Magic


 * For the Element of Harmony, see the appropriate section of the Elements of Harmony article.

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic possesses many fantasy elements, a prominent one being the use of magic by the ponies and by other creatures.

Earth ponies
Throughout the show, Earth ponies tend to crops and care for plants and animals, particularly in Winter Wrap Up, Fall Weather Friends and Hearth's Warming Eve. Lauren Faust, the show's creator, explained online that Earth ponies have a "magically ingrained connection to the Earth" and its plants and animals. Fluttershy, a Pegasus whose special talent is working with animals, is something of an exception to the rule in this regard.

Pegasus ponies
Pegasus ponies frequently alter the weather, notably in the first episode and Winter Wrap Up where Pegasus ponies clear the clouds from the sky, and in Look Before You Sleep where they build up clouds to arrange a storm. Snowflakes and rainbows are made in a Pegasus-run weather factory in Cloudsdale that the main characters visit in the episode Sonic Rainboom. Related to their weather-manipulation abilities is their ability to walk on clouds. Other ponies require a magic spell to be able to walk on clouds, as Twilight Sparkle explains, while Pegasus ponies possess this ability naturally. Gilda, a griffon, has no trouble walking on clouds in Griffon the Brush Off. In May the Best Pet Win!, other winged creatures walk on clouds, too. There are some instances of non-Pegasus background ponies walking on clouds during The Cutie Mark Chronicles and Sonic Rainboom, which are explained as animation errors by one of the show's layout artists.

Some Pegasus ponies create weather-related wakes when they perform aerial acrobatics. Rainbow Dash creates rainbows several times during her acrobatic flights, and creates a special burst called sonic rainboom on three occasions in the episodes Sonic Rainboom, The Cutie Mark Chronicles and A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2. In Lesson Zero, she created an explosion so powerful it left a rainbow-colored mushroom cloud. Other Pegasus ponies, like The Wonderbolts, leave clouds or smoke in their wake.

Unicorn ponies
 Lauren Faust has stated that the earth and Pegasus pony races possess subtler types of magic, which allows pegasi to walk on clouds for example, but unicorns are unique in their ability to actively perform magic. Throughout the show, unicorn ponies use their horns to perform various magical acts. Most commonly, they are shown manipulating objects through telekinesis. Additionally, in Hearth's Warming Eve, it is stated that the normal unicorns used to control the sun and moon before the rule of Celestia and Luna.

The colors of magic
The color of the glow surrounding objects affected by unicorn magic is inconsistent within the series. Rarity's and Trixie's glows are light blue and purple, respectively, which matches the color of their eyes. However, Rarity's glow in the first season also appears purple on certain occasions. The Flim Flam brothers's magical glow, featured in The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, is colored green like their eyes. The color of the glow of incidental characters' magic is not consistent in this way and frequently differs from their eye color, which is the case with the exam supervisors and the waiters in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, for example.

This relationship between eye color and magic color doesn't hold for Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia's magical glow either. The color of Twilight's glow is inconsistent in the first season and more consistent in the second, turning magenta like the color of her cutie mark. Similarly, whereas the color of Celestia's magical glow varies throughout season one, this glow is consistently yellow in Lesson Zero and A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, like her cutie mark. The addition of a yellow glow to Celestia's magic is one of the changes to the new opening sequence.

Chrysalis, while disguised as Cadance, uses magic that glows green, whereas the real Cadance's magic glows light blue, consistently. Shining Armor has magenta colored magic, where his eyes are blue. In both cases, the magic glow resembles the most prominent color in their cutie marks.

Baby unicorn magic
The episode Baby Cakes features a baby unicorn, Pumpkin Cake, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who uses her magic unexpectedly when Pinkie Pie babysits her and her Pegasus brother, Pound Cake. Rarity cautions the other ponies at the beginning of the episode that "baby unicorns get strange magic surges that come and go", and Pumpkin Cake experiences these surges when she's able to use her magic to walk through solid objects, levitate herself and other objects, and break the locks and chains that Pinkie Pie put around the toy chest. 

Rarity
Rarity possesses a gem-finding spell in addition to the standard telekinesis, which occurs for the first time out of her control in a flashback in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. She's adept enough with telekinesis to manipulate many objects at once when making dresses, and uses a spell to turn regular canopy into topiary in Look Before You Sleep. She creates a colorful light show and intricate backdrops for her second fashion show in Suited for Success.

Twilight Sparkle
"When those elements are united by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element, the element of magic!"

- Twilight Sparkle, Friendship is Magic, part 1

Twilight Sparkle is exceptional in regard to magic, having dedicated herself to studying the art. Spike mentions in Boast Busters that Twilight's magical ability is exemplary, and Princess Celestia comments about Twilight's enormous raw magical power in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. Unicorn magic requires concentration and effort, as Twilight explains to Spike at the beginning of Feeling Pinkie Keen and to Apple Bloom in Call of the Cutie, and in Lesson Zero she says she needs a line of sight with an object to undo the spell she cast on it. When Twilight levitates the ursa minor in Boast Busters, she is visibly exerting herself, gritting her teeth and tensing her muscles. However, she effortlessly harvests an entire apple orchard at once in Applebuck Season, and repairs a breached hydroelectric dam in The Mysterious Mare Do Well by levitating scores of rocks and boulders.

The theme of Twilight developing her magic skills continues throughout the series. She tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders how she first started learning magic: in a flashback in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, she studies all the books she had, and initially with some difficulty she uses her magic to turn a page in her book; Snails, similarly, shows some difficulty performing a horn-light magic in Boast Busters. The flashback depics Twilight progressing in her studies and eventually she enrolls to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. The magic-learning theme continues in various episodes: in Feeling Pinkie Keen, Twilight practices turning rocks into formal attire; in Boast Busters she practices a mustache-growing spell on Spike; in Sonic Rainboom, she uses a spell that allows non-Pegasus ponies to walk on clouds and possess temporary wings, which she learns from a book; in A Dog and Pony Show, she senses gems by "copying" Rarity's spell; in It's About Time, she learns a spell from a book in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing, and travels back in time; in Too Many Pinkie Pies, she tries transforming an apple into an orange twice, but Pinkie Pie makes her miss both times, and the magical beams hit a bird and a frog, who turn part-orange from the spell. She learns how she can get rid of the Pinkie Pie clones from a book about the Legend of the mirror pool.

In The Crystal Empire - Part 1, Twilight witnesses Celestia use some magic that surrounds her horn with black fog and makes her irises glow red and her eyes glow green and emit a purple trail, much like King Sombra's usual appearance. The magic causes black crystals to grow from the ground, again in the same fashion as King Sombra's magic. When Twilight uses this magic in Part 2, she mentions to Spike that she learned it from Celestia, implying that she is able to learn spells simply by watching others perform them. She uses this spell twice in order to unlock passageways that only appear in "King Sombra's palace" as she puts it. Twilight winces when she uses this spell. She levitates herself to keep from hitting the floor after a fall. She uses a "gravity spell" to slide up on the underside of a stairwell to the top of the palace's tower; she mentions that she studied this spell in anticipation of the test that Celestia mentioned.

Twilight performs various other spells and tricks throughout the series. In Boast Busters, she uses two spells: "Number 16", used to make the wind blow through river reeds, and "Number 25", which enables the growth of facial hair, which she performs on Spike, Snips, and Snails. In Winter Wrap Up, she uses a "Come to life spell" to move her plow. In Call of the Cutie, she fleetingly attempts to make cutie marks appear on Apple Bloom's flank. . In The Cutie Mark Chronicles, she hatches a dragon from its egg. In The Best Night Ever, she changes an apple into a cart and mice into horses. She uses a "memory spell" that returns her friends to normal after being corrupted by Discord in The Return of Harmony Part 2. She also uses a "Want it, need it" spell that makes an object wanted by anyone who lays eyes on it in Lesson Zero. In Ponyville Confidential, she surrounds the library with a force field. The same force field, but smaller, is used in MMMystery on the Friendship Express to protect the cake. In A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, she shoots concussive blasts from her horn and uses a spell that undoes a changeling's disguise spell.

As talented as she is, her spells occasionally misfire or fail. When she casts a spell on the parasprites in Swarm of the Century so they won't eat food, they begin to consume items which aren't food, and subsequently destroy Ponyville. When she tries to assist with Winter Wrap Up by making a plow run itself with a "come-to-life" spell, she ends up losing control of the plow and sending Applejack hurtling in a ball of snow into the side of a hill, and the impact covers the recently-plowed field with snow once again. She tries to reverse Discord's strange effects with a "failsafe spell" which Twilight says will "fix everything"... but it fails. A "want it, need it" spell on the doll Smarty Pants in Lesson Zero works a little too well, as it affects more than her intended targets and she is unable to undo her mistake due to the ensuing chaos. In Too Many Pinkie Pies, she misfires twice because of Pinkie Pie's crashing into her, this created one quacking orange and one flying.

Teleportation
Twilight possesses the ability to teleport, which was also common among previous-generation My Little Pony unicorn characters. She first teleports on the show in Friendship is Magic, part 2 when she charges Night Mare Moon and disappears only to reappear behind her and next to the Elements of Harmony. She teleports short distances in Applebuck Season to get ahead of Applejack trying to confront her about her over-exertion, and she unintentionally teleports with Spike from the thoroughfare into her library in The Ticket Master, which leaves Spike slightly singed. She teleports multiple times in Lesson Zero, seemingly without effort. In Secret of My Excess, Twilight teleports Spike several times while trying to clean a lipstick mark off his cheek, ending with her teleporting Pinkie Pie while already in the process of teleporting Spike. In Dragon Quest, Twilight teleports herself and three other characters a considerable distance to safety, with great effort. Twilight envelops her and others around her with a magic bubble in The Return of Harmony Part 2, protecting her friends from Discord, and reverses a small amount of his effects on the landscape.

Color of magic
In the first season, Twilight's horn usually glows white or a faint shade of purple, and objects assume a glow of white, purple, or magenta; when she affects multiple objects as once, several other colors are used as well, for example in the gem finding scene in A Dog and Pony Show. Starting with the second season's third episode, Twilight's magic is uniformly depicted using a bright magenta glow.

Trixie
Trixie performs various parlor tricks in Boast Busters: manipulating rope, creating fireworks and light displays, turning Rarity's hair green, and making a cloud strike Rainbow Dash with lightning.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna
The princesses are called "unicorns" in the prologue of the show's first episode. They possess wings and the ability to raise the sun and the moon, a trait mentioned to be shared by the unicorn tribe in Hearth's Warming Eve. In The Cutie Mark Chronicles, Twilight witnesses the Summer Sun Celebration with Princess Celestia raising the sun; the narration in the prologue of Friendship is Magic, part 1 states that Celestia banished Luna in the moon and took her place, raising both the sun and the moon and maintaining harmony.

When the ponies are summoned by Princess Celestia in The Return of Harmony Part 1, she tells them that she and her sister once used the Elements of Harmony to turn Discord into stone, and since the princesses are "no longer connected to the Elements", Discord has managed to escape. She continues, saying the Elements of Harmony are stored in a magically sealed room that only she can open. However, they turn up missing, and Discord appears telling the ponies a riddle which discloses the Elements' location.

Princess Celestia undoes Twilight Sparkle's magic twice in the series: once in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, where she calms Twilight, making her out-of-control magic revert to normal; and again in Lesson Zero, where Celestia directly uses her magic to undo the "want it need it" spell cast by Twilight.

Machinery
The Flim Flam brothers use their magic to power their cider-making machine in The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. Unlike Twilight Sparkle's "come-to-life spell" that she casts on a plow in Winter Wrap Up or Tank's helicopter-like contraption that has a magic glow around its axis in May the Best Pet Win!, the Flim Flam brothers' magic is used to "power" their machine, and it doesn't glow with their magic. Lauren Faust had previously suggested that appliances and vehicles on the show are imbued with unicorn magic.

Shining Armor
Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle's older brother, uses his magical prowess to bring forth a barrier that encompasses all of Canterlot to repel an outside threat, which is later found to be the changelings. Twilight says it is a spell only he can perform. He and Cadance use their combined strength and love to summon the barrier anew and drive away the changelings out of Canterlot.

Princess Cadance
The Pegasus unicorn niece to Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance possesses the flight capabilities of a Pegasus and the active control over magic that Unicorns are known for. She is known primarily for her spell of love, which brings out the love ponies have for each other. This spell is used two times: during Twilight's recollections of Cadance as her foal-sitter in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, and to break Shining Armor's trance during the Changeling raid in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2. In the same episode, she lends her love to allow her and Shining Armor to cast a new barrier and banish Chrysalis and the Changelings from Canterlot. In The Crystal Empire - Part 1 and 2, Princess Cadance uses a love spell to keep King Sombra away from the Crystal Empire. However, she is badly exhausted by this spell and the fact she must cast it constantly.

Discord
Celestia tells the ponies that before she and her sister usurped Discord, he made ponies miserable by causing chaos everywhere. Once he is freed, strange things happen, such as cotton-candy clouds raining chocolate milk or cola (as mentioned by Rainbow Dash), roads turning into soapy water, giant pepper shakers float in the air, bunnies grow long, lanky limbs, and more. Discord apparently steals the Elements of Harmony from Celestia's magical safe, which she believes only she can open. He makes the ponies behave the opposite of how they normally would, a spell which Twilight Sparkle breaks by using a "memory" spell to restore the ponies' friendship. Eventually he is encased in stone again through the power of the Elements of Harmony.

Queen Chrysalis and the changelings
Changelings are first featured in the A Canterlot Wedding episodes, where they infiltrate Canterlot during the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. Their queen, Chrysalis, mimics Princess Cadance and uses this disguise to take control of Shining Armor and enfeeble the magical barrier over Canterlot that he creates to protect the city. His love strengthens her enough to even overpower Celestia's magic with a magical beam from her horn that stuns Celestia and singes her horn. The other changelings mimic other ponies, including all of the six main characters. In the end, Chrysalis and the changelings are magically thrust out of Canterlot through the magic of Shining Armor and Cadance's love.

Dark magic
Princess Celestia describes dark magic in The Crystal Empire - Part 1: she demonstrates it to Twilight Sparkle by firing a beam at a crystal, which causes black crystals to sprout from the ground. When Celestia uses the dark magic, her horn is engulfed in a purple haze and her eyes glow green and have purple mist flowing from them. Twilight utilizes this same magic later in the episode, explaining to Spike that she picked up the trick from Celestia. She attributes the magical door she finds at the bottom of a stairwell to King Sombra's dark magic.

The Elements of Harmony


The Elements of Harmony are said to be the strongest magic known to ponydom in the series' first episode's prologue. They are introduced in the first episode when Twilight reads about them in her book. It's told that they were used by Princess Celestia to banish Night Mare Moon to the moon to prevent her from plunging Equestria into eternal night. They are later used by Twilight and her friends to turn Night Mare Moon back into Princess Luna, and again to encase Discord in stone. The elements themselves are pieces of jewellery that match each of the main six ponies' cutie marks.

The Fire of Friendship
The Fire of Friendship is a magical pink heart-shaped flame, introduced in the episode Hearth's Warming Eve. The magic was created by Clover the Clever, depicted by Twilight Sparkle in a holiday pageant, who produced the flame through the magic of friendship. The flame dispersed the ice and snow created by the windigos, and led to the unification of the three pony tribes and the founding of Equestria.

The Mirror Pool


The Mirror Pool is a magical pool that Pinkie Pie uses to double herself in the episode Too Many Pinkie Pies. Pinkie recalls that "Nana Pinkie" used to tell her The Legend of the Mirror Pool, which includes these rhymes: "Where the brambles are thickest / There you will find / A pond beyond the most twisted of vines!" "And into her own reflection she stared / Yearning for one whose reflection she shared / And solemnly sweared not to be scared / At the prospect of being doubly mared!" Pinkie Pie stumbles through some brambles and vines and finds herself in an underground cavern where the Mirror Pool resides.

The pool first spawns one double of Pinkie Pie, but she returns with her double to spawn two more Pinkie Pies, and the three clones spawn even more clones. The first clone has trouble remembering Applejack's name, so Pinkie Pie teaches it and the rest of the clones the names of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and herself. The clones cause mayhem in Ponyville and chant "fun" repeatedly. They are eventually sent back to the pool by Twilight Sparkle, who assigns a test for them: they must watch paint dry. Whenever a Pinkie Pie clone's attention wanders, Twilight fires a magic beam at it, which makes it swell up and float in the air, then turn into a trail of light that flies back into the Mirror Pool. Twilight's horn smoulders after her rapid-fire elimination, and finally only one Pinkie Pie is left, who says she managed to pass the test because she cared so much for her friends. In the episode's epilogue, Big McIntosh blocks the entrance to the cavern of the Mirror Pool.

Magical plants
Zecora practices a magic using plants in various episodes. She cures the effects of the poison joke with a herbal bath in Bridle Gossip, and cures Apple Bloom's Heart's Desire-induced cutie pox with the Seeds of Truth in the episode The Cutie Pox. In the same episode, she cures Apple Bloom's chipped tooth, and mentions curing a rooster who's lost his crow.

Granny Smith explains in Family Appreciation Day that Zap Apple trees are different because they are magical.

Magical creatures

 * A cockatrice turns Twilight Sparkle and a chicken into stone in Stare Master. Fluttershy tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders, whom she is babysitting, that the cockatrice can turn living creatures into stone by staring into their eyes. Thanks to her overpowering stare, Fluttershy cows the cockatrice into turning her chicken and her friend back to normal, even while it tries to turn her to stone.
 * Princess Celestia's pet phoenix, Philomena, bursts into flames and renews itself in A Bird in the Hoof.
 * Throughout the series, Spike teleports scrolls, letters, and other objects using his fire breath.
 * Gilda and other winged creatures can walk on clouds, as seen in Griffon the Brush-Off, and May the Best Pet Win!.

In other media
In the German magazine comic Der Stern der Winterträume, Twilight Sparkle and her friends look for a magical element called the Stern der Winterträume, which translates to Star of Winterdreams. After a snowball fight, they find it. They test it, but nothing happens, so they go back to the Golden Oaks Library. At the library, it plays beautiful music, which gives them all good dreams.