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Why should only Autobots get to rock out?

And the music, yeah, the music
Gets us to the top
As we learn how the rainbow...
Rainbow Rocks!
The Opening Credits song

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks is a movie sequel to My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, itself a spin-off of the animated television show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. It was released theatrically on September 27, 2014, with the television broadcast set for October 17 and the Region 1 DVD/Blu-ray release exactly one month later on October 28, 2014.

Set between seasons four and five of the show, the film picks up after the original one — Twilight Sparkle has gone home to Equestria and is now the Princess of Friendship, while her friends in the human world have reunited and Sunset Shimmer is attempting to make amends for her evil ways despite the school hating her. However, a new threat enters the scene: three new students, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk (collectively known as "The Dazzlings"). Using some sort of dark magic channeled by their singing, the trio spreads a Hate Plague across Canterlot High, turning a friendly talent show into a Battle of the Bands. With the entire school under their control and the students turned against each other worse than ever, Sunset contacts Twilight in Equestria to ask for her help in defeating the trio and freeing CHS before whatever scheme they're plotting comes to fruition. Twilight discovers the Dazzlings are dangerous creatures called the Sirens, who use their singing to mind control others into turning against each other and feed on their negative energy to gain power. She returns to Canterlot High and joins her human friends' band, the Rainbooms, and being the only ones who were not affected by the Dazzlings' spell, they must work together to make a musical counterspell and set aside their differences so they can save the day.

A series of self-contained shorts preceding the movie serves as preludes to the story, and the film is followed by several other Animated Music Videos. All of these have their own page: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks Shorts.

There is also a book, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks, written by Perdita Finn, that novelizes these shorts and with additional details for leading into the film. A third book, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks: The Mane Event, released in October 2014, is the novelization of the actual film.

This movie is followed by My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games, the third film in the franchise.


My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks provides example of:

  • 11th-Hour Ranger:
    • Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon-3 gives some much-needed last-minute help to the Rainbooms.
    • And after that, Sunset Shimmer leaves the sidelines to join the rest of the Rainbooms in singing against the Dazzlings.
  • 20% More Awesome:
    • The Rainbooms are trying to buy time for Twilight to write the counterspell:
      Twilight Sparkle: Remember, we have to be good enough to make it through but not so good we let the sirens see the magic within us. They could realize we plan to use it against them.
      Rainbow Dash: Got it! Be cool enough to win, but not so cool that we end up showing off the whole ears and tails and rainbows thing. Sooo... about twenty percent less cool.
    • The soundtrack version of Rainbow's song "Awesome as I Wanna Be" has the lyrics, "When it comes to makin' music, I'm the ruler / You wish you could be twenty percent cooler."
  • Adaptation Personality Change: Before the Dazzlings offer the CHS students their Apple of Discord, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and the Great and Powerful Trixie are all seen getting along with everyone else, quite unlike their Equestrian counterparts. Before Season 5 that is...
  • Adults Are Useless: Human Luna and Celestia are the Dazzlings' first brainwashing target, ensuring that the Rainbooms have to solve the problem on their own. Aside from a very brief appearance by Granny Smith and Mrs. Cake, they are the only adult characters in the entire film.
  • Advertised Extra: Merchandising and trailers prominently focused on DJ Pon-3/Vinyl Scratch, even having her get her own short. While she does play an important part in the climax, up until that point she only appears in the background of some scenes and is nowhere near as prominent as the advertising would have you believe.
  • Ahem:
    • Rarity uses the euphemistic version when talking to Sunset Shimmer.fun fact 
      Rarity: Oh darling, you have us! And we've forgiven you for your past — ahem — "boo-boos".
    • Also, Twilight Sparkle trying to cover up her crush on Flash:
      Twilight: Flash Sentry was asking about me?!? Ahem — isn't that nice.
  • Alliterative Title: Well, subtitle, "Rainbow Rocks".
  • All There in the Script:
    • From the toyline, Photo Finish's band is called the Snapshots, and her bandmates are Pixel Pizzaz and Violet Blurr.
    • Aria Blaze's name is not mentioned in the film, only in the credits.
  • All There in the Stinger: It ends with the human Twilight claiming that there is something strange about Canterlot High. Cue Friendship Games...
  • All Your Colors Combined: In the final battle, when Sunset joins the band, adding a seventh color (red) to the friendship rainbow, the Rainbooms reach full power and break the Dazzlings' spell over the crowd, allowing them to use the additional musical power to conjure up a rainbow-beam-firing alicorn avatar and defeat the Dazzlings once and for all.
  • Amplifier Artifact:
    • The ruby pendants worn by the Dazzlings amplify their magic in the human world, allowing them to inflict a Hate Plague on the people with their Mind-Control Music, and gain power through absorbing said negative emotions. Once the pendants are destroyed in the final battle, they lose their magic abilities and can no longer sing in tune.
    • In the climax, Vinyl Scratch's DJ booth and bass speakers act as this for the Rainbooms, quite literally, weaponizing their Magic Music to blast at the Dazzlings' Siren avatars.
  • Animation Bump: Even with the great effects the show has gotten over four seasons, the film still pulls it off. There's a lot of usage of shading from light sources, Depth of Field including Rack Focus, camera pans and dollies, and compared to the first film the human characters are more dynamic and expressive.
  • Angry Collar Grab: When Aria suggests that maybe the Dazzlings should follow her lead instead of Adagio's, the latter grabs her by the front of her vest and promptly reasserts her authority over the trio.
  • Apple of Discord: The Battle of the Bands becomes this for the students of CHS, fueling their Hate Plague. Vice-Principal Luna practically shines a spotlight on the apple before the opening round.
    Vice-Principal Luna: As this is now a competition, we can only choose one winner. Who is it going to be?
  • Argument of Contradictions: One of Sonata and Aria's common arguments.
    Sonata Dusk: What do you know about good fruit punch?
    Aria Blaze: More than you.
    Sonata Dusk: Do not.
    Aria Blaze: Do too.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: Adagio Dazzle manages to shut down Sunset Shimmer with just four words.
    Sunset Shimmer: You're never going to get away with this.
    Adagio Dazzle: Why? Because you didn't?
  • Artistic License – Music: The guitar Rainbow plays is electric; however, in some parts of "Better Than Ever" And "Shine Like Rainbows", the guitar sound heard is an acoustic.
  • Art Shift:
    • The opening credits use black silhouettes of the characters (with only the facial cutie marks and red gems as spots of color). They are also often more stylized, notably with legs ending in pointy tips instead of feet.
    • The ending credits use monochrome still frames of the characters in a more detailed style.
  • Ascended Extra:
    • Human Trixie only appears for a quick cameo in the first film. By contrast, she plays a bigger role here as a member of one of the rival bands the Rainbooms face against, called "Trixie and the Illusions".
    • Unlike the first film, Human Photo Finish speaks in this one. And like Trixie, she leads a rival band.
    • This story marks the first time that Octavia Melody is heard speaking as either a human or a pony. Both versions had previously spoken in the comics.
    • At the end of the movie, DJ Pon-3 has joined the Rainbooms.
  • Ascended Meme:
    • After the Dazzlings escalate the final battle with the Rainbooms, Vinyl's Cool Car/DJ system demonstrates Disco Tech properties similar to the BASS CANNON concept introduced in the fan video Epic Wub Time: Musicians of Ponyville.
    • "20% cooler" finally gets another mention here, once as a joke ("20% less cool"), and once in the extended soundtrack version of "Awesome as I Wanna Be".
    • To some extent, Egophiliac's "Inconvenient Trixie" is extremely apt at a few points here.
  • Ass-Kicking Pose: Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie take one just as the group defies the Dazzlings at the party. Pinkie having a cookie in her mouth ruins a bit the effect, though.
  • Astral Projection: Seems to be how the Dazzlings' power manifests in the human realm. Once at full power, they are able to summon their Siren forms as ethereal avatars.
  • As You Know:
    • Although there is some debate as to how long exactly the Dazzlings have been exiled to the human world, in the prologue Adagio's discussion about how it is lacking Equestrian magic and Aria's comment about their banishment are something they should know already.
    • Likewise, Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms discussing the events of the first movie is for the audience's benefit; you'd think Sunset especially wouldn't want to dwell so much on it. Pinkie Pie's intervention is then just rubbing it in, but that's in character for Pinkie.
  • Autobots, Rock Out!: The music builds and becomes noticeably heavier during the climactic fight where the Dazzlings summon their siren forms, in contrast to the pop rock that has been played for most of the movie.
  • Auto-Tune: The Dazzlings' necklaces; see Amplifier Artifact above. Among the necklaces' other powers, they help the Sirens sing in tune with each other. Lampshaded by Sunset Shimmer after the final showdown.
  • Award-Bait Song: The end credits song, "Shine Like Rainbows".
  • Bait-and-Switch: There's a scene where it seems like Flash is going to punch Snips. Turns out all he is doing is grabbing his cup to get more punch.
  • Balloonacy: In the throne room, pony Pinkie Pie is shortly seen riding atop the yellow balloon that she has just inflated.
  • Battle of the Bands:
    • The entire plot involves the Dazzlings turning a friendly musical showcase into this. The song they use to incite the students to this is even titled "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)".
    • The pre-finals are illustrated as bands literally blowing their respective opponents away with their music.
    • A literal one happens in the Final Battle when the Rainbooms arrive to defeat them, both sides using Magic Music to fight. The Dazzlings are defeated when Sunset steps in. Adagio lampshades the literalness of the trope when the Rainbooms arrive.
      Adagio Dazzle: So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real Battle of the Bands? Then let's battle!
  • Bear Hug: Pinkie Pie gives one to Twilight (and Spike, squeezed between them), lifting her from the ground, while insisting she spends the night at her house.
  • "Be Quiet!" Nudge:
    • Adagio emphatically urges Sonata to shut up as she almost blows their whole plan to Sunset Shimmer when they're being shown around the school.
    • Rainbow Dash has to elbow Pinkie Pie when the latter is questioning Principal Celestia's decision of letting the Rainbooms participate in the finals instead of Trixie and the Illusions.
  • Big "SHUT UP!": Sunset Shimmer yelling "STOP! YOU HAVE TO STOP!" at the bickering Rainbooms while their magic is getting drained by the Dazzlings. Somewhat mirrors Twilight's use of the same trope in the first movie.
  • Bizarre Instrument: The biggest scene for Derpy's human version shows her playing the musical saw at the talent contest. Her two bandmates play the triangle and the cowbell, respectively.
  • The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: Not a weapon in this case, but the neck of Applejack's bass guitar lands straight into one of Pinkie's drums during the Disaster Dominoes sequence. It can be seen still there even as the principals announce the winner of the semi-finals.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: After knocking the Rainbooms down during the finale, the Dazzlings' Astral Projections just stand there floating above them instead of trying to finish them off, which gives the heroines the opportunity to counterattack and defeat them.
  • Bookends: When Twilight first enters the human world, Sunset offers her a hand up and she noticeably hesitates to take it, showing that while she may have given her a second chance she is still wary of her. During the film's climax, after Sunset has proven herself to be a true friend to the rest of the Rainbooms, she once again offers her hand to Twilight, who doesn't hesitate to take it this time.
  • Brick Joke:
    • Before the girls meet the Dazzlings, Sunset Shimmer mentions something "off" about them, and Pinkie Pie starts questioning what she means. Then, after the trio bursts into the cafeteria and hypnotizes the rest of the student body in a sultry manner, Pinkie is the first to speak:
      Pinkie Pie: Oooh, they're that kind of "off"!
    • During their talk about reaching Princess Twilight, Rainbow Dash assesses they wouldn't most likely have cellphones where she's from. A little later in Equestria, the book where their message appears in is seen glowing and vibrating just like one.
    • Twilight meeting Pinkie in the first film sets up The Stinger; see Call-Back below.
  • Broken Ace: Twilight Sparkle is an actual magical pony and a Princess of Friendship with a castle and a long list of defeated enemies. Of course she's going to save the day! In fact she's totally out of her depth, and is too afraid of letting everyone down to admit it.
  • Brought Down to Normal:
    • Twilight Sparkle again. In Equestria, she's a powerful alicorn princess who easily creates an interdimensional portal in Act 1 with just a little Magi Babble. When she crosses over, she has next to no power or magic.
    • This is implied to have happened to the Dazzlings after their siren forms were destroyed and their pendants shattered. They are now unable to sing properly and are booed off the stage by the student body, complete with Produce Pelting.
  • Brutal Honesty: Pinkie is good for it regarding Sunset's time as a villain. Particularly when she says the old her really was terrible; everyone else hems and haws about how to respond while Pinkie gives a cheerful "Yup!"
  • By the Lights of Their Eyes: During "Under Our Spell", the Crusaders are shortly back-lighted as dark silhouettes, but their eyes stay visible.
  • By the Power of Grayskull!: Twilight tries to invoke the pony-up Transformation Sequence that will enable her and the others to use magic by joining hands with the Rainbooms and shouting "Friendship is magic!" Unfortunately, it's not that easy, because she drew that magic from the crown, while the Sirens' magic comes from their music and they can only channel their magic by playing music to combat their power.
  • Call-Back:
    • Sunset Shimmer and the others recall the time Sunset transformed into a raging she-demon and turned all the students into her personal army of zombies. Several times, in fact, much to Sunset's annoyance.
    • From the pony side, the story starts with Twilight receiving a shipment of books to help fill her new castle after the events of "Twilight's Kingdom".
    • Star Swirl the Bearded is named as the one that banished the Dazzlings from Equestria.
    • Spike and Twilight tell the girls about the events in "Twilight's Kingdom" where she got a castle and a formal title as the Princess of Friendship.
    • Spike and Twilight also tell them about the events of "Magical Mystery Cure" where Twilight finished a spell.
  • The Cameo:
    • Beyond Vinyl Scratch, Photo Finish, and Derpy, already present from the first film, and the three Diamond Dog Boys introduced in the "Player Piano" short, we get Octavia Melody, Bulk Biceps, Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops and Maud Pie (with her pet rock Boulder) as humanized characters, with several participating in the Battle of the Bands.
    • Human Pinkie has a plush Gummy doll.
    • More importantly, there's also Twilight's human counterpart and her Spike, who show up after the credits.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: It's never made clear what Twilight was about to say to Sunset before changing her mind at the end of the kitchen scene. She may have been trying to confess that she doesn't know how to write the counterspell and wanted to ask for Sunset's help.
  • Cast Calculus: Villainesses and heroines alike.
    • For the Rainbooms,
      • Twilight Sparkle is The Hero/The Leader, the one who would lead and cast the spell to save the day.
      • Rainbow Dash is The Lancer, who sees herself as the leader at first and contrasts Twilight.
      • Applejack is The Big Guy, obviously.
      • Pinkie is The Funny Guy, obviously.
      • Fluttershy is The Young Guy, as she is the most frightened by everything.
      • Rarity is The Smart Guy, as she was the one who was the most savvy when it came to how to put on a band performance.
      • Sunset Shimmer is the Seventh Ranger and The Old Guy, not because she's older than they are (even if she is), but because of her experiences (although it's ambiguous how old Sunset actually is, she manifests in the human world as a teenage girl like the other members of the Equestria Girls).
    • For the Dazzlings, we have the Freudian Trio and Comic Trio all rolled up in one.
      • Adagio is very easily The Spock (slightly subverting the usual setup) and the Leader, respectively.
      • Aria is The Kirk (being a balance of the logical Adagio and the emotive Sonata) and the Complainer, respectively.
      • Sonata is The McCoy and the Dingbat, respectively.
  • Celestial Body: At the climax, the giant alicorn coming out of the clouds has a body seemingly made of starry sky.
  • Chekhov's Gag: Vinyl Scratch is seen bobbing her head to music on her headphones twice, first from the back as the Dazzlings walk through the tables, then it's more obviously her when seen in the background, during "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)". This is why she isn't affected by the Dazzlings' spell and is able to help the Rainbooms later on, since she never heard the original song. The "Music to My Ears" short is further allusion to this, as the only time music is not heard loud and clear is when she takes off her headphones.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Fluttershy tries to point out to the rest of the Rainbooms that she has written some songs and asks if the band could rehearse and play them, and it becomes a Running Gag that the band doesn't get to play her song. The Rainbooms, near the end of the film, perform one of Fluttershy's songs to counter the songs of the Dazzlings and break the rest of the student body out of their Hate Plague.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon-3, whose headphones protected her from the Dazzlings' hypnotizing siren song, having never heard any of their singing throughout the entire film, is the one who frees the Rainbooms after they are locked in the basement by Trixie, and she converts her car into a mobile sound system for the final battle.
  • Chirping Crickets: Twilight and friends lock hands together before the whole student body, and she dramatically exclaims "Friendship is magic!"... and nothing happens. Follows an embarrassing moment of silence (even the background music has stopped) as everybody looks at them in confusion, with only a discreet cough being heard.
  • Circling Monologue: Adagio and Aria circle Sunset Shimmer while telling her they've learned of her reputation and putting her friendship with the Rainbooms to doubt. Note that there is obviously little space between Sunset and the wall corner, yet they still walk around her for the sake of the trope. Sonata joins in too, although she doesn't exactly master the concept of "circling".
  • The Coats Are Off: Sunset Shimmer deliberately casts aside her leather jacket after picking up the mic in the final showdown. She even has a shoulder-baring halter top for bonus points.
  • Colon Cancer:
    • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks
    • It gets even worse with the novel to the film: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks: The Mane Event.
  • The Comically Serious: After Snips and Snails' Mic Drop:
    Principal Celestia: Please do not drop the microphones.
  • Competition Freak: The Dazzlings' Hate Plague turns nearly every student into this, but the ones who get the worst of it are Trixie and Flash who both antagonize the Rainbooms throughout the movie and even get into each other's face at times. They both also don't take losing very well.
  • Confetti Drop: During "Shake Your Tail", Pinkie activates a cannon from her floor tom which shoots confetti that rains down the Rainbooms, worrying them. Twilight even chokes on some, which gets the attention of a dissatisfied Flash.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • While all the students and faculty at CHS that are based on the Mane Six and commonly-seen background ponies are given some character traits that differ from their Equestrian counterparts, they tend to have some things in common.
    • The "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)" sequence starts with a wide shot of the cafeteria similar to the one starting the "Equestria Girls (Cafeteria Song)" sequence in the first movie. Fitting, as the two songs are thematic opposites.
    • When Vice-Principal Luna accuses Sunset Shimmer of casting doubt on the new students so the rest of CHS will forget her own actions at the Fall Formal, the first person to speak in Sunset's defense is Rainbow Dash.
    • Fluttershy plays with a ladybug next to the rearing horse statue. In the first movie, one of the first things Twilight saw after coming out of the portal in the statue was a ladybug.
    • Sunset Shimmer begins writing her message to Equestria with an all-too familiar phrase.
      Sunset Shimmer: [lamenting] Been a long time since I've written these words... Dear Princess Celestia...
    • Spike is seen reading a Daring Do book at the beginning of the pony sequence.
    • Twilight learns about the Sirens from the same storybook seen in "Friendship Is Magic – Part 1" and "Twilight's Kingdom – Part 1".
    • Twilight says to Pinkie "Pinkie, you're a genius!", to which Pinkie responds "Yeah, I get that a lot." Twilight has previously said this to her in "Luna Eclipsed" and "It's About Time".
    • A nod to "Music to My Ears" with Vinyl Scratch seen walking in the background of the café just like she did in the short. (It can't be the same moment, though, since Twilight and Sunset are here unlike in the short.)
    • Twilight is still having trouble adjusting to hands; she decides to be the singer of the group since learning an instrument with them would take time they don't have, and we catch her writing with her pen in her mouth in a later scene.
    • Pinkie's expression while playing the theremin is similar to the "creamy frosting" line.
    • AJ and Rainbow Dash are playing a video game based on the humanized version of the Mane-iac seen in the 2014 Annual.
    • As Sunset and Twilight find out, Pinkie has a fridge full of whipped cream. That is to say, creamy frosting.
    • The lyrics of Twilight's "Bad Counter Spell" are a Kirk Summation about defeating villains with The Power of Friendship, similar to the ones she's delivered when the Mane Six used the Elements of Harmony in Equestria.
    • Snips and Snails' rap starts with a similar beat to Pinkie's rap in "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3". Snips' outfit is also similar to the one Pinkie wore in that episode.
    • Applejack and Rarity constantly argue with each other, like their pony counterparts in "Look Before You Sleep".
    • In the previous film, human Pinkie wished she had some kind of party cannon. Here she rigs her drums to shoot confetti, with the same sound effect as pony Pinkie's cannon.
    • The Crusaders are in human-equivalent versions of the CMC's rock-band outfits from "The Show Stoppers" for their segment.
    • Rainbow Dash makes reference to the "20% cooler" line before performing "Shake Your Tail!" by saying they should be "about 20% less cool". The line is also referenced in the full version of "Awesome as I Wanna Be".
    • Fluttershy has stage fright. In fact, her running away from the spotlight as Snips and Snails re-position it mirrors her pony counterpart running from the same in the Imagine Spot from "Filli Vanilli".
    • Sunset Shimmer once again talks to someone in a dimly lit hallway.
    • Fluttershy's lyrics, which we get to hear when the Rainbooms face off in the final battle, are thematically similar to the lyrics in the episode "Filli Vanilli" (both Fluttershy's own song there and the Ponytones' song), in how music can help one express themselves.
    • The Rainbooms get Super Modes with glowing rainbow-striped hair similar to the Rainbow Power in "Twilight's Kingdom".
    • Sunset Shimmer's own transformation to anthropony form is in the same style as the Transformation Sequences of the heroines from the climax of Equestria Girls.
    • The final scene where Trixie interrupts Twilight and Flash's moment together has her quoting pony Trixie's final line from "Boast Busters" practically word-for-word (just replace "an Ursa Minor" with "the Dazzlings"). She even ends it with a failed Smoke Out, just like in her counterpart's debut.
      Trixie Lulamoon: You may have vanquished the Dazzlings, but you will never have the amazing, show-stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!
    • "Shine Like Rainbows" has lyrics similar to "Let the Rainbow Remind You".
    • The movie even calls back to the comic book arc "Reflections" by showing a book that has a counterpart in Equestria that is affected by changes made to the version in the human world, something that became a plot point during the course of that arc.
    • Near the end of the first movie, Twilight reaches out to Sunset to help her up. Near the beginning of this movie, Sunset reaches out to Twilight.
  • Compressed Hair: In the cold open, the Dazzlings manage to fit their rather impressive heads of hair under their hoodies. So blatant it's obviously Played for Laughs. They're even referred to as "Bags of Holding" in the commentary.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Sunset Shimmer writes in her book at the very moment a delivery pony was bringing its double to Twilight. This avoids delaying the narrative by involving Princess Celestia acting as an intermediary.
  • Cool Car: Vinyl Scratch's car is able to transform into a fully-functional audio management/equalizer and light show system.
  • Counterspell: Twilight Sparkle's strategy to confront the Dazzlings is to write a counterspell song against their siren voices; this is what motivate the Rainbooms to participate in the Battle of the Bands. However, this proves a daunting task even for a magic prodigy like Twilight (for a variety of reasons, including the need to be a song, that she's not in her usual form, in a magic-deprived world and without access to her spellbooks). In the end, they use a song written by Fluttershy and resort to raw Magic of Friendship to counter the Sirens.
  • Cover-Blowing Superpower: Sunset Shimmer is forced to tackle Rainbow Dash when she gets carried away and starts transforming in front of a crowd.
  • Covers Always Lie:
    • Some of the promotional art for the movie shows Trixie or DJ Pon-3 with pony ears and "Rainbow Power" hair. No such thing happens in the film.
    • Various promotional material show Applejack's bass absolutely plain (as seen above), when in the film, it is decked with apples.
    • The box art shows Twilight performing front and center with the Rainbooms, while one poster (also used for the soundtrack) features Twilight Sparkle front and center, engaged in a sing-off with Adagio Dazzle, the leader of the villain trio. While these do indeed happen, Twilight herself does not even appear until over a third of the way into the movie, and her ultimate contribution to the band's success is minimal at best. Sunset Shimmer, the villain from the first movie, is the actual main character in this movie, yet she is completely absent from all promotional art.
    • Even though on said poster Twilight faces Adagio Dazzle, they never speak to each other in the film; the only heroine to converse with them is Sunset.
    • In an inversion of a common mistake made later in the series' run, one official YouTube upload of the film uses art featuring the human Twilight Sparkle, in her powered-up form from Legend of Everfree, opposing Adagio. This character only appears in The Stinger, after Adagio is defeated.
  • Crash-Into Hello: Continuing the Running Gag from the first film, every encounter of Twilight and Flash effectively is this.
  • Cringe Comedy:
    • The Rainbooms and Twilight attempting to defeat the Dazzlings with a By the Power of Grayskull! move is one of the most embarrassing moments for the main characters in either universe.
      Rainbow Dash: Uh, weren't there rainbows and lasers and stuff last time?
      Twilight Sparkle: I don't understand. We're all together again. Why isn't this working?
      Spike: You uh, really need to go ahead and do that whole "Magic of Friendship" thing now.
    • Also, the "Bad Counter Spell" Twilight wrote is considered cringe-inducing, both in-universe and out.
  • Darkest Hour: With the Dazzlings having secured their victory since the first 10 minutes of the movie and remaining on top ever since, and the Rainbooms plus Sunset Shimmer just barely keeping up, it was already looking pretty grim. Then the Dazzlings have our heroines trapped during the finals of the battle of the bands, causing strife and tensions to tear them apart, giving the villains a chance to absorb their corrupted magic to regain their own. If not for Sunset snapping them out of their funk, and Spike fetching DJ PON-3 to help them, the ending would have been vastly darker.
  • Dark Reprise:
    • The B-section of "Battle" is an Evil Counterpart to the "Cafeteria Song" from the first film, which gets an even darker arrangement in the Dazzlings' part of "Welcome to the Show".
    • After the Dazzlings have been defeated and their gem pendants have been destroyed, thus rendering them powerless, they attempt to sing the "We will be adored..." part of "Welcome to the Show" again, but they sing horribly and are booed off the stage.
  • Death Glare:
    • Applejack gives one to Rarity throughout "Shake Your Tail" for having to put up with her being swung around by Photo Finish's magnets.
    • Rarity and Applejack give one to Rainbow when she literally steals all the spotlights during "Awesome as I Wanna Be". Fluttershy can also be seen giving this during the Rack Focus shot, albeit more of a Disapproving Look.
  • Decoy Protagonist: Twilight herself edges on this trope. While she definitely plays an important role in the plot, she's mostly brought on-board to help the Equestria Girls defeat the Dazzlings. In terms of actual story and character development, the film has a stronger focus on Sunset Shimmer than Twilight. During the climax, Twilight proves ineffective for diffusing the group's tensions and defeating the Dazzlings; it's Sunset who actually saves the day on both counts.
  • De-power:
    • This is why Star Swirl banished the Sirens that would become the Dazzlings to the human world, believing the transition would render them powerless. Shame he forgot to account for the necklaces.
    • In the climax, the Dazzlings's necklaces are smashed, rendering them unable to even carry a tune.
  • Destroy the Villain's Weapon: The Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer manage to make a rainbow beam big enough to defeat the sirens and destroy their pendants that enable their powers. Not only have they lost their magic, but also their ability to sing afterward.
  • Deus Exit Machina: Justified. The original Mane Six save Twilight sit out on another otherworldly adventure knowing they have alternate dimension doppelgangers awaiting on the other side.
    Applejack: Don't suppose we could join you this time around?
    Twilight Sparkle: Better not. It could make things pretty confusing if Canterlot all of a sudden had two of all of you.
  • Depth of Field: Part of the Animation Bump is that the scenes are generated with a depth-of-field effect to help differentiate the Mane Six or the Dazzlings from the crowd.
  • Diegetic Musical: Despite this being a musical film and featuring the most songs in an MLP-related production, all of the songs are performed as acts, rehearsals, performances, the Dazzlings' planned Mind-Control Music, and the musical battle in the climax.
  • Disaster Dominoes: Sunset Shimmer tackling Rainbow Dash to stop her from showing pony ears results in them bumping into Twilight, who loses her balance and grab Rarity's keytar by reflex, dragging the latter down in turn and making her involuntarily kick Applejack's bass guitar, which flies over and lands neck-first into one of Pinkie's drums. Then the lights come back, startling Fluttershy into fleeing.
  • Divide and Conquer: The Dazzlings turn the whole school, including the staff, against each other with their Hate Plague-inducing Mind-Control Music, with the exception of Sunset Shimmer, the Rainbooms, and Vinyl Scratch. They also manage to sabotage the mane characters' plans so that they argue and generate further negative emotions for the Dazzlings to feed on. In their backstory as told by Twilight Sparkle, she describes this as their modus operandi, even dropping the trope name.
    Twilight Sparkle: If the Sirens had their way, they would have divided and conquered all of Equestria.
  • Door Dumb: The girls get locked in a room and ineffectually push and tackle the door; then Spike and DJ Pon-3 arrive and reveal it opens inward. The novelization provides a better reason why they couldn't escape: the door was bolted shut and DJ Pon-3 had to pry it open with a crowbar.
  • Do Well, But Not Perfect:
    • The Rainbooms' strategy for the battle of the bands, to unleash their full power in a surprise attack on the Dazzlings. Subverted, see Dramatic Irony below.
    • The Dazzlings use the same approach, as they don't want to reveal their true forms to the students until their power has been fully restored.
  • Dramatic Irony:
    • During the tour Sunset gives to the Dazzlings, a number of the comments they make hint at their evil intentions to the audience, who knows that they're up to no good, but Sunset doesn't know the Dazzlings are evil yet, and is more confused than clued in.
    • Later, the audience knows that the Dazzlings are manipulating things to get the heroes to fight and feed on their magic in order to gain power, but the heroes think the Dazzlings are unaware of their magic.
  • Dramatic Spotlight: During the song "Awesome as I Wanna Be", a spotlight shines on each of the Rainbooms one by one, which is normal since they're performing on scene. It becomes significant when, in the middle of the song, all the rays of light focus on Rainbow Dash, who is literally and figuratively stealing the spotlights with her performance.
  • Dramatic Wind:
    • In the prologue, the Dazzlings' discovery of Equestrian magic in the human world, marking the start of their Evil Plan, is during an appropriately windy night (the same as the climax of the first movie, in fact).
    • The Rainbooms stepping into the fight for the final battle is also accompanied by some dramatic wind blowing their hair and clothes.
  • Dutch Angle: Used frequently on the Dazzlings to show just how "off" they are.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: This can be said of Sunset Shimmer; after helping to defeat the Dazzlings, it is shown during the end credits that the other Canterlot High students are finally starting to forgive her and see her as a friend.
  • Easily Forgiven: Averted with Sunset Shimmer, who is scorned by everyone except the Rainbooms. It is played straight with Snips and Snails because apparently no one remembers them being her minions.
  • Editorial Synaesthesia: The hate energy incited by the Dazzlings' songs is depicted as a radioactive-green miasma.
  • Edgy Backwards Chair-Sitting: Applejack sits like that in the café while the Equestria Girls discuss the new threat with Twilight Sparkle.
  • Elegant Classical Musician: Octavia Melody. For her pony version it is mostly fandom interpretation, but here it becomes more obvious as she gets the fitting clothes, voice and good looks.
  • Epic Fail:
    • The Rainbooms' initial attempt at using their magic to defeat the Dazzlings fails completely. Even moreso, this proves to Adagio that they are resistant to the Dazzlings' spell, targeting them as the source of the Equestrian magic they seek.
    • Twilight's attempts at writing a musical counterspell are so bad that Granny Smith shoves apple cores in her ears to block it out.
  • Epilogue Letter: Sunset Shimmer writes one on her magic book at the end for Twilight Sparkle, showing that they'll be exchanging messages from now on, Twilight being the friendship mentor and Sunset the student.
  • Establishing Character Moment: More like a re-establishing moment with Sunset Shimmer. Her first scene in this movie is offering to help the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and, when rejected, walking awkwardly and timidly towards the Rainbooms under the stares of other students. Then she has to help Fluttershy clean paint off her face. It is 180 degree turn from the previous movie and sets a crystal clear start for this one's secondary arc (Sunset Shimmer's on-going redemption).
  • Everybody Do the Endless Loop: The animation is overall excellent; if it does use a few loops, it's mostly for background characters, and too short to be noticeable. The exception is the distant shot of Trixie and the Illusions at the final concert, whose moves are a bit repetitive.
  • Everything's Better with Rainbows: No surprise here, honestly. As usual for the franchise, the Magic of Friendship is materialized by rainbows. In the climax of the final battle, when the Rainbooms at last get the upper hand over the Dazzlings, it first takes the shape of a rainbow-colored Planar Shockwave that pushes away the Siren avatars just as they are charging, stun the Dazzlings and wake up their thralls. Then a Pillar of Light rises, combining the colors of the seven friends, including Sunset Shimmer who adds the red hue to it. It coalesces into a multicolored Sphere of Power from which emerges a giant Winged Unicorn with a flowing rainbow as mane, who finally fires a rainbow beam from its horn, blasting away the Sirens and destroying their magic gems. This trope is heavily Lampshaded by both the opening title and closing credits songs "Rainbow Rocks" and "Shine Like Rainbows".
  • Facepalm:
    • Sonata Dusk's stupidity inspires facepalms to both her co-villains at different points, Adagio primarily.
    • Applejack reacts with a hand on her face and a groan to Rarity showing up for the pre-selections in a costume worthy of The '60s, full of dangling metal shingles.
  • Failed Attempt at Drama:
    • Adagio regularly indulges in some dramatic evil gloating... only to have Sonata ruin it about every time by spouting something stupid.
      Adagio Dazzle: This is it, girls, the moment we've been waiting for...
      Sonata Dusk: [excited] Lunch?!
      Adagio Dazzle: [facepalm] The chance to get our true Equestrian magic back.
      Sonata Dusk: Oh, right.

      Adagio Dazzle: [mock surprise] Oh, no! No-one's mingling! It's like... there's some kind of underlying tension that could bubble to the surface at any minute.
      Sonata Dusk: It's the fruit punch, isn't it? I knew I used too much grape juice!
      Adagio Dazzle: It isn't the fruit punch, it's us!
    • Twilight and friends' first attempt at invoking the Magic of Friendship is a drawn-out example. Even the music is on it, rising dramatically as they lock hands together and Twilight exclaims "Friendship is magic!"... and then puttering out as nothing happen, and everybody look at them like they're crazy.
    • And of course, there are Trixie's attempts at dramatic exits with a Smoke Out, followed by Pinkie locating her. The second time, she even slips and falls behind the bleachers.
  • Facial Dialogue: After Rainbow Dash gets Twilight's attention with a chocolate chip, she gives her and puzzled look and Rainbow responds by pointing at the Dazzlings with eyes and facial expression only, so as to not alert Flash Sentry, whom Twilight was talking to.
  • Fake Band: Central to the premise. The climax is a magical battle between the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings, and about a dozen other fake bands make appearances of varying lengths.
  • Fanservice:
  • Feedback Rule:
    • The first attempt at a counterspell song has lots of feedback during the Rainbooms' rehearsal, adding to the overall awfulness of it.
    • When Snips drops the microphone at the end of his and Snails' rap, a loud feedback sound is heard, forcing all the Rainbooms to cover their ears. This doesn't gain the boys any point with the Principals.
    • When Rainbow Dash is testing the microphone on the stage for the upcoming concert, on her second try Sunset Shimmer has unthinkingly raised the volume to the max, causing yet another ear-splitting feedback.
  • Fictional Video Game: Applejack and Rainbow Dash play one at Pinkie's house, based on a humanized version of the Mane-iac.
  • Finish Dialogue in Unison: Sunset's and Twilight's bonding moment during the Midnight Snack at the sleepover is finished with Sunset joining in on the last sentence.
    Sunset Shimmer: Well, that doesn't stop them from expecting it.
    Twilight Sparkle: Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is...
    Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer: ...let everybody down.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • During the song "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)", Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon-3 can be seen in the background paying absolutely no attention.
    • Spike justifies his reason to go with Twilight through the mirror is that she'll never know when she'll need her faithful assistant.
    • Princess Twilight tells her pony friends they shouldn't come to the human world with her because having two of them around would be weird. Twilight's human counterpart is finally seen in the stinger.
    • The five human girls' arguing throughout the movie: Rainbow Dash referring to the band as hers, Fluttershy's song never being sung, and Rarity's obsession with fashion for the band (with Applejack being the most annoyed by it).
    • A very subtle hint for things to come — not in the movie, but in Season 5. At Twilight's new castle, Pinkie is seen sitting on Applejack's chair, but there's really nothing odd with that. However Rarity — who's sitting on her own throne — has her cutie mark emblem above it glowing. From the SDCC Season 5 animatic, we know that when all six sit on their respective chairs, they activate a magical map of Equestria.
    • Adagio says to Sunset that the ruby pendants she, Sonata and Aria wear are important and would hate to see anything bad happen to them. Turns out their pendants are what help them sing, and when these are destroyed in the final battle, they can no longer sing and are powerless.
  • Five-Man Band Concert: The Movie's entire premise is this trope, complete with prelude shorts. Long story short, the villains turn the Canterlot High talent show into a vicious Battle of the Bands. Since they are not affected by the evil spell, "The Rainbooms" team up to stop "The Dazzlings" — Twilight Sparkle will write the counterspell while the rest will enter the show as a competing band to buy time for her. Rainbow Dash is the vocalist and guitarist, Applejack is the bassist, Rarity plays the keytar, Fluttershy is on the tambourine, and Pinkie Pie is on the drums. For this, they perform "Awesome as I Wanna Be". Later, they reunite to cast the musical counterspell together by performing together. Here, they are joined by Sunset Shimmer as the guitarist and Twilight Sparkle as the vocalist. Sunset Shimmer becomes the lead singer after they are temporarily defeated by The Dazzlings.
  • Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: While the Rainbooms have forgiven Sunset for her actions in the past and do consider her a friend, there is noticeable tension between them and her. Considering the fact that she used to bully them, this makes sense. They unintentionally snub her by not even offering to let her be part of the band. Likewise, Twilight is also hesitant of her when she first enters the human world again. Fortunately, after Sunset helps to break up the growing tension between the Rainbooms thanks to the Dazzlings and joins them in the film's climax, Sunset fully integrates with her friends and she is shown jamming with the band at the end.
  • Free-Handed Performer: The movie shows most of the Rainbooms playing instruments, but Twilight Sparkle, being from a world of ponies who don't have hands, is limited to singing.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus:
    • The video game AJ and RD are playing at the Slumber Party has a humanized version of the Mane-iac on the cover.
    • As Twilight struggles to write a song, she stares forlornly at a page full of scribbles and doodles... including one of her disembodied head spitting lightning bolts at a crudely-drawn Adagio.
    • While listening to "Under Our Spell", Luna has drawn a heart on her notes.
    • Vinyl Scratch's car (before transforming) has a hood ornament shaped like DJ Pon-3's unicorn counterpart.
  • Funny Background Event:
    • When Rainbow Dash talks about her role in the Rainbooms in the band room, Pinkie Pie can be seen wearing a cymbal on her head like a hat.
    • During the "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)" song, most of the students are entranced by the Dazzlings... except DJ Pon-3 who's listening to her headphones and is oblivious to this. Becomes an important detail later, however...
    • During the main cast's walk down the hallway to Principal Celestia's office, Pinkie is seen skipping merrily, similar to how her pony self often hops instead of walks.
    • At the party in the gym, when Twilight and the Rainbooms hold hands to defeat the Dazzlings, Pinkie can be seen with a cookie in her mouth and her fist in the air. As the others wonder why their standing together in unity isn't unleashing magic, Pinkie is still seen with her fist in the air, the whole cookie stuffed in her mouth, and crumbs on her chin.
    • As the Rainbooms show disdain towards Rarity's outfit before the first round, Applejack facepalms while the others give an eyeroll... except Twilight who just hangs her head sadly.
  • Gale-Force Sound: When Rainbow Dash repeats "my band" one time too many, the others yelling back "OUR BAND!" together is enough to blow Dash's hair backward.
  • Garage Band:
    • The "Rainbooms" are seen repeating in the barn of Applejack's family farm. Several of the Web shorts preceding the movie also show them picking up their respective instruments.
    • Trixie and her two girlfriends form "Trixie and the Illusions".
  • Gemstone Assault: What Rarity's attack against the sirens looks like, though it might be just as well Pure Energy taking the shape of her diamonds symbol.
  • Gentle Giant: Bulk Biceps' humanized form is pretty much spot-on given his pony self, with a muscular upper body and tiny little wings on his baseball cap. His instrument of choice is a violin, which he plays with a light touch — until his last bow stroke, which blows Snips and Snails off the stage. During the end credits, he lifts Sunset up so she can get Angel down from a high perch.
  • Gibberish of Love: Flash and Twilight bump into each other (again) for the first time in this movie at the party before the pre-selections. After he catches her from falling, they stare at each other for a second, and Twilight starts descending into this.
    Flash Sentry: Twilight?
    Twilight Sparkle: Heh heh... bumped... into... always... doing!
  • Girl Group:
    • The Dazzlings are the sexy Idol Singers version.
    • The Rainbooms are the rock band variant, with the five human girls joined by Twilight Sparkle as lead vocalist, and later Sunset Shimmer.
  • Girl Posse: Several.
    • The Dazzlings look like one, with Adagio as the Alpha Bitch, Aria as the Beta Bitch, and Sonata as the Brainless Beauty. However, they are more sinister than usual for this trope.
    • Photo Finish and Trixie Lulamoon have two cronies each respectively, and are also antagonistic in this movie, although this is mostly the result of the Dazzlings' influence. Without this, they are more or less ordinary girls.
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Flash Sentry points at Sunset Shimmer when saying "Now that's the bad girl we love to hate!" Harsh considering their history together, but he's Not Himself.
  • Good Colors, Evil Colors: The Dazzlings' power and aura, coming from their gems, glow an evil red. It's contrasted with the Rainbooms, with each of their individual bright colors mixing to form rainbows.
  • Great Balls of Fire!:
    • Trixie and the Illusions' rendition of "Tricks Up My Sleeve" ends up with green fireworks firing from the stage (even better, they do look like they come from Trixie herself).
    • The Dazzlings and the Rainbooms fighting a Battle of the Bands results in quite the impressive light show, but here they're using real magic and not just pyrotechnics.
  • Group Hug:
    • How the girls welcomes Twilight when she's back to the school (not including Sunset Shimmer, who backs away).
    • The conclusion following the climax for the Rainbooms, this time with Sunset Shimmer in the middle.
  • Hammerspace:
    • Where does Rarity get that rack of new outfits for the final performance for the Rainbooms?
    • Not to mention Pinkie Pie pulling out several musical instruments out of nowhere before suggesting them to Twilight.
  • Hair Flip: Rainbow Dash has a rather epic one in "Awesome as I Wanna Be".
  • Hand Behind Head: Sunset Shimmer rubbing the back of her head as a Character Tic starts with this movie, showing her insecurities. She notably does it while admitting that she dated Flash Sentry just to get more popular, again in Celestia's office later, and yet again after helping Twilight stand up.
  • Hand Wave: Pony Applejack Lampshades a possible Plot Hole in the Sirens' Backstory — "But Star Swirl must have sent them there ages ago. How come they're just surfacing now?" — to which Twilight simply says she doesn't know and moves on. The opening scene from the Sirens' perspective shows that the events of the first movie brought some Equestrian magic to Earth, and the Sirens hope to use it to restore their full power. The main characters never learn this particular detail.
  • Hate Plague: The Dazzlings' song "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)" makes the students uncharacteristically competitive and hostile to one another.
  • Headphones Equal Isolation: DJ Pon-3 is always wearing her headphones. In the background of "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)", while the Dazzlings use their music to brainwash the student body, she's seen bouncing to her own music. That means she wasn't affected by the Dazzlings' Mind-Control Music: she ends up freeing the Rainbooms and helping them in the final battle.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Sunset Shimmer proves that hers is legitimate, as she sticks by the Rainbooms and Twilight throughout the movie despite her insecurities and joins her power with theirs at the end to defeat the Dazzlings. The end credits show that the rest of the school has started accepting her as well.
  • Heroic BSoD: Twilight is put under lots of stress throughout the movie, the Rainbooms trusting her entirely with coming up a song counterspell to fight the Dazzlings. Toward the end, as the group is tearing itself apart, she buckles under the pressure, admitting that she'd probably wouldn't have finished the counterspell in time, and slumps into a Troubled Fetal Position, unable to ease up the tension between her friends.
  • Heroic Build: The human version of Bulk Biceps averts Top-Heavy Guy (despite his pony version being a quadruped example of it) by having reasonably proportioned legs; his torso is nonetheless quite muscular, with his tight jersey barely hiding his bulging muscles.
  • Heroism Motive Speech: Sunset gets two. The first when she realizes it is her place to step in and help the girls stop bickering and resolve their issues. The second comes in song when she joins the Final Battle with the Dazzlings, announcing she's not going to let herself be beaten down when she's trying to change. This leads to her gaining a hybrid form of her own.
  • High School AU: Returning again to the humanized world of Canterlot High.
  • Hollywood Magnetism: The cartoon magnets used by Photo Finish are strong enough to lift Rarity (and her heavy dress) from the floor, or rip off her sleeves, but don't have any effect on other metal objects on the stage.
  • Hollywood Tone-Deaf:
    • Twilight's first counter-spell is majorly off-key.
    • The Dazzlings can no longer sing after their gem pendants are destroyed.
  • Hope Spot: Despite Sunset Shimmer interrupting the Rainbooms during the semi-finals, Celestia declares them the winners and would go on to the finals, giving them more time to prepare the musical counterspell. However, their victory is specifically engineered by the Dazzlings, who mind-control Celestia and Luna. This leads to an uproar amongst the student body, who feels they don't deserve it, making their victory a Pyrrhic one. And to top it all off, the Dazzlings manipulate Trixie into trapping them under the stage, thus completing dashing any hope of performing the musical counterspell at least until Vinyl Scratch helps them out.
  • How Is That Even Possible?: Expressed by pony Rarity about Sunset Shimmer managing to contact them through the enchanted book, despite the fact that the connection between their worlds is supposedly still cut off for many moons.
  • Human Hummingbird:
    • Twilight shortly flaps her arms during the sleepover, while trying to navigate around her sleeping friends without waking them up and almost losing her balance.
    • Pinkie Pie also moves her arms fast enough to make a flapping sound when she angrily complains that their band has become the very opposite of fun.
  • "I Am Becoming" Song: The Rainbooms' portion of "Welcome to the Show" — specifically the song Fluttershy wrote, which plays right when the band interrupts the Dazzlings — is about them finding their true selves and learning to "break out" and "set themselves apart".
  • I Am the Band: Rainbow Dash constantly insists that the Rainbooms are her band — after all, she's the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter, and she named the band after herself.
    Rainbow Dash: I could win this thing as a solo act, and everybody knows it!
  • Idiosyncratic Wipes: The Rainbooms' Transformation Sequence during the final battle are each preceded with brief cutie-mark-based transition wipes (apples, diamonds, butterflies, rainbows, balloons, and a magic star).
  • Idiotic Partner Confession: During the tour of the school given to the Dazzlings by Sunset Shimmer, Sonata running her mouth almost blows their cover. Though since Sunset has little reason to think of them as any sinister yet, this only confuses her.
    Sonata Dusk: We sing, like, all the time! It's how we get people to do what we want.
  • Immune to Mind Control:
    • The Dazzlings hypnotize the entire school with their enchanted singing, including Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, into turning the initially friendly musical showcase into a Battle of the Bands. However, the Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer, thanks to the the magic of friendship that was imbued into them in the previous movie, are the only ones in the school who aren't mind-controlled into showing animosity towards their schoolmates; in fact, they devise a plan to try to break the Dazzlings' spell on the rest of the school. Double Subverted into that, due to their arguing over little things along the way, the Rainbooms almost fall into the trap of turning on each other and showing ill-will amongst themselves, thus giving the Dazzlings more energy, until Sunset Shimmer tries to reconcile them and bring the band back together again.
    • DJ Pon-3 was also not affected by the Dazzlings' spell because at the time of the song in the cafeteria, she was wearing her headphones and was seen bouncing to her own music, and continues to wear them throughout. She eventually becomes the one whom Spike finds to help the Rainbooms fight back.
  • I'm Okay!: At the end, after her second Smoke Out, Trixie tries to sneak away in the audience, but slips and falls behind the bleachers because of her impractical dress. Then comes her voice...
    Trixie Lulamoon: Trixie is okay!
  • Impractically Fancy Outfit:
    • The "fabulous" dress Rarity shows up in for the pre-selections. It's full of dangling metal shingles that, if they nicely reflect every light, also make the thing so heavy Rarity has trouble just walking in it — and render her vulnerable to magnets, to boot.
    • Trixie's costume for the final concert. It's quite fetching and impressive, as fitting for a true showwoman, but also very impractical to make a sneaky exit or climb a walled fence.
  • Improbably Cool Car: Vinyl Scratch's sweet ride. It isn't explained how a high school student, who's seen working part-time in a music shop in the shorts, can afford such a heavily customized Transforming Vehicle.
  • Incredibly Long Note: The final part of "Welcome to the Show" has the Rainbooms draw out "Survives!!!" for a prolonged time just before their alicorn zaps the Dazzlings and destroys their avatars as well as their pendants.
  • Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: Exaggerated — if pony Twilight enters the magic portal just at a brisk trot, on the other end she plain and simply flies through the exit, landing a few meters away.
  • Informed Attribute: Rainbow Dash and Adagio Dazzle claim that "Shake Your Tail!" and "Under Our Spell", respectively, are not their best songs. Or at least, those are the songs they choose when they're actively trying to not reveal their Magic Music.
  • Innocently Insensitive:
    • Rarity lampshades the crush Flash has on Twilight while Sunset, his ex, is in the same room. To her credit, she is quick to realize this and apologize.
    • Referring back to the last time the Equestria Girls defeated an evil and nasty creature from Equestria becomes something of a Running Gag. Oh, er, no offense, Sunset Shimmer.
      Sunset Shimmer: [sigh] None taken.
    • By the time Twilight references the incident, Sunset just rolls with it and says she's used to it.
  • Invisible to Normals: It is strongly hinted that only Sunset Shimmer (besides the Dazzlings, of course) can see the negative energy manifesting as a green mist, as she's the only one seen reacting to it. The Rainbooms are easily convinced that there is dark magic at hand from the behavior of their schoolmates in the cafeteria, though. It isn't clear whether Twilight can too; probably, but she's always distracted by other worries when it happens.
  • Ironic Echo:
    • The Dazzlings' Villain Song is the antithesis of the first film's title song. "Equestria Girls (Helping Twilight Win the Crown)" encouraged the students to unite and support Twilight in winning the Fall Formal, while "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)" induces a hate plague and a dog-eat-dog competitive attitude, generating negative energy by which the Dazzlings gain power. To drive the contrast home, both songs are staged impromptu in the CHS cafeteria.
    • Before the performance of "Shake Your Tail", Twilight reminds the others they have to perform carefully so the Sirens don't see their magic; ironically, before "Under Our Spell", Adagio reminds Sonata and Aria they want to save their ultimate weapon by the time they restore their full power.
  • Is This Thing On?: Just before the finals, Rainbow Dash does the "Check, one two, testing, testing" thing and taps the microphone. Then Sunset Shimmer unwisely raises the volume to the max, causing an ear-splitting feedback on Dash's next try.
  • I've Heard of That — What Is It?: Pony Pinkie Pie pulls one when Twilight explains she suspects the Dazzlings to be sirens, very similar to when Twilight mentioned genealogy to her in "Pinkie Apple Pie".
    Pinkie Pie: NOT THE SIRENS!
    [gets close to Fluttershy and stage-whispers]
    Pinkie Pie: I don't actually know what that is...
  • Jaw Drop: Pinkie's reaction to Sunset Shimmer showing she can play the guitar.
  • Juxtaposed Halves Shot:
    • During "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)", in a close-up Aria and Sonata's faces merge to create such a shot (just as they sing "One and the same thing"). Then it split in the middle to reveal Adagio's face.
    • The cover of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks: The Mane Event also uses one to illustrate the conflict in the book, with Twilight Sparkle and Adagio Dazzle's half-faces separated by a microphone stand.
  • Kick the Dog: Flash Sentry, who by this point is under the Dazzlings' spell ignores Twilight after she joins the Rainbooms and when she won't take a hint angrily chews her out and insults her, reducing her to tears. The Dazzlings see this and laugh that tears are shedding before the first round is even over.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Twilight saying to Flash, "We really need to stop bumping into each other like that..."
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler:
    • Sort of. The Transformation Sequences at the end of the previous movie were left out of the trailers for it and thus treated as a spoiler; the teaser for Rainbow Rocks based on the shorts shows the hybrid forms almost right away.
    • Likewise, Sunset Shimmer's Heel–Face Turn from the first movie is in full effect here.
    • Also, one who hasn't seen the Season 4 finale of Friendship Is Magic might be surprised to see Twilight's library tree replaced by a huge crystal castle.
  • Layman's Terms: After Twilight's pony friends are quite baffled by her Magi Babble about how she reconnected the portal, it's Pinkie Pie who somewhat provides an explanation, although in her own hyperactive way.
    Pinkie Pie: Duh! She's gonna take the magic in here and put it in there. That'll make the portal open up so that whenever she wants to, she can go from here to there. There to here. Here to there. Here there! Here there! Here—
    Applejack: We get the idea!
  • Least Rhymable Word:
    Snips: Everybody knows my favorite color is orange
    My rhymes are so fly, they're better than... um...
    Snails: Than an orange, yo!
  • Let Me at Him!: It's very quick, but at the end of the "Under Our Spell" montage, it looks like Derpy is trying to pick a fight with Bulk Biceps, with Lyra and Bon Bon restraining her.
  • Letting the Air out of the Band: When Twilight and her friends lock hands together to confront the Dazzlings and she exclaims "Friendship is magic!", the music rises dramatically... before falling flat since nothing happens. Embarrassed silence follows, which is quiet enough you can hear a cough.
  • Logical Weakness: Vinyl Scratch shows that since the Dazzlings use Mind-Control Music to enthrall people, those unable to hear it can't be affected.
  • Long Song, Short Scene: Two of them — indeed, the official Hasbro music videos featuring the full songs use lots of unrelated footage from the shorts and movies as padding.
    • Rainbow Dash's "Awesome as I Wanna Be" is interrupted mid-song by Sunset Shimmer tackling her, because she is starting to show off her magic to the Dazzlings.
    • As for Trixie and the Illusions' song, "Tricks Up My Sleeve", we gets the tail end of it the first time they sing it, and then at the concert just the beginning and end, while the gist of it is muted and in the background as the scene focuses on the Rainbooms.
  • Magi Babble: Twilight Sparkle's explanation of how she connected the mirror to the other world through the enchanted books.
  • The Magic Comes Back: The events of the previous film seem to have triggered such an event and permanently introduced Equestrian magic to the human world.
  • Magic Music: The Rainbooms now enter their anthropony forms from the climax of the previous film when they play, though they're unaware of why. They come to use it fully during the Battle of the Bands against the Dazzlings, blasting the Sirens' manifestations with showers of cutie-marks-shaped sparkles through their instruments.
  • Magitek: The results of Twilight's jury-rigging of the magic mirror with various parts to connect it up to the castle and Celestia's book.
  • Malicious Misnaming:
    • Aria Blaze refers to the Rainbooms as the "Rainblossoms".
    • Trixie refers to the band as the "Raingoons" and the "Rainbrooms".
  • Marionette Motion: Rarity, during the "Shake Your Tail!" performance, is moved around like a puppet for most of the song, the metallic tassels of her dress stuck to Photo Finish's magnets.
  • Match Cut: Toward the end of "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)", we see several students in a succession of Hard Cuts (Trixie, Thunderbass, Snips, Octavia, Watermelody, Normal Norman and Diamond Tiara), each in a position matching the preceding one, thus giving the impression of one continuous movement.
  • Meaningful Background Event: During "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)", while everyone is focused on the Dazzlings as they sing their song, DJ Pon-3 can be seen wearing her headphones and bobbing her head to her own tunes, completely oblivious to the Sirens.
  • Meaningful Echo: Attempted by Twilight. In the previous film Flash jokingly said "we need to stop bumping into each other like this" after they bumped into each other a second time. After bumping into him for a second time in this film Twilight says the same line herself, but Flash ignores her due to being under the Dazzlings' spell.
  • Mic Drop: Snips and Snails conclude their awful rap by doing one together, generating a squeal of feedback when the microphones hit the floor. Principal Celestia then warns them not to do that again.
  • Midnight Snack: Sunset Shimmer wakes up for one during the Slumber Party, finding Twilight in the kitchen (and nothing but whipped cream in the fridge). She must have licked the cream off her thumb when the camera wasn't on her. And then Maud Pie shows up to feed her pet rock. "Boulder was hungry."
  • Mind-Control Eyes:
    • When Celestia and Luna are under the Dazzlings' spell, their eyes flash a sickly green. This effect strangely does not happen on Flash, Trixie and the students.
    • During the final concert, the students' eyes shrink to the size of pencil points when they get invested by the Dazzlings' music.
  • Mind-Control Music: The Dazzlings use their singing to drive people into hostile arguments. They also influence Luna and Celestia into accepting the Battle of the Bands idea and ignoring any warning that dark magic is at work. By the end, they've recovered enough of their power to enthrall and brainwash the whole audience into adoring them.
  • The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body:
    • Spike is once again acting very dog-like in this movie, eating dog biscuits and playing with a dog toy at one point. He's still himself, though, and helpful to the end.
    • Moments after Twilight and Spike arrive in the CHS world, Applejack mentions Flash Sentry, Twilight's crush from the first film. Twilight instinctively twirls her hair with her finger, a uniquely human expression of infatuation.
  • Mirror Character: Sunset Shimmer has gone from being Twilight's Evil Counterpart in the first film to being a more direct counterpart. She even starts writing Twilight friendship letters at the end.
  • Moment Killer: Near the end, Trixie interrupts a moment between Twilight and Flash Sentry.
  • Mood Whiplash: The climax of the movie has one extreme change of mood following the very intense conclusion of the Battle of the Bands, with a giant celestial alicorn blasting out the Sirens and their pendants... and then the Dazzlings still try to sing, only to be hilariously off-key.
  • Musicalis Interruptus: "Awesome as I Wanna Be" comes to a sudden halt when Sunset sees Rainbow starting to transform and plows right into her.
  • Musical Pastiche:
    • Like the "Cafeteria Song" from the previous movie, the opening theme "Rainbow Rocks" begins with a drum intro similar to Queen's "We Will Rock You".
    • Trixie's "Tricks Up My Sleeve" is sung in a style resembling early Britney Spears.
    • The "Hey! Hey!" refrain in "Awesome as I Wanna Be" seems to be paying homage both to the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" and Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend".
    • "Shake Your Tail!" borrows the phrase "ignite the light" from Katy Perry's "Firework". Similarly, "the light that ignites" appears in "Shine Like Rainbows", and Sunset's part of "Welcome to the Show" references "Part of Me".
    • Most of the Dazzlings' and the Rainbooms' songs are pastiches of middle-of-the-road Girl Group songs, with the Dazzlings leaning more towards Trance and the Rainbooms favoring Power Pop.
  • Musical World Hypotheses: Of the diegetic type. All of the songs (save for the opening credits) are shown as performed by the various bands, with some songs also showing other scenes (both real within the fictional aspect, or the proverbial Battle of the Bands shots) alongside the band performing. Perhaps the most extreme example is the song Sunset Shimmer performs as she and the Rainbooms finally defeat the Dazzlings. Considering the personal nature of the lyrics, it could only have been performed on the spot.
  • Music Genre Dissonance: The Rainbooms are stated to be a rock band, but their music is Power Pop at best.
  • Music Stories: Unlike the first movie or the main show, where the songs are mostly of the spontaneous kind, this film and the preceding shorts are true music stories, depicting the Rainbooms' efforts and tribulations from forming a rock band and competing at the musical showcase, with some supernatural complications thrown in the way.
  • Mystical High Collar:
    • Trixie's Impractically Fancy Outfit for the final concert sports an elaborate high collar, fitting with her Cute Witch thematic.
    • Twilight's scenic costume also includes one. Note that it's the only Rainbooms outfit that does so.
  • Mythology Gag:
  • Near-Villain Victory: By the end of the movie, the Dazzlings have all of CHS under their control with their constant bickering feeding them more magic every time. Meanwhile, the Rainbooms are trapped under the stage and after the various problems amongst each other and being exposed to the hatred of the Dazzling-controlled CHS, they're now at each other's throats while Twilight and Sunset look on helplessly with no idea how to fix this. All of this is fueling the Dazzlings even more power than they've ever dreamed of. If Sunset hadn't resolved the Rainbooms' argument, or Spike hasn't fetched DJ Pon-3 to rescue them and help them, the Dazzlings would have won.
  • Never Trust a Trailer:
    • The music videos for "Under Our Spell" and "Welcome to the Show" feature a shot of the audience looking uneasy, as if being entranced by the Dazzlings' music. This scene actually takes place when the Dazzlings' gems are destroyed, rendering them unable to sing in tune, and the audience is actually disgusted before they start booing them.
    • The latter music video completely plays up all of the Dazzlings' verses, leaving out the Rainbooms' parts and the ending.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Star Swirl the Bearded sent the Sirens to Earth in an attempt to De-power them, thus allowing the Dazzlings to cause the havoc they did.
    • Twilight and the now reformed Sunset's actions at the climax of the first film are what gave the Dazzlings the clue that the power they needed exist in the human world, and thus the motivation to become the antagonists of this film.
    • Sunset tells the Dazzlings about the band event, and even suggests that they visit Principal Celestia. (Although they might have already known, and precisely chose this day to enroll for this reason; their expressions at this moment are ambiguous.)
    • Sunset stopping Rainbow from transforming and possibly revealing their plan to the bad guys almost gets the Rainbooms kicked out of the competition, and the girls' bickering gets so bad that they start getting affected by the Dazzlings' spell and end up providing them with enough Equestrian magic to almost succeed.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: The humanized Diamond Dogs would look less out-of-place in a Gorillaz clip than in an Equestria Girls movie.
  • No Ontological Inertia: When the Sirens' pendants have been destroyed, all of their spells are broken and everyone is released from their Hate Plague.
  • Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: How the Sirens feel about their predicament in being banished to the Human World. The magic there doesn't work the same way as Equestria's and they can only accumulate so much.
  • No-Sell:
    • The Equestria Girls and Sunset Shimmer are unaffected by the Dazzlings' Mind-Control Music. As is Vinyl Scratch since she's always wearing her headphones. The five human girls, however, are eventually rendered vulnerable by their own conflicts, allowing the Dazzlings to feed off their magic and reach their full power.
    • Then when the girls try to unleash the Magic of Friendship to break the Dazzlings' spell, nothing happens; this is because the Dazzlings' magic comes from their music, and the girls can only channel magic by playing music themselves, thus they need to use the same type of magic against them.
  • Not Helping Your Case: Alright, Sunset, we understand you're emotionally distressed, but furiously telling someone, right in their face, that you didn't push Rainbow Dash mid-performance in a fit of jealous rage... isn't going to convince anyone you didn't push Rainbow Dash mid-performance in a fit of jealous rage.
  • Not Himself: The CHS students under the Dazzlings' spell, becoming confrontational and ultra-competitive. Most notable with Flash Sentry, for whom it's completely at odds with his Nice Guy persona from the first movie. He even snaps once at Twilight Sparkle, making her cry, once the Rainbooms enter the show. On the other hand, it's unclear whether Trixie would be any less antagonistic even without the Dazzlings' influence.
  • Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: It's word-for-word the final line of the Dazzlings' song before the Rainbooms interrupt. Tempting Fate, much?
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore:
    • It's implied that the events of the previous film have permanently introduced Equestrian magic into the other world. Twilight has taken the Element of Magic back, but the human versions of her friends are still able to shapeshift into their anthropony forms and the Dazzlings are able to command stronger magic than they could before.
    • The ending also implies that the rest of the world starts waking up to what's really happening at Canterlot High, in this case in form of none other than the real human Twilight.
  • Not Just a Tournament: With the exception of the Rainbooms, the students and faculty of CHS see the Battle of the Bands as a spirited competition. Since they have no knowledge of magic outside the events of the previous film, they could never guess the Dazzlings are using their competitive spirit to fuel their Hate Plague.
  • Not What It Looks Like: When Sunset tackles Rainbow Dash and stops her song to prevent her from ponying up and blowing their plan to the Dazzlings. While the audience knows that Sunset's doing it for the right reason, the school thinks she's gone back to being an Alpha Bitch.
  • Off Like a Shot: Trixie takes the pose just before zipping away after her first failed Smoke Out.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Trixie has one in her facial expression when Sunset gets right in her face. She looks as though she's afraid to get beaten up, rather than retaining her smug demeanor (though that swiftly returns when Sunset calms down).
    • Sunset has this reaction when she sees Rainbow steal the spotlight during the semifinals, which results in her being about to transform.
    • Two by Sunset Shimmer as she helplessly watches both the corrupt magic from the girls being drained by the Sirens and Twilight going through a Heroic BSoD.
    • The looks on all three Dazzlings' faces as they spot the giant alicorn emerging from the clouds are really not happy ones. And they have an even bigger one after their gems are destroyed and they find out they can no longer even sing.
  • Only One Finds It Fun:
    • During Snips and Snails' poorly made freestyle rap, Pinkie and Sonata are the only ones enjoying it.
    • When the Rainbooms' "Shake Your Tail" number begins to fall apart, Pinkie is the only one still having fun, while Rainbow just becomes mildly confused at what's going on. Because of the Dazzlings' spell, Celestia and Luna are shown clapping happily at the performance, while the rest of the students present just found the performance boring or tried to sabotage it.
    • Rainbow is the only one having fun during her "Awesome as I Wanna Be" number, as the rest of the Rainbooms are showing either disdain, annoyance, and outrage at her always hogging the spotlight.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: During the credits song "Shine Like Rainbows", Rarity completely loses her Mid-Atlantic accent.
  • Open Mouth, Insert Foot:
    • One of Sonata Dusk's many airhead moments.
      Sonata Dusk: We sing, like, all the time! It's how we get people to do what we want.
      [Adagio makes a frantic cutthroat gesture]
      Sonata Dusk: What? What did I say?
    • Sunset Shimmer's friends can't help but bring up repeatedly her not-too-glorious moment as a "raging she-demon" from the first movie.
  • Our Wormholes Are Different: The connection established by Sunset Shimmer's enchanted book with Equestria is illustrated by a very colorful wormhole, which leads to Ponyville.
  • Overcrank: Twilight's microphone dramatically flying in slow-motion until it falls at Sunset Shimmer's feet, during the final battle.
  • Palm-Fist Tap: Twilight Sparkle taps her palm with her fist when she gets the idea of creating a musical counterspell to stop the Sirens.
  • Pass the Popcorn: Derpy is indeed seen eating popcorn while watching Lyra and Bon Bon argue with Octavia in the gym.
  • Pet the Dog: Quite literally in the opening credits: Sunset Shimmer is seen picking up puppy Spike, showing she no longer has a villainous role.
  • Pillar of Light: As seen in the prologue, the one generated by Sunset Shimmer's transformation in the previous movie does attract some attention. First from the Dazzlings, but also with Twilight Sparkle's human counterpart.
  • Piss-Take Rap: Snips and Snails' attempt. It is as bad as it sounds; having one lyric end on the Least Rhymable Word "orange" doesn't help. Neither does the Mic Drop at the end, complete with feedback.
  • Power Crystal: The three Dazzlings wear necklaces with red gems acting as Amplifier Artifacts, allowing them to use their Mind-Control Music in the magic-deprived human world. The gems are a prominent motif of the opening credits.
  • Power Floats:
    • The transformation of the Equestria Girls in their anthropony forms is usually marked by them starting floating, both in the shorts and the movie. Though not always — it doesn't happen when singing "Better Than Ever", notably.
    • In the finals of the Battle of the Bands, the Dazzlings start floating as they're recovering their magic powers.
    • And then, the Rainbooms do the same when they're filled with The Power of Friendship, starting with Sunset Shimmer.
  • The Power of Hate: The Sirens' magic is generated by feeding on the negativity and distrust of others; the more negative energy they consume, the stronger their voices become.
  • The Power of Rock: The first film required the Equestria Girls to win with The Power of Friendship, but this time they specifically need to save the day with song, which becomes visualized in the final battle. They intended to use a counterspell in song form but end up using Fluttershy's song that has the The Power of Friendship as its theme.
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real Battle of the Bands? Then let's battle!"
  • Previously on…: The beginning of the opening credits summarizes the first movie; the lyrics of the intro song also allude to those previous events.
  • Produce Pelting: After the climactic battle, once the Dazzlings have lost their magical voices, the CHS students reward their last attempt at singing with booing and throwing fruits and sandwiches.
  • Punch Catch: Rainbow Dash getting overexcited at the Cakes' café and doing some wild karate moves ends up with Applejack catching her fist.
  • Putting the Band Back Together: The start of the first trailer puts it this way; not really the case, though, since the "band" technically just formed for the CHS Musical Showcase. Although they do need to reunite with Twilight Sparkle to have the full cast of the first movie. Pinkie Pie also says the trope name just before they gear up for the final battle.
  • Rack Focus: A common effect, used to give a more three-dimensional feel to the movie. Notably, at the beginning of the "Awesome as I Wanna Be" performance, one side-shot focuses on Rainbow Dash on her guitar enjoying taking center stage, which then shifts its focus to an annoyed tambourine-playing Fluttershy right next to her.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Very nearly subverted. Sunset is put through a lot over the course of the film, being outcasted from the student body, constantly given dirty looks, and having her friends constantly bring up her past as a villain. After she tackles Rainbow to stop her from showing her magic in the semi-finals, she is yelled at by both the crowd and her friends. The last straw is when Trixie says her favorite part was when Sunset tackled Rainbow in a fit of jealous rage, causing Sunset to glare at her and loudly shout that it wasn't a "fit of jealous rage" before quickly getting herself together. It is quick, but Trixie is shown to cower under her for a second.
  • Rage Quit: Rainbow Dash, while losing to AJ in a video game during the sleepover, slams on the console.
  • Rainbow Motif:
    • The Rainbooms naturally use this motif, as the band was Rainbow Dash's idea. Their logo is a horseshoe with trails and stars of the seven colors of the rainbow on a black background.
    • The equalizer display in front of DJ Pon-3's transformed car also uses six colors of the rainbow in order.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Bulk Biceps daintily plays the violin.
  • Rearing Horse: Besides the usual CHS statue...
    • DJ Pon-3's car has a rearing unicorn hood ornament... shaped like her pony counterpart!
    • The giant ethereal alicorn briefly rears over the clouds before blasting the Dazzlings.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Adagio, Aria, and Sonata give one to Sunset Shimmer when she confronts them in the hall and declaring that whatever they are planning, they won't get away with it. The Dazzlings simply scoff at her and call out her own past misdeeds from the first movie, saying that they are not the slightest bit worried about it. Why? Because even if Sunset knows their plot, she can't do anything about it since she's reduced to the school pariah due to her past sins. They continue to rub it in that no matter how hard Sunset tries, people will always hate her and never forgive or forget what she's done. Adagio finishes by mockingly consoling Sunset that no-one will remember her at all by the time she and her fellow Sirens are done with their scheme.
  • Record Needle Scratch: The teaser uses one when it reaches the point mentioning that Sunset Shimmer is part of the "band".
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Dazzlings' eyes turn completely red when they unleash their full power and summon their siren avatars against the Rainbooms.
  • Red Sky, Take Warning: After the Dazzlings unleash their full power and summon their siren avatars, the sky goes from indigo to a much more threatening red. It fades out once the trio has been weakened after Sunset joins.
  • Reflective Eyes: In the prologue, the Pillar of Light caused by Sunset Shimmer (from the first movie) reflects into Adagio's eyes when she catches sight of it.
  • Reformed, but Rejected: While the Rainbooms have befriended Sunset Shimmer and she has mended her ways, the rest of the school is not so forgiving. Considering that she terrorized the school as the Alpha Bitch for quite a while and especially her actions in the first movie (the Fall Formal is something of a Berserk Button), its easy to see why they're not very forgiving. The end credits show that the rest of the school has warmed up to her.
    Flash Sentry: Now that's the bad girl we love to hate!
    Octavia Melody: I knew she was still trouble!
    Random student: [off-screen] The real Sunset Shimmer is back!
  • Retcon: The Novelization of the shorts had the name of the bands as The Equestria Girls, but the band is called the Rainbooms in the film proper.
  • Rock Me, Asmodeus!: The heaviest music passages during "Welcome to the Show" are when the Sirens' demon avatars escalate the fight with the Rainbooms.
  • Rule of Cool: Yeah, there is absolutely no way DJ Pon-3's transformer car and BASS CANNON could be seriously explained within the context of the movie. Do we care? NO! It's just too awesome.
  • Running Gag:
    • The girls (and later Twilight) ramble on about issues with the Dazzlings, and comment on how a demon took over the school last time, forgetting that Sunset is standing right next to them. Apologies are quickly offered.
      Applejack/Rainbow Dash/Twilight Sparkle: No offense.
      Sunset Shimmer: None taken.
    • Rainbow Dash calling the Rainbooms "my band", eliciting progressively more annoyed reactions from her bandmates.
    • Trixie's ninja-smoke-bomb disappearing gag.
      Pinkie Pie: She's GONE! [Beat] Oh wait, there she is!
    • Having one girl getting something smeared on her face or clothes, and another subsequently wiping it off, happens a few times (as remarked in the DVD Commentary).invoked
  • Sealed Evil in Another World: The Dazzlings were sent to the Human World by Starswirl the Bearded for the chaos they caused in Equestria.
  • Self-Demonstrating Song: The Dazzlings' "Under Our Spell".
    We've got the music
    makes you move it
    got the song that makes you lose it
    We say "Jump!" You say "How high?"
  • Self-Deprecation:invoked Word of God is that the gym scene where the Rainbooms attempt (and fail) to call on their powers to defeat the Dazzlings then and there was intended as a joke about how often defeating the villain has boiled down to exactly what they did: join hands/hooves and call on The Power of Friendship for a Deus ex machina Curb-Stomp Battle. This time, nothing happens.
  • Sensual Spandex: The Crusaders' hard-rocker outfits. Seriously, those are tight.
  • Sequel Hook:
    • Human Twilight appears in The Stinger, and she's got a String Theory about the weird goings-on at Canterlot High...
    • Equestria's Twilight has also said that she may return now that she can come and go at will. On top of that, Sunset Shimmer now writing friendship letters to Twilight means this may not be the last we'll see of her.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story:
    • Twilight spends most of the movie freaking out over writing a musical counterspell, only to realize at the end that it doesn't matter what they sing to defeat the Dazzlings as long as they do so as friends.
    • It was also pointless for the Rainbooms to become so preoccupied with preventing the Dazzlings from seeing their anthropony transformations, since the Dazzlings already knew that the Rainbooms were a source of Equestrian magic due to being Immune to Mind Control.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Derpy dresses up in a simple paper bag-brown wrap dress when her "band" performs in the competition.
  • Ship Tease:
    • It's made very clear that Flash Sentry still has a crush on Twilight.
    • Despite her denial of it, it's hinted that Sunset Shimmer still has feelings for her ex-boyfriend.
    • Lyra and Bon Bon singing a duet and playing on the piano together. They even lean close together when playing.
  • Shout-Out:
    • During "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)", Sonata and Aria dancing behind Adagio makes it look like she has six arms, a common representation for gods in Hindu Mythology.
    • Aria and Sonata's short exchange of slaps over the fruit punch would make The Three Stooges proud.
    • When Rarity is showing off potential band outfits, one of them is styled like The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper band costumes. She even suggests that it may be a bit old-fashioned, so she switches to a Daft Punk-style outfit, complete with a working replica of Guy-Manuel's helmet.
    • When Pinkie notices Trixie hiding, Trixie zips offscreen leaving some hairpins behind, much like Witch Hazel from Looney Tunes.
    • Derpy's bandmates bear a very close resemblance in hair color and style to Shana and Kimber from Jem and the Holograms. Even the one that is like Kimber (with the triangle) has piano key-style decor on her clothes, reflecting on Kimber being the keyboardist for the Holograms. And Derpy's wrap-dress in this scene is similar to Jem's usual wardrobe.
    • "Tricks Up My Sleeve", the song Trixie and the Illusions perform, notably uses the famous Transformers transforming sound effect, best heard on the official soundtrack.
    • Speaking of Transformers, there would be some serious questions about Vinyl's Bassmobile if Hasbro didn't own the copyright already.
    • The Final Battle between the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms plays out like the "Amp vs. Amp" battle from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
    • Also during the Final Battle there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference. The Dazzlings gems glow and red ribbons engulf their bodies, reminiscent of the transformations from Sailor Moon.
    • The Dazzlings' verses during the final concert are similar to "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga.
  • Shown Their Work:
    • As per theinvoked DVD Commentary, the animation team spent time to get the appropriate motions for close-ups of when the Rainbooms are playing their instruments to match the parts of the songs, such as the fingering patterns on the guitar necks, Pinkie's drum playing, and Fluttershy tuning the head on her tambourine.
    • The "Guitar Centered" short and the movie itself depict all kinds of electric guitars instead of reusing the same stock electric guitar model. Trixie and Sunset Shimmer in the movie play Flying Vs, Rainbow Dash used to play a semi-acoustic (but her new guitar is an Ibanez similar to a Strat), and Flash Sentry plays a non-reverse Gibson Firebird. The guitar shop itself has all sorts of electric guitars and other instruments with recognizable real-life counterparts.
  • Sickly Green Glow:
    • The Dazzlings feeding on negative energy is manifested as a green mist that is sucked through their necklaces. Although it is probably Invisible to Normals, as only Sunset Shimmer seems to be able to notice it.
    • Also, Celestia and Luna's eyes flash green to show they're under the Dazzlings' spell.
  • Sidetracked by the Analogy: From pony Pinkie Pie, as she is wont to.
    Rainbow Dash: I hate to burst your bubble, Twilight, but the connection between their world and Equestria will still be totally cut off for a super-long time.
    Pinkie Pie: Okay, first of all, if there was bubble-blowing going on, why wasn't I told about it?!
  • Signature Instrument: The Equestria Girls are forming a rock band called the Rainbooms. Five of the prequel shorts show them picking their favorite instruments through moment of Magic Music:
    • "Guitar Centered": An electric guitar for Rainbow Dash, which gets an instant makeover of shiny sapphire-blue and lightning bolts when she starts playing.
    • "Hamstocalypse Now": Fluttershy picks the tambourine and uses it to sooth rowdy hamsters.
    • "Pinkie on the One": Pinkie Pie can't help drumming with whatever at hand, making her a perfect pick as a drummer for the group.
    • "Player Piano": Rarity gives up on playing the grand piano when a keytar is suggested instead and she digs it.
    • "A Case for the Bass": Applejack recovers her bass guitar from the Flim-Flam brothers, and playing covers it with her apple cutie marks.
    • The movie itself shows Sunset Shimmer and Trixie Lulamoon playing "Flying V" guitars; fitting for Trixie's Cute Witch theme as it somewhat looks like a Flying Broomstick.
  • Simultaneous Arcs: The prologue takes place during the climax of Equestria Girls, when Adagio witnesses the time of Sunset Shimmer's defeat.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Sunset Shimmer is completely absent from the shorts, and her role is downplayed (or flat-out ignored) by much of the promotional material. She's actually among the most important characters in the film. (This was done intentionally to keep Sunset's role a surprise.)
  • Skewed Priorities: Rarity designing outfits for the Rainbooms during the contest and concert. Applejack is the one most annoyed by this and constantly argues with Rarity over it.
  • Slasher Smile: During the song "Under Our Spell", the Crusaders sport menacing grins for their performance, but Apple Bloom's and Sweetie Belle's are terrifying.
  • Slumber Party: Pinkie Pie holds an impromptu slumber party at her house with all her friends (including Sunset) so that Twilight Sparkle wouldn't have to sleep in the library again.
  • Smoke Out: Trixie uses a smoke grenade twice to make a showy departure, just like her pony counterpart. And just like her, she flubs it both times.
  • The Social Darwinist: The Dazzlings spread a message reminiscent of Lightning Dust's philosophy, saying that it doesn't matter who you hurt as long as you succeed.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The performance of "Shake Your Tail!" The song is a very upbeat number about getting together for a party, and when it was released as an online short video, the visuals supported this. In the actual movie, the visuals include Rarity and Fluttershy having on-stage breakdowns due to sabotage from the other bands, AJ glaring at the latter for having to deal with this, and Twilight getting worried over Flash Sentry.
  • Spear Carrier: The delivery pony who brings the pile of books to Twilight's castle, including Celestia's phone book.
  • The Speechless: Like in the original series, Vinyl Scratch never speaks at all. What really pushes her into this is, in the prequel novel, she communicates to people next to her via text messaging, hinting that she might be completely mute.
  • Sphere of Power: For the final battle, the ultimate move of the Rainbooms singing in unison generates a rising rainbow beam made of the Magic of Friendship, which coalesces into a multicolored sphere of twirling energies. And then a huge pair of glowing wings emerge from it, prelude to the summoning of a giant Winged Unicorn made of light.
  • Split Screen:
    • A few in "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)" for close-ups of the three Dazzlings.
    • Several are used during the "Under Our Spell" montage to illustrate a few rounds of the Battle of the Bands, when two bands are competing. Then they are reunited on the same screen when the winner's music (metaphorically) "blasts away" the loser.
    • Finally, the screen is split in three parts for a close-up of the Dazzlings' gems being destroyed.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Title: The subtitle "Rainbow Rocks" should be your first clue; Rainbow Dash is the leader of the band, which is called the "Rainbooms", and as always the rainbow is a recurring visual motif. Also a case ofinvoked Billing Displacement; contrary to the film's advertising, Rainbow is not The Protagonist, or even given all that more prominence than the rest of the five.
  • Squeaky Eyes: Not systematic, but an audible blinking sound is regularly heard. Notably, preceding the first two "No offense" — "None taken" gags, when the girl who spoke realizes what she just said and blinks.
  • Staggered Zoom:
    • The "Under Our Spell" sequence starts with a succession of zooms centered on Adagio's mouth.
    • The very end of the movie focus on Pinkie starting the ending song by beating her drumsticks and saying "1, 2, 3, 4!" with a slanted zoom on every number.
  • Stealth Pun:
    • Sunset Shimmer's magical book, and Celestia's counterpart, allow communication between Equestria and the human world and vibrate like cell phones. They are phone books.
    • Trixie and the Illusions, in all their appearances in the film, only have one song... which is used twice. Trixie is a one-trick pony.
  • Sting: Pinkie Pie does a rimshot on her own drums, but unlike in "Pinkie on the One" this time this version of her is using it ironically, as what she says isn't that funny, and from her grouchy expression she knows it.
    Pinkie Pie: She just wants to make things fun! Isn't that what being in a band supposed to be? [plays rimshot]
  • The Stinger: The human world's Twilight has figured out that there's something strange going on at Canterlot High.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Snips and Snails' performance draws many reactions from the audience from scoffs to horror, but no-one seems to think highly of it. No-one except Pinkie and Sonata.
  • String Theory: After the credits roll, it is revealed that human Twilight (the real, original human Twilight) has been tracking the occurrences of the two movies using this trope, and all the strings on her board lead directly to CHS...
  • Stuck in Their Shadow: In-Universe example. Twilight thinks Fluttershy's song is good, but Rainbow Dash always puts off rehearsing it. Subverted in the end when Rainbow Dash picks Fluttershy's song for the final showdown.
    Fluttershy: I write songs! You just never let us play any of them!
  • Stylistic Suck:
    • The "Bad Counterspell" song and Snips and Snails' rap draw cringes and plugged ears from many in-universe.
    • Many viewers have also observed that the Rainbooms' songs, while not bad at all, are not on par with the Dazzlings', right up until Sunset picks up the mic. This is probably intentional, as a reflection of the Dazzlings being two steps ahead of the Rainbooms for most of the movie, and generally much better at this Magic Music thing.
  • Suddenly Speaking:
    • A few background students get to say a line during the Dazzlings' song "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)"note :
      Blueberry Cake: I could beat you!
      Cherry Crash: Ha, you wish!
      Trixie Lulamoon: I so want this!
      Captain Planet: Not if I get it first!
    • Photo Finish was voiceless in the first film, but has a brief speaking role during the announcement of the finalists, with the same accent as her pony counterpart.
      Photo Finish: Zis never should haf been you, Rainbooms!
    • Octavia Melody, who was previously completely voiceless in the series.
      Octavia Melody: I knew she was still trouble!
  • Summon Magic: The final move of the Rainbooms during the Battle of the Bands is very similar to the ultimate attack found in many Eastern RPGs: a gigantic magical beast is summoned to deliver a powerful and decisive strike, in this case in the form of a rainbow-beam-firing alicorn.
  • Super-Cute Superpowers: When the Rainbooms battle the Dazzlings' spectral avatars, their magical blasts are depicted as showers of rainbows, diamonds, butterflies, and sparkles.
  • Super Mode: In the finale, the Rainbooms get rainbowfied super modes on top of their anthropony transformations.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: Sunset is quick to deny actually having had feelings for Flash Sentry when they were dating, and that she doesn't have a problem with him crushing on Twilight, but her down face when Rarity lampshades the crush implies otherwise. However, when Twilight arrives, she seems to go along with the idea of Flash and Twilight being together.
  • Tempting Fate:
    • Adagio, talking about the Dazzlings' gems: "These pendants mean an awful lot to us. We'd just hate for anything to happen to them." Well done, Dazzle, now you jinxed it.
    • Twilight proudly claiming "There isn't going to be a battle of the bands!" to the Dazzlings. Even if this wasn't happening about 30 minutes in the movie, you just know she's doomed herself and her friends to such a battle before the end.
    • The Dazzlings then triumphantly sing "Nothing Can Stop Us Now!" just before the Rainbooms show up to defy them in said Battle of the Bands.
  • Thememobile: Vinyl Scratch's sweet ride very much follows her color scheme, with musical notes decorations and a hood ornament shaped like DJ Pon-3's unicorn counterpart. (The toy version even has a detachable windshield that can be used as Cool Shades.) It has variousinvoked Fan Nicknames (Vinylmobile, DJmobile, Wubmobile...) with the most popular being Bassmobile. To top it all, it is a Transforming Vehicle that can become a DJ booth with several big speakers and a laser light show.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: During the Final Battle, when DJ Pon-3 fires the first salvo with her BASS CANNON, followed by cutie-marks sparkles attacks, the music is a Triumphant Reprise of the theme for the first movie (specifically, from the moment the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls title card is shown on screen).
  • Theremin: Among the instruments Pinkie suggests Twilight should play, she brings out a theremin and plays a haunting tune.
    Pinkie Pie: So magical...
  • This Cannot Be!: Adagio's reaction, after the Dazzlings attempt to finish off the Rainbooms is repulsed and their spell over the crowd is broken, is one of disbelief. Her Red Eyes, Take Warning fade due to having been severely weakened at the loss of her thralls, and she's left staring up at the Rainbooms looking like she just got socked hard in the stomach and got the wind knocked out of her.
  • This Is the Final Battle: Twilight confidently tells the Dazzlings that "There isn't going to be a battle of the bands! We're gonna make sure of that." Of course, since this is only half an hour into the movie, she's wrong.
  • Those Two Guys: The "tornado" blue guy and the "square root of heart" guy, who are seen laughing together during "Better Than Ever", squabbling like all the other students during the tournament, and singing together at the end of "Welcome to the Show".
  • Throat-Slitting Gesture: When Sonata nearly reveals the Dazzlings' true intentions to Sunset, Adagio promptly gives her this to stop her and change the subject.
  • Thrown Down a Well: Just before the final battle, the Rainbooms and Sunset are thrown down a stage trap into a locked room, where their tensions that have been building throughout the film come to a boil, fueling the Dazzlings with enough negative emotional energy to reach full power. Fortunately, Sunset is able to resolve their argument, and Spike, who avoided the trapdoor, fetches DJ Pon-3 to rescue them.
  • Time Skip: With the exception of the prologue, the movie takes place six moons after the first Equestria Girls, as noted in the commentary.
  • Timmy in a Well: Amusingly Inverted Trope with Spike and Vinyl Scratch: he's a talking dog who seeks the help of a speechless human. The Bronies React video for the film indeed makes a Lassie joke out of it.
  • Title Drop: When Twilight and her human friends first attempt to stop the Dazzlings, she shouts, "Friendship is magic!"
  • Title Theme Tune: "Rainbow Rocks", the movie theme tune, Title Drops at the end of the chorus.
  • Trailers Always Spoil:
    • The Hasbro and Shout! Factory trailers and sneak peeks essentially cut up the first 15-20 minutes of the film into individual scenes and snipped some jokes and bridging sequences between them. If you kept up with them before seeing the film itself, you can essentially skip to the point where the group contacts Twilight without missing much of anything.
    • Even worse with the Hub Network/Discovery Family promos, which show Sunset joining the band in the end as well as the final battle between the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms including the transformations of the former.
  • Transformation Sequence:
    • The Equestria Girls still transform into their pony-human hybrids as at the finale of the first film, but now the transformations are powered by their musical talents.
    • The Dazzlings also get one at the end after draining enough Equestrian magic.
    • As does Sunset when she joins the Rainbooms; hers in particular is very much in the Magical Girl style compared to other transformations.
  • Transforming Vehicle: Vinyl Scratch's car transforms into a DJ booth with several big speakers and a laser light show.
  • Trap Door: Right before the finals, Trixie and her two bandmates trap the Rainbooms under the stage by pulling a lever and opening a trap door right under their feet.
  • Triumphant Reprise:
    • The Rainbooms' part of "Welcome to the Show" is triumphantly reprised after Sunset joins the band and they conjure up a giant Winged Unicorn avatar to defeat the Dazzlings once and for all.
    • Also, the moment in the battle where DJ Pon-3 fires the first salvo with her BASS CANNON, followed by cutie-marks sparks attacks, uses the theme from the first movie (specifically, the part when the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls title card shows on screen) in a more upbeat/rock cover.
  • Troubled Fetal Position:
    • Sunset Shimmer slumps into one after Principal Celestia mentions the Fall Formal, and every student in the gym (save the Rainbooms) start glaring at the former school queen.
    • Twilight Sparkle gets into one too when the Rainbooms are trapped under the stage and start blaming each other, and she admits that she couldn't get the counterspell ready and agonizes over how she could have failed like this.
  • Truck Driver's Gear Change: The final chorus of "Welcome to the Show" modulates up a whole step.
  • The Unapologetic: Despite being freed from The Dazzlings control at the end of the film, Flash Sentry, Trixie, and the other students don't really give off much of an "I'm sorry" for their horrible treatment of Twilight, Sunset and the Rainbooms.
  • Uncommon Time: "Welcome to the Show" alternates between 4/4 and 7/8 time.
  • Understatement: When discussing Sunset Shimmer's past deeds, Fluttershy says "You were pretty bad at the Fall Formal." Sunset is a little more honest about it when she bluntly says "A demon. I turned into a raging she-demon."
  • The Unmasqued World: If human Twilight in The Stinger is any indication, the events of the two films are starting to attract outside attention...
  • Unwitting Pawn: Trixie and the Illusions. They're basically regular, neutral members of the student body, but are manipulated into trapping the Rainbooms just before the final battle.
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Done quite literally by the Dazzlings when they are defeated, courtesy of Produce Pelting from the audience. They run off the stage and are never seen again.
  • Villain Has a Point: While they say it to break her will to oppose them since she already figured out their plans, the Sirens are not wrong at telling Sunset that, despite the Humane Five forgiving her and being nice to her, they hardly were her friends, since there were still tensions between them by bringing up her "Raging She-Demon" stunt several times throughout the movie, and not even bothering to ask Sunset to join their band, something they did with Twilight.
  • Villain Opening Scene: The film opens with the Dazzlings draining the emotions of a restaurant full of people, then noticing the final events of the first movie in the distance. This sets off their entire scheme to take over the world.
  • Villainous Face Hold: Adagio briefly holds Trixie's chin with her hand during "Battle".
  • Villain Song: The Dazzlings, a.k.a. the Sirens, have three: "Battle", "Under Our Spell", and their part of "Welcome to the Show". The second of these is a double meaning, as it's about falling under their spell in addition to already being under it. The third gets a Dark Reprise once the trio have been rendered tone-deaf following their pendants being destroyed.
  • Visual Pun: During the song "Awesome as I Wanna Be", a spotlight shines on each of the Rainbooms one by one, which is normal since they're performing on scene. It becomes significant when, in the middle of the song, all the rays of light focus on Rainbow Dash, who is literally stealing the spotlights with her showboating.
  • Volumetric Mouth: As in the first movie, this effect is sometimes used, most notably by pony Pinkie. Also Those Two Guys singing arms-in-arms in the crowd during the climax.
  • Wardrobe Wound: During the song "Shake Your Tails", Rarity's '60s-themed outfit with dangling metal shingles get caught by Photo Finish's magnets, and when Rarity gives a hard pull on it to get free, the sleeves are ripped off. Rarity's horrified reaction is to burst into tears right on the scene.
    Rarity: Ruined! Absolutely ruined!
  • Weirdness Censor: Nobody in the CHS universe is surprised to see and hear Spike talk. Justified with the CHS students, who learned he can talk at the Fall Formal in the previous film, but even Mrs. Cake at the malt shop doesn't notice.
  • Wham Line:
    • On a meta level, "So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real Battle of the Bands? Then let's battle." This is the moment you realize there's more to the climax than a One-Hit Kill after both sides transform.
    • "No doubt about it, Spike, there's definitely something strange going on at that school."
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • We never find out what happens to Celestia and Luna after the semifinals, as they aren't seen again from that point on.
    • Once the Dazzlings are defeated and run off, they are never seen again. This doesn't qualify as Chuck Cunningham Syndrome because they are mentioned later.
  • Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: The crowd gets these as the Dazzlings enthrall them during their final song.
  • Winged Unicorn: Besides Twilight Sparkle, a gigantic winged unicorn made of the Magic of Friendship materializes at the climax of the final battle, using a beam from its horn to blast away the spiritual forms of the Sirens and destroy the Dazzlings' gems.
  • World of Jerkass: All of Canterlot High except for the Rainbooms, Sunset Shimmer, Spike and Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon-3 become this due to the Dazzlings Hate Plague.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: The first thing Twilight Sparkle and friends try against the Dazzlings is use The Power of Friendship the same way that was used to deal with every villain prior. Too bad for them magic doesn't work that way in this universe.
  • WTH, Costuming Department?: Invoked In-Universe when Rarity dons a costume worthy of The '60s and full of metallic tassels during one set.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One: Things would have been way easier for the Rainbooms if they had stopped the Dazzlings earlier, when they were at their weakest. They try to defeat them as soon as they're all together, but The Power of Friendship doesn't activate, prompting them to find a more specific solution they must spend the film working on. In the end, they fall for the Sirens' manipulations, letting them drive a wedge between themselves, which finally allow the Dazzlings to drain a good amount of the Rainbooms' Equestrian magic and regain a large part of their powers. Only then does the real Battle of the Bands start, and the Dazzlings are now very dangerous foes.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Sunset Shimmer is enraged and humiliated when The Great and Powerful Trixie praises her for tackling Rainbow Dash in an alleged fit of jealous rage.
  • Your Little Dismissive Diminutive: Like Sunset Shimmer did in the first film, Adagio uses this when she says "We're going to use [Equestrian magic] to make everyone in this pathetic little world adore us."
  • Your Magic's No Good Here: Trying to use friendship-powered magic in a universe where magic normally doesn't exist results in nothing happening. At least, not without a magical object from Equestria to harness it from.

Alternative Title(s): Rainbow Rocks

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Rainbow Rocks

Pinkie Pie holds an impromptu slumber party at her house with all her friends (including Sunset) so that Twilight Sparkle wouldn't have to sleep in the library again.

How well does it match the trope?

3.29 (7 votes)

Example of:

Main / SlumberParty

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