Headscratchers / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

Why did Sunset just take control of some students?

• If Sunset Shimmer had the ability to mind control anyone for her invasion plan, why did she take control of a bunch of high school students? Why didn't she go after a far more powerful group like, say, the U.S. Marines?
  • Depends on how much range the mind control artifact has. If she can brainwash everyone in town, it's a legitimate question. If she can only brainwash people within a certain radius, then if that radius is less than a decent-sized sniper rifle, she's pretty screwed.
    • This also raises a further question. Considering that not just Demons, but magical pony-girl things suddenly appear in "normal" Earth, wouldn't this entire event be earth-shattering as it proves the existence of "aliens"? Considering YouTube exists as well, there's not really gonna be anyway that this doesn't become a global issue after about 2000 videos of "DEMONS VS MAGIC HORSEWOMEN @ CANTERLOT HIGH" are uploaded in the aftermath by the student body.
    • No reasonable adult is going to believe that those videos are real. People post a lot of the same stuff all the time and even if anyone took pictures of the mane cast with wings and pony ears, they can just lie and say that those were just props.
    • There is the ripped-apart entrance and the 30-foot crater on the front lawn. If nothing else, the police would have to investigate it as a presumed bomb.
    • Yes, the police would try to investigate the 30-foot crater on the front lawn and probably presume that it was a bomb. However, considering that the entire school would say something completely different from the bomb theory, said explanation is not something normal, there is no way to prove said explanation is true and probably just as little to prove the bomb theory, it's likely that the police will probably classify the whole thing as a prank the whole school collaborated on, or some unsolvable case. I mean really, the whole thing is really unbelievable considering the setting.
    • But now multiple people are aware of the portal to Equestria. Even if no one believes the students, they can still enter the portal.
    • Not for another 2.5 years. Even if Sunset is forthcoming with the details of its operation, that's a long period of inactivity.
    • I'm thinking that she's been abusing these teens for years, and her dark magic only affects people who fear her. Notice the Humane 6 don't fear her anymore, they just hate her outright for ruining their friendship. Also Celestia and Luna are nowhere to be seen in that scene as well. Friendship is magic, but Fear is Witchcraft?
    • It's an alternate world; there is no world outside of the school and the surrounding environments, possibly. It'd explain why nobody minds Twilight sleeping in the library or that no one ever changes clothes.
    • This can't be right either, since Pinkie Pie quite clearly makes mention of other towns with other schools.
    • I assume she thought she didn't need to. The Equestrian military is not known for its amazing strength and Shimmer by then has the power of a corrupted Element of Magic, simultaneously ensuring (or so she thought) the Elements would not be able to stop her. In addition, she can turn her servants into demons.
  • A: the movie was almost over, and B: It would've pushed the animation budget to include more and more humans that weren't cookie-cutter students.
  • The portal was almost closing and Sunset knew it. There wasn't time to brainwash anyone else.

Why didn't Twilight have her crown protected?

• Why didn't Twilight have her crown protected? If they knew it was so important, and they were staying in a different place that night, why take the risk of causing all the Elements of Harmony to stop working and causing anyone who steals it to become evil demons bent on taking over the world?
  • Here's a more important question. Why the hell did they make her Element of Magic crown her princess crown?! They were just ASKING for it to be stolen. Surely they could have just made a replica or something to be used.
    • It wasn't her choice. The Element shifted to become her crown, when she ascended.
    • Plus, there's the fact that having all the Elements has proven to be disastrous (Discord first reawakening) or make them very hard to get to (Changeling invasion).
    • Let me answer that question with another question. Who'd be stupid enough to steal from an alicorn, in their own room? Since to ponies, alicorns are like gods, doing that would be just plain suicidal.
    • All they'd need is the element of surprise, which Sunset Shimmer got. She caught Twilight off-guard and got away with stealing the crown. Or alternately, gain their trust before striking, which is kind of like what Chrysalis did. Plus, if Sunset Shimmer wasn't hilariously indifferent to the risks of disappointing Celestia, she'd never have acted like such a bitch to get herself banished in the first place.
    • Didn't Celestia cast a spell to keep Discord from touching the Elements?
    • Oh yeah, cause one who studied the Element enough to know what it could to do in the human world and was a former protégée to Celestia couldn't bypass a spell meant to protect the crown.
    • As I said, Discord can't touch it, but anypony else can. That's why Sunset could grab it.
  • You need a big Willing Suspension of Disbelief for this movie... it's the characters juggling one Idiot Ball after another.
    • That's just personal opinion. You're saying that it's an Idiot Ball for the crown to be stolen in a place wherein there was zero reason to be afraid that it will be stolen. A castle with guards in the middle of the Crystal Empire, a land filled with happy ponies who love their rulers. Yes, it's really idiotic to leave the crown right next to Twilight's bed unprotected in what is possibly the safest place.
    • The Elements were originally stored in a safe only Celestia could open. It's been established that there's fear of them getting stolen.
    • Yes, there was a fear. However such fear would naturally be lessened in a place and during a time that everyone thought was safe. No one anticipated that somebody would pass through a portal and steal the crown in the Crystal Kingdom and during a time of peace.
    • Note that at the time this happens, the person Celestia was most afraid would steal the Elements, as well as the potential threat that made her so vigilant about keeping the Elements handy in the first place — Discord — has apparently redeemed and made a non-aggression pact with Equestria. Yeah, not a mystery why their guard was relaxed a bit.

Why did nopony check on Twilight near the deadline?

• Twilight ran into the portal again at more or less the last second, right? Did nobody on the other end wonder, "Oh, hey, it's getting close to the deadline. Should we maybe check if she's okay?"
  • If anypony went through the portal to see if she was okay, they would risk getting stuck in the human world along with her.
    • Yeah, it's not as if the show is built on their friendship or anything, it'd be completely unreasonable to expect any of them, particularly the one whose element is Loyalty, to take any risks in trying to help.
  • Celestia says that too many ponies going through the portal causes problems, but she never explains exactly how bad it would be. Personally, I was imagining an It's Walky! style heat death of the universe if too much matter is exchanged, meaning a failed rescue attempt could mean genocide.
  • Maybe someone did check on her and we don't see it? Twilight spends a lot of time dancing at the Fall Formal after the Final Battle. Perhaps Cadance sent a guard through at the end and Twilight said, "I'll be there in a minute" thing.

Sunset Shimmer's plan

• Sunset stole the crown for its power. OK. Then she makes fun of Twilight for not knowing what an Element of Harmony can do outside of Equestria. OK. But her plan is to go back to Equestria. So she'd still be a demon? Maybe in the pony form? But wait, her plan was to conquer Equestria with a couple dozen brainless zombie teenagers, plus Snips and Snails? She may as well have taken on Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and the Mane 6 with the crown at the very start, since that's only slightly less ridiculous than her actual plan.
  • She has both Celestia and Luna human carnation under her thrall. Meaning she has two alicorns on her side when she crosses over, not only giving the aforementioned alicorns and maybe other shock enough for a surprise attack, but also allowing her an easier way to control Equestria since it would look like Luna and Celestia were abdicating for Sunset Shimmer.
    • It doesn't look like she is controlling Celestia or Luna, given how they seem to work against her. (If she did have them under her control, then why on earth would she go to all this trouble?)
    • Well, alicorns have proven to be... fallible on certain occasion. Plus chance of cannon fodder. And maybe she didn't get to brainwashing them when she went One-Winged Angel.
    • Wrong. She has human Celestia and Luna on her side when she crosses over. Humans, who have never cast a single spell in their entire lives, and never flown a single mile on wings (because they don't have them). Just because they're alt world versions of the pony princesses doesn't mean they'll inherit the same level of magical powers once they cross over, let alone the knowledge to actually use it. Which presents another issue: not only does she only have human Luna and Celestia, she also only has zombie human Luna and Celestia, meaning that even if they did gain knowledge and the ability to use their magic when they come over (which is a huge assumption), it is utterly lost and rendered useless. Sorry, but this version of "Celestia and Luna" is no more special or useful than any of the other zombified Mooks.
    • ...Wow, obviously you have missed Sunset Shimmer having a villainous breakdown when the element of magic twisted her body and mind after it rejected her. So of course she wouldn't see it as you do. Her mind is insane in the mainframe and wants blood.
    • The Zombie Celestia and Luna would've been mindless but if they did inherit the same magical power, they would've been super powerful zombies that Sunset could easily control without resistance, regardless if they have the knowledge.
    • Despite the fact that she doesn't even have enough direct/mental control for the zombies to go to the portal on their own, and she needs Snips and Snails to herd them there? And again, no guarantee that they'll actually have that sort of latent power just because they share the same appearance.
    • Seemed more like she was busy dealing with Twilight and needed some lieutenants to command the zombies, rather than she having no direct control. Also, while there is no guarantee that they'll have the same latent power just because they share the same appearance, there's also no guarantee that they won't have same power.
    • Again, people forget she has the power to turn subordinates into demons at will. Maybe an army of teens is not threatening, but an army of winged, clawed abominations of nature certainly would.

Why did Sunset not just steal the crown from Principal Celestia instead of banking on the votes of all the other students to get her crowned at the dance?

• If Sunset Shimmer wanted the crown so badly, why didn't she just steal it from Principal Celestia instead of banking on the votes of all the other students to get her crowned at the dance? She's clearly not above such a crime.
  • Possibly because of cockiness. This was technically her home turf, one she made sure that she could manipulate. She'd won it at least three times after all, and if she has to wait till prom to get the crown, than she can wait.
  • Principal Celestia mentioned that Luna had put the crown in a safe place, so maybe Sunset Shimmer just didn't know where it was.
  • From what I understand, the crown Sunset Shimmer used to replace the Element of Harmony was stolen from the school. Since they already had the crown stolen, it's likely that they improved security, like putting it into a safe deposit box in the nearest bank.
    • Did they put it in the safe box at the nearest bank after it was shown to Twilight? That'd make a lot more sense as to why Sunset Shimmer couldn't steal it - Celestia had it, Sunset probably couldn't get to her.
    • When Twilight visited Principal Celestia, the crown wasn't shown to her. The crown was already with Luna, as explained by Celestia. While Vice Principal Luna may have the whole photo thing against her, I'm pretty sure Sunset couldn't just trick Luna into giving the crown to her. If Luna was that easy to trick, why would Celestia give her the crown for safekeeping?

How did Luna fall for Sunset's plan?

• How the heck did Vice Principal Luna fall for a bunch of literally copy-and-pasted photos as evidence for Twilight ruining the dance hall? Sunset Shimmer didn't even try to use Photoshop!
  • Flash Sentry finds the original soccer field pictures and the wrecked dance hall photos in the same place. Presumably, Sunset and her minions cut and pasted Twilight into the pictures, then scanned and printed out seamless photos to give to Luna.
  • That still isn't an excuse. Sunset's crude forgery should have been immediately identified as such by glaring errors in perspective. The amount of coordination necessary to produce forgeries like that would have required cooperation on Twilight's part or inhumanly good photography skills from Snips and Snails.
  • This a school. You know one of the rules of high-school-themed works is that Adults Are Useless.
    • And in real life, it's entirely possible for teachers and especially principals to be oblivious to the interpersonal dramas of their students. These adults have other responsibilities besides babysitting.
  • The mood lighting in Luna's office might have made it difficult to see properly.
    • It's also possible that Luna was open to the possibility of them being faked, but she simply called Twilight in because, on the off-chance that the photos were genuine, she had to investigate.
  • Here are the "crude" photos in question.◊ They (somehow) have no flaws, at least given the animation style.
  • Hey, if there were anyone able to cut out Twilight's silhouette perfectly, wouldn't it be Snips? You know, the counterpart of a pony with a scissors cutie mark? All it would take then would be some color tweaking and voilà.
• What makes all this worse is that Sunset Shimmer is feared and hated throughout the school, while Twilight has rapidly been gaining popularity, increasing her likelihood of winning, and giving her zero motivation to sabotage the formal. Unless human Celestia and Luna are completely oblivious, Luna should have been at less partially suspicious of Sunset Shimmer's claims.
  • Sunset's feared, but apparently smart enough to have avoided anything that would have solidly incriminated her by this point. Without solid proof, she had to give the benefit of doubt.

How does Sunset Shimmer know so much about Equestria's current affairs?

• How does Sunset Shimmer know so much about Equestria? She's been gone for quite some time, so she should logically be out of the loop on a few things. Yet, she seems to know a lot of things she logically shouldn't know about. Like the fact that the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Empire are back and Equestria's newest princess (who is also her replacement) is using one of them as a crown and sleeping in the same building the mirror just got moved to.
  • We've already seen Sunset Shimmer being Celestia's protégée and wanting power. Who's to say she didn't learn Starswirl's time spell, stayed a few days to get details and bingo-bango gave the detail needed to pull the stealing to the Element to her past self? It would seem the perfect thing to use for someone like her.
  • Who's to say the mirror was the only magical item there? Maybe there's a way to scry your way to see what's happening at Equestria.
  • Celestia said the mirror will be open for a few days, she never said at how many days, plus with the coronation, she could have snuck out without anyone noticing get the details, and there you have it.
  • In the book, Sunset Shimmer arrived in the Crystal Empire before the Mane Six did and was spying on them before they even made it to the castle. Presumably, she spent her time before that spying on Cadance and the other princesses.
    • Let's try to rationalize this. Sunset sneaks in at night just as soon as portal opens the first day to get up to date. She doesn't know about Twilight or her Element, but it's fresh news she quickly finds out. Hours later, she goes back to the human world to get a fake crown now she knew what it looked like (likely the Fall Formal crown as it and the Element were confused), and returns (in the movie, we see her arrive via the mirror's light effect which is too long to be unicorn teleportation) on Wednesday morning. The portal closes Friday night. That's a 7-9 hour window for Sunset to get up to date and make her plan, workable when the key info and components were so close.
  • 100 moons passed since the 1st episode and "Apple Family Reunion". The portal opens every 30 moons, giving three opportunities for Sunset to get up to date.

Aftermath

• Princess Celestia says that they don't want to upset the balance of the alternate world. But, a few things. First, Sunset Shimmer stays in the world in the end. It's implied that Twilight's human counterpart is somewhere out in the world, so what about Sunset's human counterpart? Second, in the end, Twilight exposes magic and the existence of the portal to several people in the world. What's going to happen then? Will Principal Celestia have the portal hidden or destroyed? Or will the portal remain there, meaning anyone is free to go through it?
  • Didn't you notice that after Twilight walks through the portal, Pinkie Pie tried to follow her and hits into the statue? The portal probably shut down right after Twilight used it.
    • If the balance physically can't hold more ponies in the human world, then what was Sunset Shimmer's plan? She'd only have been able to take a couple minions with her.
    • Based on what was shown in the movie, there was apparently no limit to how many ponies or people can traverse between worlds. There apparently was no multi-universal balance thingy that prevented the number of people. The only reason why more ponies like the Mane 5 didn't go into the world was Celestia's fear that introducing more beings from Equestria might upset the natural balance that the human world had without in the first place. Kinda like preventing more invasive plants and animals going to another country whose abilities might upset the local plants and animals.
  • Celestia admits that she doesn't know much about the other world ("You'll soon know more about this world than I do"). She was probably banking on the idea of "err on the side of not-accidentally-breaking-the-universe".

How did Twilight manage to spend the night at the library without anybody noticing?

• How did Twilight manage to spend the night at the library without anybody noticing, much less getting kicked out for trespassing?
  • Considering that Sunset Shimmer arrived in the human world first and was there longer, she might have messed with camera so that they do that loop trick at night during her earlier stay at the human world.
  • That or due to budget cuts they couldn't afford camera at the library.
  • Or maybe they don't have a camera.
    • Even without a camera, you'd think that a janitor would notice someone sleeping on school property.
    • Unless they got a lazy and/or non-attentive janitor.
    • Considering how dusty it is in that corner, that's entirely possible.

Wouldn't the principals notice that Twilight isn't registered at the school?

• Wouldn't Principal Celestia or Vice Principal Luna notice that Twilight isn't registered at the school? Is it standard school policy to allow an unregistered student to roam around campus and participate in the Fall Formal?
  • Twilight's double must be assigned to come to that school at some point. They probably thought she arrived early.
    • Jossed as of Friendship Games. Twilight's double doesn't decide to come to CHS until the 3rd movie.
  • This is a High School themed work - the fact that Luna fell for that photoshopping that is in no way plausible as well as how nobody has apparently told on Sunset for flat out bullying others should pretty much inform the viewers that the principals aren't exactly bright here like they are in any other High School themed work.
    • Ever told on someone when there weren't any other witnesses or the witnesses were too scared of the bully to corroborate your story? This isn't Adults Are Useless; this is innocent until proven guilty.

"Helping Twilight" song

• About the "Helping Twilight" song - why there is "stomp your hooves"?
  • In case it wasn't obvious, they kinda had a whole horse theme going there, per the school's mascot.
  • The place is called Canterlot High. They have a statue of a horse in the yard. They have a horseshoe motif in various places. The school team is called the Wondercolts, and Rarity made false horse ears/tails as a sort of costume. It's not that big a stretch to imagine that the school's fight song has multiple horse references - "stomp your hooves" wouldn't be out of place at all. Especially considering the song as a subtheme of school pride, the line is just another way of getting the students into the spirit.
    • I can attest to real life schools this - my high school mascot was "Sabercat" and during pep rallies they would ask us to "Clap your paws", "Bare your fangs", and "Roar".

How did the crown end up in Celestia and Luna's possession?

• If you haven't watched and are just gleaming the basic plot from this article, Sunset Shimmer tried to steal it, but she lost in the in a struggle with Twilight and it was sent through the portal first. By the time Sunset followed through, Fluttershy had already collected it and passed it on to the Principal, who then decided to make it the new crown.
  • Never mind, it seems I missed something, explains it. But this raises a better question... if Sunset knew that Fluttershy picked it up and gave it to the principals, then why didn't she simply go and tell Celestia "Hey, that crown Fluttershy gave you is mine... you know, family heirloom I was going to show for class/project I had for class/something I made in my spare time". Did she already try that, or was she just so prideful that she decided to win it in a popularity contest?
  • Answer in next question ^note It was identical to the real Fall Formal Princess crown.

Why was the crown made the prize?

• A student hands you a crown that they found... and you decide to put it on the head of whoever is voted Homecoming Queen? What the heck? Are human Celestia and Luna complete idiots?
  • The original Fall Formal princess crown (shown in the pictures on Celestia's wall) was very similar to the Element of Magic crown. That's what Sunset Shimmer tried to replace it with. She stole the FF crown to get the EoM crown.
    • Wouldn't they have noticed something was up, unless these guys really are willing to binge for a crown made of metal and gems?
    • Fake gemstones aren't that easily told apart without really careful scrutiny and either gilding or if it's even cheaper, just using another metal with similar tone would work. While a solid gold crown would be noticeably heavier than a fake, it wouldn't be seriously noticed. Celestia might have just tossed it back in its box in her office without checking its authenticity.
  • Rewatched the Fluttershy scene: they put it up as the prize as it was recognized as looking like the prize. They didn't put up a Lost and Found item as a prize. They put what they thought was the prize.
  • To really clarify this whole situation: Sunset Shimmer stole the Fall Formal crown and swapped it for Twilight's crown because of their similarities. When Twilight's crown lands near Fluttershy, she "recognizes" the crown and turns it in to Celestia, who then discovers the Fall Formal crown was indeed missing and puts it "back". This could also explain why Sunset Shimmer couldn't just steal it back again; Celestia probably locked it up tighter this time.

Why was Twilight so freaked out by having hands?

• Why was Twilight so freaked out by having hands, and seemingly has no idea how they should work? I don't mean lack of motor memory - that's understandable, but she acts as if she's grown some completely alien member, rather than just an equivalent of Spike's claws which she'd seen him using all the time. For that matter, why isn't Spike helping her get acquainted with her new appendages?
  • There's nothing like humans in Equestria. To her, it was a completely alien appendage.
  • Well, if you turned into a creature you never saw, would you freak out? Sure, she sees Spike with hands all the time, except there's a big, big difference between seeing someone with an appendage versus looking down and realize you have it. You'd probably freak out if all of a sudden you had a tail behind you.
    • I'm not talking about her initial freak-out - that's understandable as well. But she keeps acting as if she has no idea what hands are throughout half the movie.
    • Considering Spike's hands are called "claws", and minotaurs being a rare sight in Equestria, it's not that strange she wouldn't automatically know something like that. Plus, Spike only has four fingers/claws, while the humans have five fingers.
    • But what is also odd is on several occasion, they say "hand" in the show. Like "The task at hand".
    • Well, if you're feeling scientific, it is quite possible in the past a human (who appeared via the mirror) or a minotaur coined the phrase with hand, even though the ponies have no idea what that phrase originated from, let alone that word also connect to a limb. Or, if you want to be lazy about it, it Depends On The Writer.
    • About Iron Will, why is it that Rainbow Dash doesn't know what a hand is when two-handed bipedals are at least known to exist?
    • Dash never met Iron Will. The only character she's shown to be familiar with that has hands is Ahuizotl, a chimeric creature who was believed at the time to be fictional. If you asked her what hackles are (the feathers on a neck of a chicken referenced in a couple of phrases involving anger or fighting), she'd probably stare at you blankly despite cocks being known to exist.
  • About Twilight not knowing how to use her hands: seeing someone with an appendage and actually using said appendages is a huge difference. If you suddenly woke up one day with a prehensile tail (like we know monkeys have), you'd have to figure out how to make it grab things, which probably takes some brain and will power. To a monkey, however, it's second nature. As to why Spike didn't teach her how to use her hands, well, how would you teach someone to breathe, or move their fingers for the first time? There's really no way to explain things that we take for granted; they're just kinda there.
  • If you turned into a pony, you'd probably freak out over gaining hooves.
    • Hilarious in Hindsight, considering "The Spring Breakdown".

Why did the beginning of the movie have to take place in the Crystal Empire?

• Why did the beginning of the movie have to take place in the Crystal Empire? They say that the mirror was originally kept in the throne room of Canterlot Castle until they sent it to Princess Cadance to watch over after she took over the Crystal Empire. Sure, as an explanation for why the mirror was in the Crystal Empire that isn't too contrived, but they wouldn't have had to explain it in the first place if the princess summit had just taken place in Canterlot Castle.
  • Probably so they would have an excuse for Cadance to show up for Fanservice.
  • After watching it repeatedly, it appears that the script was originally written to set the introduction in Canterlot, but they changed it to the Crystal Empire relatively late. Probably for fanservice, scenery porn, and to get good use of the new sets and backgrounds.
    • Hasbro has been trying to promote the Crystal Empire like crazy. Take a look at the toy packaging—you'll find the Crystal Empire's logo on stuff that has nothing to do with it, for instance (and on some, like the blind bags, replace "Friendship Is Magic" on the full logo).
  • If the movie started in Canterlot, it would probably stretch Willing Suspension of Disbelief that Twilight wouldn't have noticed the mirror or met Flash Sentry before.

Why is the mirror at the Crystal Empire and why isn't it guarded?

• Why bring the mirror from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire? If they want Cadance to watch over it, why is she more qualified/able to do so? If they brought it to keep an eye on it while active in case Sunset came through or something, why isn't it actively being guarded? (And how would Sunset know it was unguarded and thus could sneak through?)
  • As the newer princess, Cadance had less responsibilities and obligations that would interfere with that comparatively minor duty (hence the even newer Twilight having the mirror on her in the next movie). Or maybe it was as source of painful memories that Celestia, unwilling to outright destroy or seal it, got rid of at first opportunity.
• 1. Celestia implies she'd given up on Sunset returning. 2. There's apparently no president of anyone on the other side crossing over. They might not even have known there was anything to cross over. 3. Maybe Sunset though she could take them on or use her Bitch in Sheep's Clothing routine to get them to do what she wanted of them.

So how exactly was a hammer supposed to threaten the portal?

• So how exactly was a hammer supposed to threaten the portal? It may have technically been a mirror, but as long as it was open, the hammer would have just swung into Equestria the same way the crown did into Sapientia.
  • She didn't have to hit the portal's face, especially since it was part of a large statue, and not just a (relatively) small mirror. If she hit a different side of the statue, she likely would have destroyed it, and the portal along with it.
    • Depending on what that's statue's made of, it'd have taken a lot more than one swing to damage the statue in any meaningful way.
    • She seemed to be threatening to hit the face, though.
  • Alternatively, she might not have known herself if it would work or not, and could have just been trying to bluff Twilight with the potential of the threat. It seemed like this was a last-ditch plan for her in any case, since immediately after, she simply lunges at Twilight and the crown in a frustrated rage.
  • Or Sunset knew that it wouldn't work and was banking on Twilight not being willing to risk it (or just wasn't thinking straight). As for Twilight, she knew Sunset couldn't break the portal, so she was willing to call her bluff.
    • This seems most likely. Sunset says afterward that she had no intention of destroying the portal, since she really wanted to cross over and rule Equestria. Given that she never even attempts to carry out the threat, instead resorting to leaping at Twilight and trying to take the crown by force, it's highly likely she was bluffing the whole time.

How did Sunset Shimmer pass off her fake texts/emails as real things?

• So how did Sunset Shimmer pass off her fake texts/emails as real things? While it may be easier for emails, any phone will attach a name to an incoming text message (assuming the sender is in the contacts list; since they were friends at the time, that's most likely true). If not, then they'd probably recognize the phone number. So did the five of them just ignore all that, or is Sunset really good at spoofing phone data?
  • It's not impossible that she just stole their phones, sent the messages, and then returned them. If they didn't realize how much of a bitch she was they might have even let her borrow them.
  • Both emails and SMS text messages have a bit of data included in the message that says where it's from. If you have the (dirt cheap) software and know what you're doing, it's trivial to just change the "from" line.
    • But if she did steal their phones, wouldn't they have all noticed that their friends refused to speak to them after their phones went missing (and subsequently returned), so shouldn't they have thought to check to make sure the phones weren't tampered with?
    • Highschoolers don't usually have the best record for making smart decision somewhat. Hormones and all that.
    • Which is a part of what made me facepalm. The ponies aren't that stupid in the show... do they just pick up an Idiot Ball?
    • First off, the ponies in Twilight-Sparkle-verse have been time and again hinted to be young adults and thus have all the crazy out of there system. Secondly, I want to point out that ponies in the G4 verse have shown to do far stupider things. Kicking an adult dragon in the face (not realizing attacking a full grown titan that could turn you to cinder is a bad thing) and overreacting to a perceive miss and was ready to throw the town in absolute chaos for a doll is just all but two reasons.
    • Plus, Pony Pinkie has been proven twice that she could believe her friends could abandon her, (hell, the first time was due to her wildly misreading the secret thing!), and Applejack being discorded was cause of that, too. So in a sense, it has happened with their pony counterparts and can happen to them. Though at least this time, there was no Pinkamena.
    • As mentioned above, it's very easy to mask the sender's identity as someone else. Their technology level seems to be in the 2010s (as they have an equivalent of YouTube, and the school seems to have wireless Internet fast enough to effortlessly stream videos), and Sunset had a lot of time to split up the gang, so she could've easily learned how to change the sender's name, bought the equipment where necessary, and just do it.
  • Future movies establish that Sunset is just as smart as Twilight, so it's not unreasonable to think she figured out ways to do so. Pinkie uses Facebook in the second movie, so maybe Sunset just found a way to discover their passwords and send messages through social media. She could easily get Snips and Snails to distract the girl in question, quickly take the phone to send the message and then put it back before she noticed.
  • Step one: steal the phone. Step two: send the text. Step three: delete the text from the device that sent it. Email accounts, not being physical devices, are even easier: you just need the password and for them not to be protected by 2FA. Even if they are, just steal the cellphone and you have access to the email account. Sunset Shimmer was enough of a Stealth Expert to dodge several armed guards (even if security was lax), a few devices and passwords held by teenagers are much less defended. Especially if The Password Is Always "Swordfish". What's most likely, your "friends" being jerks, or someone you don't even know going out of her way to outright forge evidence despite you being by all accounts a complete nobody just to ruin your friendships?

Sunset Shimmer's Plan 2. 0

• How exactly was Sunset's "conquer Equestria" plan supposed to work? That group was nowhere near big enough to conquer a whole country, and she seemed dead set on going through the portal as soon as she got the crown, so she didn't appear to be planning on brainwashing anyone else. Not to mention that she would have to realize that Celestia would almost certainly be watching the portal, meaning that if Sunset sent her force through, they'd have a princess (and likely the whole royal guard and other 5 elements of harmony) to deal with. Someone didn't think their cunning plan all the way through.
  • This is My Little Pony we're talking about. Villains make bone-headed decisions and don't think their plans through all the time. ("Oh hai, Chrysalis, what would have happened if you didn't win that beam struggle with Celestia, huuuuuh?")
    • Even for MLP villains this scheme is pretty lame and poorly thought out, though. And not only that, two of those actually worked until they were handed the Villain Ball. Discord only failed, for example, because he was stupid enough not to see the restored color on the Mane 6. Chrysalis only failed because she blatantly ignored her hostages rather than taking immediate action.
  • I got the impression that once she transformed into a demon, she kind of went crazy and corrupted by the power of Twilight's element since she couldn't properly wield it.
    • That's pretty much the gist of it. Note how unstable she seems. And how she is willing to murder the Humane 6 as a demon, but not a dog as a human.
  • Keep in mind we really only got to see Phase One of her plan. I bet anything that once she had the entire school under her full control, she'd then transform each of them into demons much like Snips and Snails, giving her an army of powerful demon minions. Alternatively, she'd just empower them, and the Equestrian Army would be unable to fight back for fear of harming the innocents.
    • Except she did have the entire school under her full control, and the only thing she did was turn each of them into pseudo-zombies and have S&S herd them to the portal for immediate invasion. Snips and Snails were only given demon form because she trusted them enough to keep their minds.
  • One, she was under the impression that she had control over "the most powerful magic known to ponydom", on top of her own magic (presumably quite prodigious and top-tier by mortal pony standards). Two, while Celestia and Luna evidently outclass mortal ponies, we've never seen any indication of by just how much. I don't remember any dialogue indicating that King Sombra isn't just a particularly powerful unicorn (physical appearance variances the result of his abuse of power), in which case, ruthlessness apparently can make up for a lot of sheer magic. Three, related to the above, she'd have a lot of meat shields which the heroes would be reluctant to harm. And four, she'd have the advantage of surprise and planning.
  • She did steal a vital part of a MacGuffin. The only other known MacGuffin is the Crystal Heart, which she couldn't possibly have known about. Celestia was defeated by Chrysalis, so it's not entirely out of the question that Shimmer could beat her. It's also possible that she doesn't know Luna is back, though this seems a bit unlikely given her knowledge of the Elements.

If human Fluttershy fell into Equestria

• Fluttershy's scene showed that people at least occasionally hang out around the statue. If the portal is opened for 3 days ever 2 and a half years, don't you think someone on the human side would have wandered into the other world at some point? All Fluttershy would have had to do was try to rest on the mirror and she would have fallen through.
  • Maybe the guards just knock the travelers out and pitch them back through; write it off as head trauma.
  • Perhaps the portal will only work if someone knows about it and actually intends to cross over.

Fluttershy picking up the crown

• Fluttershy had picked up the crown and handed it to Principal Celestia. While any smart student would hand it to the principals to put it in the Lost and Found, didn't they ever think that maybe that crown belonged to somebody before deeming it to be the prize for the Fall Formal, and that they probably just put up somebody's family heirloom or art project as a prize for the fall formal?
  • That was the crown for the Fall Formal. Or, to be more precise, the original was a cheaper but nearly identical replica of Twilight's crown which Sunset stole and intended to swap for the real one. Principal Celestia just assumed it had been misplaced somehow and put it back.
    • Confirmed on rewatching the Fluttershy scene. Fluttershy recognized it as the crown and gave it to the principal because it belonged as a prize. She didn't give it to the Lost and Found.

Why did Sunset Shimmer decide to break up the friendships of Applejack et al.?

• Why did Sunset Shimmer decide to break up the friendships of Applejack et al.? Just to be a bitch?
  • Look what happened when Twilight rallied them back together. They turned the whole school against Sunset in short order. Sunset's influence on the school was based on making sure no one group was willing to oppose her. In a high school setting, those five each fit into a different group, and thus have the loyalty of all those groups.
  • Additionally, Word of Saint Paul is that Rarity was Sunset's competition at the last Fall Formal, and she broke up the group to ruin Rarity's chances by leaving her without friends.

Why does Sunset Shimmer say "Equestria! Your friends! Lost to you forever!"?

• When Twilight refuses to give Sunset Shimmer the crown even though the latter is about to destroy the portal, why does Sunset Shimmer say, "Equestria! Your friends! Lost to you forever!" 2.5 years/30 moons is not "forever".
  • ....seriously. You answered your own question. Destroyed as in no longer working. It's different if she tries to prevent Twilight from entering the mirror in any way other than destruction, then waiting is, yes, not forever. If the mirror is destroyed, then yes, it is forever!

Sunset Shimmer's suspicious knowledge

• Sunset Shimmer mentioned in the movie that the Elements of Harmony work differently in another dimension - how did she know that? It is probably for the first time an Element went there, and if it did happen before, it had to be a very long time ago since the Elements were only reactivated after the Nightmare Moon events!
  • She doesn't say they work different, merely that bringing them into a different world would have an unexpected effect. As for knowing how, if she's remotely like Twilight, she probably read up on how the mirror works.
    • But what exactly do they do?
    • That part should be obvious. They provide a way for humans (or at least unicorns turned human) to use magic in a world that they would otherwise be incapable of using it in.
  • Sunset's words were "what happens when you bring an Element of Harmony into an alternate world?" Nothing about changes or unexpected properties. Later works show magical artifacts (the only president she could have known of) are unchanged when brought to the human world. Maybe Sunset was bluffing to psych her out. Maybe the only reason she used the Element there was she would have faced more interference if she did in Equestria.

Why didn't Sunset immediately confront Fluttershy after returning?

• After the Element of Magic left Equestria, it took 8 seconds before Sunset Shimmer followed it through the portal. On the other side, there was only Fluttershy, and no one else in a radius of ten meters. Couldn't she just have taken it back? It was obvious that Fluttershy had it...
  • Mugging Fluttershy for the crown would probably be a bit much, and other people were walking around at the time.
  • It's not said how long it takes for someone to travel between Equestria and the human world. For example: Star Swirl banished the Sirens a thousand years ago, but Word of God is that they only showed up in the human world a few months ago. Maybe Fluttershy had enough time to take the crown back before Sunset came through the portal too.

Why did the Element of Magic work?

• Why did the Element of Magic work at all? I thought you needed 5 Elements that were activated by character traits, and then the sixth (the Element of Magic) connected them all together. And if this is correct, then why do the other 5 exist?

  • There is absolutely nothing in the show that says the Elements can only work a certain way. It's completely plausible that each Element in isolation still has significant magical power, simply not as much as they all do combined.
  • It's also possible that the Element of Magic is the primary catalyst, and thus possesses the bulk of their combined power. Cadance does make the point that the other Elements have no power without Twilight's.
  • That bothers me most about this whole thing. The other Elements don't work without the Magic/Friendship Element but Twilight can use her Element by herself, and in doing so becomes a princess, and gets an entire movie dedicated to how special and wonderful she is (with the only person openly disagreeing being a villain) while the rest of the Mane 6 literally sing a propaganda song to get Twilight more attention.
  • Twilight, even in this film, doesn't use her Element by herself. Her human friends are, if nothing else, serving as a substitute for the other absent Elements. In any case, human Celestia's aesop at the end summarizes it nicely. The point of the movie is essentially Twilight getting over her insecurities as a newly minted princess.
  • She does use the Element by herself, in that she's the only one who has one. She uses her five new friends as a power source even though they don't have Elements, have never heard of them, and didn't exactly prove themselves to actually have any of the traits they represent. The Element of Magic is the only one that actually matters.
  • "Didn't exactly prove themselves to actually have any of the traits they represent"? What do you call Rarity disguising Twilight even before they've met, and giving out costume pieces she had planned to sell just to help a friend? What do you call Fluttershy caring for her animals and risking expulsion ("no pets" rule) just to keep them from being lonely? What do you call Pinkie Pie trying to make the most fun possible party? Admittedly, Rainbow has minimal screen time and few plot-relevant actions, so it's hard to tell with her. And yes, Applejack seems to embody general integrity more than honesty in Equestria Girls. But they still have the traits they represent!
  • She does not use her Element by herself. Watch that scene again. If anything, her Element uses her and her friends. It is highly probable the Element of Magic and Friendship has some sort of personality and is not happy about being worn by the megalomaniacal Alpha Bitch and being forced by her will into doing horrible things. It tries to warn Shimmer by inflicting upon her an extremely painful, monstrous transformation (hence why she cries while transforming). When that doesn't work, the Element takes the first possible occasion to betray Shimmer and destroy her by channeling itself through a powerful enough friendship.

  • Twilight makes it clear during the climax. True, there could have been more of an explanation, but that would become exposition and Celestia has gotten flak as it is for giving out the bare minimum about the other world. Sunset wearing the crown doesn't mean she is truly wielding its magic. Its true owner is Twilight and it can recognize this. Its true power is friendship ("Friendship is Magic" is not just the title) and friendship is composed of the other elements (honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty) which the five girls were in abstract. Sunset using the Element of Magic's power against Twilight and the others doing a Circle of Friendship to protect her is like Energy Absorption ("Now I've got your power!"), which provided a catalyst.

Corrupting the Element of Magic

• How could Sunset Shimmers corrupt the Element of Magic at all? Discord wasn't able to do that, he just hid them. And I think Discord is a few notches higher than a clichéd stereotype high school character...

  • Discord didn't need to. He simply hid them because they were a threat. Sunset needed the crown precisely because she isn't strong enough on her own. And she didn't corrupt its magic because it actively turned on her the second she tried to use it against Twilight. It corrupted her.
  • Sunset was originally a pony chosen by Celestia to be her student for the same reason that she chose Twilight. And from the show, the reason is that Celestia sees magical potential in those who she chooses as her student. Based on that, it's likely that the crown responded to Sunset's magical potential. It is the Element of Magic and having magic rather than a personality trait is required to use it. It, however, does need more than just simple power hence why it turned on her. She also only fitted in the clichéd stereotype high school character when she was in the human world and manipulating people.

Sunset's bluff

• Sunset's little bluff confused me. She threatened to destroy the portal leading back to Equestria... except that if she wasn't bluffing, wouldn't she just end up hurling the sledgehammer into the portal, possibly bonking somepony near the mirror?
  • Alternatively, as mentioned in an above post, the portal is only accessible on one side of the statue, and by attacking a side the portal isn't on, it is very much possible to destroy the statue and with it, the portal.

Understanding Friendship

• Something that has always sort of bothered me about the show but especially in the movie: the root of everyone's problems is the fact that they don't understand friendship, or something like that. But Sunset Shimmer seems to understand it pretty damn well, actually; she doesn't make friends for herself, but she doesn't seem to want any in the first place. But she does know the ins-and-outs of close social relationships enough to be able to break apart five of the Humane Six. What she doesn't get is the link between friendship and power, apparently. At the end, Sunset Shimmer is crying and lamenting her lack of understanding, but she does understand it, she just uses that knowledge for evil instead of good.
  • It is one thing to understand friendship; it is a completely different thing to see why it's important. To her, friendship is just a way to climb the social ladder and crush connection that could be a threat. She sees it more as a tool. A means to an end as it were.
    • Because Sunset Shimmer is such a mash-up of all the other villains the show has, having her "not understand" friendship and thus evil tends to be more aggravating. And considering that she pretty much only needs to send one text per person to break up the Humane Five, it's a wonder why they aren't evil because they obviously understand friendship much less than Sunset does.
    • Using friendship like she did and being rather painfully mutated by the element which rejected her and doing who knows what damage to the mind, then being purified by someone who ''truly'' understands friendship and what it stand for... that would make anyone have second thoughts.
    • Also, to be fair: Pony Pinkie was ready to see her friends in a negative way when they were holding and secret and were ready to dismiss her (Season 1 ep. 25), so I wouldn't be so quick as to reject the text thing, since the text lead to some really painful conclusion, while with that season 1 ep it just ended positively due to Pinkie being wrong in her wild accusations.
    • Agreed with the above. It's not entirely fair to criticize the movie for something the beloved show has repeatedly done. There have been occasions when all of the Mane Six have acted like assholes. Even Princess-to-be Twilight Sparkle has attempted to break friendships over a late assignment. There are also three additional reasons for the Equestria Girls to not behave entirely as the Mane Six we know and love:

A) They are teenagers, while the Mane Six seem to be young adults. They would obviously be more prone to jumping to conclusions.B) They lack the Fire-Forged Friendship of the Humane Six. The ponies have repeatedly punched out threats to the world as they knew it with friendship as their only weapon. It's pretty safe to assume the magicless Canterlot High would not have had the same situations.C) They are missing Twilight Sparkle herself. The Element of Friendship itself seems the glue that binds the Mane Six together. Fridge Brilliance hits when you realize Twilight Sparkle is just the pony with the logical mind that could have spotted that something was off about those texts.

• Different meanings of the word "understand". She understands the sociological mechanics of friendship and can manipulate the results — but the experience of friendship is unfamiliar to her. You know how to make your computer request the tvtropes.org webpage, which is entirely different from being a computer, and making such a request. (Or understanding what's going on at programmatic, molecular, networking, or any other technically-detailed levels.)
  • The problem is that, magically speaking, there really shouldn't be any difference. Magic is an intellectual pursuit and friendship takes understanding of social relationships, and the two are fundamentally the same; Sunset clearly demonstrates understanding of both concepts, she's just kind of a bitch about it. If you really wanted to stretch it, you could say she doesn't understand the other five Elements of Harmony. But again, she does demonstrate that she understands them, she just chooses to subvert the hell out of them because she's a bitch.
• There are real life people who are perfectly capable of socializing and even understand friendship, however these people don't completely grasp the core essence behind such concepts. Some of them are even downright psychopaths who harm people, yet look and act normal. There also some people who know such things but instead of forming healthy bonds, they manipulate others for their gain or just to be plain dicks. Sunset could be seen as a G-rated version of either of those archetypes.
• The thing that bothers me is the fact that Sunset Shimmer apparently doesn't understand Friendship, and Brad/Flash Sentry was her ex. How exactly is this possible?
  • He probably fell for one of her tricks or beauty or something. She seems like the type to play men like a fiddle. Flash most likely dumped her when he wised up and realized that she wasn't all that she seemed to be.

Where the hell was Shining Armor?

• Where the hell was Shining Armor? The Crystal Empire was at the beginning, and he doesn't bother to greet his sister?
  • I always thought it would stop people from wondering where his human counterpart is.
    • Friendship Games answered this one.
  • They didn't want anyone to confuse him with Flash Sentry, who also has multi-toned blue hair and blue eyes. The brony community wouldn't mix that up, but the younger demographic might.
    • I really doubt kids are stupid enough to confuse white and orange-ish horses together. Just put them on the same screen at the end, problem solved.
    • That's actually a pretty common character design decision. Older kids can tell them apart, but much younger children often can't, especially in shows that use a lot of Color-Coded for Your Convenience.
    • Shining's white and usually wears purple armor. On the other hand, Flash's yellow orange and usually wears gold armor. So yeah, they kinda do fulfill Color-Coded for Your Convenience. But then, one's got a horn and one's got wings. There's also hairstyles and I think body build. I'm not sure kids or even the intended target demographic, teen girls, would confuse them together even without Color-Coded for Your Convenience due to some Distinctive Appearances.
    • I'm pretty sure the target demographic isn't teenagers, but that's not the point; brony culture is a pretty strong factor in MLP's success, but it's still a show aimed at children and little kids do watch the show. We don't find out that Flash Sentry wears gold armor or what his build is until we see him as a pony; until then, his appearance and coloring is pretty close to Shining Armor's, especially since skin tones seem to be subject to some adjustment with dudes (Big Macintosh, in particular). It would be easy for a kid to make that mistake... or worse, a parent, who only knows anything about it because their kid watches, and is only seeing the movie because their kid can't go alone.
    • Considering the setting, the tropes that are played, and the accompanying toy line, it seems that Hasbro wanted the movie at least cater to a teen girl demographic to some extent. That isn't to say that it doesn't cater to little girls who are their original target.
      For little kids who didn't watched the trailers or seen any pics before watching the movie, their first exposure to Flash would be the non-crystal pony guard at the starting who looks nothing like Shining. Some of these kids would probably connect the dots before the end. Others, however, would still get the difference at the ending.
      For little kids who've seen the trailers or pics beforehand, they probably would guess that Flash is Twilight's boyfriend or something and not her brother due to several Ship Tease scenes. Even if they would think otherwise, their parents would probably say otherwise so not to promote incest.
      For skin tones, while the darker colored characters like Big Mac are subject to skin adjustment, they at least have their original colors as a prominent part of their clothing. So I guess kids can probably still see the color differences.
      There is also again the hair. It pretty much stays the same whether the character is human or a pony. So a human guy who doesn't have long hair like Shining would probably look like a different character to a kid.
      The same goes for parents I guess. For those that know the history of the show, they probably won't be confused and probably explain things to their kids. For those that don't, they probably won't be confused as they don't know who Shining is in the first place. If they do get confused, their kids probably might be the ones to explain things to them instead.
    • I had the impression the target demographic for Equestria Girls are tween girls, much like the Disney Channel live-action sitcoms. Teenagers will be more likely to go for stuff to make them look mature, which to a teenager means TV-MA stuff like [adult swim] and South Park. Even the girls would not be caught dead watching something called "My Little Pony." In addition, the writing in Equestria Girls is the same idealized view as seen on the Disney Channel and, when it was still popular, Saturday morning blocks. (Maybe I just come from a rough school, but if one were to truly portray high school as how it's really like, Equestria Girls would look something more like Brick or Election.)
    • It's impossible to portray high school, even the "gritty" versions of High School tend to be laughably unrealistic.
  • It is possible that Shining Armor had some military engagement or diplomatic mission to attend to. In other words, Not Important To This Episode Campe. It still would have been nice if they gave him a passing reference.
    • Jossed by Friendship Games.
  • Girls night out, I guess... Best one I can give.

Fluttershy picking up the crown 2. 0

• How did Fluttershy not know what the crown was? She'd have turned it into the office either way, but seriously, she knows all about the dance; did she just suddenly forget?
  • Look at the series of photos of Sunset Shimmer having won the spot of Princess for the various earlier dances - they each had different crowns. It's entirely possible that each year's Fall Formal has a different crown design.
    • Even if that's true, it doesn't explain how she doesn't know what it is. She knows the dance has a crown every year but she acts like she has no idea what a crown would even be doing on school grounds.
    • It's possible that she thought that it was someone's accessory and not necessarily the crown that's going to be used specifically for the Fall Formal. There is at least Diamond Tiara◊ who goes around with a Tiara hairclip so Fluttershy could possibly make that assumption.
      There's also the possibility that she was probably thinking that it was a prop for a play or something. I assuming the school does some form of theater or costume department what with the fashionistas around.
      There's also the possibility that Fluttershy thought that the Fall Formal's crown was not missing and that this one was a completely different crown. It wasn't mentioned that the crown was missing beforehand I believe, so there probably wasn't a reason for anyone to think this crown was that crown. I mean it's later revealed to be kept under lock and key by Luna, so with that in mind, Fluttershy and probably the rest of the general student body probably thought nobody would steal something closely guarded by the faculty. Whether the measures of keeping the crown heavily guarded were implemented before or after the crown was given to Celestia could be debatable, but then it kinda doesn't change the fact that students like Fluttershy probably would not suspect an important school item would simply be haphazardly left lying around.
      The situation would be like a highly expensive diamond being announced to be displayed at a museum with maximum security and somebody finding a random diamond lying on the street. They'd think it's a fake or something and not something as silly and farfetched as it being the museum's diamond, especially if there wasn't an announcement.
    • Except for the part where there was an announcement. The dance happens every year and it's only a few days away. Fluttershy knows all about it, both currently and because she had a friend competing for the crown in a previous year, but she acts like she's just never seen or heard of it.
    • Rewatched the scene where Fluttershy found the crown. She specifically said that "she didn't know how it got there". She clearly recognized it and thus returned it to Celestia. Her question was why was this crown here, not what is this thing. There was also no announcement that the crown was missing. Heck, Principal Celestia stated that she didn't even know that the crown was missing at all. There was an announcement that there would be a dance, but no announcement that the crown was missing.

Sunset Shimmer and Celestia

• Wait, okay. So, Sunset Shimmer disappears into the mirror to go to the human world after she decides to fuck off on her training, right? She spent a few years taking control of the student body; did Princess Celestia never send anyone to go get her? If she did, why weren't they successful in bringing her back? If she didn't, why not? And how the hell did Sunset Shimmer even find out that Twilight was crowned with the Element of Harmony? If she was going in and out of the mirror, why hadn't anyone caught her?
  • It's explained that the portal only opened for a limited time. It's possible that she disappeared at the very minute the portal was still open, thus Celestia couldn't send anyone after her. It's also possible that Celestia was worried that another person going after Sunset would upset things for the same reasons she only wanted Twilight to go. For the crown, Sunset probably found out about it when she came back to Equestria and asked about current events or something like that. For why she wasn't caught, it's probably the same reason why no one in the human world noticed her going in and out of a statue in front of the school. It's probably like in Harry Potter where no one notices people running straight through a brick wall in the middle of a crowded train station. She also probably used her magic to teleport or hide herself from the guards.
    • But none of that makes any sense. Sunset can't teleport (or else why actually sneak, on foot, to where Twilight's room is and then sneak back out the same way?) and if she could hide herself from the guards with magic, why didn't she hide herself from Twilight? Sneaking through a statue on school grounds at night isn't so big a stretch; it's night, there's no one there. But the castle is full of guards and Celestia knows the mirror is a portal that only opens at specific intervals, which she's fully aware of and knows there's someone else capable of using it on the other side, there's no reason not to have guards posted all over that thing. Even with that in mind, Sunset had to have made at least two trips: one to go out and find out Twilight had been crowned, and back to get the Fall Formal crown once she realized it looked like the Element of Magic, then back to switch the crowns and return, and nobody noticed until she got away with the crown?
    • During the chase, Sunset briefly teleported to get pass Twilight. She also probably didn't use any high level magic to hide herself from Twilight as Twilight was asleep during the time and using magic would probably be wasteful or too noisy. For Celestia, it seemed like she wasn't expecting Sunset to return with ulterior motives from what I gather. From her explanation, it seemed almost like a prodigal son situation, hence why she probably didn't post sufficient guards. Celestia also did say that she doesn't know anything about the world beyond the portal. It's thus also possible that she thought of the worst case where Sunset might have died or something, hence why she wouldn't need to post guards likewise. For why nobody noticed what was probably two trips, take note that in addition to the Celestia reasons, not a lot of ponies probably knew about the portal. For those pony subjects who might have known, it's possible that they didn't put much thought into it and probably even doubted it as to them it's probably just a normal mirror since it acted like a normal mirror most of the time. There's also the case that as far anyone was concerned, there wasn't a need for a heightened sense of security due to the crystal barrier and the fact that everything seemed perfectly normal.
  • So, basically, Canterlot's security is lazy and uninformed. Fair enough.
    • Well, it is a land populated by ponies whose government promotes friendship, and the mirror was kept in the Crystal Empire whose welfare is heavily dependent on its subjects' happiness. Expecting them to have a super militaristic security that is run even when there is no threat, is probably a bit too much. I mean the one pony who tried some resemblance to what could be seen as heavily militaristic, Sombra, turned out to be a Sauron expy. Even the roman-based pegasi in the Hearth's Warming play, based on what Twilight and her friends depicted, turned out to have some negative attributes that didn't mesh well with the other ponies.
      Of course, there's no denying that Equestria's security force is somewhat lazy and kind of a joke. There's the time that Celestia was kidnapped by Nightmare Moon. The time that Discord stole the Elements of Harmony. The time that Twilight snuck into the royal archives of Starswirl the Bearded to go back in time and was happily greeted by a guard. The time that Fluttershy stole Celestia's phoenix. The time that Chrysalis was able to kidnap Cadance and impersonate her. Yeah, security is kinda bad, but then again there wouldn't be any plot if it wasn't.
  • Rewatched the scene a bit more, there was just at least one guard that Sunset came across when she decided to steal the crown, and she very carefully tried to stay in the shadows and out of the guard's unicorn light. But more importantly, the prodigal son thing is confirmed. Celestia says, "I had always hoped that Sunset Shimmer would someday use it to return. To come back to Equestria seeking my guidance. Obviously, this is not what has happened."
    • It didn't occur to me until just now, but... what with Sunset and Twilight being similar ages, that seems like a really, really bad plan on Celestia's part. I mean, yeah, Sunset's a brat and all, but damn, Celestia, that's cold. Let a possibly-young filly go into some potentially dangerous alternate universe, disavowing all responsibility for her well-being on the expectation that one day she'll come back with her tail between her legs? Why are we supposed to think she's the Big Good again...?
    • She probably thought that Sunset was responsible and capable enough to take care of herself in such a situation; she is (or was) Celestia's student after all. It's kinda the same reason the father allowed the prodigal son off to the world in the parable. Celestia, though, has done similar things with Twilight. She did send Twilight and her friends to save the Crystal Kingdom from Sombra despite Luna's more practical suggestion. Celestia seems to be the type that deeply trusts that her subjects are intelligent and capable of solving their own problems.
      A rescue mission to save Sunset Shimmer would have been more practical, however, there could've been problems. Like stated, it could've been too late and the portal was closed by the time Celestia found out that Sunset was gone. There's also the whole inter-dimensional problem. The big unknown is what would happen if more ponies or stuff from Equestria went through the portal. There could be all sorts of problems caused, hence why she adamantly insisted that Twilight should be the only one to retrieve the crown. Celestia is apparently weighing the greater good and safety of the other world, and seeing the bigger picture of things.
      Sunset goes off to another world. Choose to send someone after her and risk further messing up the other world, or trust that Sunset would be able to survive on her own. It's one of those hard choices that leaders have to make. Celestia only went back a little when the crown was stolen as the act endangered both Equestria and the other world. Even then, though, she was still making a hard choice and thinking of the consequences by just sending Twilight to get the crown.
    • That's still pretty cold. Practical for a queen, which I respect, but I think it's the "seeking my guidance" part that takes it a step away from tough decision making; it puts Celestia's ego at the center of her motivation for not sending someone to go get her.
    • From the tune of her voice when she said that, it seemed more like she was talking like a concerned parent rather than someone who puts their ego at the center of the problem. The whole situation really seems like the prodigal son parable. Child leaves the parent for their own selfish reasons. Parent doesn't go after them but lets the child experience things on their own. The parent does this on the basis that they want their child to experience stuff without somebody constantly holding their hands and always bailing them out when there is trouble. They want their child to live with their own choices and grow as a person. If the child comes into a situation that is just too much for them and that the only way to solve it is by swallowing their pride and come crawling back to their parent, the parent will welcome them back with open arms and love. The parent shows that even though they didn't seek out their child and gave all sorts of help that wasn't asked for, they are still there to give help when the child asks them.
      While the parable and the situation with Sunset is somewhat different due to being a different world that could be potentially dangerous, think of it like being a comparable to real life. The home that a family lives in is something that everyone in the family knows. That's their world similar to Equestria is to the ponies. Everything outside the home of a family is something that not everyone in the family knows, even the parents might not know about some things. That's a completely different world to the family similar to the human world is to the ponies. I mean, wouldn't anyone say that the warm, friendly family home is a world apart from settings like the big time business world, the country across the ocean with different culture values, the big city streets filled with criminals? Even high school and college can fall under those category as it's outside one's own comfort zone.
    • That would make sense if Sunset had been a young adult, but she wasn't. I know we don't get an established age, but she's been in the human world for at least a few years (long enough to have established herself in the human world, at least; doesn't Fluttershy mention that she wins the crown "every" year?) and is still attending high school as a sophomore or junior (since she's close to Twilight's age and Big Macintosh is attending, and he's implied to be at least a little older than she is, and the CMC are there but visibly younger, probably freshmen, or lower if the school is 6-12). That means she had to have run away as a filly. Leaving aside what a seriously bad move it is to let a kid go off into a place you know is dangerous, it's not made any better by Celestia adding that she didn't do anything to get Sunset back, risking God only knows what kind of damage to either world, because she wanted Sunset to be humbled by her experience and then come crawling back to her. It's one thing to let your young-adult child go off into the world because it's part of growing up, it's quite another to let a grade-school student run into unknowable danger because you want the world to break her for you.
      Of course, the whole Mysterious Mare-do-Well thing would suggest that in Equestria, it's okay to punish other people's hubris by inflating your own ego, so maybe it's just building its own Values Dissonance.
    • Looked at some pics of the tie-in comic depicting Sunset's fall. In a particular pic, she's a young adult when she enters the human world. Don't know the full details due to not having the comic, so I'll make some other assessments based on what the movie shows.
      Upon rewatching Fluttershy says that "Sunset wants to be Fall Formal Princess and when she wants something, she gets it". She doesn't state that Sunset always wins the crown every year. The competition wherein Sunset humiliated Rarity was the "Spring Fling", a competition that most likely has been a few months ago based on Rarity's "last Spring debacle" comment at the end. In Celestia's office also, only three pictures of Sunset wearing a crown are depicted. So unless there are some more stashed away, it's safe to say that Sunset only won a crown of any sort of competition three times. In the earliest pic of Sunset winning a crown also, the one where she is innocent looking, it's hard to tell but she looks older than the CMC. It's also the earliest pic of Sunset in the human world found in the movie, so in addition to the comic pic, she was most likely a young adult when she came to the human world.
      Having Big Mac and the CMC attend the school, on the other hand, doesn't exactly imply at what age Sunset arrived at the school; it just means the school has a very wide range. The age thing, however, might be moot considering that time and aging is apparently different with the worlds. Princess Celestia is a thousand plus years old, so her human counterpart should be middle-aged or something. If they are supposed to be parallel counterparts to one another, then either human Celestia is super old or some sort of Narnia Time is being used.
      The movie kinda hints at this. When the crown is flung from Equestria, it is night time. When it arrives in the human world, it is daytime. There are also the pics in Celestia's office. The earliest pic of Sunset found in the movie shows her to be probably older than the CMC. The subsequent pics however don't show her changing in age much. So I'm guessing only a few months have passed in the human world between them. Based on that, it's only been a few months for Sunset while "30 moons" in Equestria.
      Based on the comic pic though, it appears that the portal was completely closed off on Equestria's end and that the whole ordeal broke Celestia. So no ego boost for Princess Celestia.
    • I disagree; I think that makes the ego boost worse, because now she's a liar, too. I don't think she looks older than the CMC at all, personally, although not following the comics that may just be a difference in art style that I'm not familiar with; it looks more like she was a filly and then became a teenager on the other side of the mirror. Time-related plot holes aside, Sunset Shimmer's reasons for leaving aren't consistent at all with the movie: Celestia says she wasn't getting what she wanted from her studies, abandoned her training, and ran away to do her own thing. But the comic shows her running away and swearing revenge because Celestia gave her an ultimatum and then kicked her out of the castle when she wouldn't comply. Sunset Shimmer is a complete brat and her actions aren't justified at all, but all of this happened at an age where impulsive behavior and impatience, especially for a gifted kid being forced to learn under frustrating conditions, are completely normal. In fact, Celestia's mournful look at Luna's picture and calling it her own mistake suggests that she knows she didn't handle Sunset's training properly, the same way she apparently didn't know how to comfort Luna before she became so consumed by her own disappointment and anger that she had to be sealed away. And if that comic is canon in the same way that the movie is, that means she lied about it in retelling it to Twilight, and on top of that, it means she actually threw Sunset out of her own home hoping she'd beg to be let back in.
    • Another pic from the comic that shows that Celestia did not lie. Sunset wanted to be an alicorn princess. She wanted to be Celestia's equal or even better than her. Celestia, however, did not comply with Sunset's rant because becoming a princess has to be earned. Since they both couldn't agree with each other, Celestia decided to give Sunset a big time-out by banishing her from the castle.
      Also another pic from the comic showing Sunset's age. Throughout this one, you can see various ponies that are pretty much within Sunset's age group. You can also see Twilight around the CMC age before she got her cutie mark, in the background. This pretty much shows that when Sunset left, she was not a filly.
      The previous pic also shows that Sunset was acing in her magic skills but not in her friendship skills. In fact, it's seems pretty much the same condition that Twilight was in prior to coming to Ponyville.
      Celestia's mournful look indeed shows that she feels it's her fault similar to Luna. However, it's the mournful look of a parent and not someone who wants the opposite side to crawling back begging. It is a look of disappointment, not the look of some ego centric sadist.
      As for throwing Sunset out of the castle, in this pic, as well as this one and this one, it shows that Sunset's already inflated ego was given more hot air thanks to the mirror. The mirror which was kept in the castle. Celestia banishing Sunset from the castle was similar to a parent banishing a child from the pub. A bit too extreme, however considering some of Sunset's actions in the pic showing her age, Sunset apparently needed to spend time among with lower masses and stop being above them.
    • A brief summary of the comic from someone who actually read it. Based on this review and the pics, Celestia did not lie and was not some massive bitch who wants ego boosting from the suffering of her former pupil.
    • Celestia's story in the movie does not match up with what happened in the comics; if both are equally valid canon, she lied. When telling the extremely sanitized version for Twilight, she edited out the parts that would have made her sound too harsh or unwise (for instance, she didn't just banish her from the castle as a time-out, she terminated Sunset's lessons altogether and banned her from coming back), did not disclose any feelings of guilt or responsibility, and then added the part about how she always hoped Sunset would return... but not to Equestria, or to her family, or to come home, or even just to her, or any of the other things someone not focused on themselves would prioritize over seeking her guidance. For the record, though, I never called her a bitch. At least in my view, Celestia is deeply flawed in some ways, and one of those ways is that she doesn't have any better an understanding of friendship than anypony else, and after over a thousand years of screwed-up close personal relationships because of her inability to connect emotionally to them, it makes her education and crowning of Twilight Sparkle the wisest thing she could possibly do as a ruler: admit there are some things she can't do and find someone better suited to handle it. For all the good things Celestia does over the course of the show, there are a lot of things she does that suggest that she's very inept when it comes to real friendship; that doesn't make her a bitch, but it does mean she's not perfect, either.
    • Okay, rewatched Celestia's explanation of Sunset's past and this is her story:
      Celestia: Sunset Shimmer, a former student of mine. She began her studies not long before Twilight. But when she didn't get what she wanted as quickly as she liked, she turned cruel and dishonest. (Looks to the side guilt-stricken) 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.
    • Now, while the parts of the story are not fully fleshed out, they are not any indication that Celestia was lying. Context is the key word here and if you put what she says side by side of what happens in the comics, you can see that she is not lying. What Celestia however is doing is summarizing the whole story. It is not a lie, it a basic summary of what happened. Sure she didn't mention punishing Sunset specifically, however that is sort of covered in "I tried to help her" part of her story. Sure Celestia stated that Sunset abandoned her studies when it seemed like she herself was the one who put a stop to it, however this is the quote from the comic.
      Celestia: If we cannot get past this, your studies end here.
    • This line means that Celestia was willing to continue Sunset's studies. However, that was only if Sunset stopped being an over-pompous and impatient brat that didn't value friendship. An ultimatum probably too strict, but clearly needed as Sunset, while physically and magically mature, was not mature in her personality. Being mature in such an aspect is, as shown in the show, is required of being a princess. However, Sunset instead of rethinking of what she is doing and facing her problems like a rational pony, escaped into another world. This act is pretty much the definition of abandoning her studies.
      Why Celestia gave a summarized version of the story instead of a fully fleshed out story with every single detail, though? Simple. Too much exposition. In-Universe, the crown was stolen and a simple gist of who Sunset is was all that was needed. Every minute spent fleshing out the backstory is a minute that could've have been spent looking for the crown. In Real Life, the writers who wrote the scene obviously wanted a simple enough explanation to fit within the movie's timeslot. Too much backstory means that the main attraction of the movie, the human world, gets delayed more.
      As for Celestia saying "To come back to Equestria seeking her guidance" – it is something any worried parent/teacher who had a massive fight with their child/student would say. Every parental figure who had a big fight with their child/student, but still cares about them, will usually say a line like this. Sure, it could've been rephrased better, however based on the context of the scene wherein Celestia sounds ashamed and looks worried, that's what the scene was going for. Besides, if you consider that Celestia was practically responsible for Sunset's well-being, it's only natural that she would say something like this.
      I agree that Celestia is just as flawed as any other pony, however just because she uses "To come back to Equestria seeking her guidance" instead of a more appropriate line, does not mean that she was treating the whole thing like a massive ego boost. I also admit I am being more defensive on the matter than should be due to several of your counterarguments apparently not being double-checked and being taken out of context, and that the simple act of a parental figure wanting a genuine reconciliation with their child is being seen as an ego boost simply because they used the wrong words.
    • Okay, since the whole "To come back to Equestria seeking her guidance" is being taken out of context, here is a more detailed description of the scene.
      Celestia (with a stern look): I had always hoped that Sunset Shimmer would someday use it to return.
      Celestia (eyes closed, eyebrows in the sad position, basically similar to the look of a parent who just wants their wayward child to come home): To come back to Equestria seeking my guidance.
      Celestia (eyes still closed, eyebrows in the angry position, basically similar to the look of a parent who is very disappointed that their child used their return trip home for nefarious purposes): Obviously, this is not what has happened.
    • Hey, you were the one that introduced the comic into the debate, and I already told you I haven't read and don't have access to it in the first place; I can only go by what you're showing me, and I'm certainly not going to double check your sources for you. But here's where we primarily disagree: I think a parent wants their wayward child to come home where it's safe, and an egomaniac wants their wayward child to come back and say "I'm sorry, you were right, and I was wrong". You're reading guilt into Celestia's gesticulation, but you're not paying any attention to the fact that she's not admitting any of that guilt to Twilight. That matters, in a huge, huge way. Celestia's version to Twilight is "Sunset turned evil, she bailed on her training, and I always hoped she'd come back and finish", but that version completely leaves out her own role in the events that preceded Sunset's escape into the mirror. Celestia presents herself as a helpless witness to Sunset's self-destruction, but the comic proves she wasn't. It's not just saying the wrong words, it's saying exactly the right words to maintain her perfect, idolized image in Twilight's eyes. A lie of omission is still a lie, y'know.
    • Here is the full comic in detail:
      Pages 1-2◊
      Pages 3-4◊
      Pages 5-6◊
      Pages 7-8◊
      I introduced the comic because a lot of the counterarguments you've been giving required the comic to clarify things. You've been interpreting Celestia's actions as an egomaniac and a case of superdickery. Celestia does want Sunset to come back home where it is safe hence why she kept the mirror out in the open. She says, "To come back to Equestria seeking my guidance". This is something that any parent would say. She says, "I tried to help her, but she eventually decided to abandon her studies and pursue her own path" which means that she wasn't just a helpless witness.
      However, if you want to go that route, the comic does show Celestia as a sort of helpless witness. Celestia witnessed Sunset becoming impatient. Celestia witnessed Sunset trespass into a forbidden library area. Celestia witnessed Sunset spurn her pleas to stop. Celestia witnessed Sunset completely abandon everything. All of Celestia's scoldings came about because of Sunset's actions. Everything Celestia did in the comics primarily came about because of Sunset.
      Okay, so Celestia does not tell every single detail about what happened between her and Sunset. However, her story is not a lie. The comics expand on her story, they do not conflict with it. Her retelling of the events may be interpreted one way as painting her as still a perfect, idolized image. However, when combined with the tune of her voice and the way she told it, it paints her as being flawed.
      Look, you can continue saying and interpreting that Celestia is some sort of egomaniac. However, that is not Celestia's character. She is flawed, but not an egomaniac as what you've been interpreting.
    • You know what, I'm just gonna say that Celestia's tale was Metaphorically True like how Darth Vader killed Anakin. The "I tried to help her" line is something a parent or a teacher would say in regards to them scolding their students. Indeed, such acts can be seen as trying to help, especially in cases where one needs to be firm with a brat.

Why doesn't Twilight know the concept of a vending machine?

• Minor nit-pick here: Why doesn't Twilight know the concept of a vending machine? The scene just seems pointless to me... In real life, there have been vending machines since the 1880s. Heck, there are even reports of an ancient Greek holy water-dispenser that was based on the principle "insert coin -> get product". We have seen more complex machines in Equestria (cameras, the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000), so I think it's kind of a stretch to assume that there are no vending machines at all. Especially since there are already plenty of scenes with Twilight trying to cope with modern technology, this scene really comes off as simple filler and fanservice.
  • Equestria doesn't have vending machines; of course Twilight wouldn't know what they are. The modern vending machine isn't just a machine that dispenses a product, it's a machine that dispenses multiple products, produced by different companies (sometimes under the same corporate umbrella). Equestria's companies, even the most technologically advanced ones, are all small ones run by families or single owners, and unless they travel, only sell locally.
  • Just because she can grasp the concept doesn't mean she recognizes what it is or instantly understand how it's supposed to work. It is indicated that she understood completely after seeing Trixie use the machine once.
    • I thought Twilight was already depressed after seeing someone native use something that wasn't native in her own world.

Twilight's friends waiting for her

• Twilight Sparkle goes in to the mirror to the human world, with her five Ponyville friends and the three princesses watching. Two days later, Twilight Sparkle goes back to the pony world and her five Ponyville friends and the three princesses are greeting her back. It gets the thought that the eight of them were just standing in the room waiting for Twilight to come out of mirror for two days straight. Anyone got any thoughts on that thought of mine?
  • People, at least from my own personal experience, are capable of waiting non-stop when something big or tragic happens. They would go out to eat or to the toilet once in a while but they'll come back to continuing waiting. Then again, the situation with the princesses and Twilight's friends could be chalked up to Narnia Time being played.
  • My personal headcanon is that somewhere along the way, Celestia said something like, "Okay, she might be a couple of days; why don't we take shifts watching?" except for the last, let's say, hour when she's either going to come back or be stuck for a couple of years.

Why did Twilight sleep in the library?

• Why did Twilight sleep in the library? Why didn't she just sleep in the bed in the Crystal Empire castle she used the night before?
  • That would require going back to Equestria and explaining to everyone why she returned without the crown on the justification that she wanted to sleep in her own room.
    • That can't be so hard, if the only downside to doing so is having to explain herself. She's not going to bring back the crown while she's asleep, no matter where she sleeps. At least if she's in a bed she'll be better rested. Showering also might improve her chances of winning the crown at the dance. I'm not really sure how much that would help, since I can't smell, but it's worth a shot.
    • She probably thought that if she returned, Celestia would deem her mission a failure for not returning with the crown. Yes, it's hardly probable Celestia would think like that, but Twilight has shown to be much harsher on herself and always thinks Celestia will overreact.
    • There's the above response, I guess. However, the very concept of going back to Equestria to just sleep in her own bed really has a very glaring problem. Twilight is sent beyond the portal with everyone back in Equestria hoping that she would retrieve back the crown. If she returns back to Equestria at the time she needed a place to sleep, everyone is naturally going to ask her a lot of questions. What happened? Where's the crown? Do you need something from Equestria to aid in your quest? If she explains to everyone she only returned back to Equestria without the crown just so she can sleep in her bed for a while and return back to her quest, everyone will probably most likely say, "That's it. You returned to Equestria empty-hoofed simply just to sleep in your own comfy bed. You couldn't just find something in the other world to sleep in. You made a completely unnecessary trip just to sleep in your own bed. Why would you do something like that?"
  • And Twilight might not know if the time passes the same way it does as she crosses through the portal - so she doesn't want to risk using up more time on travelling back to sleep in her bed.

Why didn't Twilight make Spike go back through the portal after he followed her?

• Why didn't Twilight make Spike go back through the portal after he followed her, or at least ask if he's allowed to come with her?
  • She was too shocked to see herself transformed into a mutant, and when she came to terms with that, was probably too glad that Spike, the only person who has always been at her side, well, was at her side.
  • That, and Spike was actively giving her pointers on observing everything around before they even entered the school. No doubt Twilight figured he'd be helpful for any additional context she would need (and boy, did she need it).

Why wasn't Twilight given more instruction?

• Why wasn't Twilight given more instruction? For example, she should have been told beforehand how many ponies know about the portal, that she would turn into a mythical creature with the body of a minotaur, etc.
  • Because very little to nothing was known about the other world. Celestia did say that the by going there, Twilight would end up knowing more about that world than Celestia herself does.
    • And why couldn't Celestia tell her about that world? What are we told? That Sunset Shimmer is there. Does Celestia really not know that much, or are they just hoping to avoid explaining one thing?
    • Yes, Celestia does not know that much. She outright explains it. She knows that it leads to another world. Just not what world it is. The tie-in comic shows that there is a book about the mirror that says that it leads to another world but doesn't go into detail other than that. Explanation. The mirror might be older than Celestia and might be created by someone else. That person who wrote that the mirror goes into another world however probably due to not finishing the details or maybe some of the text being lost, there isn't a better description of that world. Besides the book would be how many years old and despite the apparent Narnia Time present throughout the movie, the time in which the book was written would probably have been more old fashioned and have outdated customs not indicative of the world Twilight went in.
      Besides it's not beyond belief that Celestia doesn't know anything about the other world and that there isn't any more info written about it. In all her years, she did not know about Parasprites. There were Starswirl's notes which were incomplete.

Luna controlling the portal

• If the portal is controlled by the moon, and the moon is controlled by Luna, isn't the portal controlled by Luna? Why not just stop the moon until Twilight gets back?
  • The moon in Equestria is controlled by Luna. The moon in the human world is not. Even if controlling the moon in Equestria would somehow affect the moon in the human world, you unfortunately might get the problem of eternal night faced in the first episode of the entire series.
  • It's probably the case that "X number of moons" doesn't mean that as long as the moon doesn't move the portal stays open, but is (as it is in our world) a measure of time. The portal would close regardless of whether Luna was making the moon stay still.

Pinkie's assuming that Twilight had an identical twin

• It seems kind of odd that Pinkie Pie assumed that Twilight had an identical twin in Canterlot, rather than just being the same person. I guess we can chalk that up to her being Pinkie Pie.
  • You answered your own question.
  • And the third movie confirms that the real human Twilight attends Crystal Prep High. Presumably Pinkie remembers her from seeing her around - and Pinkie remembers everyone, which explains why she knows and the others don't.

Sunset's portraits and backstory

• Here's something that bothered me. In the movie, when we see the three portraits of Sunset Shimmer being crowned for each year of the dance, the first portrait features her with no cruelty on her face, but with a genuine smile. It led me to believe that Sunset Shimmer wasn't always bad, and her conflict with Celestia was one that escalated by tempers and such; however, in the comic depicting her backstory, Sunset is power-hungry and arrogant from the start.
  • It's entirely possible that her original plan was not to win the crown the first time, and she was genuinely surprised her new peers liked her. Of course, this would come as an Ignored Epiphany, and she becomes again an arrogant and power-hungry bitch.
  • So on an unrelated note, that means Sunset Shimmer is 17 or 18.
    • Maybe CHS could be a grades 6-12 high school. They are common in real life. Assuming all of those were from Fall Formal and being after freshman year, it's possible she enrolled in 7th grade which would put her as a sophomore with her age being 15-16 when this movie happens. Considering at least two movies take place in spring with summer in between (Legend of Everfree and Spring Breakdown are in spring with Rollercoaster of Friendship occuring in the summer between the two movies) without sign of graduation, it would put her as 15 at the start and 17 when Holidays Unwrapped (the final film) happens.
    • She has been in 4 dances (at least) and it is mentioned she humiliated a girl in the last Spring Formal, meaning there are two dances per year. She could be a junior or senior, but since graduation is not even mentioned, 16-18 is more accurate.

Where did Twilight Sparkle's clothing come from?

• A minor one, but… where did Twilight Sparkle's clothing come from? I know why it was there when she arrived (can't have the main character traipsing around naked in a G-rated film), and I'm willing to accept that the portal turns what passes through it into its destination-world equivalent: Primary sapient race -> primary sapient race, faithful quadruped companion -> faithful quadruped companion, but where did her clothing (and Spike's collar) come from?
  • I assumed that the saddlebag that Celestia put on her before going into the portal somehow transformed into clothes, and the clothes she's wearing at the end were magically changed by the elements, so I assumed they went into the crown or something. No idea about Spike, and Sunset Shimmer also had saddlebags, so she would arrive clothed too.
  • Whoever made it was Crazy-Prepared and cast a modesty spell on it. Literal magic pants.
  • If the portal were intelligently designed, it may have a spell on it to make the user "fit in" with the other side. Giving Twilight clothes would be far less likely to draw attention to her and the portal than her suddenly materializing in her birthday suit.

Why does Twilight have to win the crown?

• After Sunset Shimmer ran a smear campaign on Twilight, why didn't they just get one of the five girls to run? I'm sure they'd let Twilight borrow the crown for a second while standing next to a certain statue. Or she could explain the situation (with the help of the statue) and ask them to give it to her.
  • If one of them entered the competition after Sunset's smear campaign on Twilight, Sunset would simply use another smear campaign to ruin them. Also, Rarity at the very least might be too traumatized to enter due to what happened during the Spring Fling. It might also send the wrong message if they went this route. "If somebody says something bad about you, run away and have somebody else do your work." The solution thus to a smear campaign is not another candidate, it's proving the smear campaign is false.
    In regards to letting Twilight borrow the crown, that would require actually wining the Fall Formal in the first place. That and explaining the situation at that time would require breaking the Masquerade. Something Twilight thought was only necessary when things were completely dire.
    • Proving the smear campaign is false would be much easier if it wasn't for the fact that it wasn't false. The video was not doctored. Twilight really did do such strange things as pick up a book with her mouth. Also, Twilight never said anything about breaking the masquerade being bad. She just thought that nobody would believe her.
    • The video made Twilight look like a retard. She did pick up a book with her mouth but the way the video was edited made Twilight look stupid. Basically it took all of Twilight's antics and took them out of context. In short the smear campaign was false. As for explaining the situation, that still requires explaining the situation which Twilight still thought was only necessary in the direst of situations.
  • "You'd have to convince everyone here to vote for you instead of her: the athletes, the fashionistas, the dramas, the eco-kids, the techies, the rockers... everybody sticks to their own kind" In the song and through their personalities, we see that each girl fit in a different clique: Rarity is with the fashionistas, Fluttershy with the hipp... err, eco-kids, Rainbow Dash with the athletes... Any of the girls running would also have to convince the other groups, while already belonging in a different club. Twilight was new at school, ergo, no previous affiliation, and, as the song said, Twilight united them, symbolically, uniting the different groups of the school.
  • Also, as far as the Equestria Girls know, Twilight was joining permanently a student, not just for the next couple of days, so they'd want to rescue her reputation anyway.

Oats on drinks?

• About halfway through the film, Twilight is at the human-Cakes' bakery, where she asks if they could add oats to her hot chocolate. Except... I don't recall any horse treats put on desserts in the show?
  • In "The Ticket Master", Twilight orders a Daffodil and Daisy Sandwich, and in "Over a Barrel", Pinkie mentions that they all eat hay and oats in her song. So probably nothing out of the norm in Equestria. Weird however in the human world.
    • Actually, while oats on drinks is somewhat odd (they would get stuck in the straw), oats on food for humans isn't actually too unheard of: I've worked at a bakery and we put oats on our bread. Likewise, the bagel place I frequent also puts oats on bagels.
    • A sarcastic response would be "Well, you have to be reminded that this is My Little PONY, not My Little Bratz."
    • You do understand that sarcasm is not always appropriate in a discussion. Is it really a bad thing that Twilight has a Freudian Slip or two that she's actually a pony and not a human? Besides, just because she's gotten used to walking on two legs and other stuff established in the movie, it doesn't mean she knows every other thing like that oats aren't placed in hot chocolate. Sure, she researched a lot of stuff in the library; however, how many books out there directly state that oats aren't placed in hot chocolate, a thing that is pretty much human common knowledge?
    • It's also possible that maybe Twilight learned she could get oats on her drink via observation, as in: someone else asked for oats, she overheard them being asked to put oats on or she passed by someone with oats on their drink and oats are quite recognizable at a glance. Or maybe since they have oats ready, another drink on the menu uses them (and they tend to list the ingredients) so Twilight simply read that.

Why doesn't Celestia tell Twilight what an Element of Harmony does when it's taken into an alternate world?

• You'd think this would be very important... why doesn't Celestia immediately tell Twilight?
  • Luna explains "that the crown does not belong in the place that Sunset Shimmer now calls home and in her possession will no doubt bring harm to this other realm". By that line, it means that the top three Princesses know that Sunset would most likely use the crown for some sort of evil. What they don't know is what evil deed Sunset Shimmer might use the crown for.
    Also Celestia did say earlier that when Twilight crosses over, she'll soon know more about the other world than Celestia does. This means that Celestia doesn't exactly know what would happen if an Element of Harmony is taken into an alternate world except what for what Luna explains.
  • Has Celestia ever actually been through the portal? If not, then it makes sense that she wouldn't know too much about it. Sunset Shimmer, meanwhile, has been in the human world long enough to at least learn something about how magic works there.

How did Sunset Shimmer know what an Element of Harmony does when it's brought into an alternate world?

• Did Celestia tell her when Sunset Shimmer was her pupil?
  • Celestia did say to Twilight that when Twilight crosses over, she'll soon know more about the other world than Celestia does. She most likely doesn't exactly know what would happen if an Element of Harmony is taken into an alternate world except probably harm would come if used in the wrong hands.
    As for Sunset herself knowing, it's more likely she knows she'll be able to use magic in a world whose inhabitants aren't more accustomed to magic with the aid of the crown. In the tie-in comic, it also seems to be implied that she might have learned the demon spell from the Dark Library she trespassed into. She probably used that stolen knowledge and combined it to make her plan.
    • So... how does Sunset Shimmer know? And why isn't this fully explained?
    • It's established in the movie that the other world doesn't appear to have magic as demonstrated when Twilight tried to open the school's doors with her nonexistent horn. Sunset most likely put two and two together that an extremely powerful artifact such as the Element of Magic might be advantageous in such a world.
  • If we take "30 moons" to mean "30 lunar months" then Sunset Shimmer has had a couple years to work how magic does and does not work in the human world (except for the Magic of Friendship). The fact that she obviously knew about the Elements of Harmony (at least the Element of Magic and where to find it), it then stands to reason that she had done her research in that area as well and all the more so because she mocks Twilight for not knowing, as if "Celestia's star pupil" should know these things. How does she do this research? I don't know. I would have liked to see that background as well.

What was the inspiration behind the "Eco Kids" clique?

• I'm just curious - are there kids like that in school nowadays, or are they sort of like an "alternate" clique? (Like the goth clique you often see in high school? Or are they inspired by the Granola Girl trope?
  • I think you answered your own question in more ways than one. Based on the movie, they seem to be a combination of the New-Age Retro Hippie and Granola Girl tropes or something like that. I can't say from experience whether these types of kids exist or not as the school I went to wasn't western; however, I'm pretty sure they exist in some number or manner. Incidentally, the Eco Kids are the clique Fluttershy belongs to as demonstrated in the "Helping Twilight win the crown" song. So it’s likely they were made with Fluttershy in mind.
    • Having been in California's Bay Area, they definitely do exist. The Goode Family only slightly exaggerates this sort of culture. I would guess they're rarer in more politically conservative areas.

Why did the Mane Six let Sunset Shimmer get away in the beginning?

• Twilight and Rarity are unicorns. They have magic. It was never explained if they had any limitations on what they could do - so why couldn't they have simply tried and stopped Sunset Shimmer from getting away? And if there are any limitations, then where were they explained as being unable to grab the Element of Harmony on the go, or simply grabbing Sunset to slow her down?
  • Even basic telekinesis requires at least a moment's concentration and Sunset Shimmer was running pretty fast, probably too fast for them to get a bead on her.
• To say nothing else about Rainbow Dash, possibly the worst offender of Plot Induced Stupidity in this situation. Rainbow Dash, the pony who flew so fast to create a Sonic Rainboom, who regularly outspeeds the average ponies' walking speed without even so much as breaking a sweat. WHY couldn't she up her speed and tackle Sunset Shimmer, or at least fly in front of her to box her in?!
  • Really? The one that was running away was Sunset Shimmer, Celestia's former student. During the chase, she teleported once when Twilight teleported in front of her, and again when Twilight was holding onto her after the former tackled the latter. Twilight did try and stop Sunset but Sunset's own magic got her out meaning that any magic or action that Twilight could do, Sunset could simply counter with her own magic. For Rarity, she never showed any form of magic on the same level of Twilight in the original show. She had gem detecting and levitation magic but that was it as magic wasn't Rarity's talent. Why nobody got the Element on the go, it's because the crown was in Sunset's saddlebag which she put in when she stole it. It being in the bag, means that the Mane 6 would need to catch up to Sunset, open the bag, and reach into the bag to retrieve the crown all while chasing Sunset if they wanted to grab the crown on the go.
    As for Rainbow Dash, first off it was the middle of the night. All the Mane Six were just woken up suddenly from their beds so naturally they may have been a bit sluggish. Second, even if Rainbow Dash was not tired, her tackling Sunset or flying in front of Sunset would simply result in what happened with Twilight: Sunset would simply teleport herself away from danger.
    • Then why did Sunset Shimmer not magic herself away to further get away? Well, that's explainable: She did stand right in front of Twilight and let her get a good look at what was stolen. It's obvious that Sunset Shimmer has picked up an Idiot Ball.
    • Sunset was picking herself up after her hind legs tripped on Spike's tail when he turned in his sleep while she was passing near him. You can't say it's an Idiot Ball if something happened outside of her field of vision to make her trip. It was also not exactly right in front of Twilight, more like beside the bed, and the crown was not completely in the open. Also the teleportation spell does have a sound which would wake Twilight if used.
    • Also, why couldn't they, you know, grab the bag the Element is in?
    • Because the bag had a strap around Sunset so that it won't fall off. Seriously, it's a chase scenario. If you're gonna chase someone who has something in a bag strapped to their body, common sense would tell anyone that it would be better to stop the person carrying the bag than trying to grab the bag and hope to rip it off the person. I mean you would be exerting force one way just to pull the bag off while the other person is exerting force the other way. Maybe easier in a standing position but you are running after the person. You have to catch up to the person, try to grab the bag, and try to rip it off all while keeping up with the person. Sure it also work easier if the chaser were heavier or stronger than the one being chased, but in Sunset's case, all of them appear to be same weight and most of them appear to have the same strength area.
      If you're referring to using unicorn magic to grab it, though, then the same principles kinda still apply. Unicorns, as depicted in the show, typically use levitation magic as an extra pair of hands of sorts and they usually use it in a standing or slower paced position, not in extreme cases of motion, from what I can remember. Also, their magic apparently is not attached to their body so using their own weight or force while grabbing onto the bag via magic is somewhat redundant.
      Finally, there is the fact that Sunset can teleport. Sure, she didn't teleport the very instant that Twilight tackled her as Twilight was fast enough, but she teleported when she was not totally preoccupied. If the Mane 6 were going after her bag instead of her directly, she would simply teleport away.
    • I had the impression that Sunset was trying her best not to use any magic abilities so as not to give herself away. She only started using magic when her own physical capabilities were insufficient.
  • As for Rainbow Dash not going full speed after her, it's a bad idea to chase someone through a series of hallways while going Mach 1. Also, setting off a Rainboom inside a stone castle that is dangling off the edge of a mountain would be a REALLY bad idea for anyone not wishing to have ceiling for breakfast.
• The simplest answer to both questions: it was the middle of the night, they had just woken up, and everything was happening too fast for anyone to have their wits about them.

Why couldn't Spike open the door later on?

• Within the first fifteen minutes or so of the movie, Spike pushes open a door with no problem. How is he unable to do it later? Was it locked? Was there something or somebody in the way?
  • During said scene, Spike had the crown in his mouth and was trying to open the door's handle. Why was he doing that, probably because it was an intense moment wherein Sunset was chasing him and he probably wasn't thinking properly. Probably a dumb move, but justifiable and probably not necessary to be called an Idiot Ball. I mean, if you list every action a character does wrongly in such a situation as an Idiot Ball, then you're just nitpicking the necessary choreography.
    • It's still a dumb move regardless. Though it would have been an amusing gag for Spike and Twilight being Door Dumb because they assume that they can just push every door open or magic them open.
    • Maybe somewhere else in the movie but maybe not in the scene wherein Spike was chased.

Why did Sunset Shimmer let Spike go?

• Even if you have no intention of smashing the portal as leverage (which you can't in the first place!), you still have leverage over Twilight... hold him hostage.
  • She explains right there, "Oh, I wouldn't dream of it. I'm not a monster, Twilight". It's called Even Evil Has Standards. She could have held Spike to have leverage against Twilight, but she felt that such an act was too low. As for smashing the portal, which I believe is also discussed here, Sunset was backing on the fact that such an act would be more serious for Twilight. Sure, the hammer might've have simply phased into Equestria, however, if someone was threatening to destroy the portal, most people would not think of this in such a dire situation and give into Sunset. What Sunset didn't count on was that Twilight was willing to be stranded in the human world so that Sunset won't mess with it any further.
    Sure, the whole point of the trip was to get the crown back as the other Elements couldn't function without it; however, Twilight had enough faith that her friends could handle any situation that comes up without them. I mean, Equestria did survive for a thousand years without said Elements protecting them. Heck, it was even founded without them in the first place, just the magic of friendship. Even the series proper shows that stuff can be resolved without constant use of the Elements. There was the whole changeling affair, the Sombra affair, and even the whole reforming of Discord. The Elements are a nifty weapon against all sorts of ultimate evil, but as proven in the series itself, they're not the only thing in the ponies' arsenal.

Leaving Sunset Shimmer behind

• Why, in the name of Celestia, did Twilight just leave Sunset behind in the human world? Let's recap: Sunset Shimmer was known to bully the other students, turned into a demon, brainwashed the students, and tried turning them into her personal invasion force. And then, she's defeated by the Elements of Harmony, and turns good. Twilight then abandons her with the same school whose students she had been tormenting for years, and just tried brainwashing a few minutes beforehand. The school that likely hates her guts more than ever, and probably wouldn't tolerate her anymore (apart from the Humane Five). And the worst part is that if this goes wrong, it would be more than two more years before Sunset would ever get another chance to go to Equestria. And Twilight expects Sunset will be able to make friends?
  
  And instead of telling Sunset Shimmer to go back through the portal or at least asking her if she wanted to return to Equestria or stay at Canterlot High, Twilight just parties the night away, while Sunset's forced to rebuild a door that her demonic form destroyed! The form that she never meant to take to begin with, and made her act as she did against her will! And was still fixing, even as Twilight and Spike went through the portal, which then closed right after they left.
  
  Also, there's the fact that Sunset Shimmer is from Equestria, and not the human world. Therefore, she should've gone with Twilight Sparkle just because she wasn't even supposed to be in the human world to begin with.
  • Someone thinking in-character would think Sunset Shimmer feels more at home in the human world than in the pony world because she's been there longer, or maybe she doesn't want to face the potential consequences from Celestia, thinking she failed her. A more sarcastic response is that because this is The Movie, one standard and crucial element of The Movie is in play here: No matter what happens in the movie, no matter how big or how major, any new characters or power-ups attained in the movie will be instantly forgotten the second the credits start rolling to avoid any Continuity Lockout. It's called a Non-Serial Movie. It happens commonly in anime like Dragon Ball. It even happened with Power Rangers and Doctor Who.
  • According to the movie, Twilight trusts her human friends to keep an eye on Sunset. She even states this to Celestia when she returns. Sure, they were disbanded by Sunset originally without Twilight around, but this whole experience is something that they most surely learned from. As for Sunset herself, I Choose to Stay does indeed seem more probable. However, she also has a lot of making up to do. It's not just the door she has to fix. There's the students she has apologize to. Going back to Equestria may have her face Princess Celestia but it would mean running away from the problems she created in the human world.
    • There's still the fact that she'd be stuck there for more than two years, and she could finish handing out those apologies in less than a week. Friends or not, it really isn't fair to leave someone to fend for themselves like that, especially when you'll have no way to check on them or the other people there until that extremely long time interval falls through. If the Big Bad actually came from the human world, it would totally make sense to leave them there to fix the problems on that side of the portal. But this is Sunset Shimmer, a unicorn from Equestria. If anything, it would be better for the school and herself if she just went back to her own world, and promised to never bother the humans again.
    • She did stay in the human world for "30 moons" prior to returning back to Equestria, so I'm guessing she already knows how to fend for herself. She did it back when she was tormenting others so doing it while being friendlier might have its advantages. For checking up on her, Twilight is now a long-living alicorn, so what may be considered a long time might be considered enough to check up on Sunset.
    • If she stayed behind because she was afraid of what Princess Celestia might do, then why didn't Twilight Sparkle point out that Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon and Discord were redeemed and forgiven, too? Whatever happened between Sunset and Celestia was a temper-tantrum compared to what those two did when they were villains! And I doubt that she wouldn't know who they were! Sunset clearly hanged around Canterlot when she was Celestia's student, so she probably saw Discord's statue and would've learned who it was supposed to be, and she was a bookworm, so she likely would've read about the "Mare in the Moon".
    • I'm not sure I got the feeling that Sunset stayed because she was afraid of what Princess Celestia might do. She was somewhat nervous around Principal Celestia who was probably more angry than the Princess back in Equestria. So yeah, if she wanted to not face consequences she caused, she would have run away to the less affected Celestia. As for Twilight not mentioning Luna and Discord, I guessing the whole forgiving Sunset was enough. I mean, if Twilight told Sunset that she had nothing to fear as she and her friends redeem former villains, it might come off as too proud and standoffish or something. It's like a kid telling a bully-turned-friend that the bully can be forgiven because the kid was able to forgive his estranged uncle and the boss who fired their dad. Kinda completely cases that may hurt someone more than necessary.
    • Actually, I meant that Princess Celestia had forgiven Luna and Discord. But it still seems to me like Twilight Sparkle deliberately left Sunset behind in the human world, whether she liked it or not, except promising that there were some decent people there. Also, that it was just a flimsy excuse to prevent Sunset Shimmer from (at least immediately) appearing in season four. We'd might as well be asking: "Why couldn't Meghan McCarthy give somebody else a chance to write future episodes for Sunset Shimmer?"
    • Well, considering the time she spent there and the apparent Narnia Time that is happening, Sunset probably really is more at home in the human world and has fewer relations back in Equestria except for Twilight and Princess Celestia. Going back home to Equestria would probably be tough. Besides, if she really wanted to go home to Equestria, she would have at least made a deal about it when she was defeated. Heck, if she really wanted to go back, she would have seized the chance immediately instead of doing her little scheme of stealing the crown.
      As for the reason why Sunset Shimmer and others won't appear in future episodes, that's the thing about a Non-Serial Movie. When creators make a movie adaptation while the main series is going on, a problem is created for the viewers. If viewers simply only watched the series without watching the movie beforehand, and there are references to the movie, they are gonna get confused. They are gonna ask who are these people and what's their relationship with the main characters. The situation kinda creates a massive Remember the New Guy? and kinda forces the viewers to watch the movie just to understand the whole thing. Considering the main target audience of the original show are little girls, that may be like forcing them to do something that may distract them from fully enjoying the show.
      Doing the movie as a Non Serial one kinda solves the problem. Viewers who only watch the series won't get confused and viewers who watched the movie can enjoy the same stuff that the series offered in movie format. It's really somewhat similar to what Power Rangers did for their first movie adaptation with Ivan Ooze. Besides, it isn't the first time that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has done something like this with referencing old characters. There have been episodes with really interesting characters, but haven't been referenced to in future episode. There is Gilda and the Flim Flam brothers just to name a few.
    • It really doesn't seem like a Non-Serial Movie, though. Unlike some franchises that don't actually try to keep the movies consistent with the series they're based on, Equestria Girls clearly continues after season three, with Twilight Sparkle adjusting to being an alicorn princess. And if it were non-canon, we would've gotten confirmation from Meghan McCarthy or another writer.
      
      As for Sunset Shimmer not appearing later simply because it's The Movie, I'd like to remind you guys that Unicron was introduced killed off in the 1986 Transformers movie, yet we still get to see his head floating around Cybertron for the rest of Transformers G1, and the transformers that were altered/killed in that movie stayed that way afterwards. Not to say that McCarthy should've gone that route, but I'm just trying to point out that The Movie doesn't always have to be self-contained, and that a character like Sunset Shimmer could still appear in a later episode without confusing a whole bunch of people.
    • With some series like Dragon Ball, where exactly their movies are set in continuity are indeed put into question. For some, their movies look like they can be put in a certain point in the story due to certain elements however due to some stuff they don't exactly fit.
      From Meghan McCarthy or someone, I think they said that the finale of Season 3 and the start of Season 4 are supposed to be viewed like continuing episodes or something like that. If this is the case, then Equestria Girls would definitely seem like a Non-Serial Movie.
      The thing about the 1986 Transformer movie is that it wasn't a Non-Serial Movie in any form. It was The Movie in its purest form. When it was made, the whole series was put to a halt to make the movie. No new storylines based on the old scenario were made when the movie was being made I believe. The movie was meant to be the end of one chapter of the Transformers mythos and the start of a new one. Because of that watching the movie was kinda needed especially considering that a whole lot of new changes were introduced in the next season. With Equestria Girls, all it presented was a movie adventure without any major lasting changes as compared to the Season 3 finale.
    • Wasn't it actually stated that Equestria Girls won't have any impact on Season 4? Does anyone have confirmation or denial of that at all?
    • There's a difference between a Non-Serial Movie and when The Movie happens to be a self-contained, standalone adventure, but that's another story. And really, it's unrelated to what the original discussion was about, so I hope this will end as quickly as possible:
      
      Twilight Sparkle should've asked Sunset Shimmer whether she wanted to go back to Equestria, or stay behind at Canterlot High. Even if Sunset did want to stay with the humans, she didn't make that clear after she was defeated, and Twilight should've reminded her of her options because it would be better than just assuming she was going to be staying in the human world, where she was in danger of being a social pariah. If I were Twilight Sparkle, I would've been a little more concerned for Sunset's safety, even if she had caused a lot of trouble in the past. And really, are you telling me that a conversation like this couldn't have been added in?
    Twilight Sparkle: Well, I'm going back to Equestria. Are you sure you don't want to come back with me, Sunset?
    Sunset Shimmer: No, I think I'll be fine here.
    Twilight: Are you sure? I mean, I think the entire school's probably sore at you by now for what you've done.
    Sunset: Twilight, I want to stay behind! I understand that I have to take responsibility for my actions, and I'm willing to do it! Besides, I have a few things to look forward to around here before I'm ready to just pack up and leave!
    Twilight: Okay, then, but don't worry. My human friends will take good care of you.
    Sunset: Thanks, Twilight. See you in another thirty moons!
  • Sunset performed a crime in a foreign territory, so her being left behind would be akin to someone being tried in the territory where they committed the crime.
  • Rewatched the scene after Sunset is defeated. Twilight tells Sunset that she can either seek out friendship or she can forever be alone. Sunset rebuts that all she's ever done was drive people apart since she came to the human world. She doesn't know the first thing about friendship. Twilight then says that the other girls could teach her about it.
    What this scene says is that Twilight kinda decided to leave her in the human world in order to learn about friendship. While it can seem somewhat dickish, I think what Twilight was probably thinking was that it was probably a better option for Sunset to learn friendship. While Sunset had a bad reputation in the human world, she at least had formed relationships with everyone. She knows everyone and they know her. They were not good relationships but at least they were relationships nonetheless. They just need to be mended.
    Coming back to Equestria may seem like dooming her to a somewhat lonelier situation. Apart from Twilight and Celestia, she'd have to seek out and start forming fresh new relationships back in Equestria and that may not be easy. Even ponies like Lyra whom she met in the tie-in comic would require creating completely fresh new relationships as she didn't even socialize one bit while she was still around. It would be a really awkward and uneasy journey for Sunset to go through, especially considering she admits that she doesn't know about friendship.
    The only roundabout way she could easily make friends is probably to search out the pony equivalents of the people she met in the human world and form relationships with them. However, that in itself may be a bit awkward. Twilight had a somewhat awkward time forming a meaningful relationship with the human counterparts of her pony friends, but at least she was somewhat able to because she has a good basis. Sunset doesn't have that basis with the people she knows. It may also be hard as some of the humans Sunset knows are ponies who wouldn't all normally be together in the same place. Worse still, the majority of humans she knows are the original movie characters that haven't appeared in the original series before and may in a meta sense, not exist in Equestria.
    Sure, Twilight could just take Sunset back to Equestria and have her pony friends teach her about friendship and it would be dandy as that. However it may send a really bad message to younger viewers. "Come to a new place, screw everyone there, realize that you were wrong, decide to be a better person, immediately crawl back home without apologizing fully to everyone you wronged."
    What Twilight did can really seem wrong, however, considering that her human friends were wronged by Sunset. Twilight kinda owes them and everyone else to have a more proper apology from Sunset. Besides, one of the last things she says before leaving is to remind her human friends to keep an eye on Sunset.
    Incidentally, the one Sunset was nervous around was actually Vice Principal Luna. Apart from Principal Celestia, Luna was pretty much the highest authority who was dealing the most punishment towards Sunset for her actions. Well at least, Snips and Snails were also given the same punishment as Sunset. As for higher authorities such as supervisors and police, considering the setting of the movie, they're probably not a factor. Even if they were, it would be a really hard case to charge Sunset for what happened. Sure, the whole school that was present knows what happened. However, the explanation of what happened is not something that would hold in court. It is still a mundane human world.
    • If "...or you can forever be alone" was Twilight's way of saying that Sunset had the option to return to Equestria, then I just can't help but point out how unfair/biased that sounds. I mean really, Twilight made it seem like going back to Equestria would mean a Fate Worse than Death for Sunset Shimmer, when it could easily be another opportunity for her to make friends, but in a more controlled/neutral environment. Its equivalent on the opposite side of the spectrum would be: "It's time for you to go back to Equestria and apologize to Princess Celestia for being such an arrogant shut-in. If you don't want to do that, you can stay here and get turned into a pincushion by the people that you've been bullying for the past two years." The point is: since when did Twilight deal in such absolutes? If she wanted to give helpful advice to Sunset about making friendship-related choices, she should've said something like: "You have some choices, Sunset Shimmer: You can go back with me to Equestria and try starting a new social life in our homeland from scratch, in the way you see fit. Or you can stay behind and remake the broken one you had in this world, at the expense of taking responsibility for your previous actions here. Though, you could just go into exile somewhere in either world, and not interact with others at all."
      
      I understand that it would be morally acceptable for Sunset Shimmer to stay behind and take responsibility for her actions, but Sunset's arrogance and disagreement with Celestia predate her original entry into the human world, so if she just stuck back in the human world, it might seem like she didn't have the gall to go back to her own homeland and personally make up for the Noodle Incident / Old Shame that started the whole chain of events. Doesn't that also feel like a bad aesop?
      
      Sure, Sunset Shimmer messed with a whole bunch of people in the human world, but that doesn't mean she should just forget about the whole reason she went there to begin with: her argument with Princess Celestia. She could've at least crossed over to Equestria for 2-5 minutes (with Spike at her side, so that she doesn't get tackled by a bunch of angry ponies) to make amends with her former mentor, and then returned to the human world to right the rest of her wrongs there. That could've been accomplished before Twilight even finished dancing with her human friends.
    • When Twilight said "or you can forever be alone", it really wasn't her way of saying Sunset had the option to return to Equestria. It just means that Sunset would be alone if she doesn't seek out friends, especially after what she did. Sure, it could've been worded better like what you've suggested; however, the original dialogue kinda got the point across. Making it longer by giving multiple choices such as make friends in Equestria, make friends in the human world, be alone in Equestria, or be alone in the human world, kinda makes over complicates the real issue, friendship.
      Besides from the way the dialogue went, it seemed that Sunset was also kinda set on staying. Otherwise, why would she mention the problem she created in the human world? As for Sunset going back to Equestria just to say sorry to Princess Celestia, there may have been complications. The way the portal works seems to involve some Narnia Time as well. When the crown was flung into the mirror, Sunset followed it only a few minutes later. When the crown came to the human world and hit Fluttershy's head, Sunset should've bumped into Fluttershy as well if the ratio of time between worlds was exact. And that's not accounting for the fact that it was daytime when the crown came to the human world and nighttime at the other side.
      The whole situation does send a message that Sunset is not going to make up with her teacher/parental figure. However in the case of making up to a person for running away vs. making up to people whose lives you've ruined, the latter really does seem to take more priority. I mean a temper tantrum towards one person vs. hurting a whole school on an emotional and even a physical level. Which would people make a bigger deal over?
      I mean think about it. If Sunset went back home to Equestria, said her apologies to Celestia, explained what she did to everyone in the human world, and left without making up for all the damage she's done, Celestia would probably be even more disappointed in Sunset. More so, if Sunset had no intentions of going back to the human world. Sure, Sunset could just come back, explain things, and go back right away. However, considering how long Celestia and Sunset were separated, a few minutes wouldn't be enough for everything to be settled.
  • One other thing: Sunset Shimmer is a unicorn, and one that's damned good at using magic, judging by what we've seen and heard of her. Yet, she's just gonna stay back in a mundane world where 1: Sunset can't use magic, and 2: She no longer has a hold on the people living there. It made sense that she stayed there the first time, since she wanted to be away from Celestia, and because it was easy for her to boss others around since her negative behavior inspired fear in others. But now that she no longer has a negative attitude or a significant influence on Canterlot High, why would she still deny herself the many amazing abilities she was born with?
    
    It's like if Draco Malfoy decided to live the life of a Muggle instead of trying to become a good/neutral wizard after Deathly Hallows. If Sunset Shimmer was an earth pony or even a pegasus, which never used magic to begin with, or if she was hopelessly terrible at using magic, it would be reasonable for her to stay in the human world and not do anything for her homeland. But in reality, she's a great magic user that could go back to Equestria and use those powers to help others there in more ways than she ever could in the human world, yet voluntarily stays in a place where her powers are impossible to use to help this one high school, just because "it's the right thing to do".
    
    Sure, Sunset Shimmer bullied a few teenagers, brainwashed them after turning into a demon, and caused some collateral damage, but nothing that the humans couldn't recover from without her help. In fact, they'd probably forget all about her a month or even a week after she left for Equestria. Surely, the humans would understand that she was leaving them if she was doing it to help others on an even larger scale? Knowing how Equestria seems to be troubled by monsters all the time, Sunset Shimmer probably could've used her magic to help prevent some rampaging Dragon/Ursa/Hydra/whatever from attacking a distant settlement like Manehattan or Fillydelphia. Wouldn't that be another way she could make friends?
    
    But, no! She's stuck in the human world: fixing doors, handing out apologies, and probably still being hated for what she did in the past.
    • It's true that Sunset would be denying what her natural talent is by staying in the mundane world. However staying there regardless of her natural talent for the sake of doing what is right, is probably a good selfless thing especially considering what happened.
      Sure, some of the humans would forget about her if she simply left for Equestria. However, some may not just let it go even though Sunset's gone. They would really feel bad if she just left without giving them some form of proper apology. Humans are complicated. There are real life people out there who haven't forgiven those who hurt them even though said persons are dead and long gone.
      Besides, it would send a really wrong message if Sunset left simply because she was a unicorn. "Due to my natural born talents being useless in this society that I came to and screwed over, I'm going to go somewhere faraway where my talents are better appreciated. Yes, instead of trying to fit in this place peacefully and finding out if I can still be a productive member without my talents, I am gonna run away from all the problems I caused just so that I can be super-duper useful."
    • But that's like saying that John Rambo would've been doing the right thing if he'd gone back to help fix that town he shot up back in First Blood and then handed out apologies to the families of all the cops and National Guardsmen he wounded (or in Galt's case, killed), or if he stayed and served his sentence in that labor camp instead of using his experiences as a Green Beret to help the military with getting those reconnaissance photos, freeing those P.O.W.s from Vietnam, or stopping the Soviets from invading Afghanistan.
      
      Sure, Sunset Shimmer and John Rambo are two different characters with different motives for their actions and made their own choices with how to deal with their problems/punishments, but the point is that Sunset could still redeem herself by doing so in a way that she could excel at, even if the people she troubled back in that town didn't forgive her. I mean, Sheriff Teasle from First Blood probably didn't give a rat's ass about Rambo's heroics in the sequels, even if he was there to witness them first-hand, but does that mean that Rambo should automatically stop putting his own life on the line to save innocent people from imminent peril and just return to America to rot away in a prison? I don't think so!
      
      Though, of course, Sunset Shimmer should've at least taken the time they had before the portal closed to apologize to the other students, as it would certainly paint a negative impression of her on either side of that portal if she left for Equestria without another word.
  • Okay, this discussion is getting longer than it should be, but here's another tidbit that needs to be brought up:
    
    1: Sunset Shimmer intended to go back to Equestria, even before she turned into that demon. If she didn't, she would've just stayed in the human world, and not bothered with Twilight's crown at all.
    
    2: Princess Celestia told Twilight how she hoped that Sunset Shimmer would someday come back to Equestria, before and after Twilight even got her crown back from Sunset.
    
    So if Sunset Shimmer changed her mind and voluntarily elected to stay in the human world after her Heel–Face Turn, why couldn't they have made it clearer to the audience? Twilight Sparkle, on the other hand, chews her out, leaves her in the hands of the very same people that Sunset was tormenting back when she was still a jerk, and decides to spend the rest of her spare time dancing with the other students, all without mentioning to Sunset that Princess Celestia might have wanted her to come back with her to Equestria.
    
    Not to mention, it seems odd that the unicorn/alicorn that's been studying friendship for the past three years or so,^note One year, actually. It's stated in the Season 4 opener. and written tons of reports describing the lessons she'd learned about it, would just put other people in charge of being Sunset Shimmer's friends instead of offering her own friendship to Sunset Shimmer in Equestria, and then pointing her in the direction of a place where she could try starting over. Really, there's a difference between giving someone a jumpstart, and setting up a potential Fly Or Die scenario for them to languish through. It just doesn't seem that well thought-out for someone like Twilight Sparkle.
    
    And to those that would say it would still be wrong for Sunset Shimmer to run away to Equestria without fixing up the problems she caused, read the "Rambo" argument above.
    • I'm going to try to boil all this done so we can close this up.

1. The Doylist answer is because they need to keep the movie as self-contained as possible. Because Hasbro clearly doesn't think much of the demographic, they realized that having a character return to Equestria and then acknowledging her would cause a lot of confusion.
2. If you prefer the Watsonian route, you have a lot more, possibly overlapping, choices: 1.) Sunset Shimmer has Gone Native and/or I Choose to Stay. 2.) Sunset Shimmer realized that Celestia was right about her at the root of their argument and was too ashamed to face her in Equestria. 3.) Sunset Shimmer had to fulfill her punishment by rebuilding the entrance and the portal closed long before she was finished 4.) Sunset Shimmer decided to become The Atoner and make up for what she's done. 5.) The idea of the Equestria Girls being her friends and teaching her about friendship was too good an offer to pass up.

That cloak that Sunset Shimmer wore in Equestria

• This is a relatively minor thing, but just where did Sunset Shimmer get the hooded cloak that she wore when she was sneaking around Cadance's palace? Did she bring it over from the human world? If so, that wouldn't explain why it didn't vanish like the rest of her attire when she turned into a unicorn in Equestria. Did she perhaps come across it in the castle, and decide to make use of it as she was looking for the Element of Magic?
  • Most likely from the human world based on the scene. Why it didn't vanish like the rest of her attire, maybe the portal deemed that it wasn't something to disappear when coming to Equestria. The portal as a whole is just something that isn't explored upon like all the other magical items the original series has.
  • It was a hoodie on the other side.
  • Rarity has shown in "Boast Busters" that there is a spell to transform a curtain into a dress, so Sunset probably used something similar with a curtain, or with the cover of the mirror (if there was one)

Why do they let Sunset continue competing for the Fall Formal Princess, especially after, when they know she tried to frame Twilight?

• Two possible explanations: They don't have actual proof that she had to do with the fake pictures. She can claim she found the folder and immediately took it to Vice Principal Luna or she was banned from competing, and that's the real reason Twilight won: she was the only girl running for prom princess thingy.
  • Or given how they ignored her constant and blatant bullying of other people, they're practically useless.
  • Maybe Sunset Shimmer is clever enough to avoid getting disqualified for breaking the rules, but sadly, we don't get to see this.

Sunset's bully spree

• How come no one acted on this and suspended her for this yet? I mean, it wasn't like she was a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing like Chrysalis was; she was blatant about her bullying. If this was a real school, she would have been forced to switch schools faster than you can say "Potential Bullycide Incoming!" Are we to assume that the principals are useless? If that's the case, why the f are they even running the school in the first place? Shouldn't there be, like, a superintendent to go to them and be all like "Okay, that's it, you guys are suspended"?
• While everything being pointed out is a fair complaint, Equestria Girls is hardly the only series were the Adults Are Useless (there's a reason that's a trope) and bullies rule with an iron fist in the school. It also sadly truth in television. If there is no physical evidence of Sunset's bullying, there is little the principals can do, as the conflict would be "Sunset's word against X's". And even with physical evidence, Sunset can claim she was set up and it would be hard to prove it otherwise. The video she can claim she only did as part of the campaign, and even then she claims someone else did it without her consent, and show a completed different video.
  • In addition, it's likely that the students are just intimidated by her. When Sunset is walking through the halls, several students actually hide from her. Sure, she may be an Alpha Bitch, but apparently she has enough sway to make teenagers afraid to simply tattle on her. A more cynical response would suggest that the students are just know there's no point in telling the principals since the worst they can do is say "Don't do this."
    Not only that, but if Celestia and Luna tell her "you are not to do this, this, say that, or do so and so" to Sunset... once she and her targets step foot off of school grounds? Their words hold no weight whatsoever. The principals can only punish someone at school and only at school. If say, Sunset was cyberbullying Rarity? Then Celestia or Luna likely can't do a thing about it. It wasn't at school, therefore, not a whole lot can be done. Sunset is bullying you on Facebook? Sorry - not done through the school website, so you'll have to settle that with the administrators of Facebook. Sunset verbally abusing you at the mall? Then the principal can't suspend her for that. Sunset beat you up in the park? Then you have to talk to Sunset's parents. Sunset sending you threatening messages on the phone? Then you don't talk to the principal... you talk to the police.
    • It's also incredibly difficult to effectively tell on a savvy bully. They know the adults are more powerful than they are, and they will try their best to hide any unsavory activity from their presence or gain the adults' favor so the bully has more sway over the adults than the victims. While unlikely at Canterlot High due to its peaceful nature, there may also be a "no snitching" unwritten rule among the students where telling an adult is highly frowned upon. In these circumstances, the bully will put more of his or her attention into demoralizing his or her victims, or worse, get others to join him or her against the snitcher. Finally, there are always areas with little to no surveillance at a school, such as restrooms, P.E. locker rooms, and the sidewalks immediately surrounding the school, where bullying commonly happens. In this case, it looks like Celestia and Luna know Sunset is not the nicest student in the school, but can't obtain any evidence she's doing something worthy of suspension, expulsion, or transference. If either of them tries to punish Sunset with any of the above, and they have no such evidence, the school could risk a libel lawsuit (which has happened many times at many schools before).

Twilight's human friends and Sunset Shimmer being inconsistently transformed by the power of the Elements

• So, is there any legitimate reason for why the human counterparts of Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all magically acquire equine (horse-like) features like Twilight Sparkle from the power of the Elements, despite the fact that none of the five actually originated from Equestria, and yet when Sunset Shimmer (who, like Twilight, is a humanized pony) gained that demon form, she barely has any such features?
  • Maybe it's because Magic, the keystone of the Elements, is being wielded by an originally-a-pony at the time? So it makes the other Elements pony-ish because Twilight is a pony? Doylist: Because they can sell more dolls this way.
  • For Sunset's change, maybe the crown reflects what's been in her heart. And it changed Twilight's friends because it reflected them from Equestria? *shrug*
  • But it does make one wonder why Sunset Shimmer didn't at least have the equine ears and tail that, by all rights, she should've still had on her body after being turned back to normal by the Elements. After all, Twilight's human friends kept theirs, at least until the portal was deactivated. Plus, she had them on her human doll in the toyline, so it wouldn't have been that far-fetched for her to have them at that point in the very movie the toyline was based on.
• The Elements of Harmony are Equestrian Magic so when using Equestrian Magic, one is going to be influenced by it. It's like Power Dyes Your Hair. This is why the five girls look pony-ish. Sunset Shimmer, on the other hand, stole the Element of Magic and forced it to activate without friendship. This is a corruption of the Element's purpose. She is very clearly corrupted. Look at the powers she uses: turning other people into demons (i.e. forcing them to be like her), mind controlling (forcing people to follow/hang out with her) and then the fireballs for murder instead of rainbows for purification. Twilight says as much, but not in as many words.

The Dog-Walker

• Anybody has any idea what the guy walking the dog by the entrance was thinking when he heard Spike talk? Or did he not hear Spike?
  • Maybe he thought it was a ventriloquist's act?
  • I think it worked like this: he thought he heard something, turned to look, and got distracted by the much weirder sight of Twilight trying to crawl into school.

Sunset "Satan"'s failure to invade Equestria

• When Sunset Shimmer goes One-Winged Angel, one of the first things she does is transform Snips and Snails' human counterparts into demonic creatures. A few minutes later, she effortlessly brainwashes the students (and principals) of Canterlot High, then has Snips and Snails round them up. Here's a few things:
  
  1: Why didn't she try transforming the other students into monsters, too? There wasn't any indication that Snips and Snails were the only ones that could be affected by that spell.
  
  2: Even if she couldn't physically transform their bodies (their hearts were too pure, etc.), couldn't she have at least put more effort into preparing them for the attack on Equestria? Surely, she could've used her abilities to conjure up Elder Scrolls-esque enchanted armor/weapons for her brainwashed minions to use, and/or transmogrified the debris from the broken doorway into tools.
  
  3: Why didn't Sunset use that brainwashing ability on Twilight Sparkle's friends, instead of allowing them to obstruct the path of her fireball, which led to them being powered up by the Elements of Harmony?
  
  You might say that she wouldn't have had time to do all that, but if Twilight Sparkle had enough time to spare to finish the Fall Formal dance, why couldn't Sunset Shimmer take a little more time with reinforcing her big Evil Plan?

  • That question has already been answers in other parts of this page. You and the guy who answered clearly did not check the other folders.
  • Please point out where all of those were explained. I do not see an answer to any of those questions beyond "Sunset is prideful"... which is actually what the first person who answered basically said - Sunset's so prideful she picked up an Idiot Ball and thought a bone-headed plan like that would work.

  • On #1: Option 1) Because she was too busy hamming it up. Option 2) Maybe she was planning on doing that later and didn't want to waste time doing it just then because she was focused on something else e.g. Twilight.
    
    On #2) Pretty much just see #1.
    
    On #3) Classic evil move. Brainwashing random rubes is one thing, but Twilight's friends actively opposed her, which earned her ire, thus motivating her to try to destroy them rather than simply brainwash them.
    • Alternatively for Option 1: The demon form requires an independent mind to work/be useful/not drain Sunset's motor-skill-adjusting resources, and Snips and Snails, as her lackeys, are the only ones Sunset "trusts" to retain minds.

Why didn't Twilight explain things to Principal Celestia?

• Why didn't Twilight ask Principal Celestia for the crown, be honest about her motives and present Spike the talking dog as proof?
  • Out of fear of getting sent to an asylum for being crazy and doing ventriloquism with some dog or be sent to some lab to be dissected.
    • Or that Celestia might also see it as a very elaborate prank.
    • I don't buy this. Separate the two, search the dog for electronics, an interview of both Twilight and Spike separately — and maybe a quick CT scan to make sure my brain isn't the problem — and I'd be willing to entertain the idea of giving the girl the cheap crown I probably bought at a toy store and find something else to give to the princess of the high school dance.
    • Which will take more than a day, and congratulations, Twilight is now trapped in human world for 2.5 years. And that's assuming Sunset didn't stole crown in meantime and left Twilight there laughing all the way to Equestrian throne. Plus, instead of no one knowing about portal, the measures above would draw in government that could have started drawing invasion plans or destroyed the portal as protective measure.
    • No offense man, but first off: why would anyone check for a talking dog being real? You know how many times a trick similar to that have been done in show biz? A lot. Hell, there are still some people who do the counting horse bit in certain parts of the world, so I ain't going to bother with humoring a girl with a talking dog for something that looks almost completely like the cheap plastic thing you bought with school board money. Plus if he was real, the chances are that this unknown Celestia might beat up Twilight, steal the dog and get out of the dead-end principal job.
  • She didn't think she could get believed, and saw another, "better" way.
  • All she had to do was take her out to the statue and show her the portal to prove it.
    • Rule one of interdimensional travel, never talk about the way to get home to someone you don't completely know, after all possible invasion and all that.
    • Hell, even if it was supposed to look exactly like the "genuine" Fall Formal crown, Twilight could have just gone back to Equestria, retrieved the fake one that Sunset tried to replace Twilight's crown with, go back to the human world, found the "real" crown and replaced it with the fake one, and then gone back with no trouble at all. Or she could have presented the "fake" one to VP Luna and make the swap, then get out of there before Sunset had any idea what's going on. Mission accomplished.
    • I see a huge flaw with this logic cause frankly A) that one is back in Equestria, B) she doesn't trust Sunset since she stole the crown and is Celestia's former protégée, so she might have more than one trick up her sleeve. It was better to stay there and get it the fair way so Sunset doesn't steal the crown again while Twilight's gone.
    • Plus, all Sunset has to do is to wait for Twilight heading back to perform a crown switch, attack her while she's still not used to that body, then steal the crown and become the demon queen. After all, it's just a more elaborate bit of her own swapping the Element for the replica.
    • Go back and forth from Equestria and make crown switch scenario: make a journey back to Equestria, retrieve the fake crown, go back to the human world, and somehow replace it with the real one that is heavily guarded by school faculty without the aid of magic. Alternatively, make a journey back to Equestria, retrieve the fake crown, go back to the human world, and somehow convince the VP that they should exchange crowns, and not look like some thief sadly attempting to steal their crown by giving them what could be a fake. The first steps are easy but the final execution is kinda hard. Sure, Luna was fooled by a poor photoshop, but then again it's too much of a gambit that she'll easily exchange the crowns just because someone asks nicely.
    • Why not bring back Princess Celestia to talk to her counterpart? Crazy students are just crazy, but when I find myself talking to a doppelganger, I'd be at least willing to hear myself out and check whether the cheap crown bought five years ago from the costume shop suddenly became real gold and sporting a million-dollar jewel.
    • Because Twilight was instructed to do this mission alone as bringing more ponies from Equestria might cause some problems. Besides doing so kinda requires Twilight going to back to Equestria and explaining why she returned without the crown to her friends who are expecting her to return with the crown.
    • Additional info based on rewatching the scene: Fluttershy recognized that the crown had the same design as the Fall Formal crown and thus gave it to Principal Celestia because she knew it belonged to the school until the dance. She did not give it to Lost and Found. She also tried to (meekly) spell this out to Sunset Shimmer: that it didn't belong to her even though Sunset was saying something similar to "It's mine, and I need it back."
  • Why did Twilight think Principal Celestia didn't know about the portal? It's not as if it occurred naturally hidden somewhere where nobody would notice it. A portal to a land of talking horses was embedded into a statue of a horse. It's not clear whether they carved a magic rock or enchanted a statue, but either way someone would know about it. Since Celestia is the ruler of the area, she would be the obvious guess.
    • The portal is usually sealed and only opens once in a while, for a set amount of time. Because of this, most people would assume that it is just a simple statue. Assuming that someone made it, they'd know about it indeed. The question to that however who made it? A pony that traveled to the human world or a human who somehow figured out magic in a world where magic supposedly doesn't exist. Human Celestia is just the principal of the school so her knowledge would likely be limited to that of regular principal unless she actually knows something more than she's letting on. Which of course is kinda speculation and WMG. Though to be fair, even pony Celestia likewise doesn't know everything like parasprites.
  • Something that seems to have been not brought up. Before going to Celestia, Fluttershy warns Twilight that there is a No Pets Allowed rule in the school and that she has to hide Spike. Spike would be the definite proof that Twilight is from another world, however mentioning you have a dog in front of the principal with such a rule is good way to be punished. Worst case scenario: Celestia looks in the students' records for Twilight's folder to cite this offense. Can't find such a folder because Twilight didn't technically enroll in the school. Twilight is outed as an intruder and therefore banned from the school.
    • Doesn't explain why Twilight couldn't say "I have proof... Spike?" and Spike starts speaking before Celestia can start punishing her. As for the "no pets allowed", that makes sense for Fluttershy to not know, but what's she doing carrying rabbits and other animals around during school? Sure she's being discrete about it, but that's somewhat out of character for Fluttershy.
    • That requires taking out Spike and showing him before Celestia and have him talk before she could punish Twilight. That would require some extremely quick speed. The only other roundabout way is to have Spike talk from within the bag and then show him. However in between him talking from within the bag and showing him, some other things would else be needed. An explanation that what was talking was from a talking dog and not a radio. An explanation of why Twilight is bringing a dog to a "No Pets Allowed" school. Afterwards, Twilight would need to show Spike. Explain that he did talk and show him talking all before Celestia could punish Twilight. Basically Twilight would really need to do some clear explanations and quick maneuvers in order to pull this amazing feat off. Besides Twilight would also really convince Celestia while explaining all this before showing proof that this isn't a waste of the principal's time.
      As for Fluttershy, she explains why she is breaking the rule. "They just get so lonely while I'm at school all day." It's actually in character for Fluttershy to do something like this. I mean her pony counterpart did steal a bird she thought was sick when Celestia visited Ponyville.
    • This is assuming that Celestia is the kind of principal who punishes first and asks questions later.
    • Even if Principal Celestia was a Reasonable Authority Figure, the whole point of showing Spike to her is to support a completely unbelievable tale. I mean think of the explanation. Twilight's actually a magical pony princess from another world that turned into a human after passing through a mirror and is searching for a magic crown that was stolen from said world and that it coincidentally looks like the crown of the Fall Formal. If given that explanation, anybody would naturally think that Twilight was crazy. In Principal Celestia's position, she would also most likely think that Twilight was wasting her time. She was looking over some documents when Twilight came in and did give a sort of "yeah what?" face.
      Pulling a dog that and claiming it could talk just to prove this crazy story is true would be icing to a disastrous cake. Doing that in front of the principal, in the middle of the school which has a "No Pets Allowed" policy, in the principal's own office, while said principal was busy working, and after telling a really unbelievable story would be one extremely Zany Scheme to pull off. Refuge in Audacity would most likely not happen and Celestia would probably think Twilight was not only crazy, but also really dumb to do such a thing. The audience would probably think Twilight was dumber if she did such a thing because she was told a scene ago by Fluttershy not to do this. The whole dog showing thing is kinda equivalent to being told not to push an auto-destruct button, and then ignoring said instruction and pushing said button anyway in the hopes that you may survive with all your goals accomplished.
  • Half of the argument could have been avoided if Twilight had brought the school crown with her. That at least would have provided a starting point from sanity (This is yours, I think you have mine) to bring out the real crown. Then, once the two crowns were side by side, it would be easy to tell the gilded plastic from the solid gold, and the cheap costume jewelry from a 100+ karat gem. Even if the value of the crown wasn't immediately obvious, Celestia would have no reason to deny the exchange and Twilight might not have even had to mention the fantastical elements of the story.
    • Except that everyone back in Equestria thought that the school crown was simply a cheap knockoff that Sunset brought with her to simply replace Twilight's crown. No one thought that said school crown was actually a school crown. I mean it would be like replacing the Imperial State Crown with a fake one. If people find out that the Imperial State Crown was replaced with a fake one, their natural sane response would be to look for the original one and simply leave the fake one behind. They would not carry the fake one like some Crazy-Prepared person in hopes that it would be useful. Besides the school crown being actually a school crown was really unknown from Twilight and everyone in Equestria's perspective when they first examined it.
      If Twilight did bring the school crown back with her, there might be some minor problems that may arise. I mean when Twilight went to Principal Celestia, Celestia did explain that she had given what she thought to be the school crown to her sister. Pulling out the school crown after that fact may need explanation. I mean if I just gave an important trinket to someone, and then someone else came to me and showed me what they explain is really the important trinket that I know I just had in my hands a few moments ago and that the one I gave was really theirs, some explanations may really be needed. I could theorize that the important trinket the person is showing me is actually a fake one or that they somehow stole it from the person I just gave it to and are just playing some game. I could just simply compare the two and be done with it, however I would really need some explanation. More so if said trinket is a real crown that a teenage girl would not normally have in her possession.
      In any case, the whole "show Principal Celestia the crown" thing really hinges on Twilight and everyone knowing some stuff that is beyond the mirror beforehand.

Website/You Tube in school?

• Canterlot High must really trust their students a lot.
  • Where I go, you're allowed to use it during study hall as long as you keep the volume down (or your earbuds/headphones in).
    • Where do you go where that's allowed? Because I wish I went there - back in 2006, YouTube was only allowed for two months before it was filtered out due to "Useless". If it's university, then that doesn't count, this is high school, not university.
    • Times changed. Computers in schools are pretty much mandatory now, especially if you're an IT student, which I was.

Why didn't Luna punish Shimmer for framing Twilight?

• Okay, remember that part where Flash cleared Twilight's name when Shimmer accused her of destroying the Fall Formal decoration? Here's my question; why didn't Vice Principal Luna do anything to punish Shimmer for framing Twilight? Students from any school I know would've gotten detention for something like that, Luna could've at least had Shimmer disqualified from the Fall Formal Princess election, but she didn't even do that! What's up with that?
  • Several reasons:
    1) This is a school. The fact that Luna fell for that framing in the first place shows that she (like everyone else in this movie) doesn't exactly have a functional brain, and the fact that she's willing to punish first, ask questions later shows that Sunset knows her targets.
    2) Sunset Shimmer is supposed to be crafty and probably talked her way out of it - in fact, why DIDN'T we get to see Luna investigating this further, and see Sunset Shimmer talking her way out of punishment? It would have been a great way to show Sunset being this manipulative Libby we're told she is - Upon setting up this terrible photoshop, Luna asks Sunset where she got that evidence, and Sunset responds that it was handed to her by a friend. Thus, Luna doesn't have any reason to believe that Sunset tried to set her up and was merely a pawn set up by someone else to try to make both Twilight and Sunset get eliminated.
    • Looks like Luna's been hittin' the reefers.
  • Who's to say she wasn't? Once her framing efforts were thwarted, Sunset disappears until the finale, after which she starts getting punished for all her actions.

Where does Sunset live?

• No, seriously, she doesn't have parents or friends where is she staying at night and during the weekends?
• How do we know she doesn't have parents or close enough? It seems that everybody from Equestria has a human counterpart. Pinkie even points out that Twilight Sparkle bears a frightening resemblance to what must be her doppelganger. Given how alike in personality are the characters we do see, it's easy enough to think that Sunset Shimmer either replaced her doppelganger as is suggested above or may have worked out some sort of alliance with her. Something along the lines of "Hello, I'm you from an alternate universe. I'm gonna take over the world. Wanna help?" "Hells yeah, what do I need to do?" "Well I'd really like a place to sleep and getting fed some wouldn't suck either."
  • You're going to trust Pinkie's logic?!
    • What is it with people getting weird over what Pinkie Pie says? She's not crazy, stupid, or a liar, she just has a lot of energy. There's no reason her word isn't as good as any of the other main characters. Now, it's not impossible that Sunset got some help from the school - there might have been a program at CHS for students who are less fortunate for all we know. Sometimes teens don't have homes or families - so there are programs to help them. Maybe CHS is just really generous? Or even easier, she could have stolen some jewels from Equestria before leaving the first time, and was able to sell that for money and lives in a hotel.
• The Summertime Shorts reveal she does live in her own flat and works as a waitress to support her income.

No classes for Twilight? Then how?

• OK, we're talking about a school, Twilight never took any class (apparently), that means she couldn't pass as a student being there for three days, so how could she be accepted as applicable for Princess of the Fall?
  • Twilight isn't really a student, so she wouldn't be registered for any classes. Ever walk into a class you didn't have, but thought you did? You'll get sent to the principal/counselor to have it sorted out. "But why didn't Celestia/Luna know?" Because principals have other things to do than check on whether one student is going to class, unless that student came to them for help or they are alerted to the issue. Celestia thought Twilight was a new student and probably assumed she was already registered or was going to get registered. "But schools are supposed to keep an eye on that sort of thing!" Yes, supposed to. You'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how often schools can drop the ball with students.

Musical accompaniment

• Right in the middle of "Helping Twilight Win the Crown" a band (Flash Sentry's, I suppose) shows up and starts to play along. I can let Flash Sentry slide since maybe he's just got his guitar on hand for some reason; but a full drum set, where'd that come from?
  • Vinyl Scratch. In Rainbow Rocks, she has a car that transforms into a sound amplification and light projection stage. A drum set would be easy.

Fluttershy's pets

• I know that Spike is not a pet, but why did Angel and the rest of Fluttershy's pets have the same forms than her pony-world equivalent's ones while Spike became a dog and Twilight a human?
  • They're different from one another and hence the reason why it is called an Alternate Universe; remember Metal Gear Ac!d when the only characters from Solid where Snake and the Colonel themselves.

Clothes and the portal

• What would happen if Twilight took off some of her clothes and tossed them in the portal?
  • They'd probably turn into the Saddle Bags she was wearing when she went in the first time.

Sunset as a Student

• Celestia makes it sound like Sunset was just being a spoiled brat about her magical studies, but in the comic, Celestia puts arbitrary limits on what Sunset is allowed to learn based on criteria that she doesn't explain beyond "You're not ready". This is something that gets on my nerves about any story where you have a prodigy who works their ass off to develop an innate talent, and then all their teachers look down on them because they're proud of themselves for doing something extremely difficult. You can't just tell somebody "You're not allowed to be proud of yourself" when you literally can't (or refuse to) provide them with a test of skill that they can't crush. Sunset thinks her lessons are too easy and she's getting restless and bored because she has no peers and no challenges? It's totally her fault for not wanting to sit around like a potato sack doing nothing, obviously! She's just a bad egg, it totally has nothing to do with Celestia putting more emphasis on Sunset's obedience than her training, or giving her busy work instead of appropriately difficult material, or doing anything to encourage good behavior beyond You will humble yourself before me or I'll throw you out into the street. Celestia's A+ parenting.
  • Makes one wonder just how much of Twilight's comparative success was just a matter of timing; the whole return of Nightmare Moon happening after Twilight had advanced far enough to succeed in gaining and using the Elements, but before she started running headlong into the limits Celestia had for her students. With Luna returning, say, a year later, you can see the possibility of a frustrated Twilight on the outs with the Princess over grimoires that are off limits by seemingly arbitrary Celestia's fiat.
• Skill doesn't excuse character flaws. That's why we have tropes like Comes Great Responsibility. If I were Celestia, I wouldn't want a Princess of Friendship (or any kind of princess, really) to be "cruel and dishonest". This is not Celestia being selective in what she says. We see exactly that from Sunset herself. Yes, developing an innate talent is great, but if it is used for greed is it still okay? A prodigy is less likely to have the maturity to be responsible with their talent. Being proud of one's ability is ok. At no point, in the movie, is that shown to be a bad thing. We see how Sunset Shimmer treats her "subjects" (i.e. her fellow students). Obedience to one's mentor is part of self-discipline. Swallowing her pride is clearly someone that she is unwilling to do given that she ran away to another world (that neither she nor her mentor know little to nothing about) and then stole a crown (which would weaken that realm's defenses against evil) based on a belief that she deserves to be an alicorn princess and her mentor is an arbitrary meanie for denying it to her. She wasn't getting what she wanted, as fast as she wanted it, so she quits and turns to thief. That's not an innocent prodigy mistreated by a selfish and egoistical mentor, that is an entitled brat throwing a tantrum.

Arrogance is okay if you have friends?

• Sunset is supposed to be bad because she's arrogant, but Rainbow Dash is at least as arrogant as Sunset Shimmer and no one thinks she's any worse than "kind of annoying, sometimes". Rainbow Dash even wants to be the best at sports/flying the same way Sunset wants to be the best at magic. Is arrogance bad because Ambition Is Evil? Or is it okay, but only because sports are wholesome?
  • Sunset's sins go far beyond arrogance, and gaining magical power more quickly than gaining the wisdom to use it properly makes her dangerous to everyone.
  • Big difference between arrogance and confidence. Rainbow likes to boast but at least one episode of the show reveals that a lot of her boasting is something she does to hide her own insecurities and fears of failing. But for all the criticism of Rainbow's bragging, she is fiercely loyal to her friends and would choose to help them over making herself look good. Sunset, meanwhile, was arrogant enough to believe that she could conquer an entire realm and use as many people as she could for her own desires.
  • Rainbow Dash is arrogant, sure. But her emphasis is on how great she herself is, not on how bad other people are, or even really to compare herself with others. She's also not reticent to tell others how great she considers them. Despite how much pony Rainbow Dash toots her own horn, she never claims she deserves a spot on the Wonderbolts by any sort of right; she's all about earning the spot in the eyes of others.
  • And you're kind of downplaying Sunset's plan. It isn't simply to be "the best at magic". She wants to use magic to enslave people and conquer Equestria. Rainbow Dash doesn't want to be the best to get one over on anyone else. She's one of those people that like to set goals for herself, and achieving them makes her feel good. And Rainbow is called out if her confidence ever oversteps the boundary.

How to eat fried... oats, I guess?

• So normally, the characters maintain a vegetarian diet because they're horses and horses are vegetarians. What about when they're human and are therefore omnivores? Are they still strictly vegetarian because reasons or do they now consume meat (which I'm sure would have all but mentally scarred poor Twilight to see her friends consuming the flesh of fellow animals)?
  • Not all animals are vegetarians. Twilight's intelligent enough to recognize the importance of meat in a carnivorous or omnivorous diet, even if she herself is vegetarian. Just as long as she doesn't know the secrets of meat processing, which would turn the proverbial stomachs of most humans much less ponies, she's undoubtedly practical enough to make such allowances for her human friends if the subject ever comes up.

What was Sunset's plan before being corrupted?

• After being transformed, Sunset actions (brainwashing everyone into an army, attempting to kill those in her way) were apparently so much worse than what she was normally willing to do that it led to her Heel Realization and Heel–Face Turn. What was Sunset planning to do before that and how was it any different?

Are there any crystal humans?

• I mean, there's sorta gotta be, right?

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