The "Power of Friendship" is a trope that anime fans make fun of, even if everyone of them has a favorite anime where that power helps the protagonists win. Often times it's a shonen, where characters either rely on the power of flashbacks or the power of friendship to help them defeat an enemy when a power-up is too many episodes away.
In the case of Fairy Tail, everyone knows it's basically Power of Friendship: The Anime. The way magic works is ill-defined, allowing the characters to rely on friendship to give them strength at the most opportune moments. But considering the enemies they go up against, they could use whatever help they can find.
10 Lucy's Friendship With Celestial Spirits Allowed Her To Defeat Sorano
The Oración Seis arc is when Fairy Tail kicks into full gear as an anime. It's when the series gets past some of its comedic villains to provide some threats not just to the Fairy Tail guild, but the magical world as a whole.
Lucy battles against a fellow Celestial Mage, Angel, but holds back because she wants Sorano to surrender her control over the Celestial Spirit Aries so she can be with her friend Loke. In the end, Sorano is about to defeat Lucy, except her spirit Gemini isn't able to attack Lucy because of the love she has for her Celestial Spirits.
9 Juvia and Gray Used Their Unison Raid Ability To Stop Daphne's Army
Daphne was an excellent scientist obsessed with the creation of Dragons. After meeting one as a child, she couldn’t give up the idea of seeing one again, so her various experiments in her arc are all about creating one herself.
After successfully creating a Dragon, it attacks Magnolia Town, forcing Fairy Tail to protect the city from the Dragon and Daphne's Lizardman army. Fortunately, Juvia and Gray are able to work together to create a Unison Raid spell that freezes the army, clearing the way for them to deal with the Dragon as well.
8 The Bonds Of Friendship Compelled Simon To Sacrifice Himself For Erza
The Tower of Heaven arc centers around Jellal's attempt to use Erza as a sacrifice for a spell, but after Erza and Natsu cause way more trouble than he thinks they're worth, he finally snaps.
Jellal's powers involve him wielding celestial bodies, and at that moment he chucked a miniature black hole at them both. Fortunately, Erza's friend Simon takes the blow for them, allowing Natsu the opportunity to mount a comeback through the help of the Tower of Heaven's own building blocks.
7 Lucy And Juvia's Friendship Formed A Unison Raid That Helped Them Defeat Vidalus
Juvia and Lucy both often relied on the power of friendship to get them through battle, so when they had their first fight together, it wasn't a shock that friendship was what saved them both.
Vidalus had the power to control water, and was even able to alter Juvia to fight for him. Lucy is able to convince the real Juvia inside the Vidalus-controlled one to wake back up by pointing out how she's a proud member of Fairy Tail. After being purified, Juvia and Lucy united their abilities to attack with a Unison Raid ability that defeated their opponent and allowed the two Mages to grow closer afterwards.
6 Lucy and Wendy Used Their Powers To Help Natsu Attack Hades, The Leader Of Grimoire Heart
On Tenrou Island, Fairy Tail met its match when they went up against the former leader of the guild, Hades. His power was enough to beat down five of Fairy Tail's strongest Mages. The first damaging hit they landed was with Lucy and Wendy's own powerful Unison Raid attack.
Lucy's Celestial Spirit managed to use his Scorpio attack Sand Blaster with Wendy's Sky Dragon's Roar attack to increase Natsu's power enough to score their first real hit on Hades. Even still, the group needed help from Laxus to secure the victory, and he wouldn't arrive until much later.
5 Lucy's Friendship With The Celestial Spirits Allowed Her To Summon The Celestial King To Fight Mard Geer
Fairy Tail's battles against Tartaros are legendary, resulting in some of the most memorable fight scenes throughout the entire series. It allowed multiple characters to put on some of their best performances, like Lucy fighting several members of Tartaros at once.
Trapped in a situation with no other choice, Lucy's close relationship with her Celestial Spirits allowed her to summon the Celestial Spirit King himself, who does battle with Mard Geer and briefly defeats him, turning the villain to stone.
4 Juvia and Gray Teamed Up For A Unison Raid To Attack Lyon And Sherria
Lyon was one of Gray's biggest rivals, as he was able to master spell types Gray couldn't. So when Lyon and Sherria teamed up to face Gray and Juvia, it was as much a matter of proving himself as it was about winning the tournament.
Fortunately, despite Lyon and Sherria being powerful Mages, Lyon's crush on Juvia caused him to hold back from fighting his hardest. But Gray and Juvia worked together and cast a Unison Raid spell that blew both of their opponents away, helping Fairy Tail's Team B place in the tournament.
3 Elfman's Desire To Protect His Family And Friends Helped Him Achieve His Full Power
This is as much about family as it is about friendship. Elfman had a mental block on his powers after accidentally harming his sister Lisanna with his Full-Body spells. Because of this, he was performing partial takeover spells to go on missions. However, after Sol of the Phantom Lord guild started using Mirajane as a hostage, Elfman was forced to break through those mental blocks. He performed his full Take Over and easily defeated Sol afterwards.
2 Makarov Used Fairy Law To Defeat Jose
Fairy Tail's battle with the Phantom Lord guild gets so far out of hand that both Guild Masters finally decide to step in. Jose finds himself frustrated with all the top Mages Fairy Tail has, while Makarov refuses to allow his guild to be attacked any longer. He casts one of the most powerful spells the guild has access to: Fairy Law.
Fairy Law's area of effect nature protects people by figuring out who the attacker wants to hit while ignoring anyone in range that the attacker doesn't want hurt, leading to Jose's eventual loss.
1 Laxus Was Unable To Hurt Fairy Tail Because He Didn't See Any Of Them As Enemies
The Battle of Fairy Tail kicks off after Laxus returns to the guild and finds himself frustrated at the "weakness" he sees there. He wants to kick all of the weak members out of the guild and leave only the strong, and he wages war on the entire guild to do so. But when Laxus feels like he's about to lose, he starts to cast Fairy Law — the spell that discerns between friend and foe.
Despite casting the powerful spell, Fairy Law doesn't hit anyone, not the guild members or the people in the town. His love for Fairy Tail and the bonds between them kept everyone in town from being destroyed.