Not_A_Brony

I will never be able to resist participating in these discussions. What is your MBTI type? ∟INTP Who is your favorite pony? ∟ though FS is a close second~ Which pony are you most like? ∟ What type of pony is your ponysona?(If you have one) ∟See avatar unless you care for your vision If applicable, how do you contribute to the fandom? ∟In a literal sense, I contribute to the numbers... I would love to see more large-scale data gathered on the fandom. The Brony Study's amazing, but it's just not enough data! Have you considered adding a poll?

I absolutely agree! It's possibly my favorite song from the series. I honestly cried a little when I heard it the first time. As for being underrated, RainShadow, for example, has an upload of the song with about 10k views, well below many of his more popular uploads with about 50k. Not many PMVs either. It's also rare to see in polls for the best song...

(emphasis added) I have a theory about this - before a pony's cutie mark is revealed, they have actually had it all along. Just as certain genes may not express themselves until a later point in life, and just as puberty (the obvious inspiration for the idea) will inevitably occur for everyone, a cutie mark can't be given because the final result was inevitable (sure it's a bit fatalistic, but that's another topic). If the skill associated with a cutie mark could be magically given, I would expect many ponies' parents would want to select a skill for their children to have, but can't, because it was already predetermined. This also helps explain the second part of my theory - why ponies slowly lose their defining abilities after the loss of their cutie mark. They aren't all grey and dopey up until the point they get one because they already have it, inside of them so to say. That's why during the events of Magical Mystery Cure, the mane 6 don't gain the skills associated with another pony's cutie mark when they get it. Their true skill is within them - the cutie mark itself only has the effect of telling them what it is. When the mark is removed, they lose the knowledge of the skill, but not the skill itself. I assume during the period their abilities were draining due to lack of cutie mark, they were working off of a sort of mental "muscle memory" in order to keep up at least a shadow of their real abilities. As for the problem of why removal of a cutie mark drains their powers, I have another idea about that... their cutie marks are, in fact, the physical avatar of their abilities, which are constantly telepathically (or otherwise) tied to the original owner. When Starlight Glimmer removes their marks, they don't seem to immediately lose their abilities (although if my first theory is correct, they instantly lost their knowledge of it). That was the purpose of the equal cutie mark - it was a sort of magic "leech" designed to transfer their powers into their cutie marks. Starlight placed them there as part of her spell (or maybe it was a separate spell? Probably will never know), which is why the equal mark does not appear by "default" when Tirek steals everyone's marks. It also explains why, when the jars are shattered, their marks immediately return to their owners - they were connected all along.

Honestly, I can't believe more people aren't talking about Starlight's powers. Prince Firemane and "Cute Ski Horse" seem to be the only ones really interested. I notice many people calling Starlight an "average" pony as part of the villain's appeal. I partially agree - compared to the numerous non-pony villains such as Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, and the Dazzlings, her abilities (save one) aren't spectacular (exceptional, yes, but hardly the large-scale reality-altering abilities of the former). As Cute Ski Horse stated, though, even Star Swirl, implied to be one of the most powerful unicorns in the history of Equestria, had the modification of cutie marks as part of his penultimate spell (which was unfinished to boot!). Discord, quite possibly the most powerful magic user in Equestria (save a powered-up Tirek) did not remove the mane 6's cutie marks given the chance. Though admittedly it is unknown whether he possessed this ability, he did go through the trouble of removing their horns and wings (and presumably AJ and PP's passive Earth pony magic as well), and when visibly annoyed by FS's resistance, only went as far as corrupting her as much as her friends. In addition, even his theft of RD and FS's wings, given that it affected their state of "winged-ness" is not particularly notable for someone of his power, as Twilight had previously demonstrated an ability to give a pony wings in Sonic Rainboom, even if only temporarily. Tirek, one of the few to possess such an ability, had this as his primary and defining ability, the difference being his obviously demonically-inspired species (which, if Equestria Girls is to be considered Canon, represents a very powerful form) and his origin from a "distant land" - he is clearly meant to be shown as being far beyond the average pony's magic. Twilight Sparkle, about the only pony with which one could make a fair comparison here, was unable to give Apple Bloom a cutie mark, even cosmetically. She even states that "...not even magic can make a cutie mark appear before it's time." Being a well-studied pony, I'd expect her to know what she was talking about there. That's why, for me, the largest twist concerning Starlight Glimmer was not that her equal cutie mark was fake (honestly, I found that part to be a bit predictable), but that the "Staff of Sameness" was fake. It just completely throws what notion I have of a non-alicorn pony's power out the window. Magical artifacts have, by contrast, been shown to frequently have extremely powerful, sometimes reality-altering effects (e.g. the Mirror Pond, the Alicorn Amulet, the Crystal Mirror, the Tree/Elements of Harmony). Starlight's ability to actually rival many of the main villains' defining powers without the use of one of these artifacts seems to me a bit extreme as far as a character goes, but it will certainly provide the potential for an interesting future appearance.