Ponies Behaving Badly
Lyra Heartstrings and Twilight Sparkle
When it comes to discussions about the arrival of Lero in Equestria, the first question many ponies start with is: how did his arrival affect our society? The answers usually range across the broad political effects of interspecies relationships on society as a whole, or the implications of allowing an individual representing yet another carnivorous species settle within the borders of Equestria.
Very little thought seems to be given to the effects Lero has on individuals; the relationships, the benefits they gain from having him amongst them, or the way ponies might change the way they look at the world after meeting him. Neither is much thought given to how Lero affects our perception of one another at this individual level. This book was assembled, at least in part, as an attempt to understand these individual effects.
Any friendship will alter our perception of the world in one way or another. With friends we might learn new skills or pleasures, or might pick up knowledge about something we’ve done for years that places that activity in a completely different light. Friendship is the foundation that allows us to grow, as individuals and as a group, and to expand our horizons. No individual could learn to do everything in the world, much as it might pain some of us to admit that, but we can always find friends who are capable of those things we need at some time or another.
Some friendships alter us more than others. Friendships that endure great lengths of time will change us subtly over many years, molding our thoughts in ways that we probably never perceive or even understand. Others may be short but powerful associations that change us abruptly, opening our minds to completely new possibilities and ways of thinking.
In any case, as much as these relationships open us up to others, they also reveal much about our own self, often by challenging our preconceptions and revealing the differences between our actions and the way we believe we act.
In that sense, Lero is not unusual, for any friendship can be so revealing. He simply became another friend to many ponies, another familiar face with another set of skills and attributes others found they could rely on and wanted to be around.
In another sense, however, Lero is extremely unusual. When he first arrived, he had no idea at all of how Equestrian society functioned. It was only the process of becoming friends with several ponies that gave him any understanding at all, and even today there are still elements of our culture he doesn’t fully appreciate.
It was through that process of education and befriending that we began to consciously examine many of the unconscious assumptions we make about our society. In order to explain, it was necessary for us to fully understand the motivations that drive our social interactions. The writing of this book continues that process; as we attempt to outline our society for other outsiders, we are also providing a means through which we can examine that same society from an external perspective.
Already we’ve considered the role of clothing in Equestrian society and the possible social assumptions behind that; perceptions of class, social status and desirability are all influenced by the clothing a pony might or might not choose to wear. We’ve also very briefly touched on the idea that many ponies are simply unaware of their full potential, often limiting their perception of their role and abilities based on their own beliefs and the beliefs of others. The majority of those beliefs tend to be formed visually, based on tribe, appearance, clothing choices (if any), name and, often with greater influence than all those other elements combined.
The Cutie Mark
It’s rare to find anyone who doesn’t know what a Cutie Mark is, and opinions on the subject inside and outside Equestrian society are as wide and varied as the marks themselves. For a long time, in many of the cultures that didn’t have them, the Cutie Mark was perceived as a sign of slavery or servitude, thanks in no small part to its lengthy association with trades and abilities.[1] Even within Equestria there have been occasional movements and individuals who took a similar view, some of whom sought to diminish the role of the Mark, or even looked for ways to eradicate it entirely.[2]
In contrast, the prevailing view of the Cutie Mark within Equestria is that it provides direction and affirmation of a pony’s life-choices. Some call the mark a display of the pony’s innate being[3], or a piece of a pony’s very soul. Others raise it as evidence that ponies are “blessed by purpose”[4], though the question of who is doing the blessing is never answered. The implication of this latter belief is that those species who do not express a Cutie Mark are, in some way, lacking the same blessing.
Whatever the opinions may be, the fact remains that the Cutie Mark is a feature of life in Equestria and that a great deal of attention is paid to both its appearance and its form. Yet it was not always so. For much of our species’ history the Cutie Mark played a very different role.
A Brief History of the Equestrian Mark
The cutie mark phenomenon is ancient and prevalent amongst many sapient species around the world. The original purpose and origin of the Cutie Mark is something of a mystery, however, especially given there are no recorded instances of any sort of cutie-mark analogue appearing in non-sapient species.
One theory places its first expression prior to the divergence of the subgenera Equus and Hippotigris from a common ancestor, as evidenced by the fact that the sapient descendants of both subgenera carry cutie marks of some description. The subtly different purpose of a Zebra cutie mark is not, however, accounted for by this theory, nor is the fact that other sapient equine species don’t carry such marks, despite descent from the same common ancestor, whilst several non-equine species do.[5]
A second and increasingly popular theory holds that the cutie mark is an adaptation of multiple species to a prevailing set of arcane environmental conditions, which allows for both the multi-species issue and the fact that cutie marks in different species do fulfill related, but subtly different roles. This theory holds that the Cutie Mark evolved on multiple occasions as different species adapted to exploit the prevailing background magical field, and may be linked to conscious exploitation of certain categories of magic.[6]
The lack of a cutie mark amongst dragons paradoxically supports this second theory. All Dracomorphidae are by necessity adapted to exploit magic, as they would be physically incapable of flight otherwise. Yet, whilst several species of Draconis are capable of some indirect magical manipulation through their fire projection, they have none of the conscious ability to directly control and focus magic through their own body, and carry no analogues of the biological structures necessary for this conscious manipulation.[7]
A third theory holds that the cutie mark was a practical joke played by a vengeful trickster god for reasons that defy explanation. It’s not a particularly popular theory but it never quite seems to die, and gained some renewed interest after the brief restoration of Discord several years ago.
Whatever their origin, we know that cutie marks have long been held as something almost sacred amongst all three of the Pony tribes, with a great deal of effort and research expended on attempting to predict or influence their appearance.
Amongst the Unicorn tribes of the pre-classical period, the appearance of the Mark, then known as Sanguis Signii, or ‘blood sign’, was already perceived as a significant event, yet its role was very different to that which it plays in contemporary society. Far from defining a pony’s special talent, the Mark was viewed as a direct indication of their perceived status.
Similar marks tended to run in Unicorn families and often signified a particular social position rather than a particular skill, though many of the “socially superior” occupations tended to also be hereditary. The similarity of certain features of the Mark between dam and foal was used as a measure of the bloodline’s purity and continuity and it is possible to find many generations of ancient unicorns bearing almost identical marks. When a Cutie Mark began to alter its expression, losing or gaining features determined to be important, it could signify the elevation or ruination of a family.[8]
In some Unicorn clans it was common, when a cutie mark appeared with highly distinctive additional features, to give the pony a nomen sanguinis verum or “true-blood name”, in the belief that the cutie mark represented their true identity. Starswirl is known to have been one such pony, a late hold-out of this old tradition in an era when the cutie mark had ceased to have such close association with social position amongst the Unicorn Kingdoms.[9]
The concept of the sundorcræft, “Special Art”, also dates from the pre-classical era and was prevalent first amongst the earth pony tribes. However, in most earth pony nations, the Cutie Mark was not originally associated with the sundorcræft, but instead acted in a similar way to the zebra tribal mark[10], signifying membership of specific herd-clans and even specific herds.
Such ties were not necessarily hereditary, however. Earth Pony herd-clans functioned both as familial and professional associations. Whilst the majority of a herd-clan would be related by blood and marriage, a significant number of a clan’s members would be inductees who sought membership to exercise their sundorcræft or to even discover what that Art would be. Earth Pony herd-clans thus also resembled professional guilds, and many would eventually become the foundation of the Guilds of the Silvanum Liberi system in Trottingham.[11]
The Mark seldom appeared before the age of fifteen amongst Earth Ponies; this was generally the time when a pony would have found their Art and made the transition from apprentice to journeymare. Over time the link between a pony’s Art, her clan-herd and its associated cutie mark meant that, when new trades and professions began to develop, new cutie marks began to appear alongside them. This, however, was a very late development and is now considered to be part of the boundary of the transition to the Classical Era.
In fact it was only within the ancient Pegasi that anything even remotely resembling current beliefs about the Cutie Mark can be found in the early pre-classical era, and even there the Mark more often signified acts of bravery and spirit rather than talent as such. The stigma of a “blank flank” was unknown amongst the Pegasi in this era, and it was not uncommon for pegasi - especially those not involved in warfare - to go their entire lives without expressing a mark. Those that did were revered and honoured as heroes and granted incredible influence and wealth, but were also expected to live up to their acquired status as veteran warriors and serve in the militia for what would likely be the rest of their lives.[12]
The most common means for a Pegasus to gain a mark was in war, of which there were many in that era, leading to the naming of the mark as a σάρκος τροπαιον, or “flesh trophy”.[13] Great store was set on capturing another pony’s Mark and many of the more accomplished army commanders would lead their warriors into battle behind a banner made from the captured marks of their prior conquests. Veteran warriors with marks were generally placed at the head of any army and would display their flanks to their opponents to show their prowess in battle. In this way they hoped to turn their opponents before battle and thus save themselves the trouble of dying in a messy way.
The Mark in Contemporary Society
In historical terms, then, it becomes clear that the Cutie Mark, far from being the final arbiter of a pony’s profession and purpose, is largely a social construct whose role changes in time and according to the prevailing collective opinion. Contemporary beliefs surrounding the Cutie Mark are, like much else about our society, an amalgam of the more positive historical beliefs of earlier eras.
In many ways, as with many other contemporary cultural practices[14], it is Earth Pony culture that appears to dominate the popularly expressed beliefs about the Cutie Mark. It was Earth Pony culture that first developed the idea of the Cutie Mark as a representation of a pony’s professional associations, just as it developed the idea of the sondorcræft before that. With the influence of the Pegasus belief of the Cutie Mark as a reward for an act, the Mark became a de facto definition of a pony’s abilities as defined by the first performance of their special talent; with the further influence of the Unicorn belief in the Cutie Mark as a sign of social standing, its appearance became a celebrated and desirable event that was hoped to occur as early in a pony’s life as possible, whilst its lack of appearance became stigmatised.
The common thread throughout this entire process has been one of belief. It is an individual’s belief, derived from and reinforced by a collective belief, that appears to define the form and timing of her Cutie Mark. As belief about the purpose of the Cutie Mark has changed, so has the expression of the same mark.
That it is belief that defined the Cutie Mark is fairly simple to verify. If the Cutie Mark really were an unchanging natural phenomenon that defined and displayed a pony’s special talent, it would not have altered its method of expression over history, yet it has done so.
Variation in the way cutie marks express would demonstrate that the universal aspect of the Cutie Mark as a measure of Special Talent is not, in fact universal.
Finally, if an obvious delineation along tribal lines were also verifiable, this would further evince our thesis by demonstrating that the still-evident cultural differences were altering an individual pony’s perception of the precise purpose of their cutie mark. However, this is not as necessary as a demonstration of general differences in belief.
To begin with, it is easy to point to non-Equestrian examples of Cutie Marks that serve sometimes radically different roles.
One such is the Hindi Jāti, in which the Cutie Mark analogue defines both a Hind’s caste and her ritual link to the Mahadeervi, if any. Their bucks rarely, if ever, display any sort of mark at all. Those that do are revered as holy and usually end up ensconced at a local temple.
In Zebrican tribal practice, the Cutie Mark, known as a Taruma, is gained as part of a Zebra’s rite of passage to adulthood that takes place around the age of thirteen. Mataruma are said to only appear when the filly or colt believes they have become an adult, after which they are given their new adult name and leave on a months-long quest to find their new identity. Lack of a mark is not usually stigmatised, but regarded as simple acceptance of the fact that a foal does not yet feel ready to progress to adulthood. When the mark does appear, it usually resembles those of the tribe, and rarely deviates from this pattern, thus binding the tribe together.[15]
Within Equestrian society it is also possible to find individual examples of marks that don’t follow the broadly accepted narrative of a Cutie Mark’s manifestation. There are clan-based cutie marks, such as those of the Apple and Orange clans, which rarely deviate from the broad theme of Apples and apple-related trades, and there are single-achievement-based cutie marks, most often found amongst the Pegasi. The appearance of social-status cutie marks as was once common amongst the Unicorns is a more troublesome subject, as the heraldic forms are no longer sought out and catalogued.[16]
The question finally comes down to individuals, as it always must. Whilst the broad set of beliefs concerning Cutie Marks may define the general rule, there exist many individual examples that contradict that rule. It is through a sample of these that our ultimate proof is found.
Rainbow Dash
Until she became the first mare to court the first (and so far only) human to live in Equestria, Rainbow Dash was most famous for two things: her role as the Element of Loyalty, and the singular achievement of performing a ‘Sonic Rainboom’ not once, but several times, a feat unheard of for many hundreds of years. She is the lead mare of Lero’s herd (and hates being called the lead mare of Lero’s herd), head manager of Ponyville’s weather management team and a dedicated athlete.
Rainbow’s cutie mark is intimately linked to her early performance of the Sonic Rainboom. The story doesn’t need to be repeated here, except to point out that such a feat requires the sort of concentration and dedication that not many ponies possess even after many years of training.
At first glance her cutie mark, a multi-hued lightning bolt emerging from a cloud, appears obvious. Yet, whilst Rainbow Dash is a highly talented athlete (some might say freakishly so, but not usually to her face) who takes her weather work as seriously as her athletic performance, her Cutie Mark is not particularly representative of either ability. She is neither a storm nor lightning specialist, and her Cutie Mark appeared before she even considered a career in the weather service.
Rainbow’s cutie mark is, as with those of the Pegasi of old, intimately linked to a single feat of bravery and athleticism. In many ways this tallies with the prevailing attitude of Pegasus society, which still values competitive activities and maintains a strong military tradition despite long mingling with the other tribes.[17]
It is certainly no accident that there is no equivalent of the Wonderbolts amongst the unicorns and earth ponies; such a team appeals to the ancient customary pursuit of adventure and greatness. Likewise, the setting of the Daring Do novels, whilst appealing to a broad audience, is firmly entrenched in the Pegasus milieu of the heroic pursuit.
Thus Rainbow Dash, like many pegasi, appears to manifest a Cutie Mark that is based on a single, potentially non-repeatable act of bravery rather than talent, due to subconscious belief in, and admiration for, the ideal of the Pegasus warrior pursuing immortality through heroic deeds.
Lyra Heartstrings
Lyra often claims that the only reason she courted Lero was because she spent so much time shadowing him that she might as well make things official. In truth she had shown an interest in Lero long before even Rainbow Dash, but had not seen any real opportunity to make her intentions known until several months after Twilight joined Lero’s herd.
Of the three, Lyra’s cutie mark is the most obvious and descriptive, representing an archaic harp or lyre, and easily interpreted as an affinity for music. It’s also the most inaccurate, if cutie marks are assumed to only show a pony’s special talent. Whilst Lyra is an accomplished musician, singer and songwriter, these days her true talent lies in her mastery of the Unicorn martial art known as The Still Way (for more information on The Still Way, we recommend picking up a copy of Solemn Spring Blossom’s Stand Still So I Don’t Need To Hit You; The essential guide to unicorn martial culture and the Still Way), and a few other related skills.
Nevertheless, music is a passion for Lyra and forms a large part of the meditative practice she invokes in her training.
Lyra’s cutie mark appeared at a relatively early age, as Lyra took up the harp to find an escape for what she terms her ‘troubled’ years (I said they were uneasy. And it’s not a harp, it’s a clàrsach. - LH) and soon found she was extremely proficient at it. However, once her cutie mark had settled, Lyra began to feel she was still missing something, and eventually sought to fill the void through meditation and the practice of martial arts, which she believed would develop her focus and improve her musical abilities.
As things turned out she found that the reverse was true; her musical talent formed part of her meditation and her natural inclination to rhythm, particularly the effortless improvisation she finds so relaxing, allowed her to master the forms of her chosen art in ways most ponies are unable to achieve.
Twilight Sparkle
composed by Lyra Heartstrings
Daughter of Star Sparkle and Duke Lucent Noctis de Smaragdvea, well known as the personal student of Princess Celestia, the Element of Magic and a prodigious purple polymath pony of great repute, Twilight Sparkle’s single greatest talent is magic. According to the many biographies about her, Twilight is considered to be the most powerful magic user in all of Equestria and quite possibly the world, depending on how the measure is taken (Actually I’m fourth, after the Princesses and a couple of other court magi. See, I can nitpick things too, Lyra! - TS).
In fact, Twilight’s single greatest talent is writing lists and checking them at least twice. There are few things that give her greater pleasure than a well-ordered list, and we shall not be exploring those things today.
Twilight’s Cutie Mark consists of a large star surrounded by several smaller stars. Stars are a common feature of unicorn Cutie Marks amongst those with a powerful magical heredity or those who claim descent from the great unicorn houses of old.
Magic, they say, is all it took to make it so, yet Twilight’s inheritance is both powerful and unique. Sparkles have long been wielders of power and once counted amongst that number who raised the very sun and moon, a legacy of pride and accomplishment so strong that their very name itself became hereditary.
Twilight’s mark is not unique, though its circumstances claim otherwise. Her brother, the guard and captain to the Princess shares a mark of similar form; Twilight’s Grand Star, his mother's trio and a shield. The Grand Star appears time and time again in the Sparkle heritage and nowhere else, and was once a sign of leadership as well as power. That Shining Armour bears it is no coincidence for, in his heart of hearts, he believed he would one day wield such leadership and power, yet always be subservient to those three stars, the crown, the ponies and the law.
And Twilight? Her star reaches out to everypony, drawing them all to her influence and skill. She knew one day she’d organise the entire world.
(I’m keeping this in only because we’re a week away from the deadline and there’s no time to write something more academic. - TS)
(Where is the poetry of your soul, Twilight Sparkle? -LH)
(Safely on a shelf where it belongs. -TS)
Editor’s Note: The prior exchanges were left intact as a minor demonstration of the mindset of these ponies I’ve had to work with for the last year and a half. It’s not professional of me, but I feel justified. -Argus Wright, Editor
The Importance of Belief in the Mark
Cutie Marks are uniquely definitive within Equestrian society. They determine not only a pony’s likely career, but often confirm or define a pony’s social status and influence in society. It’s certainly rare to encounter a pony who doesn’t believe that their Cutie Mark determines one or more of these factors; in many cases everything a pony believes about her life hinges on the manifestation and form of her cutie mark.
In many families it has become fashionable to attempt to influence a pony’s mark by giving her a career-oriented name. If, as we contend, the Cutie Mark is truly influenced by belief, then it is perhaps not surprising that so many marks are closely related to a pony’s name in some way. Examples are too numerous to list but are easy to encounter.
It becomes clear, then, that the Cutie Mark is at least partly defined by the pony’s belief about what they have achieved, and that belief is influenced by the social paradigm in which the pony is embedded. In ancient Pegalopolis, a pony who achieved a mark for bravery did so because they believed that was the process by which they achieved a mark. Likewise, in modern society, if a pony believes they have found their “special talent”, a mark appears based on that belief. It is also apparent that enough of the cultural differences between the tribes still exist to influence how that belief is expressed.
As we have already touched upon, one almost universal belief on the subject, a belief that persisted throughout the classical era and is still consciously expressed today, was that ponies, marked by the gods and granted their special talent, were uniquely blessed with purpose, unlike the surrounding species who bore no such mark. Even the lowest earth pony serf could take solace in this ‘fact’ and proclaim himself touched by a higher power than his donkey neighbour.
Belief then, rather than talent, seems to define the mark, its role and its manifestation.
This might be a source of some considerable problems for a pony whose mark is not immediately obvious, or who came to believe that their “talent” was something other than that which they are good at. How often do ponies limit themselves based on a mark they sincerely believed was the truth, when they could well have talents that lie elsewhere?
In fact the vast majority do not seem to limit themselves, despite the socially defined norm. Time after time one may find a pony whose sundorcræft is completely unrelated to her primary occupation, whose special talent is in fact a pleasurable hobby rather than her sole vocation.
Yet, even when this is so, society assumes that a special talent and its associated cutie mark is the primary means of identifying a pony’s place. And, as we’ve already seen, such misidentification of social role can lead to confusion and conflict as the pony in question challenges the preconceptions of those around her.
Yet society as a whole seems to function in spite of this. The collective belief surrounding the subject of the Cutie Mark is flexible enough to cope with the manifestation of cutie marks that do not obviously relate to a particular occupation and diverse and creative explanations are brought out to explain why a particular cutie mark is tied to a particular occupation. Far from being divisive, the interpretation of the Cutie Mark is a unifying force as ponies come together to learn more about one another, in the process both challenging and reaffirming their relationships to one another.
Chapter References:
[1] Double Lock - The Revolutionary Mark (Victor Plebia Books, 1176)
[2] Cloaked Stone - Toward the Freedom of the Common Pony: A treatise on the means by which the Mark of Slavery shall be eradicated and all ponies rendered equal in their own sight (Pangolin reprint, 1048)
[3] Tingul Shiver - Window of the Soul (Pangolin, 1162)
[4] Anonymous - The Struggle of Pony Kind (Hockenstabilsbösenherausgeber, 1106)
[5] Inevitable Ascent - On the Origin of Cutie Marks (Oddjob Books, 1132)
[6] Rocky Riverbed - The Universal Mark (The effects of the background magical field on sapient species) (Trottingham University Press, 1177)
[7] Tamare Hensfilly - The Evolution and Classification of the Dragon (Cavelbridge University Press, 1187)
[8] Hippian - History of the Unicorn Kingdoms
[9] Starswirl the Bearded - Starswirl the Bearded: The Most Handsome Stallion In All The World (an autobiography) - 1500th anniversary edition (Canterlot University Press 1152)
[10] Professor Star Sparkle - Zebrican Tribal Mythologies (Cavelbridge University Press, 1191)
[11] Bon Cellesti - All In The Family: Uncanny Resemblances Between the Guild System and Organised Crime (Victor Plebia Books, 1160)
[12] A practice many times satirised by the Roaman poet Coltulus, most famously in Tears for Pegalopolis’s Sparrow.
[13] Sunset Aura - The Gemwing Wars: The Definitive History (Oddjob Stable, 1162)
[14] Superior Conjunction - The Earth Pony: The fertiliser from which the rose of culture grows (Reed River, 1144)
[15] Professor Star Sparkle - Three Days, Six Hours and Eleven Minutes with the Ngulube Tribe and Not a Moment Longer (Canterlot University Press, 1189)
[16] Dusty Tomes - The Heraldic Elements of the Sanguis Signii (Reed River, 1104)
[17] Sunset Aura - The Warrior Culture and the Modern Pegasus (Oddjob Stable, 1178)