Magic and Cutie Marks · 9:22pm May 4th, 2013
When I commented on the songs in the season 3 finale (seriously, why do I keep writing blogs about you?), I had quite a bit to say about the cutie mark switch song. If you haven't read that, head on over if you like. Or, just read the summary here.
The major complaint I had with the song is it seemed to destroy the idea of free will in Equestria. Since each of the mane six (except Twi) are seemingly forced to things they don't like because "it's what my cutie mark is telling me," it made me wonder if this is how all cutie marks behave, and I've spent quite a while trying to figure out the implications this episode has on the nature of cutie marks.
Well, I'm happy to say I've come up with an answer, and here it is: nothing. At least, nothing we didn't already know. Why? Because when cutie marks and magic mix, it just messes up everything.
Let me illustrate with "The Cutie Pox"--the episode and the horribly debilitating pony disease. In this episode, Apple Bloom uses a magic potion to make her cutie mark appear. A cutie mark does appear--several, actually--and Apple Bloom is forced to perform talents relating to each mark that appears on her body. In my song review, I talked about how this is radically different from how cutie marks ordinarily behave--Twilight is not constantly forced to use magic, for example.
This explains Twilight and Apple Bloom's interaction in "Call of the Cutie." When Apple Bloom asks Twi to use magic to make her cutie mark appear, Twi doesn't say it can't be done at first, only that that's not the way it should be done. Twi eventually breaks down and uses a spell to make pictures appear on Apple Bloom's flank (whether she was actually trying to make a cutie mark appear or whether she was just humoring Apple Bloom to make her drop the subject is up to interpretation).
From these two instances, we can conclude two things: first, cutie marks and magic should never mix ("Pox"), and Twi either a) does not know a spell that can reveal a cutie mark, or b) is not willing to even attempt such a thing (my headcanon says b, but whatever).
Now, let's return to the switch in "Mystery Cure." The cutie mark switch is caused by an experimental, incomplete spell created by possibly the most powerful unicorn of his age and cast by probably the most powerful unicorn of her age (if not all time) through the most powerful magical artifacts known to ponydom. That's a ridiculous amount of magic, so we would expect the resulting cutie marks to work differently than normal. So really, how can we safely conclude anything from them?
Here's an interesting thought, though. Twilight's books never say how the cutie pox first appeared. It showed up during the "paleopony period," whatever that is, and it doesn't appear to have been widespread, affecting "a population" of ponies. A cure was never discovered, but the disease did vanish mysteriously. In "Mystery Cure," we learn that Starswirl created a spell that could switch cutie marks around and alter a pony's destiny, apparently in an attempt to become an alicorn. The ingredients for Apple Bloom's potion, chiefly Heart's Desire, don't appear to be scarce, since Zecora comes to buy more in town toward the end of "Pox" and also affects cutie marks.
So, to summarize:
-Cutie pox last seen a long time ago, affected a smallish group of ponies, cause and cure never found, vanished mysteriously
-Starswirl experiments with cutie marks (apparently tied to destiny) a long time ago
-Ingredients for a potion causing the cutie pox easy to get
Connection?
~Scribs
Haven't you posted this before, or am I going crazy?
It's seems likely that it's nothing more than pure coincidence, but it's an interesting thing to think about. Certainly, it would at least make for an intriguing fic, or sub-plot of a longer fic.
I do agree though that you can't really draw any conclusions about cutie marks and destinies based off MMC, simply because, as you said, when magic gets thrown into the mix, it fucks with everything. Although, arguably, the very existence of cutie marks is magical in nature, but I suppose when you add an individual's magic, or external magic in general, that's when things get out of hand.
1054560 Um... I don't think so. I had a lengthy cutie mark rant in another blog post, and I covered a lot of the same things ("Pox" in particular). This is more of a follow-up/correction.
1054606 The thought came to me as I was writing. It's unlikely the paleopony period and pre-classical era were at the same time however I try and reckon it, but it's something I'll probably think about off and on.
1054671
And now I have to start contemplating this again..
Thank you Scribs.
My current headcanon is that cutie marks make you catastrophically stupid. It's the only possible explanation for the finale episode.
1054720 Scribblestick: Ruining your headcanon one blog post at a time.
1055467
Hell, when I was editing/proofing for you, you gave me SO much to think about that you made Twilight overload..
And not really ruining headcanon; just adjusting to agree/disagree with new perspectives.
~Sparky
1056159 That's good to know. And a healthy attitude to have regarding opposing viewpoints.
1056240
Which in my honest opinion is how everyone Everywhere should react to other's opinions..
1056269 That would be nice, wouldn't it?
1056585
you lose some. 
I think in the end it seems that it's too much to ask. Ah well. You win some,
That's quite the interesting theory you've got there. Now you're making me think a lot about this... Headcanon, ahoy!
Does this means that Starswirl was evil?
1089493 I don't think so. Any connection Starswirl may have had with the ancient cutie pox is speculative at best, and it's really just an interesting correlation I noticed while writing this blog. As alexmagnet pointed out, it's probably coincidence, but it's fun to think about sometimes.