| “ | True magic comes from Honesty! Loyalty! Laughter! Generosity! Kindness! I understand you, Twilight, and I want to show you the most important magic of all... the magic of friendship! | „ |
| ~ Sunset to Midnight Sparkle in The Friendship Games, and her most famous quote. |
Sunset Shimmer is one of the seven titular main protagonists of the Equestria Girls franchise.
She is a female unicorn-turned-human student of Canterlot High School, who was a former student of Princess Celestia, a rhythm guitarist for the Rainbooms, the leader of the titular team, and Sci-Twi and Pinkie Pie's best friend.
She is voiced by Rebecca Shoichet, who also voiced Queen Lorelei in Barbie: The Pearl Princess. In the Japanese dub from the movie, she is voiced by Ami Koshimizu.
Physical 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. She also has cyan eyes.
In her human form, her skin is light amber, and her hair having the same colors as her mane and tail but as wavey as it is. Since The Legend of Everfree, she wears a neon orange necklace with a red geode pendant and her pony counterpart's cutie mark on it around her neck.
In the first two movies, she wears a black leather sweatshirt over a magenta shirt with her pony counterpart's cutie mark, an orange skirt with magenta and yellow lines, and black V-shaped knee-high boots with magenta flame designs.
Starting with My Past is Not Today, she wears a black leather jacket with two orange upside down V-shaped stripes on the sleeves, a neon blue translucent-sleeved strapless dress with a yellow skirt, and blue jeans underneath it, and black heeled boots that match her jacket.
In Legend of Everfree, she wears a white and magenta, ¾ length sleeved summer camp shirt, slate gray shorts with a dark red belt with her pony counterpart's cutie mark for a belt buckle, magenta socks, and black hiking boots with sand yellow soles.
In Equestria Girls: Better Together, she now wears a black leather vest with gold spikes on its collar, an orange off-the-shoulder shirt with her pony counterpart's cutie mark, a black waisted belt with silver studs, a magenta skirt with a black zipper down the middle and matching lines on the upper right, and new black boots with magenta and gray studs.
In Summertime Shorts and Forgotten Friendship when swimming, she wears a black leather bikini reminiscent of her vest with her cutie mark but white and yellow, a red and yellow gradient flame-designed sarong around her waist, and black and gold sandals. She also has a gold cuff bracelet on her right wrist.
In Spring Breakdown, she wears a magenta sparkling, short-sleeve, boat-neckline, fringe-hem midi dress with her cutie mark printed on her chest, a tyrian purple (or black) wide-strap crop top underneath it, a matching choker, a red and yellow waist beaded chained-belt, and gray studded, single desert willow colored leather strap, black double-layered sole, slip-on-platform sandals.
In Sunset's Backstage Pass, she wears…
In Holidays Unwrapped, she wears…
In All the World's Off Stage, she has an earpiece, and wears a black t-shirt and black pants. Her boots remain the same, but with only gray studs.
When in her Crystal Guardian formation, her hair is tied back by a gold sunburst hairclip, and she wears a red sleeveless, sparkly dress with blue-jeweled gold shoulder pads and a fiery slash running diagonally across the chest, orange wrist guards edged in yellow and bright pink, black tights, gold boots with blue gems to match her shoulder pads, fiery trim continuing down to the edge of her skirt, and a gold chain running over each hip and connected to the belt buckle.
When in her Friendship Power formation, she has a black headband with silver spikes on her hair and wears a red sleeveless dress with a light red flaming stripe for turtleneck with small dark red, orange and white dots, black arm-length handless gloves, a neon pink translucent skirt, pale red leggings, and yellow knee-high boots with black fire dashes and soles.
Sunset Shimmer
Her sleepwear is a purple shirt with the same cutie mark and a red collar, purple pants with yellow and orange stripes on the bottom pant legs, and purple slippers.
Personality[]
| “ | 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 to The Mane Six about Sunset's dark past. |
During the first film, Sunset Shimmer is shown to be self-absorbed, condescending, manipulative, and dishonest. She frequently insults and belittles others and thinks little of it. According to human Fluttershy, Sunset makes life miserable for "anyone who stands in her way." As a result, most of the Canterlot High School student body is afraid of her. She is also not above making threats and blackmail in order to realize her goals.
When Sunset puts on the element of magic, she transforms into a demonic visage of herself. While in this form, she becomes more ruthless, going so far as attempting to dispose of Twilight. After she is defeated, Sunset Shimmer becomes immediately repentant and apologizes for her actions, appearing to renounce her prior dishonest and unkind ways.
In the second film, Sunset Shimmer has completely discarded her old self and starts believing in friendship, being kind toward others and befriending former enemies. With an exception of Rainbooms, the rest of the students still bearing resentment towards her and mercilessly willing to not forgive her for what she had done to everyone she hurts. She is also deeply repentant for her actions in the first film, referring to her transformed self as a "raging she-demon". However, she suffers from a lack of confidence, keeping silent in situations she feels it isn't her place to speak up and falling prey to the Dazzlings' taunting. During the final battle, she finally overcomes her insecurities and joins the Rainbooms in defeating the Dazzlings, gaining a half-pony form in the process. By the end of Rainbow Rocks, Sunset starts writing friendship reports to Princess Twilight using the book she once used to communicate with Princess Celestia.
By the third film, while Sunset has managed to fully integrate herself into the group and 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 irritated and stressed 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, which make her cry. However, she immediately regrets her harsh words and reaches out to Twilight in friendship by the end of the film.
In the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Holiday Special comic, Sunset Shimmer displays a forgiving and compassionate side when she forgives the Cutie Mark Crusaders for framing her as the rumormonger "Anon-a-Miss".
In Sunset Shimmer's Time to Shine, Sunset displays a considerable level of intelligence, being ahead of her friends and classmates in school and smart enough to develop various computer applications. Her affinity for science and research is also seen in The Science of Magic, where she explains she prefers a hands-on approach to studying magic over "studying ancient books".
In The Art of Friendship, Sunset has a fondness for sunflowers that she expresses through her painting in art class. Her artistic side is further shown in Display of Affection and Super Squad Goals.
A Fine Line shows that she likes to play video games, and she is excited to get the new game Tirek's Revenge.
Sunset is shown to be serious, selfless, and has a no-nonsense attitude, but she is also shown to have some anger issues at times, especially when she is stressed out; she is also very competitive and hates losing.
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.
Natural Skills[]
"On my mark."
Leadership: Having most experience in magic, everyone puts their trust in Sunset to know what to do when Princess Twilight isn't available. Despite self-doubt and feelings of guilt, she has managed to resolve multiple conflicts using her natural charisma. She knows how to offer moral support and rein in others if they step out of line, reminding them of what's important. despite this, she is able to respect others' decisions when they want to let things be for now.
Genius level Intelligence: Sunset possessed a brilliant mind that rivaled that of even Twilight. She has been shown to be excellent at topics like math and chemistry, commenting that it is similar to spell-work. She's a good enough academic to face Twilight Sparkle in a math-off. Though Twilight manages to beat her, it is just barely.
Strength: Sunset was shown to wield notable physical strength. Able to carry a sledgehammer and compete in many athletic activities. She is also able to carry Pinkie Pie under one arm.
Mind-reading: Sunset see the mind, memories and thoughts of others by touching them. This allows her to get answers about somethings.
Relationships[]
Friends[]
- Humane Seven – Friends and Team Members
- Sci-Twi – Best Friend, Partner and Teammate
- Applejack – Friend and Minion
- Fluttershy – Friend and Minion
- Pinkie Pie – Best Friend, Minion, Protégé and Sidekick
- Rainbow Dash – Friend and Minion
- Rarity – Friend and Minion
- Spike the Dog – Friend, Mascot and Honorary Pet Dog
Trivia[]
- It is unknown:
- how she knew about Twilight's crown since she went to the human world when she left Celestia's studies, though it's possible she knew about it from her time as Celestia's student, or she learned about it when she returned to Equestria.
- if she is orphaned or has parents, though in the comics she revealed that she was never close to them.
- if she still has feelings for Flash Sentry or not, though there have been several signs that their relationship is rekindling.
- According to Twitter communication, Katrina Hadley refers to Sunset's glowing eyes whenever she uses her magic geode powers as an "empathy flash."
- In Forgotten Friendship, Sunset reveals that she hates churros.
External Links[]
- Sunset Shimmer on the Villains Wiki
- Sunset Shimmer on the Near Pure Good Wiki
- Sunset Shimmer on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki
- Sunset Shimmer on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- Sunset Shimmer on the Guile Heroes Wiki
- Sunset Shimmer on the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Wiki
- Sunset Shimmer on the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Wiki
