It is an uncontested fact that in the MLP world, friendship is magic. But what does that really mean? In the Nasuverse at least, something literally beyond the impossible. As a Nasuverse fan, I enjoy reading between the lines as much as Twilight Sparkle loves her reference books, and I could not help but ask myself: What would the Elements of Harmony be considered in TYPE-Moon lore? What force do they call into action? And what power, if any, can be compared to them? After researching the TYPE-Moon lore, I have come across a plausible explanation of the Elements' workings within TYPE-Moon rules. First on our list: Mystic Codes.

Mystic Codes: Your Everyday Magic Wand

Okay, let's start out simple: What are Mystic Codes? Essentially, Mystic Codes are support tools used by magi to enhance and perform their Magecraft. They come in many different forms, from a simple jewel, to a large mass of mercury, to a dagger, or even - in one case - a Thompson Contender hunting pistol. They primarily come in two types: Amplifier and Specialized. Amplifier types are exactly what it says; it amplifies Magecraft by adding more fuel to the spell, like nitrous oxide making a car run faster. The Tohsaka jewels are of this type, though they are unique in their own right. Specialized Mystic Codes are single setting Codes with a predetermined use. Most Noble Phantasms, like Cu Chulainn's Gae Bolg and Medea's Rule Breaker, are of this type. The best example, however, is the Jeweled Sword Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, used in Fate Stay Night: Heaven's Feel.

So how do the Elements of Harmony figure into this? At the most basic level, the Elements are collectively a Specialized Mystic Code. As they are tied into Equestria's history and legends, they also qualify as a Noble Phantasm, particularly the rare kind that still exists and can be used in the Modern Era, like Fragarach and Rhongomyniad. When brought together under the right conditions with the right wielders, they bring a specific force into play, without exception. What do they do? Now that is the right question, and the next topic.

True Magic: Kicking Reason to the Curb Since the Age of Gods

It has once been said:

The beginning first changed everything.
The following second acknowledged many.
The resulting third showed the future.
The linking fourth concealed itself.
And the final fifth had already lost its meaning.

Had it only ended at the third, someone had said.

True Magic, as opposed to the more common Magecraft, is a term that confuses many Nasuverse fans at first (it certainly did for me!). What is True Magic, and what sets it apart from Magecraft? Well, to answer both questions at once, Magecraft is the supernatural science, a "reenactment of miracles "(or Thaumaturgy) that are still bound within nature's laws. It takes every shortcut and loophole possible to accomplish the task before it, but it is still bound in the laws of physics and reality. On the other hand, Magic is in a word, impossible. No, I'm not kidding. Nasu described Magic as something one could never achieve in the current era, even if you have infinite time and resources at your disposal. Take, for instance, the law that "you can't create something from nothing." Magecraft is bound and limited by this. Projection, like Shirou's Tracing, may look similar on the surface, but it is just shaping a solid illusion with magical energy. It makes a "phantasm" that the World will inevitably recognize and destroy in short order. True Magic can subvert this law, and bring entirely new matter into being. This is, in fact, the First Magic. You see, there exist five specific Magics, which are the last tasks Man has left to accomplish. They are:

First: Denial of Nothingness (what we discussed above)
Second: Operation of Parallel Worlds (Alternate realities!), also called the Kaleidoscope
Third: Heaven's Feel (Materializing the immortal soul), the underlying basis for the Holy Grail Wars of Fate/Stay Night.
Fourth: ???
Fifth: Magic Blue (governs consumption and extinction, can perform time travel), wielded by the youngest current Magician, Aoko Aozaki. Its secret lies in advancing civilization.

*note the Third Magic especially, it gets important later!

In the case of the Elements of Harmony, it is quite obvious that what they bring about is far beyond what normal Equestrian magic (hereafter called magecraft for simplicity's sake) can accomplish. A normal unicorn could not have purified Nightmare Moon, for instance. Even Celestia, who was for all intents and purposes a demigoddess on the level of freaking GILGAMESH, could not save Luna under her own power. And Discord? Pfft. Get outta here. You would need the Elements to even put a dent in him, and that's assuming he didn't mind rape you into obscurity first. Discord in particular was a being who did not function by the standard rules of Magecraft, Equestrian or otherwise. So something that could equally break the rules was needed to stop him -- in short, True Magic. Which is exactly what the Elements of Harmony utilize.

This of course begs the question: Okay, the Elements use True Magic. WHICH ONE DO THEY USE? The answer is both obvious and obscure. The Elements of Harmony actualize not any of the aforementioned Five Magics, but
a Sixth. They bring forth a Magic unlike any other except maybe the Third. And what Magic is this?

FRIENDSHIP!!!!

Ok, joking aside, while that is a good label in a general sense, in a technical Nasu-style fashion I would best describe the Sixth Magic as "The Materialization of Emotions." We have a similar concept in the Third Magic, Heaven's Feel, which is "Materialization of the Soul." Both turn a thing that is by definition intangible into a physical force capable of directly interacting with the World without a medium, and that has profound effects. When materialized, the soul becomes an undying perpetual motion engine with unlimited mana. In a similar vein, emotions become a limitless energy source far more efficient and pure than any other, even the Second Magic. Have you ever seen videos of car accidents or natural disasters, where a parent would lift an entire car or a massive piece of rubble off their children to save them? That is, in a nutshell, because their emotions fuel them to the point their natural limits break, allowing the use of far more strength than can usually be called forth. The Elements take this immense power and transmute it into a physical torrent that carries the Bearers' intent in the purest state imaginable, achieving feats far beyond the use of normal Magecraft. And how does friendship fit in this? Emotions are meant to be expressed, shared and conveyed. Friendships are among the most powerful and lasting expressions of that conveyance. It thus goes to reason that the Sixth True Magic, and by extension the Elements of Harmony, wax at their brightest when the friendship between wielders is fully expressed and open. Twilight mentions this herself in the pilot episode, that a "spark" of friendship is what sets the Elements in motion. If all six Bearers are present, and they like each other, the rainbows start flying and the baddies start crying.

So, to summarize, the Elements of Harmony are, in practice, to the Sixth Magic as the Jewel Sword Zelretch is to the Second Magic, in that it is a Specialized Mystic Code and a Noble Phantasm specifically designed to start up said Magic. So does this mean that this is the end of this little essay? NO WAY! This is only part one of my analysis. Shortly, I will post part two, where I will tell you of the role the Elements have in the Big Picture of things, as well as a startling connection I believe I have found between the Elements and one of TYPE-Moon's most famous icons. Until then, keep trotting bronies!

If you wanna do Nasuverse and the Elements, I have another explanation for them.

The elements as an extension of Gaia's Will.

Basically, in a world where humans never existed and magical creatures roam free, Gaia is much stronger. Whenever something is out of order (IE Nightmare Moon, Discord etc.), the elements have the ability to to grant the power to restore things to normal, just as Gaia usually does in normal Nasuverse. Think of them as the corrective pressure Gaia usually exerts on in the normal verse, except focused and amplified.

They can do this because of the world they live in. Ponies themselves partake in maintaining the order and balance of the world, so naturally Gaia has a much more benevolent relationship with them, which is why this power is natural to them specifically. The emotional and virtuous aspects associated with them were there to ensure the Elements would only be used by worthy bearers. Further than that, you can argue that they match the Origins of the wielders as well.

I myself argue that "Friendship" in this case also stands for Ether, the Element that combines with others to actualize Magic. I also say that Twilight is an Incarnation, with her origin and element having to deal with the fact that she 'brings people together". She brought Luna and Celestia together, she brought her friends together (In both her world and the EQG world), helped bring the Crystal Empire and Equestria together, helped bring Starlight together with her friends as well as her old best friend... Things like that.

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So, in a nutshell, you're saying that the Elements are an expression of Equestria's Counter Force... Wow. There really is someone who thinks like me. I had that idea, to be honest, but a little tweaked. Equestria and Ponies are separate, but there is just no chance of the two clashing like Gaia and Alaya do. Even so, Gaia has a few safeguards against ponies just in case. The Changelings come into mind in particular. They seem to be specifically designed to counter ponies, to the point where I would call them Equestria's version of the True Ancestors, which were built to keep humans in check. I am still working on Part Two, which deals with the Elements in relation to the World's workings on a grander scale. You have an excellent point, my friend, and It shall not be ignored. Also, I think the Elements have a direct counterpart in the Nasuverse, which actually applies in your idea as well, but I will cover that in Part Two tonight. As for Ponies and Origins... I will get to that in another time, if readers are willing to hear my thoughts.

Elements of Harmony in NasuTerms, Part 2

Yesterday, I covered the Elements of Harmony and their capabilities. I concluded, from my research, that the Elements would be described by a magus as a Specialized Mystic Code and Noble Phantasm that starts up the hitherto undiscovered Sixth True Magic, "Materialization of Emotions." BUT, all we have covered so far is the technical details. What has not been covered is the role the Elements play in the FiM World, explained by Nasuverse rules. That will be our topic of conversation today. So, seeing as we have a lot of ground to cover, let's get started.

Also, my thanks to Eyeshield for his input. it actually opened up to me some perspectives on this topic that I hadn't really thought of. Props to you, Eyeshield!

Counter Forcing the Root of the Problem

The idea of the Counter Force is a very basic one in the Nasuverse, but its simplicity sometimes makes it hard to wrap one's mind around. To best explain the Counter Force, one must broach the topic where it comes up the most: the Swirl of the Root, also called Akasha. Akasha is the ultimate source and destination of all souls and life, as well as being the compendium of all knowledge across all times and realities. Magi covet this knowledge, and strive to attain it by reaching the Root.

It is at this point that the Counter Force becomes important. In a nutshell, the earth itself is alive through mana, and possesses a will of its own: Gaia. This is the will of the planet itself to continue living, with nature taking a front seat. However, humanity came into being, and things got all kinds of screwed up. As mankind grew, it began to become independent of the Earth, as opposed to the Phantasmal Species tied directly to Gaia. This independence caused the piece of Gaia that governed humanity to completely split off from the whole and become separate from Gaia, becoming a second planet-wide will called Alaya, which is specifically the human race's drive to avoid extinction. The Counter Force is essentially a fail-safe/defense mechanism bound to both wills on earth, that acts up in response to major threats to either Gaia or Alaya. The amount of power it exerts to neutralize a threat will always be equal to the threat itself - never any more or any less - and it can range from the level of power needed to just roll a pebble one centimeter, to power so great that it could sink an entire continent into the sea. The Counter Force rarely acts directly, and thus acts through a set of proxy agents in the World that take many different forms, depending on which will is utilizing the Counter Force at the time. Gaia's Counter Force involves the Phantasmal Species, massively powerful creatures ranging from Dragon Kind and Unicorns to the Crimson Moon-originated True Ancestors. Alaya employs Heroic Spirits and Counter Guardians, which are described as the hope and despair of mankind respectively.

Now that the Counter Force is explained, the connection between it and the Elements of Harmony can be more easily found. Until Hasbro says otherwise, Equestria is a completely separate planet from Earth. As such, the Counter Force acts in different ways. One of these ways is the Elements of Harmony. The Gaia-Alaya division, however, still exists on Equestria, with Alaya encompassing not only Ponies, but the other sapient races of Equestria except Changelings, which I feel are somewhat of an Equestrian version of the True Ancestors -- I'll cover that in another post. To avoid confusion in the future, I will call the Equestrian Gaia "E-Gaia", and the Equestrian Alaya "Alaya-P."

Now I must give notice and thanks to a commentor who actually contributed to adding to my theory: Eyeshield. My thanks to you! Eyeshield's idea, shown above, posits that the Elements are an extension of E-Gaia, specifically. He makes a lot of points that make sense as well, which actually gave me a better perspective on the idea. There is one thing that I disagree with, but on the whole, his postulation makes sense to me, and actually corresponds well with my own ideas. To paraphrase him would be an injustice, so I will quote him here:

Basically, in a world where humans never existed and magical creatures roam free, Gaia is much stronger. Whenever something is out of order (IE Nightmare Moon, Discord etc.), the elements have the ability to to grant the power to restore things to normal, just as Gaia usually does in normal Nasuverse. Think of them as the corrective pressure Gaia usually exerts on in the normal verse, except focused and amplified.

They can do this because of the world they live in. Ponies themselves partake in maintaining the order and balance of the world, so naturally Gaia has a much more benevolent relationship with them, which is why this power is natural to them specifically.

This argument holds a lot of water, but the only disagreement I have is that I feel there is more to the Elements than just E-Gaia. Oh, E-Gaia has a part, but it is not the only source of the Elements' power. Ponies may be closer to E-Gaia than humans are to Gaia, but they are still independent of the planet as sentient beings, to the point that they are not in E-Gaia's jurisdiction,but in that of Alaya-P. It would therefore be more accurate (at least in my opinion) to call the Elements a solidification of the wills of E-Gaia and Alaya-P together, working in tandem. And it just so happens that the Nasuverse has its own example of such unity, a powerful weapon whose form that no individual calling themselves a Type-Moon fan will fail to recognize in an instant: The Last Phantasm, the Sword of Promised Victory - Excalibur.

Victory is Promised on Earth and Equestria

Ok now, you're all probably asking me at this point: How in both Sides of the World is Excalibur comparable to the Elements of Harmony, when the Elements can be described as a Swiss Army Knife of Friendship, whilst all Excalibur does is blow stuff up? #justkidding Understandably, the connection is obscure and not immediately apparent, but it is there. Let me start with Excalibur's nature, aside from being the Ultimate Wave Motion Sword. In this case, it's best to lead with the origins of the Sword of Promised Victory.

Excalibur, first and foremost, is "the Strongest Holy Sword," matched only by Gilgamesh's Ea and the Strongest Demonic Sword, Gram. In the Type-Moon lore, it's described as a Last Phantasm, forged by the planet to embody the wishes of mankind. It is this last part that truly catches my attention. Excalibur was made by Faeries - living extensions of Gaia itself (for comparison, the True Ancestors of Tsukihime fame are also Faeries, with a little bit of Crimson Moon Brunestud thrown in for good measure). However, Excalibur embodies and is fueled by the wishes and dreams of mankind - in other words, what fuels their will to live and continue on. In short, Excalibur embodies both Gaia and Alaya at the same time. The Counter Force in its entirety is given form in the Sword of Promised Victory.
And for the icing on the cake, Excalibur is just as much about smiting evil as the Elements of Harmony are! As shown in the Unlimited Blade Works anime against Angra Mainyu: All the World's Evil, it's not for nothing that Excalibur is called the Pinnacle of Holy Swords - it actively tracks down Avenger to destroy him at the source! Observe:

It must be mentioned here that Excalibur does not bring its true might to bear unless a massive threat to the planet and mankind as a whole shows up. Sounds like another divine artifact we know of...

In its dual embodiment of both sides of the Counter Force Coin (say that five times fast!) and its penchant for smiting evil in a way that would make Thor proud (I say thee NEIGH!!!), Excalibur is the best candidate for a true Earthly counterpart to the Elements of Harmony, which are arguably Divine Constructs and a Noble Phantasm in and of themselves. As to the inevitable question of which of them would win out in a clash... I honestlly don't know. The Elements utilize the Sixth Magic, while Excalibur utilizes Divine Spirit-level Thaumaturgy. Now can they be used together? HELL YEAH! Excalibur is a "sword that amplifies," and its basic attack takes prana, converts it into destructive force, and fires it out like a Getsuga Tensho on steroids and caffeine. As a sword that amplifies, it would be quite easy to add any kind of extra power or ingredient to the prana it amplifies. In theory, it could further focus the Elements and ramp up their powers to hitherto unseen levels. How's that for fanfic fuel?

In Conclusion

So, to sum things up, The Elements of Harmony are complex artifacts that are vital to the existence of Equestria as a whole. they are a Specialized Mystic Code-type Divine Construct doubling as a Noble Phantasm that is ingrained into Equestria's very history, and functions by starting up the Sixth True Magic; materializing emotions into a current that carries the Bearers' will. As a collective Divine Construct created by the World, they embody both E-Gaia and Alaya-P working as one - and thus the Equestrian Counter Force as a whole, much like Excalibur does on Earth.

So... there we go! That is the end of the discussion! I do hope this gave you some brain fuel for your fanfics, and remember: This is all just conjecture and massive lore-fueled guess work on my part. Anything here is open up to interpretation, criticism, or discussion. Just keep the torches at a safe distance... thank you. For a personal thanks to you all for your patience in reading this Grand Galloping Gala-level train wreck of a thread essay to the end...

Enjoy some pinkie pronking!!!

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Mind blown 😲

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Why thank you! I do try my hardest. I am relatively new to the FiM franchise (I am still stuck in Season One!), but when I have even a passing interest in something, I look up EVERY SINGLE PIECE of lore available.. Crossovers are what interest me in particular, and the Nasuverse is like the ultimate crossover point for fanfics. I have a few more theories I am working on, which I will post soon on other threads. No spoilers on the Nasu end, but FiM-wise they have to do with Cutie Marks, Changelings, and Fluttershy's Stare among other things. Will post links to new threads here and on my profile page as I make them. Keep trotting, fellow bronies!

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You keep up the good work! You definitely got me hooked. ^^

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I was thinking that, due to harmony being balance, and the elements/bearers of Harmony were somewhat like Counter Guardians, then that would make the cutie map (I hope I got that right) like an extension of their plaent's will made manifest?
Is this even remotely accurate or am I just being weird/stupid again?

Your observations have very sound logic. The fact that the Mane 6 wield the Elements of Harmony does not make them Magicians -- that title belongs to Starswirl, who originally made the Tree of Harmony. The Tree itself is sentient and bears a will of its own, but functions as a vergence in the two halves of the Counter Force -- like Excalibur, but more versatile and proactive. The Cutie Map is just the Tree's way of pointing out potential problems and who is best suited to fix the situation before it snowballs. From that point of view, you could say that the bearers fulfill the same kind of function as Counter Guardians in a sense... Except for two things. One: Counter Guardians are... You know... DEAD. The Bearers haven't yet died and ascended to the Throne of Heroes (given their exploits there's really no question of whether or not that will happen). Two: Counter Guardians are cleanup agents that just erase everything screwed up and start over when a threat becomes otherwise unmanagable. The inclusion of the Sixth Magic (which I will hereafter refer to as -SPECTRUM-) removes that need. It would be better to say that the Bearers succeed where Counter Guardians fail: they fix the unfixable without nuking everything.

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Though, would that mean Alaya has some Equestrian counterpart, IE the spirit of the races of Equis's desires to not go extinct?

Exactly. I mentioned that in the theory proper. The relationship to Gaia is a little different, however; there's much less animosity due to ponies actually aiding in geological and meteorological processes. In short, they act as a lubricant that keeps the planet -- and Gaia by extension -- running more smoothly. That's why we haven't seen entities like Primate Murder yet; Gaia doesn't need them.