Unpopular opinion time

Are Starlight and Sunset’s special talents Magic like Twilight’s, or do they have something more specific? Like Sunburst’s talent being researching magic and knowing how to apply it?

@Background Pony #3377  
Twilight is Friendship (Magic)  
Trixie is Stage Magic  
Sunset is Balancing Power and Control  
Starlight is Magical Force  
Sunburst is Magical Application  
Starswirl is Theoretical Magic
 
They all share a talent (like the Apple family or spa ponies) but how they use or view it distinguishes them. A Cutie Mark is half talent and half personality; what you do and who you are.

How is Sunset Balancing Power and Control? And you mean Magical Force as in Starlight is Uber powerful or something?

@Background Pony #3377  
Wording might have been a bit too punchy so I’ll elaborate.  
Starlight treats magic as a tool. Unfortunately, it’s like a kid with a hammer: every problem looks like a nail.  
Sunset understands power but she lacks discipline (control) which is why it overtook her in the first film. Her whole character moving on is learning to recognize her limitations and gain mastery over herself.  
That’s how I viewed it at least.

(For Sunset) I still don’t exactly see how that’d work as a special talent… So her special talent is balancing power and discipline in magic?
 
I kind-of see Starlight’s talent as innovative magic, since she’s constantly pulling new tricks out of her flank, and a lot of spells we’ve seen her do, don’t exactly follow the setting’s guidelines. Having lots of magic is just an added bonus.

@Background Pony #3377  
The whole “special talent” thing is kinda nebulous and weird. Rarity is a good example of that since her special talent is finding gemstones depending on how you look at it. I’m kinda looking more at a broader trait. Otherwise “talents” start to feel same-y for me.

@Brass Beau  
Is is just me or does the gem cutie mark and her love of finding gems seems a little sttange for a fashion designer? Like it could’ve been more related to sewing and the like.

@Cosmas-the-Explorer
 
Tbf gems are her trademark. Or if you want something more abstract they represent beauty and luxury, which is what Rarity’s dresses are.

@Background Pony #3377  
Honestly it probably gives her dresses a unique style. That’s one of her distinctive design features.

@Brass Beau
 
@Cosmas-the-Explorer  
Her talent is revealing hidden beauty. Right?

@Latecomer  
That’s how she interpreted her destiny after finding the boulder full of gems. She uses gemstones in her dress designs and tries to draw inner beauty out. Someone else may have gone through that experience and used it as a means of obtaining wealth. The personality has to be considered with the talent to get a better picture of the character. Broadly speaking, half a dozen ponies have “magic” as a talent. How they interact with magic is what sets them apart.

Twilight, Starlight, and Starswirl also have the added bonus of having super powerful magic that lets them cast almost any spell they want.

i have one question, and this is probably gonna be an easy question, who do you think would win in a fight? twilight when all the princesses gave her their magic, or mewtwo?

@Background Pony #3377  
Yes. While Trixie and Sunburst have similar talents, but lack that ridiculous well of power.

@Background Pony #3377  
Sunset also has plenty of power. If Starlight’s power comes from her emotions, it would appear Sunset derives hers from her ambition.
 
@@cameron  
Mewtwo, on a technicality.
 
@Latecomer  
Trixie is interesting because the level of power and skill she showed in her debut actually diminished later on. Theoretically, using the alicorn amulet actually weakened her own power.

@Brass Beau  

 
Unlikely - after hooking up with Starlight she learned to teleport, and “A Horse Shoe-In” had her teleport a much greater mass over a much greater distance than anything else we’ve ever seen.

@Brass Beau  
Really? I don’t see that…

@Latecomer  
In her debut she physically manipulated a rainbow. With the amulet she was transfiguring carts and colts. When we catch up with her again, she’s struggling to turn a salt shaker into a teacup. Something seems different.  
Been a while since I did a Trixie marathon so I may have missed something though.

@Brass Beau  
Well, for starters we don’t exactly have the most solid catalogue of what magic is harder than what. Even Twilight’s capability seems to fluctuate a fair bit.
 
That said, it seemed clear from the start that Trixie, while knowing a broad variety of magic, lacked Twilight’s Awesome Power. And that’s what made the Amulet scary on her - it made up the difference and more. Without it, she’s always been a mid-level mage with a focus on showcraft.

@Latecomer  
Yeah, magic is weird in FiM. You can put a mustache on a dragon but you can’t grow hair. You can turn a bird into an orange, change the nature of animals, travel through time and space and even futz with magical tattoos that reflect your personality. What makes one harder than the other?

@Brass Beau  
The plot, I guess. And the fact that the writers never kept track of this stuff.

You ever wonder what determines Magic Power besides the plot? Twilight has the excuse of being connected to the Element of Magic (and later as an alicorn), but Starswirl and Starlight apparently have as much power as Twilicorn (PoS even said Twilicorn was almost as powerful as Starswirl, implying he even had more than Magic Power than an alicorn).

@Background Pony #5E51  
Surely it’s just natural variance? Some are weak and some are strong, just like some are short and some are tall. The ones you mention are just extreme outliers.

@Background Pony #5E51
 
“Power levels”

@Latecomer  
shrugs Makes sense. Though it’s gotta suck if you have a talent in magic, but don’t have the power to use it to its full potential like Sunburst and Trixie.