short periods. These temporary phenomena are known as celestial energy channels, and learning the complex art of predicting them is rewarded with unique opportunities to receive powerful, if brief, magical boons. Students will study the movement of the planets in this and neighboring solar systems; an understanding of their speed and orbit allows astronomers to predict when they will align. When three or more planets align, an energy channel forms between them, and the more planets that align at once, the more substantial the energy flow, though alignments of many planets at once are very infrequent. Comets, similarly, create energy channels that briefly reach Equestria at specific points in their flight paths. Assignments will give astronomers the opportunity to work with large, complex orreries to map out potential energy channel formations in a three-dimensional medium. Students will also learn about the "outer realms" of existence beyond our mortal world— the Dream Realm, Limbo, and the Realm of Stars itself— and how energy channels play a role in causing these external realities to drift gradually closer and further from the borders of our waking realm on a forty year cycle.
BATT - Battle Magic
BATT 401
Elementary Battle Magic
Instructor: Professor Storm Surge
Terms available: 4 (Required)
Prerequisites: ELEM 201, ENCH 301 (can be taken concurrently)
Description: Battle magic is the use of magic for offense and defense, either in duels or simply for keeping oneself safe. This course, and the entirety of the BATT specialization, is not available until an academy student's fourth term. These spells are capable of causing harm, and so unicorns need to have both excellent magical control and mental and emotional maturity before wielding them. In this class, students of all specializations will learn simple magical techniques to defend themselves, should the need arise. Students will first learn to shoot undifferentiated energy bolts— pure magic used as a weapon without changing its form first— to learn the skill of firing an attack spell at a target. Once this is mastered, elemental magic will be added to the mix, and ponies will practice basic types of attacks utilizing air, water, earth, and fire spells. Defensive options will include casting shield spells— walls of solid magic that block both physical and magical blows— and diverting or deflecting incoming projectiles. These skills will all be useful for basic defense in any dangerous situation, making it useful for any pony regardless of specialization. Dueling will not be covered here; those seeking to learn more complex battle spells, and techniques for engaging another unicorn in magical combat, should pursue additional battle magic courses in their fifth term.
BATT 410
Incorporating Support Spells into Duels
Instructor: Professor Storm Surge
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: BATT 401 (Can be taken concurrently)
Description: Unicorn duels rarely involve only battle magic spells. The broader a pony's knowledge of applications of other magical fields, the more effective they are likely to be in a duel. This course, which can be taken alongside Elementary Battle Magic in the fourth term if desired, teaches aspiring duelists to incorporate spells from other disciplines into their combat strategies. Students will explore options for disorienting opponents with illumination and illusion spells, improving evasion with teleportation, and even manipulating the battlefield to their advantage with transformation spells. Additionally, no self-respecting duelist engages in a duel without at least one trick up their sleeve their opponent can't predict. This usually involves bringing enchanted jewelry, potentially enhanced with runes, to battle. Students will learn to plan, based written skillsets of theoretical opponents, what type of outside effect will benefit them most, and how to guess what kind of enchantment an opponent will be most likely to wield to cover weak points in their magical skillset. Enchantments are not the only option for support; students of Magical Biology are also welcome to use potions as their supporting magic item brought from outside, and ideal potions for various combat situations will be discussed as well. A pony who relies purely on strong elemental attacks and sturdy shields rarely wins a duel. Applying battle applications to all aspects of a unicorn's magical expertise makes for a more versatile fighter than can overpower a much greater variety of opponents.
BATT 500
Advanced Combat Spells
Instructor: Professor Storm Surge
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: BATT 401, at least two ELEM 300-level courses
Description: While BATT 401 covers the basics of attack and defense for use in protecting oneself if the need were to arise, this course focuses on more intense spells that would be selected for use in actual duels with other unicorns, instead of just for self-defense. On the offensive side, students will learn to create much stronger non-elemental magic attacks, upgrading from simple energy bolts to sustained lasers, and will learn how to correctly balance their power and focus to maximize piercing potential of an opponent's shields. The attack applications of elemental spells will be discussed at length, as ponies will practice lobbing fireballs, hurling spears of ice, and raising pillars of earth from below their opponent's hooves. Defensive spells will receive much more attention here than just the shield spells discussed in the prerequisite course; aspiring duelists will practice a wide variety of battle spells that can stop their opponent's attacks, or their opponent themselves. Some examples include using traps and stunning spells to immobilize opponents, leaving them open to attack, using elemental spells such as cushioning impacts with air spells or providing cover with earth spells, and even gravity manipulation spells, a complex bit of magic that can make targets immovably heavy, or lighter than air. This course focuses on learning to use these spells, not employing them in duels; students will not cast these spells at one another, though certain exercises may allow them to spar with the professor in a no-risk scenario.
BATT 510
Counterspells
Instructor: Professor Storm Surge
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: BATT 401
Description: Counterspells, as the name suggests, are spells used to negate other spells, or even turn them back at their source. These spells themselves are classified as battle magic, and are most commonly used in scenarios where other battle magic is in use, although they can be capable of negating spells from any field of magic if used correctly. This course's entire focus is on the many methods of countering other spells. Students will learn to generate magic-jamming waves that disrupt magic before it even leaves an aggressor's horn, usually considered the best way to counter magic that has not yet been cast. Once an spell has been fired, countering it can be trickier, but there are also considerably more options to do so. Students will create discs and blades of magic that can cut through incoming attacks, or beams of energy that can instantly dissipate them, and spend several weeks perfecting their speed and accuracy at launching these counters. If a pony finds themselves in a situation where there is no time to cancel or dispel opposing fire, reflection spells are an excellent option, as they can be deployed very quickly by ponies with practiced reflexes. Duelists who are confident they can withstand some damage can even utilize counters that allow them to endure a hit, and then fire it back afterward with increased power. Once students have developed a reasonable arsenal of counterspells, some assignments and exams will pit them against harmless illusions taking the visual form of common battle spells, to test their quick-thinking and skill with countering in different circumstances.
BATT 520
Magical Combat
Instructor: Professor Storm Surge
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: BATT 401, ELEM 400, Magical Combat waiver signed and approved by administration.
Description: Unlike the other courses in the BATT specialization, this course's main focus is on the use of a pony's cumulative magical arsenal— battle magic and otherwise— in actual combat situations. By the time this course becomes accessible in the fifth term, each student will have taken at least the Elementary Battle Magic course, and some will be taking other courses within the specialization concurrently with this one. However, a good duelist uses much more than just battle spells, and with four years of magic classes specific to each pony, each and every combatant will enter this class with a set of specialties unique to them. While this course covers some of the same topics in the Advanced Combat Spells and Counterspells courses, this is the one and only course at the academy where students will have the opportunity to practice them against one another. In class, students will engage in sparring, a live spell practice match where communication is key; both unicorns know exactly what spells each is going to use, and will practice attacking, blocking, and countering each other's moves. Written coursework will involve creating diagrams of potential battlefield scenarios, and studies on how to react to magic from many different fields used in tandem by an opponent. However, the highlight of this course is the annual battle magic tournament, a single elimination style tournament where students will engage in one-on-one, all-out duels, employing the sum total of their five years of magical expertise to try to overpower the other.
DARK - Dark Magic Avoidance and Safety
DARK 101
Recognizing and Avoiding Dark Magic
Instructor: Dean Sparkler
Terms available: 1, 2 (Required)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: Dark magic is a highly dangerous and explicitly forbidden adulteration of unicorn magic. In light of recent events in Equestrian history, the importance of teaching unicorns who are just beginning to delve into higher-level magic how to recognize and avoid dark magic cannot be overstated. Students will learn what dark magic would look and sound like if they were to encounter a pony wielding it, as well as how to detect it from a greater distance with simple surveillance spells. Safety practices will be explored in depth, including how to report a dark magic user or incident to the appropriate authorities, how to recognize signs of dark magical corruption, and the details of the process of clearing said corruption from a unicorn's internal magic reserves. Drills of techniques, both physical and magical, for getting oneself out of harm's way if directly faced down with a dark magical threat, will be practiced at length, as escape is almost always the best option in such scenarios.
DARK 300
Modern Influence of Dark Magic
Instructor: Dean Sparkler
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: DARK 101, PRAC 101, MBIO 200
Description: While the identification and avoidance of dark magic is the only thing unicorns will definitely need to know regarding this forbidden field, it's only natural that some ponies will be curious about why it is such a taboo. This course will offer the full explanation of how dark magic came to be, and a history of the often tragic impacts its influence has had on unicorns, and Equestria as a whole, across the ages. Students will have learned about the grievous physical effects of dark magic on the unicorn anatomy in MBIO 200, but will now learn about accounts of the increasingly harmful mental and emotional effects it has, up to and including the moment where a unicorn's body and mind are permanently lost to the darkness, resulting in the birth of a wraith. Accounts recovered from throughout history, both of ponies who eventually fell to the darkness and are believed to have become wraiths, and those who managed to wrench themselves free of its influence before it was too late, will be studied. Many of these writings depict the details of the days leading to tragedies over the millennia that occurred purely as a result of selfish and cruel ponies wielding a magic that ultimately consumed them. In addition, academy graduate and the only known wraith to side with our nation, Dinky Doo, has agreed to take time out of her schedule once per term to give a first-hoof account of her battle with dark magical corruption, and what it's like to become a wraith. It should be understood that this course is not for the faint of heart, and will touch on topics of death and physical harm, but knowledge of the horrors of dark magic is perhaps the best way to encourage ponies to keep their distance.
DARK 500
Counterspells for Dark Magic
Instructor: Professor Storm Surge
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: DARK 300, BATT 510 (must be taken concurrently), RUNE 500 (must be taken concurrently)
Description: With any luck, a pony will go their whole life without even encountering dark magic, but for ponies considering law enforcement, or planning to join the military or royal guard, the chance of someday coming face to face with it is not zero. If detecting and avoiding dark magic prove insufficient, and a pony is left with no choice but to fight back, both attack and defense spells will be useless; counterspells are the only viable option. Anti-dark-magic counterspells is a study still in its infancy, but the knowledge scholars have uncovered so far will be passed on in this course. Students will learn the few techniques known to be able to deflect incoming dark missiles and will practice using these counters with extreme speed and timing; dark magic used as a direct attack is very fast and very dangerous, leaving no room for failure when choosing when and how to react. Dark magic can also be used indirectly, in corruptions of other magical fields instead of direct attacks. Ponies will practice disenchanting objects infused with dark enchantments, casting the complex counters to beat back out-of-control dark elemental magic, and even neutralizing dark magic by containing it in runic sigils designed to deaden its power. During academy graduate Dinky Doo's visit to give a guest lecture to the DARK 300 students, she has also agreed to take the time to give students in this course one class period to practice neutralizing real dark magic. Note that students will not spar with Dinky directly; the risks of sparring with a wraith, even in a controlled situation, are too high. They will however get to act on pockets of dark magic from a distance that Dinky will keep contained at all times during practice.
ELEM - Elemental Magic
ELEM 201
Basic Elemental Spells
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 2 (Required)
Prerequisites: PRAC 101, TRCO 101
Description: Elemental magic takes unicorn magic in its base form and changes it into physical elements, either through basic conjuring or simple conversion of one type of energy into another. Since controlling these more volatile forms of energy can be slightly more hazardous to both the caster and those around them than most other unicorn magic, this course is always taken during the second term, once students have had time to hone their horn-control skills. In this basic skills class, students will learn to conjure the four basic elements, and will use magic to manipulate the elements in the small scale, to perform household tasks such as washing and drying fabric with water and air spells, preparing a garden for planting using only earth spells, or lighting hearths and kilns with fire spells. Conjuring and controlling the elements opens the door to trivializing a great variety of typical tasks that cannot be accomplished with practical magic spells alone, and learning to do so is at the very heart of the Academy's second-term curriculum.
ELEM 301
Wind Spells
Instructor: Professor Flux
Terms available: 3, 4, 5 (At least one of the four ELEM courses at the 300-level is required)
Prerequisites: ELEM 201
Description: After learning the basics in their second term, all students will choose at least one element to learn at a high level. Air spells are a popular choice, as they require lower magic input since there is no need to conjure anything; unicorns simply manipulate the air around them. Students will learn to generate winds strong enough to move large objects (including themselves), how to increase or decrease the air pressure of an enclosed space, and how to cast the ever-popular cloudwalking spell, allowing unicorns to visit airborne pegasus cities. Enclosing and moving specific quantities of air, a useful skill used by unicorns wishing to provide themselves with a pocket of breathable air when traveling underwater or through hazardous or low-oxygen environments, will also be taught here. On a more tangential topic, the sub-field of sound magic is, in fact, an air spell, and ponies will learn how to vibrate air particles to produce specific sounds. Carefully focused directional air spells can be used as a means of environmentally-friendly propulsion for airships, balloons, or watercraft are one major use of these spells beyond the academy, so many ponies with related career aspirations jump at the chance to learn those skills here.
ELEM 302
Water Spells
Instructor: Professor Luster
Terms available: 3, 4, 5 (At least one of the four ELEM courses at the 300-level is required)
Prerequisites: ELEM 201
Description: After learning the basics in their second term, all students will choose at least one element to learn at a high level. Water spells have a very wide range of uses that make them appealing to ponies in almost any specialization. Many of these uses are very practical; ponies will learn to conjure fresh water by condensing moisture in the air, as well as how to freeze water or melt ice. These skills can make anything from the hottest, driest summer day to the coldest winter storm more bearable through means of manipulation of water. Ponies will also learn to purify water with magic; these decontamination skills are important at factories to avoid pollution created during manufacturing. This course also covers ice spells, which have the obvious use of refrigeration, as well as decorative and artistic uses. Due to water and ice's refractive properties, illusionists are often drawn to this course to add to their arsenal of stunning visual spells. Usually requiring the most delicate and precise work of the elemental spells, water spells are often the favorite of ponies who prioritize finesse in their spellcasting.
ELEM 303
Earth Spells
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 3, 4, 5 (At least one of the four ELEM courses at the 300-level is required)
Prerequisites: ELEM 201
Description: After learning the basics in their second term, all students will choose at least one element to learn at a high level. Earth spells are far from the flashy nature of water or fire spells, but ponies who know to look past the spectacle will find a very useful group of spells. Quite the opposite of water spells, earth spells focus much more on high energy spellcasting and less on painstaking precision. Earth magic students will learn to create seismic vibrations with magic, used in small-scale to change the shape of the ground in front of them. Raising, lowering, or changing the slope of nearby surfaces can be learned quite quickly, and with practice, students will even learn to form simple structures out of earth, such as sturdy bars or stair-like projections of rock. Destructive spells can be just as important as constructive; ponies will learn to break apart solid rock in moments that would take those not versed in earth magic hours, even with the aid of tools. Earth magic can also be used to detect rare metals and gems hidden in the rock. Any unicorn considering a future in farming or construction would be remiss not to add knowledge of earth spells to their magical repertoire.
ELEM 304
Fire Spells
Instructor: Professor Storm Surge
Terms available: 3, 4, 5 (At least one of the four ELEM courses at the 300-level is required)
Prerequisites: ELEM 201
Description: After learning the basics in their second term, all students will choose at least one element to learn at a high level. With power like earth spells, dazzle like water spells, and a mysterious, ethereal nature like wind spells all rolled into one, it's easy to see why fire spells catch the attention of so many unicorns. This course deals with the element with the greatest potential to be destructive in small-scale, so maturity and careful, controlled casting is always expected in this class. Students will have already learned to convert their base magical energy into fire in ELEM 201, but this course will help them learn to safely manipulate an otherwise unpredictable force. Different ways to direct fire will be practiced; a fireball can be very different from a straight line of flame, which is different again from fire spreading outward along the ground. The necessary spells to contain, redirect, and extinguish uncontained flames will also be practiced until they are second-nature. This course also covers lightning spells, which are created in a similar way by converting magic to a form of plasma. These spells are faster and take less energy to cast, unless the caster is creating a sustained electrical arc instead of a single bolt, and are useful in charging and powering machinery in a variety of professions.
ELEM 400
Advanced Elemental Techniques
Instructor: Professor Storm Surge
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: At least two ELEM courses at the 300-level, TRCO 301
Description: Ponies with great interest and talent in elemental magic may wish to master one or more elements, commanding them in ways that few in Equestria can. Students of this course will perfect the process of casting elemental spells, doing as much work with as little energy as possible, so spells can be increased in scale without overtaxing the caster. Conjuring large amounts of elemental material may be necessary depending on the spell; practice with this will have already been covered in TRCO 301. Using a unique lesson plan with multiple possible progressions, each pony will have the chance to focus on one (or more) elements of their choosing, and will receive specific training based on their personal needs. Air magic wielders will learn to whip up tornadoes, and to use directional wind spells to navigate in hot air balloons, as well as perform highly convincing magical sound mimicry. Those interested in water magic will conjure hyper focused streams that can cut through solid surfaces, and flash freeze large volumes of water in an instant. Earth mages will learn the both strength to carve tunnels through rock with ease, and the care to expertly till fields for farming without tools. And of course, those practicing fire spells will surely be able to incinerate anything, and manipulate fire into fantastic displays of light and beauty.
ELEM 500
Elements in Combination
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: WEAV 301, ELEM 400
Description: A highly advanced course for unicorns who have honed their skills in working with all four elements. The final layer of complexity in the field of elemental magic comes when combining elements in a single spell. The result is an incredibly eclectic group of spells that are used for many completely unrelated purposes, covering a lot of options that spells using only one element do not. Many of these spells can be used to change weather on a small scale; for example, manipulating evaporation and water and air temperatures to create deep fog or even localized rainstorms. Other spells are more violent; adding water, earth, or fire spells to a cyclonic wind spell can create water spouts, dust devils, or even fiery twisters, all of which have a place in battle magic. Elemental combinations can be used for spur-of-the-moment concealment, too, when combining air and fire spells to rapidly throw up a quick smokescreen to hide oneself or make a quick getaway. Water spells combined with earth can make the ground easier to modify, for construction and landscaping, and fire and water combinations generate steam to warm up a chilly space or provide humidity in a dry area. Even earth and fire combinations can work, but often with violent, explosive results, and should be used with caution and care, even when demolition is the goal. Students will learn all of these topics and more, as well as have opportunities to experiment with their own ratios of elements in combination.
ENCH - Enchantments
ENCH 101
Basic Enchantments
Instructor: Professor Luster
Terms available: 1 (Required)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: Enchantments are extremely versatile utility spells involving storing magic inside objects. These spells can both function on their own, and aid almost every other field of magic. In this introductory course, students will mostly enchant gemstones due to the crystalline structure's ability to hold onto magic more easily than other substances. A few brief geology lessons will be worked into the curriculum, as students will be expected to learn which gems are the best for this purpose, and be able to organize them from most to least ideal. This course focuses primarily on teaching a great variety of simple enchantments cast on these ideal objects. Students will learn many of Equestria's most common and practical enchantments, such as those that cause an enchanted object to generate heat or cast light, or those used in detection or concealment. Many classes will be open-ended, allowing students to sample enchantments from their textbook and try them out for themselves, and in the later months of the course, unicorns from the Advanced Enchantments course will visit the class to demonstrate examples of what can be done with enchantment magic with sufficient training. Students are expected to be proficient with at least one-hundred unique enchantments by the end of the term.
ENCH 201
Enchantments II
Instructor: Professor Luster
Terms available: 2 (Required)
Prerequisites: ENCH 101
Description: In their first term, students will have concentrated mainly on enchantments that are useful all on their own, performing one specific purpose. Using that foundation, Enchantments II shifts the focus to enchantments meant specifically for supporting or augmenting other types of spells. Students will create enchanted jewelry capable of boosting spell power, and apply it to fields such as elemental magic or illumination spells. In addition, another subset of enchantments will focus on increasing magical precision, which is essential in object manipulation, illusion, and transformation spells, and even spellweaving if ponies choose to pursue that field in their later terms. For one major project, students will work in groups, competing with the other teams to invent the best combination of jewels and spells for maximum magnification, without loss of quality, of a single pre-determined spell from another discipline.
ENCH 301
Enchantments III
Instructor: Professor Luster
Terms available: 3, 4 (Required)
Prerequisites: ENCH 201, RUNE 301 (can be taken concurrently)
Description: With two years of solid foundational classes supporting it, Enchantments III is a deep dive into the finer capabilities of the discipline. Here, students will learn to cast permanently expressed enchantments, or enchanting objects to continue to perform their magical function either constantly or at regular intervals, without the need to be held, worn, or magically activated. A few lessons will also focus on the enchantment of non-crystalline objects, though this skill can be challenging and is often not of great priority to students who aren't specializing in enchantments. Those students who wish to study these techniques in depth should consider the elective course ENCH 320. The academy's third term also includes a required introductory course on the use of runes, so toward the end of the term, students will begin learning to combine these two closely-related fields, using runes to dramatically power up the effects of enchanted jewelry. This is the final course in the enchantments specialization required for all students,
ENCH 310
Disenchantment
Instructor: Dean Sparkler
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: ENCH 201
Description: Disenchantment is exactly what it sounds like: the removal of an enchantment stored in an object. On the surface, this may seem like a mundane skill, and it is often assumed that a single spell will likely be capable of disenchanting any target, but this is not the case. To use an analogy, magic is like water, and an enchanted object absorbs magic like a cloth absorbs water. Dunking a cloth into water will fill it with that water very quickly, but it's much harder to fully remove every drop of water from it afterward. The same is true with enchantments; magic seeps into an object's very structure, and while most of it can be removed with a few moments of effort, successfully removing all of it is much harder, especially if the caster hopes to leave the object undamaged after the magic is removed. Sloppy or incomplete disenchantments can result in fragments of spells being left behind, which can be inconvenient or even dangerous, depending on the original enchantment. In this course, students will learn to remove enchantments from various objects, both crystalline and not, as well as how to detect and clean up the remains of a fragmented enchantment. This skill is highly prized in law enforcement; unicorn criminals are known for setting traps with unassuming objects containing harmful enchantments, so in the interest of public safety, almost all police departments employ a disenchantment specialist.
ENCH 320
Enchanting Non-crystalline Objects
Instructor: Professor Luster
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: ENCH 201, PHYS 101
Description: While gemstones hold enchantments the longest, and generally allow for the greatest enchantment strength, almost any object can be made to contain an enchantment, at least temporarily, with the right method of casting. While this skill is covered to a reasonable degree in the more general course ENCH 301, students who plan to make regular use of non-crystalline enchantments can study the skill here in much greater depth in any term from the third onward. The molecular makeup of various solids will be examined, and students will create magic-flow diagrams of different substances' molecular bond structures to illustrate how well each one will hold magic. Magical dispersal in liquids will be studied in depth, using equations that calculate the ratio of amount of magical energy to volume of liquid, to determine the maximum volume that will still be able to express the enchantment's effects. Perhaps most difficult will be the enchantment of compound objects, such as enchanting a vehicle to move on its own, or home conveniences such as a self-setting table or self-making bed. These spells are challenging, requiring an understanding of each of the compound object's many constituent parts, and how well each one absorbs magic. Multiple useful non-crystalline items will be created in this class, such as saddlebags that reduce the weight of their contents, containers that can be magically sealed without the aid of a lock and key, and many more helpful tools.
ENCH 400
Enchantment Strength and Longevity
Instructor: Dean Sparkler
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: ENCH 301, 320 RUNE 301, TRCO 301
Description: Those who are serious about enchantments will naturally be searching for ways to improve their techniques. This course does not focus on how to cast new types of enchantments, but how to lift the ones that enchanters are already familiar with to new heights. Students will learn how to "lock" enchantments; this method uses transformation magic to change an object's structure in such a way that the enchantment never dissipates, but at a cost: once locked, the enchantment cannot be strengthened, modified, or removed, and so locking should only be used when the caster is completely certain that their enchantment in its current state is ready for permanent use. In a similar vein, trained unicorns can use alchemy principles to adjust an object's molecular makeup to make it more favorable for retaining magic, without modifying it so much that the item can no longer function in its originally intended way. This can greatly increase the longevity of enchantments cast on non-crystalline objects. Rune options for improving ease of enchantibility or enchantment strength will also be covered. By the end of the term, students will have a wide selection of options to create more robust enchanted objects.
ENCH 500
Advanced Enchantments
Instructor: Professor Luster
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 201, ENCH 301, ENCH 320, RUNE 400 (can be taken concurrently)
Description: The highest level enchantments course will give senior enchanters insight into the most difficult and potentially powerful charms in the entire field, and new ways to cast them that are infrequently used due to their complexity. Students will place enchantments on large, compound, non-crystalline objects such as appliances, building elements like doors or stairways, and even carriages and other vehicles. Ponies will be expected to enhance these charms with runes whenever necessary to elevate the enchantment to the desired level for the assignment. Students will also learn to create enchantment arrays, sets of enchantments made by placing different spells on different parts of the same compound object which work in tandem to accomplish dramatic things that a single enchantment working alone cannot. This course will even touch upon the most difficult topic in the field: self-enchantment. Threading enchantment magic into the very cells of a living being is highly complicated and produces very short-term effects, so students will only be expected to perform minor self enchantments for momentary periods; this skill takes years of enchantments training to even perform, and then years more to master. Ponies who are passionate about enchantments may volunteer to visit the ENCH 101 class and demonstrate high-level enchantments to inspire first-term enchanters.
HIST - Magic in History
HIST 101
Overview of Magic in Equestrian History
Instructor: Professor Curled Quill
Terms available: 1, 2, 3 (Required)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: Although each pony race contributed to the shaping of the nation in their own way, there's no doubt that unicorn magic played a substantial role in the development of modern Equestria. This overview course is structured more similarly to classes taught at standard schools and universities around the nation, relying largely on reading and lecture, as opposed to the hooves-on learning typical for the Academy. Nevertheless, learning about the development of magic over the centuries is essential to understanding the future course of scholarly pursuits in magic. The curriculum will cover history's most significant magic-related events and most influential mages. Supplementary reading and essays will be assigned for completion outside of class, and regular exams will test students' knowledge on each era of Equestrian history.
HIST 110
Magical Artifacts
Instructor: Professor Bronze Bell
Terms available: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: This elective course focuses on the discovery and historical significance of the various magical artifacts that have been uncovered over the course of Equestrian history. Artifacts are enchanted objects containing spells that have been lost to time and cannot currently be replicated in any other object, so a key part of this course involves a technical examination of the unknown spells themselves. In addition to history lectures, students will study all the potential functions of specific artifacts in depth, such as the Elements of Harmony, the Crystal Heart, the Bloodstone Scepter, the Pearl of Aris, and many more. Projects and classwork will be centered around crafting theories on what sorts of unknown enchantments their creators might have employed to give them their unique powers. Guest lectures given by citizens who are lucky enough to be the current keepers of known artifacts will also be included when the schedule permits. Some basic enchanting skills will be needed for certain assignments, but only those taught in ENCH 101, which all students will have either completed or will be taking concurrently with this course.
HIST 201
Magical Pioneers
Instructor: Professor Curled Quill
Terms available: 2, 3, 4, 5 (Required)
Prerequisites: HIST 101
Description: Since the discovery of the disciplines of magic thousands of years ago, the brightest unicorn scholars have blazed the trail leading to our modern understanding of magic. This course builds on the timeline taught in HIST 101, focusing specifically on history's most influential unicorns, what each of them contributed to the development of one or more fields of magic, and how their work lead them to make these discoveries. From scholars to explorers, and from the household names to the unsung heroes, Equestrians owe their way of life to these ponies. Students will be expected to research selected magical pioneers, and prepare reports on why they consider those ponies' contributions especially important.
HIST 210
Magic in Ancient Equestria
Instructor: Professor Bronze Bell
Terms available: 2, 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: HIST 101
Description: When ponykind first discovered how to channel the magic flowing through the world around them, the result was a tumultuous period of discovery and advancement in pony life. This course examines what we know of that period in history, through ancient literature and archaeological finds that tell fragments of the tale of unicorn magic's infancy. Students will examine transcriptions of ancient scrolls and photos of notable carvings and glyphs created by ancient pony civilization and what can be revealed about the spells that were discovered or improved at the time of their creation. Research projects will piece together the timelines of the early development of specific magical disciplines.
HIST 300
Formation of Modern Pony Society
Instructor: Professor Curled Quill
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: HIST 110, HIST 201
Description: This course covers the most recent few millennia in Equestrian history, beginning with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's ascension to the throne, but focuses more on how society itself has evolved in that time, rather than simply recounting significant historic events. As with all classes in this specialization, magic's role in the development of our current civilization will receive special attention during this study. Students will learn about the founding and growth of key Equestrian cities, the spread of advanced magical knowledge toward the outermost edges of the nation, and pivotal moments in industrial or technological development of pony society, which often occurred in bursts as a result of a monumental discovery by one of history's magical pioneers. Theory pieces will be written in this course about how outcomes for certain cities or regions would potentially have differed if specific important spells had not been discovered when they were, or if entire fields of magic were unrepresented. Students will need to back up their points in these essays with examples in the literature of how their selected spells or fields led to the outcomes we see in Equestria today.
HIST 310
Magic in the Modern Age
Instructor: Professor Bronze Bell
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: HIST 201
Description: Equestria is closer to a utopia now than it has ever been. This is due to a widely approved system of government and ample access to resources for all its residents. Our land as we know it now, of course, wouldn't be possible without the aid of magic. In this societal studies course, students will study the large-scale spells that help keep Equestria running smoothly, and how they are maintained. This usually includes wide networks of enchantments used in cities for matters of the population's well-being, cleaning air or regulating temperature. The way ponies' individual magic skills work together in harmony to benefit everypony will also be examined from the perspective of the greater benefit to society, from healers working in healthcare to those versed in practical magic practicing skilled crafts, and even pegasi and earth ponies managing Equestria's food and weather for all our collective benefit. Magic binds modern Equestria together, and understanding the ways it works right under our noses helps everypony to appreciate it.
HIST 400
Starswirl the Bearded
Instructor: Professor Curled Quill
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: HIST 300
Description: Each of the pony races sport a few historical figures that have ascended to legends for accomplishments so momentous, they changed the course of history. Among unicorns, one name stands above all: Starswirl the Bearded. This course covers the major events in the life of history's most famous unicorn, beginning with his childhood growing up in the pre-unification era in the proto-nation of Unicornia. Starswirl originally specialized in Transformation and Conjuring, and made many discoveries together with Unicornia's royal advisor, Clover the Clever, who eventually became his apprentice but after the founding of Equestria, his travels and natural brilliance led him to master nearly every known field of magic. Students will learn about his exploits after meeting the ponies that came to be known as the Pillars of Old Equestria, and how their group went on to banish many dangers across Equestria's frontiers. When Celestia assumed the throne of the now-unified nation, she was quick to name him the first Grand High Mage of her royal court, a position that still exists today and can only be occupied by a unicorn who has full command of every magical discipline. Later in life, Starswirl and the Pillars sealed themselves away in Limbo in order to contain a great evil. This course is currently undergoing curriculum updates, as due to the exploits of Princess Twilight Sparkle in very recent years, Starswirl and the Pillars been able to return to the waking world, and are currently living out the remainder of their lives that was taken from them millennia ago. Course contents will be edited as Starswirl corrects or adds to the details contained within.
HIST 410
A History of Alicorns
Instructor: Professor Bronze Bell
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: HIST 300
Description: As everypony knows, alicorns are an extremely rare and powerful fourth breed of pony that display traits of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns all at once, and have full control of the magic of each. As would be expected of such creatures, the limited group of known alicorn individuals have had a profound effect on the history of Equestria. This course will cover what scraps of information remain about the alicorns that lived before the unification of the tribes and founding of Equestria, and then move on to the five— yes, only five— alicorns that have carried the fate of our nation ever since then. Students will study the differences between natural alicorn birth and alicorn "ascension", the process of a pony of the other three tribes becoming connected with the magic of our world so intimately that it transforms them physically into a higher state of being, and they become an alicorn themselves. The details of Celestia and Luna's reign, and Luna's banishment and eventual return, will cover the bulk of the course, simply because they've been around much longer than other living alicorns. The ascension of Princess Cadance and reappearance of the Crystal Empire, the ascension of Princess Twilight and the magic of friendship, and the recent birth of natural-born alicorn Flurry Heart, will also be examined at length.
MBIO - Magical Biology
MBIO 100
Magical Biology I
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: Magical Biology is the study of the magic of life itself, and how it interacts and flows through not just ponies, but all living things. Unicorns are fortunate enough to have the ability to tap into this latent magic with spells, but doing so requires both unique mental abilities and a type of spellcasting entirely different from any other field of magic. In this first level course, students will learn how to block out outside stimuli and link their heart with that of another living thing through magic. This skill takes time to learn, and even longer to perform well, but once students can consistently establish this connection, lessons will expand to include sending and receiving information from the other organism in the mental link. This will include physical sensations and trends, as well as mental and emotional states where applicable. Students will also learn to send simple suggestions through the link to gently coax out certain actions, primarily in plants. Additionally, an overview of the magical properties of plants and animals will be covered in lecture, again with a focus on plants while students are first learning the skills. Said plants will be used to create common types of potions during some class periods. All of the skills listed above will be essential in almost all course work in higher level courses in this specialization, and students will be expected to perform the discipline's core spells with ease by the end of the term.
MBIO 201
Unicorn Anatomy and Physiology
Instructor: Professor Lumen
Terms available: 2, 3, 4, 5 (Required)
Prerequisites: DARK 101, ELEM 201 (can be taken concurrently)
Description: The study of the magic of living things would not be complete without a thorough investigation of one of Equestria's most magical creatures: the unicorns themselves. This course will teach the specifics of unicorn anatomy, and while the whole body will be covered briefly, the bulk of the class will pay particular attention to the parts of it that differ from that of pegasi and earth ponies. Students will be expected to name and identify the organs in the unicorn nervous system, and illustrate where in the body magic is generated, where it is stored, the nervous pathways it takes to reach the horn, as well as the structures within the horn that convert it into the desired type of external energy. The physiological workings of these organs will also be examined in depth, such as how the unicorn body absorbs and generates magic from its surroundings, how the body avoids overheating or damaging other organs while carrying such large amounts of energy, and physical responses to magical fatigue. A newly added lesson will explain the malignant effects of dark magic use, and how body structures gradually corrupt and degrade when darkness is repeatedly channeled through the unicorn nervous system. This is the only required course for all students in the Magical Biology discipline, and does NOT require completion of the elective MBIO 100 or any of the skills acquired therein.
MBIO 210
Magic of Plants and Animals
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 2, 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 100
Description: Every living thing in Equestria has a unique magic inside of it. Once students have learned the skill of reaching out to meet that magic with their own, the next step is to learn to strengthen that bond and to broaden the spectrum of benefits that linking magic can have. In order to accomplish these goals, students must first learn more about the innate magic of other living things, and the similarities and differences it has from their own. This zoology and botany course will introduce students to a wide range of Equestrian flora and fauna. Plant species with magical traits will be examined; students will learn how to predict the unusual effects of contact with plants such as poison joke or heart's desire. Numerous magical animals will be examined and even worked with as well, such as lightning-producing flashbees and petrifying cockatrices, to name a few. Internal, unexpressed magic is just as important, and students will become familiar with the hidden magic within "everyday" plants and animals as well. While knowledge of a species' abilities is useful, It is this deep, inner magic that forms the basis of this field of study, and will be the focus of the higher level courses in this specialization.
MBIO 220
Potions
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 2, 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 100
Description: Potions are liquid mixtures of magically-active plants and other ingredients that can be ingested to grant the consumer powerful, but temporary, abilities. While covered at a basic level in MBIO 100, there is such a staggering variety of uses for potions and ways to prepare them that the academy offers this course focused purely on concocting them. Students will learn proper techniques for preparing ingredients, cutting, crushing, and measuring to an extremely precise degree. Lectures will be given regularly on the potential effects of each ingredient, and how it interacts with to enhance or deaden other ingredients. Finished potions will be prepared and tested weekly; the strength and accuracy of the effects to the assignment will determine the scores given on these exercises. Potions fill a similar role to enchantments, in that both provide the user with an ability they wouldn't have otherwise, like heightening senses or granting unique abilities, and while enchantments are by far the more widely-used, some students prefer to study potions for their far stronger (but much shorter-lived) effects compared to their enchantment counterparts.
MBIO 300
Magical Biology II
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 201, MBIO 210
Description: This mid-level course is a primer on what to expect when delving deep into the hearts of various Equestrian organisms. Students will learn how certain means of mental interaction will be more beneficial than others, depending on what their magic is linked with. A flower responds well to slow and gentle magical prompts, while a mighty tree needs a more assertive link, reaching high and holding strong like the tree's own branches. The same is true for animals, though the complexity is greater; from timid to bold, from trusting to crafty, different species think and experience the world in different ways, and being able to judge how best to approach them when entering their hearts will always lead to a stronger and more fruitful magical connection. By the end of the term, students should be able to feel what's in the heart of any plant or animal reflected in their own whenever they reach out with a life spell, and sending signals to their target organism to get a physical reaction or encourage a specific emotional state should be second nature.
MBIO 310
Healing Spells
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 300 (Can be taken concurrently)
Description: Healing spells are the most sought-after skill in the entire discipline of Magical Biology. As the name implies, healing spells are used to alleviate or even completely reverse illness and injury. There is, however, a catch: the effectiveness of the spell is dependent entirely on the strength of the connection the caster has established with the target's heart. The more robust the channel between them, the more deeply the healing magic can reach into the target's own inherent magic, allowing it to heal damage and quash sickness more completely. This applies in both pony-to-pony spells, and spells where the target is another living thing, but the spells have no effect at all if cast on a target externally, rather than channeled directly into the heart. Students will use their skills establishing a connection with life from other MBIO courses to send healing energy from their horns, practicing refreshment spells to alleviate fatigue and soreness, mending spells to bring together cuts and fuse fractures shut, and curative spells to boost the target's immune system to cure bacterial and viral infection.
MBIO 400
The Flow of Magic in Living Things
Instructor: Professor Lumen
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: PHYS 201, MBIO 300
Description: Magic flows, unseen, through every inch of Equestria and all of its denizens. In prerequisite classes, students will have learned about the physical properties of magic, and how the unicorn body generates, stores, and channels it. But what about the other races of pony, and all other life in Equestria, who don't express magic in the same way? This course studies the universal mechanisms of life that allow living things to take in, and to express, in their unique ways, the latent magic of Equestria that is all around us. Magic also flows from individual to individual, in many cases unconsciously; students will study magic's role in the maintenance of entire ecosystems comprised of individuals that aren't even aware of it. They will also learn both spell-based and technological methods of sensing and measuring magic in an individual or an area, and examine the pattern of changes in its flow through living things as a result of fluctuations in latent magic in the environment.
MBIO 410
Advanced Potions
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 220, MBIO 300
Description: With the right recipe and preparation, potions can have extremely dramatic effects. A great deal of skill is needed, though, to ensure the most advanced potions are both effective and safe. Students will learn to magically activate ingredients, causing them to change to a more potent, and sometimes volatile, state when exposed to certain types of unicorn magic. Some ingredients used in the most fantastic and powerful potions can even be poisonous or otherwise harmful on their own, so before preparing any potions with these ingredients, students will learn to brew antidotes, curative draughts that instantly negate the effects of a potion, in case of ingestion of an improperly prepared mixture. Students will always be required to have an antidote on hand in this course, and are strongly encouraged to do so if brewing a potion outside of class; this is a widely accepted safety practice in the field. As a failsafe backup, unicorns will also learn a spell to test any potion, resulting in a color change that indicates whether or not it is safe to consume. Once properly educated and prepared, ponies will use these ingredients to produce potions capable of vastly boosting magical power, or ones that grant unique (though very temporary) physical capabilities, such as immense speed, or the ability to see through or even pass through objects. Potions are even capable of transforming the drinker into another pony race, or a different species entirely, if only for a matter of minutes. While some of these potential effects may seem to put enchantments to shame, potions come at a cost of time and difficulty; even a tiny mismeasurement of an ingredient can change or deactivate a potion's entire effect, and some potions need to be stirred or simmered for hours or even days. Ponies with the patience, skill, and careful attention to detail to brew them, though, will have access to one of magic's most powerful and versatile resources.
MBIO 500
Magical Biology III
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 300, PRAC 300, WEAV 301
Description: The primary focus of this course is to perfect the sending, receiving, and interpreting of information through the standard life connection spell that has been in use since MBIO 100. Students will deeply interact with plants and animals' hearts, tapping into every aspect of their target's innermost being. By this phase of their magical education, students should be able to perform this spell with ease, and so will now focus on using the information and feelings found there to diagnose problems such as illness and injury, infestation, dehydration, nutrient deficiencies, and more. Unique specimens from the far-reaches of Equestria will be presented in this class as well, and detailed reports on the differences observed when interacting with these species' hearts compared to those of local flora and fauna will be a regular part of classwork. Students of this course will hopefully have a great respect for life and know how to develop a lasting relationship with beings of other species, and can then learn to use magical biology to bind a familiar to themselves. A familiar is an animal who has mutually allowed their heart to be linked to a unicorn's in the long term. Familiars can then be summoned at will, using far less magic and effort than a teleportation spell, to assist their unicorn partner in various ways, and then sent back to their habitat just as easily. Of course, the spell to bind a familiar will not work unless unicorn and animal both harbor deep trust for one another in their hearts. Students will not be required to bind a familiar in this course, but the magical mechanism will be studied in case magical biologists decide to make use of it later in their lives.
MBIO 510
Emerging Frontiers in Magical Biology
Instructor: Professor Chestnut
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 500 (Must be taken concurrently)
Description: "Emerging Frontiers" courses are very temporary additions to the academy's curriculum, added whenever a specific magical specialization has recently had a major breakthrough that is causing the field to undergo a major restructuring as a result. After a few years, once the new knowledge is widely and fully understood by scholars of that field, the contents of the course will be assimilated with the other permanent courses of the curriculum, but students who are interested in exploring the cutting edge are free to take these temporary courses. Magical Biology is currently undergoing one such renaissance with the very recent discovery of a new and exceptionally complicated spell dubbed 'Lifesight'. Lifesight allows the user to link their heart on a basic level with all living things within a certain radius of the caster. This is accomplished without the unicorn needing to dedicate their full concentration to the mind of their targets, so unicorns can continue to walk, talk, and analyze their surroundings while communing with the ecosystem. So far, Lifesight has been used to detect unseen organisms, make quick work of population studies, send mental suggestions to large groups of organisms at once, and detect ecological trends in an environment by comparing the physical status of dozens or even hundreds of organisms inside the spell's radius. Naturally, a spell with these properties is set to redefine the field once top magical biologists learn to properly cast and further refine the spell. Lifesight's spellweaver, Honeydew, a recent academy graduate and incredibly skilled magical biologist, has agreed to work with the academy's staff for the few years this course is available, and will visit approximately once per month throughout the term to aid in teaching both the theory and practice of Lifesight. At this time, Honeydew remains the only pony who has learned to cast the spell to its full potential, but academy professors and other scholars of magic across Equestria are hard at work practicing and optimizing the means of casting it for wider use.
MNPC - Magic of Non-pony Cultures
MNPC 101
Inherent Magic of Earth Ponies and Pegasi
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 1, 2 (Required)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: While Earth Ponies and Pegasi are certainly not "non-pony cultures", studying the ways non-unicorn ponies use magic is the first stepping stone to understanding the magic wielded by other sapient species. This course will teach unicorn students about our pony brethren of the other two races, and compare and contrast the magic of all three ponykinds. Particular attention will be paid to tasks that are simple for the other races but are difficult or impossible for unicorns without the aid of powerful spells and years of practice, as well as exploration of each race's contributions to Equestrian society as a whole as a result of their inherent talents. A brief field trip to the base of Canterlot mountain to spend the day with local earth pony farmers is included in the curriculum, as is a visit to the Canterlot weather team to observe how pegasus magic creates our weather.
MNPC 300
Changelings
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: TRCO 101, MNPC 101, MBIO 201
Description: Few Equestrian races have magic as robust as the changeling, but until recent years, study of this magic was all but impossible, as pony and changeling societies were at odds, with no positive interactions. Now that this has changed, magical scholars are quickly learning much about our insectoid neighbors. Students in this class will learn about the changeling version of self-transformation magic, and the combination of physical, magical, and behavioral factors that allow these creatures to change their form (one of the most difficult spells from a unicorn's perspective) with ease. The magical mechanism that allows changelings to convert love into a form that is capable of powering their metabolism will also be studied. Students of this course will get an opportunity to visit the changeling kingdom, a place that is now considered fully safe and welcoming to ponies, to learn more about changeling culture and customs that are a result of their ability to near-effortlessly restructure their entire anatomy.
MNPC 310
Hippogriffs and Seaponies
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: TRCO 101, MNPC 101, HIST 110, MBIO 201
Description: The known, but rarely interacted with, hippogriff species, and the oft assumed to be mythical seapony species have recently been confirmed to actually be one in the same. The hippogriff and seapony race has developed two entirely unique ways of life as a result of a magical artifact, the Pearl of Aris, that allows for drastic and seemingly-permanent transformation of the body. While both forms keep the equine elements of their anatomy, they can switch from eagle to fish features and back again, without any need for direct magical input, simply by coming in contact with its energy. Students of this course will study the hippogriff/seapony dichotomy and the simple magics that each of their respective forms is capable of. Inherent hippogriff magic resembles pegasus magic, while seapony magic is quite unlike anything ponies can do without the aid of spells, though those familiar with water spells will recognize some similarities. Pairs of students will team up on one project where each student studies one of the two potential forms, compiling a list of advantages and challenges that come with their assigned form, and then compare and contrast their research with their partner's parallel set.
MNPC 320
Kirins
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: MNPC 101, ELEM 201, MBIO 201
Description: Kirins are a rare and fascinating equine species with a society not so different from that of ponies. Like unicorns, Kirins sport a horn used to channel magical energy, and while they don't have quite the range of abilities with it that unicorns do, they can cast practical spells as well as their pony counterparts. Of much greater interest, however, is the magic unique to their species; elemental and transformation magic triggered not by conscious spellcasting, but by emotional fluctuation. When angry, the Kirin transforms into a Nirik. The bushy mane, tail, and fetlock hair spontaneously ignite, and the entire body abruptly undergoes a near-instant major biochemical shift, becoming flame-resistant to protect the creature from its own energy. An enraged Nirik can generate fire magic at a level that unicorns simply can't physically match, and is indeed one of the strongest known expressions of elemental magic by any Equestrian creature. Students will learn all about how this species has tied emotional and elemental magic together in a previously unknown way, the physiological triggers that allow them to endure the sudden, devastating release of energy without harming themselves, and how Kirin society as adapted to deal with occurrences of their Nirik alter-egos.
MNPC 330
Magic of Other Equestrian Races
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: MNPC 101, ELEM 201, MBIO 201
Description: All of Equestria's sapient races have some form of inherent magic, but not every species is equal in that respect, though the races with less get along just fine with what they have. However, creatures without such a wide range of magical abilities don't have enough magic to study to fill a whole academy course. In this class, students will examine not one, but three races with narrower magical options. First will be the study of the proud and powerful yaks, a species with strength that outclasses even earth ponies, and a natural resistance to both natural elements and elemental magic. Second, students will learn about the griffons, who share with pegasi the ability to fly and to stand or walk on clouds. Lastly, the dragons will receive special attention. These reptilian creatures are completely immune to heat and fire, and have a unique breath-based magic capable of a range of magical functions. While fire breath is the most well known, dragons can also use their breath to send objects across long distances with teleportation, and can even use it for a certain degree of transformational magic. By the end of this course, it will be clear to students that although unicorns are often assumed to be the most accomplished in terms of magical expertise, many races that are often overlooked in this aspect have many unique magical abilities all their own.
MNPC 400
Zebra Shamans
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 201, MBIO 220, MBIO 310
Description: The Zebras are an equine race that share a common ancestor with ponies. Though zebras are most similar to earth ponies physically, their shamans have found ways to access several types of magic, most commonly in the field of magical biology. While much of the zebras' collective knowledge remains a secret kept within their culture, this course breaks down what we do know about their unique magic. Many zebra shamans are experts with potions, and with access to unique ingredients in their native land, have developed many mysterious brews previously unknown to unicorns. Students, who will have background knowledge of potions from prerequisite courses, will study known zebra recipes, and how to identify and use their unique ingredients. In addition, ponies will study zebras' unique style of healing that sits somewhere between more traditionally medical and truly magical. Zebra magic may at first seem like something anypony with the right knowledge can replicate, but students will find this is untrue; zebras have a type of spoken magic, in the form of chants and rhymes, that have no effect when spoken by unicorns or other races. These spoken spells affect their potions and healing methods in ways unicorns cannot copy, making their methods altogether different than the unicorn magical biology techniques it parallels. Zebras have even managed what unicorns so far have not, and discovered a way to access temporary clairvoyant abilities through use of potions enhanced with their linguistic spells, to view the past and future as as clearly as if they're actually there.
MNPC 410
Unique Magical Entities
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: HIST110, HIST 210, MBIO 201, one MNPC 300-level course
Description: It only takes a few classes in the MNPC specialization to demonstrate how each race, pony or otherwise, has magic unique to their species. Throughout Equestria's history, however, there have been a hoofful of unique magical entities, of which there are only a few or even just one, rather than an entire race. These creatures are intelligent and often very powerful, wielding magic not seen in any other beings. In this course, students will study the magic of a few of history's most notable unique entities and what we have been able to uncover about the powers they wield. Recognizable figures from Magic in History classes will be studied, such as Tirek, the centaur capable of stealing and absorbing magic of other creatures, Ahuizotl, the guardian of the Tenochtitlan basin, who can speak with and command animals, and even Discord, the draconequus who effortlessly employs chaos magic, a powerful but often-nonsensical field of magic completely inaccessible to any other creature, that seems to have worryingly few limits and fails to obey the laws of magical physics by which all other magic is constrained. All of these entities and more will be examined in this class, but not with a focus on their impact on history. Instead, lessons will be conducted from the perspective of investigating their magical abilities.
PHYS - Physics of Magic
PHYS 101
Mathematics
Instructor: Professor Lumen
Terms available: 1, 2 (Required)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: Spellcasting at the level required for day-to-day activities in the life of the average unicorn is often almost unconscious, repeating a simple routine to perform a single task with a low level of magical power. However, at Celestia's Academy, students will eventually be required to use far more powerful spells requiring a great deal of planning, concentration, and energy to perform well. Because such transfers of energy are so massive, it can quickly become very difficult for spells to achieve their desired effect without first performing equations to calculate the amount of magic needed for a spell and in what ways it needs to be channeled. In order to avoid this hurdle in high-level classes, first or second term students are required to take this mathematics course, which will teach the arithmetical skills needed for such equations, including algebra and important concepts of calculus such as derivatives and integrals. This course involves no magic, yet it is a very important foundational class; the math skills involved in physics calculations must be second nature before they can be effectively applied to spellcasting.
PHYS 201
Properties of Unicorn Magic
Instructor: Professor Lumen
Terms available: 2, 3 (Required)
Prerequisites: PHYS 101
It's common knowledge that unicorns are capable of casting magic. But what is magical energy itself? This course takes this formless phenomenon that allows us to be capable of nearly limitless advances, and breaks it down into a logical, predictable, and quantifiable components. Students will be tasked with memorizing and employing formulas, first worked out by prominent unicorn physicists, to demonstrate mathematically why magic can do what it does. Vector measurements will be used to explain how specific spells can change in duration and intensity when channeled along the entire horn vs. only near the tip, and geometric diagrams will be drawn to scale to demonstrate the range a given spell can fly from its origin on the caster's horn. Students will also examine how magic, which starts out in the same form inside the horn regardless of what type of spell is about to be cast, can have completely different effects, from moving objects, to transformation, to enchantment. This too, has to do with how the energy is channeled, and can be quantified. Evaluation of student progress will often be accomplished by presenting an energy matrix, and requiring one to work backwards to determine what sort of spell produced the numbers provided.
PHYS 300
Energy Transfer Equations
Instructor: Professor Lumen
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: PHYS 201
Description: Highly complex spells are very difficult to cast because of the extreme precision needed to channel unicorn magic in exactly the right way to produce the desired effect. This course is offered for those who plan to work with high-complexity spells, and/or compound spells with many components, during their latter three terms at the academy, by teaching the specialized math skills necessary to calculate the exact energy inputs needed for any given spell. Students will memorize and perform calculations with formulae for typical, common spells, such as a levitation spell, a hoofful of common enchantments, standard elemental spells, and the teleport spell. Using these existing values as a baseline, and accounting for energy lost during conversion in the horn, they will then derive solutions for unknown spells presented in differential equations. Energy transfer equations like these are extremely helpful when devising the easiest way to cast a spell that needs a lot of power or precision, such as a teleport, an enchantment on a medium that doesn't accept magic well, high-complexity transformation and conjuring, or any sort of combination spell. They're also absolutely required for even the simplest of spellweaving.
PHYS 310
Formal Mathematics
Instructor: Professor Lumen
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: PHYS 201
Description: For upper level magic classes, it is oftentimes highly useful to prove the feasibility of spells, in a formal method. This course teaches the fundamentals of advanced mathematics, which are useful for application in a number of high level fields. Topics covered include propositional logic, naive set theory, mathematical induction, relations, orders, functions, and countability. Additionally, domain specific knowledge and problems are introduced towards the end of the term, depending on the pony's specialization, if already decided. If the pony is not decided, or has special interest, then modern algebra is covered instead. Modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures, including morphisms, groups, rings, and fields. While often far removed from reality, nonetheless applications do still remain, especially with use of the most advanced practical magic spells, customizing spell combinations, and spellweaving.
PHYS 400
Magic Thermodynamics
Instructor: Professor Lumen
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: PHYS 300
Description: The casting of any spell involves a transfer of energy between two points in a system. Physics tells us, however, that all energy transfers are imperfect; some energy in lost in transit and given off as light and/or heat. Just like burning fuel or using electricity, magic in its base form is just energy, and is subject to the same rules. This mathematics-centric course explains how to account for thermodynamics in magic-based systems. Students will learn to calculate and account for the entropy in spellcasting, and how this value varies based on the situation, such as how the caster chooses to channel the spell in their horn, and what mediums the magic travels through after leaving the caster. Some spells, such as teleportation, involve such a massive energy transfer in such a short time, that the heat they give off can affect the caster and nearby ponies. Most students will likely have experienced this, singeing their fur when first learning to teleport. Thermodynamic calculations are recommended before working with very high-energy spells, especially unknown spell prototypes tested during spellweaving, to prevent unwittingly damaging surroundings with excess amounts of residual energy. Thermodynamics are also important in the operation of magic-powered machinery, especially large factory devices that run on massive batteries of stored unicorn magic, to prevent overloads, melting, or shorting-out of their components.
PHYS 410
Magic's Role in Technology
Instructor: Professor Lumen
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: PHYS 300
Description: In both the large scale as seen in our grand cities, to the small creature comforts and gadgets we use each day, modern Equestria is a far cry from the land that was here at the time of its founding. Magic has always played a pivotal role in the development of technology and industrialization. This course teaches students about the design and function of magic-based tech. Students will learn about circuitry designed to carry magic, which differ from electrical circuits since magic flows more slowly and its ideal conductors are different. There is also a greater spectrum of "acceptable" designs, since accidental contact with actively flowing magic will not harm a pony like electricity would. Energy flow calculations that account for the type of materials used and the distance and rate at which the magic must travel will be commonplace in lessons and homework. Magical batteries and other storage devices will be explained, and students will routinely need to use available resources to build and operate magic-powered devices, beginning with simple devices like illumination orbs, and as the course goes on, advancing to more complex mechanics. The operation and reading of thaumatographs, devices that measure the flow of magical frequencies, will be involved in ensuring the proper operation of some machines. By the end of the term, students will need to custom-design magic-based propulsion systems for carts and carriages. Practical exams will present ponies with disabled or poorly-functioning equipment, and require them to use what they've learned of physics and technology to restore it to working order or optimize its functionality. Anypony with engineering career plans in their future should be certain not to miss the chance to add this course to one of their later terms.
PRAC - Practical Magic
PRAC 101
Practical Magic
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 1 (Required)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: This basic skills course is perhaps the most important to any student's overall success at the Academy. Students will become familiar with the five major fields of practical magic, and greatly improve their proficiency with levitation and illumination spells for use in many other courses. Magical manipulation of objects, simple illusions, and teleportation spells will also be covered at a basic level. Magical strength drills will be conducted regularly to hone magical endurance for later use in more complicated spells. Students will also be introduced to the concept of splitting mental energy between multiple targets, usually practiced by levitating increasingly large numbers of objects at once, since levitation spells require some of the lowest energy input and simplest technique of all spells. All examinations will rely heavily on practical portions to ensure basic magical aptitude meets expected standards for first-level students. This course is a rigorous start to the curriculum of study at the Academy, and ponies who complete the required coursework will be at least on par with the skills of most typical adult unicorns by the end of their first term.
PRAC 201
Object Manipulation in Professional Trades
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 2, 3 (Required)
Prerequisites: PRAC 101
Description: Object manipulation is one of the most important skills in the unicorn workplace. Students will fine-tune horn control skills until they can use magic to move objects with precision of within one millimeter. Magic will be used to complete complex actions such as writing, knot tying, and use of tools. Students will also learn to move items in their aura as involuntarily as they move their body, and will be expected to demonstrate performance of simple object manipulation tasks when deprived of one or more senses. They will also practice manipulating multiple objects that are operated in different ways, while all of said objects are under their magical control at the same time. This mental multitasking is extremely useful in almost every field of magic. Near the end of term, brief three-day internships at participating businesses around Canterlot will give students an opportunity to use object manipulation in a professional setting.
PRAC 202
Illusions
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 2, 3 (Required)
Prerequisites: PRAC 101
Description: Illusions are spells that involve the manipulation of light to fool the sense of sight, by creating or manipulating the way objects are visually perceived. This course will build on the basic illusion concepts utilized in PRAC 101. Illumination spells will be practiced at a greater intensity to ensure an appropriate amount of light can be produced for subsequent manipulation. In addition to changing the appearance of existing objects, students will be tasked with creating illusions entirely from scratch, bringing illusory visions into being in empty air. The opposite scenario, invisibility spells, will also be explored in depth and applied to nonliving, stationary objects. This course will involve several group projects in which students will work together to create complex illusions with multiple moving or changing elements within them. Students are encouraged to experiment with what they learn; illusion spells can be very convincing even on a very grand scale if cast correctly, and students with background knowledge in physics of magic may succeed at doing things with them far more impressive than what is required for this course.
PRAC 203
Teleportation and Summoning
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 2, 3, 4, 5 (Required)
Prerequisites: PRAC 101, ENCH 101
Description: Teleportation and summoning spells make up two sides of the same coin; they both use magic to transfer a passenger from one location to another at an almost infinite speed. The only difference is that teleportation spells transport the caster themselves, while summoning spells are used to bring others to the caster's position. While simple in a technical sense, these spells require a high energy input and intense concentration. Students will be tasked with summoning small creatures from increasing distances, starting with the length of the classroom and escalating to across nearly the whole academy campus. Students will also need to learn to summon targets they don't have a direct line of sight to. Teleportation usually takes longer to gain proficiency at, but regular self-levitation workouts in class will build both magical endurance and concentration skills until students are able to teleport successfully. The remainder of the term will be spent improving technique; by the end of this course, students will be expected to be able to teleport to within four pony lengths of the intended destination, and should be adept enough at correctly focusing the large amount of magical energy carrying them to "cleanly" teleport, meaning that they no longer singe any fur during travel.
PRAC 300
Advanced Summoning
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: PRAC 203, PHYS 201
Description: There is much more to summoning than just teleporting something or somepony to you. In this course, students will learn to create summoning circles, ring-shaped designs that can be empowered with magic to act as a portal to summon creatures from further away than the reach of a conventional teleport. Despite being a two-dimensional design, summoning circles are not runes, and do not serve any other magical purpose outside the field of summoning, so students will not need to have begun the RUNE specialization to succeed in this course. Students will learn the specifics of summoning circle design, and how to correctly design each one to account for what type of creature they're trying to summon, how large it is, and what distance and region of the world it's being summoned from. In addition, this course will detail the creation and maintenance of teleport anchors. This name is actually a misnomer; a teleport anchor is not a teleport, but essentially a reverse summoning spell, in which the caster magically links two parts of the same object in different locations, and activates one in order to create a portal to the other, effectively letting the caster summon themselves to the opposite anchor's location. During exams, students will need to summon volunteers from unknown locations around campus via correct construction and empowerment of summoning circles.
PRAC 400
Advanced Illusions
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: PRAC 202, PHYS 300
Description: Many unicorns will no doubt have realized that the field of illusions is bursting with possibility. Budding illusionists seeking ways to take full advantage of this group of spells are encouraged to make Advanced Illusions a part of their upperclassman curriculum. Students will practice detailed refinement tactics to increase how convincing their illusions are. They will practice spells under different levels of lighting, as well as in sunlight vs. artificial light, and with available light coming from different angles; all of these conditions can be adjusted for by refocusing the spell in specific ways. Moving illusions are also much trickier than stationary ones, as ponies will have discovered in past courses. Tiny adjustments to correct for illusion distortions caused by movement will be explained and practiced at length. Perfecting illusions under all these different circumstances is often tedious or even impossible with just trial and error; ponies will be expected to use energy transfer equations to find discrepancies in their light manipulation mathematically, after which it's easy to determine how to refocus said light. In addition, students will learn complex types of illusions not practiced in earlier courses; the invisibility spells first used in PRAC 202 will now be applied to the caster instead of just solid objects, and each pony will engage in light refraction training regularly until they can consistently bend light around themselves, completely hiding from view even when in motion. Each student will also learn to create a replica of themselves entirely from illusion, and move it independently from themselves, not just mirroring their actions. Ambitious illusionists may even attempt to create more than one such replica at a time.
PRAC 500
Practical Spell Mastery
Instructor: Professor Morningstar
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: PRAC 300, PHYS 310, PRAC 400, RUNE 301, WEAV 301
Description: Much like the introductory class, this course touches on all five subfields of practical magic, but this time gives instruction on the use of practical spells at the very highest level. Ponies will be expected to use levitation and manipulation to such a degree that they essentially become a one-pony assembly line, carrying dozens and dozens of objects in their aura at once and performing many different operative movements with said object simultaneously. This requires intense practice at splitting one's attention many ways without neglecting any one element. Students will also expand their knowledge again on illumination and illusion topics, casting many different illusions at once, learning to wield pony-specific illusions that affect what one pony sees while showing no such illusion to other bystanders, and even the creation of illusion domes, full environmental illusions that completely surround an area, making it appear to anypony inside that they've been transported to a completely different place. Finally, teleportation spells will receive this same mastery-level treatment; ponies will be required to teleport relatively long distances with pinpoint accuracy on x, y, and z axes, and will even learn to cast teleportation matrices, which is essentially a set of portals that allows ponies to teleport to any of the locations of these portals by entering any other portal in that matrix. Students who complete this course will be equipped with the magical knowledge to make day-to-day tasks many times easier than they would be for the untrained unicorn.
RUNE - Runes and Spell Boosters
RUNE 301
Introduction to Rune Use
Instructor: Professor Luster
Terms available: 3 (Required)
Prerequisites: PRAC 101, ENCH 201
Description: Celestia's Academy teaches exceptional spellcasting, and one of the most reliable ways to make a spell exceptional is to enhance that spell with additional magic sources or modifiers. The most common way to do this by far is with the use of runes. Once students have learned a broad range of spells in their first two terms, this staple third-term course provides an introduction to the use of runes. Students will learn many of the most common runes, with this particular course focusing mainly on more general runes with a broad range of uses, so even a relatively small subset of rune options can improve a tremendous variety of spells from other fields. This will include raw-power-increasing runes that can be paired with spells with a consistent, ongoing effect, such as enchantments and illusions, and runes that focus magic in specific ways, to make spells that are very difficult or require very high precision easier to perform. Lessons will demonstrate the importance of runes being depicted exactly right in order to gain their full effect, and students will extensively practice penmanship, drawing and painting runes with magic, to ensure they can create simple runes with ease before dealing with more complex ones in later courses.
RUNE 400
Runic Syllabary
Instructor: Dean Sparkler
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: RUNE 301
Description: This is the core course of the RUNE specialization, and while not required for all students, is highly recommended for students of nearly every specialization, barring the select few that won't benefit from runic enhancement. In this course, students will learn to determine the way any rune they come across might enhance its associated spell based on elements of its design. Each individual shape comprising a finished rune— straight lines, sharp corners, smooth curves, tight spirals, etc.— affects the way magic is expressed. Runes to increase an object's capacity to hold magic will be studied, a technique useful for both enchantments and magic-powered devices. Another focus will be runes placed on the caster's surroundings to broaden the area of effect of a spell cast within their proximity, allowing for spells that are very large in physical scale without much increase in required power. Runes can even be used to broaden the "definition" of a specific enchantment— that is, allow it to accomplish more than the spell would have on its own. To use a simple example, an enchanted necklace meant to keep the wearer warm even in bitter cold could be enhanced with runes to emit heat outwardly as well, allowing ponies close to its owner to benefit from its effects. Options for rune creation will also be extended from those taught in RUNE 301 to include rune engraving; more permanent runes have stronger effects than temporary ones, so runes carved or burned into a surface are superior to those just drawn or painted on. Students will practice creating precise engravings with runecrafter's chisels until they can copy runes perfectly in this medium.
RUNE 410
Rune Design
Instructor: Dean Sparkler
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: RUNE 400 (can be taken concurrently)
Description: Rune Design is best described as an expansion to Runic Syllabary, that can be taken either alongside or after that course. The same concepts for rune creation and use will be used parallel to their first use in RUNE 400, with the key difference being that this course focuses on designing and utilizing custom runes, created from scratch to augment specific spells of the caster's choosing. Students will study the individual effects on magic that closed shapes, angles, and curves of a rune can have, as well as how all of the constituents of the rune interact with one another, and how the positions of the individual elements of the rune relative to one another modify the overall effect of the finished rune. While any compendium of runes will contain thousands of tried-and-true choices for runic enhancement, the possibilities made available in rune customization are in the billions or greater. During assignments, students will receive a specific common spell, and a specific desired type of upgrade to that spell, and create three to five custom runes that can accomplish said upgrade, along with a written breakdown presenting logic behind the custom design, and the pros and cons of each of the options they create.
RUNE 420
Other Spell Boosters
Instructor: Professor Luster
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: ENCH 301, RUNE 301, MBIO 300
Description: As students will have learned, runes are the most common external way to enhance a spell, but they are not the only way. RUNE 420 is an upper level course for students interested in the broader field of spell boosters. Ponies will learn how to convert objects into magic pylons; these structures contain magic, similar to an enchantment, but pylons do not express a specific spell; they simply hold onto magical energy so it can be exuded over a specific area. When a pylon is activated, unicorns in proximity can take advantage of its stored magic to cast spells of above-average strength until its energy reservoir runs dry. A completely different but equally valid spell boosting method is pony-to-pony magic transfer. In most cases, if a task requires the work of multiple unicorns, the simplest way to complete it is for all unicorns in the group to cast the needed spell on their target at once. In certain circumstances where the magic must be received in the form of just one incoming spell, however, unicorns can link their minds and hearts with life spells practiced in Magical Biology, and then donate some magic through the link to temporarily heighten the magic of the recipient. This process has no ill effects and the donor will rebuild their magic reserves naturally over the following hours as they would after casting any normal spell. Students will be presented with scenarios in class where their goal is out of reach with typical spellcasting, and need to employ the correct type of spell booster at the correct strength to complete the assigned task.
RUNE 500
Runic Sigils
Instructor: Dean Sparkler
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: RUNE 400, RUNE 410
Description: Runic Sigils, sometimes simply called rune circles, are complex, symmetrical, circular runes drawn on the ground. Once empowered with magic, they can have tremendous power over anything inside their border. The symbols used in the internal design of a sigil have some of the same properties as individual runes, but work together with one another in a much more integrated way that combines their power multiplicatively. Students of this course will learn the necessary geometric skills to create the circle and perfectly symmetrical internal designs needed to make an effective sigil. They will also learn how to use the sigil's components for different effects, including restricting the magic or even physically trapping beings inside of it, summoning or banishing creatures from dramatically further away than even the most powerful standard summoning spell, modifying, upgrading, or duplicating spells cast inside its borders, or even containing and neutralizing out of control magic. A sigil's ability to modify magic is far beyond that of any regular rune, and when used correctly, can completely reshape ideal spellcasting strategies, or turn the tide in any duel. Even dark magic can be restricted or cancelled with, something few branches of unicorn magic can claim, though these uses for them are covered in DARK 500.
TRCO - Transformation and Conjuring
TRCO 101
Transformation and Conjuring I
Instructor: Professor Flux
Terms available: 1 (Required)
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: Transformation and Conjuring are two closely-related fields of magic that involve physically modifying matter. In this first level class, students will practice transformation spells to change the shape or size of small objects of uniform composition. Alchemy, or using transformation magic to change an object's makeup at the atomic or molecular level, will also be explored at a basic level, though elective courses are available that focus solely on this topic. Conjuring, or creating entire objects from loose particles, is a more difficult type of spell, and will only be touched upon for the final few weeks of the term. By the end of the year, students should be able to freely modify small objects, from changes as small as fixing cracks in wood or stone, up to and including fully changing one object into another. Alchemization of pure elements into other elements, especially those adjacent to the starting element on the periodic table, should also be second nature.
TRCO 201
Transformation and Conjuring II
Instructor: Professor Flux
Terms available: 2 (Required)
Prerequisites: TRCO 101
Description: This course is simply the logical continuation of TRCO 101. Students will perform highly delicate work with transformation spells, using a magnifying glass to view microscopic magical changes to objects the way unicorns in cutting-edge tech careers do. And on the other end of the spectrum, students will practice with transforming much larger objects than those uses in the prerequisite course. In one multi-week project, boulders in one corner of the academy grounds will be assigned to each unicorn, and will need to be slowly shaped into the assigned form. Conjuring spells will be expected practiced much more earnestly in this course, and students will be expected to conjure objects of uniform composition, up to half their size, by the end of the term.
TRCO 210
Alchemy
Instructor: Professor Flux
Terms available: 2, 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: TRCO 101
Description: Alchemy is an alluring topic even to the average pony, since the name brings forth mental images of turning things to gold. In reality, alchemy is about converting any substance into a completely different one, of which gold is just one of thousands of options. As this is transformation magic on a sub-atomic level, this course will begin with several weeks of an accelerated basic chemistry curriculum. Students will need to memorize the periodic table by atomic number, and be aware of the stability of each element. Alchemization in this course will mostly be performed on pure elements, but students will be expected to eventually change these elements into others with dramatically different atomic numbers, adding or removing subatomic particles in large numbers with great accuracy. Creation of ions and isotopes will be practiced in the latter half of the term, a skill that is very useful for unicorns in certain manufacturing industries.
TRCO 301
Transformation and Conjuring III
Instructor: Professor Flux
Terms available: 3 (Required)
Prerequisites: TRCO 201
Description: Transformation and Conjuring III, always taken as part of the third-term curriculum, is often considered one of the most involved of the courses required for students of all specializations. These types of magic can be very useful when applied to other fields, though; any unicorn mage will find significant experience with transformation and conjuring to be invaluable. In this course, students will deviate from casting spells on uniform objects, and practice delicate techniques for transforming compound objects made of many materials. Spells will be taught to allow the caster to scan an object's composition, inside and out, to ensure that all parts of it are fully transformed, even those hidden from view. In compound transformations, this is especially important, as transformation imperfections can impact the structural integrity of the target object. Conjuring spells will also require a finer touch than in previous courses, as students will practice conjuring objects of specific shapes, a skill that will be necessary for ponies interested in pursuing conjuring spells in their fourth and fifth terms when they begin to conjure full objects instead of just uniform substances.
TRCO 310
Advanced Alchemy
Instructor: Professor Flux
Terms available: 3, 4, 5
Prerequisites: TRCO 201, TRCO 210
Description: To unlock alchemy's true potential, a unicorn must learn to work not with just pure elements, uncommon in nature, but with compounds as well. This single topic is the core principle of the Advanced Alchemy course. Students will learn to use magic to form and break bonds between atoms, and combine these molecular-level changes with the manipulation of subatomic particles practiced in TRCO 201, allowing them to construct compounds from entirely different starting materials. Stabilizing spells will also be learned early on; some stable compounds are made of dangerous or unstable elements, such as explosive sodium and poisonous chlorine combining to make table salt, as a very common example. Stabilizing spells use magic to forcibly deaden reactivity, allowing ponies to tinker with molecular structures without risk of exposing themselves to violent chemical reactions, poisonous emissions, or radiation. In addition, students will learn to identify a substance's chemical makeup purely by magic, and assignments on this topic will involve determining the identity of unknown substances, and using that information, performing the correct alchemical changes to end up at the correct target substance. Both organic and inorganic chemistry lessons will be dispersed throughout the course to provide students with background knowledge of common molecules and types of bonds to help paint a clearer picture of which actions each alchemy spell will need to arrive at the intended result.
TRCO 400
Introduction to Self-Transformative Spells
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 201, TRCO 301
Description: By their fourth or fifth term, anypony studying at Celestia's Academy will have a good grasp on the complex field of transformation magic. In the first few terms, however, one topic has been passed over due to the skill and power needed to even begin to work with it: self-transformation. While all prior courses will have focused exclusively on inanimate objects, this course gives students the rare opportunity to learn to temporarily physically modify themselves, their classmates, or other living things, with transformation magic. A word of caution: these spells are never permanent, so they cannot be used as a stand-in for healing spells by simply transforming an injured body part. Their duration depends on the power and skill of the caster. Most magic practiced in this class will include changing one's proportions; students will learn to increase or decrease the size of their body, change the length of legs, and modify bone structure and muscle mass. Spells can even modify things like length and texture of hair and fur or hardness of hooves. Ponies accomplished at this skill can briefly make themselves nearly two stories tall, or smaller than a centimeter, but these effects last only minutes. These spells mostly consist of modification of pre-existing body structures, rather than creation of new ones.
TRCO 410
Compound Conjuring
Instructor: Professor Flux
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: TRCO 301
Description: Conjuring is an incredible skill when used to its full potential, but due to its difficulty, students will have spent their first three terms conjuring only uniform substances. TRCO 410 gives now seasoned young mages the chance to learn the type of conjuring that captures most ponies' interest: compound conjuring, bringing entire objects, with multiple components and irregular or intricate shapes, into existence from surrounding particles. Students will begin by conjuring small objects made from a relatively low amount of different materials they already have experience with, such as wood and common metals. Simple household items will be created, such as quills and ink, cutlery, and construction tools. As the term continues, items composed of more materials will be added, as well as larger and more complicated objects, including food items and clothing articles. By the course's conclusion, students will regularly be expected to demonstrate their conjuring skills to complete "chores" while starting with nothing and conjuring all necessary components themselves, such as being presented with an empty table and conjuring the entire place setting for a meal, or washing dirty garments by conjuring their own soap, water, and even wash basin. They will also be responsible for conjuring larger objects, up to a maximum of their own size and weight.
TRCO 500
Advanced Transformation and Conjuring
Instructor: Professor Flux
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: TRCO 301, TRCO 410
Description: Here, fifth-term students will practice the highest degree of standard transformation and conjuring spells. Transformation magic in this class will transcend transforming items into specific, pre-planned objects. Instead, students will be given a task that needs to be completed using an object completely unsuited for the task, and will need to customize the object to fulfill the requirements. This will often require transforming the object into shapes that don't resemble any specific tool or item, or sometimes will be an amalgamation of multiple items at once, fashioned in a way that allows its different parts to work in tandem. Conjuring of large compound objects such as furniture, or smaller but highly detailed objects with mechanical and/or moving components, like a clock or a ceiling fan, while comprise most of the conjuring element of the class. By the end of the term, there should be very little limitation to a spellcaster's ability to create or change the form of almost any inanimate object.
TRCO 510
Self-Transformation
Instructor: Professor Nester
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: TRCO 400
Description: Ponies who excel with the self-modifying spells practiced in TRCO 400 may choose to venture into the realm of total self-transformation. Not a topic to be taken lightly, this highly advanced course will explore the topic of completely changing one's body. Students will put their transformation skills to the test, attempting age spells that can temporarily make the target physically older or younger, as well as spells to switch one's physical sex. The most difficult self-transformative spells can even add completely new body structures, or remove them. A simple form of this spell that is popular among self-transformation users is to briefly give themselves wings. (Note that making oneself physically resemble an alicorn does not suddenly bestow alicorn-level powers). A much more extreme example is full-body restructuring, allowing the spellcaster to transform themselves into a completely different species for a short time. This is vastly harder for unicorns to accomplish than it is for changelings, whose entire magical physiology is designed around excelling specifically at this one type of magic. Even if a unicorn can turn themselves into something else, they can't maintain that form for very long, and, unlike changelings, are completely incapable of turning themselves into inanimate objects. The magic studied in this course is without question one of the most difficult topics a unicorn can practice, so even students preparing to graduate are not expected to fully master the skill.
WEAV - Spellweaving and Spell Combinations
WEAV 100
Overview of Magical Disciplines
Instructor: Dean Sparkler
Terms available: 1, 2
Prerequisites: N/A
Description: This optional miscellaneous course is recommended for students who don't yet have a clear idea of what field of magic interests them the most or what sort of career they hope to use that magic for. WEAV 100 students will practice the most simple spells from every discipline taught at Celestia's Academy, at a level at or below that which is used in other 100-level courses. In addition, each of the Academy's professors will visit this class throughout the term, to discuss and demonstrate some of the most powerful and exciting spells in each of their respective specializations. Toward the end of the term, students will individually select three of the thirteen disciplines that interest them the most, and classwork and assignments for the remainder of the year will differ for each pony in order to give them a chance to pursue the topics that interest them most. By the end of this course, each student will have at least a starting point to confidently continue to pursue any of the Academy's disciplines, and can build their course schedule in their later terms accordingly to get the most out of their magical education.
WEAV 301
Intro to Spell Combination
Instructor: Princess Celestia
Terms available: 3 (Required)
Prerequisites: ELEM 201, ENCH 201, PRAC 201, PRAC 202
Description: The most advanced spells used by unicorn-kind, the tricks used by the most cunning duelists, clever enchanters, and astute illusionists, or by ponies doing spellweaving for any field of magic, are usually not spells belonging to a single discipline. Combination spells take two or more spells, often from entirely different fields of magic, and merge elements of each together to create a multidiscipline spell that's greater than the sum of its parts. In many courses available to upperclassmen, students will need to do exactly that, so this course for third term students teaches the key principles of spell combination. It's not as simple as casting two spells at once; not all spells produce a meaningful result when combined, and those that do will first need to be modified in some way in order to link together, so this intro course will give students a chance to practice existing simple spell combinations, rather than asking them to work out the correct combining process themselves. Typical combinations will include examples such as combining basic elemental spells with illusions to produce visual effects the illusions cannot produce on their own, or combining alchemy with enchantments to create enchanted containers that convert their contents into a specific substance.
WEAV 400
Introduction to Spellweaving
Instructor: Princess Celestia
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: WEAV 301, PHYS 300, RUNE 301
Description: Spellweaving is the long and complex process of research and testing used to create an entirely new spell. To even consider spellweaving, a unicorn must first have a deep understanding of the field of magic they wish to weave a spell for, as well as a familiarity with the scientific process and skill with physics of magic equations in order to document and quantify the series of failed or partially successful spell experiments performed in pursuit of one new fully functioning spell, so only students in their fourth term or above have the option to explore this process at even an introductory level. This course will give students the opportunity to design simple, single-purpose spells; enchantments and illusions are the most common options, as these fields are very, very broad and new simple spells are discovered by scholars regularly. Detailed reports of all aspects of the spell construction will be kept at all steps of the process, including the prototype spell's current effect (if any), level of magic input and degree of energy focus in the horn that was used (this data must be supported mathematically, not just described), a detailed list of spell shortcomings and weak points, and hypothesized amendments to the process to attempt to bring the spell closer to having its desired effect. Peer review of work-in-progress is often one of the biggest tools to clearing hurdles in the design process; students will participate in weekly group discussions with classmates where each of their respective prototypes are analyzed, so fellow spellweavers can put forth ideas each individual may have overlooked on their own. Some spells are far more feasible than others, so grading in this course is based on proper execution of the scientific process, not on the number of successfully designed spells.
WEAV 410
Complex Spell Combinations
Instructor: Princess Celestia
Terms available: 4, 5
Prerequisites: WEAV 301, PHYS 310, at least five additional courses at the 300 level or greater in any discipline
Description: This is a much more in-depth look at spell combinations, providing the opportunity to attempt difficult combinations, and even cast elaborate fusions of three or more spells. Students will practice useful combinations that accomplish goals that no other discipline can accomplish by alternate means. One such example is memory spells, a combination of an illusion and a magical biology connection spell, to project images of a memory, complete with the emotions held by the memory's owner, into the mind and heart of another. Another highly practical combination is the creation of wards, or barriers made by enchanting a shield spell so that it persists after casting, not as a physical barrier, but as a magical deterrent that can be used to subconsciously distract or misdirect specific targets to prevent them from crossing its boundary. Wards can even be enhanced with runes projected onto them with illumination spells so that attempts to cross them by the target the ward intends to block causes said target visual distortion or even physical discomfort. While not as effective as a solid shield, wards don't require continued input from the caster, and due to their invisibility after placement and subtle effects, are ideal for concealment, instead of just defense. These are just a few of many examples explored here. On top of that, students will even have the chance to experiment with custom combinations, where it should quickly become clear that, for ponies who are creative and clever enough, spell combinations are the key to unlocking some of magic's most unexpected and fascinating possibilities.
WEAV 500
Spellweaving Workshop
Instructor: Varies, see description.
Terms available: 5
Prerequisites: MBIO 201, WEAV 400, WEAV 410, full completion of one of the following specializations: BATT, ELEM, ENCH, MBIO, PRAC, or TRCO (500-level courses in that specialization must be taken concurrently.)
Description: This is an independent research course in which students will attempt to design a completely new spell in a field of their choice. Students will prepare a research proposal over the winter, and at the start of their fifth term, will be paired with whichever professor is most appropriate and has the greatest expertise with the field the student will be spellweaving for. During the first week of the term, student and professor will refine the proposal and the student will present their initial ideas for experiments to begin to shape their spell design. After this, the spellweaving research will be left largely in the hooves of the student, save for a one-hour meeting per week with their professor to discuss any successes, failures, and new information regarding the spell design process. Throughout the term, students will be expected to research their topic heavily, using the scientific spellweaving process they will have learned in previous WEAV courses to create prototype after prototype based on data from each attempt. Magical limitations of the unicorn body and the restrictions of magical physics will have to be taken into account, and students will need to justify each prototype with mathematical proofs, to ensure that failed versions of the spell being designed are the result of not perfecting the design, rather than because the spell is physically impossible for a unicorn to produce. A successful spellweaving operation is always exciting, but a big part of science is finding out what doesn't work, rather than what does. Professors will judge the student's work and award a score based on the methods, detail, and effort put into the research and spellweaving process, regardless of whether or not the final product was successful.
The sun set early on winter evenings. The cold and dark outside was no concern to the three unicorn foals, sharing a large blanket in front of the crackling hearth while they finished their task.
"Top! Top! Take the object manipulation course with me, pleeeeeease?" Portabella begged, kicking her hind hooves a bit as she lie on her stomach. "You gotta take it at some point anyway, so let's take it at the same time!"
Top glanced at his tentative schedule. "Given your propensity for levitation and its auxiliary subcategories, I envisage your virtuosity there will be quite stimulating to descry."
Portabella stared blankly.
"...That's a yes," Top clarified, putting a checkmark on "Manipulation of Objects in Professional Trades" on his selection sheet.
"Are either of you planning to branch out into any new fields this term?" Inkwell asked, leaning over and peering at her friends' schedule plans. "I'm thinking of giving Magical Biology a try."
"Mm, maybe Astronomy, to fill some electives," Portabella considered. "I really want to try out elemental spells, though. If the intro class goes good this year, I'm totally taking air and fire spell courses in our next term!"
"I profess, the Alchemy subsection of Transformation and Conjuring has seized my consciousness for the time being," Top chimed in, smiling a bit as the light of the fire danced across his thick spectacles. "I possess a mentality pertinent for chemistry, and I'm desirous of an opportune circumstance to proliferate my alchemical wherewithal."
"Shame you can't start taking Runes classes till the third term, Inkwell," Portabella continued, turning back to face the other filly. "I know you're really looking forward to those."
Inkwell shrugged. "Well, remember what Clarity said," she replied, sounding chipper despite the disappointment. "It's never too early to research and practice a topic you love, even if its on your own! There's an entire section in the library about runes and how to use them; I barely even scratched the surface last year."
"And don't fail to give credence to the mammoth selection of other tutorial possibilities available to you as a sophomore spellcaster," Top chimed in. "Runes are scarcely your exclusive engrossment among sorcerous arts."
"Whatever Top said, I agree!" Portabella declared. "Next term is gonna be awesome. Soon, we'll be doing magic we couldn't even dream of a year ago like it's nothing!"
Inkwell nodded with a smile as she filled in the last spot on her course selection sheet. "So, has everypony settled on next term's classes, then?"
"You bet!" Portabella cried, slapping the sheet with a forehoof in an affirmative gesture and seeming unconcerned at the creases this put in the page.
"I've nominated each of my selections from the course directory as well," Top confirmed, neatly folding his sheet and sliding it into the waiting envelope.
"Kids!" came the voice of Portabella's mom from the next room. "Dinnertime! Come get your hay-and-carrot pot pies while they're still hot!"
Portabella leapt to her hooves, sending the blanket flying across the living room. "C'mon, we can talk magic all evening, but for now, let's eat!" she squealed, prancing in place by the door to the kitchen.
Grinning at her friend's enthusiasm, Inkwell stood, and Top rose to his hooves beside her. Bursting with excitement for another term at the land's greatest school of magic, the three friends continued their chatter as they made their way to dinner.
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Eyy, Nester got a promotion! Good for him. However, I imagine the Unique Magical Creatures class might prove a bit of a hassle. No doubt Discord will actually show up once they start trying to analyze how his magic works to mess with everybody a bit. Probably by turning their notebooks into two-headed pigeons or something.
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You know, I actually considered adding something in that description about "Discord will be visiting to demonstrate. We tried to decline the offer, but he insisted, and frankly we can't really do anything to stop him" but that broke the tone of the rest of the catalogue so I left it out
Good for nester! he's moving up in the world!
Love this chapter, scratches the worldbuilding itch for real. I recently got very interested in the universe of the video game Splatoon and created tons of notes on how the world works and am using a story as a way to throw all my ideas out into the world for others to read. lmao. So jealous of these unicorns and their super cool classes! Runes and potions seem to be my cup of tea, but healing magic and some magic bio sound great to me as well. Though, my OC is a pegasus....
I also have an idea of schools the other princesses could be in charge of. With Celestia's being like how you write it(but in the future, allowing nonunicorns to join with an altered curriculum. Say, if Apple Bloom discovered a talent in potion making she could join and take potion making + classes that don't require a horn). Twilight's school of friendship would be more generalized but have an emphasis on other species' magics/also being able to do things without magic. Cadance would have a school of the arts(and can include an emphasis on flighted beings, for the 'art' of flying and such) and Luna a school of science and math(and can include an emphasis on beings with earth magic, to round things out, perhaps this school could be more tech-driven in general, since Luna is often portrayed in fanon as being interested in technology and such.)
Oh, yeah, sorry, ramble, but I do often think about how your universe just fits ooooh so nicely to my idealized headcanon of the schools Equestria may have, lol. If only I could think of a story in which I can throw this idea out into the wild and expand on it!
Can't wait for more!
This gives me so much joy, admiration and respect for Sparkler to read this line 😊 She’s come so far
Out of all the courses I’d be most excited to see, this one by far is the one I’d look forward to reading the most 😊
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Yeah that's sure to be an exciting course. The unicorn world is just learning how Lifesight works right now; its obviously an extremely complicated spell that requires great skill with the type of magic used in Magical Biology. Now that Honeydew and Prof. Chestnut are publishing the spell's mechanics, other unicorns will be able to learn to cast it, but even then, it will take practice. Even Professor Chestnut hasn't fully cast it herself yet: for this particular few-week window in time before the other scholars catch up, Honeydew is the only pony in Equestria who has pulled it off.
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I’ve been thinking a lot of how it would work, to the point where I’m going to tinker with it in my fic series once I finally get it written out. There’s so much potential
I hate that I don't have the time to read all this. I will probably cross reference it frequently reading other chapters, however, so maybe I'll read it all in time.