Western Animation / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Sunset's Backstage Pass

Rise and shine, campers!

"Anyone else having serious Déjà Vu?"

— Sunset Shimmer

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Sunset's Backstage Pass is an animated cartoon special set in the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls series. The special was adapted into book form six months prior to the release of the special in the Equestria Girls novel Make Your Own Magic – The Starswirl Do-Over. It first aired on July 27, 2019.

The Starswirled Music Festival is finally here, and the Mane Seven are going to get their "glamping" on! Sunset and Pinkie are the most excited to see their favorite band, PostCrush, perform live. But when Equestrian magic causes a time loop to start, Sunset gets stuck reliving "Festival Day 1" forever!

The online version can be found below:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

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My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Sunset's Backstage Pass provides examples of:

• Adaptational Alternate Ending: After Sunset breaks the "Groundhog Day" Loop by destroying the Time Twirler, she says that she was stuck in the time loops for three weeks. In the original book, even in the best ending, Sunset was stuck looping for at least an entire year.
• Adapted Out: The male character Sunset falls for in the book is never seen or mentioned in this special.
• All Part of the Show: When Sunset and Pinkie fight PostCrush over the Time Twirler, the brawl is accidentally moved onto the stage where PostCrush is supposed to be performing. All four of the girls stop awkwardly when they realize they are being watched, until Sunset smashes the Time Twirler, causing a magical explosion. The audience begins cheering, apparently thinking that this was the opening act to the show.
• Anachronic Order: The start of the special shows the Rainbooms arriving at the festival, and the whole time loop focuses only on "Day 1". Thus, all the Digital Series webisodes set at the festival itself are chronologically happening afterward, despite several having been released first. Logically, Sunset's Backstage Pass fits in-between "Camping Must-Haves" and "Festival Filters".
• Arc Words: "Perfect." Sunset and Pinkie are trying to have the perfect day by seeing PostCrush, and K-Lo and Su-Z want their performance to be perfect before they stop the time loops.
• Ascended Meme: Sonata's taco obsession is given a two-fer acknowledgement here — her dress is decorated by taco shapes, and it's implied she'd started a fire in the Dazzlings' van when she tried to cook tacos in the toaster.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Played for drama. Because Pinkie can't stop being distracted by the festival attractions, she and Sunset fall behind schedule. Then, just before the show starts, Pinkie gets a craving for churros and charges into the stand, bowling it over and getting herself and Sunset kicked out of the festival, unable to see PostCrush. During the "Groundhog Day" Loop, Pinkie's lack of focus only hampers Sunset's investigations as to what's really going on, making Sunset more and more frustrated until she finally hits a Rage Breaking Point and screams at Pinkie.
• Bathos: After Pinkie overhears Sunset's rant about how Pinkie keeps screwing things up, Pinkie starts to cry. But before she runs off weeping, she tells the Dazzlings that they have a cool tour bus.
• "Be Quiet!" Nudge: When Sunset and Pinkie brings the churros to PostCrush, Su-Z comments that "The usual delivery guy looks like two girls today..." and K-Lo elbows her. Too late; K-Lo let it slip they're well-aware of the time loop.
• Be Yourself: The message behind PostCrush's song "True Original" is that you're perfect just being you. The irony is that the two of them don't like how they're doing things, repeatedly resetting the day until it's perfect.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • The first scene with the Dazzlings shows they're just as nasty as they ever were. They've learned to hide their nastiness a little better while they're onstage, but that's it.
    Adagio Dazzle: That song's called "Find the Magic". [under her breath] Human scum. [drops the microphone, puts on a fake smile]
  • Onstage, K-Lo and Su-Z are billed as "two best friends." Offstage, they're anything but; the two of them barely manage to work together through Teeth-Clenched Teamwork. And while the two of them pretend to care about their fans, they're apathetic to Sunset's problem of being stuck in the time loop with them.
• Boomerang Comeback: Pinkie Pie throws a rock-hard churro like a boomerang and knocks the Time Twirler off K-Lo's hair bow during the return trip.
• Boring, but Practical: K-Lo and Su-Z plan to ensure Sunset and Pinkie can never stop the time loops by drawing their faces and informing security to not let them pass on each reset. Of course, that plan hinges on Su-Z's drawing actually looking like Sunset and Pinkie.
• Box-and-Stick Trap: On the first time loop, Twilight and Sunset are trying to catch Pinkie Pie inside the maze, and finally resort to a box-and-stick trap over a pile of candies. Pinkie just shows up, asking what the trap is for.
• Breaking Old Trends: This is the first Equestria Girls special where the heroines don't go through a Transformation Sequence into Magical Girls.
• The Bus Came Back: The Dazzlings return, having last been seen in Rainbow Rocks. They're shown as doing concerts to get by, although they haven't actually changed for the better.
• The Cameo: Wallflower Blush can be seen among the people at the Music Festival.
• Character Focus: Pinkie Pie is the next member of the Rainbooms to get her turn to share the spotlight, after Twilight in Friendship Games and Legend of Everfree, Applejack and Rarity in Rollercoaster of Friendship, and Rainbow Dash in Spring Breakdown.
• Chekhov's Gun: Pinkie finally gets some churros during the final loop, only for Sunset to discover that they are as hard as a crowbar. The two of them later try to use one to break back into the festival before they are let back in, only for that to be unnecessary, and Pinkie uses it as a boomerang to get the Time Twirler.
• Companion Cube: After Sunset ditches her in the third loop, Pinkie Pie makes a fake Sunset out of random junk and treats it like the real Sunset, briefly shocking the real Sunset when she sees her "twin".
• Continuity Nod:
  • Wallflower Blush is among the patrons of the concert.
  • The chef running the churro stand is Puffed Pastry, the same one from Spring Breakdown that Pinkie ran afoul of.
  • "Monday Blues" showed that Sunset has trouble getting up on time. In this special, waking up early still isn't Sunset's strong suit — by the time her alarm goes off, everyone else is already up and enjoying breakfast.
  • The RV and other camping gear the group uses were previously seen in "Camping Must-Haves".
  • Pinkie is excited about standing in line, like in the "Five Lines You Need to Stand In" short (which is likely happening after this special).
  • Sunset might have obtained her driving license in "Driving Miss Shimmer", but as seen when taking the RV, she's still not that skilled a driver.
  • Once again, the climax centers around Sunset struggling for possession of a magical Equestrian artifact as it bounces from person to person. As before, she gets it.
• Crowd Hockey: Sunset, Pinkie, K-Lo, and Su-Z all scramble for the Time Twirler after Pinkie knocks it loose.
• Cuteness Proximity: Invoked. When Sunset learns that the security guard once worked a cat food convention, she shows up with a very cute kitty cat to get on his good side. It works.
• Determinator: K-Lo. In order to put on a great performance, she rewinds the day twenty times to try and do it completely perfectly, and she tells Sunset she’ll rewind the day and try again as many times as it takes to get it perfect.
• Don't Explain the Joke:
  • Invoked by Twilight when Sunset asks if anyone else is feeling a sense of déjà vu.
    Twilight Sparkle: Nope. Just déjà V-you. [laughs] Get it? 'Cause it's just you? With the déjà v...
  • Inverted when Fluttershy is confused by the joke Pinkie tells on the first day: "What do you call a PostCrush fan with three eyes? Pinkie Pie!" It's only after Sunset explains the joke (it's a Pun on the "three I's" in Pinkie Pie's name) that Fluttershy finally gets the joke and laughs.
• Drives Like Crazy: Sunset, when she tries to flee the festival site in the middle of the night. Her terrible driving ruins the RV's transmission, strands the group by the roadside, and fails to break the time loop. Were it not for the loop resetting again, it would have been a huge repair bill.
• Ear Worm: The Dazzlings' song "Find the Magic" is so popular that a few festival-goers sing it to themselves, which gets Sunset's attention.
• Evil Counterpart: PostCrush to Sunset and Pinkie. K-Lo is the serious cool one and Su-Z is the wacky and fun one. However, K-Lo is a perfectionist who has no tolerance for Su-Z's antics and insists they keep repeating the day until things go perfect, and Su-Z doesn't care about K-Lo's concerns and doesn't take their performances as seriously as Su-Z does.
• Eyedscreen: When Pinkie asks Sunset if she's seen anyone evil at the festival, her face is framed by black bars.
• Facepalm: Sunset slaps her brow when she realize that Pinkie is messing things up with the guard when they're trying to go backstage, and that she'll have to try again "tomorrow".
• Failure Montage: PostCrush's memories of suffering mishaps during their concert.
• Fantastic Racism: After the Dazzlings finish their song at the festival, Adagio whispers "human scum" when thanking the audience.
• Festival Episode: The Rainbooms go to a music festival, where Equestrian magic once again causes things to go haywire.
• Flung Clothing: On waking up the first day, Sunset throws her empty pajamas on her bed from off-screen; the next second, she's fully clothed.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the first performance of "True Original", K-Lo knocks the head of her guitar against Su-Z's hi-hat cymbal, and looks for a moment as if the world is about to end.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: The main source of conflict in this special. After missing PostCrush due to Pinkie Pie, Sunset wishes she had another chance to see them. Equestrian magic promptly sticks Sunset back at the beginning of the first day, letting her have another chance. It turns out to be K-Lo and Su-Z using a device called the Time Twirler to relive the same day over and over until they get their performance "perfect".
• Guile Hero: Sunset uses her Touch Telepathy on K-Lo to learn that PostCrush has the Time Twirler. Sunset does this by tricking K-Lo into shaking her hand as a fan meeting her idol.
• Hand Behind Head: On the third loop, after Rainbow Dash hits Sunset in the backside with a paddle (again) and she responds twice with "thank you!", RD puts her hand behind her head and blushes in embarrassment, apparently not having missed the Accidental Innuendo.invoked
• Hand Wave: Princess Twilight writes to Sunset that what's causing the time loop is an Equestrian artifact called the Time Twirler. However, Princess Twilight has no idea how, when, or why the artifact appeared in the human world. The rest of the story doesn't touch on how the Time Twirler got to Earth, instead focusing on its effects.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Dazzlings have gone from dangerous magical threats to living in a rundown van, doing concerts to get by.
• Ill-Timed Sneeze: Among the flashback montage of all the mishaps that happened during PostCrush's concert, convincing K-Lo they need to try again, there is a shot of Su-Z violently sneezing mid-song.
• Indestructible Edible: The churros Pinkie gets are hard as a rock, despite other patrons getting edible versions. Sunset compares eating them to trying to chew on a crowbar.
• Innocently Insensitive: Pinkie Pie is, as usual, oblivious to how she disrupts Sunset's plans for the festival.
• Irony: After Sunset's Jerkass Realization, she resolves to be a better friend to Pinkie, time loops or otherwise. Through all of this, Sunset eventually finds that PostCrush is causing the time loops when Pinkie goes for churros. In other words, it's only when Sunset stops focusing on ending the time loop that she finally finds the ones causing the time loop. And, as stated above, Pinkie Pie insisting on getting churros — which was Sunset's Rage Breaking Point — is what helps solve the mystery.
• "Jar of Jellybeans" Contest: The first thing to distract Pinkie Pie is one of these, with the prize being a tandem bicycle. She gets it wrong, but Sunset gets it in the final loop, winning them the bike.
  Sunset: 572 and a half, counting the green jellybean you ate part of in the parking lot.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Sunset hits a Rage Breaking Point after being caught by the Dazzlings, yelling about how Pinkie can't control her impulses. Pinkie overhears this, causing her to cry. But the straw that broke the camel's back was Pinkie leaving to get some churros while she was supposed to be standing watch to keep an eye out for the Dazzlings. Pinkie admits that it's understandable why Sunset would be frustrated and that she deserves to have a good time.
  • At the end of Sunset's confrontation with the Dazzlings, Adagio remarks, "If the day's always the same, maybe you're the one who needs to change." before they pack up and leave. Sunset can't argue with this, especially after seeing she hurt her friend Pinkie by badmouthing her to the Dazzlings, and starts making an effort to be kinder to her in the next loop. Ultimately this helps them break the loop.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • Pinkie gets one when she realizes that her antics got her and Sunset kicked out of the festival, costing them their one chance to see PostCrush. Pinkie has another when she gets all of the Equestria Girls kicked out of the festival in a later loop.
  • Sunset double subverts this. After two loops, Sunset ditches Pinkie to see PostCrush by herself. When Sunset gets back to camp, the others throw shade at Sunset for it, but Sunset doesn't notice. A few time loops later, Sunset ends up ranting about her frustrations with Pinkie's attitude to the Dazzlings. This rant ends up overheard by Pinkie, who runs off crying as a result. Only then does Sunset realize that she's been a bad friend, time loops or otherwise.
• Karmic Jackpot: After her Jerkass Realization, Sunset vows to be a better friend to Pinkie, even if it means ignoring the time loop. Because Sunset mends fences with Pinkie, the time loop is stopped and she and Pinkie get to join PostCrush on stage.
• Kinky Spanking: Implied. Rainbow accidentally smacks Sunset in the butt with a paddle every time loop. As Sunset realizes the third loop has happened, she grins and yells "Thank you!" when Rainbow hits her in the butt, even though Sunset winces in pain. Rainbow looks weirded out seeing Sunset's reaction and scurries out of the scene while blushing, meaning Rainbow might have gotten the wrong idea.
• Lethal Chef: Puffed Pastry's churros are as hard as rocks. Pinkie later uses one as a boomerang to knock the Time Twirler off of K-Lo's hair.
• MacGuffin Melee: The climax becomes one as Sunset and Pinkie decide to simply grab the Time Twirler and destroy it while PostCrush tries to keep it away from them. Sunset ultimately prevails.
• Mic Drop: Adagio concludes the Dazzlings' concert by dropping her microphone.
• Misplaced Retribution: After Pinkie and Sunset crash into the churro stand, the security guard throws them both out, despite the fact that (as Sunset points out), it was more Pinkie's fault than Sunset's.
• Mood Whiplash: Just before she runs off crying from Sunset's angry outburst, Pinkie tells the Dazzlings "cool tour bus!"
• Mundane Solution:
  • Deprived of their auto-tuning magic necklaces, the Dazzlings have taken to using a looped vocal track as a substitute to improving their singing.
  • Sunset, K-Lo, and Su-Z are the only ones with Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory from the Time Twirler; everything else gets reset when it's used, including everyone else's memories. Since PostCrush can't take a picture of Sunset, Su-Z says that she'll just draw Sunset every morning and tell security to not let her pass. It's subverted since Su-Z is a Terrible Artist that can't properly draw Sunset. And even then, the Time Twirler is destroyed on the loop where this idea comes up, meaning it's no longer an option.
• Mythology Gag: After Sunset ditches Pinkie, the latter proves herself to be as good when handling being left alone as her pony counterpart by creating a fake Sunset and acting as if she were the real one in an unhinged state.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor:
  • The Dazzlings act innocent and harmless onstage during their show, but once offstage they revert to their haughty ways. They still snip at each other quite often, and relish verbally tearing into Sunset with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  • PostCrush is advertised as being "two best friends" when onstage, but offstage they constantly argue with each other and barely acknowledge their fans. They also don't care that their constant time loops also affect Sunset and once she finds out they are the ones causing them, they plan to ban her and Pinkie from the festival forever so they can't interfere.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Sunset finds out the Dazzlings are not responsible for the loops she's suffering, and rants to them about how everyday is literally the same and that Pinkie keeps ruining it. Adagio mockingly tells Sunset that maybe she is the one who needs to change. This actually helps Sunset realize that she hasn't been the best friend to Pinkie, and resolves to give her the best day ever. By doing so, Sunset starts piecing together more of why the time loops are happening.
  • With the Dazzlings having no idea about the time loop, Sunset is at a loss for what else could be causing it. Then she and Pinkie deliver food to PostCrush, and Su-Z makes the comment that "the delivery guy is different this time", alerting Sunset that she knows things have changed.
• Nice to the Waiter: Because Sunset was nice to the security guard in the final loop, he lets her and Pinkie back into the concert area.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, Sonata once started a fire with the Dazzlings' toaster by trying to make tacos with it.
• Not Me This Time: Sunset assumes the Dazzlings are responsible for the time loop she's stuck in, even accusing them of trapping her. But the Dazzlings tell Sunset (truthfully) that they have nothing to do with it. Sunset even uses her Touch Telepathy on Adagio, and sees that the Dazzlings are being honest.
• Offending the Fool: When confronting the Dazzlings and realizing they are not behind the time loop, Sunset rants out at them for Pinkie ruining all her chances to see PostCrush and also that she hates churros; Pinkie, who just happens to be nearby, overhears this and breaks down in tears.
• Oh, Crap!: Sunset originally thinks the time loops are happening because she missed seeing PostCrush and are giving her do-overs until she sees them. But after she sees their show, she is shocked when the loops continue to happen.
• Orphaned Punchline: Every time the loop restarts, Sunset hears Applejack finishing telling a joke to Twilight and Fluttershy.
  Applejack: So, I says to Big Mac, "Get your own chicken coop!"
  Fluttershy: [Spit Take, laughs] Sorry. That one has animals in it.
• Pain to the Ass: At the beginning of each time loop, Rainbow Dash accidentally hits Sunset on the butt with a paddle, to which Sunset mentions "intense pain" the first time. On the final day, Sunset avoids this by dodging out of the way of Rainbow's paddle.
• Perfection Is Impossible: PostCrush started the time loop to repeat their performance until it was perfect. Sunset tries to take advantage of this by giving herself the perfect day, but in the end realizes that it's the mistakes that make a day perfect, and teaches this lesson to PostCrush.
• The Perfectionist: K-Lo and Su-Z, though K-Lo is much more serious about it. If anything at all goes wrong with the set, K-Lo just resets the whole day to give them another chance. Popped guitar string, broken drumhead, loose shoe heel, snapped drumstick... Any of of those is enough to try again.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Sunset and Pinkie are excited to see PostCrush together, but Pinkie gets them kicked out of the festival and angers Sunset. When Pinkie does it again during the first loop, Sunset ditches her for the next loop to see the show alone. When Sunset keeps looping afterwards, she continues to get annoyed by Pinkie Pie and her antics. Sunset finally hits her Rage Breaking Point when Pinkie leaves guard duty to get churros, and rants about how Pinkie has constantly been ruining all her attempts to figure everything out. Sunset realizes she has been acting like a jerk to Pinkie, loop or no loop, when Pinkie overhears Sunset's anger and runs off crying to stop from ruining anything else for Sunset. So Sunset resolves to make up with Pinkie in the next loop and give her the best day ever.
• Poor Communication Kills: Sunset and Pinkie don't realize that the root of the problem is that they're not paying attention to what the other wants. Even when Twilight all but spells it out for them, Sunset and Pinkie don't get the hint until a Jerkass Realization from Sunset.
• P.O.V. Shot: In the fourth loop, the opening shot of the RV from Sunset's perspective is shown.
• Rage Breaking Point: Being trapped in the loops slowly starts to get on Sunset's nerves. She becomes more sarcastic, gives deadpan responses to those around her, and lashes out at her friends over various annoyances, which they don't understand because they don't remember the loops as she does. The final straw is when Pinkie Pie abandons her guard duty of watching for the Dazzlings to go get churros, and Sunset rants about how Pinkie keeps ruining her various loops and screams she hates churros, which Pinkie overhears.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The security guard turns out to be this, letting Sunset and Pinkie back in after PostCrush has them thrown out, believing that they're just regular fans who want to see their favorite band, which isn't illegal.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The Dazzlings haven't lost their touch for them, as they verbally grind into Sunset after learning she's stuck in a "Groundhog Day" Loop.
  Adagio: ["Find the Magic"] is about being stuck in this miserable human world with no magic, or hope of returning to Equestria. We made the mistake of using our power to manipulate Canterlot High School, and we've paid the price for it... with our magic. [...] What I'm saying is, we already get a do-over with every new day. It's called "living life."
  Sonata: You should try it sometime.
  Adagio: If the day's always the same, maybe you're the one who needs to change.
• Red Herring: Sunset first suspects the Dazzlings of being behind the "Groundhog Day" Loop, especially when she overhears Adagio say that "the loop is working." It soon becomes clear that the Dazzlings have nothing to do with it; the "loop" Adagio was talking about was their vocal backing track.
• Reflective Eyes: When Sunset sees K-Lo and Su-Z appear onstage, they are reflected into her eyes.
• Retired Monster: The Dazzlings are just as mean as ever, and show no remorse for their actions, only expressing regret for them due to the consequences it brought them rather than how it hurt others... but with no way back to Equestria, no magic necklaces to hypnotize people with and no other Equestrian magic to cut corners with, they've been forced to cleave to the practical and earn an honest living so they can get by. They're now going around as a normal band grinding the festival/concert circuit, using musical post-production to hide their singing inadequacies. Sunset suspects them of causing the loop, but they had nothing to do with that; Adagio remarks all they care about now is living their lives one day at a time.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: In the third loop, after Sunset ditches Pinkie to see the show alone, Rarity sarcastically asks her how the show was.
  Sunset: It was... perfect.
  Rarity: I was being judgmental, darling. What is the point of throwing shade if no-one is there to catch it?
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Sunset retains her memory of the loops because she happens to be close enough to the Time Twirler to be affected by its magic the first time it's activated. So do K-Lo and Su-Z, since they keep setting the thing off.
• Running Gag: Pinkie Pie attempting (and failing) to resist getting churros. Even when she's supposed to be focusing on something, like getting to the front of the stage or standing guard for Sunset. This gets deconstructed because this single act, being played over and over and over again for three weeks gets on Sunset's nerves, to the point that she blows up after Pinkie (once again) goes for churros.
• Sanity Slippage: Pinkie suffers from this after Sunset spends one of the repeats intentionally avoiding her; by the end of the day, she creates a mannequin in Sunset's image to hang out with.
• Sarcasm-Blind: When Sunset returns to the campsite in the third loop, while everyone is throwing shade at her for ditching Pinkie, Rarity sarcastically asks her how the show was. Sunset enthusiastically replies it was perfect, much to Rarity's annoyance. Sunset just says she is too blissed out to care if it was sarcastic or not.
• Saying Too Much: Su-Z is surprised when Sunset and Pinkie Pie are not the usual delivery guy, then is immediately silenced by K-Lo. This clues Sunset in to the pair being responsible for the loop.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After being stuck in the loop for weeks, Sunset tries to get out of it by hijacking the RV while everyone else is sleeping and getting as far away from the festival as possible. But she ends up destroying the transmission, stranding the group on a dark forest road, and the loop still resets in the morning.
• Serious Business: The security guard sees his job as this.
  Security Guard: Security is an art. It cannot be rushed.
• Shout-Out: On the last loop, Sunset tells Pinkie that she's happy to do this with the other half of their Dynamic Duo.
• Spit Take: Fluttershy spits orange juice when Applejack makes a joke about a chicken coop, since it had animals in it. Unfortunately for Applejack, she's right in front of Fluttershy when this happens.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Sunset points out to PostCrush that since all physical objects reset for each new loop, they can't use a photo of her and Pinkie to get them banned from the festival. Su-Z retorts by saying that she can just draw a picture of them and use that, due to the Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory she and K-Lo have from using the Time Twirler. Of course, the drawing itself isn't that good, so it would probably take some work.
• Stop Copying Me: After the attempted escape by RV, Twilight began to ponder some Techno Babble about the time loop, only for Sunset to anticipate her words and say the same things at exactly the same time, because she's lived it often enough to know the speech by heart. To the point that Twilight demand her to stop speaking in unison with her.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Pinkie knocks over a churro stand, sending herself and Sunset tumbling end over end, covered in cinnamon. Typical slapstick antics? Nope; the security guard kicks them out of the festival for causing trouble.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Su-Z attempts, instead of zipping it as K-Lo intended, to walk it back and deny any knowledge of the time loops.
  Su-Z: I mean, today's the first time we have done this! Yesterday was, um... a different day.
• Three... Two... One...: As Sunset has gone through a few loops, she can start predicting events with great precision from having lived them already. Like Snips tripping himself and sending his ice cream in Sandalwood's face.
  Sunset: Cue Snips, and push Sandalwood out of the way in three, two...
• A Truce While We Gawk: During the final fight over the Time Twirler, everyone is initially stunned silent as they're suddenly on-stage in front of the crowd. Sunset Shimmer snaps out of it first and breaks the Time Twirler before PostCrush can react.
• Twisted-Knee Collapse: After Sunset Shimmer breaks the Time Twirler, Kiwi Lollipop falls to her knees from shock before the broken magic item, crying.
• The Unreveal: Adagio's thoughts when Sunset Shimmer uses Touch Telepathy on her aren't shown.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: While Spike is shown playing with Rarity at the beginning of each loop, he's completely absent for the rest of the festival each time, with no verbal acknowledgement of where he went during that time.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Sunset's friends attempt to do this to Sunset during the third loop by throwing jabs at her for ditching Pinkie. But their guilt-tripping fails since Sunset had way too much fun seeing PostCrush and has the knowledge of knowing what would happen if she didn't ditch Pinkie.
• Why Didn't I Think of That?: After the loop is resolved, Pinkie Pie asks Sunset (under the impression that she may have said this before) what Princess Twilight thought when Sunset told her about it. Sunset is completely flabbergasted that she didn't think to write to her weeks ago.
  Twilight Sparkle: Seriously though, why didn't you?
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: This happens to Sunset when she sees that the time loops are continuing despite having already seen PostCrush.
• Wrong Assumption: Sunset initially thinks the time loops are happening because she missed PostCrush, and that Equestrian magic is giving her do-overs until Sunset can see them. Sunset is shocked and confused when the loops continue even after she manages to see the show.
• You Were Trying Too Hard:
  • PostCrush go through countless loops trying to do their concert flawlessly, each time foiled by one mistake or another. When the Time Twirler is destroyed and Sunset convinces them to just do it without worrying about getting it perfect, they go through the whole routine and even improvise a little without any mistakes.
  • Sunset keeps shooting down what Pinkie wants to do because she's worried about getting good seats at the concert, and gets into a lot of trouble as a result. In the final loop when she lets Pinkie do what she wants, not only do they still make it to the concert with plenty of time to spare and zero problems, but they get one better by getting to deliver churros to the band. (This has more story signifigance since it turns out the time loops were PostCrush's fault and this is how they find out, but minus that that would be a great bonus for such big fans.)

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