spoiler How Equestrian Magic Works in EQG world

[Will Guide 21,325]

Can't find a official topic that talks about How Equestrian Magic works in the "human world" of the Equestria Girls films, so I made one. What I had to say might answer many confusing questions about the Spin-off films, so Spoilers for all 3 films ahead.

First of all, I should lay down the several questions involving Equestrian Magic from all 3 films BEFORE I give you my first answer; The first answer is the key common answer that answers most of the following.

By the end of the first film, these are the common questions I heard:
Why did the crown corrupt Sunset Shimmer when she put it on?
Why did the crown grant Princess Twilight and the HuMane 5 anthro forms?

By the end of the 2nd film, Rainbow Rocks, I've heard this question:
How exactly did Sunset Shimmer ponied up in the final face-up between the Rainbooms and Dazzlings?

By the end of the 3rd film, Friendship Games, I've heard questions like:
Why is it when Sci-Twi unleash the magic from her pedant, she turns evil, but Sunset Shimmer takes a powerful angel form?


The key answer to most of these answer is simply this:
While Magic used in Equestria follows its own rules that we've learn from the main show, ("Magic A is Magic A" rule), the way Equestrian magic works in the EQG world breaks the above rules, because our heroes are NOT in Equestria!

This is best summed-up in a line of dialog from the 3rd film:
Rarity: I'm sure in Equestria, magic does whatever you want, but...
Sunset: This isn't Equestria.

I believe the key rule here is "In the Equestria Girls world, if Magic isn't used with good intentions, it can be twisted into something bad."

Think about it, In the first film, I believe this is what happened at the climax of the first film:
(Spoiler Boxed due to a lot of text)

Pre-redeemed Sunset puts the crown on, expecting "more power than I can ever imagine". Unfortunately because Magic works differently in this world, something unexpected happened. The Magic in the Crown turned Sunset into a She-Demon. If there was a sentient spirit in the Element of Magic let's called it "The Spirit of Harmony", it would be thinking, "What is this strange force that's compelling me to bring out this girl's dark side?" That would be the force that makes Magic work not in the same way as in Equestria. I imagine that throughout the first half of the scene, every time Demon Sunset used the crown for evil, such as transforming Snips and Snails, and brainwashing the CHS student body, The Spirit of Harmony is forced to do her bidding, glowing black and green every time it's misused. "Why are you doing this, foolish girl?" The Spirit quietly thinks towards her.

As for how the Crown was able to grant that Dues ex Machnia to our heroes? Simple, in this world, the crown, or rather the Spirit of Harmony may be forced to do awful things because it's on the head of an unworthy person, but as Twilight points out, "Magic of Friendship doesn't just exists in Equestria; it's everywhere." As a result, the Spirit was allowed to help our heroes when true friendship is shown, particularly when the Humane 5 jumped in front of Twilight to protect her from Demon Sunset's fireball.

In that split second, the Humane 5 showed true friendship by protecting a girl they hardly knew because they are friends. The Spirit of Harmony must have thought, "You 5 girls are willing to die to protect my rightful bearer? *smiles* Maybe I can protect you if...(realizes it can use good magic as well) There!" A protective barrier appears around the girls. Even if the other Elements of Harmony aren't physically there, that moment where the HuMane 5 protected Twilight was enough to act like a substitute for them. The Spirit of Harmony wants to help our heroes, but the way magic works in this world only allows it in certain conditions unlike the rules of Pony Equestria. Again, this is NOT Equestria, so the rules are different and the Spirit of Harmony is using whatever it's allowed to do to help our heroes.

Once Twilight realizes that, she sums it up as, "The magic contained in my Element was able to unite with those that helped created it." The Spirit of Harmony in the crown then realized, "You 5 humans might not technically be the rightful Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, but you are indeed their counterparts! I now know how I can assist you! Here!" The crown glows happily with a warm glow throughout the rest of the scene, as it lends its power to the HuMane 6.

(One Sailor Moon-inspiried transformation later)

As Twilight says to Demon Sunset: "Together with the Crown, they create a power beyond anything you could imagine; but it is a power you don't have the ability to control. The crown may be upon your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it, because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all: The Magic of Friendship"

Our heroes fire a Rainbow Beam of Good Energy that frees Sunset from her Demon Self. Those tears Sunset had as she says, "I didn't know there was another way" were true. She saw the demon in herself. Twilight, of course, points how Sunset can seek out Friendship and the Humane 5 could help teach her."

Of course even after Twilight returned home through the portal as it was closed by its original time limit, some of the Equestrian Magic that was brought out remains in the EQG world, which caught the attention of the Sirens from elsewhere in the city and the earliest off-screen attention of Human Twilight.

Later on about the climax of Rainbow Rocks:
(Short, but still boxed for talking about the climax)

In the final Battle of the Bands between the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings, the Rainbooms with Twilight as lead singer sans Sunset at first ponied up and tried to battle the power-up'd Sirens. But it was too much for just the 6 of them; they needed Sunset! Once she took the mic, toss off her leather jacket and started singing, the power of our heroes got what it needed. As a result of how Equestrian Magic works, Sunset got her own anthro pony form, proving she indeed has no inner demons anymore. (while also providing an awesome visual that defeated the Sirens and removed their power of charming others with their voices.)

The events of the Battle of the Bands in Rainbow Rocks got the full attention of the Twilight native to the this World. She built a device that locks on and contains the strange anomalies coming from CHS.

Later on, the events of Friendship Games play out:
(More in the Spoiler box due to length and climax):

Human Twilight's a nice girl, but throughout the film, the way Equestrian Magic works in this world caused her device to quietly steal most, but not all of the magic of each of the Humane 6 despite her good intentions. As Twilight's device was quietly stealing Sunset's magic at one point, it also took the portal between the Pony world and the Human world with it. Even since that happened, it started stealing magic even against Twilight's will, and starting opening mini portals that don't seem to cause a species change as Spike the Dog jumped through a few times and didn't mention turning into a dragon.

At Crystal Prep, the Shadowbolts students are influenced by Principal Cinch's selfish desire to keep a perfect reputation at all costs. Believing they can use Magic contained in Twilight's device to win the Friendship Games, Cinch and the Shadowbolts pressure her into releasing the magic, as Twilight sings, "Imagine all I'll learn by setting it free/ Now winning these games depends on me/ And what doors might open if I try to use it?/ But the Magic's what I really want to see"

Sunset must have realized what was going to happen, but it was too late. Being pressured by her selfish principal and peers, Twilight's motives became less than pure and so like Sunset before her, she turned into a demon. Unlike Sunset, whose dark side was driven by ambition, Twilight's dark side was driven by a twisted form of curiosity for wanting to understand the Magic. Midnight Sparkle wanted to get into the Magical world of Equestria to understand its magic, even at the cost of the Equestria Girls World.

During the battle, Sunset realized her friends still have a little of their magic left. Sunset faced Midnight with pure intentions to save Twilight and used Twilight's device to call on this world's equivalent of the Elements of Harmony from her friends. As a result, Sunset took on her "Daydream Shimmer" form and attempted to zap Midnight with the Power of Friendship and free Twilight from her Demon form. But Midnight was winning the Beam 'o War.

What tipped the scale in our hero's favor was Spike, Twilight's Dog. He gave Midnight a look that said, "Think about what would happen to me if you destroyed this world, Twilight". For a moment, Midnight's eyes turn into Twilight's eyes as the real Twilight was still in there, thinking, Spike, my only friend who has been nothing but kind and loyal to me. Sunset took advantage of this moment of hesitation to send the Power of Friendship all the way to Midnight.

In a white void where the two ended up:
"Take my hand, Twilight. Let me show you there's another way; just like someone once did for me."
There was still a chance Twilight would refuse Sunset's help and Midnight could permanently take control of her. But of course, Twilight took it and was released from her demon form

I think I've provided enough to prove my point on the subject:
While Magic used in Equestria follows its own rules that we've learn from the main show, ("Magic A is Magic A" rule), the way Equestrian magic works in the EQG world breaks the above rules, because our heroes are NOT in Equestria! And that In the Equestria Girls world, if Magic isn't used with good intentions, it can be twisted into something bad.

Do any of you agree or want provide a counterarguement? Because I would like to know.

Edited July 26, 2016 by WiiGuy2014

[FanOfManyShows 396]

Wow, I just posted a less detailed explaination. and then I saw this. man all I had to do was scroll down, and I wouldn't've posted mine. and your explanation makes way more sense.

[cmarston1 5,951]

I like to believe that due to exposure to the element of magic during the first EQG movie, the humane 6 still have leftover magic inside them, similar to how the ponies of Equestria all have their own type of magic.

And unlike how the mane 6 gave up the elements of harmony in Princess Twilight Sparkle, they are still connected to their elements which would explain how they transformed in Friendship Games.

Seeing how friendship is a literal type of magic in Equestria, I like to believe that in the human world it now works like that.

Sunset Shimmer and the high 5 would transform due to strong emotional connections involving friendship such as why they transform with music as well as representing their respected elements.

Edited June 7, 2016 by cmarston1

[Keroko 34]

It's also interesting to note that using Equestria High Magic seems to involve being true to yourself and, as of the friendship games, doing the things you love doing. In a way this is similar to how ponies in Equestria earns their cutie mark. But instead of a one-time spell that gives you a mark, in Equestria High doing what you love doing ponies you up and gives you the temporary ability to use magic.

 

However, we should not forget that so far the only people who have been able to pony up were the humane 5, who came into direct contact with Equestrian magic due to Twilight, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight, who themselves are ponies, the Sirens who had a special technique to absorb it and human Twilight, who could only do so after absorbing it with her device.

 

So far, the only people capable of utilizing Equestria High magic are those who are either from Equestria or who came in close contact with people from Equestria and their magic. As of now it's unknown if anyone else could find something they love doing and pony up. However current evidence says it's not likely. Even human Twilight needed technological aid and absorb magic directly before she was able to use it.

[Rikifive 23,472]

Thread With a Wall of Text in OP Meets Reply With a Wall of Text  

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Hmm.. I do agree, but there's a catch.

 

Let's start with these questions..

1. Why did the crown corrupt Sunset Shimmer when she put it on?
She had evil intentions even before wearing this crown and she still had them when wearing it. So she wasn't corrupted by the crown, she only gained powers, that basically visually have shown her true form and intentions... magically.

2. Why did the crown grant Princess Twilight and the HuMane 5 anthro forms?
In this case, it pretty much did the same as in Equestria. Since the crown yields Equestrian Magic (it's a powerful Element of Harmony, duh!) and the fact, that Twilight is actually a pony (if the word 'Equestrian' in 'Equestrian Magic' itself having something to do with ponies/horses wasn't enough), it just did what it did - Elements of Harmony, Magic of Friendship and ponies in general have encountered humans, so we got ponified humans I guess.
Generally: Same as in the first question, but opposite to evil. 

Now the conclusion:
The wearer of the crown is evil - is turned into an evil being
The wearer of the crown is good - gets a nice colorful form and rainbows :3

And the real question is:
Can Elements of Harmony cause harm in Equestria, like they can do in the human world?
This is the one difference I can tell so far. Sunset Shimmer was able to use the crown to enhance her powers, despite the fact, that she wanted to use them for evil purposes. Could anypony or any other creature use these elements to cause harm in Equestria as well? As far as I know (though I could forget about something), none of the villains tried to steal these seeking for power, kinda like Elements of Harmony could be used only for good?

But as for the Equestrian Magic in general, it can be used to cause harm in both dimensions. A simple example can be Tirek - he stole all the magic from the ponies and he totally wasn't going to just put some rainbows here and there. So in terms of good/evil usage, the magic works the same in both dimensions, everything depends on how the particular characters want to use that.

 

3. How exactly did Sunset Shimmer ponied up in the final face-up between the Rainbooms and Dazzlings?
The Magic of Friendship probably had something to do with it. Staying by Mane6's side, something connected her with the others. Even if that was not the case, Sunset obviously had connection with Equestrian Magic before, which could just ponify her in these specific circumstances.

4. Why is it when Sci-Twi unleash the magic from her pedant, she turns evil, but Sunset Shimmer takes a powerful angel form?
Same as the two first questions.
In fact, Twilight wasn't really evil in the first place, but an instant boost of magic / power in general could wake up the desires deep inside her, considering, that she wasn't really aware of the friendship subject, she was kind of bullied instead. For a silly comparison, imagine a kind human in our world that would have tough times, if he suddenly would get a powerful magical power, he could use it to finally change something... or just have fun.. Same could happen in Equestria - there are villains after all, wanting power and whatever. The question again is - if the Elements of Harmony allow to be used for evil purposes in Equestria. All we know is, that they can in the human world. So far that's the only one difference I can think of.

 

 

 

Now getting to the dialogue:

Sunset Shimmer: Um, we're supposed to keep magic out of the Friendship Games, remember?

Rainbow Dash: [scoffs]

Rarity: Easier said than done, darling. I'm sure in Equestria, magic does whatever you want. But...

Sunset Shimmer: This isn't Equestria.

Huh? Can be there something else? What a mystery!  

"This isn't Equestria" itself can interpreted in multiple ways...
But in this context we see, that the characters have difficulties with controlling their powers, but that doesn't have to mean, that the powers are actually different.
You know, the equestrian magic itself can be 100% the same in both dimensions, but the characters have different forms, that lack of horns and they generally don't have experience with magic, except Sunset Shimmer-- but still she left Equestria when she was young, so she probably didn't know much anyway.

 

So getting to the point:

"In the Equestria Girls world, if Magic isn't used with good intentions, it can be twisted into something bad."

Isn't this exactly the same in Equestria? Villains, raise your ... hooves or whatever if you have ever used magic to do something bad!  
Besides Elements of Harmony, all the Equestrian magic totally could be used by evil - even the same magic, just different intentions.

 

On 24.05.2016 at 9:02 PM, WiiGuy2014 said:

While Magic used in Equestria follows its own rules that we've learn from the main show, ("Magic A is Magic A" rule), the way Equestrian magic works in the EQG world breaks the above rules, because our heroes are NOT in Equestria! And that In the Equestria Girls world, if Magic isn't used with good intentions, it can be twisted into something bad.

"And that In the Equestria Girls world, if Magic isn't used with good intentions, it can be twisted into something bad."
There's a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig catch in that argument. That catch being the Elements of Harmony, though still I don't recall anypony even trying to use these for evil, so you never know. Other than that it all does work the same in Equestria, doesn't it?

 

Are there any other differences?
Or is there something I'm missing?

Of course, I may be unaware of many things, I can't deny.

[Will Guide 21,325]

10 minutes ago, Rikifive said:

Thread With a Wall of Text in OP Meets Reply With a Wall of Text  

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Hmm.. I do agree, but there's a catch.

 

 

Let's start with these questions..

1. Why did the crown corrupt Sunset Shimmer when she put it on?
She had evil intentions even before wearing this crown and she still had them when wearing it. So she wasn't corrupted by the crown, she only gained powers, that basically visually have shown her true form and intentions... magically.

2. Why did the crown grant Princess Twilight and the HuMane 5 anthro forms?
In this case, it pretty much did the same as in Equestria. Since the crown yields Equestrian Magic (it's a powerful Element of Harmony, duh!) and the fact, that Twilight is actually a pony (if the word 'Equestrian' in 'Equestrian Magic' itself having something to do with ponies/horses wasn't enough), it just did what it did - Elements of Harmony, Magic of Friendship and ponies in general have encountered humans, so we got ponified humans I guess.
Generally: Same as in the first question, but opposite to evil. 

Now the conclusion:
The wearer of the crown is evil - is turned into an evil being
The wearer of the crown is good - gets a nice colorful form and rainbows :3

And the real question is:
Can Elements of Harmony cause harm in Equestria, like they can do in the human world?
This is the one difference I can tell so far. Sunset Shimmer was able to use the crown to enhance her powers, despite the fact, that she wanted to use them for evil purposes. Could anypony or any other creature use these elements to cause harm in Equestria as well? As far as I know (though I could forget about something), none of the villains tried to steal these seeking for power, kinda like Elements of Harmony could be used only for good?

But as for the Equestrian Magic in general, it can be used to cause harm in both dimensions. A simple example can be Tirek - he stole all the magic from the ponies and he totally wasn't going to just put some rainbows here and there. So in terms of good/evil usage, the magic works the same in both dimensions, everything depends on how the particular characters want to use that.

 

3. How exactly did Sunset Shimmer ponied up in the final face-up between the Rainbooms and Dazzlings?
The Magic of Friendship probably had something to do with it. Staying by Mane6's side, something connected her with the others. Even if that was not the case, Sunset obviously had connection with Equestrian Magic before, which could just ponify her in these specific circumstances.

4. Why is it when Sci-Twi unleash the magic from her pedant, she turns evil, but Sunset Shimmer takes a powerful angel form?
Same as the two first questions.
In fact, Twilight wasn't really evil in the first place, but an instant boost of magic / power in general could wake up the desires deep inside her, considering, that she wasn't really aware of the friendship subject, she was kind of bullied instead. For a silly comparison, imagine a kind human in our world that would have tough times, if he suddenly would get a powerful magical power, he could use it to finally change something... or just have fun.. Same could happen in Equestria - there are villains after all, wanting power and whatever. The question again is - if the Elements of Harmony allow to be used for evil purposes in Equestria. All we know is, that they can in the human world. So far that's the only one difference I can think of.

 

 

 

Now getting to the dialogue:

Sunset Shimmer: Um, we're supposed to keep magic out of the Friendship Games, remember?

Rainbow Dash: [scoffs]

Rarity: Easier said than done, darling. I'm sure in Equestria, magic does whatever you want. But...

Sunset Shimmer: This isn't Equestria.

Huh? Can be there something else? What a mystery!  

"This isn't Equestria" itself can interpreted in multiple ways...
But in this context we see, that the characters have difficulties with controlling their powers, but that doesn't have to mean, that the powers are actually different.
You know, the equestrian magic itself can be 100% the same in both dimensions, but the characters have different forms, that lack of horns and they generally don't have experience with magic, except Sunset Shimmer-- but still she left Equestria when she was young, so she probably didn't know much anyway.

 

So getting to the point:

"In the Equestria Girls world, if Magic isn't used with good intentions, it can be twisted into something bad."

Isn't this exactly the same in Equestria? Villains, raise your ... hooves or whatever if you have ever used magic to do something bad!  
Besides Elements of Harmony, all the Equestrian magic totally could be used by evil - even the same magic, just different intentions.

 

"And that In the Equestria Girls world, if Magic isn't used with good intentions, it can be twisted into something bad."
There's a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig catch in that argument. That catch being the Elements of Harmony, though still I don't recall anypony even trying to use these for evil, so you never know. Other than that it all does work the same in Equestria, doesn't it?

 

Are there any other differences?
Or is there something I'm missing?

Of course, I may be unaware of many things, I can't deny.

I personally don't have time to respond to it all, but thanks for taking the time to write an interesting reply.

Personally, My main point still stands: No matter what world you're in, Magic is like a tool: it can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how it's used. Much like how fire can be used for warmth and powering devices just as well as causing destruction and ruin.

 

[Rikifive 23,472]

8 minutes ago, WiiGuy2014 said:

Personally, My main point still stands: No matter what world you're in, Magic is like a tool: it can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how it's used. Much like how fire can be used for warmth and powering devices just as well as causing destruction and ruin.

There I agree.

Though it doesn't really explain, nor describe how the equestrian magic works, as pretty much everything works like this, even the fire as you've pointed out.