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Update: troper Gladeshy, who added the above, just added this.
- Ponies don't choose their own Cutie Marks or their unique talents, and ponies are driven by their Cutie Marks to pursue those talents. The problem is every pony who attempts to seek a path in life that isn't indicated by their Cutie Mark is a an absolute, colossal failure at it. If it were really possible for a pony to decide for themselves what to do in life, the Mane Six's Cutie Marks being switched around would only be a minor annoyance and they wouldn't have been irresistibly compelled to pursue the wrong destinies.
- Twilight's cutie mark was on the Tree of Harmony before she was even born and Celestia decided to take her on as a private student the day her cutie mark appeared. Twilight is The Chosen One with an illustrious destiny; there are even powerful places and artifacts that already have her personal logo stamped on them to point out that they're hers. Everything connected to her is implied to be foreordained, with Celestia guiding her based on her knowledge of the significance of Twilight's cutie mark.
- "Appleloosa's Most Wanted" shows us that a pony can misinterpret their own Cutie Mark, which means ponies really do have a choice in how they explore their destiny. Or it would, except that Trouble Shoes had an instinctive urge to participate in rodeo from the beginning, he just went for an event that wasn't dictated by his Cutie Mark. It was such a catastrophic failure they ran him out of town as a criminal.
- All that stuff about teamwork, accepting your friends for who they are, and sharing special bonds sounds a little hollow with the reveal that Celestia had an ulterior motive in urging Twilight to make friends all along, and Princess Twilight could apparently use the Elements of Harmony by herself. The fourth season final aims to fix it by revealing that Twilight is the Princess of Friendship and will need the help of her friends to rule.
Eight is way too much for a single incident. I was planning on just editing it down but now I think the whole thing is biased and suspect. Should it be trimmed or cut?
Would this fit better for Clueless Aesop since the issue invalids the vaguely defined workings of destiny in-series than outright contradiction?
Outside of any edit warring, you might be better off on the Is This an Example?
Thread in the forums.
That said, I maintain a rule of thumb of "always suspect any YMMV you have to scroll through".
Edit: Ah, I missed that you already tried the thread. Nevermind that one then.
Edited by sgamer82So an Aesop isn't broken if it's contradicted by other episodes with a different Aesop? Because there another Broken Aesop I found suspect regarding that...
Anyway, I say cut since it misinterprets the Aesop, which it might not even have since the episode doesn't list An Aesop:
The "Aesop" is don't accept a destiny if you're not good at it and it's making yourself and others unhappy. This episode has them reject the destinies forced on them in favor of their talents and interest (if that counts as their "real" destiny, that's a question that outside the scope of this trope). Twilight become a Princess would only count if there was a reason she wouldn't want to. Thoughts?

BrokenAesop.Western Animation:
This exact entry was deleted twice before since that's debated if it's the actual Aesop
. And it's a Wall of Text, a red flag. Cut? I asked Is this an example?
but it's been ignored.
If I don't hear back, I'll just condense it down.
Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught