Limitless possibilities

by Random Grunt

Rating: mature
Tags: Sad, Original Character, My Little Pony: A New Generation, Profanity, Random
Length: 3364

Are there limits to earth pony magic?

Magic is back? And now earth ponies can do it? Is it even any good? Somebody gotta figure that out.

Published 2022-12-20 20:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-12-20 20:10:00 UTC

Is there a limit?

"If magic can produce produce this perfect there might be no limit to what we can do! We can't cut off a whole planet of possibilities" – Sunny Starscout

"An introductory study of the effects of earth pony magic"

by Sweets, a senior researcher at Canterlogic.

Introduction.

This research project was spurred on by multiple factors. First, the reunion with pegasi and unicorns has stopped most magor projects at Canterlogic. Second, following the reunion magic returned to Equestria and by extension to Maretime Bay. Lastly, the return of earth pony magic, which is entirely unexplored.

These notes will detail the experiments, tests and their immediate results, as well as the thinking process behind each.

Based on available resources the research will focus on earth pony magic to begin with. Due to recent budget cuts brought on by the now ex-Emperor Sprout's spendings the research will be conducted with minimal funding.

There will be a small commentary section present after every test to outline the less technical parts of the research process.

Test 1.
Does earth pony magic affect different plant species differently?

Test Description:
A selection of 20 different plant species have been donated by the Maretime Bay Agricultural Asociation in asociation with the Royal Gardening Society.
One after the other the seeds will be affected by earth pony magic.
The plants grown with earth pony magic will then be examined.
In order to prevent unforseen variables every type of seed will be affected by the same pony.

Test Result:
Seeds №1 – 19 grew to full maturity within seconds. Those of the seeds that produce edible fruit had fruit grow to double and tripple the size. Chemical tests show no irregularities compared to plants produced by natural means. The sugar content of the fruits is slightly above average, but entirely within expected parameters.

Seed №20 grew to maturity noticeably slower. The flowers grown from the seed are bright blue and do not match the description provided by the Royal Gardening Society.

Commentary:
The results are phenomenal. Every seed sprouted the second it was affected, except seed №20. The member of the Royal Gardening Society, Safron, was astonished by the immediate effect. The potential is clear to the both of us. We can eradicate hunger, speed up construction, and ensure our safety from whatever else might still lie out there. The possibilities truly seem endless.

We celebrated the first succesful test with a small picnic. We didn't use the test products, they were too cut up by that point. But the ability to make new ones instantaneously made getting food a non-issue.

I raised the topic of seed №20 to Safron, as it came from the Royal Gardening Society of Zephyr Heights, but apparently they haven't had this particular species ever bloom like that before. The last record shows that the Adenium Iocus has a gray wilted appearence, a slightly off-putting smell and is usually grown only for its rare use in mane products. In our experiment however the plant appeared bright blue and the smell was quite interesting. I suggested a more careful examination take place at the Gardening Society itself. I also requested a shipment of the seeds for Canterlogic's own research.

It appears that the size and speed of growth of the plants depends on the effort, talent and skill of the earth pony using the magic. That became apparent when our ex-Emperor Sprout made a wagon-sized berry.

Test 2.
Does the soil matter when using earth pony magic?

Test Description:
Multiple patches of soil were extracted from Zephyr Heights, Maretime Bay and Bridlewood.
The soil was stripped of any plant matter.
The soil samples will be affected by earth pony magic.
The plants grown will then be examined.

Test Result:
The same species of plant emerged irrespective of the soil used.

The chemical composition of the plants does not appear to be out of the ordinary. As of the test's conclusion the exact species of plant has not been confirmed.

Additionally, the power of earth pony magic does not seem to be limited to the soil one intends to affect.

Commentary:
It appears that the magic conducts through any surface. We'll be needing a floor replacement at the research department. At least we have a lot of plants to run additional tests on. Safron assumed that it'd be a species local to the region, but as of right now we're unable to find a match. Admittedly, the Maretime Bay Agricultural Asociation may have been lax in their job surveying the local flora, so we might be missing some crucial information.

Whatever the plant actually is its powers are astonishing. As we were preforming the test a giant branch broke through the floor and overturned the pots with soil. Even when not focusing on it, the runaway magic was enough to break several layers of concrete and metal.

The city's Sheriff, Hitch Trailblazer, had attempted to stop the use of earth pony magic, but his lack of foresight was quickly curtailed. Luckly our experiment was unaffected by this ban.

Test 3.
Is the effect of earth pony magic long lasting?

Test Description:
Multiple naturally grown fruits will be affected by eath pony magic.
The fruits will be left in room temperature conditions for a prolonged period of time.
The condition of the fruits will be monitored over the course of a week.
A control group of fruits unaffected by earth pony magic will also be present.

Test Result:
The fruits grown with magic appear to have lasted on average 20% longer.
However when the magic infused fruit had started to expire the process was almost instant.

Commentary:
It appears that earth pony magic also acts as a sort of food preservative. Or, perhaps it utilizes the energy present in the fruit more effectively, but as soon as that energy runs out the fruit almost immediately spoils. That's just the running hypothesis anyway.

Safron and I are going to discuss the topic further over a cup of coffee, but as of right now we are certain that earth pony magic somehow preserves the plants it affects. How it does it is still left to figure out.

Conclusion.

This concludes the first batch of tests regarding earth pony magic.

As of the completion of this batch of tests the potential of earth pony magic only grows. The results that are documented in these notes only raise more questions and potential applications for earth pony magic. Canterlogic Research Department will attempt to secure additional funding in order to continue this project.

Does it have drawbacks?

"If magic can produce produce this perfect there might be no limit to what we can do! We can't cut off a whole planet of possibilities" – Sunny Starscout

"A study of the deleterious effects of earth pony magic"

by Sweets, a senior researcher at Canterlogic.

Introduction.

This is a continuation of earlier research into the basic effects of earth pony magic. The research has already made multiple intriguing discoveries and this batch of tests is aimed at discovering the potential drawbacks of earth pony magic.

A representative from the Royal Gardening Society of Zephyr Heights, Safron, will be participating in the research in an official capacity, at the request of the Royal Society itself.

For the sake of readability, earth pony magic will be referred to as EPM.

In order to prevent any destruction of or damage to Canterlogic property the tests will be carried off Canterlogic property.

These notes will follow a similar structure.

Test 1.
Does EPM negatively affect the soil?

Test Description:
Multiple soil samples will be continually affected by EPM.
After a prolonged period of magical exposure the soil will be assessed.

Test Result:
Soil quality in samples noticeably decreased.
The soil from Zephyr Heights has become completely lifeless after seventeen uses of EPM.
Soil samples from Maretime Bay became completely barren after thirty four uses of EPM.
The samples taken from Bridlewood lasted fifty seven exposures before becoming lifeless.

Commentary:
These findings are troubling. If it took me about an hour to turn a hoofful of soil into dead dust, I fear what might happen to the ground we walk on.

Safron thinks that the draining effect of the magic could be alleviated in real world conditions. Maybe the concentration of magic wouldn't be as high as it would be allowed to "run off" into the earth and not be stuck in a petri dish. I will attempt to secure us a large quantity of soil to test this hypothesis. We must know if it is actually dangerous to use EPM. Magic isn't supposed to be dangerous, but I find it hard to believe that something so good and so powerful would have no consequences. As of right now we'll remain silent on the matter to not alert ponies prematurely.

Test 2.
Does EPM devitilize soil in real world conditions?

Test Description:
A large quantity of soil has been procured from the Maretime Bay Agricultural Asociation.
The soil will be stored in a large Canterlogic container, under the presumption that EPM does not penetrate metal.
The soil will be subjected to EPM for a prolonged period of time.
The soil will then be examined.

Test Result:
After the first EPM exposure cycle there was no noticable effect on the soil. This continued for fourteen cycles.
After the fifteenth cycle the soil started showing signs of deterioration. The soil lost a noticable amount of moisture and shifted to a more sandy consistansy.
After the twentieth cycle those signs became apparent. The soil became lifeless and most insects present at the extraction of the soil have disappeared.

Commentary:
The results this time are truly frightening. I, alone, was able to drain most life out of a container of soil over the coarse of three days. It produced a lot of plants, yes, but the effect on the soil is hard to ignore. It seems that the Sheriff was right to have his suspicions.

I was about to head to the Sheriff immediately, but Safron stopped me. She believes that the Sheriff is not the right pony to tell. He'd just forbid us from using this gift ever again. And I tend to agree with her on that, judging by his reaction to a few overgrowths and a small berry accident.

I still do not believe that we have the right to withhold this critical information. Safron assures me that she agrees and only wants enough time to come up with a good way to present said information without it ruining the public perception of EPM.

Conclusion.

As of completion this batch of tests will be officially documented as "Inconclusive" until further developments.

Can it affect the living?

"If magic can produce produce this perfect there might be no limit to what we can do! We can't cut off a whole planet of possibilities" – Sunny Starscout

I am done. Done with Canterlogic and its fraud of a research department. The last "project", if it can even be called that, took me and Safron more than a week to complete. A week that we could have spent on studying EPM, progressing the earth pony side of magic. But, of course not, Phyllis needed to save face after years of selling anti-unicorn garbage that half-works only a quarter of the time along with anti-pegasus measures that turned out to be just a damn pack of balloons.

From this point on I'll do my own research, funding be damned. Safron decided to help me, she was never employed by Canterlogic and the Royal Gardening Society really couldn't care less about her business in Maretime Bay.

I'll be moving quite some distance from town to perform these tests in peace. There's an old typewriter there that I'll use to record stuff.

Also, the town's alicorn, Sunny Starscout has decided EPM be known as Flora Magic. I think that it's a great name for a version of EPM, but can't be used to describe it as a whole.

The first test. Are there different expressions of EPM?

Setup: It has been confirmed that the magic allows some ponies, namely the Sheriff, to do things other than grow plants. Our aim here is to figure out if others can replicate that feat or if it is some sort of special talent only available to some.

Result: It seems I am not gifted with this particular magic. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to communicate with wildlife it has been deemed a special talent of sorts. The potential is, of course, quite obvious there. Even the Sheriff sees it, employing multiple critters in his law enforcement duties.

As of yet we've seen no other unique variations of EPM, but seeing the usefulness of the regular EPM makes me wonder what unique abilities could exist.

The second test. Does Flora Magic only affect plants?

Despite the name, we theorize that EPM could be used on living beings.

First attempt: Failure. No matter what we try the magic just seems to run off into the ground. We'll attempt to somehow isolate both the caster and the target from the ground.

Second attempt: Success? We were able to isolate the path the magical energy travels. Instead of going into the earth it goes straight to a crystal and from there, through a process that I lack the understanding of, discharges into the target. The actual power had little to no effect on the target, in this case a weird looking possum that decided to stay after the talking test. I think that the problem might be tied to the crystal itself, it looked like too much of the energy was either still stuck inside or flew off into the air.

Third attempt: Limited success. We've managed to modify the crystal to output almost 50 percent of the energy we're putting into it. This time the possum dodged the discharge, so we might require some sort of chamber to hold the target as well.

Fourth attempt: Complete Failure. I've overloaded the crystal, which was unable to take the strain after the modifications we've done. It exploded all over the lab. Still trying to gather all the pieces. The shards were green tinted right after the explosion, but lost any color minutes after. We're searching for a new crystal. Safron says she knows somepony in Bridlewood who can get us a large supply.

Fifth attempt: Failure. Got the new crystals in. We tried another modification, this time less destructive for the crystal itself, hopefully. It still needs to be calibrated, because too much of the energy is escaping the crystal before reaching the target. The adjustable target chamber is finally complete, it's a small metal cylinder that we put the critter in.

Sixth attempt: Success. Finally. The calibration was just right, the beam didn't miss. The crystal couldn't sustain the power for long, but it was enough. The target was a rabbit. Immediately after getting hit it started to shake like crazy. Its fur quickly became green-tinged. The shaking had stopped roughly a minute after exposure. The rabbit was noticeably larger in size, around 1,6 times what it was before. After a more careful examination we also noticed that its actual skin had become rough like bark.

Test conclusion: After multiple weeks of trying to get it right we have finally succeeded in using Flora Magic on an animal. And the effects are astounding. This opens a whole new area of research and this time it is something I'm very interested in. Safron was very excited as well, she says she has a perfect way to further test this.

There should have been a limit.

"If magic can produce produce this perfect there might be no limit to what we can do! We can't cut off a whole planet of possibilities" – Sunny Starscout

We should have stopped.~~Why'd we hav~~ Long before it got to this. The Sheriff was right. ~~We should've~~

Safron and I went too far. ~~She~~

This is the last time I write one of these.

It was this morning. Safron finally told me about the experiment she wanted to run. We've been improving our delivery system for the past month, nothing but calibrating the crystals, upgrading the holding chamber to fit larger specimens, examining the results for the past month. But today we were ready.

She wanted to move past larger scale animal testing and straight to ponies. She argued that if it showed no negative effects on the first specimen so far, what possible ill effect could it have on a pony. And I, like a fucking idiot, agreed. ~~For the love of~~

The charging went smoothly, the crystals held up.~~The fuc~~ We did good on the upgrades. The charge hit her right in the chest.

At first nothing happened. Then I heard the cracking. And the screams began. I tried to get her out of there, but she threw me out of the lab window, I was bleeding. Within seconds the screams turned to wailing, but the sound of breaking bones did not stop. I've never been so afraid in my life. ~~I tried to~~ I ran. Ran away, afraid that she would follow. But she never did.

I went back. In the night. She was still there. She was sniveling. A wall was knocked down, she must've been under it.

I took the notes. I have to get rid of them.

I tried to, but I just could not leave. What was left of my friend was under there. She was in so much pain. Pain I caused her.

So ~~I~~. ~~I bu~~. ~~Li~~... I set her free.

To whoever finds these. Do not repeat our mistakes. Magic is too dangerous for the common pony.

Can the others compare?

"If magic can produce produce this perfect there might be no limit to what we can do! We can't cut off a whole planet of possibilities" – Sunny Starscout

"An introductory study of the special abilities of the pegasi and unicorns"

by Sweets, a senior researcher at Canterlogic.

Introduction.

This research is a part of Canterlogic's "New Outlook" program aimed at incorporating pegasi and unicorns employees into Canterlogic.

A look at pegasi and the potential applications of their innate abilities.

The application of flight has much potential in transportation and reveals a whole market for Canterlogic's fashion department.

The legendary pegasi ability to manipulate weather remains just that. The pegasi present were unable to perform any form of weather manipulation. It is suspected that that particular aspect of pegasi magic is a craft that modern pegasi have yet to uncover.

Commentary:
Compared to EPM pegasi flight promise a mediocre advantage in the transportation of small goods. With no other flying threat to challenge Equestria, at least at the moment, flight alone does very little. Safron and I agree that the ability to manipulate weather is a whole pegasi industry now lost to time and it is an entire field of research waiting to be re-opened for the first time in countless moons. Although, quite obviously, that research will not be headed by Canterlogic or its earth pony senior researcher.

A look at unicorns and the potential applications of their innate abilities.

The fine manipulation of the unicorns far surpasses that of the earth ponies. The potential for electronics production alone is astronomical.

As of right now there are very few instances of unicorn magic achieving anything other than levitation and illumination. It is assumed that the menagerie of spells that was available to the unicorns of the past is gone.

Commentary:
The potential of spells, from what I've read, is simply staggering. Anything from walking on clouds to bringing life to objects to time travel. It is no wonder that in the Equestria of old unicorns represented the elites of society. It will, of course, take decades if not centuries of research and development to get back what has been lost. And, once again, that research will undoubtedly be headed by a talented unicorn and not an earth pony.