@Background Pony  
The main thing about the spell is that the “hands” are attached to Lyra, just like you said. A normal telekinesis spell doesn’t usually do that. Granted, Twilight could possibly learn it, but it would take quite a lot of learning, research and practice on her part.
 
You don’t have to look at it as a different spell, more like a variant of the usual run-on-the-mill telekinesis spell. :)

@Background Pony  
Her arms can also be solid after some practice, so she can use them as an elastic shield. :3

@TriteBristle  
Eh… that seems less ‘special’ and more just an issue of control and/or personal style. I would assume anypony who expects to manipulate things finely (rarity with her sewing for instance) could probably do that. They just wouldn’t necessarily think of using it to lift themselves on account of not really seeing these proverbial ‘hands’ as being attached to themselves the way Lyra seems to.

@FanOfMostEverything
 
Still not terribly special though given it looks like she’s essentially just abusing force/reaction with telekinesis rather than making up a whole new spell. Until these hands do something that massively diverges from what telekinesis can do then i’m hesitant to call it a unique spell - just an unusual application of an existing one.

@Background Pony  
“Hand magic” is a special kind of telekinesis (in this comic), where the lifting force isn’t applied to the whole of the lifted object, but only to certain parts of it (where she grabs it).

@Background Pony  
She can also use it to climb.  
>>219988  
>>219991

Correct me if i’m wrong but wasn’t the ‘hand magic’ simply the manner in which Lyra visualized her telekinesis and in turn tried to visualize it to Bonbon? I don’t recall anything about it being particularly special beyond Lyra’s attempts to make it visible (but then it’s been a while since i saw those pages).

@mlpfan  
Thank you! :)

“it’s still much more than a normal unicorn could perform.”  
How do you know how a normal unicorn can perform? We have only seen a couple of them “in action”, which doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be unicorns specialized into certain things, And I can always say the cliché excuse that they aren’t normal unicorns. :3
 
“Equestria is not filled with ponies specialized in magic “  
We only know a very small portion of ponies in Equestria, so we cannot claim to know this. I can assure you, none of the characters in my story have magical powers even coming close to Twilight’s.
 
“Even Twilight had trouble with teleportation spell when we first saw her doing it and though she now can handle it easily it’s not anything simple as you seem to think.”  
You see me making two grown-up ponies use spells that they specialize in, who were practicing them almost every day since they found out about it as fillies, yet you think that they just acquired the spells themselves and use it like a breeze. I can assure you, there is a learning curve for everything in this comic too. As for Lyra, moving her arms is quite natural thing for her, given that she had 2 of them before our story began. She still needed a whole afternoon of continued practicing though to keep them somewhat stable.
 
I think you might have misunderstood my workstyle: I don’t just make unicorn characters and give them have magic powers that can be perceived as “pointlessly overpowered”. I make the mechanics and the story elements first, then create the necessary ponies that could be able to carry them out, and then give them a personality. I need mass and single teleportation, a special kind of disguise, special kind of shield abilities. Earth ponies and pegasi can’t really be used for these, can they? Of course, that doesn’t mean that I don’t have earth ponies in this story with interesting abilities.
 
“Of course it’s a parallel universe but what’s the point in using these characters and the show’s world itself if one starts making changes that makes it unnecessary?”  
I think the way you perceive the show’s world is different than how I perceive it. The changes that I may have made are not changes in my head, but mere extensions that are compatible with the show’s world (again, as far as I can perceive the show’s world).  
I try my best to preserve the personalities of characters on the show, as well as the events that take place (though trying to show it from a different angle). Most of the mane 6 will only appear in the background, as they go on to their thing accordingly to the current time.
 
“Maybe my first message sounded a bit offensive but I want you to know that regardless of my meassages I bare no ill will toward you. I just spoke my mind.”  
I apologize if I came out too offensively, but you really hit a nerve when you seemed to imply that I’m lazy. I spend at least 8 hours a day to make this comic, and a big percentage of that is developing the story and its characters, with all their strong and weak points, their abilities, and the spells that they are capable of casting.  
And I admit, I don’t take certain criticisms well, but I’m learning slowly but surely. I’m sure I will also get desensitized towards them with time too, just like towards praises.

@TriteBristle  
Sigh…
 
(Wall of text incoming)
 
Even with these rare specialized spells, it’s still much more than a normal unicorn could perform. Like I said I could understand why Lyra has access for something more (with abnormal meaning magic outside of their special talent and the basic telekinesis). So very often I see things explained just like this and it really feels unimaginative. How about we make an interesting pegasus or earth pony character? Maybe give them some kind of ability boost for the sake of the storytelling? Nah, let’s just go with the good old unicorn -> has stronger magic than a normal unicorn -> done. Equestria is not filled with ponies specialized in magic and even Twilight has studied it ever since she was a filly but in fan works, Equestria is filled with magic users whose skills rival Twilight’s and are often neven stronger regardless of the special talent or studying. Even Twilight had trouble with teleportation spell when we first saw her doing it and though she now can handle it easily it’s not anything simple as you seem to think.
 
And a parallel universe? Well no shit. Of course it’s a parallel universe but what’s the point in using these cahracters and the show’s world itself if one starts making changes that makes it unnecessary? (and no, I’m not saying that you changed everything, though I’m sure some people with black and white thinking will surely think I’m saying.) For example, when I see Rainbow Dash in some fan work, I’m gonna think “Hey that’s Dash”, the pony who loves flying and is able to do sonic rainboom. I’m not gonna start thinking that “Hey that pony looks like Dash. I wonder what she is like in this fan work and what she is able to do and not able to do”.
 
Now the last and most important thing. Learn to receive criticism.  
You were doing quite well with your response but those last few sentences made it clear that you got angry because of what I said and resorted in bold text and used a tone that was clearly made to sound insulting. Look at the other comments your comic has recieved. So many people really like it and that’s great but that doesn’t mean that everyone is going to like it and be happy with it. This is a thing you should learn especially if you are planning on continuing making something like this. Not everyone is going to say anything like I did but sometimes they will.
 
Maybe my first message sounded a bit offensive but I want you to know that regardless of my meassages I bare no ill will toward you. I just spoke my mind.

@TriteBristle
 
buck that BGP…we love your series..=D..your art is amazing

@Background Pony  
None of them have abnormally great magic powers, rather than that some ponies have rare, specialized spells as special talent. For this disguise spell, I gave a very detailed explanation as spoiler on my dA, which will be explained in the comic too in the future. (Not just lazily saying “lol they just use magic”, I suppose you think I should lay out all of my cards at once? That would be bad storytelling. Everything in its time.) That teleportation spell is also a specialization (although it’s not a very complicated one), the agency is doing great measures to gather the talents most suitable for its operations.
 
As for Lyra, she will be unable to learn some spells, and will struggle for weeks to learn other ones. But go ahead, tell me how “abnormally great magical powers” she has.
 
Also, news flash: This is taking place in a universe parallel to the show’s, not in the very same one.

I was kinda worried when the artist made Lyra have that strange “hand magic” thing but I still gave it chanche singe Lyra is supposed to be something special in this comic but now it really seems like the artist has gone with this “lol they just use magic”-way where they make unicorns have abnormally great magic powers and use it as an excuse to explain some strange things that take place.
 
It’s just so lazy and makes it feel like it’s not happening in the actual MLP:FIM universe.

She got her eye on you now.

I don’t know if these are changelings. They seem to have a much more involved infrastructure than I’d expect.

@lasty
 
“My dad is deeaaaaaaaaad!”

That’d be neat
 
Explain Lyra being around in suspiciously strange places.

“I am the terror that trots in the night. I am the syndicated rerun marathon that steals your entire day. I am….Lyraaaaa HEARTSTRINGS!”

Well, this is going to be interesting.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN