How long has it been since the show began?

[I used to be a stranger 7,994]

Two years and a few days brings us chronologically from S1E1 Friendship is Magic, part 1 to S3E8 Apple Family Reunion, within the Equestrian Universe.

 

Now my basis for that is simple: Granny Smith says in Apple Family Reunion that the Reunion happens "Every 100 moons". This can mean once every passing of 100 full moons, which is in the order of once every 8 years or so.

Lunar orbital period = 29.53 days

Once every 100 moons means

29.53*100 = 1 reunion every 2953 days.

2953/365=8.08 years

 

That's an incredibly long time relative to how characters have developed, so it can't be fully right. And it can't be as frequent as 100 days on which the moon appears in the sky, because that might be as frequent as three times a year in some years.

 

The moon behaves differently in Equestria, making me speculate that it has a much shorter period than our moon does; it's closer and smaller so it looks the same in the sky, but has faster changing phases. One thing that's rare observed (if ever) in the show is the appearance of a new moon. (That is, the moon not being visible because of its phase.) It would be problematic if the period was the same as a day, because then yes every single night would have a full moon, but we'd run into a similar problem as calculating 100 moons on the basis of 'every night that the moon appears in the sky'. So, we'll have to theorize that the period of the moon is short enough but also long enough that it shows different phases, but that the new moon is minimized. I tried the math out and it worked that the period is only a quarter: a full revolution of the moon takes place in the same time as a traditional phase does for our moon. Thus:

 

Equestrian Lunar orbital period = 7.3825 days (Full moons appear for about 2 days a week, and the full orbit of the moon is about 7 days and 8 hours.)

Once every 100 moons means

(29.53/4)*100 = 1 reunion every 738.25 days. (We'll ignore the quarter-day for simplicity.)

 

738/365 = 2.022 years. (Every 2 years and 8 days.) Therefore it's been a tad more than two years since the last Apple Family Reunion and therefore the same amount since the Summer Sun Celebration before last, when Twilight Sparkle first came to Ponyville. (Applejack confirms that the Apple Family Reunion coincided with the Summer Sun Celebration in S1E1 Friendship is Magic, part 1 by saying so in S1E3 Applebuck Season.)

 

Thus all of Season 1, 2 and 3 up to now can be placed within taking a little more than two chronological and years. The order within those years is generally kind of screwed up (there are other threads for chronology within the episodes) but at least we know they're taking place within the same years.

 

Quot erat demonstrandum.

 

Full moons: more than a weekly phenomenon in Equestria.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Blue

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

I think that the gathering in the first episode was mostly in honor of the Summer Sun Celebration and to help the Ponyville Apples prepare for it.

[Declen 118]

Well, that is more or less what I always thought about this issue.

But where did you get this number, if I may ask?

 

 

Equestrian Lunar orbital period = 7.3825 days

[I used to be a stranger 7,994]

Well, that is more or less what I always thought about this issue.

But where did you get this number, if I may ask?

4 orbits per Earth-Lunar-Month.

4*7.3825=29.53 days

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

I thought the moon was full every night? We've never seen anything BUT a full moon on the show. 

Edited November 25, 2013 by Shoboni