Awesome / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games

Let’s go, Wondercolts!

• Just the introduction of the movie is enough to get anyone watching hooked. The opening credits are filled with Awesome Music and Visual Effects of Awesome, showing the sheer amount of effort put into the film.
  • The opening song is an energetic, spine-tingling declaration of school pride and Badass Boast in musical form. Combined with the fantastic visuals, it makes you want to stand up and cheer for Canterlot High.
    Chorus: We've come this far, and we're not going back! (No way!)
    Prepare yourself, cause we're on the attack! (Attack!)
    Won't have to find us, we'll be tracking you down! (Right now!)
    And when we're finished, we'll be taking the crown!
    All the way (all the way), all the way to the Friendship Games!
    Na, na, na-na-na, oh, na, na, let's go!
  • Followed by a Rousing Speech from the Humane Six:
    Rainbow Dash: We studied hard and we're here to win!
    Applejack: We're only telling you once!
    Sunset Shimmer: Our magic comes from the inside out!
    All: What you see's what you get, don't you ever forget!
• Rainbow Dash's pep rally gives the Wondercolts the school pride they needed, and with good reason. She starts by mentioning that, given Crystal Prep Academy's reputation and the fact CHS hasn't won a single Friendship Games, that there's no way they'd win... But she then starts with the CHS Rally Song, which is basically a Badass Boast of how they've changed for the better (in a reference to Princess Twilight helping bring them together in the first movie), how they've faced genuine threats from another world (Demon Sunset and the Sirens), and actually survived and beat them; basically that, compared to those, beating Crystal Prep is going to be easy. The Marching Band accompanying Rainbow Dash in the song delivers the Wondercolt earbands and tails, and all of the student body (and even Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna) join together in the song. They're Wondercolts, united forever.
  And you know, at the end of the day, it is we who survive!
  • Culminating with her ponying-up and flying over the stage to catch the drum majorette's baton in midair.
• There's something pretty cool about Vice-Principal Luna's preternaturally reasonable attitude towards the Humane Five and Sunset Shimmer: it's basically, "It's cool that you have magical powers and that one of you is a pony from another dimension, just keep it under control."
• The human world's Twilight has created a device that can not only detect magic, but absorb and contain it for later usage. Keep in mind the human world normally doesn't have magic, and Sunset Shimmer, a former student of Celestia from Equestria, studied the magic of the Rainbooms with the conclusion she has no idea how it works. Just how brilliant is Twilight in this world? She also had a clunkier device early on that just detected magic, which she adapted into the draining spectrometer. Even more impressive when you consider that that she didn't even know it was magic at the time.
• Pinkie Pie wished for a party cannon in the first movie. In this one, we see she managed to obtain two!
• Pinkie Pie being completely in her element in the Home EC contest, and her winning entry of a huge cake, the interior of which when cut down the middle looks like the Mona Lisa. Her uncharacteristic smug grin makes it even cooler.
• Twilight gets a subtle moment during the end of the "ACADECA" song. She's facing off against Sunset Shimmer one-on-one in front of both their schools in a competition of academics that involves an absurdly complex series of mathematical formulas. While Sunset starts off confident and is visibly nervous by the end, Twilight remains stern and confident to the end and gets the calculations right. She may be a Shrinking Violet socially, but she's right at home in her element regardless of the pressure being put on her.
  • It's even more awesome in the novelization, where it's stated that Twilight was distracted during the event. She kept glancing at her pendant, thinking about how much she doesn't want to be there, and how she'd rather be investigating the strange happenings around CHS. Conversely, Sunset thinks a bit about Twilight and whatever she's up to, but discards it and focuses on the math problem.
• She might be something of a jerk, but Sour Sweet displays some sweet moves during the archery competition, being able to easily clear the obstacles and perform a triple shot (where all three arrows hit the target, and one is a perfect bullseye) on a moving target after swinging from a rope and doing an Unnecessary Combat Roll to land. Too bad it's a relay race and Twilight is not very good at it...
  • Again, the novelization manages to increase the awesome by stating that Sour Sweet hit three bullseyes.
• When Twilight struggles with the relay challenge and all of her teammates chastise her for it, Applejack sticks up for her and decides to help her with the challenge. Despite the intense rivalry with Crystal Prep, Applejack still reaches out to help a girl in need of self-confidence. This is what the "Friendship Games" are supposed to be about!
• During the Motocross Race, after Twilight's device opens interdimensional rifts that cause giant, carnivore plants to attack the racers, Shadowbolt and Wondercolt alike, and when it seems that Sunset Shimmer is about to get eaten, Rainbow Dash saves her with her bike, then she ponies up and starts physically fighting the things. This also saves Indigo Zap from a similar fate. Meanwhile, we also see Spike attacking the vines to protect Twilight.
• Although it was a bit harsh, Sunset calling out Twilight for messing with forces she didn't understand and endangering everyone, including her friends, shows that she's become more assertive since Rainbow Rocks. Commander Shepard approves of this Renegade interrupt.
  Sunset Shimmer: You're supposed to be so smart, but did you ever think that you shouldn't be messing around with things you don't understand?!
  Twilight Sparkle: But I want to understand!
  Sunset Shimmer: [pissed off] But you don't! And worst of all, you put the lives of my friends in danger!
• The climax. After Twilight transforms into Midnight Sparkle by absorbing the magic her device drained from the Humane Five, Sunset Shimmer picks it up, absorbs more magic from them, and transforms into a variant of her phoenix-winged form to confront Twilight. Their battle is short, but still awesome.
• Even after Sunset Shimmer gains her own superpowered form, Twilight is winning their Beam-O-War... until Spike calls out to Twilight and actually gets through to her briefly, giving Sunset the opportunity to turn the tables. Yep, Spike saved the day.
• The Shadowbolts helping the Wondercolts rescue students from Midnight Sparkle, after they see Cinch run away. Prior to that, Sunny Flare calling Cinch out on her cowardice. It's the first major step of the Shadowbolts finally stepping out of Cinch's influence and the start of their Heel–Face Turn.
• Considering she'd previously complained about the wear and tear that saving the world had on her wardrobe, the fact that Rarity jumps to save two students at once during the final confrontation without even the slightest hesitation is pretty heroic on her part. She would have fallen in through the portal with them from the combined weight had the Shadowbolts not intervened, but the few seconds she was able to hold on to them made the difference in saving their lives. And seeing as she had to cling to the edge of the portal one-handed while suspending the weight of the other two students during those seconds, it would seem that, like pony Rarity, she's much stronger than she looks. One tiny note here that mixes Awesome with Heartwarming — one of the students Rarity's attempting to save is Fleur Des Lee. That's right, she's saving a student from the rival school without a second thought.
• Speaking of strength, back during the roller derby, Rarity manages to send Pinkie Pie zinging past the Shadowbolt team with one leg swing without losing her balance when they were nearly a quarter of the track ahead. Even factoring in Pinkie's reality-breaking powers, that's one hell of a move.
• The scene where everyone chews out Cinch is quite satisfying. Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Spike get some good zingers in by pointing out that no one would believe her story if she tried to report it and Sugarcoat's "The Reason You Suck" Speech in particular is glorious.
  Sugarcoat: [rapid-fire] At least they didn't manipulate Twilight into releasing all the stolen magic and turning into a power-crazed magical creature that tried to rip the world apart just to win a game.
  [Beat]
  Pinkie Pie: Wow. That's a lot to take in when you say it all at once.
  • Following Sugarcoat's speech, Sour Sweet gets one for both aspects of her personality being directed at the right person, instead of Twilight for once. ("Mostly it was her.")
  • Spike gets one for bringing up Cinch's Achilles heel: her reputation.
• Cinch may not be a very good person, but her managing to control her Villainous Breakdown and leave with her professionalism intact is pretty commendable.
• After Rebecca Soichet's singing for Sunset was noted by many as sounding just like her singing for Twilight in the last film, this time she was able to develop a much more distinct singing voice for Sunset that still sounds completely natural, and is even shown directly opposite Twilight to drive the point home.
• Even Flash Sentry, of all people gets one, heckling Principal Celestia.
  Celestia: I'm sure you're all curious on what goes on.
  Flash Sentry: You mean other than us losing!
• Sunset's Character Development across the three films. Starting out as the villain who comes to regret her actions and make a Heel–Face Turn, she then spends the second film mired in self-doubt for her prior actions until she's able to become a hero and earn everyone's forgiveness with Twilight's help. And finally, here she finds herself cut off from Twilight and has to step up and be a hero all on her own, doing the job admirably even when in the exact opposite position as the first film's climax, reaching through to the corrupted Twilight with words rather than fighting.
• Tara Strong's performance as Midnight Sparkle, being able to hold on to Twilight's voice while giving a hammy villain performance reminiscent of her Harley Quinn, and all the more unsettling for it.

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