My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (film) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jayson Thiessen
Produced by	Sarah Wall Devon Cody
Written by	Meghan McCarthy
Starring	Tara Strong Ashleigh Ball Andrea Libman Tabitha St. Germain Cathy Weseluck Rebecca Shoichet
Music by	William Anderson
Editing by	Mark Kuehnel
Distributed by	Screenvision
Release date(s)	June 15, 2013 (2013-06-15) (Los Angeles Film Festival) June 16, 2013 (2013-06-16) (United States and Canada)
Running time	73 minutes
Country	Canada United States
Language	English
Money made	$488, 232 (Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and United Kingdom)

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a fun animated musical movie from 2013. It's the first film in the Equestria Girls series by Hasbro. This movie is a spin-off from the popular TV show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

The film was written by Meghan McCarthy and directed by Jayson Thiessen. It was made by DHX Media and Hasbro Studios. Equestria Girls first showed at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 15, 2013. It came out in theaters in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2013. Later, it was released on home video on August 6, 2013. This movie also celebrated 30 years since the first My Little Pony toys came out!

In this movie, the main characters from My Little Pony are usually ponies. But here, they become human teenagers! They go to a high school. The story happens between the third and fourth seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The main character, Twilight Sparkle, chases her stolen crown into another world. In this new world, she turns into a human girl. Twilight has to learn how to act like a human. She meets human versions of her pony friends. They help her find her crown.

Some people had mixed feelings about the movie when it first came out. They talked about the character designs, the story, and how the characters acted. But don't worry, there were three more movies after this one! They are Rainbow Rocks (2014), Friendship Games (2015), and Legend of Everfree (2016). These later movies were liked even more!

Story of the Movie

Twilight's Adventure Begins

Princess Twilight Sparkle visits the Crystal Empire. This is her first big meeting as a princess. Suddenly, Sunset Shimmer appears. She was a student of Princess Celestia but went rogue. Sunset steals Twilight's crown! This crown holds the Element of Magic.

Sunset Shimmer runs through a magic mirror portal. Twilight chases her. The other princesses explain that the portal leads to a different world. Without the crown, the other Elements of Harmony won't work. Twilight must get her crown back from this other world. She has to do it before the portal closes in 30 moons. Princess Celestia says Twilight must go alone. But Spike, Twilight's dragon friend, follows her through the portal.

Welcome to Canterlot High

When Twilight and Spike arrive in the new world, they change! Twilight becomes a human teenager. Spike turns into a talking dog. Twilight looks around and finds Canterlot High School. She sees human students and teachers who look like her pony friends. Twilight pretends to be a new student. She helps Fluttershy when Sunset Shimmer is bullying her.

Twilight learns that Fluttershy gave the crown to Principal Celestia. Fluttershy thought it was just a prop for the Fall Formal dance. Twilight knows no one would believe her story about being a pony. So, she asks Principal Celestia if she can run for Fall Formal Princess. This way, she can win the crown back from Sunset.

Friends and Foes

As Twilight explores school life, she finds something sad. Her friends from Ponyville – Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash – are not friends anymore. They are fighting! Sunset Shimmer sent her helpers, Snips and Snails, to film a funny video of Twilight acting like a pony. This video was put online for everyone to see.

Twilight's friends come to help her. But they start arguing again. They reveal that they got mean text messages and emails from each other. Twilight figures out that Sunset sent these messages. She tricked them all! The five girls realize what happened and become friends again. They help Twilight practice a dance for her campaign. This makes Twilight look much better to the school.

The Big Night

Sunset tries to mess things up again. She wrecks the decorations for the formal dance. Then, she uses fake pictures to make it look like Twilight did it. But Sunset's ex-boyfriend, Flash Sentry, proves Twilight is innocent. Still, the dance is moved to the night after the portal closes!

Twilight and Spike tell the other girls their secret. They explain they are from another world. The girls understand how important it is. With Twilight's help, they get all the students to fix the gym. They get it ready in time for the original dance night. This makes the whole school support Twilight.

On the night of the formal, Twilight wins the election and the crown! But Sunset grabs it back. She also kidnaps Spike and threatens to destroy the portal. Sunset puts on the crown and turns into a demon! She hypnotizes the other students. She wants to use them as her army to take over Equestria.

Sunset attacks Twilight and her friends. But their strong friendship makes the crown's magic work! The six girls get pony-like ears, wings, and tails. They use this magic to turn Sunset and the students back to normal. Sunset is shocked by the power of their friendship. She says sorry for what she did. After celebrating at the dance, Twilight and Spike go back to Equestria with the crown. The portal closes behind them.

Main Characters and Voice Actors

Here are some of the main characters you'll see in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and the actors who voice them:

• Tara Strong voices Princess Twilight Sparkle. She is a winged unicorn who becomes a human in the other world.
• Ashleigh Ball voices Applejack. She sells apple cider. Ashleigh also voices Rainbow Dash, an athletic student who plays sports like soccer. Their pony versions from Friendship Is Magic also appear.
• Andrea Libman voices Pinkie Pie. She helps plan the school dance. Andrea also voices Fluttershy, a shy and kind person who helps animals. Their pony versions also appear. Shannon Chan-Kent sings for Pinkie Pie.
• Tabitha St. Germain voices Rarity, a fashion designer. Tabitha also voices Vice Principal Luna, who is like Princess Celestia's younger sister. Their pony versions also appear. Kazumi Evans sings for Rarity.
• Cathy Weseluck voices Spike. He is Twilight's dragon helper. In the human world, he becomes a talking dog.
• Rebecca Shoichet voices Sunset Shimmer. She is a unicorn who used to be Princess Celestia's student. In the human world, she is the school bully. Rebecca also sings for Twilight Sparkle.
• Lee Tockar and Richard Ian Cox voice Snips and Snails. They are Sunset Shimmer's helpers in the human world.
• Nicole Oliver voices Principal Celestia. She is the head of Canterlot High School. Her pony version, Princess Celestia, also appears.
• Vincent Tong voices Flash Sentry. He is a student at Canterlot High and Sunset Shimmer's ex-boyfriend. He starts to like Twilight. His pony version, a guard, also appears.
• Britt McKillip voices Princess Cadance. She is the ruler of the Crystal Empire in Equestria.

Toys and More!

The Equestria Girls movie is part of a bigger toy line and media series from Hasbro. This was announced in 2013. It was part of the 30th anniversary of the My Little Pony brand. Hasbro planned to make lots of related items. These included toys, clothes, books, and other fun things. The human-like toys were made to appeal to older girls, like teenagers. This helped the My Little Pony brand reach more people.

Also, a company called LB Kids published a book version of the movie. A game company, Gameloft, added a mini-game based on the movie to its My Little Pony mobile game. Another company, IDW, even published a comic book story about the characters in the human world, including Sunset Shimmer's past.

Soundtrack

The songs from the movie were released as a soundtrack album. It came out on September 23, 2014, on iTunes. Here are the songs on the album:

See also

In Spanish: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls para niños