spoilers for the MLP IDW Annual 2013 follow…
And there was that thing with the Fall of Sunset Shimmer.
Now, I wouldn’t have griped about this if not for the one little detail I will base this gripe upon. But why is Sunset Shimmer older than Twilight (not even gonna mention Cadance here), as implied in this scene where we see little Twily in the background there with Sunset Shimmer?
I’ve always believed there is a ever-present age difference between the filly age and the mare age, so it’s not just their size and appearance. Plus, “Colgate” and Lyra are there, implying they too are older than Twilight, who appear together in the very first episode.
So why put them there? Or blank flank Twily (which means she’s not yet Celestia’s student) in that scene anyway? I know there is a need to address the part where Sunset Shimmer would be Celestia’s student “not long before Twilight”, but couldn’t Sunset be a filly like Twilight?
Plus when she goes through the mirror, boom. Teenager. Granted in the EQG movie, it does show Sunset Shimmer has been in the Mirror World for at least 3 years, winning a dance every time.
But doesn’t she look younger with those beadier-looking eyes here? And when Twilight and Sunset Shimmer meet, they kinda look the same. And Twilight was not taken to be a freshman. A newb, maybe.
I’m not saying the writers for the Annual didn’t do their research, but all of this is just very confusing, and it didn’t have to be.
And don’t get me started on the other story in the Annual, where an older Babs Seed pushes freshman Applejack and friends around. Oh, boy.
COMIC CANON, EVERYONE.