shecat105

Recently, the purpose of a cutie mark has been questioned. I haven't seen many in depth interpretations published on this topic since Magical Mystery Cure, so I figured I'd give it go and try to explain my interpretation of what they are and how they work, while also providing reasons why the mane six acted/act the way they did/do. I go a little back and forth, but hopefully it makes sense. Everypony has a cutie mark and a story of how they got it. Applejack: She visited her Aunt and Uncle, got homesick, and went home, got her cutie mark...okay, bear with me. She has three apples as her cutie mark. Why three? Why not just one, like Big Mac? Applejack, being family oriented, may interpret the three apples as her family, Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom. Even though Apple Bloom probably wasn't even born yet, it still adds her to the list. Cutie marks are tied in with destiny sometimes. Destiny here, was for Applejack to have a little sister. Then again, the third apple could just be Applejack. I personally don't believe this because Applejack's personal interpretation of her cutie mark would just naturally be associated with her family and not her. Also, her job is with Sweet Apple Acres. She's good at it. But her TALENT isn't working on the farm. It's her special connection with her family, which happens to be linked to the orchard. Another thing is why it's three APPLES instead of oh, maybe oranges? As mentioned by others, it could be genetics. But Applejack and Big Macintosh grew up around apples. It's only logical their cutie marks would have something to do with apples because they would interpret it as such. In turn, I wouldn't think Apple Bloom's future cutie mark would be anything outside of related to apples for the same reasons, even if only in appearance. Fluttershy: Fluttershy can communicate with animals at a level other ponies can't. This in itself is her obvious special talent. But, how does Fluttershy interpret this? She doesn't really interpret it, she more just does things with it. As Applejack's job has really nothing to do with her talent, except the apple theme, Fluttershy's job revolves around her ability. She cares for sick and injured animals, while also giving homeless domestic animals a place to live. Plus she's perfect for matching ponies with pets. Her destiny was always with animals. The reason she never realized her ability before the sonic rainboom event was because she was a pegasus living in Cloudsdale. Animals don't normally live in clouds. Now, why is Fluttershy's cutie mark butterflies? The first animal she encounters on the ground, are butterflies. The butterflies directly influenced Fluttershy's first perception of the ground. If she were saved by, say, bunnies, her cutie mark may have been bunnies. Or bears if it were bears or something like that. Why three? This time, it's simply rule of three. Rarity: Rarity got her cutie mark by decorating costumes with gems. This story is a little more personalized for Rarity. Her love for fashion and designing might have easily been her simple talent. She's good at making really nice looking dresses and accesories. However, this is not what destiny had in mind for her. Although Rarity gave it a big fat middle finger saying "no, I'm doing what I wanna do," destiny decided to push her towards her destiny and work with her instead of push her off her passion. Rarity decided fine, whatever, gems are pretty. Rarity knows full well what her actual talent is, possibly, gem finding magic (as it makes the most sense) however she pursues it only when it benefits her business. As far as three gems as her cutie mark, rule of three again. Why is it gems, because fate and destiny is a big fat queen meany that wanted the last laugh. I'm stretching it a little but it still makes sense right? Right? Yeah, I have yet to work the kinks out of Rarity's story. Twilight: Okay, as we know, Twilight is Celestia's student. Twilight also has a passion, this time being magic, but unlike Rarity, it coincides with her destiny. Her passion IS her talent. The star design I think is more personal symbolism than influence. Her name is Twilight Sparkle. Her cutie mark, if it was animated, could sparkle because it's a sparkling star. The stars around it obviously symbolizes her future friendships. Although in Magical Mystery Cure, there is an extra star added in this scene. I've tried looking at Twilight's cutie mark after that moment and even during the Twilight Zone scene, but I can't tell if a star was added in or not. I think it's an interesting idea to pursue, but that's another discussion. Also, Celestia seems to be another driving force behind Twilight recieving her cutie mark as Twilight doesn't get it until she accepts Celestia's offer as her personal student. If Twilight had said no, her cutie mark wouldn't have appeared until another time and might have looked entirely different. Pinkie Pie: I'm not going over if her story was true or not. Let's say it is! Pinkie Pie sees a rainbow, feels joy, and throws a party for her family. Actually, this one is pretty simple. Pinkie Pie's cutie mark is three balloons. Why three? Again, rule of three. The reason they are balloons is probably the fact that Pinkie used mostly balloons for her first party and there are usually a lot of balloons in any party she throws, so she may just simply like them a lot. The reason they are balloons is also due to Pinkie's first attempt at creating joy. She throws a party. Balloons are naturally associated with parties. Plain and simple. Why not cake? Because cake isn't a balloon. It's just not the same! That's about it. Rainbow Dash: Sonic. Rain. Boom. Done. That's her special talent. But we don't really know how Rainbow Dash interprets her cutie mark. She knows she can do a sonic rainboom, but does she realize its her talent? Maybe, maybe not. The fact that there's a cloud attached to the rainbow bolt may symbolize her weather controlling abilities too. Maybe she realized her weather control first, but hadn't realized her true potential until the sonic rainboom. Rainbow Dash may have the potential to create something completely original if she used both of her talents as one. Does this mean Rainbow Dash has two talents? Well, yeah, one is just more prominent than the other. Same with everypony else. Rarity has her fashion sense and Applejack with apple farming to name the blatantly obvious ones. Also, I know you are thinking that all pegasi can control weather. Well, maybe not. We've never seen Fluttershy control the weather and Rarity did so in Magical Mystery Cure. It's up for opinion at this point yet. Each of the mane six had separate experiences that lead them to who they are today. I don't think cutie marks actually have to do with destiny, even though that was half of my argument for Rarity. I think destiny is just how ponies can explain cutie marks to the little ones. Not only is a cutie mark up for interpretation, it depends entirely on who the pony is when they recieve their cutie mark. Fluttershy may have been born with her ability, but if Applejack could communicate with animals, she'd be working with farm animals most of the time instead of apples. If Twilight had Rainbow Dash's ability for a sonic rainboom, it would allow her a different type of powerful magic ability. If Rarity had Pinkie Pie's dedication to spreading joy, her passion doesn't have to change. She could make a dang good hat for someone and watch them squeal in excitement because its perfect. Magical Mystery Cure was probably under worst outcome territory. The ponies reactions could always have been altered just enough where we wouldn't even say that the "special talent" is their polar opposite. The writers could very well have made them happy with the switch. Of course, that would rule out the epic Twilight solo song and the point of the episode. However, if given more time, this could also have been a very effective way of returning the ponies to their true selves as well. But why did the mane six act the way they did in the episode? It can just be chalked up to bad writing, but try looking at it this way. Rarity says in the beginning that she had been controlling the weather in Ponyville ever since her cutie mark appeared. What posessed her to think that her cutie mark meant she needed to control the weather? Well, the true Rarity may connect Rainbow Dash, and therefore her cutie mark, with weather control. The true Rarity never disappeared, but was just hidden under a facade. This facade used the perspective of the true Rarity to create memories to accomodate the new cutie mark. In Rainbow Dash's case, she doesn't have Fluttershy's communication ability with animals, so she wouldn't understand her talent as being anything more than controlling animals because that's how she sees Fluttershy. The same goes for the rest. Fluttershy sees Pinkie as a pony who throws parties to entertain others and make them laugh; Pinkie Pie sees Applejack as an all work and no play farm pony, and Applejack sees Rarity as someone who does nothing but make dresses all day. In the end, it was basically just each pony trying to be someone they know, while trying to be themselves at the same time. It doesn't work out. The actual purpose of a cutie mark is completely up to the pony who has it to interpret it. The purpose of a cutie mark being public for anyone passing by is to give other ponies an idea of who the pony may be. It's a bit like humans and our clothes, or cars, or houses. It tells others who we are, and a cutie mark serves the same purpose in that respect. This not only works for the mane six, but works for every other pony as well. Background ponies for example, have been given personalities based on what they have either been seen doing or simply their cutie marks. Bon Bon for instance, is named so because her cutie mark looks like three wrapped candies (even though the gameloft game suggests bows), therefore, she must make candies! Octavia is seen playing the cello, so from what we've seen, playing the cello is her special talent. However, if we simply saw her walking around like Bon Bon, she may have been given a competely different personality and career. Her cutie mark is a treble clef, which is connected to written music. Octavia would most likely have been given the career of writting sheet music if she had never been seen with an instrument. In conclusion, the purpose of a cutie mark is utterly up to the pony who has it and the actions of the mane six in the season three finale depended highly on their interpretation of the original owner of the cutie mark.