Mini-Review Group #1: Sunset Shimmer!

AHOY MATEYS!

The other day, Piquo Pie had the idea to form some little review circles with the intent of promoting some of the un-sung Sunset Shimmer stories on the site (either that or he just had a sudden hankering for ol' Baconhead... whatevs, ).

Anyway, having written a story starring everyone's favorite former She-Demon, I threw my tricorne into the ring and am going to review a little tale called The Sun Also Rises (very cool name) by EchoWing (also a cool name; dayum son, ).

Note: The story doesn't actually have a cover image, but who doesn't love pictures? I googled up a random shot of Sunset that made it look like she needs a hug,

The Sun Also Rises

by EchoWing

[Sad] [Alternate Universe] [Human]

In the aftermath of the Fall Formal, Sunset Shimmer has fallen. Her power in Canterlot High is gone, and she's been exposed for the monster that she is. With nowhere else to go and nothing she can do, she retreats to where she's hidden herself since arriving in the human world, a realm that links Canterlot High and Equestria. But she isn't the only one to know about this realm, on either side, and perhaps with a little help from her new friends and her old mentor, she can find it in her to rise again.

First things first! This story takes place immediately following the first Equestria Girls movie, and is non-canon with Rainbow Rocks (though I suppose it could fit into the canon, but not without some serious suspension of disbelief... kinda like what we all had to do watching the first movie in order to not go crazynuts over stuff that didn't make a whole lot of sense, ).

Speaking of the stuff that didn't make sense in EQG1, this story makes a serious attempt to fill in some of those plot holes, addressing such issues ranging from how Sunset Shimmer knew about events happening back in Equestria, where she calls home in the EQG world, and why Principal Celestia doesn't seem to bat an eyelash at the front of her school being blown the f#*% up.

"The Botox keeps me from expressing emotion... I'm positively livid right now, in case you're wondering."

This story does a pretty good job of this, though the explanations in turn raise a few new questions (like why Snips & Snails seem to have inside knowledge regarding the transportation of ancient and supposedly secret magical artifacts across Equestria, ).

The other thing this tale does is give us a view of Sunset's first few steps on the path to redemption, and it pulls together a whole cavalcade of common ideas that have popped up in the myriad Sundemption fics that people have written, weaving them together inside a handy-dandy, easy-to-carry, won't-get-nabbed-by-the-TSA-if-you-try-to-pass-it-off-as-a-carry-on pocket dimension.

Cespenar is good butler, OH YES!!*

Anyway, the story brings a lot of ideas and characters together in a fairly short amount of time, which at times can feel almost sort of overwhelming, but at the core of everything are Sunset's feelings and her struggle to come to grips with what she's done now that the Magic of Friendship has rainbow-lasered the evil out of her. The story is tagged with [Sad], but to be perfectly honest it didn't feel all that sad by the end because you're left with an uplifting feeling as Sunset is predictably (but not in a bad way) forgiven even though she doesn't think she deserves it. There are also some really good character tidbits scattered throughout and a decent amount of both comedic and heartfelt moments wrought from the interaction between the Mane 6 and their EQG counterparts.

I'm not really qualified to judge a story based on grammar (or really anything beyond basic spelling), but neither did I spot any major flaws or formatting issues; it was a clean, easy read. It felt a little like an info dump at some points, but nowhere near as bad as it could've been, with enough little dabs of character color to keep you focused and entertained while one princess/principal or another gives you the lowdown on who they've been interdimensional penpals with, among other things.

Overall, I recommend this story if for nothing else to see a very interesting take on filling in the gaps of the first EQG movie, and for some good ol' fashioned Sunset Shimmer friendshippin'. I mean seriously, who doesn't want to see more of MLP's most loved recently-reformed, would-be, world-conquering, bad-girl-turned-super-cute squee machine?

"I'm actually just biding my time, making everyone love me so that
none of them will notice that I still have that sledgehammer handy!"

*If you understood this joke then congratulations: you've been playing video games for too damn long!

Comments

[EchoWing]

Thanks so much for looking at my story and for such a positive review! The lack of a cover image for this and the rest of my works does bother me - I hope to one day amend that. Just need to find an artist to commission...

In truth, the story's name was the best one I could think of; it fit with the theme of the story and it was a literary allusion, so I figured, why not roll with it? As for my username, oh, there's a tale long in telling. You may also want to take a peek at this blog post - it may help to resolve some of your lingering questions, and what isn't resolved there will definitely be addressed in my next story revolving around Sunset Shimmer, particularly your question regarding Snips and Snails.

Thanks again, and I hope that you similarly come to enjoy the follow-up, "Six Nights (and a Day) with Sunset". I just have to finish the dang thing first. Dratted real life obligations getting in the way.