Principals of magic and its uses in enchantment

by Professor Prototype of the Canterlot University of Applied Magic

Magic is an energy created by all living things. Though its power and effects are well known, its true nature remains a mystery. In the past it has been described as an invisible kind of fog or gas, the so called aether. Recent discoveries however suggest a form of a scalar field. For further references on the nature of magic, consult “Deep studies on the elemental characteristics of magical energy” by Elusive Veil or “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Magika” by Star Swirl the Bearded.

What is important about the nature of magic is that it is everywhere. It is created inside our bodies, it is inside our body and it is everywhere, all around us.

There is one basic way for a living creature to use magic. It is gathered inside our body, from the body itself, which is the easier way, or from the surrounding magic, which is more advanced, then shaped by the mind and finally set free through an appendix.

Unicorns of course use their horn, it is where they gather their bodies and surrounding magic and set the shaped magic free.

Every living creature uses magic, but most are not aware of that fact. Even most earth ponies and pegasi are not aware of their use of magic. This is because of the way they use it.

Earth ponies shape magic through movement of their body and release it, most times by touch, through their hooves. This happens during manual labor, so most of them think to be the results of their work to be purely mundane, but the opposite is true. Every object created by earth pony touch is imbued with magic.

Pegasi use magic primarily through their wings. It enables them to fly despite their relatively small wings that would not create enough lift to carry a grown pony and enables them to such legendary feats of flight like the Sonic Rainboom.

The intrinsic magic of their bodies enables them to move on and shape clouds to their will, resulting in their ability to control the weather. Though it may look like weather making is purely manual labor, it is in its very nature a use of magic.

Using the magic from the body or channeling magic through it puts a strain on the mind and body of the caster, the channeling more so than the use of the bodies inert magic. Usually a caster will feel spend and tired after using a certain amount of magic. Through experience, the caster gains a form of magic endurance, that allows him to use more magic, and he can use magic more efficiently, achieving bigger effects with less use of magic.

If the caster uses too much magic, he can overstrain his body and mind and loose consciousness. If he used up all of the bodies inert magic, this can happen even before he surpasses his channeling limit.

This overuse of magic can even lead to death. There is very little knowledge on this subject, because of sparse research material. It is theorized that the caster uses his own life-force and/or soul in the process of casting his final spell, thus achieving unparalleled effect.

The last recorded case of a caster dying from magic strain however was the death of Star Swirl the Bearded. I think everypony knows his legend, so I won’t go into details on his final spell.

Unicorns learn magic patterns and release them through their horn to create what we call magic spells. Levitation is one of the easiest and the most common spells. It is second nature to most unicorns and many are not even aware that they are casting complex magic when levitating.

Through there seems to be no principal hindrance for other ponies to use this form of magic, there is no recorded living non horned pony, that uses this kind of magic.

The term magic spell hints to a method of shaping magic purely by using ones voice. There are references to “Words Of Power” as well as “Spellsongs” in the oldest equestrian legends, but the art seems to be lost. Unicorns however can use chants and rhymes to help them form the magic pattern in their mind. It is a method mostly used by beginners, for experienced casters no longer need this form of help.

The most advanced use of magic is the craft of enchantment. It is the method of imbuing a living or non living object with a spell pattern, called a formula. It is often inscribed, even engraved or, in case of living bodies, tattooed on the enchanted object. Inlays or Ink made of orichalcum are used for this as the metal is the strongest known conductor of magic energy.  The formula takes the form of complex geometric figures with interwoven magic signs, the so called runes.

The imbued spell can than be cast by powering it with raw magic. More advanced enchantments are capable of forming surrounding magic energy, eliminating the need to empower them manually. They can be activated by any means imaginable, as long as the enchanter is able to work it into the formula. It is possible to make a formula activate another formula and so forth, resulting in very complex interactions between enchantments. This is the principal behind a so called magic circuit. The most complex magic circuits are able to perform mathematical operations in the blink of an eye, a pony would need hours to solve per hoof.  

The magical mechanical energy converter or “perpetuum mobile”  

The magical mechanical energy converter or “perpetuum mobile” is the most advanced magic object in Equestria. It uses complex enchantment to transform surrounding magical energy into mechanical energy that can be used for instance to power a ship.

The mobile is made up of 4 major parts:

The engine shaft

The levitation array

The regulation circuit

The control circuit

The engine shaft consists of an axis with several attached levers. Its function is to transform the movement from the levitation array to usable torque.

The levitation array moves the levers of the engine shaft through the use of levitation spells. It is made up of several large “wings”. Their purpose is to gather surrounding magical energy from a large room and channel it through the spells.

The regulation circuit regulates the power converted in the levitation array through regulating the amount of magic it can absorb. It does this by shielding the levitation array from the surrounding magic by redirecting its flow outward.

The control circuit is used to set the desired power output of the engine for the regulation circuit, as well as the pony machine interface. It is not only used to control the direction and power of the rotation, but also to supervise the engine condition. Rather than mechanical levers or buttons it uses magic and motion detection for input. This means that it can ether be controlled by simple spells, or by hoof movement.

Furthermore it uses illusionary spells instead of mechanical dials to display status information.

In its current version the engine produces 5 pony powers of power at a weight and size about half of that of comparable steam engines. (For comparison the train from Ponyville to Appleloosa has 3 pony powers, for it is dragged by three ponies.)

Because it is powered by magic, it does not need water, wood or coal, thus eliminating the need to carry large amounts of supplies. Its use of surrounding magic however means that there is less surrounding magic for other spells to be used in the vicinity of the working engine and that the flow of the surrounding magic will be disturbed by the engines intake.

However the engine is made with large amounts of orichalcum and with the most complex enchantments currently in use. That makes it very expansive to build. The running costs are not to neglect ether, because well trained enchanters are needed to supervise the running engine.

Its light weight and independence from supplies makes it ideal for use in Airships. In this case the gained carrying capacity and range makes more than up for the initial investment costs.