My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree

Plot

The students of Canterlot High School attend a field trip to Camp Everfree, a nature camp owned by Gloriosa Daisy and her brother, Timber Spruce. During the bus ride, transfer student Twilight Sparkle has a nightmare of being overtaken by "Midnight Sparkle", a malevolent alter ego of herself produced while temporarily corrupted with magic from the alternate world of Equestria. Her friend Sunset Shimmer is supportive, relating through her own similar experience with transforming into a demon. Shortly upon arrival at the camp, Twilight develops telekinetic powers, which she worries is a sign of Midnight Sparkle's lingering presence.

That night, Timber shares a campfire story that tells of Gaea Everfree, a forest spirit, being angered by the camp's construction and threatening to unleash a plague of natural disasters upon it. The next day, a sailboat crashes into a dock the campers are building to use as a fashion show runway. The terrified campers spot a trail of glittering gem dust in the water that matches the description of Gaea's presence in Timber's story, convincing them that Gaea is real. Twilight, however, believes herself to be responsible for the accident and distances herself from her friends.

Later, amidst an apparent earthquake and another sighting of gem dust, Twilight's friends begin developing their own unique superhuman abilities, which they find they can only use within the camp's boundaries. Now believing her magic is infecting her friends, Twilight attempts to run away from camp. Sunset follows Twilight into the woods and, discovering her own power of telepathic empathy, convinces her to stay. As Timber leads them back to the camp, Sunset notices gem dust falling from his pocket and suspects him of staging Gaea's attacks. She later overhears him arguing with Gloriosa to abandon what Sunset assumes to be the camp. Remembering his earlier statements of longing for urban life, Sunset concludes that Timber means to shut the camp down by terrorizing the campers.

Sunset brings Twilight and Spike with her to investigate a nearby cave kept off-limits by Timber, where they find a deposit of geodes infused with Equestrian magic. The three are confronted by Gloriosa, who reveals herself to be the true perpetrator behind the natural disasters. Sunset learns through her visions that Gloriosa, desperate to prevent the camp's foreclosure, has been wearing the geodes as a necklace to harness their power, with the "disasters" resulting from her reckless attempts at using magic to help the campers; Timber, anticipating this, invented the story of Gaea Everfree to cover for her.

Gloriosa adds more geodes to the necklace and is corrupted by their power, taking on an appearance resembling Gaea. Crashing the campers' fashion show rehearsal, Gloriosa enacts her intent to "protect" them by trapping the entire camp in a giant bramble cage. When her friends fail to stop Gloriosa's rampage, Twilight is encouraged by them to embrace her own magic to assist. Following one final struggle against Midnight Sparkle, Twilight asserts control of herself and takes the geode necklace apart, freeing Gloriosa from its influence. The geodes turn into pendants for Twilight and each of her friends, who gain new magical forms and restore the camp. Still faced with the camp's foreclosure, the girls realize that the geodes are the source of their powers, which they use to organize a last-minute fundraiser ball that is held within the cave. Their plan is a success, attracting a large crowd of former campers and saving the camp.

In a post-credits scene, the girls finally restore the dock after it has been wrecked several times, but Pinkie Pie accidentally destroys it with her powers, leaving the group in shock.

Cast

The film also features minor speaking roles with Michael Dobson as Bulk Biceps; Lee Tockar and Richard Ian Cox as Snips and Snails; Kathleen Barr as Trixie; Tong as Sandalwood; St. Germain as Muffins; Ball as Lyra Heartstrings; and Libman as Sweetie Drops.

Production

After the fourth Equestria Girls installment, "Legend of Everfree", was first mentioned in a Hasbro 2016 Entertainment Plan presentation in August 2015, this film was further teased by Rainbow Rocks co-director and Friendship Games director Ishi Rudell. When asked on Twitter if "we might get more #EquestriaGirls media of any kind", Rudell replied, "Yup, there's a pretty good chance." During a keynote presentation at MIPJunior 2015, Hasbro Studios president Stephen Davis confirmed that a fourth Equestria Girls film was in development at the time.

The film's production started while Friendship Games was still being finished, lasted for a "little over a year and a half", and its completion was confirmed by Rudell in mid-August 2016. According to the film's co-director Katrina Hadley, there may have been "a small scene with" Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops "cut from the animatic."

Film director Ishi Rudell credits Hadley and art director Jeremy Tin for designing the Crystal Gala dresses during "Legend You Were Meant To Be" but adds "it was a team effort".

Music

Like the previous three installments, the songs were composed by Daniel Ingram with lyric writing shared between Ingram and screenwriters Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco; with the exception of "Embrace the Magic" which had lyrics by Lewis and Songco, and "Hope Shines Eternal" had lyrics by Ingram.

Marketing

On July 7, 2016, a teaser trailer was published on YouTube depicting a slideshow of scenery backgrounds.

The film's first official trailer was revealed by Entertainment Weekly on July 22, 2016. A shorter 30-second trailer was released on YouTube on August 1.

Television

Prior to the United States release, the film premiered on September 24, 2016 on Discovery Kids Latin America. In the United States, the film received a television premiere on Discovery Family on November 5, 2016.

Home media and streaming

On October 1, 2016, the film was made available for streaming on Netflix in the United States.

Legend of Everfree was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 1, 2016 in the United States and Canada. Announced bonus features include audio commentary from the crew, a fictional two-minute "blooper reel" (which was published earlier onto YouTube on October 27, 2016), and sing-alongs.

Merchandise and other media

The film is a part of camp-themed Legend of Everfree lineup, a fourth installment in the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls toy line and media franchise, first mentioned in a Hasbro 2016 Entertainment Plan presentation in August 2015 along with this film. The toys were presented at the 2016 American International Toy Fair, and released in July 2016. LB Kids published a novelization of the film, as well as a storybook adaptation, subtitled Save Our Camp!.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released on Google Play and iTunes on September 16, 2016. It was later released, freely, on YouTube on September 28, 2016.

Reception

Legend of Everfree received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Dakster Sullivan of GeekMom considered the film's story underwhelming following her expectations of the trailer, calling it "less of one overall plot with a grand finale and more of a bunch of subplots that are tied together in the end". However, she added that the subplots "aren't badly written and are actually kind of fun to watch". ToonZone's Ed Liu discussed the film's culmination of plot threads and "loose ends" from previous Equestria Girls films, which he felt would be more suitable for a television series than a self-contained film, opining "a certain lack of satisfaction by the time the end-credits roll". Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk gave the film's home release a score of 3.5 out of 5 stars, criticizing its lack of musical numbers and bonus content compared to previous Equestria Girls films, but praising its humor, action sequences, and animation quality. On the film's new characters, he called Gloriosa Daisy "a fine addition, with a different-enough energy to differentiate her from the characters seen in earlier films", while considering Timber Spruce "less engaging", noting the franchise's diminishment of male characters.