Bastian returned a few hours later, an apple in hand as he chewed and hoped Twilight was okay now. Thankfully, it looked like whatever had snapped inside her had fixed itself, as Twilight seemed much calmer and more reasonable.

"So..." He spoke up, startling her out of whatever she was reading. "Now that you don't look like you're about to go insane, how about we finish that report to Celestia?"

Twilight vigorously nodded, somehow managing to hide her mortification he'd seen her in that state. It had taken Spike a while to calm her down. Retrieving her quill and parchment, she began reading off a list of questions.

Princess Celestia was in the middle of her lunch break when the letter materialized. Making sure to grab it before it landed in the bowl of soup she'd just been enjoying, she unrolled it and began to read. It was a whole description on Nen and Bastian's abilities, with some of Twilight's personal opinions thrown in.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have questioned Bastian about the nature of his Nen abilities, and have written down what he has told me.

Aura, or as it's colloquially called, 'Nen,' is the life energy produced by all living bodies, and is vital for survival. Aura from all parts of the body has a tendency to flow together, producing one mass of energy. This happens without the individual's awareness, typically resulting in a slow leak of aura continually escaping the body. If one were to lose their entire aura, it would be equivalent to using up all the energy keeping them alive, which would be fatal. The pores or points on the body from which aura flows out from are called "Aura Nodes," which he has described as being able to be opened through two methods: the first method is meditation over a long period of time in order to slowly and carefully open them while getting a sense for it, which is what Bastian himself did over the course of a year. The other method is another Nen user jolting these nodes open, which is much more dangerous. If the one opening the other's Aura Nodes has any malicious intent, it could severely harm the recipient, sometimes leading to paralysis or even loss of limbs, or potentially even death. This is why it is an extremely frowned-upon method. Controlling these Aura Nodes is the first step to being a user of Nen.

Learning to use Nen is the final step in becoming a professional Hunter because most contracted jobs require the use of it as the minimum requirement. The technique has the ability to enhance the strength of physical attacks or objects depending on the quantity of aura employed and an individual's aura type, as well as allows for para-psychological abilities to exist in reality. Because one can craft just about any sort of psychic power through only using their mind, Nen is also a dangerous power unknown to the public at large.

(When I asked Bastian why he told us about it if it was a secret, he simply said he had no reason to distrust us, as well as point out the fact Ponies, especially Unicorns and Alicorns, already use magic that is startlingly similar to Nen.)

Bastian has mentioned six different categories Nen-users fall into: Enhancement, Transmutation, Conjuration, Emission, Manipulation, and Specialist.

Enhancement is the most simple category, as it is the ability to use aura to increase the natural abilities of an object or one's own body. Therefore, Enhancers are able to greatly increase their physical attack and defense through use of their aura.

(Bastian has stated that most Nen users are essentially required to learn at least a little Enhancement at some point, as it can easily help defend oneself from harm should the need arise.)

Transmuters, meanwhile, can change the properties of their aura to mimic something else, thus giving it different properties. Transmuters can copy the properties of real things, but can also give their aura properties of things that don't actually exist by combining certain attributes.

(Bastian gave an example of giving aura properties like heat to burn things or stone for protection, or even attributes like sharpness to help cut through things.)

Emission means that a user is capable of controlling the deployment of their aura while separating it from their body. Normally, when one unskilled in Emission does this, the aura will break down and disappear. Emitters, however, are able to preserve the shape and consistency of their aura, even when separated from it. Some forms of Emission can be mistaken for Conjuration.

Conjurors like Bastian can create a physical, independent, material object out of one's aura. In Bastian's case, this takes the form of his tridents. However, Bastian has stated that in some cases, objects or entities created by this technique have a subtle "independence" to them, meaning that they can continue existing even if they were at a considerable distance from the Conjurer, or even if the Conjurer themselves are not aware that they have yet to be dematerialized. Conjured objects can have special abilities imbued into them, such as a shield that reflects the force behind an attack back at the attacker.

Manipulation is another category Bastian uses with his tridents, though it is not his natural category. Abilities belonging to Manipulators allow the user to control living or non-living things in a certain way, named for the method of 'manipulating' one's enemies. However, doing so often requires some type of 'medium' to be used, such as needles or simple physical contact.

Specialization is the odd category out, as Specialization is anything that doesn't belong into the other five categories. Therefore, it is the most vague category out of all six, but arguably also the most unpredictable. He has cited examples like fortune telling, stealing other Nen abilities, or stealing a person's available aura and taking it for your own.

Bastian has also stated that there are special techniques Nen-users must learn in order to control their aura properly; however, I wasn't able to ask him much more about them before he had to leave. I will send another letter detailing these techniques once I am able to ask him.

Your precious student,

Twilight Sparkle

This was a long letter, Celestia noted, but it certainly helped shine a bit of light on the nature of Bastian's abilities. She wondered if ponies could potentially learn to use aura and Nen like Bastian could, and what it would mean for Equestria as a whole. With a whole new field of magic like this, Earth ponies and Pegasi might be able to develop abilities similar to a Unicorn's latent magic!

Then the darker thoughts rolled in - not all of her ponies were completely harmonious. What if they chose to use Nen for their own gain, or to harm others? What would it spell for Equestria if races like the dragons or the gryphons learned it?

These thoughts continued occupying her head as she stared into her cold soup.

Author's Note

Yeah, I was lazy and copied large chunks of this chapter off of the Hunter x Hunter wiki.

Anyway, I know this chapter isn't that great, but I felt like posting something since I was so bored. At least it advances the plot a little...