My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Red links, red links, it's just a red, red link. | |||
---|---|---|---|
This article has a lot of red links! This is not inherently a bad thing, red links are a good thing! But in high quantity they can cause problems. Please feel free to create articles for the links in question. |
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls | |
---|---|
My Little Pony film | |
Credits | |
Director | Jayson Thiessen |
Producer | Sarah Wall Devon Cody |
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a 2013 American-Canadian fantasy animated children's film and the first My Little Pony film since My Little Pony: Twinkle Wish Adventure in 2009 and the first theatrically released My Little Pony film since My Little Pony: The Movie in 1986. The film tells the story of Twilight Sparkle, now princess of Equestria, as she must travel into the human world in order to retrieve her element of magic and continue to protect her universe.
The film is set in the continuity of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but also introduces the Equestria Girls universe of characters and places into the franchise. As such, it introduces the eventual face of that franchise, Sunset Shimmer as its lead antagonist and introduces the concept of "corrupted magic", which would be expanded upon in its second sequel, Equestria Girls: Friendship Games.
Although the film was not as much a critical darling as the television show it was inspired by, it did receive an impressive viewership of 553,000 in the U.S. and would spawn a massive toyline that would last for an entire decade to come.
Synopsis
|
Twilight Sparkle visits the Crystal Empire for her first royal summit following her coronation as a princess of Equestria. Sunset Shimmer, a former student of Princess Celestia, emerges from a mirror portal and steals Twilight's crown, which contains the Element of Magic. After a chase through the castle, Sunset goes through the portal with Twilight's crown. The other princesses explain that the portal leads to an alternate world; as the other Elements of Harmony are unusable without the crown, Twilight is tasked with retrieving it from the other world before the portal closes for thirty moons. Despite Celestia's insistence that Twilight must travel alone, Spike follows her into the portal.
Twilight and Spike emerge in the other world in the form of a human teenager and a dog, respectively. Twilight investigates the nearby Canterlot High School and encounters its human students and staff, several of whom resemble ponies in Equestria. Masquerading as a transfer student, Twilight defends the counterpart of her friend Fluttershy from being bullied by Sunset. Twilight learns that Fluttershy has delivered the crown to Principal Celestia, mistaking it for a prop meant for the elected "princess" of the Fall Formal. Determining that no one would believe her claims of being a pony from another world, Twilight receives Celestia's permission to run for Fall Formal Princess against Sunset to recover the crown.
While continuing to explore school life, Twilight discovers that the counterparts of Fluttershy and her other friends from Ponyville (Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash) – have separated of hostility. Sunset sends her cohorts Snips and Snails to record a humiliating video of Twilight behaving like a pony, which is posted online and viewed by the entire school. The counterparts of Twilight's friends come to her aid, only to argue among themselves, revealing the cause of their falling out to be a series of treacherous text messages and emails they supposedly sent each other. Through a theory of Twilight's, however, the five girls realize that Sunset sent these messages to deceive them. The five reconcile and help Twilight perform a public dance routine for her campaign, which improves Twilight's image.
In another attempt to undermine Twilight, Sunset has the formal decorations in the school gym wrecked and uses edited photographs to frame Twilight. Although Sunset's ex-boyfriend Flash Sentry proves Twilight's innocence, the formal is postponed to the night after the portal to Equestria closes. Twilight and Spike reveal their true identities to the other girls, convincing them of the situation's urgency. Under Twilight's direction, they rally the other students and successfully repair the damage in time for its original schedule, earning Twilight the school's support.
On the night of the formal, Twilight wins the election and the crown, but Sunset steals it back in a scuffle after kidnapping Spike and threatening to destroy the portal to Equestria. Upon donning the crown, Sunset transforms into a demon and hypnotizes the other students, revealing her intent to conquer Equestria with the students as her army. When Sunset attacks Twilight and her friends, their friendship activates the crown's magic, giving them pony-like ears, wings, and tails. The six girls use magic to revert Sunset and their schoolmates to normal. Sunset, humbled by the power of the girls' friendship, tearfully apologizes for her actions. After celebrating at the formal and placing Sunset under her friends' care, Twilight and Spike return to Equestria with the crown as the portal closes, reuniting with their pony friends.
Appearances
Characters and groups
- Mane Six
- Spike
- All Aboard
- Amethyst Star
- Goldengrape
- Shoeshine
- Equestrian royal family / Amore Dynasty
- Royal Guards of Equestria
- Biggest Meanies
- Sunset Shimmer (reformation arc)
- Snips
- Snails
- Equestria Girls (regroups)
- Canterlot High School cliques
- Athletes
- Fashionistas
- Dramas
- Eco Kids
- Techies
- Rockers
- Crimson Napalm
- Valhallen
- Cherry Crash
- Thunderbass
- Flash Sentry (Equestria Girls) (also apart of Flash Drive)
- Ringo? (also apart of Flash Drive)
- Brawley Beats? (also apart of Flash Drive)
- Mystery Mint
- Other CHS students
- Canterlot High School staff
- Canterlot Movie Club
- Apple family
- Applejack
- Granny Smith
- Apple Bloom
- Friendship Express
Places
- Crystal Empire
- Human world
- Canterlot
- Canterlot High School
- Hallways
- Principal office
- Cafeteria
- Gymnasium
- Library
- Soccer field
- Faculty lot
- Sweet Shoppe
- Canterlot High School
- Canterlot
Objects
- Crystal Heart
- Elements of Harmony
- Magic Mirror
- Wondercolt
- Canterlot High School yearbooks
- Twilight Sparkle's disguise
- Wondercolt cheer leading outfits
- Rarity's glasses
- Flash Sentry's car
Events
Species
Abilities
Staff
Cast
Featured Voice Performers
- Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle
- Ashleigh Ball as Applejack and Rainbow Dash
- Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy
- Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity and Vice Principal/Princess Luna
- Cathy Weseluck as Spike
- Rebecca Shoichet as Sunset Shimmer
- Lee Tockar as Snips
- Richard Ian Cox as Snails
- Nicole Oliver as Principal/Princess Celestia and Miss Cheerilee
- Vincent Tong as Flash Sentry
- Britt McKillip as Princess Cadance
Featured Singers
- Rebecca Shoichet as Twilight Sparkle
- Shannon Chan-Kent as Pinkie Pie
- Kazumi Evans as Rarity
Crew
Voice and music:
- Voice Director: Terry Klassen
- Voice Casting & Production: Voiebox Productions Inc
- Score by: William Kevin Anderson
- Additional Music and Orchestrations by: Matthew Sorensen, Patrick Griffin, Kelly Davidson, Alex Lu
- Songs by: Daniel Ingram and Meghan McCarthy
Art and animation:
- Character Concept Designer: Kora Kosicka
- Character Designers: Rebecca Dart, John Keane, Josh Tin
- Prop Designers: John Beveridge, Hanna Lee
- Location Designer: Phil Caesar
- Animation Services By: Top Draw Animation Inc
Behind the scenes
Production
Reception
Music
Merchandise
Toyline
Equestria Girls proved to be successful to push an impressive amount of merchandise. The film produced three toylines, Equestria Girls, Through the Mirror, and Pinkie Pie's Boutique, though the latter only provided one figure.
Publications
The film also produced a number of publications; on October 1, 2013, a novelization of the film entitled Equestria Girls: Through the Mirror, written by G.M. Berrow, notably featuring a notably different plotline with additional scenes and characters. The first annual by IDW Publishing featured two stories based off the film; both prequels. The first, "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer" starred Sunset Shimmer who was still in Canterlot, while the second story, "Equestria Girls" was about the girls in their first days in high school.
Home media
On August 6, 2013, the film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray by Shout! Factory and has later appeared in the Equestria Girls: Three Movie Gift Set. In 2014, Clear Vision released a DVD in France and Italy[1][2].
Around the world
Quotes
Notes
- Yet unnamed and alternate identifications:
- Micro Chips: Named in "Best in Show: The Victory Lap"
- Sandalwood: Currently unknown
- Sweet Shoppe: Named in the films' novelization
- Indigo Wreath was identified as the two-legged creature in the novelization, he has yet to receive any other proper identifier
- Teddy was possibly identified as Sir Chance-a-Lot in the novelization.
- While the original students of CHS were said to be original designs, a number of them resemble Friendship is Magic characters to a varying degree. These include Cherry Crash resembling Gilda, Wiz Kid resembling Featherweight and Cloudy Kicks resembling Cloudkicker.
- The backstory with the Equestria Girls being friends as young girls would arguably be contradicted by the comic story "Equestria Girls", published in My Little Pony Annual 2013 in which the art (done by Tony Fleecs) depicted them noticeably older looking in their first meet ups.
- While this could simply be an art error, the other Equestria Girls comic story included in the 2013 annual, "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer" contained its own continuity errors regarding the chronological placement of the films' backstory. Most notably, seemingly portraying Moon Dancer, Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon as adults, and most perplexing of all, Twilight Sparkle as a filly, during Sunset Shimmer's first voyage into the human world, in which she was already a teenager.
- ...This has lead many to view Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry's relationship as, umm, extremely creepy as it would imply she would be at least 30 while he was around 15 to 17 at his oldest.
- ......Likewise, the closest thing to a canon age Twilight Sparkle has ever been given was promotional material for My Little Pony: 20/20 stating that the Sonic Rainboom incident happened 20 years in the past, c. early post-Storm War Equestria. Even at low-end estimations of the passage of time between season 4 and 8, this could put Twilight in her early 20s while she was romantically involved with a high schooler.
- ...This has lead many to view Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry's relationship as, umm, extremely creepy as it would imply she would be at least 30 while he was around 15 to 17 at his oldest.
- While this could simply be an art error, the other Equestria Girls comic story included in the 2013 annual, "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer" contained its own continuity errors regarding the chronological placement of the films' backstory. Most notably, seemingly portraying Moon Dancer, Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon as adults, and most perplexing of all, Twilight Sparkle as a filly, during Sunset Shimmer's first voyage into the human world, in which she was already a teenager.
- Up until the 2017 film, Equestria Girls was informally known as the My Little Pony movie, given how it was promoted in its early days, before being considered a backdoor pilot for the Equestria Girls branding.