Magic in MLP

[Goat-kun 2,527]

On 1/19/2018 at 1:44 AM, Sagely Thyme said:

Firstly I agree that Nightmare Moon is part light, but in whole she is neither completely, she is light and dark, both Luna's stars and the shadows that bore her as a Nightmare. Secondly it has been stated before that all comics can be treated as extended or alternate universes, so we are still a-ok to call Sombra a living example of perfect unison via Shadow magic. I would like to initiate conversation on the nature of this relationship as it seems to differ greatly from Stygian's. As we can see sombra is an individual full of malice and scorn, leading me to assume his emotion would be anger as the one that the shadow latched onto. This leads to a more powerful dynamic than before, because not only was it an individual who was strong alone, but so to was the emotion that it attached to. I think it is safe to say that the relationship was optimal in particular because the shadow only had to sit back and let sombra do the work as an evil being, and would have much more ambient negative emotion to feed off of through his subjugation of the crystal ponies. 

This brings me to my next hypothesis based only on assumptions and some small data pulled. Could shadows act as an inverse to changelings, in that they require emotion to live but not necessarily direct emotional contact. As we have seen there are cases where shadows will form to give power to a being, but at the same time they both amplify and encourage said emotions. Also, we have almost every case being one where the potential host had the capabilities to create an almost unlimited stream of negative emotions through their actions. Should it be so insane to consider the fact that maybe a select few inhabit ponies so that they may create more negative emotion for the rest of their clan/race without the need to be a potential threat. By this i mean that one shadow would inhabit a being, give them power to act on their negative emotions, these actions would create more negative emotions on which the others could feed, and by proxy only one must suffer if they fail. This would allow them to harvest the necessary emotions to survive but not paint them as a potential threat that must be dealt with like a pest pony would any other invasive and dangerous species.

Now see, I feel that the shadow is never really summoned, it just appears and offers power. Even Stygian had a line describing how the darkness spoke to him, promising power and he took it. He never asked for it, he was offered it and acted. The shadows are ever present, we just don't see them because, as hypothesized before, they are smarter than that.

Also in terms of light, I feel it exists to keep a balance, it is not directly responsible for anything. The light merely grants powers to those it believes will keep a steady balance between the chaos and harmony of the world. This is why there are so many insane happenings in Equestria, and likely the whole world, that can go awry, but nothing to upset the balance. The villains we see are the true threats, leading to a great imbalance, only chaos or only control by their hands. As a result the Light grants the power to vanquish or dispel this great imbalance to allow for more peace between the two forces at work. It also doesn't stop anything, which is why I believe it doesn't really have anything to do with ambitions or anything, it just doesn't care. It's like a cat, its indifferent to the happenings of those around it, only interfering when it feels dissatisfied with its current existence.

Negative emotions are not something light and darkness treat all that differently as is demonstrated by the nightmare phenomenon. Even if you believe Moon had darkness, Daybreaker and Midnight had absolutely none. Darkness is just better adept at using negative emotions as a weapon while light is better at enforcing groupthink through negative emotions. The reason why light leans towards redemption is not because it is some benevolent force of sugar, spice, and everything nice. It just wants more components. For light, every living being is a useful brick, so why waste any with capital punishment. Unity, oneness: this reasoning is ingrained deep within all creatures inside its domains. Practitioners of dark magic have a tendency to use those weaker than themselves as stepping stones similarly to how Sombra was using crystal ponies as slaves. Nightmare Moon, on the other appendage, converted ponies to her side. Plus, Discord is also part of light as there can be no such colorful frivolity in darkness. As is Tirek. As is Chrysalis. Most villains belong predominantly to light.

 

As for the whole "feeding on emotions" thing: changelings do not actually feed on love. They feed on mana that is willingly given away because of love. Dark beings cannot feed on light. Fear is used as a sort of passive mana leak that weakens their foes. They don't feed on fear either. They are removing the thing that dampens darkness, which makes it look like they are getting stronger the more those around them feel fear or sadness. Think of darkness as water, shadow user as a pool, light in this subrealm as valve on a tap, and fear is one of many things that can open it. However, we must not equate fear with darkness as shadow users too could likely lose magic through its influence and gain power via love from another dark being.

 

There is one more thing to consider: shadows are similar to us, it's just that their astral bodies are darkness. Some might even possess bodies of flesh. They are unlikely a unified faction just like ponies and buffalo are not regarding themselves as some noble warriors of light. Most of them would want nothing to do with realms of light unless something very, very bad happened that would weaken the boundaries of the realms and force powerful beings higher up the Tree of Life to act. But if that happened there would be not deus ex machina, no friendship speech, and no powerful pony that could stop the madness. We are to those beings what ants are to us.

On 1/19/2018 at 1:44 AM, Sagely Thyme said:

Having said all this, I do believe I would like to hear your ideas on whether or not there is any true way to gain the power without letting it inhabit you. Sure you can join with it for a boost but can you keep it separated and still retain the power? This is my next query to this topic, I await your answers.

A pony? Unlikely. They are not originally aligned with darkness. However, the dark thing inhabiting you is yourself. It acting like a different being, like a devil offering its service, it is all an illusion. The more you align with darkness, the more the two divided halves will fade into one. That is why Sombra had no visible shadow of his own. Shadow and Sombra are one and the same. Also, it is summoned, in a way. When you are losing light darkness starts creeping in. Anyway, for a pony to use darkness without adverse effect, they would need to conquer their shadow while having a heart that is compatible with darkness, not in an evil way, but in a philosophical sense of them cherishing their own freedom more than well-being of others or association with others. Of course, this does not inhibit good deeds or acts of affection, in fact, these can still be a quirk of an individual dark being, but the methods used would be different. Elements preach friendship and harmony while a shadow user would preach freedom without restrictions.