My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a trilogy of animated television specials based on the toy line and media franchise by Hasbro, which was spun-off from the 2010 relaunch of My Little Pony. As with prior installments, the specials follow the main characters from the television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, re-envisioned as humanoid teenagers attending high school.
Three 22-minute specials were produced by DHX Media Vancouver for Hasbro Studios. First announced in October 2016, they aired from June 24 to July 8, 2017, on Discovery Family (a channel partly owned by Hasbro).
Contents
Premise
The specials follow the daily lives and adventures of Canterlot High School's top students – Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity – following the events of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree.
Cast and characters
Main
Rebecca Shoichet as Sunset Shimmer
Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle
Rebecca Shoichet as Twilight Sparkle (singing voice)
Ashleigh Ball as Rainbow Dash and Applejack
Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy
Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity
Kazumi Evans as Rarity (singing voice)
Cathy Weseluck as Spike
Supporting
Sharon Alexander as Sour Sweet
Sienna Bohn as Sugarcoat
Britt Irvin as Sunny Flare
Shannon Chan-Kent as Lemon Zest
Andy Toth as Canter Zoom
Ali Liebert as Juniper Montage
Kira Tozer as Chestnut Magnifico
Charles Zuckerman as Stalwart Stallion
Kelly Sheridan as Starlight Glimmer
Additional voices
Ashleigh Ball
Andrea Libman
Tabitha St. Germain
Rebecca Shoichet
Andy Toth
Charles Zuckerman
Kelly Sheridan
Release
Broadcast
The specials aired in the United States from June 24 to July 8, 2017, on Discovery Family, a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro, as part of the channel's "Summer Splash" seasonal event. The Summer 2017 music videos, also aired as a part of the event, share the same title sequence as the specials.
Prior to the U.S. broadcast, the specials aired in Poland on Teletoon+ from May 14 to May 28, 2017.
Home media
The three specials were released on a one-disc Region 1 DVD on August 8, 2017 by Shout! Factory under the title My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Magical Movie Night. Under the title My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Tales of Canterlot High, the specials were also made available on the Netflix video streaming service on October 1, 2017.
Reception
The Magical Movie Night compilation DVD release received mixed reviews, with criticism directed towards the DVD's lower visual and sound quality compared to previous films as well as the lack of extra content. Brett Nolan of NoReruns.net praised the DVD's presentation of the specials as a single film, saying it gave the specials "a much more cohesive and cinematic feel, lending itself beautifully to watching it straight through in one go." Joe Corey of Inside Pulse gave the specials an overall score of 4 out of 5, including his daughter's input that she "wasn't bothered that this wasn't one narrative such as the previous four movies". Classic Speedy of ToonZone (now Anime Superhero) called "Dance Magic" a "slight but fun story", while considering "Mirror Magic" to be the best of the three stories as a direct follow-up of the second special, and for its "unexpected" inclusion of Starlight Glimmer as a character. Conversely, Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk, while giving the story content three out of five stars, drew unfavorable comparisons to Friendship Is Magic as he felt it contrasted the previous films' "sense of identity built around music and a quasi-magical backstory", considering the specials to be "more like a standard earthbound teen cartoon that eventually remembers that there are superpowers involved come the third episode".