Talk:Sunset Shimmer/@comment-26423071-20160624120744/@comment-7345250-20160703235540

Consider the following.


 * No human has ever wielded an Element of Harmony except for, ironically, Sunset Shimmer. However, this was the stolen Element of Magic. The Elements are native to Equestria. Sunset's high school clique does not use this magic at all, save whatever pixie dust rubbed off on them when the Magic crown was in their world.


 * Sunset Shimmer has not interacted with anypony but Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle. That's one out of six modern Element-wielders. As the pilot episode and the S2 premier demonstrate, there needs to be some semblance of harmony among the wielders for their magic to activate. Since Sunset has never even met the actual Element-wielders, there is no harmony there.


 * The villain of the first film was a pony-turned-human: a bully, yes, but also a mortal and unremarkable teenager. The Dazzlings are only one notch higher, being Sirens-turned-human. Sci-Twi and Principal Cinch are just native citizens of the earth. Even though the protagonists in the films are fairly nonviolent, I daresay a broken nose would have ruined most of the villains' plans. It's not like they became crazy demons without warning.


 * The Elements of Harmony were returned to the Tree.

So here's the deal: a paradox of sorts. The fiasco at the end of the first EG film imbued the doppelgangers of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie with the dubious ability to "pony up" and assume some of the powers of the original Elements. Incidentally, Sunset Shimmer also gained these powers because she was once their #6. Twilight Sparkle retains the true power of the Element of Magic, so her presence there is actually superfluous. Twilight is the real seventh wheel and, as the second film actually states, the incorrect answer to their problem.

So whereas Rainbow Dash's counterpart got pseudo-Loyalty, Sunset got pseudo-Magic. Twilight Sparkle just happens to be in the room with the real Magic, which apparently does not sync with the pseudo lot.