Friendships before Twilight

[starswirlthebearded]

Be careful about assuming that the epsiodes are chronologically ordered. At all. xD

With a few exceptions due to explicit references, it's quite possible to turn the order of the episodes on their head.

Off topic: I always assume floating timeline in episodic series like MLP:FiM. Any other timeline doesn't make much sense. I mean, Winter Wrap Up came before Fall Weather Friends. If we assume chronological order, that means that A YEAR passed within two episodes. Which means, that in theory, by the time Green isn't your color rolled around they could have all aged several years... So yeah... floating timeline it is. Basically whatever time of year the writer wants it is, it is, no other system. They are set at their undetermined ages (except for Pinkie whom we know had a birthday). And we assume that all stories are being told without time being a major concern.

Another way to think of it is the retrospective timeline. The stories being told are by the central protagonist or third party observing telling the story after events have already transpired. This allows for the discontinuation of time, and thus making time irrelevant to the story save for time of year necessary for certain events to occur (ie Fall Weather Friends, Winter Wrap Up, and Hearth's Warming Eve)

That said... On Topic: According to Hasbro or the Hub (can't remember where I read it) Twilight brought the 5 ponies together. So it can be assumed that none were particularly close to any other pony before Twilight came to Ponyville. They must have known about each other (I mean, with events like the Running of the Leaves, and Winter Wrap Up, it would be hard for them to have NOT had contact.) However being *close* friends is an entirely different story. Pinkie Pie considers every pony in Ponyville to be her friend, but her close friends are within the mane 6, which Twilight brought together. And honestly, outside of those events, the mane 6 have such polarizing abilities, that I doubt that they would have need to contact each other. Perhaps due to her interest in sewing and design Fluttershy stalked (read, never went in) to Rarity's shop (Had she done so, Rarity would not have been so surprised at Fluttershy's freaky knowledge of fashion and sewing, which would lend to the idea that they were not close before Twilight). Applejack likely had contact with Pinkie Pie the most, due to the cake shop needing apples, and them both being interested in baking. However, how close they were is up to debate. But from a logical standpoint, they had the best chance. No other pony had need to really see any other pony. The only other possibility is again Pinkie Pie and Rarity, with Rarity helping to do decorations for Pinkie's parties. I don't think RD and FS had much contact after FS was grounded, and since she doesn't live in Cloudsdale and has no involvement with weather, I don't think RD and FS really had much contact, let alone being friends.

Well... That is my analysis. Feel free to agree or disagree with any part of it or take it apart... I won't mind

Edit: I'm on my second rewatching, and realized that Opal could have broken the ice between Rarity and Fluttershy without the topic of fashion coming up. So they could have also met through that route. But again, that could have been either a business arrangement and not a friendship. I won't discount the possibility though. It also can't be determined how close they got from that one segue, but we know that animals help Fluttershy open up to people so it is a strong possibility that they could have been friends because of that.

[accountdeleted]

Hmmmm... My understanding (ie, my headcannon) was:

RD - AJ (AJ probably knew most ponies as she works in the market, plus the farm is a major supplier of food)

Pinkie - EVERYPONY (even if just acquaintances, Griffon Brush off shows this. Also, Sugar cube corner is a major supplier of foodstuffs.)

Fluttershy - RD

Fluttershy - Rarity (green isn't your colour, Fluttershy's creepy knowledge of dressmaking)

Possibly:

RD - Rarity (dressing her up in bird in the hoof, though this could be evidence against as well: if Rarity knew RD she probably wouldn't have bothered)

AJ - Fluttershy (Fluttershy seems to be a vet, but Ponyville has a vet.)

But this is all just wild speculation.