Creatures

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic hosts an array of mythological and fantasy creatures.

Cerberus
Cerberus is a giant three-headed dog that appears in the episode It's About Time, interrupting Twilight's attempts to "disaster-proof" Equestria. He is a black bulldog, with red pupils in his eyes and spiked collars on each neck. The three heads can display different expressions to each other; when Twilight Sparkle first calls out to him, the heads glance at each other, and they later look up at different times when she calls out again.

According to Twilight Sparkle, he is responsible for guarding the gates of Tartarus and keeping the evil creatures within from escaping. Twilight explains to Spike that with Cerberus away from Tartarus, the "ancient evil creatures" imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria.

Cerberus scares many of the Ponyville residents with its roars and aggressive demeanor. Twilight tries to fight him with magic, but Fluttershy intervenes and is able to calm Cerberus. Twilight then uses a ball to lure him away from Ponyville and back home to Tartarus. The next day, Spike receives a missing dog flyer from Princess Celestia, who appears to unaware that Cerberus has returned to Tartarus.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Cerberus or Kerberos was a three-headed dog-like beast with a serpent's tail who was responsible for guarding the gates of Hades and keeping spirits from leaving. Heracles was sent to capture Cerberus as one of his twelve labors.

Cockatrice
A Cockatrice is featured in the episode Stare Master. Fluttershy explains to the Cutie Mark Crusaders that a Cockatrice "has the head of a chicken and a body of a snake", and that they are fearsome, dangerous creatures. They have the ability to turn creatures into stone with their gaze. When Fluttershy ventures into the forest, she finds Twilight Sparkle turned to stone. She later confronts the Cockatrice. While in the process of being turned into stone herself, she stares it down and tells it to restore Twilight and her missing chicken, who has also been petrified, to normal.

Cockatrices are mentioned in legend from antiquity to the Middle Ages.

Dragon
Dragons play a role as antagonists in the episodes Dragonshy and Owl's Well That Ends Well, and one of the main characters, Spike is a dragon as well.

Hydra
The hydra appears in the episode Feeling Pinkie Keen, residing in Froggy Bottom Bog.

The hydra has four heads on long snake-like necks and a large, orange, dragon-like body, with only two legs and no wings or arms. The ponies note a smelly gas that envelops it as it rises from the bog. Before chasing the ponies, it gives a threatening roar and licks its lips. The heads sometimes display different expressions and even laugh at each others' misfortunes. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike run away from the hydra, and it sticks out its tongues at the ponies after they successfully escape.

In classical mythology, the Hydra, meaning "water serpent", was defeated by Heracles (Hercules) during his labors. It was so poisonous that even its breath and tracks were deadly, and if someone was lucky enough to cut off a head, it grew two more.

Manticore
A manticore is a creature with the body of a lion, a scorpion's tail, and a pair of wings.

The ponies encounter it in Friendship is Magic, part 2, enraged by Night Mare Moon as an obstacle for Twilight Sparkle and her friends in their journey to find the Elements of Harmony. Similar to Aesop's fable of The Lion and The Mouse, it is calmed when Fluttershy shows it kindness and removes a thorn from its paw.

In Persian mythology, the manticore is a creature with a red lion's body, a human-like face, a mouth with shark-like rows of sharp teeth, and a voice like a trumpet. Additional features such as a scorpion-like tail, wings, and the ability to launch poisonous spines at its enemies depend on the story. It is considered a man-eater, often leaving no remains, not even bones or clothing.

Parasprite
Parasprites are small, round flying creatures which appear in the episode Swarm of the Century. They are depicted as having a ravenous appetite and multiplying very quickly, and soon their presence in Ponyville develops into an infestation.

Quarry eel
Quarray eels are large burgundy-colored creatures that live in holes in the side of Ghastly Gorge and are seen in the episode May the Best Pet Win!. Their name is a play on "moray eels" and "quarry". When Rainbow Dash races through the gorge in this episode, she tells her prospective pets that the eels become agitated when anyone gets too close to their nests. The eels pop their heads out to try to eat the contestants as they pass by.

After Rainbow Dash dodges all of the eels with relative ease, the other animals try to make it through: the bat is almost swallowed by one of the eels, but it manages to escape out of the creature's nostril; the eagle almost has its head bitten off by another eel; the owl uses its wings to keep a third eel from biting down and swallowing it; and the falcon gets its tail feathers bitten by a fourth eel, but it manages to escape the eel's grip.

Sea serpent
The sea serpent featured in Friendship is Magic, part 2 has a long serpentine body, reminiscent of an Asian dragon, with purple scales, and orange hair, eyebrows, and mustache. He is one of the obstacles that the ponies face in their quest for the Elements of Harmony. Night Mare Moon cuts off half of his mustache, sending him into a tantrum that renders the river impassable. Rarity soothes his tantrum by sacrificing her tail to make up the rest of his cut mustache through her unicorn magic. In thanks, the serpent offers his body as a bridge across the river. Fluttershy, however, who is afraid of large dragons in a later episode, shows no fear of the serpent.

Ursa
Ursas are gigantic magical bears with fur that looks like the night sky, who appear in Boast Busters. Ursas are the largest creatures shown so far in the series. The ursa minor is nearly as big as adult dragons, and the ursa major is many times larger still. At the start of the episode, Trixie boasts that she defeated an ursa major that was attacking Hoofington. Snips and Snails go into the Everfree Forest with the intention to find an ursa and lead it back to Ponyville, hoping to see Trixie defeat it. They find one and get chased by it into Ponyville, where Trixie is forced to admit she did not vanquish an ursa and cannot defeat this one. The ursa turns out to be an ursa minor, which Twilight soon returns to its mother, an ursa major, displaying her very powerful unicorn magic.

Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are constellations in the Northern Hemisphere. The ursas in the show have unusually long tails for bears, much like their constellation namesakes.

Gallery
Creatures image gallery