Cutie Marks are an important aspect of the show. They serve as a shorthand to help us immediately understand core aspects of a pony's personality or role, even if they are not given a speaking part in the story. They are often the most recognizable part of a character, to such an extent that when we see a familiar mark on an unfamiliar pony, we tend to take notice. Obviously this is a failing of the medium and not meant to be taken as significant but as a nerd and a Brony, I take it upon myself to be overly analytical of my perky pastel ponies and their society.

While it's clear that very little thought was put into the overarching principals of Cutie Mark design by Lauren when she was Show Runner, I expect that some system can be established that can give a general overview of a pony simply by interpreting their cutie mark. I've been met with limited success in this venture so far in my post here but I feel like I'm missing some key aspects. So far, I have accounted for some basic elements of the Cutie Mark, namely the symbols and their position relative to one another but there is more I could use here.

ultimately, I want to distribute this system to the four corners of the internet so that content creators can use it to create deep and complex characters with consistency, and to help stem the tides of the dreaded Mary Sues that plague our fan fiction.

I intended to begin establishing meanings for Layouts, Color choice and contrast, Imagery and the circumstance in which the mark was earned. All of these things will help creators to home in on their Pony's personality. That said, I can't just make these things up willy nilly and expect them to work. I'll need to set up a database of cutie marks, both cannon an original to create datapoints which I can account for. Obviously some things will simply defy my attempts but I'm still game to try.

I hope to conclude this project with an intuitive system that anyone can use.

For your perusal, I offer an example of the kinds of things that this system could reveal about a character.

I give you Shining Armor!

His Cutie Mark is a Dark Blue Heraldic shield with a pink Six-Pointed Star nested inside. This star is Echoed from his sister, Twilight Sparkle. Above the Shield is a Triune of powder blue Five-Pointed Stars which are inherited from his mother, Twilight Velvet.

A Shield is a clear indicator of protection and with the Six Pointed star Nested inside, this meaning is reinforced. The six-pointed star has a double meaning in this case as it is simultaneously a strong indicator of Magical talent and Mirrored by his younger sister which indicates her as very important to his talent in some way. The Triune of Five-Pointed stars would normally indicate some interest in astronomy, in this case, since they are Inherited from his mother, their Triune arrangement reinforces a strong affection for her.

Taken as a whole, Shining armor appears to be a pony with a strong talent in magical protection who is very protective of his sister and loves his mother dearly.

This system is still a work in progress and I hope to have more information to add to it soon!

I'll keep you posted!