Theory Theory: Magical Energy and it's role in Equestria

[murkyx 904]

Alright, be prepared for a long post, that may or may not be a set of ramblings spawned by vivid dreams of Celestia telling me how her world worked with clues into Equestrian government and warfare.

 

Be warned, your mind may explode.

 

 

Magic is a force that is commonly seen in the world of Equestria. The ability to utilize this force is inherent in several creatures in varying degrees. But the question presents itself: What is this magic? And furthermore, how much as it affected Equestrian history. According to this theory that I have, a lot more than you think.

 

All start with the first two points in my theory:

1: Magic is a type of energy interconnected with corresponding emotions in the creatures that utilize that energy.

2: For every pure emotion there is a corresponding energy, resulting in many differing magical energies of varying power and forms for every emotion given, some stronger than others.

 

This point can be easily explained by the types of the creatures that inhabit Equestria. The ponies are inherently magical in of themselves, as they are not only intelligent and thus able to express many emotions, but are physically able to express magic. Unicorns are obvious, who are able to use their telekinesis to perform many tasks. The Pegasi use their magic to assist in flight and allow them control over the weather and walk on clouds, and the Earth Ponies are granted mastery of the soil and innovation. Many times the extent of each of these ponies' abilities is determined by their emotions and desires. Rainbow Dash is given the powers to fly at extreme speeds not only because she trains, but also because of her confidence, while Fluttershy normally is unable to fly unless her mind is set on something else usually involving an exp<b></b>ression of kindness.

 

And of course, you see the creatures that prey upon the ponies' emotions. Creatures like the Wendigos and Changelings that feed upon the energies of the ponies' emotions, and manifest it themselves in either magical exp<b></b>ression such as the blizzard that nearly drove the pre-Equestrian ponies to starvation, or to merely sate their own hunger and bolster their own magical strength.

 

Celestia and Luna themselves have roles in this magical energy. Actually much more than most other ponies. Celestia and Luna appear to be a culmination of the entirety of the magical energies inherent in ponies, with Celestia being positive and light emotions and energies, and Luna being negative and dark emotions and energies. Like Yin and Yang; two opposites in harmony.

 

To explain further, Celestia is the embodiment of the Magic of Friendship. She was able to possess and use the Elements of Harmony on her sister to banish her, so it is obvious that specific energy is Celestia's strongsuit, (being a combination of the positive energies that create it) However, due to the lack of negative, Celestia is weak when it comes to offensive or aggressive magic, case and point being her battle against Chrysalis. Especially against the bolstered magic of Love, shown to be a far more potent but lesser known magical source, Celestia could not hold. Instead, Celestia shows she would be better at passive magical spells, involving healing, growth, countercurses, and the like.

 

Luna on the other hand, would possess the darker emotions of ponykind, as well as the more mellow energies of the night. It doesn't deny her the ability to feel the positive emotions of her sister, but they are there precariously perched, thus once pushed, she fell down a spiral that allowed her to be absorbed in those emotional energies. However, it is not without a purpose. In Equestrian government, I feel that those energies would be used in times of Warfare, so Luna would be in command of Equestria's armies, while Celestia held the responsibility of the economical, social, and governmental sides of the dimonarchy.

 

The next two points in my theory:

3: Magical energy is neither created or destroyed, and must be utilized through a host or hosts in some way or form.

4: Magical energy of a certain emotion has an equal and opposite emotional energy, and both these energies, when combined, cancel out each other's effects.

 

Prime example of this: Discord. Discord feeds off of Chaotic energy, the opposite of the combined energies of Celestia and Luna, being Harmonious energy. Discord is interesting, as he almost always creates a constructive loop whenever he's active; creating more chaos to bolster his power, which he uses to create even more chaos, until all chaotic energy available is used to saturate the world with chaos through him.

 

However, no matter how much of Equestria he controls, there still was that element of Harmony that bested him, meaning that energy was never destroyed, and even so, was in a strength able to completely counter the chaotic effects. Discord could not harm the Elements, only hide them and try to corrupt the bearers.

 

The Elements of Harmony are a host for Harmonic Energy, as well as their chosen bearers, meaning that Chaotic Magic cannot physically harm them, but the minds of the bearers themselves can be corrupted to utilize chaotic emotions instead of Harmonious energy. (One theory I have always had was that Celestia and Luna were created, not born by chance, to serve that role as hosts for Harmony with the Elements as a key to allow them to use all of that energy available to use at once.)

 

When Discord was defeated, he was turned into stone, preventing him of being a host of that chaotic energy. However, all the emotional energy requires a physical host, so according to these magical laws, a new host was created, taking on a dormant chaotic form that exists to this day: The Everfree Forest.

 

A second example of this energy balance is in the banishment of Nightmare Moon.

 

Ponies, as I said before, are inheritly magical creatures, and are able to be hosts of many types of emotional energy. Luna and Celestia are more considered "master hosts" being more in tune with the majority of the energies.

 

When Luna became jealous, she was overwhelmed with the magical energies of anger and contention (which power the Windegos) and maybe even some of the energies of Chaos which she absorbed to physically transform herself and become an embodiment of those energies. However, unlike Discord, when she was banished, she was not rendered unable to be a host, she was simply moved and imprisoned, meaning most of the negative energies went with her. That said, Harmonious and Positive magical energies compensated for this sudden gap, allowing Celestia to rule over Equestria for 1000 in what was said to be absolute peace. Meaning that in those times, ponies, who are lesser hosts of these emotional energies, suddenly had less capacity to express negative emotions.

 

When Nightmare Moon returned, we see that ponies are becoming more and more contentious. With Nightmare Moon bringing back the majority of her magical energy back, the Ponies were suddenly able to physically express anger, sorrow, jealousy, and contention again, and over time, they became more comfortable in expressing it.

 

So in conclusion: Magical Energy is a type of energy that requires a host or hosts, which is usually a creature or object that is physically attuned to utilize this specific energy. It comes in forms and powers based off of emotions, having an equal and opposite emotion to counter it, and can neither be created or destroyed. Magical energy has played a role in Equestrian history from the beginning of time, and has undoubtedly had a hand in shaping the results of conflicts past and to come.

 

And then of course, one final note to add that contains possible spoilers of Season 3 so look at it at your own risk...

 

As you can see by this picture, there is good chance that there will be something akin to the Elements of Disharmony. If so, this theory keys into it perfectly. They would be artifacts that would be able to utilize all chaotic energy at once in a single magical burst. But I wouldn't think it would be like Discord's version of Chaos, which was utilizing his chaotic energy to alter the world into something amusing to him. Instead the EoD would change the world into the complete opposite of what it was, being desolate, cruel, and random as these next photos hint towards.

 

 

 

 

So I hope I wasn't too confusing. Hard to imagine I came up with this in my sleep...

[Mindrop 412]

Bris, I hate you. I hate you because you came up with this and are so brilliant, and I am not.

 

I would like to point out a couple more points to bolster your argument (feel free to use them if you want! lol)

 

1: Twi putting away the Ursa Minor, it took her entire confidence, and will to do that amazing feat. Therefor, Twi is able to get in touch with emotions and use magic more than most unicorns.

 

2: That explains Pinkie Pie's fourth wall breaking. As an Earth Pony, she has an atypical ability to interact with the physical world in many different ways, hence her fourth wall breaking, and Pinkie Sense!

 

SECOND TO POST!!!! YEAH!!!

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

wow, thats actually a pretty cool theory. and for your second point in the theory, that might also relate to their cutie marks, because they have a certain emotion in some areas of desire, which, when they succeed in it, get their cutie mark. when they have as strong love for a certain thing (the thing their CM is related to) they have higher powers in it. like Twilight loves magic, and her CM is in magic, so she has a higher success rate in it rather than in fashion, which Rarity loves, so Rarity would have a higher success in that.

[NavelColt 22,882]

Truly a very interesting theory to think about it. Good of you to type it all out and share it with us :3 I always like hearing people's ideas about why and how things work in the world of Equestria.

Edited August 17, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[Dusty Soul 2,612]

This is a very awesome theory. I'm glad you shared it. At first I thought it was another over-thinking thread, but honestly this is truly brilliant.

[Stary Dreams 87]

Sweet Celestia... That was a magnificent and reasonable theory you have conjured! It explains many things in Equestria and about the magic that exists within it. Very well written sir I'm impressed!

[Neikos 968]

That was an interesting read, I myself also have a theory on Magic but it differs somewhat from yours.

 

But first let me tell you that I don't agree with emotions being needed to express Magic. Because that would mean you are not able to express it on Demand. I have read a few books about neuroscience and even if we are able to create emotions trough our higher functions it wouldn't be strong. It would also make it more dangerous, if you HAVE to be emotional to express Magic you start to disregard rational thinking and tend to do short sighted decisions.

 

In my 'Theory' magic resembles Energy. Everypony is able to produce it by concentration or instinct. Of course emotions still play a role, but just like how you can kick down a door when being angry, being in a dangerous situation can supercharge your capabilities. Of course you can hypotethize that being emotional puts you back on an instinct level and thus making you more performant but that is a bit of scope here.

 

Back to Magic, Unicorns can use their Magic at distance, externalizing it trough their Horn.

Earth Ponies use their Magic in their bodies trough the earth, giving the energy to plants: making them grow.

And pegasi use their magic to be in tune with the weather thus being able to shape it. I do not believe that they use it for flying.

[murkyx 904]

That was an interesting read, I myself also have a theory on Magic but it differs somewhat from yours.

 

But first let me tell you that I don't agree with emotions being needed to express Magic. Because that would mean you are not able to express it on Demand. I have read a few books about neuroscience and even if we are able to create emotions trough our higher functions it wouldn't be strong. It would also make it more dangerous, if you HAVE to be emotional to express Magic you start to disregard rational thinking and tend to do short sighted decisions.

 

In my 'Theory' magic resembles Energy. Everypony is able to produce it by concentration or instinct. Of course emotions still play a role, but just like how you can kick down a door when being angry, being in a dangerous situation can supercharge your capabilities. Of course you can hypotethize that being emotional puts you back on an instinct level and thus making you more performant but that is a bit of scope here.

 

Back to Magic, Unicorns can use their Magic at distance, externalizing it trough their Horn.

Earth Ponies use their Magic in their bodies trough the earth, giving the energy to plants: making them grow.

And pegasi use their magic to be in tune with the weather thus being able to shape it. I do not believe that they use it for flying.

 

Ah, but I have a theory for that as well. You see, to perform a specific spell, you need a desire to perform that task.

 

Emotion keys into here because the desire will vary according to the emotions of that pony around that specific task. Many times in reality, people assign emotions to tasks due to past experiences, and thus it creates that level of desire because when they think about that task again, that emotion comes up. It's a psychological strategy where you put your mind into a specific emotional mindset at will to make the performance of a given task that much more effective, because many times you cannot perform to the best of your ability unless it is with the right emotional state. People ranging from Actors, to Athletes, to Soldiers do this all the time, and even they will admit, your emotional state and your desire will make or break you depending on what you need to be doing. For ponies it's the same when trying to access their magical abilities. And as you will see in my examples, their cutie marks play a crucial factor in this.

 

First example I'll use will be Fluttershy. Now, if you look at a Pegasus' wings, you'll notice that they're quite small. Scientifically speaking (and I know it's a cartoon and all, but just listen) those wings cannot support that creature's weight or fly in the manner that they can. The inherent magic in them allows them at least some levitation powers and their wings act more to guide and accelerate them. (How else do you think Roid Rage can fly with those wings?) And what allows this power to be used is the desire to fly. Fluttershy is a weak flier compared to a pegasus like Rainbow Dash because she has very little confidence in her own flight ability to begin with, giving her not as much capability to utilize her powers as a pegasus. A very weak desire to fly, unless it is imperative in her own interests, in which case she can be a capable flyer, even able to catch up to a laden Rainbow Dash. She uses her powers to help animals and protect her friends against any threat, hence why she can do what she can do now.

 

Another pegasus without much confidence in her flight capabilities is Scootaloo. She has been shown to either not know or is reluctant to lift off the ground, so as a result, she physically can't. However, when she is on her scooter, she uses that power to accelerate herself, and can even pull things with her scooter that are several times her own weight. So physical strength cannot be a factor there.

 

Another example I have are observed in young ponies. Pound Cake is far younger than Scootaloo and can still fly, and Pumpkin Cake can use magic at tiers that would even be difficult for Twilight to perform. That's because unlike other ponies, newborns only think with emotions and desires. Thus these emotions and desires are at levels where they can access far more of the associated magical energies than when they are older.

 

Twilight, as a young filly, was very emotional when she couldn't complete that entrance exam, and when frightened by the Sonic Rainboom, released several complex and powerful spells that she would struggle to do again because she has to now logically remember the emotions corresponding with the spell and have the desire to do it. It was then she realized her potential in the field of magic, and gained her cutie mark, and most likely reflects back to her feelings at that time to access her abilities.

 

Rainbow Dash, as a filly, had an ultimate desire to win that race. Not only to protect her pride and make a statement, but to help Fluttershy as well. That desire led to what can be counted as a magical anomaly in of itself: the Sonic Rainboom. A task she could not perform again until she had that pure emotional desire once again to save her friend, this time Rarity, falling to her death. Rainbow must have made the connections eventually, realizing that raw desire was what gave her the ability to do the Rainboom, and thus was able to empathize those specific thoughts so she could perform it at will.

 

Rarity had the desire to find something to beautify her costumes, and thus magic led her to gemstones. Pinkie, once feeling happiness for herself for the first time, had the desire to spread that happiness, completely changing her around and giving her the energy and abilities to do it. And Applejack, being the most grounded of them all, felt insecure until she realized that inside she never wanted to leave in the first place. Then add that to the fact that their magical energy was most likely interconnected through the Elements of Harmony, which had chosen them as their bearers, and it shows that magic may be more than just a simple energy.

 

That and many more examples that I can give show why I believe emotion and desire is needed to utilize magical energy, limited only by the limitations the ponies place upon themselves.

 

On an unrelated note, I believe it was Bruce Lee who had the philosophy that if you truly had the desire and mindset that you could do anything, nothing can stand in your path to do what you wanted, even if another person would claim it to be impossible to reach.

Edited August 18, 2012 by Brisineo

[Neikos 968]

I believe we have similar ideas, but you put too much onto the emotion's shoulder. Emotions are merely a state of your body which are meant to make you better prepared for a task at hand. Instinct is far better suited and would also tie in nicely with your foal example. You see instincts are processes in your brain that have been hardwired into it. As a baby those are your only way of existing. But as they do not require higher thinking they are also faster. And due to natural selection highly efficient. This is my explanation to why the pounds as well as Twifilly were able to use their magic. But both were not able to controll them to do something useful right? No higher functions were involved.

 

Once you age you acquire your 'free will' and thus also the limitations you were talking about. My guess is that they start to think before using their magic.

One exception to that is Twilight. She is able to use levitation and teleportation without needing to concentrate making me believe that she is using Instinc

[murkyx 904]

Ah, and I think to see how we differ in ideas as well. You seem to be taking a neurological and physical perspective, while I'm more taking the psychological perspective. However I think that both opinions are perfectly valid and could be just pieces of a greater whole.

 

I did forget to post another example though that would point towards emotion over physical reaction after I just watched Hearth's Warming Eve. Clover the Clever was the first to chance upon the combination of magical energies that fuels the Elements of Harmony when she saved herself, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy by banishing the Wendigos. But it was triggered my a mix of raw emotions, desires, and as you said, base instincts, instead of logical thinking. Even Clover admitted she didn't know how it happened exactly, but knew that it was the friendships she made that created the spell.

 

And it helps my theory of that magical energy is emotional by how the presence of that "fire of friendship" caused the sudden change in the behaviors of the ponies present, as the ponies were being empathetic to the energies they are exposed to.

 

This is an interesting discussion, no?

[Neikos 968]

but couldn' that feeling of empathy spawn because of everyone craving for friendship?

 

I can't go further than that because I don't remember this episode very well and wouldn't want my memory to be a source of possible errors. ( Im on holidays right now, so I can't watch it right away. )

[murkyx 904]

Meh, I wouldn't think so. To refresh your memory, Commander Hurricane, Princess Platinum, and Chancellor Puddinghat all despised the notion of befriending the other pony races and openly refused the idea of their assistants joining together even when they were frozen. If the energy wasn't affecting their emotions at the time, they would all have been appalled by the actions of their servants when they awoke, and got into more arguments because they were still trapped when they thawed. (Hurricane certainly would have forced Pansy away, Platinum would take pride in the Fire of Friendship, claiming it to be the reason why Unicorns are better, and Puddinghat would make some strange counter insult. But something stopped them from even raising voices, so that's why I think that the energy was physically effecting their mental state. It's also still in existence, so I assume it is one of the reasons why Equestria is so peaceful.