Rarity

Rarity is a unicorn living in Ponyville. She works as a fashion designer and is one of the main characters of the series. She holds the element of generosity.

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 even marry "the stallion of her dreams" (at one point imagining this as Celestia's nephew). She has a tendency to give her friends spontaneous makeovers and clothing tips if their appearance does not meet her impeccable 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's not to say that she doesn't deal with her outer beauty as well. In Boast Busters, her attempt to show up Trixie was spoiled when the blue unicorn ruined her hair, causing her to run away. In Look Before You Sleep, she panics while trying to avoid getting muddy or have her mane soaked in the rain. This caused some conflict with her friend Applejack, who isn't bothered about getting muddy or wet. In Dragonshy, she wore a scarf on the way to the dragon's lair, wondering if she carried a tiara to match. In Green Isn't Your Color, she is shown indulging in full spa treatments.

Rarity takes great pride in her work and will do whatever it takes to make sure a dress is perfect for the customer. In Suited For Success, she takes it a step further when her friends did not seem satisfied in the first set of dresses she made for them. She stressed herself into making a new set as perfect as they wanted it, going as far as following all their instructions instead of her own instincts. She was unhappy with the results, even though her friends were 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 were devastatingly rebuked by a visiting fashion critic and her being laughed at, she locked herself in her room, lamenting the fear of her career being ruined. In another example, in Swarm of the Century, she forgot the Parasprite crisis around Ponyville when she realized some of the hungry swarm were 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 bigger 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--for example, referring to others as "Darling."

Rarity sometimes gets carried away with her attention to detail. In Look Before You Sleep, she had difficulty tearing herself away from fixing a messy bookcase despite the presence of a much bigger problem--a tree that crashed into Twilight's home. In Winter Wrap Up, she becomes so preoccupied with fixing Twilight's messy bird's nest that she spent nearly the entire day on it, when she was supposed to be making hundreds of other nests.

Skills
As a unicorn, Rarity can use magic. She has not demonstrated the same level of skill as Twilight, but is adept enough to use telekenesis on multiple items at once and put on impressive light displays.

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.

History
Rarity was responsible for the decor during the Summer Sun celebration. When she saw what Rainbow Dash accidently did to Twilight's hair she was compelled to give Twilight a makeover. She also developed a fascination with Twilight when she heard she was from Canterlot. Twilight fled 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 encountered a sea-serpent. When they discovered the sea-serpent was just crying over the loss of half of his moustache, Rarity selflessly cut off her own tail and used it to replace the sea-serpent's lost moustache. This action earned her the element of generosity (and as a bonus, the element restored her tail.)

Rarity day-dreams in episode three about meeting Princess Celestia's dashing nephew at the Grand Galloping Gala.

Rarity is revealed to be Sweetie Belle's older 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, and when Rarity's ego or self pity starts getting out of hand it is normally Twilight who tries to bring her back down to earth.

Pinkie Pie - Despite being totally different, Pinkie and Rarity are close friends. Rarity has never been as surprised or critical of Pinkie's oddness as the others, though her fashion sense has occasionally driven her to distraction. In Dragonshy they were 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. 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 stiches in Fluttershy's dress in Suited for Success, as the other ponies reference her "freaky knowledge of sewing".

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. In Sonic Rainboom, after Dash expressed disappointment that the others would not be able to go to Cloudsdale to cheer her on in the Young Fliers' Competition, Rarity insisted that they all find some way to get there and support her, and has Twilight test a spell on her that would allow her to fly in Cloudsdale. Rarity gained a lovely pair of wings thanks to this spell, but outshined Rainbow when she showed them off to everyone and even entered the competition herself, sending Dash into a nervous breakdown. However, when Rarity fell from the sky after burning her wings, Dash saved her and Rarity apologized to 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, resulted in them forming a slightly better relationship. In more recent episodes, they have shown 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 took no offense at Rarity's complaints. Rarity later provides Applejack with much appreciated support in their attempts to protect Appleloosa from a buffalo stampede.

Spike - While it is uncertain if Rarity has noticed Spike's crush (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 the latter 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'. Sweetie has also shown a tendency to 'borrow' important supplies from Rarity on occasion, using her most expensive fabrics to make poorly stiched costumes for her friends. It's a measure of their relationship that Rarity takes this with such grace.

Appearances

 * See also: Appearances

Rarity appears in all episodes so far except episodes twelve and fifteen.

Trivia

 * Rarity's design evolved from that of Sparkler and Glory, ponies from the original (or G1) line of My Little Pony characters. When Hasbro lost the rights to nearly all the original ponies names, Faust combined Glory's color scheme and Sparkler's personality and appearance with the name of a G3 pony, creating Friendship is Magic's Rarity.
 * Rarity says "Darling" eight times in episodes 1-19.