Let's Talk Sunset's Apartment! · 6:55pm Mar 22nd, 2018
Oh, fans. Fans, fans, fans.
So ready to offer their opinion on the plausibility or implausibility of the various elements of something they love. And in the case of our favorite pony-turned-human who lives in the suburbs populated by an amazing rainbow colored spectrum of people, one of the first things they latch onto in the plausibility train is the living conditions of our now main character.
One of the things that had been bothering us Equestria Girls fans for a while was the issue of where Sunset Shimmer was living. Logic dictated that the other girls all lived with their families in the suburbs of the now named Canterlot City, but since Sunset has no family in the human world, where was she living? Fanfic after fanfic loved to speculate on this, with most of them having Sunset living in either her own apartment (with a variety of excuses how she was able to get one), or living in a conveniently abandoned building. Of course, this also led to the subgenre of "Momlestia" fics wherein for one reason or another Principal Celestia takes Sunset in after finding out about the horrible conditions in which Sunset is residing.
(Side Note: I'll admit it, I am a sucker for a good Momlestia story. It's nothing I'd explore in my own stuff, but there's a ton of good ones out there. If you haven't read them yet, I recommend Sotharan's Full Circle and Cirrus Sky's Finding Home and its follow up Making Family. Lots of feels and fuzziness all over the place if you too enjoy a good Momlestia story.)
Anyway, about a year or so ago, we started to get some answers on Sunset's living conditions. First off, on the official Equestria Girls page, we finally got a map of Canterlot City showing where most of the major landmarks we'd seen to that point were, plus a few that we wouldn't see until the Summertime Shorts and the current Digital Series started. Most importantly, it showed us where each of the girls' houses were, and much to everyone's surprise, there was a small two story red brick building with Sunset's cutie mark attached to it.
Further information came when the "Monday Blues" short hit. Here we got our first look at Sunset's apartment. But for some reason, a lot of people seemed to miss this when this short came out. Admittedly, we spent a grand total of ten seconds (if that) in her apartment, so it probably got lost in the shuffle. Which means that people really didn't start to go gaga over this revelation until Forgotten Friendship aired last month, which gave us a much better look at Sunset's apartment than we got in "Monday Blues."
And, no sooner had the hype died down, than out came the Plausibility Police screaming "Sunset can't POSSIBLY afford an apartment that nice!"
Now, most people assume, no matter how they stack the timeline of events, that at some point Sunset came through with a bunch of bits or gems or both from Equestria and found a way to convert them to cash in order to survive. The value of how much Sunset brought through varies from fan to fan. Some make her a millionaire who just hasn't changed everything she brought into cash yet, others make her stash worth everything from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Others choose to think Sunset embarked on a criminal career in her early years. Either way, most of us assume Sunset had some form of income during that time.
The "Good Vibes" short showed us that Sunset does have a job working at the sushi place at the mall. We're going to assume it's a part time job, since Sunset still has school to attend. So there's more income for her. We're going to assume a standard hourly wage, rather than a tipped position, because it's not clear whether the sushi place is a full restaurant or just counter service.
Okay, so we know Sunset has money from some source, therefore she has a way to pay rent. But here's the thing the Plausibility Police have failed to notice.
This is not a nice apartment.
If you skip looking at the furniture and the electronics, you can see that the apartment itself is fairly small. The use of the loft provides strong evidence that this is a studio apartment. Which means one room and a bathroom. (You can see the edge of what appears to be the bathroom door frame on the far right edge of the shot of Sunset's apartment above.) Odds are, the camera is positioned where the remaining wall we can't see is located. This is actually a pretty small space in terms of floor plan. It just seems bigger because of the high ceiling and the loft.
Under the loft, next to Sunset's computer, we see both a mini fridge and a microwave. The fact that there's a mini fridge here strongly suggests that the apartment does not have a refrigerator, which may also indicate that she doesn't have a full kitchen either. Having lived in studio apartments before, I can tell you that there are some which basically just give you a bedroom/living space and a bathroom, with no kitchen amenities whatsoever. The only evidence of food we see in the room is on the end table next to Sunset's couch in the foreground: soda cans and a Chinese takeout container. This would seem to indicate Sunset doesn't have the ability to do a lot of cooking for herself, or any real way to do a lot of storage for frozen or refrigerated foods.
Without seeing the remaining wall of the apartment, we have no real way of confirming if Sunset has a kitchen or not. Future Equestria Girls shorts or specials may eventually show us that wall and we'll know for sure. Until then, we're going to assume no kitchen.
And no closet either. As is plain to see, there's a giant storage cabinet on one wall next to the stairs to the loft, as well as several boxes on top of it, with more boxes under those same stairs. Pretty good chance this is how Sunset stores most of her stuff. We know she has a dresser up in the loft, which is where most of her clothes probably are, but everything else seems to be stored in the cabinet and the boxes.
And here's the big indicator this is not a nice apartment.
PIPES.
Exposed pipes EVERYWHERE. This would be a nightmare for any apartment manager to rent, unless you just didn't particularly care, or you could rent the place at a considerable discount.
Even Sunset's bathroom isn't free from the exposed pipes.
She's using the exposed pipe to her sink as a TOWEL RACK for God's sake! How can anyone think this is a nice apartment?
Clearly, this place is a dump. But just as clearly, Sunset is doing her best to make it as homey as possible.
Which brings us to the other things the Plausibility Police like to cry "What about the electronics?! A dual monitor set up plus a huge TV and surround sound system?! And the guitars?!"
To which I respond "That's where most of her money has gone." Sunset knows her apartment is crap, so she's done everything she can to make it better. Yes, she has a nice computer and guitars, and entertainment set up, but most of those are one time expenses, so she probably decided to invest in the best she could once she had the place. and she probably didn't get them all at once. She's been in the human world for a while. Odds are she saved her money and added bits and pieces over time.
If you look at the furniture and throw rugs, they have a decidedly retro feel to them, which makes me think one thing: Thrift shop. Sunset probably got most of her other furniture secondhand. That certainly seems to be born out by this shot of Sunset's alarm clock.
That thing is beaten all to hell, and I don't think it's just because Sunset likes to hit the snooze button a lot. So, cheap furniture, no kitchen, exposed pipes and it's a studio apartment. The price is starting to come down.
Next thing we need to take into account is location. Sunset's building is in the suburbs, rather than near the city center. So that means that it will, naturally be less expensive than an identical crap apartment in the middle of downtown. Then there's the size of Canterlot City.
Despite the name, Canterlot City isn't really that big. It's certainly not on a par with New York or Los Angeles, so comparatively speaking, the average rent must be lower than in much bigger cities. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's about the size of where I live: Salt Lake City and the surrounding Salt Lake Valley.
Doing some quick searching for studio apartment rents in what are commonly called the "shadier" sides of the valley (for a given value of "shady" in Utah), the average rent for a studio apartment is around $550-$670 per month. And looking at the amenities, nearly all of them include a kitchen. If they didn't, we could probably knock another $100 off that price. So that gives Sunset a rent budget of $450 to $570 per month.
The average fast food job around here that I've seen has a starting wage of $10.00/hr. Assuming Sunset does not have a stash of bits and gems to convert to cash, and works approximately 25 hours a week, that gives her a monthly income of around $1000. Accounting for taxes, we'll call it $850 take home.
Using the large end of our estimate, that gives Sunset $280 per month after paying her max rent of $570. Which is plenty to cover basics if she doesn't go crazy with them: electricity, gas, phone, and most non-cable internet providers usually charge only about $50 for service. Does this leave her a lot of money left over? No, but by this point, Sunset's probably figured out ways to supplement her income, and honestly, probably works as many hours as she can without becoming a full-time employee.
So while it's tight, yes, Plausibility Police, Sunset CAN, in fact, afford the apartment she lives in. She won't have a lot left over, but she can definitely live on it.
Next time: Let's Talk Questions Nobody Is Interested In Answering!
The bigger question is how did she get a lease agreement with no credit?
Dude, this is fantastic. You've done a really great job of analyzing the setting.
I'm generally not a fan of the "Sunset is a millionaire" story, but I will point out that Sunset's lifestyle also kind of fits if she is laundering money from Equestrian gold/gems. She has a job so she can explain her income, and a crappy apartment to explain how she can afford to live on her own, but she doesn't have to report her expensive TVs, fancy musical equipment and the latest video games.
I'm not saying you're wrong, Sunset could have scrimped and saved for what she has according to your notes, I'm just saying that she could also be living like this even if she paid for the electronics with equestrian bits sold at pawn shops, and still pass a tax audit.
For her present-day monthly income and expenditure, that just about adds up. It doesn't explain how she got from A to B, though. When she first stepped through the portal she was:
1. Young; probably too young to work the long hours she's able to now, and too young to get away with not being in school;
2. Utterly naive to the human world;
3. Probably not very skilled at mundane things like cooking;
4. Broke, at least in terms of human currency;
5. Seriously arrogant as all hell.
It's therefore likely that she would have needed some sort of starting capital just to _survive_ long enough to reach her present status quo.
Now this is how you headcanon.
The only thing I want to know is where Ray is!
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I'm not sure but I think there's something that could be his tank up by the bed.
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Maybe she hired someone to forge documents
I'll add that it appears the place she works is a sit-down restaurant (it has a door, as opposed to AJ's obviously foodcourt stand) which indicates that she's a waitress or hostess. Especially since she probably mostly works weekends, it's likely that she's making more than that, and wait staff typically have... let's say some wiggle room about how much of their tips they let Uncle Sam in on.
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Given the state of the place (it's probably not up to code) it's totally possible it's the owner of the building renting it on the side, or even under the table. That's not uncommon, though usually it's rooms in residential properties that are rented that way (people renting their basements out, for example.) Though if that space is commercial, it's almost certainly under the table. In that case, people don't check credit, it's usually cash every month. Which is really ideal for a waitress.
You can't upvote blogs, so have a follow instead.
Loved this breakdown of her apt! Thanks for going over with a comb the little tidbits we get.
In a fan fiction that I am currently writing I am going to state that Sunset Shimmer gets her apartment after her mother dies. I have it set up to where her mother is gunned down and Sunset not able to fully afford a place on her own must settle for a section 8 housing unit. Which gives her a bathroom, bedroom, living/eating room and a one third kitchen aka one cabinet, one kitchen drawer and a shelf for a microwave with mini refrigerator. All of which will cost about 300.00 per month. Sunsets checks will be 450.00 per every two weeks of payment for part time work at the sushi palace / sushi place. She will work Monday - Friday 4 - 9 pm and Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 5 pm for about 7.50 per hour. (might need to recheck my math on that though)
You seem to have completely left out the cost of food in this analysis. But that might be why she works at a restaurant -- leftovers.