Everypony on Rarity’s ship is in love with someone impossible. Some earn their fortune and go back to claim their love. Others find love along the way, or outgrow their crush and move on.
Rarity? She’s in love with the sky.
An entry into Jake the Army Guy's "Obscure Shipping" contest.
Fun and bittersweet!
I need my Spikey . Twilight?
So you changed your mind?
I need a mate!
What? I'll send him over right now!
Two months later
So Spike how'd it go with Rarity?
I was her 1st mate
great going
Ah Twilight not that kind of a mate...A 1st mate of engineering -
So you worked on the engines?
I was the engine
He was the perfect 1st mate
She finally did touch the sky
with my diamonds
that's my boy Spike
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Glad you liked it!
Wow, I didn't know it was possible to feel this emotionally conflicted. Great story!
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Thanks!
Arrest her
I haven't been enthralled by a story for such a long time! It's definitely a bit sad, but also hopeful and intriguing. Definitely following you for this.
EDIT: Also after searching around, I just realized that you're the Hap in Sherbet and Sunshine, which I've already been following for quite some time. Now I'll never forget that Sunshine actually writes on FIMFiction.
I enjoyed reading your story, grabbed my attention in the popular stories the other day and I had to read it seeing it was from Hap. Reminds me of Upon a Falling Feather.
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I'm glad you found it enthralling. And yep, that's me! New comic going up this weekend, too...
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I didn't know this story made it into "popular stories" at all. I will have to check out Upon a Falling Feather. Hadn't heard of it before.
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I could've sworn that I saw it featured, but it's not in the Featured bookshelf. This really deserves a feature anyways.
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Thanks for the sentiment, but unless you can get a couple hundred other folks to agree with you...
Still, I appreciate it.
Unrequited love and sky piracy. Two great tastes that go surprisingly well together.
A wonderfully framed tragic tale. My only complaint is that give her father, Rarity would have to work very hard indeed at avoiding knowledge of hoofball. Still, thank you for this, and best of luck in the judging.
Now that's an unusual (one-sided) ship!
Hmm. Am I imagining things, or do I detect a hint of potential Rarimarble there?
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Oh... Just a tiny hint.
This was really good. Sad and sweet, and an unhappy little paradox for poor Rarity.
I feel the urge to listen to Piano Man now...
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Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
This was beautiful. I have encountered this ship before, in Wellspring's All About Rarity (unfortunately NSFW). It's interesting that both that story and this one are unhappy stories, neither of them ending with Rarity and Shining in a relationship. I suppose that arises naturally from the fact that in both stories Rarity is chasing a married stallion.
You do have a unique take on the spurned Rarity idea though, which I really appreciated. She's almost changeling-like, feeding off the attention of her crew. It's perhaps a little too easy for me to relate to her, feeding off of other's unrequited love for her to soothe the sting of her unrequited love for another. Of course, it's easy for her to remain convinced that she's in the right, since she sees an improvement in her crew when they come to terms with their unrequited love, which saves her from being a truly ugly character.
I also loved the idea of Rarity as a fashion pirate. Lately I've loved the idea of airships in pony, probably because of iisaw's Celestia Code series, and it looks like that's going to be increasingly relevant with the contents of the new movie. Fashion-pirate Rarity is a great take on this idea, and is something that I can totally picture happening in the show canon, as it's too ridiculous to work in real life, but silly enough to work in the show.
Basically, I have nothing but praise for this story, and I could continue praising it for awhile longer if I didn't have to start paying attention to what my instructor is saying.
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Thanks! I'm very happy that you enjoyed the story. I can absolutely say that it WAS at least partially inspired by "ponies on airships" as written by iisaw so well. In my head though, Twilight's airship looked more like Shakespeare's ship in the movie Stardust.
As a college professor though, I feel like I should probably tell you to pay attention in class.
I was expecting a lot more Love Boat. But what I got was still pretty good.
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I'm glad you liked it regardless. Thanks!
This is very good. Very, very good. I like exploring complicated romantic feelings, and I think Rarity, as romantic as she is, is the perfect vehicle to do so. Thank you for writing this.
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Came here on fourths and Floydien's recommendation on their podcast. This story was absolutely lovely. Rarity, as the central character of the story, is especially fantastic for her characterization. Every little thing she does in this story--her sighs, her smiles, what she does and what she says--all feel deeply poignant and so very deliberately written. The way she faces defeat and remains tenacious with new creative ideas, the way she chases and dreams after the impossible, it's so wonderful and poetic and so Rarity.
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Thanks! I'm glad the story connected with you. That Big Dumb Podcast sure is good stuff, huh?
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They sure are! I keep missing the notifications for the livestreams, but I like to listen to the VODs.
If it weren't for the fact that Shining is in a committed relationship, I would be shipping the shit out of these two.
That said, it was a great story but I feel like the fact that Marble herself is in love with Rarity, and the added hint Rarity might reciprocate, was too convenient an ending. I know it's not "settling" per se, but the story sets up Rarity as the kind who never would, which is why she was crazy enough to do all this in the first place.
This was a good story
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Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.
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I dunno. I think Glimmer's mane purple is a bit more on the pink side, whereas Rarity's leans more toward indigo. And Rarity's stripe is gray; Glimmer's is bright teal.
I had never noticed the similarity before.
You can has review!
Such a fun, strange, and sad story. It's grounded in a reality all its own and, overall, a pretty fun read. At first blush, the idea of Rarity becoming a fashionista pirate of the high heavens made me pause, but it's not any zanier than stuff that's happened in canon itself. The story plays with its theming very well, but has that underlining feeling of toxic pining that I'm not sure how I feel about. It's definitely tragic what has happened to Rarity and the fact that she's unable to move on, while part of the fun theming, isn't the best message since it hinges on "the one" sort of deal. But if you turn off the brain for a bit, there's a lot to love. Thanks for writing, and it'll be interesting to see if you ever see this comment. Either way, let's see if we can't touch the sky.
so true she would be so good at that!
definitely the most important part
perfect touch
oh this is just perfect. how have i not seen Rarity as a pirate captain before? she would be so good at it!
auaugh love her
that is a good one Shining Armor!
and ooh, them bonding over being older siblings is a great touch, this is really well done
hehe always love timeskip tropes like this
though i do like to imagine Equestria as a place where such stallions do not exist, i am relieved Rarity was able to pick up on this in this Equestria
hehe so true! and it’s a great thing to bring up to illustrate that Cadance and Shining Armor’s relationship is one that works very well
love that that was Rarity’s reaction instead tho! i mean, taking the less dramatic option would be so boring!
a waste of a life? that sounds awesome to me!
so true
love it
we’ve all been there Twilight!
and ooh, this whole conversation was just done really well. feels ripped straight out of real life
and augh, this captures Rarity so well!
i mean i knew this was what was going on but hoowee what a way to make it explicit! that that both ponies involved here are very self-aware of what they are doing just adds a sublime layer to the standard unrequited love dynamic
and augh, what a beautiful way to capture how Rarity relates to romance and where it could lead. this was just a fantastic work, thank you so much!