My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games

My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games, also simply titled The Friendship Games, is the third installment in the Equestria Girls spin-off film franchise, following My Little Pony Equestria Girls and My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks. The film takes place after the animated shorts The Science of Magic, Pinkie Spy, All's Fair in Love & Friendship Games, Photo Finished, and A Banner Day.

Development and production
A forest clearing, used both for the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic episode Bloom & Gloom and for this film, was previewed in a background image shown online back in November 2014.

The third installment was first teased by Rainbow Rocks co-director, Ishi Rudell. Brony Donald "Dusty Katt" Rhoades tweeted wondering about Rudell's silence on Twitter, and Rudell announced that he was "too busy working on #3". On Twitter in late February 2015, Jayson Thiessen was asked, "Is the Friendship Games movie actually going to be about the Friendship Games?", and joked in reply, "it's actually an extensive lecture on quantum physics and M theory... For kids."

On January 29, 2015, Australian home media distributor Beyond Home Entertainment stated via Facebook that they had obtained distribution rights for seasons 4 and 5 of the show, in addition to Rainbow Rocks and the "third Equestria Girls [movie]". Further confirmation was given during Hasbro's investor presentation at the 2015 New York Toy Fair.

The motocross animation was made by Ken Chu and Top Draw animation.

A new arrival
Sunset Shimmer and her friends race to Canterlot High School, having been summoned by Rainbow Dash via emergency text message. However, the only "emergency" is that Rainbow has a broken guitar string, much to her friends' frustration. Rainbow prepares to give a performance for the Crusaders, and the others join her inside the school. Sunset stays behind to write to Princess Twilight in Equestria.

As Sunset writes, a bus stops in front of the school, and a teenage girl in a hoodie steps off. She uses a scientific device and approaches the statue, appearing to be strangely interested in the portal to Equestria. Sunset notices the girl and calls out to her. The girl suddenly runs off, and Sunset gives chase. Before Sunset can catch up to the girl, she escapes on another bus.

Having safely gotten away, the girl pulls off her hood, revealing her identity as Twilight Sparkle's human counterpart. Upon returning to her own school, Twilight enters a private research room and assembles a device resembling an amulet

The CHS pep rally
Some time later, Sunset and her friends gather together in the school library. Sunset wonders about the mysterious girl's interest in the statue, noting that she appears to be from the human world and not Equestria. Rainbow Dash believes the girl is a Crystal Prep Academy student trying to deface the statue due to the upcoming Friendship Games, which the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts always win. Despite the Games representing schools coming together in sportsmanship, Canterlot High and Crystal Prep are fierce rivals, and Rainbow Dash has a plan to bring victory to their school.

Later, at a pep rally in the gymnasium, Rainbow Dash with the help of the school marching band rallies and motivates the unenthusiastic students with a spirited song. At the song's climax, Rainbow Dash sprouts pony ears and wings. After the pep rally ends, Applejack wonders how Rainbow was able to "pony up" without her guitar. Vice Principal Luna approaches and asks that they keep their magic in check during the Friendship Games to avoid accusations of cheating. She also tasks Sunset Shimmer with solving the mystery of her friends' random magical transformations.

In the CHS library, Sunset does research when she tries to contact the Twilight from Equestria again and tells her about her assignment to keep magic out of the games.

Twilight's research
Back at Crystal Prep, Twilight goes to her secret room to tell her dog Spike about the device she created. She tells him the device was made to measure and contain the strange frequencies surrounding CHS. She hopes to use this research to get accepted into the Everton Independent Study Program. Dean Cadance, the dean of Crystal Prep, informs Twilight that Principal Abacus Cinch demands her presence. She also encourages her to give friendship a try. On her way to Cinch's office, Twilight begins to contemplate her place in the school.

In Cinch's office, Twilight is surprised to see her brother, Shining Armor, joining Cinch and Cadance. Cinch requests Twilight to join the Shadowbolts and compete in the Friendship Games. Twilight is very reluctant about this, until Cinch threatens to deny her application to Everton. Ultimately, Twilight decides to compete after all, since she would like to do more findings at the school anyway. She hides Spike in her backpack.

Upon reaching the bus, Twilight meets her teammates, the alternately rude and nice Sour Sweet, the ultra-competitive Indigo Zap, the extremely blunt Sugarcoat, the rocker girl Lemon Zest, and Sunny Flare, the straight girl of the group. She immediately has difficulty getting along with them and makes a fool of herself.

Canterlot meets Crystal Prep
After the Rainbooms finish practicing, Rainbow expresses her hope that the games will have a music competition, but Sunset reminds her they are supposed to keep magic out. In the meantime, Rarity takes some time to show the rest of the Rainbooms some various outfits she made for the girls to wear.

At the entrance of CHS, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna welcome Cinch and Cadance respectively to the school. When Sci-Twi gets off the bus, Sweetie Drops greets her by name. Sci-Twi becomes bewildered when a multitude of other students greet her by name. She then bumps into Flash Sentry, who asks about Twilight's glasses. Sci-Twi ends their conversation when her device starts detecting strange energy.

Back in the bandroom, Applejack questions why Rarity made so many clothes they might not need. Rarity explains that she was only being generous. As her generosity shines through, Rarity ponies up. Outside, Sci-Twi detects the energy outside the bandroom. Her device opens up and takes the energy from inside. After this, Rarity's pony ears and extended ponytail disappears. As Sci-Twi enters the bandroom, the Equestria Girls are incredibly excited to be reunited with "Twilight". However, they are confused as to why she is wearing a Crystal Prep uniform and wearing glasses. Sci-Twi is even more confused when Fluttershy and Rarity recognize her pet dog. As Celestia shows Cinch a tour of the school, she, too, recognizes "Twilight". Celestia becomes baffled when Cinch refers to Sci-Twi as her student. She assumes that Twilight has a twin sister, but Pinkie Pie explains that she is not the Twilight from Equestria.

Rarity is in disbelief that the human world's Twilight goes to Crystal Prep, and Rainbow is surprised that they will be playing against their supposed friend. Sunset becomes more concerned about the random magical occurrences as well as the fact that she hasn't heard back from the Twilight from Equestria. After separating from her friends, she figures that if she can't wait for Twilight, she will have to return to Equestria. Sci-Twi's device suddenly picks up the portal's magic and sucks all of the magic out of it, making it inactive.

Welcome, Crystal Prep
In the gymnasium, a welcoming party is held for the Crystal Prep students, but no one appears to be getting along. Sunset tells her friends about what happened to the portal, and immediately pins it down to Sci-Twi. She attempts to confront her, but the rest of the Shadowbolts prevent her from doing so. Meanwhile, Pinkie introduces herself to Sci-Twi. Sci-Twi tells Pinkie that there is not a lot of partying going on, but Pinkie asks Sci-Twi to help her fix this. While Celestia greets all of the Crystal Prep students, Pinkie and Sci-Twi push two large packages carrying party cannons. With a little redecorating and appropriate lighting and music, the party switches into full gear. Pinkie and Sci-Twi activate their party cannons. Pleased with this, Pinkie ponies up. Once again, Sci-Twi's device accidentally takes away Pinkie's magic, and also opens a dimensional rift. Once Cinch takes the stage, the party stops. Cinch gives a rather sinister announcement about how nothing has changed at CHS and how determined she is that Crystal Prep will win.

The Equestria Girls approach Pinkie, who informs them that Sci-Twi's device took away her magic. They try to find Sci-Twi, but she has disappeared.

Let the Games begin
In the foyer, Dean Cadance welcomes all the students competing and gives instructions for the first event of the games, the ACADECA. The first event is chemistry, which is won by the Shadowbolts after Derpy's concoction explodes in her face. At the next event, home-ec, different pairs of students make different cakes. At first, Upper Crust and Suri Polomare's cake seems to be the winner, but the Wondercolts win with Pinkie and Fluttershy's giant cake, which has its filling shaped like the Mona Lisa. At the woodshop event, Sandalwood and Micro Chips' birdhouse is a shambles, while Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap's birdhouse is extravagant, giving the Shadowbolts points in this round. At the spelling bee, no one is able to spell a single word correctly. At the academic decathlon, it is down to Sunset and Sci-Twi attempting to solve a complex mathematical equation. Sci-Twi wins, giving the Shadowbolts the edge over the Wondercolts. However, hardly any one of the Crystal Prep students is excited about this. The Equestria Girls approach Sunset congratulating her for a job well done even though she lost.

The effects of magic
Sometime later, Sci-Twi meets up with Fluttershy, who is stroking her kitty cat. She finds a kindred spirit in this yellow girl, since she also smuggled Puppy Spike with her. Fluttershy introduces her to the rest of her pets. Fluttershy congratulates her for winning, but comments on how unexcited her fellow students were. Sci-Twi explains that no one gets excited about anything they did not do themselves. Fluttershy offers Sci-Twi to hold Angel Bunny, saying that holding a bunny always cheers her up. Sci-Twi accepts this kind gesture and feels better. This display of kindness makes Fluttershy pony up. As the device steals Fluttershy's magic, it also opens several more dimensional rifts releasing an Equestrian jackalope, which Puppy Spike chases in and out of the rifts. At some point of the chase, Puppy Spike gets affected by the strange energy. Sci-Twi picks Puppy Spike up and asks if he's okay, which Puppy Spike says, "Um, I think so." This leaves Sci-Twi completely shocked because somehow her dog can now talk and decides to run away from her now sentient dog.

Puppy Spike corners Sci-Twi in a hallway asking about why she ran away. After naming several random events, she ultimately pinned it down to her talking dog. Puppy Spike explains to his owner that when he chased the jackalope, he was somewhere else, then suddenly he could talk. Sci-Twi then hears Cinch approaching and hides her dog in a locker. Cinch encourages Sci-Twi to get to know her competitors since they seem to have a keen interest in her. Once again, she threatens to revoke her Everton application.

Fluttershy tells the rest of the Equestria Girls what happened. Sunset is now more frustrated that Sci-Twi appears to be stealing magic and that she hasn't heard back from the Twilight from Equestria. During one of Pinkie Pie's antics, she falls out the back door, revealing the playing field for the next event of the Friendship Games.

Cinch assigns each of her competitors to different events of the relay, leaving Sci-Twi and Sour Sweet doing archery, since it is a requirement at the school.

The Tri-Cross Relay
Dean Cadance announces that the students will compete in archery, speed-skating, and motocross. Sour Sweet, Sci-Twi, Fluttershy, and Applejack start off the archery event. Sour Sweet immediately gets three bullseyes, and waits for Sci-Twi, who stumbles her way to the podium. Meanwhile, Fluttershy has some difficulty in getting her arrows to hit the target. But after she takes a deep breath, she finally hits a bullseye, signaling for Applejack to take the podium. Applejack also hits the target, which starts Rarity and Pinkie in the speed-skating round. Back at the archery stand, Sci-Twi is having extreme difficulty in hitting her target, infuriating Sour Sweet. Applejack ultimately decides to give her a few pointers, instructing her not to aim for the target, but rather, for where the target is going. With this advice, Sci-Twi finally hits the target. She hugs Applejack, who ponies up from this display of honesty. Sci-Twi's device once again takes away Applejack's magic.

At the speed-skating round, Sunny Flare and Lemon Zest catch up to their competitors. After the Wondercolts win the round, Sunset, Rainbow, Sugarcoat and Indigo begin the motocross round. Meanwhile, the magic from Twilight's device begins to open more anomalies, releasing some tentacled creatures from the Everfree Forest. One of the vines pushes Sunset off her bike. Rainbow saves her, who ponies up from this display of loyalty. Soon, Cinch sees the Everfree vines and turns to Celestia, who merely smiles innocently. The Wondercolts win the Relay, leaving the score tied between the two schools.

While Sunset is proud of their victory, she is worried because someone could've been killed. When Sci-Twi approaches the Equestria Girls, her device steals the magic out of Rainbow Dash. Sunset ultimately explodes at Sci-Twi, who explains that she only wanted to find out about the strange energy surrounding the school. Sunset expresses her rage at Sci-Twi for messing with things she does not understand, revealing the existence of Equestrian magic to her. This causes Sci-Twi to break down in tears.

Cinch accuses Celestia of her school not playing fairly since she saw the Wondercolts ponying up. Sunset apologizes to Celestia for being unable to contain the magic. Celestia forgives her, but Sunset now feels less confident about herself since she should've known how to control the magic since she was the one who brought it from Equestria in the first place.

Final event of the Games
Later that night, Cadance and Luna announce the final event of the Friendship Games, a game of Capture the Flags. In the Wondercolts' corner, Sunset still feels awful about what she said to Sci-Twi.

In the Shadowbolts' corner, Cinch tells her competitors that failure is not an option for this event. She then suggests to Sci-Twi that she ultimately beat CHS at their own game by using their magic against them. With the threat of once again denying her Everton application, Cinch and the Shadowbolts ultimately pressure Sci-Twi to Unleash the Magic.

Once the event begins, Sci-Twi opens her device releasing all of the magic out of it. The magic absorbs Sci-Twi transforming her into a rather hideous-looking demonic alter ego, Midnight Sparkle. Midnight Sparkle turns to Sunset evilly saying she now understands how magic works in this world, and ultimately opens all of the dimensional rifts revealing Equestria. Midnight decides to destroy the entire human world in order to steal the magic that Equestria has to offer, putting both the CHS and CPA students in danger. Both the Wondercolts and Shadowbolts come to each other's aids, uniting the schools. Sunset, recognizing a very similar event that once happened to her happening to Midnight tells her that magic cannot give her everything she wants, and announces where the true magic lies, naming all of the Elements of Harmony (except magic), and gives back all of the Equestria Girls' abilities to pony up and granting her an angelic-looking alter ego, Daydream Shimmer. Daydream explains to Midnight the most powerful magic of all: the Magic of Friendship! Midnight snaps out of her corruption when she hears Puppy Spike calling to her.

Somehow, Midnight and Daydream end up in a white void and Daydream offers her hand in friendship, which Midnight ultimately accepts, causing them to turn back to normal and closing all of the Equestrian anomalies. Sci-Twi shows remorse for what she did, but Sunset assures her that everyone will forgive her.

Cinch is now furious and demands to Celestia that CHS forfeit the Games, threatening to take up what happened with the school board. But Cadance, Luna, Celestia and Puppy Spike all assure her that the school board won't take her seriously after spewing stories about pony-human hybrids and talking dogs. The Shadowbolts ultimately defend the CHS faculty and Cinch storms off in a huff. No winner of the Friendship Games is named, but Celestia declares everyone a winner, which satisfies everyone.

Epilogue
The next day, Celestia assures Sci-Twi that Cinch will probably fast-track her Everton application, but Sci-Twi begins to have second thoughts. She decides that studying independently won't really help her learn anything about friendship. Cadance suggests she transfer to CHS, which Sci-Twi accepts, and Cadance takes up this request to Celestia.

At the destroyed Wondercolts statue, Sunset tells the rest of the Equestria Girls that she found out that they pony up whenever they display the truest part of themselves, and she did not need Twilight to tell her, since she is preoccupied with what is going on in Equestria. Celestia then introduces the newest student of Canterlot High, Sci-Twi, which excites all of the Equestria Girls.

In a pre-credits scene, the Equestria Girls are enjoying a picnic by the Wondercolt statue, when suddenly, the Twilight from Equestria appears out of the portal. She apologizes to Sunset for her late reply to her letters since she was preoccupied with some time-travel loops, calling it the weirdest thing she has seen in her life. But suddenly, she notices that her human friends are joined by a purple girl who resembles her but wears glasses. Twilight immediately demotes the time-travel loops to the second weirdest thing she has seen in her life.

Cast

 * Tara Strong: Sci-Twi/Midnight Sparkle and Twilight Sparkle
 * Rebecca Shoichet: Sunset Shimmer/Daydream Shimmer and Sci-Twi's singing voice
 * Ashleigh Ball: Rainbow Dash and Applejack
 * Andrea Libman: Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Sweetie Drops
 * Tabitha St. Germain: Rarity and Vice Principal Luna
 * Cathy Weseluck: Spike
 * Iris Quinn: Principal Abacus Cinch
 * Nicole Oliver: Principal Celestia
 * Britt McKillip: Dean Cadance
 * Vincent Tong: Flash Sentry and Bus Driver
 * Andrew Francis: Shining Armor
 * Sienna Bohn: Sugarcoat
 * Sharon Alexander: Sour Sweet
 * Kelly Sheridan: Indigo Zap
 * Britt Irvin: Sunny Flare
 * Shannon Chan-Kent: Lemon Zest (miscredited as "Lemon Tart") and Pinkie Pie's singing voice
 * Kazumi Evans: Rarity's singing voice

Previews
On July 1, 2015, USA Today published an article about the film which included the first 90-second preview. The same preview was uploaded to the Hasbro Studios Shorts YouTube channel on July 6, 2015. A second trailer was shown at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con and released on Facebook on July 16, 2015.

On August 29, 2015, a ten-minute preview of the film aired on Discovery Family along with the first four Friendship Games animated shorts.

Theatrical
The film received a theatrical debut exclusively at the Angelika Film Center in New York City on September 17, 2015. Cathy Weseluck, William Anderson, Daniel Ingram, Rebecca Shoichet, Andrea Libman, Ashleigh Ball, Ishi Rudell, Josh Haber, and G.M. Berrow were among those in attendance. Also in attendance were Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, comedian Jim Gaffigan, Real Housewives of New York star Kristen Taekman, Top Chef ' s Padma Lakshmi, America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon, former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber, fashion photographer Nigel Barker, Sons of Anarchy ' s Drea de Matteo, and fitness guru Tracy Anderson.

Television
The film made its Canadian and American television debut on the Family Channel and Discovery Family Channel, respectively, on September 26, 2015. On September 24, 2015, it was revealed that the film will be televised on Pop in the United Kingdom sometime in Spring 2016.

The original Discovery Family showing of this film began with a recapitulation of the first two movies narrated by Rebecca Shoichet in character as Sunset Shimmer.

Home media
Friendship Games will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital on October 13, 2015. According to Animation Magazine, bonus features will include a deleted musical performance, audio commentary, sing-alongs and animated shorts. Primal Screen will release a Region 2 DVD on November 2, 2015, and will include identical content to the Region 1 counterpart, plus additional languages.

Alongside Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks, this film will be released in a box set on October 13, 2015 in Region 1.

Book
A book adaptation by Perdita Finn, titled My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: The Friendship Games, has been displayed at the 2015 New York Toy Fair and is set for an October 6, 2015.

Live-action music video
On August 14, 2015, Hasbro released a live-action music video on its official website depicting the Equestria Girls in a sporting competition against Crystal Prep's Twilight Sparkle.

Soundtrack
On June 12, 2015, Daniel Ingram teased the film's soundtrack via his Twitter page. The film's soundtrack was released on September 17, 2015 on i-Tunes and on Amazon.com on September 18, 2015.

Toys
On January 20, 2015, at London's 2015 Toy Fair, some merchandise was unveiled labeled My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games. According to a visitor at the 2015 London Toy Fair, the film will see the Wondercolts face off against the Crystal Prep Academy Shadow Colts [sic] in all kinds of sporting events. Some vectors for the merchandise include Applejack and Fluttershy in archery outfits, Twilight Sparkle's human world counterpart, and new character Sour Sweet. Toys also appeared on Amazon with the character names of Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, and Sunny Flare.

Wondercolts and Shadowbolts dolls were released in June 2015 in two varieties: "School Spirit" classic and "Sporty Style" deluxe. In the Sporty Style assortment, the Wondercolts' Fluttershy and Applejack and the Shadowbolts' Sour Sweet and Twilight Sparkle come with a bow and a quiver of arrows. The Wondercolts' Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer and the Shadowbolts' Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat come with motorcycle helmets and goggles. The Wondercolts' Pinkie Pie and Rarity and the Shadowbolts' Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare come with roller skates. A motocross bike is set to be released in 2015.

Quotes

 * Sunset Shimmer: I got your text, Rainbow Dash! Did something come through the portal? Is Equestrian magic on the loose? Did Twilight come back with a problem that only we can solve?!
 * Pinkie Pie: Has a giant cake monster covered all the cakes in the world in cake?!


 * Rainbow Dash: Well, you don't have to. Because I've totally figured out who it was!
 * Pinkie Pie: Ooh, ooh! A nighttime statue cleaner? A magical portal maintenance maintainer? A gardener?!


 * Rainbow Dash: I know a lot of you might think that there's no way we can beat a fancy school like Crystal Prep at anything.
 * Pinkie Pie: Unless it's a "losing to Crystal Prep" competition! 'Cause we're really good at that!


 * Rainbow Dash: Anybody have any guesses on what the events are gonna be?
 * Pinkie Pie: Pie eating? Cake eating? [gasps] Pie-cake eating?!


 * Indigo Zap: Are we gonna win?!?!
 * Sci-Twi: I...I don't know.
 * Indigo Zap: Wrong answer!! Try again! Are we gonna win?!?!
 * Sci-Twi: Um...I guess? I-It's just...I mean...I heard that CHS is doing well now. With their reputation. And, I mean, it's not better than ours, of course. But we can't let them do it, you know? Win, I mean? Right?


 * Sci-Twi: Hi, Sugarcoat.
 * Sugarcoat: That was a really bad speech. You should consider not speaking in public.


 * Sci-Twi: Hi. I'm Twilight.
 * Pinkie Pie: I know. You look just like my friend. Her name is Twilight too.


 * Rarity: And while Sunset works on keeping the magic out of the games, I've been working on what to put in! [giggles]
 * Applejack: Rarity, what'd you go an' do?
 * Rarity: Well, I have a lot of time on my hands, and since we don't know what the Friendship Games' events are, I made a few options for uniforms!
 * Rainbow Dash: You really didn't have to do that.
 * Rarity: I know.
 * Applejack: No. You really didn't have to.
 * Rarity: I know! [giggles]


 * Principal Celestia: I didn't know Twilight had a twin sister.
 * Pinkie Pie: She doesn't! That Twilight is obviously the Twilight from this world since it couldn't possibly be the Twilight from the pony world since the Twilight from the pony world doesn't go to Crystal Prep or wear glasses.
 * Principal Celestia: Nevermind.


 * Puppy Spike: Why did you run away like that?
 * Sci-Twi: Um, I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the glowing girl, or the hole in space. Or my talking dog!
 * Puppy Spike: Yeah. Weird, right?


 * Principal Cinch: Obviously my students have been infected with your magic, but I plan on taking all of this up with the school board!
 * Principal Celestia: Good. I'm sure they would be very interested in hearing all about the magical students with wings.
 * Vice Principal Luna: Oh, and the portals to different dimensions.
 * Dean Cadance: And don't forget to tell them about the talking dog. [giggles]
 * Puppy Spike: Because that would never ruin your reputation.


 * Twilight Sparkle: I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner! I didn't get your messages until just now because I was caught in this time travel loop and honestly, it was the strangest thing that's ever happened to me! [sees her human doppelgänger] Make that the second strangest.