Headscratchers / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

Works:

• Equestria Girls
• Rainbow Rocks
  • Rainbow Rocks Shorts
• Friendship Games
• Legend of Everfree
• Magical Movie Night
• Digital Series
• Forgotten Friendship
• Rollercoaster of Friendship
• Spring Breakdown
• Sunsets Backstage Pass
• Holidays Unwrapped

Series Timeline

Let's try to figure out the series timeline:

1. "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer" shows Twilight Sparkle was still a filly without their cutie mark, so Sunset, who seems her present age, fled Equestria before Twilight replaced Sunset as Celestia's student. While the comic is contestibly canon, it's the only explanation for Twilight lack of familiarity with Sunset. Spike was hatched when Twilight when she became a student, and he's "at least 7 - 10 year younger than Twilight in 'pony years'." Sunsets been away at least that long. This from said comic mentions yearbook submissions, suggesting Sunest arrived toward summer and the end of the school year.
2. "Equestria Girls" takes place during the Fall Formal, so it obviously takes place during Fall. Pictures from the prior Fall Formal show Sunset was their for at least three years prior. This also happens close to the Summer Sun Celebration in "Princess Twilight Sparkle", giving a basis for comparing time between Equestria and the human world.
3. "Legend of Everfree" takes place during or close to Summer, given they are at a camp. Rarity and Pinkie Pie mention the events of "Equestria Girls", "Rainbow Rocks", and "Friendship Games" happened within a year.
4. The Digital Series features the Fall Play "Dazzled", so that takes place during Fall. They have their geodes, so it definitely takes place after "Legend of Everfree".
5. "Forgotten Friendship" takes place during or close to Summer, given the Beach Episode and yearbooks get made and distributed. This shows that it takes place after the Fall Play, so two school years have passed. The Canterlot throne room has it's old design, which was renovated by the movie and Season 8, so it takes place before that. Any thought or questions about this timeline?
   • But given the Spring Fling, it's possible that they don't all correspond to the Fall Formal.

• Word of God confirmed the first four movie were over the same school year and and they aren't in their senior year yet. "Forgotten Friendship" for the reasons above is a year after that. "Rollercoaster of Friendship" is during summer and takes place After "Forgotten Friendship". "Spring Breakdown" is during spring after "Rollercoaster of Friendship". The final special "Holidays Unwrapped" is during winter and takes place after "Spring Breakdown". That means the series was set over three-and-a-quarter years. By the start of the series Sunset has been in the human world more than half a year (she was involved in the Spring Fling and seems to have developed her reputation back then) but less than three-and-a-half (Friendship Games is almost certainly in the spring and Sunset was unfamiliar with said Games which are every four years). Her "Biggest Meenie" picture shows she was near present age as a freshman (supported by the "Fall of Sunset Shimmer" prequel comic). Anyway to explain this in a way that fits a realistic timeline?
  • Forgotten Friendship has Wallflower Blush state she met Sunset in 9th grade English, as opposed to English, meaning Sunset's at least 10 grade by that point. (As the Fall Formal would be 9th grade, that would leave a few weeks for Wallflower to met Sunset pre-Heel–Face Turn, which she must have given their animosity toward her.) Holidays Unwrapped is 1.5 years later, so she'd still be in 12th grade, so her still being in high school is within, though at the limits, of plausibility if we assume it includes middle school grades 6-8 (likely given the ages of the human CMC).

Why don't the ponies "human up?"

• Why do the humans pony up and the ponies don't human up?
  • Possibly because the pony world is the source of magic, so ponying up is the effect of the otherwise mundane humans being infused with magic. There isn't any kind of magical force to flow in the other direction.
    • This is supported by the fact that all the magic we've seen thus far has been identified as Equestrian magic. The interesting question about the humans vs the ponies really seems to be why are the humans so ridiculously powerful? Once you get past the first movie the Equestria Girls are able to weaponize the residual magic from a single artifact, Twilight's crown. By the fourth film they've developed powers on par or beyond their pony counter parts. The Mane Six need to be in physical contact (or close enough as in the premiere) with their elements to weaponize them. The Equestria Girls can essentially Awesome Up and fight threats at least as powerful as the Sirens. Come the fourth movie an argument can be made that some of them are superior to their pony counterparts. Human Twilight might still be struggling with basic telekinesis but pony Applejack has never been shown to have genuine super strength. In fact we've seen her compete with Rainbow Dash who while a freak in her own right is still a Pegasus accustomed to flying primarily on what appear to be mostly equal terms. No hint is given that AJ is stupid strong like say Maud Pie's ability to rip through boulders. Pony Dash appears to still need time (and space) to Sonic Rainboom but while we don't know how fast human Dash is actually going it can be described as stupid fast and she apparently goes from zero to sixty at a will. So in short the humans might be borrowing from the ponies but they appear in general to be more efficient.
    • "Why are the humans so ridiculously powerful?" alternatively, it's because you're comparing them to ponies/unicorns, who use magic all the time, compared to the seemingly-muggle humans.

About the Cutie Mark Crusaders

• If the Human Cutie Mark Crusaders are friends in this realm, then what would they have become friends for in a world where cutie marks don't exist? By extension, do Human Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon bully them? If so, then what do they bully them for if cutie marks don't exist?
  • Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon seem to care more about harassing Applebloom than any magical rump tattoo. Their attitudes in their debut episode seemed to indicate they've been doing it for some time despite Diamond Tiara only having Cutie Mark for a week by that point, they didn't seem to know who Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were until they became Applebloom's friends despite the fact they should have shared several classes with them, they were dismissive of Applebloom's Cutie Mark when she supposedly got hers in The Cutie Pox, sided with a Blank Flank when she proved willing to harass Applebloom and her friends, and Diamond Tiara got a Hearts and Hooves Day card from a Blank Flank (the yellow, purple-maned Pegasus filly commonly referred to as 'Alula') with Silver Spoon seemingly encouraging her. IIRC, the only time either of the bully duo have ever attacked a Blank Flanked character that wasn't in some way associated with Applebloom was when DT bodychecked the yellow-maned purple unicorn filly commonly referred to as 'Dinky', and that wasn't even anything to do with Cutie Marks. The whole Blank Flank thing seems just something they do to cheese off Applebloom, so if they do pick on the human CMC, whatever they'd call themselves, it would probably be over whatever Applebloom's anxiety button is in the human world, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo would have joined her over that.
  • Plus, it's not like a lack of magical booty tattoos is the only thing that can turn you into a target for bullying in real life.
  • While I certainly did not like the movie, I'm willing to give the writers the benefit of this: The CMC met over being bullied and finding others in a similar situation in the show. In the other world, they could have met under a similar circumstance. (Being bullied and finding others in a similar boat). It's plausible — Given that this is a school, they could have been bullied for a completely different reason, no matter how petty it is.
    • I'm gonna guess that Diamond and Silver, in the human world, already have their careers set, and bullied them for not choosing... I dunno. So they're all CMC and finding out which jobs they'd like.
    • After a second viewing, I saw Diamond quickly slapping Twilight's face during her first showing in the school. So she's still a bully in the human world. As for why they would pick on the CMC... that's still unknown, maybe she does it For the Evulz.
    • Looked more like Diamond Tiara slapped Twilight without even knowing she was there. Still kind of a jerk, but totally unaware of what she'd done. "Did I just hit something? Doesn't matter."
    • Unaware? It looked like she planned that smack.
    • I had a theory that the human CMC are in some sort of girl scouts, and are trying to earn their first badge.
  • Apple Bloom is the granddaughter of the lunch lady, and that's enough for DT to bully her, specially if she's still rich in this world. Sweetie Belle could have taken a fall after Rarity was humiliated at the spring formal and... they just meet Scootaloo... somehow.
  • Considering that the first cutie mark episode had a lot of puberty overtones, it's possible Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon started out teasing the girls in middle school or late elementary for being flat-chested. Given how they were to Apple Bloom at the start of the episode and Scootaloo about not flying when they were auditioning to carry the flag for Ponyville, I imagine they just didn't like Apple Bloom (and don't like Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle by association) and would find any reason to make fun of them.
  • Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell still are Applejack's and Rarity's sister respectively, and Scootaloo still may be friend/protegee of Rainbow Dash. They could have met through them.
  • Or maybe the humans in this world have cutie marks and we just don't see them because they're all wearing pants and skirts and stuff like that? They're for all intents and purposes just human-shaped ponies, so...

Why no unicorn horns for Twilight and Rarity?

• Near the end of the film, Twilight and her friends go Super Mode and defeat Sunset Shimmer. Said Super Modes includes pony ears and tails for each of the characters, as well as wings for Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. So, why didn't they give Rarity and Twilight horns? Is it so impossible that these girls can't have horns, but can have wings?
  • Well, horns are usually are for magic manipulation and since they're MOSTLY magical, it seems kinda pointless to add that.
  • I'm pretty sure the toy's had something to do with it. Notice the toys don't have any horns, probably Hasbro figured humans with horns was creepy? Not that humans with purple skin isn't.
    • The initial layouts, including wings, horns, and cutie mark facial tattoos were met with almost universal rejection. Keeping it simple, including the angel look, but not the horns, kept it from going over the top and looking silly.
  • Oh come on, I thought the Doug Shout-Out was awesome.
• I would say the Mane 6 took on equine qualities during their magic girl transformation because the Elements of Harmony are based in Equestria, but that goes against the moral that the magic of friendship is everywhere. All that's left is Rule of Cool.
  • The Mane 6 took on equine qualities? Tell me, how many real equines have wings?
• Oddly enough, in the novelization, Twilight and Rarity DO have their horns, which just makes this even weirder.
  • This might mean that the creators did try giving them horns in the series, but agreed that it looked too awkward on them.

Did Sunset Shimmer kill the original human version of herself?

• Did Sunset Shimmer kill the original human version of herself? Or is she tied up in a basement somewhere?
  • Or perhaps she doesn't live in the sameplace as the human mane six, not everything has to be dark.
  • Sunset told Twilight that she couldn't bring herself to take hostages, and wasn't willing to kill her, at least not until Twilight's crown turned her into an Ax-Crazy demon. Considering that Sunset Shimmer was more or less like a pre-friendship Twilight Sparkle before having her pride-fueled Face–Heel Turn, her human counterpart's probably some hot nerdy chick working in a bookstore/library somewhere in the human world.
  • Or alternatively, she's without an original version of herself. Then again, why put logic in a movie that was made to sell dolls?
    • IIRC Twilight noted that not every human was recognizable in the pony world, which means that not every human has a pony counterpart and vice-versa. Please correct me if I'm wrong though.
  • Pinkie Pie mentioned having seen a girl that looks like Twilight and has a dog like Spike in another city, probably the alternate of the city of Canterlot (Canterlot high seems to be in an alternate Ponyville). It stands to reason that the real human sunset is somewhere in that city too.

What exactly is the age difference between Sunset Shimmer and Twilight?

• What exactly is the age difference between Sunset Shimmer and Twilight? Sunset Shimmer was Celestia's student before Twilight started. Twilight became Celestia's student when she was a filly. Which means that Sunset Shimmer quit and left Equestria when Twilight was still a filly. Did she start her evil plan as a little filly? How has she been able to go to the same high school for so long without arousing suspicion?
  • Time is A LOT slower in the human world, so like a year in Equestria would be like a month or two.
  • I assumed that Sunset Shimmer spent some time in an elementary and/or middle school.
  • Celestia actually mentioned that Sunset Shimmer became her student "around the same time as Twilight." They're most likely the same age (Or close enough).
    • So, Sunset Shimmer became Celestia's student "Around the same time as Twilight". So they're clearly around the same age. If that is the case, then why does Twilight have to be told who she is? Shouldn't she already know her?
    • Based on the comic, she was Celestia's student for some time and was an adult, while Twilight could still be seen as a foal in one of the background shots. Twilight probably became Celestia's student about the time Sunset left.
    • In the movie itself, Celestia's exact line was "She began her studies with me not long before Twilight." This means that Sunset was Celestia's student while Twilight was still a very young filly.
    • And yet she is still the same age as Twilight in this new world... So Narnia Time, huh?
    • Age spells?
    • Narnia Time most likely. The whole Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna thing kinda supports it. Though in the movie itself, it isn't exactly mention how old Sunset is or even what grade she is in. So Sunset might be slightly older than Twilight via the Human World's time.
    • It's possible that Celestia doesn't have the greatest grasp on time as well. We know she's at least one thousand years old Quite possibly older than that. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that Sunset Shimmer and Twilight were separated by a decade or more. The tie in comics show young Twilight in the background but we don't really know how fast ponies age that could be 6 year old Twilight to today's 17/18 year old Twilight or even longer. I can easily see a thousand year old god referring to a twenty year gap as a short while before you got here.

Pony Luna's banishment in relation to Human Luna.

• There's an Alternate version of Celestia and Luna, presumably without long lifespans... So what about Luna's Banishment period? How did that play out in Sapientia? Was "Vice Principal Luna" in prison before she got her vice principal role? What about, say, 40 years before this movie? They couldn't possibly be any older than that, so it's just that a human counterpart was born in time for Twilight to meet them when they had a position that compared, in some small way, to the Equestria versions?
  • Maybe there's been several of them. As for banishment, considering that human Luna has no magic, that bit probably never happened, or it was more like a big fight and Luna left town for a few years. It's a creepily similar parallel universe, not an identical parallel universe.
    • One fanfic suggested that Luna was so jealous of Celestia getting to be principal, that she turned to drinking and ended up in rehab for a few years.
  • I think that there are two options on that subject:
    • 1) The situation described above of the two simply becoming strained with each other for a few years (perhaps Luna was jealous of Celestia being the principal at CHS).
    • 2) It never happened. After all, there are some big differences between the human and Pony world (for example: In the Pony world, Tirek is a dangerous villain that tried to conquer Equestria, while in the Human world, he's just a videogame character). Personality changes are also present, since there are some who Took a Level in Kindness (like Trixie) and others who Took a Level in Jerkass (like Filthy Rich).

What exactly makes the Great and Powerful Trixie so powerful in a world without magic?

• What exactly makes the Great and Powerful Trixie so powerful in a world without magic?
  • Nothing - she was just put in for Fanservice.
  • Perhaps she's an amateur magician in this world and her "power" refers to the power of illusion.
  • Just like her pony counterpart, she's a performer. "The Great and Powerful" is just her stage name.
    • Personally, I thought she was part of a cheerleading squad.
    • You know, the magician explanation makes perfect sense. She could always try performing "magic" tricks with science.
    • Well technically with alot of smoke and mirrors like real life performers, though science can be used in conjunction with all the misdirections and slight of hand tricks. Just not so obvious that it doesn't look like magic. Incidentally during the dance after Sunset is defeated, Trixie is seen with her magic getup in the background in a Freeze-Frame Bonus.
  • According to her future doll release (which hints an Equestria Girls sequel as well), she plays guitar in a rock band.

Why are the ponies surprised by the concept of hands?

• Why are the ponies surprised by the concept of hands, given Spike's presence among them? Especially since we see him wiggling his fingers right after the line. Not to mention all the times the word is used in the show.
  • It sort of boils down to Depending on the Writer. Like with how the term "everybody" often gets replaced by "everypony".
  • Spike has been consistently described as having "claws". Most land-based mammals (including, presumably, monkeys, which exist in Equestria) have "paws". Humans really are alone in having "hands" so the word either doesn't exist in the pony world or is at least not universally known. Makes you wonder what Iron Will has, though...
  • Iron Will probably has what would be considered hands, but Minotaurs are apparently really uncommon in Equestria, so most ponies wouldn't be familiar with hands. Not to mention that it's Rainbow Dash who asks the question, and she's probably the least likely to know about non-pony biology.
    • Rainbow Dash has read the Daring Do books, which feature a villain with three hands. We know that she knows what hands are.
    • It is Rainbow Dash, she might have skimmed over the non-action parts.
  • This pic◊ best illustrates what the original troper with a head scratch is talking about.
  • Depending on the Writer.
  • Because it was a joke.
  • Or EG's Equestria had similar events in the first three seasons but everypony used "hoof" in those phrases.
  • The many times the word "hands" are used in the show is Translation Convention, nothing else. They're not speaking English, they're speaking Equestrian. Believe me, translated into other languages, several of the mentioned scenes would use different idiomatics than the English ones involving "hands".
  • I always thought that it was just Rainbow Dash having "a moment". She doesn't know exactly what hands are(Even if she has read about Ahuizotl, if she didn't look up the word, there's no reason to know what it means), but she knows what the phrases are supposed to mean ("The mission at hand"), but doesn't know the literal meaning of the word, and was not familiar with the phrase "Left her in good hands", so she ask the unfamiliar word. Like, if she hear "Shining Armour and Princess Cadence tied the knot" and didn't understand the meaning(They got married) she could ask "What knot?"

Are there other mirrors to travel across the world?

• Scenario: Sunset Shimmer cools her heels in the human world since shortly before Twilight became Celestia's apprentice; a world that can only be accessed from Equestria by way of a magic mirror in the Crystal Empire, a city that didn't reappear until something like ten years after that point. Are there other mirrors or something?
  • The mirror was moved there. It was at Canterlot originally.
  • The BIGGER question is how the timeline works between Sunset Shimmer's departure and Twilight Sparkle becomes Celestia's student. It's very clear that Twilight has never even heard of Sunset Shimmer, so it's safe to assume the two has never met. Since Twilight was a filly when she started studying under Celestia, the amount of time between Shimmer's disappearance and the events of this movie are more than thirty moons. So just how long has Sunset Shimmer been in the human world? Has she been in high school the entire time? Did no one in the human world ever wonder about this long-term student, tried (and failed) to contact her non-existent parents, and then call Child Protective Services when they found out she had none? Or is the "human world" just an artificial bubble no larger than Canterlot High and the nearby shops?
  • Sunset Shimmer has been gone long enough for Princess Celestia to lose hope of her returning, hence why she's removed the mirror. That would require the portal to open at least once between Sunset's departure and return. The bigger question is how long a moon is supposed to be. We know that ponies use months, called months, to measure time, so a moon is unlikely to translate to being a month long, otherwise they just would have said thirty months.
• Mirrors? No. Portals? Yes. This was confirmed in Spring Breakdown. How many? God knows.

Magic in the Equestria Girls world

• Even if the Elements of Harmony work differently in another dimension, then why did they work at all? It is Canon that Equestria is a magical world. Lauren Faust confirmed that the magic of Equestria isn't just in the unicorns, but all creatures. Then why did the Element of Magic(!) work in a world where there is no magic to be found?

  • The crown itself is magic, as are the other five, and clearly inanimate objects are not transformed like people are. It retained its power.
  • Who's to say magic is absent in the Equestria Girls' world? We know unicorn magic doesn't work, but if the portal works, and if demons are implied to exist in that world, logically there should be at least some sort of supernatural stuff going on.

Why does Big Macintosh have normal, peach-colored skin as a human instead of the red that his pony self has?

• Why does Big Macintosh have normal, peach-colored skin as a human instead of the red that his pony self has?
  • They might have originally, but realized he looked awful as a bright red human?
    • Plus I kinda like how he looks somewhat like Philip J. Fry from Futurama.
    • I'm more annoyed at how not huge he was. Seriously, Big Macintosh should have been a 6'2" farmboy built like a lumberjack who deserved the name "Big Mac". I can take the coloring, but not his not-bigness.
  • Really? I recall that he was pretty talk and beefy-looking. Maybe I'm misremembering, though...
    • Having just reviewed the relevant portions and comparing the skin tones of the human Apple family, Apple Bloom is largely the same coloring as pony version; AJ the same human/pony. Mac's coloring I can see as a compromise between the pony color and something more approaching AJ to reinforce the idea of them being siblings. Also consider that with VP Luna, her skin wasn't the dark blue-grey-purple of her pony self. Seems pastel skins are ok, more bold colouring not so much.
• Upon closer inspection (in other words I used eye-dropper), he's pink. Because for the very same reason as stated above (human Big Mac looked awful in all red), they changed it. Both because pink is the closest colour to red, and how it looks like a natural skin-colour to have, they decided that it was the best option. Plus for the same reasons as stated just above.

Based on his Cutie Mark, what is Flash Sentry’s special talent?

• Based on his Cutie Mark, what is Flash Sentry’s special talent?
  • Token romance?
  • Since he a guard I assume its connected to his guard duty. Maybe always being there in time to protect those who need it? His human self demonstrates that when he arrives just in time to save Twilight with evidence of Sunset's forgery.
    • He is a sentry.

What's Sunset Shimmer's cutie mark supposed to represent?

• What's Sunset Shimmer's cutie mark supposed to represent?
  • It's a six-pointed sunburst, the same way that Twilight's is a six-pointed starburst, just in red and yellow instead of pink and white, and she follows the day-to-night theme naming pattern too. Sunset's name pretty much says everything about her character arc: twilight rises when sunset falls: literally, as Celestia's student, and as opponents in the story's climax. Her cutie mark represents her trying and ultimately failing to outshine everyone else.
  • So basically, her destiny is "to be not as good as Twilight Sparkle". Idunno, if that were my destiny I might go a little crazy too.
  • Based on the fact that she was Celestia's former student and the tie-in comic, I'm guessing magic. It's not that farfetched since there are have been all sorts of different cutie marks but their owners have similar talents. Mr. and Mrs. Cake are a good example. Both are candy sellers but have different cutie marks.
    • Rarity's cutie mark is gems, yet she makes dresses. Derpy's is bubbles, yet she works as a mailmare. Twilight's is a star, yet she reads books. I suppose just because you get a cutie mark doesn't mean it HAS to represent what you do for the rest of your life, so apparently Cheerilee is just...not right in the head when she explained it in "Call of the Cutie".
    • Plus, Fluttershy's is butterflies, but she runs an animal shelter. Pinkie's is balloons, but she throws parties.
    • As far as I know, the cutie mark represents your special talent, not necessarily your career. You're perfectly able to spend your life doing something that's not your special talent. Cheerilee's special talent happened to correspond to her chosen career, but she could have gone into farming if she wanted.
  • The central portion of her cutie mark bears a distinct resemblance to the yin-yang symbol, which represents the connection and balance between seemingly opposite forces. And there are certainly two very different sides to her personality, as she displays a great capacity for compassion from Rainbow Rocks onwards but still angers pretty easily. Make of that what you will.

Why. Is Spike. A DOG!?

• Why. Is Spike. A DOG!?
  • Because otherwise, he'd have to be a kid, much younger than Twilight, but still treated like a subordinate/personal secretary/assistant/whatever. It's been pointed out elsewhere that Spike's role in Twilight's life is a lot less "friend" or "younger sibling" and a lot more "indentured pet-servant", especially since he apparently can't mature unless he indulges in unchecked greed; I dunno if I agree with that personally, but it's not something they could get away with if Spike were human.
    • Fridge Brilliance here: he's been loyal to Twilight, like a dog.
  • It's because they needed something as proof that twilight is from another world. If spike was a boy, no one would believe twilight's story. But once Spike the dog talks people believe her, and try to help her. Though it raises new questions like: Why didn't anyone think that spike the dog was some robot, or there was a hidden microphone somewhere? And if everyone instantly bought the whole story once spike talked, then why not have spike talk to Principal Celestia?
    • Well there wasn't any indication that the possibility of sentient robots or something similar was around in the human world. The microphone thing could be a question except Spike moved way too in-synced to be simply a dog with a microphone. It's probably more believable the dog is talking and moving in response to what he's saying rather than a super trained dog that moves in response to words that are made on the spot. For why they couldn't have just let Spike talk to Celestia, it's kinda pointed out that him talking to anyone might have some risks. It could have solved somethings faster but then the repercussions might have some negative effect on the human world which Twilight and Spike were trying to avoid as much as possible. I mean there was a reason why Twilight was heavily afraid of telling the truth to the human Mane 5.
  • I read on the Creator's Pest page that apparently a few of the show's writers have admitted to disliking Spike. Maybe they're expressing that by making him a dog?
• Two reasons:

1. As noted above, sometimes Twilight treats Spike more than a pet like a dog.

2. Because it would be pretty awkward for a human male to follow a female into certain places, being a dog would make things much easier for Spike. Plus it gives him the excuse to get petted by Rarity.

Would other dragons become dogs if they went through the portal?

• Would other dragons become dogs if they went through the portal? If so, would their size carry over? Is the human world potentially under threat from giant talking dogs?
  • That is a scary Fridge Horror. Course, the full limits of the portal weren't shown. It's not known if the portal could allow characters bigger than it to pass through. They could be stuck or they could simply slip through regardless of size. It's still scary though.
    • It'd explain Clifford, though.
  • The mirror probably turns whoever enters it into their already-existing counterparts in the human world so dragons probably wouldn't remain huge unless there are dogs in the human world which are really that big.
  • I don't know about the size, but all the info would point to yes. However, maybe they are not turned into the same breed of dog. And considering how the counterparts of each character have at least their pre-Character Development personalities, the breed would have to fit their personalities. For example, let's suppose Ember goes througth the portal. Since ver is rude and aggresive but also a good leader, i would say she would become a German Shepherd.

How did the Equestria Girls become friends without the presence of human Twilight to provide a common link?

• So... near as I can tell, prior to the Summer Sun Festival, it doesn't seem like the Mane Five were ever all that close (outside of Rainbow and Fluttershy), more like fellow Ponyvilleian than best friends forever. It wasn't until Twilight came along to bring them together in one place that they became actual friends. So how did the five human girls become friends without the presence of human Twilight to provide a common link?
  • In Spite of a Nail perhaps. There were just destined to be friends or something.
  • A school is an easier place to get to know people than living in the same town. If you attend the same classes and eat in the same cafeteria, you're bound to get to know people sooner or later. Or if you want to go for some Wild Mass Guessing maybe in Ponyville they had all been friends in school, but just drifted apart after leaving?

Exactly how old is Sunset Shimmer?

• Exactly how old is Sunset Shimmer? She was Twilight's previous pupil, yet Twilight has to be told who she was. Is this just Narnia Time and Sunset Shimmers never ages?
  • According to the tie-in comic, Sunset was Celestia's pupil◊ before Twilight got her cutie-mark, and was in her present human outfit◊ when she entered the human world. So indeed there is a massive Narnia Time happening. Though it's likely she still ages, just not at the rate of Equestria's timeline.

Why is the human side of the portal unguarded?

• Why is the human side of the portal unguarded? Someone must know about it. There isn't going to be a portal to a world inhabited by talking horses embedded on a statue of a horse by coincidence. Yet they didn't so much as have a notice that every so often the front of the statue becomes a portal and won't hold your weight. If Fluttershy tried to lean on it, she could have mostly fallen through, but banged her head on the top of the portal, seriously injuring herself.
  • The portal is only open a short duration of time. During the time it is closed, people would have assumed that it was nothing. Not alot of people went to and through the portal when it was open so it wasn't noticeable somewhat like in the train station in Harry Potter. The portal also just looked like simple solid surface while it was open. If Human Fluttershy tried to lean on it, it's most likely she'd just fall into Equestria like Alice into the rabbithole.
    • It's in a pretty high traffic area. It's not that unlikely someone would lean on it during the time it's opened. It also would be difficult to use without anyone noticing it's there.
    • It's apparently framed like the entrance to Platform 9¾ in Harry Potter. In Harry Potter, the entrance to the platform is disguised as a brick wall/pillar. The entrance is in the middle of an extremely high traffic area. Muggles pass back and forth from the area and don't see or notice wizards going into a wall. Apart from magic, Muggles apparently don't attempt to look at that specific area as it's just too ordinary for something to be hidden.
      The portal in the movie seems to be like this. Despite being in front of the entire school, no one seems to pay much attention to the area where the portal is located. It is the back of the statue as opposed to the front of it which would naturally look more impressive than its back. This is kinda best demonstrated by Fluttershy. Fluttershy standing in front of the school, asking for help, goes completely unnoticed by everyone. Her voice being too meek may contribute to her being unnoticed, however it's a complete Failed a Spot Check to completely not notice her. To be fair though, the opportunities for the portal to be used unnoticed are kinda more considering the setting. The only times when the area would be most crowded with people would be when students are entering the school and leaving the school. Inbetween, there's a huge gap for opportunity.
    • This all sounds like an awesome episode premise though.
  • You suggest placing guards around a statue because it houses a portal to a land of magical ponies when your own world does not have any magic? No one is going to pay for those guards. If anyone fell through, they would not believe it, and if they returned, no one would believe them enough to try it themselves. Supposing that someone does, this statue is in a high school courtyard. Placing guards there is like inviting students to investigate what is so important, or to prank the guards, and otherwise increase attention on the portal.

Are Human!Luna and Celestia thousands of years old?

• In order for every human and pony to have a double, I'd expect they'd have to be born at the same time. Are Human!Luna and Celestia thousands of years old?
  • Spike is somewhat of a similar problem. If he has children in a few centuries, will that require his double live that long, or will they have different parents, or what?
    • Based on the movie and the comic, the simplest answer would be that there is a massive Narnia Time thing going on. The worlds are parallel. Their time is not.
    • If human Celestia and Luna are still alive, then the Equestria Girls should still be really young. If the rate is changing, that would require a corresponding change in the birthrate.
  • To be fair, we saw tons of humans that don't have a pony double, and the male-female ratio in Canterlot high seems to be more even that in Equestria, furthermore, the fact that the Equestria Girls live in the same place than the Principals, while they live in different places in Equestria, proves is not completely parallel.

Why aren't the portals more actively used?

• Why aren't the portals more actively used? Even if we assume that the whole balance thing is from moving anything between worlds, as opposed to just people, trading intellectual property could still be very valuable.
  • Because the portal is only open at a set amount of time thus preventing a stable trade route. There's apparently no balance thingy that prevents the number of people and things from crossing between worlds. There is however the danger of what happens when something native of one world is introduced to the other as demonstrated by Sunset's demon form. The simplest answer however would be that little to no one knew about the portals. Pony Celestia and the other top princesses knew that the portal existed but not what lies beyond it. Luna knew about the moon time-limit but that could be because she knew that was the limit from the Equestrian side of the portal and must have guessed that was the same limit on the other side.
    • Only being opened once every 30 moons is inconvenient, but not really a big problem. That just means that you can only trade once every thirty moons. You can avoid anything strange happening by only sending information over. The only reason only a few people knew about it was that they kept it a secret instead of exploiting it. Why?
    • Because the Princesses don't know what's on the other side. It could be a peaceful Human world or a Death world filled with monsters from their point of view prior to the movie. With such an unknown, they don't know if it even was exploitable or if it's exploitation would lead to dangers in their own world. It's just too big of an unknown to risk. Also sending information between worlds kinda depends heavily on there being somebody on the other side who knows about the portal. With the exception of Sunset, there really didn't seem to be anyone in the Human world who knows that there is a portal in the first place.
    • Well there is now... how about the entire school?
    • Will the portals be used more actively now that the entire school knows about it, don't know. The answer will probably require a sequel or something set 30 moons in the future when the portal is open again.

Body type swapping?

• I've noticed that Granny Smith and Cup Cake both have the opposite body types; whereas Granny Smith in Equestria was a skinny frail pony and Cup Cake was pretty chubby, in the human world it's reversed, with Granny being plump and Cup Cake being average...huh?
  • Granny has to be beefed up to fit the stereotypical lunch lady theme.

Flash Sentry in Canterlot?

• A thought that just occurred to me is to wonder why Flash Sentry was in Canterlot High when his counterpart serves under Princess Cadence in the Crystal Empire. Wouldn't he be at some sort of Crystal Empire High or something?
  • Both Celestia and Luna live in Canterlot and yet most of the ponies there are from Ponyville. Trixie also attends despite apparently being a nomad. It's weird.
  • Twilight's counterpart also doesn't attend Canterlot High, but she eventually does. The world of Eqeustria Girls may take place in a parallel universe that's set in the past (remember, pony!Twilight didn't always live in Canterlot as well), so Flash might move to Crystal Prep Academy eventually and become a hall monitor or something.

How did Canterlot High pass safety inspections?

• Spike is shown pushing the doors open early in the movie... there is something massively wrong with this: The doors open into the high school. Canterlot High should have been shut down so they could fix this.
  • First off, this is called Acceptable Breaks from Reality, the door is able to open into the school in order to allow Spike to push the door open without any hands for Twilight to enter. Second, the door opens both ways. Immediately after Sunset gets the crown and starts transforming, a student pushes the door out of the school to check what's all of the commotion. Another shot shows two of the six doors to the school opening out of the school. If there was an emergency like fire or something, the students would be able escape safely.
  • Edit: On Acceptable Breaks from Reality reason, kinda misremembered the part as having Spike pushed the door open with his head. In reality, he pushed the door with his paws. Still counts as Acceptable Breaks from Reality though. The realistic more safety inspection passing alternative for this scene would have been to have Spike pulling door's handles out of the school. However that wouldn't be possible as he can't reach the handles due to his size as demonstrated in the climax.
    • The scene still could have worked as a Door Dumb gag - or maybe Twilight assuming the world does have magic because of the handicap button that automatically opens the door. I'm surprised at how downplayed the presence of electricity and modern conveniences have been in the movie.
    • The movie kinda already had a sort of Door Dumb gag already with Twilight trying to open the door with her non-existant horn. Having a gag wherein Twilight and Spike struggled against a door they're supposed to open by pulling would be probably be unnecessary padding especially after the whole horn thing. More so after the other jokes that came after it wherein they established that Twilight was a human and needed to walk upright.
      For the presence of technology within the film, it seems adequate enough. The setting of the movie is kinda supposed to be a normal school setting in the middle of what looks like a normal suburban town in a normal human world. You kinda don't need a place to be tech heavy or filled with tech savvy people to depict a normal human world. If you want to depict a Jetsons-like world, you would need all the tech. But for a normal setting, not so much.

Are other animals intelligent in the human world, like they are in Ponyville?

• The pets in the show are quite intelligent for their species - So this is more of a curious thing that isn't really elaborated on apart from a few gags. So does Human Fluttershy have Angel (I assume that's Angel) who basically is as intelligent as the Angel that her Pony counterpart owns? That would explain why she could smuggle animals to school and not get in trouble.
  • Well she did have Angel and a bird help comb her hair when she was preparing for the Fall Formal. So obviously they are intelligent. Would that explain why she could smuggle animals, I guess so. I mean two of the animals were a bird and a cat. So yeah.

Why is Applejack wearing a skirt?

• The Farm Girl. Wearing a skirt. To their credit, Rainbow Dash the Jock has shorts under her dress like real life teenagers, but why is Applejack wearing a skirt?
  • Considering the original pony Applejack wore a dress for the Grand Galloping Gala, I'm guessing the Human Applejack is also the type of girl that is typically country but still feminine enough that wearing a skirt doesn't bother her.
  • Why shouldn't she wear a skirt? Because it's a phallocentric symbol of oppression against the sisterhood of women by the manocentric male-ocracy?
    • Probably more because female farm workers in real life (Of which there are many) tend to not wear dresses. Applejack may wear something like a dress for a formal like the Homecoming dance, but walking around the school in a dress may seem a little out of character.
    • It would be a reasonable complain if Applejack had been working at the farm, which would make the skirt very impractical... But she's in her daily routine as a high school student attending school. There a million reasons she could be wearing a skirt instead of pants: She's more comfortable in them, all her pants are "work pants" and only has skirts for going out or any other reason. Furthermore, she's not the Applejack we know, but a parallel version of her, so it's hard to say she's out of character if we only know she shares a basic personality with Applejack the pony.
    • You know it's weird. People flak this movie for having High School stereotypes. However when a Tomboy wears a skirt, they flak at the movie as well because it doesn't play Applejack's stereotype painfully straight. Unpleasable Fanbase much? I mean it's not that girly since it has a work pants design. It's only super girly in the sense that it's a skirt. I mean compare Helga from Hey Arnold!, Buttercup from The Powerpuff Girls, and Spinelli from Recess. All three are considered Tomboys and they all wear skirts that are more skirt-like than what Applejack wears.
    • My guess is that AJ and RD wear skirts so that the character outfits will be roughly the same and none of them stand out too much from the others. I actually kinda like the idea of AJ wearing a skirt- it shows that maybe she has a little bit of femininity. I also like the theory that she wears other clothes (such as jeans) when working on the farm/orchard. As for Rainbow, I'm not sure what to think of her getup. It's...interesting, really.
  • I don't have much of a problem with it. Applejack's main deal is that she doesn't like anything "too frou-frou", but she doesn't mind putting on a dress or indulging in some feminine past times. The skirt she's wearing is only a denim one and not particularly frilly or girly. Rainbow seems to have a bit of a punk side to her, judging by her outfit for the dance. Seems perfectly in character for her to wear a skirt and shorts just to say "well why the hell not?"

Dogs from the Human World

• If someone sent a dog from the human world through the portal, would the dog become a dragon on the other side or stay a dog? Also, would Winona turn into anything if she went through the portal?
  • Wait until the mirror works, then put a dog through.
  • Fluttershy's animal friends don't look any different, so...

Hats in School

• At my high school, hats of any sort were not allowed except on Halloween because most common hat types and color combinations have been claimed by a gang in the area, so all hats are seen as gang symbols on campus. Is this a normal thing? (I'm guessing not, because it's always sounded like Insane Troll Logic to me, even if we WERE in the small overlap area between like 15 gangs.) I'm wondering this because Applejack wears her hat everywhere she goes.
  • Considering it's not necessarily Earth, or any American high school, things like dress code can be assumed to be different.
  • Actually, hats are sometimes allowed in school, provided the students don't violate the teachers' trust in them to ban hats from school. Even if they are allowed, you'll have to remove it during tests or turn it backwards. If it's obstructive (eg, if it's large.) then you can be asked to remove it. Applejack's cowboy hat, however, is pretty much never allowed in school because if she's put in the front of a class, the person behind her could be unable to see the board.
    • We haven't even seen the girls in class, so they probably take them off...although I can't remember if any did in the class scenes, but this isn't the 100% accurate human world (mostly due to things like skin color and such). It'd have to be a live-action movie instead, and we don't want THAT, now do we?
    • If it got those copypasta monstrosities with anorexia nervosa off the screen, I actually would like a live-action movie instead.
• I don't live in the U.S., but as I know that rule applies only for class, I guess you're allowed to wear it in the recess.

Skin vs Coat Colours

• Why were all the coat colours made pastels as skin tones? The only ones I can really understand are Luna (ironically enough, since she's the one most people are understandably upset about) and Big Mac, because they were likely trying to avoid two other racism tropes: Blackface for Luna and the Native American equivalent for Big Mac (since making someone's skin very dark like Luna's and very red like Big Mac's is as much Unfortunate Implications as making them paler). However, why did this apply to everyone else who had either blue, green, or purple coats?
  • This isn't the TRUE human world (otherwise, it'd have to be live-action).
  • My best guess? To avoid accusations of racism by making the Mane Six any nationality at all, people are strangely sensitive about that sort of thing. Making all of them Caucasian? Racist against non-whites. Making even one of them black or hispanic? Stereotyping. They probably have nationalities when they look at each other, but for us, the audience, using their pony colors eliminates the headaches of discussing their races.
    • It's only stereotyping if it's stereotypical. If Twilight turned out to be Asian that would likely be seen as stereotyping. While it can on occasion be difficult to tell Asians and Hispanics apart, Hispanic or black Twilight Sparkle wouldn't be seen as stereotyping. People might still fuss but not because she was stereotypical of anything. She's however the only one with a dark coat. Personally I'd always assumed that the Mane 6 are all whatever the Equestrian equivalent of Caucasian is. Zecora is clearly the closest to African the show has. Though Word of God stated before that coat color has nothing to do with anything in Equestria and given the wide range of coat and mane colors present within a single family I see no reason to doubt that is true.
  • Luna is dark blue not black, she wouldn't have looked like she was in black face. Chrysalis would be in black face and Big Mac is super country if he'd shown up red I don't think Native Americans would have been offended because I think people would have assumed he had a sunburn.
  • It's probably just done to keep things simple. They would have to redesign how they look, coordinate the coloring while keeping the the cast recognizable, choose who is what race, what races would be (or not be) represented... which isn't impossible, of course, but it's more work. Work that some people might get upset about (why did you make that girl X race and not Y race? Why isn't Z represented? etc). Keeping them roughly the same colors as their pony counterparts just makes it simpler and keeps people from getting upset.

Who's running Sweet Apple Acres?

• Applejack, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom are at school, and Granny Smith appears to work there. All well and good, but who's running the farm?
  • Granny might only work at the school part time and keep an eye on things on her days off. But it's not unbelievable that they could have other people hired to work on it. It's not an issue in Equestria because both Applejack and Big Mac are around - but here they're still at school.

What would happen if TIREK crossed over a portal to the human world (that fits his size depending on his current form, of course)?

• We already know what happens when Ponys and Dragons go to the human world, but what about Tirek? Since his counterpart on the human world is just a videogame character, would he become a copy of a game? Or, worse, remaims unchanged and tries to destroy everything?
  • We don't know all the specifics of the mirror. For all we know Spike became a dog because he wanted to be one.
  • What most people don't seem to point out is the fact that the Sirens became human. So it's not just ponies that become human but the mirror is likely supposed to "reflect" some sort of Umwelt/mental state of the user. Spike ended up a dog because he viewed himself as a loyal pet to Twilight. Tirek would probably end up a human.