Eight tribes codex

Published by Equestrian Educational Authority
Limited edition primer
Authorized by royal request of H.R.H Princess Celestia year 1984 Celestial era

Arabian

While in sizes they come closer to us than the other horse breeds, Arabians are indisputably horses, as evidenced by the viability of crossbreeding with other, non-magical breeds of horsedom, and complete inability to crossbreed with ponies.

While theoretically all arabians owe allegiance to the Sultana (current one being Aliyah Al-Shama) and the Divan out of imperial city of Buckdad, in truth every Malik, Emir and Sheik freely rules their domain as they see fit; thus the arabian realms boast widely different customs, traditions and even laws. That is not to say that Sultana and the Divan are powerless. Nothing can be further from the truth. They are simply fairly hooves off in dealing with politics outside Buckdad. But woe betide the one who draws imperial ire, for the consequences tend to be swift, brutal and completely disproportionate. Aye, even princess Celestia herself trots very carefully indeed when dealing with Buckdad.

The source for such overwhelming power of Sultana is of course in her inexhaustible coffers that afford her the very best of magic.

As with Zebras, Arabians are thaumaturgical in their magic. Meaning that their magic is not inborn, but rather constitutes in universal capability to draw in and manipulate extant energies of the world. Since they have no mana, and are free from constraints imposed by tribal and personal predilection, the only limiting factor of a thaumaturge are the resources they can invest in their workings.

Where they differ from Zebras is in their approach to magic. Whereas Zebra magical traditions are all spiritual, Arabians are completely academic. Indeed, the single greatest period of advancement in unicorn spellcasting came when Equestria first established contacts with the Emirates and the Arabian books on and of magic became available.

The best way to demonstrate the difference between Arabian thaumaturgy and pony theurgy would be to compare them to workings of unicorns, since the principles involved are, for the most part, same.

The most egregious examples one could offer would be in the matters of writing and flight.

So, where a unicorn could just pick a quill in their aura and get on with it, an arabian who decided not to mouth-write would need most of a day, and 60 bits and upwards of sundry other resources to create an enchanted quill to write for them, but, on the flipside, once created, the quill would proceed to write, with no blots, no smudges, no mistakes, with complete grammatical and stylistic expertise as befitting the necessary format, in clearly legible, aesthetically pleasant calligraphy, in as many issues as desired, and all with no further involvement of the spellcaster whatsoever.

On the matter of flight magic, without active aid from one of the airtribes, a pony is rather out of luck. Any spell that granted the ability to fly would be prohibitively complex, even more magically difficult, and quite short-lived. On the other hand, the preferred long distance method of travel amongst arabians are flying carpets, that need only need the slightest of skills in magic to be directed and barring accidents or moths, last for decades.

That is not to say that all Arabians are mighty wizards. Few indeed have the time and resources available to master even cantrips, much less proper spellwork.