Sunset Shimmer is the one-time main antagonist of the first Equestria Girls movie, later deuteragonist of Rainbow Rocks and Legend of Everfree, the main protagonist of Friendship Games, and one of the main protagonists of the rest of the series. She is a good friend of Pooh, Ash, Tino, Team Robot and Thomas. She represents the element of empathy.
She is voiced by Rebecca Shoichet.
Appearance
Sunset Shimmer was a former student of Princess Celestia, who began her studies not long before Twilight Sparkle did. She was a unicorn, but now remains a human being at Canterlot High. She has light amber skin. And she once wore a black jacket, a purple vest and an orange skirt with a purple streak on it. And she once wore black boots too.
Personality
Throughout the first film, Sunset Shimmer is shown to be self-absorbed, sadistic, merciless, unsympathetic, condescending, manipulative, dishonest, and mostly sociopathic. 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. 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.
Backstory
Sunset's backstory is explored deeper in the comics. Here, it is shown she had a very troubled relationship with her mentor Princess Celestia, which explains her descent into evil (though she was already extremely arrogant, self-centered, and antisocial, thus her mentor's short patience with her). Sunset had previously appeared in the form of a toy and as a NPC in the MLP Gameloft game. In both versions, she was merely a neutral character and not a truly evil one.
Relationships
Trivia
- Sunset Shimmer will become Pooh's enemy but reformed in the end of Pooh's Adventures of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls.
- Sunset Shimmer will become Little Bear's enemy but reforms in the end of Little Bear's Adventures of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls.
- Sunset Shimmer will make her guest starring appearance in Pooh's Adventures of Mumfie's Quest: The Movie.
- Sunset Shimmer will become the FT Squad's enemy but reformed in the end of The FT Squad's Adventures in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls.
- Sunset Shimmer will become Thomas and Ash Ketchum's enemy but reformed in the end of in Thomas' Adventures of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and becomes Pooh, Ash and Thomas' new friend in Pooh's Adventures of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks.
- Sunset Shimmer along with The Human Man 5, Sci-Twi and Spike the Dog will be guest starring in Thomas' Adventures Chronicles.
- Sunset Shimmer will become Team Robot's friend in Team Robot's Adventures of My Little Pony Equestria Girls - Friendship Games and will be guest starring in Team Robot In Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams and Team Robot's Misadventures of Thomas and Friends: King of the Railway.
- Sunset Shimmer will become Tino's enemy but reformed in the end of Tino's Adventures of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and she will join Tino's team for future adventures and becomes Tino's girlfriend in the end of Tino Tonitini Says Good Luck Charlie: It's Christmas!. In Tino and Sunset Shimmer’s Future, it reveals that she and Tino are husband and wife.
- Sunset Shimmer Transformed into an Alicorn in The Night to Remember.
- Sunset Shimmer along with Twilight Sparkle and Trixie are Princess Yuna's mentors.
- Sunset Shimmer will guest star in Winnie the Pooh Saves Captain Phillips.
- Sunset Shimmer will somehow have strong relationships with her closes friends Thomas the Tank Engine, Percy and Princess Twilight Sparkle.
- Sunset Shimmer will become Ryan's enemy but reforms at the end in Ryan's Adventures of My Little Pony Equestria Girls.
- Sunset Shimmer is also Edward's girlfriend in Mustang Fan's series.
- In Code Red's Adventures Series, Sunset Shimmer is reformed prior to meeting Twilight, courtesy of Code Red. This is the reason why she is considered their greatest ally.
- Sunset Shimmer will become the TARDIS Team's enemy but reformed in the end of Doctor Aaron's Adventures of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls.
- In Winnie the Pooh Visits Candy Land: The Great Lollipop Adventure, Sunset Shimmer is the cousin of Princess Lolly and the niece of King Candy.
- She will guest star in Winnie the Pooh Asks Which Witch Is Which?.
- She will face Alex Ryan in Alex Ryan's Adventures of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls.
- In Ryan's Adventures Series, after she redeemed herself, she never have a bond with Connor Lacey and becomes a friend to Orla Carolglow and Oisin Carolglow since she learned that Connor Lacey was killed by Linda Carolglow.
- Sunset Shimmer will become the Plumbers enemy but reformed in the end of Ben 10’s Adventures of My Little Pony Equestria Girls.
- Sunset Shimmer is a major protagonist in Sonic: Adventures in Equestria, though here, she was already reformed prior to meeting Twilight, having realized our own cruel and dishonest ways not long after leaving Equestria, she would return to Equestria following the events of Sonic: Adventures in Equestria: Equestria Girls, even making amends with Princess Celestia. She would have minor appearances in Season 4, often times assisting Team Sonic and the Mane Six or assisting Trixie with using her magic, before being promoted to main character status starting with Season 5, with her becoming somewhat of a sister character to Starlight Glimmer, her main mobian partner is Silver the Hedgehog.
- She will appear in Jewel Sparkles' Adventures as a villain but reforms at the end of Equestria Girls.
- She will be friends with Hegdish Yuckywood in Bear's Adventures of My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks.
- At first she is enemies with Jewel Sparkles, Trinket Sparkles and their friends but then they become friends at the end.
- Sunset Shimmer will meet Code Red in Code Red vs The Hellfire Club, where she will become a part-time member of the team.
Gallery
![Sunset Shimmer (Oppisite) [left] compared to The Real Sunset Shimmer [right]](/wiki/File:Evil_Sunset_vs._Good_Sunset.png "Evil Sunset vs. Good Sunset.png (394 KB)")
