At the end of Equestria Girls, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity accepted the responsibility to “look out for” Sunset from Princess Twilight.

In between Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks, Sunset may not have other friends, especially in the time just after Equestria Girls. Between the movies, Sunset would not yet have a way to contact Princess Twilight. She wouldn’t know about SciTwi. She wouldn’t remember ever encountering Wallflower. And she and/or Flash may not be willing to try to patch things up.

Given Sunset would have been spending most of her time between the movies with the “Mane 5”:

• Who do you think she would have made the strongest bond with?
• Who would have been the most challenging to bond with?
• Who would she have spent the most time with and what would they do together?
• Who would she spend the least time with and why?
• If you are a Sunset shipper, which of the girls do you think Sunset might have grown feelings for and what might have triggered them?

7452617 In order of questions, 1. Fluttershy because of her kindness, 2. Rainbow Dash because she is slightly paranoid and might hold a grudge until she thinks Sunset can be trusted, 3. Pinkie because she would try to cheer her up while never leaving her alone, 4. Rarity because she really can hold a grudge, and 5. Applejack because Sunset would like how Applejack is a hard worker and would invite Sunset to spend time with her family so she wouldn't be alone.

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Who do you think she would have made the strongest bond with?
I'd say Rarity. I don't exactly have a lot of reasons. It's just, these two value material things, they are both artistic. And they don't hesitate to use their charms to get things done.

Whi would have been the most challenging to bond with?
Pinkie Pie, without a doubt. It's because pre-Rainbow Rocks Sunset would find the hyperactive talkative, bubbly, optimistic and, at times, crazy girl difficult to form a friendship with. (This is sorta ironic because, from what we've seen in the franchise, Sunset is closet to Twilight and Pinkie.)

Who would she have spent the most time with and what would they do together?
I think Rainbow. Because both she and Sumset are competitive and tough, not "girly-girls" girls. (You get my point.) I could totally see Sunset and Rainbow smashing some high scores at the arcade.

Who would she spend the least time with and why?
Pinkie, for the aforementioned reasons. Not to mention that Pinkie would be relentless to obtain Sunset's friendship. All the more reason to avoid her.

If you are a Sunset shipper, which of the girls do you think Sunset might have grown feelings for and what might have triggered them?
Not a Sunset shipper. Sorry.

7452617
1. Fluttershy for she is knid and probably the first one to forgive Sunset.
2. Rainbow because she is a boasting girl, who thinks only she is awsome, which changed after rainbow rocks.
3. Fluttershy and, spend the time like a good couple.
4. couldn't think of anyone. Either Rainbow for aforementioned, or Rarity because she's too girly or something.
5. Yes you guessed it, Fluttershy. Her kindness makes Sunset to like her. Especially if she is the first one to forgive Sunset.

That's a difficult one for, me considering how rapid fire in the timeline Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks are. The beginning of Rainbow Rocks starts during the big showdown at Canterlot High and the Dazzlings sees the rainbow blast and immediately know what it is, it's safe to say that it's somewhere between 6-12 weeks after the Fall Formal considering the front of the school was repaired, so Sunset would still have been on shaky ground mentally and socially as she is still adjusting to her new lease on life. I'd say she hasn't had enough time to build strong, close relationship with the human 5, but has enough time for the majority of the students to at at least peacefully coexist with her(we never see her having to defend herself from angry and scared students and anon-a-miss isn't really canon to the EQG timeline, though they should have made a short or a movie about it).

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To summarize the answers so far:

1. Strongest Bond: Fluttershy, Rarity, Fluttershy
2. Most Challenging: Rainbow, Pinkie, Rainbow
3. Most Time: Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy
4. Least Time: Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow or Rarity
5. Shipping: Applejack, NA, Fluttershy

Interesting that there is a wide variety of answers. I think the lack of obvious consensus answers to most of these questions may be why the relationships between Sunset and the Mane 5 during this period are all over the place in different fan fics.

My answers are also all over the place.

1. Strongest Bond: Fluttershy. She would be the first (or second behind Pinkie) to forgive Sunset. It would take Sunset sometime to get over her guilt for bullying Fluttershy though..
2. Most Challenging: Rainbow is suspicious and slow to accept someone into the group, but is very loyal once she has accepted.
3. Most Time: Rarity. Once she gets an apology from Sunset, I could see Rarity giving generously of her time.
4. Least Time: Rainbow because she was suspicious for so long.
5. Shipping: Rarity, because Sunset would be attracted to someone who was confident, creative, and willing to spend time with her. Applejack or Fluttershy would also work.

Any favorite stories that cover this part of the timeline?

Needed something to do while I was sick, found this thread, here are my own answers :P

Who do you think she would have made the strongest bond with?: I'd actually say Applejack here. AJ's big thing is about family and once she accepted Sunset as a friend, that's just as good. Not only that, but there's also the fact to consider that we see Sunset being a damn hard worker after she gets a rainbow to the face. That would be a good basis for these two to share a strong bond.

Who would have been the most challenging to bond with?: I'd say a toss up between Rainbow or Flutters here. Rainbow simply because we all know how the jock gets with people she doesn't trust. There's a reason in most fics it takes her the longest to get on Sunset's side. I could also see Flutters being a hard bond if only because of the trouble Sunset gave her into the past. Yes, Fluttershy is kind, but you also don't get over years of abuse that quickly.

Who would she have spent the most time with and what would they do together?: I'd be leaning towards AJ again here. While in the actual show, Sunset is shown to be able to live on her own, there's no real explanation to that. I could see her struggling a bit more than what's shown (And wouldn't be shown, because Hasbro) and knowing how to survive through tough times, AJ would offer sanctuary. I could also see Rarity spending a lot of time together with Sunset after they had patched things up, if only because both girls are outgoing and creative in their personalities.

Who would she spend the least time with and why?: Rainbow. Even to her friends, Dash can be grating at times and her interests are so different when compared to Sunset's that I'd think the most of the time they'd see each other would be through things that are their common interest (Such as the Band or Sunset's bike) or during get togethers with the rest of the group.

If you are a Sunset shipper, which of the girls do you think Sunset might have grown feelings for and what might have triggered them?: Sadly, the one ship that I frankly consider to be Sunset's perfect ship, you've denied me! Because I'm sorry, the pairing between Sci-Twi and Sunset is too perfect. In all seriousness, though, if I was forced to give a ship out of the other girls to Sunset, I'd have to lean towards Fluttershy. While yes I did say that she'd be the one that would likely be the hardest to become friends with after all is said and done, I could easily see Sunset latching onto that kindness from Flutters and being INCREADIBLY overprotective of the girl once they did become friends. Kinda like Rainbow, except Sunset's got a lot more capability to go and do things other than beat you up for daring to harm the kind one. This is more of a 'bend my arm' pairing for me, though.

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The timing can have an impact. The Fictional Chronology in the Friendship is Magic Wiki says:

Six moons after the events of My Little Pony Equestria Girls, Canterlot High School holds a musical showcase.

Six moon is over half a school year, certainly long enough for Sunset to bond with the Mane 5. It may or may not be long enough for shipping to commence.

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Thanks for the detailed answers. That updates the list to:

1. Strongest Bond: Fluttershy, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack
2. Most Challenging: Rainbow, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rainbow or Fluttershy
3. Most Time: Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack or Rarity
4. Least Time: Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow or Rarity, Rainbow
5. Shipping: Applejack, NA, Fluttershy, Fluttershy

Still hard to find a pattern.

I echo your shipping preferences, mine are SciSet for stories set in EQG and Sunlight for stories set in Equestria.

But that is why I asked about shipping during the time between Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks. It is not obvious how things would go.

How shipping with Sunset evolved reminds me of how people shipped Fluttershy. Prior to her taking responsibility for reforming Discord, common Fluttershy ships included LunaShy, RariShy, TwiShy, and Big Mac/Fluttershy. After she took responsibility for Discord, the fandom seemed to have settled on Fluttercord.

In Sunset's case, After Rainbow Rocks, many in fandom leaned toward Sunlight; after Friendship Games, SciSet. And after Forgotten Friendships, some in fandom have moved to Sunset/Wallflower. I have not made that last move however.

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That's true the showdown takes place 6 moons(or a little over 5 and a half months going by a 28 day lunar calendar converted to the Gregorian calendar), so I agree it's not long enough for any kind of romantic relationship to happen, she also wasn't 100% copacetic yet, they were getting there, all be it slowly. She was also shown to still be dealing with the guilt of the fall formal and roughly 2 1/2 years of bullying the students(time measurement gets a bit tricky when converting from a lunar calendar to the Gregorian calendar).

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How shipping with Sunset evolved reminds me of how people shipped Fluttershy. Prior to her taking responsibility for reforming Discord, common Fluttershy ships included LunaShy, RariShy, TwiShy, and Big Mac/Fluttershy. After she took responsibility for Discord, the fandom seemed to have settled on Fluttercord.

In Sunset's case, After Rainbow Rocks, many in fandom leaned toward Sunlight; after Friendship Games, SciSet. And after Forgotten Friendships, some in fandom have moved to Sunset/Wallflower. I have not made that last move however.

Probably different for me then, since I had come back to the MLP fandom AFTER Friendship games was a thing and grew to love Sciset thanks to Authors like Albinocorn. So for me, it was a ship that always worked from the word go. Not only that, but I consider it the BEST of the pairings, considering the similarities that Sci-Twi and Sunset have. As for Wallflower, however... I've made my complaints about her (And Timber) known in the comments of my last Fanfic I wrote for the site :P