Sunset Shimmer was all smiles when she arrived at Applejack's place for band practice.
"Howdy Sunset," Applejack waved from where she was tuning her bass. She tilted her head. "You're grinnin' like a hound dog that jes' found a whole turkey in th' trash."
"Did something good happen?" Rarity asked.
Sunset nodded happily.
"How can something that awesome have happened between you leaving school and you getting here?" Rainbow wondered. "It's only been like...twenty minutes!"
Sunset did an excited little hop as she sat down on a spinning stool. "I just got some amazing news from Twilight!"
That got the others' attention. They stopped what they were doing and crowded around her. "You got a message from Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.
"Did she find an amazing new dress?"
"Is she throwing a really big party and we're all invited?"
"Did she win a big game?"
Sunset rolled her eyes at her friends. She glanced at Applejack. Applejack scratched her head. "Whut?"
"Aren't you going to ask a ridiculous question that has nothing to do with why Twilight wrote to me?"
Applejack shrugged. "Ah'm jes' waitin' t' hear th' news."
"Oh," Sunset said sheepishly. She coughed into her fist. "Well...Twilight's going to be an aunt."
The others gasped sharply. "WHAT?!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Oh my," Fluttershy said, smiling. "That's amazing!" She tilted her head. "I didn't know she had a sister."
"Brother," Sunset clarified. "Her older brother Shining Armor is married to Princess Cadance." She tilted her head. "Funny, I only remember seeing Cadance around the castle a few times when I was there. I guess maybe I heard she had a reputation for being really nice?" She shook her head. "Anyway. Twilight just found out Cadance is pregnant."
"That's so awesome!" Rainbow declared.
"A new baby in the family," Rarity breathed dreamily. "That's quite wonderful!" She paused, tilting her head. "But to be an aunt at such a young age..." She frowned mildly. "I can't quite picture myself being a teenage aunt."
Sunset blinked. "Umm...Twilight's...not a teenager," she said.
"Uhh...yes she is," Rainbow countered. "I'm pretty sure she's our age."
"She sure looked like she was our age," Applejack added, nodding.
Sunset shook her head. "That's part of whatever the portal does to us," she said. "I don't know why ages are all screwed up in this world and neither does Twilight, but neither of us are the same age as you girls."
"Really?" Fluttershy asked. "So...umm...how old...?"
"Well, Twilight's twenty-three," Sunset said. "I know because I asked. I was curious, since I know the portal messed with me and for some reason I don't seem to be aging right on this side."
The others blinked. "She's...she's twenty-three?" Rainbow asked. "Like, old enough to vote, drink, all that good stuff?"
"Well, old enough to be one of the four alicorn princesses of Equestria at any rate," Sunset said.
"Huh," Applejack said. She raised an eyebrow. "So, uhh..." She trailed off pointedly. The girls all leaned in, peering intently at Sunset.
Sunset recoiled, blinking. "What?"
"Come on, darling," Rarity drawled. "Dish. How old are you really?"
Sunset's eye twitched. "Eh...heheheh..."
"Are you older than Twilight?" Rainbow asked.
"Well...yeah?"
"Are you older than Granny Smith?" Pinkie asked with a silly leer.
"What? No!"
"Are you a Christmas cake?" Fluttershy asked.
Everybody blinked at her.
"Am I a what?" Sunset asked, tilting her head.
Rainbow groaned. "Fluttershy, you're reading too many of those Neighponese comics again."
"But I like them!" Fluttershy whined.
Applejack rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Out with it now, Sunset," she said. "Jes' how old are you?"
Sunset gave Fluttershy one last dubious stare, then sighed. "I'm twenty-nine," she admitted. "Pushing thirty really soon."
The others gasped dramatically.
"No wonder your boobs are so huge!" Pinkie exclaimed. Sunset crossed her arms over her chest defensively and blushed.
"That explains why your voice and style are so...mature," Rarity added thoughtfully, shooting Pinkie a sidelong glance.
"B-but here, I'm seventeen!" Sunset protested. "Really!"
"Seventeen going on thirty," Rainbow stage-whispered, snickering.
Sunset facepalmed. "Can we get back to the whole Twilight-being-an-aunt thing, please?" she asked.
"Oh, we simply must have a baby shower!" Rarity exclaimed, going starry-eyed.
"Yeah! Maybe after the Friendship Games!" Pinkie added excitedly. "Ooh! You think this sister of hers would want to come here for it?"
"Proooobably not a good idea for a pregnant mare to go through the portal," Sunset said. "Maybe we could go over there to have it! Or at least send cards and gifts through the portal..."
The girls spent the rest of band practice talking excitedly about the prospect of a baby shower, with only the occasional return to the topic of Sunset's real age.
My cousin was an uncle when he was just one year old.
I became an uncle when I was 9.
And they call 17 years a young age to become aunt?
You're explanation for the portal is really good. I love how the conversation derailed to Sunset's real age all of a sudden.
Oh come on Fluttershy! I'd almost made it through the whole chapter without bursting into sudden raucous laughter! xD
Man, I'm loving how smoothly the dialogue flows in these chapters though. It always feels so good and natural to read.
6847324 I don't get this one, can you explain?
6847327
The christmas cake, or the laughter part?
6847334 The Christmas cake.
Whether you wish to explain the laughter is up to you.
6847327 It's a Japanese expression. "Christmas cake is no good after the 25th." Meaning once a woman is 26, she's "stale". IE, not worth marrying.
In this world. Sunset was clearly a full grown adult when she left, she just looks like a teen for, some reason.
Come again?
OH GOD MY SIDES!
6847314 most siblings are born about a year after the previous one was born, but exceptions to this rule exsit.
My brother was 13 going on 14 when I was born. It depends on when the parents had their kids.
6847314 Well, if they've never heard of those cases, then yes.
6847338 Where's the logic behind that reasoning? Did the Japanese used to have short life spans or something?
6847355 No, but Japanese women are, or were back in the day, expected to marry young, and a woman who wasn't yet married by age 25 was "a Christmas cake". In today's Japan, there's no longer a stigma attached to being "unsold after the 25th", but it still shows up in Japanese pop culture from time to time as a gag.
Wait, if she was just a few years short of turning thirty, than shouldn't she have graduated as Princess Celestia's student? Or does the School for Gifted Unicorns offer college courses?
6847324 Can you explain what "Christmas cake" refers to and what it has to do with age?
Man, Sunset's real age and the boobs comment made me laugh.
Interesting development here. So the next question if Twilight is 23 and Sunset is almost 30 is how long was Twilight Princess Celestia's student. I would not think that she would have just gone out right afterwards and taken a new student.
So, that's another possible motive for the Humane Seven to go to Equestria - To go to the big party being held at the Crystal Empire!
6847369 Moth explained a few comments below:
6847366 Sunset was Celestia's personal student, which works a bit differently. In any case, Sunset was a teenager when she left Equestria, Twilight was still a young filly, and Sunset's been gone at least five years, possibly longer, by the events of the first EG movie. Given how the EG world seems to run at a skewed pace, and assuming Twilight is 19-20 at the start of FiM and 22-23 by the end of season 4 (and that's a conservative estimate), Sunset being anywhere from 29-34 is reasonable.
As to the Christmas Cake thing, backtrack a few comments before yours, I've already explained it.
6847352 Well put.
I'm the oldest of four, with my next-younger sister Terry being a year-and-a-half (from February to August and from 1957 to 1958 younger).
We also have two younger sibings; our younger sister Penny, who's 8 years younger than me, and our younger (and only) brother, Bobby, who's 19 years younger than me.
6847352 Yeah, my brother is five years older than me, but seeing as how I doubt he'll have kids for a while, and I'm working my way into the acting community, I doubt we'll be uncle/aunt for a while.
I'm guessing that's in pony years.
Oh, life's little pleasures.
And indeed, why did Twi and Sunset appear so young? Magic, ain't gonna explain sht
6847490 There's no difference between pony years and human years...
6847529 Not unless time flows differently in the pony world. Just throwing out the creative ideas.
YES Finally, someone else goes and calls out the age thing. I've always been of the mindset that the Mane 6 are atleast in their 20s in the show, why because that makes the most sense. They aren't in school, most of them have full time jobs or run their own buisnesses and are mature for the most part.
Equestria Girls actually could be seen as a sort of parallel since the girls there at times don't seem as mature as their Equestrian Counterparts. I mean while they are similar, you can see some differences in behavior, that shows a lack of maturity.
Also Sunset being like 30 certainly would make sense given she is obviously older than Twilight given what we know. Though you have to wonder how Sunset feels about the age shift. Must be nice since that means she deaged by over a decade which must be nice.
Though I gotta ask that Christmas Cake thing, what was that from, cause It's got me curious.
Is Twilight ever going to tell Sunset about the results of her prank on Princess Celestia? Or are you going to write about the prank?
My cousin is currently thirteen, and her niece (one of them, anyway), just turned eleven a few weeks ago.
Yeah. So a 17 year old aunt would be NOTHING in my family.
6847338 Feh, all men are pigs, huh?
In all seriousness, though, that is kiiiiinda bad!
6847539 I meant in terms of age; I thought you were going with "pony years are dog years" or something.
6847568 The Christmas Cake thing has been explained already, please check earlier comments.
6847619 Nope!
6847643 It's an archaic attitude that started to go away after the turn of the century, but was especially prevalent up through the late 80s. Keep in mind that Japan is an extremely sexist country that's just in the last two decades starting to really shed that sexism.
Seriously, Pinkie? Check out Japanese Rainbow Dash!
derpicdn.net/img/2013/8/29/413985/thumb.jpg
6847679 Huh, didn't know that. Then again, it might help explain a good deal of anime and manga...
Biological versus chronological age. Important distinction there.
Sunset coming to Equestria to congratulate Cadence seems like it could be quite interesting.
"Hi. You may remember me from that time I stole your sister-in-law's crown-slash-legendary artifact. She and I are friends now."
"O... kay."
"Also, she has something of a coltfriend on the other side of the portal."
"Does she, now?"
Christmas Cake? I thought she was going for Bacon Hair.
6847679
Nope to which part?
Twenty nine? I believe it. Though my guess was twenty five or twenty six
6847409
Except canon states flat out that the events of "Princess Twilight Sparkle" are exactly one year after the events of the pilot.
I'm not surprised about Fluttershy's honorary Japanese status here...
That was such a dumb movie.
6847314 I know right? My mom has an uncle younger than her, I don't think there is such a thing as too young to be an aunt/uncle. That's kind of the parent's issue.
I'd love it if this fic had all the Humane Six go through the mirror, although not sure Equestria could survive having multiple Pinkie Pies at once (or dueling Dash egos for that matter). Even worse if the Pinkies either competed or collaborated for the baby shower.
Yeah, Sunset's and Twilight's human form ages were always odd, but by now I just chalk it up to the mirror transforming them into similar forms to their local counterpart (hence teenage Twilight and dog Spike). Although it would be funny if Sunset was physically college age while the rest of the Mane Six were still teenagers, as Pinkie and Fluttershy wondered (maybe she ended up in high school accidentally while still acclimating to human world). Timeline is still screwy, considering Twilight seems like she's been Celestia's student for over a decade, but again I guess almost anything goes with parallel dimensions.
Ahhh Fluttershy, so much innocence on display.
I always assumed that they came out as teenagers because the portal changes people so that they fit in on the other side. Since the human end is in a high school, part of that fitting in is becoming a teenager.
6848120 I read manga and watch anime and that's still above my head, anyone care to explain?
6847866 Canon is weird like that. No way everything that happened happened in one year.
Also considering that we have had 3 separate winters in the show at the moment. Unless the episodes are out of chronological order, or Equestria has multiple winters within one year, more than one year has passed.
Also the fact that Rainbow states in Tanks for the memories that she and Tank have never spent a winter together creates a conflict with May the best Pet win and and Hearth's Warming Eve, considering that MTBPW aired a few episodes before HWE.
6848257
Key word there is together. That just means it's the first winter where Rainbow stayed in Ponyville with Tank since getting him.
Concerning the age thing, Digibrony made a really cool video about it some time ago. It's not a stretch that the Mane 6 are in their late teens in Equestria, considering how ponies age and stuff. Plus, there don't seem to be any teenage ponies (like a stage between foal and adult I mean), so they probably just go from elementary (when most get their special talent) and then go into that field (or further study for a doctor, etc.) when they graduate. Also, Applejack was quite young when her parents died (they aren't in her cutie mark flashback) so Applebloom had to be born when Applejack was probably like 8 or something, making it possible that Applejack is around 18 or so now and Applebloom is like 10.
6847787 The whole thing. I said a long time ago that I decided against writing anything about that.
6847866 No, it does not say that. You THINK it says that. It does not say that. Also, it's not even POSSIBLE for it to only be one year because the seasons have changed REPEATEDLY, winter's come at least twice, etc. etc.
And here's the dialogue you're basing your assumption of "canon" on:
WHERE there does it say this is the first Summer Sun Celebration since the return of Luna? NOWHERE. It just says Celestia is "actually looking forward to" the Summer Sun Celebration. It doesn't even say "for the first time". You can "actually look forward to" something more than once, you know.
And before you counter with this line:
Her making that little speech doesn't necessarily mean it's her first time feeling this way. It just means it's the first time she's acknowledged it in public.
I don't think Sunset is going to be living this whole age thing down for a while. I've always believed Sunset was older than Twilight. In "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer" comic (not sure if you consider it canon yourself), Sunset and Twilight are seen in the same panel in the park. Twilight is still a foal and doesn't have her cutie mark yet, while Sunset is bigger and has hers.
6848376
When Twilight is talking to her friends, and states flat out, "I can't believe it's only been a year". It's just after the intro song.