Creatures

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic hosts an array of creatures that have a counterpart in both mythology and fantasy, some of which are far more removed from their realistic counterpart than usual animals. A few creatures, like dragons and Diamond Dogs, have speaking roles and display sapience when interacting with the protagonists. Others behave more like animals and neither speak nor display sapience. While most beings are from real-life known myths and legends, others are completely original and made up for the show.

Ahuizotl
Ahuizotl is a dog-like creature from the book Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone in the episode Read It and Weep and in the episode Daring Don't. He is Daring Do's main antagonist in her quest to retrieve the sapphire stone. He has an elongated dog-like head, with eyes positioned over his nose at the end of his snout. He walks on all fours, with dog-like hind limbs and ape-like forelimbs, and a long monkey-like tail with a hand on its end. Ahuizotl has a tuxedo-style coat, having dark blue fur over most of his body, while his stomach, lower jaw and limbs are of a lighter blue. Ahuizotl wears golden colored jewelry, such as a necklace, a single ear ring, and three bracelets, one for each foreleg, and one around his tail's wrist. He is voiced by Brian Drummond in both episodes.

In Aztec mythology, the Ahuizotl bears an appearance similar to that of a canine. It has waterproof fur often clumping up to create spikes and an additional hand on its tail.

Breezie
Breezies are first introduced in It Ain't Easy Being Breezies, a group of which Fluttershy and her friends assist in migrating home. First mentioned in Three's A Crowd, Fluttershy describes them as "the rarest, tiniest, most adorable magical creatures in all of Equestria." A notable member of the Breezies is named Seabreeze.

Breezies share their name with a G3 race of fairy-like ponies.

Bugbear
A bugbear appears in the season five episode Slice of Life. It is a large creature with the upper body, arms, and legs of a panda bear and the antennae, wings, and stinger of a bumblebee.

The bugbear was captured and imprisoned in Tartarus some time ago by Sweetie Drops, a member of a secret anti-monster agency in Canterlot. After it escaped, the agency was disbanded, and Sweetie Drops went into hiding under the assumed name "Bon Bon". When the bugbear attacks Ponyville, the Mane Six spend the episode fighting it off, eventually defeating it off-screen.

In English mythology, a bugbear is an imaginary creature designed to scare disobeying children, similar to the bogeyman. It is also a general term used to describe an ongoing annoyance.

Centaur
A centaur called Lord Tirek appears in Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1 and Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2. He possesses a humanoid upper body with reddish skin, grey hair, a black coat covering his torso, black eyes with yellow pupils, and a lower body and horns resembling that of a black bull.

In, other centaurs appear, notably Sendak the Elder and Tirek's father King Vorak. Both have a similar skin, hair, and eye color to Tirek, but the former has goat horns while the latter has deer antlers.

In Greek mythology, a centaur is a creature that has the upper body of a humanoid and the lower body of a horse.

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 and reappears in the season four episode Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2.

Cerberus' design resembles that of a black bulldog. He has red pupils and a spiked collar on each neck. As with the hydra, the three faces do not show the same expression; when Twilight first calls out to him, the heads glance at each other, and they later look up at different times when she calls out again.

Cerberus causes a massive fright in Ponyville upon appearing. According to Twilight, it is responsible for guarding the gates of Tartarus; she explains to Spike that with Cerberus away from Tartarus, the "ancient evil creatures" imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria. After Fluttershy tames Cerberus by scratching its belly, Twilight takes it back to Tartarus. The next day, Spike receives a letter from Princess Celestia reporting a missing dog; Spike replies, "I guess the Princess hasn't heard we found Cerberus yet."

In Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1, it is revealed that Cerberus' absence during this incident allowed Lord Tirek to escape his imprisonment in Tartarus. He is briefly seen in Part 2 when Tirek is reimprisoned guarding the jail.

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

Changeling
Changelings first appear in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2 and are the minions of Queen Chrysalis. They have a pony-like appearance along with insect features. They change their appearance to match that of ponies; in particular, Queen Chrysalis shapeshifts into Princess Cadance and several changelings take the form of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They have sheer insect-like wings, fangs, horns that are used for magic, and holes in their legs.

The changeling queen explains that the changelings feed on love; Changelings in folklore would take advantage of the love given to them by their unwitting caretakers.

Chimera
A female chimera appears in the episode Somepony to Watch Over Me. It is a fearsome creature with a tiger's front body and head, a goat's hindquarters and head on its left shoulder, and a snake for a tail. Apple Bloom encounters the monster in the Flame Geyser Swamp on her way to deliver apple pies to a faraway town for Applejack. The chimera attacks Apple Bloom with intent of eating her and the pies, but Applejack saves her and tames the monster with a snake-charming flute, a lion tamer's chair, and a hunk of ricotta cheese. The three heads address each other as sisters, and suggest a history of bickering with each other, claiming they can never agree on what to eat, and fighting over who should be in charge.

In Greek mythology, the chimera is a monstrous fire-breathing creature with the body and head of a lion, a goat's head rising from its back, and a tail ending in a snake's head.

Cockatrice
A cockatrice is featured in the episode Stare Master. Fluttershy tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders that they are fearsome, dangerous creatures that have the "head of a chicken and the body of a snake." After venturing into the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy finds Twilight turned to stone and lying on the ground with a shocked expression on her face. The Cutie Mark Crusaders witness the cockatrice turn the missing chicken into stone and are terrified. They hide behind Fluttershy, who stares at the cockatrice and demands it to restore Twilight and her missing chicken back to normal, even as she herself slowly turns to stone. The cockatrice finally relents and Fluttershy's stone shell shatters. Twilight and the chicken both return to normal, showing that the cockatrice's stoning effect is reversible; subsequently Twilight retains no memory of the event.

In a mini-comic included with titled "In the Interim..." a horde of giant mutant cockatrices tries to invade Canterlot during the passing of the Secretariat comet, but Spike and Princess Celestia are able to defeat them. A cockatrice appears on cover RI of.

The cockatrice also appears on the Comic Con 2011 promotional poster. A cockatrice figure will be released with a Shadowbolt figure in the Guardians of Harmony toyline.

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

Cragadile
A cragadile is featured in the episode Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2. Its name is a portmanteau of "crocodile" and "crag."

When Twilight Sparkle attempts to cross a bubbly creek in the Everfree Forest, she inadvertently awakens a cragadile from its slumber, and in its rage, it attacks her and her friends. Using the black vines that had grown all over the forest, Twilight's friends muzzle and restrain the cragadile before it could hurt Twilight.

As the name suggests, the cragadile's design mostly resembles that of a crocodile, but its hide is covered in rocks.

Cragadiles are also mentioned in The Journal of the Two Sisters.

Cyclops
A cyclops named Arimaspi is mentioned in The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone. He is a giant, one-eyed monster who resembles a dark gray goat with a humanoid upper body, similar to a minotaur, and he wears golden jewelry on his body. He is first mentioned in Grampa Gruff's tale of the griffons' downfall, in which Arimaspi stole the griffons' treasured golden Idol of Boreas, but was nearly struck by lightning and plummeted into the Abysmal Abyss with the idol, which was lost. Gilda later finds his skull near the idol on a ledge in the abyss while rescuing Rainbow Dash.

Arimaspi is based on the cyclopes of Greek mythology, while his name is taken from a mythological race of people who warred with griffons over their gold. Because human characters couldn't appear in the show, Rebecca Dart stated in My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria that she made Arimaspi a half-mountain goat, half-mountain gorilla creature to ensure he "worked within the pony world".

Demon
In My Little Pony Equestria Girls, Sunset Shimmer transforms into a demon after donning the element of magic, using its power to turn the human counterparts of Snips and Snails into demons as well.

After transforming, all three humans gain flame-like hair, tattered bat-like wings capable of flight, four clawed fingers, pointed ears, sharp teeth with elongated fangs, and forked tongues. Their clothing also changes, with Sunset wearing a flame-patterned frock and boots, while Snips and Snails wear similarly patterned tunics and leggings. However, Sunset's demon form appears more monstrous: she increases in size, her voice deepens, her skin turns a reddish color, her ears are more jagged, the sclera of her eyes become black, her nose shortens, her mouth is more stretched out, and she gains a flame-like tail and hair. Snips and Snails retain their normal skin color and size, and have red eyes and no tails.

The three are returned to their normal human forms by the element of magic's power wielded by Twilight Sparkle and her friends. In My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks, Sunset Shimmer describes her transformed self as "a raging she-demon." In the same film, Twilight refers to this form as "that horrifyingly awful winged monster." Sunset also refers to her corrupted form as "a powerful demon" in a recap of the first two Equestria Girls movies that aired before the initial showing of Friendship Games on Discovery Family Channel.

In various real-life cultures, demons are evil creatures that are often controlled by more powerful, malevolent beings, or have the power to control other beings themselves. They are commonly depicted in Western cultures as having red skin, wings, and horns.

Diamond Dog
Diamond Dogs are dog-like creatures who appear in A Dog and Pony Show, where they kidnap Rarity and force her to find gems with her horn for them in their underground mine. They get annoyed very often by Rarity when she complains and whines to trick them into letting her free. Their manner of speaking is reminiscent of Smeagol from The Lord of the Rings.

The map of the south of Equestria from bears the mention "Appaloosan [sic] Mountains (beware the poachers, they call them the Diamond Dogs)" near the top.

Draconequus
A statue of a draconequus is described by Cheerilee in The Return of Harmony Part 1 as a creature with "the head of a pony and a body of all sorts of other things." The statue happens to be Discord, whom Princess Celestia describes as "the mischievous spirit of disharmony." The word "draconequus" was coined by Lauren Faust, and it is composed of the Greek word drakon, meaning dragon, and the Latin equus, meaning horse. It is spelled draconequus by Hasbro's My Little Pony Twitter account, in the trading cards, and by Faust, dragonokis on The Hub's website, draconequis in the television closed captions, and draconaquis in Netflix's closed captions.

Dragon
Dragons are a species of giant fire-breathing reptilian monsters based on European lore, predominantly out of Scandinavian mythology. They are antagonists in the episodes Dragonshy, Owl's Well That Ends Well, Dragon Quest, and Secret of My Excess. Spike is a baby dragon, and one of the main supporting cast.

Fruit bat
Fruit bats appear in the episode Apple Family Reunion and are mentioned in the episode Bats! Unlike real-life fruit bats, these bats come in the colors of the rainbow and resemble fruit, the midsections of red fruit bats in particular resembling strawberries; they also appear to have leaves for ears. A colony of fruit bats inhabit the trees of one of Sweet Apple Acres' west orchards. A red fruit bat appears on cover A and on cover RI of. In the chapter book Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, Fluttershy has a new fruit bat called Toby.

Vampire fruit bat
Relatives of fruit bats called vampire fruit bats infest Sweet Apple Acres in the episode Bats!. Unlike their more colorful counterparts, vampire fruit bats are dark in color, and have red eyes and long fangs. They are considered vermin by the Apple family for their tendency to suck apples of their juice during harvest season. However, their habit of spitting out the apples' seeds has the long-term benefit of growing healthier, more productive apple trees. When Fluttershy's friends' plan to tame the bats backfires, Applejack ultimately agrees to build a sanctuary for the bats to live and feed without ruining her orchards.

They are mentioned by Fluttershy in the chapter book Applejack and the Honest-to-Goodness Switcheroo.

Gargoyle
A gargoyle named Scorpan appears in a book depiction in Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1. In a legend recounted by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, he and his brother Tirek come from "a distant land" with the intent of stealing Equestrian magic. However, Scorpan comes to appreciate the ponies' ways and befriends a young Star Swirl the Bearded. When Tirek remains resolute in their plan despite Scorpan's urges to reconsider, Scorpan alerts the princesses of his brother's intentions, resulting in Tirek's imprisonment in Tartarus. Afterward, Scorpan returns to his homeland.

In, several gargoyles serve as the guards of King Vorak and Queen Haydon, Lord Tirek and Scorpan's parents, the latter of whom is also a gargoyle.

In French folklore, a gargoyle is a hideous creature with a dragon-like body, bat-like wings, a long neck, and the ability to breathe fire.

Griffon
Griffons are creatures that have the body of a lion, and the front claws, head, and wings of an eagle. The first griffon featured in the show is Gilda, Rainbow Dash's friend, who appears in Griffon the Brush Off. A male chef griffon named Gustave le Grand appears on the train in MMMystery on the Friendship Express. Other griffon mentions and appearances include Read It and Weep, The Crystal Empire - Part 1, Games Ponies Play, Rainbow Falls, Equestria Games, The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone, and various merchandise.

The griffin is a mythical creature dating all the way back since ancient Persian and Greek folklore.

Hydra
A hydra residing in Froggy Bottom Bogg chases the main characters in Feeling Pinkie Keen. The hydra has four heads on 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, and a tick-like insect can be seen on its neck during this scene. Before chasing the ponies, it roars and licks its lips. The heads sometimes display different expressions and even laugh at each other's misfortunes. One head is noticeably slower to react than the others.

The hydra also appears on the Comic Con 2011 promotional poster. In the Ruckus Reader interactive storybook Things That Go Bump in the Night, it appears in Rainbow Dash's imagination. In The Hub's 8 bit promo and 8-bit network ID, it appears in Level 3 of ''Adventure Ponies! The Video Game''.

In a flashback in, Princess Celestia suggests to Star Swirl the Bearded that he protect his magical secrets with a hydra. A skeleton of a hydra appears in present day in the same issue. In, Spike mentions hydras on page 8. In, the cover of Twilight's monster-pedia features a hydra design.

The hydra is a monster from Greek mythology, a giant multiheaded serpent which grew two heads whenever one of them was chopped off.

Jackalope
A jackalope appears in the episode Filli Vanilli during Music in the Treetops, and is fed by Fluttershy along with a rabbit in the same rabbit hole. As opposed to its vampiric counterparts, this kind is depicted as being passive.

The cream-colored jackalope cared for by Fluttershy lives alongside a normal-looking rabbit.

A jackalope briefly appears before Spike the Dog in My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games.

On the first page of, Scootaloo faces a jackalope. In a bonus two-page spread in, Well-to-Do meets a jackalope inside the belly of a hydra.

Vampiric jackalope
Vampiric jackalopes are hostile towards Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in. Unlike the regular jackalope, vampiric jackalopes have brighter colored coats such as pink, blue and yellow as well as sharper teeth, black antlers and eyes that turn red when aggressive. They are carnivorous and are the natural enemies of the Chupacabra.

Manticore
A manticore named Manny Roar poses an obstacle to the main characters in Friendship is Magic, part 2 after Nightmare Moon deliberately enrages him. Manny Roar has the body of a lion, a scorpion's tail, and a pair of dragon-like wings. Similar to Aesop's fable of The Lion and The Mouse, as well as the fable of Androcles and the Lion. Fluttershy calms him when she shows him kindness by removing a painful thorn from his paw. During Magical Mystery Cure, Manny Roar's paw appears in one of Fluttershy's flashbacks.

A Manny Roar miniature collectible is included in the Elements of Harmony Friends character collection set with Fluttershy, Nightmare Moon, Rarity and Steven Magnet, displayed at the 2013 New York Toy Fair. His name comes from the packaging of the toy set. Manny Roar also appears on the Comic Con 2011 promotional poster.

In the mini-comic included with called "Luna Gets a Pet," Princess Luna mentions fighting a manticore in a "rousing bout of hoofticuffs." Spike mentions manticores on page 8. A drawing of a manticore appears on cover RI of.

In The Journal of the Two Sisters, Celestia and Luna encounter a manticore named Melvin in the Everfree Forest in their youth. Luna is able to understand Melvin, who tells her that some ponies destroyed his home, so he attacked and trapped them. Luna and Celestia restore Melvin's home, and in return, he helps them build the Castle of the Two Sisters.

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, bat-like 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.

Minotaur
A minotaur called Iron Will appears in Putting Your Hoof Down. He is a muscular, bipedal, therianthropic ox-like character who claims that he teaches "assertiveness techniques" to "pushovers." He works as a self-help instructor for ponies who show low self-esteem, often offering them advice via catchy phrases.

In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a therianthropic (humanoid) monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. The word Minotaur derives from the Greek words minos, meaning king, and tauros, meaning bull, giving it the literal translation as either "king bull" or the "kings' bull."

Orthros
A dog with two heads called an orthros appears in the episode Trade Ya! Rainbow Dash trades a Discord-shaped lamp to his owner for him and trades him to a collector of Daring Do books for a first-edition copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue. As a condition of the trade, Fluttershy agrees to relocate to Manehattan for a time to help the Daring Do collector train the orthros. After the trade is called off, Rainbow Dash trades the orthros for a bird whistle, for Fluttershy. The orthros is shown to give obedience difficulties to both his original owner and prospective owner, but he is calm and obedient toward Fluttershy. One head is that of a Saint Bernard, the other head appears to be a generic mutt. A concept design for the orthros seen in The Art of Equestria shows it originally having a snake tail, similar to the chimera in Somepony to Watch Over Me.

In Greek mythology, Orthrus – or Orthros – is a two-headed dog and a brother of Cerberus.

Parasprite
Parasprites are small, round, flying creatures that quickly become problematic in Swarm of the Century. In the beginning of the episode, Fluttershy witnesses a parasprite devour an entire basket of apples in mere seconds. The main characters realize that parasprites are capable of multiplying very quickly, and soon they become a destructive infestation in Ponyville. Lauren Faust drew parallels between Swarm of the Century and the Star Trek episode The Trouble With Tribbles. Both parasprites and tribbles are initially regarded as cute pets, but their rapid multiplication and voracious appetites turn them into pests and menaces.

Phoenix
Phoenixes appear in A Bird in the Hoof and Dragon Quest. In A Bird in the Hoof, Princess Celestia's pet is revealed to be Philomena, a phoenix. Philomena appears to be very sick, losing her few remaining feathers, persistently coughing, and being unresponsive to Fluttershy's numerous treatments. After chasing an evasive Philomena through the streets of Ponyville, Fluttershy witnesses Philomena burst into flames, but Princess Celestia explains that phoenixes need to renew themselves by shedding all of their feathers and bursting into flames. The renewed Philomena is bright red with golden-lined wings, and complies with Rainbow Dash's whispered request to tickle the Royal guards. The two even "high-five" at the end. In Dragon Quest, two phoenix parents defend themselves and their hatchlings against a gang of teenage dragons. During this skirmish Spike is able to rescue one of the unhatched phoenix eggs from the teenage dragons, and briefly ends up caring for the newly hatched baby phoenix, naming him Peewee. A series of pictures panned over in Just for Sidekicks shows Spike returning the baby phoenix to the two adults.

The Phoenix is derived from Greek mythology, often associated with the sun. According to Greek lore phoenixes are aviary beings that have survived for prolonged life-spans, measuring up to thousands of years. They accomplish this feat by bursting into flame during old age and then arise from their ashes into an earlier, youthful, stage of their lives. Phoenix is also one of the 88 modern constellations, it is named and modeled after the same mythical bird. The mythical fire-bird appears frequently in popular media and has been referenced several times in pop culture.

There are also several other mythological birds from different cultures that share similar properties with the phoenix.

Pigasus
A Pigasus (plural Pigasi) is a pig-like creature with the body of a pig and the wings of a Pegasus pony. Their name is a portmanteau of "pig" and "Pegasus".

In The Return of Harmony Part 2, four Pigasi fly over Sweet Apple Acres after Discord turns Ponyville into "the chaos capital of the world." A Pigasus also appears in Pinkie Pride during Cheese Sandwich's song The Super Duper Party Pony.

In, six Pigasi fly over Ponyville when Discord casts his magic on the town with his sleepwalking. In, Applejack and Fluttershy encounter a real Pigasus during their vacation in Splendor Woods, and they try to hide it from ponies who seek to disturb and remove it from its natural habitat. Unlike in the series, the Splendor Woods Pigasus has a blue coat and a wider wingspan.

A Pigasus also appears on the Enterplay collectible card game Canterlot Nights #41 C card of Purple Waters.

The concept of a flying pig originates from the expression "when pigs fly", used to humorously describe an event or circumstance that will never happen.

Quarray eel
Quarray eels, named and seen in May the Best Pet Win!, are large burgundy-colored eels that live in holes in the side of Ghastly Gorge. 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 proceed to pop their heads out of their caves, trying 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 manages to escape out of the creature's nostril. The eagle almost has its head bitten off by another eel. The owl props open a third eel's jaws with its wings, and the falcon gets its tail feathers bitten by a fourth eel but manages to escape the eel's grip.

In, Shining Armor mentions quarray eels in a flashback.

Sea serpent
The sea serpent featured in Friendship is Magic, part 2 has a long serpentine body, reminiscent of an Asian dragon, with fish fins instead of ears, purple scales and orange hair, eyebrows, and mustache. His hair is arranged in a pompadour style. He was later named Steven Magnet in merchandise. He is one of the obstacles that the Mane Six face in their quest for the Elements of Harmony.

Sea serpents are a common type of monster that originates from several mythological sources, most notably from Greek and Scandinavian lore, as well as from the Bible. The moustache also makes the serpent seen in the pilot reminiscent of the East-Asian mythological river dragons.

Siren
Sirens are seen in the film My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks. Three sirens named Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze originally roamed Equestria spreading disharmony among ponies with their siren's songs. They fed off the ponies' negative energies to make their voices and magic more powerful with the intention of conquering Equestria. They were banished by Star Swirl the Bearded to the human world, where he surmised they would do no harm since there would be no magic in that world, unaware that later, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle would bring Equestrian magic to that world.

During the film, the Dazzlings use their songs to control the students of Canterlot High School and advance to the final round in the Mane Event. They are eventually defeated by Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and the Rainbooms when their gem pendants are destroyed and they are stripped of their powers.

In Equestria, the sirens' appearance is more similar to that of a hippocampus, another mythical sea creature, rather than a traditional siren. In the human world, the Dazzlings' anthropomorphic forms possess translucent fins on their backs, like those on their true forms' front legs. Their siren forms are summoned as astral projections from their pendants and are used to battle, and ultimately weaken, the Rainbooms.

"explores the secret origins of" the Sirens.

The sirens come from Greek mythology, where they are depicted as creatures who resemble human females and often cause shipwrecks with their songs.

Star spider
Star spiders appear in the season four episode Castle Mane-ia. They mostly resemble regular spiders, but they also bear star-shaped symbols on their abdomens.

A number of star spiders appear in the Castle of the Two Sisters, and Fluttershy mentions to Rarity that it is star spider season.

Tantabus
The Tantabus is a dream creature that appears in Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? It is an amorphous creature of blue starry smoke that infests and feeds on ponies' dreams, turning them into nightmares. According to Princess Luna, the Tantabus gets stronger with each additional pony's dreams it infects. With enough power, it could potentially escape into the real world.

Throughout the episode, Luna pursues the Tantabus across the Mane Six's dreams, and it turns each dream that it passes through into a nightmare. When Luna brings everyone in Ponyville into a single shared dream, the Tantabus grows to immense size. Luna reveals that she created the Tantabus to give herself nightmares as punishment for her actions as Nightmare Moon and that her crippling guilt gives the Tantabus power. With the Mane Six's help, Luna manages to let go of her tortured past, causing the Tantabus to lose its power. Luna draws the weakened Tantabus back inside herself.

The Tantabus is mentioned again in the chapter book Princess Luna and the Festival of the Winter Moon.

The name "Tantabus" is a corruption of "tantibus", a Latin word for "nightmare." The creature is based off baku, spirits in Japanese mythology that devour dreams and nightmares.

Tatzlwurm
A Tatzlwurm appears in Three's A Crowd. It is a subterranean worm-like creature with a tripartite jaw and a maw containing black tentacles that can reach out and grab its prey. It also has scales and a red mane-like structure behind its head. It appears to be vulnerable to offensive unicorn and Alicorn magic. The creature's sneeze transmits an unknown disease to others, such as Discord.

The Tatzlwurm is named after the Tatzelwurm of Alpine folklore, though this version of the creature more closely resembles a "Graboid" from the movie Tremors.

Timberwolf
Timberwolves appear in the episodes Family Appreciation Day and Spike at Your Service. Their name is a play on a real-life breed of wolf, the gray wolf, which is also known as the timber wolf. Their bodies are comprised of twigs, logs, and leaves.

In Family Appreciation Day, Granny Smith says the timberwolves' howling is the first sign of the yearly zap apple harvest. They also appear in her story of how Equestria was founded. In Spike at Your Service, Applejack saves Spike from hungry timberwolves, and Spike later saves Applejack from a giant timberwolf.

In an alternate timeline in The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2, timberwolves surround Equestria during Nightmare Moon's reign.

Twittermite
Twittermites are small, winged insect-like creatures that appear in Apple Bloom's dream in the episode Bloom & Gloom. They have round bluish-gray bodies, large purple eyes, short black claws, fibrous wings, and bright blue lightning bolt-shaped antennae and stingers. They shoot bolts of electricity at unsuspecting victims, and launch larger bolts when in a swarm. The Pest Control Pony explains to Apple Bloom that the farther apart they swarm, the more powerful their electric bolts become. When Apple Bloom has her pest control pony cutie mark, the twittermites corral together when she calls them.

Ursa
Ursa minor and ursa major appear in Boast Busters as gigantic magical bears with fur that looks like the night sky, and are partially translucent. 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, intending to find an ursa major and lead it back to Ponyville, hoping to see Trixie defeat it. They find one and get chased by it into Ponyville. Trixie is forced to admit she did not vanquish an ursa and cannot defeat this one. Trixie also admits, "No one can vanquish an ursa major." The ursa turns out to be an ursa minor. Twilight uses her magic to lull the bear with a lullaby and soothes it with a gigantic container of cow milk. The sleeping ursa minor is peacefully returned to its mother, an ursa major. The ursa minor is shown again in Magic Duel in a flashback to the events of Boast Busters. The ursa major is the largest creature seen in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.

The Boast Busters story gallery on Hasbro's website uses alternate depictions of the ursa minor as being bright green, and both ursas are completely opaque.

The map of the south of Equestria from bears the mention of "Ursa Major caverns." The ursa major appears on the Hot Topic exclusive cover of and the ursa minor appears on cover RI of  and on page 5 of.

Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are constellations seen in the northern hemisphere; the ursas in the show have unusually long tails for bears, much like their constellation namesakes. Their mother-and-child relantionship mirrors the Greek origin myth of the Ursa constellations, where Zeus turned the nymph Callisto and her son into bears and placed them in the night sky.

Vampire
Vampire bats are South American blood-sucking bats. Vampires are also mythological anthropophagic blood-sucking immortal humans, such as Dracula and Count Orlok.
 * Vampire fruit bats, a type of Equestria's fruit bats, ruin Sweet Apple Acres' apples in the episode Bats! by sucking the juice out of them, leaving them rotten.
 * Fluttershy turns into a vampire fruit bat-pony hybrid in the episode Bats! after Twilight Sparkle casts a spell on the bats while she uses her stare on them. She consequently takes on vampire fruit bat-like traits: fangs, ear and wing styles, paler color, red eyes, hunger for apple juice, animalistic instinct, and aggressiveness. Moreover, her mane and tail become much more rugged and unkempt and her cutie mark changes from butterflies to bats. She is eventually defeated and reverted to normal when the rest of her friends use her own stare against her. In this form, she was christened "Flutterbat," as coined by Rarity.
 * Sweetie Belle dresses up as a vampire in the episode Luna Eclipsed.
 * In, the alternate universe counterparts of Kibitz and Tiberius resemble vampires.

Windigo
The windigos are explained to be "winter spirits that feed off fighting and hatred; the more hate the spirit feels, the colder things become," according to Clover the Clever, the historical character that Twilight plays in the Hearth's Warming Eve play. The three windigoes appear three times throughout the episode Hearth's Warming Eve: at the conclusion of the grand summit, after the pony leaders' snowball fight, and at the cave that the ponies took as shelter.

The windigos resemble ghostly and translucent horses. In their first appearance, the three windigoes only look down onto the grand summit from a passage in the clouds with glowing blue eyes, but in their second and third appearances they wail and fly in a circle of clouds. They are defeated by "the fire of friendship," a pink flame that takes the shape of a heart, which was created in the play when Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy become friends. After the play, the friends congregate in the dressing room and begin to bicker about an open window, like they did at the beginning of the episode. The friends are shocked to hear a howl similar to the windigo's howl outside. Rainbow Dash promptly agrees to close the window, and the friends laugh; the camera then shows the same "fire of friendship" burning brightly over Canterlot.

In Hearthbreakers, Applejack briefly recaps the tale of Hearth's Warming Eve, including the role the windigos played in it. In addition, a Friendship Express train conductor sells "windigo-frosted snow cones."

In the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Holiday Special comic, windigos are mentioned on pages 35 and 36.

In the mythology of the Algonquian people, the Wendigo, or Windigo, is a malevolent, anthropophagic supernatural spirit or deity being strongly associated with the winter, the North, coldness, as well as famine and starvation. It has been thought to be an ice-giant that eats people whole. The word windigo is also often used to describe or name people who have gone mad or are thought to be cannibals, such as in Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine.

Issue #1

 * On the first page, a jackalope appears in Fluttershy's garden, confusing Scootaloo.

Issue #2

 * A cave troll appears. When Twilight sees the troll, she says that he is much bigger than the Cave Dwellers' Reference Guide says, at the end of the issue is revealed that his name is Jim.
 * This cave troll is also mentioned by Twilight Sparkle in and appears on a billboard in.
 * Later in the same issue, the ponies are attacked by a giant tarantula and a group of giant spiders, which appear to have markings similar to cutie marks. They attack the Main six and seize Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy; but they are defeated when Pinkie Pie brings the cave troll to attack the giant tarantula, which she then calls Fluffy. One of the spiders shares its color scheme and cutie mark with Derpy.
 * The giant spider is also mentioned in.
 * Pictures of ghosts appear on the map of Equestria.

Issue #3

 * Queen Chrysalis and her changelings crash land (after the events of A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2) into a civilization of "very loving" small catlike creatures. They continue loving the changelings even after they drain them to feed.
 * Carnivorous flowers (referred to as petunias, carnations, and pansies) attack Applejack and Rarity, after the latter attempts to pick them to accessorize. The ponies then use them as parachutes.
 * A chupacabra attacks Twilight and Fluttershy, mistaking them for goats; a group of vampiric jackalopes later attacks Rainbow and Pinkie. After the groups run into each other, the Chupacabra and Jackalopes attack each other, as Fluttershy explains that they are "natural enemies."

Issue #4

 * Princess Celestia mentions that due to the passing of the Secretariat comet, Manehattan was attacked by a "giant, magical marshmallow pony."

Issues #5-8

 * Princess Luna describes that the peaceful inhabitants of the moon have been trapped under the spell of the Nightmare Forces, turning them into shadowy creatures, such as "Shadowfright." At the end of Issue #8, the moon creatures return to normal, losing their shadowy appearance and taking on forms resembling normal animals. Spike refers to them as "nightmares" in . In, the inhabitants of the moon are referred to as nyx. They also appear in the WeLoveFine Dark Night art print and T-shirt.
 * In Issue #7 Spike founds a group of Moon Slugs who help him to enter to Nightmare Rarity's castle without being noticed and return in Issue #8 helping Spike escape taking his form making Shadowfright believe that he's using the silent treatment.

Issue #11

 * During Shining Armor and his friends' game, Poindexter plays an "elf-Pegasus" character.
 * The game these friends are playing is called "Oubliettes and Ogres."
 * The game is also played by the Cutie Mark Crusaders in and mentioned by Spike in.

Issue #13

 * Hippocampi are shown on an alternate version of cover B.

Issue #15-16

 * A bookworm invades the Golden Oak Library with the intention of eating all the books. In the process, it traps Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity in a blank book void and brings literary characters to life via magical cocoons. In Issue #16, he changes his ways after realizing the damage his voracity has caused and helps the Mane 6 save Ponyville.
 * In Issue #16, in Rainbow Dash's story, space fleas appear on an asteroid (actually the bookworm's cocoon).

Issue #18

 * In the mini-comic included with "How Star Swirl Got His Hat...the other story," Star Swirl the Bearded mentions the beasts of the deep.

Issue #19

 * Spike refers to the alternate universe of Princess Luna's shadow disguise as a ghost.

Issue #23

 * A kelpie named Cassie uses her singing to control the minds of ponies and compel the citizens of Ponyville to destroy a dam near the town. To Angel's horror, Cassie aims to flood the area. However, she only wishes to do so for the benefit of the water sprites, who cannot reach the ocean unless a path of water is prepared near Ponyville. In Scottish mythology, a kelpie is an equine water spirit associated with drownings. Cassie has the head and mane of a pony, the body of a serpent, eel-like tail, and four gangling fins which are arrayed in a similar fashion to that of the spines on her back.

Issue #24

 * Discord shows Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders a number of creatures across time and space: jackals and sentient cats in the ancient civilization of Anugypt, cyborg and alien-like ponies in the future, kelpies in the underwater city of Coltlantis (which bear a closer resemblance to hippocampi than to Cassie in the previous issue), and dinosaurs and a butterdragon in prehistoric Equestrian times.

Issue #27

 * The Mane Six encounter several creatures in the Everfree Forest, including an owlbear and a drop bear.

Issue #2

 * Two cloud gremlins named Big Boy and Runt create perpetually bad weather over Ponyville and feed off the misery of the ponies living there. Rainbow Dash eventually defeats them with a Sonic Double Rainboom.
 * Two older cloud gremlins appear in.

Issue #6

 * Sweet Apple Acres is terrorized by a Sass Squash, a squash-shaped creature that steals apples and replaces them with squashes. The Apple family capture him, but it's revealed to be Granny Smith in disguise. In the end, Applejack discovers that the Sass Squash is real when she sees of photo of him and a young Granny Smith in a photo album.

Issue #7

 * The Cutie Mark Crusaders encounter and befriend a greater Equestrian mimicker, naming her "Imp" (short for the mimicker's scientific name "Globulus improbulus"). In the end, the CMC return Imp to her cave where her mother hugs her. Like changelings, mimickers are shape-shifters, but while changelings can take on the form of other ponies, mimickers can turn into anything but ponies. According to a book Twilight reads from, "mimickers...are curious and playful creatures. They love to use their powers to play tricks and jokes. When they are young, mimickers try out many different forms. When they become adults, they settle on one form."

Issue #8

 * One of Celestia's flashbacks shows an unspecified time in which Canterlot was attacked by an army of shadowy creatures, appearing to resemble the Nightmare Forces.
 * By an accident with a spell many of the food of the student room came to life and attacks the students, they are defeated by Inkwell when she uses the same spell to bring life to a statue of bunny who eat the living food.

Issue #9

 * Spike buys dehydrated sea beasts in the mail and helps them grow with growth potion, to the point at which Spike was no longer able to control them. He teaches them the ways of the world until they become smart enough to live on their own.

Issue #10

 * Luna mentions finding an owlbear while on patrol in the Everfree Forest and in the mini-comic "Luna Gets a Pet."

Issue #3

 * Princess Celestia and Spike are attacked and taken captive by three large rock lobsters, but they free them after hearing from Spike that "dragons eat rocks." The blue rock lobster is named Iggy, the yellow one Metty, and the red one Seddy.

Issue #4

 * A crystal ghost haunts the Crystal Castle, scaring the staff and taking books from the library. The ghost Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor find is a bard and lover of books who was once captured by King Sombra. He is freed by the end of the story, becoming the new librarian of the Crystal Castle.
 * Also mentioned in the issue are wood sprites and night sprites.
 * Twilight Sparkle mentions that the monster-pedia has a section on ghosts.

Issue #14

 * A fire snail accidentally causes a string of fires around Fillydelphia.

My Little Pony Annual 2014

 * Pharaoh Phetlock and his minions are themed after mummies.
 * The Mane-iac refers to the humans as "some form of wingless imp."

Miscellaneous
In, Spike mentions tree goblins while reading a monster-pedia. In Luna Eclipsed, "Noi" says that she wanted to dress like a zombie the next year. In, zombie ponies appear in a fantasy book world created by Pinkie Pie. In My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks, Pinkie Pie describes Sunset Shimmer's personal army of brainwashed teenagers as zombies. Mermares and a manta hawk also appear in the IDW comics' (the mermare in love with Hoofbeard is named Jewel). In the chapter book Rarity and the Curious Case of Charity, Twilight Sparkle mentions a fashion book about seaponies. In the same book, Zecora mentions ghosts when talking about the Spirit Circle.
 * Twilight mentions a book called Ghosts, Goblins and Ghoulish Figures in The Show Stoppers.
 * In Bridle Gossip, Spike questions Twilight of the possibility that zombies made Ponyville look deserted.
 * Quetzalcoatl is mentioned in the episode Daring Don't as part of the Daring Do books series' lore, part of which takes place not only in the fictional Daring Do universe, but also in the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic franchise's universe in "a remote part of Equestria."
 * In Pinkie Apple Pie, when the Apple family and Pinkie Pie pass through the "scariest cave in Equestria," the loud roaring of an unidentified beast can be heard. A snapshot on Pinkie's photo album reveals some of the cave's inhabitants, including a horned, frog-like amphibian and a flying, fish-like creature.
 * In Trade Ya!, a stall owner at the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange deals in ancient beasts, including a winged creature with several eyes, a creature with a long tongue and mouth, an angler fish-like creature with one eye, and the horned frog-like amphibian previously seen in Pinkie Apple Pie.
 * In Make New Friends but Keep Discord, there are beasts around Discord's residence, including the creature with a long tongue and mouth previously seen in Trade Ya!, the angler fish-like creature with one eye previously seen in Trade Ya!, a brighter-colored version of the flying, fish-like creature previously seen in Pinkie Apple Pie, and another creature.
 * In Party Pooped, Pinkie Pie attempts to get directions from an unidentified yeti/baboon thing that lives in a cave near Yakyakistan.
 * In My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games, Sci-Twi's amulet accidentally opens a portal to Equestria, causing a giant plant-like monster to attack the motocross track.
 * The storybook Under the Sparkling Sea introduces seaponies, such as Coral and Arrow, and mermares, such as Electra. Sea critters such as a manta hawk, jellyflies, crabbits, water weasels, fox-fins and star mice are also presented. King Leo, whom the book's dust jacket refers to as a sea lion (while looking more like a merlion), is featured.
 * The chapter book Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare introduces colossa-gators. They are similar to normal alligators but are characterized as having iridescent, scaly green skin and red eyes, and being as large as ursa minors.
 * Daring Do and the Marked Thief of Marapore briefly mentions the Cipcatli Queen. Cipactli is an aztec legendary creature that is part crocodile, part fish, and part toad.
 * Princess Celestia and the Summer of Royal Waves features the Carcinus, a species of giant crab that are the size of small buildings. They are described as being "quite temperamental" but "also gentle and understanding."
 * Princess Luna and the Festival of the Winter Moon features the Tarax Hippo, a ghost-like creature that takes residence in villages to scare ponies. The fear of others causes it to grow.