We've previously established that Apple Bloom is somewhat behind the other two crusaders in terms of fan popularity. This isn't to say she's unpopular or even disliked - just that, relatively speaking, she falls into the background somewhat compared to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

It's probably no coincidence that her sister, Applejack, faces the same problem among the Mane 6. You've likely all heard the common criticisms about AJ: she's difficult to write for, difficult to make interesting, doesn't have as much character as the others, is a glorified background pony, etc.

Apple Bloom has undoubtedly inherited some of these problems, but by no means to the same extent. Unlike Applejack, whose problems largely stem from the fact that she's set in her ways, Apple Bloom has plenty of room to grow.

So what do we know about Apple Bloom? Here's a few things:

1. Like her sister, AB can be stubborn, and in fact, this is one of the few sources of conflict between AB and AJ, who otherwise have a very close relationship. We see this in "Bridle Gossip", when AB is convinced that she's correct about Zecora, even when everypony thinks otherwise.

2. Apple Bloom's main driving force is to get her cutie mark. While the other Crusaders share this desire, there are hints in the show that they're not quite as determined as she is. An occasional theme in Apple Bloom stories is AB dealing with the loss of this motivation once she actually does get her cutie mark.

3. As mentioned, AB is an extremely determined pony. She'll try anything to get her cutie mark, even once crossing the line into immorality when she steals the Hearts Desire plant from Zecora in "The Cutie Pox".

4. She has a slightly devious side: in "Bridle Gossip" she happily exploits Applejack's reduced size to overrule her, sneakily steals the Hearts Desire in "The Cutie Pox", and comes up with a scheme to defeat Babs in "One Bad Apple". She's not a bad pony, but isn't afraid to disregard rules, a trait she shares with her fellow CMCs.

5. Her special talent is arts and crafts, possibly carpentry, as seen in "The Show Stoppers", and later in "One Bad Apple", where she (presumably) builds parade floats. This makes her a useful resource for any kind of Crusader scheme which might require specialised equipment.

6. She's an earth pony, and also a farmpony, so it can be inferred that she's physically strong and fit, although not noticeably more so than the other CMCs. That said, she can likely absorb more damage than Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, and you can easily imagine her exploiting that to protect her friends. Although physically fit, she's not an athlete, and has shown no inclination to become one, even though she admires her sister's athletic abilities. She isn't very graceful, either, which implies all her points are in STR rather than DEX. Oh wait, this isn't D&D. ^^

7. She used to be friends with Twist. The extent of that relationship isn't clear; it's possible Twist was the only pony left without a cutie mark at that point. Certainly we never see her resume that friendship after Twist gets her cutie mark. This suggests that Apple Bloom may have some difficulty in making friends. Would she have ever befriended Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle if they weren't blank flanks?

8. She can persuade reluctant ponies with the power of puppy dog eyes. Given that she never uses this ability after the first episode, it's likely not something she can do voluntarily (otherwise she would have been a great salesmare ;) )

9. She has a very close relationship with Applejack, who fills a role as both sister and mother to her. One thing she seems to lack is a father figure - Big Mac is likely too shy to fill that role beyond the occasional stern telling off. Despite that, she has never sought such a figure, so it's probably not a problem for her. She loves her family, even her extended family, and is always happy to see relatives.

10. Apple Bloom's parents are, it's pretty safe to say at this point, dead, and likely died when she was very young, so that she has no memory of them. One of the most common Apple Bloom story themes is her trying to find out what happened to her parents. Because she has such a loving family, however, her lack of parents doesn't bother her as much as, for example, orphan Scootaloo, who usually has no other family.

11. She can't cook, which is surprising given that she lives on a farm with the best baker in Ponyville, works in the food industry, and is an earth pony.

12. She appears to have some skill with a loop-de-hoop (hula hoop), as seen in "The Cutie Pox". It's not exactly clear how much of her skill is due to the Hearts Desire, but she implied that she has been practising loop-de-hoop skills since she was little - and this is believable, given that she would have grown up on a farm with little to do. It also ties in nicely with Applejack's rope skills (and we know from "A Friend in Deed" that Apple Bloom isn't so good with a rope. ;) )

13. Although it's never implied that she's any kind of a fashionista, she's the only CMC who wears an accessory, and she seems to have a surprising amount of clothes in "One Bad Apple". She can also make a dress out of a tablecloth in a matter of seconds, although again, maybe that's because of her skill at crafting.

And that's all I've got so far! There's probably lots more - I haven't gone into her relationship with the other CMCs, for example (probably best if we have a shipping thread for that).

805090 Interesting analysis (of both Apple Bloom's character and possible ways to exploit her personality for future fan fictions.

Personally, I believe the reason Apple Bloom has a limited fan fiction database compared to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo is because of her history: there is nothing about Apple Bloom's life that the audience doesn't know about.

Consider Sccotaloo for example: there is no mention of any blood-relations to anypony within the MLP universe, and other than her idolatry for Rainbow Dash, and her adventures with the CMC, nothing else is known about Scootaloo's life. This lack of backstory is exploitable to fan fiction writers.

Now I know what some people are thinking now: why is Sweetie Belle more popular than Apple Bloom? The show has clearly introduced EVERY aspect of her life, like Apple Bloom. Well, you got me there. However, it may be possible that because Apple Bloom is a miniature stereotypical version of a sentient southern person (or pony in this instance) who is searching for there identity (Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn ring a bell?), there is a lot less to understand about Apple Bloom's character, than there is to know, unlike Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle, unlike Apple Bloom, doesn't follow her sister's lifestyle as precisely as Apple Bloom: Sweetie Belle is willing to get dirty, unlike Rarity, and is more casual in her chosen activities and vernacular. So, in Sweetie Belle's case, there is more to understand, than there is to know.

These are my opinions; some people mahy agree or disagree. But if there's one theme to take away from my analysis, it's this: there is less exploitable mystery surrounding Apple Bloom than her comrades, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

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there is less exploitable mystery surrounding Apple Bloom than her comrades, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo

I didn't think of that, but that makes a lot of sense, and fits exactly with what we've seen on the show; Apple Bloom has the most episodes, and while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have one each, Scootaloo's happens late enough in the show that Sweetie Belle has had more time to develop overall.

From my perspective, what makes Scootaloo interesting to write about is her lack of parents or a home defined in the show, and her inability to fly, combined with her attitude and obsession with Rainbow Dash.

You can create a new backstory for her every story, write about her learning to fly or her inability to fly, write about her not having a home and getting adopted, or even write about her talents on her scooter or in dancing, which was briefly shown, but not explored.

Sweetie Belle is more fleshed out, but has enough gaps to be interesting. How did Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo meet, and end up hiding under the table in "Call of the Cutie"?

We see her parents in two episodes, and her home, but she's always over at Rarity's, and was dropped off there when her parents went on vacation. It's not hard to extrapolate that they go on vacation a lot, and usually leave her behind. And with how starved for attention she was in Sisterhooves Social, it wouldn't be that hard to make a case for her parents ignoring her most of the time.

And you've got the fact that she doesn't seem to do magic yet, which leaves a good story hook that hasn't been used on the show yet.

As far as Apple Bloom goes, her relationship with her sister has been explored enough in Sweetie Belle's episode not to really be of interest, and her parents seem to be dead. She does have a talent with building things and a liking for martial arts, which could be built on.

I personally think her learning how to make potions with Zecora could be interesting. And she does seem to be the leader of the cutie mark crusaders. Her main drive is to get a cutie mark, though. Trouble is that's been the focus of most Cutie Mark Crusader episodes.

The dynamic between her and Babs Seed is worthy of exploration as well. I've even seen the two being shipped together, though cousins dating is a bit much. (Tangled Roots, Sweet Apple Anthology)

I personally think her learning how to make potions with Zecora could be interesting.

Oooh, that's true. I totally forgot about that, but it's true: Apple Bloom has kind of a special bond with Zecora that no other pony has, except perhaps Twilight. Zecora's mysticism and focus on inner strength also ties in nicely with Apple Bloom's interest in martial arts. :)

Hmm... character analysis? This calls for my word-masonry skills!

First off, while it has been implied and some show writers have said it to be the case, Apple Bloom's parents being dead is not canon. My rules remain "If it's not on screen, it's not canon. If it is on screen, it's up for interpretation.' If they show her parents alive on screen in a future episode, people would get upset but it wouldn't contradict anything shown or said on screen. That said, her parents are absent, which is close enough.

Apple Bloom's talent

It being arts and crafts seems close to me, but it's not exactly that. Apple Bloom's talent appears to stretch more to following written instructions and recipes. Her talent is making things in general, once she knows how. She has the steady hoof/mouth of a painter or a cook and she clearly knows measure. This is why she was not only shown to fix the clubhouse, but she also proved she can help make Zap Apple Jam. This logic also stretches to her skill in potion making: she puts thought and effort into the things she does.

What about her failures in making cupcakes? I point you to exhibit A:
Pinkie Pie did not show Apple Bloom how to make cupcakes. She anticipated that Apple Bloom wanted to get her cutie mark, and as such decided to let the filly try a little bit of experimenting on her own. If cooking had turned out to be Apple Bloom's special talent, she'd have shown a knack for knowing how much flour and sugar was needed as well as how long they had to bake. She wasn't given proper instructions, which is the limit of her talent.

What about amibitions and dreams?

My headcanon is that every race of pony has their own brand of worst fear. Unicorns, being grounded in magic, feel worst when they are powerless. Pegasi, the proud warrior race, feel worst when they are useless. Earth ponies, with their tendency to arts and crafts and working the land, feel worst when they feel hopeless. To them, the future is what matters. Not being able to affect the present, not getting feedback from others, but whether or not things will be okay.

This is why Apple Bloom is more driven than Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle: she's the only one for whom the prospect of never getting a cutie mark not only feels real, but by her very nature feels devastating. Scootaloo still feels useful carting her friends around, Sweetie Belle keeps control over things by being the voice of reason when Scoots and AB argue. Their primal fear isn't linked to their getting a cutie mark. Apple Bloom's is. She doesn't want to feel useful, she wants to be seen as complete. It doesn't matter much to her what her talent turns out to be -- unlike, say, Scootaloo, who desperately wants something awesome -- as long as she has something to show for it.

Like all members of the Apple family, Apple Bloom is a pony of principle. Things need to be fair, an attitude she shares with her sister. She's also vehement about protecting her friends and family, which brings me to the elephant in the room.

Twist

Speaking from personal experience, I don't think Twist was ever really what one would consider a 'friend'. She struck me more as the sort of pony AB hung out with because they didn't want to be alone. We never see them doing anything together, we never see any hint that they have anything in common, and -- here's the personal experience talking -- Twist does nothing to help Apple Bloom feel better. She sees her supposed friend getting sad and offers half-hearted comfort, not even trying to pat her on the back. Maybe they do still hang out, but I doubt it. They weren't that close to begin with.

So, why is Apple Bloom not as popular as the rest of the Crusaders?

Is she hard to write? Hard to make interesting? No.

Apple Bloom is to school age foals what Applejack is to the Mane 6: the balancing one. Applejack's a force of stability, a farmer. She is the sane one, the white wall that makes all the insanity stand out more. If we didn't have Applejack, the only (relatively) normal pony would be Celestia, who can't be shown on screen as often as a Mane 6 character. Or Cheerilee, but she's more of a victim to the insanity than a counter-weight to it.

Apple Bloom doesn't have any flashy character traits, because she is a force of stability for the kids in town. She doesn't idolise anyone , she is her own pony. She's not especially fussy, she pitches in on the farm like a good girl. She doesn't get into epic arguments with her sister -- unlike some -- and any conflict between the two is mostly settled peacefully and reasonably. They talk things out, and any arguments between them are pretty tame, even in Ponyville Confidential when Big Mac wound up shouting.

This doesn't really make it hard to write her, it makes it hard to start writing her. With nothing really that conclusive to go on, you need a good reason why you want to use Apple Bloom and not an OC who might have more defining and memorable traits.

So how does one start to write Apple Bloom? What's her character niche?

Having just finished a fic with her as a main character, I'd say her place is as a moral guardian, good or bad. No matter what the situation, she can always justify her actions, even if she knows it's wrong. If there's something fishy going on or there's cheating involved, Apple Bloom is the character you want on it.

She also has a lot of caring in her, but not in a cute and cuddly sort of way, like Sweetie Belle might. If there is a thankless but necessary task to be done, using Apple Bloom as a catalyst to get it done works. If anyone has to go through hardships -- honest ones, not the clichés some characters are stuck with -- to learn about herself, it's Apple Bloom.

But suppose you just want a story that has Apple Bloom in it, what sort of story would work?

I'm going to avoid the things that have been done to death, because they're too obvious. Let's say the story starts with Apple Bloom and has to be shaped around her. It depends on the genre, obviously. I'll cover the two that might not get as much exposure as they should, because of the nature of the character.

A comedy with Apple Bloom could center around her learning a new skill. We know she has a talent for making things, she can learn to cook and make potions. It's not that hard to find avenues for shenanigans there. She doesn't even need to get her cutie mark doing it, the motivation of possibly getting it is enough to start the plot along.

Another option is playing off her good girl/devious girl persona. She messes something up and is constantly trying to either hide it or fix it.

Then there's the idea of a romance with Apple Bloom.

Holy Chrysalis, this must look hard.

Apple Bloom's the stable one, she's pretty difficult to portray as being shaken by something like romantic attraction. But it can be done. Remember, she is a filly of principle. She wouldn't go ambushing or testing out a boy to see if he measures up to her standards -- this means you, Scootaloo! -- but she would take an interest in someone who demonstrates he's a hard worker. Relationships, for her, would start from mutual interests as well as mutual respect, but not because she wants it demonstrated. It'd just be there and grow naturally, with neither side really being actively involved in it until one of them realises just how much they have in common.

Putting variety in it would just depend on the pairing. Does AB take an interest in strategy games -- Button Smash -- does she admire a little athlete even the adults are impressed with -- Rumble -- or does she find a fondness for someone who is really serious about practising magic? The latter one would be an OC, sadly, since the show only has 3 unicorn colts to choose from and none of them fit the bill here.

Anyway, my thoughts on the subject.

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Well, you've out-analysed me by a mile. Very interesting! :) I'm intrigued by your idea of AB's talent being manufacturing, or rather making things to a plan. I wonder what that would make her cutie mark: I was thinking a blueprint, except that her talent would be making things, not necessarily coming up with them. Probably a hammer, as most people seem to believe :)

Apple Bloom is to school age foals what Applejack is to the Mane 6: the balancing one. Applejack's a force of stability, a farmer.

That's an excellent way of describing Applejack, who I often find difficult to justify as my favourite pony. She provides a buffer between the many conflicting emotions and personalities of the other five; without her, the dynamic would be far more chaotic. And as you say, AB performs the same role in the CMC: the middle ground between hot headed Scootaloo and calculating Sweetie Belle.

Putting variety in it would just depend on the pairing.

I noticed while filling the Romance folder that Apple Bloom seems to get paired with Spike a lot. I don't know if this is just because she doesn't have as many romances as her fellow CMCs, or whether there's some connection I haven't figured out yet.

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What would her cutie mark look like? If it is something to do with manufacturing, I'd wager three apple blossoms, arranged as if they were cogwheels. Not sure if their shape would allow for that, but that's my best guess.

The connection between Spike and Apple Bloom? I haven't read it all that much, so I never really thought about it, but here's the first things that come to mind:

1) Neither Spike nor Apple Bloom is shown to know their birth parents. They do, however, both have adults who fill the role of big sister and mother figure.

2) Apple Bloom is trying to figure out who she is and how she fits in, in other words what she is as a complete being. Spike, being a dragon among ponies, is constantly at conflict between fulfilling his role as assistant and listening to his dragon nature.

3) Back on the topic of sister/mother figures, both of them are given responsibility (chores) and respect for upholding it. Not only do they not object to it, they enjoy and appreciate being treated as someone helpful. Spike is so adamant about it, it's a key to his happiness. Apple Bloom, meanwhile, gets visibly upset when her sister refers to her as 'little'.

4) Continuing on the same vein, both of these are always associated with their guardian figures, but they are not alike. Apple Bloom has a broader horizon than her sister, Spike is nowhere near the bookwurm that Twilight is. The conflicts between these two pairs also tend to go the same way: when one of them doesn't listen, they don't keep arguing. Things escalate, but never in opposition to the other party. Apple Bloom runs off on her own to prove her point, or plots schemes to get even, while Spike runs off when he feels he's no longer wanted or needs to find out about his dragon heritage. It comes down to the fact that they both have the same basic approach to conflict: they know when it's coming and they avoid the direct confrontation, unlike the other two CMC.

5) They're both pretty damn smart when they want to be, especially compared to the rest of the cast. Apple Bloom was smart enough to realise she could fix the Poison Joke incident by getting the ingredients on her own instead of trying to reason with ponies who won't listen. Spike was smart enough to contact Celestia when Twilight was going nuts.

Does that explain anything?

848740

What would her cutie mark look like? If it is something to do with manufacturing, I'd wager three apple blossoms, arranged as if they were cogwheels. Not sure if their shape would allow for that, but that's my best guess.

I like that! While I find the cogwheel to be a somewhat overused motif in OC cutie marks (especially common in humans-turned-ponies, as human talents tend to be related to technology), this would look really cute. The apple blossom is a five petal flower, so you could just about make it work as a gear, and three of them would mirror the triangular arrangement of her sister's cutie mark.

Now that Changeling Blood is done, I can add the following to the analysis (warning: contains spoilers to the fic).

Apple Bloom's dark side
As stated before, Apple Bloom prefers to avoid direct conflict. This logically means that anyone who gets on her nerves isn't likely to see her payback coming. Coupled with her knowledge of building, this means that she can enact revenge by designing and setting up a trap, like we've seen in One Bad Apple.

Coupled with her knowledge of potion making, we can infer that she wouldn't back down from slipping someone a magic potion if she thinks it'll help solve the conflict.

However, she still has her sense of morals. She won't do either of these things just out of the blue. She will have her explanation ready and waiting when she gets caught, and while it may not make sense to others, it makes sense to her.

Apple Bloom's motivations as an antagonist: who does she go after?
Family is everything to the Apples, and Apple Bloom is no exception. Anyone threatening her family will have to contend with her to some degree. However, because she's usually portrayed at her age in the show, this rarely becomes an issue. Unless you're writing about industrial espionage, there's a low chance Apple Bloom will ever be in direct conflict with an adult targeting her family in some way.

The other angle is the orphan and fairness one. Apple Bloom has never been shown to miss her parents. She is happy with Big Mac and AJ. If she starts getting pity and/or ponies imply she should be sad and mourning, that's going to set her off. This counts doubly so since she's friends with Scootaloo, a filly who cannot fly yet but is also clearly happy and never shown to be moping about it. Forget rational thinking, this can be considered a bona fide berserk button. And woe unto anyone on the receiving end of her reaction.

Ditto on fairness. As an Earth pony, and related to the Element of Honesty, you can easily write Apple Bloom as a moral guardian. Things need to be fair for her. Couple this with a little dash of overreacting (which we've seen before, let's face it) and her tendency towards indirect attacks and you have yourself a little backstabber enforcing her own rules.

But as an antagonist, how is she made believable?
Being a small child, she has parental authority figures who keep her in line. If she is doing something wrong, these figures need to be acknowledged and it needs to be clear that they do not know what is happening. For added poignancy, you can write it in that she's doing what she does because the grownups made her think it was okay.

Cheerilee, however, does not count in this. Apple Bloom's teacher clearly cannot keep track of what her class is doing outside of school, and even in school she can miss a few very big things. Case in point: the gossip column. This may be due to excessive paper work, or the fact that Cheerilee is more like Twilight and doesn't notice a lot of the big social events going on. Aside from that, it's been implied Cheerilee organises big social events like talent shows, so incompetence isn't necessarily a factor as much as lack of time.

As for means of action: Apple Bloom is remarkably popular with the grownups in town. She'd have to be, considering all the things she and her friends get to try their hooves at. The puppy dog eyes can convince anyone to just give her what she wants (within reason) while her family ties are enough to imply she is trustworthy (even if history disagrees). Heck, Ponyville library has books on potions and her farm has enough tools to make a trap of sorts.

On a final note, Apple Bloom isn't really believable as a physical bully. Her strength isn't quite as pronounced as one might think, and she's been shown to get intimidated by foals bigger than her (Babs). It's not really been demonstrated as in her nature to use her physical presence as a means of domineering someone.

In short, if you want to make Apple Bloom a bad pony, just remember: her personality is more of a knife, not a hammer.

And for the encore, because it kind of belongs here:

Speculation on the symbolism of her new cutie mark

So, she now has an established cutie mark, and we have some idea of what it's going to mean in the future. But how to incorporate it into fanfic? How does it make sense? The CMC cutie marks all come in threes: three symbols, three lines, three layers to their talents.

The Shield
The uniting factor of the CMC. Three lines, each indicating their friendship. If you want to look deeper, you can claim it represents the parts that each Crusader has learned from the others.

In Apple Bloom's case, that means she learned assertiveness from Scootaloo, something she lacked in Call of the Cutie. She got sense of initiative from Sweetie Belle, a girl who will just anything at random if she's bored instead of panicking when things don't go her way.

The shield also makes the cutie marks look the same... from a distance. The girls have rubbed off on each other, and they can be seen as one entity now. But on closer inspection, they have some significant differences, to which I refer to previous analyses.

The meaning of the shield is also important: to protect. If you'll recall, Shining Armour has his shield, with three stars above it and Twilight's star in the middle. If we assume they're constructed by the same logic, Apple Bloom's cutie mark -- and that of the rest -- implies a deep commitment to wanting to safeguard other ponies from harm. But where Shining Armour takes this towards physically or magically protecting others, the girls say they want to help others either get their cutie mark or help them realise the true meaning (the light/reward) of a cutie mark.

As to the actual talent, for that you need to go deeper.

The apple: the skill

The centre figure of Apple Bloom's cutie mark is an apple, like her family's. But as we've seen, that can mean a lot of different things. Applejack got her apple cutie mark realising she belonged on the farm, that that's what she wanted to do with her life. The life's calling part isn't contained in the apple on AB's flank, at least not entirely. So what does it mean?

My guess is the centre figure relates to skills, abilities, and interests. It's this one that will be most impactful on what job the girls will get. In Apple Bloom's case, that will likely be farm-related. But then where does the protecting come in, along with already established skills?

Apple Bloom knows farm life. She also knows her way around potions, and she's not bad at making things. So the way her job or future will go might be... Flim and Flam style.

No, really. Think about it. She has a basic grasp of potion magic, she enjoys a job well done, but she's also a skeptic. She doesn't take things for granted, she goes off to investigate on her own if she bloody well feels like it. She thinks for herself. What have we not seen in the Apple family yet? An innovator. Well, actually, scratch that, the family does have an innovator already. One pony who came up with new things for the family to grow and be successful. One bona fide explorer and experimenter.

Granny Smith.

Apple Bloom's skills and talents are the modern equivalent of Granny Smith's. In terms of helping ponies find their marks, most of the ponies she can help will likely be the sort who have trouble learning how to make things (like Sweetie Belle used to) or who are stuck with something that they don't know how to care for. In terms of day job, it's likely she'll be tinkering around on the farm, making some improvements here and there.

So how does she stop from becoming the next Flim or Flam?

The heart: the how

As an Apple, she's been raised on a strong sense of family and togetherness. She managed to bond with Maude Pie. Maude. Pie. So the problems ponies will likely come to her with will involve some sort of care, problems of togetherness that need to be solved. (Incidentally, Scootaloo's would be motivation problems and Sweetie Belle's confidence problems, but that's neither here nor there).

Apple Bloom would essentially grow up to be the peacemaker of the three: looking for compromises, thinking outside of the box to see if maybe there's a solution everypony else missed. With her building skills, she might become the thing Metropolis referenced: the heart as a mediator between head and hands hooves. In the more immediate future, the cutie mark problems she fixes will likely involve gardening or animal care on the pure skill level (Fluttershy and Applejack's roles in their cutie map missions) and involve social cohesion and tolerance on a more emotional level (Pinkie's role in her cutie map mission, and Fluttershy again, sort of).

And finally:

Why did it come in such a big flash?

The girls deciding that their calling was to help others find their calling got them their cutie marks. There hasn't actually been a cutie mark apparition that did the same. There's been some comparison to Twilight's, but I'd sooner say the point of comparison is Rainbow Dash' cutie mark. Rainbow Dash got hers doing the Sonic Rainboom. This, in turn, got her friends (and possibly Doc) their cutie marks. You can't say that wasn't big and showy, too. Twilight's showy marking could be more due to her powers going haywire, but Twilight didn't affect her friends' cutie marks. That was Rainbow.

The reason the CMC got such a showy marking is because their destiny is to help others find their destiny. It's like how that one girl kept getting importance piled on her in Madoka Magica (may be remembering the title wrong) and as a result becoming more and more impactful and dangerous with each iteration. Ie, if the girls were removed from the timeline, the results would be as disastrous as preventing the Sonic Rainboom. Not in the same way, perhaps, but disastrous nonetheless. And later down the line than the Rainboom, obviously. The reason is was so showy is because the girls will now actually make a difference in Equestria's history, even if it's only indirectly.

Which is kind of a sweet thing to consider.

Anyways, that's that headcanon for your consideration. Any remarks?