Rarity

Rarity is a female unicorn pony and one of the main characters of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. She is Sweetie Belle's older sister and the love interest of Spike. Rarity works as both a fashion designer and as a seamstress at her own shop in Ponyville, the Carousel Boutique. She has a white Persian cat named Opalescence. She represents the element of generosity. Unlike Twilight Sparkle, she only uses her magic for activities related to her special talent and for basic tasks such as holding and carrying items or finding gems. She also makes a guest appearance in the episode Fighter Fly 4 from The Avenging Regular Show Unlimited.

Appearance[]

Development and design[]

Lauren Faust was inspired to create Rarity by her childhood toy G1 ponies Glory and Sparkler.[2] Rarity uses Glory's color scheme, Sparkler's cutie mark and appearance, and some mannerisms of G3 Rainbow Dash, like the Trans-Atlantic English accent and a tendency to flip her mane and say "darling". She shares her name with a G3 pony who was voiced by Cathy Weseluck, who currently voices Spike in the new series. Concurrently with G4, a G1 version of G3 Rarity has been introduced in IDW Publishing's Transformers vs. G.I. Joe Issue #13. Rarity's tail is inspired by the hairstyle of the character Margaret Wade from the comic strip Dennis the Menace.[3]

Spike's crush on Rarity was not planned out from the beginning. When Lauren Faust was writing Rarity's introduction scene in the pilot, she wanted the audience to understand that she's very beautiful even though she is visually very similar to the other ponies, except the style of her mane and her eyes and eyelashes. To let the audience understand that she is beautiful, Faust made Spike become smitten with her, which developed into his crush on Rarity.[4]

Rarity's eye design is less frequently used than most other designs: Lotus Blossom and Aloe share the same eye design as Rarity, including color, shape and design of upper and lower eyelashes. During running sequences, Lemon Hearts has the same eye shape as Rarity as well. In The Best Night Ever, Rarity puts fake eyelashes on before going to the Grand Galloping Gala. She is seen wearing fake eyelashes again in MMMystery on the Friendship Express while being interrogated by Twilight Sparkle.

Rarity's dressmaking shop, the Carousel Boutique, is designed after a toy of the My Little Pony line sold by Hasbro. In Lauren Faust's "pitch bible" for the show, the boutique was named the Carousel Couture, and it specialized in carousel-inspired designs. Rarity was originally the "Element of Inspiration",[5] but this was considered "too tough for kids to wrap their heads around."[6] Faust stated that Audrey Hepburn was her biggest influence on Rarity.[7]

Depiction in the series[]

History[]

In Sweet and Elite, Rarity states she was born in Ponyville. During The Cutie Mark Chronicles, Rarity retells her story of her life as a filly to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The flashback starts on an outdoor theater near the Ponyville Schoolhouse, where some fillies are practicing for a school play, dressed as various foods. The teacher compliments Rarity on her costume design, but the perfectionist Rarity insists that the dresses don't meet her expectations and tries to create new ones to no avail. Almost immediately, a light ignites in her horn, and it drags Rarity leftward until it stumbles into a very large, geode-like boulder. Rarity, having thought her horn would help her find "[her] destiny", is deeply unsatisfied. Then, Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom occurs, causing the boulder to split in two, revealing it to be filled with gemstones. Rarity decides to add these to the existing costumes to jazz them up, earning both the admiration of the crowd and her cutie mark. Rarity is responsible for the decor during the Summer Sun Celebration. When she sees what Rainbow Dash accidentally did to Twilight's hair, she is compelled to give the latter a makeover. She also develops a fascination with Twilight when she hears she is from Canterlot. Twilight flees the Carousel Boutique in fear of the thought of Rarity dying her coat a new color.

Rarity daydreams in The Ticket Master about meeting Princess Celestia's dashing "nephew" at the Grand Galloping Gala, with her fantasy culminating in marriage and induction into royalty. Upon attending the Gala in The Best Night Ever, she spots a stallion, depicted with the same character design as the one in her fantasy, who is identified as Prince Blueblood. Although handsome and initially charming, Blueblood turns out to be conceited, rude, and narrow-minded. He expects Rarity to care for him while doing nothing in return. Rarity tries to be patient with the prince's manner, but his selfish ways finally exhaust her patience when Blueblood uses her as a shield from an incoming cake. She then angrily declares him to be "a royal pain" and splatters frosting all over him.

Sweetie Belle[]

Sweetie Belle is introduced as Rarity's little sister in Stare Master. Her clumsiness, paired with an insistent willingness to help, tests Rarity's patience and she eventually asks Sweetie Belle to let her work in peace. Sweetie Belle "borrows" important supplies from Rarity in Stare Master and The Show Stoppers, using her most expensive fabrics to make amateurishly-stitched costumes for her friends. Even though Sweetie's eagerness to help usually unintentionally causes messes, she and Rarity truly do love and care for each other. At the end of Sisterhooves Social, they agree to embrace and love each other's differences, and send a letter to Celestia describing how being sisters is mainly about having fun, but that it also requires compromises and work to keep a strong relationship. In Sleepless in Ponyville, Sweetie Belle invites Rarity to go on a camping trip with Apple Bloom, Applejack, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. Rarity refuses at first, since she does not usually enjoy being around nature, but she reluctantly agrees to go after seeing some disappointed faces made by Sweetie. Though Rarity is not necessarily mean towards Sweetie Belle, she makes her carry all of her luggage on the trip and wait on her after they set up camp. Later, Rarity shows compassion towards Sweetie Belle, such as letting Scootaloo carry her luggage in order to give Sweetie Belle a rest, comforting her when she's frightened by Rainbow Dash's ghost stories, and happily racing with her at the end of the episode.

Parents[]

In Sisterhooves Social, Rarity and Sweetie Belle's parents make a brief appearance. The two have a mid-American accent and are carefree, with personalities that are vastly different from Rarity's. Her father is a white unicorn (shown for the first time on My Little Pony: The Elements of Harmony page 145, shown for the second time on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #9 page 16, and shown for the third time in Inspiration Manifestation) with a brown mane and mustache and very thick eyebrows compared to other stallions. Her mother is a pink unicorn with a body and mane design similar to that of Mrs. Cake, although her mane color is a slightly lighter shade of Rarity's royal purple mane.

Opalescence[]

Rarity keeps a cat named Opalescence, who is supportive in Suited For Success. In Stare Master, however, Rarity seems to have trouble with the cat and asks for Fluttershy's assistance. In The Best Night Ever, Opalescence scares away the mice that Twilight Sparkle had turned into horses to pull their carriage to the Gala. Opal makes her first season two appearance when Rarity dresses her with her shrunken wool sweater in Sisterhooves Social. Her next appearance is in May the Best Pet Win!, where she is shown as one of the trials for Rainbow Dash's potential pets. She appears again in Sweet and Elite, accompanying Rarity on her trip to Canterlot where she tries to remind Rarity to work on Twilight Sparkle's new birthday dress when Rarity becomes too caught up in social obligations. When her friends come to her suite at the castle, Rarity quickly douses Opal in water to support her made-up excuse she gave as to why she couldn't make it to Ponyville for Twilight's birthday, much to Opal's dismay.

Spike[]

Spike develops a crush on Rarity the moment he sees her in Friendship is Magic, part 1, calling her "beautiful". He admits to having a crush on Rarity in Green Isn't Your Color and is seen wearing a shirt that has a picture of Rarity superimposed on a heart. In Owl's Well That Ends Well, Rarity calls Spike "simply amazing" and gives him a bow tie laden with jewels.

Spike and Rarity's relationship becomes stronger in later episodes. In Secret of My Excess, Spike generously gives Rarity a fire ruby that she covets. In gratitude, she kisses him on the cheek and calls him "Spikey-wikey." During Spike's birthday party, they affectionately rub their cheeks together. Later in the episode, when Spike returns to normal after growing into a monstrous dragon and he and Rarity plummet to the ground, Spike very nearly confesses his feelings for her, but Rarity stops him mid-sentence and gives a teary smile at him, and Spike smiles back. After they are rescued by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, Rarity calls Spike her hero and kisses him on the cheek again.

Rarity shows a more caring and sensitive feeling for Spike in Dragon Quest and still calls him "Spikey-wikey." She stands up for him when Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash pick on him and when Spike decides to join the dragon migration, Rarity tries to change his mind, telling him that she doesn't want him to get hurt by the other dragons. Later, she even threatens to hurt the older dragons if they harm Spike. In Spike at Your Service, Rarity pretends to eat Spike's disastrously burned pie to make him happy. In Simple Ways, Spike helps Rarity in her attempts to win the heart of Trenderhoof, despite his own feelings for her.

In Inspiration Manifestation, Spike assists Rarity as she designs a puppet theater for the Foal and Filly Fair. She thanks Spike for his help, defining him one of her dearest and most supportive friends and calling him her "favorite dragon". When Rarity's theater is met with harsh reception and she falls into a depression, Spike helps by finding a spell from a hidden spell book to bring Rarity's ideas to life. However, Rarity is corrupted by the spell, and Spike worries that telling her to stop will cost him her friendship. Spike soon tells Rarity the truth about her actions, breaking the spell, and Rarity tells Spike he should never be afraid of telling her the truth, and the two share a friendly hug.

In some situations, Spike is even submissive in his devotion to Rarity. In Green Isn't Your Color, he gladly offers his body as a pincushion for Rarity to use while she designs a dress. In Party of One, he takes out Rarity's garbage and addresses her as "most beautiful one". He looks at her lovingly even after she says he smells "like a rotten apple core that's been wrapped in moldy hay and dipped in dragon perspiration." In Rarity Takes Manehattan, Spike carries Rarity's bags to the train station and through the streets of Manehattan. During the song Generosity, she buys him a carrot dog as a sign of gratitude.

In Castle Sweet Castle, Spike is seen waking up holding a beanie version of Rarity. In Scare Master, Rarity, out of fear of Flutterbat possibly about to attack, caresses Spike.

In The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2, in an alternate timeline where Equestria is ruled by Nightmare Moon, Spike attempts to talk to Rarity, who is working as Nightmare Moon's royal decorator, but since she does not recognize him, she snubs him.

Personality[]

Love of beauty[]

When Rarity meets Twilight Sparkle for the first time, she is busy decorating Ponyville's pavilion for the Summer Sun Celebration. As soon as Rarity turns to look at Twilight, she expresses concern for Twilight's messy mane and practically forces on her the first of many makeovers while the besotted Spike looks on. Rarity cares for her own beauty as well. She tries to show up Trixie in Boast Busters by making herself a dress from Trixie's curtain, but Trixie retaliates by ruining Rarity's mane, making her burst into tears and run away. Rarity is also particular about her cleanliness: she panics while trying to avoid getting muddy in Look Before You Sleep and tries to keep herself from getting soaked in the rain to avoid it messing up her mane. This causes some conflict with her friend Applejack, who is, by contrast, not at all bothered about getting muddy or wet. Her fashion consciousness extends even to times of peril: in Dragonshy, she wears a scarf on the way to the dragon's lair, wondering if she should carry a tiara to match. She indulges in a full spa treatment with Fluttershy in Green Isn't Your Color as part of their "weekly get-together", and she puts on eyelash extensions as part of her gala preparations in The Best Night Ever. In MMMystery on the Friendship Express, she wears false eyelashes, and in the latter part of the episode, she wears her hair in such a way to prevent this becoming known to her friends, having lost one of them while trying to make her escape from Pinkie Pie.

Center of attention[]

Rarity expresses admiration of Fluttershy's grace and poise during Green Isn't Your Color and implores Fluttershy to model her clothing despite the fact that Fluttershy doesn't enjoy putting herself in front of others and only asks her because Photo Finish is scheduled to come photograph her work. When Rarity loses the spotlight to Fluttershy, she attempts to overcome her envy and remain very supportive of Fluttershy. However, the same could be said of Rainbow Dash and Rarity in Sonic Rainboom. After Rainbow Dash expresses disappointment that the others would not be able to go to Cloudsdale to cheer her on in the Best Young Flyer competition, Rarity insists that they all find a way to go there and support her, and has Twilight test a spell on her that would allow her to fly in Cloudsdale. Rarity gains a lovely pair of butterfly-like wings thanks to this spell, but she steals the spotlight, showing them off to everyone and even entering the competition herself, sending Rainbow Dash into a nervous breakdown. Rarity eventually falls from the sky after burning her wings from flying too close to the sun, much like Icarus of Greek legend. Rainbow Dash spots Rarity as she falls and flies to save her, performing a sonic rainboom in the process. Rarity later apologizes to Rainbow Dash for her behavior and calls her the greatest flier in Equestria.

Mannerisms[]

Rarity's mannerisms are similar to those of Scarlett O'Hara, the histrionic anti-heroine of Gone With the Wind. Many of Rarity's lines are rephrased from lines Scarlett says in the 1939 movie. Her vocabulary is formal, and she is prone to use complex words and more sophisticated, refined phrasing than her friends. As a fashionista, she often uses French-based terms in her vernacular. She speaks with a cultivated trans-Atlantic dialect, and shares some mannerisms with similarly accented Hollywood actresses, such as Katharine Hepburn.[dubious – discuss‍] Rarity sometimes gets carried away with her attention to detail. In Look Before You Sleep, she has difficulty tearing herself away from fixing a messy bookcase despite the much bigger problem of a tree that crashed into Twilight's bedroom. In Winter Wrap Up, she becomes so preoccupied with fixing Twilight's messy bird's nest that she spends nearly the entire day on it, when she was supposed to be producing nests in large numbers.

Rarity shows herself to be tough and resourceful in dealing with the Diamond Dogs in A Dog and Pony Show. Even though the others are worried she would panic over how dirty the underground was, Rarity takes control of the situation quite well, manipulating the Diamond Dogs into releasing her and even letting her have several carts full of gems. Rarity's prim ways and aversion to disorder and dirt clashes with Applejack's brashness in Look Before You Sleep. They bicker throughout the episode about each other's attitude, but they finally unite in the face of adversity when a tree crashes into Twilight's library. They work together and eventually come to enjoy the company of one another, which becomes more apparent in later episodes. In Over a Barrel, Rarity is baffled at the level of care Applejack bestows on Bloomberg, an apple tree being taken to Appleloosa for planting. Rarity complains that the tree received a private coach; however, Applejack takes this in stride and takes no offense at Rarity's complaints. Rarity later provides Applejack with much-appreciated support in their attempts to protect Appleloosa from a buffalo stampede. Rarity even comes to compliment Applejack's manners when she doesn't charge Rarity for food from her stand at the Grand Galloping Gala in The Best Night Ever.

Generosity[]

While Rarity cares about her appearance quite a bit, being averse to stepping in mud or risking getting herself messy, she is not above getting her hooves dirty when it comes to helping her friends or creatures in need. She slices off her own tail to calm down the sea serpent in Friendship is Magic, part 2, willing to sacrifice her beauty to help restore the distressed serpent's "fabulosity". This action earns her the element of generosity, and later, when she activates the element, her tail is restored.

The episode Suited For Success heavily revolves around Rarity's generosity, as she is willing to not only make five unique dresses for her friends for the Grand Galloping Gala but additionally re-work and redesign them as her friends desire. The overworking runs Rarity ragged and, despite her friends' designs being horrible fashion-wise, she continues making them in order to satisfy her friends. At the end of the episode, Rarity's friends realize that her original dresses were beautiful and perfectly matched for each of them, and that they should not have taken advantage of Rarity's generosity.

Rarity is hypnotized by Discord into believing a large boulder is actually a giant diamond in The Return of Harmony Part 1. For a short moment she resists the temptation, but soon she becomes brainwashed, obsessively protecting her "diamond" and refusing to let anybody near it, as she becomes possessive and greedy. This continues in The Return of Harmony Part 2, where she refuses to part with the boulder and names it "Tom", while additionally hoarding other items she sees as valuable, such as the jewelry of the Elements of Harmony themselves. After the brainwashing is cured, she throws the boulder away and tells her friends to "never speak of this again" in a hushed but assertive whisper. In Sisterhooves Social, Applejack mentions to Rarity that sisterhood is a give-and-take relationship that requires compromise. To this end, Rarity takes part in the Sisterhooves Social with Sweetie Belle while disguised as Applejack.

Rarity's generosity is a major plot point of Rarity Takes Manehattan. The unscrupulous fashion designer Suri Polomare uses it against her by asking for some of the unique material Rarity made to "accentuate" her own dresses. Instead, Suri uses the material to copy Rarity's designs. Rarity beats Suri in the end, and pledges not to let the experience sour her on being generous in the future.

Career[]

Rarity works as a fashion designer at Carousel Boutique. Rarity's work is so important to her that during the parasprite crisis in Ponyville in Swarm of the Century, she yells in panic and rushes to her boutique once she realizes the parasprites might get there and eat her work. Rarity's work ethic and dedication to her customers is depicted in Suited For Success. She initially sews dresses of her own design for her friends, but when they're not satisfied with the result, she sews them brand new dresses under their direction.

Rarity stresses herself into making a new set of dresses the way her friends want them, going as far as following all their instructions instead of her own instincts. She is unhappy with the results, even though her friends are very satisfied. When these dresses are devastatingly criticized by "the bigwig fashion hotshot" Hoity Toity, she locks herself in her room, lamenting her ruined career; luckily for her, her friends are able to convince Hoity Toity to hold another fashion show, this time with the original dresses.

In the episode A Dog and Pony Show, the pony pop sensation Sapphire Shores visits Rarity's boutique. She claims that she makes "it a point to know all of the up-and-coming designers", and "Clothes Horse magazine simply raved about [Rarity]."

Rarity is quite willing to let Spike help her out with her work, and shows some concern for his welfare. They go gem-hunting together in A Dog and Pony Show, and she rewards him for his assistance with "the finest reward", a gem, which he holds very dear to him simply for being a gift from Rarity. At the end of the episode, once she has several carts full of gems, she lets Spike indulge on a great number of them. He willingly gives himself as a pin-cushion in Green Isn't Your Color and says he "can't feel a thing" thanks to his thick scales. There's a brief shot of Spike wearing a T-shirt with Rarity's head emblazoned on a heart as a gag about the overt nature of Spike's "secret" crush. Rarity wears a pair of reading glasses while sewing. She designs the wedding dress for Princess Cadance and the bridesmaid dresses for herself and her friends in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 and A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2.

In Rarity Takes Manehattan, Rarity places first at a fashion show hosted by Prim Hemline as part of Manehattan's Fashion Week, despite the machinations of fellow designer Suri Polomare. She manages to wow the crowd with a fashion line made only from fabrics in the Mane Six's hotel room, created with her friends' help in less than a day.

In For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils, Rarity regularly designs for Sapphire Shores.

Twilight says in Canterlot Boutique that Rarity designing for Sapphire Shores' Equestria-wide tour led to the opening of Canterlot Carousel. At the end of the episode, Rarity lets her former fashion connoisseur Sassy Saddles manage Canterlot Carousel while she manages Carousel Boutique on the grounds that Sassy Saddles has learned Rarity's entrepreneur ways. Rarity states that her guidelines are only to be applied in Canterlot Carousel.

Skills[]

Magic[]

As a unicorn, Rarity performs magic. While it may not be up to the standards of Twilight Sparkle, she uses it in connection with making things "fabulous", like gem-finding, dressmaking, and topiary art. She magically attaches her sheared tail hair to Steven Magnet's mustache in Friendship is Magic, part 2, and she also reattaches a large branch to a tree in Look Before You Sleep and magically trims its foliage into topiaries. She puts on an impressive light display for the fashion show she holds for Hoity Toity in Suited For Success. She uses sewing and cutting tools through telekinesis with the precision needed to make her dresses, manipulating multiple items at once. In Lesson Zero, she telekinetically pulls a couch from her home within a matter of seconds in order to dramatically swoon and collapse upon it. She also repairs the broken wheel of a taxi cab in Rarity Takes Manehattan.

Rarity also uses her magic to expose underground gems, which is a major plot point in the episode A Dog and Pony Show. Twilight copies this spell in the same episode; Spike says that Twilight "can copy Rarity's gem-finding spell," and Twilight says that "Rarity showed [her] how she did it a while back." Unlike Twilight, who had to learn it, Rarity's gem-finding ability developed on its own: her story in The Cutie Mark Chronicles shows this ability activating by itself without her knowingly casting a spell. This spell does not come up again until Gauntlet of Fire, in which Rarity and Spike are on a gem hunt in a bat cave.

Close combat[]

Despite Rarity's delicate nature and formal personality, she shows a propensity for brute force. Like the other ponies, Rarity gets into physical conflicts throughout the series: she delivers a kick to the manticore's face in Friendship is Magic, part 2, knocks away Twilight with a whip of her flank in Sonic Rainboom, and delivers a flying kick with a martial arts stance to Applejack with a karate yell in The Return of Harmony Part 2. In Dragon Quest, she threatens the teenage dragons, viciously telling them that she will "rip [them] to pieces" if they try to hurt Spike. Additionally, she knocks Soarin, Spitfire, and Misty Fly unconscious in mid-air while falling in Sonic Rainboom, though the kicks were part of her violent thrashing as she fell through the air, and in Ponyville Confidential, she kicks open the door to her bedroom in order to confront Sweetie Belle. She defeats several changelings using various hoof-to-hoof combat moves in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2.

Powers and Abilities[]

Unicorn Physiology: Rarity is a unicorn who resides in Ponyville.

Magic: Rarity can use magic, and while it may not be up to the standards of Twilight Sparkle or Trixie, she uses it in connection with making things "fabulous", like gem-finding, dressmaking, and topiary art.
- Telekinesis: She uses sewing and cutting tools through telekinesis with the precision needed to make her dresses, manipulating multiple items at once.
- Dowsing: Rarity can also use her magic to expose underground gems.
- Light Generation: Like Twilight Sparkle, Rarity can use horn to create light.

Expert Martial Artist: Despite Rarity's delicate nature and formal personality, she has shown an occasional propensity for the martial arts.

Attract: Rarity has a talent for charming male ponies to help her and her friends.

Generosity Embodiment: Rarity possess the element of generosity.

Weapons[]

Physics Gun
Darksaber
Lightsaber
FN SCAR-L Assault Rifle
Beretta M9A3 Pistol
Colt Model 1903 Pistol
SW M986 Revolver
Charter Arms Bulldog Revolver
Charter Arms Undercover Revolver
Colt Detective Special Revolver
ED-S1 Armor Manipulation Device
M107
Loadout
Sword of Generosity