I think that RS, Mio, and Fallen sum it up quite nicely. The cutie mark is so closely related to the pony's identity that it's always going to represent them in some way. Granted they themselves might interpret it differently twenty years down the road, but I don't think they ever hit a point where they feel it doesn't represent them at all. They probably just realize that it bears additional significance that they didn't realize at first.

And I also feel the need to re-emphasize that as far as we know it's impossible for a pony to get a cutie mark they don't want. You get the CM when you find your purpose in life, it's not like you get a symbol at random and you had better hope you like it.

@Urdthe: Even in that case there's room for interpretation. Like Silver Spoon being a silversmith or the owner of a fancy restaurant, or Diamond Tiara being a jeweler or something.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:10:58 AM by JapaneseTeeth

I get no kudos? (cries) I pretty much SAID THAT!

Did I say something wrong?

WHY CAN'T I SAY ANYTHING RIGHT?!?!

edited 6th Jan '12 10:12:39 AM by gingerninja666

A perfectly logical and reasonable chain of thought has left me wondering what Casanova's cutie mark would be.

I like sad stories. They make happy endings so much sweeter. If they HAVE a happy ending, at least. I like it either way.

Mind you, I'm not saying all ponies need to have their own sob stories either!

edited 6th Jan '12 10:12:23 AM by KylerThatch

Honestly... I think the idea that in 20 years and see someone completely different is kind of nice. It's alright to have some sort of constant I guess, but I don't like the idea of just sitting in the same spot for my entire life. I think the cutie mark may have a sort of inherent notion, but nothing specific. Like, Twilight's mark might represent potential - as she is now it could be about exploring her potential, making it a mark about learning. But in 20 years she might have let go of trying to find her potential, and focused on helping other find their potential. Suddenly she becomes a teacher, something far away from her current role.

Everything must change. Something can have the same elements, but it must still move along, and grow. It only makes sense that the meaning of a mark could grow as well. It's not a genetic thing, or a species trait. It's a law of reality. Everything must change.

Twilight's cutie mark is Equestia's version of Polaris. She just doesn't know it yet.

But if there was any chance that they could tire of their Cutie Mark, then they wouldn't have gotten it in the first place.

What about people who were born wanting to be filmakers, and spent their entire life making films. Are you saying that at some point they should just STOP wanting to make films because "no change is bad!"

edited 6th Jan '12 10:17:29 AM by gingerninja666

@Ginger: Woops. Sorry, too many posts all at once.

@Kegisak: Nobody's saying that ponies can't change, just that the cutie mark never becomes irrelevant to them. It'll always represent them in some way, even if not in the same way that it represented them when they first got it. Like I can see Twilight doing different things, but she's always going to find meaning in her cutie mark.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:18:56 AM by JapaneseTeeth

But why? Why aren't they allowed to change? Nothing is ever completely constant.

Put another way: Why can't the mark change?

What about people who were born wanting to be filmakers, and spent their entire life making films. Are you saying that at some point they should just STOP wanting to make films because "no change is bad!"

I LIKE the idea of a mark remaining constant. I also like the idea that a mark's meaning can be pretty vague as well

edited 6th Jan '12 10:19:26 AM by gingerninja666

Because it can continue to mean something to the pony without having to change. The mark can stay the same, but the pony can interpret it however they want because that's what gives the mark it's meaning.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:20:23 AM by JapaneseTeeth

Well, no. Though I believe I can say that noone is born wanting to do something. I'm simply saying that they can change. Yes, there can be a constant. But there can also be someone or somepony without a constant. Even if there is theoretically a constant, somethng huge could still happen t change your life.

Wait... weren't you guys arguing the same thing just now? I'm confuzzled.

(Ah, I missed using that word. Confuzzled.)

That is why i always preferred them being analogous to a "persona" rather then their "true selves".

That's true, but I still don't think it means that the CM is going to be mutable. It's magic, after all. It's entirely possible that it accounts for future events.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:23:06 AM by JapaneseTeeth

@kegi but that's just one of the ways in which ponies differ from us. WE don't have constants. THEY do. It's how their world works.

Again, I think there's a hint of Blue and Orange Morality at work here

edited 6th Jan '12 10:23:44 AM by gingerninja666

I for one, don't like the idea of being the same person twenty years from now. I want to be a better me. I want to have different interests and abilities, and I don't even mind the idea of no longer liking things that mean a lot to me now. However, I have discovered something about myself (personal so I'm not sharing it) that I know will never change. It's a good thing, and something I take great comfort in when I need to believe that there is good in me. You could say that, in a very limited sense, I've discovered my cutie mark.

This is also true. There's nothing to say that it's entirely natural for ponies to stay in their area of interest. That's not a good or bad thing, just different from how it works for people.

Yeah, there's still a lot of room for change, the CM just represents that one part of the pony's self that isn't going to change.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:24:55 AM by JapaneseTeeth

But how? How can they have an absolute constant? It just doesn't work that way - it's not about genetics, or about morality, it's just how the universe is - everything is capable of change. Is there just some part of their brain that contains a single personality trait and resists any change whatsoever?

@Mio: Well, the 'true self' can still change too... but that's beside the point right now, I think.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:29:19 AM by kegisak

I think the easiest way to solve this argument is to decide that the magical process which deals out cutiemarks will look into the future and make sure they are happy their whole lives with it.

Just great.

Now I've gone all the way around to envying ponies because they have such a solid sense of identity. Half the time, I don't even know what I'm doing with my life, even when I was still supposedly headed toward something.

Trying to download the "Gift from Rarity" strip with dial-up. Maybe I'll get to see it by Easter.

@Kegisak: In our universe, no. In Equestria, maybe. We don't know. It's magic.

@Storyyeller: Sounds good to me.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:29:55 AM by JapaneseTeeth

Think of it this way: Are any of the ponies unhappy after owning their cutie marks for so long?

Celestia's had that mark for over a thousand years. Do you think she's grown unhappy with being a beacon of sunlight for thousands?

No. They're happy. If they're happy, then what's the problem?

You people are trying to invent an issue because you think (from our world's perspective) that there SHOULD be an issue. When from the POV of the ponies, there really isn't

Strictly speaking, then, we ain't gotta explain shit.

But it's fun to discuss, so we try to anyway.

Nothing wrong with issues. The satisfaction comes in getting over them.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:32:24 AM by KylerThatch