My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Friendship Games

***My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Friendship Games***, known simply as ***Friendship Games***, is a 2015 flash animated television film directed by Ishi Rudell. It was produced by DHX Media for Hasbro Studios as a part of the latter's *Equestria Girls* toy line and media franchise, an anthropomorphic spin-off of the 2010 relaunch of My Little Pony, and being the third installment overall. It premiered on Discovery Family on September 26, 2015.

## Plot

The students of Canterlot High prepare for the Friendship Games, a sporting competition in which they, the Wondercolts, compete against the Shadowbolts, their rivals at Crystal Preps Academy. Sunset Shimmer, who has been observing her friends' ability to "pony up" - grow pony ears, wings, and tails - when they play instruments, becomes concerned when Rainbow Dash seemingly transforms at random during a pep rally. Sunset is tasked with finding the cause and attempts to contact Twilight Sparkle for advice but receives no response.

Meanwhile, Twilight's human counterpart, a student of Crystal Prep Academy, investigates the magical activity around Canterlot High. Hoping to secure her application for Everton, a coveted independent study program, Twilight has built a locket-like device to detect the magic for further study. However, Principal Cinch threatens to revoke the application to blackmail Twilight into participating in the Friendship Games and maintain Crystal Prep's victory record.

Upon Twilight's arrival at Canterlot High, her device detects Sunset and her friends' magic and leads her to them; as she approaches them, her device drains Rarity of her magic when she "ponies up" after making uniforms for the other girls. Initially mistaking Twilight for her pony counterpart, Sunset realizes the misunderstanding and considers consulting Twilight in person. Crystal Prep's Twilight follows Sunset to the portal to Equestria, which she seals off when the device absorbs its magic. The device later does the same thing to Pinkie Pie when she tries to cheer everyone up with a party and Fluttershy when she attempts to comfort a distraught Twilight, and in doing so creates portal rifts to Equestria and gives Twilight's dog Spike the ability to speak.

Following Twilight's victory in the games' academic decathlon, the games continue with a tri cross relay of archery, speed racing and motocross. Applejack transforms after advises Twilight during the archery competition, leading to the device draining her of her magic and summoning monstrous plants. Rainbow Dash transforms as well in order to save the other competitors and is also drained of her magic. Cinch accuses Canterlot High of cheating due to their perceived magical advantage. Sunset, frustrated by her failure to protect the magic, berates Twilight for endangering her friends, regretting it when Twilight runs off in tears.

Before the final event, Cinch and the Shadowbolts pressure Twilight to release the magic in her device to use it against the Wondercolts. Instead, the magic corrupts and transforms Twilight into a winged monster that proceeds to destroy the statue portal and open more rifts that threaten to destroy the parallel world. As the Wondercolts and Shadowbolts work together to save their classmates, Sunset notices her friends' magical auras and realizes that their magic manifests when they exhibit the same traits as the Elements of Harmony. Sunset uses the device to gather their magic and transform into an angelic form, closing the rifts and returning Twilight to normal.

Cinch, refusing to relent from manipulating Twilight, threatens to report the incident to the school board. However, when taunted that no one would believe her account of the magical incidents, she concedes to a tie that is celebrated by both teams. Twilight reconsiders her Everton application and transfers to Canterlot High, having realized that she is much happier there, and is welcomed by Sunset and the other students as a new friend.

In a pre-credits scene, the Twilight from Equestria emerges from the portal with the counterparts of her friends gathered around it. She explains that she has just escaped a time travel loop before gawking at the sight of her counterpart.

## Cast

* Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle
* Rebecca Shoichet as Sunet Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle (singing voice)
* Ashleigh Ball as Rainbow Dash and Applejack
* Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy
* Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity and Vice Principal Luna
* Cathy Weseluck as Spike
* Iris Quinn as Principal Abacus Cinch
* Sharon Alexander as Sour Sweet
* Sienna Bohn as Sugarcoat
* Kelly Sheridan as Indigo Zap
* Britt Irvin as Sunny Flare
* Shannon Chan-Kent as Lemon Zest
* Nicole Oliver as Principal Celestia
* Britt McKillip as Dean Cadance
* Vincent Tong as Flash Sentry
* Andrew Francis as Shining Armor

## Reception

### Ratings

*Friendship Games* premiered to 436,000 viewers and was watched by approximately 120,000 adults aged 18-49, ranking Discovery Family as the third most watched network on television behind Disney Channel and Nickelodeon with a total delivery of 265k viewers among Kids 2-11, and the third largest audience for a single telecast since the network's launch in fall 2014.

### Critical

The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Daniel Alvarez of *Unleash the Fanboy* gave it a score of 8 out of 10, calling it "another quality installment in the *Equestria Girls* series." He praised the movie's characters, calling Sunset Shimmer a "great focus," as well as the movie's songs and climax. However, he noted that several negatives "hold it back from being near perfect," such as Principal Cinch, whom he called "the worst antagonist." Adam Lemuz of *Geekscape* praised the movie as a "great follow-up to *Rainbow Rocks*," and further complimented that "fans of the previous films will get a lot of enjoyment out of it as it delivers plenty of solid laughs and noteworthy songs." Ed Liu of *Toon Zone* called it "a solid addition to the *Equestria Girls* franchise," but felt it was "overly familiar" and "a little padded" when comparing to the plot of the first film. He also praised the development of Sunset Shimmer, calling her character arc from the first movie "a wonderful long-form story." Mike Cahill of *The Guardian* gave it two out of five stars, called it "craven commercialism," but adding that "it's not unattractively designed, and its preppy collegiate spirit trumps the sappiness of Disney's Tinkerbell spin-offs."

## Trivia

* *Friendship Games* is notably the first installment in the *Equestria Girls* franchise to be considered a Discovery Family original film upon its initial release; the two previous films, *Equestria Girls* and *Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks*, received limited theatrical releases and the following film, *Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree*, was released directly to Netflix, all without Discovery's involvement. This excludes the specials and *Summertime Shorts*, which followed and aired on the network afterwards.