Ho Yay / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

The Equestria Girls spinoff has their tons of Ho Yay, not less than the main show.

See here for Ho Yay page of "Friendship Is Magic".

Sunset Shimmer

She may have started as a villain, but over the years, Sunset Shimmer has amassed enough Shipping Fuel to rival the main series' Mane Six. While her relationship with both versions of Twilight Sparkle is the most prominent, she still has plenty of moments with other characters. This will probably only be further fueled with the staff stating she's bisexual.

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Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle

• Sunset's status as the Big Bad in the first film allows for Foe Yay Shipping as well as Ho Yay, particularly since Sunset seems to want to steal Twilight's life because she's jealous of her for having the respect and power she doesn't. The result is some scenes look like aggressive flirting or at least intimidation on Sunset's part.
• The moment Twilight returns through the portal in Rainbow Rocks, Sunset seems to be expecting Twilight to take her hand, but shies away from her because she feels unworthy to be around her.
• With her still being an outsider to the Humane Five, Sunset is at her happiest in the film when she's talking to Twilight, and seems more comfortable around her than the others. The look on her face when Twilight compliments her on thinking of a method to counter the Dazzlings' spell has to be seen to be believed◊.
• During the film's climax, Twilight calls out for Sunset's help against the Dazzlings, and Sunset steps up next to her and takes Twilight's hand to pull to her feet. Then they fall into a duet together...
• At the end of the film, Sunset writes to Twilight "Dear Princess Twilight. Missing you already, and I hope you'll be back soon."
• The crowner of it all is the sleepover, while they are both up at night, equally stressed by the day's events in the kitchen, where the two of them have a moment of personal bonding.
  Sunset: Hey, Twilight. You're up late.
  Twilight: Just looking over the counter-spell. We only get one shot at this. It has to be perfect.
  Sunset: We really are lucky you're here.
  Twilight: That's what everyone keeps telling me.
  Sunset: (casually glancing at Pinkie's fridge) Who could possibly need this much whipped cream? (glances back to Twilight) Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems... instead of waiting for you to cause a problem.
  Twilight: Just because everyone expects something from you doesn't mean it's guaranteed to happen.
  Sunset: Well, that doesn't stop them from expecting it.
  Twilight: Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is...
  Both: ...let everybody down.
  • Said kitchen scene also includes Twilight calling out to Sunset, as if to say something private before she goes to leave, then backs down and says "nevermind." Can't Spit It Out, much?
  • That's also not getting into Sunset's pyjama top falling off her shoulder as she squirts whipped cream onto her thumb as they talk. The imagery there speaks for itself.
• At the start of the music video "Friendship Through the Ages", a very elegantly dressed Twilight is playing a grand piano, which Sunset is sitting on watching her. They stare into each other's eyes smiling, and then Twilight gets up and for a moment, it seriously looks as though she's moving to take Sunset's hands in order to dance with her. She doesn't, but strokes Sunset's arm, which isn't without implications of its own. The classical piano music used for the segment, and the imagery, give it a noticeably more romantic tone than the rest of the song where Sunset interacts with the other five.
• "My Past Is Not Today" features a few lines where Sunset sings about how Twilight helped her perform her Heel–Face Turn. Although without context, some of the lyrics sound rather romantic, like Sunset sees Twilight as a love interest that brought out the best in her.
  "When I began to fall / And I lost the path ahead / That's when your friendship found me / And it lifted me instead."
  
  "But when it disappeared / And I found myself alone / That's when you came and got me / And it felt like I was home."
• Although there's a perfectly justified in-story reason for Sunset Shimmer constantly writing to Twilight in "Friendship Games", it's very easy to see it as a girlfriend worried that their partner isn't receiving their calls. She's constantly asking Twilight how she's doing, compares herself to Twi in a discouraging manner, believing she'd have all the answers, and after the first two attempts don't work, she straight up attempts going through the portal in search of Princess Twilight, something she's never even considered doing since the first film.
• In a deleted scene, Sunset meets with Twilight at the cafe to discuss things with her, and pours her heart out to Twilight about how she doesn't understand this world's magic and is considering returning to Equestria, and is just confused about what she should do. As Sunset stares into her drink with the camera acting as her POV, Twilight's hands reach into the frame to cover Sunset's, and the camera pans up to see Twilight smiling at her.
• When Sunset sees Human Twilight for the first time, she mistakes her for Princess Twilight and smiles at her in a very heartfelt way.
• It continues in Mirror Magic where Sunset makes some very giddy facial expressions as she writes to Princess Twilight. When she returns to Equestria, she borders on distressed when she finds out Twilight is away.
• Princess Twilight's brief time with Sunset in Forgotten Friendship involved lots of scenes of the two getting very close to each other and blushing.

Sunset Shimmer and (Human) Twilight Sparkle

• "Friendship Games"
  • The climax of the film, when Sunset talks down Midnight Sparkle, which includes taking her hand and telling her "let me show you there's another way. The same way someone once did for me.".
  • The human Twilight is implied to be younger than Sunset, combined with a very shy personality and awkward attempts at conversation, it's easy to see a Senpai-Kohai dynamic. In the scene where SS asks Twi what the meaning of her experiments are, Twilight can only stammer and feel intimidated by the other girl.
  • One almost gets the feeling Sunset's projecting her own admiration turned anger on the human Twilight when she demands to know if she knows any way to help, and calls her out for not thinking of the consequences of her actions when it came to how her device worked and endangering the lives of her friends.
    Twilight: I'm sorry! It just started absorbing energy on its own! But I'm not sure how!
    Sunset: What do you mean you don't know how?!
    Twilight: It also causes these corresponding rifts to appear! I don't know how that works either.
    Sunset: Is there anything you do know?! Like how to get our magic back?! Or how to fix the portal to Equestria?!
    Twilight: "Equestria"?
    Sunset: You're supposed to be so smart, but did you ever think you shouldn't be messing around with things you don't understand?!
    Twilight: But I wanna understand!
    Sunset: But you don't! And worst of all, you put the lives of my friends in danger!
  • Let us not forget Sunset and Twilight's singing together. In the original version of What More is Out There, both Sunset Shimmer and the human Twilight Sparkle actively feel like they don't have a place in their lives, and even has a distant duet. It's a stretch, but not impossible to see it as a song of romantic yearning.
  • In a similar way, the credits song Right There in Front of Me has Twi and Sunset sing together as the focus, about finding their inner confidence and as per usual comparing themselves with each other as a parallel.
• In the "Twilight Sparkle's Sleepover Surprise" chapter book, by coincidence at the sleepover, Twilight and Sunset end up having their nails painted the same random colors. What follows is as quoted:
  "The girls laughed, but Twilight Sparkle was so happy. She and Sunset Shimmer matched! It was perfect."
• As seen in the novelization of Legend of Everfree (that came out before the movie), even though the movie has the Love Triangle between (human) Twilight Sparkle, Flash Sentry, and Timber Spruce, Sunset Shimmer seems to care more about Twilight Sparkle's well being, than either of her love interests do.
  "Sunset's thoughts: What was he up to? She had to find out. She had to protect Twilight. "
  • Sunset in general gets very touchy with Twilight over the course of the movie, on many occasions even putting her hand over Twilight's shoulder and pulling her closer in.
  • When Twilight has a Catapult Nightmare, Sunset, herself asleep, immediately jumps out of bed and takes a fighting position to defend her before even waking up◊.
  • In the previews it was also shown that it was not Timber, Flash or any of the Humane 5 was the first to notice something is wrong with Twilight, but Sunset Shimmer, and as seen above, she is quite protective of Twilight. To the point that when Rarity accidentally makes Twilight feel bad, by bringing up the Friendship Games, Sunset outright scolds Rarity for that, and tells the girls to not bring up the Friendship Games for Twilight's well-being.
  • Twilight directly refers to Sunset's "Daydream Shimmer" form from the previous film as being beautiful.
  • When Twilight finally gets a date with Timber at the end, Sunset gives her a teasing look that can very easily come off as flirtatious.
  • In that same moment, Sunset blushes at Twilight after she's given a playful punch on the arm!
• In Forgotten Friendship, Sunset is hit hardest by Human Twilight not remembering Sunset's role in the Friendship Games. It's also quite telling that, when her memories are being drained by Wallflower, Sunset cries out "Twilight, don't forget me!" in anguish before she reverts to her pre-movie state. When Sunset gets her memory back, the first person she recognizes is Twilight.
  • On Human Twilight's side of the equation, she's the first person to approach Sunset after Sunset gets her memories wiped and the first to reaffirm their friendship.
• In Rollercoaster of Friendship, Sunset initially attempts to dissuade Twilight from trying to do a ring toss game, knowing it must be rigged. When Twilight tries anyway and Sunset sees the disappointment on her face when she fails, though, she’s suddenly determined to help Twilight win at any cost regardless of her better judgment.
• During Spring Breakdown, Twilight says she "wouldn't trade [Sunset] for anything in the world... in any world", following by holding Sunset's hand. Sunset returns the favor and replies "same here," with the two flashing warm smiles at one another.
• In "Schedule Swap", Twilight is more concerned with the fact she is not with Sunset Shimmer than the fact she is in the wrong class.
• In "Stressed in Show", Sunset is the first to rush to Twilight's aid when she appears exhausted and erratic onstage, and when Rainbow Dash comments "I think she's broken", Sunset, clearly defensive of Twilight, shoots Dash a Death Glare.
• In Holidays Unwrapped, after a failed all-nighter study session, Sunset appears to have fallen asleep not only right next to Twilight, but possibly on top of her legs.

Sunset Shimmer and other characters

• During the motocross race in Friendship Games, when Sunset is knocked off her bike and is about to be eaten by a carnivorous plant, Rainbow Dash races back to Sunset and grabs her in the nick of time. Sunset, riding from behind, happily exclaims "Dash, you saved me!" In Forgotten Friendship, when Sunset reads Rainbow's mind, she's devastated when she finds out that this memory had been erased.
• The third Equestria Girls - Magical Movie Night special, "Mirror Magic", has put the idea of Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer into people's heads. Both being ponies-turned-into-humans and their shared background as ex-jerks gives them a common ground not shared by other Equestria Girls characters plus they connected very quickly.
• Human Pinkie Pie seems to be extra touchy-feely with Sunset, often pressing herself against Sunset or just getting really close to her. She also has a bizarre knack for shooting some rather...flirtatious◊ looks.
  • In "The Art of Friendship", when Sunset tells Pinkie to paint "what makes [her] happy", she paints Sunset. Sunset, deeply touched, asks to paint Pinkie in return.
• In "Display of Affection", Rarity gives a rather longing look after Sunset leaves when she realizes Sunset is Flanksy and was the one who saved her display.
• Much like Starlight, there was already common ground between Sunset Shimmer and Trixie, being ex-jerks who were foils to Twilight Sparkle (though human Trixie lacks her pony counterpart's history with Twilight), making it easy to ship them. Then came Forgotten Friendship, where Trixie's human counterpart becomes Sunset's emotional support when almost all the students of Canterlot High, including the Rainbooms, lose their memories of Sunset's Heel–Face Turn and shun her, finding common ground in being left out and underappreciated and doing all in her power to help Sunset find the magic stone that stole everyone's memories.
• Wallflower Blush's actions toward Sunset in Forgotten Friendship seem rather extreme since Sunset's only crime against Wallflower is ignoring her, which is what every character has been doing for years. However, much like with Twilight and Moondancer, some have noted that her actions might make a little more sense if Wallflower had been harboring a crush on Sunset and was hurt that her crush doesn't acknowledge her existence, much less her feelings. Her sweet smile and blush when she holds Sunset's hand only adds to it.
• Sunset's Backstage Pass has scenes in the time loop where Rainbow Dash repeatedly smacks Sunset in the butt with a paddle, especially the second time when Rainbow Dash blushes because she thought Sunset enjoyed it.
• In the Rainbow Dash ending for "Wake-Up Shake-Up", Sunset and Rainbow Dash share a touchy feely moment at the end when seeing the sunrise together at the end of a yoga session.

Rarity with Applejack

With support from the writing staff, Rarity and Applejack are an arguably even more popular pairing in Equestria Girls than in the main series.

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• In general, Rarity has a lot of No Sense of Personal Space moments with Applejack compared to the other girls.
• In first movie during the Rainbow Dash 'wub' face scene, Rarity is clasping Applejack's arm like one does on a romantic walk or for a date. Especially suggestive since it's Prom Night. And when the girls transform back to their normal selves, Applejack can be seen holding Rarity's hand.
• In Legend of Everfree, during the battle with Gloriosa, Rarity protects Applejack with her barrier and, sometime after, when she is exhausted and practically fainting trying to hold up the dome shield, AJ helps her with an embrace. In the final song both hold hands in some parts, notable as they are the only two to do so despite "Holding Hands" being a line in the song.
• In Forgotten Friendship, as Rarity looks away in horror from the sight of Sunset collapsing after her memories are sucked away, Applejack has a hand on Rarity’s back.
• Rollercoaster of Friendship is a gold mine of Rarijack shipping fuel. According to Word of God, this was intentional; the writers wrote the two as a couple while leaving it just ambiguous enough to have Plausible Deniability about their relationship.invoked
  • The special opens with the two waiting on emails to confirm they got the jobs they've applied for, as they both applied to an amusement park and are looking forward to spending the summer together. When only Rarity gets a job there, they both express disappointment at not being able to work together, and Rarity initially refuses to accept the job if Applejack won't be there.
  • When everyone meets Rarity at the amusement park, Applejack is the only one to greet Rarity with a hug.
  • Applejack is extremely indignant over Rarity seeing her as her "best friend" or not, and when she sees Rarity greeting Vignette and getting feelly with her, she immediately grows upset.
  • When Rarity realizes Applejack was right about Vignette being a villain, they reconcile, complete with a heartfelt talk, blushing, held hands, and finally a big hug. The whole scene plays out like two lovers making up after a fight.
  • In a Freeze-Frame Bonus, after Micro Chips is teleported into the white room with the girls, Applejack was about to hold Rarity's hand but backs out when Rarity looks at her.
  • The ending song "Photo Booth" is a duet between the two with the rest of the Equestria Girls as chorus. The whole song sounds like thinly-veiled romanticisim of their friendship, and the two spend the song gazing into each other's eyes and singing into the same microphone very close together.
  • In the closing Photo Montage, the group shots show the Mane Seven looking at the camera... except for Rarity and Applejack who are making eyes at each other and holding hands.
• In Spring Breakdown, Ragamuffin, who Rarity gets Ship Tease with, was designed as a male version of Applejack. He and Applejack were standing next to each other when he meets the Rainbooms to emphasize how similar they look and the Rainbooms couldn't ignore their resemblance.
  • Similarly, in the short "Accountibilibuddies" (Rainbow Dash ending) Applejack is awestruck to meet one of her favorite musicians face-to-face, Dirk Thistleweed, who looks like a male Rarity.
  • Also in Spring Breakdown, in the aforementioned scene where Twilight tells Sunset she wouldn't trade her for anything, Rarity can be seen comforting the seasick Applejack by... stroking her hair.
• In "Festival Filters", when Rarity is showing Applejack the "Shape Chic" filter on Sunset's phone, the first shape she uses is dodecahedron, which doesn't impress Applejack, but then she switches to heart shapes, which makes Applejack smile.
• In "5 Lines You Need to Stand In", when Pinkie Pie is talking about the photo booth line, Rarity and Applejack can be seen in the background holding hands as Rarity leads Applejack somewhere else.

Rainbow Dash

• In Rainbow Rocks, the human counterparts of the cast have a slumber party at Pinkie Pie's house. Everyone else is sleeping on the floor, but Rainbow Dash is in the bed with Pinkie.
• In one of the Friendship Games shorts, Pinkie sniffs Dash for no apparent reason and tells her she smells like vanilla.
• At the end of Rainbow Rocks, when Twilight is departing the human world, human Fluttershy is seen holding human Rainbow Dash's arm.
  • There are a few moments between the two of them throughout the movie. Most especially is human Rainbow finally choosing one of human Fluttershy's songs to perform.
• In Rollercoaster of Friendship, one of the subplots involves Rainbow helping Fluttershy overcome her fear so they could ride the roller-coaster together. At one point, Rainbow is holding Fluttershy's wrists to uncover her eyes.
  • Later on when Fluttershy assures Rainbow Dash of her bravery after she is terrified of the rollercoaster, Rainbow Dash blushes at that and responds "You too, by the way" in a nervous tone, coming off as trying to impress Fluttershy with a brave face.
• In Holidays Unwrapped, when Rainbow is psyching herself up to power through interacting with her Abhorrent Admirer Zephyr Breeze in order to get Fluttershy a present, she says to herself "you're only doing this because you love Fluttershy!" It's the only time you hear one of the Rainbooms use the word "love" to describe their relationship to another member.
• In first movie, when compared to the other girls post-break-up, the way Applejack talks about Rainbow Dash makes her sound like a bitter ex-girlfriend. The two are also the only ones to apologize to each other on-screen and they even seal it with a hug.
• In the opening song of Rainbow Rocks, "Better than Ever", the girls all sing about how things have improved between them and the school at large. Then we get the start of the second verse:
  Rainbow: There was a time we couldn't see past the differences.
  Applejack: That separated you and me and it left us on our own.
  • Obviously they're referencing their argument from the first film, but consider this. In the first film there was no indication that the two had any falling out with the rest of the group and stopped being friends. Yet apparently they seem to consider that not being with each other is tantamount to being completely alone.
• In Legends of Everfree the main characters are paired off to share tents with each other while at camp. Applejack and Rainbow discover that they're going to be sharing and are notably the only two to appear outwardly excited by this arrangement.

Misc

• Rainbow Rocks gives us this image◊ of Lyra and Bon Bon's human counterparts smooshing their faces together as the two play a piano duet. This was likely the point where their moments went from unintentional subtext to Ship Tease.
• In the first movie a male athlete◊ character (named Curly Winds by fans) helps out a male techie◊ (named Wiz Kid also by fans), who is about to fall off a ladder◊ during the cleanup before the Fall Formal. The characters return in Rainbow Rocks, shown◊ together◊ whenever they appear throughout the film (including with their arms around each others shoulders◊ in the finale), and would continue to appear together over the course of the series. In short, their relationship is essentially the Spear Counterpart to Lyra and Bon Bon's relationship.
  • And then there's this from a deleted version of "What More Is Out There". How they thought they were gonna get away with that is anyone's guess.
  • There are also multiple events like this and this in other Equestria Girl specials, those two having a cute background moment while in an EQG episode is basically a tradition at this point.
  • We get instances of hugging, hand-holding, and an arm-around-shoulders moment similar to the one from the deleted scene, and just in case you didn't get it, a double-date (well, double lunch) with Lyra and Bon Bon.
  • Just watch this.
• In the first movie, Twilight is the only one Celestia touches◊.
• At the start of the "Battle of the Bands" song from Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks, Adagio Dazzle walks past several students (both male and female) and, um... strokes them all in a rather sensual way. There's extra emphasis placed on her cupping Trixie's chin.
• During "Under Our Spell", Human Luna can be seen in a blink and you'll miss it moment drawing a heart while looking at the Dazzlings... as a crusher would look upon a poster of their favorite celebrity.
• In Forgotten Friendship, a terrified Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are shown tightly clutching each other’s hands as they watch Sunset collapse post-memory drain.
• In Holidays Unwrapped, when Trixie is freezing during the snowball fight, Fluttershy hugs her for warmth. Trixie gives a smug Aside Glance, indicating she may have been faking/exaggerating in order to get this outcome.

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