Western Animation / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree

Here you'll learn what nature teaches, here you'll learn more who you are.

So how about we embrace the magic
And make the magic part of you!

— Sunset Shimmer

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree is the fourth movie in the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls line of films. In a departure from the previous films, it debuted on Netflix on October 1, 2016 (although it did debut in Brazil on September 24, 2016 on Discovery Kids).^* The film was not labeled as a Netflix Original, however, and left the service on November 1, 2021. A novelization and picture book adaptation were released on September 6, 2016.

The plot, as given by Hasbro: "When Canterlot Highschool goes on a trip to Camp Everfree, they're surprised to find a magical force is causing strange things to happen around camp. With the help of the Mane Six and especially Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle must confront the dark 'Midnight Sparkle' within herself and embrace her newfound magical abilities to save the camp."

The trailer can be seen here.

The DVD release includes a "Blooper Reel", following the same model as Friendship Games. (Tropes for this short at the bottom of the page.)

This movie is followed by My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Magical Movie Night, a Mini Series consisting of three 22-minute specials.

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My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree provides examples of:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Twilight doesn't outright dislike Flash Sentry, but his very awkward attempts at talking to her make Twilight a bit uncomfortable. These attempts aren't helped by Flash's apparent difficulty differentiating between the pony universe Twilight Sparkle, whom he knows and the EQG universe Twilight Sparkle, whom he doesn't.
• A Cappella: The final part of the intro song has no instrumentation, with just singing and hands clapping.
• Adaptational Context Change: After Gloriosa transforms and attacks the camp, Fluttershy asks what they're going to do, and Rainbow Dash says "What we always do, save the day." In the film, she says it excitedly, but in the novelization she's stated to say it in a melancholic manner ("glumly").
• Adaptational Villainy: Filthy Rich in the series is a rich but reasonable businesspony who does not approve of his daughter's bullying. Here, he is a greedy antagonist who wants to buy off the camp.
• Air Quotes:
  • Vice Principal Luna actually makes the gesture while looking at her sister Celestia.
    Luna: Even though "some people" thought it was a little impractical, since the sundial can't be used at night.
  • Timber Spruce also emphasizes the Latin word "sapphirus" this way when he says it.
  • And Applejack puts quotes around "new magic" when suggesting they should forget it for a bit.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Flash tries to be friendly to Twilight, but while she is polite enough to remember his name, she doesn't understand why he is so awkward around her or why he keeps approaching her until Sunset tells her that Flash has a crush on Princess Twilight. It doesn't help he keeps remembering Princess Twilight when seeing her, even though he knows that they're different people.
• All Myths Are True: The girls assume this to be the case for Timber's Gaea Everfree story since such is typical for the series. Ultimately subverted, since the story was made up by Timber to cover for the things that Gloriosa was doing.
• All There in the Manual:
  • Unlike the previous movie, this one doesn't immediately follow on from Friendship Games and the whole matter with the alternate Twilight from The Stinger of the last movie was resolved in the book Twilight's Sparkly Sleepover Surprise. Though if you didn't read it, it would come off as an Aborted Arc since it only gets a single oblique mention in the movie.
  • The fact this installment takes place in the summer is not mentioned in the film itself (or even most of its plot descriptions), but rather in associated material (such as the novelization, the video descriptions in the YouTube sneak peeks, etc.).
• Almost Kiss: Twilight and Timber nearly kiss during the Crystal Gala fundraiser, but Gloriosa ruins the moment. Curiously, it is absent in the novelization.
• Amicable Exes: Flash goes to Sunset for relationship advice, despite how she used him when she was an Alpha Bitch before and during the first film.
• Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: The Equestrian geodes Gloriosa finds give her Green Thumb abilities. Once the geodes are transferred over to the heroines, they become lockets, which they decide to hold onto for the time being.
• And Here He Comes Now: Applejack ponders where Rainbow Dash is. Cue Dash rushing past her in a burst of uncontrolled Super-Speed, and slamming into the wall.
  Rainbow Dash: OW!!
• And I Must Scream: It's not stated by what magical means, but this is more or less what Gaea Everfree had planned as everyone's fate after sealing the camp away from the rest of the world. No-one was supposed to leave the camp ever again.
  Gaea Everfree: Right here you have me to protect you within these walls of thorns... forever free, forevermore.
• Animesque: More than usual for a brief scene. The way Twilight's and Timber's faces are drawn before they almost kiss in the Crystal Gala wouldn't look too out of place in a shōjo anime. Notable is that the eye shape changes from what is typical for Equestria Girls and Friendship is Magic, and the red blushing on their cheeks isn't just a blush sticker, being accompanied by a series of thin diagonal red lines.
• Answer Cut: Near the end, Sunset says to Twilight, "Where did the magic that hit this cave come from?" Cue the transition to Canterlot High, showing the still-broken statue with a small crack in it with Equestrian magic leaking through...
• Appropriated Appellation: Gloriosa takes the name of Gaea Everfree from Timber's story as her own upon her transformation.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Lampshaded: When Applejack discounts the possibility of Gaea Everfree being real, Rainbow Dash points out that she would completely fit in with everything they've experienced thus far and is probably another Equestrian exile.
• Art Evolution: The widespread costume changes for the cast are also an opportunity to tweak the designs a bit from the previous movies. The characters are less thin, with lower shoulders and hips, higher calves and no more hooves-likes boots. The animation has progressed too, with a wider range of expressions. Of minor note is the pseudo-Ambidextrous Sprite tendency of the profiles, making them switch from left to right, getting much rarer.
• Artifact Title: With this movie, the "My Little Pony" part of the title no longer has any justification. While the previous ones did feature Equestrian characters traveling to this world, as well as some glimpses of Equestria, this film has neither. The magic coming from Equestria still influences the plot, and Sunset Shimmer is Equestria-born, but that's all.
• Artistic License – Animal Care: Fluttershy really should know better than feeding ducks with bread when they first go to the dock. A mild case, admittedly. Bread is basically junk food to ducks. Like any junk food, it's a sometimes food.
• Artistic License – Geology: The crystals containing Equestrian magic that Gloriosa discovers are referred to as "geodes", yet they look nothing like geodes in real life. A geode is actually a crystalline material inside a hollow rock.
• Ass-Kicking Pose: When Sunset Shimmer springs out of bed from being woken up by Twilight, she takes a karateka's stance (with her eyes still closed).
• Awesome, but Impractical: Luna was against the sundial being their camp gift in her and Celestia's day, since it doesn't work at night.
• Barrier Warrior: Rarity mostly uses her gem-like energy constructs to erect barriers, protecting herself and other people against threats.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Twilight finally faces and defeats Midnight Sparkle with the support of her friends, taking control of her magic for good.
• Bear Hug: As typical of The Big Guy, Bulk Biceps gives a few unexpected hugs, lifting people from the ground in the process. Notably a scared hug to Snips and Snails around the campfire, or a celebratory hug to Sandalwood and Trixie after the climax.
• Berserk Button: Rarity accidentally presses Gaea Everfree's button when she tries talking her down, saying she can't stay at camp forever because of her weekly spa visits. Since Filthy Rich wants to turn the camp into a spa, Gaea becomes furious and starts attacking Rarity and her friends directly.
  Gaea Everfree: [twitchy eye, speaks in mocking falsetto] To the spa? [Suddenly Shouting] TO THE SPAAAAAAA!?
• Bicep-Polishing Gesture: It's much clearer in a higher-resolution image, but that's in fact what Rainbow Dash is doing in the Blu-Ray/DVD cover/poster of the film.
• Big Bad: Gaea Everfree, a nature-controlling Humanoid Abomination, is the force behind the magical dangers at Camp Everfree. It's actually Gloriosa Daisy, who assumes her form after getting Drunk on the Dark Side.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Although the movie focuses on Gaea Everfree, the eponymous "Legend of Everfree", since she's the most immediate threat, the story counts in fact three main villains. First Gaea Everfree/Gloriosa Daisy, who can be described as a Well-Intentioned Extremist; then Midnight Sparkle, who's roaming inside Twilight's mind and threatens to break free if she relies too much on magic (which would be infinitely more dangerous than whatever Gaea is doing, given the chaos she caused in the last movie); and finally Filthy Rich, who's the mundane threat to the camp, planning to turn it into a spa resort. All three have to be foiled before the heroines can claim full victory.
• Big "NO!": Twilight and Sunset scream this in unison when Gloriosa uses the power of the geodes to hold them tight before her transformation. They scream another when the transformed Gloriosa imprisons them inside the cave.
• Bishōnen Line: Gloriosa's Gaea Everfree form is much more humanoid, compared to the Gaea Everfree seen in Timber's spooky story. In fact, compared to Sunset's demonic form and Midnight Sparkle, she's even more humanoid, lacking any features like horns or wings, and remains the same size.
• Borrowed Catch Phrase:
  • Timber Spruce mentions Gloriosa's overworked state by imitating her common saying, "I got this!"
  • When Gloriosa asks the girls how they could set up a fundraiser ball in one day, their answer is "We got this!", echoing again her constant reassurances.
• Bowled Over: When Rainbow Dash is tripped by Gaea Everfree and propelled against her friends by her momentum, sending them all sprawling, the sound effect heard is one of a bowling ball hitting pins.
• Brick Joke:
  • On the way to camp, Spike says that he can't wait to chase squirrels. In a wide shot after everyone arrives, he's doing just that.
  • At one point early in the film, Timber claims that he's the Picasso of noodles; during the Creative Closing Credits, we get a glimpse of his skill: a — frankly, not very good — macaroni drawing of Twilight and himself holding hands, with hearts floating about.
• Brother–Sister Team: Gloriosa Daisy and Timber Spruce run Camp Everfree. According to Timber, they're the fourth generation in their family line to run the camp, as it was founded by their great-grandparents.
• Buffy Speak: Used by Rarity of all people, which isn't her thing usually, but understandable given the puzzling situation:
  Rarity: And I made a diamondy thing appear out of nowhere, which normally I'd be excited about. I mean, the facets were just perfect, and the—
• Busman's Holiday: The girls go to camp to get away from the magical weirdness at CHS, only to find another adventure. They lampshade this repeatedly.
• Call-Back:
  • Twilight's Superpowered Evil Side Midnight Sparkle factors into the plot. Sunset Shimmer's brief stint as a demon gets referenced, too.
  • After arriving at camp, the girls are glad they'll get a chance to relax after the string of magic crisis they've had to deal with; Pinkie Pie lists off the three sirens, their ridiculously over-competitive rival school, and two demon friends.
  • Moments later, Sunset Shimmer mentions to Twilight Flash Sentry's crush on Princess Twilight.
  • Rainbow Dash theorizes that Gaea Everfree could be a creature from Equestria that has been exiled to this world, like the Sirens previously in Rainbow Rocks.
  • Sunset Shimmer later summarizes the end of Friendship Games, reminding Twilight that is it was essentially Principal Cinch's fault if Midnight Sparkle was released, and that she shouldn't beat herself over it.
  • Flash Sentry reminds Sunset Shimmer that they used to date, something that hadn't come up since early in Rainbow Rocks.
  • Fluttershy mentions she can write a new song, like she did in Rainbow Rocks. Later at the Crystal Gala, the Rainbooms are back as a band (with their iconic instruments) to sing said song, "Legend You Were Meant to Be".
  • The magic geodes were made by magic leaking from a crack in the portal, caused when Midnight Sparkle blew up the statue on top of it.
• Camping Episode: The whole movie is a camping episode for the Equestria Girls series, as it is almost entirely set in a summer camp, Camp Everfree, and features plenty activities typical of such a place such as archery, nature walks, etc.
• Carrying a Cake: During the montage for the preparation of the Crystal Gala, Snips slips while carrying a big cake, but it's saved by Sunset's reflexes.
• Catapult Nightmare:
  • Twilight jolts awake after her nightmare on the bus, yelling "NO, STOP!" She also has one at camp.
  • Spike subverts this. He darts awake when Sunset Shimmer wakes him up, but he was having a pleasant dream about chasing squirrels.
• Catchphrase: Gloriosa Daisy wants you to know that "I got this!" She'll let you know even when she's Drunk with Power.
  Gaea Everfree/Gloriosa: I appreciate your concern Timber, BUT I GOT THIS!
• Character Shilling: In the novel, Timber Spruce is described by the girls as very cool guy who would be great for Twilight, despite them meeting him for the first time a few minutes ago. This is not present in the movie.
• Childish Pillow Fight: One of the snapshots shown during the song "Legend You Were Meant to Be" features Applejack, Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash indulging in a pillow fight.
• Circle of Friendship: Now about a Once per Movie occurrence. Twilight's six friends form a circle inside her mindscape to encourage her, giving her the willpower to overcome her fear of Midnight Sparkle.
• Class Trip: The movie is about the cast going on a camping trip, many of them saying they want to get away from the usual magic incidents they've had to deal with.
• Colon Cancer: The title of the storybook adaptation: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree: Save Our Camp!
• Compressed Adaptation: Louise Alexander's 24-page storybook adaptation of the film. For reference, the film is 73 minutes long and the proper novelization is 240-pages long.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In Twilight's nightmare, Rarity insists on packing an identical dress that Princess Twilight wore in the Fall Formal from the first film.
  • Also, while helping her pack, Rainbow Dash holds the hoodie Twilight wore in the last film while sneaking around CHS. The same hoodie makes an appearance while Twilight unpacks at the tent.
  • In the bus, DJ Pon-3 is once again not listening to what's going around and bobbing her head to the music in her headphones.
  • The "No offense" — "None taken" gag from Rainbow Rocks makes a comeback, this time from Pinkie Pie. Sunset Shimmer takes it in stride and even tells Twilight that she'll get used to it.
  • Trixie is seen reading the "magical portal maintenance" book from Friendship Games in one shot.
  • The reactions to AJ's Super-Strength are near identical to her Stronger Than They Look moment in the original film.
  • Derpy taps Flash Sentry on the shoulder to comfort him, like she did in the previous movie.
  • Lyra and Bon Bon are modeling for Rarity's fashion show again, as in the short "Life Is a Runway".
  • Despite her mishaps in "The Science of Magic", Sunset Shimmer is still trying to figure out how Equestrian Magic works in the human world. This helps her guide the others in learning to use their new abilities.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Filthy Rich doesn't care if Gloriosa and Timber have a history with the camp; if they can't pay, he's kicking them out. He's more of a "mean" corporate executive, as he was fully within his rights to take the camp when she couldn't afford to pay for it anymore, and he does cut them more slack than he had to by giving them a month to find the funds. Then again, he appears quite upset when they do find the funds and stomps out of the Crystal Gala in a huff when Gloriosa makes this announcement.
• Costume Evolution: Everybody has a different base outfit for this movie because they're all going camping. Of note, this completely does away with the "hooves-like boots" that have been the standard for a lot of base outfits in the previous movies.
• Costume Porn: If the outfits created by Rarity for the fashion show are still somewhat reasonable, and the Magical Girl uniforms relatively par for the course, the costumes and hairdos for the Crystal Gala, on the other hand, are extremely elaborate (especially the Rainbooms'), with galore of "cutie marks" and other thematic elements, plenty jewelry and even some "frou-frou" (even Applejack's!).
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Gloriosa ultimately admits that if she'd simply talked things out with the campers about saving her home instead of letting things fly off the handle, there wouldn't have been so many problems.
• Cower Power: Upon seeing Gaea Everfree glide into camp, Fluttershy grabs Applejack's arm and cowers behind her. She also hides behind Pinkie during the later fight, when Gaea blows a gasket over the mention of the spa.
• Crazy-Prepared:
  • Rarity brings enough supplies and fabric to put together several new outfits for her camp fashion show, and...
  • DJ Pon-3 packs along a gramophone and a crate of records to provide music for it.
  • Even mentioned in the opening stinger, as Rarity insists Twilight pack an formal gown for a camp trip, which ends up being needed in the finale. Even more egregious as the first two are at least their hobbies.
• Creative Closing Credits: Instead of the usual black screen with white text, the entire closing credits scroll down across the surface of the dock, showing a variety of things: drawings carved into the wood, the various arts and crafts the students presumably did at camp, and most notably, a macaroni drawing of Twilight and Timber.
• The Darkness Gazes Back: The intro sequence briefly includes a pair of glowing yellow eyes appearing in the darkness of the forest — and the camera just zooms on them. No explanation is given, it's used to show there's something ominous in these woods.
• Defensive "What?": After Pinkie Pie tosses a box of nails and everybody else panics, she lets out a defensive "What?" before realizing that they expected it to explode.
• Deflector Shields: Rarity's new power is to create diamond-shaped barriers of force. She can put them to different uses (as seen when she saves Derpy from a dive in the lake), though they are primarily an excellent defense. In the fight against Gaea Everfree, she saves her friends several time by erecting domed barriers. However, against the full might of the crazed nature spirit, she can't keep it up forever and the shield starts to crack.
• Disney Creatures of the Farce: Fluttershy, upon finding out she can now talk to animals, accidentally lets the word spread among avians, who promptly swarm her. She ends up with half-a-dozen songbirds and two owls perched on her spread arms (and one on her head). Despite never meaning this to happen, she stays polite to them ("It's nice to meet all of you, too.") and looks endearingly awkward as Sunset questions her about this.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: The first time Applejack's Super-Strength manifests, she accidentally pulls Rarity to the rock-climbing wall's top with no real effort. Later, she becomes wary of a repeat incident while working on the dock, wielding her hammer very carefully.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Applejack brags to Rainbow about how much better her homemade hammer is, compared to the one Dash borrowed from camp. AJ's hammer is noticeably bigger.
  • The manic expression Bulk Biceps has when he's dancing at the gala is similar to the one many rave dancers get when "rolling" on Ecstasy.
• The Door Slams You: Sunset Shimmer, as she's eavesdropping, gets a door in the face when Gloriosa Daisy opens said door and walks out of the boat shed in a huff.
• Dream Within a Dream: Twilight's nightmare starts with her laying on her bed, sleeping... also having a nightmare.
  Twilight Sparkle: [while asleep] No. It can't be. It isn't true.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Like Twilight and Sunset before her, Gloriosa is overwhelmed by the power of the magic she obtained.
• Dual-Meaning Chorus: Gaea's Villain Song, "We Will Stand for Everfree"... or is it "We Will Stand Forever Free"? Fully voluntary, as both meanings are valid in-context.
• Easily Forgiven: Once Gloriosa Daisy is purged of Gaea Everfree's magic, Timber Spruce, the Mane Seven, and the rest of CHS realize everything that happened wasn't really her fault and forgive her. They even help set up a fundraiser in order for Camp Everfree to continue.
• The Empath: Sunset's magic ability is touch-based empathy and memory viewing.
• Enemy Within: Midnight Sparkle is this, with Twilight struggling to come to terms with the powers she now has as a result of the Friendship Games incident.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Sunset Shimmer comes to believe that Timber Spruce is spreading the legend of Gaea Everfree and is responsible for the weird things happening at Camp Everfree because he wants to sell the camp against Gloriosa's wish, and was trying to scare the campers. She is wrong, however, as she discovers later. The strange incidents were caused by Gloriosa Daisy's magic; Timber was trying to convince her to let go of the geodes, and he came up with Gaea Everfree's story to deflect suspicion from his sister.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: Par for the course. The final move of the heroines empowered by the geodes is to fire "magical rainbow lasers" at Gaea Everfree's encompassing dome of bramble vines, vaporizing it. Note that the seven colors used aren't exactly those of the rainbow, though, but the colors commonly associated with every character: blue (Rainbow Dash), pink (Pinkie Pie), white (Rarity), yellow (Fluttershy), orange (Applejack), red (Sunset Shimmer) and purple (Twilight Sparkle).
• Expository Hairstyle Change:
  • Twilight ditched the Prim and Proper Bun she wore as a Crystal Prep student for a simple high ponytail to show how she's loosening up.
  • The main characters also get new hairstyles when they use the magic geodes.
• Facepalm: Pinkie Pie facepalms when the Great and Powerful Trixie mockingly "summons" the spirit of Gaea Everfree. Which can probably count as Hypocritical Humor too.
• Faint in Shock: In The Stinger, when they see Pinkie Pie blow up the just-finished, brand-new dock. The girls are frozen in shock, except for Rarity —who's so shaken she faints.
• Fashion Show: Rarity's suggested activity when Gloriosa Daisy asks the class what they'd like to do. She ends up organizing one on the brand-new runway... ahem... dock with several of the girls modeling, but it is interrupted by Gaea Everfree's attack on the camp.
• Fast Tunnelling: Fluttershy enrolls the help of a trio of gophers to try tunneling under the wall of brambles. They manage in a short time, but Gaea blocks the escape route with more bramble vines before any camper can go through.
• Faux Horrific: Rarity's "spooky" story by the campfire, which we get the tail end of:
  Rarity: ...And that's when she looked down and realized she was wearing purple socks with a burgundy dress!
  [long, dramatic scream followed by a Beat as nobody reacts]
  Rarity: Purple and burgundy, darlings! The same color family! [scream again]
• Feedback Rule: The loudspeakers of Camp Everfree produce an ear-splitting sound (forcing the girls to cover their ears) as Gloriosa Daisy makes her enthusiastic welcoming speech.
• Flechette Storm: When Pinkie tosses a box of nails, her friends fear this will be the result if her Stuff Blowing Up power manifests, and dive for cover. Mercifully, nothing happens.
• Fog Feet: The Gaea Everfree in Timber Spruce's story doesn't have legs, but an amorphous trunk-like lower body that seems to flow from the ground, leaving a trail of gem dust.
• Forbidden Chekhov's Gun: Timber Spruce mentions from the get-go that the abandoned rock quarry is off-limits. Although it's perfectly logical for such a place to be considered dangerous, it naturally proves later to have a very important place in the plot.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Sunset Shimmer describes the use of Equestrian magic by the group in the previous movies as "magical rainbow lasers". Guess how they get rid of Geae Everfree's encompassing dome of bramble vines? By firing magical rainbow lasers, of course.
  • Twice in the film, there's a fake-out jump scare where the girls think they hear Gaea Everfree approaching, only for the dark and mysterious shape to reveal itself as Gloriosa Daisy.
  • Whenever Sunset bumps into Gloriosa Daisy, she heard voices and screaming despite everybody insisting that nobody spoke up. Sunset's superpower turns out to be Touch Telepathy.
  • When the campers' lanterns are floating towards the sky, Twilight's and Timber's lanterns gently bump into each other.
  • Before the final confrontation, Pinkie and Rarity both squeal with delight over how they wish they had superhero capes. Come the finale, they all have brand-spanking-new superhero costumes, courtesy of the Equestrian geodes.
• Funny Background Event: A few with the background characters, fittingly.
  • For example, in one shot Derpy is seen carrying a hammer in her mouth with a goofy expression, as her arms are full.
  • In another, Derpy is clinging to Bulk Biceps's arm as he's flexing it.
  • Trixie is seen reading the "magical portal maintenance" book from Friendship Games.
  • At one point, Fluttershy and The Voiceless DJ Pon-3 are having an inaudible conversation in the background.
• Ghibli Hills: The woods surrounding Camp Everfree are quite scenic and pleasant enough, although they do hide their own supernatural secret.
• Ghostly Glide: Gloriosa Daisy as Gaea Everfree moves without ever touching the ground. Along with her glow, it helps making her unsettling (not that Snips and Snails notice).
  Applejack: Am I goin' crazy, or are her feet not touchin' the ground?
• Glowing Eyes: Sunset gets these each time her empathetic visions are initiated.
• Good-Times Montage: The song "Legend You Were Meant to Be" includes snapshots showing the girls having fun at Camp Everfree (presumably in the following days), including mugging the camera, fishing on the lake, eating s'mores by the campfire, having a pillow fight, or just hanging out between friends.
• Go Through Me: During the climax, various students go hide in the mess hall along with Luna and Celestia. When Gaea sends vines their way, Celestia firmly plants herself at the doorway, arms extended to the sides, with the full intention of protecting her students. Luckily for all the involved, Gaea doesn't actually intend harm to anybody, and just seals the mess hall in vines.
• Green Thumb: Gaea Everfree makes plants grow and surround the camp, mostly in the form of huge blackberry bramble vines.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: Snips asks Gloriosa Daisy if she has a spare toothbrush, as he's forgotten his, and there is a close-up of his buckteeth with some food stuck in-between.
• Hair Reboot: After Pinkie demonstrated her newfound explosive power with sprinkles, she, Fluttershy, Twilight and Sunset have their hair completely blown backward and covered in dough. Pinkie gets her hairdo back to normal just by shaking her head, and the others' reboot offscreen.
• Hand Behind Head: Flash Sentry rubs the back of his head in a show of confusion after hearing Sunset's vague I Have This Friend explanation.
• Hard-Work Montage:
  • Sunset Shimmer's solo song "Embrace the Magic" shows all the girls minus Twilight (who is absent) working on rebuilding the dock while coming to control their magic in the process.
  • The song "Legend You Were Meant to Be" is both sung during the Crystal Gala, and shows the preparations for it (thus in the form of flashbacks), with clearing up the entrance of boulders, writing and sending the invitations, setting up the musical equipment, decorations and lights, preparing the food (or saving it from mishaps), etc. Though it is intercut by snapshots that fall instead into Good-Times Montage.
• Having a Blast: Pinkie Pie gets the ability to turn sugary treats (notably sprinkles or marshmallows) into explosives. Like the others, she learns some control over it, but giving such a power to someone like her is still just as destructive as you'd expect. In The Stinger that follows the closing credits, she inadvertently blows up the dock just after the girls have finished rebuilding it.
• Head Pet: Derpy's fancy dress for the fundraiser includes a nest with a bluebird in it on her head.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: It would appear that Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer got the short end of the stick compared to the others when it comes to their superpowers, but they prove to be valuable at certain points.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: What Human Twilight and Sunset Shimmer friendship developed into, since the the last movie. It's notable that despite the romance between Timber Spruce and Twilight Sparkle, the movie's main storyline revolves much more around Sunset's and Twilight's bond, and it's her relationship with Sunset that's crucial in Twilight learning how to control her powers, and allowing the girls to save the day.
• Hey, Let's Put on a Show: The campers decide to invite the camp's alumni to a gala in the Crystal Cave, including a concert by the Rainbooms, and use it as a fundraiser to pay for Camp Everfree's debts to Filthy Rich.
• How Do I Shot Web?: As the girls gain magical abilities, they're unsure of how to use them at first. This leads to several instances of them hurting themselves (and almost each other), like Dash's Super-Speed causing her to run face-first into a wall, or Rarity's gem barriers pushing Applejack into the lake. Sunset helps them out with a song called "Embrace the Magic", where the girls get their powers under control. Well, with the exception of Pinkie Pie, who still has a few explosive mishaps afterward.
• How Is That Even Possible?:
  • It's Twilight's reaction to seeing Midnight Sparkle in her dream, as she was convinced her Superpowered Evil Side was banished by Daydream Shimmer in the climax of the previous movie.
  • Sunset says it on seeing items floating around in the tent. That wouldn't be surprising in Equestria with unicorn magic, but it's not supposed to happen in this world.
• Humanoid Abomination: Gaea Everfree in a nutshell: a powerful monster with a somewhat human-like appearance. Interestingly, how much varies: in Timber Spruce's campfire tale, she looks much more monstrous and plantlike, but has human-like arms and face; her appearance in reality has her looking not too different from the usual female character, all things considered. This is because Gaea Everfree is Gloriosa Daisy after she gets... a bit too gung-ho about using magic.
• Hypocritical Humor: Applejack remarks that as Gaea Everfree, Gloriosa Daisy's feet are not touching the ground, to what Pinkie Pie comments "Freaky-deaky!"... while leaning high up from the side of the screen. No way her own feet are touching the ground either in this position.
• "I Am Becoming" Song: "The Midnight in Me" is Twilight's expression of her fears about Midnight Sparkle's influence over her.
  But now the darkness rises
  From somewhere deep inside of me
  Her power overtakes me
  Can I keep this midnight from getting free?
• Identical Stranger: Human Twilight is this to Princess Twilight, which Flash seems to have trouble remembering.
• Ignorance Is Bliss: Twilight, as a result of her Midnight Sparkle angst, feels this way about her not knowing magic existed. This is part of her song "The Midnight Inside Me", where she regrets learning about magic.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Twilight describes her pre-"Friendship Games" self as this in her "The Midnight in Me" song. "I didn't know what I didn't know, and that was pretty good".
• I Have This Friend: On Flash Sentry's insistence, Sunset Shimmer summarizes the situation between Twilight and Timber, but by avoiding any name (saying "my friend" instead) and staying vague about the exact circumstances, ending up confusing Flash more than anything.
  Sunset Shimmer: [sighs] Okay, here's the deal. My friend really likes someone, but I don't think that someone is who she thinks they are. I don't wanna upset my friend by telling her what I think, because I also want to protect her, because if what I think is happening is really happening, then she deserves to know. You know?
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Twilight, as a result of her Midnight Sparkle experience, spends most of the film denying her powers.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Sunset has shades of this. While she doesn't angst about it too much, she's clearly not happy when it seems like everyone but her have gotten magical powers, and she's thrilled to discover that she does have some of her own. She's also the one to encourage the others to accept and appreciate their new magic.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight:
  • Timber tries to get through to Drunk on the Dark Side Gloriosa one more time after the girls (sans Sunset and Twilight) are unable to stop her. Sunset and Twilight show up, telling him it isn't his sister anymore as she's already in too deep with the magic corruption. At that point she doesn't even seem to acknowledge them getting through the wood barrier she had set up.
  • Done preemptively via Circle of Friendship by her six friends when Twilight begins to give in to Midnight Sparkle's influence.
• Imagination-Based Superpower: Rarity's diamond-like constructions are mainly used for defense or pushing people away, but there are hints that the power might be much more versatile, like when she creates a floating raft for Derpy, or builds a gemstone chandelier for the Crystal Gala. In fact, this can even draw comparisons with Radiance from the "Power Ponies".
• Infraction Distraction: Sunset lies about sleepwalking to cover for Twilight when Timber finds them in the woods.
• Innocently Insensitive: Sunset has a few moments of this in the film:
  • Seemingly played straight when Sunset becomes excited when the girls gain magical abilities and wants to discover why and how to control them, but human Twilight doesn't want to think about it because she is afraid of becoming Midnight Sparkle, which Sunset doesn't pick up on until later in the film. Then it's also subverted by the fact Sunset is the one who first notices Twilight's issues, helping her the most with them, keeping Twilight's powers a secret, and that Sunset, in the end, is right, as Twilight fearing her own magic is what cause all her troubles with it. The moment Twilight finally follows Sunset's advice, and embraces her magic, it solves her problems and Twilight vanquishes Midnight within herself.
  • Even though she is trying to help him, she comes off as a little rude when she tells Flash he needs to get over Twilight. She admits this is "tough love" but doesn't give him any advice beyond it and doesn't really seem interested in his problems. It doesn't help that she and her friends supported Princess Twilight and Flash in earlier films and some think Sunset doesn't take into account how Princess Twilight feels about Flash. On the other hand though, Sunset may very well know from communicating with Princess Twilight via her journal, that pony Twilight is not interested in a Long-Distance Relationship. She still could word it more delicately, though.
  • Both Pinkie Pie and Rarity are this towards Twilight at different points, by reminding her of her rampage as Midnight Sparkle during the Friendship Games.
  • Rarity ends up being this towards Gaea Everfree. She tries to reason with her, saying Camp Everfree is lovely but she can't stay forever because she's not ready to give up her weekly spa visits. This causes Gaea to go berserk since Filthy Rich wants to turn Camp Everfree into a spa resort.
• Insistent Terminology: Rarity keeps calling the dock a "runway" (since she wants to have her fashion show there), and Applejack corrects her each time.
• Irony: In her desperation to keep the camp free, Gloriosa imprisons everyone inside.
• It's All My Fault: Twilight thinks that everything weird going on at Camp Everfree is her fault. She thinks that her magic, Midnight Sparkle's magic, is still in her and is infecting her friends. She's actually wrong. Her friends are getting magic because of the geodes around camp, which Gloriosa has been using to try to help make their trip more fun but has accidentally been causing different problems.
• It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: Gloriosa Daisy repeatedly insists that she wants to make this week with the CHS students as campers "The best week ever!"... because it's also probably going to be the last. Naturally, this ends up being the week Camp Everfree gets plagued by weird magical happenstances and an angry nature spirit.
• Jaw Drop: The general reaction from onlookers (mostly boys) seeing Applejack demonstrating her Super-Strength.
• Kirby Dots: As part of Gloriosa's transformation sequence, there is an effect of black-and-white energy dots rolling over her clothes and turning them into Gaea Everfree's supervillainess costume.
• Lampshade Hanging: The Weirdness Magnet status of Canterlot High gets lampshaded more than once.
• Late for School: Well, it's camp instead of school, but Twilight oversleeping in her dream otherwise fits pretty well. Her friends need to help her pack or she'll miss the bus.
• The Legend of Chekhov: The legend of Gaea Everfree starts out as a campfire tale by Timber Spruce. Not surprisingly, it is bound to become important later, although it's a subversion: the legend doesn't happen so much to be true than to be a cover story for the supernatural shenanigans already happening, as a result of Gloriosa Daisy meddling with a magic she doesn't understand.
• The Legend of X: Legend of Everfree
• Lens Flare: The animators are fond of adding lens flares for effect, often as part of a scene transition. Two big ones happen in the opening sequence, just before and after the "Legend of Everfree" title shows up on screen.
• Look-Alike Lovers: In the flashback, Gloriosa and Timber's great-grandparents have the same hair color (respectively) as their great-grandchildren, but they also share the exact same skin tone, which isn't common even among siblings within this Amazing Technicolor Population.
• Lots of Luggage: Rarity comes prepared with countless dresses and fashion supplies, as to be expected.
• Love at First Sight: Despite efforts by the writers for a better romantic plot, this is literally how the romance between Twilight Sparkle and Timber Spruce starts. They quickly strike a friendly conversation and gently flirt with each other.
• Love Triangle: Twilight, Flash, and Timber have a small one, for the most part Flash is the Hopeless Suitor trying to deal with the fact that a perfect look-a-like of his crush has zero interest in him.
• Madness Mantra: Gaea's "I got this", evolved from Gloriosa's Catchphrase.
• Magical Girl: Even moreso than in previous installments, as the main characters begin to get new powers and their upgrade comes with magical-girl uniforms.
• The Magic Comes Back: This time, the magical happening has sprung up miles from Canterlot High. The magical geodes seem to have some connection to the Elements of Harmony. At the end, it's revealed the portal to Equestria is damaged and gradually leaking magic into the human world, explaining why it is spreading.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": After finding out about their powers, the girls (sans Sunset and Twilight) try to carefully work on the dock. Then Pinkie, whose power is making things she throws explode, tosses a box of nails.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Gaea Everfree can control plant-life and shares her first name with the mythological goddess of the Earth.
  • Timber Spruce's name fits his character too, possibly in a more subtle way. He's shown to be good at using an axe to cut wood, and "Timber!" is what people call out when they're cutting down a tree.
• Mental World: When Sunset Shimmer gives a try at reading Pinkie Pie's mind, we get an utterly Mind Screw scene with Pinkie strolling among anthropomorphic sweets (from which she eats some parts in passing) and other wacky characters in a complete Level Ate environment. The novelization makes it even wilder, with multiple Pinkies diving into a giant swimming pool filled with fudge, and a giant jelly bean handling her a marshmallow towel (which she eats).
  Sunset Shimmer: [visibly disturbed] That... explains so much...
  Pinkie Pie: Yep!
• Milking the Giant Cow: Gaea Everfree makes lots of emphatic gestures, especially during her Villain Song. Sometimes it goes along with using her magic, but most often it's completely gratuitous.
• Mind over Matter: Twilight gains telekinesis as her power, at first making items move at random, even in her sleep, including her whole bed once.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Twilight twice sees her reflection turning into Midnight Sparkle, first in a mirror in her dream at the beginning, and then in a water pond during the song "The Midnight in Me", both times starting with the scary wings sprouting from her back.
• Mistaken for Quake: While Rarity is on the climbing wall, a tremor shakes the earth and everybody wonder if it's a quake. It is later revealed it was in fact Gloriosa Daisy using the magic of the crystal to demolish a natural dam and free a torrent for fishing, the resulting avalanche of boulders causing the tremor.
• Moment Killer: Gloriosa interrupts a moment between Twilight and Timber at the end when they were leaning in for a kiss.
• Mood Whiplash: The movie starts out as your run-of-the-mill slice of life, with teenage girls preparing for a trip to summer camp... then it turns utterly nightmarish with Midnight Sparkle's comeback and the world (including her friends!) dissolving around Twilight... except it's All Just a Dream, and we return to the real world in the bus, with Pinkie Pie's antics lightening the mood. That's within the first two minutes of screen time!
• Mundane Utility: The girls use their magical abilities to repair the dock (doubles as a Training Montage), and to help set up the fundraiser. On a side note, while Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity gain superhero-esque powers, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Sunset gain mundane abilities to talk to animals, make sweets explode, and read minds respectively.
• My Greatest Failure: Twilight is still haunted by her transformation into Midnight Sparkle.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: When Sunset and Twilight first step into the crystal cave, Sunset immediately picks up on the presence of Equestrian magic at work.
  Sunset Shimmer: There's... Equestrian magic here. I can... I can feel it!
• Mythology Gag:
  • One exclusive to the novelization: the author expanded Celestia and Luna's banter about the sundial, and Luna apparently did something to get sent to the Moonstone Tent. She was eventually forgiven for her "rash behavior" at the time.
  • During Sunset's song "Embrace the Magic", the lyrics include the phrase "In just five seconds flat" as Rainbow Dash is using Super-Speed to build a bench.
  • When the geodes find their rightful bearers, they transform from rocks into lockets around the girls' necks. Just like how the Elements of Harmony transformed themselves into jewelry when the Mane Six proved themselves to be worthy of them.
• Never Say "Die": Averted for once; Rarity's response after Applejack's sudden burst of magically-enhanced strength throws her up the climbing wall is "I was scared half to death!"
• Nightmare Sequence:
  • The film opens with Twilight having a nightmare where Midnight Sparkle returns, vaporizes her friends and threatens to take control every chance she gets.
  • There's a second one at Camp Everfree itself, where Midnight Sparkle turns a campfire from orange to purple and leaps at Twilight/the camera.
• Obliviously Evil: Gloriosa/Gaea Everfree honestly thinks that she's doing the right thing in sealing the camp off. Her comments not to fear her seem more in reaction to her altered appearance than her actions, and she can't understand why other campers (and her brother) would oppose her.
• Official Couple: Twilight Sparkle and Timber Spruce's budding relationship is lampshaded by Twilight's friends throughout the film, and the two agree to date after camp.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Pretty much the reaction of the whole cast when they see Gloriosa now powered as Gaea Everfree and begins attacking the camp. Fluttershy even lampshades it.
  Fluttershy: Oh, why do these things always happen to us?
• Ominous Crack: When Rarity is protecting the whole group from the assault of the bramble vines with her Deflector Shield, unsettling cracking sounds are first heard, and then the barrier begins to shatter like glass in spots.
• One-Winged Angel: Happens to Gloriosa when she gets overpowered by the magical geodes, taking on a new vine-like villainess appearance akin to Gaia Everfree from Timber's story.
• Orbital Shot: During Sunset Shimmer's solo song "Embrace the Magic", the camera rotates around her while she's on the pier, showing off the background of the camp and lake in the process.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: The Superpowered Evil Side incidents of Twilight and Sunset are brought up again by the girls. Sunset assures Twilight that she'll get used to it, but when it begins really bothering Twilight, Sunset tells the girls to dial back.
• Orphaned Etymology: In a pseudo-Earth where everyone has Equestrian-esque names like "Celestia" and "Flash Sentry" and a rainbow variety of skin tones, Timber namedrops the very real Pablo Picasso.
• Painful Transformation: In Twilight's mindscape during the climax, her slow transformation into Midnight Sparkle, with wings sprouting from her back and a horn coming out of her forehead, doesn't look like a pleasant experience at all.
• Parental Abandonment: Like with Applejack's parents, it's implied Timber and Gloriosa's parents have passed away when, at the end of the movie, Gloriosa tells Timber there are people looking for them who were friends of their parents. This also explains why two people as young as them own and run a summer camp.
• Past Experience Nightmare:
  • Twilight Sparkle has recurring nightmares about Midnight Sparkle, the villain she became temporarily in the previous movie. The movie opens with one, where Midnight Sparkle shows up in her room, dissolves the whole place as well as her friends, and states that Twilight will never be free of her. She also has one during the first night at Camp Everfree, with Midnight Sparkle bursting out of the campfire.
  • The novelization makes a passing reference that Sunset Shimmer also suffered nightmares after what happened at the Fall Formal.
• Pep-Talk Song: When the newly superpowered girls start acting extra careful out of fear of using their powers by accident and causing trouble, Sunset helps her friends overcome their Power Incontinence with a song, "Embrace the Magic".
• Personality Powers:
  • The powers the heroes get all match their personalities, some more obviously than others. Fluttershy's Speaks Fluent Animal, Applejack's Super-Strength, Rainbow Dash's Super-Speed and Twilight's Mind over Matter all reference abilities their Equestrian counterparts have in addition to fitting them personally. Sunset's Touch Telepathy ability reflects her Character Development and greater normal empathy, Pinkie's explosions her energetic nature and love of party cannons, and Rarity's barriers are based on her generosity in protecting others.
  • The nature-loving Gloriosa Daisy, who's lived at the camp her whole life and has flowers on her to fit her name, has Green Thumb powers.
• Poor Communication Kills: Once again we see that a major problem in the Equestria Girls world is their poor communication. Twilight has a lot of fear and self loathing toward her new powers and at first doesn't want anyone to know about them, and then it takes Sunset literally reading her mind in order to finally get her to open up about her fears about becoming Midnight again.
• Power Crystal: Gloriosa gets her magic from the crystals around her neck. When she's defeated, they end up in the seven heroines' possessions as a set of lockets.
• Power Floats: Gaea Everfree has the ability to float around, leaving a trail of gem dust in her wake. It looks like Timber Spruce is spreading it intentionally at first, but Gloriosa actually does when she transforms into Gaea Everfree.
• Power Gives You Wings: Fluttershy, Rainbow and Twilight get crystal wings while ponying-up during the finale, which replace their normal Pegasus/Alicorn ones in their anthro forms when they appear.
• Power Glows: Gaea Everfree gives off a Sickly Green Glow when she floats or uses her powers. In Timber Spruce's story, she glows green from the beginning, but the aura turns red when she angrily states to his great-grandparents that they are trespassing on her domain.
• Power Incontinence: The girls gain magic abilities they cannot quite control, even when not ponied up, such as Super-Speed for Rainbow Dash and magic gem shields for Rarity. Twilight, for example, keeps levitating the contents of her and Sunset's tent in her sleep for most of the film. Similarly, Applejack Does Not Know Her Own Strength, and Rainbow Dash moves Too Fast to Stop. Pinkie Pie is the one keeping the problem the longest: even after the "Embrace the Magic" sequence, her control over her Having a Blast ability is lacking. During the fight against Gaea Everfree, her sprinkle box almost explodes in her hands. In The Stinger, she accidentally blows up the repaired dock (third time's the charm...) by tossing marshmallows at it.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Gloriosa has already long hair, but as Gaea Everfree it becomes longer, bushy and wild, as well as changing color.
• Power-Strain Blackout:
  • The first time she uses her telekinesis voluntarily, to move a large boulder, Twilight Sparkle manages but faints and is caught by Sunset Shimmer. She recovers swiftly, though.
  • Later, Rarity is creating a gem-like Deflector Shield around the group against Gaea Everfree's assault. She quickly realizes she can't hold the hostile plant life at bay indefinitely, and when it finally starts cracking she briefly collapses into Applejack's arms.
• The Prankster: In continuity with their portrayal in the first movie, Snips and Snails are seen preparing a load of water bombs in one scene, and smiling guiltily when they think they've been found out.
• Pre-Explosion Glow:
  • The sprinkles that Pinkie Pie infuse with energy briefly glow pink before exploding.
  • In Twilight's mindscape, as she is getting the upper hand over Midnight Sparkle, the wings that have sprout from her back begin to fissure, then light pours from between the cracks before they blow up.
• Pstandard Psychic Pstance: After discovering Twilight has telekinesis, Sunset tries a few different stances while attempting to lift a sunscreen tube, to no effect.
  Spike: I think you're just gonna have to pick it up.
• Pun: The "Crystal Ball" is a ball set in the Crystal Cave... and not a Crystal Ball.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • "We... will... stand for Everfree!"
  • "I... am... Twilight Sparkle!"
• Put on a Bus: A busful of CHS students, along with Celestia and Luna, are going to Camp Everfree, but it is far from the full school contingent. Thus, only a few supporting characters are seen in this movie compared to the previous ones, leaving out the rest of the school staff, Photo Finish, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and about two-third of the unnamed background students.
• Rack Focus: As usual, used to give depth to the animation. Notably, when Twilight is in the zone after flirting with Timber, and the focus switches to her giggling friends in the background.
• Reactive Continuous Scream: Twilight and Sunset scream in fright when someone with an ax suddenly shows up in the middle of the night. Timber Spruce, who is carrying the ax, is startled and screams in turn.
• Real After All: Played with. There was no real Gaea Everfree as told in Timber's story, but rather Gloriosa takes on this persona herself when she transforms using the Magical Geodes.
• Real Men Wear Pink: When Gloriosa Daisy asks the kids what sort of activities they'd like to do at camp, Bulk Biceps suggests... arts and crafts. He claims his mom needs new pot holders. Taken to very literal levels during the gala at the end, where he dresses in pink.
• Rebel Relaxation: After Sunset's solo song, Applejack takes a relaxed stance against one of the dock's posts, arms crossed and a boot against it.
• Record Needle Scratch: In-universe with a phonograph; DJ Pon-3 stops the music used for the fashion show rehearsal, causing a scratch, as Gaea Everfree is spotted gliding into camp.
• Required Secondary Powers: Rainbow Dash isn't severely harmed by her Super-Speed causing her to run into things.
• Retcon: Rarity and Pinkie Pie state the whole series up to this point took place within a year of the the first movie. This means either the events of the Novelization of the Rainbow Rocks Shorts, which state the band was founded in Spring before Rainbow Rocks or the Equestria Girls Holiday Special comic, which took place in Winter after Rainbow Rocks, no longer fit the series timeline.
• Rewatch Bonus: On second viewing, the cause of the tension between Gloriosa Daisy and Timber Spruce becomes much more evident. Timber is showing the most skepticism about the camp's gifts made by the CHS students, as they are supposed to benefit future campers, which he knows won't be coming if Filthy Rich gets his hands on Camp Everfree. Also, Gloriosa is upset about the Gaea Everfree story Timber weaved, since her intention never was to scare campers away.
• Rock Theme Naming: The camp tents are all named after precious stones, like ruby and sapphire.
• Running Gag:
  • Flash Sentry still can't help but bumping into people. Except this time, it's neither of the Twilights, but with Sunset Shimmer, thus starting out a conversation with his ex-girlfriend.
  • The new dock gets destroyed three times over the movie. Derpy and Sandalwood wreck it the first time by crashing a sailboat into it. The second time, Gaea Everfree's brambles tear into it, and Rainbow Dash starts ranting that they had literally just fixed it. Pinkie does it in the third time by throwing explosive marshmallows.
  • Continuing from the previous movie, Derpy comes to console Flash Sentry when he's rejected.
• Satellite Love Interest: Averted with Timber Spruce. There is some effort to make sure Twilight's interest in him is more than Love at First Sight. He also has personal interactions with other characters besides Twilight, such as his sister.
• Scary Flashlight Face:
  • Though not used during the actual scary storytelling around the campfire, Sunset earlier toys with a flashlight for this effect.
  • The cover for the novelization and the soundtrack has Rainbow Dash making one at the campfire, which never happens in the film.
• Scenery Dissonance: Like previous films, the climax involves a powerful Humanoid Abomination causing lots of damage — and coming rather close to success. Unlike previous films, it happens in what's otherwise a perfectly nice, sunny day. There aren't even ominous clouds in the sky, or the usual dramatic wind.
• Scenery Porn: Some of the backgrounds for the movie were released as promotional material — and they're stunning. A brief sneak peek video of sorts in the official Equestria Girls site consists of nothing but the backgrounds.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Played with. Timber Spruce's legend about Gaea Everfree looks like the typical setup for an hoax, and he is indeed discovered trying to further it by leaving trails of jewel dust whenever something weird happens at camp. However, he's doing it not to hide mundane shenanigans under a pretense of supernatural mystery, but to hide a different supernatural phenomenon. And unlike what Sunset comes to believe, it wasn't aimed at scaring off the campers, but to protect Gloriosa Daisy from suspicion after her attempts at making this summer unforgettable for the campers.
• Screaming Woman: Fluttershy is left a bit jumpy from Pinkie's first time making sprinkles explode. After a first scream alerting Twilight and Sunset, she screams twice again when someone enters the camp's mess hall. When Sunset then hears another (mental) scream, her first thought is naturally to blame her.
  Sunset Shimmer: Fluttershy, enough with the screaming!
  Fluttershy: I didn't scream.
  Rainbow Dash: For once.
• Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: The way Twilight sees the relationship between herself and Midnight Sparkle, with herself as the person-shaped can. Part of her concerns in this film are making sure that Midnight Sparkle stays locked up where she can't hurt anyone.
• Security Cling: When Timber Spruce starts his scary story, Snips and Snails cling to each other, and then Bulk Biceps grabs them both, lifting them from the floor, all three with clattering teeth.

• Sequel Hook: After all is said and done at the camp, Sunset wonders to Twilight where the magical geodes came from. Cut to Canterlot High School at night, showing the portal between Equestria and the human world leaking magic from a crack where the Wondercolt statue used to be above the portal.
• Shipper on Deck: Sunset for Twilight and Timber Spruce. The other girls and Spike ship it too, but Sunset is the most active in her support. Rarity says their flirting is "adorable".
• Ship Tease: The novelization gives some to Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry's short talk, although only from Flash's side.
  Now Flash was distracted — by how the sun picked up the gold highlights in Sunset Shimmer's hair.
• Shout-Out:
  • The girls around Twilight Sparkle's dream dissolve into squares before disappearing. It brings Code Lyoko or TRON to mind.
  • Multiple references to the X-Men. The girls are teenagers discovering their powers by accident while performing some physical action, as it happens with most mutants in Marvel Comics.
    • Pinkie Pie's powers are similar to Gambit's, charging mundane objects (in her case, sprinkles) into explosives.
      Pinkie Pie: You need more sprinkles, and YOU need more sprinkles!
    • Sunset Shimmer references Professor X, Jean Grey and even Rogue; the first two are telepaths, she takes a mentor/leadership role (like Professor X), like Jean, she's a redhead, with the fiery-like hairdo referencing Jean's Phoenix powers, and like Rogue, she can access memories through touch contact.
    • Rainbow Dash becomes Quicksilver, what with her obtaining Super-Speed.
  • The sequence in Pinkie Pie's mind makes it look like she walked straight into Sugar Rush.
  • She also casually takes a bite out of a piece of sentient candy, much like Homer Simpson in the Land of Chocolate.
• Showgirl Skirt: The dresses the Rainbooms wear to perform at the Crystal Gala really show off their legs from the front. Especially notable with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Both Timber and Twilight bond over their shared knowledge of sapphires: Twilight notes the many different colors they can be besides blue, and also that sapphires are basically rubies without chromium (both sapphires and rubies are varieties of the same mineral; chromium is what gives rubies their characteristic red). There is a mistake regarding the etymology of the word "sapphire" (the latin sapphirus means sapphire [or lapis lazuli], not blue, as Timber claims), but everything else is sound.
  • At the end of the movie, Timber also identifies the thorns used by Gaea Everfree's magic as blackberry brambles and gives a Latin name for them.
• Sibling Rivalry:
  • There seems to be some friction between Timber and Gloriosa. Initially, this appears to be because Timber wants the camp to be sold to Filthy Rich. It turns out that he's chiding Gloriosa for using magic and putting the campers at risk.
  • Luna also apparently dislikes how Celestia's sundial suggestion was their year's camp gift.
• Sickly Green Glow: The color of Gaea Everfree's aura, and the brighter glow or crackling energy when she's using her powers, are a sickly green. Perfectly thematic for a nature spirit on the creepy side.
• Skewed Priorities: In Twilight's dream, Rarity insists that if Twilight were going to the moon she'd have her pack a dress.
• Sleepwalking: Sunset Shimmer uses the pretext that she sleepwalked to explain why Timber Spruce found her and Twilight walking in the woods at night.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Fluttershy gets the ability to understand animal languages.
• Split-Screen Reaction: The screen is split in three with slanted separations to show the CHS students' reactions when they have a Jump Scare at the very end of Timber Spruce's scary tale.
• Standard Snippet: The ringtone on Twilight's phone uses a snippet from "Toccata and Fugue in D minor".
• The Stinger: After finally finishing the dock, Pinkie Pie throws confetti on it, with a few marshmallows in the mix. The latter explode, causing the entire thing to be destroyed again. All the girls end up stunned speechless; Rarity is so shocked that she faints.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Pinkie gains the power to make whatever sugary treat she touches explode, proportional to its size. Since the "it only works on sugar" bit is not known until later, the girls are justifiably worried when Pinkie tosses a box of nails at them. She quickly weaponizes her sprinkle jar during the climax, saving Rainbow Dash when she gets caught.
• Suddenly Speaking: The human version of Derpy speaks for the first time in this movie (with the same voice her pony counterpart has in "Slice of Life").
• Super Mode: The girls get upgraded outfits and abilities after obtaining the magic geodes.
• Superpowered Evil Side:
  • Twilight fears this of Midnight Sparkle should she ever lose control of her magic.
  • Gaea Everfree is Gloriosa on a magic overload with her desire to protect Camp Everfree pushed to dangerous extremes.
• Super-Speed: Rainbow Dash develops this power, leaving a Rainbow-colored trail just like her pony counterpart. This leads to some Too Fast to Stop problems at first. Once she gets the hang of it, though, she absolutely loves her superpower.
• Super-Strength: Applejack manifests this as part of her magic. Once she gets the hang of it, she easily lifts a heavy wooden mast or a boulder three times her size. Her Magical Girl costume reflects this by including thick leather gloves (unlike the dainty gloves or bare hands of the others).
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Twilight is still traumatized by the events of the previous film and has nightmares about her evil persona Midnight Sparkle. Due to this, she is very wary and apprehensive about anything magical.
  • The human Twilight may initially seem like a Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest for Princess Twilight, but she is ultimately a different person with different experiences and interests. Flash Sentry's attempts to talk to her the same way as Princess Twilight don't work, and she becomes interested in Timber Spruce, who shares her interests in facts and knowledge.
  • A more lighthearted version happens when Pinkie Pie puts marshmallows all over her floating paper lantern. When she lets go of it, it promptly plummets like a stone.
  • Unlike the earlier films, when the girls get magical abilities, they have no idea how or what makes them work, and subsequently try to avoid using them. In particular, Pinkie has the ability to make things explode, so when she throws a box of nails to Applejack while they're rebuilding the dock, the other girls panic and think the box will explode.^note It's later shown that her ability only works with sugary foods, so there wasn't any risk of it exploding.
• Tacky Tuxedo: Bulk Biceps wears a pink tuxedo jacket with matching shorts and socks at the gala.
• Talking in Your Sleep:
  • Twilight Sparkle rambles in her sleep and thrashes around every time she has a nightmare.
  • Spike happens to sleep-talk too, but it's just about squirrels.
• Team Hand-Stack: The girls join hands while forming a circle twice.
  • First, the girls (sans Sunset and Twilight) gather together and psych themselves up to fight Gaea Everfree.
  • Later, after Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer have joined them, when they decide to arrange a fundraiser for Camp Everfree.
• Tempting Fate:
  • One has to question Applejack's wisdom in, basically, going all "I'm glad we just can get away from the magic for a while" upon arriving at camp.
  • Applejack says she's fine with Rarity's fashion show as long as Rarity doesn't rope her into it. A second later she realizes the mistake.
    Applejack: You're gonna, aren't ya?
  • "I've Got This". The number of things she has to get increases whenever she says this.
• Tentacle Rope: Gaea Everfree conjures vines to creep around Twilight and Sunset in the Crystal Cave and restrain them here, while she's off to rampage at the camp.
• This Explains So Much: Sunset's reaction, word-for-word, after using her Touch Telepathy to read Pinkie's mind on her request, and witnessing how wacky is her Mental World.
• Title Theme Tune: Like with the previous movies, the title is part of the refrain for the intro song (which is itself titled "Legend of Everfree"). Appropriately enough, it sounds like the kind of country song campers would sing around the campfire.
  Oh-oh-oh-oh-whoa
  As you join in the Legend of Everfree!
  Oh-oh-oh-oh-whoa
  As you join in the Legend of Everfree!
• Too Fast to Stop: The first time we see Rainbow Dash using Super-Speed, she bursts into the mess hall and slams against the opposite wall. She also mentions that she involuntarily ended up in town earlier upon discovering her new power.
• Touch Telepathy: Sunset's magic manifests as a version of this, able to see a person's thoughts as they pertain to their current mood. She takes a bit longer than the others to realize that it's her power; at first, she just perceives voices coming out of nowhere.
• Transformation Sequence:
  • First, one for Gloriosa Daisy turning into Gaea Everfree, with vines creeping up her legs before a flash of light and Kirby Dots flowing over her body.
  • Then, a continuous sequence for all seven of the heroines gaining brand-new Magical Girl costumes when they bond with a crystal geode.
• Twitchy Eye: Gloriosa Daisy's left lower eyelid begins twitching as the problems in Camp Everfree and campers' requests are piling up, another hint of her eroding state of mind. Then her other eye twitches too when she reveals herself to Twilight and Sunset in the Crystal Cave.
• Unconventional Food Usage: Pinkie Pie puts marshmallows on a floating lantern. As such, it just falls down.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By trying to cover for his sister using magic, Timber Spruce made Twilight paranoid that Midnight Sparkle was the cause of everything magical happening around camp, which made her issues worse. Also, because he constantly covered for Gloriosa, she didn't get the help she needed, which contributed to her growing more unhinged and being corrupted by the geodes' power.
• Upgrade Artifact: The magical geodes, which give the girls new superpowers (just from being in proximity to them, actually obtaining them seems to give them better control) and new transformations.
• Villainous Face Hold: Gaea Everfree briefly holds the chin of one of the students (Starshine) during the song "We Will Stand for Everfree", freaking her out.
• Villain Song: "We Will Stand for Everfree", sung by Gloriosa after becoming Gaea Everfree. It depicts how steadfastly she is going to defend the camp against greedy strangers, even if it means imprisoning the campers in the process.
• Villainy-Free Villain: Filthy Rich. He's an asshole, and he doesn't give a hoot what happens to the camp, but he is well within his rights to foreclose the camp if Gloriosa and Timber can't pay their rent and he had no direct hand in Gloriosa becoming corrupted with magic. He does seem to be rubbing things in her face by repeatedly showing up unannounced, which doesn't help her mental state any.
• Wake Up Fighting: Sunset Shimmer springs out of her bed to Twilight's Catapult Nightmare, doing karate moves, while still having her eyes closed and drooling a little.
• Water Guns and Balloons: Snips and Snails are seen filling water balloons just before Gaea Everfree starts her rampage, and they have a guilty look when they think they're discovered. They were clearly up to no good.
• Weirdness Magnet: Canterlot High becoming a magnet for magical creatures visiting and weird happenstances is lampshaded by AJ, while Fluttershy seems to think they themselves are.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gloriosa only wants to save her family camp, or, failing that, make the last session as fun as possible. However, she is toying with forces she has no idea how to control, and tries to seal off everyone in the camp.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: A recurring theme for Equestria Girls. The Equestrian magic in their world is not evil in and of itself, but it can overwhelm and consume an unprepared mind (in this case Gloriosa), leading them to obsessive and destructive impulses that vary depending on the individual. In Gloriosa's case it leads to her trying to "protect" the camp by trapping everyone in it forever. Aside from her obvious behavior, we also see the magic steadily eating away at her sanity as she repeatedly twitches, holds her head, smiles madly and even contorts unnaturally.
• With Great Power Comes Great Perks: Sunset Shimmer repeatedly encourages her friends to embrace their new magical abilities because they can be a tremendous help in daily life. She would know, being an Equestrian-born unicorn and all.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Sunset to Twilight about her struggles, and to the Equestria Girls as a whole about their newfound magical abilities.

"Legend of Everfree Blooper Reel" provides examples of:

• Animated Actors: The premise of most scenes of the short is the "actors" of the movie flubbing their lines, going on hilarious tangents or just fooling around (Timber Spruce in particular). The exception is, once again, Pinkie Pie just Mind Screwing with us (along with her sister Maud this time).
• Animated Outtakes: Alongside the usual assortment of bungled lines, features Timber Spruce in Groucho glasses, Pinkie going on a tangent as to how to pronounce the past tense of "glow", a cameo by Maud Pie (and Boulder), and Sunset taking another trip to "Pinkie-Land".
• Aside Glance: The short concludes with a perplexed Sunset Shimmer looking straight at the camera during the Iris Out.
• Continuity Nod: To My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, with Maud Pie showing up in the scene where Sunset Shimmer picks a pebble, that happens to be Boulder, which Maud retrieves and feeds with crackers again.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Pinkie is tempting Sunset with a psychedelic experience, and offers her a marshmallow afterward... she's acting like a pusher for drugs.
• Everybody Do the Endless Loop: The CHS students dancing in the background behind Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer are using a repetitive animation loop.
• Fun with Homophones: Pinkie Pie stumbles on the past tense for "glow" (it's "glowed", by the way), struggling at length with the homophones "glew" and "glue".
• Hilarious Outtakes: What the short is emulating, although most of these "bloopers" are scripted.
• Iris Out: The short ends with a black iris closing up on Sunset Shimmer's confused face.
• Mental World: We get another glimpse of Pinkie Pie's, with Sunset Shimmer joining Pinkie in striding through the weird landscape full of anthropomorphic sweets.
• Shout-Out: Timber Spruce puts on some Groucho Marx glasses and start imitating him, making Twilight giggle uncontrollably.
• Shrug Take: Flash Sentry's reaction to Maud Pie showing up out of the blue to feed Boulder and Sunset glancing at him in confusion is to shrug.
• Tongue Twister: Twilight reads Sunset's text saying that she wants her to meet her by the rock quarry, but then has trouble saying it. She dares Spike to say it five times fast, so she does exactly that and then makes silly noises until she can say "rock quarry" right.
• Wacky Sound Effect: In the last scene, Pinkie doesn't move her legs and just glides next to Sunset Shimmer while making a weird sound; same thing when she departs.

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