Rainbow Dash receives an invitation to be the guest of honor at the Rainbow Festival in the town of Hope Hollow. She and her friends set out by balloon, but collide with a rainbow billboard on the edge of Hope Hollow. The billboard and balloon are damaged, but the ponies are unhurt. Petunia Petals puts them up at the hotel she runs.
The next morning, the six friends find the town and residents totally devoid of color. The mayor, Sunny Skies, takes them on a tour of the town. The Festival events are meager or nonexistent, and the mayor admits apathy has taken hold. Sunny's grandfather had set up the Festival and built a Rainbow Generator to fill the sky with color. When Sunny became mayor, the generator malfunctioned and drained all the color from the town, so Twilight and her friends agree to help him.
The Hoofingtons are bakers whose products suffer because without color, they cannot tell ripe from unripe fruit. Their neighbor Moody Root grows apricots, and once Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie encourage them to start talking, Moody agrees to give the Hoofingtons part of his crop in exchange for some pies. Applejack works with repair pony Torque Wrench to fix the billboard. Rainbow Dash mentors local youngsters Barley and Pickle Barrel in stunt flying, and Rarity collaborates with fashion designer Kerfuffle on designs for the Festival. As Twilight and her friends encourage the ponies, small spots of color begin to manifest around town.
Twilight investigates how to bring color back. Torque repairs the generator, but it still fails to reverse the color loss. Twilight realizes that the generator was not at fault and the fading of the town's hopeful spirit had caused the colors to start disappearing even before the generator broke down. By working to revive the Festival, she and her friends have been bringing back that hope.
The Festival begins anew, with the Hoofingtons' pies, Kerfuffle's accessories, and Rainbow Dash leading Barley and Pickle in an airshow. In front of a cheering crowd, Petunia accepts Sunny's proposal of marriage. Community spirit and color return to Hope Hollow, and Twilight and her friends return to Ponyville with the town's gratitude.
A toyline collection pack tie-in, titled "Rainbow Tail Surprise", was announced at the 2019 Toy Fair in New York. This pack was made available in the third quarter of 2019.[2]
Multiple books based on the special were released, including a "Passport to Reading" Level 2 My Little Pony: Road Trip Event reader on June 25, 2019.[3] In the United Kingdom, My Little Pony Annual 2020 is set for an August 8 release[4] and My Little Pony: Essential Handbook: A Magical Guide for Everypony on September 5.[5]
Release
Rainbow Roadtrip received a private screening at the Odeon Cinema theater on May 23, 2019 and premiered on June 29, 2019 on Discovery Family. A release on Netflix was also announced but never occurred.[6][non-primary source needed]
