Ah, I was tripped up by the phrase "no sort of character".

You could say the same for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. In a show that rarely (if ever) reveals any detail about anybody's family, it's hard to make that kind of complaint.

Yeah, I guess so.

I suppose it just seems more pronounced with Scootaloo because she's not really a main character, and she's in a group where the other two members are related to main characters.

just wondering, has sweetie belle actually used any unicorn magic yet?

Also, is it me, or is Rarity more skilled with levitation spells than Twilight? Look at all the choreographed stuff she had flying around during art of the dress, and how they were all doing completely different things simulataneously. Twilight's never done stuff like that (I think)

Twilight picked several trees' worth of apples at the same time in Applebuck Season. And she lifted the ginormous Ursa Minor in Boast Busters. I'd say she has the ability to match.

I think Rarity's magic is specific to dressmaking, or something.

edited 1st Jul '11 5:09:08 AM by KylerThatch

Still, that's relatively simple compared to the intricate things Rarity was doing.

She also has gem-detecting powers, though I don't know if that's specific to her or if it's something any unicorn could learn.

^ Twilight managed it, though she did have to learn it from Rarity. And her special talent is magic itself, so she may have been a special case.

^^ Okay, so Rarity has more fine control or something.

Twilight was able to emulate the spell

edit, damn... ninja'd

edited 1st Jul '11 5:31:04 AM by gingerninja666

Speaking of Rarity and 'fine control'...

dangit human lyra sit more normal

Muffin stealer!

@ kyler yeah Aj is a great and well developed character. It's just that in comparison to he others in the mane cast she falls short. Aj is more defined by what she dies than what she is.

I still love her a lot

I think Twilight probably could orchestrate a bunch of levitating things all at once - she has the raw power for it - but she doesn't have much finesse yet, or at least not as much as Rarity does. Like someone said, though, her talent is magic itself, so her potential is probably close to unlimited.

One thing she doesn't have is the personality for it, though.

edited 1st Jul '11 9:04:45 AM by RedSavant

This basically.

I'd like to point out that while Twilight was busy lullabying the Ursa, she was also simultaneously picking up and emptying a water tower, then milking enough cows to fill the tower with milk, which would imply both finesses and raw power. Milking cows might not be quite as intricate as sewing, but she was also doing so while maintaining the lullaby.

Also, when she emulates Rarity's gem spell, she sees all the deposits in a huge radius, whereas Rarity was only able to do one and usually by being in pretty close proximity.

I figured Rarity has more practice with levitating because her job requires her to use it more.

^^Yeah, it's pretty obvious that she's a lot better with the spell than Rarity is. To me, though, Rarity's cutie mark story didn't imply that her talent was genfinding; her horn brought her to the monolithrock to help her realize her designs.

edited 1st Jul '11 9:45:27 AM by RedSavant

Could be unicorns develop magic based on their perceptions of what they need to fulfill their talent.

That means if say, Rarity believed she needed some flowers for her dresses, she could develop a magic to grow flowers.

Twilight seems to be infinitely stronger than any other unicorn on the show, all limits she's shown have been purely self-imposed (such as not wanting to show off). The only people that seem to have more power than her are Luna and maybe Celestia. Makes me wonder what can be thrown at her that can put up a good fight

I though any unicorn could learn the magic others were doing. We see Twilight practicing different spells, and Trixie seemed to have no problem doing whatever she needed to. Looked to me the only reason no one else does the gem finding this is because they don't have a reason to.

Well both Twilight and Trixie have magic as their special talent.

Not that Trixie would be let into the Gala, but dat hat

Also, regarding just how many dragons were hatched at Celestia's school, wizards have no sense of right and wrong.

edited 1st Jul '11 10:55:03 AM by EgregiousEric

One the subject of Rarity's finesse as opposed to Twilight's strength, I just found this and the post by the artist under it.

My guess is that individual magic ability varies by unicorn. Some are good at a wide range of things, others are more more specialized. I'd guess that levitating objects is a universal skill, but some unicorns are just better at it than others.

I've got to say, after religiously rewatching episode after episode...

I think I've actually found one I don't like. It took me about three viewings, but I honestly dislike "The Cutie Mark Chronicles." In a series that has given us dragons, competitions and Dash getting in a vag war with AJ over athletic prowess, we have an episode where a bunch of little girls want to know how the big girls got their ass tattoos.

And on top of that, it seems to contradict the whole idea that Cutie Marks are about finding your special talent, and turns it into "oh, you just wait for the right magical coincidence to happen that, by the way, also tells you who your future Best Friends are going to be."

Pretty much the only high point is seeing the mane cast as fillies, but most of them are "eh" and only Twilight is really adorable. Fillie-Fluttershy especially is just totally wrong-looking.

Oh well, that still leaves 25 top-notch half-hours!

^^Well, it's been hypothesized that pegasi have some sort of 'tactile telekinesis' that allows them to carry things (like Fluttershy's frog cart in "Feeling Pinkie Keen"). Come to think of it, that may also account for why they can stand on and touch clouds.

^All of their marks came about as a result of the Rainboom, but they weren't directly caused by it. (Except maybe Twilight's. And Dash's.)

edited 1st Jul '11 11:44:12 AM by RedSavant

I always found the "special connection to your best friends" moral a little weird for an episode about Cutie Marks.

Though maybe I should watch it again