Equestria Girls - Age Magic · 7:19pm Nov 6th, 2016
So yesterday, Discovery family played back to back to back to etc etc - all the EQG movies. So, I had a lot of humanponies to watch, which was fun...but it brought back that inevitable conundrum-
Just how old are the Mane 6?
Yes, I get it - the creators of the show took some liberties with some of the character's positions in the human world, to facilitate a good story. Cherilee being a teacher while the rest of them, who we thought were around a similar age, are still students. Or the curiosity surrounding Sunset Shimmer, who apparently left for the human world...before Twilight began her studies with Celestia, and yet is...the same age, apparently, as all the rest of the six.
I'm a child of the eighties, and I think that makes me more able to get over such inconsistencies as just 'the way things are' - you must understand, growing up I was watching things like the Transformers, where there were constantly hordes of nameless Decepticons in the background that all looked like Starscream, or the original Care Bears, where the VAs for the main characters were swapped around constantly because somebody got sick or simply couldn't be available to record a given episode. That plus absolute hordes of errors in coloring, animation, and...pretty much every aspect of those shows, and you just get used to it after awhile - thus it is easier to dismiss.
So I'll just focus on one aspect here - is Canterlot High just a highschool? Or is it a high school and a middle school? The Canadian school structure is slightly different from the American one - from what I've read, Canada keeps grade six in elementary school and grade 9 in middle school. I'm not sure which system we're using in Equestria Girls, but consider that in the first movie, the characters recall the 'Freshman Fair' as something that happened in the past. So they're probably not freshmen. Further, Big MacIntosh is still in school with them, and since he hasn't yet graduated, we must assume the mane 6, who are younger than he, are not seniors either (unless he got held back a year, but that seems like an unlikely thing to include in a show like this). Furthermore, Flash Sentry pulls up to the Fall Formal in something that kinda looks like a Camaro - clearly he is able to drive. In America, that suggests he is at least sixteen, but it doesn't really help - the lot of them could still be sophomores or juniors, considering most of them probably already had their birthdays by autumn of the year.
But then, we have the CMC. And Diamond Tiara. And Silver Spoon. And Snips. And Snails. The oldest the mane 6 could reasonably be in EQG, so near as I can figure, is 17. If Canterlot High does not include a junior high division, then the youngest the foal characters could be here, in the American system anyway, is 14.
...ooooor maybe the foal characters were just included for the aforementioned reasons. Because we would recognize them and it would just make for a good story to have them appear. Otherwise I'm like wait...what?
And just how old are the ponies? I've always assumed the mane 6 were somewhere in their mid-20s, and that's the average age I work from in my stories - they seem to have too much independence/responsibility to be teenagers, but they don't seem settled and far enough along in their lives to be in their thirties. Thus, I simply assume that their human counterparts are simply younger than they are, and when they go through the portal, they appear at the ages of their counterparts.
Clearly I'm thinking too hard, but to keep my brain in check, I'm just going to assume that Canterlot High includes a junior high division, and the Hu-Mane Six are hovering around sixteen or so.
Well, whatever. Tonight I shall round my own foals up, and the lot of us will have a nice screening of Legend of Everfree after dinner, where I will curl up with a hot cup of chai and enjoy the movie that inspired, in part, Everfreely.
Friendship is Magic! 
You seem to be thinking along the same vein as I do concerning the CMC. I put them at about 14-16, with the rest of the HuMane 6 around 18. I dunno why, it just feels right to me. The other thing I always advocated was Big Mac being a few years older than Applejack. At least to me, in Where the Apple Lies, it certainly appears that Mac is older. In human terms, I put him at about 25.
Oh, Mac is clearly older than Applejack. I think that's well established. We just don't know how much older. Personally I believe the pony Mane 6 are somewhere in their mid 20s, Mac is close to 30, and the CMC are like...12 or so. Since they appear to be in a primary school setting in Ponyville. I'm putting the human CMC at about 14 just because of the fact that they are in the same school as the Mane 6, and at least in an American school setting, that's about as young as they can be and still be in high school. But it still doesn't seem quite right, so I'm led to believe that Canterlot High includes a junior high division.
As they are depicted in the EQG movies, I'm seeing them like this-
CMC: Average 14 (as young as they can be and still be in high school)
Mane 6: Average 16-17 (middling high school years)
Big Mac: 18 (as old has he can be and still be in high school)
Then again, now that I think about it....hmm. Do we ever see Big MacIntosh actually attend Canterlot High? I don't recall that - all I remember seeing him doing was wheeling cases of fizzy apple cider into the gym in movie 1, and commenting on the Rainboom's horrible songspell in movie 2, which was off-site.
Huh. Maybe he's not high school aged, then. And if so...the Mane 6 could be 17. I still hesitate to think they would be 18 since that would make them seniors, and they just...don't act as though they're expecting to imminently graduate. I may also be unfairly influenced in this assumption by too much high school anime, which typically depicts high school characters in their second year, so they're not just arriving or just preparing to leave school - makes them more relatable to the target audience, I think.
My, how this turns into such a discussion topic!
My usual guess is if you're talking about the pony versions of the main six I would put them into their early twenties Maybe mid-twenties when it comes to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. I'll clearly by the fact that Big Macintosh is at least 30 years of age.
When it comes to the Cutie Mark Crusaders however that's a hard thing for me to point because having Apple Bloom be at least 10 years old means that Applejack had to have been at least 11 maybe 12 when AB was born which was right around the time her parents died, and since we don't see them in the flashback episode about Little White Lies, the continuity headaches that come from that is just extraordinary.
Doctor wolf video basing on the edge of the main six generally where I get most of this commentary from.
All that goes out the window however when we deal with the human Mane 6 and the human CMC. Primarily because if they're in high school they have to be within the ages of 16 - 18 and 14 - 16 respectively. And considering that the show staff has gone so far as to give the human seven now curvy figures and developed breasts, while the human CMC don't have those features if we go by biology this seems to support that idea
4288016
Yeah...after watching Little White Lies, the first thing I wanted to know is where Applebloom was during that flashback. If she was alive, she would have been an infant, and thus...where is she (you'd think they'd have to at least have tended to her once), and if she was not alive, well, she is their biological sister - where are the parents? They can't be dead yet!
Unless they were...I dunno on some sort of extended trip at the time, had the baby, brought her home, and then died sometime after that. It's a stretch, but I guess it would work as an excuse.
4288072 well in one of the Applejack episodes we do see two stars Street into the sky which has been confirmed by the writer to be a tribute to her dead parents as well as in Crusaders of the Lost Mark Applejack does say if her mom and dad were there they be very proud of Apple Bloom
4288073
Right, we know they're dead. Just when exactly did they die is the question, heh.
4288299 well we can only assume it happened after Apple Bloom was born
4288302
Right, just...where were they during that flashback is all
4288788
4288869
Ah! There!
I watched Rainbow Rocks last night and there's a quick image of Big Mac having his picture taken at the statue in front of the school...with a backpack over his shoulder!
He's totally a student!