Western Animation / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

Boots on hoo— oh wait.

"The magic of friendship never changes."

— Tagline

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013) is a Friendship Is Magic movie made by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media, and the movie that started the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Spin-Off series.

The concept is simple enough: take the characters of the hit TV show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and put them in high school. Now the Mane Six must deal with things such as peer pressure, planning for school dances, popular girls with attitude problems, and yes... even boys. Oh, and did we mention the pastel-colored ponies are now pastel-colored humans? (And the baby dragon is now a puppy?)

Set between Seasons 3 and 4, the movie centers around the newly-crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike going into an Alternate Universe when her princess crown, revealed to be the Element of Magic, is stolen by Princess Celestia's former apprentice Sunset Shimmer, turning into a teenage human girl and a talking dog respectively in the process. Along the way Twilight meets human versions of her friends from Ponyville, all of whom turn out to despise each other, and a blue-haired fellow who seems like a nice enough guy. With the help of her new friends in this strange new world they must find the crown and change the destiny of the two parallel worlds.

The movie was written by Meghan McCarthy, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 16, 2013, and had a limited theatrical run at over 200 US and Canadian theaters in June and July of the same year. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the US by Shout! Factory on August 6, 2013 and later released on DVD in other markets worldwide, and aired later still on The Hub on September 1st, 2013. See the first two trailers here and here.

Shortly after the movie's premiere, IDW put out a prequel comic as the first issue of their My Little Pony Annual series, with the 8 page short about Sunset Shimmer's origins printed early in IDW's MLPFIM #9 variant at 2013 SDCC.

The success of the first movie led to a number of sequels and specials. The movies include Rainbow Rocks (2014), Friendship Games (2015), and Legend of Everfree (2016). This was followed by a series of three specials collectively entitled My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Magical Movie Night in 2017, as well as both Forgotten Friendship and Rollercoaster of Friendship in 2018.

Two different series of cartoon shorts featuring the characters were also created and hosted on Hasbro's YouTube channel. The first, Summertime Shorts, consists of 16 installments and was released in the Summer and Fall of 2017. The second is an ongoing weekly series of digital shorts that began November 17, 2017.

Not to be confused with the commercial of the same name for Friendship Is Magic, or the parody YouTube videos EQUESTRIA GIRLS.

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My Little Pony: Equestria Girls provides examples of:

• Absurdly Divided School: The entire student body is divvied up into cliques, specifically the drama kids, the fashionistas, the techies, the comedians, the eco-kids, the rockers, and the athletes.
• Accidental Pun: Snips and Snails complete their "What Are Little Boys Made Of?" trio (snips, snails and puppy dog tails) when they kidnap the puppy version of Spike.
• Actually Quite Catchy: Snips and Snails are dancing along to the "Cafetaria Song" while wearing Wondercolts paraphenalia, to the annoyance of Sunset Shimmer.
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara are seen sincerely getting into the cafeteria song, wearing the ears and tails and dancing with everyone else — unlike their mean Equestria counterparts. Though given what happens in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", it doubles as Foreshadowing.
  • Trixie is less antagonistic than she is in the show.
• Adaptational Villainy: Human-world Snips and Snails are a lot more dangerous and malicious than their young pony world counterparts.
• Adults Are Useless: It wouldn't be a high school work without this trope. Even if Celestia and Luna can be reasonable authority figures, Sunset casually bullies everyone and nothing is done.
• Age Lift: Several characters from Friendship Is Magic, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Snips and Snails, and a few other younger cast members are aged up to at least resemble high-school freshmen. Conversely, other adult characters who live on their own, and in some cases even run their own businesses, are aged down to meet this criteria.
• Alas, Poor Yorick: Mocked with the green-haired member of the Dramas usually seen carrying around a skull (hopefully made of plastic).
• All There in the Manual:
  • During Twilight and Fluttershy's discussion of the Fall Formal Princess, Fluttershy says that the previous girl to go up against Sunset was utterly humiliated, but she never says who it was. According toinvoked Word of Saint Paul, it was Rarity, though a few lines imply that it was her.
  • The Fall of Sunset Shimmer comic gives Sunset's motive (she wanted to become an alicorn princess hence her jealousy of Twilight Sparkle), the reason she fled through the mirror (it gave a vision of her with the power she sought making her thinks she'd find it there) and a handwave for how she knew how an Element of Harmony would behave in the human world (her obsession with the mirror led her to find notes on it that presumably contained that info).
• Alpha Bitch: Sunset Shimmer humiliates anyone who stands in her way to become Fall Formal Princess and destroys long-lasting friendships. Good thing she pulls a Heel–Face Turn at the end.
• Alternate Species Counterpart: Twilight Sparkle meets Alternate Universe counterparts of her friends who are humans and not ponies, and attend high school together. A.U. Pinkie asks Twilight if she had a twin since she vaguely recalls having seen someone similar with a purple and green dog named Spike in the city, confirming that an A.U. counterpart of Twilight does exist. This alternate Twilight later appears as an antagonist in the third movie.
• Alternate Universe: Twilight goes to one where the ponies are humans in high school, accessed via a Magic Mirror.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: The vast majority of the human characters still use the ponies' wide array of color schemes, though some still fall into normal human skintone ranges by coincidence, most notably Applejack. Big Macintosh and Celestia are standout exceptions, having Caucasian skintones instead of their normal apple red and pure white, respectively. Similarly, Cheerilee and Luna have their coat/hair color schemes reversed because their coats would still be overly dark on screen even if lightened a bit like the other characters.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: Like in the parent show, since the characters are made of Flash objects, they (or parts of them) often appear mirrored. It's more complicated than a simple flip, though; they have a "good side" that, in nearly every shot, starts out facing the camera. When a character turns around while visible in a shot, all of her features remain left-right consistent, and the other side shows. It's more notable with the girls wearing hair decs (Rarity, Fluttershy or Trixie), which flip from one side to the other between shots, or with Twilight's pink hair stripe.
• Ambition is Evil: According to the tie-in comic, Sunset Shimmer's fall from grace began when lured with the power that comes with becoming an alicorn and ruling Equestria, blinding her into believing she can do no wrong.
• Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: Twilight's Element of Magic serves this function in the human world. While unicorn magic is nullified going through the portal, the Element retains its power through the transition.
• Angry Collar Grab: As Twilight first meets human Pinkie Pie and calls her by her name, she grabs the front of Twilight's shirt and excitedly asks if she's a psychic. Pinkie isn't angry, though, just hyper.
• Animal-Eared Headband: Worn by the human Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash as part of the school's cheerleader/mascot outfits, along with makeshift pony-like tails worn around their waists.
• Animal Motifs: Canterlot High School is big on equine motifs. The school's logo is the letter C framed by a horseshoe (or just a horseshoe figuring the letter C), there are horse heads or galloping horses on banners everywhere, the students call themselves Wondercolts and wears pony ears and tails when affirming school spirit, etc. And of course, the statue before the front entrance is that of a Rearing Horse. Clearly, the portal to Equestria might not open often, but it did influence the place.
• Apple of Discord: Long before Twilight arrived, Sunset Shimmer broke the friendship of the human versions of Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash through misinformation: Rainbow Dash was given the wrong date for Applejack's bakesale; Pinkie Pie was told via text to throw a huge party that would scare Fluttershy's animals; and Rarity was told via emails that Pinkie Pie didn't need help setting up decorations for various school functions due to having enough volunteers only to learn later Pinkie set the decorations all up by herself.
• Artistic License – Education: Twilight's crown is mistaken for the Fall Formal crown, so in order to reclaim it, Twilight decides to run for Fall Formal Princess to earn it legitimately. The mere fact that she has to sign up with the principal in order to participate should derail the scheme, because that should involve some sort of process of looking into her academic standing, which would reveal she wasn't enrolled as a student.
• Ascended Meme: Before the show was announced, humanized versions of the ponies were popular subjects of fanart.
• At Arm's Length: During the Keep Away scene, Rainbow Dash keeps Snails at bay with a hand on his face as he's trying to seize the crown. Yes, he has shorter arms than a girl.
• Attack of the Political Ad: Sunset Shimmer tries to destroy Twilight's reputation and keep her out of the running for Princess of the Fall Formal with an embarrassing viral video done in the style of a political attack ad, including gratuitous use of the Photoshop Filter of Evil.
• Audience Shift: Compared to its parent series, this iteration is geared towards older girls, mostly between the ages of 8 to 12.
• Badass Boast: Twilight says one of these when refusing to surrender her Element of Harmony to Sunset, despite the prospect of never being able to return to Equestria.
  Twilight Sparkle: Equestria will find a way to survive without my Element of Harmony. This place might not if I allow it to fall into your hands. So go ahead. Destroy the portal. You are not getting this crown!
• Balloonacy: Pinkie Pie floats up in the air with a heart-shaped balloon she just inflated. Later, she uses a yellow balloon as a ball hopper.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: At the start of the movie, Twilight is having trouble adjusting to her new wings. Later, she becomes human and freaks out over how different her body is, but as Spike points out, she technically doesn't have wings anymore. Twilight doesn't appreciate this.
• Between My Legs: Done twice.
  • First on Twilight when she confronts Sunset Shimmer for bullying Fluttershy.
  • Again on Sunset Shimmer when she confronts Twilight at the portal back to Equestria.
• Big Damn Heroes: Flash Sentry arrives just in time to clear Twilight's name when Sunset frames her for wrecking Pinkie Pie's decorations.
• Big Entrance: In the middle of the flash mob song, Twilight bursts through the cafeteria doors singing the final verse.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Twilight shouts "STOP!" when her new friends' arguing becomes too much for her to put up with.
• Big "WHAT?!": Human Pinkie delivers two in a row when Twilight tells her friends that the Fall Formal must be moved to tomorrow night because Sunset Shimmer ruined Pinkie's decorations for the formal. She tries to do it a third time when Twilight insists the formal must go on tonight, but Applejack slaps her hand across Pinkie's mouth.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sunset Shimmer's mode of operation, at least when she is dealing with someone she can't intimidate into submission^note She can pretty much boss any of the students around, and since the faculty isn't featured much in this movie. You see it once or twice, and it's pointed out by Applejack.
  Applejack: Oh sure, she'll probably approach you all friendly-like. [crudely draws Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle on a pair of balloons, mimics characters] "I sure am looking forward to some friendly competition." "That's so good to hear!" Then, here comes the back-stabbing! [pops the Twilight balloon with a pin taped to the back of the Sunset balloon]
• Blasting Time: After materializing a fireball between her palms, Sunset Shimmer in demon form throws it by raising her arms above her head before bringing it down the Equestria Girls.
• Brick Joke:
  • When human Fluttershy first meets Spike, she remarks that she would love to know what he or other animals were thinking. No points for guessing what she asks immediately upon finding out Spike can talk.
  • A double whammy: Sunset Shimmer tells Snips and Snails to get dirt on Twilight like they did for "the last girl who thought she could challenge me". Later, Fluttershy remarks that Shimmer did the same thing to someone who ran against her at the "Spring Fling" dance. Turns out it was Rarity, who at the end of the movie, remarks that she expects an apology for "last spring's debacle".
• Brought Down to Normal: Twilight goes from a magical Alicorn Princess to an Ordinary High-School Student. She and her new friends get a Magical Girl transformation at the end.
• Buffy Speak: Pony Pinkie Pie coins the term "nervicited" at one point.
  Applejack: You do realize that's not a real word, right?
• Bumbling Henchman Duo: Snips and Snails are a Downplayed version, in that they like to goof around a lot, get on Sunset’s nerves and are even caught up in the heroes’ musical number, but are largely very effective at the tasks they’re assigned. Their only slip-up is actually being too effective at framing Twilight for trashing the Fall Formal preparations to the point where the event is nearly postponed, which Sunset doesn’t want.
• Canine Companion: In the human world, Spike is this to Twilight.
• Care-Bear Stare: In the finale, the girls hit Sunset with a giant Rainbow blast which transforms her back to normal, bawling and apologizing for what she did. Very much like the rainbow-de-brainwash-beam from the Trope Namer franchise.
• Cassandra Truth: Twilight knows that the explanation that she is actually a pony princess from another world looking for a crown that just so happens to resemble the Fall Formal prize is a too far-fetched story to believe, comparing it to what would happen if a human tried explaining their own origins if they came to Equestria. Twilight's suspicions are confirmed when even the rest of the girls don't believe it either, even after Pinkie correctly guesses it, but they quickly change their minds when Spike talks.
• Celestial Deadline: The portal only remains open for three days, and then closes for thirty moons when the moon reaches its peak on the third day.
• Chaos Architecture: Canterlot High for a brief moment — Twilight sees roughly five windows on one wall, yet when she runs towards the school, runs past a lot more than five.
• Character Exaggeration: Due to the film's run time needing to fit in a lot of its own plot, the personalities of the alternate counterparts of Twilight's friends don't get a lot of depth. We see enough of them to recognize they're mostly the same as the originals and their core personality traits as such shine through, but by the end of the film their characterization is limited to "The Mane Five as humans".
• Circle of Friendship: The Equestria Girls form the heart-shaped version for the movie's climax. It functions like a "Friendship Cannon".
• Circling Monologue: In the darkened hallway, Sunset Shimmer circles around Twilight Sparkle while gloating that she already rules the place, while Twilight is new here and clueless about this world.
• Clique Tour: When Twilight tells Fluttershy that she's going to run for Princess of the Fall Formal in order to prevent Sunset Shimmer from getting her crown, Fluttershy tells her that she needs to convince everyone in the school to vote for her and she lists off the cliques of the school: the athletes, the fashionistas, the dramas, the eco-kids, the techies, and the rockers.
• Co-Dragons: The human counterparts of Snips and Snails function as Co-Dragons for Sunset Shimmer because they do her dirty work for her.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Twilight and human Fluttershy's first meeting is an almost word-for-word, cut-for-cut recreation of her first contact with pony Fluttershy.
  • The Crusaders upload a video of them singing the same song as the CMC from "The Show Stoppers" onto YouTube. Cheerilee moves to cut the volume right before the last word of the lyric "When you're a younger pony..."
  • Before heading out on her second day into the school, Twilight takes a deep relaxing breath.
  • During "This Is Our Big Night", Spike tries on a mustache.
  • Human Rainbow Dash says "so awesome", complete with the hands-on-cheeks pose.
  • The photo of the Equestria Girls that human Photo Finish takes towards the end mirrors the photo Princess Celestia gets from the show's normal opening in terms of placement and expressions.
  • Trixie is wearing her magical hat and cape during the post-victory dance.
  • As the now-transformed heroines dance following their victory and their new pony-like forms, Rainbow Dash picks up Scootaloo, and flies with her.
  • Twilight Sparkle does the same awkward dancing she did at the Canterlot Garden Party back when she was a pony (even going down on all-fours). However, this time, Flash Sentry dances in unison with her.
  • When the girls rally together to fix the messed-up gym, Fluttershy lets out a faint "Yay!"
  • Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon do their signature "Bump bump sugar lump rump" dance at the Fall Formal.
  • Principal Celestia says "Happy Thursday" in her morning announcement the same way Princess Celestia said "Happy Tuesday" in "It's About Time".
• Contrived Coincidence: Events on both sides of the mirror require an unbelievable amount of good timing. The Fall Formal just happens to lie within the active period of the mirror, the mirror happens to be in the Crystal Empire, Twilight happens to have been summoned there for an all-princess summit during the same time, and Sunset Shimmer somehow knows all of this and is able to track down Twilight within the castle despite living in a world which (as far as is made clear) has absolutely no magic except the portal which is rarely active.
• Cool Car: Flash Sentry shows up to the dance in a black muscle car, with lightning bolt decals and his T-shirt emblem/cutie mark emblazoned on the hood. And just for kicks, it's similar in design to a modern Ford Mustang.
• Cool Crown: Twilight's crown, which turns out to be a redesigned Element of Magic.
• Cool Gate: The portal to the human world is the plinth of the school's rearing horse statue.
• Costume-Test Montage: The girls have one at Rarity's clothes shop while they prepare for the Fall Formal. Rarity, naturally, has to help them all find the right dress.
• Crash-Into Hello: Twilight bumps into Flash Sentry no less than four times over the course of the film, both his human and pony self combined. Leads into a Meet Cute during the coffee shop scene. Both amusingly point out this trend.
  Flash Sentry: [smiling] We've got to stop bumping into each other like this!
• The Cuckoolander Was Right:
  • The two Pinkies do this. First time:
    Human Pinkie Pie: You're from an alternate world and you're a pony princess there and the crown actually has a magical element embedded in it that helps power up other magical elements and without it they don't work anymore and you need them to help protect your magical world, and if you don't get the crown tonight, you'll be stuck in this world and you won't be able to get back for, like, really, really long time!
  • Second time near the end:
    Pony Pinkie Pie: Totally reminds you of a guy you met in the other world who played guitar and was in a band and helped prove you didn't destroy all the decorations for a big dance, so you could still run for Princess of the big dance, and then asked you to dance at that dance, Right?!
• Cute Clumsy Girl:
  • Twilight Sparkle in spades. Justified in that it takes some time to get used to a completely new human body.
  • There are a few times that Fluttershy gets hit with things thrown to her.
• Dance Party Ending: The dance resumes after the big battle, featuring Twilight's hilariously bad dancing and Scootaloo's chicken dance.
• Dance Sensation: The "Cafeteria Song" (a.k.a. "Helping Twilight Win the Crown") fits with this through its immediate success, and contains some move or dance instructions in the lyrics, including the chorus:
  Jump up, make a sound (Hey!)
  Stomp your hooves, turn around
  Start now, make a change,
  Gonna come around
  Jump up, make a sound (Hey!)
  Stomp your hooves, turn around
  Canterlot, Wondercolts
  Help her win the crown!
• Death Glare: Twilight gives Spike one for making fun of her listmaking.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Sunset changes her tune about The Power of Friendship pretty quickly after witnessing its power firsthand, and is given the opportunity to learn from classmates who are that universe's living embodiment of the Elements of Harmony.
• Delayed "Oh, Crap!": After Luna learns Twilight was innocent thanks to Flash's proof, she keeps her on the ballot but because of the damages to the cafeteria, the dance will have to be postponed until the next night. Twilight does not realize that until after Flash asks her out, to which she begins to panic as she needs her crown back by that night because this is the last night before the portal closes.
• Deus ex Machina: The climax reveals that Twilight doesn't even need the other five elements to be present to tap into their power. Seems like the power of the bond Twilight shared with the human versions of her friends is sufficient to not only allow Twilight to reclaim the powers of the Element of Magic but also summon the powers of the other five elements, which has no basis in the show's actual canon and was never alluded to previous to its use. It's justified in that no-one knows exactly how the Elements of Harmony work in Equestria (least of all Sunset Shimmer, despite what she pretends). Also, there is a line from Twilight about how just wearing the crown isn't the same as wielding its power and that the Magic of Friendship is the combination of the other abstract elements.
• Dispel Magic: As is usually the case in the parent show, the Magic of Friendship's main effect is to dispel dark magic. In the final showdown, it engulfs the demonic Sunset, Snips and Snails into rainbow tornadoes that return them to human form, as well as breaking the mind-control spell cast over the CHS students.
• Don't Explain the Joke: Among other ways Twilight is making a fool of herself before Flash.
  Twilight Sparkle: You know me... always trying to make a big "splash" around here. 'Cause my drink kinda splashed... on the ground.
• Dope Slap: Spike gives one to Twilight when Twilight says "everypony" instead of "everybody" while talking with human Fluttershy.
• Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: After leaving the human world, Twilight runs into the pony version of Flash Sentry.
• Dramatic Wind: Just before the final confrontation, dark clouds gather overhead and the night gets appropriately windy.
• The Dreaded: Sunset Shimmer. After her first confrontation with Twilight, she scares a student into hiding in his locker with little more than a glare.
• Easily Forgiven: Having to rebuild the school's entryway is a pretty light punishment for magically brainwashing the entire student body in a bid to conquer an alternate reality, all things considered. But there's also the social fall-from-grace aspect to consider.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Human Pinkie Pie initially suspects that Twilight Sparkle is hiding something... namely, that she has psychic powers.
• Establishing Character Moment: Sunset Shimmer's first actions when we see her in the human world is her picking on human Fluttershy.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Sunset admits this after she has Snips and Snails kidnap Spike to get Twilight's attention, then immediately releases him when the chase leads to her. She never intended to do anything, it just seemed the most expedient method to get Twilight to meet her.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: Par for the course. The Magic of Friendship manifests itself with rainbows, and at the end a Rainbow Tornado engulfs demon Sunset and brings her back to normal.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Sunset threatens to destroy the portal to Equestria if Twilight doesn't give up her crown, but this fails because Twilight would rather be stuck forever in an alternate reality, subverting Expendable Alternate Universe, than give Sunset the power of her element.
• Evil Feels Good: Subverted. Sunset becomes crazed and power-mad once she transforms but right before, when she puts on the crown, her expression suggests the transformation isn't a pleasant one. Her apologetic tone after transforming back implies that she wasn't fully in control of herself as a demon and that, ultimately, she regrets causing all the mayhem and tearfully begs for forgiveness.
• Evil Is Bigger: At the climax, Sunset Shimmer's transformation doesn't just turn her demonic, but also makes her grow at least twice her normal size. It's especially clear when she lands close to the entrance of the school that she must be at least 10 feet tall. Snips and Snails, on the other hand, don't grow any bigger once transformed.
• Evil Overlooker: Sunset Shimmer's eyes are shown in the mirror above the main cast in the poster above.
• Expendable Alternate Universe: Subverted. Twilight refuses to leave Sunset loose to do whatever she wants in the human world with the Element of Magic because she knows if she left, there'd be no-one to stop her.
• Eye Cam: The first view of the other world beyond the portal is through Twilight's eyes as she's opening them. This delays the reveal of her new body.
• The Faceless: Sunset's face is obscured during the first few moments of her in human form. When she turns around after Twilight shouts in defense of Human Fluttershy, her full face is revealed for the first time.
• Fetal Position Rebirth: Sunset Shimmer shortly takes this posture while turning into her demon form, surrounded by a black flames aura.
• Fireballs: Demon Sunset opens the hostilities against Twilight and the Human Five by tossing a fireball at them.
• Fisher Kingdom: Twilight's arrival in the human world is accompanied by her transformation into a human herself, and Spike the young dragon turns into a puppy dog. Though we don't know if it's a property of the world or of the portal itself.
• Fish out of Water: Unsurprisingly, Twilight Sparkle has some trouble adapting to being human.
• Flapping Cheeks: When Twilight introduces herself to the human Pinkie Pie, Pinkie, surprised that Twilight knows her name, lets go of the end of a balloon she was blowing up, which blasts the air into her face causing her cheeks and lips to be blown back.
• Flashback: One from Fluttershy tells us how she picked up Twilight's crown while standing next to the portal to handle fliers for an animal shelter to the students.
• Flash Mob: The Equestria Girls set up a flash mob in the school cafeteria to get everyone to vote for Twilight.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Sunset Shimmer hints at her plan early on when she claims that Twilight wouldn't have been much safer in Equestria than she is in the human world.
  • When Snips remarks, "Yeah! In Equestria..." it seems like he's just blindly repeating Sunset Shimmer without really knowing what she's talking about. However, this hints that Snips and Snails were fully aware of Sunset Shimmer's plan to take over an alternate world, which was confirmed when they were turned into demons along with Sunset.
  • The entire movie turns out to be foreshadowing for the Reflections arc of the IDW comic, as it hints at the existence of The Multiverse. Remember how Celestia was worried about Twilight disturbing the balance of the alternate world? There's a reason for that...
  • Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are among those who support Twilight for Fall Formal Princess during the big musical number in the cafeteria, hinting toward their Heel–Face Turn in Season 5.
  • At the beginning when Twilight is worried, she thinks Celestia wants her to rule a kingdom of her own. She becomes the eventual successor of Celestia and Luna in the final season opener.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Demons Sunset Shimmer, Snips and Snails have four-fingered claws. Interestingly, the normal humans all have five, in defiance to convention.
• Frame-Up: Sunset Shimmer frames Twilight for trashing the gymnasium to get her out of running for the Fall Formal crown. Fortunately, Flash is able to clear her name at the last minute.
• Gale-Force Sound: Human Pinkie does this with a plastic megaphone during the cafeteria song, or earlier while shouting at Rarity during their dispute.
• Genre Shift: Once Twilight enters the world, it becomes a pretty standard teen comedy fare. Then in the third act it turns into a Magical Girl deal.
• Girliness Upgrade: Compared to the main show, Equestria Girls is much more obviously "girly", most infamously with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who wear skirts. However, the personalities and roles of Twilight and her friends' human counterparts remain pretty much the same as in the main series, such as Rainbow Dash being a soccer ace and loud about how "awesome" she is.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: There's some indication in this movie and the sequels that turning into a demon was not what Sunset was intending to do with the Element of Magic and instead things went wrong.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: The Big Bad and her minions with bat wings vs. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy's feathered wings after both groups use Twilight's crown to transform.
• Group Hug:
  • While Twilight is doing her Friendship Speech to Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie grabs Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash (despite the latter flying above the ground) to hug them.
  • Twilight gets hugged by her five new friends as a departing gesture just before she leaves through the portal.
• Hair Reboot: Pinkie Pie tries a few Improbable Hairstyles during "This Is Our Big Night", but it quickly poofs back to her usual frizzy hair.
• Hammerspace: Applejack doesn't part with her lasso even when in formal dress; thankfully it stays stored in Hammerspace until needed.
• Hammerspace Hair: Human Pinkie takes a pen and a clipboard out of her hair.
• Hand Gagging: After two consecutive Big "WHAT?!" coming from Pinkie Pie, Applejack slaps a hand over her mouth to prevent a third.
• Hands Looking Wrong: When Twilight Sparkle goes through the portal (transforming into a human) she freaks out over her transformed hands.
• Head Desk: Twilight's reaction after seeing the embarrassing video made by Sunset Shimmer, and saying that no-one is going to vote for her now, is to slam her face against the desk she's sitting at.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: This is the reason the Circle of Friendship formed by Twilight's friends protected her from Sunset Shimmer's magic.
  Twilight Sparkle: The crown may be upon your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it, because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all: The Magic of Friendship!
• High-Pressure Emotion: After Sunset Shimmer pushes Applejack's hat into her face while mocking her, the top of the hat pops up from the pressure of the steam emitted by the red-faced, irate cowgirl.
• High School AU: The human world where many familiar pony faces are attending (or teaching at) Canterlot High. Besides the Mane Six, clearly humanized versions of Celestia and Luna (as principals), the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Snips and Snails, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Big Macintosh, Cheerilee (as a teacher), Granny Smith (as a lunch lady), Mr. and Mrs. Cake (as coffee shop owners), Photo Finish, DJ Pon-3, and Trixie all show up throughout the movie. Even a humanized version of a certain blond and gray mare with wonky eyes shows up in the lower right corner of the screen during the "Cafeteria Song" number, and at the end of the credits with a muffin in her hands.
• High-School Dance: The Fall Formal; naturally, the portal closes the night it occurs. A similar dance, the Spring Fling is also mentioned to have happened prior to the movie.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Sunset isn't willing to threaten Spike, but she is willing to threaten to destroy the portal to Equestria if Twilight doesn't surrender her crown.
• How Do I Shot Web?: In contrast to the ending of the season 3 finale, Twilight can't manage to fly more than a few feet off the ground, and only then for a few seconds. Getting her wings to remain folded during sleep is also an issue. Likewise, adapting to walking as a human and using fingers takes some time.
• Huddle Shot: The five girls are seen huddled above Twilight Sparkle, after she falls from exhaustion from the match against Rainbow Dash.
• Human-Focused Adaptation: The first My Little Pony (Generation 4) movie, the first theatrically premiered^note A limited 200-or-so screen release provided by cinema advertising fulfiller Screenvision My Little Pony movie since 1986... and the plot is about human versions of ponies. Although it isn't played totally straight since the characters have been transformed or re-imagined as humans, rather than introducing completely new human characters. And of course the main character is still a unicorn turned into a human.
• Human Hummingbird: A few times, notably when Twilight is first trying to walk upright. She also does the multiple-vision version when human Fluttershy almost bull-rushes her on seeing Spike.
• Humanity Ensues: The inhabitants of the other world are humans, albeit ones with technicolor skin. Ponies from Equestria get turned into one upon arrival as seen with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. Spike gets a variation on this by being transformed into a dog.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Sunset Shimmer has this power once she gets the crown, though she doesn't actually need eye contact to do it.
• Hypocrite:
  • Applejack calls Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity out for bickering with each other for something the other supposedly did instead of moving on. When Rarity points out that Applejack still has a grudge against Rainbow Dash, AJ says it's different because RD made a liar out of her.
  • Sunset is one, as well. She confronts Fluttershy at one point, telling her she shouldn't take things that don't belong to her. This is, of course, after Sunset herself went through all the trouble of stealing Twilight's crown and stealing the cheap replica that would have been the crown for the Fall Formal. She also taunts Twilight about how she doesn't belong in the human world when she herself is also from Equestria. Then she mocks her when she doesn't know what happens when an Element of Harmony is brought into a new world, even though it is revealed later that Sunset didn't fully understand what would happen herself.
• I Choose to Stay:
  • Twilight, when Sunset threatens to destroy the portal back to Equestria if Twilight doesn't relinquish the crown. Fortunately, Sunset was bluffing.
  • Sunset herself after everything is said and done. Though it may come off as a self-imposed punishment for her actions.
• I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: When Spike questions how Twilight plans to become Princess of the Fall Formal, Twilight "enthusiastically" says, "I have no idea!"
• I Just Knew: Twice, both involving Pinkie: First, when Twilight prepares to confess to her human friends who she really is and what she's doing there, human Pinkie says it for her instead, uncannily right down to the very last detail; pony Pinkie later does the exact same thing when Twilight appears to have a crush on a guard pony because he reminds her of Flash Sentry. Both times, an exchange like this happens:
  Twilight Sparkle: How did you know about that?
  Pinkie Pie: Just a hunch!
• The Illegible: When Twilight signs up for the fall formal, Pinkie Pie can barely read her writing. Of course, this is because she's not used to having hands and usually writes through unicorn telekinesis.
• Improbable Hairstyle Sequence: During the song "This Is Our Big Night", Pinkie Pie tries out a few Improbable Hairstyles in front of the mirror, including one shaped like a swan and another sporting a miniature ship on top. Flattening her hairdo, however, just result in it poofing back to its usual curls.
• I Never Told You My Name: Twilight addresses the human versions of Pinkie Pie and Applejack by name despite them not saying anything beforehand. From this, Pinkie Pie erroneously concludes Twilight is psychic.
• Intentional Mess Making: Sunset gets the human versions of Snips and Snails to wreck the gym so that she can take photos and edit them to make it look like Twilight did the deed.
• In Spite of a Nail: The human world, despite being basically magic-free and technological development being drastically greater than the pony world, has the human counterparts of the various characters taking on more or less similar roles. The Equestria Girls (sans Twilight) were all friends prior to Sunset Shimmer sabotaging their relationship, and have all fallen into roles fitting those of their counterparts. The Crusaders are still friends, their desire for cutie marks translated here as similar ill-conceived attempts at being popular. Celestia and Luna run the school. Even Twilight's counterpart being absent fits with Twilight herself not coming to Ponyville until made to do so.
• Instant Cosplay Surprise:
  • Magic variant: the portal provides an appropriate wardrobe for Twilight in addition to the physical changes. Although when she realizes this, the fact that she's now human understandably freaks her out much more than the sudden apparition of clothes.
  • Human Rarity later pulls an ordinary one on Twilight, putting her in a new dress and a blonde wig in a flash. This is so that the student body wouldn't recognize and mock her any longer after the embarrassing videos of Twilight show up on the Net.
• Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!:
  • The human Crusaders uploaded their song onto YouTube and the reactions range from "Epic Fail" to "Hilariously Funny" (predictably, the latter is what they draw inspiration from).
  • Sunset Shimmer then gets Snips and Snails to record Twilight as she's figuring out how to move and act as a human, and then uploads the results to discredit and humiliate her.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Both Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer are technically ponies from Equestria transformed into humans, and one of them has dated Flash Sentry (human) in the past while the other is being hit on by him, with implied reciprocation.
  • There's also Spike the Dog's obvious crush on human Rarity, as well as his crush on pony Rarity as a dragon.
• In the Hood: Sunset Shimmer uses this while stealing the crown.
• Irony: Sunset Shimmer pulls a fast one on Twilight Sparkle by teleporting at the last second just before colliding into her. Similar to what Twilight did when she was faced with Nightmare Moon.
• Jaw Drop: This is Twilight and Spike's reactions when the human Pinkie Pie guesses up their whole situation entirely on a hunch.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • It's clear that the human versions of Twilight's friends feel this way when they realize Sunset Shimmer is the one who ruined their friendship. It's especially evident with Applejack as she guiltily admits she stopped talking to Rainbow Dash altogether instead of questioning her about that suspicious e-mail falsely saying the softball team would be coming to AJ's bake sale.
  • It's also apparent that when they pulled a Care-Bear Stare against demon Sunset Shimmer, this was the result.
• Keep Away: The girls toss the crown between each other to keep Snips and Snails from grabbing it for Sunset Shimmer. It backfires when Twilight fails to check her throw.
• Kick the Dog: Sunset Shimmer pulls off this trope a few times, ranging from bullying to framing Twilight to attempted murder.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Since this is set after Season 3, Twilight Sparkle is an Alicorn Princess now (before heading off into the Alternate Universe, anyways).
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Demon Sunset Shimmer somewhat staring at the audience while saying "Spoiler alert!"
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Applejack says this after she and the others find out Twilight is a pony princess from Equestria.
• Loyal Phlebotinum: When Sunset attempts to destroy Twilight with the Element of Magic, it fails because it recognizes Twilight as its true wielder and not Sunset, which causes Twilight and her human friends to transform and use Equestrian magic to defeat her.
• Luminescent Blush: About every other moment Twilight spends with Flash, which signifies her crush.
• MacGuffin Melee: After losing the Fall Formal title and failing to blackmail Twilight into giving up the crown, Sunset snaps and lunges at her, and the crown is tossed between Twilight and her friends as they try to keep it away from Sunset, Snips and Snails. However, it ends up getting tossed to Sunset by mistake, allowing her to finally don it.
• Made-for-TV Movie: Announced as such by John A. Frascotti at the Hasbro New York Toy Fair 2013 Investor Event, though its premiere date, theatrical release date, and DVD & Blu-ray release date all turned out to precede its television airdate.
• Mage in Manhattan: Sunset Shimmer is a unicorn-born, and seeks Twilight's Element of Magic in order to have enough power for her Evil Plan of conquest. Except it's not the human world she wants to conquer, but Equestria. She "conquered" Canterlot High through mundane social engineering.
• Magic Mirror: The portal in Equestria, that Twilight enters the other universe through, looks like a full-body mirror.
• Magic Skirt: Most of the humanized female ponies wear skirts (although Rainbow Dash wears bike shorts underneath), so naturally this trope is in full effect. It's a kid's show, remember?
• Masquerade: Humanity still sees things like "magic" as imaginary and for the most part it is, but with an inter-dimensional portal leading to Equestria, and the Elements of Harmony still existing within the universe, it's almost safe to say magic does indeed exist on Earth. Basically every student at Canterlot High knows it by the end.
• Mass Hypnosis: Sunset inflicts this on nearly everyone in the school, including Flash, turning them into her personal zombie slaves to invade Equestria.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • Twilight's friends when Celestia tells them they cannot go with her through the mirror and its consequences.
  • The students when they come outside to see Sunset's transformation.
• Match Cut: After Twilight mistakenly walks into the boys' restroom, the "man" logo on the door fades to Twilight standing in the hallway on the same spot.
• Meaningful Echo: "We've got to stop bumping into each other like this."
• Mentor's New Hope: Sunset Shimmer herself implies that Twilight Sparkle was Celestia's new hope after Sunset decided to seek power for its own sake.
• Merchandise-Driven: Almost goes without saying, Hasbro is releasing a new doll line with the movie.
• Metaphorgotten: After Pinkie Pie tells Twilight that Rainbow Dash is the captain of practically every sports team at Canterlot High, Applejack says "She's also the captain of sayin' she's gonna do somethin' for ya and then turnin' around and not even botherin' to show up."
• Mickey Mousing: A great deal of it when Twilight first discovers she's a human. Every wiggle of her fingers and movement (along with her scream) is accompanied by a different musical sting.
• Mind-Control Eyes: Demon Sunset Shimmer gives to every Canterlot High student she's controlling eyes alight with a Sickly Green Glow.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body:
  • Spike is prompt to get into dog-like habits, scratching his ear with the rear leg, barking, wagging his tail, eating dog biscuits or growling toward Sunset Shimmer.
  • Twilight Sparkle shows some mannerisms that are typical of a teenage human girl, and make no sense for a pony, like toying with her hair whenever Flash is mentioned. Her whole infatuation toward Flash Sentry can in fact be interpreted as a case of this.
• Mirror Reveal: When Twilight enters the human world, she is shocked by her new human features but is unaware of what she is just yet. She gets a look at her own image for the first time in the reflection of the trophy case inside Canterlot High, which is when she realizes she's become a human.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Twilight briefly imagines a mirror shows her pony form instead of her human one.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Fluttershy trying to pass out pamphlets in front of the school as no-one pays attention to her, and she then curls up in a Troubled Fetal Position in front of the Wondercolt Statue, is played as a sad and pitiable moment... then juxtaposed with some light slapstick as the Element of Magic crown shoots out of the portal and hits her in the back of the head.
  • Twilight's crowning at the Fall Formal immediately takes a backseat to Snips and Snails dog-napping Spike.
• Morphic Resonance: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle and Spike all still look like themselves when turned into human girls or a dog, respectively; Spike even mentions it. Twilight keeps the same hairstyle and skin color as her pony form, and her cutie mark is embroidered on her skirt. The same can be said of all the characters with pony equivalents, but here it isn't through shapechange but alternate-universe counterparts.
• Mr. Exposition: Princess Celestia's role is to talk about who Sunset Shimmer is and what the mirror can do.
• Mundane Made Awesome: "The Great and Powerful Trrrixie!... needs some peanut-butter crackers."
• Mundane Utility: Subverted. Twilight learns that she doesn't have magic in the human world when she can't open doors with telekinesis.
• Musical Chores: Singing "Fix It Up" while cleaning up the gym.
• Musical World Hypothesis: Generally the "All in Their Heads" type, as every song in the movie is sung offscreen during a montage, the only onscreen one being the Cafeteria Song.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After her defeat, Sunset Shimmer immediately cries and apologizes for the way she acted. When Twilight tells her that friendship exists in places other than Equestria, she admits to not knowing about friendship since all she's been doing is driving everyone apart.
• My God, You Are Serious!: A variation; human Pinkie takes a wild and disturbingly accurate guess at why Twilight is in the human world, but of course the rest of the girls don't believe it one bit. Then Spike opens his mouth to confirm it.
• My Greatest Failure: Sunset Shimmer's fall from grace is heavily implied and eventually confirmed to be this for Princess Celestia. Your first pupil turning evil would definitely weigh heavily on one's shoulders.
• My Instincts Are Showing: Played for Laughs as Twilight takes some time getting adjusted to being a human. Later Played for Drama when Sunset uses this to humiliate her.
• Near-Villain Victory: Twilight is framed for destroying the gym by Sunset to be kicked out of the ballot for Fall Formal Princess, but she is saved by Flash at the last minute. If Flash hadn't found the pictures in the trash to prove Twilight's innocence, Sunset would have won.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers largely focused on the High School AU aspects of the movie, leaving out Sunset Shimmer's plans, the Magical Girl transformations, and the more supernatural aspects.
• New Transfer Student: Twilight's explanation for her arrival at Canterlot High School is transferring from another school. In fact, it is a Sure, Let's Go with That when someone else suggests it. Sunset Shimmer must have used the same cover story when she arrived several years earlier.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Sunset Shimmer hadn't returned to Equestria to steal an Element of Harmony in the first place, CHS would still be divided into cliques, the Equestria Girls would still be ex-friends, and Sunset herself would still be a Manipulative Bitch.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: Human Cheerilee says this during the Crusaders' (loud) attempt to watch their music video in the school library.
• No Song for the Wicked: Sunset Shimmer doesn't sing a note in this film.
• Non-Indicative Name: Most of the movie doesn't take place in Equestria.
• Non-Serial Movie: The movie is set after Season 3, howeverinvoked Word of God states that it won't have an effect on Season 4.
• Noodle Incident: What did happen at last year's Spring Fling, and what exactly was the heinous thing that Sunset Shimmer did to the girl running against her, strongly implied to be Rarity? For what it's worth, the Novelization goes into more detail on this: Sunset had Snips and Snails covertly record Rarity pretending that a mannequin at the boutique where she worked was a prince and asking "him" for a kiss.
• Noodle People: The human forms, where Twilight's stomach is only slightly thicker than her neck. Averted with Celestia and Luna, who have more realistic proportions. Maybe it's just all the gangly teens?
• No Ontological Inertia: Any lingering changes wrought in the human world by Twilight's crown are instantly reverted when the portal closes, including all the Magical Girl transformations — much to the discomfort of Rainbow's tush, who was still flying when her wings vanishes.
• Novelization: One was written by G.M. Berrow, the author of Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell and Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party It differs significantly from the film even though the basic structure is still there, and it mentions the events of Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell at the beginning.
• Oblivious Transformation: The transformations produced due to crossing the portal between the Pony and Human worlds are barely noticeable. In fact, Twilight doesn't even notice that she is a human until a dog-turned Spike tells her she has changed as well.
• The One Guy: With Spike being a (talking) dog in the Alternate Universe and no other major male character from the series appearing in this role^note a human Big Macintosh makes a couple of cameos and Shining Armor is completely absent, Flash Sentry fills this spot in the movie.
• One-Winged Angel: Sunset Shimmer turns into a demonic form after getting her hands on Twilight's crown. This cues up the climatic final battle.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: When Sunset tries to use the Element of Magic against Twilight, it does not work and is able to tell she is the true bearer, giving her and her human friends the power to defeat Sunset and return everything to normal.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Rarity briefly loses her accent in certain places, most noticeably while planning for the Flash Mob, sounding more like Pepper Clark.
• Orbital Shot: Twilight has one during the cafeteria song at one point in her verse.
• Painful Transformation: From the look of it, Sunset Shimmer's transformation into a demon is no walk in the park. The moment she put the crown on and it starts, she looks worried. After that she is crying, then yelling, her face twisted in pain.
• "Pan from the Sky" Beginning: The film starts with a shot of the moon and three stars before panning down to reveal a bird's eye view of the Crystal Empire and the train station.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Rarity attempts to disguise Twilight with a wig and new dress the day after Snips and Snails' video hits. It instantly fails as the rest of the other girls find them.
• Photoshop Filter of Evil: Sunset Shimmer's attack ad meant to discredit Twilight Sparkle as a candidate for Princess of the Fall Formal features putting a negative filter over footage of Twilight's clumsy attempts to do research in the school library.
• Pillar of Light: Sunset Shimmer is engulfed in a rising pillar of light the moment she put the crown on her head.
• Pilot Movie: A variation. This is the pilot movie for a spin-off of television movies, rather than another series.
• Playful Cat Smile: In a 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.
• Plot Hole: Sunset Shimmer has an unexplained knowledge of the goings-on in Equestria despite being cut off from it for years.
  • She somehow knows about Twilight, despite having left for the human world well before Twilight entered Celestia's school.
  • She inexplicably knows what the Element of Magic is, even though it was a complete mystery before Twilight rediscovered it. Even more inexplicably, Sunset somehow knows that taking an Element of Harmony into another world would let her use it. (The All There in the Manual handwave that the notes from which Sunset learned of the other world could have contained that info begs the question how whoever wrote that would know.)
  • For some reason, she knows that there's a princess summit going on in the Crystal Empire (a completely unfamiliar place to her) during the exact same time that the portal reopens. She also somehow knows which room Twilight is staying in.
• Poor Communication Kills: Sunset Shimmer's efforts to break up the human versions of Twilight's friends would have been easily foiled had they actually discussed what happened instead of pointing fingers at each other.
• Portal Slam: Pinkie smashes into the statue's plinth while chasing Twilight when she returns to Equestria.
  Pinkie Pie: Oh, bummer!
• P.O.V. Cam:
  • Upon emerging from the portal, the point of view is through Twilight's eyes. The first thing she sees is a ladybug, then Spike turned into a dog, and then... her brand-new hands. Cue Skyward Scream.
  • We get another shot from Twilight's viewpoint during the Huddle Shot, as she's sprawled on the ground.
• Power Echoes:
  • Sunset Shimmer's voice echoes after going One-Winged Angel.
  • When Twilight Sparkle announces each of her friends' Element of Harmony during the Magical Girl transformations, her voice echoes a lot.
• Power Floats: After the transformation into Magical Girls, even those without wings effortlessly float in the air.
• The Power of Friendship: As expected of a spin-off to a series subtitled "Friendship Is Magic", friendship is central to the entire movie. The first thing Twilight has to do upon arriving in the human world is rebuild the friendships between the alt-Six, the Big Bad comes from a Friendless Background, and friendship is the key to defeating her, just to name a few of the most obvious ways it figures into the story.
• Power-Strain Blackout: The Magic of Friendship saves the day, but it's still straining for the human girls who wield it. After dispelling Sunset Shimmer's demonic transformation and mind-control magic, the six protagonists are seen lying on the floor, looking drained. Twilight even seems unconscious for a few seconds until Spike licks her face.
• The Pratfall: When Twilight crosses the portal back to Equestria with the Element of Magic, she causes the earlier Magical Girl transformations of the Equestria Girls to revert. Rainbow Dash is flying at the time with her brand-new wings, and she falls on her tush when they disappear.
• Precious Puppy: Spike gets turned into a baby dog instead of a baby dragon. Human-world Rarity and Fluttershy find him adorable.
• Prolonged Prologue: About three and a half minutes pass until the title sequence begins.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Twilight is insecure about her new princess duties with Spike and wonders if she'll have something to rule over herself, Spike replies, "That! Would! Be! Awesome!" Twilight then mimics him, "No! It! Would! Not!"
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Sunset Shimmer was Celestia's pupil before Twilight Sparkle. Celestia explains that she ran away when she wasn't able to gain power as quickly as she wanted. The tie-in comic clarifies that it was her interest in the mirror, and her belief that it could somehow turn her into a princess, that eventually drove Celestia to suspend her studies since she was clearly too selfish to ever become one.
• Putting the Band Back Together: At the start of the film, the Equestria Girls all utterly despise each other for various reasons thanks to Sunset Shimmer, and Twilight has to convince them to let go of their hatred and get along. The only exception is Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who still seem to get along fine.
• Race Against the Clock: Twilight only has three days to get her crown and get back to Equestria before the portal closes again for thirty moons.
• Rack Focus: When Twilight discovers the changes upon emerging from the portal, the focus switch from Spike to her own, new five-fingered appendages.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Twilight delivers one after Flash asks her out to the Fall Formal, making it look like she rejected him. Her response was actually towards the Fall Formal being moved past the Celestial Deadline. She clears it up later.
  Flash Sentry: One "no" would've been fine!
• Rearing Horse: The statue atop of the portal leading to Equestria is one of a rearing horse. The school students call themselves the Canterlot "Wondercolts", after all.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Upon realizing that Twilight has followed her into the human world, Sunset smugly tells her that she's had more than enough time to take over the school, and Twilight can't hope to stop her in a world she is utterly unfamiliar with. Twilight then returns the favor, telling Sunset that despite having the Element of Magic on her head, she completely failed to understand and wield its true power, a power which the Equestria Girls were able to use even without Twilight wearing the crown.
• Recycled Title: "Equestria Girls" was already used by a Hub music video of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and ininvoked The Merch based◊ on said music video. Also technically the cafeteria song fans commonly refer to as "Helping Twilight Win the Crown" is listed as "Equestria Girls" in the credits.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. the former being the ambitious and brash Red Oni, and the latter being the humble and timid Blue Oni, both figuratively and literally in terms of hair color, though later on they do mix some traditionally red or blue traits like both being very studious and tending to worry about things when under pressure.
• Replaced with Replica: While stealing the crown, Sunset Shimmer swaps it with a fake lookalike while Twilight is sleeping.
• The Resenter: Towards the end of the movie, it becomes clear that Big Bad Sunset Shimmer is jealous of Twilight Sparkle, because Twilight managed to earn and achieve everything Sunset could not: the power, adoration, and crown that Twilight had never asked for yet Sunset had always desired. Her reaction to the way Twilight's friends praise her as a princess and her insistence that the crown is hers, shows that resentment and inches her closer to her Villainous Breakdown.
• Retcon: The beginning of the movie shows Twilight is not used to her wings yet, and cannot fly well as a result. However at the end of "Magical Mystery Cure", she flies perfectly, without a problem. This also occurs in the Season 4 premiere.
• Voiceofthe Legion: Sunset Shimmer in her demonic form.
• The Reveal: The crown Twilight received at her coronation, which appears to be modeled after the Element of Magic, is actually the Element as mentioned by Celestia after it gets stolen.
• Rings of Activation: When Sunset Shimmer dons Princess Twilight's crown containing the Element of Magic, she's engulfed by a series of glowing rings that coalesce into a Pillar of Light, marking the start of a Transformation Sequence into a demonic figure.
• Rule of Symbolism: Sunset Shimmer's cutie mark and T-shirt art prominently features a Yin-Yang Bomb, symbolizing her potential for remaining a villain or turning good.
• Rule of Three: The gateway to the human world opens for three days, then it closes for thirty moons.
• Running on All Fours: Right after going through the Portal and being transformed into a human, Twilight at first tries running on all fours like a pony. Then, from the weird look a bystander is giving her, she realizes that she is not supposed to move that way.
• Sadistic Choice: During the confrontation with Sunset in the courtyard, Sunset forces Twilight to either give her the crown, or she will destroy the portal and trap her forever.
• Satellite Character: Spike is characterized in this film mainly by his incredible loyalty and devotion to Twilight. In a perfect example of Tropes Are Not Bad, he is also hilarious and plays a huge part in helping Twilight adapt to her new body and surroundings.
• Satellite Love Interest: Flash Sentry has received quite a bit of criticism for this reason. He looks nice, helps Twilight twice, plays a guitar, generally seems to be a Nice Guy, was Sunset Shimmer's ex-boyfriend, and his equine counterpart is a guard in Cadance's castle. And that's all we ever know about him.
• Save Both Worlds: Twilight has to get her crown back from Sunset, both because it could do harm to that world and without it the other Elements have no power.
• Script-Reading Doors: The front doors of Canterlot High are amazingly plot-sensitive. When Twilight walks into one it stays closed, but then the much smaller Spike is able to push it open with one paw. Later on, the same door stays closed when Spike pushes on it with his full weight.
• Secret Test of Character: Rainbow Dash insists on a game of one-on-one soccer before she'll help Twilight. Rainbow Dash utterly curbstomps Twilight (5-0 effortlessly!). She agrees to help anyway because the point wasn't to see if Twilight can beat her at soccer, but to see if Twilight has the resolve and the courage to face an obviously superior opponent if she needs to, in order to do what she feels is important.
• Ship Tease: In the human world, Twilight develops a crush on Flash Sentry and they dance together at the High-School Dance. The movie ends with Twilight going back to Equestria and bumping into Flash's pony counterpart, a member of the Royal Guard. She blushes and her friends tease her a little. A tease, because Word of God says Flash Sentry won't be in Season 4 of FIM.
• Shout-Out: Has its own subpage.
• Skyward Scream: Twilight Sparkle lets out a shriek of shock and horror toward the sky when she realizes she's been turned into a human.
• Smart Ball: Spike is pretty on the ball throughout the film, easily picking up on the nuances of the human world and guiding Twilight through them as best he can. He's taking the whole transformation scene rather calmly, unlike Twilight who freaks out considerably.
• Something Else Also Rises: Flash Sentry with his guitar during Twilight's verse of "Helping Twilight Win the Crown".
• So Much for Stealth: Subverted and then played straight. While swapping out Twilight Sparkle's crown with a fake knockoff, Sunset Shimmer almost knocks a lamp to the ground but magically catches it before it could break, and Twilight and Spike don't stir; but when she attempts to sneak out, Spike happens to stick out his tail while sleeping, causing Sunset to trip and come crashing into the wall, which wakes up Twilight and Spike and they see the crown is stolen. After realizing she's been spotted, Sunset gives up on stealth and gallops away as fast as she could, with Twilight chasing after her and barely managing to tackle her before Sunset breaks loose and escapes through the Crystal Mirror.
• The Song Before the Storm: The cafeteria song, which is sung before Sunset's Frame-Up on Twilight.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • If Spike hadn't stuck his tail out while sleeping, he wouldn't have tripped over Sunset Shimmer when stealing Twilight's crown, which in turn wakes up the two and realize the theft, kicking off the conflict of the film.
  • Human Fluttershy. If she wasn't standing next to the portal when Twilight's crown flew through it (and it wasn't a few seconds ahead of Sunset Shimmer because she was delayed by the ponies in Equestria) and then picked it up to bring it to Principal Celestia, Sunset Shimmer could have immediately used it to turn into a demon and gain control of the school. Twilight Sparkle would have been too late to stop her, and lacking friends in this world at the time there would be nothing she could do against demon Sunset.
  • Sunset's plan to frame Twilight for destroying the gym to get her out of the ballot would've worked had not Flash eavesdropped on her and found the actual photos of Twilight in the trash to prove her innocence.
• Spectacular Spinning: The Transformation Sequence of the Equestria Girls to their anthropony form features a few spins, showing off the new designs. Quite typical of the Magical Girl transformations that inspired it, really.
• Spin-Off: The movie's canon status regarding the series is a bit vague, especially given the lack of pony Flash Sentry. He only has two appearances in season 4, and even then the first one was just thrown in by an animator with no input from anyone else on the staff.
• Spit Take: Applejack spits fizzy apple juice upon hearing that Twilight will be competing against Sunset for princess of the Fall Formal.
• Squee: Both versions of Pinkie Pie do this — human Pinkie after "guessing" what Twilight is doing in high school, and pony Pinkie after figuring out what went on between her and human Flash.
• Stalker Shot:
  • Sunset Shimmer has three of them when spying on Twilight and her human friends throughout the film. First behind the bleachers following the one-on-one soccer game against Rainbow, second from the cafeteria doors when she sees all of the school supporting Twilight's election for Fall Formal Princess, and finally from the janitor's closet when her Frame-Up failed and the dance is back on.
  • Flash Sentry has one as he is watching Sunset from the gym doors as she is telling on Luna and blaming Twilight for the destruction of the dance decorations.
• Stealth Pun: Flash's car, while not distinctly resembling any specific make and model, is clearly a pony car.
• Stepford Smiler: Human Cheerilee shows signs of this, and of being an Apathetic Teacher, when Twilight has to ask for help with the computer. She has this pained look on her face and needs to take a deep breath before turning to help Twilight.
• The Stinger: At the very end of the credits, a humanized Derpy is seen dancing with a muffin.
• Stock Scream: A Wilhelm scream is heard when demon Sunset starts flying toward the students after she breaks away the school wall.
• Stock Sound Effect:
  • Fluttershy's shy "I'm Fluttershy" squeak from the first episode is used again when she was crying in her flashback.
  • The laughter heard when the Equestria Girls arrive at the Canterlot High Fall Formal is the same clip of laughter heard at the end of Pinkie Pie's "Giggle at the Ghosties" song.
• Stronger Than They Look: As they are cleaning up the mess left by Snips and Snails, Twilight struggles to drag away a table so two jocks come in to help her, picking it up together. As they carry it off, Applejack passes them while casually carrying another table like it weighs nothing.
• Stumbling in the New Form: When Twilight emerges from the portal in a human's body, she tries to walk on all fours like a pony. When she sees a normal human walking, she starts flailing around on two legs trying to keep her balance.
• Suddenly Shouting: While planning how to restore Twilight's reputation, Human Rarity suddenly screams "I'VE GOT IT!!!!!", which gets the attention of the whole café.
• Super-Empowering: In the climax, the Element of Magic rebels against Sunset and gives Twilight and her five friends the ability to "pony up" and use the Elements to defeat her. The sequels reveal this is permanent and they're now basically Magical Girls.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Twilight meets Human Fluttershy and has to come up with a story fast:
  Fluttershy: Did you just transfer here from another school?
  Twilight: Uh, yes! Another... school.
• Taking the Bullet: During the final showdown with Sunset Shimmer, when Sunset throws a fireball at Twilight, all five other girls leap around Twilight to shield her. Fortunately The Power of Friendship keeps them from getting hurt.
• Talking Animal: When Spike comes to the human world, he changes from a talking dragon to a talking dog, which is still pretty unbelievable by that world's standards.
• Tastes Like Disdain: When Sunset Shimmer comes to supervise the decoration of the gym for the Fall Formal, she's not happy with Applejack's choice of drinks.
  Sunset Shimmer: Fizzy apple cider? Ugh! This is my coronation, not a hoedown!
• Team Hand-Stack: Twilight and her human friends have one as they decide to fix up the gym in time for the Fall Formal.
• Tears of Remorse: Sunset, when she finally understands The Power of Friendship, is bawling at how severely she screwed up.
• Tempting Fate: Sunset Shimmer saying "I'm not a monster..." can be seen as this, considering that a few minutes later she does become a monster, both in appearance and behavior.
• Theme Music Power-Up: The climactic Magical Girls Transformation Sequence of Twilight and friends is accompanied by a reprise of the movie's opening theme tune.
• There Are No Adults: Played straight with the human world — aside from Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna, the only other adults are cameos with no effect on the plot (Granny Smith, Cheerilee, and Mr. & Mrs. Cake). The absolute lack of parents is puzzling; the total absence of law enforcement after the giant fire-demon demolishes the front of the school totally boggles the mind.
• Third-Act Misunderstanding: When Flash Sentry asks Twilight out to the Fall Formal after it gets delayed a day, Twilight panics that she's going to miss her Celestial Deadline to return home and says "no" dozens of times. Flash, of course, mistakes this as a rejection. Downplayed, as it neither detracts from nor adds to their relationship, and Flash just asks again later, whereupon the confusion is cleared up.
• This Is Something She's Got to Do Herself: Celestia insists that Twilight alone has to find her crown, since all of her friends going through the portal could upset the balance between the worlds (and the resulting twin scenario at least would have been quite awkward). Spike ends up diving through anyway. ^note  Supposedly, she could go back and forth for advice, but she doesn't think of this.
• Title Drop: In the novelization, the narration occasionally refers to the human Mane Six as "the Equestria Girls". Which becomesinvoked Hilarious in Hindsight when Legend of Everfree's TV Guide description picks up the trend.
• Transformation Sequence:
  • Sunset Shimmer starts her transformation by rising in a Pillar of Light; then the change courses over her body, she curls into a fetal position surrounded by black flames and it concludes with a blinding light. From the look on her face, it's a Painful Transformation.
  • This happens to the Equestria Girls at the end, Magical Girl style, complete with Unusual Ears, wings (for the pegasi and alicorn), hair resembling tails, an outfit change (made more sparkly, to be specific), and a Theme Music Power-Up.
• Tropey, Come Home: Snips and Snails dog-napping Spike. This hits Twilight hard since she has known him since fillyhood.
• Twisted-Knee Collapse: Twilight Sparkle does one when she realizes she's become a human. Ouch?
• Two Scenes, One Dialogue:
  Fluttershy: Who was that?
  [cuts to next morning]
  Celestia: Sunset Shimmer, a former student of mine.
• Two-Teacher School: Canterlot High's only visible staff are Principal Celestia, Vice-Principal Luna, Cheerilee who can be seen writing on a blackboard in a class and who helps Twilight in the library, and Granny Smith as a lunch lady. Other than that, there's way more students than these four faculty members.
• Unusual Ears: Some promotional art and the dolls give the girls pony ears. They're part of a Magical Girl style transformation during the movie's climax and go away once Twilight returns home.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The film ends with the Equestria Girls and Sunset Shimmer going through magical transformations and having a showdown in full view of everybody. Note that this is a universe where magic is thought not to exist. The students and faculty seem to take this in stride, though they're a little weirded out by Spike.
• Urban Fantasy: The contemporary, Earthlike alternate universe lacks magic, but the movie qualifies for this trope in a couple of ways:
  • The main character and villain get there by magic.
  • Spike can speak while in dog form.
  • The trope is fully embraced in the climax when Sunset Shimmer goes One-Winged Angel and the Equestria Girls get Magical Girl transformations.
• Vague Age: In Equestria, there is an implied age gap between Twilight and Sunset (though they can't be too far apart since Sunset's pony form is the same size as the Mane Six). On "Earth", they are in the same grade. Similarly, several ponies that are working adults in Equestria are still in High School in the other world and characters who are millennia old in Equestria are adults well below middle age.
• Vengeful Vending Machine: Twilight's first encounter with a vending machine in the human world goes this way, not because the machine is broken, but she just doesn't know how to use one and nearly ends up bucking it in frustration.
• Villainous Breakdown: Sunset Shimmer starts squirming and gets an Eye Twitch when Twilight refuses to hand over her crown even when she threatens to destroy the portal to Equestria, and all her human friends compliment her and say it is no wonder she's a "real princess". Sunset tackles Twilight and just tries to steal it by force.
  Sunset Shimmer: Oh yes, she's so VERY SPECIAL!
• Villains Blend in Better: Sunset Shimmer doesn't stand out like Twilight Sparkle does in the human world. This is justified as Sunset has already spent a lot of time getting to know the human world, probably the entire period of Twilight's apprenticeship to Celestia given the former's unfamiliarity with Sunset.
• Visual Pun:
  • In the opening credits, Ashleigh Ball's name is on a ball.
  • When Snips and Snails arrive in the library to spy on Twilight, they sneak off to get good vantage points. Snips slides along the wall, opening and closing his legs like scissors, and Snails slides along the ground, like a snail.
  • When the Equestria Girls go through their transformation, their hairstyles gain pony tails.
• Volumetric Mouth:
  • Pinkie Pie is briefly seen with one during the argument with Fluttershy and Rarity.
  • The girls also shortly use it a few times in the "Helping Twilight Win the Crown" musical.
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: In addition to finding the Element of Magic and ensuring that its power is not abused, Twilight also has to deal with fitting in at a high school and a boy-crush.
• We Will Not Use Photoshop in the Future:
  • Sunset Shimmer frames Twilight for the destruction of the Fall Formal decorations through an incredibly crude forgery using cutouts and a photocopier. Even MS Paint would have produced equally convincing forgeries without leaving evidence for Flash Sentry to find. It gets doubly weird when you remember that she's already used a video editing program comparable to Adobe Premiere.
  • The Novelization has them using photo editing technology, but they still leave evidence behind in the form of the original photos so Luna can compare them to the altered ones.
• We Used to Be Friends: The human versions of the Mane Six (minus Twilight) used to be friends with one another until events orchestrated by Sunset Shimmer drove them apart.
• Wham Line: "I suppose Sunset Shimmer thought you wouldn't notice right away that this was not yours, and by the time you did, it would be too late to go after your crown, and Element of Harmony."
• "Which Restroom?" Dilemma: During Twilight's "Strange New World" song, she ends up wandering into the men's restroom because she has no idea what the signs mean.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Meghan McCarthy said that she envisioned the movie as The Wizard of Oz in reverse. To wits: the story involves Twilight leaving her mundane existence by going through a rainbow vortex to a strange new world with people who resemble her friends and a wicked ruler with diminutive henchmen. Sunset Shimmer dismissively refers to Twilight and Spike as "Princess Celestia's prized student [...] and your little dog, too!" And when Sunset orders Snips and Snails to follow Twilight, she says, "Bring me something I can use."
• Wingding Eyes: Spike's pupils turns heart-shaped when human Rarity starts petting him.
• Winged Humanoid: Twilight's crown transforms herself, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash into winged anthroponies.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Sunset Shimmer seems to take a few levels in psycho when she finally gets the crown and is transformed by its magic. Prior to this, she is still nasty, but has some limits.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Sunset Shimmer. Snips and Snails bring Spike to her as ransom for entry back to Equestria. When Twilight orders her not to hurt Spike, Sunset tells her she wouldn't dream of it.
• You Can Talk?:
  • Twilight's human friends all do this upon Spike's confirmation of Twilight's origins. Fluttershy immediately wants to know what sort of doggy-thoughts he has.
  • Later, after the final battle, one of the human students reacts this way when he hears Spike talking.
    Brawly Beats: Did that dog just talk? Woah, weird!
    Spike: Seriously? The talking dog is the weird thing about all this?!
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Sunset gets Twilight's crown despite losing the vote and the Keep Away. Cue sudden escalation of stakes.
• Your Little Dismissive Diminutive: Demon Sunset Shimmer indulging in a bit of villainous gloating.
  Sunset Shimmer: I don't want to rule this pathetic little high school. I want Equestria! With my own little teenage army behind me...
• Your Magic's No Good Here: Upon entering the Human World, Twilight discovers after walking headfirst into a door that magic doesn't work here. Humans don't have horns, you know? Or rather, it doesn't work without magical items (which do retain their power), The Power of Friendship or The Power of Rock (in Rainbow Rocks).
• Youthful Freckles: Human Cheerilee gains these (normally lacking on her pony form). It is most likely to help establish her age as a younger teacher, not too far outside the age that the students would be, compared to the more mature-looking Principals Celestia and Luna.

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