rautamiekka 
3/3\)
> - The lore
> - Non-specifics
> 1) Yes, all the radio call signs are NATO alphabet, and intentional direct equivalents to the names to make it a little easier to remember, and also as a bit of a gag; the names don't have a much deeper pattern (except for Blademasters), but if there's overlap the call sign refers to different parts of the name like in the case of 2-part names (for ex. Strawberry Cocoa) the 1st letter of each word or in the case of 1-part name (for ex. Celestia) the 1st 2 or 3 letters. Individuals with a high combat usefulness are given a call sign. I was thinking about giving Pinkie Pie the call sign Papa-Pie (Papa-Papa doesn't sound good, and horrifics like Papa-Papa or Papa-India-Papa-India are simply outta question), but figured she's not worthy of it, and on the other hand she doesn't need it at this point.
>
> 2) The Magic Command and magic systems are my headcanon where magic users have a biological, computerized self-governing, self-healing, semi-intelligent (but still flawed) system in one's central nervous system in command & control of the magic abilities and reports to the owner about anything they need to know by making them subconsciously aware, making everything much faster without having to go through the brain's comparatively slower comprehension processing caused by having to transfer data between many places despite the brain being the fastest supercomputer to exist. The readable text is the textual representation of what one would see if the notifications were displayed instead. Being a computer system it speaks monotonously in predictable patterns. 'Magic systems' refers to the magic abilities being a set of biological computerized stupid independent systems that report directly to Magic Command, complete with a mana pool that suffers the heavier it's used without breaks. By design Magic Command doesn't answer to the brain or the central nervous system; in effect, the brain and central nervous systems aren't actually aware of the existence of these computer systems. Also by design the magic systems and thus the Magic Command are invulnerable to EMP (electromagnetic pulses/interference), unless the brain or nerves are affected, but even then it's not so simple to make a meaningful impact. Under the vast majority of cases the whole of magic systems will be able to self-recover, and when they can't the Magic Command will tell the owner to seek specific help, and shut down without auto-boot to prevent further damage and accidents.
>
> - Although all pony/zebra races and Changelings (typically) have magic, only Alicorns/unicorns (and by extension Changelings since they're essentially low-level Alicorns (not very much better than average pony unicorns)) have the Magic Command & magic systems
> - and their usage/supply of mana is limited to species-/race-specific spells such as the wing electricity balls for Pegasi (and by extension Alicorns, minus Changelings typically),
> - and mana recovery is very slow compared to unicorns and particularly Alicorns.
>
> 3) The Pegasus/Alicorn wing electricity balls are my headcanon for a winged pony/zebra-specific spell which can be used after another magic user toggles the biological switch in the Pegasus'/Alicorn's brain that blocks access to the ability. Until the toggle is successfully done neither the User nor the brain even knows about the ability, thus making it impossible to be accessed. The switching procedure takes time, and is very delicate due to the switch's firewall tending to easily notice the intrusion, triggering instant unconsciousness. This is further complicated by the structural differences of female and male brains, thus making it easier for same-sex magic Users to perform the procedure at 7 minutes on the same skill level compared to 11 otherwise.
>
> 4) Equestria's radio systems are very clear-sounding and easy to hear. Their long range is further augmented by normal/gray magic. You can think of them like the \"AN/PRC-117F\" radio (10-kilometer range) in our world, improved by a high-power radio mast and unicorn/Alicorn magic, in the \"AN/PRC-152\" (1-kilometer range) form factor. However, in the magic users the range is only limited by one's powers and skill. Just like the Magic Command's textual representation, the language uses mostly predictable patterns in as compact form as possible, and consequently is only partially based on real-life English-speaking military radio language, specifically USA and NATO.
>
> 5) The Red Break is my extension to my headcanon of extended magic types in Equestria: normal magic (\"white magic\"), dark magic, black magic. What I call black magic is called dark magic in G4. For ex, Sombra is a black magic practitioner.
> - Dark magic is a gray area but by no means outlawed, useful to augment a magic user's powers, but carelessness will corrupt and eventually progress to black magic.
>
> 6) Equivalent to Jedi grandmasters, Blademasters (`Bravo-Mike`), based on the 'WarCraft 3' Horde melee unit type, the only ones to have a dedicated call sign, are my adaptation of Pegasi with massively high bladed melee fighting skills combined with the mentioned wing electricity balls. The disadvantage is they aren't that numerous. Blademaster Alpha's current equipment is situationally chosen.
>
> - Black magic
> 1) Black magic is considered an immediate threat to all life. Cuz of this alone, black magic practitioning is absolutely outlawed and proven ones are legally authorized to be killed (the law has been in place not long after Celestia and Luna became the rulers, and it's a forcibly taught common knowledge), or if possible captured for a brain scan, on sight with extreme prejudice.
>
> 2) If the black magic practitioner's brain is intact after the kill, the next step is to bring the corpse to specially trained magic users who'll scan the brain and the magic systems for anything interesting, then ensure the black magic practitioner's brain activity is non-existent (this process effectively makes the individual braindead, making their death as humane as possible while ensuring the corpse is as unusable as possible), then use another spell to physically destroy their brain, knowing that necromancers could simply restart the dead individual's brain activity.
>
> 3) Corrupted, non-practitioning individuals are taken to special jails just like the Madness Box, where highly skilled/trained magic users will try to purify them, which most of the time is successful, after which the purified individual is allowed to return to their normal life, with a magic user using invisibility and indetectability spells to keep an eye on them to catch who's corrupting them; only higher-level individuals can detect their trailers. Instead of the same Madness Box treatment Applejack went through, this manual process is done to simultaneously scan the brain for data about the corruption source. It's a slow long process.
>
> 4) Each black magic individual has their own signature to their powers, a disgusting feeling detectable from 1 kilometer away by any sapient being. As a result it's very hard to move around without being detected cuz it's a given they'll get reported and hunted down.
>
> 5) Equestria doesn't have a special hunter company to hunt the practitioners, though, cuz high-level ones have various temporary methods to hide the signature, and Equestria ain't small.
>
> 6) During the war the lingering black magic is mostly left alone cuz of its tenacious persistence to come back, if not immediately, then after a short time, and destroying it or pushing it back is a massive use of mana even for Alicorns they can use for combat and killing the sources instead. This is precisely why Equestria's medical services are equipped to handle any related problems.
>
> - The Red Break
> - It has different meanings depending on the victim's race/species, but the basics are that the irises turn blood red after turning red, and the irises start visibly glowing:
>
> 1) In Alicorns (and by extension Changelings whose eyes, besides the basic effects, have a slight pulsating effect) and sufficiently considerably powerful unicorns (such as Strawberry Cocoa), especially with an Alicorn lineage (Strawberry Cocoa doesn't have an Alicorn lineage, but her family tree consists of part-monsters, granting her a bigger mana pool and magic skills between late-show Starlight Glimmer and late-show Alicorn Twilight Sparkle) it's a sign of extreme mana preparation, especially if accompanied by extreme anger, that'll leave the individual rather extremely exhausted post-execution of the spell. However, Starlight Glimmer would experience the exhaustion and under the right circumstances sink into madness just like Applejack.
> - While not life-threatening this state is a bad one to be in if large mana usage continues cuz the resulting headache will forcibly drop unconscious in a matter of a couple 10 seconds at max.
>
> - Upon waking up not even the strongest morphine can treat the headache, instead other powerful magic users of the same sex have to induce a braindead-like state to allow the brain and the Magic Command to self-repair and the mana pool to recover and refill. The individual must wake up from the unconsciousness before this procedure can be started.
>
> - The mana pool can't recover and refill until the state has been successfully induced, and until then the mana pool is damaged beyond function.
>
> - For these reasons and the fact the procedure is complicated and involves pulling the plug from the magic systems and reconnecting it the patient can't self-induce the state.
> 2) In other sapient beings it's a sign of borderline irrecoverable madness caused by any or all of extreme
> - anger
> - grieving
> - terrifying ...
> - sights
> - sounds
> - mental images
>
> acquired from multiple sources during a matter of couple hours at minimum, 5 at max, and finally tipped over by the presence of black magic or recurring extremely terrifying sights/sounds or mental images, overriding the brain's limiters on giving into primal inherent murderous intents and no longer recognizing friend from foe and losing the moral compass. The susceptibility varies between individuals, though.
>
> - If the victim ain't stopped within 1 hour (give or take 1 second) of the madness settling in, or made unconscious, to let the madness be rid of by the surrounding normal magic converted from the black magic, the madness will destroy the
> - limiter controls
> - concept of friend and foe
>
> , making reinstating the moral compass impossible and consequently resulting in a permanently disturbed brain where absolutely nothing short of the body shutting down or otherwise dying will prevent or even slow down the indescribably gruesome attacks.
> 3) Red Break can be thought of as the rabies in our world, but so many orders of magnitude far worse. It's not possible to speak, at least coherently, once Red Break happens, and memory access gets blocked, but individuals with Red Break gain a telepathic communications ability of sorts which is hard for others to hear.
>
> - Applejack's brain
> - This section is part of 'The Red Break' section above. The textual representation is only to give an idea of what happens inside the victim's brain that leads to Red Break, there's no computerization or anything.
>
> 1) \"`Temporal lobe reports ultra-corrupted auditory feed !`\": the sound info from the friendly fire statistics that's going through the temporal lobe to the thalamus is next to absolutely incomprehensible.
>
> 2) \"`Thalamus reports black magic in auditory feed !`\": the sound info the temporal lobe tried to process reached the thalamus which then detected black magic. Attempting to process the feed won't turn out well, but despite detecting the black magic there's nothing it can do about it and will try to process it like normal.
>
> 3) \"`Long-term memory unreachable !`\": her memory can't receive/send any data. At this point it's too late to re-establish.
>
> 4) \"`Primary visual cortex reports hyper-corrupted visual feed !`\": Applejack is no longer able to see due to the black magic influence corrupting the path between the eyes and the primary visual cortex.
>
> 5) \"`Blood-brain barrier overrun by black magic !`\": the last protection layer has fallen to the black magic, poisoning the blood going through it.
>
> 6) \"`STATUS BLACK !!`\": the brain has near-completely lost control of info streams and itself. Only the primal functions work anymore, and the black magic is now giving the orders.
>
> AUTHOR'S FINAL WORDS
> - So, as you can see, Applejack probly (not a typo) wouldn't have broken if the black magic wasn't in the air as thick as it was. But luckily for everyone she wasn't in an instant danger since she became unconscious ~4 minutes after the madness started, and she was unconscious for the whole time until she was left in the Madness Box where they put her under general anesthesia.
>
> - Progressing to permanent madness wasn't a factor since the helmet had been converting the black magic for 15 minutes by the time she transitioned into deep sleep, thus disturbing the black magic that tipped her into madness, making its grip slip more as time went on. In other words the black magic and by extension the madness were fighting an uphill suicide mission.
>
> - This is why non-magic users carry radios while magic users use a special spell which is completely compatible with the physical radios.
>
> - It may sound like being harshly handled once the madness sets in, but in fact the whole process all the way from restraining the patient, dropping unconscious, taking to a hospital and preparing for the \"treatment\", is carefully designed for maximum survival of both the friendlies (and hostiles, for that matter) and the patient and as humane handling as where at all possible cuz Red Break will be massive bad news if not dealt with right then and there.
>
> CREDITS
> - Jouni \"\@rautamiekka\" Järvinen (www.deviantart.com/rautamiekka): author.
> - \"\@RainbowSurvivor\" (www.deviantart.com/rainbowsurvivor): a bit of help with English through Discord private messaging.
> - There're so many people I've derived ideas, headcanons, and concepts from, that it's absolutely impossible to even begin listing them, but thanks to them I've gotten my own bit of a story together.
> - \"Flu420\", Lorentz \"Koseknotten\" Eirik Dybing Bergh, \"Lucky7\", \"NEDM\", \"Rekt\", \"1Herofox\" aka \"DrFoxter\": playing 'Company of Heroes 2' mods with me, 1 of which introduced the auto-firing feature to the Soviet B-4 super-heavy howitzer which was damn annoying to use without the mod.
> - The lore
> - Non-specifics
> 1) Yes, all the radio call signs are NATO alphabet, and intentional direct equivalents to the names to make it a little easier to remember, and also as a bit of a gag; the names don't have a much deeper pattern (except for Blademasters), but if there's overlap the call sign refers to different parts of the name like in the case of 2-part names (for ex. Strawberry Cocoa) the 1st letter of each word or in the case of 1-part name (for ex. Celestia) the 1st 2 or 3 letters. Individuals with a high combat usefulness are given a call sign. I was thinking about giving Pinkie Pie the call sign Papa-Pie (Papa-Papa doesn't sound good, and horrifics like Papa-Papa or Papa-India-Papa-India are simply outta question), but figured she's not worthy of it, and on the other hand she doesn't need it at this point.
>
> 2) The Magic Command and magic systems are my headcanon where magic users have a biological, computerized self-governing, self-healing, semi-intelligent (but still flawed) system in one's central nervous system in command & control of the magic abilities and reports to the owner about anything they need to know by making them subconsciously aware, making everything much faster without having to go through the brain's comparatively slower comprehension processing caused by having to transfer data between many places despite the brain being the fastest supercomputer to exist. The readable text is the textual representation of what one would see if the notifications were displayed instead. Being a computer system it speaks monotonously in predictable patterns. 'Magic systems' refers to the magic abilities being a set of biological computerized stupid independent systems that report directly to Magic Command, complete with a mana pool that suffers the heavier it's used without breaks. By design Magic Command doesn't answer to the brain or the central nervous system; in effect, the brain and central nervous systems aren't actually aware of the existence of these computer systems. Also by design the magic systems and thus the Magic Command are invulnerable to EMP (electromagnetic pulses/interference), unless the brain or nerves are affected, but even then it's not so simple to make a meaningful impact. Under the vast majority of cases the whole of magic systems will be able to self-recover, and when they can't the Magic Command will tell the owner to seek specific help, and shut down without auto-boot to prevent further damage and accidents.
>
> - Although all pony/zebra races and Changelings (typically) have magic, only Alicorns/unicorns (and by extension Changelings since they're essentially low-level Alicorns (not very much better than average pony unicorns)) have the Magic Command & magic systems
> - and their usage/supply of mana is limited to species-/race-specific spells such as the wing electricity balls for Pegasi (and by extension Alicorns, minus Changelings typically),
> - and mana recovery is very slow compared to unicorns and particularly Alicorns.
>
> 3) The Pegasus/Alicorn wing electricity balls are my headcanon for a winged pony/zebra-specific spell which can be used after another magic user toggles the biological switch in the Pegasus'/Alicorn's brain that blocks access to the ability. Until the toggle is successfully done neither the User nor the brain even knows about the ability, thus making it impossible to be accessed. The switching procedure takes time, and is very delicate due to the switch's firewall tending to easily notice the intrusion, triggering instant unconsciousness. This is further complicated by the structural differences of female and male brains, thus making it easier for same-sex magic Users to perform the procedure at 7 minutes on the same skill level compared to 11 otherwise.
>
> 4) Equestria's radio systems are very clear-sounding and easy to hear. Their long range is further augmented by normal/gray magic. You can think of them like the \"AN/PRC-117F\" radio (10-kilometer range) in our world, improved by a high-power radio mast and unicorn/Alicorn magic, in the \"AN/PRC-152\" (1-kilometer range) form factor. However, in the magic users the range is only limited by one's powers and skill. Just like the Magic Command's textual representation, the language uses mostly predictable patterns in as compact form as possible, and consequently is only partially based on real-life English-speaking military radio language, specifically USA and NATO.
>
> 5) The Red Break is my extension to my headcanon of extended magic types in Equestria: normal magic (\"white magic\"), dark magic, black magic. What I call black magic is called dark magic in G4. For ex, Sombra is a black magic practitioner.
> - Dark magic is a gray area but by no means outlawed, useful to augment a magic user's powers, but carelessness will corrupt and eventually progress to black magic.
>
> 6) Equivalent to Jedi grandmasters, Blademasters (`Bravo-Mike`), based on the 'WarCraft 3' Horde melee unit type, the only ones to have a dedicated call sign, are my adaptation of Pegasi with massively high bladed melee fighting skills combined with the mentioned wing electricity balls. The disadvantage is they aren't that numerous. Blademaster Alpha's current equipment is situationally chosen.
>
> - Black magic
> 1) Black magic is considered an immediate threat to all life. Cuz of this alone, black magic practitioning is absolutely outlawed and proven ones are legally authorized to be killed (the law has been in place not long after Celestia and Luna became the rulers, and it's a forcibly taught common knowledge), or if possible captured for a brain scan, on sight with extreme prejudice.
>
> 2) If the black magic practitioner's brain is intact after the kill, the next step is to bring the corpse to specially trained magic users who'll scan the brain and the magic systems for anything interesting, then ensure the black magic practitioner's brain activity is non-existent (this process effectively makes the individual braindead, making their death as humane as possible while ensuring the corpse is as unusable as possible), then use another spell to physically destroy their brain, knowing that necromancers could simply restart the dead individual's brain activity.
>
> 3) Corrupted, non-practitioning individuals are taken to special jails just like the Madness Box, where highly skilled/trained magic users will try to purify them, which most of the time is successful, after which the purified individual is allowed to return to their normal life, with a magic user using invisibility and indetectability spells to keep an eye on them to catch who's corrupting them; only higher-level individuals can detect their trailers. Instead of the same Madness Box treatment Applejack went through, this manual process is done to simultaneously scan the brain for data about the corruption source. It's a slow long process.
>
> 4) Each black magic individual has their own signature to their powers, a disgusting feeling detectable from 1 kilometer away by any sapient being. As a result it's very hard to move around without being detected cuz it's a given they'll get reported and hunted down.
>
> 5) Equestria doesn't have a special hunter company to hunt the practitioners, though, cuz high-level ones have various temporary methods to hide the signature, and Equestria ain't small.
>
> 6) During the war the lingering black magic is mostly left alone cuz of its tenacious persistence to come back, if not immediately, then after a short time, and destroying it or pushing it back is a massive use of mana even for Alicorns they can use for combat and killing the sources instead. This is precisely why Equestria's medical services are equipped to handle any related problems.
>
> - The Red Break
> - It has different meanings depending on the victim's race/species, but the basics are that the irises turn blood red after turning red, and the irises start visibly glowing:
>
> 1) In Alicorns (and by extension Changelings whose eyes, besides the basic effects, have a slight pulsating effect) and sufficiently considerably powerful unicorns (such as Strawberry Cocoa), especially with an Alicorn lineage (Strawberry Cocoa doesn't have an Alicorn lineage, but her family tree consists of part-monsters, granting her a bigger mana pool and magic skills between late-show Starlight Glimmer and late-show Alicorn Twilight Sparkle) it's a sign of extreme mana preparation, especially if accompanied by extreme anger, that'll leave the individual rather extremely exhausted post-execution of the spell. However, Starlight Glimmer would experience the exhaustion and under the right circumstances sink into madness just like Applejack.
> - While not life-threatening this state is a bad one to be in if large mana usage continues cuz the resulting headache will forcibly drop unconscious in a matter of a couple 10 seconds at max.
>
> - Upon waking up not even the strongest morphine can treat the headache, instead other powerful magic users of the same sex have to induce a braindead-like state to allow the brain and the Magic Command to self-repair and the mana pool to recover and refill. The individual must wake up from the unconsciousness before this procedure can be started.
>
> - The mana pool can't recover and refill until the state has been successfully induced, and until then the mana pool is damaged beyond function.
>
> - For these reasons and the fact the procedure is complicated and involves pulling the plug from the magic systems and reconnecting it the patient can't self-induce the state.
> 2) In other sapient beings it's a sign of borderline irrecoverable madness caused by any or all of extreme
> - anger
> - grieving
> - terrifying ...
> - sights
> - sounds
> - mental images
>
> acquired from multiple sources during a matter of couple hours at minimum, 5 at max, and finally tipped over by the presence of black magic or recurring extremely terrifying sights/sounds or mental images, overriding the brain's limiters on giving into primal inherent murderous intents and no longer recognizing friend from foe and losing the moral compass. The susceptibility varies between individuals, though.
>
>
> - limiter controls
> - concept of friend and foe
>
> , making reinstating the moral compass impossible and consequently resulting in a permanently disturbed brain where absolutely nothing short of the body shutting down or otherwise dying will prevent or even slow down the indescribably gruesome attacks.
> 3) Red Break can be thought of as the rabies in our world, but so many orders of magnitude far worse. It's not possible to speak, at least coherently, once Red Break happens, and memory access gets blocked, but individuals with Red Break gain a telepathic communications ability of sorts which is hard for others to hear.
>
> - Applejack's brain
> - This section is part of 'The Red Break' section above. The textual representation is only to give an idea of what happens inside the victim's brain that leads to Red Break, there's no computerization or anything.
>
> 1) \"`Temporal lobe reports ultra-corrupted auditory feed !`\": the sound info from the friendly fire statistics that's going through the temporal lobe to the thalamus is next to absolutely incomprehensible.
>
> 2) \"`Thalamus reports black magic in auditory feed !`\": the sound info the temporal lobe tried to process reached the thalamus which then detected black magic. Attempting to process the feed won't turn out well, but despite detecting the black magic there's nothing it can do about it and will try to process it like normal.
>
> 3) \"`Long-term memory unreachable !`\": her memory can't receive/send any data. At this point it's too late to re-establish.
>
> 4) \"`Primary visual cortex reports hyper-corrupted visual feed !`\": Applejack is no longer able to see due to the black magic influence corrupting the path between the eyes and the primary visual cortex.
>
> 5) \"`Blood-brain barrier overrun by black magic !`\": the last protection layer has fallen to the black magic, poisoning the blood going through it.
>
> 6) \"`STATUS BLACK !!`\": the brain has near-completely lost control of info streams and itself. Only the primal functions work anymore, and the black magic is now giving the orders.
>
> AUTHOR'S FINAL WORDS
> - So, as you can see, Applejack probly (not a typo) wouldn't have broken if the black magic wasn't in the air as thick as it was. But luckily for everyone she wasn't in an instant danger since she became unconscious ~4 minutes after the madness started, and she was unconscious for the whole time until she was left in the Madness Box where they put her under general anesthesia.
>
> - Progressing to permanent madness wasn't a factor since the helmet had been converting the black magic for 15 minutes by the time she transitioned into deep sleep, thus disturbing the black magic that tipped her into madness, making its grip slip more as time went on. In other words the black magic and by extension the madness were fighting an uphill suicide mission.
>
> - This is why non-magic users carry radios while magic users use a special spell which is completely compatible with the physical radios.
>
> - It may sound like being harshly handled once the madness sets in, but in fact the whole process all the way from restraining the patient, dropping unconscious, taking to a hospital and preparing for the \"treatment\", is carefully designed for maximum survival of both the friendlies (and hostiles, for that matter) and the patient and as humane handling as where at all possible cuz Red Break will be massive bad news if not dealt with right then and there.
>
> CREDITS
> - Jouni \"\@rautamiekka\" Järvinen (www.deviantart.com/rautamiekka): author.
> - \"\@RainbowSurvivor\" (www.deviantart.com/rainbowsurvivor): a bit of help with English through Discord private messaging.
> - There're so many people I've derived ideas, headcanons, and concepts from, that it's absolutely impossible to even begin listing them, but thanks to them I've gotten my own bit of a story together.
> - \"Flu420\", Lorentz \"Koseknotten\" Eirik Dybing Bergh, \"Lucky7\", \"NEDM\", \"Rekt\", \"1Herofox\" aka \"DrFoxter\": playing 'Company of Heroes 2' mods with me, 1 of which introduced the auto-firing feature to the Soviet B-4 super-heavy howitzer which was damn annoying to use without the mod.