Winterwane 1st 3474 EE
Well, the second critical point of the year has come and gone. Frostsnap 30th, the last day of 3473, was also the day when the combined ponies of Equestria changed the season from winter to spring for the first time. Indeed, despite the fact that the date is utterly arbitrary, a creation of our culture, the fact that the year was ending makes it the single most critical transition point, and the most vital to get right.
The reasons behind this are a bit esoteric, but ultimately tie in to some deep, but fairly fundamental magical theory. Whether you call it the Observer Effect, or the Nootic Hierarchy model, consciousness is considered the highest and most powerful force acting upon the universe. Indeed, the strong model postulates that the universe only exists because consciousness observes it.
While I have reservations about the strong model, the basic arithmantic framework of the general Nootic model is our best description of how magical energies are manipulated through the actions of conscious beings, sentient force. All weaker non-living interactions ultimately derive from the fact that at some point in space-time, some-pony, or one of the other sentient races, will know of them.
So the framework we impose on our understanding of the world, despite the fact that it is arbitrary, has real effect, and Atlas, having grown up in the same culture, shares that framework. So the end of a year is a tipping point, magically speaking, and it requires particular effort to make sure it tips the right way.
It also meant the two of us were racing around Equestria like something very fast, shoring up things and helping out. Of course, we made sure to spend some time working alongside our own people. I must admit I enjoyed pushing that snow plough over the fields of Ponyville, smashing down the snow clouds over Trottingham, and unfreezing the great Maresey where it flows down into Shirefield.
I know I must come off as an egghead sometimes, all theories and plans, but I do take equal pleasure in the doing, some good honest physical work. Fortunately I'm equipped for it too, I was strong for a pegasus, and with the addition of earth-pony powers, I can lift and shift with the best of them.
Luna was doing the more gentle side, helping with the plants and animals. Without a wake-up call, half of them would have continued to hibernate until they were too weak to wake up. Some-ponies when we were arranging this asked why we were bothering to wake up some of the pest species. The answer is that though they may be pests to us, they're vital to other species that aren't.
Ultimately, removing something as annoying as gophers would be as unwise as knocking out a key stone in an arch because you don't like the colour. If I start relating how all of them work together, the rest of this entry would take up the rest of this book, and a dozen others. Suffice it to say, with my Sight and observations using it, I have some idea of just how complex it all is, and I'm not going to mess with some thing that works.
Well, it's done now, and as far as I can tell, it seems to have worked. I can feel the changes in the earth, and so can all the earth-ponies. I suggested to the king that we made the day after a day of celebration, above and beyond the New Year festival, another thing I hope to make an annual event.
Though I still need a good name for what we're doing. Since we're wrapping up winter and starting spring, Luna thought we might call it 'Changing over of winter into spring day'. I suggested we instead call it 'Winter Wrap-up'. I admit Luna's name is more descriptive, but I think mine is more catchy.
We eventually played a round of Hoof Horse-shoe Stone for it. Though since we both had magic, we materialised an actual stone and horse-shoe, rather than using the tip of a hoof to represent a horse-shoe crescent, and a raised hoof for stone. Obviously I chose the stone, which beat Luna's horse-shoe.
With this out of the way, and my Codex of Law progressing nicely, I've had chance to revisit my earlier notions of how we fix this mess once and for all. A double hetro-thaumic triune is the obvious solution, I think I mentioned it before. It would require six ponies, two of each sub-race, but it has two problems, finding six ponies who's power level approximates our own from before the accident, and that the two triunes forming a hexagram would repel each other, as it's not a continuous line.
A pentacle or a septagram, but those would be utterly unsuited to a hetro-thaumic form anyway, even if you could build a septagram that wouldn't overload. There's no way you could balance the energies of an odd number of different ponies. A homo-thaumic ritual, even a septagram using only unicorns wouldn't need balancing, but also wouldn't generate the power. A nonogram with three of each would be possible, except that such a form would be almost impossible to stabilise, and even more difficult to design and find ponies for.
I haven't even touched on the same problem that we had, that of anchors. Re-using our plan would be impossible, our present links preclude anyone sharing them, and the anchors would need to be an order of magnitude more powerful anyway, and have some pre-existing link to the ponies in question. No physical object approximates that level of power... now there's a thought, or rather the realm of thought might be the answer.
The Nootic Hierarchy model, consciousness and the basic concepts or symbols it impresses on reality have a higher effect than any purely physical entity. It is in that area that we might find the anchors we seek. Ohh, this requires research! I must find Luna, and some feathers, a thaumic balance, a book of poetry and possibly an alligator. We'll see about the alligator, maybe I can substitute an apple and three small pieces of wood.
Enough writing! There is science to be done! Oh, and a party to attend, have to go to the Winter Wrap party. Maybe I can do some of my research there. If there's anywhere that will have multiple and unusual states of consciousness on display, it will be a place where the spiced mead has been flowing freely.