MY LITTLE PONY: EQUESTRIA GIRLS—RAINBOW ROCKS
Encore Shorts
Written by Katrina Hadley, Daniel Ingram, Brian Lenard, Jayson Thiessen, Michael Vogel
Directed by Ishi Rudell
Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)
Notes: These shorts all occur in the human world that served as the setting for the bulk of
Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks, and all characters appear as their human
versions.
Although the shorts are set chronologically after the film, this set of transcripts
can be read independently of those for both films without any significant loss of continuity or detail. References to earlier events are noted.
All three of these shorts were released on April 2, 2015.
“Friendship Through the Ages”
Quiet piano melody, moderate 4 (E flat major)
(Opening shot: fade to black from the title card, then in to a closed curtain, which rises to expose a totally black area beyond. A spotlight fades up to show Twilight Sparkle playing a grand piano under a crystal chandelier. A harp, cello, and music stand are off in the shadows to either side, and a floor-to-ceiling window adorns the back wall, showing the night sky beyond. Most of Twilight’s hair is gathered at the top of her head, she wears long white opera gloves, and what can be seen of her sleeveless white/light blue dress suggests the sort of clothing that would be used by a classical performer giving a recital. Sunset Shimmer sits on the piano’s closed lid, sporting a different outfit from either Equestria Girls or Rainbow Rocks. Dark gray leather jacket with an orange chevron stripe on each sleeve; light blue one-piece dress with a pale yellow ruffle at the hem; blue-green tights; dark gray leather high-heeled boots with black buckles and the orange chevrons. The jacket and boots are slightly shorter than the one she wore during the two films, and the sleeves are rolled up to mid-forearm. Zoom in slowly.)
Twilight: Nothing stays the same for long
But when it changes, doesn’t mean it’s gone
(She stands, revealing a short violet hoop skirt with spangled pink sashes and piano-key trim at the hem, as well as lacy, ankle-length high-heeled boots, short black tights, and stockings. A violet sleeve cuff adorns each wrist. She crosses the room, twirling as she passes Sunset.)
Time will always get away
As it leaves behind another day
(Close-up of the smiling listener, turning to follow the move; in front of her, the view wipes to a daytime mountain meadow where Fluttershy is running through the grass, playing her tambourine. Light, flowing peasant blouse and skirt with short vest; hair in braids and tied back; platform-soled sandals with butterfly accents. Assorted woodland creatures frolic around her.)
Piano out; acoustic guitar/strings/tambourine in
Fluttershy: Things may come and things may go
Some go fast and some go slow
(She plucks a gone-to-seed dandelion and lets Sunset blow its fluff into the air, the camera following.)
Few things last, that’s all I know
But friendship carries on through the ages
(One seed drifts past in extreme close-up; behind it, the view wipes to a psychedelic landscape in which Rarity skips along. She wears the magenta/gold drum-major jacket she tried on briefly during the Rainbooms’ rehearsal in Rainbow Rocks, with matching high-heeled boots and a sparkly purple skirt; hair tied back in a corkscrewing ponytail; translucent round sunglasses. As giant flowers bloom in her path to form a staircase, she steps lightly from one to the next.)
Acoustic guitar out; bass and gentle electric guitar glissandos in
Fluttershy, Rarity: Things may come and things may go
(The last one unfurls to reveal Sunset within.)
Some go fast and some go slow
(She jumps to Rarity’s flower and is dismayed to see the one she rode in on collapse.)
Few things last, that’s all I know
(The plant rises to carry them out of view, its stem becoming a guitar neck, and they smile.)
But friendship carries on through the ages
(Zoom out quickly to frame the instrument in the hands of Rainbow Dash, on her knees under a spotlight onstage and playing lead guitar in a band. Every inch of her screams “punk” from top to bottom: spiked boots, ripped fishnet tights, purple leather jacket and matching plaid skirt, multiple ear piercings, hair gathered into a messy ponytail, a purple lightning bolt dyed into the blue portion on the side of her head. She stands up.)
Tambourine/strings out; power-rock trio feel with electric guitar, bass, drums
Rainbow: Been around for a long time
Rockin’ out hard ’cause I’m in my prime
Maybe it’ll change further down the line
(An ecstatic Sunset finds herself crowd-surfing in front of the stage.)
But my friendship carries on through the ages
(Rainbow un-slings the axe and smashes it, one chunk flying toward the camera. Cut to Applejack sitting atop a fence on this world’s Sweet Apple Acres and playing her bass guitar. Long, light brown sundress with dark brown, apple-marked ruffle at the hem; still darker brown tights; light brown high-heeled boots marked with apples; cowboy hat set with an apple and musical notes; hair bound into two thick sheaves with several ties.)
Drums lighten greatly; mandolin in
Guitar lightens to country-style glissandos
Applejack: Every single style has somethin’
(Sunset rides a horse up to her, sitting sidesaddle.)
Different it can say
Electric guitar accents in
(Applejack feeds an apple to the mount. The view then contracts into an apple-shaped aperture and “irises out” to show the two girls line-dancing against a checked orange background. Applejack has shed her bass.)
There’s nothin’ wrong with bein’ unique
(Sunset’s footwork shifts into a different pattern.)
And special in your own way
(The scene pixelates into a low-resolution version of itself and disintegrates to show Pinkie Pie doing a standing slide along the white keys of a synthesizer. Blue/violet/magenta strapless dress; pink heart necklace; sparkly yellow tights with white boots that end in magenta high heels with blue bows; hair heavily crimped/teased with blue/yellow/purple pinstripes and held in a ponytail with a blue band; yellow star earrings. Behind her is a background of neon-hued geometric shapes and stars. She leaps off the end, twirling in midair, and lands in front of a salvo of popping flashbulbs.)
All instruments out; New Wave feel with synth and electronic drums/bass
(A flat major, modulating back to E flat major by end of next verse)
Pinkie: Maybe you want to be a pop star
(The view clears to give a close-up of her now wearing sunglasses with louvered, heart-shaped lenses. Zoom out to show her and Sunset as the hands on a giant clock face; the former is at 12:00, the latter ticking toward her. Their feet are at the center of the clock.)
Get your fifteen minutes of fame, whoa, oh-h
(Cut to a green hologram grid; Sunset’s form is scanned in, monochrome, and Pinkie runs over to her without the shades. A touch on the image’s hand brings its color back, and Pinkie helps her down off the grid.)
That won’t last forever
(The screen quickly tiles itself with a grid of nine small images that give a scrambled close-up of Pinkie with her sunglasses on. Three fast vertical shifts, and now Sunset appears in her place, properly sorted out, to beam for the camera.)
But friendship remains the same, oh-h-h
(Fade to black.)
A cappella
(Just enough light fades up to pick out a group of six silhouettes. These are illuminated one by one: Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Twilight. Pinkie and Rarity have removed their shades.)
All but Sunset: Things may come and things may go
Some go fast and some go slow
Few things last, that’s all I know
But friendship carries on through the ages
(The final line of this chorus splits into two parts, with one part holding the “on” as the other sings the last three words.)
Mandolin/bass/drums/electric guitar enter during final line of preceding verse
(Six vertical panels slide in from top and bottom, each framing one of these six, and the view cuts to a close-up and slow pan across them. Pinkie and Rarity have their sunglasses back on now.)
All: Things may come and things may go
Some go fast and some go slow
(A vinyl record rolls across, with Sunset’s face superimposed on the label; zoom in on this, then out. She now occupies a panel of her own, at the center of the lineup.)
Few things last, that’s all I know
But friendship carries on through the ages
(Same two-way split on the final line. The backdrops slide away, leaving the girls standing against a blue field; Applejack removes her hat and throws it overhead, and they gather for a group hug.)
\
All: Oh-h-h
A cappella
Carries on
Song ends with one last bass note
(Fade to black.)
[Note: Sunset will retain her new outfit for Friendship Games, the third film in the series, and its associated prequel shorts.]
“Life Is a Runway”
Minimal stoptime melody with synthesizer chords and electronic percussion, brisk 4
(B flat major)
Background lyrics in square brackets
(Opening shot: fade to black from the title card, then in to Rarity, seated at a table in a workroom and wearing her reading glasses. She begins to sketch as the camera tracks slowly around her from behind, picking out the bare dress-form mannequins that stand just beyond the perimeter of the single spotlight shining down from above. A series of fade-out/fade-in transitions shifts the view as follows during the verse. An extreme close-up of her pencil laying down the first strokes of a design…a close-up of her intently smiling face…a piece of fabric going under the needle of her sewing machine…a pearl necklace being draped onto the neck of a now-clothed dress form…Rarity regarding a different one, then turning away with a flick at her curls…a length of ribbon being reeled out from a spool on a shelf.…then being cut…she adjusts the shoulder of one dress, backs off a step, and tosses her glasses aside.)
Rarity: Life is a runway [runway]
Listen, here’s what it’s all about
I tell you, life is a runway [runway]
Time to bring what’s on the inside out
Electronic drums build; stoptime ends
(The screen fills with a flare of light and clears to show her silhouette walking toward the camera against a polka-dotted magenta background. A dress floats back toward her; another flash, and she is tricked out in the dress, shoes, and two-tone tights she wore during the Rainbooms’ defeat of the Dazzlings at the end of Rainbow Rocks.)
Rarity: Into the light
(Yet another flash; she strikes a new pose.)
Into the light
(The front door of this world’s Carousel Boutique fills the screen and is thrown open from inside; zoom out as she struts forth. It is daytime.)
Rarity: Life is a runway when you see it my way
(She stops in front of a sidewalk table and winks, hand on hip.)
Take all the good inside, make it beautiful
(Camera shift: a giddy Bulk Biceps is on the receiving end. She walks on, checking her nail polish, tweaking an earring, and flicking her hair.)
Fashion is a way to start showing what’s in your heart
(Spin around a lamppost, then twirl on the sidewalk.)
Call it superficial, I call it irrefutable
(Spotting two mannequins in a storefront window, she stops to regard her reflection in between them. Zoom in on the three images; behind them, the background changes to a fashion show runway, and they sashay along it as flashbulbs pop all around.)
Rarity: Oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, whoa
(The mannequins stop; she takes a few more steps toward the camera.)
Oh, oh, oh, whoa, life is a runway
(One more salvo of flashes changes the scene back to the sidewalk, now populated with various students from Canterlot High School. She saunters along, instantly transforming spectators’ outfits and hairstyles with a gesture—Derpy Hooves, then Cheerilee, then Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings.)
Each set of background lyrics is sung under the line preceding it
Rarity: You can be the girl that you want to be
[Oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, whoa]
With a little love and some accessories
[Oh, oh, oh, whoa, life is a runway]
Don’t be scared to show you have personal style
[Oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, whoa]
Just go do your thing, you’ll make everyone smile
[Oh, oh, oh, whoa, life is a runway]
(Behind these four, the background again dissolves to a spotlit runway; a flash puts her at their fore, and all strut their stuff for the snapping cameras.)
Rarity: You can be the girl that you want to be
[Oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, whoa]
With a little love and some accessories
[Oh, oh, oh, whoa, life is a runway]
(Amethyst Star and Rose join the procession, having acquired flashy new duds of their own.)
Don’t be scared to show you have personal style
[Oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, whoa]
Just go do your thing, you’ll make everyone smile
[Oh, oh, oh, whoa, life is a runway]
Original stoptime feel and minimal synth/bass drum melody
(The other modeling teens peel off to alternate sides, leaving Rarity standing alone in close-up. A fade to black and spotlight flash put her back in her original clothing and glasses, and she spots a dress form clad in Rose’s outfit. As in the first verse, a series of fade-out/fade-in steps affords the following views. Extreme close-up of a hem being stitched for Cheerilee’s rig…she touches up Bon Bon’s dress on one form…then adjusts the collar of Cheerilee’s on another…then sets out the shoes to go with it…and hangs one dress on a rack with several others…and finally stands alone with a few flashbulbs going off in the distance.)
Rarity: Life is a runway [runway]
I’ll show you what it’s all about
Drums build slightly
I tell you, life is a runway [runway]
Time to bring what’s on the inside out
Drums build again; stoptime ends
(At her gesture, the camera zooms out quickly to frame a line of dress forms, all wearing Lyra’s new outfit.)
Rarity: Into the light
(Fade to white, then snap back to her; another gesture and zoom out reveals copies of Cheerilee’s threads.)
Into the light
(Repeat as above: her next gesture frames two rows of dress forms, one for Rose and the other for Amethyst.)
Into the light
(Cut to an overhead shot of Rarity and zoom out slowly. Five rows converge at her position to form a large star and show off her efforts, with Bon Bon’s dress featured in the last row.)
Into the light
(Fade to white, then in to her standing at the base of the stairs leading up to the second floor of the Carousel Boutique. She has removed her glasses. Zoom out slowly.)
Rarity: Into the light
Song ends
(The zoom continues, framing all of the recipients of her instant makeovers—and one more girl—in the showroom and back in their original outfits. They run an eye over the wares for sale and talk about their purchases as the view fades to black.)
“My Past Is Not Today”
Quiet electric guitar/synthesizer melody with bass drum beats, brisk 4 (B minor)
(Opening shot: fade to black from the title card, then in to the dome on the roof of Canterlot High, the camera pointing past it into the orange/violet sky of dusk. Sunset steps into view, her back to the camera and her hair blowing in the breeze, and watches the sun’s ever-so-slow descent as she moves toward the edge. She wears the same dress/jacket/boots ensemble as in “Friendship Through the Ages.”)
Synth drops to bass register; Sunset’s words echo slightly
Guitar greatly muted, but gradually sneaks back in
Sunset: Power was all I desired
(A shadow covers her face, leaving only a glowing spot in each blue-green eye. She closes them and turns away; instantly the sky darkens as the sun vanishes below the horizon.)
But all that grew inside me
(bitterly regarding her image in the dome’s surface)
Was the darkness I acquired
Snare drum/bass in; synth returns to original register; echo stops
(Black and white highlights strobe across both halves of her face, then clear to show her undergoing the transformation into her red-skinned demonic form at the climax of Equestria Girls. The view is ringed with white to mark this as a flashback.)
Sunset: When I began to fall
And I lost the path ahead
(A stuttering series of freeze frames captures the rainbow unleashed by Twilight and her friends to strike Sunset down. Snap to white, then to her rising from the crater into which she was blasted—back to her normal self, including her original clothing ensemble, but very much the worse for wear.)
That’s when your friendship found me
(The six half-pony girls stand at the crater’s edge. Twilight kneels to offer a hand, which Sunset grasps, and the other five each add one of their own.)
And it lifted me instead
Backing strings in (D major)
(Fade to white, then in to the present: Sunset begins to run around the perimeter of the dome, keeping a hand on its surface.)
Sunset: Like a phoenix burning bright in the sky
(She stops and raises a hand to the sky, tracing a comet’s path, and curls it into a fist.)
I’ll show there’s another side to me you can’t deny
(Next she turns to face the clock tower atop the dome—one minute to midnight.)
I may not know what the future holds
But hear me when I say
(Her reflection in the glass changes to the flaming demon, but she dispels it with a wave and touches a hand to her true reflection, letting a smile steal over her face.)
That my past does not define me
’Cause my past is not today
Strings out; guitar/bass out for two bars, then back in for next verse (B minor)
(Tilt up to follow her gaze into the sky, where a star flares up to fill the screen with its glow. When the view clears, the scene has shifted to the first two of the three victory pictures that hang in Principal Celestia’s office, marking Sunset’s triumphs at being crowned Fall Formal Princess—seen in Equestria Girls. Cut quickly to the third and most vicious-looking picture, then to Sunset glaring at them all with the clearest disgust. In a blink, her expression softens to one of regret and she runs a hand over the first one.)
Sunset: Ambition is what I believed
(Regaining her resolve, she pulls them all down; out in the front lobby, she hurls them into the nearest trash can and lets out a long-held breath.)
Would be the only way to set me free
(Her eyes drop again; cut to another white-ringed flashback. As she walks the hall with a tentative smile, one student after another turns away or gives her a glare of naked hostility—sometime after the end of Equestria Girls.)
But when it disappeared
And I found myself alone
(Now she stands amid a group of them, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders. All turn their backs on her and wink out in quick succession, leaving one dejected former unicorn by herself until Twilight and company gather around with warm smiles and comforting hands on her shoulders.)
That’s when you came and got me
(Her spirits lifted, she holds her position as the rest of the scene dissolves to the Canterlot High roof in the present.)
And I felt like I was home
(She jogs across the roof, face set in a determined smile, and pulls off her jacket to expose short dress sleeves beneath. The garment is flung high into the air and carried away on the wind.)
Backing strings in (D major)
Sunset: Like a phoenix burning bright in the sky
(Tiny tongues of flame begin to flicker around her body; she skids to a stop and raises her arms toward the coming dawn, her entire body ringed with a yellow aura.)
I’ll show there’s another side to me you can’t deny
I may not know what the future holds
But hear me when I say
(The new power slowly lifts her clear of the roof.)
That my past does not define me
’Cause my past is not today
(One last burst of energy, and a pair of red/gold wings and a matching bird tail have manifested themselves on her back and spread to full extension as a pattern of flames appears on her tights. The wild tumble of hair blows upward from her head, forming a new frame for her blissful visage.)
Song ends
(Fade to black at the same time.)