Continuity is a mess

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It's best not to think about this panel for to long.

Friendship is Magic and by extension, Equestria Girls are two series often praised for their grand scale continuity, lore, internal history. And while the various writers have created some genuinely interesting mythology over the years...the series is a freaking mess when you actually take a deeper look at it. This page will attempt to chronicle the sheer amount of continuity misshaps and just plain confusing aspects of the show.

May Celestia help us all.

Before we start, we want to make one thing very clear. This article is not to diminish the work done by any creator. It's merely done for fun to poke out some plot holes. In addition, much of the inconsistencies discovered only happened due to how huge the show is, with many great writers simply forgetting small details we nerds obsess over. Don't worry, we all love you guys!

Friendship is Magic continuity

Friendship is Magic - "Shadow Play"

Hoo boy, this one did a lot.

  • According to The Journal of the Two Sisters, Equestria's Tree of Harmony predates Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's reign and the construction of the Castle of Two Sisters. However, this two-parter indicates that the seed for the Tree of Harmony was not even planted until Celestia and Luna had reigned for some time. The Castle of Two Sisters is also seen being attacked by Stygian/the Pony of Shadows, with his threat being the reason for the seed's planting in the first place.
  • Speaking of the Pony of Shadows, "Castle Mane-ia" indicated that the Pony of Shadows was a being born from remnants of Nightmare Moon's dark magic. A shadowy, hooded figure is also depicted at the conclusion of the episode as an apparent revelation of the phantom being a reality. The two-parter, meanwhile, instead depicts the Pony of Shadows as an actual pony fused with the Darkness, an evil force predating Nightmare Moon who was also banished from Equestria before her advent. Admittedly this one is a bit less of a continuity breaker, as the first story's information on the Pony of Shadows was actually a scary story told by Applejack and thus of dubious veracity. Moreover, seemingly or actually ominous hooded figures are something of a commonality in Equestria.

Equestria Girls continuity

Equestria Girls: Canterlot High Stories: Twilight Sparkle's Science Fair Sparks

Character histories

Sunset Shimmer

Let's get probably the worst offender out of them all.

  • In "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer", we see Sunset as presumably either an adult or young adult, as she appears to be a fully mature pony of roughly the same size of Twilight Sparkle circa Seasons 1-2. However, in the same issue, we see Twilight Sparkle...as a filly. This would mean at minimal, Sunset would have to be around 10 years older than Twilight. However when she enters the Human world at the end of the story, she de-ages to that of a teenager. Even if we assume Sunset is a teenager during this time, it would mean she's been a teenager in the human world for again, at least 10 years.
  • According to My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Sunset spent at least three years at the high school, making the special take place in her fourth. While this doesn't cause much issues, "The Finals Countdown" and subsequent Equestria Girls media would take place in their fifth year...or 25th year in Sunny's case.
  • Not technically a continuity error, but still an oddity. In "Happy Holidays", we see that Sunset Shimmer is essentially homeless and lives at Canterlot High School, sleeping in the library. However, in Equestria Girls: Forgotten Friendship and "Monday Blues", we see that Sunset lives in a small house alone, with a flat screen TV, gaming console, and several electronics. While it's possible she simply bought a new house at some point, given her (presumably) low-paying job at Sunset Sushi and lack of any family members, it's unclear how she got the money. Additionally, it can be pondered that Equestria perhaps has some sort of protection for homeless individuals, similarly to how its pony equilvalent appears to have some protection for them as well.
  • In Equestria Girls: Forgotten Friendship, we see a photograph of Sunset in her Freshman year. Ignoring the fact that Sunset hasn't grown at all in 3–4 years, Snips and Snails are by her side, despite presumably only being Freshman's themselves during the current year.

Lyra Heartstrings

  • Friendship is Magic #11 revealed that Lyra attended college in 1987, meaning she may have been born in the 1960s. Assuming Friendship is Magic takes place in an equivalency of the current years, starting from 2010, this would make Lyra in her 40s at least. In addition, the comic revealed that Lyra went to college at the same time as Shining Armor and thus would be around 10–15 years older than Twilight, who didn't even have her cutiemark at this point. However, "Pinkie Pride" shows Lyra as being roughly the same age as Pinkie Pie and thus couldn't be much older than Twilight.
  • "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer" revealed that Lyra went to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns around the same time as Sunset Shimmer, which again, puts her at being around 10 years older than Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle

  • Friendship is Magic #11 indirectly revealed that Twilight was born in the late 1970s to early 1980s, which would make her in her 30s to 40s by the time Friendship is Magic happened, once again assuming it takes place in a year equivalency, despite My Little Pony: 20/20 revealing Twilight would be in her early to mid 20s.

The Dazzlings

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