Glimmering Oil Post-Epilogue: Sunset's Letter · 10:55pm May 23rd, 2021
The following letter is dated May 23rd, A.R. 4567, several weeks after Sunset Shimmer rescued the plane of Anthropia from the Phyrexian contagion:
Dear Princess Twilight,
Several weeks ago, I visited to you explain the events of the Phyrexian Invasion, and how my brief moment as a Conduit of Harmony reawakened the dormant magic on Anthropia. Now that more time has passed and people have been able to settle into their new abilities, I’ve decided to take the opportunity to describe them to you in more detail.
I don’t know if anyone aside from me, my friends, and the Dazzlings remember the Invasion. All the damage that was caused was undone, including reviving everyone that had been killed. Time Turner says this is because the plane-specific timeline has been rewound, essentially turning back Anthropia to a point in history before the Invasion, only now with extra magic that renders everyone here immune to the Phyrexian contagion. Because of this, the Awakening is considered by most to be completely unexplained, but I have heard plenty of laughably inaccurate conspiracy theories. (Though to be perfectly fair, the ones in Canterlot High do correctly guess that my friends were involved somehow.) The only other person who might remember is our world’s Starlight Glimmer, but so far nobody has been able to confirm her whereabouts. Currently the National Guard is looking to question her, and Shining Armor (the other one) seems to think they’re close to finding her.
Speaking of Time Turner, he made us promise we won’t reveal the exact events of the Invasion to anyone else on Anthropia, and none of us have dared to defy him so far. He tried to reassure us that the Phyrexians won’t invade another plane now that Atraxa’s gone, or at least they won’t anytime soon. My hunch that they haven’t reproduced the Planar Amulet seems to have been right: not only do they not understand its more abstract form of magic, their rigid physicalist mindset makes them fundamentally incapable of understanding it. It appears they bet literally all of their planar conquests on Atraxa alone, using a magic they really couldn’t begin to comprehend. Though to be fair, she was so frighteningly powerful that it probably wouldn’t have mattered in any other circumstance. Time Turner told me she was a match for Avacyn, and while I’m not sure who that is, it apparently means we would have all been very dead if I hadn’t gotten lucky with the portal.
But just because the Phyrexians are gone doesn’t mean we can rest easy. We know at this point that Ether Seeker was the true mastermind behind the Invasion, and we’re certain by now that he’s actually a planeswalker. Since Phyrexians can’t be planeswalkers, if we’re going by Time Turner’s word, that means our real enemy is something entirely different from what we’ve seen so far. The Doctor’s been unwilling to share any more details, and I’m not sure if it’s just because he’s too scatterbrained to explain things properly for more than thirty seconds. Either way, it’s been immensely frustrating just trying to pry anything remotely useful out of him. It’s looking increasingly unlikely that he’ll spill the beans in the future, so for now all we can do is stay alert.
As for the Awakening itself, the sudden appearance of magical powers in every living human has been a very jarring change for most people. Oddly, despite it causing major social unrest worldwide, very little of it has escalated the point where it’s resulted in actual violence. From what I’ve been able to figure out, this is because the harmonic magic that now surrounds the world makes people less predisposed to violently lashing out at things they don’t understand. I won’t lie, I feel terrible about inadvertently placing all of humanity under mind-altering magic, but at the same time I’m grateful that I didn’t become inadvertently responsible for global war.
Regardless, the most important thing to understand is that all humans in Anthropia are now divided into three distinct type of magic users, based on the three different kinds of ponies. Since very few people outside of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep know about Equestria at all, they’ve been officially classified based on a general understanding of ability rather than which aspects of ponies they’ve inherited.
Wizards inherit their abilities from unicorns. In addition to minor telekinetic ability, they typically know one or two spells related to their personality or profession. For example, a chef might know a spell that’s capable of improving the taste of their food. Wizard magic tends to be extremely simple by Equestria’s standards, but I believe the true reason for this is that their abilities are poorly understood at this time. As Anthropian magical theory develops, we’ll no doubt see wizards’ spells become more complex, though I doubt we’ll see the raw power or versatility of a unicorn’s magic anytime soon.
After that there are mystics, who inherit their abilities from pegasi. Mystics are able to generate and control wind currents, though it lacks the healing or razor wind capabilities of Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s magic, respectively. Mystics are also much more nimble than other humans, but they’re very fragile and lacking in durability due to their bones being hollow. With some practice they can use their magic to jump extraordinarily high, and once they pass a certain threshold of power, can manifest ghostlike wings to allow for limited gliding ability. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are the only ones so far capable of true flight, but several companies have announced that they plan on selling wing harnesses so that others can fly using their own wind power. I’ve noticed that Rainbow continues to refer to herself and other mystics as “airbenders,” though I haven’t yet bothered asking why.
Thirdly, there are druids, who inherit their magic from earth ponies. As you can imagine, they have greatly increased physical capabilities compared to other humans. They also greatly increase the fertility of any soil they tread on, though none so far are capable of causing instant plant growth the way Applejack can (and they don’t have Pinkie’s “toon physics,” thank God.)
Additionally, I believe that special mention should go to the Dazzlings. The Awakening transformed them somehow, making it so that their singing now instills positive emotions rather than negative ones. Adagio has told me that this change means they feed off of the feeling of euphoria their music now causes, rather than feeding off of conflict. They don’t seem interested in causing trouble now, though if I had to guess, they’re probably just afraid that the world is more equipped fight back. Either way, your counterpart’s made sure that they’re being closely watched.
There are many more nuances that can be covered, but those are the basics of how magic works here now. Despite the difficulties facing this new world, in the end I’m just glad we were able to save it.
Your dear friend,
Sunset Shimmer
(Truthfully, I just couldn’t think of a place to fit this in the epilogue that made narrative sense. 
But this should give you a good idea of how I plan to expand the story universe in future spinoff oneshots.)
Nice little extra bit.
Though I disagree with Atraxa being a match for Avacyn. Out of the 4 versions of her, 3 kill Atraxa without a scratch, and the last one trades with her.
I know going by card stats isn't the greatest measure of reliability, but we have so little info on Atraxa other than 'Urabrask said he was too busy', that there isn't much else to go on...
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There’s also a bit of irony in the New Phyrexians relying on a black box that they don’t understand, given what Yawgmoth had to say about the Thran doing exactly that
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I'd forgotten that little tidbit! Was it intentional?
Though to be fair, the only one that even pays lip-service to Yawgmoth seems to be Elesh Norn.
Urabrask is always busy doing work, Sheoldred doesn't care, Jin-Gitaxias only cares about science, and Glissa thinks he was weak and a fool.
That was a cool read!
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And Vorinclex only exists as the legal fiction that Glissa isn't in charge.
Sunset and Dash then proceeded to have one of the greatest binge-watching parties in the history of streaming services.
Lovely rundown. I imagine Sunset's capable of much more complex spellcraft, or will be in short order.
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Also as a convenient "volunteer" for experimental portals.