Starswirl's Spell

[ManaMinori 4,145]

I know it's been theorized and speculated to death on by many others, but what if we've been looking at this spell from the wrong angle this whole time? What did Starswirl's unfinished spell from season 3 really meant to do? Now that we have more information about him and the other pillars dropped in later seasons, I wan to offer a new theory. I think in order to make sense of the spell, we need to look at the context of the episodes before and after "Magical Mystery Cure". Episodes like "Keep Calm and Flutter on", "It's About Time", "Princess Twilight Sparkle", "Rarity Takes Manehattan", "Pinkie Pride", "Rainbow Falls", "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", "Leap of faith", "Twilight's Kingdom", and even the Equestria Girls Movie and "Shadow Play" all play a role in explaining Starswirl's spell in "Magical Mystery Cure".

In "Magical Mystery Cure", Celestia approaches Twilight and acknowledges "You created something that's never been done before. Something that even a great unicorn like Starswirl the Bearded was not able to do. Because he did not understand friendship, like you do." and during Twilight's coronation, she explains "But today, Twilight Sparkle did something extraordinary. She created NEW MAGIC, proving without a doubt, that she is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest Princess." What's important to note, however, is that we don't really know what this "creation of new magic" is- whether it's the magical effect of friendship when reality is warped by Starswirl's spell and Twilight's fixing it through the revision of said spell, which- from what is seen, is able to restore a corrupted pony's true nature and "destiny" through Twilight's friendship magic. Or whether it's the spell that came out of Twilight's heart and transformed her into an alicorn. I'm led to believe that  the new magic is tied to the former, however, due to the alicornization being a result of it. Twilight's friends are her main focus, and it's only after she realizes that she has displayed each of their qualities, along with leadership, does she begin to transform. The "new magic" which was something that has never been done before was what de-corrupted her friends and set the timeline straight.

 

But what of Starswirl's spell, that triggered it all? What we know of its workings are from the line that Twilight reads aloud "from one to another, another to one. The mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.", and its immediate effects on altering the Tree of Harmony's elements. Upon first viewing, this might lead some to believe that his spell had meant to tamper with cutie marks- which are repeatedly said to be the "destiny" of ponies- especially with what we see in the episode of "MMC", but what if that's all wrong? Celestia frequently emphasizes afterward that Twilight has displayed the qualities of her friends since coming to Ponyville, which has lead to this 'new magic that has never been done before, not even by Starswirl.'

What if Starswirl's spell was meant to utilize the qualities of his companions, the Pillars and planters of the "seed of harmony", as was brought out in "Shadow Play"? If the elements were affected by Twilight's reading his spell, then it'd have to mean that he had originally meant to tamper with the seed that had  been imbued with the qualities of himself and the other pillars, since he hadn't yet known, upon returning to Equestria from Limbo, that it had grown into a tree and produced "fruit" (the elements). "From one two another, another to one" calls to mind the trading sequence of season 4, where the mane 6 had to be given their keys by others, who displayed the same qualities that they had. If Starswirl had been working on or had completed his time-travelling spell before working on this MMC spell, then perhaps he had gone into the future to know of Twilight and her friends and their accomplishments right around season 4, to use what he saw in them and the ponies they aided in their episodes to lend to his ultimately unfinished spell; his "masterpiece", as Celestia put it. This certainly would explain the passage in the Journal of the Two Sisters where he had returned from time-travel and seemed to hint that he had encountered Twilight.

 

Perhaps Starswirl had meant to magically use the Pillar's qualities to transfer into Stygian, or himself. Or to strengthen their artifacts somehow, to work as their original keys to what would later become the Tree of Harmony's "rainbow power"? The tree of Harmony and those linked to it through their founding qualities is shown to be involved in a large way to this spell.

 

But what do you guys think?

 

[Hierok 11,832]

1 hour ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Perhaps Starswirl had meant to magically use the Pillar's qualities to transfer into Stygian, or himself. Or to strengthen their artifacts somehow, to work as their original keys to what would later become the Tree of Harmony's "rainbow power"? The tree of Harmony and those linked to it through their founding qualities is shown to be involved in a large way to this spell.

Interesting theory, but if the pillars transfered their powers into Stygian, why did he turn evil if he knew he was going to be part of the pillars? 

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

An interesting theory, let me take it in a direction that is much more supported by the show now that I think about it.
Starswirl used the spell to transfer the Pillars magic into the Seed of Harmony as there isn't another way for a Earth pony to transfer magic.
Now Starswirl never finished the spell, but it is possible the one used on the Seed was somewhat of a prototype of that same spell.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

4 hours ago, Hierok said:

Interesting theory, but if the pillars transfered their powers into Stygian, why did he turn evil if he knew he was going to be part of the pillars? 

as I said, maybe he intended to- hence the unfinished spell. Stygian might've acted and stole the artifacts, became the PoS, and Starswirl could've abandoned his work on the spell to seal all of them away in limbo.