Let's talk about "magic" being absorbed and taken away. Just how does it work?

[DPBOX 65]

There are a lot of times in My Little Pony where someone evil absorbs the good guys' magic, such as Tirek, the Storm King's staff, Cozy Glow, and Grogar's Bell. When someone's magic is absorbed like this, they're completely exhausted and are barely able to stand. They also can't use magic for the rest of their life or until they somehow get it back.

However, in video games such as RPGs, if you run out of magic power or Magic Points, you simply can't cast any more magic. You can still fight, use regular attacks, use items, and walk around like normal. You don't become exhausted or barely able to stand, and you can recover your magic power by resting such as at an inn. You don't lost your ability to cast magic forever. In some games, you recover Magic Points simply by walking around.

So then why is it that, when ponies' magic is absorbed, they get completely exhausted to the point where they're barely able to stand and lose the ability to use magic forever? That's not what happens in video games! What happens when a pony casts too much magic, then? How do they recover magic power then after casting some magic?

And what about the Season 8 finale situation? How does everyone's magic, just, get weaker and stop working all at once? Just how does magic work in Equestria?

Also, is it even magic that these villains are stealing? Queen Chrysalis in Season 9: Episode 8: Frenemies refers to what's being stolen one time as "life force" and another time as "essence".

I need these questions asked because I want to make a My Little Pony RPG, and I want magic in it to work like how it does in the show.

[TransPirate 120]

It works in a way that serves the story best in a given episode. You could just make stamina and magic the same thing in your game but since it's so vague I don't think anyone will accuse you of not following the lore either way.

Edited August 19, 2021 by TransPirate

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

In RPGs, there are mages and physical fighters. You could just have the characters resort to using physical attacks on an enemy that stole their magic in order to retrieve it. 

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

Sort of related. Ever read Larry Niven's "The Magic Goes Away"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Goes_Away

Perhaps the magic in Equestria is a finite resource, and gets used up.

Edited August 20, 2021 by cuteycindyhoney

[DPBOX 65]

10 hours ago, cuteycindyhoney said:

Sort of related. Ever read Larry Niven's "The Magic Goes Away"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Goes_Away

Perhaps the magic in Equestria is a finite resource, and gets used up.

Actually, I'm playing through the Trials of Mana remake on the Nintendo Switch now, and that's certainly the case there. With no mana in the world, magic can't be used, and it takes 1,000 years for the world to build up its mana supply.

But, with a system like that, you'd expect magicians to draw power from the world's mana to use magic, which suggests that they can just spam any spells they've learned for as long as they want, but that's not the case. The game does use an Magic Points system where, if you run out of Magic Points, you can't use magic until you've restored Magic Points or rested. I guess they just get tired similar to how running for too long makes you tired. My Little pony characters are sometimes visibly tired and out of breath after casting powerful spells, right?

The concept of "Magic being reliant on the world's supply of mana power" would certainly make sense for the Season 8 finale. The ponies realize that it's getting much harder to cast magic. It's because Cozy Glow is trying to take away the world's mana.

But this wouldn't explain why, if the pony's magic/life force/essence/whatever it is is absorbed by Tirek, the Bewitching Bell, etc., they can't use magic for the rest of their lives or until they get it back. That certainly shouldn't be the case if they're just going to draw upon the world's mana power. Something else must be at work here. What is it? Maybe it's not magic at all, but something different or something in addition to magic. What would that be, then? Whenever someone's magic/life force/essence/whatever it is, magic or whatever is seen coming out of their bodies and into the villain or artifact, so there's obviously SOMETHING inside them that's enabling them to use magic. Whether it's magic or something else, I don't know. What would that be?

Edited August 20, 2021 by DPBOX
more clarification