Exactly where is Ponyville

[~Rogue~ 193]

So I've been thinking about it, and I want to work out exactly where is Ponyville, and how far away are the other cities. So let's start out with something simple, and get to the more complicated stuff later.

 

 

 

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTUgAMJxX3tUuJ0mG9zPwzNXGqVz8MrYqpXMZZyDRCuk_MSS7nR

 

The Image here shows only four main places. Ponyville, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and the Everfree Forest. It seems that the distance from Ponyville to the Everfree forest is the same as Ponyville to Canterlot. Fluttershy lives right by the Everfree forest, so why does it seem so easy for Twilight to walk right by to Fluttershy's house? Not only that but the distance of Cloudsdale to Ponville is the same as the distance from Canterlot to the Everfree Forest. That means that in the "Wonderbolts Academy" episode, Rainbow dash can travel from Canterlot to the Everfree very, very quickly. Even for Rainbow Dash that's fast.

 

I also noticed that on the map above that Applejacks is closer to Ponyville than Fluttershy's is. That means it's easier to get to Applejack's than get to Fluttershy's. Either they built their houses really wierd, or this map is incorrect.

 

http://images.wikia.com/mlp/images/1/12/Map_of_Equestria_online_version_2012-08.jpg

 

This new map doesn't change much about the distance to it. In the episode "sleepless in ponyville" Scootaloo and friends travel to Hollow shades and Neighagra falls, and the distance between them takes about a day to travel by hoof. that means that Equestria, may be smaller than you think.

 

Notice how far away the Crystal Empire is? The frozen north is very far away, so it must take at least a day to get there, even by train. Appleloosa took about an hour to get to, and looking at how fast the buffalo can run (40 mph) a train can go about the same speed, therefore the Crystal empire is about 960 miles away from ponyville. Using this we can say that the distance from the top of the map to the bottom would be about 1920 miles long. 

 

 

I clearly doubt this is accurate but these maps how nothing of distance and key, so technically we cannot tell how big and how far away cities in Equestria would be unless we were actually in in the show. Thus, this theory proves nothing. However, if we were to get accurate keys and measurements, we would be able to calculate the size of Equestria.

 

Any thoughts or theories about this? Post about it then! This is science people!

 

-N

 

[DaReaper 1,944]

It's ponified area just outside of Buffalo NY called Cowlesville changed to ponyville which explains the 4 seasons and needing a winter wrap up abd govt scandels of course I'm kidding but would be funny

[Ignore Me 14]

Well, I believe the second Map of Equestria, the poster one, bears quite a strong resemblance to the United States. Manehattan, Baltimare, Los Pegasus, they are all in the respective places of their human-world dopplegangers, Manhattan, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. The poster to me looks as if it were viewed at an angle, instead of directly above. I'd say that if, according to Equestria Girls, our world is an alternate dimension of the pony world, or at least one of them, It's the same landmass, just unchanged by humans, therefore the distances would be nearly the same.

[Nature's Spell 526]

The second map really does look like North America roughly so I'd say that Ponyville is in Kansas and Canterlot is around where Chicago would be. They even have Yanhoover (Vancouver), which is northwest of Ponyville where it would be in reality. Very cool. I think you have your distances. Just take the real ones and fudge them a bit.

[GuerrierCosmique 146]

I think you have your distances. Just take the real ones and fudge them a bit.

In this case Ponyville and Canterlot would be seperated by from each other by several hundred kilometers. Even if distances don't seem to be that long, it fits quite well. If taking the map seriously Equestria could be only as large as the Netherlands, Austria or Denmark, which wouldn't fit for the most important country on that planet. I assume Equestria's size is somewhere between 5 mio. to 10 mio. km².

[RrVPfX9cPtw59FpC 1,304]

You're right, there's no way that official map can be right. I much prefer the other one. Plus, it'd be way too difficult to meet up with all the mane six, as they're too far apart.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I think Ponyville is on the right outskirts of the map, near the Everfree Forest and he probably is in the middle. But, I'm not sure actually.

[I used to be a stranger 7,993]

Ponyville, and generally Equestria, has as much geographical consistency as Springfield in The Simpsons.

 

The simplest explanation is that locations and distances vary and are dependent upon what is situationally ideal for plot or comedy purposes. This is opposed to what we often seen in more realistic works, where the logisitics of real world distances and locations are part of the story, rather than bending at the whim of whatever monster-of-the-week or lesson of friendship we're focusing on in a given episode.

 

Let's take a pretty good cod-example that happens with relative frequency: Ponyville to Canterlot.

 

• In S1E1 Friendship is Magic, Part 1, S1E10 Swarm of the Century, S1E26 The Best Night Ever we see, or are provided a very direct implication that Canterlot is within a distance that can be flown at a casual, or at least non-strenuous pace, in approximately a few minutes.
• In S2E1 The Return of Harmony Part 1 we see this distance can be traversed by running also within a prompt amount of time. This is also implied further:
• In S2E9 Sweet and Elite Rarity sends a letter, and then her friends respond by coming to visit her personally within the space of a single afternoon. I think we're getting a pattern that it's not all that far.
• In S2E11 Hearth's Warming Eve we see the Mane cast going to Canterlot by rail, and it seems to be a pretty quick affair.
• However, there's a wrench in the works. In S2E24 Mmmystery on the Friendship Express, it's shown that Canterlot can be travelled to by rail again; it's never shown that the train stops in that episode apart from being at its destination, so it's pretty implicit that it's an overnight non-stop train ride. In real life, this would put Canterlot at a distance of several hundred kilometers, even if one departed late in the evening.
• In S2E25 A Canterlot Wedding, again we're shown a trainride out to Canterlot, yet this does not take overnight.

It just goes to show that distance bends and flexes, depending upon the demands of the story situation.

Another example of this is how Manehattan is implied to be quite far away, yet Applejack even as a filly can run that distance in a single morning (S1E23 The Cutie Mark Chronicles), and that Rainbow Dash can fly from one side of the country to the other ("Baltimare to Las Pegasus") in a single day (S2E20 It's About Time).

 

My comparison to Springfield references the fact that depending upon the episode or Season, Homer Simpson's house on Evergreen Terrace is right next door to the Springfield Power Plant, several houses down from Moe's Tavern, lives next door to Ned Flanders, is only a few blocks walk to Downtown, and also on the bottom of a hill, overlooked by the Springfield Power Plant, or a Hydroelectric Dam. Moreover, Springfield is also shown to neighbour an ocean, a desert, a mountain range, a large lake which is the Hyrdoelectric Dam's reservoir, and a canyon. The Simpsons is not exclusive with such flexibility and liberality with location ontologics.

 

 

 

These are all locations shown to be very close to Ponyville.

In summary, I would urge you not to try and apply very much rigour to it, because there is very little rigour to be found.

Edited August 2, 2013 by Blue