The Equestrian Realm and The Functioning of Personal and Greater Magic
Why bother with rules and structure?
To explain the purpose of this essay, I should first present my general belief that the motivation for the establishment of any set of rules and structure is to accomplish a couple of goals important to any story. The course of any story is immediately dependent upon the rules in which it operates and no one can take any story any more seriously than the rules established to govern the events that occur within. In order to follow a story one must know the rules and in any story that involves the fantastic it is particularly important to somehow introduce and explain them so that audience knows what the heck is going on. Otherwise, they will lack the knowledge to fully appreciate the events that transpire in the course of the story at the very least. It is with these concerns in mind that I set forth the proposals expressed herein.
The Equestrian Realm and The Functioning of Personal and Greater Magic
Inside the Pocket Universe That I Crafted
In my own fanfiction I devised the existence of a central dimensional rift or gateway in the realm that they inhabit as the source of the events of greater magic that occur.
For the MLP/Planet of the Apes crossover story I propose the Existence of Greater Equestria residing within what is popularly referred as The Hollow Earth.
This realm consists of an Inner Sun and Moon of relatively equal size in orbit about a central event or anomaly. For convenience, I conceived this as some sort of dwarf singularity spanning not more than 100 miles across its diameter since a black hole would be more likely to cause greater physical disruption than one might expect for a stable spatial realm.
The existence of such a dwarf singularity or other cosmic anomaly could then be expected to act under the psychic influence of the Unicorn ponies as a source of the individual acts of high strangeness to distinguish from the more scientifically reasonable types of magic that occur in the show. This to also re-balance the abilities of each of the three main groups within Equestrian Society and to cover up and account for the bouts of laziness indulged in by writers who too often resort to magic to accomplish what should be left to the course of a decently crafted plot.
In the context of Equestrian Society in general, the existence and role of this singular source of influence could also be expected to actually be Overlooked in the total course of Equestrian History because of its Very Pervasiveness until one of the ponies is thrust into a situation in which they venture outside its realm of influence.
In my Planet of the Apes crossover story, this occurs when Lyra ventures up to the surface world inhabited by the Apes and Humans which exists far enough away from the influence of the Dwarf Singularity that she finds that she can no longer work her Acts of Greater Magic which initially confuse her until she can adjust her understanding to a more complete understanding of the truth about the Greater Realm in which they exist.
How The Sisters Really Control the Courses of the Heavens
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The Equestrian Realm and The Functioning of Personal and Greater Magic
How The Sisters Really Control the Courses of the Heavens
As an illustration, I would propose that the sisters do Not exert their influences on the courses of the Equestrian Sun and Moon directly but each are in-fact influencing these bodies indirectly via their influences on the dwarf singularity which, in turn, magnifies their influence in the capacity to which it physically represents a local universal disruption. In this way, it can also be influenced to open other localized dimensional rifts and gateways under the influence of beings such as Discord. (Discord it should be remembered spends his 'away' time in the realm of universal chaos in which such inter-dimensional disruptions are even more common so such warping capabilities would not be inconsistent with what he might be expected to perform in his native environment on a regular basis.) Other extraordinary feats such as teleportations could be rationalized as representing lesser occurrences of the same types of dimension warping.
In the interest of re-introducing a rigid order that would also remain consistent within the realm in which my own fanfictions occur I would like to make the following suggestions:
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The Equestrian Realm and The Functioning of Personal and Greater Magic
In the interest of re-introducing a rigid order that would also remain consistent within the realm in which my own fanfictions occur I would like to make the following suggestions:
All magic be separated into two categories: Personal and Greater Magic
It has been established at this point as 'canon' that what is considered as 'magic' can at least in part be explained as some type of force that exists within all of the residents of Equestria (see Twilight's Kingdom). In this context, Personal magic could also be thought of as a sort of 'Star Wars' Magic. This is manifested whenever a character uses The Force. In the context of the MLP Series this occurs whenever a pony applies their powers to directly enhance their physical abilities. In this sense. Each of the 3 main tribes of pony in Equestria is equally endowed with this power but they are manifested differently:
Earth ponies may exert their power as greater physical strength.
Pegasus ponies exert their powers via their ability to fly.
Unicorn ponies exert their abilities via their mental abilities specifically their psychic powers of telekinesis.
In this way, each group is equally gifted in Personal Magic.
However, at this point we also have to address a secondary category of magic that the Unicorn ponies can manifest. This we might call 'Harry Potter' magic. This kind of magic is manifested in 4 general categories of action:
1) Transmutation: the changing of things into other things
2) Teleportation: causing things to disappear, sometimes to reappear elsewhere.
3) Spacial and Temporal Dislocation: the opening of dimensional rifts and doorways to other realms. (This also applies to the recently Haberized ability to travel in time.)
4) Direct Control of the Greater Equestrian Cosmosphere: the direct control that the sisters exert over the courses of the Equestrian sun and moon.
To cover these occurrences of Greater Magic I would propose the following: All Occurrences of Greater Magic are the result of the abilities of the Unicorn Ponies to influence an outside or external source of cosmic disruption which then causes the occurrences of Greater Magic. This influence is exerted by the Unicorn ponies alone due to the psychic and telekinetic nature of how their 'Personal Magical Power' is exerted and Not due to the presence of any Greater Power that they exert when compared to the other two major races of pony within Equestrian Society.