How do enchantments from books work in Equestria?

[Music Chart Fan 819]

In the most recent episode, "Power Ponies", an enchantment from a book is a major part of the plot for the second time in the show. In "Power Ponies", it's from an enchanted comic book, while the first time, in "Magical Mystery Cure", it's a spell from Star Swirl the Bearded's book. In both cases, the enchantment/spell seems to operate by a unique mechanism: either Spike or Twilight activates the enchantment by saying the words of the enchantment aloud while reading the book. I'm curious, though, about what the precise process is by which these enchantments from books are activated in Equestria, and whether a small change in what Spike or Twilight did would have caused the enchantments not to be activated.

 

First, we can see in "Power Ponies" that Spike activated the enchantment from the comic book without the intention of doing so. Thus activation of an enchantment seems to be dependent on communicating the words of the enchantment. But what method of communicating the enchantment is required for activation? Must the words of the enchantment be spoken aloud for it to be activated? Or could a reader of an enchanted book simply say the words of the enchantment in their head and still activate it?

 

Furthermore, we don't understand how orientation of the book and the activator of the enchantment plays a role in activation. Must whoever is activating the enchantment actually be "reading" the enchantment - that is, eyes focusing on the words on the page of the book - to activate it? Or could someone activate the enchantment by merely saying it near the book without "reading" it? If the latter case, how close must the activator of the enchantment be to the enchanted book when doing so? Within sight of the book and/or within earshot of the book? Must the book be open to the page on which the enchantment is written?

 

These factors and how they interact together could have had a significant effect on the events of these two episodes in which the activation of an enchantment out of a book was a major part of the plot. For example, in "Power Ponies", what if Spike had read the enchantment without saying it aloud? Would the enchantment still have been activated? If not, then the whole rest of the episode inside the comic book wouldn't have happened, just because of a small change in Spike's reading habits.

 

For another example, in Magical Mystery Cure, what if Twilight had read Star Swirl the Bearded's spell without saying it aloud, but then closed the book, walked somewhere else in the library, and then repeated the words aloud while pondering the spell? Would the spell still have been activated? If not, then a lot of the events of the episode might not have happened. The rest of the Mane Six would not have had their cutie marks switched around, and Ponyville wouldn't have been thrown into chaos. But, perhaps even more importantly, without the spell being activated, Twilight might not have realized how to complete the spell, and she even might not have become a princess. All of this would have happened because of a small change in how Twilight read the spell out of the book.

 

What do you think? Is the process of activating enchantments from books in Equestria restrictive or lenient, and what consequences (good or bad) might result from either of those options? Thanks for reading!

[Malinter 3,064]

A Pony needs to have 520 skill points in enchanting.

 

On a serious note. its interesting that while unicorns casting magic can have little effect. Putting the spells to paper seems to have an effect. It would also appear that the spell once written uses what ever magic was used to write it to activate. hence the auto-actiavtion of the completed spell and Spike reading the spell on the comic.

[Metemponychosis 1,259]

I felt that Twilight activating the spell simply by reading it was unbelievably stupid, different from every other kind of unicorn magic we see in the show. But I had to think about the mirror pond which magic is also activated by an incantation. I don't remember other examples from the show, but it would be a different kind of magic, in my opinion.

 

So, my opinion on the specific case of the comic is that it may be a sort o entertainment spell that activates upon reading aloud the written component of the spell. Like a scroll, that not only spell-users like unicorns could activate. Also, it may not be a matter of orientation in relation to the book, but simply of being present, close to it. But this may also be specific for the spell, as Starswirl had a different effect. It may have been made to target the Elements and their bearers. So, I'm guessing that all this is supposed to be infused within the spell itself. How is this done? NO CLUE. Honestly, simply writing the text is just too simplistic, so it may require stuff like enchanted ink and quills, etc...

 

But I doubt that the staff is actually thinking any of of this. They just make stuff happen because it's "fun". Honestly, I don't like it.