FoME Thinks Too Much: Cutie Mark Cognizance · 9:09pm Feb 23rd, 2015
Introduction
Cutie marks are one of the really interesting aspects of Equestria. Indeed, the upcoming season may be focusing on cutie mark magic. As such, this seems like a timely blog. (1)
As with much about the setting, cutie marks have led to a wide variety of questions and associated headcanons. Do they stay on a pony after death? How symbolic can they be? How do they work for zebras, and what other nonpony species have them? Most relevant to this blog is a real headscratcher: Can ponies not know what their own cutie marks mean?
This question ties in directly to the moment the cutie mark appears, a phenomenon I’ve dubbed “cutiesynthesis.” (2) As luck would have it, we have six case studies of that momentous event, all contained in a single convenient package: the episode “The Cutie Mark Chronicles.” Granted, these are anecdotal recollections, prone to the vagaries of memory and nostalgia, but they’re still firsthand(3) accounts, and provide the only canonical data we have on the subject. Let’s run through them in the order the episode presents them:
Applejack
Once the rainbow points Applejack home(4)… well, she puts it best: ”In that moment, it all became clear. I knew right then just who I was supposed to be.”
Applejack experiences an epiphany, seeing her purpose clear as day. Once she embraces both farm and family, her cutie mark appears. Unlike the others, Applejack doesn’t really do anything related to her talent beyond returning home, but between that and her accomodating state of mind, it’s enough.
Fluttershy
When Fluttershy goes full Disney princess, it seems like earning her cutie mark would be an appropriate capstone. She didn’t just have an epiphany, she had a musical epiphany, complete with flawless identification of creatures she’d never seen before. But she doesn’t. Her mark doesn’t come until after the rainboom, when she soothes the animals and realizes that, as she notes: “Somehow I had the ability to communicate with the animals on a different level.”
Fluttershy only gets her mark when she exercises and understands the full scope of her capabilities, not just identifying and adoring the animals, but also interacting with them.
Rarity
Rarity is interesting. She knows what she wants to do. She’s doing it, and quite well for a child her age. But she’s not satisfied with adequacy, and neither is her cutie mark. But the moment she questions her destiny as a fashionista, her horn takes matters into its own… er, field. And while she has no choice but to follow, she knows she should. Quoth the fashion horse: “I had no idea where my horn was taking me. But unicorn magic doesn't happen without a reason. I knew this had to do with my love of fashion and maybe even my cutie mark! I knew that this was... MY DESTINY!”
And yet, when she gets to that immense geode, she still doesn’t earn her cutie mark. Not even after the rainboom cracks it open and reveals the gems inside. It takes an approving look from her teacher and gasps of awe from the crowd before the diamonds manifest. Without appreciation, jewels are just minerals and fashion is just cloth. Rarity’s artistic talents need to be acknowledged before they express themselves on her haunches.
Twilight Sparkle
As with Rarity, Twilight knows what she wants to do. She throws herself into her studies(5) and gets accepted into the best school in the country. But it’s not until… Um…
Well, Twilight is the odd one out in all of this. We don’t actually see her cutiesynthesis happen. Her mark isn’t there when she hatches the egg. It’s not there when she’s held aloft and overwhelmed by the unfathomable power she will one day wield. It’s still not there when Celestia snaps her out of it, or even when she’s named Celestia’s personal protege. The starburst appears offscreen, sometime between that last announcement and Twilight’s acceptance. (6) The mark appears only when Twilight forges a bond with the one who inspired her to become a mage.
Pinkie Pie
Pinkie… well, let’s be frank: Out of all of the Mane Six, she’s the least reliable narrator. However, until some other member of the Pie family offers a different account of the event, we have to take her word as gospel.
Pinkie dives straight into the rainboom moment. No surprise there; who’d want to focus on life on the rock farm? However, her first moment of joy isn’t enough to mark her. So she violates the conservation of matter and invents the concept of parties(7), and even that display isn’t sufficient. Once the other Pies manage to use their atrophied zygomaticus major muscles, affirming her work, then the balloons appear.
Rainbow Dash
Dash seems to buck the trend seen thus far. Where all of the other stories focus on some degree of group recognition, her mark is earned in a moment of purely personal triumph… isn’t it?
Not exactly. For one, as Dash herself notes, “Turns out the only thing I liked more than flying fast was winning!” Hoops and Dumbell had no choice but to acknowledge her victory, even if they deny it later in life.
Furthermore, the rainbolt appears only after the crowd starts cheering for her. The thunder that goes with Dash’s cutie mark is the roar of the crowd.
Conclusion
Scootaloo grouses that all of the stories are “all about finding who you really are,” but that’s not entirely accurate. A cutie mark is not just a symbol of personal excellence, but also of how one uses that excellence to contribute to a greater whole. As we have seen time and time again, for ponies, friendship really is magic, including the shared magic of cutiesynthesis. An interpersonal connection seems to be as necessary as exercising the special talent, whether that means helping others, wowing them, or simply bonding with them.
This is, of course, just a trend. I’m not declaring a hard and fast rule that no character can discover a cutie mark in isolation. Even if I had that authority, I wouldn’t want to exercise it like that. However, the trend is definitely there, and it’s interesting to note.
All this being said, I haven’t addressed the key question this blog is meant to answer: Can ponies not know what their own cutie marks mean? Given that some combination of epiphany and action is needed to trigger cutiesynthesis, I’m going to say “No.” Furthermore, most ponies present will likely have some sense of the meaning, though probably not all of the possible layers.
And that, my friends, is why I'm not a fan of OCs with cutie marks that are mysteries even to themselves... barring amnesia, but that has its own issues.
1. Also, this was the second-most popular thing in the opinion poll before yamgoth highjacked it to ship people. Oh, and there will be footnotes, so you may want to open the blog in a second tab.
2. Yes, I know it’s an unsightly lingusitic chimera of a word. I still like it.
3. Well, hoof.
4. Putting aside the questions of timing, the proximity of Ponyville and Manehattan, and the sun rising in the west.
5. Bring the world under her control. She vaporizes the competition… Oh, sorry, never mind.
6. It’s possible that it appeared earlier and is omitted in the flashback because Twilight doesn’t know precisely when, but I have to work with what I’m given.
7. Granted, it’s possible she heard about them from Granny Pie or a similar, less petriculturally inclined source, but she still needs to explain the idea to her family. And the balloons, streamers, cake. and punch still all had to come from somewhere.
I just accept it at face value. Equestria has magic, why can't the sun rise in the West?
Actually there's a concept I'm naming "Thaumatic False Marking" that I have in the back of my head.
Basically, most cutie marks are magical safety valves. Whenever a pony collects magical energy that isn't used in their typical magical biology or whatnot, the cutie mark siphons off the excess that would be unhealthy and uses it in a series of subconscious spellforms. Most cutie marks are created when the personality develops enough that the pony can say "This is what I want to do, this is how I can do it," and enough of these spellforms accumulated in the back of their mind/brain through some sort of subconcious spellcasting; the mark in and of itself is just a side effect of the system becoming more efficient.
Twilight, however, has so MUCH magical energy that she got her cutie mark before she found herself. Basically her prepubescent body said "IT'S NOW OR NEVER YOU KNOW WHAT JUST MAGIC MAGIC IS YOUR TALENT" and she didn't find herself until she got the Spark facing Nightmare Moon.
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Honestly, I think it's appropriate that Twilight didn't notice her mark. After all, a cutie mark is seen as a sign of destiny, and we know what happened when Twilight fulfilled hers. Her young mind wasn't ready for the awesome power she would one day wield and couldn't retain whatever arcane revelations came with the surge. Only when she had better grasped the deeper mysteries of friendship and magic did she complete the process that began that day.
That being said, I quite like your concept of the process itself. I didn't consider that much. I basically just shrugged and said, "chromelanin plus self-realization plus outside acknowledgement equals magic butt tattoo." Plus, Twilight overloading her own anatomy is a great idea. Though it makes me wonder mark she might have gotten if she weren't an enormous bundle of overwhelming power.
You know, I've been waiting for this blog. I had thought it would be a bit more scientific, going through what it would take to reach a biomagical reaction based on cognizance... But I guess the first step is determining all the factors of causation.
That's an interesting trend that I never noticed, the fact that each of their marks came as a result of others interacting with (and mostly appreciating) their use of their talents. It's pretty cool theory, actually. I was just a subscriber to the "cutie mark is the intersection of proving you are good at something with deciding or realizing that you want to do it" theory.
Also, if your theory is true I wonder what that says about the Crusaders. They mostly interact with each other during their crusades, but they aren't actually interested in what the others are doing beyond the possibility of it being the end to a means (that means being a cutie mark). So if the cutie mark comes when you use your special talent to interact with society, they might be even more doomed than they are in the traditional "you have to realize that's what you want" theory.
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OTOH, when they do get their marks, it stands to be the Ultimate Friendship Lesson.
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One fine example would be them helping some other foal find their cutie mark, and the CMC getting a mark in Crusading as a result.
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"GO HOME, CELESTIA, YOU'RE DRUNK."
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Yes! A cutie mark full of cutie marks full of cutie marks full of cutie marks...
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A shield and a sword, according to my Dieselpunk in the works fic that shuffles up the Elements, where Pinkie repairs a downed recon plane and stows away and Twilight refuses to become Celestia's student.
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I was more focused on just gathering data for this one. It's all well and good to make up magical biology, but first I have to know what it is I need to explain, and the trend points to sociological and psychological elements as well as the chameleonic behavior of flank follicles.
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Didn't I just say that?
So, I know you said that this is outdated now after Troubleshoes and everything, but I gotta ask about this. Cheerilee said in her first appearance that her cutie mark actually appeared overnight and was there when she woke up next morning. How does that figure into in the theory you explained in this blog? Or did you forget about that at the time (just like me and everybody else in the fandom)?
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Completely forgot about it. I suppose it's possible that that isn't the true story, but yeah, Cheerilee blows a gaping hole in this theory. That, or it was so blindingly obvious to everyone else that she was meant to be a teacher that the flowers appeared through communal awareness.
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What's your current cutie mark theory then, given all that and Troubleshoes?
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A pony always comprehends his or her cutie mark on at least a subconscious level, which is why Troubleshoes kept gravitating towards rodeos. An open, receptive state of mind quickly brings the pony to the correct conclusion, but misinterpreting the mark and being convinced that that misinterpretation is correct can lead to all kinds of... well, trouble.
I'm still holding to the community being a key component of cutiesynthesis. Those judges knew a rodeo clown when they saw one.
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Sounds basically like the conclusion I reached as well, minus the community aspect. Though you've made a good argument for its importance.