How Cutie Marks Came To Be
An old wizard unicorn named Greybeard gathered the Council Of Magic together for what he called a 'highly important meeting'.
The Council Of Magic was made up of all sorts of magic users across the newly united three tribes of pegasus ponies, earth ponies and unicorns. Clover the Clever, student of Star Swirl The Bearded, sat at the head of the council among some of the best magic welders in the land.
But Greybeard was a sort of an oddball and an outcast. He was always coming up with the most ridiculous spells.
Nonetheless, he was still powerful and could probably rival the magic of both Clover the Clever and Star Swirl if he really applied himself. So the other magic welders in the council let him speak, although rarely allowed his spells to be written down in the official records.
Today he stood up at the center podium facing the council and said, “This time my companions in wizarding I have created THE most important spell of our era…nay I say ever!”
A pegasus pony named Astra, who was famous for conjuring and controlling great storms on her own, rolled her eyes.
“And pray tell, what IS this great spell then?” She asked, less than amused.
“It is…THIS!”
Greybeard said some spell in an ancient runic language and a weird marking showed up on his flank. The marking had three rays of light pointing up from a gold crystal.
He pointed towards it with much enthusiasm. An earth pony magic wielder known as Cestrel, who was famous for her potions, leaned forward and examined the symbol.
“What…is it? Hurry up and explain Greybeard. The council does not have all day.”
The other council members muttered words of agreement as Greybeard puffed out his chest and replied, “I call it…a Cutie Mark!”
Every pony in the council exchanged confused glances.
Clover the Clever glanced at the strange marking and said “An odd name to be sure. But what does it DO?”
Greybeard let out a hearty laugh and replied, “Why it reveals your special talent. The thing you are destined to be. But only when the time is right! Think of the potential!”
A Zebra named Zander, who was famous for his enchantments, let out a heavy sigh then said, “Greybeard, a powerful wizard you may be, but this spell for sure does not impress me.”
There were grumbles of approval across the council. After some time, Clover the Clever got the other council members to settle down and then said to Greybeard, “Thank you for presenting this to the council, however this does not seem like something we should put on the records at this time.”
With that the meeting was called to a close and every pony left, rolling their eyes at Greybeard’s latest crazy invention.
But Greybeard this time was not going to give up so easily.
No. He had a plan.
That evening Greybeard retired to his study and he drew a magic grid of light on the floor. He uttered some ancient runic words and with a bright flash the entire room lit up.
He laughed mischievously as the magic grid expanded out into all of the world and his invention of Cutie Marks all of the sudden were on the flanks of most every pony…at least those who had found their hidden talent.
The next day Greybeard was awakened by a loud knocking on his front door. He opened it to see a very frustrated Astra who simply pointed towards her flank where there was now a picture of a tornado with two wings on either side.
Greybeard clapped his hooves together excitedly.
“Ah ha! You see. Your special talent of conjuring and controlling great storms on your own is right there! Brilliant!”
Astra grabbed Greybeard by the collar of his green wizard cloak and leaned in close as she asked, “What did you DO?”
Greybeard cleared his throat feeling a bit nervous and replied, “I…might have cast that spell I presented to the council on my own without permission. By the way I’m pretty sure it’s irreversible!”
Astra begun to shake angrily.
“Irreversible?? What do you mean it’s irreversible??”
Greybeard winced.
“Um…well these ancient runic characters I used can’t be reversed, they’re dicey like that. But don’t worry. I made sure that this spell was one hundred percent accurate, so no need to worry!”
Astra was feeling a bit faint as she let go of Greybeard’s collar and stumbled backward a bit.
“By the sun and the moon…the paperwork on this is going to be a nightmare. The council will have to answer so many questions. What if it causes a war?”
She was hyperventilating a bit as the earth pony council member Cestrel walked up behind her, right eye twitching.
“Greybeard, I have a picture of a potion bottle with magic coming out of it on my rear-end and I know YOU are to blame.” She seethed, barely able to contain her anger.
Greybeard grinned sheepishly and explained how he had cast an irreversible spell so that every pony would now get a Cutie Mark when their special talent was revealed.
Cestrel barely contained the urge to smack him right upside the head as she simply replied, “You. Did. What??”
It was now a few months later and Clover The Clever was swamped with complaints from every end of the kingdom about the Cutie Marks. He rubbed his temples as he replied for possibly the thousandth time that it was irreversible yet assuredly harmless and it would appear only when the hidden talent was revealed. The responses to these letters were mixed with some liking them and other demanding that the spell was reversed by some means.
No, the spell had not caused a war but certainly it caused months of headaches and paperwork that Clover The Clever had done his best, given the circumstances, to sort out.
And then there was the matter of Greybeard. Certainly his defiance against the council could not go unpunished. That’s why Clover sent Greybeard to deliver the messages he wrote to the concerned citizens personally, and then explain everything to each concerned citizen for himself.
All in all, this was one giant irreversible mess. He too was now stuck with the image of three green clovers on his flank whether he liked it or not. No spell in any of the recorded magic tomes could remove it…or any pony else’s marks. So it would seem this would be a permanent edition to the flanks of every mare and stallion in the newly united kingdom.
It was now about one year later and Greybeard was still banned from the council meetings. Star Swirl paid him a visit on a Wednesday and the two were sat at a table drinking tea.
“I take it the council still hasn’t forgiven you” Star Swirl said with a bit of a chuckle as he chatted with his old friend.
“Well Star Swirl, you know how it is with the youth. They think they are smarter and wiser than us old ones and they can do things better. So when they don’t listen, the only thing you CAN do, to knock some SENSE into them, is cause a bit mischief.” At this Greybeard winked at Star Swirl who now had a cutie mark of a dark blue swirl of magic on his flank.
Star Swirl smiled weakly and replied, “I’m sorry you’ve still been banned from the council Greybeard, but that spell you cast is of upmost importance. It will aid me and my student Clover in finding the two sisters who are destined to rule this land.”
Star Swirl held up an intricately designed compass that glowed a faint hue of gold then added, “This magic compass will point my student and I in the correct direction. The trail of their Cutie Mark magic will show the way.”
Greybeard smiled.
“Don’t worry about me, my friend. I’m old and am considering retirement anyway. The most important thing is you find these ponies. If they are indeed as powerful as the prophesy that Zander told the council has foretold, this new kingdom will be safe from outside threats. And I’ll bet that will be a great relief to you and the other five unicorns raising the moon and sun each day. A set of alicorns can handle this task with little issue.”
Star Swirl nodded as he tucked the compass into a pocket inside of his cloak.
“I won’t let your sacrifices go to waste dear friend. I’ll talk with Clover and straighten things out. In the meantime let’s enjoy this tea.”
The two spent the rest of the day chatting and exchanging their vast knowledge of magic.
It was indeed a long while after Star Swirl and Clover found the two sisters that the council pardoned Greybeard for his unauthorized use of magic, but Greybeard didn’t seem to mind. He had always been a very powerful and eccentric wizard who did things his own way.
Now he just had to think of the appropriate time to let Clover the Clever know about releasing the constellations free from their imprisonment in the sky, including the majestic creatures such as the Ursa Major and Minor to name a few, that were now roaming free on the planet.
He had a perfectly good reason for doing this, of course. It all had to do with setting destiny in motion regarding the fates of an alicorn princess and her friends. This of course was way in the future in a time he could barely fathom, as his mind was too caught up in the present era. But the Ursas were certainly involved in bringing together this group of friends with a blue unicorn with white hair who would later be important to the destiny of Equestria as well.
Greybeard pondered this and also Clover’s reaction.
At the present time, Clover the Clever was busy helping his mentor Star Swirl train the new pony princesses Luna and Celestia how to use their alicorn magic to ward off evil and raise the sun and the moon.
He didn’t want to spoil the general good mood that Clover had from helping his mentor Star Swirl with this new task.
So Greybeard being the wise wizard he was, decided that this would be a topic of discussion for another day.