847201 Nope. Go to the transcripts on the FIM wiki and search for "immortal"

They ACT like gods, like immortals, but it's never explicitly stated. Granny Smith grows old and dies, but Celestia and Luna were around before Ponyville was founded. 1000 years at least.

I find tvtropes.org is quite helpful in this discussion. It poses that the common writing techniques and motifs we see are actually tropes, and flawed/repetitive application of those tropes that breaks suspension of disbelief turns them into cliches. This is why you may look at an early Twilicorn story, raise it on a pedestal, see a huge number of the same thing and say it is all utter drivel, and finally come upon a new one that you can say is a masterpiece. It is all subjective, but application of the trope in question is the key to determining whether or not it is a cliche. A well written story will use quite a few of the tropes mentioned already in this thread, but few would complain about them being cliches. In the same way, a mediocre story can be called out immediately for using the same tropes and blasted for being cliche.

So in my opinion, it is less useful to list things we see as cliche and more useful to list the tropes that have formed in the fandom. That way proper application or twisted application can keep everything new, fun, and non-cliche.

Then again, this is all clouded by subjectivity. I'm a big fan of applying Sturgeon's Law in regards to fanfiction in the following manner: 90% of everything is crud, but the remaining 10% is worth dying for.

That said, here are some of the tropes I find fall into cliche more often than not:

1. Majority of human in Equestria fics.
2. Character X reveals their love for Character Y and the love is reciprocated (common in all types of fanfiction). I especially get tired of Trixie comes back to declare her love for Twilight.
3. Twilicorn. It's hard to do this one without everyone collectively groaning.
4. Nightmare/generic spirit convinces Twilicorn she should rule instead of Celestia.

WARNING: TVTropes links ahead. Prepare to lose the rest of your day.

TV Tropes definition of "Trope"
TV Tropes definition of "Cliche"
Sturgeon's Law

848065
848175 I raise. depressed teenage brony inexplicably appears in Equestria and becomes immediate friends and decides to live there.

also reading this thread i might go back and edit some of my stories that have time turner/doctor whooves in them. its an easy fix and im glad i didnt make him that needed in the story. hes just there as an extra to bridge any gaps and thats just how it came out.

858910 Then proceeds to fuck anything with a pulse.

862396 touche