History WesternAnimation / MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls

* CatSmile: In a [[FreezeFrameBonus blink-and-you'll-miss-it]] moment during Pinkie's solo in the "Helping Twilight Win the Crown" musical, Pinkie manages to give a faint one while moving towards the camera.
** Has another one in ''Rainbow Rocks''.

* AnAesop:
** A big one is the importance of avoiding PoorCommunicationKills (which sometimes causes problems in [=FiM=] as well). In the first movie, it would have taken ''five minutes max'' for the Equestria Girls to patch things up between them and expose Sunset Shimmer's manipulations if they had talked to each other face to face about everything. In ''Rainbow Rocks'', Twilight trying to avoid letting everyone down, the Rainbooms not talking their issues with the band out with each other at the start (thus letting tension build up), and Sunset's uncertainty of her place in the group and fear of speaking up (especially about the previous problems) [[spoiler:allow the Sirens to [[NearVillainVictory come dangerously close to succeeding]]]].
** The second film also shows that redemption is a very long and difficult process. No matter how hard you try, people are still going to dislike you, and even your friends will not fully trust you, and that when it comes to bullying, turnabout is ''not'' fair play. The bullying Sunset endures from the student body ([[AdultsAreUseless and Principals Celestia and Luna]]) utterly breaks her and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything real world victims of similar actions]] were often DrivenToSuicide.
** "Friendship Games" also drives home that a competition should be done fairly, and that the participants shouldn't carried away. [[spoiler:Twilight causing a RealityBleed that could destroy the human world b/c her school pressured her into trying to use magic to win is just a worst case scenario]].

* ShortTeensTallAdults: Very much the case with school administration characters (Celestia, Luna, Cinch, and Cadance), who tower over their students. {{Downplayed|Trope}} with other adults in the series, such as Gloriosa Daisy and Vignette Valencia, who are almost always taller than the high school characters, but far less noticeably. Cranky Doodle Donkey and Granny Smith are at eye level with the teens, but they also have hunched backs.

Taking place in an AlternateUniverse inhabited by [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation pastel-colored]] human counterparts of [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife Equestria's pastel-colored pony residents]], the spin-off series follows the adventures of Equestria's "Princess of Friendship" Twilight Sparkle and her baby dragon assistant Spike in the human world, together with the teenage human counterparts of her [[PunnyName "Mane Six"]] friends -- [[{{Tomboy}} Rainbow Dash]], [[GenkiGirl Pinkie Pie]], [[TheWorkaholic Applejack]], [[ShrinkingViolet Fluttershy]], and [[TheFashionista Rarity]]. Aside from dealing with overflowing schoolwork, peer pressure, prom dance, and a possible teenage romance, Twilight and the rest of the Equestria Girls have to deal with the various recurring magical happenings that seep from the statue portal to Equestria and into Canterlot High.

* TeensAreShort: Celestia, Luna, Cinch and Cadance tower over the students, as made especially evident during the "ACADECA" sequence in ''Friendship Games''. Some other adults are shown to be closer in height to the teen cast, however.

[[quoteright:155:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/199.png]]
[[caption-width-right:155:Same Ponies, Different World]]

* ComicBookTime: The series begins in the autumn, with the Fall Formal being a major plot point. The fourth movie has girls go to Camp Everfree (seemingly taking place in the spring) in what's implied (and confirmed by WordOfGod) to be the same school year. ''Forgotten Friendship'' has them make a yearbook (implied to be the start of summer) and has a FreezeFrameBonus showing it took place after the fall play, meaning it's a year after the fourth movie. ''Rollercoaster of Friendship'' has them get summer jobs and use the new powers they gained in ''Forgotten Friendship'', which is referenced in ''Spring Breakdown'' set obviously in spring. ''Spring Breakdown'' is referenced in the final special set during winter, meaning the series takes place over 2¼ years. Add this to the main characters being significantly older then the freshmen human CMC and it becomes hard, if not impossible, to fit within the series within the 4 years of a traditional 9th to 12th grade high school. (WordOfGod has {{handwave}}d this by stating the setting isn't Earth so things don't necessarily correlate with their real life equivalents.)

* MagicSkirt: Most of the humanized female ponies wear skirts (although [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak Rainbow Dash wears bike shorts underneath]]), so naturally this trope is in full effect.

* SeriesContinuityError: The Humane Five are their current appearance during the Freshman Fair. But their photo of this from the ''Equestria Girls'' movie shows them significantly younger, like the younger students from the movie, and with different clothes. Diamond Tiara is also shown at her present freshman age despite clearly being younger

* OffModel: With the exception of the musical vignettes, which are still done by DHX, the Summertime Shorts were animated by Hasbro-owned Irish animation studio Boulder Media Limited, whose past projects include ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' and the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball''. Eagle-eyed viewers noticed the difference since it involves somewhat stiffer animation, weird lighting effects and more animation errors than usual. The "Pet Project" special also gives Sunset back her pre-''Friendship Games'' hair colors despite the special clearly taking place after the film.

Later installments have two additional main characters who substitute for Princess Twilight due to her princess duties in Equestria: Sunset Shimmer, a reformed [[AlphaBitch school bully]] and Princess Celestia's former (unicorn) student; and Twilight Sparkle, [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Twilight's science-inclined human counterpart]] who also owns a pet puppy named Spike (who gained the ability to speak).

* TeasingParent: * Princess Celestia can be considered one, depending on how you view her relationship with Sunset Shimmer. As revealed in ''Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWAnnual2013'', she presented Sunset Shimmer with mysteries and puzzles on occasion, telling her she would know fully when she was ready. This unintentionally fueled Shimmer's growing ambition and frustration, which lead to a fractured relationship and Sunset Shimmer's banish vanish into the human realm.

* ''My Little Pony: [=FIENDship=] Is Magic Issue #3'': The third in IDW's five-part villain-focused MLP comic series, featuring the origins of the second film's antagonist, the Dazzling (a.k.a. the Sirens). Rendered non-canon as of the ''Legends of Magic'' comic series and episodes 25 & 26 of the main series' 7th season.[[index]]

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: Like its parent series, the fact that this is a kids' cartoon filled with lots of hijinks and silliness and featuring an overwhelmingly female cast makes this trope practically a given. Special mention goes to the ''Friendship Games'' short "The Science of Magic", which is effectively several minutes of Sunset Shimmer being comedically battered as her attempts to study magic in the human world literally blow up in her face.

* CoolPet:
** Spike the Dragon is now a talking dog.
** His dog counterpart (human Twilight's pet) gains the ability to speak in ''Friendship Games''.
** Sunset Shimmer gets a pet lizard in "Pet Project" and names it Ray.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Most of the characters who are portrayed in the main series as mean jerks had their personalities toned down to reflect the differences betwen them and their pony counterparts.

** The second film has the Dazzlings causes this for the rest of the movie via their enchanted singing voices.

** In "A Photo Booth Story", costume nods are made to both "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E16SonicRainboom Sonic Rainboom]]" (Rarity's easily-burnt gossamer wings) and "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E24MysteryOnTheFriendshipExpress [=MMMMystery=] on the Friendship Express]]" (Pinkie and Twilight as Sherlock and Holmes).

* TalkingAnimal / MentorMascot:

* TalkingAnimal:

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

This ''My Little Pony'' spin-off then expands to include a series of tie-in toyline, sequel movies, comics, chapter books, mobile apps, soundtracks, three TV specials which aired on Discovery Family in the summer of in 2017, a Website/YouTube web series, and two 44-minute TV specials each in 2018 and 2019.

* TheGhost: Unlike with the parent show, A.K. Yearling is mentioned a few times in ''Equestria Girls'' but never shows up. Thus we don't know if she too has an adventurous alter ego.

* YourMagicsNoGoodHere: Upon entering the Human World Twilight discovers, after walking headfirst into a door that magic doesn't work there. [[spoiler:Or rather it doesn't work without [[AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome magical items]](which do retain their power), ThePowerOfFriendship or ThePowerOfRock (in ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'').]]

[[folder:Novel series]]

# ''My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks!'': The novelization of the prequel shorts for the second movie. The first book written by Perdita Finn, who would write every subsequent ''Equestria Girls'' book; like Berrow's prior novelization, it adapts the basic premise in BroadStrokes.

** The six-to-seven protagonists have been officially called "the Equestria Girls" basically everywhere ever, except the actual movies. And each one is, individually, an "Equestria Girl". The name finally appears in the music video "[[WebAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsDigitalSeries I'm On a Yacht]]", where the characters refer to themselves as "[=EGs=]" and Spike (as part of his AWildRapperAppears act) explicity calls them "Equestria Girls"; the term appears one more time in "Cheer You On", where it's sung by Flash Sentry.

** "Rainbow Rocks Neon" Fluttershy had two purely ornamental belts as part of her top, and her high heels had either one long belt or multiple smaller ones wrapped around her ankles. The previous doll in the line had pink boots with three belts (one in black, the other the same color as the boot) and a chain (also pink) and a single ornamental belt on her top. "Rockin' Hairstyle" Fluttershy also has heels with at least two belts wrapping her ankles (in fact, they seem to be a similar-but-not-equal mold to the "Neon" ones).

** The six-to-seven protagonists have been officially called "the Equestria Girls" basically everywhere ever, except the actual movies. And each one is, individually, an "Equestria Girl". The name finally appears in the music video "[[WebAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsDigitalSeries I'm On a Yacht]]", where the characters refer to themselves as "[=EGs=]" and Spike (as part of his AWildRapperAppears act) explicity calls them "Equestria Girls".

* ContrivedCoincidence: The films and specials are an awkward mix of supernatural high school thriller and wacky sitcom, with plot conveniences (Pinkie Pie spontaneously guessing Twilight's backstory in the first movie; the fake-out with the WhiteVoidRoom in ''Rollercoaster of Friendship'') that work as jokes in a comedy but ''do not'' work as legitimate plot developments in a story that takes itself seriously, leaving the sub-franchise in some nebulous void between the two.

* MentorMascot: Spike serves them as a magical girl mascot alongside his human world counterpart.