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The Age of Ponies

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Literature Text

NB: this is not a fanfiction!  This is a reference guide to the relative ages of the main characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  This paragraph will help you to decide if this is a thing you want to read or not!

This document would have looked a lot different before "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" came along and ruined changed everything, so I've had to have a bit of a mental rewrite.  Which is to say, there is no draft to his list as I'm pretty much typing stream-of-conciousness style.

Rainbow Dash
"Hey, who are you gonna listen to: Applejack, or the pony who was first in her class to get a cutie mark?"
Since basically the whole of Ponyville revolves around Rainbow Dash and the Sonic Rainboom, she is the best place to start.  Rainbow Dash is the yardstick around whom we can measure the other ages of the ponies, so I've got pretty much nothing to say about her individually!

Fluttershy
"I'm a year older than you."
Since Fluttershy was the closest to the blast radius of the Sonic Rainboom, it can be assumed that she got her cutie mark roughly the same time as Rainbow Dash.  She gives the Cutie Mark Crusaders no tutelage in "Call of the Cutie", so we can't say for sure that she was also one of the first of the ponies in her class to get her cutie mark; however, the brief line above from "Griffon the Brush-Off" could suggest that if she is a year older than Pinkie Pie, she may also be a year older than Rainbow Dash, meaning that she was one of the last ponies in her own class, which is a year above Dash's.  This could be alluded to in Fluttershy's Bambi-like posture, showing that perhaps she is more developed than any of the other ponies shown.  (Alternatively it could be about anorexia and body issues, which is far above my pay grade to go into here.)

Twilight Sparkle
"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes..."
Twilight Sparkle is pretty much the only pony we've seen going into further education.  "Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns" is a very prestigious - okay, I'll roll with it.  It's basically Hogwarts for X-Men.  In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" she starts her personal tutelage with Celestia; she is still her protege during the series, though Spike helpfully reminds her during the first episode that they're "on a break".
(Related: different pony races go to different schools?  Cloudsdale is understandably pegasus-exclusive.  Cheerilee's class in "Call of the Cutie" has two unicorns and seven earth ponies.  Canterlot appears to be a city of unicorns, with only two confirmed earth pony residents: Hoity Toity and Sapphire Shores.  Another point to make is that unicorns need additional magic lessons as all are shown to have some degree of telekinesis, though only some have magic as their special talent.)
Twilight gets her cutie mark not long after Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, judging by the distance there appears to be between Cloudsdale and Canterlot (Cloudsdale is a balloon ride away from Ponyville, and Ponyville is a chariot ride away from Canterlot.) and factoring in the time it takes for both sound and light to travel that distance.
I can think of no indicators as to how old she is other than her reluctance to gain friends in the first episode, so I'm going to just lump her into Rainbow Dash's year.

Rarity
"For the longest time I couldn't figure out why I didn't have mine..."
Going just from this quote from "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", I'm going to put Rarity in Fluttershy's year, if not older.  (Something doesn't quite add up about that story: "the performance was that night!" says Rarity, despite the performance actually being the night after, but I'll let it slide.)  Also of note is that she got her cutie mark quite some time after Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight, as it was dark when her classmates performed.
Also: she's the same age as Cheerilee.

Pinkie Pie
"And that's how Equestria was made!"
From this quote alone, we could say that Pinkie Pie is an unreliable narrator.  Which is, of course, not mentioning all the other reasons throughout the series as to why Pinkie is an unreliable narrator.
But!  I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume her story to be true!  Pinkie spends the rest of the day and the night after the Sonic Rainboom preparing her first party, so she get her cutie mark later still than the previous four.  And since she's a year younger than Fluttershy, she's the same age as Dash and Twilight!  Yaaaay!
Pinkie is the eldest of three sisters, who have variously been named Inky and Blinky (which is awesome for nerdy reasons) and Violetta Marilyn and Greylinda Anne (carrying on the colour-themed naming).  I just thought this was notable for some reason.

Applejack
"Y'know, I was the last pony in my class to get my cutie mark, and I couldn't be prouder of it."
Applejack's story fortunately has the most wiggle room in order to reconcile it with the above quote from "Call of the Cutie".  First of all, she is old enough to travel a long distance (Manehattan is not visible in the skyline anywhere in Ponyville) to the Big Apple, completely on her own.  I knew country girls were independent, but blimey.  So she's in the older bracket with Fluttershy and Rarity, if not the older-still bracket with the latter.  (She does pretty much run the farm single-hoofedly.)
Considering how long the journey between Sweet Apple Acres and Manehattan is (let's be honest, it could take up to a week!), Applejack is probably the last of the six to get her cutie mark, particularly as she was initially dead-set against staying at the farm and thus denying her special talent.
Applejack is apparently old enough to refer to Rarity as "kiddo" ("Sonic Rainboom").

Summary
That's pretty much all I have to say on the matter!  In summary, here's the list from oldest to youngest:
Applejack -> Rarity -(maybe a year?)> Fluttershy -(definitely a year)> Pinkie Pie/Rainbow Dash/Twilight Sparkle.

Hopefully this is as enjoyable to read as it was to write and research!
This is the second in a series of fictional-fact-based boringness, following my brief foray into pony genetics! Hopefully you could use it as a resource?

I meant to mention that the reason I want the ponies to be different ages is to show that Friendship is so Magic that you don't have to all be the same age to be friends with each other.

I'm likely to update this if we get any additional information before the series finishes!

If you want to see how this works out with a mathematical rather than relative flavour, ~DuplexFields has just the thing!
© 2011 - 2024 TheLastGherkin
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HonokaKoisaka's avatar
Cool. This was my guess
1. Apple Jack
2. Twilight Sparkle
3. Rainbow Dash
4. Fluttershy
5. Rarity
6. Pinkie Pie
Here is a story ( using fake ages )
Pinkie pie (except it does!) plz I bet you have a secret flutters Happy Fluttershy  Oh my. You got me. My secret is that i'm 456 years old Pinkie pie (special pancake) plz By the way i was just joking, but because you told me your age ill tell you mine. Pinkie pie (The map!) plz its 6 years old
Sad Fluttershy You don't think its weird that my age is 456 years old? Pinkie Chibi Pie Dancing  no. what do you guys think? Rainbow Dash (Aww) Plz Um, pinkie thats pretty old. I mean like, i'm 57 AppleJack stare Are you sure pinkie pie? I think that's pretty old. just saying i'm three years old. *Free Icon/Emote* Twilight Hairball Pusheen Actually it is not old. I am 1,000 years old and ponies can be any age they want to be! You guys are just to young to understand. Rarity Icon  That is so not old. I am 444 years old and i am the best so the best ponies are always young, so. Shy Fluttershy Free avvie  I'm pretty old, to me that is. Mystery Skulls Ghost Headbob Pony: Pinkie Pie  I have three questions for you all who see this reply to this comment, 1. Do you think it is old? 2. Which age would you want to be most out of the six of us? 3. WHITCH PONY DO YOU LIKE BEST OF US?!