@Background Pony #F263
 
what does the spell even do?
 
does it do anything?
 
that’s what I wanna know.

@thps48  
It’s helpful to establish the rules of how magic works in your fantasy setting, otherwise it can easily be incredibly deux ex machina and boring.  
Unfortuately, the magic in MLP rarely felt like it was very well thought-out.

Lazy Dash always lazy pony

@Background Pony #766F  

Yes and no. Dash just has a LOT of talents, so she could chose whatever calling she wants to pursue!

Have you not seen “Blank Flanks Forever”?!

@thps48  
I’m not saying it should have limits, I’m saying it should make some sense. Does magic use poems? Runes formed in the mind? Vibrations in the horn? Is mixing magic creating new magic? We have only questions.

@Background Pony #F6E2  
Fantasy magic is relatively limitless in film and especially in literature. Games is the one medium that puts limits on it, unintentionally or otherwise, because the traditional workings of magic very rarely translate all that well to games, especially ones from earlier console generations.

@Background Pony #8521  
Yeah, and that’s not even getting into the weird ways that magic work in this setting. There are no coherent rules I can figure out, other than magic is whatever the writer wants it to be.

There’s a lot of logic you’re not supposed to think about in that episode.  
Like how Rarity’s special talent is finding gems that she then uses for making dresses, not making dresses.  
And apparently when pinkie has AJ’s cutiemark, noone seemed to find it odd that she had suddenly moved to and taken over sweet apple acres. You’d think Grannie Smith might have objected to something like that, no?  
Or AJ taking over Rarity’s home.  
And then theres was Rarity hijacking the entire weather teams work. Did none of them say anything to Rarity when she began fucking around with the weather?  
At the same time, while everyone thought their talents had been changed when their cutiemarks where, none of their actual talents had. They all sucked at their new jobs but could all instantly do their old jobs perfectly.  
So the real question is, do cutiemarks dictate aptitudes and ability, or identity? And do they only affect the pony who has it, or also other ponies around them?  
Then season 5 happened, and suddenly taking someone’s cutiemark had a completely different effect on everyone…

@Background Pony #6BAB  
I’ve seen the entire series.

@Background Pony #F6E2  
That makes sense. And it was a spell, after all. And we saw them essentially regain their memories when they were reconnected with their elements. So the spell wiped their memories as well (and, theoretically, the memories of everypony in town/Equestria).

@ArtColter  
Hah! Maybe Applejack’s talent isn’t farming apples, it’s being there for her family and tending to the farm is simply the best way to do it!

@superfun  
have you seen season 1 or not

@Background Pony #6BAB  
I mean, Dash DID use her speed to correct the weather pretty fast.

@ArtColter  
I’ve always suspected that because the marks didn’t match up, they didn’t get the subsequent boost in talent that a mark gives (Because we know removing them removes talent, therefore having one gives it) and so they were stuck trying to interpret what the mark meant after they all got it as foals as their memories would tell them had happened. Because the mark was never meant for them, they had no idea what to do, and just tried to do what they thought was right. We’ve seen ponies misinterpret their own marks before (Troubleshoes, DT) so this is a pretty good possibility.

@Starswirl  
Now that I think about it, every combination was wrong.
 
Fluttershy was trying to do comedy, when Pinkie Pie’s actual talent is throwing parties.  
Rarity was messing with the weather, when Rainbow’s talent is moving fast.  
Rainbow couldn’t control the animals, even though she should have had Fluttershy’s ability to speak to them.  
AJ was making dresses, but Rarity’s cutie mark is actually for her ability to locate gems.
 
The only one who was possibly correct was Pinkie. But AJ’s cutie mark and special talent are more vague than the others. It doesn’t really have to do with apples, and more with her family. So that one is a wash.

I think Cutie Marks are meant to be more like concepts to be interpreted by the holder of said mark. Some are pretty blunt-if someone’s cutie mark is of a sewing machine, their talent is probably gonna be something related to sewing. Others are more abstract-someone with a musical note could have their talent in music, but that’s pretty broad. Could be a concert pianist, a trumpeter in a marching band, a song writer, ect.
 
But if we’re going by THAT logic Applejack, then how did you think your calling was sewing with three diamonds? If anything, Rarity’s special talent is to bring out one’s inner beauty-I THINK-which is pretty abstract that she only really understood-I guess-from a rock breaking open and gems spilling out. I think most people, if they got that mark, would think their talent is to just find gems.
 
This has been Headcanons with Midday Sun, professional lurker and nobody.

Larson admitted that this was a mistake he made in the episode because Rainbow Dash’s true talent is speed, not controlling the weather. It was also probably easier to depict Rarity controlling the weather than Rarity being speedy in some way. Larson said he also couldn’t resist using the pun “weather patterns” during the song in that episode for when Rarity is controlling the weather.

By the same logic, Pinkie’s calling is comedy.