Secrets of Starlight is the fourth and final special episode that serves as the last of Chapter 6 of My Little Pony: Make Your Mark. Written by Leore Berris and directed by Gillian Berrow and William Lau, it premiered on November 23, 2023 on Netflix. It is one of four 44-minute specials produced for the show by Atomic Cartoons.
It also serves as the series finale of Make Your Mark, after 23 episodes and 4 specials.
Synopsis[]
The Together Tree portal leads the ponies to a glittery wonderland called Starlight Ridge. But are the local Auroricorns hiding something?
Plot[]
Picking up right after the events of the previous episode, Sunny and her friends are waiting for another portal to open in front of Opaline's Together Tree; after several hours of waiting, no new portal has appeared, but Izzy believes one will. Eventually, another portal does appear, and more crystal snow comes out, which covers Pipp in glitter and crystal jewelry like it did to Izzy.
The Mane 6 are sucked through the portal and end up in a forest covered in sparkly, non-cold snow and a night sky filled with stars; being in this place causes the rest of the ponies to be covered in glitter and crystal jewelry as well. Sunny believes the portal brought them to this place for a reason, but they resolve to investigate quickly because the portal they came through appears to be slowly closing.
On the edge of the forest, the Mane 6 discover a small town with crystal-roofed houses. The town appears empty at first, but they soon hear music coming from a banquet hall. Inside, a group of unicorns with translucent crystal horns are dancing and sharing hot cocoa, led by one that's singing and playing the flute. When the Mane 6 cheer the unicorns' song and dance, the unicorns run away and hide in terror.
Violet Frost, the song's singer and flute player, approaches the Mane 6 and apologizes on behalf of her fellow citizens. She and her clumsy, bespectacled friend Comet welcome the Mane 6 to Starlight Ridge, home to the "Auroricorns". Though Violet and Comet are very friendly and welcoming toward Sunny and her friends, they appear to be hiding something, and the Auroricorns act very nervously around their visitors.
Violet and Comet explain that Starlight Ridge is celebrating a special day of fun called Starshine Time, and the Mane 6 are excited to take part. Hitch reminds them about the shrinking portal back to Equestria, but they convince him that they have enough time to enjoy themselves. The Mane 6 and the Auroricorns engage in various games and activities, including skating and tobogganing. Whenever they experience great joy during these activities, a star-shaped burst of light called an aurora flare appears in the sky.
The Mane 6 tell Violet Frost and Comet all about Equestria, which Comet becomes very interested in visiting. However, whenever the topic changes to Starlight Ridge or the aurora flares, Violet is very quick to change the subject, making the ponies suspicious. When the town bell rings, the Auroricorns suddenly retire to their homes, and Violet urges the Mane 6 to go back where they came from. The ponies return to the portal and prepare to leave Starlight Ridge, but Sunny, still believing they were brought there for a reason, wants to find out what is going on. Despite the risk of the portal closing on them, her friends agree.
The Mane 6 return to town and find the Auroricorns gathering in the square while in a trance-like state and wearing eerie smiles on their faces. As an aurora flare shines in the sky, the Auroricorns pluck the stars out of the sky with their magic and use them to search for something. The Mane 6 try and fail to get Comet's attention, and notice Violet Frost being put under the same trance by a winged snow leopard and her rabbit sidekick.
Listening in on Violet and her hypnotizer's conversation, the Mane 6 learn the snow leopard's name - Allura - and that she is forcing the Auroricorns to find a specific "star" for her. They manage to get Violet and Comet far enough away from Allura to break her hypnosis, and they explain the situation:
Allura and her sidekick Twitch showed up in Starlight Ridge one day and seized a town relic called the Nova Charm; in accordance with Starlight Ridge law, Allura thus became the town's ruler. She uses her magical hypnotic powers to force the Auroricorns to trigger aurora flares and pull stars out of the sky, believing one of them will open a portal out of Starlight Ridge so she can expand her control. When Comet reenters the town's vicinity, he falls back under Allura's hypnosis. Therefore, in order to truly free the Auroricorns from her control, the Mane 6 and Violet Frost decide to get the Nova Charm back.
The Mane 6 and Violet Frost sneak past Allura and Twitch and enter the banquet hall, where they think of a way to get the Nova Charm away from Allura. Realizing their plan requires a some creativity, Izzy leads the others in their planning and crafting while singing the song With a Little Creativity. Violet enters town again, wearing crystal snow earplugs to resist Allura's hypnosis while also pretending to still be under the trance. Using Izzy's arts and crafts, she pretends to have found the star that opens a portal out of Starlight Ridge. With Allura distracted, Pipp sings a lullaby to make Twitch fall asleep, leaving the Nova Charm unguarded.
Despite Allura eventually seeing through the deception, the Mane 6 manage to get the Nova Charm back. However, even without the Nova Charm, Allura can make anyone do her bidding with her hypnosis, which she proceeds to do on Comet, Misty, Izzy, Hitch, Sparky, Pipp and Zipp. When Comet falls over into a pile of crystal snow, he is briefly released from Allura's control, and Sunny remembers Violet stating earlier that the snow in Starlight Ridge has healing properties. By hitting their friends with snowballs, Sunny and Violet break the effects of Allura's magic.
The Mane 6 and Violet Frost convince the Auroricorns to stand up to Allura and finally end her rule over Starlight Ridge. With Violet's declaration of "Super Starshine Time" and a reprise of her song from earlier, the Auroricorns free themselves of Allura's grasp while also enjoying a fun snowball fight. They chase Allura and Twitch out of Starlight Ridge, but Allura swears revenge.
Violet Frost asks the Mane 6 to be Starlight Ridge's new rulers in Allura's place, but they decline since they have to return to Equestria. Instead, they suggest Violet Frost lead the Auroricorns herself because she already exemplifies the qualities of a good leader, and the Auroricorns wholeheartedly agree. By this time, the portal to Equestria has now closed, and the Mane 6 are unable to reopen it without the star Allura was searching for.
Through Izzy's clumsiness, however, it is revealed that the star she was searching for was inside the Nova Charm all along, and Izzy uses it to open a portal to Equestria. Violet bids farewell to the Mane 6, but Comet chooses to go to Equestria with them in order to experience the world beyond his home. Violet also gives the Nova Charm Star to Izzy so that she and her friends can revisit Starlight Ridge whenever they please.
Later, in Maretime Bay, Comet immediately starts looking forward to the new adventures he will have. Back in Starlight Ridge, Twitch spies on the Auroricorns, overhears them talking about the portal, and relays the information to Allura. They find the portal to Equestria still open, and a voice in Allura's head chastises her for failing to realize she had the right star the entire time. She responds to the voice, addressing it as her "brother", and promises to get the star back. With that, she and Twitch enter the portal and follow the ponies to Equestria.
Cast[]
- Jenna Warren as Sunny Starscout
- Ana Sani as Izzy Moonbow
- JJ Gerber as Hitch Trailblazer
- AJ Bridel as Pipp Petals
- Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Zipp Storm
- Bahia Watson as Misty Brightdawn
- Rob Tinkler as Sparky Sparkeroni and Twitch
- Evany Rosen as Violet Frost
- Cory Doran as Comet
- Julie Lemieux as Allura
- Unknown voice actor as Alterro
Mentioned Characters[]
Other Characters[]
Soundtrack[]
Songs[]
- Starshine Time (Sung by Violet Frost)
- With a Little Creativity (Sung by Izzy Moonbow)
History[]
The PDF about Atomic Cartoons' Current Pipeline from Thunderbird Corporate Presentation on June 4th, 2021
On May 7, 2021, Atomic Cartoons posted a job listing for a CG designer for My Little Pony: Make Your Mark.[1] They later disclosed publicly in an investor presentation that 23 22-minute episodes and 4 44-minute episodes had been ordered by Hasbro.[2] Further job openings were announced throughout the rest of 2021.[3]
On October 16, 2022, it was announced that My Little Pony: Make Your Mark will have two more "chapters" and two new specials in 2023.[4]
Secrets of Starlight Soundtrack EP cover
Serects of Starlight logo (as a promotional logo itself)
On November 3, 2023, the title of the special was revealed to be "Secrets of Starlight" in its official soundtrack EP on Spotify[5], and other music streaming platforms such as Amazon Music and Tidal, the EP cover has revealed the two unnamed introduced auroricorn ponies. The title of the special itself was first leaked in the official 2023 Marketing Plans PDF on June 14, 2023.
On the same date, the Album credits were revealed from Tidal, and Evany Rosen is in the credits, meaning that she has voiced the then-unnamed pearly purple auroricorn pony from the special.[6]
On November 4, 2023, the official My Little Pony Tiktok page posted a 32-second clip of the special that includes the song "With a Little Creativity", sung by Izzy Moonbow.[7]
On November 7, 2023, a lyric video for the song Starshine Time was released early on Apple Music in New Zealand.[8][9]
On November 10, 2023, a lyric video for the song With a Little Creativity was released on the official My Little Pony – Official Music Channel YouTube channel.[10]
On November 21, 2023, aNb Media published the article about Make Your Mark Chapter 6 and the special which includes the summaries for both of them. And the name of the new villain non-pony character has been revealed to be Allura.[11]
The official trailer for both My Little Pony: Make Your Mark Chapter 6 and the special Secrets of Starlight was uploaded by the official My Little Pony YouTube channel on November 13, 2023, however, it has been unlisted.[12] The video was never shared online until Animation Magazine shared the link for the trailer from their article as of November 22, 2023.[13]
On November 23, 2023, the special, along with 3 episodes for My Little Pony: Make Your Mark Chapter 6 were released on Netflix.
Trivia[]
- This special was originally supposed to take place after the rest of the episodes in My Little Pony: Make Your Mark Chapter 6 and was supposed to serve as Chapter 7, but the release schedule was changed during production.[14]
- This is the only episode of the final chapter to not feature dragons from the Isle of Scaly and Opaline Arcana.
- This is the only Make Your Mark special where Zoom Zephyrwing, Windy, Posey Bloom, Rocky Riff, Jazz Hooves, Dapple, Diggy, Sander, Toots, Sweets and the Upset Unicorn don't appear in.
References[]
- ↑ https://boards.greenhouse.io/atomiccartoons/jobs/4489390003
- ↑ https://thunderbird.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Thunderbird-Corporate-Presentation-June-4th-2021.pdf
- ↑ https://twitter.com/atomiccartoons/status/1438895853591273474
- ↑ https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/10/2-seasons-and-2-specials-for-my-little.html
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/29G9XCFikie80vR421iaOK
- ↑ https://listen.tidal.com/album/317719972/credits
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@mylittlepony/video/7297605900993416490
- ↑ https://music.apple.com/nz/music-video/starshine-time-official-lyric-video/1715249543
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFZ6OeKTaoc
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IfraXhBbks
- ↑ https://www.anbmedia.com/news/2023/11/hasbro-new-chapter-6-episodes-my-little-pony-make-your-mark/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/E5nE56L-pi8
- ↑ https://www.animationmagazine.net/2023/11/my-little-pony-reveals-secrets-of-starlight-new-make-your-mark-episodes/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/SnookumsGal/status/1666609287857344513