Theres also Magic A is Magic A.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:33:56 AM by LMage

but having a constant in your life leads to new issues. Namely: Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome which have shown to be consistently more destructive and frequent than breakdowns in our world

edited 6th Jan '12 10:36:07 AM by gingerninja666

I'm not inventing an issue, I seriously have a problem with the idea that there's something that will never change. At that point, how much of their personality is real? How much of it is just predetermined? Does anything they do have meaning at that point, or are they little better than animals with strange instincts?

Maybe it is a matter of Blue and Orange Morality, but this legitimately bothers me. It's one thing if their passion just happens not to change. But if it can't change? then what's the point of even having it? It's no longer them, it's some almighty force's twisted game.

Yeah, I think it's a tradeoff. Humans get a midlife crisis, ponies get CMFIS.

Except for the fact that they basically get to choose what it is. It's impossible for them to get a CM that they aren't contented with. Whether or not they can or can't change it doesn't matter because they're never going to want to.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:37:02 AM by JapaneseTeeth

Someone explain to me which episode CMFIS came from?

The actual term is a fan invention for the breakdowns that happen when a pony's special skill seems to fail. Like Fluttershy's issues in "The Best Night Ever", RD's breakdown in "Sonic Rainboom", etc. Basically the idea is that when a pony fails in utilizing they're special talent they suffer a brief identity crisis.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:38:46 AM by JapaneseTeeth

@kegi Ponies are just born that way. All our personality is is chemicals and electrical signals. Same thing here. Ponies were just born with the ability to natrually find one thesis or idea that becomes firmly set in their minds. Resistant to all change.

People in real life HAVE demonstrated dedication like that throughout their entire lives. The only difference in Equestria is that that's the norm

Ah, ok.

I'm with Kegisak on this one.

Bonus context: The ability to define and redefine oneself however and whenever they desire is a big thing for me. It helps me to remember that if I ever think that I'm not good enough, then I can decide to be better.

@Ginger: I agree. I get the feeling that if ponies learned that humans don't have cutie marks, they'd probably wonder how the heck we manage to function despite not knowing what we're supposed to be doing. You know, a sort of "But if you don't have a CM you don't even know who you are!" kind of reaction.

I think the ponies can do that, it just doesn't change the cutie mark.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:44:26 AM by JapaneseTeeth

But the language used seems to imply that a CM is predetermined. Oh sure, they're happy with it, but it's all they know. Does that make it right?

The idea that there will never be anything that can change it just... bothers me. Yes, our thoughts are based on chemicals, but we can still alter and determine the basic way in which those chemicals act. With effort we can consciously change our brain structure. If they can't how much of their thought really is conscious?

edited 6th Jan '12 10:44:39 AM by kegisak

@CMFIS: It's not from any one episode, just the observation that most of the snaps we've seen have resulted in some way from the girls being unable to fulfill their passions (and thus their cutie marks).

Are we seriously having the 'cutie marks destroy free will' point raised again? We're not talking about careers or hobbies, we're talking callings here. Think of every person who's been with a company for their entire lives, or every person who's gone into the clergy or other religious service, or anyone else who you could imagine using the phrase "my life's work" unironically. Do they sometimes get worried that they picked the wrong path, or maybe that what they're doing isn't right for them? I'm sure they do. But at the end of the day, after the worry fades, their passion for what they do brings them back to it. That's the kind of constant we're talking about.

If I may construct another silly metaphor, it's like getting married if you started glowing when you kissed your true love.

^It could still change; if Cheerilee decided she wanted to be a gardener, for instance, her mark suddenly represents her love of flowers. The marks are inherently meaningless without the perspective of their owner, and only their owner can really say what a mark means to them.

Also, let's not go too far with 'Equestria is only happy because of magic brain slavery' there, keg.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:46:55 AM by RedSavant

I've always found CMFIS weird. I don't really think it is a "thing". I mean that it's not an actual condition even in universe.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:47:32 AM by Mio

@Kegisak: But it's not all they know. There's nothing to stop them from trying new things and then reinterpreting their cutie marks to fit it. Like Cheerilee could totally become a gardener or an author or something and reinterpret her cutie mark to fit it.

EDIT: Dangit Red, not only did you say what I was going for, but you even used the same pony as an example.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:48:04 AM by JapaneseTeeth

@kegi Well how do we know that WE'RE right? "Everything can change" is all we've known. All we can do is act based upon what our world percieves as the norm.

People in Equestria are happy. EVERYTHING about them barring that mark (which in and of itself is vague and open to interpretation) can chage, and C Ms lead to their own host of issues (like CMFIS)

Besides, Kegi. DEATH is constant.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:48:27 AM by gingerninja666

^^^Probably not. In my opinion, it's not so much going contrary to the cutie mark as it is going completely against the pony's personality that causes them to get upset. It's very intertwined; Fluttershy starts getting upset because the animals don't like her, not because her cutie mark is being good with animals and she can't do it.

^Geez, Ginger, go right for the heavy stuff...

edited 6th Jan '12 10:49:02 AM by RedSavant

And that's fine. That's a different issue from what I'm talking about. My problem is if it's a single, invariable thing that they must do.

^It's not, at all. We're not talking magically-assigned 'from each according to his measure' here; Cheerilee explains that the marks are subject to interpretation and that only the owner can say for sure what theirs means. And that could definitely change.

This is Ginger, after all. Do you expect him to go with anything less?

(Just kidding, man, you know we love you.)

@Red Savant: You can't deny it's related though. Fluttershy's special talent is handling animals, and she broke down because it didn't happen. Granted there's more context to it than that, and I doubt that CMFIS is canon, but I think the basic idea that ponies have identity crises when it looks like they're skill isn't manifesting is sound.

@Kegisak: I don't think anybody here is saying that. All I'm saying when I mean that there's some aspect of their personality that doesn't change is that there's some common thread that works it's way through their lives, and those things are vague enough that there's plenty of wiggle rooms since the C Ms are all up for interpretation by the pony in question anyway.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:52:22 AM by JapaneseTeeth

, I actually kind of see it as a sign of immaturity if that makes any sense.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:51:31 AM by Mio

OK, now I'm picturing a mare with a penis for a cutie mark, and a talk-show-host pony asking her, "...and when did you first realize that you were destined to be a porn star?"

@kegi but they're not BORN wanting to do it. (look at the CMC) They have to discover it.

A CM only appears if it's something that they HONESTLY and TRULY LOVE

edited 6th Jan '12 10:52:42 AM by gingerninja666

I dread to think how they made that discover.

EDIT: Aw, that was so much funnier when Ginger's post just had one on it.

But yeah, point is that the Cutie Mark appears when the pony finds something they can dedicate their life for. It's not like you automatically get a "cleaning the #7 strawberry frosting machine at Pony Joe's donut factory" cutie mark on your 13th birthday and you're doomed to do nothing else for your life.

edited 6th Jan '12 10:54:50 AM by JapaneseTeeth

Death is a different beast. Death is a constant, but it's an element of change in and of itself.

And yes, it's different for them. But can you tell me that they wouldn't be concerned if I told them I didn't have one single, universal goal? That I'm not allowed to be concerned simply because it's different? It bothers me, and that's that. I simply prefer to think of it as being something changeable, thinking that the mark can change, rather than some absolute constant.