Why Rarity is Best Pony: Maturity · 10:32pm Jun 12th, 2015
Two blog posts in the same day? I know, I'm as surprised as you are, so what gives? Well, I know I'm in the middle of something resembling a content drought right now, and although I am working on a big project, I'm sitting on my chapters until the project is completely complete. Call it an experiment like what I did last year. So, to make up for the little drought, I'm trying to shoot out little blog posts to keep conversation going and let people know I'm still, you know, alive. Plus, I might build up some excitement for my next project.
So, what are we doing exactly? We're talking about why my favorite (Mane 6) pony is my favorite pony. Well, we're going to start talking about it. I have a concert I need to leave for in fifteen minutes, so I'll really only be able to discuss one aspect of Rarity's characters. Obviously, all this is my analysis, and you're free to agree or disagree.
And just why is Rarity on your mind, anyways? Because she's the best? Okay, so not to spoil too much, but the next story takes place in Rarity's head, so I've spent the last two weeks building a little place in my psyche so I can think like her and talk like her (I've also been writing the last two weeks, but that should be a bit more obvious). Anyways, I've been thinking about her character a lot lately, and I want to give my thoughts on what I like about her character.
Which brings us to maturity? Yes! Exactly, thank you snarky voice in my head/reader strawman, that brings us to Rarity's maturity. From my view, Rarity is simultaneously the most and least mature of the Mane 6. That seems contradictory, I know, but Rarity is a mare of contradictions.
And how is she mature? Well, I guess it depends on how we define mature. There are so many potential definitions, but Rarity is a successful small-business owner and entrepreneur, who built everything she had with her own two hooves. Pinkie's an apprentice baker/party-planner extraordinaire who still lives with adult supervision, Twilight was a graduate student who excels at following orders from Princess Celestia/a map, Fluttershy is... never exactly specified, Applejack inherited her farm, and Rainbow Dash... well, she's close. She did manage to become a top-tier flyer and holds down the title of weather team captain, so that's impressive. So yeah... at the start of the show, Rarity definitely has her stuff together and she keeps it together. Plus, she has a keen eye for knowing when her friends are hurting. She knows when Rainbow Dash is stressing in Sonic Rainboom (at first), and takes Twilight's concerns kind of seriously in Lesson Zero (but it's too little too late, Twilight's gone before Rarity speaks up).
Okay, sure, but she can also be- Yes, I know, she can also be incredibly immature. She has flights of histrionics, can fly off the handle, and be a drama queen at times. When she's not trying to be a reserved and dignified mare of distinction, she can be a very silly pony, and her happy freak outs are just as funny as her less happy freak outs. Her laugh in Sonic Rainboom is one of the best things ever.
That's about all the time I have, I'll be back after my Weird Al concert, but am curious about what you all think about her maturity level and how it's presented throughout the series. I'll see you in a few hours.
Obvious Ninja Edit: Completely forgot my whole conclusion, to me, this disparity between who she tries to be and who she is at her most intimate moments allows for a lot of inferred character depth that I'm trying to flesh out in my story, and indicates, to me, a mare who's a strange mix between romantic and cynic. She's been burned several times, and knows better than to engage in romantic thinking, but at the same time, can't help but indulge her fantasies. Again, I really have to go, I'll see you all later.
Rarity is basically a Sex And The City character, except she's younger, and a cultural product of Equestria rather than Earth NYC.
She's younger not just biologically, but also in that she's still chasing her dreams rather than navigating them like the abovementioned actresses. That, combined with the fact that she grew up in Ponyville, contributes to her being much more of a romantic.
Her romanticism has been dashed by reality several times, but she still keeps on truckin'. Not because she's naive, but because she is determined to live the life of the romantic. Kind of like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills of concrete and steel.
Rarity is in fact the ultimate romantic, in that she doesn't want to just live her dream but to spread it. It's reflected in her career philosophy: It's not about fashion to separate the haves from the have-nots, the in from the out. It's about bringing beauty from the inside to the outside, for everyone. I'll quote someone:
The activation energy required to make a difference - to reach a level of success that actually enters the world stage - may seem unrealistically unsurmountable [...] however, make a clear compelling case that it is in fact possible to "spread the brainwaves of a single person throughout an industry." And it is belief in exactly this possibility - the knowledge that success is within the envelope of possible outcomes [...] is the ingredient that launches the world forward.
Despite her personality quirks, of all the Mane 6 she is in fact the one most worthy to be a paragon embodiment of a virtue ala Ultima. The others are content to keep their virtues to their own private lives; Rarity is the only one hellbent on changing the world. Ironically, she already would have if she doesn't have so many attachments to Ponyville and had already left for Canterlot/Manehattan. But counter-ironically, without her friends she probably would have lost her way even as she became a success - she'd be more of a The Great Gatsby character.
So, how was Weird Al?
3143750 I will agree with your way more spot on assessment, I think, with one minor caveat: My Rarity at the end of PLA is probably a bit more jaded than her show counterpart for reasons of basically having all her hopes and dreams dashed against a wall terribly. She watched Sweetie be consumed by decadent hedonism, tried to set a better example for her by ending the unhealthy romance in her life (that was also the first halfway healthy romance she ever had), still lost Sweetie, and basically ended PLA with nothing but her business and her friends (and even that's been tainted for reasons of Applejack).
I think that's all I can say about her without getting into spoilers for the next story, but she (My Rarity, not necessarily show Rarity) is a mare possessed by an intense desire to be better than she was. She's also kind of messed up at the moment and not wanting to acknowledge how badly she's hurting.
Anyways, I liked the rest of your comment. I'll probably try to do a better blog post in the future that isn't written with a fifteen minute deadline. Thanks for the thoughts.
3143818
Yikes, PLAA&S turns that dark in later chapters? I'm only through the time loop arc atm; I basically read that fic for adorable airhead Sweetie and you're telling me you intend to make a Cold In Gardez turn and she does in fact turn into Daisy Fay Buchanan.
3143800 Super fun! There was even a pony clip in the show from The Super Duper Party Pony.
This was good.
3143872 Oh, shoot, I just thought you'd read the story. I'd recommend reading the rest of PLA, but also definitely checking out that tragedy tag on the story. Really sorry for spoiling part of the ending. Also, be sure to leave feedback, and I'll go out of my way to respond.
I actually like her a bit more in RPO than in what is now TULBSB (I really need better acronyms), because she seems very eloquent and mature there, because of course Octavia does not live with her so you see more of a professional Rarity rather than the inside Rarity in TULBSB. In Octavia's diaries she even says that Rarity is a mare who knows exactly what she has to say to get what she wants, or something along those lines.
Speaking of which, I have to reread that now. Hold on, I'll be baaaaaaack!
3183021 Meant to write this a few hours ago, but for some reason, my phone isn't letting me post updates to fimfiction... Weird.
Anyways, agreed, the Rarity in RPO is way more put together than the one in ULBS, mainly because Sweetie's position allows us to past Rarity's outside face and see the concerned sister who's trying to do what's best for Sweetie while also dealing with her own personal issues. In the sidequel, which is set in Rarity's head, she'll seem even more a mess at first because of how ULBS ended.
3184180 I can imagine!