My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks


My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks is a 2014 animated musical fantasy film directed by Jayson Thiessen and Ishi Rudell, written by Meghan McCarthy, and produced by DHX Media Vancouver for Hasbro Studios. The sequel to My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, it is the second installment in Hasbro's Equestria Girls franchise, which serves as a spin-off to the 2010 relaunch of My Little Pony.
Like the first film, Rainbow Rocks re-envisions the main characters of the parent franchise, normally ponies, as teenage humanoid characters in a high school setting. Set between the fourth and fifth seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the film's plot involves Twilight Sparkle returning to Canterlot High School in the parallel world to compete in a Battle of the Bands alongside the counterparts of her friends – including former school bully and former student of Princess Celestia, Sunset Shimmer – to save the school from a trio of sirens from Equestria.
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks premiered in select theaters across the United States and Canada on September 27, 2014, which was followed by broadcast on Discovery Family on October 17, and a home media release by Shout! Factory on October 28. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who considered it "far superior" to the first film. The film was followed by two sequels, Friendship Games and Legend of Everfree.

Plot

Former Canterlot High School bully and student of Princess Celestia, Sunset Shimmer, who has reformed after being defeated by the magic of Twilight Sparkle's crown, is ostracized by most of the school despite her efforts to atone. Her only friends are the counterparts of Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity, who have formed a rock band called "the Rainbooms" to participate in the school's upcoming musical showcase. The five girls discover that the magic left over from Twilight's crown has given them the ability to grow pony-like ears, tails, and wings when they play their instruments.
Hoping to make a fresh impression, Sunset gives a school tour to three new students – Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk – and informs them of the showcase, unaware that they possess magical powers. Calling themselves "the Dazzlings", the trio performs a song that turns the other students aggressive and competitive towards one another, convincing them to turn the showcase into a battle of the bands. Sunset and her friends are protected from the song by their magic, but fail to convince Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna of the danger. Sunset remembers a magical book kept by Princess Celestia, her mentor from Equestria, which she uses to send a message requesting Twilight's help.
Receiving Sunset's message, Twilight deduces that the Dazzlings are sirens from Equestria that feed on negative emotions to fuel their singing powers for their goal of world conquest. Twilight uses the book's magic to reactivate the portal, allowing her and Spike to return to the parallel world. Twilight and the girls attempt to lift the Sirens' spell, but it takes no effect. Concluding that they must perform a musical counter-spell, the girls enter the battle of the bands to give Twilight time to complete the spell. The Rainbooms face hostility and sabotage from the other bands throughout the competition, which raises tensions among themselves.
Desperate for time in the semi-final round against Trixie's band, Rainbow Dash performs an egotistical song to substitute the counter-spell and unknowingly nearly transforms. Sunset impulsively ruins her performance to keep her from exposing their plan to the Sirens, which angers the girls. The Sirens intervene to allow the Rainbooms' advancement to the final round anyway, which prompts a jealous Trixie to trap the Rainbooms beneath the stage to take their place. The girls enter a five-way argument, allowing the Sirens to absorb their magic. Realizing that their constant fighting is interfering with the counter-spell, Sunset convinces the girls to resolve their differences, while Twilight reasons that playing together as friends will make the counter-spell work.
Spike rescues the girls with assistance from DJ Pon-3, whose headphones' music protects her from the Sirens' spell. DJ Pon-3 provides a sound system that the Rainbooms use to engage the Sirens in a musical battle after they had reached their peak in the movie with their signature "We will be adored" verse. The Dazzlings use the magic from the Rainbooms' negative energy to gain similar power, including an ear-tail combo, with featherless, slightly transparent wings. The Rainbooms interrupt directly after the Sirens finished their verse, and proceed to transform into their "ponied-up" forms to counter the Dazzlings’ spell. The Dazzlings then summon their astral projections and the bands engage in combat with music, and are overwhelmed by the Sirens. They get knocked down by the Dazzlings’ power, before being joined by Sunset after Twilight had the microphone flung out of her hand, and with Sunset's help, they destroy the Sirens' pendants and the sources of their powers, leading to the Sirens being booed offstage. Afterward, Twilight and Spike return to Equestria, while Sunset uses Celestia's book to remain in contact with Twilight.
During the credits, Sunset is seen having now been accepted by the rest of the school. In a post-credits scene, the parallel world's version of Twilight is shown investigating the strange magical activity around Canterlot High School, remarking that "something strange" is going on there.

Cast

  • Tara Strong as Princess Twilight Sparkle, a studious "alicorn" and one of the princesses of Equestria. She serves as the temporary lead vocalist of the Rainbooms, a band formed by the counterparts of her pony friends.
  • * Strong also voices Twilight's counterpart in the alternate universe in a post-credits scene.
  • Ashleigh Ball as:
  • * Rainbow Dash, the lead guitarist and founder of the Rainbooms, and the lead vocalist.
  • * Applejack, the Rainbooms' bassist.
  • ** Ball also voices Rainbow and Applejack's counterparts in Equestria as depicted in Friendship Is Magic.
  • Andrea Libman as:
  • * Pinkie Pie, the Rainbooms' drummer.
  • * Fluttershy, who plays the tambourine on the Rainbooms.
  • ** Libman also voices Pinkie and Fluttershy's counterparts in Equestria as depicted in Friendship Is Magic.
  • *** Shannon Chan-Kent performs Pinkie's singing voice.
  • Tabitha St. Germain as:
  • * Rarity, the Rainbooms' keytarist.
  • ** Rarity's counterpart in Equestria, also voiced by St. Germain, appears in the film.
  • * Vice Principal Luna, the vice-principal of Canterlot High and Principal Celestia's younger sister.
  • * Photo Finish, a German-accented student.
  • Cathy Weseluck as Spike, Twilight's dragon assistant who assumes the form of a dog in the parallel world.
  • * Spike's ordinary dog counterpart, vocal effects by Frank Welker, also appears in the post-credits scene.
  • Rebecca Shoichet as Sunset Shimmer, a unicorn from Equestria and the former school bully at Canterlot High who became good at the end of the first film and has befriended the Rainbooms.
  • * Shoichet also performs Twilight's singing voice.
  • Kazumi Evans as:
  • *Adagio Dazzle, the leader of the power-hungry sirens from Equestria and the lead vocalist of the Dazzlings.
  • ** Evans also performs Rarity's singing voice.
  • * Octavia Melody, a student who plays the cello.
  • Marÿke Hendrikse as Sonata Dusk, an airheaded siren and backing vocalist of the Dazzlings.
  • * Madeline Merlo performs Sonata's singing voice.
  • Diana Kaarina as Aria Blaze, a temperamental siren and backing vocalist of the Dazzlings.
  • * Shylo Sharity performs Aria's singing voice.
  • Vincent Tong as Flash Sentry, a student infatuated with Twilight who plays against her as the guitarist of a rival band, Flash Drive.
  • Kathleen Barr as Trixie Lulamoon, a magician and guitarist of another rival band, Trixie and the Illusions.
  • Nicole Oliver as Principal Celestia, the principal of Canterlot High and Vice Principal Luna's older sister.
  • Michelle Creber as Apple Bloom, Applejack's younger sister.
  • Ingrid Nilson as Maud Pie, Pinkie Pie's older sister.
  • Peter New as Big McIntosh, Applejack and Apple Bloom's older brother.
  • Lee Tockar as Snips, a student who is in a rap duo with Snails, under his stage name MC Snips.
  • Richard Ian Cox as Snails, a student who is in a rap duo with Snips, under his stage name DJ Snazzy Snails.
  • Brian Drummond as a delivery pony in Equestria who was delivering books to the Castle of Friendship from Canterlot.
  • The counterpart of DJ Pon-3 appears prominently in the film, but doesn’t talk throughout the movie.

    Production

On February 13, 2014, Meghan McCarthy wrote on Twitter that she had worked on the film during the summer of 2013. The film's opening credits were storyboarded by Tony Cliff. The storybook illustration depictions of the sirens in Equestria were done by Rebecca Dart. The illustrations shown during the ending credits were drawn by Katrina Hadley.
In the audio commentary included in home media releases, McCarthy commented that Equestria Girls was initially not intended to become an ongoing franchise and the thought of a sequel did not cross her mind. Additionally, Sunset did not become the main character until the second draft of the script. The commentary also points out that the midnight snack scene between Twilight and Sunset was added late into the film's production, and Rarity's line "we forgive you for your past...ahem...booboos" was ad-libbed by St. Germain and the freestyle rap by Snips and Snails' counterparts was genuine freestyling by Tockar and Ian Cox.

Music

On February 13, 2014, songwriter Daniel Ingram wrote on Twitter that there will be a total of 12 songs in the film, the greatest number of songs featured in a Friendship Is Magic episode or Equestria Girls film thus far; however, only 11 songs made it in the film.
Like in Equestria Girls, the songs were composed by Ingram with lyric writing shared between Ingram and screenwriter Meghan McCarthy; except "Rainbow Rocks" and "Shine Like Rainbows", which had lyrics by Ingram; "Bad Counter Spell" and "Under Our Spell" by McCarthy and "Shake Your Tail" having the first draft by the writer Amy Keating Rogers, in which Ingram later revised. Trevor Hoffman provided the vocal arrangements for the songs and musician Caleb Chan produced the songs as well as playing guitars and bass.
  • "Rainbow Rocks" – The Rainbooms
  • "Better Than Ever" – The Rainbooms
  • "Battle" – The Dazzlings and students
  • "Bad Counter Spell" – Twilight Sparkle
  • "Shake Your Tail" – The Rainbooms
  • "Under Our Spell" – The Dazzlings
  • "Tricks Up My Sleeve" – Trixie and the Illusions
  • "Awesome as I Wanna Be" – Rainbow Dash and the Rainbooms
  • "Welcome to the Show" – The Rainbooms, Sunset Shimmer, the Dazzlings, and students
  • "Rainbooms Battle" – Instrumental
  • "End Credits Song: Shine Like Rainbows" – The Rainbooms