| Sunset Shimmer | |
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| My Little Pony character | |
 Sunset Shimmer's human form in "A Fine Line" | |
| First appearance | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013) |
| Created by | Meghan McCarthy |
| Voiced by | |
| In-universe information | |
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| Significantother | Flash Sentry (ex-boyfriend) |
Sunset Shimmer is a fictional character who appears in thefourth incarnation ofHasbro'sMy Little Pony toyline andmedia franchise, beginning withMy Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013). She serves as the mainantagonist of the firstEquestria Girls film before becoming a main character throughout the spin-off franchise. She is voiced byRebecca Shoichet, who also provides the singing voice ofTwilight Sparkle.[1]
Sunset Shimmer is depicted as a formeranthropomorphicunicorn fromEquestria who becomes human after traveling through a magic mirror to the human world. OriginallyPrincess Celestia's student before Twilight Sparkle, she abandons her studies in pursuit of power and crossed into the human world, where she becomes a student at Canterlot High School.
Sunset Shimmer first appears as the main antagonist in the inauguralEquestria Girls film. She is introduced asPrincess Celestia's former student beforeTwilight Sparkle who turned cruel and dishonest and eventually abandoned her studies and disappearing into the human world. At the beginning of the film, she steals Twilight's crown containing the Element of Magic, prompting Twilight andSpike to follow her through the magic mirror into the human world where they transform into a human teenaged girl and a dog, respectively. Sunset is shown to be a student at Canterlot High School and the ex-girlfriend of Flash Sentry, where she rules through intimidation and manipulation, and is assisted by the human counterparts of Snips and Snails. Her ultimate goal is to use the Element of Magic to create an army and conquer Equestria. During the film's climax, she transforms into a monster corrupted by the magic of Twilight's crown and is eventually defeated and reformed by Twilight and her new human friends.
Sunset becomes the main protagonist in theEquestria Girls franchise in subsequent media. In thesecond film, she is shown to now be ostracized by the other students save for the human counterparts of Twilight's friends. She uses a magic book that she had used to communicate with Princess Celestia when she was her student to warn Princess Twilight of the emergence of the Dazzlings, who can use their magical voices to brainwash others. After Twilight and Spike returns to the human world, Sunset reassures Twilight as she tries to write a counter-spell to break the Dazzlings' mind control spell over the school, and also expresses disappointment that she was not invited to join the Rainbooms, her friends' rock band participating in the Battle of the Bands. At the end of the film, she helps the Rainbooms defeat the Dazzlings and free the school from their spell, and is recruited to join the Rainbooms as the band's new leader and rhythm guitarist and keeps in touch with Twilight with her magic book.
Sunset is the main protagonist of thethird film, in which she participates in the Friendship Games competition as one of the Canterlot High School Wondercolts. She becomes suspicious of Twilight Sparkle's human world counterpart, who is a member of the rival Crystal Prep Academy Shadowbolts team and has been inadvertently draining Equestrian magic from her human friends. Sunset later defeats and reforms Twilight when she transforms into a monster corrupted by Equestrian magic, in a role reversal of the first film, who then also becomes a main character alongside Sunset and her friends.
In thefourth film, Sunset takes part in the school field trip to Camp Everfree where she obtains the ability to read the minds of others through physical touch as her geode power, and helps save Camp Everfree from closing.
In the specialMy Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Forgotten Friendship, Sunset suddenly becomes the object of ostracization again by the rest of the CHS student body. She returns to Equestria and reconciles with Princess Celestia who helps her and Princess Twilight research the Equestrian magic responsible, eventually learning that the memory stone, an ancient Equestrian artefact capable of erasing memories is responsible. Sunset works withTrixie's human counterpart to help find the memory stone, and eventually, the memory stone is destroyed and the memories of the school are restored.
Sunset also prominently appears in otherEquestria Girls media, including the2017 television specials, theSummertime Shorts, theweb series, and in all otherEquestria Girls specials, most notablyMy Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Spring Breakdown andMy Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Sunset's Backstage Pass.
In March 2013, series developerMeghan McCarthy stated that Sunset Shimmer would not be featured as a storyline in thefourth season ofFriendship is Magic. In a series oftweets in April 2015,Equestria Girls director Ishi Rudell wrote that Sunset Shimmer'sphoenix-like appearance at the end of "My Past is Not Today" was avisual metaphor,[2][3] and that "her hair is lighter... We wanted to tone her color intensity down a bit with the design of her new outfit."[4] When asked on Twitter in mid-December 2016 if Sunset is one of theElements of Harmony, Ishi Rudell replied, "In our world she is the 7th element! ☀️"[5] later specifying said element to be "empathy".[6] According to Katrina Hadley, Sunset's aura color was changed from cyan to red inMirror Magic as a reflection of her redemption and the colors for when she ponied up inRainbow Rocks.[7] InTwitter communication, Katrina Hadley calls Sunset Shimmer's glowing eyes whenever she uses her magic geode powers an "empathy flash".[8]
In a collection of essays onFriendship Is Magic, author Jen A. Blue wrote that Sunset Shimmer serves as a deliberate mirror to Twilight Sparkle: both characters share similar backgrounds as unicorns gifted at magic and formerprotégées ofPrincess Celestia. Blue analyzed Sunset Shimmer's role as the creator of artificialcliques at Canterlot High School, and wrote that she functions as "an outside force, a manipulator seeking control" who divides the human versions of theMane Six and establishes rigidsocial divisions that were "diabolical in origin." According to Blue, Sunset Shimmer's reformation through theElements of Harmony is similar toPrincess Luna's healing in the series premiere, as the Elements "heal her, bringing her to her original state" rather than punish her. Blue observed that inRainbow Rocks, Sunset Shimmer becomes the true protagonist and experiences acharacter arc focused on guilt, redemption, and belonging as she learns "that while she has done terrible things in the past, and both her guilt and the anger of the people around her are legitimate, that doesn't mean there aren't still people who care about her." Blue praised the film for walking "a finer line than the show usually walks" in portraying both the legitimacy of others' wariness toward her and her own deserving of friendship and reformation.[9]
In her bookPonyville Confidential, author Sherilyn Connelly wrote that Sunset Shimmer was one ofMy Little Pony's "most emotionally complex characters." She compared her reformation to Luna's (asNightmare Moon), and lamented that Sunset will "pay the price for the rest of her life." In what Connelly described as the emotional crux ofRainbow Rocks, a conversation between Twilight and Sunset reveals a shared pressure: Twilight is expected to save the day, a burden she feels is heavier ever since her ascension to princesshood, and Sunset is expected to redeem herself from her past wrongdoings, all while knowing that "others [expect] her to screw up andruin the day."[10]
In their analysis ofEquestria Girls inqueer popular culture and its use ofJohn Milton's epic poemParadise Lost, Melissa Rohrer and Sara Austin wrote that Sunset Shimmer serves as aSatan figure whose backstory parallels Milton'sfallen angel: described as once being Princess Celestia's most promising student who was corrupted by greed and power, banished to Earth after failing to overthrow Celestia, and initially planned to use magical elements to corrupt and enslave humanity. Unlike Milton's Satan, Sunset Shimmer demonstrates "self-awareness and repentance that Milton's Satan never achieves," ultimately showing remorse and character growth that allows for her redemption and incorporation into a circle of friendship. Rohrer and Austin wrote that Sunset's character growth allowed her to become a trusted friend and ally throughout the series, as opposed toSatan, who remains unrepentant and irredeemable throughout bothParadise Lost andParadise Regained.[11]
Rohrer and Austin further wrote that the relationship between Sunset Shimmer as Satan and Twilight Sparkle asChrist is aqueer reimagining ofParadise Lost, emphasizing "homosocial character development between the Christ and Satan figures that many other adaptations lack." They wrote that Twilight'sforgiveness and welcoming of Sunset into friendship, rather thaneternal punishment, illustrates whatJosé Esteban Muñoz called a "queer utopia". They described Twilight's "embracing of Sunset Shimmer and her ability to reimagine and remake the world through empathy" as "very queer", wrote that it represented an alternative vision "where egalitarian love and friendship are possible without the tyranny ofHeaven."[11]
Sunset Shimmer is a popular character in merchandise and collectibles, with items like theKotobukiya Bishoujo statue series featuring humanized versions of her character.[12]
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