RTAC #16: When in Equestria does Sunset Shimmer? · 8:31pm Nov 27th, 2017
Following up all those recent Points of Canon posts about Equestria Girls, neither a proper summary nor a conclusion. And admit it, Sunset would look good in a red coat and a hat, stealing landmarks.
So, who is Sunset Shimmer? Where did she come from, how did she come to be Celestia’s student, why did she leave?
I will say outright that I don’t have hard answers for you, I can only say that the prevailing fanon is largely unfounded. I also have some ideas which you might consider fresh – feel free to use them, that’s what this post is for.
I’d read stories based on those, at any rate.
Question #1: When and where was Sunset Shimmer born?
Fanon takes on Sunset Shimmer tend to fall into one of the two groups, depending on what the author thinks about the temporal gradient between Equestria and Pedestria:
- If the author believes the temporal gradient to be zero, that is, imagines that time in Equestria and Pedestria correspond 1:1, Sunset Shimmer has left during the last cycle of the mirror, ~2.5 years ago, and was very nearly a contemporary of Twilight in school. The Sirens have spent a thousand years in Pedestria, and are ancient.
- If the author assumes that the temporal gradient is linear, Sunset Shimmer left Equestria prior to the Sonic Rainboom, and the ~2.5 years she spent in Pedestria took a decade or slightly more in Equestria, while the Sirens have spent at most hundreds of years in there.
We have good grounds to believe the temporal gradient is neither linear nor stable, but one thing that is pretty certain is that it’s not zero, so one of these groups is not canon-compatible. The canonical statements that we do have range from inconclusive to extremely dubious, but first, let’s collate the evidence.
Princess Celestia: 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 to her stealing your crown.
I already mentioned just how vague this actually is. This is all the statements I can extract from this that I’m sure of:
- There was some kind of teacher-student conflict.
- Sunset left of her own will, rather than was banished.
- Sunset was a student before Twilight became a student, but Celestia does not make it clear, whether a time period existed during which both of them were her students simultaneously.
Fortunately, Sunset herself clarifies that last part a bit:
Sunset Shimmer: Pop quiz: what happens when you bring an Element of Harmony into an alternate world? You don’t know? Seriously? And you’re supposed to be Princess Celestia’s star student? Then again, what were the chances she’d find somepony as bright as me to take under her wing after I decided to leave Equestria? Bit embarrassing that you were the best she could do.
As far as Sunset knows, Twilight became Celestia’s student when Sunset was no longer one. However, she gives no indication at all how much time has passed, and Sunset’s statement does not exclude the existence of other students of Celestia between them – it’s just that Twilight would be the best Celestia could do.
The Fall of Sunset Shimmer (My Little Pony Annual 2013):
I already wrote a lot about why I don’t trust this story, so I won’t repeat that. However, if you distill it in terms of clear statements regarding Sunset’s origin, you get…
- Sunset left after the moment Cadance became Twilight’s babysitter, but before the first Sonic Rainboom.
- Sunset went on a private picnic with Celestia.
- Sunset did not live in the Canterlot Castle proper.
No, really, that’s all the clear statements relevant to this question this source gives us.
Discussion
One thing that is clear from the extant evidence is that there has never been a moment when Sunset and Twilight were Celestia’s students at the same time, and therefore, Sunset was born at least as long ago as The Fall of Sunset Shimmer assumes – but she can be born much earlier. The given data does not preclude her from originating from any specific time period, because Celestia’s “not long” could be arbitrarily long, and Celestia in general is not forbidden from lying and omission of truth.
It’s important to list the things we don’t know, however, because that’s the wiggle room that the canon leaves us:
1. There are, in fact, several deleted scenes in Friendship Games which are dialogs regarding such return. But if you’re going to count deleted scenes, they also result in Pedestrian Twilight remaining with CPA instead of transferring to CHS, so they’re not a leg to stand on, surely. And even in those scenes, she doesn’t mention her family…
Sunset does not appear to be interested in a permanent return to Equestria, she never asks for such an opportunity, and in Mirror Magic, when the circumstances require her to return, she is quite reluctant to do it.1
- At no point throughout all the four movies and accompanying shorts, Sunset expresses any interest in any potential family in Equestria or otherwise inquires about it. Nobody else, including those who should know, mentions them.
- Sunset does not have any visible family in Pedestria either. The layout of the apartment seen in the Monday Blues short implies she lives alone, and at least has the dwelling to herself, regardless of whether any guardians exist elsewhere.
- Sunset never dates herself relative to Equestrian events other than the above cited statements. She never even mentions Princess Luna. She knows about the Elements of Harmony themselves, but considering that a reference guide existed even before they were revealed, this knowledge could be acquired at any point in time.
- There is very little to even confirm that Sunset Shimmer is Equestrian in the first place, which is why the question of “where” did Sunset’s birth occur is not entirely empty. Pedestrian Luna at one point says, “Sunset Shimmer, you came here from a world of magic.” – which Sunset does not refute – but she can hardly be considered an authority on Sunset’s origins. And considering that we do not doubt that Sunset was Celestia’s student at some point, she did come from a world of magic to Canterlot High, but that wouldn’t prevent her from being originally Pedestrian.
2. For that matter, Sunset had to have brought the Communication Journal with her. She has no bag, nothing in her hands, when she steps out of the portal in The Fall of Sunset Shimmer, and actually has no time to go fetch it after the confrontation with Celestia.
The most common way to fill those holes in fanon is to assume that Sunset is an orphan which Celestia adopted in some fashion. The Fall of Sunset Shimmer does make this idea slightly more substantiated – at least, Twilight doesn’t seem to have ever attended a picnic alone with Celestia, and is never so demanding towards her – but even that source does not say anything like that outright. In fact, assuming that Celestia did adopt Sunset doesn’t sit well with Rainbow Rocks and subsequent primary canon: Why would Celestia need a book to communicate to someone she adopted? Adoption usually implies living together, and even that story assumes they do not. Should Celestia have such a book, why would she keep it in her library, rather than on her bedside table?2
Unfortunately, the only way I can summarize this is “we don’t know.” We didn’t have any idea that Shining Armor exists either, up until his wedding suddenly dropped on us, so not knowing anything about Sunset’s potential family is no indication that they definitely don’t exist.
With this, here’s a hypothesis that might prove interesting:
Left Field Hypothesis #1: Pre-classical Sunset
In Equestria Girls, Luna says, regarding the mirror: “It has always been kept in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. But when Princess Cadance took over the Crystal Empire, we sent it here for her to watch over.”
However, we have never seen this mirror in that throne room. Even The Fall of Sunset Shimmer, when presenting a panel in which it is, in fact, in that throne room, positions it in a corner a rectangular room cannot possibly have at all. And there is a way for Luna to be wrong or mistaken without explicitly lying: The mirror could have stood in the throne room of the Canterlot Castle – before the Nightmare.
If the mirror was in fact transported to the Crystal Empire before it was taken over by Sombra, it’s possible that Sunset Shimmer was Celestia’s student a whole thousand years ago. This gives us the following:
- While the mirror is outside of time, in whatever limbo the Crystal Empire was hiding in, it stands to reason that no connection between worlds took place, and the entire thousand of years that the Sirens would have spent there was actually skipped over by the Pedestrian side of the link. Only a few years more elapsed for them than for Sunset.
- One of the strangest issues of Sunset’s origins – the fact that she’s sufficiently knowledgeable about the Elements to directly invoke the Element of Magic – is solved automatically: At the time, Celestia was the wielder of the Element of Magic, so Sunset could simply examine the original. This still does not explain just how did she know that an opportunity to acquire it presented itself, but this issue exists in nearly all other theories of Sunset’s origins, so whatever logic you use to solve it can be applied here as well.
- Sunset is not interested in her Equestrian relatives because she’s well aware that they died about a thousand years ago, so dwelling on that is a complete waste of time. For the same reason, she is not interested in returning to Equestria: The Equestria she knew is long, long gone.
Question #2: Why did Sunset Shimmer leave?
Is it surprising that the correct answer is “we don’t know?” Well, if you want a short, quick and stupid answer, you can use the comic canon:
The Fall of Sunset Shimmer (My Little Pony Annual 2013):
- Sunset eschewed personal relationships just like Twilight did and for the same reasons.
- Sunset desired power from the get go.
- Sunset was obsessed with the mirror the moment she saw it, and for an undisclosed reason, believed it would result in further power for her.
- Sunset challenged Celestia to turn her into an alicorn. When Celestia refused and rejected Sunset, Sunset left through the mirror.
I don’t buy it for a minute and I think you shouldn’t either, it has varying levels of incompatibility with every other source.
We do have some reasonable jumping-off points for theorizing here too, but we can go in a wide variety of directions from these. Here’s the collation of evidence I think is relevant:
Princess Celestia: 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 to her stealing your crown.
Yes, it’s the same expository paragraph by Celestia, again, because the evidence is so scant. While on the surface, The Fall of Sunset Shimmer would appear to be compatible to this line, it is not: In that story, Celestia explicitly casts Sunset away, without giving her a chance to voluntarily “abandon her studies,” so it is misaligned with everything even in that.
So, what did Sunset Shimmer want so much that she didn’t get “as quickly as she liked?” In fact, did she? Celestia is allowed to hold misconceptions about the mindset of her students. There are two relevant pieces of dialogue:
Sunset Shimmer: When I was Princess Celestia’s student back in Equestria, she gave me this. Even after I abandoned my studies, I held onto it. Deep down, I guess I knew I was making a big mistake, and I wanted to still have a way to reach out to her. Maybe it still works.
And this one:
Sunset Shimmer: Who could possibly need this much whipped cream? Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems… instead of waiting for you to cause a problem.
Twilight Sparkle: Just because everyone expects something from you doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen.
Sunset Shimmer: Well, that doesn’t stop them from expecting it.
Twilight Sparkle: Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is…
Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer: …let everybody down.
At this moment, Sunset and Princess Twilight bond over a shared experience. Now, the obvious interpretation is that this is the experience Sunset had after her reformation. But for Twilight, it’s an experience she is having at that moment – she’s trying to cook up a musical counterspell – and an experience she had numerous times as Celestia’s student.
Could Sunset “cause a problem” while she was Celestia’s student? Actually, she was pretty likely to do so more often than Twilight:
The Science of Magic:
Sunset Shimmer: Well, you are. Sort of. Back when I was Princess Celestia’s student, I learned best by going out into the field and actually doing something. Studying ancient books is fine for some people, but I like to solve magical mysteries by rolling up my sleeves and getting my hooves… uh, hands dirty.
There’s also this line:
Sunset Shimmer: When the crown and its power are mine, Twilight Sparkle will be sorry she ever set hoof into this world. Not that she would’ve been much safer if she’d stayed in Equestria.
It clearly indicates that Sunset Shimmer intends to return to Equestria after acquiring the power of the Element, and someone will be sorry, but offers no details of her plans whatsoever. It also does not allow us to conclude just when did this idea emerge – before Sunset left Equestria or after.
Some other relevant conclusions are detailed in my writeups for Equestria Girls, Rainbow Rocks, and associated discussion:
- As far as I can tell, the Princess popularity contest does not actually garner Sunset any popularity: Sunset is not popular or even particularly notable.
- Her strategy at winning that contest can only be effective if the number of people interested in this contest at all is low.
- The only other competitor we ever hear about is Rarity – by implication – and even that only once.
- Whenever Sunset’s sins are mentioned, the Fall Formal Incident in Equestria Girls is the only thing anyone save the Humane 5 has against her on screen.
Other than that, we have a wide open field.
Discussion
My personal take on it is that before her departure, Sunset has not been anywhere as much of a hellion as The Fall of Sunset Shimmer makes her out to be, and remained a much more reasonable person through most of her time at school:
- She took the Communication Journal with her. If she intended to take over Equestria before she departed, this is a rather strange action.
- The progression of portraits in Equestria Girls chronicles moral decay over two years, if the facial expressions are to be taken seriously, and the first one is rather comically sweet compared to the last one. Notice also that there would have been four crowns to win in those two years rather than three – and I don’t think Sunset won the first one.
- The only directly manipulative actions so far cited against Sunset are breaking apart the Humane 5 and the anti-Twilight campaign, but no other victims step up. There’s a very obvious and practical reason to break those up: If so few people care about the princess contest, one group of socially active friends like the Humane 5 can make Rarity a hands down winner before they even notice Sunset Shimmer exists.
It seems that the slide is gradual, but only the appearance of the Element of Magic within easy reach actually gets Sunset to tip over and decide to use its power for actual conquest – and revenge against perceived slights.
What were the slights? Celestia’s teaching methods are often seen as manipulative for a reason, and we have seen Twilight crack on multiple occasions. While the cause is normally her own neuroses, neuroses don’t just appear out of thin air, something causes them, and I suspect that Sunset had a genuine bone to pick with her teacher.
Question #3: Where is the other Sunset Shimmer?
A question brought up rather often, it generally resolves into a dark story, which doesn’t sit too well with the considerations outlined above. The canon doesn’t, and probably won’t touch it, ever: it’s the biggest piece of fridge logic in the study of Sunsets. The infiltrating alien needs to have somehow avoided coming into contact with her counterpart, and while almost all other notable characters appear to have counterparts, hers is conspicuously missing.
There is no canonically substantiated answer, but here’s an idea which I don’t think has been used yet:
Left Field Hypothesis #2: Pedestrian Sunset
How did Sunset Shimmer know so much about Twilight? How did she know anything at all?
I devoted a large section of the Equestria Girls writeup to describing how Sunset mysteriously possesses information she cannot possibly have. At the moment, I thought that the only way she would know anything that doesn’t sound like a cop-out is an ability to open the portal from the Pedestria side at will, but eventually, I found another option:
Sunset can know anything she needs to if she has a willing or unwitting accomplice in Equestria who has the other copy of the Communication Journal. There is nothing that prevents this journal from eventually ending up in the pile of books “from Celestia’s library,” brought by a completely anonymous postal worker, and in fact, this accomplice would also explain two other things that the ability to open the portal from the Pedestrian side would not:
- Why is Sunset’s copy of the journal in her school locker, rather than at home: That’s where she left it after using it the last time.
- Why, after sending a message for Twilight regarding the Sirens, Sunset waits for Twilight to show up, instead of just opening the portal again.
Notice that above, I said that there are very few, if any, canonical obstacles for Sunset originally being a Pedestrian. So imagine a universe in which the Pedestrian Sunset, crossing over at some point in her childhood, ends up in Equestria, attracts the attention of Celestia, and eventually, leaves. She is not interested in her Equestrian family, because she doesn’t have any: They’re all Pedestrians. She doesn’t want to go home, because she is home. But there is one pony she stays in contact with, through the journal:
Her pony twin.
Who supported her, up until she exploited this contact to ferret out sensitive information, which the pony Sunset took as a betrayal. Human Sunset expected she would have returned the Communication Journal to Celestia, but the pony Sunset had something else in mind…
Of course, it’s entirely unclear where she is and why don’t we see her, but Rainbow’s parents have avoided turning up on screen for five and a half seasons, so I don’t think it’s that much of a problem.
Conclusion
I expect the reason Sunset eventually got so popular in the fandom is precisely because there are so many holes in the world resulting from her presence, which are easy to fill with drama.
Really I have hard time to belive that Twilight neurosis are Celestia fault. I don't remember anything in Celestia behavior or in Twilight memories that suggest that Celestia teaching methods are so harsh that it caused mental problems. And I think that blaming Celestia become so popular that people forget another potential (and in my opinion far more likely) source of such problems - Twilight family.
I mean... Their daughter become a student of thousand-years old benevolent ruler. This is most likely a great honor and there a chance that they constantly pester their daughter that she need to be a best possible student ever and that she can't fail Celestia and other crap like that. Which lead to Twilight current condition.
I just don't find Pedestrian Sunset compelling, partially because that ecological niche has been filled in fanon with Lyra, and partially because it makes Sunset's behavior in Canterlot High seriously inexplicable. She doesn't behave like a broken hero - like someone who crossed the threshold and then returned to the ordinary world empty-hooved. She's still very much about justifying herself, but it's about being Princess, not necessarily going back to Equestria.
It's almost like she's trying to fill a princess-shaped hole in her psyche, and the more of those tinsel crowns she collects, the bigger the hole gets. Until she returns home to steal the real thing, a true crown. Which just turns her into a demon. Is it necessary for Sunset to begin in the ordinary world?
Honestly, if they wanted to tell that story, there were copious doylist opportunities to tell it, explicitly, and very few that would bar them from that. It would complicate the original, far too simple story structure of the first Equestria Girls movie, which everyone seems to agree, was too simple-minded and flat as it was.
Don't get me wrong, it seems like it would make a fruitful AU storyline. But it's an orbital teakettle of a hypothesis.
And you could just as easily build a rival AU storyline about the portal being intrinsically evil and corrupting, and has been whispering secrets into Sunset's ear for a very long time - first seducing her with promises of princesshood to lure her into its world, and then, once she was in its clutches, dropping bread-crumbs and hints until she was so far gone that it could start weaving stories of a magical crown back in Equestria which was her birth-right, stolen from her and given to some lesser light that Celestia had picked up from some obscure no-name family.
The only real question to answer in this alternate hypothesis, is why the mirror doesn't mess with Princess Twilight and Spike. And I'd argue in that case that the mirror is frightened of Twilight. Twilight is the bane of evil things, from its limited point of view, and she might just destroy it.
Well, also, why Celestia tolerates a dark-magic mirror in her palace, but I think we can all agree that Celestia isn't especially good at detecting secret evils (see Luna; Nightmare Moon incident). And Star Swirl is a big enough jerk to have accidentally produced an evil mirror without really thinking about the consequences.
You often bring up that you don't trust Celestia's words but here you quibble about the wording as if "they chose to walk away" wasn't common authority figurese for "I expelled/fired/etc. them because of their actions".
Well, the comics' theory certainly seems to be that being Celestia's Student means being in Celestia's Alicorn Princess Training Program, at least was widely believed to be 1000 years ago.
4736153
True, but Sunset refers to this in the same terms, so it’s not like this statement isn’t corroborated.
Huh! Pedestrian Sunset is a very interesting idea, and you're right, it solves a lot of the canon issues outright. Now I really want someone to take the idea and run with it.
4736153
At least according to Faust it's been about returning Luna, not about creating alicorn princess. My own pet theory that Celestia actually never have any plans beyond "Defeat NMM, return Luna". Which explain why Twilight don't get any significant royal duties after her ascension - Celestia simply don't know what to do with her.
I thought that was Midnight Sparkle.
4736167
These are holes between worlds. Filling these with drama would result in toxic spillage.
Ah! But we do have a canonical mention of Sunset's family! In the worst comic ever!
...Ahem. The Equestria Girls Holiday Special has Sunset talk briefly about her family in Equestria in the first few pages. She says she was never close with them, even before she came to Pedestria. And that's about all we get. Not very substantial or useful, I know. And the Holiday Special itself is at least as dubious as the Annual, so take it as you will.
4736195
Well, I guess I could chew it too and write up just how dubious it is, but…
4736196
By all means, take a crack at it if you want, but I warn you, it'll be the least jolly Christmas you'll ever have.
My favorite theory is based on a minor, now-forgotten fandom meme. A while before EQG actually came out, Sunset Shimmer’s very first appearance was a toy where she had a mask for a “Crystal Empire Masquerade”. A few fans mistook it for a luchador mask, and for a short while there was a bit of fanart of pony Sunset as a luchador.
What I’m saying is, I think the Pedestrian Sunset is her universe’s version of El Santo. We’ve never seen her around Canterlot High because she’s too busy traveling the world, using her wrestling moves to fight mad scientists, vampires, and mummies.
4736195
4736196
A match for the Star Wars Holiday Special?
4736161
So what was Faust's *first* justification for Twilight's studenthood, since her first drafts apparently didn't even have Luna at all, and the whole Nightmare Moon thing was a last-minute pilot jury-rig? As little input as Faust had in the development of anything past (some mysterious point in season 2), I'm pretty sure she had zero input in the Equestria Girls franchise.
4736196
Be careful, Anon-a-Miss seems to cause low-level brain damage in its readers, to judge from the horde of shambling fixfics it breeds in writers.
4736224
There isn't enough coke in the world to equal the horror of the Star Wars Christmas Special. They snorted it all in the course of making that.
4736215
Spread the truth!
4736231
But this tidbit don't contradict anything in EG. And the whole idea that that Celestia have some sort of great princess-making plan are fanon anyway.
And in my opinion things about Celestia tend to blow out of proportion. She pull some innocent prank on Cakes to stop their ass-kissing - and suddenly she a epic troll who toys with everyone for her own amusement. One article in paper that lie before at least once - and suddenly she eat cakes 24/7/365 on industrial scale. Her student achieved ascension - and suddenly she have a thousand years-spanning alicorn-making plan.
It's strange really.
4736215
Honestly, this is a much more fun idea than Oliver's. If for some reason I ever utilize Pedestrian Sunset, this is the fanon I'm using.
A great series of analysises and theories on Sunset. As always, I'm here to nitpick.
I'm not sure Sunset didn't live in the castle. Celestia could well have been kicking her out or her house when she was fired for being a student in the annual. Sunset's journal seems similar to Spike's dragonfire, and Twilight uses that to communicate with Celestia even when she lives in the castle at the beginning of the show (or that tower is castle-adjacent).
The idea of Sunset being pre-Nightmare is fascinating, and it does answer many of the inconsistencies we see. However, I think it's really unlikely the temporal gradient would be paused just because the portal went into limbo. I think the theory still works, but in this case Pedestria really is some kind of artificial demiplane Starswirl built to mirror Equestria. If it's just a construct actually built into the mirror, then the dimension itself was in limbo while the CE was.
One common theory for why Sunset resented Celestia: As of the S7 Opener, it's become increasingly clear Celestia was recruiting her personal student with the primary objective of becoming the Element of Magic and defeating Luna. Sunset may have decided that the best way of doing that was to be transformed into an alicorn and just beat the crap out of Nightmare Moon, which Celestia would not be down for, this would explain a lot of the conflict between Sunset and Celestia. Also, if Sunset felt like she couldn't beat Luna without Celestia making her an alicorn, and Nightmare Moon was going to bring eternal night no matter what... I'd sure flee into another dimension under those circumstances.
I really, really think you nailed Sunset's personality and attitude in her time in Pedestria before the first movie. I definitely agree about the gradual changing of personality based on the portraits, I've noticed that myself before. I hadn't considered the fact that Rarity immediately comes off as a strong contender in any kind of princess-competition, but you're right she does and it explains a lot about Sunset's targeting of those girls.
Another psychological thing to consider: For Sunset, it's not just a popularity thing, it's Principal Celestia putting that dinky little tiara on her head twice a year. I bet if CHS had some other Principal, Sunset would probably not have cared about the Princess contest nearly as much.
4736263
I'm with you on the rest, but I don't think Celestia's alicorn/princess-raising tendencies are blown out of proportion at all. In fact, that's not even fanon. Cadance is stated in the books to have been uplifted in a similar manner to Twilight, and the comics say that both Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Hope were on track to become princesses as well before they abandoned those paths. Sunset even explicitly demands to be made an alicorn, and Celestia only denies her on the basis she isn't ready yet, suggesting that such a thing has precedent. And there are other alicorns besides the main five as well, even just in primary canon, despite the fact that Celestia in The Crystalling seems to think that alicorns are usually made, not born.
We can quibble about the compatibility and validity of these sources, of course, but they're all official material, and they all agree that Twilight's ascension was not a unique circumstance. Once is a fluke, but four times is a pattern.
Sunset's popular cause she's freaking hot.
And also peoples are suckers for a good redemption arc
4736294
As far as I remember Cadance become an alicorn after she reverses some hate spell and only meets Celestia in the ascended realm. Is there any evidence that Celestia in any way influenced events in Cadence village or even know that Cadance exists before she ascended? And IIRC Hope seen herself as alicorn in Crystal Heart reflection or something. Cool, but at this point how old Celestia been herself? In my opinion not that much older that Radiant Hope. So not alicorn-making plan for her before she makes her homework and eats her greens.
What left? Sunset with comics which creditability rather dubious and Twilight. In my opinion not enough to talk about Celestia alicorn-making plans.
4736284
I disagree: She would not say “You’re welcome to stay in Canterlot” if that were the case.
Twilight’s tower is not castle-adjacent, and is in fact the same tower Twilight lives in well before she ever became a student. :)
There are multiple stories playing with this idea, so why not.
They don’t explicitly say it was Rarity. I didn’t even write that out in the writeup, because I thought it was inconclusive. However:
And in the end of the movie:
Assume this happened last spring, and it becomes clearer why the Humane 5 have not compared notes, otherwise forgave each other, or stumbled into a third party to resolve the misunderstandings that Sunset created: It happened last spring, and in summer, the school was out, so they haven’t seen each other for a while.
That, is an interesting point I haven’t considered…
4736541
I thought she was saying "I'm kicking you out of the castle, but not banishing you from the city. Find your own place."
Dangit, I forgot. That's right.
4736474
Celestia making alicorns isn't the important part. Watch Magical Mystery Cure again, and you'll see that she didn't actually cast any kind of spell on Twilight at all. Ascension is seemingly tied to the act of making it to astral plane by whatever means, which both Twilight and Cadance seemingly did on their own. The important part, is that on both the occasions a pony has done this, whether Celestia pushed them to it or not, she immediately declared them a new princess. Radiant Hope I don't think was even show to be an alicorn in her vision, but she was still going to be a princess if she completed her studies. The comic states as much. And I don't think Celestia was shown to be young at all when we saw her teaching Hope in Siege.
And yeah, the Sunset comic is dubious. But all of these sources are dubious. I'm not trying to say that Celestia the serial alicorn-maker this is definitely the case in current canon, because the show might well decide differently in future. I'm just saying that it's a valid interpretation given the weight of evidence from official sources, not just another overblown fanon thing.
4736667
Um, and? There a possibility that Equestrian law says exactly that - all alicorns are princesses. Or princes, if they male.
Huh... Yes, it said that she become a princess but panel never show us wings. I would swear...
Which don't mesh all too well with "alicorn-making plan". If Celestia had such plan then why exactly she doesn't put her so highly praised manipulative skill to make Hope stay? And they finally turn her into the alicorn?
And greatest question ever - what the point of such plan? What the final destination? I see why Celestia may need Twilight or Sunset as a way to return Luna back but I fail to why she would need alicorn Twilight, Hope or Sunset. Hell, from my point of view it looks like she doesn't even need alicorn Cadance or Twilight all that much. So what? She does it for the sake of doing it?
4736872
Could well be. We don't know for sure either way, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Again, it's more the princess-making that I think is important. However we slice it, Sombra's FIENDship and Siege of the Crystal Empire want us to believe that for over a thousand years, Celestia has been choosing exceptional ponies and granting them the title of princess for whatever reason. The fact that Hope wasn't an alicorn in the vision seems to suggest that the title didn't always come with a transformation, or at least that it didn't back then. But Crystal Heart Spell and Fall of Sunset Shimmer want us to believe that it is the standard nowadays. Or at least that it is if the title is earned, rather than gained through birth or marriage.
Who knows? We've all been asking this since season three, and no branch of canon has given a satisfying answer yet. It's all a matter of interpretation, really.
Journal of the Two Sisters claimed that raising the sun and moon was exhausting for the unicorns, and that alicorns have some intrinsic, mystic property that allows them to weather the task without the same risk, hence why Celestia and Luna took over the duty. Before that particular book was jossed hard by season seven, I figured that this was the reason; Equestria needs a spare alicorn to raise the sun if something happens to Celestia, because otherwise it means mass suffering for the unicorns again. Of course, while there's no canon statements contradicting this information, the source itself is dubious, so this may not be the case anymore.
It may also just be about having a royal heir in general. If Celestia doesn't have any children of her own, and doesn't want someone like Blueblood on the throne, then imparting a gifted individual with all of her knowledge and skills, and then officially granting that individual both the magical and executive power to replace her, makes sense. Though, yeah, it'd probably leave such an heir with very little to do with themselves in the meantime. If this is the case, Twilight is essentially just waiting around in case one of these supervillains Celestia always loses to actually decides to finish the job.
But, again, we don't know for sure. There could be any number of motives behind the crowning of Twilight and Cadance. We can only speculate.
4736215
4736267
I have her written in as an anti-changeling magical girl, but it's not like working in puroresu is all that difficult when Pretty Cure went full DBZ.