Sunset's Steps is a series by Redandready 45 that covers what happened with Sunset Shimmer in the six months between My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks.
Stories in this series include:
- Look In the Mirror to Find the Truth
- Live By the Sword
- Working Girl Sunny
- The Downfall of Sunset Shimmer An Anon A Miss Story
- What Happened to Sunset's Family
Sunset's Steps contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Context Change: Everyone in Canterlot High (except the Rainbooms) still distrusting and hating Sunset even after the six month time span between My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks also due to one of Sunset's past incidents from before the events of Fall Formal coming to light where she framed Muharib for stabbing Snails by planting a bloody knife into her locker which led her to end up in juvie where she was raped by a female guard and became paralyzed when jumping off a roof, causing Quick to seek revenge on Sunset (due to her getting off lighter in comparison) and tell everyone at school about it.
- Adaptational Karma:
- The CMC's actions in making Sunset into a pariah in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) Holidays 2014 are given extra punishment with them being required to do 200 hours of community service and having to do chores for Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.
- Sunset ended up having to do community service for weeks and was suspended from school for a while due to her actions in the first movie.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Played With, Sunset becomes friends with The Rainbooms like in canon, but becoming friends with them was harder for her in this story. In the canon series, at the end of the first movie, The Rainbooms apparently forgive Sunset and promise Twilight Sparkle to be her friend and teach her friendship. The next film shows that The Rainbooms have kept their promise and invited Sunset into their friend group despite what Sunset has done in the past, albeit with some tension between them that isn't fully resolved until the end of the movie. In this series, The Rainbooms (except for Pinkie Pie) don't want to really want to forgive Sunset after years of bullying, with Applejack distrusting her and Fluttershy and Rarity fearing and resenting her, and Rainbow partaking in the school's retribution. Only when Sunset shows genuine remorse and pays them back for the times she hurts them that the Rainbooms give their forgiveness.
- Deconstruction Fic: This fic shows just how hard it was for Sunset to gain everyone's trust and forgiveness after her actions against the school with even the Rainbooms (especially Rainbow Dash) taking time to trust and accept her as a friend.
- Easily Forgiven: Only Pinkie Pie plays this straight, throwing Sunset a party and being her friend. This is otherwise averted, with everyone (even the Rainbooms) giving the Sunset either hostility or the cold shoulder until she proves she wants to make it up to them. Sunset's story arc is about making up with everyone and earning their forgiveness.
- Forgiveness: A big theme of this story is Sunset earning forgiveness from the people she hurt and becoming a better person, a process that is not easy, as many of the teachers, students, and even the Rainbooms (except for Pinkie) have it out for her because her bad behavior damaged them. But gradually, the Rainbooms give her the chance to work for her forgiveness and eventually get the rest of the student body to give her a chance as well.
- Transplanted Character Fic: While she never had a human counterpart in the canon version, here Gilda has a human counterpart and plays a prominent role in the story.
- Traumatic Haircut: Due to a prank involving Sunset's hair being glued to her backpack (as revenge for her previous actions pre-Heel–Face Turn), Sunset is forced to cut off most of her hair.
