Changing Your Cutie Mark: the Mane Six and Twilight's rewriting of 'destiny':
Thanks to moonlightavenger for directing me here - first time posting, so forgive any newbieness!
I've had a bunch of thoughts about the issue of Twilight's changing cutie mark, whether non-unicorns can become princesses, and the question of what's actually going on when the Mane Six are recovering their cutie marks in this episode. I think I've come up with a plausible theory. Here goes:
I've always thought a cutie mark was supposed to be an expression of the pony's mature inner self-concept once they've settled into it (which is why the ponies wouldn't just be born with them, and why some ponies could be confirmed as asshats and bullies, like Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara). However, it seems like the altered Mane Six in this episode are under the impression that they *have* to try for the skill-oriented careers they are marked with. Moonlightavenger brought this up in the ED comments as an issue of tyrannical destiny - that a pony is screwed if he/she doesn't obey the destiny written for them on the cutie mark. This is a potentially really serious issue for the universe's worldbuilding. This also means that if Twilight were simply fulfilling her 'destiny' or innate nature to become an alicorn, then we couldn't chalk this up to her own deserving. At any rate, the way the Mane Six behave with their selves and cutie marks 'rewritten', it is almost as though with the cutie marks came a desire to fulfill those roles in Ponyville society, like with Rainbow Dash's mark had somehow come an insatiable desire to manage weather patterns. It's interesting that with these 'in the wrong career' ponies, the entire Ponyville society quickly disintegrated into unhappiness and fighting. I think I've figured it out! Here's the thing. If you look carefully, the magic by which the Mane Six rediscover their talents and rewrite their cutie marks isn't Twilight's - it's *theirs*, under their own steam, motivated by their friendship but enacted by leaps of personal growth. They see their friends in trouble and venture something 'new' - different - that they confirm in themselves, rewriting the identities placed on them. Then they (recovered) use their friendship to help the next pony towards taking the leap. The parallels (them seeing flashbacks of their lives, like Twilight and Celestia's starlit MLP tour; their collapsing briefly afterwards) suggest that their revelations are also in some way similar to Twilight's alicorn transformation. Incidentally, this means that earth ponies and pegasi *are* capable of magic, of the very highest kind. And that when it shows that their magic combines to boost Twilight towards her own transformation, we should also take that seriously.
As for Twilight, and identity-development: Twilight's spell-finishing is exactly like the other Mane Six's leaps of personal growth: motivated by her friendship, she discovers a talent, but this time, for writing friendship-magic, not simply performing it. Twilight then undergoes the same process as they did, reviewing her life and taking a leap to understand herself in a new way. With this new personal growth, Twilight's cutie mark permanently changes in this episode to six surrounding stars instead of five. This transformation then isn't because of some pre-written 'destiny' - it's like a second stage of realization - or self-actualization.
Re: other ponies becoming alicorns, and the possibility of changing your cutie mark:
If Twilight can have a mid-life epiphany, then surely any pony could have the same. Because it's a utopia, most ponies wouldn't stretch beyond their usual talents to level up in this way - but if I'm right, theoretically it *could* be possible for an earth pony guru or pegasus to change, and even to ascend to alicorn-status. I bet that's what Zecora is quietly doing behind the scenes.
So, I now think 'destiny' isn't really a key concept here after all, even though they are always singing about it. If cutie marks - even being a princess - are passive expressions, not determiners, of identity then we're still safe from Orwell. It would look very odd for a pony to be trying to work at a job that didn't fit their identity – like the G&PTrixie at the rock farm – and the prospect of a pony not being natural at his/her cutie-mark activity would be nightmarish and unthinkable for them all. But under those circumstances, if the pony could summon the will to experiment and change (as the Mane Six do here), identities can be renewed and rewritten. That makes me feel a little better about the agency of the non-princess ponies.
Re: 'here's your wings, have fun!' - that's one of the things I've been thinking about since yesterday too. They gave Twilight a lot of facial expressions of uncertainty and confusion about her transformation, and you're absolutely right, it wasn't really a choice. But if we believe the transformation was caused by her having 'grown up' as Celestia said, then even Celestia didn't have a choice about Twilight's transformation at that point. She was just there to keep her company and keep Twi from panicking. Even so, her poor little face!
