Lore Spotlight: Cutie Marks
In this world, ponies are born with their cutie marks. All pony races (ponies, pegasi, unicorns, breezies, sea ponies, and twinkle-eyes) have cutie marks, and they view it as a mark of ponyhood and the races' unifying trait.
Ponies are often named after their cutie marks, but they may also be named after their coloration, the circumstances of their birth, or anything their parents want.
Each pony's cutie mark bestows upon them a special talent or power, in addition to those granted by their race. For example, Cinnamon Breeze was born with a cinnamon roll cutie mark, and he soon discovered that he had a talent for baking.
These powers aren't always so clearly shown by the mark. Kimono's cutie mark is a lantern, and her power is to "shed light on" various subjects; basically, she has extremely good memorization and information retention skills, and she's also great with context clues and implications that might fly over other ponies' heads. Rather indirect mark, right?
Firefly's cutie mark is a firefly with a blue lightning bolt coming from its tail, and it gives her the power to glow in the dark. Firefly thinks it’s a stupid and useless power, but it does come in handy in dark places.
Silver Swirl's cutie mark is a swirling silver nebula, and it gives her the power to make portals. Though she likes her power, she can lose control of it if she’s not in a good mental state. When she has a panic attack during the Rainbow Restoration ceremony, she accidentally creates a portal in the middle of the wand that summons and controls the Rainbow of Light, leading to it breaking. The portal is only open for a few seconds, but Silver Swirl manages to peek through it and catch a glimpse of Bright Eyes in the Jewel Caverns.
Wind Whistler's cutie mark is two eighth notes surrounded by a swirl of wind, and it gives her a talent for singing. Wind Whistler acts like she doesn’t care about her musical talent and buries herself in her studies, but she secretly dreams of becoming a pop singer.
Sweetie Belle's cutie mark is a pink heart with a gradient black swirl. She insists that it gives her a talent for making sweets, but she's not being honest at all.
Bright Eyes's cutie mark is a telescope, and it gives her the power to see through illusions and shapeshifting. She doesn't need to concentrate or do anything special to use this power, and it's always on, so she's not always aware that she sees something different than the others do.
Minty's cutie mark is two candy canes arranged to make a heart, with a ribbon wrapped around their bases. Unlike other ponies, Minty’s special talent didn’t make itself apparent when she was a foal, and at the beginning of the gen, it still hasn’t. Minty acts like this doesn’t bother her, but it really weighs on her self-esteem.
Cutie marks are such a big part of pony culture that most ponies can't conceive of giving theirs up, but it is possible, albeit hard. It's said that if a pony sacrifices their own cutie mark in the pursuit of other magic, they will become a witch. Witches are often the villains in books and fairytales, and though ponies like to pretend that there are no witches anymore, they all know that there are indeed witches, and they could be lurking anywhere.
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