The second film in the Equestria Girls spin off series from the wildly popular fourth generation My Little Pony TV series, we once again find ourselves in Canterlot High School in an alternate universe where ponies are people.

The villain of the last film, Sunset Shimmer, has been redeemed, and that sets the stage for the breakout characters of this movie, the villains. The Sirens, a group exiled from Equestria who use their power of voice to sew conflict and grow in power from negative emotions.

There is an immediate contrast between the Sirens and Twilight Sparkle, as now they are the new students in the school. Their bombastic entrance into the cafeteria and musical number "Battle of the Bands" mirroring Twilight's cafeteria song from the last movie. But instead of a song about uniting around Twilight, the song turns the school against once another, edging for a battle of the bands. Music, which had before been a power used only by the heroes, now is a tool for all.

Competition, striving, is the main theme is this story, as beyond the battle of the bands, the individual girls find themselves competing with one another, namely Rainbow Dash, whose egotistical yearning for the spotlight can be hard to distinguish from that of the sirens. Twilight pushes herself to write the perfect song to counter the sirens, and Sunset Shimmer feels a constant need to prove herself as changed.

This is all presented in a mostly negative light. The desire of the girls and other bands to be the best they can be tears friends and the school apart, all to the whims of the sirens. Meanwhile, the sirens have no interest in getting any better, already the best group by the start of the competition. At first their goal is seemingly power, but as is made clear in the final song "Welcome to the Show", the Sirens feel a constant need to be worshipped and recognized for their greatness. And in this lies the failing of their ideology, and the ultimate moral of the film.

The Equestria Girls must realize that their strength comes not from their individual or even collective musical prowess, but instead their friendship. Friendship that they don't need to be recognized for, enjoying music and performing for its own sake and nothing more. The appetite of those like the sirens can never be satiated, no amount of worship is ever enough for them to patch their ego, and this is why they inevitably lose.

Sunset Shimmer then needs not look for recognition outside of herself, within the school, but within herself. This is the only way she can heal and make good for the sins of her past.

The film is a tale about abandoning pride, obsession, and other illusory concepts relating to the stage and indeed, life itself. Instead, one's focus should be on the things that really matter. Your friends, and your own self image. The sirens are bound together by need, but the friendship of the girls is a union of self-sufficient individuals.

Also the music is great.