The Quillwaver Theorem — How do characters in MLP utilize magic?

[Quill Waver 1,408]

This is something that I have been intrigued about ever since I first watched the show back during season two. "How can the utilization of magic be explained from a scientific stand-point?"
 
Now, sure, it could just be something as simple as "it's a cartoon", but that's just too simple an explanation, and I personally have a theory as to why this is, but be fore-warned, as it is lengthy and delves into various scientific principles.
 
The Theory:
 
In the world of Equestria, it seems there an element that happens to be of rather high abundance. In such a high abundance, in fact, that it is in virtually everything that exists: alicium. What is this material? It is metallic and magnetic, yet it behaves similarly to mercury when it is contained inside of a living creature, in that it is a liquid, not a solid. This means that such a metal must have a melting point of anywhere from 299 to 307 kelvin (80-93 Farhenheit, or 26.6-33.8 Celsius). When in its liquid form, like all other liquids, it also can resonate different patterns based on electromagnetic frequencies that strike the alicium whenever it is a liquid.
 
The Questions:
 
"If this material exists in absolutely everything and is magnetic, then why is it there are not ponies with trees stuck to them?"
 
Well, the answer to that is that alicium is similar to a battery in that it stores electrical charges of both positive and negative. The reason that objects do not magnetize themselves is due to static equilibrium. Assuming nothing is changing the imposing forces on this body, a body will attempt to regain this equilibrium by slowly losing electrical charge, until such an electrical charge is effectively zero, and since magnetic components can create electricity and vice versa, this is what allows for the manipulation of objects in the physical plane via magic.
 
"Why is it only Unicorns and Alicorns can use magic?"
 
Actually, this is a rather simple, though lengthy, question to explain. Horned ponies, meaning Unicorns and Alicorns, have... well, a horn, and this horn happens to be similar to other horned animals in that there is soft tissue inside, including blood vessels and nerve receptors. It is all too likely that pony horns' nerves are also linked directly with the brain, and the brain as we all know is a hotbed of electrical activity. This is also why if anything is attached to the horn, or if the horn receives any impacting force such as when Sweetie Belle flicked Rarity's horn, it causes them to lose concentration and be rendered magically "silenced", or unable to cast magic. The pony simply thinks about performing a certain magical action, typically psychokinesis, and this causes their horn to spark, drawing in electricity from the desired object's natural alicium and infusing the energy with the energy in their own brain. This gives their horn a negative electrical field and the object a positive electrical field, so in order to actually move the object to where it needs to be without it becoming affixed to their skull, the pony has to then micro-bombard the object with positive energy pulses. This is why it appears to be slightly more difficult to "push" an object than it is to "pull" an object, as electricity is always a pulling force, rather than a pushing force. In the event that a pony does wish to push an object rather than pull, instead of negatively charging their horn, they positively charge it, instead feeding electrons from their own mind's electrical field to give the item a negative charge.
 
"What happens after the psychokinetic spell is done? Where does the energy go?"
 
The energy that was originally siphoned (or granted) to the object is returned to its original state, wherever that may have been. This is why magic can be rather draining, especially during complex spells or intense psychokinetic manipulation; aside from mental strain from moving the object, the pony has to either deal with relinquishing electrons from their mind (in the event of a "pull") or a bombardment thereof (in the event of a "push"). Before this, neither a pull nor a push leaves either object at their electrostatic equilibrium, and the magic wielder must be able to maintain this discordance in order to maintain the spell.
 
"What about teleportation spells? Combat spells? Shield spells? Or even spells such as Starlight Glimmer's 'Talent Thief'?"
 
All fair questions. Teleportation is actually not possible in the sense that it would instantly transport a target (or targets). Instead, it is possible that a pony can discharge energy into the air, super-heating it to open something of a pocket dimension that occupies a similar physical space as the original, Equestrian dimension, but does not allow the Equestrian dimension's inhabitants to perceive the contents of the pocket dimension. In addition, this physical plane allows the pocket dimension's inhabitants to perceive the Equestrian dimension, but it does not allow them to interact with that dimension; therefore two objects are allowed to occupy the same physical space. This is why teleportation does not appear to have an instance of another pony teleporting into wall and dying of asphyxiation, and it is also why the magic user does not need direct line-of-sight to the target like other magical spells. Afterwards, the pony simply repeats this spell to rip the veil apart and travel back to the more physical plane of Equestria. Remember how in The Ticket Master when Twilight suddenly teleported herself and Spike back to the library and how she was unharmed yet Spike had burn marks?
 
As for most offensive combat spells, such as lightning, fire, et cetera, all of which merely require the magic wielder to heat the air a little. For defensive combat spells, such as shields, the opposite is true; cooling the air would cause the ambient alicium to grow solid, creating a shield as strong as the pony's mental fortitude. Starlight Glimmer's signature spell may very well merely alter that particular pony's neuro-chemical configuration, which would cause them to potentially remember what life with their talent, but it would leave them without the mental aptitude to ever perform said talent again, that is unless their marks return to them. Twilight's mishap with the broken spell in Magical Mystery Cure is similar to the Talent Thief spell, except is alters the target(s) neuro-chemical make-up more extensively, up to the point that the target(s) truly believe that that is their talent and have been performing it their whole lives.
 
"Wait! How come Discord, Tirek, and Zecora can use magic?"
 
Discord and Tirek both have horns, which would put them under the same jurisdiction as horned ponies. As for Zecora, she is a bit tougher to explain. It is my belief that horned ponies are able to naturally contain more alicium in their bodies than other pony races, and that the majority of it is concentrated in their horn, which is why magic comes so easily to them, as electricity is better controlled if it has a shorter travel distance (from the brain to the tip of the horn, where most of their alicium is). Zecora, being a zebra, has no horn, which would indicate that she perhaps has no additional alicium outside that of a normal pony; however, most of what drives a pony's magic is mental force of will. It is possible that through meditation and mental exercise, she has honed her mind to utilize magic to the extent of most Unicorns and possibly further. By the same token, this means that non-horned ponies can also learn to use magic, but simply do not know due to the lack of devotion to overcoming the handicap of not having a horn.

 

"What about pegasi and earth ponies and their innate magic?"

 

Pegasi have a "passive" form of magic that allow them to walk on clouds, which I believe is something that they actually have control over. In some instances, we can see pegasi grabbing clouds and moving them into place and at other times, we can see them flying clean through them as if they were nothing. Still other times, they may crash through them or even into them, taking the cloud with them. Pegasi appear to have to be able to control when they want to stand on these clouds, at a young age having to mentally brace themselves when they land to land on the cloud rather than go through it. Because of their naturally light-enough-to-fly frame, this does not take nearly as much effort as other races, who require a Unicorn "cloudwalker" spell in order to achieve the same effect. The act of having to mentally brace themselves gradually decreases in effort with each successful landing, until the pegasus does not even think of it anymore; it becomes as natural as breathing. This is why during a moment of panic in which a pegasi can not mentally focus, such as careening out of control during an aerial stunt, the pegasus may either go through the cloud (in which case they likely do not notice the cloud before hitting it) or they impact with the cloud and take it with them (in which case they notice the cloud, and their instincts scream "I'm going to crash!" and so they do even if their logical side tries to say otherwise).

 

Earth ponies appear to have a form of passive magic as well, but theirs is far more difficult to explain. The easiest way to explain it is that since it is not limited to one particular body part, it disperses over a much wider area of their body, which can allow for all sorts of various, somewhat passive abilities to form. Take Pinkie Pie and her "Pinkie Sense". It is altogether possible that she is able to sense the various resonances of the world around her at a much greater amplitude than normal, which allows her to sense when an "impending falling object" shall... fall. Obviously, this is just Pinkie's own ability, but the basic principle is the same; earth ponies appear to be more in-tune to the world around them than the other types.
 
A Point Raised by Buck Testa:
 
"The show has described its source on a number of occasions actually. Magic comes from resonance enacted by emotional/mental constructs. The more in tune you are with one of these constructs, the more in tune with that type of magic you can tap into."
 
This is undeniably true. I was going to originally include this in the article, but thought it might add too much length to the subject. Now I realize my mistake!

 

The reason that emotions can resonate with a magic wielder's own power is due to harmonic frequencies that can act on water molecules as well as other liquids (see "Sources"). Different affinities have different emotions attached to them, which resonate at different frequencies, which in turn cause light energy, that is the visible aura, to emanate around the object and the wielder's concentration of alicium. While still a metallic substance, while alicium is in its liquid form, as in in the body, the properties of "water resonance" apply to it as well, allowing the signature colored glow to be seen. This is why certain ponies can temporarily or even permanently alter their magical aura's color; their personality and affinity with (a) certain emotion(s) changes, and thus the water molecules (and alicium) resonate differently to attune to that frequency.

 

In addition, the "water resonance" principle is why strong emotions can empower a spell and make it more effective, regardless of the spell's nature. The water molecules as well as the alicium resonate more vibrantly to the current magic wielder's emotional affinity with the particular emotion experienced in that moment, which is why focus is all the more needed in magical use. Take Cadance for example. Her affinity is clearly love, be that in romantic form or otherwise. Bearing in mind that during the Changeling Invasion of Canterlot, she was magically inferior to Celestia (and by logical reasoning, Chrysalis as well). Through nothing but two ponies' magic, combined with pure love, which was her strongest affinity and emotion at the time, she expunged not only Chrysalis, but every other changeling in Canterlot as well, sending them beyond the horizon, which is a minimum of three miles, given the Earth's curvature (assuming the world of Equestria is of similar size to Earth). This is a feat possibly beyond even that of the Elements of Harmony at the time.

 

In summary, a magic wielder feeding into their strongest emotional affinity can readily magnify their spell's potential, as they align their water molecules and the alicium in their bodies to match this emotion, which amplifies their mental fortitude.
 
Real-World Implications:
 
While alicium does not exist in this world, or at least, nothing like it to our knowledge, water is of absolute abundance and can be influenced by electricity, magnetism, and frequencies. Humans can not perform psychokinesis in any shape or form, but within the next hundred years, it is possible there will be some form of electronic implant available that could run off the voltage of our current electrical fields while boosting or otherwise augmenting their power. In a hundred years, we could very well be lifting objects with our minds, and even sooner is possible as well. 
 
Sources:
 
Magnetic and Electrical Effects on Water — Water and other liquids behave similarly, and this applies to liquid alicium per the theory. This is also what allows the magic user to wield magic in the first place: being able to manipulate the energy of themselves and the object(s) in question.
Equilibrium and Static Equilibrium — Our current understanding of mechanical physics leads us to the conclusion that during psychokinetic use, an object is struck out of its equilibrium, causing it to move.
Goat Horns (and treatment of injured horns) — This is why "flicking" a horn or otherwise clasping on it would disrupt the pony using magic.
Water Crystals and Emotions — This is the reason why magical auras are different in color, because like water can change due to emotion and mental auras, so too can other liquids, according to theory. Because water is not contained in everything in the physical world, but alicium can potentially, this is what allows magical auras to be visible and allows for magic to work on all substances that we have currently witnessed. This is also what allows emotions to amplify a spell's power.
 
So, what do you think about all of this? Have some questions about my theory? Comment below!

Edited April 11, 2016 by Starfall_Quillwaver

[Buck Testa 5,505]

This is something that I have been intrigued about ever since I first watched the show back during season two. "How can the utilization of magic be explained from a scientific stand-point?"

 

Now, sure, it could just be something as simple as "it's a cartoon", but that's just too simple an explanation, and I personally have a theory as to why this is, but be fore-warned, as it is lengthy and delves into various scientific principles.

 

The Theory:

 

In the world of Equestria, it seems there an element that happens to be of rather high abundance. In such a high abundance, in fact, that it is in virtually everything that exists: alicium. What is this material? It is metallic and magnetic, yet it behaves similarly to mercury when it is contained inside of a living creature, in that it is a liquid, not a solid. This means that such a metal must have a melting point of anywhere from 299 to 307 kelvin (80-93 Farhenheit, or 26.6-33.8 Celsius). When in its liquid form, like all other liquids, it also can resonate different patterns based on electromagnetic frequencies that strike the alicium whenever it is a liquid.

 

The Questions:

 

"If this material exists in absolutely everything and is magnetic, then why is it there are not ponies with trees stuck to them?"

 

Well, the answer to that is that alicium is similar to a battery in that it stores electrical charges of both positive and negative. The reason that objects do not magnetize themselves is due to static equilibrium. Assuming nothing is changing the imposing forces on this body, a body will attempt to regain this equilibrium by slowly losing electrical charge, until such an electrical charge is effectively zero, and since magnetic components can create electricity and vice versa, this is what allows for the manipulation of objects in the physical plane via magic.

 

"Why is it only Unicorns and Alicorns can use magic?"

 

Actually, this is a rather simple, though lengthy, question to explain. Horned ponies, meaning Unicorns and Alicorns, have... well, a horn, and this horn happens to be similar to other horned animals in that there is soft tissue inside, including blood vessels and nerve receptors. It is all too likely that pony horns' nerves are also linked directly with the brain, and the brain as well know is a hotbed of electrical activity. This is also why if anything is attached to the horn, or if the horn receives any impacting force such as when Sweetie Belle flicked Rarity's horn, it causes them to lose concentration and be rendered magically "silenced", or unable to cast magic. The pony simply thinks about performing a certain magical action, typically psychokinesis, and this causes their horn to spark, drawing in electricity from the desired object's natural alicium and infusing the energy with the energy in their own brain. This gives their horn a negative electrical field and the object a positive electrical field, so in order to actually move the object to where it needs to be without it becoming affixed to their skull, the pony has to then micro-bombard the object with positive energy pulses. This is why it appears to be slightly more difficult to "push" an object than it is to "pull" an object, as electricity is always a pulling force, rather than a pushing force. In the event that a pony does wish to push an object rather than pull, instead of negatively charging their horn, they positively charge it, instead feeding electrons from their own mind's electrical field to give the item a negative charge.

 

"What happens after the psychokinetic spell is done? Where does the energy go?"

 

The energy that was originally siphoned (or granted) to the object is returned to its original state, wherever that may have been. This is why magic can be rather draining, especially during complex spells or intense psychokinetic manipulation; aside from mental strain from moving the object, the pony has to either deal with relinquishing electrons from their mind (in the event of a "pull") or a bombardment thereof (in the event of a "push"). Before this, neither a pull nor a push leaves either object at their electrostatic equilibrium, and the magic wielder must be able to maintain this discordance in order to maintain the spell.

 

"What about teleportation spells? Combat spells? Shield spells? Or even spells such as Starlight Glimmer's 'Talent Thief'?"

 

All fair questions. Teleportation is actually not possible in the sense that it would instantly transport a target (or targets). Instead, it is possible that a pony can discharge energy into the air, super-heating it to open something of a pocket dimension that occupies a similar physical space as the original, Equestrian dimension, but does not allow the Equestrian dimension's inhabitants to perceive the contents of the pocket dimension. In addition, this physical plane allows the pocket dimension's inhabitants to perceive the Equestrian dimension, but it does not allow them to interact with that dimension; therefore two objects are allowed to occupy the same physical space. This is why teleportation does not appear to have an instance of another pony teleporting into wall and dying of asphyxiation, and it is also why the magic user does not need direct line-of-sight to the target like other magical spells. Afterwards, the pony simply repeats this spell to rip the veil apart and travel back to the more physical plane of Equestria. Remember how in The Ticket Master when Twilight suddenly teleported herself and Spike back to the library and how she was unharmed yet Spike had burn marks?

 

As for most offensive combat spells, such as lightning, fire, et cetera, all of which merely require the magic wielder to heat the air a little. For defensive combat spells, such as shields, the opposite is true; cooling the air would cause the ambient alicium to grow solid, creating a shield as strong as the pony's mental fortitude. Starlight Glimmer's signature spell may very well merely alter that particular pony's neuro-chemical configuration, which would cause them to potentially remember what life with their talent, but it would leave them without the mental aptitude to ever perform said talent again, that is unless their marks return to them.

 

"Wait! How come Discord, Tirek, and Zecora can use magic?"

 

Discord and Tirek both have horns, which would put them under the same jurisdiction as horned ponies. As for Zecora, she is a bit tougher to explain. It is my belief that horned ponies are able to naturally contain more alicium in their bodies than other pony races, and that the majority of it is concentrated in their horn, which is why magic comes so easily to them, as electricity is better controlled if it has a shorter travel distance (from the brain to the tip of the horn, where most of their alicium is). Zecora, being a zebra, has no horn, which would indicate that she perhaps has no additional alicium outside that of a normal pony; however, most of what drives a pony's magic is mental force of will. It is possible that through meditation and mental exercise, she has honed her mind to utilize magic to the extent of most Unicorns and possibly further. By the same token, this means that non-horned ponies can also learn to use magic, but simply do not know due to the lack of devotion to overcoming the handicap of not having a horn.

 

Real-World Implications:

 

While alicium does not exist in this world, or at least, nothing like it to our knowledge, water is of absolute abundance and can be influenced by electricity, magnetism, and frequencies. Humans can not perform psychokinesis in any shape or form, but within the next hundred years, it is possible there will be some form of electronic implant available that could run off the voltage of our current electrical fields while boosting or otherwise augmenting their power. In a hundred years, we could very well be lifting objects with our minds, and even sooner is possible as well. 

 

Sources:

 

Magnetic and Electrical Effects on Water — Water and other liquids behave similarly, and this applies to liquid alicium per the theory. This is also what allows the magic user to wield magic in the first place: being able to manipulate the energy of themselves and the object(s) in question.

Equilibrium and Static Equilibrium — Our current understanding of mechanical physics leads us to the conclusion that during psychokinetic use, an object is struck out of its equilibrium, causing it to move.

Goat Horns (and treatment of injured horns) — This is why "flicking" a horn or otherwise clasping on it would disrupt the pony using magic.

So, what do you think about all of this? Have some questions about my theory? Comment below!

 

 

Well this was an interesting little read. It will be sad when the "Dur its just a kid show" crowd comes and sh*ts all over a quality post, but hey what else can you expect from people like that? 

 

While this head canon can certainly explain a lot of things involving horned magic, it should be addressed that the other pony races have magic as well. I would also like to address that not all races have magic like the ponies do. Cattle and sheep for example have pretty much been demoted to farm animals because of their lack of magical ability and incapability to manipulate objects with their hooves despite being sapient creatures. 

 

All pony's have magic, but their horned varieties have a fine tuned control over this magic. Pegasi wings utilize magic as well, but their emphasis is on flight and weather manipulation. Earth pony magic meanwhile is not focused to a particular body part but instead permeates their entire body, allowing for wild and empathic applications that just aren't seen much in the other variety of pony, like with Pinkie Pie. 

 

So its not that Unicorns or Alicorns are the only variety of pony that can USE magic, its just their usage of magic is more precise than the other two tribes. I dare say Earth ponies actually have a variety of magical abilities that unicorns couldn't achieve with their horns alone. Kind of like how Twilight didn't understand how Pinkie could sense imminent danger. 

 

Taking this into consideration, we can asses that 1) not everything in their world has or can utilize magic, 2) Ponies have a fairly strong connection to magic even when compared to other magical creatures in that world 3) Unicorns have finely tuned control over their magic while the other two tribes have more specialized/wild versions of magic. 

 

So here's the million dollar question: What is magic in this world and where does it come from? 

 

 

Well, the show has described its source on a number of occasions actually. Magic comes from resonance enacted by emotional/mental constructs. The more in tune you are with one of these constructs, the more in tune with that type of magic you can tap into. In a sense, Magic is the Emotional Spectrum and the collective unconscious converted into an energy source. Its not an element in the sense of a liquid metal, its an ambient energy source that ponies and other magical beings hone in on like a tuning fork.

 

What is the kind of sources they've shown to back this theory of mine?

 

What do changelings claim they feed on?

What do the Sirens feed on?

What does the Tree of Harmony represent?

What does Discord represent?

What makes Spike grow? 

 

See where I'm going with this? Each one of these examples find their power source in a specific part of the emotional spectrum. Changelings draw their power from love. Love as in the ambient energy that resonates with the emotion referred to as love. Sirens feed off discontent and conflict, or the ambient energy that resonates with these types of emotions as depicted in the green smoke that goes into their jewels. The Tree of Harmony is basically a gigantic tuning fork for the energy sources that resonate with the constructs known as Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, and pure unadulterated magic itself, which could explain why its so powerful in comparison to everything else in the series.

 

Discord on the other hand is the tuning fork for chaotic energy, while Spike is shown to have a sharp increase in power and size when he resonates with the construct known as Greed. 

 

These mental/societal constructs create signals in the mind that resonate with corresponding energy sources. Horns serve particularly well as tuning forks that ponies and other magical horned creatures can readily manipulate. 

 

Sombra's magic resonated with corruption and betrayal, so when Celestia utilized that magic as a demonstration to Twilight, she had to get her emotional state to resonate with that magics energy. 

 

In a sense its kind of like the force but more defined. Instead of a "Light and dark" side, there are "Harmonious energies" and "Disharmonious Energies." 

 

Changelings seem naturally disharmonious, which might be why they have to seek out beings who naturally tune with the ambient energy known as "love" and have to siphon it out of them for sustenance.

 

What I'm getting at in all this, is that, quite literally, "Friendship IS magic." 

 

or rather, friendship is a TYPE of magic. 

 

That's my head canon anyway. 

[Quill Waver 1,408]

So here's the million dollar question: What is magic in this world and where does it come from? 

 

 

Well, the show has described its source on a number of occasions actually. Magic comes from resonance enacted by emotional/mental constructs. The more in tune you are with one of these constructs, the more in tune with that type of magic you can tap into. In a sense, Magic is the Emotional Spectrum and the collective unconscious converted into an energy source. Its not an element in the sense of a liquid metal, its an ambient energy source that ponies and other magical beings hone in on like a tuning fork.

I was going to mention that, but I thought it would drown out the post quite considerably. Instead, allow me to give you this link:

http://www.whatthebleep.com/water-crystals/

 

This is an article that explains how various emotions have a significant impact on water, its energies, and as a result, the world. The reason I proposed a new liquid-at-body-temp metallic element (alicium) is because if it behaves like water, then it can be affected by this principle, too, but... not everything contains water. Also, since positive emotions can inspire your mental will and otherwise align the water molecules into a favorable configuration for the magic wielder, this allows their spells to grow in strength.

 

EDIT: Added a section to the main article explaining this matter.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Starfall_Quillwaver