Cutie mark conundrum

[FanOfManyShows 398]

Bronies have tried, and failed on some occasions and succeeded in others, to answer how Cutie marks work. but here i will explain that problems such as:

 

Cutie Pox (the sickness)

The magical mystery problem.

And 'Our town'

 

Are not caused by Cutie marks themselves if you have your own opinion on what i'm about to say, feel free to say it in the comments, and you do not have to agree with my opinion.

 

First, Cutie marks themselves. how do they work? well Twilight explains them as: The representation of a ponies talent. and that is what they are something a pony earns them when they discover their true talent.

 

Now onto Cutie Pox. How did Apple Bloom catch it? and why did it do what it did? well, A heart's desire gives a pony/creature what they desire most. in Apple Bloom's case it gave her a Cutie mark. but if A heart's desire works that way, then why did it give her Cutie pox? you may ask. well, the heart's desire couldn't decide what cutie mark to give her, and she hadn't earned it yet or had one on mind, so it gave her all the Cutie marks. but since they weren't her Cutie mark or her true talent the talents of the Cutie marks forced themselves upon Apple Bloom.

 

Which brings me to 'Our town' Starlight changed the Cutie marks of everypony in 'Our town'. so why were they all equal? when Twilight and her friends had their Cutie marks forcibly removed and replaced with equal signs. and those equal signs were actually the representation of a talent and that talent is equality meaning every pony had the talent of equality, resulting in everypony being the same.

 

Magical mystery cure is a bit more complicated, let's just say that the elements had more to do with the memory loss than the Cutie marks themselves. but why is that? these are the elements of harmony we are talking about. by swapping what those elements are, you change them from harmonic to disharmonic because they are no longer what they are supposed to be. this could result in the mane six's destinies being changed and as a result their Cutie marks.

Edited May 29, 2016 by Frannis

[silvadel 1,393]

I think cutie marks have to be acknowledged.  If you do not believe that you have the talent that is implied, and deserve the mark, you can't get it.

 

Marks tend to come at a time of achievement in the field of the mark itself.

 

Marks seem to provide a small benefit in the field of the mark.  It seems to essentially raise an apprentice in whatever it is to a journeyman, allowing them to perform a job in it rather than having to go through the "incompetence period" humans have to go through.

 

Ponies tend to get pleasure when performing the activity represented by their mark.

 

--

 

The CMC took so long to get their mark because they did NOT acknowledge the activity as their talent.  They were always LOOKING for the mark to appear.  This is backwards -- if you have to look for it, it isn't there.

 

MMC gave the ponies marks in fields that they had no talent or training in.  Essentially if you looked at it as a skill in a d100 type game, An apprentice gets up to say 35 in their field and then gets their cutie mark(+15) bringing it to 50.  Then you just keep going up from there.  Fluttershy was say 70(+15)=85 with regard to dealing with animals.  Rainbow Dash with Fluttershy's mark was more like 5(+15)=20.  20 isn't even enough to know the basics, and hence she was an utter failure at it. 

 

Starlight's shtick was two-fold.  The removal of the mark only removed the talent portion(+15).  It didn't even remove the desire.  The equals was needed to remove the actual earned ability in the field in addition to that +15.  It was seen in how it flared whenever a pony actually tried to use their earned ability to perform their former talent skill.  Personally I think this ability was way overpowered.

[Sunny Fox 5,957]

Twilight mentions that the Cutie Pox itself forced the ponies to do the talent that came with the mark, it didn't have anything to do with "not being her real talents". My own theory is that her heart's desire was indeed a cutie mark, but since cutie marks can't be revealed by magic (potions qualify), the potion did the next best thing: infect her with a long extinct disease that produces false cutie marks.

 

As for Magical Mystery Cure, I pretty much agree with you that Twilight's spell acted on the Elements of Harmony, thus switching the destinies of the other Mane Six ponies, and the cutie marks switched as a secondary result of the destiny switch. They weren't troubled because their cutie marks were switched, but because there true destinies had been forcefully altered.

[FanOfManyShows 398]

They weren't troubled because their cutie marks were switched, but because there true destinies had been forcefully altered.

 

That is a way better explanation. I may even change my headcanon to fit that explanation.

Edited May 29, 2016 by Frannis