Headscratchers / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks

Why didn't Sunset resent her friends

• What the dazzlings point out (that sunset's friends may see her as a liability) isn't entirely wrong. You'd think Sunset would have a little more anger after this was pointed out.
  • Because she sees herself like that, too. She is still guilt ridden from the last movie and believes everyone is justified in hating her, even if she wants to show she is good now.
  • At least they're giving her a chance. Nobody else wants anything to do with her.

The Magic Mirror

• Why was the mirror moved to Twilight's new castle? We never even get a Hand Wave for it, the mirror is just at her new castle now instead of the Crystal Empire.
  • She knows what's on the other side, and is therefore best able to handle any issues involved with it.
  • Also, Celestia said that the Princesses take turns guarding it in the last movie. In the last movie, it was Cadance's turn. Now it's Twilight's.
    • Which raises the question of how/when this tradition came about. Judging by her appearance during the flashbacks in 'A Canterlot Wedding' Cadence appears to be only only a few years older than Twilight, in addition prior to the Crystal Empire reappearing and being put in charge of it she seems to have lived in Canterlot. Luna was locked away for a thousand years and before and after that lived with Celestia first at the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters in what is now The Everfree Forest and now at Canterlot. So at no point in the known history of Equestria would it be possible for Celestia to put the responsibility on anybody else. (Unless there are other undeclared princesses throughout the thousand years which is at least possible.) There were either no other princesses at all or they lived with or very near her where claiming that it was Luna's turn to watch would have at the most been a technicality. I doubt either one of them would wake the other if something happened while it wasn't technically their turn but the other was resting.
  • One of the guys (Brian?) on the DVD Commentary said "She got the mirror on loan from Cadance". Plausible enough Hand Wave, at least for these Teasing Creators.
• Tying into the "loan" explication, she could habe asked Cadance if she could borrow it at least for a while as a way to remember her friebds at CHS.

Twilight's clothing

When Twilight returns to the human world, why does it give her their initial clothes and not the Fall Formal outfit she was wearing when she left?

• Maybe Twilight did something when she was programming the machine. If she thought she'd have to fight the sirens as soon as she got there, maybe she accounted for making sure she wasn't dressed impractically when she came through.

The Sirens have been in the human world for centuries...

What did they do before going to Canterlot High School? They are actually adults, so did they have jobs?

• AJ wonders about that, but they don't go into detail. We know Star Swirl the Bearded worked with time spells. It's possible they only just arrived in the human world.
• They may have had jobs. Strictly speaking they don't need them for much. It's unclear exactly how much control they can exert over their victims. We know they controlled Celestia and Luna enough to get the Battle of the Bands to replace the existing musical program and to advance the Rainbooms after a complete failure of a performance. I imagine that three singing Sirens could easily walk into a store and walk out wearing a new outfit without paying for it. They may not need to eat. Clearly Sonata likes tacos but they feed off negative emotions so that's another expense off. So basically they need shelter which they can probably sing for. That's assuming the EG universe doesn't just have libraries you can sleep in just lying around whenever people need them. Alternatively they are three highly attractive adult SIRENS. I imagine there is no shortage of men who would happily share their homes with them and that's without their powers. Finding a place to spend the night could be as simple as knocking on someone's door and singing when they open the door. In short the primary reason for them to have jobs would be more about finding ways to pass the time than an actual need for money.
• Time passes strangely in the EG universe. Sunset Shimmer left when Twilight was a filly, yet she's now about the same age and only seems to have been in the EG universe for a few years. The pony universe seems to pass at a much faster pace, so the Sirens might only have had a hundred years or so since their banishment rather than near a millennium.
• According to My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic, when Star Swirl banished them, they apparently time traveled, because they arrived a few months or years before the start of Rainbow Rocks (the city is clearly modern).

About DJ Pon-3's name on the article...

Isn't her official name "Vinyl Scratch"?

• Officially, yes- DJ Pon-3 was a Fan Nickname before the actual name was released. However it's since been canonized as her Stage Name, so either is acceptable.
• Her official name is DJ Pon-3, and it is the one used by Hasbro. The sole exception is her second Interplay claiming that Vinyl Scratch is her real name, but given that Vinyl Scratch is only mentioned there, that might just have just been a joke. At best, DJ doesn't like to use the name Vinyl Scratch, if it wasn't just a fandom nod.
• DJ Pon-3 is her copyrighted name. I guess Vinyl Scratch was just too generic and/or already taken.

The Vinylmobile

Where the heck would Vinyl, a high school student with a part-time job at a guitar center, get the money to customize THAT ride?!

• Her family could be rich. Her outfit looked pretty snazzy.
• Or she could have borrowed it from her older brother.
• Alternatively, she could be working at a music shop now because she used all of her money (or her parents') on said ride.
• Maybe she owns the guitar center, and that's why she was working there.

So Sunset Shimmer is ostracized by the school, but not Snips and Snails?

There's no doubt that Sunset Shimmer was a nasty piece of work to the entire school for quite some time and the reaction of school is pretty much justified, but what about Snips and Snails? They helped her with everything, including trying to get all the students through the portal to invade Equestria. So why is it that they're doing okay?

• Pretty much everyone in the school was afraid to defy Sunset Shimmer back in her Alpha Bitch days, so they probably understand that Snips and Snails were Just Following Orders (and it probably doesn't hurt that the two of them are, shall we say, easily manipulable).
• We don't know whether they are ostracized or not, as the story focus isn't on them. It could very well be the case, but on the other hand they might be too dumb to even notice.

Dazzlings Social Darwinists?

By their first song, the Dazzlings push their message of being the best and winning, even if you have to trample on everyone else to do so. Do the Dazzlings genuinely hold this philosophy, or was it merely a ploy to have the entire student body turn on each other to feed them?

• Considering how nasty they are I don't see why not. Adagio seems the type, considering her focus, ego, charisma, intelligence and total lack of morals.

Twilight's initial reaction towards Sunset Shimmer

When Sunset tried to help her up, Twilight gave her a wary look, followed by an awkward pause before finally taking her hand. In the first movie, however, she immediately accepted Sunset’s apologize and encouraged the Human Five to befriend her so this seems to be very Out of Character for her.

• Sunset Shimmer was totally beaten and pathetic, and kinda needed a hug at the end of the first movie. Twilight was also still on a friendship high. Having a Sunset Shimmer that looks much more like she did in her 'alpha bitch' phase and who she hasn't seen in a while made Twilight react instinctively with a tiny bit of fear, and though it passed quickly it still made things awkward.
• This takes place right after Twilight's Kingdom, where they were betrayed by another "reformed villain", which would probably lead her to second guess just how genuine her reformation was (not having what we the audience saw to know it was all real).

No Dress code at all?

I understand that not all schools make their students wear uniforms, but would a seemingly respectable institution like CHS really allow a guy to walk around looking like a punk, mohawk and all?

• The student in question doesn't seem to be wearing anything offensive, so I guess they can't do anything about what he wears.
  • Yet in the animated short for human Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon-3, she had her headphones taken away from by Principal Celestia. It seems that there are some rules enforced at CHS.
  • Headphones in school are a bit of a safety risk, you can't hear verbal commands, etc. Plus I bet Vinyl's already been told off for wearing them in class more than once.
• I must've gone to some pretty prudish schools then, because that attire and hairdo wouldn't fly, offensive or not (or it's just that we had no punks).
• This troper went to a high school that's "nationally recognized for excellence" (pretty sure they say that for a lot of schools, though), and our class had some students wear quite... strange things, to put it bluntly. We had students in goth dress, and maybe a few dressed in colored punk-style hair.

I actually wrote up a list of complaints schools (based on my own high school about 10 years ago) would have had about the Dazzlings oufits back when the movie came out:

• I'm pretty sure no high school on Earth would allow Adagio to wear those heels. Heels that high alone are normally against school dress codes, let alone ones covered with giant spikes. Her "shorts" are also pushing it. The leggings are the only thing saving them from being too short as most schools require them to be past your finger tips by a set amount. Also if here leggings are too see-through they wouldn't count. Depending on the length of her sleeves on her "Overalls with shorts" looking thing, she may be stuck in that jacket all day regardless of the temperature. Aria Blaze's sleeves are also probably too short and some schools would object to them being ripped off even if they met the length requirements as ripped and torn clothing is treated the same as clothes with holes. She'd probably not be allowed to take that jacket off at any point for the same reasons, as her top clearly has nearly (if not totally) nonexistent sleeves. Like Adagio her heels are kinda high but they're not detached so they might get an OK. Sonata Dusk however has less obvious outfit issues, though she's just barely safe with that skirt, but this applies to the Humane 6 + Sunset as well. Her heels are also kinda high, but like Aria, they're not pillar heel. They also have a sneaker like sole, so she'd be OK in most cases.
  • The Dazzlings do Mind Rape Celestia and Luna pretty quickly, so that explains why they have no complaints about the clothes.

Stage locked door?

After the humane 7 find themselves trapped underneath the stage thanks to human Trixie, they try everything in their power to get the door open. I'd joke about how they'd be too stupid to realize that they're pushing the door when all they needed to do was pull the door to escape (as dog!Spike managed to push the door from the outside), but my question is this: why is it locked from the inside (or such a way that you were locked in)? It'd make sense for it to be locked from the outside (so no one can wander in and take stage equipment), but if it's locked in the inside, if someone happens to fall through the trap door (as it happens to the humane 7), they're screwed.

• Apparently it was locked from the outside and Vinyl unlocked it (naturally, the local DJ would have keys/know where they are).
  • That's my question: why was it locked like that? Shouldn't it be that those outside couldn't get in because it was locked, and those inside can have an easier time either unlocking or opening the door?
    • The only way to get inside other than the open door is, well, fall through the trapdoor. You have to admit, that's quite a bizzare occurence, so however installed that door could be forgiven for not planning on it. They just put a simplest lock that can only be opened with a key, from outside or inside. It's a school after all. Corners will be cut.
• Speaking of which, what was the original purpose of the trapdoor? I don't think there was any elevator there to lower or lift stuff to and from the storage room, and I don't think any of those props were so cumbersome that you couldn't carry them through the door.
  • Perhaps it's there just in case whatever performance needs it? Maybe not much use during a concert but a school play might need a trapdoor. They might just have a crash mat underneath it if it's needed for when the person falls through.
• It's possible that Trixie arranged for the trap to work the way it did, perhaps by modifying the door lock. She is a magician, after all.
• When they were rescued the door opened to the inside, they were all trying to ram it open to the outside. Maybe none of them tried pulling?
• In the book to the film, DJ Pon-3 has a crowbar which she uses to open the door, so the door was simply locked from both sides.

Why is it you can clearly see microphones on stage, yet backing vocals can clearly be heard?

• It's obvious..... LIP SYNCING! IT'S MILLI VANILLI ALL OVER AGAIN!
  • Don't you mean Filli Vanilli?
• Another possibility is that the backing vocals were recorded beforehand. That way, they can just sing the main harmony and melody. Knowing the Dazzlings and their hypnotizing voices, who's to say that they didn't charm some people in charge and used a recording booth in town?
  • In a large area (like an auditorium, perhaps?), a person's voice can echo loud enough to sound like multiple people are singing. We only see the Dazzlings sing in larger rooms, after all, with the exception of the cafe at the beginning.
  • Well the Dazzlings' singing is y'know magic caused by their pendants. Since it also acts as magical Auto-Tune, creating magic backing vocals isn't outside the realm of possibility.
  • The first and second songs, it's kind of understandable since Adagio does most of the singing, leaving Aria and Sonata to do the backing vocals. The only time it just really doesn't make sense is during "Welcome to the Show".
  • "Welcome To The Show" is said to be the Sirens bringing the big guns out - so we can assume the magic creates a harmonised effect. It's the only time the Sirens are able to pony up, so there's clearly more magic being used than before.

The "prize" of Winning?

Before the Dazzlings enter the cafeteria, we hear Adagio say, "Our voices are just strong enough to make them want something so badly, they'll fight to get it." So, what exactly is it that they want the other students to "want"...to the point where Flash Sentry is even stomping mad about it when his band loses? Is it just being declared the best band in the school?

• To win, basically. Just to win, to "prove that you're better then others".
• Alternatively, they just cause people to feel a very strong desire for whatever the sisters propose. In this case, they propose winning a contest to satisfy their desire. There doesn't even have to be a prize for that, just an irresistible desire for complying with a suggestion.
• I believe it went something like this only with persuation magic instead of stupidity drugs.

Why didn't the Rainbooms offer Sunset join.

Seriously, we later learn Sunset can play guitar and can sing, so them not including her in the band just comes off as mean. We see in the movie Sunset wants to and tries to help, so it wasn't an issue of her refusing.

• Though they themselves have essentially forgiven her enough that they're able to hang out with her, there probably still enough tension for them to not fully accepted. It could also partially be that Adagio is right and they do kind of see her as a bit of liability due to her reputation. This is not helped by Sunset herself being very reluctant to really speak her mind after everything that has happened. As for being able to sing and play the guitar, that was at the very end and they had no idea she was capable of either, especially playing the guitar.
• several times in the movie we see Sunset handling the band's equipment so perhaps she was a member in that capacity and just never told anyone she could sing or play.
  • Perhaps Sunset didn't tell them because she was still feeling too guilty. She might have felt that she didn't deserve to be in the band. She sees herself as deserving of how the school treats her - which is why she never complains when her friends are Innocently Insensitive. She sees all of that treatment as punishment for her crimes, and not allowing herself to join the band is another way of punishing herself.

Were the Sirens just winging it at the end?

They might not have known the Humane Five were an actual threat to them (though how they would have been equally aware of Sunset Shimmer's actions and unaware of the potential power levels of the Humane Five is classic Villain Ball bs) their actions in the final act are truly baffling. It seems at first that they want the Humane 6 around so they can tap into their power because they don't have access to their full power without tapping into the Equestian Magic they bring with them. Which explains enchanting Celestia and Luna into advancing them. But then they convince (sans singing it seems) Trixie into eliminating the Rainbooms. Basically it seems like there is an entirely extra step that doesn't seem to serve any purpose in the Sirens plan at all other than setting up Sonata to be adorably dumb. Even out of universe it doesn't seem to serve much purpose other than padding the story out to it's full length. If the Rainbooms had been eliminated as they deserved or given a do over as they also deserved given Sunset speared Rainbow Dash, they still could have been there at the end either as a legit act or I think the crowd being turned into zombies is a sufficient excuse for people who have been eliminated from a tournament to set up on the top of a hill and step in. Unless the entire point was to make Trixie a legit villain instead of a counterpart to Rainbow Dash or just get her some extra screen time it seems entirely pointless.

• The point was to make the group turn on each other, releasing the greatest possible amount of negative energy. The method was a slow and steady campaign of hostility from the rest of the students directed at the Rainbooms, engineered by the Dazzlings. "The Rainbooms are just as capable of falling apart as anyone else. They just need a little... push in the wrong direction. I have a feeling everyone here is going to be lining up to give them a shove." Adagio is quite clever; she deliberately avoids getting the Dazzlings into direct confrontation with the Rainbooms, since something like that is liable to unite them rather than split them apart. By having the rest of the students do the dirty work, and avoiding a face-to-face conflict, The Dazzling assault the Rainbooms with constant stress and distraction without an opportunity to fight because the enemy iss always working against them indirectly. Having the Rainbooms advance to the finals, then get sabotaged by a competitor increases the negative energy output of absolutely everyone without the Dazzlings having to even step near their greatest threat. It's a great plan if you just think about it.
  • In short the Rainbooms advancing when they clearly didn't deserve it was a huge boost to the negative energy. Trixie locking them up ideally would have kept the Rainbooms, the only thing on Earth that posed a threat at all to the Sirens, busy and presumably had they not been interrupted in the middle of feeding their full power would have been sufficient. Even as it stands they would have won if the Humane 6 hadn't become the Humane 7.

What exactly powered up the Sirens?

Was it specifically the Humane 6 and proximity to them or the use of the Elements of Harmony? If it's the former the above headscratcher is still a bit odd, you'd think keeping them close would be in the plan. If it's the latter why go CHS in the first place instead of high tailing it to the far end of planet or for that matter just feeding on some other gathering of people, any other gathering of people. It's unclear exactly how much time passes between the battle with Sunset Shimmer and when the Sirens arrive but I imagine those three girls going to the local mall and singing on Black Friday would have provided more food with less work, avoided tipping off the Humane 6 at all and probably achieved power levels similar to full power Chysalis if not full power Tirek.

• It also raises the question of why not take out the Humane 6 if proximity, or at least them being unharmed, wasn't necessary. Adagio doesn't seem concerned about them at all and half the movie is the Humane 6 worrying that the Sirens will identify them and put a stop to their plan. Adagio never gives a reason why she didn't do that. She cleverly avoids direct confrontation even after identifying them but no clear reason is given for avoiding a confrontation they would likely have won or if avoiding them was the plan why they didn't simply change venues and avoid the confrontation all together.
• Since the Humane 6 have magic their energy is much more powerful than the normal humans of that world. Twilight Sparkle is an alicorn princess, so she's even more of a prize. Note they only started to pull out the serious powers after absorbing the negative energies of the Humane 6 under the stage. Yet since they're immune to mind control due to that magic Adagio has to create tensions in them the old fashioned way, which she decided was best done by turning the school against them and denying them the chance for a direct confrontation. She never wants to destroy them, as that would be a total waste.

Timeline

If Rainbow Rocks takes places almost half a year after Equestria Girls, then what took The Dazzlings so long to get to Canterlot High after seeing the magic Elements of Harmony rainbow beam take down Sunset Shimmer? There was a whole five-and-half month gap between them seeing Equestria Magic and them showing up at Canterlot High.

• There doesn't appear to be any word on how wide spread knowledge of the events of Equestria Girls actually is. While five months is an absurd amount of time perhaps it took them that long to find out where exactly the event had taken place. Remember the Sirens didn't ID the Human 5 until the failed attempt to activate the Elements of Harmony. Maybe it took them that long to zero in on were the elements actually were and spent that time randomly checking other more likely places. Despite the overall tone of MLP the Elements of Harmony ARE weapons and thus far have never been shown doing anything other direct combat. A high school is not the first place you'd go looking for a weapon and the fact that the Sirens have the appearance of High School girls and the mentality to slip in without sounding off doesn't change the fact they are centuries old magical beings and probably think of high school kids as stupid children.
  • But they walk right into the school and clearly know the school is where they want to be. Absolutely no question- they know the Equestrian Magic is at CHS, Adagio says as much just before "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)", and their actions from the moment they enter the school indicate they had no problem figuring out the magic was at the school. So, why did it take them five and a half months to get to CHS?
    • Maybe they were waiting for the musical showcase to take place as they saw this as their best change to start a battle of the bands. They are over a thousands years old, so they have no problem waiting some more months.
  • Well after Twilight goes back to Equestria, there's no major magic used. The only magic appears when the Rainbooms play. It's quite possible that the Sirens had to search around for it, which is bound to be hard if no one is using the magic.
  • And if the magic only appears whenever the Rainbooms play, it surfaces in areas where they're practicing. That means it's at the girls' houses - as in a different place each time. The Sirens were able to track it to the school because the musical showcase gave the Rainbooms a chance to practice there regularly - so the Sirens could trace a pattern.
• Actually it's said to be 6 moons after the first film, not months so maybe 5 moons could equal just a couple or so months in human world time.

Red Adagio?

So in Twilight's Book of Plotpoints, Adagio's siren form is unavoidably quite red◊ in colour, even though her projected avatar form thing is actually pretty◊ yellow◊. Why is this? Both Aria and Sonata have their Book of Plotpoints forms coloured correctly (purple◊ and blue◊ respectively). Also, Red Adagio would be A Good Name for a Rock Band.

• The book also says it was a legend Starswirl banished them to another place, to me those old books are not always 100% correct on every detail from an inuniverse standpoint.

Twilight's question for Sunset

So when Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer were in the kitchen, Twilight starts to ask Sunset a question before changing her mind. What was she going to ask her?

• I believe she was going to ask Sunset for help with the spell, but decided she had do do it on her own.

Sunset Shimmer and Equestria

Even though the portal's been opened again, Sunset Shimmer still doesn't go back home to Equestria. Granted, this isn't as bad as the end of the first movie, since things are actually starting to look up for Sunset's life in the human world this time around, plus the modifications made to the Crystal Mirror mean that Sunset could potentially come back to Equestria at any time.

So I don't mind Sunset not returning to Equestria straight away, but couldn't there at least have been a scene or at least a few snippets of dialogue where Twilight or someone else discusses with Sunset the idea of going back to Equestria, or at least reminds her of her options?

• Sunset Shimmer is still with the best support team Twilight could ever hope for, in the shape of her friends. At the end of the last movie she clearly had a lot to do before she was ready to come back, and at the end of this one she's finally started to truly become comfortable as part of the group. She's better off staying for now, dealing with her own self image before having to deal with the baggage of her old life.
  • Though it doesn't really explain why nobody brought that idea up. I mean, Sunset did come from Equestria and only came to the human world fairly recently and only because of her previous behavior. It's not like she's Tarzan or Superman, who were actually raised and grew up somewhere they weren't born from infancy, and their native world/society was completely alien/inaccessible to them. Just saying, it really should've been brought up at least once. Like Twilight could've said something along the lines of "Hey, the portal's open now. Wanna come back to Equestria with me, Sunset Shimmer?" or "Remember, Sunset. If you ever feel homesick or run into any trouble in this world, Equestria will be just around the corner from now on."
• Probably for the same reason Twilight stayed in Ponyville. It's where her friends are.
  • If Twilight can befriend the Humane 5, then Sunset can befriend the Pony Mane 5, so this doesn’t really explain it. Furthermore, Twilight stayed the Ponyville in order to continue her studies (by studying friendship); it would make sense for Sunset Shimmer to want to continue her studies with Celestia (returning to her original goal of becoming a princess) and she cannot do that in the human world.
  • That isn't the point. The question isn't "Why didn't Sunset leave straight away?", but "Why didn't anyone ask Sunset if she wanted to leave?" Even if she said no, it would still be better to have the offer made to her and have her decline it than to not have the offer made at all. Even Twilight asked Princess Celestia if she could continue her studies in Ponyville, whereas Twilight just walks off without a word on the matter to Sunset, both in this movie and in the one before.
  • Sunset left Equestria of her own free will so maybe they just assumed she'd prefer to stay in the human world. Or it could be more pragmatic on Twilight's part - there is the possibility in her mind that Sunset's redemption isn't genuine and bringing her back to Equestria could cause her to start getting back to her old tricks. Perhaps Twilight wanted Sunset to stay in the human world for the next three years until the portal opens up again - and then she'd offer the chance to come back to Equestria.

Is Rainbow Dash just 20% cooler?

Rainbow Dash seems unique in her ability to activate her powers without the others being in the mood. Even in the shorts it can be assumed that whoever was there was rooting for the main character but Dash is spotlight hogging when her ears and wings activate. It seems to be literally powered by awesome in her case. She's also specifically tackled by Sunset Shimmer because she's activating. Meaning at some level it's subconscious. She's certainly not doing it intentionally. Is that just how they function in Equestria Girls and any of the girls could activate at any time if they are feeling it? By extension is Fluttershy the weakest Equestria Girl because she never feels awesome?

• This is kind of the way it's always worked. Dash does awesome things all the time, but often isolates herself from the others and fails to consider the whole team. Fluttershy shies away from drawing attention to herself and often seems useless, yet when she finally does step forward is one of the most powerful and effective. Remember, Fluttershy wrote the final song, took up backing vocals, and performed one of the attacks that hurt the sirens. Rainbow Dash just provided guitar for that one.
• It seems their powers are activating when they are playing at or near their max skill, or when in an emotional high. Hence why they have to play their mediocre songs, because they will not reach their max skill or emotional high point that way. Rainbow Dash, being highly competitive and proud of her skill, simply can't resist playing at her best level when the finals come in view, and singing about her own awesomeness is what causes her to reach an emotional high, activating her powers. She is also not unique in this, because in the shorts this happens to the others as well. I don't think Fluttershy "never" feels awesome, she just has different skills that make her feel good enough to use her power (like caring for her animals).

Vinyl Scratch's Questionable Behavior

Once it's revealed that Vinyl Scratch wasn't under the Dazzling's spell because of her headphones, it raises the question on why in the world didn't she do anything this whole film? We see her at several points throughout the events when the Dazzlings were controlling everyone as well as the Battle of The Bands, and she never knew that this stuff was happening right in front of her until Spike found her and explained everything? Either she has to be one of the stupidest and most oblivious characters in the show, or she's so much into music that she genuinely believed that the Dazzling's songs were just a part of their play-style(IRL, it's not uncommon for bands and singers to create songs that are about being villainous or doing dastardly things, but it still doesn't explain her obliviousness to everything else around her), or she's some kind of sociopath who doesn't care that her fellow students were enslaved by three magical creatures from another world until a talking dog convinced her to do something for the kicks.

• The implication was clearly supposed to be that she is so into her music that she's utterly oblivious to anything else going on around her beyond the absolute bare minimum. Also the Dazzlings are fairly subtle most of the time. It's been a while since I was in high school but I don't think getting a bunch of teens to go from a concert to a battle of the bands would take more than some slight prodding on their part. She wasn't present when they whammied Luna and Celestia the first time which leaves only the the final time when the Rainboooms were advanced despite a disaster. Your average song is 3-5 minutes. The idea that Vinyl Scratch was in her own world entirely for long enough to miss the disaster performance entirely and then simply not understand why people were upset about band X advancing isn't even eyebrow-raising really. Finally at the end the Dazzlings were just starting the performance when Vinyl Scratch let the Rainbooms out of the basement so she either wasn't there or thought people were getting into the performance. I've seen much creepier things than people rising to their feet with glazed looks in their eye at concerts without magical sirens.
• Also, Vinyl didn't hear any of their songs because of the headphones, so she couldn't have known about the sinister content. She might've found everyone's behavior odd, but I think you'll agree that "magical creatures from another world bewitched everyone" is not the explanation that immediately springs to mind (unless you're Pinkie Pie) and anyway, what was she supposed to do about it?
  • No, the "magical creatures from another world bewitching everyone" would've very much sprung to mind because the entire student body witnessed it happening before in the first movie, and the fact that no-one has forgotten about it. If one's school had an supernatural incident happened before, and then new students showed up and started messing with the other students who all then started acting odd and irrationally aggressive, and then have the only known students who had stopped the previous supernatural incident, including having someone who everyone already knew was a magical herself, being the only ones confronting the new students in attempt to stop a battle of the bands which they miraculously persuaded everyone to follow along, it would definitely raise suspicion to anyone who wasn't being controlled. And what could she have done? Easy; go to the girls who had first-hand experienced with this stuff and talk to them or help them out. Go talk to the principles. You know, anything! It wouldn't have worked, but it would show that she at least was trying to do something about it instead of just sitting on her hands as if nothing happened.
    • Unless CHS is vastly different from how I remember it getting high school students to act aggressively towards each other isn't a trick. Look how well they managed to effect the Rainbooms who were explicitly immune to the magic. Granted she would have been right if she'd gone to the principles and told them about magical singing making jocks pick on nerds but I hope that would sound stupid to her before it came out of her mouth. It would basically be a mirror of the Queen Chrysalis scenario where yeah you were right but the scenario was within acceptable parameters even for people who know about magic.

What happened to Trixie's guitar?

Trixie uses an electric guitar during the battle montage and in her rendition of "Tricks Up My Sleeve" in the semifinals. In the finals (while the Rainbooms are trapped under the stage) Trixie only sings, and the guitar is nowhere to be found, even though her band is playing the same song as before. What happened to it?

• If you listen to the song, it doesn't actually include guitar; Trixie was just showboating with it in the semifinals (this is confirmed in the DVD commentary, by the way). For the finals, she might have judged it was unnecessary and it would be better she focus on singing. Plus with that big dress of hers, it might have been impractical. Also, at the finals she could pull off all the stop with the special effects, as seen with the fireworks, so no need for further fake guitar playing.

The Magic of Friendship

Was it just me or did the Humane Six actually seem weaker than the Mane Six's version? The pony versions pretty much able to beat every major Big Bad with rainbow power, but the human versions struggled with the Dazzlings and even needed help from Sunset to beat them. I get that Sunset helping was show how much he had grown, but it still feels kind've iffy.

• It's possible that the Sirens were actually just THAT strong. Don't forget that Star Swirl the Bearded, who's placement in the timeline is hard to factor, but is known to have been around alongside the Princesses, could only beat them by banishing them to another world. And that the Siren's amulets seem to work to a degree like evil Elements of Harmony (letting the Sirens transform into anthro forms, making them have Glowing Eyes of Doom, and they even seem to link up when they use their strongest ability), and they actually ABSORBED some of the group's magic. So it's likely that the Sirens were simply THAT powerful. Either that, or the friendship between the Humane Six isn't NEARLY as strong as it is with the Mane Six, which is ALSO likely.
• They've only used Rainbow Power once against Tirek. They've actually only beaten two villains with the Elements of Harmony, Nightmare Moon and Discord. Shining Armor and Cadence defeat Chrysalis with no artifact help just raw power of love and some combination of Spike, Shining Armor and Cadence along with all the Crystal Ponies and the Crystal Heart should get the points for King Sombra. So it just seems like the girls have been whomping things left and right. Additionally while the main show is a bit shall we say inconsistent on how the Elements actually functioned (Vs Nightmare moon the elements physical representation had been shattered but once the Mane six were worthy they just got the necklaces and crown. Vs Discord and Chrysalis they had to get to the necklaces because they can't just summon them) Regardless the Humane Five are basically siphoning off borrowed magic. . .from an artifact in another world that's currently keeping Everfree under control and thus cannot be used by the Mane 6. The fact that they are capable of summoning up enough magic to fight is amazing in and off itself considering their pony counterparts more often than not need to touch their artifacts to use ANY of it's power. So I think it's more accurate to say the Humane Five are actually really, really OP.
  • But the Elements of Harmony were able to beat Nightmare Moon and Discord, who are both Physical Gods, effortlessly while the Humane Six couldn't beat the Dazzlings, who can be considered mythical creatures at best, without Sunset's help. You can't expect me to believe that their power to spread chaos and disharmony with their singing trumps a mare who could control the moon and a reality warper.
• You can't really make that kind of comparison. The Humane five live in a world where magic as a whole seems to be much weaker, and its sources are few and far between. Contrast to Equestria where a third of the population have direct conscious control over magic, and you can barely walk to to corner store without tripping over some gem/amulet/book/plant/doodad surging with ancient power. They put magic in dresses for crying out loud! The Mane Six had the Elements of Harmony (which, contrary to some fanon, were not "inside them all along"; they're actual working artifacts with their own power), while the Humane Six have what maybe amounts to some weak residue from one of the Elements. Like the point above stated, the fact that they are able to summon and weaponize any magical energy at all is amazing. The Humane Six achieve more with less than the Mane Six do.
  • Also, there are three Sirens working together as opposed to how previous villains worked. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sombra, and Tirek were all solo villains who relied on their own individual power to be a threat. The Dazzlings meanwhile are three Sirens working together with presumably equal levels of power to support eachother. Even if they aren't as powerful as the previous villains individually, their ability to work together makes them more dangerous. Plus, the Dazzlings fought back while Nightmare Moon and Discord didn't seem to know how to respond to an attack by the Elements of Harmony.
• Didn't Sunset Shimmer mention in the first film that the Elements of Harmony work differently in the human world? So it sorta fits that they would be a bit weaker. Or you could explain it that Twilight is the only one who has any knowledge of how to use magic. The rest have only just discovered it. In contrast the Sirens are centuries older and they know exactly how to use their powers to get what they want. And they were also absorbing the magic from the six of them. They went to Canterlot High in the first place to try and feed off the magic there to make themselves more powerful. Alternately is it ever said if they've ever played Fluttershy's song before? She says that Rainbow Dash never lets them play hers, so their magic could have been weaker if they were performing the song for the first time.
  • Season 7's finale shows a flashback to Star Swirl banishing the Sirens. Turns out he still needed help from the Pillars of Equestria to do so. So yes the Sirens are indeed that strong.

Did they play the counterspell?

When the Rainbooms are trapped beneath the stage, Twilight says dejectedly, "I don't think the counterspell would have worked." Seconds later she asks "But why wasn't it working?". So did the Rainbooms actually try to play a counterspell that Twilight whipped up? (There was one round between their playing "Shake Your Tail!" and the semifinals, so maybe they played it there?)

• The thing is that Twilight is terrible at writing a good counterspell in the form of a song, since their magic had to be channeled through music. They really couldn't try it anyway because they were too busy arguing amongst each other, which would only contribute to the counterspell not working, because they have to be in harmony with each other for it to work. Plus, she didn't notice the Rainbooms' problems until Sunset Shimmer pointed it out, and even then the song she was trying to write for the counterspell would not work anyway because it would be a poorly written song.
• Also, before the Rainbooms sing in the semi-finals, Applejack points out, "finals aren't until tonight. We'll get in a little more practice before we're supposed to hit the stage." In other words, the Rainbooms must have been practicing the counterspell song between rounds.
  • Twilight realises that they don't have to create a new counterspell from scratch. As long as they sing together it'll do the trick. Fluttershy had written songs, so they just picked the one that was most appropriate.

What about the real human Sunset Shimmer?

Why is The Stinger and the entire fandom focused on the real human Twilight Sparkle, but nobody seems to wonder about or be interested in the real human Sunset Shimmer?

• Option 1: She doesn't live in the same place. Sunset's place of origin was never mentioned, so perhaps Celestia accepted her into the school from another part of Equestria, which isn't analogous to Canterlot High's city. Option 2: Sunset Shimmer was evil when she arrived in Human Equestria. I leave you to your own conclusions on that one.
• It's quite possible that she's not from the same area. Twilight's human counterpart doesn't go to the school either. It sort of makes sense if the high school represents Ponyville (though Celestia and Luna being there does muck it up a bit). Twilight and Sunset Shimmer were from Canterlot, so their human equivalents should be in the human version of Canterlot. The human area they're in seems to represent a suburb, like how Ponyville is a small town. The Canterlot equivalent would probably be the nearby city.
• Since this franchise seems to be doing well, it's likely a plot point they're saving for a later movie. They've already done human!Twilight now.
• My theory is that she's from the same city as Twilight is, but she's homeschooled and doesn't go to what we now know is Crystal Prep. After all, Sunset was a one-on-one student with Celestia the entire time she was under her tutelage, whereas Twilight actually branched off to no longer be an independent study. So it stands to possible reason that the real human Sunset lives at home and has a private tutor to mirror how the pony Sunset didn't interact with others for her education. This would handily explain why nobody knows she exists- she doesn't attend Crystal Prep, so she's never seen or met Twilight, and she clearly isn't at CHS. Since she's homeschooled and thus likely not leaving the house to get her education, there's less chances for someone like Pinkie Pie to have seen her before, as was the case with Twilight. However, I don't think they'll bring in human Sunset until they're ready for pony Sunset to return to Equestria. Twilight is a different story, since she doesn't live in the human world on a permanent basis like Sunset.

Destroying the Amulets?

Clearly the Sirens were banished with their amulets, but why on earth did Starswirl let that happen? I know Aria refers to the emotion eating as "food" in the opening, but Sonata's reaction to Taco Tuesday implies they don't, strictly speaking, need to feed off emotions to survive. Yet, if they can survive without the red gemstones, why didn't Starswirl simply destroy them himself, rendering the Sirens utterly powerless, rather than banishing them? And supposing they need them to survive and Aria's food analogy is accurate, does that mean the Humane 7 just condemned the Sirens to starving to death?

• No one seemed to actually know that the Sirens' powers came from the pendants — there's no note of it in Twilight's book, or else she'd have said that they have to get the pendants away from them somehow. My guess is that the Sirens were causing so much trouble nopony could get close enough without falling under their spell too. Starswirl just banished them because he assumed that sending them to a world without magic would do the trick. And really it did. The Sirens weren't causing any wars or anything. The most they could do was to cause a few arguments.
• And as far as feeding goes, they have human bodies. Presumably eating regular food will work just fine.
• And if the Sirens are condemned to starving to death - they did spend years causing countless wars and chaos across Equestria. Seems like a karmic punishment.
• Look closely at the sirens' true forms, they're not wearing pendants, the gems are a part of their bodies.

The Humane Five and Sunset Shimmer

How come nobody at Canterlot High called out the Humane Five for befriending and associating with Sunset Shimmer? It's made clear here that the student body is still quite angry with her and both principals are outright suspicious of her. You'd think that other students might ask Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and so on how they could even associate with someone as detestable (at least in the minds of the CHS student body) as Sunset Shimmer.

• Possibly the other students regard the Humane Five as essentially being Sunset's parole officers.
• It's also worth pointing out that to all appearances, the Humane Five more or less run the student side of the school; the whole reason Sunset Shimmer split them up wasn't to jam up their non-existent magic, à la Discord, but simply because it prevented them from being a core of social opposition to her.
  • Hasn't it been a few months since the Fall Formal? In that time, the school has gotten used to Sunset hanging with the girls.

Sleepovers on a School Night

In Rainbow Rocks as well as the Equestria Girls 2014 Holiday Special comic (from IDW Publishing), our heroines have a sleepover at Pinkie's house (and at other houses in the aforementioned special comics). It's never explicitly stated what night these sleepovers happened, but since the Humane Five (plus Twilight and Sunset) show up at school the next day, I assume these are taking place on school nights. What parents would allow any sleepovers to be done on a school night? Many parents out there will put their foot down and NOT let that happen on a school night.

• Parenting is often split case-by-case on what flies and what doesn't. Some parents trust their children with extra freedom but will be able to do the right thing. Let's look at the cast for a moment. Twilight and Sunset have no parents in this world to worry about asking. Fluttershy has always been a Nice Girl and wouldn't be bold enough to play hookie in any way. Applejack's a straight arrow and would likely enforce the others to get off their butts in the morning. Rarity knows how to be a proper lady when the situation calls for it so I imagine she'd be on her best behavior as well. It's Rainbow and Pinkie in this lineup who would have the hardest time convincing their parents to allow the impromptu sleepover, and I say Pinkie would be the hardest case if the Humane Pies are as traditionalist as their pony counterparts.
  • If you want to stretch it, the sleepover might be on a Friday night, and the next day they go to school it's just to the party for the Battle of the Bands. Not unreasonable to think it might be on a Saturday and the entire contest runs over the weekend. Or else the parents let them all crash at Pinkie's because they said they want to get some extra practice in before the contest.
  • As long as the kids go to the same school why would it even be a problem? They'd just all go to school together in the morning. Especially if they're working on a group project for school, which they were.

Dazzlings and the Portal

• The Dazzlings clearly despise being in the human world and don't see any perks from being there other than brainwashing people with their songs, giving them even less of a reason to stick around than Sunset. So why is it that they never attempt to go through the portal after Princess Twilight reactivates it?
  • It's only at the start that they hate the human world - because their magic is weaker. Once they're able to tap into the Equestrian Magic at the school, they see the potential to really take over the world. Taking over the human world is more attractive than going back to Equestria, because there are several other magical beings there who would be more than happy to challenge them.
  • Or more simply they didn't realise that Twilight had opened the portal and that they could go back to Equestria. When they get to the school, they sense the magic there but the portal isn't open. By the time Twilight arrives, they have no reason to believe the portal is open now, and they're focused on their mission to drain the Humane Six's magic.
  • And maybe they might have gone back to Equestria, once they'd absorbed the magic in the human world for some extra firepower.
  • To all of the above: What about after the Battle of the Bands, when the Dazzlings lost their amulets and ability to sing? If there was any reason to stay beforehand, there definitely won't be now that they have no magic there and everyone knows they're evil.
  • If they do cross back over into Equestria, Twilight and the Mane Six know about them now.
  • Without their pendants it's possible that assuming their true forms could kill them.
  • There's also no indication that they came through that portal to begin with, in the flashback Starswirl created the portal himself instead of using the mirror, so they probably don't even know it exists.

Sunset's new shirt

Sunset's wearing a slightly different shirt, you can tell by the neck, in the final battle. Why? She wasn't planning on participating, and it's almost identical and she changes nothing else, so why bother changing?

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