Points of Canon: My Little Pony Annual 2013 · 10:37am Nov 24th, 2017
This is the last key piece in presenting the multiple potential origins of Sunset Shimmer. It happens to be the primary source behind the most popular fanon interpretations, and it also happens to be jossed so bad it’s not funny.
Let’s pick it apart. The issue contains two tangentially related stories:
The Fall of Sunset Shimmer
We open up to an auditorium somewhere in the School for Gifted Unicorns, where Sunset is trying to pass a mid-term exam, as Celestia’s line on the next page attests.
- SGU has mid-term exams.
- There’s a map on the wall that is impossible to match to any primary canon acknowledged maps.
- A sign next to the map says “Do not put gum under seats.” Ponies have chewing gum.
- “We’re looking forward to seeing if you can top your ‘synchronized dancing cats’ piece from last semester, that was a dazzler!” Also a call back to Magic Duel. The stupid and senseless part of it.
- The examiners call Sunset “Princess Celestia’s own pupil.”
- Sunset’s “growth spell” results in growing a potted plant to about 15 meters tall, shattering the roof and creating a huge mess, which the examiners find impressive enough to clap despite property damage.
“Later that day…” Ooh boy.
One panel includes: Adult Lyra Heartstrings, adult Twinkleshine, adult Minuette, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight without her cutie mark, Shining Armor, Cadance, and a “Moondancer” who does not look like the Moondancer depicted in Amending Fences. This is not just a throwaway panel, even Twilight repeats twice on the page. Lemon Hearts joins in the next panel. They’re not just random admirers or time travelers, Celestia says “I have heard that you’re not getting along well with the other students” on the next page.
Pretty much no matter how you spin it, the entire scene they show up for is jossed out of reality, because these ponies are Twilight’s contemporaries at the School for Gifted Unicorns rather than Sunset’s as per primary canon.
In any case, this panel wants us to believe that a very short time elapsed between Sunset leaving Equestria and the Sonic Rainboom that gave Twilight her cutie mark – certainly no more than two or three years.
- “I have better things to do than socialize. I’m going to re-read ‘Advanced Elemental Magical Practices’ and then practice for my advanced summoning spells exam.” Notice also that primary canon does not present any elemental structure to unicorn magic, and there’s no hint of a summoning spell either, unless they mean summoning inanimate objects.
- “Personal relationships? Who needs anypony? The most important thing in life is to be the best.” Compare this line to the line that Sunset utters in Equestria Girls: “Don’t want everyone to know you don’t belong here, now would you? You wanna be a princess here? Please. You don’t know the first thing about fitting in.” Emphasis mine.
- “I see a pony who isn’t powerful enough. Somepony who could be great, powerful… Somepony that could rule Equestria.” Sunset is looking into the Mirror, so all bets are off, really, but I still don’t know if the image of Celestia’s negative shadow – light, rather than dark – behind her is something that she is actually seeing in the mirror or just a visual device. She does see something in the mirror, but does not describe it in detail.
- “No. You aren’t ready to know about that mirror.” Sunset is reading a book titled “Through the looking glass.”
- “So… That mirror…” Another case of a globe in the comics, by the way.
- The last of the scenes of Sunset pestering Celestia about the mirror involves a private picnic which nopony but they two attends. It does end with them walking off in opposite directions in a huff as a rain starts.
“Dark Magic – No Entry.” The dark magic section of the library is only nominally guarded by a single librarian. Numerous books include:
- Necronomicon Ex-Mortis
- “Pony Wars”
- “The Witch Queen of New Horseleans”
- “Salem’s Stable”
- “Infamous Cemeteries of Equestria”
- “ZFT”
- “The Observers”
- “Who was Megan?” – a G1 reference.
- “Memento Mori”
- “Who Do The Changelings Work For?”
- “The First Ponies”
- “Crossing Over” by Bell & Bishop
- “The Headless Horse”
- “Zebra Magic”
- “Black Magic”
- “Quantum Physics” by S. Beckett
- “The Cruel Horseshoes” by Martin
- “Secrets of Nightmare Moon”
- “13 Ghosts”
- “Lovecolt”
- “War of the Zebras”
- “True Tales of Trotsylvania”
- “Condestoga Cannibalism”
- “The Origin of the Diamond Dogs”
- “The Haunting of the Hill Horse”
- “The Ponyville Horror”
- “Origin of the Everfree Forest”
- “How to Stop the Unicorn Uprise” (sic!)
- “Soylent Green Recipes”
- “There is More than One of Everything”
- “Crisis of Infinite Equestrias”
- “Kelpies”
- “The Pegasus Prophecy: Evil of the Skies”
- “The Mare in Black”
- “Exorcoltism”
- “Beware the Titans”
- “Evil Origins of Canterlot”
- “History of Equestria”
A substantial number of those are Fringe references and there is no way Equestria has half of these books and I’m not sure why did I even type them all up because seriously come on what the aerial intercourse.
- “The crystal mirror… every 30 moons, a portal will open to… Another world?” The book that Sunset finds this information in is “Canterlot Castle: A history, vol. II”
- “How dare you keep this kind of magic from me! You know that I’m ready for this, that I can be great!” The context of this line implies that Sunset is talking about the mirror, but it’s actually a non sequitur: She does not cite any information from the book that would permit us to conclude the portal has any practical use in terms of magic, and in the movie she, likewise, is seeking magic, rather than any other source of power. And ends up going back to Equestria to acquire any.
- “I’m selfish? That book right there says I could become as powerful as an alicorn princess. I could rule here. It’s selfish of you to keep me from my rightful place.” Notably, “this book” isn’t the history of the Canterlot Castle that she was consulting – it has diagrams depicting horns and wings, which a history book is very unlikely to contain. Sunset tosses it at Celestia and it bounces off an invisible shield, which is something we don’t see Celestia or anyone else use otherwise. In any case, this comic would have us believe alicorns can be deliberately manufactured, and Sunset finishes with “I deserve to stand beside you and be your equal… if not your better. Make me a princess.”
- “Sunset Shimmer, I am removing you from the position of my pupil. If we cannot get past this, your studies end here. You are welcome to stay in Canterlot, but you are no longer welcome in the castle.” Actually, where does Sunset live in this equation, and where does she come from? We never find out.
- As Celestia laments her fight with Sunset, and returns to the Mirror, she finds unconscious pegasus guards. “She took us by surprise and just… just… jumped in the mirror. I don’t know…” How incredibly lucky for Sunset that it was open at the time.
- “Why hang it in an even more prominent place? Shouldn’t you hide the mirror, Princess?” The guard says “hang” even while he’s pushing a mirror around on the floor. It’s definitely not hanging. This happens in the throne room, and would have us believe a rectangular room has a corner from which the front door is not visible – obscured by a corner – but the throne is, which is also patently impossible.
- Sunset emerges as a human on the Pedestria side. A leaflet on the ground says: “Canterlot High ~ The Sundance ~ CHS Yearbook. Bring submissions to Megan, Danny or Molly, Room E-1.” Which is more G1 references.
A-a-and, that’s it.
Some analysis
- We never actually see Sunset fall in this story. She starts out pre-fallen, if anything, because she never expresses any change in outlook, all the time we see her she is like that. And this isn’t very much like what we actually see her in the movie either – examine my commentary for Equestria Girls. Movie Sunset is obsessed with a popularity contest comparatively few people care about enough to vote in, let alone run for. This Sunset is self-absorbed to the point where she rejects an invitation to lunch following from honest admission of how cool she is. Does not compute.
- The story does not explain at all how does the mirror turn into a promise of more power. Sunset is obsessed with the mirror, wants to know about it, is repeatedly denied this knowledge with no explanation whatsoever, and we know exactly what she finds on the other side – but suddenly in the middle she tosses a book with instructions to manufacture an alicorn and demands Celestia follow them. Huh?!
- In Equestria Girls, Celestia says, “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.” Emphasis mine. Notice that this story explicitly contradicts this: Celestia removes Sunset from the position of her pupil herself, there’s no way Sunset could have continued her studies after that, there is no choice involved in abandoning them.
It becomes an interesting question why is this story even a thing, but – the above cited considerations make it really unlikely to be a truthful account of the events of Sunset’s departure. Honestly, why would we seriously think any of that was true?
It is also important to say that in this story, Celestia clearly is more familiar with Sunset than we ever saw her be with Twilight, who is terrified of Celestia’s disapproval constantly. Sunset in this story shrugs it off like water, makes demands of Celestia, which isn’t something Twilight has ever permitted herself. This, and the fact that Sunset demonstrates no concern for any potential family she might have in Equestria in this or any other story featuring her is probably the origin of the fanon idea that Celestia adopted Sunset in some fashion, though I doubt I can say we actually see Celestia care about Sunset quite as much as this would imply in primary canon.
Equestria Girls
Let’s see if that’s any more useful…
- Sunset is interviewing the Humane 5 for the school paper to find out how they became such good friends. CHS has a school paper.
- Applejack’s statement is that they met at the fair, “but we weren’t really friends for a while. None of us really knew what kinda person we were yet, y’know?” Which somewhat contradicts the movie.
The story as told by the Humane 5 cuts in:
The Freshman Fair story
Most of the story deals with the Humane 5 tracking down their signature virtues, but I’ll concentrate on factoids.
- Rainbow’s statement is “I already knew Fluttershy from Cloudsdale Junior High, so we went to the fair together.”
- Freshman Fair includes booths for “Swim Team,” “Math Club,” “Science Club,” “Glee Club,” “Gardening Club,” “Soccer Club,” “Jazz Band,” “Knitting Club.” Not observed at the fair, but turning up later is a “Goth Club.” Trixie’s manning the Glee Club booth. Bon-Bon is from the Gardening Club. What’s a glee club? Is it a bludgeoning weapon that causes bouts of unrestrained happiness?
- Gardening club meets Thursdays after school.
- Pinkie is helping people find clubs. Which would imply she’s a student already and a year older than Fluttershy, when in Equestria it’s the opposite as per Griffon the Brush Off, but the later story seems to attest this is not so.
- Getting dragged around by Pinkie results in a friendly photo equivalent to the one that made it into the yearbook – but not the same one. Even that is only enough to get Applejack to say “Hey now, ah know you two! Rarity an’ Flustershy, am I right?” on the first day of class. Note the mistake. Which Pinkie immediately repeats: “Howdy Flumbershy!”
- Applejack, Big Mac, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie and Trixie end up in the same class. How exactly would that work, considering that Trixie was manning a booth?…
- “Ooh, hey, Spitfire! Over here!” Notice that this story is the only time a Pedestrian Spitfire appears. Spitfire is the captain of the CHS soccer team at the time.
- Applejack has, as of that year, two cousins in CHS: Babs Seed and “Sunflower,” which never appears anywhere else. Notice the reverse age difference: both cousins are actually older than Applejack here, because they’re at CHS already when she’s at the Freshman Fair.
- Sunflower mentions in a phone conversation that she is waiting for Babs to finish the “stupid rugby tryouts.”
- Both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are at CHS already during the Humane 5 freshman year, and Rarity even interacts with the two – so much so that Diamond Tiara attempts to monopolize her and snaps at Fluttershy when she tries to talk to Rarity. Then, Babs and Sunflower attempt to monopolize her in turn and actively shoo both Applejack and Fluttershy.
- What the hell is this ferret doing in a tuxedo with a cup of steaming drink bigger than his head is anyone’s guess. No, really, I have no idea what’s going on in this panel at all. Pinkie actually states “And the ferret teatime never actually happened.” and the interviewer regularly asks her to stop narrating, so…
- According to Rarity, this period of being unable to re-approach each other for various reasons lasted only a month.
- According to Rainbow, the turning point was the first soccer game of the season, against the Shadowbolts. This is when Pinkie has the idea for ears and tails and spends all night making them with Rarity, and at the last minute, she petitions Luna to distribute them, and collectively cheering produces an increase in school spirit, and gets the Humane 5 together, prompting them to displace Babs and Sunflower in the process and solve their respective personal problems.
- The last score for the soccer game shown is 3:3. We don’t get a clear indication whether anyone won, but the Wondercolts are treating it as a victory.
This chain of statements that the interview ends with is interesting:
Applejack: Y’know, it sounds weird, but somehow I feel like we were already friends, long before we even met!
Pinkie: Like it was something already inside us, just waiting to come out. Bwoooosh!
Rainbow: And all it took was a spark.
Rarity: Well, thank you again, Sunset. I hope you got enough for the story!
Sunset: Believe me, I’ve got everything I need to know about you.
And poof, there it ends.
Some analysis
- At no point we find out just why was Sunset digging up information on the Humane 5. There’s no question, based on Equestria Girls, that she is responsible for breaking them up, but even this story does nothing at all to explain why did she want that.
- For that matter, this story does not explain how the information gained by Sunset in this interview would ever be useful to her, whether for the purpose of breaking them up or otherwise. I mean, it’s hardly even useful to us.
- According to this story, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and presumably the CMC are just very stupidly short freshmen, which is highly dubious for multiple reasons. Also, if they are in the same age group as the high school students, why aren’t they with the rest of them in Legends of Everfree?
Conclusion
Are you doubting what you have always believed about Sunset Shimmer yet, (fill|lad)ies and gentle(colts|men)? Because you should.
Theory: every one of Celestia's students gets the Premium Canterlot Friends Playset, complete with their very own Lyra Heartstrings, Twinkleshine, Minuette and Moondancer!
Corollary: from the number of them we've seen in some scenes, Celestia has had a lot of personal students.
4733742
Sunset was very lucky to escape, then!
Glee Club is sort of a singing/performance outfit. EQG Trixie would therefore be more show and less magic.
Um... Isn't In second duel with Trixie Twilight summon a parasprites? Although there a possibility that she create him.
4733777
Well, to be more precise, the word summon is almost never used. There are only two exceptions I can think of right now:
Notice that in Rainbow Rocks, Twilight doesn’t even appear to know the word “demon,” while Sunset uses it and all the Pedestrians present understand it. I very much doubt Equestrian magic includes anything even remotely resembling demonology – the view of magic implied by demonology simply isn’t very compatible with the direct action and transformation spells ponies use most of the time.
Since we've seen the EqG!CMC running around, there seems to be a strong connection between the High and Junior High schools, so it's not unreasonable to think some of the clubs - particularly non-sports clubs - cross both schools. It seems that Trixie was already in the club even though she's just moved years.
(No, I do not believe that the CMC are high school age, whatever the comics say)
Could be a joke about all the shite that Hogwarts: a History was supposed to have in it in Harry Potter.
He's advocating [against?] a particular enforcement of exile on pain of death, by causing Sunset to come through headfirst from above the twenty-meter drop in the throne room.
This thing is riddle with problems, but I'll just suggest a few partial explanations:
Since apparently different students take different tests to get into the CsfGU, perhaps some of the other students were playing around with an aging magic artifact and successfully activated it to prove their worth. It'll wear off in a few hours.
A lot of the age problems we see at CHS make sense if it is an escalator school that some or all of the Humane 5 didn't attend until the 9th grade. A lot of these schools have some students that are there all 7 years, and others that transfer in at a normal high school level. So returning 7th, 8th and 9th graders could be manning fair booths, for example.
4733790
Didn't the M6 use a summoning spell to retrieve Discord in the S4 opener? Or was that something else instead?
4771514
Discord himself calls it “summoning,” but ponies themselves do not, and Discord misuses references and terms left and right.
In turn, the Mane 6 refer to being called by the Cutie Map as “summoning,” just like getting called by the Bloodstone Scepter is also a “summons.” In a very technical sense, a spell delivering somepony a note requiring them to appear in court would also be a “summoning spell,” wouldn’t it?