My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks

My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks is the sequel to the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic animated film My Little Pony Equestria Girls. It features a Battle of the Bands storyline and was released theatrically on September 27, 2014.

Development
This film was announced by Hasbro as part of a press kit at the 2014 International Toy Fair. When asked about the film on an AMA for Reddit, Tara Strong also confirmed it saying, "It'll be adorable."

On February 13, 2014, Meghan McCarthy tweeted that she worked on the film in Summer 2013.

On the same day as McCarthy's tweet, songwriter Daniel Ingram tweeted that there will be a total of twelve songs in the film, the greatest number of songs yet featured in an MLP episode or film.

Summary from Hasbro
"[M]usic rules and rainbows rock as Twilight Sparkle and pals complete for the top spot in the Canterlot High "Mane Event" talent show. The girls must rock their way to the top, and outshine rival Adagio Dazzle and her band The Dazzlings, to restore harmony back to Canterlot High."

Summary from Screenvision
"Canterlot High is hosting a musical showcase and Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy are going to be performing with their new band, The Rainbooms. But when a new girl group, The Dazzlings, arrives at CHS, they convince everyone to turn the friendly showcase into a Battle of the Bands.

"As tensions mount between the competing musical acts, a reformed Sunset Shimmer realizes that the Dazzlings may not be ordinary girls and are after something far more sinister than just being named Best Band at Canterlot High. The Rainbooms call on Princess Twilight to return to their world to help them perform a musical counter-spell so that they can win a battle that now determines the fate of the entire school."

Summary from Yahoo! TV
"In the new movie, human versions of pretty ponies Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy (yes, in case you missed the first flick, they're real girls now!) are set to perform with their new band, the Rainbooms, at the Canterlot High "Mane Event" musical showcase.

But — shades of Jem! — there's a new mean girl group in town, headed by the not-so-sweet Adagio Dazzle, who wants to turn the friendly showcase into a bona fide Battle of the Bands. But hey, what's wrong with a little competition, right? Especially against a group called the Dazzlings?"

Plot
Spoiler Alert! For those who have not seen the movie yet.

Cast

 * Tara Strong: Twilight Sparkle/Human Twilight
 * Ashleigh Ball: Rainbow Dash and Applejack
 * Andrea Libman: Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy
 * Tabitha St. Germain: Rarity, Vice Principal Luna and Photo Finish
 * Cathy Weseluck: Spike
 * Rebecca Shoichet: Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle's singing voice
 * Marÿke Hendrikse: Sonata Dusk
 * Kazumi Evans: Adagio Dazzle and Rarity's Singing Voice
 * Diana Kaarina: Aria Blaze
 * Nicole Oliver: Principal Celestia
 * Kathleen Barr: Trixie
 * Vincent Tong:Flash Sentry
 * Michelle Creber:Apple Bloom
 * Ingrid Nilson: Maud Pie
 * Lee Tockar: Snips
 * Richard Ian Cox: Snails
 * Peter New: Big Mac
 * TBA: Octavia Melody
 * Shannon Chan-Kent:Pinkie Pie's singing voice

Previews
On February 13, 2014, Entertainment Weekly published an article about the film. Details about its plot were limited; however, the article included a trailer showcasing several clips and a new song by Daniel Ingram, all from the animated shorts.

As part of the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con International "Hasbro Studios: My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic and My Little Pony Equestria Girls" panel scheduled for July 25, 2014, "Guests from Hasbro Studios My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic airing on the Hub Network in the U.S. and My Little Pony Equestria Girls share details of the making of the popular animated series and a sneak peek into the new My Little Pony Equestria Girls Rainbow Rock [sic] movie coming this fall."

On July 24, 2014, Yahoo! TV posted not only a new trailer for the film, but also a song performed by Adagio Dazzle and the Dazzlings. In the teaser, Rainbow Dash was removed from the shot where Sunset says, "I turned into a raging she-demon."

On September 10, 2014, Shout! Factory, through Equestria Daily, revealed a new 30-second trailer including more footage of both pony and human Twilight. Two days later on September 12, a 50-second trailer was released on YouTube. Six days later on September 18, a full theatrical trailer was released on Yahoo! TV; the trailer was uploaded to Hasbro's YouTube channel four days later.

Sneak peeks
On August 18, 2014, Hasbro posted a two-minute-long clip of the film featuring the Dazzlings on their animated shorts YouTube channel; a week later on August 25, another clip was released. Four days later on August 29, a third five-minute long clip was published. A week later on September 5, a fourth was released.

Live-action music videos
On February 20, 2014, Hasbro released a live-action music video on their official website depicting six young females as the Rainbooms in a rock band. Like the similar Magic of Friendship music video released to tie-in with the first movie, the Rainbow Rocks music video uses a rock version of Equestria Girls (Cafeteria Song) and shows the Mane 6's human counterparts in animated form doing the "EG Stomp".

On August 4, 2014, Hasbro released a second live-action music video depicting the Rainbooms as well as the Dazzlings and DJ Pon-3 in a rock competition. The rock version of Equestria Girls (Cafeteria Song) from the previous video plays with lyrics from the Dazzlings' Under Our Spell included.

TV series
An animated TV series based on the Equestria Girls film spin-offs, titled Equestria Academy, was announced on April 3, 2014, and is set for a November 2014 premiere at Kidexpo in France.

Theatrical
Like Equestria Girls before it, this film was distributed to American and Canadian theaters in limited release on September 27, 2014.

Home media
My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 28, 2014, a little over a month after the theatrical release. Announced special features include a new featurette, the eight animated shorts that were released on YouTube, a sing-along song and more.

Book versions
Two chapter books, one an expansion of the prequel animated shorts and the other "The third exciting adventure in the Equestria Girls series! The girls rock a new story about friendship at Canterlot High. The follow-up to Through the Mirror and Rainbow Rocks", were posted on Hachette Book Group's website and enlist the books for respective April 8, 2014 and October 7, 2014 releases.

Toys
Rainbow Rocks merchandise was showcased at the 2014 American International Toy Fair, including pony and human versions of the main cast and human versions of Octavia Melody, DJ Pon-3, Sunset Shimmer, Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and Aria Blaze.

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was originally announced as being released on September 9, 2014. The following day, Hasbro explained there was an "unforeseen delay" in the release of the soundtrack. It was released a day later on September 10. The soundtrack contains nine of the twelve songs with one bonus track.

Dialogue in a Hasbro image

 * Pinkie Pie: Hey Twilight! Lets [sic] make some Music!
 * Twilight Sparkle: Hey Pinkie! I'm ready to ROCK!

Dialogue from the film

 * Aria Blaze: Ugh! I wish we'd never been banished to this awful place!
 * Adagio Dazzle: [sarcastically] Really? I love it here!
 * Sonata Dusk: For realsies? Because I think this place is the worst.
 * Aria Blaze: I think you're the worst, Sonata.
 * Sonata Dusk: Oh, yeah? Well, I think you're—
 * Adagio Dazzle: Ergh! I'll tell you one thing, being stuck here with you two isn't making this world any more [through clenched teeth] bearable.


 * Rarity: Quite the eye-catching advertisement, if I do say so myself.
 * Pinkie Pie: And it smells like cake!
 * Fluttershy: It does? [sniff, sniff]
 * Pinkie Pie: I used frosting instead of paste!


 * Sunset Shimmer: A demon. I turned into a raging she-demon.
 * Pinkie Pie: And tried to turn everyone here into teenage zombies for your own personal army!


 * Aria Blaze: We have been known to sing from time to time.
 * Sonata Dusk: Hello? We sing, like, all the time! It's how we get people to do what we want.
 * Adagio Dazzle: [growls]
 * Sonata Dusk: Wha-What did I say?
 * Adagio Dazzle: What you meant to say was that being in a musical showcase sounds like a great way to meet other students.
 * Sonata Dusk: Ohhhh, yeah. Th-What she said I meant to say. That's what I meant. To say.
 * Aria Blaze: [scoffs] And what you would have said if you weren't the worst.
 * Sonata Dusk: You are!
 * Adagio Dazzle: You'll have to excuse them. They're idiots.
 * Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk: Hmph.


 * Applejack: So how was the tour?
 * Sunset Shimmer: I don't know. I mean, these girls, they were... There was something off about them.
 * Pinkie Pie: Like off like this? Or off like this? Or... Oh, oh! Like—
 * Rainbow Dash: Maybe we should just let her tell us.


 * Pinkie Pie: Ohhhh. They're that kind of "off".


 * Spike: [to Twilight] You, uh... really need to go ahead and do that whole "magic of friendship" thing now.