Sunset Shimmer is a character from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and is a main character in The Knights of the Multiverse. She originally hailed from the land of Equestria, where she was the student of Princess Celestia. However, she soon grew a lust for power, leading her to be banished to another world; and while she held something akin to a dictatorship over Canterlot High School for a long while, she soon turned a new leaf with the help from some new friends and became a hero alongside them, defending their world against rogue magic and monsters and the like.
However, after a freak event that caused multiple realities to cross over, she managed to regain some of her old Unicorn magic that she lost since coming to her Earth. She would then go on to become a founding member of the Crystal Knights with many others that were displaced by the event, where she acts as more of a straight man to some of the more insane happenings that the group encounter.
Personality[]
Sunset is typically serious, selfless, and has a no-nonsense attitude, but is also shown to have some anger issues at times, especially when stressed out. She's also a fast thinker, coming up with alternatives whenever plan A backfires. She also displays a forgiving and compassionate side, as she's often the first one to forgive others when they've turned over to their team to make up for their past mistakes and will often stand up against the others when she feels they're being too harsh on them.
In a way, she acts as the team's conscience, often being the one to break up arguments and getting the group back on task. This is helped by the fact that she has good relations with almost everyone on the team, especially Pink and the younger team members. However, she does sometimes get overwhelmed with taking responsibility of so many people, often freezing up, causing the others to try and resolve the problem themselves, even leading them to split up.
History[]
Pre-Series[]
Mini-Series[]
On a seemingly normal day, Sunset fell through a mysterious red portal and landed in a forest. She decided to explore her surroundings while thinking of what kind could have caused it to open, believing that it most likely had something to do with Equestrian magic. However, her thoughts were soon interrupted when she encountered a group of strange black and white humanoids. She tried to make a break for it, only to be cornered by several more. Just then, she was saved by a large pink woman.
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
Season 3[]
Abilities & Equipment[]
- Magic
Due to the fluctuations in space/time caused by the Black Moon Clan and Unicron's use of Dark Energon, Sunset regained access to her unicorn magic. With it, she's able to teleport short distances, levitate things or fire powerful blasts of magic from her hands.
- Intelligence & Science
Sunset has a considerable level of intelligence, being ahead of her friends and classmates in school and smart enough to develop various computer applications, as well as an affinity for science.
- Psychic Touch
Sunset has the ability to sense others' thoughts, memories, and feelings through physical touch, usually by simply grabbing their hands. However, she can only use this ability on humans and other organic creatures.
- Power Gauntlets
About a quarter of the way into Season 1, Sunset was given a pair of special gauntlets made of a type of light-weight Super Alloy Z. The main parts over her forearms help to guard her against enemy attacks like blocking bladed weapons & reflecting laser blasts, but there is also a glove-like part that covers the back of her hands & knuckles that's fashioned to look like knuckledusters that mainly absorb the damage her hands would normally take, especially against metal opponents. Sunset can also channel some of her magical energy into them to increase the power of her punches.
Phoenix Form[]
As her Unicorn magic returned to her, Sunset's magic manifested into a Phoenix-like form, with her gaining a large pair of "burning" magic wings. In this new form, along with super-charging her magical blasts ten-fold, she can also manipulate said magic in many ways:
- Magical Wings
A pair of magical wings that look like their burning manifest from Sunset's back, which allow her to fly great distances and at great speeds. She can also use them as either gigantic beam saber-type physical weapons or as massive shields to shield both herself and other targets, as she can also direct them around her arms to use them more like proper weapons. The defensive capabilities for the wings are nigh-unbreakable, if not absolute, as they protect Sunset from attacks on the same level of Mazinger Z's Breast Fire.
- Super Strength
Sunset gains enhanced strength, enough to at least stop a charging Super Robot dead in its tracks.
- Magic Swords
Sunset generates a long beam of magical energy from either of her hands to use them as swords. She's also able to extend it to great lengths to reach opponents easier.
- Energy Net
Sunset generates a net made of magical energy to catch falling allies or capture/retrieve objects and opponents.
- Super-Charged Magic Blast
Sunset charges up a ball of magical energy and fires it at her opponent in the form of an enormous, powerful beam.
- Magical Pheonix Burst
Ascending into the sky, Sunset charges back down while covering herself in a magical energy that makes her resemble an enormous, blazing phoenix as she dashes through her desired target. This technique drains a large amount of Sunset's magic, however.
Combo Attacks[]
- Unnamed Combo w/ Rose Hurricane
Combo attack w/ Freru: Freru will send an enemy into the air while Sunset dives downward & strikes them with her Enchanted Sword.
- Triple Blitz Attack
Combo attack w/ Ana & Yuna: Sunset, Ana & Yuna speed across the battlefield and attack their opponent with each of their respective weapons - Sunset with several strikes from a pair of her magic "wings", Yuna with multiple blasts from her machine gun and Ana with a speedy & hard slash from her dagger - before ending with the three performing a three-way uppercut, with Ana using her dagger while Sunset & Yuna with their fists.
- Pheonix Buster
Combo attack w/ the Zeta Gundam: Sunset unleashes a burst of magic that takes the form of a burning Pheonix. The Zeta then transforms into Waverider Mode and rushes forwards, merging with the flaming bird and crashing to its target.
Relationships[]
Princess Celestia[]
The Dazzlings[]
Kamille Bidan[]
Sunset and Kamille often take the role of "babysitters" (as they put it) for the younger members of the team, and as such, the two get along very well, establishing a solid brother/sister-type dynamic. In battle, the two will often bounce strategies off of each other and the others to see what sticks, with Sunset leading the team on the ground, while Kamille provides support from his Gundams. In the dorms, the two often find themselves double-heading tasks like making sure everything is running right & nobody breaks anything, breaking up childish bickering, or simply trying to calm everyone down and get them into bed (it's a lot harder than it sounds).
Pink Diamond[]
Catra[]
Usagi Tsukino[]
Sunset and Usagi are close friends, with Sunset taking the role of a cool, sometimes protective older sister. After saving Usagi from the Black Moon Drones, Usagi took an immediate liking to her for handling the Droids as well as she did. Later on, when some of the others started to get more aggressive towards Usagi when she wouldn't tell them about Crystal Tokyo, Sunset was one of the more supportive allies towards her plight. This was only elevated when the group arrived in Crystal Tokyo and discovering how lonely and looked down upon she was, Sunset made it her responsibility, along with Koji & Sayaka, to protect Usagi no matter what.
Ana & Yuna[]
Seeing how alone they were, Sunset decided to take the young Ana & Yuna under her care. For Yuna, she was just happy to help her crawl out of her shell, even if it did take a while for her to get use to them calling her "Mama". For Ana though, it became a little more personal, as her attitude of trying to act bigger & tougher than she probably was reminded Sunset well of how she acted before she got set back on the right path, so Sunset made it her personal mission to help the more aggressive twin. Of course, due to how stubborn Ana can be, Sunset's methods for this often result in some tough love.
Dr. Akamashi[]
While she didn't see him as a good guy in the least, Sunset did at least recognize the love Dr. Akamashi had for his daughters, and she promised him that she would take good care of them.
Freru[]
Sunset took quite a shine to Freru from the moment she met her. A Droid so unique as her and able to perform such beautiful dances caught her attention right quick. But she likewise noticed that she had some sort of hidden potential within her, like she was ; maybe the way Celestia saw her when she took her under her wing. When her father passed, she decided to take Freru under her wing, taking notice of another wayward soul that wanted to get more out of life. While she might not know how to give her the right advice all the time, she tries her best to console her young friend with her problems to the best of her abilities, especially when the young Droid started to have ill feelings for not being used to combat like the others, and is willing to help train her to use her powers to at least defend herself.
Usagi's "Company"[]
While Sunset doesn't interact with Usagi's friend-circle as much, she does consider them to be good friends and trusted them with Usagi's safety. Mohm in particular she found a fondness for, both through her willing to stand alongside the others despite not having any powers and for creating her Power Gauntlets.
Agnes Ryuzaki[]
Drum[]
Atros[]
Starscream[]
In their short time together, Sunset acted as a supportive younger sister-type towards Starscream, giving him support when he shows doubt about his place on the team. Starscream also repays this by also supporting her whenever she has her doubts.
Heralds of Unicron[]
L.O.S.R.[]
Like her teammates, Sunset detests L.O.S.R. for the lengths they'll go to get what they want, crushing anyone who stands in their way of world conquest, and just generally being jerks. Like most of the other founding members of the team, what disgusted her the most about them was how they treated their androids. Most of them were modeled to look like children, some even acting like kids, and almost all of them were created for a dark, twisted purpose. Thankfully she and the team managed to save them from their dark origins but creating children to fight their battles was something truly unforgivable, meaning that Sunset had no qualms over aiding the others in crushing the organization's evil plans.
Axis Zeon[]
Glemy Faction[]
Guild of the Multiverse[]
Notes[]
Sunset's "Phoenix" Form comes from the shot at the ending of "My Past is Not Today" and was made into her "Super Mode" in this series to give her something a little more unique amongst the cast, and giving several magic & light-based weapons & super moves in this series. The way her wings operate in particular is heavily inspired by the "Wings of Light" used by the Victory 2 Gundam, with Sunset using them to either slash through enemies as she flies by them or manipulate them to act as shields or "beam sabers" to strike her enemies.
Like how Usagi's friends in the series are inspired by her dynamics in her in her original series, Sunset's closest friendships on the team are an aversion to MLP's main character, Twilight Sparkle's, especially the Elements of Harmony, with Sunset herself obviously taking the part of Magic/Sorcery (a desire to learn, to understand the world around them, as well as others and herself). Of course, most of these characters grow a little more into these traits as the series goes on.
- The Elements
- Starscream - Honesty/Strength: someone who's unashamed of who they are; being open about their intentions, being self-aware, just, fair, accepting hard realities, and accepting responsibility; very simple, down-to-earth & humble; sometimes even cynical.
- Catra - Kindness/Healing: being ethical in how they treat others and showing concern for the sake of showing concern. Subverted a bit due to Catra's jerkier/jokester-like attitude, though she's often the first one (aside from Usagi) to bring up how the others on the team are feeling at the time.
- Usagi - Laughter/Hope: to be able to bring up a mood, to keep up their friends' spirits, bring someone out of their emotional turmoil/despair, to make someone feel special or that they have worth; basically, to help others enjoy life.
- Pink - Generosity/Beauty: making sacrifices so that others don't have to suffer; resisting being tied down by concerns about one's possessions or personal interests.
- Kamille - Loyalty/Bravery: faithfulness/devotion; will put themselves in danger or take a fall for something or someone; generally good motivator.
In a similar vein to the parallels to the Elements, the Droids Sunset takes under her wing - while appearance-wise is meant to allude to Tokkei Winspector with one "human" (with a bit of fire-theming) working with a pair of robot twins - is meant to mirror both her dynamic with Sci-Twi in the original series (i.e., her helping a "weaker", more timid soul) and Ana to be a reflection of her past self - a bratty & arrogant upstart that didn't see the need for connections with others.
Similarly to the reason for giving Catra a Bartley in this series, Sunset has been given a pair of Wonder Woman-esque gauntlets to better protect herself, as aside from her magic, she is pretty vulnerable against some of the villains she and the team go up against in this series and she isn't as suited to hand-to-hand fighting as most of the rest. The idea is mainly spun from how some pre-2000 Sentai teams would get gauntlet "upgrades" to get stronger (most likely to sell more toys, but semantics) and, well, Sunset doesn't have much experience fighting fisticuffs-style, so this seemed like the best way to help her with that. Their designs are primarly based off of her Super Form in the "Legend of Everfree" movie & a few of her other designs from throughout the franchise, though they're also mixed with the designs of the Shinobi Gauntlets used by the Kakurangers (mostly since there one of the only ones that emphasize the knuckle part of the hand instead of just being a plate).
Sunset and the Zeta's "Pheonix Buster" is based off of Cybuster's Akashik Buster attack, and is one of the combos that made up just for the "Rule of Cool".