Talk:Cutie Mark Crusaders/@comment-26968254-20150908001608/@comment-24864975-20150908005904

Animator's mistake. They were like that in the storyboard for some reason, and when the guy who put them in was given three different ponies for that scene, he misunderstood what they were for and used the soon-to-be Crusaders instead.

Or, if you want to go in-universe with the ponies, you could say that the three ponies who were supposed to be in that shot got sick on the day they shot that scene, so the CMC had to fill in for them, as there weren't any other foals there for that scene.