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Sorry it had to be this way... Princess!
~ Sunset as a Pony at the beginning of the movie.
When the crown and its power are mine, Twilight Sparkle will be sorry she ever set hoof into this world. ...Not that she would've been much safer if she'd stayed in Equestria.
~ Sunset swears revenge on Twilight Sparkle.
Oh please. What do you think you're going to do to stop me? I have magic, and you have NOTHING!
~ Demon Sunset Shimmer facing Twilight.

Sunset Shimmer is one of the main protagonists of the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls franchise. She is Princess Twilight's former arch-Rival and Snips and Snails' former leader and boss. She's also Pinkie Pie's human counterpart's former enemy-turned-one of her two best friends (alongside Sci-Twi).

She is voiced by Rebecca Shoichet, who also did the voice of Sedusa from Powerpuff Girls Z in the English version as well.

Description[]

Appearance[]

Sunset Shimmer in her pony form has a light amber coat, a mane and tail with matching colors of red and yellow, and a cutie mark of that depicts a red and yellow shimmering sun. In her human form, she has light amber skin, her hair having the same colors as her mane and tail but as wavey as it is.

In the first two movies, Sunset wore a black leather jacket, a dark pink shirt with her cutie mark, an orange skirt with pink and light yellow lines and black and pink boots.

Personality[]

Throughout the movie, Sunset Shimmer is shown to be a bratty, arrogant, rebellious, manipulative, dishonest, sociopathic, merciless, sadistic and traitorous individual. She also doesn't believe in friendship and is unwilling to open herself up for any personal relationships. She is shown to be prideful and overconfident, as she frequently insults and belittles others, and thinks little to nothing afterward, which is why she doesn't getting along with others as well. This behavior led Princess Celestia to expel her because she was too rebellious and untrustworthy as a result of her stubbornness and dishonesty, which means that she brought her own misery as well. According to human Fluttershy, Sunset makes life miserable for "anyone who stands in her way". As a result, much of the Canterlot High student body is afraid of her.

She is also shown to be mainly concerned with gaining power, desperately trying various attempts to get Twilight's crown in order to use its magic. However, she doesn't appear to be willing enough to inflict physical pain on others, or at least not upon small animals (i.e. Spike), claiming that she is not a monster. She appears to be easily irritated and cantankerous when things don't go her way and someone else is praised in her presence, to the point of being provoked into attacking them.

When Sunset puts on the element of magic, she transforms into a demonic visage of herself. While in this form, she becomes more dangerous, as well as becoming more ruthless, vicious, sadistic, violent, and power-hungry, and even goes so far as attempting to kill Twilight and take her place. After she is defeated by the Elements of Harmony, Sunset Shimmer becomes immediately realize the error of her ways and apologizes for her actions, appearing to renounce her prior dishonest and unkind ways. However, she is also overcome with a great deal of despair and regret. Almost everyone now turns their back on her, further complicating her sadness.

In the second film, Sunset Shimmer appears to have changed from her old self and started believing in friendship, becoming friends with her enemies, even Twilight, and she is seen as friendly, kind-hearted, rapturous, humble, graceful, helpful, sensitive, enthusiastic, delighted, caring, brave, selfless, and thoughtful. She also appears to be deeply repentant and remorseful for her actions made at the end of the first film, referring to her altered self as a "raging she-demon". But since that time, she has felt troubled and her mind has become clouded with uncertainty. And no one has yet forgiven or forgotten her past actions. At this point, she runs into Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk. Sunset digs up the journal Celestia had given her and uses it to send out a distress signal. By the end of Rainbow Rocks, Sunset starts writing friendship reports to Princess Twilight using the journal she once used to communicate with Princess Celestia, and she became even more happier when the student body accepts her.

In the third film, while Sunset has managed to fully integrate herself into the group and able to take mentions of what she did in the past with good humor, she also harbors a fear of losing her school's newly gained trust, and she becomes deeply depressed when she believes she has let them down, despite their assurances. She also becomes increasingly exasperated by her struggles to understand how magic works in the human world, briefly snapping at her friends at one point. When the human Twilight Sparkle endangers her friends, Sunset's anger explodes as she berates Twilight for meddling with forces she doesn't understand, taking her own frustrations and self-doubt out on her. However, she immediately regrets her harsh words and reaches out to Twilight in friendship by the end of the film.

Powers and Abilities[]

Throughout most of the film, Sunset is in human form and devoid of magic, relying on trickery and bullying to get her way.

Her abilities as a unicorn are never demonstrated, but since she was Princess Celestia's personal student, it can be assumed they would be approximately on the same level as Twilight Sparkle's (before the latter became a Princess). Because of her Cutie Mark and her color scheme, it can be theorized she has an affinity to fire magic.

When Sunset Shimmer used the Element of Magic, she turns into a powerful, winged demonic entity with a fiery look. In this form, she has immense magical powers, despite being in a non-magical world. She is extremely proficient with both Dark and Fire spells. She is able to effortlessly destroy walls through the movement of objects, turn her associates into demons, brainwash large groups of people at once, and conjure powerful fireballs. Her only weakness in this form is that the Element is not "loyal" to her since she does not grasp the magic of Friendship. When she tried to destroy Twilight and her best friends rush to her rescue, the magic of the Element refuses to harm them, instead imbuing the friends with power, despite Sunset Shimmer still wearing the crown.

Her only weakness is her arrogance, such as she boasts that she has power and mocks Twilight that she got nothing, which leads to her defeat.

Biography[]

Backstory[]

Sunset Shimmer, a former student of mine. She began her studies with me not long before Twilight. But when she did not get what she wanted as quickly as she liked, she turned cruel and dishonest. I tried to help her, but she eventually decided to abandon her studies and pursue her own path. One that has sadly led her to stealing your crown.
~ Princess Celestia telling The Mane Six about Sunset's dark past.

Most of Sunset's origins are unknown (family, home, etc). What is known is that she was a unicorn mare with an exceptional gift for magic, and was determined to prove her worth. Noticing her talent, Princess Celestia took her on as her personal student (likely with the intent for her to form a team to wield the Elements of Harmony and redeem her sister, Nightmare Moon). However, as time went on, Sunset became impatient with obtaining her goal, thus making her selfish, cruel and dishonest. Even though Celestia attempted to help her understand the importance of goodness, Sunset decided to forsake the princess as her teacher to explore her own dark path.

At some point, she learned about a mirror that led into another dimension, where instead of magical creatures, the world was dominated by regular humans. After leaving Celestia, she jumped through the mirror and was transported into the alternate world; upon which, she took the form a human teenage girl. She then enrolled at Canterlot High and quickly became its top student, but was also a bully who made all the other students fear her, and made two young boys Snips and Snails her personal henchmen. She had won every pageant where she wore a fake princess crown that apparently gave her a feeling of power. When one girl attempted to challenge her for the crown, she had Snips and Snails ruin her reputation as an example to any who would cross her. To further install her rule over the school, she drove apart the student body into separate groups. She even broke up the friendship between that world's Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash by causing several incidents and framing each-other for them.

After a few years in the human realm, she somehow learns about Princess Celestia's new student, Twilight Sparkle, who had managed to become a princess with the help of her friends as well as the Elements of Harmony. Overcome with jealousy and desiring that power for herself, Sunset plotted to take Twilight's crown, the Element of Magic, and bring it back to the human world, believing that the dimensional difference would allow her to usurp its power for herself, allowing her to conquer the human world and then Equestria.

Comics[]

Sunset's backstory is explored deeper in the comics. Here, it is shown she had a very troubled and apprehensive relationship with her mentor Princess Celestia, which explains her descent into evil (though she was already extremely cynical, arrogant, traitorous, self-centered, tricky, and antisocial, thus her mentor's short patience with her). Sunset had previously appeared in the form of a toy and as an NPC in the MLP Gameloft game. In both versions, she was merely a neutral character and not a truly evil one. Sunset's desire was to gain princess hood and have everyone in Equestria recognize her. However, she felt Celestia's tutelage was not getting her anywhere fast enough, showing her impatience with her. During the night, she took it upon herself to do research on the crystal mirror Celestia had shown her some time ago. Just as she found information about the mirror, Celestia and two royal guards arrived on the scene. At first, Celestia tried to console Sunset, but Sunset retaliated by demanding to be crowned a princess. It was then Celestia saw that Sunset lacked all the qualities needed to be a true princess, and deemed the young unicorn unworthy of such a status. Celestia then expelled Sunset from the school, banished her from the castle, and had the guards escort Sunset out. Sunset told her former mentor that this would be the greatest mistake ever made, but of course, it was only one of many. When the chance came, Sunset took the guards by surprise and jumped through the mirror, emerging as a teenage girl on the other side.

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls[]

Twilight Sparkle wants to be your Fall Formal Princess. What does it say about our school if we give someone like this... such an important honor?
~ Voiceover in an anti-Twilight Sparkle video.

Sunset Shimmer steals Twilight Sparkle's element of harmony: her magic crown, and in a tussle with Twilight Sparkle, the crown is thrown into a mirror that acts as a portal to another world, which Sunset goes through to retrieve the crown.

In this other world, she is depicted as a human who mocks Twilight Sparkle when they first encounter each other. They meet again in a dark hallway where Sunset bullies Twilight into being discouraged from retrieving her crown. Several years have passed since Sunset ran away from home. In the past, she drove the human counterparts of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity apart, but Twilight reunites them.

She tries to keep Twilight from becoming Princess of the Fall Formal, like humiliating her through an Internet video and implicating but Twilight Sparkle still easily beats her in the competition. When this attempt backfires, she makes her henchmen Snips and Snails vandalize the gymnasium and implicates Twilight for it through photoshopped photos. Vice-Principal Luna falls victim to this deception, but Sunset's former beau Flash Sentry exonerates Twilight at the last second and Twilight is dubbed Fall Formal Princess after she and the student body clean and redecorate the gym.

However, Sunset steals the crown from Twilight, puts it on, and transforms into a demonic-looking winged humanoid due to her wickedness in her heart. In this form, Sunset becomes purely evil. With her new powers, she plans to use them and her army of mind-controlled teenagers to conquer Equestria. Sunset attempts to kill Twilight, but Twilight and her friends use the power of the Elements of Harmony to return her to human form. She is reduced to tears and apologizes for everything that she has done and Twilight believes her friends can help teach her the magic of friendship. Afterward, the human counterpart of Princess Luna, Vice Principal Luna, hands her a masonry trowel to repair all the damage that she caused.

Quotes[]

You must be new here. I can speak to anyone any way I want.
~ Sunset Shimmer to Twilight
Obviously it's going to be MY coronation. I'm running unopposed.
~ Sunset Shimmer to Pinkie Pie and Applejack, believing that she will win the coronation.
Can't believe I didn't recognize you earlier. Should've known Princess Celestia would send her prized pupil after my crown, and her little dog too!
~ Sunset Shimmer approaching Twilight.
I want you to follow her. Bring me something I can use just like I did with the last girl who thought she could challenge me.
~ Sunset Shimmer ordering Snips and Snails.
Take those off! I have something I want you to do.
~ Sunset Shimmer, after noticing Twilight Sparkle's song.
Isn't this just awful? And after Pinkie Pie worked so hard to make things so perfect! Why would Twilight Sparkle do something like this?
~ Sunset Shimmer framing Twilight.
You're lucky she was able to pull this off. Next time I ask you to make a mess of things, try to show a little restraint! I need this Formal to go on tonight as much as she does.
~ Sunset Shimmer, after witnessing Twilight cleaning up her mess.
You don't belong here. Give me the crown and you can go back to Equestria tonight. Or keep it and never go home. Tick-tock, Twilight. The portal will be closing in less than an hour. So, what's your answer?
~ Sunset Shimmer, threatening Twilight about destroying the portal.
What?! Equestria! Your friends! Lost to you forever! Can't you see what I'm about to do to the portal?!
~ Sunset Shimmer, after Twilight refused.
I'll take that! At last, more power than I could ever imagine!
~ Sunset Shimmer, before putting on the crown.
I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight, just to get my hands on this crown, and it really should've been mine all along. But let's let bygones be bygones. I am your princess now, and you will be loyal to ME!
~ Sunset Shimmer, after being turned into a demon.
Spoiler alert: I was bluffing when I said I was going to destroy the portal. I don't want to rule this pathetic little high school. I want Equestria! And with my own little teenage army behind me, I'm going to get it!
~ Sunset Shimmer, revealing her plans to Twilight.
Gee, the gang really is all back together again! Now step aside! Twilight has tried to interfere with my plans, one to many times already! She needs to be dealt with!
~ Sunset Shimmer to Twilight and her friends.
The old me really was just awful, wasn't she?
~ Sunset Shimmer looking back.
A demon. I turned into a raging she-demon.
~ Sunset Shimmer, redeemed and horrified after her transformation.

Trivia[]

  • Sunset is the first major female antagonist in the series who is not a monarch, as Nightmare Moon and Queen Chrysalis were both monarchs.
  • Before her redemption, she shared similarities with most of the major villains and recurring antagonists in the series prior to her introduction: Nightmare Moon (past with Princess Celestia, seeking to rule over Equestria, and defeated in the same way by Twilight Sparkle), Queen Chrysalis (manipulative, power-hungry, resorts to brainwashing, treating Twilight as a scapegoat), King Sombra (uses evil magic, seeks to conquer Equestria, trying to obtain magical artifact), Diamond Tiara (the school bully who loves to pick on the protagonists), and mostly Trixie Lulamoon (arrogant, insufferable, uses the power of a magical artifact that gives her immense power at the price of her sanity). She is also similar to Discord in that one of the Mane Six's actions was seemingly able to reform her; Fluttershy for Discord and Twilight for Sunset Shimmer.
  • Rebecca Shoichet, who does Sunset Shimmer's voice, also does the singing voice of Twilight Sparkle.
  • Sunset can be considered to be the dark opposite of Twilight. Both are powerful unicorns who were under the teaching of Princess Celestia, but while Twilight was kind, humble and never expected to become an alicorn princess, Sunset was cruel, ambitious and desired to become a princess more than anything. And while being in the Human World, Twilight represented the bond of the Human Six, while Sunset represented the breaking of the Human Six's bond. However, after starting to believe in friendship, Sunset Shimmer acts more like Twilight Sparkle, being the peacemaker of the group, having insecurities, and developing a worrisome personality. A difference is that Sunset is quite patient with the group's rage while Twilight is still quite temperamental with hers.
  • She is also the opposite of Twilight's friends in the Human World.
    • Rainbow Dash is very loyal towards her friends, while Sunset is willing to betray others to get her way.
    • Applejack is honest and honorable, while Sunset is a skilled cheater and manipulator.
    • Pinkie Pie is optimistic and fun-loving, while Sunset is very cold-hearted and ruthless.
    • Fluttershy is a kind-hearted innocent, while Sunset is a sadistic bully at her core.
    • Rarity is very generous to others, while Sunset is very selfish and always cares about herself.
  • Sunset Shimmer is the first main villain of a part of the series written by Meghan McCarthy who unambiguously survives.
  • She is the third villain to be defeated by the Elements of Harmony.
  • Demon Shimmer, "she-demon" alter-ego of Sunset Shimmer in her demon form is one recurring symbol of Equestria Girls - being the real villain in the first movie like Nightmare Moon, she was then the reason of Sunset Shimmer being an outcast among the students in Rainbow Rocks, also, she is mentioned and seen in clip "My Past is Not Today". In Friendship Games, her picture, along with the Dazzlings, appears in Rainbow Dash's song to cheer other up. Also, Midnight Sparkle is obviously has the same nature as Demon Shimmer, being the user of twisted power of the Friendship Magic.
  • When Sunset turns into a demon, she has an actual tail, as opposed to the other transformations which simply have hair extensions that look like the ponies' tails. The only other transformation to come with a tail is Midnight Sparkle. Of note, both are the only evil transformations in the series (not counting the Dazzlings, whose personalities stayed the same when they transformed). When Sunset turns into both her Anthro form and Daydream Shimmer, she has a hair extension.
  • Until she redeemed herself, Sunset could have arguably been the third villain to be truly evil, the first two being Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra.
  • Her personality was somewhat similar to "popular high school girl" and "queen-bee" stereotype.
  • She is the first antagonist who never intended to be evil, as she stated that she is not a monster.
  • When Sunset was in her demon form, her voice sounds extremely similar to Queen Chrysalis' insectoid clicking effect voice in her first appearance in season 2.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           My Little Pony franchise logo Villains

Generation 1
My Little Pony 'n Friends
Ahgg | Beezen | Catrina | Dragon Gang | Erebus | Flories | Grogar | Hydia | King Charlatan | Lavan | Princess Porcina | Queen Bumble | Raptorians | Reeka & Draggle | Somnambula | Squirk | Tirac

My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
Hydia | Reeka & Draggle | Smooze | Ahgg

Generation 4
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Apple Bloom's Shadow | Ahuizotl | Arimaspi | Bugbear | Changelings | Chimera | Cockatrice | Daybreaker | Dr. Caballeron | Diamond Dogs | Diamond Tiara | Discord | Dragons (Dragon Lord Torch, Garble & Sludge) | Flim Flam Brothers | Gladmane | Grogar | Hydra | King Sombra | Legion of Doom (Queen Chrysalis, Tirek & Cozy Glow) | Mane-iac | Maulwurf | Mean Six | Nightmare Moon | Parasprites | Pony of Shadows | Puckwudgies | Roc | Sable Spirit | Silver Spoon | Snips and Snails | Sphinx | Starlight Glimmer | Storm King | Svengallop | Tantabus | Tatzlwurm | Tempest Shadow | Timberwolves | Trixie Lulamoon | Vampire Fruit Bats | Windigos | Wind Rider

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Dazzlings (Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze & Sonata Dusk) | Juniper Montage | PostCrush (Kiwi Lollipop & Supernova Zap) | Principal Cinch | The Predaplants (The Predaplant-Titan) | Snips and Snails | Sunset Shimmer | Trixie Lulamoon | Vignette Valencia | Wallflower Blush

Comics
Accord | Bad Apple | Changelings | Chupacabra | Cosmos | Cozy Glow | Daybreaker | Dazzlings (Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze & Sonata Dusk) | Diamond Tiara | Discord | Dyre | Flim Flam Brothers | Grackle | Grogar | Grootslang | High Heel | King Longhorn | King Meowmeow | King Sombra | Knights of Harmony (Danu, Balor, Morrigan, Taranis, Mannah, & Ceridwen) | Long-Face | Lord Goldstone | Mane-iac | Mirror Pony of Shadows | Nightmare Forces | Nightmare Moon | Nightmare Rarity | Pony of Shadows | Pharaoh Phetlock | Prince Huginn | Princess Celestia | Princess Eris | Pseudocorns | Queen Chrysalis | Rabia | Rough Diamond | S'Monies (Black Belle, Violet Shiver, & Shadow Storm) | Sendak | Shadowbolts | Shadowfall | Shadowfright | Shadowmane | Silver Spoon | Smooze | Smudge | Snips and Snails | Starlight Glimmer | Storm King's army (Storm King, Tempest Shadow, Grubber & Storm Creatures) | Sunset Shimmer | Thrace Ponies (King Diomedes | Terri Belle | Swift Foot) | Tirek | Trench | Trixie Lulamoon | Umbrum | Vampiric Jackalope

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
Storm King's army (Storm King | Tempest Shadow | Grubber | Storm Creatures)

Generation 5
My Little Pony: A New Generation
Sprout Cloverleaf

My Little Pony: Make Your Mark
Queen Opaline | Misty Brightdawn | Sprout Cloverleaf | Troggles | Allura | Twitch

Comics
Discord | Fet Lockland | Queen Opaline

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