Talents and Futures of the Cutie Mark Crusaders · 4:39pm Jan 2nd, 2018
Introduction: In vanilla canon, it's obvious that the destinies of the Cutie Mark Crusaders have been very much shaped by their friendship with each other, and their repeated attempts to find their Cutie Marks linked their Talent epiphanies. This to the point that they actually got their Cutie Marks simultaneously, and their Cutie Marks are linked by all being within the same shield design that they made as their symbol. And, as we've seen, as a group they seem to have the collective Talent of helping other Ponies realize their destinies.
But I do think that they have their own Talents, and possibly separate as well as linked destinies. Here are my speculations on the subject, which I sort of outlined in some of the side parts of Twelfth Equestrad Interview.
I. Apple Bloom: She has one of the most complex and productive Talents. Apple Bloom is a natural engineer, as we've repeatedly seen in the CMC episodes -- she's the one who always builds the most effective structures, buildings or devices. What's more, she has an affinity for chemistry, as we've seen in her loose apprenticeship to Zecora.
Put these together and you have a chemical engineer. This is why, in my Shadow Wars Story Verse, she becomes one of the most capable life support systems engineers in the history of Ponykind, and plays an important role in the colonization of various other worlds, including the Moon and Mars. She becomes famous in Pony histories as "Apple Bloom the Younger, the Pioneer" (her great-great-grandmother Apple Bloom the Elder, the Pilgrim, being the one who started the migration which led to the foundation of Ponyville). Her destiny is to spread Earthlife to other worlds.
I'm not the only one who has thought along these lines. In the Fallout: Equestria story verse, Apple Bloom founds StableTec and builds the Stables (vast, well-equipped long-duration underground bomb and fallout shelters) which play a key role in saving something of Equestrian culture and ppulation, thus enabling the emergence in the future of heroes like Littlepip and Blackjack, and thus saving Ponykind from both death and evil. Note the key skills required to design the Stables are exactly those required to colonize other worlds.
II. Sweetie Belle: She is very obviously a singer, as shown all the way back in "The Stare Master." Her voice has considerable range and power even in early adolesence, and there is no particular reason to think her abilities won't improve as she reaches full adulthood.
In the Shadow Wars Story Verse, Sweetie Belle becomes one of the most famous singers of the Shadow Wars, to the point that she's still popular a whole generation later, simply because she made so many wartime fans. She seems to be developing in that direction in vanilla canon as well. She's definitely the most superficially-attractive of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, though she has a pronounced dark side similar to that of her elder sister Rarity.
III. Scootaloo: In vanilla canon Scootaloo has demonstrated extraordinary agility and reflexes, and there is something odd about her flightfield. She seems to be unable to use it to fly on her own, yet clearly uses it to propel and control towed vehicles to a very high degree of capability.
In the Shadow Wars Story Verse, what's going on is that Scootlaoo has a naturally very large and powerful flight field, but her problem when young is that she needs to learn to confine it to herself while flying solo. She hasn't been able to fly because she's trying to lift not only herself but everything for yards around her, which when young is beyond even her great strength.
When Scootaloo tows or occupies a vehicle, however, she can easily and naturally focus her flightfield on the vehicle. Consequently, she is an awesomely gifted driver or pilot. In the future, Scootaloo becomes the greatest fighter pilot in the world: the "Max Sterling" (see Robotech) of the Shadow Wars.
She also learns to better control her flightfield. At age 22, one of her first really notable heroic deeds is the Samson-like destruction of the Pegasus Device by lifting it in her flightfield and throwing the multi-ton object into the main powerplant of the New Mandatial flying base, crippling their rebellion and leading the would-be sacrifices to safety. This is a feat far beyond the capability of most Pegasi.
In vanilla canon we don't know what's going to happen, but her Cutie Mark implies that she's going to do something truly awesome involving flight. What, exactly, is uncertain. It's possible that when she learns to focus her field properly, she'll be capable of Sonic Rainbooms, or something else of that sort.
Conclusion: We don't know exactly what the CMC will do as they mature, but I feel confident in my prediction that, whatever it is, it'll be something very brave and special and important to the world.
The Crusaders definitely have some individual skills represented by the literal deeper symbolism of their cutie marks. I've always believed that marks have layers upon layers of meaning, implication, and imparted ability. Most ponies just don't consider more than one or two of those layers, since those were how they got the marks and they've never had to give much thought to their talents since. Those with more adventurous and demanding lives, like the Bearers, the other princesses, and Daring Do (who probably never imagined that her mark could help her find ways out of Bond-villain-tier elaborate deathtraps when she went on her first dig) have found those greater depths out of necessity.
Also, I quite like your hypothesis for Scootaloo's flightlessness. Heck, it might be supported by "Parental Glideance." Past a certain altitude, all that's within range of Scootaloo's flight field is air, allowing her to turn herself from a blind-fired projectile into a living guided missile. (That said, her arrival in the Hothoof-Whistles residence's front yard was more likely dumb luck. Or a side benefit of being one of destiny's hoofmaidens, but now we're getting into my interpretation of things.
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I feel stupid for asking but what is Shadow Wars?
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The Shadow Wars Story Verse is my story verse. The premise is that Ponykind, and all Earthlife, are under attack by evil beings from another dimension -- the Night Shadows, the creatures that corrupted the Pony who became King Sombra, and turned Luna into Nightmare Moon. The Shadow Wars, roughly, last from the first episode of the Show to about 24 years after Luna's Liberation.
Note I agree with you assessment, but add one more, I also think that in doing the center of their marks, they still individually inspire and strengthen others talents and spirits; Sweetie with music, Apple Bloom with her work, and Scootaloo with her deeds.