Twilight gaining her cutie mark doesn't make sense

[ManaMinori 4,144]

A cutie mark is explained as discovering that certain something that makes a pony special, or realization of your special talent, before it appears on the flank. But looking back at Call of the Cutie, Twilight getting her mark doesn't seem to make sense. If her mark actually represents her as the big star and her friends (who she meets much later) as the smaller stars, then how was she able to get her mark in magic school, if she hadn't yet come to the realization that her talent was the magic of friendship? Sure, the magic from the rainboom caused her to go op with magic, but her mark seemed to appear through pretedermined destiny, given that it represents her and her friends, rather than at her realization of a special talent.

[Holiday Agnaktor 1,435]

Well, I have a neat little theory about this.

In that cutiemark-backstory episode, it was revealed that everyone got their cutiemarks because of the sonic rainboom. I'm not exactly sure, but I faintly remember one of them saying that it was destiny that they became friends? I'll have to check up on that.

So what I think, is that when they all got their cutiemark at the same time, they were already connected by destiny, (or harmony, or whatever bigger force is at play here,) and that Twilight's cutiemark, which symbolizes her and her friends, came to being because of that. Because they were connected at that moment, and from that moment they as group were destined to become the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.

So her cutemark had nothing to do with the magic that she did there.

 

Or at least, that's what I think. Might be totally wrong here.

[Ganondorf8 11,120]

This is why retconning can be viewed as a problem in some media forms because it causes confusion, controversy, and contradictions forcing the writers to try and come up with an explanation. Twilight's cutie mark is the result of her being naturally skilled with magic and the desire to wanting to become similar to Star Swirl the Bearded--she does have some of his more quirky traits. The Sonic Rainboom caused her magic to spiral out of control and unlock a potential she never even knew she had, yet as we saw during the season five finale, Twilight wouldn't receive her cutie mark as her magic never materialized in the manner it needed to had the Rainboom never happened.

[Firedog 320]

Thinking about the way cutie marks work just causes confusion. It's not very consistent

[cmarston1 5,952]

Her special talent is in magic itself and not specifically the literal or figurative magic of friendship.

Hatching Spike and passing the exam, was when Twilight had a personal epiphany of what her special talent is.

[Concerned Bystander 2,901]

Her cutie mark was on the tree of harmony long before she even existed, clearly destiny has a hand a to play when it comes to cutie marks.

[Jeric 46,835]

A cutie mark appearing is not always an indicator that the pony who gets it realizes why it's there, why it makes them special, or discovers their special talent. Also as Concerned Bystander said ... the destiny is strong with Twilight.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,359]

Her Cutie Mark is clearly a representation of magic itself, and turns out she is the Element of Magic. Her Cutie Mark makes perfect sense to me.

[Malcontent 196]

Her Cutie Mark is clearly a representation of magic itself, and turns out she is the Element of Magic. Her Cutie Mark makes perfect sense to me.

I couldn't have said it better myself. The idea behind the mark and what one eventually becomes can in fact be different in some cases. We have no evidence to the contray.

 

At that point in her life it made perfect sense. Then things..got a bit more complicated but still magic related.

[sweetolebob18 724]

If you remember the prophecy in the pilot

(then)

...The stars will aid in her escape

And she will bring about unending night (or something like that -it's been awhile)

Look at Twilight's Cutie Mark

Remember, more than one "her" escaped that night -including Luna

Remember, royals often have a meaningless but poetic title or 2.

If you assume one of Luna's is "The Unending Night" (or whatever)

Then the "she" in the prophecy is obviously Twilight, the prophecy makes perfect sense + was completely accurate (if a little poetic).

 

If you look at Princess Twilight, (S4 E1& E2), at the end of part 2, when they return the Elements to the Tree, it shows Twilight's Cutie Mark on the Tree.  This is probably part of the reason Celestia picked Twilight as her student (Well, that + the Dragon's head sticking up through the roof.  It is this ability to pick up subtle hints that others miss that keeps Celestia on her throne)

 

"What did Celestia know & when did she know it?" is another thread but IMO, it is stretching the word coincidence to say it was just luck that the first 5 ponies she met in Ponyville just happened to be the other 5 Elements of Harmony (or that such an important event was held in such a small town at all).

 

In short, IMO almost 1,000 years before she was born, the Tree of Harmony had picked Twilight's Cutie Mark for her.

[Concerned Bystander 2,901]

Diamond Tiara is another example of a pony getting her cutie mark without having any idea of what it means or why it's there, it took her five series and the help of the CMC to finally figure it out.