What would happen if a unicorn's horn broke off?

[Magic_Spark 154]

Ok some interesting thoughts.

The horn of a unicorn is nothing more than a growth like your finger nail. The horn would have to be ripped completely out of the skull for it not to function or grow. 

Just cause its broke does not mean they are unable to do magic. The MLP Movie shows this with Tempest. She learned to use magic again and can do what looks like fireworks. This was her initial talent in a way. So if any unicorn looses part of the horn they will have a hard time doing magic but the magic isn't generated from the horn. The horn is whats is used most of the time but think about it. If you try to write with the opposite hand it would take time before you can write well enough to read it. Unless of course you are one of those rare few that can already do it. This is why usually they do not do magic right away. It takes a while to learn how to wield magic after part of you is damaged. So I think that even if a unicorn looses their horn to a fight or damage they can still do magic but it will be very limited but only limited by the individual. 

[PinkieShadow 4,056]

3 hours ago, Magic_Spark said:

Ok some interesting thoughts.

The horn of a unicorn is nothing more than a growth like your finger nail. The horn would have to be ripped completely out of the skull for it not to function or grow. 

Just cause its broke does not mean they are unable to do magic. The MLP Movie shows this with Tempest. She learned to use magic again and can do what looks like fireworks. This was her initial talent in a way. So if any unicorn looses part of the horn they will have a hard time doing magic but the magic isn't generated from the horn. The horn is whats is used most of the time but think about it. If you try to write with the opposite hand it would take time before you can write well enough to read it. Unless of course you are one of those rare few that can already do it. This is why usually they do not do magic right away. It takes a while to learn how to wield magic after part of you is damaged. So I think that even if a unicorn looses their horn to a fight or damage they can still do magic but it will be very limited but only limited by the individual. 

That was very nice and very like what I believe. I think Tempest has no problems whatsoever to do magic now. She have trained her skills just like you said, and today she perfected her skills into perfection. Before she did magic too and the fireworks was merely a side effect of it.

How do I know ? Secretly I am Tempest Shadow, believe it or not   (just kidding !)

[Lucky Bolt 35,063]

Ok, that sounds really painful. Ow.  

[Widdershins 9,959]

Well, with the unveiling of Tempest Shadow, I suppose this theory topic needs to be unearthed yet again. It's kind of always irratated me the idea that Broken Horn means an excuse to be edgy and make a flailing attempt at a dramatic backstory. But... surely it can't be that traumatic an event, right?

On 1/21/2018 at 10:47 PM, Magic_Spark said:

The horn of a unicorn is nothing more than a growth like your finger nail. The horn would have to be ripped completely out of the skull for it not to function or grow. 

 Well... it can be argued, with as cartoonishly rubbery as Ponies are that hard bits to them don't quite exist. The way Twilight's horn went all floppy & deflated would seem to suggest it's mostly skin like everything else because there's no way an actual horn of keratin or cartilage would do that. Not without soaking it in vinegar or something, I suppose.

 Though, theoretically, I suppose if one were to surgically remove a unicorn fully all the way down to where skin could heal over and render them basically an earth pony... then that would basically eliminate the possibility of channeling magic as a whole.  ...and we did see unicorn horns being sold in Kluge Town's sketchy markets...

On 1/21/2018 at 10:47 PM, Magic_Spark said:

The MLP Movie shows this with Tempest. She learned to use magic again and can do what looks like fireworks.

Don't think the fireworks are intentional though. But I should say you're right. If anything, she lost the good portion of her horntip in a fairly early stage of her life, before she probably learned much magic at all to begin with. It would probably be the equivalent of a child suffering an injury to their right hand not a year after having learned how to write anyway. Less of a gap in learning to account for. Getting your horn blown off in a war when you've already had decades using it probably requires rehabilitation, but hopefully not something you can't learn to live around.

 A broken horn shouldn't be all that's in the way of magic casting. We've seen Zecora been able to utilize magic without directly channeling it into a pure beam. Heck, I wouldn't doubt that those magic bombs Tempest used were crafted by her too. 

 I hold that breaking a horn shouldn't be much bigger of a deal then losing a finger. (Which I have seen happen to a few guys.) You still CAN it's just more difficult. And  considering that levitation is practically as common in Equestrian culture as breathing for a unicorn... there might be some slight stigma to that too.

On 1/23/2018 at 7:54 AM, Lucky Bolt said:

Ok, that sounds really painful. Ow.  

 Why... would it... though? Right? I mean, something that far off from the body proper shouldn't have that many nerve endings right? Hair gets cut all the time and that's a harder extension out of the body. I'm sure we could ask around and some might have gotten a chunk of their ear taken out which might've hurt like the dickens at the time, but...

  What creature would evolve with a hard, bone-like structure jutting out of them where they could potentially bang it on a doorway or table accidentally? No doubt deer and other forest ungulates whap their antlers on trees all the time and even those will willingly fall out as the seasons change. 

 

    ...it's that eye scar of her's I'm worried about. I see that alot on character designs. How do you take a blow to the squishy ol' eyeball like that and have your eyelid be sufficient enough to stop the strike?

[Magic_Spark 154]

All the ponies have magic. Not just unicorns/alacorns.

Remember the huge battle with Tirak and Twilight. He took magic from the earth and Pegasus ponies as well.

And as far as Twilight's horn going all floppy. It was a magical flower that did that. With magic involved anything is possible. 

 

[OG CHUCK 64]

I think the best example is the MLP movie

[NathanW200 306]

we already know what happens explain Tempest from My Little Pony the movie

[SharpWit 2,665]

My guess would have been they lose the ability to use magic entirely, and maybe that's still the case if the horn is removed in its entirety, but Tempest Shadow still has the base of her horn which I think is why she still has the ability to harness magic, if only in a relatively raw and haphazard way. She can't even perform the basics of telekinesis and seems limited to releasing only an unstable form of magic which is why things are shocked or met with an explosion when she confronts them. She has honed in on what she is still able to do, but I imagine other ponies who don't have the genes or training to release magic this powerful would only be able to shoot a few sparks.

[Vas-Nyto 0]

I'm years late but apparently there is a canon answer now.

[ChikaChan 7,323]

It will be explosive like Tempest 

[Dabmanz 2,139]

They will try and take over the world.

[Splashee 28,564]

On 11/20/2014 at 4:03 AM, Stone Cold Applejack said:

This question came into my mind after me and my friend were writing a scene in a fanfic we are making for my oc in which a unicorn gets his horn blasted off from a mortar round that landed to close. And after talking about it I decided to ask this. Like would they still be able to do magic, would it cut it down a bit, or something else?

You are so making Hasbro copyright infringement right now!

I love when Bronies come up with ideas before Hasbro!

 

 

With a broken horn, it seems the pony cannot do magic anymore. And when the pony can't, he/she will feel lesser of a Unicorn.

[ExplosionMare 18,063]

Their magic is uncontrollable and can only come out in bursts like how it does when they’re babies. It’s possible they could bleed too as soon as they get cut off but it’s hard to say for certain. It would be up to the imagination of the person writing about it.

[Sepul-Coloratura 762]

They instantly become resentful, hate and blame everyone, and starts persecuting their own kind.

[Latecomer 439]

On 6/5/2020 at 5:28 PM, Sepul-Coloratura said:

They instantly become resentful, hate and blame everyone, and starts persecuting their own kind.

Now now - I wouldn't call a several-year process "instant".

[Tom Gallagher 33,588]

Um... I think it would hurt. 

[Splashee 28,564]

Was it only in the Movie and Rainbow Roadtrip that there were disabled ponies?

[Ixrec 86]

On 6/23/2020 at 1:35 PM, Splashee said:

Was it only in the Movie and Rainbow Roadtrip that there were disabled ponies?

Scootaloo is sometimes considered "disabled" since she's a pegasus that can't fly, but she can still do everything a fully abled earth pony can so it kinda hits an ambiguity in our human concept of disability. And I do believe that is it for clear-cut examples. Everything else I can think of that comes close was either temporary or in an alternate timeline... come to think of it, Rainbow Dash's wings take a lot of damage whenever it can be conveniently ignored later 

Edited June 29, 2020 by Ixrec

[Splashee 28,564]

10 minutes ago, Ixrec said:

Scootaloo is sometimes considered "disabled" since she's a pegasus that can't fly, but she can still do everything a fully abled earth pony can so it kinda hits an ambiguity in our human concept of disability. And I do believe that is it for clear-cut examples. Everything else I can think of that comes close was either temporary or in an alternate timeline... come to think of it, Rainbow Dash's wings take a lot of damage whenever it can be conveniently ignored later 

I don't know if Scootaloo was officially considered disabled by the creator, or the show's staff. You have to remember, when she grows up, she has the full size body but the filly's wings! That's a visual indication that something isn't normal with her wings.

[Stardust 641]

It would lead to magic leakage in a fizzle and an explosion that would make fireworks. 

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

A horn is like an antenna. A broken antenna means bad signal to no signal

[EpicEnergy 23,218]

We found that out when the show introduced Tempest Shadow.