A discipline encompassing chemistry and manipulation of the magico-chemical properties of substances. Involves making potions, elixirs, and certain other items. Alchemy is a traditional province of Zebras, but anyone may learn it.

With alchemy, one can achieve effects similar to those achievable with other forms of magic, which all represent essentially the same phenomenon and are all a natural part of the laws of physics. However, the means by which these effects are achieved varies significantly, and, accordingly, what effects are relatively easy and practical to achieve varies for different magical approaches.

The practice of alchemy requires reagents selected for their particular effects on the magical field, and outside of the most trivial alchemy, it usually requires some physical manipulations such as mixing, grinding or cooking, which induce their combination. Alchemical operations can become extremely complex and involve many stages, as well as "para-alchemical" processing of the ingredients though steps that do not involve their magical fields per se (e.g. mundane purification processes.) Since the basic magical field components available to the alchemist come primarily from reagents, uncommon reagents with useful properties can be quite valuable and scarce.

Alchemy can be used to create magical objects, most typically magically modified objects that have relatively low levels of residual magic. In general, alchemy excels at permanent transmutation of physical objects. Because the actual nature of the target object is changed, the effect of alchemy cannot be dispelled, is permanent, and may in fact be difficult to distinguish from an object which has never been altered magically at all. Effectively permanent and resilient enchantments can be made using other magical disciplines, but only with far greater skill and effort.

Alchemy also allows the creation of actively magical potions and materials, which can be used as reagents in further alchemical manipulations, or for their direct effect. This is useful because it conveniently allows the alchemist and the use of the magic to be separate in space and time, whereas prototypical non-alchemical magic requires the presence of the caster to be in relative proximity to the location of the desired effect at the time it is needed.

Although the native, unconscious magic of Earth Ponies and (especially) Zebras contributes to their relative speed and facility with alchemy, it is not entirely that fact (or the availability of Unicorn Magic) that has generally led unicorns away from alchemy: most unicorns are not proficient with making dexterous manipulations of objects without their telekinesis, and magical interference is disruptive to incomplete alchemical processes. The limitation can be overcome through the use of special magically-insulated tools, or by unicorns who are unusually proficient in using their hooves and mouths. A notable unicorn alchemist was Eldritch Lore, who studied Zebra alchemy in the Royal Age.

The magical spitting of Camels is a form of alchemy; camel alchemists prepare chewable lozenges for their own use and that of other camels.