They look awfully similar, don't you think?

http://fluttershy626.deviantart.com/art/Sunset-and-Sunburst-578516451

4977252 They do indeed. . .

I heard a theory that he's Sunset's father. The age of Starlight Glimmer (and therefore Sunburst) is pretty flexible, but I've heard the case that she is in her early to mid 40s, which would make the ages line up.

4977252 It's possible, I had the same thought myself.

4978974 That's a different take, definitely. So where would that theory put Sunburst now? I've also heard that Sunset and Starlight are possibly sisters due to naming similarities Shimmer- Glimmer.

4980204 Good question. Based on Amending Fences, my feeling is that most of the graduates of CSFGU end up becoming magical researchers/professors, or get plum government jobs (I suspect at this point Celestia's school functions a bit like France's Grandes écoles). Either way he should still be somewhere in Canterlot. Heck, Twilight probably would have recognized him from the description if not for the fact that she didn't pay attention to anyone around her growing up.

I don't think Starlight is unable to find Sunburst, I think she's unwilling to face him, for many reasons. Anger, guilt at what she's become, I'm sure you can imagine many more. Perhaps she tried to reconnect with him 20 years ago, they had a torrent fling, and now Starlight Glimmer feels too guilty to face Sunburst and admit that she had a child from their brief affair and dumped that little bacon-haired foal at a Canterlot orphanage?

4980558 Interesting take on that, Guess we get to wait and see on that. I hope they make use of Sunburst in Season 6. Starlight's quick redemption in the Season 5 closer still leaves a bad taste for me. I think her redemption should have been the Season 6 opener with the CMC's scoring the win on that.

4981242 That would have been a much better outcome, the CMC playing a part as well. I would also like to see Starlight and Sunburst reconnect. Mostly I just want her gone by the end of the season opener.

4978974 True. He does seem like the kind of pony that would inspire her to be a skilled magic user.

But I'm actually thinking that he's the older brother of Sunset Shimmer.

For Starlight's age, I doubt she's anywhere as old as that you theory you mentioned describes. Yes, she sounds 30-40, but that's just the voice actress making her sound like that, and not an actual representation of her age. Anyone remember how David Kaufman made Danny Fenton/Phantom sound like a thirty-year-old when he's supposed to be 14? Besides, if Starlight were middle-aged, I think it would be a lot more obvious.

4982044 I'm not sure how it would be more obvious, other than her having a middle aged voice. Adult ponies all look about the same age until they get pretty old and start getting wrinkled.

After Sunburst left, Starlight slowly learned a huge amount of magical knowledge despite not apparently attending the top magic school, which must have slowed her down considerably. She developed a unique spell to take cutie marks. Then she founds a town out in the middle of no where, and grows the town person by person by apparently just inducting/brainwashing anyone who stops by. That had to take her several decades.

4982209 I'd think she'd at least be TALLER and have a more defined physique if she was that old. And the voice doesn't mean anything. For example, Lena Hall's voice for Rara as a filly wasn't even remotely child-like, so Starlight sounding older is likely from either a miscast, a coincidence, or poor voice direction. Even if it was intentional, a lot of people can sound older than they really are. Don LaFontaine, for example, went through puberty when he was still a kid, and sounded like he did in his movie trailer VOs before he was even in High School.

Furthermore, Twilight is a young adult, and she had no problem knowing as much magic as she did. Maybe Starlight just has a lot of raw power.

4982350 Why would she be taller? Once they are adults ponies don't really get any taller as they age. You have a point about the VA, it's not conclusive proof, though I'm not sure what you mean about it being intentional.

Twilight on a daily basis spends most of her time studying magic since she was around 11. She has done this first while attending the nations most elite magic school, and also with Princess Celestia as her tutor. Then she moved into a library where she has a personal assistant to do most of her work for her, so unless she is hanging out with her friends or saving the world, she is pretty much studying magic. She's in her mid 20s now, and she still has some gaps in her knowledge, like curses and combat magic in general. (That may be too harsh on Twilight. She may know combat spells, she just doesn't really spar or train for fights so she's not good with them the way she is with mustache spells or anti-gravity spells).

I think its the general consensus (though I admit there is no concrete evidence of this) that Starlight Glimmer is largely self-taught in magic. To get to the level of stealing cutie marks and rewriting time travel spells so they can be powered by the artifacts of harmony, just be reading books in public libraries, would probably take longer than a decade. Then there is the fact that in the last couple of years, maybe decade or so, Starlight has been running a town/cult that looks to her for everything, while living in the back of beyond. I feel like there was not a lot of time or study material available in Our Town.

4977252
4978974

You're both half right.

Okay so I really don't think they're that old. Also, you can/can't make assumptions based off of age because of height. Take Granny Smith for example. Shes bent over when she walks, has wrinkles, fake teeth, talks like an old person, so we know she's old. But if you look at Celestia, who's been around for many moons, she has no wrinkles, she's really tall, and she's beautiful. Now I know, theres the whole but shes an alicorn!

Well, that is true. But then we can also look at Luna, who, even though is her little sister, is smaller than Celestia is. Still, shes been around for a long time, and there are no wrinkles or old aged beauty marks on Luna's skin that we can see. Same with Cadance (I mean, except for in season 6 episode 1 because she hasn't had any sleep because of the baby). But again, someone is probably screaming but they're alicorns they have eternal beauty

Okay, so then, lets take Spoiled Rich. She's basically Kris Jenner in pony form. You can see she has a wrinkle under each eye, giving away the fact that she is an adult pony. Yet she can cover it up a little bit with her clothes and her hair. She only shows up in one episode, so its hard to compare her height to any other characters in the show. But I assume she's not much taller then Cheerilee. You can also look at her husband, Filthy Rich. You can obviously tell he's old. And if he isn't that kind of makes spoiled rich a cougar. XD But take him and put him next to Big Mac. Theres no way Filthy is younger than Big Mac. Big Mac's voice is deeper and hes taller and buffer. And FIlthy over here is obviously much smaller in comparison and would be a tenor where as Big Mac would be a base (If they were in choir which ironically BM is)

So I will agree with the above comment ^ You're both half right. It really does depend on the character and the voice actor the character is portraying.

And I really thought the whole maybe Starlight had Sunbursts baby could have been true for a moment! But then after watching the season 6 finale they do confirm that the last time they saw each other was when they were kids. I do believe that Sunset and Sunburst could be siblings.

My theory is that after Sunburst left for the academy, his parents moved to Canterlot and had another baby. And I guess Sunburst became independent and just was too caught up in his studies and then his parents i guess die (somehow?) putting Sunset into an orphanage, therefore never knowing her brother and also becoming too busy studying when Celestia takes her as her pupil.

Okay, so this part is going to be from the comics so if you haven't read it then spoiler because the comics are cannonBUT its proven that Sunset is older than Twilight because when she goes through the mirror she is pretty young (probably older than apple bloom) and we know this because when she and celestia walk through the doors into the palace they pass Twilight when she is little playing with Cadance when she used to babysit Twilight all the time (before they had both become alicorns and dont forget that the comics are also cannon) So, if Sunset is older than Twilight, and Sunset is possibly related to Sunburst, then Sunburst could most definitley be in his 30's. because in equestria girls, the main 6 are all in their senior year of high school, making them 18. And yes, But sunset is also a senior at the high school well yes, but no one knows her true age because she came from Equestria. Just like when Twilight went to the human world, the REAL twilight from that world went to crystal high prep. So the real sunset in that world is probably an adult with an actual job, or possibly graduating college.

And since equestria girls is also cannon, Twilight in the human world and equestria would be eighteen years old. Not in her mid twenties.

5135290 Well, that was...something.

5165800 Well, to be fair everyone's ages in Canterlot High is a little off. I mean, as far as I can see the CMC and Diamond along with Silver seem to be a bit older in that world. Also, maybe the mirror ages you down a bit when you go through it? (Or everyone's just freaks and they age slower in the human world for some reason.)