"So what's with the, uh..."
"Yeah?"
"The mane, and the tail. And the horn I guess. What's with those?"
"I'm half kirin, on my mother's side."
"Oh. That's nice. How did that come about?"
"Well, I wasn't around for it, but, you know. Dad got around. He wasn't quite from around here either."
"I see. Does that have any other implications besides the looks? Do you have fire magic or something?"
"Not as far as I know. No angry flaming business for me. At least so far, though I do hope I don't find out in unfortunate circumstances. I've got enough problems under my hooves without accidentally burning down a building or something."
"Yeah. We only burn buildings on purpose here."
"Exactly. Hey. Since you asked that, can I ask you a question too?"
"Sure."
"What's your cutie mark about?"
"Do you want to get a closer look and try to guess?"
"I am not putting my face next to a filly's butt in a public space, thank you. You'll just have to tell me."
"Oh, fine. It's about analysing the abstract meaning of writing or something like that. If you look at it close enough you'll see it's actually a quill with an ink drop."
"Oh, that's pretty nice. Explains why you read so much."
"What about yours?"
"Huh?"
"Your cutie mark."
"It's a key."
"Yeah, I can see that. What does it represent? Are you good at opening gates or something?"
"Well, no, or at least not as far as I know. I think it's a visual metaphor for getting through to others. I'm good at talking to ponies and pushing them in certain directions. Creative directions, mostly. Knew a pegasus, an architect. I encouraged him to follow his heart and try his wing at being an artist in his spare time. Another friend I encouraged into being a writer. And, in general, talking to others, getting to know them. I think I'm good at that."
"Neat. Explains why you clicked so well with me, I guess. Put like that it's actually kind of weird. Does it ever feel weird?"
"Sometimes. Sometimes I tend to pry where maybe I shouldn't. It is what it is."
"You don't seem too upset about it."
"When it's your special talent, you get used to it. I think the difference is that most ponies' special talents are something that's more private, or at least privately done. Even when it's a publicly performed action, the action itself is confined to the individual. Specifically social cutie marks are a minority."
"I guess they are. Can't really think of too many examples off the top of my head. None at all, really, but I'm sure there are others with similar talents."
"There ought to be. I really don't think I'm that special. I'd like to talk to someone else with a similar talent, actually. That would probably be fun. Or deeply unsettling if we deliberately started to get under each other's skin the way I know I can do and usually deliberately avoid. Which is its own kind of fun."