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. The film takes place after the season four finale and the animated shorts Music to My Ears, Guitar Centered, A Case for the Bass, Hamstocalypse Now, Pinkie on the One, and Player Piano.

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.

The film's opening credits were storyboarded by Tony Cliff. The illustrations shown during the ending credits were drawn by Katrina Hadley.

Prologue: Equestrian magic
The film opens at a cafe in the human world. The numerous cafe patrons argue among themselves as a strange green mist clouds around their feet. In the corner booth, three girls in hoods sing and absorb the green mist into their red gem necklaces. The purple-haired girl, Aria Blaze, grumbles that she's "tired of fast food" and needs a meal. The orange-haired girl, Adagio Dazzle, says the energy in this world isn't the same as that in Equestria.

As the blue-haired girl Sonata Dusk joins the conversation and she gets into a light argument with Aria, Adagio notices an explosion of light in the distance. She races out of the cafe and watches the magical rainbow energy burst into the sky. Adagio realizes what it is and grins evilly. She explains to Aria and Sonata that Equestrian magic has found its way into the human world and they're going to use it to make everyone adore them.

Sunset Shimmer's efforts
Some time later, at Canterlot High School, the students are busy making banners in the auditorium for the school's upcoming musical showcase. Sunset Shimmer offers to help the Cutie Mark Crusaders with their banner, but they decline. When Pinkie Pie calls Sunset over to join her and her friends, the other present students glare at and gossip about Sunset, making her uncomfortable. Rarity quickly changes the subject and shows Sunset the banner they made for the showcase (which Pinkie Pie used cake frosting on instead of paste).

Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna then enter, and Celestia says how pleased she is by the amount of student participation in the showcase. However, when she mentions the Fall Formal, the students glare at Sunset again and Sunset hides her face in humiliation.

Later, in the school band room, Sunset laments how she'll never live her past mistakes down. Her friends, now in a five-part band called the Rainbooms, say they've forgiven her and cheer her up with a rehearsal of Better Than Ever. As they sing, the five bandmates sprout pony ears and wings and longer hair, which disappear when they stop playing. Rarity and Applejack express disbelief at the strange phenomenon, but Rainbow Dash cares little, letting her band leader egotism show.

Flash Sentry enters, having heard the band's playing from outside the room, and compliments their sound. When Rainbow criticizes Rarity and Applejack's playing, they give an annoyed look. Flash asks if "any friends from out of town" will be coming to the showcase. The Rainbooms tell him they're not sure if Twilight will be present, and Flash awkwardly excuses himself. Rarity is amused by Flash's behavior, but she stops herself when she remembers that he and Sunset used to date. Sunset admits that she never liked Flash romantically and further regrets her past actions. As Applejack cheers her up, a speaker announcement by Vice Principal Luna summons Sunset Shimmer to the school foyer. Sunset leaves the room, having promised to give a tour to some new students and the Rainbooms go back to rehearsing. Fluttershy asks if they can sing a song she wrote, to which Rainbow Dash replies that they'll get to it later.

Enter the Dazzlings
At the school entrance, Sunset Shimmer meets with the new girls Adagio, Aria, and Sonata and shows them around. During the tour, they pass by a flyer for Canterlot High's musical showcase; Sunset talks about the event, and the girls are intrigued, with Sonata nearly revealing their true nature. When Sunset notices the three's gem necklaces and reaches for Adagio's, Adagio grabs Sunset's wrist in sudden offense. Adagio catches herself and apologizes, explaining that their pendants mean a lot to them and they don't want anything to happen to them. The three girls walk off, leaving Sunset to ponder their strange behavior.

Later in the cafeteria, Sunset joins her friends and mentions that there is something "off" about the new girls. Outside the cafeteria doors, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata have a brief argument before they enter. With their beguiling voices and a rousing song, the girls convince the students of Canterlot High to turn the musical showcase into an all-out Battle of the Bands. As they sing, tensions rise among the students. They begin to argue, each vowing victory in the competition and green mist forms around them, which Adagio, Aria, and Sonata absorb into their pendants. Only Sunset Shimmer and her friends are unaffected by the song.

A mesmerized school
Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms suspect that Adagio, Aria, and Sonata are using dark magic on the students and go to alert the principals. However, Celestia and Luna believe the girls, now calling themselves the Dazzlings, are innocent and even praise them for their Battle of the Bands idea. For a brief moment, the principals' eyes glow green, indicating that they have also fallen under the Dazzlings' spell.

The Rainbooms deduce that the magic that causes them to transform while playing music also makes them immune to the Dazzlings' spell. With the rest of the school under the Dazzlings' control, the friends consider getting Princess Twilight to return and help. The closed portal prevents her from returning, but Sunset Shimmer has an idea. In her locker, she finds an old book with her cutie mark on the cover and explains that she used it to write messages to Princess Celestia, which would appear in a book in Celestia's library. Hoping to get a message to Princess Twilight, Sunset opens the book and begins to write, starting with the three words she hadn't written in a long time...

"Dear Princess Celestia..."

- Sunset Shimmer

Back in Equestria
In Ponyville, at the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom castle, Twilight and her friends lounge about in the throne room when a stallion arrives with a delivery of books from Princess Celestia. One of the books, with Celestia's cutie mark on the cover, appears to vibrate. Twilight opens it and discovers Sunset's call for help.

Twilight determines from Sunset's warning that the Dazzlings are actually Equestrian sirens. Long ago, the sirens used their eerie songs to turn ponies against one another and fed on their hatred. Before they could conquer Equestria with their magic, Star Swirl the Bearded banished them to another world -- the world where Sunset Shimmer now lives with the human counterparts of Twilight's Ponyville friends.

Twilight wishes to go and help her human friends, but the Crystal Mirror's closure prevents her from doing so. Pinkie Pie proposes that the same magic that allows Sunset Shimmer to send messages from the human world to Equestria should allow the portal to be opened. With a bunch of mechanical parts, and using the book as a battery, Twilight is able to energize and reopen the portal. Her friends want to accompany her, but Twilight tells them they can't because it would be confusing to have two copies of her friends in the same place. Spike can still go along, however, and he and Twilight soon charge into the portal.

Return to Canterlot High
Back at the school, Rainbow starts to lose hope that Twilight will come, when Twilight and Spike suddenly shoot out of the portal. Her human friends meet her in a group hug. Later at Mr. and Mrs. Cake's Sweet Shoppe, the friends all catch up, with Spike revealing Twilight's new status as the Princess of Friendship. Once Twilight learns of what they're up against, she comes up with a plan to ambush the Dazzlings at the pre-Battle of the Bands party being held in the school gym.

At the band meetup, Twilight bumps into Flash Sentry and stammers in his presence. Once the Dazzlings arrive, Twilight and her friends declare their evil plans finished and attempt to stop them with a magic of friendship attack. However, nothing happens, allowing the Dazzlings to feed on even more of the competitors' negativity. Having humiliated themselves, Twilight and her friends excuse themselves, but the Dazzlings decide to keep an eye on them, calling them "special".

Twilight and the others regroup outside the school and try to figure out what went wrong. They reason that, since they can only channel their magic when playing music, only a counter-spell in the form of a song will break the Dazzlings' spell, making the Battle of the Bands the perfect venue. They also decide Twilight should be the Rainbooms' new lead singer, much to Rainbow Dash's chagrin. Before Twilight retires to the school library like she did during her last visit to Canterlot High, Pinkie Pie proposes a slumber party at her house.

That evening, as her friends enjoy themselves around her, Twilight has considerable difficulty writing a counter-spell since she is without her Alicorn magic. Later, after everyone falls asleep, she works on it in the kitchen and is soon joined by Sunset Shimmer. As the two bond over the similar problems they each face, Sunset is startled when Pinkie's sister Maud comes in to get a snack for Boulder.

"I still can't get over the fact that she's related to Pinkie Pie."

- Sunset Shimmer

The next day, the Rainbooms practice their musical counter-spell in the barn next to Applejack's house. Unfortunately, Twilight's singing is so off-key that Rainbow Dash only manages a small bit of transformation. Before long, hostility continues to grow between the Rainbooms regarding Rarity's costumes and Rainbow's insisting that the band is hers. With the Battle of the Bands starting soon, the Rainbooms soon agree to perform other songs and stall for time until Twilight can complete her spell. In addition, they decide to keep their magic a secret from the Dazzlings for as long as possible.

The Mane Event
The Battle of the Bands gets underway, with Snips and Snails performing a hip-hop duet that earns only confused looks from the audience and reprimanding from Principal Celestia when they drop the microphones. When the time comes for the Rainbooms to perform, Rarity takes the stage in a hippie-inspired outfit with metal fringes. During their performance of Shake Your Tail, other competitors try to sabotage them: Photo Finish and the Snapshots manipulate Rarity's movement with a magnet, and Snips and Snails take advantage of Fluttershy's stage fright by holding a spotlight over her.

The Rainbooms manage to advance to the next round, but they continue to squabble over petty issues. Later, even Flash Sentry shows hostility toward Twilight, considering her to be an enemy because she is on a rivaling band. As they part ways, a heartbroken Twilight walks away in tears. At the other end of the hallway, Sunset confronts the Dazzlings about their evil schemes, but the Dazzlings play to Sunset's fragile emotions and make her feel useless in her friends' eyes.

In the following montage set to the Dazzlings' Under Our Spell, competing bands are eliminated one by one, from the Crusaders to Bulk Biceps to Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops to even Flash Sentry. In the semifinals, the Rainbooms face Trixie and the Illusions to decide who faces the Dazzlings in the final round. As Trixie and her band perform Tricks Up My Sleeve, Twilight still has yet to finish her counter-spell song, so Rainbow Dash takes over as lead singer and the Rainbooms perform Awesome As I Wanna Be. However, Rainbow Dash gets carried away and starts to transform, prompting Sunset Shimmer to leap in and cut the song short. The crowd is convinced that Sunset hasn't changed, adding more fuel to the fire of hatred for the Dazzlings to feed on.

Trixie's dirty tricks
Through the Dazzlings' manipulation of the principals, the Rainbooms advance to the final round instead of the Illusions. An embittered Trixie is later approached by Adagio and given the idea of removing the Rainbooms from the competition so the Illusions can take their place in the finals.

During the Rainbooms' mic check on the stage where the finals are to take place, Trixie and the Illusions arrive to carry out their plan: a lever opens a trap door on the stage, and the Rainbooms fall inside. Spike, the only one not to become trapped, rushes off to find help.

That night, the Illusions perform in the finals following the Rainbooms' supposed forfeit. Afterward, the Dazzlings take the stage for their final performance and continue feeding off the crowd. Below the stage, tempers and tensions finally boil over between the Rainbooms and a five-way argument breaks out, allowing the Dazzlings on stage to feed on their hatred and transform, giving them pony ears, tails, and translucent wings.

Sunset notices what's happening and finally intervenes, pointing out that their arguing has warped the magic of friendship into something that the Dazzlings can feed on. Twilight is ashamed that she hadn't realized it sooner, and Sunset tells her no one is supposed to have all the answers, but friends can help you find them. The Rainbooms thus make amends and finally come to a compromise, and Spike arrives to rescue them with the help of DJ Pon-3, whose headphones shielded her from the Dazzlings' spell.

Welcome to the Show
The Dazzlings continue feeding on the crowd on stage, and the Rainbooms watch from atop a hill. As they wonder how their song can reach the crowd, DJ Pon-3 arrives with further assistance: a car that converts into a DJ station. The Rainbooms start to play their counter-spell song over the Dazzlings' song and take on half-pony forms with colors similar to that of the Mane Six's Rainbow Power. Refusing to be stopped, the Dazzlings summon astral versions of their true siren forms and manage to overpower the Rainbooms.

As the Rainbooms fall, a microphone rolls next to Sunset Shimmer's feet. Sunset finds new resolve and, upon removing her jacket, starts to sing. Before long, the rest of the Rainbooms join her, and their combined magic creates a rainbow shockwave that weakens the Dazzlings and severs their control over the students. The magic of friendship builds inside Sunset, granting her a half-pony form of her own. All the students then join in, and the magic coalescing in the sky takes the form of a giant Alicorn that destroys the Dazzlings' astral projections as well as their gem pendants.

With their power sources destroyed, the Dazzlings are unable to even sing and re-cast their spell. The enraged students boo, jeer, and pelt them with fruits and vegetables, forcing them to flee in shame and disgrace. Flash, now free of the Dazzlings' influence, meets Twilight in a happy and warm embrace. However, Trixie, still upset about her competition loss, makes it clear she isn't done with the Rainbooms yet. As for Sunset, with Twilight now having to return home to Equestria, Rainbow allows Sunset to join the band in Twilight's stead -- especially after Sunset reveals she can play the guitar.

Dear Princess Twilight
Before Twilight leaves, she promises to visit whenever she can now that the portal can be opened at any time. Later, as the girls tune up their instruments, Sunset uses her old journal to write the friendship lesson she learned to Princess Twilight, ending it with the closing statement:

"Your friend, Sunset Shimmer."

- Sunset Shimmer

As the film closes, Sunset picks up her guitar and joins her bandmates in a performance of Shine Like Rainbows.

Epilogue: The other Twilight
In a post-credits scene, the human world's version of Twilight Sparkle is seen documenting strange events that are all connected to Canterlot High. She confides in her dog Spike that "something strange [is] going on at that school..."

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
 * Kazumi Evans: Adagio Dazzle, Octavia Melody (uncredited) and Rarity's singing voice
 * Marÿke Hendrikse: Sonata Dusk
 * Diana Kaarina: Aria Blaze
 * Vincent Tong: Flash Sentry
 * Kathleen Barr: Trixie Lulamoon
 * Nicole Oliver: Principal Celestia
 * Lee Tockar: Snips
 * Richard Ian Cox: Snails
 * Michelle Creber: Apple Bloom
 * Claire Corlett: Sweetie Belle (credit only)
 * Brian Drummond: Delivery Pony
 * Ingrid Nilson: Maud
 * Peter New: Big Mac
 * Shannon Chan-Kent: Pinkie Pie's singing voice
 * Madeline Merlo: Sonata Dusk's singing voice
 * Shylo Sharity: Aria Blaze'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 Under Our Spell, Shine Like Rainbows, and the Rainbow Rocks title song 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. It also received a gala premiere at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, which was attended by the cast and crew as well as some celebrities such as Jamie Foxx, Modern Family ' s Ariel Winter and Academy Award nominee Quvenzhané Wallis.

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.

Television
The film is scheduled to air on the Discovery Family Channel on October 17, 2014.

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 eleven 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.


 * Adagio Dazzle: This is it girls, the moment we've been waiting for.
 * Sonata Dusk: Lunch!?
 * Adagio Dazzle: A chance to get our true Equestria magic back.
 * Sonata Dusk: Oh.... right.


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


 * Twilight Sparkle: The way Sunset Shimmer described them, I think these new girls sound an awful lot like...the sirens.
 * Pinkie Pie: Not the sirens!!! [whispering loudly to Fluttershy] I don't actually know what that is!


 * 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 is bubble-blowing going on, why wasn't I told about it?! And secondly, if the connection is totally cut off, how is Sunset Shimmer even able to get a message to Twilight?
 * Twilight Sparkle: [gasps] Pinkie, you're a genius!
 * Pinkie Pie: Yeah, I get that a lot. [to Rainbow Dash] Now blow those bubbles!


 * Twilight Sparkle: Now that we're all back together, we can use that magic on the sirens. Just like when we were able to use it on Sunset Shimmer when she turned into that horrifyingly awful winged monster! No offense.
 * Sunset Shimmer: [disgruntled] None taken. [happily] I'm used to it.


 * 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's not the fruit punch! It's us!
 * Aria Blaze: But the punch is awful, too.
 * Sonata Dusk: What do you know about good fruit punch?
 * Aria Blaze: More than you!
 * Sonata Dusk: Do not!
 * Aria Blaze: Do too!


 * Twilight Sparkle: Alright, girls, let's do this! Friendship is magic!
 * [awkward silence]
 * Rainbow Dash: Uh, weren't there rainbows and lasers and stuff last time?


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


 * Pinkie Pie: [to Twilight] So which instrument do you wanna play? The triangle? [ding] The sousaphone? [fwomp!] Or the theremin? [plays theremin] Ooh, magical.


 * Maud Pie: Boulder was hungry.
 * Sunset Shimmer: I still can't get over the fact that she's related to Pinkie Pie.
 * Twilight Sparkle: You and me both!


 * Spike: Eh, that sounded...way better than the last...five times you've played it. Heh heh.
 * Big McIntosh: Nnope.


 * Twilight Sparkle: We really need to stop bumping into each other like this.
 * Flash Sentry: [to bandmates] Uh, you guys hear something?
 * Bandmates: ["Nope", etc.]
 * Twilight Sparkle: I said, we have to stop—
 * Flash Sentry: There it is again. So annoying.


 * Pinkie Pie: [about Trixie] She's gone! Oh, wait, she's over there.


 * Adagio Dazzle: [chuckle] Told you someone would give them a shove.
 * Sonata Dusk: She didn't shove them. She pulled a lever.
 * Aria Blaze: [groans] Go back to sleep, Sonata.


 * Trixie: Trixie is okay!