So can a uni/alicorns magic color change, or was everyone just that blind?

[Never2muchpinkie 211]

Well, right on the heels of another topic about Queen Chrysalis, I watched part of the episode to check something, and something else curious came up. WHY IN THE HECK DOES TWILIGHT NOT POINT OUT THE MOST OBVIOUS THING? She spent a lot of time with Cadence as a filly, and should know her magic color well. However, with a head full of suspicion of something off about the supposed Cadence, she watches 'Cadence' lift one of Applejack's treats with magic. Magic with a sickly green glow. Cadence's magic color is blue. Right then and there Twilight should have KNOWN something was wrong given how closely she watched 'Cadence' following her initial snubbing of Twilight's Sunshine, sunshine dance.

 

Yet she never brings that up when she's accusing 'Cadence' of being evil. "Hey Cadence, do some magic. See, Princess Celestia? Green. Cadence's is blue. She was my foalsitter. I would know." Seems simple enough. That would be something she COULDN'T explain away. Shining Armor not noticing can be explained away as her brainwashing him, and we don't know if Celestia ever saw her using magic prior to her reveal, but Twilight certainly did and should have said something.

 

Soooo...plot induced stupidity? Plot hole?

Edited October 17, 2013 by Never2muchpinkie

[Scootalove 10,689]

That does make me confused too. Celestia should have been able to point out something wrong with Cadence's magic aura since it's supposed to be blue. But, to answer your question an alicorn/unicorn's magic color can not change since it is the color that they are born with. So, everyone was pretty blind to figure out that the one who impersonated Cadence was Chrysalis.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,803]

Hmm....Methinks it is due to forgetting. At that point it seemed like she did even remember who she was at first upon hearing her name and had absolutely no clue who Mi Amore Cadenza was, so it could have been a loooooong time since they last seen each other. The only other aura color change I remember is Trixie with the Alicorn amulet, in which case it turned red. This one was probably much easier to notice thanks to the much shorter time in between.

 

That is my theory on it anyway. Methinks Twilight has a bad memory.

[ReverieRiver 526]

It was just a plot hole. The writers just didn't do that great of a job in their writing in these episodes, in my opinion. I could think of several things that could have made them considerably better.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

Well it could be that Twilight was more concerned about the spell that was being cast on her brother and was not paying attention to the color of the magic. So some might over look that.

 

Another thing, Chrysalis could have faked something. Like saying she's tired, or she can't use much magic right now because she is using it to help Shining Armor.

Edited October 17, 2013 by pinkiefan1287

[Fhaolan 4,484]

This makes me wonder if the ponies can't actually see those auras. Has any pony reacted to an aura without seeing the end spell effect?

Edited October 17, 2013 by Fhaolan

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Doesn't dark magic always look different? Just from memory, when Celestia and Twilight use it, it looks completely different to their usual magic.

 

Of course, this doesn't really swing the argument either way, but I guess if Twilight sees Cadent casting a spell that is clearly bad news, shes not going to be really surprised by the fact that its dark magic.

 

Another theory is that the auras are just so common that they are overlooked by the ponies: When I talk to someone their face is right in front of mine, but if you asked me what color their eyes were after the conversation I probably wouldn't be able to tell you unless they some really unusual color. Hiding in plain sight.

[I used to be a stranger 7,994]

Magical auras or 'clouds' that form around unicorn horns are indicated to be invisible to the characters at least once, and in other places implied to be invisible to the characters. It would make sense therefore that the 'clouds' we see exist only for the service of the TV audience as a sort of visual explanation indicator, like a speech bubble in a comic.

 

See Fig. 1a, b and c, from S2E24 Mmmystery on the Friendship Express

a

b

c

 

Though c is from later on in the episode, it's shown what Pinkie sees at first, as the shutters closing completely on their own. Only later do we see the use of magic being the culprit.

 

Fig 2: S2E23 Ponyville Confidential

 

In the episode previous to Mmmystery, we see Rarity hiding a bag from Sweetie Belle. It's pretty obvious to us viewers that Rarity's 'holding' the bag with her magic, but Sweetie Belle tries to grab it without much presumption that she's aware of it. Only after Rarity dodges the bag a couple times does Sweetie Belle suspect, and then taps Rarity's horn to make her stop. If magic were visible to Sweetie Belle, she would have noticed what Rarity was doing much more quickly, I imagine, and therefore would have gone straight for hitting her sister's horn rather than trying to grab the bag.

 

These examples led me to believe a long time ago that the magical aura around unicorn's horns is an out-of-universe visual cue that we only see as an audience, and not something that ponies within Equestria actually see (according to their normal spectra).

 

[[An aside, the likely explanation for this from the Artist and Maker's point of view would be that including the magical aura on the window shutters in the first example would be a dead give-away for anyone who had seen the show before, unless the magical aura was grayscale against the background, which would've been visually confusing. For that reason, the aura was omitted for the sake of progressing the story. ]]

 

From the conclusion that magical auras are invisible, it would be easy to understand why Chrysalis as Cadence was never noticed: nopony actually saw that her horn's glow was green (different from Cadence's actual cyan) any more than anypony ever saw that Twilight's was lavender or Rarity's was blue.

The only counterpoint that I can think of would be in moments of particularly powerful magic being used, in which horns actually do exude their own visible energy. However, instances of this are comparatively rare.

Fig. 3 Twilight brings the pain

Edited October 17, 2013 by Blue

[Never2muchpinkie 211]

Magical auras or 'clouds' that form around unicorn horns are indicated to be invisible to the characters at least once, and in other places implied to be invisible to the characters. It would make sense therefore that the 'clouds' we see exist only for the service of the TV audience as a sort of visual explanation indicator, like a speech bubble in a comic.

 

These examples led me to believe a long time ago that the magical aura around unicorn's horns is an out-of-universe visual cue that we only see as an audience, and not something that ponies within Equestria actually see (according to their normal spectra).

You know, it makes sense that magical aura's are simply a benefit for the audience as from the 1st to the 2nd season, we DID see a change in magic aura colors. Twilight's was practically clear with a shade of purple, but changed to Red, while Celestia's was also almost clear, with a hint of blue, but changed to yellow. 

[BrilliantVenture 334]

Wow...this is all stuff I NEVER thought of before! You guys made some great points here! Yeah, I guess it's just a viewers POV then...but just wait...someone will write in the next season a line that says something along the lines of "Just like that ghosty floaty stuff that appears around a unicorn's horn when they do magic" or something, which debunks everyone's speculations and thus confuses us even further...but I think at this point, what's been said here is definitely a very possible possibility...good detective work!

[Potato3o 1]

Hi!

A unicorn/alicorn's magic CAN change! Yes, it's true!

In Season 1/2, Twilight's magic was a baby-pink/white color, and it was seen first in the two opening episodes of Season 1 of My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic. In season 3-6, however, her magic had turned hot-pink Weird, right?

In Season 1, Rarity's magic was the same color as Twilight's at the time - baby pink. You will notice this when Rarity cuts off her tail in part 2 of Mare in the Moon.

In Season 1 or 2, Celestia's magic was the same color. In season 2/3, it turned yellow to match her cutie mark, the eight-pointed-sun on her flank.

Princess Luna's magic changes too! Crazy, right? In Season 1, episode 2, in her Nightmare Moon stage, her magic was a neon-blue/turquoise color. After this, when her mane changed from a regular flat one to her wavy kind, her magic turned the same color as her eye shadow.

That's not all, though! I see some posts about Cadence/Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's magic turned from blue to green, when in reality, Cadence's magic never changed. You should realize the Cadence with green magic was a fake. LOL

And last but not least, DJ PON3's magic changes. Her magic color used to be a baby-pink, but in season 4 it turned darker, like Twilight's in season 3.

 

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed and liked my "story"!

[sweetolebob18 728]

As several others have pointed out, most of the time Ponies can't see magic. It is like the line of scrimmage on the TV screen during football games.  However, IMO Unicorns can detect magic if they try.  Can't think of any examples, maybe it just makes sense to me because it is a spell in Dungeons and Dragons