You know, I always thought it was weird that Sunset used to be in a relationship with Flash Sentry. Back then, she was a manipulative she-devil using Flash as a way to wrap the school around her hands, and it's already established that Flash is supposed to be a pretty nice guy (Say what you want about Flash, but you have to agree he's nice). So why in the world would Flash agree to hooking up with Sunset Shimmer? Why did he wait so long to break up with her? It's not like her cattiness wasn't obvious...

I'd love to hear some theories from you guys.

4168593 I don't think she immediately started off that way when she first arrived. Impatient and impulsive sure, but I don't think manipulative.

4168593

I can sum it up in two words.

Sex Appeal.

4168593 Pretty sure she used her sex appeal.

please let this stay alive..I could use some answers as it would REALLY help with my story.

4168596 You may be right. I can actually see her starting out unsure about Canterlot High (since she just moved to a new world), but then getting worse as she got more power.

What a sad realization it would be for Flash, that his girlfriend wasn't the same as when he fell in love with her.

I don't know about how they got together, but I think a number of factors led to the break-up. My personal theory is that he tried his best to ignore Sunset's manipulations, but what she did to secure her crown for the Spring Fling previous to the film was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

Just my theory.

Flash Sentry probably abused her. Both in human form and pony form.

4168606 Oh, you might include their romance in your story? I'd love to see that!

4168607 Poor guy indeed. First his girlfriend turns out to be a total bitch for a while, then the fandom hates you for being so bland and stealing their waifu. He really can't catch a break.

4168614 I think I would have had a lot more respect for him if didn't immediately fall for Twilight mere weeks after he broke up with Sunset. Hamlet would not improve

4168613

Uh....No it's a pre Equestria girls SS OC ship fic actually..It would help since I have a scene of the two discussing her motivations for power and why she dated him.

She's probably pretty good at manipulation and acting; we see a little bit of that in EQG1. We don't see more of it from her because she's already the king of the hill and doesn't have to pretend anymore. But when she first came to Canterlot High she probably kept her dark side under control, and one would only see the smart, vivacious face of her.

There's an interpretation of her which says that she's also an introvert of sorts, while under Celestia. That is, she studied all day and didn't socialize. Yes, one can be a bully and also sort of an introvert. But I don't think one can be the most successful bully without also being an extrovert, or at least having extrovert skills such as being a social butterfly.

4168620 Excellent thoughts.

4168618 That, and that he really isn't a character at all when you think about it. He's a carboard cutout put in there to introduce a romantic subplot that goes absolutely no where. I still enjoyed the movie (for all its many, many faults), but it was in spite of him.

4168629 Same here. And I also have a bad feeling that he's going to hook up with the 'lab coat/glasses' Twilight from his world in Equestria Girls 3..

4168629
I liked Flash in EQG2 during his assholish moments: Making Twilight cry and publicly humiliating Sunset.
The moments made him a jerk, but at least it meant a personality!
I just wish it was his true self and not mind control. Because as soon as the Sirens were defeated, he's immediately back to his old flat self.

He's actually a demon who cast a spell on her to love him for then. It wore off. She left him.

4168639 I'm suddenly very worried about lab-coat Twilight.

4168641 Kinda' sad that his only true moments of personality came when the Dazzlings mind-controlled him into being a dick.

In the Seven Days in Sunny June series, my co-creator BlueBastard and I got a lot of flack for portraying Flash Sentry as a jerk who hides it all from the public, but I think that canonically, there's a grain of truth there. The fact is that he was dating the school's bitch supreme, and he had to know that; they may have broken up when it got to be too much for him (canon) or he figured he could get laid more by not being with her (7DSJ).

But the fact is, there's no way he couldn't have known what Sunset's personality was once he started dating her.

4168647 I wish he would've apologized to Twilight, cause she just forgets he was a dick to her.
Thank goodness for Trixie's cockblocking skills!

4168593
I'd consider myself a pretty nice guy. No, not one of those internet asshats that complains about being friendzoned all the time. I actually try to respect people. A bunch of people I know say I'm a pretty nice dude. But I can tell you that I've been victim to the blight that is the hot bitch. The only reason I ever stopped being attracted to a couple girls was because they just had that general bitchy air about them. I'm a senior in high school. So is Brad/Flash. You really don't need to think too hard on this one. Almost all attraction at this age is based on looks.

4168660 Interesting. I wouldn't understand that because I've never felt sexually attracted to anyone before, and I've definitely never been sexually attracted to a woman.

4168652 I know right? Trixie made up being a cameo in the first film to fulfilling not one, but two useful roles.

4168668 Seriously? Wait, how old are you anyway?

4168676 fourteen.

4168676 Could be asexual.

4168593 My headcanon is that Flash was a social putz who just happened to get good grades, and thus had a good reputation with the teachers. Sunset started dating him to take advantage of his connections, and when she had everything she needed, she dumped him. So he changed his image into that of a one-dimensional guitar-playing nice guy so he would never be heartbroken again.

It's just a theory. Take it or leave it.

4168598 4168599
I agree with both of you to a point but there's more to it than that.

4168593

I'm pretty sure when Sunset first came into C.H.S. she was bratty but still Sunset was alone in a strange new world not to mention I'm sure that secretly was not only angry but devastated by Celestia declaring that she was no longer worthy of being her student and kicking her out of the castle. I'm sure that secretly when she thought she was alone Sunset wept; Flash Sentry accidentally discovers her and tries to cheer her up and during this both are smitten with each other (More or less due to Flash Sentry being the first friendly being since leaving Celestia and Sunset of course latches onto this) and try out having a relationship. But after the first Fall Formal Sunset snaps out of her funk and some of her dark side rises, and she decides to use her appeal to keep her relationship with Flash and use it to boost herself to the top. In some way Flash Sentry knows this and stays to try and change her and keep her from crossing the line.

That's one theory I have anyway.

4168678 True. But they already said they were 14, so it's likely they just haven't experienced sexual attraction yet. It is still a little young to feel that way about someone, or to understand what you're actually feeling. Just speaking from experience.

4168677 That explains it.

4168680 I like it. And anything that adds some dimension of character to that guy is always welcome.

4168684 Good point. High school was a strange roller-coaster ride when I was there not too long ago. It's kinda' nice to look back and realize that a lot of the stressful shit I constantly worried myself over didn't really matter at all.

4168607
I'm not sure I would call it love... its high school, they may think of it as love, but in general after the sort of break up it sounds like they had neither party really believes it was real love.

4168612
There could be something here, abuse (in this case emotional abuse if we are going down this dark path) does weird things to people.
But if we don't go into head cannon zone then there is no evidence to this, as non-villian characters don't do things like this in cartoon worlds.

4168747 It's my personal headcanon. I honestly don't know how two got together. Oh well

4168593
Dudes can do really, really dumb things when there's a pretty girl involved... just sayin',

4168785 lol That's very true with boys in my class

4168593

The power of boners compels.

In all seriousness, some hot chick, totally on the rebound, ends up at school with no friends, no connections, and acts a little weird. Even a predator would raises an eyebrow in that direction, though possibly not for the same reasons. If human Flash's canon friendship/encounter with Twilight was any indication, I think Flash digs the fresh strange smell of Equestrian immigrants. When Sunset got comfortable, things just got stale and something had to give.

Better yet, pure headcanon playtime now, Sunset actually told human Flash Sentry about coming from a different world; not wanting to date a girl claiming to be a magical horse from a different dimension, he breaks it off. When some other four-legged walker shows up, he kind of suspects that "another one" has come to the other side.

But that's just a theory. My little fun theory.

4168866 That would actually explain some things...

I think there is a major point being missed here.

How long has Sunset Shimmer been in the EG world?

We know that she left Celestia's school and teaching before Twilight joined... we also know that twilight is X years old and she has been studying under Celestia for Y years. That means the Z (Y-X=Z) is the number of years Sunset has been in the EG world. (sorry for the math but it seems like how twilight would figure it out so excuse me )

Alright Z does not really help us any so lets look at some other numbers to better judge how long she has been in EG.

Sunset is older then twilight. I come to this conclusion based on the fact that she was a student of Celestia before Twilight even applied. We can even go on to guess how old she is. In Canterlot High Sunset has to be between her Sophomore and Senior year (assuming RR takes place the spring after the fall formal).

I am going to guess she is a Junior during the two movies... which means she could be anywhere from 1-3 years older then Twilight (as everyone assumes Twilight is a high school student based on her look).

Now looking at twilights size and knowledge progression I am going to guess that 6-10 years have passed since she started learning from Celestia (these are sort of arbitrary numbers based on Fan theories I have read).

That means that Sunset was in the EG world from middle school (or elementary) till high school when the movies start, about 6ish (10ish) years.

So back to the other question

Why Did Flash Date Sunset

Okay, flash has probably known this Sunset Shimmer for about 6 years. Maybe they were good friends, I imagine that young sunset was sort of similar to Rainbow Dash, in the way she is sort of rude but only because she is blunt. If you go and look at the pictures of sunset wearing the crowns in EG1 you will see a change in her personality:

What I see is a massive change often seen in High school girls as the years pass. So she has won the crown for three dances... we know that Canterlot High gives crowns for both the a Dance in the Fall and the Spring... so that means that her true rule of the school started last spring, and to two dances before that fall and then spring before that were what lead her to become the person we see in EG1.

So why did Flash want to date her? well we have an awkward guy who doesn't really know what he is doing yet when he first enters high school, he has a good friend in Sunset from the last three years who he has grown to understand, at their first Fall Formal (at which sunset did not win) he finally gets up the nerve to ask her out. Sunset, who does not have a lot of confidence at this point says yes (even though she might not actually like him #filliefooler). Together to become a power couple and Sunsets popularity and confidence grow, she wins the Spring crown and is very grateful, but was their sophomore year passes she starts to want more and more power, until she splits up the human 5 and does something horrible to the girl who would have won the crown that year... these action really bother Flash, who himself has become less awkward and even started a band.

Over the summer before EG1 Flash and Sunset get into a bunch of fights centered around her action the past spring, he can't deal with how she has changed and breaks things off. That brings us to the beginning of the Fall Semester where Sunset returns to school with a vengeance. Remember the Human 5 don't realize that sunset could have broken them up, because they may know she is bad, but not that she is that manipulative.

Sunset may have power but is not happy and decides to do something really crazy, steal the crown (the whole she knew that the fall formal crown looked the same as the Element of Harmony is something to be discussed in another place). Twilight Comes reunites the Human 5 and defeats sunset shimmer end EG1...

Bam!

There you go a history of Sunset in the human world that answers the question of why Flash would date her and tries to remain Cannon.

Did I miss anything?
(I wrote this is one big crazy chunk..... please excuse any terrible grammar or glaring errors )

4168651
I'd like to think that the Dazzlings didn't just install a personality into Flash out of thin air. They may have cast a spell on him, but his Inner Jerk has to be there all along in order for the spell to grab onto something.

4168652
No opportunities are given for us to relate to Twilight's feelings about him. If he apologized, then the less biased among us would understand "Oh okay, he's a considerate guy." But the writers don't even give him that chance to show some positive trait of his own. Twi just automatically forgives him for being the first/only guy in the history of ever to make her cry (welcome to the human world of high school drama, Twi). Definition of Gary Stu.

4168677
LMAO, are you FBI 14, or actual 14?
(Joke. I don't need to know how old you are.)

4168680
I'm not sure that's how guitars and Camaros work in high school. He should get more come-ons than ever.

4168695
Didn't matter?
Hasn't Hasbro taught you anything?! The fate of the world hung in the balance!

4168874

How long has Sunset Shimmer been in the EG world?

5 years. Portal opens every 30 moons (2.5 years). Sunset's been in the human world more than 2.5 years, in order to have attended 3 Fall Formals and won 3 of them. EQG1 takes place during the 2nd portal rotation, i.e. exactly 5 years.
Sunset's human form is currently 18 y/o, a high school senior. The EQG-Mane 5 are all seniors.

4168593
Flash may be a nice guy, but he is still a guy. And, let's be honest, Sunset's kinda hot.

My theory is that Sunset kept a low profile for a long time after landing in EQG-world, silently observing. She won that first formal whatever by complete fluke – maybe there were two other girls who split the vote (I headcanon that that first formal predates Rarity). After that, she realized how easily everyone could be manipulated. Sunset had to have been a good enough actor to get into the position where she could manipulate people. After all, one does not become an Alpha Bitch on hotness alone – she probably learned from the best: Celestia and the Canterlot Nobility.

Since arriving, she had been practising guitar to build up her dexterity… because, y'know, born with hooves. Flash saw her playing one day and the sight of an attractive girl who had won a formal contest, playing guitar, was too much for him. He asked her out. She saw how popular he was and realized she could use him to her advantage, so she agreed.

Incidentally, I headcanon that Sunset is at this point quite a lot older than she appears – in her 20's – and she's playing at being a high-schooler in order to stay near that portal, after her attempt to get a job at CHS failed. Flash dumped her because he found out her secret and was thoroughly squicked out. So squicked out, in fact, that he blocked and purged the truth from his memory, preferring to believe instead that he dumped her because she only cared about milking his popularity (while Sunset did do that, Flash knew it from the beginning and was cool with it because, well, he thinks she's hot).

4168874

Did I miss anything?

Textually, she was only there for high school. 2.5 years, the moment she could go back she did.

Which is why you need the comics time dilation to make the time line work out if Sunset due to the combination of
A) Being stated to be Celestia's previous protege
B) The wham line of "How is Sunset Shimmer?" one of the few times Celestia breaks her facade and is sincere, she's completely unconcerned about Twilight or the Element, to her it's about Sunset Shimmer.
But then of course the comics have her studying black magic which just touching the stuff in the movie makes her bawl her eyes out in pain, so yeah imperfect there. But you do need about 8 to 1 time dilation to make it work out timeline wise.

But yeah, the pictures. Sunset was not in the state of mind she was when she broke up with flash, and the second movie makes it clear her feelings for him were sincere.

4169018
Living in China I don't have access to the comics (even torrenting doesn't work well here). Most of the time I do a lot of wiki research on the comics, but I guess i just forgot to do that this time...

But with out the time dilation mentioned by @WooMod none of this is possible.... In apple buck season Apple Jack says that all her family in episode one were there for a Family Reunion.... then in Apple Family reunion Granny Smith says that the Apple Family Reunion almost 100 moons ago...

Judging by the fact that Twilight has probably not been in pony vile for over 12.5 years then we have to guess that in equestria moons refers to weeks (we don't know for sure how the cycle of the moon works as it is controlled by magic), thus the apple family reunion happens every 2 years(ish) and the portal opens twice a year (ish)... this can be used as an explanation of how Sunset knew that the Fall formal crown is the same as the element of magic.

4169028
I was thinking about the whole time dilation thing, but figured we could try and create a story that does not assume something we have no proof of... I think it is much safer to assume because twilight returned to Equestria with out a either much more or much less time passing that time dilation is so small to be maybe a 2 to 1 max. I think it is much more likely that some terms used in equestria (i.e. moons) don't refer to the exact same measurement as that of Earth or EGworld.

4168593

Aside from the change being gradual, well... dude seems to have a thing for odd, adorkable girls, and Sunset probably acted pretty much like Twilight when she first arrived.

So, basically, she lucked out.

4169073

I was thinking about the whole time dilation thing, but figured we could try and create a story that does not assume something we have no proof of...

Sunset was explicitly only there for highschool.
Twilight starts the series as a grad student so around 22 and would at most have entered her apprenticeship at most at 8ish.
There is no way for there not to be overlap, in their apprenticeships so they would know each other at only such a short time difference. Also Celestia wouldn't take away from valuable Sunset time for Twilight.

Some say that love makes you blind, and Sunset is a pretty appealing character in terms of design (and probably sex appeal too, as mentioned above)
Flash comes across as a bit of an airhead to me in Rainbow Rocks too ^^; Like, when he's asking about Twilight and bumping into the door on the way out.
So that makes sense to me.

4169027
I'm sorry but I don't think any high school guy would be squicked out at finding out that his GF-who-looks-18 is actually 26. If anything that only applies a bragging bonus.
As long as she honest-to-god looks 18 y/o, 99.999999% of HS guys would be ok with it (and if she didn't, that percentage drops to 98.999999%). He dumped her because she let her bitch side come out.

4169028
What's this about time dilation? You're thinking that time passes faster in Equestria? We worked it out and between all the TV seasons and the 2 EQG movies, it doesn't seem like there's a timeflow differential. If there is, it's slight.

And Sunset didn't really like like Flash. She looked a bit pained more out of guilt.

4169073
I don't consider the comics canon. In fact the IDW comics often pander to bronies in a way which I dislike (the idea of a nerdy Shining Armour, for instance), so I'm very motivated to categorize them as non-canon.
AJ's family reunion in S01E01 could have just been a small unofficial gathering amongst a few families. It certainly didn't look as big as the one later on in the show.

4168593 I personally think that he witnessed Sunset entering the school in a similar way to how he met Twilight. Then upon discovering that he was one of the more popular kids, Sunset started to manipulate him to her advantage in order to get more popular. Eventually Flash caught on to her true nature and dumped her.

4169147
I'm assuming this is based on what was being said in the comics... as far as I can tell (with out have the ability to read every comic) is that its still unclear if they knew about each other before ... also there is still the issue of the 100 moons since the last family Reunion ... if the comic says otherwise I can go with it (understanding mistakes made by the show writers).

4168874

How long has Sunset Shimmer been in EG World?

Well, considering how arbitrary moon time units can be if we are looking just at what has been told in canon, and that from the Fall of Sunset Shimmer comic Sunset walked out of that mirror the first time looking the same if not very similar to how she looked in the movies, I think it is a safe bet that, either not as much time has passed as we think, or time flows differently between the two worlds.

As you said, Sunset is definitely older than Twilight; if I recall correctly from the comic, shortly after Sunset's departure, Celestia took on Twilight as a student, meaning that Twilight was probably the student that came directly after Sunset Shimmer. Now, I wish Cadence had had some sort of apprenticeship as that would help frame it too, but Cadence kind of skipped the whole "be my student" phase (according to the comics and even suggested in the canon) and, after performing a certain feat that I won't spoil here, she became an alicorn. However, and this is a stretch, the comics have Shining Armor and Cadence attending high school at the same time (which is possible, but the Canterlot Wedding part I episode had a very young looking Shining Armor saluting in that flashback, so either he got in quickly or that would be a slight continuity error between the two), and Twilight is a filly at the time. Though time may flow differently, we might could place Sunset at their generation if we wanted to really do some wild guessing.

Although moons work rather arbitrarily, there seems to be a general assumption of about 2-ish years (2, 2 and a half give or take) for 30 moons so assuming that so much could happen in the span of 5-ish years, Celestia probably sent Twilight to Ponyville much sooner in her studies than Sunset did, meaning Twilight was probably younger than Sunset when she finally was exposed to the mirror magic of sorts. Course, going by that logic, Sunset could have mirror jumped literally a year and a half before the start of the series, or even two whole years prior. The Summer Sun Celebration (SSC) is an annual event, but that did not happen a second time in the series until after EG, so the year that Twilight went to Ponyville and the year she met Sunset Shimmer would have to have been within a year's timeframe, unless the canon skipped a SSC.

http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Moon_%28unit%29 It is also claimed that six moons pass between the first and the second EG movies (in other words, it is claimed that all of season 4 happens in the timeframe of 6 moons in the context of the EG universe, 1/5 of the time the mirror would be active/inactive) which would be roughly 5 months if we're going with the 2-2.5 years for 30 moons assumption. Regardless, we take about 5 times the length of time of season 4 and we have how long Sunset has probably been in the EG, and that is assuming she did not return a time or two to check up on things.

Rambling aside, if Sunset warped two years prior to the start of the series, then she probably did start Canterlot High either as a Freshman or a Sophomore, so I think it's pretty unlikely she has been there for anymore than 3 years our time tops. Humans and ponies age differently, and while we don't want to get into the complexities of the age stuff, perhaps the difference in aging might could explain appearances, though I'm not going too deep into that myself right now as this is already pretty long.

Why did Flash date Sunset?

Well, if we go by the comics, Sunset was not much of a social butterfly first showing up, so when she first showed up, she would have likely acted like Twilight, except instead of befriending the natives, she winds up wanting to control them. Despite everything, she likely still had a superiority complex of sorts going on, and her adjustment to walking may have been less dramatic than Twilight's (again, if the end of The Fall of Sunset Shimmer is anything to go by). First she was kind of sweet, almost humble even, at least to the crowd; slowly she progressed into what we see in EG, revealing her true colors. Rainbow Dash - Gilda style, Flash may have broke it off once he saw a side of Sunset he wasn't too pleased with; or, heck, Sunset may have broken it off with Flash when he criticized her in a fashion that reminded her painfully of her old mentor.

So back to the original prompt of how he even hooked up with her, honestly, it's hard to guess at, but taking the Flash was a jerk into mind from
4168651 , Flash Sentry might have been top dog on campus until Sunset topped him. Now before someone says "But why would they date then?" we have to be reminded of Sunset's looks in initial attraction. Flash was the lesser evil, and after dating Sunset for a certain term, he may have realized what he had been before and, wanting to curb his own influence, decided to let her be the greater evil of the school and fade into everyone's graces. Bad guy -> Good guy switch was badly timed with Sunset getting worse than she had been ever before. So instead of the earlier nice-guy not wanting to date bad-girl theory from earlier, maybe the male Alpha dog decides it's time to break it off with the female Alpha dog if she doesn't change her behavior to better suit his needs.

Sunset makes a choice between Flash and her aspirations of returning to Equestria as a would-be conqueror to show her old master how wrong she was about her, and, confronted with this with herself being on the rise, she chose the former and the two broke up. Since then, while Flash has not been the target of his former girlfriend's fireworks, he has been watching the going-ons, and when he receives an opportunity to topple her or at least put her in her place, he seizes it first chance he gets.