The Magic of Spell(cast)ing · 3:40am Oct 23rd, 2016
If you haven't read Spell Check yet, don't click through until you have (unless you don't care) – there will be spoilers.
Some of this information made it into the comments section of the story, but I'm not going to assume you've read those. (I'll be referring to the spell "Spell Check" rather than the story hereon after, just to be clear.)
Spell Check actually is based loosely on spelling checkers for computer software. In principle, at least. Here's Starlight's paragraph explanation from the story:
“I put together a library of spells and techniques and combined it with a limited mind control enchantement, optionally imbued into a subject’s thaumic aura for long-term effects. The result leaves the subject’s spellcasting abilities untouched unless there’s an anomaly in the aura that’s outside one of the reference spells within the library, at which point it generates a powerful subconscious suggestion to normalize it based on the most similar spell known.
For any given piece of spell-checking software, somewhere on your computer – whatever it may be – there's a list of words that software "knows". The words you type that aren't in the software's list usually end up with red squiggly lines under them. It's usually your choice to add them to the list, ignore the complaint of the software, or to take its suggestion and correct the word.
That's about how Spell Check works, except that Starlight doesn't believe that automatically correcting you every time will be a bad thing. She put in a library of spells (that's the "list"), set the spell up to detect when you're casting something that's not in the list, and gave it the ability to automatically make you change your spell. That last part was inspired by mobile virtual keyboards. So with that in mind, why did it effect each test subject as it did?
Dinky:
Clearly she's just in it for the ice cream. Her motives aside, Dinky is the most normal case. She took a book that was included in Starlight's library, being fairly common, and worked through it. To be clear, Spell Check was based on more than just one book: Starlight's study was re-shelved for the purpose, because she included a number of books in order to have a library large enough that most normal spells would be present.
As for the eldritch horrors that she may have invoked... Dinky picked a book that had the basics of spellcasting. Any one spell would be harmless, but this is the filly who took a fancy to Liber Umbrarum. Spell Check may not have included any dark magics, but it doesn't correct dark intentions. Dinky just got... curious.
I know it's a low-hanging fruit, but I do like the idea of Dinky getting into things that she shouldn't at a young age.
Snips and Snails:
This one's short. The mind-control part...
it generates a powerful subconscious suggestion
...isn't having an effect. It's a bit of a low jab to Snips' and Snails' characters, to say that their subconscious either doesn't exist, or isn't capable of responding appropriately, but Snails has claimed that he doesn't think. Like, ever.
So they take their daydreams of being superheros and try them out. What's more superhero-y than a destruct-o beam to a colt? In principle, I suspect it's a very easy spell: you just build up some magic and discharge it violently. The only problem is that their magic skills don't encompass that without Spell Check, and Spell Check doesn't have an effect on them. Therefore, the outcome is limited to a small light show, and they pose no danger to themselves or others.
Sweetie Belle:
What happens when you start typing a word that you don't even know how to begin spelling? What happens when your sad, butchered attempt is noticed by the spell checker? It's entirely possible that it thinks you're spelling a completely different word. In fact, that can even happen when you know what you're trying to spell in the first place.
Sweetie Belle tries to cast a spell that she's been studying recently but hasn't gotten right yet: success! She got most of the way there, so the nudge is in the right direction.
Sweetie Belle tries to cast a spell that she hasn't even begun to understand: disaster! As far as I can figure, the only thing that Sweetie Belle thinks she knows about teleportation magic is that it takes a lot of magical energy, so that's a good place to start, right?
In principle, I suspect it's a very easy spell: you just build up some magic and discharge it violently.
But that's as far as she gets.
~~~
Lastly, Twilight's concern that Spell Check could attempt to draw too much magical energy from one of these foals and leave them rather depleted. In this case, it's just be a depletion of their current magical reserves rather than Tirek's attempts to presumably drain their innate magical capacity. Hence Starlight's correct remark that it wouldn't be permanent. I don't hesitate to say that Starlight experimenting on kids like this is morally questionable and probably very wrong (and I wrote a story about it anyway), but nopony could die directly from it, so at least there's a chance for intervention if something (lookin' at Dinky) goes wrong.
Not all of this was even implied in the story (but a lot of it should be, subtly), and I don't plan on changing that – the story is what I wanted it to be, really, and I hope you all enjoyed it.
(2016-11-17 Edit) More of this should be implied in the story, as I have tweaked and revised a few spots with this blog post in mind.
Well. I read the story so I could read this intriguingly titled post. So, congratulations!
Oh, and that was a nice oneshot! ... Gonna find more Sweetie Belle and Dinky things... Hmm... Maybe reread Quizzical? ... Nah, hasn't been long enough?