So, what changed this time around?
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Did you see the third season? If so, you probably know the answer to that. If not...almost nothing changed here. Rarity got the least development of all six ponies this season, so most of the analysis still stands. Most of the additions here are just small tidbits, a rant about how she dodged the bullet that was “Spike at Your Service,” and thoughts about where her development can go from here.
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Rarity's introduction in the first episode happened so fast, that I didn't even catch her name the first time I watched. She just showed up, freaked out over Twilight's frazzled mane, and then tried to strangle her with fashion. About the only thing of real interest was Spike's infatuation for her, and her willingness to chop off her tail in the second half. And then...
Well, let's backtrack.
Rarity probably went through the single most dramatic shift of any character in the first season. For most of her early appearances, she was basically the stock "girly girl" of the Mane 6. She spoke in a holier-than-thou accent, obsessed over fashion and romance, tried to use fashion to take down Trixie, and nearly doomed Equestria because she wanted to con a dragon's horde out from under him. She was neat, tidy and organized when none of those traits were called for, wasted an entire day trying to fix one bird's nest, and just...well, didn't come off all that well. In many ways, she was the kind of stuff that turned people off of the previous generations, especially G3.
That changed, however, with "Suited For Success." For the first time since the pilot, Rarity's generosity was placed on display, while also filtered through an allegory to the general creative process in television. Later episodes would develop this further; "A Dog and Pony Show" proved that she could do just fine on her own despite being a proper lady. and "Green Isn't Your Color" demonstrated that even when jealous, she still wouldn't revel in a friend's misfortune, and would even willingly lie and let herself be miserable if it made her happy. Unfortunately, "The Best Night Ever" regressed her personality back to the start of the season, with the Rarity people had grown to love only showing through in the last few moments.
And then Season 2 happened.
Rarity got both good and bad development over the course of the season. On the good side, her relationship with Sweetie Belle was explored (more on that later), and she learned in "Sweet and Elite" not to be ashamed of her country roots, even when it might mean the end to some very important business and social contacts. On the bad side, she was more prone to breaking into dramatics over absolutely nothing, and some of the advances in her relationship with Spike (and the fanon that surround it) verged on the creepy side of things. She also picked up an interest in gossip, although to be fair this doesn't deviate too far from her established characterization, so I let that change slide.
And then Season 3...did jack with her. Seriously, she got no episode to herself, was only a large supporting player in TCE, SiP and MMC, and pretty much spent the rest of the season warming the bench while Applejack and Spike got to play. She was going to star in “Spike at Your Service,” but the writers thought she came across as too horrible and had the plot switched to him being an incompetent boob for Applejack. So in that case, Rarity won out marvelously.
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The first thing that struck me about Rarity was her voice. Everypony else in the series spoke in a rather plain tone and accent, but Rarity sounded far more high-class and pomp than the ponies around her. It felt completely out of place for something like Ponyville, a small country town whose only reason for being important is that it houses Princess Celestia's student. In addition, Sweetie Belle does not share the same manner of speaking, and whenever Rarity gets particularly upset or flustered, she either drops it altogether or switches to an entirely different accent. Season 2 addressed this curiosity by showing that her parents basically speak like they come from the Midwestern United States, are rather garishly dressed, and can't cook whatsoever. When you take that into account, as well as her actions in "Sweet and Elite," it all makes sense.
Rarity is a pony that feels like she was born in the wrong town. While she has nothing against Ponyville, and has a good number of dear friends, her dream is to make it to the big city (namely, Canterlot) and become a member of high society. In two episodes ("Best Night Ever" and "Sweet and Elite"), she tries just that, with varied success. The first attempt ended with her romantic dreams ruined by Prince Blueblood being an a-hole. Her second attempt (which occurred completely by accident) actually worked, but she was so afraid of losing her social standing that she lied about her past and friends to appease the aristocracy, and only got around that loss because one of her benefactors found her friends and designs (and her) charming. Her way of speaking and ladylike way of behaving are masks designed to make her look more elevated in society than she actually is, but given her new connections and excellent work ability, that may not be true for long.
Rarity is one of the ponies that greatly disproves the A-to-A connection between cutie marks and future occupations. Rarity runs Carousel Boutique, a surprisingly upscale dress shop for a town like Ponyville. She takes jobs from as far away as Trottingham, ranging from capes to dresses to hoofwear, and always takes great professional pride in making sure each outfit is perfect. Her special talent, however, is the ability to magically locate gemstones. Gems are apparently so plentiful in Equestria that they're worthless outside of making clothing and accessories (although they did have monetary value in a later episode, so some gems are seemingly more valuable than others), so she spruces up nearly all her outfits with emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and any other kind she can find. She's actually so good as designing that she can take a few pieces of straw, turn them into a hat, and make it work. In short, she doesn't need her special talent for her profession, but it helps her to reach her own personal standards for a beautiful outfit.
One important aspect about Rarity is that, in many ways, she is the most dramatic of ponies. Her dreams for the Gala wouldn't have felt out-of-place in a fairy tale, including a quick courtship and marriage to a prince, and yet she takes the whole thing completely seriously. When her fashion show is ruined, she locks herself in her room and doesn't go into exile only because she can't figure out how one packs for the trip. When she loses a ribbon, she throws a tantrum and summons couches to faint on. She throws fits, cries easily, and can break into something worthy of Shakespeare without so much as a prompting. She's even a master of acting like a damsel in distress, something none of the other ponies can truly attest to. And then there's what happens when she gets angry. Sometimes she responds by kicking the problem in the face until it goes away (she's a master of Crane Style, apparently), but she's also capable of being Passive-Aggressive if need be. Needless to say, Rarity hams it up so much that she might as well be part pork.
Rarity, however, has two major vices. The first is Carousel Boutique itself. She takes her business very seriously, to the point where she lies to get out of going to Twilight's birthday party just so she can make (and keep) her important Canterlot contacts. If something goes wrong in relation to her business, she tends to break down very quickly, such as in "Suited for Success." Her second, and far more damning vice, is her greed. Rarity loves shiny gems, and is willing to go to great lengths to acquire them. While I'll cover the instance in "Return of Harmony" later, an important early event was in "Dragonshy." Rarity's entire goal when the group is confronting the dragon is to get it to part with at least some of its hoard of gems, gold, and other assorted treasures. Ironically enough, she was actually succeeding in wooing the dragon...until she let slip that she'd watch his pile for him, at which point he realized what was going on and roared Rarity out of the cave. And what is she upset about when she was back with the others?
That she didn't get anything. Way to go, Generosity.
Rarity is also rather vain. She enjoys her trips to the spa, praises beauty and loveliness, and is horrified when she sees somepony looking hideous, like Twilight did in the Pilot after her run-in with Rainbow Dash. She also hates dirt and camping, although she'll still deal with them if necessary or if it'll mean spending time with her little sister and friends. And her reaction to Applejack ruining her shop in MMC was to think she was having a nightmare, especially after seeing the dresses she had designed. Still, it's that love of beauty that helps motivate her to create, and she'll gladly help anypony to look fabulous.
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Shipping-wise, Rarity has a few interesting options. The show seems to point towards Fancy Pants, but he's a guy, and we can't have M/F shipping, now can we? What makes Rarity fun, however, is that no matter which pony you pair her with, she'll be the opposite. She's an extrovert workaholic, while Twilight is an introverted studyholic. She's poised and elegant, while Rainbow Dash is tomboyish and athletic. She's fashionable, while Applejack is plain. She's loud, while Fluttershy is soft-spoken. She's a proper lady, while Pinkie Pie is a party animal. Needless to say, she's a pony that can actually go fairly well with everybody, and thus doesn't have a perfectly solid pairing just yet.
Rarity's relationship with her friends is interesting. Due to her work, Rarity is almost always in Carousel Boutique, and thus interacts with most ponies there. Her closest friendship, by far, is with Fluttershy. Despite the yellow Pegasus being very soft-spoken and shy, the two get it off perfectly, and even arrange trips to the spa together. It certainly helps that Fluttershy's one of the few ponies Rarity's cat, Opalescence, won't try to claw on sight. She also enjoys Pinkie's parties, although it seems that she would prefer quieter arrangements at times to the more wild and chaotic events her friend throws. She's also good friends with Twilight, although the two don't interact that often. She initially held animosity towards Applejack and her dirt-covered ways, but eventually turned around and considers her a good friend as well. And Rainbow Dash...well, the two rarely interact at all, since Dash doesn't frequent her shop and she doesn't seek Dash out unless it's an emergency.
We know very little of her relationship with her parents, other than she is the exact opposite of them in many ways and resents them dumping Sweetie Belle on her while they go on vacation. Like many adults with younger siblings, her parents expect her to be a free babysitter for them when they're out of town, despite what she may have on her schedule. Sweetie Belle, however, greatly admires her sister and wants to grow up to be just like her. Unfortunately for her AND Rarity, Sweetie lacks any of her sister's talents for dressmaking. She also makes a lot of mistakes, all of which grate on Rarity's nerves. Despite the two making up in "Sisterhooves Social," the two still don't agree on everything, and can still have arguments and fights. When compared to the perfect relationships between Applejack/Applebloom and Twilight/Shining Armor, this far more realistic portrayal of siblings duking it out while still loving each other is a wonderful breath of fresh air.
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Rarity's element is Generosity, and as mentioned above, she has issues keeping to it at times. That being said, she can still be depended upon to give everything she can to help anypony in need, even when it'll leave her miserable. That's the key to true generosity; it's a selfless sacrifice made to help someone at the expense of yourself. Rarity made two sets of dresses, despite knowing that the second set would be a disaster, because it's what her friends wanted. She saved Fluttershy's modeling career after Twilight had successfully sabotaged it because, as far as she knew, it was something Fluttershy loved, and she was so ashamed of herself for being jealous that she gave up the chance for schadenfreude so she could get everypony to support her friend.
One notable fanfic that tries to pick up the slack is the legendary "Simply Rarity." While it was pretty much shot to hell by canon, it tries to paint Rarity as an incredibly generous pony who gives away most of the money she earns from her shop. It's a noble effort, and parts of it make sense. Just...don't try to connect it to the canon in any way. Your brain may explode.
When Discord came along, his temptation for Rarity was a giant boulder he brainwashed her into thinking was a diamond. By the time Twilight fixed her, she had named it Tom, destroyed the Library rolling it in and out, and was storing it inside her own boutique. When she was cured, however, she very quickly kicked Tom to the curb and reminded the others to "Never speak of this again." Needless to say, she didn't get her wish.
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Overall, Rarity has improved tremendously since the early days. She has gone from a stock fashion-obsessed girly-girl to an overly-dramatic, loving, hard-working pony who would give the shirt off her back (provided she's wearing one) to help a friend. She might be greedy sometimes, and has some issues with her sister, but all this does is make her an even more interesting pony for future use. Unfortunately, her ultimate character arc seems to be stuck; the only option beyond what “Sweet and Elite” provides is for her to finally open that dressmaking shop in Canterlot, and that would require either an introduction into the world of franchising or for her to move away from Ponyville, thus damaging the dynamics more than Alicorn Twilight could hope to do. She also suffered from having no episode in the third season, although her appearances still made good use of her character. Hopefully the fourth season will give her more to do.
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