Friendship is Magic Issue 64

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #64, titled Everything Old, is the sixty-fourth issue of IDW Publishing's. In the issue, Fluttershy and Rarity travel to Manehattan, where Rarity discovers that old, ugly fashions are back in style.

Summary
The comic begins with Fluttershy and Rarity on a train bound for Manehattan. While Rarity is excited to immerse herself in the big city's culture and arts again, Fluttershy is on her way to an animal shelter symposium. Fluttershy is nervous about meeting with shelter directors with more experience than her, but Rarity assures her that she has been running her own shelter phenomenally and that she has drive and confidence.

Upon arriving at the train station, Rarity is horrified to discover the old and gaudy fashions from when she first started designing have come back in style. Due to the very cyclical nature of fashion, current trends have looped around on themselves, and Rarity doesn't want to repeat her own work. Fluttershy suggests Rarity make her own designs rather than follow the trends, but Rarity says to ignore trends is to become dated. While Rarity despondently checks in at the hotel, Fluttershy heads to her shelter seminar.

At the convention hall, Fluttershy listens to the animal shelter lecture and discovers there are many logistical aspects to running a shelter that she didn't know about. After the presentation, she voices her concerns to a fellow shelter director, and he sympathizes with her, considering having never opened a shelter in the first place if he had known beforehand about all the procedure involved.

Back in the city, Rarity continues to turn her nose up at the garish designs everyone is wearing and laments the idea of recycling her old ideas. She wanders into Coco Pommel's clothing boutique, and the two catch up over tea and discuss the recent Manehattan trends. Coco is more nostalgic for the retro fashions that have come back in style than Rarity, and like Fluttershy, she tells Rarity she doesn't have to follow the trends if she doesn't want to.

Just then, Fluttershy bursts in and voices her frustration at all the things she's done wrong in opening her animal shelter. When she says, "If I knew then what I know now, I would have done things so differently", Rarity gets an idea. Even though some of her fashions will be recycled from when she first started, they'll be realized with the experience she has now. With Coco's help and Fluttershy as her model, Rarity designs a multitude of new fashions that incorporate the resurging trends of the past and her present experience as a designer and growth from her past mistakes.

When the three are done, Fluttershy bemoans everything she has to learn about properly running an animal shelter. Rarity tells her even though she didn't build her shelter the way it should have been, she built it her way, and the other shelter directors should be looking to her for new ideas.

The next day, Fluttershy returns to the convention hall for the second day of the seminar. During the presentation, she interrupts the lecturer and says instead of focusing on what current shelter owners have done wrong, they should take the lessons they learned and pass them on to future shelter owners. Fluttershy's idea of creating a program to help ponies start their own animal shelters is met with overwhelming positive reception by the other shelter directors.

Later that day, Rarity debuts her new fashions at Coco's boutique, and they are also met with positive reception. As Rarity shares some of her other modernized designs with Coco, Fluttershy returns and shares the success she had at the seminar. The two toast to learning from the past and repeating it.

Quotes

 * Rarity: You've got drive, dear. That's important. And don't forget, confidence is part of running a business, too.
 * Fluttershy: That's not really my strong suit. It's more yours.
 * Rarity: Sometimes my confidence is bluster. Your confidence comes from quality.
 * Fluttershy: Why, thank you. You're very sweet.


 * Rarity: Everything old is new again!


 * Rarity: Shoulder pads? Really?


 * Fluttershy: There's so much more to running a shelter than I thought! I was just trying to take care of some poor animals.
 * Shelter Pony: I know what you mean. I just opened my own over in Stallion Lake last year, and I'm going to have to change a lot of things. If I would have known all of this before I started, I might not have even started a shelter.


 * Rarity: Pleats. My goodness, what were we even thinking?


 * Coco Pommel: You know, you don't need to follow the trends. You can blaze your own trail.
 * Rarity: Yes, but I came to see what the overall trends are. And if I don't incorporate at least some of it, my fashions will seem out of step. I got into fashion to do bold things. New things. And when I first started, it was a giant open canvas. In some way, I'm going to be repeating my best ideas. And if fashion repeats, am I just going to be doing variations on themes I already explored?


 * Fluttershy: If I knew then what I know now, I would have done things so differently, [sic]
 * Rarity: You're right. But I do know.


 * Rarity: Maybe some of my fashions will revisit the themes from back when I started. But they'll also be done with the experience I have now. All the mistakes I made. The things I didn't know better about—now I do. I won't be repeating myself. I'll be re-imagining myself.


 * Rarity: Miss Pommel! We're going to need tea and biscotti for our model!
 * Fluttershy: Model?
 * Rarity: We're going to take such good care of you!
 * Coco Pommel: This is going to be so much fun!
 * Fluttershy: Ulp.


 * Rarity: Don't let those ponies get you down, darling. Your shelter is amazing. You built that shelter on your own. Maybe not the way they would have done it. Maybe not even the way it should have been done. But you did it. When I started I had other designers ' work to look at. But you saw a need and started from scratch and you're amazing! They should be looking for what new ideas you have to offer. And they're fools if they missed it.
 * Fluttershy: You're very kind.
 * Rarity: I'm very right.


 * Fluttershy: Since I've been here, there has been a lot of talk about what I should have done when I started my shelter. Things that would have been better to know before I even started. So, rather than just focusing on what we new shelter owners have done wrong, maybe we should focus on the ponies who come next. And I'm sure we've all made a bunch of mistakes. Maybe we could find a way to take those lessons and pass them on to ponies starting new so that no ponies repeat them.


 * Fluttershy: Here's to learning from our past!
 * Rarity: And not repeating it!