Rarity

Rarity is a Unicorn pony who resides in Ponyville, and one of the main characters of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. She is the older sister of Sweetie Belle, and she works as both a fashion designer and seamstress in her Carousel Boutique. She represents the element of generosity.

Development
Rarity's design evolved from that of Sparkler and Glory, ponies from the original line of My Little Pony characters. She looks like the unicorn Majesty, who came with the first-generation castle set, except her hair is purple instead of blue. Since Hasbro did not maintain the trademarks of nearly all the original ponies' names, Faust combined several characters into one. Rarity uses Glory's color scheme and Sparkler's cutie mark and appearance, with the personality of third-generation Rainbow Dash, as they both speak with a dignified, arguably almost British accent and have tendencies to flip their manes and say "darling". She shares her name with a G3 pony. The G3 Rarity is voiced by Cathy Weseluck, who currently voices Spike in the new series.

Personality
Rarity has a passion for design and considers herself an artist, with other ponies' looks as her medium. Her dream is to design for Princess Celestia one day and marry "the stallion of her dreams", which was initially Celestia's nephew, Prince Blueblood. She has a tendency to give her friends spontaneous makeovers and clothing tips if their appearance does not meet her (very high) standards (Twilight is a frequent victim of this). However, this does not mean that she is shallow or superficial; she truly cares about each one of her clients and tries her best to create designs which will bring out the inner beauty of her friends.

That is not to say that Rarity does not deal with her outer beauty as well. In Boast Busters, her attempt to show up Trixie is spoiled when the unicorn ruins her hair, causing her to run away. In Look Before You Sleep, she panics while trying to avoid getting muddy or having her mane soaked in the rain. This causes some conflict with her friend Applejack, who is not bothered about getting muddy or wet. In Dragonshy, she wears a scarf on the way to the dragon's lair, wondering if she should carry a tiara to match. In Green Isn't Your Color, she is shown indulging in full spa treatments. In The Best Night Ever, it is revealed that Rarity actually wears eyelash extensions.

Rarity takes great pride in her work and will do whatever it takes to make sure a dress is perfect for the customer, no matter how long it takes. In Suited For Success, she takes it a step further when her friends do not seem satisfied with the first wave of dresses she made for them. She stresses herself into making a new set as perfect as they want it, going as far as following all their instructions instead of her own instincts. She is unhappy with the results, even though her friends are the opposite. Because of the love of her career, she can be emotionally distraught when it is threatened in some shape or form. When her "perfect" gowns are devastatingly rebuked by a visiting fashion critic and she is being laughed at, she locks herself in her room, lamenting the fear of her career being ruined. In another example, in Swarm of the Century, she forgets the parasprite crisis around Ponyville when she realizes some of the hungry swarm are in her shop eating all of her clothes, causing her to panic and rush over.

Rarity is perhaps the most well-spoken of the main six ponies; her vocabulary tends to be on the more elegant side, and she is prone to use complex words and more sophisticated, refined phrasing than the others. She speaks with a cultivated Mid-Atlantic dialect, and shares some mannerisms with similarly accented Hollywood actresses, such as Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa Gabor --for example, referring to others as "Darling."

However, 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 presence of a much bigger problem: 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 making hundreds of other nests.

While she cares about her appearance quite a bit, being averse to stepping in mud or risking getting herself messy, Rarity is not above getting her hooves dirty when it comes to helping her friends or the prospect of gathering gems. As shown in Friendship is Magic, part 2, she is willing to sacrifice her beauty to help out someone in need (when Rarity slices off her own tail to calm down the river serpent) and has been out on rugged pursuits such as in Dragonshy and Over a Barrel. She shows herself to be quite 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 is taking control of the situation quite well.

Hasbro.com description
''Rarity could possibly be the most beautiful pony you've ever seen. As she prances down the street, her coat gleaming pure white and her royal purple curls bouncing, everypony's head is turning--- and boy does she love it! A talented fashion-designer, her biggest dream is to one day design for Princess Celestia. At first glance she may seem like a typical debutant, vain and entitled, but it's simply not so! Generous to a fault, she's believes so badly that the world should be beautiful she's all too eager to simply give away the designs she's worked so hardly on and to offer anypony a custom Rarity makeover. And should you make it through one; you'll learn that Rarity's greatest beauty is her heart.''

Hubworld description
''With her gleaming white coat and royal purple curls, Rarity is the most beautiful unicorn in Ponyville. And she knows it. After all, heads turn when she prances down the street. A talented fashion designer, Rarity loves to give the other ponies makeovers, and her dream is to design for Princess Celestia.''

Skills
As a unicorn, Rarity can use magic. She has not demonstrated the same level of skill as Twilight, but is quite adept with telekinesis, being able to use it on multiple items at once, and can put on impressive light displays, use tools, including scissors, and even sew with considerable skill. The focus of her magic is centered around making things tidy and pretty, such as making dresses from a bolt of cloth with remarkable speed. She has also shown some creativity with this aspect of her power by eliminating a large section of tree by reducing it to cute little topiaries in Look Before You Sleep. She also seems to possess some ability to create illusions as seen in the second fashion show exclusively for Hoity Toity during Suited For Success.

Though her care of her own appearance makes her unwilling to get too rough, Rarity has shown some quite impressive close combat ability. Appropriately, she seems to concentrate on not getting hit, dodging the manticore and the Diamond Dogs’ attacks with her customary grace.

Rarity can also use her magic to expose underground gems, which is a major plot point in the episode A Dog and Pony Show. This spell is copied by Twilight in the same episode. Unlike Twilight or other unicorns, Rarity's gem-finding ability appears to be instinctive: her story in The Cutie Mark Chronicles show this ability activating by itself without her knowingly casting a spell.

History
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 Twilight a makeover. She also develops a fascination with Twilight when she hears she is from Canterlot. Twilight flees the Carousel Boutique (Rarity's shop) in fear of the thought of Rarity dying her coat a new color.

In episode 2, during the search for the Elements of Harmony, they encounter a sea-serpent. When they discover the sea-serpent is just crying over the loss of half of his mustache, Rarity selflessly cuts off her own tail and uses it to replace the sea-serpent's lost mustache. This action earns her the element of generosity (and, as a bonus, the element restores her tail.)

Rarity daydreams in episode three about meeting Princess Celestia's dashing nephew at the Grand Galloping Gala. Upon attending the Gala, she finally meets the object of her affections who reveals his name to be Prince Blueblood. However, to her dismay, he turns out to be snobbish, self-centered, and rude.

Sweetie Belle is established as Rarity's little sister in Stare Master.

Relationships
Twilight Sparkle – Though Twilight doesn't seem that interested in fashion, she and Rarity get along well. Twilight has been the subject of multiple makeovers and liked the results. The two, being unicorns, share a talent in magic and it has been shown that Rarity and Twilight occasionally teach each other their various spells; at some point, Rarity teaches Twilight how to track jewels with her horn, as demonstrated in A Dog and Pony Show.

Pinkie Pie – Pinkie Pie and Rarity are close friends. Rarity is never as surprised or critical of Pinkie Pie's oddness as the others, though her fashion sense occasionally drives Rarity to distraction. In Dragonshy they are seen getting along very well, playing games like tic-tac-toe and trading quips throughout the episode.

Fluttershy – Rarity and Fluttershy share interests in fashion and beauty and meet at the spa once a week, as depicted in Green Isn't Your Color. She even claims Fluttershy to be her best friend. Rarity expresses admiration of Fluttershy's grace and poise in the episode, and implores Fluttershy to model her clothing, though she is aware that Fluttershy doesn't enjoy putting herself in front of people and only asks her when Photo Finish comes to photograph her work. This results in Rarity losing the spotlight to Fluttershy, a situation they both dislike. Fluttershy also extends her tender love for animals to Rarity's cat Opalescence when the latter is unable to tend to her properly in Stare Master. Rarity and Fluttershy come to a small disagreement over the design of Fluttershy's dress in Suited For Success, but the latter's "freaky knowledge of sewing" proves handy in the group's effort to complete Rarity's dress.

Rainbow Dash – Rainbow Dash tends to be much more rambunctious and sharp-tongued than the ever-polite and stately Rarity, but despite this, Rarity seems to not mind Rainbow's wild nature, and Rainbow is generally respectful in return. Rainbow does not share the same attention to detail and fashion Rarity does, but does show admiration for Rarity's talent at dressmaking. 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 Flier Competition, Rarity insists that they all find some way to get there and support her, and has Twilight test a spell on her that will allow her to fly in Cloudsdale. Rarity gains a lovely pair of wings thanks to this spell, but outshines Rainbow when she shows them off to everyone and even entered the competition herself, sending Rainbow Dash into a nervous breakdown. However, when Rarity falls from the sky after burning her wings, Rainbow Dash flies to save her and Rarity apologizes to Rainbow Dash, calling her the greatest flier in Cloudsdale.

Applejack – Unfortunately, Applejack and Rarity often find themselves unable to get over their differences, with the result of talking to each other cautiously, if at all. Despite this, they have shown concern for each other, and the episode Look Before You Sleep results in them forming a slightly better relationship. In more recent episodes, they show a somewhat better tolerance towards each other's differences. In Over a Barrel, Rarity is baffled at Applejack's caring for a tree she named "Bloomberg" that she is taking to Appleloosa for planting, and complains over not receiving the private coach Applejack did. 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 also compliments Applejack's manners while the two are at the Grand Galloping Gala in The Best Night Ever, having spent the night with Prince Blueblood, whose manners were even less than Applejack's sometimes are.

Spike – While it is uncertain if Rarity has noticed Spike's crush on her (though as Twilight noted, she would have to be pretty unobservant not to), she seems quite willing to let him help her out with her work, and has shown concern for his welfare. In A Dog and Pony Show, she rewards Spike with gems to feast on when he helps in her gem hunts, much to the latter's happiness.

Sweetie Belle – Though Rarity views her little sister with affection, Sweetie Belle's clumsiness does drive her to distraction sometimes, especially since it's paired with a painful willingness to 'help', as shown in Stare Master. Sweetie has also shown a tendency to "borrow" important supplies from Rarity on occasion, using her most expensive fabrics to make poorly stitched costumes for her friends.

Prince Blueblood – Once the subject of her affections, Rarity's image of Prince Blueblood was Rarity's dream pony; in The Ticket Master, Rarity fawns over the Prince's handsomeness and royal manner, fantasizes him taking her hoof in marriage at the Grand Galloping Gala. Rarity eventually meets the Prince in person in The Best Night Ever, but their relationship proves anything but romantic. Although handsome and initially charming, Blueblood shows himself to be conceited, rude, and narrow-minded, often taking advantage of Rarity's affections for him and rarely ever displaying common courtesy to her through the night of the Gala. Rarity tries to be patient with the Prince's manner, but his selfish ways soon get to her and, when Blueblood uses her as a shield from an incoming cake (courtesy of Applejack and Pinkie Pie), Rarity angrily declares him to be nothing more than a "royal pain" and breaks off the relationship for good. It's worth noting, though, that the two do share a fear of getting themselves dirty, a fear Rarity takes quick advantage of while reaching the boiling point of their date.

Appearances

 * See also character appearances

Rarity appears in all episodes so far except episodes Call of the Cutie and Feeling Pinkie Keen. In Fall Weather Friends, Rarity only appears briefly without any speaking roles.

Gallery

 * Rarity image gallery
 * Fan Labor of Rarity
 * Speculation of Rarity

Trivia

 * Rarity says "Darling" eight times in episodes 1-19.
 * Rarity shares a few similarities with that of Princess Luna, as they not only have primary colors within the blue-violet range, but are also voiced by the same voice actress, Tabitha St. Germain.
 * Rarity is one of the few from the main ponies, along with Twilight and Fluttershy, that have a less frequently-used eye shape. The two spa ponies from Green Isn't Your Color have the exact same eyes as Rarity's from the eye color and eye shape down to even the exact style and number of upper and lower eyelashes. A very uncommon background unicorn pony in Applebuck Season at about 2:14 in has the same eye shape as Rarity as well.
 * As a filly, Rarity's snout was the same distinct shape as Twist 's

Rarity