Do you think they knew each other before the show?

[Senko 459]

Idly curiosity as a result of a fanfic I read. Do you think the mane 6 - Twilght (wasn't in Ponyville) and Pinky (friends with everyone) were friends or even knew each other beyond a "I went to flight school with her" or "I bought a dress from her" kind of way?

[RDDash 18,864]

A bit difficult question to answer, I think Rainbow and Fluttershy were childhood friends with each other, Applejack and Rarity were probably separate from the group. Pinkie Pie would probably be separate as well. Like in the Sombra timeline all of them would probably go their own separate ways without a single pony to connect them with each other.

Edited July 31, 2018 by R.D.Dash

[Denim&Venöm 16,503]

Other than Dash and Shy, it doesn't seem like it. I mean they probably knew eachother, ponyville being so small and interconnected, but they might not have been friends.

[Senko 459]

Interesting to think about anyway their friendship being so vital to the show yet without Twilight and bonding over saving the world they might not even know each other's name. I can't see Applejack or Rainbow Dash interacting with Rarity or each other. Pinkie PIe tries to be friends with every pony in town and Fluttershy might interact with Applejack and Rarity because of their animals/pet respectively but then again Rarity might go to a vet instead. Strange world especially if you take away the massive threats (assume someone else took care of them) and just picture a ponyville where they don't know each other.

[Passion 3,478]

My memory might be failing me, but I think in one of S1 episodes early it was strongly implied that the group weren't friends until Twilight appeared... ...which is really strange considering how warmly they all received her. One would have thought that if they were so quick to trust and take a liking of an outsider, the locals would not be a problem either.

[Lord Valtasar 12,685]

i don't think they were friends before Twilight came along, they seem to know eachother's traits and quirks a bit better than twilight but that's to be expected since the town is small,and if you recall s1 e5, RD didn't even know Pinkie pie was a prankster, not to mention avoiding her for the first few minutes of the episode

[Senko 459]

Probably the difference between "meet stranger and make her feel welcome" and "Make friend with random townspony". Its not that they couldn't be friends but that they had no reason to do so. Twilight met each of them as part of the summer sun festival and then they stood together to save Equestria after that well Applejack say's it herself they were bound by the elements of harmony and were a little afraid to give them up because of what it might mean for the friendship they'd found. I just used Netflix to look back at the early episode summaries and Lord Valtasar's right they're all about them getting to know each other.

E3 = Competing over Twilight's extra ticket to the gala, E4= convincing Applejack to let them help her with the harvest because she's wearing herself out trying to do it alone (as contrasted with helping her against Flim and Flam), E5 = Dash and Pinkie bonding + Dash sending Gilda away because of how she treats the others, E6 = Twilight stressing they'll think she's showign off, E7 = Fight a dragon and Dash grumbling about Fluttershy holding them back, E8 = Applejack and Rarity learning to get along, E9 = accepting Zecora, E10 = dealing with parasprites and ignoring Pinkie Pie when she know's what to do. I mean Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle don't even know each other until episode 11 even in a "I'm not the only blank flank" way.

I guess they really don't know each other before the show starts, such a strange thought.

[Steve Piranha 28,778]

3 hours ago, Passion said:

My memory might be failing me, but I think in one of S1 episodes early it was strongly implied that the group weren't friends until Twilight appeared... ...which is really strange considering how warmly they all received her. One would have thought that if they were so quick to trust and take a liking of an outsider, the locals would not be a problem either.

We got a flashback in S7 opening: Celestial Advice 

 

Edited July 31, 2018 by Steve Piranha
Phone autocorrect DERP

[Jordan D 149]

After rewatching S1 a few months ago, I defiantly got the impression they all knew each other in some capacity, even if they weren't friends. Dash and Flutter were close friends though, as seen in Cutie Mark Chronicles. There's also this scene from the manga. A handful of episodes in season 1 revolved around the girls growing closer since they (presumably) didn't know each other very well. Griffon the Brush Off is a good example since the initial conflict revolves around Dash learning about Pinkie's hobbies.

 

[DonMaguz 1,023]

4 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

We got a flashback in S7 opening: Celestial Advice...

Yup, everything about season one yells "Twilight Sparkle brought them together as best friends", then that scene from Celestia's memory throws it all away.

I'd like to think that Celestia just saw their potential as (separate) Twilight friends and that their closeness on her memory was just a visual gag.

Edited July 31, 2018 by DonMaguz
Rephrasing a verb.

[Ziltoid the Omniscient 286]

They all went to the same orphanage together.

 

 

Bonus points for whoever gets it.

[Thrond 3,257]

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy knew each other from childhood, and they were all presumably on good terms with Pinkie Pie. Applejack and Rarity might not have known each other or the pegasi very well, however. Then again, there is the flashback which @Steve Piranha posted. 

[Twilight Luna 30,940]

In Celestia’s flashback, we see the mane 5 playing together. So, they did know each other before Twilight arrived.

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,406]

In S7E1, the ReMane 5 were seen as friends before Twilight arrived, so that would be a yes. However, I think their shared bond grew stronger once Twilight arrived.

[CypherHoof 26,479]

30 minutes ago, Twilight Luna said:

In Celestia’s flashback, we see the mane 5 playing together. So, they did know each other before Twilight arrived.

Celestia's flashback could just have been a construct though - not a real event. That said, SOMEPONY must have assigned all five of them their roles for the summer sun celebration, nopony was surprised to see them do so, and Pinkie by definition knows everypony (and has them carefully indexed on cards by birthday and so on in her party planning cave), and of course both the two pegasi and rarity/AJ would have been at school together (pairwise, not a group of four)

So.. yeah. I would say they were at least casual acquaintances (apart possibly from Flutters/Dashie who apparently were childhood friends) and I suspect 'tia engineered the assignments of the two pegasi to ponyville (although how pinkie ended up there is anypony's guess, but hey, pinkie... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

[Senko 459]

Celestia's flashback could also be the result of a writer who just assumed they were all close friends and hadn't actually payed attention to season 1 or it could be she's just speaking in general about Ponyville. Its a bit hard to reconcile the whole premise of season 1 and them being as close as they're shown in that flashback especially given Fluttershy isn't able to talk loud enough for Twilight to hear until she spots spike and gets so excited about meeting a baby dragon she forgets herself. She's way to happy and excited in that flashback contrast this

with this.

or that scene in the manga where she's desperately pointing to a menu because she can't talk to the waiter. I'd put a low value on that flashback myself although I can see Dash and Fluttershy being friends because Dash keeps protecting her and they do seem to know more about each other than the others.